Skin and cloth were baked dry mere minutes after Sei and I settled into the meadow. As Sei first said, it's a clearing brimming with flowers even though the seasons are leaning toward autumn now. We set down a small blanket over the fallen pine needles for cushioning.

Under the afternoon sun, we're quiet as we eat. My skin feels tight, like it's been constricted over muscle, and if I cross my eyes I can see a slight reddish glow covering the tip of my nose. When Sei slathers on more sunscreen, I gratefully accept the heaping amount he pours out onto my hand. He definitely has a pinkish undertone across his cheeks and nose, the top of his forearms and knees.

I silently hope that tomorrow these areas will be dotted with thousands of tiny blemishes. There's simply something undeniably endearing at the thought of my stoic friend covered in freckles. I've always thought freckles added character, much like beauty marks and laughter lines; Sei could certainly use a little spunk in his rigid life.

"You surprised me," Sei offers after we've both consumed a bottle of water and a sandwich each.

I chuckle, shoulders shaking, "It was fun though, wasn't it?"

His lips purse and he raises a haughty brow in my direction. "I wouldn't have called it 'fun', necessarily."

"Agh," I groan, still grinning like a loon, "You enjoyed it as much as I did."

Sei rolls his eyes and the action makes me chuckle some more. "It's possible I found the experience…enlightening,"

"Hah! Liar!" I crow loudly, falling against his shoulder and nudging his chin with the top of my head. "You can't pretend you wouldn't water fight me again. I nearly won too!"

He snorts, "Hardly, I believe the score was 10: 3 in my favour,"

"9:3," I correct with a mulish pout, "The first one doesn't count, I wasn't aware of what you were going to do."

"But it was fun," he huffs quietly, I can hear the smile in his voice, although I'd bet a pretty amount that the smile never reached his lips. But nevertheless, I continue to grin, enjoying the pressure of his shoulder under my cheek and the blazing sun beating at my defenceless calves.

"It was," I agree lowly.

"…I could not think of another way to make you smile." He mutters abruptly.

I shift and lift my head, gazing at the side of his face as he stares intently at the trees surrounding the meadow. He thinks he was wrong to do that, he's used to being scolded for doing something out of line. I have the urge to grab him and shake his shoulders, scream at the top of my lungs that I'm nothing like he's father. But he probably already knows that. Instead I maintain my smile and bump our shoulders together softly. "I'm glad you pulled me in when you did, thank you."

"There must have been another way,"

"It doesn't matter if there was, the method you chose did what it was supposed to."

"'The end justifies the means',"

I hum at this, turning my head to look at the trees behind us. Every direction looks the same; I'm not sure from which side we came and furiously pray Sei will know. "I thought you were done getting kicks from terrifying me."

"Did I terrify you?" The sceptical tilt of his head tells me he knows he didn't.

"Very much," I chirp brightly and when he shakes his head I burst into a fit of laughter.

Most of the picnic is spent like this; I doubt I've laughed this much with anyone except Riko, even though Sei merely smirks while I cackle wildly. I definitely burnt a little though, the tightness of my skin grows uncomfortable and we have to move into the shade before either of us combust into flames. You'd think it would start cooling down after two o'clock, but the heat is sweltering and the clothes that dried on our bodies have become damp with perspiration once more.

I nearly suggest we head back to the waterfall, mostly because it's so darn hot out; Sei shirtless is only an added bonus.

With the remains of our lunch packed away, we slither through the trees –Sei leading as absolutely nothing looks familiar to me. The insects, drunk on the heat, buzz around us in lazy abandon; only a few are coherent enough to latch onto us, but even they're slow and are quickly swiped away by human hands. The dangling phone charm on the rucksack zip makes me believe the bag he's using must have been Izumi's at one point.

"Do you know where we're going?"

Sei looks over his shoulder and raises his brows at me, "Do you think I don't?"

I hold my hands up in defence. "Don't twist my words."

"It was just a question," he counters smoothly, turning back to the trail.

Once he's no longer facing me I stick out my tongue. And nearly bite it clean off when I walk straight into him. I squeak and grip his shoulders, scowling as I examine my tongue within my mouth. Damn it, why do mouth wounds hurt this much? "Why'd you stop?" I whine.

Sei holds up a hand for silence and I glare at it over his shoulder, but still stay quiet. We stand like this for a long moment and slowly my frustration seeps away and I scan the trees curiously. Had he seen an animal? A fox? I've never seen one, the mere prospect gets me excited and I search more carefully.

This section of the trail is thick with trees, the canopy almost allowing no light in.

"There are people here,"

My eyes flash to Sei, but I can't see his face at this angle. "Oh," I cannot omit the disappointment that makes my shoulders drop; I really liked the idea of seeing a fox. "Are they headed up?" Although I fail to truly care, I ask out of interest, because why else would Sei stop like this if our paths weren't going to intercept? Does he know other people who hike here too?

A bit to our right, between the dense shrubberies a twig snaps and birds take to the air, squawking their displeasure.

"No," his voice is low, with an edge to it that I've not heard before. My frown grows as he extends a hand to the side as it protecting me, much like he had done the night before when I met his father. "If I tell you to run, you run."

The muscles along my spine clench, I go rigid and my fingers against Sei's back curl into the fabric. "Sei?"

Just as his name slips past my lips, figure emerges from between the trees. I don't need to see his face to know; in fact the shadows help in determining the man's identity.

Unknown, DL: 5

The air in my throat catches and I stare wide eyed as the man moves closer. The thin light sharpens his features.

"Run," Sei hisses back at me, his foot stomping down. A stick flips at the force and Sei's hand curls around it mid-air.

My mouth feels dry and I clench his shirt tighter, trying to pull him with me when I take a step back. I don't know why I didn't notice him before. The man is probably only a few inches taller than Sei and me, but he's more muscular than either of us. Somehow he seems to tower above us though, even from this distance.

A patch of green tinged light passes over his face and I whimper, stumbling back and attempting to pull Sei with me.

I know him. I know him.

He's the one that never touched me; always standing in the shadows, watching as Haizaki or Hanamiya cut. I think he's the one that scared me the most, sometimes I was sure he was laughing as I begged and cried. I'd never realised his Danger Level, his hair was always hanging before his eyes, but his locks are straggly and thin now.

"Run!" Sei growls, louder than he was previously.

I yank at the back of his shirt, trying to get him to move with me, he stands firm though, I can't budge him. "Please," I whimper.

I can't leave him behind. I can't.

"Yes, beg, you're good at that aren't you?" Hara snipes coolly, voice dripping with contempt. He steps even closer and I pull at Sei's shirt desperately. "Let's hear you beg some more, snitch. Bet you'll like it when I carve up your friend's face. Beg!" He snarls.

I flinch and stumble back, losing my grip on Sei as I trip over an outgrown root. I catch myself on a nearby tree trunk. "Sei," I whine, near tears as my heart beats frantically at my ribs. I don't have the words to plead with him, every inch of my being wants to run, just as Sei instructed. Yet a small part of me that dwells on the scars over my body, the part that remembers sobbing until I couldn't breathe fears that Hara will overpower my friend.

The redhead turns his head and captures my eyes. His are colder than I've ever seen them, terrifying in their intensity and fury. My whole body trembles. "I told you to run, Kouki."

Akashi Seijūrō, DL: 10

I keep my eyes on Sei as he turns back to Hara, raising the stick as if it's a sword instead of a branch. A glint of silver in Hara's hands makes my stomach coil and acid claw at the back of my tongue. Lips quivering, I stumble back.

"Kouki!" Sei snarls as the man lunges forward.

A moment later my feet are moving, I'm running. Tears clinging to my lashes as sobs clutch my windpipe with a firm fist.

The trail twists and I skid over loose pebbles, slamming into a tree before I can regain my footing. Twigs whip at my face and neck, stinging the exposed skin; broken branches slap my legs, tripping me more often than not.

I grab at a boulder and use it to force myself forward, the sharp edges sinking into my palm and I apply force.

Just as I'm propelling forward, something slams into my back and sends me sprawling on the ground. Air escapes my lungs in one gust. A fallen log presses into my stomach and I gasp trying to regain my breath, rocks cutting at my palms as I try to push myself away from the piercing splintered wood.

"You didn' think it'd be that easy, now did ya?" A dubious voice taunts in my ear and the same presence that slammed into me pushes me back down to the ground.

Crisping leaves take most of the brunt of my head being shoved into the ground, but it's still painful and I cry out when a sharp stone digs into my temple.

"Stupid bitch, you go tellin' the coppers 'bout what Makoto did, stupid, stupid," firm fingers sink into the flesh at the back of my throat, curling around until they rest against my trachea. They apply pressure until I'm gasping and struggling to get my arms close enough to defend myself. "What'm supposed to now, huh? It's no fun hurtin' when I can't take some credit for the blood." I'd recognise Seto's voice anywhere.

My hands pull weakly at his fingers, the position is hardly ideal to fight back, not that it'll help. He's a Level four if I remember correctly.

"You were a fun un too," he spits in my ear, "Wanted to have 'nother go at you 'fore you left, but you just fucked it all up." He settles down on my back, the log under my stomach piercing skin at the added weight. Liquid rises and spills from the corners of my eyes. "Maybe I'll try ya out 'fore I kill you,"