"Yes, I understand." Hatori murmured as he hung up the phone. Shigure stared at him under his round glasses.

"Well?"

"There had been a huge mistake around… so Akito will arrive here tomorrow night." The doctor sighed. "I didn't expect this."

"Sure, you didn't!" Shigure smiled happily. "Now, I still have a chance to hang around with Tohru-chan---"

"Make one tiny mistake about that hanging around, pervert, and I'll---"

"No, of course not!" the inu laughed. "My god, Tori-san, you do know me!"

"Sure I do. You're a Sohma. You're my cousin. And I have more than 10 reasons why I know you." Hatori grumbled. "By the way, where's Yuki?"

"He's resting… or maybe trying to avoid Tohru-kun so he locked himself up in his room." He wondered. "I can't really understand him."

"He's Yuki. He's like Akito." The doctor grabbed his cigar box and popped one cigarette in his mouth. "They are both enigmas."

"But I thought you know anyone who is your cousin and is a Sohma! Are you telling me that… you don't know Yuki?"

Hatori grinned slowly. "Maybe I don't…"

"…and this is the yard, also called the Sohma playing field." Kagura told Tohru while she was pointing at the vast land in front of them. "So, what can you say?"

"This is the first time that I have seen a 5-hectare-yard." Tohru whispered and smiled in delight. "I've never seen a yard this wide!"

"Really? This is the smallest land we have." She wondered. "When I was young, we had a house at a different place and the yard there was about…uh… 15 hectares?"

"WHAT?! I mean…" Tohru stared at the Sohma beside her. "You can buy that kind of land?!"

"That depends. If the government doesn't want, then we don't persuade." Then, Kagura leaned forward to whisper. "That was until the dynamic duo came."

"Dynamic Duo?"

"Akito and Yuki. Like Father like Son, I guess." She whispered.

"Akito is Yuki's father?!"

"Stepfather. And never remind him about that." Kagura warned the innocent onigiri beside her. "Yuki never accepted him as a father. It was just his mother who made that decision. You see, Yuki was sold---"

"Yuki-kun?! But… that can't happen…"

"Yuki is just as poor as you back then. And his mother was a maid in Akito's mansion. Due to constant conversation, rumors say they fell in love and… well, another Sohma came in the group." Kagura explained. "His mother had no money to take care of him so she just gave him up."

"Just like that?!"

"Yes, and of course, Yuki doesn't want that. So Akito summoned Hatori to brainwash him… and it did work. Yuki forgot about his miserable and poor past life and became a Sohma. But secrets are always revealed, so every time Yuki finds out something that he didn't like, Akito will summon Hatori over and over again to brainwash him."

"Really?" Poor Yuki-kun. I can say he'd been through a lot…

"But little does Hatori know… the more he brainwashes Yuki, the more Yuki gets to know things."

"Really?"

Kagura nodded. "And we helped him a lot. We secretly told him about his past life but now, he doesn't care at all. We also told him that Ayame was his brother and he was an orphan."

"Ah… and he's not mad?"

"He was sad." The boar noted. "But what done is done. He just accepted his life as a Sohma. And… you know what happens next right?"

"Yes… but how come Yuki-kun ran away? I mean, you said he accepted his life as a Sohma. Then why did he leave the mansion and ended up in the river next to my house?" Tohru asked curiously but Kagura only gave her a sad look. "I see… you don't know…"

"Why don't you ask Yuki?" her face lit up. "You're friends, right? Maybe you could talk to him once in a while, have tea with him or something."

"N-No, Kagura-san. I can't just talk to him, now that I already know who he is." Tohru whispered sadly. "He's a Sohma… and I'm just a lowlife creature in his eyes. I'm not worthy for him---"

"Wait a minute…" Kagura shot a look. "I didn't say you'll do something with him. I said that you'll… what were you thinking?" she grinned.

"EH?! No! You're…" Tohru blushed and Kagura laughed.

"It's ok… and you can't say no!"

"No." The onigiri shook her head over and over again. Okaa-san, I'm thinking madly today. I can't meet with Yuki-kun---

"Psst, Tohru-can…" Kagura whispered.

"Eh?"

"Yuki's teatime is usually before dinner."

"NE?"

Kagura laughed histerically. "What? Remember what Hatori said? You're Akito's maid but as long as Akito's not here, you should serve his son, right?"

"But---"

"Oh yeah, Yuki likes his tea fresh… and also serve him leek soup." She smiled widely. "You'll be fine. You won't mess up."

That's easy to think Kagura-san. Even I can do that.

But doing it seems to be so hard.

"What?!" Ayame yelled on the phone. "My Tohru-chan?!"

"I heard about that…" Shigure cooed on the other end of the line.

"But that's not nice… serving someone who's about her age… and Yuki doesn't know what Tohru is feeling right now…"

"Wha--- what is she feeling right now?" the inu asked.

"Well, you know… first timers are usually nervous when they… you know…"Ayame grinned secretly.

"Hey, I have an idea." Shigure's voice became mysterious and he whispered. "Come over here and we'll teach Yuki about… you know…"

"You know… what?"

"You know… THAT… the thing we used to do in highschool… to the first timers…" Shigure whispered louder. "We could teach Yuki how to do… that…"

"But Yuki…" Ayame thought for a while very seriously. "… maybe he's not ready yet."

"For god's sake, he's 17. He knows already how to read porn---"

"Keep quiet Shigure! You just mentioned that word!!! What if Hatori hears you?!" Ayame hissed loudly. But there was no response on the other line.

"Shigure?"

"…"

"Hey, that's not funny! Say something!!!"

"…perverts."

Ayame jumped from his seat. "H-Hatori-san!" He was surprised to hear the doctor's voice on the line instead of Shigure.

"Did Shigure mentioned that he's using my phone in my office?"

"Um… no…"

Hatori chuckled lightly. "Now you know, Ayame…"

"…can I come over?"

"No." he said firmly before he hung up.

"Hey that was just a joke." Shigure said playfully.

"Get out of office now, Shigure." He said firmly once more that scared his cousin away.

After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and Tohru peeked inside. "H-Hatori-san?"

"Huh… Oh, it's you…" he answered blankly. "What do you want?"

"Um… can I go out for a while? I just need to tell something to---"

"You're a maid."

Tohru was startled with his answer. "Um…is that a no?"

Hatori stared at her. "What do you think?"

"AH, I'm sorry." She bowed lowly. "Sorry. I'm so dumb. Please forget that I'm here!"

Before he could say another word, she already left his office.

"What are you trying to tell me?!" Yuki asked.

"Talk-to-her." Kagura pressed. "Very simple, right?"

"About what?"

"Forget about him." Kyou grumbled. "Nezumi is frightened to even talk to girls."

"What are you---"

"Yuki!" Kagura caught his attention. "You still need some time to heal those wounds. Kyou-kun, please no fighting, ok?"

Kyou leaned back against the wall while Yuki sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yuki, look at her right now. She's a maid." The boar explains gently. "I can't be just her friend forever. We should try to keep her comfortable for a even just a day… while Akito is not here yet. Please help me, Yuki-kun."

After a long pause, Yuki nodded slowly and Kagura smiled happily.

She leaned over and whispered to his ear. "She'll be here before dinner."

"WHAT?!"

Tohru stood at the edge of the balcony and observed the lands near the Sohma mansion. It's so vast and wide… They're really rich…

No wonder they bought the village… they bought out lives…

"Hello, lovely princess~!" Shigure sang as he approached Tohru. "Why? Why art thou in grim?"

"Eh?"

He chuckled happily. "Are you alright? You seem very lonely in this beautiful day!"

"…really?" she whispered. "Am I that obvious?"

"Princess, you shouldn't be this sad today." The inu smiled widely. "DO you know that people like you will do anything just to get inside this mansion? Now, are you feeling lucky?"

"…actually, I never wished to be locked up inside here…"

"But you're not locked up! You're free as a---"

"Thank you." She said quickly. "But, really, I'm alright. I just… wanted to see Ayame-san."

Shigure stared at her. "You… wanted to see Aya-san?"

"I just wanted to talk to him."

"Ok…" he smiled. "I'll send him over."

She smiled. "Thank you very much, Shigure---"

He raised a finger to silence her. "Shigure is a bit long word. Call me Gure."

"Gure?" she wondered. "Yes, Gure-san."

He laughed. "I haven't thought about attaching the suffix –san with it but… it sounds fine so… ok!" he yelled. "I'll call Aya-san for you to talk with."

While they were talking, behind the curtains, Hatori observes them very carefully…