Chapter VI (6)

Uncertainly, because really certainty didn't enter into Akihito's vocabulary, Akihito answered the door with a grimace, pulling at the large metal handles and when no hands reached through the crack to snatch him, he pulled harder.

But judging by the horrified look on Suoh's face (like he had gas) he had expected some ghoulish monster perched on the other side, peering at him with weepy googly eyes, holding a glowing sword in one hand, and a thick shield in the other. Nothing could prepare him for what did stand there, balanced on those tiny feet.

The petite woman flashed her gold colored eyes at him but said nothing. She appeared to have horns growing out of her head, but on closer inspection, the horns mutated into combs, pulling her black hair tightly until her face went with it.

Asami's mother AKA the demon, the bitch, the witch appeared to be a little old lady. Perhaps she shape shifted just to catch you off-guard. That would explain their fear of her. It didn't make sense that four grown men, no, one insane crime lord and his three equally insane henchmen cowered under her watchful gaze.

But not him. He had a mother with an equal evil eye. He'd seen it before.

"Asami-sama," he said, haltingly at first. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Please, come in."

She nodded and narrowed her eyes at him, sweeping her gold eyes from the top of his head down to his feet and back up. "You're much more alive than the photos I have of you."

Now he knew why they feared her. Contempt spewed from her red-orange painted lips with every clipped syllable of her tongue. He didn't know how to take that odd greeting. Obviously someone investigated him (he was used to that) and the emphasis on the words more alive meant he could also mean the opposite, as in more dead. Although you can't be more dead than just dead.

"Thank you?" He said smiling and cocking his head he thought in an endearing way. The woman frowned. He thought wrong.

"I brought a gift." She held out a white basket tied with a bow the color of dried blood which he grasped with two hands and bowed in thanks, probably too many times for her taste, as her frowned deepened.

"Thank you, Asami-sama. We will enjoy these." Whatever contained in the basket he'd throw out later, not because he distrusted her. Okay, he distrusted her.

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts, and certainly don't let the wolf into your house.

Well, he'd broken one rule already. Let's hope that one broken rule doesn't come to bite him in the ass. Literally.

"They are not for you to consume. They are for my son." She said angrily.

Would she poison her son? Probably.

She gave the room the inspection, which didn't take long, before taking a seat on the leather chair near the double front doors. Obviously, she didn't ask permission to sit, nor would she seek it. "But seeing as he's not here, I suppose you may partake in the sweets. I understand they are a weakness of yours." She added.

She eyed Suoh who had taken up residence in the kitchen, glued to the floor, unflinching. In fact he seemed so wax-like Akihito wondered if the warm room would make him melt.

"Dismiss him." She said quietly, obviously referring to Suoh the wax-like human.

"He's not mine to dismiss." He said quickly. If he so chose, he could dismiss Suoh, but he didn't chose so obviously, Suoh stayed. Suoh coughed and Akihito gave him a help me look and when Suoh shrugged in answer Akihito felt like a bear caught in a trap.

The silence felt jagged, a razor's edge after the cough died and the woman, (he'd ceased calling her a mother, she lacked the maternal nature of one) tucked her legs underneath her and rested her pale hands in her lap.

"Would you care for tea?" He asked, suddenly wanting to escape her presence and this seemed a good excuse. He would love to put ample distance between him and her, especially since she wore this odd perfume that smelled so sweet, you'd think the woman bathed in honey. It didn't make her countenance any sweeter though.

She ignored his question. "I'm here to deliver an ultimatum. I'm sure you're acquainted with what that means." She pulled out the manila colored envelope and holding it out to him with two hands, it seemed a heavy burden offered from those pale palms. "Since you might not be familiar with legalese…" There gave a not so subtle hint that she thought him either stupid or low-class or both with that statement. "…..I can give you the short version."

He snatched the envelope and pulled out a white, official looking paper stamped with the Asami family crest, a rather pedestrian zinnia flower forming a heart surrounded by a circle. A zinnia meant loyalty that much he did know. But loyal to whom? The fickle yen?

"So," she continued, "obviously my son won't leave your side, so I'm telling you to leave his." She said with a flick of a tongue. Akihito didn't look up from the paper as she said those bitter words as he read the simple contract with a rising flutter in his stomach.

Like an oracle, he felt Asami's warm hand cover his and his equally warm deep voice whisper in his ear.

Just breathe, Akihito.

He breathed and the warmth on his hand remained. "Five percent of profits from Asami family holdings, a minimum of 80 million yen annually until you pass." He read, and put the paper aside on the shiny polished table. He bit back a bitter laugh, to the point where he almost bit his own tongue. "80 million yen a year to leave your son's side. What do you take me for?" He said, his temper starting to flair like fireworks on a summer night. "Why do you want to hurt your son?"

"I'm protecting him from a gold digger." She said bluntly. "By the way, I plan to live to a hundred. So, let me do the math for you….that's 30 years times 80 million yen. Well, I'm sure you can do rudimentary math."

"And if I don't take the deal, if I don't leave?"

"To disown a child for their actions…..that's not unheard of, is it?"

"Asami is not a child. And I certainly won't leave his side because an old crow like you caws in the rice fields." He spat.

"You seem to misunderstand, I will get what I want. Sometimes the hard path is chosen, sometimes the easy path, but either way, the destination is the same." She flashed him the glare meant to kill him, if glares could kill. Her's probably would, actually.

"Glare all you want, but let me ask you a simple question," He said seriously. "If I were female, would we still have this conversation?"

"Yes, we would." She answered, just as seriously. "You, Takaba Akihito are flying too close to the sun. You will get burned."

"So, you are here to ruffle my feathers, is that it?" He pulled out a red Mizuho savings book out his front right pocket and threw it on the table in front of her. "I don't ruffle easily."

"A savings book of a little nothing? I'm supposed to be impressed by your few yen?" She said bitingly. She picked up the book and flipped through the pages. After a few minutes had passed a crack started to appear in that powdered mask she wore. Her look of disdain transformed into something close to defeat.

"My employer feels bad about my accident." He tapped his fake leg with his fist. "This was their compensation. I don't have to work if I so choose. However, I believe a man should earn his keep. Don't you feel the same?"

She didn't comment, but placed the red book on the table, half-way between them.

Let your words have weight.

"I will receive twice what you offered me every year for the rest of my life." Akihito continued. "But I'd rather have my leg back."

Let your words have weight.

When he could stand her silence no longer, he continued. "And by the way, I plan to live to be a hundred. Let's do the math. That's another 75 years. Seventy five years times 160 million yen….."

Suoh coughed again and Akihito chose to smirk right about then. Now he understood why Asami smirked so much. Nothing satisfied like winning, and he had won, for once.

"My mother negotiated this for me, while I lay in a coma. She's a master at the art of negotiating. She's a nice lady." He said emphasizing the word nice. He tried to keep from grinning but he couldn't help it, so he grinned, baring his teeth. "Therefore, you'll excuse me if I refuse your kind offer." He said formally.

He felt warmth spread in his left hand, perhaps from the ghost of his grandfather, come to support him. He didn't feel alone anymore.

The woman took the contract and quietly, put it back into the envelope. She appeared deflated, a popped balloon lying on the floor long after the party had ended. "Does Asami know of this money?" She asked finally.

"I assume he does, he knows everything about me, although I've never mentioned it to him. I'm afraid finances baffle a working man like me." He said with sarcasm. He turned to Suoh who had the biggest grin he'd ever seen on the man's face. "Does he know about it, Suoh?"

"Uh…yes." He answered quickly, the grin approached something comical, like he'd put on a clown mask. "He does."

"I'm surprised you didn't, I guess you're informant wasn't thorough." He said, not knowing what else to say to the woman. He took a deep breath and shifted in his seat when the woman didn't raise her eyes from the tiny gold ring glittering on her finger. "I won't leave your son's side." He said defiantly and with finality. "Just to be clear."

"You're foolish to think this is over. I can make your life a living hell."

His grin died, his lips felt heavy as they deepened into a frown. "Yeah, I've been to hell and back." He looked around. "It doesn't look like this though, this is pretty nice." He said, gesturing wildly. "But what does a commoner like me know."

"So, you've chosen the hard path, Takaba Akihito."

"This isn't about money, is it?" Akihito said. Uncharacteristically, he felt strength rather than fear, perhaps understanding her motivation. "Are you like my mother, and whine about grandchildren, about continuing the Asami legacy?"

He saw a flash of anger in those gold eyes, which died quickly. "Like you, I want a family. I want to fill this house with love."

"Love. Love between men, how foolish."

"I once questioned love existing between men, too." He rested his fists on his dirty green shorts, the ones he'd worn camping and dug his nails into his filthy palms. "But Asami has shown his love for me in some rather fool hardy ways. Suoh wouldn't you agree?"

Suoh nodded. "I would say so, Takaba-san." The san wasn't lost on Akihito. That gesture of respect didn't go unnoticed by the woman in black, who narrowed her eyes at the guard dog. Guard dog ignored it. Good dog.

Akihito stood up, intending to show her out. They'd talked enough. "In the end," he shrugged, "we do foolish things for love."

The woman actually sighed, in defiance or in defeat, he couldn't say, but she stood also, those tiny feet sure and steady as she hitched up her kimono and went towards those double doors.

"You're welcome here anytime." Although he didn't mean it, he trusted she'd never visit again, although she'd continue to harass him somehow. "I'd love to hear about Asami's childhood." He flashed her the Takaba smile, the one his mother gave when all else failed.

"You may have stolen my son's heart when he fell for your charms, Takaba Akihito, but I'm not as easily deceived." She looked him up and down again, and gave him a blank-faced stare. "You're smarter than you look."

He gave her a deep low bow, and with that, she left, as suddenly as she came. The driver of her black limo bowed towards her as she approached, a twinkle appeared in the elderly man's eye as he grasped her hand and assisted the woman into the seat. Akihito thought he saw a smile grace those sunset colored lips as she held the hand for much longer than decorum allowed, before the limo swallowed her, and she disappeared into the dark.

Akihito lips curled into a smile. Perhaps the woman knew love after all.