Tamaki sprinted through the deserted street, raindrops pelting his face, already soaking through his uniform.
Damn, this is NOT what I signed up for when I joined H.O.S.T.
He stopped running, dead end.
"Tamaki. Have you located her yet?" The radio crackled in his ears.
"Dammit! I can't see a thing in this storm. You sure they went this way?" Silently cursing himself for letting Haruhi get captured, Tamaki discarded his dripping uniform jacket in a sodden heap of fine cotton and a puddle of blood. He didn't need to touch the crimson bandages wound around his gut to know the thirty-centimetre gash across his spine was bleeding again. After all, he'd put the wound there himself.
"She has to be somewhere in this vicinity…wait, I'm picking up my brother's tracking signal about three metres ahead of your current location."
"Thanks Kaoru, Keep me posted if anything changes."
"You got it…but I'm only picking up Hikaru's tracking signal. Kyouya and Mori might not be there, but they probably are and have blockers up. Be careful…"
Static…
Damn, the rain's finally got through to my radio.
Tamaki swore beneath his breath and cautiously approached the small wooden house directly ahead of him. According to Kaoru's intelligence, Hikaru should be alone in this house with Haruhi. Except that Hikaru never worked alone. His combat abilities were too low. Which probably meant hat Mori, Kyouya, or both, were waiting inside there with him. And while cutting the augment out of his back had allowed Tamaki to escape untraced, is also meant that he wouldn't be able to sense the other H.O.S.T. members' presence. Even when they dropped their blockers to attack.
His H.O.S.T. training started calculating possible outcomes and break-in routes…the windows were probably booby-trapped…he could try to break through the roof but whoever was inside would definitely hear him…and although the front door would obviously be guarded, with Tamaki's reflexes he could probably dodge the first attack and force the other person into a standoff, that is, if whoever was behind the door had stupidly dropped his gun like Tamaki had when he escaped.
The cold press of steel against his neck confirmed to Tamaki that his opponent was most definitely armed.
"I'm impressed you would go to such lengths to escape from us Suoh. Wound on your back looks painful."
Tamaki was about to launch himself into a flying spin-kick to disarm his opponent when the other H.O.S.T. member pressed a second steel object against his back, sending jolt of pain up his already-injured spine.
"I wouldn't try anything hasty if I were you."
Tamaki grit his teeth against the pain.
"Mori you bastard! Why don't you face me like a MAN! What would Hani say if he knew you had resorted to such cheap tricks." He spat the words towards the ground.
"Master Haninozuka will never know. The matter with this Fujioka girl will be settled long before he returns from his mission in Germany."
Mori roughly shoved the blonde through the door into the house. The last thing he saw was a trademarked, "Hitachin brand" designed tennis shoe before the pistol butt came down hard on the back of his head.
Tamaki woke to a biting tightness around his wrists and ankles, and a sight that took his breath away. Haruhi sat tied to a folding metal chair, gagged, blindfolded, and with headphones over her ears. He traced the line of the headphone cord and saw that is also looped around her neck a couple times and bound her to the chair. She appeared to be sitting cross-legged.
"Isn't it great?" Tamaki heard the all-too-familiar voice call out from the shadows. The same voice that had tortured him every day in his cell before he'd managed to steal a knife and escape.
"This way, it's like there isn't even a storm outside. She can't see the lightning…" The voice's owner, Hikaru Hitachin, stepped out from behind Tamaki and gestured at Haruhi's blindfold like it was a prized circus act.
"She can't hear the thunder…" He poked carelessly at one of the earphones, pitching Haruhi's neck dangerously far to the left and sending her head lolling.
"And best of all…she can't scream in terror!" He punched ruthlessly at her gut, causing Haruhi to keel over and moan pitifully into the rough gag.
Tamaki tried to turn his face away to hide the tears that came unbidden to his eyes, but the manic Hitachin kneed him savagely in the back, forcing his head upright and reminding him all-too-soon of the wound along his spine.
"But don't you worry…" The circus showman act resumed, "your precious little Haru-birdie is still in EXCELLENT health….well, mostly." He leaned over Tamaki's face and grinned.
"I think we might have broken her legs on the way over though…doesn't really matter…I think she looks MUCH cuter this way."
Unable to look away while Hikaru held his head firmly by the golden locks, Tamaki was forced to notice that although Haruhi appeared to be sitting comfortably, her knees were both bent at severe, unnatural, angles." Hikaru chuckled.
"You Bastard! You cocksucking leech-fag bastard! I'll kill you! I swear after I get Haruhi out of here, I'll fucking KILL YOU! I'll…"
Tamaki was cut off by Hikaru smashing his face violently against the floor. He felt his nose snap sideways.
"NOBODY…talks to me like that. Especially not an ungrateful maggot like you….No! Even maggots turn into flies and grow wings. No, you're not even a maggot, you're just an earthworm. Ha! A worm!"
Hikaru laughed hysterically, all the while bouncing Tamaki's head against the hardwood floor.
Finally growing bored he got up off Tamaki, allowing the taller man to curl into some pitiful semblance of a protective crouch.
"Aww…look, you've gotten blood all over one of my favourite pairs of slacks…my FAVOURITE. My brother gave these to me…before you seduced him and took him from us." The last 'us' punctuated by a glob of spit hurled quite accurately at Tamaki's face.
"Kaoru joined me willingly once I revealed to him what a monster you'd become."
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Hikaru took the iron baton from his belt and began beating it across Tamaki's back, leaving deep-red welts and adding to the constellation of bruises.
"You took my brother away from me you worm. I don't know how you did it, but I want him back. I'M the only one allowed to make Kaoru feel good. Kaoru is MINE…MINE! MINE! MINE!"
"Enough!" The icy command froze Hikaru in mid-strike. "Who told you to abuse our guests this way? Untie them at once!"
Hikaru cowered meekly and hastily untied Tamaki's bonds.
"I really am quite sorry for Hikaru's actions. He's just been a little shaken up recently. Kaoru's betrayal has been particularly hard on the poor boy."
Tamaki didn't need to feel the familiar hands against his back to recognise this frigid demeanour. Kyouya knelt beside him and whispered in his ear,
"You see, he loved Kaoru and…he just can't understand how someone he loved so much could do something so cruel."
Hikaru removed the blindfold, gag, and headphones from Haruhi's face.
"Get Out!" Kyouya shouted almost angrily. The sudden volume rang tinny in Tamaki's ears. He whispered again,
"I just don't understand how the man I loved could betray me."
"Tamaki? Is that you? Tamaki what's going on? I can't feel my legs anymore Tamaki…Tamaki?"
Tamaki looked up and saw the bruises all along Haruhi's delicate neck. The same neck he'd showered kisses along not two weeks ago. He saw her normally soft, pink, lips all cracked and swollen and bloodied. He could still remember the taste of her against his mouth, the feeling of her tongue as it danced against his own. He saw the painful angles of her legs, the way they bent the wrong way just below her knees. He saw his lover. He saw the terror in her eyes. And he knew it was entirely his fault.
"Like I was saying, I really must apologize for how Hikaru treated you two in my absence. I assure you that whatever he did to you…I will do a hundred times worse.
"You must understand…this mission is very important to me. I can't afford any liabilities. And ever since you met this Fujioka you've become nothing more than a liability to us all. I had honestly hoped you would spend you days in detention reflecting on your actions but…I never thought you would so far as to cut out your augment to escape.
"I guess it's time to cut my losses and move on.
"I promise to make H.O.S.T. into a great organization. Even if I have to do it without you by my side." He stroked wistfully at Tamaki's hair.
"Morinozuka. Kill Ms. Fujioka and escort Major Suoh back to his cell."
"Yes sir."
Mori unholstered his pistol and strode the two metres between him and Haruhi in three great strides. Kyouya waved the gun aside and motioned to the katana hanging at Mori's side.
"I'm returning to base ahead of you…make it messy…and make sure Tamaki gets a good eyeful of his own little private show."
Tamaki attempted to lunge at Kyouya but instead met the impact of the commander's shoe into his stomach. He strode over to Tamaki's doubled-over body and gave one last, longing, caress across Tamaki's battered face before leaving the three of them, two H.O.S.T. members and a broken girl, alone in the room.
"I'm sorry Tamaki. I didn't want things to end this way." The katana's killing edge glinted menacingly in the filtered moonlight through the windows.
"I guess my life was over the minute I turned against Kyouya. I know nobody ever comes out of Kyouya's 'special' interrogation alive. Do what you must, just please…don't make me watch. I beg of you to grant me this one last request."
Mori said nothing as Tamaki turned to face his back towards the impending carnage. He didn't hear the slash, but he felt the warm spattering of blood against his skin as he choked out barely a whisper.
"Haruhi…I love you."
Finally, Tamaki heard the dull thump of flesh striking against the wooden floor. He tried to scream his agony, to cry bitter tears of anguish. But no sound would come to his lips, and no tears would cool his burning cheeks.
He heard the heavy footsteps as his captor came for him. This time, to put him in a cell he was sure he would never escape.
"I'm sorry Tamaki; this is the best I can do for you. Please tell master Haninozuka that I have shamed him today."
"Wha…" Confused, Tamaki whirled around to ask Mori what he meant, but Mori was gone.
All strength sapped from his limbs, Tamaki crawled over to where Haruhi lay lifeless on the floor. She had a dozen cuts across her body, and her own blood pooled rapidly on the floor. He cradled her gently in his arms. She had gotten so thin in the week he spent as Kyouya's prisoner. So thin and frail. Tamaki cradled her in his arms and cried.