CHAPTER 108

His breathing was heavy. He was finding it hard to get air into his lungs. The more he stared at this broken woman in front of him the more he blamed himself. 'I killed a man that had a child and wife. It's all my fault he grew up without a daddy.' He felt tears in his eyes. Arms shaking as he slowly backed away. 'What have I done?' He collapsed to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He repeated as choked out sobs. "It's my fault. All my fault. Sorry." He brought his knees to his chest. He put his hands on top of his head trying to make sense of what he had done. He peaked out to see Mitsu now sitting in front of him on the floor. "I'm bad." He muttered. The woman who was just in slight shock at the boy's outburst finally managed to get some words out.

"So you knew my husband?" The cat looked up, but as soon as he made eye contact he covered his face again. He decided to tell the woman the truth if that was what she wanted. He let a small 'yeah' escape from his lips. "Do you know how he died? They said his trachea and spine were crushed, so they assumed that he was choked to death. To be honest they said it was hard to say exactly. They found his body buried under a river behind this abandoned research facility. The man on the phone. I think his name was Shan Yukimura. He told me he was the one to of found it. He said he was trying to find evidence or something like that."

"Shan's in America?" The boy thought out loud. Looking behind him he saw all the others watching with worry. Sei came forward crouching down to the boy's side.

"You know him?" The woman asked. Not waiting for an answer she carried on. "They said he discovered not only my husbands, but all these children that must of died there some how. All under the surface of the water. Apparently they said that some had body parts missing while others had been modified, but knowing they might of died in the process. There was also animal bones from all different species. From house cats and dogs, to wolves and tigers."

"How do you know all this?" Sei asked. He wanted to know how someone with so little knowledge on what really happened was allowed to be given so much information.

"I had asked what my husband would be doing there in the first place. Yukimura was very helpful and explained that about 8 months or so ago they had found that research facility. They said they had investigated inside and found nothing, but a rotting body. After that they didn't look anymore into it until now, that's all that I was told. I think they were doing experiments there. I bet my husband found out what was happening so they killed him."

Sei sighed. He knew his uncle wouldn't tell just anyone what really happened. But it seemed he gave her enough information so she could come up with her own answer. "What I want to know now, is why you're apologizing?" She looked to the boy. As Ryoma was about to tell her the truth of the matter he was stopped when Syu answered for him.

"Saa... His father died when he was young and his mother wasn't practically a nice person. So when it comes to anyone dying it's a sensitive matter to him and I think he might of known your husband from him being a friend of the family."

"You have got a point. My husband was a very friendly man when it came to meeting people. I lost track on how many he could of talked to on a daily basis. He was a good man." She paused when he phone started to buzz. Taking it out her bag she read the message before sighing. "I really have to go." Turning to Kawamura she smiled. "Thank you for going though the trouble of getting my some to come here." With that she left the building.

They were all left in silence. Even the customers who had no connection with this had chose to watch. Inui was still sitting scribbling in his notebook, as both Eiji and Momo where staring wide eyed at the scene that had happened.

Mitsu stood and lifted his glasses to rub his eyes. "Kei, can we go home?" He knew they had all had enough for one day. They were either sore for activities last night, were getting headaches, had an illness or were called Gen. Mitsu had to admit that he could happily go to sleep for at least a week and nothing could wake him up.

As they were about to leave after Kei had paid, Gen stopped causing the others to look at him. "Aren't we forgetting something?" They all turned and looked over to where they were not long ago and sure enough Ryoma was still sitting there completely still, not even facing them.

"Ryoma." His name was almost like a switch. The cat laid back on the floor looking to Mitsu. "Are you coming? We're leaving." Instead of getting up like Mitsu had hoped the boy raised his arms and reached out to him.

"Carry me." The Seigaku captain held in a sigh. How could he not of guessed. Walking round the boy he bent down.

"Arms." Getting the messaged he put his limbs round Mitsu's neck and felt himself being lifted off the floor. As soon as he feet left the ground he hooked them round the others waist. "Alright?"

"Yeah. Can you read to me tonight." He said in a quiet voice.

"Only if you tell me what happened." He felt a nod on his shoulder. Mitsu brought his arms round the boy and rubbed his back.

It had been nearly an hour since they had gotten back to their house. They all felt grateful that none of the other Seigaku students that saw the event had asked questions about it. They had all had a small dinner and were now sitting in the lounge.

Mitsu was laying on the sofa with Ryoma on top of him while his feet rested on Gen's lap. Keigo had taken to laying sideway on the armchair. Syu and Sei were leaning against the said armchair sitting side by side. It was all peace full until Ryoma remembered a promise Mitsu made. Sitting up he looked down a the one underneath him.

"Can we do that now?" Holding down a smile Mitsu turned his head back towards the television.

"I don't know what you're talking about." All of them now distracted by the two, watched to see what would happen. "What was it again?"

"You know, that." He felt slightly panicked at the other not getting the point. "You know, the ki... kiss." The last bit was muffled as he covered his mouth with his arm in embarrassment.

"I can't hear what you saying when you cover your mouth." Biting the inside of his cheek Ryoma stared at Mitsu in disbelief.

"I said you need to read to me." He himself froze when the wrong thing came out of his mouth. "I'm going to get the book." He mumbled as he stood leaving the room. Mitsu smirked when he heard the foot steps.

"Saa... What did you promise him anyway. He seemed disappointed?" Syu asked as he felt his hair on his head being played with by Keigo. Mitsu looked to the tensai with a slight spark in his eyes.

"A kiss." Syu chuckled into his hand before look back to the door when hearing stomping coming from upstairs.

"I think he heard you Mitsu." They all waited until Ryoma was standing at the door. He was huffing and steam was coming from his ears. The Seigaku captain barly managed to block the book that was thrown at his face.

"I hate you!" The cat yelled and once again disappeared from sight. All of them feeling pretty guilty all gave Mitsu a look of 'it's all your fault he's sad.' Sei stood and left the room.