Kazuhiko closed the door to the bedroom suite just a moment prior to the sound of a large thud and breakage of fragile porcelain. The newborn in his arms wept pitifully, his tiny cries tugging on the strings of even the most hard hearted of people... with the exception of his own mother. Kazuhiko rocked the small bundle, hushing him softly until his sobs quietened and he drifted off to sleep. Muffled cursed screams continued within the bedroom, so Kazuhiko pushed himself away from the door in order for the little boy to be able to sleep undisturbed. He made his way towards his study, requesting a servant to fetch the child's moses basket, so he might be able to keep an eye on his son while he worked. His son. How was it that just over a week ago everyone was so excited for the child's birth and yet now, the baby was the heart of a dissatisfied storm blustering through the household? The servant, a nanny who his mother had hired to watch baby Kou, change him if necessary and contact the young madam if he needed feeding (although she now would have to feed him formula as his mother had rejected him), placed the basket beside the young master's desk. He dismissed her, he would watch over the child for now. Gently, he lay the sleeping baby into the cot and watched him for a moment, tears filled his eyes, but he did not let them fall. To cry over the baby's lost future was a futile act and would not change his circumstances. He sensed, rather than saw, his own mother enter the room. "Are you certain with your decision?" Madam Fumiko said, looking intently at her blond haired, brown eyed son. "No one would blame you, you know." "I would blame me," Kazuhiko retorted, but there was no heat behind his words. He kept his voice calm so not to disturb his son, but his mother understood that he meant every word he spoke. "Esme's parents are calling for a divorce," his mother advised him and he glanced at her, one brow slightly raised in question. "They blame us for the taint in bloodline." Kazuhiko chuckled bitterly. How moronic. The need for purity of bloodline, for the strength of the Alpha gene and yet his son was an Omega. In truth, the dormant gene could have come from either line, could have entered the lines several generations ago and what was 'pure' anyway. Their family descended from Japanese and carried the name, but for the exception of certain features such as his mother's black eyes and his phoenix shaped brown ones, they appeared of mostly western makeup now. Esme, a woman who was at half British, with her straight midnight hair and soft features, seemed more oriental than they. "They may change their mind if we give him up for adoption," the older woman continued, her eyes falling coldly upon the basket. "There is plenty of time for the pair of you to produce another child, prove his birth a bad fluke." "I am not giving my son up for adoption," he said between gritted teeth. "If Esme wishes for a divorce, as she cannot handle to truth of the matter, then so be it. But my son stays with me." His mother shook her head in dismay. Clearly her son had inherited her stubborn nature, she would not change his mind now. It was a pity, but she would not let her son suffer this burden alone, no matter how she disapproved. She left the room as quietly as she had arrived, shuffling out in the designer kimono she wore. "I'm sorry, Kou," he murmured softly into the basket, watching the rise and fall of his son's tiny chest as he slept. "I am so sorry!" In truth, he did not blame Esme, neither for her behaviour nor her rejection of him and their son. Theirs was an arranged marriage, they had been brought together for the good of the families, for the good of their Alpha lines. From childhood, they had been taught that a good marriage partner would not only have fertile Alpha genes, but would be from the circles in which they socialised; circles that kept the traditional arts of their fatherland alive. Esme's paternal family practiced the art of the tea ceremony. They entertained businessmen and women, performing the ceremony before them and serving delicious teas within their establishment. His family focus was a little looser, in terms, they learned and played traditional musical instruments such as the koto or shamisen. They did not settle on one instrument per say, for it was the music itself that they favoured. He had been trained since young on the koto, but as his mother's old uncle had once claimed; although his fingers could reproduce the notes, his heart could not reproduce the music. And so he became more of a manager, to find and accept venues for the artists within the family, to raise awareness beyond their communities of their arts and the control the purse strings. In the last few years, despite only being in his late twenties, he had already achieved much. Little Kou could be perceived as his first failure, but that was only in the hearts of those with malicious intent. No one in truth was to blame, least of all the baby sleeping soundly in the basket. But Kazuhiko blamed himself. He believed that he had caused Kou's suffering, his unfortunate gender. He believed it was karma for something that had occurred during his university days, something that he surely could have handled better, but did not. He sighed and sat behind his desk. He picked up a notice of proposal from a small event arena, read every word, but failed to absorb any of it. He shook his head, trying to clear away the web of doubts and self deprecation and focus once more on the proposal. It was a good opportunity for some of their young musicians, would be their unveiling to the world in which they lived and it would reveal to their elders and teachers which amongst them had the ability to rise and which ones would undoubtedly fall. Even amongst the gifted, there are those will falter and be unable to continue, best that they find and comfort them before a more serious experience break them. That way they can be encouraged to pursue alternative interests. Just as he was once encouraged. Still, he could not put his mind to work this day. Perhaps the news was too raw and he was too turbulent of mood because of it, after all, the secondary gender results had only been received that morning. Esme's words as they read the contents of the envelope were etched deep upon his mind, carved by her disgust and hatred. "Get that filthy creature away from me!" She had all but flung the vulnerable baby at the nanny, who fortunately caught him, but Kazuhiko sensed her reluctance to do so. Soon after the chef's assistance went out shopping for bottles and formula. And less than an hour after that, Esme had insisted he have the 'thing' adopted out or he would lose her as his wife. He had refused, she threw him out of their bedroom with the baby he tried to get her to look at like she had just a few hours before, with love. Again, he did not blame her, this was his penance. For he had thrown another away as callously as she was doing to their omega son. He could blame the fact that he was young, the fact that he already had a fiancée, the fact that it had been drilled into him that he had to keep their family line pure, by his mother and grandparents. But in the end, he was the one who had looked coldly upon the Omega boy, more than five years prior, who had done nothing wrong than fall into heat as he happened to be passing the room, that unknown to him, the Landlady had tucked him away into. He felt as if he should have had more self restraint, he felt as if he should have been able to not open that door, but he had and he had become overwhelmed by the alluring scent that literally screamed for him. And so he had succumbed to it, locking the door behind him as the poor lad had failed to do. He vaguely recalled the boy's beautiful verdant eyes, how they widened when he had approached and then darkened with need. They never spoke as they divested each other of their clothes, never introduced themselves as they explored each other's bodies beneath the haze of lust, never stopped to think what they were doing might be wrong as they joined their lower bodies to seek to sate themselves. The following day, after he had ventured into the shared bathroom for a long shower, he had found that the boy had fled, so he thought that he was safe from repercussions, that he could chalk this interlude as a last minute fling or a mindless play caused by the omega's pheromones and forget. Only the boy naturally discovered that he had taken things too far that night, stupidly giving in to the instinct, thinking at the time that it was such a good idea! He had marked the boy on an impulse, claiming him as his own, but in reality, the boy could not be part of his life. He had really done the boy wrong and to make things worse, he had rejected to even know him in front of his friends. And as if he couldn't have fallen lower, instead of taking any responsibility for his actions, he pretended like nothing had happened and instead married the fiancée he hadn't yet met; Esme. Was it any wonder karma sought him out and gave him an omega son? He suddenly felt the need for a drink and pulled his mobile phone from his pocket. Scrolling through the list of telephone numbers, he found the one friend he could rely on to listen to him without passing judgement. His finger tapped on the green call button.