Thanks: Guren, Sakuraloveu, Alana-Star/SugarCat, Kitty in the Box, the one who posses Insanity, Shos-lady, Claudita, KendoSakuyamon, Japanese Vampire Babe II.

Chapter VI

"I can't believe it!" Tatsuha latched onto him. "It happened again. Miracles of miracles!" He started to giggle, patting Shuichi's stomach. "I'm going to be an uncle again!"

"Just great!" He muttered, lighting a cigarette. "I get to deal with Tatsuha the idiot for another nine months."

"Aniki! How can you say that!?"

"Because the last time Shuichi got pregnant you became a brainless idiot."

"Not that brainless…"

"Brainless enough." He blew out smoke.

"Well, I think it's great!"

"You said so last time too…"

"You're acting just the way you did last time, Aniki. You'll be happy when the baby comes."

Yuki didn't say anything further.

"Aniki?"

"I'm thinking about our financial position, you nitwit."

Tatsuha frowned.

"But you and Shuichi have always made enough money to provide for Ichigo. What's one more kid?"

The novelist sighed.

"Hello, everybody!"

He groaned. Déjà vu.

Tohma Seguchi entered the house smiling. "Seguchi." The president came forward. "Well, it seems fortune have blessed the Shindou-Uesugi house once more!" "Yeah…" Tohma offered a bottle of wine, just like he had 16 years ago. "Joyous occasion." "Yuki, can't you be happy?" Shuichi asked then ate some bacon. The blonde sighed. "I'm not upset with you…" "You aren't?" "No." "I'm upset with me." People gave him strange looks.

"Why couldn't I have been more careful?" He began to calculate in this head. "My study is going to have to become a nursery again." "True." Shuichi frowned. "Yuki, you're taking this rather well…" "I don't have a choice do I?" "No." "Well, then I'll guess we'll have to figure this out." "Hey, you two! This a happy time! Buck up!" Tatsuha exclaimed.

The raven-haired young man smiled. "Yes, and this time we're twice as prepared for such an occasion." He turned his head to gaze at his lover. "Right, Yuki?" "Mmmm." "Yuki. No smoking." "Not that shit again…." "Yes that 'shit' again." He leaned over and took the cigarette from his lips. "A new baby. No smoking." "You guys are having a baby?" Ichigo was shocked. "I mean, I thought I was a once in a lifetime thing! Another one?" "I guess so, Ichigo…." The girl was flabbergasted to say the least. "You can't have a baby now!" "Ichi! What's gotten into you?" Shuichi snapped. "Don't be selfish?" "What about my birthday?" "I'll still do the concert…. I'm thin." Yuki smirked. "Well, thin enough." "But what about-? This is going to ruin everything!" She burst into tears and ran upstairs. "Ichi!" "Let her go..." His lover commanded. "What's with her, Yuki? I thought she'd be happy."

"Well, I think it is great!" Kari Seguchi exclaimed from the background somberly.

"Thank you, Kari-chan." Shuichi said with a smile looking at his niece.

Kari was the only child of Mika and Tohma Seguchi. She had big expressive blue eyes and chestnut hair hanging loosely past her shoulders. She had her mother's sense of style even at the age of thirteen, but her father's sense of business—she someday hoped to run N-G Recording Company. For one so young she took matters of business very seriously and made sure to keep her personal life apart from business. Tohma had seen great promise in his child. She turned her head to face her father, "Isn't that correct, Shaucho." 1 "Quite, Kari…" He smiled sadly, "Now if you'll excuse me there is some business I need to attend to." With that he went outside. She frowned. She had noticed the change in her father. Too much of a change. She'd been left alone for one night in their house without either of her parents. Her mother had apparently left her father that much Kari understood. She'd never seen Tohma Seguchi act like such a basket case. It was unsettling.

She'd have to fix that!

The younger girl looked towards the stairs and made her way up them. "Excuse me." She had to speak with her irrational cousin.

Knock! Knock!

"Go away!" Ichigo cried out, crying into her pillow.

"Ichigo, it's me. Kari." A sigh. "Please unlock the door."

The blonde didn't move for awhile. "Ichigo! I don't have a lot of patience and you know that." Ichi nodded. She knew that very well. It's wasn't like Kari was a spoiled brat or a genius child. Far from it; Kari had worked extra hard for her grades always; just happening to have a rock star for a father. Although she excelled in business at a young age, Kari Seguchi still had a while to go. She was determined to work her way up the ladder of her father's company. The brunette didn't believe on things being held out to her on a silver platter. She had higher expectations of herself than that. Ichigo got up slowly and walked over to unlock and open her door. Her cousin entered, unsmiling. That was one thing she lacked—Tohma's beautiful smile. "If this is about the baby.." She began, going back to her bed in the dark room. "No. It's not." Kari was a little irritated. "It's not even about you. Though I don't understand why you can't be happy for them. But that's beside the point!" "What IS your point, Kari?"

"My point?" She crossed over to Ichi's desk, pulled out a chair and sat down. "My father is my point."

"Oji-san?"

"Precisely."

"What about him?"

She rolled her eyes. "You can't be that dumb, Ichigo, can you? It's obvious, isn't it?"

"…."

"My father has been deeply disturbed by my mother's disappearance." She got up and started walking across the room. "Shattered, to be precise."

"Oh. Oh yeah? Poor oji-san…. Something's bothering him besides Aunt Mika's leaving."

"You mean beside the fact that my father has the ultimate hots for yours?"

"Yeah, besides tha- WHAT!?" Ichigo's head snapped up, eyes wide in shock.

"You couldn't be that dense." She slapped her forehead. "What am I saying, your Shuichi Shindou's kid of course you could."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Kari sighed. "Not bad, Cousin. It just doesn't help that you didn't see it long ago… I saw it." She sat back down. "Believe me it devastated me as well."

"No… No. That can't be true! You're lying! You want to hurt my family I just don't understand why!"

Her cousin looked offended. "I'm lying, eh? What need would I have to lie, Ichigo?"

"I don't know, but you are!" Ichigo shouted. "Why would you say something like that!? Don't you want us to be a happy family?"

The younger girl got up "Of course, Senpai. That's why I'm telling you this. So we can be a family." She moved towards the door. "Now, when you come to reality, maybe you'll learn to accept this as the truth. You're obviously not ready to now."

Kari opened the door and left. "Think about what I said, okay?"

Ichigo sat there, shocked. Her oji-san? The person he'd been lusting after was her tou-san? This was just too weird. Could Kari possibly be right about their fathers? If Tohma Seguchi was involved could Eiri Yuki also be guilty as well? Her eyes teared. Was her tou-san cheating on her okaa-san? Her cousin had never said anything about it. Maybe she hadn't to save Ichi's feelings from being crushed much worse than they already were. And how come Kari's taking this so well? This affected her as well. Maybe her cousin was lying. Tou-san would never crush her okaa-san like that. Why did the younger girl have to act this way? Why? "What did I do to her?" Ichigo blubbered. "I never did anything except try to be her friend…" She threw herself down on her bed and began to weep. Not because of the baby, but because she knew her family was about to be torn wide open apart—and Ichigo was helpless to stop it. Tohma and Eiri had started this ball rolling; now it was up to them to stop it.

She lifted her head. Or was it? Could she save her family from falling apart?

Yuki looked up and saw Ichigo making her way down the stairs. "So you finally decided to stop being selfish." His face was displeased. "Yeah." Ichigo had more dire things to worry about than okaa-san being pregnant. How would that baby feel, coming into a broken home? She had to fix everything! Not only for aunt Mika, but for this new baby, and to do that she had to go to the root of the problem. She had find out what had happened between Eiri Uesugi and Tohma Seguchi way back when. "Hello, Okaa-san…" She smiled slightly. "Are you okay?" Shuichi smiled back. "I'm fine, sweetie. Feeling much better. Thank you for asking…" He looked at her expectantly. "Did you want something, Ichi-honey?" The girl's eyes teared up for he situation looming before their family and the unborn child. "Oh, Okaa-san!" She tossed herself into his arms and cried. "I'm SO sorry." She continued. "Please forgive me!" "Of course, Ichi…" He kissed the top of her head. "Of course. I'm you okaa-san. I'll always love you not matter what!" Ichigo glanced up, tears still in her eyes. "I know, Okaa-san." She put a hand to his stomach. "You were good to me; I know you'll be great with this baby. I'm happy for you and tou-san!"

She wiped her eyes then got up, acting peppy. "Well, I guess I'll go make you some…"

"Grilled cheese sandwich, please." Shuichi requested.

"Sure, Okaa-san. Just rest. New mothers need rest."

"But I'm not that…" Yuki put a hand to his chest.

"Just listen to someone for once, baka. Okay?"

"Yuki?" His eyes sparkled and he got to his knees, placing his lips to his lover's. "Mmmm."

"Okaa-san, do you want..." Ichigo stopped talking at the sight. She rolled her eyes. "Nevermind." She then ducked back inside the kitchen.

Later that day, the blonde girl got on her bike and made her way to her cousin, Kari's house. Her uncle Tohma lived in a high rise apartment, a very fancy one. She laid her bike up against the wall and approached the front door, buzzing the Seguchi apartment. "Seguchi residence…" Kari's voice came over the speaker. "Kari! It's Ichigo! I need to speak with you." She paused. "It's about our family." "You've finally seen it my way then? I knew you had brains, Ichi. Come on up!" Her cousin got off the speaker and the door buzzed open. Ichigo ran into the building and entered the elevator with haste, slapping the bottom for the sixteenth floor. Kari can help me! I know she can! We both want what's best for the family! In no time, the elevator bell dinged and Ichigo arrived on the floor, taking a right as she exited the lift and ran towards apartment 316. She made a move to knock but the door swept open before she had the choice. "Good." Kari nodded. "Come in." Her cousin came in, leaving her shoes at the door and slipping into a comfortable pair of slippers. "Follow me." Ichi complied, following her cousin to her bedroom. "Close the door, please." She did so.

"Where's Uncle Tohma?"

"Father finally stopped moping around here and went to N-G pro to run the company." Kari eyed her wryly. "Someone HAS to, Ichigo."

"I guess…"

"If not Tohma Seguchi… Who?" She snorted. "Those bumbling idiots he calls employees? I think not!"

"Umm.."

"So, you want to save the family!?"

"Um, yeah…"

"That's good. Saving the family is what we both should want."

Ichi smiled. "So we're on the same page?"

"In a matter of speaking, yes." She opened the drawer of her imported desk. "The root of our problem is our fathers."

"Yeah, I sort of figured that out."

"Good. We ARE on the same page." She took out a pad of paper. "Then you realize we have to do something about them?"

"Yes." Her cousin shrugged. "But what can we do?"

"That's all up to you, Ichigo? You've used your parents connections to hire a private detective, am I right?"

"Yeah!"

"I thought as much…."

"Was that bad?"

"No. It was a good idea." Kari smiled. "Great step in the right direction." She sighed. "Even I don't know what happened back then."

"And you're pretty nosy, Kari."

"I know. And the proper word in inquisitive."

"Same thing…" She grinned.

The other girl rolled her eyes. "So we'll both have to try our hardest to what happened to Eiri and Tohma. Something that changed their lives forever…"

"Agreed."

"I'll try to find out what happened on my end…"

"….And I'll do the same on mine."

"Right."

Ichigo sighed. "Do you really think we can do this, Kari?" Kari made what Ichigo took to be her smile and said, "I know we can! You're smart, Ichigo. And nosy…"

"That's inquisitive…"

Her cousin smirked at this.

Ichi after this made her way to N-G Production, intent on starting her side of the investigation. She knew Aunt Mika would be a good place to start, but Aunt Mika couldn't be found. She had two things to do! Her cell phone rang on her hip. She rushed to pick it up. "This is Ichigo! Talk to me!" "Hey, Ichi-baby…" A loathsome voice rumbled over the phone. She gagged. It was that bastard Yamamoto! "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER, YAMAMOTO!?" The line was quiet. "That's my little secret, baby…" "No, that's called invasion of privacy, you perv!" Ichigo was starting to become VERY angry. "When I find out how you got my number, you snake, I'll tear your damn snake head off!" "Big talk, Shindou! Big talk." Laugh. "Can't pull your tricks over the phone can you?" Her anger rose. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, ASSHOLE!" "Be nice, Shindou..." Yamamoto's voice became harsh. "You're just blowing your chances away to be with me!" "Like I want one!" She snarled back. "You know you want me. Every girl does." That's because they're all bimbos! "Not this girl! Listen to this, Yamamoto!" And with that she clicked off the phone in the jerk's ear.

She grinned, imagining the big jerk cursing up a storm.

Knock! Knock!

Tohma Seguchi lifted his head, tears in his blue eyes, phone still glued to his ear. He hung it up. "Yes? Who is it?" He tried to sound all right, but he was broken down inside. Completely shattered. "It's me! Your niece, Ichigo!" Tohma swallowed his tears and pain, banishing it to make himself look presentable to her. The door opened and Ichigo stepped inside. "Konichi wa, little Blossom." He was doing his best at being strong in front his niece. "Konichi wa, Ojj-san!" She replied brightly.

Or so it seemed… She knew something was wrong with her oji-san. It was obvious he'd been crying. Even from here his "little Blossom" could see the wet spots on his cheeks—and she didn't like it! Her family was falling apart before her very eyes….

She had to do something about it!

1: Shaucho: President

Next Chapter: Into the Past

A/N: YEAH! FINISHED! What could possibly be terrorizing Tohma. Find out in the next chapter.