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yes, I changed the title, and downgraded the rating (why? See the note at the bottom of the chapter.) And no, I still do not own HYD. Did you really think that would change?

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Later that week, I decide to go to school. Not like I like going to school, but I've spent the past few days working. Yeah, working. You think all the time I'm punting school I'm sitting around drunk off my ass? Hell no. Like I said. I got responsibilities. I'm learning the ropes of the business. My father has had me learning the tea ceremony shit since I could talk. That's the easy part. Traditional ritual. Strict interpretation of aesthetics. I can do it in my sleep. (And don't think I'm dissing on the tea ceremony. I'm not. I'd love it if I didn't have to mix it with business. There are some traditions that are worth keeping. But I can't stand catering to our clients, sitting by as they fuck around, making stupid mistakes in the ceremony, or being so perfectly polite when you can see their disdain, their avarice in every glint of their beady little eyes.)

I digress. My father thought I should learn the company from the ground up. I started when I was five or so, helping around the mailroom. I could tell the employees hated me. Thought I was sent as some kind of spy in their midst. And I guess I probably was. I learned quickly that our class is despised as selfish and greedy, that obedience and respect do not necessarily go hand in hand. I too obey, but I do not always respect. As I grew older I gained more responsibilities. I spent time on the production lines in our factories, I did secretarial work, I interned in various offices of our subsidiaries. I networked. I spent time managing some smaller subdivisions. Etc. etc. etc. you name it, I probably did it. So yeah, I missed a lot of school. But that's what tutors are for. With a life like this, is it any wonder that I like to unwind with a martini and a beautiful woman?

So Anyway, I went to school. Akira and Rui and I sort of have an agreed-on schedule for when we all try to meet up, on the rare days we can all get free from our responsibilities and pretend to be "normal" like all the other spoiled rich kids at Eitoku. It was a nice day out, so Rui and I were hanging out in the college café patio, sipping smoothies and watching the college chicks strut by. Well, I was watching at any rate, I can't vouch for Rui.

I was watching this one girl walk away, ass swaying in tight, tight jeans, when I see them approaching. These perfect legs. Long and slim and tanned to perfection. No need for stockings on this babe. Expensive shoes, gleamingly pedicured toenails peeking out. I do appreciate a girl who knows how to dress. Slowly I follow the pillars of her legs up and up, to the rounded curve of her hips, the taut belly, those full, firm breasts, tantalizing décolletage . . . to rest on the serene features of Shizuka.

Damn. Should've known from the shoes. Ah well, still, eye candy is eye candy, even if it's not beddable.

I glance at Rui, wondering what kind of terms he and Shizuka are on these days, but he seems as imperturbable as ever.

"Rui! Soujiro!" She squeals, yes squeals. I know, the perfect epitome of grace and high-class perfection is a squealer. I doubt she'd let anyone but her friends see that side of her. I wonder if she squeals during sex too? I bet Rui would kill me if I asked.

"Shizuka." Rui greets her noncommittally, his blank gray eyes giving nothing away, as she stoops to kiss us in greeting. I do so appreciate the European style. Also the tantalizing, light scent of her perfume.

She flashes one of her patented sincerely happy-seeming smiles at us, as if she traveled all this way just to sit in a café with us. Or maybe just with Rui. I see the way he's looking at her as she settles in, taking over the conversation effortlessly, steering it onto innocuous topics, catching up with what's been going on in everyone's lives. Never once letting him slip in a word edgewise, about why she might be here. I know Rui's looks, and she does too, but hell, if the woman didn't want to deal with him, and whatever past history they've shared that he refuses to talk about, then she shouldn't have come back. Rui turns his gaze at me, and I can see from the slightest twitch of his jaw that he is holding back. I think that's my cue to leave, let the two ex-lovers fight it out. Or whatever it is they do. I wouldn't expect either of them to act like normal exes. Ostentatiously, I check my watch, and make my excuses, regretfully. Places to be, things to do, you know.

And then I make my way upstairs to the café balcony, to indulge in my second favorite pastime: spying.

The view is not perfect, and the wind isn't quiet right to catch the whole conversation, but I reconstruct the scene in my mind, filling in the gaps as best I can. . .

He stares at her as I saunter away, the question plain in the stoniness of his gaze. Why is she here? And what does she want?

"What, I can't come visit my favorite boy?" she tinkles coquettishly. Even I could have told her not to bother. Rui may be socially inept, but he's not stupid.

"Who was it this time?" His voice is deadpan, a statement, not a question.

She sighs, probably batting her eyelashes at him. Trying to soften him up. "The prime minister's nephew."

"And?"

"Well, I couldn't just say no, now could I?" she laughs deprecatingly, as if it is all so obvious.

He's weighing her, judging, as if he were the elder, he the wiser in the ways of the world, and not she.

"What do you want?" he sighs, and he sounds old beyond his years.

"I just came to see you, to visit my parents." She remains obstinate, but he is having none of it.

"I'm not that boy anymore, Shizuka. I'm not your toy." And yet there is very little rancor there, merely tiredness, "You can't keep on like this." I wonder, keep on like what? Fortunately, he continues, a veritable monologue from our normally silent Rui. "How many times is it now? And every time you do the same thing, you say yes, and then you think better of it, and you come running back until everything blows over, and then you do it all again. Why do you do it? And why must you always come back to me?"

She looks at him sadly, as if dismayed to find this Man, this stranger ranting at her in such a quiet way, about her failings. Isn't she the one everyone looks up to? Perfect in every way?

"It wasn't supposed to be like this." She admits, or at least I think that's what I hear her say, "I tell them all at the beginning, I'm not looking for commitment, I just want a companion, a friend."

"With benefits." Rui states unnecessarily.

"Well, of course." She shrugs, "I'm busy with law school, and managing the charities. I'm not looking for a husband!" Of course she's not. What would she want one of those for? This is Toudou Shizuka, heir to the Toudou fortune, who ended her modeling career and cut off all her hair to go into law, so that she could, as she said, do non-profit work to make the world a better place. Toudou Shizuka who had the world on a platter, whose doting parents supported her decision, and continue to pay her bills, despite her waywardness. Toudou Shizuka, who has always gotten what she wanted. Always. Toudou Shizuka, the supremely self-assured, self-confident, and self-contained. Toudou Shizuka, who has never been hurt.

Perhaps that is only because she is incapable of feeling enough for her fellow man to be hurt? She likes pretty things. She cares in a general way about humanity and the planet. But specifics? It's hard for me to think of a single thing that she's taken seriously in the years that I've known her.

And now she's broken yet another engagement.

Of course. A husband would tie her down. Crimp her style. She might actually have to compromise for once in her life.

So she's come back here to hide, while it all blows over. If she was looking for sympathy from Rui, she doesn't seem to have found it.

"You could have just said no." he says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"It was in such a public place, though." She sighs, "It would have made such a scene."

"And this is better?" He raises an eyebrow, the only facial expression he will allow himself.

She shrugs gracefully, "Either way, I'd still break his heart." She does have a point. "I just don't know how it always gets so far" She genuinely seems at a loss. "I don't tell them I love them. I thought it was understood that I didn't."

"But still, they love you." again, not a question. Rui knows. He's been there. And he left her, when he finally realized she didn't love him. Or so Akira says. I always maintain that he found out about her other boyfriends, but Akira says I'm too cynical. Me! He's the gigolo. Either way, Rui's never told us for sure, so we're just guessing.

On the other hand, people do often mistake lust for love, and she is gracious and polite, and kind to things she pities. She was always kind to Makino. I could always see the pity lurking in her bland blue eyes. I guess some might mistake those things to mean she cares for them.

"So they say." She is trying to keep it light, though she looks weary. "I don't want to fight with you. Rui, can't you just let it be. Like the way we used to be?" That's right, pretend the past never happened. Pretend that she hadn't used him, hadn't helped to destroy the last of his innocence.

"It's too late for us." Rui's voice is flat. "Why are you really here?"

She glances at her perfectly manicured nails, lifts her eyes to look directly into his. Her voice, when she speaks, is light and carefree, so one would hardly know it's forced. "I wanted to ask you to come back to Paris with me."

I flinch, and almost feel bad for her then, when he laughs. I so rarely hear Rui laugh, unless he's in Makino's company. And this laugh, it's not forced at all. It's the same heartfelt laugh of amusement he uses when Makino has done something particularly endearing.

She looks shocked, but quickly hides it behind her perfect façade of casualness, as his laughter cuts off abruptly.

"No. I will not."

I wonder if Rui will be the first to hurt her.

But now he surprises me, as he starts to speak, before she can even open her mouth. "You want a companion, someone to fend off the admirers when they get too close, but who you can ignore while you're having your affairs. I cannot be that man for you. I can't not care. I won't be kept. Besides, I've got responsibilities here. Why don't you ask Akira, or Soujiro. They're bored. Maybe you can convince one of them to come to Paris with you, instead."

He's got to be joking. Right? He doesn't sound like he's joking. And neither he nor Shizuka is laughing.

This I gotta tell Akira.

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Title change? Yes, I was bored. I may change it again, we'll see. Like this one better? Worse? Got a better idea? Lemme know.

Rating change? I was thinking. I probably should stop doing that. thinking rots your brains! I published WW Idiots under T rating, maybe I shouldn't've, but I did. This isn't any worse. There are swears, and sex. I think if you can't handle either of those then you probably are entirely capable of stopping reading. Deal with it. And if I offend, then you need to spend some more time in the real world. And that's all I have to say. except for this – Review Damnit!

-cm