Disclaimer & Warning: Same as always.

Author's note: I blame the lateness on too much work now. But it's a very long chapter, so I hope it'll make up for the late update.

hittocerebattosai: Yes and it's getting worse lately. But most of the victims are kids and of course the kidnappers aren't insane.

Chapter VII – Sai To The Rescue

The guy was cursing over and over again along the road that he barely took notice of the street before him. He had made a grave mistake. Shindou's friend shouldn't catch him in his act. That girly-haired teen must have called the police as soon as he could. And sooner or later the police would be able to identify him as the kidnapper. It would ruin his carefully made plan. Now, he would have to move faster and made sure that he wouldn't make any more mistakes.

What he didn't know was that another flaw in his plan was chasing after his van. But if he did notice, he would recognize it as the black and white Siberian Husky that went out with the other teen earlier this morning. And he wouldn't be pleased to know that the dog hadn't given up on following his van yet, and probably ever.

But as it was, he never noticed the dog. Not even until his van was safely entering the garage of the small suburb house that he used as his hideout. And the dog had already hid itself behind the bushes when he got out of the garage to survey the surrounding area around the house.

000

The police promised to act as fast as they could after receiving the abduction report but Akira couldn't help but feel that they didn't work fast enough. They had said that they would inform him as soon as they were able to acquire some information on the case. But four hours had passed and they still hadn't call yet. Akira really didn't understand what took them so long. He had been very helpful by also giving them the van's description plus its plate number so it supposed to be easy for them to at least find out who the kidnapper was.

He had contacted Morishita-sensei about what happened, secretly hoping that Shindou was there and the person that he saw being abducted wasn't him but the hope proved to be false because once the 9-dan heard Shindou's name, he started yelling about the importance of punctuality. And Akira had to convince him a few times that he wasn't lying or joking before he finally believed that Shindou couldn't come because he was being kidnapped by some lunatic.

The man's reaction once the information sunk in would make Akira laughed if he wasn't too caught up in his own anxiousness about Shindou's well being. He never thought that Morishita Shigeo 9-dan would scream like an old lady when he was shocked. And despite his own worry, he tried his best to calm the man down by saying that he was sure that everything would be all right and told the older man not to tell anyone else about it.

The police forbade him on informing the Go institute or Shindou's friends about it because they didn't want too many people to know about the abduction. And after the traumatic experience of facing a hysteric Morishita-sensei, he decided against informing Shindou's parents and grandparents. He really didn't know how to inform the news without causing them heart attack. Besides, the police might already done that.

Akira was in the middle of pondering to call the police again when the phone suddenly rang. And he approached it with such an impressive speed that he nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste.

"Moshi-moshi, Touya Akira speaking." He answered quickly.

"Touya-san. This is Detective Akeda from the Tokyo police department. I'm calling to give you the news on the latest progress regarding your report on the abduction of Shindou Hikaru."

"Yes. How is it going?" Asked Akira impatiently. These guys surely had a talent of prolonging a talk.

"We had investigated the van. A guy named Tanaka Ken rented it. He has an apartment here in Tokyo but when we sent people there, his landlord told us that Tanaka-san hadn't return for about six months now. It seemed that he had been committed to a mental institution six months ago." Continued the Detective.

"So how come he could end up roaming the street again and kidnapping people?"

"Well, he escaped around three weeks ago. It seemed that there are a lot of cases of runaway mental institution patients lately. But you don't need to worry, right now we're doing our best in locating this man." Answered the guy, ready to finish the conversation.

"But I don't get it. What relation that this guy has with Shindou? I don't remember Shindou ever mentioning his name before."

"With Shindou Hikaru no. But after further investigation we had found out that Tanaka-san and Shindou Masao were working in the same company. So, there is a possibility that he might hold a grudge to Shindou-san. Even though when we asked Shindou-san about Tanaka-san, he said that he didn't even know the guy that well so he couldn't have done anything to make him upset or angry."

"Okay, thanks for the information. Perhaps I can help with the investigation or whatever?"

"Trust me, there's nothing more you can do to help. All you have to do now, Touya-san is pray and wait for the police to do their job. And don't do anything stupid; we really don't need another missing person. And now, if you will excuse me, I got a lot of work. Goodbye Touya-san."

Akira was about to say thanks once again but Detective Akeda had hung up the telephone without waiting for his reply. And he could only curse on the man's impoliteness. He really hoped that he could help in the investigation. At least he wouldn't feel as helpless as he was right now, if he could do that. If only he knew where to look.

000

The first thing that Hikaru felt when he awoke was the terrible pain on his nose and head. After awhile he also realized that his back was hurt and thick ropes tied up both his arms and legs. It took a few minutes before everything that had happened returned to his muddled mind. After that realization, he quickly opened his eyes but then regretted it because his still sensitive sight was harshly exposed to the bright neon light that was the only light source in the room that he currently occupied.

With a whispered curse, he closed his eyes again and made sure to move his head position to the side before he dared to open them again. After some times, he could finally see clearly enough and started to look at his surroundings. He found out that the cause of his sore back was because he was lying on the cold floor of a small and empty room. He also noted bitterly that it was windowless. He guessed that it must be a storeroom or something similar. Somehow the air is very tight in this room and it was hard for him to breathe.

He was interrupted from studying the room when the door was suddenly opened, permitting brighter light from the outside to enter the room. His eyes couldn't stand the brightness so he had to close it but he could feel and hear someone got nearer.

"You're awake. Good, because I need you to make a phone call to your father for me." He said flatly.

Hikaru could recognize from the voice as that it was the same guy who had punched him earlier. And with some effort he finally succeeded in opening his eyes to look at the face above him.

"Why? What do you want from him? My father is not a millionaire or an important guy. You kidnap the wrong person." That was true. In fact, if the guy didn't address him by name the first time, Hikaru might think that he actually wanted to kidnap Touya instead.

"I know that. I do this for revenge. Your father had robbed me of my right. The position of the Australian Branch Director should have been mine! And it was me who should have been sent to Australia, not him. But being the sneaky hypocrite that he is, your father had managed to steal it for himself. That looser!" Answered the guy heatedly.

Hikaru almost retorted by saying that he was the one who didn't get the job so he was the looser but then his common sense kicked in and he managed to stop himself. It wouldn't do him any good by adding insult to this crazy man's injury. He seemed to act wisely because the man had gradually calmed down after getting no response from him.

"So now why don't you be a good kid and tell me your parents phone number in Australia. And if they give me what I want, I will free you. Isn't that what you want?" Said the man while producing a portable phone from his coat pocket.

"I don't trust you. You won't let me see your face if you're planning to release me. Besides, I don't call them often enough to know the number by heart." Challenged Hikaru.

"I see that you've read too many detective stories. But I guess you have a point there. I don't need to hide my identity because your father knows who I am and I definitely don't plan to stay in Japan after all of these are done. So I don't see the necessity in hiding behind a mask." Answered the man with the tone of a kindergarten teacher who's teaching his student a 1+12 problem. But then he continued impatiently. "Now, give me the numbers. And you better not lie."

The 5-dan started to feel panic. He wasn't lying that he never bothers to try to memorize his parents' number. Why should he when he could always check it on the laminated paper filled with important numbers that Touya placed beside the telephone set? But now he really regretted his lack of attention. Luckily, he still had a vague memory of it because he had seen it so often whenever he was using the phone or simply sitting next to it.

His first attempt only resulted in failure though and he had to pay it by receiving a kick on the stomach, accompanied by the man's angry words of "I've told you not to lie."

Thankfully his second attempt was successful and when the person at the other end of the line picked up the phone, the man seemed to recognize his/her voice and started to grin maniacally. Hikaru concluded that it must be his father who picked up the phone and he silently thanking the gods.

"Shindou Masao… Still remember me? No? I've guessed you won't. You're too cocky to remember an ex-colleague right? Well, guess what? Old Ken is back and he has your son with him. Want to say hi to Hikaru?" And with that, he waved the phone near Hikaru's head and at the same time, kicking him again so that his father could hear his groan of pain.

With a wicked smile, the man, that Hikaru now knew was named Ken, returned the phone to his ear. The eighteen years old pro could only hear his father angry shouts from the other end of the line but he couldn't hear what was said.

"You don't like it, don't you? Well, if you want that precious son of yours to return alive you better give me what I want, Shindou. And what I want is 500,000 Australian dollars. What do you say?"

It seemed that his father didn't reacted the way the guy wanted though, because after awhile his face started to become sour and he released a stream of angry shouts. "What do you mean, you're not going to pay?! I got your son you bastard! And if my demand is not met, I will leave him to die. Do you hear me?!"

His father said something else and it made the guy even angrier. "Hah, the police! We'll see if they will be able to find your son before his dead body is already weeks old. This is your last chance, Shindou. Pay it with money or your son's life?" When the guy heard the answer, he only smiled bitterly and said, "So be it", then hung up the phone.

And looking at his furious face, Hikaru could guess what his father's answer was. All of the sudden a mix feelings of dread and anger filled his guts. He couldn't believe it; his father had blatantly refused to pay his ransom. He knew that their relationship wasn't that close and that his father didn't have that much money, but he was hoping that the older man would at least play along while finding a way to save him.

He was trying to not fall into desperation and hoping that his father had some secret plan under his sleeve, when his kidnapper started to speak.

"So, this is it." He said with finality. "Your damn father think that the police will catch me soon and had refused to pay your ransom. And I always keep my promise. Goodbye Shindou-kun, I'll leave you to your slow death now. Don't worry. It won't take too long. In a few more hours you'll die from the lack of air. I'm sorry that you have to die with the knowledge that your father don't love you much." And with those last words, he turned around to leave the room.

"Hey wait!" Shouted Hikaru "You've heard yourself that he doesn't care for me. So what's the use of killing me? You want to hurt him, right? But how can…"

He couldn't finish his tirade of desperate words because the door was already closed. The man had left and with him, went also his last chance of salvation. But his brain refused to accept that this was the end and he started struggling to move to the door. But it was a fruitless attempt and after a few more tries, he finally admitted defeat.

So, this is how my life going to end, a slow and lonely death. No one, not even Sai, could help him. Hell, they might never found his body until it decayed and became unrecognizable.

"What a nice fate." He said sarcastically.

000

Sai was feeling frustrated now. He had spent more than an hour to find a way so he could enter the building. But every way in seemed to be either closed or too high for him to reach. But he didn't give up searching because he had no time to waste. The guy could decide to kill Hikaru anytime so he must act quickly.

He was about to run in the direction of the backyard when he heard the sound of the front door opened. And with the quick reflex of a Siberian Husky, he ran to the direction of the sound, only to find out that Hikaru's kidnapper was leaving. He saw the man opened his garage door and disappeared behind it. Not long after that, a black motorcycle went out of the garage with high speed.

'He leaves? Why? Is that mean that Hikaru… No, that's not possible.' He decided that he had to be optimistic. But, there was really no way in, so he would have to think on another way rather than trying to get into the building by himself. That was when he remembered that a week ago Akira had wore him a dog collar with an identification tag on it so if he ever got lost, people who found him would be able to call their apartment to inform Hikaru about his dog whereabouts.

Hope returned to Sai, he had a plan now and to make sure that it would work, all he had to do was finding the right person. With that thought, he began to run in the direction of the nearest house, which was about more than one kilometer away.

He had to spy on the house to make sure that the house owner was nice enough for his plan. He couldn't risk meeting people who would want to keep him for themselves. And when an old lady finally got out of the house, he pondered on his chances for a while before deciding that she was save enough and running out from his hiding place.

At first, she was scared of him because she had mistaken him for a wolf. But when she saw his collar and that he didn't show any intention to attack her, her composure relaxed and she even got enough courage to come nearer to him.

"Are you lost, little dog? Where's your master? Come here, let me see your tag and we'll see what I can do for you." She said soothingly.

Sai decided to do what she asked and walked slowly to her. When he was within arm reach, the lady carefully petted his head and moved to check his tag. She smiled widely when she saw that there was a number to call on it.

"Your name is Sibe, right? You're lucky that your master is a very careful person. Come, let me write down that phone number so then I can call them." She said while beckoning Sai to follow her into the back door of the house. And Sai happily complied.

000

Akira was about to have dinner when the phone rang again. Thinking that it was the police, he hurriedly ran to pick it up. But the voice that greeted him was a woman's voice and definitely not the Detective from earlier.

"Shindou Hikaru-san?" The woman asked.

"No, this is his roommate, Touya Akira. Shindou-san is unavailable right now. Who is this? Do you want to leave a message, ma'am?" Answered Akira politely, trying hard to hide his disappointment.

"Ah yes, my name is Fujita Yumi. I've found a dog on my front yard. It has black and white colors. The dog seems to be lost and I found this number and Shindou-san's name from its tag." Said the lady.

"Sa… I mean Sibe? Yes, he was missing this morning. Where are you, ma'am? Can you give me your address?" Akira's heart started to pound hard with this information.

"Yes, of course. Are you going to pick him up now, Touya-san?"

"Yes, thank you."

After he had made sure that he got the address right and thanking the woman once again, Akira hung up the phone with the promise that he would get there and picked the dog as soon as possible. Her house was in the suburb of Tokyo and it made him wondered if Shindou was held nearby. After all, Sai-sensei was following the kidnapper, right?

After a few undecided moments, he finally decided to call the police and gave this information to them. As expected, the police didn't take this seriously and only agreed to send some people there after Akira had said that he would go there and investigate with or without their help.

After that task was done, he quickly called Ashiwara so that the man could give him a ride to the woman's house. The older man had been helpful and he had arrived only ten minutes after Akira made the call. His only explanation to the 8-dan was that Shindou Hikaru had been kidnapped this morning and his dog, which had followed the kidnapper's van, had been found so there was the possiblity that Shindou might not be too far from where they found the dog.

Fortunately, the traffic was rather light and the ride to the suburb only took about two hours. When he got out from the car, Akira was greeted by a blur of back and white that jumped at him with a loud yowl.

"Hi, Sibe." Greeted Akira with a small smile. "Did you know where Shindou is? Can you help us find him?"

The dog gave a small nod and immediately jumped down from Akira's arms. Luckily, neither Ashiwara nor the woman noticed that. And when Sai started to trace his way back to the kidnapper's house, Akira followed him without hesitation. His older friend, who had finished explaining everything to the old lady, soon followed him.

It was already dark and the terrain wasn't familiar to them but at least they had a flashlight so they could still see where their guide was going. But the further they got from the old lady's house, the more agitated Ashiwara became.

"Are you sure it isn't too dangerous to go there by ourselves, Akira-kun?" Asked the wavy-haired man, nervously.

"Of course. There are three of us if we counted Sibe, and the kidnapper is alone. We will be able to out strength him if the need arise." Answered Akira confidently.

"What makes you so sure that he is alone? We should have asked Ogata-san and some other people to come along too." Came the reply.

"The police told me to keep this thing as quiet as possible so that his friends and family won't get panic, that means I can't tell too many people, Ashiwara-san. Trust me, the kidnapper is insane. Most insane people work alone." At least that was what the books said.

"Most? What about the rest?" But Akira didn't reply him this time because not far in front of them he could finally see a building looming in the darkness and by the look of it, Sai was going to bring them to said building.

The house was completely dark so it was either abandoned or the owner didn't bother to turn on the lights. Once they had arrived right before the front door, Ashiwara knocked the door hesitantly but no answer came. And when they tried to open it, they found that it was locked.

"Shall we find another way in?" Asked Ashiwara with an unsure tone.

Akira looked at Sai for confirmation, and when the dog only nodded, he voiced his agreement. "Yes, I guess so. Let's go…"

All the other doors, other than the garage door, were locked as well so they ended up moving their attention to the windows. And after much stumbling and cursing in the dark, they finally found one that wasn't completely closed so that they could push it to open wide enough.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Shouted Ashiwara loud enough to make Akira cringed and glared at him.

"What? I'm just making sure that no one's in there. I mean, we're not even sure that this is the right house, right? I don't want to get arrest for breaking into people's house without any good reason." Retorted the 8-dan innocently.

Akira was about to say something along the line of how it would ruin their element of surprise when Sai suddenly jumped inside through the now open window. And for a few seconds both Akira and Ashiwara could only stare at each other before deciding to follow the dog's example and stopped wasting precious time.

The two Go professionals fell ungracefully on the floor and had to spend some times to find the light switch of the room that they were currently in. Once the light was on, they started to look around the room to find the Husky. But it seemed that the dog was no longer there and already went to look for Hikaru.

But when Akira called his name, he replied with a loud howl, informing his location to the two humans.

"Hurry, this way!" Shouted Akira, running to the direction of the voice.

They found Sibe in front of a sturdy looking door. And it already tried frantically to open it without success.

"Is Shindou-kun in here?" Asked Ashiwara to the dog, while Akira went straight to the door and tried to open it but as he had expected, the door was locked. He then started to pound as hard as he could, but no matter how hard he did that, the door still wouldn't make much sound. "Shindou?! Are you in there? Answer me!"

"Why isn't he answering, Ashiwara-san?" Asked Akira with growing panic.

"I don't know." Answered the older man distractedly. But when he spoke again, he sounded determined. "Akira-kun, do you bring one of your little hair clips with you?"

"Uhm, yes. I always bring one or two in my wallet. Why?" Replied the obviously embarrassed Akira. So what if his hair was long and he had to use hair clips to keep it tidy sometimes?

"Can I borrow one? I might be able to open this lock with it."

"Huh?" O-of course. You never told me that you're into lock picking." Answered Akira before he took one of the hair clips from his wallet and handed it to his friend.

"It's not something to be proud of, Akira-kun. Besides, I haven't done this for more than a decade now. I've stop practicing on it ever since I studied Go seriously. Now stop talking and let me work in peace." Said Ashiwara and than he kneeled before the door to start working with the lock.

After five long minutes that consisted many curses, a broken hair clip, and some scratches on the pick locker's fingers; they finally heard the satisfying clicked from the lock.

"It works!" Shouted the kneeling 8-dan. But he was ignored because Akira had already opened the door and entered the room.

But the sight that greeted him made him stopped. There, laying on the floor and looking lifeless, was Shindou Hikaru. And the only thing that Akira could do was stare while Sai ran straight to the young man's side. He still didn't move even when Ashiwara walked pass him into the room and kneeling beside the 5-dan to check for his pulse.

"His heart is still beating but weakly." Announced the kneeling man. "Hurry, let's bring him out. I think he had passed out because the lack of air."

The news made Akira felt relieved and he finally could move again. Together, he and Ashiwara carried Shindou out of the room and back to the opened window. And when they managed to bring the unconscious pro out through it, Akira could hear a faint sound of siren closing in their way.

"That's the police. I hope they bring an ambulance with them. We will need to bring Shindou to the hospital as soon as possible." Said Akira once they were already settled on the grassy surface of the yard.

"Yeah. I'm so glad that we've been able to find him in time. I can't even imagine what will happen if we come even an hour later than now. I guess it's all thanks to his dog, right?" Replied Ashiwara.

"Yes, you're right." Answered Akira before turning to stare at Sai. "You're a hero, you know that?"

And the Huksy's only reply was a short yowl before he returned his attention to his ex-pupil.

TBC