AN: Oops sorry, 1 day late! Between, I forgot to add that this story is going to be rather short – I would say that it's about 60% or slightly more done already. I had planned to keep this short because of other commitments. Happy reading and thanks so much to all my readers who have commented!

Chapter 7 – Murphy's Law

Strong slender fingers swiftly buttoned up the expensive black jeans before pulling the blue jumper over the tanned, muscular torso in one smooth movement, covering the washboard stomach. A soft swish was heard as the hospital curtains were pushed aside and the doctor looked up from where he was busily writing a short report.

"Well, everything seems fine, my boy," the doctor said in the overly jovial tone that he used on every patient as Rui winced inwardly. "My nurse will contact you when the results of the tests are out and send a report to your company as usual. However, I doubt that there will be anything wrong. You are in excellent shape as always."

With a nod and a quiet thank you, he was out of the room. Initially, Rui had hated these quarterly physical checkups, seeing a parallel between the visits and the examination of a piece of prized horseflesh before being sold at a fair. However, he had long come to accept it as another routine performed in his occupation. One could not be oversensitive and expect to survive in this line.

He walked past the long queue at the cashier, ignoring the covetous looks that half the female population in the waiting room were giving him and headed for the lifts. Someone rudely pushed past him as he was stepping into the lift, the momentum causing him to bump into a much smaller body. Reacting instantly, Rui reached out to steady the girl before she could overbalance.

"Are you alright?" To his surprise, there was no reaction from the girl. "Are you alright?" He tried again as he held the girl's shoulders more firmly, bending down to see if she was feeling ill. A pair of familiar but dazed eyes in a pale face glanced in his vicinity, seeming to look through him.

"Makino Tsukushi?" At the sound of her name, Tsukushi's eyes came into focus.

"Rui?" His name was softly uttered. Looking more closely at her, Rui was suddenly aware of how drained she was. Her extremely pallid complexion accentuated the dark circles surrounding a pair of dull eyes that had been so filled with life the last time they met. She made no movement to get out of the lift and simply followed mechanically when Rui guided her through the open doors.

"What's wrong?" She seemed to be in shock. Her lips quivered but no sound was emitted as her eyes looked at him somewhat helplessly. Rui quickly took control of the situation. "Look, I think you need to sit down. I don't think you are fit to go anywhere by yourself at this moment."

Feeling rather worried at her strange behaviour, he led her to the nearest café and ordered hot tea for both of them. When their orders promptly arrived, he stirred a generous helping of sugar into her cup before passing it to her. Almost automatically, Tsukushi took a sip of the hot beverage, making a slight face at the sweet syrupy taste as her hands curled around the cup for warmth.

"It's for the shock," Rui smiled at her, pleased to see a little colour returning to her face. Then he looked at her expectantly and waited.

"It's my brother," she said in a low voice as he strained to hear her amidst the hustle and bustle of the café. "The doctor told me that he has polycystic kidney disease – it's genetic. From the diagnosis of his current symptoms and the preliminary results of his first tests, he think it's serious … …" Her voice faltered, "although further tests are needed, he thinks Susumu's kidneys are failing. My brother needs dialysis and he's eleven." The despair in her eyes was evident as she looked at Rui, "he's only eleven, Rui, he's only a little boy … …" Her voice broke.

Rui reached over the table, encircling her hands gently with his. This particular gesture had been perfected and used countless of times by him, but this was one of the few occasions when it actually meant something more to him than a conditioned reflex. He did not complete his entire routine which required him to lift the female's hands in his and bend over to lightly run his lips across her knuckles. His aim, for once, was to comfort this wretched girl and not to make her feel desirable.

"Don't panic yet, Tsukushi," Rui's deep voice was soothing. "Wait for further tests to be conducted. Your brother needs you to be strong." Tsukushi looked at him gratefully.

"Have you told your parents yet?"

Tsukushi's eyes darkened with pain for an instance, before she shook her head, "they're dead."

"I'm sorry," Rui apologised hastily. What was the matter with him today? Why was he acting so uncharacteristically? Rui never meddled in other people's business and never committed any social blunders. Yet something made him ask the next question, "are you worried about … … the expenses?"

A worried expression flashed briefly in Tsukushi's eyes before she smiled, "no, my parents left us with a trust fund."

Just then, Rui's handphone rang. He realised that he was still holding onto Tsukushi's hands only when he had to release them to pick up the phone. He glanced at the number and then politely excused himself to take the call.

"Hello, Ray speaking."

"Hi darling, where are you?"

A muscle in Ray's jaw twitched when he heard the sickeningly sweet voice before he answered smoothly, "it's my day off today, sweetheart. I'm having one of my physical checkups."

"Something's cropped up today, I need an escort to this function this afternoon. Could you come with me please? I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"Yumi, come now, you know my policy," Ray said in a teasing tone, although his eyes were as hard as granite.

"Now is that any way to treat your favourite client? I'll make it up to you as well as give you two days off this weekend, please?"

With an exaggerated sigh, Ray answered, "well, it would be most ungallant of me to refuse the requests of a beautiful woman … …" He was cut off by giggles from the other party.

"You flatterer! I'll need you to pick me up at 3.00pm."

"Okay."

"See you then, darling boy! Wear a shirt and tie!" There was a sound of a loud kiss and then the ringing tone. Rui ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he snapped his phone shut and slid it back into his pocket. He walked back to the table with a grim expression on his face. Tsukushi looked up as he sat down.

"I'm so sorry, but … …" He started.

"It's okay, you must be very busy. I'm so sorry to have held you up." Embarrassed to have kept Rui from his work, Tsukushi was doing a good imitation of a tomato.

"No, it's alright. It was meant to be my day off but one client … …" he shrugged helplessly. "It happens."

"Where are you going?" He asked Tsukushi after insisting on paying the bill. It was only two cups of tea after all. However, it was still a refreshing experience as he could not remember the last time when he actually paid for a woman, and she was not subsequently billed for the entire sum by his company.

"I'm just going home. I applied for a half day's leave in advance," Tsukushi said with a wry grin, recalling the fiasco that happened with Tsukasa the last couple of times when she had "vanished" without prior notice.

"Where do you stay?"

"Er?" Tsukushi stared at Rui for a moment.

"I'll send you home," he placed a hand gently on her back, steering her in the direction of the carpark.

"No, it's okay. It's probably out of your way!" Tsukushi shook her head frantically.

"I've got more than enough time to spare. My next appointment is only at 3pm. Now, come on!" Tsukushi could only stare speechlessly when she found herself standing in front of a silver Chevrolet Convertible.

"It's alright, it's not really mine." Rui explained hastily as he opened the car door for her, not wanting to create a false impression about his financial status. "It's the company's car and loaned out to employees for functions." It was a half-truth, Rui comforted himself, the truth was simply too complex to go into just then.

After coaxing Tsukushi into the car and the address out of her, he let down the power top of his convertible and drove quickly through the streets, enjoying Tsukushi's look of awe. To the pedestrians and other drivers, it would have seemed that he was a rich, reckless young man trying to impress a girl, yet nothing was further from the truth. Rui wondered cynically how fast the envious looks would be converted to disgust and disdain when they found out that he was simply a jaded gigolo who was trying to cheer up a troubled orphan girl with a potentially, fatally ill brother.

"Thanks so much for the ride," Tsukushi stuttered, looking rather embarrassed as they pulled up next to a dilapidated apartment in one of the poorer suburbs. Rui automatically reached over to open her car door for her.

"It's not safe to park your car here, it would get stolen or vandalized," she quickly added and jumped out of the car just as he made a movement to get out of the car. "Thanks again, Rui!" She smiled as she waved to him cheerfully and quickly disappeared.

As Rui drove off, his mind kept returning to the genuine warmth of her smile. How on earth did she manage to retain her cheerful personality in spite of all her problems? He had long thought that he was no longer capable of any human emotions, yet somehow this little girl was able to get under his skin, stirring up those dormant feelings especially his compassion and protectiveness.

By the time he reached his apartment, changed and got ready for work again, he had shelved the incident. Ray knotted his tie in front of the mirror and checked to make sure that he had sufficient protection before setting out for Yumi's place. She was one of his most insatiable clients.

88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

It had been awkward. No, it had been more than awkward between himself and the little minx since she cried in his arms that day, Tsukasa thought. Not that he really minded what she did, but Tsukushi had been avoiding him and had kept her professional mask firmly in place in spite of all his taunts. And he had not really been in the mood to torment her anyway. Why was that woman so bloody difficult? He was quite sick of her new, strangely docile behaviour. He sighed for the third time, causing Soujirou to look up from his pasta, amusement sparking in his eyes.

"Now what's weighing on your mind, Tsukasa? Those were three mighty powerful sighs," Soujirou said with a knowing smile that made Tsukasa want to slam his fist into his so-called friend's face.

"Why are you in such a sickeningly cheerful mood? Found yourself a good fxxx?" Tsukasa asked rudely.

"Ah, now I know the line of your thoughts in spite of your attempts to emulate the life of a monk," Soujirou continued in the same strain, inwardly flinching at the accuracy of Tsukasa's guess.

"Shut up!" Tsukasa growled.

"Does this have anything to do with your personal assistant?" Soujirou inquired with an innocent look on his face.

"I said shut up!" Tsukasa roared and Soujirou wisely thought that it was time to take a break from teasing his old friend.

Just then, Tsukasa's handphone rang and he answered it with an impatient, "yes?" His countenance suddenly changed as he listened intently to the other speaker.

"Why was this decision suddenly made?"

"So they'll be back in Japan in a few months' time?"

"I want to get out of this arrangement … …" There was a long pause as Tsukasa's face darkened. "I don't care what it takes, just do it!" He snapped his mouthpiece shut with a loud click.

"Anything wrong?" Soujirou's voice interrupted his train of thoughts.

"Nothing I can't handle. You know my biggest business partner?"

"Yup, the Sumimotos. Most of their family members are located in America isn't it?"

"Some of them will be coming back soon."

"And that's bad because?"

A mask seemed to fall over Tsukasa's face as he glanced at Soujirou with hooded eyes, "just some personnel issues that we have with them. There's nothing wrong with the business." He smoothly changed the subject and Soujirou let it go, knowing when not to push his friend.

888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

sweetpeakit: Hey I love your creative idea of Rui and Tsukasa, perhaps after I finish this story I should do a once-off on both of them !!!! evil chuckles Definitely can imagine it … … Thanks sooooooo much for your kind comments, I hope this new chapter is up to mark ;) !

Chi5: Hi hi, thanks for reading and commenting !!! As per requested – one large serving of Rui provided in this new chapter ;)!

.:: Stacey ::. ) : Actually, I think he knows that Tsukushi is pretty fiery and I thought he was simply shocked that he had finally pushed her overboard. What really shocked him – in my opinion – would not be her blowing up at him, but the fact that she actually broke down in tears in his arms. Which was why he completely panicked and behaved really uncharacteristically! I'm soooo glad to have achieved my surprise, thanks for letting me know !!!!

Drina: It was strangely difficult to write the pages without using the pronoun for Akira! Never realised how often the pronoun was used until I had to try to write without! Well done for guessing the right person! I left a few clues here and there and I guess you picked them all up! Between what is the subtext between Akira and soujirou? I actually have no idea.

peppermint23: Thanks so much for your kind comments !!! Worry not, I'm kinda nocturnal animal at times and definitely made it for it some time later … … Oh with regards to Tsukushi's bad memories, let me do a quick recap coz I won't really be going into it later. Sorry, it's not obvious – I only made slight references in the prologue. You see, her parents were in a car accident where her dad died on the spot and her mum was in a coma and died a month (if I don't remember what I wrote wrongly) later. Tsukushi had to visit her mum regularly and tried to wake her up etc - apologies, the latter was all implied. Glad that you enjoyed your surprise !!!

piglet : When I went back to read it, I realised that you are right you know! If I had not mentioned Ray in the conversation, I would have thought that I could have been writing about Soujirou and Rui. That was a really interesting insight! Don't know why but I would have preferred the pairing of Akira and Rui vs Soujirou and Rui if I had to make a choice between the two … … I thought in a way it would be ironical to write that Akira and Soujirou really did have something for each other and were actually indulging in their feelings for each other whilst hiding it behind the pretence of teasing Tsukasa and Tsukushi, especially given their playboy reputation in HYD!

Kensingtonkid: No worries! Thanks so much for leaving me a comment even though you're abroad! I'm so glad you l

like it :)!!!!

just a reader: Ah, one who actually likes Soujirou's "little escapade" – love your description of it !!! Thank you thank you thank you! I must say that I did indeed put in quite a bit of effort writing it though I had loads of fun as well! (yes I believe I need a life ;) )

wicked: A new reader !!! yessssssss !!!! Thanks so much for your comment and I'm really glad to know you like me messing around with their characters! Motivating ne !!!