Chapter One
She stands in silence as the warm water runs over her body from the shower head. Today had put enough stress on her that she just needed to be quiet for a few moments, and there was no better place to do that than the shower, where she could lose herself. After half an hour, she finally left and wrapped herself up in a towel and headed to the room that Jamin had given them.
When she opened the door, she immediately looked for Hibiki, the boy who should have been there waiting. He said before she left that he'd stay there waiting for her to come back, so she wouldn't be shocked, or worse, came into the room without her towel. He was wrapped in a bubble of blankets on the bed-which is weird since she expected him to be on the couch that was there-and she could hear him breathing strangely. She frowns, concerned, and walks over to the side of the bed.
"Hibi? You okay?" she speaks and he jumps up from whatever he was doing. This worried her more. "What're you doing?"
"Um," He answers, still shocked. "Uh I uh, I was just making my bed!"
She tilts her head to the side, wondering why he was lying to her. She looks away from him to the bed for a second, and noticed his skinny jeans and underwear on the other side. She blinks a couple times and smiles, now understanding what was happening.
She takes the cover and slowly pulls it from him. Just as she did, he covers himself.
"Uh, nothing to see here!" This didn't stop her from trying to uncover her target from the sheets that were draped over it. "I'm sorry, I thought I'd have enough time before you got back." he starts to explain.
"Yeah, and how'd that work out for ya?" she teases him, sitting on the bed next to him. "Relax, it's fine."
"You ok?" he asks, looking at her, sitting up, still covering himself. She looks down at him and her smile fades a little, but he noticed.
"No, but I'll be alright."
"You better be."
"I will be." She looks at his hands a second before reaching and holding one of them. He tenses up. "You alright?"
"Yea, I'm ok." he answers, and she could tell he wasn't expecting that. She pulls both of his hands away. She looks back to him, and listens to hear as far as she could out of the room she's in to hear where the others in the house are. He starts to say something else but she kisses him softly.
After a thirty seconds of them kissing each other, she stops and catches her breath, him doing the same, and she closes her eyes. "Later?" she whispers.
"If you want." he answers, and she turns away, at the same time covering him with the blanket again, and toward the door, just as Solomon, Hikari's newly discovered younger brother, opens the door loudly.
"Guys!" he starts, not paying attention to them. "Jamin wants us all downstairs!"
And he left, just like that, leaving the door wide open. Looking back at Hibiki, she could feel herself blushing, and could see that he was as well.
"I guess we better go..."
There's a certain silence as they walk down the stairs towards the room that Jamin invited them to.
After a few minutes Jamin finally starts up again on more bad news. "There's more I need to tell you about your birth parents Hikari... You too Solo." Turning his head to look at the child he raised
"Yeah, I figured as much" Hikari replied weakly "Hibi, why don't you go to the bathroom and wash up? I'll be fine for now." He looks at her in the eyes and then starts walking in the direction of the restroom to give the others privacy.
"I'm sorry Hikari, it should've been me. I was entrusted by your parents to watch over you and Solo, but I had to give you away to others so that they couldn't get the both of you," Jamin starts as soon as he leaves. "I tried my best to watch over you from a distance, but if I were to house you both it'd be a risk to all of the people we know, and it was a risk I wasn't willing to take then. The people who died today were casualties in a search for you, and I should've died protecting you."
"Jamin... stop it," Hikari tells him, stopping whatever he was about to continue saying. "I'm not... mad about my parents... It's too late. They're dead, and now we know that they've found us. I can get over their deaths in time."
"They were an unnecessary sacrifice."
"That isn't your fault. None of us knew. Now we do... I'm more upset with the fact that you never told us we were related," she explains. "You had both of our entire lives to tell us, and you didn't."
"Yep." Solo speaks up after being in complete silence the entire time. "That was kinda fucked up dude."
"Death can be gotten over... it has to be, we're being hunted. To think there will be no casualties is stupid. But we can't have stupid secrets like this, Jamin. You know that."
"Yes I know, I'm sorry." They stand in silence for a few minutes until they hear a crash and the sound of objects falling from in the bathroom. "The fuck?"
"Jamin! There's something wrong with the soap!" Hibiki yells from the bathroom after a second.
"Oh my god, Hibi, what did you do?!" Hikari yells back, then looks at Jamin for permission to go. He gestures in the direction of the bathroom, laughing, and she takes off, jogging up to where Hibi was. He looks at Solo, who was already walking after her.
"What?" He asks his guardian, knowing he was looking after him, and disappears to where she had gone as well. A second later, both of their laughter filled the house at what they saw, which made Jamin smile.
Enjoy yourselves now, you three. Jamin thinks, his smile faltering after a few seconds. I get the feeling not everything is going to be as nice as they have been in the past.
When the three of them come back, Solo and Hikari are covered in water and bubbles, still laughing quietly, while Hibiki is pouting, but is still holding Hikari's hand.
"The hell happened to you two?" Jamin asks, smiling again. Hikari stops laughing, but is still smiling.
"Hibi didn't like that we were laughing," she explains, just to start laughing again, meanwhile Solo was just trying to catch his breath.
Jamin tries his best to fake a chuckle before ruining the other's fun. "Hikari why don't you and Jordan go back upstairs to your room and get dried off again and dressed in some clean clothes?" The two then comply and walk back up the stairs they came down originally to their room.
Solo then started to whistle to himself absent mindedly. "You too dumbass." Jamin says harshly. The goof then proceeds to skip into his room like an idiot.
Hibiki and Hikari start getting dressed once they reach their room again. Hibiki adorns his usual iconic outfit of black skinny jeans, a black V-neck T-shirt, and a unzipped hoodie (though he'd much rather be shirtless), all while occasionally taking peeks at his girlfriend's body as she changes. She is wearing a similar outfit consisting of a plain blue T-shirt, a black sweater, a black pair of tight jeans that hug the shape of her legs, and her Wolfy hat she always has to on.
The two finish preparing and all they have left to do before heading out is to put on their shoes. "So... When is 'later' exactly?" Hibiki asks.
"Are you really worried about that right now with all that's going on?" Hikari remarks. "Geez, I was just asking." he states defensively.
"Yeah yeah, just hurry up. We need to get going, and we don't want to keep Jamin waiting too long." Hikari says already halfway out the door.
The couple soon walk down the stairs together and are greeted by Jamin who is now decked out in battle armor consisting of a long plated coat, a large bulky pair of gauntlets as well as matching boots, and an uncomfortable looking pair of pants that appeared to be made out of some form of latex.
"Well aren't you two cute with your matching emo outfits."
Hibiki stares in awe at the ethereal warrior staring before him.
"WOAH! That's fucking cool! I want armor! How come I don't have any?!"
Jamin then rolls his eyes signaling that its not as great as it may seem.
"Yeah, how did you even get dressed in all of so fast?" Hikari ask.
"Ghost ways." He replies "I'm glad you both got ready so fast, but now, what the hell is taking Solo so long?"
Almost as if he was waiting for his que Solomon walks back into the room wearing the same thing he was originally and is just as dripping wet.
"Solo, what the fuck?" The other three say in unison, Hikari face palming, and Jamin rolling his eyes again as they say it.
"Whatever, it'll have to work for now." Jamin says in annoyance. "We need to go now otherwise they could have a higher chance of finding us."
Hikari is obviously getting more stressed as this all goes on "Well where even are we going?" She asks in a worried fashion.
"I'm not sure of the final destination. But that's why we are heading to someone who can tell us of a safe place to keep you two while you lay low." He replies while throwing a spare towel at Solo for the road. "And sad as it may be, I can't even promise you kids that you'll be a hundred percent safe where you're going to be residing."
Hibiki has his own opinions on what Jamin has been saying, but finally speaks up once he sees his girlfriend losing herself in her overcomplicated thoughts and emotions, like she often does. "Okay listen here, I get what you're trying to do with Solo and Hikari but I don't think you realize something. I'm staying with Her."
"Jordan that's not an option. You're coming with us and getting dropped off along the way."
"I'm not going to let that happen Jamin! There's nothing you can say nor do that will make me change my mind! I'm staying by her side, I'm going to see her through this, and I'm going to be with her when it's all over! If you don't like that than you'll have to stop me yourself. Because I'm-"
Hibiki is cut off when Hikari takes and hugs his arm while holding herself close to his side. "Hibi stop." She stares at the ground, seeming almost lifeless. "... It'll be okay."
After a swift few moments of silence Jamin separates the two when he walks between them, grabs a bag, and heads out the door "we'll talk about this later, we need to go immediately." He then opens a ghost portal and walked through it. Solo then follows behind him, drying off with his new towel. Though it's not doing much for his level of moisture.
Just as the young couple step out the door Hibiki takes his freighted girlfriend's hand in his and looks at her in the eyes. "Don't worry, no matter what happens from here I'll always be there for you. Things won't end as badly as it may seem, I have faith."
Hikari then holds his hand tighter, It's colder than usual. He's scared, that was one of his signs she's learned to pick up on over the three years they've been together. "I have faith too. And I know you'll be here for me, now and forever."
The two then start walking faster, fingers intertwined, footsteps in sync "I promise I'll be there for you... I'll never let anything happen to you." Hibiki whispers quietly trying to hide it from Hikari. Unfortunately he was never good at whispering and she heard every word he said.
"I know, I'm counting on it." Hikari whispers back. Though it seemed like Hibiki either didn't hear her, or was just trying to focus on walking and not tripping like he normally did in other touching moments.
"Are we there yet?" Solo asked.
"Yes actually." Jamin replies.
"Oh shit, really?!" Solo exclaims.
"YAAAY!" Hikari shouts.
Hibiki stops and stares at the home in front of the group "You're still planning on dropping me off, aren't you?" The house was his.
"Yes, I am." Jamin responds walking towards the door, and opening it. "Hey Kalu, we're coming in."
Solo, Hibiki, and Hikari soon follow behind their impatient leader into Kalu's suburban home.
"Oh shit, Kalu?! The fuck are we at this lil' bitch's place for?!" Solo yells playfully.
The home is nothing more than you would think a normal middle aged male in America would own: Kinda small, two floors, a tiny yard that hasn't been mowed in a month due to procrastination and pure laziness, all placed in the middle of a cul-de-sac residing in the suburbs just outside the city. The inside isn't anything to marvel at either. It's dirty, trash strewn randomly around the floor, and it's reasonable to assume it hasn't been vacuumed in a while, much like the lawn.
"Oh damn, hey guys." Kalu says in response to the people entering his home.
He looks past Jamin and Solo to see the young couple standing in the doorway, as they had entered much later than the other two. He looks at the two with piercing eyes. Hibiki is comforting Hikari in his arms. His father doesn't approve of him dating Hikari, regardless of what Kalu thinks though he continues to love, cherish, and comfort his girlfriend. It would take a lot more than just a stern parent to separate him from the most important thing in his life. Kalu doesn't say anything about it this time though. Perhaps he could tell that something was wrong and didn't want to make matters worse.
"I wish we could sit here and chat, but I'm afraid we have to cut the greetings short." Jamin states.
Kalu changes focus to the worried young man. "Yeah, what's going on? Why are you all so rushed?"
"I wish I could tell you right now, but I'd prefer to talk to you privately first."
"I understand, we can go upstairs and talk about it in the bedroom." Kalu then looks over in the direction of the children, but mainly Hibiki. "Why don't you three stay down here and wait for us to be finished, then we'll come back down and discuss everything with you afterwards."
The party splits up temporarily with Jamin and Kalu working their way up the stairs to the room that will service their private conference. The trio head towards the living room, Hibiki and Hikari sit next to each other on the couch and put their arms around one another.
"Oh shit, a leany back chair!" Solo exclaims soon seeing the recliner.
"The fuck? You mean a recli-" Hibiki is cut off by him jumping into the chair which legs break immediately upon impact. Both it and Solo quickly fall to the floor with a loud thud.
"Oh wow. Smooth move Ex-Lax." Hibiki quips. Hikari simply facepalms and judges silently.
Upstairs the two adults hear the crash and are forced to end their conversation out of worry and curiosity as to what happened. As Jamin runs his way through a wall, and Kalu sprints down the stairs another loud crash can be heard. This time it wasn't Solomon's antics that caused it.
Kalu has fallen down the stairs and can't get himself back up. Jamin can't move or even yell out in anger, paralyzed by the scene laid out before him: A hole blown through the wall, Solo setting fire to everything, Hikari huddled over Hibiki's body and rambling like crazy, with tears streaming down her face. He's impaled, unconscious, bleeding profusely.
"Oh God, Jordan... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I'll kill them... I'll kill them all... I'll wipe every last one of them off the face of this earth..."