Hanamichi looked up at the mansion of the Kanagawa family and took a deep breath, thinking about what has been happening these past few weeks. As predicted, the charms from the Haku store were selling like hot cakes and Hanamichi was sure they would be able to get the 4.5 million yen to pay the bank for this month. But instead of taking 4.5 million yen from their earnings, he gave the share owed the Haruko for that month and the previous month while keeping the rest for himself. That was when he told Haruko that they should stop the charms business. When the girl asked for a reason, he made an excuse saying that the rage for the charms would soon die and that it was better that they pull out before they gain any losses.
The real reason for Hanamichi to want to stop collecting money was that he did not want to pay off his debts anymore. He wanted a reason to be close to Kaede, even if it was only for 2 years. Before, it sounded like a life-sentence but because his feelings for the kitsune has changed, 2 years now does not sound enough.


~~~~

Kaede was looking at himself in the mirror wearing his new clothes when there came a knock on his bedroom door.

"Come in," the raven-haired young man said.

The door opened and a face with a curious expression and red hair gracing the head popped into view.
"Where are you going?" Hanamichi asked as he stepped inside the bedroom.

"No where," Kaede replied as he adjusted the cuffs on his jacket. "New jacket. How do I look?"

The redhead took his time appraising the brunette's form. Kaede's dark blue jacket, like all his other clothing, were custom made and they fitted him perfectly. The bottom part of the jacket was high, reaching to cover only his waist while his hips was clothed by a pair of throusers of the same colour and an earth-brown cravat was tied around his neck, the silk tie flecked with gold patterns. The attire made the brunette look stunning.

"It's okay," the redhead said, turning his face away to hide his blush.

Kaede looked back at the mirror with a critisising eye.
"Hn."

After a while the fox-eyed man began to carefully pull off his new cravat off. The redhead turned to look back at the brunette to watch him.

"So, how was your business?" Kaede suddenly asked.

Hanamichi made a careless gesture with his hands. "Eh, I've decided to close it up. We're not making enough money so we stopped selling since yesterday. Only enough to pay the suppliers and Haruko for her share."

Kaede made a small grunt-like sound as he draped his silk cravat on his bed. As he began working on the cuffs of his jacket, he spoke again, "Haruko.... is she a close friends of yours?"

"Aa," Hanamichi replied, nodding. "She and Yohei were great to me when I first came to school. Others avoided me like the plague when they saw my hair. She's one of my real friends and I've only got a handful of those."

"I understand," Kaede said.

Hanamichi scratched his cheek when he suddenly remembered something that he wanted to know. Without any preamble, he asked the brunette, "Hey, Kaede, why do you need a fake boyfriend?"

The brunette stopped in his motion of taking of his jacket for a moment. As he slowly slipped the clothing off, he answered while turning his back towards the redhead, "It's just for the promotion of our first resort. The company has already built one at Hakuba but father have not yet decided on who will manage it. The idea of you and me have attracted investors that supply the rest of our financing. The resort is the biggest project of the company and everyone in the family wants a part of it. Including me."

Hanamichi gave a low whistle of awe at the idea of the resort. Then he grinned as he leaned back at the small desk behind him.
"How large of a part do you want?"

"Everything."

The redhead's eyes widened at his answer but Kaede was still talking, "I want to control it because I am the best among all of us in the family. Everyone knows this."

Hanamichi arched an eyebrow. "Modest, aren't we?"

"I am only speaking the truth," Kaede told him. Hanamichi was about to say something insulting to the arrogant young man when the brunette spoke up, "That reminds me that we need to get you a set of new clothes. The company is going to hold up a winter promotional event at Hakuba before the preparation on the resort starts. There will be around 100 guests and we will be skiing and having a dinner party later on. I need you to join me for that occassion."

The redhead sighed. "For the promotion."

Kaede nodded as he pulled his shirt-tail out of his pants. "Of course."
And then he stopped and turned to the redhead. "Excuse me. I need to change."

Hanamichi blushed while cursing Kaede on his modesty. He certainly wouldn't mind taking a look at more of the brunette. Neverthless, he shrugged carelessly and said, "Oh, okay."


~~~~

Outside the door, while waiting for Kaede to change, Hanamichi met with Hisashi who was walking along the corridor towards him.

"What are you doing here?" the scarred-face man asked.

"Just dropping by to grace you Kanagawas with the tensai's presence," Hanamichi said cockily as he continued to lean against the wall beside Kaede's bedroom door.

"Actually, it only serves to bug me," Hisashi said dryly.

The redhead grinned. "That too."

The young man rolled his eyes. "I never did agree that you get picked to play as Kaede's boyfriend."

The redhead blinked in puzzlement. "Huh? But weren't you the one who offered me the part?"

"True, but I didn't choose you," Hisashi told him as he tucked his hands in his pants' pocket. "Kaede did. At that time we were thinking of how to get your father to pay back his debts when we were informed of his loss. Then, when Kaede read in the report that Sakuragi-san has a son, Kaede immedietly wanted to start on a promotion gimick by pretending to have a boyfriend with you to play as the part of the boyfriend and at the same time helping your father clear his debts."

"Oh," the redhead said thoughtfully, "I see. That's .... thoughful of him..."

"He has a head for business but I never thought he would go this far," Hisashi said, "he has made himself the centre of attention when actually I know that he'd rather be left alone."

Hanamichi sighed. "Stupid kitsune. Couldn't he have thought of something else?"

"That's the question that you should be asking," Hisashi pointed out, "because it concerns you. Why do you think he wanted you to be his pretend boyfriend?"

"What?" Hanamichi asked back, "What are saying?"

Hisashi smirked. "I'm not saying anything to you. You're the tensai, you figure it out."

"Aww, c'mon, Hisashi-kun!" the redhead whined, "Tell me!"

"That's Hisashi-sempai to you, boy," Hisashi said smugly before he walked away, not seeing the redhead making faces behind his back.

"Jerk," Hanamichi grumbled as he stuffed his hands angrily in his pocket.

At that moment, the door to Kaede's room opened and out walked the fox-eyed young man.

"You're still here," the brunette stated before he motioned to the redhead to follow him back into the room. As soon as Hanamichi entered, Kaede went to the desk and picked up a catalogue to show to the redhead.

"Pick which design for the clothes that you want," the brunette told him as he flipped open the catalogue, "Their people will take your measurements later."

Hanamichi nodded and as Kaede turned the pages over to show the redhead which designs suited him, he was only half paying attention as his mind kept on wandering to the young man beside him. Hanamichi has a nagging feeling that he have met the brunette before but he knew that it was impossible since no one would have forgotten a person like Kanagawa Kaede. Hanamichi gave a mental shake before he gave his full attention on what clothes that he should wear.


~~~~

The redhead was reaching the gate to his small house when he saw a tall spiky-haired brunette leaning casually against his front door. Hanamichi stopped for a moment before he resumed his steps until he reached the actor whose eyes were hidden under a pair of dark sunglasses. When Akira took the eyewear off, Hanamichi saw the blue eyes look at him in speculation which made the redhead suddenly felt very nervous.

"Hana-kun, you traitor," the actor said, his smooth voice failing to calm to redhead, "We need to talk."

A few minutes later, the two teenagers were sitting in the living room, Akira having already taken off his scarf and coat before he sat on the chair beside the couch where the redhead was sitting on.

"I went to the Haku shop just now to ask about the business and you weren't there but I got to talk with your friend, Haruko-san. She told me you wrapped up the charms business but I didn't believe one bit of the reason that you gave to her. I have enough of the Kanagawa blood to know that you could've stayed in the market for a few more months. What are you up to now?"

Hanamichi twiddled his fingers guiltily. "Ano... I just... changed my mind, okay?"

Akira leaned forward to capture the redhead's brown eyes with his piercing gaze.
"What do you mean? Have you given up?" Akira demanded. Then he suddenly stopped in thought before he asked suspiciously, "Or have you started to like Kaede?"

The redhead couldn't help but blush, which, of course, answered the brunette's last question even when the redhead was sputtering out denials.
"Souka," Akira sighed, "Another one to Kaede's list."

"C'mon," Hanamichi defended himself, "He's not so bad."

"You don't know him!" Akira snapped, "I do. He's got a block of ice for a heart and he doesn't care for anybody. You're only setting yourself up for heartbreak!"

"Then you don't know him like I do," Hanamichi said stubbornly.

Akira tilted his head to the side to regard the redhead in a curious manner. "Really?"

The redhead blushed again and looked away.
"I found out why Kaede did the fake boyfriend stunt," he then said changing the subject abruptly, "It's for this new resort they're opening up in Hakuba."

Akira suddenly sat up in surprise. "What? I thought that project was put on hold for a while! Some problem about not being able to find the proper person from the family to lead the business."

The redhead shrugged. "Apparently, they got it started again. And from what Kaede told me they still have no definite choice on who will control the project."

"Damn," Akira muttered, "This is going to get ugly. And I know Kaede won't give up without a fight. He's that kind of person."

There was a moment of silence as both young men absorbed the meaning of the situation before Hanamichi stood up to get Akira a cup of tea. When he returned to the living room with a tray of drinks and cookies, his dark-haired guest was looking at one of the photo albums that Hanamichi has kept under the table.

"Is this all of you?" Akira asked, holding up the album to show the redhead its cover.

"Yah," the redhead answered as he placed the tray of snacks on the table in front of Akira, "I think that was when I was in primary school. My parents kept my photos when I was a kid but then we stopped taking any more when my mother passed away."

"I'm sorry," Akira said solemnly.

"It's okay," Hanamichi told him, "I still love my mother but I've already let go of the past."

Akira smiled. "Mmm..."
As Hanamichi poured some tea in one of the cups, Akira flipped a few more pages of the album when suddenly he sat up and pointed at a particular picture of the redhead's primary 1 class photo.
"This is Kaede!"

"What?!" The redhead gaped. "No way!"

"This is him!" Akira insisted as he continued to jab his finger onto the face of a dark-haired boy who was sitting in the middle row with other boys.
"Look at his forehead. He's got a band-aid to hide his scar so that means he must've been 9 years old when you got this picture."

The redhead grabbed the album from Akira's hands and stared at the picture. "I didn't know he was in my class!"
Quickly, he searched his memory for his primary school-mates in that year. He definitely remembered a few boys that he used to pick fights with because they made fun of his hair... in fact, those boys bullied everyone that they hated and he recalled his enjoyment at beating the crap out of them whenever their bullying got out of hand with the other kids. One kid that the boys liked to pick on was a new kid in school who was quiet and basically an introvert. Hanamichi remembered during one particular day that the boys surrounded the kid and began pushing the shorter boy around and would've done more if Hanamichi had not stopped them with a fist in their faces. In the end he got himself a bloody nose but he left the playground as the victor. He did not bother to check up on the other kid and instead walked away, satisfied with his win for the day.

Little did he know that that would be the last time he would see the boy in that school.

"He was the new kid!" Hanamichi exclaimed suddenly figuring it out, "But then he left a month later. And his name wasn't Kanagawa Kaede!"

"No, it's not," Akira informed him, "He wasn't a Kanagawa yet at that time. Anzai-san adopted him a few months later. During that time, he must've been living in one of his relative's home before he came to live in the mansion. His real name is Rukawa Kaede."


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