Hello everyone, I'm back. I'm really sorry for the long wait- I only got on vacation (really) about a week ago, my motivation to write appeared yesterday (which almost disappeared completely because I got some really bad news, but I made it through writing this chapter!), and I've just been insanely busy. But well, here it is!
A note about my future updating schedule: well, I'm going to start school again soon, which will give me a lot more inspiration, but it's probably going to be really sporadic anyway. As I'm going into what's probably going to be my hardest year of high school, I'm not going to have a lot of time to write, because I'll be focusing on schoolwork.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this!
By the way, this chapter is both unbeta'd and unedited, so if you see something wrong or if something doesn't make sense, please let me know.
Yuu smiled, hugging Mika from behind and pressing a kiss to his neck. It never failed to make him happy to have Mika in his arms, totally and completely his. Yuu grinned widely and pulled him closer, as Mika shifted in his arms, turning around to face him.
"Hi, Yuu," said Mika softly. He kissed Yuu, slow and deep, pulling back to rest his forehead on Yuu's. They stood, arms wrapped around each other, lazily kissing in the afternoon sunlight. They didn't need to say anything else to each other; they both felt truly surrounded by the other's love. These were their happiest moments, these and those when they could hear happy laughter outside, of the little boy and girl who had come to join them in their lives-
Yuu was rudely awakened from his dream by the ringing of his cell phone. He flailed around, trying to figure out where it had gone when he accidentally whacked it and it flew off of his bed.
"Crap!" exclaimed Yuu, hoping that he hadn't smashed his phone. That would've sucked.
Stooping to pick up his phone and sighing in relief that his phone was just fine, not a crack to be seen, he saw it was Shinoa calling. Yuu hit the answer button, wondering what was wrong. Shinoa didn't usually call people, she just texted all the time. (With a lot of weird emojis. They never failed to confuse him.) So when Shinoa actually picked up the phone to call someone, anyone could tell that something was wrong.
"Hey, Yuu?" asked Shinoa, as soon as he picked up. "Could you come over a little earlier than the others?"
"Hello to you too, Shinoa," muttered Yuu. The moment he heard her, he could tell she was panicking about something- her voice was shaky and not at all teasing like it usually was. Actually, she sounded like she was about to scream any second. "Alright, I'll be over there in a minute."
Probably the best thing about being neighbors with the Hiiragis was the fact that when Yuu said he would be over in a minute, he meant a literal minute. He dashed down the stairs, mentally told Guren where he was going, and was out the door and running across the lawn and jumping over the hedge, heading straight for the Hiiragis' front door. Knocking, and rushing straight into the house when Seishirou Hiiragi opened the door, he rushed up the stairs and down the hall, towards Shinoa's room.
Oddly enough, the door was closed and Yuu couldn't hear anything from within; that automatically meant something was wrong. Normally, when everything was okay, Shinoa constantly had music blasting so loud that one could hear it from all the way down the hall, despite the fact that all the rooms in the house were soundproofed.
It was a wonder that she wasn't completely deaf yet.
Yuu knocked on her door, slightly nervous about what he would find inside. He stepped back slightly, hands shoved in his pockets, waiting for something to happen, when the door opened slightly, a hand wrapped around the collar of his shirt, and he was dragged inside.
The room was almost completely dark; there were no lights on and the curtains were drawn closed. The only light came from Shinoa's computer and from the crack underneath the door. When he was fully inside, the hand let go of his collar, and he reached up to rub at his throat a little. "Shinoa?" Yuu called out, attempting to find the light switch. He wondered what had happened to make her so upset; he couldn't simply read her mind to find out because it was completely shielded.
"Yuu," muttered Shinoa. "I'm glad you came earlier than the others."
Yuu turned the lights on and was more confused than ever. Shinoa almost never said something nice like that to him; the only time that happened was when she first met him and he was still reeling from the effect his parents had on him. It wasn't exactly the happiest moment in either of their lives.
"Uh...what's going on, Shinoa? What's wrong? Did something happen in like, the last hour and a half?"
"Yes," she snapped. "No, I don't know, dammit!" She was pacing back and forth in front of her bed, hands behind her back and a frown on her face. "I just...what you and Yoichi said about me and Mitsu today... I can't…"
She trailed off, unsure of what to say. Yuu snorted, immediately knowing what was wrong. "Shinoa, are you freaking out about the fact that you like Mitsuba? It's not really that bad, y'know. Liking somebody, that is."
Shinoa gave a frustrated sigh and flopped down on her bed. "I guess I am," she said. "It's just...you know I've never really felt like this before, and I just don't know what to do. What do I do? Do I say something to her? Do...do I ask her out or something? Will she even say yes?"
She paused for a moment, then spoke again. "God, this is really weird. Now I understand how you feel all the time."
Yuu sat down on the bed and turned to face her. "Look, Shinoa, you and Mitsuba don't have a lot of the problems me and Mika have, so yeah, I think you should go for it. You don't need to be so nervous 'cause it's pretty clear that she likes you back, and because she already knows about the whole mind-reading thing, you don't really have to hide anything from her either. Also, you two can protect each other pretty easily, so that's good."
Shinoa seemed slightly comforted by his words.
"Hey, do you remember when I realized I liked Mika? At least your freak-out wasn't nearly as bad as mine," said Yuu with a small snort.
"True, but yours was ten times as funny," said Shinoa, remembering that day a year and a half ago.
It was the summer before they were due to enter high school, and she, Yuu, and Yoichi had been hanging out at Yuu's house all afternoon. It was just the three of them, and they'd been just talking for hours, jumping from one topic to another. Finally, they'd come to the topic of crushes, their first target being Yoichi.
"Aw, come on, Yoichi, isn't there someone who you just want to be around all the time? You want to hold their hand, and hug them, and kiss them, and you get butterflies when you see them!" said Shinoa, smirking.
When she said all that, she herself did not think of anybody, but the first person to pop into Yoichi's head was Kimizuki, of all people. Of course, Shinoa had predicted that, after seeing Yoichi turn incredibly red after seeing Kimizuki with his shirt off at the pool. However, what she hadn't seen coming was the person who popped into Yuu's head- Mika.
"Wait, Yuu, are you serious? Mika?" she questioned him harshly, trying not to laugh. She didn't know why she hadn't seen that coming, actually- in hindsight, it was completely obvious.
Yuu, meanwhile, had backed away from the kitchen counter slightly, eyes widening. "What do you mean, 'Mika'? I don't like him like that! There's no way!"
"Face it, Yuu, he was the first person you thought of when I described a crush! You liiike him, and you can't deny it any longer," said Shinoa.
"No! No way, Shinoa!" he exclaimed, backing up even further. "I don't want to fuck my friends! Especially not Mika!"
"Now, now, Yuu, who said anything about fucking him? That was all you," said Shinoa, now not even bothering to hide the fact that she was about to die laughing any minute.
At that point, Yuu simply shook his head and ran for it, shouting something as he tore out the front door. Shinoa heard a yelp from someone as Yuu flew past them, and then raised her eyebrows as Mika walked into the kitchen.
"So, uh, anybody care to explain why Yuu just ran out the door screaming "You can't catch me, gay thoughts"? Because that was weirder than usual," said Mika, scratching his head.
Yoichi accidentally caught Shinoa's eyes, and together, they dissolved into laughter, Shinoa banging on the counter with her fist and Yoichi quite literally on the floor.
That had been one of the funniest things she had ever seen in her life, and while she made a mental note to interrogate Yoichi about his crush on Kimizuki later, she hadn't explained anything to Mika then. As far as she knew, he was still confused about what happened that day.
The day that Yuu had realized he had a massive crush on Mika was probably the last time she'd laughed so hard. It was before all the trouble with the Brotherhood had started, before mind readers started going missing.
Shinoa suddenly realized that Yuu was staring at her, waiting for her to say something. "Well," she said slowly, "I guess I can, like, slowly make a move on her or something? I don't know…"
"Uh, be subtle, I guess," said Yuu. "Don't push her too much- you remember what happened to the last guy who asked her out, right?"
Shinoa nodded, then shuddered slightly. It hadn't been a pretty sight.
"Good," said Yuu. "Now that we've got that sorted out, I'm gonna run back home and grab the homework. Then, you can help me with the math while we wait for everyone else to show up."
"The math homework? But it's so easy."
"Hey, you know I'm terrible with functions!"
Half an hour later, around 6:30, Kimizuki, Yoichi, and Mitsuba showed up, bringing their homework and with their minds completely shielded. They gathered in Shinoa's room, music blasting so that even if someone was listening at the door, nothing could be heard, and sat on the floor in a circle, talking about what to do with the information they had come across earlier that day.
"Well, I think we shouldn't take this to Kureto just yet," said Kimizuki. "Knowing him, he'd probably do something completely crazy and start an underground war or something like that."
"That's true," said Mitsuba, nodding. "You never can really tell what he's going to do when he gets info about the Brotherhood."
"Hey, guys?" Yoichi, who had been silent until this point, spoke. "You think maybe we should bring Mika into this? Teach him how to shield his mind and tell him what all is going on?"
Yuu immediately rejected the idea. "No way, it's too dangerous. We all know how long it takes to learn how to shield your mind and how much practice, and if we all get caught before Mika's mind is fully protected, the Brotherhood will know all our identities. And everyone else in the JIDA. It's too risky."
"Actually, I kind of like that idea," said Shinoa. "We would have a spy in the Brotherhood, and that would be really useful."
Still, Yuu shook his head. "Shinoa, you know what the Brotherhood does with spies! There's no way we can ask Mika to do that!"
"Fine then, let's put it to a vote. Who wants to tell him?" asked Shinoa.
She, Yoichi, Kimizuki, and Mitsuba raised their hands. Yuu did not.
"You've been outvoted, Yuu. We're gonna tell him soon," said Shinoa. Seeing the look on his face, she softened slightly. "Look, Yuu, he's our friend too. We don't want him to get hurt any more than you do."
He deflated slightly. "I know, I know. Still though, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Yuu," said Mitsuba. "It's going to be okay. Whatever happens, happens, and you know that all of us, including Mika, can at least somewhat handle ourselves. And besides, we all have each others' backs, right?"
"Well, maybe you're right," said Yuu, feeling slightly better. "Maybe…"
Yuu went home later that night, homework done, stomach full with the pizza they ordered, and feeling only slightly worried about the plan they had come up with. He knew that he'd been outvoted, and the plan in itself was a good one, but he still had a bad feeling about it.
Mika as our spy within the Brotherhood, eh? Well, I guess if it's his decision...though I better make sure that Shinoa and the others don't end up guilt-tripping him into doing it.
He walked into his room, ready to just pass out, and he was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice that his window was open, just slightly.
At 1:59 AM, the canister of sleeping gas that had been placed in the vents began to slowly release its contents.
At 2:01 AM, a dart full of tranquilizers flew through his open window and struck Yuu in the neck.
In the morning, Yuu was nowhere to be found. His window was wide open, his bed unmade, his cell phone still underneath his pillow.
They looked for him, month after month, but nothing came of it.
Four months later, it was spring, and a man was walking his dog. It yanked at its leash and barked at him; it smelled something. The man let the dog lead him towards whatever it smelled, figuring that it was just roadkill or something.
He was wrong-it wasn't roadkill. Instead, he and the dog had stumbled upon a body in a ditch by the side of the road, a little ahead of where they were. He recognized the face-it was one that had been all over the news, on posters throughout town, on social media.
It was the teenage boy who had gone missing about four months ago.
Fun fact: that "I don't want to fuck my friends!" line came from an actual conversation I had with my friend. It was pretty funny.
As always, I'm on tumblr at purple-dragon or the-dragon-writes.