"Ritsu calm down!" Gus waved his hands in the air as I paced. "We will get Takano back."

"I should have left. I should have left the minute Li came into my life."

"That would have solved nothing."

"That sick bastard has Takano." I fell to my couch. Gus patted my back. "He must have figured out that Takano was important to you." Of course he did. "Let's just calm down and figure out our next move."

I kept shaking my head. Something did not sit right with me. "I thought the S.E.A. never did anything like this."

Gus sighed. "I admit this is out of character, even for the S.E.A." He started thinking. "It must have something to do with the announcement they made."

"Announcement?"

"Yeah. Your father and the other Heads announced that S.E.A. was soon going to change management. Two of the Heads were found dead and your father is said to be retiring." Dead? Retiring?! "Get this: The Doctor is taking a spot and so is Li, guess who the third person is."

"Me?" Are you serious? After all this time father still wanted me to take over? Why could he not disown me and leave me alone. "Why am I so important?"

"It's more like your heir is important. We did some research and the Onodera's have been the longest standing members of the S.E.A. That is why your father is considered the top Head. If you do not take over the Onodera looses that power."

"And it is just a coincidence that two other Heads were killed at the same time."

Gus nodded. "The Doctor can keep a close eye on you and they probably think Li can change you back to the way you were."

"And more therapy sessions." My hands balled into fists. I hated S.E.A. Still trying to control me for their own benefits. I was sick of this. "Gus, we got to get Takano back."

"We will." Gus's phone went off and he got up to answer. I tried listening in but looking around Takano's apartment had me thinking about him, worrying. Not only was Takano somewhere with Li, but he would surely tell him all about S.E.A. Takano would know about me being a killer and Li could also tell him about me and him. I feared what Takano would think once he found out what I did with Li. I just hoped Takano did not hate me after all this happened.

And if he did not, then what? S.E.A. needed to be taken down and as long as my father was part of it, I would never be left alone. They had to be taken down. "Ritsu." I looked up at Gus. "I don't want to force you."

I smiled, I had to. Gus still was giving me the choice even though he knew what I was going to chose. They took Takano. That was the last straw. Standing up, I picked up the piece of paper Li left and crumbled it. "Let's do this."

Takano

When I came to the first thing that registered was the pain in my head. I tried to lift my hand but found my body tied with rope. Where was I? The column I was on was cold on my back. That asshole… "So you finally woke up. It's not like I hit you that hard." I glared at Li, who was standing in front of me. "I guess I am being rude. My name is Li."

"I know who you are." I spat. He looked surprised but then chuckled. "Of course you do. Did our dear Oda tell you? Oops, I should call him Ritsu but since we both know him as Oda then there's no secret there, right? It's funny we both had to find out later what his real name was." As he spoke I looked around to find us in some sort of warehouse. "This is property of the S.E.A. It is used for…interrogations, if that is what you can call this."

"S.E.A.?" What the hell was that? Li blinked. "So he didn't tell you after all. Well Saga you are in for a treat." He walked over and crouched down to be at my level. "I get to tell you all about our little Oda."

Ten years ago there was a boy named Onodera Ritsu who thanks to his father, was forced to leave his normal life, and the boy who broke his heart, and join the family business. Not the public business, Onodera Publication, but a secret organization called the S.E.A., Society of Elite Assassins." I gasped. "Ritsu, who used the code name Oda, was forced to forget everything about the boy through electroshock therapy that went on for almost a year. From then on he became the most feared, most skilled assassin in the company. He was good, until the memories of that boy started coming back and more electroshock therapy took place. Soon his father realized that the therapy would not make Oda forget the boy. He realized Oda held too much feelings for him so they took the therapy up a notch. Pure torture. They starved him, sliced him, and suffocated him. They made sure he would be so scarred that not even his brain would want to remember that pathetic boy: Saga-senpai."

Ritsu? An assassin? That was the big secret? I could not imagine it. My Ritsu would never hurt a fly, well, so I thought. It was kind of nice to hear Ritsu did not want to forget me but still disturbing to hear that the electrocuted and tortured him. I wanted to throw up just by imagining it. He had to have been in so much pain.

"He seemed to have gotten better but at the same time worse. The memory went away for good and Oda was back to killing, but there was something off. All feelings left him except for one: anger. He started to hate the S.E.A. For two years this went on until one last mission Oda snapped. A month later, he was gone." At least Ritsu hated being there. "You see Saga, there is one basic rule to follow in S.E.A.: never fall in love. Love is weakness, love is worthless, love will get you killed. Oda did not want to follow this rule any longer but even now if you can see it is not something you can simply forget."

So this whole year all was because of this stupid company? I knew he loved me but I only took his hesitation as not wanting to repeat the past. Now I see he was still fearful of the pain they inflicted upon him. Damn them. "I really hate you."

"The feelings are mutual."

His eyes narrowed. "You're the reason Oda won't come back. He is the future leader of the company and the greatest assassin there was. He could do great things but thanks to some high school fling his mind is altered."

"Ritsu is much better with me than the likes of you. This society is not somewhere he belongs. He is not a killer."

"Oh come on." He laughed loudly. "Oda is going to come here and when he walks through that door who do you think will appear? The shy, book loving 15 year old Oda, or the assassin Oda."

I growled. "Neither. Through that door will be Onodera Ritsu. Someone who had to deal with so much in the ten years that would make even the strongest men fall. The man who after everything that happened still looks to the future. I never expected him to be something…like this…but who does? The only thing we can do is work it together one day at a time. I've seen the real Ritsu, not the one wearing a mask. He is brave, he is a hard worker, and he puts others before him and never gives up. The real Ritsu is someone not to take for granted and if you so much as lay one finger on Rit…" I was cut off when he hit a knife right beside my face; it made a clanging sound on the metal. His face was filled with rage and his hand on the knife was shaking. I probably would have been scared but I bet my face mirrored his. I was just as angry.

We had a staring contest when an idea flashed across his face and he smirked. "When was the last time you fucked him?"

"Excuse me?" He pulled back, the knife disappearing into his pocket. "When was the last time you fucked him? And don't lie. Was it recently? Was it last night?"

"Why the fuck would I ever tell you?" I had a feeling I was not going to like where this was going. Why would he ask me such unless… "For me it was two years ago." My eyes went wide. So, he and Ritsu…no. "Weren't expecting that one huh? Just because we can't love there's nothing stopping us from sex. All sex is is pleasure. And I got a lot from Oda."

My fists clenched and I grinded my teeth together. "Is he still a masochist? He loved it when I would bit his nipples and squeeze his cock."

"Shut up."

"Does he still talk dirty? Oh the things he would say during our fucking would turn me on."

"Shut up."

"When he would beg me to pound him with no preparation."

"Shut up!"

"The way he moaned my name 'Li.'"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" It was vile to hear him talking about Ritsu like this. It was degrading. I did not want to hear it; I did not want to believe it.

The smirk was still on his face. "Does not really fit the perfect picture you were painting does it? Now tell me about your wonderful Ritsu."

I could not get that image out of my head no matter how many times I tried. I could not get mad about the sex since it was not like I was practicingcelibacy during the last ten years but he had sex with this man. He talked about Ritsu like he was a piece of meat. Just why would Ritsu do something like that with someone like him? Was Ritsu also craving sex or did Li force him?

"Oda let me do anything I wanted." God does he ever shut up? "Of course he wanted it too. Sometimes we would have sex three times a week. It was great." The face he made probably was pissing me off the most. He looked to staring far off into the distance and his smile was a gentle one, if that was possible. He looked like someone…in love? "Going with him on missions, seeing the way he did great without even trying, his attitude, the sex, Oda really was a one of a kind agent." His face turned sour. "And then that stupid British kid had to come around and steal all of Oda's attention. I know they assigned him to watch the brat but then Oda found himself spending more time with him. It would not surprise me if Oda was fucking him too."

I could not believe that he and Gus had anything going on. Gus looked at Ritsu as a brother. It was obvious he was trying to keep Ritsu out of this. "All that is next is killing you and bringing Oda back home."

"You really think killing me would get Ritsu to go back?" Sure I was scared for my life but I had to have faith in Ritsu.

"It will be tough but with you out of the picture there is nothing stopping Oda to join us. You are the only reason he is refusing. A few more electroshock therapies should clear his mind of you and have him focus on running S.E.A. with me."

"Ritsu will never go back." Li smirked. "We'll see."