Ryu didn't drop off to sleep until sometimes after three and when he did, he had a nightmare. Tossing and turning, clutching the bed sheet with sweats covered his body. In the dream, Ryu's entire body was paralyze. He could only observe what was happening in front of him. There was a crib, inside laid a crying infant. He couldn't see its face only the toddler's small hands. He wanted to go over to comfort the child but unable to do so.

Then his eyes narrowed at a shadow of a man slowly approaching the crib. The man wore a psychopath's smile. He stared down at the infant with cruel deadly crimson eyes. Ryu forced himself to move but his body refused. The man didn't seem to notice Ryu in the room. Full concern clouded Ryu's face when the man brought his hand inside the crib. The infant's cry became hysterical.

"No, don't hurt him...stay away from him!"

The man reacted to Ryu's scream. Immediately, his stare shifted from the infant to Ryu.

Ryu's body suddenly unfroze, bringing his gaze down to his own hands. "Blood…" his hands covered with fresh blood. The man laughed. A scary laugh like dead leaves rustling in a winter wind, like a dangerous of a poisonous snake. Then suddenly a dark shadow was towering over him, big enough to block out the sun, to swallow all the light in the world.

Ryu woke sitting up, dripping cold sweat, blinking arming sweat from his eyes and the sheets all tangled around him. He saw Kasumi's side of the bed was still empty. He got up, went to the bathroom, drank water from the tap and took special care not to meet his own eyes in the wide mirror that spanned the long counter and the two sinks. Back in the bedroom, he straightened the covers and got into bed again, turning on his side, away from the empty place where his wife should have been.

...

Rig hadn't said a word since he walked in there. He had been staring at her for almost a full minute that seemed like forever to Kasumi, long enough to make her heart beat crazily in an uneasy way. She couldn't figure what was it that this man had on her that make her entire body and soul tremble, making her so weak…

"Are you going to just stare at me and waste even more of my time?" She broke the silence, as his stare was getting a little uncomfortable.

"It's just really good to see you. I'd never thought that I would ever see you again…after…"

"Stuck on your words? After you beat me black and blue and treated me like a piece of garbage?" Dear god, she could just hear herself. Never had she sounded so bitter over anything in her entire life. Kasumi couldn't help it. First Ryu and now Rig…on the same night. She just realized that her life was turning into a soap opera on repeat.

Rig leaned back on his chair and lowered his gaze. He looked ashamed.

Kasumi frowned. "Why are you really here? It must be that important if you had to snoop Tina's phone to lure me here…"

"About that, I would appreciate if you don't tell Tina since she's my boss now..."

"She's my friend. I don't like lying to her." She coldly replied.

"I'm not asking you to lie…"

Kasumi shifted in her seat and let out a frustrated sigh. "Listen Rig, I just had a very long night so can we please just…" Her words were cut off.

"Kasumi, I didn't make you come here tonight to ask for forgiveness as I have no right to ask anything of you."

"Then what do you want?"

"Well, I probably won't see you again after tonight, so I want you to know that I am deeply sorry for how things went between us. This is going to sound strange but you saved my life. I was going on the wrong path and losing you made me realize what a fool I've been."

Silence filled the air between them. Funny, she thought... that this wasn't the first time she had heard him say those words. Back then, when they were still together, he would come back pleading by saying the thing he just said. However, there was a slight difference this time. He sounded more real and there was a genuine sound in his voice which was a pleasant surprise to her. Kasumi found it hard to look at him at first but that suddenly had changed.

"You seem different…and it suits you. So calm and genuine." Her voice softened.

Rig smiled charmingly. "Notice something interesting?"

Kasumi tried to figure what he was referring to, when she couldn't, she shook her head.

"This coffee shop…when I visited you in Tokyo a few years back, remember?"

It hit her. "Right, it takes me back now for sure…"

She smiled without realizing that she did and so did he. Then they felt awkward realizing that they were smiling to each other. Both of their smiles quickly faded.

"You know, deep down I really want to hate you. Like really really want to hate you." She said.

"I wouldn't blame you if you do. I was so lost without you Kasumi, I would have done anything to have you back in my life, to make things right. To make you fall in love with me all over again."

Her eyes grew large hearing that, "Please don't go there…" she quickly interrupt.

Kasumi was suddenly getting a headache and her heart ached even more. She looked down at her finger, looking at her wedding ring. Here she was with the man who was begging for her love, while her husband hated being in love with her... What a crazy world she live in, shaking her head at her thoughts. A single unexpected tear ran down her cheek but she wipe it away before it manage to drip from her chin, and then Kasumi abruptly rose up from her chair to leave. This was too much for her. She didn't even know why she would waste her time listening to Rig. This could be another one of his manipulative cruel lies and she wasn't about to fall for it again.

Rig was surprised, as he thought that he had upset her. He got to try and stop her from leaving. "Kasumi…"

"I have to go. You don't have the right to do this."

Kasumi quickly got out of there leaving him standing with a deep frown of disappointment across his face.

...

Ryu had been tossing and turning, he struggled to fall back to sleep. He then sat up on his bed running his hands across his face in frustration. He missed her but she made him so mad. Shoving the cover off him, Ryu got out of bed to go get something to drink. As he passed by the hallway towards the kitchen, his feet briefly paused at the door to the spare room where Kasumi was supposedly be sleeping. He wanted to go in there to check on her but hesitated, and plus he didn't want to wake her. It had been a long night for the both of them. Instead, he continued towards the kitchen. After drinking a glass of water, Ryu headed back to his room.

Kasumi opened the front door and tiptoed towards her room, but abruptly stopped in her steps when the sight of Ryu startled her in the hallway. He stood stiff frowning deeply at her. She wanted to ask him what he was doing up but his stare were too intimidating making her lips froze. He probably wondered the same thing and Kasumi felt like she needed to explain herself of where she had been just now, that Rig was in town and that she went to see him even though she didn't intent to. They had promised to keep it honest between them, she still wanted to hold on to that despite knowing how Ryu felt about Rig, but still it was worth mentioning before he took it wrongly if he somehow found out later on.

"Um, Ryu…" Her stomach suddenly tied itself in a painful clump of knot.

His expression changed all of sudden. He looked…wary. There were shadows in his eyes as well under them. As she watched his guard go up, she had that sense again. That he didn't really trust her, that he felt he had to protect himself, somehow…protect himself from her.

He tried evasion. "Listen, Kasumi." He actually took a step back from her. "I'm beat. Whatever it is…can it wait until tomorrow?"

Kasumi felt rejected once again. She gave him a simple flat tone reply, "Yeah..."

Ryu then walked pass her back to his room. The door closed. Why didn't he question where she was like he usually would…? she wondered. It didn't matter. Sighing, Kasumi went to her room. There was no point in talking to him anyway. She went straight to bed and just wanted to forget about the whole day.

The next morning they were elaborately careful with each other, polite and mostly silent. Ryu was curious about where Kasumi was all night, but he wasn't in the mood to start a conversation as he was still angry with her. She didn't want to talk about what she wanted to tell him last night either. Because now she felt like he didn't care about what she had to say. Therefore, she put it off. What a pair they were, working so hard, both of them, to keep the things that needed saying from ever getting talked about.

He looked at her now and then while eating his breakfast. She had been avoiding a complete eye contact with him. He was the master of reading expression, but it was hard for him to read her that morning. Was she upset? Sad? Furious? He should feel bad, he should have comforted her, but he didn't as Kasumi brought it on herself thought Ryu. He stared at her while he was thinking all of this and still she didn't make any effort to look at him. After cleaning his plate, he left with a simple see you later and disappeared out the door.

At home that evening, Kasumi cooked dinner while Ryu sat in his favorite chair in the living room reading a book, her book. When the food was ready they ate a silent meal, one during which they both carefully avoided making eye contact. Not a word were exchange between them. Ryu helped with washing the dishes while Kasumi cleaned the rest and then they went back to doing their own business. The silence was killing her within but after their last argument, Kasumi was too defeated to approach him about anything. Ryu went to the living room and continued on reading.

Ayane called at seven, her phone was on the table in front of Ryu. Kasumi hurried towards it to pick it up. He forced himself to stare at the book, to ignore the bleak sound of her footstep moving away from him going back to her room. A half an hour later, she came back out, her eyes and nose red and puffy. Though she pointedly did not speak to him or look his way, Ryu got the message loud and clear. She had been crying on the phone to her baby sister. He probably shouldn't have let that get to him, shouldn't begrudge her for needing someone to talk to when she was feeling low. But he did begrudge her. He felt betrayed. He wondered what kind of rotten stuff she had been saying to Ayane about him. But he didn't ask. He didn't say a damn word. There was no sense in going there, nothing but trouble would come of it.

By the next night when he got home late, he found their bed empty again. He marched towards the spare room where his wife had been staying. He didn't quite know why he felt the urge to check on her. He gently pushed the unlock door open keeping his presence as quiet as possible. He carefully peeked inside the dark room and Kasumi seemed to be peacefully asleep. Ryu stood still in her doorway with his arms folded across his chest and his shoulder pressed against the doorway, completely hidden by the shadows looking at her laying figure. He realized that this stand-off was getting to be a pattern. They were leading separate lives under the same roof. He knew he should do something about it but he was still so damn mad at her. He wanted to grab her and shake her until she came to her senses and started acting rationally. He wanted to shout at her so bad it made an itching sensation under his skin. Therefore, he put it off. He didn't know how to deal with Kasumi at this point.

The weekend arrived. Usually weekend means date nights and a lot of sex. But this time it went pretty much the same as the days before it. Kasumi woke up early. She ran the vacuum and washed windows. Ryu got out of bed, though he would like to get some extra sleep after a long week with duties, but he couldn't since Kasumi was making too much noise. He might as well start his day early and go train with Momiji and he also had promised Sanji to continue with their sword training.

He walked out of the room and Kasumi was still washing windows. She didn't reacted to his presence. Ryu dared to ask his estrange wife if she needed help with anything. She gave him a simple monoton voice reply, "I'm okay." Sighing, Ryu continued towards the kitchen to fix a little breakfast for himself. Once he got there, the breakfast was already set nicely on the table for him. He could still see her from the kitchen, this silence was beginning to kill him. He sat down and began eating his breakfast alone thinking about what his marriage had become.

Soon after, he grabbed his belongings and made his way out. On the way out the door, he saw Kasumi came out from their bedroom with some nicely folded clothes in her hands. She only looked at him for a brief second and then disappeared into her own room. Ryu continued making his way out. When he got back at noon, she wasn't there but she had left a note on the table in the living room.

~Having lunch in the city. Back by four. Dinner at my parents. Six o'clock~

Right, he thought. Kasumi had mentioned the dinner last week. Back when they were still speaking to each other.

Still sleeping with each other…

And who the hell was she having lunch with, anyway?

Not that it mattered. Not that he needed to know…

Ryu gazed towards the clock, it had only been an hour since he got home. Time was going slow for him that day. He had already taken the shower, sharpening his dragon sword and now he was reading. He had been reading the same paragraph over and over because his mind was elsewhere and then he had to re-read the paragraph when his mind wandered away again. He closed the book and threw it on the table as frustration sliced through him. All he could think about was his wife. He hid his face with his hands to calm himself down. He used to be so good with controlling his emotions, up until now. Why did he have to fall in love with her?

What's the matter with me…

He couldn't stay at home, he had to kill time somehow. Ryu decided to go to the antique shop to help Muramasa in the meanwhile. Once he got there, Muramasa didn't need much help but he was glad Ryu stopped by to keep him company since it was a slow day. Ryu then walked around the shop in aloofness mannerism, studying the antiques. He was really thinking about Kasumi. No matter what he did, she kept on torturing his mind. He didn't know what to do anymore.

"Is everything alright?" Muramasa asked, noticing that Ryu wasn't quite himself.

Ryu turned to the old man with a simple nod.

"If you need to talk about what is bothering you..."

"No, it's fine." Ryu flatly replied. He wished he could talk to someone about it. Usually, Muramasa was the one he go to for advice as Muramasa had been more of a father to him than his own father ever was. However, he didn't think that anyone would understand him.

"I have to go, see you next week." Ryu bowed and left the shop as he just realized that it was almost time to head to Mugen Tenshin for family dinner. Not that he looked forward to it, as there was nothing more irritating to him than being in the same room as Hayate. But he had promised Kasumi that he would go. On his way back, he passed by a coffee shop and his eyes locked on the two people that came out the door. Ryu kept his distance to avoid from being seen by them. Who was the man hugging his wife…? he wondered strangely to himself.

He placed a kiss on her cheek and they gave each other another long hug.

The man looked western, Ryu's first angry thought was, Rig Donovan? Could this be the bastard who'd hurt her so bad? Kasumi said that Rig was a biker type and had many tattoos. Surely, this guy had his arm full of tattoos. Something dangerous slammed through Ryu at the sight of that creep's hand wrapped around his wife. The blood spurting hot and fast through his vein, he wanted to hit something, and he wanted to hurt the S.O.B Rig Donovan. The hot flood of an overprotective rage inside him grew stronger by the seconds. He just wanted to march over to them and go flat out, ugly, bust your face and furious.

No…shaking his head. This wasn't him, Ryu stepped back and turned around to head home as quickly as possible before he changed his mind. It took everything he had to walk away from the scene. He was smarter than this he told himself. Ryu disappeared and got home before Kasumi did.

Thirty minutes later, Kasumi came home. Ryu was nowhere to be found. She checked everywhere in the house because she didn't want to be late for the dinner at her parents.

"Ryu?"

No respond. She then looked for him in the last room in the house, her former bedroom. Kasumi found him sitting quietly by the end of the bed.

"Didn't you hear me calling for you? I just need to do a quick change and then I'm ready to go." Kasumi said casually.

He looked at her, with dead-on angry eyes. Kasumi blinked a couple of times, a little confused of why Ryu was giving her an intense stare. Then he looked away. She didn't know what to think nor did she dare to ask what was on his mind.

"Are we still going…?" She carefully asked to make sure.

"Yeah." He replied short and cold.

Kasumi frowned, as she felt that something wasn't right with Ryu.