The moment Kodo got home, she turned on the television in the living room to world news. Getting home was a blur, even interacting with the others was something she hadn't payed attention to. The only thing that mattered was learning what happened to her mother. Sitting on the couch, she stared intently at the screen as the woman who stood there in front of a large monitor talked about the averages of stocks within the Dow Jones Industrial company. The average was falling. But that was unimportant.

"Pumpkin, is that you, finally?" Her father entered the room, and he sounded rather upset. "I need to speak to you!"

"Mom's plane disappeared, I'm waiting to learn what happened."

"Well until then-"

"No! Dad!" Her head whirled around to stare at him. "Mom might be alive! I have to know!"

That seemed to get his attention, and he inhaled slowly. "When- when did her plane disappear?"

She couldn't stop the break in her voice as she felt her sinuses start to sting from the threat of tears. "Sometime this morning before sunrise, somewhere over Mongolia."

"I'll be in my office." She didn't notice him swipe her phone from the side table by the couch.

Gripping the couch pillow in her arms, she curled up and continued staring at the screen. Was her mother okay? Would they even be able to find her plane? If they did, would her mother be gone? If she was gone, what would happen to her assets? What would happen to Kodo? She depended so much on her mother's social standing that she didn't even realize it. It was only the past week or so that she realized that people saw what they wanted to see. If they wanted to see her father's failures in her, they'd leave but if they saw her mother's success they were interested in her. How would that translate for her? What kind of name could she possibly make for herself now? Another question she thought about, did she even want to make a name for herself? Living without want was certainly a nice thing, but if it came down to it, would she be ready to let all this go? Everything that she had grown accustomed to in this lifestyle, gone? Would she even be able to live a life like Haruhi did? That was a frightening idea, as plausible as it was.

"Now a grim shock to the media world; Kotaphira Vogel was flying to Japan from Germany this morning when her plane disappeared over the wastes of Mongolia. Search teams were sent out and amazingly found wreckage for the plane and three bodies were found, with no evidence that anyone survived. Kotaphira Vogel was known as one of the most influential women in Germany, pushing for women's rights, human rights, social liberties and freedom for people to speak out against oppression in third world countries. Despite her pushing for these liberties and freedoms she never ran in the government as she is said to have, 'Not seen a reason to get caught up in the same patriarchal mess that started all that I stand against.' She ran major newspapers for the cities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden, as well as news stations nationally around Germany. Her accomplishments included owning high-end country clubs in several countries, supporting major hospitals around Germany, and providing a voice to those less fortunate. She is survived by her only daughter, Kotaphira Kataishi Sagano, who resides in Japan."

That was it. It was official. Her mother was gone. Hugging the pillow tighter, she stared blankly at the wall as the television droned on about something else. But they'd showed images from the wreckage from an aerial view, then switched to media pictures of her mother from recent. She had red hair and deep blue eyes. Her mother was beautiful, even with the makeup she wore to attempt covering her tired baggy eyes and cheeks that were starting to sag. "Mom.." She whispered.

In his office, Iwao set her phone to silent as he looked up whatever information he could on Kotaphira's plane wreck and the woman's plans before her disappearance/death. Her stocks were raising, her net worth was in the higher end of hundreds of millions, and everything was looking good for her. The only thing he could decide for certain was this was no accident, and with the way things were looking up for her, she wouldn't do this to herself. Someone had to be responsible for this.

bzzt bzzt

It was Kodo's phone vibrating, an unrecognizable number. "Yes?" He asked, answering it. It turned out to be Kotaphira's lawyer. In the woman's will, she'd left half her worth to Kodo, under the stipulation she find someone to marry of her choosing before her 16th birthday. The other half of the woman's $650m(USD) worth would be evenly distributed to the needy and different organizations and hospitals around the world. The problem was, the German government was holding everything up until "official paperwork" was all in proper order.

This gave a lot for Iwao to think about and consider. $325m was a hefty sum of money for a teenager. He had terrible luck with his own money, but officially he still held the title of Sagano Foods. If he could get his daughter to work with him in the couple of weeks before her birthday, he could properly introduce the boy he had already agreed to marry her off to, to her, and get her to accept- and marry her then. After that, she would owe Iwao a lot of money for the work they'd done to rebuild their company, and he would receive the money from that boy's family as promised. It would indeed, be a good proposition.

But all of this was just a flash in his mind before the lawyer's voice, saddened in tone, spoke. "I've known her her whole life, Iwao. I'm old enough to be her mother, and- she's gone." The woman's voice broke. "And she adored Pumpkin, more than anything in the world. I can't forgive what you did, but, I can't deny pretending to ignore the way you looked at Kotaphira. I know somewhere in there, you loved her."

His eyes shadowed as the phone trembled in his hand. Who the hell did she think she was? A personal friend? She just needed to do her damned job. "I'll pass the information on to Pumpkin. Goodbye." With that, he hung up and let the phone slide from his hand to his lap. That woman.. is dead.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Iwao, Iwao, come quickly, that famous woman from Germany is coming soon!" A man from a neighboring cubicle came running in while the young man was busy with paperwork.

"Yes, yes!" It was exciting. A proper advertising firm all the way from Germany would be coming to Kissin foods and helping with preparing their ad spreads for the next six months. Gathering the papers quickly, he pushed them into a briefcase and stood, smoothing out his hair and using the glass at the top of his cubicle wall to straighten his tie.

"What do you think you're doing, going on a date?" His cubicle-mate asked, laughing softly.

He got flustered quickly. "N-nothing! It's going to be imposing, and- and- I hear she's really attractive."

"I knew it! You just want in that red-head's pleated business skirt! Ahaha!" The man stood and patted Iwao on the back. "Let me know if the rug matches the drapes, hmm?" He winked before pushing the younger man forward. "Hurry! I think the limo just arrived!"

"R-right!" In a hurry he took off toward the meeting room. Being a fifth year in business college and working at a place he was climbing the ranks in, he had a lot riding on his shoulders for this meeting. But he was a bright young man with a good head on his shoulders and a lot of potential. Everyone told him so. He'd gone against his grandmother's wishes and moved closer to the inner city to go to a big business college, priding himself in his high grades. He knew this is what he wanted, and eventually one day he'd marry into a rich family and he could live with the rest of the wealthy in the world. He knew good and well he'd have to work especially hard for that achievement.

Arriving at the meeting room, he cleared his throat and straightened his tie once more. The glass doors revealed that the rest of the advertising department were already there, waiting patiently for him and their guest. Opening the door slowly, he made his way to the front of the room and sat at the center of the curved table which faced the opposite wall where their ideas and spreadsheets were already prepared and on display. It was quiet in there as they waited, and he started to wonder if he should have gone down to greet the firm at the front door. Would it be rude to jump up now and greet them at the elevator? Reaching out, he almost grabbed the pitcher of water to pour himself a drink when his co-worker placed a hand on his forearm.

"Calm down. This is your first official presentation, but just treat it like you're with us."

"And joke about this or that? Absolutely not! We don't want to lose this firm."

"Take a breath, Iwao. You're sweating like a punctured water balloon."

Inhaling slowly, he stared at the door until it opened. The secretary from the front desk stood there, holding the door open as she smiled in her usual business-like fashion, nodding her head to the group that entered. Four men with broad shoulders came first, blond and brown hair on their heads, their heights imposing. Already Iwao was standing along with the others in the room as they waited for the main event, the woman who was leading this whole thing. She entered, heels not more than three inches tall, skirt just grazing her knees, blazer custom fit to her shapely figure, gold chain loose around her neck, face painted in a way that didn't distract from her overall appearance; but what he couldn't stop himself from staring at, was her amazingly red hair. It was almost the color of blood, cut and curled at the nape of her neck and parted at the side so it just curled around her one eyebrow and tucked behind her pierced ear. It wasn't as if he'd not seen her before, television and newspapers mentioned her "up-and-coming professional advertising firm" often, but seeing this woman, Kotaphira Vogel in person, melted whatever logical thought processes his mind had before she stepped foot into the conference room. Her eyes, even from the four and a half meters he was away, he could tell were such a wonderful shade of blue.

"Are you going to stare agape, or shall we get started?" Her accent was thick.

"Ah!" He felt his sleeve pulled by the one who was bowing next to him and he had to force coherent thoughts into his head as he followed suit with the others, speaking at the same time they did. "Welcome to Kissin Foods, please take care of us!" Did he say 'us'? Or 'me'? Did it sound like he was asking her to take care of him like they were in high school or something? Ohhh, the sweating was starting up again.

During the meeting, Iwao did his best to attempt to impress the foreign woman with his ideas of advertising, but she turned them all down. To her, she felt food, especially noodles and snacks, should be meant to appeal to the young and those on-the-go. Her comrades contributed their thoughts as well, and by the time their meeting was over, Iwao felt slightly embarrassed by her straight-talk comebacks and casual demeanor. But she was friendly nonetheless and as far as he could tell, she had valid points to it all.

After he'd gotten off work, he sat outside while waiting for a bus to the train station. If he had to admit it, he'd say he liked the woman.

"Hey there."

Sitting straight, he looked up to see her standing there with two beverages in hand, offering one to him. "V-Vogel-san."

"You can call me Kotaphira. Calling me by my last name makes me feel like I'm in the military. But only when we're not in that stuffy place." Her thumb jabbed in the direction of the Kissin building.

Taking the can, he opened it before taking a long sip of the stuff.

Joining him on the bench, Kotaphira stared up at the sky, the sun setting in the West. "By the way, your presentation wasn't bad. If you ever want to try and sell perfumes or cars, your approach is good. It's got a very.. I don't know this word. Old style?"

"V-vintage?"

"Not quite. Like something your parents have done and your grandparents too."

"Traditional?"

"Yes, that's it! I think, you're a traditional person, aren't you, Iwao-san?"

He stuttered over the rim of his can as he tried not to spit out his drink. "P-please, c-call me Sagano!"

"But, that's your last name, isn't it? It wouldn't be fair for me to call you by your last name when I asked for you call me by my first."

"Call it- tradition."

She smiled at him, and he felt his heart flutter. "I understand. Sagano-san. Ah, it looks like the bus is here. And my goons have the car ready as well." She stood and tossed her can into the garbage.

"Goons?"

"I call them that, but they're just like your team. They help with the ideas and hard work. They're good guys, though a bit overprotective. Oh! See you tomorrow, Sagano-san!" She waved to him before getting into the limo and driving off.

As he stared, all he could think of was her red hair and blue eyes and confident look. It made his face red. The bus's horn honking caught him off guard and he jumped. "Ah! C-coming!"

-x-

After that, the meetings went much smoother for the both of them and though she had practically no time to spend with him off work, they ate lunch together though her 'goons' accompanied her all the time. But even then, something inside him tugged at his mind every time she turned down one of his proposals. He felt as though she was taking over the team rather than working with him to get the wanted results. He would try his best to ignore it but something deep down reminded him of it every time she would speak over him or turn down another idea of his.

It was about five months later before he finally had had enough. It was in that same conference room. She was pointing out the spreadsheet for the next advertisement layouts, telling them how it would be arranged in newspapers and magazines, when something didn't add up. In magazines, pictures are hardly ever printed in color. Yet she had images for the magazine that should have been in the newspapers and vice versa. It bothered Iwao to the point of making his brow tick. Normally he would have let it slide, but his team was starting to take her word over his to the point that were blindly following her without even the OK from him.

"So these images here-" She was standing at the table facing him, the papers and images all spread out on the flat surface, "will go in magazines A, B, and D. These images here will go in newspapers."

"These are in color though."

"If you let me finish what I was saying," She sounded more than perturbed. "the color values aren't nearly as vibrant as these. We can't go back and reshoot so we'll have to stick to these images for now for the newspapers. Understand?" She was looking at his team, at his people, and they nodded without even an agreement from him.

It upset him, badly. Pressing his hands on the table, he stood quickly, staring her down. "That is it!"

"Huh?" She looked genuinely surprised as she took a step back.

"I am tired of you coming in here like you own the place and ordering my people around!" Those blue eyes blinked at him confusedly, and he almost swallowed his pride and turned away. But this had been going on for months and it was eating away at him. "Not once did you ask for my opinion, not once did you pass anything by me, and not once did you even consider that perhaps you were trying to take my place here!" He ignored the embarrassed stares from his colleagues and her team.

But Kotaphira was able to straighten herself almost immediately. "Perhaps we should take this up with your boss, then, as we do not want to be a bother to these gentlemen."

"Fine."

But his boss was harsher with him than he was with her. Even though Iwao and Kotaphira both had bowed at the waist for bothering him and apologized for intruding, after he heard the story, the man looked entirely disappointed. The only way to make things right, he'd said, is to spend more time together, as spending time apart would be non beneficial for the company and the deadline.

And that's how their first 'date' started.

-x-

Iwao had grown to slightly despise this woman while it seemed he also got on her nerves. Their first stop, as listed out by the boss, was to eat at a sushi place not far from work. They sat in silence, staring intently at the conveyor as it passed by with different kinds of sushi and dumplings. Unfortunately for Iwao, the selections would pass by her first, so she had first choice. It was unfortunate, because Kotaphira seemed to know what he wanted and would grab it first, gorging herself on the food he'd eye first. Lips pursed, he was determined to get his food before she did. When he saw something he wanted he put on a bored look as though it were something gross. Then, at the last second, he'd jump and reach around her for the plate. But he underestimated her, every time, for her hands were much quicker than his. Every time he'd reach out, she turn and in one swift motion one hand would grab his wrist while the other would grab the plate and set it down, and with her free hand she'd practically inhale the food before letting him go.

"Hey! That isn't fair!"

"Life'sh a bitcsh ishn't it." Her mouth was full as she spoke, giving him a rather dull glare.

Veins bulged on his forehead as he frowned at her. "You should let me have something!" At least he had access to the sake.

"Give it up, you won't beat me-" A loud gurgling noise from her stomach stopped her sentence. "Oh Gott." Turning away, she placed a hand over her mouth as her cheeks expanded.

"Vogel-san?"

She threw up all the fish she'd just inhaled all over the floor, making the other customers uncomfortable, and effectively closing the restaurant for the night. The owner was not happy and even after many apologies he still seemed upset at her.

"Perhaps you should get home." Iwao led her away from the restaurant.

"You know what? I think you should shut up." She'd also had too much sake.

Exhaling, he took out the work phone from his pocket to call up the boss. "This is too much, you need to get home."

"You know what else is too much? Your stupid, stuck up attitude! Loosen up that nylon tie you have, it's cutting off the blood to your head!" Reaching out, she grabbed the phone and tossed it the other direction into a busy intersection.

"That's company property!"

"Come along, Traditions." Grabbing his hand, she dragged him to a bar and pushed him inside. "Loosen up a little, I don't think I've ever met anyone as- as- good Gott, I don't even know the term. Tight? Good thing the boss allowed us a company card." She took out the credit card from her purse. "This is 'company' business after all! Ahahaha!"

Iwao's shoulders slumped. He was being dragged into all this by a crazy woman.

Her hand slapped at the bar. "Liqueur! The strong stuff, my good friend!"

"Should you really be drinking that?" He sat next to her.

"Why not? It's not like I don't know how to handle my alcohol. Now fish, that's another story." She grabbed the glass that was offered to her and she downed it in a couple of swallows. "Aaah! That's the stuff!"

Exhaling, he almost didn't take his drink, except she'd picked it up and shoved it into his mouth.

"DRINK!" She laughed like a madwoman before something caught her attention. "Oooh, karaoke! I've always wanted to try that. Come on, come on!" Excited, she grabbed his arm once more before shoving him to the other side of the crowded room. "Our turn next, come on! You should sing, 'Oops I Did it Again'."

"I don't even know that song!"

"Come on, come on! It's not hard, I'll sing it, too."

"Is it a duet?"

"Does it matter? Come on, Iwao!" She laughed again as she pulled him up on stage to sing in front of the waiting crowd.

This woman was so carefree when she wasn't in her office. She didn't care what others thought and loved to laugh. No wonder people loved her.

After the song was over, she laughed again before tricking him into singing several more songs. Afterward, she went back to the bar with him in tow, ordering more drinks. "I have to say, Iwao, you're not so tone deaf after all."

"What do you mean, 'after all'?"

"Honestly, I thought you had no artistic talent whatsoever. You wear the same tie, the same shoes, you even comb your hair the exact same every day. You never change it up." Another round ordered.

"Why would I do that? I have no one to impress with my looks."

"Because, you look just like everyone else, you don't stand out at all! How do you expect to make people remember you." Another swig of drink.

"Is that why your hair's red?"

"Are you trying to say you doubt me, sir?" One more round.

His head turned to the side as he frowned. "It's obvious your hair color is a fake. It makes me wonder what else about you is."

Kotaphira was silent a long time before she leaned in, squinting at him.

Opening his eyes, he noticed quickly her closeness as he was staring at those blue eyes. "W-what!" He felt his face warm up, though that could have been the alcohol.

"Come with me." Grabbing his arm, she pulled him away again and they both stumbled toward the front of the place.

"Where are we- going!"

"You'll see!" She laughed again as they both wobbled around in the street.

He had no idea where they were going. But when they got there, he was already half asleep and trying to decide if turtles were a book or a cheese. "If you think about it, they're hard like books."

"No, turtles are turtles and books are cheese. Especially if there's plot holes! Ahahaha!" She laughed at her own joke while he was left to stare at her, confused.

"Where are we anyway." He looked around the room. There was a bed, a TV, a couch, a door to what he presumed was a bath. "Your apartment?"

"No, a hotel."

"What! Why? Don't rape me, I'm still a v-"

"No, idiot." She hiccuped. "Although, I think I got the hotel types mixed up." She held up a few packaged condoms that were left on the counter. "Oooh, sex toys!" She grabbed a long handled thing with a plug and a large rounded tip.

"What- I don't- want to be here.." He was starting to back away to the door.

"Iwaaaooooo!" Kotaphira whined as she took a step forward with the handle device in both hands, pointing it at him. "Stand guard!"

"Eh- what!?"

She flipped a switch on it and it started buzzing, loudly.

"AHH!" His arm raised in defense.

"Ahahahaha! Oooh, your face right now. Ohh Gott." Turning off the device, she put it back before collapsing on the bed. "Why can't we be this easy going at work anyway?" She hiccuped again.

"You- you're impossible to deal with!" He staggered forward and managed to get to the couch before he fell on to it.

"I'm impossible to deal with? You're the one who always tries to undermine me, and talks over me!"

"What! That's my problem with you, you- you- red headed freak!" He managed to sit up and stare at her angrily.

"Freak? You're the one with his big idea being 'let's put a noodle on the paper and call it ARRRT'!" She stood up and walked over to him, mocking him with a silly voice.

"You got your color balances wrong!"

She leaned over him. "That's not something I can help, I'm not in the art department, am I!" Hiccup.

"You can't even lead your own team correctly!"

"You can't even stand out enough to be noticed!"

"You're standing out too much!"

They were nose and nose now, breathing heavily in each other's faces. "Tight ass."

"Bloody t-" He didn't get to finish his insult, as she'd grabbed him by the tie and yanked him forward, kissing him on the mouth. He was caught so completely off guard he had no way to respond. His entire body went rigid as his eyes widened, staring at her face. Just out of his field of vision he noticed strands of red hair out of place.

"M-ah!" Kotaphira leaned back enough to stare at him. "Oh, don't look so shocked. It was bound to happen eventually." Hiccup.

"Wh- what-?" He watched as she hiked up her skirt and straddled him on the couch. "I'm not sure.." His gaze went over the front of her suit to where her legs were parted on his lap, and he couldn't help but notice she had no underwear on, catching a glimpse of something just as red as her hair.

"Not sure what?" She hiccuped again before she practically ripped off his tie and kissed him again.

This time he was only slightly prepared for her attack as his hands reached up to touch her sides.

"Is that all you- hic- got? I thought you Japanese men were all complete perverts."

"N-not- all of us."

"Huh." She leaned back on his legs and stared at him, head tilted to the side. "Have you ever even- hic- had sex?"

Slowly his head shook no, eyes staring at her exposed crotch.

"Fick." Her face turned a slight red as she muttered in German, running a hand through her hair. "You want to?"

Quickly he looked up at her, eyes wide. WHAT THE HELL KIND OF QUESTION WAS THAT?! HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THAT?! The woman he'd fantasized about the first few weeks of her being there was asking if he wanted to have sex with her. His only response was to drunkenly nod his head.

-x-

The relationship between those two didn't improve much, but their verbal fights during the week turned into incredible weekend nights for the both of them. A week before their deadline, she asked him to go back to Germany with her. She promised him a job, a place to stay, and of course, her. In the end, he gave in, and was later glad he had because she turned up pregnant not long after they arrived in Germany.

But, their relationship was a poisonous one. After the honeymoon feeling wore off when Kodo was born, his comments about how 'things should be' became more and more frequent. Growing up, he'd learned that tradition in Japan was that the man of the house had control over everything in the house; including income and decisions. Wives were meant to act a certain way and children, too. These were things he just couldn't give up, despite not actually being married to Kotaphira. He referred to Kodo's purple hair as a 'condition' and forbade people from seeing her or letting her out of his sight. It was Kodo's third birthday that he'd carved a pumpkin and chased her around the house with the intention of putting it on her head. Kotaphira chased him down to stop as Kodo was terrified, but he'd succeeded in the end and made his daughter cry while wetting herself. He'd punished her for that by hitting her, and that was when Kotaphira called everything off. With her position and standing she was able to successfully get him out of hers and her daughter's lives, sending him back to Japan.

Once he returned, he spoke of his life in Germany with no one, but managed to re-climb the ranks in the Kissin company until he was district manager. At that time, about seven years after he'd returned, Kissin bought two other companies and he was in charge of most of the things in these companies until he was allowed to run them himself. He dove into his work and hardly allowed himself personal time. At the bequest of his and Kotaphira's lawyers, he stayed in touch with his daughter, and tried to treat her differently than his usual attitude, though it was a lie. Iwao was still himself, after all. After she'd moved in with him three months earlier, he easily turned back into himself, ignoring the home life around him and burying himself in work.

Now, as he sat at his desk staring at Kodo's phone, he wondered what went through Kotaphira's mind before she died. Would she have forgiven him? Who was he to ask forgiveness? Knowing her, she probably downed a scotch and dared the pilot to point the nose downward so she could count the seconds until they hit land. That thought sent a shudder through him. She deserved.. better than that. At least to live long enough to see her daughter's marriage. Shaking his head, he finished the rest of the alcohol that was in his glass. In the living room Kodo was still huddled on the couch, face buried in the pillow as she cried. Quietly he placed the phone back where he'd taken it from and sat at the other end of the couch.

"Uh.." Looking up, she wiped her face quickly. "What is it, dad?" She avoided looking at him.

"I'm sorry."

"Eh?"

He could feel the past almost eighteen years crawling upward as he closed his eyes. "I am not a good father. I was not a good- partner. I wronged your mother, and I wronged you." Like that would make up for lost time.

"Really dad, you want to do this now?"

"If not now, when! Your mother is dead because of my recklessness. My- my stubbornness."

"You're selfish to blame yourself! It was a faulty engine, they said so just now!" She was still slightly hysterical.

"Selfish?"

"You're the most selfish person I know. And to blame yourself for this is selfish, too." Standing up, she grabbed her phone and put the pillow back on the couch. "I can't forgive you."

He felt his heart breaking again.

"I can't forgive you, until you forgive yourself!" With that, she took off up the stairs.

Forgive.. himself? What had he done to himself? Everything, he soon realized. He'd done all of this, to himself. He put himself in the situation he was in, and allowed the one thing he prided himself in to be completely taken over. But, his plan was still to earn her trust, this time on rightful terms, and convince her to marry that boy who's family he owed. It would work, in the end. Could he forgive himself? Perhaps not. But if he could be on good terms with his daughter, try again in a sense, perhaps he could learn to forgive Kotaphira, and hope she could, from beyond the grave, forgive him.

A/N: SO UHM. I wrote all this because I was facing a hard decision with Iwao and I had no idea what to do. But I think I know now that this chapter is over. So all this chapter was, was to help me make a decision with him for a later chapter. SO I'm sorry there's not club activities in this one.

THE NEXT ONE THOUGH.

OH MAN. HOW DO I EVEN START.

Please leave me a comment, I want to know what you guys are thinking about this.