"Morning sickness..," a tall dark-haired woman whispered to herself as she dropped her blonde, spiky-haired friend's mobile phone on the ground with clatter. Images of Hachi ordering a grapefruit juice during their farewell dinner with Misato and discussing maternal instinct paraded through her mind's eye. How could she have missed the signs?

"You..," she demanded, glaring at Nobu angrily and hopefully at the same time. "When you did it with Hachi, did you use a condom?"

The young man hesitated, and Nana grabbed him by the shirt fiercely, giving him a slight, but firm shake. How did this happen? They had just been enjoying the balmy summer evening air, walking home along the river after a kickass practice. Nobu was so excited to go see Hachi, and Nana felt as though she was swimming in happiness. Hachi was hers, and the band starting down the path to making it big. Everything had been so perfect moments ago. How did the night turn into this?

"Answer me!" she shouted at the troubled young man. Why was he being so quiet? She needed to know so badly. God, let his answer be no. Please, let his answer be no..

"Of course I did," he replied softly. He was staring at her with his pleading brown eyes, as though he was willing her to tell him it wasn't true, and Hachi wasn't pregnant with Takumi's child. But...that was what she needed to hear from him. Why was his expression so serious?

"Every time?"

"Yes."

"From the start?"

"Yes."

"Liar!" Nana roared desperately. She could feel stinging tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she held them back. Why was he saying this? This wasn't what she wanted to hear. "You didn't use one, at least for awhile!"

"I'm saying that I did!" Nobu cried indignantly. Worry was etched into every minute line on his young face. Why was he looking at her like that? She could still feel the tension of his shirt balled up in her fist as she gripped it.

"Why must you be such a serious guy, you bastard?" she snapped, shoving him forcefully to the ground with the hand that had been clenching his shirt like a lifeline. She could see the spot she had been clutching was stretched and wrinkled. She threw her lighter at him, hard, striking him in head.

"What are you saying? That being serious is bad? I don't even have the money to raise a kid. Isn't it normal?" Nobu demanded, completely distressed. He could barely grasp everything that was happening. It was so sudden, and Nana taking her emotions out on him wasn't helping anything. The spot on his forehead where she had hit him with her lighter was throbbing, and his hands were scraped and sore from hitting the ground so hard, but the sensations seemed so far away compared to the pain constricting his chest. He thought his heart would give out, it hurt so much.

"Then it's Takumi's," Nana stated disconsolately, falling to her knees, ignoring the loose rocks littering the ground as they bit into her flesh. The tears that had been forming in her cat-like eyes now rained down upon the dry, dusty ground beneath her. She stayed like that, suppressing her sobs, underneath the velvety night sky until Nobu spoke, breaking the silence.

"Don't cry. I'm the one who should be crying," he said, confused by Nana's emotional behavior. Shouldn't this outburst be his? Hachi was his girlfriend, not Nana's. He couldn't believe she would be this selfish. Nana really was warped.

"Since it's not your kid, say it. So that Hachi won't have it," she cried out, her eyes now focused on the despondent man on the ground in front of her. Nobu stared at her in disbelief for a moment. What was she saying? Did she even know?

"If I say that, won't it look like I don't want to take responsibility? I did it with her too, so there's a small chance that it's mine right? Besides, maybe Hachi knows that it's Takumi's. Isn't that why Takumi's helping her? If that wasn't the case, she would never meet him. She shouldn't meet him," he murmured bitterly, his soft brown eyes glistening with tears. He was trying so hard not to feel completely betrayed, but he felt so insignificant in comparison with Takumi. Why did that guy make him feel so small and insecure?

"It's okay if you become the father," Nana declared suddenly, a look of resoluteness resting on her beautiful features. She looked so happy saying those words, Nobu couldn't stand it. What was wrong with her? He couldn't even looked at her.

"What are you saying? Don't say something like that so easily," the young blonde scolded Nana in exasperation. Why wasn't she taking this seriously?

Nana's face fell at his words. She crawled forward in the dirt, scraping her knees even more as she moved closer to Nobu and reached out toward him, placing her hands upon his knee. His despondent face was still turned away from hers.

"If it's about money, we can make it. Besides, we're going to debut soon. Takumi won't recognize a kid he had by accident," Nana exclaimed triumphantly. Hachi was hers, and she would do everything in her power to keep it that way. Takumi was not going to win.

"He said he will recognize it. Even if it's my child," Nobu replied dully. Nana's victorious expression fell slightly. She hadn't expected such a thing from Takumi. What a manipulative bastard.

"No way, he's just doing it to get Hachi. He want to use the child to get her for himself."

"Aren't you doing that too?" Nobu demanded, his light brown eyes consumed with the flames of anger. Nana was such a selfish woman. "Aren't you using me to get Hachi for yourself? Cut it out already! You are definitely strange. If you say that, then maybe you should become the father. But I don't think you will ever be able to love Takumi's child."

"I won't," she whispered, barely audible, the tears returning to her eyes. Suddenly she rose to full height and, without sparing a look back at Nobu, ran. He was left sitting on the ground, alone, feeling completely betrayed and abandoned by the women in his life.

x.X.x

"I'll call you back when I'm free," he had told her in his usual suave and collected voice.

"Don't bother!" was her angry reply. "Actually, never call me back. Farewell!"

Was that not a sufficient goodbye for him? Why did he continue to exist in her life? She had made it clear when he had showed up that he wasn't wanted there. Why, then, was he, Takumi, locked in her bedroom and telling her boyfriend news that should be coming from her lips, while she was slumped on the floor in shock, unable to comprehend much of what was taking place. She vaguely recalled him placing her cell phone in her hand, but she didn't even have the ability to lift one finger. His interference had drained her of her will to exist.

The long-haired bassist from Trapnest sunk down in the doorway of her room staring at her, intently. His cold eyes seemed to enjoy the despondency for which he was responsible. Hachi could smell lingering cigarette smoke emanating from his clothes, and, for the first time in her life, the smell made her sick to her stomach. Takumi made her sick. She loathed him for putting her through this, for barging into her life at a time like this and interfering in this before she had a chance to tell anyone for herself. He was manipulating the situation to his advantage, trying to turn Nobu against her so she would have no other option.

"Those two sure are late," Takumi stated, trying to break the awkward silence that had settled between him and the broken, young woman he had claimed as his. "Don't get so stressed. Anyway, you should lie down. You'd be in trouble if you had a miscarriage."

The tall rock-star rose to his feet, his dark, silken locks falling into his face as he picked Hachi up from her slumped position on the kitchen floor, carrying her much like a husband would carry his newlywed bride over the threshold. Hachi hated his touch, but her desire to fight was drained from her. She felt so used up and empty.

"Hey, aren't you gaining weight?" Takumi inquired without tact. "I thought it was normal for a woman to lose weight in the first months of her pregnancy. My older sister had a bad case of morning sickness, too," he continued conversationally, tired of the silence between the pair of them. "I was still a kid, but she was twenty years old. Her husband is a serious office worker. Unlike me, he is a very reliable man, so he was always scolding me... So full of himself. My sister was crying and Reira was laughing, making fun of me. It was horrible. Now that I mention it, you're twenty years old, too. For a twenty year old girl, you're still lost, Nana. You don't have a job, and when you get lonely, you go for the first guy you see. What are you going to do now that you're pregnant? Your parents are gonna cry! But, I feel I'm not the one who should be telling you this, right? No matter who the kid's father is, there's no mistake that you are the mother, so pull yourself together."

He grabbed her hand, but she didn't return the gesture. She couldn't find the energy to pull her hand away, either. Until now, she had never know was hate was. She didn't even hate Shoji for hurting her, or Sachiko for taking Shoji from her. She now knew that she hated Takumi for every insult he had just aimed in her direction. He only wanted her because he couldn't have her, and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction he desired. Whether Nobu forgave her for this disaster or not, Takumi's manipulations would not succeed.