Taiga's eyes burned and her make-up streamed down her face from her tears. 'Why? Why did everything have to happen today, of all days? It's like the world wants to watch me suffer.' She ran through the streets of a Japanese city, heels in hand, head looking down at the ground. Although it was a beautiful Spring day, very few people were roaming the streets and there was no traffic. The few people around didn't notice the girl's sad composure and went about their business as if nothing were wrong. Taiga was slowly picking up speed, but in that haste, she began to have less awareness of what was around her. Her brain was like a freight train which had lost it's brakes, no matter what she tried to think about, it all went back to her concerns about not being able to support Ryuuji like he supported her. 'He's always looking out for me, trying to do what's best for me. Why can't I do the same for him? Am I not strong enough, or do I not love him? Why can't I just-' Taiga's head ran directly into something and it fell over hitting the ground hard.

"What the hell!? Why don't you look where you're walking kid?" On the ground was a girl with a golden hairband in her short brown hair. She seemed angry, but didn't look as if she was in too much pain. Her head was still looking down, but she quickly looked up to get a view of the face of the short girl that had knocked her over.

"I'M NOT A KID!" Taiga's emotions were quickly getting the better of her as her sadness quickly morphed into a fit of rage. She tried to mask her emotional strife, but the girl who she had knocked over couldn't be fooled. "I'm… I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." She apologized halfheartedly and turned to quickly keep moving, but the the girl grabbed her wrist before she could get away.

"Hey…" She paused for a minute, not knowing if it would be alright for her to intrude on someone else's problems, "I'm sorry for yelling at you. It looks like you're having a rough time, do you want to talk about it?" Taiga stopped moving, not just because the girl was gripping her wrist, but because she was surprised by her response. She didn't know what to do. Her mind was debating if it was alright for her to involve someone else in her own personal problems.

"I'll be fine, this is something that I have to deal with on my own." Against her own judgement, she pushed another person away, someone who wanted to help her. Every time someone came into her life, she couldn't stop herself from pushing them away, her mother, her friends, and even the person she fell in love with. 'Maybe I'm was destined to be alone for the rest of my life' she thought. As she began to pull away, she felt the girl's grip quickly tighten.

"No you won't be." The girl said firmly. This girl, who had no connection to Taiga and had no reason to care what was happening, wasn't letting Taiga leave. "I know that it's none of my business, but I can't help but feel something familiar about this situation. Last time, I let that person walk away and I regret it everyday. Please don't let me make the same mistake again."

Taiga didn't want to look at the girl, she didn't know if he could push her away again. "I'm sorry, this doesn't concern you." Although she rejected the girl's help, she made no effort to escape her grasp. "This is something that I have to deal with on my own, no one can help me solve this."

"You're so fragile, this wall you're putting up…" soft spoken words that hit Tagia like a cannon. "How many people can you run away from?"

"You don't…" Taiga started to respond, but stopped. 'How many people can I run away from? I thought I was supposed to stop running. I made up with my mom so that I could be with Ryuuji with her permission, but I'm just running away again. Has nothing changed?' Her thoughts were all contradicting each other, and nothing seemed like it was working out. 'In the midst of such a huge mess, wouldn't it be better to have someone to talk to?'

"Come on, I wasn't going to take no as an answer anyway." The girl in the yellow headband had stood up while Taiga pondered and was now standing in front of her, waiting to be lead somewhere. "Let's go wherever you were trying to go, I'm sure you had somewhere you would have liked to clear your head." Nothing else was said, Taiga began to walk, leading the girl towards the river in utter silence.

"Do think she'll be okay? I know she's supposed to be the strongest of all of us, but I can't help but feel like she'll be overwhelmed by something like this." Noto stood with his back to the wall, leaning against it as everyone gathered in a circle.

"If I know Aisaka, she'll be fine. She's never let something like this get to her before, she is the palm top tiger after all." Kitamura smiled as he thought about everything that she'd already gone through. He was lying to himself, saying that nothing got to her, he just didn't want to think about how weak she had seemed. If she wasn't able to keep her composure, would any of them? Nothing seemed right when Taiga was the one who wasn't able to understand what was going on.

"It's not good to lie to yourself Kitamura." Ami broke his thoughts, "She may be the palm top tiger, but she's also as fragile as a porcelain doll. She'll crack and I don't know if any of us can help put her back together."

"Taiga a porcelain doll? Don't make me laugh, that girl's nothing like a doll, nothing phases her." Haruta started laughing, as if the situation didn't matter. "This is all just a bit of stress, don't worry about it."

Throughout all of this Minori remained silent, staring at the floor. 'She'll be okay, right?' nothing seemed certain to her anymore. In the years since High School had ended everyone had grown slightly apart and, although everything seemed alright, she couldn't help but wonder how Taiga felt. "She's going to be fine." In an almost whisper Minori tried to reassure herself of that one truth, but even then she wasn't too sure.

The group continued talking about their past adventures and eventually started talking about what had happened in the last 3 years while they had been apart. Ami boasted about her successful fashion design studio, Kitamura talked about the differences between customs in Japan and in the United States, Noto talked about his studies in Tokyo, and Haruta spoke about all the different jobs he had enjoyed. For once, things felt half normal and even Minori joined in the conversation. Hope returned to everyone's voices and there was a nostalgic feeling to all of them being together again. 'Maybe things will really be alright.' Minori thought to herself.

The door to the room they were next to slammed open. "She's gone!" Ryuuji yelled. "Where is she?!." Everything stopped, the talking, the laughter, even the breathing. "Well, someone say something!" Ryuuji was frantic and walked up to Kitamura and grabbed his shoulders. "Where is she?!"

"Calm down, we can find her." Kitamura tried to reassure Ryuuju, but to no avail.

"How can I be calm? First my dad comes back, and now Taiga's gone. How the hell am I supposed to be calm?" Ryuuji let go of Kitamura's arms and pushed past everyone else. "If none of you are going to help then I'll just find her myself."

"No. No you won't." Ami's response was almost instantaneous. "You won't be going anywhere. All of these guests need someone to tell them what's happening, and what's more, you need to deal with your father."

"Like hell I want to deal with that asshole, someone can go and tell him to leave."

"Ryuuji, stop!" Ami yelled at him, but nothing was able to deter him from going. He continued to walk down the hall until he rounded the corner and was out of sight of the others. They stood there in utter shock as each one tried to process what had just happened.

"That idiot still hasn't changed, has he?" Ami said to no one in particular.

Ryuuji stormed through the hallways, still troubled by the issue of Taiga's disappearance. 'Where could she be, and why would she leave without saying anything?' None of it made sense to him, he couldn't think of anything that would cause her to leave without so much as a hint to why she left or where she went. He was almost to the side entrance of the church when something made him stop in his tracks. Standing in the doorway, smoking a cigarette, was a dark-haired man wearing a leather jacket and a ratty dress shirt underneath. He didn't know his name, or anything about him for that matter, but his gut was telling him that he wasn't someone that should be associated with. Just as he began to turn around, the man sighed and threw down his cigarette. He stomped on it, and turned to reenter the church.

"Oh, Ryuuji, it's you." He said in a surprised tone. He called Ryuuji by his first name, but why did someone he didn't know refer to him in such a casual manner. "I'm sorry, you probably don't know me so I shouldn't refer to you so casually. Takasu, it's nice to see you."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've ever met you before, would you mind telling me your name." Although Ryuuji had no wish to know this man, he felt it only polite to ask his name. There was something eerily familiar about him, but Ryuuji couldn't quite place what it was that felt so familiar.

"My name… hm… I haven't used my name in a long time, let me think about it."

'He doesn't even know his own name. Who is this idiot?'

"That's it," He snapped his fingers, "Takahiro." He had a sly grin on his face as he looked at Ryuuji. Something about that crooked smile began to cause his blood to boil, and he felt a sudden urge to strangle him, even though the the man hadn't done anything.

"Ok, Takahiro, why are you here?"

"Hm, isn't that obvious. I would think you of all people would know why I was here."

"If you're here for a religious service, I'll have to tell you that there aren't any happening today. The church is currently being used for a wedding."

"Of course it is, and I'm here for my son's wedding." Ryuuji's heart stopped. He just said 'his son's'. He couldn't be telling the truth. His father had disappeared with some woman before he was born. He left his mother alone, to raise him, without so much as a penny to help her get by. Wasn't he just the source of all his problems. "Hey, are you alright? You're starting to shake a bit."

'Am I alright? Hell no I'm not! You're the cause of all my problems, you're the one who gave me this damn face and you're the reasons that my mother had to work so hard. I should kill you right now, you have no right to be here and claim to be my father.' Ryuuji's mind was filled with these horrible thoughts, but nothing came out of his mouth. They stood in silence for a few moments, Ryuuji staring into that evil face. When he looked at him, he understood why people were normally scared of him before they got to know him. Those eyes like black holes and that smile like a wolf eyeing its prey. He couldn't stand how alike the two of them looked, it only reminded him of the relationship the two of them shared. "Please leave."

"Huh? Why would you want me to leave?"

"I'm asking you to please leave." Ryuuji was using all his energy to speak in a calm, level voice, but he didn't know how long he would be able to keep it up."

"Come on Ryuuji, I'm just here to be your father. I even talked to Ya and she said she was fine with me being here."

"What did you just say?"

"I talked to Ya an-" Takahiro's words were cut off as he quickly moved his head to the side to dodge a punch. Ryuuji had lost control.

"Don't you dare use that name for her. You don't deserve to even know someone like her." He was angry, and there was nothing he could do anymore to hold himself back. He threw another punch at the man and, once again, he quickly side stepped to dodge the punch. For someone who had to be at least 40, he was able to move quite quickly and nimbly. "Hold still old man." He started throwing punch after punch, but no matter how quickly he followed up, he seemed to be able to predict where he was going to punch.

"You're not going to be able to hit me, would you just stop for a second and listen to me."

"Shut the hell up!" He yelled, and threw one last punch right for his face. This time he didn't sidestep the punch, but instead his right hand moved, in a flash, to grab his wrist and twist it behind his back. "You think I'm just gonna stop because you're fighting back?" He was still yelling and moved to try and jam his elbow into Takahiro's gut, but his left arm quickly stopped the elbow.

"Fine, you don't want to talk about it, then I'll just have to force you to listen." He began twisting his arm further and further causing Ryuuji to wince in pain. He knew exactly how to cause the most pain, without breaking his arm. "Now, do you want me to break your arm, or do you want to sit quietly and listen to my story?"

"Forget it, I'm not going to listen to whatever you have to say. So just break my arm and leave." Ryuuji was speaking through gritted teeth, but his voice was still angry and didn't show any sign of giving in.

"Fine, if that's how you want it." Takahiro let go Ryuuji's arm and began to walk out of the exit that was in front of them. "If you don't want to listen to what I have to say, then it's not worth me taking the time to tell you the whole story." He opened the door and walked out, letting it slowly close behind him.

'Good he's gone now. I won't have to deal with him anymore.' He turned to head back into the church, but he realized that the fastest way to leave the church would be through that exit. 'But if I go out that way he'll just be waiting for me. Whatever, it doesn't matter, I'll just walk past him' Ryuuji exited the church and looked around as before continuing on. As he created a visor with his hand, he surveyed the street that was behind the church. 'Where is he?' No matter how much he looked he saw no sign of his father. With that, Ryuuji proceeded to leave the church, and walk down the street, as he rounded the corner, he thought he saw someone being pulled into an alleyway. 'That couldn't be…' Ryuuji quickly ran to the edge of the alley and peeked around the corner. There he saw something that he himself couldn't come to understand. There was a man, who claimed to be his father, being beaten by several men in professional looking clothing. 'The Yakuza?!' What the hell has he gotten himself into?' Before he could even finish his thoughts he was rounding the corner.

"Get the hell off of him!" He yelled as he ran. The men turned in shock towards him, but he didn't give them any time to react. He threw a right hook to the closest man's face and knocked him to the ground. He quickly followed up by grabbing the one on top of Takahiro and throwing him to the ground. "Get up old man, we gotta move."

"Who are you calling old man?" Takahiro complained as Ryuuji picked him up from the ground.

"Shut up and run!" He dragged along Takahiro as they headed for the other end of the alleyway. They rounded the corner and Ryuuji let go of Takahiro's arm and began to sprint, "Just follow me." The two began sprinting as fast as they could through the streets, heading in any direction away from the Yakuza men.

A/N: Well, I finished Chapter 3 (yay), I'm so sorry this took so long to get out. I can't promise that Chapter 4 won't take as long, but I will try my hardest to try and make sure it doesn't. But with that out of the way, what did you think? I've been working on this for the whole 2 months and I think it turned out pretty well, but maybe I'm just happy I finished another chapter. Either way, I really enjoyed writing another chapter and will hopefully be posting more stuff now that I've finished finals and have more time to spend writing. Until then, stay healthy and keep writing.