A/N: hey, guys, srr srr srr 4 not posting, but i laid in hospital for almost a week and really didn't have a chance to sit by PC. Srr again. But here u go, another chapter. I hope u like it ;)

The blonde woke up slowly, feeling warmness all over her. She looked around and found herself lying on her bed, soft yellow rays of summer morning sun shining down to her through unclosed door. Yukiko looked other way and gasped from the sight: Hao was lying by her side, sleeping peacefully. The blonde looked down immediatelly and a sense of relief rolled through her insides: nothing happened, she still had her simple red kimono on. Yukiko turned her black eyes to Hao and travelled down his body, exploring it carefully. She stopped at the face, however and removed some starnds of hair from it. This action made the man to wake up and shift in his place.

„Morning" he said, lazily looking to Yukiko's eyes.

„Morning" she said and her look turned gentlier „you ould get caught, sleeping like that, you know"

„Anything, just to sleep with you" he said and pulled Yukiko to his embrace.

„Hao, let go!" she demanded "don't get us into trouble"

"We're already in trouble, so it doesn't matter anyhow" he smirked to her. Now, Yukiko's waist was attached to Hao's and she couldn't pull away, because he was holding her tightly.

"You're such a goof, Asakura. I can't believe you're here with me" the blonde said harshly.

"My oh my, what a misfortune" Hao mocked her "I don't recall you complain about it last night" Yukiko just wanted to shoot something back, but a soft knock on the door made both to fall to silence.

"Just a minute" Yukiko shot and sat up, followed by Hao "see what I mean? You're a living trouble" the blonde looked to him angrily and before Hao could confront her, she ordered "go to the garden and get out of it. I don't care how. Just leave" Yukiko got onto feet and was about to go to open the door when a strong hand stopped her.

"I thought I said…" she said angrily in the whisper, but couldn't finish it: Hao kissed her passionately and said:

"Thank you for everything" and silently ran out of the room to the garden.

Meanwhile Yukiko opened the door and saw a servant woman, who bowed to her and informed:

"My mistress, Keiko-sama, whished you to join her for breakfast after an hour in her dining room"

"Oh, I see. Yes, I'll definitely join Keiko-sama. It's just that I don't know where the dining room is" the servant woman smiled and bowed.

"No need to worry. I will come after an hour and lead you there" Yukiko and the servant bowed to each other and the blonde closed the door. She turned around and found the door to the garden opened; the woman went to close it, but before she did, she saw a flower, rose, lying on the wooden floor in front of sliding door. Yukiko picked the flower up and smelled it: the scent was heavenly fresh and sweet, as if full of morning dew. The blonde smiled slightly and by throwing a glance on garden's path she closed the door.

Keiko, as agreed, waited for Yukiko in dining room. It was more of a hall with embroidered walls and mixed with orangery of green plants. Yukiko bowed to Keiko and sat by her side, which was suggested.

"I believe you slept well, Yukiko?" Keiko asked, as her young companion filled two cups of tea.

"Yes, Keiko, thank you. Is somebody joining us?" Yukiko showed to the prepared, but empty place. Keiko nodded.

"Yes, there will be someone" the woman sighed "and I want you to have your own opinion about this person, called Tao Ren. He might be very important to our relationship with China families" Yukiko listened carefully and asked:

"Aren't Taos the greatest family of China? I heard lots of them, but never got a possibility to meet one of them"

"You're right, they are" Keiko took a sip of tea and proceeded "and that's why we have to keep a good relationship with them. This may be even up to you" Keiko's clever eyes turned to Yukiko's and the blonde nodded.

"I will do a right impression. Trust me" the elder woman smiled with agreement.

"I do trust you. That's why you're here". Suddenly, the door slid open and a servant announced:

"Tao-sama, mistress" she bowed and stepped backwards to let through a man. Yukiko's eyes quickly ran through him and made a conclusion: charming. Tao Ren had this well-built body, obviously well-trained, since muscles were seen all over naked arms and on belly, which was wrapped with tight dark red shirt. His look pierced everything with anger, eyes shining with yellow color, a bit covered with dark blue hair, which was messy on top.

Tao Ren bowed respectfully to Keiko.

"It is a pleasure to see you, Keiko-sama" he said and only then his eyes stuck on Yukiko, sitting by Keiko's side. The older woman introduced them:

"Tao-san, this is Yukiko-san, my most trustworthy companion. I do hope you don't mind her joining us"

"Not at all, Keiko-sama. It is always a pleasure to have such beauty by side" he said with shrewd smile on his face and sat down, right in front of Yukiko, letting himself to study her a bit closer. Yes, she was beautiful, even unusually gorgeous, but yet something cold coming from this woman didn't allow him to go deeper into her charm: she obviously held a secret, which Ren, for some reason, wanted to stay hidden.

"In your letter, you said you wanted to speak of something important" Tao started, looking to Keiko, but secretly watching how Yukiko gracefully removes long sleeves of kimono from her wrists and pours tea into his cup.

"Indeed, I did. As you know, our families, for some reason, got a little away from each other, so I thought it would be a nice gesture to organize a feast for reunion at Asakura's mansion. Yet, I wanted to be sure that both sides agree" Ren took a sip of tea, his eyes lingering on nothingness for a while. Finally, he said:

"I can see no reason why this couldn't be done. My uncle with my mother will be at Japan after month, so I suggest this feast to be held exactly the day after month. Right after dusk"

"Yes, this is very convenient" Keiko agreed and clicked her fingers: servants brought in breakfast: rise and some vegetable "I assume you sister will be coming as well" Ren's mimic changed a bit: it was as if he didn't want his sister to come here. Yet, he answered:

"Yes, I do think so…if she won't have any other plans for it"

"Oh, you must take care that she wouldn't have any. I'd always rather enjoy June's company" Yukiko noticed something else from Keiko's tone: a slight smirk, sent exactly where it needed.

"I'll see what I can do" Ren promised and stood up, ready to leave. When he turned around and bowed, his eyes met with Yukiko's and this look made sure Tao Ren's coming back again and not for single time.

On the hallway out of mansion, Ren saw someone standing leaned against the wall.

"So, my mother invited you here, huh?" Hao asked, kicking off the wall and ramming his gaze to Tao's. The blue-haired man answered the same.

"As a matter of fact she did. I always wandered how come you can't learn from her how to welcome guests"

"Only if the guests are worthy, Tao" the brunette man said, anger obviously growing inside, although his exterior stayed calm. Ren, however, saw his emotions and tried another spot:

"Actually, not only Keiko-sama knows something about good manners. This Yukiko-san is a true diamond, as a matter of fact" Hao swallowed jealousy and with smirking smile on his lips and peaceful tone he said:

"I'll tell you only once, Tao. Don't you even dare to lay a single look on her. It could cause great consequences to you"

"My oh my, seems we found a weak spot here" Ren smirked with evil intentions in his eyes. Hao shook his head slightly.

"Not even I care for her; you need to know that Yukiko's a geisha. So don't even try to compete over her" Ren let out a sound of humph and walked on, but he stopped at the side of Hao and said:

"We still haven't figured out which in better, right?" A memory of a fighting scene in the rain flashed through Hao's eyes and his mimic could now reflect pleasure.

"At least there's something we agree over. But this fight is postponed for a while. However, put this into your small head" Hao turned his eyes to Ren's "Yukiko's not for your nose" and the brunette man walked away. Ren looked after him for a while and left the mansion.

Meanwhile Yukiko was sitting in her room and reading some scrolls when a soft know on the door woke her up from the text.

"Come in" she said and only when the visitor approached her by the table she looked up.

"Oh, it's you" she said and turned back to the scroll, full of Chinese kanji "you're lucky no one caught you on your way from the garden" Hao smirked to the way she talked with him, but started another theme of conversation:

"I heard you met Tao Ren this morning"

"So if I did?" Yukiko put down her scroll and stood up, folding the arms on her chest.

"And, what do you think of him?" Hao asked, swallowing the tone of jealousy. Yukiko raised an eyebrow: she already guessed where this was going to and decided not to go onto Hao's nerves – this was something she didn't explore yet.

"He's annoying, just like you" the blonde said harshly "if I didn't know things, I'd say you're related" this made Hao laugh a little: more of relief than happiness.

"So I see. And what did my mother want with him?"

"Why don't you go and ask her? I have other things to do, besides talking to you, Asakura" Yukiko was about to sit back down, but Hao wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body to his.

"Like what? Maybe kiss with me?: Yukiko tried to pull away, but instead she remembered something.

"Just one, remember?" she asked. Hao sighed and let go of her.

"Until you ask for another one" he said and left her room.

The day outside was warm, perfectly suiting for last days of summer. Many people then walked through the gardens of Asakura's mansion, but one person there stayed alone and away from the rest. Yoh Asakura then was lying on flat rock by one of further pools and watching clouds, like he did every day. This man, although with ability to make friends easily, loved loneliness more than anything and hated when somebody disturbed him. Only this time the object of disturbing was a little different from them all.

Four people, two men and two women, walked onto the high terrace over the water pool and stayed there, chatting lively among themselves. Yoh, naturally, would've only walked away to find another spot of his usual daydreaming hour, but his eye was caught by a certain geisha, dressed up in red kimono and, what is really unusual, with golden hair, reflecting the sun's rays perfectly. Yoh watched her delicate face and moves from the distance, admiring her beauty. His usually lazy eyes now woke up and drunk the beauty of this woman, known for so little time, yet seemed so close and almost meant for him…but no: a white mask on her face said it all. Yoh stood up as the object of his dreams moved away and hit behind the turn – she didn't even look to him, didn't even notice him, although the rock he was lying on could be visible clearly from the terrace…

But here another surprising thing happened: the same woman, dressed in red kimono approached him here, on this same rock.

"I saw you, Yoh-san, here all alone" she started, looking coldly, but yet somehow disposed towards him "can you spare a minute to me?" she asked. This question kicked Yoh from his feet, entirely breaking things in his mind.

"Ah, yes, of course. In fact, I'm the one who should be asking this" he smiled cutely to her. Yukiko didn't smile back, only stepped onto the flat rock and sat by Yoh's side. The brunette guy looked to her profile and asked:

"So, what did you want from me?" Yukiko kept silent for a little while, but then said:

"I'd like to ask you something…actually, about two people. Firstly, about your brother, Hao"

"Oh, oni-san? What about him?"

"Just something about his character. I found it quite…disturbing" Yukiko's lips curled into slight smile, obviously meant not for Yoh, but for someone else. Yet, the man decided to pretend he didn't see it.

"Well, Hao was always stubborn and kind of controlling. He didn't like it when things weren't his way. Besides that, he really likes being best at everything. Can't see the reason, though, he really is the best without even doing it"

"Meaning?" Yukiko turned to him.

"What I mean. Whatever Hao's doing, it always turns out to good. That's how it always has been"

"What about Tao Ren. He seems to dislike him" Yoh laughed with clear light laugh, which could melt anyone's heart. A thought went through Yukiko's mind that maybe he's not that annoying after all.

"Well, those two are really enemies since the beginning of time. I don't remember them going on well, actually"

"And what is the reason?" Yukiko asked carefully.

"I think they don't even know it themselves. Personally, I don't have anything against Ren. He's a nice guy and could be a good friend if he wanted to"

"So I see" Yukiko smiled with a smirk, recalling the angry piercing gaze, which Tao Ren sent to every side of the dining room "I can't really believe the last words of him being a good friend, but you must know it better" Yukiko stood up and stepped back onto green grass "thank you, Yoh-san"

"Hey, Yukiko-san. May I know the reason you asked me this?" Yoh asked carefully. The blonde looked to his chocolate brown eyes, immediately seeing the difference between the brothers: Hao's eyes were lustrous and pulling everything into them. Yoh's here were cute and understanding, inviting. Yukiko somehow felt that she could trust this man, whose heart was obviously untouched by world's cruelty.

"To tell the truth, this is a personal matter. Although, as geisha, I'm not allowed to have matters like these, I could tell you one thing: just maybe, things will go a little sharper between Tao Ren and Hao Asakura" Yoh widened his eyes.

"And why is that?"

"That is a secret, Yoh-san. I hope you understand me" she traveled her eyes up and down his body, covered with white yukata and stopped again on his good-willing eyes "you seem to know what it means to have a secret" and she walked away, leaving Yoh in a little shock…