Chapter 2


I meet Tatsuha again a year later at the wedding of Tohma and Mika. I'm walking down one of the hallways of our hotel, cursing and feeling wretched.

Dammit. WHERE had I lost the ring?

Tohma wasn't going to like this. Your best man is supposed to stay on top of this ring business. Maybe they couldn't get married. I wasn't sure how Western marriage ceremonies worked. It wouldn't be a complete disaster, because the Seguchis had already wedded in a private Buddhist ceremony in the Uesugi temple, but this second, Western-style marriage was supposed to be the big media showpiece for the fans and the press. It was going to be on TV.

Crap. Why should I have to carry the ring anyway? It ought to be Tohma's job. Wasn't the best man supposed to hold off attackers with a sword or something? That blue diamond was the Seguchi family rock, too, always given to the new wife of the eldest son. Tohma was going to kill me, Mika would kill me, and the whole Seguchi clan would take out a contract on me.

So I'm practicing in a squeaky voice, Please Mr. Yakuza-san, I really don't know what happened to it, when someone yells from an open doorway, "Close the door, brat!"

Uh-oh. I'm right by the bridesmaids' dressing room. A young man in a formal suit is standing in the doorway, calling out, "Just ogling you chicks in a state of undress!"

Slam. The door shuts in the young man's face, shoving him backwards.

"Ow! You're not supposed to give me a bloody nose! You want me to bleed all through the ceremony?" The young man is clutching his face, red beginning to trickle through his fingers.

"Do you need a handkerchief?" I ask.

"That's okay, I've got my own." He fishes this out and plugs his nose with it in a rather grotesque manner. Then he looks at me again.

"Oh my God," he says slowly, swaying.

Blood loss? Is he going to faint? I grab his arm to steady him.

He blinks at me, the stained handkerchief dangling out of his nose. He looks so funny that I laugh.

His eyes begin to fill with tears.

Did he break his nose? I stop laughing. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No!" he shouts, ducking his head. "I just need my goddamned dignity!"

He runs off down the hallway and yanks open the door to the stairwell. His footfalls make the whole stairwell ring.

I pause, trying to remember his face. Two black eyes, black hair cut a little long. Handkerchief dangling out of nose. No, not familiar to me. His voice was young. Early teens, then? But he looked older.

I shake my head. I have a ring to rescue.

An hour later, K finds it. Kumagoro is wearing it around one of his ears. I'd forgotten I'd been trying to make him an earring so he'd look cool for the ceremony. Humph. It looks better on Kuma than Mika, anyway.


Nittle Grasper plays for the reception and that too, is televised. After we're done, I stop by Noriko's synth to tell her she looks wonderful in that tiny black dress.

"If it were any smaller it could be Saki's diaper," Noriko replies. "By the way, you need to do something about that kid. He's been bawling for the last two hours."

"Kid?" I'm bewildered. "Bawling?"

"Tatsuha," Noriko adds. "He was mortified when you saw him with that handkerchief up his nose."

I can just barely recall the name. "Where is he?"

"In Mika's room. He's been hiding there since the ceremony."

I take my leave and go upstairs again. Tatsuha must have changed quite a bit, if he's so sensitive. He was a real brat when I first met him. I'd josh him out of his funk.

I open the door to Mika's room. Empty. The bridesmaids are all dancing downstairs.

"Tatsuha?" I ask.

A slight bump, followed by a gasp. Someone mutters, "Shit!"

The voice is close by but I can see nothing. Then I look under one of the tables. There he is, wedged underneath with his knees drawn up.

"Come on out," I urge.

"No!"

I see bloodshot eyes through his hair. He's been crying, all right. I move the lamp aside, then lift the entire table off of him.

His eyes skitter wildly from side to side as if he's about to bolt. How old is he? He seems so young. I take his arms and lift him up. And for the first time, I get a good look at his face. Yes, he's red-eyed and blotchy, and he's--

I--I've never seen this before, I--

I've never seen Tatsuha clearly in good light.

He's beautiful.

He's REALLY beautiful.

Oh, GOD, NO.


Continued in Chapter 3.