Boxers' Café.

Chapter 6.

'Two days since that kitten's been here and the house still hasn't blown up. My luck hasn't seem to run out then,' Enishi thought humorously, unlocking the front door, but before opening the door all the way, Enishi was thrown backwards by something…furry? Whatever it was, it began licking him all over his face. Growling, his eyes shot open and he grabbed the puppy off of him. Glaring at the abomination of nature, Enishi gritted his teeth.

"MAKIMACHI!" The house almost shook from his thundering voice. A few seconds later, a wet-haired Misao came scrambling down the stairs in a bathrobe looking frantically for lost pet but met the-oh-so furious Enishi.

"Hello," Misao greeted timidly, giving a small guilty smile. She had broken his twenty-sixth house rule.

"What is this?" Enishi pointed at the dog that was beginning to pout from being held so gruffly.

"My dog, Pochi," Misao stated, trying hard to reinstate herself as the dominant person within the slight quarrel that was about to brew up. Standing up on her tiptoes, Misao took Pochi out of Enishi's death grip in fear that he was going to crush the poor thing. Slamming the door, Enishi turned around to face Misao.

"What were one of my rules, Makimachi?" Enishi questioned, his dark blue eyes were flaring.

"But Enishi!" Misao whined, "Megumi didn't have the time to take care of my puppy and…and look! He's only a puppy…he needs my attention! Please, just let him stay, I promise, he won't wreck anything…and he's potty trained!" Misao's reasoning didn't seem to sink into Enishi, because his glare only inflamed. Enishi was about to open his mouth to tell her to get that abhorrence out of his sight, but he was hit with something he wasn't very familiar with. Puppy eyes. Two pairs of eyes were giving him pleading faces. He gritted his teeth. Damn them! Damn, damn, damn, damn!

"Fine," Enishi barked, "but keep him out of the backyard."

"Why?" Misao asked curiosity sparking as she placed Pochi back onto the grounds since he was out of danger at the moment.

"Yuki's out there. She might mistaken your little puppy for food," Enishi pointed to the backyard, "I don't want you upset at me because you let him out there."

"Huh? Do you own some sort of giant dog?" Misao looked at him skeptically, resting her hand on her hip. Enishi had to confess, she did have somewhat a nice figure under that revealing towel that was haphazardly thrown on. Dare he say, she was sexy like that? The answer to that was obvious, of course not.

Keeping a straight face, he replied casually, "She's a Siberian tiger, and a pregnant one at that." Enishi loosened his working shirt a bit, dropping his briefcase next to the wall.

"You're telling me that you of all people own an endangered species?"

"Yes. I used to work at the shelter for the Siberian tigers. One baby tiger came out sick and I took that one home. And if you want proof, I've got a license in my office that says I own Yuki."

"Wait. If you only own one tiger, then how'd she get pregnant?"

"I take her back to the shelter once every six months for the researchers to check up on her and during one of those trips I gave them my consent to let her be fertilized. However her lil' kittens won't be mine, they'll return to the facility after I raise them for one year," Enishi muttered, walking towards the backyard sliding door.

Following him, Misao asked, "Can I meet her?"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Enishi leaned on the glass door looking at her from the bottom up, "Not in those clothes, if that's what you call them." Misao slapped his arm for good measure before dashing up the stairs to change with Pochi trailing after her, struggling to climb the stairs, barking. Running his left hand through his ruffled hair, he glanced at the backyard and back towards the struggling puppy, which had only managed to climb two stairs. How did he get into this predicament? He hated dogs.

Picking himself off of the glass door, he slid it open and stepped out where he was greeted with a small growl from the other end where Yuki laid under the shade, away from the blistering sun that soon afflicted onto his back. Strolling towards Yuki, he gave a small smile to himself. Tomoe would have loved the gardens of daffodils, tulips, irises, daises, lilies, roses, carnations, and the other flowers that decorated the garden that held a pond in the middle where vibrant koi fish swam. He bent down to scratch the back of Yuki's ears, sitting down onto the cool grass.

"Tomoe would've loved you too, Yuki." Rubbing his hands across her back, he laid himself onto the grass, crossing his arms behind his head, staring at the orange sky that was beginning to turn pinkish. The sunset. He loved it, but something had blocked his view or rather it was someone.

"Oh my god! It's really a tiger!" Misao shouted running towards them, but before he could move out of the way, Misao tripped over his long legs, "Ahh!" Misao had fallen on top of him with a thump. Blushing red from being too excited to the point of tripping, Misao pushed herself off of his chest, cocking her head to one side to look at the grim expression on his face.

"I'm sorry! Are you okay? Why do you look so serious?" Misao looked worried, "Enishi?" Enishi's face had been set into a form of grimace. His lips were pursed into a thin line and he looked highly concentrated on something.

"Your knee. My crotch," Enishi choked, pain etching on his face. At the mention of his southern area, Misao turned even redder, quickly climbing off of him.

"I'm sorry!" Misao didn't know whether to face his crotch or his face to apologize, so she ended up apologizing to his face halfway before giving a furtive glance towards his groin and then back up. Enishi had sat up by then, the pain had turned into a mild ache. He had a smelt a sweet fragrance from her, she smelled of vanilla ice cream. It made him feel a bit light-headed and tight in the stomach, but he dismissed the thought from forming into something else.

"For your information, a man's crotch isn't where a lady's leg should be," Enishi scowled. Misao grinned sheepishly, a light shade of pink dimpled her face.

"Can I pet her?" Misao asked, changing the subject matter. Enishi nodded mutely scratching the underside of Yuki's chin, making her purr. Misao giggled as she petted the soft fur that matted the tiger's body, a slight bulge from her belly signifying her pregnancy.

"Her coat is so soft!" Enishi gave a wide yawn before standing up and brushing the loose grass off of his pants, "I'm going to watch some TV. Don't bother her too much, she needs to rest." Misao gave a small snicker, watching his retreating form. There was a piece of grass still stuck on the butt of his pants.

"I guess your master isn't as tough as he thinks he is!" Misao grinned, getting up herself, following Enishi. Upon closing the sliding door, Misao found Enishi lazily draped onto the couch aimlessly flipping through the channels. It was almost time to make dinner, so Misao went straight towards the kitchen to begin preparing a simple dish of beef with Napa cabbage.

"Enishi?"

"What?" Enishi grumbled, focusing his eyes on the television's screen.

"Don't you get lonely sometimes…living in a giant house?" Misao wondered aloud, stir frying the ingredients together. A frown plastered Enishi's face before he answered.

"No. Why?" His head turned a notch towards her direction.

"I don't know. It's just quiet that's all. Oh! Dinner's ready!" Enishi remained silent to her question, but Misao decided to ignore it for the moment. They ate silently, Misao deep in her thoughts about her 'mission' while Enishi observed her expressions as they changed from sour to deep concentration. He decided not to interrupt her since it was so rare of him to find her in such "deep" concentration, but then again…it was just plain weird.

"Why the serious look?" Enishi questioned, finishing the last bit of morsel on his plate, wiping his mouth with the cloth napkin. Misao placed her fork down onto the plate with the hardly touched food. Misao couldn't tell him about her mission obviously, so she blurted the next thing that came to her mind as an excuse.

"How come your girlfriend's picture frame is flipped?" Misao could've slapped herself, because Enishi froze, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Enishi took a moment before relaxing. He picked up his glass of white zinfandel wine and took a hefty gulp.

"It's fine. That picture isn't of my girlfriend. Kurenai and I broke up for your information. The picture is of my older sister," Enishi finished. So Kurenai was now his ex-girlfriend! Misao felt a small giddiness growing in the pit of her stomach, she didn't know why, or maybe it was the fact that Enishi was now a single man.

"Your sister's beautiful," Misao recalled looking at the picture, "but why did you…" Enishi's eyes flashed a different color when he replied.

"She's dead." Guilt swept over Misao as she made a consoling face. Her giddiness dropped like a rock falling off of a ledge.

"I'm sorry to hear that Enishi…you must have been close to her…" Misao gave a sad smile. Enishi's playful manner returned surprisingly as he chuckled.

"No. We weren't that close before she died, but you could say we were…a long time ago," Enishi snorted, "I was a brat and she hated me."

"I'm sure she must've been proud of you, since you know, you're an accomplishment," Misao murmured admiringly.

"She died when I was in high school, so you can say that she never got to reap the benefits of me being well-off." Enishi recollected all those times that he had gotten into small fights just so that he would be in some sort of communication range with her. It had always been that way. Small fights that ended with both of them smirking at the other wall. He knew she always cared for him in every way, even if she never said much. Most things were kept to herself and that diary she kept. The most peculiar thing about it was that the diary couldn't be found after she died. He searched and searched, but it simply just vanished. It was something that he couldn't comprehend—it took him years to let go of his old home, after probing all of the nooks and crannies. Tomoe had taken all of her secrets to her grave and in the end, he knew nothing about her. The only lead that he had grasped at the time was Kiyosato, Tomoe's beloved. Kiyosato was rendered missing two months before Tomoe had died. It was a mystery that haunted Enishi till this day and still, he could not let it go. Not until he found out who it was exactly. Tomoe's death had been his incentive to be ambitious, to gain power and wealth, because with power, you had the authority to find out anyone's identity. Even though he had accomplished that, the second part of his duty was yet to be undertaken. Until now. Enishi's train of thoughts came to an abrupt halt with Misao's next question.

"How did she die? Was she happy?" Misao inquisitively asked, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to…" Enishi looked her over passively, stretching out his limbs and yawning.

"I don't know. Aoshi does." At this speck of new information, Misao's eyebrow's furrowed together in confusion.

"Why would Aoshi know?"

"Aoshi doesn't lie. And he didn't lie back then when he had told me he knew who Tomoe's murderer was, but he refused to tell me," Enishi explained, "And that's how we left high school. Why do you think I'm partnering up with him?" Misao put two and two together and she gasped.

"What are you going to do when you know who it is?" Misao inquired, knowing full well what his response was.

"Kill him obviously," Enishi chuckled. His quiet laugh gave a shudder to Misao's spine. She didn't know if he was joking or not, but his eyes gave her the answer to her question. He wasn't joking. Frustrated with him, Misao slammed her hands on the table, standing up.

"Why!" she exclaimed, "She doesn't need you to kill someone! It's wrong, even if he killed your sister!" Enishi's eyes narrowed at Misao.

"How would you know, Misao? What is wrong is the death of my sister. I'll make it right by giving what that murderer deserves," Enishi snarled.

"But still! It doesn't mean you have to kill him and ruin your entire life! He's not worth it whoever it is! Just live your life for you and for her…" Misao persuaded pleadingly. She felt this protectiveness over him, she didn't want him to get hurt anymore than he had. It was enough.

"You and your stupid ideals! Little, innocent Misao, you probably never experienced any adversity to understand the reality of life," Enishi sneered. Right when Enishi had finished his demeaning tirade, he instantly regretted it, watching as Misao's face contort from shocked to being hurt. Her eyes were watering if he was seeing correctly.

"Well! You're damn right, Enishi! I never faced any misery! But then again, most people probably don't understand this pain that you feel, right Enishi? That's why nobody understands you!" Misao yelled back sarcastically. Before he could squeeze another word out, Misao had already left the table. The sound of a door slamming could be heard echoing in the empty home. Enishi's eyes shifted from the table to the corner of the kitchen where Pochi stood next to his empty bowl for dinner, a little whine escaped his throat.

"Oh shut up." But the dog wouldn't listen. Enishi begrudgingly got up and opened a can of dog food for the small puppy to keep him quiet. Enishi was frustrated beyond relief. A headache was beginning to find its way into his head. Why did he have to open his big mouth and tell her what he intended to do? He could've avoided the entire ordeal had he just lied then they could've just pretended to live in their purposeless lifestyle.

Enishi threw off the rest of his button up shirt and opened the door downstairs to his gym. He needed to let out some pent up anger. Dressed in only a white tank top and the black slacks he wore to work, he encircled the punching bag, glaring at it before aimlessly punching the bag. He punched and punched, ignoring the stinging pain in his knuckles that had become raw from the rough material that it was continually gnashed against. He knew he should apologize for demeaning her opinion, but his pride was in the way at the moment. He kept on punching until the skin of his knuckles were peeling and even then, he wasn't satisfied. It was like self-punishment for the pain he had inflicted on her. Why was he being so sensitive to her feelings again? He didn't know, but his gut was telling him that he was wrong and that he had gone to far. Finally exhausted, he plopped himself on the mat, taking off the sweat drenched tank top, letting the cool air from the windows sweep over his muscular form.

"Dammit…" Enishi got up to walk over by the gym's shower to cleanse himself before apologizing. He was doing everything that his mind could possibly think of to procrastinate the apology that Misao deserved. He hated his pride sometimes. As he dried his hair, he debated one last time of when he should apologize…tonight or tomorrow morning? He finished the debate when he found himself standing in front of Misao's bedroom door. Raising his fist to the door, he hesitated once before knocking. There was no answer. He began second-guessing himself about the apologizing part, but he ate his pride and knocked again. It was unlike Misao to not reply? Even if she were mad, there was always some sort of retort to come back and slap him. Curiosity getting the better of him, he turned the cold, metal knob in his hand, only to open to find an empty bed. Pochi was fast-asleep in his mini-bed beside Misao's. He walked in quietly and closed the door, Pochi didn't even stir. A slight breeze grazed through the room from the open balcony door where the curtains billowed around. Slowly ambling towards the balcony, he found a small ball on the bench swing facing the backyard. It was Misao. She shivered from the excessive coldness from the breezes, Enishi bent down and hooked his arms around her petite form, carrying her off to bed and out of the wintry weather. Gently placing her into the sheets, he covered her with her comforter. She was definitely a heavy sleeper since she had not once twitched from the movements around her…like master, like puppy.

"I'm sorry, Misao," he confessed quietly into her ear. He wasn't sure if she had heard him, but she gave a smile as if she were acknowledging it subconsciously. He gave a small smile, but there it was again. That waft of vanilla filled his nostrils, the syrupiness invading his thoughts. He didn't know why he did it that night or the following nights afterwards, but he found himself climbing into bed with her and wrapping his arms around her. Just for tonight he always thought before crawling into her bed. He never admitted it to himself those nights, never admitting how he enjoyed being next to her, soaking in her warmth or how he took pleasure in watching her dream her nights away, but like how he had promised to himself silently, he always left in the morning before she awoke.

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear
This is my December
This is my snow covered home
This is my December
This is me alone

And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all
The things I said
To make you
Feel like that
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all the
Things I said to you

And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere
To go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to

This is my December
These are my snow-covered trees
This is me pretending
This is all I need

And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all
The things I said
To make you feel like that
And I
Just wish that
I didn't feel
Like there was
Something I missed
And I
Take back all the things
I said to you

And I give it all away
Just to have
Somewhere to go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to

This is my December
This is my time of the year
This is my December
This is all so clear

And I give it all away
Just to have somewhere
To go to
Give it all away
To have someone
To come home to…

My December by Linkin Park.

Author's Note:

Yay. Another chapter done. ) Gosh I'm super proud of myself. I don't know if I'll be able to keep this up every week since I need to start studying for my upcoming SATs and ewww…filling out college applications P, but I'll try nonetheless. The end of September, and all of October will be pretty hectic since I'm also going on a trip to Japan soon. Ahh! My writing is so slow it tortures me too!