CHAPTER EIGHT
Breakfast

It was early in the morning. The sun crept into the room through the windows. Its rays were shining on a familiar face.

He was seated in front of the owner of this face. Looking at him, studying him as he slept.

It was almost noon and the blonde hadn't woke up yet. He should've known. He looked at the bowl on top of the bedside table. The mixed rice he made was already getting cold.

He hated the fact that he had to take care of this person. He even hated more why he felts so drawn to him. He didn't understand why, but something about the author was just... He didn't even know how to describe it.

'Why wouldn't he just wake up so that I can get this all over with.' Jed thought as he looked at the sleeping figure in front of him. 'He looks really peaceful... Especially when he's sleeping. Wait a minute. What the hell' He shook his head vigorously. What the hell was he just thinking?

He had already settled things with himself. Everything would be pure business.

'God, help me...' He knows it was pretty impossible for God to help him. He didn't even know if God would forgive him. After all he had done, it was impossible. Maybe that's why he agreed to take this job. A job to protect someone.

Red was right. He's taking it to be some kind of a penance. A break from all he did. He was somehow hoping that it could lessen his sins... Maybe he didn't take the job to please Kat, but to somehow show to himself that he could do other things that aren't concerned about death.

Click.

Jed moved his eyes quickly away from the blonde.

'Someone is inside the apartment.'

Katana in hand and back facing the door of the bedroom, he listened carefully to the foreign sound. He heard the hardwood floor creak, made by every footstep the intruder was doing. Jed closed his eyes to feel his surroundings. He breathed deeply...

Jed could feel him - could feel his presence. He was nearing the room. A man. Maybe slightly taller than him... He could tell by the way he walked. He could hear the intruder's slow breathing.

'He's on the doorway, looking at me... Slowly, now... Just a little more...'

Instantly, Jed opened his eyes and stood up creating a diversion by knocking out the chair he was just sitting on. It flew and slammed on the wall.

Yuki awoke with a start because of the loud noise.

The intruder looked at the flying chair and it was the perfect time Jed needed to remove his katana from its sheath. Unnoticeably, he kicked the intruder on his side. The man stumbled to the floor with a loud thud. Jed turned around swiftly, his soft hair following his every move.

With a final swish, the blade of his katana stopped on the side of the intruders neck. He could see the man trembling... and he loved it. He dug the blade deeper and the blood came. Only drops of it. He heard the man hiss. He only smiled devilishly...

"You son of a bitch!" He was about to receive a hard punch from Yuki when he quickly avoided it. He bent down and turned around to kick Yuki's feet from the floor only giving the intruder less than a second to escape his trap. Quickly, he strangled Yuki's neck in his other hand. He bent down, his blade still on its place while the other on Yuki's neck.

"What?" Jed said as he looked at Yuki angrily.

"His... my... my..." Yuki stopped to gather as much air as he can and continued. "brother."

Jed widened his eyes and looked directly into the intruder's eyes. Now he could see clearly the man's face. The same bone structure, same feature, same build, same hairstyle. The only difference was the color of their hair and eyes. The intruder's are all black.

Yes, they were related.

He closed his eyes and breathed to relax. "Damn it." He hissed. He was pissed as hell to not take notice of the resemblance of the two. How could he miss it? He was a professional, for God's sake. Why did he fuck up?

With his eyes still closed, he removed his grasp from Yuki. Yuki coughed a little and breathed to relieve himself. Simultaneously, he removed the blade from Yuki's brother.

He stood up and placed the sword back into its place.

He offered a hand to the intruder to help him up. He saw the man look at him menacingly, his hand on his bleeding neck. Jed was surprised to see the man take his hand and smile.

"Hi there! I'm Tatsuha." He heard him say. "I should've taken Tohma's advice seriously. You are good."

"Don't sneak up on people." He said after letting go of Tatsuha's hand. "We'll have to treat that. And eat." He directed to Yuki.

Yuki stood up slowly while glaring at Jed. He was still massaging his neck from the strangling that happened earlier. His eyes were asking of an apology.

Seeing this, Jed simply said, "You shouldn't go around punching and cursing people." He got the cold bowl of rice from the bedside table and exited the room and went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit.

God, he was furious. He was furious as hell. The guy almost killed his brother and, practically, almost killed him. The person who his bodyguard is supposed to be protecting.

Now, there he was, right in front of him. Treating his bleeding brother. They're in the kitchen, sitting on the counter, the two facing him.

Jed was carefully putting antiseptic on the wound to cleanse it. Then he placed a bandage on it to stop the bleeding. He had done this many times, Yuki guessed. It was like he was very used to treating wounds. In less than five minutes, he had already cured the wound on Tatsuha's neck and went to the bathroom to keep the first aid kit.

Yuki just sat there glaring at his brother. "What?" Tatsuha asked his brother.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is it a crime to visit my beloved aniki? I was just worried... Tohma said you were sick, so I came here."

"Why didn't you just send me a message?"

"A message?" Tatsuha pouted. "You are my aniki! How can I just send you a message when your sick! I should visit you, personally!"

Yuki sighed. Great, just great. His energetic brother just came to disrupt his life once again. He didn't know whether to be angry or thank Jed for what he did to Tatsuha. He already had a problem with Jed tailing him around, and now, he had to keep an eye on a loud-mouth like Tatsuha. Why was fate so cruel to him?

"Hey, aniki... Uhm, that bodyguard of yours... What's his name again?" Tatsuha asked quietly to his brother.

"Jed." Yuki answered, not really paying that much attention to Tatsuha.

"Yeah, Jed. He's really good. I mean super good." The 23-year-old said with a smile on his face. "Tohma warned me about him. He said that it would be best to say that I was coming. He said that your bodyguard is really precautious with people, especially considering the fact that he hasn't met me yet."

"Should've taken his advice." Yuki coolly said.

"Whatever, but the bottom line is, he's really good. I mean I didn't even see him move until that sword of his almost cut through my neck. But there's something else... Doesn't he look familiar?"

He looked at Tatsuha. Great, he noticed too. That only proved that he and Ryuichi really are lovers, they both had the same instinct. Both instantly noticed Jed's resemblance to a certain person.

"Yes, I do." Jed said as he walked into the kitchen and went to the fridge to take two microwave-safe plastic containers. He placed it into the microwave and as soon as he turned the knob, he turned around and looked at Tatsuha straight in the eye.

Tatsuha was shocked at Jed's sudden entrance. Yuki merely looked at both of them, waiting for one of them to continue.

"I look like Shindou-san, right?" Jed said with a dead-look on his eyes.

Tatsuha considered it for a moment. He beamed as the realization hit him. "Yeah! You do look a lot like Shuichi-kun!" Tatsuha shifted his gaze from Jed to Yuki then to Jed again. "Then you should be careful. You see, my brother here and Shuichi were, well, close... He might hit on you because of your resemblance to him."

Yuki looked at Tatsuha ominously. 'Who gave him the right to talk to Jed about that?' He didn't know if he was mad at Tatsuha for saying those things or if he was mad at himself for feeling so guilty towards Jed. He caught a sight of Jed at the corner of his eye.

Jed hung his head low but as swiftly as it came was just as fast as it went. He looked at Tatsuha, wearing that blank look he always has.

"Thank you for the warning but there's really no need to worry." He looked at Yuki. Yuki felt his heart beat faster when he felt himself under Jed's gaze. "I'm not into men."

Then the microwave dinged.

Tatsuha was right. If Yuki would even take a second look on him, it would only because he looked like Shuichi, his ex-lover. Dead lover.

'Why should I care what he thinks? Like I said, I'm not into men.' Jed thought as he got the two containers from the appliance. He put them in respective bowls and placed them in front of the siblings. He took two pairs of chopsticks from the drawer and put it beside the bowls.

"Wow, you made this?" He heard Tatsuha ask. He was making two glasses of orange juice. "Yes." was the only thing he said.

"I'm making my own drink." Yuki said.

Hearing the stool move, Jed quickly stopped what he was doing and strolled in front of Yuki. He looked intently into those amber eyes.

He shook his head mentally to stop himself from thinking other things and pushed Yuki back into the chair. Yuki stumbled a bit and was back in his seat in no time. Jed turned him around so that his back was resting on the counter. Jed put his two hands on the counter, cornering Yuki at the same time.

He was so close to Yuki that their legs touched. He closed the gap between their faces. He saw Yuki swallow a lump in his throat. He smiled, that smile he wore just a few moments ago when he tried to kill Tatsuha. He leaned closer and looked intently on Yuki's eyes, again, brown met amber.

"You will eat and drink whatever I want you to. You will not drink coffee nor beer. You will not smoke. I have been given my orders. No vices as long as I'm with you. "

"And who gave you those orders? Tohma?" Yuki fired back at him.

He looked at Yuki threateningly. "Yes. And if I want to get paid, I should do what he says. And if you do what I tell you to, you won't have to worry about your damn ulcer for the next month. So if you work with me, everyone will be happy."

"And if I don't?" Yuki challenged.

He leaned closer and he felt Yuki slightly tremble at the sudden close contact. His smile only grew wider. He leaned to whisper in his ear. "Then you'll experience the most severe punishment there is. And you won't die from it because I want you to feel every second of it." He said in an almost inaudible tone.

He pulled back but their faces were still close to each other. "Do we understand each other?"

Jed saw Yuki look away from his eyes. He let go of the counter and stood right in front of Yuki who was still avoiding his gaze. "Good, now, eat." He went back to the sink to finish what he was doing.

Tatsuha whistled at what he just saw and looked at Yuki while munching on his food. "Wow... You've got yourself a persuasive one, aniki. There is no way you're going to get yourself out of this." Tatsuha laughed at his own statement. "And Jed," he faced Jed who also looked at him, "this is really good. You made this all by yourself?"

"Yeah." He said and turned back to resume stirring. 'I hate repeating myself.' He thought.

"Wow a bodyguard who cooks. Nice." He turned his gaze back to his brother. "You should try it. It's really good." He said in between mouthfuls.

Jed turned around holding two glasses of orange juice. He put each one in front of the brothers and strolled out of the kitchen.

As soon as Jed got out of the kitchen, Yuki got his chopsticks and played with his food a little. He looked at Tatsuha. It looked like he was really enjoying himself with the food.

This was a real breakfast, Yuki reminded himself. For as long as he could remember, he always had toast or pancakes and coffee for breakfast. Sometimes, even none. But today was different. In front of him was a bowl of mixed rice and orange juice. Truthfully, it does look delicious. It was fried rice mixed with ham, bacon, egg, and some green peas. It smelled good too.

He tried it. One spoonful, then another, then another. He didn't even realize that he was almost through with the whole meal.

"I never thought you were that hungry." Jed said as he entered the kitchen, fetched three pocky sticks from the fridge and exited the room again. "Guess sleeping for a whole 24 hours got your stomach craving for some attention."

Yuki disregarded his comment and resumed on eating his heavenly breakfast. After that was done, he drank the orange juice. Even that was great. It wasn't so sweet and it wasn't too sour. 'Man, this guy's really something'

"I really should make him try to kill me more often." Tatsuha said. Yuki looked at him, confusion clearly seen in amber orbs.

"I mean, if this was some kind of an apology for what he did earlier, I could just come here whenever I'm starving." He answered the questioning look on Yuki.

"Why are you really here?" Yuki repeated his question earlier to his younger brother.

Tatsuha only looked at him, then smiled. "I already told you, didn't I? I was worried. I mean, who wouldn't? Tohma said that he got you a bodyguard who is an assassin! That's a bloody murderer, aniki. Who knows... He might try to kill you for some money."

Tatsuha sighed and looked at the direction of the living room where Jed walked into. "I thought he would be some muscled ugly guy in a black suit. But I was so wrong..."

'I was thinking the exactly the same thing.' Yuki thought as he thought of Jed's appearance. He was not wearing some suit and he was not buffed. Just a medium-sized handsome man who moves really fast. How could anybody mistake him as a bodyguard, or even more, as an assassin, with the way he looked?

"I should get going... It's 10:00. I should tell Mika that you're ok and you're in good hands." Yuki avoided his gaze but Tatsuha, knowing his brother pretty well, smiled at Yuki's little reaction.

"Oh, my God! You like him, don't you?" Tatsuha said with dreamy eyes.

Yuki merely glared at him, his eyes threatening anyone who comes into view.

Tatsuha raised his hands in surrender. "Woah..." He stood up. "Just an observation.. Okay, maybe I jumped into conclusions... But still it was some kind of an observation, right?"

Yuki was starting to have a migraine. "Out." Tatsuha only smiled knowingly at his brother and did as he was directed.

Yuki also stood up from his seat. He put all the dishes into the dishwasher, turned it on, and followed on the retreating back of his brother.

"Thanks for the food, Jed." He said, only receiving a blank look on Jed's face. "You should really teach me some of those moves." He turned around to face Yuki, and to Yuki's shock, his brother hugged him instantly. "What the" Yuki didn't even have the chance to finish his sentence because of Tatsuha's sudden rambling, "Oh, aniki! I missed you so much! I hope you would come home more often. I missed you so much!" Yuki tried to get out of his brother's grasp but it was just two strong. After a few minutes, Tatsuha finally let go and smiled widely at the blonde. "Take care of yourself, ok?" He turned to Jed. "And you too!" With that, he waved his hand and showed himself out of the apartment.

After his brother closed the door, Yuki looked at the figure seating on the couch. He was wearing a brown long-sleeved sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. He was listening intently to his i-pod while chewing his last stick of pocky. He had a ballpen and notebook sitting on his lap. His eyes were closed and his head was resting on the backrest of the sofa, exposing his smooth and fair neck.

Yuki looked at the exposed neck keenly... Quickly, he mentally shook his head to erase the images that started to form in his head.

He walked to the other side of the sofa. As soon as he sat down, he saw Jed open his eyes slowly and look up to the ceiling, still chewing on the last bits of pocky.

"We need to talk," Yuki said after leaning on the sofa, hands resting on his knee, looking cool as ever. "about the other night."

Author's Notes:

First off, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! I'll specify each one of you at the end of the story... thanks! And yeah, I edited some parts here because one reviewer (clari chan) said that my punctuations were a bit rusty. sorry...

And a special shout-out to CassiToTheStars, I've edited everything. All the eight chapters... I really took your review seriously and I hope that you'd like the improved chapters. thanks!

I know, I know... Another crappy chapter... I'm trying to buy some time here to meet up with my timeline. So I have to come up with some pointless things... Sorry...

But at least, the talk's there, isn't it? I'm still figuring out how Jed is going to get his way out of Yuki's questions. And I'm really sorry if I'm not paying that much attention to other characters. It's just that this is all about the major pair so I can't really put all the gravi characters in.

I promise that the next chapters would be a bit enlightening... I'm aiming for a 15-chapter story and I'm already halfway. So please keep up with me.

Thanks for reading and peace out!

By the way, who could guess what song these lyrics belong to? lalalala...

I should've done something but I've done it enough
By the way you're hands were shaking
Rather waste some time with you...