=Maybe plot, maybe not. Maybe I wanted to give Junpei another chance, he's not that bad of a guy, at heart. So anyway, here goes.=

Recompense for Treachery

A-1 Sauce! ... or Chapter 1, "That Dango Shop."

The day grew colder as Junpei strode down the sidewalk, his hands tucked into his pockets and his blonde hair brushing his forehead in the breeze. Tokyo seemed the same as ever, couples walking by hand in hand, shop signs piercing the gray, overcast sky with neon lights and the bright hum of life. He let out a sigh and scoured the line of stores beside him, looking for a way to subdue his hunger without ruining his appetite. He was only visiting briefly--his second class for the day was canceled and so he came to the big city for old time's sake--and then he had a dinner date at university. He paused at a small confection shop, which seemed hidden between two large signs. Feeling a sudden sense of déjà vu--and also a sharp sweet tooth-- he shook his head and walked inside.

The dango shop retained a charm lacking in the rest of Tokyo. It was quiet and appeared to have very few visitors, and one girl was manning the counter. She had curly dark hair and was restocking a particular kind of sweet, not noticing Junpei as he approached. Glancing up, the girl smiled.

"Hello, sir," she greeted, quickly standing and nodding her head. He responded silently, walking over to the glass and inspecting each small treat. They were quite pretty, each one decorated with icings and chocolates of different colors and sitting in patterned foil. He didn't acknowledge when another girl came from the back, stepping up to the cash register in anticipation of his order.

"I'll have one of those," Junpei said at last, pointing to a particular small, chocolate item. The first girl nodded and removed one, placing it in a small bag on the counter. Without looking up he took out his wallet, then glanced at the register for a price. He blinked at the zeros lined across it.

"Junpei-kun," came a familiar voice. His head shot up, his gaze meeting slowly with a pair of wide, brown eyes.

"Makino-san," he murmured. Her hair had been cut short, and was now held in a pair of small buns with pins to hold her wild bangs. Much of the roundness in her face had given way to a more feminine look, though she still retained much of her hard stubbornness in her cheeks and lips. Five years had done good things for her.

The silence hung thickly in the air until Yuki lightly prodded Tsukushi in the arm. The woman jumped slightly, breaking eye contact with Junpei and focusing on the task of ringing up his purchase. "Three hundred and fifty yen, please," she informed him with a slight stutter. He nodded and withdrew the proper tender, which she put in the register and dropped a few coins of change into his palm.

Junpei turned, intent on leaving the small store as soon as possible. Unbidden memories rose to the surface, causing him to wince slightly and hunch his shoulders, as if avoiding her gaze. "Wait, Junpei!"

He spun around, watching as Tsukushi came around the counter, stopping after pushing through the small doors. "D-do you have a moment?" Junpei watched her calculatingly before facing her and nodding his head. She smiled briefly before sitting down at a small table against the window. There were only two of the tables in the shop, and they were the result of one of Tsukushi's rare impulse buys. Though very few people used them, she had been unable to leave the cute pieces of furniture in the shop where they were on closeout.

"Is this all right?" Junpei asked, his voice slightly nervous. Tsukushi nodded her head.

"We don't get many customers now," she replied. She seemed to have rediscovered some of her courage. "What have you been doing lately?"

"I'm attending university outside Tokyo," he said, unable to look directly into her intent brown eyes. "Just studying, trying to get by." Tsukushi chuckled and he raised his eyebrows.

"I can't imagine a model having 'trouble' getting by," she commented. Junpei felt himself ease slightly at her laughter.

"I suppose not, huh?" He smiled ever so slightly. "How have you been?"

Tsukushi let her eyes drop at that moment to her hands. "I'm... well." Junpei waited for her to say more, which she did after a moment's silence. "Doumyouji's getting married next week."

Junpei sighed at the name. If only it hadn't been Tsukasa, if she hadn't fallen for the one man he truly despised. After the incident, Junpei had spent hours remembering her shouts, her pleas, and her tears. A man like Doumyouji didn't deserve her tears, he thought. Though he could admit his enemy had obviously changed since Makino Tsukushi, Junpei felt no remorse over his thorough beating of the man. He knew Doumyouji would never be able to fully comprehend the depth of the girl's complex feelings and that eventually, she would have to move on. He was all muscle and heart, but with very little brain. Junpei had spent hours thinking hypothetically, 'What if she had met me first? What if I could have her?' He would never had made her cry, he would never, ever have betrayed her if it hadn't been for that one Doumyouji Tsukasa.

"What... what happened?" Junpei inquired, not knowing if the issue would be too tender for her to reveal to him. He knew he was asking too much of her, but it would relieve him to know she had found someone better. He always wished that someone else would be him, but it was too much to expect after the sin he had committed against her. Her body shielding Doumyouji's haunted his dreams for months afterwards.

Tsukushi looked at her hands, her hair falling in front of her face and obscuring her eyes with shadows. "We tried. We worked so hard, but we were crushed under the corporate foot and arranged marriage." She paused, as if gathering her wits. "I had thought... I had thought we would make it. But love isn't everything."

There was silence. Junpei lightly lifted his hand, placing it on hers and squeezing briefly. At the mere touch her shoulders tensed and her head lowered, and she shook slightly as a tear pricked at her eye but refused to fall, as if so many before it had done so, unheeded. "We tried so hard..."

And then, Junpei had an idea. "Makino-san!" he said suddenly, surprising the girl. She looked at him, her bright eyes sparking with moisture. "When do you get off work?"

"A-around e-eight," she replied, her shock seeming to override her tears. Junpei nodded and smiled, using her hand to draw her to her feet.

"What do you say to a late dinner?" he asked brightly. He suddenly felt rejuvenated, as if his whole being was suddenly focused around making this one girl forget her sadness. She could only nod slowly before he flashed her a wide smile. "I'll see you then!" He squeezed her hand once more in reassurance and took his small bagged confection. Before she could react he dashed out the door.

As soon as he got on the street, Junpei scoured the sidewalk for a pay phone. Spotting one in use, he trotted over and arrived just as the woman inside stepped out. Fishing a few coins out of his pocket he went into the booth and closed the glass door, taking the phone off the hook and putting in his change before dialing the number.

"Minami? This is Oribe. Something came up with an... old friend. I won't be able to make it tonight, but I can probably meet you tomorrow instead. All right, thanks. Same time. Goodbye."

"Tsukushi, who was that?" Yuki asked as she wiped the glass clean. Tsukushi glanced up from the register, where she was tallying numbers on a receipt.

"Oh... Just someone from Eitoku," she replied vaguely. Yuki raised one eyebrow, then went back to her work without prying further.

At eight o'clock they finished most of the cleaning. Yuki had left earlier, leaving Tsukushi to do the last shift on her own. She was used to late nights by that time, for she was working even longer hours to pay the added expense for her university tuition. She was just turning off the lights in the back room when she heard the jingle of the door.

"Sorry, we're closed!" she called. She paused, but there was no adjoining sound of a disappointed customer leaving. "I said-" she stopped mid-sentence, remembering Junpei's words when she saw him standing just inside the shop. He nodded at her and smiled, his blonde hair ruffling slightly in a breeze only felt outside.

"Ready to go?" he asked jovially. His voice was a jolt to Tsukushi's memories, bringing forth images of a funny, blonde haired boy with glasses. 'Do you need a friend?' She shuddered briefly and nodded at him, her mind too tired and clouded for her to either resist or do anything but be swept away in his whirlwind.

"S-sure," she managed, taking her purse out from the employee closet and slipping it over her shoulder. "Just wait a moment, I have to turn out the lights and lock up."

By the time the two had left the shop, Tsukushi glanced at her watch and noticed it was already twenty after. Junpei merely stood and waited patiently, his eyes never once wandering from her as she bustled about, remembering each task that she had previously forgotten. By the time they stepped out onto the brightly-lit street, she was already tired.

"This place has changed a lot in the last few years," Junpei commented as they turned a corner onto one of the larger main streets. Tsukushi only nodded her head, feeling the beginnings of a slight nervousness all the way down to her wrists. Her outright hatred of him had dissipated with her maturity to dislike and recently, impartiality. Though it was true that he had left like she asked, every so often her thoughts wandered back to him.

He was one of the reasons she and Tsukasa had gotten together, so it was hard for him and his deeds to escape her mind. When at her angriest, Tsukushi often felt that she could even forgive him for what he did; she often felt the same need for retribution.

"It looks like this place is still here," Junpei commented, seemingly to himself. "There was a restaurant I used to go to after modeling. It's pretty good, do you want to eat there?"

Tsukushi raised her eyebrows, her expectation that he would merely take her wherever he wanted to go splitting. Without thinking she nodded her head, and he smiled. "Great! I'm sure you'll like it, they have all kinds of things, and they're all good for you." Before she could blink, he had taken her by the hand and led her to the front entrance of a small restaurant. It was simple and it might be missed if one didn't look carefully.

Tsukushi was taken aback at the lively atmosphere inside. The waitresses were dressed suitably and most were older, and the place seemed to be thriving with life at every well-lit booth. Junpei smiled knowingly, for it was the same environment that had captured his heart during high school, when he spent so much of his time hiding his fame behind dorky glasses.

When they were finally seated in a far corner, Junpei attempted conversation. "I see you're still working at the dango shop. Are you going to school around here?" His eyebrows raised when, instead of responding, she looked down at her hands.

"Well, no. I'm finishing at university this year," she replied, her voice twittering nervously despite her conscious efforts to stabilize it. "At Eitoku." Junpei nodded his head.

"It's a feeder school, isn't it?" Tsukushi nodded in affirmation. Confused as to why she was reluctant to talk about her education, he decided he would harmlessly pry a little bit further. The Tsukushi he remembered wouldn't be afraid of school. "Is it a bad university? It's very expensive, I thought."

She only shook her head. "The F4 still go there."

Realization dawned on him, and Junpei mentally smacked himself. Of course, she had fallen out with Doumyouji. It should have been obvious to him that she wouldn't want to talk about it. "They're the same," her voice interjected into his thoughts. He watched her intently as she spoke, her eyes still down, her hands holding the menu lifelessly. "I don't really know them any more, though."

Junpei raised his eyebrows, for he remembered clearly how determined Tsukasa had been to protect her. Could his seemingly impenetrable 'love' be broken that easily? He leaned forward, giving her his full attention. She glanced at him and, taking in his inviting expression, leaned back against the cushion of the booth.

"It started like this."