Author's note : Wow. Sorry that it took so long to update. Ack. All this moving and college and everything, sort of catches up with you. Plus, I had mega case of writer's block. Thanks for reading this tho. . . Thanks even more to those who reviewed this~.

Disclaimer: This fic does not belong to me, belongs to someone else more brilliant than me.

Chapter 4 Conflict Begins

Dark splotches of wetness colored the ground slowly. Clumps of cloud, pregnant with rain, painted the skies a misty grey color. Drafts of wind tugged at Fuuko's skirts as she sat on the swing, dazed from her sudden encounter a forgotten memory. Fuuko mocked herself for pushing her mother's abrupt disappearance and her father's swift departure to the back of her mind. She sat, pondering her broken past in silence, as the rain drizzled relentlessly onto her pink uniform, staining it into a depressed mud-red.

A little girl clutching onto her mother's bright orange umbrella passed by Fuuko. She paused in her footsteps and observed Fuuko's wretched appearance from head to toe. Her small mind wondered what had happened to the nee-chan for she had never seen a person immersed in so much sorrow before. The little girl took a deep breath for courage and approached Fuuko.

"Nee-chan" The little girl tugged at Fuuko's skirt. Fuuko lifted her tear-stained face and attempted to smile at the small girl standing in front of her. She tried, but nothing came. "Nee-chan" repeated the little girl. Then, with all her might the little girl hugged Fuuko and thrust her orange colored umbrella at her. "Don't be so sad. . ." Having sad those words, the little girl ran off before a bewildered Fuuko had a chance to respond to her, to offer her a word of gratitude or chastisement for conversing with a stranger.

Fuuko stared at the umbrella in her hands. She was astonished. But she had to smile. The warmth from the little girl's hug spread itself in her. For a moment, her sadness left, washed out by the rain. Perhaps it time to go home. Fuuko glanced at her watch, it was getting late, she had so many chores to do and yet, she was too tired to do anything.

Suddenly her senses tensed, she felt that someone was watching her. She snapped her head up just as a dark figure lept out of her range of sight.

What is happening to me, Fuuko questioned herself. What is happening? Why can't I shake off this depression? Why is it so hard to smile? Why do I have this premonition that I am going to loose everything and everyone that I love? Why? Why? Fuuko sighed. Her memory, more like her inner consciousness was correct, she was fated to experience unhappiness for the rest of her life. For as long as she could remember, whenever her life was stable and happy, something happened that shattered that good feeling. Each time, the shattering increased and affected her psyche more. . .it seemed as if all her unhappiness was builing up to something. Was it? Maybe something was just fundamentally wrong with herself. Perhaps she just used this depression as an excuse to not deal with her problems. . . the shattered family. . .the death of ones she loved. Perhaps. . . Fuuko did not know.

Mikagami debated whether or not he should approach Fuuko. He, being the man who always catches people at their worst moments, just happened to pass by a downtrodden Fuuko. Okay, fine, if I approach her, she would probably just wave me off with one of her trademark smiles. He remembered her words from earlier, she had troubles. But, how could he, of all people, help her? But, then again, why should he help her in the first place? When did her business concern him? He was definitely not going to fall into the trap of (ahem) cliché fanfiction love path.

Another figure beat him to Fuuko. Mikagami could only stare on the man standing in front of him. How the hell? This man looked like a replica of himself. Something was amiss.

"Fuuko san" Seth nudged Fuuko

"Ah, hai?" Fuuko's exhausted eyes meet his. "What do you want?"

"Um. I saw you sitting here, and you looked really. . .wretched. Something is wrong isn't it?" The gentleness in his voice touched Fuuko.

"Of course something is wrong" Fuuko muttered to herself, almost inaudibly

"What did you say?"

"oh nothing"

"Do you want to eat dinner with me?" Seth's abrupt change in topic made Fuuko snap her head out of the slump.

"Huh?" Seth looked a bit flustered.

"what I meant was, you look so sad, I and was wondering if I invited you to eat dinner that I would be able to cheer you up" Fuuko gaped at Seth

"But you've only just met me. Why?"

"I don't know. Perhaps because it is in a gentlemen's nature to rescue a damsel in distress"

Fuuko snorted. This guy did sound like Raiha, what a weirdo! What did he want with her? But, his company would certainly fend off her inner battle with darkness.

"Okay. I'll eat dinner with you under two conditions" Seth smiled at Fuuko's answer.

"What are they?"

"You ready for this? A, you must pay and B, I get to decide where we eat and what we eat"

Upon hearing her response, Seth burst into laughter. Fuuko was quite taken aback, Why was he laughing anyway? She disliked seeing him laugh, he looked too much like Mikagami, and, well, seeing Mikagami laugh was just something that would send unpleasant shivers up one's back. Hmmm. . . why was she thinking about Mikagami anyway? Eeeeewwww, ice boy infiltrated her mind! It's the end of the world for Fuuko, she laughed at herself. Seth is definitely not Mikagami, she should stop relating the two.

"Fuuko, don't you realize that it is a gentleman's responsibility to take of the bill and treat a girl to whatever she desires when they go out?" Seth responded to Fuuko's conditions earnestly, after regaining his composure. Fuuko snorted again.

"Take it easy okay Seth? Geeez. You're making it sound way too serious. It's just dinner. None of this formal gentleman crap when we eat, okay?" Fuuko eyed Seth tauntingly.

"Sure sure Fuuko-san" Seth played along with her "Where should we go?"

"I know this great place. . ."

Mikagami watched as their voices trailed off into the distance. He was glad that someone interfered and he did not have to get involved. One thought troubled him persistently though, who was this man? Why did this guy, Seth, was it? Resemble himself? Did his appearance pose any threat to the Hokage or was it just some unfortunate coincidence? Anyway, he will bring this matter up to that horde of monkeys tomorrow, granted that Fuuko wasn't present. He could see that Fuuko was quite taken by this man. Surprisingly, he found part of himself regretting that he had not approached Fuuko before the mysterious male did. Why is he regretting not being a part of the monkey's troubles? Hmmm. . . something is definitely wrong with him. When had he started caring? Mikagami felt himself fluster. Fuuko cannot and will not affect him this much. But he could not help wondering if anything would develop between those two. Anyhow, it was not within his power to change anything. He should just stay the silent iceberg he had always been around the Hokage. Yet, he wanted to care. A part of him desired to be like Recca, Domon and Koganei, to smile all the time and life without burden. But, he couldn't, could he? Perhaps he could have, but it was too late anyway. Disappointed he turned his back, opened his dark blue umbrella and headed towards his apartment.


How was that? Hopefully that was okay. . . did I offend anyone by saying "cliché fanfiction path?" sorry. Well, here is my shameless plea for reviews ^_^;; heh. This looser (me) needs some encouragement to tear herself away from midterms, papers and all of that wholesome good stuff to write this. So yeah. THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING THIS~ YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST okay. Enough for now. Until next chapter, if possible, we meet