Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

Seven years later

Yuuki exited the arrival hall and a familiar wave swept over her. It had been seven long years since she'd set foot in Japan. Seven long years. She turned around to look behind her at the little girl cuddling a worn brown teddy bear towards her.

"Come on Rei" she called.

"Coming mama" the little girl answered and clutching Benji the teddy bear tighter to her chest she hurried after Yuuki.

"He's here!" Yuuki exclaimed as she caught sight of the familiar face. There standing a little distance away and holding up a very badly done handmade sign was Akira.

"Yuuki-chan! Rei-chan!" Akira exclaimed as he caught sight of them. Rei sprinted towards Akira and threw herself into his arms.

"Akira-san!" she squealed as he picked her up and spun her around.

"My, my Rei-chan! You're getting prettier every time I see you!" he exclaimed and she giggled burying her face in his neck.

"Akira-san its good to see you again" Yuuki said as she walked towards Akira.

"Rei-chan can I put you down for a second so I can talk to your mother?" Akira asked the little girl in his arms.

"Okay" she replied with a wide smile.

"How are you Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked as he set Rei down.

"I'm good Akira-san how are you?" Yuuki asked shyly as she stood in front of him.

Rei rolled her eyes and gave a long suffering sigh as she watched the unnecessarily formal exchange of conversation between Akira and her mother. She sometimes thought that her mother should stop being so formal with Akira and just hug him already. Even though she was a kid she knew that if you were good friends with someone you had to hug them and kiss them right? Without hesitating, she walked around the two of them till she was standing behind her mother and without giving a moments warning, she pushed her mother gently. With a soft yelp Yuuki fell forward and Akira caught her, placing his hands gently on each of her shoulders. He laughed it off and instead made the first move by giving her a friendly hug. When they pulled apart, Yuuki hastily grabbed Rei's hand as Akira commandeered their baggage trolley.

"Shall we go?" Akira asked.

"Yay!" Rei squealed and used her free hand to latch onto Akira's arm. "Let's go!" she exclaimed.

"But first I think that Rei-chan needs a celebratory welcome back ice-cream don't you think Yuuki-chan?" Akira asked and Rei immediately looked hopeful.

"Please mama? Please, please, please?" she begged.

"Oh alright, but just one ok?" Yuuki replied with a smile.

"Thank you mama!" Rei exclaimed and squeezed her mother's hand. Yuuki sighed; she hoped she'd made the right decision by coming back.


Ever since Rei could remember, she'd always wondered why she never had a father. Everyone had to have a father right? Then why was it that she didn't have one? She remembered asking her mother once when she was about four years old, why she didn't have a father. The result was disastrous. Her mother had burst into tears and it was a good thing that Akira happened to visit at the time. He had made Yuuki a strong cup of tea and had stayed by her side the entire night, only leaving for a short while to help put Rei to bed. The next morning when Rei had woken up, she found her mother asleep on the couch with her head resting against Akira's shoulder. The latter had also apparently fallen asleep after comforting Yuuki the whole night. It was then that Rei decided that she would never ask her mother about her father again. It only brought her mother more heartache and Rei didn't want to cause her anymore pain. Yuuki had already been through enough; trying to juggle work and being a single mother.

It actually didn't really bother Rei that she had no father, after all you can't miss what you've never had in the first place right? Besides the visits from her godparents Tsukasa and Tsukushi, Akira and even Rui had prevented her mother and her from being lonely. Plus being around Tsukasa, Rui and especially Akira had made up for the lack of having a father figure in her life.

Out of all of them Akira had been the constant presence in their lives. He visited them as much as he could. Even when he was on business trips, he would make time for them. Ironically enough, since she'd gone to the states, Yuuki and Akira had grown to be better friends. Their friendship growth had started when Akira happened to visit Yuuki while he was in the states on business and they began corresponding fairly frequently after that. Although it was only a few months after Rei's birth did Yuuki and Akira become close. Rei was about four months old when Akira came to visit Yuuki for the second time. He'd immediately been attached to Rei since the moment that he first laid eyes on her. Having had a huge part in raising his sisters, Akira had lent his expertise to Yuuki who was alienated in the ways of raising a baby girl. Since that faithful night when he'd first seen Rei, he began making visits to the states more often. Sometimes he would spend months at a time there. But even with Akira around, Rei could see that her mother was unhappy. Yuuki never showed it though; her face was always a cheery mask. Rei had racked her little brains trying her hardest to come up with reasons why her mother would be unhappy. So she decided that to find out the answer there was only one person that she could ask.

Rei had been waiting for the perfect timing to ask her burning questions, and it had come. It was a day when Akira, Yuuki and Rei had spent the day at the zoo. They were just about to return home when Yuuki had to suddenly return to the office. Being an assistant to a nationally famous designer has its draw backs. One of them was to be on standby and to go when called. Akira had volunteered to babysit Rei till Yuuki finished work. After all, he was incredibly fond of the little girl. While indulging in the cheesiest slice of pizza that he'd ordered for their dinner, Akira was ambushed with the question.

"Akira-san, why is mama so unhappy?" she had asked and he paused mid bite with the sauce dripping off his pizza slice.

"Eh?" he had asked

"Why is mama so unhappy?" she asked again.

"She's not unhappy" Akira answered and resumed taking a bite of his pizza slice.

"She is unhappy Akira-san" Rei insisted. For a six year old, she was rather insightful and not to mention intelligent.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Sometimes I hear mama crying herself to sleep. She thinks I don't know it but I do, I can hear her and she's sad" Rei said simply.

"Oh" was all Akira said.

"Is she sad because of me?" the little girl asked. "Did I make mama sad?"

"No Rei-chan" Akira immediately said and with a sigh, he then began to explain. "She's sad because of someone she used to love".

Rei got up from her seat and walked towards the mantle piece where a photo graph stood. It was a photograph taken at Tsukasa and Tsukushi's wedding. Out of all the faces in the photograph, a single face was blacked out in permanent ink.

"Is it him?" Rei asked pointing to the blacked out face.

"Yes" Akira replied knowing that it was fruitless to lie to the six year old.

"How did you know him Akira-san?" she asked.

"Well back in school, Tsukasa, Rui, this man and I were part of a group called F4" he explained.

"Wait Akira-san, why were you called the F4" Rei asked looking at him curiously.

"Well F4 was short for The Flower four" he replied as two spots of pink appeared on his cheeks, he realized that to a child, the whole idea of four men being called the flower four must seem quite strange.

"Were you called that because you liked flowers?" she had asked and Akira laughed.

"No, we weren't called that because we liked flowers, we were called that because the people around us thought we were really rich, good looking and smart…err…yes that's why" he replied once again feeling slightly embarrassed, realizing that he must sound incredibly arrogant.

"Oh, so mama liked this man then?" Rei asked pointing to the blackened face on the photograph.

"Yes, your mother loved this man a lot but he didn't love her back and so she became sad. Imagine loving someone so much but they don't love you back?" Akira asked Rei.

"Oh, no wonder mama is sad" Rei replied. She was just about to ask Akira about the name of this man who had hurt her mother when a key turning in the lock announced that Yuuki had already come home.

"Mama!" Rei squealed and threw herself at Yuuki as soon as she came through the door.

"Oh hello baby- whoa, easy there Rei, you might topple me backwards" she remarked.

"I love you mama" Rei replied hugging Yuuki's legs tightly.

"Hey", Akira protested from his place on the couch, "I'm feeling a little left out here, where's my love?"

Rei giggled and she went over to hug Akira "I love you too Akira-san" she replied with a hug.

It was that night that Rei decided that if they went back to Japan, she would find the man that hurt her mama and she was going to let him know how much he had hurt her. She didn't want her mama to be hurt anymore. Her mama was a good person and deserved as much happiness as anyone else.


The opportunity to go back to Japan had come a short while later for Yuuki. The designer that she was working with, Michael Corte was going to expand his collection to Japan starting at a fashion show in Tokyo and he had insisted, or rather he'd demanded that Yuuki be by his side. She was considered to be Michael's right hand person and she took care of all the important matters regarding the designs. It was especially important that Yuuki come back to Japan because she was a native to the land and knew its culture, people and language well. It didn't take Yuuki long to get everything packed up from her small cottage like house and before she knew it, she and Rei had been on their way to the air port ready to catch the next flight out to Japan.

In all honesty if Michael hadn't demanded that Yuuki go to Japan, she would never have even considered coming back. There was nothing for her here but dormant heartache and memories that were better left forgotten. In particular, Yuuki had been hesitant about coming back because of one person; Nishikado Soujiroh. She felt stupid for admitting it but she was terrified. She was terrified that she would be unfortunate enough to bump into him and she wasn't sure what she would do then.


Yuuki had just finished unpacking, moving into a new house was tedious in the sense that there was a lot to be done. Just as she's put the last cardboard box away, Rei walked into the room clutching Benji tightly to her chest.

"Mama" she said sitting down beside Yuuki.

"Yes baby?" Yuuki asked as she pulled Rei in for a cuddle.

"I'm hungry what's there to eat?"

"Well I didn't have time to cook because I've been unpacking so how about we go to the shops and see if we can get anything?"

"Can I have instant ramen?" Rei asked looking hopeful.

"Sure, come on let's get your coat and go shall we?" Yuuki asked and Rei got up eagerly and flounced off to grab her coat.


Soujiroh parked his Harley along the side of the road and made his way down the street to the twenty four hour supermarket. Lately he'd been on a spree spending each night with a different woman and unfortunately for him he'd run out of condoms. He had decided to stop by the supermarket because it was the only one in the vicinity that sold his favorite brand of condoms. From the moment that he stepped through the automated doors of the supermarket, all female eyes were on him. It gave him a slight adrenaline rush to know that he was the center of attention. Cool and confident he made his way towards the furthest end of the supermarket where all the 'manly items' were kept. He had just bypassed the men's hair products section and was heading towards the condoms when he saw it.

He remembered it from years and years ago. He was certain it was the same one. The same eyes and the same fixed smile. Yet, instead of being in the massive attic storeroom of the Mimasaka family house like he'd last seen it, it was now being cuddled by a little girl. Although anyone could have had a teddy bear that looked like that right? And besides how would this little girl ever get her hands on the same teddy bear that Soujiroh was familiar with? It couldn't have been the same one. What were the chances of that happening? She was a cute little girl about five to six years old. Soujiroh was sure that in a good twelve to fifteen years, she would break many men's hearts. Soujiroh wasn't usually bothered with children. He'd always thought that they were dirty little things that cried and pooped all day. Yet there was something different about this little girl, she looked strangely familiar to him and yet he didn't know her at all. Crystal tears were running down her cheeks as she looked around helplessly, all the time clutching the teddy bear tighter to her chest. What was its name again? Soujiroh couldn't remember. Was it Menji? Kenji? Fuji? All he knew was that it ended with a ji. Soujiroh tried to go about his normal business and ignore the little girl crying but his efforts were proving to be fruitless. She was now breaking out into little sobs and each sound felt like a knife stabbing into Soujiroh's flesh. With a heavy sigh he walked over to her.

"Hello" he said kneeling down so that she wouldn't feel so terrified of him. She didn't respond but was now looking at him with a mixture of shock and surprise. He carried on, "are you alright? Why are you crying?"

"M-m-my mama and I came here to get ramen but I wandered off and got lost" she replied. He cringed as she began to sniffle loudly.

"Here" he replied and reached into the inside of his coat to retrieve his handkerchief. He handed it to the little girl who took it hesitantly and blew her nose.

"Thank you" she replied and looked around helplessly.

"Do you want me to help you find your mother?" Soujiroh asked and mentally slapped himself. It was so unlike him to glance twice at a crying child and yet he'd stopped right in front of one and given her his handkerchief to wipe her snot on. And now he was offering to help her find her mother? This was too much, even for him. Yet one look at those sad little dark brown eyes and he was gripped.

"Would you?" she asked looking hopeful.

"Err…yes" he replied. With a mega watt smile, clutching her teddy with her right hand, she latched onto his hand with her left one.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do and she was gripping his hand so tightly that he couldn't have let go even if he wanted to. She led him in the direction that she'd last wandered in.

"Err…little girl, where was your mother last?" he asked.

"She was at the canned food section the last time I saw her and by the way mister, my name isn't little girl; it's Rei" she replied proudly.

"Rei?" he asked.

"Yes, its short for Reinara" she replied as she led him, maneuvering through the aisles. "By the way mister, what's your name?"

"My name?" he asked looking at her in surprise.

"Yes you have a name right? Everyone has a name" she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, my name is- wait, I have an idea" he said as he spied the PA system on the front counter. "What's your mama's name?" he asked "maybe we can page your mother through the loudspeaker system?"

"My mama's name is"- she broke off as she spied the back of a woman picking apples from a cart. One look at the long wavy locks cascading down her back, Rei had already recognized her mother. "My mama's there!" she exclaimed point at the woman's back.

"You're sure?" Soujiroh asked.

"Yes I'm sure, thank you so much for your help" she said with a short bow and ran in the direction of her mother. Soujiroh watched as she tugged on her mother's coat before heading off to buy what he wanted to in the first place.

Just as he'd stepped out into the cool night air with his precious purchase, he saw Rei being ushered into a taxi by the woman she'd identified as her mother. Although he couldn't see their faces as their backs were facing him, he could hear Rei's loud excited babble.

"So mama are we going to have the spicy ramen for dinner tonight?" she asked.

"Yes" the woman replied.

"Are you sure?" Rei asked again and Soujiroh chuckled.

"Yes baby I'm sure" the woman replied as she got into the cab after Rei.

Soujiroh walked in the direction of his bike when he heard Rei shriek just as her mother had gotten into the cab "MAMA, YOU'RE STEPPING ON BENJI'S PAW!"

Soujiroh stopped in his tracks and turn around in the direction of the cab. He began to advance towards the cab just as the Rei's mother shut the door. He began jogging towards it but the cab had already sped off into the distance. Benji, Benji, Benji. That was the name that he and Akira had christened the bear that he'd given Akira for his fifth birthday. Now he was almost positive that that was the same bear! It was practically insane for Rei's teddy bear to look like the Benji he'd given Akira, and having the same name too? What kind of coincidence is that? As he watched the white cab drive off into the distance, he wondered how on earth Rei had gotten hold of Benji. It had to be the same Benji right?

He ruffled his hair with his hands and sighed. Maybe he was thinking too much into everything. Besides as far as he knew, Akira wasn't acquainted well enough with any six years olds for him to hand over Benji to them. Benji had been Akira's most treasured possession and Soujiroh knew that even when Akira had reached adulthood, he'd still held Benji in high regard. How many times had Soujiroh stepped into Akira's room unannounced to find the friendly brown bear perched atop Akira's pillows? Those times had been too many to count and after a while even Akira had stopped making excuses on why Benji had been found seated on his bed. Soujiroh was certain that Akira wouldn't part with Benji so willingly.

It wasn't until his cell phone rang that he was pulled out of his thoughts. "Moshi moshi?" he answered.

"Don't forget Jiroh" came his mother's sharp voice from the other line. "The Watanabes' and their daughter are coming to our house tomorrow morning".

"Yes mother" he replied dutifully.

"I don't care what you do with your whores so long as you are back by the time they come. Do you understand me?" she asked firmly.

"Yes mother" he replied and closed his phone with a snap. This was the third marriage fixing that he'd had to go through. He was almost twenty nine years old and he was still single. He knew his parents were concerned that he was approaching the big three-zero and yet he hadn't found anyone that he would even consider worth spending a week with, let alone his whole lifetime. He walked towards his bike and put on his helmet, it was time for him to do his nocturnal duties. Tonight he would revel in the company of some fine women and tomorrow he would wear the shackles of his responsibility as the Nishikado heir.


Soujiroh groaned as he almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get into his house. His parents would be furious if they caught him sneaking in at this time; not when the Watanabes' were due to arrive in minutes. Feeling too dammed drunk to ride his bike, he'd called Akira at six in the morning and demanded that he come down to the hotel to pick up Soujiroh. After Soujiroh had flatly refused to leave his bike behind instead of riding in Akira's car, the latter had given in and he'd taken Soujiroh home on the Harley. It wasn't supposed to take that long for Soujiroh to reach his house. The hotel wasn't that far from his house and an estimated time between the two places would have been half an hour or maybe forty-five minutes during peak hour. However, due to the number of stops that they'd had to make for Soujiroh to throw up, the entire journey to Soujiroh's house had taken them all of two and a half hours. As soon as they'd reached the Nishikado house, Soujiroh had asked Akira to stay, for moral support. He really wasn't in the mood for another marriage fixing. But Akira had declined much to Soujiroh's surprise; saying that he had another appointment. Before Soujiroh could even thank his friend, Akira had rushed out the door mumbling something about blaming Soujiroh if he was late.

Without his trusty wing-man Akira by his side, Soujiroh no longer felt at ease. It wasn't that he was afraid; it was just that he wasn't ready to give up his current lifestyle. He wasn't ready to commit his whole life to one person just yet. Initially when his parents had first fixed up his marriage to the heir to the Toyogo fortune, he had agreed. But the day before they were to get married, his future bride had written a letter saying that she'd eloped with a man that she'd been in love with for years. Her parents hadn't agreed to the man that she'd loved and finally when she couldn't take being forced to marry someone he didn't love, she eloped.

Instead of feeling shocked or surprised, Soujiroh had felt relieved. He'd taken it as a sign that meant that he wasn't ready for marriage. He had felt like someone who'd been holding their breath underwater for too long and then taking a deep breath when they reached the surface. Ever since then, Soujiroh hadn't been too lucky with all the women that his parents had tried to fix him up with and he'd given up.

In reality Soujiroh was like a wild untamed beast and to him, his parents were the poachers and marriage was a cage. He made his way back to his room stealthily and made a bee line for his bathroom. He knew he must smell like a mixture of alcohol, cologne, cheap perfume and vomit. Not a pleasant combination at all.

Soujiroh praised himself for his impeccable timing as a knock on his door sounded just as he'd finished putting on his kimono. "Yes?" he called out.

"Nishikado san" their head servant Mikha said as he entered the room "your parents have requested your presence in the tea room, it seems the Watanabe family has arrived".

Soujiroh quickly made his way to the tea room, he was already in his mother's bad books and he didn't want to aggravate her further by being tardy. Unlike his father, his mother was the one that he had to be careful not to cross. Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn and indeed his mother was not a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as he entered the tea room he saw his parents seated opposite the Watanabes. His younger brother Sho was seated beside his parents and opposite another guy who looked about a year or two older than Soujiroh. On the right of the Watanabes, sat Soujiroh's bride to be. Bride-to-be. Those three simple words itself had the power to churn his stomach resulting in him making a gagging sound and covering it up with a cough. The only one, who seemed to have noticed the internal struggle that Soujiroh was facing, was his mother and she glared openly at him, letting him know that she was greatly displeased with him.

"Ah Ken-san" Soujiroh's father began "this is my eldest son, Soujiroh". Soujiroh stood dumbly staring at the group before him.

"Jiroh" his mother hissed sharply "come and say hello".

He bowed and made his way to sit down opposite the girl that his parents had intended for him to marry. He raised his eyes to look into hers. She had her eyes downcast like any gushing bride to be and he already felt himself being shoved into a cage. She had long, dark hair and an aristocratic nose. Her lips were full and pink and they seemed to be set in a permanent pout. He supposed that she was pretty enough, in that artificial kind of way and he briefly wondered if she'd had any plastic surgery done. There was no way that her boobs were naturally that big right? He must have been staring at her quite blatantly because his mother nudged him and cleared her throat. His head immediately snapped up, just in time to see Ken Watanabe gesturing to the young man beside him.

"And this is my eldest and only son, Minami. He was studying in London and has just returned to Japan". Soujiroh nodded politely and gave the other man a small smile. All he wanted to do was to go back to his room and sleep in his bed. The massive headache that he'd acquired from consuming vast amounts of alcohol the night before was ever present.

"I think that Jiroh and Minako-chan would make a remarkable pair don't you think Ken-san?" Soujiroh's father asked his future in law.

"Oh most definitely" Ken Watanabe had agreed. "So what date shall we set the engagement ceremony for?" Ken asked Soujiroh's father. Soujiroh had tuned out by that time and he eagerly waited for his parents to finish discussing with the Watanabes.

"Next week on Saturday?" his father had asked and Ken Watanabe and his wife had immediately agreed.

Soujiroh groaned mentally. It had been finalized. There was no escaping his fate now, he was bound to marry the girl sitting in front of him.


Author's note: Hello all, sorry if this chapter seems kind of rushed. It's my birthday so I have been really busy but I hope you liked this chapter anyway…if you'd like something to happen in this story, don't hesitate to tell me and I would gladly put it in. I'm really open to suggestions and constructive criticism so I'm glad for basically anything you have to say to me. Thanks everyone for your support so far!