I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long, I guess I kinda got disinterested in detective stories for awhile. I'm really sorry.

Chapter 35: Blood Red Hearts
"Stop running! Narumi!" Ryuichi had boundless energy but not today. Normally Narumi's heart-felt determination was something that he admired but not today.

He caught a glimpse of her skirt as she turned the corner. Making a mad dash he yelled for her to stop, but yet again he was ignored. Was she going to be snatched by the creap? Was he not going to be able to protect her? The questions ate at him, turning his stomache upside down. Fear was building inside of him, it felt as though his heart wasn't going to be able to stay in his chest cavity but rather jump up out of his throat leaving him helpless to protect something he had sworn to himself to protect. He was going to protect her somehow... someway.

He was!

Using what little energy he had left he sprinted the remaining distance around the corner she had just turned. He caught a glimpse of her outline, and ran like a grayhound after her.He'd already lost his breath chasing after her, but he ignored it, running as though he was just fine, like the teenager he resembled but hadn't been in almost 15 years. He didn't dare slow down, he knew that if he did he wasn't going to catch her, she'd really get away from him if he stopped even for a moment, no his comfort didn't mean a thing at the moment only keeping Narumi from getting herself killed by Aoi mattered anymore.

Pink hair caught his attention as Suichi stood at the far end of the park munching on a crepe. Ryuichi choked out a "stop her" as he struggled for breath.

Blinking Suichi took a glance at the woman half jogging down the street.

"ShiroKA-W-A-S-A-N!"

Narumi glanced up in time to seen Suichi barreling down in front of her. Startled, her foot landed badly and she fell into a heap onto the cement. A panting Ryuichi flew at her landing soundly on her back.

Neither heard the rustling bushes not to far away nor did they seen the man turn and walk away. Suichioffered to buy Ryuichi a drink, but he just shook his head as he clung to Narumi, ignoring her struggles to break free from him.

"What's wrong." Yuki strolledover unnoticed until that moment, a cigarette in his hand.

"You can't." Ryuichi sobbed hysterically. "He'll kill you if he finds you, Narumi you can't!"

Yuki and Suichi stared blankly. Listening to Ryuichi's hysterics and watching Narumi's struggles.

"I won't loose you too Narumi. He'll kill us. Any of us. I can't... can't let..."

The tears that were dripping down the back of her neck made her calm down, it was as though the world beyond them didn't exist, and she felt an overwhelming sense of guilt at having run in the first place.

Her students needed her? Yes, they did, but not dead, and to be honest it wasn't for her students that she had ran. She knew in her heart that she wasn't planning on going to the school, not if she could get away from everything.

A part of her hoped that if she had run far enough Aoi would have followed her and left everyone else alone. A large part of her was banking on that very line of thought. Was she just a coward, leaving without explaining. Using school as her excuse for running away? Yes she was a coward, but she was a coward that was more afraid of seeing Ryuichi's face replacing that of her friends. She had troubles admitting it to herself in so many ways but she didn't want to see what she had seen before and she definetly didn't want to see Ryuichi on the opposite end.

Aoi had been jealous, his object of desire had ran far away and when found again was living with another man... even if it was innocent. If she had ran... she was such an idiot.

"I think you need to tell us the full story." Suichi, leaned over and wiped the tears from Narumi's face, and then from Ryuichi's. The two of them were both sobbing like a couple of idiots.

Ryuichi looked up at the two of them an expression of relief on his face, when he noticed that it was just the four of them. Where was Tatsuya? Where was Touya?

"Didn't Touya and Tatsuya follow us?" His eyes scanned the park looking for a sign of either of them, but there was nothing.

Suichi just shook his head, he started to take a step away to look for them, but Yuki grabbed his wrist and shook his head in a definite no.

Don't go out there right now. Suichi could practically hear his lovers order's in his eyes. Something was going on and they both knew that but what it was didn't really make sense.

"Tatsuya's involved, you said." Yuki's eyes were as cold as ice. "I think you had better explain."

Grabbing Narumi's arm he helped her to her feet, while Suichi pried Ryuichi from her back.

"You're house is probably a good place to chat."

The house had been turned upside down when they arrived. Touya's voice vibrated through the walls, hysterically screaming for Tatsuya. It didn't take long for the reality of the situation to sink in.

The monster had finally struck.

He had been waiting for her to run and he'd taken advantage of it by kidnapping Tatsuya. He... he had a hostage... or maybe.

"Oh god no!" She clutched at the torn Kuma, as even more tears streamed down from her cheeks. She sat there numbly not even listening Ryuichi tried to calm a possessed Touya down, and in the end Yuki had punched him pretty hard in order to get him to calm down enough to explain what had happened to his brother.

Narumi's hands shook as she carefully stitched closed the ripped seam on Kuma's side.

This was her fault it was all her fault. If only she hadn't been stupid and insisted on going to work. Why was it that anyone that ever got close to her always ended up getting hurt? Was Tatsuya going to die just like her friend? She bit back tears of panic and tried to concentrate on not stabbing herself with the needle.

The house was painfully silent. Yuki had stormed out dragging a willful Suichi behind him. his voice had been like steel when he swore that no one would ever be allowed to hurt his brother and that he was going to find him and kill him with his own two hands. Touya had been the one that had ripped the house apart looking for Tatsuha. Touya tried to clean the house always listening for the phone hoping to find a clue or that Aoi would call leaving them some sort of idea of what to do.

'Dear god.' He prayed, 'let him be alive. Please let him be alive.'

Ryuichi was every bit as quite as Touya. His cowboy hat sat low on his downcast head as he sorted through the papers scattered across the living room. Anger boiled inside of him, anger Narumi for not having listened, anger at Touya for not having realized sooner, anger at himself for not having realized at all, anger at Tatsuha for not chasing too, and most of all anger at that monster for creating this disaster.

Ryuichi wasn't interesting in Tatsuha as anything more than a friend, but regardless he was still his friend, and that was something precious in and of itself. He had known too much pain too much sadness to allow this to carry on. He wasn't going to loose anyone else.

It wasn't acceptable. He wasn't going to allow Narumi, nor Touya to get hurt because of this. There was no way.

Looking across the room he watched Touya's face ravaged with desperation and fear. Ryuichi knew that look, he was pretty sure it was the same look he had worn on his own face after his parents death. It was an expression he had never wanted to see again in his life.

Was Narumi the same way?

He knew her well enough to know that she was upstairs blaming herself for what had happened to Tatsuha. It felt as though someone was ripping at his heart trying to make him die of emotional pain. He'd failed to protect her.

She had done so much for him and still he hadn't been able to protect her from anything, not even herself. Setting the papers on the table, he quietly headed towards the front door. He knew now without a doubt that they were all being watched. Aoi had to be somewhere nearby or he wouldn't be able to strike so quickly.

So if he left the house he knew that Aoi would know, and what better target would there be then the man that Aoi thought his lady love was having an affair with.

to be continued...

(I'm going to get this finished... I'm goin gto get this finished... I'm going to get this finished!)