Disclaimer I don't own any of the HYD characters nor the original plotline of HYD, but I certainly own this particular plot and all the characters I created for it...

Apology : for the long time it took me to update. Between the loads of work falling on me last week, the problems with the Website at the end of the week and my very own laziness and tiredness, I could not update before. So sorry...

Thanks : to my reviewers snuffyTHEmonkey - the correction was made, thanks for pointing it to me -, az09 - hope you're not drowning yourself in work - and kashuneko - love your reviews.

No, I don't think Akira realizes himself all the implications of what he's admitted in the last chapter. But hey... a playboy doesn't admit to falling in love unless he has to... And for the moment, he doesn't really have to !

To oblige the people who must be wondering where the hell I'm trying to go with the whole mother story, here's a – long – chapter which is one of the first to the road of understanding what happened/what's going on there. Hope you enjoy it !

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21-"Would you go there with me ?"

It had already been over a week since the eventful sleepover. Neither of them had spoken of what had been told that night since. Akira was grateful that Sophie did not bring up the topic, and Sophie, even if she could not help but try to look for other pieces of evidence about the young man's vulnerability, knew better than to talk to him about what he had confessed and in what circumstances.

He was driving her back to her home once more after a dance class, fidgeting in his seat, unsure whether it was a good idea or not to ask her what he wanted to ask her. After a three-hour class focussed on multiple turns, she was mostly trying to relieve the pain in her feet, so she wasn't aware of his restlessness next to her. Then, there was a red light, and he had to stop the car, so she raised her head mechanically, as you may do when you're in a car, which allowed her to notice that he was more or less staring at her – as much staring as you can while driving and not killing anyone in the process, anyhow.

"What ? Do I have something on my face ?

- No... Nothing."

He turned his head back to the road, hoping the heat in his cheeks was not a side effect of blushing, while his inner debate was continuing to be fought. But this time, Sophie was watching him, and decrypted quickly enough what his body language was screaming.

"Okay, Mimasaka. What is it you want to tell me ?"

That girl was definitely psychic, he reflected. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask, could it ? Inside, he felt it could, he was afraid it could. But considering how she had handled his tears and his tale, he couldn't help but hope it would be safe to ask her. The girl was certainly a puzzle, but she had proved she was able to show empathy even for someone like him. And he hoped she would act again on that feeling – if on nothing else.

"Sophie ?

- Yep, that's my name. Glad you finally got it !"

She smiled. Damn. He didn't need her in the smarty puns mood right now. He wanted to ask her something serious – not that he thought she would accept, but, still, he wanted her to.

"Listen, Sophie... I have this huge favour to ask of you."

The change of tone in itself would have been sufficient to tell her he was not joking around. Her face became serious accordingly.

"Ask away."

He breathed in deeply. He was already questioning the wisdom of his asking Sophie to come with him there. But the intensity of her stare left him no other choice, now.

"Sophie.

- Yes."

She raised an eyebrow at the unusual difficulty Akira made to talk – it was not as if he was like that usually, it was more of a Rui thing. She decided that maybe he didn't want to have her look at him this way. He seemed embarrassed, after all. That reminded her of the night of the break-in, the way he had cried in her arms because of that nightmare. She lowered her gaze and decided to stay silent till he felt like asking what he had on his mind.

After a few more moments of silence, Akira, looking straight at the road to avoid seeing anything that might make hurt him in her expression as he asked, Akira spoke in a soft, almost inaudible voice, appalled at his own weakness, and at the same time amazed at the fact he was once again letting himself show it to her.

"Would you go there with me tomorrow morning ?"

It took her a few moments to understand where 'there' was referring to. And then it dawned on her – linking their nighttime conversation with his unusually embarrassed attitude. She also understood that he must have had more of his nightmares, and had decided he couldn't take the guilt and sadness anymore. So he was trying the only thing he could think of – using the advice she had given to him that night. What was strange was that he wanted company, and strangest yet, that he wanted her company.

For a moment, she couldn't help but wonder at the difference between the Akira sitting next to her at the moment – the same one that had had the courage to let himself weep on her shoulder a week before – and the usual one, the everyday Akira, that oozed of self-confidence and seduction, the one she had slapped in the library on that now months-away afternoon. And, somehow, after those few months, with the salsa dancing, the spending more time together, his attitude the night of the break-in – the help he had given her, and what she had discovered about his vulnerability... sure, she knew without a doubt the moronic pig was still there somewhere behind all these new sides of him, but she had discovered there could be a decent and fragile person there as well. And right now, he needed her help – he needed her presence.

She massaged her temples with her fingers, her face hidden behind the thick curtain of her hair. She hoped again it would not be a bad idea. Because this put her in a position where she was making herself vulnerable. And she knew she didn't want to feel like that another time in her life. The first had been so hard to live through – not that it was completely behind her, or that it was not still shortening her nights and making her dread to open up to guys like him. She swallowed hard. Then again, if she could never let herself trust someone, the bastard would have won again, and she couldn't let him win again. She closed her eyes and breathed in. She prayed that she was not wrong to let herself trust that Mimasaka really needed her presence and that he was not just playing her.

"I will if you need me to go with you."

He breathed out in relief and ran his free hand nervously in his thick hair. Still not looking at her, feeling too self-conscious to do so, he whispered his feeling.

"Thank you, Sophie."

Knowing he would not really be able to see it, but that any other answer would be inadequate she pinched her lips in an acknowledging smile and nodded silently.

"Okay. So this is Tokyo's Town Hall. I thought such a big city would have a bigger one."

Of course, the building was already huge. But the silence that had followed his picking her up in the morning had been so tedious and awkward she would have said almost anything to break it. Akira felt her unease and somehow understood it – he himself would never have agreed to any such thing. Especially with someone he would see in the way he thought Sophie considered him – a womanizing pig with an over-dimensioned ego and the wits of a moron, even if a great dancer. He appreciated her effort at easing the atmosphere. He turned towards her and smiled almost shyly.

"I'm sorry if I'm not very talkative this morning. This is just a formality, but, as you told me, maybe my mind will be put to rest once I see this with my very own eyes. Thanks again for accompanying me here – I know you didn't have to, and I appreciate this at its true worth.

- I was brought up to believe that you should never deny someone help if it is in your power to give it, Mimasaka. I'm there because I know you wouldn't have asked unless you felt you couldn't go there alone."

Hesitantly, she grasped his hand and squeezed it gently to comfort him and show him she was there for him before letting it go. She didn't – and wouldn't have been able to – witness the effect of that brief contact on Akira. He felt the warmth of this tiny delicate hand on his, and, even if he could feel it every time they danced together, he couldn't prevent himself from feeling this contact differently. This was only the second time – well, the third if you included the slap – she had a contact with him that hadn't been prompted by some kind of social obligation. And that thought disturbed him somehow, before he got a hold of the reason he was there with her in the first place.

"I think the Office of Civil Status is this way."

She followed him silently, still feeling out of place but sticking to the promise she had made to be there with him.

"How difficult can it be ? Here is my I.D. Card, I'm over eighteen – you just have to make the calculation. I want to have a copy of my birth extract. Isn't it what you're supposed to provide to Tokyo's citizens who ask for it, sir ?"

It had nearly been an hour since they had entered the building. And apparently, the civil servant was not feeling too comfortable about giving him the document he requested – and it didn't help to reassure him. Sophie was standing as silently as possible next to Akira. Like him, she thought the whole fuss was strange, but was unsure of the reason why there was any fuss to begin with.

"Mr. Mimasaka, I'm not sure that we have the documents...

- Listen, the said Mr. Mimasaka interrupted, I'm usually a very patient guy. But I'm kind of in a bad mood this morning. It might be from all the queuing I had to do here and now that blabbering noise you're making. You see there, on my I.D. Card, he pointed, just below my date of birth ? It says 'city of birth : Tokyo'. Correct me if I'm wrong... This is Tokyo's town hall, service of civil status ?

- It is, it is, the poor man managed to stammer.

- So get me the...

- Sir, Sophie interrupted softly, touching gently Akira's arm to calm him down and shut him up. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding. Mr. Mimasaka here was asked to provide his birth extract to establish a new passport. Of course, he could have had one of his family secretaries do it for him, but, since he had some free time on his hands, he thought that it would be faster and easier to this himself. Afterwards, he promised me to accompany me to the Ueno Park. If this takes much longer, we won't be able to make it before lunch, and my mother was adamant that I should be back home in the early afternoon to accompany her on important errands with her this afternoon. You wouldn't want to deprive me of the only calm and relaxing moment I was looking forward to today, would you ?"

A still very much annoyed Akira raised an eyebrow at the scene that was happening right under his nose. Who was the conniving sweet shyly-smiling eyelids-fluttering seemingly feminine obviously helpless woman, talking with a thicker foreign accent than usual, next to him and where the hell had she come from ? The worst was that the whole act was actually working – the civil servant blushed slightly, probably under the spell of the 'damsel in distress' charming eyelids fluttering, and, finally struck by the fact that Akira Mimasaka had made it abundantly clear he was not to leave without the document he had asked for, and that a commotion would ensue if he was not given satisfaction, as was his right, he blurted out his assent and put himself to the browsing of the database to retrieve the location of the extract and print it out. Where all of Akira's fumbling had lasted fifteen minutes and gotten them almost nowhere, Sophie's intervention had rushed things to their conclusion in less that two minutes. Akira was still pondering whether he should be impressed or afraid of what had happened, when the civil servant handed him the precious paper hesitantly with confused words of apology.

Without even looking at the paper, he folded it in four and placed it carefully in his breast pocket, heading outside after Sophie. As they were walking towards the car, he was not able to prevent a comment to slip form his lips.

"How come I never had the honor to meet that Sophie before ?"

She turned to him and smirked a little. She did not seem at ease with the question.

"Well, I only use her in case of emergencies. This seemed to be one. I hate doing that, but sometimes, there is no other way. You were going to strangle the man – I had to do something."

He smiled softly. It was funny, somehow. Every time he thought he had her all figured out, she would go ahead and surprise him with a new hint of another side of her personality he never suspected, and leave him all confused in the process. Yes, as he had discovered himself, he kind of liked her. Maybe that was why he had trusted her with his secret.

"So I get to have a moment with you in the Ueno Park afterwards, huh ?

- In your dreams, Mimasaka. Afterwards, you're bringing me home so that I can work through the books I have to read before before the beginning of my freshman year at Eitoku University.

- Sometimes, you're no fun, he pouted.

- And that's the first time you realize this ?"

Their awkward attempts at relaxing the mood were lost on both of them. They settled in the car quietly. He did nothing but put his shivering hands on the wheel, for a while, as if to get a grip on reality. And then, he took the paper out of the pocket and began to play with it nervously in his hands. Sophie stayed silent next to him. She knew this was the actual moment because of which he had wanted her to be there with him. And then, out of the blue, he handed the paper to her. Her surprise at this was obvious, and she didn't make a single gesture to take it.

"I can't read it myself, Sophie. I trust you to do it for me. Will you do it ?"

She nodded slowly, feeling like she was witnessing something too personal for her own good.

"Are you sure ?"

He dropped his head in his hand.

"I know I must sound like a baby. But I can't bring myself to read it. Even after the scene I just made in there, he sighed in a forced smile. Please."

She was not going to make him beg. He seemed quite shaken already by the step he had taken.

"Okay."

She unfolded the paper slowly, as if to postpone the moment of the reading as much as possible. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before focussing on the administrative slang to extract the information Akira wanted to hear.

And as it slowly made its way to her brain, her eyes dilated in horror.

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Sort of a cliffhanger... because I had to stop somewhere. And, once more, because I'm sort of evil...

But I'm sure you have an hypothesis about what she's seeing on that paper already, don't you ? I'd be interested to know what it is...

Please review !