TE AMO

PROLOGUE

Years back. . .

Ten years old Ran stood at the door when an angered booming voice roared from inside the room, it was his grandfather talking to his mother Kanna.

"Leave that half-breed husband of yours, Kanna, and I will accept you and your son. Or upon my word, you won't get a cent from me!" Declared Shinji Takamiya, a well-known agricultural businessman in his time, amongst the very few in Japan.

"Otousan, I love Rui. I won't leave him," Kanna sobbed.

"Love?" Shinji sneered at the word. "Can love feed an empty stomach, Kanna? Can love help raise your son into a decent man? Look at the result of your so called love Kanna, why a peasant on the streets would look richer than you. You exchanged the riches the Satto's could provide you to what? A half- breed Japanese, good for nothing servant, who doesn't even have a permanent job! What were you thinking? Oh yes, you were in love!" Shinji said scornfully. "I won't give you my forgiveness and blessing unless you leave that bastard husband of yours!"

Kanna wanted to shout back at her father for his hateful words towards her husband but she couldn't bring herself to. She has too much respect and love for the old man to hate him.

Ran, on the other hand, was taken aback by the harsh words his grandfather has used against his father. This is not the loving man her mother was telling her about. He suddenly ran away from the room.

"Ran!" Kanna saw her son ran outside, she threw her father an accusing look before running after her son.

Ran kept on running, unaware of the ruckus caused by a rampaging wild horse inside the Takamiya's nojo. The boy was surprised when he heard shouting around him.

"The boy! Save the boy!"

Ran stopped running, his attention suddenly focused on the rampaging horse heading his way, which were only a few meters away from him.

"Ran! Move away!" Kanna shouted horrified at the scene before her. She was on the verge of fainting for the terrifying fate her son would have unless a miracle happens.

Ran was in shock that he only managed to move back as he watched the wild horse move closer and closer.

Then, in a sudden blink of an eye, the ten years old boy rose in the air, he was snatched by a rancher who was riding a horse and was taken away from the rampaging horse but not before the wild horse's foot had bumped into the boy's left leg, cutting through his jeans.

The ranchero put the boy down in front of his ashen-faced mother.

"Ran!" She whispered the words and hugged her son tightly.

"He has a flesh wound around his leg, Kanna-sama," the brave rancher commented. He untied his bandana and gave it to Kanna.

With trembling hands, Kanna slowly and carefully tied the bandana around his son's wound while the boy remained silent the whole time, giving none of the fears that showed in his handsome face moments ago.

"It is better if you take him to the hospital, Kanna-sama. The wound might get infected if not given proper care," the rancher graciously suggested.

Kanna nodded her head in silent agreement before lifting her head and meeting her son's savior.

"Aota." He was Rui's closest friend. "A-arigatou gozaimasu, Aota. I am indebt to you for saving my son's life. I don't know how I could repay you."

Ran, hastily went out of his mother's embrace and looked up at the rancher. "I am the one indebted to him, okasan. It is my life that he had saved, so it is only right that I be the one who paid him," the child declared clearly. "In any way, Aota, I will repay you."

Aota smiled at the young one's little speech. "You speak like your father, Fujimiya Ran."

"Tell me how I can repay you, Aota," the boy commanded.

"Ran. . ."

"Let him be, Kanna. Like the Takamiya's, he doesn't like to be indebted to anyone. And like Rui Fujimiya, he has respects for promises and words," Aota said truthfully. And he believed that the boy would keep asking him if he doesn't say anything. "My wife will give birth to our child in two month's time, Ran. Eighteen years from now, I want you to marry my child."

The boy frowned. "You're putting my life in contract after eighteen years, Aota?"

"That's my condition, Fujimiya Ran. You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I don't need any payment for what I did. You can forget about it," Aota also formally said that rivals the child's seriousness.

Ran became slightly embarrassed. "Granted, Aota. I will marry your child after eighteen summers." The boy said seriously and held a small hand to seal the contract.

Containing his smile, Aota reached for the boy's hand and shook it firmly.

"Till eighteen summers, then, Fujimiya Ran."

TBC. . .

A/N: So what d'ya think guys? ^_^:; R&R PLEASE! Flames are used by Schuldich into an energy ball and fire it to inconsiderate and thoughtless banters on the writer's skills *nods her head sheepishly*. Ja ne! *_^