"Day One"


"Wake up, wake up, wake up, Sakura! You have to wake up!" Sakura heard a little voice yelling, while feeling the bed bounce up and down.

She moaned and turned over on the bed, trying to get away from the noise and movement.

"Wake up before Daddy does!"

Her body vigorously shook, waking her up fully. "Alright, alright I'm up." She groaned, sitting up on the bed frustratingly. She opened her eyes to find the source that was ruining her sleep.

Xing...

He jumped on top of her, hugging her tightly. "Yay! You're up! Now we can play!"

She felt extremely annoyed with how loud he was so early in the morning. The sun had not even risen yet and he was acting like it was five in the evening. "Why are we awake so early?" She looked at the clock by the nightstand, feeling the prick of irritation.

5:34am.

"Well...I'm hungry now and I always wake up this early. Ms. Hana won't be here until 7:30, but I want food now. Can you give me a snack or something now, please?"

"Xing, honey, you can't have a snack this early in the morning. Is Daddy still sleeping?" she asked sitting him on the bed beside her.

"Yes...but he will wake up soon and leave for work. That's why I'm asking you for the food. Please?"

She mentally groaned, seeing him give her the eyes she found it hard to say no to. "Can't we wait for Ms. Hana? She will be here very soon."

"But I'm hungry now, Sakura. Please, please, please?" He jumped on her, holding on to her tightly. She thought about giving in and how upset Syaoran may be about it.

"How about we watch TV for a bit in the living room and then you can get something to eat?" she suggested.

"Hmm..." He appeared to be deep in thought before a wide grin spread across his face. "Okay! But can we watch TV in here? I want to be comfy. Every time I lay down under the covers, it makes me feel comfy."

She looked up at the TV and thought about if Syaoran would be okay with that.

Probably not.

"It would be better to watch it in the living room," she suggested, hoping that he would give in fast.

Instead, he pouted, "Please?"

She looked away from him, closing her eyes. "I think that Daddy would want to see you right when he wakes up, so we should go to the living room."

He sighed and slid off the bed. "Okay..."

She sighed in relief, taking mental notes about what caused him to give in easily. "Go ahead. I'll be out in a minute." She patted him on the bottom lightly out of the room.

After he left, she walked to the dresser and grabbed random pair of shorts to put on before leaving her room. She closed the door behind her and turned away but immediately stopped in her tracks.

There Syaoran stood in a light blue button-down shirt with a dark blue tie and dark slacks at the end of the hall, staring at her.

His intense gaze brought back last night's encounters, causing something to stir in her again.

She walked down the hall towards him, feeling a little awkward, but she refused to show it. "Good morning, Mr. Li," she said, facing him.

For a moment, he remained quiet, making her think he might not say anything to her. "Good morning," she heard him say before walking down the opposite direction of the hall to his office.

She let out the breath that she did not even know that she was holding.

"Come on, Sakura. You've been taking forever."

She looked down and saw Xing looking at her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the living room with him. "I'm sorry. I ended up running into your dad," she explained after sitting on the couch beside him.

"Here. I don't know how to turn the TV on." He handed her the remote, which she took from him and pressed the power button. "Daddy is already awake? I want to watch...Pocoyo!"

She smiled and started to flip through the channels, looking for Pocoyo. His attention span was off its rockets this morning.

"It's the blue boy. It always comes on in the morning time. And there's an elephant and a duck too!"

"Alright, here it is," she said after finally finding the channel.

"This is one of my favorite shows of all time!" he announced loudly.

She nodded, feeling slightly annoyed with how loud he was still being in the morning. She thought it was obvious she was still tired. She balled up in the corner with Xing cuddled next to her side. She smiled at the affection that he was giving her. It had been years since she received so much affection from a person. Touya never offered any affection, which just left her father who had passed a long time ago, it seemed. She watched Pocoyo for five minutes before dozing off to sleep, leaning against the armrest.

"Sakura, you can't go to sleep! Can you watch it with me?"

She opened her eyes when she felt Xing pulling on her arm. She sighed and nodded. She attempted to watch it with him, but could feel herself dozing back off to sleep.

"Daddy, you're awake!" She felt the pressure lift off her body probably thirty minutes later.

"Will you be home for dinner?" she heard Xing ask from across the room.

"I'll try to be. Be good today and don't cause any problems with anyone, okay?"

Her eyes opened at that voice instantly. She looked over to see Xing in Syaoran's arms. Xing had his arms wrapped around his neck. "Yes, sir. Is Sakura going to be with me all day?" Xing asked.

"Yes, so that includes being on your best behavior for her too, okay?"

He kissed Syaoran's cheek. "Yes, sir."

Syaoran ruffled his hair before sitting him back on his feet. He turned in her direction. He nodded his head slightly towards her before walking out. Xing walked back to her and sat down.

Xing pouted and grabbed onto her arms, laying his head on her shoulder. "You were sleeping."

"I'm sorry, honey. I'm just not a morning person," she said, pulling him closer to her.

He grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. "Fine...but I always wake up early, so can you wake up early with me from now on?" He turned to her innocently and gave her the eyes.

She sighed, smiling at the adorable manipulation tactic. "I can try. I'm not making any promises so you can't hold it against me if I fall asleep in the mornings."

He hummed and put his hand under his chin as if he were thinking about it. "Deal!" He held out his pinky for her to link with his. "Now let's watch something else." He pointed to the TV.

"What do you want to watch?" she asked, pressing the guide button to look for something.

"Umm..."

She went to the channel that Sesame Street was on. She turned to him to receive his approval. "Yes! I love this one!" he said excitedly and smiled before turning to the TV, becoming engulfed by the show.

They watched a few episodes until she heard someone knocking on the door. She stood from the couch and Xing stayed glued to her arm as they walked to the entrance of the door.

"Good morning, Ms. Kinomoto, Xing," Hana greeted after Sakura opened the door for her.

Sakura smiled at her and bowed her head slightly. "Good morning, Ms. Hana. I'm glad to see you here. We're both starving." She ruffled Xing's hair, making him pout before swiping her hand away routinely.

Hana giggled and stepped in the house, slipping her shoes off at the entrance. "I'm sure you all are. Why don't we hop off into the kitchen and batch us all up something to eat?" she suggested with a warm smile on her face.

Sakura noted that Hana was such a sweetheart. She was a middle-aged woman who was a little chunky, but was very beautiful and kind. Even though they had just met her yesterday, Sakura could sense that they would get along great with her stay here. It made her wonder how Syaoran was connected to so many nice people when he was not so nice himself.

"Yes, ma'am," Sakura said, smiling.

"Oh, honey, you can drop the formalities. Just call me Hana because we are going to be seeing a lot of each other around here," she said as they all walked to the kitchen together.

"Yes, ma'am."

Hana gave her a pointed look with a playful smile on her face and it took Sakura a while to realize why she did. She looked bashful at her response. "I'm sorry. I meant to say Hana," she said shyly, looking down at the table.

Sakura heard her chuckle before Hana rest a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I understand why Master Li has you here," she said comfortingly before she headed over to the refrigerator and started taking out the necessities for the meal she would prepare for them.

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked with a frown on her face as she sat down in the chair after pulling it back from the table. Xing hopped in her lap while she wrapped her arms around his waist loosely.

"Nothing, dear. Where did you guys meet by chance?" she asked as she cracked some eggs into a bowl.

"Well, it was me who met Sakura first," Xing chimed in excitedly.

Sakura smiled and poked his stomach lightly, making him flinch in her lap, giggling. "That's right. I met Xing outside of Mr. Li's corporation building. I ended up coming inside and—"

"We played all day until Daddy finished with all the important people," Xing said before she had the opportunity to.

"That's right. I stayed with Xing until Mr. Li's meetings were over. For his gratitude, he treated me to dinner and offered me a ride back to my home." More like forced me.

"Yes and then Sakura had the chance to ride in the awesome car!" Xing said grinning.

Hana turned her eyes over to Sakura and smiled. "How did you end up here, sweetie?" she asked.

"Well...I-I don't really know what Mr. Li was thinking when he asked me to come here—"

"Daddy said that there was a mean man that tried to hurt Sakura and take her home away. So he rescued her and brought her here." Xing nodded his head as if he were positive about his declaration.

Sakura smiled at him and nodded her head towards Hana. "Yes, that's what occurred and how I ended up here, I guess."

Hana gave her a knowing look before she nodded her head. "That's very like Master Li to do such a thing for a beautiful, young lady like you."

Sakura blushed and waved a hand nonchalantly at her compliment. "You don't have to flatter me, Hana. It was just a coincidence that he came at the time," she tried explaining but she just laughed.

"If you believe anything I say, believe that there are never coincidences when it comes to Master Li. He is always ten steps ahead and in control of everything around him," she explained as she stirred the mix after adding all the seasoning ingredients.

Sakura shook her head at that. "No. This truly was a coincidence."

Hana smiled and nodded her head, letting it go. "So how old are you dear? You don't look too old."

"I'm 17."

She gave Sakura a glance over, making her feel bashful. "I see." Sakura heard her chuckle before hearing the sizzling stove. "I hope that omelets are fine with you, dear."

"Of course it is. If there is anything that I can do to help, please let me know," Sakura offered.

She shook her head. "That's not why I'm hired, honey. You just sit back and relax."

"Well, I want to help you. We want to help, right, Xing? Ms. Hana works hard every day to prepare meals and clean for you, so it's only fair sometimes," Sakura said, nudging Xing lightly.

"Right! Sakura is right, Ms. Hana. You do way too much. We want to help," Xing said, grinning at her.

Hana chuckled and nodded her head. "Alright, only if you all promise not to tell Master Li," she said mischievously.

"Of course not!" they chorused.

"Alright. You two can prepare the table then," she instructed and they both obliged to her wishes.

Sakura concluded that today would be a great day.


Just as Syaoran had said, Chenchi, Xing's martial arts trainer, arrived at 8:55am, knocking on the door. She had been impressed with the skills that Xing had already accomplished at such a young age. She did wonder if this was something that he was forced to do or if he was actually doing it because he wanted to. They were now heading inside to get him all cleaned for the day.

"Are you going to bathe with me?" Xing asked as she stripped him from his clothes after she finished filling the tub with water.

She chuckled, shaking her head. "I've already had my bath when you were training."

"Aww...I'm going to go and get some toys to play with in the tub. Daddy normally lets me play for a little while in the bath." He took off running bare naked to his room.

She giggled and shook her head, then sat on the small stool by the tub, waiting for him.

Everything was going perfect. She had already checked off the things that were supposed to be done this morning. There was no way that she could mess the first day up.

Water splashed on her, along with some bubbles, interrupting her thoughts. Xing had jumped in the water with his toys. "I really like to stay in the tub for a very long time. Whenever I stay in for a very long time, my skin gets all wrinkly." He giggled, making her smile.

"You get all pruned?"

He looked at her as if he were in deep thought. "I think that's what Daddy calls it!"

He drove the truck on top of the water, making little vroom sounds. She smiled and started to rub water on the areas of his body that were not wet yet. "How about I get the icky dirt off first, then we'll let you play?" she asked, and he nodded immediately.

She managed to get him all clean in 30 minutes and he even played in the water until the water started to get cold. She wrapped the towel around him, heading to his room.

"Oh! You see my car?" He pointed to the car that was in the corner of the room.

She smiled and headed over to his dresser. She pulled out some underwear for him along with khaki shorts and a random T-shirt for him to wear.

"Yes, I do. I love it!" she said enthused after taking another glance at it

He giggled. "It looks like you won't be able to fit in it after all."

She walked over to him, smiling. "Nope. Now, let's get you dressed, you little prune."

He started laughing and ran to the opposite side of the room from her. "I don't want to get dressed yet."

She wrested to get his clothes on for a minute until he finally let her dress him.

"So what do you want to do for the remainder of the time until your tutor gets here?" she asked when they sat in the living room.

"Hmm…can we play hide and seek?" he asked excitedly.

She smiled, nodding her head. "Of course we can. Do you want to hide while I count?" She closed her eyes, already knowing the answer to that question.

"Yes. No peeking!"

She heard his little footsteps taking off. She started counting loudly so he would hear her. "50! Ready or not,, here I come!" she yelled before she started her search for him.

Hide and seek probably was not the best thing to agree on since she did not know the house that well yet. He was not in his room, her room, the living room, or the kitchen. She checked the backyard and found no sign of him. The kid was good even though he had an advantage over her since it was his house. She checked the rooms that were unlocked upstairs and found nothing.

She came back down the stairs and went to the opposite side of the hall to look in those rooms. One of the doors was locked and it made her wonder why Syaoran locked so many doors in the house. What was he trying to hide that was so important anyway?

She opened a door to one of the rooms and paused when having a glimpse of the master bedroom of the house for sure.

It was huge and spacious despite there being a king-sized bed and large dresser with a mirror. The spreads were dark green and very silky with matching pillows that looked like she would melt in the softness of them. The large dresser was a dark brown and the carpet was a light tan color. The walls were a light brown color, but it somehow complimented everything in the room. There were lamps in certain areas of the room that she was sure would not be used. There was a small table located in one area of the room and a smaller matching brown dresser located by the bed.

She walked in the room fully, looking around at everything. She did not remember Syaoran showing her this room.

She noticed all the portraits on the wall. There was one of four beautiful women. They looked like they could be his siblings, but she could not be too sure about that. There was another photo of another beautiful woman, but she was up in age. She was aging quite well though. She looked even younger than what she probably was though. There was another photo of a little boy who looked similar to Xing with another man who looked like an older version of Syaoran.

She looked away from the photos and looked around the room again. She concluded that this had to be Syaoran's room. She knew she needed to get out of there before she got caught...but her curiosity had somehow become stronger than her fear.

The atmosphere in the room felt just like it did whenever she was around him. There was a mysterious feel to the room as she walked further in the room and started to memorize everything she could.

She stood in front of the mirror wondering if he often became scared in the morning when waking up because of the reflection of the bed. She shook her head vigorously and started to leave his room immediately. This was the kind of things that planted her into trouble with the man.

She closed the door to his room quietly.

"What were you doing in Daddy's room?"

She jumped at the voice and turned around to see Xing staring up at her confused. "U-uh...I was looking for you, of course!" she explained quickly.

He gave her a suspicious look before a wide grin spread across his face. "Well, you weren't even close, so I win the game. Now it's your turn to hide and my turn to count."

"Alright, to the living room you go and count. Make sure you cover your eyes!" she yelled after him.

She rested a hand over her chest and rubbed it gently, trying to calm her racing heart. She really needed to get herself together.


Xing was all dressed and ready for bed. Everything went as Syaoran proclaimed they would.

Thankfully, Syaoran had not been home the entire day, so she did not have to worry about her every move. The only downside would be that Xing missed him all day. He constantly asked what time he would be home to see him. Quite frankly, she had no clue either.

Syaoran had not given her his number or schedule to know anything to inform Xing. She could not help but feel grateful for his short span of attention. Anything could distract the little boy.

It was now 9:30, past Xing's bedtime but he insisted on staying up until his dad arrived home. Sakura did not think it would be a great idea to have him staying awake too late, so 9:30 was his limit.

"Can you read me two books?" Xing asked when they settled on his bed.

"Does Daddy normally read two?" she asked, giving him a pointed look.

"Well..." He looked down at his hands in his lap. "Not normally, but he did read me more than two last night."

She smiled at him and nodded. "Alright. Pick the two books that you want me to read." She pointed to the book shelf.

He ran over to the book shelf and pulled out two books. "This one here is my favorite book of all times," he said as he walked back over to her and handed her one of the books.

'Love You Forever'

She took the book from him gently. "I remember this book. I used to love it when I was little too."

He climbed on the bed and crawled over to her and sat in between her legs that were crisscrossed. "Really?" he exclaimed excitedly as he turned his head back towards hers.

"Yes. My dad used to read it to me all the time."

He smiled. "I see. In my other house a long time ago, mommy used to read it to me all the time too."

"It's a great book. Here," she turned him around so they could look at the book together.

She began reading the book to him and he talked throughout the entire time of her reading, mentioning his favorite parts. Sakura noticed the similarities between them because there were so many. She had never even met the boy before that day.

Today felt like Xing was meant to make her see life in a brighter aspect and she was meant to meet his needs when they needed tending to, as odd as it sounded.

She kissed his forehead after reading the second book to him. "Goodnight, honey," she whispered against his forehead.

He leaned up and kissed her cheek with a smacking sound which made her giggle. "Goodnight, Sakura. I'll see you in the morning?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.

She grinned. "Of course you will."

She reasoned that it was not a promise, because she had meant it. She was planning not to leave Xing anytime soon after today. She saw that he really needed her.

"Tell Daddy that I love him, okay? Goodnight," he sighed contentedly and closed his eyes with a smile on his lips.

She smiled and turned off the night light before walking out of the room, being sure to leave the door cracked open. She let out a sigh and headed to the living room. She was not quite sleepy yet, so some entertainment from the TV would not do any harm for the meantime.

She sat on the couch and picked up the remote from the table and turned it on. She scrolled through the channels, looking for anything to watch as long as it was not cartoons. Her head had been filled with them all day and it was all she could think about. She was even humming the songs from the shows they had watched together.

She heard keys rattling before a door opening. She sat up from her slouching position on the couch immediately and looked in the direction.

Syaoran walked in with his tie loosened and a few of the top buttons undone and his shirt was untucked. He looked like the complete opposite of what he did this morning when he left.

Her eyes moved back up to his face, only to see him staring at her. The exhaustion evident in his form made her feel a little sorry for him. He nodded his head slightly towards her before walking to the kitchen.

For some reason, she felt compelled to cheer him up a bit, but thought better of it, so she laid back against the couch again. He would probably just become annoyed with her and tell her that it was none of her business anyway, she reasoned.

Even though she was aware of the outcome of it, she was already on her feet, heading to the kitchen after him. She stood at the door and saw that Syaoran had already warmed his food and was in the refrigerator taking out a beer. He turned around, but paused when he saw her at the kitchen entrance.

"U-um, how was your day?" she asked softly, looking him in the eyes like he normally told her to.

"Good. How was Xing?" he asked as he walked back to the table with two beers in his hand. He sat down and picked his chopsticks up before looking up at her questioningly.

"He was great, actually. Five minutes before you arrived, I'd just put him to bed. He was very insistent on staying up to see you. We waited for a little while, but I told him that he needed to go to bed. I hope that it was okay to wait for you—for him to wait for you, I mean." She looked at him, biting her lip nervously. She hoped he would not blow up on her like he had yesterday. She could not afford threatening to leave again when she wanted to stay for Xing.

He opened his beer and drunk a large portion of it in one chug. "Don't let it become a habit. He may start to use that as an excuse to stay up," he said after he finished gulping it down.

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

"What time did Ms. Hana leave?" he asked as he started to eat.

"A little after seven."

He nodded his again and swallowed his food. "Mr. Chenchi and Mrs. Ling came?"

For some reason, his questions made her feel like he already knew the answer to them. It felt like he was just asking to see what she would say. Pushing those thoughts to the side, she nodded. "Yes, sir. Xing did great during his practice with Mr. Chenchi and he behaved well during his tutoring session." She smiled thinking about him.

"You didn't let him watch TV all day with his free time, right? He isn't allowed to have too much TV time," he said looking at her serious all of a sudden.

She shook her head, no. "We did other things around the house."

Silence followed after that and the awkward, tension was in the room again.

She cleared her throat, making him look up from his food at her. "I-I guess I'm going to head to bed."

"Sit," he commanded, motioning to the chair across the table from his.

Surprised by his command, she found that she could do nothing more than to sit in the chair across from him.

He opened the other beer and took a large chug from it before setting it back down on the table quietly. "You have questions," he stated, whether than asking.

Her head titled a little, confused by the statement. She did have questions, but it was hard to pick up on what he was trying to insinuate.

"This will probably be your only opportunity, so ask whatever you like."

She looked around the room to see if he were really talking to her and not some unknown person in the room. She wanted to ask if he was really telling her to ask him anything that did not regard their arrangement, but guessed that would ruin her opportunity. "I—"

"You are staying in my house when you know very little about me and my son. I believe you have the right to know a little about us. Nothing that will cross the line though," he explained before taking a bite out of his food.

She let out a hum, thinking of the first question to ask since there were so many. "How long will you allow me to stay here?" she asked after a while.

He looked at her and swallowed his food before answering, "However long you will like. You said you're a senior in high school, right?"

She nodded slowly. He gave her a pointed look that she knew all too well now. "Yes, sir," she used her words.

"What do you plan to do after that?"

"Well, I hope to save up enough money to go to college," she said thoughtfully.

He stood from the table and walked over to the refrigerator to grab another beer. He opened it and gulped down a large amount of it. After he finished swallowing, he turned to her. "About that, I have come up with a reasonable pay for you. How does one million yen a day sound for you? I can up the pay if you would like."

She gasped, not believing he had just said something like that. That was not even half of what she had ever had in her entire life.

"Oh, Mr. Li, that won't be necessary. That is way too much, and I wouldn't feel right taking that much money from someone. That's insane!"

He sat back down in the chair in front of her. He raised a brow and shook his head. "I actually think that's too little, so how about ten million yen?"

"Mr. Li!" she exclaimed as if he had lost his mind.

He looked at her, waiting for her to continue. She bit her lip lightly, not sure what to say. "It's my money to spend. I think that you deserve a nice amount for watching my son and staying in a stranger's home."

"Th-that's way too much to offer someone."

He glared at her softly, making her close her mouth. "I'm not really giving you more than one option. If you would like more, then you choose to take the offer I made or up the pay."

She bit her lower lip lightly again and looked down at the table, not knowing what to say to the offer. The man was always offering unbelievable things to her. Couldn't he take a break from making her feel so...

So what?

"Kinomoto," he said sternly.

She looked at him, frowning now. "That's too much for one day, Mr. Li. If you want to pay that much, it will only have to be once a week," she compromised. She did not want him to feel sorry for her. That's exactly how that offer made her feel.

Silence swallowed them for a few seconds before he said, "I'll think about it."

"Thank you."

He stared at her, not saying a word after her gratitude. Her cheeks began to warm at the way he looked at her. Her fingers grabbed the bottom of her T-shirt tightly, nerves jumping suddenly.

"Li." She looked into his eyes questioningly. "Call me 'Li', instead of 'Mr. Li.' I don't want you speaking to me as if I'm your boss."

"You kind of are..." she trailed off before looking down at the table. "I understand though. I wasn't sure how you wanted me to address you," she continued. She looked up again and discovered that he still had his eyes on her.

"Is there anything else that you want to know?" he asked after taking another sip of his beer, trapping her in his heated gaze. He seemed a lot looser now.

She swallowed nervously before thinking about asking this next question. He never told her what was okay and not okay, so she did not want to cross any boundaries.

"Why did you choose me? I'm just a high school student with less experience with kids than an adult would be. You're allowing me to stay in your house when you barely know me. Is there a reason why you've chosen me?" she asked.

He set the beer down and his lids lowered a little when his eyes landed on her again. She could feel the hairs on her body stand on end. "I have nothing to worry about with you," he said, finally breaking the silence between them.

She closed her eyes, as if she would find the answer to this next question she wanted ask to. It did not seem appropriate, but she felt she had a right to know. She was the one who'd be watching Xing most of the time now, so she should be the one to know this especially.

With that thought in mind, she held her head high, looking in those intense eyes determinedly. "Where is Xing's mother?"

His body automatically froze, and his eyes turned from the fiery, intense stare to a cold and hard one.

He glared at her from across the table, making her want to be swallowed into another black hole. She had known better than to ask Xing, so his father was the only solution that she had come up with.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seem so forward with you, but Xing talks about her sometimes and I just...I didn't want to ask him the question because—"

He held a hand up, silencing her. "Stop talking," he said coldly.

She stopped, dropping her eyes to the table, feeling ashamed of her rambling. She tended to do that a lot whenever she was overly nervous.

They sat in silence at the table, not looking at each other—well, her trying not to look in his direction. She could feel his eyes burning holes in her entire existence though. She wished she had not asked that question because maybe it was a sensitive topic for him too.

"She's not any of our concerns anymore, so don't worry about it. That's all you need to know," he said after the long, awkward silence between them that almost killed her.

That answered nothing. If anything, it made her have more questions. Sensing he did not want to open up, she decided to drop the topic. There was no use in forcing him into anything. She looked at him to see him chugging down the rest of his beer. He stood from the chair and walked to the refrigerator to grab out three more beers.

"I'm sorry if I offended you with my question, Mr. Li."

"Li."

"Oh, right. Li..."

"Xing..."

She looked at him and her heart nearly broke at the sight before her. The once intimidating man had been replaced with a vulnerable, pained-stricken one. She had the urge to move across the table and hug him, but knew better.

"He doesn't fully understand anything yet and he's so innocent...for something so cruel to happen to someone so..."

His fist clenched around the beer bottle so tight that his knuckles started turning white as he stared at it blankly. It seemed like he was talking more to himself than her now. "This topic shouldn't be brought up anymore to anyone, is that understood?" His gaze directed back to her, glaring.

The vulnerable man that sat in front of her seconds ago had disappeared. He was back to the cold man, which caused her to sigh silently. "Yes, sir."

He chugged down the rest of the beer before pushing his chair back from the table. He stood up from the chair and grabbed the two beers that were on the table. "Goodnight, Kinomoto."

And just like that, he left her alone in the kitchen.

She sunk into the chair, not believing what just happened. She had really got a glimpse of the soft side of the man. He did not even look capable of having such a side.

A small smile crept to her lips before she stood from the table and walked to the opposite side to pick up his plate and brought it to the sink, rinsing it off. She placed it in the dishwasher then dried her hands.

Maybe he was not so bad after all.

Maybe if she could look past that cold facade he always puts up around everyone, she could like him as a person.

With that thought in mind, she had a good night's rest.


A/N: Gah, this is really a slow-burn type of story and I can't believe that I'm just noticing that after three years of writing it. I have some thinking to do about fixing up a bit of the future chapters...

Anyway, it's 3am again, and I have an appointment early in the morning, so yay for insomnia...I'm going to try and get some sleep and continue with the updates tomorrow.

Ja ne!