The wolf Zoan found himself before the front door of the house where all the former members of the CP9 (excluding their commander) resided.

Leaving in a rush as he had, he completely forgotten his house key. He lifted his hand and lightly rapped his knuckles on the hardwood door.

The man closed his eyes and took a deep heavy breath trying to calm his nerves. He had no idea what would happen if Lucci was the one to open the door. Probably another fist fight.

Only moments later the door swung gently inwards and Califa bid him welcome.

"I didn't expect you home so soon." She said as he wandered past her.

"I also expected you to me a lot less sober, what happened? Did they kick you out already?" Her stirring was met by silence. She closed the door with a sigh and followed the man into the kitchen. Usually Jyabura enjoyed getting wound up by their playful banter, but he had too much on his mind at that moment to enjoy such games.

"I had someone to talk to." He mumbled, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, his back to the entrance.

"A friendly listener always helps."

'Wise words.' Jyabura thought with a smile.

"Coffee?"

"Yes please." The Zoan user unconsciously ran his fingers through his long hair as he always did when it wasn't tied back. Separating himself from the real world he drifted back into his thoughts once again.

'What will I do when I see Lucci next time? Probably kill him.' He answered his own query.

'And what do I tell Kaku? Do I tell him about what Paulie said? Or do I play dumb and let that bastard keep on cheating?' The dark haired man's hands covered his face whilst he argued with himself.

'No I can't do that! Kaku will think I'm just making it up to split him and Lucci up, or even worse. He could think I'm saying it to try to hurt him.'

"Dammit!" He said out loud, frustrated with his few options. He didn't like the sound of any of them.

"Don't brood too much. Here." Califa handed him a cup of steaming coffee and sat down across the table from him. She had used the same words on him as he had with Paulie, causing him to unconsciously retreat further into his thoughts,

"You look like your trying to figure out the meaning of life. You'll get wrinkles if you keep doing that." Jya couldn't help but chuckle at the joke. She was right though, he needed to relax so as to take his mind off his problems, if just for the short time it takes to drink a good cup of coffee.

"Thanks." The Zoan made a start of the coffee with a small smile on his face.

They had been chatting over coffee for no more than a minute when Califa fell silent mid sentence. She got up from her seat and left without further word. Jyabura was about to confront whoever had entered the room when lean arms wrapped around his chest.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." Kaku mumbled into the back of his neck. The older man smiled and placed one of his large hands over one of Kaku's smaller ones.

"Any time kid, you know that."

"I know but … Thanks again." After one final squeeze he released the larger man and sat in the chair next to him, the bruised side of his face not visible to the wolf Zoan.

"How are you doing, kid?" Jyabura asked, genuinely concerned for the boy's welfare, both physically and mentally. Kaku's smile faded and his eyelids fell lower.

'Great he's depressed as hell, why did I say anything?' Mentally kicking himself for getting the redhead down, Jyabura slung his arm over the youngster's shoulders.

"I don't know what to do, Jya." The boy started, voice already quivering.

"S'ok kid, it could be worse."

'Don't say that, you fucking idiot! It IS worse! You stupid idiot! STUPID!'

"Jya?" He hadn't realised that he had spaced out for a moment.

'I really need to stop doing that.' Getting lost in thought was far from the best thing he could do at the moment.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" The younger Zoan let out a heaving sob before he took a deep breath and continued.

"I still love him, even after all this." The man froze up, tightening his grip around the sobbing boy.

"He doesn't deserve you, kid" Kaku lent closer to the man.

"Don't say that, he's a good man, he really is. He just-' tears burnt at the edge of the boy's eyes yet he tried to be strong and hold them back.

The wolf Zoan clenched his teeth to stop himself from saying anything he would later regret.

"What do I do?" he sniffed.

Sighing heavily Jyabura thought his answer through this time.

"I don't know. kid. I'm not really the right person to ask; you know what my answer will be anyway."

"I know."

The same crushing silence fell over the pair.

"Cheer up, kid." Jya mumbled, itching to break the silence. The boy said nothing. The older man's leg started twitching, a nervous habit he had never gotten over.

It seemed as though the silence wasn't going to budge until the wolf Zoan's stomach let out a loud growl. As hard as he tried Kaku just couldn't hold in his snickering.

"Shut the hell up! I haven't eaten today!" Jyabura said, voice raised in mock anger.

The youngster couldn't hold it back any longer; he burst out in hysteric laughter.

"I said shut up!" Laughed the older man.

'He's cheering up a bit. Good.'

"How about I go and cook us something nice for lunch?" Kaku got from his seat and wiped tears of bliss from the edges of his eyes.

"That would be great, kid." He took another sip of his forgotten coffee and frowned when he found out it had gotten cold.

"And another coffee?"

"Hmm? Yeah. Thanks. Need any help?" He offered trying to be useful to the boy.

"Pfft. No! If you try to help you'll set the kitchen on fire. AGAIN!"

"Ahh, C'mon! It wasn't that bad!"

"You've got to be kidding me! Remember how much it cost to repair the mess you made?" The wolf Zoan put on his best pouting face.

He was rather ashamed to admit that it was all true. Kaku had kept him well away from the kitchen ever since.

"I blame the gas stove." He shot the stove a searing glare. "That thing is evil."

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." Kaku teased while he made the older man's coffee.

"Please tell the others I'm cooking lunch." The younger man asked with a genuinely happy smile.

Jyabura still had no idea why Kaku had insisted on going back to the shipyards to work when he obviously loved cooking so much and with the skills he had he could easily make it as a chef. But still, the boy had demanded that the first thing he did when they moved in, even before unpacking his things, was to go back to his old boss, Iceburg and apologising for what he had done.

When the older man offered Kaku his old job back he accepted with that familiar idiotic smile of his face.

That was the first time Jyabura had met Kaku's boss. The younger man hadn't wanted to go alone and Lucci refused to apologise for something he was ordered to do. Califa had also tagged along to do the same as Kaku and apologise for wronging the mayor but she refused the job offer, choosing instead to pursue a career somewhere else.

She knew there would always be a level of mistrust from him and Paulie and she chose to work somewhere else because of it.

She still dropped by for a friendly visit every now and again; slowly winning back the trust she had lost. Kaku on the other hand chose to deal with it head on, now both men he had wronged trusted him with their lives once again.

Once he had his coffee Jyabura got up and left the room, trying to get out of Kaku's way as much as he could and at the same time fulfiling his request. He moved into the lounge, trying to find where Califa and Blueno were hiding. Sure enough he found them sitting together on the couch, lost in quiet conversation.

Jya lent on the threshold silently watching them.

Califa chuckled at something the older man had said and lent in a little closer. Blueno lifted his hand and brushed a couple of strands of hair from her face, brushing his fingers across her cheek at the same time. A tender smile tugged at his lips as he spoke.

The way they were at that time reminded the wolf Zoan of what Lucci and Kaku were like when they first got together, back when Kaku was happy.

'Everything's changed so much since then.' Jyabura thought. 'Lucci's changed.'

Califa suddenly notied that they were being watched and practically jumped away from the large man. The wolf Zoan couldn't help but laugh quietly at her timidness; she was usually the bold, authoritative one of the group.

"Kaku's cooking lunch." Jyabura informed the pair as he took a seat on the other couch.

"Has he told you anything at all?" Blueno asked, concerned about Kaku. "He hardly said a word to either of us."

"Hmm, a little. He's still really down." the Zoan user mumbled into his coffee mug. "He's confused more than anything."

"I don't blame him. You think he'll be ok?" Blueno leant back as he spoke and draped his arm nonchalantly over the couch behind Califa. The blonde looked a little embarrassed but said nothing.

"He's smart, he'll work out what to do. I just hope he leaves Lucci before he gets hurt again."

"Lucci's changed." Califa interjected, her voice was distant and her eyes unfocused, as if lost in memories of better times.

Jyabura sighed heavily.

"He has. He used to love Kaku." The room fell silent at the wolf Zoan's remark. They all knew it was true but none wanted to make the accusation.

Jyabura got to his feet.

"I'm gonna go tell Kumadori that Kaku's cooking. Where's Fuukuro and …"

"Lucci's out. He disappeared not long after you did and Fuukuro is at work, like you should be." Califa informed him with a smirk tugging at her featuresa littlet it,e at wwork right now. to make es un focosed, as if lost in memories of better times.55555555555555555555555555555.

"Ahh shit! Dammit! I completely forgot!"

"Don't worry about it. I called in for you, same for Kaku. Neither of you should be at work right now." As always Blueno was the one to think ahead.

"I agree. You're both too distracted; you'll probably get someone hurt." The woman joked.

"You know I would never hurt those kids."

Since they had moved to Water 7 Jyabura found himself needing to get a job for the first time in his life. The arts were all the wolf Zoan knew so he started up a small but successful martial arts school, the only one in the city. Most of his students were children and he loved them immensely. Those kids always cheered him up no matter how much of a bad day he was having.

"I'll let you two get back to what you weren't doing." Jyabura said, making a playful stab at the couple. He winked over his shoulder at them as he exited the room and headed towards Kumadori's room, where he was positive the man would be. Sure as the sun rises, he found the overly tall man sitting on the floor in his room going over the few lines he had in the upcoming play he managed to get a role in.

Jyabura stuck his head into the open door.

"Kaku's cooking lunch. It should just about be ready." He told the other man.

"Really? I am completely famished! Let us go partake of his wonderful meal!" Kumadori said, overacting every word and movement as per usual.

Lunch was as uneventful as a meal in that household could be. Califa stole glances to her side, making puppy-dog-eyes at Blueno when she thought no one was looking while he chuckled at his housemate's antics.

Kumadori was telling everyone how "Kaku's home cooked meal is so wonderful it makes me want to die of happiness!" The compliment making the boy blush furiously. Jyabura broke out into gruff laughter at the sight of Kaku's bright red face; he easily dodged a playful swipe the boy made at him and soon found himself wiping tears of merriment from his cheeks.

Everything seemed so right, so normal.

Jyabura felt a familiar pang in his chest when he remembered that his perfect little world would crumble away the moment he walked in the door.

He just hoped he would be able to hold on to this peace a little longer before it all came crashing down around him.

Just a little longer.