Ken opened his eyes with a slight groan, struggling to focus. Where was he? The room was pitch black, save a few stray beams of moonlight sliding in from windows. He waited until his eyes began to adjust, and he stared at the windows. They were blocked up by something – probably boarded up. Boxes and stray metallic parts cluttered the floor by the window, but outside of that was too dark to make anything out.
"Hey, welcome back," a familiar voice greeted him to the left. He tried to whirl around to see who it was but he discovered he was tied to... something. It felt like it might have been an old, beat up chair, but he figured it was more likely that it was only serving as one. The indigo haired boy groaned, trying to make sense of things. The only logical explanation was that he was dreaming. It was too movie-esque to be real. Definitely a dream.
Two strong hands clamped down on his shoulders from behind, gripping tightly. He swallowed involuntarily. "Listen, Ichijouji. I don't want to make a problem out of this, so I'll make it nice and easy for you, okay? You do what I tell you to do ..." The voice was close to his ear and he felt the breath of whoever it was breathing down his neck. "And I won't hurt you. Okay? I don't want to cause you any pain," the word was emphasized by a strong squeeze of his shoulders, "but I sure as hell will if I don't get what I want."
"Why should I answer to you?" Ken spat out, wincing at the grip on his shoulders. The hands lifted slowly and he heard footsteps circle around him. He could barely make out the figure before him make another circle and then head towards one of the windows.
Stepping half-way into the light, the figure held something up almost absently. Ken swallowed again as the moonlight glinted off the gun as its holder studied it curiously, then snapped off the safety and returned to Ken. His captor pulled something from the side and swung in around in front of him. It was another chair, turned backwards as the figure settled into it and idly tapped underneath Ken's chin with the muzzle of the gun. "Why? Good question," his captor finally said. "I think the answer would be because I have the upper hand."
"Who are you?" the boy squeaked out.
"Just someone who's trying to look out for their friends. You're making this too difficult for me. From now on, I ask the questions and you answer them. Understand?" A nod. "Good boy. Let's get started. Hikari Yagami. What do you know about her?"
"Nothing."
"Don't lie to me, Ichijouji," the voice snarled, the gun pressing hard against his neck. "Just answer me and I'll let you go. Tell me what I want and you're gone. Now. What do you know about Hikari Yagami?"
Ken paused. "She's a friend of mine. I met her... at a speech meet."
There was a noise from his right and a quick snort of disbelief from the person in front of him. "Hikari is a cheerleader. Cheerleaders don't do speech team."
"She's not that kind of cheerleader. She's smart. I know because I saw her give a speech and it was good."
There was a pause until a voice from the right said, "He's right – Hikari is one of the smarter people at Odaiba Central."
Another grunt of skepticism, but his captor continued anyway. "So you met her at a speech meet. How?"
"She lost to me and when she congratulated me, we struck up a conversation. It went from there, I suppose."
"And that's all of your association with Hikari Yagami?"
"Yes."
"Don't lie to me."
A long pause. "She was nice. We got to be friends."
"And?"
"And that's it, we were friends. What do you want me to say?"
"Are you aware of her current status?" The gun moved away and the safety clicked back on as the boy in front of him began toying with it idly. Ken tried to make out features but could only see that he was wearing a hat turned around backwards. The voice was familiar, but no one he knew wore hats like that. Unless...
"What status?" Ken edged out.
"She's held hostage by the Byen-cho. Did you know this?"
"No," the response was immediate. After a moment, he shook his head. "Yes. I knew."
"Finally we're getting somewhere." The chair edged closer and the gun dangled carelessly in one hand. "So, tell me what your involvement with Byen-cho is."
Ken bit his lip and paused. If this was a member of the Kaze, he'd be divulging secrets he shouldn't be. If this was a member of the Byen-cho, he was undergoing a test. And if he failed, he'd be killed. Even if he gave it away to the Kaze, he'd still be killed if Osaruka found out. "I don't know if I should answer this," he managed.
"I know what you're thinking. I'm not on either side, kid. All I want is for you to tell me what you know so I can get my friend Hikari out of there. You want Hikari safe, don't you? After all, she is your friend... isn't she?"
Whoever it was to the right shifted. Ken thought. "If you're not on either side, why can't you tell me who you are?"
The captor in front of him tilted his head to the side. "If I told you, how dramatic would that be? Besides, it's not important who I am. All you need to know is that I want answers and I want them now, and you're the only one who can give them to me. So answer me. How'd you get involved with them?"
Ken hesitated again. "It... I can't."
The safety snapped off again, its holder losing patience. "If you won't answer me, you're not going to make it out of here alive. Now answer my goddamn question."
The indigo haired boy swallowed. "I... I took a class in high school. It was a computer programming class. I was really good at it and so this kid..."
"His name."
"R-Ryen. I don't remember his other name."
"Fine. Keep going."
"Ryen said he knew people who could use my skills and that they'd pay me a lot for it. I... I didn't really need money. I wasn't interested. He said I didn't have a choice."
The figure in front of him snorted. "Of course not. It was do the job or die. So you did the job. What was it you did?"
"Lots of things," Ken shook his head. "I don't think I could even start listing them all."
"Did you program their security system?"
"Yes."
"Good. You're going to help me into break it."
"I... I can't."
"Listen. I could kill you right now." The gun tapped hard against his forehead. "I swear to whatever God you believe in I'll do it."
Ken swallowed and winced. If he agreed, Byen-cho would kill him. If he didn't agree, he'd be killed right now. "I can't do it. They'll kill me."
Silence answered him as his captor rose slowly. "You know, I didn't want to have to do this."
"D- Don't," the one on the right protested.
"Shut up," came the snarled reply.
"You can't kill him. We won't get away with it, you know it!" There was a long pause. "Okay, maybe you could get away with it, but I couldn't. But then again you don't care what happens to me anyway. Shit."
There was silence as the figure with the gun stared hard off to the right at the unseen person. Ken sat in the middle of the two, unable to make out the figure in front of him and not even being able to see whoever was on his right side. He was still trying to place the voices. Who had known he'd been a friend of Hikari's anyway? That had been a while ago. They hadn't talked for a long time – school got in the way. Maybe Hikari still thought they were friends, though. She always had a slightly skewed outlook on life anyway... she was weird in an overly optimistic, cute way. She made people feel comfortable no matter who they were. Which is why he'd liked her.
"If you won't let him go for our sake, remember that if you kill him and then hit the road, you won't be able to help Hikari. Or Bass," the voice on the right pled. That seemed to do the trick as a minute later the gun lifted from Ken's forehead and the other sighed slightly. "Thank you."
The voice clicked into place and Ken blinked in realization. "Takeru! Your name is Takeru, isn't it! You're that kid that came to my apartment!"
"Fuck, Takeru, you talk too much. I told you to keep your goddamn mouth shut!"
"Someone has to talk some sense into you. Hell if you have any of your own."
Daisuke snarled out a response that was more of a snarl than words. Instead of continuing his argument with Takeru, he shoved one foot against Ken's chair and pushed hard, sending the boy and the chair crashing to the ground.
Ken slammed hard against the wood and a cloud of dust rose around him. He coughed once, then felt a foot press against his chest. He glared up at Daisuke. "What's to stop me from telling everyone what you're doing to me?"
"Because. We're about to make a deal." Snapping the safety back on, Daisuke tossed the gun across the room to Takeru, who apparently caught it because there was no clatter of it hitting the floor. "I want you to help me through the Byen-cho security system. All I want to do is get my friends out, do you understand? You're the only one who can break it, so I need that from you. And after you do that, I'll let you go and you forget about this completely, got it? Now let me see... what's in it for you..." Daisuke lifted his foot and strolled away from Ken, walking in a slow circle. "Now I know there was something... what was it... oh yes. I remember now." Flopping down into the dust on the floor, the red-haired boy leaned forward and grinned. "Bribery."
"Bribery? What are you bribing me with? You don't know anything about me."
Daisuke shoved his face intimately close to Ken's and grinned brightly. "I know you're gay," he whispered, then leaned back triumphantly, waiting as Ken choked out half of a response. "Imagine if everyone knew that the star player of Odaiba Unity was... ha! What a headline that would make! I bet your parents don't know, do they?"
"How?" Ken squeezed out.
"I just know. So you'll help me, right?"
Takeru shifted. "Ken, we need you. No one else can get us in to help Hikari-chan."
Ken opened his eyes. "What does Hikari have to do with drug lords anyway?"
"That's my fault," Daisuke shook his head. "It's a long story, but to make it short it's all my fault. I have to help her and you're the key to that."
"Do it yourself if
it's your fault," Ken snapped dryly.
"The hell kind of
friend are you anyway?" the red-haired boy snarled and shoved to
his feet. "You asshole, you'd just leave her there to be killed?
They will kill her, you know that, don't you? As soon as
they figure out she's got nothing to do with the drug fight she'll
be killed to prevent liabilities. And you'd leave her there to let
that happen."
"Maybe if you had asked instead of kidnapping me I'd have helped!" Ken shot back.
"It's too late for that now. I can't go back and change what I did. If we'd come to you in your apartment and tried to persuade you, your parent would have overheard."
"Besides, we expected your refusal and figured we'd have to use force," Takeru added. "Don't be so stubborn, Ken. The issue here is not you, and it's not the Byen-cho and it doesn't even have to do with Daisuke or me. All we want is to get Hikari back. You have to understand that."
Daisuke turned to stare at Takeru, raising one eyebrow. Takeru didn't move to return the stare and instead focused on Ken. Ken sighed and glanced at Daisuke. "Fine."
Takeru waited for Daisuke as the latter wrote out the phone number and address of his apartment, then followed as the red-haired boy went bouncing down the stairs of Ken's apartment building. "Are you sure we can trust him? I should have thought about this ahead of time, but we just gave him your address and all... if he takes that to Byen-cho they could wipe you out in no time."
"He won't. I trust him." Daisuke hopped down the last few steps and stretched, yawning. "What time is it?"
The blonde pushed the button to light up the display on his watch. "1:27. God it's late. Didn't Taichi tell us to go get some sleep?"
The other nodded. "We're done now anyway. Let's hop a train and go home."
"Fine with me..." Takeru walked a few blocks next to Daisuke in silence before glancing up. "Maybe you should stay at my place tonight."
The red-haired boy flashed a grin. "You don't trust him, do you?"
"Not completely... He gave in almost too easily."
"Speaking of which, what was with that stuff you said to him? How come you convinced him but I couldn't?"
"Because you were trying to force him into it where as I tried to guilt him into helping out his friend."
"I tried that too!"
"I think you're a little too rough to appeal to someone's emotional side," Takeru mused.
Daisuke narrowed one eye. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just what it sounds like," the blonde shrugged. He was answered by silence. Too late the boy realized he'd unintentionally insulted Daisuke. It was the truth, though. He was harsh and a complete bastard. At least that's how he was when they'd first met. Takeru scowled. Maybe he was missing something. Standing there under a street light while Daisuke looked over a timetable to see when the next train back to Odaiba was, a memory sprang to mind. The night Hikari disappeared, on the trip to Yamato's apartment; there'd been an exchange between Daisuke and Taichi. It was the slightest thing in the world, just a touch on the arm, but it was like that had made things better for the moment. And all the stuff that he'd been told about his home life...
"Looks like we'll have to wait around for another ten minutes," the darker boy mumbled.
"Hey, Daisuke?" Takeru bit his lip.
Dark brown eyes glanced up, flashing with something that definitely wasn't happiness. "What?" the answer was flat and short. Just like it was when they'd first met.
The blonde sighed. So they were back at the beginning again. "I'm sorry."
"For what."
"For the stuff I said earlier, about emotions and all that."
Daisuke shrugged and headed towards the subway entrance. Takeru followed and waited for his response, knowing it would come sooner or later... most likely later. "Takeru, you don't have to apologize to me."
"Yes I do."
"No. You don't." Daisuke turned and stared at him. "You meant it, didn't you? What you said? So then why apologize?"
Blinking, Takeru tilted his head to the side. "Well... I guess I meant it... I mean, I meant it at the time I was saying it but... after I thought about it and all, I realized that I was wrong. That's why I'm apologizing – because I realized that it was a stupid, spur of the moment thing to say. So I'm sorry."
Pulling the hat off his head, the red-haired boy ran his fingers through his hair. "Just forget it."
"Why won't you let me apologize?" the other followed as they headed towards a train.
"Because you don't need to," Daisuke shrugged one shoulder.
Takeru reached out and caught him by the arm, spinning him around. "Look, when I apologize to someone I don't appreciate being blown off. Oops." He blinked and stepped back slightly, yanking his hand back from Daisuke's sleeve.
The darker boy lifted one eyebrow briefly. "We have a train to catch."
Following with a slight sigh, Takeru mumbled, "I really am sorry."
The train ride back home was long, slow, and quiet. Yawning, Daisuke leaned back in the seat and shut his eyes, fully prepared to fall asleep. Takeru sighed to himself and went through the pockets of his jacket to keep himself entertained. In the right pocket, he found twenty-seven cents, an old receipt from the grocery store at the corner of his apartment, and a sucker that he didn't know how old it was. As he started pulling the wrapper off it, Daisuke opened one eye at the noise and swiped it, popping it in his mouth and raising an eyebrow at the blonde as if daring him to take it back, then shut his eyes and went back to being asleep. Digging into the other pocket, Takeru found an old wallet and went through it, looking for money. Instead he found several pictures and he idly started flipping through.
The first few pictures were of his classes in grade school. But eventually he started finding pictures of his brother, his parents, and of the family when they were all together. He stopped and studied one carefully. They all looked happy back then. Things were easy when he was a kid. And then everything turned so complicated, and here he was, being hunted down by some gang just because he walked home with the new kid a week ago. He still wasn't completely clear on how Daisuke got involved with it all, either. From what he understood it was all just a big mistake, and Takeru's own involvement wasn't far from a mistake either. That's what the whole thing was – a mistake.
"How old were you?"
Takeru jumped, jerked from his thoughts. "Huh?"
Daisuke stared at him, arching one eyebrow and pulling the sucker from his mouth to speak clearer. "I said how old were you." He tapped the picture in the blonde's hand. "When your parents got divorced."
"Oh." Leaning back in the seat, he shrugged. "Six? Maybe five. I can't remember to tell you the truth."
The other studied him carefully, sucker resting between his lips. It was a little hard to look all dark and thoughtful when you were eating a lollypop, but someone Daisuke was pulling it off. Finally he pulled the sucker out and tilted his head to the side. "Listen, about earlier. You really didn't have to apologize because honestly, you were pretty well dead on."
"No I wasn't. You're not... that bad," the blonde mumbled.
Giving a short laugh, the boy ran his fingers through his hair, then fished in his pocket for the goggles Taichi had given him. "Not that bad. Look, to be perfectly honest I know I'm not easy to get along with. I shut people out and I do it on purpose. So don't take it personally, all right? I'm just a jackass and I always have been."
"You are not," Takeru rolled his eyes. "Don't even start with a self-pity act. You got along with Hikari just fine. My brother likes you. And you said yourself that you and Taichi just clicked, so you are easy to get along with. It just depends on the person. As for why you don't get along with me..."
The two boys stared at each other as a minute stretched out between them. Finally, Daisuke shook his head. "I don't know why." He leaned back against the seat and sneezed once, then shut his eyes and went back to sleep.
Takeru put the picture back in the wallet and slid the wallet into his pocket, then sighed to himself just because he was addicted to sighing whenever things weren't going his way. He watched the dark subway walls fly past as the train rumbled away on the track, and once he got bored with that, he turned to watch Daisuke sleep. Why was it that he couldn't get along with him? Sometimes it seemed like everything was working out just fine, and then other times, like earlier, they'd take several flying leaps backwards from any progress they'd made towards friendship. The first week had nearly gone by since he'd promised to let Takeru tag along, and once the two weeks had ended, what happened then? He'd already been getting weird looks in the hall from some of his friends as he walked through them with Daisuke at his side. And by now, more people were paying attention to Daisuke and everyone was trying to make friends with the hot new kid. So it wasn't like Takeru was needed - not that he ever considered himself needed before. And as soon as Hikari was back, Daisuke would have someone to talk with all the time again. The blonde would find himself pushed out of the picture.
Daisuke slumped over against Takeru as the train lurched a little and twitched in his sleep, the stick of his sucker hanging dangerously from his mouth. The other boy reached over and gently removed it, tossing it across the aisle into the overflowing trash bin sitting by the door. The darker boy yawned and nuzzled against him, mumbling something. Takeru blinked a little, then glanced around the train car. The only other person was a goth girl who wasn't paying attention to them, so he didn't have to worry about a public reaction. So he leaned back and let Daisuke sleep on him, returning to watching the subway walls fly by.
