CHAPTER 13

Burning Wish

Ranpo lay there, panting hard, feeling his heartbeat thud in his ears, uncharacteristically loud. In all the time he'd been with Fukuzawa, he'd never actually been shot before.

Fukuzawa's lecturing yelling voice came to mind. Ranpo coughed, blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

The bastard who shot him had gone for a vital organ—his stomach. He saw Fukuzawa in his mind, yelling at him about being careless. Ranpo's eyes slowly began to dim.

Idiot! Value your life more! Don't be so reckless! It's fine and good to use your ability to help others but don't have so little regard for your own life! Fukuzawa's lecturing concerned fatherly rant almost put a small smile on Ranpo's bloody lips.

He remembered that lecture well—he'd been slapped eight years ago when he'd run off to solve a case without informing Fukuzawa up front of his intentions. At the time, Fukuzawa had shown concern for him being a kid...but that was then. Ranpo knew he was no longer a child...and perhaps he was being incredibly selfish...but he wanted Fukuzawa to never stop caring about him.

Ranpo was a brat. He knew he was. But it was the only way he knew Fukuzawa wouldn't push him out. If he did learn how to conform to normal society then Fukuzawa would never have kept him by his side for as long as he had. Ranpo didn't want to think about ever leaving Fukuzawa's side.

"Sorry…" he whispered, regretting that perhaps—for all his calculations...he'd miscalculated his own life escaping from this situation without consequences. If he did manage to live due to some absolute miracle… well, he would accept punishment if it meant seeing Fukuzawa just even once more.

This must be what it means to value the simple gift of being alive, Ranpo's thoughts began to shut down like the rest of him. He was so cold and tired. He really messed up this time. He knew those thugs were most likely after his money but he also knew that Fukuzawa would typically be here by now. When he'd staked out where the girl had been living, it was with the intention to keep her out of the hands of the government. However, he knew that she wouldn't willingly just let someone decide for her what to do. He'd planned with Fukuzawa to somehow get her back to the agency's headquarters—but not like this.

He hadn't meant to drag this girl into this. Now she was going to be in trouble as well and there was no Fukuzawa in sight. What a rotten end to my day… Ranpo mused, eyelids growing heavy. He didn't want to leave Fukuzawa.

It'd been a long time since he'd thought about his parents—was he a bad son for wanting to stay by Fukuzawa's side just a little longer before greeting his parents in heaven? He heard the girl call his name. Honestly, he wished it was Fukuzawa calling it.

"Ranpo!" Alu's eyes began to sting. She yelled loudly, gazing at where Ranpo's crumpled form lay, sprawled in the dirt.

She began to shake.

She wasn't good at protecting other people up close. She was still learning how to direct consequences away from others as it was. Her mind raced.

Should she use her skill, re-write? She hadn't exactly told the Armed Detective Agency about it—they only knew minimally about Juubi— But she didn't have all the details...a gunshot had rung out and struck him but she didn't even know where. On top of that she didn't know which of the men had shot him in that exact moment— though she saw the culprit kicking Ranpo's limp form with a foot, smirking sadistically.

"Heh, stupid guy," he hummed. "Too bad, his face wasn't the worst. Maybe we coulda sold him for a decent sum…"

Alu couldn't let it end like this. Her mind was racing, heart pounding. She had to come up with a plan. She had to think of something. She just had to! Think!

Think!

She couldn't find words to speak. Her mind was numbing from the horror. Ranpo had been shot! He'd been actually shot. He may have been a dummy but that didn't mean she'd wanted him shot.

She grit her teeth.

Her eyes flashed.

She didn't know how effective her ability re-write would be—but she didn't have a choice. "A gunshot rang out. Though it was meant for the socially in adept young man, Ranpo...it instead missed its mark...striking the ground near Ranpo's feet…." Her tone was shaky but she forced the words out, desperate to change this outcome!

The blue light shone around her before glowing around Ranpo's limp form as well. The men in question yelped in surprise, falling back as Ranpo's body became enshrined in blue light. Without warning, the sound of a bullet re-firing rang out.

Blinking, Alu was aware that her ability would no longer be unnoticed but that didn't matter. Ranpo's shirt, formally covered in blood, was suddenly completely clean. The bullet meant for him rolled on the ground, smoking, as the man who had shot it originally, looked like he was seeing a ghost. Ranpo sat up and patted himself.

Alu's eyes glinted. Taking in the mens' momentary shock to give herself time, she flipped the leader off of her and dashed to Ranpo.

She didn't have time—-or a clear plan. Gripping Ranpo by his shirt, her ears picked up the sound of cars and life to the left past some buildings. She could discern with just a sound alone that direction that Fukuzawa was. Locking on his footfalls, she knew exactly what she had to do.

She twisted her body, before the men even realized what she was about to do.

They locked eyes for a brief moment and it was like time slowed down just for the two of them. Life was pointless after all. It didn't matter how smart he was. Even he wasn't immune to death's call.

So why did this girl look so guilty?

She was hardly at fault here.

Why was she the one apologizing?

Ranpo's eyes slid to her expression. Something stirred deep inside himself, like a sudden jolt of static. His eyes widened ever so slightly. Alu didn't have any time for conversation—but her eyes screamed for Ranpo to live. Ranpo didn't need to hear it out loud—her expression was enough.

"Ranpo—fly, you fool."

Ranpo's eyes genuinely widened from shock and bewilderment. For all of his Super Deduction—he had no idea what the hell she was planning. Before he could say anything, Alu threw him like she was throwing a football meant for a touchdown. He yelled in genuine surprise as he flew past the men and out of sight, leaving a sparkly shine in the sky like a twinkling star.

All the men below shared one unified thought: holy hell, she actually threw him into the sky. Gazing back at her, the men drew their guns, now afraid and angry. The boss eyed her, before his own eyes narrowed. "An ability user, huh?" He sneered. "You'll definitely be worth more now…"

Fukuzawa got off the phone with Odasaku, frowning. He didn't mean to leave him hanging, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Ranpo. He didn't usually avoid his calls. The fact that Ranpo's phone was going straight to voicemail was troubling. Looking at the red dot on the phone screen, Fukuzawa was at least relieved to know that Ranpo's phone wasn't dead at least.

"This brat," he muttered to no one in particular. How could someone like Ranpo run circles around Fukuzawa? Well, it was quite simple. They'd known each other for eight years and been inseparable since.

To be more precise, more like Fukuzawa had failed to shake him and not being one to leave a whining small defenseless animal alone with a good conscience, had somehow ended up becoming Ranpo's legal guardian. If he had to compare Ranpo to a pet it would be a dog. A dog that would never leave him alone, constantly wanted praise and pets and needed to be fed constantly. Fukuzawa sighed in exasperation. This is why he was a cat person.

Fukuzawa sighed. "Hmm?" He blinked, looking at the phone again, confused. The red dot was getting closer? He furrowed his brow with confusion. "What the hell?"

He heard someone gasp near a store entrance. A woman pointed to her one of her friends towards the sky. "Is that a bird?"

"No, no, it's a person," the other friend gasped in unison. Fukuzawa gazed up too.

He squinted.

That couldn't be right.

No, it was a human. Some Unidentified Flying Human? An ability user in broad daylight perhaps?

Wait.

The president squinted. That yelling voice was oddly familiar...And grating.

His eyes widened with sudden shock and realization. Opening his arms instinctively, he found himself landing on his back on the cold sidewalk concrete, hard. The yelling stopped, replaced by shaky breathing and otherwise silence against his chest. His teeth felt like they were rattling from the force of the body slugging against his own. With a pained grunt he found himself rolling, arms protectively around the individual that had slammed into him. Finally, wheezing hard, he let the individual in question sit up on top of him, catching their own breath. "Ranpo—get off—you're heavy…." Fukuzawa wheezed.

Fukuzawa wanted to ask why Ranpo was flying through mid-air in the first place but first he needed his lungs to work again.

Ranpo, was oddly quiet, but he slid off of the president. Fukuzawa sat up, and detecting the whispers of the passerby he grabbed Ranpo's wrist, dragging him quickly away from prying eyes.

"Ranpo...why were you flying through the air?" Fukuzawa asked, genuinely perturbed.

Ranpo didn't seem to make any sound. This bothered the president. "Ranpo?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

Ranpo grit his teeth. He wouldn't look at Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hey!" Fukuzawa was confused. Okay, well, for obvious reasons like why had the kid been flying through the air like a football? But there was just something different from Ranpo's normal demeanor.

"Save her," Ranpo said finally, clinging to Fukuzawa's robe. His voice shook. Fukuzawa blinked.

"Huh?" He asked, dumbly.

"That girl—she's in danger,' Ranpo looked at Fukuzawa, his green eyes full of an emotion that Fukuzawa was not used to seeing in Ranpo's normal daily behavior. Was he upset? Well, he had just stated that girl was in danger—and the president assumed that girl was in reference to Alu. Fukuzawa's eyes flashed.

"Where is she now?" Fukuzawa asked, brisk.

Ranpo pointed in the direction he'd come flying from. Fukuzawa nodded. Fukuzawa figured if Ranpo of all people was being serious, that explanations could wait. He took off wordlessly, Ranpo in tow.

Alu took a deep breath. Her entire body was sore. Her muscles screamed for rest. Before her, piled the bodies of the men. All except their leader, who now faced her off, with a glare.

Alu panted, wiping some blood from the corner of her mouth where she'd been punched, previously. "Had enough?" She taunted the remaining member, glaring at him.

He growled. "You won't get away with this!" He tried to pull the trigger but Alu moved with such speed that the naked eye had no chance of following. With a noise of shock, he found the gun kicked out of his grasp. Groaning and holding his wrist as it smarted in pain, he found a boot kicking him square in the crotch.

Alu was sorry, not sorry. The shot was low but he was lower.

He wheezed like a pig, squealing and holding his groin crumpling to his feet. Alu hopped back, and dusted herself off. "There, now we're finally done having an adult conversation like you wanted," she snarked, she turned around and spotted Ranpo's hat. Ah.

She blinked. She bent down and picked it up.

She figured he'd want to get this back.

Suddenly, she whirled, sensing an attack from behind. Using her arms reflexively, she grunted as she felt the leader from before, kicking her with so much force that she felt her jaw rattle. With stinging pain in her bones, she found herself slammed into the brick wall behind them. Letting out a yelp of pain, she cried out. "Argh!"

She felt a hand at her throat, moments later. This guy—what the hell was with his stamina? The other men went down easily enough—but clearly this guy was at least a level higher. She found herself choking, her windpipes being squeezed by this man's grasp.

Choking, she dug her nails into his arm, still clinging to Ranpo's detective hat in one hand. She tried to kick him but he forced his weight towards her, using his leg to make it so she couldn't kick him without losing what little balance she had.

Can't breathe! Alu struggled but she had used a lot of her stamina taking on five other grown men as it was.

Her heart raced. She realized what this bastard was trying to do! He was trying to get her to pass out.

Just ask for my help.

Hell no.

Tch. Brat. Your pride will only get you caught by this scum.

I already said, I would handle this! I know if I were to let you out that it would only cause more problems for me!

Juubi growled within her mind, frustrated. Have it your way. Don't come crying to me when you get yourself to death's door.

Just make sure I don't die.

Feh. Do I ever have a choice?

Alu could feel the corners of her vision going black. This was bad. But she refused to let Juubi out. It had already put her on so many radars as it was. She was honestly surprised men in black hadn't come and taken her into the night before now—though she had a suspicion that the Armed Detective Agency had been the ones preventing that up to now. Ugh.

"This sucks," she wheezed, feeling her vision go black. Finally, she slumped, unconscious.

Ranpo turned the corner, actually moving ahead of Fukuzawa—which was unusual because usually he would slack and lag behind, complaining. Fukuzawa made his way after Ranpo to the back alley that Ranpo was dashing down.

Ranpo skidded to a halt finally. He panted.

"No!" His eyes widened with horror.

Fukuzawa caught up with ease and looked in the direction Ranpo was looking as well. Before them, was nothing?

Fukuzawa's eyes flickered. "The girl's not here," he said.

Ranpo moved over to where some blood stains were. For a second the worst case scenario flitted in his mind. But as he bent down, he realized the blood didn't belong to her. He forced himself to remain calm. He wouldn't get worked up. He was the greatest detective.

His eyes fell on what looked to be a blood stain near the wall. He quickly moved over there. His eyes widened with shock. "This is…"

It was definitely her blood this time.

Fukuzawa frowned, eyeing him. "Ranpo?"

"I was only gone a few minutes!" Ranpo growled. "There's no way I wouldn't have noticed…" He pulled out his black glasses hastily. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose. Fukuzawa remained quiet, knowing it was best to let Ranpo do his thing. He didn't actually know what had transpired here but figured Ranpo would no doubt fill in those blanks when the situation wasn't as pressing.

Ranpo's mind worked quickly. He looked at Fukuzawa in less than a minute. "She was definitely taken by the men that attacked me."

Fukuzawa blinked. "Wait."

He glared at Ranpo. "You were attacked?" He spluttered.

"Yes, pay attention," Ranpo replied brusque, turning back to where he had last been analyzing. Fukuzawa was speechless. Why was this kid always treating these bad situations with that air of indifference?

"Ranpo," he began.

"I know," Ranpo was uncharacteristically sharp in tone.

Fukuzawa quieted. What was going on with Ranpo? Yeah, this wasn't the first time Ranpo had been trailed by thugs and had found a way to get out of it one way or another—but this time felt different. Fukuzawa had no idea what had happened. But this was bothering him. "If you know, then why didn't you call me for help?" He sighed.

"I thought I could handle it," Ranpo curtly replied.

Fukuzawa sighed, in exasperation. Yes, Ranpo did tend to have a habit of biting off more than he could chew. Clearly being 22 still hadn't had that fact sink in for Ranpo.

"Just tell me what happened so we can figure out what to do now," Fukuzawa said, knowing time was of the essence. Ranpo could handle one of his lectures later.

Ranpo nodded. Without even pausing to take a breath, he plowed right into his deduction. "There were seven men in total, their leader mentioned wanting to sell us—this implies already that they're part of some sort of human trafficking or smuggling business. They're not big shots though and I could tell this gang isn't that old. Whoever they are, they themselves are small fry. However, based on these tracks and time of departure and our arrival, I'd say a car came by and picked them all up. That's the only explanation for how they would clear so much distance in so little time. Their leader isn't their actual leader. I'd say he was in charge of this small patrol but he answers to someone else who is higher ranked than him. He is an ability user although I have yet to see what his actual "skill" is. The others are just low life gangster wanna-be's who ran away from home or dropped out of school to pursue 'the thug life'," Ranpo walked over to where his hat had previously been.

He blinked.

It wasn't there anymore.

His eyes narrowed. Ah, with this the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

"Additionally… I know exactly where they're headed…"

Alu woke up some time later.

It was night time and she was in some sort of big room. As her vision cleared, she realized she had her wrists tied behind her back, and her ankles too. She was in some sort of cage to boot. The waning moon light filtered through the dirty window way up above her. She realized she was in some storage unit.

She strained her ears. She could hear the ocean. She was in some sort of shipyard's storage unit. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the moonlight, she realized she wasn't alone. Her heart nearly stopped.

In other cages near her, were other children.

Her eyes widened. She tried to count. There were maybe seven...no eight… other kids here, besides herself. The youngest looked to be no older than elementary school age while the oldest she figured was herself. By her own foot, she saw Ranpo's detective hat. Huh, the bad guys hadn't taken it from her? She felt oddly comforted looking at it.

She knew the Armed Detective Agency would no doubt come. Not because she'd saved Ranpo's life or anything but because they struck her as oddly snoopy to begin with. She wasn't one to wait around to be rescued as it were, so she decided to at least assess the situation as best as she could and play things by ear. Alu realized she was wearing some sort of cold metal collar around her neck.

The other children wore weird collars and though they weren't tied up like she was, she could instantly tell that they'd been here a while from the status of the cages and length of time this unit had been used. Where the cages were, dust had somewhat settled but also cleared up. Even near her own cage she could tell that it'd been here a while.

"Hey!" She called out to the children in the other cages. They looked away from her. None of them seemed chatty. Alu frowned. She tried again.

"Listen, I need to know what's going on—do any of you know?" She asked, deciding to try to gather information. It was a start to at least passing the time tied up here. Alu sighed, looking around. Okay, so no one was going to answer her, apparently.

The younger kids looked too scared to talk, and the only other kid that looked even remotely in her own age range was just staring at her without saying anything. She counted the number of kids again. There were three boys, and five girls.

The one closest to her in age was another boy, it appeared.

It was still a bit dark and her vision wasn't exactly great in the dark even with the moonlight. She just went ahead and she tried to figure out how to get out of this situation. Well, her wrists were tied with what felt like cold metal. Okay, chains of some short—cuffs most likely. The same for her ankles. Her movements would be limited.

She wondered how long it'd take someone like Ranpo to find her. She'd only heard rumors about his scary skill, Super Deduction, but she figured somehow he'd make it work. Or he wouldn't and he'd be off stuffing his face or something. Her eyes flickered. No, he didn't strike her as someone to particularly care one way or another. He'd just complain and cling to that Fukuzawa guy asking for something more interesting to do, she figured.

Although, the look in his eyes earlier of childish bewilderment before she flung him to the heavens did amuse her slightly. Clearly, Ranpo wasn't used to having his butt saved by a girl, she mused.

She thought back to earlier, when she'd watched him get shot. Her smile faltered, replaced with a thin line of irritation.

She really hated guns. She hated how powerless she felt every time she heard a bullet leave the barrel of a gun. A lot of people didn't have special abilities in this world and the ones that did—well the ones that didn't just assumed these ability users were inhuman and capable of not feeling fear in situations of danger.

That wasn't true. Far from it.

Because ability users stood out from the crowd—they had to live with a heightened sense of paranoia while trying to blend in with normal society. Those that didn't work for the government or one of these organizations like the Port Mafia usually found themselves branded as criminals or unable to function in normal society for very long or risked exposure.

Alu had been in Yokohama for a year by now.

She'd witnessed various events—small as they may be— of these sorts of scenarios. She recalled somewhat subdued how it was ironic that she was the one in the sticky situation and needed help this time around. She could just use Juubi but then he'd go on a rampage and she really didn't want that. Not like that weird guy, Dazai Osamu could just nullify her any old time she let Juubi out. She sighed, dejected.

Ugh, all this thinking was giving her a headache. Think, she thought to herself, scanning the cargo room. There has to be some way for me to at least bend these bars. Then, I'll try to get those kids free…

The sound of a steel door rising made her head crane.

She frowned. The sound of voices was coming closer.

Feigning sleep, she cracked an eye open a little, just to eavesdrop. The same men from earlier were there. While they'd been bandaged up —she hoped it hurt like hell— they managed to still get around and began heading in the direction she and the other children were trapped in cages.

"—inspection time," the leader said to his thugs.

"—goin'ta have fun…" another one was saying.

Alu's fox hearing twitched.

That was weird. She was trying really hard to listen but there was some weird static buzzing like it was muffling her ears. Shaking her head a bit, with a frustrated growl, she realized some sort of electronic stabilizer was being emitted to interfere with the sound waves in the area. No doubt a precaution for any law enforcement with special hearing as their ability.

She kept her body as relaxed as possible, as the foot fell coming closer to the cage she resided in got louder. The clacking on the cold floor sounded like the heels were made of steel.

Tmp.

Tmp.

Silence. The squeak of a heel. The sound of a low chuckle. "This is her then?" A voice that she didn't recognize replied, humming. Alu's eyes flickered with confusion.

This voice?

"Wake up, dear!" The unidentified person hummed, "I have an interesting proposition that I think you'd like to hear."

Alu's eyes flickered and she slowly raised her head. Before her, was someone she hadn't expected. They wore a grey trench coat, long black pants, dark hair tied up neatly and under a rather nice hat of sorts. Smirking, they just beamed at Alu. Alu's eyes widened with genuine surprise.

"You're…"

"My associates call me Ms. Austen," she smiled, her pale skin white as snow, her lips a blood red, and her eyes a cold steely brown. "But you can call me Jane."

Conclusion of Volume I of Bungou Stray Dogs Underground AU. TBC...