Chapter Two
Like any other alleyway, this one was made to blend in. A few garbage cans lined the brick walls on either side with a few sewer rats running in and out of inconspicuous cracks. One could hear the shouts floating through the back door of a bar, all obscene jokes and drunken humor. The smell was unbearable; too much so to go into any detail about it, other than to say it was probably the main reason for the retching sounds coming out of aforementioned bar.
Kaoru shuddered. "This place is giving me the creeps, Hikaru," he murmured quietly. The red head clutched for his brother's hand, and the elder of the two slipped their interlocked fingers into the battered pocket of is coat. "Are you sure this is where we're supposed to go?"
Silence, broken by the ragged breathing that furled up into the dark sky in a white cloud. Hikaru nodded, pulling out a slip of paper given to him earlier that day in the park, and handed it to his brother.
"Yeah; she said that this was the most likely place to have both things," he whispered, side stepping a pile of oily water that was in the process of freezing.
Kaoru sighed again, causing Hikaru to look over at him.
"You want to go home?" the elder asked seriously, stopping mid-step. "I'm serious Kaoru. Do you want to go home?"
Amber eyes directed at his brother's feet and a casual shrug. "No…" he whispered. "No, I don't."
He didn't buy it. Yet, he didn't have a choice. What was that old saying again? Oh yeah; Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hikaru would have gladly had the both of them turn tail and run back to the dark confines of their shared room, but something deep inside of him knew that wasn't an option. For either of them. So, with the dignity and determination of men far older than themselves, the red headed twin dragged his brother behind an overflowing garbage can and knocked on a hidden door that was so far set in the wall, one could only assume that it lead under ground.
Now, this place was entirely different than that of the alley outside; there is one hallway that leads to their left and to another door way. All along the dark, underground hallway, the twins could feel the deep vibration of music that originated behind aforementioned door.
Hikaru felt Kaoru's hand twitch and withdraw from the inside of his pocket, and fought the urge to snatch the limb back. Somehow, letting go felt like selling his soul and, it kind of was. However, seeing his mirror image put on a strong and oddly forced smile, and longing to be the same, Hikaru followed Kaoru's lead, and walked towards the door.
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Haruhi made a small note on the fresh legal pad in front of her. Distastefully, she noticed the tip of her pencil snap off and reached for the cheap sharpener. Her face remained composed and impassive as she felt the cold eyes of the Ootori in front of her fixate on her actions.
"Are you going to tell me more about your relationship with the Hitachiin boy, or simply dabble in old stories about him; it's a well known fact that he was a prostitute and that the man he worked for had a vicious initiation process, so if you intend to waste my time by retelling his rape and assault, than—"
"If you were paying closer attention, Haruhi," Kyouya said coolly, emphasizing her name so as to make the sentence more personal, "I was telling you about how that poor boy wound up on that slab downstairs; his death is directly linked to his part in the prostitution ring."
Haruhi sourly thought that, perhaps if the Hitachiin had never been initiated into the underground ring of drug cartel and the sale of bodies, he would have never met the Ootori, thus never…
"Fine," she said calmly, pretending as if she didn't care. "Continue, then."
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Kaoru felt his back hit the stone wall harshly, his arms flying up and hitting the cold cement along with his head. Stars danced before his eyes and the picture before vision fuzzed slightly. Somewhere in the distance, he heard someone yell, sounding close yet muffled. Then, someone was on him, pressing his frame against the wall and crushing all the air from his lungs, forcing the redhead to inhale a large amount of cigarette smoke and the fumes of alcohol. He choked and was glad when the body was pushed off him.
His vision corrected itself in time for the red head to see his brother being torn off the large sweaty man who smelled of whiskey, and arm around his throat and what appeared to be a knife grazing over the sensitive underside of his chin. Hikaru struggled and a small dribble of blood appeared, running down his neck and the knife's blade together.
"No!! Leave him alone!!" The younger demanded, starting forward, only to be cut off by three grown men in his pathway. Like a cornered animal, the Hitachiin backed away, eyes strained to make out his twin's form, barely seen between the burley men's arms.
"Why should we?" One drunkenly slurred, running a clumsy hand up Kaoru's arm and toying with the torn fabric of his tee-shirt. A loose smile played on the older man's mouth as he leaned forward to place a sloppy kiss on Kaoru's cheek, missing and getting his ear. "You're so pretty and you two are twins. Why should we leave either of you alone?"
"Because…" Kaoru shuddered as he rubbed the saliva off the shell of his ear. "Because…because…" No words came.
The one man who seemed sober in the group pushed his companion out of the way and took his place against the younger's frame. "How old are you, boy?" he asked. Behind him, a girl clad only in a swimming top and a miniskirt delivered a message that was on a single piece of paper. The sober man read the message and a primitive smile curved his lips.
"I—I'm eighteen," the sixteen year old lied, breath coming in short gasps. He tried to keep his pride from deserting him and defiantly added. "Why should that matter? Isn't it the younger ones that the people pay more money to fuck?"
A low chuckle rumbled through the crowd; they seemed to enjoy his joke.
"Spirit," another intoxicated man said brightly, taking another swig of his beverage. "I like it in him."
The sober man—Kaoru guessed he was the one in charge—pocketed the paper and suddenly fisted a hand in the boy's red hair. The redhead emitted a small squeak of pain and grinding his teeth and barely noticing the small tears that sprung to his eyes. Off to the side, he heard Hikaru shout for them to stop, although using a wider vocabulary of swear words.
"The boss says he likes you; you've got good looks and I'd say you've got a way with the words. But, no, it's not only the young ones that out customers like to fuck; it's the experienced one's that they like. So, virgin, we're going to…hehe…break you in."
It took three fourths of a second for what the man has said to register in Kaoru's brain, and another three for him to find himself on his knees, having a thumb slipped into his mouth and forcing his jaw open.
"No!! Leave him alone, you shit bag!! I will fucking kill you; I swear to god if you so much as touch my brother again, I will slit your throat." For all his talk, Hikaru was helpless to rescue his brother. This fact seemed to register with him, for he only flailed harder, successfully elbowing the larger man that held him in the stomach.
"Come on," cooed the man above Kaoru, working his thumb a little deeper into the red head's throat, despite it's natural reflex to close. The younger boy gagged repeatedly, almost on the verge of throwing up, but this only seemed to please the man more. "Open up, virgin, or I'll break your jaw."
"No, Kaoru, don't!!" Hikaru yelled, but now his voice was barely heard as the music was raised another notch.
The repetitive sound of the beat of his heart echoed in Kaoru's ears and he tried to pull his head backwards. Shouts and cat calls of 'virgin' and 'cherry' rang in his ears, louder than the music and more alienated that the room itself. His breathing shallower and harder to retain. Blackness loomed around the corners of his visions as the music became lower and more drawn out, matching the pace of his heart.
"Wow, man, back off. He looks faint."
Was this…a panic attack? Well, what a wonderful time for one.
Another hand fisted in his hair, while two more took hold of his arms. How many of them were there now? Kaoru couldn't tell, nor would he even try to differentiate between the touches on his skin. The only thing the red head was capable of recognizing was the angered shouts of his brother, and even those were becoming faint and distant.
Then, in a sudden rush of sound, lights and action, the floor rushed up to meet him with a sickening speed.
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Haruhi narrowed her eyes. "Is that all?"
The peaceful posture of the man across the table from her was really starting to piss the brunette off. It wasn't the posture really, it was more of the fact that Kyouya spoke of such vicious things as rape and brutality with the air of someone discussing the weather or something of sorts.
"No, of course not, Haruhi," the bespectacled man assured her lightly, inspecting his knuckles as they flexed exaggeratedly under the unnatural light of the overhead lamp. "But, that's what happened. Whatever the Hitachiin endured, he had no memory of it. In fact, I believe those on the side lines had a better view of what exactly was happening than the actual boy. If memory serves, however, there were…pictures."
Photographs? Disgraceful.
The woman nodded slightly. "Ootori, I understand that you're trying to be helpful," she said in an pressed formality that earned a disdainful scoff from the man across from her. Haruhi crinkled the line between her brows; the 'I-will-succeed' line, as her father had put it. "But, you have been doing nothing but recycling old stories with different words."
An eyebrow raised and the laminated pictures were slide rather violently, back across the table towards Haruhi, who caught only half before they reached the edge, leaving the others to cascade over the edge of the table. She left them there, eyes trained on her ex-friend for any sign of emotion. Anything at all to prove that Kyouya actually had a conscious. If Haruhi could prove that to herself, she would believe him; if he said he didn't do it—that he had cared for the whore he'd supposedly helped in more ways than one—than she'd believe him.
But, be as he was, trained to never show emotion, Kyouya simply redirected the conversation.
"I saw the papers," he told her, eye to eye and no holds barred. "It looks like a perfectly scandalous story, don't you think? A common lawyer stealing the heir of a multimillion dollar school program away from the heir of an equally prosperous French company? At first, I didn't believe it possible of you, Haruhi." Kyouya chuckled darkly. "Looks like I've had some influence on you after all."
Her cheeks stained a ruddy pink at this and her grasp around the pencil in her hand tightened. How dare he talk about her like that!! "I am not some common trollop as you have kindly put it," she muttered defensively. "Nor am I anything like you. Listen, Ootori, as much as you'd like to reminisce about the days when we were—"
"—friends?—"
"—acquaintances…I would rather get on with the case story. Now…if you'd please go into further detail about your relationship with the boy, it'd be much appreciated."
Another smirk. Closing her eyes briefly, Haruhi thought back to her days in school with the younger version of the murderer in front of her. If Kyouya had known how to puss buttons then, he could now tear out their inner workings and rewire them to suit his prefer reaction.
"Well, you see, Kaoru was not that strong of a person."
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The rest of the night was a blur. Too many faces, scents, and feelings all confliction as one in a kaleidoscope of emotions and actions. Pain was ever present—oh, there had been lots, a never ceasing and never ending burning oh his hips, legs and back, like the monsters he was now employed for had tried to bend him every which-way-and-that. After all, they had said they'd break him in…
Someone moved next the Kaoru, and his eyes jerked open, wider than sauce pans and sitting bolt up right; and action that would only lead to his further discomfort. Fear blocked any and all reasonable thought as, like a traumatized animal, Kaoru's amber eyes made a quick once over of the room he occupied, as if checking for danger.
There was none. With a sense of relief, the redhead recognized his own room, the one he shared with Hikaru. That meant that the warm body next to him must be none other than that of his twin.
"Kaoru?" The form under the covers croaked, sitting up and rubbing his identical amber eyes to rid them from sleep. "Kaoru…"
Hikaru seemed to sense the fear and adrenaline that coursed through his twin's veins, for he stopped talking and extended an arm towards his mirror image. Kaoru tensed even more, yet allowed himself to be drawn into a comforting hug.
"Kaoru…Kaoru, I'm so sorry…" Hikaru muttered under his breath. "It should have been me, I don't know what I was thinking making you do that. I'm the older one; it shouldn't have happened to you like that. I should have…but when you fell I just—I couldn't move!! They…the men…I'm so sorry…"
It might have been better to stop Hikaru on his train of self destructing thought, but at the moment, the younger of the Hitachiin twins found it reasonably impossible to unhinge his jaw. Someone must have hit him, because his left cheek felt swollen and heavy.
"H-Hikaru," he finally managed, causing the blubbering mass that was the elder twin to look up. Kaoru noticed his eyes were wet and reached out to brush the tears away. "Don't…Listen, don't blame yourself. It looks a lot worse than it is." A lie, but a necessary one. Kaoru shifted slightly, again noting the pain in his lower back and the reluctance of his legs to work. "However," he added, biting back a groan, "If you want to help me, could you possibly…" He trailed off, gesturing to the chest of drawers.
Heeding the unasked request, the elder of the red heads slid out of bed and grabbed a set of spare cloths from the dresser and heaving his brother up, off the bed, and towards the bathroom across the hall. Here, he sat Kaoru—clad only in boxers—on the seat of the toilet and set about drawing a bath for his brother.
Kaoru smiled slightly, allowing his eyes to close slightly and leaning his head against the cool tile of the bathroom wall. For some reason, he ahd a headache that wouldn't go away.
"Mnnnn…Hiakru?"
"Yes, Kaoru."
Blinking open one eyes slightly, the younger twin eyes his brother. "Did we…are we in?"
Silence. "Yeah...Yeah, we are…I'm their runner boy and you're…you're…"
The silence stretched again and Kaoru stepped over the side of the tub and into the warm water. He allowed his muscles to relax, even if his brain went into overdrive, trying to remember exactly what had happened. He didn't know weather to be grateful for the mental lose of time or to curse it, hating the amnesia for stealing a memory that would plague him without him ever being able to properly identify it.
"Yeah…" Kaoru said, allowing his eyes to close again. Despite having fainted, he had experienced a shitty night's sleep… "Yeah…I'm one of them…"
le gasp Vote now!! Happy or sad ending!!
Sorry this took so long. The one computer that had internet axis dies on me, and that was also the one that I had more than half of this chapter written on, so I waited to recover it. And I tried to make it longer.
BTW!! People, this is going to be a multichaptered fic, so don't be put off because there's no romance or KyouKao yet; it'll come. And please forgive me for ghosting over the rape. Not only was it my first time writing it, but I've never been very good at sex.
Anyways, you all know what I'm asking for!! Be kind, review!!