Khatte's eyes widened when Amani threw the bill at Vivian. Even if that had been a dollar, he couldn't casually think of money. He was the sort of person who picked up pennies out of the gutter if he saw them as he past, rinsed the dirt off of them, and saved them in a jar.

Vivian's cheeks flushed red and she gripped the bill, but it wasn't from embarassment. Khatte winced. She was going to plan something wreckless and he just knew it. She was always up for new challenges.

"It wasn't even an equal match, because you're on a skinny motorcycle. The next time, you're either driving a car, or I'll have my own motorcycle by then." Apparently, Vivian hadn't even heard Cindy's discouraging comment. She hadn't had an opportunity to test her car's limits in a while, and now that she was aware of them, she was going to see Simon tonight about some major tweaking.

"I'll be driving a car tomorrow, actually. Though I'd rather not race that on the road. How about we meet up at the speedway after class? I'll bring both my bike and the car. We'll see if you can beat me in either," he said, grinning tauntingly.

"Do you really have to encourage him!?" Cindy groaned, crossing her arms on the table and laying her head down on them. "You're going to get each other killed."

"I need more time," Vivian said with a bright glow in her eyes. "At least, I will to go up against that motorcycle of yours." She paused, considering the challenge. "Well, wait a minute. I'm in! I'll see what my Honda can do now, and then have her tweaked if I lose tomorrow."

Khatte groaned along with Cindy.

"Unfortunately, Vivian loves a new challenge. Maybe we should start writing their eulogies," he whispered to Cindy, leaning in towards her slightly. He said it loud enough, though, that Vivian and Amani could easily hear him.

"If anyone's going to write my eulogy, it's going to be my brother, thanks," he replied, flinging his hair behind his ear. A small star shaped silver earring became visible dangling from the lobe of his ear.

"How is your brother, anyways?" Cindy asked suddenly, keen to change the subject.

"At the hospital, as always," he sighed, putting down his box of food. "He can't really catch a break. But we're planning on going to the speedway next week. Going to test out our new truck against the Neon and the Yamaha."

"Oh, I didn't know you had a brother," Vivian said, unfolding a menu that was on the table but she was looking at Amani.

"At the hospital?" Khatte asked with concern. Amani seemed discontent, so Khatte felt kind of bad.

"Yeah. He's older, but hasn't been able to catch a break lately," he said with a sigh, a slightly depressed look spreading over his features. "I think I might go visit him later and bug him."

"Did you ever find out if he got that award?" Cindy asked curiously, peering up at Amani.

"He never told me. He went to the ceremony, but didn't say if he actually got it. Left it up to me if I was going to go with him, but I had a big presentation due the next day, so I couldn't go. I kinda wish I did, at least then I'd know if he was finally recognized for his talent."

((Mushy~~~!! Get on MSN? =3))

"Mind if I ask what the award ceremony was for?" Khatte asked curiously, grabbing his own menu from the middle of the table. "I wonder why he didn't tell you why he won, though."

Meanwhile, Vivian was listening but her eyes had fallen to her own menu. Like Khatte, she was curious to know more about Amani's brother. If he was going to the speedway next weekend, he was probably just as amazing as his brother. Or at least, that's the conclusion that she had coem to in her head.

((I might hop on MSN a little later. I really shouldn't be online at all right now. x_x))

"Hm?" He looked up at Khatte. "Oh, it was just something for his work. He doesn't really like to talk about work at home. If you ever see him, you can ask him. But I don't want to actually say unless he's here. He doesn't like it when I brag about him," he said with a somewhat nervous laugh.

"He really is amazing!" Cindy said with a smile. "Zaitsu, I mean. I've met him a couple times. Never for more than half an hour, he's so busy with work. But he's very nice, and you can tell they're brothers."

((D'aww. Alright. But you'll be on Mene for a while, right? =S ))

Khatte nodded in understanding. He didn't really like to talk about work either, but that was more because he didn't enjoy it. Even if they gave award ceremonies for low wage workers who knew how to fry potatoes or shelve boxes that weighed fifty pounds, Khatte wouldn't want to talk about it. Though is previous assumption had been that Amani's brother was laid up in a hospital bed, it was clear by now he was probably either an employee or an out-patient.

"Well, if I meet him I can always ask him," he said cheerfully, unfolding his menu. He scanned it. "Spaghetti sounds good about now."

Vivian was more interested in hearing more about Zaitsu, though not necessarily his job. She looked to Cindy.

"So do they look alike then?" She wasn't interested in Amani - her eyes were on Simon - but she wouldn't deny that he was handsome. "Or can you tell by their personality?"

((Don't worry. I'll be around both a little later. ^_^))

"Hm? Oh, they're faces are eerily similar. Though their eyes and hair don't match at all. And it's obvious that this one dyes his hair," she said, tugging on his long red hair.

"Excuse me? The red is natural, thank you. It's the white that's fake," he grumbled, plucking her hand away from his hair and dropping it into her lap. He never really liked when people called his natural hair color fake. Although it wasn't a very common natural color, it was in fact natural.

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes a bit. "They're personalities compliment each other. You can tell they're brothers by the way they act when they're together, and the way they seem to operate. Though Zaitsu is much more laid back than Amani, and is more modest. He also doesn't have a twisted sense of fashion like this one," she said, quickly pinching Amani's side to make him jump.

"So why are you picking on me today?" he asked, turning his attention to his boxes of Chinese food that he'd brought with him. He finished off the noodles and opened another box full of shrimp fried rice.

"I don't think I have such a relationship with my siblings," Vivian said with dismay. Talking about siblings had reminded her of something. "Then again, I don't have just one other sibling to be close to. I have five, and two of them are twins. The way it sounds, Amani and his brother remind me of my twin siblings."

Khatte's stomach growled, prompting him to holler lightly at and wave over a waiter. He immediately said, "Spaghetti, no cheese or meatballs." The waiter looked to Vivian and she ordered a small pizza dish.

"Anyway, my twin brother and sister have a very eerie connection with each other even though they are pretty different from each other," Vivian continued, handing her menu to the waiter and turned to talk directly to Amani. "So if you're capable of holding conversations without talking, or instinctively know if one of you is in trouble when you're not even near each other, I won't really be surprised. I've seen it happen often."

"Yeah, we have a connection like that. Always did. It's just the two of us, though there might be more. We have no idea. We were kind of shuffled around a lot as children. Zaitsu managed to get emancipated at the age of sixteen and got a job and an apartment, and dragged me out of the system to live with him. Don't know how he managed to do it, but he did. Life's been amazing since. Sure, it was really hard at first, but about a year or so after he got his current job, we moved from our studio apartment and live in a big apartment. We live comfortably. Just because I have a good amount of money doesn't mean I'm some stupid rich kid. I like to help others out..." His voice trailed off and he stared down at the table, a distant look on his face as he recalled those memories.

Cindy watched him in a awkward silence. Finally, a few moments after his words had trailed off, she took a breath and decided to speak, "I didn't know you guys were in foster care... That's so sad. I'm sorry."

All of a sudden he seemed to snap out of his little daze, looking over the faces around the table with his oddly colored eyes, until they landed on Cindy. "Oh! I'm sorry, did I say something depressing? I really didn't mean to," he said with a nervous smile. He then immediately turned his attention to clumsily stabbing at his shrimp with the chopsticks he'd so easily used before.

Khatte was impressed, despite how sad Amani's past had sounded. The fact that his brother had worked hard to give both of them decent lives was inspiring to him. He had never paid attention to those "stupid rich kids" - they'd never been important to him. He had never been envious, but he had been pitiful at times, thinking it was hard to make ends meet. Even in high school, he had always maintained a part time job so he could help his mother out. He respected those who worked hard around him, whether it was working hard at college, a hobby, or a job.

"Well, I think your brother sounds like a pretty astounding guy," Khatte said breathlessly.

Vivian bit her lip, a familar warmth flooding through her chest. She understood Zaitsu's ambitions well. There was nothing she couldn't bring herself to do for the sake of her siblings, and she'd done it before - though she'd never been forced to any extremes like emancipation or pulling them out of the foster system.

"Well, thanks for lunch today," Vivian said, appreciating his gesture. "We'll see how you do on the speedway."

"Hm?" He looked up at Vivian. "Oh, don't worry about it. Anytime. Don't ever feel like you can't ask me for something," he nodded to Khatte as well, "that goes for you, too."

Cindy's eyes widened as she stared off at something, keeping her mouth shut even though she was clearly excited.

Locking eyes with Cindy and grinning, he put his index finger to his lip to remind her to stay silent as he slowly approached behind Amani.

"Mm? What is it?" Amani asked, his eyes falling upon the girl next to him bouncing up and down in her seat.

"I see you," Zaitsu said, wrapping his arms around Amani's shoulders from behind.

"You're supposed to be at the hospital," Amani grumbled, though he was clearly pleased to be in this man's presence. With their faces side by side, it was obvious that they were related to each other.

"I can't believe it. They looked me over and sent me home. Turns out two people came in to cover my shift so I could take a few days off. There's a conference next week in California they want me to go to, and I guess this is their way of bribing me," he said with a light laugh. He let go of his younger brother and stole the chair next to him.

"Doctor Siiya!" Cindy squealed happily once it was safe to acknowledge him. "I haven't seen you in weeks! How are you doing? Dad's been ignoring your last instructions. Mom's tried to call you twice this week to tattle on him. Dad's also been having chest pains again and I don't know what to do about it anymore, and--" She stopped only long enough to take a quick breath before continuing, "It's really really really good to see you again!"

"I already spoke with your mother early this morning, and your father was the last patient I saw before I came here. The pain he's been feeling lately is acid reflux, nothing more. I made sure that it was nothing else, given his history. I also gave him a nice long lecture about listening to his medical instructions, and that if he doesn't he just might end up tapping into your college fund to pay for his own medical treatment. Your mother said she's going to get rid of all the things he can't eat, though later reassured me that she's stashing your personal favorites away under lock and key so he can't get to them. Your father should be fine. It's nice to see you again, Cindy," he said with a sweet smile, though it was a little obvious he was here to spend time with his younger brother rather than discuss patients with people.

He hadn't even changed since leaving the hospital, still dressed in black slacks, a form-fitting dark red t-shirt, black dress boots, and his white doctor's coat complete with name tag. He gave a sigh and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling with an oddly amused expression on his face that could be easily expected from Amani.

"Do they ever breathe? God they talk fast," Amani said with a sigh, shaking his head with a light chuckle.

"Sorry Dr. Siiya," Cindy said with a soft giggle. "I just didn't know if Mom got hold of you or not."

Vivian had not really noticed Zaitsu, but once she got a good look at his face, she took note of just how handsome he was. There were ressemblances in their faces but their hair and eyes were definitely different.

She was ripped out of her admiration by Cindy's stream of fast words, and just blinked at her. She had never heard Cindy talk at such a fast rate, and wondered if Cindy had a crush on the man. She let out a light laugh when Zaitsu replied to Cindy, particularly at the end when he finally said hello to her. She agreed with Amani - did either of them ever breathe when talking? Though it looked like Zaitsu was exhausted.

"Wait, did you say Dr. Siiya?" Vivian asked Cindy with an amused grin on her face. Her head whipped over to Amani. "That's your last name?"

During Amani's excursions to the music room, she often heard "See ya" from a lot of the other students, and thought it had just been a good-bye.

Khatte's stomach growled loudly again and he exaggerated a wince, breaking his stare from Zaitsu. Since he had walked up to the table, Khatte's eyes had not left the man, who didn't appear to be much older than anyone sitting at their table. He put his elbows on the table and laced his fingers, listening to them banter. Since the only one at the table that he knew was Vivian, he was content to just listen. It was his way of getting to know more about them.

Amani sighed, his head falling back against the back of the chair. "Yes, my name is Siiya. That's why everyone yells it when they see me, whether they're coming or going. It's a horribly lame joke that some mentally challenged, monkey-browed highschool jock came up with, and his mentally handicapped friends continued on with the tradition until the entire school knew to call me that," he said bitterly. It was clear now that even though he smiled and pretended it was just nothing in public, that the stupid joke about his last name bothered him.

"They were calling me that before they were calling you that," Zaitsu said, sitting up fully and swiping Amani's box of shrimp fried rice, along with his chopsticks. "It was probably a relative that told the guy in your class about the joke."

"Probably. Uncreative idiots," Amani muttered, leaning forward and snatching his box of food back as Zaitsu ate one of the shrimp. "Give that back."

"Nope. I didn't get lunch today because a certain little red head ran off to be with his friends," he muttered in mock-frustration, snatching back the box of food and scarfing down another few shrimp.

"Hey, you told me to go ahead and leave. Thought you were going to take a nap." He grabbed his food back along with his chopsticks.

"I was. Then I got called in for an emergency surgery, then suddenly I was sent home with a few days off. They really need to figure things out around there. Things have been hectic." He turned to look at Amani, pouting as he stared at the food. "But I like shrimp..." he whimpered.

Cindy couldn't help but giggle while watching the exchange between brothers. She was always thrilled to see them together, and loved it when they squabbled so freely. Not only did she find it extremely amusing, she found it oddly attractive as well.

"Well, I just made the connection with your name and the jokes," Vivian explained, feeling a little guilty that she'd brought up a sore subject. "I didn't know your last name until just now."

"At least you don't get called 'Katie.' It's one thing if people mispronounce my name, but a completely different thing when they know how to say it correctly and don't." Khatte was well aware of the jokes people made based off of names.

"At least I never did that," Vivian pointed out, throwing a feigned innocent smile at Khatte.

"The hell you didn't." Khatte muttered, obviously sore.

The waiter finally brought Vivian and his food to the table, and he happily twisted his fork into the noodles, sympathizing greatly with Zaitsu's missed lunch. He practically moaned around his forkful as he tasted it - eating those canned raviolis all the time couldn't compare to real pasta like this.

Zaitsu's eyes fell upon Vivian for a few moments, clearly in thought. "I recognize you from somewhere..." he said suddenly. "Now where was it...?"

"Vivian Wellins," Amani said, playing with one of the shrimp in the box.

"Oh! That's right!" he said, snapping his fingers. "You got that award in musical arts last month!"

"Mhmm," Amani nodded, sticking the shrimp in his mouth and eating it.

Cindy just giggled in amusement, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her cheek against her palm, staring at the two brothers with a dreamy expression on her face.

Vivian's eyes lit up in surprise, a wide grin spreading across her face, obviously proud of herself but not wanting to gloat. She pulled herself up with a hand on the edge of the table, straightening her back out.

"Um, yeah. I did. Were you there?" She inquired.

Khatte smiled to himself, also proud of Vivian. He was too busy savoring a morsel he'd cut from a large meatball to open his mouth to contribute to the conversation, however.

"No, I'm afraid. I was at work. But it was the same day Amani won a design contest and ended up getting an addition to his scholarship. I still have the school paper somewhere," he replied, searching the table for something to drink.

Amani rolled his eyes and reached into his bag, pulling out a bottle of soda and handing it to Zaitsu.

Zaitsu took the bottle and opened it, taking a deep drink from it. "So, want to bump up our plans for this weekend instead of next?" he asked, eying Amani.

"Of course," Amani said with a nod.

"Great. In the meantime, I think I might go home and take a nap, as I didn't get to earlier." He put the drink down next to Amani and stood up, playfully ruffling his brother's hair. "It's already windy out. Do you want me to leave the car and take the bike?"

"Yeah, if you could," Amani said with a nod, reaching down and picking up his helmet to hand to Zaitsu. "You got the keys?"

"Of course. I parked by you, so you don't have to go hunting it down." He took the helmet from Amani and rested it against his hip. "Have fun, okay? I'll see you back at home." He then walked up to the front of the restaurant and out of view. While at the front of the restaurant, he made sure to instruct the register to put their table on his tab, treating his brother and his friends to anything they might want to eat.

Once the bill was taken care of, he headed out to the parking lot and mounted his brother's motorcycle, pulling on the helmet and taking off towards home.

"You're brother really is incredible," Vivian said before taking a bite of her pizza. Like she had anticipated, Zaitsu and Amani both shared a close bond that she only understood because she had seen it with her twin siblings. "I hope you both get to enjoy your time off. Maybe he should join us at the speedway tomorrow. It'd be a lot of fun."

Khatte, who set his empty plate to the side, grinned.

"Why would you want to show off? You don't have anything to show off!" He teased.

Vivian aimed a crumpled napkin at him and tossed it at him, hitting him square in the cheek. "How will I know what I need to improve if I don't know my limits?"

Khatte shrugged. "Ice cream sounds good about now."

"You want dessert already?" Vivian asked in amazement. She was still working on her pizza. Instead of eating, she'd been more interested in listening and watching Amani and Zaitsu.

"Unless you want me to break out a package of gummy bears..." Khatte threatened, reaching for his bag where he always had a package of said gummies stored. "Anyway, I might as well, right? You never know when you'll get the chance to eat something good like ice cream or pie."

"I never said you shouldn't have some. I just can't believe you're done already."

"There's time, and there's food. There wasn't much of a decision there." Khatte waved up his arm, catching the attention of a waiter, and ordered a serving of peach pie a la mode. Once the waiter had walked away, he sighed contently. "Thank your brother for me, Amani. And thank you too."

"Everyone seems to think he's amazing," Amani said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear. He looked up at Khatte at the mention of thanking Zaitsu. "Mm? Oh. Did he pay for lunch?" he asked, seeming unsurprised.

"He does that a lot," Cindy said with a light sigh, the dreamy look still on her face. "He's very nice. He pays for things he doesn't have to. He donates money to foundations and all sorts of nice things. He's loaded."

"Cindy, knock it off," Amani sighed, taking a drink from the bottle his brother had drank from. "You're making it sound as though you're related to him or something."

"I wish," she sighed, blushing suddenly as she realized she'd spoken aloud, the dreamy look fading into one of embarrassment.

"Yeah, he paid. I noticed him talking at the register, pointing to us," Khatte explained. "I figured out what he was up to."

"So you decided to take advantage of that?" Vivian lectured, raising her eyebrow sternly at Khatte. "Mooch."

Khatte brushed off the accusation, telling himself it would have been rude to decline any generosity. If he did something for someone, he didn't want their pride to get in the way of their accepting it, and likewise he felt he should always set aside his pride for an offer. He had grown up with a mother that always struggled hard to do everything herself, refusing help because she was more worried about her pride. He listened as Cindy bragged about Zaitsu's charitable donation, and become dreamy and embarassed when she let slip that she wished she was a member of Zaitsu and Amani's family.

"I...I don't think it's really right to talk about what other people do with their money though," Khatte said in a low voice, his eyes falling to his hands, which he had tucked into his lap.

"How is that not right? He's an amazing man!" Cindy protested.

"I agree with Khatte," Amani said, taking another drink. "He was amazing before he had money to spend, but was rarely noticed for his generosity until he could put forth money to help others with. If you want to brag about him, brag about everything he did that he never got credit for. Volunteering at places and working his ass off, back when money was something he lacked."

"But I..." Cindy half-whimpered. "I didn't mean anything bad..."

"I know, but money isn't everything to a person, regardless of what they do with it. You need to be more sensitive to these things. I don't think you really understand why because you grew up with enough money, but Zaitsu and I didn't. Since Khatte seems to have the same reasoning, I don't think he grew up with much either, which there's nothing wrong with that and honestly, I think it makes people more aware of the issues surrounding them."

Khatte's eyes widened in response when Amani backed up his statement. He had been worried his statement would have been considered offensive, but Amani was right.

He looked back up from his lap and gave a weak smile when Amani pointed out that he had probably not grown up with much money as well. "Everyone's capable of doing something nice, whether they have money or not. But Amani is right - I never have had much money."

He may have been able to set aside his own pride enough to snarf spaghetti and ice cream on someone else's tab, but Vivian had not expected Khatte to confess like that. When Vivian had first found out about Khatte's college situation, she had demanded to help, but he had begged her not to.

"It's something I need to be able to do on my own. I want to know what I'm capable of doing. You can understand that, right?" He had said to her.

After that, she had dropped it, and wordlessly driven him everywhere, teasing him about never paying for things, as if he had money and was being stingy. Vivian was never sure just how comfortable Khatte was about this, but he seemed to enjoy the teasing. Just as wordlessly, she sometimes came home to a cleaned apartment, which was Khatte's way of paying her back for giving him the key in case he didn't - or couldn't - stay at his own apartment.