"Takako," Himeno called in a perky voice as she knocked on Takako's door.

"Takako?" Himeno called, a little more serious. She waited for a response and received none, so she finally said with resolve, "Takako, I'm coming in to check on you."

When Himeno opened the door she was shocked to see that Takako was not lying in bed. 'Huh?' Himeno thought confused. 'I thought Takako was resting. None of us have seen her leave her room in awhile. Where could she be? Maybe she went to go visit Sasame over at the radio station.'

- o - o - o -

Sasame finally woke up when a squirrel scampered past his head. He sat up and was a little disoriented. He had forgotten that he had fallen asleep in the forest.

'I should go back to the house,' Sasame thought sluggishly. I look like a wreck. He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost nine. 'I can't be late for work again, though.'

Sasame sighed and brushed some loose dirt and grass off himself and transported his way over to the radio station building.

Sasame came into work just in time and the program for the day went well, but Sasame seemed indifferent and void of all emotion. He started to space out, staring out the window, when Himeno's voice snapped him out of his trance.

"Hey Sasame, How-" Himeno said in her bubbly voice, cutting herself off when she saw how Sasame looked.

Sasame jumped slightly in his chair, startled from Himeno suddenly entering. After a moment, he stood to greet her and blandly replied "Hi Himeno."

"Sasame, are you all right?" Himeno asked with concern. "You don't look so good," she said gently as she tried to smooth his wrinkled clothing and comb his hair with her fingers. Sasame said nothing and looked down at the floor as Himeno tried to straighten him up. An awkward silence fell between them.

"Um… I noticed that Takako wasn't in the mansion this morning and I was wondering if she was with you," Himeno finally asked.

Sasame snapped his head up and said angrily "Why would SHE be here?"

"What do you mean?" Himeno said surprised at the question and Sasame's tone of voice. "Did something happen between you two?" After a few moments, Sasame's eyes softened and grew sad. When Himeno looked into them she knew the answer to her question. "Sasame," she said gently as she gave him a big hug to comfort him.

Sasame felt like crying all over again in Himeno's arms, but he knew that his crying would make her sad too, so he kept those feelings inside. After composing himself a little, Sasame dolefully told Himeno what had gone on between the two of them in the past few days.

"That's terrible," Himeno said with compassion. "And it's also strange. You know, Sasame, Takako really hasn't seemed to be herself lately. I mean it. Maybe there is something else that is wrong."

"Maybe," Sasame said, not really believing it.

Himeno remained undaunted by Sasame's lack of optimism "She's just got to still love you. I just have this feeling about it. You still love her don't you?"

"I don't think I can love anymore," Sasame said weakly, looking down at the ground.

"But Sasame, you're such a kind and loving person. I know you are. Things are just a little rough right now for you two. Maybe if you can figure out what's bothering her you-"

"I tried to find out," Sasame said sharply, interrupting her, but then checked his emotion. "I'm sorry Himeno. Maybe you are right. Perhaps there is another way to find out what's going on."

"Hmmm. Ah ha! I've got it! Takako keeps a journal! I hate to be nosy, but it seems like there's something serious going on. You're off of work in an hour right? Come by the mansion afterwards and we can poke around and see if we can find her journal or any other clues about what's going on with her."

"Okay. Thanks, Himeno." Sasame said, sounding somewhat uplifted.

Talking with Himeno was encouraging to Sasame. 'Maybe there is something going on with Takako and things aren't really over between us,' Sasame thought as he started walking towards the mansion after work. 'I hope she is all right. She said some pretty hurtful things,' Sasame's mind shifted to his last conversation with Takako, rehashing all the pain he felt the day before. 'I can't dwell on what she said right now. What could cause her to say such things?' he wondered.

As soon as Sasame got to the Awayuki mansion, he and Himeno went to Takako's room.

"I still haven't seen Takako today, nor has anyone else," Himeno told Sasame.

Takako's door was closed. Himeno slowly opened the door and Takako was not there, so the two stepped inside and decided to look around for clues as to why Takako had been acting so weird lately.

"Himeno, this seems strange." Sasame found the same bouquet of flowers he had seen the day before sitting in the garbage. "They all are still fairly fresh. Most of the flowers haven't even completely opened yet. I found this bouquet sitting outside her room just yesterday, and it had a note with it." Sasame dug through the trash as Himeno continued to open drawers to Takako's desk. Sasame found the note from Taru in the trash, but it had been ripped into four pieces. "This is also strange."

"Maybe this will explain things!" Himeno said excitedly as she held up Takako's journal. She flipped through the book to the last entry. "Her last entry was just yesterday, Sasame." Himeno read the entry and gasped.

"What is it?" Sasame said anxiously.

All Himeno could say was, "Read this," as she solemnly handed him the open journal.

Sasame looked at the tear stained page and started reading, revealing what had been going on.

Dear journal:

Because of receiving that letter from 'Taru'… or should I say that evil creature Tsui, I am faced with a terrible decision. Tsui says that he has decided to make me suffer for the death of his evil tree he created for me, so now I in turn, must do the unthinkable. I must lie to my dearest Sasame! But I must not just lie to him, I have to make him hate me! Sasame… hate me! I can't bare the thought of it all! It's too much… but I must, for Sasame's safety. Tsui may kill Sasame with that poisonous thorn thing if I don't do what he says! I can only pray that I receive the strength to do what Tsui asks of me. What a predicament! I just can't do it! I can't let either thing happen. I can't hurt Sasame, but I also could never lose him again! There's no one I can turn to though… not even Himeno and the other knights. I can't tell anyone. I must bear this alone.

"Oh Takako…" Sasame said full of emotion as he laid the journal on Takako's desk. "I must find her as soon as possible! She could be in danger!"

"Let's go get the other knights and track her down, Sasame."

"I've got to go now." Sasame said urgently, "You all can catch up with me."

"But wait…"

Sasame quickly transformed into the Knight of Sound and disappeared to go look for Takako before Himeno could even finish her sentence.

"How will we know where to find you," Himeno finished. She sighed and then rushed off to go get the other knights.