Author's Note: I started writing this after reading "The Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena" so guys, please pardon me for the (a bit) serious narration, because I kind of adopted the style of writing in the book that I have just read. I tried to insert some funny narrations, though I'm not sure if they would sound funny to readers.

“Ne Kim-chan, what’s up with that face?” Ryosuke tilted his head, smirking as he slowly leaned down on the figure of the poor girl who had one arm tied on the bed post.

 ~.~.~

 “Oi Rio! What are you doing?!” Kei asked before the girl gagged his mouth with a thick rolled cloth and tied his hands behind him like he was some sort of a terrorist’s captive.

 “Gomen Kei-NIICHAN. I’m just following orders.”

~.~.~.~.~.~

 Meanwhile….

  “Yes.. yes… finally, we have come to this…” the president cheered happily as she sat on the van, watching…SOMETHING.

 ~.~.~.~.~

 “Rio-chan? Where are you taking me to?” Kei asked but because his mouth was gagged, it came out pretty much like an African sound that goes like this: “Mrofrm? Wurrurutukumutu?”

  “Sssh~~”

 Everything went black. Not that Kei Inoo out, it’s just that everything became dark. As in, all the lights were turned off, like those that happen in HORROR movies.

 “MMMM!!!” he sounded like he wanted to break free, which he also wanted, but he was yelling out Kim’s name. He was worried about her, and the fact that his hands were tied didn’t help him in his struggle.

 “Shut up nii-chan.” Rio whispered to his ear as he felt an ice cold metal being pressed against his throat. A knife, he guessed. He then felt liquid trailing its way down his neck. Could it be possible that it’s blood?

 NO. THAT CAN’T BE! THIS IS JUST ONE HECK OF A BIG JOKE…right?? This HAS to be a joke. Still, the liquid continued running downwards, reaching his chest…and the sensation pretty much made him shut his mouth up.

 “Don’t make a single sound.” Rio commanded as she pressed the KNIFE more to his throat, more BLOOD running down.

 “I’m going to die.” Kei thought to himself as he knew for a fact that his neck was now numb from pain. The feeling was cold, like his skin was frozen. Then, he sensed that Rio was now adjusting her grip on his tied hands, moving him as if they would be walking. The girl then dragged Kei silently off to somewhere the poor guy didn’t know where, creating no noise in the process.

~.~.~

 Kim heard the door open then shut close again, but the sound it made was perfectly minimal, which was just enough to send tingles to move up and down her spine.

She then felt the sheets crumpling, as if there was a rodent let loose on top of the bed.

~.~.~

 Kei wiggled slightly on where Rio had gently placed him. He tried to free his hands from their freaking tight bonds, the process resulted to have created a small noise…the sound of the bed sheets crumpling…and he was quite afraid that Rio would be staking his neck again with her hell-knows-how-cold knife.

 ~.~.~

 Out of mere annoyance because she was tied to the freaking bed post, Kim decided to kick the ‘rodent’ in front of her, causing it to shriek in pain, creating a screaming sound like a flailing frog fan girl. It really DID sound like a petrified frog.

 “MMMRRFFFMFRMM!!!” Kei wailed, curling his body into a funny position that must have looked like he was an exotic backwards dolphin performing in a freak show.

 Kim knew nobody in the whole damned universe who could produce such sound like that…except for one VERY annoying particular person.

 “Kei?” she called out.

 “Mmm?” was the now a bit calmer reply from the guy. He must have intended to say her name but because his mouth was gagged, he sounded like someone who was acting cool, which was just totally not cool…considering his present situation. He then wiggled his way to reach farther up the bed, not caring on whether or not he would be making more sounds. Not caring on whether or not the GIRL WITH THE ICED BLADE was still here.

 “What are you doing here?” Kim asked.

 “MMF!”

 “Answer me clearly, and untie me from this bed post YOU DOG!!”

 “MMMRFFRRMFMFRM!!!”

 “May the skies brutally fall upon you!!” Kim yelled as she kicked Kei for the second time tonight, both are out from her irritation.

 A loud thud was heard as Kei hit the cold floor, perfect nose first.

 “Mmmrmmff~~” he whimpered like a beat up puppy in the streets.

 ~.~.~

 “Don’t kill them just yet.” A deep manly voice from a person outside the room said, sending shivers along Kim’s and Kei’s bodies.

 So…is all of this….FOR REAL?!?

 “Take them to the warehouse first and there is uh…where we will do our BUSINESS.” The deep-voiced man continued saying as the sound of several footsteps aired and immediately started to fade, the sound going farther and farther away from where Kim and Kei were.

 “Okay, so here’s the plan…” Kim immediately said as soon as the footsteps had already dissolved into utter silence as she tried to loosen the bonds on her right arm. “Once I’ve broken free from these bonds, I’ll beat the freaking crap out of you and leave you in the mercy of those people IF they do have mercy…OR you could get the hell up and prove that you are STILL superior over me.”

 “You’re still thinking about this as a competition?” Kei thought in disbelief but he slowly stood up which was kind of hard to do since his hands were pretty much useless right now because he can’t use them for support him on standing up.

 Once he had successfully stood up, he wandered around the room, looking for a light switch as he desperately rammed his forehead against the walls to feel if there was any. After a few moment of search, he already found the switch but the things is that… it was located a bit farther up the wall so only the top of his head could feel it. He tried standing on his toes and nudge at the switch but he still couldn’t reach it so he risked his dear forehead in exchange for light.

 He jumped up and down as he tried to headbutt the light switch. After several trials, the light flickered to life for a few milliseconds before it died again. He tried once more but this time, he lost his balance and stumbled, falling onto the floor once again like what had happened earlier.

 “frmrrmm~~” he WHIMPERED once again. How could the almighty, ever-so genius, and heaven-knows-how-handsome Inoo Kei fall into an end such as the likes of this one?

 “What the hell are you doing?” Kim asked as she finally got herself free. She then scrambled her way towards where the window was located and ripped the blinds off out of her anger, revealing a starry night sky view which would’ve looked romantic if they were under different circumstances.

 The moonlight reached Kei, our gagged little fellow, and Kim finally saw him. “What the—” she said as she rushed towards him and removed the rolled cloth from his mouth and untied his wrists. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were gagged?!?” Kim asked angrily before she could even realize how stupid her question has been. The guy just rolled his eyes in return.

 “Let’s just get to work…” Kim announced, proceeding back towards the window. She tried to unlock the window so that she could lift it but unfortunately, it was stuck. She nudged and budged at it but it wouldn’t open. “It wouldn’t budge!!”

 “Stand back.” Kei said, carrying the lampshade over his right shoulder and eyeing the huge and clear glass window, obviously intending to break it.

 “Baka ga?!” Kim exclaimed. “Those people will hear that!”

 “No problem would be solved if no risks would be taken.” were the words that came out of Mr. Genius’s mouth before he banged the head of the lampshade against the surface of the window.

 A loud crashing sound was heard for a split second and the noise might have alerted the people in the whole neighborhood. But the bad news is that, they don’t have neighbors right here where this house was located. The nearest house might still be half a kilometers away.

 “Now let’s go lift those railings up…” Kei said as he dusted off his hands from his previous action.

 “It’s padlocked!!” Kim stared at the lock in horror, desperately trying to unlock it with nothing but with her bare hands only.

 “WHAT?!” the guy made his way towards the window and his eyes dropped seeing that there was indeed a padlock on the railings. “I’m a genius.” He thought to himself. “Think think think think!!” he urged himself to think of ways on how to get out of here but panic invaded his mind which didn’t help him to focus in thinking of a way to solve their problem. The panic then crowded his thoughts and soon overcame him. He sighed exasperatedly as he sat on the bed, stopping his posture, resting his elbows on his thighs, and covering his face with his hands. “Trapped….we’re trapped.”

 Kim blinked several times as she stared down at the stopped figure of her mortal rival, holding his forehead as if the world had decided to take its wrath upon him. She wasn’t used to seeing him like this. She would rather choose the OH-LOOK-AT-ME-MISS-RANK-TWO,-I’M-OBVIOUSLY-SUPERIOIR-THAN-YOUR-ARE Kei Inoo over this god-forsaken young man in front of her.

 “Maybe we could try the door…” Kei finally said as he stood up.

 “Are you freaking crazy?!” Kim pushed him, making the guy sit back down on he bed. “They will definitely see us!”

 “I’ll cause a distraction for those people, then when they’re already focused on me, you’ll run to escape.” He stood up again.

 “What??”

 “It’s the only thing I could do to at least save you.” Kei said as he reached the door and cautiously held the doorknob. “At the count of three, I’ll run, and when they’re after me already, it’ll be your turn to run and get out of here. You understand?”

 “I don’t understand!!” Kim yelled at him. “Why are you doing this?! Are you acting like a super man again?! If you are, please stop it already! This is serious!!” she then grabbed Kei’s arms so that she could prevent his hands from twisting the doorknob and opening the door.

 “Don’t I look serious to you now?!” the guy broke free from Kim’s tight grips on his arms as he grasped her shoulders, and shook her as he looked right in her eyes, boring those two fierce irises on her soul, urging her to give him an honest answer.

 “But…” Kim muttered as she looked down, not meeting Kei’s gaze. Obviously, she already got the message that THIS guy, OF ALL PEOPLE, is indeed serious and willing to risk himself for her sake.

 *BEEP BEEP* a car’s honking horn was heard which made the two people peek out in their broken glass window. They saw several men who are probably in their mid-thirties, wearing black suits come out of the vehicle as they carried a gun in each of their hands. Kim and Kei were no totally convinced that they were in a REAL situation right here, and that this was not a hell of a prank.

 A few moments later, one man from the backseat finally came out of the car as two very familiar figures exited the gates of their house.

 “Those two…” Kei gritted his teeth while he and Kim watched as Rio and Ryosuke approached the man who just came out of the car. The man then handed the two a gun each. He probably told them something which was probably a command because after the man was already done speaking, Ryo and Rio faded out of the scene as they walked back towards the house.

 “They’ll probably be guarding the balcony.” Kei said. “So that means you should use the back door and escape through the yard while I distract them by pretending to escape through the front gates.”

 “Are you really serious?” Kim looked up at him with almost teary eyes.

 “Aish~ why are you crying?” Kei wiped a stray tear from her face with his thumb. “Baka! It doesn’t suit you. Now…at the count of three…”

 One…

 Two…

 Three…

  The girl hugged him, stopping him from turning the doorknob.

 “Tss~~ What now?” Kei jokingly asked as he too, embraced her. He slipped his arms through her sides and faced her, making the distance of their faces not more than an inch. “Ne, listen… I’d be doing and tell you something now.. I don’t know if you’ll like it or what… it’s just the last thing I wanted to do and say before uh.. you kno—”

 “JUST DO IT, YOU FREAK.”

  “So, then…” Kei released his hug but he didn’t take a step back. He cupped her cheeks and leaned in to her even closer. Then, he closed his eyes as he slowly and softly pressed his lips against the surface of hers.

 They stayed like that for a few long seconds. Then, Kei finally pulled back. Again, he looked straight right into her eyes, but now, he gave Kim a different feeling. That kind, gentle feeling that you get when you feel secured was felt by her, which was really ironic considering this situation of theirs right now.

 “I don’t know if you’ll hate me after hearing this but here it goes…” Kei inhaled and exhaled a deep heavy breath before telling the girl in front of him: “Aieru.” He smiled, probably the LAST smile he would be giving her, and this smile was real. Not a smirk that he gives her when he outsmarts her, not the grin that puts on whenever he wins things or contests over her…it was just the warmest smile he could give. A genuine one.

 “Ikuzo?” he held the knob again.

 “Ch-chotto~” Kim held his arm tightly. She slowly lifted her head up and faced Kei. “Anou sa… Atashi…” she inhaled and exhaled. “Aieru mo.”

 Once again, Kei gave her a smile. But this wasn’t like the smile earlier. Not that this smile was a fake one, it’s just not right. It’s like a forced smile. The kind that you give when you wanted to show that you’re happy…despite the truth that you’re sad, lonely, not content…HURT.

 And at that smile, Kei finally turned the knob and the door opened…into a loud slamming sound that sent them both stumbling back on the bed.

 ~.~.~

 Three armed men entered their room as they forcefully bang opened the door, and Kim’s and Kei’s strengths weren’t enough to oppose them.

 “Change of plans.” The deep voiced man from earlier said. Though the two couldn’t see him, they could tell that he was still outside their room, probably behind the wall. “Blow their brains out.” He commanded.

 Kei gripped Kim’s hand and pulled her into a protective embrace, not allowing her to see any of the scene.

 Rio and Ryo just stood outside their door, smirking in delight as they will soon watch their ‘friends’ be shooting targets for the three men.

 Just when everything seemed to be in a blur, a familiar woman emerged in the scene as she walked inside the room calmly.

 “You?” Kei squinted his eyes.

 The woman just eyed the couple in front of her in distaste. “THAT. Holding hands. Hugging…KISSING.” She said. “YOU GUYS ARE NOW ELIMINATED FROM THIS CONTEST.” the president announced.

~.~.~

 “Waaah~~ FINALLY.” Ryosuke stooped his posture as he threw his gun over the side while Rio clapped happily then she accidentally pulled the trigger of her gun.

 RRRTTTTRTRTTTRTRT. Her ‘GUN’ cried. A TOY gun.

~.~.~

 “EEEHHHHH??!?? ALL OF THAT WASN’T FOR REAL?!??” Kim and Kei yelled in front of the president as they were both now being wrapped in blankets so they looked like they were in those movies where survivors of burning houses were also wrapped in blankets.

 “Now, now..children.” the president patted their backs. “Please calm down.”

 “HOW CAN WE CALM DOWN?!??”

 The woman chuckled. “This arrangement was requested by your parents.”

“HAAA?!??”

 Then, a van arrived out of nowhere and out of it came two more women.

 “OKA-CHAN?” Kim and Kei said, again, in sync, as they watched their mothers approach them.

 The two women grinned at them. “You two look really good together.” Kim’s mom remarked.

 “Which is why you guys have to get along together…” Kei’s mom said, which earned narrowing eyes from the two young people.

 “What?” was the reply from them.

 “You guys…” the president walked around them like she was lecturing them. “…are arranged for marriage.”

                                                                   >>FICTION END<<

short epilogue (I FREAKING FORGOT TO INCLUDE THIS):

   Once all the other people have gone already, telling them that he and Kim should have some QUALITY time together, Kei just stared at her blankly.

"What?" Kim frowned.

"Betsuni..." Kei scratched the back of his head and his hand then went down to the back of his neck and..oh GOODNESS GRACIOUS!! HIS NECK!! He looked down, inserting HOPELESS EFFORT to see his BLOODY CUT throat, expecting to see blood but what he saw were just trails of...water??

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

  Ryosuke ran for his life as Rio went after him. "NOOO~~ RIO-CHAN, DON'T KILL ME!!" he yelled playfully.

  "GOTCHA!!" Rio caught him from the back as she pointed a cloth-wrapped piece of chipped ice on his throat.

*sighs* I know, I know.

Not everything is clear... so...

I PLAN TO HAVE A SEPARATE FIC, ENTITLED "BATTLE OF THE BRAINS: BEHIND THE SCENES"

So yeah.. for now, please bear with my rare updates.

SANKYUUU~!! *bows*