Title: Beside Me

Disclaimer: I really am infringing on someone else copyright, but I mean it in the best possible way.

I have to apologize to all readers. I know that I took terribly long and I am sorry for that. You don't have to worry about me not continuing this story though. I promise, that I will see this completed and I hope very much, that some of you might stick along. So thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed the previous chapters. I try to get back to every one through the reply feature. Also a thank you to CyborgRockStar who once again took the time to beta-read this chapter and made it more fluent and readable!

7. Chapter Six

"Ernest, this is madness!" Benjamin circled his chair for the fourth time now. "You said something about them being kids and putting some fear into them, but nothing about attacking them and definitely nothing about injuring them."

Ernest didn't seem all that impressed by his friend's outburst; instead he was again flicking through the report he had gotten about the attack.

"Don't worry, they are already out of hospital."

Benjamin was more than put off by the other man's emotionless behavior. "Well, that's not the point. The point is, that we're responsible for putting them in there in the first place."

"Well, Benjamin, I know, that it may be difficult for you to proceed, but last year we'd made a decision, and from then on we've all been criminals. It's time that you accept that."

The younger man looked stunned. "We are not criminals, Ernest. Joyce and I are not criminals. This whole thing was your's and Gillian's idea. You said, no, you promised it would work out alright, that nobody would be hurt, nobody would care."

"Well, it was true at that moment. Voltaire was occupied with remembering his own name and Kai Hiwatari with taking care of the old man. If you regret everything now, then you can still go to the police. However, you should think about what that will do to you and Joyce. A few years in prison don't improve anyone's marriage."

Ernest was finished with the file by now and laid it neatly down on a pile on his desk. He folded his arms over his chest, leaned back in the seat and looked expectantly at Benjamin.

Benjamin wanted to yell at the older man, but he already felt foolish enough standing there, shaking with anger while Ernest kept up his stoic front. He wouldn't throw a tantrum like a small child: That would only confirm why Ernest looked down on him.

"Listen, Ernest. This is not about me being unreasonable, but it is about Joyce. The doctor was there today and had to give her a sedative, because she was totally out of it. If I have to decide between prison and Joyce's health, I'll choose her every day. So you better find a way to get rid of this problem."

"I see you finally got it, Benjamin. That's exactly the plan: we'll get rid of the problem."

Benjamin looked disbelievingly at Ernest. He didn't need to ask what the other man meant. His conscience told him to stay and to try to talk Ernest out of it, but somehow the need to just get everything over with was bigger. He didn't want to be part of what Ernest had in mind; however he wouldn't try to stop him.

Benjamin left the room without saying anything.

xxxxxx

"This hotel is so much better," said Tyson, while he let his heavy bag fall down on the bed.

"We got only one room." Tala grumbled as he entered the room behind him.

"That fact only shows how much better it is."

"They have cockroaches on the first and second floor. That's why they haven't got enough rooms. I can't see how that speaks of quality."

Tala took a short look out of the window before he angrily closed the curtains. From their window they could overlook the street and also the other houses across the street. Problem was, that that also meant, that people in those houses could look right into their room.

"They said we could get another two rooms tomorrow."

Kai said, still standing in the doorway. He hated this new role as a diplomat between his two friends. He felt like it was forced upon him and he could only decide between the current situation and sending them away and being all alone. He hoped the exterminators would make fast work on the other floors. Not only because then each of them could have their privacy, but also because being in the third floor meant, that jumping out of the window was out of question. And after just having been attacked out on the street a last minute way to escape would have been good.

He sat his pack down on one of the chairs standing around a small table which was set in the middle of room. Searching through his bag, he enjoyed the moment of silence that was enabled by everyone making their way around their temporary home.

Kai carefully removed his shirt. Inspecting the blood strain on the way, he decided to throw it in the bin right away. Not wanting to move his arm too much, he chose a dress short, which he he found on the bottom of his bag.

Tala sat heavily on one of the beds. His eyes were shut. Even the scarcely lit room somehow seemed to be too bright at the moment. He briefly wondered why he was so tired. He had drunk so much coffee that it should have kept him going for days. His headache was another problem. It didn't want to go away and he almost wished that he had let the nurses at the hospital take a look and prescribe him some painkillers. He was barely aware of Kai leaving the room.

Tyson had shut himself in the bathroom. He felt like sulking, but he wouldn't do that in front of Kai and especially not in front of Tala. They would just accuse him of acting like a child and even though he momentarily felt like one, he didn't want it to hear from them.

Tyson felt tired and it wasn't just the jet-lag, and even though running around with Kai always had the tendency to be exhausting this time it was different. The tense atmosphere had left him mentally exhausted. Here he was stuck in a small hotel roomwith two of the most grumpy persons he knew. Sighing, he realized that what he wanted most was someone to communicate with. He really wanted to talk about what had happened today. Normally he would have been able to do that with Kai, but ever since Voltaire had died the guy was under so much pressure that Tyson was happy when he talked at all. All the more he appreciated Kai's openness at the hospital. After he had brushed his teeth and used the toilet he decided, that he had no excuse to stay in the bathroom any longer.

Tyson let the door fall shut carelessly behind him. He looked around. Tala lay fully closed on the bed on the far side of the room. Even though his face wasn't showing, it was obvious that he was asleep by the steady rhythm of his breathing.

Tyson didn't really care. He was more interested in where his other companion had gone. He silently walked around the room, hoping against hope that Kai had left him a note, saying that he was out to get some food. Unsurprisingly he couldn't find one.

The room was plain. There wasn't anything to waste some time with, no TV, no radio. After finding nothing to do, Tyson decided to lie down. He was a bit nervous about Kai being out there alone, but if Tala was there not worrying but sleeping, he should be able to do the same thing.

He glanced at his watch. It was 9pm. Surely Kai would be back shortly with something to eat, waking him for dinner.

xxxxxx

Kai meanwhile wasn't thinking about food at all. He had walked out of the hotel room without a real thought about what he intended to do. Only when he had walked aimlessly around the city for a while he had realized what he was doing and set out to trail back to the hotel. What had he been thinking by just going out here searching his parents? Okay, this wasn't Tokyo but it was still very unlikely to just bounce against them in the street. "Especially when you don't even know what they look like.", Kai added frustrated.

Back in the hotel he thought momentarily about going back to their room, but the vision of sitting in there with the two others fighting, convinced him of staying away for some longer.

Kai trailed over to the bar and ordered a Scotch-Cola to start with. The old barman attended to his order, blasé, and then hurriedly walked back to the female custumer he had been talking with before.

Kai enjoyed the cold drink, the sensation of the ice-cubes against his lips whenever he prepared to take a sip. He realized that he also enjoyed it to being alone. Well not really alone. The evening traffic in the hotel was still more heavy than one would have expected. He briefly glanced at the clock, which hang on the wall over the elevators. Nearly midnight. Kai must have wandered out there longer than even he had thought.

He ordered another drink, which was delivered with the same lethargy to him as the first one. This one already had more effect on him than the first one. He felt himself relax, the pain from his wound eased away even more.

Kai leaned with his back against the counter and looked around the grand room. The reception desk was on the far side; to his left was the entry, which was composed of big glass doors that opened automatically; a red carpet marked the way through it up to the elevators to his right hand. These were the things that everyone could notice with the first glance, but for the first time Kai was interested in the small facts about this hall: the stairs leading up next to the elevators, about the ugly table cloths on the little tables in the waiting area, and about the half hidden telephone booth in the corner. He looked at the last item the longest.

Kai took his glass with him and moved a bit nearer to the phone. The phone book lay on a small table next to the apparatus.

The young man smiled grimly. No, it never was that easy. Still he continued to walk towards it. When he reached the booth, his nervousness grew. He rubbed with one hand the thumb of his other while staring at the book. Finally he grabbed it and skimmed through the pages. The letter 'H' jumped at him and he slowly turned the pages now.

Kai couldn't breathe it was so easy, so surreal. It couldn't be happening, but there it was 'Hiwatari, Fjodor' full with phone number and address.

Kai lay the book down again and went back to the bar to get a refill. 'It's never, never going to be this easy!'

xxxxxx

He walked slowly towards the hotel room. No one was on the floor. Good. This way no one would remember him. Room 318. This was it. Remembering what his job was on this case wasn't difficult. He always did the dirty work. He would do it here. It didn't mean anything to him.

He moved the lock-pick into place. Make it look like an accident. It was always the same. If they aren't sleeping heavy enough, then kill them first, but don't forget to make it look like an accident. He wouldn't forget that. He was a professional. That was why he had been called.

He didn't know who the persons in the room where. He didn't want to know. Just take care of the people occupying room 318. That had been his job. That was what he was doing.

He stepped inside. Nothing was moving. He didn't hear himself moving even. But they'd soon wake up. However he would be gone by then.

He placed the ignitions. Prices had gone up for these, but they were the best. Quiet even during explosion and didn't leave enough evidence to verify arson. His client had the money; that made this job easy.

He made sure, that everything was settled and activated the timer. Then he just went out of the room and waited 30 seconds. He heard a crackling sound. It worked all right. He left.

xxxxxx

Kai had finally decided to make the call. It didn't matter to him anymore that it was in the middle of the night; it didn't matter that he didn't know what he was supposed to say. He could never drink enough to help him gather the guts to call in the morning, and if he would try this sober he'd fail for sure. He felt nervous enough as it was.

When he couldn't find his family name in the phone book again Kai felt already relieved, that he might have imagined things. But then there it was again. Fjodor Hiwatari. Kai quietly mumbled the name and listened to it's sound. Then he pronounced it differently and spoke it again. Kai wondered if in a minute he'd hear how the man belonging to the name emphasized it. He wondered what the other man's voice might sound like at all.

Taking another deep breath Kai put some coins in the slot and started typing in the given number. It took a lifetime to finally start ringing and even when it did nothing happened for a while.

'Please.' Kai pressed the earpiece harder against his ear as if to hear better.

It rang again. This time however a clicking sound could be heard afterwards. Kai held his breath.

"You're talking with the answering machine of Fjodor and Natalia Hiwatari. We are currently not at home, but you can leave us a message. If it is urgent to reach us, then you can ask our neighbors for our mobile number. Bye."

Kai put some more coins in the slot and called the same number again, but he just got the same answer. Again he called it, but this time he didn't care about the message and just listened to the voice delivering it. Could this be his father's voice? It didn't sound familiar, but since he wouldn't recognize the man, if he met him on the street it was highly unlikely that he'd remember his voice.

Perhaps his parents weren't really out, but just sleeping and not caring about the phone. The clock told Kai, that it was already half past one. He wouldn't answer the phone himself at this time.

He wondered if the address given in the phone book would be far enough away for him to take until morning to walk there. He'd never be able to sleep now, not after being so near his aim. So he could just as well start to walk to his parents' house now.

Kai didn't move, however. Everything was going too fast, almost too easy. Perhaps it was just the alcohol wearing down or his tiredness playing with his mind, but he was hesitant to really move. What if they didn't want him, didn't let him in, or even didn't remember him? That was the most horrible scenario possible.

He had never pictured meeting his parents, because he had thought them to be dead all these years. It had been logical, that he had to live with his grandfather as long as he believed, that his parents were dead. But what reasons were there now?

'Just go there and find out.' It was more Kai's practical side than his confidence coming out here.

He ripped the page with the address out of the phone book and made his way towards the door. Suddenly a siren started its ear-splitting ringing. Kai looked around confused. Nothing happened for a while. Then he heard a woman's cry. "Fire!"

People came running down the stairs only wearing their pajamas, shouting, nearly falling over, making their way towards the door. Kai was pushed to the side.

"Fire," he mouthed. His eyes opened wide. "Fire! Tyson! Tala!"

Kai pushed against the stream of people, sidestepping most of them and making his way to the stairs.

Tbc...