LOVE TESTAMENT CHAPTER 17

The square was swarmed with people of all status from nobly lords to beggars.

They had to hold hands while squeezing through the crowds lest they lost each other. It was about noon and most of the people were either eating at the street stalls or in the restaurants/inns. The few other people wandered about doing their businesses or simply stood there doing who knew what.

"Ne, Tezuka." Fuji stopped and stalled Tezuka, who turned around with a questioning gaze. "I want some of those."

Tezuka looked over to the stall where an elderly was selling hot buns. He nodded and smiled. Anything for Fuji.

"Hello Young miss and Young sir. Come try my hot buns." She waved them over enthusiastically. The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled widely. She stood up from her wooden stool, clearly showing her hunched back.

"Hello." Fuji greeted back at her with a bright smile. He sniffed the fresh aroma of the buns with a satisfied sigh.

"They smell wonderful right?" She asked knowingly and opened the bamboo lid of a bamboo pot in which the buns were steamed in. "There are 3 kinds: taro, yellow bean paste, and red pork. What would the young miss like?"

Fuji looked almost too excited with the combination of the misgender identity and yummy buns. "Hmm~ They all smell so good. I've never tried these before."

"Oh?" The woman looked at Fuji in surprise. "Never eaten one before?"

Fuji nodded. "This is the first time I see something like this."

The woman suddenly laughed. "That's a first. In that case, you should try all 3." She took a knife and sliced each of the 3 kinds into bite size and offered them to Fuji. "Here, try them and tell me which one you like best."

Fuji glanced at Tezuka before he took the offer. "Thank You."

Spontaneously, Tezuka's lips moved upward into a small appreciative smile. Secretly, he loved to see the expression that Fuji made when he discovered something new. It was simply refreshing.

Fuji tasted the taro sample.

"So, how is it?" Tezuka asked as he looked at Fuji's delectable chewing mouth.

"Mhm." Fuji gave Tezuka a thumb up before turning to the woman. "This is really good."

The woman smiled gladly. "Wonderful!"

Fuji tried the other 2 samples. "I like taro the best, but the other 2 are as good." He commented.

"Truthfully, I also prefer taro." The woman got out a paper bag. "What would you like to purchase today?"

Fuji looked over at Tezuka. "Which do you want?"

Tezuka shrugged. "I'll let you choose."

Fuji nodded and turned to the woman. "2 Taro and 2 Pork buns for the both of us please."

"Tell you what, I'll give these to you for free since I like you very much." The woman said as she put the 4 buns in the paper bag.

"Oh no, we cannot accept that." Fuji shook his head and declined with his hands when the woman gave him the bag.

"No, take it. Think of this as a gift of our first meeting. I have a feeling we will meet again." She insisted with a genuine smile.

Fuji looked to Tezuka for a confirmation before accepted the bag. "Thank you."

"She was really nice." Fuji ripped off a piece from the bun and put it in his mouth.

"Hn."

"I wonder if everyone is as nice as her here."

Tezuka side glanced at Fuji. "Is that how it is back home?"

Fuji nodded. "We are very honest people and we all trust each other. That's why we don't close our front doors at night."

A guilt light shown in Tezuka's eyes as he looked away from Fuji. "That's nice." Tezuka thinned his lips. Truthfully, he felt very guilty for taking Fuji out of his home kingdom, where Fuji's safe haven lie. For someone as innocent and pure as Fuji, Tezuka couldn't bear seeing Fuji being deceived and tricked in this cruel world. "But its different here."

"How?" Fuji questioned.

They walked by a pub and Tezuka was aware the lustful eyes sent their way at his oblivious lover. "Not everyone is like her. Do you remember Kai?"

Fuji crinkled his nose. "He was rude. He should have been nicer."

Tezuka chuckled. "Many people are like him."

Fuji frowned. He shielded his eyes from the sun ray before looking up at Tezuka. "Why?"

"Because." Tezuka looked down and used his hand to brush the stray hair out of Fuji's forehead. "Greed wins over people. In a place with social status, it bounds to happen." He explained.

"Oh." Fuji nodded in comprehension.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In a different part near the stall where the old woman sold her hot buns, a group of people who dressed in traveler's clothes sat at a table eating hot noodles from the street stall.

"What if the Princess finds out?"

The better dressed out of the group lifted his head up and swallowed the noodle. "Forget her. That woman is deceitful. If I had stayed, she would hire an assassin to go after me."

"I don't understand why you must stick up to her. It is not like you need wealth young master. You have enough to buy a good piece of land."

The young master smiled. "Power." The smile soon subsided when he thought of something. "Unfortunately, I missed the chance." He sighed. "Who would ever thought the Tezuka Kunimitsu would abandon his province in the middle of the night for who knows what."

"You know what, Master Kai? Maybe he eloped with that Peacean Sage."

Kai narrowed his eyes and sat up straight. "Hmm, how come I've never thought of that? The princess did say something about Tezuka and the Sage." His eyes brightened up and slammed his right fist onto his left palm. "It does make sense."

"Even if we know that, what can we do about it?"

Kai sighed and slumped against the back rest. "But you know what? It would be the best thing on earth if I get my hands on the Sage for once."

"Yeah, I agreed with you fully on that. He is the most beautiful creature I've ever seen in my 24 years of life." One of his friends said.

Kai smirked. "He is." His face turned dreamily with a perverted thought on mind.

His friend of lower status looked around and suddenly stopped. "That Sage, he has light brown hair right?"

"Yup." Kai absently answered. "It flows like silk." He made a motion with his hand.

"Ah." His friend nodded. "And his eyes are closed?"

"Yeah."

"Hmmm…"

Kai frowned before sitting straight up. "Why are you asking me questions about him?"

The friend blinked and pointed his index finger in the direction behind Kai. "Isn't that the Sage?"

Kai blinked and turned around quickly. He followed the finger and his eyes widened. "Holy Shit! That's him."

Before anyone said anything, Kai had already left the table.

His friends soon paid and left.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Soon, lunch hour past and everyone was back on their feet walking about, crowding the streets.

Tezuka yanked Fuji closer to him.

"Ne, Tezuka, that inn seems nice. Maybe it has a room for us." Fuji suggested at the 3 story inn when they walked by.

"Alright." Tezuka nodded. The inn seemed very crowded. "Let's go in and see."

As they walked through the door, Fuji suddenly jerked and moved closer to Tezuka.

"Are you alright?" Tezuka immediately asked with concern.

Fuji frowned and innocently told Tezuka. "Someone touched me."

"What?!" Tezuka flared in silent, but his eyes showed it all. He looked around since he was tall enough to look over most of the heads in the inn. He looked back down at Fuji when no one seemed suspicious. "Where did he touch you?"

"My butt." Fuji said in a small voice.

Tezuka swallowed an uncomfortable lump in his throat and hugged Fuji. "Let's get out of here."

Fuji nodded and they left the inn.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hey, isn't that Lord Tezuka?"

Kai elbowed his friend in the rib. "Keep your voice down."

They hid behind a candy stall.

"Are we spying on them?" The one who was elbowed then asked in a smaller voice.

"No, we're just following them."

"But-"

"There they go." Kai's other friend pointed.

The group of three left the stall.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"We need to find a place to stay tonight. We can't crash at the temple again." Fuji pouted and whined.

Because of the incident, Tezuka had been avoiding every inns they walked by and Fuji was getting tired of walking.

Tezuka looked pointedly at a guy who just walked past them that stole a gaze at the beautiful ex-sage.

Fuji pulled on Tezuka's shirt. "This one looks empty."

Although Fuji said it looked empty, it wasn't empty at all. But compared to the others, this one had fewer occupants.

"Fine, we can try this one, but you are staying out here."

Fuji opened his confused eyes. "I can go in with you."

Tezuka took Fuji's wrist and led him under the roof of the store next door. "Wait for me here. It'll be quick alright?"

Fuji obediently gave in without a thought and nodded. "Alright."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kai held out his arms to stop his friends from going forward. "He's alone." A predator smile appeared on his face. He licked his lips. "I bet they are finding a place to stay."

His friends looked at Kai and smiled. "We will go and lure him away."

Kai nodded and he hid away while his friends proceeded forward. His friends are professional in this field of expertise. They needn't an order to know what to do.

He knew the Sage was powerful, so a kidnap mission in broad daylight was a no no, especially with the presence of many fighters around. In his eyes, Fuji looked as innocent and vulnerable as a baby bird, which happened to be the weaknesses that his friends frequently employed to trick the innocent maidens back home into Kai's bed.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Fuji looked around. His eyes danced with mirth at the lively atmosphere on the streets. Vendors advertised their products with boisterous yells and consumers loudly bargained the lowest possible price.

Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around with a cheerful smile, thinking it was Tezuka. "So how is it…?" His voice died down and his eyes opened in confusion.

"Hello." The taller of the 2 strangers said to him.

Fuji blinked and looked around before pointing to himself. "Are you talking to me?" He asked naively.

The 2 strangers nodded, smiling.

Fuji then smiled and asked politely. "How can I help you?" The strangers looked nice to him.

"Oh no, it is the other way around." The taller put up his palms. "We saw you looking for a place to stay, is that right?"

"Oh, how do you know?" Fuji gasped in surprise.

The 2 smiled slyly, knowing it will be an easy catch, but Fuji failed to decipher that intention. The shorter one spoke up. "Actually, we work at an inn near here and it happens that we have a few rooms left. Since we saw you, we thought might as well help you out."

"Oh. That's wonderful!" Fuji clapped his hands together. "Thank you."

"Then you must hurry or else there will be no vacancy left." The shorter one said and held onto Fuji's wrist.

"Wait, I need to tell my lover first." Fuji pulled back when the shorter guy attempted to pull him away.

"Oh, there's no more time. You can tell your lover after you get the room." The taller man rushed.

All of a sudden, Fuji felt both pressure and the ambition to get the room. He didn't want to leave without telling Tezuka first, but thinking about doing something beneficial for the both of them ruled out. Tezuka will be proud! He thought.

Seeing the doubt, the taller immediately added. "The inn is not far from here. You might be getting a room before your lover reaches the counter."

Fuji made a quick decision and nodded. "Okay!"

The 2 smiled victoriously as they led Fuji away to an alley. "Let's take the short cut."

Fuji naively followed them without doubt.

-.-.-.-.-.-

When Tezuka was the second in line, a sudden bad intuition crept up his spine and his awareness heightened. Fuji.

He left the spot and went outside to look for Fuji.

"Fuji?" Tezuka frantically turned and looked around. His eyes traveled near and far as his feet took him onto the street. I have a bad feeling about this.

His heart beat so fast that he felt like he just ran a marathon. Shit! Shit! He whipped his head around and ran into the direction far from the alley.

He had lost the most important thing in his life in less than 10 minutes.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The walls on both sides of the alley looked old and creepy, like a place where beggars resided at night. Fuji involuntarily shuddered and hastened his steps to catch up with the 2 guys in front of him. He pulled at the shorter one's shirt. "Hey, how much longer until we get out of this alley?"

"Hm?" The guys snickered before turning around.

"I don't like this alley, can we take another way?" Fuji asked softly in a scared voice.

"Another way?"

The taller one suddenly laughed. "Sure, there's another way through here." He pointed to an inconspicuous door on the right wall.

Fuji turned and looked at the revolting graffiti on the door that matches the wall. "Where-Where is this place?"

"This place…" In a split second, a suffocating cloth was pressed over his nose and his airway felt restricted almost immediately as he breathed in. "is hell."

Before he blacked out, he saw a devious smile on the taller guy's face and heard them snickered.

AN: Hello Readers! Are you still reading this story with the same interest? =D or less? D: Fell free to point out any mistakes from grammar to oc-ness. I posted 2 more stories: Aphrodite's Lineage (MPREG) and Typical Romance (Cross-dress). Hope you guys check it out if you haven't!

Anonymous Review Replies:

tamcrutz - lol, if this story turns out to be mpreg, then the plot will change and it will become longer. I actually have another story started with mpreg called Aphrodite's Lineage. Do check it out if you are interested because the time frame is approximately similar to this story. Thank You.