Chapter 5

He cried out in pain as night-sticks, fists and feet pummeled his bruised and beaten body. The pair that had been hired to escort him to his concert, had hooded and tied him then brought him to this out of the way warehouse to convince him that the life of a rock-star just wasn't for him. He was told that since he had such difficulty restraining himself they would assist in teaching him, as per his uncle's instruction. He would retire and return to his parents ryokan, where he would safely live out the remainder of his days in obscurity. He would wed who they told him to. He would keep his mouth shut and he would never again go near anyone by the name of Todoh or, Hizuri or, mention anything about them. He agreed at that point, that it would be in his best interest to follow their instructions when he discovered that his uncle heartily agreed. In fact, one could say that this was the first time in his life that he had been disciplined in a way. Although, this was a bit extreme.

One week later Sho Fuwa retired from entertainment and decided to carry on in the family business. His mother was overcome with joy and quickly began searching for a proper wife from the pool of her favorite nakai that she had been training since Kyoko-chan had left. At least she didn't have a guilty conscience for scheming like her brother. Yayoi had destroyed her copy of that horrible document, that essentially made Kyoko-chan a slave, years ago. She didn't want the poor girl to accidentally find it and think negatively of her future family.

"Kuon..." She pouted, bringing back memories of Setsuka. "It's not fair. We didn't even get a honeymoon because of this." She swept her hand up her lower half and sighed.

He shook his head and kissed her temple. "Don't worry, Koi. We'll have a proper honeymoon and my mother is practically chomping at the bit to give you a big fairy tale wedding." He smirked.

"Really?" She asked excitedly.

He nodded and sat next to her on their bed. "All you need to do is help her plan when she comes by. Tell her what you want. Help her design your dress and do all of the things that my sweet little bride wants to do." He hugged her gently and carefully covered her with the blanket. "Now about the honeymoon stuff... I can wait until those casts come off and you're healed. We have the rest of our lives to think about that, so stop worrying about it."

She pouted again and crossed her uninjured arm across her torso. "I wasn't exactly worried about it." She blushed a little and he nearly shot the tea he had been drinking out of his nose.

"You really aren't making this any easier on me." He chuckled and set the tea cup on the nightstand. "But... I will wait and so will you. Besides you get them off in a couple of weeks." He kissed her nose and picked his script back up that he was reading for his next movie in four months, while she played little games on the tablet PC he had bought for her.

His thumb gently rubbed, smoothing out the little furrow in her brow and his lips caressed her cheek with a chuckle. "Talk to me, Sweetheart." He pulled her into his lap, causing her to let out a surprised squeak.

She sighed into his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "He's never going to leave us alone, is he?"

He chuckled as he caressed comforting circles on her back. "Well, that is his nature and I heard he did meddle with the kids for two years."

She let out a small distressed groan. "He said I needed to let people know how I feel more often." She rested her head on his shoulder and murmured into his ear.

He rested his head on hers and smiled. "Well, that would make things a little easier. Not everyone can read you like I do."

"But you're different Susu-kun." She purred sending shivers down his spine.

She was still reserved with showing her emotions, but she had been working on it like their boss had suggested. It was nice. Nice to have a family that knew about each other. Nice not to feel the guilt weighing on him anymore and nice not having to hide his love in the deepest recesses of his heart. If they never saw or, heard from Ken'Ichi Katagiri again, it would be too soon. Although, he supposed that the homely man had been responsible for getting them together so long ago with his selfish scheming and for that, he was thankful.

Never in all of her life did she believe that she would end up doing this for the rest of her natural life. Aki Shoko sighed heavily as she scraped another plateful of wasted food into the trash and turned on the water for the next load of dishes of the busy kitchen of the less than reputable restaurant in the seediest part of Tokyo. They had been the only ones to hire her, all of the others didn't want a person like her in their employ when they had called her old work for references. Her personal references hadn't been very glowing either, apparently her relationship with her charge had destroyed her reputation with them. The only thing that came out of this was the savings account and stock options Akatoki had offered her when she had been hired. She wouldn't be living lavishly, but at least she would be able to afford a modest apartment close to her new job.

If he never had to deal with that family again, his life would be complete. Even if Saena Mogami and Susumu Todoh were the best lawyer and investigator that he had on the payroll, they weren't worth the hassle and at least he was no longer being held responsible for that spoiled little idiot of a nephew. It was only a matter of time before he knocked up some groupie or, actually killed Kyoko-chan out of jealousy.

Well, he supposed if they hadn't filed anything this past two months, they weren't going to. He hadn't had any disturbing visits from the authorities or, any threats against his practice and seeing that the Todoh's were now employed by LME, it wasn't likely that they would ever run into each other. He supposed it was one less thing he would have to worry about, the possibility of Saena or, Susumu using the lax security around the Jousei case to cause him to lose everything. Thankfully the statute of limitations had run out on that one a few years ago and they couldn't prove anything.

~fin~