Oh my goodness! I can't believe that it has been a month since I last posted. I really do apologize about not posting this. I thought Summer would be less stress free and I would be able to update all the time. Sadly, it's not that way. I am working up to 5 jobs a week now and then my free time is consumed by Tumblr and Tom Hiddleston. (If Tom Hiddleston has ruined your life, well then you know what I'm talking about). Anyways. Here is the long awaited third chapter! Enjoy!


The loud noise of thunder cracked through the night, stirring Onodera from his sleep. His sleepy green eyes stared in the darkness for a moment before a crack of lighting shot through the sky, illuminating the entire room.

Onodera sighted heavily, rolling over to fall back asleep, but after the rain began to hit the side of the apartment, Onodera couldn't sleep any longer. Groaning the male rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the light switch, flipping on the light. Looking to his clock it read: 4:24. Urg. Onodera had only gotten about an hour and a half of sleep

Making his way over to the bathroom Onodera turned on another light only to let out a harsh gasp. There in the mirror was a face that the male did not recognize. It looked like him, sure, but it wasn't. It couldn't be!

This face had a dark purple bruise under the left eye that extended around the rest of the eye and a little bit farther down his cheekbone. On top of that his top eyelid was slightly swollen and the once white part of his eye was now completely red. - A blood vessel must have broke.

Extending a shaking hand, Onodera touched the bruised skin lightly, sending a painful shot through his face. Wincing slightly, Onodera clenched his teeth. It hurt more than he thought it would.

After examining his black eye for a couple more minutes he remembered that he had been kicked. Lifting up his shirt Onodera examined the side of his torso, noticing a large bruise. It looked painful enough that the young male decided he wouldn't touch it. He didn't want to find out how much it hurt.

When Onodera finally decided that he was finished examining himself he decided that he would get ready for work. Sure, he didn't have to really be there till 9:00 a.m. but he couldn't sleep, not with what had happened to him last night running though his mind.

Pulling off his boxers the male then turned on the hot water of the shower and climbed inside. The warmth of the water stung Onodera's skin but he continued to stay under it. The entire time he was in there, though, he did not wash his body or his hair. He simply stood under the running water, thinking.

What would he tell Takano?

He had to face him, even if he didn't feel like it. Would Takano know where he had received his bruise from? Would he accuse Yokozawa? He was the kind of person to do something like that. It also killed Onodera as well to think about having to move. Ok, he really didn't have to but if it meant getting punched in the face again, well, Onodera wanted no part of it. So what would he tell Takano? His mother was falling ill? Well, that might work.

Onodera continued to think until the water turned cold and the young male began to shiver. With quaking hands Onodera turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a town around his body. Going back into his room he then decided that it was time to get dressed.

Pulling on a dark green V-neck T-Shirt and black pants the male made his way to the kitchen area. The clock now read 5:30. Great. What was he going to do now?

Thinking over his options Onodera decided that he would leave then and catch breakfast on the way to work. Besides, he knew that he didn't want to leave the same time as Takano. That was always bad, and today would be the worst day for that to happen.

After collecting all of his belongings that he needed for the day, Onodera pulled on a grey jacket, slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and then was out of the apartment.

The sky was still dark and the thunder and lighting cracked along the sky but Onodera didn't care. It was a slight drizzle as Onodera walked away from the apartment. His hood was draped over his head, doing a fantastic job at protecting him.

As soon as Onodera stepped inside the train station he pulled off his hood and sat down , waiting for his form of transportation. Even though it was 6:00 am the station was still packed with people...and some of those people were looking pretty hard at his black eye. As soon as the green eyed male made notice of his he pulled his hood back over his head. Why were people staring anyways? It's not like he was apart of the Yakuza or anything. He simply was just in a bad situation.

Soon the train arrived at that station that would take him to the publishing company. As soon as Onodera took his seat inside the train car, he looked back with a to his right and about had a heart attack.

There was a very tall man with a large frame and short black hair moving his way. Yokozawa. Sucking in a deep breath Onodera blinked rapidly a couple times. When he looked back in that direction he then realized that it was not Yokozawa. This person had a calmer looking face with kind blue eyes and his build was not as big as Yokozawa's was. He was also probably younger.

Letting out a heavy sight the boy shook his head. How int he world was he going to get though the day with him thinking that ever person was Yokozawa? Trying to shake it off Onodera closed his eyes and soon drifted off into sleep. He was so tired.


"We are now arriving at XX station, Please..."

Onodera's eyes opened slowly at the sound of the intercom aboard the train. Looking around in a groggy manner Onodera saw that he had awakened one stop before his! What good luck!

"Maybe this is a sign," the young adult thought "Maybe everything will smoothly with Takano!" - Yeah right!

Straightening himself up, the young manga editor waited for his stop and when he arrived he stepped out and began his trek to the publishing company.

By the time he stepped int he doors Onodera was sopping wet but he really didn't care and he didn't bother to take off his hood either. People would only stare and he didn't like his eyes on him.

Once the elevator doors opened the young male stepped in and pressed his floor. Within a minute he walked into the manga editing department. It was dark, quite, and slightly cool. It felt dead inside. Maybe it was the fact that they were closing a cycle and so everything was rushed. Either way It made the man uncomfortable as he walked inside. Obviously no one was here.

With the lights flicking on Onodera stripped off his grey jacket, letting it fall to the side of his desk in a wet heap. It was gross and Onodera was too lazy to do anything else with it. Pulling out his work from the previous day he then began to work.

It was almost two hours before people began to file inside the office space. Onodera really didn't notice them, he was too busy working but he began to notice their presence when he heard his name being whispered rather loudly. Looking up the editor then realized that his desk gave everyone a perfect view of his busted up face. Great. They were probably talking about him.

The rest of Onodera's work was not as high of quality as he had previously been doing due to his thoughts that were beginning to wander. His thoughts were soon interrupted, though, when he heard a voice say: "Good Morning Takano!"

Shit.

It wasn't more than a couple seconds before Onodera heard the cool voice of Takano behind him.

"Hey, Onodera. I need you to run this to the printers on the other side of town. Think you can do that? Since we have the storm our server is down so we can't send it over the internet. So, are you up for it?" Takano asked as he tossed a large stack of clipped papers onto Onodera's desk along with a flash drive. The boy flinched as the papers hit the solid mass with a large thud, but he didn't turn around. He was terrified.

"Y-Yea," Onodera spoke. It was the first time he had spoken all day so his voice was slightly groggy, and it was shaking.

Pressing his lips together Takano looked at the back of the smaller male's head. He wasn't turning around and he seemed almost scared in the way he spoke. Was he ok? Deciding that it was really nothing to worry about Takano headed back to where his desk was located.

"Hey, Takano," One of the workers said nonchalantly. "Did you see little Onodera's face?" he asked, leaning on Takano's desk. Hearing his Takano looked at the worker with a puzzled look. He was obviously confused.

"No," he said, almost a question.

"Well, he looks pretty banged up! I wonder what happened. You think..." The man continued to speak, but Takano wasn't listening anymore.

Onodera's back was currently facing Takano, for he was packing up his belongings before heading out. Once that was done he pulled the bag over his head and turned to exit, giving Takano a glorious view of the large black eye he was currently sporting off. Sucking in a sharp, shocked, breath Takano suddenly left his co-worker and stalked off to Onodera, taking him by the arm and towing him out of the work space and into a more private setting.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Takano hissed though clenched teeth as he turned Onodera so that he could look at him head on.

Onodera felt his stomach drop when he realized what was going on. Now he was faced with a question that he didn't want to answer. His brain was becoming liquid and his tongue seemed to be swelling up. He had no clue what to say.

"I-I fell down," the manga editor said feebly, looking to the ground. He couldn't look at Takano, not with this face.

"That's a bunch of bullshit!" Takano growled as he tightened his grip on Onodera's arm. Who could have done this? Onodera was obviously not telling for the truth. He was terrible at lying. After thinking about it for one moment he then realized that only one man could have done this. There was no other logical answer. "I'm serious! Who did this?"

"I came home from work last night and fell! I just hit my face on a table, that's all." Onodera muttered, biting his lip. He hoped Takano would buy it.

"Stop lying to me!" Takano now said, it was almost a yell.

"I'M SERIOUS!" Onodera suddenly screamed as he snapped his eyes shut, pulling his body away from Takano's grasp. It was silent for a moment and when Onodera finally opened his eyes small tears fell from them. This caught Takano off guard and as soon as he saw it his face fell. Onodera was really upset. He wasn't going to push it any further.

"Okay, I believe you." He said softly, looking at Onodera with slightly hurt eyes. "Now, go! You need to go do your job." Takano said and then he watched as Onodera quickly collected his things and walked quickly out of his sight.

Once the young man was out of his sight, Takano took off his glasses, rubbing his forehead in frustration. He had a visit to make with a certain sales person.

Placing the glasses back on his face he then stalked over to the stares, going up three flights. He was too angry to wait for the elevator. Once he was on the sale's department floor he headed for Yokozawa's office. Luckily he was in there...alone. Opening the door, and closing it was great force, Takano stalked inside.

"Ah, Takano!" Yokozawa said as he looked up form his work. "What can I help you wi-" he began to say but was cut off by the hard force of Takano's hand making contact with his face.

"What the fuck did you do!" Takano growled as Yokozawa was sent backwards in his chair.

"Wh-what?" The larger man stammered out as he looked at Takano. He was obviously playing dumb. "What did I do?...Why did you just hit me?"

"You hurt Onodera last night!" Takano said as he loomed over Yokozawa who was now standing up, rubbing his cheek. "Why did you do it? Are you jealous of our relationship?" Takano asked his gaze hardening.

"What?" Yokozawa scoffed. "I did not harm a hair on his head! We simply talked bout the proposal and then he went home."

"Liar!" Takano said as he got up in Yokozawa's face.

"But I'm telling the truth!"

"I know you did it you lying sack of shit! Consider our friendship over!" Takano then said as he turned to leave. He then stopped and turned to look at the confused looking Yokozawa again. "And if you ever lay a finger on Onodera again, I'll kill you!"

"But I-"

"Shut up Yokozawa!" Takano yelled, he was obviously furious.

By now people could clearly hear the two fighting and they gather outside of the office to hear what would happen next.

"BUT I LOVE YOU!" Yokozawa interjected, stopping Takano dead in his tracks. "I love you Takano! Please, you can't destroy our relationship just because of an accusation!"

"It's not an accusation," Takano grumbled, pressing his lips together. "I know you did it," he then added. "And I have some news for you. I love Onodera. And seeing what you did to him? Well, I can safely say that I hate you!" Turning he then walked to the door, stopping only for a moment before exiting. "Don't ever touch him! Don't talk to him, and don't look at him! You are a monster!" he the grumbled before leaving the room empty with a rather shocked Yokozawa.


It was almost nine in the evening when Onodera finally arrived back at the Publishing company. What a day it had been. Maybe it was mostly a waist, on his part, but he had also saved the day for the manga editing department. What Takano had given him was most of the finished copies for the final draft of the next issue. Without Onodera going they would have been screwed. After he had gotten out of the publishing company he took a rather long, and late lunch, not really wanting to go back to face Takano. And after that? Well he had some issues with the Taxi he had taken and then after transferring himself to the train, well...the train had problems. Onodera was wrong about today. It was a disaster.

Now he was in the elevator heading to the sales department. The printing press had given Onodera something to give to sales but it was now really late. Onodera figured no one would be in and he decided that he could easily slip the documents to the sales department and not be seen. He didn't want to be anywhere near where Yokozawa was located.

Walking into the department Onodera then found that it was deserted. No one was there. Great! They must have all went home. That was perfect! Onodera wouldn't have to worry about running into Yokozawa...or so he thought.

As the manga editor rounded the corner he saw Yokozawa only a couple feet away from him. The two suddenly stopped and the large male looked at Onodera with a hard gaze before his face twisted into an angry expression.

Yokozawa was still upset from what Takano had said to him earlier that day, and now to see the cause of it? Oh it made Yokozawa's blood boil. This was the reason that Takano hated him! This was the reason he was in pain! He would pay!

Lunging forward Yokozawa took off after Onodera who was now running towards the elevator. He was only a few feet in front of him.

Onodera on the other hand was running for his life. He didn't understand why Yokozawa was so angry. What had he done this time? He didn't say anything to Takano, so why was he mad?

As Onodera pulled slightly a little bit further away from Yokozawa, he rushed forward and hit the elevator button. To his relief the doors opened automatically and Onodera ran inside, only to hit a solid mass. Looking up he let out a slight yelp. It was Takano.

Takano let out a small gasp as he felt someone run into him Seeing that it was Onodera he became concerned and looked up just to see the elevator's doors close...and see Yokozawa staring at them with burning hatred. As the doors closed it was silent. Onodera was just inches away from Takano.

"What were you doing? " Takano asked as calmly as he could.

Oh crap! What was Onodera going to say?

"I was...getting exercise!" Onodera finally managed to say.

"Oh, and you get that as Yokozawa chases you?" Takano asked, he was clearly irritated.

It was silent and Onodera didn't say a work. In fact he was just looking at the ground with a glazed look in his eyes. "Onodera!" Takano said, but there was no response. "Onodera!" He said once more.

"Huh?"

"Did he try and hurt you...just now?" Takano asked, his face full of worry.

"No! I-"

"Did he hurt you last night?"

It was silent.

"Ritsu," Takano pleaded. "Please answer me!"

"I told you," Onodera finally managed to say as the elevator doors opened, allowing the two to exit, though they didn't. "I fell last night." By this time it was clear that Takano was not going to get anywhere with this. Fine.

"Well then...go home, it's been a long day," Takano muttered.

"Oh...thank you!" Onodera muttered as he stepped out of the elevator and to the lobby. Takano didn't get out though, he just pressed another button and the doors closed.

As the young manga editor walked home he couldn't help but think about everything that had happened in the last day or so. It was all so crazy.


How had this happened? Why was Takano sitting in front of Onodera's apartment door? Hadn't Onodera left the company before him? As Onodera got closer, Takano stood up, facing the younger male, and in his hands he held an ice pack.

"How did you-?" Onodera began to speak.

"My car," Takano said before the younger male could speak. "You know, it's a million times faster than taking the train."

"Oh," Onodera muttered as he fished around in his pocket for the key into his apartment.

"Let me help you," Takano then said as he placed a cool hand on Onodera's shoulder.

"Thanks, but I don't need any help," Onodera muttered as he finally got the key into the slot. But, before he could go any farther Takano's hand was around his arm and he was towing Onodera back into his own apartment. Of course Onodera protested, but Takano ignored it and continued to walk. Once they were inside he stopped, letting go of Onodera. Takano's gaze was now soft and he looked concerned.

"I won't let him hurt you," He said quietly.

"What?" Onodera suddenly asked. What was Takano asking about? Surly he didn't know. I mean. He didn't go to Yokozawa or anything, right?

"You don't have to worry, I'll protect you," Takano said again, this time a big louder.

"Yeah, you're right!" Onodera suddenly said in a loud voice. "I don't need to worry because nothing happened! I fell, that's all." Onodera growled. He knew, though, that if Takano got a gimps of his side, he would know Onodera was lying.

"Just shut up!" Takano said as he took hold on Onodera once again and shoved him close to his body. And he leaned down, kissing Onodera on the lips. Of course when he did this, Takano couldn't help but look at Onodera's black eye. It made Takano feel really sad. What had Yokozawa done?

Eyes growing wide Onodera pushed away from Takano. This was no time for kissing! "Leave me alone!" Onodera interjected but as he did so Takano raised his had. Oh no. Was he really going to hit Onodera? Not wanting to take any chances the younger male snapped his eyes shut and tucked his head in a little. Takano never made contact though. It was just silent now.

"He hit you, didn't he," Takano said quietly, his eyes filled with hurt.

"No!" Onodera said as tears came into his eyes. He had to get out of here! Pushing past Takano, Onodera was able to leave the apartment and by the time he had made it into his own, tears were falling from his eyes rather freely.

What had all happened today? How did Takano know? And why did Yokozawa run at him like that? He hadn't said a word! Onodera didn't know for sure, but he felt confused and scared. What was going to happen now?


Oh ho ho I'm done! :D This was going to be up last night but I fell asleep while writing it. xD sorry! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next will have some Yokozawa confronting Onodera type stuff. eheheheheheh. So please, review! I LOVE to read all the feedback! Now, we'll see how long it takes me to produce another chapter. :)

Have a nice week!