-Oxford - Saturday: Part 11-

Tomi stepped out of the taxi reaching into his pocket as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit up. The contacts were bothering his eyes and the wig was really itchy but at least he had been able to get the driver to listen to him without much coxing. Instead of himself getting up and take the pictures of the vehicles and their licenses plates he had convinced the driver to do so. Money made the world go round and he had even used his own phone to take those pictures for him. Even sent them out from the guy's phone with a message to contact him through the normal means. Then had the man delete the contact information as well as the photos. It would make it easier in the long run if something happened, not that he expected anything to happen but the driver meant very little to him personally. His sweet Hana might think he was something special and caring but that was far from the truth, no more than Reino's thoughts of him being a heartless monster was completely the truth. The rest of the world could burn for all he cared, there were only a few people he would give a damn about and only one of them had never feared him, not once.

Leaning against the taxi his eyes took in the area around him, just like everywhere else he had looked the cameras here were fake, there was only one working camera in the whole place and that was at the entrance and exit of the ramp and from what he could see when he had looked into that little room, it wasn't even that good of a camera either. It wasn't aimed at license plates or even the drivers, no it was one a bird eyes view of roofs. 'No wonder they would pick this location' based on the scents around him, he was sure this place was used rather often for dropping off of illegal goods. It was the sort of place that the top dogs would never bother to use, well unless they were planning to kill someone and even then they had better locations. No people like his father, his uncle, even his aunt would never be caught dead in this sort of location, there was no class. Most of all it reak of someone who was full of desperation not to be caught. Scared of being seen, being caught, but at the same time, it had its place. Switching vehicles in these sort of places, that would fit even with his own family standards.

He blew a cloud of smoke above him as he closed his eyes, 'If she's in Heth's hands, I wonder if he realizes exactly who she is. No, that man isn't smart enough to get someone of her status. Not without help. So who is his puppet master?' It would be one thing if she was who she had been born and raised as, but now she was with the Takarada family. From what he could tell that Takarada family had been a powerhouse family long before LME creation even before they had married into the Williams family. No, perhaps it was better to say it wasn't so much the Takarada family but the blood that ran through those veins, a bloodline that came from the mother of Leiko Takarada-Williams. Outside of being with his own family, there was likely no place safer for his Hana. 'So why are they being so damn slow? Unless they refuse to accept an outsider.'

Tomi threw the butt of the cigarette onto the ground as the driver looked at him from inside the taxi, he heard the window go down. 'What is taken him so damn long?'

"Umm... Sir..." Tomi's eyes turned slightly to look at the man who was leaning over the passenger seat. "Are we going to stay here much longer?" There was a fear almost a panic.

Tomi looked away from him. "You're being paid for your time."

The driver bobbed his head up and down, which he could see from the side mirror on the passenger side door "Yes... yes of course. Then we... we are waiting here then?"

Tomi's eyes were drawn to this man with his head moving up and down like bobblehead dolls before he sat straight in his seat. His own mind starting to turn and question how to make a living one. Something he was sure to find once he got his hands on whoever had taken his Hana. Pulling out another cigarette and lit it, it was not going to do him much good staying here. He knew that but without having more information at the moment there wasn't much to do. Moving from this location right now seemed stupid, but he really wanted to know what was taken his contact so long. 'Should I pull Kuon further into this?'

That was the biggest question that kept echoing in his mind. Kuon had been shattered it seemed when Rick had died and with his own personal view that if you were going to allow yourself to be weakened by another, then you better be able to protect them with all you had. Otherwise, the only choice left was to make the bastard that hurt them pay a very heavy price. Reino's question about why he didn't do anything for Kyoko played in his mind once more. The answer to him was simple, he couldn't allow those he cared about to be weak, they had to be able to fight and want to fight. While a part of him still cared about Kuon, the man he was now was no longer was acceptable in his mind. Rick's death had broken him and the fact that Kuon understood that while not truly at fault, it was his own actions that had caused it in the end. Had he not gone and chased after the man, Rick would not have been there. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction," but he had hoped that the death of Rick would not have broken him so. Just as a small part of him hoped that he could figure out a way to help the boy.

"Yes..." it was clear that the man wasn't sure how to respond to the statement and it wasn't as if Tomi was looking for him to do so in the first place.

Tomi pulled out his phone, checking for any miss messages, there was none as of yet. His mind wandered for just a moment before smirking, "A huy li?" It could turn out better than he hoped and if it didn't well at least he would know the answer that had been bothering him from some time. "Little strokes fell great oaks.; Time conquers all."

Has your friend given you any more information? - Tomi
No - Kuon
I'll be sending you something from another number, send those images to your friend. I want the information back first. - Tomi
Fine - Kuon

He could tell that the young man was not happy with the choice as he leaned through the car window "Give me your phone." The man eyes widen for a moment but he did as he once again texted the man he had sent those images to, it didn't take long for the man to resend the images and he sent them quickly to Kuon's number before once again deleting them but not before informing him to not contact him on this number. Once done he threw the phone back at the driver and walked away, there was one more place he wanted to take a closer look at, not that he thought it would lead him anywhere but better safe than sorry.

"Um, sir... do you want me to wait?" Tomi turned to look at him and smirked and the man gulped and nodded, "Yes... I think I'll stay here and wait for you, sir. Thank you, sir."

Kyoko's body felt far too heavy, it was if someone was laying on top of her and they had at least two other people on top of them. The bottom of a dog pile only she was sure even that wasn't right. She tried to live her arm, but she found herself unable to do so. It was almost as if she didn't need to breathe and that scared her and fascinated her at the same time. 'Am I dying?' For some reason she figured that if she was dying she would be trying to gasp for air, trying to fight it more. Besides she didn't feel cold and didn't they all say that everything went cold, that the world around them closed? There was nothing like that, while she couldn't open her eyes, while her breath seemed far to slow and while even her body was heavy. The rest of the world was loud and clear to her, every little movement made was clear in her mind.

Taken a deep breath to try and clear her mind once more she found that it like her desire to pace was not going to happen. 'How annoying' she could hear the muttering of at least two people in the room. Likely people who were there to guard her. 'As if I can do anything right now...' she was sure of one thing she was drugged. The idea of the exact drug echoed in her memories as she allowed herself to be pulled into the comfort that the memory would bring her if nothing else.

I sat there staring at the cover of the Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie. The cover itself was nothing impressive there really was nothing to have drawn my attention to it. Other than the title itself. Yet even that had it been before I had known Tomi would not have been enough. It was simply the fact that it was Tomi's that had drawn my attention to the book. His large collection of medical books and references books weren't even uncommon but I couldn't wrap my head around the fact he had one about zombies. So I found myself sitting there mindlessly flipping through the pages, not really reading anything written within but looking for little notes that perhaps Tomi had made. He did at times make small little notes but they were rare and for the life of me, I was hoping this was one of those rare moments I would get to look into how his mind worked.

"Are you planning to become a zombie?" My head snapped upwards and right into red eyes that seemed to glow in the light, reminding me once again of rubies not that I had ever seen real rubies but that's what they always reminded me of. I shook my head before looking back down at the book.

"Are you planning to make zombies?" He pulled the book from my hands and sat it on his desk before sitting down in his chair. He was silent and I accepted that he might not actually answer me, it was just how he was and I was comfortable with his silence and his comfort his presence and knowledge of the life I found myself in that it gave me.

"It is an interesting subject, living zombies," he said after a while and I found myself looking towards him as he reached in to pull out a cigarette his eyes turned towards me before a small smirk played across his lips as he placed it unlit in his mouth. He knew I would not complain if all he did was leave it there unlit and it seemed he wanted to talk to me at the moment not annoy me. "They use this method you know to transfer flowers. Roses included."

My eyes widen at the thought of becoming a mindless drone, even if I wasn't dealing with the rotting of flesh that I had seen in one horror movie that had completely turned me away from all horror movies afterward. I didn't want that sort of future, being mindless... then the thought of perhaps that not being so bad crossed my mind before his hand fell upon my head.

"I would not allow you to become like that while you are here." That caused a faint smile to cross my features "but you need to know... they don't have the balance straight. They tend to use someone else to perform this, someone with far more knowledge and understanding of the making of a zombie. That is not always the case. It is wise that should you find yourself in this stance, you do not panic, and most of all you do not let them know that you are coming too. If they learn that... they might up the dosage and that could end with your death. Do you understand?" All I could do was nod my head.

The sound of the door slamming open and someone grunting in pain brought me back out of the comfort of my memories. "What the hell do you mean, I can't have her? She is mine!" Heth's voice echoed around her causing a small panic of fear to build up inside of her, she tried to push it back down knowing that it would do her no good even if she wasn't drugged in a death-like state right now.

A/N: A huy li? - Russian for "why the fuck not?"

Little strokes fell great oaks.; Time conquers all. Basically meaning that you can bend another to your will if you do it gradually.

I could have gone about several ways to have a paralysis state and unconsciousness this was the one I chose because the subject matter on 'living zombies' always interested me.