Well, this has been here for a while. Might as well finish it since I have time.


Kaito didn't stay in the hospital any longer than he needed, and once he was outside he found his thoughts cluttered with Len's little speech. No matter how he looked at it, it always pointed to one place.

'None of us ever even thought about that old factory,' he thought and tightened his scarf against a rogue breeze, 'it just shut down one day because of some poison getting into the air or something. Pretty much everybody was told not to go anywhere near it because of cleanup, but that was years ago.' Kaito rolled a sleeve up to check his watch and saw it was barely 11 A.M. "At the very least, I have to make sure. The others won't expect me for a while at least."

Kaito started on a reasonable pace back to the train station and took the first train to a part of town he never thought he'd be going to. The high rise skyscrapers and loud billboards gave way to more rustic settings and when the train stopped where he wanted it wouldn't have been too far of an exaggeration to say that Kaito's outfit was one of the most colorful things there.

Kaito left the 'station' (more of a glorified porch) and tried his best to seem inconspicuous as he walked down the street. There was hardly anyone around at this time of day though, a few vagrants and some workers who lied their way to a day off were mostly the types that Kaito passed on his way through. He had tried to stall for as long as possible, walking slowly and enjoying the pleasant weather, but soon enough he was standing across the street from the one place he wasn't too keen on seeing.

"Never thought I'd be coming here again," he said to himself and shook his head, "and on something so ridiculous." He looked up at the imposing building, brick and metal combining to form its walls, and the fencing topped with barbed wire surrounding the area. Kaito looked to see if any cars were coming before he walked across the road and walked along the fence, never taking an eye off of the building behind it.

'God, how long has it been since I'd last been here? I think I was fifteen, so…' Kaito shook his head and stopped at a particular set of fence. He pressed against it with his foot and, satisfied at how it pushed inside, he wrapped his scarf around his arm to keep it from trailing and crawled through the fence. Once he was through he brushed off a little dirt that had gotten on his pants and walked over to the wall and looked up at the windows.

'The front door would probably be locked, so the twins would have gone in through the windows.' Kaito reached a hand up and sighed when he saw he was still almost two feet from the windows. He lowered his hand and started walking toward where the front of the factory would have been. He rounded the corner and found a slightly rusted single door and a set of two larger doors, most likely for trucks and the like. Before Kaito could move toward the doors, the single door opened outward, and Kaito was back around the corner with his back pressed against the wall.

"Dammit, where the hell is everyone?!" A male voice said just before the door shut. He did not sound happy in the slightest. "If we weren't going to work today the least they could have done is tell me. Instead I come all the way out here for nothing. What a waste."

'Work? What's he working on?' Kaito thought and adjusted his footing slightly. Unfortunately that made a little too much noise and he knew it immediately.

"What was that?!" the man shouted, "is someone there?! This is private property and I can have you arrested, so do yourself a favor and show yourself!"

'Dammit, busted.' "Alright, I'm coming out," Kaito called out and slowly rounded the corner, making sure to keep his hands easily seen. He did not expect to see a somewhat familiar face.

"What the…? Aren't you the guy from the train earlier?" asked the man that Kaito had met earlier on the train as he leaned closer to get a closer look. Kaito slowly nodded his head which seemed to satisfy the man for the moment. He then leaned back from Kaito and cross his arms before saying, "So what are you doing here pop star? Like I said, this is private property."

"I…" 'Oh yeah, I was just wondering if you were running an organ harvesting ring in an old factory. That'll go over well.' Kaito gestured to the factory and said, "I was just curious is all." The man sighed in irritation and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Crap, you're one of those people huh?" he asked, almost as if he'd gone through this same scenario a hundred times before.

"Those people?"

"You know, the kinds of people who go under Bunnyman Bridge on Halloween or go traipsing around Kentucky looking for a Goat Man. Ghost seekers, urban legend hunters, what's your favorite label?"

"Label? I think you have me confused for something I'm not," Kaito said, relaxing just a little at the misunderstanding, "I just wanted to know what was going on here. Why are you here anyway?"

The man rolled his eyes and held up a gasmask that Kaito hadn't noticed until now and said, "Doing my job dude. Every other week I'm supposed to go with a team to make sure this place stays isolated chemical wise. It would be very bad if something poisonous seeped into the water right? At least that's what I'm supposed to do today."

"Right. Well, since there isn't anything in there, you wouldn't mind if I looked to satisfy my curiosity?" A very small chance sure, but one that surprisingly payed off as the man sighed and shook his head slightly.

"If it gets you out of here faster, then yes, I'll show you the empty factory," he said and strapped on the gasmask. "Stay outside for a minute, I'll get another mask," he said as he opened the door and walked into the building. The door was left slightly open and Kaito looked around quickly before opening it fully and looking inside.

Inside was exactly what the man said would be there: an old, abandoned factory. The man himself hadn't gotten too far inside when Kaito opened the door, so Kaito saw him looking back and shaking his head at him. Kaito covered his mouth and nose with his scarf and stepped inside the building, the atmosphere giving off the vibe that every abandoned building seemed to have.

"Does this help with your concerns a little?" The man asked no less annoyed as he picked up a gasmask from a rack on the wall and walked over to Kaito.

"It certainly looks disused," Kaito said and grabbed the offered gasmask from the man, "but I'd still like to look around." Kaito lowered his scarf and slipped on the gasmask, not particularly liking the feeling of stifled breathing.

"I'll have to follow you closely you know," the man said with a small shrug, "Don't want you getting somewhere dangerous yeah?" Kaito simply nodded and walked toward a large assembly line, the man following closely behind him. Kaito ran a hand over the machine and came back with his hand covered in dust.

"I remember when this place closed down. I was fifteen at the time. Everything is all dusty, but it doesn't look all that bad otherwise," Kaito noted as he looked along the machine, "Like it can be turned on and used with no problem."

"There's a reason we're cleaning this place out," the man said drawing Kaito's attention, "Apparently some big shot company sees this place as a good investment. They even bought the place out and are planning to move in once it's safe." The man shook his head and said, "They obviously have never dealt with this kind of thing before. It's going to take years before it's ok to walk around without masks, let alone actually work."

Kaito let that sink in as he brushed the dust off his hand. Then he got this terrible chill down his spine and looked behind him up to the catwalk. The man seemingly noticed this and turned to look up as well. There was no one there, but Kaito still felt like he was being watched.

"Creepy isn't it?" the man said and looked back at Kaito. "I get that same feeling every time I come in here. One of my more superstitious coworkers said it's the ghosts of former employees making sure no one else dies here." He ran a hand through his hair and said, "Me, I think that's a crock of shit. The chances of ghosts being here are the exact same as getting lost in the woods and being killed by a tree lady." The man then hugged his arms together and stared further into the factory and said, "Still, places like this give me the creeps. They always seem like something evil has happened here even if it hasn't, you know?"

"Yeah," Kaito replied quietly. He shook his head and mentally cursed himself for getting sucked into an old legend like this. There were more important things than chasing silly things like this. Kaito took a deep breath, let it go, and said, "I've seen enough."

The man stiffened up, surprised by what Kaito said, and said, "Really? That's new, people usually want to look around more before deciding they're through."

"I already knew I wasn't going to find anything," Kaito admitted and sighed, "I guess I wanted to take my mind off of things for a while. It didn't work."

"That sucks dude. Well, I'll let you out and you'll be on your way then. I will need the mask back though."

"Right," was all Kaito could reply before walking back to the entrance with the man. He took the mask off when he got to the rack and put it back on it, only now noticing the jumpsuits on it.

"Before you ask, those are for my team," the man said leading Kaito out of the building and shutting the door behind him. He took his mask off and gave Kaito a small grin as they walked to the gate that led off the factory property. Along the way the man reached into the pockets of his jumpsuit and pulled out a pink box.

"Pocky?" Kaito asked as the man took out a stick and took a bite from it.

"I'm trying to quit smoking," the man explained as he put the box away and pulled out a set of keys for the gate, "Instead of a pack a day I eat a box of these. It at least works for me." He soon had the gate open and let Kaito walk out before closing it and locking it again. Kaito looked around the street for a second before turning back.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Kaito asked. The man made a gesture to go on, only really focused on the snack in his mouth. "How did you feel when your father was dying? How did you deal with it?"

"My old man? Well…" The man took a couple more bites as he thought it over before saying, "Most people would say it felt terrible, but that's not true for me." Kaito gave him a look as he explained, "I hated him for most of my life. We always fought and disagreed over everything. To tell the truth, I was glad when the bastard died." Then the man gave Kaito this grin, this really simple grin that still sent chills down his spine. "That probably doesn't help you though. You actually care about whoever's dying, right?"

"…Yeah. Sorry for asking." Kaito gave the man one last wave and started walking back to the train station.

It took every fiber of his being to not look back at him or break out running.


Later that day Kaito returned to the apartment, complete with groceries for dinner, to find it completely empty. Kaito silently cursed Miku for not being there and set the shopping bags down on the counter before moving over to sit on one of the couches. Despite what he said earlier he still couldn't get everything that happened out of his head. After all he had had a couple hours to think it all over and he couldn't help but feel like everything had played out as someone intended. Kaito heard the door open behind him and he turned around to see Luka walking in.

"Kaito, so this is where you've been," she said shutting the door. Kaito turned away from her and waited for her to sit down. Once she was settled Kaito looked over at her and she immediately said, "Something's troubling you. Would you care to talk about it?"

Kaito sighed and started to rub his forehead as he said, "It's just everything going on right now. Rin and all that."

"Ah, I should have expected as much," Luka said sadly, "It's not just you it's affecting. Everyone's dealing with it in their own way, but I can tell we're all hurting from it."

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to do Luka. I'm grasping at straws and I just want to do something to make things better for Rin." Luka didn't answer as she watched Kaito cradle his head in his hands, until she finally spoke.

"I don't know Kaito, but tearing yourself up over it won't help anyone." Kaito looked up as Luka continued, "You're the kind of person who feels like he absolutely has to help everyone, we all know that. The problem here is that I don't think we can help in this situation. It really does hurt, I know, but it's all up to fate now."

'I hate that.' Kaito thought to himself but nodded to answer Luka. No sooner had they finished this conversation when the door opened so a perky Miku could walk in. Both Kaito and Luka turned to watch her as she stopped and waved at them.

"Hey you two, glad to know you guys got home safe," she said and her eyes caught on to the bag that Kaito had brought in earlier. "And you got food! I didn't even ask you this time! You're such a good boy, you know that?"

"Yeah," Kaito said flatly, not really in the mood for one of Miku's little jokes. He stood up from the couch and said, "I don't have much of an appetite, so I'll probably go to bed." As he walked out of the living room he gave one last wave to the girls before he disappeared from sight. Miku's smile had dropped and she turned to look at Luka.

"Did… I miss something?" she asked scratching her head.


"No Ma'am, no real problems on this end."

"No real problems?"

"No Ma'am. A trespasser here or there and some of the new additions gave some trouble, but otherwise things are running smoothly."

"Ok then, let me know when things are up and running again. I want to be there."

"Of course ma'am." He closed his phone and, after a few seconds to make sure he was alone, quietly added, "Bitch."