A/N: Bleeeeeh! I'm back with more. Heh… Heh... Heh. Now this particular fic… Ermmmm, You'll have to bear with it. It's (Sorta) got original characters. This is kinda hypocritical of me… Considering I won't READ a fic if it has inserted characters. And here I am telling you to read it. Welllll…. They may not be as original as they first seem… You'll find out. Oh! On another note, I'm also taking a few… Creative liberties, with our good Doctor Kazutaka Muraki-chan. *Shivers* Anyway, on to the fic.
On one more side note: I don't know WHY the title is 'Bound and Blind" I mean…. It KINDA makes sense… Sorta… Ah well, I don't know why my slayers fic is called Unhindered Imagination either, so it doesn't mater all the much. Laters!
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Bound and Blind
Chapter 1— Kizaki Chi
FanFiction by: Fire
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"Oi! Chi!" It was a female voice that rang out from across the school grounds, diverting the young man's attention from the sucker in his hand and the road beneath his feet. There was slight chatter and a buzz of excitement but it wasn't enough to block her out. His all around cheery mood had dissipated to one of utter annoyance. So, she had caught up with him.
"Chi! Wait up!" Chi turned and continued to walk backwards so as to watch her as she approached. She caught up with him, and stopped very briefly to catch her breath from her exertion. It wasn't long before she was walking beside him scrounging through her book bag. Chi knew exactly what was coming, and winced. With her attention diverted, he attempted to duck into the crowd of high-school students, eagerly exiting the school grounds. Perhaps if he'd thought a little quicker or acted as though he hadn't heard her calling in the first place, he wouldn't have been caught. Unfortunately for him though, she found what it was she had been looking for, and caught his sleeve just in time to stop him.
"Here you go." She said cheerily, passing him a small stack of papers. "You forgot this in the classroom." After a questioning look she affirmed it for him. "They're the guideline papers you're supposed to do for the School Gardening Committee… Remember?" Chi neglected to say, he had forgotten them on purpose, and instead took to the whining aspect of the conversation.
"But Riku-chaaaaaan!!" He exclaimed. "I don't wanna!" She rolled her eyes, and took the liberty of placing them in his book bag for him,
"If you didn't want to, you shouldn't have signed up for it." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I like the gardening aspect…" He grudgingly proclaimed, popping his sucker back into his mouth with lack of anything better to do with it. "And the flyer never said anything about paper work." Chi grumbled a few other things beneath his breath, all of which sounded something akin to curses, then came up short with anything remotely clever to say. So, he turned to pouting for inspiration.
"Awww, C'mon Chi!" Riku exclaimed, playfully slugging her junior friend in the arm. "It's not that much work!" Although it didn't actually hurt, Chi rubbed the aforementioned area of beating anyway.
Chi and Riku were an odd pair indeed. Friends since childhood, familiar enough with each other to use first names, and opposite each other when it came to dedication in school work and food preferences. Riku smiled lightly, and ruffled Chi's chocolate brown hair, before running off ahead of him.
"I'll see you later!" She called back to. "I've got work to do. And don't forget to get those papers finished!" Wincing at her last comment, Chi waved slightly. When she was out of site he turned, glaring at those who enjoyed tormenting him with rumors about him and Riku and the nature of their relationship. In Japanese society, touching other's heads was a big no-no, with perhaps the exception of parents, spouses, and exceedingly close friends. Of course, with this day and at this age, no one believed a girl and guy who were really close…. Could just be friends. The belief was ridiculous in his opinion.
He glanced around at the crowded streets of Kyoto, Japan, and wondered briefly, where he should go. Home was of course the obvious choice, which he scratched off almost immediately. Whenever he was home, he was alone, and for some reason unknown to him, he loathed being by himself. Perhaps it was growing up, practically by himself.
He lived in a home, with a single mother who worked three jobs in able to send him to high school and support them. He respected her for it, but truth be known, he barely knew her. She left long before he woke up, and returned home long after he went to sleep. Her only off-day was Sunday- and call him ungrateful- he felt uncomfortable around her and would usually take off.
He sighed, shaking his head to clear it of stray thoughts. Ever since he had entered high school, his days had settled into a routine. Get off, and either go to Riku's house or wander the city until about nine, then head home and make himself something to eat (Usually instant ramen), watch some TV, then go to bed at around eleven. He procrastinated on homework until the day it was due, and would complete it in a half-assed manner (Usually with some begrudged "help" from Riku).
Today, he decided the arcade and then maybe he'd wander about and do some of the shopping he had neglected for the past week. With his mind made up, he happily skipped along to the arcade.
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"Watari-San, there's staff meeting in ten minutes, alright?" Watari, the Shokan Division's 'mad scientist' was able to divert his attention from his sex-changing potion in order to grant Tatsumi a nod, then promptly ignored him, returning all his attention back to his concoction. Tatsumi sighed; shaking his head at the fact Watari was still working on what he had deemed long ago to be a 'lost cause'. He wasn't even certain he understood exactly why Watari had been so bent on creating such a potion. However, the obsession still hadn't faded, even after 25 years.
He thought it was foolish, yes. But he couldn't bring himself to call this obsession, pathetic. Such dedication, he had decided long ago, was never pathetic. Like what had once been Tsuzuki and Hisoka's dedicated attempts to ignore their feeling for each other… Okay, bad example, that one had been pathetic. All that had succeeded in doing was driving everyone to the point of insanity and back again, but he couldn't help smile a little when he thought of it. It was a happy memory now.
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"…Okay, and this is the front counter, you can turn on the TV up there if you want, that's the rug isle, and this one sells old lamps… and… Are you listening?" The old woman turned to her new employee. Emerald eyes shaded by feathered red bangs greeted her.
"Yes'm" The man responded instantaneously. The woman sighed and reached up to turn on the television, which happened to be on the news channel, he observed, though it wasn't really important. "Anyway, Miyazawa… I did get that right? Miyazawa isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Well, anyway Miyazawa, there's a gun under the counter. Loaded might I add. We have some invaluable antiques in this shop. I've never had to use it, though I heard in this day and age, it's safer to have one." As though on cue, the news flashed to a number of unusaul murders that had been occurring as of late. It was all the woman needed to prove her point. She sighed and went to exit the shop.
"Good luck, Miyazawa Aki." She called back to him, before shutting the sliding door with a click.
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"I have arrived!" Watari announced, flinging the double swinging doors open dramatic western style. He was regarded stoically with three pairs of relentless eyes. There was Kachou who simply looked bored. Tatsumi, who was the master of steady glares of ice. And the younger of the GuShoShin brothers regarding him in the iciest manner a floating chicken in a shower cap could muster. Watari could barely suppress a snicker.
"You're fifteen minutes late, Watari-San." Tatsumi stated somewhat angrily, eyeing Watari's blackened lab-coat and frizzed hair.
"Ahhh.. Sorry..." Watari muttered, with a look of defeat, taking up one of the available chairs and plopping down in it. "I was just so sure it would work this time…." Tatsumi looked him over again.
"I see…"
"Well, you got me in here now. So what's the scoop?" The GuShoShin floated higher to announce the case.
"Random deaths in Kyoto. None of which had been on the Kiseki, and the spirits haven't even checked in." Watari blinked, it wasn't unusual to have spirits checking in that weren't on the Kiseki, but to have random deaths and no spirits checking was unheard of.
"Where did they go?" He asked the first thing that came to mind, and regretted it as the other residents of the room gave him a 'look'.
"Isn't that what you're going there to investigate, Watari-san?" Tatsumi asked him levelly.
"Ahhh, Sorry…" He muttered before asking his next question. "Are there any similarities between victims?" The GuShoShin looked moderately worried.
"None when it comes to age, race, gender, or physical features. However each of the victim's was raped before they were murdered." Watari felt a rush of concern.
"That sounds familiar… Muraki?"
"Not that I know of." Tatsumi responded. "He's caused us too much grief. If it were him, I'd be out there myself." Watari nodded.
"If it is him, I expect to be informed immediately. Understood?" Watari rose from his chair.
"Understood."
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Aki regarded the teenager as he entered the shop. Right, he thought skeptically, like a teenager would show any interest in antiques… Unless it were to sell them somewhere else. He put his book down- as it was, he'd turned off the TV and took to reading instead- and watched the young man before him closely.
"May I help you?" He asked stoically. The boy jolted, looking up at Aki as though he'd only just noticed him, his blue eyes flashing. That proves dishonorable intentions right there. Aki thought dryly. The teenager shook his head anxiously; his chocolate brown hair swiping across his forehead, then took to regarding the small candy rack at the tip of one of the isles. Who comes into an antique store to buy candy!? Aki rolled his eyes, realizing that the teenager wasn't a threat after all, and picked his book back up. He kept his ears open to the click of the boy's shoes as he walked around the store a little, only to return back to the candy rack. Aki sighed and looked up again only to see the boy slip something into his over-coat pocket.
Aki's eyes narrowed as he reached for the gun underneath the counter.
"Well," The boy said flashing a charming smile. "Ja ne'!" As he made for the exit, he had to pass by the front counter, and was stopped short as a gun was pressed to his ear.
"Where do you think you're going, thief?" Aki asked icily, noticing the widening of the boy's eyes.
"Where do you thing you're going vampire?" An emerald eyed boy had a gun pressed to his head…
"Vampire...? Who? Me?"
Blink. Huh? What had that been? Not that it mattered at this moment, as with the situation, he currently had a man pressing a gun against his head. Chi slowly turned with his hands in the air, taking in the man's appearance for the first time. He looked a little angry- Not that Chi blamed him- But it was a strange type of cold anger. He also observed that the man hadn't even moved off of his seat. He had red hair, with long bangs that hung down into emerald colored eyes. He blinked again. Emerald eyes? This was almost the exact situation he had just…
"Remove whatever it was that you took, and kindly place it on the counter." Chi winced as he reached into his pocket and removed its contents. The man face-faulted, obviously expecting priceless antiques.
"You just risked juvenile hall for a few candy bars?!" He nearly exclaimed, obviously shocked by the pointlessness of it. "Why the hell did you rob an antique shop, but only take the candy?" The man looked moderately thoughtful "…Come to think of it, why didn't you just pay for it? It's only a few hundred yen." Chi lowered his head in embarrassment.
"I spent all my money at the arcade…" He muttered. The man behind the counter let out an exasperated sigh, causing Chi to look up. He was shocked to see his hand outstretched with the candy bars in them as though in offering.
"Here… Take em'. "He muttered, eyes looking down at the desk. "I hate to see a boy like you waste your life over a minor crime like this…" He looked up, emerald eyes flashing dangerously. "Just don't do this again; other store clerks won't be as forgiving as me." Chi numbly took the candy from the man's hand, and grinned lightly.
"Thank you!" He exclaimed happily. The man nonchalantly waved him off.
"Yeah, sure Bouyo." Chi looked the man over thoroughly. And coming to a conclusion, opened his mouth to speak.
"You don't look much older than me." He stated, disliking his new title already. The man glanced sharply at him.
"How old are you? Sixteen?"
"Seventeen" Chi corrected. "And you?"
"Two and twenty." The man said in a fashion that would very much suggest he was flanking boredom.
"Well, I have a name." Chi declared indignantly, not liking the man's ice-blocky attitude. After all, he was always one who enjoyed things sweet.
"Oh?" The man quirked, raising an eyebrow, and not really caring since he didn't intend on seeing this child ever again.
"Yes, I'm Kizaki Chi."
"Ah... Well then Kiza--" However, he was unable to continue as Chi cut him off.
"Don't call me by my last name, please, it's really weird. And as states the rules of etiquette, aren't you supposed to offer your name as well?" Aki was taken aback by this boy, Chi's, forwardness. But he had never been one to lose his wits.
"Ah, yes, I'm Miyazawa Aki, Chi-san." Chi looked pleased.
"Aki-Chan ne'? Charmed" He said offering his hand. "Please don't refer to me as 'San' either. I'm no one respectable… And it's funny that you just referred to someone who attempted to rob your shop as 'San'." Aki numbly gave Chi his hand, shocked at not only the use of his first name with a 'Chan' follow up, but also at the humor and nonchalance with which Chi talked about a situation that could have threatened his future that had occurred only minutes before. Chi's happy-go-lucky, laid-back attitude was mind-boggling. Simply mind-boggling.
"Please don't call me 'Chan'." He requested, trying his hardest to act like the adult. But Chi wasn't listening, as he was preoccupied with pulling up one of the antique chairs and unwrapping his candy-bar at the same time.
"Mind if I stick around?" Chi asked as though he hadn't heard a word that had been said to him. Aki was beginning to get angry.
"It's past six; shouldn't you be going home to do your homework?" Chi grinned, happily munching on his candy-bar, which Aki noticed with some distress was almost gone already.
"Awwww, thanks. That's so nice of you to be concerned about me like that." Thus, he demonstrated his unbelievable ability to completely miss the point. Aki's temper snapped.
"I'm not concerned!" He shouted, standing to his full height and looming above Chi. "I don't want you here! Don't be such an idiot! Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Chi seemed oblivious, to preoccupied with opening his next candy-bar.
"Mmmmm, this is good. Have you tried this kind?" He asked, looking amazed at the particular flavor. "Bite?" He offered, holding it out in offering. Aki ran out of steam, slumping back into the chair.
"No" Chi looked slightly disappointed.
"You sure? It's really really good."
"I'm sure." He muttered, staring dully at the cover of his book which had been forgotten on the counter. "Are you going to leave?"
"I dunno… When do you get off?" Chi asked.
"Seven." Aki gave reluctantly, almost knowing what was coming.
"Treat me to dinner?" Just as he'd suspected, the boy had asked a food oriented question. Aki rolled his eyes.
"Why would I do that?" He asked, feeling his anger flare again.
"Because I'm hungry!" Chi whined, grasping at his stomach. And then went into full whining/begging mode. Aki wasn't exactly sure why, but the boy seemed familiar to him, and he also didn't feel like he could turn him down when he gave puppy-eyes like that.
"…Fine…" He muttered under Chi's loud begs. Chi looked surprised.
"Really?" Aki couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"I said alright." Before he could say anything more, he found himself pinned to the ground in a friendly tackle hug by Chi. He couldn't help the blush that leapt to his face.
"Thank you!!" Chi exclaimed, unbelievably happier than he was about this dinner crap. He was finding the boy hard to believe. He referred to him as 'Chan', missed all of his hints, was food-obsessed it seemed, and was now hugging him as though he'd know him his whole life. The most unbearable part of this was that Aki felt like he was forcing himself to be annoyed with the younger man.
"Off!" He snarled, struggling to break free of Chi's grasp. "Get off now!!" Chi did remove himself, eyes sparkling as though he'd just been offered the moon. And then proceeded in babbling about all the different restaurants or types of food they could get. Aki, for one, was getting a headache, and needed to find a means, any means to shut the boy up.
"Look," He interrupted, through the boy's ramblings; Chi stopped abruptly and looked at him like he would a god. It was unnerving. "I'll take you out on one condition." Chi nodded, anxious to serve. Aki, searching for an idea, glanced around for something for him to do. His eyes landed on Chi's book bag, and he grinned.
"Do your homework." Chi face-faulted.
"Whaaaaa-aaaat?" He exclaimed, as though he'd never heard a crueler request. "But… I don't wannaaaa!" The shine in his eye had all but disappeared and they were now swimming with tears.
"Then you obviously don't want dinner very much." Chi sniffled.
"Yada! Yada yada yada!! No! I don't wanna!" Aki sighed. Chi was really overbearing, he found, but for some odd reason, it was something he wasn't really having a lot of trouble tolerating.
"Keep you're work and I'll keep my dinner then." Chi realized he wasn't going to get anywhere with this, and plopped down at one of the old tables, shuffling through for his gardening committee papers, while Aki, contentedly returned to his book.
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A/N: Yes, And so is the beginning of my fic. I'm sure the majority had at least SOMTHINGS figured out already, though it isn't entirely clear. Anyway R/R please. T'would be much appreciated. ^_^
----Fire