Author's Note: Before I start, I want to remind everyone to check the profile and respond to the announcements. Please, think of the Binky. Now, I feel compelled to answer anonymous reviewer Kamakazi Anon. Thanks for the awesome review and I do plan on revealing what happened between Miyuki and the fangirls in a later chapter, maybe it will be another filler chapter, (not sure yet). Glad I made you laugh ^^. So here it is, chapter 4. Read, Review, Rejoice!

Chapter 4:
Love & War

"Kaname!"

"In the flesh." Kaname strolled over to Shizuma, her usual smirk donning her face. "What brings the great Shizuma Hanazono here? Just to waste water."

Shizuma turned the faucet and smirked. "Nothing used on me is wasted."

"Ha… ha. Humble, aren't we?"

"Sarcastic, aren't we?" Shizuma mocked. "But I wouldn't expect any less from you. What brings you to a place like this?"

"I recall asking you the same thing not so long ago."

"I'm here for pizza with Nagisa, Miyuki, and Shino…"

"Your brother who's engaged to Rokujou-san right?"

Shizuma looked at her curiously. "How'd you know that? I never told you."

"Just answer me." Kaname commanded.

"Yea, but…"

"Don't worry, I'm just ascertaining the credibility of a source of mine."

"Okay then." Shizuma drawled. "What are you doing here,… and where's your better half?"

Kaname frowned. "Momomi left the island with her parents and I'm stuck here as a called-in favor. She'll be back in about two days." Then Kaname smirked, "I'm expecting two weeks of make-up sex. She won't be leaving that house anytime soon."

"You two live together now?"

"Of course. I was investing in our place since we were in school."

Shizuma sighed. "I wish I could move into my own place with Nagisa. Right now I'm staying with her parents because they wanted to meet me." She sighed again. "It sucks."

"Ah, I remember when I had to meet Momomi's parents for the first time." Kaname reminisced. "Enjoyable experience. Their bed was so big and soft, great for love-making."

"Get your mind out the gutter for a second please." Shizuma protested. "How was it?"

"Hot, wet, playful, and sexy. Momomi loves the bathtub the most."

"I told you to get your mind out the gutter!"

"Oh, you meant the 'Meeting the parents' part." Kaname said, her mind still drifting away a bit. "They were kicking up a fuss at first, but after a while we found some common ground."

"Really?"

"Yup. Now I know where Momomi gets her kinkiness from. Her mother's a freak… her dad's a lucky man. I love it when she spends time with her mother because her mother is always giving her new and better ideas."

Shizuma thought for a while. "I wish Nagisa's mother was like that. God I wish Nagisa's mom was like that!"

"Mmm." Kaname nodded. "How are strawberry-head's parents? Sounds like you're having problems."

"Her mom wants to kill me."

"Be more specific."

"She carries around a butcher's knife…" Shizuma explained. "…and tries to KILL ME!"

Kaname laughed. "What'd you do!"

"Nothing!" Shizuma stressed. "I wasn't there for two days yet! The first night, I'm sure it was her who put that cut under my eye."

"So that's where that came from." Kaname said pointing at it. "I figured strawberry-head was a clawer in bed."

"Would you please call her Nagisa?"

"I could… but strawberry-head fits so much better with me."

"In any case, I have no idea what to do."

"Shizuma, Shizuma. How could you be so naïve?" Kaname shook her head. "If Mrs. Strawberry-head wants a battle, give her a war."

"I can't fight Nagisa's mother!" Shizuma argued.

"War doesn't have to be physical. With the right tactics and strategies, victory can be assured without having to dirty your hands with brute force. Brute force is only to be used where it will be beneficial to you, as a last resort, or just for the sake of fun." Kaname's smirk grew larger.

"You're mind's inner working scares me." Shizuma shuddered.

"That's another way to defeat your opponent. Fear and pure intimidation is the key, but it seems she already has that over you."

"True." It was hard for Shizuma to admit, but she was actually afraid of that wolf in sheep's clothing.

"How's her relationship with the husband? Is he even there… are they happy… anything of the sort."

"He's ridiculously happy, and she does seem to love him dearly. Then again she's a good actor so I'm not sure."

Kaname rested her head in her hand. "Do you have any detail for certain? Something I can use?"

"I don't know what you can use."

Kaname sighed. "Forget it. I'll stop by sometime and do a personal evaluation, that way you'll owe me."

Kaname was just about to leave the bathroom before Shizuma grabbed her arm. "Wait."

"What?" Kaname grumbled, frustrated. She pulled her arm from Shizuma, "By the way, only person who's allowed to touch me is Momomi."

"Sorry." She apologized. "But, I was still wondering what you're doing here."

"My brother owns the place, but he's had businesses fall through before. He's one of my valuable sources as a skilled hacker, being a computer nerd and an otaku. He called in a favor and so now I'm managing this place for a week or two."

"That's why this place is booming!"

"Indeed. Let's just say that a few "important" people had some "debts" to "pay off". One of them happened to have a great recipe for pizza and so this place was born."

Shizuma chuckled nervously. "Sometimes the things you say sound like you deal with the criminal underworld or something. Crazy huh."

Kaname remained silent for awhile. She averted her eyes and said plainly, almost sardonically. "Yea crazy."

Shizuma kept quiet, though all through her mind she thought, "That wasn't convincing at all." But again, she kept quiet.

…

Meanwhile everyone was sitting down waiting for the pizza to be sent to their table. Shizuma finally came out the bathroom and quickly located everyone.

"So where's the pizza?" Shizuma questioned as she took her seat.

"It should be here any minute." Shino said.

Just then there was a crash in the aisle behind them. A waitress and a customer collided in a classic crash. Glasses shattered, customer dripping wet and covered in pizza, while waitress only suffered a slight bump but is otherwise completely untouched.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" The man yelled at the waitress. "Can't you see!"

By that time the young waitress was already tearfully apologizing repeatedly, but the man continued to demean her out loud. "You babbling idiot, how am I supposed to get cleaned up now! Where's you're a**hole of a manager?"

Just then the man felt a stern, strong hand rest on his shoulder. He looked up to see Kaname staring daggers at him. "You requested me."

"Who are you?"

"The manager of this fine establishment, you know, the person in charge."

The man shot up to his feet and pointed a finger in Kaname's face, Kaname's neutral expression unflinching. "What kind of place is this where you hire the blind to serve? What are you, an idiot!"

Kaname grabbed the man by the finger he so ignorantly pointed in her face and bent it as far back as she could get it. He screamed and attempted to reel his hand back, but Kaname grabbed his arm and forced it behind his back. "If you don't want to be erased, I suggest you leave."

She let the man go. For someone who looked like an ape, he cried like a baby as he ran out the door. "Come again." Kaname called behind him.

At that time, being the gentleman he was, Shino got out of his seat and helped the waitress up. In the red uniform and matching hat, she looked different, but when Shino laid eyes on those blue orbs, he immediately recognized her. "Suzumi-san, is that you?"

Nagisa jumped out her seat at the sound of the name. "Tamao!" While Shizuma choked on air at the sound. Miyuki simply sat there curiously.

"Everyone! Nice to see you all here! I didn't know you guys were in the area, when did you leave Okinawa?"

"Shino and I just came today, but Shizuma came yesterday." Miyuki noted.

"My parents wanted to meet her, so Shizuma's staying with us for a while." Nagisa added.

Kaname cleared her throat. "Suzumi-san, please socialize on your own time. I don't pay you to talk idly with the customers."

Tamao hopped to her feet, flustered. "Sorry Kenjou-sama. I'll get back to work immediate-" While she was trying to scurry off Tamao tripped over her own feet and pulled down one of the tables, which was thankfully empty, and nearly knocked herself out.

Kaname sighed.

"Um, Kenjou-san. I didn't know you were a manager here." Nagisa said cautiously.

"The details are so annoying to keep explaining. Please ask Shizuma." Kaname breathed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Shizuma?" She quizzed.

"I'll explain later." Shizuma defended.

"Then what about Tamao?" Nagisa urged.

"Suzumi-san is returning a favor of not so long ago. However, I'm not eligible to give any details so long as she keeps her part of the deal."

Suddenly Kaname pulled out a camera and snapped a picture of Shino. Just as he recovered from the blinding flash, he argued. "What was that for?"

"I'm not entitled to answer you. "Information" is all I will say." She said bluntly and walked away just as easy.

"Who was that?"

"Don't worry about it. She just compiles information on everyone." Miyuki said nonchalantly.

Their pizza arrived shortly after. It definitely lived up to the hype and certainly was worth the wait. Shino took Nagisa across the road to the park because she wanted to play, but Shizuma didn't want her to go along in case any pedophile mistook her for a thirteen year old and tried to kidnap her or something. Truth be told, Shino had his eyes on the slide since they got there.

So it was just Miyuki and Shizuma left at the table and as she promised over the phone, she told Miyuki what was going on at the Aoi household.

"Sounds difficult." Miyuki said sipping from her soda.

"Yea, I know. Its starting to make me think that it isn't worth it." Shizuma said frankly.

Suddenly she felt a hand go straight cross her cheek as the sound of her slap echoed through the building. "Not worth it!" Miyuki flared. "You're giving up on happiness because things are getting hard."

Shizuma, still trying to catch herself after the slap, whined. "That really hurt Miyuki-chan."

"Let it hurt. You need someone to slap some sense into you because you're started to speak a bunch of foolishness. This isn't like you at all Shizuma. What happened to "never give up on a fight"? What happened to "nothing is a greater pleasure than love"? Remember those words! What happened to Nagisa is all you need?"

"True, but Miyuki. It shouldn't be this hard should it? I don't understand why she doesn't like me? I haven't done anything wrong as far as I know."

"That's just how things are. Not everyone is going to just like you, and not everyone is willing to accept you."

"I guess you're right."

Miyuki smiled contently and nodded. She got up, "I'm going to check on Shino and Nagisa.", and then she left.

Shizuma was just about to get up when she felt something stop her chair. "Let me just say something before you leave." Kaname commanded. "The best way to defeat them is through the dad. Get to know him better, find his weaknesses, and use them against him. Everything else will fall into place. Of course, I won't suggest any drastic actions before I stop by and evaluate. So until then, keep it small."

"I understand." Shizuma said with newfound determination.

Kaname nodded. "With my method, victory is ascertain, don't forget it." she warned just before disappearing off.

Shizuma got up and walked out to the car, everyone already strapped up inside. She would be driving apparently. She didn't mind, driving her silver, metal baby cleared her head and right now she could use some clearing. Kaname's method seems a tad extreme, but did she really have no other choice? Even Miyuki agreed that she had to fight, and not give up, or something along those lines. She would probably be decided after she drops off Miyuki and Shino and takes Nagisa, but still, will her decision be the right one?

Author's Note: I don't know, I think I was a little off today. Maybe it was a little to rush-rush. Anyway, I fulfilled my promise of posting this today. Its now 11:29, April 25th and this is my present to the readers. Happy Birthday to me and again, don't forget to check out my profile for the important announcements. Ta-ta for now everyone, toodles!