Author's Note: Yay Yuzuriha and Kusanagi get to show up here! :D Also. I love Hokuto. Just saying.

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"Eeeer! Gaaaah! Ruuuuh…"

Kusanagi propped one elbow up on the bar and watched the girl struggle with an amused expression.

"Yaaaah!"

"Do you want some help?" He offered with a grin.

"Nope! I got it, thanks!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Uuuurg-aha!" She cried triumphantly as she freed the sack of rice she had been tugging at for the past ten minutes. She stumbled backward though, nearly topping over into a case of expensive sake before Kusanagi leapt up and caught her. "Ah, thank you." She beamed up at him.

"Why didn't you just let me get it in the first place?'

"Well I can't just go around relying on you all the time, can I?" She replied as he carried the sack to the counter for her. "I mean, what if you aren't here one day?"

He shrugged. "Then you figure something out. But there's nothing wrong with asking for help when I am around right?"

She gave him a funny look but before she could say anything, the door of the café opened.

"Welcome to Benisakura!" Yuzuriha announced gleefully. "What can I get for you?"

"Hm?" the man chuckled. "We have a new waitress I see."

Kusanagi nearly dropped the sack and spun around. "Ah- Yuzuriha-chan, this is Mr. Sakurazuka. He's the owner of the café…"

"Eh? Really? I thought Mr. Kigai owned it."

"Yuuto works for me." The man informed her with a grin as he hung his hat by the door. "I take it he's the one who hired you?"

"Yes sir, just yesterday!"

He looked her over, taking in the innocent and open smile and eagerness to please that seemed to permeate even the air around her. He glanced at Kusanagi. "Why am I not surprised."

Kusanagi shrugged and set down the rice. "You know him."

"Indeed." He made his way to the back room reserved for "special guests". "I'll be in the back."

Kusanagi nodded and they watched him disappear behind the heavy door. Then Yuzuriha sighed and turned to him with hopeful eyes. "Did I mess up?"

"Huh?"

"Is he mad that I didn't recognize him?"

"Oh, probably not. Why?"

"He seemed unhappy to see me."

"It's not you, it's having somebody new in general."

"Eh? Why? Does Mr. Sakurazuka not take change well?"

"No, it's… never mind." Kusanagi sighed. "We should probably get to work."

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The circus? Really? This idiot thought he was going to win her over by bringing her to this shamelessly over-flashy display of cheap gimmicks and animal cruelty? Ha! What a joke. And that iridescent cravat needed to burned. Who did he think he was, dressing up more than her?

"-and I've been thinking of investing in my own private zoo. What do you think sugar? Would you like your very own peacock?" He leaned in close and Hokuto was concerned for a moment that she was going to suffocate in the thick cloud of cologne clinging to him.

"Aren't you enough of one?" she retorted.

He blustered a bit and she ignored him, scanning the fairgrounds outside the big top. Then a wonderfully wicked idea struck her. She knew just how to be rid of this clown.

"Oh Asano-san." She batted her eyelashes. "You know what I'd really like to do right now?" she crooned.

"What is that my pet?"

Pet? What was she, a poodle?

"Let's go see some more of the show animals."

"What? But it's late, they'll be putting them all back in their cages by now."

"Pretty please?" She tugged lightly at his flashy cravat, resisting the urge to wring his neck with it, which she felt was very big of her indeed. "The circus was fun but I think I'd like more of a… private show."

"Oh I see." With that gleam in his muddy eyes, he suddenly reminded her less of a peacock and more of a wolf, albeit a mangy, scrawny one. Probably one with fleas.

"Wait!" She cried as his hand began to wander sluggishly down her waist. "I left my… fan back in the stands! I'll be right back!"

"What? But you didn't have a-"

She scurried away before he could finish, waiting until she was out of sight behind an onigiri cart to flag down one of the working boys. She whispered some hasty instructions in his ear and pressed a few coins into his hand when he initially refused. After examining the coins for a moment to make sure that they were real, the boy agreed and dashed away with a tip of his hat.

When Hokuto returned, the dolt was still standing exactly where she had left him, looking so bewildered that she very nearly felt sorry for him for a second. Then the second passed and she boldly looped her arm through his. "You're right darling. I didn't even bring a fan! I don't know what I was thinking!"

Asano chuckled. "Silly girl. I swear you ladies would lose your heads if they weren't attached to your necks." He guffawed at his own joke and Hokuto imagined stuffing a whole squawking goose in that inelegantly gaping maw of his.

They finally reached the train where the animals were for the most part, already in their cages and Hokuto saw the boy from earlier strolling casually past them, giving her a small wink as he did. Good, the plan was in place.

She dragged Asano down the direction from which the boy had appeared, pleased to see it mostly deserted and shadowy.

"You're so eager." He laughed. "But I like that in a bird[1]."

She supposed that was an attempt at a sexy growl but it sounded more like the sound her brother's dog made when it snored at night.

He pulled her a little closer and she covered her almost gag with a fake giggle. "Not here." She teased. "Let's get a little further out of the way; someone could still pass by."

She peered through the shadows, trying to find just the right car. How was she going to find it like this? She should have asked the boy to leave a lantern by it or something. Then a small blur of movement caught her eye and she saw a tiny glint of beak in the sliver of moonlight peaking down at them. Aha. There it was.

"I think we're far enough away now, don't you?" Hokuto whispered, dragging Asano with her as she backed up toward the cage, quietly so as not to disturb its occupants just yet.

"I should think so." He snore-growled in her ear again.

She braced herself, telling herself that it was all for a good cause, and kissed him, pulling him against her as she leaned back, just barely touching the bars. Unfortunately, he didn't immediately lose balance as she had hoped so she had maneuver slightly to get him to finally brace one hand on the bars behind her and then-

And then it was only a matter of ducking out of the way as he tumbled hands first into a pile of formerly sleeping ostriches. [2]

"What the devil!" He cried through a mouthful of feathers as the ostriches began to squawk in protest.

Hokuto was quick to pull the door shut again before any of the cages occupants could escape.

"Who's the bird now?" She laughed through the bars.

"Let me out of here this instant!" He screamed as his feathery friends began pecking every available limb. "Ouch! Stop that! Dammit woman!"

"Well they aren't as colorful but they're sort of like peacocks aren't they?" Hokuto taunted. "Isn't that what you wanted? Your own private zoo and all?"

"Open the door now!" He roared, his face turning ruddy with fury. "Ow! You filthy, ow- horrid- ouch – creatures!" He yelled, trying to swat away his attackers. "You little bitch!" He screamed over the din.

Hokuto merely stuck her tongue out and tugged down the corner of her eye.

"You will never- ow!- find a decent husband- ouch! – at this rate, you horrible little witch!"

She shrugged. "Suits me just fine if my only options are idiots like you."

And with that she walked away, leaving him to deal with the ostriches on his own.

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"So they're talking about expanding the company into building construction once the private railroad construction sites begin to wane."[3] Subaru scratched behind the ears of his golden retriever, Tadaaki.[4] "Maybe warehouse construction."

"Do you think exports will pick up again anytime soon?"

Subaru started to respond when a bellow downstairs distracted them both.

"You did WHAT?"

Kakyou raised his head from their game of chess. "Sounds like Hokuto's home."

Subaru sighed. "And I guess this date went just as well as the last."

"Dare we go watch?"

"Do we ever not?"

Kakyou grinned. "Just remember that it's your move next."

They made their way out of the drawing room and took up their usual positions near the banister, watching the explosive argument unfolding below in the foyer.

"I'm surprised your father hasn't just given up yet. Or let her find someone she wants to marry herself." Kakyou noted.

Subaru rolled his eyes. "Can you imagine the kind of person Hokuto might pick though? I mean knowing her it could be anything from a Mongolian duck farmer to a Brazilian trapeze artist."

When Kakyou recovered from the fit of laughter that particular mental image had sparked, he added, "Well at the very least he could not marry her off to men who are so horribly and obviously wrong for her."

Subaru raised an eyebrow. "And what kind of man do you think would be right for her?"

"One who respected her, and would give her freedom, not clip her wings and put her up on a shelf like some pretty little doll that's just for show."

Subaru gave a soft smile as he turned back to face the arguing pair. "You mean someone like you."

Kakyou blushed to the roots of his hair. "I didn't say that!"

"No, but you meant it didn't you?" Subaru sighed. "You've been watching her go through suitor after suitor, growing more and more agitated with every new guy that shows up. Why haven't you just asked her yourself?"

Kakyou fiddled with a splinter on the underside of the banister, enjoying the feel of the rough, jagged edges. He preferred it to the smooth, polished top of the wood. "Your father would never allow it."

Subaru tilted his head thoughtfully. "At one time, I would have agreed with you but he is getting desperate you know."

"Thanks."

"Huh?" Subaru looked up. "Oh no! I didn't mean it that way! It's just that, well, you know… Father is pretty particular…"

"I know." Kakyou sighed. "Sorry, I shouldn't get so offended. You've always treated me fairly." He tugged at the splinter, feeling the wood give way a little more beneath his prying fingertips. "It's just… I can't help but feel like your father has always seen me exactly the same way: like the lost little homeless boy who showed up uninvited." The sliver came away and he pressed it into his palm. "Then again, he's not very good at reading people in general is he?"

"You mean like Hokuto?" Subaru nodded at his sister who was throwing her hands up in the air at this point, gesturing wildly.

Kakyou nodded. "And you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. It seems like he's only ever seen you as an heir, and therefore, basically just an extension of himself. Someone to take over the company when he's gone. So he's been trying all this time to make you into a younger version of himself without realizing that the cutthroat business world just doesn't really suit you." Kakyou gave him a pointed look. "And you don't really want to have any part of it do you?"

Subaru didn't reply. Rather he was distracted, his face pinched in concern as their father's lecture had dissolved into yet another one of the coughing fits to which he had been prone as of late.

"Daddy…?" Hokuto asked, shifting abruptly from angry to uncertain as the coughing grew more violent.

Kakyou was the first to react at the small splatter of red that splashed across the patriarch's hand. He dashed down the stairs to support the older man even as his knees buckled. Subaru was at his other side a second later and he looked up at Hokuto who was still standing with one hand covering her mouth in surprise. At the sight of her brother's pleading look however, she quickly recovered.

"I'll get the doctor. Take him to his room." She ordered as she dashed away.

Much to their surprise, Mr. Sumeragi made a feeble attempt at protesting but was cut short by another round of body-shaking hacking. Kakyou winced as more blood speckled the floor.

They got the man into bed and Kakyou carefully pulled the bedroom door closed to give he and the doctor who had just arrived a little privacy. It was only then that he realized he himself was trembling slightly and he wondered if he was this shaken up how Hokuto must be feeling. With a small twinge of guilt to be thinking of romance at a time like this, he imagined holding and comforting her in her time of need.

He turned to check on her and immediately deflated when he realized that Hokuto was indeed on the verge of tears but she clearly didn't need his help. Her fingers were already laced through Subaru's, her head comfortably settled on his shoulder as if they had been designed to fit together in such an affectionate pose. Kakyou supposed that in a way they had been and he wondered once more the very thing he had so often questioned over the past eight years.

How was he ever going to be any match for Subaru when it came to Hokuto's affection?

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Author's Notes:

1. "Bird" was an old slang term for a woman in English. It probably wasn't actually used in Japanese but I felt like bringing it in here for the sake of the ostrich scene. XD

2. It would actually be very dangerous to lock someone in a cage with ostriches as they are quite violent. :O I do not recommend trying this at home.

3. The Sumeragi family, as I mentioned, own a steel manufacturing company. This industry had doubled in Japan between 1913 and 1919, however was hit by the recession that struck in 1920. One of the few industries still flourishing at that time was the construction of private railroads. I decided for the purposes of this story, so that the Sumeragi family would still be doing well, they had struck a deal with a private railroad company so that it's their steel being used in the construction.

4. Tadaaki means "faithful light".