Caught Between Enemies

Chapter 2

Rating: M (for language)

So much for an update "coming soon". Oops.

Disclaimer: *checks wallet* I'm broke so I obviously don't own DRRR!, just my OCs

Kyohei left her alone once he showed her his apartment, a small single room place. His futon was pulled up in the corner, and he'd gotten a second one on the opposite side. Aside from a small kitchenette, a TV, and an old round table with a couple chairs, the apartment was fairly bare.

Karuta had brought a few basic changes of clothes, her laptop, basic bathroom necessities, and enough money to last her about a month. She hoped that she wouldn't have to be in Ikebukuro for longer than that amount of time. If she didn't find her brother by the end of the month, then he was in trouble. Major trouble.

Her first step was to try tracking his phone. Hopefully his phone was on now, or at least had been charged. She was wary about trying to call him in case he wasn't in a good spot to answer a phone call. His reasoning for coming to Ikebukuro had been very vague.

Her frustration level rose when she got an error message telling her that the phone could not be tracked. That only happens when a phone is off or dead, she thought, rubbing her eyes. What the hell are you doing, Arata?

Karuta sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her fingers on her arm. There were a couple other options that she had before she could take this case to the police and report her brother as missing. He could be dodging my calls for a reason, she thought. There was always the possibility that Arata was avoiding her, for what reason she couldn't guess but it was still possible.

Luckily for Karuta, her brother Natsu was going to be able to help her, or at least she hoped that he could. The phone rang three times before he finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, uh, I need your help," she said, already opening up the website for her family's bank, Kotodama Savings Bank(1). If she could figure out where Arata last used his credit card, then maybe she could pinpoint a general location of where he is.

"With what? I'm kind of at work right now." Natsu sounded irritated, which wasn't normal for him.

Taiyo must have gotten on his nerves somehow. "Arata's phone is off or dead, so I can't get ahold of him. I want to check his bank account to see where his last credit card payment was," Karuta told him.

"You still think something happened to him?" Natsu asked, though Karuta thought she heard him typing in the background.

"It's not like Arata to ignore my calls, or for his phone to be off for this long and possibly even be dead," she replied. "So, yes, I think something happened to him. If not, I want to know what the hell he thinks he's doing by cutting off contact with him."

"You're nosy," Natsu said bluntly, "but I can see your point. Here, I pulled up his account…"

"What is it?" Karuta asked after several moments of silence. All she heard on the other end was the faint sound of Natsu's breathing and the click of his mouse as he did something on his computer.

"Well this is interesting," Natsu said, sounding perplexed. "Has Natsu ever mentioned a…Tom Tanaka to you?"

"I don't think so. Why, what'd you find?"

"Arata wrote a check for the guy…for a million and two hundred thousand yen(2)."

Karuta sat there for a moment, letting that thought process. "He what?" It was surprising to learn that Arata, of all people, gave some guy she'd never heard of 1,200,000 yen. That was more along the lines of something that Taiyo would do.

"He gave some guy ten thousand dollars, and right before that he'd made a forty-seven thousand, nine hundred yen(3) purchase from Rakuten(4)."

"Why would he do that?" Karuta wondered, pulling a small notepad from her bag and digging around for a pen.

"I don't know, but it's sketchy. I'd have to do a little digging to find what exactly he bought from Rakuten if you need to know," her brother offered, sounding genuinely concerned now.

"No, no, I don't need to know, not yet at least," Karuta told him, finally succeeding in finding a pen. She uncapped it and opened up the notepad to an empty page. "What was that name again?" she asked.

"Tom Tanaka. Need me to spell that for you?"

"I'm not five, Natsu. I know how to spell." Putting her pen to the paper, she quickly scribbled down "Tom Tanaka" and underlined it twice, before writing and circling next to it "$1,200,000."

"Anything else you need while I'm on the phone? If so make it quick, it looks like I have a client coming in."

"No, that's all I need at the moment. Thanks so much, Natsu," Karuta said, tapping the touchpad when her laptop went dark.

"Yeah, yeah, no problem. Let me know what you find out. Be safe," Natsu said.

"Yup. Love you, bye."

"Love you too."

Karuta decided that the best way to find this Tom Tanaka was to ask around Ikebukuro for him. When she found Kyohei by the same bookstore on South Main, she asked him, as no one else had been willing to help her because of some guy that was Tanaka's bodyguard.

"Can you tell me who Tom Tanaka is?" Karuta asked after she had greeted Kyohei. He looked at her from under his hat, eyes narrowed.

"What are you getting mixed up with him for?" he threw back at her.

"Reasons. I need to ask him some questions that'll help with my research." Karuta was lucky that she could lie smoothly in a calm and civil situation like this.

"You can find him just about anywhere, but you'll want to watch out for his bodyguard Shizuo Heiwajima. He's a dangerous guy," Kyohei told her.

"Where would he normally be?" she asked, a little frustrated at his vague answer.

"I'd check by the sushi place since it's almost lunchtime," Kyohei said, crossing his arms over his chest. "What kind of research are you doing anyways?"

"My family runs a bank, and my brother told me to talk to Tom so he could answer some of my own questions. I don't know what he does, he wouldn't tell me." It was a partial lie, at least.

"Tom's a debt collector," Kyohei said, filling in the gaps.

Arata must have owed him some money. "Okay, thanks. What's the sushi place?" she asked, stuffing her hands into her sweatshirt pocket.

"Russia Sushi. There's a guy Simon who usually stands outside, he's a large black man with an accent so you can't miss him and he'll be handing out pamphlets," Kyohei explained.

Karuta smiled at him. "Thanks. Will you be at your apartment later?"

"Yeah, probably."

She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. "Here's my number. In case I don't come back later and you want to make sure I'm okay."

Kyohei nodded and accepted the paper, putting it into his own pocket, giving her a nod. "See you later."

"See you later."

Russia Sushi was no trouble to find at all. The guy Kyohei had told her about, Simon, was standing where he had said he would be, right outside the restaurant and handing out pamphlets to anyone who stopped. Karuta noticed right away that he had over a foot on her, making him intimidating as hell, but she went up to him without a second thought.

"Hallo!" he greeted her. "Here for sushi?" His accent wasn't what Karuta had been expecting. She could figure out what he was saying, but it was a little difficult.

"Um, yeah, probably in a little bit," she said. "Do you know who Tom Tanaka is?"

"Ah, Tom!" He grinned down at her. "Why you need Tom?"

"I need to talk to him. Is he here?" Karuta asked. She hoped that he was around, otherwise she'd have to hope that she'd somehow manage to bump into him or someone who could take her to him.

"No, but he comes soon most days," Simon said. "He may be here soon."

Karuta smiled at him. "Okay, thank you." She looked around for a bench to sit, but didn't find one. "Do you mind if I just stand here and wait with you?" she asked Simon, who once again smiled at her. He's very friendly, thank God, she thought.

"Of course!" he said, then turned back to holding out pamphlets to a group of people walking by. "Why not try Russia Sushi? Sushi good!"

Karuta crossed her arms over her chest and waited, tapping her foot on the ground. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be, but meeting Tom Tanaka as quickly as possible and finding out his connection to her brother was a priority and the faster that encounter happened, the closer she'd be to finding Arata.

"Ah, Tom! Shizuo! Come, come!" Simon suddenly bellowed at Karuta's side. She glanced up at the names, having pulled out her phone to check for any messages.

"Hello, Simon," the shorter of the two men greeted Simon. He glanced at Karuta curiously and gave her a friendly smile which she returned.

"This girl wants to meet you," Simon said, beckoning to Karuta. Assuming that the shorter one was Tom – considering he was wearing a suit while his companion who had to be Shizuo was wearing a bartender's outfit – she stretched out a hand to him.

"Hi, I'm Karuta Kotodama," she greeted him.

Tom's eyebrows perked up as he heard her name. "Tom Tanaka, nice to meet you," he said. "Are you, by any chance, related to Arata Kotodama?"

"He's my brother, and he's actually who I wanted to talk to you about," Karuta said, suddenly hit by a bundle of nerves. If Tom had any information for her, the search could end right here and she could be home in the next couple of days.

"I see. I don't suppose you've heard from him lately, have you?" Tom asked.

Karuta blinked. "I haven't heard from him this whole month. I was hoping that perhaps you knew what happened to him."

"No, sorry," Tom said. He gestured towards the restaurant. "I'll treat you to lunch and we can discuss the business your brother had with me, and I can try to help as much as I can." Nodding, Karuta cast one last glance at Shizuo who was watching her curiously before following Tom into the restaurant, the blond trailing behind them.

1 – Kotodama Savings Bank is owned by Karuta's family and therefore completely made-up. She comes from a wealthy family, if you couldn't tell by her brother Taiyo mentioning her having an inheritance in the first chapter, although Karuta herself doesn't act like she's rich (or at least I hope she doesn't).

2 – 1,200,000 yen = approx. $10,000

3 – 47,900 yen = approx. $400

4 – Rakuten is an online Japanese store

So Shizuo made an appearance…but he didn't say a single word.

How rude.

Anyways, this chapter would have been up a long time ago but I discovered that the flash drive I use to store everything I've written for the past two years (including original stuff and fanfics) was broken, so I had to completely start over for just about everything. I'd had the second chapter typed up on there, but that version is lost forever and so this is the new version!

I'm hoping to get chapter 3 up soon, but I think we all know that's a very loose term with me.

Review for comments and questions, favorite, and follow!