Like a Cloud in the Wind
By Meganes Ultimate Fangirl
Chapter 7 – Everything Wrong/Guessing Games
– Kaydence –
Someone tell me what is wrong with this picture.
A girl, locked in a hole in the ground with no way to escape. She's so sick she can barely move. Her food source is depleting rather quickly and she can't hold down any of that food even when she does eat it. She hasn't been in contact with anyone in nearly a week. Not even her kidnappers. She's utterly abandoned.
That's right.
All of it's wrong. You'd think that if they were holding me for ransom they would at least keep me in better health. Or maybe this was all just a ploy to guilt my father into giving them more money. Yeah, that was probably it.
And yet, I still had no clue what was happening in the outside world. I had no clue what was happening to me or if I'd even survive. And at the moment, I was so exhausted and dehydrated from vomiting every few hours that I couldn't move and didn't care to.
Bloody hell. Everything that could possibly be wrong was wrong.
– Kyoya –
As soon as I could, I visited with Layne once more. He was not a happy person at all. Rather, he was distressed and angry. The distress, towards his missing daughter and the ransom he had received. The anger, towards me for not finding said missing daughter. "Bloody hell, Ohtori!" he bellowed. I stared at him calmly. "What have you been doing all this time? Eh?"
"Looking for Kaydence," I said stiffly.
"Sure as hell doesn't look like it! Looks more like you've been running around with my niece!"
"Uncle Lay-!" Koharu started to protest defensively, immediately being cut off by Layne.
"Don't you dare 'Uncle Layne,' me, Missy!" he snapped, pointing a finger at her. "I know that you've been with him practically all the time! I have no clue what you were doing but you hang around him whenever you get the bloody chance to!"
"We're looking for Kaydence!" Koharu yelled at him. "We're looking for her! And you know what? We almost found her! But they moved her before we could get there!" He stared at her, then looked at me. I glared back at him. Koharu looked like she was about to break down again. "We're looking for her, Uncle Layne," she breathed, her face contorting in anguish.
He gazed at her like he was looking at his own daughter. Then he let out a soft sigh and held his arms open for her. "I'm sorry," he murmured, stroking her hair as he held his niece.
"I want her home as much as you do," she choked, burying her face in his chest. I felt like I was intruding on some sort of personal family moment. I stood there awkwardly, twiddling my thumbs. I noticed that I got no apology for being accused of not doing everything in my power to find Kaydence. Figures.
Layne looked over his niece's shoulder at me. "Find her. Find her quickly and make sure she's safe. And if you endanger Koharu, I'll kill you myself," he growled, "I don't want to give over half my fortune to those bastards. But I will. Only as a last resort, though."
I nodded stiffly while Koharu pulled away from Layne and kissed him on the cheek, returning to my side.
–
Inspiration struck nearly five days later when Koharu mentioned something right before club. "Kyoya? Is it possible that you could pull the license plate number from the van?" The van on the satellite images! We might just be able to get a look at the damn license plate number if we could make the picture sharp enough. Why didn't I think of it before?
"Maybe," I muttered, "I'll work on it. You should get to your customers." She nodded striding away.
Minutes later, I pushed away all thoughts of club profits and pulled up the saved satellite images from the day we had stormed the cabin. I saw Koharu glance over and catch my eye, her eyes widening slightly before turning back to her customers. I clicked furiously. First, zooming in on the van. Next, sharpening the picture. I zoomed in more, trying to get a better look at the license plate. I sharpened it again, putting a box around the one portion where the plate would be and pulling it into a program to right it.
The plate was at an odd angle. So the program I set in it could only face it forward and give me possibilities. The first three letters on it were absolutely certain though.
XCF.
Koharu excused herself, taking the teapot with her as explanation. A few moments later and she was standing behind me, watching my computer screen as I typed furiously. Her hand was gripping my shoulder.
White vans with the license plate number starting with XCF came up with 5 results only 2 of which were said to be in Japan currently. Koharu's mouth dropped open as she read the screen. "Does that say what I think it does?" she asked, pointing at what she was referring to. My eyes traveled to the point of her index finger.
"That bitch," I growled under my breath, reading who it was registered to.
Rayu Hizuna. Kiyoko Hizuna's younger brother.
"But... Isn't that Arthur's wife or something?" she added, moving her finger downward. I felt a lump in my throat.
Angela Smires. The wife Arthur Smires had killed 11 years ago. I would have thought that the registration would have been changed to a different name since she had died but it hadn't.
It could be either of those stupid vans that had transported Kaydence to a new location. Either of them could have been the one that was used to capture her. So, instead of guessing, I called the chief. "I want someone trailing white vans with the license plate numbers XCF-207 or XCF-942," I stated with an irritated edge in my voice. "If either of them go anywhere suspicious or are driven by either suspect I want them taken into custody and reported to me immediately."
"Yes, Ohtori-sama." I hung up directly after that.
I glanced up at Koharu. She was biting her lip again with worry. I sighed softly to myself. "Koharu, don't worry," I murmured.
"What if whoever warned them before warns them again?" she asked, her grip on my shoulder tightening. I hadn't given the matter of who had warned them much thought. It could be anyone. More than likely it was the person who had hired the bastards in the first place though. I didn't have an answer to who it was so I didn't know how to answer her.
"I don't know," I replied gently. "We need to figure out who this person is though." She nodded in agreement, still biting her lip. "We'll work on that later. However, for now I want you to go back over and host with Haruhi, alright?"
She let out a reluctant sigh, but nodded with a small smile set on her face. She scurried into the kitchen, with the teapot still in hand. I turned back to my computer, slightly observing the room. Might as well get a head start on figuring out the mysterious boss.
–
"It has to be someone that has some sort of grudge against Kaydence or her father," Koharu insisted later that night. She was sitting across the couch from me in Kaydence's bedroom.
"Not necessarily," I retorted for the millionth time, "Likely, but not necessarily. It could just as easily be a family friend who is significantly more greedy." It was a weak retort. Koharu used this to her advantage.
"If they're greedy then they can still hold a grudge. If they're greedy then why kidnap Kaydence and not someone else? There's tons of rich kids going to Ouran. They could have kidnapped any of them. I think, whoever it was, was specifically targeting Layne and Felicity." I took off my glasses to pinch the bridge of my nose. She was so infuriatingly stubborn sometimes.
"Fine," I growled, "Who has a grudge against Kaydence's family?"
She started listing other families. And hell, were there a lot of them. This was really going to take awhile. "Jasonates, Palens, Usaris, Marcals, Fredericks, Fedics, Mercials, Pittals..." and the list when on for about another 10 names before she started to stumble over names. "There's more than that," she muttered to herself, "I know there's more than that." Her face creased into a solid frown of frustration as she stomped on the ground.
"It's a good start," I murmured. She opened her mouth to say something but my cellphone started vibrating furiously on the coffee table in front of me at that moment, the caller ID clearly saying, 4 – Chief Takamura. "Hold that thought," I breathed, holding a finger up with one hand while flipping the cellular device open with the other. "Yes?"
"We found one of the vans. The one belonging to Rayu Hizuna."
"And...?" I prompted, slightly anxious. I had a feeling that they hadn't found anything.
"It was in the driveway of the Hizuna home. We questioned the boy's father. He says that the van hasn't moved from the driveway in over two weeks. He even let us search it. There's no evidence of the girl or either suspect being inside it."
"He could have been lying," I said dangerously. "I still want it trailed, got it?"
"Yessir," he said stiffly as I pushed the end button and ran a hand through my hair. Koharu leaned over, taking the hand that was pulling at my hair.
"Nothing?" she asked, sounding hopeful that I was going to say they found something.
"Nothing," I confirmed, watching her face fall with a heavy heart. I had a feeling that Angela's van wouldn't be found any time soon. Which meant that we needed to find some other clue. I checked the police report on Arthur to see if there was any new sitings. I'd been doing this frequently over the last week or so, hoping for some sort of clue as to where they were.
Nothing. My hope fell and shattered on the cold hard floor.
– Kaydence –
For Christ's sake. I wished someone would just kill me. Being dead would be better than being so sick I couldn't sleep. No one should have to suffer this much. I kept having these delusions that someone was there with me, too.
One minute there would be someone sitting next to me with a warm washcloth next to me and the next, nothing.
I couldn't stand it. Normally I didn't mind being alone for days on end. But then I knew that there was always a possibility of coming in contact with someone in my family at least. Now, I didn't know when the next time I would see anyone was. And when I did see someone I knew that they would point a gun at my head or want to cause me bodily harm. I dreaded seeing the Ass Duo no matter how lonely I was.
I wanted to see my parents. And Pierce. And Tate. Even Kyoya and the rest of the Host Club, as annoying as they were. I was struck by sudden memories from my childhood. Ones of the extended family that I hadn't seen in so long.
"Come on, Kay!" a little girl with black wavy hair and blue eyes giggled as she ran for the swing that was hanging from a tree in a very spacious backyard. She was faster than me, so she beat me to sitting down and starting to pump her legs. "Push me!"
I gave her an evil look and pulled the swing back way over my head. She looked slightly pale. I was short but for two 8-year-olds almost 4 feet 8 inches is still pretty high. I giggled as I let go, listening to her scream of slight terror turn into one of laughter. "Higher!"
I pushed her as hard as I could when she swung back. After a while my arms started getting sore. "Koharu! My turn!" I pouted with a slight whine in my voice. Koharu grinned and nodded, dragging her feet on the ground when she could. When the swing started to lose momentum she jumped straight off and tumbled to the ground. "Haru! Are you hurt?" I ran over to her. She was rolling around laughing when I reached her.
"That was fun!" she exclaimed, smiling up at me. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. A boy who looked a lot like Koharu ran out, looking frightened. He must have seen his sister on the ground through the window from the kitchen. "She's fine, Yuigo!" I called, grinning from ear to ear before pulling Koharu back over to the swing. "Your turn to push me!"
I could feel eyes on me and looked over at the porch where my grandfather was watching me. I gave him a big smile before turning back to the swing.
I missed Koharu. I hadn't really thought about her much lately, what with the chaos of school and everything. But now I realized that I missed her and Yuigo. Not to mention Uncle Yamato. And Acelin. And Emily. And Rose, though she had only been about 2 the last time I had seen her. And Caitlin. Even those damned twins that had wreaked havoc on my life since Yamato had adopted them.
I missed them. And my grandparents. God, I'd never missed my extended family so much. I could suddenly taste Grandma's cookies in my mouth and hear Grandpapa's voice singing me and Koharu to sleep. Mother's side of the family had always been more open, being Italian. Father's side was more reserved and didn't really get as close to Pierce and I as they should have. They were the British ones.
We'd lived in Britain most of our lives, so I hadn't really had that much time to spend with my Italian Grandparents. But the memories with them and Koharu were the ones that I remembered right now. And it made me want to cry.
I was freezing, too. Which didn't help my loneliness or my sickness. I drew Kyoya's jacket tighter around me, shivering. I prayed that someone would find me. Anyone. Just as long as they could get me home. Just as long as I could see the family that I missed so dearly.
– Kyoya –
I sent a BOLO out on Angela's van as well as Alrod and Arthur Smires. If anyone saw them then that would most certainly be a clue. If someone saw them, we'd rush to the spot. So far it had turned up with nothing, but it had been out for two weeks. I checked it almost obsessively, most times with Koharu watching over my shoulder.
"Dammit," I swore when we came up with nothing for the billionth time that week. Nearly a fourth of the time that we had before Kaydence was killed had disappeared. Layne was on my tail again. This was stressful. Somehow I had managed to keep up with my ambitions to inherit Father's business.
The hand that was wrapped in mine squeezed gently. I looked up at Koharu. She was smiling softly but sadly. "How many times have I told you not to stress yourself out?" she murmured, stroking her thumb over the back of my hand.
I smirked. "Too many," I replied, slipping my hand out of hers so I could wrap the arm around her. "I'm not that stressed, Koharu. Don't worry about me."
"I'll tell you to stop stressing yourself out when you stop telling me not to worry," she retorted. "I have the right to worry, Kyoya. She's my cousin. And you're my boyfriend."
I sighed but nodded in consent. "Alright, alright," I muttered.
–
I went to the library during lunch on Monday. Koharu went home to have lunch with her twin brother Yuigo. Tamaki had tried to drag me to the cafeteria to eat with the rest of the club but I had refused very thoroughly.
I opened the top of my computer and turned it on. It had been taking longer to boot than normal lately so I was having to run virus scans. Nothing had come up on any of them but there was definitely something that was making it slower. I pulled up the BOLO updates, pulling out a water bottle while waiting impatiently for the page to load. I really had to get all the evidence that I had collected backed up on a flash-drive just in case someone was trying to infect my computer to erase it.
When the page finally loaded I almost dropped the water bottle that I had halfway to my lips.
There was a hit. There was a goddamn hit. I fumbled for my phone and pressed Chief Takamura's speed-dial. "Send men to the location I'm about to send you. I want every nook within a five mile radius searched. I'll be right behind you."
"Hai Ohtori-sama!"
I hung up, sending off the map to the chief's phone. I closed the lid of my computer and shoved it into my backpack before taking off. I called Koharu. "I'll be there in less than five. Be ready," I murmured.
"You found something?" she breathed.
"Perhaps. We'll see when we get to Sendai. Or rather south of Sendai," I replied shortly, taking long strides.
"See you soon." She hung up. I ran into Tamaki before I managed to get outside the school.
"There you are, Kyoya!" he exclaimed.
I glared at him. "Can't talk. Tell our teachers I'll be out the rest of the day," I muttered, pushing past him. The idiot followed me.
"Where are you going?"
"Kaydence," I said shortly, leaving him in the dust as I pushed through the front doors, into the courtyard.
–
As soon as Koharu was in the car I pulled her closer and showed her my computer screen with the map still open. "Isn't that part of the area that you traced the ransom to?" I nodded. "Which is why you think she's there somewhere."
Again I nodded. "Very good," I murmured, squeezing her. She smiled at me. I smiled back, gazing down at her.
"But there's no buildings in that area. Just rocks and beach. A cave perhaps?"
"That's what I was thinking," I replied. She nodded thoughtfully. "I think she's there, Koharu." She sighed and put her head on my shoulder. Soon she was asleep.
I couldn't help thinking how lucky I was to have her.
–
I nudged Koharu awake as we pulled up to the last siting of Arthur and Alrod Smires. "Koharu," I breathed in her ear. "Koharu, we're here." She groaned, pushing her face into my shoulder. I smirked and squeezed her hand. "Time to wake up."
"Kyoya!" she moaned as I pulled away from her and pulled myself out of the car. She followed albeit reluctantly.
"Family who was walking down the beach caught site of them getting into a white van right around this area," an officer filled me in as Koharu came up behind me, yawning tiredly. "They didn't see anyone else with them."
"And the search?" I asked curtly.
"Nothing so far, sir. We're still searching though."
"Good. As soon as you find anything tell me." He nodded, saluting me quickly before taking off again. Koharu looked pale but hopeful when I glanced down at her. "You ok?" I murmured. She nodded, placing her head back on my shoulder. "Tired?" She nodded again. "Come on. Let's look for Kaydence."
–
"Sir!" someone yelled. I spun around, seeing an officer running toward me. "Sir! We found something!" He reached me several seconds later, huffing and trying to get his breath back. "We... We found this," he choked out between breaths. He held up what it was. I stared at it. Koharu covered her mouth.
It was a silk jacket. My silk jacket. From my suit.
"Where did you find it?" I demanded quickly.
"Over this way," he muttered, taking off with long strides in the direction he had come. I took Koharu's hand and hurried after him. He lead us down a bike trail. We could see the ocean just over a ridge of rocks. After a bit we came to a stop by a cliff. "We found it here, Sir."
She was close. I could feel it. She was so incredibly close. And most likely the Smires brothers had probably left her here. Hidden, ill. They couldn't easily hide here themselves. My guess had been that she was tied up in a cave somewhere and they would return frequently to make sure she was still there and to feed her. I hated thinking about what might be happening to her. What might already have happened to her.
The only way we would find her now that we were so close was if she called for us. So I stared yelling. "Kaydence!" The officer seemed alarmed.
"Sir! You might alert the perpetrators of our presence!"
I glared at him. "And you really think that we'll be able to find her without her response? She's sick. I doubt we'll find her by listening for her movement or something else equally unlikely." He backed down. "Kaydence!" I bellowed again, cupping my hands around my mouth. Koharu joined me.
We yelled until it started getting dark about half an hour later, wandering around on the beach, up and down the trail. "Kyoya," Koharu murmured, "I... I don't think she's here. Or if she is she can't hear us." I shook my head.
It didn't make sense. She had to be here. The clues pointed to this location. Or somewhere close to it at least. "Kaydence!" I yelled again.
For the first time I thought heard something. "Kyo-," Koharu started. I shushed her.
"KAYDENCE!" I shouted as loud as I possibly could.
"Kyoya!" came a very distant scream. Mine and Koharu's eyes shot to each other.
"You heard that, too right?" she breathed. I nodded, feeling something akin to relief flow into my veins. She was here. I had known it. Now we just had to locate her. I started running in the direction of the scream, Koharu close on my tail. "Kaydence!" she yelled as we ran through some trees. There was no reply this time. My blood turned cold. That couldn't be good. She couldn't be lost again now that we were so much closer than the last time.
There was a road on the other side of these trees if I remembered the map correctly.
A road that could very easily be used as an escape route. A few officers had followed us. "Make sure that road's blocked off!" I directed as screeching tires sounded somewhere farther up the road.
–
A/N: Kudos to: Illogical Human, Rixiroo, thearistocrat, TwilightFever-FutureCullen, KageNoNeko, Moonstarr394, and Koharu Veddette. I checked my email as soon as I got up on Monday and found 10 messages, 6 of which were new reviews. I just about died with happiness.
I found it quite amusing that tons of people liked the idea of Kyoya/Kaydence more than Kyoya/Koharu. (So... many K names.) Also, sorry for not replying to any reviews. I've been a busy little bee lately. Just keep looking out for new chapters and the plot will reveal itself to you~
The little swing memory of Kaydence's was inspired by my own memories of my sister and I swinging on a swing that my grandpa made in his backyard. Once I fell off and my sister was scared that I'd hurt myself but I was laughing when she finally got over to where I was.
So I lied. I got this finished in one day. Because I was utterly bored. My vast amounts of doctors appointments start on Tuesday (JOY). And I'm trying to pull an all-nighter now. Yay me. Well... Y'know, it's not like I have to be at school anytime this week....