Author's Notes: Here's me keeping my promise and uploading a chapter between Christmas and New Years. Thanks to all those who read and review. It's been jolly fun to write for you.
Chapter Ten
It was early in the morning when Hitomi woke up. She looked over at Van straight away. He was awake and talking to Merle in the kitchen.
Van was saying, "Just give her a few more minutes. You don't have to be out the door this second."
When Hitomi saw Merle she was amazed. Merle had seemed to be a little bit of a skater chick before, but now she was cleaned up and wearing a light grey office suit. She looked neat and proper.
Merle looked down at Hitomi, "Look, she's awake. Could we get a flaming move on already? I don't want to be late." With that Merle disappeared into one of the bedrooms.
"Where's she going again?"
"To her job," Van sleepily.
"What kind of a job? I thought that you guys just liked to burn things," she giggled.
He smiled and closed his eyes. "She works at the police department. Not a very prestigious job with a lot of access, but we've got to start somewhere. She's been trying to find out how much the cops have been ignoring."
Hitomi untangled herself and got up off the couch. She stood in front of Van, giving him what she hoped was a flirty look, and then began to walk past him deeper into the apartment. She had found the bathroom the night before and desperately needed it again.
He reached after her. "Where are you going?"
"I thought that I'd take a shower. I feel just gross, and so I thought I could have one quickly before we left."
He took hold of her upper arm and said, "You're not going anywhere . . . unless it's with me. Merle already bawled me out, saying we've got to get out of here, so we might as well go now. But first, how are you feeling? Do you feel okay this morning?"
"I guess I feel better, but my head still hurts."
"Do you want more drugs?"
"No. I want to see how I'll do without them for a while."
"Well, let's get out of here then. Do you need a drink or anything before we go?"
"A drink? I'm really gross! I need a shower! But if there isn't time for that, then we might as well get going," she said, putting a hand to her eye, and wondering if she looked any better this morning than she had the night before.
He picked up the blankets on the couch and began to fold them. "I guess we can just leave then." He laid the folded blanket on the couch, and started to head towards the door. "Merle, we're leaving now! Have a good day at work!"
Merle came around the corner and blew him a kiss. "Later Van," she said, sighing and leaning against the door frame. "Thanks for last night."
Last night? What?
Van turned and gave Merle a dirty look. "Let's go Hitomi," he said briefly.
Hitomi quickly thanked the girl for taking care of her and obediently followed him out.
They walked together to the end of the hall and entered the stairwell. The building seemed to be very tall, because there was always another flight of stairs going down. "Van," she whined. "Doesn't this place have an elevator?"
"Yeah, it does, but we never use it."
"Why not?" she asked, huffing indignantly.
"The elevator would take us through the lobby. We don't want to go through there. It's okay for Merle. Everyone knows she lives here. But I don't want the doorman seeing you banged up the way you are. Which reminds me; I had a bad time of it getting you in here. Merle had to meet me at the parking lot doors with keys. Then, I had to park at the end of the parking lot because Merle only has one parking spot, and she and Eries (that's her roommate) have a car. After all that I had to carry you from the far end of the parking lot and then up seven flights of stairs, all to avoid the doorman. Crazy eh?"
She turned and looked at him with reddened cheeks. "I'm sorry. You couldn't have woken me up?"
"I tried." He smiled at her. "You were out for the count."
"I'm really sorry Van. But why is it so important that we avoid the doorman?"
"Do you know what I've noticed? People don't remember other people they just see for a moment very well. If there is something really defining about a person then they will be remembered. Like Gaddes with his tattoo. You remembered him. If I carried you into Merle's apartment building on my back with your banged up face, saying you had gotten drunk wouldn't have been enough to avoid suspicion. Did you recognize Merle when you saw her?"
"No."
"Well, she sat in front of you on the bus that time I escorted you to the club."
"Really?"
"Really. However, I've noticed that guys will remember really cute girls no matter what we do to make them look plain. You look totally beat up. But, even so, anyone who saw you would remember you, and even worse they would remember me as well. I haven't kept track of what's been on the news the last few days. The police could be running a search for you and playing blurbs on T.V. asking people in the city to look for you. Besides, don't lose faith, we're almost to the parking lot."
"What time is it anyway?"
"About seven. We should only be out in the open for a few seconds – hardly dangerous."
She smiled at him, "You've got your convertible? Won't everyone on the road see me then?"
"Point taken. Actually, I put the top up, so you can lie down in the back if you want to."
"Would it be better that way?"
"Possibly," he said as he opened the door at the bottom of the stairs for her.
The stairs led to an in-door parking lot. There were still a lot of cars there. Hitomi supposed that most people hadn't gone to work yet. She noticed Van had quickened his pace. She felt as if he were practically marching her, but she didn't say anything. Her limbs still ached, especially her arms and shoulders. That monster had yanked them totally out of shape when he taped her wrists.
Soon, they were at the car. Van took her over to his side. He pushed the seat back, so she could get into the back. She slid in as soon as his arm was out of her way. Then he got into the driver's seat.
"Do I really have to lie down?" she asked a little timidly.
"Not if you don't want to. I was mainly thinking about your comfort when I suggested you sit in the back."
She didn't lie down. She looked out the window and concentrated on the things they passed. If those men who kidnapped her drove anything like Van, she didn't know why they bothered blindfolding her. She couldn't have kept track of where they were going anyway. It wasn't long before she knew she wouldn't be able to find her way back to Merle's apartment if she wanted to. Parts of the city looked unfamiliar, maybe she didn't know this city as well as she thought she did.
She noticed that he wasn't playing any music. When he took her to the restaurant, there was loud music booming. Now there was nothing. She saw his CD case on the floor, so she picked it up and unzipped it. To her surprise, none of the CDs were bought in a store. They were burnt. They had numbers on them, but they didn't give Hitomi any idea what could be on them. She pulled one of the CDs.
She took off her seat belt and leaned forward. "Van, what's on this CD?"
He took it from her and looked at it. "It's just music."
"Obviously. What kind of music?"
"I thought you had a head ache."
"I do have a head ache."
"I'm not going to play anything in that CD case then. Most of it is techno, or at the very least, has a good beat, and I don't want your head to hurt more, so none of that. Besides we're almost there. Just sit tight."
Hitomi sat back down and put her seat belt back on. She put her fingers to her temples. She did have a terrible head ache. At least he was right. Why on earth would she want to hear dance music when she felt like this?
Just then, the car slowed down. Van pulled into a U shaped driveway in front of a white house with blue trimming. There was a balcony on the second floor that also acted as the roof for the porch below, but it looked very ordinary. This was the place he was taking her? She was expecting something more . . . hardcore. This looked like her grandmother's house.
Van opened his door and got out. Then he helped Hitomi out of the back seat. "This is my place."
"And you have roommates?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yeah. There are a few guys who stay here too. Most of our other members are installed in apartments. Come on inside and you can meet everybody." He led her up the stairs to the front porch.
Inside was a living room. It didn't look to Hitomi like anyone had actually been in that room in a long time. There was a thin coat of dust on the end tables by the chesterfield. She took off her shoes in the entry way and made her way into the kitchen. No woman lived in this house. It was obvious. The kitchen was a total mess. There were pizza boxes in the sink, and cereal spilled on the floor.
She turned and looked at Van. "Please tell me that you didn't bring me here so that I could clean the kitchen."
"I haven't been here for a few days," he said, looking genuinely ashamed. "No one actually cleans up the kitchen. We don't really have any dishes and we get take-out all the time."
"Who pays for you guys to get take-out?"
"I didn't say it was nice take out. Some of it is actually pretty gross," he continued, shrugging his shoulders. "But none of us know how to cook, and no one really wants to clean up. Actually, these guys haven't had a whole lot of rest lately. Things are usually better than this," he said still seeming to find an excuse that she would buy.
"Why have you been so busy?" she asked, trying not to think about the messy kitchen.
"The Dragon Slayers have been working hard lately. It's been difficult to keep on top of them. That school shooting was only two days ago," he said, tactfully not mentioning Millerna. "The boys are working their butts off trying to find information about that. Then they're also looking for information about your parents."
"And my little sister." Hitomi put her hands to her face, feeling wretched and glad that the Abaharaki were working so hard for her.
"I'm sorry I don't know much about what happened, but we can go ask them right now. Maybe they've been able to uncover something," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, and moving to hold her close.
"Do you think that they're still alive?"
"I think that there is a very good chance of it actually, but I don't want to get your hopes up. I'll introduce you to the boys and we can find out what they've learned. Come on." He led Hitomi down the hallway and opened a door that lead into the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs there was a large room. It looked like a huge sort of office. There were computer monitors giving off a cool blue glow. A few guys were busy at different computer stations. There was the man who had the dragon tattoo, Gaddes, standing in the doorway drinking a coke, and reading some printed sheets.
Van entered noisily, "Hey guys." Then he hauled Hitomi in front of the only person she did recognize. "Hitomi, this is Gaddes."
She shook his hand, "I remember you."
Gaddes smiled. He had friendly eyes.
"I remember you sat in front of me on the bus that one day, and I saw you on the news. I like your tattoo," she complimented him.
He scratched the scruff on his face. "Really? I like it too, even though I've gotten some attitude from some people around here." He inclined his head towards Van and went on, "He thinks that it's way too visible."
"Not this again," Van said, sounding exasperated. "It's your own choice, but I still think it puts all of us at risk for you to be so conspicuous. If Hitomi saw you and remembered you then someone else is bound to. And now that you've been in the public eye so much, don't you think it's about time we took the laser to it? You could get the dragon put on your back or somewhere else, and you wouldn't have me complaining to you anymore."
"I will consider the problem," Gaddes said lazily, and took another drink of his coke.
"Oh, and this is Miguel, and Chid." Van pulled Hitomi forward, "Boys this is Hitomi. You be nice to her."
They swivelled on their chairs and shook hands with her politely.
"She looks like she needs it," Miguel observed. "Do you need an ice pack?"
She touched her eye gingerly, now suddenly self conscious. "No. I don't think so," Her stomach shouted and caught her attention. If she needed anything, it was definitely food. "But thanks," she said.
When she shook hands with Chid she thought he looked really young – a few years younger than her. He didn't look old enough to be involved in this, but apparently he was. The other man, Miguel, was actually quite attractive, and Hitomi liked his face. But Hitomi didn't think much about him then – she was really hungry. But her parents and sister came first.
"Have you been able to find out anything about my family?" she asked Miguel and Chid.
"Hold please," Chid said, asking her to wait, and taking his headset off. "I have some good news for you. It seems that your parents and sister weren't killed."
"Really?" she cried, jumping up from her place at the table and throwing her arms around Van's neck, possibly because he was standing so close to her. Thank goodness! Thank goodness! "Where are they?"
"We're not sure," Chid said. "They might still be living at your apartment, but perhaps not. But the police are treating your kidnapping as a big thing. Your face is plastered up all over the place and they've been running announcements on the news for your safe return non-stop. Also, your father has been on a couple of times begging your kidnappers to release you."
"Can't we get my parents a message somehow? At least to let them know I'm okay?"
Van looked at her with worried eyes, and still held her in his arms. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said slowly. "Don't forget the Dragon Slayers are still after you. Maybe we'll be able to come up with a way to contact them after all the media circus dies down, but I'm hesitant to move right now."
"That's right," Chid said, backing Van. "Dilandau is probably outraged about that building going down in flames and losing you. At the very least, he's probably got all his people on the lookout for you."
"I know it must be difficult," Van said reassuringly to her, "thinking of your parents worrying so frantically about you, but you must bear it. They wouldn't want you to put yourself at risk like that for their comfort. And that's exactly what you would do if you tried to contact them."
Then an awful thought occurred to her. "Do you think my parents are still safe?" she asked.
Van looked at the floor. "Probably not," he said quietly. "Dilandau could still use them to get to you. Right now, they're most certainly safe, because they're in such close contact with the police and the media, but once that dies down . . . Dilandau might try to use them as bait to try to lure you out."
"I see," Hitomi said, so relieved about her parents she could hardly think straight, but in spite of everything she still remembered she was hungry. "Van," she said, untangling herself from him. "Is there anything to eat around here? I'm starving."
"Oh yeah, the last time you had a meal was at the hospital, wasn't it? See? I warned you about not eating. Here, I'll go find you something."
Miguel got up and followed them up the stairs. "I don't think you guys are going to find much. We haven't had much by the way of food ourselves."
Just as they got to the top of the stairs, Hitomi saw there was someone standing in the living room. It was a tall man with long flowing blonde hair who was talking on a cell phone with his back to them. He bid whoever he was speaking to goodbye and flipped the phone shut, then turned around to greet them. He was built like an angel – six feet tall. Hitomi stared – did they really make men like that?
"Hey Van," he said, seeing them. "Gaddes told me you were coming back today. So, what happened at the Dragon Slayer's hideout? I had to hear it directly from you." he said. "Oh, and who's this?" he said taking Hitomi's hand and suddenly looking in her eyes.
Hitomi took an involuntary step backwards.
"Allen, this is Hitomi Kanzaki. I'm sure I've told you about her," Van said, giving Allen a look that could kill, but obviously didn't, as Allen didn't back off at all.
"Ah, I remember. Nice to meet you," he said mildly.
"Come on. I guess we'll go downstairs, so I can brief you," Van said to Allen, almost grumbling.
Allen let go of Hitomi's hand and started to follow Van down the stairs, giving her a look with his intense blue eyes like he was being parted from his long lost love – her!
Hitomi turned and was about to follow them down, but Miguel, who had been standing by, said to her, "Aw, don't bother with them. He's just going to tell Allen what happened at the stadium and with Millerna. You don't really want to hear that, do you? Come on. I'll find you something to eat."
She didn't want to, but decided that she was hungry enough to eat a wolf, and followed Miguel into the kitchen.
He went and opened the fridge. "Well," he said after observing the inside of freezer as well. "Well, we have a few options. We can either go out and hit a grocery store, call for take-out, or we can see if the expiry date on this yogurt really does mean something. Your call."
She went up to him and took the container of yoghurt out of his hand. "How long has it been expired? It might be okay if it was just yesterday." She looked at the date on the side, and exclaimed in disbelief, "November second two thousand and four! It's been here for over a year? Doesn't anyone ever clean out the refrigerator?"
"Generally, we don't need to clean it out you see, because as you can see . . . there isn't anything in it," Miguel explained, seeming cheerful.
Hitomi looked in the fridge and saw exactly what he meant. There was a container of margarine, a bottle of ketchup, and a six pack of coke. That was it.
"I see." She threw the container of yogurt directly into the garbage. "I think that we had better go get some food." But just as she said it, she realized that she wouldn't be able to go the grocery store or anywhere else. "Yeah, I can't go with you."
Miguel closed the fridge abruptly. "I'm afraid not. You understand why, right? Van said that Dilandau put you up on display for all the Dragon Slayers to see. If any one of those people saw you . . . I don't know what they'd do." He crossed his arms across his chest and said, "I'm not trying to scare you, but . . . yeah. Van said you'll be staying with us, right? If you need clothes we can go buy you new ones as necessity dictates. Anyway, make up a list of things you need. It doesn't matter what it is, a nightgown, shampoo, toothbrush, whatever. Give it to me. I'll get one of the girls to go shopping for you. Be sure to include colours, sizes and little details or you'll end up sleeping in some of our clothes, and you probably won't like that. You won't need too much other than the basics as long as you're just hanging out here. When that eye is healed and those cuts, you can go buy real clothes. All right?"
"I guess that all sounds pretty reasonable."
"Good. What are you in the mood for? Pizza? Chinese food?"
"It's still morning. Could we have something sort of breakfasty?"
"I guess there are any number of fast food restaurants open right now that sell stuff like that? So, it's still your choice."
"Anything that someone might eat for breakfast is great for me. It doesn't really matter, but I'd like some apple juice."
"I can work with that. I'll be back in a little while then." He left her and went into one of the back rooms on the main level.
Hitomi sat down at the kitchen table and wondered why Miguel was being so nice to her, and that man Allen too. They treated her exactly the same way Van had treated her. Did all these guys just treat women that way? If that was the case, then did that mean that she wasn't special at all to Van, as she hoped she was?
That thought was a pretty depressing one, but Miguel came right back, and interrupted her thinking. He was wearing sun glasses, black boots, and jangling a set of keys in his hand.
"Are you going to take Van's car?" she asked, noticing that she hadn't seen another car in the drive way.
"No."
"So, you have your own car?"
"Yeah. Van's is hot though, isn't it? But, I love my car anyway. Look out that window and you'll see it." He pointed out the kitchen window that looked at the back yard.
Hitomi walked over and looked out the window. They didn't have much of a backyard. It was all fenced in, so the other neighbours didn't have to look at it. There was no grass at all, and instead the entire area was covered in gravel and obviously used as a parking lot. Hitomi saw that there was an alley behind the property that gave them access and there was a line of vehicles by the house. There were two motorcycles, a truck, and a rust coloured orange car.
"Is that your car?"
"That orange beast?" He came up and stood behind her. "That's it. You can go for a ride in it with me when your eye heals."
"What about the motorcycles and the truck? Who do they belong to?"
"The truck doesn't work very well. It's sort of like a bag of bones, and we just parked it there because we don't have anywhere else to put it. The motorcycles belong to Allen and Gaddes of course."
"Why 'of course'?"
"Do you want to make up that list now so I can take it to Merle?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Get me a paper and pen and I'll do it."
He searched for a little while until he found them. He moved the junk on the table over to one side, giving her just enough room to write down what she needed.
"Miguel?" she asked suddenly. "Is Merle Van's girl friend?"
He laughed. "That's an interesting concept. I didn't think that Van noticed women."
"Really! He's not a player or anything?" Hitomi asked, wondering if he would guess her motives.
"I think you should talk to Van about all that." It seemed to Hitomi that he was trying to change the subject. He sat down at the table next to her. "Is that list just about finished?"
"Just how specific do I have to be?"
"The more specific you are the more likely she'll be able to get you exactly what you asked for. Be pretty specific."
"This might take awhile then."
"Hitomi," Van called out from the stairs, coming into the kitchen with Allen right behind him. He saw Hitomi sitting at the table writing.
"What are you doing?" Van asked, looking at Hitomi and Miguel.
"I'm writing a shopping list," Hitomi said, and explained what Miguel had asked her to do.
"That's fine, but I thought you wanted something to eat?"
"I was going to drop the list off to Merle on my way out to get some food," Miguel said casually.
"Why go to all that trouble?" Van asked, looking confused. "Couldn't we just email it to Merle or Eries?"
Miguel looked extremely embarrassed for a moment, and then stammered, "I guess so. I'll just go get some breakfast then," he said, practically bolting out the back door.
"What's up with him?" Allen asked.
"No idea," Van said. "He's always been a little weird."
"Maybe he likes Merle. Who knew? Anyway, I had better take off," Allen said as he followed Miguel out the back door. "I've got a lot to do. See you later, Van . . . Hitomi."
The way Allen said her name made Hitomi sit upright. What was with these guys?
"Good luck," Van said to Allen just before he closed the door. He didn't seem to notice the way Allen had acted.
Hitomi sat and wrote the list while Van stood by.
"There, finished," she said, folding the piece of paper in half.
Van picked it up off the table and flipped it open to look it over when Hitomi snatched it out of his hand.
"Why did you do that?" he exclaimed.
"It's got all my sizes on it. That is a much too personal thing for a guy I just met to be looking at."
Van had it out of her hand in a second. "Can I look at it? I just want to see that you didn't forget anything important."
"But Van," she stammered.
He gazed back at her as if to say that he wasn't going to change his mind.
She got up and tried to get the piece of paper out of his hand, but it was very obvious that it wasn't going to happen. He was much taller than she was, so all he had to do was hold it over her head. "Van, I guess if you want to take advantage of a little girl in my condition," she paused. "I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you."
He smiled. "Thank you." He unfolded the piece of paper and looked at it. "If I knew more about woman's sizes, than this would probably mean something to me, but all the same, it looks very impressive to me," he laughed and handed the piece of paper back to her.
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