CHAPTER TWELVE – Escaping the Dragon's Lair
Horo yawned and stretched as he entered his room, hanging up his coat quietly so as not to wake his sleeping lover. He slunk over to the bed and climbed into it, slipping under the covers only to shoot up when a pair of arms clutched him tightly.
"Ren!" he choked in surprise. Ren pulled him close, burying his face in Horo's chest. Horo slowly lowered his arms around Ren, hugging him back. He could feel the younger boy's heart beating wildly through his chest, and when he pulled Ren back to look into his eyes, he saw the panic and fear. Ren's eyes filled with fresh tears, it being obvious he'd been crying before.
"What happened?" Horo asked, tensing up, ready to attack the one who'd scared Ren so badly.
"N-Nothing." Ren whispered. Horo frowned.
"Did you go through the door?" he asked. Ren shook his head.
"What did you do?" the Ainu demanded.
"I read some of the books!" Ren cried, pulling the older boy close again. Blue eyes filled with understanding as he realized why the Chinese was so freaked.
"Come, now, they're only books…None of it is real. Besides, you've seen much worse in real life." He shushed Ren, but Ren stayed cuddled up to him, his body quivering.
"Ren…Ren, look into my eyes." He commanded, and gold eyes met blue.
"I won't let anything harm you. Now go to sleep." He said firmly, kissing away the salty tears. Ren nodded, but still snuggled close as they settled down to rest.
The next thing Ren knew, he was waking up to an empty bed. He got up and cooked himself a simple breakfast with what he found, then looked about the house some more. There appeared to be four rooms to the house: the bedroom, the kitchen, a bathroom, and a common room.
The bathroom was fairly nice, housing a toilet, sink, mirror, shower, and medicine cabinet. Ren curiously looked into the medicine cabinet, finding some aspirin, Tylenol, sleeping pills, and four prescriptions. He took those out, reading the labels.
One was an anti-depressant, which the Chinese found understandable. Another was treatment for paranoia, and another was treatment for hallucinations. The last one was supposed to slow down brain activity, which Ren remembered was a way of fending off multiple personality syndrome. Considering the amount of tablets in each bottle, Horo either wasn't taking them or had just filled his prescription.
He frowned at the medications and closed the cabinet. The common room was pretty plain, with just a few sofas and a small table. After a while longer exploring the house, he couldn't help but feel…tempted… He went to the chest in the bedroom, looking all around it. It was a normal-enough chest, with a pattern design all over it. He opened it gently. After all, what Horo didn't know couldn't hurt him.
Ren rummaged through the papers and other odds and ends, finding a planner that appeared to be new. He flipped it open and glanced over it. When he came to an area labeled Current Projects, however, his blood ran cold. Under the heading, in Horo's scrawling handwriting, was a note: Kitten must be eliminated. Ren dropped it back into the chest and closed it quickly, his mind rushing.
"I've got to get out of here." He whispered, and hurriedly grabbed a bag from the corner, filling it with some money that he found in a drawer and some food. He then walked over to the only door he hadn't been through…the one with the dragons carved all around its frame.
He hesitantly put his hand on the cold metal handle, and turned it. The door slid open easily, and he peered out. The hall was dark, with no lights at all, until you came to a fork in the path only a few yards away. Ren shut the door behind him and went to the fork, looking at his options. He chose the left path and followed it, finding that it was much harder to breath in the tunnels than in the house.
It was getting hot, sweat trickled down Ren's face and chest, but he continued, knowing he couldn't return to that murderer. The stench of death, disease, rot and decay was all around him, but he ignored and pressed onward. Suddenly, he found himself at a short ladder. Thanking his good fortune, he climbed upwards and opened the hatch at the top, having to shove a good few times before he managed to get it to open for him.
He took a huge breath as the air was suddenly fresh and gulped in the oxygen, pulling himself up and out of the caves, shutting his exit behind him. He sank to his knees in the thick grass, breathing heavily and sweating. When he had caught his breath, he snatched up his pack again and ran through the forest he had found himself, determined to get out of there as quickly as possible. He didn't care if he got arrested and sent to prison forever, he was going to end this before it got any further out of control.
Soon he was in front of a familiar building. Ren ran into the asylum, slipping behind the front desk and finding a map of the rooms. He went to the file room, flipping through the tapes until he found the one he was looking for. He put it into the VCR and turned on the TV, watching the following movie.
Horo Horo came on the screen, obviously not more than nine years old, but looking very much like an adult in facial expressions and body language. Ren recognized it instantly…it was Dragon.
"Now, Horokeu…tell me again what happened." A doctor's voice was heard. Horo glared at the screen.
"No. I don't like you." He huffed, crossing his arms.
"You liked me a moment ago."
"No. I didn't. I just thought you were so annoying I'd not bother because you'd just talk more."
"Maybe we'll start with something a little more simple. What's your name?"
"Horokeu Drakonis Meutrier Usui."
"Your name is not Horokeu Dragon Slayer Usui."
"Oh, so you AREN'T limited to your own sad, pathetic language. I just lost a bet with myself."
"Horokeu…"
"Yes, Master Baka?"
"Stop being a smart mouth and just cooperate. What is your name?"
"Horokeu Usui."
"How old are you?"
"That's a hard question! No fair!"
"You find it hard to tell me your age?"
"Yes. I have to do mental math to figure that one out. One hundred times mental age divided by chronological age."
"…"
"Don't tell me you haven't heard of it? One's true age is figured out by an uncomplicated mathematical solution which integrates mental and chronological age. Mental age being determined by your test scores compared to average children of that chronological age group and chronological age being determined by the amount of time since you were born. I don't expect YOU to be growing much in that respect, though. There are plenty of middle-age men still mentally stuck in their teens. Well, if you're going to be close-minded about my age, then I suppose I'm nine years old." Horo smirked all-knowingly. Ren could practically hear the doctor gaping.
"Alright then, Horokeu…I think it's becoming obvious you think you're smarter than I am."
"Correction. I KNOW I'm smarter than you."
"It may be a fact that your intellectual machinery is better than mine, but this does not get you out of here. You may embrace your lack of normality, but it's going to take a heavy dose of it to get you out of here. I'm not against using other ways to get you there either. I'm sure your brilliant mind can understand that." Horo got quiet, and Ren understood the doctor was threatening him with drugs. Then the Ainu child got sad-looking, almost hurt-looking.
"Y-You mean…I'm not…normal?" he squeaked out the last word, tears filling in his eyes. Ren laughed a little. Horo always did know how to turn on the water works. It appeared it worked, though, because soon he was being hushed and assured he was quite normal.
The screen blanked out but quickly came on again with a different date at the bottom. This time, Horo was sat in a chair, facing away from the screen.
"How was your breakfast, Horokeu? I trust you found it edible?" The doctor's exasperated voice was heard.
"Give my compliments to the chef. Exquisite cheerios. Positively exquisite." Horo said sarcastically.
"Please turn around, Horokeu."
"Why? Don't you like my hair? It's very unique, isn't it? I doubt you've seen any other families with natural blue hair. You see more of it this way."
"Turn around NOW." Horo shrugged and turned the chair completely around until he was facing away again.
"You misinterpret, Horokeu. I meant 180 degrees, not 360." Horo sighed and turned to face the camera.
"Thank you, Horokeu. I hope you'll be more cooperative from now on." Horo rolled his eyes.
"Let's begin with when you went to these 'caves.'" The doctor obviously didn't believe the tunnels existed.
"Yes." Horo said, smiling a fake sweet and innocent smile.
"Good. So your mother says you went out to have some time alone that day, correct?"
"Yes."
"And then you decided to visit the caves?"
"Yes."
"Do you know why you did that?"
"Yes."
"Please tell us, then."
"Yes." A long silence began.
"You remember that day, Horokeu?"
"Yes."
"Then tell us."
"Yes." Another silence.
"Maybe just tell us what you were feeling at the time."
"Yes."
"What were you feeling, Horokeu?"
"Yes." Another silence, this one longer than the others.
"…Oh. Oh, I see. You're only answering 'yes', am I right?"
"Yes, it took you long enough to figure that out."
"Horokeu." The warning tone just screamed that the doctor was about ready to drug him.
"I was just trying to be more cooperative from now on." Horo Horo grinned innocently. Ren laughed a little.
The screen blanked out again, but this time, it came on in a child's room at the mental institute. Horo was sat on the bed cross-legged, looking angry.
"This is all your fault, Dragon!" he muttered to seemingly himself.
"MY fault! You wanted out of this heap, now you'll get out. Do you really think some stupid drugs are going to keep me?" his voice grew more aggressive.
"Dragon…maybe you should just leave. You heard them talking. I'm not supposed to be smart or violent or emotionless like you. I'm supposed to be normal. I want to be normal, Dragon." Horo pleaded. Silence lasted a while. Horo sighed.
"Fine. I'll go to sleep. I'll give you yourself for as long as you need to grow up. Once you're old enough for me to be normal, I'll come back. I'll be watching you grow up, kid." He smiled wryly.
"Thanks, Dragon." His smile turned more childish.
"No problem, kid…just…remember. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. As long as I'm here, we're part of each other. If anything happens…if you get over your head…you can call me back. I'm only a thought away." Horo's eyes slipped shut and he hugged himself.
Ren cocked his head to the side. Dragon and Horo seemed to have a strange love-hate relationship. Sometimes they were the best of friends, other times they were the worst of enemies. Ren grabbed the tape and shoved it into his pack along with the one they had of his short time there before turning and running out to his next destination.