I skipped my morning English class in favour of catching up on sleep. I had stayed up in case my scan had picked up something. But there was nothing.
It was like the hacker had been purposely testing my skill. And Inu's.
How would I have fared if he had solely focused on me? I would have been crushed in no time flat. Was there really someone so good out there? I was positive it had been coming from a single source. Was there a chance I could be wrong?
I paused in writing a new code and turned to a fresh page. I quickly double checked my math from this morning. With so many unknown variables it was hard but I was at least 90% positive it had been a single person as opposed to a team.
I returned to my original page and finished the coding. It had been one of the strings the hacker had used, and I was itching to try it out myself. Could it be improved in some way?
On the line beneath it I copied the code with slight modifications. Followed by another and another until I had nearly a dozen separate codes and no way to test them out.
If only I had kept my laptop on. I could be doing something more important than pretending to listen to the professor's lecture on all two hundred and six bones in the human body.
I dropped my chin into the cup of my hand and looked to the front of the room where Professor Husain was pacing. From the corner of my left eye I couldn't help but notice the red head and his 'Illu-chan'. The red head was playing with the raven's locks again. He did this every day. I have even caught him braiding it earlier in the class.
Out of the three times I had seen them, red head always found some reason to touch them. Were they that soft or only a hair fetish like I first thought?
"Dismissed." Professor Husain's curt dismissal brought me out of my thoughts. With glee I packed up my things, but my eagerness led to clumsiness. My hip knocked the desk and my pens scattered across the floor.
"Damn." As I bent down my favourite pink pen was held out to me.
"Thanks." I mumbled, quickly taking the pen and placing it back into my pencil case.
"You're welcome." He spoke so politely. Maybe he was from a good family…
"Illu-chan let's go~!" The red head called from the doorway, beckoning with one hand.
"Coming Hisoka."
I looked over the desks as the two of them left the room. So his name was Hisoka? I guess a weird name suited a weird guy.
A single beep from my phone drew my attention back to the pens across the floor.
Inu wants to talk. Now.
-Neko
One of my eyebrows raised so high it was practically lost in my hairline. Neko was being used as a messenger cat now? And for Inu of all people?
Just because we were in the same group, did not translate to us all liking one another. Inu and Neko seemed to have a bit of history – bad blood.
So what was so important that Neko would contact me in his steed?
I swiftly packed up everything and used my phone to log into the online chat. Plugging in my headphones I waited for Inu to come online and walked to the bus stop.
Beep… Beep…
"What's wrong Inu?"
"Everything." He instantly responded, like he had anticipated the question. "First did you detect anything wrong in your system?"
"Nothing – triple checked and even recoded a few segments to see if he had left a trace. My system's clean."
"Second, how long had he been hacking you before I called?" His clipped tone was beginning to put me on edge.
"Not long. Three minutes forty-one seconds." I waved to Gary the bus driver as I stepped on, still focusing on Inu. Something was really wrong.
"Damn."
"Why? Have you found something?"
"He placed a bug in my system." My jaw dropped open. Inu's security was at least double mine with back up firewalls and so many false ends that I couldn't even get through level one.
"When?"
"I'm thinking when he distracted me and started attacking you. He was fast. Didn't even know the bug was there until I did a full system diagnostic."
"If that's true… I better do another check, in case he planted something when our servers were synced." I bit down on my thumbnail as I thought of what he could have done to my system. If he had messed with anything I was going to screw his coding so badly he'll be back in the days when home computers didn't even exist.
"That's why I wanted to talk to you. I'm warning everybody else tonight too but I think you're the only other one he had hacked at the same time."
"Thanks Inu." I whispered. My system meant a lot to me and he knew that. If anybody messed with my baby…
"Talk to me after you check your system. Take all the time you need. Chow." Inu was about to log off so I hurriedly said what I needed to say.
"Thank you. Really Inu, thanks."
"Any time."
I logged out of the account and looked out the bus window. The sunny sky seemed to be mocking my gloomy mood.
A full system check… Every programming, every coding, even y back up files… Everything needed to be scanned. That would take hours… Actually it would probably take all night. Looks like another all-nighter. I better pick up a bit of junk food, I will be needing all the sugar I can get.
"You still awake there Kit?" I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Looking at all the screens I noticed Ga and Hebi were still online, the scan was cresting the halfway mark, and the clock read,
"It's only one a.m!?"
"Tone it down shrieky."
"Sorry Hebi." I raked my fingers through my hair and reopened my email browser.
"How's the scan?" Ga asked and I groaned.
"Hahaha, still going to be at it for a while?"
"You have no idea."
"Since you've got the time, check out this link."
I cocked my head to the right as I waited for said link to pop up.
"What's it too?" Hebi asked.
"Just check it out you two. You'll love it. It is the best prank you can pull." It flashed across the screen and I clicked on it wondering what it could be…
I laughed as the teacher continued to talk, oblivious to what was actually occurring on the screen behind him.
"Didn't I tell you?" Ga smugly asked as I closed down the link.
"I admit you found a funny video, and it killed some time. What did you think Hebi? Hebi?"
"He signed out Kit."
"Oh." Too bad, Hebi and I never get much chance to talk anymore.
"Sorry to say but I have to as well. I have things to do."
"Alright. Maybe someone else will sign on later to help keep me awake." I sighed.
"Now, now little vixen, no guilt tripping me here." He chided and I just smiled.
"Later."
"Later."
Kicking my legs up I wondered what I could do to pass the time. I did have those new codes to test, but I wasn't sure how they would affect my system. I didn't want to chance an internal conflict while looking for a specific problem.
It couldn't hurt to catch a little sleep now could it? I was right here at the keyboard… If anything…
I yawned as I rubbed at my eyes.
… went off I would hear it. I was sure I would.
So I closed my eyes and relaxed my shoulders. Sleeping in my chair was as natural as sleeping in a bed was to most people.
Scan Complete!
I awoke to that flashing in a message box on my screen. So nothing had been found. Releasing my breath I sent Inu a quick email to let him know.
I stretched out my back and cracked my neck. Nothing had seemed to be wrong. So why had they tried to hack my system? Was it simply a distraction to get to Inu? And if that was the case… what was Inu hiding?
"Everyone will be working in groups of three for this project. I don't care who you work with. By the end of the month you need to replicate a complete human skeleton with a report on which bones are the most often fractured, broken, and found intact on archeological digs." As the professor finished speaking everyone broke off into groups and began chatting excitedly.
I was never one to socialize in public so I figured if I sat alone long enough the last group would find me. Unless the prof's math was off, though working alone had many perks.
So I patiently sat in my desk and tapped my pen, watching as group after group began to leave. I was just thinking there was no one left when a large hand slammed down on my notebook.
"Wha-"
"Do you still need a group?" The red head's voice cut me off. I looked up and saw his blue eyes nearly glaring back at me.
Talking? Not my specialty.
Talking under pressure?
"Um, wh… what? Group? Y-yes." Embarrassing. I felt my cheeks redden and glanced down to my hands, which were ever so slightly shaking.
"Hisoka." I looked up as his raven haired friend came over and laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned to me as Hisoka shrugged and walked away.
"We still need a third person and you seem to be without a group. Would you like to join ours? It will be mutually beneficial." His calm tone soothed my jitters and I even managed a small smile as I answered.
"Sure. Joining sounds… good." I stood up and stuck out my hand. "I'm Tamika, though my friends call me Kit."
"Illumi." He shook my hand as Hisoka reappeared. He took my hand from Illumi's grip and kissed the back.
"And I'm Hisoka."
I pulled my hand back as politely as I could. He just smiled as he released it and licked his lips. Illumi's face did not change expression even once. Silence engulfed us, making me fidget. To distract myself I began packing everything up.
The two unwavering stares put me back on edge so much some pens slipped through my fingers to bounce off the floor.
"Damn." I muttered.
"Allow me." Illumi bent down and his long fingers gracefully picked up all my writing instruments.
"Thanks." I swung my bag onto my shoulder and grabbed my laptop bag in my other hand. "So how do you want to do this?"
"We should discuss how we can create a model skeleton."
"That's so drawl Illu-chan. Why make a skeleton when we can easily acquire one?" Hisoka's laugh raised the hair on the back of my neck and I prayed he was joking. He was making a really sick joke – wasn't he?
"Um, excuse me?" My voice squeaked as I tried to move onto a different tactic. "I could make a computer generated model?" Both of them raised their eyebrows. Maybe I didn't look as geeky as I thought…
"You're good with computers?"
"It's a hobby." I shrugged, trying to play it off.
"Can you show us some of your work?" Illumi turned to face me with his large black eyes as we walked down the hallway.
I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably.
"My works… All of my works are on my home system."
"Then let's go to Tamika-chan's house." Hisoka threw his arm around my shoulders and the other around Illumi's and steered us towards the parking lot.
"I-I could just bring a flash file tomorrow, you k-know for you guys to s-see." I stammered, panicking.
"Nope! I want to see Tamika-chan's place! Illu-chan's is too noisy."
"And yours is filthy." Illumi commented as he slid into the shotgun seat of a red Mercedes-Benz. Hisoka opened the backseat and I was out of time to worm out of it.
Without putting up resistance I sat behind Illumi and gave Hisoka the directions to my house, my stomach churning the entire trip.
My keys jangled as I turned the handle of my front door and let Illumi and Hisoka in. I automatically started forward, leaving the lights off. I was nearly in the center of the room before I remembered about them.
"Sorry, just let me grab the lights." I turned around and smacked into a chest. "Oomph."
"Haha. We're fine. Where were you taking us?" Hisoka's voice was even more disturbing in the dark.
"But it's so dark in here and you could trip –"
"Over the coffee table two feet in front of us?"
"How did you –"
"Know?" He finished for me again followed by another round of laughter. "Illu-chan and I have superb night vision."
"Um, okay." I chewed my lower lip as I continued to the study. I looked back more than once to see if they were still behind me. Neither made a sound as they walked.
In my study I stood in the doorway as they both explored the room. Illumi seemed interested in all my notebooks as Hisoka sniffed around my desk. Literally sniffed!
"Shoo! I don't want you to start licking my monitors!" I waved him away and settled in.
"Did you write all of this?" I heard Illumi flipping through one of the notebooks and made a sound of affirmation.
"Here. This is a game I made. Try it out while I go get drinks. Is soda okay?" I pushed away from my desk and left the guys to view the game. Would they like it?
The game was one we had uploaded onto our site to show some of our capabilities. Maybe not the most professional approach but it showed a lot of skill.
I rummaged in the fridge for the sodas when my phone vibrated on the counter. My head popped above the door to see the illuminated screen.
Kitsune,
Info on XX
By midnight.
I tossed my phone back down and carried the cans down the hallway. I would have to deal with that later.
I used my back to push open the door.
"Here! I brought the so-" I stopped as I saw Hisoka absorbed into the game, face practically glued against the screen. Illumi was even leaning over his shoulder, hair falling into his face. "-das?"
Well this was interesting… I hadn't pegged these guys as gamers. Hisoka maybe, but Illumi? He seemed too refined to waste time on the net.
"Hey!" I called, setting the cans down on the side table. "Yoo-hoo?"
No response. This generally wouldn't bug me except that they had taken over my computer. No one takes over my computer. Ever.
I walked behind the two males, holding my hands behind my back. The movement on the screen caught my eye and they widened in shock. I leaned over Hisoka's other shoulder, steading myself on his frame.
"How did you get so far?!" I had only been gone a few minutes and they were already halfway through the game.
A game that had taken the other members an hour to reach this point!
"You had a saved point." Hisoka's eyes never strayed from the monitor as my hand came up to slap myself in the face. I had forgotten about that.
"But this is amazing." It was just shy of ten minutes later when Hisoka closed down the game and smirked up at me. He looked a little too comfortable in my chair. "You really made that?"
"I get bored from time to time."
"How long did it take you to make it?" Illumi asked.
"Um, that game took a total of…" I did quick math in my head to convert hours into days. "… 415 days."
A low whistle came from Hisoka's lips, Illumi remained quiet.
"How long would it take you to make a digital model?"
"Something like that?" I tapped my chin. There was nothing pressing, only a few updates to make really. I shrugged. "Give me a week."
"You handle that, Illu-chan and I will handle the report."
"Are you sure? Won't that be the hardest part?" Computers were easy, research was hard. That didn't seem fair.
"Tamika-chan, Tamika-chan." He wagged his index finger in a tsk, tsk gesture. "The report will be easy for the two of us."
"Are your parents archeologists?"
"In a sense." Hisoka laughed and Illumi raised a hand to hide a smile.
"Well, now that everything is settled. Do you two mind leaving? I have other work to do tonight."
They didn't say a word, just walked out the door. I followed a few steps behind, but by the time I was in the hallway they were gone.
No farewell.
No sound.
Too creepy.
Maybe I should start looking for that info for Mr. Mystery…