"I'm so sorry, Hikaru, there's a terrible storm and our connecting flight was grounded, we won't be able to make it home until Monday." His mother's tears were audible in the message she'd left at three A.M. "Keep us updated on anything that happens, I love you." Hikaru set his phone down, wondering whether it would be better if his parents were to come home or stay away. Hikaru was still furious with his parents for ignoring his calls for so long. In his most dire time of need, Hikaru was left alone, unable to accept the support of his friends, separated from his family. When Sunday morning had come, and a message had been left, he knew his parents were failing him yet again. Could he forgive them?

The ransom note had come sometime in the middle of the night, demanding fifty million yen for Kaoru's safe return. He had immediately called Kyoya, who picked him up and let him tag along to the forensics lab. It was highly unlikely that any fibres or fingerprints would show up on the note, considering the trafficking ring was suspected to have been operating for three years without getting broken up, but there was always hope.

Kyoya returned with his coffee to the hallway where Hikaru was pacing. There was a large window into the room where forensic scientists were running the note through multiple tests, hoping to turn up any sort of evidence.

"Hikaru." Kyoya said, softly, getting the other boy's attention. "Pacing isn't going to help."

"Well it helps me." Hikaru countered, not bothering to stop.

"Really?" Kyoya questioned as he plopped down in a chair, sipping his coffee. He was nervous too, but he didn't have any ticks that helped him calm down.

"No." Hikaru sighed. "But I can't sit still."

"Mr. Ootari!" An excited looking lab technician suddenly burst from the door, crumpling the stack of papers he held in his fist.

Kyoya flew to his feet and Hikaru was on his heels as he strode to the scientist. "What is it, have you found something?"

"We found a fingerprint on the note." The man nodded. "We're running it through our system now. If he's had a history with the police or had a police check in his life, he'll be in our database."

"Good, good." Kyoya nodded. "Keep us posted."

"Yes, sir." The man sped back into the room with a flourish of his lab coat and made a dash for his computer.

"Is that all we need?" Hikaru asked, hope suddenly filling his voice. "Just one fingerprint to get Kaoru back?"

"Potentially yes." Kyoya confirmed. "If he's in our database, we find him and bring him in for questioning."

Hikaru sunk to his knees, leaning his head on the glass before him, tears streaming down his face. But for the first time in two weeks, they were tears of hope. This could be the ticket, the ticket to getting Hikaru's other half out of his hell and back to his life.

Kyoya rested a hand on Hikaru's shoulder, not really knowing what to do for his crying friend. He'd never been good with other people's emotions, but he had a feeling that simply being there with him may have been enough.

Twenty minutes later, they had a name.

"Mikami Yano, twenty-five years of age, has a history of shoplifting and petty theft until he stopped about three years ago. He was arrested four years ago for attempted robbery, when he got out, he never had a run-in with the cops again." Kyoya read as he and Hikaru rode in the back of a car, on their way to Yano's residence. "The jump from minor theft to human trafficking doesn't make sense…" Kyoya mumbled, flipping through the rest of his files. "And he didn't start stealing until he was twenty… something must have happened…"

"Who cares?" Hikaru interrupted. "He knows where Kaoru is."

"I suppose you're right." Kyoya sighed, trying not to let the incomplete profile bother him.

Three hours later, they arrived in Azumino, in front of a very humble home. It looked to be about the same size as Haruhi's apartment. A member of the force knocked on the door, announcing their presence, but got no response. The troop of black vans that had made the trek spaced themselves along the street so as not to look overly suspicious, and waited. Hikaru couldn't keep his leg still, and Kyoya actually fund himself fiddling with his pen for the first time he could recall.

The waiting lasted only thirty minutes before a car pulled into Yano's driveway, but it felt like an eternity had gone by. As soon as Yano got out of his car, officers surrounded him. He went willingly, not putting up any sort of a fight, and allowed himself to be cuffed and put in a car. The vans pulled away, heading to the nearest police station, which Kyoya had alerted.

Once at the station, Kyoya and Hikaru sat in front of a window that allowed them to see into the interrogation room. A speaker allowed them to hear everything that was being said as well.

"Why was your finger print on this note?" The officer who was in charge of the interrogation asked, sliding the note forward.

"Listen, I'll cooperate as long as you can guarantee my safety." Yano said, his voice shaking. The man had come willingly, yet seemed frightened of something.

"Safety from what?" The officer demanded.

"My boss. He will not hesitate to kill me if he finds out what I've done."

"We can negotiate that after you've told us what you know."

"Fine." Yano sighed. "I made sure my fingerprints would be on that note. I needed to get out of that horrible, horrible place."

"What place?"

"They told me it was a prison, that's why I took the job."

"What job?"

"Serving food to inmates, only, they weren't inmates… This man, Shuko, he takes people away from, their families, keeps them in concrete cells, chained to the wall, let's people pay to… rape them… most of these people are children." Yano kept his head down, so it was impossible to see his face, but it was obvious that he was crying.

"Why step forward now?"

"A boy was brought in a couple of weeks ago, Kaoru Hitachiin." Kyoya looked to Hikaru, who was seething through his tears. He'd known all along what was happening to Kaoru, but hearing it confirmed… Hikaru felt like he needed to throw up. "He was different from the rest. He never fought back, but he didn't give up. He didn't let it get to him. I guess you could say his courage was inspiring."

"Hikaru." Kyoya nodded towards the door to the interrogation room, and the redhead was through it before Kyoya could finish blinking.

"You put your life at risk for Kaoru?" Hikaru asked.

Yano looked up from his knees into the face of Kaoru Hitachiin, but not Kaoru, he was still chained to a wall. In a basement.

"I'm Hikaru." He explained. "Kaoru's twin brother."

"Hikaru, I'm so sorry."

"You know where he is, right?" Hikaru pleaded.

"Yes, yes I can take you, or show you on a map, I know where it is."

"You're going to take us." Kyoya was suddenly in the door as well. "He's not a threat," Kyoya said to the interrogator, "he'll ride with us and navigate."

"Thank you." Hikaru choked out, meeting Yano's eyes. He simply nodded back, feeling a major sense of relief and dread as he thought of what was to come.

But of course, happy moments can't stay happy, and Hikaru was once again knocked to the floor by an unseen force, clutching the left side of his chest and gasping for air.

"Hikaru!" Kyoya was on the ground next to his friend in a second, wishing Tamaki or Haruhi or someone was there.

"Do we need an ambulance?" The interrogator asked.

"No, just give us some room." Kyoya shook his head.

"Not now, not now, not when we're so close." Hikaru moaned as the pain spread through his ribcage.

"Hikaru-"

"I'm fine, let's go." He got shakily to his feet, his breath shallow. Kyoya swooped under his arm and let the younger boy lean on him as they headed to the cars. Every member of the Ootari police force was en-route, following orders from Kyoya and Hikaru's car as Yano directed them. It took twenty painfully long minutes to arrive at a long, tree-lined driveway. They ditched the cars, officers in black riot gear running towards the massive building in the distance.

"Are you ready for this?" Kyoya asked Hikaru, who was sitting at the edge of the backseat of one of the vans, his feet dangling out of the open door. His pain had mostly dissipated, replaced with a dull ache that was barely noticeable in his adrenaline filled state.

"Yeah." Hikaru nodded. "Mikami." He called over his shoulder to the man who was slightly cowering behind a van. "You know where Kaoru is?"

"Y-yes." He stuttered, visibly shaking.

"Good, let's go."