Plotting the escape

"I still don't think that it's safe to keep them down there all night."

"Stop whining, and get them some blankets."

"But it's cold!"

"Do you want to have to watch them all night?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Fine! Take them upstairs, and tie them up. Lock them in a closet, or something."

"I will."

Ken sat up, pulling away from Takeru, and causing the blonde's arms to fall to his side. He woke up slowly, and smiled at Ken, his eyes still glazed from slumber. "They're coming down. You might want to wake up."

Blue eyes blinked sleepily, and then he rolled his eyes. "What now? Are we leaving again?"

"No. They're moving us upstairs, and probably tying us up in a closet." The genius smiled slightly. "If only one comes for the both of us, we can overpower him, and make a run for it."

"Sounds like a plan. What about the guy with the gun?" Ken's thin form stood up, and he stretched.

"Hopefully, he'll be in the back of the house, or somewhere else." Takeru stood up, also, standing on the first step.

"We can make it to the van, and try to escape in it." He smiled, blue eyes twinkling. "Of course, we could also sabotage it. I'm pretty certain that we could out run them easily."

The door at the top of the stairs opened, interrupting their conversation. The guy with the ball cap waved them up, a rope in one hand, and the gun in the other.

"Let's go, you two. Time to get a little more comfortable."

Takeru resisted the urge to snicker. He doubted that their kidnapper would appreciate being laughed at, even if they were the worst two in history. Somehow, he doubted that they did this type of thing often. He looked at Ken, noting the twinkle in his violet eyes where they rested on the man in front of them.

"Move a little faster." The guy waved the gun again, and then sighed in frustration as they filed slowly up the stairs. He pointed towards the front of the house, and they walked back the way they had entered a couple of hours before. Takeru looked at his watch, then towards the window where the sun was setting. It was seven in the morning.

They went up the stairs, and back towards the end of the house. The guy pushed them into a back room, and slammed the door shut. They were left in the pale light of coming day, Ken leaning against the door, and Takeru checking out the window.

"It doesn't look like we'll be going out this way." He pulled roughly on the sill, illustrating the fact that it was nailed down. "Or we can do it the hard way."

"They'd hear us break the glass." With a sigh, the dark-haired genius moved away from the door, and sat down in the middle of the floor. He pulled out his D-terminal, and typed in a message, leaving the blonde to stare at the top of his bent head. "What?"

Blue eyes widened with surprise at being caught, and Takeru smiled slightly, shrugging offhandedly. "Nothing. With the light from the sunrise, your hair kind of shines."

Violet eyes stared into his for a moment, before looking away with something akin to resigned acceptance. "I'd say the same, but I don't think I've ever seen your hair." His lips curled into a slight smile, and he glanced through his hair, waiting for Takeru's reaction.

The blonde moved toward him, and sat down across from him, dropping his arms around his knees. He smiled playfully at the genius, reaching up and pulling his hat off of his head. Ken gasped, his eyes widening. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want."

Takeru smoothed the blonde tresses self-consciously, averting his gaze, and trying to pretend that he wasn't blushing. "It's really not that bad." He looked at the blue-haired boy for a moment, caught the smile on his face, and put his hat back on. A pale hand touched his arm, and he met Ken's gaze. "I'm sorry. You just looked so upset at taking it off; I thought it was funny. I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't." Ken didn't move his hand, and Takeru didn't comment. "It's just kind of sore spot. Daisuke likes to tease me about it." He chuckled. "And even I have to admit that it looks rather silly at times. But it's comfortable, and I like to wear it, and that's that."

"You don't have to defend yourself to me, Takeru." He paused, and then looked away from his eyes, over his shoulder. "I like it, anyway. On you, at least. I don't know of anyone else that could pull it off."

(Rae: coughGilligancough)

"Thank you." Outside, the blonde accepted it easily enough, but inside, his heart was starting to thud against his chest, a chest that was feeling too tight from proximity. "So, what are we going to do?"

"I guess the door is out, since he locked it. I say that we try the window." He waved toward a bed in the corner. "We can use the pillow to mute the sound, and avoid getting cut."

"We'll have to be quick about it. There's nothing but ground at the bottom, and we can make a run into the woods before they get the door opened."

"Let's wait until it gets dark." They sat in silence for several minutes, Ken watching the floor, and Takeru watching him while pretending not to.

"Maybe we should sleep a little more. It could be a long night." The blonde suggested blandly, standing up to hide the blush that came from thinking about him and Ken in the same bed. The blue-haired genius stood up also, walking to stand beside the bed. He climbed in, crawled to the wall, and then lay down on his left side, facing the room. Takeru lay down as well, noting that both of them stayed on top of the covers. Ken had his eyes closed as Takeru laid down on his right side, facing the wall. A moment later, violet eyes blinked open, and he was caught by Ken's gaze.

"Do you normally sleep on your right side?" Takeru thought about it for a moment, and then smiled slightly.

"Normally. Let me guess, you always sleep on your left." Ken smiled back, and nodded, leaning up to rest his cheek in his left hand. "I guess that I should have gotten the wall, then. Do you want to switch?" He held his breath, waiting for the other boy's reply. The dark-haired boy shook his head, lying back down.

"That's okay." He closed his eyes, curling his arm under his head, and resting the other one on the bed in front of him. Takeru watched him for a moment longer, and then closed his eyes. He was asleep in minutes, and missed when the blue-haired boy sat up.

Ken leaned back against the wall, and took the blinking light from his lapel. Taking the chance that the blonde would wake up, he ran his hand through soft blonde locks, tenderly touching the scalp underneath.

When their friends finally rescued them, he was going to have to have a talk with his best friend. He smiled, snuggling as close to the other as he could without touching him.

____________

"I knew it." Matt leaned against the car and glared at nothing in particular. At the front of the car, leaning under the hood, Tai sighed.

"If you know so much, why don't you get over here and fix this dang thing." Standing around the car, everyone else rolled their eyes at their banter.

"I'm not a grease monkey. I know nothing of fixing cars."

"Why doesn't that surprise me? Wait, I know. It's because the world would go to hell if cool, calm, collected Ishida Yamato got his hands dirty." The brunette sighed again, pushing his hair out of his face with his arm, careful of the grease on his hands. "If you're not going to help, the least you can do is quit complaining."

The blonde mumbled something under his breath, and stepped around to stand beside his best friend. "I still don't know what I'm doing." Tai reached out, and jiggled something, turned another object, and then kicked the front bumper. "Oh, that's really going to work."

Jyou turned the key in the ignition, and Tai smirked when the engine started. "You know it." Matt frowned at the car, and then walked away, hands in his pockets. "Never doubt the great Yagami."

"Well, oh Great One. What are we going to do about the tire now?" Hikari pointed to the flat tire on the rear driver side, and her brother deflated.

"Koushiro?" The brunette called hopefully. The redhead looked up from where he'd been talking with Daisuke, and nodded.

"Fix-a-flat, and an air pump."

"See, everything taken care of." Tai crossed his arms, daring anyone to argue with him. Everyone else shrugged, and looked away, except Matt.

"Everything's taken care of, if you ignore the fact that we're lost, it's dark, and we don't know how Ken and Takeru are." He smiled slightly. "I guess this is how you take care of things." He was leaning on the top of the car, arms crossed on top.

Tai put his hands on the top of the doorframe, and leaned over the roof. "Stop being such a jerk. I'm trying to keep up a good attitude. The only thing that getting mopey and depressed does is bring the rest of us down."

"I'm so sorry that my attitude leaves something to be desired." Sensing a fight brewing, the others moved away from the car, forming a little circle front and ignoring Matt and Tai.

The brunette looked at his friends, figured that they were for enough away for what he wanted to say, and turned back to Matt. "Yamato. I know you're worried, and I know that you're mad. But if you keep this up, I will tie you up and gag you in the back with Koushiro and Daisuke."

The blonde didn't say anything, simply stared at him for a moment. He didn't deny that it was worry and anger driving him in his persistence to annoy his best friend.

"We can fight, Matt. Just like always. Or you can trust me, talk to me. You're trying to shove me away because you're afraid that you're break down if I get too close. That's a chance you're going to have to take, Yama. I need you to trust me."

____________

Daisuke watched as his idol and Matt walked into the woods, leaving the rest of them behind with only a quick "we'll be right back". He looked at his friends, and then turned to Koushiro. "Five minutes, and a black eye."

The genius paused for a moment, then smiled teasingly. "Square the first, and double the second."

"What?" Koushiro smiled at him. "'Shiro, babe, that isn't even fair."

"What isn't?" Mimi smiled, crossing her arms to ward off the chill of the night.

"He's trying to get me to think. My head hurts just from thinking about it." He groaned, and grabbed his head with his hands.

"I know you know, Daisuke." The redhead was persistent as he waited. Finally, he reached out, and rubbed at Daisuke's temples, just to stop him from moaning more.

"Mm. Twenty-five minutes and two black eyes. You're on." He wrapped his arms around the redhead in a sudden hug, grinning as he squeaked. "You are the world's greatest inspiration."

He let go just as quickly, and hopped back to the car. Koushiro and the others stared after him for a moment, the redhead blushing. Sora finally coughed, gaining his attention. "'Shiro, babe? The world's greatest inspiration?" Miyako snickered, and wrapped her arm around Mimi.

"I think somebody has a crush on you." Jyou pointed out wisely, and the girls giggled. Koushiro sighed, running a hand through his own hair as he looked at Daisuke. He smiled slightly when brown eyes met his.

"It's illogical." His voice was loud enough to carry to Daisuke, who placed his hands on his hips in a defensive gesture.

"Logic also says that you can't travel between dimensions with a computer, but we do it anyway. We like to defy logic, it's part of our motif, our brand, our signature, our-."

"Stuff it, Dai." Hikari approached him, and tapped him on the arm. Cut off in mid-tirade, he blushed, and then circled around the car to get into the front seat.

____________

"Matt, what the hell is wrong with you?" Tai didn't waste any time as they stood in the darkness. Koushiro and the others would finish with the tire by the time they got back. He had time to deal with some of Matt's issues. He could try, at the least. The blonde was turned away from him, and he felt that he should probably be thankful for it. The coldness that the blonde emitted at times could chill a person to the bone, and even the fiery brunette wasn't immune most of the time. Especially when he knew that it was motivated by real pain.

When there was no answer, he sighed in quiet frustration and raked a hand through his hair. "Talk to me, Yama." The nickname slipped out without thought. It was his way of expressing how serious he was, and it generally occurred without any planning on his part.

"I can't do anything to help him." There were tears hidden beneath the words, and he cursed the stubbornness that kept him at a distance from his friend.

"We're doing the best we can, Yama. We all are. They're safe, and they can take care of themselves." They both knew it to be the truth, but he knew instinctively that it wouldn't help to calm his friend.

"Maybe that's why I'm so bothered by this. My little brother can save himself better than I can. I remember when I had to rescue him from everything, and now I can't even help him with his homework."

Tai paused, not knowing how to answer that. His little sister was growing up, too, but he still thought of her as exactly that: his little sister. "It's going to take time to adjust to it." He said the first thing that came into his mind, and waited to see if it would have the effect he desired.

"I'm so used to being depended on. It's like something's missing." The brunette smiled. He knew the exact feeling that the blonde was feeling.

"You're lonely. You used to be able to depend on your little brother needing you, and now that he doesn't have to turn to you every other day for advice, you lack companionship."

"With half of the female population stalking me?" His voice betrayed his sarcasm, revealing another little piece of his pain.

"They don't count. You can't include someone that doesn't know your favorite ice cream flavor."

"Is this the part where you offer to set me up with any number of girls in the hopes that I get laid and get happy?"

"No. This is where we head back to the van, and you think about my wonderfully fabulous advice as we go and rescue our friends." He ignored the slight snickering sound that followed his march out of the woods. By the rustling of the undergrowth, he knew that Matt was right behind him, following the sound of his own feet. He hoped that his words would help.

It hurt him when his best friend hurt.

____________

Takeru came awake slowly, conscious of being warm and comfortable at the same time. He didn't remember covering up, but there was a blanket over him, as well as an arm draped across his waist. He was still on his side, and his left arm was hooked securely around the thin body in front of him. His eyes opened wide in the darkness. He couldn't see the person in front of him, but he knew who it was without the ability of sight. Different choices flashed through his mind: pull away, and pretend it didn't happen; snuggle closer, and enjoy it while it lasted; wake Ken up with a kiss, and see how long it took the genius to kick his butt.

Without really thinking about it, he leaned forward slightly, feeling Ken's breath on his neck. He brought his lips down lovingly on his forehead, running his left arm down Ken's back, and then back up beneath his shirt. The genius mumbled in his sleep, but didn't wake up. He merely tightened his arm, and scooted closer, moving his leg so that it was on top of Takeru's right leg.  With a sigh, the blonde moved his lips downward, moving them slowly across Ken's cheek, edging ever closer to his lips. He stopped at the corner of his mouth, and then kissed him lightly, closing his eyes.

A second later, he was flat on his back, his arms pinned to his side, and the vague outline of Ken leaning over him. The genius was breathing a little heavily, his hair hanging past his face. Takeru opened his mouth to try to explain, but no words came out. He couldn't simply say that nothing had happened, or that he hadn't known what he had been doing. He had been in full control of himself, and had enjoyed every second of it. He waited in the darkness, not certain if Ken would let it go, or if the genius would want to confront him on it.

"Takeru?" The voice was low, an uncertain whisper.

He nodded, and then realized that the other boy wouldn't be able to see him. "Yeah." The hands holding his wrists loosened, and he felt Ken lever himself away from his body.

"In the dark, I wasn't certain." His voice was still low, as if the normal volume of conversation would pollute the dark shadows surrounding them. "Are you still tired?"

"Not really. What time is it?" He saw the light on Ken's watch flicker on, and then off.

"It's only eight o'clock. Do you think that we should wait for a little while longer?"

"Let's wait until ten, and see if they check on us by then. If not, we can assume that they've gone to sleep." Takeru stayed where he was on the bed, he didn't know what Ken was thinking, but his knees were still touching his side, so he knew that the genius hadn't gone far. "Ken, I-"

"I was thinking that we might send a message to Dai and the others, telling them what we're going to do. If they're any place nearby, we might be able to meet up with them a little ways from here." There was a moment of silence, and then he felt a hand gently touch his arm. "I'm sorry that I got you into this mess."

"It's not your fault that you got kidnapped. How were you supposed to know that some idiots were going to abduct you in the middle of the afternoon?"

"If you hadn't been hanging out with me for the last couple of weeks-" Takeru cut him off with a hand over his mouth. He had risen to his knees in a flash, facing his friend in the dark.

"None of that. It's not your fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame me. If I had shown up on time, or had Matt drive us, we wouldn't have had to worry about any of this. As for the hanging out thing: we're friends, Ken, and friends spend time together." Maybe not as much time as he'd spent with Ken, but that was another matter. "Now get over it, and keep thinking about escaping."

He paused, waiting to see if any of it had registered with Ken. He felt a cool hand touch his cheek, and resisted the urge to lean his face into his palm. "That's really sweet, Takeru. You're sweet." He closed his eyes, and felt Ken's other hand cup the other side of his face. "Just like you taste."

Before he could digest the words, a pair of lips was pressed on top of his, kissing him softly. He opened his mouth slightly and felt when Ken's teeth grazed it before nibbling at it. He made a low growling sound in the back of his throat, and brought his hands to Ken's hips. The genius leaned into him, moving his hands down to circle about his shoulders. Ken had just moved his hands under Takeru's shirt when there was the sound of footsteps in the hall. They broke apart quickly, panting for breath.

"Lay down." Takeru's whisper was harsh in the silence, but he felt the bed move as Ken made to obey. They pulled the blankets back up to cover themselves, then faced in opposite directions. The key scraped in the lock, and the door swung open. Takeru forced his face to remain relaxed when the light was flicked on. Footsteps neared the bed, stopped for a moment, and then retreated back to the door. The light was shut off, and the door shut. The key turned in the lock again, and the footsteps sounded down the hall. "That was close-"

He was cut off in the middle of his sentence by a pair of persistent lips pressed against his own. Long-fingered hands were pushing his shirt up, caressing his abdomen as the material was slowly removed. The lips left his, and moved down his chin to his neck, stopping to suck lightly on his collarbone. Ken pulled back for a moment, and pulled his shirt over his head, forcing Takeru into a sitting position.

"Ken?" There was a hesitation, and the hands that had been learning the contours of his chest stilled, the fingers curling slightly.

"Takeru?" There was more than hesitancy in Ken's voice. He sounded unsure, afraid, and more than a touch excited. The hands pulled away, and he heard the rustle of the blanket as the genius backed up to the wall. The blonde reached out his hand, and touched flesh. Ken moved his foot back, and Takeru could picture him rolling his sock back up and pulling his pant leg down. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He tried again, grasping an ankle. The genius tried to jerk away, but he tightened his grip, using his hold as a guide to the other boy. He didn't say another word, because he didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell the genius that he enjoyed it, but he didn't want Ken to think that he didn't, either.

He moved forward slowly, shuffling his knees on the blankets. He found Ken's other ankle, and positioned himself between them. With his left hand, he pushed up the bottom of Ken's pants, sliding his fingers along his calf to his knee. He felt the rigidity of the other's body, and ignored it. He began to rub circles into the backside of his knee, and felt the shudder than ran through his body. His right hand slid up his pant leg slowly, inching upward with every circle behind his right knee. "Takeru." Ken's voice was breathy, anticipatory.

"Hush." Takeru moved forward a little more, moving his right hand up past the knee on the inside. His left hand moved back down, coming out of his pants. Ken sighed, the sound half disappointed. The right hand was till making it's way up the inside of his thigh, and he made no move to stop it. Takeru stopped his hand at mid-thigh, and reached his left hand up to Ken's face. "It's barely eight-thirty."

He waited, keeping his hands in place. "We should sleep." Ken's voice was disappointed, frustrated.

"We could. Or we could wait a little longer. We don't always do what we should." His message was clear. They could stay exactly where they were, and go farther, or put it on hold indefinitely. Ken brought his hands up to cover both of Takeru's.

"We need to rest." His words were almost desperate, squeezed out of him.

"I know." With a quiet sigh, they moved back towards the middle of the bed together, Takeru guiding Ken with his hands. They lay down, wrapping their arms around each other as they waited for sleep to claim them yet again.

________________

They ended up breaking the window out. Ken stood to the side, and kicked it, and then Takeru knocked down the shards that stuck in the sill. "After you." The blonde waved his arm, ignoring the sound of footsteps running downstairs.

"Thank you." With natural grace, Ken climbed through, slid to the edge of the roof, and dropped down. Takeru followed, jumping from the roof as footsteps ran up the stairs and down the hall.' He hit the ground and felt his right foot slip. There was a popping sound as he fell. "Are you okay?"

Slender hands touched him gently, moving to his legs. "I'm fine. We have to go." Ken pulled him to his feet, supporting him with one arm around his waist. They started forward as quickly as possible, Takeru hobbling with his arm around the dark-haired teen's shoulders. They heard shouting behind them as they entered the darkness of the woods.

"We can head back towards the highway, and hope that Daisuke's coming." The blonde was breathing heavy; inhaling sharply each time he had to put pressure on his right ankle. Ken talked on, his voice low with the effort to keep them both on their feet. "Maybe we'll be lucky, and we'll find a cop. That would be a stroke of luck."

Somewhere in the background, a door slammed shut. "I couldn't find the flashlight!"

"That should make this a little easier. They won't be able to find us in the dark." The trees made seeing by the moon impossible.

"They wouldn't be able to find us in broad daylight." Takeru stopped and pulled Ken down so that they were kneeling in the grass. "We'll let them look, and start walking when they give up. Save our energy."

He sat down, moving to the nearest tree to lean against it as his ankle throbbed. Ken moved with him, crossing his legs and settling into the grass by the blonde's side. "Let me see your ankle." Without waiting for a response, he pulled the blonde's leg into his lap, and began to untie his shoe.

"It's only a sprain. It happens every now and again. I twisted it badly three years ago." His breathing constricted as Ken's hands massaged his skin, moving tenderly along his ankle, taking his sock off. Cool fingers circled his foot, making him gasp.

"Sorry. Did that hurt?" Slender hands stilled as he waited for an answer, but he didn't remove his hands.

"No. Your hands were cold." He paused, and then added: "You don't have to stop." He heard a light humming noise, and felt cool fingers slide up his leg, kneading the muscles in his calf, pausing two inches below the knees when the tight material of the jeans wouldn't allow further access.

There was an expectant hush, Takeru waiting to see what he would do next, Ken waiting to see if the blonde would either take over, or push him away. They were both startled when there was a large thrashing sound to their left.

"Are you okay!" Takeru felt for Ken's arm as they realized that they were barely ten feet from their kidnappers.

"No! I think I'm stuck in some briar patch thing."

"You are such an idiot!" There was some more stomping and cursing, and then the sounds retreated back towards the house, both men insulting each other.

When they were certain that they were alone, Takeru squeezed the arm under his palm. "We should get going again. Before they manage to find a flashlight."

"Of course." He heard the resignation and frustration in the other boy's voice, and smiled, thinking that it was nice to know that they were going through the same thin. "Hold still, and I'll put your sock and shoe back on."

He did just that, closing his eyes as cool fingers pulled his sock on, and then his shoe, tying the strings before resting gently on his leg again. Neither one made a move to get up, and Takeru started to imagine exactly what could happen if they didn't move. Finally, knowing that they had to start, he pushed against the tree to upright himself, smiling in the dark when an arm wrapped itself back around his waist. "I wonder what the others are doing."

It was a general question, and he didn't expect an answer. Ken's mind wasn't on the others, though. He was thinking about the warmth pressed against his side, and the memory of sleeping against his chest, the small of his back pressed by an insistent part of the blonde's anatomy.