Endings and Beginnings- Part 1

Upon entering teenagehood, Yuki began taking an interest in the domestic arts of keeping a happy household. She helped with the cooking and cleaning whenever she had the time.

While Sakura, on the other hand, had shown more interest in furthering her knowledge. The morning after Matsuda's birthday, she sent an application to join an international chess association.

Now that Matsuda was also in high school, he began thinking of the future... And it was a big and scary thing to him, like the bogey monster under the bed when he was younger..

"Dad, what if I can't find a job, or find a place to live when I graduate?"
"Matsuda, do you really think your mother and I would ever kick you out? You're our son, and you are always welcome to call our home yours."
"Thanks, Dad."

Work started to pick up for Neku, he seemed to be performing at one venue or another every single night. The extra cash was nice, but it created a distance between him and the rest of the family.

The boys grew closer, but the girls seemed to be drifting apart. Yuki was always angry at something or other, and even made Sakura cry one day.

Staying out after curfew became a habit for Yuki, although she luckily never got caught.

Meanwhile, Sakura found a productive outlet for her loneliness. She was slowly but surely working her way through the ranks in the local chess circuit. Not only did she learn a lot from more advanced players, but she got to meet many new people.

One day, Neku got a call from an old friend, asking if he'd come to her party. He would have much rather gone home to spend the night with his family, but his publicist insisted it would be good for his reputation. How very wrong he was.

It turned out that the hostess was not just any acquaintance, but an old flame. Staring into her eyes, a wave of nostalgia swept over Neku and for some reason, he found himself unable to resist her advances.

One thing led to another... But the guilt wouldn't set in until the morning after.

Neku was not only ashamed of what he had done, but confused as to why Shyla had never brought it up. Someone at the party had blabbed, and the story was on the front page the next day. The anxiety ate away at him, and Neku found himself avoiding his wife, unsure how he was supposed to act.

 He spent more and more time working, and generally crashed on the couch until Shyla left for work. It was a vicious cycle.

Neku was so wrapped up in his feelings of remorse that he completely forgot about his own birthday. He aged up quietly, in the middle of the night.

Mike, however, had big plans for his birthday. He invited the whole neighborhood, and shortly after blowing out his candles, announced his plans to move out. He wanted to become a star, and felt that he'd be better able to spread his wings if he had his own place.

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Well, I finally got around to writing this up... And it's far too long. I didn't realize I had so many pictures backlogged, so I'm splitting this 'chapter' into two parts. As for why Shyla didn't show up, she really didn't do much of anything during this segment. However, she will have her moments in the spotlight when I finish the second half. ^^

If anyone has any tips on how to use Blogger(I've never tried anything like this before.), feel free to share them. I especially want to know how the spacing works. You might have noticed, but spacing between the pictures- especially near the beginning, is less than uniform, haha.