I do not own Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.

Takano had to smile. Even though so much had changed over the past two years but this place, this club, had remained the same. As Takano gazed at the club his eyes fell upon the spot he had revealed himself to be Saga Masamune to Ritsu. He chuckled as he remembered the punch but lost his smile when he remembered the real reason he was there. Takano sighed; it had taken less than 24 hours for his entire life to enter into complete turmoil.

He then opened the door of his car and pulled out the only three things he had brought with him to the club which was called Emerarudo. As he walked in, he noticed the patrons of the club were not as flippant as they normally were. It seemed as though someone had sucked the life out of all of them. Even the music had lost its normal chipper vigor.

Takano looked over to the VIP lounge but did not see who he was looking for, so he decided to head to the back office. As he walked past the bar, Takano overheard one of the patrons say, "Why? Why did he finally get a boyfriend! He was so great in bed not to mention adorable! And the guy he's with looks like a total prince! There's no way any of us can compete with that!" There were nods and grunts of agreement at the comment.

Takano shrugged, "So they're upset that some slut who's banged everyone here in the club has finally moved on from one-night stands? Who's the prince? The slut or his boyfriend," Takano pondered. As Takano continued toward the back of the club, he looked back at the VIP lounge, "I still can't believe he was able to shoot that guy there and not face any repercussions."

As Takano finally saw the door to the back office, he noticed it was slightly a jar, "Guess he's in and I can go right in," he thought. Takano briskly knocked on the door and walked right on into the office.

"Haaahh, oh god, ahhh!"

"Ahh, Kisa san, huh haa, you're so tight, ahh."

Takano stared at the sight of way to much Kisa and Yukina then he had ever wanted to see. Takano blinked several times trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things before quickly slamming the door of the office and rubbing his eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn't unsee what he just saw.

"Did you hear something," Kisa said so loud that Takano could hear him through the door.

"Yeah, I heard it too," Yukina responded a little quieter.

"Yeah, I opened the door. Uh, sorry, um finish what you're doing, so we can have the meeting we scheduled," Takano responded.

"Oh Takano san, right, we have a meeting, uh, right," Kisa's voice could be heard stuttering now, undoubtedly accompanying a blush on his face.

Takano was about to respond, when he just sighed, "I need a drink," he breathed. He pushed away from the door and made a beeline for the bar. "Scotch on the rocks," he told the bartender.

"Yukina and Kisa san huh? How the fuck did that happen? Now that I think about Kisa was very protective of Yukina two years ago when we were asking about Yukina. Fuck, Kisa's a stalker then." As Takano looked around at the patrons, the conversation from earlier finally dawned on him. "Oh, I'm an idiot."

The bartender finally arrived with Takano's drink just as Kisa appeared red face, his gaze looking anywhere but Takano. "Umm, ahh, umm about earlier…"

Takano cut him off then, "I don't even want to talk about it."

Kisa sighed, whether from relief or embarrassment no one could tell. "Bartender, give me a boiler maker." He then turned back to Takano, "So, what do you want? You weren't terribly informative on the phone."

Takano lowered his voice as he spoke, "I assume you've heard about the bombing in London?"

Kisa nodded his head, realization sparking in his eyes. "Let's go to the VIP section." Both men stood up and quickly walked over there. "Let me see the list," Kisa turned holding out his hand.

"What list?" Takano quirked a small smile.

"Oh don't play stupid with me! I watched recording of the bomb going off. It must have been a pretty exotic, the bomb sniff dogs couldn't even detect a trace of where it originated."

Takano smiled, "You haven't lost your touch and probably never will." "Who'd you sleep with to find that out?"

Kisa's face turned bright red, "I haven't slept with anyone. I simply have a lot of friends who owe me favors. It not like I slept with all my contacts, I mean really, well sure they had great bodies and gorgeous faces but I…I…"

Takano watched the panic flooding Kisa's face as he turned his head toward the door that Yukina was still behind. "Ahh, you know I was joking, right?"

Relief flooded Kisa's face then, "Sorry, I just, I really like him. I mean Yukina he's, he's… I know he said he didn't care about my past he just wants me, but I'm worried that the more he'll find out about me, the more despicable he'll realize I am. I always sleep with a pretty face." Kisa looked up suddenly, realizing who he was talking too.

"Umm, here's the list. What can you tell me about the bomb or the bomb maker?"

Kisa grabbed the list so fast, Takano thought Kisa might have taken off his hand too. "Let's see, let's see, ohh very nice. Can't be more than eight places in the world where you can find that. Ah, that adds some kick to it," Kisa then grew silent for a moment.

"What? What is it?"

"… Rodenticide."

"Yeah? So?"

"It's used in rat poisoning." When Kisa saw Takano's confused face he continued. "Every bomb maker has one ingredient that acts as his or her own signature. Law enforcement almost never sees that signature ingredient but other bomb makers and people in our world do. It lets others know if there is a new player in the game and what he or she is capable of. Rodenticide is particularly nasty as when its placed in a bomb like this, it causes people's skin, who have been in contact with the actually blast, to blister and suffer. The agony is said to be unbearable."

"I was inside the blast radius when the bomb went off as were many other people who were on that floor. Why are we ok?"

"It's because even though the bomb had the ingredients for it to have a lot of kick, it was still contained inside of a room. The room itself took the brunt of the explosion and Rodenticide. Also, it looks to me like a component of the bomb failed, which is why it didn't take out the entire floor like it should have."

"What component would that have been?"

"The trigger," Kisa replied quietly.

Takano thought for a brief moment before asking, "Which bomb maker uses Rodenticide as their signature?"

"That's the thing, the person who used it as his signature hasn't made a bomb in close to twenty two years, and he definitely wouldn't have made the mistake of letting the trigger fail. The person who made this bomb was a copycat of him and knows nothing about bombs. The person who made it was ingenious in the actual design but a complete amateur."

"So who did this person base the bomb after?"

Kisa took a deep breath before answering, "Onodera Hatake."

"Oi, Onodera," called Nico. Ritsu who was currently staring out the window turned his head. "This list you have is pure gold, how did you get it?"

Ritsu smiled quietly before turning his head back towards the window. "Shade has a lot enemies, a lot of people who want to get even them even from the inside. It didn't take much convincing, I am a bit of a grifter after all," he replied as his hand reached up to touch his neck.

Nico looked at Onodera worriedly before asking, "Are you in pain anywhere besides your neck. When I checked on you this morning you felt so cold."

"I'm fine, the bruise isn't bugging me at all, I mean it not even in the top ten most intense things we've done."

Nico moved and knelt in front of Ritsu then, removing Ritsu's freezing hand from the cold metal collar he had been fiddling with. "You shouldn't touch it, you could accidentally set it off," he said gently.

"Can't help it," Ritsu smiled again but there was pain blaring in his eyes.

"Ritsu, what's wrong?"

"Hmmm, it hurts where I was shot, I think its arthritis, because when I raised my arms this morning, it just hurt as bad as it did when I was first shot." Ritsu whispered as he raised his pale face back up to look out the window to see the stormy day.

"It's because of the rain. It will probably always hurt when it rains or is about to."

"I know," Ritsu answered as his hand began to rise back to his neck.

Nico grabbed it and held both of Onodera's hands tightly in his. He raised them to his lips and gently kissed them before resting his head on Ritsu's lap to stare out the window too.

"You're thinking about him aren't you? Your old partner?" Ritsu looked down at Nico's resting head. "You know you have to stay committed to the cause," Nico continued without looking at him. "You know he's going to keep trying to stop everything that's been put into motion. Will you be able to do it? Next time you see him?"

"Do what," asked Ritsu.

Nico turned his head then to look Ritsu directly in the eye then, "Kill him?"

"Onodera Hatake," Takano asked aghast.

Kisa nodded his head grimly. "He's been out of the game for some twenty two years, ever since he joined the government as a consultant."

"He's a consultant?"

"Yeah, he knows about suspected targets and how they would be infiltrated and he also still has contacts from the black market and the underworld."

"How exactly did he become a consultant? Job like that, he definitely took a pay cut and lost quite a few friends who wanted him to, I guess, stay in the 'private' sector."

"Takano, you know I'm older than you right?"

"Ha, ha yeah right."

"No really I'm thirty two."

"Seriously you are!?"

"Seriously, and in my experience, people either change or leave the job for only two reasons."

"And what are the two reasons?"

"Money is one; greed is a very powerful motivator." Takano couldn't help but agree in his as he thought about all the times he passed on bribes to get his way.

"What's the other reason?"

"Love. People leave for money or love." Kisa replied quietly as he turned away to drink.

"So he left the 'private' sector, because of he fell in love with his wife," Takano pressed.

"No," Kisa answered so quietly, that Takano almost didn't hear him.

"Then why?"

Silence rained for a few moments before Kisa finally spoke again, "He left because he loved his son."

Takano stared at him for a few moments, "Something tells me there's a story that goes along with that remark."

"It took me years to get it out of contacts, friends and Ritsu, I'm not even sure if it's all true."

"Hatake, you can't keep doing this," Onodera Yuki whispered quietly as she watched her husband pack.

"Come on, the money is great, and the work is incredibly interesting. I mean I get to blow shit up! How awesome is that? It'll just be a few days and then I'll be back," Hatake answered with a grin.

"At least say good-bye to Ritsu this time," Yuki interjected quietly.

"It's four in the morning; he won't even want to wake up for something like that. Let him sleep. I've got a flight to catch."

"Hatake," Yuki called.

"Hmm."

"Be safe."

Hatake turned around at this and grinned, "Always am."

"Oi, 'bout time you showed up," called a burly dark haired man to Hatake as he stepped off his private jet.

"Oh shut up Dolan. Try riding on a plane for sixteen hours only to see your sorry face when I get off."

"Ha, ha. So did you bring it, the merchandise?"

"I'd prefer to wait until we were out of the airport before we talk business."

Michael Dolan, a stern face, Irish man with the build and liver to match, stood a whapping 1.92 meters tall, and was an IRA trained guerrilla currently looking to destroy what the government of Northern Ireland that was meeting in two days right in Belfast. Military officials from the British forces were going to be present to ensure everything went smoothly, "If they only knew what was going to befall them," Hatake thought smugly.

"The bomb is designed to incinerate everyone in the blast radius and make sure that anyone in the shrapnel won't be able to survive for long even if the bomb is not placed in the optimal position. It won't go off early until all the people you want dead, are dead. It does this by sending out radio frequencies that scans to see if the threshold of people nearby is met before going off," finished Hatake.

"There's 600000000 yen in the brief case, if you want to check," Dolan answered as he studied the device.

Hatake nodded as he looked the cash, "Very good then, I'll take my leave."

"There's another 600000000 yen if you help me place the bomb in the correct position to make sure they all die," Dolan quickly interjected.

"Hmm, you're quite homicidal today."

"We need everything to go according to plan. We need to inflict more casualties upon the British so they'll be forced to withdraw from here. You can help me do that."

"Make it 2000000000 yen," negotiated Hatake.

"1000000000!"

"1500000000 yen."

"Done," Dolan stated with finality.

"Yeah, I'm going to be staying for a few more days," Hatake replied into the phone. He could hear Yuki sighing exasperatedly.

"Ritsu has a game tomorrow, and you promised him you were going to be there for it. I can't go because I've… my job has some requirements of me during that time."

"Yeah, yeah I'll make it up to him when I get back."

"You always say that but you never do," cut in a high pitched, five year old boy's voice.

"Ritsu," both Hatake and Yuki gasped at the same time.

"Ritsu are you on the other phone? Get off of there," Yuki cried.

"Daddy, you always make promises you never keep! Can't we spend some time together? All my friends have dads who have taught them how to pitch! All of them except me!"

"Ritsu, Ritsu I'm sorry, it's just for work. I promise when I get back I'll spend as much time with you as you want. I promise," Hatake smile. "Okay?"

"… Okaaay," Ritsu said pouting. "But dad, what do you do, I don't even know!"

"Ritsu its way past your bedtime, go to sleep," Yuki cut in.

"I can't, I'm wide awake!"

"Haaaa, if I tell you a bed time story will you try," Yuki asked.

"Okay!"

"Sorry Hatake, I've got to go."

"Yeah okay, I love you bye," smiled Hatake as his son and wife hung up the phones.

"Are you sure this is a safe distance away," asked Dolan.

"Absolutely," smiled Hatake.

"Almost all the members have arrived, won't be long now." Just as Dolan said this, a massive explosion rocked the streets of Belfast. "Woah, that was huge," Dolan shouted over the massive panic that was ensuing.

"I know my explosives and chemistry," smiled Hatake. "Well, pleasure doing business with you." Hatake turned away then, and walked off the roof they had been standing on. He hailed a cab and took it back to the hotel he had been staying at.

"Mr. Onodera," called the receptionist as Hatake entered the lobby of the hotel.

"Yes," he responded.

"We've received several messages from your wife asking you to contact her immediately."

"Thank you I will,"Hatake answered again before turning to go to his room. Upon entering he immediately went to the phone and dialed his home phone number. He was greatly surprise that the phone was picked up after two rings.

"HATAKE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN I'VE BEEN CALLING AND CALLING YOU!" Yuki screeched into the phone.

"Woah, Yuki what wrong?"

"Ritsu! He, he went into your work room in the basement to see what you do. He ended up spilling some chemicals onto his legs and hands! He's badly burned! I called the concierge doctor to come look at him, but he said that Ritsu needs to go to the hospital, I'm on my way there now."

"Ritsu, he's hurt,"Hatake asked shocked.

"Hatake, I don't care what you are doing, I need you here now!"

"I…I…I'll be on the next flight home."

Hatake didn't even pause as he enter the hospital, he just sprinted down the halls ignoring the yells of not to run. "Ritsu," Hatake cried. As he wheeled around the corner, Hatake noticed the sign 'Onodera R.' "Ritsu, is he ok? Does he need surgery? What did the doctors say?"

Yuki looked up from where she was sitting next to the bed, "Shhh, he just fell asleep. Let's take this outside." She said gently leading him back out of the room.

Hatake took a few calming breaths before turning to face Kisa, "What did the doctor say and how did this happen?"

"The doctor said that he was lucky. He will need some skin grafts or skin transplants or something or other but they shouldn't scar. Apparently, some of the boys on his team were pestering him about what you do and bragging about their own fathers. He wanted to find out more about you but when he went into your workroom, he accidentally spilt some of some of the vials in there and tried to clean up the entire mess with a rag. He thought it was water or something. So he was on his hands and knees to clean it up, but stopped when he felt it burning."

Hatake nodded his head, but there were tears pricking his eyes. He didn't break down though, until Yuki hugged him. "H…he… he could have died," Hatake whispered. "And I wouldn't have been here to say or do anything for him. I haven't spent nearly enough time with him since he was born and he could have died between when you called me and now. Even on that phone call… yo… you could hear how he just… how he just wanted more time with me," Hatake sobbed quietly into Yuki's shoulder.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, he's okay. He's alright." They stayed like that for a good twenty minutes before reentering the hospital room.

"He looks so peaceful," Hatake quirked his mouth.

"Yeah, that's probably the morphine they gave him," Yuki responded.

"Morphine? For a five year old?"

"It was an incredibly miniscule amount, but it did knock him out like a sack of potatoes within two minutes," Yuki smiled wryly. "I'm kind of tired so I was thinking of going and getting some coffee, can I get you some?"

Hatake nodded as he sat in the chair Yuki had previously occupied as she walked out of the room.

Hatake's gaze didn't leave young Ritsu's face as he reached up to brush some strands of hair away from Ritsu's forehead. The only sounds in the room were Ritsu's soft breathing and the beeping from the monitors. "I am so sorry Ritsu," Hatake breathed as he leaned down to kiss Ritsu's forehead, pain evident in his eyes. They stayed like that, with Hatake gently stroking Ritsu face, until Yuki returned and pulled up another chair while she handed Hatake his drink.

They both sat there in silence for a while longer before Hatake spoke, "You were right."

"Hmm," questioned Yuki.

"I can't and shouldn't keep doing this. Not when it takes me away, away from you and him. He's always asking we play catch or that I read him a story. I don't think I ever have though. That's not right, I can't do that. There will always be another bomb to build but Ritsu's experiences, Ritsu's life; I only have one chance to share those with him."

Kisa nodded her head, "So what are you going to do? Be a stay at home father?"

"No, I don't think I could do that, but you know, he's always asking about what I do, I want… I want to be to tell him that… that it's something that will make him proud. Something that will allow me to stay close to home and not have me fly around the world at a moment's notice."

"You know, we haven't done the best that we could for him. We need to give him his best chance, because we love him," Yuki whispered.

Hatake nodded. "I know. I love him, I love him so much."