Like a Cloud in the Wind

by E.M. Megs

From the moment my hand shook his and I saw his fake smile, I knew I hated his bastard guts. And that would never change. He would put himself before me. What I didn't know, was that he would be the one who searched the hardest for me when I disappeared.

12. Action & Threat

Like a Cloud in the Wind

By Meganes Ultimate Fangirl

Chapter 12 – Action/Threat

A/N: Mixing it up a little by throwing in a little Tate and Koharu these last two chapters or so, methinks.

– Kyoya –

"Where's Shireston?" I growled at the butler who opened the door. He looked at me in admonishment for a moment. "Well?" Koharu pushed me aside lightly, smiling apologetically at him.

"Where's Tate, Argus?" she asked him politely.

"Out with Miss Arisa, last I heard," he stuttered. I was about to turn around and head for the limo again to track down Shireston's girlfriend when Layne's voice came from the door.

"Why the hell are you looking for Tate?"

"Because," I spat, pissed as hell, "He did it. He kidnapped Kaydence. The bastard kidnapped his best friend." Felicity, who was standing behind him, looked like she had just taken a shot through the heart. "I'm gonna kill that son of a–."

Koharu cut me off, glaring at me pointedly. "Kyoya. Shut up for a moment."

"Explanation please?" Layne asked, looking between the two of us.

"Kyoya got a call from Kaydence," Koharu started. Layne opened his mouth, "No she's not free. Most likely they were holding her at gunpoint. She was supposed to be calling you to tell you to hurry up and send the money. I think, she called Kyoya on purpose. The fact that whoever it was, let her call by herself tells us that it was someone who knew her well. Get it?"

Layne stared at her then shifted his gaze to me. I nodded in confirmation. "Where is he?" I asked, breathing heavily.

"L-Like Argus said, he's out with Arisa," Felicity stuttered from behind him. "Why the hell would he kidnap my daughter? They've been best friends for 6 years."

"I haven't exactly figured that out. All I know is that all clues point to him and Matte Hirostens unscrambles into his name," I said in a low voice, "Now can I continue hunting down that bastard?" Layne nodded once, at loss for words. "Thank you." I turned and left with Koharu hurrying behind me. I was so furious at the moment that no one could calm me down. I exhaled heavily through my nostrils.

"Kyoya, calm down," Koharu murmured, stroking my hand.

"Like hell I'll calm down!" I retorted, "That son of a bitch betrayed his best friend. He kidnapped Kaydence."

"I understand that. But, Kyoya, you aren't going to be able to think logically if you're all wired up!"

I stared at her a moment and took a deep breath. She was right. I rarely lost control of my temper but when I did it normally caused me to think illogically. "Sorry," I muttered, squeezing her hand lightly. "Sorry." She smiled and shook her head at me.

"You're cute when you're mad," she mumbled under her breath, almost so quiet that I couldn't hear her. She held the same sort of smirk I normally did.

"Oh, really?" I asked, bringing her hand to my cheek. She stared at me, mouth open. She probably thought that she'd said that quietly enough that I hadn't heard it. I chuckled softly while her face broke into an uneasy smile. "You're going to pay for that comment, Yoshiiva," I murmured. The smile turned blank.

– Kaydence –

I was curled up. Curled up and rocking back and forth. Pretending that I was in my own little world. That I was far away from Tate and Arthur. And finally, I was just floating. Floating outside of reality, outside of time. Floating away where no one could hear or see me. I dropped my head into my hands. I hated myself. I hated myself for ever trusting Tate.

But more than anything I hated him. I hated him and I didn't think I could ever forgive him for what he'd done to me. I wished he would rot and burn in the very depths of the fires of hell. He had taken away so much. My time, my trust. My hope. I held all this hate inside of me. All this anger. And at the center of all of it was a sense of hopelessness.

But now, I was floating. And all of it floated away. Every last bit of hopelessness and anger. It all drifted away. To the extent that I didn't have to worry about anything, because I wasn't even there.

"You're still here, y'know." My eyes shot open and I dropped back down to earth. I looked over at Tate. "You're still here, and you're always going to be here," he said, smirking lightly and leaning against the door frame.

"Get out," I muttered, "Just get the fuck out and leave me the hell alone."

"You'll always be here Kay. You know why?" Because you're insane? "Because you're mine now."

"I am no one's," I growled, glaring daggers at him. "Especially not yours, Shireston."

"Come now, Kaydence. D'you have to be so harsh?"

"It's the only way for me to get through your bloody thick skull," I retorted. He sighed and stared at me. But the way he was staring at me made me feel slightly violated. "Stop looking at me," I whispered, "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?" I glared at him, pulling my knees closer to me as he took a few steps forward. "Kaydence, why're you crying?" he asked softly. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm not crying," I mumbled, "And I'm not scared of you."

"You have 5 days left until your death, Kay. It's only logical that you'd be scared," he murmured, "You better hope your father does as you told him to." He was reaching out his hand toward me. I smacked it away with disgust.

"Don't, touch me," I bit out harshly, "Don't you dare touch me, bastard."

"Why won't you accept me, Kaydence?" he asked, voice rising with his frustration and anger. Why didn't I – Why didn't I accept him? What the hell had all this time taught him?

"Do you really need an answer to that?" I asked with soft danger in my voice. His face turned hard, almost like stone. I knew that he knew the answer. I hated him. He had destroyed all of his chances at ever redeeming himself in my eyes. There was no reversing it now.

– Kyoya –

Koharu didn't even let me speak when we got to the Hirano household. She pushed me aside and refused to let me forward at all. "Excuse me, Hirano-san. Do you know where your daughter is?" she asked, bowing. Her eyes narrowed immediately.

"If you're here on behalf of that boy, you can turn right around," Arisa's mother said bitterly, making to close the door on us. I stuck my foot in the door quickly.

"We aren't," I muttered in a low voice, "We're looking for him actually." Koharu's glare pierced the back of my head but I ignored it. "Can we please see Arisa-sempai?" .

Her mother bit her lip and shook her head. "I'm sorry. She's rather upset at the moment. Perhaps if you come back in a few days." With that she pushed my foot out of the way and slammed the door closed.

"That went well," I said sarcastically under my breath. I reached into my pocket and snatched up my cell phone. Seconds later I was talking to Chief Takamura. "Is there any clue as to where he is?"

"Sorry, sir. Nothing."

"Dammit," I murmured, running a hand through my hair. "Find him, dammit. He has to be somewhere. Just, find him. Watch the Malrondas, watch the Hiranos, watch whatever house that he may have visit. As soon as he shows, grab him."

"Hai!" he exclaimed. I snapped my phone shut, slightly angry with myself. Whatever sick game Shireston was playing with us, it wasn't going to work. I was going to break his damn code. I'd outsmart him.

–

"Please, just leave us alone!" The door to the Hirano residence once again slammed shut in my face. Everyday for five days. I'd been coming back everyday, trying to get some kind of information, some clue, as to where the hell Shireston and Kaydence were. Everyday the door had been slammed in my face with the request for me not to come back. I walked back to the car where Koharu was waiting.

She sighed as I slid into the seat next to her. "Again?" she asked. I nodded, wishing I could, for once, tell her something different. "Do you think that she'll start going back to school anytime soon?"

"Perhaps. I wouldn't count on it though," I mumbled.

– Kaydence –

"He's not coming for you Kaydence. You might as well give it up," Tate said from the door.

"Shut up. He'll find me. And he'll throw you in jail," I muttered into my knees. "You'll rot in jail for this, Shireston."

"I wouldn't be so sure. You have two days. Do you really think that Ohtori's going to save you in two days?"

"I have faith in him," I mumbled. Honestly, I was actually starting to doubt that I'd get out of here alive. Surely, Tate wouldn't let me go, even when he had the money. I'd been reserved to the fact that I'd die if Kyoya didn't rescue me from this godforsaken place.

I was playing the role that I thought I'd never have to play. I was the damsel in distress. Kyoya, however un-prince-like he was, was the prince that had to save me. And Tate, Tate who I'd always thought would be the bloody prince, was the evil wizard set on destroying my life. I hated the analogy but it was the only way to think of it in my head.

I was the 'damsel in distress' who had been captured by the 'evil wizard.' And Kyoya was the 'prince' who was destined to save me.

But what if the prince didn't come through in his duties?

I'll tell you what they don't tell you in fairytales. If the prince doesn't come through, the damsel in distress is seriously screwed. If the prince fails, the damsel in distress gets eaten by the evil wizard's pet dragon.

– Kyoya –

I didn't go back to the Hirano's the next day. I didn't even bother. I knew that all that would happen was a door slam to the face. If they opened the door at all, that is. There was one day left. One damn day and I couldn't do anything. I'd sent the police storming into several warehouses but they'd turned up with nothing. Koharu was getting incredibly anxious.

Host Club was running smoothly, I was furiously trying to narrow down which warehouse Kaydence could possibly be in. I gave up when I found that it was impossible to tell which ones would and would not be possible without storming every single damn warehouse in the city.

I wanted to kick something. Kick and scream and throw a fit. But having a conniption fit in the middle of club wouldn't help Kaydence's situation get any better. If anything, it would only make it worse. There was one thing left to do, though I doubted it would get Kaydence back safely anyway. Reluctantly, I pulled out my cell phone.

"You're giving up?" Koharu asked me, staring from where she was standing in front of the table I was currently seated at. I turned my eyes away from her, concentrating on dialing Layne's number. "Kyoya! You're seriously giving up on her?" I refused to look at her, knowing that her eyes would hold what I least wanted to see. Disappointment. Anger. Sadness. Hurt. I couldn't take that. Even being the 'Shadow King,' I was still human.

"I don't have a choice, Koharu," I murmured, keeping my voice low and even. I hesitated in pressing the call button.

"So, you're going to give up and just let her die? You and I both know that Shireston won't let her go. If you give up, she'll die." Her voice was trembling slightly. I closed my eyes and brought two fingers to my temple.

"There isn't anything left to do. There's no way to narrow down the warehouses other than to storm every single damn one in the city," I said softly, keeping my eyes closed and my head down.

"Then do it!" she exclaimed, her voice rising.

My eyes shot open as I stood up, shaking slightly. I felt my voice rise to match hers before I even spoke. "I can't, Koharu! Even if I did it would take days! Days! Maybe even weeks! And by the time that I found her, she'd be dead anyway!" I stared her in the eye, something I'd been avoiding, hand clutching my cellphone.

She shook her head at me in disgust. "And here I thought Ohtoris never gave up," she mumbled scathingly, taking a quick breath that was most likely to hold back her tears for a few more seconds, "Here I thought that you would always reach out and grab whatever was needed. But you won't. You're just going to be a selfish bastard and give up."

I wished I could say that it didn't hurt to hear that from her, but it did. It practically scalded my ears. "I don't have a choice," I muttered evenly, effectively hiding the affect that she'd had on me, "I'm sorry."

"Save your damn sorries, Kyoya. I blame you for Kaydence's death," she grumbled, tears finally leaking over the edges of her eyes before she ran out. I stared after her in disbelief, hardly even able to hold my anger. I set my phone down on the table and ran a hand through my hair.

"Kyoya?" Tamaki asked, sounding slightly apprehensive.

"What?" I snapped, turning my head in his direction but keeping my eyes on the door Koharu had left through.

"She'll be back," he said with a smile, "She'll be back because despite how angry she is at you, she cares." I swallowed against the lump that had formed in my throat.

"I've practically killed her cousin. I doubt she'll forgive so easily," I murmured quietly, picking my phone back up off the table and re-punching Layne's number into it. Again, I hesitated in pressing send, thinking. I was giving up. By giving up, I was, in essence, responsible for Kaydence's death. I shook my head and pushed the green button.

"Please tell me you've found her." His voice rang clearly even through the horrible sound quality of the phone

I swallowed. "The contraire actually. Send the money, Layne," I muttered, hearing Koharu's words bite their way through my mind again. I brought my free hand to my forehead, massaging it carefully in an attempt to fight away a headache.

"You're giving up?" he asked in much of the same tone Koharu had. I stayed silent, closing my eyes again. "You can't bloody give up!"

"Why not?" I asked bitingly. I was fed up with people telling me what I could and could not do.

"You'll forever carry the guilt of her death on your shoulders, you know that, right?"

"There's a chance that he'll let her go if you just send the damn money!" I exclaimed, starting to lose control of my temper. This was insane. Absolutely insane. No one could be expected to find a kidnapper when there hadn't been any clues left behind to supplement the search. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Koharu, it'll take weeks to find the right wa–!"

"Ohtori-san," someone mumbled, interrupting my rant into the phone. I paused, looking up to meet the fiery amber eyes of Arisa Hirano. After all that pursuing and crap, she had actually come to me? Go figure.

Layne was trying to say something but I brought the reins down on it. "Hold that thought, Layne. I'll call you back." I snapped my phone shut, holding it behind my back and looking at the girl in front of me expectantly. "Arisa-sempai?"

"M-My mother mentioned that you kept coming by, wanting to see me. Why was that?" she muttered, casting her eyes downward.

I took a deep breath. This might be my chance to actually get information. My phone started buzzing furiously in my hand. I ignored it. "Have you heard about the situation Kaydence Malronda is in?"

She nodded once, fidgeting with her feet. "She was kidnapped the night of the ball right?"

"Precisely," I murmured, "I believe that your boyfriend–."

"Ex-boyfriend," she muttered, clenching her fists at her sides. Interesting. She was mad at Tate. That would probably give her more reason to help us.

"I believe he's the one behind it," I finished.

"He was acting strange," she said softly, "I was wondering why, but when I tried to ask him he pushed me away. Got violent even."

"Do you have any clue where he is? Any clue at all?" Arisa started shaking her head, eyes meeting mine. "He never said anything about where he was going? Not even under his breath?" Tears were coming to her eyes, as if remembering hurt. "Please, Arisa-sempai. Kaydence could die if she isn't found in two days."

"He... He mentioned something about," she paused, looking like she was thinking hard, even though it hurt her, "something about a mill."

"A mill?" I asked, feeling hope in me once more. Maybe, I didn't have to give up. My phone was vibrating angrily once more. Again, I ignored it.

"It was under his breath so I might've heard it wrong. But I think he said a saw mill." It clicked right then. The mill. The damn mill that I had looked over on the map thousands of times. It was practically in the middle. And there was a warehouse right next to it that was out of commission. I turned around and pulled my computer to me, pulling up the map.

"Yes," I muttered under my breath, "Yes, that makes sense." A second later the phone was moving again. Layne Malronda. I pressed send. "Don't bother sending the money. I think I found her. If you have any contacts in Akita, I suggest you use them to storm the godforsaken retired saw mill and adjoining warehouses," I grumbled into the phone, pushing end immediately afterward and switching to Koharu's speed dial.

"What the hell do you want, Shadow King?" she asked in annoyance.

"And here I thought you'd be happy to hear me," I responded sarcastically, feeling my resolve slip a little in irritation. "If you can stop being mad at me for 5 seconds, meet me at the Usagi Private Airport in 10 minutes." I didn't even bother to wait to hear her reply. I just ended the call and packed up my laptop. "Thank you, Arisa-sempai." She nodded in response.

"Go, Kyoya, go!" I heard the other club members cheer as I headed out the door. A smirk lit my face.

– Tate –

Kaydence hated me. That much was clear. But I couldn't stay away from her. She was the godforsakenly sweet honey and I was the flies she was attracted by the mobs. No one should be able to have that affect on me. She always had though.

Always.

Even when we first met. Even when she pretended to hate me and pushed me away, I still kept coming back. I wasn't desperate or anything. That's just how it had always been. She was my best friend. She would have been my girlfriend if it hadn't been for Ohtori.

I had thought that, by letting her call her parents, it would ease her hate the slightest bit. But it just seemed to egg it on. I trusted her to call her father and no one else. The way I saw it, her father was too blinded by the worry he was harboring for his daughter that he wouldn't even think about tracking the call.

It broke my heart, listening to her stutter as she talked to her father on the phone. I was constantly threatening her, but that was just an act to make sure she knew who was in charge here. As soon as I had the money I would be kind to her.

I constantly thought about her.

It didn't matter what her father had done. She wasn't Layne. She would never be Layne. Layne was sometimes so heartless and cruel that it was hard to imagine that they were even related. But, he'd crossed the line when he'd had my parents killed.

Now, I was going to make him suffer. Suffer in the only way I knew possible. Depriving him of his only daughter and taking over half his fortune. I knew, that even when the money was given to me I wouldn't be able to let Kaydence go. She was too precious, too fragile, for the kind of life he offered her. If he didn't pay me, he would believe his daughter to be dead. He'd give up searching, and then I'd have Kaydence all to myself.

He would have prevented it if he hadn't had Rani Maika, his private agent, hijack the plane that my parents were flying on to Paris. He had crashed the plane. He had made the engine fail to look like an accident. Reporters and the government only knew about the hijacking because one person had survived. One single person.

It had never occurred to me to call the number Kaydence had called just to make sure it was, in fact, her father. I only thought about it now, now that I was sitting around bored and tired of listening to Kaydence hate me.

Lazily, I picked through my phone's recent calls list. I fished out the number that Kaydence had called six days ago and redialed it, holding the phone to my ear lightly.

The voice that I expected to be Layne's was, instead, the one that I wanted to hear the least. It was him.

"Layne, shut up and let me work," Ohtori's voice spoke clearly with annoyance clear, "I'm not about to give up on her again."

"Is that so, Ohtori?" I asked before I could stop myself, anger set in my voice. The bloody girl had lied to me. She hadn't called her father at all. She had called my one true enemy. She had called Kyoya Ohtori. He would be able to track the call. He would be able to find me if she had called him. My trust in her had failed horribly, I noticed with belated hurt.

"Shireston, I'm sending you to rot in jail," he growled. I could just tell that he was delighted to hear from me. He probably already knew. Hell, I'd been missing for six days. Who wouldn't know?

"Better hurry. A little birdy just told me that Kaydence's death date just got moved forward 12 hours," I spat with distaste, my anger flaring to more dangerous levels the more I spoke to him. Kaydence had betrayed me. Betrayed me. I was furious. Absolutely furious with her.

It didn't matter that I loved her anymore. She was going to die.

– Kaydence –

"You bloody traitor!" Tate yelled, breaking through the door and pushing me back into reality once more. Stupid bastard couldn't leave me alone for five minutes.

"I believe you're talking about yourself, Shireston," I growled in a low voice.

"You didn't call Layne," he shouted accusingly. I felt myself grow smaller. Shit. He knew. I was most likely screwed now. "You called that bloody bastard."

"Whatever could you be talking about?" I asked innocently, plastering a fake smile on my face. He was pissed. The only way to get out of being killed was to act completely innocent. Like I hadn't done a single thing wrong.

"Don't play games with me, Kaydence," he growled in a low voice, tossing his hands around in the air with that blasted knife in his hands again. I watched it apprehensively, like I always did. "Don't you dare try to deny it."

"And if I do?" I retorted before I could stop myself. Stupid Kaydence! Stupid, stupid Kaydence! Shut your bloody mouth! This rage flared in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak. A loud ring tone from a cellphone went off before he could say anything, however.

Pursing his lips he pulled it out of his pocket and answered it angrily. "What, Arisa?" His face paled considerably. "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to bloody kill you when I'm done mauling Malronda and Ohtori. You hear me, Hirano?" he shouted into the phone. Jesus, he was really angry this time. And far from being the quietly angry Tate Shireston I'd known for many years. This was the threateningly angry monster Shireston that was coming out now.

I had a really bad feeling. And it only got worse when Arthur entered the room.

"Boss!" he called, screeching to a halt in the doorway, "Boss! The police are on their way here! Ohtori found us!" Tate turned a glare in his direction and then stared at me menacingly.

"Give me your gun and go back upstairs," he growled to his crony. Fuck. The feeling in the pit of my stomach just grew. I stared at the shiny black pistol that passed between the hands of the two males, feeling hysteria just waiting to break from my throat. Arthur turned and ran back to wherever he had come from. I stared at the gun in Tate's hands with horror while he handled it carefully. "Get on the floor, Kaydence," he muttered, tongue in cheek and vaguely pointing it in my direction.

I thought it best to do as he said. I slid slowly from my place on the bed and sat on the floor, eying the gun barrel as it moved with me. I felt my hysteria rise swiftly when he removed the safety. Tears found their way down my cheeks in rivers before I could stop them.

He laughed at me. The fucking son of a bitch laughed. "Scared now that I have the gun, Malronda?" he asked bitterly. I shook my head, trying fiercely to stop the tears that were contradicting that statement. "You're about to die. Can you guess why?"

I stared at him. "Please," I finally whispered hoarsely, "Please, Tate." The tears came harder as his finger found the trigger and tensed. I didn't want to die. I couldn't. I had so much to do still. So much that I could be.

"There is no more mercy in me!" he screamed. I winced involuntarily. "I won't have you fucking begging for mercy now! DO YOU KNOW WHY I'M GOING TO KILL YOU?" I stayed utterly silent, not daring to move a muscle. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest. My entire body was going into hysterics. And still the tears ran faster and harder down my cheeks.

He calmed his voice to a low bitter level. "I'm going to kill you, because your father needs to feel the pain that I felt when he killed my parents."

"They wouldn't want you to do this, Tate," I pleaded, "Please, just please, don't do this. You don't need to enact revenge for them."

"Shut up!" he yelled, holding the gun that was shaking in his hand steady, aiming it at my head. I felt my shoulders shake with the effort to keep my sobs in. "I am going to kill you because you betrayed me by calling Ohtori. You betrayed my trust, Malronda! Your entire family has betrayed me! You deserve to die just for that fact!" I stared at him, coming to terms with the fact that I was about to die and no one would be able to reach me in time.

Not even the prince could save the damsel in distress from the wrath of this evil wizard now.

"Any last words?" he asked bitterly, his hand completely tense and ready to pull the trigger. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from him. I left my body and started floating above reality, in much the same way that I had a lot that last week.

I'd found out that it was a lot less painful to be trapped and humiliated when you weren't actually mindfully present. Now, I wasn't going to feel pain when I died. I wasn't going to feel any pain at all. I was just going to die peacefully.

Peacefully and alone.

"I expected more from you, Kaydence," he whispered. I squeezed my eyes tighter shut subconsciously.

Then the shot rang throughout the room.

–

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! Don't you all just love me now?

Anyways, Kudos to my lovely reviewers~. Sethrox9730, StoryOfFiction, Kiriyu-chan, thearistocrat, KageNoNeko, and TwilightFever-FutureCullen! Double kudos also go to my amazing beta reader and friend, Koharu Veddette!

Most likely, only one chapter left.

Unless I feel evil and just want you all left with this. Which has been known to happen.