A/N: So I actually had this pretty much completed a week after I put up the previous chapter... (That's because of all the lovely reviews, just sayin'... :D)

I'm also home for the summer now! That means more time to write! :D (Well... maybe... I just got back yesterday but I already have 25 hours at my part-time job next week so...)

Anywho... still a few more chapters to come! Enjoy!

Chapter Eight
One Last Lie

"I honestly never thought you would be the one to seek me out, Houtarou-kun. That must mean you found out the truth on your own; that stubborn almost-brother-in-law of mine would certainly have never told you of his own will, that's for sure."

Houtarou stared at the man sitting across the table from him, a frown firmly etched into his features. "Don't think I came because I feel the need to connect with my biological father. I just want answers. That's all."

"Oh?" Kurosawa Kohei raised an eyebrow at the statement. "You could have just asked your uncle, you know. He's stubborn, but he's not dishonest."

"Really? Because he's been lying to me for my whole life. I want the truth."

"Okay." He leaned back in his seat. "What do you want to know?"

Houtarou turned his gaze to outside of the café window, watching the people pass by for a moment. "Why did you leave?"

"I would have thought Akihiko would have told you that much at least."

"I didn't like the answer."

"Well, you won't get any better of one from me. It was a horrible thing for me to do, I know, but I can't change the actions of my immature self now. I can only seek to make restitution with my eldest son."

"That's why you've been trying to find me?"

"That's right. It didn't take me long to realize my mistake, but by then your aunt and uncle were determined to keep me out of your life."

"Then what was the point? He told me you came by multiple times trying to get them to relent my guardianship to you."

"The first few times that was why I came, yes. When you got older, I thought that maybe they would actually let you make that decision, but I guess I was wrong. They've just kept running and hiding the truth."

"Uncle Akihiko told me that they would have told me eventually if you hadn't started trying to take me back."

"I don't know why he would have changed his mind."

"I want to know everything."

"About…?"

Houtarou turned his gaze from the window, making direct eye contact with his father. "Everything. About my mom, about why you kept searching for me, about how you kept finding me… everything."

Kohei rubbed a hand over his chin in thought. "Well, that could take a bit of time."

"I don't care."

"Well…" he sighed. "It was love at first sight; as soon as she walked into my ten o'clock biology class at University, I knew – or at least that's what I always say, but your mom really didn't want anything to do with me at first. I'd also like to say that I eventually won her over with my charm, but that's not true either, I'm afraid. I owe my first date with her to her best friend who set it up as a blind date. After that, one thing led to another… Before I knew it, we were seniors, and I was asking her to be my wife. She was such a proper lady, but I was anything but a gentleman at that point in life. That being said, it was entirely my fault when I got her pregnant. I went out drinking with my buddies one Friday night, and, well – I don't remember what happened after that until I was waking up in her apartment. She never would tell me how I managed to convince her to do it.

"She never complained, though, when she found out she was pregnant. She was on top of the world, as a matter of fact. I didn't think it was so great; in all honesty, I was afraid of what her brother was going to do to me. He was angry, to be certain, but when I saw that he wasn't really going to do anything to me, I saw a way out – multiple ways, actually. The first, I thought, was the better and more simplistic of the two: she would have an abortion, and everything would be fine and dandy, just like before, like nothing had happened. Reiko didn't agree; in fact, she outright refused. We argued about it for months, but that was the one thing she would not relent. She wanted that child, and if it was the last thing she did she was going to make me want it too. And those were her words, not mine. She was determined that she could make me as excited for our child as she was. But I didn't agree. For me, that was the worst thing that had ever happened. Seeing no other way out of my responsibilities, I sold the house and left."

He paused, leaning forward, his dark green eyes intense in their gaze. "Please don't misunderstand, Houtarou-kun. I loved your mother very much. But I was not ready to be a father. If I had been half the man I am now, I never would have even thought of leaving. I would have owned up to my mistake."

Leaning back in his seat again, he continued his story. "Two years later I found myself married to the woman who is currently my wife. Before we were wed, I admitted to her what had happened with Reiko. Despite it all, she still agreed to marry me. A year after that, we had our first child – a little girl. It was then that I realized my mistake in leaving Reiko, and that she had been right the whole time, that once the baby came, I would love it. That was when I started to search for you, with my wife's blessing that she would welcome you with open arms as if you were her own. It didn't take me nearly as long as I thought it would to find you, but, well – you already know how that worked out. The second time I saw you, you were with Tomoe-chan. It was completely by chance, actually; I was in town on business for the company I worked for when I saw you and her. Shortly after, you pulled up and moved because of that chance meeting. A few years later, I happened to see you again in Tokyo with your friend – Satoshi-kun, wasn't it? I spent a great deal of time in Tokyo searching for you only to find that you had only been there on a vacation. It took me another couple of months, but I eventually found that you had been living in Kamiyama for several years at that point. And that pretty well brings us to today."

Houtarou sighed. "Some things don't add up to me."

"Such as?"

"You said you were in Tokyo for business but Satoshi told me you're teaching math in my old high school."

"That is very true. When I graduated from University, I graduated with two degrees; one was in business while the other was in education. At the time, I didn't know which I wanted to do more, so I simply did both. It was quite the endeavor and took an extra year along with a few summer courses, but somehow I managed. I worked for an educational company out of Kawasaki for a number of years before deciding that I wanted to try teaching, and I never went back."

"Sou desu ka…" He paused, his brow creasing as his frown deepened. "Why did you tell me you were my uncle then?"

"What else could I have said? You never would have believed me had I said anything of the truth, would you have?"

He had a point… Everything he said made sense. Except… There was one thing still… "You called before you came to Kamiyama. You obviously didn't want my aunt and uncle to know you were coming – you even told me not to tell them. You knew they weren't there when you called, didn't you? How?"

"You are quite perceptive, Houtarou-kun. You would be correct: I knew they weren't at home because I was following them through the airport when I called you. I knew I would never get the chance to even talk to you if anyone was at home besides you, so I did what I had to do."

"How did you know they would be flying out that morning?"

"I didn't. Once again, it was all chance. I had just flown in and happened to see them headed to meet a connection. I already knew where you were so all I had to do after that was head this direction."

"Why start teaching at my old high school?"

"When you all packed up and left again I had to find you again. I had hoped it would be in your school file, but…" He shrugged. "I did what I had to do, Houtarou. Your aunt and uncle were being unreasonable, not allowing me to ever see you."

"Hmm. I guess that does seem a little unreasonable…" Houtarou turned back to the window. This man didn't seem so bad… So what was his uncle so afraid of? Maybe it was true that once he had been someone who didn't care, but that obviously wasn't true now. After all, he had spent years searching for him…

"Houtarou –" he looked back up, meeting his father's eyes – "I was… excited to say the least when Satoshi-kun came to me and said you wanted to meet with me. Please, let's start over. It's not too late for us to be a family. You'll see – you'll see that I'm not the person your uncle thinks I am."

He looked back down at the table. "I… I don't know… I need some time to sort everything out…"

"No."

Houtarou's head snapped back up, his eyes widening slightly at the man's tone. Kohei's expression matched his tone, cold and merciless. But the next instant, it softened.

"Listen to me, Houtarou. If you don't decide now, they won't give you the luxury of choosing your own way – you know this as well as I. It's now or never."

"Maybe we should have tried to talk to him last night…"

Akihiko sighed. "Would it have done any good? You know as well as I that he would have only pushed us away. He feels… betrayed, I think – and for good reason, I guess. All of this could have been avoided if only we had told him sooner."

"You don't think he'll do anything brash, do you?"

"He's hurting, but he's also smart. I doubt he'll do anything stupid. He'll avoid us for a while, but in the end I'm sure he'll come back and talk to us and everything will go back to normal." He stopped short of starting his next statement when the phone rang, rising quickly to answer it.

"Oreki residence."

"Oreki-sama, this is Principle Kiyoshi." Akihiko's stomach dropped. A call from the principle was never a good thing. "I'm calling concerning your son. I would hope that you are aware that Houtarou-kun has not been in class at all today."

He swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't. "Yes. Thank you for calling, sir. I apologize for neglecting to notify the school that he would absent today. Nothing to worry about, though. Thank you." He quickly hung up, turning to his wife.

"I was wrong. That boy has gone and done something very stupid after all."

Satoshi had no idea what was going on, but for the moment he would simply have to be content with sitting on a bench across the street from the café and glancing at his friend through the window from time to time. As curious as he was about this whole thing, he had at least that much tact to know when someone needed some time alone, and this was one of those times. When Houtarou had everything figured out, Satoshi knew that his friend would tell him. Even so, he had to wonder how much longer they would sit and talk; his butt was starting to go numb from sitting in the same place and not moving for so long, and he was starting to doze off as well.

The last thing that he expected was for his phone to start vibrating violently in his pocket.

Fumbling to get it out of his pocket, he nearly dropped it on the pavement before managing to get a hold on it. He frowned at the number displayed; he didn't recognize it, but it had the same area code as Houtarou's new number. For a moment he debated on whether to ignore it or not before deciding it was better to answer it. Houtarou had told him that he hadn't told anyone where he was going, so if it was someone in his family, he should probably answer it; if they were calling him, after all, that meant they were worried.

"Moshimoshi."

"Thank goodness! I didn't know if you would answer or not, Satoshi-kun!"

"Tomoe-chan?" He'd been correct; they were worried. "Nani ga?"

"Is Houtarou with you?"

Correct again: because Houtarou hadn't told anyone where he was going. "Yeah. He's here."

"Let me talk to him."

"Uhm. I can't."

"Naze ka?"

"Well… he's not exactly here here. I can see him, though… He's across the street in a café talking to someone."

"Get him out of there."

Her tone caught him completely off guard. What was she so afraid of? She didn't even know whom he was talking to. "Nani?"

"Trust me, Satoshi-kun. He's talking to a man named Kurosawa Kohei, right?"

He didn't know how to respond to that. "How did you know that?"

"Because… Just trust me, Satoshi. Get him out of there before something bad happens."

"They're just talking…"

"Yeah, well, that's one person Houtarou should not be talking to."

"I'm so confused right now, but okay." He stood up and crossed the street to the café. Glancing in the window to where he knew his friend was seated, he stopped dead in his tracks, eyes growing wide. "Tomoe-chan? We have a problem.

"He's gone."

~Long Way Home~