Chapter 1
In the dark quiet night, glass shattered in a house, and a gunshot is heard. Inside the house, a man and a woman, both totally in black, stood before a family of three. The woman, American with blond hair, holds a smoking gun right in front of the father's face. There was a bullet hole in the wall right by the father's right ear. The mother, also an American with blond hair, and the son, a mix with blond, spiky hair, sat behind the father, shivering.
"Now, I will ask you one more time, Mr. FBI agent, Tezuka Kamiya san. Where is that information you obtained from our traitors?" the blond woman grinned, holding her thumb tight on the trigger.
Tezuka grinned back at her, "It would be in my grave, Vermouth." He stared straight into the woman's eyes with a confident smile.
"I assume you will be taking your wife and son as well, then," she replied. "Pisco."
She mentioned to the man, an American with dark brown hair, to come forward. Pisco answered with a nod, and took out his gun. Without waiting a reply from Tezuka, Pisco aimed for the son. At the same instant the gun was fired, the mother lunged to protect the son and pushed the son out of the bullet's path. The bullet went through the mother's heart and on the wall. The mother fell instantly to the floor. The son, shocked by the gunfire and his mother lying in blood, stood in front of her dying mother. He didn't know what reaction he should take. At last, his tears rushed forward and he dropped to his knees.
"Mommy… Mommy… wake up!" He cried. "This isn't the time to go to sleep. You… You told me you'll tell me a bedtime story… You broke your promise… Wake up, wake up!"
"I'm sorry, Takeshi…. Mommy broke… broke a promise again" The mother says, feeling the blood draining from her body. "Promise mommy… to be… strong… ok?"
"Yes, I'll do anything sniff. Just get up, mommy, you can't leave me" Takeshi replied.
With a smile on her face, the mother's eyes closed and she fell into a permanent sleep.
"Miki…" Tezuka stared at his wife and at his crying son, forcing his tears to stop. He shot his angry eyes at Vermouth. "Why you…." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. However, Vermouth shot the gun accurately away and the gun flew to the floor near Takeshi.
"You really want to die, don't you? Well why don't you see to it that your son does as well?" Vermouth grinned.
Upon that order, Pisco again aimed for Takeshi. Takeshi, however, shot his angry eyes at him, with no bits of fear. Stunned, Pisco hesitated before pulling the trigger. Never had he seen a child at the age of five with a look of such anger and determination. Tezuka used this chance and jumped at the man. Tezuka grabbed the gun and took Takeshi with him, running out of the room. Just as he left the room, Vermouth's gun shot him in the leg, with the bullet in his crucial muscles. Tezuka fell down on the floor in pain.
"Daddy, daddy!" Takeshi cried.
"Run away, get away from here!" Tezuka begged of his son.
"No, I can't run away from here. I won't leave you behind." With that, he jumped at Pisco, who was trying to get Tezuka's gun. Takeshi bit him on the arm, and continued to bite him, not willing to let go. Pisco tried to get rid of him first by shaking him off, then by pounding him on the head. When both attempts failed, he took out his pocket knife and stabbed Takeshi's little left hand, slashing the skin of his left eye at the same time. Takeshi cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Grasping his left eye, he glared at Pisco with tears and hatred. By this time, Tezuka had retrieved Pisco's gun, and fired a bullet at Pisco's hand, making him drop his last and only weapon. All this time, Vermouth watched Takeshi with the same stun Pisco had when Takeshi glared at him.
How can he have so much determination? She thought. He can be a great use to our organization. Snapping out of her semi-shock, she watched as Tezuka limps away, holding Takeshi.
"Why didn't you stop them?" Pisco asked her.
"Why don't you try asking, Can they get away?" she replied calmly.
Meanwhile, Tezuka took Takeshi downstairs, leading him out of the house. As he ran holding Takeshi in his arms, he hurriedly told him how to get to safety.
"Takeshi, don't you worry, I will protect you." They rounded a corner and into a narrow street. "Listen, Takeshi. Stay here while I lead them away. When they're gone, go to somewhere safe, like the police station. I've shown you a million times where that is, so you should have no problem. When you get there, tell them to find that you want to find Miyano Atsushi and Elena. They will help you get to safety."
All the time, Takeshi whimpered with "no"s and "don't leave me"s. Ignoring his request, his father bid his goodbyes and, before he hid Takeshi under a pile of boxes, gave him two silver pendants. The pendant was in the size of a rectangle, with a heart shape embeddedon them, and quite thick, too. Takeshi had seen these on his parent's neck.
"Treasure these, my son. They may be your mother and my last gift to you. Stay strong, and never give up. Goodbye, my son" With that, Tezuka ran of in a separate direction and left Takeshi whimpering under the damp boxes. Those were the last words he heard from his father, and those are the words he will never forget.