I know it's been a long time since I've updated. I've been pretty overwhelmed by school and writing my thesis. Sorry for making you guys wait for so long, but after nothing but four history essays, researching for my thesis on Japanese film and anti-war/nuclear weapons themes, and all the other assigned readings I have to do it's a wonder I'm still able to function at the end of the day.

I also talk a little bit more about the city of Fukuoka, Japan in this chapter. I don't think they've ever actually said where K-on is takes place, but I noticed the school has palm trees and it seems snow is not a common event which seems consistent with some parts of western Japan like Kyushu. Mostly I was going off clues I saw in the first season. Kyushu's temperatures are mostly affected by the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean which generally prevent heavy snowfall that Aomori and Hokkaido Prefectures are subjugated to. Fukuoka is one of the largest cities in Kyushu and it located on the main Shinkasen Line connecting it to Kagoshima in the south and Aomori in the north and encompasses most of Japan's major cities including: Shinomoseki, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tokyo, and Sendai. Also it had to be near an ocean since they took vacationed at the beach in the series and they took a commuter train which leads me to believe they didn't travel very far.

A little bit about Fukuoka now.

Fukuoka is one of Japan's largest cities and the largest on Kyushu. It is the capital of the Fukuoka Prefecture and located in the Kyushu Region (Japan has 47 prefectures divided into nine administrative regions. The islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku each only have one region). Fukuoka is a located on the northern coast of Kyushu. It is said to be Japan's oldest city and one of the first cities to make contact with mainland Asia since it is close to Korea (Koreans brought Buddhism, the Chinese written language, and many other things to Japan about 2,000 years ago). Some of the wards that make up Fukuoka were actually independent towns that merged into one city as the city grew. This was also the area where the Mongols landed their doomed invasion force and from Fukuoka we get the legend of the Kamikaze. Fukuoka became an important port and still is involved in trade with South Korea and China. It is a very culturally diverse city since it has historically been a gateway into Japan for Asia making it a crossroad for Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. They also enjoy large amounts of tourists from Asia. Fukuoka is considered one of the most livable cities in the world and has many rice fields located in certain parts of the city. Fukuoka is also not very seismically active so earthquakes are not all that common. If you are a resident of Atlanta, Georgia or Oakland, California then you are in Fukuoka's two American sister cities.

Fukuoka is also home to a lot of yakuza and youth gang activity since it is located on the vital crossroads of rail, road, and maritime transportation. Makes it a nice place for traffickers of all kinds (humans, drugs, weapons, stolen goods, etc.). So the story will also start to mention more about the yakuza and other Asian organized crime.

Chapter 10: Deeds of the Angels

Ikuto sat in the passenger seat of Saito's car. They drove through the Hakata Ward trying to make their way back to Saito's apartment which was located on the tip of the Minami Ward, a little deeper inland from the coast.

"Anything you wanted to see in particular?" Saito asked.

"Hmmm, Fukuoka is supposed to have a lot of attractions."

Fukuoka's proximity to the Republic of Korea and the People's Republic of China meant that the city enjoyed a lot of foreign tourists in addition Japanese and Western tourists. There were many art and cultural museums. The city was also famous for its ramen, but they had just had some of the famed Hakata ramen for lunch. The city also had the giant Sky Dream Fukuoka, one of the world's biggest Ferris wheels standing at 120 meters.

"Where's your school?"

"Sawara Ward."

"Oh, I see."

Ikuto was wondering where they were when he saw rice fields. Saito trying to avoid accidents on the main highway and had taken a side route near the rural parts. To Americans like them it seemed so weird to see fields of rice in a city, but a lot of the middle of the Sawara Ward was cultivated. Saito and Mugi both lived in the western part of this ward. Yui, Ui, and Nodoka lived more towards the middle of the northern half in the Arita District of the Sawara Ward.

They finally reached Saito's apartment. Ikuto set his things in the guest room. Saito had carefully cleaned his apartment and made sure that there were no weapons lying around aside from a few antique guns displayed on the wall.

"What's this one?"

"That's a Colt 1851 Navy Revolver. It's pretty famous. People like Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, and Robert E Lee used these guns."

"And this one?"

"That one I just got. It's a Colt Paterson Revolver. It's generally accepted as the first revolver. At the very least it is the first to be patented and the first to be made commercially available."

"Can I shoot it?"

"Hell no. They're god damn antiques. The Patterson isn't even shootable. The metal had deteriorated. It would probably explode."

Ikuto looked up at this brother.

"You really want to learn to shoot a gun, don't ya'?"

Ikuto nodded. "I'm 15, Saito-nii. I think I'm old enough to handle one responsibly. What's the worst that could happen?"

"You could like it," Saito muttered. "Maybe another time."

"A round of golf then?"

"Sure."

They found a driving range. Ikuto and Saito were both rusty. It was a pretty quiet day. Saito really didn't know how to entertain his brother sometimes and Ikuto was just grateful to spend any time together.

"I play Mind Rot, you discard two."

"Cute," commented Saito.

They were relaxing in a manga café and playing Magic the Gathering. Saito had learned this game from Jack and Anya first before he discovered Ikuto played the game. It was something they did for bounding time. They even started to play the game over the internet in the past. It was also a great way to kill time in the field. Assuming the cards weren't destroyed it was a fun game that didn't require any electronics or access to the internet.

The rules were simple. You started with seven cards in hand. Each player had a deck with a minimum of 40 cards. Cards ranged through five colors, or the artifacts which had no color. Players needed land cards, referred to as mana, to pay costs to play cards or abilities. From there the game got complicated as each card had abilities, types, faction/tribe, and so on.

"I also play Hypnotic Specter."

Saito turned the card around and examined it. "Every time it deals damage to opponent player that player discards at random."

"Love making you discard Saito-nii."

"Right. You done?"

"Yup."

"I play a land card and end my turn."

Ikuto drew a card and smiled ruefully. He played a land card. It was a swamp, which were the black cards. Black was normally associated with power, ambition, greed, death, etc. Not exactly evil, but the cards often featured zombies, vampires, skeletons, and 'horrors'. Ikuto liked the black cards. He often combined them with red cards which tended to favor chaos and rapid attack. They also featured a lot of goblins and fire related creatures.

Saito liked white and liked to combined them with black. It was the oldest of these types of card games, predating Pokemon cards and Yu Gi Oh.

"I play Liliana Vess."

"Your planeswalker."

Planeswalkers were some of the most unique and deadliest cards in the game. Cards were divided into four classes: common, uncommon, rare, and mythic. All planeswalkers were mythic.

"I make you discard a card."

Saito sighed. He was running out of cards in his hand. He only had one left in hand.

"I also attack."

"I block with my White Knight. He has protection from black and so you can't hurt him. I also block your Specter with my Griffin. He has first strike so your Specter dies."

Ikuto had a lot more cards on the field. Saito drew a card and impassively looked at it. He tapped his mana and made his play.

"Planar Cleanser."

"… you bastard."

"Language, Ikuto."

Saito had removed all but the land cards from the field to the graveyard.

"Also for fun my Baneslayer Angel. She is a 5/5 with flying, first strike, lifelink, protection from demons and dragons."

It was one of his very best cards and Ikuto had nothing to stop it. The only reason Saito didn't attack was because he couldn't until his next turn.

Ikuto drew his next card. Then he folded. He didn't have the means to protect himself. "I got nothing."

"Game."

"Damnit."

"You hear anything about the M11?" asked Saito. He was referring to 2011 Core Set. All Core Sets were designated M.

"I heard they're taking Cleanser out."

"Figures. It's a little too powerful, but I do love it so. At least they'll keep the good old Sun Titan and the White Knight is supposed to stay."

The Core Decks were always released every July. They continued their trivial conversation for a while until Ikuto finally asked the bigger questions.

"How is Uncle FH?"

"Still haven't heard from him. I got a New Years Card, but no return address," said Saito.

Officially the Kamisaka Family was members of the United States Episcopal Church, which was part of the Anglican Communion (1). But they still observed Shinto holidays and practiced Shinto traditions like New Years. Saito had asked his parents once why they practiced both when the Christianity demanded you have no other god before Him. It was a concept difficult for Westerners to understand and Saito had been told not to bother trying to explain it with the Shirojin (White people) or other Gaikokujin, the polite word for foreigner. They would never understand.

"Aunty is pretty pissed."

"Can you blame her?"

"Nee-san is doing well," said Ikuto cautiously.

"Good," said Saito. It was all he could say. He couldn't bring himself to ask about her just as thousands of miles away Michiko could not bring herself to directly ask about her long lost younger brother.

"Grandpa is going well as far as I know. He asks about you and if you'll call."

Saito remembered how close he was to calling him just a few days ago.

"Aunty is mad you don't call her."

"I really should more often."

"At the very least she'll stop bothering me about it."

Saito snorted and Ikuto grinned. They often had these tongue in cheek conversations. They would discuss serious things and throw in sarcasm and satire as their coping mechanism.

"You gonna' call grandpa?"

"I don't know," said Saito. He found it so much easier just to do nothing in these situations. It was so much easier to sleep underground, eat tasteless military rations, and deal with machine gun fire than his own family. He decided he would think about it.

Previous Night – Fukuoka International Airport

Hirasawa Teruko was completely exhausted. She had spent 14 hours on a flight from Dulles International Airport to Narita International Airport on ANA (All Nippon Airways). Then she had to transfer to an Air Nippon, which was owned by ANA, to Fukuoka International Airport, formally Itazuke Air Base.

Originally it had been built in 1943 by the Imperial Japanese Army and was then run by the United States Air Force until 1972. Now it was a civilian airport.

Teruko grabbed her black rolling suitcase and slung her computer case over her shoulder and slowly made her way down aisle of the Boeing 737. It was only 8 pm, but Teruko had been travelling for more than a day. She was having a very hard time getting a fix on the exact time since she had crossed at least eight time zones and the International Date Line. Beautiful young flight attendants, the co-pilot, and the captain all waved and said their good-byes to the departing passengers.

Teruko may her way through domestic terminal. There was an international terminal mostly for flights to South Korea, Taiwan, China, and other destinations in Asia. There was a seasonal service to Hawaii, but no other flights to the West.

She waited in the baggage claim. Normally she didn't check in any baggage, but she had a few things for her daughters. She wished that she could have brought sweets or cake from America, but international laws were so strict on transporting food of any kind across borders. There were good reasons, but Japan – as far as she knew – didn't have any diseases that weren't present in the US and Yui would have really loved this cake she saw in Washington.

Finally the box emerged from behind the flaps that hid the backroom. It had several stamps and stickers on it showing it had been through multiple inspections by both US and Japanese custom officials. She just hoped nothing was destroyed.

Teruko struggled to stay awake. She sent them an email informing them her flight had landed safely and she was on her way. The cab stopped at last in front of a house. She unlocked the front gate and walked towards the house. She felt very nervous. Teruko pulled out her house keys and unlocked the front door.

She set down her baggage and removed her shoes. Teruko could hear footsteps that came to a sudden stop as a teenager emerged from the stairs.

Yui and her mother stared at each other. Yui was dressed a pink T-shirt and sweat pants. Teruko was dressed in business suit.

"Okari, (welcome home) Ka-chan," said Yui. Yui could see her mother, but she did not fully believe she was finally home. The parents she had needed so badly had finally arrived after their long absence.

"Tadaima (I'm home)," said Teruko weakly. This was not the daughter she had left a few months ago. The light in Yui's eyes was still present, but it seemed to have lost some of its luster. Her smile had lost some of its innocent edge.

Then from the stairs emerged Ui. Seeing her daughters together Teruko saw the dark circles under Ui's eyes had disappeared some. As if some stress had been lifted. Ui looked at her mother with uncertainty. Teruko looked between her daughters. Both were growing, but Yui had made a dramatic and unpleasant leap. It was not the quiet, graceful, domesticated woman that Ui was growing into. Yui seemed more alert, wiser, and focused than ever before. As if suddenly all the potential locked up inside was spilling out and she was learning to command it. Teruko felt tears start to fall and she grabbed both girls into a hug.

She had definitely been gone too long.

"It's okay, Ka-chan," whispered Yui comfortingly. She hugged her mother back and gently massaged the small of her back. Both Teruko and Ui wondered when Yui had become so good at comforting other people. They didn't know that Yui was just acting on the same instincts she had used to calm down Azusa or the ones that Saito seemed to use to calm her down.

Next Day

While Saito was cleaning his apartment in anticipation of his brother's arrival, Yui and Ui were both up and making breakfast. Having spent hours on board transoceanic flights Teruko was barely able to crawl out of bed. She was shocked beyond belief to see Yui cooking. Firstly, Ui had never allowed Yui to cook. Secondly, no one had taught Yui to cook.

"Ohayo, Ka-chan," said Yui.

Teruko rubbed her eyes to make sure see was awake. "Yui… when did you learn how to cook?"

Yui looked perturbed. It was a characteristic expression of hers. "Eto, I learned about two or three weeks ago."

She looked to Ui for confirmation. "Maybe a two and a half weeks."

Omelets, toast, and bacon. A Western Breakfast as it was called in Japan. It was nothing particularly complicated, but Yui had always been so clumsy that when they had tried to teach her in school she burnt herself. For an entire semester of elementary school Yui had little use of her left hand. Since then Ui had been very weary of letting her older sister attempt cooking. But that was no longer an option.

"You really are growing up," said Teruko. Traces of her old daughter remained, but this was not the same person.

"Onee-chan made the omelet today," said Ui. It looked a tiny bit burnt on the edges, but aside from that it was nearly perfect.

"It looks good." Teruko had not meant to sound as surprised as she did. Yui just laughed and rubbed the back of her head nervously. Teruko took a bit. It was neither the best nor the worst, but the fact that her eldest had cooked it made it special.

"Onee-chan wanted to start doing more around the house," said Ui brightly. Teruko noted how Ui's tone was careful not to make it sound as if Yui was doing nothing. She adored her big sister too much.

"I wanted to be a better big sister and friend," said Yui. Teruko looked at her older daughter. She spoke with in a tone she had never heard from Yui before. It sounded firm and self-criticizing. Yui took a bite of her food and then said, "I want to be a better person."

"But Yui, you're already a good person," protested Teruko.

Yui smiled sadly. This was definitely out of character for her beloved Yui. "I don't think I was. But I want to be better."

Yui stared at the glass of orange juice and said quietly, "Someone told me that I had potential and if I worked hard I could be a great person."

"Yui, we've always told you that," said Teruko. Ui nodded vigorously.

"But he pointed me in the right direction and told me how to start."

Who told her this? Teruko wondered. Ui however realize who she was talking about. Teruko was still pretty exhausted but she also wanted to spend time with her daughters. It was a beautiful Friday and she decided to take them out for lunch.

Saito's Apartment

He sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about you."

"If you say so," said Saito. He never really bought into that cliché. Saito was unpacking food they had bought at the store. Ikuto was not particularly skilled in the kitchen and was relegated to peeling potatoes and ears of corn. "Can you handle mashing those taters up?"

"I think this simple southern boy can manage that much," laughed Ikuto.

"You'd be a failure as a southern if ya' couldn't," said Saito wryly. Saito's phone vibrated.

"Saito-nii, you got an email," informed Ikuto.

"Can you check it for me?" asked Saito as he spread barbecue sauce on some ribs. He was already thinking how good this would taste. Any American worth his skin appreciated good barbecue in Saito's mind… except for the vegetarians and Saito didn't care what they chose to do unless they tried to convince him that eating meat was wrong.

Ikuto picked up his brother's phone. Any business related calls, texts, emails, or messages of any form were password protected. Saito didn't have much of a personal life and didn't really bother to protect his personal stuff from Ikuto. In fact nearly all the texts messages where from his three friends and Ikuto on rather normal matters.

Ikuto's eyes widened when he saw the unfamiliar email address.

HY94giitagadaisuki

According to Saito's phone's contacts list this email address belonged to Hirasawa Yui. There was nothing particularly special about the email. The girl seemed to be rambling on about her life and asking Saito questions about playing the guitar or homework assignments or completely random questions. However Saito was not the kind of person that normally had mundane discussions with a normal 16 year old high school girl. There were only a couple of conversations that were password protected between the two and Saito had replaced their topics with an alphanumeric code that would probably only make sense to him.

They sat down for dinner. Saito abandoned any pretense of table manners and dug in eagerly. Ikuto enjoyed his food with enthusiasm too, but he wondered more about who this girl was. Saito talked about Yui rather fondly for someone who was new to his life and outside of the very well established inner circle that few ever penetrated.

"What's bothering you?" asked Saito. Ikuto's natural instinct was to lie and say nothing was wrong, but he knew Saito would see through it and would get the answer if he was so inclined to do so.

"How do you deal with girls?" Ikuto asked. It was a broad question that would partially get his desired answer. This kind of subterfuge was something his brother had taught him and Ikuto had to be very careful on his approach if he wanted to get any answers without him locking down. Like a good security system, if someone tripped Saito's defenses he would shut down and not let anything out.

"How so?" asked Saito. He frowned. It was too broad a question to answer easily.

"Well, you've had girlfriends before."

"Interested in dating?" asked Saito wryly. Ikuto didn't like the smirk his brother was giving him. For once he had seemed to deceive his brother, but he found himself in an embarrassing conversation.

"It's not that!" Ikuto shouted.

Saito laughed seeing his brother's face turn bright red. "You're mysteries and puzzles are so much easier than girls, ain't they?"

Ikuto felt the sage like words eat out his embarrassment or annoyance. "I just don't get them."

Saito ate the last of his dinner and wiped his mouth and cleaned his hands on his jeans. "I have a few observations about women I think to be true."

Ikuto forgot about his original concerns about finding out more about Hirasawa Yui, but this was a rare opportunity. "Firstly and most importantly, women are often as baffled by men as we are of them. Many women are aware they can manipulate us to some extent – or so says nearly all TV sitcoms – but when it fails they tend to get frustrated. You talk about you getting beat up or in all kinds of awkward situations, right?"

Ikuto nodded.

"My guess is those girls want your attention. They're probably annoyed when you don't give it to them or the kind of attention they want and they lash out."

Ikuto looked weary. "Are all girls like this?"

"Of course not. Absolutes are rare in practice, this is merely theory."

"You say they understand us, but I don't think that's true."

"It varies. I have met women who understand the minds of men very well. This usually involves sexual seduction, but that doesn't always work on people."

Ikuto thought of how some of the girls in his school had the boys wrapped around their fingers. How they achieved that seemed exactly as Saito described it. "So, why doesn't it work on everyone, Saito-nii?"

"Well… you for one. You're awkward and find the whole topic of sex embarrassing," said Saito with a chuckle. Ikuto grunted in annoyance, but it was true. Ikuto had an interest in the female form, but he couldn't even look at pornography without overacting and having a monstrous nosebleed.

"What about you? I can't imagine you being so easily manipulated, Saito-nii."

Saito thought that one over. That had been true for a very long time. Saito was easier to coerce by the threats on his family or close friends. He had seen girls try to use their ways to manipulate him, but…

"I'm naturally a suspicious person, Ikuto. I assume most people want something from me for less than benign ends. Even you, but I know you want more benign ends. I see girls like that and they actually make me angry. Their maskirovka (deception) promises that they have little intention of giving. And even if they do make good on that by providing companionship or sex it's all pretty empty… makes me angry when you see what they want and what they are actually offering."

"But… don't you do the same?" asked Ikuto carefully.

Saito snorted. "The concept may be the same, but the ends are very different. I'm not some attention seeking whore who offers myself to be eye-candy and the subject of male masturbation. But yes, Ikuto, I do lie, manipulate, bully, threaten, blackmail, kill, and beat people."

Ikuto nodded. "Is this why you stopped dating?"

Saito seemed to deflate before his younger brother. He signed deeply and ran a hand through his hair. "It's part of it. I am also part of the problem too. I'm too distant, blunt, bitter, cynical, and suspicious. Even if I do meet a nice girl it would hardly be fair for her."

There was a long silence between the two.

"You think you're making any better of a decision?"

Saito didn't answer.

"You just gave up, Saito-nii."

"No," he said looking at Ikuto. His voice was calm and commanded the deep wisdom Ikuto was quite familiar with his brother wielding. "I still have some hope."

Ikuto sighed. In actuality he knew his brother was extremely cautious about approaching girls. Saito had done damage to them and they to him. It wasn't like anything especially traumatic happened to Saito. Like for most people, it was just the constant wearing down by life's events that took its toll. As Saito often told Ikuto the real test of becoming a man or woman was seeing how well a person endured life.

Ikuto felt his phone vibrate. He pulled out his phone, entered his password, and saw he had several frantic looking emails all marked urgent.

"What the hell did you do?" asked Saito leaning in to look.

"… well…"

"Ikuto, they sound you ran away from home," said Saito. His tone was somewhere between dumbfounded and amusement.

"I told them I was visiting someone. Only the landlady knows where I am."

"You didn't tell them you're visiting your brother?"

Ikuto bit his lip and tried to see how he could explain his reasoning. "I didn't want to interfere. I just wanted to spend some time with you."

Ikuto felt a powerful hand plop down on his head and gently ruffle his hair. "What's the worst thing that could happen?"

"… you remember Love Hina where they pursue Naru across Japan?"

"Ikuto, this is not a manga and it's not like you're the character in a harem story. It's not like they're going to kick the door and try to rescue you because they thought you were kidnapped."

Ikuto at that moment looked at the front door. Nothing happened. For their safety he hoped they wouldn't do something so reckless around his slightly paranoid brother who probably had a gun handy and likely shoot someone who suddenly came bursting through the door unannounced.

"You know Ikuto, I won't be angry if you wanted to bring a friend with you sometime," said Saito.

Ikuto sighed. "I really would like to meet your friends, Saito-nii. Mostly because I want to make sure they really exist."

Saito let out a bark like laugh. Despite the separation both were sharp tongued. "But maybe I'll bring them around so you can meet them. They're nice but a difficult group to handle. Like you're friends, but these guys don't listen to me."

Saito picked up Ikuto's plate and washed them in the sink while Ikuto watched TV. They were showing reruns of Season 3 of Burn Notice. The episode was titled The Hunter where burned spy Michael Westen was trudging his way through the Florida Everglades with an uncooperative criminal trying to evade an ex-Ukrainian black operative. Saito remembered his trip to Panama where he had a similar encounter in the Central American jungle. He also tried to make sure that was his last trip to any country with a jungle. Saito preferred temperate or cold climates.

"How come they missed him?" asked Ikuto as they watched a dozen men open fire on Michael.

"They're shooting at a range of more than 40 meters," said Saito. He thought it over for a few seconds. "They were mostly shooting with hand guns and submachine guns with a few carbines in the mix. It would be pretty unlikely to hit a target at that range."

Ikuto often noted that Saito substituted the word 'person' for 'target', 'enemy', or 'something'.

"You would be surprise how hard it is to hit a moving target at 25 meters," admitted Saito. He could do better than that, but that was from years of training and experience. "Also… this is just a TV show. They have to do some things to make it worth watching. It would be a pretty crappy show if Michael Westen died."

At the climax of the episode Michael and the former Soviet KGB officer were talking over the radio.

"You know I liked you KGB officers before you sold out. At least you believed in something then."

"You should be proud, Michael. Now we live American dream. Dreams you spies helped make. Open borders, free markets. Look at me. Russian team, Germans weapons, funding from the West. So many backgrounds, so many people working together…"

Saito often heard these kinds of conversations in ASI. Saito was born after the fall of the Soviet Union, but he forever heard the old generation talk fondly about the Cold War. Looking at the world today even Saito had to admit he longed for the days when Russians – and even the Chinese – believed in something. And without the Warsaw Pact to oppose the West now seemed directionless, but for this vague enemy called global terrorism. Also it seemed that in those days that global terrorism was easier to suppress when most of the world was dominated by three major superpowers: the People's Republic of China, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic, and the United States of American.

"You okay?" asked Ikuto.

"I've just met people from the former Soviet Republics like that…"

"You don't like the Russians, do you?"

Saito frowned. "I don't hate them. I like the Russians and find them fascinating, but I also find them strange and unpleasant to deal with… I won't like Ikuto, the Russians honestly scare me because they are hard to predict and the Russians I have met are dangerous people. No one ever really understood them, but during the days of the Soviet Union they at least had a set ideology they followed. Now they're just a cluster-fuck poor bastards trying to make sense of themselves in the modern world."

"There's always China."

"They're not real socialists. The Communist Party is pretty much a sick joke," said Saito with resounding contempt for both the Chinese Communist Party and the very foundations of Classical Marxism and its successors Marxist-Leninism and Maoism.

"China has pretty much given up on the idea of total religious suppression and just is working to control and monitor it. They also allow market capitalism in this system. They claim it's basically a contract and their just loaning the capitalists rights, but China can't deny their economy is very dependent on them… well actually they probably would deny it if you met any real socialists. I have to say in terms of Marx's natural course of history it seems China has lost its way."

Ikuto nodded. He could picture how these complex social-political concepts would make his friends' heads explode. Most people didn't really understand Classic Marxism and its successors Marxist-Leninism and Maoism.

"But I don't fault them. They're just trying to keep the country running like the rest of us," said Saito. "China is a lot more vulnerable than is popularly believed. A long list of contradictions means China is an extremely complex country. Like a gun, simpler is better because complicated things have too many variables that can go wrong. They could very easily become the greatest superpower or completely implode, but that was true for the United States and most of the European Union. God, it seems like things were so much simpler when it was just NATO and the Warsaw Pact staring each other off."

"You almost sounded like Uncle FH," muttered Ikuto. That made the hair on both of their necks stand on end.

They watched TV in silence for hours before either of them spoke.

"Ikuto…"

"Hmm?"

"You promise to never buy or possess a gun without my permission?"

"Sure. It's not like I can have one in the dorms and if I went home Aunty would kill me if I got one."

"… I show you how to do it properly then."

Ikuto looked at his bother with shook.

Next Morning

Ikuto was examining the Glocks the Kotobuki Security Teams used, but Saito dragged him away from the armory to the range. Ikuto marveled at the underground systems. He had a visitors' pass clipped to his shirt, but he still got stares from the staff who rarely saw visitors down here.

"So am I going to shoot one of those Glocks?" asked Ikuto. He tried not to sound too eager and risk changing his brother's mind.

"No. They're inferior guns to the SIGs. The materials they use to make the slides on the Glocks tend to wobble and bend when the weapon is fired," said Saito. Saito lead Ikuto to a booth. There was a set of controls for the targets and a table to place weapons and ammo. There were walls that separated each booth. It was a pretty standard pistol range. Saito placed a SIG P-220 on the table. Saito owned multiple versions of this gun, but today he was using the standard size 9 mm. It wasn't loaded and the slide was in the open position.

"Relax your arms a little… not that much, the recoil will hit you in the face," said Saito.

Ikuto was being told a hundred little details he wasn't even allowed to put a loaded magazine in yet and Saito stilled made him wear goggles and ear protectors.

"Remember, the SIG firearms are some of the very best you can buy."

"What about an AK?"

"The SIG SG 550 series takes the best of the Kalashnikovs and combines them with the superior materials and quality by a Western made rifle."

Saito didn't own any SIG rifles, but he wanted one. Unfortunately SIG didn't seem to want to sell their rifles to someone who wasn't 18 yet and for whatever reason the ones he managed to pick up on during a mission or steal ended up being lost for whatever reason. Their sidearms were easier get since they came from a different directorate.

"I could explain it all, but it would probably take days."

"Try me."

"You know what a long-stroke piston gas operated system is?" asked Saito. Ikuto's mouth was hanging open which seemed to answer the question.

"A lot of self-loading guns are gas operated. It uses the compressed gasses to operate a piston. There's also blowback, blow forward, recoil, gatling, and chain. Short recoil and simple blowback is pretty common for handguns because they're pretty simple. Each type has a useful application – well no one really uses blow forward anymore – and used in specific types of guns. Manufacturers also may have certain preferences. For now, you have a fairly standard short recoil type automatic handgun."

"What the hell does short recoil mean?"

"You really care?" asked Saito. He could give an easy enough answer, but the information wouldn't really mean much useless they needed very technical knowledge of guns that professional soldiers, security forces, or manufacturers need.

"We're bonding, aren't we?" asked Ikuto wryly.

Yeah, this is really great quality time, Saito thought sarcastically. "Short recoil is used on nearly all high-power cartridges like the 9x19 mm Parabellum or the .45 caliber ACP. Recoil guns – like the name implies – use the force of the recoil to operate the cycle. Because a certain amount of force is needed these guns tend to be sensitive to some ammunition and don't work well with cartridges smaller than 9 mm. Unlike long recoil, short recoil the barrel and bolt recoil a short distance together before they separate. The bolt – or slide as they are called in the case of a handgun – only goes all the back to the back and then thrust forward by compressing a spring during the recoil. It's a very simple system that can easily fit in small sidearms, but they're less popular with rifles."

Ikuto thought his brother was right. He didn't really care because it was all gibberish to him.

"Okay… here," said Saito sounding very worried. He handed Ikuto a full magazine of 9 rounds.

"Only nine? Doesn't the M9 have 15?"

"I personally find the Beretta M9 uncomfortable to handle. It has to be big to accommodate all those rounds. It makes the grip too big I think. And the SIG is better."

Ikuto lined the gun up to the target which Saito had set up to be at 10 meters. It seemed unnecessarily close to Ikuto. He pulled the hammer back with his thumb like he had seen in the movies. Saito wondered if Ikuto knew that he had forgotten to chamber a round. When nothing happened kept pulling the trigger hoping something would happen. He turned the gun to see if he could see something wrong. Saito felt increasingly nervous as Ikuto examined the gun trying to find why it wasn't firing. He nearly dived out of the way when Ikuto nearly pointed the barrel at him. Saito knew there wasn't a round in the chamber and he didn't care, it was gun safety 101 to never ever point a weapon at anyone but the intended target.

"Ikuto, you didn't chamber a round!" shouted Saito pointing the gun back downrange and smacking his brother over the head with his free hand. "Shit. Always be aware where you are pointing your weapon. You fuck up again and we're leaving. Clear?"

Ikuto nodded. Saito felt bad, but he couldn't afford to be too lenient on this matter.

"Look. I just don't want you to get hurt or to hurt someone. This is a weapon and it's dangerous. Just please, be careful."

Ikuto nodded. He grabbed the slide.

"No, you don't use your whole hand and grab it near the muzzle. Just use your thumb, index, and middle fingers and grab it from behind on those groves behind the breech, they put them there so it's easier to grip the slide when loading."

"Okay," said Ikuto.

"It always you to load more efficiently and to control the direction your pointing the barrel. Isn't it easier this way?"

Ikuto didn't notice the different, but Saito did. These were all the amateur mistakes made by people who didn't have the slightest clue how to use a gun.

"Ready?" asked Saito. He quietly prayed that at the very least nothing unexpected happened like the barrel rupturing.

"Ready," said Ikuto. His heart was racing and he was breathing hard. His whole body tensed up just like his brother told him not too. He was now scared at the moment of firing. He saw the cardboard target and aimed for the head. He squeezed on the trigger. Unlike Saito, Ikuto didn't know exactly how much pressure needed to be applied as he slowly depressed on the trigger. It was a sudden shock when he felt the mechanism release that was instantaneously followed by a bang.

Saito saw his brother had tensed up too much and he was feeling the full force of the recoil ripple through his body. He saw Ikuto had not expected the gun to fire when it did. Ikuto panic and fired three more shots in rapid succession.

"You missed," observed Saito while his brother panted. Ikuto slowly placed the gun on the table. Saito sighed. He took the gun, ejected the clip, and cleared the round in the chamber. He pulled out a fresh clip and stood in front of the target. Saito expertly loaded a clip, released the slide, raised the barrel, and fired all nine full metal jackets into the target. It had been like watching a machine. Ikuto saw his brother's eyes turn cold and intense. There was no wasted movement.

"Try it again," he said as he handed Ikuto the empty weapon.

Hirasawa Household

Yui opened her eyes. She felt pleasantly warm in bed and didn't want to get up. Yesterday had been a really wonderful day with her mother and sister. Teruko had taken them to the Canal City Hakata, a major shopping and entertainment district of the city on the east side of the city. She hadn't been there in a long time and they had the time of their lives looking at the shops and seeing a movie even. She couldn't remember the last time they had had such a family outing. She felt like telling Saito about it, but then she remembered…

She wondered if this would be like rubbing the fact she had family and he barely had any in his face. She also worried that it would be intruding into something private.

Yui eventually decided to roll out of bed. As per her normal morning ritual she took a moment to read the little note Saito had given her. She kneeled on her bed and stared through her little window. Yui felt rather optimistic for today. For some time she felt reservations about going outside, but now she felt safe. Still, Yui had some reservations about going around the city by herself. Ui still did most of the grocery shopping. The few times she tried it she knew she was going meet up with people and the one time she had tried going out on her own she had been frightened… until she had run into Saito.

There was a knock on her door.

"Hai?" Yui called.

"Ohayo, Yui," said Teruko. She stuck her head inside Yui's room and looked around. It was still the same pink they had painted it when they moved into this house. Yui had only been 2 years old – almost three – then and Ui was barely past her first birthday. The cliché is true, they really do grow up fast.

Teruko realized she hadn't seen her older daughter's room in a long time. It hadn't change all that much. There was the guitar that Teruko had given Yui the money to buy and it looked like it had gotten a lot of use. On the corkboard above her desk were pictures of her friends. One was dated last fall showing four girls sitting on a couch in a classroom. There were several others showing Yui at school, around town, and even at the beach with these three girls. Teruko assumed they were Akiyama Mio, Tainaka Ritsu, and Kotobuki Tsumugi. There was a more resent picture showing Yui posing next to a young man nonchalantly reading a newspaper. He had a rather visible scar on his neck and a couple smaller ones on his check that didn't show up very well in the picture. He looked studious, stoic, and dependable, but somehow Yui had convinced him to wear dog ears while she wore cat ears. Teruko suspected by his expression that he was trying to pretend this photo wasn't being taken. So this is Kamisaka Saito.

He looked… dangerous and that worried her. On the other hand his clothes were spotless and it looked like he actually ironed them. She could see the creases. Teruko had seen the same kind of type. It was the appearance of a professional veteran soldier who tasted battle and also took time to look very bit the professional he was because he took pride in his trade.

"That's Kamisaka-kun," said Yui. Teruko nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't heard her daughter approach from behind. "He's a little scary, blunt, unfriendly, distant, practical, never makes promises unless he absolutely can keep them… um, he is actually pretty nice."

Yui realized she was actually listing most of his bad qualities first.

"He takes care of those he cares about. He'd honestly fight to the death for his best friends and he has come to my rescue. He's a great teacher too. I have to say I've come to rely on him a lot now," admitted Yui. She was doing great these days, but she knew if Saito was to leave she would come crashing down again. Actually knowing she couldn't see or contact him for the next couple of days was raising her anxiety again. It did occur to Yui that he never said he couldn't call or email him and in a moment of weakness she emailed him last night. He eventually sent back an email with equally mundane things. She was relieved to hear from him, but she also felt she was bothering him or maybe he just didn't care at all.

"You want to go out for a while today?" asked Teruko.

Yui nodded and started to get ready for another day out with her mother.

Outside

Teruko noticed her daughters were growing in more ways than one, especially Yui. It looked as if Yui had grown a little taller… or maybe she was just using better posture. Ui often gave the impression of being taller, but it was only because Yui slouched a little. Yui was actually two centimeters taller than Ui. Her hair seemed a little longer too, but not very well kept. Dark bags were also still present under Yui's eyes. Despite some comfort from Saito – albeit blunt and not the most sensitive – and her own personal improvements there were still some nights were she would awoke bolt upright in a cold sweat and breathing hard. She was grateful these night terrors never made her scream in her sleep and wake anyone.

Life was still hard for Hirasawa Yui, but it was manageable. Her grades were still mediocre, she still was lazy in club, and Ui still did the majority of the chores. Yui was also increasingly becoming aware of her vulnerability. She was naïve and not physically strong. A month ago this scared her, a few weeks ago it depressed her, and now it made her angry and that made her worry. Yui wasn't used to feeling bitterness or anger. It had slowly manifested itself at Saito for how distant he was most of the time and how it seemed like he was so apathetic to her situation. She had to keep reminding herself that he had put a lot of effort into helping her. But the frustration from slow progress and looking at the past made Yui want to lash out for the first time in her life. For many reasons Yui's subconscious wanted to direct it at him.

Yui watched as Ui inspected a Japanese radish in the market. Teruko was looking at the price of meat at a different shop. They were in one of many street markets that were common across Japan. Supermarkets were also common in Japan, but savvy shoppers knew that the right stalls, vendors, and shops could provide the best prices and quality if one knew where and how to look. Yui had no such knowledge. Teruko also wasn't as well informed as Ui since it required not only the ability to check the quality of the food, but to actually know which places locally had the best prices and who were willing to bargain.

While Ui was busy looking at vegetables Yui was busy watching three men in suits approaching. They wore sunglasses and cheap gold jewelry. Instinctively Yui moved closer to Ui seeing the men that were most likely yakuza. Japan had an odd relationship with their organized crime. Major crackdowns against them didn't come until the 1990s. It was hard to believe that people really glorified them in movies, manga, and books when they really were just thugs and bullies. Worse yet, Fukuoka had many such criminals.

Upon closer inspection Yui realized they weren't Japanese. They were Chinese. Although Yui was a fairly open minded she still was guilty of a little xenophobia that was not all the uncommon in Japan. Criminals were one thing, foreign criminals were for some reason more frightening. Ui didn't notice them and Yui didn't want to worry her. The men took vague notice of them. The leader of little group was a little concerned seeing a teenage Japanese girl staring at them with a mix of dislike and terror. His fear was she might call the police before they could conduct their business, but most people when they sensed danger tended to run away from it and pretend it wasn't happening. He moved on and caught the eye of the store owner who turned pale.

In Japan the yakuza were the main organized crime groups. Each was divided into a family or clan of some kind. It was practically the only refuge of feudal Japan in the Heisei Period. Major port cities like Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokohama had foreign organized crime groups like the Triads and the Kkangpae. Even the Red Mob had their warehouses. Mostly the Triads avoided tangling with the yakuza and focused on the Chinese ethnic minority. The Kkangpae, who were Koreans, did the same. The Red Mob did some dealings with the yakuza like selling guns and drugs and in return they bought things from the yakuza. For the most part the Russians just owned warehouses to store their contraband before they shipped them off to markets elsewhere. Even Yui knew these facts. It was a kind of unspoken mutual agreement in Japan that organized crime groups avoided crossing these lines, but some broke the rules and it usually ended with violence.

So Yui was confused as to why Triads were picking on a Japanese store owner. Her heart stopped when she saw more men coming up the crowded street. These men were Japanese, had bats and clubs, and they didn't look happy. They were yakuza coming to protect their turf.

"Ui, we need to get out of here," said Yui grabbing her sister's arm.

"Onee-chan, I haven't paid yet," laughed Ui. She thought her sister was hungry, but when Ui turned around she saw terror. Yui looked for their mother, but the street was too crowded. Why do these things keep happening to me? How do these just happen around me?

Ui was suddenly aware of what was happening. So were other customers as they started to clear out. It was eerily like in the jungle when danger was coming and everything became quiet because all the animals had run for safety. The Triads noticed the sudden change too and knew they weren't the cause of it. One of the three broke off and hid behind some shelves full of bags of rice.

Yui did her best to shield Ui as the yakuza entered the open store. It occurred to her this look like a scene from a movie.

"What are you doing here?" demanded one of the yakuza.

"This man owes us money," said the leader of the Triads simply. "He wanted money, he come to us, we gave him money, he hasn't paid us back yet, and now we to find a solution."

"On our turf! You want to do business here you have to pay us tribute!" barked one of the yakuza.

"Ui, come on," whispered Yui seeing that the five Yakuza and the three Triads were busy fighting each other. Ui nodded and quietly crawled under tables stacked with goods. This unfortunately caught the attention of a yakuza member.

"And what do we have here?" asked a yakuza. He grinned down at the girls.

"Yoshida-kun, we're here on business," growled the leader without taking his eyes of the Triads. The yakuza had numbers on their side, but the Triads had better guns. They all had Chinese made semi-automatics. Since most people in Japan didn't own guns the Yakuza and the police didn't always feel the need to carry guns, especially the yakuza for who it was just an unnecessary liability to have an illegally concealed weapon when most of their activities were technically not illegal under Japanese law.

The one called Yoshida just shrugged. The girls looked young and one of them looked like she needed a little cleaning up, but they were still cute.

"Yoshida-kun, what the hell are you doing?" asked another. Seeing the yakuza distracted the Triad who had been hiding up to his point saw his leader give him a signal. He pulled out QSZ-92 – also known as the Type 92 Handgun – that had been modified to fire three-round bursts. The yakuza saw this were turned to look at him and pulled S&W Model 36s and small .22 caliber semi-automatic sub-compacts. At the same time the other Triads pulled their own QSZ-92s, these hadn't been modified but they weren't any less deadly. Yui saw that they were all distracted again and started to pull Ui away. But Ui wouldn't move. She looked around and was shaking.

A crowd was cautiously watching from what they hoped was a safe distance. Teruko was fighting and pushing her way through the crowd. She had noticed the yakuza earlier, but not taken much notice. It made her sad how boldly they could parade around the streets of Japan where in the US or Russia criminals had to more subtle. Then she realized that a crowd was forming around the store where her daughters were and now she was fighting her way through the crowd. As a character in a TV show Saito enjoyed once said, "A mother's love is an unrivaled force of nature."

She had literally hurled a teenager aside who sputtered and cursed in English. She finally reached the front of the crowd and saw eight armed men pointing weapons at each other. She saw Yui desperately trying to pull Ui to safety.

"Sumimasen (excuse me), but you literally threw my brother aside," said an irritated male. Teruko turned and saw a young man. He looked familiar and she didn't know why. He looked over at the yakuza and triads and scowled. "God damned pricks. It really is appalling- and is that Hirasawa-san?"

Teruko then recognized him from the picture in her daughter's room. The bodyguard of Mugi, a mercenary of Augur Security Incorporated, and friend of her daughter.

She grabbed him by the shoulders. Saito didn't react. He was too thrown off by how familiar the woman looked compared to someone he knew. "Help them."

It didn't take much to realize who she was and why she looked so desperate.

"Ikuto, my bag," he said. Teruko saw a teenager approach and hand him a brown satchel bag. Saito reached in and pulled out what was unmistakably a hand grenade.

"You always carry grenades, Saito-nii?" asked Ikuto who was as disconcerted as Teruko.

"Never hurts to be prepared. And they're non-lethal," he said disappearing into the crowd.

"What's he doing?"

"Don't know. I've never actually seen him work," said Ikuto. "But he's the best at this. They tell me he was trained by KGB, Navy SEALs, and British commandos."

Out of nowhere a cylindrical object a little smaller than a soda can arced through the air and landed in the middle of shop. A cloud of something was starting to be emitted before it even hit the ground. Yui heard something hit the ground about 4 meters away from her. She saw a cloud of gas billowing from it. She didn't know what it was and neither did the yakuza, but the triads recognized it and scattered. The yakuza gave chase, but started to cough and sputter as CS gas, more commonly known as tear gas, started to fill the shop. Yui was now far more terrified than before. The CS gas was doing exactly what it was supposed to, inspire fear. She thought she couldn't breathe and she thought fluids were filling her lungs... but she still had the presence in mind to know this was her chase to escape. But she still couldn't get Ui to move. Then Yui felt someone grab her by the collar. Her fear was that it was Yoshida and she did the first thing she could think of. She felt her fist connect with someone and felt something crack. She couldn't see clearly since tears poured out of her stinging eyes, another affect of CS gas. The person seemed to recoil, but grabbed her again and yanked her to her feet. He seemed to push her towards safety and simultaneously grabbed Ui. Unlike Yui this person had the physical strength to drag Ui whether she was moving or not.

Then she saw a silhouette in front of her. It was Yoshida. She was confused now. He saw she, but didn't seem to recognize her. He was having a hard time seeing and all her heard was confused cried and coughs. He pointed the .38 caliber snub-nose revolver with one hand while he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve in an attempt to protect himself from the gas. He just saw someone standing in front of him and he wasn't sure if it was triads or his "brothers" in the yakuza. He saw second and taller person appear and that was the last thing he saw before he was grabbed and sent face first into his attacker's knee knocking him unconscious.

Yui found herself at last outside of the cloud. She was doubled over and coughing. She wretched and vomited as her body continued to react violently to the CS gas, but these were mostly psychosomatic effects. She tried to regain her breath before looking around. The crowd had all run away. The only people still left was a teenage boy and her mother who ran full speed towards her daughters. Yui turned and saw Ui on the ground sputtering and coughing. Standing above her was Saito… and his nose was bleeding and broken. He seemed totally unaffected by the gas. In actuality Saito's eyes stung and he was breathing hard, but he had experienced CS gas to know it's effects weren't dangerous… but he would have preferred to have a gas mask because it was a hell of a lot more comfortable that way.

"Konnichiwa," he said nonchalantly. With a crack he reset his nose back in place. He kneeled down next to Ui who was lying flat on her back. He rolled her on her side incase she threw up too.

"That was your plan?" asked the teenage boy.

"It was a work in progress," said Saito patting him on the head.

"You're an idiot, Saito-nii," said Ikuto rolling his eyes. Yui was confused because she didn't know who he was talking to. Yui had never heard any call Saito by his given name.

Saito chuckled. "You just realized that? I thought you were smarter than that, Ikuto."

So this is his brother, thought Yui. She looked down at Ui.

"Was that really the best thing you could have done?" asked a semi-hysterical Teruko in the calmest voice she could muster.

"Against eight armed men in the middle of a crowded street?" asked Saito. "It was the only option I had without potentially started a massive shootout and getting a lot of people killed."

With a crowd nearby, the Hirasawa sisters in the middle, and the mobsters with their guns out… it was an explosive situation.

"That was fun," said Saito sarcastically.

"What did you do?" Yui finally asked.

"CS Gas. Riot police use it to disperse crowds. Most people panic when they inhale it and run away," he said simply.

Ui felt ashamed. Yui had tried to get her to save her, but because she was too scared to move she had put both of them in a lot of danger. Yui felt equally bad that she hadn't tried to get Ui to leave sooner, that she had been unable to escape, and had also broken Saito nose. Once again while Yui was thinking she found her thoughts interrupted by Saito doing something else. He was holding her hand and inspected her fingers.

"I think you may have broken a knuckle," he said clinically. As adrenalin wore off she started feeling intense pain.

An Hour Later

Yui sat in the waiting room of a clinic. Her hand was bandage. Her mother was in an examination room with Ui while she was being inspected for any side effects or injuries. Yui had been inspected first since she had the more immediate problem. In actuality her hand wasn't broken, but she had sprained it.

"Sorry," she apologized again.

"It's fine," said Saito vaguely as he read an old magazine. Ikuto had gone in search of a bathroom.

"I feel pathetic."

"Tell me what happen and we can decide on your actions more rationally," said Saito.

Yui sighed and did. Saito was quiet. She wondered if he was actually listening sometimes.

"You actually thought of escaping this time. That's new," commented Saito.

"It seemed natural," said Yui. "Nothing special."

"But you never had the presence of mind to run and manage to actually attempt it before," said Saito. "The problem was with Ui. She locked down. It was a hard situation you were in. You couldn't just abandon her there and you lacked the strength to make her move. And under tear gas it probably be hard to anyone –even me – to try to reason with a person. You did the best you could."

Yui scowled.

"You seem angry," said Saito. "Well, it was inevitable."

Yui glared at him. "What would you know about it?"

She received a smack to the back of her head.

"You feel powerless and you get frustrated. Eventually that turned into anger. You'll probably become depressed next."

"Am I really that predictable?" asked Yui still looking annoyed.

"No, this is pretty well established. We call it the Five Stages of Grief. Normally it is associated with traumatic lose, but similar things happen with other situations. Fear leads to frustration, resentment and, anger which eventually breaks down into depression. More or less that is the course, but nothing is set in stone."

"What about you?"

"I would say I've reached apathy," said Saito. "It came after the depression. It's not quite acceptance, but close."

Yui felt a hand plop down on her head and she felt warmness spread through her body from that point. Even though he wasn't looking at her he was still acknowledging her needs and insecurities. It was such a relief to have him here with her again. Her anger with him started to ebb away. Yui didn't understand it, but the relief was much needed and she didn't question it.

Ikuto eventually returned.

"You get lost?"

"I don't think lunch agreed with me very much," said Ikuto.

Yui turned red, but neither brother seemed to realize that discussing bowel movements was not the best topic of conversation in front of woman.

"You need to see a doctor?"

"I think its okay."

"If you say so," said Saito. Yui noticed that Saito didn't press the point with his brother when he normally pursued answers from other people.

"Where is the bathroom?"

"Down the hall, third on your left."

"Okay. I'll be back."

Saito walked down the hall. Yui watched him leave. Even though she was annoyed with him she still wished he was around. She was suddenly aware that she was alone with Saito's brother. He was watching her carefully.

"Hajimemashite (nice to meet you)," she said awkwardly. Ikuto shifted from a stoic analytical expression to a polite smile. It was disconcerting how quickly he could change expressions. Yui had found as of late that she was not particularly comfortable around men. She took little notice with children since they were too young to have much ill intent and Yui also found children adorable. Teenagers and adults were starting to make her uncomfortable. When she thought about it Yui didn't have a lot of experience around men and had never given much thought about them. Also resent experiences had not endured them to her much. The idea of falling in love, getting married, and having children was something she dreamed about occasionally in the vague fairy tale like day dream, but never seriously thought about. So Yui had never spent much time around boys in junior high. It wasn't like she hated them she just barely seemed to notice them.

Saito had been the first male friend she had ever made and she strongly suspected he was going to be the only close one she would make for a while. She didn't know Ikuto at all and she found herself starting to squirm.

"I like mystery novels."

"Eh?"

"Sherlock Holmes is one of my favorites," said Ikuto matter-of-factly.

"Oh," said Yui awkwardly. Ikuto was different from Saito. He was much more polite sounding and had a sort of bright innocence, but he had the same eyes that portrayed an active mind.

"Saito-nii is a lot alike him," said Ikuto. "And Dr. House, which is one of his favorites."

Yui noticed he had the same tendency to make these round-about points like his brother.

"Saito-nii is very much a child of the Enlightenment and a follower of such schools of thoughts as Realpolitik. He has little patience for the irrational and he loves to learn and to pass on what he learns. It's why he knows so much because he never stops learning and experiencing."

"I see," said Yui hesitantly. She could tell this was going somewhere, but where just yet.

"Also like Holmes he is socially awkward because he cares more about doing his job or satisfying his own curiosity than about the feelings of others. Sometimes it's just for his own entertainment."

Yui nodded in agreement. That was a pretty accurate statement from everything she had known about Saito.

"But he does care about other people's feelings. Even then there is a calculated reason. Saito-nii will say there is a reason for everything, even if the reason is unknown or illogical it is still a reason."

Yui just nodded again.

"I'm telling you this because Saito-nii doesn't like his time being wasted. So he has a reason for being around you."

Yui looked hard into Ikuto's eyes. She was trying to figure out what she was being told.

"Why?"

"I think he finds you interesting," said Ikuto. Yui frowned. She personally thought she was a pretty uninteresting person. Weird circumstances had been forced on her and she was merely a victim of it.

"What's so interesting about me?"

"Don't know myself," said Ikuto with a grin. "Personally, I'm interested too. He saw something."

Ikuto had a theory, but he wasn't sharing just yet. From his conversations with his brother he rather suspected that Saito himself did not fully understand why he spent time with the brunette. Yui was quirky in an adorable way, but that wasn't enough.

"He's just helping me deal with my problems."

"True. He does like to teach and help people. My brother's friends are pretty loyal to him because he takes such good care of them. He'll do that for people in need. I don't think there is a full reason to it because he can just as easily not help."

"You make it sound like he's a bad guy," chuckled Yui sardonically.

"Well, he's a killer, a smart ass, a jackass, cynical, and generally cruel," said Ikuto.

Yui stared at him.

"But he never abandons his friends and when he makes a promise he will fight to the bitter end to keep it. He is dependable. I have yet to see a situation that he can't find a solution to. He can be fiercely loyal and the best ally you will ever have," said Ikuto.

Yui remembered how after the concert he had struck down that boy and then carried her immediately to a bathroom so she could vomit. When she teased him Saito would humor her when he could have very easily told her to go to hell. He took the time to teach her. He listened to her problems. He told her his problems.

Why? she wondered.

Because Kamisaka-kun does not do all that for people he doesn't like, a voice told her.

Have I really forgotten that I am his too?

"I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that my brother is a not a well person. He is always hovering on the edge of the abyss. A lot of people will never make it without him," said Ikuto with almost the exact same hard expression Saito used when he was trying to press a very important point home.

Yui nodded. From her interactions she knew something darker lurked in the young man. He even told her flat out that he was probably a very sick person. But Yui didn't regard herself as being all that well anymore either. Although it wasn't anything nearly as sinister as him there was plenty of darkness, anger, and crippling depression lurking inside her heart.

"Please don't push him over the edge," said Ikuto. His eyes were pleading. The brother he rarely saw and was still getting to know was the person Ikuto feared losing the most.

Yui smiled sadly. "Don't worry. As long as people need him he won't be going anywhere. I don't think I can manage without him for a while either."

Yui survived off others and Saito drew existence by the needs of others.

Yui sadly stared down at her right hand. The injury wasn't bad, but she wouldn't be to play the guitar for a little while. She had been playing her beloved Les Paul a lot lately. She did so because she wasn't to make sure she remembered all the chords, so she could be a better senpai to Azusa, and most of all because she found it relaxing. Now she was deprived of that.

Saito returned to the room. He tossed Ikuto a can of soda which he caught. He then held at a can of juice out for Yui. She saw his poor attempt at a friendly smile and she smiled back. Ikuto watched this silent interaction carefully. He was slowly forming opinions of the brunette and trying to decide whether she was a good thing or the final nail into Saito's coffin.

Appendix

1. The Anglican Communion an international association of Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church there is not a strict central authority with the Anglicans, like the Pope in Rome. The Archbishop of Canterbury and Queen Elizabeth II are the official heads of the Church of England, but there is not an official union of all the Anglicans churches. I am an Anglican… sorta'. I am told the Archbishop is overall in charge, but we don't really have authority over us. The Primate in New York City is the head of the American Episcopalians. It's more or less like we are in some kind of group that mutually agrees we are a community.

2. According to my Catholic friends the Anglicans are basically as Catholic as they could be while still being Protestant. We did not recognize the authority of Vatican or the Pope. We do not go to Confessional, which the best part of being Anglican. We do get baptized and talk about a Holy and Catholic Church. I don't really get it myself. Blame Henry VIII.