Love You, Kill Me

Prelude 5: Second Thoughts

Mr. R marched down the hallway with the two boys under his arms. Shun was crying while Seiya kicked and punched at the guard the entire time. He threw the two in front of their door and grabbed them both by the hair. "Listen up you little shits! If you mention to ANYONE about what you did tonight," he looked over to Shun "I'll beat your brother till his nose falls into his mouth," he changed over to Seiya and pulled out a knife. He pointed straight into his brown eyes, "and you can forget about watching another episode of sentai again." Seiya rolled his eyes, stuck his butt out and farted.

Mr.R gritted his teeth, threw the door open and kicked his ass straight into the room. Seiya landed on his face as Shun quietly walked in. Mr. R growled and slammed the door shut.

Shun turned back as Seiya headed toward the toy box. "Why did he let us go?"

Seiya picked up a bunch of stuffed animals and began to layer his bed with them. "Duh, because they don't want Tatsumi to know that they suck as guards. Plus, if you leave tomorrow, than they don't want anyone to see a bunch of marks on your body."

Shun nodded before yawning. He looked up at the digital clock on the wall. It was about three in the morning. He hoped the rumor wasn't true about him leaving early. He wondered how his brother was doing.

Seiya sat on his new colorful bed. "So, how did it go?"

"Not good; they really hurt… I mean REALLY hurt him…" Shun turned his head to the ground.

Seiya rocked his head heavily. "Ikki probably didn't want anything to happen to you. He's pretty tough so I'm sure he'll be alright," Seiya opened his mouth and yawned, "in a day or so."

Shun yawn back, and stretched his arms. He then leaned back to try Seiya's bed. "Wow, I didn't know how much all of them would make a difference. I just took the chicken so everyone else could use the others if they needed."

"Hey, if you want to sleep here tonight, be my guest!" smiled Seiya as he crawled over to one side and gave Shun some room.

Shun had been through too much tonight. "Okay." He turned his body and slept beside his new friend. It felt like he was sleeping on clouds.

"Shun?"

"Yeah Seiya?"

"If you don't go tomorrow, or if you have some time, you want to be on my team tomorrow for soccer? I noticed you seem to have some trouble passing; maybe I can help you?"

"I'd like that!" He closed his eyes. Seiya was a lot nicer than he thought. Jabu always picked on him; Seiya looked to have the same demeanor; but he was wrong. "Thank you for helping me, Seiya," he whispered. All he heard back was a loud snore. Shun chuckled, he'll thank him in the morning, when he was sure he could hear it. After saying a small prayer asking for his brother to get better, he too fell asleep.

What had been five hours felt like minutes; the two boys smiled in the comfortable bed. Seiya was on his back while Shun had sunk head first into the multicolored sea of stuffed birds, dragons and horses.

The doorknob on the bedroom rattled. Seiya's eyes weakly squinted as two of the three of the men in dark suits came through the door. He watched as the other kids in unison began to turn away in their beds. They probably heard them coming too. Seiya almost followed until he noticed where they were going. They climbed to one of the top bunks and threw a giant yellow chicken on the ground.

Seiya glanced at Shun. Nobody liked the men in suits, but most of the time they just stood around making sure no one escaped. But nothing good could come if they were out to get you. He watched as they threw Shun's pathetically thin grey blanket to the ground. The one thing that caught his eye was that the other was over at the dresser shoving all of Shun's things in a bag.

What was he going to do? He couldn't get him out of there. It was then Seiya's eyes caught something. Considering how colorful the bed was, with Shun's green hair, it made the perfect camouflage. Seiya took his blanket, threw it over Shun and made it look like he was actually making his bed for once. He placed a large green dragon on Shun's face for good measure and began to quietly slip out.

They failed once to get Ikki, no harm in trying again. Now he had to bank that Shun won't move an inch till he got back. The odds weren't good.

Mr. A turned toward Seiya as his feet landed on the cold concrete. "HEY! Where are you going!"

Seiya grinned and saluted at the guy. "To the potty, sir!" He quickly ran through the entrance with both hands at his crotch. After turning the corner, he then moved his hands to his sides and used them to increase his speed. The complex was a long ways away without cutting through the soccer field. Something was also on his mind. He only saw two in there, where was the third?

|=-=O

Hyoga quietly grabbed his things and placed them in the duffel bag. All the kids watched but pretended not to. The man in the dark suit followed wherever he went as gathered all his special things; a book, his mother's rosary, and a set of pencils.

The half Siberian paid little attention to the others. He quickly stripped out of his night clothes and grabbed his tank top, blue jeans and leather leg warmers.

Once he was dressed, he nodded once to the man and the two walked out of the room, satisfied that he wouldn't have to remain at this hell hole anymore. "Mama, I'm coming."

|=-=O

"Dammit! Where is he? One of the men shouted. The bed was completely over turned over; he felt like he was about to have a migraine. "He's not in the bed; he's not under any of the other bunks, where the hell can he be!" He pulled out his gun and fired three rounds in the air.

Those who pretended to be asleep screamed their heads off. Shun jerked up sending a fuzzy parrot into the air. Both guards turned to his direction. One grabbed him by his thick locks of hair and jerked him to the ground head first; scattering the stuffed animals all over the place.

|=-=O

Seiya finally reached the training complex. His chest heaved. Hearing footsteps, he poked his head through the small glass window. It was only Shiryu preparing for some early morning training. Seiya ran inside the near empty gym area.

"Shiryu! Have you seen Ikki?" shouted Seiya.

Shiryu pressed a button to open up the hatch to the trampoline in the hole. He turned to face him. "No, he wasn't in his bed either. The only ones I saw were two guards from over there half an hour ago." Shiryu pointed over to the storage room.

"Thanks!" Seiya quickly rushed toward it.

Shiryu, confused, simply went ahead to start his morning routine. He leaped into the air and flipped forwards. Graceful at first, he dove right into the trampoline area until several objects caught his eye. "Ewww!" he stopped jumping, gathered up and tossed several unfrozen corndogs from the hole.

|=-=O

Shun screamed as he felt them jerk off his pajamas. They threw his naked body on the bed and began to shove his pants, shoes, and orange hoodie on.

|=-=O

"Ikki!" screamed Seiya. He ran down the hall. The spots of blood grew bigger. He finally started to see a body on the ground, surrounded by splashes of crimson all around. "SHIT!" he cursed as he approached Ikki. He was on his back with his hands on his stomach.

Seiya jerked Ikki's shoulder back and forth. "Hey! Wake…" before he could finish, Ikki's large fist came at him. Instinctively, Seiya saw it and immediately caught it with one hand. There was barely any power in it but it was still amazing at how quick it was despite the shape he was in.

The nine year old began to lift his aching body, using Seiya's hand as a leverage device. Breathing heavily he attempted to stand up. "Shun… I changed my mind…" He turned his head at Seiya.

Seiya stared back. Half of his face was swollen. It looked he took a few beats near the head and a ton on his back. "Ikki! I'm not…"

"COME ON! We have to get out!" screamed Ikki. His head jerked around as he started to climb on a set of boxes.

Seiya ran over and pulled his arm. This time, there was no time to dodge. Ikki threw his fist again. It nailed him right on the face and nearly knocked him out. It almost felt like he got struck by a bat.

"Shun! You're coming…. WITH ME!" His hand grasped Seiya's.

"LOOK AT ME!" screamed Seiya. "I'M NOT SHUN! I DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE SHUN! BUT IF WE DON'T HURRY YOU WON'T SEE HIM EVER AGAIN!" Seiya grabbed his hair and stared him straight in the eyes.

Ikki blinked a few times. He mumbled something and began to walk out. "Shun… Shun…. We have to get out… I won't let them…. I don't care… I don't care…damn pink bitch…."

Seiya ran under his arm and tried to hustle Ikki's slow pace.

|=-=O

"Where the hell, are they?" grumbled Mr. R as he sat in the bus with his fingers drumming on the wheel.

Hyoga was starting to wonder the same thing. He looked over at the old brick building. The more he stared, the more disgusted he became with it. It was bad enough that everyone thought he was a freak but he was also thousands of miles away from Mama.

He must be patient. He was lucky that they had to get someone over to their training destination early. "Thirty days, mama. Thirty days more of you in my life. I'm so happy!"

|=-=O

Another pile of corn dogs flew into the air.

Shiryu jumped out and began to pick up the rancid food to dump it in the nearby trashcan. He looked over and noticed Seiya was dragging someone out of the store room. He flinched and immediately ran to the two.

Seiya saw the stunned half Chinese child. "Shiryu! Help me! We have to get Ikki to his brother!"

Shiryu didn't quite know what was going on but he ran over and got under Ikki's arm. The two began to hustle him out.

Ikki lifted his head. He watched as the two chained rings at the gymnast area dangled in the area. "…stupid pink… bitch…." He grumbled as he took Seiya and Shiryu and slammed them together, knocking them both out.

He slowly walked back to the store room. He wasn't going to allow these two to get in trouble too. He felt alone as he dragged his broken body. He knew if he saw him again, he'd change his mind. It almost felt like he was abandoning him but for some reason, he knew he had no choice.

It was then when he walked by the scattered ashes at one part of the hall did he start to feel troubled and guilt-ridden.

Ikki held his head. He was so confused. Leave him? Save him? Stop him? Go to him? What does he do? The ashes swirled as Ikki threw his hands near his ears as a wave of nostalgia embraced him.

|=-=O

A beautiful woman with long green hair was knitting a small blue hat. Ikki sat by her as the tv played a rerun of a sentai episode.

Laughter began to fill the room and the mother turned her head. She smiled sweetly to him.

"I swear Ikki. I don't know how lucky you are to get a brother who never cries and laughs for attention. Could you go and see what he wants, baby? Mommy needs to make your brother more boy clothes." Her blue eyes closed as she nuzzled her forehead at his.

Ikki grinned as he felt her soft locks dance across his cheeks. He leapt off the chair and ran through the house to his brother's room.

Shun's walls had a gentle pink color with giant glowing yellow stars on the ceiling. Strangely enough, his mother was expecting a girl, but they had finished the nursery by the time he was born; as well as bought all his clothes.

Shun's frilly white laced hands waved in the air as he saw Ikki's face. His giant green eyes stared over at the sun mobile. He gurgled as he pointed at it. Ikki rubbed his pink one-piece belly and looked up. His hand reached over and gave it a spin.

"Ring around the Rosies" started to play. Shun waved his hands excitedly. He loved music.
"Ik-Ik…Ik" Ikki looked down. He smiled as Shun tried to say his name. He could never get the last part right and he almost sounded like he was chirping.

"No Shun, say Brother, bro-th…"

Suddenly the sound of a door being kicked down interrupted him. Ikki's eyes widened as he heard his mother screaming. Shun laughed as a storm of bullets echoed in the house.

|=-=O

Even now it still made him cry. He never saw her again nor wanted to. He wanted her to remain as beautiful as the last time he felt her head against his. He then stood up. He will never forget how beautiful his mother is or the pure innocence of Shun… but dammit, he will never allow his brother to remember him as a bloodied up mess who was so messed up that he couldn't tell him from that blockhead Seiya.

He looked over at the wall. He then climbed on the boxes and went for the box. He turned toward the electric fence switch and promptly turned it off.

He ran over to Shiryu in the training room and ripped his shirt off cleanly off his body. He then grabbed a heavy weight and threw it against a window, shattering it. They've already beaten him once, another round won't kill him. He threw Shiryu's shirt on the broken pieces of glass and began to climb through. He pulled it up and ran toward the fence.

|=-=O

One of the men held Shun tightly by the wrist. The halls echoed with their footsteps. Everyone was asleep or pretending to. His body felt clammy from both the lack of sleep and thoughts of going to Andromeda Island.

"Brother…" Shun began to cry as they neared the double doors to destiny. He wondered if he really will be okay. Shun himself never went to "the room" as it was known as. Ikki had probably been sent an average two times a month. "…brother…" his lips wrinkled as he could taste his tears on each side of his mouth.

"Shut up, you're going straight to the bus," muttered the dark suit man with black hair.

"Then you'll experience the second closest thing to hell," the other one grinned.

Shun stiffened his feet as the men laughed.

"Holy shit, your expression was priceless," the guard roared. "Of course, I'm not exaggerating either."

"Stop it! Let's just go!" stammered Shun as he attempted to pull at the guard's arms.

Instead the guard stood where he is while Mr. M crept over by his side. "What's the matter? Scared now? Guess what Tatsumi reported? It's a hot desert by day and a frozen wasteland by night. There are no plants or animals. No civilization, there's nothing!" Mr. M grabbed Shun's chin and winked. "But you are quite a cutie. Maybe a few slave pirates will come by and…"

The one holding his hands looked down. "Nah, it'll be like prison. Fill the place with enough virgins and nature will take care of the rest."

Shun looked up with his sad eyes. "Pirates and virgins?"

The guards laughed. "Yes, it will be filled with many pirates and heaven help us, virgins!"

In his heart, he never believed Tatsumi, but the place was apparently worse than he thought. What will his trainer do to him? What if the pirates kill him? What if the virgins, did whatever virgins do? His feet dragged a little bit before he sighed. His brother had taken a place far worse, who was he to complain?

The two guards laughed as Shun walked in front of them and opened the double doors. The sun had risen and the horizon bright. He turned to the small yellow bus. Outside of the folding doors was Ikki, with his arms crossed and his back leaning against the side.

"BROTHER!" sadness gone, Shun ran toward him.

The two guards gasped as they saw the happy seven year old rushed to his sibling's side. "The hell!"

Ikki smugly smiled and waved to his brother.

"Brother, how did you," he wiped his tears off his face, "you're okay!" Ikki stood tall and proud; his muscles were sweaty from his climb over the fence while his pant leg had a rip from where one of the dogs bit his leg. But by the miracle of Toei, his face was healed up and perfect too. Shun hugged him and

Ikki obliged. Guiltily his eyes switched back and forth from his happy brother to the 'we-fucked-up' gaze of the guards.

"Ikki! I had a bad dream last night, and when I got there, I thought they killed you!"

He shrugged. "Nah, they barely touched me, one of them was wearing a watch so when he turned around, he accidently knocked the side of my face and cut me," he lied. "You picked a bad time to go to the storage room, I was just so tired that I decided to take a nap on the floor," he looked up as Kido and Saori arrived in the black Rolls-Royce. Tatsumi marched out of the driver's seat and started yelling at the two guards pointing to Ikki. Suddenly Seiya and the half naked Shiryu started crawling out of the broken window.

Mr. Kido stomped over and started yelling at the now sheepish guards while Saori had her arms on her hips and waving her finger. He got louder when he saw the two boys starting to climb up the supposedly electric fence to fetch the shirt.

Ikki cackled wickedly. He gets to see his brother for the last time and humiliate Mr. A and Mr. M. That'll teach them for beating him up with bamboo stick! After enjoying the fruits of his labor, he down at his little brother. "Shun we don't have much time. I don't know what Andromeda island is like, but you have to promise me that you'll remain strong," he clenched Shun's hands.

Shun looked up. "

Shun, don't lose hope, you will leave victorious after all the tests… and then you'll find yourself."

Shun nodded, his smile much wider than before. "Brother, I don't want to leave you!"

Ikki hugged him. "Shun, let's face it, I can't go with you! But if you can stand on your own two feet for six years, I'll come back and I'll never leave you. Won't that be better?"

Shun started to cry. "I guess but, I'll be so lonely."

Ikki looked down. "That's not true. I'm sure you'll find friends there. You found Seiya, I'm sure there are more."

Shun nodded quietly.

The two men reached over and grabbed Ikki. Shun attempted to reach for his hands but was pulled back by the bus drive that grabbed him. Ikki pulled his chest forward as he attempted to get away.

"IKKI! NO! DON'T LEAVE ME!" screamed Shun.

Ikki looked at him. "Don't worry about me! I promise I'll come back! Get the cloth, Shun! You have to!"

The man pulled Shun in while another threw his things through the door. Ikki's eyes never blinked as he watched the bus roll off in a hurry.

The day Tatsumi came back, was the day those guards got the pink slip. Ikki got a real beating after that but I'll tell you what, he may not talk much of his past but anytime anyone brought out about how safe Miss Saori was at the Graude Foundation, he won't shut up about how not just how he managed to escape from the Orphanage using nothing but a dumbbell from the gym and Shiryu's shirt. Even Seiya would join in with how he took me clear across the place. It was those times when those two would get along, arm and arm.

We stirred up a lot of trouble that night and the following morning. New measures were enacted such as motion sensors at night, bars on the windows and the guards were actually tripled for the night and morning patrols. According to Miss. Saori, they even euthanized Cosmos because Tatsumi considered him "no good" for a watch dog and simply had a guard stationed there.

They even put three locks on the box that controlled the fence and locked the room even tighter. I'm kind of glad that I left early.

Honestly, I just wanted to make sure Ikki was okay at the time.

Prelude Final: Alone on the Bus with Hyoga

Shun's not the only one traveling to his island. He finds out that the weird half Japanese kid is coming too. He wants to get along with him, but faces a topic that divides and unites the two: His mom.

Sorry guys, no House of Libra action in this chapter.

Can you feel your Cosmos Burn?