A/N: Hi! Been too long! This is dedicated to prettyinpinkgal who's faithfully left reviews to me! (And the only reviewer…I'm so sad). I apologize for taking too long to upload…I just ran out of ideas.

Chapter 4: Work

Dear DAISY,

Everything's pretty fine here. As usual, the janitor is working me to death. Yesterday was my friend Kiyoshi's birthday party. It was fun! Riko's an expert at ice skating, I never knew she was that good. I'm not really good, I've never ice skated before.

How are you doing, DAISY? I hope you're doing well, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Anyways, I have to go…

Teru

Dear Teru,

I'm glad to hear that you're having fun. I didn't know Riko was an skilled ice skater either, I don't think I've ever seen her ice skate. Hopefully you didn't get injured from ice skating. I'm doing fine; you're the one I have to worry about.

Don't overwork yourself.

DAISY

"'Don't overwork yourself'- huh," Teru grumbled irritably. "Yeah, right. It's his fault in the first place for giving me all that work."

Hopefully you didn't get injured from ice skating. Thanks to Kurosaki, to Daisy, of course, she was safe and sound. A small smile crept up from the corners of Teru's mouth.

Maybe working for a certain blonde bastard wasn't that bad at all.

-----^_^-----

Riko leaned over Kurosaki's shoulder, peering at the email.

"So is that Teru's email to you, Daisy?"

"Yeah." Kurosaki's gaze softened as he thought of Teru.

"Tasuku, why?" Riko asked him gently, but seriously. "Why her? She causes you pain as much as you'd feel without her."

"No," Kurosaki said huskily. "I told you. Sou asked me to protect her. I have to be here for her."

"Excuses," Riko replied, and with a wave of her hand, she flipped her long red hair over her shoulder dismissively. "Leave her. You can still keep in touch with her. You don't have to be by her side."

There was no answer - Kurosaki only stared sullenly at the email, buried deep in thought.

"Tasuku, don't you know that your presence brings her pain as well? You're bringing her too close to you…you can't have her entangled in your web of lies, you can't have her too attached to her brother's 'killer'."

"Riko," Kurosaki murmured, his voice almost a whisper, "Shouldn't you know by now? Teru's stronger than you think."

"You can't expect her to accept what happened."

"She won't. She loved her brother. But for now I need to. I need to stay by her." Kurosaki looked up at the older woman, his eyes pleading.

"I'll go. Later…later…alright?" Kurosaki's voice trembled, and his body started shaking. "Just for now, I'll stay."

Riko closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, sighing with frustration. "Do you expect her to want you to stay?"

"I don't know. I can't make Teru decide. She'll hate me after she knows what I've done."

Riko met Kurosaki's miserable gaze. "That girl…she still trusts you? Even though she might know who you are?"

"I don't know," Kurosaki repeated, recalling Teru's tearstained face.

"Tasuku, you really love her that much, don't you?"

"Yes, I love Teru. I love her…too much…" Kurosaki whispered hoarsely.