Disclaimed. I own nothing except for the OC. AoGA owns Kei Imai Nogi. :D

For Black Maya. She needs more love from me, too. :)


The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again. –Charles Dickens

…or is it?


"What are you still doing here, Ruka? I thought you're on your vacation?"

The blonde just looked at the man who was currently seated on a swivel chair while facing his own computer.

"What vacation?"

Kaori sighed. "The one that I told you about the other day?" he then shook his head. "I already told you, didn't I? With your pretty boy face, that shouldn't be hard."

"And I've already told you my answer. No, I don't need a vacation, thank you very much. And I don't need a woman in my life…" Ruka stopped talking for a while. He then gently shook his head and continued with a whisper, "…the last time I let one in, I just hurt her… so badly."

The Animal Pheromone user saw the man nodding his head while touching his chin with a finger. "The last time? So you're still in love with her? Maybe this is the reason why you don't want to, er, date someone until now. Tssss. I can't believe we're talking about this."

Was he still in love with her? He never forgot her, that was true, but that didn't mean that he still loved her… right? Right?

Ruka Nogi sighed. "You know, Kaori-"

There was suddenly a knock on the door before he could even finished what he was about to say. A very cute Pomeranian barked as it entered the door. Its owner bowed to them politely and told them about the scheduled check-up.

Right then and there, their conversation was forgotten and Ruka was quite thankful for that.


The blonde, who was sitting on his swivel chair comfortably, suddenly stood up when he heard the slamming of the door. A panting Kaori entered his office, with sweat trickling down his neck. He panted hard as he tried to say something to him.

"Ruka -pant- I need to -pant- go -pant- now." He swallowed and breathed out before continuing again. "It's an emergency!"

"What? What happened?"

Kaori looked at his handheld device when it rang. "Kei is missing!" he replied immediately before running out of the door.

"Kei?" Ruka asked himself. "Who the hell is Kei?" He shook his head before continuing what he was doing. Oh, right. A dog owner just called him earlier, asking for a schedule for a check-up.

Hmm, let's see, he told himself as he scanned some of the papers on top of his desk, letting his work distract him for the mean time.

The blonde looked at his wristwatch. It was lunch time already. No wonder he felt so hungry. Piling all of the important papers on top of office table, he stood up, got his cellphone and some money for lunch.

He decided to close the clinic as he was taking his lunch and Kaori was still nowhere to be seen… which was odd. Kaori, even though he was not an Alice, was as passionate as him when it comes to their work.

He inwardly sighed. He could handle the clinic alone for now. Besides, there were no pet owners scheduled for a check-up or something that day.

"Closer. Just a little bit mooooore. There, there. No, kitty! Don't move! You're going to fall! Nooo! Kittyyy!"

Ruka then heard someone shrieked. He looked at the playground at the side of the road, and saw a boy who was almost falling of a tree. The little boy's feet dangled as he held onto a branch.

The Animal Pheromone Alice user quickly moved and caught the little boy when he fell. Despite the terrifying experience, surprisingly, the boy in his arms, about the age of seven or eight, was not crying.

"Kitty? Where's kitty? Kitty!"

The boy jumped off when he saw the kitten beside the man who saved him, while rubbing the side of its head to the man's leg.

"Kitty! I'm glad you're safe!"

The said boy frowned when the kitten ignored him. He then looked at the man as he knelt down to scoop the kitten into his arms. A minute has passed before the boy finally said, "You're an Alice, aren't you, Mister?"

Ruka was astounded when he heard the boy. He smiled gently at him, as he continued to pet the little feline in his arms as it yawned.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"It's the look in the Kitty's eyes. It's like… he fell in love with you the moment he looked at you."

"Oh?" Ruka asked, amused with the boy's intelligence. "Tell me, how did you know about Alices?"

"Because I am one, and my mother, too," the child replied.

Ah, that figures, Ruka thought. He asked the boy's name as he handed him the sleeping kitten.

"My name is Kei." The boy then made a face when his stomach grumbled. "…and I'm hungry."

"I haven't eaten lunch. Do you want to join me?"

The little boy's face brightened at what Ruka had said, but it had turned sour when he seemed to remember something. "But I think my mama would be mad at me once she finds out that I ate lunch with a stranger."

"I'm Ruka. Ruka Nogi," the blonde man said as he smiled at Kei. He held his hand out for the little boy to shake. He then patted the child's head as he asked him what he wanted for lunch.

"Crab! Crab! And mooooooooooooore crab!"

Ruka laughed and took the boy's hand. Funny how he felt something stirred in his heart the moment he held the little boy's hand.

The two ended up eating the lunch Ruka bought inside the clinic. The older blonde decided to close it for the rest f the day, since there were no scheduled check-ups until tomorrow morning.

Again, he looked at the boy's face as Keri watched the dogs inside the cage. He looked at the boy's blonde locks (a shade lighter than his), his nose, his eyes…

Ruka frowned. Something in Kei's eyes seemed very familiar to him. Something in those amethyst orbs…

'Amethyst?' he asked himself. He then shook his head and laughed at his own foolishness. 'You're an idiot, you know that, Ruka? What you're thinking is impossible.'

Again, he shook his head and muttered under his breath. It couldn't be, he told himself. No. Absolutely not. She should have told me. She should have.

Oh? a part of his mind asked him sarcastically. The last time you saw her, Ruka Nogi… she was broken. You broke her. You saw it. You saw her face… her eyes.

The blonde cursed softly.

"My mama said that it's bad to say bad words."

Ruka looked at the child once again… his eyes brought memories back to his mind unconsciously. He then flashed a smile the child's direction. "I know. Sorry."

Kei beamed at him as he continued to watch the animals, and imitated it when it yawned.

"You sleepy, kiddo?" he asked. The boy shook his head, as he continued to yawn. The Animal Pheromone Alice user then motioned to stand up and picked up the boy before laying him down on the couch. Kei protested, saying he wasn't really sleepy, even though he couldn't even keep both his eyes open.

"You should sleep. I'll find your parents later when you wake up." Ruka chuckled and told Kei to sleep once again. He stood up, waiting for the child's response. He then smiled when he found the boy sleeping soundly on the couch, a frown was on his cute face.

"I told you I wasn't really… sleepy," he heard the boy mutter.

Smiling, Ruka turned and sat on his swivel chair and continued to work on the files Kaori asked him to look into.

It was then that after a couple of hours that the little boy woke up. The older blonde saw the boredom on the boy's face and decided to show him around the clinic, and introduced the boy to the animals inside the cages.

Ruka suddenly heard the opening of the door and he excused himself from the little boy who was currently enjoying himself.

A worried Kaori entered the door and he frowned as he massaged his temples with his hand. "We haven't seen him. We can't find him, Ruka."

"Calm down, Kaori."

"I can't! You see, this is the first time that he has been missing for so long. Hotaru just doesn't show it, but I know that she's extremely worried."

Confusion could be seen in the blonde's face as the man beside him continued to rant. "Wait. Who's missing?"

"I did tell you before I went out, right? He has been missing all day! Where could that boy been? Hotaru will be here shortly-"

"Wait, what?" Ruka asked, his cerulean eyes widening.

"My fiancée will be here, Ruka. She just asked her friends if somehow they saw-" A knock on the door was then heard. "Ah! That must be her."

Ruka Nogi was stunned. He would see her again. He. Would. See. Her. Again. Oh, someone get a brick and throw it at his head, hopefully knocking him in the process. He was not prepared for this. And he was not trembling, damn it!

Kaori went to open the door as a woman entered. Her face was full with worry and her eyes seemed troubled. And yet, she was still beautiful. She hasn't changed a bit, as for Ruka's opinion. She was still the Hotaru he knew back then, the Hotaru he loved.

He mentally smacked the back of his head. The woman still hasn't noticed him and that hurt him… well, just a bit. Ignoring his own feelings, Ruka turned to leave the two of them, only to find himself colliding with the wall. He held his bumped forehead, as he muttered a string of curses that he knew of.

"Nogi," he heard her whisper. He muttered a curse before turning around. There she was, looking so beautiful and divine… and she was looking at him. Like she was on top of the list of people that she would not like to see.

Well, you probably are on top, Ruka Nogi, he mentally told himself. "Ho-" He saw her raised an eyebrow to him. He then coughed before stretching a hand for her to shake. He was still a gentleman after all this time. "Imai. It's nice to see you again."

The inventor took his hand into hers and shook it briefly. "Yeah. It has been… a while."

Kaori looked at the both of them, astonished with the fact that they know each other. "We've known each other, Kaori," Hotaru said. "We attended the same school."

"Yeah. In fact, we were classmates." And she's my ex-girlfriend.

The man nodded his head. "But man," he then said, turning to Ruka, "you didn't even tell me."

"Oh? Must have slipped my mind. Besides, it's nothing to brag about." The blonde then heard the inventor snicker.

An awkward silence followed, before a loud crash was heard from Ruka's office where they also keep the animals. (Apparently, they all seemed so calm with him around. That was the reason why Kaori decided to keep them inside the blonde's office.)

"Ah, I forgot about him already," he then said before motioning to open the door. But before he could even reach it, it opened, and a crying boy emerged from it. The child hugged the man in front of him as he sniffed.

"Chuchi pulled my hair, Mr. Nogi! Chuchi is a bad monkey! He even threw a water bottle at me."

Feeling sympathy for the child, Ruka patted his head.

"Kei!" hearing this, the little boy looked behind the man. His cute face brightened as more tears escaped his eyes.

"Mama!"

Ruka turned his head and found the little boy in Hotaru's arms. Did he just hear him say…? His eyes widened.

"Mou, Kei-kun, your mother and I have been looking for you the whole day. Where have you been?"

"Mama?" the blonde whispered unconsciously.

The Ice Queen looked at him… well, scratch that. Glaring was the right word.

His eyes then widened in realization. The truth hit him literally on the face, as he heard some baka baka baka! noises. Oh, the infamous Baka Gun. Typical Hotaru.

"What the hell, Hotaru!" he exclaimed, completely forgetting about the others with them.

"Baka Gun version *insert number here*. Heh. It's really been so long, Nogi."

"Is that even legal? Hey, Ruka, are you okay?" he heard Kaori asked. Hotaru then snickered.

"Don't worry about him. He's used to this."

Shaking the dizziness off as he shook his head, Ruka looked at the woman in front of him. "Kei. Is he-"

Knowing him and his question (probably), Hotaru didn't even let him finish. "Yes, he is. We'll talk about this later."

What. The. Hell. The little boy turned out to be his son! God.

He then felt his dizziness returned.


A/N: Believe me, I tried my very best in writing this chapter. See the word count? XD gaaah.

I have made so many friends because of Fanfiction. It's quite shameful that I even thought of leaving. XDD

Preview:

Hayate then turned to face him, the smile on his face didn't falter. "He told me that he wants you to marry her mother instead of that Akimoto."

*wink, wink*