Chapter 2: Trust issues

"First things first Mr. Winner." Shadow said politely to the still bound Quatre. "On behalf of myself and the whole gang, I would like to say I'm sorry about this whole mess and that we are extremely embarrassed by the actions of our littles." Shadow shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "They thought they were doing a good thing and they will be punished for their actions." He looked up at Quatre and noticed that the blond's eyebrows were almost to his hairline, good, he'd gotten his attention.

"Well, this is different." Quatre said in a bemused tone of voice. "So then, what happens now?" He wondered if they would just take the opportunity and run with the plan to ransom him back as a hostage, or…well, he couldn't really think of what else they would do.

"We're taking you back of course." Shadow said in an 'isn't it obvious' tone of voice. "There's a catch though" Shadow's voice turned serious again.

'Here it comes' Quatre thought sardonically, now for the ransom demands.'

"If we are going to be able to get you back to where you belong in one piece I'm going to have to ask you to cooperate with us in every way. I will be the one leading you back, through enemy territory might I add, and without an escort you'd be lost in a minute flat. So trying to get away and go back on your own would be a very bad idea."

Quatre was shocked. No threats, no ransom demands, just an apology and an escort home, this was defiantly new. One thing was bugging him though. "How do I know I can trust you? I don't know you, and your gang members were the ones that kidnapped me in the first place!"

Shadow looked slightly insulted. "Hey, I may steal and fight but I never lie! None of the gang does, our leader would never allow it." He stood up straight with his feet firmly planted, his hands on his hips and his head held high, utter conviction and self assurance pouring from him in waves.

For some reason the pose looked familiar to Quatre but he couldn't place where he'd seen it from before. He tried reaching out with his space heart to test the young man's trustworthiness and came up short when he ran into what felt like a wall surrounding Shadows' mind. Quatre was amazed, this boy, who looked no older than fourteen had shielding around himself that was almost as complete as his own, it felt like a smooth wall that was hard and flexible at the same time. He found himself wondering who had taught the boy or if he was self-taught before he hauled his train of thought back on track. This was no time to be woolgathering, get back to the guys and then he could think about the strange boy as much as he wanted.

"How do you know you can trust me?" Quatre asked. "Even though you don't lie doesn't mean that I don't. I could turn you in to the cops as soon as we get back." He knew he wouldn't if the boy stuck to his word but all in all he figured it was a fair question.

"You won't." Shadow said matter of factly. "The boss said that I could trust you if you agreed to the plan, so I will."

"You'd trust your boss that much?" Quatre asked incredulously, impressed in spite of himself by the level of loyalty this 'Boss' inspired in his people.

"He's my dad. I trust him with my life and everything else."

While Quatre was still letting that sink in there were two sharp knocks on the door. When he looked he once again saw the violet lens covered eyes at the eye slit, they were only visible for a second but Quatre was sure they had darted to him before they disappeared once again.

"Alright." Shadow said abruptly. "That's that. So what's your choice gonna be Mr. Winner? Are you going to trust me and go home or are you going to be stubborn and wander off by yourself?" Shadow was both chipper and expectant. It seemed like he couldn't wait to get started, he even began bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly with his hands on the back of his head and a smile on his face. Again Quatre felt a strange sense of déjà vu, why did this scene feel so familiar? Whatever it was was enough to sway Quatre's decision.

"Ok, let's go."

Shadow grinned widely. "Cool, you won't regret this Mr. Winner." He said as he stepped forward and started undoing the knots, in a matter of seconds Quatre was free and rubbing the feeling back into his wrists while standing up and stomping his feet a bit to return full circulation to his feet.

"Please," Quatre said, smiling at the youth. "Call me Quatre. I think the whole kidnapping/taking me home thing kinda voids all need for formalities."

"Alright, Quat're, will do." Shadow said with a slightly toothy grin and somehow Quatre got the feeling that he had just opened the floodgates on a bunch of new nicknames. Again with the déjà vu. Wonderful, just bloody wonderful. He was starting to get sick of that feeling and he had a hunch it was only going to get worse as the day went on.

Shadow went to the door and opened it enough to stick his head out, across the room he spotted Shin watching the door and gave him a quick thumbs up to let him know that Quatre had agreed to the plan. Shin smiled, nodded, pointed upward with three fingers at the ceiling and faded back into the shadows.

'Good,' Shadow thought. 'We'll have backup from the rooftops.' "Come on Quatre, let's get you home before you family worries about you too much." He said, waving Quatre toward the door.

They left the small holding cell and walked toward one of the side doors at the other end of the entryway. To Quatre it looked like a smallish warehouse with doors everywhere and a second level above them, every now and then he could catch the sound of whispers, though they were able to walk unhindered through the door into an alley way. Out in the alley there was another surprise waiting for them. Three familiar boys where waiting with hangdog expressions on their faces. The youngest of the boys stepped forward when the door closed behind them.

"Sorry." He whispered looking very kicked puppy-ish and fiddling nervously with the blue tie on his short, shoulder length black braid. "It'll never happen again, I promise. Sorry."

There was no way Quatre could stay mad or even upset when faced with that look. It made him feel like he'd just told the kid that Santa Clause was dead. "It's alright. As long as you promise this was a one time thing we'll call it good, ok?" He asked quietly, not wanted to scare the boy off.

At Quatre's words the boy's face split into a grin. "K!" He chirped as he dashed back to where the other two boys where waiting for him "Thanks mister!" he called as he waved and all three disappeared behind some boxes.

Quatre heard a chuckle and turned his head to see Shadow shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "That kid, I swear…" He sighed fondly and reached out to tug lightly on Quatre's sleeve. "C'mon, let's get out of here before they come back and try to pick your pockets or something."

"They'd do that?" Quatre asked surprised. "Even after all this?"

"Hey, they promised not to try and kidnap anybody again, they never said anything about the other stuff, you're fair game for pick pocketing." Shadow was trying to look serious but the twinkle in his blue eyes gave him away.

Quatre sighed 'Kids.' He figured that pretty much summed it up right there.

Shadow had the route they would take to Dealers Alley all planned out in his head, they would have to pass through about four different gang territories and only three of them were on friendly terms with the Sythes. The fourth gang, the Hawks, were definitely non-friendly. They hated the Sythes as much as the Sythes hated them Where the Sythes were like a family group or a pack of wolves, for a better analogy, with a definitive hierarchy and all age groups from babies to oldsters accounted for, the Hawks valued strength above all else. They had no honor and no scruples. This, Shinigami could have overlooked and they might have been at least on toleratable terms except for one big thing. If a member of the Hawks wanted something, or more importantly someone, it didn't matter who they were or how old, the Hawk would take them. It had only taken once but once was enough for the Hawks to have earned the Sythes eternal hatred. They had taken one of the littles and by the time Shinigami and the Sythes had found the girl it was too late to save her. They found out who had done the evil deed later, when the leader's brother had tried to emulate his big brother by attempting the same vileness with another young one from the gang. This time though the outcome was vastly different.

The Hawk overlooked three very important details when he attempted the abduction, all of them crucial to his continued survival. Mistake number one, he didn't realize that the Sythes had learned from the previous tragedy and no one was allowed to travel alone besides Shinigami himself, the smallest group that could leave their headquarters (affectionately called the Den) was three whenever the littles where involved, two adults could go by themselves and in some special cases an adult and an older kid where allowed to go in pairs but that was it.

Mistake number two was when he attempted the abduction of the then nine year old Shadow, it never occurred to him to fear the wiry, braided man next to him. And finally, mistake number three, the worst mistake the Hawk made thus far, he didn't know enough to fear the wrath of Shinigami. He knew the name, and he knew the reputation, but he didn't know how true the stories really were. That was the mistake that he would regret for the rest of his very short life.

When what was left of the Hawk was found by the others in his gang he was hardly recognizable. Only his necklace, the gang's identifying mark was untouched and the leader was able to identify the broken thing as his youngest brother. He was beyond angry that someone would dare to attack a member of his gang like that, until he turned the bloody lump over and saw the note nailed to his brother's forehead.

"This is your one and only warning." The note said in bold, clear penmanship. "Do not let anymore of your damn baby-raping son-of-a-bitch members on to our territory or all you'll get back will be pieces." The Hawk leader's hand trembled in rage until he saw the signature and the P.S., then the shaking became from fear. There, written in the dead Hawks own blood was the name Shinigami. "P.S." the note continued. "Before this piece of crap died, he told me all about what you did to Em. Be warned, nobody messes with what is mine. I'm coming for you, get your affairs in order and assign a new leader for your gang, you're just a walking around dead man."

The leader had immediately ordered the guard tripled and set everyone on alert, waiting for Shinigami to strike. He took the note's advice though and named his remaining brother as the next leader. None of the preparations and extra guards made a bit of difference though, when the next morning cycle began the leader was found dead in his room, his throat slit with a note on the pillow that read, "Justice is served". The majority of the Hawks, in a rare show of intelligence previously unheard of for them, learned from the mistakes made by the past leader and never attempted to snatch any child from the Sythes' territory again. That didn't stop them from doing it elsewhere and there were always one or two that were dumber than the rest that would try, but for the most part they left the Sythes alone. And, as a rule they left Shinigami alone completely, nobody wanted to be on his bad side.

'Oh yeah,' Shadow thought sardonically 'This is gonna be fun.' "Let's go." He said, tugging slightly on the blond's arm. "The sooner we get you back the better." All he could do now was hope that the Hawks would be busy with something else and not notice them. A slim hope but, meh, couldn't hurt.

And so ends chapter two, took me long enough I know, but at least I have the next chapter all down on paper. All that's left is to get it on the computer. Some things brought up in this chapter will be explained sooner than others, just be patient with me please. As always please read and review, the reviews are what make the plotbunnies come back.

-Kat