Monkey: Damn, it's been like a year. Do I even have any readers left? I'm so sorry...

But I actually have a reason why I was gone so long. Back several months ago, a flashdrive where I kept all my work (both original and fanfiction), broke beyond repair. I had already started some of this chapter on there and after I lost everything, I felt so drained and sad that I lost so much of my work (including things that only had that one copy on there and were never seen by anyone else's eyes). It's not much of an excuse, but the other fics I was updating, the reason I could do those was because they were relatively newer and not as serious as this one is (I guess?) With the chapter completely scrapped, I was at a loss for so long, wondering if I should try and take the same route I originally intended, or if I should try something else. In the end I kind of went for something in the middle of both. Or at least, I tried to.

Disclaimer? Diclaimed.

"Jehu?" Reiko called softly, knocking on her son's door.

It had been two days since she'd overheard Vergil telling Jehu a story even she'd never fully heard. Once he had finished explaining about his and Isamu's complicated past, Vergil sent Jehu to sleep and afterwards, went to his study to stay up the rest of the night, working on some papers for work while nursing a few tumblers of scotch. Reiko had come in around three in the morning, asking if he was going to sleep that night.

He had looked up at her, his hair a little disheveled as if he had constantly run his fingers through those dark locks, and told her he was busy, but he walked over to her and kissed her forehead, wishing her a goodnight.

The following day Vergil had gone to work before Reiko or Jehu awoke and they didn't see him until nearly midnight. He'd gone straight to his study and Reiko wasn't sure he slept that night, although he did replace the bottle of scotch in there.

Jehu was surprisingly obedient during this time, choosing to stay at home instead of going out to do something wild. He was texting a lot (with his brand new phone that she warned him he better not fucking lose because next time it'll be his head) and smiled at his phone, unaware of the looks his mother gave him; she was happy for him.

The door opened, revealing her son ready for school that morning. He raised a brow, staring down into identical amber eyes. "Is something up?"

She thought about talking to her son about Vergil's change in disposition but thought better of it, remembering that he had his AP finals coming up, then his other finals and with that, graduation. He didn't need the extra stress of his father, although something told her he was fully aware of what was going on and was just giving Vergil some space. "Nothing, kid, just making sure you're alive this morning and heading to school."

He scoffed. "There isn't much left of the school year, I'm not gonna do anything stupid to ruin my chances of graduating. I want to get out of that hellhole already."

Reiko rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Oh hey, before you go, do you think you could do me a favor?"

Jehu glanced at the clock in his room before replying, "I barely have time for breakfast before I gotta leave. I refuse to walk Sparkle this early in the day. Last time I did that she tried to mangle me as I ran half asleep at ass o'clock in the morning." He carefully walked by his mother before heading downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat.

She walked behind him, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, moron, I was going to ask if you could get Haou's mother's number for me."

Jehu, now in the kitchen searching for something edible, paused to look at her. "Why do you want that?"

"So I can plan your death with the in-laws," she deadpanned, leaning casually against the threshold of the kitchen.

The bluenette shuddered as he found a blueberry muffin and some orange juice. "Jeez, aren't you afraid of going to jail?"

"As if I'd ever get caught."

Touché.

"Ok, I'll ask him for her number." He took a huge bite of the muffin because he really was running late and spoke with his mouth full, "Y'know, that's gon' be a weird question."

Reiko wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I hope poor Haou will be able to handle your awful table manners."

Jehu grinned as he finished off the muffin. "I'll text you the number later."

He grabbed his backpack, hastily checking to make sure he at least had his homework and something to write with before he was out the door, easily able to avoid Sparkle trying to bite him. One day he'd have to figure out why Sparkle hated him so much.

Reiko shook her head as she watched him leave. "What a weird kid I raised."

She walked into the kitchen to make herself some coffee, ignoring the rest of the empty house. She knew she'd let Sparkle in later to keep her some company (because Sparkle loved her), but right now she needed to think of a plan.

Normally she can come up with the wildest ideas to satisfy whatever she felt needed to be accomplished—like making Jehu nearly fearless—but this time, she was at a loss. She needed someone else's help, but she wasn't even sure Haou's mom would be willing to offer any assistance.

She drank her coffee and about an hour later, found herself staring at a phone number in a text. She stared at it before pressing it, bringing the phone up to her ear and waiting for the ringing to stop.

A few rings later, it did. "Hello?"

Haou had been staying up lately after having heard Isamu's story. To think that they used to be best friends, the only friends the other had and then it all went downhill, affecting even their sons. To keep himself occupied after midnight and to try and wear himself out, he baked.

Mainly he made green funfetti cupcakes because he knew they were his father's favorite. He'd leave them out after they were done at night and by the morning, half of them would be gone.

He didn't know what to say to his dad, so this was all he felt he could do to help.

Isamu stayed out of the house a lot, but Seira did her best to help bring Haou's mood up about his stubborn father. She noticed that he'd be texting someone and would light up after receiving a reply from who she assumed was Jehu.

They're cute together, Seira decided, too bad their fathers are morons.

This morning, Haou was getting ready for school, including bringing some cupcakes with him, when she stopped to talk to him in the kitchen.

"So, are you ready for your finals?"

He was in the middle of cleaning out his coffee mug before he shrugged. "Probably as ready as I'll ever be. The study guides help, if the teacher's final lessons don't." He put the clean mug away and checked to make sure he remembered to bring enough cupcakes.

"For Jehu?"

Haou looked away, a faint red dusting across his cheeks. "And our friends too."

She chuckled. "You're adorable."

"Am not."

She opened the fridge to see more green funfetti cupcakes in there. "You're spoiling your dad."

Haou walked over to get his backpack and take the container with him. "Maybe, but I feel bad for him."

Seira hummed before stealing one of the green cupcakes. "Don't worry about him, focus on your studies so you'll graduate with good grades."

She heard him shuffle through his things as he walked to the door. "I'll be fine. I just hope he will be too." Once he knew he had everything, he opened the door. "I'll see you later."

"Bye!" She called from the kitchen.

After he left, Seira sighed and sat down at the couch, enjoying the cupcake. Things now were a whole lot more complicated than she ever expected them to be when she sent Haou to the shrine in hopes that her son wouldn't end up alone. It was a great decision because hey, look at the cute yet badass soul mate he found, but at the same time, Isamu and Jehu's dad are making it hard for their sons to be happy.

Why was that fair?

The boys were about to graduate and start their own lives and their fathers really had no right to have a say in who they date or be soul mates with.

Maybe there was something she could do to help Isamu settle the extremely rocky relationship he had with his now ex-boss.

Honestly, things probably would've been better if Isamu and Vergil had dated in the past because then it'd be so much easier to deal with.

She laughed to herself. Wow, look at her wishing her husband had been with a man before meeting her.

She raked a hand through her black hair. Maybe she should suggest Jehu and Haou elope after high school?

Ok, as funny as that would be, it might make things worse.

While she was never one to really scheme, she wished she had a partner in crime for this. How was she going to help work out years and years of problems between her husband and his ex-best friend?

About an hour after Haou had started class, her phone rang from the kitchen. Raising a brow, she walked over to it, saw it was an unknown number and debated whether or not to answer. She let it ring a couple times before answering the call and bringing the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Edo, dammit you're not ruining my matchmaking career this early on!" a voice yelled out as the aforementioned silverette ran down the hall and up the stairs.

"Go away! I'm not going to become a pawn in your game!"

He skidded to stop at the top of the stairs and made a sharp turn, looking back to make sure Kayako wasn't at his heels.

Without paying attention to where he was going, he slammed into something—someone and nearly sent them both colliding to the ground had it not been for someone keeping them both up.

"Jeez Edo, why are you running like a bat out of hell?" The voice of his savior, Jehu, spoke.

If Jehu helped him, then that means…

He turned to face Haou who glared at him. "I'm sorry Haou," he squeaked out, surprising the pair of soul mates. He looked at Jehu with desperation. "You have to hide me! Kayako is trying to plan something stupid so I confess to—" He remembered Haou's presence before trailing off.

Haou's glare disappeared and said, "I already know."

Edo snapped his attention back to the brunette. "What?! How?" He didn't give Haou a chance to reply before he faced Jehu and narrowed his eyes. "I will kill you."

"Edo!" Kayako called out, looking for him at the bottom of the stairs, wondering if he went up or not.

The silverette paled and hid behind Jehu. "Make her go away, please I'm begging."

Haou eyed him curiously. "Don't you want to be with—"

"Shhh!" Edo looked around, in case his crush showed up out of nowhere and heard them. "I mean, maybe but," he saw Kayako put her hands on her hips before walking down another hall, calling out his name. He waited until she was out of sight and continued, "she's so awful for my blood pressure, I swear. Anyway, I mean yeah but, I'm not ready to confess."

"Why not?" Jehu asked, munching on one of the cupcakes Haou brought.

"Because I'm pretty sure my feelings aren't reciprocated? Because I don't want to lose the friendship we have? Because we're all about to graduate and we probably won't even go to the same school so what's the point anyway?"

Jehu opened his mouth to speak but Haou cut him off.

"You're being ridiculous." He took the container of cupcakes out of his backpack and offered one to Edo. Surprised, he slowly took one. "Would you rather take a chance and get rejected or never do anything and leave yourself wondering what if?"

Edo stared down at the cupcake in his hand. "I don't know."

"Don't you?"

Sapphire eyes locked onto gold. "Why are you even helping me? Don't you hate me?"

"I always thought you hated me."

Jehu leaned against the stair rail and watched them, amused. He swiped another cupcake, going unnoticed by either of the two in front of him.

"With your holier-than-thou attitude and constant glares it's a wonder you hating me is all I thought."

Gold eyes rolled. "Don't play innocent with your perpetual need to know my business and incessant pestering too early in the morning."

"Oh like you're such a victim, Mr. I Purposely Ruined Your Science Project which made me fail the class! I had to take summer school that year because of you!"

Haou narrowed his eyes. "It's hardly my fault you slammed into me that morning! All your whining gave me such a migraine that I had to get myself home before I committed mass genocide."

"Oh yeah? What about the spaghetti incident?"

"That was my science project, it took a long time to get it to the point where it could possibly come to life at any moment and you ruined it!"

"It ended up all over me! I still can't have spaghetti without remembering that!"

"Good! Maybe it'll teach you to watch where you're going!" Haou paused. "Then again, since you just crashed into me, I guess you didn't learn anything."

"You're just always in my way!"

Jehu stuffed the remaining half of the cupcake in his mouth to keep from laughing out loud and risking their wrath at that moment. Here he was thinking they had something terrible happen between them, but it was just a clash of personalities and some rotten luck. This was highly entertaining for him. Their lunch period was going to end soon though, so he figured it was time to give things a little push.

"Edo, Haou, as much fun as this was, lunch will be over soon." He stepped up in between them and put an around both. "I love the both of you, so if you could please make amends?"

Sapphire and gold eyes narrowed at the happy bluenette before looking back at each other. They stared at each other before grudgingly letting out a deep sigh. Edo extended out his hand to the brunette who took it with a firm grip. They stayed like that for a few seconds, eyeing each other with slight distrust, before acknowledging that it was for the best they do this, and let go.

"Wonderful. Now, Edo, I spy your crush down the hall and Kayako making her way over here, t-minus sixty seconds before your imminent destruction. What are you going to do?" Jehu asked with a grin, happy that although he didn't expect his friend and soul mate to become best buddies all of a sudden, he hoped they could all live peacefully dealing with each other.

Edo was torn between paling at Kayako coming or blushing at seeing his crush down the hall. "Fuck, I don't know."

"Hey, Kayako!" Haou called out, waving his hand over to her in order to get her attention faster. She smiled at him, then her grin turned evil when she noticed the silverette.

"Haou, I hate you." Edo muttered before extracting himself from under Jehu's arm and making a mad dash for his crush at the end of the hall who was unaware of the madness currently occuring.

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

Kayako ran towards them, then came to a slow walk when she noticed where Edo was heading. "Damn, do you think he's gonna confess?"

The three of them stared curiously at Edo who was speaking to his crush, wondering if they should get closer to hear what happens.

"Hey did you make those cupcakes?" Kayako asked, staring at the half-empty container in Haou's hands.

He nodded and offered them to her. She took one and when she bit into it, her face lit up. "Gosh, Haou, these are amazing."

The brunette blushed a bit and thanked her as the three turned their attention back to Edo.

Before they could make a decision, the bell rang, startling them and causing a multitude of students to block their view from the silverette and his crush.

Kayako cursed under her breath then turned on her heels to make her way to class. "See you later boys, let me know what happened."

Jehu gave her retreating back a two fingered wave before leaning down to give Haou a kiss on the cheek. The brunette smiled and returned it, then walked to his own class, on the opposite side of the building from Jehu's next class.

Jehu glanced over at Edo and his crush for a moment before making his way to class. He was sure he'd find out later what happened, and given that neither Edo nor his crush had started brawling or running away from each other, things must be going good, right?

"So it's decided then?" Seira asked, staring at a pair of amber eyes across the table.

She and Reiko had decided to meet up face to face instead of discussing their husbands' love affair over the phone. They were quite surprised to find they had already met once long ago outside the dean's office of their sons' school.

Reiko leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. She was already tired of trying to fix her husband's mess. "It's just about the only thing we can do at this point. I mean I don't know much about Isamu other than what Vergil has mentioned in passing, but fuck, my husband is emotionally constipated half the time and the other half is overcompensating for the lack of emotions that we'd only be able to do this when he's at a comfortable middle ground. Then watch him explode."

Seira chuckled before shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose, knowing Isamu was a lot like that too. "Maybe the two of them should've just fucked things out in their college years."

Reiko stared at her for a moment, blinking twice, before bursting out in laughter, drawing the attention of some of the other people in the hipster-like coffee shop the two of them had decided to meet at. Neither cared, and Reiko looked at her with a smile. "I can already tell we're gonna be great friends, holy shit."

Seira looked up at her with a grin. "Same here. Now, let's help get our husbands back on good graces with each other."

"You got it. Although if they do happen to end up screwing, I suggest we get a go next."

"With them or each other?"

Reiko smirked. "Why not both?"

Seira laughed. "This is the beginning of a beautiful, lifelong friendship."

The two of them continued laughing, enjoying the fact that they were getting along rather nicely.

Nothing beat the team up of determined women after all.

Elsewhere, or in this case at a high school nearby, Jehu and Haou both sat up straight during their classes, a shiver running up their spines.

Edo walked slowly to his locker after school ended. It had been a hectic day once Kayako had tried to bully him into confessing but at least he'd managed to escape her clutches eventually, even if he did end up in front of his crush anyway.

"Oh, hey Edo, what's up?" Ryo had asked during lunchtime, resting his elbows on the metal rail outlining the second floor ledge that looked down onto the courtyard.

"Hey Ryo, can I talk to you about something?"

The bluenette looked at him curiously before nodding.

Edo felt his face heat up and couldn't meet Ryo's gaze, instead paying close attention to the green cupcake in his hand.

Ryo waited then quirked a brow. "Something wrong with the cupcake?"

"No, I mean I hope not. I got it from Haou, but he and I are trying to get past our differences for Jehu's sake, I guess."

Ryo nodded once, approving of the situation, then returned his gaze to the courtyard. He'd already had some chips and a Gatorade for lunch that day and preferred to be alone for a bit, getting a feel for his entire high school experience before graduation within the oncoming weeks.

"Ryo?"

He turned to face the silverette. "Yes?"

Edo stumbled a bit over his words before finally speaking semi-coherently. "Um, I uh, was wondering if you'd be interested in hanging out with me later today?"

Sapphire eyes hesitantly met teal ones.

Ryo blinked. "That's what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No, well, yes. I mean." Edo looked away, biting his lower lip nervously. "See, the thing is—"

"You're asking me out on a date."

Edo couldn't help the flush that spread across his face. He was going to kill Kayako, Jehu and Haou for ever suggesting that he try to confessing to someone who would never return his feelings. He looked down and could do nothing to prevent the oncoming word vomit. "I'm sorry, you're probably not interested and I know we've been friends for some time now but I just can't help it, you're just so interesting and attractive and I want to get to know you even more but I was worried that I'd ruin everything and I mean we're about to graduate soon and I don't even know what school you're planning on going to but I mean, we're about to graduate, so why not give it a shot? Uh, it could work and if it doesn't then afterwards we don't ever have to speak to each other again, although if Jehu and Haou have a wedding, it might be awkward to see you there, but I think we can be civil with each other for how long does a wedding last, like an hour or so? I think we can—" He trailed off when he noticed the amused smirk Ryo was giving him. "What?"

Ryo glanced back over at the courtyard before settling his gaze onto the silverette in front of him, turning to face him so he'd give him his full attention. "To answer your earlier question, sure."

"Huh?"

Ryo shook his head with a small smile. "You're cute when you're flustered."

"… Huh?"

"You asked to hang out, my answer is yes."

"But it's a date?"

"My answer is still yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What if it was to the ice cream shop down the street?"

"Then it's a date."

Edo couldn't help the growing smile. "Really?"

Ryo laughed as the bell rang. "Yes, really." He picked up his things and looked at him. "Meet you by the main entrance after school?"

The silverette nodded, not really trusting his words.

"Great, I'll see you then."

The two parted ways after another moment or two of staring at each other and when Edo got to his next class, he was so happy he started eating the green cupcake.

… This is delicious.

Maybe he wouldn't kill the three of them after all.

Jehu and Haou were in the bluenette's car going home after school, heading over to Hauo's place first.

They knew what their dads had said about seeing each other, but they wouldn't be teenagers if they weren't rebellious. Especially at this point into things, where Haou and Jehu were determined to see each other because they were finally getting comfortable with one another.

As Jehu reached a stoplight, he turned to face his soul mate. "Hey, did you get a weird feeling during school, like a couple hours ago?"

Haou, who was checking a text from Kayako asking if they knew anything about Edo because she couldn't find him anywhere after school, nodded. "I take it something either really good or really bad is about to happen." He tapped away a response before chuckling at her reply using a few choice words.

Jehu sighed as the light turned green and turned his attention back to the road. "Why does it always have to be two extremes? Why can't we ever have it easy? Middle ground sounds nice, doesn't it?"

Haou, amused, put his phone away to look at Jehu. "Maybe this time it'll be a good thing?"

The two of them reached Haou's house and Jehu's jaw dropped when he saw whose car was in the driveway.

It was his mother's.

Jehu parked carefully beside it, both of them getting out of the car. He shook his head as Haou led the way to the door and muttered, "Definitely not a good thing."

Monkey: Ok, so.

First, how many of you saw Ryo coming? I figured if nothing else, I'll finally reveal Edo's crush in this chapter. (Ryo won by a few votes back years ago when I asked my readers who they wanted Edo to like). Sorry if it seems rushed, but I just really wanted to get this chapter out already.

Second, all mistakes are mine. I always say I'll go back and fix them (and for some very awful mistakes, I will) but I usually don't, so if you guys could please excuse any and all mistakes I made, that would be wonderful.

Third, my writing style has changed a bit over the years, but I tried to write like I used to, I hope I did ok with it.

Fourth, this story will no longer be abandoned, I will do my absolute best to finish this before the Fall 2014 semester begins (seeing as I can't update this fic in particular because college likes to kick my ass all over the place.)

Fifth, that means that this story will be coming to an end very soon. I finally plan to move the plot forward in the next chapter, sooooo yeah. I'd say a couple chapters left, give or take.

And finally, thank you so very much for spending your time reading this mess, those who stuck around and those newcomers who stumble upon this fic, I love all of you.

I can't guarantee anything, but I'd say the next chapter (which should be better) should be out within the next month. Let's keep our fingers crossed, yeah?