---

“KEY!”

A loud voice can be heard around the campus, as an excited blonde runs to his friend, students were looking his way, it was the same every semester, he would shout in the middle of the school field, catching unwanted attention from the students, even from the teachers.

“Seriously Dino boy, when will you learn to shut-“

Key wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as an overly hyper blonde tackled him to the ground.

“Hey Key! I missed you!”

“Would you get off me Jonghyun, people are looking!”

“Oh, sorry.”

Jonghyun stood up and held out an arm to help Key up, they both dusted off the dirt that got into their uniform.

“When will you ever change Jonghyun? maybe I should start wearing an armor or something.” Key joked

“It’s just that I didn’t see you this break, we missed hanging out with you, and we didn’t get to hang out much yesterday.” Jonghyun beamed, his grin reaching from ear to ear.

“Where were you anyways? You disappeared after lunch and after school, I waited for you, but you didn’t show up, so I went home.”

“Chansung was causing trouble again yesterday, he almost killed Taemin, so I had to look for him.”

“That bastard, I’m going to kill him!” Key gritted his teeth together, while clenching his fist.

‘We still need Taemin in the organization.’

“Calm down Tiger, Chansung and his gang are getting expelled for that stunt they pulled, hopefully they’ll be leaving Taemin alone.” Jonghyun threw his arm around Key’s shoulder, reassuring him.

“They better be.” Key’s fists clenched again, before letting Jonghyun drag him inside the school building.

‘Or I’m gonna kill them myself'

---

“Key-Umma, this is Minho-hyung, his the new transfer student.”

Both boys stared down at each other from head to toe, as if judging one another, there was something unknown hanging in the air, nobody dared breaking the silence, neither Jonghyun or Taemin.

“I think I’ve see you somewhere.” Key’s eyes narrowed, his lips set in a straight line.

“What are you talking about Key-hyung? Minho-hyung just transferred here yesterday.” Taemin tried laughing the awkwardness off, but his attempt was futile.

“It must have been a different person, I’m Kim Kibum.” Key reached out his hand for a handshake, “but call me Key.”

“Choi Minho.” Minho said before gripping Key’s hand.

Something was still very off and then silence overtook again.

“Why don’t we sit down, it’s such a nice weather today.”

“Good idea Jonghyun-hyung.” Taemin let out an awkward laugh before sitting down on the soft grass.

Everybody followed, Key and Minho were still having a staring competition, Jonghyun glanced at Key and then to Minho, then to Taemin, the younger was also doing the same thing, confused at why both his hyungs were acting weird.

“Darn it, I forgot to bring my drink, I’ll be right back.” Taemin was about to stand, but Minho grabbed his wrist, pulling him back down, “What is it Minho-hyung?”

“This is for you, because we were suppose to hang out yesterday, and I’m sorry.” Minho took the banana milk out of his lunch box, and handed to Taemin.

“Oh! Thanks hyung, this is my favorite! And don’t worry much on what happened yesterday.” Taemin sat back down, and started drinking the banana milk happily.

Jonghyun and Key watched the interaction between Taemin and Minho, one was personally happy, but one seemed to be annoyed beyond belief.

“Oh and guess what! I asked my mom yesterday about my dad!” Taemin’s statement caught all of their attention, specially Key’s, “She said my dad is still alive, and she said something about being part of a clan, when I heard it, I didn’t know if I should be afraid or be happy, sure, knowing that my dad is alive, and he didn’t leave us on purpose, is nice, but still a clan? Isn’t that too much?”

“Wow Taemin, maybe your dad is some big shot ninja, or something.” Jonghyun tried joking, but his words came out serious.

“What else did your mom say?” Key asked; he propped his hand under his chin, looking a lot more interested.

“She didn’t say much, but she did say that my dad left, because he wanted to protect us, what I don’t know is why.”

Minho listened quietly as Taemin told his story, he was smiling to himself, but his mind was elsewhere, he felt something wrong, and it all began when he met Key, he eyed the latter while he wasn’t looking, he felt like he shouldn’t trust him, there was something strange in Key’s aura, and Minho doesn’t trust him one bit.

“Minho-hyung? You okay?”

Minho looked up, he was thinking too much that he didn’t realize that they were all looking at him, including Key.

“Yeah, I was just thinking.” Minho gave Taemin a small reassuring smile, before glancing at Jonghyun.

---

Key silently walked in the hallways, he was headed to the stairs going to the rooftop, students weren’t allowed in the rooftop, but after so many times of going there, nobody still caught him, when he arrived at the isolated staircase, he looked back, checking if somebody followed him, seeing no one, he pulls out a hairpin from his pocket, he straightened the pin before bending the tip, no body knew how good he was at picking locks, so it only took him a few seconds to open the door leading to the rooftop, he locks the door again after stepping out.

Pulling out his phone, he dials a familiar number.

“Key! I’m glad you called, what news do you bring me?”

“Listen, Taemin just told me that his mom has already told him the his father is alive.”

“We’ll have to speed up our plan then, what about the assassin Onew sent?”

“I didn’t notice anybody following him today, so I guess the assassin is somewhere close so he can watch on Taemin.”

“Be careful Key, you are one of our best, and you’ll have to be a lot more alert.”

“I’m the almighty Key, nothing is impossible.” Key scoffs, taking pride at his position.

“Call me when something happens, I’ll have to go through the plan again.”

“I will Master.” Key flips his phone close, before going back inside the building.

---

“Yah! What do you think your doing?” Key screeched.

“Come on Key, let’s go hang out at my place!” Jonghyun laughed as he threw his arm around key’s neck, pulling the latter, well practically dragging him by the neck.

“Seriously you Dino, let go!” Key tried pulling off Jonghyun’s arm, but his attempts resulted to Jonghyun tightening his grip.

“You missed a whole break without hanging out with me, so were going to my house, and do a movie marathon, don’t worry, I’m nice enough to make you choose the movie we’ll be watching, what about you Taemin? You up for a movie marathon?”

“I can’t today hyung, I have to stay for a bit, I have to practice my dance routine, but have fun.” Taemin laughed at how silly his hyungs are.

“Don’t go home too late, you know how dangerous it gets at night.” Jonghyun spots Minho coming out of the school lobby, he has nothing to worry about, as long as Minho was there.

“Don’t worry hyung, I won’t. Now go have fun with Key-Umma.” Taemin shooed Jonghyun and Key away, Jonghyun was still dragging the unwilling Key away, Taemin knew about Jonghyun’s growing fondness for Key, so he declined his offer.

---

From: Jonghyun-hyung

To: Minho

Hey Minho, Taemin’s gonna stay in school for his dance practice.

Just sayin’

It get’s dangerous around school at night.

From: Minho

To: Jonghyun-hyung

Thanks hyung, don’t worry.

I’ll make sure he gets home safely.

---

Minho flips his phone close after sending his reply; he was just outside the dance room, watching Taemin as he practices.

Taemin was alone in the room, the music was some American song he couldn’t identify, but to Minho, the person dancing to the music was a lot more important, he watched as Taemin swayed his hips to every beat, moving his arms synchronizing with his foot work, his sweat was sliding down to his neck, then disappearing inside his shirt, he saw Taemin his lips before sliding down on the floor, continuing to his choreography.

Deciding to stop watching, Minho left, his heart was beating fast, and he felt his hands feeling clammy.

“What am I feeling?”

---

It was late when Taemin stepped out of the school building, he was wiping the remaining sweat on his neck as he walked, it was already dark outside, and the wind was cold, making him shiver.

Taemin walked out of the school gate, the turned to the direction of his home, he was completely unaware of the people following behind him.

It was completely dark when Taemin heard the footsteps behind him.

“That’s him right?”

“Yeah, it’s him alright.”

He was about to turn around, when he was suddenly pulled into a dark alley, and was pinned on the brick wall, his head and back hitting the wall painfully, the impact made him groan, Taemin looked up, he was able to identify three old looking men.

“Isn’t he pretty?”

“He looks exactly like his father.”

“Too bad he has to die soon.”

Taemin’s eyes widened at what his hearing, die? He was too young to die.

Soon, a knife was thrown, and then a groan, Taemin fell on his knees, as soon as his arms were free, he looked at his right, the guy who held him was laying lifeless onto the pavement, blood flowing from it’s stabbed neck.

This caught the attention of the other two.

A masked man stepped out from the shadows, his eyes were narrowed, and he took a glance at Taemin, before directing his vision back to the other two men.

One of them charged towards the leather-clad man, throwing a punch, but the masked man easily dodged it, he gripped the outstretched arm before twisting in behind the man’s back, with his free hand, he quickly hit the man’s pressure point, instantly knocking him out.

“Watch out!” Taemin grabbed the knife that was stabbed onto one of his attacker’s neck, instantly throwing it at the masked man’s direction.

The masked man’s eyes widened in surprise when Taemin threw the knife at his direction, but he missed, instead he heard a groan from behind him, the other man fell on to his knees as he grabbed his bleeding chest.

Taemin was panting from the adrenaline that was pumping into his body, he didn’t know where his strength came from, but he was shaking right after.

“Nice aim.”

“W-who are you?” Taemin panted

“My name isn’t important for you to know, I am your protector.”

“Protector?” Taemin stared at the man in front of him; only half of his face covered, and was wearing an all black suit. “Could it be that my father sent you?”

“Yes.” The masked man nodded, “You better go home.”

“T-thank you.” Taemin ran off, not looking back.

As soon as Taemin was no longer in sight, the unknown man pulled off his mask.

He pulled out his phone, calling a certain number.

“Onew-hyung.”

“Minho! It’s so nice you called, I haven’t heard from you ever since you left a week ago.”

“Listen hyung, your brother has started taking his plans into action, three men from the enemy attacked Taemin a few minutes ago.”

“It’s getting serious then, don’t worry Minho, and just keep watching on Taemin, I already know what to do.” Minho could instantly tell how worried Onew was.

“Yes sir.”

“I’ll call you next week, just keep your guard up, and text me your exact location right now, I’ll have the bodies cleaned up.”

Minho ends the call, sending a text message before keeping it in his pocket.

He looks behind him, the man Taemin stabbed was probably dead, the knife was buried deep into the man’s chest, it was a little farther from the heart, but still close enough to kill.

“A really nice aim Taemin.”

Minho smiled, and walked into the darkness.

The next morning, nobody knew about the incident, nobody knew about three bodies lying in an alley, except for two people.

Minho and Taemin.

TCB~

AN:  I apologize for the very long delay of this chapter, I guess I had a lot on my plate, but hurray for action scene!

So Minho and Key finally meet!

Awkward...

Anyways~ I'll try updating fast as possible :)

Comments are appreciated! <3