Ritsu Kasanoda frowned at the man in front of him.

The man in front of him grunted and glared at him.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me," Ritsu replied.

"Ohhhh… hooooo," his father bellowed at him, "Nothing, you say, then, you tell me," His old man threw the picture books, photo albums and photographs of the host club featuring only The Natural One on the table. "What the heck is this? Not one, so many pictures of the same fella,"

"Oyaji, you're driving me crazy…"

"I'm making you mad," His father yelled, "You're making me mad with your queer hobby." He slammed a fist on a picture of The Natural One on the table, "Is this your interest? With a boy? Don't tell me, you've done it with him?"

"What?" Ritsu's eyes widened in shock then his eyes narrowed, "You've no right to…"

"I've every right," His father said, "In our family, none had gone astray. Life partners should be the opposite gender not of the same gender." He rubbed his left temple, "I want grandchildren. I want the family line to continue."

Ritsu was flustered, "What the heck are you rambling on?"

"What? What you say? Why have you become something that turns my stomach?"

"Oyaji, you're too much." Ritsu frowned again.

"What did you expect from me?" his old man eyebrows shot up, "A hearty congratulation?"

Ritsu rubbed his nape, "Calm down." He was vexed by his father's crazy accusations. "Or else your blood pressure will rise."

"C-ca-calm down?" His father raised his voice, "The only heir to this gumi is you and… and… you… you… turn out to… to… be… that, damn it, I can't even say it."

Ritsu coughed in shock, "It's not what you think."

"Then, what is it?" His father stared hard at him, "What excitement can you get out of a male when you poke your thing into him?"

Ritsu got angry, "Will you stop making an ass out of me!"

"Now, that you're talking about asses," his father's voice become thunderous, "Which one are you? Uke? Seme?" He narrowed his eyes, "Looking at you, you must be the seme."

"Oyaji! That's enough!"

"You want me to stop, than you stop this nonsensical act of wanting asses instead of pussies."

Ritsu flexed his hands in annoyance just to ease off the building tension, "I told you it's not like what you think."

"What about this?" His old man fished out another photo, and slammed it on the table, "You blushed when he gave you tea in the club." He banged his fist on the table, "A guy like you blushing! Tch…"

"How did… ?" Ritsu's eyes widened at the mere sight of the picture of him in the OHC.

The Natural One who became his bosom buddy had served him tea and was sitting next to him. He was so nervous. He could hardly breathe ever since he saw who The Natural One really was. It was an awkward situation for him but The Natural One seemed oblivious of his anxiety. It wasn't just because of knowing who The Natural One was. It was also because that person had treated him like a human being and a friend that he liked The Natural One.

"Well, what then?" his father pressed. "Will there be soft, creamy breasts to cushion your head or for you to bury your face in between them or sucking soft tits? All you get is a hard chest!"

Ritsu gaped then glared at his father, "Why are you making it difficult for me to explain things to you?"

"Then explain," His father said, "Well, I'm waiting…"

"I just admire that person, that's all."

"Admire?" His father stared at his with disbelieve, "This weakling," He inhaled deeply and exhaled with a huff, "What's there to admire? Bland looking, drab hairdo and you like him?"

"That person just looks like that," Ritsu said then he looked firmly at his father, "But that person isn't a weakling."

"You expect me to believe that," His father stared disbelievingly at him.

"Tch," Ritsu felt a vein pop up on his forehead, "Oyaji, that person and I are just good friends,"

His father pointed at the pictures, "Good friends don't collect so many candid of lone and dreamy pictures of the other. Only girlfriends or lovers and hentai stalkers do that."

Ritsu's lips thinned in frustration, "what has that to do with friendship?"

"Anything goes, from being friends to fetish obsession like yours to bondage," His father lectured him, "Over my dead body if you'll waste your precious semen, pumping it into this," he jabbed the picture of The Natural One thrice, "boy's backside!"

Ritsu clenched his teeth, "Oyaji, stop being graphic!"

"What? Have I struck a nine inch nail on your head? I'm glad! I will not tolerate such relationship!"

"That's not how it is between us!"

"Then what?"

"I've engaged that person as my tutor," Ritsu bellowed at his father. "My grades are bad and this year's my last year and I need to pull my grades to graduate high school."

His father stared blankly at him, then he cleared his throat, "Oh," suddenly he laughed, "Well, why didn't you say so. You scared me shitless!"

Ritsu closed his eyes to calm himself, swallowing his exasperation into the pits of his stomach.

"Oh," His old man said again than he puffed his chest, "That's good, I'd want you to graduate high school, it's very important for the family's reputation." His father looked at him, "When does this tutoring start?"

"Today, and," Ritsu replied, "The tutor's already here."

"Wha…"

The door slid open. There was a small built effeminate looking boy with tidy dark brown hair and warm brown eyes entering the room. The boy had a peaceful and pleasant aura about him. The boy bowed politely at the stern looking elderly person in front of him. This was Bossanova-kun's father. His features were that of Benkai-oni. But somehow, the boy had a feeling that the oyabun was like this because of his position and had to defend his reputation as the head of his gumi.

"Pleased to meet you, sir," the boy said, "I'm Haruhi Fujioka, a schoolmate of the same year as Kasa-kun."

Ritsu's father nodded his head, "Yes, yes, nice to meet you too, Haruhi-kun…" Then he paused, his mouth opened slightly, "H-Ha-ruhi," His eyes shifted to Ritsu, "You didn't tell me,"

"You didn't give me the chance to say more,"

"I'm dressed as a boy, because of a mistake I did," Haruhi said.

"What do you mean?"

Ritsu butted in, "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later."

He rose to his feet and gestured Haruhi to follow him, "Come on let's go to my study room,"

Haruhi turned to him, "Please take care of me," and bowed again, "Excuse me," and smiled.

The elderly man just looked at her dazedly. The child, that boy… no, that girl had a very kind smile. The kind that would put a constricted heart at ease, he looked at Ritsu, "Take good care of your friend."

Ritsu's answer was a smile.

"Bossanova-kun," The elderly man heard as the two young ones walked towards their destination, "You were conned by Kyouya-senpai into buying those Bakumatsu-era, Alice in Wonderland, Café Waiters and Arabian Nights photographs. It's all for the sake of increasing the club's till. Those pictures have put you into trouble. First with the newspaper club, second with the gardening club and now with your father, I'm troubled by all this and feel that it's unfair to you. Why didn't you throw them away?"

"You don't show your true self to others but only for the camera. The essence of the real you had been immortalized perfectly and I want to always see that."

"Bossanova," Haruhi said in a dry tone, "What're you talking about? My pictures are the worst of the lot."

Ritsu's father's eyes glittered, remembering his son's words, you don't show your true self to others but only for the camera, which meant that the lass showed her true self to only one person. That was a talk of a lover. Did Ritsu realize that? There was more to this than he led on. He even said that he admired the lass. To capture his son's heart was a difficult thing to do. He knew that his son was hard-hearted.

What had she done to have a strong grip of his son's attention? She looked plain and acted plainly. But hadn't Ritsu said she just looked like a weakling. If Ritsu said so then she was tougher than she looked. He glanced at the cross dressing lass, she was indeed brave. Not many schoolmates of the prestigious school for snotty brats would want to become tutor to the son of a big time yakuza and come to said yakuza's house much less be his son's friend.

Or she just didn't seem to bother about the line between her world and his world. Whatever her thoughts might be, she was her own person. Did she know of his son's budding feelings for her? He smiled slightly. Perhaps, his son had presented his important person to him subconsciously. Good friends, huh… without a doubt this unique friendship would turn into something interesting.

He raised an eyebrow, "Hmmm, yes, very, very interesting…"

THE END