Thank you all for your kind reviews~! (: I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you think!

(Ritsu is still 6 on this chapter, btw. And since this isn't shota, then there isn't any yaoi yet. x'D)

Also, making Takano IC while trying to make him maintain some traits of Gin is fucking hard ;;

Disclaimer: I only own my imagination, a copy of SIH's season 1 & 2, and a virtual copy of Hotarubi no Mori e. Everything else belongs to Nakamura Shungiku-sensei and Midorikawa Yuki-sensei.


I still came the next day to see him.

"..."

"..."

Green eyes stared at black mask wholes for a whole minute before either of them moved.

"So you came by." Takano replied, getting up from the stone steps of the forest's entrance. "I told you not to."

Ritsu nodded and raised the plastic bag in his hands. "I came to give you something as thank you for yesterday, you-...Takano-san." Ritsu looked into the bag and got out what seemed a popsicle. "You can eat human food right? I read that in a book." He added.

Takano looked down at Ritsu before stepping down and taking the popsicle. "Yes." He replied simply and undid the wrapper. He raised the mask just above the nose and opened his mouth to inherit the sweet treat when he sensed a stong look. "...?" He looked down and saw the infant looking at him with great awe, as if expecting something to happen. "What are you staring at?"

Ritsu's eyes maintained glued to Takano and he gaped his mouth in amazement as the youkai took a bite of the popsicle. "Oooh..." His hands became fists and he maintained them near his chest with a radiant smile. "I can't really believe you can eat human food! And you're taking off your mask!"

The black haired raised an eyebrow, but you couldn't see it since his face was covered by the mask. He sighed and threw the wrapper playfully at the boy. "Of course, how else would I eat it, Oda?"

"Oda?" Ritsu repeated and blinked a few times before remembering what he'd told Takano yesterday. "Ooooh..." He remembered now; he'd lied about his name because his parents had told him not to give out his name to strangers. "Yeah..." Preferring to remain quiet than explaining to Takano what his real name was, he opened his own candy and started eating it.

"You want to go somewhere else?" Takano asked as he pointed to the forest. "Don't worry, I'll guide you again when you have to leave." He added.

Ritsu thought for it a send before nodding. He climbed up the stone steps and followed Takano close behind as they entered the forest. "Hey, do you like books? I brought one with me."

Maybe this was going to be a long day, Takano thought.

As the two made their way into the forest Ritsu couldn't help but feel attracted to Takano...well, actually his mask. He just wanted to touch it and examine it, but he had to keep his promise of not touching the man. "..." He glared at his unreachable trophy; it wasn't like he could just as Takano to lend it to him. He gasped silently. What if he had three eyes at was w he hiding his face? Or what if he had no eyes at all? "Nee, Takano-san, tell me about you."

Takano kept walking, but replied simply, "There's nothing about me." He shrugged. Then he continued walking, leading the way along the forest. Occasionally, he turned around to see if Ritsu was still following him. "Oda," He stopped walking and Raised a tree branch with his arm so Ritsu could pass, "be careful I cannot help you if you fall." Ritsu nodded silently and bend down to avoid another branch. "Can you tell me about you, Oda?"

Ritsu's eyes looked up at him, surprised. After what seemed minutes of the boy staring at the youkai, he finally replied an exited "Yes!". "My name's Ritsu and I'm 6 years old. I live in Tokyo but I come here for vacation, and I like reading." He started introducing himself, smiling at Takano. "I like to stay at the library in school breaks to read books and my dad publishes books!"

Obviously, Takano thought as he continued walking, this kid liked books. It was okay, he liked them too. If he could remember correctly, some human kids had left a book in the forest once and after that he'd started reading it. "You brought one, right?" Ritsu looked at him and nodded, taking out of the plastic bag a red book. "Can you read it to me?"

Ritsu's eyes illuminated. "Yes!"

"Takano..."

The two stopped walking, taken aback by the hoarse voice that had spoken.

"Little boy, what are you doing with Takano?"

Ritsu looked around but there was no one around. He moved closer to Takano, careful not to touch him. "Where...?" He tried to find the owner of the voice but he saw no one.

"It's okay," Takano whispered.

From a couple meter away a black mist started to flow and approached Ritsu and Takano slowly, gaining form of a fox with two tails as it did so. The fox had grey sharp eyes and gracefully walked over to where the two were, jumping to a tall tree branch to look at the two from above. "What are you doing with a human? You know what will happen if you are touched by them, Masamune." The fox had now gained human form and it had turned into a tall man with black hair and serious expression. Jumping down the tree he gave a step forward in Ritsu's direction, scaring the boy. "Masamune, I think you should just leave the boy here."

Takano didn't lower his arm in favor of protecting Ritsu. "There's no need, Yokozawa." Takano made emphasis in the name. "He knows he can't touch me."

Yokozawa's cold glare stared at Ritsu before returning to look at the other black haired. "Masamune, I cannot trust you with that decision; it's for your own good, hand him over."

"No." Takano replied and although he was wearing a mask you could sense he was glaring at the other youkai. "I can take care of myself, Yokozawa."

The bigger man sneered. "I cannot see you taking care of such a small thing, "he paused taking the chance to show his sharp teeth to Ritsu. "Maybe you should hand him over so I can eat him." He suggested, crossing his arms.

Ritsu let out a yelp of fear and hid further back Takano, careful not to touch him.

Takano tch'ed and gave a step forward. "Yokozawa, I really think you should go and leave us alone now. He's not an idiot and he knows he shouldn't touch me, now leave." The black haired stated in a dead serious tone.

Yokozawa silently gulped at the tone Takano was using-specially to defend some human child that was probably going to leave and never come back!- but none the less sighed, closing his eyes and nodded slightly. "I get it. Anyways, I have to leave now and find someone. Good-bye." He turned around and quickly transformed back into the two-tailed fox. "Boy," He added and turned his head to observe Ritsu, "don't touch Masamune or you'll pay."

After that he jumped into a tall bark and left, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

"...Takano-san." Ritsu broke the awful silence and glanced up to the taller one. "I...am I being a bother?"

The black haired finally lowered his arm and placed his hands inside his pants' pocket. "No, that Yokozawa is just being over-protective." He replied before continuing walking. "Wanna follow? We're almost there."

Ritsu bit his lips, pushing the book closer to his chest. "What that youkai said...I won't try and touch you anymore, Takano-san." Ritsu declared with a determined look. He was going to keep his promise, he definitely was.

"...It's okay." Takano shrugged. "Don't pay much attention to Yokozawa; he still thinks I need supervision."

The brunette nodded and started following the youkai, who was already a couple steps ahead. "Can I ask why did he call you 'Masamune'?"

"...because that's also my name." Takano replied, removing another branch from the way and moving aside. "Here we are,"

All questions Ritsu might've had were forgotten in favor of staring at the enchanting clear they had reached. The grass was a lively green and it swayed with grace as the wind blew. Some flowers danced to the wind, showing their varied colors to match the clear sly above them.

"It's beautiful..." Ritsu said in awe, walking forward until reaching the middle. "I've never seen something like this."

"I take that you like it." Takano chuckled, walking besides Ritsu. "Sometimes I come to this place to clear my mind." He admitted looking at the boy.

"It's so cool!" Ritsu exclaimed excitedly, hugging the book. "Nee, can I read you the book here? It would totally be awesome!" He begged grinning excitedly.

"Please do so." The black haired youkai responded in a clam tone and sat down on the grass, crossing his legs. Ritsu sat down in front of him and opened the book, starting to read with emphasis in every word he spoke. "Once upon a time, in a far-away land, an old kind ruled the country..."

It was getting late again, when Ritsu was returning home. He was smiling widely on the inside though on the outside there was only a thin smile on his lips. Time had flown when he was by Takano-san's side; not only had he read the book, but then Takano-san had told him another story (one he had read once or something like that). When the boy had noticed, sun was falling again, so the youkai had taken him outside the forest again.

"Nee, can I come over again tomorrow?" Ritsu had asked with an innocent look on his face- that always worked.

"If you promise to bring another book." Takano had replied, resting his head against the forest's stone entrance. "Oda, bring a longer one."

Ritsu nodded. "Yes, I will!"

Now, as he marched inside his house, the only thing on his mind was which book he could bring.


"And then, the princess leaned down and kissed the ugly frog. Immediately, the ugly frog turned into a handsome prince and-" Ritsu stopped reading, closed the book and remained silent. Besides him, Takano seemed to be peacefully asleep. He frowned. 'If you were going to sleep then you should've told me, baka.' Quietly he left to book aside and stared at his friend. It had already been a month since he'd encountered him, and the boy had been coming everyday to meet him. Usually they only talked or read books, but nothing else.

Still the boy couldn't help but wonder what was behind the mask. The only time he'd seen Takano's face was when he was eating the popsicle, and he hadn't even seen his nose. Knowing he wasn't going to get a reply, he asked, "Is it okay if I touch your mask? I want to see your face." He bit his lip, holding his breath. Maybe he shouldn't even try it, but he wanted to see if he had a face. Ritsu felt his heart beat as he stretched out his hands to lift the mask. "..." He lifted it gently enough so that his fingers wouldn't touch the skin and gasped once he was able to see the face.

Takano's face was just like his, but his skin was paler and it made contrast with his black hair. His eyes were closed, but his factions were that of a young teenager around age seventeen. Even at his young age, Ritsu had to admit that Takano was good-looking.

The closed eyes opened and brown orbs looked at Ritsu.

"Eeek!" Ritsu slammed the mask back or Takano's face, who groaned in pain and rolled away. He backed, scared that Takano had suddenly opened his eyes. "You were faking to be asleep?" He cried, angry at the taller man. "Why, baka?"

"I thought you had finished reading!" The youkai responded, still wincing in pain. Damn it, Ritsu had slammed his mask with alot of force! "God damn it, Oda!" He sat back again, glaring at the boy.

Ritsu pouted, still glaring. "I have every right to be angry!" He replied back, pointing at Takano.

After a minute of being angry of being upset at each other, they finally glanced back at each other.

"Either way, why did you take off my mask?"

"I wanted to see if you had a face."

"I told you I had a face." Takano recalled.

"I hadn't seen it." Ritsu replied.

"Well, anyway, are you going to continue reading the book?" Takano lay back again, turning to look at Ritsu. "I was hearing it, you know?"

"...Okay." Ritsu grabbed the book again and proceed to read it out loud. "The prince had transformed into a young prince because of the kiss of first love."

After meeting him, I never wanted the summer to end.


Spring Break is here~! That means I can write more now~

Next chapter will have a time-skip and small frustrated teenage feels. I hope to be able to make the other Sekai-ichi characters appear, so maybe I'll ahve to invent something to make them all appear

Read and Review!

Thank you in advance!