章節 21: Reasons

A gentle morning broke through the night skies to cast rays of daylight through the ranma to grace Hinata's snoozing face.

Akira tenderly kissed his forehead and wrapped his arms tighter around Hinata's waist to draw the man's head closer to his chest.

The sound of Akira's heart beats stirred Hinata out of sleep with a yawn.

"Morning my angel." Akira lovingly kissed Hinata's cheeks.

Hinata groaned at the cheesy nickname. "Please. Spare me. A night of making love has reduced your chivalry to school girl pet names."

Akira chuckled.

Hinata was unable to hold back his smile at the man's happiness. His mind was still in a state of having enjoyed his love with Akira to memories of his tender moments with Eiji.

Was it wrong to still hold on to something of Eiji in his heart? He wanted to feel that Akira was his one for the rest of his life. His soulmate had always been Eiji, who was no longer alive for him.

"Thank you." Hinata snuggled further into Akira's embrace.

His mind wandered to the reason they were up the mountains in a temple habitat.

"Hey, Akira-san, why are we here?"

Streams of daylight became dark and cold by the cover of dark clouds.

"Tanaka came to me in the shop. Telling me the kenpeitai were after you. His informant said something about Governor Takaki's transgressions and hunting down loose ends."

Hinata gasped. He pulled away from Akira to sit up.

The thought of Eiji's father to haunt his life again made his hands shake with a mixture of emotions.

"Why are Ishikawa and Sakamoto here?" His voice quivered with panic.

"I don't know."

Hinata got up and hastily dressed. His heart racing with the thought of Eiji's coldhearted father.

"Hinata." Akira tried to calm Hinata down.

"Akira-san. You have no idea what that man was to us! He made our lives hell! My family's livelihood was destroyed because of him. Even his own failings is causing us trouble! I'm to lose my only place left on this Earth to him again?!" Hinata's voice quivered.

"He enlisted his son to war to separate us. Made sure my heart condition was an excuse to dishonor me from fighting by Eiji-san's side."

Akira felt thankful for that aspect. He wouldn't be with his lover otherwise.

"No one will hurt you. I pledge my life on it." Akira promised Hinata.

Distraught tears slipped from Hinata's eyes, he banged his frustration into the wall.

The shoji door slipped open. Rocko stood on the threshold with a look of warning on his face.

"I've roused the others. Most of dem are ready to run." Rocko soberly updated them.

He let out a sad sigh and weak smile at his friend. "Aki. I was told Kenpei on dah way."

Hinata frowned, not understanding where the man was receiving his information.

"Your peers said this?" he asked.

Rocko shook his head. "Nah, I be the only one here. Yah've no time."

They waited for Akira to finish dressing before meeting up with the others in the main room. Rocko said he'd lead them to a secret path down the mountain.

"When yah come to a fork at the bottom. Take the left to go back to the truck. Take the right to head on towards Koumi."

Hinata thanked the man as he secured the rucksack carrying Tama-chan to his back.

The cat quietly stared about the lush green forest with eager eyes. A few times he motioned to jump out of the sack to hunt a bird, but didn't go through with it. Instead, he continued to watch with curiosity whilst enjoying the sensation of moving without using his legs.

They followed Rocko's lead away from the shrine and further up the mountain. Hinata gasp when he heard patterned movements, manly commands, curt catcalls and sounds of crunching from down the mountain.

"Sounds carry." Rocko confirmed Hinata's thinking.

He looked up, noticing the circling pattern of ravens high in the air around the Northern section of the mountain. Their squawking made his ears twitch and face contort with genuine worry.

"Hurry!" He warned the group.

They picked up their pace into a made sprint away from the approaching kenpei.