Chapter 25

Everything was black and fuzzy. Distant voices and sounds strung together, making it impossible to differentiate and pinpoint just exactly what she was hearing. Her tongue felt numb and her eyelids heavy. The chilly air surrounding her made the hairs on her arms stick up from their place beside her, strapped firmly to a chair along with the rest of her body. She still couldn't open her eyes. She was sure she could have been able to if she tried, but a part of her dreaded what she'd find if she did.

The murmurs of hazy hums started to grow louder, drawing closer to wherever Amu was sitting. She could almost make out a voice or two in the jumbled mixture, but her head pounded so strongly she couldn't tell if they were voices or just a figment of her imagination.

Eyelids still too heavy to open, Amu attempted to move her arm, but found her muscles to be too weak to even make one of her fingers twitch.

A sob built up in her throat, threatening to expose Amu for being awake. What surprised her most about this whole situation was not that she could very well die here, nor the fact that she might never see her family again - what hurt most of all was the last conversation she had with Ikuto. She missed him already, and knowing that she might never get to apologize to him and explain why she acted the way she did. He would remember her as the girl that lead him to believe she accepted him no matter what and honestly wanted to be with him, but in the end she turned out to be the complete opposite.

Amu could feel hot tears building up behind her closed eyelids. Her head hung low, her hair dangling in front of her face, disguising the hurt expression that had recently appeared.

After a few more silent moments passed, she decided she was finally ready to face her fate. It was either now or later, but in order for it to be later, she'd first have to survive through whatever else her kidnappers would do to her.

Struggling to lift her unnaturally heavy head, Amu winced and whimpered before she pried open her eyes and took in her surroundings.

It looked like an abandoned office would. Except this one had a basement feel to it. The windowless concrete walls surrounding her provided no natural light and shut out all sources of heat. Just above her, the ceiling was covered in fluorescent lights that glowed far too bright for Amu's head to handle, the occasional bulb flickering as if it was having a seizure - or about to cause one.

"Ahh, look who's awake." The rough voice inherited an almost caring tone to it, which made Amu's stomach churn.

With the lights increasing her headache at an alarming rate combined with seeing the person she hated most stand just a few feet away from her, Amu strained her neck to turn as far as she could to the side before emptying out the contents in her stomach.

After a few more retches, Amu closed her eyes in pain and sniffled, lifting her heavy head back into place so she could stare coolly at the man in front of her, ignoring the tangy aftertaste in her mouth.

"You, my dear, are a sneaky one." Kazuomi commented as he pulled up a chair in front of Amu, turning it around so he could sit on it backwards, draping his arms over the back of the seat.

"And you're a sadistic bastard." Amu spat, no longer able to contain the anger anymore. If she was going to die, she might as well stop being a coward and speak her mind before it was too late. She just wished she had gained this newfound courage sooner, then maybe she would've enjoyed her life a little more while she could.

The corners of Kazuomi's lips turned upwards in amusement as he hummed in response, giving a curt nod.

"Some would think." He shrugged and brushed it off. "But you. I thought you were gone for good after our first encounter all those months ago." His eyes glazed over as a ghost of a twisted smile appeared on his lips as he recalled the night in the alley. "You see, just weeks beforehand, your father was talking about how your family was planning to move by the end of the summer. Imagine my surprise when I discover just last week that you're still around. And-" He barked out a laugh. "screwing my step-son of all things!"

Amu gritted her teeth tightly together as her glare towards him intensified. "You're a disgusting pig. And yeah, we would've moved if my dad hadn't been killed in a car accident." She spat venomously.

Kazuomi's smile grew at that. There was something unsettling with the way he nodded knowingly.

"Yes, that was a shame, wasn't it? No one could have seen that coming."

Slanting her eyes at Kazuomi in suspicion, Amu let her curiosity get the better of her.

"What do you know about the car accident?"

This seemed to be just what Kazuomi was waiting for as his grin grew eagerly. He stood up slowly and started circling around Amu's chair.

"Let me explain."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Ikuto sat at the kitchen table in silence, staring at the steaming mug of coffee sitting in front of him.

He wasn't particularly sure why he had even poured himself a cup of coffee, as he was fully aware that he had no intention on drinking it. He had lost his appetite ever since learning of her disappearance.

It had been a week since Rima had called him up, panicking about how no one could find Amu and how Midori had heard a scream from outside, but when she threw open the front door, the car was already speeding down the street, no doubt with Amu inside.

He didn't know how to react. It was like all of a sudden he had grown entirely numb yet heavy at the same time. What he did know was that he couldn't move, even if he tried.

The police still had no leads. Many people were beginning to think it was a lost cause. However, Ikuto wouldn't let his thoughts drift into the negatives. They would find her. They had to. The Hinamori family couldn't lose another member when it hadn't even been a year since Tsumugu passed on. Plus Ikuto wouldn't let Amu leave this world without living out her life to the fullest.

His throat tightened at the thought of Amu. He began tapping his fingers impatiently against the warm coffee cup to distract his thoughts. Who was he kidding? He hadn't been able to get her out of his head since they last spoke in the school hallway last week, the day she was reported missing.

Gritting his teeth together, Ikuto squeezed his eyes shut as guilt overwhelmed him, tears brimming his eyes. He could've prevented it from happening. Maybe if he had went home with her or even just delayed her getting home so she wouldn't have been taken. He should've been there for her. Even if she ended their relationship, he still felt it was his duty to protect her. And yet he failed at that. Now she was gone and no one knew how to get her back.

Ikuto wiped his eyes discreetly and exhaled loudly, staring back down at his now cold coffee. Twisting his face in disgust, he slid out of his chair and wandered over to the kitchen sink where he dumped the remaining coffee down the drain.

"Hey, Ikuto?" Rang Utau's voice from the living room.

Hoping his voice sounded stronger than he felt, Ikuto spoke up. "…Yeah?"

"Do we have any lined paper?"

Thinking for a moment, Ikuto recalled that all the paper located in the house was usually found in Kazuomi's office - which was always locked. It was no use even attempting to get in there. Nonetheless, Ikuto told his sister that he'd try the door to see if it was unlocked.

He remembered the last time the door was left open was a few years ago, when Ikuto walked into the office not realizing that Kazuomi hated people wandering through his 'private room'.

Coming to the landing at the top of the stairs, Ikuto paused at the last door on the right, letting his hand rest on the doorknob. With a shove, and a surprised response from the teenage boy, the door swung open.

He could honestly say he didn't know what move to make next. The darkness of the room lured him in slowly. There was only one window in the room, on the wall opposite of the door.

Bookshelves lined the walls and a desk that was overflowing with papers sat in the middle of the room.

Sighing, Ikuto wandered over to the desk to start his hunt for lined paper.

After rummaging for a few minutes through folders, filing cabinets and seemingly discarded drawers, he was about to give up his search until a name written on a piece of paper caught his attention.

Leaning over to switch on the lamp to see better, Ikuto pushed all papers off of the one he was holding tightly. It was a list of names, attached to the back were photographs and information such as street addresses and phone numbers.

Ikuto suddenly felt sick to his stomach once he found Amu's name on the list. She was number 5. Flipping through the other sheets stapled to the list, he stopped when he found the sheet that held all Amu's contact information, as well as her school schedule and some candid photographs.

Ikuto's mouth went dry as his mouth widened and his heartbeat seemed to stop. For a moment he refused to think the worst, but after flipping to the first few pages and seeing pictures of other girls, he recognized a few of their names. One of them had been a girl he worked with until she disappeared sometime in January. Her body had been found discarded in a back alley. Another name belonged to someone from Seiyo High school, she too had gone missing.

His stomach lurched when he realized all the names leading up to Amu's had been crossed out. Hers was yet to be done, which meant two things.

First: Kazuomi was the one responsible for all this, and second: Amu was still alive.

A/N: Hey guyyss! So I was just wondering, anyone got some Amuto fanfics that they'd recommend? I'm looking for a good read!