XI – Alibi

"Ah. That's good to hear," said Yukimura, smiling widely. "Yes, I understand. Continue as you have so far, and don't forget the plan." He ended the call, grinning like a cat that had got into the cream. "Renji."

"Yes, Yukimura?" The data master didn't turn around, keeping his eyes on the many monitors around the room.

"Fuji does good work. He says he has Ryoma in his hands already. It seems that we can move up the schedule," remarked the blunette, standing. "I'll inform Akaya to start on the mission. You will fill him in on the necessary details."

"Niou, do you have an agent who looks respectable enough to appear to be an engineer from Tengi Gas?"

"Yeah, sure, but what for?"

"We need to do a little job with the gas pipes in Sanada's house. Akaya can do the essentials, but it would look quite suspicious to have such a young kid fixing gas pipes unsupervised, wouldn't you think?"

"Hmm… I guess Tachibana would fit the bill pretty well."

"Do you think he can work with Akaya?"

"Well, about that… if I remember correctly, they didn't get along very well… but never fear,

The doorbell rang. "Answer the door, Sakuno-chan, there's a dear," said Yuuki, not looking up from her violin.

Sakuno hurried to obey, wondering who would come to call on the mistress. Sanada-sama was not around, though Yuuki had just received a call from his subordinate saying that he would be home in time for dinner.

Opening the door, she saw two unfamiliar men, one blonde, one with dark hair, both carrying packs. The blonde bowed to her in greeting. "I apologize for the intrusion, but we are from Tengi Gas Enterprise…"

She recognized the name as that of the company in charge of most of Tengi's natural gas pipelines, used mostly in cooking stoves. "Oh! Um, how may we help you?"

"Well, unfortunately we have discovered that there may be a possible defect in the pipe system for this house. Perhaps we should speak to the master of the household?" ventured the man.

"Yes, yes, of course, please come in," stammered the maid, quite out of her depth. She'd only come into service recently, and the thought that there might be something horribly wrong with the stove she'd used so often…! "Um, but Sanada-sama isn't here right now…"

"Who is it, Sakuno-chan?" called Yuuki from the inside room.

"Um, um, it's the gas servicing people! They're here for Sanada-sama…" She trailed off, unsure.

"Oh, is that all? I'll see them. Invite them in, please." From the next room, Yuuki came out, moving easily in her wheelchair.

"Sorry for the intrusion," the pair chorused as they entered the house.

Once they were seated, the blonde, who appeared to be the elder of the two and the one in charge, explained their purpose. "You see, we recently received some rather alarming data about the gas composition in this area from the town council. From the statistics, we concluded that there was a gas leak in one or more of the houses in this area."

"Ah, I see. So you came here to fix the problem, um…?" Yuuki paused, clearly waiting for them to fill in the blank.

"Oh, sorry for being so impolite. I'm Tachibana from Tengi Gas Enterprise, and this is my assistant, Kirihara." The younger male tipped his cap automatically. Sakuno, who was kneeling by the door, noted that the cap barely managed to tame his thick black curls. Suddenly, Kirihara looked at her full in the face, and she nearly let out a gasp of surprise – his right eye was bright orange, whereas his left was bright green!

"I'm Sanada Yuuki, and I'm very happy to make your acquaintance, Tachibana-san, Kirihara-san. Please go ahead and carry out whatever needs to be done," said the mistress. "Only… will it take very long? I would like to use the stove to make dinner for my husband tonight."

"Don't worry, it will be done quite quickly," assured Tachibana. "It will take just over half an hour, if everything goes well. We will fix the gas outlet and then fumigate the house with a gas that will neutralize whatever has leaked out. After fifteen minutes, it should be safe to use the stove."

"Thank you very much. Don't let me keep you from your work any longer," smiled Yuuki. "Sakuno, show them to the kitchen, please."

The maid did as she was told, stealing scared glances at the odd-eyed Kirihara whenever she could. Surely it was impossible for anyone to have such strange eyes? "Um, here's the stove. Will you need anything?"

"No, it's a fairly simple job," replied Tachibana. Kirihara only scowled.

"Okay, I will be with Yuuki-sama should you need me for anything," said the girl, bowing politely before leaving.

"Idiot girl," muttered Kirihara. "And Yanagi, why the heck did you give me an orange iris-cam?! Did you see the way she freaked out? I'm so not going to be forgettable…"

"The point was to make you memorable," came Yanagi's voice in his earpiece. "A false person made memorable is always more effective than a real person made forgettable. They can search all their files for a person with one orange and one green eye going by the name of Kirihara, but that person doesn't exist, and the closest match – you – is presumed dead."

"I hate you when you make sense," grumbled the younger male. "So, now what?"

"Slip the explosive at the base of the stove," instructed the data master. "Tachibana, the methylbutane and dimethylpropane."

"Got it." Tachibana extracted three large cylinders from his pack. Opening the first, he poured a clear liquid onto the floor near the stove, careful not to get any onto himself or his companion.

Kirihara, meanwhile, had successfully inserted the packet of explosive powder at the mouth of the gas outlet and reconnected the stove. Avoiding the spreading puddle of methylbutane, he walked over to pick up one of the other two cylinders. "Where would be best?"

"One cylinder should be released in the room Yuuki spends her time. The other should either be released between that room and the kitchen if they are far apart, or at the other end of the house if they are close to each other."

"Why make it so troublesome?" Grumbling, the curly-haired male walked out of the kitchen in search of the mistress.

Tachibana followed soon after with the other cylinder. "Yuuki-san!"

"Yes?" They followed the voice into an airy, spacious room painted orange and red by the evening sun. Seated in her wheelchair, the woman held a violin under her chin, her other hand running over a page in front of her – probably a score sheet written in Braille. Beside her was the young maid who had met them at the door.

"We need to release the gases for the fumigation of the house," explained Tachibana. "Would you mind if we do so here?"

"No, please carry on. Is there any other area that you feel would need attention?" inquired Yuuki, lowering her violin.

"Yes, actually. Since we would like to make sure the entire house is fumigated, we need to release another batch of gas in the area furthest from the kitchen as well," said the older man. "Kirihara will do that, if he could be shown where."

The woman nodded. "Sakuno, please bring Kirihara-san to the bedroom," she instructed.

Sakuno bowed and left the room, pausing to make sure that Kirihara was following before leading him to another part of the house. They walked in silence, the girl watching him warily.

When they arrived, she bowed. "This is the room."

"Thanks," said Kirihara perfunctorily. The girl flinched when he spoke, and he suppressed a sigh of exasperation. "You can go back now." Turning his back firmly, he started pressing the spray.

"Walk around the room," instructed Yanagi. "You must make sure it gets dispersed into the air throughout the place."

Since the maid was still there, Kirihara didn't answer, but walked the perimeter of the room while spraying rather mechanically. As he did so, he wondered why he hadn't bothered to find out if the gas was poisonous if inhaled. What was it again… dimeth-something or other…

Sakuno watched rather nervously as the curly-haired man walked around the room spraying the gas at random, frowning the whole time. Had she said something to make him so upset…?

Really, those mismatched eyes had a strange fascination. The way they were both such strong colors and yet so very different. She had a hard time keeping herself from staring openly, confining herself to stolen glances. She'd never seen such strange eyes before, and she would probably remember it for the rest of her life.

Having walked a full circuit of the room, the man came back to her at the door, and she led him back to the mistress's room. The other man, Tachibana, seemed to be waiting for them, their packs on the floor next to him and his cylinder packed away. "Sorry for the delay," she apologized.

"Are you done?" asked Tachibana. When Kirihara nodded, he turned back to Yuuki. "Thank you for your time, and we apologize for the intrusion. We will take our leave now. Please remember not to use the stove for the next fifteen minutes."

"I certainly will. Thank you for your help. Sakuno, show them to the door." Smiling, Yuuki shook hands with the blonde man, then leant back in her wheelchair as the young maid obeyed.

When Sakuno returned, Yuuki clapped her hands with a smile. "Since we have fifteen minutes before we can start cooking, why don't we prepare the ingredients for the hotpot while waiting?"

"Um, that sounds great! I'll get the ingredients out! Um, are we going to have fish or meat hotpot?" asked the girl.

"I think meat will suit the occasion better," replied Yuuki after some consideration. "I only hope Genichirou doesn't come back too quickly, or we won't be ready for him…"

The pair went to the kitchen and began their preparations, quite oblivious to the fact that they were standing in just-evaporated methylbutane and surrounded by dimethylpropane. Naturally, the two gases were colorless, barely odorous and highly flammable.

Combined with the explosive in the stove, they never stood a chance.

Tachibana Kippei was not by nature a malicious person. He had carried out his part of this plan rather unwillingly, but who was he to say no to the Shirosagi? People who did that usually wound up dead or bankrupt. Neither were very enticing prospects for him.

Of course, Tachibana didn't actually work in Tengi Gas Enterprise. He was a banker, high enough in the hierarchy to receive a comfortable salary, low enough to be unknown to most. As such, he was perfectly placed to manage the dubious transactions of the Shirosagi, who had employed him through his sister An.

Not that Tachibana would normally have agreed to work for a swindler, but when he realized that An was already in very deep with this mysterious Shirosagi's organization, there was little he could do but acquiesce. Also, that they had made contact was enough to be a threat. According to An, the Shirosagi was a merciless employer who ruined any who opposed him, even if they weren't even in his pay.

His main problem was with the partner assigned to him. They had worked together before, and Kirihara had conducted all his duties with eyes that shone with a sick anticipation. Tachibana felt decidedly uncomfortable about it. The younger man must have some strange fascination with killing and hurting others, which only matched what Tachibana knew of the Shirosagi.

Remembering something, he asked, "Yanagi-san? Would it be advisable for me to take leave from work for a while?"

The earpiece buzzed in reply almost immediately. "Certainly not. That would only make you look suspicious to anyone willing to search so far. Don't worry – any evidence will be destroyed."

Tachibana remembered the several steel-encased security devices at strategic locations throughout the house. The thought of a blaze hot and fierce enough to destroy them was enough to make dread pour down his spine like ice.

Those women didn't deserve this… but what was done was done. He turned, taking his leave of Kirihara, and headed for home. They didn't deserve to die, but if they didn't, he and An were more than likely to die in their place.

It's them or us, he told himself, keeping his head bowed as he left the scene.

As per his orders, Kirihara lingered near the house to make sure that the plan proceeded as it should. Since there was really nothing else he could do, he went to the Fuji house. It was in the same district, and Fuji Syuusuke wasn't around. Yanagi had confirmed that for him.

Like a civilized person, he rang the doorbell and waited. But being who he was, he got impatient rather quickly and soon started contemplating the gate and wondering whether it was worth climbing it. Happily the gate opened before he actually started climbing. The neighbors and their servants would have been quite appalled at the sight of a strange youth clambering over the gate of the Fuji residence.

Saeki met him at the gate. "Well, if it isn't Kirihara-kun! Why'd you come? Syuusuke isn't around right now."

Kirihara snorted. "I didn't come to see him. I'm only here because Yukimura wanted me to stick around to make sure that Sanada's house gets blown up properly."

"Ah, I see." The ninja nodded sagely. "As expected of Yukimura. I was guessing he'd have a plan of this sort."

"Yeah. He's kind of bored since he's making Fuji do something he won't tell me about, so he said he wanted to see Sanada's wife get blown up and asked if I could do it. Can I come in? It's weird to stand in the gate talking," complained Kirihara. "I've got to hang around for fifteen minutes. It's so boring."

Saeki laughed. "Yes, do come in. We actually have another guest in residence right now, in your old room."

"Eh?" The green-eyed male frowned. "Who?"

"This police sergeant called Tezuka Kunimitsu," answered the ninja, leading the guest to the house after closing and locking the gate. "Syuusuke's rather… interested in him."

"Why am I not surprised?" grumbled Kirihara. "The only people who can stay here are his family, your family or someone he feels like playing with."

"That's true, I guess," conceded Saeki. "But I get the feeling that Syuusuke enjoys torturing the poor guy. Tezuka clearly wants to know what's happening outside, and Syuusuke drops hints here and there… it's rather pathetic to see, because he's too proud to ask, but the way he listens…"

"You sound like you've got a thing for him too," remarked the other male. "Is he all that awesome?"

Saeki grinned. "Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

They walked through the house, heading towards one of the more central rooms. Kirihara looked around, taking in the familiar surroundings. "If he's so interested in this guy, why'd he leave him with you?"

"He's got a job in the palace," explained the ninja, emphasizing the word 'job' to make sure Kirihara got his meaning. "Having another man around would be quite disruptive, don't you think?"

Kirihara blushed and looked away. "… Yeah." Much as he hated the Akasagi, the thought of others handling the brunette's slim body and marking his pale skin always gave him the shivers.

"Here he is." Saeki opened the door to his old room.

It was the same as he remembered, with a tatami floor, a few wall hangings, and the tea table as well as cushions and a futon rolled up in the corner. Next to the table sat the room's new occupant.

At first glance, he looked like any other twenty-something-year-old, with brown hair and eyes behind frameless spectacles. But after a second look, Kirihara had to admit that Tezuka was quite an interesting person, especially when considered from the point of view of Fuji Syuusuke.

Tezuka's hands were big, but they were long-fingered and elegant. His face was expressionless, but Kirihara knew well that Fuji took great pleasure in breaking other people's masks. His brown hair had hints of gold in it, and despite its messiness, it still managed to look artfully stylish.

Kirihara's nose wrinkled. "Huh. Fuji will have fun with this guy, I'm sure."

"Who are you?" inquired Tezuka.

The younger male flapped a hand. "Nobody you need to know."

"He's a friend of Syuusuke's," supplied Saeki.

"I see." The brunette lapsed back into stony silence, picking up a book he had apparently been reading before they had come.

Kirihara turned his back on the other man. "I should get going. It's almost time."

Barely had the words left his mouth when the sound of a terrific explosion rattled the walls of the house. The green-eyed male sighed. "There it goes. I'd best be off."

"Wait." Tezuka's voice made him pause. "You caused… whatever just happened?"

Kirihara looked at the brunette right in the eye. "And so what if I did? You can't do anything about it. You're just a plaything – or perhaps a pet, confined to this room, waiting for your master to come home. Enjoy yourself listening to the fun, why don't you?"

With that, he left the house.

The blaze was wonderful. Kirihara could definitely understand the saying he'd heard several times – nothing was as beautiful to watch as fire or flowing water. Though he leaned towards fire.

Bright yellow flames licked the sky, their purple-black bases rooted behind the crumbling walls of the house. The sheer heat was forcing the brick structure to collapse and fold, like a wax sculpture melting, and the roof had long since fallen in. With tatami floors and largely paper walls, the inside of the house was burning fast and hot, throwing ever-brighter sparks into the deep purple sky as the sun's last rays faded. The brick outer walls were already black with soot and riddled with cracks from the fire.

Hidden in the crowd of spectators, Kirihara patted himself on the back for a job well done. The two females in the house were probably burnt to cinders already, and the security devices were likely to be damaged beyond repair because of the heat.

"Good work," commented Yanagi in his earpiece. "Wait a while longer to see if anyone survives."

"Okay." Firefighters were already converging on the house, their red vehicles dull in comparison to the glory of the dancing flames. Close behind came the ambulances and the police.

After an hour and a half's worth of putting out the fire, searching the house and arguing among themselves, the firefighters began carting out piles of ash, to be identified by advanced DNA technologies. No survivors were found. The police, meanwhile, went to work investigating the scene.

Kirihara turned his back on the house, heading off to catch the ferry to Kannagi. The police would probably find traces of the chemicals, but they'd never find the boy with orange and green eyes.

He smiled. Yukimura would be happy…

A/N: Whew, it's done! I'm actually not very happy with this chapter. I should have been able to write it better, but it turned out… weird. And I was planning it for some time, too! I must be losing my touch, what with all the stress from school…

Oh well. Anyway, Sanada's OC wife has been killed off… let's see, only two chapters after I introduced her? Well, she was meant to die. You can't have expected me to let her live, not after what Yukimura's been through… O.o Though you could argue that she's completely innocent – but Yukimura doesn't care, does he?

First chapter of 2010, and it's actually got some kind of plot XD it felt a tad draggy to me, but I wanted to make sure all the details were correct and consistent. It's a pretty big set-up, after all. (if anyone wants to know, methylbutane and dimethylpropane are highly flammable chemicals. Methylbutane is a very volatile liquid at room temperature while dimethylpropane is a gas. Setting off a bomb in an environment saturated with these two gets you a magnificent bonfire, as seen above.)

Also, just in case anyone thinks Sakuno is super OOC, well, all I have to say in my defense is that I hate her and just put her in because Yuuki needs a maid. Haha, Sakuno's only fit to be a maid to the character who dies really fast… -evil laughter- okay that's pretty mean, but yeah, I really dislike her and I wrote her from my impression of her.

Ending this was tough T.T hope it wasn't too abrupt or weird… :-X

Please review! I love any feedback that can help me improve!

P.S. Bus Gamer is really cool, and it's only 3 episodes long. Anyone who's feeling bored should go try it out.

P.P.S. I finally watched the NEWS Winter Party Diamond DVD! I wanted to scream when I saw Tegoshi appear in a schoolgirl outfit… he makes a pretty damn awesome girl! KYAAAAH~!

P.P.P.S. Thanks for reading this uber-long A/N! –hugs- It wasn't meant to be this long, but somehow it lengthened… and lengthened… and lengthened… and ended up like this. –shot- Again, please review!