-1Aidou's Tale

Zero parked the car to the side of the road. He and Yuuki followed behind Aidou who walked casually through the streets. They were in the town nearest to the isolated prison and Aidou was the one who suggested to come. Aidou stopped, turned around and pointed at some narrow stairs beside a shop. They followed him up into a small looking café that was empty with a extremely old looking bartender.

"The usual," Aidou shouted, "and something for them."

The old man nodded and motioned for them to sit as they please. Aidou sat at a table near to the far back corner. Zero and Yuuki sat opposite him.

"So, maybe you should introduce yourselves again," Aidou said, "I didn't get much of who you were since you pointed a gun at me."

"I'm DOUBT," Zero said, "a retaliator."

"What do you retaliate for?" Aidou questioned, "Who do you retaliate against? Why should I trust you DOUBT?"

Zero leaned closer to Aidou and smirked, "I retaliate for my own satisfaction of freeing myself from the restraints of boredom. I retaliate against what needs to be retaliated, the law, the police, the prison guards, murderers, thugs - it can even be you. My judgements are based entirely on what my clients needs." Zero's smirk disappeared and instead he looked intently at Aidou, "it's not you should trust me but you have no other choice but trust me. I am the only one who has appeared to you and offered to help rescue Kain Akatsuki. For this one reason, you must not doubt me."

Aidou looked away from Zero, a weird sense developing in him. It wasn't quite fear but something that made him feel vulnerable. He looked at Yuuki instead, "what about her?"

"I'm-" Yuuki began, "I'm currently his apprentice. My name is-" She glanced at Zero, not knowing whether she was supposed to give her real name or not.

"She's called Mistress D," Zero answered for Yuuki.

"Mistress D," Aidou repeated, staring at them. "What's with these code names? The more reason to not trust you two."

"Anyhow, I thought you decided to gamble on your trust for us," Zero moved on, "you should be telling us your story now. Don't hesitate. You won't be able to go any further if you hesitate in telling us."

"Trust us, we will help you," Yuuki said on impulse, which surprised herself, since she had no basis to say what she had done. It was possibly her curiosity in wanting to know what happened and whether Zero was right about Kain being innocent; that was probably the reason to why she said that.

"You heard my apprentice," Zero followed on, "tell us."

Aidou held his head in his hands, "I won't hesitate and I won't regret. I don't understand why but my sixth sense tells me to take this gamble about you two."

"We really mean no harm…" Yuuki said though glancing at Zero. They weren't going to do anything bad were they? She also didn't know where the code name Mistress D came from but she didn't like this. It made her feel as if she was in a mafia or something.

"It started like this…" Aidou finally said.

…3 months ago…

"Fight, fight, fight," the crowd jeered as they watched.

In a few swift movements, Aidou took down one of their opponents. He looked towards his partner, Kain Akatsuki and he too was done. They gave each other a high five, having finished quicker than they expected. Aidou ran over to the judges and took their share of money. He passed Kain's half to him.

"Want to grab something to eat?" Aidou asked.

"Are you really hungry?" Kain asked back, "if not, then save the cash."

"Save it for what?"

"Don't you think about your own future at all Aidou?"

Aidou started to make his way towards the fast food shops, "we're fine. If we need money, we'll join the tournament and get money. We spend it and the cycle continues."

Kain sighed, "that's why I'm worried about you."

Aidou stopped walking, "what's with you lately? You've been acting strangely, suddenly being serious about life and the future. Is it because of that girl?"

"Aidou," Kain said but couldn't finish saying what he thought.

Aidou laughed, "it's fine. I understand. I've been holding you back for long enough. I was always the hopeless one, becoming a delinquent and ruining my school life completely. I had no where to go and no one with me but you stayed by my side and became a delinquent with me." Aidou took a breath before continuing, "shall we eat. I am truthfully hungry." He walked again, a pain in his heart, knowing that Kain would one day walk a different path to him and that day was soon.

Kain walked faster to be beside Aidou. He put his arm around Aidou, "shall we enjoy ourselves and not think of depressing things?"

"You're the one who started it," Aidou said, giving Kain a nudge. "Kain. Next time in the Battle Tournament, can we split up?"

Kain grabbed Aidou's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks, "what are you saying?"

"I said I want to split up?"

"So you really do mind then don't you?" Kain started to ask, his voice getting louder, "you really do mind my decision to be with Ruka. You should've just told me - I will-"

"It's not like that," Aidou said over Kain. "Don't you dare change because of me either."

"Then why?" Kain continued to ask, "we've been entering Battle Tournament as a team. We're not just dealing with amateurs - some of the thugs are real tough."

"I want to earn some more money. Winning a match single handed get you double the cash," Aidou said, "you already told me I'm not the kind to think of my future and save up so I'll need to earn more. I'll take care of myself so you can be with your princess with all your heart."

Kain held back his tears. "Thank you," he whispered. He watched Aidou enter the fast food store and Aidou couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. From young, he had always been together with Aidou. They were cousins, but in reality, they were like real brothers who looked out for each other. He never thought they'd be going separate ways until the day he met Ruka. She somehow became as important to him as Aidou and it took him ages before he finally decided to have a fresh start with Ruka. "Aidou," Kain whispered to himself, "thank you for not saying anything. I'll do that for you then as the last thing."

Kain smiled as Aidou rushed out the store holding the food. He took it and ate his share. The day went by like usual with nothing much happening between Aidou or Kain. It was their desire to keep everything the same before their departure.

The next morning Kain and Aidou stood waiting at Battle tournament where the other contestants or more accurately named, fighters awaited. The normal crowds of judges, thugs, and gamblers stood around as well. Since Aidou had split up the team they were placed within the individual fighting rounds instead and luckily enough, they both won. It wasn't long that both of them became famous as they kept winning and little do they know that within the opponents they won, there lay the trigger.

"I'm dead tired," Aidou complained, "but looking at this amount of cash we made. It's all worth it right."

"Yeah," Kain said, "so tomorrow-"

"I'll see you off Kain," Aidou smiled, "shall we go home. It's midnight already. It'll be closer if we cut across Battle Tournament's stadium. There won't be anyone there since its usually sealed off from trespassers."

Kain smiled and the two headed back towards Battle Tournament. It was darker than expected and as they approached, the loud clashing noises became more apparent. Kain put out his hand in front of Aidou stopping him from going any further.

"Do you hear that?" Kain whispered.

"Yeah," Aidou whispered back, "it's not just clashes, there seems to be voices as well. What do you think-"

"Let's turn back the other way," Kain said, "we don't know what's happening in there. It's better if we-"

Aidou moved Kain's hand out the way with a smile on his face. "No way am I turning back. Don't you find this exciting?"

"But Aidou," Kain protested, "we're best not interfering with things we don't know. Let's just-"

Aidou placed a finger over Kain's lips, "I'm going to take a peep. I'll come back afterwards."

Worried about Aidou, Kain reluctantly followed Aidou towards the noises in the dark. As he got closer and closer though and the more he could make out what was happening, Kain felt fear. From his instinct and desire to protect Aidou who was shocked and not moving, Kain quickly hit Aidou on the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. "They haven't seen us yet…" Kain whispered, "don't let them see Aidou…" Kain began to slowly and cautiously move Aidou away from those people, whose silhouette he could make out in the darkness. Unaware of the glass bottle behind him, Kain stepped onto it, making a distinctive shattering sound.

"Who's there?" Kain heard one of the men shout out.

Kain desperately moved Aidou as far back as possible and knowing it was impossible to leave without having to show himself, he decided to take the risk. He ran directly towards the men and hit them, ignoring the corpse on the floor. Don't let them find Aidou, don't let them notice…was what Kain was screaming in his mind as he fought them. After landing a few more blows onto them, Kain made a run in the opposite direction he came from. He heard them chasing after him and knew that they wouldn't find Aidou. That was the only thing he was relieved about as he continued to run.