I had just enough time to stay in New York to receive my call from Ichiro. Once I answered, made small talk, he got to the point of the call.

"Come over."

"What an invite."

He laughed as he said,

"What would you have me do? Beg?"

I smirked, recalling he once did. But I laughed softly and said,

"Never. I'll be there soon."

"Good."

I wasn't stupid. I knew pushing Ichiro, even if it was a teasing manner might bruise his ego. I was surprised no one had said much of anything to me about Ichiro and myself. I figured if Jia and Toki knew, then it probably wasn't long before everyone else knew as well. I knew Jia wouldn't say a word but Toki would make it his life's goal to let everyone around me know. No one said anything though...well maybe they figured it was none of their business. After all they did like to tease me, but at the same time knew to draw the fine line between prying and teasing. Anyway, I got to Ichiro's place a while later, finding he had redecorated. Katie was a little older, but in her room sleeping. I didn't even worry about her for the moment. All I could do was think about my fine instrument of pleasure that was now within arm's length. I lavished in his attention, sighing once he broke away from me like I had taken the most refreshing drink. He smiled, looking up at me slightly since I was a little taller then him. He licked his lips as he said,

"Been away for a while."

"Like you missed me."

"You know I did."

He smiled slightly and I loved that look on his face. I suddenly found myself a little jealous thinking that someone else might have been here. But I shook the feeling off, remembering that Ichiro was nothing of mine. Though a beautiful doll, he was not my doll to keep. His fingers caressed the side of my mouth as he said,

"What's wrong? You seem distracted."

"Nah, just thinking about something for a moment."

"Well stop it."

He then dropped his arms from me as he took my hand and he tugged me towards his room.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt a soft touch to my forehead and I thought it was Ichiro for a moment until I heard a soft giggle. I opened my eyes as I looked up slightly to see Katie snuggled in between a small space between Ichiro's sleeping body and myself. I took her hand as I said,

"What are you doing up so early?"

"My nanny isn't here yet."

I turned my head slightly to see the clock as I saw it was seven in the morning. I yawned as she laughed again and said,

"You're like a big cat!"

I smiled as I said,

"Katie, it's early. Go to sleep."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I'm lonely."

I smiled stroking her dark hair back as I saw under her arm was the small stuffed dog I had given her a while back. I sighed and said,

"You can sleep here for a while."

She smiled and laid down on her side, her little hand resting in the center of my ribcage as Ichiro's head was on my shoulder. I looked at both of them as I smiled slightly and started to go back to sleep. I slept for another few hours when I heard Ichiro talking to Katie softly. I heard Katie getting up and she left the room as Ichiro sighed and started to get back in bed but I turned and looked up at him as he said,

"Where you awake?"

"Yeah. Just for a moment though."

He swept his hair aside from his eyes as he said,

"So you're off to California now huh."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"You don't sound too excited."

"It's work. I have to go through Cali, which I hate because it's hot and you can't smoke anywhere and then sit through a ton of meetings."

"Why you?"

"I'm trying to learn something while I still can."

He nodded, his blonde and red hair spilling forward and around his eyes as he frowned slightly. I looked at him for a while, wondering what was wrong as I said,

"You okay?"

He nodded, leaning down to rest his head on me again as I reached up to stroke his hair back. I felt at peace. For the first time in a long time I felt really, really calm. I have not felt that calm in years. But here it was...my feeling of peace and relaxation. I didn't say anything to ruin the moment, but I laid there quietly, enjoying my peace.

We left for California a few days later. I had spent most of those days in Ichiro's bed, sleeping beside him or under him since he usually slept on top of me. When I finally was called to leave, I got up from Ichiro's bed and started getting dressed in the cover of night. I still had to go back to my place, shower and change and then meet everyone at JFK and I had to go now. I got my shirt on, picking up my coat as I got it on and started doing up my jeans, tightening the belt as I then picked up the things that fell out of my pockets such as my keys, my wallet, my extra clips. I checked my coat pockets for my cigarettes, my gun and then picked up my cell phone and put that in the cargo pocket of my jeans. I was ready to go, my last thing to do was to say bye to Ichiro. I leaned on the bed, my knee dipping the mattress down as I touched his soft arm, my hand almost sighing as it knew it would be a while until it touched this skin again. I then leaned down, kissing his shoulder as he sighed and moved slightly as I kissed his ear, his hair, his neck and then jaw before he turned his head and I got to kiss his lips. He woke up as he said,

"Where you off to?"

"I gotta go."

"To California? So soon?"

"I was only staying for a few days."

He nodded as he turned on his back and put his arms around me, pulling me down for one more kiss. Just one more to remind me of what I have. I almost crawled back into bed with him as I laid on top of him, distributing my weight evenly so I could lay over him. When I broke apart, I sighed deeply, trying to regain my breath as I licked my lips and then slowly moved back. He let go as I moved away and finally I got off his bed and then left.

I got back to my apartment some twenty minutes later. I showered and dressed, packed, grabbed the important things and went on my way to JFK. I arrived there at the same time as Mikkie and Jun, both of them looking a little tired but nonetheless there. We greeted each other and then walked inside the airport to our gate. Once there, we saw Jia, Toki, Aoki and Aya already there. We waited for Akio, Tai and Gabriel to show up with Ren and once the plane started boarding, we got on and were soon on our way to California. I slept on the way there, dead to the world until I felt something tickle me. Remembering I wasn't with Ichiro I opened my eyes right away and saw Akio, Jun, Aoki and Toki surrounding me. I slouched down in my seat as I said,

"What?"

Jun laughed slightly as Akio smirked and said,

"Your kiss marks are showing."

"You know who he got them from don't ya?" Asked Toki.

I sat up as I reached up and clapped my hand over Toki's mouth and said,

"Okay good bye thank you for letting me know!"

I shoved Toki back as he laughed, Akio and Aoki with looks of curiosity on their faces. Jun turned back in his seat without another word. I heard Akio nudge Toki into telling him who my kiss marks were from, but Toki would laugh and shrug saying he didn't really know. I didn't know why he didn't tell them, but...I guess he didn't want to. A little over forty-five minutes after that, we landed in California. We all got out and walked from the plane, past the terminal, through the airport where Sozaburo's contacts awaited Jia. We greeted them, shaking hands, making introductions as Aoki, Toki, Jia, Akio and myself all went into our pockets and got our cigarettes out. I lit one and inhaled as I then sighed, exhaling at the same time as Toki did the same. Jia looked relieved as we began to walk to our awaiting rides. As we did, the security from the airport came over to us. Before he said a word, we all turned and glared at him, daring him to say "no smoking" to us. The man stopped dead in his tracks as he backed away and we all turned back getting into the awaiting cars.

We had our luggage taken to the hotel we were staying at and even though we were a little tired, Jia allowed only a few of us to work, the rest to sleep. The business heads had to work, just making final arrangements with Sozaburo's contacts and the rest of us got a chance to go ahead and go to our rooms. I only laid down and slept for another few hours, on my side, curled up as I stayed still. I only woke up when it was dark again and I felt it was too quiet. I sat up, uncurling myself as I rubbed my head, running my fingers through my hair, untangling it in the process as I sat on the bed. I yawned, checking the clock on the hotel night stand as I saw it was eighty-thirty. I pulled off the elastic band from my wrist and started gathering all my hair in my hands. Once it was high enough, I snapped the band around it and pulled out the loose ends making a messy tail. I felt my bangs slide back from their pulled back place as I got up and picked up my suit coat from the chair in the corner of the room. I pulled it on and checked for my cell phone and my cigarettes. I pulled both out as I lit my second cigarette of that day as I then called Akio. Once I found out they were downstairs in the hotel restaurant, I grabbed my things and went down to meet them. I went into the main entrance and rubbed my eyes a little before I went in completely. I was stopped by the host as he told me this was a no smoking restaurant as I rolled my eyes and threw my cigarette in the closest potted planet. As he panicked and started to fish it out, I walked away and went to the table where I saw Jia and everyone else. I took the closest empty chair as I saw Jia was at the head of the table, Toki beside him but looking none too happy as he nursed a glass of some kind of alcohol. Akio sat beside him, taking random sips from his glass but keeping in tact of the conversation as Tai and Gabriel sat on the other side of the table. They were finishing up dinner, Tai speaking in between bites. Ren sat beside Tai, stirring a small bowl of soup, but seemed more interested in the conversation. Aya was there beside Akio, spooning vanilla ice cream past those dainty looking lips and across from him sat Sozaburo's contact, who's name was Keisuike Sie. Keisuike was a close contact of Sozaburo and knew Ren, Nagashima's land and of the Japanese owned territory of California. Jia and Keisuike spoke at freak lengths over California and when Keisuike mentioned that there was a treaty to not invade the Koreans, Jia said,

"I already own a chunk of land from the Koreans."

Keisuike paused for a moment as he said,

"You do?"

"The first time I came to California was to throw over my New York based enemy. After killing him off, I discovered that there were ties in California that could lead to my undoing. Rather then wait them out to see if they would come get me, I went to them, disposing of them and marking this as mine."

Keisuike nodded as he said,

"I heard of that. I remembering learning of the arrival of the 36 Moons and I remembered Nagashima fearing that they would come after him for the Japanese based land."

"At the time, I couldn't care less about Cali. I still don't. But I need it as part of my swelling empire."

Keisuike nodded as he said,

"You've amassed Japan, Korea, New York, Hong Kong, parts of California...am I missing anything?"

Jia smirked as he took a drink from his glass and said,

"Give me a little more time...I'll add Bangkok to the list. Thailand...all of it. Then...whatever else seems like a good catch."

Keisuike laughed as he said,

"I could begin to walk you through Sozaburo's land. Nagashima's territory I'm not too familiar with."

"I know. It's why I have Nagashima senior's second in command, Kinomoto Ren."

Ren bowed his head slightly as Keisuike bowed his head in return and said,

"I know Nagashima passed, so who's taking his place?"

"His son, my bon, Kotei."

"Isn't his son young?"

"Bon is nineteen. Once he's prepared he'll take over."

Keisuike nodded as he said,

"Well tomorrow, we could venture into Nagashima's former land. Tonight Jia, I could give you the details of Sozaburo's area and anything else you may need to know."

Jia nodded giving a small gesture of his hand as he said,

"Hai, hai that works. We can do this tonight. Tai, Ren would you two accompany me?"

Tai and Ren nodded as Jia then said,

"Okay, the rest of you can go."

Jia then got up, nudging Toki's shoulder as Toki finished his drink and got up as well as Keisuike said,

"Cigarette?"

"Yeah, dying for one. I hate Cali." Said Jia.

He paid the bill before he left and went outside. Aya finished his dessert as he blotted his mouth and Akio sighed and said,

"Time to go fuck around. It's still early too."

Aya nodded as he said,

"Not a bad idea."

They began getting up as Gabriel, Tai and Ren also started standing. I sighed, wanting a cigarette too but I decided to hold off as I went back to my room.

With Jia going over one of his purposes and the rest of us given time off, I went right to...sleep. I still had to have a walk through of California tomorrow. Now was not the time to go fucking off. Though the idea was tempting...ah...another time. I just went up to my room and went back to sleep again.