Hello everyone! I have been on hiatus for a really long time, but hopefully those dark days will be behind us. To celebrate the blistering summer heat, I thought that I would start my fanfiction days with a whole new story. I know that people have been asking me to keep up with my old ones, and I absolutely will, but need to oil my rusty writing gears again with something new. So please enjoy and review because your comments keep me going!

Disclaimer: My Love-prize in Viewfinder is not mine.

Chapter: 1

That summer was especially hot, and Akihito was having a real tough time keeping away all those street rats trying to pick apart his flowers. Since they were on vacation, those high-school and middle-school punks would ride by on their bicycles yelling and flailing their arms around, their niggling dirty fingers plucking his precious roses and prim carnations delicately sitting in porcelain vases outside of the store.

As soon as he heard them, he would dash outside carrying his broom and spray bottle, on guard in case one of those brats decided to steal anything he had on display outside. He had no idea why, but his small store seemed to always attract people that had no intention of buying any of his flowers. Rather, they all seemed to drop by to just dilly-dally. Those giggling high-school girls were cute, but they would only wander around the store touching all of the plants to the point of wilting them, smile evasively at him, maybe buy a small daisy, and then leave. The boys were worse. They would saunter up to the counter and make dirty suggestive comments or just act like little shits, probably break something, and then he would yell at them to scram before he called their parents. Then, there were the housewives. They were the nicest. They would drop by to either buy some flowers for their dinner table, even give him some food, giggle, and then leave. But before leaving, they would try to chat with him – a lot.

Business was doing pretty well ever since he opened up his flower shop several years ago. He was still in a bit of debt from the start-up, but Akihito had hope that things would be looking up from now on, especially since he was just commissioned to fill a large order for a wedding. He had immediately told his two best friends Takato and Kou right after he got the call this morning from the to-be Mrs. Tanaka-san. They were happy for him, and the two had declared that they would treat him right after he closed his store tonight for a round of late-night beers and ramen. Akihito was in a pretty good mood, and not even that annoying kid Shouta running off with a bunch of his lilies could deter it.

"Damn brats," Akihito grumbled, dusting the front of the store after Shouta and his gang of misfits zoomed on by.

The crowd was winding down for the day since the sun had set several hours ago, so Akihito was planning on calling it quits an hour earlier than the usual closing time after taking out the trash. Plus, he was excited to meet his friends. He was on his way to the back alley with two heavy-duty trash bags in either hand when he heard screams and yelling, coupled with some heavy glass-breaking and banging the next block over.

He was starting to feel a little nervous when the yelling and banging still carried on even after he had finished cleaning up the store, locked up, and was ready to head out for the night. The neighborhood wasn't dangerous by far, but there have been rumors that yakuzas are running the streets these days because the police have been undergoing some turmoil recently: something about failing to get some big-shot bad guy. Apparently the police have been trying to shush it all up, but they were failing horribly at stamping out the accusation that they were losing their power.

Akihito pulled the hoodie over his head and kept touch of his phone in his hands in case anything was to happen. He was already a few feet in the other direction on his way to the bus stop when he stopped in his tracks, thought about how stupid it was of him if he were to get involved, cursed, thought the better of it, and ran the opposite way toward all the noise. He had always been a nosy brat himself in his teenage years, not that those years were far behind him, and his curiosity got the better of him.

There were a bunch of street dogs barking nearby when he got to the scene and hid himself behind a trashcan that stunk a lot like rotten fish. He scanned the setting and saw poor old Mr. Hiroshima and his wife groveling on their knees in front of some man in a suit, their okonomiyaki shop in shambles.

The nearby area was deserted. Even though it wasn't past-midnight yet, no one was outside. They were probably too afraid to go near the source of the noise since gang wars and these sorts of things were happening too frequently in Tokyo recently. Akihito saw that even those homes whose lights were on a moment ago were now pitched black with the curtains drawn.

Mr. Hiroshima was mumbling something to the taller man, but Akihito was too far away to get a good look at that guy's face or to hear what they were saying. He was contemplating calling the police, clutching his phone tightly in his hand, when he saw an enormous hulk of a man back-handed Mr. Hiroshima and he laid limp on the ground.

Akihito stood up from behind the trash cans, ready to pummel those guys to the ground for what they did, but then saw the tall suited man pull something black out from his vest. Alarm bells went off in his head when he realized that the man was holding a gun. Even from far away, he could see that the scene was dangerous and not something that he could handle alone.

He shut his eyes tightly, opened them, and then made the decision to call the police once he was out of earshot.

However, as soon as he was trying to make his getaway from behind the trashcans, his phone vibrated and the song Heartbreaker from the band Mimi's newest third album screeched into the night.

Aki stopped dead in his tracks.

Sweat he didn't even know he had rolled down his face and neck. He looked at his phone to see Takato's number flashing on the screen, then looked back at the earlier scene to see suited men running straight at him.

Having been in track and even making it to regionals in high-school, Akihito ran.

He ran for what seemed like hours, the blood thumping loudly in his ears as he navigated the twists and turns of the neighborhood, trying to lose the three suits chasing after him. They were surprisingly very fast despite their large frames. Thinking quick on his feet, he saw a pile of large cardboard boxes near one of the alleys and dived in. His body was small enough that he was able to squeeze inside one of the boxes and stack some more cardboard on top of himself. A few moments later, heavy footsteps were heard running pass. Akihito slowly let out the breath he didn't even know that he had been holding in. Despite the sweltering heat, Akihito didn't dare stick his head out of his hiding place until he had started dozing off. He couldn't be too sure if those yakuzas were still there or not.

After waiting for at least another half an hour, he cautiously wandered out of his hiding place and headed straight for the bus, not wanting to go back to the crime scene in case those thugs were still there. Checking his phone once he was safely on the bus, he decided to call Takato again to tell him about the incident near Mr. Hiroshima's shop.

He called the police next to report the crime, glad that he had done a good deed while having gotten away successfully. He hoped that Mr. Hiroshima and his wife were okay.

Meanwhile, in his high-rise luxury penthouse in Shinjuku, Asami Ryuuichi was sipping on his scotch. His voice was clipped as he talked to the subordinate on the other end of the phone. Hanging up, he twirled the cellphone keychain that the boy had dropped earlier between his fingers. He was playing with the little cat keychain in his hands, stroking the plastic cat's head gently as he directed his secretary.

"Kirishima."

"Yes, Asami-sama?"

"Let's give the little neko-chan a visit."