antiTHESIS

This is a revised chapter, because this weekend I don't have the time to post up a complete new one, and I can't post just an author's note. I'm extremely sorry that I have to stray from my schedule this week, and promise an update the fortnight afterwards. Once again, I'm so sorry. xD"

x the delusions of two people in similar states of minds

Ryoma didn't usually invite people over.

But that was because Ryoma didn't have very many people he would want to invite over anyway.

Today, however, was a special occasion - Ryoma had actually decided that one of his schoolmates was interesting enough to come over to his house. (It helped that said schoolmate had a similar taste to Ryoma's in reading material.)

After a morning of anxious waiting, the doorbell rang, and Ryoma practically ran to the door with an almost-smile, flinging it wide open.

Nanjiroh followed, rather eager to see who could have incited such an action from the only book-loving Echizen Ryoma. He had been listening to the brat's excited chattering the whole morning, and couldn't help but wonder about what type of amazing kid could get Ryoma so worked up.

'Ah, Ryoma-chan. Thank you for inviting me over.'

Yukimura Seiichi stood in all his glory, gentle smile on his face with kind eyes, which narrowed the moment they landed on the person behind Ryoma.

'Echizen-san, it's wonderful to see you,' Yukimura said, eyes closing and smile widening.

Ryoma, missing the nuance between the word 'see' and 'meet', said cheerfully, 'Dad, this is-'

'Yukimura Seiichi,' Nanjiroh said flatly, 'never step on my property again, you hear me?'

Yukimura almost pouted. 'Well, Ryoma-chan, I suppose I'll have to leave then. Have a good day, Echizen-san, Ryoma-chan.'

And with that, Yukimura left, leaving Ryoma extremely befuddled and just a bit unsettled.

xxx

'Why are you here?' Ryoma spat, rage emanating from his persona. He jumped to his feet, despite his tiredness, golden eyes flashing with fury.

Yukimura smiled, serene even in the face of Ryoma's ire. 'Shouldn't I be the one asking that, since I am clearly not the guest?'

'Don't try and trick me!' Ryoma shouted, fists clenched with white knuckles. 'Why are you here?'

'I think I'll take myself and Ryou-kun out,' Niou said nonchalantly, dragging Shishido's unconscious body out of the room, leaving Ryoma and Yukimura alone.

'You betrayed me!' Ryoma continued to shout, voice getting louder by the second. 'You filthy murderer!'

Yukimura did nothing to disprove Ryoma's accusations, letting Ryoma continue to scream at him.

'I should have known that you were related to this somehow! Everything bad in my life is somehow related to you! My parents dying, my family leaving me, having to leave school, losing my job with Atobe, and ending up here! That's probably why Tezuka was hired to capture Rikkai-'

Yukimura chuckled. 'Tezuka. That blundering old fool. He's too focussed on things like justice that he misses the most obvious details, so set in his views. He's so close to the trees that he can't even see the forest, never mind the industrialised city around it.'

'Don't you dare say anything bad about him!' Ryoma's voice upped in volume, blood boiling.

Yukimura raised an eyebrow, smiling wider. 'So concerned about Tezuka, Ryoma-chan? I do wonder why.'

Ryoma opened his mouth to retort, but found that he had nothing to say.

'Why so quiet, Ryoma-chan?' Yukimura questioned. 'Well, I suppose I should be getting to work.' The emphasis on work was not unnoticed by Ryoma, and he glared.

'Going to go murder somebody else's father now?' Ryoma said angrily. 'Going to ruin somebody else's life?'

Yukimura beamed. 'You've always jumped to conclusions, Ryoma-chan; it's always seemed rather cute, though perhaps a bit childish - and I don't think you have the right to judge me because of such anyway, as you yourself...' And then he left the room, choosing (rather wisely) not to finish his sentence, humming. The door closed behind him with the click of a lock.

The room was silent now, except for the steady ticking of the clock on the slanted wall.

How could Yukimura be here? It was like Ryoma's whole past was being dredged back up to the surface now. He almost wished that he had never become Tezuka's secretary...

Almost.

He glanced down, flushing, at the hospital gown that he was still wearing, which now had a miniscule hole in it where the dart had been that wouldn't have been noticed if Ryoma hadn't known it was there. Ryoma really had expected for Tezuka to find out about his gender in a different way...

And his mind was off-track. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about Tezuka, damn it! The matter at hand was why the hell Yukimura Seiichi had once again wormed his way into his life.

How long had he been incarcerated? Ryoma glanced at the clock, but it didn't help much, being analogue. He couldn't tell if it was morning or evening - or if the clock was even right. He wouldn't put it past Yukimura to change the time on the clock just to disorient him, the bastard. There were no lengths that he wouldn't go to.

...But then, Yukimura had been right. Ryoma really didn't have the right to accuse Yukimura of murdering fathers.

He didn't have the right to judge anybody because they had murdered a parent..

Not when Ryoma had killed his own mother.

xsx

'Tezuka, what are we supposed to do?' Oishi said, completely frantic. 'Meino-san knows far too much for us to just let her stay in Rikkai hands! Oh that poor girl, she must be so scared now! Who knows what they'll do to her?'

'Oishi, calm down,' Fuji said, smiling, though his smile seemed a bit strained. 'Meino-san doesn't know that much, I'm sure.'

But Fuji really wasn't that sure. The way that Ryoko-chan had started almost violently at the mention of Echizen Nanjiroh was nothing short of alarming. Where was the connection?

'Tezuka, we'll have to organise a rescue mission immediately!' Oishi continued, panicked, as if Fuji had not interrupted at all. 'We'll get Inui out at the same time!'

Fuji tried to placate the hysterical vice-president. 'First of all, how do we know they're even being held at the same building?' Here, Oishi wailed - perhaps Fuji's attempt at pacifying him wasn't working too well. 'And you know that it wouldn't be smart to launch a rescue mission now, when Rikkai will be expecting-'

'We launch a rescue mission now,' Tezuka said grimly, making Fuji's words halt mid-sentenc. 'Rikkai now has two Seishun members in -'

'I wasn't aware that secretaries that hadn't even been employed for half a year counted as true Seishun members, Tezuka,' Fuji said lightly, making Oishi gasp.

'How could you say that, Fuji? Do you think we should just let Inui and Meino-san-'

'I'm not insinuating what you believe I am, Oishi,' Fuji said, his cerulean eyes focussed solely on Tezuka. 'I'm just wondering why Tezuka thinks such a rash action would be proper now, when he had been the one to suggest that we wait until later to attempt a rescue mission for Inui, who is a much more valuable employee than Ryoko-chan is.' And a much more honest employee at that, Fuji thought to himself. Inui hadn't been hiding his gender, and Inui certainly didn't look like a rabbit caught in headlights when the name Echizen Nanjiroh was mentioned.

Tezuka frowned at Fuji, but repeated himself, not bothering to explain. 'We launch a rescue mission now. Momoshiro and Kaidoh can-'

'Do you expect us to find the Rikkai headquarters that easily?' Fuji asked, chuckling. 'You know that we've tried numerous times, and Inui never told us, for fear that his voice would be picked up by the security system when he infiltrated Rikkai. He should have just told us - he got caught anyway. But we only got that far with months of research, Tezuka, and you want us to launch a rescue mission now?'

Oishi nodded at Fuji's logic, though his eyes were still wide with anxiety. 'It would be near impossible to find out so soon, Tezuka. How do you plan on doing it?'

Tezuka uttered three words that he had never planned on saying in his lifetime.

'I don't know.'

Oishi stared in shock. 'And you want us to just launch a rescue mission?'

'Momoshiro and Kaidoh will be sent out to pinpoint the location,' Tezuka said plainly. 'Inui did find out the general area. Kikumaru can be their driver.'

Fuji was full out grinning now. 'So desperate to save the princess, Mr Knight in Shining Armour?'

Tezuka stared at Fuji sternly, but said nothing.

'Well, I just happen to have a simpler way of finding out,' Fuji said, pulling something out of his pants pocket.

'Did Niou really think that I would be stupid enough to be tricked by something so elementary?' Fuji said, more to himself than Tezuka and Oishi. In his hand lay a small device with a screen on it. On the screen were two dots. One was in the centre of the screen, and the other was a little ways off, a blinking green light.

'Let's see where Ryoko-chan's hospital gown is now then...'

'You could have told us that you had a tracking device on Meino-san earlier, Fuji,' Tezuka said, his voice tinged with disapproval.

Fuji laughed. 'But I did want to see what lengths you would go to save our damsel in distress, Tezuka.'

He added under his breath at a volume that neither Oishi or Tezuka could hear, 'It seems this Meino Ryoko is more important to you than I believed, Tezuka.'

xxx

'Ryoko-chan, if you don't eat, you'll become bony and ugly,' Niou said, waving a slice of toast in front of Ryoma's face. 'And we wouldn't want that, right, Ryou-kun?'

'Don't call me that,' Shishido said, fuming. 'I can't believe you put truth serum into my food!' Shishido stalked off to the corner of the room, and plopped himself down, seeming determined to ignore Niou.

Ryoma wasn't really registering the conversation around him, far too busy with staring forward at nothingness, lost in his thoughts. He had to get out of here. Being in the same building as Yukimura Seiichi made him want to shoot somebody, the somebody being preferably Yukimura Seiichi himself - but Ryoma didn't want to kill ever again, and especially not for Yukimura Seiichi.

'Ryoko-chan,' Niou said in a singsong tone, 'won't you have some toast?'

Ryoma grabbed the offensive piece of toast that was blocking his vision and chomped it up. It tasted burnt, meaning he had just eaten a carcinogen and had a higher chance of getting cancer - which wouldn't be that bad, Cancer would mean that he would have to go to a hospital, and he'd get away from this horrid place. 'Happy now?' he said in a low voice. 'Leave me alone.'

'In a bad mood?' Niou asked in an abnormally bright tone used specifically for Ryoma's irritation.

Ryoma glared back at Niou, who was obviously in league with Yukimura and thus on the enemy's side.

'You should talk a bit more,' Niou suggested, smirking. 'It'll be a long wait for your saviours, you know, and you might get a bit bored.'

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at this. 'Saviours?'

'The Seishun Agency is probably trying to find our headquarters now,' Niou said, snorting. 'As if they'd be able to.'

Ryoma had a strange inkling that the Seishun Agency, with Tezuka at its head, wouldn't be trying too hard to find him. For some reason, that made him feel rather disappointed.

'Since we've got two of their people now, I'm sure they're quite worried,' Niou said with a cruel laugh. 'Can't say I blame them. Fuji really has lost his touch... I hadn't expected to be able to hit him that easily.'

Ryoma said nothing in return.

'But then, he probably just really really hates me because he thinks I killed his brother,' Niou said thoughtfully.

'Wait,' Shishido suddenly spoke, standing up from his corner. 'You were the one responsible for the murder of Fuji Yuuta?'

'So what if I am?' Niou said indifferently.

'The police chief's aide?' Shishido questioned, eyes wide. 'You were the one responsible for that?'

'I've heard it was quite the bloody murder,' Niou remarked.

Shishido's eyes were strangely watery. 'What did Fuji-kun ever do to you?'

Ryoma watched this exchange with interest, wondering what had caused the sudden change in Shishido's attitude.

Niou smirked. 'The target that time had been the police chief, but he had just refused to get out of the way...' His voice trailed off, and his eyes watched Shishido's reaction closely.

'Are you really that heartless?' Shishido shouted, distraught. Niou seemed strangely satisfied. 'You... you murderer!'

This conversation seemed remarkably similar to the one Ryoma had had a bit earlier.

Niou, however, was not as gentle as Yukimura was, and walked right up to Shishido, slamming his hand onto the wall next to Shishido's head, shocking Shishdio into sliding down. 'Don't speak about things you don't know about,' he said quietly, underlying antagonism evident in his voice. 'Perhaps you should ask your dearest Choutarou about this murder that I committed the next time you see him, hm? See what comments he has to make?'

'Don't speak about Choutarou in that tone! You don't know anything about him!' Shishido shouted back, face red.

'I assure you, Ryou-kun, I know far more about your Ohtori Choutarou than you believe,' Niou retorted, eyes flashing. 'The things I know about Chou-kun could fill up quite a few books, and none of those things are particularly complimentary.'

'You're just a fucking murderer!' Shishido spat out. 'Why should I believe you? I hadn't believed it when Atobe said you were a marksman - but it seems you really are, you killer!'

Niou sighed. 'And I had thought that we'd be able to get along, Shishido.' His hand slipped back down to his side and his smirk was back firmly in place. 'It seems here we part ways then - you really are just another Hyoutei lackey.'

'You're of no use to us, Shishido,' Niou said uncaringly. He walked over to the door and held it wide open. 'You're free to go. Somebody will escort you back to Hyoutei. Goodbye, Shishido Ryou.'

Shishido stared at Niou, obviously bemused. 'What?'

'You're useless,' Niou said frankly. 'You can leave.'

Ryoma stood, quite ready to bolt as well, wondering why Shishido wasn't taking his chance immediately, but then Niou appended, 'But not you, Ryoko-chan. Yukimura-shachou's not done with you quite yet, and if you try to leave, you'll just be knocked unconscious again.'

Ryoma sat back down.

Shishido continued to stare at Niou. 'I - I don't understand,' he said in a voice that was half a whisper.

'Somebody is waiting outside to escort you back to Hyoutei,' Niou repeated. 'Please leave, Shishido.'

Shishido glanced at Ryoma with sympathy in his eyes, quite obviously because Ryoma would have to suffer Niou's company longer. Then, Shishido looked back at Niou.

'How do I know this isn't a trick?' Shishido demanded.

'You don't,' Niou said, a faint linger of a smirk on his lips. 'Take the chance if you will. I myself shall be leaving now. You can stay if you want, of course.'

And with that, Niou left.

'Meino, you'll be fine here, right?' Shishido said, sounding a bit worried for the other prisoner.

Ryoma nodded. 'You worried 'bout me, Shishido?' he said, with a bit of a leer.

Shishido harrumphed and left, but not without giving Ryoma a glance over his shoulder, his anxiety showing through easily.

xhx

'Atobe-san, have you had any luck?'

'Ohtori, if you ask me that one more time-'

'Kei-chan, don't be so mean to him!'

Atobe sighed. Choutarou had been asking him constantly about Shishido. He didn't understand why; Shishido was so annoying that it was almost a relief that he had been kidnapped...

...He didn't really mean that.

'Yuushi and Mukahi are ... taking care of it,' Atobe said. Choutarou's mouth formed a small 'o'.

'What do you mean by taking care of it?'

All eyes turned to the doorway, where one dishevelled Shishido Ryou stood.

'Shishido-san!' Choutarou exclaimed, running over. He spread his arms wide, quite ready to pull Shishido into a bone-breaking hug, but Shishido stayed back. 'What's wrong, Shishido-san?'

Staring Choutarou right in the eye, Shishido asked, 'What do you know about the murder of Fuji Yuuta?'

Choutarou looked, strangely enough, uncomfortable. 'What do you mean, Shishido-san?'

'I mean exactly what I said,' Shishido replied bluntly. 'What do you know about the murder of Fuji Yuuta?'

Shishido didn't miss the way Choutarou's eyes darted towards Atobe.

'Is there something you know that you're not telling me?' Shishido lobbied.

Choutarou shook his head frenetically, all the while glancing back and forth from Atobe to Shishido. 'What makes you say that?'

Shishido went rather limp. 'So you do know something,' he said quietly. And what could be so dark that Choutarou wouldn't share it with Shishido?

Niou had known something.

But how?

...And what else did he know?

xsx

Tezuka sat in the car, a frown etched in his face. Eiji was quite ecstatic to be driving, as per usual, but Tezuka was nothing close to ecstatic at sitting in the car that Eiji was driving.

'Don't worry, Tezuka, we're almost there,' Fuji said with a smile. 'We'll get Ryoko-chan and Inui out in no time.'

Tezuka's frown deepened. Only Fuji could so easily decipher his thoughts and moods. 'I'm sure Ryoko-chan can fend for herself anyway,' Fuji added.

Tezuka wasn't even really sure why he was so worried about his secretary, who had first of all, been hired at the spur of the moment and second of all, deceived them all.

But he couldn't help feeling worried anyway, and his gaze stayed on the small screen, his eyes fixated on the flashing green dot.

x tsuzuku

(Please do tell me if this chapter is better - I'm still not satisfied with it.) -awinchan