Beta: Youkai Kisaki
A/N: Another shorter than usual chapter, yet I find myself utterly… I've got writers block, or, more precisely, Fuji block. I don't know where to go from here! Comments/Reviews/Help?
Oshitari kept his gaze on the unmoving body of Gakuto as the paramedics wheeled him towards the ambulance, while at the same time attempting to concentrate on the questions the police officer was asking him. It was hard to keep his mind on the questions, important though they were, when all he could think about was Gakuto, remember how his body had crashed on the glass-surface of the table, how he'd just lain there, looking dead while that man… That man had come in and had so carelessly pushed him aside, knocking him unconscious. And Echizen… Who knew what had happened to the boy.
"Oshitari-san," the officer repeated once more and Oshitari forced himself to look away from Gakuto. "You mentioned that there was a boy in your apartment, one of your students?" the man's eyebrow was lifted, and Oshitari heard quite clearly what the man really wanted to know by asking that.
"Yes, one of my students," Oshitari repeated, keeping his voice level and tried not to be insulted by what the man was insinuating. "Echizen Ryoma. Earlier at school he had an altercation with his father and when I came home I found him standing in-front of my building. It was raining heavily and the boy was soaking wet. I invited him in, hoping I could convince him to let me call his parents."
"Echizen Ryoma?" the officer repeated the name and frowned. "Just one moment." He turned and went to speak with some of the other officers and almost immediately one of them took out his phone and called someone. All in the group kept glancing back at Oshitari, and the suspicion in the face of the one that had questioned him, only seemed to increase.
Oshitari brought his hand up to the gauze one of the paramedics had managed to place over his head-wound, before the police had demanded he answer their questions and closed his eyes. He was tired, more than exhausted and just wanted to go to the hospital so he could sit by Gakuto's bed, not listen to a bunch narrow-minded idiots accuse him of trying to seduce an underage student of his, simply because he was in a relationship with his male neighbour.
"Oshitari-san?" a different, yet familiar voice called out his name and Oshitari opened his and saw Inui standing before him, his partner, Oishi and a third unfamiliar man next to him. "We met earlier today, if you remember, at-"
"Yes, yes I remember," Oshitari replied before Inui could re-introduce himself. "I remember you and Oishi-san, Inui-san."
Inui nodded and gestured towards the third man. "And this is Tachibana-san, one of our colleagues. We were informed that you have seen Echizen-kun."
Oshitari swallowed, searching for Gakuto again, but did not find him and the ambulance had already left. Oshitari was completely surrounded by the police and their vehicles. "As I have already informed the other officer, there was nothing-"
"We are not attempting to accuse you of anything, Oshitari-san," the new man, Tachibana intervened before Oshitari could get any further. "The boy's family is frantic, they have not seen the boy since this afternoon and there is some concern that perhaps the boy is involved with some dangerous people. Can you please tell us all you can about this man who attacked you and your friend?"
Oshitari looked from one man to the other, and noticed that none of them was looking at him accusingly. He let out a relieved breath and some of the tension that had been contributing to his headache fled. He hadn't realized how much the police officers suspicions had been affecting him.
"I didn't really get a good look at him," Oshitari answered. "He had dark brown hair, cut to his chin, was perhaps a little more muscular than the average person and strangely enough…" Oshitari frowned when he remembered the next detail. "He had his eyes closed, yet it didn't seem to affect him at all. I had the impression that neither I nor Gakuto even mattered to him. All he was interested in was Echizen-kun."
Inui nodded and began taking things down on his notebook, and Oishi pulled out a sketch from his breast pocket and showed it to Oshitari. "Was this the man?" he asked.
Oshitari looked at the sketch and shook his head. "No, he wasn't as frail as this man. His face was rounder, yet…" Oshitari paused, trying to find the right word that would describe their attacker. "More masculine," he finally concluded. "Who is that?"
Oishi glanced at Tachibana questioningly and after getting a nod, answered. "Fuji. The man we came to ask you about earlier today. If you see him, we would appreciate you contacting us. We believe him to be involved in this also, along with someone called Atobe Keigo."
Oshitari was nodding, his mind reeling with all the information Oishi had told him.
"Echizen-kun," Oshitari said and licked his lips nervously, not sure how to continue. "He really is in trouble isn't he? I've tried to speak to him at school, but he was always so resigned. And Ryuzaki-san, one of his classmates… They had started dating but Echizen-kun broke it off, and I had the impression that he did it on purpose. I believe he was trying to protect her, and that was why he was so reluctant to accept my, or anyone's help."
Inui's lips were pursed together tightly and there was no way of knowing what he was thinking, not when he wore those thick glasses that seemed to reflect nothing but the light of the surrounding streetlamps and Oishi just looked worried. Oshitari was beginning to think he always looked like that.
Oshitari turned to Tachibana hoping the man would give him some kind of answer, even if was only a lie meant to assure him.
"Truthfully, Oshitari-san," Tachibana said, and Oshitari expected the man to say it was none of his business. "You are not the only one that is worried about the boy."
Oshitari closed his eyes when he heard the words, and almost wanted to scream at Tachibana for confirming his fears. "And the man that attacked me and Gakuto? Will he…" He cleared his throat and forced himself to look at Tachibana. "Do you think you will ever catch him?"
For a moment it looked like Tachibana was going to answer him honestly, but then one of the other officers came to where they stood and whispered something to him.
"We will do everything within our power, Oshitari-san," Tachibana said when the other officer had left. "Would you like a lift to the hospital where your friend is being treated?"
Numbly, knowing he would get no more answers from any of them, Oshitari nodded and when Tachibana waved one of the uniformed officer and told them to take Oshitari to the hospital, he followed without complaint and silently.
Once he was sitting in the car he looked up at the sky for the first time that night, and noticed the thick, grey smoke. He wondered what had happened, and if the reason behind the smoke was why he and Gakuto hadn't been taken straight to the hospital.
0
0
0
Yukimura looked down at the unconscious boy, smiling, still revelling in the sweet taste of the boy's blood. It was not just the blood that made him smile, that pleased him. It was also the thought of what Atobe would think and feel, should he know of this, that Yukimura had tasted, had taken something Atobe had claimed as his.
His nostrils flared at the scent of the boy's blood, still lingering in the air of the small room, and a frown suddenly appeared on his forehead. The scent should not be this strong, not from his bite, and not from the small cut he had made on the boy's lips.
Yukimura's eyes narrowed and he kneeled over the boy, long fingered hands hovering over the boy's body, searching and finally pausing over the boy's feet.
His feet were not covered by socks or shoes. They were dirty, bruised and bleeding.
"Yanagi!" Yukimura screamed, his devoted fledgling appearing immediately by his side, bowing low, the perfect image of subservience, despite the fact that he stood over the kneeling Yukimura. "The boy's feet," Yukimura spoke with a chill, sharply. "He is bleeding, he has been bleeding, you allowed him to bleed!"
Yanagi's eyes opened wide and focused on the small feet over which Yukimura's hands hovered. "Master, I am sorry, I-"
"Do not give me any of your pathetic excuses!" Yukimura screamed, stood and lashed out with his arm. Yanagi was thrown against the wall, the white mortar cracking under the weight of his body. "You have left a trail for Atobe to follow! He will be here soon, if he is not here already. We must leave, now. Take the boy!"
Yukimura turned and left the room, expecting Yanagi to follow his orders.
He walked up the stairs from the basement and stopped in the large living room to wait for Yanagi to join him with the boy, trying to calm his raging anger and desire to lash out against Yanagi, who had been foolish enough to fail him.
He kept his gaze on the window that showed the neighbour's house, and the lit window to their kitchen, where a woman was preparing dinner for her family.
He had watched them before, watched the woman prepare dinner. It was always late when she cooked, and she always looked tired and worn out. At times there would be a bruise on her face, and once Yukimura had even seen her husband hit her. Yet he had also seen the woman kissing with a younger man that also lived in the house.
When he heard someone step on the floorboard in the hallway, Yukimura spoke aloud the thought he had teased himself with since the day they had moved into this house. "We should visit the neighbours before we leave, Yanagi. I do not think we should leave without giving thanks for the entertainment I have gained from their lives."
Certain that his face now held an affectionate smile and his eyes glowed with forgiveness for Yanagi's foolish mistake, Yukimura turned, only to be faced with someone completely un-expected. His eyes widened with surprise and he could not speak even a single word, despite how loud the screams, accusations and pleads echoing inside his head were.