PROLOGUE

10 YEARS AGO.

"Hello? Are you hurt?"

The little raven haired boy raised his eyes upon hearing a little spiky haired boy's voice. He immediately scowled when he saw little spiky boy gawking at him with curiosity, with half a licorice hanging from his lips. He was a wee thing, no more than 9, he estimated, perhaps, one year old than him. With spiked weirdo haired--boring color for sure.

"Hurt?" Little spiky boy found himself asking.

"Mm." Little raven boy nodded furiously. "Are you in pain? You want me to ring the doctor for you or something?"

Pain?

A foreign word for sure. A word that had never been directed at him in his eight years of life.

Oh, right. Of course this spiky boy would ask such a question. He was hunched over, after all, resting himself against the tall Japan beech tree in this secluded part of the national park, hands clenching his stomach. Not to mention his lips were split and bleeding and his face was cut and bruised from a fight. Any idiot could tell he was pain and suffering severly.

Oddly enough, the thought of him truly in so much pain that it seared his soul amused him. Amused him enough, in fact, that it made him laugh. He laughed so hard that he started to cry, truly cried in a mixture of anger, frustration, and sarrow. He knew he looked like shit, but what the heck!

"Why are you laughing like that?" Spiky boy queried in confusion. "Is it so painful that you laugh just to forget about it? That pain? I do that, too, when I'm in pain." He even nodded, to prove his point.

Oh God! Shit! A mere child who didn't know him cared about him, whereas his own family hadn't given a fuck.

When he managed to calm down, raven boy looked at spiky boy straight in the eye and said coldly, "You shouldn't talk to a person like me." There was sarcasm in his voice that the little spiky boy didn't understand.

Spiky boy cocked his head to one side, assessing raven boy. "I know I shouldn't talk to a stranger, but you're in pain and must be very sick. I'm being a good sama--" He paused, trying to get his word right. "A good samari--"

"Samaritan?" Raven boy finished for him.

Spiky boy nodded furiously. "That's it. And you look like a good person. You wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

Hurt him? He'd definitely hurt spiky boy if he didn't get the hell out of his way. It was in his blood after all, to hurt people. To make money that way. That was his family's ultimate goal, wasn't it? That's what his family did. So why not him? Even raven boy still young and little, but he very much alert about this. And this little raven haired boy already know how to curse.

"Look here, spiky boy," he began. "I'm a bad boy. You got that? I'm not a good person. So get out of here!" raven boy growled, hoping to scare spiky boy so he would run off and leave him be.

Raven boy closed his eyes, fighting hard to breathe. Fuck, one of his ribs must be broken. Even breathing was taking its toll. He felt pain all over, from his split lips to the bruise on his knuckles. It was a fight that was gruesome yet so satisfying. He knew he was slowly turning into the very facade of his family, and bile rose up his throat.

No. No. He didn't want anything to do with them. He hated that he was born in this fucked-up family. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. No mincing words; just fight and kill. That was his family motto. The mafia clan.

Fuck. Wasn't he trying to run away from his own heritage? So, why did he behave like them when a little provocation from his classmate caused him to unleash his inner demon?

God, he needed to flog that nightmare from his mind. He needed to be alone, wanted to be alone, so he could wallow in this misery. He didn't need some little boy to console him. But no matter how hard he tried to shove back those memories, is still played bright in his head like that insistent lonely pain in his heart.

They were in this park just hours prior. Four against one. Him against them. The son of mafia boss against four policemen's sons. The unlawful verses the lawful. Fuck, what a tip of the scales. He'd used his fists to punch them. But they held him back, restraining him and punching him until what remained was a bloody pulp.

"What are you going to do?" He could hear them taunt him. "Just cause you're the son of a thug, you think you can hurt me? My old man's in the police force. He's not going to let a thug like you run Japan."

That was the last straw. He was spurred into action and punched the living daylights out of those four. Yeah, four against one. But this one won. This one made four of them unconscious. Fuck. What had he become? A monster. Just like his family.

I control my own destiny. I control my own destiny, he chanted to himself, trying to erase that image from his head.

He flinched suddenly when he felt small fingers tracing his hair, patting his head like he needed it. He looked up and met cobalt blue eyes. Fuck. Spiky boy still didn't leave him. And his next words almost made tears leak from raven boy eyes.

"Is it sore? Does it hurt a lot?"

What was he referring to? His cut lips, his blue-black eyes, or the pain in his chest?

What a pathetic kid. What did he know about pain? From the look of his blue shirt, he looked to be from a normal family, one he'd never experienced. But his heart burned with that insisted threading of his fingers through his hair. And now he felt something else. Warmth, like he wanted him to caress his hair for real, with the love and care that one bestowed on someone you loved.

"Please don't look so sad." Spiky boy consoled him, crouching down to sit in front of him. And then he looked up at him with a beaming smile on his face. "Ah. I got it. Wait here. Hold my licorice. I'll be right back."

Spiky boy shoved the half-eaten black licorice into raven boy palm and raced across the field. Raven boy saw spiky boy dissapear into one of the café lining the streets opposite the national park.

Alone, he closed his eyes again. Good. He was gone. Finally. Which should make him happy, but he wasn't. He opened his eyes and looked at the licorice in his hands. He should really throw it away. Spiky boy was gone, after all. He wasn't going to come back. But he'd said he would, and something humane within him still grasped onto that licorice like it was his lifeline.

He gazed up into the sky, feeling the heat on his face. The mid-afternoon sun really was soothing. Such warmth. Such freedom. When would he feel this free again?

He really should head back home, though. And then tell his family what? That he'd had a fight. Trying to defend what he despised all along, only for his mother to taunt him again.

"A leaf never falls far from its branch. You'd better accept your position and embrace your fate."

A strong coffee scent woke him from those painful memories. He lifted his head and saw the little spiky boy was back. And he was holding a foamy drink in his hand.

"What's this?" Raven boy asked, looking at the cup thrust in his face.

"Coffee. For you." Spiky boy beamed.

"I don't want it." Raven boy shifted his gaze to the sky again. Not a second later, the cup was in his face again. "I said I don't want it. I don't drink coffee."

"But I made it for you." Spiky boy little voice sounded slightly hurt.

Fuck. He hurt his feelings. "Look, I don't drink coffee. Okay, I don't like coffee."

"How do you know if you've never drunk it?" Spiky boy asked.

Because my whole fucking family drinks coffee like water. But he didn't tell him that. And clearly, he was starting to irritate him. "Look, I just don't like it, all right. Now leave me alone."

"Can't you just try it? It'll make you happy. Try it. You'll love it. Mom's café is just across the road from here. I get to make coffee all I want. It's really nice. She tells me I make good coffee, and when I grow up, she bets I'll win a barista award. So, you can be the judge. I just know you'll like it because I put all my love in this cup. I want to see a smile on your face. Please smile for me?"

He wanted to see me smile? What the fuck for? Why?

"Go on. Drink it," he urged. "I didn't put any poison in it, like that queen from Snow White that apple thingy. Once you taste it, you'll become addicted to it like cocaine. That's what Mom always tells me. But I don't know what cocaine is. I think she should compare it to chocolate. Do you like chocolate? I like chocolate. Taste it and see if my coffee tastes like chocolate."

Spiky boy held that black cup of coffee in his small fingers, not pushing him to accept it, but in turn making him feel guilty if he didn't. He felt miserable, a thousand times worse than when he got into that fight.

"I can't push you to like it, but you can choose to like it once you've tasted it. It's your choice."

Raven boy reached out his hand and took the coffee cup from his grasp. And he drank it. He'd never tasted anything so bitter, so foul and disgusting. But for that one moment in his life, he felt happy, his heart singing loudly in his chest.

"What's your name?" Raven boy asked, taking another sip, finding he did like the taste after all.

"Akira." He smiled back, sitting next to him, shuffling his body until he was right beside him. Then he took out a series of bandages from his pocket pants and began to plaster it on his face where the cuts and bruises resided.

He blinked, staring at spiky boy large blue eyes in front of his face as he proceeded with his work. There were two bandages on his left cheek, three on his forehead, one on his right cheek, and now he was trying to cover the side of his cracked lip as he tried to take another sip of that coffee. He wondered where the heck he got all those bandages from. They were rather bright and colorful, too. His face probably looked like a walking neon light.

"Wow, you have nice blue eyes," spiky boy said with delight. I've never seen anyone in Japan with cerulean blue eyes before. I like your eyes. I like you."

Raven boy blinked again and shook his head. Akira was talking a mile a minute. He couldn't comprehend what he was saying.

"I like you," he repeated, like raven boy didn't hear his declaration the first time. "Can I be your friend?"

Friend. Another foreign word. No one wanted to be your friend when you're part of that family.

"Well, can I be your friend? Or do you like to be alone? But I mean, who wants to be alone, anyway? Not me. I want to have friends. Don't you?"

"I don't know if you want to be my friend, though," he managed to say at last. "Like I said, I'm not a good person."

"What did you do? Did you hurt an animal? Mom says if you hurt an animal, you're a bad person. Humas should never hurt animals. They have feelings, too, you know. They feel the pain. So, did you hurt any animals?"

"No. No, I didn't hurt any animals." Raven boy wanted to tell him that he hurt humans, not animals, but couldn't get the words out. What happened to those four? Were they still lying there on the ground, unconscious?

"Well, then you're not a bad person," he declared. "You're cool. And I like you. So, let's be friends. I gotta go now. Mom is waiting for me in the café. Will you come back tomorrow? Meet me here tomorrow, and I'll share some of my favorite licorice. Did you get to eat some when I gave it to you? They're so nice. Dad always buys them for me. We'll meet tomorrow, then. Bye for now."

And spiky boy leaned in to kiss raven boy full plastered cheek. He was so surprised he jumped back and hit his head on a tree branch.

Spiky boy giggled. "You're so funny. I want to marry you when I grow up. Do you want to marry me?"

"What?" Raven boy asked in horror. "I'm a boy. Same like you, you know."

"So, what's the problem? You're so beautiful." Spiky boy shoved his face right in front of raven boy and all he could make out were those sparkling dark blue pupils, sucking him into that whirpool, captivating even his cold heart.

"Don't answer me just yet. I'll see you tomorrow. Wait for me, okay? I'll see you tomorrow." He raced off the field then. But not a minute went by before raven boy saw his midget body galloping toward him again. "I forgot to ask you for your name. What's your name?"

"Kaede. Call me Kaede." His lips stretched into a smile, again, a foreign expression on his face.

"Okay, Kaede. I'll see you tomorrow." Another peck on his cheek and then he was gone again.

Kaede heart smiled for the first time in his eight years. Tomorrow? See his new friend, Akira? How much he wanted it, but he can't. This is first, and probably last.