The Wild Hunt
A/N. Disclaimers can be found in part zero, I'm too lazy too repeat the whole procedure. I'm glad you liked the story so far and I was amused to see that question number one in your reviews was Why is Ken afraid of mirror mazes?. I'm evil, ne? grin This will be another rather light chapter (at least at the beginning He, he) before I start with the serious angst or...well...as angsty as I can get, considering I have no experience with such fics.
Ok, enough rambling. On to the second chapter and another good portion of sexy Ran smirk and bashful Ken laugh. Oh, and Ran will be a bit OOC in this chapter. Blame it on the fact that the fun fair and his little Kenken lighten him up considerably. Oh, yeah, another mention of Ken's non-existent aniki. I told you that I have this weird "big Brother"-fixation.
Dedication: For Daemonchan who never fails to cheer me up! Thanks a lot Daemonchan! By the way...if I ever get inspired with my art muses again, I might draw another pic for "Clavicula Nox" goes in search for her muses.
Chapter2 – Long forgotten past
*3 hours later at the fun fair*
"Wait up, will you?! I´ll get you back for that!!!", Aya laughed and ran after the giggling brunette who still carried the water pistol he had won at one of the game stands. Being at the fun fair and having a younger lover around that was constantly smiling and laughing, lightening the whole place up with his cheerfulness, had loosened him up a lot.
He had almost smiled in front of Youji earlier, but repressed it when he noticed the teasing smirk the older assassin threw at him. Now, that they had lost Youji and Omi some time ago and were alone, he could let go of his constant mask and openly show the affection he held for the younger brunette.
After a few minutes of chasing the boy around, he finally managed to corner him on a wall behind some of the game stands. Aya smirked when his captive pointed the water pistol at him. Ken was completely out of breath and he could see that his mind had problems deciding which was more important.
Teasing the redhead in front of him further or trying to catch his breath which would result in a breaking off their little game. The need for fun succeeded and the boy straightened the pistol. Aya´s smile widened if that was even possible.
"There's no more water in there, Kenken. You already used all of it on me."
The redhead wiped some wet hair out of his face to underline the statement.
"You know...", he continued advancing on him with a full-fledged grin that was so unlike Aya that it was almost scary, "...that was really evil. Now what should I do about it?"
He placed a hand on each side of the brunette's head to keep him from escaping. Ken grinned up at him, green eyes dancing merrily.
"Dunno. Maybe kiss me?", he asked daringly accepting the challenge in the teasing match.
Aya laughed softly and leaned closer hugging the boy tight to him.
"That would be a possibility.", he murmured huskily.
He cupped the boy's face in his hands and captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. Ken tasted like strawberries and mint, an odd combination, yet not surprising considering he devoured tons of ice-cream with that flavour earlier. He slipped his tongue even further into the boy's warm cavern and managed to elicit a soft moan from him. Ken practically melted into his arms and he had to place one of his arms around the brunette's waist to keep him from falling to the ground. Aya smiled against his mouth. He loved Ken's reaction to his kisses. It was simply endearing.
"Mou...Aya! Ken! Where are you?", they could hear Youji shouting.
Ken broke free from the kiss and smoothed some of his clothes out, cheeks heavily flushed. Aya cursed inwardly at Youji for interrupting the perfect moment.
"Darn.", he muttered a little louder , but the object of his affection didn't seem hear him.
"Over here!", Ken called, just as Youji and Omi came around the corner. Aya tried to slip back into his emotionless mask before they reached them. He wasn't ready to show the world the real Aya Fujimiya, no Ran Fujimiya. Ken was the only person with that privilege. What had happened earlier that day, was an exception. His need to tease his genki love had won the battle against his conscience.
Mask back in place he faced the two blonde boys in time to catch Youji´s smirk . Said assassin needed only one good look at the blushing brunette to know what happened.
"Getting naughty again, Kenken?", he teased.
Ken blushed even worse at the comment and Omi whacked the playboy over the head.
"Stop teasing him, Youji-kun.", he scolded lightly. " I'm sure what they have done was perfectly innocent, ne Ken-kun?"
Ken looked like he wanted to disappear into thin air, face redder than a tomato. Youji´s smile never ceased.
"But I am right, am I? Aya?", he looked at the redhead for support.
Aya didn't answer, but a faint smile tugged at his lips that he hoped no one would notice..
Meanwhile the colour of Ken's skin was slowly turning back to normal. He grasped Aya´s hand, hoping that his lover wouldn't deny him the open display of affection. His hand trembled a bit. Aya tightened the grip in an assuring manner, softening at the brunette's obvious insecurity.
"Did you win anything at the game stands?", the soccer player asked still a bit embarrassed at being caught. It was obvious to all of them that he wanted to change the topic.
Omi grinned and held up a little white stuffed kitten.
"Isn't it cute? I won it at the dart stand. I only had to hit the green marking three times and that was easy."
Youji snorted.
"It was easy because you're doing it every time we are on a mission. Where do you see the challenge in that?"
"Shut up, Youji-kun. I won it. That's all that matters.", the little blonde sulked. "Now, what are we going to do now?"
"Don't know.", Ken said. "We tried all roundabouts and I think we looked at all of the game stands. We visited the animal show and the horror cabinet, though I still don't know what was frightening in there. My English teacher back at school looked scarier than any of the creatures.
Then there was also the love tunnel...", he perked at his lover through brown bangs and flushed again. "..., the roller coaster which was indeed very cool as Omi promised earlier. The only thing left is...", he gulped.
"...the mirror maze", Youji finished for him measuring the boy with a scrutinising glance.
Ken had become white as a sheet in less than three seconds. Youji would be damned, but he wouldn't let the brunette escape with another excuse like earlier. He closed the short distance to him, shot a silent glance at Aya daring to interrupt him, then looked into the boy's green eyes with an intense stare that rooted the boy to the place for an instant.
"What's wrong, Ken? And don't tell me that you are alright because I can see quiet clearly that you are *not* alright. I know your excuses by now, so don't even try to lie to me. You look worse than shit right now, to put it mildly and I'm not letting you go off until I got a straight answer of you."
Ken tried to back away, but Youji caught his chin in a tight, yet soft grip and forced him to stay were he was. The boy trembled a bit. Youji almost felt sorry for him. Almost! He wanted to know what scared the boy like that. After all he did care for him a great deal and hated to see him like that.
"I don't like mirror mazes, that's all.", he muttered.
"You don't like mirror mazes? That's all?", Youji mocked. "Sure! That's why you look ready to faint. Now again....what is wrong? There's more behind it."
"I...I...damn ...it's so stupid! I thought I would have got over it after all theses years.", the boy muttered annoyed at himself, yet his friends could make out a deep sadness and pain behind those words.
Aya placed a hand on his lover's shoulder and rose questioning eyebrows.
"What's so stupid? Tell us, Kenken."
Ken sighed and retreated a few steps back. Youji allowed the move, but still kept a close eye on him. The boy hung his head, brown bangs hiding the expression on his face.
/I'm gone astray!/
"You know...", he started, "...everybody fears something, especially at a younger age?"
The other three nodded waiting for him to continue.
"My older brother for instance feared the darkness. He always kept the lights on when he went to bed or he never went out alone after nightfall. I suppose if he were alive, he would still be afraid of the dark. No one could cure him of that fear."
Aya nodded again. This had been the first time the boy had mentioned someone of his past. His family. Ever! He frowned. The boy had spoken of his brother in past tense. What did happen to him?
Besides, he always thought that Ken feared the Darkness as well. He was a creature of light and he had noticed on several occasions that the boy rarely went out after nightfall alone. He tended to ask for company first, before he would leave on his own. And as he had already mentioned about his brother, Ken kept the lights in his room on very often.
Aya glanced at Ken and wanted to ask him about it, but the brunette seemed to have guessed his question.
"I dislike the Dark, but I don't fear it, Aya! That's a difference.", he whispered softly.
The redhead nodded slowly and asked for him to continue.
Ken drew in a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists. He looked even more pale than before and all of them noticed that tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
"When I was younger, I loved to go to the fun fair with my aniki. Our favourite place was the mirror maze. I think we liked it so much because it was a real challenge for us first to get lost in there and then to try and get out of the maze in a certain amount of time. The mirrors bedevilled it but to us it usually meant the more difficult it was, the more we liked it. That was until..."
Ken drew in a shaky breath and Aya could see that the boy was loosing his composure.
"What happened?", he asked him and fought the urge to envelop the boy in his arms. Something bad had obviously happened and it still haunted the brunette's memories.
"When I was about 9 years old...", the boy continued, "...aniki was about sixteen back then...strange things started to occur whenever we entered the maze."
"Strange things?", Omi asked.
"Yes! Sometimes the mirrors would start to flicker or one of the corridors we had just passed disappeared and we found another one instead. Don't look at me as if I'm crazy. I know that it was true!"
He glared at Youji who had looked like he was about to snicker, but then had fought back the grin when he noticed how serious Ken was about the whole matter. Ken's face softened a bit, but his eyes were haunted.
"One time I could swear that I had backed up against cold, rough stone instead of the smooth surface of a mirror. You can guess that I freaked out about it. I mean, I was nine years old. A child! Try to explain *that* to a child. Aniki tried to convince me that it was all in our imagination, that we were just seeing things and I believed him. He was my hero and I adored him to bits. Heroes do not lie, do they?"
Tears started to fall now in earnest. Aya finally gave in to the urge to comfort his younger lover and drew him into a tight embrace.
"If you don't want to continue...", he started, but Ken shook his head vehemently.
"No! It's ok, I guess...", he sniffed a bit and snuggled a bit further into the redheads arms. "It's about time I told you."
He relished the comfort provided by Aya a few seconds longer in order to calm down a bit. Then he smiled shakily and retreated a bit back, so he could look at all of his friends. His eyes shone with determination.
"OK. As I said, weird things happened and in my opinion it got worse every time we entered the maze.
You may ask now why we didn't avoid the maze and do something else, but I can tell that you do not know my brother. He wasn't the person to get scared by something like that and me, looking up at him, followed of course every time he re-entered the maze and tried to find out what was happening in there. One day when we were in the maze, nothing happened: no flickering mirrors, no false corridors or stonewalls that appeared behind us."
Ken laughed dryly without humour.
"Instead I began to notice someone following us. I heard footsteps which is not very unusual, I mean we were not the only customers that entered the maze, but when we turned around no one was there. Yet, as we continued to cross the maze, I noticed something out of the corner of my eyes. If I looked at it directly it disappeared and if I concentrated on my brother, it was like a shadow at the peripheral range of my vision that disappeared if I tried to get a closer look. I was so engrossed in trying to catch a look at it that I didn't notice my brother disappear. One moment he was there, the next while I wasn't watching he had disappeared. I panicked of course. Who wouldn't? I screamed his name and started to run through the corridors not bothering to watch out where I was heading. All I had in mind was finding my aniki."
/Tumbling into chaos without anything
And my holy guardian angel has walked away.
I chasing my shadow inside my own soul./
He stopped again and they noticed that he was very close to crying again. Aya had a bad feeling about what happened that day. They waited patiently for the brunette to continue and half a minute later, the boy was composed enough to complete the story.
"While I was running...", he croaked, "...the mirrors started to flicker again and I could see the reflection of a man in them. He was tall and dark, but I couldn't see his face. I only knew that it wasn't aniki and that he scared me to wits. I tried to run faster and somehow found the exit to the maze by chance.
Before I left the maze, I turned around one last time. The thing, I will not call it a man, in the mirror was grinning and I noticed that his hands were covered in blood. The terrifying thing wasn't the blood. No...what terrified me was that I saw him only in the mirrors, but he should have been standing in the corridor if he were to be reflected in there, yet when I looked down the corridor, there was no one! I screamed and ran out of the building. I guess the last part was just a figment of my imagination, but I could swear that his eyes glowed and that there were looming shadows on his shoulders, almost like wings."
The brunette shook his head and laughed.
"Scratch the last part. I'm pretty sure I just imagined that. After all I was scared shitless."
"What happened to your brother?", Omi asked softly, "He wasn't with you when you left the building."
"When I calmed down enough to think rationally about what occurred back in the maze, I started to think that it probably was just some sort of weird joke by someone and that my nii-san would come out soon after me. I was wrong. He didn't come! I waited almost two hours for him to join me, but no one left the maze after me. I alarmed some security men of the fun fair and they assured me that my brother probably left the maze before me and went home. I told them that aniki would never ever leave me alone. Never! They took me serious and started to search for him on the grounds of the fun fair and in the maze itself.
They found him not even one hour later near the exit of the maze and considering what they told me and my parents, I should have seen him laying there when I ran out of the building."
"Laying?"
"Yes!", Ken whispered softly. "He was dead. Someone slit his throat and left him bleeding to death. No, wait...I guess that's the wrong definition for it. Someone practically ripped his throat and parts of his face apart. I can only hope that he didn't bleed to death and was dead in an instant, because the thought kills me that I walked by and didn't notice him while he might still have been alive.
The police asked me if I had seen anything and I told them that I had seen a man, but couldn't see his face. I left out the part with all those weird occurrences, because they wouldn't have believed me anyway. They told me I was lucky not to share the same fate as my brother. They never found out who killed him. Guessed it was an insane killer."
Ken slid to the ground and curled into a miserable ball, crying silently. Aya and Youji crouched next to him, hugging the boy tightly. Omi was watching them speechless. He would have never thought that something like that might have happened to their best friend and fellow assassin.
"I'm sorry!", they all said at the same time.
"There's no need to be sorry.", the boy sniffled still sandwiched between the two older men. "It happened a long time ago and I finally need to get over the past. I shouldn't let my past influence the future. Not this past at least."
He curled himself closer into Aya´s arms and squeezed Youji´s hand thankful for the comfort provided.
"Well, you can guess that ever since that day I hated mirror mazes. They were the place where I lost my brother, my big shining light and up till now I swore to myself never to enter one again. I suppose the police was right in their assumption that there was an insane murderer responsible for all this, but back then I didn't quiet believe them. The man in the mirror and his glowing eyes. It was all so weird. I started playing soccer soon after the incident. It was my way to deal with the pain and it kept me from thinking too much about it.
Today is the first time I have ever told someone about what really happened, well at least what my nine year-old self thought had happened, but didn't dare tell anyone. As I said I'm not so sure about it anymore."
"Perhaps we should leave then!", Aya said calmly. "I don't want to bring any more bad memories back for you by forcing you to go into the mirror maze they have here."
Youji and Omi nodded to underline his statement. Ken looked at them with wide eyes and the redhead smiled reassuringly.
"No one will force you. If you want us to head back home, we will all gladly do so, don't we?"
The two blonde men nodded again. Ken smiled gladly and closed his eyed.
"No, it's alright. It's about time to let the past be past and live in the present. And perhaps to go in there will help to finally get over aniki´s death."
Aya noticed that though his lover tried to be brave and sound calm, his hands were trembling and beads of sweat trickling down his pale forehead. He squeezed his hand in assurance.
"You wouldn't have to go in there alone, Kenken. Did you forget already? We all wanted to go in there except for you. But, as we already said... if it is too much for you after telling us, we would understand."
Another shudder ran down the soccer player's spine and he contemplated his answer to his friends. After what seemed to be an eternity, he nodded firmly.
"Lead the way!"
~*~*~
Somewhere in the Darkness the small group was being observed by someone. The creature smiled cruelly.
"Finally! He's come back to me!"
TBC
A/N: That sucked! I hope the next chapters will get better sniff. ATGB4 should be up this evening or tomorrow evening. I'm close to one of my migraine attacks, so I guess I should be careful.
"Eternal Return" will follow suite soon after, hopefully sometime this week.