Author's Note: Hey guys! What's up? Okay I have something that I need to tell you all. Actually, in a few days I'm going to India for a few weeks to visit my parents so next update will take a while... Sorry! But because of that I rushed to get this chapter up so I apologize ahead of time if the pacing feels a bit off here.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.

Chapter 6

Haitani grunted as he tripped over a rock on the dark ground of the tunnel. The man rubbed his aching foot as he glared at the back of Onodera's head. The brunet was leading the other two men into the mountain pass since he supposedly memorized the path through the labyrinth. He was clearly engrossed in his traversal through the underground passageways, but Haitani believed that the man could've warned him about that rock. The floor was dusty and covered in cobwebs so it was hidden perfectly. Haitani continued to follow the man, but he kept his gaze downward for upcoming rocks.

The tallest man shivered slightly. There was an eerie feeling that accompanied the ancient passageway. Never mind that it was dark and dank, but there were many instances where he was sure that he had heard footsteps that were not theirs.

Haitani kept this thought in the back of his mind. He instead concentrated on lighting the area around them with a spell similar to the one used in the library. He used his other hand that was rubbing his foot earlier to trace the wall of the tunnel which was covered in decaying wood. Any indication of human interaction with the place was either destroyed or rotting.

After a few moments of travel in the painfully dark channels, the trio found that they were caught in what seemed like a dead end.

"What? Is that it?" Haitani complained loudly.

Onodera placed a hand on his face. "Hmm, this is strange."

"You dumbass," Haitani muttered. "You better not have led us the wrong way."

The brunet shook his head "No. The map that I read clearly stated that there was a passageway here." He motioned to the left half of the small circular room.

Haitani raised an eyebrow. "And you're sure about that?" When Onodera nodded, Haitani inspected the room further. He walked until he was right next to the wall and felt up the dirt barricade. "There could have been some type of earthquake that collapsed whatever passage remained here. Perhaps if I blasted it…" The mage trailed off, thinking silently to himself.

Takano nodded at that reasoning and placed his gaze on the brunet who was looking at the ground and pacing about as if he were looking for something. Onodera stopped in his stride, bent down, and picked up a large rock which he briefly juggled in his arms to test the weight.

Takano barely had time to react when Onodera walked slowly toward the tallest man, who had his back toward him, and bashed him hard in the head with the blunt object.

Haitani fell to the ground unconscious, and Onodera let the rock fall out of his hands. Takano felt his heart beating hard in his chest as he grabbed Onodera by his shoulders and spun him around. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

Takano wanted to read Onodera's expression to find the answer to his sudden violent outburst, but was at loss when the room became dark due to the termination of the spell Haitani was casting.

"Masamune, please forgive me for this." Onodera said softly. Takano jumped when he felt a cold hand being placed over his eyes and a bright light flashed into them, rendering him in the same state as Haitani minus the pain.

He fell down into a dreamless sleep with a thud to the ground.

Takano open his eyes groggily as he grasped the sheets under his body tightly. He was slightly confused at first, but then his memories flooded back to the forefront of his mind. Enraged, Takano rose from the bed he was sleeping on, and his confusion grew yet again when he found that he was in a posh room.

The bed he was laying on was large and featured very soft pillows and comforters with floral prints. There was a table next to the door which had books, picture frames, and a large mirror placed on top of it. The velvet curtains were pulled back by yellow cords showcasing a window. From what Takano could see, it was still bright out, but he couldn't see anything else beyond the trees outside.

Takano broke out of his reverie when the door opened with a screech, and he jumped to his feet when he was confronted by a relieved looking Onodera. "Oh, I'm glad you're awake now."

The teen blinked his eyes twice in bewilderment. "That's the first thing you say to me? What the hell was that back in the mountain pass? And where the hell are we?" he yelled.

The brunet tapped a finger on his lips. "Yes, that will take a while to explain."

Takano clicked his tongue in irritation. "Well, you better start fucking explaining."

"Watch your tongue, young man." Onodera said sternly. Takano sighed and laughed slightly at how ridiculous it was for him to worry about vulgar language now. "I recommend that you look out the window first."

Takano reluctantly spun on one leg and walked to the glass wall. The immediate visual was the trees right outside and the sidewalk. Beyond that was a very large house that faced the building that Takano was in now. The teen squinted his eyes to look even beyond the house and found a familiar sight. In an array were the same broken houses and beaten sidewalks that Takano had seen two days before. He spun around and met Onodera's knowing gaze.

"We're in Stanotis?" Onodera nodded slowly while closing his eyes. "But why?" Takano asked in a small voice.

"Actually, believe it or not, this is my house. We're in my room to be precise."

Takano gave the older one a flabbergasted expression. "It is? Well then why didn't we just stay here when we rested in this city?"

The twenty-six-year old stood next to the window and took in the outside view as well. "To be honest, I wanted to hide this place from Haitani."

"Huh?"

Without further ado, Onodera sauntered to his table and grabbed a picture frame on the table. He then handed it to Takano for him to inspect. The picture depicted a boy and a girl. The boy seemed to be about five or six while the girl looked to be in her early teens. The boy was obviously Onodera, with his mop of cinnamon brown hair and broad smile, it was hard not to tell. Takano looked at the girl but could not pinpoint who she was, however, she did seem vaguely familiar. He squinted at the picture. The girl had shoulder length black hair and brown eyes.

Takano nearly dropped the picture when he realized that the girl in the frame was his mother. He was kicking himself for not realizing it sooner, but of course after years of separation it would be difficult to spot that type of thing.

The teen looked at the older man and stuttered, "W-Wha –?"

Onodera laughed slightly at how the teen spoke. "Yeah, your mother was my next door neighbor way back when, and as a result, she became my best friend. There was a bit of an age gap, but we got along just fine. She was surprisingly into reading like me and we bonded over that." Onodera looked at Takano's face again. "From your question, I'm guessing you didn't know this?" The teen shook his head slowly while keeping his shocked expression. "Sit down." Onodera guided the other male to the bed.

Even though Onodera told him this, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around. His mother and Onodera were on opposite sides of a person spectrum in his mind and somehow they were friends. He suddenly thought back to when they first met Haitani in Viburm and remembered how he accused his mom for giving him up in the care of a stranger, but now he realized just how wrong this assumption was.

The bed sank as Takano and Onodera sat next to each other. "Your mom and I were friends for a while when we were kids, but as we got older she started to change. She started seeing a lot of guys at the same time and she began to treat me like she didn't know me."

"So, she was a slut?" Takano said bluntly.

Onodera thought about this for a moment. "For lack of a better term, yes. But you mustn't call your mother that."

"But you just agreed with me," Takano retorted.

Onodera shook his head. "Oh, well I'm allowed to say it. Anyway, she eventually left the city with one of the guys she was dating. I have no idea where she went, she didn't even bother to say goodbye."

"Don't feel bummed about that. It would've been heartless, believe me." Takano said sadly, remembering how the same lady abandoned him void of any emotion.

"Perhaps, but I guess it wouldn't really be a goodbye though. A few months after I settled in Viburm, she visited me with your father and –," Onodera blurted out without thinking. He stopped his sentence in its tracks, but the damage was done.

"He's not my father," Takano said coldly.

Onodera regarded him with large green eyes, realizing how he royally fucked up his talk. "Right."

The two sat for a couple of minutes in silence save for their light breathing.

"I was actually kind of relieved when she found me though. It was like she was looking for me too." Onodera's face softened when he said this. "She talked a lot about you, and she asked me to take care of you for a while which I agreed to obviously."

Takano shook his head. "She only did that so she could get me out of her hair."

"That's not true! She cares a lot about you!" Onodera said defensively.

"Why don't you see it, Onodera? She used your fond memories of her to take advantage of you. She dropped me off in your hands just she wouldn't be burdened by me anymore."

"But – "

"You said it yourself didn't you? She changed. She's manipulative and she doesn't care about me, nor you," the teen spat out these words quickly.

Onodera sighed at Takano's outburst. He knew that this was a sensitive subject for him and he wanted to postpone all this explaining. However, he knew he couldn't get out of the hole he had recently dug himself into so he reached into his jacket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to Takano.

The younger one looked at the paper suspiciously, given the conversation that enticed this action. Onodera egged him on with his expressive eyes. Takano sighed and he tentatively unfolded the paper. "She mailed that to me some time back. I received it that day we left Viburm. Right before you were going to leave with Haitani." This information peaked the younger male's interests and he read the contents of the paper.

Dear Ritsu,

I'm sorry to inform you that I must once again ask a favor from you. I foolishly divulged the information of Masamune's real father to my husband, and he had relayed this to the Listrivian royalty as a result. I'm not sure how they took the news, but I am aware that they have sent a soldier to retrieve him. What worries me the most is what they intend to do with Masamune when he is brought to Callia. I sincerely hope that this letter reaches you well before that man does.

Please do everything in your power to protect Masamune.

Takano folded up the paper and handed it back to Onodera. He was clearly not moved by what the letter said.

"After I read this, I frantically looked for you. I remember that you were acting weird that day so I hoped that you were not kidnapped by them that day. Thankfully, I found you before you left. I planned on taking you back to this exact place when Haitani was not paying attention, but he always kept a close eye on me so I never got the chance to," the older man explained.

Takano balled his hands in to fists as his anger erupted. "You were planning this all along?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Huh?"

"I thought that when we left Viburm it was the first time that you were letting me choose what I thought was right for myself. But now I realize that you were never giving me a choice," the teen said this while shaking like a leaf.

Onodera scooted closer to the young man on the bed. "That's because I know what's right for you. That place is dangerous."

Takano threw the glass picture frame of Onodera and his mom on the floor where it shattered. "How do you know? Just because my mother told you so? You're just a pawn in her games!" Takano yelled.

Onodera got down on his hands and knees to inspect the damage done. He gasped slightly at the state of the glass frame; he picked up the pieces and cradled them in his hands where the sharp edges began to pierce his skin and draw blood.

Takano slowed his breathing and narrowed his eyes at Onodera. "But I won't be one in yours," he said under his breath as he went for the door to the room. Takano left the room and made his way down the carpeted staircase to the front door.

"Masamune, where are you going?" Onodera asked hysterically at the top of the stairs.

"Fuck off," Takano hissed before walking out the Onodera estate. He walked all around the clean sidewalks of the upper class houses, but couldn't seem to find a way out. In that time of wandering around, Onodera finally caught up to him.

"You can't leave, Masamune."

"Like hell I can!" Takano yelled again.

"No," Onodera said sternly. This tone caught the teen's attention as he finally took the time to look at the brunet's face. He was taken aback by the serious expression that greeted him. "You can't leave. This place is locked off from the rest of the city. Remember when I said 'Not even a rat can get in'? A rat couldn't get out either. My house still resides here so I know where and how to exit."

"What? You're trapping me here? So I'm to be your prisoner?" Takano asked incredulously.

"If you want to think of it that way, be my guest. You will stay until they cease their search for you or when the Listriv monarchy falls."

Takano stared at the man dumbfounded as he walked away. The teen hung his head as he realized that this was not going to end the way that he wanted. He had no choices left. He couldn't leave this place until Onodera let him out. Perhaps the best course of action was to convince the brunet that he could be trusted outside of the upper class quarters of the city. If that were to happen, he could leave discretely.

Takano sighed. He realized that now he was at the man's mercy. He walked back to the Onodera Manor or, as he was referring it to now, prison.

Rain pattered on the window of the beautiful house that had been housing Takano for three days now. He raised his gaze from the book he was reading and looked dejectedly at the glass painted with drops of water. The teen had resorted to reading to calm his nerves as well as cure him from his boredom but without much success. As soon as he was done with one paragraph, he would forget what he just read. He placed the book down and rubbed his face with both of his hands.

Takano glanced at the clock on the wall and calculated that the brunet would be back in another two hours. Even this early into his imprisonment, Takano had begun to notice a tedious pattern with their new lifestyle. Every morning, Onodera would wake up early and leave to hunt for that day's food. He would return just as Takano was waking up, and the two would not share a sentence with each other at all for the rest of the day. Takano would attempt to sleep early to minimize his contact with the other male, but sleep was something that didn't come easy. Takano thought to follow the young man when he went out, but he never seemed to be awake at that specific time; Onodera always seemed to be one step ahead of him and knew just when the boy was sleeping.

He grunted out of annoyance as he walked out of the Onodera estate and strode on the sidewalk, much like how he did in the middle class sidewalks a few days back.

However, he was taken aback when he smelled something burning. He couldn't quite place what it was until he looked at the stone structure that guarded the parameter of the upper class residential area. There was a bright orange circle on the structure that Takano thought for sure was not there before.

Takano had little time to hide as the wall blasted in and numerous stones flew into the surrounding houses. Takano ducked down and miraculously none of the stones hit him. His attention was drawn back to the broken wall that had a large hole in the center and a man who was walking through it.

"Ha! 'No one can get in' he said. I guess when he said no one, he was excluding me!" Haitani sang in his strong accent and he brushed off some rubble that fell on his shoulders from the blast he had created.

Takano peeked out from under his arms and found what looked like Haitani. He was unsure since the man looked absolutely terrible. His hair was matted and dirty, his clothes were covered in dust, there were bags under his eyes, and there was dried blood that trailed from the back of his head to his shoulders.

The boy gasped slightly when Haitani caught sight of him. "Well, well. Just the kid I wanted to see." Haitani put his hands on his hips and looked around. "Where's Onodera?"

Takano stayed silent and gulped as he gazed at the tired man.

"Don't know? What a shame. I was looking forward to wringing out his scrawny neck. Oh well, I'll get even with him later, but first…" Haitani grabbed Takano by his collar and pulled him to a standing position. He then reached into his jacket pocket and took out a tiny rock-like object. "Good thing I put that tracking device on you or finding you would've been a lot harder. Now, let's get back to Listriv."

Haitani released Takano's collar only to grab his arm right after. He dragged him out of the city onto the road where he made his way to the outside world.

Onodera returned to Stanotis two hours later with a freshly killed goat over his shoulder. As he neared his house, he was curious when he saw random pieces of rubble on the ground. He looked around to spot the source or the culprit of the destruction and found that the nearby wall seemed to have been blown up. From the singed backs of the rocks, he could tell that it must've been set on fire and then blown in. Onodera's heart dropped at the implications of these clues. He dropped the dead animal on the floor and he ran up to his house. He didn't spare a moment to begin looking for a certain black-haired teen.

"Masamune!" he yelled, filling the empty walls with noise that it had be void of for years. Onodera ran around the house once over and bit his bottom lip in frustration when he didn't find the boy. He knew what this all meant. From the broken wall, he knew that Haitani must've kidnapped him. Onodera wanted to punch himself for wasting time in his house when the answer should've been clear to him earlier.

He left his house and went through the hole in the wall to see if he could find any footsteps. He was disappointed at first when he found that Haitani was smart enough to cover their tracks, but regardless, it was obvious where their destination was.

Onodera squinted his eyes against the sun that was beating down on him as he gazed at the horizon. Determination filled him as he made his way to the border. The fact that was bothering him the most was that he was unsure of how far ahead the two got from him. He didn't know when they left and it could've given them a high lead. He was unsure if he could make it there in time, but he soon realized that he didn't care. Come hell and high water, he would find Takano and protect him.

With that thought, Onodera ran without a break until he reached the border of Heliconis. It was nighttime, and he hadn't seen even a glimpse of the other two which was to be expected.

The brunet crossed through customs and continued to jog toward the destination. He gasped in pain when his pants caught onto a branch. He shook it off of the hook and raised his foot to continue his way, however, he hesitated when he saw something fall out of his pocket. He ghosted his hand over the fallen object and then picked it up, whatever it was, it must've fallen out of the hole in his pants that ripped open from the branch.

While holding the object upward, he noticed that it was the coin that Takano gave him a while ago in their village. The coin shined even now when Onodera held it up to the three moons that have risen recently in nightfall. He grasped it tightly in his hand and brought it close to his chest. "Please keep him safe," he whispered with the image of Takano's handsome face in the fore front of his mind. He wasn't quite sure who he was praying to exactly, but he couldn't stop himself from doing it.

He clenched his eyes tightly and then placed the coin back into his undamaged pocket. Onodera steeled himself again and allowed the glow of the moons to light his way to where the boy was being taken.