"I'm going to Japan."

I almost dropped my wine glass at the shock from Ugetsu's statement. I hoped I'd misheard.

"What?" I croaked. Giotto stared at me, slightly concerned, as if he knew what was going through my head. Hell, he probably did.

"I've decided to go to Japan," Ugetsu repeated, crossing his arms. His usual white robes completely covered any sign that his hands even existed.

"Well, you'd blend in with that stupid hat of yours," I tried to joke, hiding my disappointment and on-coming depression. Ugetsu laughed.

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that."

"You've always been interested in Japanese culture, right?" Giotto finally spoke up. "I think it's a good idea. You should go."

"Thanks, Giotto." Ugetsu nodded as if he'd been waiting for Giotto's permission. He stood up and left the room to go pack.

Once he was out of earshot, my hand finally lost its strength and the empty wine glass clattered to the floor.

Giotto and I were the ones who decided to go see Ugetsu off.

Once he'd said his goodbyes to Lampo and Knuckle (Alaude and Daemon were impossible to find as always), Ugetsu, Giotto, and I all climbed into Giotto's van. I sat in the second row, letting Ugetsu sit by his friend for the last time. I stared out the window and tried to keep my tears from falling. No one said anything as we drove to the airport.

"We'll keep in touch," Ugetsu promised as he picked up his luggage. He seemed to be talking to me specifically, but I was probably just exaggerating things. I stared at his hat and wondered if it would make it through security.

"See you, Ugetsu," Giotto smiled slightly as Ugetsu walked towards the door, crossing the road. It was now or never.

"Ugetsu!" I screamed. "I-!"

-love you. The words died in my throat as he turned around to stare at me.

"I-I'll beat you in a fight when we see each other again!" I yelled instead.

I could hear Ugetsu's laugh all the way across the road.

"I'm looking forward to it, G!"

I waved as I watched Ugetsu get his luggage checked and head for security through the door.

"You didn't tell him," Giotto commented once I'd stopped waving and hesitantly put my arm down. I gave a shaky laugh.

"He probably wouldn't want to know," I replied.

"Maybe he wanted to stay with you."

I snorted, trying to hide a sob that almost escaped my throat, as we walked back to the van.

"Then he wouldn't be going to Japan, would he?"

On the drive back to the little shack we shared with the rest of the family, I tried to compose myself. I didn't want to worry Lampo, who was like a little bro to me and, if I started acting depressed, Knuckle would probably start spouting random crap from his bible. I didn't have to worry about Alaude and Daemon (since they wouldn't be around in the first place) or Giotto (since he already knew), but I had to put on my best G-behavior for the rest of the family.

Giotto snuck glances at me when the road was clear enough to take his eyes from it. Suddenly the car braked and I slammed against my seatbelt. We'd almost crashed into the car in front of us.

"Keep your eyes on the damn road!" I shouted.

"Sorry, sorry. Guess you'll be okay for now, huh G?" Giotto laughed. I shook my head.

"You're going to kill us all one of these days," I smirked, not answering his question.

Lampo was waiting for us when we walked through the door. Giotto walked into the kitchen as I leaned down slightly (the damn kid was two years younger than the rest of us and he was still almost as tall as me!) to listen as he whispered in my ear.

"I watched five episodes of the Simpsons while you were gone!"

I chuckled. I had gotten Lampo addicted to Adult Swim a few years ago when I had been watching King of the Hill. However, Giotto always hated it when Lampo watched that kind of thing so we watched it behind his back. Giotto had caught us once and started scolding me about being a "bad influence".

"I hope you hid it well," I murmured. Giotto had upped the security since then.

"I hid it under your mattress!" Lampo smirked. I swear this kid got some of his trollness from me.

"Gee, thanks. Now I get to look forward to sleeping on a DVD," I snorted.

We moved to the couch and I sat in between Lampo and Knuckle as I switched on the TV. Knuckle had his nose stuck in his precious bible (I swear I've never seen that guy reading anything else) as I turned the channel to football. Or soccer, as you Americans call it.

"Ooh, the World Cup!" Lampo exclaimed. That got Knuckle to put his bible down.

Watching the World Cup was a family event that everyone liked to do. It was a rare time when the seven of us actually connected. Alaude was probably watching it on his personal TV and Daemon was probably at the game itself and we'd see him doing some weirdo dance or cheer in the stands. That guy always teleported to the country the World Cup was playing at to watch the game. Always did like seeing himself on TV.

During breaks from his cooking Giotto would come watch it, too. And while he was cooking, he'd ask one of us for the score.

I wondered if Ugetsu would be watching the World Cup in Japan and if he'd still be rooting for Italy. The thought of Ugetsu almost destroyed my composure.

Before a sob could escape from my throat, I rebuilt my wall and focused on the game in front of me.

"No! What the hell was that?" I shouted as Argentina shot the ball past our magnificent Italian defense. Lampo groaned and Knuckle whispered something like, "Extremely not cool."

"Watch your language, G," Knuckle scolded me. I snorted.

"I can swear all I want. I'm already going to hell," I replied.

"Lord God, please forgive his sins," Knuckle murmured, clasping his hands together and closing his eyes.

"Dinner's ready!" Giotto shouted. I reluctantly turned off the television. Even if it was for watching the World Cup, Giotto wouldn't let us eat in front of the TV.

My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I'd forgotten to eat lunch as we waited for Knuckle to finish his prayers. Personally, I'd just start eating but Giotto says we should respect Knuckle's beliefs. No one goes against Giotto.

When Ugetsu was here, he'd even start praying with Knuckle. I never found out if he actually believed in God or if he was just being nice to Knuckle. Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of things that I didn't know about Ugetsu…

I mentally slapped myself. Stop thinking about Ugetsu.

"We thank You, Lord God, for putting food on our plates. Amen."

We all murmured "amen" and dug in.

I was expecting to hear, "Good as always, Giotto," before I remembered that Ugetsu wasn't at the table. Before my wall could fall down, I said it instead.

"Thank you, G." Giotto sent me a knowing smile and glanced at the place Ugetsu usually occupied.

I tried not to follow his gaze since I'd been staring at that spot for far too long already.

(A/N) Because Adult Swim and the World Cup totally aired in the time of the Primo XD This fanfic was born on all of the inside jokes that me and my friends have about the Primo :) Anyway, that's it for the first chapter! I apologize for uploading so late; school takes up so much time! Don't tell anyone that there's a poster I still need to get done! :D Anyway, this is planned to be my longest so far and updates will be widely spaced (school again). Oh and I apologize if I got any of the prayers wrong. I'm not Catholic (I think that's Knuckle's religion) so I'm sorry if that was incorrect. Also, I know Ugetsu was probably born in Japan but I personally think that he was Japanese decent but was born and raised in Italy. Then he went to Japan for a while. Besides, Ugetsu needed to be gone for the plot of the story! :P Oh and the Primo are around twenty in this fanfic. That's why G can drink his wine XD