Windstar: Apologies for the delay, I've started a new job and it's been stressful with the transition. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Five:

Date: +587 days

Time: 0549

Author: Kouichi Kohaku

We're in Nevada now. There isn't really much to see. We skirted around Las Vegas, because none of us wanted to enter the city. We wanted to stay away from the endless noise and the bustle of people. The crowds would have been too much, and the noise would have been worse. I think Kibo was upset about that; he was looking forward to trying out the casinos. Hikari told him that it was better that he didn't – he never won at those games.

In celebration for our proximity to Sin City, though, she brought out a deck of cards and we started to play a few games together. I found myself growing infuriated with Kouji every few minutes though. He couldn't seem to keep focused on the game at hand, and whenever it was his turn he messed up on the rules. Kibo and Hikari are way too accommodating at times; they let him get away with everything.

He's never going to get better if they keep that up. I told them as much too. They're babying him. He needs someone to tell him how it is, not let him go through life thinking he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. I get that he's hurting and that he's upset with everything, but he needs to get over it. I went through the same stuff as him, but I'm not crying over it every day.

And that's the worst part, he's not even crying. He's just staring blankly at everything around him and then suddenly flying off the handle on the smallest things. He broke our portable stove the other day because he was having a temper tantrum. He just picked it up and tossed it as hard as he could against a rock. He's completely unstable.

I'm not saying that I'm the best either, because I know I'm not, but at least I'm dealing with everything. At least I'm controlling my God-damn temper. It's like a bull in a china house. He's just a wrecking ball of destruction. I know that we left Japan because the surroundings and the people were getting to be too much, but in all honesty – he's getting to be too much.

It's been just over a year and three months since we left everything behind, and while I feel as though I've grown spiritually, Kouji definitely has not. By now, I'm almost certain that he needs professional help. He's a danger to himself and people around him. How long is it going to be before he snaps and starts to kill someone again?

As soon as I think these things, I am filled with intense regret. He's my brother. I was there with him as we were locked up against our will. I was with him through everything, and yet despite that I want to send him away, have him locked up again? He doesn't deserve that, and I know that…and yet I cannot keep the thoughts from my head. Kouji's not handling things well. He can barely function as a part of society. I'm regretful for thinking those thoughts, but I cannot keep from feeling as though it might be for the best.

But that's exactly what we were told. Staying in that place, in that Shrine, was for the best. We were doing things for the greater good. We killed people for the greater good. We were told all of these things…and I wonder if it's me who hasn't healed.

I wonder if it is me who still is holding onto the ways of the past. After all, these temper tantrums weren't allowed back then. In a way, Kouji is rebelling against the system that was in place in the most rudimentary ways. I still follow their creed…and I'm condemning him for it.

Albert Einstein once said "the question that sometimes drives me hazy, am I or the others crazy?"

I can not help but feel the same.

Entry Five:

Author: Kibo

Sources: Takeru Takaishi, Takuya Kanbara, Tomoki Himi, Izumi Orimoto, Junpei Shibayama, Kouji Kohaku, Kouichi Kohaku

It took another week before Kouji was well enough to go into training. During that time, he hadn't seen or heard anything about Kouichi. The doctor who came to check on him never spoke except when it pertained to his health, and Rei hadn't made a reappearance. Kouji spent every day of that weak, curled on his side and staring at the wall across from him. The constant thought of being a failure was the only thing that was running through his mind.

All of this was happening because he was too weak, too slow, too injured, too sick, too something.

If the staff around him was aware of his looming depression, they didn't say anything about it. Instead, they tactfully stayed silent and just did what they'd been explicitly instructed to do. It wasn't something that they particularly enjoyed, and in truth, they were grateful when the day came for Kouji to leave the sickbay and start doing some physical hand to hand training.

Rei came and took him away, just like he'd done for Kouichi. Kouji felt almost ashamed when he was actually happy to see the man. He had felt irrationally betrayed by the man's disappearance, and now he felt as though everything was normal again.

Rei handed him some clothes to change into, and he did so quietly and without complaint. It was a sad state of affairs, and Rei was actually almost hoping for some attitude sooner or later. Anything that shook the kid out of his revere would be good by him right about now.

Still, he placed a hand on the younger twin's shoulder and led him down the halls that he needed to go down. With each step, he focused on Kouji's gait. If there were any signs he wasn't well enough to do this, then they'd turn around now. The kid couldn't just go head first into this type of training if he was still ill, it was a sure fire way to get him killed.

When they reached the door that led to the training room beyond, Rei opened his mouth to say something like he had for Kouichi. He closed it almost immediately though. As he looked at the kid before him, he could tell that there was nothing that was going to snap the kid out of this. He'd seen the same reaction on too many initiates in the past, and he knew that there were very few things that would help.

"You'll make it, brat." Was all he managed to work out, before he pushed the door open and deposited Kouji passed the doorway.

His instructor had specifically been chosen for him. Like Kouichi's trainer, he was picked because of his compatibility with his supposed fighting style. Kouji had more experience then Kouichi, and so he had also been given a more experienced instructor. It was meant to be a compatible relationship.

In the past, there had been initiates, like Kouji and Kouichi, who had been paired with trainers that did not fit well for them. The initiates usually died. Rei doubted that would be the case here. The boys practically lived for each other. They wouldn't die for no reason.

The man that had been picked for Kouji was the same man who had carried him to the hospital. He didn't usually help out in the sickbay, but he'd been filling in a shift for a worker who did not make it out of his last mission alive. He introduced himself blandly as 'Ryu,' and then told Rei he could leave.

"I'm going to be the one to get you into shape." Kouji glanced up at him listlessly, not seeming to even take notice of the words. His eyes were busy taking in the man's body and form. Ryu was heavily muscular. His chin was square, and he had small eyes. His nose was large, and he did not have any hair on his head, though his face was hidden with a scruffy beard. His clothing was designed for fast movement and easy stretch positions. He wore work out shoes, and he was comfortable in this environment.

His voice was low and gravelly, but he didn't seem to particularly care or take notice of how it sounded or came across to others. He was filled with self-confidence and he easily thought that he was the most important person in the room. He was filled with an inner intelligence, because even as Kouji assessed him, it was clear that Kouji himself was being assessed.

"You've been on medical leave for a while now, so I doubt you're in top form. We're going to be working on your endurance until I think we're ready for the next step of our process." Kouji blinked at him, and if it hadn't been for a small flicker in his eyes, Ryu might have thought that he was a lost cause. There was something in there though, buried deeply under everything that was around him. There was something that made him, inherently, living. "You're not a mute, when I tell you something, you give me a response. Do you understand?" Another flicker, and it took a moment to translate.

The kid was a typical smart ass in the past. Now every one of his responses could lead to the potential harm of a loved one. It wasn't that he didn't want to say something, it was that he didn't know how to word what he wanted to say.

"I'm not the boss kid, and I aint gonna rat you out. So just spit out whatever it is that's on your mind."

"Where's my brother?" The words were half whispered- ghost like. They were quieter then what Ryu anticipated, but there was an emotion there that was powerful and unrepentant.

"He's training with another person."

"Who?"

"Can't tell you that."

"Why?"

"That's the rule."

"Whose rule?"

"The boss's."

"Who is he?"

"Can't tell you that either."

"Why?

"In case you escape."

"I won't leave without Kouichi."

"Then you don't need to know."

"When would I need to know?"

"If you escaped."

"But you just…"

"It's a catch-22 isn't it?"

Kouji bit his lip. He looked away from the man. He shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. His stance was rigid, tense. He was uncomfortable and he didn't want to be there. But that wasn't what he wanted to say. There was something else, something else that was bubbling in him that Ryu could read off of every pore in his body. The kid was stewing on something big, and for a moment, Ryu was certain he would explode if he didn't just get it out.

"Spit it out already." He encouraged, desperate to just get on with their training session and move on with the day. They weren't going to get anywhere if the kid was playing mute though, and he needed to know everything his student was thinking if he was going to train him effectively. Kouji's face darkened slightly at the encouragement. He bit his lip even harder, and his fingers started to tug at his sleeves. "I don't have all damn day, and neither do you, so spit out whatever you're mulling over and get it over with."

"I…can I…"

"What is it already?"

"I don't want to be alone when we're done." At that Ryu started a little.

"Kid, when's the last time you actually were with someone? You had an actual conversation with someone?"

"When Kouichi left. The doctor…she won't talk to me, and Rei stopped visiting." The attitude made sense now, and Ryu's heart sank slightly. The kid was too young to go through this particular tactic, and while it was brutally effective, it also meant that it was devastatingly permanent. If something did happen then it would be hell to get him back on the right track.

Sensory deprivation was one of the crudest tactics in the book, but isolation was the easiest way to get someone to talk. Humans needed contact with others. They needed to be able to communicate with those around them. If they aren't given stimulus, brain cells literally begin to die.

By forcing Kouji away from his brother he was keeping him away from the only contact he had to the outside world. By keeping him from being able to speak to anyone, he was slowly yet surely becoming more dependent on the only people who would converse with him. Right now, it seemed like Ryu was that person.

Kouji was getting desperate, and the fact that Ryu was simply letting him talk was enough. Even for a self-proclaimed loner, he still communicated with people around him in the past on his own terms. He spoke with his father daily, and people who were talking to each other all the time surrounded him. He hadn't needed to speak or to converse with others because he could immerse himself in the noise of their words. In the sickbay, he'd heard nothing. There was nothing except the sound of his own breathing, and Shikou doing paperwork.

Not even a loner could have managed to hold his own in that. Ryu wasn't surprised to find that the kid was falling apart. What sickened him more, though, was how fast it was happening. He knew exactly what he was supposed to do, and what he was supposed to say. He was supposed to be the good guy. He was supposed to be the one that the kid turned to and looked up to.

It wouldn't be hard to act that way, and in truth, it was how he wanted to act in the first place. Unfortunately, that meant that he was going to make the problem worse. He wondered how long it would take before the conversion was complete, and there was nothing that tethered Kouji down except for his bonds to this Shrine and to the employees who worked there.

"We'll see what happens alright? For now, focus on what you're doing here." Ryu took a deep breath and wondered faintly just what it was that their leader was hoping to get out of this. "Do you know how to stretch properly?"

"Yes…"

"Then do it." Ryu moved passed him and started to move towards the door. "I'll be back in a little while, if you're not ready by then, you're going to be uncomfortable." Kouji nodded slightly, but didn't outwardly reply.

Ryu didn't have the time or the patience to think about that right now. Instead, he had other things to worry about. Stepping out into the hall, he closed the door behind him, and waited to hear what would happen. He wasn't surprised when he heard the boy try the doorknob or tug on the structure. It wouldn't open for him. It wasn't going to. It locked the moment Ryu left it.

Shaking his head slightly, he pretended he didn't hear the frustrated voice of the teenager he left behind. He'd be back for him later. He moved swiftly, knowing he wouldn't have much time to do this, but he needed answers as soon as he could. When he reached the secondary training room that he knew to be occupied already, he palmed open the door and slipped inside.

It was always unnerving to him to see Kouichi so soon after seeing Kouji. Their identical appearances made it difficult to decide which one was which. Difficult, but not impossible. Kouji was far more listless at the moment, where it seemed like Kouichi wanted nothing more then to beat Shikou into submission.

The various strikes and attacks were blocked with mindless ease on her part though, and she didn't even seem to be trying as she coached him through the training exercise. "Good, good, faster, stronger, left, right, eyes up, guard up- not like that!" She landed a hit that sent him to his knees and he gasped slightly, coughing as the air was forced from his lungs. Shikou turned and met Ryu's eyes with a frown. "What is it?" She asked calmly, already moving towards a bench where a bottle of water was lying in wait. She tossed it towards the teenager on the ground, and then scooped one up for herself.

"Just a question, if you don't mind. In private?" She frowned slightly at him, but nodded. Turning her head back to the boy she was working with she made a brief hand motion.

"Run some laps around the room." Then she followed Ryu out, and left Kouichi to his own devices. It wasn't all that surprising to hear the footfalls of someone doing what they'd been told to do, and it seemed like Kouichi was assimilating better then his brother was. "What is it?" She asked Ryu tersely, clearly not enjoying the interruption.

"The other boy, he's been taken from the sickbay, where is he going afterwards?"

"I haven't the foggiest notion, why?"

"No one has spoken to him in over a week. He needs to actually be with a human." Shikou's eyes softened at that, and her posture became more resigned then rigid. She took another sip from the water bottle in her hand, and leaned against the wall behind her.

"I had orders…"

"I'm not accusing you." He assured lightly. He understood, and he knew that had she had a choice, she would have spoken to Kouji. She would have let him keep some form of sanity through all of this.

"He's a sweet boy." She said lightly, and glanced at the door they'd just exited. "They both are."

"I'm aware of that, what I want to know is if he's going to be alone again, that type of isolation is not productive to anything right now."

"Have Rei bring him back to Kouichi's cell. They'll be fine together; it'll be good to reaffirm their reason for staying as well. I'll work it out with the boss." Shikou sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "After all of these years, it's heart breaking to see that child here."

"He'll survive, he'll live through this. They both will."

"He doesn't remember." Shikou murmured softly.

"I know he doesn't." Ryu replied. "That doesn't change the fact that we're all having a hard time being near him. We just have to work through the problem." Shikou nodded at the wise words, and he tipped his head. Turning to head down the hall, Ryu waved slightly, and Shikou turned to start to head back into the workspace where Kouichi was training.

Ryu didn't take long returning to where he left Kouji, and when he opened the door, he didn't see the boy right away. He took a step inside, and blinked at the completely empty space. Then, just as sudden as that surprise hit him, a much more physical strike cracked on the back of his leg. He felt his knee bend out of instinct and he winced as he hit the ground.

He barely had time to see Kouji duck out of the room and down the hall before he pushed himself back onto his feet. "Clever kid, real clever." He hissed in frustration as he chased the boy down.

Despite lying on his back for the better part of two weeks, Kouji was surprisingly fast. What was even more surprising was how he seemed to be running straight towards Kouichi. If Ryu didn't know better, he would have thought Kouji knew where his brother was. That was impossible though, and he didn't hold much stock in rumors.

He was taller then the teen and it didn't take long for his legs to reach out and gain in ground against the boy. Reaching his arm out, he roughly took hold of the back of the kid's shirt. Kouji's momentum kept him going forward, and his shirt clotheslined him roughly, dragging him backwards and knocking himself off balance in the process. His feet slipped out from under him as he lost traction, and Ryu capitalized by grabbing hold of the boy's arm and held him upright.

Kouji's free hand reached back to strike at him, but he caught that too. All the while the boy coughed and gagged as his abused throat told him it hadn't appreciated the sudden jerk that it felt. Ryu didn't seem to care though, and instead he gave the boy a rough shake. "You do that again, and I'm going to report you to the leader. You know what happens then right?"

"I want to see my brother."

"If you'd let me get a word out earlier I would have told you you were going to see him after our training session. Now I'm not so sure!" Ryu hissed in irritation. Kouji's eyes widened and his face adopted a severely panicked look. "You prove to me that its worth while to let you see him and I'll do it, understand?"

"Yes."

"Good, now that that's settled. I believe you were coming with me?" Ryu roughly threw the teen back onto the floor and the implied threat was there. Kouji didn't need to be told twice though, and he followed the man instantly without question.

The hours that followed that encounter were rough and violent. Ryu seemed impressed enough by his escape attempt and quickly started to advance into more complicated tactics and ideas. He launched into various techniques and skills, and was honestly impressed by the boy's genuinely talented nature.

Kouji was an extremely well versed fighter, and he was more then capable of showing his skill. His form was unique to himself, but it was structured and influenced by different disciplines. As time passed, Ryu smiled at the sight of the boy and just how well he was doing. The more they conversed, traded blows, and had various exchanges; the more fire was brewing in Kouji's eyes. He was a far cry from the boy that had walked into the room earlier, and the contact with another person had done him good.

When Ryu finally decided to call it quits for the day, he made a call for Rei to come pick Kouji up and bring him back to his cell. Before the man opened the door and retrieved the teenager though, Ryu put a hand on Kouji's shoulder and met his eyes with an intense gaze. "Never loose that spirit of yours kid. It makes you who you are."

He wasn't certain if Kouji understood what he was trying to say, but the boy nodded and seemed to be mulling over the words even as he was led back down to his brother.

Four months after Kouji and Kouichi had been taken, no one had seen or heard from them. There had been no ransom demand, there had been no threatening phone call, there had been nothing. Kousei, Satomi, and Tomoko listened to the police talk about their sons and they watched as the phone calls grew less frequent and the communication between them all became less vivid.

It wasn't hard to see that the boys were being taken off the front burner, and the news was crushing. It was even worse when one officer suggested that they make a gravesite for them. "Have you found their bodies?" Tomoko had all but screeched, tears pouring from her eyes as she bore into the man.

"No…"

"Then they're not dead! Go and find them! Find my sons!" The man left then, and there was no more talk about it.

Of all the Officers who were searching for the boys, the most dedicated was Takuya's father. The man understood without being reminded (though he was, every day) that this was important. He spent hours on overtime, pouring over old documents and looking over leads. He asked dozens of questions to anyone who would give him the time of day.

"Did you have any enemies?" He'd ask the boys' parents. "Did they?"

"No, no."

"Do you know anyone who was too close to them? Someone who hung around more then they should? Was there any adult that wanted to spend specific time with them?"

"No…no."

"Did they go anywhere they could have attracted specific attention from an individual?"

"I don't know…"

"Who else knew that both boys were here that night?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"If Kouichi wasn't supposed to stay over, then it might be possible that the attack was only meant for Kouji…Kouichi could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, the kidnapper didn't know who it was that he was supposed to take – so he took both."

"Are you saying that Kouji was specifically targeted?"

"There is a reason that this was a home invasion, people don't just break into houses unless they are absolutely certain on what's going to happen. This was carefully planned out, organized. The man who did this may have had a partner, someone who could have assisted with both boys if things got too out of hand. They would have had to be quiet though, or else it would have woken you up. Whoever kidnapped your sons knew your routine; he knew where they'd be and what they'd be doing. Kouichi coming over was unplanned; it wasn't predictable. It's a good bet that whoever went into your home, wasn't aiming for Kouichi, but Kouji."

"Why would anyone want Kouji?"

"I don't know." And he didn't know, he didn't know what he could possibly say to any of them to make this right.

Kouji was simply a good boy who hung out with his son. He always bickered constantly with Takuya but the two of them were great friends. He was protective of Kouichi, and he was exceedingly polite to authority figures. The detective honestly couldn't understand who would want to kidnap Kouji, and what they would want to do with him. It didn't make any sense, and the lack of contact from the perpetrator just made it worse. It made everything worse.

They simply had nothing to go on, and this was fast becoming a cold case.

He didn't know how he was going to tell Takuya, and so he kept at it. He kept striking at the problem; it was the only thing that he could do for his son.

As the holiday season came and went, it nearly broke his heart to hear his son tell him the only thing he wanted for Christmas was Kouji and Kouichi home safe. When he failed in doing that, Takuya refused to open even one of his presents. He gave them all to his brother, and sulked in his room all day.

"How can we be celebrating when they're out there somewhere with a mad man?" The teenager asked painfully.

No one knew how to respond to him. No one knew what to say.

Every day that passed, less information came to him. The detective was running out of options, and he didn't know what to do anymore. He was almost certain that everything was falling apart and that there was no way that they were ever going to see Kouji or Kouichi again. If they did, it was going to be because they escaped themselves, or their bodies were discovered in a dumpsite. There was nothing that made the man feel like he was going to find the twins, and the thought just made him sulk even more.

The seasons started to change, and the twins' birthday came and went in a depressing affair. Tears were everywhere, and everyone was sinking down in misery. Hirokai grimaced as he watched them all deteriorate. He knew that he had to keep trying, and he kept at it, but soon the people he called were getting frustrated with his attempts to extract more information out of them, and he was running out of option.

He didn't understand how two boys could just disappear without a trace, without any mention of where they might go.

The kids were all going to Shibuya station daily, a ritual that he still didn't understand. Maybe they hoped the twins would magically appear there, and they could all go home together. Whatever the case may be, it didn't make sense, and he felt as though he was failing his son for not being there, for not finding them.

It had now been seven months since the boys had disappeared. On the news report that night, a man had been murdered in his home, and when police arrived they'd found copious amounts of child pornography and a young boy hiding in a closet by himself. On one hand it was nice to see the boy got home unmolested, on another hand…it was just a constant reminder of what the twins could be going through. He grit his teeth and felt nothing but contempt and anger as he thought about how some person had the boys and was keeping them from their family.

And a dark part of his soul, hoped that someday, someone would kill the man who took them, and that they would be returned home. It was the only thing that they could think about as he went to sleep that night.

He never imagined that it was Kouichi Kimura who had murdered the child molester, solidifying his role in the community that had took him away from his home.