Title: Pain Part 2

Rating: T

Notes: The sequel to Pain – I know I have such colourful titles!

Summary: Tsubasa has been let go, but it comes with a price. Can he find Phoenix? And once he learns of the man's identity will he be able to give him over to Doji?

He stopped walking once more, the throbbing pain grew stronger but it was only for a few seconds, until he felt able to continue walking again.

The white haired teen had no idea how he managed it, to treat himself as well as he did and manage to walk out of the building as if he wasn't in complete agony.

Maybe I should have taken those pills… He thought to himself, but at the time he refused, not knowing what those pills were actually for.

He tried to act as natural as he could, given his condition. Doji was paranoid and Tsubasa knew that he would be watched by someone who was as sharp eyed as his own eagle.

He looked up and saw his feathered friend, those eyes reflected sympathy and pity back at him that Tsubasa tore his eyes away from the bird and continued to walk on, not wanting to see such emotions, refusing to allow those emotions affect him.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to figure out a plan.

I'm free from him. But… I will have to go back. He'll have people watching… The teen looked around him, carefully looking for any stalkers but he knew it was useless. The Dark Nebula Organisation took him on, not realising that he was a spy.

'Find Phoenix'. That was the order he had been given by Doji.

All I have to do is find Phoenix, or whoever he is, and then Doji's goons can take him out. If I am lucky it should mean that I get off the hook. He walked on, carefully thinking and realised there was a hole in his thoughts; What if Doji doesn't let me go? We never… He never said what he would do with me after…

He felt a pang of guilt, the man who saved him from battling Ryuuga too soon and he was going to turn him over as soon as he had all the relevant information. There was also the thought of someone else having to endure the agony and suffering that he had just gone through.

I can't go back… I can't!

He thought over the clues that he could remember from meeting Phoenix and decided that he would need to search for more information in the WBBA browser. Looking up he realised he was closer than he had first thought and took another deep breath as he walked up the steps to enter the building when he felt a weight attach to his legs.

Amber eyes looked down to see a short blonde haired boy tightly hugging his legs; "Tsubasa! You're back!"

Ah, I never did find out how long I was… away for.

He spotted Kenta in the background, slowly walking up to them and obviously felt a bit out of place. Tsubasa didn't blame him; they had never been close friends, so he couldn't exactly join in with the hugging. Not that he minded, as it felt like Yu was trying to cut off the circulation to his legs.

"You've been gone for a few weeks," Kenta said with a small smile, gland to see the older teen was all right.

"Yea," Yu backed away and gave him his best glare; "Where were you anyway?"

Lie. He thought, knowing the danger the two would be in if he told the truth; "Just needed a break, everything just got a bit much,"

"I'll say. Trying to fight off that dark force must have been hard," Kenta said sympathetically; "But are you sure you are ready to…?" He began as he looked at the building behind him, unsure if the older teen should go back to work after he had needed such time off and without telling anyone.

"I am, I'll be fine," He said with a nod and looked back to Yu with a smile; "I'm sorry I worried you,"

"Tch," Yu looked away, his arms crossed and pouting; "You should consider other people's feelings before you run off,"

"Next time I will," He promised, knowing that regardless of how Yu was acting, he was forgiven as the young blader didn't bother with grudges.

"Oh Yu, you're…" Kenta began and Yu uncrossed his arms and pulled out a letter from his pocket, handing it to Tsubasa.

"Here, it's a letter from your new boss," He said with a smile; "He's really cool,"

"New boss?" He repeated taking the letter from the blonde and once opened he began to read.

He tried to read in between the lines, wondering if Doji had planned this so far in advance, that his new boss was someone that would keep a close eye on him. But as he made his way to the office, leaving Kenta and Yu outside, he saw a familiar silhouette in the frosted glass door.

The movement, the walk were all familiar to him and when he opened the door he came face to face with a man who looked so much like Ginga, the same eyes and hair and to an extent the same type of expression.

"Ah, Tsubasa…" He came over and held his hand, which Tsubasa took to shake firmly; "I'm Ryo…"

"Ginga's dad, yea I heard about you," He said with a slow nod and noticed the man smiled; "What?"

"No wonder the WBBA made you a spy,"

"Actually Ginga spoke of you once," He admitted, not wanting his new boss to think it was anything to do with his skills as a spy; "About Ryuuga as well,"

Ryo's just nodded, although Tsubasa was observant enough to notice that those eyes had gotten darker when he mentioned Ryuuga; "I see, I suppose I shouldn't have kept it a secret that I was indeed alive…"

"You had your reasons, I am sure that Ginga understand that," He realised that he sounded rather unnatural, had Doji never gotten his claws into him he wouldn't have said a thing, after all the man had made his choice.

It was as he walked away that everything fell into place, everything clicked together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; That was too easy… far too easy. He thought as he realised that Phoenix had just fallen into his lap without him even trying to find him.

However he wasn't once to just go with what he saw, he needed information to back his claim and checked the database on the bladers, to find the Phoenix was up there and the information was eerily similar to that of Ryo.

It could be a coincidence, but I doubt it. Tsubasa closed down the windows of his search, leaving him with information on L Drago up; I heard his bey was badly damaged… Is there someone looking for him now? Such a powerful bey shouldn't be allowed in someone's hands…

XXX

He was taking his mind off the inevitable. He had to contact Doji, it had been two days since he had come to his conclusion and he knew that the man would probably be itching for some flesh to hit. But as his hand hovered over the keys he found himself held back, by simple guilt.

I… I can't do it. I can't do that to Ginga… How could I think of taking his father away from him? The same man who also saved me from Ryuuga. He rubbed his forehead, feeling the waves of fear and despair comes over him, knowing that it wasn't far to have Ryo replace him and become part of that sick torture.

I have to… I can't do that again, I can't! He felt himself tremble and he took a breath to calm himself, hoping no one would see. He knew too well that if Doji got him back into that room again, not only would his body be broken from the whips sharp lash, but also his mind would be in pieces.

He was so absorbed in trying to calm himself and thinking of doing the right thing that he never noticed Ryo standing behind him, putting a hand gently on his shoulder and causing him to jump.

"Whoo, sorry Tsubasa, didn't mean to startle…" He began, but noticed the look in his eyes, the slightly crazed look but if was of fear.

He then noticed that his hand felt damp and turning it over to look at it he saw a light red colour; Blood?

"Tsubasa, who did this to you?" He asked gently, but the teen started to shake more and wrapped his arms around himself. He crouched down; "Tsubasa? It's all right; you're in the WBBA…"

"He'll know… I'll be taken back there…" The teen didn't appear to have heard him, his fear replaying in front of him, the whipping he would receive when Doji learns that someone found out about his back and he wouldn't be able to give a good enough reason for them.

"Who?" He looked into those amber eyes and saw something familiar, something he never thought he would see again; "Tsubasa, listen to me, please. No one will get you, I promise,"

"I… I can't. I've been sent to find Phoenix," He admitted but looked at his hands, which were tightly clenched into fists; "I was let go to find him," He looked into the man's eyes, his eyes bright with despair and agony; "I can't go back, I'm… I'm not strong enough…" He finally whispered, feeling tears wanting to escape the corner of his eyes and closing them, holding them back.

"Let me see your back," Ryo said, deciding that they needed to get off this topic, before Tsubasa was unable or unwilling to answer any questions. The teen had his own little office space and Ryo knew there was a First Aid kit by the desk. Tsubasa gave him an unsure look and he smiled gently; "It I can look at it, we can fix those bandages,"

Slowly the teen nodded in agreement, moving to a position so that Ryo could get to his back and then he removed his shirt.

Ryo made sure all the essentials were near to hand, cotton wool, antiseptic and bandages and then he turned to see Tsubasa's back.

"My god…"

The white haired teen never heard him, pulling his hair round to his side so it wouldn't get in the way the blood was seeping through he bandages that he had put on that morning.

What kind of sick… His thought trailed off as he came to the conclusion, the one person that would want revenge for what Phoenix had done to them; Doji.

He remained silent, slowly removing the bandages and putting them into the waste bin next to him, feeling revulsion at seeing Tsubasa's back covered in wounds, none were deep enough to require stiches but they all looked painful and some continued to bleed.

As he slowly cleaned the wounds Tsubasa began to calm down once more, he glanced over his shoulder and though his amber eyes still had a tinge of fear in them they were also trusting.

Good boy. Ryo though, glad that the white haired blader felt able to trust him; It's not easy to trust someone in this kind of situation, but you have to.

"It's Doji,"

"I know," He said with a slight nod and noticed his eyes getting wide; "Shh, it's all right. You didn't give anything away," He calmed him, noticing that the tension had returned; "It's easy enough to figure out. Ryuuga wouldn't have bothered with you,"

"But…"

"Calm down, you need to just stay…" As he spoke he watched as the dark aura, an aura he was familiar with, began to gather around the teen; "Tsubasa!"

The teen couldn't hear him, the darkness over took everything and the dark purple aura covered him like a cloak.

Now Ryo looked on, unsure how he could proceed, if he could even proceed, this darkness was something he had faced once before and had failed, but he wasn't sure what went wrong.

He was damaged, so is Tsubasa. How can I help? Doji had fractured his mind; all of his negative emotions are just getting stronger. Ryo shook his head; only one thing to do. Tsubasa can't do this alone.

He stayed with the boy until the darkness finally receded and then finished bandaging his back, letting the boy know that he was around if he felt the need to talk some more and he made a note to have someone keep a close eye on the boy, just in case Doji got any funny ideas again.

Chances are, he has nothing to lose by kidnapping Tsubasa again.

XXX

Tsubasa had left the WBBA already, before Ryo or his 'spy' knew about it and it wasn't even a safe walk home since Doji's goon's were now following him and made sure he knew about it by bumping into him every so often although they made it look like an accident.

He tried to walk faster, but it didn't matter, they would still get in his way until suddenly it all stopped. He was still too far away from his apartment to be safe, so he cautiously looked around as he ran to the building.

Once in his home he sighed then he noticed the familiar white hair and white jacket on his sofa.

"R… Ryuuga?" Tsubasa stepped back, his hand at the doorknob, ready to make a quick exsit when the other teen jumped up, pushed him away from the door just as it was being kicked in.

"Tch, they are so predictable," Ryuuga said mockingly, pulling Tsubasa with him as they took the fire exit from the kitchen.

"What…" He began as they reached street level, his wounds throbbed once again, he wished he had taken extra medicine that Ryo had given him earlier on; Not that it would have helped with all the pushing around back there.

"Doji is after you," He said simply, letting him just follow; "He sent you to spy on someone,"

"Yea," Tsubasa replied, but was unwilling to add anything more to it, after all Ryuuga was still the enemy.

"Phoenix," He said simply and Tsubasa wasn't able to hide his surprise, Ryuuga smirked; "It's obvious, he wouldn't fight Ginga, he was mine. Phoenix was the one who cracked him,"

"Cracked him?"

"Doji normally comes across as being rather… sane. But he's not." Ryuuga glared at something further ahead, although Tsubasa wasn't sure what it could have been, the pain was getting more intense and he could feel…

"Knock it off!" Ryuuga shouted back, glaring at him now.

The dark purple aura lifted and he blinked at the other in surprise; "What…?"

"L Drago's dark power found a home in you too," He narrowed his eyes at him, carefully watching him; "You're not the type Doji usually goes for,"

He took a step back, preparing to walk away, until what he said next.

"Normally he goes for those younger,"

"You mean… like Yu?"

The Dragon Emperor nodded slowly; "Exactly that, I was surprised when Doji introduced me to him as well,"

"How? Yu said…"

"Like he actually knew Doji?" Ryuuga raised an eyebrow and Tsubasa nodded, Yu never knew Doji.

"Why didn't he do anything to Yu?"

"Because I was still around," He admitted, but his jaw was clenched, it was obvious that he didn't want to tell anyone about that; "Why mess with a new toy when the old one still works?"

"But… You were in a coma…"

"A deep sleep not a coma. He injured me worse than you, to such an extent that when I trained with L Drago that last time, the dark energy absorbed into my being, letting the dragon have a foothold,"

"So, he used to do this to you too?"

Ryuuga never looked at him when he gave a sharp nod; "If it wasn't you, then he would have gone after that kid. But you were the spy and the traitor," He shrugged.

"That's why you never went to battle Yu," Tsubasa realised and noticed Ryuuga tense up.

Quickly, before he was aware of what was going on, L Drago had been released and before them was Doji who glared at the two with a wild look in his eyes, completely unstable.

"So my two…"

"You don't hold the power around here Doji," Ryuuga snapped, L Drago keeping the distance between them and the mad man; "Right now you are on thin ice,"

Doji just laughed and began to walk towards them, which was enough of a threat for L Drago to send him into a wall, knocking him out as the two left.

"Why help me?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Ryuuga countered and once more smirked at him, as if what had happened to them wasn't unusual; "We're damned, that's just how it is. You would rather deal with Doji than have Yu suffer, right?" Tsubasa nodded; "What if I had been in the same position,"

Before the long haired blader could ask anything else, Ryuuga was gone and turning he saw Phoenix, masked up walking towards him.

"Are you all right?"

"Yea," He then realised that he was shaking, although out of fear or relief he wasn't able to tell anymore; "Yea… I… I think I should go and get these checked out," he gestured to his back and Phoenix nodded slowly.

"I saw…"

"Yea, Doji is down there…" Tsubasa stopped and felt a bit of weight lift off his shoulders, free in the knowledge that he was safe and that he wasn't alone in what happened to him.

I'm okay.