Chapter 7

So, this is long over the due date in my opinion. I am sincerely sorry for that, and I hope that you will all forgive me. Thank you for those of you who reviewed the last chapter.

It means so much to me.


Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother..

-Khalil Gibran-


~Kaoru~

"Kaoru! Kaoru, I'm so sorry!" Dylan said for what seemed like the millionth time that morning. I just shut my eyes to block him out. I couldn't deal with him, not right now. He betrayed the trust that I had placed in him. I couldn't deal with him, I didn't know how. I wanted to believe him, but how could I? I wanted to, but after what he did...

"Just, leave me alone..."

"Not until you listen to me. Please, Kaoru. You have to believe me. I didn't want to! I had to!"

"You had a choice."

"No, I didn't." He lowered his voice considerably, which I thanked, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt on anything right now. I closed my eyes shut tight, fighting back the tears that were pricking at my eyes. "If I would have had a choice I wouldn't have done it."

"Everybody always has a choice." I said and I turned my head so that I could see him looking at me. His face had dismay written all over it, making something in my gut tighten with an uncomfortable feeling. I didn't let it bother me, or I tried not to. I pushed it as far away as I could.

"If everyone always had a choice than life would be so much easier." He rested his forehead on the bars, his eyes showing hurt which would be the most emotion I have ever seen in them. "I didn't want to, Kaoru. I didn't, but I had no choice."

"Why didn't you have a choice?"

"I've already pissed Dan off enough lately, and he wouldn't have let me get away with ignoring an order with Josh watching. He would have killed me without a second thought, then you would have gotten taken by Dan because he would be pissed and there would be no one there to take it for you."

"Killed?" I didn't think that he would kill Dylan, after all, he was his favorite. Surely that raven haired monster wouldn't have killed either of us, for as long as he kept us and certainly not Dylan.

"Yeah. I told you that he killed the other kids that he grew bored of."

"You always act like you want to die anyway." I muttered, though the thought of him dying actually did pull at my heart. For the month or so that we have been here together he has been there for me, to talk with me, and he even took my punishments for me. I wasn't sure if I could make it if he died. Even if I was upset and hurt by him right now.

"Yeah, I do." He agreed quietly. "That's because I've been in this hell long enough to know that I want to die, but I can't. I know that Dean will take care of Daren as best as he can, but we have always been together. I can't leave him alone. I can't leave either of them alone. That's the only reason I haven't killed myself yet." He let out a sigh. "I did what I did because I need to stay alive long enough to get back to my brother, and I went a lot easier on you than Dan would have."

"I guess I can understand that somewhat, but still..." Should I believe him or should I not? I wanted to, but at the same time I wanted to stay mad at him. What should I do...?

"You need to understand. He's my brother, you would do the same for Hikaru, wouldn't you?" Yes. I would in a heart-beat. Anything for Hikaru. " You're the only person, that actually has a heart, that I have talked to in a long time. The only person who I can relate to here. You became my friend." His voice sounded like it was going to break. I hated it when people cried. It made me feel like I was going to cry too. I wanted to understand, but I didn't want to hear that much of it.

"Be quiet." I said quietly. If he heard it he just chose to ignore it.

"I know that you don't want to hear this, but you have to understand why I did it."

"Be quiet." I said a little louder, but he still ignored it. That time I knew for a fact that he had heard me. I didn't want to hear him. I knew that I was breaking, but I could try and hold on for as long as I could.

"You have to understand. Wasn't it better to get it from me instead of Dan? I know that neither was a good option, but it hurts worse when it comes from somebody you hate."

"No!" I shouted at him. It was the first time that I had actually yelled at him, and that I had really risen my voice here. I never had even raised my voice at Dan, and that was hard enough not to do. Right now all of the emotions in my body were bottled up too much. "You don't understand anything! I trusted you and you betrayed that trust! I would have been disgusted if he was the one to do it, but I think that it was worse coming from you! It hurts more when it comes from someone that you trusted!"

"You don't understa-" I cut him off before he could say anymore.

"I don't understand? What makes you say that! I thought you were my friend and look what you did to me! I don't want to hear your stupid excuses right now! There was no reason for it! You could have helped me but you chose to do that to me! How- Why? Why did you do it? I thought you were my friend!"

I could feel the tears making their way down my cheeks. I couldn't hold anything in anymore. I just...couldn't. Everything was happening and I couldn't even think to stop it. I closed my eyes to try and get rid of them that way, but to no avail. I just pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face into them. If I couldn't stop the tears, I could at least hide them the best that I could.

It didn't really matter. I could still feel the sobs racking my body.

Where are you, Hikaru? Please, just, don't put yourself through torture thinking about me. If you have to, please just forget about me.

The thoughts didn't make me feel better, only worse. I knew that my brother could never forget even if he tried, but was it wrong to say that I wanted him to? If he did, maybe he wouldn't be in the pain that I was sure he was in now. No matter how much I wanted him by my side, I couldn't. That tore my heart even more.

"Kaoru..." I heard the small, broken voice of the other male. It was all I heard over the sobs that kept me from hearing anything else, and I really didn't want to listen to him. Let alone need to listen to him. I heard him shuffling around every so often, but I never once bothered to look up.

I was still too busy crying for everything I had lost, and everything that I had given up just because of one simple walk. That walk had harmed me in more ways than one, and if I had known this was how it was going to turn out... I woul-I would have...

I would never have taken it.


~Kyoya~

I rubbed the bridge of my nose with a sigh. It was late in the evening – far later than any student should be up on a Wednesday. Especially me, but I had a good reason. Kaoru Hitachiin. I had promised Hikaru that I would find his brother, but that wasn't the only reason. I was worried about the younger twin. Even if I didn't act like it, I was worried.

Tamaki's little family had become mine as well, and now one of the members was missing. I intended to do anything within my power to find the younger boy. At first I was confident that we would find him, but it had been a little over a month and I was only getting more irritated, worried, and hurried by the results in the search.

Come on. I need to hurry. I thought as I searched through articles on the internet. It was one of the fastest methods to get information, and I needed some to be found. I was worrying just as much as the others, if not more. After everything that I have read and found out so far was terrible. We would be lucky to find Kaoru alive, let alone fine. I knew that none of us could worry more than Hikaru though. He was starting to make me worry as well. The was he was acting...

I was in the middle of looking up something that I thought had sounded helpful. It was an article of some kidnapping in America a year back. It claimed that the boy that was taken was named Dylan, and his family were in a panic. The main reason that was, it seemed, was because he only had an older brother and a twin brother. There was a picture of the family of the three, and they seemed to be smiling and having fun. I looked at the video at the top of the page.

I frowned as I watched it. The worry that was clouding the teens features was clearly worry. It couldn't be anything else. His messy bronze colored hair and pale skin. I listened to the words that he spoke, and I had to admit it got me thinking more. There was a response to the video, and I clicked that. It was the same boy, and this one was made 5 months ago.

"Hey, everyone. It's me Dean again. I want to thank you all for your condolences on the last video that I did, and we were really hoping that we would find Dylan. Daren is worse off than I am, and our friends really aren't helping us that much. I haven't done this blog in a while for favor of looking for him, but I need you guys to listen. I have some bad news."

I watched as he seemed to look over his shoulder before he started speaking again.

"The police have given up looking for him. Isn't that terrible? He's a missing child and they stopped looking. It isn't right. He's my brother. He is our brother. Not just Daren's and my own, but he is like a brother to my friends as well, and you. If you have watched my blog before, you have heard them, seen them, listened to me go on endlessly about my brothers, and how they always smiled. Daren doesn't smile anymore. He hasn't smiled for months."

That seemed almost like how Hikaru was acting right now, it was so surprisingly similar. I doubted that this had anything to do with what happened to Kaoru, but there was a slight chance that there might be. Just because this was two different countries didn't mean that the actions couldn't be related.

"I want to tell every single one of you that I won't be doing another one of these until my little brother has been found. Even though the police have stopped looking, doesn't mean that I will. If anyone ha any information that can be the least bit helpful I would appreciate the knowledge. Marcus has found some things of kidnappings like this one, but the thing is that they aren't from this country. There's been one from Canada, that happened shortly after Dylan was taken, and," He did some gesture with his hand. " about a month and a half ago some kid from Australia was taken."

Hmm... That was interesting indeed. If there have been ones exactly like this one in different parts of the globe it could be possible that watching this is helping somewhat – if he had more information in this blog that was. I needed to think on this a little more... There was a chance that he had more information he wouldn't even share it, and that would mean I would have to find some way to contact him, or I would have to find another way to get information like this. I turned my attention back to the screen when he continued on.

"There are more children that have been taken as well. South Africa, Brazil, Sweden, as well as in certain places in Asia. They are normally between the ages of 15-19 when they are taken, and it's the same MO, or a particular way, every time. More often than not, the children are found. Whoever this bastard is kills them if he doesn't like them, and then he takes them back to the exact spot where they were taken."

Why would he be telling the people watching this that? I wondered, but then figured that it was something to help get his brother back, and to help others understand what was going on. I was glad that he was, by all means, because it gave me information that I needed.

"Why am I telling you the things that I know about this? Some of you are probably asking yourselves this very question. The answer is simple. I am willing to bet that most of you are already ready to type in the comments "I'm so sorry, but it's been such a long time. It's time you gave up, and went back to your life." The thing is, I can't do that. I just gave you something that tells you why I believe he isn't dead. I am going to continue searching for my brother until we find him alive, or until we find his dead body."

"DON'T SAY THAT! HE'S NOT DEAD!" I blinked at the screen as I watched a younger boy shouted at Dean. I assumed that was Daren, because the two looked like they could be nothing else but brothers, and then there was the reaction...

"Daren!" Dean shouted as his brother ran off. He turned back to the camera, and started speaking quickly. "Sorry, I can't say more. As you see my brother is taking this harder as time passes. If any of you that watch this have any information, please contact me. My E-mail is in the description along with my Skype. I would rather you contacted me on Skype if you could, but if you can't reach me, Marcus has a Skype too and his name is beside mine. I shall talk with you once we get Dylan back... One way or the other."

I narrowed my eyes as the video stopped playing and I looked down into the description. He seemed to have more information than I did, and if I was right in my thinking, he had more. For once I was glad that Tamaki had had us all make a Skype account because he insisted that we all needed it to keep in touch better, and so that he could see us as he spoke. I quickly scanned through the words that made up the description and wrote the important things down.

'Dear watchers, you have all been good to give us your pity condolences. It means something to me, even if it doesn't to others. Now, if you could do one more thing for me, and contact me when, or if you ever get any information? Thank you.

~Dean

E-mail:

Skype: Dean_SpeedDemon

Marcus's Skype: Marcus_QuickFingers

That was what the description said, but I only wrote down the e-mail and Skype's. They were what was important in order to get what I wanted, and that was information that they obviously had. It seemed that it was the same person or people doing this, but I wasn't sure. It could just be a copycat. Then again, trafficking humans was starting to get big again...

I swallowed the bile that rose in my throat at the thought. Human trafficking was a disgusting thing to do. Humans weren't animals. Hypothetically speaking. The things some people did were just vile, and would never be able to be forgiven. I minimized the windows that I had been using and logged into my Skype account. I had some people to talk to.


~Kaoru~

"Wake up." I voice hissed in my ear. I had finally fallen asleep because all the crying had exhausted my weak body. I didn't want to wake up. I just tried to curl up into an even tighter ball and get back to sleep, but that didn't happen. That was when the voice hissed again, a little louder this time. "Kaoru, wake up!"

"What?" I asked when my eyes snapped open on their own accord to come face to face with Dylan. For some odd reason he was in my cell, and for some odd reason the door was...open? I didn't know what time it was, seeing as there was no clock, and all I knew was that it was dark and I wanted to go back to sleep. I needed to rest more.

"Get up." He grabbed onto my arm and went to pull me up, and I tried to resist, but I couldn't really. The farthest he got me was to a sitting position, and when I was there a glared at him. I still wasn't that happy with him, still very upset and angry at what he did.

"Why?" I challenged quietly. I knew enough to keep quiet. I didn't need Dan waking up.

"Because you have to. Now, get up and come on." He grabbed onto my arm again and yanked me to my feet, and I was still glaring at him. It still hurt me to walk too much, but I didn't complain when my feet made contact with the cement.

"Why do I have to?" I asked, not bothering to ask why the door was open and why he was in my cell. He would let me know anyway. He looked back at me evenly, and there was a certain determination in his eyes that seemed to make me not want to ask too many questions.

"If you ever want to see Hikaru again you will move." He stated and pulled me after him as he left the cell.

"Where are we going?" I hissed at him, wanting to break from his grip, but I didn't think that I could. I was too weak to do that.

"Not we." He stated. "You are getting out of here." He led me down the way that I'd never been before. I assumed that he had before because he seemed to know where to go, even in the dark. He stopped us right before we came to the dead end.

"There isn't a way out though. This is a dead end." I stated as I balled my hands up into fists at my side. He gave a small smile and pointed upwards a little, towards the corner. There was a small window there, and the glass had broken away. It looked so small that I doubted either of us would get through that.

"You are going out of that window."

"I doubt that I can fit.."

"You can. You were skinny enough to get through that to begin with, but now you are even skinnier. You just need a lift so you can get through there."

"Alright, but what about you?"

"I'll come up after." He gave a small smile. "First we need to get you out of here – I told you I would." I blinked at him a couple times before I remembered that he did tell me that he would help get me out of here, and I was happy for that. That he actually kept that, even if I wasn't particularly happy with him.

"Thank you." I told him and he gave a nod. "You promise that you will come right after?"

"I swear it on my life." He said before helping me up so that I could reach the window without much difficulty. Though, I couldn't see anyway of getting away without any scratches from the broken glass that I had to crawl through. Once I was to the other side I turned around so that I could look back at the older teen. I held out a hand to him.

"Come on." I said, and waited for him to take it. He didn't, just smiled and shook his head.

"Think of this as a promise kept, and an apology for what I did to you." Dylan said with a smile. I couldn't see why he would smile at all. There was nothing to smile about. Nothing.

"You promised."

"Yes I did. I promised on my life." He said softly. "I intend on keeping that promise, but I am not going to get out of here."

"You can't just stay here." I was shocked that he would say that. What would make him think that I can get out of here if he couldn't?

"I can, and I will, but don't worry. I will be leaving soon enough. After all, I swore on my life." He let a soft smile as he looked back at me. "It's around midnight right now, just keep an eye on the moon and go wherever you can to get back to your home."

"Why don't you co-"

"Kaoru. Just get home NOW. Before Dan actually comes to check, and it's supposed to storm tonight."

"Bu-"

"Just go." He said and hurried silently down the hall again, leaving me outside the window in shock. I was outside, alone, and with no sense of direction. I stood up and tried to think. I just sprinted off in a random direction as thunder struck, and the rain started to poor.


If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

-Albert Einstein-


Yey~ Kaoru got away~ But for how long? And what shall happen? The ending itself was the hardest in this chapter. That's why it wasn't up sooner. I had to keep rewriting the ending of it, and finally I got tired of that, and figured you were all tired of waiting, so I just settled with this the way it is.

Alright, there is - that I have planned - 3 or 4 more chapters of this story, and hopefully they go along faster than this chapter did.