"No matter how many times I do it, the cards still give me the same answer. A love triangle," Haruko said to the boy in front of her, "What's more, the King of Clubs is getting closer to your card everytime I took it out from the deck."

Hanamichi chewed his lips thougtfully. "So what does that mean?"

"Something important will happen this two to three days," the brown haired girl told him as she shuffled her deck of cards together before putting them back into the packet, "It's better if you don't see Sendoh-san for a while."

"That's not a problem then," Hanamichi said, shrugging, "Akira's gone to the Hakuba resort for a shoot."

Haruko sighed regretfully. "Oh yes. A pity that my role is done."

Hanamichi bit his lip again, keeping quiet.

A few minutes later, he left the Takenori residence and walked home which was just a few blocks away. He reached his house deep in thought when suddenly he stopped, surprised as to who he saw standing in front of his door waiting for him.

"Akira?" Hanamichi breathed in surprise.

When the tall brunette turned towards him, Hanamichi was rooted by the expression on Akira's face. The blue eyes did not actually look at him but Hanamichi could see the coldness in them and the hard line of the actor's lips only added reason to the redhead's worry. Hesitantly, he approached the young man.
"A-Akira?"

The brunette did not reply but merely looked to the door, hinting to be let inside. The silence made Hanamichi wary at first but he did not hesitate to let the young man in. Once inside he led Akira to the living room and together they sat side by side on the couch.

"What's the matter?" Hanamichi asked, looking intently at the young man, "Aren't you supposed to be at the resort doing a shoot?"

"I split," Akira said, his voice sounding dull, "I guess they're frantic by now, searching for me."

The redhead gaped. "You what? Why did you do that, baka! You got into a fight or something? With who? The director? C'mon, tell me. Why can figure this all out-"

"Urusai!"

Suddenly, Hanamichi found himself roughly pushed onto his back on the couch with Akira straddling his legs. The hard glitter in the brunette's blue eyes shook him to the core, making him shiver with apprehension. The hands the held him gripped his shoulders mercilessly that he knew that he would be sporting bruises later on.

"A-Akira-"

"You're an idiot, d'you now that?"

"Wh-"

"You are so naive and so trusting," Akira murmured, lifting his fingers to lightly caress the redhead's cheek, "I wonder what Kaede would say if I take you here right now."

"Don't fool around-"

"I'm not," Akira cut in smoothly though his voice maintained its coldness, "He always beats me in every opportunity since we were kids. For once I'll take what he wants."

Hanamichi stared at the man above him in anxiety and more worry. The usual cheerfulness that he normally associate with the actor was gone, leaving only a person full of bitterness that felt palpable. The sorrow and anger seemed to seep out from Akira that the redhead had to turn his head away in distress and as if that was not enough, he shut his eyes tight, not being able to stand the look in Akira's eyes.

"You can't accept me, can you?" Akira said, running his fingers across the redhead's skin again, "Because I'm not Kaede." The brunette chuckled but it sounded dull to both their ears. "Aren't you going to fight me, Hana-kun? C'mon."

Hanamichi did not move and neither did he open his eyes but he opened his mouth to speak. His words were mere whispers but they carried clearly in the stillness of the room.
"When I was feeling down you were there to cheer me up. You talked to me and held me when I needed it. I don't know what happened to you at the resort but you must know that I'll help you in any way I can. I care for you, Akira. I do."

There was sudden silence as Hanamichi waited what Akira would do next. Whatever, it was, he knew that the young man would not hurt him. And Akira could see that trust clearly by the redhead sumission.

"Damn it!"

Suddenly, Hanamichi felt a warm body enveloping him and when he opened his eyes, Akira was holding him tightly as if his life depended on it.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" the brunette cursed against the redhead's shoulder.

Akira's whole body shivered against him. Slowly, Hanamichi lifted his arms to hold the brunette back and hesitantly he began to speak,
"A-Akira..."

"Fuck! Fuck them! They fucking lied to me! I hate them! I hate them!" Akira cried, his voice breaking down as he slumped further into the redhead's embrace.
As Hanamichi tightened his hold on the young man, Haruko's advice came back to him in his mind.

("Something important will happen this two to three days. It's better if you don't see Sendoh-san for a while.")

Hanamichi shook it away, not caring for the consequences as he rubbed Akira's back in a soothing caress. "It's alright, Akira. I'll stay with you. I won't let you go."

The more he let himself forget about Haruko, Kaede and the whole world around them, the more he felt himself falling for the man in his arms.



~~~~

More than an hour has passed. Hanamichi sat silently, stroking Akira's soft black raven hair as the brunette lay on his lap.
Suddenly, the shrill ring of the phone broke Hanamichi out of his thoughts. The redhead waited for the machine to pick the call up.
"Hello, this is the Sakuragi residence. We're not home at the moment so leave your message after the beep. BEEP."

"Hanamichi, this is Kaede..."

Hanamichi turned his head towards the telephone while Akira remained still in his arms.

"Akira is missing from the resort since last night. One of the crew said that he had a call from Sinichi. I'm worried that something has happened to him. If he comes over, call me. Doumo."

When the call ended, Akira sighed and shifted his head to lay more comfortably on Hanamichi's jean-encased lap.
"You're not going to call him, are you?"

"Move. You're getting heavy," Hanamichi said, not replying to the brunette's question. Akira smiled, and somehow knowing that the redhead would jump at the phone the minute he was free, he held onto the teenager tighter.

"I don't want to let you go," Akira murmured, shifting to lay his head against the redhead's chest. His arms that held Hanamichi's legs earlier on moved to wound themselves around the redhead's body.

"Hey!" the redhead protested, "Let me go!"

"This is nice," Akira sighed.

"Akira!"

"I want to be with you like this all the time," the brunette said, and Hanamichi could've sworn he could hear a smile in the low voice. He began to blush and sputter as he tried to struggle out of the tight embrace.
"Y-You're crazy! I'm gonna hit you if you don't let go!"

"Hanamichi... I... I'm not my dad's son."

The redhead stopped moving as he tried to process what he has just heard.
"What?"

"He told me... Sinichi... that he's not my real brother. Hisashi.... Hisashi's my real brother."

Slowly, Akira released Hanamichi and he sat up, running his fingers through his mussed up hair.

"So..."

"My mother met Anzai Kanagawa when he came into her cafe a long time ago. They fell in love and finally she gave birth to me out of wed-lock. She passed away when I was two and I was left mostly alone. Anzai-san... my real father... had watched over me from the very beginning. When my mother died he had his brother, my dad, to look after me as his own son. With my dad's reputation it was not surprising to the rest of the clan to hear of him bringing up a child not from his own wife." Akira suddenly coughed and with a wry smile he asked, "Can I have some water? I'm parched."

"Yeah, sure," Hanamichi replied getting up quickly from the couch. Less than a minute later, he returned with a glass of water for the young man.

"Doumo," Akira said before he drank half of it to clear his throat. When he was done he kept his hold on the glass, letting his eyes drop to watch the tilting motion of the water but not really seeing it.
"I don't know why he did it," Akira continued, "I don't care who my real father was. It won't change anything and I won't change myself. What I also won't do is forgive Anzai-san, Hisashi and Kaede for not telling me what they know. I won't forgive them..."

Akira's trembling grip on the glass tightened as his voice took on a furious tone, "They lied to me all my life!"
The glass shattered and suddenly Akira was staring dazedly at the water and blood trickling down his palm.

Hanamichi jumped up with a cry, "Baka! Your hand!" Quickly he pulled the brunette's hand for a look, wincing as he saw the bits of glass still stuck in Akira's skin. He ran towards the kitchen for the first aid kit and when he found it he ran back into the living rooom to tend to the brunette's wounds.

After cleaning the cut up, Hanamichi began to wrap it carefully with the bandage and as Akira quietly watched him do it, he spoke again without turning his eyes away from the task at hand.
"Akira, I think I know much about you now. Although you said that you won't forgive them, I know that you still love them... in your own way. I just realise, though, that that means that you can't really fight them or go against them or hate them. You're not all that strong as I thought you were..."

Akira sighed. "Aa. I often feel myself useless so I always give up. Especially when I'm with those three people."

Hanamichi finally looked up and smiled. Probably among the rest you are the most vulnerable.

"Did I ever tell you that you're cute?" he teased, evoking a smile from the brunette's lips.

"Cuter than Kaede?"

Hanamichi chuckled not replying to the question half-seriously posed.

Akira gave a quiet snort. "Kaede didn't care much when I said that he was cute."

"You told him he was cute?" Hanamichi grinned.

Akira shrugged. "Kinda."

At that moment, the doorbell rang and before Hanamichi could stand up to answer it, the door opened and Yohei's face popped into view.

"Sakuragi? Hi. The door was open."

"Yohei," the redhead said, standing up, "What're you doing here?

"Just coming by to hang out," his friend replied, stepping into the room, "Am I disturbing?"

"No," Akira told him, standing up as well, "I'm just leaving."

Hanamichi watched in surprise as Akira walked past him and out the door. Quickly mumbling an apology to Yohei, Hanamichi then ran after the actor and managed to catch up with the brunette before he entered his car.
"Akira!"

The brunette held his door open and waited for the redhead to catch his breath.

"I... uh... that is..."
Hanamichi frantically searched through his mind for an excuse to make the brunette stay with him. He did not know why but somehow he felt a sense of trepidation as he looked into Akira's sad eyes.
Hanamichi was afraid that the young man might do something bad if he was left alone...

"Would you like some tea? I make some mean cup of tea. You can hang out with Yohei and I," Hanamichi blurted before his face red with embarassment.

As if knowing about the redhead's thoughts, Akira gave him a loving smile though it held a trace of sadness that Hanamichi could see.
"You are the most wonderful person a man can ever have, Hanamichi," Akira said as if in wonder. And acceptance.

The redhead's eyes widened and his blush turned fiery. Before he could say anything else, Akira went into his car, started it and drove away, leaving the redhead to watch until it was gone from his sight.


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