Ryoma entered his home in a hurry and crossed the kitchen, pouring and drinking a big glass of water in a gulp. His heart was racing inside his chest and he could feel his hands trembling. He just had a meeting with a yakuza! An actual yakuza!

He still didn't know how he was able to maintain a straight face during their conversation. He thought his heart would jump out of his ribcage!

Ryoma laid on the floor and he took a deep breath. He wished he didn't research about the yakuza. He still couldn't erase some images of his mind and meeting Fuji just made things worse. There was something odd about his smile. Ryoma felt like he was making small death threats every time his lips curved.

"Have I gotten myself into?" he asked himself, feeling hopeless. So, what kind of relationship was he able to have with his girlfriend anyway? Were they going to be able to go out? Was it okay to be alone with her? What if Fuji knew about her on his place on that rainy day?! She was using just his sweater and he was on her lap, on her naked, creamy and soft thighs! Of course he had passed out from the fever, but how many fingers would he lose because of that?!

"What should I do?!" rubbing his face with both hands, he tried to calm himself down. He remembered Sakuno and her smile. He liked her. It was the first time in all his young life he liked a girl. He acted so bravely looking at the yakuza in the eyes, but now he doubted himself. He picked up his cell phone and opened a document. The boy had made a list of places he would like to go with her. He had collected some festival's schedule and even with buses times for going to the beach. The golden eyes looked at that, sadly. Was he going to be able to enjoy the summer with her? He was also looking forward to it.

"Ryoma!" his mother's voice echoed from the front door, before she slid it opened. "We are home!"

He stood up, quickly, going to the entrance.

"Okaa-san, welcome back." He said, helping her with her luggage.

"Hello, kid!" his father grinned as seeing him. He was carrying his bag. "You seem taller!"

"Not really." Rinko hugged her child, tight. Ryoma hugged his mother back, instinctively, searching for some comfort.

"Are you okay?" she asked, with a gentle smile. She touched his face with both hands and examined his face; they shared the same hair and eye color. "Are you eating properly and sleeping well?"

"I am."

"I'm starving!" Nanjirouh said. "Let's order some pizza. What do you think, Ryoma?"

"Okay." Although he was already so used with the silence and solitude of his days, having his parents back and the house become lively again was not bad at all. While sharing a meal and having a conversation with them, he was able to be at ease and forget about his yakuza related fears at least for a moment.

########

"Good morning, Kunimitsu." Syuusuke stopped for a while, a little surprised, with a small trade of breakfast, as seeing him writing on some papers on his desk. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Not really." he looked at him, while he sat in front of him and put the food on the tatame.

"You look horrible." Fuji said, touching his hair.

"I need to review these pages until tomorrow." He replied, exhausted. There were at least 20 of them.

Fuji sat behind him and started to massage his shoulders. Tezuka closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Touching the muscles of his back, he noticed how stiff he was. When Fuji pressed a spot on his injured arm, he flinched, feeling a little painful. "I am sorry, Kunimitsu." He said, worried.

"It is okay." He replied, calmly. "I have been writing a lot. It is normal it would hurt."

"You should take the weekend off after finishing the review. Maybe going to Kyoto and seeing your doctor. It's been a while since you last check on your arm. Soon it will be cold again."

"I am fine, Syuusuke." He turned around. "Stop worry."

"It is my job." He smiled when Kunimitsu touched your face. "Your mother entrusted you to me."

Tezuka leaned forward and kissed him, deeply, his arms around his shorter and thinner frame.

"I am pretty sure she did not mean such a thing."

"Perhaps." Syuusuke smiled. "Here, eat, before it gets cold."

There was a small bowl with miso soup. On the other plates were grilled fish, cold noodle salad and some fruit.

"Thank you for the food." Tezuka said, before starting to eat politely. "Did Sakuno like her new cell phone?"

"Yes. She already sent messages to your parents. She was really excited. I put her number on your cell phone too."

"Good. Thank you." He ate the fish, slowly. "It seems like a while since I last spend some time with her. I will arrange something for the three of us to do on summer time. Maybe we can go the beach. I will talk to her when she arrives from school today."

Syuusuke felt a little sorry for him. His sister would probably want to spend summer with her boyfriend and he imagined how devastated Kunimitsu would be as hearing that from her.

"I need to tell you something, but promise me you will not freak out and will not interfere."

"I never freak out." he placed the hashi down and looked at him, concerned. "What is it?"

"Promise me." He said, seriously.

"I promise."

"Sakuno-chan is dating a boy from her school."

His face was absolutely horrible.

"You promised!"

"For how long?" Syuusuke noticed the great effort he was doing to show a straight face.

"Just a couple of days. Don't worry, I met the kid. He is harmless."

"You met him?" he narrowed his eyes. "Did it ever occur to mention such thing to me?"

"Of course not. I am sure he was scared enough, poor thing. But, I needed to know what kind of person he was before you met him." He smiled and touched his face, trying to undo that deep frown on his forehead. "He is a good student with good grades, nothing bad on his record. He is just a normal teen."

"Chichiue needs to know about this." He was about to pick up his cell phone when Fuji stopped him.

"You promise." The blue eyes were serious as he repeated the sentence for the third time. "They just started to date, do not have your father worried about a puppy love."

"I want to meet this young man."

"Let's see how long they are going to be together. First crushes, most of the time, don't last."

"What about you and me? We were together since we were 16." He said, quietly and Syuusuke noticed he was a little hurt. "You were my first and the only one."

"Oh, but that was an extraordinary case." He smiled, hugging him by his shoulders, trying to humor him. "How could I not fall in love with such friendly and smiling face?"

He averted his eyes, annoyed by his irony. Syuusuke touched his chin, making him look at his blue eyes.

"I was so lucky. I am lucky still." He smiled, sincerely. Fuji noticed a small smile on Tezuka's face, before being deeply kissed one more time.

##########

Alexei was on his late grandfather's office, reading some notes about the Tezuka's clan on a thick diary. There was a lot of information regarding the elimination squad, from many years before. His attention was caught on its latest formation.

"The Tezuka old man." He said, reading Kuniharu's file. There was also a photo on his younger days. "His son looks just like him." On the other side of the page was a picture of Kunimitsu.

"Fuji Syuusuke." He said, finding weird someone with such weak build and delicate face could be an assassin.

But, as going to the female members, he stopped as recognizing the name on the photo.

"Ryuzaki Sayaka." He examined the photo of the beautiful woman with short red hair and serious scarlet eyes. "That was the name on the tombstone Oyaji was visiting."

The teenager found it odd. He stood up and crossed the mansion with the diary on his hands. Arriving at his father's room, he slid the shoji without asking permission.

Ayato was smoking on the outside porch, drinking some sake. His hair was still a little damp from the shower he took after dinner. The full moon was bright outside.

"Do not come inside my room without asking first." He said, annoyed.

The boy sat in front of him, placing the book on the floor, opened on the page with Sayaka's picture.

"This is the woman you visit on the cemetery, right?" he asked, seriously.

"Where did you find this?" Ayato was truly surprised.

"On your old man's office."

"You are not supposed to go there. And you have no authorization to mess with his things."

"Answer me." He demanded, pointing at the photo. "You told me to give up on the elimination squad but you were close to one of them. Were you screwing her or something?"

Ayato grabbed the boy's shirt in a violent move. His face was completely taken by anger.

"Hold your tongue. I am your father and you own me respect."

"Bingo." Alexei smiled. "You were fucking her, right? Was she the one who made you being taken to Europe? Did she left you for someone else?"

He released his son and stood up, taking the entire sake cup in one gulp, before entering his room.

"I will not talk about it. It doesn't concern you."

"It does. " He stood up, facing his father angrily. "You are not letting me be in the elimination squad because of some chick. Was she stupid and got killed on a mission or something?"

Ayato's laughed echoed on his room and Alexei was confused with his reaction. His father turned around, smiling at him.

"Who do you think Sayaka was? She was the Tezuka's best weapon; yakuza all over Japan feared her. She could end all of your grandfather's Russians in a blink of her eye." His expression changed and the boy noticed the deep sadness on his voice. "She died out of sickness, many years ago."

Ayato came close to his son again, seriously.

"I knew her very well and that is why I am sure you don't stand a chance to enter in such group. You are not good enough, Alexei."

"Do not doubt me!" he screamed, angrily.

"Let's have a deal, then. I give you consent to formally challenge the Tezuka group. I will personally ask for their best member. If you win, you can be with them." He offered his hand to his son. "If you lose, you will never talk about and will obey everything I say, without complaining."

"Deal!" He said, grabbed his father's hand with a strong grip, a cocky smile on his face.

#########

Sakuno was laying on the tatame of her room, looking at her cell phone. She was anxiously waiting for Ryoma to send her a message. It was the first Saturday of summer vacation. The last school day was on the day before and she was very excited about it, but something was off with her boyfriend. Echizen was a quiet person, but he was strangely quieter on the last lunch at the rooftop they shared. She asked him what was wrong but he just denied it. The boy had told her his parents had arrived and he would be probably be busy on those first days with them, but he would message her if he had a free time.

She was impatient. She had already chosen a lot of cute outfits to go out with him. She wanted him to call her beautiful again and hold his hand on a proper date. Sakuno rolled on her back and looked at the ceiling. She also wanted to kiss him again. Even though so much time had passed since their first kiss, she decided to wait for Ryoma to make a move. It was only fair!

She smiled to herself, remembering how embarrassed he was on that day. Sakuno felt her heart warm with the memory of his asleep and relaxed face on her lap and the softness of his dark hair on her fingers.

"Sakuno?" Kunimitsu's voice on the door of her room called her attention from her teenage thoughts and she sat down, with a smile. Her brother was very busy with his book so she did not see him since the day before.

"Yes, Nii-sama?" her smiled died as seeing the serious, concerned look on his face.

"Chichiue called. We need to travel to Kyoto tomorrow."