Ch. 13
Me: no reviews for the last chapter? I feel so loved... ::cries:: just kidding.... but seriously, was it that bad? O.O
Clouds. Light clouds and dark clouds, framing the small pieces of gray sky that were still visible to Kagome's eyes. Scowling, she let herself fall back onto her bed. She took her eyes off the near-evening sky long enough to glance at Midori, who had been immersed in her notebook since they had come back from lunch. Kagome stared at Midori's hand, sketching...something that she could not see, then glanced over at the two guys, both sitting on the same bed, poring over electricity books Hikaru had bought from a second-hand store.
It sucked, quite frankly. She was feeling so useless; Midori was probably drawing a map on how to get out of this hellhole, as Ryu called it. The guys were no doubt reading about the action/reaction theory that Hikaru had brought up this morning. So what could she do?
"Hey Kag-chan, come take a look at this." Not removing her eyes from the page, Midori beckoned her friend to come see the picture she had drawn. On the page, drawn so realistically, Kagome almost felt she was looking at a photograph, was a stunning picture of Sango and herself, both with their weapons, the oversized boomerang and bow. Kirara sat, eyes closed, on Sango's lap, while Miroku and InuYasha argued in the background, a comic sweatdrop over Miroku's head, an anger mark over InuYasha's. The well was decorated with vines, and Kagome's yellow backpack was slung over the side.
"Midori, this is amazing!" Kagome exclaimed, taking the picture gently from her friends hands to get a better look at it. Sheepishly, Midori smiled and lay her pencil down on the bed.
"It's just a sketch..." She said, embarrassed. "Did I get the costumes right?"
"More or less..." Kagome said, truthfully. InuYasha's costume was missing a few things, and Miroku's staff was drawn more like a character from an RP game, rather than a traditional monk's. But overall... it was amazing. "I had no idea you could draw like this!"
"Yeah... I never really show anyone my work, but I figured it was now or never..." She shrugged. "Every year, the only time I saw my parents were Sundays and holidays. Well, I guess I'm exaggerating, but still... anyways, for Christmas, they never knew what to get me, since they were never around, so my dad always brought me notebooks from his work, and my mom gave me new school supplies, like paper and pencils and such. At first, I was so angry they didn't know anything about me, that I threw away the items, or ignored them. But about three years ago, I started drawing in the notebooks, and I've been hooked ever since." She smiled. "Kinda a blessing in disguise, hm?"
"I'll say..." Kagome said, handing the picture back to Midori. Midori folded her arms, not taking it.
"You can have it." She said, smiling.
"What? No, I couldn't!!" Kagome said, horrified. "This picture is so great... you've got to keep it!"
"Nah. I can always draw another one, if I feel like it."
Kagome flushed. "Wow! Thank you so much!" And because that seemed like it needed a sort of follow up, she hugged her friend.
"Hate to spoil the moment, but if you guys could cut the mushy stuff and come over here, we've got to show you something..." Ryu said, rolling his eyes at the two girls.
"Shut up!" Midori said, instantly regaining her tough status. Ryu raised an eyebrow at her, but fell silent.
"Ugh. Anyways..." Ryu beckoned the two over to where he and Hikaru sat. "We need to formulate our plan for escaping, and I'd rather not yell across the room, if you two don't mind."
"We don't." Kagome said, smiling. Ryu flushed and turned away from her.
"Okay. Well, the nearest escape route is, obviously, out the front door. The ideal way to escape would be to steal some worker's clothes, but that's way too.... comic book, wouldn't you say?" Hikaru joked.
"And way too hard." Ryu pointed out.
"Yeah. But then, I realized," Hikaru paused and pointed toward the ceiling. "There's ventilator shafts in every room. If we could stack some stuff and make a bit of a tower, we could hoist the shortest person - that'd be you, Kagome - up to the shaft, and then you could help the rest of us get up there."
"That's... way too complicated." Midori commented, shaking her head.
"Maybe so, but it's all we've got." Hikaru countered.
"Look, all we'd have to do is stack the chair," Ryu pointed to the single chair in the corner of the room. "Atop the table, and then maybe a few of Hikaru's books and some more random crap until it's tall enough to reach the shaft. Easy enough!"
"Yeah... I guess so..." Midori checked her watch. "Four o' clock.. You guys better hurry and finish the plan; I've got an appointment in three hours, and I'd prefer to be miles away from this place by then."
"Miles? At the most, we'd get-" Ryu was interrupted by a timid knock at the door. He turned, annoyed. "What is it??"
"Alisa.... please.... let me in?" A small voice came from the other side. Midori leapt from the bed and opened the door, revealing the tiny albino girl.
"Hey, what's up?" Midori said kindly. Kagome noticed Hikaru stuffing the escape plan underneath his pillow.
"Nothing.... I just wanted to say that... it was really....great that you stood up to... my father..." She said softly. Ryu laughed.
"Stood up to? More like cussed him out!"
Hikaru tapped Ryu on the back with his textbook. "Don't be vulgar."
"Well...it was really...great to hear someone...talk...to him like that..." She finished, slowly. Kagome noticed her eyes kept moving uneasily to the door, and, even though she felt sorry for the girl, she instantly wished she'd leave.
"No problem...." Midori smiled.
Alisa turned to Ryu. "Are you...Ryuichi Yasuhiro?"
Ryu flushed. "It's Ryu. Not Ryuichi."
"Someone's ashamed of his full name..." Midori whispered, grinning at Ryu, who scowled back.
"Do you have... a cousin...named Takimoto Kaori?"
"Yeah, actually. He's the only cool cousin in my family of stuck-up old fools. He ran off with some chick and got married in Osaka, which royally pissed off his parents." Ryu said, smiling. Alisa did not return the smile.
"That...chick as you call her...? That was...my sister..." She said quietly. Ryu blinked.
"Taki married Katsuya??" He asked, awed. Alisa nodded.
"She was so nice, to me, to everyone. The only time she was ever mean was to people who ridiculed her, and that was...many. Including my father. When she was fourteen, and she got expelled from highschool, he....put her...in shock therapy.... she was different after that; still loving, but more...aloof and...calculated. Father didn't...like that....so he did it....again...when she got suspended. And...after that....again....when she said she was going to marry...Takimoto..."
"Wow..." Kagome breathed. "What a father..."
"Taki's gonna die when he hears the news..." Mused Ryu. "He said he loved her more than he'd loved anyone before... she must have been a great person, Alisa..."
Tiny tears welled in the red eyes of the albino. "She was! Even when-"
"Good God, are you still slouching around this place? Alisa, get over yourself and go back to my office!" A booming voice interrupted Alisa, who let out a small squeak and removed her glasses to wipe her eyes, hurriedly.
"I'm sorry...." Alisa left the room quickly, without a goodbye or even a second glance at the four others.
"Well, it's time to go, Fujishima." Nayamo said, unconcernedly. Hikaru gasped and Kagome saw his eyes dart to the pillow where the escape plan hid beneath.
"I-I need to..." Midori stuttered, her dark eyes huge.
"No excuses; you did something wrong, now you have to pay the price." He said simply. Midori took a step backward, which Nayamo saw, through his coal black eyes. Suddenly, he lunged forward and caught Midori by the arm.
"Come on!" He growled angrily, jerking her toward the door. Rage flashed in Hikaru's eyes, visible even behind his glasses.
"Don't grab her like that!" He said, narrowing his eyes in rage.
"I'll do whatever I want, Hikaru-san. Now I'd suggest keeping your mouth shut, or you'll be in therapy next." He muttered. And with that, he stormed out the door, leaving the three companions behind in a stunned rage.
"That jackass!" Hikaru smacked the wall with his fist.
"Relax..." Kagome bit her lip and stared at the door, nervously.
Hikaru screwed up his eyes in concentration, his forehead crinkling. He winced, and turned to Ryu. "The ventilator shafts...they go over the electric therapy room, right?"
Ryu shrugged and retrieved the notebook from underneath the pillow. He consulted it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. I'd expect they do."
Kagome stared at Hikaru. "Just what are you thinking? Even if we drop in on Nayamo, do you really think he's just going to let Midori come with us and let us walk out of there? Fat chance..."
Hikaru sighed heavily. "Then we'll have to be forceful and make him give us Midori."
"Somehow, I don't see that happening..." Ryu said, a pessimistic tone in his voice. Hikaru shrugged.
"Well I'm going. I'm not just going to leave her to get shocked by that bastard." Hikaru said calmly.
"Like I would!" Countered Ryu. "I'm going with you. Kagome?" Ryu turned to her. "You're coming, right?"
"Uh...." She looked down at the ground, her black hair framing her pale, nervous face. "Sure?"
"Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to let you get... you know, hurt or anything." Ryu said, grinning.
"Of course not!" Kagome raised her head and smiled at him. Carefully, she tucked the picture in her yellow backpack and set it on the bed. Hikaru eyed the door.
"We should probably jam the lock." He said thoughtfully. "Kagome, do you have any hair clips or pins?"
"Yeah, tons!" Kagome pulled a baggie of brown hair clips from her pack and handed the bag to Hikaru, who smiled.
"Perfect." Skillfully, he fit a bobby pin into the door and jiggled it a little. After almost ten minutes, a clicking sound emerged from the lock, and he stood. "I think I locked it... but there's not time to check for sure. Just gotta make do, I suppose." He inserted the clip back into the bag and gave it to Kagome, who tossed it on her bed. Ryu was already on the other side of the room, stacking the single, brown chair atop the table.
"We've gotta hurry." He said, glancing at Hikaru, who nodded.
"We don't want to be too late..." Hikaru said, his eyes darting nervously at the door, and at the window. The clouds were now black, and a flash of lightening made Kagome jump.
"No... we don't want to be too late...." She said softly.
But what if we already are? What if Midori was damned the minute she stepped through those cold, stone doors? Can we do anything to help her? Can anyone? Can anyone help us? Anyone?
The ventilator shaft creaked. Heavy rain poured down onto the mental facility, making Kagome wince and step closer to Ryu. Ryu raised an eyebrow.
But he didn't step away.
Me: hey... please, please review?