Caught Unaware
Chapter 5
By: Max*the bishie deliverer
Disclaimer: Check chapter 1, please.
A/N: Reformatted.
~*~*~
Face still burning from the torturous call, Nasuti wondered aimlessly into the kitchen, nearly colliding into an ever-watchful Shin, who looked about with concern. Eyes unseeing, she opened up a cabinet and reached for a glass cup.
"Nasuti."
The sound of her name caused her to flinch, nearly dropping the fragile tumbler. Spinning around to face a blur of color, she gasped and looked up. "Shin, what is it?"
He reached down and took the tumbler from her hands. "I hope that there's nothing wrong with me, it's just you that we're worried about."
Her heart rate jumped up like the speedometer when Seiji's foot was on the gas pedal. Oh God, I hope that they don't know. Immediately switching into defense mode, she glared up at him and walked out before she lost her temper.
Shin was disconcerted to say the least.
Wide-eyed, he watched the young professor stalk out of the kitchen, murder marring her face. Normally, she took his concern seriously, but today, he knew something was up, she was too irritable. "Maybe Ryo was right."
"What was I right about Shin?" Ryo came into the kitchen, obviously quite interested that his name came up in the same sentence with the word "right." "About Nasuti," he said slowly, knowing that if the woman heard his next comment, he was guaranteed a painfully slow death.
Shin looked out the kitchen door for her, snickering. "Yeah, I think someone needs to take a pill or something." Just as he held back on a grin, the front-door slammed shut, causing them both to jump.
Ryo let out a broken sigh and started to snicker also. "How about a new door?" He grinned at Shin who had a hand over his mouth. "Breathe Shin, your body needs oxygen."
Shin looked up, mirth in his eyes. "This isn't fair; we shouldn't be making fun of her."
"Making fun of who?" Jun said from the doorway.
Promptly the two both shut up. "No one," Ryo said quickly. He watched as Jun's face scrunched together in disbelief, but the boy didn't say anything.
He knew better.
~*~*~
Looking in the rearview mirror for what seemed like the twentieth time, Damien sighed when he saw the road was deserted. Reaching over, he patted the bruised and cut flesh of the unconscious Ming Takuri. He waited for a few minutes and then pulled over on the side of the road. "Time to get your bleeding carcass out of my ride," he said icily.
He got out and walked over to the other side, opening the car door with a yank.
The body fell out, into his awaiting arms. Her head rolled back, gag still in place and the skin underneath pick from the chaffing. He swung her legs up over the edge of the door and hurled the unresisting body into the weeds. A scream was on the tip of his tongue when he looked onto his car seat and exhaled. "No blood, good."
Getting back in, he drove back in the direction that he came, with out a second glance.
A dog came out of the brush, sniffing at the body. Whining, he licked the barely-alive young woman's wounds as the cars drove by.
~*~*~
The night air was balmy as she sat outside on the newly-installed front porch swing. Bits of light reflected off of clashing practice blades as Ryo and Seiji mock-assaulted each other. Shuu and Shin went at the hand-to-hand aspect while Touma sat with Nasuti and watched, giving a humorous commentary on the show. Hearing a grunt and the sound of a body slamming on the ground, the two looked up to see Seiji with a blade to Ryo's neck, eyes ablaze and unseeing.
"Seiji," they both called, snapping the sword-wielder out of his reverie.
Seiji looked down to where the tip of his sword rested. Tiger-blue eyes stared in wide alarm back at him, as Ryo enclosed an armored hand around the blade. What did I almost do? "Ryo, you okay?"
A cheesy grin followed by a husky snicker echoed Rekka's well-being. "What were you trying to do there, Seiji? Get rid of competition?" Ryo immediately regretted his words as a fist slammed in his gut, not in practice, but out of sheer spite.
"What was that, Ryo?" Murder was in Seiji's eyes as he quickly swept through Ryo's thoughts, sifting through the truth and lies. "What are you inferring, Rekka?"
"Whoa, Seiji, back off. I wasn't inferring anything, hell, I don't even know what 'inferring' means." Jumping up, he held up his hands to ward off any future attacks. He then looked on the porch where Touma was lightly joking with Nasuti on the swing. "But your fellow Trooper over there is hitting on your woman." A sharp pain shot through behind his forehead.
Having Seiji rip though your thoughts like that was bound to give anyone a headache.
Seiji looked toward the porch, not seeing where Ryo was coming from, and dismissing the thought. He watched the two jokers and caught bits and pieces of their conversation. Mentions of the university and her class were the topic and he watched her eyes lit up at a new sound.
Someone was pulling into the driveway.
~*~*~
Darrien stepped out of his car, immediately in awe of his current surroundings. The other professors had mentioned that his sensei was rich, but this house was ridiculous. No wonder she has other people living here, it'd be horrible to be by herself.
Looking around, he walked toward the front porch, only to stop dead in his tracks.
A throaty growl emanated from the black and white striped mass in front of him, or rather, leering over him from the top step.
Byakuen watched the stranger with amusement, noticing the fear on the young man's face.
Nobody expects anyone to have a guardian tiger, did they?
Taking a lazy step forward, he watched as the man backed up to a safe distance. Then he rushed up, like a housecat and rubbed up against his legs, noticing that the legs stiffened when he touched him. If he had been human, he would have keeled over laughing.
Instead, it was Shuu and Ryo who did the laughing. "Byakuen, back off, he's a friend of Nasté's."
Darrien looked up at the voices, not recognizing the two young men in front of him. It was hard to determine whether they were boyish adults, or actual teenagers. Swallowing a girlish scream, he cracked his involuntarily-closed eyes open to see the tiger gracefully leap over the railing and walk toward the messy, black-haired young man.
"Are you okay, mister?" Ryo walked slowly, seeing as the male was still a bit shaken, and smiled. "He always does that to the visitors, it's a defense mechanism." He held out his hand and waited for Darrien to take it. "Sanada Ryo, Nasuti's inside waiting for you."
"Montagne Darrien, pleasure, I've never been here before, care to show me where she's waiting?" His reply was nervous, due to the fact that the blue-gray haired one looked like he wanted to pound the history major into a pulp.
Shuu watched as Ryo acquiesced and the two walk off, talking like old friends at a reunion. I still don't like him, even if Ryo does. Just then, the scent of homemade Udon soup wafted its way to his nose, and he couldn't resist.
~*~*~
"The asshole, what does he think he's doing there?" Damien said as he drove back toward the Yaguy house. At first, he thought that one of the teenagers drove the nice vehicle, but then getting out his camera, quickly found out the real owner.
His arch nemesis, unknown to the latter, Darrien Montagne.
Zooming in on the laughing table, he watched as it appeared to be story time for the meal participants. Three of the four teenagers, appeared to be quite engrossed in the story that the college-student was regaling them with, while the blond watched his beloved with the visible eye and a gentle smile on his handsome face. He heard a roar, resound and looked as a tiger jumped up in the window seat, blocking his view.
A tiger, that's ridiculous!
He shook his head, thinking that his imagination had got away with him. Looking into his lens again, he realized that he was not mistaken. Knowing that the large feline was not moving anytime soon, he drove off, squealing his tires in the process.
~*~*~
Nasuti watched as the others started laughing at Darrien's joke, though the topic was a tad bit off-color, she even cracked a smile. "Darrien-chan, you're as bad as the guys!"
All seven males at the table cracked heart-breaking grins in her direction, amused that the accuser suddenly turned a deep scarlet under their gazes.
"Something the matter, sensei," Darrien asked teasingly.
If it was at all possible, Nasuti would have blushed harder, but the brush of a cool hand on her face made the hot feeling cease.
"Naste-chan, you're as red as a tomato, maybe some ice will cool you down," Seiji drawled, dropping his grin as he tipped his glass over, unbeknownst to her, shaking an ice cube in his hand.
Her eyes went wide as the collar of her shirt was plucked and the cube found its way down her back. Drawing a quick breath, she squealed and immediately stood up, knocking her chair over. "You!"
This reaction set the entire table into laughter as the victim stalked off into the other room, French curses quickly streaming from under her breath.
Seven pairs of eyes watched as she disappeared and then six pairs immediately turned to Seiji, glares from a few of them, namely Darrien, who sputtered, "Was that really necessary?"
Ryo immediately covered for his brother in arms, "Yeah, when you can feel the heat from her all the way over here…" He started to snicker, soon joined by Shin and Touma.
At this remark, Darrien's mind changed about the boys. Maybe the rumors are true, they are ruling the house unlike she says.
Disgust flowed through him quickly as his vision went blurry.
"I need to leave, now." He got up as fast as his legs would let him and five minutes later, the table occupants heard the car door slam and the engine
The boys fell silent as Nasuti came back in, her face reflecting the hurt that they knew she felt. Shuu looked around the table before mentally coming to a conclusion. Guys, hot damn.
"Men, they're all the same, aren't they? Now of course, you six," at this she even included Jun," wouldn't know how it feels to grow up alone, never having an attractive member of the opposite sex actually want to be with you, do you?" Tears pooled in her eyes as she continued her tirade, passionate about the subject that she knew that they all knew about, but were smart enough not to voice it.
But she was not finished not by a long shot.
"Every time there is someone new, one of you does something that will chase them away. Kami-sama, you're all 17 and yet everyone is afraid to come near me because of all of you! Do you know just how crummy that makes me feel? To feel unloved like that, of course not! You five have each other, Jun has his family, and look at what I have. A big house that five young men who saved the world, a job as a professor who will end up being an old spinster, who's doomed to live alone in the world, and a damned stalker. Is that what most normal people have, I think not-"
She was interrupted as a hand set itself on her shoulder and backed her against the dining room wall.
A pair of violet eyes was in her field of vision as a liquid voice began itself. "In all reality Naste, we know, we knew about the stalker ever since that first phone call, Ryo was on the extension, but we decided to wait to see if you would tell us. But no, you stubborn onna, decided not to, figuring that she could take care of it herself. Well, look at what it's done to you Naste! We've noticed, don't you dare think that we haven't. The temper, the way you jump every time we say or attempt to touch you, the way you skirt around the subject of your class, and now this guy, that we don't know, have never met is coming to your home and we didn't know about it! I know that I can speak for everyone when I say that this, you're scaring us, and not just that, but-"
"You are not helping, none of you. You all have school to think about, don't you dare think about anything else. Look at me, I'm fine, just a tad hurt that one of my star students left because of something that you," at this she looked pointedly at Seiji. "Did that caused me embarrassment."
Someone stop that woman before she ends up kicking us out like the last time she got stressed. The remark caused a debate at which pissed Nasuti off even more.
"And now you're all quickly deciding how to get me to calm down, huh? Well, just what exactly do you think I am, a whore? Well, no matter, that's what all my students think that I am anyways, because of who I live with. Well, you know what, I hate being the butt of all rumors, I hate-"
She was quickly silenced by a hand across her face.
Seiji stared wide-eyed at Ryo who was breathing heavier then normal. The black-haired teenager still had his hand up from the action, but the look in his eyes was that of concern. "How could you?"
"Sorry, to the both of you, but I couldn't let a member of my family deride herself like that. It just hurts too much to watch." At least she's not lecturing anymore.
You didn't have to smack her though! Look at her, now we're all doomed. Seiji quickly walked over to her, his heart aching at the sight in front of him. "If Ryo didn't do it, I would have, and it would have hurt even worse." Reaching for the hand that was on her face, he managed to pry it down to her side. "Damage report, little to none, now are you okay?"
The resounding sobs answered his question.
~*~*~
Sirens filled the air as the ambulance pulled into the hospital driveway. The EMS piled out, a stretcher between them, as they were met by doctors and surgeons that had been waiting for them.
"Stats?"
"Female, Japanese, weight around 110, height, 5'3", has multiple contusions and lacerations, rape is suspected. "
One of the nurses winced as she went to retrieve the emergency contraceptive, but she was stopped by a doctor. "Nadeishiko, it's too late, she's been like this too long." Everyone looked down at the beaten, naked form of Ming Takuri breath her last breath.
"Damn."
"Time of death, 2:45 am."
"We were too late. My God, who did this?" A police detective stood by the door, his badge gleaming with the bright halogen lights of the room. His gloved hand fisted as he was running through his memory of known serial killers, when the mahogany hair of the victim sparked a memory. His son came into mind as a few Christmases ago, the boy had brought a female friend along with him with the same color. Now all he had to do was call his son and find out about her, safety the first thing on his mind. He turned to leave, before one of the nurses called out to him, his name hanging in the silence of the room.
"Detective Date, take these reports with you please, and find out who did this."
~*~*~*~
To be continued…