A/N:Hey everyone! Sorry for the mess up with the chapters... I posted chapter 5 before going to bed and didn't realise I'd written over chapter 4 until a week or so later... but I've fixed it now. Usual disclaimers etc...

Chapter 6- Taking charge.

It was Friday, about two weeks after Sakura's disastrous encounter with her eldest brother and Sakura once again had the weekend off, something Susumu had assured her she should enjoy, since once she had debuted as FrEe SpIrIt she would have precious few of them. Naomi had gone away for the weekend with her family. She had invited Sakura along, but Sakura hadn't wanted to impose so she'd made up a story about being busy. Mai, too, had wanted to hang out with her old friend, but she'd had to go to Kyoto for a family gathering with Masato, so Sakura was currently sitting by the lake on the Academy grounds on her own. And brooding. She scowled as she thought of her last encounter with her elder brothers and angrily tossed a stone into the lake, causing ripples to radiate outward from the splash. Wait... ripples...? Something tugged at the back of Sakura's mind and she thought back to the trip Reiji had taken her on on that disastrous day.

"Family's are.. complicated things, Sakura." Reiji said, staring out of the windshield. "Sometimes they can hurt you."

He was quiet for a while and Sakura turned to look at the man beside her. What she could see of Reiji's face was a mask, hiding whatever he was thinking of. However, the pale moonlight showed Reiji's eyes, devoid of their usual light, were dark and somber.

"However..." he continued. "Scars can heal, if you let them. Sure, you'll never be completely whole again, but the hurt doesn't have to remain an open wound, fresh and bleeding, forever."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, sitting up to get a better look at Reiji. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking" Reiji said slowly. "about my father."

Sakura frowned.

"Your... father...?"

Reiji nodded, still staring out the windshield at the stars as Sakura stared at Reiji.

"Yeah, he hasn't featured much in my life though. He left when I was about 6 years old. He just left the house one day... and never came back."

Sakura said nothing as Reiji sighed and finally sat up, now staring at the steering wheel.

"Next thing I heard, he and mom were divorced. Of course I didn't understand much at the time... and once I entered the entertainment industry at 10... I kept hoping he'd see me on the television... be proud of me. And come home."

Reiji turned and smiled sadly at Sakura, his usual mask nowhere in sight as Sakura silently stared at him. This was the most she'd ever heard Reiji talk about himself in the three months she'd known him. She'd heard the boys say one could usually only get him to talk about his family if you mentioned Kotobuki Bento- and then it was usually about the shop.

"As the years went by, it stopped bothering me... My mom and sister tried hard to give me a good life and my uncle, my father's brother, stepped up to be a father figure to his niece and nephew..." Reiji finally muttered quietly. "But I guess... deep down... I'm still that sad, lonely 6 year old boy, wanting his father's approval."

Sakura finally broke her silence.

"What would you do, Reiji?" she asked, her aquamarine eyes burning into his brown ones. "If your dad suddenly reappeared... after all these years?"

Reiji remained silent for a while, frowning slightly at the windshield as he pondered how to answer her question. When he finally turned back to her, it was with his usual mask back in place.

"It would take time..." he said slowly. "but, eventually, I think I'd forgive him. After all..."

Reiji grinned.

"We're all human and make mistakes... strangers, friends...and family. But when it comes down to it- in the end family is all we have... or need. But everything has a consequence, like ripples in a pond... that's why when family leave, or speak words in anger- it hurts the most."

Sakura stared at the pond, frowning. She wanted to continue her debut as a singer, Seiichiro wanted her to quit and focus on what was best for the family... and she had to admit that, even though she didn't want to, she could see his point... in some twisted way. But that didn't mean that she appreciated being used and abused as a pawn, nor did she like seeing Junya and Ren used in the same way. Sakura knew that Seiichiro was strong-willed and determined, it was what made him such an astute businessman after all, but so was she. Ren and Junya too, she supposed, in their own way. Call it a Jinguji trait. Well then... if Seiichiro was going to view this Debut thing as a business venture, then Sakura supposed she'd have to do so too. She'd have to put together a proposal and everything. And for that, she'd need... Pulling out her phone, Sakura had dialed his number almost without thinking.

"Hey, it's me... " Sakura told the person on the other end of the line. "I've decided on what I'm going to do. I need you to set up a meeting..."

...

Ren walked into the Shining Production one Wednesday afternoon, a little concerned as to the abrupt nature of the meeting he'd been called to, and wondering what it could be about. No one had ever complained about any job he'd done before, so he supposed this had to be about some or other gig. But what kind of job would only give you a date and time for a meeting without any more information? Feeling slightly apprehensive, Ren knocked on the door, opening it when given the all clear.

"Excuse me..." he muttered as he entered, then stopped short when he saw Reiji and Shining Saotome already seated at the table.

Reiji turned to Ren.

"Hey, Ren-Ren!" Reiji called to him as the younger man approached the table. "You're here too?"

"Yeah." Ren said as he sat across from the older idol. "You got any idea what this is about, Bukki?"

"Not a clue." Reiji grinned. "Just told a date and time to show up to a meeting, so I did. I thought it a bit strange, but I trust old man Saotome after all..."

"Mmm..." Ren narrowed his blue eyes slightly at Shining. "What's this about, boss?"

Shining smiled apologetically as Reiji turned to him as well.

"Sorry boys, you'll just have to sit tight a while longer." he told them. "It won't be long now."

"Well," Reiji said, clapping his hands together. "there we have it."

Ren shrugged.

"Guess it's okay... if the boss says so."

The three of them sat discussing various topics when, about twenty minutes later, there was another knock on the door.

"Excuse us, President."

"Pardon the intrusion."

"Sorry we're late..."

Susumu entered the room, carrying a satchel and followed by...

"Seiichiro! Junya!" Ren sat stiffly in his chair. "Why are you here?"

"I'd assume the same reason you are, little brother." Seiichiro answered as he sat down in the chair at the end of the table, while Junya sat beside Ren and Susumu sat opposite him, leaving the chair between him and Reiji open.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I called them here, Ren." a voice spoke from the doorway and Sakura entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Well, with Ms Jinguji here, all are present and accounted for." Shining said, suddenly business-like as Sakura sat down between Susumu and Reiji. "We may begin this meeting. Who'd like to begin?"

"I will." Sakura turned to her eldest brother. "Since you seem determined to run our family as a business venture... I have a proposition for you..."