Disclaimer: I do not own POT
Chapter 9: Search Party
Tezuka had been searching for Sakuno for the past 2 years, and Orochi had been condemned to 10 years of jail sentence for committing rape to which he felt no remorse to. Although Orochi told the tale which Tezuka made it personal to attend… he felt worse. Orochi had raped her over 3 to 4 months of having caught him. Tezuka had made sure to check every possible avenue, registered deaths… rape help-centers… missing persons reports… everything. It was as though she simply faded into the background and disappeared.
"…Tezuka,"
Tezuka looked up to see familiar faces, all of them that he had been seeing for 10 years. The only people he had kept in touch with. The friendly and gentle Oichi Shuuichiro, watched him worriedly while the ever smiling Fuji Syuusuke seemed content to simply sink into the armchair and wait for him to respond to Oichi's coaxing voice and finally the ever grumpy Kaidoh Kaoru tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Tezuka to respond.
"…Everything said in this room must be kept under strict privacy."
Fuji opened his eyes in amusement as he responded
"Since when was it never the case?"
Tezuka furrowed his eyebrows as he said sternly
"Since… it is because of Ryuuzaki."
At this, it seems the name got their undivided attention even Kaidoh Kaoru straightened up and had completely abandoned the constant tapping of his foot. Fuji's eyes were opened and there on his was a smile but this time it seemed a lot more serious than the usual lax nature Fuji adopts. Oishi seemed rather concerned.
"That is a name we haven't heard in a while."
Oishi answered, they all looked at one another as though trying to figure out what happened to Ryuuzaki Sakuno which earned such secrecy. At that point, that was when Tezuka took out a picture from his breast pocket, the one he had taken from Orochi and then a newspaper clipping of Orochi's arrest. The news swept the whole room like a cold bucket of ice dumped onto each and everyone's body… Oishi was first to pick up the picture with his fingers trembling and his eyes filled with unspoken words, Kaidoh Kaoru balled up his fists and Fuji at this point was no longer smiling anymore.
"…To think… that… you asked me to defend… this bastard."
Kaidoh snarled, he looked at Tezuka demanding him to explain why did he get Kaidoh Kaoru, who worked as a prestigious lawyer to defend the man who had done such a unforgivable act towards Ryuuzaki. Internally Kaidoh Kaoru felt sick to the pit of his stomach to recall that he believed that when Tezuka asked for him to help was to try his best… for his best the bastard only got locked away for 10 years… that sicko should have been prosecuted for more… more for what he had done. Tezuka Orochi should've died… should've been rightfully punished.
Tezuka's eyes were stern but internally resigned to accepting the blame as he responded
"…He was still my cousin, I had to make sure that he was given a proper lawyer."
"For what he had done to RYUUZAKI?!"
Kaidoh stood up, he was angry… angry to learn of it now, angry to have done what he had done… angry at everything and anything in the world. Oishi seemed to be looked at Sakuno's innocent picture, there anger… there was sorrow. What happened to her? Where did she go? Had Tezuka seen her? How could someone so close to them, under their eyes and nose all the time have the capacity to even lay a disgusting hand onto her? Perhaps why everyone was angry in the room was because they had all remembered the meek and innocent Sakuno Ryuuzaki at her best moments… for everything she had been to the team, a friend… a sister… a comrade… even worse when Sakuno Ryuuzaki's grandmother had passed away and right on her deathbed asked of all the team members to look after Sakuno, for they will be her family once Sumire died. They had failed to protect her from this… this indecency… this terrible unfortunate incident when the perpetrator was right under their noses all this time.
"You saw Orochi's bedroom apartment."
That was the only words that came out from Fuji's mouth and that alone was enough, Kaidoh and Oishi both turned their attention to Tezuka, it was as though he may remained stone cold, but one could see the inner walls of his soul being tired and battered. Kaidoh then realized how it must've felt to have his own kin do that to someone Tezuka cared for, it must've been gut-wrenching and sickening to see the room filled of pictures of Sakuno Ryuuzaki in the most vulnerable and…
"You… saw that final picture…"
Kaidoh said out, he remembered the case when the judge had been the only one besides the police who had seen the picture and deemed it sufficient evidence. The judge at that point described it as premeditated, he described it as saddening… that picture apparently was one after rape that the man had snapped, after everything done and soiled… it was almost like looking upon the scene itself and to make matters worse, the picture was blown up to be bigger than passport size… to the point of a poster. Kaidoh could never imagine himself ever wanting to lay eyes on something like that, it was a mixture of something so private and personal… a mixture between good and bad… a mixture of nightmares and reality. Oishi felt very concerned considering how important Ryuuzaki was to Tezuka, she was like a sister or maybe more to Tezuka, someone he held very dear in terms of Sumire and Sakuno as an individual. The one he looked after when Sumire was not around, the one he knew the longest out of everyone in the group. He dare not imagine what that image did to Tezuka.
Tezuka was not wishing to receive pity looks or remarks, they all probably by now understood how hard it was to walk into the room seeing pictures of a girl you knew, and cared for. It was almost like when a parent or lover stepped into a room filled with gross murder photos of their loved ones. It would tear anyone apart, the only thing Tezuka can be thankful for was that Orochi hadn't been a murderer and that Sakuno was never murdered… but to think of all the things you could never anticipate unfolding all at once sends your mind reeling for an answer to the question why.
"Orochi's case has already ended for 2 years… Ryuuzaki has since gone into hiding. I haven't been able to locate her."
Fuji at that point leaned back into the sofa glad it was there for a reason, Kaidoh seemed to have decidedly sat back down while Oishi did not move an inch. It was Fuji who answered
"You want us to use our diverse occupations to locate her?"
Tezuka at that point stood up and answered
"All I know is that she is not in this and several other prefectures that I have looked in to."
"Well, we will just have to keep trying won't we? I will check hospitals to see if there was a girl like her admitted to the hospital for any injuries."
Offered Oishi who was now working as one of the top doctors in the whole of Japan, Kaidoh who will not be beaten offered his own way of searching for her
"…I will talk to my colleagues and clients to see if they know of anything that might help."
Fuji at that point merely flicked out his phone and said calmly
"I will check out using my own resources."
Then silently with mutual agreement they all left the room with a new found decision to help Tezuka track Sakuno down, because like the rest of them… they wanted to know what had happened to Sakuno over the two years. Everything and anything can happen and the only way to find out is to find Sakuno, perhaps then they can look to see what their next move would be.
