Being In Love Is Never Easy!
By: Sailorjj07
15. Chisao
A/n: Dang, this one's almost done. I don't want to end it on a really weird number, but then again, I have no reason to go on to 20. I'd say this story may have about three more chapters, but that MAY be pushing it. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!
Disclaimer: I do not own!
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Actions
(Me!)
Tory's heart had nearly burst when Iceman had suddenly exclaimed that Natalie had past out on the couch. Nadalia had sent a frantic e-mail to Iceman, and Iceman had read it with the same amount of panic in his voice.
"Did she say why?" Tory asked, getting up from his seat and making his way out of the restaurant. The rest of the group scrambled to catch up to him, not even sure where Tory was going.
"Tory, wait up!" Lan cried, since he had gotten to him before anyone else. Tory shook his head and Lan nearly stopped running at the terribly frightened look on his face. Lan was nearly afraid to ask: "What happened?"
"Natalie fainted on the couch. I have to go back to my Dad's house. Now." Tory told Lan, his voice firm, despite being thick with panic.
Worried Tory had apparently knocked Calm Tory off a cliff and made sure Angry Tory was there to watch. What had Natalie done to his best friend? Lan had never seen Tory act like this. Regardless, he had to let everyone know what was going on, "Hey, Natalie passed out!"
At Lan's word, the entire group began to sprint down the icy streets of Sharo's main city. Tory's Dad had a huge condo in a ten-story building, not very far from the restaurant the group had been eating at. The trip to the restaurant was about five minutes, but the trip back...Well, let's just say Tory made the trip in record time.
Tory's Dad tossed the house keys to Lan, who tossed them to Tory as they ran up the stairs two at a time. Once Tory reached his Dad's floor, he jetted to the end of the hallway, nearly dropping the house key in his rush to open the door.
The door popped open with a soft click and Tory shoved past it, his eyes falling on Natalie before he even made it down the three steps into the living room.
"Natalie!" Tory cried, all but sliding to his knees once he reached the couch. He gently took her hand in his, although he was breathing so heavily, he wondered if it would wake her. "Oh Natalie, honey...What happened?" Tory's voice was nearly choked as he looked down at her face, and immediately he noticed the lack of color in it.
"Tory! You made it! Tory, she-!" Nadalia was near to hysterics from her PET, trying not to cry. Tory could understand how she felt; he wanted to cry too.
"Tory! Is she alright?" Maylu was the next person to burst into the door, followed by Lan. How the boy had gotten BEHIND her in their race to Natalie, Tory didn't know, but right now, he didn't really care either.
"It looks like she's just resting, but look at her face," Tory's voice was soft, but filled with sadness. What had she found out that made her react this way?
"Yeah, it's awfully pale for her to just have fainted. You don't think she's sick or anything, do you?" Maylu came around to the other side of the couch and softly rested her hand on Natalie's forehead. "Her temperature feels normal."
"Well, how do we wake her up?" Lan asked, walking over to stand behind Maylu. Chaud walked in, carrying Yai in his arms, while Tory's Dad locked the door behind the group.
"I've got just the thing." Tory's Dad stated cheerfully, and with that, he walked quickly into the guest bedroom. Tory could hear his Dad rummaging through something in the bathroom, and watched as his father came back with a small vial.
"Ta da! Just the thing to awaken the fair maiden," his father grinned, and twisted the cap off the bottle, pulling out a small stick. He wafted the stick underneath Natalie's nose and began to count, "1...2...3-"
"Oh, that smells horrible!" Natalie cried, pushing Tory's Dad's hand away. She began to cough heavily while her eyes scanned the room, and finally her fit stopped. "Tory? I think I fainted."
Tory was relieved beyond belief, "Natalie, sweetheart, I know." Tory moved to the edge of the couch and in one swift motion, sat Natalie up and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her tightly, sighing deeply beside her ear before he whispered: "You scared me to death."
"D-Did I?" Natalie tried not to blush, but she failed miserably at it. Finally, she just gave up.
"Please don't ever do that to my heart again," Tory replied softly, pulling away from Natalie, who was still red in the face. Tory chuckled a little bit and went back to holding her hand, while the others crowded around the couple.
"So what did you find out?" Lan was the first to ask the question on everyone's mind. At first, Natalie's face went pale as a sheet, but slowly the color began to come back.
"It...It was Chisao."
There was a silence before the news really hit the group.
"Chisao?! That cute little kid who looked up to his big brother Dex like a god? Wow," Yai commented, not really believing her ears. Chaud, on the other hand, believed it completely.
"If he looked up to his older brother as much as you say he did, then I'm sure it truly is him."
"But I've never done anything-" Natalie began, but once glance at Mr. Froid's thoughtful look and she cut herself off.
"You were the person that was with his brother the most before his death. He probably thinks you caused his death," Tory's Dad nodded as he presented his hypothesis to the rest of the group. Maylu also nodded, in agreement. It made perfect sense.
"He must not know that we were really the cause of his death," Lan said quietly, and everyone heard the sadness in his voice.
"Lan, no one was the cause of Dex's death but Dex himself. You can't blame anyone but him. It's not our fault," Maylu replied, placing her hand on Lan's arm gently. He nodded and took hold of Maylu's hand, kissing her fingers softly.
"That makes me wonder what he really has against Natalie then," Tory's Dad was still focusing on the issue at hand, which made the others put their thinking caps on too.
"Like you said, I was the first and probably the last person he was around," Natalie leaned against Tory as she closed her eyes painfully against the memory. She remembered Dex's threat against her life, loud and clear, as if it had just happened.
"Besides us. Chisao wasn't there when Dex died, so he could only go by what the newspaper said," Yai was replaying every memory of that day in her head, but she couldn't think of one instant when Dex could have contacted Chisao.
"Wait," Natalie got everyone's attention as her violet eyes began to get cloudy with thoughts. Her mind was going a mile a minute and finally, her eyes lit up purple as she realized what probably happened. "What if Chisao knew Dex had become a World Three member?"
"He didn't. None of us knew until Dex told us directly," Maylu told Natalie, not seeing where she was going.
"Ok then...What if Dex never told Chisao, but...World Three told Chisao? Didn't he look up to his big brother a lot? You said yourself that Chisao wanted to be just like Dex."
Tory immediately caught on, "I saw how much he respected his brother with my own eyes. So what if World Three told and showed Chisao that Dex had been World Three? What if they offered to give him his brother's place in the organization; his brother's room and everything in it?" Tory's mind reeled at the amount of manipulation the World Three had used to ensnare the younger boy.
"So it was like some sort of inheritance in Chisao's eyes. Receive everything that was his brother's and become just like him. Chisao is trying to become him," Chaud shook his head at the boy's stupidity. The kid was a fool really. "In addition to getting everything that was once Dex's, he took his morals and values. And his navi, if that Gutsman was even real."
"He also gained his hatred for me, too," Natalie's voice was shaking as she thought about how Dex had hurt her. Why would Chisao want to do such a thing? He had only met her once anyway.
"So that's what this is all about? Chisao wanting to lash out on the people he thinks are responsible for his brother's death?"
"That's what it sounds like to me." Tory's Dad leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Kids these days were getting crazier and crazier.
"Me too," Maylu agreed, still holding Lan's hand. He was surprisingly quiet right now, but Maylu figured it was because his mind was trying to process everything. Goodness, even her mind was still trying to wrap around the idea that Dex's little brother was the cause of all this mess.
"So how do we stop him?" Natalie's question made everyone freeze up. No one had even thought that far, obviously.
"We'd probably have to catch him in the act." Tory started, but Natalie had an idea of her own.
"Or pay a visit to World Three," Natalie stated, her eyes darkly cold with a sliver of fear and determination.
Tory shivered slightly. It appeared that Natalie had a dark side she tried to force away as often as possible. Tory knew in his heart that Natalie was never truly bad, deep down, but he had caught himself wondering how the girl had gotten into such a bad group.
Now he knew why.
"They've probably moved their base by now," Chaud was watching Natalie and trying to fight the smirk from appearing on his face. He could tell Natalie was showing her World Three side and wondered how bad she had really been. As bold as the girl was with Tory, Chaud never thought she would be the type that was scheming and conniving.
Then again she had helped Maylu and Lan in their plan to stop Dex before.
"No, that's too dangerous!" Maylu cried, shaking her head as if to shoo the thought from her mind. She didn't want any more of her friends to get hurt or die; Maylu was afraid she wouldn't be able to handle it.
"Then what do we do?"
"I say we wait until the next time he strikes." Lan suggested, but Natalie and Tory immediately shot that idea down.
"Lan, we have no idea when the next time will be," Natalie started, and Tory had no problem finishing for her.
"Not only that, but I want this to be over and done with. I'm starting to get really frustrated with Chisao playing games with my life," Once again, Tory had pushed his usual self aside and let everyone see him angry. It was a rare sight to see and even Natalie looked surprised at the amount of anger showing on Tory's face. She squeezed his hand softly, and his face relaxed a little bit, although it was clear that he was still angry.
Tory's father couldn't help but laugh, "Haha, there's that anger of his. It always springs up on you and scares you to death because you don't expect it from calm, quiet Tory. But sometimes the gentlest creatures become vicious demons when those they love are in danger." Tory's father stood up, and continued, "I say you go pay a visit to the boys' mother. Go talk to her and see what's going on at home. Once there, I think you'll know where to go. It's not like the kid is as old as the rest of you are. Plus, I'm sure his mother tried to stop him from going to World Three like his brother. There have to be clues with her."
"What about his dad?" Lan questioned, already thinking of what to do as soon as they got back to Dentech. Tory's Dad gave him a good idea.
"Don't Chisao and Dex have different fathers?" Maylu added, and Yai nodded as she realized that they did.
"Yes, if I remember correctly. So should we go visit Chiaso's dad then?"
Chaud shook his head, "He's in jail." Everyone's head whipped over in Chaud's direction with an obvious question and he simply shrugged, "I have my connections. And I remember the story on the news. The man was a thief and a killer. He'll been in jail for a long time."
"But then Chisao-?"
"He wasn't really with his father. If I remember correctly, once his Dad was caught and arrested, Chisao had to move in with some of his father's relatives. That was on the news too."
Tory sighed, "So first we go visit his mother. Then we go from there, I guess?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Lan told everyone, and they all nodded in agreement. It sounded like a pretty good plan too.
That Night
Tory bolted upright in his bed, clutching his heart painfully. He was gasping for breath as he woke up from his awful dream and immediately his hands went to his eyes, which were surprisingly wet.
Tory had never cried because of a dream. He had woke up in a rush because of a dream, he had even had dreams that made his whole day brighter. But never, in his whole life, had Tory woken up crying.
What was his dream about? Natalie, dying in front of his very eyes. She had called out to him and he had reached for her; reached and reached, but somehow, he couldn't get to her fast enough. In a bloody explosion, she died before his eyes and all Tory could do was sob painfully as his heart felt like it had been ripped from his chest.
It seemed like forever as Tory sat there, trying to force the dream from his mind. Finally, he wiped away the last of his tears and crept out of his bed.
He had to see her right now. He had to make sure she was ok.
Tory felt his way through the darkness of his father's house. He knew his way around somewhat, since his Dad had given him a tour. But Tory didn't want to turn on any light, for fear that he would wake the others up. And even if he needed to see Natalie no matter what, he wasn't going to be rude to everyone else by waking them up with bright lights.
Tory reached the room slowly, but once he was there, he opened the door with a soft creak. He waited until he had shut the door just as quietly before his voice floated throughout the room.
"Natalie. Are you awake?"
Natalie had stopped being a heavy sleeper when the whole mess with Dex had begun. At the sound of Tory's voice, she sat up in bed, peering into the darkness. Natalie, Yai and Maylu had to share a room, as did the boys, but everyone had gotten their own bed to sleep in. Maylu merely rolled over in her sleep, not hearing a thing. Yai's snoring continued as well, so Natalie began to wonder if she was hearing things.
Then she saw a black patch move towards her and knew that she wasn't. "T-Tory?"
Tory smiled warmly in the darkness and gently sat down on the edge of Natalie's bed. For a moment, neither of them moved, making sure the other two girls were still asleep. Natalie slid to the left as Tory crawled in under her blankets, putting his arms around her waist and laying his head down on the pillow beside her.
"Natalie, I needed to talk to you," he whispered as he tucked her hair behind her ear. Natalie rolled onto her side and brought their heads closer together so she could hear him clearly.
"Tory, what's wrong?"
"Natalie, I need you to promise me that you won't do anything until we come up with a better plan." Tory's voice was firm even as he whispered to her and to make sure he had her attention, Tory turned her body until she was facing him. Natalie breathed softly, taking Tory's hands in her's.
"I can't promise you that," she replied, just as firmly.
"Natalie...Please..." Natalie could feel Tory's midnight blue eyes pleading with her without having to see them. She felt like she couldn't say no to that tone, but she was going to try to put up a fight.
"Tory, why?"
He hugged her tightly to him, murmuring into her ear, "Do you really not know how afraid I was today? I've never been so worried in my entire life. Well except for that time at the church..." Tory shook his head and continued, "Natalie, I just got you. I just found out that you feel the same way I do. I don't want to lose you yet. I can't."
"T-Tory..." Natalie's blush was bright and Tory ran his finger softly over her cheek, feeling the warmth behind his fingertip. "I don't want to lose you either. But I can't just sit by and let this keep going on. It needs to stop."
"You're right and it will. It'll stop when we stop it together. We need to do this together, Natalie."
Natalie fought back the urge to cry. Didn't Tory understand? She wanted to do this alone so that none of her friends would get hurt. "Tory, I don't want you to-"
"Get hurt? Sweetheart, if I get hurt, it'll be because of me, not because of you. Natalie, we have to do this together. And we have friends who will be very angry if we leave them out."
Natalie sighed, "You're right."
"Of course. So will you promise?" Tory released Natalie so he could look down at her. Even though he could barely see her in the darkness, he could feel her gaze on him and that was enough to keep him going, "Promise me that you'll wait until we have a better plan to move. Promise that we'll do this together."
Once again, Natalie released a slow sigh. She pouted a little bit, but nodded anyway, "Alright. I promise."
Tory was so happy he kissed Natalie then and there, until she was breathless and probably red in the face, "Thank you, sweetheart. Thank you so much."
Natalie giggled, enjoying Tory's thanks very much, "It doesn't take much to make you happy, does it, Tory?"
"When you're with me, everything makes me happy."
"Oh Tory," Natalie whispered, feeling her voice nearly catch in her throat. She leaned up and kissed Tory full on the mouth, and they stayed that way for a while, kissing and clinging to each other. With one final, sweet kiss, Tory crawled back out of Natalie's bed and went back to the room he was supposed to be in.
End Chapter 15