I yawned, covering my mouth as I stood outside the doors of the private room at the Dragon Leaf. Jia along with everyone else was having dinner. Apparently, more important top heads of the 36 Moons decided to come including Toki, who was just drinking and smoking as always, Tai who acted as Jia's usual business partner, Mikkie for some unknown reason, Jun because he would never pass up dinner, Aya also for some unknown reason and Aoki who decided to stay by Aya's side. So along with them, the ningyo and Ai'iro where there, Ichiro and Sozaburo, Nishiki and finally, Ren and Kotei. Jiki and myself who were just stupid enough to come and do nothing, stood outside the doors. I was kind of angry I came. I wasn't even needed and I was so tempted to just take off. Not like I would be missed anyway. But when I turned and checked through slight opening of the door to see if they would notice me leaving, I saw Ichiro look up at me just at that moment. He gave me an "I'm sorry" look because I know he was the one that asked me to come in the first place. I gave him a soft smile back as I turned and stayed at my position. I then looked at Jiki as I noticed he had not moved an inch since he stood place. He was quiet too...not a single word was heard from him. In fact, since the moment I met him, I never spoke. Not even once. Jia said he just doesn't talk...I think there's a reason I'm not aware of. Anyway he then suddenly turned and looked at me and we stared at each other for a while. He then blinked and turned back as he went into his pockets and got out a pack of cigarettes. He offered me one as I took it and thanked him. He nodded, taking one for himself as he lit it and then gave me his lighter. After I lit mine, I gave him back the lighter and we both had a smoke as we waited.

It was so boring. Jiki and I only had the communication through gesture. I would talk to him, asking him if he wanted something to drink. He would shake his head and continue smoking. After about an hour or so, Aoki opened the screen door as he walked out, Aya behind him as he adjusted his coat. He stopped for a moment before he turned to me and said,

"Jo, be sweet and adjust my collar for me. I can't reach."

He turned his back to me as I fixed the collar of his coat for him, folding it back properly as he then turned back to me and said,

"Thank you."

He reached up, swiping his fingers quickly across my cheek as he gave me another wink and started to leave again. He joined Aoki's side and what I saw was Aoki looking at me...or least it seemed like he was. I didn't do anything so I had nothing to fear. Jia came out a moment later, Toki beside him pulling up his parka as he had an unlit cigarette from his mouth, his silver frame glasses still on. Everyone else filed out slowly behind them and we all went outside. Jia was buttoning his coat as a brutal gust of wind blew by and he said bye to Ren and Kotei who were all ready to go. Nishiki also said bye to Jia, hailing a cab on his way. Tsubasa and his two thanked Jia for tonight, Jia and Tsubasa kissed on the cheek before the ningyo left with his two and then Jia and Sozaburo spoke. They discussed a little about tomorrow's plans and then Karasu was involved in the conversation, reminding Sozaburo he had to meet with Kotei and Ren tomorrow anyway and Sozaburo nodded, saying he would meet with the little emperor first then with Jia later. Jia agreed, nodding, saying it was fine as he got a cigarette from his case out and had Toki light it. Sozaburo and Karasu then left, while Jun then thanked Jia for the dinner and left as well. Tai went over some final things with Jia about tonight and asked him if he would need anyone else going with him to see Xiao Tien. Jia shook his head, saying he was fine and would go alone since he just needed to talk to him and he was perfectly capable of talking to someone by himself. Tai agreed and then began to leave, Mikkie following him as the two talked. Toki then looked at Jia and said,

"You going by yourself?"

"Yeah why shouldn't I?"

"Cuz, what if the China Doll is planning something?"

"I can take care of myself Toki."

"Why don't you want me to come?"

"Because taking you to a bar is just asking for trouble."

Toki frowned as he smoked his cigarette and said,

"What the hell am I suppost to do with myself now?"

Toki looked at Aoki standing not too far behind him as he said,

"Aoki, wanna hit up Kabuki-chu?"

"Nah, not tonight. I got my own entertainment."

Toki looked at Aya as Aya smiled slightly, leaning his head on Aoki's shoulder as Toki scoffed and said,

"Man..."

Aoki and Aya then excused themselves from Jia and left as Jia then put his hands in his pockets as he said,

"Toki just go home for once. Get some sleep. You're always complaining about how tired you are."

Toki frowned as he said,

"Fine, see you at home. Call me if anything."

He kissed Jia on the cheek as he then went towards the subway, flicking his cigarette away as then said,

"Jia...are you really going to go by yourself?"

"Yeah...I should."

"I can come. I have nothing else to do."

"You sure Jo?"

"Hai."

"Okay...come on. You can drive me there."

I nodded as we picked up the car, I got in the driver's side and Jia got in the back, resting comfortably as I started the car.

Jia was quiet for the most part, adjusting his coat, fixing the black cashmere scarf hanging about his shoulders. He then said,

"You sure you had nothing to do?"

"Hai."

"What about Sozaburo?"

"I wouldn't see him until later tonight anyway."

He laughed slightly as he said,

"You still fucking him?"

"Yes."

"He's good huh?"

"Hyper. He's got energy to burn."

Jia laughed again as he said,

"You sure don't care about me asking you this."

"Why should I? I know you're not going to tell anyone that doesn't know already."

He nodded as he then said,

"So are you two together or something?"

"No. We're just fucking."

"He feel the same way?"

"Yes."

Jia nodded as he leaned back in the seat and said,

"He's cute though. Very...sensual. I wanna get laid."

I laughed slightly, covering my smile by the cover of darkness as I said,

"Aren't you lately?"

"Not for the past few days. I've been too tired to think about sex. So I've been crashing while Toki's...I don't even wanna think about what he's doing when I'm sleeping."

"It's not like he would molest you in your sleep."

"Yes he would. He would do anything to get off."

I raised an eyebrow as the mental picture of Toki molesting Jia's sleeping body came in my mind. It was almost disturbing. Anyway, I cleared my mind as I drove Jia to the Golden Gai. Once I parked, he got out and I followed. We both walked inside as the bar tender waved us over. Jia sat down, asking for a drink as he said,

"You seen a doll here?"

The bar tender moved his drink closer to Jia as he said,

"What kind of doll?"

"Pretty face, black hair, light eyes."

"Yeah, he's over there."

Jia and I looked over our shoulders as we saw the China Doll sitting by himself at a table, having a drink. Jia looked at me as he said,

"Bring him here."

"Hai."

I walked over to Xiao Tien as I said,

"Jia's here."

"He's on time."

"He's punctual."

The China Doll got up and walked over to the bar and sat beside Jia as I sat on Jia's other side. Jia had a cigarette lit by this time, a match book sitting beside an ash tray as his drink was half way done. The China Doll then said,

"I'm grateful you had this meeting with me."

"I figured no harm can come from it. What do you want?"

"Well...I'm still hiding from the Teo Chiu."

"I figured."

"I wanted to take permeant residence in Japan."

"Why?"

"I like it. And I'm use to living here already since I have been for a year."

"I see. And if the Teo Chiu comes after your ass here?"

"They can't. The way I see it, since they haven't found me yet they won't. The Teo Chiu won't come into your land since they know you can and will kill them. They lost some of their best, including me last time they tried to save face."

"So you basically wanna hide here."

"Yes."

Jia finished his drink as he said,

"What city?"

"Tokyo preferably."

"No. Too close to me. I can't risk it. Go to Kyoto."

"Fine. I can live with that. As long as I can stay in Japan."

"Hai. In Kyoto, you're going to be watched. You do anything that makes me think that you're back stabbing me and I send you back to Bangkok in pieces. Get me?"

"Yeah, I know. Is there anything I could do to pay you back?"

"Other then staying out of trouble no not really."

The China Doll nodded as he finished the last of his drink as he said,

"Can I buy you another?"

Jia looked at him as he said,

"You trying to get me drunk?"

"No. But if you do in the process..."

Jia laughed slightly as he said,

"You can't hit on me."

"And why not? Not interested? Not your type?"

"Hardly. I'd get in trouble later if I do it."

"Got a wife at home huh."

Jia finished his cigarette as he rubbed it out in the ash tray as he raised an eyebrow and said,

"Yeah....more or less."

The China Doll sighed as he said,

"Your loss I guess."

"Not as much as it is yours. Talk to my associate here. He'd be interested."

Xiao Tien looked at me as he then said,

"Nice. But I rather have you."

"I know. But I can't. Thanks for the offer though. Get your ass to Kyoto. I don't wanna have to see you again unless it's by accident."

He nodded as Jia leaned down and kissed his cheek as he then gave me a gesture to follow him.

Once we got back in the car I looked at Jia as I said,

"With all due respect Jia, but, are you insane?"

Jia laughed slightly, getting his cigarettes out as he said,

"I have to be passing up ass like that. And Tsubasa too. Girls got nothing on those two I swear."

"All for Toki huh?"

"Yeah. What pisses me off the most is that if he was in my place, he would have taken him up on that offer so quickly and then expect me not to get mad."

"But if you did it?"

"If I did it and he found out, he would crucify me."

"Double standards."

"Tell me about it."

I then took him home. He sighed once he arrived at his apartment and said,

"Fuck, I'm finally not tired."

I laughed as I said,

"Good night Jia."

"Night Jo."

He got out of the car as he went inside and once out of my line of vision I went home. I was in the mood to see Ichiro, yet at the same I wasn't. I wasn't too tired either but I knew I should take advantage of the time I had now and get some sleep. So I changed, tied my hair up and got in bed, but I really wasn't tired. I finally decided to get up for a while and read while and once that was done, I really had nothing else to do. I checked my watch as I called Hisoka.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hisoka...you busy?"

"Jo?"

"Yeah."

"No, I'm not, just sitting here watching TV. I figured you would be busy though."

"Not really. I'm bored. Wanna do something?"

"Sure."

"Good...I'll pick you up."

We hung up as I got up and dressed again, grabbed my things and headed out to pick up Hisoka. We decided to head over to the Kabuki-chu since the both of us were...well...horny for lack of a better term. We sat down at a near by bar, catching glimpse of waitresses that served in short skirts and no panties, that giggled when touched and who were gracious with themselves as well as the service. Hisoka drank his coffee as he said,

"Great...now I'll be up all night."

"Well, no one told you to drink coffee at two in the morning."

"Who's talking about caffeine keeping me up?"

I looked at him as I started laughing. We hung out for a while, stopping over at Sakura's Touch and getting a massage before we got something to eat. We talked about a variety of things as I picked apart my rice dumplings. I then said,

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I saw Miya the other day."

"What happened?"

"Nothing...I just said sorry to him as if I didn't recognize him and kept going."

"Ouch...that's kind of harsh."

"Why should I stop and talk to him? I figure that neither one of us have anything to say to each other."

"You think that. Ever stop and think what he may want?"

"Nope. Never had and apparently never will."

Hisoka shook his head as he said,

"So what right? It's in the past forget it. It'll be what...two? Three years since you two broke up?"

"Something like that. Yeah."

"Then don't worry about it."

I nodded before I said,

"One more thing."

"What?"

"He looked....bad."

"How?"

"He cut off all his hair...and he was wearing these huge clothes that didn't seem to fit him at all. He was so pretty once."

Hisoka shrugged as he said,

"Well...whatever. He changed...so did you. It's okay. You wanna do anything else?"

I checked my watch seeing it was close to five that morning. I then said,

"Nah, I should get some sleep before I have to get up. I still have no clue what I'm doing later."

Hisoka laughed slightly, shaking his head as he said,

"You are never going to learn."

"Nah....never have never will."

I got up from the table, leaving my picked apart rice dumplings as I paid and then Hisoka and I left. I took him home before I went home and went to sleep.

The next morning was still calm. Jia didn't call for me so I got to sleep in until five that afternoon. When I woke up, it was because had to go to the bathroom. Once I came back, I yawned and started to go back to sleep but decided not to since If I kept sleeping, I wouldn't able to sleep tonight. I blinked a couple of times, staying in bed as I eventually sat up and decided to shower and get dressed. I wasn't doing much of anything that day so I just stayed home, watched TV, smoked and walked around in my apartment. Around ten that night, I decided to go for a walk even though it was cold. I got dressed, pulled up my coat and went for a walk. I usually walk by myself, just watching people walk by, peering into windows and making mental notes of things I should buy. I should go see Ichiro speaking of which. Something that Jia said to me the other night rang around in my head still. When he asked if Ichiro and I were anything, he asked in such a way that was almost like...as if asking me to warn me. Jia understood what it was like for me to be in a relationship but frankly, after my whole nightmare with Miya, that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. The very idea made my stomach turn and tie itself into painful knots.

Anyway, after a while, much to my surprise I saw Kotei coming out from a corner store, a pack of cigarettes in his hand. I crossed the street and went over to him as he said,

"Hey...why are you here?"

"I should ask you that."

"Getting cigarettes."

He held up the pack to show me as I said,

"Weren't you suppost to be doing something?"

"I decided I didn't want to. So I faked being too tired and told Ren to go for me instead so he could tell me everything later anyway."

I walked with him as I said,

"Oh...your hotel's not even too far."

"Nope. It's why I walked here."

"How do you like Tokyo?"

"I like it a lot. I understand much though. Ren's trying to teach me Japanese but...it's hard."

"I know."

"You speak English pretty well, how'd you learn it so fast?"

"Listening to everyone speak around me. And studying like I was trying to save my life."

"You studied English?"

"On my own yeah. Until I started speaking it. To make matters worse, everyone stopped be nice to me and spoke English to me until I had no choice to learn it."

He shook his head as he said,

"I should tell Ren to do that to me. But once I started struggling, he would break and start speaking English to me."

"How are things with you two here?"

He smiled slightly as he said,

"Nice...I love having him all to myself, without his stupid wife and damn kids to worry about. Or my father. Ren use to be so scared to hug me for long periods of time because of my father. He didn't want to give him the wrong idea...but now...now he holds me for so long."

He smiled as he shook his head and took out a cigarette from the new pack as he said,

"So what are you doing?"

"I'm walking. I didn't have shit to do all day. I was getting bored."

"Yeah me too. I just couldn't sit through another meeting where I had no idea what was going on."

I nodded as we kept walking back to his hotel. Once we got there, we talked for a while longer outside, making small talk mostly about stuff we had to do tomorrow before we said good night and I decided to call Ichiro and see if he was not as busy. I took out my cell phone as I walked and was about to press the number to call Ichiro when I bumped into someone. I backed away and looked at who I bumped into seeing a short young man. He held his forehead, black and blonde hair spilling over his hand as I said,

"Gomen nasi."

He looked up, dark eyes flashing for a moment as he said,

"Yurusu..."

"Daijoubu?"

I asked since I noticed he was still holding his forehead. He brought his hand down as he said,

"Hai..."

His voice was soft and he didn't make much eye contact. I then said,

"Honto ni?"

"Hai."

He blushed a deep red when he looked up at me and I had to smile. It was cute. I can't remember the last time anyone looked at me and blushed like that. He then bowed and said sorry again before he walked around me and kept going. I turned around and watched him go as he peeked over his shoulder and when he saw me looking he quickly turned and looked away. I laughed to myself as I kept going.

----------------------------

Definitions

Gomen nasi- I'm so sorry

Yurusu- Pardon

Daijoubu- You okay?

Honto ni- Really?