Morg: Heyo! Are you guys ready?

Ikuto: I'm always ready.

Amu: No.

Morg: Wow. I really should have expected those answers from both of you but for some reason, I didn't.

Ikuto: Right.

Amu: Then who's writing this?

Morg: Enjoy~

~Indebted~

Kairi sighed as he pushed his glasses back into place. His computer screen gleamed in the darkness of his office as he worked late into the night. On top of running their business, he was working on relaying information to Tsukasa. As Ikuto's second-in-command, Kairi felt like his work was never done.

His phone lit up next to his elbow with encouraging messages from Yaya. The corners of his lips twitched but he refrained from smiling as he finished proofreading another document before he sent it to Ikuto's email.

Yaya was waiting for him, which was all the motivation Kairi needed to complete his work and go home for the night.

Once he was finished with his computer, he turned to the day's mail. Most of it, he was able to separate out as junk mail to be shredded. Some of it he set aside for the next day since it needed more of his attention than just a few minutes and he wasn't about to stay longer than he needed to.

An envelope caught his eye as he shuffled through the rest of it. It wasn't marked other than Ikuto's name scrawled across the front.

Kairi almost threw it away. They didn't take unofficial mail, but something held him back. He felt the envelope and lifted his brows when he realized the hard square inside felt like a disc case.

Carefully, he opened it. Nothing hazardous came spilling out so he gently extracted the hard square case. Inside, he realized, was a DVD.

Kairi frowned as he looked at it. Most people who sent in auditions knew to send it to a specific address. There were people who went through them before they were ever brought to Ikuto or Kairi's attention.

Due to the oddness of the DVD ending up on his desk, Kairi decided to see what was on it. He looked at his computer for a moment before getting up and leaving his office with the DVD in his hand. His computer was too important to risk some sort of virus.

But the secretary who had long ago gone home for the night had a DVD slot and Kairi figured it probably wouldn't be too much of a hassle if the computer broke down.

He waited for only a few moments as the computer woke up and then the DVD loaded before he was able to play it.

It took less time for him to realize just what he was seeing before he stopped it and ejected the disc.

Shaking, Kairi put the disc back into the case before he shut off the computer and left the office. On his way to the elevator, he sent Yaya a text that he wouldn't be home that night. She was understandably upset, but he knew what he was holding was far more important.

Kairi impatiently waited for the elevator. Once it arrived and he was able to step inside, he switched his phone from his conversation with Yaya to Ikuto's contact and dialed.

"What?"

"I'm coming up."

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Ikuto," Kairi said firmly. "I'm coming up. Make sure that Amu is in bed or somewhere else. Something came for you today and it cannot wait."

"Fine," Ikuto said through a yawn. "She went to be hours ago. I'll meet you in the hall."

Kairi hung up without saying anything else. Delicately, he shifted the case in his hands until he could look at the DVD. He would have never known what was on it if he hadn't played it. Part of him wished that he'd thrown it away. The rest of him was glad that he hadn't.

"This better be important," Ikuto said as he looked up. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing sleep pants but no shirt. "I didn't even know you were still here."

"I had some work to finish," Kairi said as he moved past Ikuto. He didn't stop until he was in the living room. Only then, did he turn and hold the disc out to his boss. "This came today. The envelope is still sitting on my desk. I didn't bring it because I didn't want to touch it more than I already did. I probably shouldn't have brought this up here but I felt you needed it in your possession right away."

"Kairi," Ikuto said as he eyed the disc without taking it. "What is that?"

"There was no address," Kairi continued. "The envelope just had your name on it."

"What's on the disc?"

Kairi sucked in a deep breath as he met Ikuto's gaze. "I looked only because I didn't know what it was. I stopped it seconds after it started. As soon as I knew what it was, I shut it off. I swear it."

Ikuto shifted his weight as he stared at Kairi. He did not move to take the DVD. "Kairi."

"It's a video of Utau's time with them."

Ikuto felt his knees go. He sank down onto the couch while he kept his gaze on the DVD. "What?"

"The very small bit that I saw was a room before the camera moved to focus on a girl. It took me only a few seconds to recognize her. So I shut it off."

"How do you know it was from them?"

"She was naked."

Ikuto dropped his head into his hands. "Fuck."

Kairi did not move from where he was standing with his hands holding the DVD out. "We thought they might be sending you a message."

"Fuck," Ikuto said again. "Message received."

"This won't be the only copy."

Numbly, Ikuto nodded his head. "I know."

"Someone has to watch it," Kairi said firmly but gently.

Ikuto looked up at that. "Kairi."

"I'm sure," Kairi said before Ikuto could continue. "That they were careful with how they filmed what they filmed, but if there is any chance that we could catch a face or any sort of identifying mark then we'd be able to turn it over to the police. We'd have the evidence that we need."

"I can't," Ikuto said weakly. "She's my sister. I can't watch that."

Kairi nodded without dropping his hands. "I know, but I also know that you wouldn't like it if anyone else saw it either."

Ikuto swallowed hard as he looked back at the DVD. "We can't trust the cops."

"Not if they have a mole."

"There's no one here that I think Utau would be okay with seeing her that way. And I'm not going to make her watch it herself." Ikuto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "It'll have to be me."

"I know."

"I really don't want to," Ikuto said quietly. "I really fucking don't want to."

"I'll watch it."

Both men turned to look at the girl standing in the doorway of the living room. They hadn't heard her get up or make her way down the hall toward them.

"Amu," Ikuto said as he turned to look at her. "That's. I don't want you to do that."

Amu looked from Ikuto to Kairi and then back. "You already said it, Ikuto. She's your sister. She doesn't need you to see her differently. She needs you to be her brother. And there's no one else here that you trust. So trust me."

Kairi didn't stop her as Amu stepped forward and took the disc from his hands. He was mostly relieved to not be holding it any longer. "She has a point."

"I may not have gone through the same thing," Amu said gently as she looked back at Ikuto. "But I did go through something similar. And I already saw Utau when she was first thrown out of that car. This is not going to change my image of her. If anything, it'll make me more compassionate."

Slowly, Ikuto nodded. "If you're really okay with doing that, I would be extremely grateful."

Amu smiled, though it didn't hold any happiness. "I can handle this, Ikuto. I also know how to cut stills so I can save pictures of certain people without anyone else having to watch the entire thing."

"As long as you don't damage the original video," Kairi said as he looked from Amu to Ikuto. "You should be fine to do that. We can't use it as evidence if it's been corrupted."

"I won't damage it," Amu promised. "The video will be complete after I'm done."

Ikuto nodded again as he closed his eyes. "I'll leave it to you then, Amu."

Amu dipped into a small bow before she left the room.

Kairi watched her go before he turned back to his boss. "Are you going to tell her?"

"Only if Amu finds something that we could use," Ikuto responded.

Kairi dipped his head in a single nod. He would follow Ikuto's lead and keep his mouth shut unless they found something. "I'm going home."

Ikuto sighed again before he got to his feet. "Thank you, Kairi, for finding that and immediately bringing it to me."

Kairi didn't say a word as he left. He wasn't about to tell Ikuto that it wasn't a problem or that he was glad to do it. While he was also thankful that he was the one who found it, he wasn't about to belittle the enormity of what he found. So he said nothing as he left.

XXX

Amu reminded herself again and again that she was watching the video for a reason. Her anger could not cloud her judgment or make her lose focus. Watching it all carefully once was hard enough. She did not want to have to do it multiple times, though she knew she'd double-check her work.

Telling Ikuto that she'd handle it was different than actually watching it. She had to pause it more than once to remind herself that she hadn't gone through the same thing. Her memory was cloudy because of the drugs, and while Utau was clearly drugged in the video, she had been treated far worse than Amu.

"This isn't about me," Amu reminded herself before she played the video again.

For the most part, the only person in focus was Utau. While it was clear what was being done to Utau, the people doing it weren't caught on camera. A hand here or there or part of an arm. Each time someone else was shown, Amu stopped the video and went through it frame by frame until she had a picture of that person that she could save separately. She cropped Utau out of the picture and saved just the stranger.

At dawn, Amu stopped. She noted the time on the disc and closed her eyes to will back tears when she realized that the DVD contained hours of Utau being tortured and raped. Amu had barely gotten through two of them and had several more to go.

She ejected the DVD and set it to the side in its case before she curled up in the bed and cried.

She cried for Utau.

She cried for herself.

And she cried for every girl that ever had to go through what they went through.

Before her tears stopped, Amu was asleep.

XXX

Ikuto paced through the living room. He kept glancing down the hallway but held himself back from making his way to Amu's door. She'd come out around noon for something to eat and drink, but otherwise, she'd stayed locked away in her room.

Knowing what she was doing in there did not help him relax. He wanted to knock on the door and tell her to stop. He wanted to beg her to tell him that it wasn't as bad as he imagined. He wanted to tell her to lie even if it was.

The small amount of work that he'd been able to focus on throughout the day was poorly done. He knew that he was creating more problems for Kairi but excused himself for his actions. Thankfully, Kairi more than understood.

"Ikuto?"

Spinning on his heel, Ikuto turned to face Amu. "Hey, are you done?"

Amu nodded before she ran her hand through her unbrushed hair. She had dark circles under her eyes and clearly hadn't slept much since the night before. "I watched it all twice to make sure I got every bit of someone else as I could."

"Was it," Ikuto stopped himself as he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "Was it horrible?"

Amu studied his stricken face for a moment. "I don't think we have enough evidence to arrest anyone. Even if Tsukasa had them show the body parts that I managed to get, it would be hard to prove it was that person."

"So we have nothing," Ikuto muttered darkly as he shifted to drop onto the couch. "Great."

Amu shifted from where she was standing in the doorway. "There was a message at the end for you."

"What?"

"I cut a picture of it, too, since it was text."

"What does it say?"

Amu wrapped her arms around herself as she turned slightly away from him. "Ikuto," she said as she repeated the words she had memorized. "We played along and allowed you to do your little investigations. It's time for you to remember what's really at stake here. This isn't everything we have, though it has the best parts. Continue to push us and we'll release all of it to the public."

Ikuto shook his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. "No."

"We got what we wanted from your sister. We know you favor that pinkette. If we catch your new little slave unprotected then we'll take her back and send you a new version. We're sure you'll enjoy that one, too."

Ikuto blinked back the burn in his eyes as he looked up at her. "Is that all? Please tell me that was all there was."

"That was it," Amu whispered back. "It didn't say anything else."

Shakily, Ikuto ran his hand through his hair before he rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. He pressed down hard to shut the rest of the world out. "What am I going to do?"

"You can't give up," Amu said softly. She smiled at him when he looked up at her again. "There are so many people counting on you to stop them. You cannot give up."

"They're threatening you and Utau," he said weakly. "I couldn't handle it if something were to happen again."

Amu bit her lip as she looked out at the sunny afternoon. It was jarring to see that it was such a beautiful day while everything seemed to be horrible. "I think they're too confident right now."

"What?"

"I think they think they're holding all the cards."

Ikuto sighed as he leaned back into the couch. "I think they might be holding all the cards."

"No," Amu said as she shook her head. "They think their threat will work on you. They think their displays of power will make you back off. Tsukasa is a good police officer but he cannot do this alone."

Ikuto shook his head as he looked back out the windows. "What am I supposed to do against this? They'll ruin everything Utau's worked so hard to take back."

"It is because they think they're untouchable right now that I think this is our best chance to stop them."

"Amu?"

Amu ran her fingers through her hair again. She grimaced when they caught on a snag before she looked back at Ikuto. "They told you," she said as she made sure to confidently meet his gaze. "That they would take me the first chance they got."

"Amu."

"And I think we should give them that chance."

"No," he said weakly.

Amu held herself firm as she hardened her gaze. "I'm going to leave here in a day or two to go back to my apartment."

"You can't," Ikuto tried again. "You saw that video. You know better than anyone what they'll do to you."

"They won't," Amu said firmly. "They won't touch me."

"If you get taken-"

"Would you let them harm me?" She asked bluntly as she stared into his eyes. "You saved me before, Ikuto. You've kept me safe. Would you let them rape and torture me?"

Ikuto swallowed hard as he shook his head. "Don't put yourself at risk. Don't do this."

"I'm going to," Amu said firmly. "But I'm not doing this alone."

"What do you mean?"

"They're going to take me, Ikuto." Amu smiled a bit as his gaze met hers again. "And you've been trying to gather evidence against them. So let's make sure that when they kidnap me again, they regret it."

Ikuto blinked several times before his mouth dropped open. "You want to be bait."

Amu nodded.

"That's a terrible idea."

"It'll work."

"It's still a terrible idea."

Amu smiled as she shook her head. "I know you said that I'm not indebted to you. I want to make sure you know that I'm not doing this only for you. I want to help the others like me. I want to help the ones they consider slaves. I want to do this for your sister so she can continue to heal."

Ikuto closed his eyes before he slowly got to his feet. He watched her as he approached to make certain that she was okay with his movements before he pulled her into his arms and held her tight. "You are the best person I know, Amu."

Amu buried herself further in his arms. "This is our chance to stop them."

Ikuto shook his head but did not let her go. "I still don't like this plan."

"That's too bad," Amu told him as she pulled back enough to meet his gaze. "Because you told me that you'd let me make my own decisions whenever I can and I've already made this one."

Ikuto hunched his shoulders to press his forehead against hers. "I also said that I would do that within reason to keep you safe."

"Then let's figure out how to keep me safe," Amu whispered back.

Ikuto straightened up before he nodded. "If there's no way that I can change your mind then I will do my best to make sure that you're safe."

"Then let's start planning."

.
Morg: So there's that bit.

Ikuto: What the fuck!?

Amu: Holy shit.

Morg: Yep.