-Taiki-
"What the hell is wrong with you? Since when do start or feed squabbles like that? This is unbelievable…" Taiki was exasperated by Yaten's behaviour earlier.
It was like tearing apart two rabid dogs that were taking each other, albeit just verbally, apart when Satomi and him entered the kitchen to grab one final coffee before they would assume their positions for the night.
Of course the coffee was now still in the kitchen while Yaten and him were walking to the security control room instead.
"I was not the one who started it!" Yaten replied defensively as he opened the door and sat down behind his screen.
"There was no need for you to continue it though." Taiki sighed as he assumed his place behind his terminal.
"Why do you always side with her and never with me? What makes you think that I enjoy any of these encounters. I am never the one who starts it. I merely exist, is that my fault now, too?" Yaten argued, still visibly agitated.
Taiki didn't know what to answer to that and stayed quiet. It was usually Haruka that stepped in and spoke the final word for those two to stop arguing, but without her around, it was like walking around armed bombs rigged for imminent detonation.
"Never mind…" Yaten resigned with a heavy sigh and started to click his way through the various cameras that were set up around their territory.
"Yaten…" Taiki wrestled with himself to find the right words, but before he could find any, the alarm went off.
"First perimeter breach I'll take the north east side." Yaten informed him cold and Taiki focused back on his own screen.
"I take the subterrain attack from the north." Taiki replied.
Until the very last moment he had still hoped that he was not wrong about Seiya, that the young man had come around and had grown to see them as one team, as one family, but now as he sat here, with Yaten being unrecognisably irritated with him and the black haired man making his way with a small unit of combatants through the first tunnel, Taiki started to doubt his skills in reading humans, more so he doubted himself to be worthy of his position to keep their home safe.
-Kitae-
Throughout the almost the whole first half of the concert Hiroko seemed restless, not that anyone would have noticed, but he had watched her for far longer than anyone else here and he knew that she was up to something, what though, he could not tell yet. Sitting directly behind Masaru, he was in charge to keep them all safe but while, with all the Myamoto around, one could be forgiven to think that that would at most take some lip service, he could tell that something was up. He recognised every single person around him and he knew that any false move would lead to absolute chaos, one that the Myamoto clan would suppress with all its might with no survivors who would or could tell the tale. The military and law enforcement were a dominant presence with several majors and admirals, as well as the police chief himself on the lower balcony. The upper balcony was filled with the who is who of organisations whose names would stay forever unspoken by those who aren't members or those who did not seek death of the most painful kind.
Kitae envied the ones around him, especially Mamoru who seemed absolutely engrossed in the music that he didn't seem to recognise the pit of snakes that they were sitting in, as he subtly looked around him and noticed other heads of clans and their security. In the end, all that mattered was to be the biggest snake to survive this place. Even if Tenoh might think that he was the snake charmer on his throne up there, even he had no antidote for the poison that they had prepared for him.
Slowly the lights came back after the first half was finished and they were gently ushered out to a waiting bar and o d'oeuvres.
Shinji and Seiya excused themselves and disappeared in the masses while the rest walked and talked casually about how spectacular concert was so far. The atmosphere seemed relaxed, but Kitae just couldn't join in in that sentiment. Hiroko was too restless to relax, and that woman was capable of anything if she put her mind to it.
Just then, a presence larger than life could be felt entering the room.
Tenoh and the Kings walked in, laughing and conversing casually with one another, and they were being joined by the Kaiohs. Kitae hated the twins with all fibres of his being and never understood why Mamoru got along with them. Together they were unbearable, alone, not much better. He couldn't decide whom he loathed more, the boisterous sister, or the manipulative brother, but what he knew for sure was to never turn his back to them, because one could never know what they planned next. Haruka's impulsiveness had more than once thrown his well laid out plans out of the window and Haruto's cunning had almost revealed his true ambitions countless times. The presence of any Tenoh always had him on the edge. Good thing that there weren't that many of them around anymore, he quietly thought to himself.
"Look over there is Haruto-san, let's go and say hello." Hiroko said suddenly and grabbed for Usagi.
"Good idea, I haven't seen him in ages." Usagi joined in cheerfully.
"I don't think we should bother them…" Mamoru tried to stop them, but Usagi shook her head.
"Haruto-san is not the bad guy here, do not bring your fight with Haruka-san into this. I haven't seen him in ages and he has never done anything wrong." Usagi said defiant before Hiroko and her made a beeline towards the tall blond who had the King's daughter adorning his arm.
Mamoru gave Kitae that impotent, helpless and lost look that he hated so much and so he nodded obediently before he followed the women silently to watch them while the other man stayed behind with his parents and the Edelsteins.
Warm greetings and introductions were exchanged between the women and the small group as drinks and food were passed around.
"Haruto-san, I missed you. What's wrong with your voice? I almost didn't recognise you." Usagi asked between sips of Champagne.
"I am recovering from a cold Usagi-chan." Haruto replied good naturedly as he signalled for more o d'oeuvres.
"I hope you are not passing that cold onto Joy-san." Usagi teased the tall blonde who only chuckled and held the other woman closer to his side that made Hiroko twitch.
"I would never do anything that would endanger my Joy here." Haruto mused while keeping an even gaze with Hiroko who wasn't her usual talkative self.
But before Kitae could continue his train of thought the bell that signalled the end of the break chimed so they arranged to see each other again at the buffet and they made their way back to the rest of their group, just to find Mamoru standing there alone.
Kitae couldn't help but have a bad feeling about the others' absence.
"Where are the others, where is mum?" Hiroko voiced his question with almost imperceivable anxiety laced in her voice.
"Father and the Edelsteins were called by grandfather and mother is…" before Mamoru could finish his sentence his mother Masuyo joined them with Nishii.
"I am here, I was just off to the powder room. One of the attendees had informed us that grandfather was calling for the others to join him in his special seats, but we wouldn't fit anymore." Masuyo informed Hiroko; her hurt pride unmissable in her demeanour.
"Their loss. Let's go to our seats, which are way closer to the stage than theirs could ever be." Hiroko replied with a consoling smile on her lips, but a stoic tone.
As Kitae walked behind the Chibas back into the concert hall he turned one more time around and his eyes met Tenoh's steel gaze that had been following them and his blood froze in his veins. This was not raw bloodlust that Haruka was famous for whenever she was up to something, but this was the look of vengeance, as cold as a glacier.
-Seiya-
The men that would make up their attack troupe were already waiting, all geared up, for them outside in a side alley and they joined them wordlessly. The ride to their destination was tense and Seiya could feel his heartbeat in his throat as he sat in the back of the darkened van. They dropped by Higashi first to make sure that he understood his role as decoy and not to charge ahead without them giving him the signal. The blonde man was visibly irritated and Seiya's lack of punctuality didn't help the other man's nerves, but they went over the plan again quickly before heading towards Hisui who stood in his usual cold demeanour ready for action, his group of sixty men armed to the teeth right behind him.
"Remember Kou, Hiroko is not here to keep you safe and till you are married to her, you are no more than a faithless dog, so show your worth." Hisui barked but before Seiya could jump his throat, Shinji held him back to give him his helmet that he had forgotten on the van.
"We have plenty of time to chat when we are dead, so stop messing around. Put this on before we go, wouldn't want anyone to accuse you of triggering facial recognition around here." Shinji's tone was cold and left no space for discussions before he closed his visor and instructed everyone to turn on their communicators.
They gave Higashi the signal and the first small detonation could be heard in the distance. It felt like a giant stone dropped into the pit of his stomach as they made their way into the sewer system and Seiya could only hope that that would have given the system enough time to pull up all the defences.
The walk through the sewer system was tight with so many people but they finally took their last turn and arrived at a steel door with a hidden number pad. He could feel Shinji's and Hisui's eyes on the back of his head even through his full head helmet as he pushed the number combination in that he hoped no one had changed since the last time he had been there. It was one of the last old school entrances that still had to be changed by hand and was not connected to the central security system, so the odds should be in his favour, depending on how you looked at it.
The door made a loud click noise and he had a hard time opening, but eventually they were in another room away from the sewer system and walked another path through a maze until they reached an airlock door.
Seiya opened the first door and walked into the cabin with another five people for whom he opened the second door as well before closing it behind them so that the others could follow and walked ahead confidently. He knew that this tunnel was a low oxygen environment and that he'd be losing his consciousness soon enough, but he kept his heart beat down and tried to pace his breathing. There was no way that he would be able to take this many people on his own, so the least he could do was to get them at least over half way so that none of them would make it out of here to warn the others.
"Everyone inside the tunnel and is the door locked? Otherwise, I cannot open the door on the other side." Seiya asked casually into the communicator in his helmet.
"Everyone inside. I locked the door." Was Shinji's curt reply and Seiya turned around to see where the other man was.
Shinji's tall figure was at the tail end of the group, about one third of the whole distance.
Just a bit more Seiya told himself as he slowly started to feel dizzy and felt his focus diminishing.
"What the hell is going on?!" suddenly panicked voices came through the communicator as the bodies behind him started to collapse and Seiya couldn't help but grin inside his helmet before the world went dark around him.
