Authors notes: another horrendously late update, I know. :( Things have been all over the place (literally at our house!) but we have been making time when we can to write bits here and there and we finally cranked out this Seimei extra!

Thank you once again to all our reviewers, and a special thanks to all our followers who haven't given up on us yet! We hope to see you through to the end.

Please let us know what you think into this first peek into Seimei's thoughts!

Extra: Seimei - The Drive

It isn't a matter of evidence, or a matter of motive, or a matter of ways and means...it is a matter of...

it is a matter of...

due diligence in the realm of...

It was a matter of breaking the law, that's what it was. Seimei sighed and dropped his pen in defeat. This was ridiculous. Taking this long on one sentence of a brief? Really? He'd done negligence cases a hundred thousand times. There was absolutely nothing novel about this one. Guilty client, somebody got hurt, that somebody sued, and Seimei was brought in to minimize the damage. Open and shut, just like always. And somehow he couldn't finish this brief.

He leaned back in his desk chair, closing his eyes and massaging his neck.

When Seimei opened his eyes again, he saw outside his office window that the sun was just beginning to set. The sky was a brilliant mix of oranges, reds, pinks, and yellows and it had been a perfectly cloudless day. So much was flawless outside of these four walls. But within them, Seimei could see a hundred imperfections. His desk chair was comfortable - black leather with a high back - but it was getting old, and it wouldn't do for his clients to think that he couldn't afford a newer model. The desk itself was functional but there was a scuff on one of the bottom corners. The curtains were a relic of Seimei's predecessor and had gone out of fashion sometime in the last decade. The carpet should really be taken out and a solid hardwood installed in its place. Even his nameplate could use replacing. Maybe his working environment was to blame for this lapse in productivity. But then, Seimei had never trouble with a brief before.

Hmmm...now that Seimei thought about it, he had thought about changing those curtains before today. Ritsuka had drawn them (quite accurately) in his sketchbook when he'd drawn Seimei's office building. It was amazing that he could copy them so accurately just by looking at them. Ritsuka's sketches were truer to life than much of the "art" Seimei saw in galleries around the city.

What Seimei really needed a night off. Tonight he'd go back to Soubi's House. Ritsuka...Seimei would take him out again. He'd have another pleasurable, exhausting night. And then he'd come back to the brief with a fresh mind. Simple solution.

It was too early for any of the boys to be out yet, but that worked in his favor. He had just enough time for a bath and change of clothes. By the time he crossed the city, it would be about time for them to come out. Ritsuka was a cute one, and he wasn't liable to be left standing on The Street for long.

Seimei paused minutely, staring down at his cell phone. He wondered if perhaps he should call in a last minute order, just to secure his plans for the night- then thought better of it. Orders were placed directly through Kio, but in the evenings there ran a risk of the call being re-routed to Soubi, and Seimei preferred their contact be kept to electronic bank transactions and nothing more. Things tended to become tense and a trifle complicated otherwise.

He pulled on his jacket and took up his briefcase, leaving the light on behind him. It was on a sensor and would dim out in three minutes. Besides, he didn't pay the electric bill for this building.

Not a hundred yards from the elevator, a familiar figure with long vanilla hair stepped out of the shadows, as if he'd been waiting.

"Why, Seimei," said the man, calmly. "leaving so early?"

He had been Seimei's mentor during college. He had been the one to introduce him to Soubi, all those years ago.

Ritsu Minami.

He was a celebrated prosecutor, and he taught Seimei everything he knew. And then Seimei surpassed him-in clients, in skill, in cases. Viciously heated when pitted against each other in the courtroom, cordial outside it, not even Seimei was sure if Ritsu was best considered friend or foe.

"Only a temporary leave," replied Seimei with a smooth smile. "I'll be back again later tonight."

Ritsu sighed, stepping onto the elevator with Seimei. "So will I. A lawyer's work is never done."

They made polite small talk on the ride down. If he were being honest with himself, Seimei would have to admit that his mind was only half on the conversation. Mostly he was concerned with his plans for the evening - and whether Ritsuka enjoyed champagne and strawberries.

As they neared the double doors that marked the building's exit, Ritsu asked casually, "So you'll be having dinner before you return?"

Seimei was well aware that lawyers bore a reputation for dishonesty, and truthfully it would have been easy to lie to Ritsu: to say that yes, he was having dinner on his brief hiatus from work this evening. But Seimei didn't fancy telling a lie if it wasn't strictly necessary.

"Only planning on spending a relaxing few hours at the apartment, really," Seimei answered. Sex was relaxing, he reasoned to himself. Relaxing to his mind, at any rate.

As far as Seimei knew, Ritsu was completely unaware of Soubi's profession, as well as completely unaware that Seimei partook of the….fruit of his laborers.

Ritsu nodded. "Well, if I don't see you later, enjoy your evening, Seimei."

"And you yours." Seimei said, nodding back.

On the way to his Rolls Royce, Seimei made a mental note to shower after taking Ritsuka back to Soubi's house instead of before. It wouldn't do for Ritsu to smell sex on him, since they would apparently be seeing each other again.

Maybe Seimei would shower just before taking Ritsuka back, and they could have one together. The thought was so deliciously fun that he found himself smirking all the way across the city.

As he neared The House, the smirk broke into an all out grin. He had made perfect timing. Just as he idled to a stop along the curb, the door swung open and the boys began pouring out in their skimpy, flashy outfits.

Seimei didn't have any favorites, but he did only make rounds with about three-fourths of the boys. There were a good handful that were simply too brutish for his taste. Most of them, though, were cute and obedient.

"You look every bit the creeper that you are. Looking for some hot tail, you pervert?"

And then there was Youji, who was cute and scored about a negative two-fifty on the obedience scale.

Seimei glanced up at his mischievous expression. He was licking suggestively at a purple lollipop, which Seimei was sure he only had for the express purpose of attracting clients.

Seimei smiled ever-so-pleasantly at him. Youji had a smart mouth on him but Seimei's was smarter. "That's precisely why I'm here, yes, Youji. Hot tail. So where is he? Ritsuka, I mean."

Youji's lollipop dipped slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Very funny, Seimei. You don't want this hot piece of ass? I know ten others who do."

And with that, Youji stalked just fifteen feet over, where a nondescript blue sedan was parked. He barely spoke to the driver before hopping into the passenger seat and pausing just long enough to give Seimei the bird before the car pulled away.

Seimei laughed to himself. He and Youji had agreed long before that social pleasantries and politeness would not do between them. Ever since, their exchanges were short, biting, and sometimes left marks. (Large ones, usually on Youji's hips.)

Seimei turned his attention to the The Street again, scanning the boys for the one with black hair, violet eyes, and a body that could stop traffic.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Aoyagi extraordinaire," a lisping, perky voice said.

Seimei turned to look out of his driver's side window to find Kio, who was leaning against the window frame, arms folded neatly over each other.

"Here to sample someone with piercings in interesting places?" Kio asked, turning his head to show off the row of silver hoops up and down his ear lobe.

"Tempting as the offer is, I have a particular taste this evening for something Ritsuka-flavored."

Kio's face took on the look of a startled parrot; his green hair seemed to puff with agitation, and even his voice sounded like a frantic squawk. "Ritsuka? For the third night in a row?!"

"He's a simply divine addition to Soubi's collection. Is it my fault one taste reeled me in for seconds and now thirds?"

"And what next?" Kio said, practically flapping with rising hysteria. "Fourths? Fifths? What happened to your no favorites policy?"

"It was self-inflicted. I created the policy; I can amend it."

Kio's jaw dropped, then he snapped it up again. "Well," he said, in an overly-huffy but attempted dignified manner. "I'm afraid you'll have to rethink your preference for the night because that flavor is sold out."

Seimei blinked.

"Sold out?"

"Sold out. Busy. Taken. Unavailable. Capiche?"

"Well, who took him? When did he leave? Is he coming back tonight?"

"I can't tell you that, I shouldn't tell you that, and I have no idea."

There was a roaring in Seimei's ears. Something black and fuzzy was closing in on his vision, reducing it to an ever-shrinking circle. Ritsuka. Not here.

"Uh, earth to Seimei? Earth to Seimei?" Kio asked, waving one bejeweled hand in front of Seimei's face. "Anybody home?"

Seimei blinked several times rapidly. "My apologies, Kio. I'm here. I….well…I suppose that's that, then." He shifted the Rolls into drive.

"Wait, you're leaving? There are at least ten other choices right there." Kio said, waving one hand vaguely behind him, indicating the other boys on the curb.

"And I'm sure they're quality-"

"Even I'll go with you tonight and you know I don't really work the streets much."

Seimei didn't even pause. "I do have work to attend to, however. Briefs and such…Have a good evening, Kio."

He shifted into drive and peeled away from the curb, not even casting a single glance to witness Kio growing smaller in his rearview mirror, flailing around in complete shock.

Seimei had driven ten miles before realizing he didn't really know where he was going. By instinct, he had taken the highway, and now endless stretches of road yawned out ahead, waiting for the Rolls wheels to squeal over them. Belatedly Seimei registered the fact that he was not only driving aimlessly, but also speeding.

He pressed harder on the accelerator. The engine roared and Seimei felt a savage rush of adrenaline. He was well over 100 miles per hour now, whipping past every other car on the highway, buildings and sidewalks nothing but a blur in his windows.

A sharp pain started in his jaw, and he realized he was clenching his teeth. He checked himself, noting he also had a death grip on his steering wheel, all the bones popping out of the back of his hands from the strain. His stomach was roiling, in knots, sinking.

Jealousy.

The word glinted across his mind like the sun hitting a coin half-buried in water and beach sand. Jealousy was not an emotion he felt often. It was, in fact, something he hadn't felt since he was a young child. It was a wasted, rusted feeling. There was nothing in Seimei's life he was afraid of losing anymore, nothing he begrudged anyone else.

But when he thought about Ritsuka with someone else, being touched by someone else…

Seimei ran a red light without even seeing it, blinded by the overwhelming fire raging up inside himself. He screeched to a halt when he came to a dead-end, cranking his tires to the left. It made a half-spin, sliding on dirt and gravel, and came to a rest in a cloud of dust.

He stared out the windshield, unseeing, images of Ritsuka-nervous and adorable and shy-smiling and opening up and warming up to some disgusting, undeserving fool of a client from Soubi's special list.

Seimei let his head drop to the steering wheel, boneless. He should have realized the Rolls horn would blare after that. He didn't. The sound was loud and jarring, sending all of his whirlwind thoughts to an abrupt stop.

Seimei didn't bother to straighten up. What was he doing here? What was happening to him?

Arguable rudeness. Aimless driving. Reckless driving. Jealousy?

This wasn't Seimei. None of that was. Seimei needed to stop and think for one second here. Who was he becoming? And why? Ritsuka - no, scratch that - one of Soubi's employees (there, that was better, wasn't it?) unavailable for a single night and Seimei reacts like a lover scorned?

It was a overreaction, and a ridiculous one at that. Seimei was being ridiculous. Ritsuka was free to service anyone he pleased to, just as any other of Soubi's employees. Seimei shouldn't have assumed he would be available, gallivanting off when he knew full well Soubi had other clients. Furthermore, Seimei shouldn't have thrown the equivalent of a temper tantrum and refused to take another of Soubi's perfectly viable alternatives.

Seimei was a headstrong, determined individual. That was all. He'd had it in his head that Ritsuka would be the one he took tonight, his plans were foiled, and he didn't take the unexpected interference well. End of story. All driven people were like that.

So it really wasn't the big deal his irrational heart made him feel like it was.

It wasn't like the evening was unsalvageable though. Seimei still had plenty of time before he needed to return to work. He should just go back to The Street and cut his losses.

And if some nagging sensation in his gut told him the loss would still be there, well…Seimei had endured worse.

A/N: Magic says thank you once again to all the reviewers and followers!

TO BE CONTINUED….