Yay. It's really late an' stuff... but I finished this chapter.
Huzzah.
/\/\/\/\/\
"Big brother Yugo" unlocked the door to his apartment and swung it open. The neighborhood used to be poor and run down, but now it was rather costly to live there, although it was still rather dingy and run down. It was a good house for a couple, and perhaps a third person. The dining room was the kitchen, which had a shower in one corner, and there was a larger room in one direction and a smaller, narrow room in the other. One had to pass through the smaller room to reach the toilet.
Before that, there had been some trouble with the woman who was with him when Yugo decided to take the two of them home. He sighed, knowing this was the beginning of the end. "Damn...." he whispered, "and that one was hot, too..."
Uriko stood just outside the doorway and still tortured herself over all the reasons why one should never go with strangers and why one should NEVER enter the house of one. After all, she had been well versed in the rules regarding strangers since kindergarten. Perhaps it would be best to leave now, she thought to herself. She slowly started to edge backwards when Kenji grabbed her hand, inviting, "Come, Uriko. Now you can stay at our house," and he dragged her inside and shut the door.
I'm dead, her conscience moaned.
"Make yourselves at home."
He kicked aside some rubbish and motioned towards the dinner table and then prepared some instant ramen noodles from packages heavily covered in dust. " I'm going to call the police, okay? Here's something to eat. God knows how old those noodles are, though....."
Yugo simply grabbed the phone on the wall and took a number out of his wallet for dialing. It took a while for the other line to pick up.
"Hello? I know what time it is. Well, you told me to call you at this number as soon as Kenji comes home. Yeah, that's right. Kenji came back. He's changed a bit, but I'm pretty sure it's him. What? Well, for one thing he's brought somebody with him. I haven't really asked- he just got here. Hmm? He's wearing another weird outfit, and..."
Uriko and Kenji sat quietly at the table, doing their own things. Well, it would have been quiet without the loud noises Kenji made slurping up noodles and miso broth. Uriko was severely doubting that strange man was calling the police. The younger brother then stopped to ask, "You aren't hungry, Uriko?"
"Huh?"
"Considering you ate a one-serving box of cereal for breakfast, and at the mall you had a soda and a chocolate chip cookie... and then you had small cone of strawberry ice cream... I'd think you'd be hungry."
"H-how did you know that?"
"I was there," he replied simply, "I heard you make the orders. You let me eat some of your cookie and ice cream."
She nodded nervously. "R..right."
She looked down at the steaming bowl of noodle soup which called her to eat it. She explained she did not want to accept food from strangers. But he was big brother Yugo, Kenji reasoned as if it was the best reason on earth to back up an argument, she could trust big brother Yugo.
Then, said big brother Yugo butted in. "Oi, he's coming over right away. He seemed rather interested in you," he said, addressing Uriko. He smiled at her. "So, Kenji... who's your friend?"
Kenji sat up straight and faced towards Yugo's voice. "This is is Uriko Nonomura."
"Well done, Kenji! You got yourself a cute one. I knew you would." he said with a bit of a grin as he messed up his dark hair yet again. He reached out one hand for the typical handshake. "I'm Yugo Ogami... but I suppose you already knew that."
She just stared at him. "Who are you supposed to be?" Was he a famous pimp?
There was a moment of silence and an uneasiness passed though the air among them. Yugo looked firmly at the younger boy. "Kenji... What the hell kind of girl is this?" he hissed in a solemn voice.
"Big brother Yugo.... you're angry...?" Kenji's face and voice reflected such devastation it caught both of them off guard. He quickly told him he was just fooling around while Uriko asked again who he was.
"I got a freaking X in the middle of my face, and nobody recognizes me... Look, I don't expect a girl like you to be into boxing, but that's what I do. I'm not a really big boxer, but I have my fans.... or at least I like to tell myself I do. Tch. I'm stupid. I'm ugly. I've got a nasty scar. No wonder I haven't had a decent girlfriend in years."
The dark haired boy piped in that he thought Yugo was handsome. "One: You're blind. Two: I'd rather hear that from a cute girl," was the reply. Kenji turned to the cute girl next to him and asked her if she thought Yugo was handsome. Yugo moaned.
"But... you said she was cute," the confused Kenji told him.
"Not your girlfriend, bonehead!"
Kenji was just about to question why he called her his girlfriend, Uriko exclaimed, "I'm not his girlfriend! I just met him! I don't even know what's going on-"
The ear-splitting buzzer paused the conversation. Yugo answered the door. In stepped a very large and muscular older man who had a scar over one eye, a very grim face, and blond hair which stood on end. He was Alan Gado, a head investigator whom Yugo had called. He had with him a doctor and another investigator. He made motions to close the door, but his host got to it before he did and closed it quietly.
"Is that..."
"That's him."
The three men walked up to Kenji and examined him intently. Their subject just sat in place and let them do their job. After a while, he turned towards a familiar voice and scent.
"Inspector Gado?"
"Yeah, it's your old friend, Inspector Gado. So you can speak now."
"That's right."
"Well, then. Since Doctor Zuiichi has confirmed you are the Kenji from before... are you willing to talk to us?"
".... what do you want me to talk about?"
Alan Gado turned to Yugo and Uriko and asked them if they could step into the next room for the moment. He was going to interrogate the boy. Yugo complied, though he still complained about all the secrecy with Gado and Kenji. Uriko wanted to head for the room at the other end of the kitchen, but she was forced into the narrower room with Yugo (exactly what she was trying to avoid). The three men and their subject stepped into the larger room. One of them took out a portable white noise machine and set it down next to the door before closing it.
"Always so private. What the hell's wrong with the kid? He's some sort of alien, isn't he? Seriously."
The narrower room was barely big enough for the bed and shelves and the room one needed to walk from one side to the other. The bed, which had drawers built into it, was made with a patchwork quilt on top and a rather old looking plush wolf leaned against the pillow. There was a strip of border wallpaper around the middle of the walls with a design showing the phases of the moon. The shelves held many books and a schoolbag lay at the end of one. There were a few models and pictures which looked hand made and they all looked like they were made by the same person.
Yugo sat down on the bed. Uriko continued to stand by the door.
"Yeah, this is Kenji's room. I've kept it with all his things in case he came back.... So. What's the thing with you and Kenji?"
"I'm not even sure myself. I just want to know what's going on here."
"Well, I've been wanting to tell someone all about Kenji. Wouldja like me to tell you about 'im?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
These were strange times. There had been strange occurrences and events speculated to be terrorist actions popping up all around the city. Police, especially specific officers, would storm into areas where such things were happening and withhold any information. Such strange happenings had the city worried and put the civilians more against the police.
Yugo Ogami, a 17-year-old youth with ragged brown hair that fell to either side of his head, had dropped out of high school not long before. He was an aspiring boxer, though his parents probably would have been strongly against such choices. Then again, his parents had died long before. They used to live way outside of the city in the countryside where the sky was clear and the wolves' howls could be heard at night before whatever happened to them happened. Nearly everything of his past was destroyed, save for a few items. He changed the family tradition by moving into the city to take up the career he chose.
One day, the news on his radio had been interrupted. There had recently been an explosion and fire at the Tylon Corporation Complex. The flames were still raging and smoke and debris clouded everything. Part of the smallest building at the complex had collapsed. Yugo turned up the volume on his headphones. That was not all too far away! On the radio and by word of mouth came news of "monsters" roaming the streets. The people were in a panic and the phone lines became jammed. Nearest to the complex the streets were filled with people and the neighborhoods in the surrounding radius were following suit. Yugo could have sworn he saw something large and furry zoom by him on occasion, but he supposed it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.
Then, he saw something obviously real. It was a child, slowly trudging along the sidewalk. He wore a rather unusual yellow outfit, which was torn and soiled. His dark hair was matted and blood ran down his face and right arm, which hung loosely to one side. The young boy slightly hunched over as he limped and running people occasionally bumped into him. He did not seem to notice and he just kept on walking.
Then, he turned his head towards Yugo, surprising him a little. His dazed eyes with their dilated pupils gave a very vacant stare. Something passed between them for a few seconds and all seemed to grow quiet.
"A...are you-"
The boy took another step towards him and a sickening crack echoed through the air. He collapsed into a heap on the ground. His taxed left leg's bone had finally broken in two. Yugo immediately swooped down to pick him up. The child still gave little response all this time. He breathed and his empty eyes looked around a little, but that was all he did. Yugo began to head for a payphone to call an ambulance, but he then saw the chaos growing in the streets.
I can't stay here, Yugo told himself. He decided to go home.
When he arrived at the apartment, he lay the dazed youth on his bed. The next step was to call the hospital. Unfortunately, all the telephone lines were still jammed. What was he to do about those injuries?
Still, Yugo Ogami was a boxer, and, as a boxer, he received his share of injuries. He had some medical supplies on him, though he had no clue as to what to do about broken bones. Where was a doctor when a person needed one? "Look, kid, I'm just going to do what I can, okay?" he said as an apology as he approached the bed with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and gauze and bandages. He at least bandaged up the nasty wounds on his head and the various injuries on his body. In the process, he removed the tattered clothes he currently had on and replaced them with one of his T-shirts, which fit like a nightgown on the child's small frame. His patient's eyes followed Yugo's actions, but there was still little response from him. There was no further success with calling the hospital and there was nothing he knew how to do with his broken limbs.
~~~~~~~~~
When Yugo awoke the next day, he felt rather stiff and uncomfortable, having sat beside his bed keeping watch over the child he had found. Said child was awake, cringing and gripping his arm. His yellow eyes had returned to a more normal state and he was obviously now conscious of his surroundings.
"Hey... are you okay?"
He faced him, bearing a confused look. Yugo simply ruffled his patient's hair as he stood up to head towards the phone.
"You got some really bad injuries. Where'd they come from?"
The boy started to open his mouth, but then he appeared to come to sort of realization and he looked down sadly.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
He just looked more guilty.
"Well, I'm going to call an ambulance so we can take care of those bones, okay? It's going to alright, so don't worry." Yugo proceeded to go to the kitchen to make another call, but when he flipped the light switch, nothing came on.
"Ah, shit. If it's not one thing, it's the other. There must have been some serious riots or something last night."
Next some clumsy searching for information, which needed to be viewed by the window to be understood. Then Yugo, carrying a blanket, came to the wounded boy, who was still gripping his arm, which seemed to be causing him even more pain. What was he trying to do?
"You really shouldn't do that..."
The boy just firmly glanced at him and then turned his focus back on his harm. Yugo then got an idea. It took a lot more fumbling around in the dark, but he found for what he was looking..
"Here, kid, hold onto this," he said, shoving an old plush wolf doll into his good arm. The boy, taken a little aback by the action, looked at it strangely.
"There ya go. Give Loopy a big hug (or something)!" The strange look now faced Yugo. He kept the odd look, gently nodded and clutched it towards his chest, wondering if that was what he wanted him to do.
That taken care of, Yugo wrapped the blanket around him, took him up in his arms, and carried him off to the hospital he had looked up. He talked to the child along the way and tried to get him to tell him what had happened, but he only got stares for replies. It was rather frustrating. Little did he know how long the frustrating silence would last.
When he told the people at the waiting room about the drugged out state he had been in, they rushed him into the emergency room. Yugo set him down on the table, but a hand still clenched his shirt. Yellow eyes looked around nervously at the white walls and the people white coats. When the term "doctor" was mentioned, he pulled himself towards Yugo as if to say, "protect me."
"Uhh... I guess I'll tag along, then?"
It took a lot of effort to finally get a needle into his body for a blood sample. If one thing was obvious, it was that this boy had a fear or shots (but then again, that was normal for children). Then, they had to get him to stay still for the X-rays. What a hassle! Putting on the casts was not as big a problem, fortunately.
"Is this the one, doctor?" a gruff voice they had not heard before asked. Everyone jumped when he loudly slammed the door behind him.
"That's right, Inspector Gado," a nurse answered.
The man walked up the young lad.
"So you say there are unidentifiable substances in his body?"
"Right. They're no drugs we know of."
"....And who's this idiot over here?"
"He brought him here."
The man stood walked up to him. "And you are...."
"I'm Yugo Ogami."
"'Ogami?' I once knew someone with that name. A rather intellectual man, he was. Anyway, this is does not concern you and the boy will be alright."
"....eh?"
"You may leave, Yugo Ogami. We will handle the rest."
Yugo bent down to look the troubled boy in the face. "Well, kid," he chirped while ruffling his hair again, "I guess this is-"
"Achem!"
"Alright! Alright! I'm leaving already! Ya don't hafta..."
The door was slammed behind him after he stepped out. It hit him on the rear in the process.
"... grouch."
A blond girl who looked about fourteen years old ran up, excitedly asking, "Daddy, what-"
She realized she was talking to the wrong person. Her face became stern, like the inspector's and she turned away and resumed pacing up and down the hallway.
"Nothing."
Exasperated, he looked up to the ceiling with a hefty sigh.
"Sheesh! Nobody's happy to see me... Why do I even bother?"
~~~~~~~
A week later, Yugo received a phone call from the hospital. They wanted him to come over immediately. It had to do with the child. He rushed over immediately. What was wrong? They explained that not only had he not spoken once, but he barely ate and showed hardly any response to the doctors and police. Perhaps Yugo would cheer him up.
"Why me?"
"Well, we've asked him questions and he's replied by taking his finger and doing this," a nurse explained, making a criss-cross motion over his face to demonstrate, "we finally figured he was trying to tell us about you. No offense, Mr. Ogami, but that is a rather unique mark you have."
"I'll say. So where is he?"
The nurse showed him to the children's room. There he was, sitting in one corner by himself with Loopy in his good arm. Immediately, his face snapped forward and he started to get up. Yugo explained it was okay and sat down beside him.
"Why don't you play with the other kids? You look lonely."
"......"
"Or is Loopy keeping you company?"
"......"
"Err.... My Pop gave Loopy to me. What was that name again? Right, he liked to call him Mr. Lupus. Mr. Canis Lupus was his name. I named him Loopy for short."
"....."
This kid is seriously wierding me out, Yugo thought. He looked around the room and found the game shelf.
"Say, You wanna play checkers? It's not that hard."
He brought out the board and quickly explained the rules to him. The younger beat him five times in a row. Then, Yugo brought out the mancala set. He was beaten in record timing. They brought out game after game after game and Yugo lost every time.
Yugo was tired of playing games.
"Say, kid... they tell me you still haven't told them your name yet. I mean, can't you write it down or something?"
"......"
"Geh. You need a name. Would you like a nickname?"
"......" This time, the boy looked up at him and nodded.
"Great! Let's see. Mike? Tama? No good. I'm not that great with names."
He sighed and scratched his head.
"I dunno....... 'Kenji?'"
As if he was contemplating the name, he mouthed it out on his lips.
"So is 'Kenji' okay with you?"
The boy nodded.
"Right then! From now on, your name is Kenji... unless you decide you don't like it anymore or something... Umm... Yeah!"
After that, Yugo frequently visited "Kenji" at the hospital, bringing him gifts and playing and walking around the hospital with him. He still never spoke. Once someone asked them if the two of them were brothers since they were always together when he saw them. Yugo gladly replied the affirmative, much to the confusion of his "little brother."
Then came the day when he would have to leave the hospital.
The broken arm and leg and healed remarkably quickly and the strange substances in his blood had faded away. Gado and other officials were going to take him into their care. For some reason, Inspector Gado was always so interested in him and his conditions. Kenji stayed as far away from them as possible, repeatedly displaying his way of requesting Yugo. When the final day came, Yugo himself was present. Kenji was stubbornly latched onto him.
"Come on, kid..."
One of the officers reached for him. Kenji ducked under his arm and punched him in the stomach and then leaped up and kicked him away. The next came running and the small child grabbed him by the arm and flung him against the next officer who came up. He then ran back to behind Yugo and once again clung to his clothes.
"H-he-hey, what are you expecting me to do?" he stammered nervously.
More officers got ready to gang up on him, but Gado told them not to. He said he could sympathized with Yugo and there was not anything they could do.
So, with the help of a few loopholes, Yugo adopted him. Using what was salvageable from the ruins of his parents' old house all those years ago, namely the old quilt and the roll of leftover moon patterned wallpaper used in his old room, Yugo set up a room for Kenji, where he lived for the next five years.
Yugo had to work his butt off, what with the specialty school Kenji was attending. Even though Kenji was physically capable of speech, nothing could get him to use that gift. He was, however, undoubtedly intelligent. He fit rather well into a school of deaf and mute children. Kenji even learned sign language, but he used that only when completely necessary (not such a bad thing, considering Yugo could never get the hang of it). With the exceptions of a few letters and notes, Kenji barely communicated more than was necessary to Yugo. The few times Kenji did smile or express his feelings in some form were priceless.
He did manage to find out a few things about his little brother, like... say.... the fact that he liked noodles (Yugo was never too hot about those) and that he liked to hide. He would turn up missing and would appear huddled in a cupboard or something. Okay, so Kenji still withheld held a lot from him. That did not bother him all that much, since he seemed to be content with his situation.
However, the constant silence did get to him. In fact, one time he got so angry with Kenji...
Kenji left. Such a moron! He knew how Kenji looked at him when he even raised his voice, and he still let himself get that angry that one night...
He checked everywhere and he was gone. He searched the neighborhood and he was gone. He tore apart he city and he was gone. Gado wanted to strangle Yugo for letting such a case get away, but he didn't care. Kenji was gone.
He skipped out on a dangerous amount of boxing matches and stayed at home as the unpaid bills poured in, still hoping his brother would return. He even tidied up his room and stocked the shelves with Kenji's favorite foods just in case he came back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The interview had finished. Although Kenji could now speak, he had apparently given them an upsettingly small amount of the kind of information they wanted. Gado wanted to interrogate Uriko, but it was well past three o' clock in the morning.
"Pumpkin will have my head if she finds out I've been out this late. We'll save this for later."
"Wait, what about me?" Uriko reminded, "my mom must be worried sick about me."
"Sorry, Miss Nonomura, but that will have to wait. This is a very serious case, you see. So you'll stay here until we decide what to do with you, since you're an important witness. Good night."
The conversation abruptly ended with Gado slamming the door shut.
"What's that guy's problem?" Yugo whispered after a few seconds.
Huzzah.
/\/\/\/\/\
"Big brother Yugo" unlocked the door to his apartment and swung it open. The neighborhood used to be poor and run down, but now it was rather costly to live there, although it was still rather dingy and run down. It was a good house for a couple, and perhaps a third person. The dining room was the kitchen, which had a shower in one corner, and there was a larger room in one direction and a smaller, narrow room in the other. One had to pass through the smaller room to reach the toilet.
Before that, there had been some trouble with the woman who was with him when Yugo decided to take the two of them home. He sighed, knowing this was the beginning of the end. "Damn...." he whispered, "and that one was hot, too..."
Uriko stood just outside the doorway and still tortured herself over all the reasons why one should never go with strangers and why one should NEVER enter the house of one. After all, she had been well versed in the rules regarding strangers since kindergarten. Perhaps it would be best to leave now, she thought to herself. She slowly started to edge backwards when Kenji grabbed her hand, inviting, "Come, Uriko. Now you can stay at our house," and he dragged her inside and shut the door.
I'm dead, her conscience moaned.
"Make yourselves at home."
He kicked aside some rubbish and motioned towards the dinner table and then prepared some instant ramen noodles from packages heavily covered in dust. " I'm going to call the police, okay? Here's something to eat. God knows how old those noodles are, though....."
Yugo simply grabbed the phone on the wall and took a number out of his wallet for dialing. It took a while for the other line to pick up.
"Hello? I know what time it is. Well, you told me to call you at this number as soon as Kenji comes home. Yeah, that's right. Kenji came back. He's changed a bit, but I'm pretty sure it's him. What? Well, for one thing he's brought somebody with him. I haven't really asked- he just got here. Hmm? He's wearing another weird outfit, and..."
Uriko and Kenji sat quietly at the table, doing their own things. Well, it would have been quiet without the loud noises Kenji made slurping up noodles and miso broth. Uriko was severely doubting that strange man was calling the police. The younger brother then stopped to ask, "You aren't hungry, Uriko?"
"Huh?"
"Considering you ate a one-serving box of cereal for breakfast, and at the mall you had a soda and a chocolate chip cookie... and then you had small cone of strawberry ice cream... I'd think you'd be hungry."
"H-how did you know that?"
"I was there," he replied simply, "I heard you make the orders. You let me eat some of your cookie and ice cream."
She nodded nervously. "R..right."
She looked down at the steaming bowl of noodle soup which called her to eat it. She explained she did not want to accept food from strangers. But he was big brother Yugo, Kenji reasoned as if it was the best reason on earth to back up an argument, she could trust big brother Yugo.
Then, said big brother Yugo butted in. "Oi, he's coming over right away. He seemed rather interested in you," he said, addressing Uriko. He smiled at her. "So, Kenji... who's your friend?"
Kenji sat up straight and faced towards Yugo's voice. "This is is Uriko Nonomura."
"Well done, Kenji! You got yourself a cute one. I knew you would." he said with a bit of a grin as he messed up his dark hair yet again. He reached out one hand for the typical handshake. "I'm Yugo Ogami... but I suppose you already knew that."
She just stared at him. "Who are you supposed to be?" Was he a famous pimp?
There was a moment of silence and an uneasiness passed though the air among them. Yugo looked firmly at the younger boy. "Kenji... What the hell kind of girl is this?" he hissed in a solemn voice.
"Big brother Yugo.... you're angry...?" Kenji's face and voice reflected such devastation it caught both of them off guard. He quickly told him he was just fooling around while Uriko asked again who he was.
"I got a freaking X in the middle of my face, and nobody recognizes me... Look, I don't expect a girl like you to be into boxing, but that's what I do. I'm not a really big boxer, but I have my fans.... or at least I like to tell myself I do. Tch. I'm stupid. I'm ugly. I've got a nasty scar. No wonder I haven't had a decent girlfriend in years."
The dark haired boy piped in that he thought Yugo was handsome. "One: You're blind. Two: I'd rather hear that from a cute girl," was the reply. Kenji turned to the cute girl next to him and asked her if she thought Yugo was handsome. Yugo moaned.
"But... you said she was cute," the confused Kenji told him.
"Not your girlfriend, bonehead!"
Kenji was just about to question why he called her his girlfriend, Uriko exclaimed, "I'm not his girlfriend! I just met him! I don't even know what's going on-"
The ear-splitting buzzer paused the conversation. Yugo answered the door. In stepped a very large and muscular older man who had a scar over one eye, a very grim face, and blond hair which stood on end. He was Alan Gado, a head investigator whom Yugo had called. He had with him a doctor and another investigator. He made motions to close the door, but his host got to it before he did and closed it quietly.
"Is that..."
"That's him."
The three men walked up to Kenji and examined him intently. Their subject just sat in place and let them do their job. After a while, he turned towards a familiar voice and scent.
"Inspector Gado?"
"Yeah, it's your old friend, Inspector Gado. So you can speak now."
"That's right."
"Well, then. Since Doctor Zuiichi has confirmed you are the Kenji from before... are you willing to talk to us?"
".... what do you want me to talk about?"
Alan Gado turned to Yugo and Uriko and asked them if they could step into the next room for the moment. He was going to interrogate the boy. Yugo complied, though he still complained about all the secrecy with Gado and Kenji. Uriko wanted to head for the room at the other end of the kitchen, but she was forced into the narrower room with Yugo (exactly what she was trying to avoid). The three men and their subject stepped into the larger room. One of them took out a portable white noise machine and set it down next to the door before closing it.
"Always so private. What the hell's wrong with the kid? He's some sort of alien, isn't he? Seriously."
The narrower room was barely big enough for the bed and shelves and the room one needed to walk from one side to the other. The bed, which had drawers built into it, was made with a patchwork quilt on top and a rather old looking plush wolf leaned against the pillow. There was a strip of border wallpaper around the middle of the walls with a design showing the phases of the moon. The shelves held many books and a schoolbag lay at the end of one. There were a few models and pictures which looked hand made and they all looked like they were made by the same person.
Yugo sat down on the bed. Uriko continued to stand by the door.
"Yeah, this is Kenji's room. I've kept it with all his things in case he came back.... So. What's the thing with you and Kenji?"
"I'm not even sure myself. I just want to know what's going on here."
"Well, I've been wanting to tell someone all about Kenji. Wouldja like me to tell you about 'im?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
These were strange times. There had been strange occurrences and events speculated to be terrorist actions popping up all around the city. Police, especially specific officers, would storm into areas where such things were happening and withhold any information. Such strange happenings had the city worried and put the civilians more against the police.
Yugo Ogami, a 17-year-old youth with ragged brown hair that fell to either side of his head, had dropped out of high school not long before. He was an aspiring boxer, though his parents probably would have been strongly against such choices. Then again, his parents had died long before. They used to live way outside of the city in the countryside where the sky was clear and the wolves' howls could be heard at night before whatever happened to them happened. Nearly everything of his past was destroyed, save for a few items. He changed the family tradition by moving into the city to take up the career he chose.
One day, the news on his radio had been interrupted. There had recently been an explosion and fire at the Tylon Corporation Complex. The flames were still raging and smoke and debris clouded everything. Part of the smallest building at the complex had collapsed. Yugo turned up the volume on his headphones. That was not all too far away! On the radio and by word of mouth came news of "monsters" roaming the streets. The people were in a panic and the phone lines became jammed. Nearest to the complex the streets were filled with people and the neighborhoods in the surrounding radius were following suit. Yugo could have sworn he saw something large and furry zoom by him on occasion, but he supposed it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.
Then, he saw something obviously real. It was a child, slowly trudging along the sidewalk. He wore a rather unusual yellow outfit, which was torn and soiled. His dark hair was matted and blood ran down his face and right arm, which hung loosely to one side. The young boy slightly hunched over as he limped and running people occasionally bumped into him. He did not seem to notice and he just kept on walking.
Then, he turned his head towards Yugo, surprising him a little. His dazed eyes with their dilated pupils gave a very vacant stare. Something passed between them for a few seconds and all seemed to grow quiet.
"A...are you-"
The boy took another step towards him and a sickening crack echoed through the air. He collapsed into a heap on the ground. His taxed left leg's bone had finally broken in two. Yugo immediately swooped down to pick him up. The child still gave little response all this time. He breathed and his empty eyes looked around a little, but that was all he did. Yugo began to head for a payphone to call an ambulance, but he then saw the chaos growing in the streets.
I can't stay here, Yugo told himself. He decided to go home.
When he arrived at the apartment, he lay the dazed youth on his bed. The next step was to call the hospital. Unfortunately, all the telephone lines were still jammed. What was he to do about those injuries?
Still, Yugo Ogami was a boxer, and, as a boxer, he received his share of injuries. He had some medical supplies on him, though he had no clue as to what to do about broken bones. Where was a doctor when a person needed one? "Look, kid, I'm just going to do what I can, okay?" he said as an apology as he approached the bed with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and gauze and bandages. He at least bandaged up the nasty wounds on his head and the various injuries on his body. In the process, he removed the tattered clothes he currently had on and replaced them with one of his T-shirts, which fit like a nightgown on the child's small frame. His patient's eyes followed Yugo's actions, but there was still little response from him. There was no further success with calling the hospital and there was nothing he knew how to do with his broken limbs.
~~~~~~~~~
When Yugo awoke the next day, he felt rather stiff and uncomfortable, having sat beside his bed keeping watch over the child he had found. Said child was awake, cringing and gripping his arm. His yellow eyes had returned to a more normal state and he was obviously now conscious of his surroundings.
"Hey... are you okay?"
He faced him, bearing a confused look. Yugo simply ruffled his patient's hair as he stood up to head towards the phone.
"You got some really bad injuries. Where'd they come from?"
The boy started to open his mouth, but then he appeared to come to sort of realization and he looked down sadly.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
He just looked more guilty.
"Well, I'm going to call an ambulance so we can take care of those bones, okay? It's going to alright, so don't worry." Yugo proceeded to go to the kitchen to make another call, but when he flipped the light switch, nothing came on.
"Ah, shit. If it's not one thing, it's the other. There must have been some serious riots or something last night."
Next some clumsy searching for information, which needed to be viewed by the window to be understood. Then Yugo, carrying a blanket, came to the wounded boy, who was still gripping his arm, which seemed to be causing him even more pain. What was he trying to do?
"You really shouldn't do that..."
The boy just firmly glanced at him and then turned his focus back on his harm. Yugo then got an idea. It took a lot more fumbling around in the dark, but he found for what he was looking..
"Here, kid, hold onto this," he said, shoving an old plush wolf doll into his good arm. The boy, taken a little aback by the action, looked at it strangely.
"There ya go. Give Loopy a big hug (or something)!" The strange look now faced Yugo. He kept the odd look, gently nodded and clutched it towards his chest, wondering if that was what he wanted him to do.
That taken care of, Yugo wrapped the blanket around him, took him up in his arms, and carried him off to the hospital he had looked up. He talked to the child along the way and tried to get him to tell him what had happened, but he only got stares for replies. It was rather frustrating. Little did he know how long the frustrating silence would last.
When he told the people at the waiting room about the drugged out state he had been in, they rushed him into the emergency room. Yugo set him down on the table, but a hand still clenched his shirt. Yellow eyes looked around nervously at the white walls and the people white coats. When the term "doctor" was mentioned, he pulled himself towards Yugo as if to say, "protect me."
"Uhh... I guess I'll tag along, then?"
It took a lot of effort to finally get a needle into his body for a blood sample. If one thing was obvious, it was that this boy had a fear or shots (but then again, that was normal for children). Then, they had to get him to stay still for the X-rays. What a hassle! Putting on the casts was not as big a problem, fortunately.
"Is this the one, doctor?" a gruff voice they had not heard before asked. Everyone jumped when he loudly slammed the door behind him.
"That's right, Inspector Gado," a nurse answered.
The man walked up the young lad.
"So you say there are unidentifiable substances in his body?"
"Right. They're no drugs we know of."
"....And who's this idiot over here?"
"He brought him here."
The man stood walked up to him. "And you are...."
"I'm Yugo Ogami."
"'Ogami?' I once knew someone with that name. A rather intellectual man, he was. Anyway, this is does not concern you and the boy will be alright."
"....eh?"
"You may leave, Yugo Ogami. We will handle the rest."
Yugo bent down to look the troubled boy in the face. "Well, kid," he chirped while ruffling his hair again, "I guess this is-"
"Achem!"
"Alright! Alright! I'm leaving already! Ya don't hafta..."
The door was slammed behind him after he stepped out. It hit him on the rear in the process.
"... grouch."
A blond girl who looked about fourteen years old ran up, excitedly asking, "Daddy, what-"
She realized she was talking to the wrong person. Her face became stern, like the inspector's and she turned away and resumed pacing up and down the hallway.
"Nothing."
Exasperated, he looked up to the ceiling with a hefty sigh.
"Sheesh! Nobody's happy to see me... Why do I even bother?"
~~~~~~~
A week later, Yugo received a phone call from the hospital. They wanted him to come over immediately. It had to do with the child. He rushed over immediately. What was wrong? They explained that not only had he not spoken once, but he barely ate and showed hardly any response to the doctors and police. Perhaps Yugo would cheer him up.
"Why me?"
"Well, we've asked him questions and he's replied by taking his finger and doing this," a nurse explained, making a criss-cross motion over his face to demonstrate, "we finally figured he was trying to tell us about you. No offense, Mr. Ogami, but that is a rather unique mark you have."
"I'll say. So where is he?"
The nurse showed him to the children's room. There he was, sitting in one corner by himself with Loopy in his good arm. Immediately, his face snapped forward and he started to get up. Yugo explained it was okay and sat down beside him.
"Why don't you play with the other kids? You look lonely."
"......"
"Or is Loopy keeping you company?"
"......"
"Err.... My Pop gave Loopy to me. What was that name again? Right, he liked to call him Mr. Lupus. Mr. Canis Lupus was his name. I named him Loopy for short."
"....."
This kid is seriously wierding me out, Yugo thought. He looked around the room and found the game shelf.
"Say, You wanna play checkers? It's not that hard."
He brought out the board and quickly explained the rules to him. The younger beat him five times in a row. Then, Yugo brought out the mancala set. He was beaten in record timing. They brought out game after game after game and Yugo lost every time.
Yugo was tired of playing games.
"Say, kid... they tell me you still haven't told them your name yet. I mean, can't you write it down or something?"
"......"
"Geh. You need a name. Would you like a nickname?"
"......" This time, the boy looked up at him and nodded.
"Great! Let's see. Mike? Tama? No good. I'm not that great with names."
He sighed and scratched his head.
"I dunno....... 'Kenji?'"
As if he was contemplating the name, he mouthed it out on his lips.
"So is 'Kenji' okay with you?"
The boy nodded.
"Right then! From now on, your name is Kenji... unless you decide you don't like it anymore or something... Umm... Yeah!"
After that, Yugo frequently visited "Kenji" at the hospital, bringing him gifts and playing and walking around the hospital with him. He still never spoke. Once someone asked them if the two of them were brothers since they were always together when he saw them. Yugo gladly replied the affirmative, much to the confusion of his "little brother."
Then came the day when he would have to leave the hospital.
The broken arm and leg and healed remarkably quickly and the strange substances in his blood had faded away. Gado and other officials were going to take him into their care. For some reason, Inspector Gado was always so interested in him and his conditions. Kenji stayed as far away from them as possible, repeatedly displaying his way of requesting Yugo. When the final day came, Yugo himself was present. Kenji was stubbornly latched onto him.
"Come on, kid..."
One of the officers reached for him. Kenji ducked under his arm and punched him in the stomach and then leaped up and kicked him away. The next came running and the small child grabbed him by the arm and flung him against the next officer who came up. He then ran back to behind Yugo and once again clung to his clothes.
"H-he-hey, what are you expecting me to do?" he stammered nervously.
More officers got ready to gang up on him, but Gado told them not to. He said he could sympathized with Yugo and there was not anything they could do.
So, with the help of a few loopholes, Yugo adopted him. Using what was salvageable from the ruins of his parents' old house all those years ago, namely the old quilt and the roll of leftover moon patterned wallpaper used in his old room, Yugo set up a room for Kenji, where he lived for the next five years.
Yugo had to work his butt off, what with the specialty school Kenji was attending. Even though Kenji was physically capable of speech, nothing could get him to use that gift. He was, however, undoubtedly intelligent. He fit rather well into a school of deaf and mute children. Kenji even learned sign language, but he used that only when completely necessary (not such a bad thing, considering Yugo could never get the hang of it). With the exceptions of a few letters and notes, Kenji barely communicated more than was necessary to Yugo. The few times Kenji did smile or express his feelings in some form were priceless.
He did manage to find out a few things about his little brother, like... say.... the fact that he liked noodles (Yugo was never too hot about those) and that he liked to hide. He would turn up missing and would appear huddled in a cupboard or something. Okay, so Kenji still withheld held a lot from him. That did not bother him all that much, since he seemed to be content with his situation.
However, the constant silence did get to him. In fact, one time he got so angry with Kenji...
Kenji left. Such a moron! He knew how Kenji looked at him when he even raised his voice, and he still let himself get that angry that one night...
He checked everywhere and he was gone. He searched the neighborhood and he was gone. He tore apart he city and he was gone. Gado wanted to strangle Yugo for letting such a case get away, but he didn't care. Kenji was gone.
He skipped out on a dangerous amount of boxing matches and stayed at home as the unpaid bills poured in, still hoping his brother would return. He even tidied up his room and stocked the shelves with Kenji's favorite foods just in case he came back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The interview had finished. Although Kenji could now speak, he had apparently given them an upsettingly small amount of the kind of information they wanted. Gado wanted to interrogate Uriko, but it was well past three o' clock in the morning.
"Pumpkin will have my head if she finds out I've been out this late. We'll save this for later."
"Wait, what about me?" Uriko reminded, "my mom must be worried sick about me."
"Sorry, Miss Nonomura, but that will have to wait. This is a very serious case, you see. So you'll stay here until we decide what to do with you, since you're an important witness. Good night."
The conversation abruptly ended with Gado slamming the door shut.
"What's that guy's problem?" Yugo whispered after a few seconds.
