Chapter Three

Kyouya lazily picked at his fingernails while ignoring the lawyer across from him. Boredly, he watched the light refract off his cuticles and the general gleam of the over-nail in the lamp's cast off. He must return to that commoner nail salon; whatever they did worked like a charm.

"You know," the dark haired man said calmly, "I think that this is pointless. I have already claimed that I am not at fault for the boy's death, so why am I even here?"

"You volunteered for suspicious questioning," Haruhi offered, but she was generally ignored.

"There's no real reason for me to be here, so why don't I take my leave?" And with that he stood, limbs completely relaxed, as if he knew every thing would work out fine. Haruhi resisted the urge to roll her eyes and stood too, moving slightly so it was clear that the dark haired man was not to leave the room. At this, Kyouya raised an eyebrow. "What? More questions?" He himself, did not restrain the obvious exaggeration of an eye roll and sat back down, as dignified as ever. Haruhi situated herself across from him.

"You're skirting the question, Ootori," she told him sharply, slightly reprimanding. "I want to know, when was the last time that you saw the Hitachiin boy?"

"Around twelve thirty am, the day of his murder."

"And," Haruhi asked, relieved at finally having gotten a direct answer. "What was the nature of this meeting?"

A devilish smile that almost didn't seem like it would belong to the raven haired man curved his lips. "Pleasure."

It took a few split seconds for the actual words to sink in, yet as they did, a slightly horrified expression. Haruhi's jaw hit the floor and her eyes widened slightly, making her already large iris' stunning to the max. Kyouya grinned.

"You…you had se--…sexual intercourse with the boy a few hours before he was killed?"

A low chuckle that made the woman rethink her previous statement/question.

"Haruhi, for you to understand the full quality and timing of my relationship with the hooker downstairs, would take more brains, time and money than this entire department could gather at one low-end bake sale, so please, let me simplify it for you and this time—" he raised a finger, successfully cutting her off before she could retort at this insult "—don't interrupt me. I highly doubt the men behind that mirror would be too happy if you did; nor would those operating the larger scale versions of that toy recorder you've got there."

The female lawyer felt herself sweat-drop. This guy really donned the Shadow King mask well, even if it had been ages since he had first been dubbed that particular nick name. Her chocolate brown eyes closed and Haruhi took a deep, calming breath before exhaling slowly and cracking open both eyes.

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It took two days for the regret to set in. And when it came, it was not the gentle trickle of despaired and wistful thinking that it had been anything else. No it was the realization, hitting both red haired boys with power enough to knock them over; they were so fucked.

It took six days for Kaoru to fully get used to the general idea of what he was expected to go through, and make his body do, for this job. Also, the type of people he was expected to bed; the rule at this place was 'first come, first served' and 'never deny a profit'.

The inner workings of the whorehouse were something akin to that of an auction house. Men, women and those who were somewhere in between, (where the relationship was so close that you couldn't really tell until they had their cloths off) would file into a small room with a raised stage. The whole place was dark, and when the music and strove lights finally came up, the 'items' that were up for bidding were displayed; first by gender, then hair color and last, by experience. And that man had been right; not everyone favored the virgins.

The bidding would often start off around seven hundred American dollars, and escalate from there. It wasn't until the red headed boy snuck a glance over the figures and calculations that he realized this was no small scale organization; if some of the other's stories were to be believed, they had not come here, but were forcibly dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night and threatened with death and that of their family.

Kaoru shuddered when the woman told him this. She had proceeded to lift up her shirt and show him her lower back, where a strange form of markings revolved around twisted 'x' marks and single lines. Only upon asking did Kaoru discover that this was the system's way of tracking who did what, and the punishment. The woman stated that she had come from a large, yet close family, and that the 'x' marks were her nieces and nephews. She then started to cry, and sobbed that they were also the times she'd tried to escape.

The younger of the Hitachiin twins was in a catastrophic state by the time he had reached home, begging and pleading Hikaru to 'never listen to me if I say I want to quit' or 'please don't ever persuade me to switch places. I won't let you'. Nodding, shocked, the elder of the boys tried to make heads or tails of what his twin was saying.

Hikaru was in and entire different arm of the corporation, often not seeing his brother for hours at a time. In such a short time, although both boys had managed to work their ways to within the top five chosen for drugs and sex, it came at a heavy price.

Every time Hikaru made a run, he was at risk for being caught by the police and every time Kaoru was with a client, he risked the immense emotional trauma and the constant and untrustworthy spurts of violence from each man. They weren't single without a reason.

However, both boys rationalized that it was worth it, especially when they brought some of their earnings home to their mother. She had gaped at them, and hugged the boys, not even saying anything, but just crying. This, in itself, brought another realization upon the Hitachiin twins.

Their mother knew. She knew where they were going and what they were doing. She might not have been 100% sure before, but now with the money, there was no way to doubt it. Their mother knew and she wasn't doing anything. This brought another change of events, once that the twin affectionately called 'The Marking'. Both boys had conceded to get matching tattoos, to symbolize their defiance and to release their anger. Hikaru went though with it; Kaoru, being a tiny bit put off by the unclean needle, had chickened out. He had, however, conceded to get an airbrush one that would last for a month. And thus, the boys curled even farther into their own world.

Around this time—when Kaoru was 'four weeks young' and Hikaru had graduated from being a small time runner to inter-territorial gigs, an epic break up was occurring.

Not that either of the twins really followed the news much (honestly, when did they have time?) but news of Ootori Kyouya's great split with his wife of four years reached them soon enough. Apparently, Ootori Renge had finally gotten tired of being second to work and money, called her husband out in the middle of a fancy restaurant, then dissolved into tears and said she wanted a divorce. Now, the court system had taken on the trial and it was pending further documentation.

Documentation was taking too long, and that's what brought the tall, composed man to the Main House, asking for someone to take his mind away from the present (more of demanded, actually) and latched eyes with the tired and overworked red head across the room.

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Haruhi relaxed forcibly again, clearly happy that they were finally getting somewhere along the line of incriminating evidence. She briefly checked the tape recorder and saw that it still had a good few hours left of life time. Good. Something told her this story was going to be extensive and, as she had promised, she wouldn't interrupt.

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That day (or more of night; a whore's inner clock was different) was a bad one. Kaoru was sore, beaten, over-sexed and—what was more—he currently had peanut butter in unnecessary places that he was sure would never come off. So, sticky, sweaty and smelling strongly of peanuts, the red head reentered the main room with his client and bayed the man goodnight. Needless to say, he was somewhat put off when the taller brunette gave him a quick peck on the lips and said, "I'll be home by eight, honey."

Weary and discomforted, the boy traipsed across the filled dance room and sat on a swiveling barstool.

Although a great deal of business came from the Cat Walk Room, not all of the transactions were made in the dimly lit modeling agency. Saliva was swapped in the bathrooms, money was traded upfront on the bar, drugs were reversed pick pocketed everywhere, AIDS were exchanged in the back rooms and clientele was traded upfront.

In need of a little fun, the workers at the Underground had created a little game. The 'See Who' game, where three workers would simultaneous see who could persuade a walk-in, or someone who had not participated in the bidding. This was rather entertaining to watch in two ways. For one, if someone was new, like most walk-ins, he was more likely to become flustered and blubbering with three beauties hitting on him shamelessly, and two to see the other's techniques. Maybe pick a few of your own up, as well.

The See Who game had been going on long before Kaoru ever joined the Underground, and he was thrown into it's midst by collateral. But now…now he was uninterested in playing any more. He just wanted to go home, sleep, shower repetitively and hopefully get a chance to talk to Hikaru.

Subconsciously, Kaoru felt his eye lids closing.

"Hey, Hitachiin!" He jerked out of his daze to see the burley, overly buff ring master of this circus leering at him from behind the bar. "Clocking out early?"

He was in no mood. "Yeah. I'm tired." Was all the red head offered in return. He was still not entirely forgiving of the man for 'breaking him in' as the people here so delicately put it. Attempting to match the other man's leer and no longer falling asleep on his feet, the red head slid his folded arms across the counter top and narrowed his eyes. "Can I go home." He spoke slowly, making sure his boss didn't miss a single word.

The man laughed loudly, throwing his head back and belting out the one sided humor at the redhead's situation. Kaoru rolled his eyes and felt his temples twitch in annoyance and pain. He was not in the mood for this.

"No," the stronger man told him simply, laugh contained yet still clearly present in his voice.

"Why not?" Kaoru gritted out, his eyes feeling swollen and his throat tightening. He was not going to cry; not here and not now…But he would have liked to. It would have made everything better; the pressure, the worry, the strain and the all over sickness of this life style. But he didn't.

"Hum…" the man pondered, placing a thumb and pointer finger on his chin and seemingly contemplating the room behind the red head. Straining his ears, Kaoru listened for what possible task the monster would make him complete before he was allowed to leave.

There was the derogatory sound of someone flushing the toilet in the distance, as well as the steady thump-thump of a bed's head boards hitting the wall. The reasonably acute sound of someone throwing up was also detectable, along with the snide remarks of the people around the unfortunate vomit-ee. Ew.

The door to the main room swung open and shut, and the ring leader's snide voice uttered, "That one". All this happened so quickly that Kaoru was caught rather off guard. His mind had been concentrating on the thump-thump of the beds above him and the aching feeling in his bones.

"What?" the red head asked, twirling on the dial and directing his gaze towards the door. There, framed by the doorway with the background of the thick door, was a tall man, most of his head and face obscured by a large hat and a coat with a large upturned collar. He stood there, emitting an almost dangerous aura that made one want to lean away and closer at the same time.

The man's gaze crossed the room towards the ring leader and Kaoru and he started towards them. From behind him, the Hitachiin twin felt the hot breath of the older man on his neck as he breathed, "Here's your choice, brat. Do whatever he likes or let me fuck you--plain and simple—into the headboard."

Jerking so as to rid himself of the evil man's presence, Kaoru found himself colliding, head first, into the walk in's trench coated body. The younger red head simply bounced off him and caught the sent of some expensive smelling colon. Vaugly, he noticed the fabric of the man's coat was in good condition. Gucci, perhaps?

"Oh—I'm so sorry!!" he said quickly, eyes wide and innocent as he glanced at the man's Adam's Apple, unable to look him in the eyes. Clients always said very elaborate things about his eyes, and it was always disquieting.

There was a moment of silence while the ring master's words ran through Kaoru's head. 'Him or me'. Well, he'd blown one of the options, hadn't he? No one would want a person who had collided with you head on in an attempt to escape his boss.

Breathing a retired sigh, the red head side stepped and allowed the walk in to pass him and speak to the ring leader. He paid no attention to their hushed conversation, preferring instead to look around wistfully and wishing on…nothing really.

He wished Hikaru was here with him. Things always went so much better when his older brother was around; be it his presence or just his effect of the people here, Kaoru didn't know. But all the same, it was nice having his brother with him.

Kaoru also wished for an Advil…direly. And to go home and to take a nice, long shower within blood boiling degrees and—

"Hitachiin!!"

His musings were cut short when he was forced to twirl around and face the two older men at the bar. One, the walk in and the other the ring master. The second of the two looking rather pissed off and the other…curious? Well, curiosity killed the cat, right?

He'd won. Without even trying, too.

Resisting the urge to laugh and jump at the prospect of being better than his boss (who had doubtlessly tried to dissuade the customer from picking him), the boy swayed his hips, almost cockily, towards the pair and—in his most 'desirable' voice—hummed, "What can I do you…for?"

It was a bad pun and an even worse spirit to be told in. Being chosen by a random walk in, who could be anything from a priest to a mass murderer, was not the thing to get excited about. At least with the scheduled clients there were extensive background checks. It seemed like a flaw in security to be so careful with the people who took the time to plan these excursions, and not the random ones who could have walked by and said, 'oh, this will be the perfect time for me to fulfill my life long dream of play raping, beating and eventually killing a hooker!'.

The taller man shifted, turning his back slightly towards the door as if afraid someone would walk in at any moment and catch him here. Always a bad sign.

"I require your services," he began, coolly and complacent as ever. It was out of place in the settings and almost sounded like a British accent in China.

"—Doesn't everybody who comes here?—"

"—Of a certain private nature—"

"—Again, doesn't everybody?—"

He was being cocky and should really stop, but it didn't seem to annoy the client, and it was simply pissing off the ring master.

"—And I require your confidence and best abilities."

"Well, I'm a little tired, but I'll try my best." He grinned at the man and, for a second, felt like he was sitting—joking—with his brother again, but those calm days with Hikaru had long since passed into bleaker memories. "I mean…uh, right…Here, let me take you to one of the back rooms."

He made to get up, but a hand quickly shot out to wrap around his elbow. Glancing down, Kaoru recognized the greasy, hang nailed fingers of none other than his boss.

"Your client requests that you accompany him to the, uh, destination of his choice."

Feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach, the red head bucked visibly in the other man's grasp. He'd heard the horror stories about the girls and guys that went wherever the clients wanted. Half of them turned up dead, and the other half didn't turn up at all.

"What, I—NO!!" he attempted to protest, but by that time, he found himself being directed out of the door by force. "I!! Wait! I don't want to—stop!!"

No one paid him any heed. They'd all seen this routine thousands of time.

A car was running outside, the steam from it's exhaust pipe curling into the chilly winter air. Snow crunched mercifully under the client's boots as he directed Kaoru to the car, who's door was opened by a chauffeur. It was less of a shove, more of a being poked in the perfect ticklish spot that made the red head sit down in the comfortable back seat of the limo. Limo.

What was this guy, Mr. Money-Bags or something?

Breathing fast, the boy edged his way across the seat as the older man climbed into the car and shut the door. The driver seemed to have been given a direction pre-Kaoru-nab and the engine hummed to life, thudding happily as Kaoru's heart played harmony to it, beating just as fast in pure terror.

"Uh…Can I ask where we're going?" More like can I ask you to drop me off at the first corner to your left?

The client looked at him, the light grey eyes hidden behind films of glass. Glasses? Kaoru defiantly hadn't noticed that before. He also noticed, before reminding himself of the no eye-contact rule, that the skin around those eyes was tainted rather red.

"To a prearranged location," was all he got in response.

"Yeah, I get that," Kaoru said, snappishly. "But I kinda want to know where incase you go all psycho on me and try to pull a Hannibal Lector."

This gained a small laugh from the man, and the red head was slightly taken aback. Laughter? Honestly? This man was crazy.

"I assure you—Hitachiin, was it?—that I am anything but a cannibal…Even if I couldn't get caught for committing any crime by the authorities. No need to worry."

This statement did nothing to help his worry…if anything, it heightened it.

"Okay…so where are we going…?"

"Persistent, aren't you?"

"When I have to be. Where?"

"A hotel."

Hotel? "Wait, not a motel?"

A raised eyebrow greeted his questions. It could symbolize either annoyance or surprise and both were appropriate emotions for the current situation. "As in a full, high class, five star hotel on the water front."

Kaoru gasped audibly. Nothing he'd either lived or worked in had ever been that nice. This received a funny look from the client and that's when it hit the red head. He couldn't keep calling this man 'the client'. It would be distasteful, not to say uncomfortable for him to come, screaming 'oh client'.

"Say, what's your name?"

A smirk folded the lips of the man and he adjusted his glasses casually. "That is none of your business."

"Fine," Kaoru rebuked. "But someone's gonna be suspicious if I have to called you 'client' instead of an actual name, you know."

"If I cared about suspicion, I wouldn't have booked the suit in the penthouse when it's common knowledge that myself and my wife no longer sleep together."

Kaoru had nothing good to say to that. "Oh…" he simpered slightly, voice a tad bit higher. He hadn't seen that one coming. But, determined as ever, he pressed the matter. "Can I at least have a first name, then?"

A small moment of indecision in the other man's eyes and he nodded. "You may called me Kyouya."

It was a nice name. "Ky-ou-ya," he said exotically, letting it roll off his tongue animatedly. He smiled at him. "See? That wasn't too hard, way it?"

He got no answer. The car pulled to stop and the client—Kyouya—got out and onto the busy strip. Kaoru followed him, laughing slightly. This was going to be interesting. If anything, the younger of the Hitachiin twins was somewhat…enjoying himself.

The penthouse was as pretty as the pictures in the catalogues had shown. White marble bathroom, kitchen and tiled floors, plush couches, and a golden trimmed featherbed, with humungous headboard. Subconsciously, Kaoru was sure that one wouldn't bang against the wall, no matter what they did in that bed.

Speaking of that…

Kaoru felt the butterflies return to his stomach. He still had no idea what this Kyouya guy's fetish was…Feet? Lace? Hell, he'd even met a man once that had a fetish for dressing his hooker's up in football garb than shouting 'fumble' and body slamming them. Luckily, that man had not been the red head's client.

"So…uh…" he sat on one of the many couches and picked at the trim. "Uh…Kyouya?"

He looked up to see the brunette man, still decked out in his hat and coat, holding up a suitcase. Jumpy, Kaoru's imagination provided him with all sorts of mental images of what could be in that suit case, including—he gulped at the thought—his own dead body, being wheeled out of here in a light red suit case that was—

Kyouya clicked the thing open to reveal…

"Is that soap?"

The man nodded, shrugging off his coat to reveal a nice suit, and his hat to reveal an equally nice stock of black hair. "Yes. I would like you to chose your favorite scent and take a nice hot bath."

Ah. "Oh, so you like doing it in water, right?'

"Wrong. After that, please make yourself comfortable in the suit. Order anything you want from the room service. Free acsess to the minibar if—any only if—you are of legal drinking limit."

"Why should that matter? I've heard that I'm good either way." Kaoru interestedly picked through the many soaps. One really enticed him: 'Lemongrass and Mint'.

Kyouya sighed, exasperatedly for the first time that night. "Look, Hitachiin, I understand the awkwardness of this situation, but either way, I was raised to court a woman first, and most of all, to be polite."

"I'm not a woman, am I Kyouya."

"Of course not!! You're barely even a man, Hitachiin. You're a boy. Now please stop making this harder than it already is."

The red head nodded. He continued the thumb through the soaps, even if he'd already set his sights on the lemongrass one. This just gave him another excuse to talk to this increasingly interesting character that Kyouya was proving to be.

He only looked up when he heard the door to the suit click closed. He'd just been left here, on his own…to take a bath.

All those stories about the girls who went with men and were killed were probably all fake; most of them had probably been treated like this and decided to marry the guy right then and there.

Forgoing the bath for the time being, the red head took the time to look around. It was the perfect hotel room; clean to the naked eye and well stocked. The mini bar was locked, which caused a bit of a scuffle between Kaoru and the door, but to no avail. The closet was empty, but extensive, much like Kaoru's old one; the one he'd had when he'd still been the son of the noted fashion designer, not of the noted waitress. Then, he found the bathroom and decided that the bath could no longer wait.

It was dimly light with at least a hundred votive candles, and there wasn't one thing remotely sexual about it. It was simply soothing. And soon, the smell of lemongrass and mint permeated the air as the enormous black tiled tub filled with slightly bubbly water.

It was the first real bath in months. The other, quick ones where the water was always cold, didn't count. This was a bath, those were a wash. This was relaxation and those were…something else.

After what seemed like an hour, Kaoru finally discovered his skin wrinkling and decided—although his body protested greatly—that it was time to get out. A fluffy bathrobe and several stolen bottled of mini shampoo later, the red head reemerged into the suit. It was still empty, mercifully, but warm. He found his old cloths and quickly slipped them of, noting in distaste the layer of grime on the fabrics that was highly noticeable now that his skin was void off all the crap.

And then he saw the television. A huge, 46" plasma flat screen in the master bedroom, perfectably angled so that the occupants of the bed could watch a football game or something from the comfort of lying down. He had to try it.

The bed was heavenly, too. Almost too much so. It's softness enveloped him and, as if three thousand weights had been taken off his shoulders, kaoru felt himself sink into the down. It was…wonderful…

And before he knew it, he was asleep.

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Haruhi frowned. "Are you to say that you never had sex with the Hitachiin?"

Kyouya dug in his pockets and pulled out a cigarette. "When did I ever say that? I only insinuated that he fell asleep before I returned to the room. I never said what happened after that. But if you'd like…"

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He was breathing heavily, hair flopping into his sweaty face as he moaned lowly, throat constricting as his head hit the pillows that were pressed against the headboard again. He'd been wrong, the headboard did move when they thrust—

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"I don't need specifics, Ootori," Haruhi quickly cut in, a little louder than necessary and slamming her pen and legal pad harshly onto the table.

Kyouya smiled at her. "Fine, but you asked. Got a light?"

The lawyer looked at him skeptically and quickly got up to peak her head out of the door and ask a random passer by for a lighter. Finally, she returned and extended it out to the ex-Shadow King, flicking the side and causing a flame to appear against the metal end of it.

The bespectacled man light the smoke, then immediately dropped the cigarette onto the stone floor and ground it out with his boot. "I don't smoke," he offered simply, shrugging.

Haruhi wanted to smack him so badly, but restrained herself. "Okay…and when did the relationship get deadly?"

"It always was," Kyouya told her lightly. "That bar man—the one who whored them all out—he had a crush on Kaoru. Then there was the matter of Kaoru's crush on me and my own reciprocated crush on him. And let's not forget that fact that he was underage and I overage. I guess there was just no way for us to get by, was there?"

He obviously didn't expect Haruhi to answer, so she didn't.

"I suppose that it really started getting deadly the last month of his life…We'd known each other intimately for about a month…and that was when we slipped up."

Interested, the lawyer leaned forward and knit her brows. "How so?"

A small smile, almost guilty and still somewhat regretful smile, but one all the same. "I told him that I loved him…and he said it back."

Okay, so sorry it took me so long to update. I actually had to do this at school because my computers are being internet retards. Anyway, I tried to make this one a bit longer and more detailed.

But...I need help. What should the ring master's name be? Any hints? I take all sugestions!!!