Chapter 1: Chained to Fate*
Security's gotten lax here. It's getting easier…
The elevator chimed.
…or I've gotten better at this. She thought.
The elevator chimed again and came to a halt.
She pointed her gun towards the doors. "Only God knows what could come through there."
The elevator chimed again.
"…the hell. Open up!"
Ding…
Ding…
"I don't have the patience for this right now!" she shouted at the doors. Leaning back she kicked at them, hoping to jar them loose.
Ding…
Ding…
She kicked at them again, harder.Don't MAKE me scuff these new slippers because of you, she thought.
Click...
The elevator's shaft grinded in its bearings and the doors unlocked.
"She's not gonna keep me away that easily." She retorted, forcing open the doors.
Despite standing a scant five-foot-three, she considered herself a force to be reckoned with. But her jet-black hair looked like a mismanaged mop, and her eyes were showing signs of tiredness. She was looking paler than usual, and she hadn't eaten in days.
Coming out of the elevator with caution she surveyed the corridor. The walls needed a fresh coat of paint and specks flaked off whenever she came into contact with them. My clean clothes…damn you. She thought with annoyance.
She pressed against the far wall and inched around the corner. "You'd think she'd at least paint this floor. It looks obvious, Yui." She whispered to the wall.
She cocked her gun and scanned its surface. It was starting to show its scars. It never looked the same way after Shiro had thrown it out the window by mistake.
He still owed her for that one.
A shuffle caught her attention. This is it, this time it's really it. It'll be over.can go on with my life…
She side-stepped the corner, pointing the gun towards the open area of the corridor. She had planned everything she wanted to say at that moment months ago, but it seemed to suddenly slip her mind.
Clank. Her .22 fell to the floor.
"Yui…what is this…?"
But the gangly, blond woman across the room didn't respond. She simply continued to play with what appeared to be her newest toy.
"Yui!"
Nothing...
"YUI!"
Nothing...
"YUI KIRIHARA!"
Nothing…
She was being to run out of patience. "Answer me…respond you…you…"
The confusion ended and reality slowly caught up. She picked up the .22 and pointed it back at her target.
Yui half-turned towards her. "What do you want Keiko? This isn't for you to see yet."
Keiko cocked the pistol. "You whore. You make me sick."
She dismissed the comment. "Happy Birthday, by the way. Nice to see you've survived so long, considering…"
Keiko's rage began to rise. "Tell me what this is."
"It's what you think it is." Yui responded flatly. "Isn't he nice-looking? Nicer than the picture,must say." She tousled his hair, but he refused to make a responce.
Confusion and disgust began to intermingle in her rage. "Then who is he?"
Yui smiled faintly. "Do you still read the obituaries, Keiko?remember that you always insisted on reading them when you were in the Hospital."
"I had to. My friends would disappear from the ward andwould use the obituaries to know if they were still alive. If they appeared thereknew they weren't coming back."
"And did that comfort you? Knowing that they…"
Her rage boiled over. "SHUT UP!"
"…knowing that it was…"
Keiko felt herself losing the battle. "Stop it."
"…that it was…"
"Stop it!"
"…all for the best…"
Her heart rate accelerated. Her weakness was catching up to her mind.
"…all so this boy could be freed."
All she could do was stare. The vision invaded her mind.
Chained to the wall. In an alcove. In some deserted floor. Slumped over from having been restrained for so long.
Insanity began to enter the situation. Keiko put her hands to her head, dropping the gun once again. She couldn't look.
That could have been any of them, any of us, she thought.
"Keiko dear…" Yui taunted.
Keiko looked up out of instinct.
She grabbed the young man's hair and yanked his head up, causing him to grimace in response.
"Do you recognize him? Hmm?"
Keiko stood dumbfounded, having lost her sense of reason to the situation. "He's just a boy…why…what do you want? You don't even love your own child! You have to have someone else's too?!?"
She let him go and he slumped back over "You still don't understand, do you? Haven't you seem him before? You always were a little on the stupid side."
Keiko had a flash of a memory, a newspaper from the previous week. But it didn't fit. He looked different. But it wasn't of concern now.
Yui clapped her hands together in mock delight. "Dosee someone's mind actually working? Even in that strange state you're in! Yes, he was found wandering a local graveyard last week. Hehad been pronounced dead, but you know…"
Keiko ignored Yui's babbling and interrupted her. "I'm gonna ask you again. Let him go. This is sick."
Yui smiled sweetly. "Make me, dearie."
Instinct kicked in for Keiko and she went for the gun once again. Not bothering with an aligned shot, she fired it as soon as she was upright enough to hit Yui.
Within a blink, Yui disappeared and the bullet embedded itself in the wall behind where she had been.
"A hologram…" Keiko muttered, looking at the floor. "I should have known. Butam a little on the stupid side." She retorted, mocked Yui.
She looked up and saw the chains dangling empty. The boy had simply vanished. She has never heard him, and it seemed that it wasn't the chains holding him there at all.
Rage took over again as she launched her gun at the empty alcove. It smashed into the wall and clanked to the floor.
"Shiro was right…damn it all. And damn them all to Hell."
She looked over at where the gun had landed. Its barrel was cracked and part of it had broken completely off. "He can buy me a new one. He owes me for this anyway."
Keiko straightened her now sloppy-looking white kimono and purple obi, and walked back down the hall.
"Yeah…he owes me for forcing this on me. This wasn't my battle anyway…at least not that part of it." she muttered on her way into the elevator, not completely prepared for whatever her mother planned on launching her way.
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*Denotes chapter titles which are lyrics from Live's "Throwing Copper" CD.
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Chapter 2: The Confusion Sets In
"Shiro, I'm home!" Keiko yelled out when she returned to his place.
Well, it was sort of his place. It had been procured under suspicious circumstances for her and he had just never left.
And it looked like a small dump.
No, it just looked like he lived here.
The furniture was limited to a small faux wooden dining table with two chairs and an old-fashioned beat up couch, both bought second-hand. Keiko's bedroom had only a bed, and Shiro slept on the floor in his room, removing the need for another one. The kitchen was tiny, and had only enough room for a small upright fridge and an ever smaller stove. The walls were standard cinder block, and were painted what she referred to as "prison-wall yellow." They couldn't afford carpeting; or anything distinctly modern, and the telephone and answering machine were the most hi-tech items in the place.
It's better than being in the Hospital though, she always reminded herself.
There was a note on the dining table –
K-
Check the answering machine.
-S
"Of course he's too lazy to write a note." She said aloud. She wadded up the paper and tossed it into the garbage can. She walked over to the answering machine, which had taken a place on the floor in the corner for some unknown reason.
Punching the "Play" button on the machine started the tape running:
Message One:
BEEP!
"Wrong number."
Message Two:
It's me, Shiro. Happy 19th Birthday, doll-face! Sorry I'm not here
right now, but something unexpected has come up. There's
no food in the fridge, sorry. I'll bring home Ramen noodles
for diner hopefully. Hope things went alright today, but if
not think things will be getting easier. There's a rumor
regarding a change in the security system floating around,
and it sounds like it'll be simpler to hack up and…BEEP!
"Heh, he ran out of time. Whoops."
Message Three:
Me again. Damn tape. Anyway ,left something
for you on the couch. Figured it was time bought it for you.
And…umm…if you're in that state, there are a few things in the
fridge. Let me know if any of its…edible. They came from a
guy down on 9th, so I'm still not sure about the quality.
I had to pay extra for the one so you sure as hell better enjoy it!
Ha-ha., catch you late doll!
The machine clicked off.
On the couch was a hard silver gun case. It wasn't too surprising. He owed her it.
Keiko was more interested in what was in the fridge. Walking over and opening it showed no big surprises; it was empty. Reaching on the top of the interior she pulled on a handle, popping open a hatch lodged in the space between the freezer and the fridge.
Three plastic blood donor bags fell out.
She picked up the top on and read its label. "I wish he wouldn't buy from the guy down there. Weird @#%$ comes out of that area." She looked over the information. Standard protocol in hospitals required ID, so names and dates were always available on the packaging. And if not frozen the blood went bad in a matter of a few days.
The top bag's expiration date was 24 hours ago.
"Rotten." She threw it in the trash.
The second bag's blood was inedible.
"Wrong blood type.said only A, AB, or O, Shiro."
The second bag joined the first in the trash.
The third bag was nearly unmarked:
Name: -
Date Taken: -
Exp. Date: -
Type: AO
She stared at it. "This is a gag, right? There is no type AO." She thought for a second. "It must be AB and they mislabeled it."
Not that she cared at the moment.
Keiko got out a bowl, slit open the bag, and poured part of it in.
She shook the bowl slightly. "It's…runny. It shouldn't be so thin from being in the fridge." She sighed. "Oh, who cares?" She got a spoon from a plastic cup by the sink and sat down at the table with the bowl.
She stirred the contents around. This wasn't what wanted for dinner. She thought. But I might not get anything else. The chances of him remembering to bring home Ramen are like none. He can't remember what he was doing five minutes ago, let alone five hours.
She tried it. It tasted strange. Not necessarily bad, just different. She pondered it. "Maybe it's some new genetically engineered thing."
That idea didn't thrill her. I really don't care about that right now though.
She finished off the bowl and the rest of the bag in silence, and then tossed the bag away. She cleaned the bowl and spoon, and left them in the sink.
And now I'm bored. She thought leaning on the sink.
"I could play with my new toy." She mumbled aloud.
Even that seemed boring.
She checked her watch. "I bet he doesn't come back 'till after dark."
She sighed. "I might was well take a nap and go out later. There's nothing to do right now."
She walked over the couch and put the gun case on the floor. She flopped down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling for a little while. At some point she passed out.
*
The sound of a key in the front door woke her hours later.
"Yo, doll, I'm home!"
She was groggy. "Hi Shiro."
"I brought someone home with me!" he yelled from the door.
"I wish you'd stop bringing home strange women. This place already stinks of cheap sex." She stated flatly.
"It's not a woman." He told her leaning over the cough's back.
"Since when do you like men? Did I miss something?" She asked still-half asleep.
He whacked her over the head with a small throw pillow. "It's not like that!"
Now she was awake. "Don't hit me! Jackass!" She returned the hit with the pillow she had been sleeping on.
He whacked her again. "Vamp!"
She returned the hit again. "Idiot!"
He had grown tired of the insults. "Gimme that!" He grabbed the pillow from her and tossed it aside. "Get up so you can meet him." He walked away from the couch.
Keiko didn't like taking orders, but she would do what he wanted…eventually.
She leaned back on the chair's arm. "I can't believe you wore that suit outside. Pant-stripe suits areso out of fashion right now. Besides, it's ugly as sin."
"And you know all about sin, don't you?" he snorted in response.
"Jerk. And did you bring home fish tonight instead? It stinks to high-heaven all of a sudden."
"Aww, now you've hurt his feelings. Such a brat, she is."
What? She thought.
"And that's not fish, that's whale you smell." He told her.
Confusion was setting in. There wasn't even a lake in the area, let alone an ocean. Seeing whales were not a likely occurrence in this area, and smelling like one seemed out of the question.
"Alright, what's the deal?" she asked standing up and stretching.
There was a moment of silence.
"Do you know her or something, you got this weird look on your face," Shiro whispered.
It was enough to get her to turn around.
Oh my god. She thought, putting her hands over her mouth.
"What's a matter, doll-face? You look like you've seen a ghost." He giggled stupidly. "Ghost! Ha, that's almost rather funny in this situation. Then again suppose it's not so funny on the other side of the joke…"
She regained some sense and interrupted him. "Shut up, Shiro."
He didn't seem to mind the comment. "So what's the deal, you two know each other or something? It's someone you've bit before right? Or is it…"
"We met this morning under less than desirable conditions."
She had a flashback of the obituary from the previous week again.
"And saw his picture in the paper last week."
Shiro pondered that. "Ohh…okay…I see…I see…" He nodded in response.
Keiko walked over to where they where standing. The smell was horrid.
Now I remember why hate fish. She thought.
She offered her hand to him to shake. "I'm…so sorry…'bout this morning. Hope she didn't hurt you or anything…"
He took her hand and gave a small smile. "No, she didn't."
Keiko felt overwhelmed suddenly. The feeling was strange and foreign. Not necessarily unpleasant, but strange none the less.
She started to babble. "…because she's just…she's very sick...very sick…I've been trying to put a stop to her nonsense but…"
He squeezed her hand. "It's alright. Really. I'm fine." He told her calmly.
She blushed and looked down. I feel so stupid now. She thought.
Shiro coughed for her attention. "I've got to run right now. Can you help Kyosuke get settled, he's going to be staying with us for a while it seems."
Keiko realized that she was still holding onto his hand. She dropped it suddenly and crossed her arms across her chest.That was the name is the paper alright – Kyosuke Date, she concluded. This is just a little too much for me to deal with right now.
"Yeah, sure Shiro." She told him quietly.
"I'm gonna take off now, doll. So you two are on your own."
"Alright."
Shiro was slightly miffed. "I'm waiting for some smart-ass comment, Keiko. How long are you going to make me wait? You knowjust can't give you a chore and not get one." He waved his finger in the air. "It's like the prize in the box of cereal people used to be able to get."
She kept her head down. She just couldn't look at them right now.
Shiro finally took note of her discomfort and asked Kyosuke if he would step in the bathroom and give them a min. He did so in silence.
Keiko looked up at him leaving and then turned to Shiro.
"Where did she have him?" He asked quietly.
"Eighth floor. Tied up in chain to the wall. She was…playing with him…like he was her lover or something."
His interest had been aroused. "And?"
"I was jealous…I wished for the first time was her."
He just laughed. "Like didn't notice your interest in him just now. I'm not that stupid. 'Could tell there was something going on here." He put a hand on her head and ruffled her head. "Then don't screw this up." He winked at her and ducked out the door.
"I am so not good at this kind of thing." She said aloud. "This could get rather ugly….despite how good he…it…IT… looks." She put her hand to her forehead.
She locked the door and pondered how to deal with the situation.
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Chapter 3: Sanity Walks Away
"I'm just gonna play this simple." Keiko reminded herself.
The bathroom door slammed and the shower started up.
She slumped against the wall. Didn't have to handle that one, score one for me and my weakling attitude.
She walked back in front of the couch and the case caught her eye. Sitting down, she brought it up into her lap.
"Let's see what model the guy made him buy."
She unlatched it and looked inside.
There was no gun.
"Oh not today, things are already weird enough!" She complained.
Inside was a six-inch glass panel and it's black, square base.
"I didn't want a video screen. I don't even watch television." She whined.
But she set it up on the floor and plugged it in anyways. It powered itself up and began to buzz. The screen flickered and a picture appeared.
There was no news.
"Is this one of those player ones? That sucks. It doesn't play anything live.don't have anything to put in it either."
Keiko reexamined the box and found a player chip in the bottom. She held it up and looked it over. It had no identification label.
Someone recorded this privately. She concluded. This unit came off of the street. It's probably "hot" too.
She inserted the chip into the base and propped it back on her lap. The program booted and started.
An elder gentleman's face appeared on the screen.
Keiko's blood went cold. She stood up, allowing the screen and base to fall to the floor.
His voice had been computerized and the shock to the unit caused it to go into an endless loop.
"I know where you are…I know where you are…I know where you are…"
She kicked the unit across the room, letting it smash into the wall.
But the recording simply skipped and got stuck again.
"I know he's there…I know he's there…"
It was all she took take. She stormed over to the malfunctioning screen and smashed her fist down into it. But it continued to repeat itself.
She smashed it again with a scream, bloodying her hand.
"Make it stop…make it stop…" she chanted, throwing the black at the far wall.
It continued to play.
She grabbed it again and threw it, this time at the bathroom door.
It stopped.
She sank to the floor and covered her face with her hands.
The front door rattled and Shiro came in.
He shook her shoulders and begging for an answer.
But he just didn't seem to be there. Nothing was there. The world was fading away and reality was going with it.
"Wrap it." Was all she heard.
She instinctively went into the bathroom.
She could hear the water running, but she didn't comprehend it.
She could see herself bleeding, but she couldn't understand it.
Keiko put her hands in her hair and screamed.
Warm water dripped on her and she felt warm.
She could feel herself calming down, but the video screens' image burned in her head.
I smell blood, she thought. Who's bleeding?
"It's almost time." Someone said.
The warmth started to pull away and her composure waned.
"Time for what?" Someone asked.
"Absolution." Someone answered.
Keiko regained her self-control and reality regained a hold.
She was right where she expected that she was, kneeling on the floor being held onto by Kyosuke who knelt behind her.
"Are you alright now?" he asked quietly.
"I think so." She told him, turning partly around. "You're shivering. Why aren't you trying to stay warm?"
"I don't think can move. Don't feel like I can." He told her gingerly.
She pulled a towel from the towel bar and threw it over him. He put his head on her shoulder in response, his hair dripping onto the front of her shirt.
Keiko turned around in place and faced him.
"I have something to confess." She told him quietly.
"What?"
"I was jealous of her." She told him. "Touching you that way."
"That touch… made me…feel strange..." He said quietly. "I didn't like it. It's not something I'm used to."
Her heart sank. It wasn't going to work. "I'm sorry. I'll get up now." She told her, starting to pull away.
He locked his eyes on her.
She ran her hand over a still-healing wound. "I'll be gentle. I promise. It won't be like with her."
He closed his eyes and put his head back on her shoulder. "Alright."
*
The bathroom door slammed.
Shiro lit up a cigarette at the kitchen table. "Those two are hopeless, I swear." He took a drag and leaned back in the chair to yell at the door. "You've got until dark. We're leaving for the church then, 'member?"
No response.
He laughed.
Shiro relaxed and took another drag. "Hopeless, but not loveless I guess. Heh. Good for you two. Enjoy it." He sighed and looked at the cigarette. "Enjoy it while it lasts."
He snubbed it out in disgust.
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