DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN UTA NO PRINCE SAMA IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM

'I hope I didn't do anything wrong with my comments about Mr. Hijirikawa and his wife," Yuina thought as she made dinner for the Ichinose family. 'Then again, if I did, why would he have tried to kiss me before he left? Was he trying to kiss me? It certainly felt that way.' She paused a little at the memory of the way Masato had been learning towards her. If he had tried that in the presence of her father, the man would have lost his whole front side in one clean swoop.

'I supposed he's not that bad of a guy. He certainly seems to be a real gentleman most of the time. But, even if he's still having problems with his wife, he's still married to the woman. I'm sure it'd look good on my part, saying something bad about their marriage and go and kiss the man behind his wife's back. No, no matter what weird fantasy I'm having, I don't think it'd work out between me and Mr. Hijirikawa, no matter what circumstances.'

"Miss Kyouou?" she suddenly heard Rui ask, bringing her out of her thoughts on Masato.

"Uh, yes sweetie?" Yuina asked.

"Do you want some help?" Rui asked.

"Weren't you helping your brother with the part Mr. Hijirikawa added today?" Yuina asked.

"Kazu doesn't seem to need my help. He's a lot like Mommy that way. He's a great composer. Daddy says the same thing about Shinako too. I'm more like him though. I like singing," said Rui.

"Oh I see," said Yuina, "Well if that's the case then sure, you can help." She pulled out a stepstool from a closet and pulled it over to the oven. "Just stand here and stir the pot. If it gets too hot let me know."

"Okay," said Rui, doing as she was told.

"So what does your brother think of the parts Mr. Hijirikawa asked?" Yuina asked.

"He likes it. There doesn't seem much at needed to be fix," said Rui, "I can't wait of the lyrics to be added."

Yuina had to smile at the girl's excitement. "I just wish we could get daddy to sign with the rest of STARISH," Rui added.

"Well, I think your father still needs help with the pain he's going through," said Yuina. "Anyway, how the stew?"

"It smells really nice," said Rui.

"Good, keep string please," said Yuina. Just then, the kitchen phone started to ring.

"Hello, Ichinose Residence," Yuina said answering.

"Hello, is Mr. Tokiya Ichinose there?" asked the voice on the other end.

"No, I'm afraid not. May I ask who's calling? This is his nanny and housekeeper speaking," said Yuina.

"This is his daughter, Rui's doctor. I was calling to catch up with him about her most recent visit. I would like for him to bring her back in soon for a quick recap on her condition when he can. Will you please have him call me when he gets home? He has both the office and my home number."

"Yes of course," said Yuina, "thank you."

"That wasn't the doctor was it?" Rui asked sounding nervous.

"I'm afraid so," said Yuina, "they just want to catch up on how you're feeling, that's all."

Rui groan, "but I'm fine."

"I'm bet you are, but the doctors need to make sure too. They don't get to see you every day and therefore have to do their job by having you come in and check you out," Yuina said patting her head.

"Are you feeling okay Miss Kyouou?" Rui asked.

"Yeah, why?" Yuina asked.

"Because, Daddy seems to think you're not well," said Rui.

"Oh yeah, that," said Yuina, "that's nothing, I'm just fine." Just then, they heard the front door opening.

"I'm home," Tokiya called out.

They could hear some running coming from the other end of the house and Shinako shouting, "Daddy!"

"Hello Shinako," said Tokiya. Yuina poked her head out the kitchen in time to see him scooping up the little girl into his arms. He looked over at the kitchen where Yuina stood.

"Welcome home Mr. Ichinose," Yuina said bowing.

"Thank you," said Tokiya, "I take it someone was in the music room?" He asked looking down at Shinako.

"Yes, and Kazu's probably still there. I'll go get him."

"No need, I'm here," said Kazu walking into the living room. He held up the music room key, "I already locked up the room too."

"I'll take that," said Tokiya, snatching it from his son's hand, "go wash up for dinner."

"Yes Dad," Kazu said, trying his best not to argue back as he hurried off.

"I'll take smells good as usual Miss Kyouou," Tokiya said as he walked over to Yuina.

"Thank you sir," said Yuina happily.

"I'll take hope it wasn't too much trouble to prepare," said Tokiya.

"No sir, hardly," Yuina assured the man, "Besides, Rui was nice enough to offer to help."

"Oh I see," said Tokiya looking at Rui still stand on the stool, stirring the pot.

"Oh speaking of Rui sir, her doctor called just now. They would like for you to schedule a follow up appointment for her when you can," said Yuina.

"Oh, of course," said Tokiya. He put Shinako down and picked up the phone.

Yuina could hear Rui moan again.

"Am I ever going to healthy enough to not have to go to the doctors all the time?" she asked.

"I'm sure you will someday," Yuina said as a means of comfort, patting her head.

"Hold on a moment," Tokiya suddenly said. He turned and looked towards Yuina.

"Miss Kyouou, I hate to ask, but is there anyway you could possibly take Rui to the doctors?" he asked.

"Of course," said Yuina.

Thank you, they have an opening three days from now and I have an extra important class that day. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take her for me," said Tokiya.

"No problem at all sir," said Yuina. Tokiya nodded before getting back on the phone to confirm the appointment.

Yuina glanced over at Rui who didn't looked too thrilled at the notion.

"It'll be okay honey, you'll see," she said.

"Miss Kyouou is right, I'm sure this just a routine check up," Tokiya also said as he hung up the phone.

"Okay Daddy," said Rui.

"I think that's enough stirring for now honey. Why don't you go get washed up and check on your brother?" Yuina said as she picked her up from the stepstool and moving the pot off the burner.

Rui quickly ran off.

"Thank you for taking Rui to the doctors. You seem to have a way with making her feel better," said Tokiya.

"Of course, all part of the job. The job that's not overwhelming me by the way," said Yuina.

She was slightly surprised when she felt Tokiya suddenly next to her. She turned towards him and suddenly saw his face right in hers. He appeared to be looking her over through.

"You don't look too pale at least," he said, "I'm sorry, but I can't help worrying about you seeing as how I've trusted the well being of my children in your care."

"Yes of course," said Yuina. She was certain she felt her face redder than the time Masato had been that close to her.

The next day when Tokiya arrived at the academy, he happened to notice Masato pulling up in his car as well. He wasn't sure, but for some reason, Masato looked rather upset about something.

"Hijirikawa," he called out as Masato got our of his car.

"Oh, good morning Ichinose," Masato called back bowing.

"Is everything alright this morning?" Tokiya asked, "forgive me, but you seem down."

Masato took a deep breath. "My wife and I are officially getting a divorce," he said softly.

"Oh," Tokiya said, slightly shocked. There was a part of him that wasn't too shocked about the notion, considering that the two had never really seemed happy together. But just the same, the sudden news came as a slight surprise. "Why so sudden?" he asked.

"Let's just say, someone said something to me that made me feel it was time to face facts and not keep dragging on something that has no hope of succeeding," said Masato.

"I see, well you have my sympathy. If you need help, let me know," said Tokiya.

"Thank you," said Masato, "I shall see you later."

"Of course," said Tokiya. Masato bowed to him again before walking off.

'I wonder who spoke to him and what they said to provoked him to finally divorce his wife,' Tokiya thought.

'I hope I didn't do or say anything to make Ichinose feel suspicious about Miss Kyouou,' Masato thought.

Masato did his best to go along with his usual routine of his piano lessons with his students. He hoped none of the students noticed his own sadness.

Later that day, as he sat playing on one of the pianos, he suddenly heard the door to the practice room opening.

"Hey," Ren said as he came into the room. He stopped when he happened to notice Masato's sad look. "Something wrong?"

"Something happened yesterday," Masato said as he kept playing the piano, "I guess you could say it's bad. My wife and I are officially getting a divorce."

"Oh," said Ren.

"Huh?" the two suddenly heard Otoya say. They turned to the door to see him, Syo and Natsuki walking into the room.

"You're getting a divorce Masato?" Natsuki asked.

"Yes," said Masato.

"What brought this on all of a sudden?" Syo asked.

"Yesterday, when I was over at the Ichinose house working with Miss Kyouou, she said something that really seemed to hit me hard," said Masato.

"...if all you do is try with no progress, even after all this time, is it really worth it?"

Masato remember the words easily. Several people had said several things to him in the past. But for some reason, the words Yuina had said to him yesterday hit him hard enough to make this move.

"So after I was done working with her, I went home and had a long talk with my wife about our relationship, and how miserable we both were with our marriage no matter how you looked at it. So we both came to the mutual agreement and legally separate. So today, she's moving out and going to stay at one of her family's villas in the mountains. For the time being, I'm keeping the children with me and once we're legally divorced, we'll share custody of them. All in all, I think we'll be able to be smooth and peaceful as possible. Still doesn't make it easy," said Masato.

"Yeah, of course not," said Otoya.

"We're really sorry Masato," said Natsuki.

"Yes, thank you," said Masato.

"At least it sounds like it's going smoother than when my ex-wife decided she wanted a divorce," said Ren.

"What all happened again?" Syo asked.

"Let's see, she threw a vase at my head, told me to go fuck myself, said she hoped my dick fell off and had dogs feed on it, and hoped that I rot in hell. All in front of our daughter too," said Ren.

"Ugh," said Otoya and Syo.

"Oh, and she also went on about how she'd never want to see me try influencing my daughter to be like me. Yet for some reason, she's barely contacted our daughter since she left, and I've been raising her all on my own this whole time. Not that I mind. Amarante is the only good thing I ever got out of my marriage with that woman," said Ren.

"Anyway, let's try focusing on the more important matter at hand," said Masato, "I nominate Ichigi to go next to work on the song."

"Me?" Otoya asked.

"Yes, call it a random choice like Kurusu did with me," said Masato.

"Well sure, I'd love to go!" said Otoya.

"There, now that's that," said Ren, "see you guys later." He ushered the three men out of the room before moving over to Masato.

"You really sure you know what you're doing with this divorce?" he asked in a serious voice.

"Yes, after the talk with my wife, both she and I truly believe this is for the best in the long run," said Masato. He was startled by a hardy slap on the back.

"Well, I wish you the best in what the future will bring you," Ren said, "and also, just so you know, I'm actually proud of you. This can't be easy but I too think you're doing the right thing."

"Thank you," Masato said.

'And thank you too Miss Kyouou,' he thought, 'you couldn't have been more helpful than if Haruka was still here.'