Like a Cloud in the Wind
By Meganes Ultimate Fangirl
Chapter 10 – Virus/Dementia
A/N: It's so odd for me to think that this story's already reached 10 chapters. Anyway. On with it!
– Kyoya –
We found the Oldsmobile abandoned in a parking lot in Akita. Smart man. There were a ton of warehouses in use and abandoned that had once been used for old factories or storage. It would have been extremely easy to hide a sickly 16-year-old in that very city.
Finding the stupid vehicle had taken over a week. It's was the 29th of October. Less than a month left and we'd hit another dead end. Whoever the boss was, he had to be rather new to the criminal business. He had no record under his alias, Matte Hirostens. Police normally found out all known aliases for people once they were convicted and after that it was pretty hard to get a new one since your face would be remembered by citizen registrars everywhere.
Whoever this guy was, he was smart. But that didn't mean that I couldn't outsmart him.
– Kaydence –
When Tate came by again, I don't remember what happened. I know that I was still pissed at him. I was horribly, bitterly pissed at him. I still wanted him dead. But he was being all gentle again. Like he really cared and wanted me to be happy, no matter how trapped I was. I glared at his every move. He stared back at me fearlessly, smiling sadly the entire time. I shoveled applesauce and oatmeal into my mouth at the speed of light while I still had it, not knowing whether I'd chuck it up again later.
"I wish you could understand," he murmured as he sat by my bed. "I meant you no harm. It was Layne I was trying to get at."
I thought it better if I stayed silent.
"Honestly Kaydence, he killed my parents. It was one of his agents that hijacked the plane and caused the engine to fail."
"How do you know that?" I asked angrily. I was convinced that my father, as demanding and heartless as he seemed, was a good man. He cared about his family and his friends. Lillian and General Shireston had been two of his best friends. Why the hell would he have wanted them killed, even if it was, as Tate said, to take away their family fortune? Nothing made any sense. His excuses were flimsy and unreasonable.
"I... I just know. Do you really think that your parents would be so lenient to have me in their home for any other reason?"
"Yes, actually. You're the only son of Lillian and General Shireston, Tate. They were Father's best friends. It would only make sense for him to take in their son," I spat in reply. You idiot, open your eyes!
"You don't think he could have been using the best friends ploy as a cover to get to them?" he retorted skeptically. I threw my hands in the air and turned over.
"Get the fuck out," I grumbled, "You're impossible to bloody talk to, anymore." He sighed and leaned down to kiss my cheek. That was too much for me. I'd been holding back punching him since the moment that he walked in the room. But now he had just gone too far. I whirled around, curling my hand into a fist, and gave him a big fat sucker right in the nose. "Don't touch me," I hissed.
He stumbled back, gasping and cupping both hands around his injured nose. "Oww. Jesus, Kay. Were you trying to break my nose?"
"Depends," I retorted icily, "Did it work? And I thought I told you, you weren't allowed to call my Kay anymore."
He glared at me around his hands. Blood was seeping through his fingers. I had to smirk at my work. Now I knew how Alrod felt when he had sliced my hands up. That had definitely been a really nice stress release. I hardly even cared about the consequences. I'd eaten enough while acting civil with him to last me awhile.
"You," he started, his low voice shaking with anger. He cleared his throat and started again, "You're going to regret that, Malronda."
"Oh? Am I Shireston?" I growled in reply. We glared at each other for a moment. His hands were getting drowned in the blood pouring from his, most likely broken, nose. "I'd run along and fix that if I were you," I added snidely. The bastard deserved it.
He leaned in close, giving me the urge to give him a black eye to go with his swollen nose. "You... Are never going to be free. I'm going to keep you here until you die," he rumbled threateningly.
"Try me," I retaliated, staring hard at him with as much hate as I could muster in my entire being. If looks could kill, I wanted mine to make him drop dead right in front of me, screaming in agony and begging for mercy. I could put up with anything that he threw at me. Even if he did end up killing me when this was all over. I wanted him to know that he wouldn't win. I'd fight until the very end of this fucking charade. I was going to be the one that walked out of here alive. And when I did, I was going to leave his corpse in the dust.
– Kyoya –
"We have to keep everything for the investigation between Koharu and I from now on," I murmured, sitting in front of Kaydence's family. "Just to ensure that whoever the hell keeps warning those bastards that we're coming doesn't catch on again." Layne looked extremely unhappy with this idea as did Felicity.
"You don't think it could be one of your bloody officers?" Pierce asked, sounding slightly angered himself. He'd been on edge since Arthur had escaped at the hole with his sister in the back of his car. I didn't blame him, honestly.
"The officers that I entrust with any of my information have been working for my family for years. They know better than to betray us like that. Besides, whoever this 'Boss' is, he's either British or American. Most of my officers are Asian," I answered coolly. Pierce didn't seem convinced in the slightest. Tate had been glaring at me since the moment he had set foot in the room 5 minutes ago.
"You think one of us might have kidnapped her?" Layne asked in a low voice.
"I'm not accusing anyone. And I'm not trying to insult you by claiming that you'd kidnap your own family member. I'm just being cautious," I said, trying to sound reassuring. "Honestly, I don't want these guys to get away again."
"And how do we know you weren't the one that did this?" the deep voice of Shireston spoke up. I glared at him. He hadn't really seemed phased by the fact that his best friend had been missing for almost 2 months. He never seemed to be affected by it at all. Koharu already said that she never saw what Kaydence had seen in him. He actually was more into going out with Arisa than finding her, which was odd. Of my observations of the Kay and Tate they'd seemed really close, almost couple-like.
"If I were behind all this," I uttered coldly, "why would I be looking so hard for her and coming so close only to lose her?" Koharu's face was blank as she stared at my hard expression. I didn't like Tate. At all. And he didn't particularly like me either. Why? I had no clue. I'd never done anything to harm any way that his life was lived.
We glared at each other for a moment before Koharu cleared her throat loudly. "Kyoya. We should get going don't you think? Lots of work to do," she said, her teeth clenched in a way that told me to shut up and go along with it. I nodded once, standing.
"You'll have your daughter home before the ransom deadline," I told Layne, staring him straight in the eye as I made that promise. "I'm going to outsmart this bastard." He nodded once, dismissing me.
–
As soon as I was home I pulled out my computer and got to work. I was already exhausted due to Tamaki being so extremely eccentric with the theme and the stress that was already being placed on me by Kaydence's disappearance. I pressed and held the power button, watching the screen boot up pleasantly. I typed in my complicated log in password, the screen coming alive once I pressed enter.
I was about to open the coded file of case notes and evidence logged when a shrieking beep emitted from the laptop. I covered my ears quickly as the sharp noise assaulted my eardrums, watching the screen drop to pitch black. A second later it turned bright blue with white text, moving so fast I couldn't read any of it, running down.
A second later it fizzled bright white, changed to black and flashed the word TERMINATED in white before shutting down completely.
I stared at the blank screen. What had just happened?
I pushed the power button, thinking it was a minor malfunction. It half booted before it flashed the same TERMINATED message and shut down again.
"Shit," I muttered to myself, "that's definitely not good."
– Kaydence –
"That Ohtori bastard seems to like you a lot," Tate's voice floated over from the doorway, his voice bitter and full of absolute loathing. I glared in his direction, not bothering to sit up from my current position on the bed. His nose was swollen and bandaged, I noted smugly.
"He doesn't like me," I spat, "Anyone with eyes can see that."
Tate snorted. "He's still a bastard. He also seems to like you enough to keep looking, though he'll never find you." He was fiddling with something in his hands. "No, the only way he'll find you is if you're a dead corpse on his doorstep," he added softly, this demented grin crossing over his face as I finally realized what he had in his hands. It was a pocket knife with a stainless steel blade of about 5 inches. That could do some serious damage.
"At least he's better than you. In fact, I think he's twice the person than you could ever be," I retorted, staring at the blade in his hands apprehensively. He took a step forward. I jumped into sitting position on the bed, readying myself to fight him if I had to.
"A little jittery aren't you, Kaydence?" he asked with a cold laugh. "Yes, but you have good reason for that, don't you? I could easily take this knife here and stab you straight in the heart."
I swallowed, eying that bloody knife like my life depended on it. "You're crazy, Shireston," I whispered, "You're fucking crazy."
"What makes you say that?" he asked innocently, "Is it because you don't understand the workings of a broken heart?" I stared at him, my hair covering my eyes a little.
"W-What're you talking about?"
"Have you ever had your heart broken, Kaydence? Did Ohtori break your heart? Is that why you left?" He took another step forward. I slid against the wall, my knees on the mattress.
"You don't know what happened that night," I said, keeping my voice level. "Don't even try to understand what happened because you can't. It gets all twisted up in your sick little mind."
"You love him don't you?" Another step. I crept to the end of the bed.
"No." I kept my eyes on his hands and the blasted knife he was holding. "He's only... He's only a friend."
"Are you sure about that?" Step. I lifted my leg over the foot board and placed my foot flat on the floor.
"Yes." He was pissing me off. I could just feel my voice starting to rise inside me. He was trying to get a radical reaction out of me. If I had thought the Ass Duo were bastards, Tate was the demented cherry on top.
"Why did you kiss him then?" My jaw tightened. How dare he bring that up? How did he even know about it? He lifted his foot and placed it back down. I was a mere three steps from standing directly in front of me. I pulled myself over the headboard so I was standing with both feet on the floor.
"Shut up," I said, voice low and dangerous.
"Why did you kiss him if you don't lo–?"
"Shut up!" I yelled at him. "You bloody stalker!"
He laughed. The bastard laughed. "Stalker? You think I'm a stalker? I've lived under the shadow of your bloody family for three years. And you think I'm the stalker?" I didn't get how the two were related. He only had a year left with us. The moment he turned 18 he could do as he pleased.
"You're a fucking lunatic," I repeated, shifting my eyes to his face and back to the blade nervously. He was crazy. Connecting two completely unrelated things. I blinked and he was instantly in front of me, knife at my throat. His free hand had my wrist trapped against the wall. He was standing in such a way that his knife arm was keeping my other hand pinned to my side. I closed my eyes, swallowing. "I'm... I'm not afraid of you." I whispered, opening my eyes and staring straight into his.
"You should be," he growled, releasing me to slide down the wall to the floor. He left again without another word. I drew my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly. I rocked myself back and forth, eyelids fluttering closed.
I had to get out of here.
– Kyoya –
"Koharu? Do you have the case flash-drive?" I asked her, frowning as I held the phone to my ear. Damn computer had gotten a virus, as I found out after finally being able to get on and found everything wiped clean right before it shut off again. I was now very thankful that I had saved everything to the USB device that I kept in my bag.
The problem was it wasn't where it was supposed to be.
"No," she replied, the frown that was sure to be on her face clearly showing in her voice. "Can you not find it?"
I rubbed my temples. Great. Just great. "Unfortunately. I could've sworn that it was in my bag while we were at school."
"Can't you use the stuff on your computer?" I stiffened.
"Why do you think that I'm asking if you have it?" I asked softly, "My computer's permanently out of commission. It caught a virus. Wiped everything on it." This ticked me off more than anything. Now I'd have to recollect all the club profits and costs again.
"So, where the hell could that flash-drive be?"
I'd been running theories through my head. It may have fallen out at some point throughout the day, but nothing had been there when I checked the school's lost and found. I'd even searched the limo I'd taken home.
I may have misplaced it. But that was very unlikely. The last time that I had lost something by misplacement had been years ago.
The third theory I'd come up with was that someone may have stolen it. The only reason that I could think of for someone to steal it would be if they knew what was on it and it would affect them in some way. Meaning, whoever had stolen it would have to be Matte Hirostens.
I hesitated in telling Koharu this. "Well. It could have fallen out of my bag, though I've checked everywhere. I could have misplaced it, but that is so unlikely that it's almost not an option," I paused, wondering if I should tell her.
"You think... It may have been stolen?" she asked hesitantly. I closed my eyes.
"Perhaps," I murmured, "In fact it's most likely. Do you know what that means?"
"Whoever took it, is the Boss. Meaning, Matte Hirostens is someone we know," she worked it out out loud.
I nodded. "Yes. That's what I thought."
"It's narrowed down then to every British or American exchange student in the entire school, any servants," she paused, probably realizing at the same time that I was, "or Kaydence's family."
"That would be correct," I said quietly.
"Oh, my God," she whispered, "Can you make a list?"
"Not without my computer."
"Dammit," she muttered.
"I can get a new one ordered and shipped. But it will probably take at least a week to get here." I was already running through the names of all the British or American students in our class. There was only 4 including Kaydence, but in the entire school, if you assumed that there were 4 per class, 4 classes per grade.
That came out to 48. Plus the two British teachers, one American, Layne, and Pierce. 53, but that was assuming all 48 exchange students were male. I groaned to myself. "There's approximately 48 British and American exchange students in the entire school and three teachers."
She let out a loud groan. "There's no way that you can get the information sooner?"
"No one I know has a computer that can acce–," I broke off. Tamaki. The chairman could easily give us a class list.
"Kyoya?"
"I'll call you back," I muttered, pushing end and pressing Tamaki's speed dial. She was probably going to be mad about that later, but this was important. It took Tamaki two rings to answer.
"Kyoya! Whatever would Mother be calling me for?!" he exclaimed. I could feel a headache coming.
"Tamaki. Do you think you could get a class list for the entire school from your father?" I interrupted his ongoing speech.
He stopped abruptly. "Eh? Why?"
I hesitated. "Someone stole the USB I had case notes stored on. And my computer contracted a virus," I finally said.
"Ahh. Well, I think I could manage that!" he said cheerfully.
"If you could do it as soon as possible..." I trailed off. He would get it done. He may be an idiot but he was reliable when his task was important.
"Of course!" He was about to go off about commoners but I interrupted him again.
"Tamaki. Now. Get it done now," I muttered, hanging up the phone immediately after. No sooner had I hung up than the phone was ringing again. 5 – Koharu Yoshiiva. I flipped it open.
"Kyoya Ohtori! What the he–?" Just as I thought, she was angry.
"Tamaki's getting us a school-wide class list," I interrupted. She stopped immediately. "I apologize for hanging up on you but it was important that I ask Tamaki immediately." I heard her sigh loudly, causing me to smirk. She couldn't stay mad at me. "We'll have to go through it by hand, of course, but it's–."
"Better than nothing," she finished softly. I smiled. "Yes, it is. We'll work on it tomorrow then?"
"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow," I replied, "Goodnight, Koharu."
"Night, Kyoya." The line went dead. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. For the first time in years I had nothing to do and it wasn't even nine yet.
–
The next day, Koharu and I sat in my room, sifting through class lists and student files. Files of British or American students were placed in one pile while the rest were pushed aside. "God, this is taking forever," she muttered, barely audible. I nodded. We'd both known in would take a long time to do it by hand but it was necessary. I'd ordered a new computer and it would be a week before it was shipped to me even with rush delivery.
My back was sore. And Koharu was wincing every now and then. We were close though. So close to being finished with sorting. When I finally set the last page in its place, I leaned back against the couch. "Finally," she muttered, leaning back next to me.
"We still have to sort the British-American pile," I answered. She groaned and let her head fall to my shoulder.
"Did you have to do that?"
"What?"
"Shatter all my hopes of being finished."
I chuckled softly, gazing down at her. "We can take a break," I murmured, glancing at the clock. "You getting hungry?" It was almost 6. I was getting that gnawing hungry feeling in the pit of my stomach, which probably meant she was too.
"A bit," she mumbled, her stomach grumbling loudly to contradict the statement. I smirked.
"A bit?" I questioned skeptically.
"Alright, yes I am. Happy?"
"Extremely."
–
Having eaten, we returned to my bedroom and settled back down on the couch. "Kyoya?"
"Hmm?"
"Whoever did it is really somewhere in this pile aren't they?"
I nodded, glancing over at her. "In a way, they actually helped by taking all my case notes away," I muttered, trying to concentrate once more on sorting the 37 British-American files into males and females. "It narrowed down the suspects to males in our school instead of the entire country." She, once more, distracted me.
"Kyoya?"
"Yes?" I answered, getting slightly irritated now as I looked up at her.
"We'll find her," she stated, staring me in the eye. I nodded.
"I don't doubt we will." This was going faster than the last one had. Of course, we also had 37 to sort through instead of roughly 400. She watched me, not very easily able to interfere when there were so few to go through. I'd glance up at her occasionally. When I'd finished I added pictures of Layne, Pierce, and the three teachers, bringing the total to 25. I frowned at the files spread out on the table in front of me. Even with it narrowed down this greatly it was still a lot.
"Didn't Alrod mention something about dark hair?" Koharu asked suddenly. I looked at her and snatched my notebook off the couch next to me, rifling through it. I'd written all those notes in my notebook, I now remembered. I found the page and scanned through it quickly, nodding. "But how dark is dark?" she mumbled, frowning at the pictures.
"Most likely dark brown or black," I muttered, immediately pulling Layne and Pierce from the suspected. Both had blonde hair that was much like Tamaki's. That also eliminated 2 of the three teachers. Koharu snatched a few students up off the table who had varying shades of blonde and red hair. The lighter brown headed students were pulled by me, leaving 9 dark haired suspects.
Among them were Sensei Tayaku, Adrien Pension, who sat three seats in front of me, and Tate Shireston. I stared at Tate's picture for a moment and could tell Koharu was doing the same. We looked at each other.
One of these people had hired Arthur and Alrod to kidnap Kaydence.
One of them was going to go to jail by the end of this.
–
A/N: Kudos to thearistocrat, sethrox9730, KageNoNeko, and Koharu Veddette!
I actually didn't have a heart attack with this one. I just struggled slightly with things out with the right wording. That tends to happen when I write a ton. I start struggling. But I got through it!
Spring break is, unfortunately, coming to an end. And next week I have state testing and science fair so if I get something out it'll be somewhat of a miracle (Ok... Maybe not. I dunno.)