Roppongi, 1996
Ever since that day, Takemichi always followed his heroes around. In fact, they became great friends. As a little child, his punch was weak, so most of the time, Takemichi just watched Ran and Rindou fought their opponent. They eventually received a nickname, 'The Park Guardian', which got Rindou to complained about it for almost two months straight.

"See you tomorrow, Take-chan!" Ran shouted, waving his hand to Takemichi in front of the little one's house.

Takemichi waved his hand back before opening the front door.

CRANK!

A chinese vase fell just a few metres in front of him and broke into small pieces. Shouting, screaming, and wailing could be heard from the inside of his house.

"It's other woman's right? DON'T LIE TO ME, RAIDEN! YOU CHEATED ON ME!"

"For the hundredth times, I DON'T KNOW WHOSE PERFUME IS IT! I love you, Ayaka, and I love Takemichi, too, how could I ever cheat on you? I will never do that, my love. You're imagining things again, it's not happening."

"NO, NO! I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

Takemichi stepped back in fear, he could feel a lump starting to form in his throat. His trembling hands immediately reached the door knob, not even trying to stop his parents from fighting. The last time he tried to do that, he got red marks on his back, and his mum was crying. Takemichi always hated it, he swore to never make his beloved mum cried again. That happened, sometimes. However, it never got this bad. So Takemichi just ran outside of the house with tears streaming down on his face. Rain started pouring, Takemichi should be freezing by now, but his parents loud screaming was still ringing in his ears, distracting him from any feelings, sounds, everything.

When he saw the park he usually went to, Takemichi hid under the slide. His body fell to the ground, curling up into a ball while sobbing violently. Takemichi's always a cry baby, his friends at school constantly teased him for that fact. He's afraid, yet he couldn't come home, because it's the reason why he's here, under the slide in the middle of a heavy rain. After crying for a long time, Takemichi felt so tired then fell asleep.

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Ran sighed inwardly as he walked to the park. Rindou left his umbrella there and fell asleep the moment they got home. The good brother Ran was, he went to the park, in the middle of a heavy rain, just to took the umbrella home.

"Ah, there it is," Ran muttered under his breath when he saw a blue umbrella on top of the park bench.

He took it and put it inside the plastic bag that he brought. Then he saw a white cloth under the slide. Ran squinted his eyes, approaching the slide only to be surprised by what he found.

"Takemichi?!" Ran gasped with eyes filled with worry.

Ran immediately put his hand on Takemichi's forehead.

"Hot, must be fever," Ran mumbled, immediately hold Takemichi in his arms, running to his house.

Ran was pretty sure Takemichi had entered his house when Ran and Rindou left. Why did he fell asleep under the slide?

Since the Haitani family's house was only a few blocks from the park, it only took a few minutes for Ran to reach his house. Rindou opened the door with sleepy eyes, yawning slightly as he greeted his brother.

"Welcome back. Wait, is that Take-chan?"

"Yeah, I found him under the slide. His forehead's really hot, must've caught a fever," Ran explained while laying Takemichi down on the couch.

Rindou went to his room upstairs, bringing down a blanket to cover Takemichi. Hopefully, their little friend would be okay.

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"Ugh, where am I?"

Takemichi opened his eyes slowly only to realize he's not in his room. High ceiling, with elegant white wall, it looked too much like... a rich people's house he often saw in the movies. Fear crept in Takemichi's heart, what if someone kidnapped him? The last thing he could remember was him crying under the slide, so it's very possible for someone to kidnap him, then sold him, then harvest his organ, then... tears started forming in Takemichi's eyes.

"Ah, Take-chan! You're finally awake!"

"Do-Don't hurt me, please, I'm just a child," Takemichi quivered with lips and body trembling, eyes stared to the ground.

"It's me, Take-chan!"

"Eh?"

Takemichi looked at the guy-no, a tall child in front of him.

"RAN?!"

"Yup!" Ran answered with popping p.

Takemichi sighed, feeling so relieved it's not some kidnappers.

"Why were you sleeping under the slide in the middle of heavy rain, Take-chan? You've got a fever now, if I didn't came back to retrieve Rindou's umbrella, someone might truly kidnap you," Ran said with concerned tone.

Takemichi bit his lip, big fat tears now could be seen on his cheek.

"Sorry, mum and-and dad were fighting and I was afraid," Takemichi bawled, causing Ran to flinch.

The older one immediately pulled Takemichi to hug him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, Take-chan. Let's drink something, yeah? You must be thristy."

Takemichi nodded slightly, he could feel his body being lifted from the ground. They went to the kitchen in silent, only Takemichi's sobbing could be heard.

"R-ran-kun, I'm afraid, but mum will worry if I don't go home."

Ran didn't know what he should do, he was not the best people to comfort other, so he stroked Takemichi's fluffy black hair slowly, trying to assure him that everything would be okay.

"Then I will walk you home, and if you really can't take it, you can sleep here, okay?"

"Okay."

So they went back to Takemichi's house. Ran rang the bell, waiting outside with Takemichi hiding behind him. Someone quickly opened the door, turned out it was Takemichi's mother with bloodshot eyes, they widened when catching Takemichi hiding behind Ran. She was crying again, hugging Takemichi tight to her chest.

"Oh, my, Takemichi, I was so worried, I'm gonna search for you if you don't come back for another hour, don't do that again, okay?"

Takemichi just nodded, crying again. "Sorry, Mum," he said with muffled voice.

Takemichi's mother looked to Ran, smiling at him. "Thank you so much for accompanying Takemichi back to home."

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. Hanagaki. We're friends after all. I guess it's time to go then, see you, Take-chan!" Ran answered with his usual charming smile, waving to the family.

"See you and thank you, Ran-kun!"

Ran walked away, but he still could hear Takemichi's mother panicking over his son's forehead being really hot. She sounded like a caring mother, and Ran hoped whatever happened in Takemichi's family got better eventually.

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When Ran arrived at home, Rindou had been waiting on the door.

"Is Take-chan home?"

"Yeah, sorry for not waking you up, Rin," Ran smiled apologetically.

"Mhm, no problem, as long as he's okay, I'm also okay."

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Two days later...

"Ran-kun, Rindou-kun!"

The Haitani Brothers immediately looked to the source of that bright and cheerful voice.

"Take-chan! You felt better already?" Rindou asked.

Takemichi nodded,"Mhm, my fever went down yesterday, so mum allowed me to see you guys, hehe."

"Ooohh really excited to see us, huh?" Rindou teased with a wide grin.

Stars appeared in Takemichi's blue eyes. He giggled, "Definitely! It's cool to hang out with you guys!"

Ran got an idea in his head. "Hey, you've been watching us fighting another kid right? How old are you, Take-chan?"

"Uh, four? But I'll be five soon!"

Ran smirked. Rindou eyed his brother suspiciously.

"Well, you wanna be a hero, fighting the bad guy, right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Okay, it's settled now! I'll teach you how to fight!"

"Brother!" Rindou objected with eyes piercing his brother's smiling face.

"What?"

"He's way too young to learn how to fight!"

"Just in case someone picked on him again, Rindou. He's a trouble magnet, so he must be able to defend himself. Just that," Ran explained. He knew that Takemichi's just a little child, so he wouldn't even teach him how to fight properly, just how to defend himself.

"...okay, fine" Rindou finally sighed in defeat, because he also knew that Takemichi loved to approach trouble.

"Oh! I'm gonna learn how to fight from you both? Yeayyy!" Takemichi squealed, jumping from excitement, causing the Haitani Brothers to smile from how cute Takemichi was.

To Be Continued>>>

Yep, that's all for this chapter! Problem's starting to show in Takemichi's family. And I know, Takemichi may seem a bit too young to know how to fight, but I've done some researches before. Turns out, kids can also learn martial arts starting from age 5-6, so I guess that's perfect for Takemichi.

Sorry if you found any mistake-
See you in the next chapter, bye! ~☆