Chapter Ten

Of Mice and Really Bad Men

"Why," I muttered, "Are we playing this game?" We stood by the bushes in a semi-circle of tension. Haruhi made a face.

"I taught it to them a while ago. They loved it. I guess they never really played a lot of kids' games when they were little or something." She shrugged. She had an excellent point. I couldn't imagine many of them had very kid-like childhoods, considering. I almost felt sorry for them. Almost, I thought grimly.

"We play with a base," she said, "To make it more interesting for them." I glanced to where she was pointing. The twins were getting ready to count, leaning on each other, eyes closed. The stone birdbath they were sitting on was empty and unused. "That's the base. If you can get to it, you're safe." I nodded. I'd played something very similar in England. Hopefully the rules were the same. Although, I'm not entirely sure what additional rules you could add in.

Except, perhaps, don't let Honey karate-kick you away from base or something.

"Okay!" Tamaki jumped onto a bench, arms wide. "We play the Hide and Go Seek game once more! Rules – stay within the garden area of the Hitachiin grounds! Finders have to tag the hider for it to count! Hiders that reach the base are safe!"

"He's dramatic about this stuff, huh? How seriously do they take this?" I whispered. Haruhi giggled.

"Ladies and gentleman…" There was a glint in his eye.

"Really seriously," she told me quietly. That was probably not a good thing.

"BEGIN!" I swore quietly as the others raced off into the maze of bushes and hightailed it out of there. After a few moments, I skidded to a stop at the side of a koi pond. I had a distinct disadvantage of not being familiar with the terrain. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I had absolutely no idea how far the 'garden area' went on for. I jogged for a bit, discovering the garden grew more and more untamed. I figured, with grounds this size, the gardeners hadn't got to this bit yet. I grinned. The messier, the better. The twins in their designer clothes might not want to hang around down here, whereas I was pretty sure my top used to be red, not slightly purple. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I did this too often in real life to be playing this damn game but it seemed I had a slight problem with turning these guys down.

I heard the twins shout, meaning they had begun to look. Without really thinking, I dropped to the ground and rolled under a hedge, falling completely still. I had two hunters and two escape routes. My best bet was if they split up and only one of them found me. Turning my head left to watch the path I'd come discreetly, I focussed on my breathing and getting my heart rate down. Being nervous in these situations was human evolution but everyone was always so much better when they weren't.

It was kind of depressing that I was really good at hiding.

I heard a shout from somewhere and a lot of movement. The chase is afoot, I thought with a small smile. I tried to figure out who it was when I heard Honey's voice calling 'Safe!'. I was surprised he'd been the first to run. He was so small that he could probably hide anywhere. That did not bode well for me.

There was a shriek to my right and I couldn't help but brace myself to bolt. I peered in that direction; Haruhi had obviously been found. From the amount of noise, I figured maybe Tamaki had been in the near vicinity too. I snorted. Of course he would be. Teaching them hide-and-seek, huh? Maybe Haruhi was more cunning than I'd originally thought.

A footstep stilled me. I turned my head ever so slightly to the left and saw the bottom of a shoe. I stared at it, wondering how it had gotten so close. They'd obviously used the chaos of the other find to creep up here without anyone hearing them. They didn't move. Neither did I.

Maybe they hadn't seen me. Maybe they were looking around, without any clue I was down here. Maybe they'd walk away in a second and my heart would stop trying to beat a tattoo on the inside of my ribcage.

The legs started to bend.

I bailed.

I rolled to my right and sprang to my feet, shooting off into the trees. My pursuer gave a shout and even though I knew it was a game, a panic alarm went off in the base of my skull, spurring me forwards. Slightly disorientated as I was, I didn't initially run back towards the base. I vaulted over a small stream, stumbling on the bank, and dodged into a group of something resembling fir trees. I tried to estimate how far behind the footsteps were but just dodging the garden furniture became a challenge. Who needed five damn benches in one garden? I used one to jump onto a rock and drop down the other side, running along the stream bank. I could see the house to my right and started to veer in the direction I knew a bridge was in.

Suddenly, a wall loomed in front of me out of the foliage. I skidded, trying to turn or stop, when a hand caught my wrist to spin me round. We both slammed into the wall, only his hands on the brick stopping him from smashing into me. There was momentary pause.

"Ow," I moaned. My back did not like walls as a rule.

"Damn, you can run," Kaoru panted. I laughed breathlessly.

"I've had… a lot of practice." We looked at each other and I knew, I just knew I was going to go red again. There was something about those amber eyes I just couldn't get over, even if there were two pairs of them in the world. There was nowhere for me to look away either, not without looking at some part of him. It wasn't like I didn't want to. Wait. I didn't mean I… I was very confused. I settled for staring at his arm, trying to think of something to say. Neither of us moved.

"I… I think you caught me," I said quietly, feeling the soreness of my shoulder where I'd hit the brickwork.

"I hoped so." His fingers brushed away some hairs from my face and I glanced back at him, my eyes widened. He suddenly went pink and looked away. It was kind of adorable. I wanted to punch myself.

"Hey, Katya…" He started, rubbing the back of his neck. He was very, very close to me. I could feel the heat emanating from his body and the surprisingly soft material of his shirt. My brain immediately jumped how he might feel underneath and I mentally kicked myself, wishing I could escort my own mind off the premises.

"Oi, Kaoru!" We jumped and, to my relief and my mind's screaming disappointment, he turned away as Hikaru jogged towards us. He was beaming.

"We got everyone except Mori and Honey-senpai. That's a new record." The twins high-fived. Kaoru shot me look as Hikaru pulled him back towards the house, seemingly oblivious. I waited until they were out of sight and dropped into a crouch, rubbing my hands over my eyes.

"Bad Katya," I muttered.

I slid through the window and landed in a heap on my floor. I couldn't be bothered to move. My door opened a few seconds later and I heard Yuri breathe a sigh of relief.

"So… how was your Saturday?" I groaned, rolling into a sitting position.

"I'm not even sure. You won't believe-holy crap, Yuri!" I leapt to my feet as he turned away. I grabbed him and forced him to face me in a very déja vu moment. Half his face was bruised horribly, impressions of a fist clearly visible in the blooming red and purple mess. He sat down heavily on the sofa, shaking his head.

"You know, it looks so easy when you do it," he joked.

"Okay, not funny. What the hell happened to you?" I asked, sitting next to him. He eyed me.

"Jai got real tired of being told you weren't here and decided to search the place himself." My eyes widened and I couldn't breathe. I didn't think he would dare.

"Where's Suzu?" I looked around wildly, hoping to see her grinning little face. Yuri waved my worries away.

"She's up with Mum for the next few nights. She was at a friend's house when they came to look for you," he explained. I sank back and stared at him. If it hurt anywhere near as bad as it looked, it had to hurt a lot. They seemed to have focussed mainly on his face, probably out of spite.

"Why didn't you just let them?" I whispered.

"I guess I'm learning too much from you," he chuckled. I thumped him in the arm and he winced. I swore and immediately apologised, getting up to get some ice. I wrapped it in a towel and handed it to him. He smiled weakly and pressed it to his face. I stared at the table.

"Who was it?" I asked. He looked at me.

"Katya-"

"Just answer the damn question." He relented.

"Your tattooed friend. And a big foreign guy, blond. And another guy I didn't know," Yuri recounted with a frown. I nodded. So not Jai himself. That would explain the lack of blood and knife marks. That was a good thing.

"I was out…" I stood up, angry. "I was out playing games while you… you… this!" I punched the wall, leaving a crack in the plaster. Yuri looked up wearily.

"Katya, stop breaking my apartment. It's had enough of that today." I counted to ten and sat back down, putting my head in my hands.

"Yuri, I am so sorry…"

"Don't say sorry. Don't you dare." I looked up at him, surprised. His eyes blazed. "It's about damn time we started standing up to those guys anyway. You just pushed us in the right direction."

"I'm not pushing you anywhere!" I protested. "And this is not standing up, Yuri, this is getting knocked down. And if you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly doing that much better than you." He shrugged.

"You can run faster."

"Shut it, smart ass," I said with a chuckle. I stood up, stretching. Yuri obviously didn't want my pity and he was making it plenty clear that this discussion was over. I wanted to scream; I wanted to kill someone, preferably the assholes that'd done this. I wanted to beat their faces in, to hit them 'til they begged. I wanted to skin them alive and throw them in boiling salt water. I struggled to calm down, walking over the sink to wash my face with cold water. It sort of helped.

"So. Are you going to explain why you have soil all over you?" Yuri asked casually. I glanced down at myself in surprise. I'd been in such a rush to get away from the mansion and the growing tension that I'd completely forgotten. My phone had gone off twice on the way home. I knew it was Kaoru but I didn't have the guts to check it.

"Uh…"

"Been rolling around with someone?" Kaoru flashed across my mind and I started towards my bedroom, inexplicably embarrased. Yuri raised his eyebrows and then stopped as it hurt.

"Wait, I'm right? You actually were?"

"Shut up, Yuri," I muttered, taking off my jacket.

"Oh wow." He started to laugh. "That's hilarious!" He quickly tried to stop, gripping his side where he'd been hit particularly hard. I knew how that felt and I hated that he was going through it. I hated that he thought it was perfectly okay to put himself through it.

"Boys are so fucking frustrating!" I shut the door firmly and sank to the floor.

Oh god.

Oh god.