Kita-Ku, Saturday, 7pm

Junko watched as her hand slipped off of Cassie. She had thought that her words might be encouraging to the red head but instead, all they did was seem to deflate her completely. The arm that held her fan flopped to her side as she watched Cassie ascend the stairs.

Mamouru had managed to sneak away from the group before things got out of control. He heard the yelling when he was upstairs. He just wanted some peace and quiet. He didn't want to be here and his mother had all but forced him to. Upstairs there was also some commotion going on. As he wandered around the house, he could hear sultry sounds coming from near Taylor's room as well.

There was no place for him to go so he ended up sitting on the back porch. When the door suddenly opened, he turned his head and caught Cassie's eyes. He immediately lowered his gaze and stood up. "Cassie-san.' He mumbled. "I was just going, don't worry. Need to check on mother anyway." He added as he tried to slip past her.

Cassie stopped dead and took a step back inside. She averted her eyes from the taller Higurashi. Her breath froze in her chest.

And then she looked up, and her face was totally devoid of emotion, a hardened mask that looked so unnatural on her charming and loveable face. "Fine," she said blankly, and shoved through Mamouru to get outside. She stood at the edge, next to the hanging porch swing that swung lazily in the breeze, facing out at the treeline of the backyard with her arms folded across her chest.

She wished Mamouru would just leave, and take his mom with him. She just wanted to forget he existed, which was going to be impossible if they kept running into each other like this.

Mamouru caught the terseness in Cassie's voice and the hardness in her features. He felt like sinking even lower into the ground. He pushed open the door, intent on heading inside when he stopped. Akashi was Cassie's roommate, Taylor was her best friend. His mother trained Taylor and he worked IN Friction. How long was he going to have to duck around and try and avoid her? Especially when she was going to act the way she was? He deserved it, for sure, but did he deserve it forever? Wasn't she being a little unreasonable?

Mamouru turned and looked at Cassie, his eyes scanning her features. She was a pro wrestler now and no one could dispute it. She was a woman now too, not just a girl.

Mamouru closed the door but remained outside and stared at Cassie for the moment before smiling suddenly. "There's nothing stopping you from being the best this league has to offer now, Cassie-san." He said in a soft tone. "I'm happy." Mamouru turned. What more could he say to her? He DID feel at ease a little bit after having said the words. He doubted Cassie would even care. She'd probably yell at him but no matter how much she denied it, or even hated it, Mamouru had a part in her life. She saw it as a bad thing. He was the bad guy. He WAS a bad guy. But maybe she needed to see how a bad guy acted so she knew how to deal with them properly. Not just the kind of bad guy that Dark Angel had been, either.

Cassie heard the door close, but she could still feel Mamouru standing behind her. She remained still, in hopes that if she didn't encourage him he'd lose hope and go away. She didn't know what he was hoping for, anyway.

She scoffed, and rolled her eyes. "Does that mean you're going to stop trying to make me lose?" She said. The voice was hers, but the venom in it was unmistakeable. "And I don't want to be the best, I just want to win."

That much was true, mostly. She had done so well in grappling competitions that losing became a foreign concept to her. She became almost addicted to winning. Even in her pro wrestling career, she'd only tasted defeat a handful of times.

But if she was completely honest... she wished she could be the best, but she never thought it was possible, not in pro wrestling, not without weight classes. She was too small. And Mamouru made her feel even smaller.

Mamouru narrowed his eyes as Cassie verbally skewered him. "That's not fair, Cassie-san." He said. When I was your manager, I did everything in my power to give you the tools to succeed!"

He turned his head. "Why DON'T you want to be the best?" Mamouru looked back at her and stepped forward. "That's such a waste of talent! You ARE the best! You act like it everywhere but where it counts!"

Cassie directed a chilly glare back back over her shoulder at Mamouru. She could feel her blood boiling. She just wanted to choke him and make him stop talking forever. She hated the sound of his voice.

"Shut up, Mamouru," she said, her voice surprisingly controlled. "I'm so sick of this act. Acting like that isn't going to get you anything from me, so just stop it."

She turned around to face him and boldly stepped closer, craning her neck to look up at the much taller man while standing so close. The anger and the tired detachment that hardened her face made her look ten years older. Standing there in front of him, she was anything but the sweet ray of sunshine people knew.

"Oh sure, you did everything you could to help me." She jabbed her finger hard into his chest. "And then you did everything you could to help her win, didn't you?" That time her voice wasn't so controlled. "I know what I am, Mamouru, and I know what I can do, and I don't want anything to do with the things you do."

Mamouru watched as Cassie stepped forward. They were close again and Mamouru stared into her green eyes. As she spoke, he almost felt like it was his turn to roll his eyes. He remained focused though, only flinching slightly when she jabbed him in the chest.

"Is that what you think?!" He said, standing his ground. "I'm the only person in the world who can't have genuine feelings of any kind! No, the only thing I'm capable of is underhanded scumminess. Everything I say and do has a motive or I only do something to get in a girl's pants."

Mamouru narrowed his eyes. "I expect it from everyone else. Coming from you ?" Mamouru flipped his hair from his eyes. "I didn't come here because I wanted to. I came here because I have an obligation to my family. My whole life doesn't revolve around trying to make you miserable, believe it or not."

Mamouru shook his head. "You let me go. What was I supposed to do? Aurora-chan was my client. Was I just supposed to let her lose? I told her not to take the match. I didn't want her to fight you! What I said..." Mamouru's lips curled. "I'd regret it but by then it was already too late."

Mamouru sighed. "I'm sorry I said it. I'm sorry for anything I ever did to hurt you. I don't expect anything from apologizing to you though.. That's the unfortunate part. I thought you were different than everyone else."

Mamouru looked sternly at Cassie. "I was right."

Cassie folded her arms and stood her ground. "You don't make me miserable, Mamouru," she said, shaking her head. "You don't make me anything. I don't care about you. I don't like you. I don't wish that you'd pay attention to me instead of all the girls you sleep with. And you're different from everyone else, in the worst possible way. And... you're the stupidest person I've ever met."

She could feel her self control slipping away. The precarious balance between loosing the restraints that normally kept her from saying what she wanted, and saying things she didn't mean, was starting to slip. But she did mean everything about Mamouru. She meant every bad thing she could ever say about him.

"It's so unfair that people only treat you like some dirtbag. How could they not see that you're not like that?" She said with brutal sarcasm. "Okay, Mamouru, if I'm so important to you, then answer one question honestly. How many girls have you slept with since we met?" She paused for a moment. "And... if you can't even remember, then you can... you can go to hell."

She stomped around him and threw open the door to go back in the house. She was relieved to see that the first floor was empty... almost. She turned toward the kitchen and stalled for a moment when she saw the green-haired slut from earlier leaning against the counter mixing a drink.

When Jess saw Cassie, she smiled. "What's up, Cutie?" She said cheerfully, slurring her words ever so slightly. Her smile faded when she noticed the look on Cassie's face. "You okay?"

Cassie couldn't answer. Standing in the kitchen was living proof that she was full of shit, and the weight of it was so unbearable that she just wanted to disappear. She skewered herself on her own hateful feelings for the otherwise perfectly nice girl, with a wound like a hole in her belly. There was only one reason why she would hate her, and it made her sick.

"Hey," Jess said, and set the drinks aside to approach Cassie. "Honey, is there something you want to talk about?"

Cassie shook her head.

"Well, there's a pretty sweet swing out on the porch, do you want to come sit with me and get some fresh air?"

Cassie shook her head again, and pressed her palms against her eyes as she began to cry. "Oh, girl, come here." Jess walked to her and hugged her, and pulled Cassie's head against her shoulder. Cassie didn't resist.

Mamouru watched Cassie storm off, once again having the last word and leaving things just as she said. How convenient. Cassie was always so faultless in everything she did. Even if she wasn't, Mamouru was such a horrible person that he could be blamed for anything that went wrong. He wanted to hate Cassie for what she did and how she treated him.But... he couldn't. Even if she hated him for the rest of her life, Mamouru cared for Cassie. He cared for her deeply. He just wished that she could see that the things he did were always for her sake. With her, he was always trying to do the right thing. He slipped up, probably more often than he should have but he WAS human.

That's what he thought Cassie understood. That he made mistakes but deep down he was, or could be a good guy. That's what it seemed like when they first took that walk together after their match.

He sighed. He needed to get out of here and figure out... he wasn't really sure. But he could see Cassie being hugged by that green haired girl he had been making out with. He sneered. Cassie was nothing but a hypocrite. He took a seat on the swing. He couldn't stand to see her like that.

Morrigan pulled her head up and licked her lips. She then scrubbed her face with her arm and smiled at Brittany whiles she leaned against the girls bent knees. She'd just given her lover quite a treat and slapped the brunette's bare thigh. Morrigan then hopped up and wriggled into her clothes. The red head grabbed the key and uncuffed Brittany. She dropped the key and cuff into the box and kicked it back under the bed.

"Well?" She said. "Still mad?" She said with a wink. "Get dressed and head downstairs. They might come looking for us if we don't at least make the rounds."

With that, she slipped out from Taylor's bedroom and walked into the kitchen. She saw Jess and Cassie hugging and smiled. She slipped past them and opened the fridge, grabbing two beers and then when she closed it, she slapped Jess' ass.

"We're done in there if you two want it. There's even a few goodies under the bed." Morrigan snickered as she walked past them downstairs. "Have fun!" She chirped, not realizing, or caring, really, that Cassie had been hugging Jess for comfort, not desire.

Jess watched Morrigan as she walked into the kitchen. She was thankful that Cassie's back was to the Irish girl. She had only just met Morrigan, but it didn't take her long to decide that she didn't like the girl at all. She got a very bad feeling from her.

She didn't respond, even as Morrigan slapped her on the butt. She could've offered a few words to her, but she didn't want to cause a scene, for Cassie's sake. As Morrigan turned to leave, though, Cassie spoke up.

"You're such an idiot, Morrigan," she said, stepping back from Jess' hug and looking over her shoulder at her. "You act like you want everyone to hate you, but here you are. No one made you come."

She turned and went to the living room to sit on the couch, and after looking Morrigan down and up, Jess followed. She didn't feel right leaving Cassie by herself.