A/N: Soooooo just a quick chapter, hopefully to clarify anyones questions and to pick up the stories pace! YEAH PACE! Have fun!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 11: Chicago is so two years Ago (i'm using this song later lol)

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"Have you heard anything yet?" I asked Kunogi, who was pacing nervously in the same office room we had occupied the day we planned our band's future.

It had been a week since Watanuki left, and still we were none the wiser of where he went.

"We've called his phone about a hundred times..." Syaoran added, taking small sips of the water in front of him.

We had tried to call Yuko too, only receiving an answering machine. Going to Mr. Smith was something else entirely. It was completely obvious that he knew of Watanuki's whereabouts, that he was connected to this, but he refused to tell us.

"What's Kim's business is Kim's business, he'll tell you when he's ready." Was the man's only response.

Somehow, I found this highly unlikely, just based off of our newest member's current record.

Sakura hummed in her chair, rocking back and forth, "Doesn't it seem strange that both Yuko and Kimihiro are gone at the same time?"

We all nodded to ourselves, "It's highly likely that they're together." Syaoran agreed, "And he stopped by your house didn't he?"

I looked at Syaoran, "Yeah, everything that I left in his car was just sitting on my front door."

"He didn't leave a note or anything?" Sakura asked somewhat sadly, "It just seems so weird....," Her face brightened up, "Maybe he was kidnapped!"

Syaoran let out a sigh, "That's not a good thing," He said patting the girl on the shoulder, Sakura pouted-- obviously not wanting Watanuki's disappearance to be the boy's fault, that he wouldn't just abandon us-- ",plus, We know that Theodore knows where he is."

Sakura nodded. "Didn't he say anything though...maybe we're missing something."

Though it didn't show, somehow I felt that I was the only one of us who was truly panicked over Watanuki's disappearance. I felt empty, helpless, as if I had somehow lost a part of myself. I just couldn't figure out a logical reason for him to leave. What happened to all his talk of having a contract to withhold...of our month trial?

"I lived in Chicago for awhile."

"How long?"

"A month."

And that was the moment when everything just seemed to click. It all made sense.

"Chicago." I said quietly as if saying it aloud would make it seem more real, that I wasn't just completely losing it. I had always trusted my instincts before, why not now?

Sakura, Kunogi, and Syaoran turned to look at me in a synchronized movement. "What?" Kunogi asked quietly.

I looked at her, my face faltering from its usual expressionlessness. "He's in Chicago."

"Where did that come from?" Syaoran asked, his face reading of disbelief.

"He said something...about living there, about a screamo band. He seemed sort of distressed about it."

"That doesn't really mean that he's there." Kunogi added, trying to convince me of my insanity. "He's there." I said, finality in my tone. I grabbed my jacket off the back of the large cushioned office chair, turning and walking out the door.

--

"Where are you going Shizuka?" Kunogi asked, walking close behind me. "To talk to Mr. Smith."

"He didn't tell us anything before, why would he now?" The girl tried to convince, but she didn't get it. I knew where Watanuki was, I was in on this whole stupid secret.

Why didn't he just tell us, why the hell is he sneaking around behind our backs.

The large office doors were within site and I quickly closed the space that kept me from them. I opened them fully without knocking, but what I saw behind them made me stop in my tracks.

A tall woman standing in front of the desk, a grave looking Mr. Smith sitting behind it.

"Yuko!" Kunogi squeaked, bumping into my back. The woman turned, a sly smile on her face.

"My, my, hello you two." Yuko greeted, but I didn't care about what she had to say. I knew where he was and I was going to drag his pathetic ass back here.

"It's Chicago isn't it, that's where he is." I stated, my voice even, glaring strongly at Yuko, who only stared back in return in her usual condescending fashion.

"Didn't I tell you they'd be good for him Terry?" Yuko said airily, never looking away from me.

The man sighed and stood, running his hand down his face. "I knew they would be as soon as I saw them." He stated tiredly. The man walked over to me his eyes a darker shade of green than they usually were. "Well come in come in. There is much we must discuss."

--

"What?" Sakura asked, sheer sadness and terror in her voice. She seemed as if she was about to cry. Syaoran put a comforting hand around her shoulder.

"He was so young." Kunogi added, looking down into her lap.

"I knew, from the first time I saw them play together, just how much was going to change. As soon as the first song was released on the air, people went crazy for it, they were plummeted straight into a world of fame and fortune, and nothing could stop them." Yuko began, elaborating on the tragedy she had pronounced to us which reduced Sakura to such a state, left me internally hollow.

How Watanuki was discovered by the two most talented musical youths of our generation, the well-known--but sadly forgotten--Antipro. How the media was told that the band's disappearance was due to an artistic difficulty, that they were splitting up. I remember reading a small article about it, how devastated fans were, how completely blinded we all were by this lie.

Kamui and Fuuma were murdered, a small and completely terrified Watanuki locked in their apartment's closet-- there to witness the entire thing. How the man responsible for it was still at large. Apparently, the murderer was a completely rabid fan, insane, and delusional that Kamui was somehow singing to him, professing subliminal messages of love.

That was all Watanuki could make out of the crazy rantings of the deranged man, or at least that was all that Yuko had managed to get out of him.

Watanuki went into a state of depression after that, he was, after all, only thirteen. He had lost his family, they had abandoned him, and then right when he was at the brink of having it again, it was snatched away from him, and he had a front row seat.

The depression eventually dissipated, Watanuki disappearing from the music scene--stating that he would never be able to play again, but managing to piece together a small life for himself, getting a job for a maid service. How he could ever manage such a feet on his own was completely beyond me, how he could manage to completely detach himself from music when it was so clearly a large part of himself, of who he is. He worked for three years, never touching a guitar, not so much as humming a note. He was void and it was building.

Apparently, the time that Watanuki was discovered by Mr. Smith was actually his second time being discovered, he just overflowed, the music was pent up inside of him, just waiting to burst.

"...I just happened to be cleaning Th-Mr. Smith's house when he walked in on me singing while scrubbing the bathroom."

I couldn't breath, everything Yuko was saying became a buzz in the background.

Everything that I had based my music off of, most of the examples running through my head were from Antipro. All my ideals of purity, of an unstained sound.

"I don't need to be a part of your group, or your weird ideals. This is my job not my hobby."

I wonder how much it hurt him, to see Kamui and Fuuma's wants reflected in our music, to seem them in it. He must have been terrified. I wonder if he knew how much I respected them, how much they had affected me as well.

"He woke up from dreaming and put on his shoes starting making his way past two in the morning, he hasn't been sober for days..."

How could I have been so stupid? Of course those voices seemed familiar...God, I'm such an idiot. It all made sense. How else had Watanuki known that song, been able to play it so effortlessly for Kunogi, Sakura and Syaoran? My stomach felt as if it was filled with lead. The people that had drawn me to music, those three strangers.

Three strangers... Kamui, Fuuma, and a young Watanuki.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, standing from my chair, practically racing out of the room.

--

Hey, this is Watanuki leave a message after the-

'Pick up the damn phone.' I willed towards the message, hoping that somehow now that I knew what Watanuki was up to he would answer, that there was nothing to hide.

Before the beeping sound went off I hung up, swiftly placing my phone in my pocket, calling a cab just outside of the building.

The compact yellow vehicle pulled up right as Kunogi sprinted out of the building, she spotted me as I pulled open the back door and quickly ran over before I could take off.

"Shi-Shizuka, you can't go after him." She panted out, a hand on her knee, the other holding the door open. "You can't."

"I can." I said simply, just staring at her, ignoring the vast amount of nervous damage this was doing to me.

"There's some other way, there has to be." Kunogi stated, finally standing up straight, her breathing coming in more evenly. "But you taking off like this won't solve anything."

I looked at her for a few moments and then sighed, staring at the back of the passenger's seat in front of me. "Fine. But I'm still going to end up dragging him back here."

I looked back up at her, one of those rare smiles hanging off my lips. "I won't be satisfied otherwise."

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A/n: Did you have fun? Good good, see you soon!