BlackLynx17: I HAD NO IDEA IT HAD BEEN SO LONG! I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE! PLEASE ENJOY THIS CHAPTER!
.
Mr. & Ms. Nisekoi
.
Raku waited all night for her, but she never came back home. He actually woke up at the dinner table with their dinner still spread out nicely on the table, the food all cold and probably filled with virus and bacteria from not being wrapped up properly. Raku stood up and washed his face in the sink before walking around the house looking for her. There was no sign that she returned, none at all. He started worrying as he pulled out and called her number, she didn't pick up. She didn't pick up all the times he called her after that as well.
"What the?" Raku asked staring at his phone.
He called back home as he fed their fish, trying to see if Chitoge was there but not trying to tell them she was missing or else they would get suspicious. They were supposed to be a super happy couple, what super happy couple wouldn't return home? After that failed Raku tried to call Onodera only to remember... he didn't have her number. Raku cursed and threw on some shoes and a jacket before running off to Onodera's house. While he ran he called an old friend of his who screamed in his ear when she answered.
"RAKU!"
"Tachibana, did you kidnap Chitoge?!" Raku yelled over the phone.
"Whatever do you mean Ra-"
"I'm being serious Tachibana! Chitoge never came back home last night, did you kidnap her?!"
"Come home? Are you living with he-"
"Please Tachibana, please. Did your guys pick her up last night? Just please tell me she's safe." He begged.
Tachibana blinked on the other line, covering her mouth as she gasped softly.
"I-I I don't know Raku, I never ordered such a thing." She told him.
"Dammit, alright. Thanks Tachibana, bye." Raku said speeding up.
He arrived at Oodera's home ten minutes later out of breath and started banging at the door, a very angry looking Ruri answering the door.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Ruri asked glaring at him.
"Chitoge never came home last night! Is she here?!" Raku asked out of breath.
Ruri blinked, "she left all of a sudden last night at the hot springs. Kosaki and I thought she was returning home but... she never came back?" Ruri asked.
"No!"
"There's nothing to worry about, I'm sur-"
"I need to find her! You don't have any idea where she is?!" Raku yelled.
She didn't understand, no one would understand unless they were in the business. If you went missing for a day then that meant you were dead. Just dead, that's it. It's a dog eat dog business and their often fighting for competition. Raku almost died a few time because he ran into other assassins. If Chitoge left early yesterday and didn't return home then that meant she was called for a mission, she would have texted him or something though. She always does. Something's wrong.
"I'm sorry Ichijou, I don't have a clue. One minute we're all talking and the next she's running out of the springs, Onodera went after her but-"
"Onodera then! Where is she?!" Raku yelled.
"She goes jogging in the mornings around the bloc-"
Ruri didn't get to finish because Raku raced off down the block, looking for her. He started calling out her name, thinking about the worse thing possible in his head. She's dead. That would be the worst thing. That she was kidnapped and killed or just straight up killed. Raku clenched his heart at the thought and started yelling louder, calling out her name as well as he ran all across the blocks. If it wasn't for the red light in front of him making him stop, he would have missed the vibration of his phone.
Raku's eyes widened as he pulled it out of his pocket, sighing out in relief when he saw her name on it. He smiled as he opened the phone and read the text.
Meet me in front of Lulu's! ASAP! It's important.
Lulu's, that was the cake shop they always went too; he had just passed that place. Raku clicked the call button and tried calling her but she wouldn't answer. What was wrong with the girl? Why was she making him worry so much like this?! Raku had half a mind to lecture that gorilla once she met up with him. He arrived at the spot out of breath and walked into the store, purchasing a water bottle for himself. He drank it all in one gulp and looked around the store, not spotting her blonde hair anywhere. He walked back outside and waited for her, calling back her number over and over again until he heard-
"Ichijou?"
Raku turned around and saw Onodera standing there in sweats and a jacket, a water bottle in her hand, phone in another with her earphones in her ear attached to an ipod strapped to her shoulder. She pulled the earphones out and placed them in her pocket, staring strangely at him.
"Onodera? Onodera! I was looking for you, please tell me what happened to Chitoge last night?" Raku asked.
"What do you mean?" Onodera asked out of breath.
"What happened?! She didn't come home last night and she's not responding to my calls or texts, I went over your house and Ruri said you went after her once she left so do you have any clue where she is?!" Raku asked.
"What do you mean Ichijou? Chitoge just called me a few minutes ago asking me to meet you two here, saying it was important. She isn't with you?" Onodera asked.
"No! Why is she doing this to me?!" Raku grunted in frustration pulling at his hair.
Onodera reached out to try and comfort him but was shot. Raku's eyes widened as he looked over at her and saw blood on her chest, oozing down her jacket. This time he had heard it before he had seen it. Raku pulled Onodera against him and started looking around, looking for the sniper. This didn't make any sense, he should have been dead right now! No way a sniper would have only had two bullets and he was far away from his family right now. No one was covering for him. He was the perfect target
"Ichijou?" Onodera whispered.
Raku eyes widened as he pulled away, staring at her chest.
"Oh my God Onodera! We have to get you to a hospital, fast!" Raku yelled.
"No, Ichijou, Ichjou look." Onodera said touching the blood.
It wasn't blood though... it was paint. Onodera unzipped her jacket and took it off.
"See Ichijou? It wasn't my blood, I was shot with a paint ball I think. At least it smells like paint." Onodera said.
Raku's attention was focused on her chest though. Underneath her jacket she was wearing a tank top, a tank top that showed her chest. Not like that though, it showed where her necklace laid against her chest and showed... it showed a bullet wound. Raku reached out and touched the key, touching the skin underneath it making Onodera squeak. He couldn't believe it, it wasn't possible, it wasn't- it couldn't-
... then suddenly everything made sense.
"How'd you get this?" Raku asked touching the scar.
Onodera took a step black, her face bright red.
"My Mother tells me it's a birthmark and Chitoge asked me the same thing last night." She said.
"That's not a birth mark, that's a bullet wound." He told her.
Onodera's eyes widened.
"Do you remember, anything from your childhood?" He asked taking a step forward.
Onodera shook her head.
"I had a friend, my childhood love. The person with the key to my lock, she died right in front of me... in my arms. She died because a bullet went right through her chest... right there." Raku said reaching out and pointing at it.
"Ichijou-"
"I never saw the dead body, I never saw anything after it happened. They told me she died but, but... maybe I just believe she died, I believed... you died Onodera." Raku whispered.
Things were getting out of control for Onodera, she had no idea what was happening right now or how she could help or fix. Suddenly everything made sense though.
"You're the girl I've loved all this time."
Onodera's eyes widened, loved? He said loved, he loved her. He's never stopped thinking about her all this time and Onodera has never stopped thinking about him. This was a sign... a sign... Onodera reached up and clenched her key. Taking a deep breath and thinking of Ruri, she looked up at Raku and confessed.
"I'm in love with you Raku."
No reaction.
"Before I knew about this key business I've loved you since middle school. After I saw your pendent and realized your my Prince I've continued to love you, after all this time. When we were reunited I thought, hey this is my chance to finally get him, but you were with Chitoge."
He flinched at her name.
"But then I learned it was fake, but then I learned Chitoge liked you. She really, really liked you Raku so I told myself she could have you. I wanted her to be happy, but I never make myself happy Raku. I want to do that right now and I am doing that right now by confessing I love you Raku. I know your dating Chitoge and I know we're all friends but I'm asking you to pick me! I could make you happy, I've loved you for all this time and if what you say is true then... I'm your princess." Onodera said.
Everything Raku believed in, everything he has done up till now, every decisions he's made, every life he took... meant nothing. She was alive, she was here with him and she loved him. Raku couldn't control himself as he reached out and pulled her into him.
"I thought you were dead, I thought I had killed you." Raku cried.
Onodera laid her head against his chest and hugged him back, sighing out peacefully.
"My Mother tells me I used to play with my prince all the time when I was younger. One day I suddenly stopped playing with him and she never told me why. What happened Raku? Why'd we stop playing? If what you're saying is true, why did you think you killed me?" Onodera asked.
"I didn't kill you, I caused your death! You see, I'm-" Raku left his mouth open.
He blinked and recalled the words Shu once said to him, if Onodera could still love and accept him after knowing his secret.
"Onodera... Kosaki." He said.
Onodera felt her heart beat.
"I've done so many terrible things in my life, I have so many dark secrets. I'm a bad person and yet you can say you love me?" He asked.
"Ichijou-"
"Kosaki. Could you love me? With my secret, my skeletons in the closet. I'm not the person you think I am-"
"Nonsense! No matter what Ichjou you are still you! When I first saw you, do you remember what happened? I was holding a stack of papers bringing it to music room and tripped! You helped me pick up every piece of paper and years later when we saw each other again I dropped my fruit! And you know what you did?" Onodera asked.
Raku only stared.
"You helped me pick them up again, so you see? You haven't changed at all Ichijou. You may have some dark secret, may have done something unforgivable but you're still the same caring person underneath everything. You're still the boy I fell in love with or else why would I still be wearing your key? Why would I be confessing my love if I wasn't sure I felt it?"
She reached out and touched his heart.
"I'm in love with your heart Ichijou and it's still pure and kind as I first remember it, even back as kids." She smiled fondly.
Raku reached for her hand and held it in his, inhaling sharply.
"I know your family is in the Yakuza business Raku so I know you must have done some shady things like sell drugs or something because they made you, but I don't care. You broke away from that and I'm here for you now." She told him.
Raku's eyes shot opened.
"Yakuza? You think my family's in the Yakuza business?" Raku asked.
Onodera suddenly felt embarrassed, "yeah? Well, aren't they?"
Raku didn't know why, but he found this to be a funny moment. "No!"
"Oh, well I thought because of the huge western house you lived in and everything. Sorry though, if they're not in Yakuza then what dark business could you be talking about?" Onodera asked.
Raku opened his mouth but Onodera quickly shook her head.
"No, it doesn't matter. You'll tell me one day, today though I want to know." Onodera said taking her key off her neck.
She clenched it tightly and stared into Raku's eyes.
"Zaxia in love, remember? You will hold the lock and I will hold they key? Do you wanna, do you want to find out if I'm the girl Raku? We could try it right now, regardless it won't change my feelings about you but... you still haven't said you loved me back." Onodera said.
And Raku could do nothing as she reached her key out to his lock. At the last second, the very last second as he stared at her hands he noticed the paint on them. She was shot in the chest with paint bullets, who could have shot her though? If Onodera wouldn't have been shot then Raku never would have seen her scar, who could hav-
Raku reached up and grabbed Onodera's hand. Of course it was her, Raku already knew it all. She came to the same realization as him when she saw her scar yesterday, that's why she left. She was setting all of this up, she was excluding herself from the equation. She was leaving his life so he could start his own with his Princess.
"Ichijou?" Onodera asked.
She was gone. No way she would have stayed through all of this, she probably left when Onodera first took of the jacket.
"I'm sorry Onodera." Raku said.
And he was sorry, truly sorry. This was his first love right here, the whole reason he became an assassin. It was all for her, everything was for her and to find out she was alive was a miracle. If he never met Chitoge then Raku would have swept Onodera in his arms and kissed her senselessly... Chitoge did enter his life though. She came to Japan, the tourist without knowing a single phrase in Japanese and met him.
Within those short few hours, she had made him fall in love with her.
He loved her. Even now, it took him so long but he finally caught up.
"I love her." Raku said to himself.
She was like him, exactly like him. She was raised like him, born in the same family, they had been friends when they were younger and-... oh my God Raku loved her. He couldn't believe it, he laughed out breathlessly as he tried to get a hold of himself. They may have fought, they may have argued but... Raku couldn't forget her hair or her blue eyes or her smile. He had fallen in love with all those things, they drew him to her.
She was strong enough to protect herself, but still needed protecting all the same. From the things that couldn't heal over time, from the emotional scars. Raku was going to be there for her, he was there for her. God, why hadn't he kissed her senselessly everyday he was with her?! Why didn't he hug her every time they saw each other or spend every waking moment with her?! How could he have been so stupid?!
"I'm sorry Onodera, but I'm in love with her." Raku said speaking back to her.
"I know, I know. I just, I've always wanted to tell you this. I love you Raku, but I think she's the one you're meant to be with. She's the one who should have made that promise to you." Onodera said, tears shining in her eyes.
And where was this promised girl? It took a while for it to really sink in... gone. She was gone, out of the country, left. Where was she, Raku had no idea. He was going to find out though.
"I need to-"
"I know, go Raku. Go find her and bring her back and tell her, I love her. And I still have to take her to my mom's bakery shop so she better come back soon." Onodera laughed.
Raku smirked before walking passed her; Onodera reached for him at the last second though.
"Raku wait... here." Onodera said.
She held out her key for him.
"Give it to her, unlock your pendent."
"Onodera-"
"No, I want her to have it. It's rightfully hers... good bye Raku. Have a safe trip." Onodera said.
Raku nodded, wishing to say more but not finding the time to and left. Onodera stood there alone, walking back home slowly. When she made it to the door and knocked on it, Ruri opened it and stared at her.
"I tried my best." She started crying.
"Good job Onodera." Ruri said.
"He could have loved me, he did but... he loved her more."
Ruri pulled her best friend in her arms and held her as she cried.
"I know this is what I wanted but it still hurts!"
"I'm sorry Kosaki, I'm sorry. It's all over now though, you can finally move on." She whispered.
The bus wasn't fast enough to get him there, but it was faster than running. Thousands of thoughts passed through his mind as he tried to get there, hoping he wasn't too late, praying that she'd be there. The door to the bus couldn't have opened fast enough and Raku ran, right pass his home and towards her. The gates to her house was locked. Raku pulled out his gun and started shooting at it. Let's see a knife do that.
Raku kicked the door open and ran inside the estate... he saw nothing though. Raku opened all the doors to the rooms and was met with the same thing. Everything was gone, and if not gone, covered up and wrapped away. The house was empty... how long was it empty for? They couldn't have moved this much in 12 hours, Chitoge only found out yesterday.
Raku ran back over to his home and started yelling out his Father's name, ignoring all of his family between them.
"Raku, hello. Didn't know you were coming back here." His Father greeted him when he ran into his room.
"Where are they!?" He yelled.
"Huh?" His father asked.
"The Kirisaki family! The Beehive Gang! Where are they?!" Raku yelled.
"Didn't you hear? They were able to find a new base, they moved. We told Chitoge about it last time she came here and that you two could finally break up, but she said that being with you wasn't so bad. I assumed she must have told you, did she not?"
"They moved? When?!"
"About a week ago, Adelt told me that Chitoge had... had started falling in love with you. He was so happy about leaving her behind, he thought her daughter found another way. It made me think that you were finding another way... what's wrong son?"
A week ago. They've been gone for a week and Chitoge didn't tell him anything, stayed living with him and by his side because she-she... she loved him. Raku gulped, closing his eyes tightly shut.
"Raku?"
He knew what he had to do. It was obvious what he had to do.
"Father, I need a job." Raku said opening his eyes back up.
"You know I'm not the leader anymore, if you need one then you have to ask Boss."
"Right, I'm just saying though... this might be a long one." Raku said then left the room.
He watched his son leave with a smile on his face. His boy was in love, it seems he had finally moved on.
Chitoge sat near the window, hugging her legs to her chest as she stared at the moon. She wondered what Raku and Kosaki were doing right now... probably together. Maybe Raku told her about his job, maybe they were working things out right now. Kosaki was a nice person, Chitoge was sure she'd understand and change Raku's ways. Chitoge... she didn't care what Raku did and Raku didn't care right back. She wasn't what he wanted, what he wanted was something normal. He deserved something normal and with Kosaki... he could get normal.
And what about Chitoge? What would happen to her? Nothing. She'd go back to how her life used to be, back to black and white. Back to the only thing that ever made sense in her life... killing. Chitoge took a deep breath and sighed out resting her head against the window. Though she told herself this was what she wanted, he was still her first loved and it still hurt to leave him like that. To cut him out of her life, to never see him again. Chitoge felt tears running down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away.
She was supposed to meet up with her ride home at 0600. It was only 8:20 now, she should really go to sleep right now. There wasn't anything she was about to do and crying herself to sleep seemed like a better option than crying at the moon. Boy how she was about to get proven wrong. As she stood up and turned her back against the window, walking towards the bed in her hotel room she missed the parachute descending towards the hotel. She almost missed how the person descending ditched the parachute as he jumped through the window, breaking the glass and rolling around on the floor.
Chitoge flinched and turned around, searching her body for a weapon. Nothing was on her, she had just took a shower. She didn't think she needed a weapon when she saw who it was who broke into her room.
"Chitoge, oh I'm glad this was actually in your room. It would have been hell to make another dramatic entrance if this wasn't." Raku said dusting himself off as he got up.
"What are you doing here Raku?" She asked.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?! Why the hell did you just leave me like this?!" Raku yelled.
Chitoge blinked, "isn't this what you wanted though? She was alive Raku, she is alive. Kosaki is the girl you love so I made the decision easy for you."
"No, you chose for me without even knowing what it was I truly wanted!" Raku yelled.
"Like you truly wanted me Raku." Chitoge mumbled.
"I do!" Raku yelled.
Chitoge blinked, her heat beating. He's lying she told herself, this couldn't have been the truth. Why was he here though if it was a lie? Chitoge ignored that question as she continued to deny everything.
"This isn't funny Raku, you think it was easy for me to leave you like that?! You were my first love! My first, but I wasn't yours! Even when we were together did you know how much it hurt to know your heart belonged to another?!" Chitoge screamed.
"I didn't know the-"
"SHUT UP! I'm talking right now! I thought we could be together, I thought we could love each other but once I realized Kosaki was the girl you've been looking for all this time... I realized I loved you enough to make you happy. You wouldn't have left me for her, I know you. You would have regretted that decision for years but you would have stayed with me because that's just the kind of person you are. That's why I fell in love with you, so I made it easy for you. Yes I chose for you, only because you couldn't chose for yourself."
"Are you done?" Raku asked.
Chitoge nodded.
"Well I'm sorry to tell you this but I am not the kind person you described me as right now! I wouldn't have left you for Onodera even if I knew she was the one because I didn't even leave you before I knew that!" Raku said.
"W-what?"
"That's right! I had a crush on Onodera from the minute I saw her, I was dating you though. No, we were pretend dating then. She was exactly the kind of girl I wanted to be with, just a normal girl who doesn't kill for a living! But I had you, and you were beautiful and nice occasionally and different and you were a killer, but you accepted that I was one and still regardless fell for me. I didn't know how to chose or who to chose, so maybe that part you said was correct, and that night when I found you crying in the kitchen and you kissed me-"
"I chose for you." Chitoge whispered, her eyes widened.
So all that time, he never really loved her. Chitoge was only forcing her own love onto him and-
"Stop whatever you're thinking because that isn't true! The morning after, you didn't force me to kiss you right there. I did, out of my own freewill because I realized something... you were just a girl Chitoge. You were just like Onodera, a normal girl. You laughed, you cried, you got hurt just as easily as normal people do. It was then did I realized... I liked you... a lot."
Chitoge did nothing but stare at Raku as his face seemed to get hotter and hotter the more he talked.
"And those dates after, those real dates, I found myself liking you even more. I still thought about Onodera and cursed myself because I wanted to like you, I did like you. I chose you Chitoge. And it was only after you completely disappeared out of my life and left me with Onodera did I realize I loved you, do love you. So here I am, searching everywhere in the city of Tokyo looking for you just to tell you. I love you Chitoge." Raku smiled.
"This isn't funny." Chitoge started crying.
"I never said it was." Raku chuckled walking over to her.
"You were supposed to chose Kosaki! She was the one who you were meant to be with!"
"That may be true, but I fell for you Chitoge. She maybe my soul mate, but you're the one I want to be with."
Chitoge started crying harder and punched Raku hard in the chest. She yanked the necklace off of his neck and pulled out her own key, trying to unlock it.
"Do you see Raku? We aren't meant to be, my key isn't the one! You deserve someone better than me, you deserve someone who's purer and lighter, someone without baggage or lies, someone who can't kill you!"
Raku took the locket and key from Chitoge's hands and pulled them away. It was true, her key wasn't unlocking his locket. He didn't care about that though. Raku pulled her key out and tossed it aside, digging in his pocket for Onodera's key.
"A gift from Onodera. As soon as I realized that you were long gone she told me to give this to you when I found you, she told me that it rightfully belonged to you." Raku said placing it in her hands.
Chitoge blinked and stared through her tears at his face. Raku smiled and held his locket up, "come on. Open it."
Her hand shakingly reached over and shoved the key into the locket. She turned the key and there was a click sound, a sound that sounded like a door unlocking.
"See? What were you talking about, your key was the one. You're my first love Chitoge." Raku smiled.
Chitoge sniffed, "you stupid beansprout!"
Completely forgetting about the lock and key she threw herself to Raku and cried on his shoulder. Raku smiled fondly and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her head.
"I love you Chitoge." He whispered in her ear.
"I love you too Raku, so much. I'm sorry." She cried.
"No worries, we're together again. Sure wasted a lot of time getting here, but we're finally here." Raku cheered as he pulled away.
Chitoge sniffed and nodded, smiling before her eyes trailed down to the pendent on the ground.
"It would have been funny if that key didn't unlock it." Chitoge giggled.
"No, if wouldn't have. That would have meant that the key belonged to... Tachibana. She would have never let me go then." Raku paled.
Chitoge giggled more and rubbed her nose, "I wonder what's in it."
"Let's find out." Raku said kneeling down.
He picked up his pendent and pulled the key out, opening it up. Finally after all these years he found out what was in the locket... a pair of silver rings. Raku pulled them out and stared at them, looking at the engraved words.
"Zaxia in love." They said together.
Raku looked up at Chitoge and saw the girl he was in love with. She would be the only one, Raku could never go back to normal after meeting her. He was doomed the minute he saved her from those police officers. He was also kneeling on one knee so it would only make since that he would propose to her now.
"What do you say? It took a long time for use to fulfill our promise but we finally will. Marry me Chitoge?" Raku asked.
"Idiot Beansprout, are you sure?"
"Honey if I wasn't sure I never would have jumped out of a plane and through your window."
Chitoge rolled her eyes, "we may love each other but I don't think I love you enough to marry you." She pouted.
"Don't you?" Raku asked raising an eyebrow.
Chitoge's face turned red, "well of course I do! This is just really embarrassing!" She screamed.
Raku laughed as he grabbed her hand and placed the ring on her finger. As he stood back up Chitoge snatched the other ring from his hand and placed it on his finger.
"Give me that! I guess this means we're together now." She said.
"Aw Honey, you're wounding me. You make it sound like such a bad thing." Raku teased.
"Shut up Darling, hehehe." Chitoge laughed.
They smiled at each other before the thought came to mind that this would be the perfect moment to kiss. Both of them gulped and blushed, Raku being the one who made the first move. He grabbed her hands and held them tight, leaning over to her face.
"I'm sorry it took me so long, from now on I'll kiss you whenever I want too." He whispered.
"What about now then?" She asked.
"Of course I want to kiss you now, I always do." Raku told her before crushing their lips together.
Then the once false love, became true love.