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Jongup gives a particular hard tug on the rope,propelling the horse to gallop faster,speeding through the hidden pathway where only ninja-s use. The sun is almost setting and Jongup doesnt really like travelling through the confusing path in the dark,he might lose his track. So he speeds up,holding onto the horse tightly. When his village finally comes into his vision,Jongup gives a slight tug on the rope,the speed decreasing with every gallops. Jongup stops the horse just outside of the village,near a clearance where he ties the horse to a tree,letting the animal drink the much needed water. When he makes sure no one is in vicinity,he stalks into the village,blending under the shadow of the night.

Standing still infront of the meeting room,he tries to even out his breathing rate. His heart is pumping so fast right now,too fast. He doesnt want to look suspicious. He knows he's a day late to complete his mission,he never complete his mission this late,so he is anxious on how Master Yongguk will react to his lateness. Or he might already know why he is late after all. His decides to gamble with his fate,nothing will end pretty eitherway so he better face it like a ninja. Swallowing,he slides open the door,eyes fix to the shadow before him as he enters the room. Still not looking up,Jongup slides close the door before bowing profusely to the figure under the moonlight.

"I hear you come. Why did you hesitate?" Master Yongguk deep baritone voice sounds calm,as always. Maybe its a good sign,but Jongup decides he cant lift his head just yet. When he feels Master Yongguk's warm hand on his shoulder he almost fliches away but managed to refrain himself. Instead he braces himself,lifting his head up to stare at Master Yongguk's face. When he sees a half smile on the older's lips as he taps his shoulder comfortingly,he assures himself that everything is going to be fine. "Are you worried i might get mad because of the delay on completing your mission?" Jongup chooses not to answer dropping his head staring at the ground. He really cant lie to this man,the man he has been idiolized for the past years of his life,the man that has trusted him with his life,the man he had vow to protect his life with his own. Jongup wonders what makes him change. Himchan. Yes,Himchan did.

"Dont worry,Jongup. I understand. Some missions take impossibly a lot of time to be completed. I'm glad you come back in one complete piece,and i'm still very proud of you." Yongguk slowly utters,moving to sit on his chair. From across the desk,he can see that Jongup looks even more disturbed than he first assigned for his missions. Maybe he is just dissapointed in himself,engulfed in his self loathing. Leaning back on his chair,he waits for Jongup to explain himself. Jongup finally recovers,rummaging into his dilapidated bag to retrieve a golden key and a jar filled with fingers. A satiated smile graces the older's lips as he lifts the jar to the light,observing the fingers with such amusement. "I see that you're getting better with your knife,Jongup. Look at how even the structure of the bone is." This is the first time he feels so intimidated by his master. He is not sure why.

"It's all because of Young Master's guide. I'll do better next time." he quickly says,frowning as Yongguk merely waves his hand in the air,not taking his words seriously. "I know you'll do better. Dont be too hard on yourself. So,do you want to keep the fingers?" As weird as it sounds,Jongup might jump in happiness being able to keep the fingers if he hasnt meet Himchan. But now,he feels bile travels up his throat at the sight of the servants fingers he had killed,which Yongguk thought are Himchan's. Reluctantly,he nods,grabbing the jar into his hands and shove it into his bag without a second look. "So i'll tell Youngjae to prepare the report then in a couple of days i'll inform our client about this mission. You will receive your payment on wedneday,is that ok?" Jongup nods eagerly,iching to get himself out of there. "Anything is fine,Young Master." Yongguk nods,gesturing him to go now seeing the dreaded look on Jongup's face. Jongup leaves in a dash,vanishing from his sight. "He must be anxious to keep on training."

An arrow travels in high velocity before embedded into the target board,hitting the bull's eye. Zelo lifts his bow for another shooting but stops when he notices Jongup's presence on the corner of his eyes. His body swirls in anticipation but his smile drops as he sees nothing before his eyes except for the darkness. He swears he just saw Jongup stood on his side watching him before him dissapears in thin air. Acting out of instinct,Zelo places his bow on the ground,attempting to seek Jongup's presence. Jongup leaps hastily from tree to tree,his sole purpose is obvious,to leave the village as fast as he can. But he is positive Zelo had seen him on the training ground when he had gone to check on the boy. He's afraid Zelo will try to find him. He could only hope,wishing the boy didnt do anything stupid,like searching for him or something.

Jongup can finally heaves out a relieve sigh when he mounts on horse,rushingly gives a hard tug to the rope,causing the horse to let out a neigh before speeding up into the darkness. He didnt care he might lose his track in the absolute darkness,all he cares about right now is to travel back to the rest house and get them out of there,far away from here. He really didnt care about officially turning himself into a top notch criminal from the most succesful jounin. What he wants the most now is to escape the scene and starts a new life with new purpose. To protect the person he loves from any harm,with his life. He knows Himchan might not like him that way,but he couldnt doubt his own heart,which is beating loudly everytime Himchan shows his concern for him,everytime Himchan cares for someone else other than himself even if he's in pain,everytime Himchan just being Himchan,smiling even in his suffer.

Engrossed in his own thought,Jongup gradually let his guard down. Not knowing that someone has followed closely behind him. Not knowing that there is another horse galloping silently after him,along the exact same path as he does. That someone's eyes glint in the dark,eagerness shines on his determined face. Half way through the journey,Jongup remembers having a jar filled with disgusting fingers in his bag. Not wanting to keep it any longer,he reaches a hand into his bag,pulling out the jar with a scrunched up face before throwing it away to the ground,not even looking back for confirmation as he speeds up. That someone mounts down the horse to collect the jar,shoving it into his pouch before resuming his pursuit. He tug the rope furiously,he needs to catch up with Jongup,he cant lose him now.

"Are you two still alive?" Jongup abruptly asks as he appears under the moonlight,walking away from the curtain as if its a normal thing to appear and dissapear without a warning or even noises. "Oh ! Dont come to us like that! Its so disturbing." Himchan yells,a hand glued to his chest in reflex. Meanwhile Jaehyo freezes on his spot on the bed,his trembling hand clutching real hard to his knife. Jongup couldnt resist a smile on his lips seeing both of them are fine and harmless. He sits next to Jaehyo on the bed,pulling away the knife from his shaking hand. "You'll definitely die if you use your knife like that. Man up." he says before lying on the bed,feeling extremely exhausted.

"You scare me! Dont just pop out of no where! What are you? A ninja?" Jaehyo whines into his ears as he plops down next to him. "What if i tell you i was one?" he asks,inching his body closer to the wall so that the bed can fit Himchan too. "Really? You were?"  Jaehyo eyes widen in expectation. Himchan snorts before lying down beside Jaehyo,wrapping his arms around Jaehyo's waist. "Dont tell him lies. You know how gullible he is." Jaehyo chokes. "I am not! So Jongup,are you telling the truth?" Jongup shrugs,closing his eyes. "Maybe." "That is not an answer." he mumbles before falling asleep in a second,so like Jaehyo. Jongup is almost half way sleeping when he feels a soft hand reach over his arm. He opens his eyes finding Himchan's dark orbs focusing on him. "Hm?" He lifts his body a bit so that he can stare at Himchan through Jaehyo's head. "Thanks for coming back for us." Jongup gives him a small smile. "I'll protect you,both of you,with my own life. You can count on me." Himchan smiles back,lacing their fingers together for brief seconds before pulling away,leaving Jongup longing for more.

"What is that?" Himchan stares at the curtain. There is something behind it but in the dark he couldnt make out anything. He turns his head to warn Jongup only to find the boy still staring at him wordlessly,his eyes look sad. "Jongup,there's something behind the curtain. I have a bad feeling about it." Himchan whispers to him,his face looks alarmed. Jongup casts a wary glance to the curtain. Its not something,its someone. He cant believe he let his guard down,allowing an unwanted presence in their room. Soundlessly,he leaps out of the bed before nimbly reaches behind the curtain,attacking the person from behind locking the stranger's body around his arms,pressing his knife to person's masked throat. When Jongup feels soft blonde curls brushes against his face as the stranger's body shaking violently,he instantly drops his knife to the floor,his brows raise in confusion.

“Zelo?”

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sorry for the late update..hve been busy..

hapy reading..