I'll admit, this one is a little bit more strayed from the title then usual, but i was just really super excited to try out this idea i had. I hope you guys still like this.

And i know in an earlier chapter i said i was going to do a full "Snow white with the Red Hair" AU, but people didn't really seem to have much of an opinion on it one way or the other, so i don't know if i should still do it? I don't know… i mean, i really wanted to at the time, but would that be something people would want to read?

This one turned out a bit (okay, a lot) longer then i first planned, but i'm fairly happy with the way it turned out.

Warning only for Kuzuryu's swearing. But i mean, c'mon we all know him by now.

Anyway, i hope you guys enjoy this chapter :)

START OF CHAPTER:

Hajime Hinata had made somewhat of a name for himself. He never thought he had any particular talents growing up, but he always seemed to have a knack for solving mysteries and finding the truth. As he got older, he got better and smarter, resulting in him being hailed as some kind of prodigy.

He didn't think of himself as anything special, but others sure did. So it was only natural that later in his teen years, he was recruited by one of the country's top detective agencies. And the second he graduated, he was quickly put into their official employment.

He had still attended school when he could and made friends, but more often then not he'd had to do all his work online. Normally high schools wouldn't allow this, but he had been made a special exception due to the important nature of his work. When he graduated high school however, most of his time went towards his job.

So here he was, not even twenty and with a high paying detective job. How many people could say that?

"Hajime Hinata, this is your next assignment as a detective."

A newspaper clipping was handed to him, he quickly read through it. It read:

"The son of the famous Komaeda family hasn't been seen or heard from publicly in years, his last known appearance was shortly after his parents willed him his assistant after their untimely deaths. She claims that due to him being prone to illness and being the only living heir to his family line, he has taken the appropriate precautions."

"No further questions were taken."

An eyebrow was raised.

"This? A reclusive millionaire kid, what's my assignment? Giving him sunlight and proving he isn't a vampire?"

His boss sighed.

"I only wish that were the case, but unfortunately not. One of our secret informants at a local newspaper met quite an insistent individual claiming that the Komaeda heir was actually a victim of confinement, neglect, and abuse. Normally this would be an easy investigation, but…"

"But..?"

"The contact was mysteriously 'silenced' only days later. And shortly after that, this ran in the papers."

The brunette nodded.

"I see."

"Something's not right here, and that's why i urge you to take extreme caution while undergoing this case."

He nodded again

"Don't worry, i will."

"Go home and get some rest, you start working on this tomorrow morning."

"Understood."

As soon as he got home that night, he collapsed onto his couch with a tired groan. He had been working more then normal lately, but hey, it makes a living right?

Unfortunately, someone else didn't see it that way.

"Hajime, there you are! We need to talk."

He sighed. His girlfriend had been increasingly demanding to spend time with him. He made as much time for her as he could and always tried his best, but between work and sleep it was a hard effort.

"Is this something that can wait till morning? No offence, but i'm dead tired right now."

" 'in the morning' you say, yeah right! By that time you'll be back at work again."

He had to suppress a yawn, it looks like he had to have this conversation now.

"Look, i told you what my job was when we started dating."

"You aways do this, turn it around on me and make me look selfish! I swear i never see you anymore."

"I always make as much time for you as i can. I know it's probably not as much as you'd want, but i'm doing my best here."

"Somehow, i knew it would go this way, you always pick your job over me!"

"Listen, that's not it! I'm solving cases, saving lives and sometimes bringing families closure. I'm helping people."

"…i'm done."

"…what?" He blinked in disbelief.

"I said i'm done! it's over! I can't take being second to your career anymore."

"Please don't do this."

"No, I've already packed, i like you, but i just can't do this anymore. Besides, i've found someone else."

"… come again? Someone else?"

"I didn't mean to, but he always makes time for me when you don't. Goodbye, and good luck with your job that you love so much."

He could only stare numbly as she walked out the door. It only vaguely occurred to him that she would never be walking back in.

Well, if he was being perfectly honest, he probably wasn't feeling as sad as he should. Even when he had been home, she just seemed so… distant. He still tried though, but now he guessed it was for nothing.

That's probably why he wasn't as angry as he probably should have been at the 'someone else' reveal. Everyone he had ever seen this happen to on TV was either angry or sad, but he found himself surprisingly coming up empty in the emotional department.

He was disappointed, but if it makes her happy, then so be it.

He dragged himself off the couch he'd been sitting on, and made his way to the bedroom. He'd been living on his own for a couple of years now. His parents were reluctant, but calmed down somewhat when he proved to be capable of taking care of himself. They still made him promise to call every so often though.

His girlfriend had been starting to think about moving in, but he guessed that wasn't happening anymore.

With a sigh, he rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. He probably wouldn't get much sleep, but it was better then nothing.

When he woke up the next morning, he forced down a quick breakfast before immediately starting on his case.

He started with checking out what was publicly available, the internet didn't seem much help, not telling him anything he didn't already know.

The Komaeda family had been a old powerful family going back generations. The current heads of the family had only one son, Nagito, before tragically dying shortly after appointing their child an assistant. Nagito was reportedly a sickly child, and as such 'supposedly' due to being the only living heir, had retreated from the public eye so he could survive until he continued his family name.

They don't let visitors into the mansion anymore, supposedly for the young Komaeda's protection.

Normally, nobody would look further into the story, just a sickly kid that didn't come outside very often, right?

From what his boss told him, this wasn't exactly the full story. What exactly that 'story' was, he didn't know, but it was his job to find out.

By noon, he officially gave up on gleaning anything new from public information.

The rest of the day was spent over at the Komaeda mansion, seeing if anything could be learned by personal observation.

Just from looking outside, nothing seemed amiss. He snuck closer, climbing over the high gates and approaching the nearest window. There had been cameras and other things on the way here, but during his detective work he had learned to avoid such security measures.

There wasn't as much maids and other staff around as you'd normally see in a large mansion like this, but there certainly were an alarming amount of guards, and they were armed with a suspicious amount of weaponry. Surely this was a bit much for one rich heirs safety, right?

Either this kid was excessively paranoid, or there was something going on here.

He took a brief picture with his phone, which he had taken care to silence earlier, and decided not to take any more risks and leave before he was spotted.

Without making a sound, he made his way back to the walls, and made his journey home.

Once he got home, he sent the picture in two text messages. One was to his boss, as a sort of progress update (and a backup should anything go wrong), and the second was to a friend and connection of his.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu was a classmate and friend of his from high school. He was also the heir to a very important and dangerous mafia group, the Kuzuryu clan. They had already been friends, but when he helped rescue the blonde's younger twin sister, Natsumi Kuzuryu, from near death at the hands of an enemy group's kidnapping, he had all but become blood brothers with Fuyuhiko, and under their groups protection.

A fact which wasn't advertised, which was probably better for Hajime overall.

Not even a minute after he hit 'send', his phone was buzzing.

'Dude what the fuck?'

Hajime had to suppress a chuckle, that was so like him.

"Hello to you to Fuyuhiko."

'No time for pleasantries, jackass! What was that shit you just sent me?'

"A… picture? It was one i took today, it's from my latest assignment."

After briefing Fuyuhiko about his assignment (being a yakuza heir, he understood the importance of keeping secrets), the other quickly exploded.

'You don't fuckin understand! That's some high class illegal shit right there those asshats are carrying. Even some of my men don't have that stuff.'

"Whoa really?" This was getting more serious then the brunette had first thought.

'Now listen, that doesn't mean i aint working on it. But someone's got more access to this shit quicker then my group have, and i don't fuckin like it.'

If what these men had was something that even a prominent mafia gang were slow in getting, then this meant something was definitely going down within the Komaeda mansion.

He knew what he had to do.

"Fuyuhiko, i need help with this one. Your kind of help."

'… understood. I'm sending Peko to the Komaeda mansion's gates in three days time. Be prepared.'

Wow, if he was sending his best swordsman and child companion, then he really took this seriously didn't he?

'Just text me, if you say the word then other men will follow as a second wave of backup. Although' The mafia heir continued. 'Since i haven't officially took over as head yet, there's only so many men i can send without my parents finding out about it.'

"No offence, but i don't understand. What do your parents have to do with it?"

'Once my parents catch wind of this, others will get involved, and then his shit will devolve into a turf war easier then you can scare Kazuichi. And if that happens, it's no guarantee who'll survive, let alone the brat your supposed to save.'

"He's four months older then you, you know."

'That's not the fucking point! We need to fix this shit quickly, got it?'

"Yeah, got it."

Then the blondes tone turned more serious.

'And Hajime?'

"Yes?"

'Take care of Peko or else, you here?'

Occasionally he'd make a teasing remark about confessing his feelings, but he sensed this wasn't the time.

"I promise Fuyuhiko."

'Alright then. Good luck my friend.'

When the beep signalled the call had been ended, he knew he had to go to bed. He had to get as much sleep as he could while he still had time.

Surprisingly, the next three days passed quicker then he thought they would. As much as he tried, there wasn't much more that he could find out that he didn't already know.

Three Days Later:

Finally, the day he'd infiltrate the mansion had come. He was at the same place at the walls as before. Not much could be seen of inside from this distance, and most of the curtains were blocking off the windows. Not that he'd be able to make out much detail anyway.

"Hello Hajime."

He jumped, startled. When he turned around, he was relieved to see that it was Peko, in dark green clothing as usual. Since high school, she had gone from a sailor uniform style to a more sophisticated look, but she was no less intimidating when she wanted to be.

After a brief discussion, the two were ready for breaking into the mansion.

Peko had brought a bag of tools with her, which was good. It was going to be difficult enough getting into there with an extra person, but they'd also be getting yet a third person out. A boy who probably wouldn't be able to be of any physical help, if the rumours of confinement and abuse were true.

"Alright, are you ready Peko?"

With a nod, the two were off.

Since the two of them weren't exactly about to take on an entire mansion of guards by themselves, it took a lot longer then last time to sneak their way past all the guards. After a few wrong turns, they heard one particularly arrogant guard mention 'having to feed the pet'.

Both intruders instantly knew what they must be talking about. Hajime was disgusted, and he was so tempted to just shoot that idiot right now, but he knew he couldn't compromise the assignment like that.

So instead, they followed him, through many corridors (which he'd asked Peko to make a note of and map), until they reached what was revealed to be a secret basement or cellar entrance. They snuck in after the guard.

What they saw was shocking.

This wasn't a basement… this was a prison cell.

Blank walls and hardly any furniture, with strong metal bars going the whole way across the room, keeping the rest of the space separate from the entrance. There were a few piles of books on the other side of the room, but other then that there were hardly any personal belongings.

And then Hajime spotted him.

The boy he was supposed to rescue.

He was secured by one ankle to the bedpost, the chain barely long enough for him to get around the room by the looks of it, not the he was moving very much at the moment. He just sat on the bed, blankly staring into nothing.

But his hair, it was… white? From the little he could gather, both his parents had been brunettes, so why was their only son an albino?

The guard just slid the food under the door, as if he was an actual prisoner. Then he left, leaving the two intruders to stare in shock.

Making sure his phone was silent, he took another picture.

"Do you think we should talk to him?" Hajime whispered to Peko.

"It's unclear if that's a good idea." She responded. "If his captors are indeed abusing him, then they may be able to get the information out of him after we've left."

"True." She had a good point. "What if we talk to him without being seen?"

"Hmm, although it's still risky, that could probably work. Purely practically speaking, at worst they'll only know someone was here but not who, at best they'll think he's delusional. And as despicable as it is, if they've been holding him here for as long as we think, then his captors probably won't think twice about it."

"As much as i hate to say it, that's also probably true." Hajime admitted.

They crept closer, dodging the camera and placing themselves in the corner closest to the bed. If you could even call the shabby rectangle a bed.

After a brief silent conversation, it was determined that Hajime would be the one to speak to Nagito.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

The soft, strained voice startled Hajime. Did the other boy already know they were there?

He looked at Peko, who only shrugged.

"Guess not… who would ever visit trash like me willingly?" The other boy muttered, sounding sad.

Peko gestured to Hajime, silently telling him to talk back.

"Hey."

The bed shook slightly as the boy flinched, poor thing probably wasn't expecting an answer back.

After cringing at his word choice, Hajime continued.

"How would you like to get out of here? Be free?"

The quiet boy was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"Who are you? Supposing you're real, of course."

"It… doesn't matter right now. I can help you, would you like that?"

The other seemed to think it over for a second, before sighing and shaking his head.

"Please… just kill me."

Wait… what?

END OF CHAPTER:

I had to end it there, it was getting way to long for a single chapter. (if i do end up doing a full story of this au, i'll make it better and put more detail.).

I tried not to make the ending feel too rushed, but like i just said, it was already way longer then it should be for a one-shot, if i had made it a full thing the word count would have been ridiculous. So that's why a few parts weren't as detailed/extended as i'd have liked.

Don't worry, Hinata's girlfriend was just a vague OC, it wasn't like Chiaki or something. Getting rid of her was admittedly a little rushed, but i just wanted to get that plot point out of the way honestly. Even though ironically someone breaking up was the prompt.

This was inspired by an internet prompt. While the original prompt involved a burglar breaking into a house to steal stuff before finding the kid, i decided to write it this way.

I realise i derailed quite a bit from both the chapter title/prompt and and internet prompt that inspired this, but i hope you enjoyed it regardless.

Along with the one i mentioned in the beginning notes, i'm also considering doing a full story with this chapter's AU. Is this something you readers would be interested in?

(I actually really like this au, so i hope you guys did to).

Cya next chapter :)

Tairulz