.."You have 24 hours." And Iwase hung up.
Haruka! Haruka! All Iwase felt like doing was screaming his lover's name. When he first became his bodyguard it was because he had both admired and loved the man. He'd seen him directing the others, standing tall and stern, using a clear loud voice that made people listen to him. Ishikawa had still been carrying the injuries he'd gained when the 7th Instructor was killed but that hadn't deterred him from taking command of the garrison and protecting the president's visit from harm. As he'd spent more time getting to know him, and falling deeper in love with him; he'd often taken comfort in the idea that so long as he did his duty he would never have to see Haruka die. But now – he swore if by some miracle Haruka wasn't dead, he'd never leave his side again.
He stiffened as he suddenly remembered "Don't ever leave me again." Haruka had been on the verge of passing out when he said that, weakened from loosing blood from wounds received while they had been trying to escape terrorists in America. Iwase had been with him but not really. He hadn't been in his right mind, suffering from complete amnesia that had somehow been caused when he'd hit his head against the concrete floor of a parking garage while protecting Haruka from a bomb blast. When he'd recovered his memory he'd found Haruka trying to hold a group of terrorists at bay with nothing more than a small knife and his own will. They'd been closing in to try and force information about the newest computer technology from him. (Ch 8 – 9) Was Ishikawa calling for him now?
His cell phone rang. "Haruka!" he quickly checked the phone and then stopped as he looked a the read out. He wiped his eyes of tears he hadn't even noticed were falling and then took a deep breath and bracing himself flipped the phone open.
"Where? Why? But I want - " the phone was dead before he could finish his question.
He fumed silently for a second and then called the front desk. He was lucky, if he got out of the room in 15 minutes he could make a bullet train to Maebashi. He threw his clothes back into his suitcase and then stopped by the front desk telling them that everything else in the room could be thrown or given away, that a family emergency had come up. Then he caught the waiting cab. He knew Nishiwaki was taking advantage of the fact that he couldn't call the garrison because of the possibility of a leak, but he also understood what he was doing. He'd give him a few hours and then call him back. If he were lying, if this wasn't leading to a raid to rescue Haruka – he wouldn't finish that sentence even in the privacy of his own mind.
A fist hitting Haruka's face, Haruka on the ground and someone kicking him in the ribs. Iwase shuddered and wrenched him mind away from imagining Haruka beaten insensible and collapsed on the ground at his feet. He knew he should get some rest before arriving at Maebashi but all he could do was worry about what had happened to Haruka. How long had they had him? In reality he agreed with Nishiwaki, he wouldn't doubt at all that Haruka not calling was just him wanting to have his dream vacation. He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. What if they had just caught him and were planning on using sodium penethal on him? What if even now they were about to put the drug that would kill Haruka into his veins? He wanted to run screaming through the train to the conductor's room and make them go even faster. Once again he checked his watch, still 3 hours to go. How could he wait that long and still be sane?
"Don't leave me Haruka!" he begged silently. "Don't leave me, I don't want to live without you."