Chapter 10: I'm Here

The white car screeched to a stop, skidding along the gravel of the little dirt road located out in the woods near the outermost limit of Tokyo. Leaving the car running, not bothering to turn it off, the Kaitou 1412 leapt out into mid-air, the momentum of the car transferring to him and carrying him well over two meters before he even touched the ground. It didn't matter that the person inside had likely heard the screeching of the tires because mere moments later he was bursting through the unlocked door, into the RV, his eyes taking in everything there was to see in a single near-bursting-speed heartbeat.

When he saw Minamoto Futsuji pressed bodily against his nearly unconscious little boy, the child less than a third the size of the other man, both of their pants unbuckled, Kaito's shirt pulled up to his chest and ruffled and a hand clenched oh-so-tightly around his son's throat…. For the first time in his entire life, the only thought that went through the magician's mind was kill.

But in the next moment, as he was diving whole-heartedly towards the two where they were lying on the carpeted floor, he caught another glimpse at his son. It was only for the briefest of moments, but to him it felt like an eternity, his sharp mind cataloging every minute detail...

The dark bruise that was already forming on the boy's cheek, outlined by angry red, irritated skin in the shape of an adult-sized hand across the child's small face.

The hitching of his chest as he tried desperately to take in small, delicate breaths despite his held-shut esophagus.

The tiny hand that pulled oh-so-weakly at the grown man's fingers, as if begging to be given back the breath which had been stolen away from him, his silent plea going unrequited by the cruel monster above him.

The trembling that racked his body from head-to-toe, shivering down his spine and making Toichi himself shudder mid-air, even as his momentum continued to carry him above the ground towards them in his full-body lunge.

The bruising and red marks that littered his son's porcelain skin, across his torso, up his stomach, clear imprints of bruising fingertip grips and strokes, and the ugly, bleeding circle of a bite mark between his son's collarbone and neck. For a second, he considered ripping out the pedophile's throat with his own teeth...

And then he saw the eyes. His son's glossy, dazed, dilated, wonderfully indigo eyes, red-rimmed and tear-filled, with streaks of salty liquid running from the corners down his face, agitating the skin as they went and dried, only to ultimately be replaced by more. His eyes so unfocused, drifty as his eyelids shuttered from his lack of breath, yet through it all, the eyes which screamed above all else "please, help me!"

When he saw his son's pain-filled eyes, all thoughts of mutilating Minamoto for what he'd done were pushed into the furthest, darkest recesses of his mind and instead the overwhelming, all-consuming urge to simply hold his son, to help him, to ease his pain and take it all away, filled his heart and soul until no other thought could persist past: 'Leave the pedo to the police; take Kaito home.'

The moment finally passed as he collided with Minamoto, shoving him whole-heartedly off and away from his boy as Toichi crouched above his son protectively. Before the Fishy Magician could even begin to right himself, a pellet of knock-out gas was under his nose and opened, the older man's body relaxing limply on the floor.

Toichi turned, full attention on his son. Now that the hand had been removed, he could see the angry welts left by the man's suffocating grip on his son's slender neck and the sight made Toichi's own chest heave for breath, unable to find it as his son gasped in his own quiet breaths, unable to draw in deeper lungfuls of air because of the damage that had been done to him. Toichi instantly reached forward with his silky white-gloved hands and rubbed soothingly at the boy's throat, making him wince from the pain but opening up his air-ways, allowing for deeper, more productive and life-bringing breaths to enter the both of them.

As soon as the boy had the breath for it, he breathed the only word which came to mind: "D-Daddy..."

Toichi's heart clenched.

"I'm here, Kaito. Daddy's here. He's got you. You're okay. You're gonna be okay..." Even as he spoke, for the first time ever in his adult life, Toichi's voice cracked. Still, he soothed his precious little Kaito, murmuring sweet nothings into his ear when his own voice failed to form proper syllables. The very sound of his voice seemed to have an instant soothing effect on Kaito as the boy's tense body relaxed ever-so-slightly, his once-struggling-to-relieve-his-throat hand falling as limply to the side as the other had remained and his tense shoulders and back falling flat against the floor, as if the strings holding him up had been severed, his spine going slack. Despite all of this, his eyes remained ever-so-faintly open, staring up largely uncomprehendingly, knowing only that they were looking at their father and seeing nothing else, his vision rimmed by white and black.

Toichi reached forward, lifting his son as gently as possible, more gently than any human could ever manage, with the softness and light touch of a father phantom thief. He clutched the boy to his chest, wrapping him in his soft, warm cape, Kaito whimpering as his dislocated right arm was pressed against his father, Toichi trying his damn best to prevent any and all pain to his boy.

Kaito whimpered again as he stood, lifting Kaito into the air and whisking him towards the car, out of the hell-hole he'd just found him in.

"Hush little one, it's okay, you're safe now," he soothed softly, trying to calm the fear that no-doubt ran through the boy's mind as he was lifted from the floor and carried away.

When they reached the car, Toichi strapped Kaito into the passenger seat and brushed his lips over the top of the boy's head. "I'll be right back, Kaito, I swear it."

Kaito's eyes fluttered as his groggy mind barely perceived the loss of the presence of his protective father beside him. His functional hand reached out and a sound of deep distress escaped him, and Toichi almost stopped in his hasty return to the RV... But no, he had to leave Kaito be, if only for a few moments.

Toichi returned to the RV and bound the culprit, doing a quick search of the RV and finding a locked drawer containing pictures of previous victims of his as they had appeared after he was done with them and mid-task. Toichi barely looked at them, averting his gaze and shuddering, knowing that they would be enough evidence for the police to go off of in order to convict the man for his crimes. On top of that, Toichi highly suspected that the dark-red coloring of the floor was chosen to hide any traces of blood which might remain from previous victims, and the Kaitou figured that the police would be able to pull evidence from there.

A few drops of his own son's blood would be found... But that alone wouldn't be enough for the police to uncover the fact that Kaito had been there. The world at large would never know that his son was here, if Toichi had anything to say about it. He hoped beyond all hope that the effects of the chloroform that had been used on his son would dull even his own boy's memories of the night's events past proper recollection.

Toichi didn't know why Minamoto only targeted Japanese children. Maybe the sick man was only attracted to the specific ethnicity and appearance? He also didn't know what had triggered the man's sick cravings. Was it the death of his wife? Something relating to his own children or grandchildren? Or had he been doing this all along, and only began to be noticed four years ago? Toichi didn't know the answers to any of it, and truly, by this point, he didn't care. All that mattered to him was that the man would face justice, and that Kaito would pull through. Nothing else at all mattered right then and there.

Satisfied that the culprit would be convicted and leaving a single white card reading Kaitou 1412 on it at the scene, Toichi hurried back to his son, who was now panting and thrashing slightly despite his aches and pains, panicked by the loss of his father's company.

"I'm here, Kaito, I'm here," Toichi soothed once more as he quickly glided towards the car, pausing at the passenger side only long enough to run a hand through Kaito's hair comfortingly before proceeding to the driver's seat.

The car was rolling away moments later, after only a brief moment was taken to close the roof, this time gliding as smoothly as was possible for a phantom's car to move on an old rocky road, Toichi worried less about speed in this instance and more about trying to prevent the jostling of his injured son beside him.

A/N: Reviews appreciated~!