With a slow, shaky hand, the man in an all blue suit pushed a button that would call the elevator down. His eyes were shifting from place to place, and he jumped each time he heard even the quietest of noises. He felt as if he was being watched by eyes that were all seeing. Sweat broke out on his forehead, running down from his mess of curly black hair to his beard and he startled when he heard a loud "THWAP!" behind him.
His body reacted on it's own and he whirled, ready yet not to face the noises source.

"Whose there?" he said shakily. "It's best if you just come out!"

The man surveyed his surroundings and slowly took in a big breath, reminding himself that this was an abandoned building, off limits to people unless they had a card pass that said otherwise.
Maybe he was just way too paranoid.

Letting out a big gust of breath, the man leaned up against the wall, looking up towards the leaky ceiling.

Yes. Way too paranoid.

Ding!

He startled and spun around, holding his hand over his now pounding heart.

Jesus.

The elevator doors creaked and gaped open, reminding him of a predatory animal's mouth, about to dig into it's prey's soft flesh.
He took in a raggedy breath and stepped into the dark, shadowed elevator, jumping as it's door slammed shut.
A few moments later, the doors were reopening and a room lit up with what appeared to be stage lights. A few moments later his eyes were shocked with a bright light, and he put his hand up to shield his face.

"Welcome." said a deep, grave voice.

The man startled once again and he stepped back, pressing himself up against the wall.

"Let's make a deal."

He gulped.

"Ye- Yes.." he said anxiously.

"Then step forward and let us proceed."

He obeyed, tentatively, though.

Nervously, he reached up and adjusted his tie.

"So.. You, uh, just want the boy, right?"

His eyes narrowed and he tried hard to see just who he was supposedly speaking with. The lights still shone too bright. All his eyes could see were a lone figure and a room that appeared to be way too empty.

"Correct."

Another tentative step.

"Gr- Great!" he exclaimed, his uneasiness lifting as he got closer, glad that the man before him was now coming into focus.

But the nervous smile that had began curving the corners of his mouth up was gone when he noticed that this man was not, in fact, alone. Two men loomed over behind that one person, looking huge and buff next to that man who looked way to frail to have such a deep voice.
"Where is the boy now?" asked the man in a low, perfectly proportioned tone that made his hair stand up straight.

"He's.. He's in Ikebukuro."


The sun was high up in the sky on that particular Saturday in Ikebukuro. Birds flew in large clusters, swooping down in groups of four, scavenging for a quick meal. The trees were acting as hosts to many animals and insects. Branches waved good morning to everyone that passed by. The day was what a really stressed person would label as peaceful.

But Roppi really didn't care. He was still just as grumpy as he always was, shooting death glares at anyone who dared look at him, mumbling curse words under his breath. His expression was scrunched up, bitter. His clothes were wrinkled and smelled of smoke. Not that he cared. In fact, he welcomed all that was bad about himself at the moment. It kept his mind off of all that was wrong about that day.

His birthday.

God.

Roppi narrowed his eyes and fiddled with his blood-red scarf , adjusting his big, dorky glasses. He hated that he had to go to work today. He just knew his pathetic co-workers would ambush him with big happy smiles and an unnecessary amount of presents he really didn't need. The ravenette could already hear the loud, obnoxious chorus of "Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to the saddest most depressed person we've ever met in all of our twenty to forty year long lives! Happy Birthday to Yooou!"

Right.

No way was he looking forward to that disaster. He would much rather be being harassed by his siblings. That sounded much more appealing, even though he hated them as much as he hated dogs.

Oh, how he hated those disgusting, dirty mutts and their-

Oof!

Roppi was jolted from his thoughts and back into the present time. He barely had time to register that he was now on his butt, staring up at two gorilla sized men in black suits and sun glasses that made it impossible to see their eyes. Boiling hot rage quickly surged through his body and, in a moment, he was on his feet and spitting out foul words at the two men, sure his face was scarier than the devil's.

"Hey fuck faces! Why don't you watch where the hell you're going, okay?" He was sure spit was flying from his mouth and spraying all over the men's suits, but he didn't care. Actually, he enjoyed it.

But the two gorilla's face's remained blank as they stood in front of him, looming over Roppi's much smaller body.

"You need to come with us." said one of the men. Roppi immediately stepped back, all of the color draining from his face. They had guns. Big guns. Scary guns.

He took another step back, but they both stepped forward and grabbed hold of his shoulders.

"The hell?!" he shouted, straining against their vice-like grip. "Let go of me!"

The raven haired boy managed to get free of one of the men's hands, but was soon grabbed again and pushed to the side, where a black van was waiting with it's doors gaping open. For a moment, he didn't know what was going on, but when he fell hard on the floor of an unfamiliar van. Roppi put his hands up to shield his face as something if he was going to be hit, but he wasn't.

He heard the doors shut and felt the car begin to lurch forward.