Disclaimer: Writing this line always brings the most anguish in my life as fanfic writer…sob. K project is not mine, okay?
Note: I'm trying my best to update every two weeks, but lately my employer enslaves me to the worst and I barely able to get sleep 4 hours every day, so…But I really thank you for all the reviews and favorites~! They make me so happy to keep writing whenever I have time. And since this chapter will collide a lot with anime, I need extra time to re-watch the anime again. ;d Sorry in advance for a late update, kay?
"Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to." - Mitch Albom
"Tatara, we're so glad you are okay!" A chorus echoed in the white room filled with antiseptic smell. The members of HOMRA mostly were in the small room, flocking around a bed with pristine white cover. The man sitting on the bed was smiling without care to his wounds. Both of his legs and chest were wrapped by bandage and casts. His right hand was immobilized by an arm sling. Despite his condition, he still had his typical airy aura around him as if he was not hurt at all. "Thanks for coming. Is Anna coming with you?"
A little girl in her crimson dress came through the mass of HOMRA members to get close to the single bed in the room. Her eyes were red and there were black circles around her eyes. Totsuka felt a tremendous guilt for ever making the birthday girl having that awful face in her supposedly happy day. She must have stayed in the hospital and stayed awake all night during his operation though yesterday was supposed to be her birthday. Not exactly how someone would love to spend their birthday; he ruined her big day, to be exact.
Yesterday should have been different. All the HOMRA members should be in the bar, circling around the birthday cake as the girl blew the candles on strawberry cake. Then they would all clap merrily and scramble for the first cake, although without doubt Anna would hand it to Mikoto. He would be on the background, taking photos of their happy memories like usual. And then they would give her presents, and encourage her to open the gifts right away. Some of them were probably not appropriate to give to a girl on her age. When all the red clansmen were too tired having a loud party, they would all sleep on the bar floor carelessly with Anna in the middle of the room. Their King would probably go out for a smoke, enjoying the silence after a deafening day along with him and Kusanagi. Yet nothing went out as planned.
He smiled sadly at her and opened his left arm widely, "I'm sorry, Anna. You don't have to worry anymore."
Anna sniffed softly and stood still for a while before she sprung at the patient in silent tears, while being careful not to hurt him. Totsuka embraced her tightly and patted her in the back gently like a father would do and kissed her forehead. The other members of HOMRA also sniffed at the sight and some burst into tears. "You fool! Don't do that anymore! We heard that you were dead for falling from a building; we are so devastated!"
The amber-head man only laughed softly and waved his unhurt hand flippantly, "Well, I obviously will prefer not to experience it again, because it's really painful. The doctors told me to stay in the bed for a whole week because of the healing fractures. Can you imagine how boring it would be?"
Yata yelled out in frustration, pinpointing his finger at the other man out of rage. "That should be your last thing to worry! Damn you, you should be glad that you are still breathing!"
"Yeah, you're right…" He tried to smile brightly, although his eyes were clouded with worry.
He did not remember much about the night on the rooftop. He remembered he met a boy and almost got killed by a stranger, who was too young to be a criminal. And then there was the Blue King protecting him from that killer somehow. He remembered that Munakata being rough and easily overwhelmed the other man and when that young student cried for mercy, he remembered asking the Blue King for showing leniency. After that, there was a big blank in his memories. When he was conscious, he was on the hospital bed with horrible pain all over his body. His body was like a ragged doll, bandaged everywhere. The doctors told him that he fell from a building and miraculously only got away with scrapes and fractures on his legs, right arm and some of his ribs. Well, that was a lot of fractures and pain, but he guessed he should be grateful. Totsuka wondered what had happened to that student and Blue King though. He had not heard anything about them, not even in the news. He actually felt anxious, no news meant something big was being covered in the dark by government, and that usually was bad news.
He shook his head and tried to find out what had happened after him being unconscious. The Red King probably would know something. "So, where is King?"
Kusanagi scratched his head and shrugged, "He left just after you wake up. I think he just want to go somewhere alone to check out on something."
Totsuka looked to the exit door, and simply grinned. It would be great if his King could make up with Blue King. Maybe he should ask him to deliver his thanks to the Blue King. He had saved him from getting shot to dead after all. Since Mikoto somehow encountered the Blue King much more than coincidence would allow, so they must knew the others' ritual intuitively and met each other pretty often. He would absolutely go to Scepter 4 HQ when he was discharged from the hospital to thank him personally, but asking Mikoto to pass his thanks in advance should be appropriate. Though that should wait until Mikoto's return…For now, he allowed himself to be the center of attention of his friends who seemed like wanting to strangle him for being careless.
After taking a long drag of his smoke, Mikoto walked inside the building where the accident on that night happened, ignoring the yellow police line which obscuring the entrance door. He heard from the rumor that there was a pool of blood on the ground outside the building, but now it was gone. Probably the sight might cause terror for public that the government rapidly cleaned that before the first light of morning arrived. So far, he had no information about the accident. The accident was covered up for some reason, and the evidences were all confiscated. After asking for witnesses, none of them really understood what had happened. No one even saw the victims, since not much people were crossing on that road at such hours. The first witness only said that he saw a lot of Scepter 4 member running around and the victims were already evacuated to the ambulances.
Without realizing, he had arrived at the rooftop where Totsuka had his accident. He frowned as nothing much was remained on the site. Not even a drop of blood was visible. Everything was thoroughly cleaned out. If anyone knew anything about the accident, it would be Scepter 4, since they were the first ones arriving on the accident site, especially Munakata Reishi as their captain. But none of them would talk, even if it cost their lives if Munakata forbid them. He had no choice but to go to those wolves' den and face their king directly.
"Lieutenant, what should we do?" Enomoto started to ramble, horrified. They did not exactly imagine it would come to this.
Seri rubbed her forehead, purely exhausted as her eyes were fixed on the monitor. Among all people, the last person she expected to see would be the Red King and yet he just came to HQ without making appointment or announcement. She sighed, if only Captain was here, he could easily handle Suoh Mikoto so he would leave the premise without leaving much damage. But alas, now she was left on her own demise.
"I will talk to him alone." She turned around and faced her comrades with resolution, "We should not let the classified information to leak out."
The other clansmen brightened a little, though worry never left their faces. No matter how powerful their Lieutenant was, she was still no match to a King. But if this turned to be battle of wits, it would take more effort to take her down. Fushimi clicked his tongue in annoyance as he observed the monitor. It had been at least 15 minutes for the Red King to make his appearance in front of the steel gate of Scepter 4 HQ. An obvious irritation showed in his face, indicating his patience running low. It would be a matter of time before the King of HOMRA summoned his Sword of Damocles.
Seri abruptly rushed to the front gate as fast as her legs could carry her. If she could choose, she would absolutely love to avoid this whole mess and responsibility, but she simply could not neglect her duty. However, the blonde was not even certain if she could contain her emotion in check once she met him. After all, this man had always disgusted her for being impulsive and reckless, and now she had more reason to hate this man. She stopped walking once the mahogany grand door was in front of her, and took a deep breath for a while before her hands reached out for the front door and opened it wide to greet the unwanted guest. Gracefully she strode to the front gate with calm composure, although her heart beat quite fast as if she was in marathon.
"Good day to you, Red King. For what reason do you honor us with your visit?" Her icy smile crooked slightly as she stood behind the black steel gate, which separated her a few meters from her company. She could not mask her negative feeling toward the opponent as well as her Captain, but she was still obliged to behave like a proper civilized public worker and she would do her best to conduct such performance.
Ignoring her slightly hostile greeting, Mikoto bluntly talked to her in commanding tone, "Tell your Captain to get out. I need to talk to him."
Seri was indignant instantly. How dare he to talk to her like that? Even if he threatened to kill her, it would be over her dead body to let him meet Captain without facing resistance. Such barbarian was not worthy of an audience with the regal Blue King. Her eyes flickered with fresh loath and wrath. "What do you want? He is busy for a moment. He does not have time for you."
The Red King raised an eyebrow for her sudden fury. He knew that he was not likeable person and HOMRA had bad chemistry with Scepter 4 since the old days, but this was the first time for Awashima to despise him without reason. That woman had disliked him and always felt disgusted at him for forever, but she never abhorred him to that extent until today. He did not care what the woman had thought about him, but he could sense that he was missing an important piece and this female commander had it in her hands.
"He saved my clansman. Isn't it impolite not to thank him directly?"
"As if you would mind courtesy. He doesn't want to see you right now. Please leave the premise."
He leaned forward to stare at Awashima's eyes threateningly with his hands on his pockets as he sneered. "If he doesn't want to see me, he better tells it on my face."
Awashima was too furious to retort back. Her face was cherry red as she groaned in frustration and tried not to scream out of her lungs angrily. "Captain is currently not present! Please make an appointment and return the other d-..."
Before she could finish her line, a sudden gust of wind pushed her back with heavy force. She barely made it in time to activate her blue shield before a dancing storm of flame attacked her and threw her out of her balance. The blonde coughed as she was sprawled on the ground and the mist of dust surrounded her. Her eyes burned angrily because of the dust. As the wind blew and cleared the view, the half of the front gate of Scepter 4 HQ was nowhere to be found. It was charred into black dust and the Red King walked callously as if he did not just committed a crime for trespassing and attempting of harming people. He stood arrogantly in front of Seri, who was still on the ground, blocking the sunlight as he leaned slightly forward, "I ask you again. Tell your Captain to get his ass down here right now or tomorrow he would not even see his office anymore."
She gazed up beyond the head of Mikoto and gulped nervously as a magnificent Sword of Damocles appeared on top of them. The Red King was serious to take down the whole building if it would get him the information he wanted. The Lieutenant shuddered slightly. She could not let such dangerous man near her Captain, but she also could not allow the red-haired man to destroy what her Captain had achieved with all his hard works for years. It took him quite an amount of time, energy and resources to bring Scepter 4 to its present glory and she had watched him by his side during those difficult times.
Considering the power of Red King, her shield seemed petty and she was too helpless against him. She could not even defend herself properly against previous one hit; this was obviously a losing battle. Nevertheless, what should she do in such dire situation?
Mikoto lost all his patience. He knew that they tried to stall him to buy time, but he could no longer wait idly. He still had to return to Tatara's place and checked on him if he kept himself out of danger for once. He gathered his Aura, threatening to blow the place into pieces, ignoring the horrified look on Seri's face.
"He is not here. Even if we want to call him, we can't."
The red Aura dissipated slowly as Mikoto turned his head to see the third party who had intercepted him from blowing up the place. He recognized that sardonic voice easily though.
Fushimi made long strides to Seri's side and pull her right arm to help her standing up. Instead of showing her gratitude, she snapped to her third-in-commander. "Fushimi! Why did you tell him?!"
The young soldier looked unfazed at her anger, and glanced to her before putting some sense into this overly devoted woman. "It does not help anyone if he burns down this whole place. What do we gain from keeping secret from him after we lose the HQ? He will still somehow find out anyway." Seri looked down dejectedly, half-heartedly understood that her commander was making a good call, since they did not stand a chance against a King and his wish. She just could not accept that fact yet.
Fushimi then directed his eyes on the Red King impertinently and retorted, "Just like barbarians, you guys always use forces to get what you want." He did not intend to provoke the opponent, but he could not stop himself for not insulting the King of HOMRA. Mikoto did not make any move, but waiting patiently, although his Sword of Damocles still dangled ominously above the HQ.
"So where is he?"
Fushimi clicked his tongue and snorted, "Ask the Gold King. Captain is with him."
Mikoto tilted his head, and started to conceal his Sword of Damocles. "Why?"
The third commander scoffed as he whirled around, pulling Seri away from the Red King with him to the inside of the building. "If you really want to know, why don't you find out yourself?"
"You finally come." The wise man in his retired age said, as he sat across him. Daikaku wore his moss-colored kimono, with a paper fan on his hand. Despite his old age and wisdom, his eyes still mesmerized people with his idealism and charisma he had possessed since his young age. When Mikoto came to the restricted building, the rabbit guards were trying to chase him off, but they could not compete with his Aura. Before he could make one of the chambers disappeared without trace, Daikaku snapped his fan and made his appearance, effectively stopping the Red King from his destruction. Before long, he invited the other man to the room where he usually held tea ceremony.
The tea room was spacious, furnished by straw mat and seat pillows for tea ceremony on it. The sliding paper door was painted by mostly gold colors with cranes on the pine trees and peonies. Even the pillars were painted with gold dragons circling around to the roof. For Mikoto, such interior did not even fascinate him as he only thought of one thing for a moment.
He directly confronted the second King, "Where is the Blue King?"
Daikaku folded his hands in front of him and stared into the gold eyes, "Why would you seek him here? Are you a friend or a foe?"
"Stop talking riddles. I know that he is here for a reason. I need to see him."
"I have to determine your intention. What do you seek from him?"
If anything, Mikoto really disliked having an audience with the oldest Kings, though he never met Silver King. They loved to ask in circle as if toying with his mind and distracting him from the original purpose of his visit. His Aura flickered out of annoyance, and the Gold King did not get offended for his automatic response, but without doubt the previous Colonel was on his guard.
"I need to ask him the truth of that night; what has happened that time to my Clansman."
Daikaku was quiet for a minute before he finally spoke up with the tone of finality, "You cannot gain anything from him right now. Return for now."
Slamming the straw mat with his hand, Mikoto stood up abruptly and challenged him to make him leave the building. "I'm not leaving until I see him. Bring the Blue King here."
The Gold King shook his head lightly and followed his lead to stand up. "I cannot. Your demand is not viable." He snapped his fan and turned his back on HOMRA's leader, walking slowly out of the chamber. "But if you insist to see him, come with me." Mikoto was confused; why did everyone say as if the Blue King could not move from his current location? Was he being imprisoned? It would not make sense though, since the violet-eyes King loved order and justice more than anything, even himself. He would probably the last man on Earth to commit a crime with pure wicked intention.
He trailed behind the Gold King warily and they did not talk as they walked down the hallway to the top floor of the building. The layout of the building was like a maze, and the hallway was narrow, built with woods and paper doors. After a long winding path, with lots of rabbit guards along the way and advanced security devices, they finally arrived on a blindingly white chamber, filled with smell of antiseptics and drugs. A few people on white coat with a mask on their face roamed around the room, taking notes on their observation chart. Without doubt, this facility was especially made for people with high authorities. Mikoto wondered curiously as why the Gold King would lead him to this room, when his eyes straightforwardly landed on the sole patient in the chamber. His eyes widened at what he saw.
There he was, lying on the bed, isolated from the outside world by a transparent glass window. The monitor on his bedside was beeping in steady rhythm. The infusion lines were dangling like his lifelines, connecting him to this world. A tube from his mouth was connected to a ventilator monitor, assisting the patient in breathing and his chest rose and fell steadily.
Mikoto was speechless. He had seen many sides of Munakata; as a normal, awkwardly uncanny man, as a convenient lover or friend, as a rival, as a Captain, as an impartial Blue King, but never like this. He always looked pristine and properly dressed in public view, standing tall as if nothing could put him off the balance. His vision was always on present and future, and for that reason, Munakata became his anchor to reality. And now the man in front of him appeared small and fragile, like a melting snow, ready to disappear in the first light of spring. His blue, regal uniform was replaced by thin, simple kimono and his pale skin was nearly as white as the bed sheet. If not for the beeping sound of the monitor, no one would think that there was still a life inside that body.
Daikaku explained without waiting for him to snap out of his trance, "He was critically wounded and he hit his head pretty bad. We have tried everything we could and now we put him here for his own protection."
Mikoto's eyes never left the blue-haired figure, and his expression was hard to read. His voice was low and soft to hear, "How does this happen?"
The Gold King folded his arms and put them inside the sleeves of his kimono. His eyes also rested on the unconscious King with compassion at the young King. He had seen many Kings came and went, as they perished due to their arrogance or foolish ambition. He had always been concerned how he could not find better replacement of him as a leader as the young generation was mostly spoiled and selfish. But the moment he laid his eyes on the new fourth King, he knew that this man was just like him. He would reign the country with cold hand from back stage like he had done and with passionate heart for his country and his people. They would probably be the best ally and the worst enemy if political view was involved. Nevertheless, he was pleased of finding a new, young King who was iron-willed to lead the people for better future. Their ways might differ, but they still thought fondly of Shizume City.
He had never thought of this day coming, that someone would be able to inflict such damage to the Blue King. For certain, the culprit was no ordinary man, for being able to hurt Munakata who had the highest defense attribute of all Kings' power. It was highly possible that person was another King. But he knew the remaining Kings had no interest to have conflict with other Kings, since it would only bring death closer. Even for Red King, who was often in dispute with Blue King, did not exert all of his power when they clashed. He did not need an expert to know that those fights were nothing more than childish quarrels. The only possible candidate would be the new Colorless King, since the late predecessor had just passed away recently. If his deduction was true, then this matter would be quite troublesome. The power of Colorless King always varied from each generation.
He glanced briefly at the overwhelmed Red King, being cautious not to reveal any secret to him. There was too much coincidences happened during the incident; so much that he was certain it was more than twist of fate. If the Blue King did not even ask for Gold King's assistance or guidance, let alone spilling the truth to him, then it must be a confidential subject and he had to tread this matter carefully. The pieces of this mystery were not complete, he needed more time before he took his action.
Daikaku shrugged slightly and stared at him calmly. "What has happened that night is still unclear. For now, we'll focus on keeping him alive and safe and wait for him to wake up. He is the only living evidence after all."
Suoh was silent, not even looking away from the broken king with a hollow stare. Respecting his need for privacy, Daikaku turned on his heel and left him alone inside the medical wing, "if you need anything, just call the doctors around. They are monitoring him from outside. If you are done visiting, please leave immediately."
Mikoto nodded curtly in reply, and he extended his right hand to touch lightly on the window glass, as if it would break by slightest touch. Without waiting any longer, he walked to the entrance glass door beside the window, and it slide automatically open. The inner room felt much colder compared to the outer chamber as he stepped inside, however the temperature did not even affect his body warmth. The antiseptic smell hit his nostrils much stronger inside as well. He did not let those aspects to bother him. Instead, he strode to the side of the bed and simply watched at the soulless body. He had seen several times of Munakata sleeping by his side whenever the other was too tired to leave after exhausting day of work and spontaneous rounds of sex. His steady breath always lulled him off and calmed him down. But now, his breathing was strained, as if forced out by the ventilator and he looked like a corpse so much it bothered him.
Without him realizing, his hand reached out for the pale cheek and touched lightly on the soft skin, lingering as if trying to warm up the icy skin. Usually once he cupped the other's cheek, a pair of gleaming violet eyes would stare at him in response, mostly with annoyance in pretense and a hint of concealed bliss. Now those eyelids remained shut, ignoring his presence altogether and Munakata did not even swat his hand away like he always did. Watching him in such frail state made him feel a constant dull ache inside his chest. He felt furious, but he did not even understand what made him feeling like that. Clenching his teeth unconsciously, Mikoto hurriedly left the room without looking back, trying to dismiss the negative feeling churning inside his stomach. He could no longer remain there and stay.
"Yes, there was a young student with short, silver hair on the rooftop when I came. Suddenly he shot me when I tried to greet him." Tatara put a hand on his heart, telling the amber-haired man where he was nearly shot that night. He finally spoke up, after being prodded by the older one relentlessly ever since he woke up. The rest of HOMRA had left to let Totsuka rest for his fast recovery, leaving only Kusanagi and Anna to accompany him.
"Seriously, Tatara…what are you doing there, anyway?" Kusanagi scratched his hair and sighed loudly. "And how many times King had told you not to trust a stranger?"
The younger man smiled apologetically and put a finger on his lips as he whispered, "Lower your voice, Izumo. Anna is sleeping." He moved his hand to the top of silver head, stroking her hair lightly and lovingly. The little strain had laid her head on Totsuka's lap, and she slept soundly as soon as she closed her eyes. She was utterly exhausted from staying up all night. He was enjoying the softness of Anna's hair when he continued his story.
"I don't know why, but Blue King suddenly was in front of me, protecting me from that bullet."
Kusanagi was bewildered and asked curiously, "Blue King? Munakata Reishi?"
The young lad gazed up and nodded cheerfully. "Yeah, he did. I should thank him later for saving me."
Kusanagi pinched the bridge of his nose at sudden revelation. Scepter 4, which was always being their enemies, saved a Red Clansman? The idea of Scepter 4 saving Totsuka did not bother him that much, since despite them being rivals, Scepter 4 still conceitedly considered HOMRA as normal citizens under their protection. But he wondered how the Captain of Scepter 4 could be there in the right time and the right place. He was grateful for such coincidence since Totsuka was alive now because of it; nevertheless he could not dismiss his notion that there was more to this story. "Then? What happens?"
Tatara was quiet for a moment before he shrugged and put his healthy hand on his head. "I don't know...The Blue King easily disables him. But when I try to get closer to them, I only see a fox and everything goes black. Then I wake up in here, bandaged here and there."
"A fox?"
Tatara nodded. "Yeah, I still don't understand why I only remember seeing a fox though."
Kusanagi only hummed thoughtfully and suddenly ruffled Tatara's head heartily into a mess. "Now tell me why do you go there alone?" Tatara averted his eyes and clumsily stuttered, "Well, you see…I-It's for Anna…I want to record the night view for her from the rooftop. You should see how beautiful it was, Izumo."
The latter suddenly perked up as if a light bulb just turned on and grabbed Tatara's shoulders firmly. "How about the camera? Where did you leave it?"
"I don't know…It should be on the rooftop, if Scepter 4 did not take it." He tilted his head innocently, "why do you ask?"
Kusanagi rapidly flipped out his phone and dialed up a number on his contact and smiled knowingly at him as he made a phone call, "To catch the culprit."
"There is no camera." Her voice was deadpanned, leaving no room for argument or further question. Izumo groaned. He always considered Seri being beautiful and smart with sometimes weird humor sense, but still quite lovable. Yet, when she was on her Lieutenant mode, she would reject him on the face without second thought and it damaged his pride a lot whenever she did that. She was being too loyal, always putting Scepter 4 and her Captain in priority before him. He never gave it much thought because he also loved that part of hers, (well, he occasionally felt jealous…occasionally.) but one of these days, they really needed to talk about it.
"Seri-chan, it's Totsuka's birthday gift for Anna…Since we can't find it on the rooftop, it must be taken in by Scepter 4." He tried to poke on Seri's maternal instinct to persuade her. The other side of phone call was quiet for a while. Then she gave a curt reply, "I told you, we don't have it," and the line went dead. Totsuka only snickered good-naturedly at Izumo's perturbed face.
"Unbelievable! Did you see how she treats me?!" Izumo complained to the younger man and thrust his arms to the air irritated. He sulked even more when Tatara laughed softly at his dramatic anger. "Maybe it is really gone, I don't know."
Suddenly the door was opened and red head appeared from behind the door. Mikoto looked utterly drained that Totsuka felt pity for him for whatever the cause for his King's exhaustion. He walked slowly, getting closer to Totsuka's hospital bed with his hands on his pockets. Totsuka only stared at him patiently with a consoling smile before Mikoto lifted his hand to pat on Totsuka's head. "How do you feel?"
The amber-haired lad rested his hand on top of Mikoto's on his head and gave his best reassuring smile, "Have been better. Where have you been, King?" The amber haired smiled knowingly with little tease in his voice. "You've missed all the fun."
Suoh rolled his eyes and sighed as he flopped down on the edge of Totsuka's hospital bed. It bounced lightly due to the extra weight, yet not significant enough to wake Anna from her deep sleep. The golden eyes simply stared at the exhausted little strain, before Suoh unconsciously rested his hand on Anna's head and stroke her hair lightly. The youngest member of HOMRA smiled a little in her slumber, dreaming of mesmerizing red.
Kusanagi bit his lower lips, still deciding whether they had to discuss about the possible danger looming over HOMRA right now. This seemed not to be the right time, considering Totsuka was still recovering and he might still be traumatized from the event (although he appeared unfazed by it) and Mikoto looked as if his favorite pet just died on him. However, just because Totsuka was safe now, it did not mean that the culprit would not intentionally aim for HOMRA's member in the near future. He needed to alert the rest of HOMRA's member and put them on guard.
Before he could open his mouth, Mikoto had thrown a question to the sole patient in the room. "Who did this to you?"
Totsuka tilted his head and pondered for a while. Should he forge the story just so his King would not be so reckless to jump out of the window and rush to find the culprit or should he just tell him the truth? Okay, him jumping out of the window was a little excessive, nevertheless, he had known Mikoto for a long time. He was a good King, always watching out for his Clansmen even if he did not seem like a caring person. When someone tried to harm his own people, he would certainly have to pay with his blood by Suoh's own hand. The problem was, the Red King often was out of control when he was blinded by fury. Though he never said it loudly, Totsuka secretly was grateful for Scepter 4 for keeping HOMRA in check.
Mikoto gave him an icy glare though, thus Totsuka could not lie. His King would find out anyway, since they knew each other well. He dramatically exhaled, "I don't know him. I just met him on the rooftop that day. The Blue King said that he was Colorless King, though."
Mikoto raised an eyebrow, doubt flashed in his eyes. The news of last Colorless King's funeral, Ichigen Miwa, had reached his ears. But he had not been informed that the Dresden Slate had decided on the new predecessor. He was silent for a while, before he pressed on, "Continue."
"I was trying to take a video of night view from that rooftop. Then that stranger suddenly shot me for unknown reason."
"You have no gunshot wound, though." Kusanagi argued impulsively.
Totsuka nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Blue King saved me from being shot. When I realized, he had been in front of me."
The red-haired King was startled and had a flashback when he found Munakata lying on the medical wing of Gold's King residence. He shook his head, trying to get the revolting image out of his head in vain. The first question popped in his brain was the purpose of Munakata being on the rooftop at such hour. That man was a busy man; he would not waste his time, idling in a rooftop of random building unless he had a strong motive of doing so. He argued that it was probably to convene the Colorless King. Nevertheless, he did not consider that the encounter was arranged by both parties. Colorless King would not attempt to kill HOMRA's member if he was waiting for the Blue King since it would be a futile effort. Munakata would never allow such crime to transpire before him. Still, he could not figure out how Munakata was able to foretell that Colorless King would make his appearance there, even if he knew that the new King had been crowned.
The most mystery of all, how could the Colorless King inflict such critical damage on Munakata, when he himself was on par to Blue Aura? That unknown power intrigued him.
"He had told me to close my eyes and stay away. I thought it was because he was going to resort to violence to disarm the man and interrogate him. I did as he said. I think he easily overpowered him." Totsuka rubbed his forehead, trying to recall his missing memories to no avail. "When I got close to them, everything went blank and I'm here in the hospital."
Mikoto felt a dawdling anger surging through his vein. This stranger had tried to take life of his family and had gravely injured Munakata. His Aura seethed in resentment and his blood was boiling, thirst for revenge. Kusanagi suddenly interrupted them, "and the camera is missing. From Totsuka's testimony, the camera should be still on the rooftop, but we found nothing. I've asked Se-...err, Scepter 4's Lieutenant, but she said she knew nothing about it." He averted his eyes and mumbled softly, "though I think she is lying."
Totsuka shrugged. "If the camera is not broken, I should still have a picture of him in it."
Suoh Mikoto was quiet for a long time before he stood up. Without any word, he left out the room, leaving in silence as if he was never there to begin with. The other men glanced to each other anxiously as the door slide shut.
The night had fallen and the moon barely made its appearance as it was hidden behind the cloudy gray sky. Most of the lights in Scepter 4 HQ were put out to save electricity since only a person remained behind to finish his overcapacity works because of a certain King on sick leave for indefinite period. Just when he thought he could finally have some peace to concentrate and catch up with all of his reports, he heard the startlingly loud booming sound that was so familiar to his ears. It was easy for him to make precise guess of the perpetrator that had disturbed his peaceful night.
Fushimi growled in annoyance as he felt terrible urge to pull out all of his knives hidden under his uniform jacket and aimed them on certain red-haired man, who had persistently disturbed their HQ again. On the same day. Guess the storm had not passed them by. And for worse, this man had destroyed a part of building wall to archives room, trespassing without feeling guilty about it. If Awashima was still in HQ, she would shriek like a banshee. Luckily, he had sent her away to take some rest a few hours ago. Unlucky for him, he was now stuck with this intruder alone to intercept him. He abruptly made his way to the exploded site. The hallway nearby was full of dust. He covered his nose instantly with his sleeve and walked inside the crumbling room where they used to keep evidence from various missions and investigations.
Just as he suspected, the Red King, stood calmly as he scanned around, checking each boxes carelessly which had been filed according to the case numbers previously. Now that he had put chaos into this place, Fushimi tried his best to suppress sudden urge to lunge forward and strangle the man in front of him for condemning him extra works, including cleaning up, fixing the place and putting the boxes in order again. He scowled ferociously, "Barbarian. Is this how you repay for Scepter 4's goodwill? Is it not enough for you to destroy Captain, that you also obliterate his office?"
Mikoto frowned on the unwanted visitor and his sharp tongue, but he did not stop from searching what he was coming for. "You have been keeping what is supposedly HOMRA's. I'm taking it back."
"What will you do about it anyway if you find it?" Fushimi leaned on the crumbling wall and observed as Mikoto wrecked the whole place. He possessed no power in equal against a King after all. He would not waste his energy on predestined losing battle. He could only hope to prevent the intruder from inflicting further damage.
Mikoto was startled by the question that his hands halted abruptly from moving. He lowered his gaze, avoiding eye contact with newest member of Blue Clansmen. "…I will kill the culprit."
Fushimi scoffed scornfully at that and shrugged, "As always, you will only cause more destruction, to you and your Clansmen. Thank you for wasting Captain's sacrifice. That's all HOMRA is capable of, I guess."
A fist slammed to the wall beside his head, making it crumbling down faster. Fushimi did not falter; his expression was condemnatory as he stood still in front of the wrath of Red Aura. Suoh's golden eyes flickered as they spoke without word. 'Who are you to criticize me?'
"Can't you see that Captain is trying to save HOMRA? Who are you to waste his effort?" Fushimi confronted him without remorse; he did not need his Captain to speak his mind to understand his goal on that night. It was more than obvious that Captain was there all for the sake of saving Totsuka, although he could not figure out how Captain had such accurate knowledge that murder would occur. If Munakata only attempted to observe or imprison Colorless King, he would not waste so much time and effort waiting for the man to conduct his evil deed. After all, the Blue King appeared to have known almost everything about the culprit, based on their short banter.
Suoh cringed slightly at his retort and a shade of guilt swarmed inside his eyes as he pulled out his fist from the shattered wall. "Tell me, what happened that night? I could tell that you were there that night."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll find that camera on my own and might tear down this whole place to find it."
Fushimi clicked his tongue angrily. "Are you blackmailing me? Quite smooth, Red King."
"So are you going to talk?" Suoh took out a cigarette to his lips and lit it up with a flick of his finger.
"I cannot give you the video. We could not let the public know that Captain of Scepter 4 is currently not available. It will disrupt the public order. Some mafias are afraid of Captain, you see."
"I promise you, that news will not leave outside HOMRA." The red-haired man offered the cigarette to the young commander, but the latter shook his head in refusal.
Fushimi sighed in annoyance before he went pass through the Red King and made his way to the falling shelves and boxes. He shoved some containers on top of a pile of boxes and pulled out a big package with a label of 'fragile' in front of it. He blew off the dust on the package and walked back to where Suoh stood silently, waiting. He inhaled deeply. Awashima would slice him into tiny pieces if she knew that he had handed it over without much struggle. However, he could see that regardless his effort to make Suoh leave in peace without the evidence, that man would still demolish this HQ down to get what he wanted.
Suoh was about to snatch the package from Fushimi's hand before the young commander pulled it back out of his reach. The King growled threateningly.
"Remember your promise." He reminded the reckless King as he slowly extended his hand to give the package to Suoh. "Before you watch this, I need to tell you, he did not kill Totsuka, you know. He tried to save him, but shit happens. They fall from the building, and he even still attempted to help him."
Suoh wordlessly watched him and grabbed the package carefully. He understood perfectly who Fushimi had meant. He stared at the covered evidence before he finally muttered, more like to himself. "I know." Never once it crossed his mind to doubt Munakata for being the perpetrator of hurting Totsuka. He could not imagine for him doing so, especially after witnessing the Blue King in the thin line between life and death. Looking from the casualty, he could easily figure out that Munakata struggled to save Totsuka, causing his own demise. Even falling from top of the tower would not harm Munakata with his Blue Aura, unless he had something else requiring his full attention…
He put the package inside his jacket and hid his hands inside his pockets. Suoh briefly said his gratitude at Fushimi as he whirled around to make his way out from the hole in the wall he had made before. "Thanks."
Fushimi did not move from his current spot, watching quietly as the Red King leaving. When he was no longer visible, he crouched down and put his hands to his face pathetically. "Damn…Always giving me trouble. What should I do with all these mess?"
The white cloud was high on the blue sky, and the heat was rather unbearable for early winter sun. A young student strolled in the city, carrying a red umbrella on his shoulder, instead of using it to shield his skin against the bright sun. He hummed lightly as his feet lightly stepped on the road. Mischief was hidden well inside his eyes, while he put on his innocent mask. A pink cat was on his right shoulder, the bell in its collar jingled as they walked. His silver hair shone under the sunlight, nearly as pale as his skin. He pulled out a note on his hand and read it for a moment before tucking it in again on his pocket. "Okay, I only have to find that firework shop…it should be around here."
Isana looked around, trying his hardest to find the shop around the biggest screen in the city. Kukuri's description of shop's location was not exactly helpful, but since he had nothing much to do on his afternoon break and he should help out a girl in distress whenever he could, he tried to saunter around to find the shop mentioned. His eyes widened brightly when he finally able to find the store after fifteen minutes of circling around the spot.
He entered the shop joyfully and pulled out his reminder, "I have to get the receipt too." He grabbed the fireworks needed for the festival and purchased them, not forgetting his receipt. Putting them neatly in his bag, he left the store and thought of returning back to the academy as soon as possible when suddenly a young lad on his skateboard stopped him and attempted to slam his head with a steel baseball stick. He swiftly avoided the hit, and the red-haired boy hit the store's front glass instead. As Isana sprawled on the floor, that boy checked out on something like his photo on the holographic screen. For some reason, he grinned widely at Isana, and the silver-haired boy could feel that his life was in terrible danger.
Isana hurriedly scrammed around and ran as fast as he could. The stranger nearly caught up with him, so he scanned around and swiftly jumped into a wagon box that had stopped by the streetlight. He looked around, hoping the pursuer had given up to catch up to no avail against car speed. His relief was short-lived, as all of sudden that boy had caught up with him and nearly punched him with a red aura swirling around his arm. Before he could even take another breath, his companions on motorbike attempted to break his head with a baseball stick.
'Why is this happening to me?!'
Isana found himself being sandwiched between his attackers. He promptly ran to a small, dark alley on his left, avoiding the obstacles quickly as he made his way out. Barely escaping, there was another man standing in the alley, inhaled deeply his cigarette, blocking his way. He tried to warn the blond man, hoping he would make way. "I'm sorry, please get out of the way!"
He regretted of announcing his presence instantly, as that man threw his cigarette up in the air, and that thing turned into a rain of fire bullet unbelievably, aimed at him. Isana thought that his life was ending that moment, when suddenly another stranger with a long black hair, tied into ponytail, stood in front of him and pulled out his sword, miraculously cut down the fire bullets as his blade dancing against them. The next moment he turned his head, the man in black coat had already defeat the red-haired boy easily. He barely had time to register what had happened in his brain, when that man grabbed his collar and embraced him. For a short time, he was left in awe, staring at the beautiful black eyes with little shade of blue on them and fair, handsome feature. His admiration was brief, when that man instantly made an extension like hand from his real hand and jumped away from the spot to the rooftop. They did not stop jumping away, making their way back to the rooftop of random building near the wide screen in the middle of city.
His savior was nasty enough to toss him away as they landed. Isana would make no comment for his behavior though, since he had benevolently saved his life. However, he could feel that even this man was dangerous, and he was about to make his leave in civil manner, when black-haired man effectively halted him with his sheathed sword. As he found himself again sitting on the floor, that man introduced himself as a vassal of Seventh King (though he had no idea what he had meant with King and vassal in such modern society) and was called Yatogami Kuroh. His name was beautiful to his ears, as pretty as his gleaming sword, but that steel in his hand and his face were infuriatingly frightening.
He tried to cheer up the atmosphere a little bit, lopsidedly introducing his own name, when Kuroh abruptly cut him with a swing of his sword, only an inch away from his neck and suddenly a button from his uniform clattered away. Kuroh calmly told him that he would slay the evil king, and there was an abrupt sound of static noise from the screens on the stations. When he glanced to his side, trying to figure out what was the noise about, he was more surprised to see his face in the wide screen, grinning like a mad dog. The screen played a video he did not recognize; a young man named Totsuka Tatara filmed it and met him on a place he did not know. It felt weird to see his own face, and his mind was totally blown away when a man with his face whirled around and tried to shot the one who filmed the video. Then the screen went black, and the spectators left wondering whether that man on video was dead or not.
Without wasting another minute, Kuroh was on his battle stance, and told him that he would take his life by his own hand. His life was such a joke; he was about to get killed by strangers, and suddenly got rescued by another beautiful stranger, and now this person actually wanted to slay him too. Instinctively he scrambled, trying to flee using the exit door of the rooftop, but before he could even reach the doorknob, a holographic hand grabbed his collar and thrust him high in the air. If he fell from such height, without doubt, he would not escape simply with nasty scrapes. He was left dangling in the air, fear for his life.
Isana yelled out of protest, "I'm innocent! Would this Miwa have you kill an innocent man!?"
That put Kuroh in hesitation and he finally lowered Isana haphazardly. Doubt was transparent in his black eyes as he grabbed Isana's collar and turned him to face the wide screen in the station, questioning him inaudibly at the resemblance of him and that criminal shown on the screen. The silver-haired man laughed weakly, cursing at this puzzling situation inwardly. He did not remember of doing such crime, and yet there was quite strong evidence telling him otherwise. No wonder suddenly there were strangers aiming for his life although he seriously believed someone must have framed him or that person could have similar face to him. After all, there could two or three people with face similar like yours in this world, right? Nevertheless, no one would believe him after watching that video.
"Okay, well…I might not look innocent at the moment, but there is a saying 'don't judge people by its cover' right?"
Kuroh glowered at him furiously. "I only judge a man by his action."
Isana tried to put some sense into Kuroh's head to stop him from killing him. If that man really gave him up to the police, he could think a way of escaping. At least, he should run away from the tip of Kuroh's sword which looked more threateningly compared to police's guns. However, Kuroh did not even care to listen, and even told him that he only obeyed his master. Talk about blind faith…Isana sighed in defeat and wrecked his brain, trying to find a way out of this situation. For a person like this, only one thing would work. Sympathy.
He started to deceive him, saying that he had a gravely sick sister, and she only had him in this world and he wanted to write her a farewell letter. People with kind heart would never be able to resist from feeling pity for him if he told him such sappy woven story. He put on the best of his anxious face as he sat. Without looking up, he could easily picture a pity on Kuroh's eyes as he wrote down a fake letter. The next moment, he secretly grabbed the flash bombs inside his bag, the ones that he had bought from the firework store before. Who had known that he would have to use them so soon? When Kuroh read that letter, he winked at him and threw those bombs on the floor, effectively blinding the black-eyed lad.
In that instant moment, Isana grabbed and hid himself inside a plush costume lying abandoned nearby. His heart nearly skipped a beat when he heard a loud bang on the rooftop door. His pursuer without doubt was furious for being deceived. He could only pray that their fated encounter was just for that one time, since if they met next time, Kuroh would cut off his neck without even listening to him. He waited without sound inside the costume, and when his enemy left the rooftop, he pulled up the head of the costume. It was hot inside, he barely could breath. Now he had no choice but to walk around with this costume, especially when the wide screen suddenly showed a bounty over his head with such tremendous reward from HOMRA. Great, his daily life was totally ruined.
The Gold King sighed at his visitor resignedly and flicked his fan gracefully as he spoke to his Clansmen in rabbit mask. "Guide him to medical wing. Please make this your last visit, Red King. I would prefer having no regular visitor at my home."
Mikoto smirked at him insultingly. "Your mistake for putting him in here. Who knows you would play favoritism."
Daikaku glared at him, though he did not even move away from his sitting spot. "Such outrageous accusation…leave now."
Mikoto did not need to be told twice to turn his back and follow the rabbit clansman to the inner chamber. He tried to remember the map of the building, especially the way to the medical chamber, but to no avail. The direction seemed to be different compared to the first time he arrived at the medical wing, which was around last week. The red king could feel the faint power of strains, and the one that guided him must also be the user of perception manipulator. He resisted the urge to dispel the strains' power since if he did so, certainly the Gold King would never allow him coming again. He clicked his tongue, trying to settle down his annoyance.
After another long, wearisome walk, he arrived at the familiar white room, and the suffocating scent of antiseptic. The medical staffs inside made a short bow at his entrance, before resuming their work. He paid no heed to them and strode past them to the core chamber of medical wing. His legs felt heavier as he got closer to where the Blue King resided. He did not even know the purpose of him coming. It was not as if his visit would hasten the recovery of Munakata. There was also no way for him to recover so quickly from such fatal damage. Even if he came everyday to visit him, there was probably no significant change.
When he arrived by the window glass, he was surprised by the lack of ventilator that he abruptly grabbed the nearby staff and asked him in high-pitched voice unconsciously, "Is he getting better?!" The medical staff squeaked in surprise and cringed at his intimidating voice. Even with his rabbit mask on, it was obvious that the man was afraid of him. He stammered clumsily, "Y-yeah…his recovery, you know, was beyond normal people…U-Umm…he is doing well, so we plugged off the ventilator."
Mikoto released the medical staff, which immediately ran away from him and knocked a trolley down accidentally as he escaped. The red-haired King felt as if a great burden was lifted from his shoulder. Resting his hands in his pockets, he entered the isolated chamber calmly and walked to the side of sole bed inside. He simply stared at Munakata's face, which was still as pale as he saw him before. His breathing was much steadier, but the loud beeping sound of the monitor made him difficult to listen to his breathing noise without straining his ears. Yet he still felt like smiling at watching him. At least he got better, even if it was slightly.
The leader of HOMRA put his hand on the pale cheek, rubbing it lightly before his hand strayed to the sapphire side locks, combing it gently and feeling the softness between his fingers. How he wished his rival would open his closed long eyelids and stared at him with his usual fierceness, complaining of his reckless actions mercilessly. Yet the man in front of him remained clueless, unconscious to whatever he would do.
He lowered his head and brought his lips to the blue strands in his hand, kissing it unconscientiously. As expected, he did not get a response. Feeling slightly irritated to something like being ignored, though he knew Munakata could not help it, Mikoto felt an urge to payback for his silence. He allowed his lips to linger on the blue locks, then to his forehead, his cheeks and the tip of his nose. Mikoto pulled back a little to observe if he had managed to get a reaction, but Munakata did not even move a muscle. Rebelliously, he stole a kiss on the cold lips, letting it linger longer than the rest of the kisses. If Munakata somehow had the knowledge that he had kissed him without consent, the young Captain would probably punch him on the face or slam his head to the nearby wall. It was Munakata's loss for not knowing that Mikoto had just stolen a kiss on his lips.
"It's hard without you here." He whispered quietly to the deaf ears. "If you sleep too much, when you wake up, I might have already destroyed half of the world, you know."
Ever since the incident, he regularly had nightmare of losing control over his power and annihilating everything, including his family, his friends, Tatara, Izumo, Anna…even Munakata. What scared him further, he knew that no one would stop him if that happened, since his only shackles now was barely keeping himself alive. Mikoto slammed his fist on the bed, beside Munakata's head in frustration.
"Thanks for saving Tatara, but I need you here…" He trailed off on his confession and blamed himself for his weakness. Then no more word was heard, but the beeping sound of monitor to break the silence.
That wraps for this chapter! Sorry for long update…But here is another long chapter! Hope you all enjoy it ^_^
KimiShiroChan: Hope this chapter also meets your expectation…XD Though I kinda doubt it since it's getting down from climax for a while.
Guests: Thanks for all the reviews! ^^ Yeah, I've wanted to depict a scene when Munakata saves Totsuka too, so this fic is made. Glad you also have wanted to read the story!
Viviane1993: sorry to disappoint…I find it really hard to update every week because I hardly have free time. But I'll try to update as fast as I could :D Reading encouraging reviews also motivate me to type faster~ so, thank you very much!
Aerithloud: Hope I can surprise you more in the future ^_^)v
Gleish26: Thanks for reading! Hope you will keep looking forward to it~
XxlighterxX: Thank you for your kind words~ I'm happy enough that you have spend your time to review. Thanks! :D