“There’s another one… my half brother but we hate each other,” Recca exposed a fanged grin. Tetsuya pondered for a while with a goofy smile on his face. “A healer and flamecaster… both inborn… is this something to do with this saying,” Tetsuya lowered his voice to a funny tone and said, “like, ‘you and me, we have a destiny’?” Recca burst into laughter and nodded.

Hokage and Tetsuya had gotten together and decided to have a talk. It turned out that Richie, or Richard, was Tetsuya’s best friend since young. As they reached teen hood, Richie changed for the worst and started hanging out with the wrong company, betraying Tetsuya by making him do dirty deeds, like transporting drugs from place to place, hand to hand, without Tetsuya knowing it. Tetsuya got mad after finding out and turned in Richie’s dirty deeds to the police one day. Ever since, Richie had a grudge against Tetsuya. However, Richie’s gang of friends spread all around LA and there were definitely some of them in every factory outlet in the country. (Remember, it’s only a fan fic.)

Fuuko laughed too but suddenly stopped. The saying… it was… too familiar… “Tetsuya, where did you hear that from?”

“The saying?”

“Yes.”

“One of my dad’s employers. He joined the company last year and I was down in Tokyo last year too. I got along quite well and he asked me if he kept repeating that saying to me, would I get irritated? Funny and nice guy though…”

“What did you say to that?”

“His question?”

“Yes,” Fuuko asked with a slight tone of annoyance. Tetsuya grinned.

“Well, I told him that if I were a guy, I’ll most probably beat him up for being a homosexual. However if I were a girl, I’ll be touched to the ends of the earth before beating his pretty face in. Why do you ask?”

“Huh? Oh… nothing much. Just curious,” Fuuko smiled and caught Koganei’s look on her. He cheekily mouthed the word “Raiha” and she nodded, smiling back at him. Kagero turned to Tetsuya.

“You can keep that secret, I hope.”

“You don’t have to hope that Kagero-sama. After all, I was terribly puzzled by the end of the Hokage for there were no mention of the younger two… to think they are still living. And you… you look terrific for a lady whose more than four hundred years old. Life must have been tough and disgusting huh? To see the world suffer so much yet know that you’ll still be in it…”

“But after a while, you’ll get use to it… like a hundred years after realizing you’re immortal,” Kagero mused.
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The next day, Tetsuya was at the airport seeing Hokage off. Ganko ran up to him and tugged at his shirt. “You better come down one day to visit us!”

“I promised!” Tetsuya said and playfully punched Ganko lightly on the arm. He ruffled Koganei’s hair and whispered into his ears. “You better look after Ganko, you little imp. I won’t be surprised if she grows up lovely and all and you’ll be all over her feet…”

“Are you kidding? She’ll be over mine,” Koganei laughed before realizing he said it a little too loudly. Everyone stared at the two uneasily and they grinned back before carrying on a short debate. Then Tetsuya turned up to look at the rest.

“Kagero-sama, I’ll be expecting to see you so. Mikagami, I’ll visit you too. And Recca, you better look after Yanagi dear here or I’ll beat you up so badly you’ll regret it,” Tetsuya grinned at his newly found friend from the past. Recca grinned back.

“I won’t.”

“And Domon, don’t mind… I’m borrowing Fuuko for a while!” Tetsuya said and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he grabbed Fuuko’s hand and ran to a corner. Fuuko laughed and panted a little when they came to a stop. Tetsuya looked back and grinned at Fuuko, “Thank goodness he didn’t chase me… or I’ll be squashed if he sat on me!”

“Very funny,” Fuuko said and looked at Tetsuya. Tetsuya’s grin softened to a smile as he tucked a strand of Fuuko’s hair behind her ear. “I wanted to give this gift to Yanagi too but I am not very close to her yet. And Recca will most probably fry me alive.”

“Whatever,” Fuuko grinned but her grin was cut short with a kiss from Tetsuya. Though it was a brief one, Fuuko felt a funny tingle go through her body. Tetsuya pulled back and lightly punched Fuuko’s left cheek. Fuuko stared at him, a little surprised from the kiss she received from someone who was a stranger just two weeks ago.

“It’s a thing to kiss friends goodbye for me… but it’s normally on the cheek though,” Tetsuya grinned. “I changed it to suit me.”

“You are not making sense,” Fuuko said with a mischievous smile. Tetsuya smiled and took out two necklaces from his pocket and put one into Fuuko’s palm.

“That one is for Yanagi. This one is for you.”

With that, he reached over and attached the meant for Fuuko necklace onto her neck. When she looked down at the pendent, it was a broken heart with English letterings that didn’t seem very complete to her. The broken heart puzzled her greatly too. Was Tetsuya saying that their friendship was over? Tetsuya exposed the one on his neck and joined his side of the heart with hers, turning the heart to the back with the letterings now seemingly completed together. Now she could read it. Softly, she muttered to herself, “Friends forever… I like it.”

“It’s the same with Yanagi’s, just that hers is a rectangle pendent, that all. I want the two of you to know that I’ll always be there as a friend for you guys… didn’t think Recca or the other guys would appreciate something this sappy from another guy… don’t even think they’ll wear it. So I got two, one for Yanagi and one for you.”

“Cool… well, thanks a bunch,” Fuuko said and gave Tetsuya a brief hug. Then, she drew back with another smile, “Why not a heart for Yanagi too?”

“I don’t need a flamecaster after my head, do I?” Tetsuya grinned. The two friends laughed until Tetsuya stretched out a hand like the first time they met.

“Well, I guess this is it then. Goodbye Fuuko Kirisawa. Until next time.”

“Goodbye Jonathan Steward Tetsuya. Until next time,” Fuuko smiled and accepted his hand.
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Was the explanation for Richie’s grudge a little too rush?? I didn’t really know to fit it in so Gomen ne? Anyway, this concludes the Hokage’s stay in LA, California… maybe if I get bored enough to include Tetsuya in my stories again, I’ll have a “Tetsuya revisited”. ?