Nihoooon- GO!

"Ahhh..." Mamouru responded at Jacob's words. That was what he thought Jacob was asking. He smiled and let out a sharp laugh before throwing his head back. He wasn't sure if he should ask her honestly or not.

"I'm not... a very good guy." He said, deciding to be as honest with Jacob.

Mamouru then turned and looked at Jacob. He looked seriously at him. 'We didn't fight. In fact, it was the opposite."

Akasi's eyes widened at Cassie's sudden confession. "Y-You KISSED him!?" Akashi blurted out. "But you were screaming at each other just earlier today!" Akashi was a little confused about the situation.


"He didn't what? He didn't WHAT!?" Akashi reached out and grabbed Cassie's shoulders and gave her a small shake. "Cassie-san, you're not a baka!" She said loudly, trying to reassure her. "Do I... need to beat the crap out of him?" She said as she tilted on, her fingers digging into Cassie's shoulders as she gripped the red head tightly.

Jacob nodded his head with an amused frown. "Well then," he said. At least Mamouru was honest.

He took a sidelong look at Mamouru with raised eyebrows, and then examined his fingernails while he idly clicked them against each other. "You seem like a smart guy," he said. "So... I know that you know how to act. I know you know better than to be a dick to my sister, especially when three people in the family are trained fighters and in this house. And..."

He thought it over. He didn't think Mamouru would try to take advantage of Cassie in her own house with her entire family around. Cassie just had to say the word and Mamouru would be filled with regret. Cassie had been raised with enough self-respect that she wouldn't just let some scumbag guy walk all over her, he knew that. So that had an opposite-of-a-fight, and now they're both upset.

Then it was pretty straightforward.

"So you got it pretty bad, huh?" He asked.


Cassie flopped like a fish when Akashi shook her.

"No, don't do thaaat..." She said, averting her eyes. "I just... I don't know what I was doing, I was just... I mean he took care of me. He knew what I needed and he got it for me, and it cost him to do it. Like... That's real, right? And then... I dunno, I just... my brain turned off for a while and stuff happened..."

She turned away from Akashi and and clutched her arms against her chest. "It felt so good! It's... but then he told me... no. And... I think I made a big mistake. I don't think he thinks about me like that, I think I'm more like a little sister." She spat the words out distastefully.

Her whole life, she'd been the little sister. And she loved her family to death, she wouldn't give them up for anything, but she wanted so badly to be something more than that. She wanted to be an adult, independent, capable, a fighter. She wanted a career, she wanted to build it with her own sweat and her own smarts. She wanted to be a lover, and not just some lovely little girl that people adored.

She suddenly looked Akashi in the eye. "Akashi, if you ever call me cute again, or anything like that, I will kill you," she said, with a steel in her voice and a look in her eyes that meant that she just might do it.

Mamouru let out a sigh though his teeth that he tried hard not to turn into a growl. The last thing he needed right now was to be threatened by someone who had no real clue what was going on. Of course he wasn't' stupid. Of course he realized the situation. That was part of the reason why he did what he did.

He turned and looked at Jacob with a serious face. "I told her I loved her today... and I meant it. I may just care for her more than anyone else in this world." Mamouru then stood up. "And, I really don't care if your whole family beats me up because of it. I'm not ashamed and I didn't do anything wrong. In fact, you're here because I care for her so much."

Mamouru adjusted his glasses. "I understand that you're just trying to be a concerned big brother. I know what that's like all too well. But, doing the right thing for the first time in my life may have just cost me a future with the woman I love. If I can't talk to Cassie, I'd appreciate being alone for a while."


"Yeah..." Akashi said. "I was actually sort of surprised. I mean... everyone always said he was just a womanizing jerk." And by everyone, she meant Taylor. Cassie always talked so nicely about him. But, Cassie talked nice about everyone. She wasn't really sure what to believe.

"Cassie-san.' Akashi said looking at her. "Why don't you talk to him?" She furrowed her brow and gave her a sudden but light shove. "If you're going to get all tough girl now then why not act like it! Go demand answers from him! Tell him that you don't want to be treated like a little sister! You have enough big brothers as it is!"

Akashi pounded her fist into her hand. "You're just as much of an adult as anyone else! If you want to drink bitter juice, then dammit, drink bitter juice! Just because you're a girl doesn't mean you have to drink sweet juice! And that... maybe it wouldn't be so bad to bring home a guy! I mean... I was fifteen! What was I SUPPOSED to do?!"

"um...." Akashi shook her head and looked at Cassie, blushing suddenly. "When you say it like that..." She said, dropping her head to hide her grin. "It makes me want to call you Cassie-kawaii..." She winced suddenly, thinking Cassie might just murder her right then and there.

Cassie pushed Akashi back. "I can't do that! Are you nuts?" She hissed in a hushed whisper, wild-eyed like she might flee the room right then and there.

But Akashi was really making sense. Cassie wanted these things, but it rarely occurred to her that she could just do them. She couldn't make people see her a certain way, but she could certainly control what they saw. Her heart fluttered and her face flushed, and she felt like she was riding in a fast car that was about to crash. She should do that. She should go down there and look him in the eye and tell him how she felt, or maybe demand to know how he felt first, and then... something.

Then her brow loosened and her face relaxed, melted down into a cold glare at Akashi. She wound up and slammed her fist into Akashi's stomach and gave her a hard two-handed shove at her bed, and followed it with a straight front kick to knock her back into it. She strode purposefully out of the room without looking back.


Jake could hardly hold back his grin. In fact, he couldn't at all. He was smiling away and doing a terrible job of hiding it for Mamouru's sake. He understood where Mamouru was coming from, even though he was wrong about everything. He could empathize.

He put a hand on Mamouru's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "That bad, huh?" He grinned. "Well keep your head up, I won't keep you. I'm going to sleep."

He left the room and turned to walk backward down the hall. "Good meeting you. See you tomorrow?" He said.

On his way up the stairs, he passed Cassie again. The two exchanged somewhat quizzical looks, shrugged, and kept going. Jake bedded down in Cassie's room. He figured that much was fair.

Cassie stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly, she was having second thoughts. The doubts crept in and stole away the resolve she had just moments before, and she couldn't take another step. She drew a deep breath and waited to see if she would find her courage again.

Akashi stared at Cassie with a goofy grin and then when she whispered, her eyebrows raised. She nodded in encouragement. Cassie could do it! She knew she could! And then when Cassie gave her that look, one of Akashi's eyebrows dropped. Cassie could do it! She had faith.

"OOOF!"

She cried out when the punch suddenly came. She wasn't expecting that at all! The sheer surprise of it made her spit out a hot breath onto the bed as she cradled her stomach. "D-Dammit. What the heck did I say!?" She moaned out as she curled into a ball onto Cassie's bed.


"Something like that." Mamouru said, his face easing up a bit but his gaze remained fixed on Jacob. He nodded to Jacob and then bowed slightly, a soft smile on his face when he dipped back up. "Yes. It was nice meeting you. I ... hope so." He said and watched Jacob leave.

He waited for Jacob to leave and then looked out the door. He had to leave before someone else wanted to know about his business. His heart started to beat a little faster as he looked out of the laundry room. He swallowed hard and decided just to briskly make for the door, turning out and trying to walk swiftly past the guest room and into the main room of the house where he would hopefully be able to make his way in peace, not having seen Cassie at the edge of the steps leading downstairs.

Cassie was still trying to muster the courage to take the last step down to the floor when Mamouru came into view. His back was to her, he hadn't seen her, and he was headed for the door. This was her chance.

She tried to lift her foot but it wouldn't budge. She was rooted in place. What are you doing, she thought. Go!

There he was! She just had to say something, say anything, and be honest and brave and if she could only get past the lump in her throat everything would be okay. She'd get the answers she deserved.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out, and then it was too late. She sat down on the steps and buried her face in her palms.