A/N Here's chapter twenty one!

Also, I was listening to the Bohemian Rhapsody as I wrote this. XD

Takana slowly raised his hand in an anxious gesture. He attempted to maintain a composed demeanor, but was failing deep down. He may have been a lower class citizen but even he knew that in this situation, one wrong move would get him shot. Misaki's hands were slightly shaking, conveying he was obviously timid about firing a weapon because he had never done so before in his life. His voice quivered the slightest bit as he, too, tried to avoid trembling and be intimidating. But even so, Misaki had more than enough reason to shoot the man down like a dog. And honestly, Takana was surprised he hadn't yet.

"Come come, love- I mean, Takahashi-kun, just put the gun down so we can talk-" his hand reached out towards the flower, but was retracted after Misaki took a step forward, followed by the clicking sound of the gun saying it was ready.

Misaki swallowed hard before forcing himself to relax. "N-No." He stammered. "You're gonna do what I say. And if you try anything, I... I will shoot you."

Takana clucked his tongue and bowed his head in defeat. "What do you want?" He asked in a disturbingly calm tone, as if he was starting to get the idea that Misaki would be too nervous to fire the weapon.

"Unlock the front door..." Misaki ordered, never once taking his finger off the trigger or his eyes off of Takana.

Sighing discontentedly, Takana walked out of the bedroom, an anxious Misaki following behind him. The boy watched the man yank the top of the television off of the rest of its body. Misaki winced in confusion. He never would have thought to disassemble the television set. But that made him thankful that he found the gun. Takana rummaged his hand carefully inside before pulling out a small silver key. Misaki felt his heart glow.

I'm going to get out of here...

Takana walked over to the front door and unlocked it, as Misaki ordered. He even took the liberty of cracking it open, then turned to Misaki.

"There," he said. "Anything else?"

Misaki thought for a moment. He didn't want to take any chances of Takana catching him as he made his escape.

"Go stand in the corner," he said.

Takana simpered amusingly and raised his hands. "Whatever you say, you're the master." He then proceeded to stand in the corner on the opposite side of the main room. Misaki huffed in annoyance. He couldn't believe the man still had the nerve to speak in such a tone when he was clearly in no position to be doing so. But he ignored it and kept going.

"Face the wall and put your hands up on it," Misaki said, feeling a little more confident by the second as Takana continued to follow his orders. As soon as the man was up on the wall, Misaki slowly made his way towards the front door, keeping the gun pointed at the rapist. It wasn't until he was in the doorway until he turned around, and once again, ran out the door of Takana's apartment into freedom. . .

. . .at least until he got to the end of the hallway.

He felt those familiar arms come up behind him and grab him by the waist and yank him back.

"No!" Misaki screamed, pulling the trigger with his finger on instinct, but only shot up towards the ceiling as Takana shoved his arm in that direction, trying to take the gun back. Misaki kept his grip on the gun tightly, knowing that if he let go, it was all over. At the same time, he struggled to break free from Takana's hold, but was more concerned with keeping the gun in his own hold. The man was much stronger than the poor young boy and yanked the gun rather harshly, it was amazing he wasn't ripping Misaki's arm from his shoulder. But nevertheless, that's what it felt like. Misaki cried out in pain as the strong force, but refused to let go.

He was panicking more and more by the minute. He didn't want to be defeated. He wanted to get out. God, he wanted to get out. No matter what it took, he would get out of here. Quickly, Misaki turned the gun so that it was facing Takana as best as he could, and pulled the trigger once. Twice. Three times. He kept firing and firing until he no longer felt Takana's arms wrapped around him. The loud noise from the gun blocked his vision and hearing, and he fell over, clutching at his head to ease the pain he felt there.

After what seemed like hours, Misaki felt everything go back to normal. He panted heavily as he lay on the ground. Forgetting for a moment what had just happened, he sat up, groaning in pain. He opened his eyes fully to see that he was covered in blood. His shirt, his pants, his skin, completely soaked in red. And he went pale.

He resisted the urge to throw up at the explicit sight. He bent over to the side and covered his mouth, feeling more sick to his stomach than he ever had in his whole life. Then it suddenly hit him where this blood came from as he heard the sound of someone struggling to breathe behind him.

He turned around quickly with his hand still over his mouth. Takana was laying just a few feet a way, even more soaked than Misaki was. Misaki couldn't tell how many bullet wounds he saw all over Takana's body, but it was more than enough. He had been shot in the leg, the arm, the stomach, the side of the head, everywhere but the brain and the heart.

He was still alive.

Misaki's face fell upon seeing the man. He couldn't believe he was the one who had caused this. He wanted to get out, now. It was now or never. He didn't think about what he was going to do next, he just grabbed the gun, and ran out.

It called for drastic measures, but. . . he was finally out.

A/N Well that escalated quickly!

This chapter was short, yes, but it was certainly action-packed.

Remind me not to mess with Misaki, like ever.

ClaryJace77: Hooray for summer! And here is your said requested soon update. XD And I'll probably be updating very soon again. Because it got back into a more interesting area of the story.

ili777: Oh my goodness! Okay here we go! :3 Thank you so much for all your kind words and thoughts! I appreciate your very Socratic evaluation of my entire story so far. It makes me feel really good that people can take it in so many ways like that. It helps me to know entirely what people think instead of just "I like it." So thanks! Highly appreciated! You're an awesome person!

Soulhearts: Thank you very much. :3 I'm glad I managed to take people by surprise. It was my intention, because I myself enjoy twists in stories as such. xD

RistuKitten: Yep! Ukes are the masters now! Well, in this case, at least just Misaki is. xD

TBC,

-Tiny