Considering that it has been a long time since I've ever done anything on this site anymore, I'll take the time to apologize here and now for all that negligent nonsense.

Just to clarify: This entire story was rewritten and is being re uploaded as I find the proper writing schedule. For anyone who was a fan of the original story, I'm sorry to say that it is...kinda gone.

I won't go into too much detail as to what happened, but I hope you enjoy the complete rewrite of the story. I personally feel like it flows a lot better and has more feeling to it. Not saying the original didn't, but I like the way this turned out one hundred times more.

I hope you personally enjoy it as much as I do.

I do not own the characters of Sensitive Pornograph, as that honor goes to Ashika Sakura. I do however own the OTs, this story concept, and main hold of everything else...just not the actual characters from the manga.

Recap from Life and Trails: After a long strain of curiosity that lead to near obsession, Seiji Yamada had finally came to understand his lover, Sono Hanasaki's, past and how it lead him down the dark road of self hate and sexual abuse he had been on for years. It was a bit of a blow to Seijis senses upon realizing that one man was the cause, the actual cause, of the blonds troubled attempts at a successful love life. But Sono had said that man hadn't been heard from ever since that fateful night, news reports aside. So that was in the past and it was done and over with...right?

Chpt 1.

Smoke blew from the mans open mouth, alongside a small, exhausted chuckle. It had been a long day...a long several hours.

17 hours to be exact. 17 long...beautiful hours of hard work and a successful outcome.

Sitting in the corner of the cold room, he took another long drag of his cigarette, while his other hand, soaked in crimson, clutched a necklace in his palm. He had held onto it for a while; it was the only thing that was keeping his mind locked and in focus. Had he let go after his work was finished, he would've gone over his head, most likely getting caught.

Not to say he had never had this problem before. There had been many times he had finished and never once held onto the item like a lifeline...not for a number of years, anyway.

He sighed, leaning his head back to look out the window, seeing how the moon was slowly starting to set. It was time to go. Last thing he needed was to be here where the cops eventually showed up to check out his latest pieces of work. Crushing the smoke onto the pavement, he stood, getting the feeling back in his legs and stretched, the necklace still gripped in his palm.

He walked past the bodies, past the blood, to his bag and knelled to open it, grabbing the last piece he needed to make this an absolute success. Years of planning had gone into this. Years of stalking, torturing, killing, all to get to where he needed to be. And this was the last piece of his puzzle.

Gripping a paper he pulled from his bag, he smiled and grabbed a red marker, making small changes to the paper. Turning it around, he scribbled something and quickly crumbled the paper, tossing it haphazardly across the room, not caring where it landed. They'd see it and they'd know.

He was done here; standing with his bag now slung over his shoulder, he finally turned his attention to the necklace in his hand, a locket to be more specific. He opened it and his dark smile softened, this thumb caressing the picture. Bringing the locket to his lips, he kissed it softly, his eyes darkening in the shadow of the room.

Yes...this really was the last piece of the puzzle. He had all the information he needed. Now he had to properly execute his next plan.

"...almost time...it's almost time..."

He stood there, the locket against his lips and frozen in his place, his dark eyes closing in thought. So many years he had seen his beautiful face...those brown eyes...such golden hair...

He would soil that angelic look. He would destroy it...he would kill him.

In the distance, he heard the sound of an alarm going off. The police would be here in less than 20 minutes...it was time to go.

The shrill of the alarm gave him a slight headache as he bolted out the back window. They always did.

*hours later*

"God damnit all..."

Officer Yakura removed his hat from his head, running his fingers through his hair and let out the most annoyed groan he'd let out in days.

This was not in the descripton for his step up into the Tokyo task force...and it had been months, years even.

And all he wanted for today was just a quiet day of petty crimes.

Not cleaning up another mess left by Takeo Mizuno.

Bodies were everywhere left the in the most provocative positions. Others were missing clothes and some were ever more brutalized than the others.

And of course, as with all Takeos work, there was one more torn up than the rest...a young blond man. This poor sap looked to be no older than 19 years old.

"Disgusting..."

Yakura pulled out his notebook and joted down the crime scene, the flashes of camera's from the forensics department somewhat blinding him. When the alarm had sounded here, he immediantly was awoken by a phone call from his frantic assistant. At 3 in the morning. Honestly, why couldn't Takeo do these in the daytime...Yakura shook his head and massaged his temples. The lack of coffee from today was getting to him hard. They had been here for only 2 hours and he was already feeling like it was going to be a long day.

A tap on his shoulder made him turn quickly, only to see his young assistant, Oishi Muito, standing there with some files and a notepad. Yakura sighed.

"Give it to me straight. What is it we're looking at now?"

"All these people were employees at an administraion center for most of the art schools around the Tokyo metroplex. They're the ones in charge of the main school near Shinjuku. You know, kinda like how the last ones were-"

"The admin officials in Kichijoji...what the hell is going on? Why is he all of a sudden attacking admin officials for liberal institutions? It makes no sense."

Yakura ruffled his hair and paced back and forth, mumbling to himself over and over. The connections made no sense. Over the course of 6 years, Takeo was only known as a serial killer in lower Japanese neighborhoods, killing street scum and evidently, people who spurned him the wrong way.

Now, he was making a pattern, murdering people in the art community. And not just murdering.

The most sickening things Yakura had seen in his career as a detective had come from Takeos file alone. And it had only been a pattern for the last 3 years.

Killing art majors, admin officials from the best art schools all around Tokyo...

Turning to Oishi, Yakura asked,

"And this kid? Who was he? He's too young to be an admin."

"Oh yes! um...his name is...was...Aoiki Haruka. He was an apprentiance manga-ka for Nioku Kengo. Why do you ask, sir?"

"So far, all I've come to understand about Takeo and his game here is that latley he's been targetting artists...and if there's a blond man present, he does even more horrible things to them...I think this one is the youngest I've seen...I can't imagine what's been done to him..."

Oishi said nothing, but followed his mentors gaze to the boy on the ground, being examined by medics. He winced, still not being totally used to the sight of a corpse this mangled. Well...almost mangled.

One of the medics stood and wiped her hands, turning to them both and Yakura asked,

"What are we working with?"

She sighed and said,

"About the same. All the victims here were either shot down or strangled down...mostly the former. But this one...the poor boy...it looks as though he was stabbed numerous times in the stomach. There are whip marks on his back, most likely a belt, and the hand prints around his neck show he had been one of the few that were strangled...but the only other differance is..."

She hesitated and Yakura could see she was trying not to tremble. He felt for the woman, truly he did, but now was not the time to get emotional. So he cleared his throat, making her sigh and say,

"We noticed blood in the back of his jeans and well...we won't know until we get the official statement, but he looks as though he was...brutally raped as he was dying. And I mean as brutal as one can get with..."

"I get it...thank you."

He turned quickly to get away from the scene for the tine being. Pressing a finger to his chin, he collected his thoughts.

"I don't understand. Years ago, Takeo was just a thug, a lowlife nothing. Now...now he's getting crafty, leading us on goose chase after goose chase. It's like he knows we were no where close to catching him before...and now it's impossible to find a lead. Art majors...administration officials for the best art schools in Tokyo...the brutal treatment of men with blond hair specifically...goddamnit, where's the connection...?"

He bit the knuckle of his finger, trying to collect the pieces in his head, leading to nothing. There was no solid reasoning that he could find. What was missing?

Meanwhile, Oishi was scounting the area, writting down anything he could find worth mentioning to his already stressed out mentor. Ever since he had been placed in Yakuras care, Mizuno Takeo was his top priority. He had always been Yakuras number one goal. And all the research Oishi had done on the subject came up short, almost like he wasn't supposed to find anything on the man. The way the sites were blocked off...all under the name of some guy with the surname...what was it? Hana something.

"Oi, Oishi! Come take a look at this!"

Pulled from his thoughts, he walked over to the forensics tech and watched as he pulled a piece of paper from under a chair with a pair of tweezers. Almost instantly, Oishi pulled some gloves from his pocket and slipped them on to take it.

It was crumbled and slightly dirty, so Oishi opened it, wiping off some of the dirt. Upon staring at it, his eyes widened.

Outside, Yakura stared up at the sky, watching the clouds go on such a dark morning. It was hard to belive that the people of this neighborhood were fast asleep while a terrible crime was commited right across the street.

"Yakura-san, we found something you should see."

Hearing Oishis' voice made him startle a bit, but he relaxed enough to see his assistant hand him what looked to be...a picture?

Curious, Yakura removed a single glove from his pocket to slip on his hand and took it, staring at it. Upon closer inspection, his own eyes widened in shock.

"Where...where did you find this?"

"The forensics team found it. What is it though?"

"It's a goddamn clue, is what it is! Finally! Haha! After 9 freaking years, a piece of solid help! The only problem is...I have no idea who these three people are."

Oishi looked over at the picture, tilting his head in wonder.

In the picture, it showed three boys, all in high school uniforms. On the left was a boy with wild brown hair. The one in the middle was pale, with bright yellow hair. And the right was another pale boy with pitch black hair and deep blue eyes...almost like...

"Takeo? No way...this can't be right. The Takeo we know is almost 35 years old...but this looks like it was taken ages ago."

"Maybe it's an old photograph. Maybe it's something from Takeos past and he dropped it."

"Dropped it? Doubt it. Takeo isn't stupid enough to leave something like this behind...something tells me he wanted us to find this. The question is why? And why is one of the boys marked with an X and the other is just a circle?"

"Well...I don't know about that, but there's something written on the back too."

Slowly, Yakura turned to picture over to show three lines of dialouge, all written in red.

'I will find you.

And when I do

you'll wish you'd never turn me away.'

"Well, that's not odd...Oishi...does it sound at all familer?"

"Nope. Not in the slightest."

"Damn...the one piece of evidance we get and it's a picture with some stupid quote. Fuck...do we even know where this was taken?"

Oishi took the picture back and gave it a long stare, almost as if he was processing it deep in his brain. Yakura gave him his time to think and finally, after a good few seconds, Oishi tilted his head and said,

"It looks like...Hanamiyama Park. If I remember correctly, it's in Fukushima. That's a nice park, especially when the cherry blossoms start blooming, like in this picture. Ahhh I remember when I was young I went to this park. It was so pretty! And-"

Oishi stopped talking when he felt his mentor grip his arms, shaking him wildly with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Oishi, you're a goddamn godsend, you know that?! I've never been to Fukushima before so I never would have known that! Shit there's so much to find out...we need to find out what school these boys went to. With any luck, someone from back then should still be there! We have no time to lose, we have to go!"

The young man had no time to gush at the compliments spewing from his mentors mouth as he was pulled down the street to the nearest taxi station, a flush on his face as Yakura phoned the Fukushima police department, demanding they speak to the chief.

Fukushima...4 hours later

"What do you mean you won't help us?! We've been waiting here for hours to talk to you and you're just going to push us away?!"

The chief of police didn't say a word to them. He simply pulled out a cigarette, lit it and sighed, smoke lifting from his mouth.

Yakura was losing his patience; ever since they had arrived in Fukushima, it was as if they had 'Takeo' written all over them. People avoided them, gave them strange looks.

Even as they walked into the police station, waited for hours to speak with the chief, it was insufferable.

Even Oishi, as level headed as he was, was staring to get frusterated, fidgiting in his seat.

The chief crushed his cigarette in his ashtray, sighing.

"Listen, I'd love to help, truly I would...but I'm not sure how much help I could be with a subject like this. Takeo is...not the best thing to happen to this city."

"But that's why we want to help. He's causing massive panic throughout most of the smaller districts in Tokyo and a huge terror in the metro. If we don't stop him soon, I'm not sure what else we can do. There's got to be something."

"You're nice detectives, I can see that. But if this is such a hot button issue in Tokyo, which to be honest, I'm not even sure why Takeo would be there, then why don't you do your own research on him?"

Oishis ears picked up on that middle bit and his gears started turning. And before Yakura could say anything, he spoke up,

"Believe me, chief, I have tried to gain any information I can about Takeo but everywhere I go, there's something blocked. All I remember is it's blocked by some big sponser...god I can't remember the name...Hana...Hanas-"

"You mean, Hanasaki? Am I right?"

At the sound of that, both Oishi and Yakura let out collective sighs of relief and the younger said,

"Yes! Thank you! That has been bugging me for weeks now. Kenji Hanasaki. That's whose been blocking my research. Phew. Do you know where we might find him? He could hold some vital-"

The chief slammed his fist down, startling them both. Oishi yelped loudly and Yakuras eyes widened at the sound.

"You will not, I repeat...you will not speak to Hanasaki Kenji about this. There are plenty of reasons why he blocked off much of the information behind Takeo. Look, I've had enough of this. There's only so much people here are willing to take and-"

"Can you at least tell us who these boys are then? I'm fairly sure this one is Takeo, but who are the others? I understand this is probably a bit painful, but I'm asking, as a fellow upholder of the law...at least help us with this."

Oishi stared at his mentor with such adoration and beaming eyes. This is why he joined the force. To be this passionate about cracking a case and helping people.

The chief, knowing deep down he had no other option, pointed and said,

"This one here is Nazawa Naoki."

His finger slid to the middle of the picture,

"And this is Hanasaki Sono. They were both students at the private high school up in North Fukushima. God...that was 15 years ago."

Yakura smiled, jotting it down in his notes while Oishi spoke up,

"Hanasaki? As in the same Hanasaki we were talking about? This is his son?"

"His baby, let's get real. Kenji had two sons. His oldest, Oto, is a high class lawyer up in Tokyo. I'm sure you know of him."

Yakura nodded.

"I do. He's the person who is funding this Takeo case. He's not a cop by any means, but he has much of the Tokyo police department in his pocket due to his legal help with the Mayor."

The chief nodded back to him, staring at the picture and gave a sad smile.

"Sono is a different story, I'm afraid. The youngest and probably the most frail. He's had such a difficult life. Ever since Takeo, he's lived much of it in fear. I'm not surprised in the least that Sono hasn't come back here to see his family. Too many dark memories."

Oishi took this chance to ask,

"So, Hanasaki is still around? And Naoki too? Do you know where we can find them? They might have valuable information and-"

The chief looked at him with such a grim stare and said,

"You're not getting anything out of these two...Sono left years ago and hasn't looked back since. And Naoki...well..."

Yakura and Oishi leaned in their seats to hear the cheif as he was starting to whisper. When he had gone silent, Yakura mentioned,

"And Naoki sir? Is he?"

"He died. He was killed protecting Sono from some thugs that were hired by Takeo. Heh...it's sad. I had always thought they would graduate and run off together...I have to give the blond some credit. Highest Honor student of Shinjuku's Art Institute...Naoki would've been so proud and-"

The chief cleared his throat, stopping his talking halfwad and the two Tokyo detectives stared at each other, then back at the chief, who stared at them hard, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice...I've already told you this much. But listen here. Whatever I tell you, you must understand that I am more concerned with what you do with this information. Clear?"

After getting a clear nod from the two, the chief continued...starting with another cigarette.

"Do either of you know what it's like...you go to bed one night, the night as calm as it could be. Of course, you'd get a weird pang in your chest, as if something was terribly wrong...then you get a phone call. The one phone call that forever changes you..."

The chief sets his hand on the window, his other hand crushing his smoke...Yakura says nothing and Oishi looks on in wonder.

"I don't suppose either of you have kids...so you won't know what it feels like...to be told your only son died protecting his friend. To know that you outlived your own child and have to live with the soul crushing guilt it leaves. To see the person he died saving and know that deep down, it wasn't his fault, but you want to place to blame on someone...only to forever hate the real cause of his death and vow to never have it happen again..."

The air suddenly grew thick and Yakura turned to his assistant, who he could already tell had put the pieces together quickly. They didn't need to say a word as the chief continued.

"When Naoki died and I found out it was Takeo who killed him...I felt my soul tear into two. Sono and Takeo both, I loved them both like my own. But the hate I felt for him was overshadowed not just by my sons death but the bleeding sorrow on Sonos face every time I saw him. He blamed himself and most likely still does. After Sono left for college, I sold my shop and busted my ass through police training, eventually becoming a chief...I promise to my sons grave every day that what Takeo put this city through...put Sono through...I would never allow it to happen again. The fact that you two show up here with this makes me sick to my stomach but in a way, it's a blessing. Maybe this can finally be put to bed."

Finally, the chief sat back down in his chair and said,

"Naoki always told me how much this boy meant to him...Sono was like his ray of sun even though he lived in a dark cloud...even after he made up with his father...I can't imagine the pain that stays with him all these years...damnit, let me see the picture again."

Oishi handed the picture to the chief and they both watched as he turned it over, seeing the writing and his brow furrowed. Turning the picture back around to face the boys, he said,

"Well, I can tell you that's Takeos hand, alright. But I'm more concerned with what he wrote. It's like a threat."

"A threat sir?"

"On graduation night, oh about 15 years ago, Takeo had beaten Sono within an inch of his life. At some point during their senior year, Naoki told me they had broken up and then he randomly comes home in tears, telling me that he realized he was in love with his best friend...Sono I mean. And I had told him to go with his heart and soon, they had some secret romance up until Naokis' death...I guess Takeo found out about it and become jealous...insanely jealous...from what I had heard, Takeo gave him a chance to get back together with him and Sono turned him down, resulting in the...well, yeah. Sono would've died had it not been for Kenji stepping in and shielding his son. He almost had the chance to kill Takeo, but he got away and that was the last Fukushima saw of him since...that can only mean one thing...where did you say you found this?"

"We found it at our most recent crime scene. Takeo usually never leaves us traces of him so this was quite the surprise."

"And you said he was targeting art majors? Administration officials for art schools in Tokyo? Something about a terrible fate for men with blond hair?"

Oishi nodded enthusiastically and Yakura simply nodded. The chief ran his hands through his gray hair. Yakura spoke up first, clearing his throat and as he spoke, he found his eyes getting wide with shock and realization.

"You mentioned before thatTakeo has had a sick obsession with Sono for years...since they were kids...their separation and Sonos romance with your son must've made it even worse...he must be being especially sadistic towards blond haired men to hopefully satisfy his craving to...to...art majors...it makes sense. Sono was an art major at Shinjukus Art Academy according to you..he graduated and the admins would have old records of graduated students...there's the connection. Holy shit, that's the connection!"

Yakura bolted up from his chair and stared at Oishi, who stared at him with energized enthusiasm.

"Takeo isn't just targeting these people for new kicks! He's killing them for information...the blond haired men we find...they look like Hanasaki Sono...he's doing it for nostalgic pleasure and...and...the admin records. If he had access to those...he could get access to where Hanasaki might be living now and..."

Oishio bolted from his own chair and proclaimed,

"Takeo is moving this new pattern because he's looking for Sono-kun! And if he finds him-"

"-there's no telling what he could do...he'd hurt him...holy shit, he'd kill him. He'd kill him worse than the men we find at the crime scenes."

Yakura turned so suddenly and slammed his hands on the chiefs desk so loudly that even the chief jumped in surprise.

"Chief, you've been such a huge help! Thank you so much for this incredible lead! We...we have to find Hanasaki-kun. He needs to know this. He needs to get into protection and-"

"Do you two even know where to start looking?"

The adrenaline rush Yakura had came crashing at that realization and he almost sunk to his knees in defeat. Of course they hadn't thought that far yet.

Even Oishi leaned against the doorway, trying to clear his head. What kind of detectives were they? Getting excited over this and yet with no knowledge-

"Heh, you two are by far the most interesting pair of Tokyo cops I've ever met...listen, if you're going to look for Sono and all that, I ask you do me one favor and one favor only."

"Anything, Chief. What is it..."

"Protect him. I don't care if he's got some girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever. You find him...protect him and take Takeo down. I want this bastard brought to his knees for what he's done."

Oishi stood up straight and saluted the Chief, nodding with a smile.

"You can count on us, sir!"

Yakura nodded and the Chief nodded back, then reached into his desk, pulling out what looked to be a manga.

"There isn't much on Sono Hanasakis location since he up and left this place after graduation, but I've come to realize that it's not as hard as some people make it out to be to find others, especially if they've got a career that caters thousands of people. If you want to find him..."

The Chief held a manga in front of them and both cops eyes widened. It was a manga called "Horizon's Outlet". The manga-ka was Hanasaki Sono.

"...start with his publisher."

TBC