Hello again!

I am not dead, just an useless authoress who can't update in a normal pace. I am sorry for this and I can't promise this won't happen again, but I'll do my best. I am so happy for all the reviews I've gotten, thank you so much for all the nice words: hitomi65, tsminnn, Bobby Country, guest, MiracleTrain, HotsuShuFan, FidgeyTova, Fireblaze, yuumon, Iyoku No Hokori, yuumon2, Candypoptricksterlove. Thank you for the favorites and follows, but I'd be even more happy if you could review as well.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Uraboku!

Chapter 4.

Hotsuma sat on a small patch of green grass in the shade of an old tree, taking a break from training. The training was harsh but that was to be expected, they were the future and would sooner or later step into the battlefield since a battle was incoming. Ever since they were small children had the adults taught them their duty, and no one was allowed to leave. Everyone counted no matter how insignificant they were since the more chess pieces the leaders had, the better. The children didn't question this, and even as they had grown up and started to realize what the war actually meant for their lives, they still stayed. It's the only way of life that they know of and they have often been exposed to the damage a duras can do, and therefore can't pretend that they don't exist.

Hotsuma was no different, he knew this fate was leading him to an early death with small chances of joy in it, but he couldn't abandon it. He couldn't betray his family and risking their safety. His older brother had died during school by a duras hand, that day they had lost 6 children and three teachers before they could kill it. It was a day of great loss for them since they severely lack people that can fight.

He lied down and closed his eyes. There was no point in brooding over the past nor the future, the past was over and couldn't be changed. The future had yet to unfold but there was no running away, even he knew that much. Once he had believed he could do anything, but the adults quickly took that idea away from him before he did something stupid.

That reminded him of the promise he made so foolishly years ago. He knew now that it was impossible to keep, but he would try to make it right some way or another, but he had to catch her first. Seriously, why did she run from him? He hadn't done anything to offend her, had he?

Hotsuma sighed and sat up again. He didn't have time to rest like this; he needed to train to survive upcoming battles. Besides, he would get nowhere if he continued to think about what he could have done to her, it would be much faster if he just asked her, when he found her that is. He wasn't that smart either; he would probably come up with some stupid reason and totally destroy that small chance to become friends with her, if he met her with that idea.

He raised himself from the ground and strode back to the training ground, he didn't have the time to rest for long and the hard training would keep his thoughts out of his head. Then when he is done with the training for today, he would go look for her again.

Shuusei looked up at the evening sky with all of its bright colors. She had mixed feelings about it, the sky was beautiful and the fact that it could be in so many colors baffled her, something that could be so dull on the day could actually turn into this amazing picture another. At the same time it's something unreachable, never meant for her to achieve or keep for herself.

Like Hotsuma.

She shook her head. She shouldn't think about him, she wouldn't gain anything from it and besides he would be gone by the end of the month.

Well if she left early in the morning and came back late it would be no problem. The other times were in the day and being out then wasn't something weird. She should be more careful in the future to not be seen and to minimize the chances of seeing him; therefore she would be out on the times when no one else would. Her secret garden was after all well hidden and the chance of someone being there is almost nonexistent. If someone would find it though, she wasn't especially worried since there was no shortage of hiding spots there.

The sky darkened while Shuusei looked on in silence, and when the first stars started to show themselves she decided to return to her room.

She jumped down from the branch she'd been sitting on with her book in one hand and started to walk away from there. She walked down a small lane humming on a lullaby her parents used to sing for her before they abandoned her. She didn't remember the words anymore but the melody spoke to her, the melancholy in it appealed her.

Shuusei wasn't worried that anyone would bother her now when everyone was busy spending time with their family around the dining table. She reminded herself to retrieve some food from the kitchen before she returned to bed; she hadn't really eaten anything since noon.

She rounded a corner with quiet steps and still humming on the lullaby when suddenly something jumps down in front of her. Startled she stops humming and takes a few quick steps back before stopping and taking a good look on the thing that nearly landed on her.

It was him, of course it was him.

He turned towards her, and before she had a chance to react he reached out his hand and to took a firmly grip on her hand. It was a gentle grip, neither painful nor harsh. It was something that Shuusei wasn't familiar with, and she didn't have the heart to pull away.

"I finally found you." Hotsuma said to her while looking straight into her eyes with honesty. "There is no way I'm going to let you get away now, not when I caught you."

Shuusei smiled her sweetest and most innocent smile. "I understand, but I promise I won't run away so could you release me since you're hurting me." She responded.

Hotsuma didn't want to hurt her so he loosened his grip on her hand but didn't release her. It was enough though for Shuusei to get away from him. She didn't want to pull away but it was necessary since she wasn't interested in getting to know him. She pulled her hand out of Hotsuma's loose grip and started to run.

She heard a surprised cry form Hotsuma but she didn't turn around just focusing at getting away from him.

Hotsuma wasn't slow to react this time though and started running after her almost immediately. He noticed he wouldn't be able to keep up with her for long he figured, so he threw himself at her but instead of catching her he stumbled right into her and both of them fell to the ground, covered in mud.

Shuusei turned to him. "Was that really necessary?" She said calmly but her eyes were cold. He'd pushed her into the mud where she now sat with dirt all over her.

"Well, it wasn't on purpose, I just tried to grab you, but you stopped, didn't you? So it was a success either way since I got ahold of you." Hotsuma replied with no regret, while shaking with laughter.

"I fail to see what's so funny about this situation. And why is it so important to talk to me? You barely know me." She muttered in response to his failed attempts to hide his amusement.

"No, nothing I'm sorry." He answered, but he was still laughing.

Shuusei sighed and tried to stand up since Hotsuma had absolutely no intention to help her up like a gentleman should, not like anyone actually had treated her like that. However, before she got the chance to raise herself completely up from the ground, she felt Hotsuma drag her in her sleeve and before she knew it she was down on the ground again.

"Seriously!? I don't want to be either on the ground or here!" Shuusei almost shouted before she got ahold of herself, she didn't like showing her real feelings to others after all.

"Please stay. I have a lot of questions I want to ask." Hotsuma begged her cheerfully. "Firstly, what's your name? I'm Hotsuma..."

"I know." Shuusei interrupted him.

"Huh? Oh yea, you heard my name last time we met."

"Actually, it was when you first came, not last time." Shuusei corrected automatically before she restrained herself.

"You remember! I'm happy, you seemed like you didn't care at all." Hotsuma happily said. "Can you please tell me your name?"

"No." She simply answered.

"Eh? Tell me."

"Why?"

"Why? You are seriously asking me that? What else would I want your name for except for addressing you and wanting to know more about you?" Hotsuma could feel his hot temper rising but he didn't release it yet.

"Why do you want to know me?" Shuusei asked, adding an innocent tone to her voice. She was actually starting to have a bit of fun, Hotsuma was so easy to read and she could clearly see that he was losing control. At the same time she could see that a part of him was truly confused why she was asking such a thing, perhaps he wasn't used to someone saying 'no' to him but it was merely speculation. Besides, it was revenge for holding her down on the cold ground.

Hotsuma on the other hand didn't think it was just as fun; in fact he was getting more irritated.

"Because you're interesting." He mumbled a bit embarrassed even with his blood boiling in irritation.

"Why do you find me interesting?" Shuusei continued to ask while keeping a mask of complete innocence on her. Hotsuma looked like he wasn't sure if was supposed to be angry at her or embarrassed, and it was making it hard for her to keep her mask on. Still, she had a lot of practice over the years and she was confident in her expressions.

Shuusei was right about Hotsuma, he partly was embarrassed that she made him say something he didn't want to say and she was actually pressing on. At the same time he was angry for some reason, probably because she didn't want to tell him her name, what harm could it do? It was just a name. He really didn't get women. This confusion made him lose his head even more and before he thought about what he should say, he just blurted out his exact thoughts.

"Because you are mysterious, run away from me all the time and you are simply beautiful." He said without any thought and then stopped when the words reached his mind. He looked away from her thinking how it was possible he said all those lines. He really needed to control himself he thought while looking everywhere except at Shuusei.

That on the other hand was great for Shuusei because she was feeling her cheeks turning into a light shade of pink but her chocked mind took no notice of it. The first two reasons wasn't anything special, they were true since she did run from him and the mysterious part is because they don't know each other much. It was the third reason that got her mind into an everlasting spiral.

He said she was gorgeous, nobody had said that before, actually nobody had even commented that she was a little bit pretty, just the usual words of annoyance or bullying. It was such a frequent thing in her life that she started to believe their words; she was ugly, frail and therefore useless. That somebody disagreed with them was new to her and that made her speechless. Her mind was turning and twisting the words but couldn't get anything out of it, it simply was there and it was the truth Hotsuma believed in. She would have to add another thing to the list about Hotsuma, his way of viewing things were very wrong, but she could use this as an advantage, though she didn't know if she could pull through with it. She had no experience with it after all.

Shuusei moved closer to Hotsuma who still seemed to be embarrassed at the lines he just said.

"Ne Hotsuma, you really think so?" She said with a sweet voice, trying to sound a bit seducing. She moved closer to Hotsuma and put one of her hands on Hotsuma's arm.

At the sound of Shuusei's voice Hotsuma was pulled out of his thoughts and looked back at her, only to find his face 5 centimeters from hers. Startled he tried to pull back a bit but Shuusei moved closer again and since she nearly sat on him he couldn't move much. He tried to think of something to respond to her question but her alluring eyes held him captivated and he couldn't think of something to say. In the end he just nodded.

When Shuusei saw Hotsuma nod she smiled a little, partly because she could see he really meant it in those warm and honest eyes, and because it was a part of her character she played at the moment.

"Then, you wouldn't mind doing something for me? Of course I will give you something in return." She continued with her sweet voice while moving her hand that is situated on his arm.

Hotsuma, who was still speechless, just nodded again while feeling his blush intensifying. Just when did she get the upper hand on him?

Shuusei really enjoyed this feeling of being the one in control for once in her life; she never had the opportunity before since all she ever did was making herself so unnoticeable as possible, and lock up her feelings in the process to make it easier.

She smiled down at Hotsuma and leaned in and whispered in Hotsuma's ear.

"Don't ever approach me again, only I can make contact with you. In return I'll give you my name." She put some distance between them and raised herself from the ground. She started to walk away, but Hotsuma finally got out of his daze when their eye contact broke.

"Hey! What happened to your name? Weren't you going to give it to me?" He called out to her while jumping up from the ground.

She turned around with a smile again; he really had some amusing mood swings.

"It's Shun." She said loud enough for him to hear before turning around again. She could obviously not give him her true name since he might ask around and she was the only one with that name living here. If he asked the others in the family they would immediately know that she had talked to one of the visitors, and she would be punished for not following orders. That was something she definitely didn't want to happen.

"Okay, thanks Shun-chan. By the way, I won't follow what you said to me, you're too interesting for that." He shouted back again to make sure she heard it. He usually kept promises but this was one he just couldn't bring himself to keep. Besides if only she was allowed to make contact, he was certain they would hardly meet even once more.

Hotsuma thought about following her again but decided against it since she was far ahead of him now and because he had sneaked out from the dinner to look at the stars. They would probably wonder where he was, well their hosts would at least, his own friends and family knew he liked to watch the stars alone. It was soothing; he could forget everything and just focus on those small lights that shone so bright, while watching all the tiny humans living their lives.

Hotsuma started to walk back to the main house. He liked it there actually, people were friendly and he enjoyed being around other humans. The girls were a bit annoying in the beginning with all their questions, but once they stopped and he just hanged with them together with his friends he found them quite pleasant. There was only one thing, if Shun-chan was there it would be great. He looked up at the stars while walking and really hoped he would find her again.

Shuusei heard what Hotsuma shouted and frowned. Why couldn't he do as she wanted? But he seemed like he didn't do what other people wanted him to do. And he actually put a –chan after her name, well fake name, really rude since they barely knew each other. But on the other hand, she hadn't put any honorifics after his name at all so she was just as rude; however it hadn't felt quite right to call him just by his name. She wondered why that was, but didn't come up with a good reason so she dropped it.

His decision to find her was starting to get really problematic because she couldn't uphold her masks of indifference and fake feelings around him for long and that was something Shuusei didn't want to experience. Showing her true feelings meant nothing but bad news in her life. They would take advantage of her vulnerability that came with showing what you really felt and use it against her; she had discovered that the hard way. She also knew that once they got past her mask they would only find the lonely and useless being she was left.

When she had her mask on around people who didn't know her they wouldn't notice the imperfections that she was. It was the perfect protection against other people for her, when they knew her it gave them less things to hurt her with, and against the unknown they wouldn't know how she really was nor felt and scorn her for that. And if there was someone that she didn't want to show her real self for, and cowardly since she'd never met her problems head on first instead she just hide from them, so was it Hotsuma. There was no reason to think like that but her instincts told her to not let Hotsuma hate her and she was certain that once he finds out, he will definitely hate her like everyone else.

She took a detour for her own safety in case he decided to follow her even if she didn't see or hear him coming after her. She went past some small gardens and different houses before finally arriving at the house. She sneaked into the kitchen for some left overs from the dinner which turned out to be some dumplings. She walked back through the corridors quietly because of the paper walls. When she came to her own room, opened the door and then closed it, she slumped down in her bed while eating on the food.

Shuusei was dead tired; the day had gone by without any problems until nightfall. Why was Hotsuma out at such an hour? Guest dinners were sacred in this household, when they were held the elders made sure that everyone was participating the whole time, even she wasn't an exception, unless someone important were there. She needed to rethink her schedules, if Hotsuma was out at such an hour then when should she go back? Probably even later, but she would have to be more careful now, no more meetings than necessary, which were none. Even the part of her heart that wanted to be with Hotsuma couldn't falter her decision to not see him.

Chance, luck or fate though didn't seem to be on her side in this case, she always bumped into Hotsuma one way or another, like they were saying: "Let's make her life as miserable as possible." But the part of her that wanted to be with Hotsuma survived because of these chance encounters and saw it to be the best thing ever happening to her, which isn't very hard since her life hasn't been very kind to her.

She finished the food and lay down to finally get her well required sleep; she needed to get up early next morning after all. Shuusei felt the sleep gaining on her and welcomed the darkness and the silence to her thoughts it brought.

That's it for this time and I'm sorry it's not a long chapter. Please review!