Mami Sato sighed to herself as she sat at her desk. She sighed wistfully as she stared at a photo of Kento and his friends. She had never told Kento her true job. In fact if Kento knew who she really was and what she worked for he would be both disappointed and angry.

Mami was not a typical girl in love. She was a businesswoman. She worked for a company that was dedicated to bringing in only the best looking men into a world of women who were looking for male companionship. And she was certain with her 5’8 frame, long pink hair, azure blue eyes, and bronze skin she would win Kento’s and his friends’ affection. She was certain that many women would pay her company double to get their hands on men like Kento, Sage, Cye, Rowen, and Ryo. The problem she had was approaching them with this task without making it too conspicuous.

She looked at the clock and saw her shift was nearly over. She turned back to her paperwork, deciding to finish up so she could head over to Kento’s. It took her a few minutes to get the rest of her work done, but that was not unusual. After she had closed for the night, she clocked out, then went to the backroom to gather her belongings.

After she had set the alarm to the building, she quickly exited through a side door and then secured it before heading to her car. Soon she was on the road, traveling to the Koji manor where she knew Kento would be.

Kento was excited. Ever since he had first met Mami he had been walking on air. He loved the way her name sounded on his lips as he spoke of her. He loved the way she carried herself with poise and how she respected those around her. Even though he had only known her for a few months, he was in love with her. He wished he could spend more time with her, hold her against him, stroke her hair and kiss those soft full lips. But he had never come close to that. Even though Mami had made hints she was willing to accept, she would always change her position so that it could not happen. Perhaps she was shy.

Oh well. It did not matter. Sooner or later he would get her to open up. But in the meantime he would wait until she was ready. He glanced at the clock. Mami would be arriving any moment now. He looked down at himself and grimaced. He did not look presentable. He glanced at Cye who was flipping through channels on the TV

“Hey, Cye?”

Cye looked toward him, wondering what he had to say. “What is it, Kento?”

“Could you let Mami in when she gets here? I’m going upstairs to change.”

Cye bit his tongue to keep himself from telling Kento what was on his mind. He knew that Kento would never believe him, and he did not feel like fighting at the moment anyway. He nodded. “Sure, Kento.”

Kento grinned as he slapped Cye on the back. “Thanks, man! You’re the best!”

Cye watched him hurry up the stairs and sighed to himself. He felt guilty and confused. If he was the best, then why could he not tell Kento what was on his mind?

He thought back to what Mia had told him, but wondered how to apply it. Normally Cye could trust almost anyone, but the moment he had first met Mami when Kento had introduced her about four months ago, a morbid feeling had overcome him.

At first he had decided that perhaps he was jealous. Jealous because Kento had found himself a girl and he didn’t. He had tried to get to know Mami, but whenever he spoke to her out of courtesy he felt himself cringing on the inside.

If only he had some type of proof! Surely Kento would listen to reason then. He did not wish to get into a huge fight with his best friend, but the bearer of Hardrock could be stubborn, particularly when it came to a girl he was infatuated with.

And that part was true. Cye had often heard Kento sigh out Mami’s name several times throughout the day. At night time when they were getting ready to sleep, all Kento did was talk about her. It had gotten to the point where Cye had been tempted to tell him to shut up and sleep.

He shook his head as he looked around the living room. It seemed very quiet now. He glanced toward the closed door off to the left of the living room and smiled a little. Mia sure loved to be in that room working on ancient myths of many kinds. In fact, after they had put the groceries away, she had went into that room immediately. He wondered when she planned to emerge again. ‘Most likely at dinner time,’ he decided as he stretched his limbs.

He turned back to the television and then stopped flipping through the channels. A woman running down the street in the dark caught his attention. She was dressed in a black dress, wearing high heels, and her long emerald hair was flowing behind her. Behind her a policeman ran after her, commanding her to stop.

Cye set the remote control down, his eyes glued to the screen. This looked like an interesting movie. He watched it with fascination. He had no idea who the woman was or why she was running. What did the police officer want her for? Had she commit some type of crime? If not, was she being accused of a crime? He was determined to find out, even if he had missed the beginning of it. What was the name to this movie? Oh. Eternal Flight.

He heard a car suddenly pull in and looked out the window. He suppressed a groan when he recognized the vehicle and the person getting out of the car. Why now?

Kento frowned deeply as he changed his clothes. Something was wrong with Cye. He could sense it. But why was Cye holding back from him? Come to think of it, he had been acting funny ever since he had spoken to Mami on the phone while they worked on his KLE 500. Was Cye jealous of Mami?

Kento scoffed. Of course not. Cye would be happy for him. But then why did Cye’s behavior change any time Mami became involved? He sighed as he looked into his mirror. He looked presentable now. He heard a car pull into the driveway. She was here.

Mami stepped toward the door and knocked lightly. She heard someone shuffling forward as if they did not want to open the door. But at last it opened. She smiled warmly. “Hello, Cye.”

“Hello,” Cye replied as politely as he could. He opened the door further to allow her in and showed her into the living room.

Mami looked around and then took a seat on the sofa. “Where is Kento?” she asked.

“Upstairs,” Cye replied as he sat down. Normally he was not rude and short with his answers, but he could not help the way he felt. He wanted to tell Mami exactly what was on his mind. But the problem he had was that he couldn’t.

Kento came downstairs just then. He gave a big smile to Mami and embraced her as she stood up. They failed to notice Cye’s distasteful look. “Mami! I’m so glad you could come and visit me,” the bearer of Hardrock exclaimed as he joined her on the sofa. “How has work been for you?”

 “Work has been interesting to say the least,” Mami answered with a smile. She wondered how to start the conversation without piquing too much discomfort. She still wasn’t entirely sure whether Kento would agree to the idea. But somehow she would figure out the exact words to say to him.

She looked around. Besides Kento and Cye in the living room the place looked empty and silent. She was used to seeing all five guys in the house with their hostess. She looked back at Kento. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, Rowen went out with White Blaze. You remember, he’s Ryo’s tiger? Ryo and Sage took a business trip to North America. And I’m not sure where Mia is. Might be in her study,” Kento told her. He continued to stare at her as he smiled. To him she looked so beautiful. He was willing to bet that someone could paint a portrait of her and that it would not even come close to the real beauty.

“I see.”

Cye was feeling frustrated. He needed to speak up, but how? What could he say? He knew there would be an argument, and he was dreading that. But at times one could not always avoid what they feared the most. The more he studied Mami, the more he knew he would have to tell Kento whether he liked it or not.

Rowen stretched and yawned. He looked at White Blaze who stared intently across the lake. At times he could swear what the tiger was thinking, but at other times it remained a mystery to him. He wondered if perhaps the tiger was missing Ryo. But then again could he be thinking of going hunting? It was hard to tell.

Rowen stood up and stretched again. “Come on, White Blaze. Let’s get back to the house and see if we can find some food. I bet you’re hungry anyway.”

White Blaze stood up and stared at him as he rumbled in reply. His brown eyes bore into Rowen’s blue ones until finally the Ronin of Strata turned and headed back to the house. There was one thing Rowen could never figure out. Why did White Blaze have brown eyes instead of blue? It made no sense to him. But he supposed it was nothing to worry about. After all White Blaze was special in his own way. He couldn’t wait to hear from Ryo and Sage. Perhaps he could ask Ryo about White Blaze.

Rowen sighed as the manor came into view, but then he suddenly stopped short. There was a car parked there. He looked closer and recognized it. Kento was probably having the time of his life at this very moment. He made it to the house and went inside.

Cye was the first to notice him. “Hey, Rowen.”

Kento stopped talking to Mami and smiled at his blue haired friend. “Hey, man! How’s it going?”

Mami turned her head ever so slightly to Rowen’s direction and smiled. “Hello, Rowen.”

“Hi, guys,” Rowen greeted. He nodded his head toward Mami’s direction. “Hello, Mami. Have you been here long?”

“I’ve only arrived about fifteen minutes ago,” she informed him as she reached out a hand to pet White Blaze. But to her surprise the tiger suddenly pulled back and growled at her.

Kento and Rowen frowned as Mami pulled her hand back, her eyes a little wide. The tiger gave the young woman a menacing look as he turned and walked over to Cye and sat down beside him.

“White Blaze never acted that way before,” Kento said with a thoughtful frown.

“It might be because Ryo’s not here,” Rowen suggested logically.

Mami sighed a little. “Or maybe he doesn’t like me.” She had not failed to notice the tiger’s glare toward her.

Cye was petting White Blaze as he heard Mami. “He knows a liar when he sees one,” he thought to himself.

Rowen turned his attention back to Kento and Mami. “So Mami, how is everything?”

“It’s going good!” she exclaimed. “In fact, I wanted to ask a favor of you all.” She took a deep breath and told herself the plan she had in mind just had to work. She had been thinking about it while talking with Kento and now she couldn’t wait to try it out. She could only hope they would believe her.

“Sure. Ask us anything,” Kento told her with a smile.

“Are you certain?”

“No harm ever came from someone asking a question,” Rowen replied.

“Well, okay. In my job I sponsor models for men’s clothing. Now we do have our top of the line models, but the problem is a few of them can’t wear some of the clothes that were designed just recently.”

“Modeling clothes, eh?” Rowen said with a frown. “I thought you worked at one of those interior decorating buildings.”

Mami laughed. “Oh no. I used to work at one of those places. But that was several years ago. I prefer overseeing male modeling. I like to help men look their best and put the latest fashions in male wear out on the market.”

Cye glowered. He could tell she was lying, and so far his two friends seemed to be falling for it. He could not stand this anymore. He glared at Mami as his eyes narrowed with anger. “How dare you!”

Silence hit the room as all three turned to look at Cye. Rowen frowned deeply, but wondered if Cye had thought something was off a bit. Kento was starting to become angry, but counted under his breath. He would not defend Mami without letting her first defend herself. He didn’t want to seem overprotective of her. Mami stared at Cye with shock, not expecting an outburst from him. Usually he was so quiet around her.

She cleared her throat and gave him her full attention as she forced herself to remain professional. “How dare I what, Cye?” she asked calmly.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Cye retorted. “You claim you work for a modeling company in Japan for male models. When in fact you do not work there at all. And how do I know this? Because I have a sister who has a friend who actually does work in the modeling business and she knows every single modeling company in Japan as she oversees them all. Never once has this friend mentioned your name to my sister. And my sister has heard your name plenty of times before.”

“Cye, I’m not exactly on high profile with the rest of the staff,” Mami explained, hoping this would make him back down.

“You should be,” Cye shot back. “Especially with the manager who is in fact my sister’s friend.”

“Cye, there are many managers to the modeling business,” Mami replied coolly.

“Cye, just drop it,” Kento said quietly.

“But, Kento!” Cye protested as his head snapped over toward him.

“I said drop it!” Kento raised his voice at him as he glared. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I know she’s lying!” Cye disputed. “She’s not a modeling agent! She’s keeping something from you that could possibly ruin your reputation!”

“That’s bull!” Kento snapped. “Mami would never do anything rash to jeopardize our status. Personally, I think you’re jealous. Jealous because I’ve found someone who likes me for me, and you didn’t.”

Cye couldn’t believe his ears. This was not how this was suppose to go. He leapt from his chair and suddenly ran to the door, threw it open, and ran outside. White Blaze immediately followed him as the Ronin took off down the long driveway.

Rowen watched Cye go as he frowned deeply. He wondered if he had some valid points concerning Mami. He decided he would do his own investigation concerning this matter.

Sage sighed a little as he leaned back in his seat. He had no clue how long he and Ryo had been on the plane. He checked his watch and discovered it was close to 6:00 p.m. That meant it would be about 2:00 p.m. in San Francisco. He looked out the window. The sun was a dark golden color. Soon it would set and dusk would be upon them. He shifted somewhat.

Ryo glanced at Sage. “Hey, you okay?”

“I guess I’m uneasy,” Sage replied. “We have no idea what we’re going to find in California. I’m also worried about the hotel arrangements.”

“Relax. I’m sure everything will be fine. We’ll get to our hotel and we’ll have our room,” Ryo assured him.

Sage stared at him and then slowly smiled. He nodded his head. “You’re right, Ryo. I’m probably worrying for nothing.” His ears then caught a snide mutter coming from a man sitting across the aisle from them. Both Ronins turned their heads to look at the man who gave them disapproving looks while muttering the word, ‘Faggots’. Sage was shocked.

Ryo’s temper got the better of him as he retorted back to the man. “Excuse me! We are not gay!”

“That’s right,” Sage said calmly as his visible eye trained on the man with such intensity the man was forced to look away. “We are friends, almost brothers.”

“Besides even if we were gay,” Ryo continued, “it sure isn’t your business anyway. You should learn to keep your rude comments to yourself and to accept those who are different than you. You’ll feel better in the long run.”

The man said nothing in return.

Ryo turned back in his sleep as a flight attendant approached them. “Is everything all right here?” she asked.

“We’re perfectly fine,” Sage told her with a calm smile.

“Yeah,” Ryo said as he forced himself to calm down. He strongly disliked it when others judged someone based on the way they looked, behaved, or even what they believed in.

 The flight attendant nodded her head and told them to press the call button if they needed anything. She left them alone to tend to other passengers.

Sage looked at Ryo. “Are you okay?”

Ryo snorted as he leaned his head back. “I’ll be fine, Sage.”

Sage shook his head ruefully and smiled at his friend. “Ryo, don’t let him get to you. You don’t want it getting in the way of our mission.”

“That’s for sure.”

Sage leaned back against his seat and allowed his eyes to close. He started to relax and debated if he should meditate. He thought it was a good idea and allowed his mind and body to both relax. Normally, Sage would meditate in the traditional way, but with his current arrangement, he couldn’t very well cross his legs. For now this would have to do.

Ryo glanced at him and smiled a little. Leave it to Sage to meditate anywhere. He reached under his seat and grabbed his carry on and opened it up. Finding his Walkman, he grabbed it and stuck the headphones on and then turned the portable mini size stereo on. Music flowed through his ears as he zipped up his carry on and pushed it under the seat again. He leaned back in content and closed his eyes.

The airplane continued on its course flying over the ocean as it headed toward its destination. The sun was sinking lower as the sky became filled with dark orange, reds, and dark blues. The cabins of the airplane began to darken slightly, and some passengers were beginning to turn their lights on. In six hours Ryo and Sage would find themselves at their destination.

Across the world in the city of San Francisco, a female teenager briskly walked up the long sidewalk as she headed for home. She was quiet as she reflected on the past few days. She thought about the fire in the jelly bean factory and had been relieved to learn there had been no deaths. She was gaining control of her power and that was good.

But still she knew she needed to gain more control. Even now she could feel it wanting to come out and it scared her. She could not lose control. The last time she lost control several people lost their lives and she had felt guilt and despair ever since.

She made it up the sidewalk, glad to have gotten up the incline of it. She was nearly home and she would be glad to get there. She felt hungry too and wondered what she could make to eat. There was plenty of food, but sometimes she wasn’t sure what she wanted from one day to the next. Perhaps she’d settle on Rigatoni for the day. Pasta was always good.

As she walked past a newspaper vending machine, she caught a glimpse of the front page and stiffened. There in bold letters was: Fire Marshal to do an investigation in the Jelly Bean factory fire with world renown psychic Marcus Klent to aid in the assistance.

She stiffened. She knew at times psychics were able to see things no one else could, and she had a feeling this one might seek her out. She had to learn more of this. Digging into her jeans pocket she fished out some coins and purchased the newspaper. Tucking it safely in her hand, she ran for home.

A/N: To Taz. Normally I do not write direct responses, but since you had decided to keep your email hidden, I have no choice. I did not state too much detail concerning Mami, because that would be giving it away too fast, particularly if I did it all in the same chapter. Good character development takes time, and if it’s all thrown in at once, it can be frustrating to readers.

As for the frame by frame parts, there was a simple reason for that as well. It was to make the chapters more realistic. Too little detail about what is going on around the characters, predominantly in a place of activity, would be boring. You’ll find that I write in various ways to make everything come together in one smooth flow.

I do however thank you humbly for reviewing and for critiquing. ^_~