Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Rosario+Vampire
Author's Notes: From last time, Daisuke had realized that Midou's apparent ring had seemingly belonged to Toru! Not only that, but his own friends are harboring a secret from him. But what could it be? WHOOO! Last chapter was incredibly long (and painful to write) this chapter will be a decent amount of words long. I appreciate the views and all. If you could leave a word or two, it would be greatly appreciated. Criticisms or praise, bring 'em on! Well, enough of my chit-chat. Here's what you came for. Hope you enjoy it!
Much love,
~SAYONARA~
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It was a warm autumn evening as Daisuke trudged his way through the dead forest. The cooling air slowly nipped at him. The light was fleeting away but slowly enough so that the small dirt path could be seen. In his hand, Daisuke held a small cropped map of the school grounds and was walking to the location that Toru wanted to meet him at. Actually, the old research labs on the school grounds were forbidden for students of all years to enter. It was abandoned and still laden with broken research equipment and related items. But, in all honesty, it seemed to be a perfect meeting place. No one would guess two completely innocent First-Year students soliciting on forbidden school grounds…
Then again…
It was too late to change his mind now, Daisuke knew he had to go see Toru. The first reason being the ring, which was in his pocket. He had no idea how Toru knew he had the ring and he also was clueless about what to say to Toru about the matter with the ring. He tried to picture it in his head.
"Sorry Toru, but I am afraid that this isn't yours. I got it from a good-for-nothing Yuki-Onna that is making my life miserable. So in short, I can't give this to you, sorry."
Daisuke shook his head. Toru wasn't going to buy that. Besides, if it was an excuse, it was an incredibly poor and lousy one. Daisuke muttered to himself, wishing to have come up with something more clever before he made his decision to come out looking for Toru. He sighed, unsure of what exactly to say or do. Now, he felt uneasy about what he was doing and he questioned what exactly he was doing. The matter being what he was doing and what his life was. Well, the life-matter was a bit of a stretch but that's how he felt. But what had to be done, had to be done. Daisuke thought to himself, telling himself that he would ask Toru what exactly he knew and what the ring was to him. He'd get answers, finally.
From all he had been through so far, everything had left him with questions, not answers. It was strange that of all the students in the academy, only the people associated with him had something rather peculiar going on amidst them. Well, among the questionable motives of the people around him, Daisuke at least will get answers from Toru. At least.
Looking back down at the map, Daisuke saw that he was very close to abandoned research lab. Looking beyond the dead shrubberies and branches, Daisuke saw the building in the distance. As Daisuke got closer to labs, he realized how bad in condition the building was actually in. The walls were cracked with gnarly vines creeping into every free space there was, windows were shattered, the panes twisted off their bolts, and the main door was boarded up with several planks of wood. Daisuke sighed. Noticing the lack of maintenance on the building, it kind of reminded him of the Orphanage. Not in a good nostalgic way, but a more "I-hate-my-past kind of way. The past memories flooded his mind and Daisuke sighed. He really didn't needed to be reminded of the past ten years of his life.
Pushing the thought away from his head, Daisuke continued down the dirt road. He began to notice that the dirt on the road started to cease and black gravel of the pavement started to begin. Daisuke looked to the side of the road and saw a sign, or what was left of one. The upper portion of the sign, the part where all the words should have been, was cut messily in half, destroying any chance of deciphering whatever was written on the board. Daisuke assumed it was a prohibition sign, telling students and other members pf the school to keep of the lab grounds. But that raised the question, what exactly was the lab used for? Surely it wasn't just for mere science labs and experiments. No one would need to use such a big building for such simple procedures. That wouldn't make any sense. Whatever went on here must've been pretty big just by considering the sheer size of the place as well.
Daisuke came into the full view of lab grounds and it was a lot smaller than he had presumed it to be through the map and had anticipated. There was a main lab building in the center of the area with two smaller buildings adjacent to it, both resting near a crumbling brick wall. The wall was a sickly yellow. It allowed the two buildings to stand out like a sore thumb. The smaller buildings, actually, weren't buildings but more of a spare equipment and supply shed. Noticing the how bad the sheds' conditions were, Daisuke decided to stay away from them. The roofs on them could give way if he was fooling around underneath them. But he'd have to fool around in this area another time. For now, he had to settle whatever business he had with Toru.
"Minor miscommunication..." Daisuke told himself as he walked past the small sheds and towards the bigger building in the center. He got to the building and circled around it a several times. Alll of the lower doors were closed over with wooden planks, except the back door, it was blocked by the rather large roots of some tree that was hidden from his view. The ground floor's windows were mostly all smashed to bits, not a single window was left untouched. The shards of broken glass were still left in the rusted window panes. Towards the back door, there was staircase that led to the roof. The only problem was that the building was four stories high and the staircase was twisted away around the third floor. There was no way to reach for it. Daisuke considered turning into his Soul Reaper form to get himself there but chose not to.
There was no reason to attract unnecessary attention, even out here, Daisuke knew that some curious students will come looking for whatever was causing a blip in the spiritual energy around the place. Attention was the last thing he needed, especially at this time in the evening. It would eventually turn into some First-Year ghost hunt of sorts.
"Not exactly a secret meeting by then..." Daisuke told himself.
Daisuke went around the building one last time before coming to stop in front of the main doors. He noticed that the doors were hastily nailed away. It was messy work but whoever did this didn't want anyone or anything coming back into the building...
Or anything to come back out...
Noticing the nails sticking out from the outer layer of planks, Daisuke knew that the building was also blocked from the inside, no way of getting in through there. He sighed. He wondered where the hell Toru was. He took the ring out of his pocket and held it in front of his face, allowing the remaining sunlight to reflect off of it, the blue light shining off the lush ring. Daisuke polished the ring with his shirt before re-pocketing it. He wanted to go back to his dorm and he definitely did not want to wait for Toru any longer. Looking at the silver wristwatch he had received from Tae, it read half past seven. He sighed, leaning onto the wall.
"You're late." A voice hissed behind him from the wall.
Daisuke jumped at the voice and leapt off the wall. He looked back and saw that next to empty face of the wall where he was leaning on was a window. In that window was Toru, standing, facial expression indifferent from all the other times Daisuke had seen him.
Maybe except one time... Daisuke thought to himself.
"I wanted you to be here at the beginning of sunset." Toru said.
"And when the hell is 'at the beginning of sunset' suppose to be?" Daisuke snapped back.
"Never mind that," Toru said. "Do you have the ring?"
Daisuke nodded, taking the ring out his pocket and showing it to Toru. His normally sharp piercing eyes turned large as his eyes came in contact, seeing the ring. Toru breathed in deeply as he reached for the shining ring that was held in Daisuke's hand. Daisuke quickly pulled his hand and the ring away from Toru just as he was about to clasp his fingers around the gem.
"Before I hand this to you." Daisuke barked. "I want to ask you a few questions."
"Fine." Toru said, sighing. "But if we are going to talk, let's do it inside. It's not safe out there."
"Well, how the hell am I supposed to know if it's not safe out here? Besides, I bet that outside here is probably ten times more safer than whatever you are doing in there."
"I am still alive, aren't I?" Toru said.
"Yeeaahh..." Daisuke said slowly, eyeing Toru suspiciously. "What's your point?"
"Then it is safe." Toru said. "Get in here, then we will talk."
Sighing, Daisuke reluctantly agreed. He slightly crouched as he adjusted himself, trying to fit through the window. As he slowly made his way in, he slipped on a stray paper on the ground and missed his step. Sliding inwards, he scraped his face against the window pane and fell on the ground in a heap.
Toru observed the groaning Daisuke, as he slowly writhed on the stone floor, complaining about something.
"So much for the entrance."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As compared to the outer portion of the building, the innermost areas of the building were relatively left untouched by nature. It was a lot cleaner too. The first floor was an absolute mess. Glass smashed across the floor, papers scattered everywhere, expensive looking equipment just simply abandoned. Daisuke could here the jingling and shaking of chains and metal somewhere further inside the building. It was quite creepy but Daisuke saw that Toru wasn't even bothered by it. In fact, it looked like he didn't even notice it. They moved past the ground floor a while back. The first elevated floor was an improvement over the ground floor, it wasn't quite messy and all the equipment up there was untouched, almost looking brand new if it wasn't for the rather thick layer of dust on the surface of it. There was no power, obviously. The only real blemish this floor had was towards the stairwell leading to next floor. The door leading to the next floor was barred closed and the windows were severely blackened, not a natural tint but as if something burned the surface of the glass. Below the door was what seemed to black etches made messily across the floor.
It was a proof of a fire. No wonder this place closed down.
With the first floor far too messy and hard to maneuver around on and the third floor barred and almost seared shut, the second floor was the only floor the two could conversate on. Toru pulled up a rusted chair while Daisuke sat on top of a dusty old desk.
"You said that you had questions you wanted me to answer." Toru said. "You may ask now."
Daisuke subtly sighed in disgust. He looked at Toru. "Does this ring belong to you?" He said, taking the ring out.
Toru looked up at Daisuke. "Isn't it obvious? If it wasn't my ring, you and I wouldn't be sitting here, discussing about this. So yes, it does belong to me."
Daisuke momentarily became quiet, thinking about his next question which came to him almost instantaneously. "Where did you get this ring?"
Toru then immediately turned rigid and looked uncomfortable. He briefly looked away from Daisuke, turning his head.
"Where did you get this ring?"
"I am not at liberty to say." Toru said, rather fast.
Daisuke sighed as he rubbed his face gruffly. "Then how the hell am I suppose to know that this ring belongs to you?! You aren't making this any easier on me to trust you anymore than I should. So tell me, where did you get this ring?"
"I didn't get it, it was stolen from my-" Toru began to say, but he quickly shut up. His face turned pale, as if he was afraid of something.
"Stolen?" Daisuke asked. "Who stole it?"
Toru shook his head and wouldn't say anymore. "I've already said too much." Toru muttered.
"What? You barely told me anything!" Daisuke exclaimed. "I starting to believe that this ring doesn't bel-"
"Look." Toru said shakily. "I know that you are being blackmailed by a male Yuki-Onna. I also know that you don't have any idea on how to get back at him but you do have lead that he will be doing something two weeks from today. Let me help you with that."
"Wait. What?!" Daisuke said, alarmed on how Toru knew.
"He'll be meeting at the observatory east from here around this time that day. I overheard what they were doing. It will definitely be so. And-"
"How the hell do you know all this? And about between Midou and me..." Daisuke asked. "How do you know all this?"
"Never mind how I know it! Only mind that I do know there will be an opportunity for you, for us, to strike back at that Yuki-Onna!"
Daisuke thought for a moment. "Okay, I am listening."
Toru then seemed to have calmed down slightly, Daisuke noticed. Toru took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay, the Yuki-Onna and his associates will be expecting a package around this time in two week, the same day. Whatever they are receiving, as long as it is not approved by the school rules, might by forbidden. We can use that as a chip in our play against him."
Daisuke nodded.
"Furthermore, you possess his so-called 'great-grandmother's' ring. We can also use that as a bargaining piece against him, simply like a tool of blackmail. We can equalize what he has done to you to him."
"Okay..." Daisuke said. "What are the risks?"
"I've already accumulated all the possible risks and I have taken the necessary measurements and precautions we will need to take. For you, don't worry. All you need to do is follow what I tell you to do and it will work out fine."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Daisuke asked. "I am already having a hard time with that."
"Would you like me to tell you something else?" Toru said. "Something about your friends? Especially the Yuki-Onna Shirayuki and Ginei Morioka."
This caught Daisuke's attention. "What about them?"
"They, just like me, know about everything. Everything about you and Midou."
"Wh-what?!" Daisuke said. "How is that possible?! And how come they didn't tell me?!"
"For the same reason you didn't tell them." Toru said, calmly.
Daisuke sighed with disbelief. He stood up and slowly paced around. "How could they have known? Why was I so clueless?..."
"That boy, Ginei Morioka, isn't any ordinary information gatherer."
"What are you saying?"
"Shirayuki was heartbroken at your sudden cold exterior and resided in Morioka for help. Morioka obliged to help her and started to spy on you, looking for why you had a sudden personality change. They both know just as well as you."
"M-Mizore-chan... was heartbroken?... But just today-"
"Do you not know anything, Daisuke?!" Toru said, his voice climbing higher. "Mizore cried herself to sleep for almost the entire week ever since the boy that acknowledged her began to ignore her. She didn't show it. She couldn't show it. She knew it would endanger you if she let her emotions take over. She couldn't bring herself to ask you. She stayed in her room for three whole days after the first day you ignored her."
"Come to think of it... Mizore-chan was absent from class for three days... You're right..."
"Of course I am right!" Toru said. "She sought out Morioka to help her. He was just as worried over you as Mizore was. All your friends were worried but those two did everything they could to try to find the reason why you were so afflicted. Eventually, they did."
"Today..." Daisuke said, softly... "They found out today... and since Midou was gone..."
"They knew they had their chance to talk to you." Toru explained. "However, Mizore wasn't thinking right today. She was too happy that she could finally talk to you again without you ignoring her. That's why she behaved in such a ditzy fashion today. She supposed to tell you what she and Ginei knew about you. She couldn't bring it up because-"
"She overheard what I said in my room earlier today..." Daisuke said. "How exactly do you know all this?"
"Let's just say that I am a better info gatherer than Morioka." Toru said, brushing his hair out his face.
"And you used the Club-Joining as a cover to talk to me..." Daisuke said, understanding. "Clever... but why?"
Toru pointed at the ring Daisuke was holding. "That ring belongs to me. I am going to full-lengths in order to get it back. Doesn't matter who."
"Then why didn't you just approach Midou?" Daisuke asked, unwittingly.
"Because I am not suicidal yet. Look," Toru began to say again. "All I need is that ring back at all cost."
"Tell me why." Daisuke interjected. "Tell me why and then we have a deal. You get the ring and you help me with this."
Toru sighed heavily. "Look, I-"
"I said tell me why or you and I don't have a deal. That simple."
"Are you blackmailing me?" Toru said, raising an eyebrow
"In one way, we all are to one another." Daisuke said coolly.
Toru rubbed his face and looked around before locking eyes with Daisuke. "Why do you need to know so badly?"
"I dunno." Daisuke said. "Why are you trying to hide it so badly?"
Toru spat on the ground and folded his arms. His head dropped as he shut his eyes, brows knitted together. He looked up at Daisuke and stared at him hard.
"It's the only way to save my father."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(A/N): Sorry I have to end it here! But who is actually pulling the strings here? Who is Toru so afraid of? Why is he so eager to help Daisuke? What exactly is going on in the abandoned lab? Why am I so lazy at writing cliff-hangers and questions? Hahah, anyway, sorry for the length of this chapter. There was no way I could, or want to, make it any longer since my last spree. Hope you enjoyed it!
Much love,
~SAYONARA~