My mother died when I was born, so I never got much of a chance to know her. My father always told me that I would have liked her though. Papa and I lived in the woods, about six miles away to the entrance of down town Tokyo. Nobody ever really bothered us, that is until he needed to go on assignment.

I will never take a picture in my life. My father died because of his trade and I will do nothing to encourage its existence. When I got the call that he perished in an avalanche, my heart froze and I realized that I would never have a family again. My father’s side of my family had disowned him long ago because he didn’t agree with the family practice of keeping secrets when death was involved. And the stupid ninjas were too mean to respect a different opinion. My mother was the last of her clan, I never met anyone from her side.

The heat stayed on until early fall the next year. Believe me, it’s not as easy to manage a mortgage and bills when you’re eight, especially if everyone at the bank frowns at you and they realize that you’ve been the one to deliver the checks for several months. They foreclosed on the house and I was told that someone from a youth center would be by shortly to pick me up.

I walked about eight miles with as much as I could carry: a few clothes, some food, and a few books that I had to return to the library. Then I found an old building, it looked pretty neat, had some sort of a night club at street level, but I could tell there were rooms above it. So I climbed up the fire escape and pried open one of the windows and slipped inside.

I found an old couch and a warm room, it was perfect. The door didn’t look as if it had been opened in a long time, so I had a feeling that nobody used the room much. I dropped off my stuff and went to the bank and withdrew some money that I still had access to. The bank didn’t realize that they couldn’t have the money in my papa’s accounts ‘cause it technically belonged to me.

After I got the money, I went curb shopping. You know, it’s when you travel around neighborhoods and take things that people set out for the trash; it’s fun. I found a fairly new mini-fridge, and from what I could tell, it still worked. Once I lugged it back to my little flat, I verified that it still functioned, then I set out to get groceries.

I still went to school, no one ever asked why my papa never came to Parent-Teacher conferences. But everyday after school, while most kids went home to play, I went back to work. I didn’t feel right about using the small room up above the nightclub, so I went to ask the owner if he had anything I could do.

I almost wet my pants the first time I met Ji-ji san. He was yelling at one of his soon-to-be-fired workers and damn could he yell. The man was huge, and really built, still is too. I could see those big, meaty hands slapping the table from where I watched through a window, and I knew instantly that I never wanted to bother him.

After he went outside to clean up some trash, he found me sitting there, smiling up at him with big innocent eyes.

"What’s a street urchin doing around my building?" he teasingly asked. "You looking for a job or something half-pint?" When I nodded yes, he said he’d hire me to take out his trash twice a day, once before school and once after.

I found out very quickly that Ji-ji san was just as kind as he was ferocious. He’d ask me about my day in school, what I liked to do for fun, all sorts of things. When he heard that I loved soccer, he asked why I wasn’t in the local league.

"Because," I lied. "My parents can’t afford to."

"Well that just won’t do, even street urchins should be allowed to play."

I was very surprised the next day to be greeted by Taro at the back door. Taro has black hair that’s cut short in the back and loose in the front. He’s also pretty tall; I still only come up to his collar bone. He’s also got eyes greener than any tree leaf in Japan.

"Hey Baby-cat," he called to me. I’m not quite sure why he picked that nickname for me, but he still calls me that.

"Hey yourself Taro, where’s Ji-ji san?"

"He’s giving you the day off and insists that I take you over to the local play center and sign you up for soccer. His treat."

"But I can’t," I protested, how would I be able to repay him?

"Look Baby-cat, my job’s riding on this, so we’re going, got it."

I couldn’t believe that Ji-ji san would be so mean. But I didn’t argue, I liked Taro, he was nice to me so I didn’t want to be responsible for him losing his job. I went with him to the center. I felt kind of bad, taking advantage as I was of Ji-ji san, but who was I going to complain to? My parents?

Ji-ji san came to every one of my games; he also cheered for me and helped me to feel better if we lost. If we did end up losing Taro always bought me some ice- cream to make me feel better: he said I had to not get used to it though. They were quickly becoming the family that I thought I lost. Ji-ji san was too much like how I imagined a grandfather, and Taro reminded me of my papa. The only thing I was missing was the mother I never had to begin with.

I first met Gemini when I accidentally walked in on Taro kissing him. Gem was only around once a week at the club; Saturday nights, and Ji-ji san hasn’t changed his routine since he opened the place up about thirty years ago. It took a while for me to realize that Taro’s boyfriend was a stripper, and longer before I really understood what that meant. But since Gemini ran a store downtown, it just didn’t connect.

Gemini’s the same height as taro, so he’s pretty tall. He’s very different though in every other way. Gem’s dark like I am, and he’s also the first person I ever met to have white hair and red eyes. At first, I thought he was an albino, but he’s promised me on several occasions that he wasn’t.

It’s an interesting set of events that led me to live with Taro and Gemini. It started with the local championship game. Every team faced off with each other to see who the last two teams would be. My team lost the game we were in and I was really upset. But since all three of them had come to the game, it helped a lot. Gemini and Taro had brought a picnic lunch filled with some of my favorite foods. I was still too young to be any good in the kitchen, so more often than not, I ended up eating instant ramen a lot of the time.

Unfortunately, the three of them ended up escorting me "home", they insisted. I ended up leading them to a run down building about two miles from where I was. Then, after I saw them leave, I walked back by myself. I had a pretty good sense of direction for being only nine, only got lost once.

But the temperature had dropped and it was cold out. By the time was back in my room, I must have caught a chill because when I woke up in the morning, I wasn’t feeling well. I was cold at the same time as I was sweating like crazy. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

It was sometime after the sun set that I woke up again and that was because I felt myself getting picked up and heard two people arguing. When I opened my eyes, I saw that Taro was holding me and Gemini was tucking another blanket around me.

"Hey Baby-cat," Gemini smiled at me. "How are you feeling?" I don’t remember answering and the next thing I knew, Gem and Taro decided to take me to the hospital.

Of course I argued, I didn’t have any insurance, and I really didn’t feel that bad. We met up with Ji-ji san at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t look as worried as them, he put a hand on my forehead and the other on the side of my neck.

"It looks like he’s got the flu, not too much to worry about. Take him to Sendai Linnai, she’s a wonderful pediatrician. She’ll tell you to put him in a hot bath and feed him warm liquids. She’ll also say to keep him covered and change the bedding as soon as it gets damp from sweat."

True to his word, Ji-ji san was right, although Dr. Sendai also gave them a anti-pyretic to bring down my fever. They took me back to their apartment, which is the upper half of a two-story building; the bottom half was the store Gemini ran during the week. It was very strange; there was a fairly large corner of one room sectioned off with a curtain set up for me. For six days, that was all I saw in between my weird fever dreams. I have vague memories of that flapping white curtain and being rewrapped in a warm blanket.

When my fever broke, I was surprised to hear that Taro and Gemini both knew where I had been for about six months, they just never prided into my business. I was very surprised to hear that Gemini and Taro had talked with some social services people and offered to act as foster parents for me. I was even more surprised when they told me that they were keeping me for at least a few more years. It felt good to have a family again

Five days after my fever broke; Taro took me back to the club. He had to carry me in since I was still a little on the weak side. Ji-ji san smiled when he saw me and gave a hug.

"Did you know I was there?" I asked him. I wanted to apologize about using the room above the club.

He laughed and gave me a hard look. "No I didn’t actually, and I don’t ever want to hear that you feel you have to live there again; or anywhere else for that matter. Taro and Gemini will take good care of you," he promised me. "And if I ever hear that you’ve run away to a new spot again, you’ll get the sharpest spanking of your life, do you understand me?"

"Perfectly."

Taro introduced me to some of the strippers while we were there. It was Friday, so they were all women, and they were all in numerous states of dress when we went through the dressing room. I remember thinking how strange it was for the women to be as comfortable as they were around us. I remember Rain the clearest of all.

Rain was shorter than a lot of the women; she was also the oldest stripper there, at age 40 or so. I wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t told me thought, she certainly didn’t look her age. Bright blue eyes, nice skin, and full brown hair belied her years.

I’d met Rain a few times beforehand from when I was taking care of Ji-ji san’s garbage. She was always very nice to me, and would even show me the pictures of her kids, she had two of them. I know that even though I was weak and sickly, I can remember her clearly telling Taro that she thought it was wonderful that he and Gemini were going to raise me. She said I couldn’t have been with more devoted parents. She also promised to baby-sit if they ever needed her to.

Rain isn’t the only lady-stripper that stands out in my memory from that night: Reshka is also very vivid. She wasn’t much to look at in the face, she was sort of pale and plain, but I do remember everyone saying that she had a body that just wouldn’t quit. I remember her very well because unlike the other women there, she didn’t support Taro.

"Two men shouldn’t be taking care of a child. That’s just wrong. A family only exists when there’s a father and mother to look after the children." She was glaring at Taro the whole time she spoke.

I remember Taro tightening his hold on me into a fierce hug. "Your wrong, a family is made of love, there isn’t any other requirement."

Rain gave Reshka a nasty look and told her to go get ready. See, there was always one stripper in charge of the others to organize when everyone would go and what music they would dance to. Rain was in charge for the women, and Gemini has been in charge for the men for a long time.

I remember Rain giving Taro a gentle hug around me, wrapping her arms around us both. "Love knows no shape, play, or way of thinking. Ignore her and go take care of your baby."

I stayed with Taro and Gemini for almost a full year, then something happened and I was taken away. I never found out who it was who reported them to Social services, but someone somewhere (possibly Reshka), decided that it wasn’t right for two men, one a bartender, the other a stripper, to watch a little boy.

I stayed at the group home until my eleventh birthday, a scant three months. On the dawn of that day, I opened my window, jumped out and ran, never looking back.

I ran for a full two days until I found a house deep in the woods. It looked abandoned on the outside, the windows having been shut for ages and the door stuck tight. But on the inside, there was enough food for a good few years, all dried and smoked meats. There were also some books on the edible vegetation nearby and a garden in the back. Of course I thought it was too good to be true, but then again, I wasn’t about to argue with anyone. The only time I had a hard time feeding myself was when I discovered rats living in one of the store holes had eaten a lot of food. I learned to set traps for rabbits and other small creatures, plus skin the fur and cure the meat.

When the Ancient appeared when I was twelve, I was scared. I thought he was going to kill me for using what turned out to be his home. But this huge tiger with him, who I remember from a few confused occasions in my early childhood, stepped between us and gently licked my nose. The next thing I knew, I was being trained how to fight against the evils of the Tulpa and countless other obnoxious nuisances. In between training, I’d play soccer with White Blaze.

After high school, I knew that I’d never be able to attend college; I’d leave that up to the smart people like Cye, Rowen, and Kento. Yes I said, "And Kento", that guy knows more about restaurant business and accounting then anyone I’ve ever met. There are times when he thinks circles around his two lovers.

This left me with the task of finding a job for myself, since Sage is working in his family’s dojo. I started reading ads in the paper and I discovered an old one that had been running for that last fifteen years or so. They needed a bartender at "Hot Dayz, Cool Nightz". Big surprise there, I remember from when I lived above the place how wild it would get.

So I went and found the place, knocked on Ji-ji san’s door. When he opened it, his eyes grew as big as saucers in shock. He grabbed me in a fierce hug and pulled me inside his office, squeezing me so hard that I couldn’t breathe. He let me go once or twice to pull me back and make sure it was really me, then he pulled back into his chest and wouldn’t let go. It wasn’t after I felt tears on my cheeks, coming from him, not me; that I realize how much he missed me.

He finally let go after ten minutes of hugging me. It thought he was going to stop, but he didn’t. He started rubbing my face and pulling my hair away from my eyes and saying, "It’s really you Ryo, it’s really you."

I was very surprised when he yanked me across his left knee and swatted me very hard three times. He pulled me upright and held my face in his hands and gave me an angry look. "If you ever, ever scare us again like that, I’ll beat you black and blue, adult or not!"

I admit that the threat scared the hell out of me, so all I did was nod my head. I learned from him that the day I disappeared from the foster home, Taro and Gemini had gotten the courts to reverse their ruling. They had been planning on picking me up that afternoon, but I had run away already. Opps.

Taro didn’t react much better when he saw me again. At first, I thought that he was going to explode, his face was so red. But he just remained very calm and gave me a very thorough warning never to run away from the people who loved me again. I promised that it wouldn’t be a problem.

I started out assisting Taro behind the bar. I learned quickly and he was pleased to see that I could focus on so many things at once, a skill I had learned in battle. Strange place to use it I’ll admit, but hey, what works, works, right? Soon after my training, Taro started having shorter hours than me, dropping down to an hour a night within three weeks truth be told. It turned out that Taro and Ji-ji san weren’t looking for an assistant, but a replacement. Both were impressed that I adapted very well, but Ji-ji san is still looking for a helper for me.

The first Saturday that I worked completely on my own, I was surprised to see Gemini up on the stage doing his act. He still looks very good at the age of thirty-three. In fact, it turns out that he’s always been a good stripper, and that he’s always had two acts-supposedly the reason that he’s called "Gemini".

He came back to check on me and make sure I was doing all right. He found out what I’d been up to and was very pleased to hear that I had a boyfriend.

"I always knew you’d end up kissing boys," he teased me. "What’s our son-in-law like?" Gemini has always called me his son, and he acts like a mother so me more often than not. So I told him about Sage, he approved.

Gemini was the first to figure out the exact bent of my relationship with Sage. Occasionally, he teases me about being a bad boy and telling my boyfriend so he can spank me. I’m sure that during those occasions, he feels as weird as I do, since we had had a parent-child relationship and it was now turning into good friends. Gem calls our chats "uke-talk", since it’s the major thing we have in common. It makes me nervous sometimes how well he still knows me from when I was little and living with him.

Last night, after the fight and giving my statement six times, the police are very thorough; I was too wiped out to do anything. It was four in the morning and I was very surprised to see my "parents" walk into the station to look for me. Gemini winced when he saw the marks I’d picked up during the altercation; which were a black eye, split lip, and a badly bruised cheekbone. He went running off someplace trying to find water to clean me up with. Taro just asked if I had a place to stay for the night.

When he heard that my plans were to just go home, he asked if I had a death wish. It was too late for an hour-long drive home he said. Plus, I was exhausted. So they took me to their place.

They’ve moved since I was little and lived with them for those few precious months. Their home was now the back half of a start that Gemini actually owned rather managed like he had when I was little. I can’t say that I was terribly surprised to learn that Gem’s store was of the adult variety, catering to the stranger side of sexual pleasure. I did get to tease him about it though.

Gemini got me patched up while Taro did up the couch for me. They both gave me a quick hug goodnight and set off back to bed.

Right now I’m sitting on their stoop outside, watching the cars fly by and feeling as if I’m hung over. Taro’s also out here with me, drinking coffee. I’m waiting for Sage, he’s fairly resourceful, so I suspect him to be here any… oh wait, there’s his car.