AN: Wow, loved all the reviews that I got last week !!!! Thanks so much guys !!! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the chapter and my apologizes for messing up on submission the first time round. I accidentally submitted the chapter 32 again. Between, I think I can finish the story in 2 more chapters for those who are actually wondering. :) Finally !!!
Jia-Li E. : Wow, your review made my day! Thanks so much !!!! I'm so glad that you enjoyed the Façade to the extent that you took one chapter into a meeting !!! I guess that's one of the biggest compliments that I could be paid :). I certainly hope it didn't get you into trouble :)! Very insightful comments! I think I have kinda addressed them in this chapter or have I succeeded in only deepening the mystery? Regardless, I hope you will continue to enjoy the last few chapters of this story and thanks again for your kind comments !!!!
just a teen: Hi hi! Thanks so much for your comments !!!! Yes, I have followed the manga in general rather strictly even though I thought that I would veered from the ending. I guess, I'm now extending the story beyond where it ends. It does end on a rather uncertain note to my understanding. However, I don't own the manga so I could be totally wrong. No, you are definitely not the only person who wants a T&T ending in this story!!!! You're not alone ;) I have to admit that because this is a Rui story (kind of), so many of the readers are more likely to be Rui fans. To be very frank, I have 3 endings in mind which I will be deciding on. However, the actual ending selected will be based on how the chapts flow as they write themselves out. I'm only the tool ;)
Nana-chan: Thanks so much for your encouraging comments !!! It sounds like you're going through a rough patch in life. Just in case you really are, hang in there! Things will always get worse before they eventually get better! And yes, this chapter is largely related to Rui's job :)
Lian: Welcome back! It's good to see you around again. How's life now? I hope being a busy housewife and taking care of the kids is being everything you hope it is! Wow, thanks so much for spending so much time to catch up with my story. I'm so glad you like it and thanks so much for your encouragement!!!
the frustrated writer: Wowww … … Really loved your review !!! (what can I say, I'm really a sucker for compliments when they are directly related to the way I write!) Thank you sooooooooooooooooo much! Your review was definitely another that made my day. I guess we are all plagued with doubts and uncertainties about how crappy our writing really is (speaking about myself of course ;) !) I really like your interpretation about Rui's maturity. I must say I have never really thought along those lines i.e. his maturity vs. inability to understand his own emotions. I'm glad you liked the scenes! Thanks again for all your encouragement!
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Rui : At least there are people who are sensitive enough to appreciate my maturity unlike some others that I could name … …
Sheen: *brightly* Well, I must say there is a thin line between opposing explanations sometimes, isn't there?
Rui: Are you implying that I am immature?
Sheen: *realizes that she has put her foot in her mouth* Er … … not at all … … I was merely making a generalized observation … …
Rui: I don't want to waste time arguing with you over such juvenile matters *stalks off*
Sheen: Phew … … well, he may be more mature than I think after all.
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kaio: Thanks so much for your kind and always extremely motivating comments !!!! The ending will be here soon, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the deepening mysteries!
Twilightstarz: Hi hi !!! I'd like to think that Tsukushi is starting to be swayed by Rui's feelings. I guess it is easy for her because he was her first love and hence has always held a special place in her heart. However, she's currently confused as to whether she's simply moved by Rui or whether she returns his feelings, and of course there is always her loyalty and feelings for Tsukasa to complicate matters !!
kensingtonkid: Great interpretation !!!!! I would say that you are close, very very close ;) However, I can't say anymore in case I give the game away. Thanks for your encouragement as always !!!!
.:: Stacey ::.: I'm so glad that the last chapter had an impact on you !!! Thanks so much for your comments! You're right! I would say that this is the first chapter where Rui says that he loves Tsukushi in earnest. In New York, he kissed her and than pondered aloud to her face whether he loved her. However, he did it in such a way that was no indication of his actual feelings. Answer is that Rui is avoiding Tsukushi and because he is, she does not need to avoid him. However, she is also rather concerned about his well being which is why she asked Akira how Rui was doing.
angel310: Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time to resubmit your review !! Thanks so much !!! Loved your analysis of the chapter and I totally agree with you especially with regards to Tsukushi. Well said !!! I will try to end within 2 chapters which should not be too difficult ! Hopefully I would have answered all questions by then ;)
sweetpeakit: Ah a new reader !! Welcome !! I'm glad that you like Rui's characterization in this story and my development of his rather silent persona. I totally agree with your analysis of Tsukasa – that fact that his emotions are so raw that he always ends up hurting others. He may change over years though? Hopefully? And may I say that I appreciate every single comment that my readers have taken pains to give me, and that I read through them carefully and take them very much to heart. So thank you so much for letting me know that you like this story – I really really appreciate it !!
piglet: Thanks so much!!! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter – this chapt is much less emotional but more action packed. Totally different style so I hope you like it as well. Yes, it's about time this story ended – I think it's been going on for too long. I had no idea that this would be going beyond 25 chapters when I first started ;) !!
ToinKs: I'm so glad that you liked this last chapter more that the previous, especially because the plot of this last chapter is kinda original as it is not incorporated in the manga !!!! Thanks so much for your kind comments :)
Chapter 34 – A Captive
My working hours turned out to be rather sporadic. It was probably either the timing (it was early days) or the incompetence of our agents (which I doubted was the cause), but we did not receive messages frequently. We ended up waiting for long periods with frantic bursts of decoding of captured messages by me, waiting again albeit more briefly for our side to decide on our course of action, and the coding of these messages. Few messages of critical importance had been intercepted as yet. J warned me that I might have to camp in the "labs" subsequently when things sped up. I was absolutely fine with that suggestion. The only drawback of the current situation was that I had long periods of free time, and although I tried to keep myself amused by starting to create a new language, there was nothing to keep me from going to school.
I had met Tsukasa and brushed off his stammered thanks. Fortunately, he did not really bring up the subject of Tsukushi and I did not encourage him. In fact, I did everything in my power to avoid that topic. I needed to put some distance between us so that I could bury my feelings for her with time, and because I knew from past experience that I was not ready to see her whilst the wound was still so raw. I was grateful when she did not seek me out either. However, Akira often gave me updates about her wellbeing. From his descriptions, I realised that she was trying too hard to appear cheerful which made me ponder briefly about her emotional condition, seeing that Tsukasa was back to being his normal violent and obnoxious self. However, most of the time I tried my best to put her out of my mind.
I was playing my violin in the school gardens one evening a few weeks later. It was winter and even though it was only around four pm, the grounds were starting to get dark. My music has always had a therapeutic effect and I closed my eyes as I let myself be enveloped by the soothing strains of the lilting music as I stood in the shadows, leaning against a huge oak tree. My concentration was shattered by the scatter of applause, and my errant heart beat erratically for a moment as I recalled the last person who had seen me play. Almost reluctantly, I opened my eyes. A familiar figure stood near me. Shrouded by darkness, I could still make out the wavy brown hair and the slim built. For a moment I was paralysed. It could not be … … yet there was only one person I knew who looked like … …
"Shadow … …" I breathed. The one person who had comforted me and helped me to heal in the not so distant past. Before my brain could convince me of the impossibility, I found myself reaching out for her and pulling her towards me. My arms went around her almost instinctively as I lowered my head to take in the scent of her hair. To my surprise, it was not the familiar jasmine smell I expected. Releasing her, I tilted her face to the light. To my disappointment, the features were not hers. The eyes were smaller, the nose higher and the lips were not as lush and inviting. What had I been thinking of? Shadow was already dead. It was just another one of my fans.
I sighed with disappointment and was about to put some distance between the both of us when this girl suddenly flung her arms around my neck. She pulled my head down and kissed me with great enthusiasm. I paused for a moment, too taken aback by this new development to resist. She had obviously mistaken my intentions. However, to be fair to her, my actions must have appeared to be rather encouraging. I moved my hands to her waist and was about to set her away from me firmly when I heard a collective gasp.
"Rui, you sly dog!" I turned my head and groaned silently when I spotted Soujirou leering at me with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Akira and Tsukasa were looking rather surprised. I quickly removed my hands from the girl and stepped hastily away from her, but the damage was done. My heart sank as my eyes fell on the fourth person of the party – the one that I had been expecting yet dreading to see. Tsukushi had turned away from me and she was tugging at Tsukasa's hand as she pulled him away from us.
"Tsukasa, I'm already late for work. Let's go." Without even a glance at me (perhaps she had been sickened by the "display"), she walked quickly away from me dragging Tsukasa behind her.
"Let's not disturb lover boy here," Soujrou told Akira.
"Please go, I mistook you for someone else." I told my fan frankly when we were alone and the poor girl fled with a loud sniff. I heaved a sigh as I rubbed my temple feeling the beginnings of a headache, wanting nothing more than to slam my head against the trunk of the oak tree repeatedly.
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It was another rather uneventful day at the lab, all the more boring after the "exciting" events of last evening. I decided to go home early for once. When I neared my house, I had the feeling that someone was watching me. I glanced behind me surreptitiously, but could not see anyone. Feeling the need for stealth, I swiftly and noiselessly ducked behind a clump of bushes near my gate and waited.
Almost immediately, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching slowly, moving away and then approaching again. The pattern was repeated a few times and I realised that the person was pacing. My brow furrowed as I pondered at this extremely weird behaviour displayed by the supposed spy. I concluded that the so-called "spy" had either been trained by very eccentric superiors or was actually a civilian. Acting on my suspicions, I quickly peeked around the side of the bushes as the footsteps withdrew again. To my surprise, a familiar female figure with shoulder length brown hair was retreating. My heartbeat accelerated as thoughts crowded through my brain fast and thick. What was Tsukushi doing in front of my house? Was she actually waiting for me?
Unfortunately, I was so lost in thought that I let my guard down. By the time I heard the noises behind me, it was too late to react. Rough hands grabbed me as they painfully twisted my arms behind me and held them in an iron grip. I had barely started struggling when I felt a sharp pain akin to a bee sting on my neck. I thought I heard a shriek but I could not be certain as my surroundings started to get blurry. My last conscious thought was that I had been drugged and then darkness descended … …
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My first waking sensation was the strange hard lumpiness of my mattress, a heavy feeling in my head and a strange dryness in my mouth. Something felt wrong. I kept my eyes closed as I continued to breathe slowly, giving my brain time to start functioning properly. As I gradually recalled the events of last night, I felt a chill creeping down my spine. I hoped desperately that this was just one of the normal kidnapping schemes that we all went through at one time or other, but some six sense warned me that this was far from ordinary.
I cautiously opened one eye and found myself in a cell. It was not one of the cage-like rooms with iron bars. Instead, the huge room had four solid walls. There was a large table in the middle of the room and the bed I was lying on was placed in one corner. In the opposite corner was what basically would be considered a toilet without walls separating it from the rest of the room. It even had a shower. Although that the furnishings were sparse, the cleanliness of the room and the faint but distinct smell of disinfectant did nothing to provide relief to my strung up nerves. I had a really bad feeling about this.
"Ah, our little captive wakes up! How are you feeling?" The door was suddenly flung opened and a pair of legs stalked into my vision. I knew that the small hitch in my breath as the door opened had given the fact that I was awake away, so I opened both eyes and sat up. I experienced a wave of dizziness from my movement and shook my head to clear it as the room spun.
"A little dizzy I see," the voice continued smoothly. "Only a side effect of the drug I assure you, Stein. Far fewer side effects than the chloroform used by amateurs."
My body stiffened with shock. This was absolutely terrible. They actually knew my code name. I quickly changed my almost imperceptible movement into a jump of surprise as I said in a shocked gasp, "Stein?" I looked up to see a blond middle-age man dressed in a suit with his lips twisted in a sardonic and cruel smile whilst the coldest eyes that I had ever seen stared at me penetratingly. "You've got the wrong person, I'm not Stein. I am Hanzawa Rui, the only son of the Hazawa family."
"Good, very good." He was actually applauding. "Your performance is admirable, master Hanazawa. I would have believed you if not for the fact that I have the most reliable information about your other persona – Stein. Quite a romantic notion isn't it? Kind of like Batman – rich philanthropist by day and saving the world at night under a different guise." For one of the few times in my short life, I tasted real fear – my entire body was held in the icy grip of fear. Although I allowed no other emotion than puzzlement to appear on my face, I could feel cold sweat starting to form on my forehead.
"I'm afraid I don't understand."
"Ah, you soon will, my friend. You soon will." With that, he left the room, leaving me quaking in my shoes. I had to admit I was scared. Who would not be? Only an idiot would be in denial. Recalling all my training, I started getting myself mentally prepared for the ordeal that I was about to face. There was nothing I could do against any physical torture, but I could do my best to erect and maintain those mental barriers in face of the atrocities … …
They started the process of breaking down my defences with the usual glaring-lights-in-eyes-with-no-sleep-and-nonstop-questioning routine. I was seated at the table as they repeated ask me the same questions. It would begin simply with my name, age and other facts of my life, then questions about my agent life would come up. Sometimes they changed the sequence or mixed questions or even switch languages, trying to catch me unaware. However, although I had the worst headache of my life – my head felt as if it was splitting in two – and my eyes were swollen and aching horribly by the time I suffered through forty-eight hours of this treatment, they did not manage to wrangle anything from me.
"Stein, you will realise that your resistance is futile." The apparent head of the operations (the person whom I met first and whom I subsequently named Hitler) informed me with a sneer when they finally left me in the room. I had to admit that they did provide me with sustenance. However, I was too nauseas and drained to do anymore than drink some water from the sink. The room probably had cameras, but I hoped that they would not have the ability to drug the water in the sink at least.
*In another room*
"He's very well trained. Are you sure he has not been trained as a field operative?" There was a pause as the male listened intently. "Alright, I want you in tomorrow morning … … Do your best, understood? Bye." There was a low chuckle as the phone was hung up. "Now, my little friend, let's have some more fun with you … …"
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I collapsed on my bed, my body screaming in agony. As I had expected, I was barely allowed ten minutes to rest when I had company again. My palms were sweating and my heart was racing with fear when four Amazons stalked into the room carrying interesting looking equipment. This time, they chained me to the strategically placed iron hoops in the wall and then proceeded to have a great time roughing me up. The strangest thing was that they did not ask me a single question – not one – during the extremely painful session. It was as if their main aim was to inflict maximum pain without causing too much damage and I must admit that they succeeded.
Although my ribs were bruised and they hurt every time I breathed, I knew from prior experience that they were not fractured. Unfortunately, I could not lie on my back to relieve the pressure of my body on them, at least not until the deep bleeding cuts on my back from the whips they used had coagulated. I supposed I had to be grateful that they had refrained from stripping the entire skin off my back. However, the psychological warfare that they were adopting was making me exceptionally nervous – I have always hated cat and mouse games and the worst thing was not knowing exactly where I stood in the scheme of things. Due to my highly-strung nerves, I dozed fitfully and was already awake when my door was next opened.
"Ah, we have an early bird on our hands. I see that my boys have been a little rough with you? Well, well I must tell them to treat you with more respect." I simply looked at Hitler with my usual emotionless mask firmly in place. "Now why don't we start by answering some questions, Stein?" I maintained my ignorance and threw in a few threats of what my powerful family would do when I was released. He soon lost his patience. "I would love for you to experience some more of our special treatment for guests but we're a little short of time. Let me assure you that your protests are doing you no good, Stein. We know who you are. Bring her in."
My eyes widened in disbelief as I gazed at the person who appeared at the door, "Shizuka … …"