Chapter One

Chūya awoke with a hell of a headache. He had to wonder if he'd gotten drunk again. He really loved to drink, but he had no tolerance for it and got horrible hangovers. He sat up only to hit his head on something. He groaned because he didn't need to jostle his brain more than it already was. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. He was trying to remember what happened last night. The last thing he remembered was stopping in at the bar…but he didn't remember drinking that much. In fact, he couldn't remember much after he got his first drink. He remembered getting there and finding no one to drink with, so he'd decided to only have that one drink and go back home. So, what happened after that drink?

"You're awake," came a voice nearby. It sounded muffled, but it might have been whatever was messing with his head. He blinked at the dim light around him and wondered why someone would leave all the lights off like this.

"What's going on?" he said as he realized the reason he bumped his head was because he was inside a steel cage. He looked around the dark room to see the glint of metal from other cages and he could hear whimpering and sniffing coming from many directions.

A nondescript Japanese man came out of the shadows and smiled at him. He wore a dark suit and tie. "You were a lovely catch. I imagine you'll sell well."

"Sell?" Chūya asked, realizing that he was in trouble. He had no idea who this guy was and he was going to be in trouble if he didn't show up for the meeting later today. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your boss is in my way; I decided to show him how far my reach is. So I plucked you from that bar last night. Easy nab, you never saw it coming. You thought you were safe in a bar that is mostly covered by the Port Mafia. I walked in and took you right from under their noses."

Chūya grabbed the bars and snarled. "You can't do this. I'll get out of here…"

"Don't worry, you'll soon be drugged out of your mind. You aren't going to care what happens to you. Don't worry, you aren't alone. We have a lot of product to sell today, including someone we plucked from the Armed Detective Agency," he said and pointed to the other cage across from him.

"Who?" Chūya asked, suddenly very worried because what if they captured Dazai…

"Newbie, a youngling named Atsushi," the strange man said with a smirk. "He's already been awake and is drugged for the sale. Oh, here comes your dose," he said and leaned back.

Two men came up to the cage and opened it. Chūya took the chance to attack but he realized he was chained at the ankle. He tried to fend them off, but instead he got stabbed in the thigh with a needle. His reactions were slow and his movements were sluggish. It didn't take long but the world began to fade out. He came to again and was standing up on a stage. He looked to the side and saw there were a bunch of nearly naked girls, all swaying on their feet much like he was. He turned and stared into what looked like an audience and heard people saying words but he couldn't understand them. Suddenly, he was grabbed and pulled forward.

"And special today, we have this lovely redhead. We'll take average starting bid."

Chūya lost track of things then, and next he knew he was coming to consciousness in the back of a car. He was handcuffed and tied to a bar in the roof of the car. He felt ill and wanted to get away. He looked up to see a woman get into the car next to him. She was a tall brunette with her hair tied up in a bun and a pair of plastic rimmed glasses that were bright pink. She reached over and ruffled his hair, making him realize his hat was gone. Then again, he was wearing his shorts and nothing else.

"Aren't you an adorable little thing," she said with a smile. "My friend bought that other little boy they had up for sale; he'll be in good hands with him. Well, good is a relative term. You will put on a nice show, I think."

"Show?" he asked with a frown as he tried to clear his head.

"I'm a lesbian, but I love to watch two boys go at it. You're so small and cute, you'll be perfect," she said with a smirk.

Chūya shook his head and tried to get his hands free of the cuffs but he was still out of it on whatever drug they'd given him. His struggle was cut short when she injected his thigh with something again. He felt the world fade out and he wondered how he was going to get out of this.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

"What do you mean Atsushi is missing?" Osamu Dazai asked as Junichirou Tanizaki stood by his desk.

"I mean, he's not at the dorm. He's just gone," he said with a glance at his sister Naomi.

"What could have happened?" Dazai wondered as his phone rang.

He pulled it out to see a number he wasn't expecting. He wasn't even sure how he found his number. He answered.

"Is he with you?" Ōgai Mori, leader of the Port Mafia, said.

"Is who with me?" Dazai asked, wondering who he was talking about.

"Chūya. He disappeared last night. I was hoping he got drunk and you picked him up."

"No, we're missing someone too…" Dazai started as he looked up to see his partner, Doppo Kunikida, came into the room making notes in his notebook.

"This might be connected. I'll look into it on our end, if you look into it on your end," Mori said and the line cut off.

Dazai stared at the phone for a moment, wondering just what was going on. To have someone from both organizations disappear at the same time was unlikely. The two had to be connected. There was no way it was just a coincidence that Atsushi would be gone at the same time as Chūya.

"What's going on?" Kunikida asked, looking up from his notebook.

"Someone from Port Mafia is missing as well as Atsushi. Could we be dealing with a third group that is targeting both of us?" Dazai mused, wondering exactly who could be trying to get at both them and the Port Mafia.

"I think we are dealing with another faction; Yakuza out of Tokyo," Yukichi Fukuzawa, leader of the small group known as the Armed Detective Agency stated as he entered the room.

The Armed Detective Agency had a contract with the government to carry weapons, though most of them chose not to carry them. They investigated things the police had trouble with, and were often a source for investigations that seemed impossible. Thanks to the incredible detective skills of one of their members, Ranpo Edogawa, they had a high rate of success.

Fukuzawa dropped a file folder in front of Dazai. "I got a call from the police this morning that there was a confirmed human trafficking sale last night that included two young men among the women. The police are tracking down buyers now, but they don't have an estimate or guarantee that we…" The phone rang then interrupting him. He paused, picking it up.

"Armed Detective Agency," he answered. He listened to someone then just hung up the phone. "It seems we're on the right track. They've decided to move on some of the buyers."

"We can't sit here and do nothing; we should go to where the sale happened and investigate," Dazai said as he stood up.

"You and Kunikida go check it out, here's the address," Fukuzawa said and handed over a paper to them. "Watch yourselves. If this was this new Yakuza gang trying to flex their muscles, they might have left someone behind to watch who came to look around."

Kunikida and Dazai headed out to find out just what had happened with their own eyes. They came to a warehouse by the docks that was marked off by police tape. As they approached, there was an officer standing nearby. The introduced themselves as from the Armed Detective Agency and were allowed inside the tape.

"There isn't much here," Kunikida remarked as they looked around. It was open and there were no large pieces of equipment in the place.

Dazai knelt by some scuff marks on the floor and noted the pattern. "I think they had cages here. A lot of them. The president didn't say how many were involved, did he?"

"No, so could have been any number of victims. Do you really think this is where Atsushi was taken?" he wondered.

Dazai shook his head. "Maybe. We have to confirm yet that they were even here."

They explored the area for a while longer and then went out behind the building. There was a large dumpster. Dazai frowned and before Kunikida could say anything, he'd jumped up and into the opening.

"What are you looking for?" Kunikida asked as he stood below.

Dazai's head popped back out and he dropped a bundle to the ground. He then hefted himself up and over the side. "They were here," he said as he picked up a pair of black slacks and a hat out of the bundle of clothes.

A few more minutes of searching revealed several sets of women's clothes and the two sets of men's, including what Dazai knew to be Chūya's coat and hat. "They were mostly stripped for the sale," Kunikida observed, frowning at the number of clothes they had found dumped into the dumpster. "There were a lot of them. How did this happen under our noses?"

"One thing the Port Mafia never got into was human trafficking. They could have come in without anyone knowing, using the market for that sort of thing along a port city to their advantage. We have to hope that they weren't sold overseas. They would be beyond our reach," Dazai said as he gathered both Chūya's clothes and Atsushi's.

"Why take someone from us and the Port Mafia?" Kunikida mused.

"To announce themselves as a force to be reckoned with, I'm afraid. A show of 'look what we can do to you' to both groups as a warning to stay out of their way," Dazai concluded, not realizing he was clutching the clothes against him. "We won't, of course, we can't let human trafficking run rampant."

"I just hope they weren't sold to organ harvesters, because then we're already too late," Kunikida said as they exited the building. They told the officer that they'd found clothes in the dumpster but were taking some as evidence. The officer hadn't been told anything about letting them take stuff from the scene, but he was young and easily swayed.

As they were driving back, Dazai saw Mori was calling him again. He answered. "He was there, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, do you have any information that I lack?" Dazai asked.

"Just that we know it was a new group of Yakuza from Tokyo trying to make a start on the port. They wanted to show us how they could get to even us. At least that's what the one we caught said before he died. I'm afraid Akutagawa isn't you when it comes to interrogation," Mori said.

"We'll keep going in this investigation. Do we know what kind of buyers we're dealing with?" Dazai had to hope the answer wasn't organ dealers. Considering that the majority of those sold were women, he doubted that, though. The group should have been more mixed if they were dealing with black market organ dealers.

"Unknown, you have more information there than I do. I'll contact you if we find out anything on either of them."

Dazai hung up with a sigh. "I think we're dealing with sex traffickers."

"By the composition of the group, I'd agree." Kunikida pulled back into the agency garage and they went back up to the floor with their findings.

"That's a good sign that both Atsushi and Chūya are alive. However, we don't know what condition they'll be in when we find them," Dazai commented as they came back into the office.

"Did you find anything out?" Ranpo asked from his position by the window.

"Just that there were a lot of girls who were there with Atsushi and Chūya. At least that cuts down on the chances they're dead and having their organs sold on the black market. Unfortunately, that leaves the sale as being likely a sex trafficking group. Of course, we don't know who purchased them, so there's a possibility it was organ traffickers. Either way, we need to find them quickly," Dazai explained as he sat down at his desk.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Chūya next woke up with another headache. This was beginning to be a trend he did not enjoy. He tried to roll over but he was stopped by something around his neck. He groaned and wondered what fresh hell was this, then his memories caught up to him and his eyes shot open. That woman. Where was she?

He managed to sit up and realized he had a locked steel collar around his neck with a piece of chain locked to a bar in the wall. He looked around to realize he was sitting on a futon with plenty of covers and pillows. He was still only in his shorts and felt overly exposed even without anyone in the room. He looked around to see a large bed in the center of the room surrounded with curtains in a soft beige color. He had no idea how long it had been since he woke up last but he was really thirsty. It had to have been a while.

"Oh, there you are, sweetie," came the woman's voice. He turned to see her coming into the room with a tray laden with food and drink. "You're awake now, so here, I've brought you some dinner. I'm sorry for having to tie you up, but I was warned you were quite a capable martial artist. I can't let you roam about freely yet," she said and sat the tray down in front of him.

He wanted to slap it away but he realized then he was starving. Dinner? It had been at least last night when he'd been taken, so a day without food or water. How long could he last, he wondered.

"You're debating whether you should eat or not, aren't you? My, you're quite the calculating one, aren't you? I like them better smart." She knelt by the tray. "You can refuse, but I won't offer again until tomorrow night. That would be a long time to go without food or drink, sweetie. Now, I suggest you eat, because we're going to have some fun tonight after dinner!"

Chūya thought again how hard it would be to wait her out and refuse to eat. He wasn't sure what it would accomplish, but it might make her see that he was serious. Then again, if she didn't care, it would have no effect on her. Considering that this woman had purchased another human being just for some sadistic pleasure of her own, he doubted that compassion was high on this woman's list of qualities. After a few more minutes of debating with himself, he decided that hunger striking for this woman would lead him nowhere except to being even more weakened than he already was. He sighed and ate what she'd brought in silence. He wasn't going to speak to her at least. The water was the best part, he thought as he gulped it down, not noticing if it tasted a little off. Too late, as his head started to spin, he realized he'd been drugged again.

"There now, a little medicine to make things easier," she said as she picked up the tray. "Don't think you could have avoided it if you didn't drink; the food was laced with it as well. I really hate needles, and I have to keep you from breaking free! Someone like you would be gone in an instant!"

Chūya put his head down and wondered when someone was going to find him; if someone was going to find him. Time passed and then she was back with another man and woman. The man looked to be Japanese with short, dyed blonde hair and dark eyes. He was muscly and broad. He stood beside her as she sat down on the side of the bed.

"Shall we play, sweetie?" she asked, smiling at him.

If he'd been more with it, he might have done something besides stare at her dumbly as this guy came toward him. Wait, what was it she said? Oh, no, he thought as he watched the woman climb up on the bed and begin removing her clothes. No, no, no, he thought as he pushed away this guy's hands, but it was no good; he was weakened.

"Good, sweetie, good," he heard and then the whole world went to hell.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Atsushi woke up with a massive headache and found himself bound at the wrist and ankle still. There was a gag in his mouth and he was inside a truck of some sort. He was still under the influence of whatever they'd drugged him with. He still couldn't believe this. He shouldn't have gone outside when he heard someone calling for help; he should have called someone else to have a look, but no, he had to go outside to see if he could be of assistance. He'd barely gotten out the door when someone hit him from behind and the world went dark. He guessed that was the main reason his brain was throbbing so much.

Whatever he was in stopped moving and he looked to the end to see blinding light when the doors were opened. A man climbed into the back and untied his feet before yanking him roughly to stand. He stumbled as his head spun madly. He nearly fell when the man leading him pulled him down the ramp leading from the truck. He looked around to see he was at the port. He pulled back when he realized he was about to board a ship.

"Nope, want me to brain ya again?" asked the man pulling him along.

Atsushi didn't know what to do; there was nowhere to go once he got on a ship even if he got free. They stopped once they got on the ship and a woman in a suit came up, looking him over.

"He's older than we expected."

"He's eighteen, you said between fifteen and eighteen. You gonna pay us or not?" the man beside Atsushi said to the woman.

"Fine, just a moment and we'll make the transfer. Now…" she began but there was a loud sound behind them at the dock.

"Freeze! Police! Don't move!"

The man beside Atsushi shoved him toward the side of the boat, causing him to fall directly into the water. He couldn't save himself with his hands bound, and he was guessing the guy was counting on the police saving him before they went after anyone else. He hit the water and tried to gulp a big breath as he started to struggle with the rope on his wrists. He tried to calm himself but he was sinking. He was about out of breath when he felt someone grab him around the waist and start pulling him up. He broke the surface and started coughing what water was in his lungs as he was drug to the dock. A few seconds later he was laying on the dock hacking up more water. Someone finally untied his hands and he realized they'd pulled the gag off or it had come off in the water.

"Ambulance!" called someone next to him as he tried to sit up, but couldn't quite make it, falling flat onto the dock and wheezing.

He was standing and being put on a stretcher, of which he was very glad because his head was a mess. He was struggling with breath and his head felt like it was going to explode as he realized he was inside an ambulance. He let his eyes close because he was too tired to keep them open.

When he woke up next, he felt so much better that he didn't want to open his eyes. He did, though and found himself in a hospital bed being watched by Kunikida and Dazai.

"Oh, hi there," he said as he pushed himself to sit up.

"You were lucky," Kunikida said as he smiled at him. "You nearly drowned when that guy knocked you over the side."

Atsushi nodded, rubbing the raw places on his wrists. "Did they get him?"

"They arrested the person on the boat and two men that had transported you there. You were lucky indeed because that boat was headed into international waters once you were on board," Dazai explained.

"They got me outside the dorm," he said and rubbed his now bandaged head. "I don't remember much after that. I remember seeing a bunch of girls, though…"

"Police are tracking as many as they can from the sale last night. They've already arrested a few people who purchased some of the women. The men that did the sale had no control over what the buyers did after the fact, so they'll find some but not all of them," Dazai said and smiled at him. "You're safe, that's all that matters. You got away with a head injury and nearly being drowned, but it could have been worse."

"Who did it?" he asked, frowning as a pain struck through his head again.

"New Yakuza group out of Tokyo trying to show us we needed to stay out of things," Kunikida said as he took out his notebook and looked over some notes. "They snagged someone from Port Mafia too."

"Who?" he asked, wondering if they could have possibly gotten to Akutagawa.

"Chūya," Dazai said, and for a second, Atsushi saw the mask slip and sadness peek through. He knew they used to be partners, but that look was more than that.

"He's yet to be located," Kunikida offered. "You'll be released tomorrow; they just wanted to keep you in overnight to make sure you're okay after nearly drowning. Now that you're up, we'll come by and pick you up tomorrow."

Kunikida and Dazai got up from their seats beside the bed and left, leaving Atsushi alone with his thoughts. He wondered about the kind of relationship Dazai and Chūya had that would make Dazai have that kind of face…