Akisame led Nara down the hall to Kensei's study with an impending sense of dread. It had been a mistake to offer Nara a chance to speak with her father even if it would ease both of their minds at least a little bit.

She had been chattering excitedly about her father for the past few minutes and Akisame had been trying hard to block out the sound of her voice. He didn't want to hear about how great her father was. Or what a good man he was.

He prefered to envision his bride's father as someone who worked far too much and knew very little about his own daughter.

He prefered to hope that he was a bastard and that Akisame was doing Nara a favor by keeping her here at Ryozanpaku with him. But those were all lies that he was telling himself to ease his conscience because he was separating Nara from the only family that she had ever known. Just like he was separating her father from his only child.

Frankly he couldn't think of a more horrible and sinister thing to do to two people. But hopefully it wouldn't be forever.

Akisame was already thinking of ways that he could get letters and photos to her father to let him know that she was alright even after he cut off all communication between the two.

If all else failed then he could at least wait until he and Nara were happily married before he could take her to visit her father. He figured that there shouldn't really be a problem with doing that as long as her father didn't try to take her from him.

If he did try then Akisame would remove him from her life entirely.

And though he was sure that she would hate him for it, if he did, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. It was simply an deeply ingrained instinct to do so. If something got between him and what he wanted, it was seen as an threat.

If he encountered an obstacle that if he couldn't get around; he would simply destroy it.

It was how he and his brothers had survived among normal people for so long.

He felt Nara grasp his shirt sleeve and stopped in his tracks and turned his head a little bit so that he was looking at her over his shoulder. He hadn't realised that she had been watching him and had somehow managed to figure out that he was upset about the call she was going to make.

"Yes, Nara. What is it?" He asked curiously as she stared up at him for a moment or so.

"I- D-Do you think that you can tell me where we are so that my dad can come and get me?" She asked in a tentitive tone. Here we go- Akisame thought sadly as he took a moment to steel himself against the sadness and pain that he was about to cause her.

"No. I won't tell you where we are and neither will anyone else here." She looked as if he had just struck her, her fingers gripping his sleeve so hard that her knuckles turned white before she forced herself to let him go and took a step back away from him. Her expression going blank.

"Why?" She asked in an eerily calm tone as Akisame turned around to face her.

"Because I don't want you to leave." He said honestly as he reached out to brush her bangs back away from her face and dropped his hand back to his side when she pushed it away from him and then gave him a dark glare.

"You can't keep me here against my will. It's against the law."

Akisame smirked at her, finding her words amusing. There wasn't an authority figure or law abiding citizen that would dare to cross the thresh hold of Ryozanpaku for any reason. So he had nothing to fear from the police or anyone else.

Besides if anyone did show up he and his brothers would simply deal with them like they had some of the people that had come before and threatened their way of life. Those fools were all buried in unmarked graves all through the woods behind the house. Far from prying eyes.

"I think you're wrong about that Nara. Now come, I know that your father must be anxious to hear your voice." He said as he turned around again and started walking. Nara fell into place just behind him with a dark look on her face.

They reached Kensei's office a minute or so later and Akisame politely opened the door and stepped back so that she could enter the room first then stepped inside behind her and quietly closed the door as she looked around the room.

It wasn't anything like what she had thought it would be. The room looked like a mini library. There was a desk with several books piled on one side of it, a letter opener and a pen, and the phone, behind it was a chair. And the rest of the place was filled with bookshelves. There was no space on the wall for pictures, no space for knick knacks.

Nara walked over to the desk and hesitantly picked up the phone then glanced over her shoulder at Akisame and jumped when she found him standing directly behind her. Watching her like a damn hawk.

"Do you know your father's number?" Akisame asked curiously. Nara muttered something like 'stupid question' under her breath and dialed her dad's cell. The phone rang once before she heard a beep followed by a drowsy sounding growl as her father picked up the phone.

"This better be good-"

"Dad." The other end of the line went totally silent and Nara could hear her father take a deep shuttering breath before speaking again.

"Nara. Sweetheart where are you? Can you tell me so that I can come and get you?" Nara looked at Akisame over her shoulder and shivered at the dark look on his face.

"N-No. I can't tell you where I am."

"Why the hell not?" Her father demanded.

And before she could answer Akisame took the phone from her and growled. "Watch you're language when speaking to Nara."

On the other end of the line Negi Shinomoto bristled at the stranger's tone as he sat up in his bed. "Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with my little girl?" Akisame looked down at Nara as she reached up and tried to take the phone back from him and gently placed a hand on one of her shoulders to keep her from taking the phone from him while he talked to her father.

"Language, father-" Akisame reminded the man in a dark tone before saying, "My name is Akisame. And I'll be the one taking care of your daughter from now on."

"From now on? So this isn't a ransome call? You don't plan to let my daughter go?" Negi asked in a strained tone as Akisame handed the phone back to Nara who bared her teeth and growled at him before putting the phone back against her ear and saying.

"Daddy, I'm sorry. Akisame said that I could talk to you. But he's refusing to tell me anything about where I am so that I can tell you."

"So he isn't going to let you leave?" Nara looked up at Akisame whom smiled at her and shook his head slowly; to indicate that no he was not going to let her go.

"Uh...no. He's shaking his head no. Should I be worried daddy? Because I'm thinking that I should be worried." Nara said quickly.

"Yes you should be worried. If he's keeping you prisoner then it doesn't matter how nice he appears or how well he may treat you. He's up to something and you shouldn't let your guard down." Negi said loudly hoping that the strange man holding his daughter prisoner would be able to hear him.

He needn't have bothered to raise his voice any. Akisame could have heard his voice from a half a mile away if he wanted.

And at this close proximity, he heard every word and couldn't help but let a feral smile curve his lips as he muttered, "Smart man." As he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the phone cord and sat down on the edge of Kensei's desk and waited for a good ten minutes, deciding that it couldn't really hurt anything to let Nara talk to her father a little longer.

Then at the end of the ten minutes, he ripped the cord out of the wall effectively ending his bride's conversation. At which point Nara picked up the phone and chucked it at his head before stomping out of the room.

She didn't talk to him again for almost a solid week.