Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. No real persons were used and harmed while making this and the characters used in this work of fiction are not mine. I do not make any profit from making this and do not plan to.
Warning: Human/Animal abuse, dirty language, spelling and grammar mistakes, possible missing words and letters. Yaoi and quite possibly yuri, if I feel like it. Normal pairings also, maybe… All the facts and what-not are made up. None of the things happening and facts mentioned is true.
Thank you for understanding and if any of the before mentioned offends you then please turn back now. You have been warned.
Bunch of special thanks to three people that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside:
Fairy5706green: Thank you so much for all of those suggestions and your willingness to spend your time and help out a whiny author such as myself. The though alone helped me to ease my mind about a bunch of things.
Anime and Manga 4ever XD: First of all – awesome username :D. Second, thank you for the calming down. As well as pointing out that in the end it's not such a bad thing that the story goes on by itself.
And the third person is someone who shares my experience of being stuck in a story and makes me come up with random ideas. She knows that I am talking about her. She knows.
For Your Entertainment
Chapter Nine: It's a Long Way Down.
Lan didn't have much time on her hands. Explaining, making them believe her, getting them to move, securing their safety and getting them out of here. All of that in the two hours she was given. For someone who hasn't been trained for this since birth it would be impossible.
The blonde spy dashed through the corridors of the house, turning left and right at the corners and using short cuts through the rooms and secret passages that were build for the protection of the owners of that house. But right now… it will just provide them with a grave if they don't get out of here.
Lan didn't bother to be polite or worry about what could be going on between the teens and the BCW, all that she needed to worry about now was how to get them out before the Protector got here and killed everything in sight. And much worse - obtained the key to the lost part of the world. If that were to happen and the Shaians were to enter that part of the world… then Rial might as well be called a country of the dead again.
She reached the bedroom door, her breath coming out in short puffs of air, her skin sweaty and knees wobbling. For her to be doing this, it was too much to ask for. Her job was to gather information, watch from afar and spy. But this, this was too much.
She could hear voices from the inside, small whispers that failed to carry their meanings and the emotions of the talkers across to people that were outside of that secluded room. Lan didn't want to shatter that tranquil stillness and gentle atmosphere that had created itself between those six, but for their own safety it was needed.
No matter how wrong it felt.
She pushed those giant doors open, not bothering to act like a maid that worked for the youngest Atobe heir anymore and revealed her presence. The three pairs of eyes that turned to her varied in emotions, both hidden and out in the open, but that air was no longer in the room. She broke it.
"Don't ask anything. Take the three that are asleep and follow me. Now." Lan simply ordered, bringing out the same small device that she used to talk to the headquarters and flashed for them to see. "I am here to get you out before you are all killed." She believed that it was wrong to hide what was happening.
Keigo, the one that had been raking his hand through Sanada's hair until now, narrowed his eyes just a tiny bit. "I don't see any reason to trust a spy like you." The quiet timbre of his voice seemed to wake up the black-haired male that was using Keigo's shoulder as a pillow.
Tezuka, who was reading a book until now, and Fuji, who still held the small cat-boy close to his body, only silently looked at her. Their eyes, if she weren't used to the arrogant and dirty people of Shaia then Lan would be now quivering in fear. That strong was their gaze.
"If you don't want to die, it would be wise to trust me." She spoke, her voice even and not giving them any indication of fear or lies or fakeness. "If you must make sure yourselves, then feel free wait for the hour of your death here. There will be plenty of Protectors roaming around this place soon. Because of that." The blonde nodded in Ryoma's direction, not caring about the sharp glare that now clouded Keigo's elegant features.
Tezuka slowly placed the red book down. "Why are the rebels helping us? It's not like you to help people of Shaia when they are to be killed by the Protectors." The teen knew that someday this day would come, since he was against the Shaia's methods of ruling.
"You are the only ones that can get that to open up, from what I have seen. We have no other choice but to take you with us." Lan quickly said and then glanced back at the room behind her. "We have to move." She whispered to herself and turned to face the now four teens that were awake.
"You really aren't lying, are you?" Fuji asked, already getting up with Ryoma in his arms. "And why are they after Ryoma? He has done nothing wrong, only suffered for so long! Because of us, because of the people whose hearts are black and rotten!" it was a rare moment that Fuji raised his voice; he was usually the quiet, calm voice of the reason.
Lan almost had to take a step back. She hadn't predicted that the small talk they had would turn out like this. Not turn in this direction. She doesn't know how to answer the fair-haired teen, much less what to do now, that the boys have begun asking questions that even they don't know the answers of.
Sanada stepped besides Fuji and placed his big, warm hands on the trembling male's shoulders. "Syuusuke. Maybe even they don't know. But now, we have to take this offer and go with her. This place was never safe for us to begin with." He calmly said, using that low tone of his voice that Fuji liked listening to. "Calm down."
Fuji merely nodded, evening his breathing and held Ryoma a bit closer and tighter to himself. That little creature in his arms had managed to take a place in his heart… he was now somebody important to all of them. And the child didn't even know that himself. It was a mysterious feeling that you don't have a chance to feel so often.
"If you are ready," Lan finally managed to say, after waiting for the teens to get some stuff and for Tezuka to pick up the sleeping Seiichi, "follow me. I probably know this house better than any of you anyway." She let her eyes roam over the room one more time before quickly leaving, hearing the footprints following her.
It was only the start of the day.
Kawamura stood in the middle of the bedroom that still held the lingering smell of the humans that used to use it. It was still fresh; they had left two hours ago, most probably. He gritted his teeth and turned to follow the scent that lead out of the house and probably inside the never sleeping city.
It was quite easy to follow the Rial spy and the ones that had a death sentence sentenced on them. It was like a very exciting hunt that got the protector all excited and got the adrenalin pulsating though his veins. He had bilked his way up from the lowest pits of this grotesque country, paying for it with his future and soul, a few snotty brats will not let all of this suffering and lost future go to waste.
He took out one of the SHY injections and, after pulling off the cap with his teeth, sunk the needle in his arm. His veins popped out on his skin, Kawamura's eyes closed and shivers started to shake his body in that addicting pleasure of your body growing hot and fulfilling with that animalistic instinct that is usually hidden so well.
Once the first effects of SHY had started to settle down Kawamura opened his eyes, now gone completely black as the blackest wings of a raven, and inhaled the nightly air. After standing still for a few short seconds Kawamura dashed forward, his speed so much greater than a normal person's, skillfully dodging the normal, unsuspecting humans in his way.
He neared the small, unused and technically unknown to Sakaki and Protectors, airport that served as a base for the few Rial's spies that were sent here. They flew in and out from there, skillfully hiding the frequencies of their flight times and information that traveled in and out of Shaia.
It was a place that only Kawamura knew about.
When he finally felt a stronger fragrance than the one until now, Kawamura knew that they were close by now. He just needed to round a few corners and then jump underground, that was all there was to this chase after all. He was a predator, a carnivore in this food chain. And the five teens, one Rial spy and the key to conquering the world were the prey. A moronic, simple-minded and unprotected prey.
He found an opened sewer hole and jumped in it without thinking much. The dirty water, so full with the filth that Shaia produced (shit, vomit, booze and old food, garbage of all kinds and rotten flesh and animals), splashed around him and got on his shoes and clothes, not that he cared anyway.
The faint echoes of the voices ahead reached Kawamura's ears and a low hiss escaped past his scarred lips. Whatever they had done during these two hours was got to be something really pathetic. For them to be only so far ahead, even while walking on foot and being normal humans they could have gotten further ahead.
"I can't believe that I have to walk in this…. This… Horror." The owner of that voice sounded offended to Kawamura's ears. As if, he was not used to these kind of places. Most likely, he was the reason for their slowness and was most likely the weakest one from all of them.
"Stop complaining already! It's this or the morgue. Pick your favorite." A girl, probably the spy yelled back.
The splashing of their footsteps got louder and faster, as if they were trying to fasten up their peace. But it was too late already – Kawamura was here already. That only meant that their fates have been decided. Death. That was all that awaited them now.
Kawamura quickened his peace too, already tasting the scent of the unlucky humans on the tip of his tongue. His every muscle tensed up in the expected excitement of the kill that will soon fill his every fiber. It was what all hunters looked forward, even more than the hunt and the prey that got into their claws.
The Protector rounded the next corner, where the seven humans were supposed to be but he only found an empty and smelly sewer way. No sign of a living thing, only the decaying remains of animals and insects crowded the dirty sewer.
Kawamura growled low in his throat, a sigh of irritation that his prey got away in such a short time and even under his nose. It was impossible to get away from him – the experiment of Shaia, but they had done it. Disappeared into the smelly fumes of the dirt that collected here.
"Graaaghrrr…!" a sound that reminded of a growl forced its way up Kawamura's throat and out of his mouth. He punched the brick wall that was next to him, shards and pieces of the century old wall flew in all the directions that they possibly could.
He sniffed the air around him once again, just unwillingly making sure that their scent ends here, at the same place where he was standing. The frustration of being fooled… so easily, the rage that now tore his body in a whirlwind of emotions and different levels of anger…
Kawamura merely allowed his eyes to take a look around one more time, taking in any rotting flesh and moving filth that was in this stale water, before turning to leave the repulsing hell hole of underground for now. He will have to take a small look at the rebel airport now, just to make sure that the sentenced ones haven't gotten that far quite yet. Even if it was a bit impossible.
"What did you do?" Fuji quietly questioned, slowly moving away from the destroyed wall. "We just became… invisible." He turned took look at Lan with a small frown on his face, albeit his voice had a tint of interest in it.
The blonde girl shook her head, "Masking. Erases our scent for a small amount of time. Newest Rial tech." she looked around before standing right next to the hole that had been made in the wall.
"Rial is holding back against the BCWs only thanks to their advanced technology and mechanics knowledge, you know." Tezuka added, not at all surprised at Lan's actions. "Their human resources are not limitless and Rial is against sending humans to their death in general." He pushed his glasses up a bit.
Keigo kept quiet, for once. Sanada had forced his mouth shut before, so that they wouldn't be heard by the Protector that had managed to find them a bit too soon for their liking. He didn't care about the violent action that the black-haired teen had done, he was more wounded by the fact that he didn't seem to trust him enough.
"The ship is ready, so all we have to do now is board it." Lan spoke, interrupting the small debate that had started to form between Tezuka and Sanada. "We will be in Rial before the sundown of the next day. Because, as you said, we are more advanced in the technology department." She spoke with little interest and excitement in her voice. She was running her fingers across the dirty wall, clearly searching for something, all her attention focused on that task.
"What will happen with Ryoma once we get there?" Sanada finally talked to Lan. He had avoided doing so for the whole way here. "He won't be… That is, he will be allowed to stay by our side, yes?" he may not sound worried, but the choice of words was enough for his lovers to understand.
Fuji brought the sleeping child closer to himself, placing his cheek on the soft hair that tickled his face a little. For the whole two hours Ryoma had been sleeping peacefully, even the never ending rush and yells of the rotten people could not wake him up.
Fuji though that maybe it was better if Ryoma didn't go through this while awake. It would only destroy the little trust he had gained for humans.
Seiichi was also still asleep in Sanada's arms now. But then again – Seiichi had stayed up all night, watching over the small, fragile child and his sleep. After waking up he didn't go to sleep, he and Fuji even talked a bit to the child. Something had woken him up during the nightly hours. After that Seiichi left the warmth of their shared bed and only got under the sheets again when the morning light started to shine though the curtains.
"People in Rial are not like they are here, in Shaia. They have hearts." Lan said, her voice full of hope that they would understand.
She finally managed to find what she was looking for – a small, slightly out of place brick that moved when pushed. It thumped against a hard ground when Lan pushed it back, thus making a small doorway appear in the wall, right next to the hole that the Protector had created not too long ago.
The blond spy then turned to the four teens that were awake and smiled. Her smile was so bright and true, no lies and hidden feeling covering it up and hiding her true intentions. "Thank you for believing me. You will not regret this."
"We won't." Keigo finally said, the tone of his voice even and soft and the volume of it barely over a whisper, "You saved us, so there is no way we could regret it." What he said was his true feelings.
"Thank you." Lan stepped aside to let them go in first, "Thank you so much." She smiled again and pushed a small button on the wall, behind the wall, to make the newly discovered tunnel to light up.
"Where are they?" Ryuuzaki asked. She was getting impatient when all the answers before had been 'location unknown' or 'we haven't made any connection with them yet' and 'I don't know, you old hag'.
Suri, otherwise known as Tomoka, sighed for the tenth time that day. It was getting annoying. Really. "Listen here commander. I will say this for the last time – We. Don't. Know. They obviously still haven't made it to the ship yet and that means that it would not be safe to call Lan. Got it?" she forced the last two words through her teeth.
Shinji didn't even try to become a part of what was happening. His eyes were glued on the numerous plans lying in front of him, his hair tied up so that it would be easier to see all the small numbers and coordinates that were carefully written on them. A small, portable radio was next to him and he spoke in it from time to time. For once – he wasn't muttering to himself.
"…you should take a look at Shiji! He's sitting there, nice and quiet, not pissing me off with stupid questions." Tomoka yelled at the old woman and threw up a bunch of papers that flew around her and finally landed on the ground by her feet.
Ryuuzaki glared at the girl with the pigtails with her stern eyes. Her lips were pulled into a thin line and arms crossed over her chest. "Lan is my precious child, Tomoka. Just like you are. If anything were to happen to her, I would worry. As well as those boys that were pulled into this mess. I just want to make sure that they are safe. That's all there is to it." Only then her featured softened and her face only showed the worry of a mother, whose children have gone off to places that she couldn't reach.
"Then trust her, for goodness sake. You were the one that taught her, no? Then trust her abilities." Tomoka huffed and turned away from the old commander, once again turning her look on the small monitor, "It's Lan, she can do it." Her voice got softer at the end.
The documents were left forgotten on the floor, just like all the other bickering that might happen between the two women. All that the people in the room only hoped for the confirmation that one of theirs was safe and sound, just like the people that were with her now. They silently prayed for their success and safety, hoping only for the best.
"He… Head… quarte… rs!" a weak and disjointed crackling sound suddenly came from one of the speakers, Lan's voice barely recognizable, "We …are sa… fe. Rep… eat, we… a… re saf… e and on our wa… y to Ri… al. For… the truth. Over."
The air in the room felt lighter when those words were said.
A/N: Sexy evil Kawamura will still be showing up. Yes.
I'm sorry for my rambling in previous chapter; I just needed to complain to somebody. Thank you for putting up with me people. If you have some questions or want me to explain things for you – don't be afraid to ask. Although, I suck at explaining. :D
Thank you people, thank you!
