I FINALLY UPDATED. x.x Thanksgiving Break ftw
.. - change in point of view
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or Rikkai and I don't own Inception :(
..
Location: Apartment
Harsh sunlight streamed into the room through the thin curtains. Sanada was pacing around the room, dripping water in a convoluted pattern across the carpeting. He reached up and tugged a little at his soaked tie, ignoring the fresh stream of water that ran down his arm at the action. Renji handed him the man's gun from earlier and he turned it over in his hands, feeling the cold metal slip across his wet fingertips. "You seem to be inordinately prepared, Okubo-san," his low monotone filled the room.
"My head of security doesn't know of this place so I must prepare other methods of protecting myself," Okubo glared at Sanada from the chair in the middle of the room, "How did you find it?"
"You will find that there is little that I do not know, Okubo-san," Renji answered quietly, "Simply the right research. The right questions to the right person."
The man paused, "She would never."
Renji chuckled and gestured at the room around them, "And yet."
..
Yagyuu stared out the window, watching as the rioting mob drew nearer and nearer to the apartment. It looked like the security he'd set up wouldn't be enough.
Then again, none of them had expected Okubo's unconsciousness to react so quickly. His breath froze as he saw Yukimura's face in the crowd. But as soon as it appeared, it was gone. A trick of the light, he supposed. The glare of the sunlight off his glasses, perhaps?
He cleared his throat, "They're getting closer."
..
If Sanada heard the warning, he paid no heed to it.
"You got what you wanted, didn't you?" Okubo said indignantly, tugging slightly at the ropes that held him to the chair.
The former vice-captain's eyes narrowed and he momentarily stopped in his tracks, "No. There was something missing," he glanced down at the gun again.
Location: Train
Jackal rummaged in his jacket pocket before procuring a set of headphones and an iPod. He leaned over and slipped the headphones over Yagyuu's ears.
Location: Apartment
"You knew what we were doing," Renji came around from the beside the chair to where Sanada stood, still dripping water onto the carpet, "You held back the information on purpose."
Genichirou straightened from his scrutiny of the weapon and in two steps closed the space between him and Okubo. He reached out with the barrel of the gun and slowly pushed the man's chin up to look him in the eye, "Why did you let us in?"
The man laughed a little, "An audition. But it doesn't matter," he smirked, "You failed."
Sanada scowled, "I extracted everything you had."
"Too obvious," Okubo snorted.
Location: Train
Jackal scrolled through the iPod and smiled a little at the song title before pulling out and opening a silver briefcase like the one in the hotel room and opening it. His eyes sought out the four countdown timers buried in the complex network of tubes and syringes that sprung from the case. With one final look at the first timer, he hit play. Jackal studied his friend's face for any sign of recognition while his thumb deliberately traced around the scroll-pad of the device, turning the volume up… and up… and…
Location: Apartment
A steady bass began rumbling through the apartment, increasing with volume along with the mob that was now coming up the stairs.
Sanada stepped back from his charge and glanced at his watch. He pursed his lips and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Renji nod slightly before turning away. The large man took a deep breath before reaching out and seizing Okubo by the collar of his shirt. Sanada dragged him up and out of the chair before catching one of the other man's ankles with his own and effectively bringing him down onto the carpet floor.
..
Okubo stared back at the serious young man, pinning him to the floor. There was no doubt in his mind that his assailant would pull the trigger.
"The corporation who hired us will not accept failure," Sanada's hands tightened around his collar, "And I never do."
Location: Train
Jackal's eyes shot up to where Renji sat diagonal from him as the first timer hit zero. The data master stirred slightly.
Location: Apartment
Sanada clenched his jaw.
"Now, where has your friend gone?"
Upon noting the scowl on Okubo's face, Sanada swept his eyes around the room and realized belatedly that Renji had disappeared.
Location: Train
The data master lurched up from the train seat with a gasp and again began quickly, meticulously pulling the tubes out of his arms.
"How was it, Yanagi-san?"
The dark look that crossed Renji's face was all the answer that Jackal needed.
Location: Apartment
"The mob is… oh…"
Sanada turned his attention to Yagyuu when the former suddenly stopped mid-sentence. There in the doorway of the apartment, was Yukimura. He swallowed.
..
Okubo recognized the man at the door instantly and the gears started turning in his mind, "Well, well… you've outdone yourself," he laughed, "We're still dreaming."
Location: Train
"Did… did it happen again?" Jackal asked in low tones.
Renji looked up from examining the timers, "Of course it happened. It always happens." It was the closest the half-Brazilian had ever heard the other man come to growling.
Location: Apartment
"A dream within a dream," Okubo was still chuckling, "Who would have thought?"
Sanada bit his tongue to keep from yelling with frustration. He slowly got up off the other man and turned away.
..
"So… who should I take with me first? The Gentleman? Or the Emperor?"
Yagyuu felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise at his former captain's eerily sweet, terrifying voice. He watched the blue-haired man tilt his head in feigned innocence.
Location: Train
Renji bit his lower lip as he continued working at the device in the briefcase. His eyes darted up to the rest of the sleeping figures as the next timer hit zero.
Location: Apartment
Okubo looked smugly at Sanada's rigid back and tense shoulders. "Now, since this is my dream. I should be the one to call the shots, no?"
The purple-haired man seemed to have recovered himself and cleared his throat, glasses flashing in the sunlight, "That would be the case if this was your dream," his soft voice somehow reached him across the room. Two fingers pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and he inhaled slowly, his focus never leaving the blue-haired man who stood at the door at the head of the mob. "This dream," he swallowed as the angelic man began approaching him, with the rioters in tow.
By the time the businessman's attention returned to where Sanada had been standing, he found the young man already gone.
"Ah, Genichirou's left already? Well, I suppose you'll do. Ne, Yagyuu?" the man from Okubo's dream spoke again.
"This dream is mine."
Okubo whirled around in time to see the man called Yagyuu with the blue-haired man's fingers around his throat and the mob closing in on him before he, too vanished.
Location: Train
Yagyuu coughed and spluttered slightly, a hand instinctively coming up to his throat as he jolted awake. He reached up and straightened his glasses again before returning the set of headphones to Jackal.
The others who had awoken before him sat there in silence before Renji finally spoke up, "Well, there was nothing any of us could have done."
Genichirou uncrossed his arms and stood, "We should go."
Yagyuu sighed, "We had it under control."
..
"I'd hate to see out of control," Renji opened his piercing silver eyes.
After a moment's silence, Yanagi leaned over the silver briefcase again and pressed a button. The others watched as one of the syringes emptied before he pulled the tape and needle off of the still-sleeping Okubo's arm.
With a silent nod to Jackal, Sanada strode out of the compartment followed by the others. As soon as they stepped off the train, they all dispersed into the moving crowd at the station.
Okubo straightened up and rubbed his eyes. He was alone save for a bald, foreign-looking man who sat in the seat across from him by the window reading a tennis magazine and listening to music. Okubo looked down at his wrist at the mark left by the tape and then back at the foreign man's tennis bag laying across the seats next to him. A slow smile made its way across his face.
..
Thank you for reading!