Disclaimer: I don't own anything, this is all just for fun.

A/N: When I finished reading this series there was just something that bugged me, I simply couldn't stop thinking about Mao… He was such a sweet character he deserves a better ending, I just want to give him hugs and kisses! So here goes his story.

Setting: After the Second book; A Love Bite

Rated M for future chapters

Chapter 1

Among the hundreds of people passing by this peaceful park, there sat a boy who stared into the river in front of him without blinking. He wore an expressionless face, as time passed for the busy people in uniform one after another; it seemed to stand still for him. He watched the water raced down the river, never endingly running… running… suddenly something changed in his eyes, tears were welling up and starting to fill the worn out sockets, but the boy gritted his teeth and began to take deep breaths. "Be strong." He whispered desperately to himself as he suppressed the flooding emotions. Picking up his small suitcase, he stood up from his seat for the first time in hours raising his head. His California blonde bangs waved before him in the gentle wind, soothing his skin, his mind and his weary heart.

Walking aimlessly down a quiet street hoping to find a motel with the money Shiiba san had given him. Mao didn't know where he was or what he wanted to do but he didn't care. During the few days he stayed at the hotel alone, millions of thoughts crossed his mind, despicable thoughts… he was so tired from everything, he just wanted it all to go away, to end. But he knows Nagakura would never forgive him if he were to choose the easy way out nor could himself. Mao decided to live in order to grow stronger, grow into a man worthy of Nagakura when they meet again in the next world, so he'll be able to hold his head high towards this man and be his equal. Lost in his clouded thoughts, something caught his eyes from his peripheral vision; a mixed - fruit shortcake. Mao stopped and stared through the glass window, unconsciously a smiled crept up his face but something sad glistened in his eyes.

The first night Mao had met Nagakura at a bar; they walked towards a nearby hotel together. When Mao stopped to stare at a mixed - fruit shortcake half way Nagakura noticed the longing eyes the boy had, without thinking he pushed on the entrance door that didn't open he noticed the 'sorry, we're closed' sign above. What was I thinking! Its 2am. Nagakura cursed at his thoughtlessness "Hey! Let's go." Was all he said. A couple months later the two had met up in the usual shabby hotel room; northern hotel 505. Mao opened the door, panting, from running up three sets of stairs, when he looked up, a paper bag was headed right towards his face. He anticipated the pain coming from whatever Nagakura had just threw him but it never came. Whatever was in the bag was something soft. "You're late you scum!" the man sitting over on the bed yelled with a cigarette between his thin lips.

"Ah. Sorry, I was-" Mao began to explain.

"I don't care about what you and Kunugi do in bed, you dirty piece of shit!" the man barked like a mad dog. Mao ignored the usual insults and bent down to pick up the bag. What he saw inside stirred Mao's heart for the first time. He searched Nagakura's sharp eyes for explanations then he looked away quickly, he didn't want to know. "Take that crap with you; I don't want anything a whore like you've touched!" Mao griped the fruit cake in his hand tightly, even though it was squashed and deformed, he couldn't help but think of how sweet the cake would taste. Was this kindness the man's trying to give? Maybe in his own way? Mao didn't know. That day Nagakura changed in Mao's heart.

"Hey, are you alright?" a low voice called out, Mao turned to follow this gentle sound. It belonged to a man wearing a chef outfit with his hat dangling from his hand smiling. Mao wanted to look away; this man somehow pained him to look at. It's not because he was not good looking, in fact this man could be called handsome if the powder on his cheeks and forehead weren't decorating his face. The man had a thick chest and broad shoulders, his facial features were soft, warmth seeped out of his half lidded smiling eyes and chestnut brown hair. His whole body was radiating light, but the light burned into Mao's skin and he felt pain like needles were stabbing him all over.

Not wanting to be rude he forced a smile and said. "Ah, yeah I'm ok, thanks." Then he turned around to walk away.

"Would you like one?" the man called out urgently to stop him.

"Huh?" confused by the sudden question, Mao turned around with dumbfounded eyes.

The man walked up a few steps closer, and asked again, "Would you like one? The shortcake I meant. I'm closing down for the day so it'll just go to waste." He now realised how tall this man was up close, assessing his own height at five feet eight, Mao found himself having to look up to meet the strangers' gaze. Probably six feet two tall at the least he concluded.

Mao began to say no thanks, but his stomach betrayed him and growled. He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to eat while lost in thoughts by the river. When their eyes met a flood of silence engulfed them, Mao broke the staring contest and look down to the floor blushing, feeling embarrassed from his stomach grouching like that earlier.

"Hahahahaha!" The man looked amused by Mao's reaction, and burst out laughing. Mao wanted to get angry and yell at him but he was too tired. Suddenly the man stopped laughing and grabbed Mao's wrist with one hand as he dragged the boy inside, "Come on!"

"Ah!" too surprise to react Mao followed.

As soon as he entered the bakery his body felt warm, was it the heater, or the cooking equipments? He wondered, but he liked this warmth. Looking around, he saw about eight tables and some chairs spread across the room, the floor was made of sandy coloured polished wooden boards but what's so special about this bakery was the walls, it was painted all around the room, when he looked straight, the brilliant shades of blues of the sky mixed with the ocean calmed Mao's body, he unexpectedly felt lighter as if he could just turn into a bird and fly away.

"-ey. Hey!" abruptly brought back to reality from a shake on his shoulder. He looked up to see the man looking concerned. "You feeling sick?"

"Umm, no. sorry." He apologised for blanking out.

"You must just be hungry then. Sit down. Here." He seems relieved and he pulled out a stool by the counter for Mao to sit down. Mao complied. He turned to look at the other walls with paintings around the room and saw a sandy beach on the left matching the colour of the floor boards. On the right were piles of large rocks in the darkest shades of greys. When he turned back to face the table, in front of him was the cake he had been looking at. The square plate holding it was white with a simple design of two sunflowers in the bottom corner. Everything in this room was so warm and affectionate; Mao was at a loss as of what to do or how he wanted to feel about it. Part of him wants to stay here forever just to be absorbed by this heat but part of him wanted to run far away from this delusional paradise. He shook his head hoping these thoughts would go away for just a while.

"Whoa! This is good!" Mao happily put up his thumb.

"Haha, you must be really hungry." He teased. "What's your name, little mister?"

Mao glared at him while eating "I'm not little!" he stated in a low steady tone. The man laughed again, had he fallen right into this man's trap? Mao thought but answered anyways, "Mao Takanashi." His eyes widen at the realisation of what had just happened, he gave this stranger his full name and his real name at that, what was he thinking? Mao scolded himself mentally. But there was something odd about this man; he gave Mao a sense of security and trust.

"That's a beautiful name." the man said "It suits you." He smiled. Breaking Mao's chain of thoughts.

"Wh-what?"

"You use the kanji small and bird right?" he asked innocently

"How did you know?" no one had gotten the kanji of his name and the pronunciation right before, because it was a rare name. He gazed intently at the man across the counter demanding an answer.

"You wear a frown on your face but when you smile – like you did while looking at this shortcake through the window – you looked so innocent like a carefree little bird." He honestly answered.

Mao laughed inwardly at the word 'innocent' and pushed on. "Your name?"

"Haruki Tsubaki."

"Hahaha" this time it was Mao's turn to laugh,

The man raised his eye brows and waited for Mao to stop.

"I would of guessed something along those lines, everything about you and this place just screams warmth and brightness." As he said that he was sadden at their differences. "Your name means 'shinning sun' right?"

"That's right." Haruki confirmed but he didn't look as though he was happy about it. "You new in town? What's with the suitcase?" he gestured at the small suitcase Mao had placed on the seat next to him.

"Ah…yeah, I was just on my way to a motel."

"Motel? You should have passed it on your way here; it's around the bend from the river park." He suggested. But Mao must have missed it since he wasn't paying attention to where he was going.

"Oh, I must have missed it." Weakly pulled a smile

"Do you need a place to stay? I have a spare room in my apartment upstairs." Haruki offered, he waited for Mao to answer but he's expression was casual.

"What's in it for you?" he replied coldly.

"You can always pay me back with your body." He smirked at Mao. Mao's face turned from suspicious to blank, he didn't say anything but he looked up at Haruki. "Hey! Hey! I was joking. Don't look at me like that." He reached out to pinch the boy's cheeks.

"Mmgh! Ah! Stop it!" Mao slapped his hands away then glared at Haruki for making fun of him.

"Sorry I went too far, but your expression looked like you were contemplating it." He said in a teasing tone.

Is he serious or is he joking? Mao couldn't tell. "What if I was? I have nowhere to go and no job."

Haruki's teasing eyes loomed he looked a little sadden but quickly bounced back "Oh? No job and no home?" he question to confirm. Mao nodded. "I'm hiring a waiter/waitress." He pointed at the red A4 paper on the wall next to the door. It read 'Hiring. Part-time to full-time. Experience preferred.'

"I don't have any experience at waitressing."

"That's ok, you seem like a quick learner." He winked. "Regarding the accommodation though, you can just stay at my place and I'll deduct your pay for food and water, no rent.

"Hey! Don't get ahead of yourself! I never said I accept."

"Well, do you accept?" he widened his questioning eyes looking for the answer.

Feeling defeated Mao nodded. Haruki grinned like a kid with a new toy.

After cleaning up the last touches at the shop Haruki led Mao around the back, and across the road there was an apartment building five stories high. They walked up the stairs and stopped at the fourth level, next to the stairs there were two doors, must be two apartments per level, Mao thought. Haruki opened the door to the right '4B' Mao read.

The apartment was really spacious, maybe it was comparable to the one he lived-in in Tokyo, but the large window that allowed the orange sun setting light penetrate the glass filled the room with a soothing atmosphere; it was so inviting.

"Are your family rich or something?" Mao mindlessly asked, how does a young man like him able to own a bakery and a big apartment in this society without connections.

"Yeah, guess so, but I don't see them" he said gingerly, Mao didn't expect this response but waited to see if he would go on. "I left school at 17 to study culinary in America, three years later I came back with a friend… but they didn't like him" he hesitated and whispered the last part. Mao just stood there and listened, looking at Haruki to see if he was going to go on. And he did, Haruki began "They didn't like him because we were dating. I'm gay."

Mao was a little shocked, before he could say anything Haruki continued "We ran away, not long later we rented the bakery and business was great because we made sweets and breads different to those in this town. But those happy days only lasted half a year also." He paused; Mao could tell the memories were still fresh in Haruki's mind, it was the first time those cheerful eyes showed this much sorrow. "One day we went to the beach, we were playing around among the rocks near the water, I went to chase after a crab and when I returned he was gone."

"…Gone?"

"I dived in the water to look for him but the waves were really strong, the current pulled me towards the deep ocean, I had to swim back to shore. Later I contacted the emergency and they sent out a search team, we searched for days but nothing. I waited for months…years. But…Nothing..." he trailed off.

Mao could tell they were deeply in love. He can understand the hurt vividly. He reached out to put his hand on Haruki's trembling fists. "Hey, it's ok, at least he had a happy life, even if it's short he had you in it, and you guys must have been really happy right? Even if he's gone now you still have those memories." Saying those comforting words was like knives plunging his heart through to his soul. Nagakura is gone. But Mao didn't even have any memories where they were happy to cling onto. If they had just one year or just one moth of carefree days like Haruki's Mao would have been happy to die for it. It would have been worth it, a hundred times. Tears started to form on his eye frames but he swallowed them down. He vowed to himself and Nagakura he'd be stronger.

"Look what I'm doing! Hahaha. Telling you such a sappy story like that." He laughed for a bit, the lines on his face faded and he was back to normal. He reached out to grab Mao's hand that's on his trembling fist. It was warm, really warm. "Thank you." He said sincerely. Mao just gave him an encouraging nod.

"How long has it been?" Mao wanted to ask this last question because one day he wants to be like Haruki; able to live with his past.

"Six years." Will it take that long for me too? Mao wondered.