We all waited around the office as Jia stood behind his desk, his hands behind his back as his hair fell over the sides of his eyes as he cleared his throat. Nishiki nodded as he made sure everyone was there, looking around as Jia then said,

"I've come to my decision. For the sake of furthering my empire and the sake of this syndicate, I've decided to go through with the deal Kenimin made to me."

Gabriel's eyes widened slightly as he reached up, tucking his hair behind his ear as he said,

"You're getting married?"

Jia nodded as he then said,

"It won't change anything. I'm not getting married for the sake of love, this is business. This woman won't change a damn thing about anything. It's like an allie."

I heard the door opening and slamming shut again as I assumed it was Toki. Jia took a deep breath as he said,

"I have to talk to Kenimin about it, but I'll have to agree to it for the sake of gaining passage into Hong Kong. Once that's done, we'll go into Hong Kong and start setting up there."

Tai then smoothed his hair back as he nodded and said,

"Hai, setting up passage in Hong Kong will eventually further us syndicate wise."

Jia nodded as he said,

"I don't want anyone thinking anything will change. I'm just letting you all know, this is a business deal."

We nodded as we were then excused and I went to the lobby.

I knew that Jia said nothing will change, but at the same time, I had to think how weird it would be for someone like Jia to ever get married. He's always been close to Toki...and that was another problem. Toki, who everyone told me, wouldn't give Jia up without a fight was now pissed. An argument was inevitable.

Sure enough, within an hour after Jia had made his announcement to us about his choice, everyone who worked upstairs, flooded to other floors or to the lobby. Toki and Jia were fighting, their screams echoing through the whole floor. Everyone was especially scared to go there since they heard things crashing around upstairs as if they were involved in a fist fight. Since Tai and Gabriel escaped to an office on another floor, when Aya asked me to run upstairs to leave a file for Gabriel, I took the elevator up. On my way back down, I decided to take the stairs back down, since I had to go to another floor not too far under Jia's. I walked down the stairwell and my curiosity struck me. I wanted to hear just how bad the fighting was so I walked out to Jia's floor, listening. I approached the hallway leading to Jia's office as I heard their voices getting louder and louder. I wondered why they had to fight now, wondering since Jia said nothing would change despite this marriage since it was just arranged for him to gain access into Hong Kong. I leaned against the wall near the doors to Jia's office as I eavesdropped in. Akio kept telling me about that....but I had to listen. I was too damn curious. Besides it would bother me if I didn't know.

"I can't believe you're fuckin do this to me Li!"

"You act like I'm doing it because I'm in love with this fucking female! Why you act like everything is gonna change?!"

"Because it fuckin will Li! Everything will change! I can't be with you if you're married."

"You're not with me now!"

"You know what I fuckin mean! I can't keep fucking you if you're married!"

"Why not!?"

"Because that's fucking loyalty Li! You'll be married to this bitch and you may think it's just business, it's nothing, nothing will change but it will! That's some different between you and me because this is law! This is fucking loyalty by law! You'll be giving this bitch your last name, more then what you gave to me!"

"Toki, you're getting so angry like if I did stop loving you!"

"It doesn't matter if you did or not because you're fucking everything up! I gave up Mikkie for you God damnit! I loved him, so fucking much it hurt to breath but I gave him up for you, because you said it hurt you! You couldn't stand to see me and him together and now you're doing this which is hurting me and you don't give a fuck!"

"You're so full of shit! You never ever gave up Mikkie! You were fuckin him every time we fought!"

"No Li, THAT'S bullshit because Mikkie hates me fuckin much and it's all because of you! I gave him up, I turned my back on him because you said you loved me!"

I heard a crash as a chair crashed against a wall. At least I assumed it was a chair and not something else.

"This isn't about me and you it's business! It's for this fucking syndicate! I don't give a shit about Lotus, or what she has to offer me because it's not what I want! I want you, what I got now, this is just business!"

"God damnit! You're so fucking stubborn! You don't seem to understand it's not! You marry this bitch, you're in for life! There's no changing that! Ever! You divorce her, you loose an allie with the Black Hand and what pisses me off the most is that you didn't even THINK about making a different God damn motherfucking deal!"

It got quiet for a moment, Jia had softened his voice to a near mumble as he said something to Toki. Even though I carefully pressed my ear to the door, I couldn't hear anything. I grumbled and decided it was best to get going before my cell phone rings and I get busted for being a nosey little boy.

Over the next few days, Toki was gone. Everyone knew why...especially me and no one said a word about his absence. His name became a taboo to say around Jia and it went unspoken. Meanwhile, Jia held his meetings with Kenimin and the Black Hand as he spoke to Lotus every now and then. She still went guarded to every meeting she and Jia had, but even Jia was still with a guard. Jia was not very caring towards the girl. She tried, I watched her, but Jia was more caring towards Toki more then anyone else. I haven't been here long and I knew that. I watched as Jia tried to hold himself up, remain as he always was, but there were days at a time where he wasn't in the office either. I would overhear Tai telling Gabriel, or Jun or Akio would tell me that Jia was too hung over to come in. I later learned that whenever something went wrong with Jia and Toki, Jia drank himself to sleep since he usually can't sleep since his thoughts keep him up at night. When he was at the office, he would be in such a disheveled state. He would look half asleep, the bags under his eyes, almost black and his attention span was non existent. You would try and explain something to him only for his eyes to have a glassed over look as he spaced out. I had never seen Jia like that before. Akio said it wasn't the first time.

"I hate when those two fight. It breaks Jia so badly."

"Why does Jia even bother to show up when he does?"

"Because he knows he can't tell Tai to run his empire. Tai does what he can, but Jia's the one in charge."

"I feel so bad for him. He looks so distraught."

"He is. Tai tells me he saw him sleeping in his office because he's so exhausted and rather then be drunk, he rather be tired."

I frowned, watching as all class and fluid grace Jia always had drained away from him. I understood what it had to be like for him though. Fighting with someone who you love. Over this time, the set up was made for Jia to be married to Lotus within two months. It wasn't a traditional marriage where there's flowers, cake, a big party, church and lots of guests. This is a yakuza wedding, a business merger, meaning there will be Jia, Lotus, the Black Hand and the 36 Moons, in a single room, a judge and the signing of the license. Everyone needed the two months time, Kenimin to get his people ready for allowing Jia through Hong Kong and Jia to pick himself up and wake from his exhausted and/or drunken stupor.

After the two month draw came to a close, we all gathered in a hotel ballroom. The judge, brought to us by Nishiki after a thorough check was ready. Lotus herself standing beside her father in a knee length white dress, trying to follow some sense of tradition. I had seen Jia earlier before though I now stood among the other yakuza next to Akio. Jia looked the same as he had been the past two months, his eyes tired, bloodshot and glassed over as if he was drunk or stoned, but in his usual suit and tie. He couldn't stand for the time being since he was so tired, but he said he was fine. When Jia was finally ready, he came into the room as he stood beside Lotus. The judge began the sort of ceremony as I stood beside Akio, watching on as the rest of the Black Hand witness said occasion. It would be a happy one...I guess...but it really was like business. I had never seen a more unhappy bride and groom. In the middle of the marriage, I heard the doors of the ballroom opening and closing. I wondered what it was and looked over my shoulder, as a few others did as well, but I saw nothing. I went back to paying attention as Jia put a thin gold band on Lotus's ring finger. She repeated the same to him as I smelled cigarette smoke a moment later. I glanced at Aoki, seeing he wasn't smoking...for once. And neither was anyone else that smoked. Then, there beside me, stood Toki. And I barely recognized him. Instead of his hair done in his spike that usually drooped back, his black hair was flat, falling around the sides of his ears, the back of his head, competing with the white bangs still hanging beside his face for length. What came as more of a shock was what he was in. I had never seen Toki in anything but jeans and a shirt, boots and a hat or bandanna on him, but he stood beside me in a black suit, black leather dress shoes and a black, collarless button down shirt. It was no wonder I didn't recognize him. Once the marriage was done, Jia and Lotus married by law and only law, the kiss was shared, that was it. There was, more or less a small reception, where we all had drinks and talked about business. Lotus stood quietly by her new husband's side as Jia spoke to Kenimin about Hong Kong now. I stood a little behind him with Akio as we both stood bored and quiet. Akio kept nudging me as I elbowed him back as I did my best not to laugh. After Jia finished talking, he was poured another drink by Aya. Jia went through is pockets, getting out his cigarette case as he took a cigarette out and as he reached for his lighter, Toki stood beside him and held out his lighter, the flame already out. Jia looked at him as he said,

"Toki...what are you doing here?"

"Watchin your dumb ass get married what else."

Jia looked at him up and down, stunned just as much as I was to see him in a suit and dress shoes.

"What happened to you?"

"What? I can't look nice one day in my life?"

Jia gave a faint smile as he lit his cigarette and said,

"I didn't think I'd see you."

"Nah, you knew you were gonna sooner or later."

"I'm glad you came."

"Yeah...I had to. Things don't change right."

Jia nodded, as he said,

"Right."

Toki hugged him as Jia finally looked happy for the first time in almost two months. Toki pulled back Jia's hair from his face as he said,

"I love you."

"Love you too."

"Still can't fuck with you though."

He pulled back as he took out his own cigarette. He lit it as he said,

"Marriage is loyalty by law. I don't fuck with loyalty."

"I know."

"She movin in with you?"

"Nah. She's headed back to Hong Kong tonight."

"Nice. A wife to not here to annoy you."

"Yeah. Once I step into Hong Kong though I'll have her again though."

"Is okay. You just won't go to Hong Kong much."

Jia gave a laugh as Toki then said,

"Shit better not change Li."

"It won't."

Toki gave his smirk as he then looked over at Mikkie and said,

"I'm gonna change something though. I'll see you later."

"You're not leaving right?"

"Nah, I'll be around."

He walked off as I saw this much more awake look on Jia's face.

For the rest of the night, Jia, Tai, Aya, Gabriel and Akio spoke business with Kenimin and the Black Hand. Everyone else was drinking, having something of a good time as Lotus stood by a window, looking out, ignoring everything around her. I felt a little bad for her since this was suppost to be the happiest day of her life...or so I hear and her wedding day was just another business day. I stood by Jun for a while, talking to him about something...I forgot what. It wasn't anything major, it was small talk. I could see Toki and Mikkie talking, sometimes, Mikkie against a wall as Toki stood close to him, leaning down as he whispered in his ear, his fingers curling at the end of Mikkie's hair. Mikkie, as always, did nothing to reject him. I kind of understood why now though. I turned away as I went back to talking to Jun slightly before he got distracted with conversation with Aoki. Then it was just me. I wandered around for a while, talking to a few people from the Black Hand, seeing they were pretty okay, a little more uptight then the 36 Moons, but....not bad. When the party was almost over, I decided to skip the rest after the toast. The toast was more to the syndicates joining together then a marriage. I asked Jia to leave and once given permission, I slipped out and went back home. I changed out of my clothes, leaving nothing but my boxers on as I got into bed, spooning up behind Miya. I heard him whimper softly as I put my hands on his stomach. He tensed before turning over, his knee slowly nudging between my legs as he kissed me, his arms going against me as he said,

"Hey Jo."

"Hey tsuki."

He whimpered against me again as he inched closer to me as he said,

"What time is it?"

"Almost one."

"You're home early."

"Yeah. Hardly working today."

"Good. You're actually in bed. What's the occasion?"

"I felt I should be as close to you when I can. I feel sometimes I take what we have for granted."

"No, never Jo."

He kissed me as he said,

"I love you."

"I love you too. Sometimes I feel I don't say it enough."

"You say it enough."

I could feel his smile against my throat as he rubbed his hands against my chest and back. He smiled again as he said,

"Jo?"

"Hm?"

"Wanna make love?"

"You have to ask?"

What a way to get me to be worn out. I wish I could use a phrase or a word that isn't so cliche but at the same time doesn't sound like...well that I'm just fucking him. There's feeling and emotion behind it, something I have yet to repeat or feel with anyone else. Not even messing with Akio could duplicate this feeling. With Akio it's about lust, just feeling with my nerves and skin and not anything else. But with Miya, it was different. I felt guilty that night, because all I could do with think of every time I ever fucked around with Akio, fucked around with girls at parties when I was bored here. I realized just then how much of my life I was actually hiding from my tsuki...and how little I was showing to him. A new side of me had emerged that I had dared not shown to him...and I didn't want to. I also kept thinking about Lotus tonight. I thought of how sad and lonely she looked despite everything she said. She said she was prepared for the fact that Jia didn't want a wife, he wanted a gateway to an allie, he didn't want to settle down, that he could never love her, that he would continue living as he did even though he was married. I saw how later that evening, he had just taken off his wedding ring and toyed with it for a while before slipping it into his pocket and going back to his conversation. That had to hurt on some level. Lotus was probably no more excited about marrying a man arranged by her father that she only met a few months ago, but still, she was ready to marry him with hopes of learning to love him. But Jia didn't even look at her twice after a short brief kiss. I've seen him kiss Tsubasa with more passion and want. At any rate, I felt sorry for her yet, I felt I was putting Miya kind of in the same place. Leaving my tsuki here when I'm off doing business. Miya didn't deserve that. I love Nagano Miyabi...and if I wanted to keep that love, I would have to go about how I do this right. When we were finished and Miya crept closer to me, his arms around me as he kissed me, his lips always warm, soft and sweet against mine, I felt I would have to stop lying to him. And I will....but not right now. The moment was too perfect. I simply held him close and fell asleep.