Author's Notes: Finally, it's up and loaded. This is the chapter that hopefully crosses fingers and toes will get me back into the HYD groove. (And THANK YOU HUGS to those who reviewed the previous chappie!) Sigh. My muse has been quite lethargic for a while now.

Anyways, here's a peek into the young Doumyouji lifestyle. Enjoy!!!

Doumyouji Heir

Detaching from that bout of nostalgia and lost love, Kaede took her coffee mug to wash it all down. But on her way to get a refill from the pot just across the room, Kaede found herself staring at the huge portrait of their family hanging on the wall. Beautiful smiles, selected angles and expensive clothes; a painting that befits a place in the museum to be preserved for centuries.

But the description below would aptly say, "Nothing is what it seems."

Years went by so fast after her last meeting with Hisaki, almost as quick as the zeroes were added on Doumyouji bank accounts. The Doumyouji name was rapidly becoming a household name as hotels started sprouting in different countries all over the world. But with all the gained fame, with it also grew the disadvantages of being famous. As wealth always brings along paranoia, the safety of the Doumyouji's were now placed in top priority.

"Get back here!" A big burly man in a black suit and black shades shouted at the kid with the backpack fleeing very swiftly.

"Catch me if you can!" The boy poked his little head, winking and sticking his tongue out at him before disappearing around the corner of an alley.

"Stop!" The man ran as fast as his legs could carry his weight, but when he got to the dirty alley, he was faced with loads of rubbish, a graffiti-filled brick wall, but no kid in sight. "Damn that kid! He's getting me in trouble again!" He pulled the lapel of his coat and informed the rest of the bodyguards about the current "hide and seek" situation.

Just as he left the alley, one of the trash bins slowly opened, revealing a pair of mischievous little eyes and then, followed by a wide grin. "No more school for today!" he exclaimed to himself, before jumping out and scurrying towards the arcade just a few blocks from the alley.

The boy was on his way to Cyber Arcade when he spotted the ice cream bar across the street. Without looking at the ongoing traffic, he crossed the street as fast as he could, zooming towards his destination. The vehicles' brakes' screeched and their tires skidded on the road creating a near collision in the intersection, but the boy didn't spare them a second glance. He only had one thing in his mind—a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream with whipped cream and cascading chocolate syrup.

A charming little tune played as the boy pushed open the glass door and advanced onto the wide selection of ice cream combinations. "I want the biggest chocolate sundae you have!" the boy ordered, slapping a crisp bill onto the counter and licking his lips. "Yeah, and extra chocolate syrup!"

"Well, what's the magic word?" the middle-aged lady behind the counter asked.

The boy thought to himself for a while, and then smiled and said, "Now?"

For a second the lady looked appalled, but then she regained her composure, fixed her hairnet and smiling sweetly, told him, "If you want your ice cream, you have to say the magic word."

He wrinkled his brow in deep thought once again, but came up empty. The lady felt a little sympathy at the naïve child and asked, "Didn't your mother ever teach you any magic words?"

The boy finally smiled and with an accurate replication of his mother, victoriously proclaimed with his finger pointing directly at the lady, "Do you want to get fired?!"

The next thing he knew, he was back on the sidewalk with a wrinkled uniform, no ice cream and a foul mood.

"What's her problem? Those were the words, weren't they? My mom says that and everyone scurries to get what she wants! I don't get it!" The boy irately scratched his head in confusion, messing up his curly brown hair.

Shrugging off his questions, he decided that this event wouldn't ruin his day off from school. So whistling to himself, he picked up his backpack and happily walked on towards the arcade.

As soon as he was able to buy tokens, the boy headed straight to the newest virtual game. He excitedly inserted two tokens into the slot of the new virtual game and put the visor on his eyes. But just as the virtual dimension started filling his vision, the visor was snatched away as two pairs of muscular arms lifted him off his seat and out the arcade.

"Let me go!" he struggled, kicked and punched from all the directions a human anatomy possibly can. But outnumbered and outsized, he was pulled into the limousine and brought back to school.

Kaede had watched in mixed amusement and annoyance at the little boy on the screen, shaking her head and trying to hide the smile from forming on her lips. Who would've thought that a five-year old Doumyouji heir could be worth that much trouble? She could see he was going to bring quite a migraine in the future.

She had tried etiquette instructors, bitter old spinsters, and bodyguards who looked like ex-convincts, but they all failed to tame him. She had tried screaming (bawling, more likely) at him, cutting his allowance, making him go to bed without dinner and yet, nothing had worked. His son was as stubborn as a pregnant mule.

With an opponent like that, well-calculated strategies must be very carefully considered.

Kaede had mentally congratulated herself for coming up with the idea of putting a hidden camera in her son's backpack to keep her tabs on him constantly despite the thousand-mile distance from New York to Tokyo. That's one point for Kaede and zero yet for Tsukasa. But knowing her wily son, it wouldn't be long before he finds out about her scheme and then, she would have to cook up another ingenious game plan to match his.

She sighed, clicked the remote control as the screen rolled back up and proceeded back to work. But as she took hold of the papers in front of her, she caught a glimpse of the framed family picture beside her coffee mug. Her smile was quickly replaced by a look of melancholy.

Even then, they looked so perfect together. Blessed with hard-earned wealth, good genes and attractive physical attributes, the Doumyouji's almost seemed a perfect family. No one ever thought that maybe getting what you want, anytime you want, could be a problem. Everyone envied them.

But, if you just look close enough at the picture, you will see that none of those eyes reflected the joy in their pasted photogenic smiles.