Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update this story lately! But anyway, here is Chapter 18: In which Kanoe buys a snowglobe and Yuuto and Satsuki get a little kinky.

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She wanted him back.

She couldn't help it. There was something inexplicably adorable about the boy despite his scatter-brained and slightly, okay completely, useless nature. Or was it perhaps because of that that he was adorable? Kanoe wasn't sure. All she knew was that she had fired Keiichi a week ago for spilling her latte all over a stack of important documents after a long string of other minor disasters all caused by some sort of mishap on his part.

It had started on the very first day he had been working for her with the whole unplugging her computer in the middle of typing up a long report as he had been reaching under the desk to retrieve a dropped pen. The entire report, which until then had taken several hours to type was completely gone and had to be started over from scratch.

Then again, he had apologized profusely for it and stayed four hours late that day to help her finish.

Of course a couple of days later there was the incident with the bus that he had missed, causing him to be late. He had been so worried about making it to work on time that he didn't notice her walking up the steps to the building herself and ran straight into her, sending her umbrella flying and the both of them tumbling down the steps to the puddle-strewn bottom. That skirt suit had been expensive too and was completely ruined.

Although he had taken it home with the promise of bringing it back "good as new".

Unfortunately he hadn't had the slightest idea what he was doing and brought the once sleek black suit back a strange shade of green with the hem falling apart, the collar torn, and one sleeve significantly longer than the other for some reason.

Of course, that had given her an excuse to buy a new suit, and just in time for the big meeting that had been coming up.

Which, now that she thought about it, Keiichi had also ruined by tripping over a power cord as he had walked into the room, landing face-first in the cleavage of the CEO whose company had been looking into sponsoring them and effectively ruining a partnership that had been five years in the making.

Kanoe rubbed her temple at the memories of all of the things the boy had managed to completely muck up. There was something about Keiichi that simply invited disaster, even when he wasn't trying. She still remembered the time he was attacked by a dog on the way back from the coffee shop, and the time he had gotten stuck when the elevator doors malfunctioned and closed down on him.

Yet through it all, the boy always had a smile. No matter what misfortunes befell him, that shiny, innocent smile never seemed to leave his face. Kanoe didn't know how he hadn't become embittered yet, ruing his rotten luck at every turn. How many times could someone fall before they could no longer drag themselves back into the saddle, she wondered. Even when she had fired him, he had given her a sheepish smile.

"Yeah. I figured you would want to be rid of me sometime."

He had packed up his things into his messy old book bag and been gone by the time she got back from lunch, without pressing any objections, or leaving any indication that he had been there, beyond the disarray of a stack of papers he must have knocked over on the way out and hastily gathered back up.

Now her office was much neater and her meetings ran much more smoothly. Her clothes were all intact and she had repaired relations with the other company.

And yet…

Kanoe sighed and picked up the telephone, asking for Keiichi when a woman's voice answered.

There was a long pause and Kanoe thought for a second that the line had disconnected or the woman had hung up on her.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" The woman inquired.

"This is his boss."

"Oh, I am sorry ma'am but… well have you not heard?"

Kanoe felt her heart leap into her throat. "Heard what?"

"Keiichi's mother passed away just this morning. He's at the hospital still, making funeral arrangements."

Kanoe closed her eyes and asked which hospital before hanging up and grabbing her purse.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry? Another lunch "date" perhaps?" a teasing voice inquired as she hurried past the cubicles.

"Shut up Yuuto." She snapped before vanishing into the hallway.

The hospital was not far but Kanoe was distracted on her way, as a hodgepodge little set of trinkets in a shop window caught her eye. She backpedaled slightly and entered the store, stepping back out with a small paper bag in hand a moment later.

When she reached the hospital, it didn't take long to find Keiichi as he was in the waiting room, getting ready to leave. For the first time since Kanoe had met him, he wasn't wearing his usual goofy smile and her heart fell at the sight.

"Keiichi…"

He jerked his head up at the sound of her voice and nearly stumbled into a nurse.

"Ah… Kanoe-san." He flashed her a much weaker, forced version of his characteristic grin.

"Are you alright?" She asked, lamely, realizing what a stupid question it was the moment the words left her mouth.

Keiichi nodded and his smile widened, even as his eyes obviously dampened.

"I brought you something."Kanoe held up the bag, not knowing what else to say.

They took seats in cold plastic chairs in the corner of the waiting room and Keiichi took the bag, pulling out a small Snowglobe that had a little model of Tokyo Tower in it, and rather than snow, tiny sakura petals that swirled around it when shaken. Keiichi laughed and shook the globe, causing the miniature petals to nearly conceal the tower for a moment a little whirlwind.

Something suddenly nagged at the back of Kanoe's mind, something important that she was forgetting…

"Thank you." Keiichi held the Snowglobe with both hands as though it were not a cheap souvenir, but a precious memory that he couldn't bear to lose.

Kanoe shrugged. "Well I remember the first day you showed up in my office, you said that you liked Snowglobes."

Keiichi nodded. "My mother used to collect them."

Kanoe's heart stopped.

"I guess that's where I got it from. So whenever I would go somewhere on a school trip or she went on a business trip, we always brought back Snowglobes to add to our collection. She used to have one of Tokyo Tower once but I broke it by bumping the cabinet vacuuming one day. I think she would be really happy to know that it's finally been replaced."

Kanoe stared at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. "What was she like?"

"Oh she was kind!" Keiichi enthusiastically declared. "And a great cook! No one could make takoyaki or stewed beef quite like my mother!"

Kanoe laughed and listened to him talk until evening began to fall, dowsing the waiting room in a warm glow.

"I guess I should head home… I need to call the family…" Keiichi reluctantly stood.

"Keiichi-kun," Kanoe stopped him. "The real reason I wanted to talk to you originally… I wanted to offer you your job back."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise.

"I mean obviously I don't expect you to be at work tomorrow morning or anything like that but if you're willing to come be my intern again-"

"Yes!" He cried. "Oh yes, I'll do it! I thought… well I thought you had gotten tired of me messing up all the time to be honest, but if you still want me then absolutely! I'll be in first thing in the morning!"

"You don't have to do that, hon, you're in mourning…"

"No," Keiichi pleaded. "Please, I don't want to sit at home."

Kanoe hesitated then nodded. "Alright then. Tomorrow morning."

Keiichi smiled and looked down at the Snowglobe. "Thank you." He repeated before leaving the hospital, clutching the trinket protectively to his chest and smiling once more as if everything were going to be just fine.

As she was walking home she passed a temple and glanced in at the grounds, a flash of something flowing and silvery catching her eye as the wind caught it in a fleeting dance. She realized it was a young woman's hair and stopped dead in her tracks.

"I can't actually foresee the future, just my sister can." She traced her fingertips down Yuuto's bare abs.

"Does she tell you everything that is going to happen?"

"No. I walk in her dreams and see for myself."

Yuuto raised an eyebrow and pushed her hair aside to brush his lips against her shoulder. "And what do you see?"

She brushed a hand over the folds of the sheets draped casually over his waist."With regards to you or with regards to the world?"

Yuuto laughed that slippery laugh of his."The world. I'll find out my own fate sooner or later."

Kanoe looked him in the eye.

"I see destruction."

Kanoe gasped for air, suddenly aware that she was on her knees somehow, still outside the temple and her heart was racing.

"Are you alright?" A soft voice asked above her.

A loud groan of metal shook the ground as the top of Tokyo Tower gave a sickening lurch and then began to fall… and with it went humanity…

Kanoe jerked back from the girl's touch as though she had been burned.

"Who are you?" she demanded, then quickly shook her head. "Sorry, I just, I'm a little dizzy is all. Haven't eaten, you know how it is."

She quickly pulled herself to her feet, avoiding the girl's haunting gaze as well as she could as she hurried away with the image of sakura petals swirling around a falling tower clinging to her memories.

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Before she had had sex, Satsuki had never known what the big deal about it was.

Now that she had, she still didn't.

Oh sure, it was enjoyable and all; science didn't lie, the release of oxytocin and endorphins was indeed nice. She simply did not see what made sex any more spectacular than any other mildly pleasant experience she had encountered.

She had done her research beforehand and was appalled to find that it was customary to "snuggle" afterward. Her one concern all along had been that Yuuto would do just that but much to her relief, he refrained. Now he was fast asleep beside her as she worked from her laptop in bed.

So trusting. She thought to herself then turned to scrutinize the sleeping man.

Yuuto was not the sort who could be called gullible per se. Certainly he was not generally easily taken in or caught unawares from what Satsuki had seen so far of him. No, gullible implied being overly trusting of people and Yuuto was anything but trusting of other humans. She supposed he knew better than to be, as he was a less than trustworthy fellow himself.

However, that cynicism with regards to people somehow did not carry over into other aspects of his expectations of the world. For some reason, he never seemed to worry that a situation would go badly, or that life could somehow take a turn for the worse without his control. If anything, he almost seemed to prefer the idea that fate was completely out of his hands. Certainly it removed responsibility and blame from his shoulders, and she could see why that would appeal to Yuuto, with his tendency to avoid both of those things like the plague. On the other hand, it also removed the notion that he might have control over his own future. Satsuki hated not having control, but Yuuto… Yuuto seemed to prefer it.

She thought about this for a moment, then decided that like any good scientist, she should test her hypothesis so she quietly slipped out of bed and padded out of the room. She was pretty sure she still had some broken cables around here somewhere…

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Yuuto was usually pretty good at remembering where he had fallen asleep last, having trained himself to do so after making the mistake of calling a young woman by the wrong name the morning after a rather sensational night with her. As such, he was unsurprised to wake up and find himself in Satsuki's bed. What was surprising was the computer cords binding his hands to the headboard.

Surprising… and also a little arousing.

He lifted his head as much as he could to see Satsuki on the other side of the room, sitting in a chair, still playing with her laptop. She lifted her head at the sound of the sheets rustling.

"Ah. You're awake." She closed the computer and turned the chair around to reveal that she was stark naked.

Oh this little scenario was just getting better.

"Certainly getting there." Yuuto grinned.

Satsuki smiled and threw sheets draped over him a pointed look. "So I see."

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this… intriguing little fantasy?" Yuuto toyed with the frayed edge of one of the copper wires around his wrist, amused by the appropriateness of this little twist on bondage.

"It was just an experiment to see how you would react." Satsuki informed him rather matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh. And did I meet your expectations?"

"So far you have."

Yuuto's grinned widened. "So far?"

"Obviously there is more to the experiment than just that."

"Well then we should get on that shouldn't we?"

Satsuki agreed and joined him on the bed.

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Several hours later, Satsuki lay in bed, sleepily processing the evening's events. Certainly the night had been rather enjoyable and Yuuto had reacted just as she had expected him to.

Yet something felt… off. Satsuki did not believe in intuition, she merely explained it as the human ability to recognize and intake data subconsciously, similarly process it, and use that data to later recognize patterns. No matter what the cause though, something had triggered some memory that she was frustrated to find she could not quite recall now. It had happened when Yuuto had sleepily suggested that next time maybe Satsuki should be the one tied up. She had balked very suddenly, a strange panic coursing through her.

Why?

She stared at a bit of wire still slung over the headboard then let her eyes wander down it to the sleeping man beside her.

It was because of him.

She wondered what that sentence meant, why it had inexplicably echoed at the back of her mind, as she drifted into sleep.

Jealous. The machine was jealous.

Wires wrapped around her neck and she pulled and pulled but they only grew tighter…

"Yuuto!"

She couldn't breathe…

In the struggle, her glasses slipped off of her face and fell to the ground with the audible crash of breaking glass. She could just barely make out flames on the screen in front of her, blurry and indistinct.

She couldn't…

Satsuki jerked awake as Yuuto turned over in his sleep. She lay in bed, trying to catch her breath and tried to remember what she had just been dreaming about but it had already faded away. Annoyed and frustrated, she rolled over to face the wall and tried to fall back asleep as some forgotten event quietly tried to worm its way back into her memories.