Tour Guide to the Underworld - Chapter 11: At the end of the day

[yoru_no_hikaru]

Pairing: KinKi Kids
Characters: Nishikido Ryo, Uchi Hiroki, Nagase Tomoya, Takizawa Hideaki, Okada Junichi (and others)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Don't own the JE boys (duh!), but OCs are mine and I created the story
Setting: AU
Warnings: Creepy, language
Multi-Chapter

Notes: FINALLY, after working on it for so long I finished this one. Sorry it took so long, but quite some important thigns are in this, so it had to be finished according to my wishes. I hope you'll like it. It's one of my farouites thus far.

Intro: Ryo's having trouble dealing with his past, but he finds some surprising comfort. As the story develops secrets keep being held in, passed on and being releaved. In the middle of it Koichi finds himself at the verge of a vital decision. What is he going to do when his whole world comes crushing donw on him?


Ryo ran as fast as he could, not paying attention to people he ran over, or who cursed at him. He just had to get away. Quickly. He didn’t even think about where he was going. It seemed pretty random when he finally reached out and grabbed the knob of a door to slide in quickly and hide. Once inside he closed the door again quickly and locked it. His breath was going heavily and his body was shaking. He told himself that he’d been running almost through the entire building and was just exhausted - but then, you didn’t cry from exhaustion, did you? In an attempt to calm himself, Ryo took a deep breath. He wiped his eyes and turned to find himself a seat - and froze.
“Ryo-kun,” Yuri mumbled, his eyes wide in shock and confusion.
“Ah… Yuri…”

Ryo just kept staring at the boy, not really knowing what to do, or say.
“Did you come to hide?” Yuri finally asked him.
Ryo chuckled slightly at that. Then he nodded.
“Same as you?” he suggested.
“Uhn,” the dragon confirmed. “But I didn’t get any snacks today,” the boy said miserably. “Hungry…”

Ryo bit his lip. He really liked Yuri and it always hurt him to see him suffer. How could anyone be so cruel and starve a fragile creature like him. He was still so young. For a moment he thought about what to do. People had warned him about feeding a dragon. But then… Subconsciously he had checked all of his pockets and had found a chocolate bar. Without giving the issue another thought he handed the item to the boy. Yuri blinked at him, as though unsure whether it would be okay. Ryo smiled and nodded at him encouragingly. At that Yuri smiled back, grabbing the treat happily, ripping the paper open and munching away. Ryo grinned. He looked cute when eating.

“Thank you,” the dragon muttered around a mouthful of food.
“Don’t inhale it like that,” Ryo told him, looking amused. “Try to eat properly, or else you’ll be hungry again in an hour.”
Yuri scoffed a bit, but did slow his eating. Ryo sighed as he sat down next to the boy, inspecting him closely. It was strange, even though Yuri had a human appearance there was something fascinating about watching him eat. Like an animal, really.
“They told you not to feed me,” Yuri stated flatly.
“Yes,” Ryo admitted. “But… I can’t let you suffer like this.”
“If they catch you, you’ll be suffering,” the dragon retorted. “Aren’t you worried about that?”

“Do you think Koichi is worried about such stuff?” Ryo asked.
“Koichi is different,” Yuri answered simply.
“That seems to be the case,” Ryo nodded. “As it is, I don’t think they can threaten me with punishment. I’ve already suffered everything I can imagine.”
Yuri blinked at him, inspecting him closely, but never stopped his nibbling on his food.
“You know,” Ryo finally continued. “We’re not so different, you and I.”
“That’s rubbish,” the dragon stated. “We’re completely different. You’re an animalistic creature, while I am elemental.”
“That… is not what I mean,” Ryo stated helplessly.
“Huh?”
“Yuri-kun,” Ryo sighed. “Can I tell you a secret?”

The dragon wanted to answer but he still had his mouth full with the last bits of the chocolate bar, so he just nodded.
“You can’t tell anyone,” Ryo impressed on him. “You know, when I came here I had to go through the basic training program. Older superiors are in charge of that program. And some of them… aren’t very nice. They will make you do things that have nothing to do with your education. Things that will just appeal to them personally. Just like… like your mistress does with you.”
“Having sex,” Yuri stated evenly.
“You’re too matter-of-fact about it, you know,” Ryo complained with a groan.

“What good is there in crying over it?” Yuri shrugged. “It’s not like that would change anything. She’s still gonna come back every other night, no matter if I cry, or beg. I’ve tried,” the boy told him. “I tried crying. I tried begging. Won’t do a thing. So why bother?”
Ryo’s eyes grew wide. In that moment he realized that even though he’d had it rough, that kid was off a lot worse than himself. He had no perspective of getting out of the mistreatment in any way. Obviously, he had already accepted his fate and tried to deal with it, stealing what little pleasures he could, like chocolate bars hidden in a closet. Suddenly Ryo moved and hugged the boy tightly to his body.
“I will listen,” Ryo promised him. “If you want to, you can cry to me. I will hear it and I will share the feelings with you. You can cry and yell all you want.”

Yuri did not answer. And he did not cry. Or yell. But his arms wrapped around Ryo’s shoulders, clutching him tightly, as if he was trying to melt with Ryo, wanting to hide in him and then leave the closet with him like that, unseen by anybody, disappearing forever to a place where nobody could find him. Ryo understood and just kept holding the boy, rubbing over his back soothingly. After the voices had remained silent for a good twenty seconds, Uchi moved away from the door of the closet he’d been standing at the past ten minutes, heading back to his office.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

“Ah, Ryo,” Koichi said happily when his apprentice opened the door to the office.
“Koichi-kun,” he stated quickly. “I’m sorry I ran like that yesterday. I was…”
“There’s no need to apologize,” Koichi assured him. “Actually, it was my fault not to check your file properly.”
Ryo blinked at that.
Koichi merely smiled at him sympathetically. “I saw who did your basics,” he explained. “He’s quite infamous. I should have realized sooner… your reaction when you found out that I like guys already… and then the way you acted about to Yuri’s situation…”
“Koichi,” Ryo interrupted him, his voice as tight as the fists at his sides, “can we not talk about it? It’s already bad enough that you know now. I don’t want to…”

“It’s okay,” Koichi assured him. “Although I’ve prepared quite a speech,” he offered with a smile. “No? Well, if you don’t want to, we’ll just leave it as it is. Even so, please know that if you ever feel the need to talk you can come to me any time.”
Ryo just nodded shortly.
“And…” Koichi added. “I think that a man who can deal with such things and doesn’t run…”
“But I did,” Ryo reminded him.
“That’s not what I mean,” Koichi explained. “You could have changed to whatever section. You could have left. You could have gone an entirely different way, without departments, or the hierarchy thing. But you didn’t. You’re still here and standing tall and that’s really admirable. I can’t say that I can imagine the situation… but I don’t know what I would have done.”

Ryo just stared at him for a while. Then a smile came to his face.
“Thank you,” he stated simply.
Koichi just nodded at him, glad that his main point had been understood - that he would never think the less of Ryo.
“So,” Koichi spoke up, changing the subject. “Do you think you want to go out again today?”
“Of course,” Ryo nodded eagerly.
“Right,” the older man said happily. “On the first one you will watch today. Then you’ll have another go.”
“Yes, sir.”

________________________________________________________________________________________

“Okay,” Koichi mumbled, checking his book. “This one shouldn’t be too hard. Young woman. Accident.”
“That’s tough,” Ryo muttered.
“I guess it’s not gonna be pretty,” Koichi admitted. “But still, it’ll be an okay job.”
“Koichi, do you never feel sorry for the people being left behind?” Ryo asked. “Who mourn over their beloved ones?”
Koichi thought about it for a moment. “I see that it is hard on them,” he explained. “Maybe my last life on that level is too long gone, because I can’t really identify with the feeling. Probably I’ll learn again once I start losing people to the next level. Who knows…”

“You’re weird,” Ryo commented.
“I guess I am,” Koichi agreed with a grin. Then he braced himself. “Okay, let’s go.”
As he and Ryo went into the room the book had shown the number to, they witnessed a rather tragic scene. A mature woman, probably somewhere between forty and fifty was sitting next to a bed in which a young woman was lying, a mask on her face and lots of machines standing around the bed. The woman by the bed clutched the girl’s hand tightly.
“Maiko… please wake up,” she croaked out.
“The mother?” Ryo asked, his voice tight.
“Most probably,” Koichi nodded.

“This is weird,” the younger man frowned.
“How?” Koichi asked.
“The last interaction,” Ryo stated. “Are we too late?”
Koichi shot him an appreciative look. “Very well-perceived,” he told the younger one. “No, I don’t think these two had any kind of interaction after this accident happened.”
“But then…?”
“It seems that sadly the last interaction wasn’t for this woman,” Koichi explained. “Sometimes things like that happen. Maybe she was supposed to have died under different circumstances,” Koichi muttered, checking through his book. “Some of the facts seem to have been changed…”

“Oh, can I look at it?” Ryo asked.
Koichi nodded and readily held the book open for Ryo to have a look into it. Checking the lines Ryo understood what Koichi had meant. Some lines had been blackened, like there had been some other information standing there, but it was made unreadable.
“Why does that happen?” the boy asked.
“Oh, there’s a big number of reasons for something like that,” Koichi told him. “If something is off in a certain situation, if the spirit gets too worked up, it might try to stick with the body. Or maybe the environment would have been bad. For example, if she ended up under water after her accident it would be difficult to find her soul. Such things, you know.”

“So, there are spirits who hold onto their bodies?”
“For various reasons,” Koichi nodded. “Such things can happen. As it is now, she is going to die soon.”
“But… what has happened before?” Ryo asked. “Why did things change? What was standing there earlier?”
“I don’t know,” Koichi answered, starting to sound worked up.
“Why isn’t it just scratched out,” the other kept asking, “but blackened so you can’t read it anymore?”

“It’s no good,” Koichi demanded, “to ask questions like that. There are no answers for us, we just have to accept things as they are.”
Ryo stared at his teacher. In that moment he understood that Koichi was actually frustrated. That his signature sentence was nothing but a bad cover for something that nagged at him constantly. Koichi must have had all those questions within him too. He’d been around for a long time and he was clever too. Ryo was pretty sure that Koichi had tried to find answers - but he never found any.
“Sorry,” Ryo mumbled. “I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay,” Koichi assured him, calming down again. Then he blinked. “It’s happening,” he stated.

Sure enough, just a moment later the life signals first went low and then out. The woman sitting by the bed winced slightly. Then she called for the girl, silently at first, then desperately. She cried, still clutching the girl’s hand. Maiko, at the same time, left the dying body to stand beside the two collectors in the room.
“What?” she asked, looking around, confused. “What happened? Where am I?” She looked at Koichi and Ryo. “Who are you?”
“Please don’t be scared, “Koichi said with a smile. “We haven’t met before, but we’re here to help you.”
“Help me?” the girl asked.

“Yes,” Koichi confirmed. “I am sorry, but your body just died and now you have to move on to transformation so you can store the energy you have gained and start a new life.”
“A new life…” the girl muttered.
Koichi nodded. “You will start over again.”
“Why would I want a new life?” the girl asked.
“Well,” Koichi said licking his lips, “it’s not like you have a choice. Your old life has already ended, so you either move on to a new one, or you will simply dissolve. That’s he circle of life. But don’t worry. We’re gonna guide you and you’ll be okay. You will have a good new life, you will see.”

The girl just kept looking around. She stared a bit when she saw her dead body on the bed. Then her gaze shifted again. Koichi jumped when the door was flung open and a group of doctors and nurses came storming in. The mother must have pressed the emergency button. It was a rather sad sight - not even the doctors could make her move from her daughter’s bed. The girl, however, paid no attention to all the other people in the room. Her gaze was fixed on the woman sitting by the bed, holding the girl’s hand.
“Who is that woman?” she asked.
Koichi bit his lip. He had underestimated the situation. It had seemed like an easy enough job. It seemed, though, that this spirit was a special one somehow.

“She is someone from your former life,” Koichi explained shortly.
He already wanted to grab the girl’s arm and force some distance between her and the bed her body was lying on, but the young woman moved to get an even closer look.
“Why is she crying?” she asked, tilting her head.
Koichi cursed inwardly, trying to stay calm. “Well… I guess she is going to miss you.”
“Then maybe I’d better stay?” the girl asked, sounding insecure.
“That is not an option,” Koichi told her. “You cannot stay. As it is, technically you have already left, she can’t hear or see you anymore, so even if you stay here, you’ll just dissolve and she can’t have you back.”

“So, I can’t go back, even though I’m still right here?” the young woman kept asking.
“No,” Koichi told her, already grabbing her arm.
“But,” the girl insisted, not taking her eyes of the woman who cried over her body, “I can see her… hear her… look at her, she’s so…”
“I know,” Koichi sighed. He tried to give the woman a sympathetic smile. “Look, it’s always hard to… put an end to something. But even so, she will be able to move on. And… the end of one thing is always the beginning of another thing too.”
“But just for now, maybe it’s not the time?”
“It is.”

“Who are you to say that?”
Koichi blinked at that. “Well… strictly spoken I am not the one. I’m just… carrying out what someone else decided.”
“And who’s to say they are fit to decide that it’s time for me to change?” the girl asked, looking straight at Koichi.
“It’s really no good asking such questions,” Koichi told her. “The only thing that you do right now is wasting energy, because you won’t follow us.”
“Maiko…”

The miserable sobbing cut right into the discussion. The woman was shaking the lifeless body on the bed. The doctor’s had retreated, detaching the machinery and scribbling on their boards. Koichi bit his lip hard, while the young woman rushed over to the scene.
“I’m right here,” she called out. “I’m here. Wait, I’ll… I’ll come back.”
“You can’t…” Koichi kept repeating, although his drive had disappeared.
“Is it really impossible?”
The girl looked at Koichi, a single tear running down her cheek. Koichi blinked at that. Still such human reactions. He made to say something else, but she continued before he could speak up.

“I understand,” she stated. “I understand what you mean. It can’t be helped, the day will come when I have to leave this life and say good-bye to the people I met in it. It’s just natural, I guess, and I will accept it. Just… not today. Please…”
Ryo gulped. He eyed Koichi, who seemed unusually aggravated. Finally Koichi moved. He strode over to the bed and grabbed the girl’s arm. Then he grabbed the arm of her body on the bed.

“It is well possible that even when I send you back now your body won’t accept your spirit again,” Koichi explained, voice tight. “If the reaction is bad, I don’t know what you’re gonna turn into. What’s more, I’ll have to remove your name from the list even so. Nobody will come to pick you up when you die. You will be on your own. The risk is incredibly high. Are you very sure you want this? You don’t even remember that woman anymore, do you? Is that worth it?”
“She looks so incredibly sad,” the girl said silently, watching her mother hugging the body on the bed. “Even though I don’t know who she is, I just want to hug her and tell her it’s going to be okay.” Her eyes turned back to Koichi. “I understood everything that you said just now. Please send me back.”

Koichi just nodded curtly.
“Koichi,” Ryo breathed, as he could merely watch the scene in front of him. Koichi let the energy of the spirit run through his body, providing the way for it to flow back into the body it had just left. It didn’t take long, it didn’t even look very spectacular, just a rush of wind. Koichi, however, did not let go and after a few seconds Ryo understood. Simply getting the spirit back would not do it. The body was still severely harmed and needed more energy. Koichi kept his hold on the girls arm. Then he bent down to kiss her lips, his other hand cupping her face. Finally, after a good minute he retreated. As soon as his lips left the girl’s a sharp gasp came from her mouth and she started to breathe.
“Maiko?” the woman next to the bed asked in disbelief. “Nurse, nurse! I think she just woke up.”

The nurse looked at the girl, her eyes grew wide and she called for a doctor. There was a huge riot in the room yet again as hospital staff came rushing back in to nurse the girl properly.
Koichi sighed. “In my entire career I have never… done something like this.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s tempting,” Koichi explained. “If you start making your own choices about these things no good will come from it. I mean, there is always pain when a life ends. How can I decide on whether it’s the time, or not? Just, if you start doing such things, you’ll be tempted to… make it easier on yourself. That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

“No,” Ryo explained. “I mean, why did you do it now?”
“It wasn’t my decision,” Koichi explained. “It was hers. She kept insisting so much and even after I explained everything to her… even though there was nothing left in her to connect her to her old life… she still decided that she wanted to stay.” Finally he looked at the younger man. “Never talk to anybody about what you just witnessed. We’ll both be done for.”
“I’m not gonna say anything,” Ryo promised. “Just… is it really necessary to remove her name from the list?” he asked warily. “Can’t we just say it was a mistake?”
“There is nothing I can do about that,” Koichi told the other. “She’s in the book, if I don’t cross out her name death will keep hunting her.”

“You make it sound like death was some kind of odd creature.”
“Well, who knows…” Koichi stated, gaze empty. “All I know is that I cannot leave her name in here. It’s not like she’s lost after I do that,” he explained, trying to smile encouragingly. “She won’t have a guide, that’s true, but really… according to some old records that we have, about 60% of the spirits make it to transformation even so.”
Ryo merely nodded his head vaguely.
“We should go now,” Koichi decided. “Nothing more for us here to do.”
“Isn’t anybody gonna ask why we’re not bringing a spirit in?” Ryo asked, sounding a bit worried.

“Many things can happen during collecting,” Koichi shrugged, as they made their way down the hallway. “Just keep your mouth shut and let me do the talking.”
“You really think you can lie to me?”
Both of them froze. Koichi felt a cold shudder running down his spine, eyes wide and breath hitching. He tried hard to collect himself again, then he moved to turn around.
“And there I told you only yesterday,” Tackey sighed, shaking his head, “that I’m watching you. Are you that stupid, or do you really just not care?”
Koichi bit his lip nervously. Then he grinned. “So, I guess I’m fired?”

“Fired?” Tackey asked in disbelief. “Well, it’s your own business to be worried about that right now. There are other things down the road, though. You’ll face the punishment of the crime you have committed.”
“What crime?” Ryo asked, feeling his stomach revolting slightly.
“Later,” Koichi said flatly.
Next he quickly grasped Ryo’s shoulder and used the stream to flee from the hospital. Ryo gasped when he found himself standing out on the road, a crossing near by, people everywhere, cars and bikes occupying the street.
“Where are we?” he asked, his voice high pitched.

“Stay calm,” Koichi told him.
“Do you think you can flee like this?” Tackey asked amusedly as he slid out of the stream right behind them.
“Hardly,” Koichi sneered.
“Give up, already,” Tackey told him. “You blew it. Trying to get away will only cost both of us time.”
Koichi didn’t even look at the other. Rather than that he turned towards Ryo.
“You take this,” he instructed, handing the young man his note book. “It’s yours now.”

“What are you doing?” Tackey demanded.
He wanted to interfere, but it was too late, Ryo already held the book.
“Never give it to anyone,” Koichi instructed.
“Koichi, what…”
“I’m sorry, I can’t finish your education,” Koichi apologized.
With that he turned towards Tackey. The other merely sneered at him.
“He can’t keep it. He doesn’t know how to use it,” Tackey chuckled.
“We’ll see about that,” Koichi stated fiercely. “Okay, you really want to do me in?”

“Koichi, I’ve watched you for a while now. I was already starting to think that maybe I was wrong. Maybe those things in your head were really nothing but little casualties. But today you revealed what I feared all along. Finally you’ve shown the shadow that covers your soul.”
“Always out for the drama,” Koichi grinned.
“No matter what you say now,” Tackey retorted. “Up to this very moment I was only speculating. But now I know… You are dangerous and I have to stop you.”
“I am dangerous?” Koichi laughed out. “What?! I… I didn’t eat her soul, or anything. I just fulfilled her wish to stay.”

“It’s not for her to decide,” Tackey stated flatly, “and neither for you.”
“Who’s to decide, then?” Koichi demanded. “You just keep following instructions you find scribbled in a book. You don’t know who’s writing them, do you? It’s her own soul. Why can’t she decide? What’s wrong with helping her?”
“Again with that phrase,” Tackey scoffed.
“All I’m saying is that in certain situations maybe we have to…”
“And here,” Tackey cut in, “is where the problem starts,” he explained. “The problem I have seen with you from the very beginning. The thing nobody else would see, because in its basics it’s very subtle and hardly notable. But you know that I can see beyond surfaces, things that nobody else can detect. I know the true alignment of your heart.”

“The alignment of my heart is not to be a hunter,” Koichi stated exasperatedly.
“I’m not talking about this,” Tackey told him. “I’m not even talking about your little hunter lover. The alignment of your heart is… purely chaotic.”
Koichi blinked at him. “What?”
“What makes you really dangerous is not that you could be detected as an evil spirit, or the like. You’re more subtle, but also all the more dangerous. The thing about you is, you don’t follow any kind of ideology. Not ours, not the one of the hunters, not one of any other group.”
“Are you calling me an outlaw because I…” he sighed. “Okay, I made a mistake,” he admitted. “I mean, I know it was against the rules, but… if you look at it individually…”

“This is your true nature,” Tackey stated firmly. “With that little explanation, you confirmed everything I know about you and if anyone else would hear it, they would feel the same as I do. To the outside you always act all correct and rule-bound. But there is really only one rule for you - that you make them.”
Koichi just shook his head. “You’re high, or something,” he claimed. “I’m not making any rules, nor do I want to.”
“No?” Tackey asked. “You don’t want to change the rules? Then why didn’t you do you job?”
Koichi bit his lip. “Because they didn’t apply in this one special case,” he finally spit out.
“But you don’t make the rules, Koichi,” Tackey told him, “and you are not in the position to decide on your own when they do or do not apply.”

“But…”
“No!” Tackey burst out. “We all have to bend to the rules. Everybody. Just you, you think that you can do it the other way around and bend the rules to suit you. The truth is that rules mean nothing to you. They keep things uncomplicated, so long as they don’t bother you for some reason, but as soon as a rule doesn’t suit you, you simply ignore it.”
“That…” Koichi started to shake, trying to fight both anger and panic. “That… I always consider what I do,” he explained, trying to sound calm and reasonable, but drifting off into a desperate tone more and more. “And I never hurt anyone.”
“Right,” Tackey smirked. “What good is there in stopping at a red light when nobody else is there?”

“So long as it doesn’t affect…”
“How can you know what kind of effect your actions have?” Tackey demanded. “In this level, or a lower level, or even on a higher one? Just because you can’t see the consequences, doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”
“Well, I think it’s better to think for yourself rather than just blindly doing what I’m told,” Koichi roared. “I’m not a fucking pet. And I’m not stupid. We never get answers to the most important questions and I’m sick of it.”
He panted, the fight had exhausted him. When the other didn’t shoot something back, he figured their argument was basically over. He sighed, shaking his head.

“I guess we won’t find any kind of agreement.”
“I suppose not,” Tackey sighed. “Then, can we finish this now?”
“Very happily,” Koichi told him.
He walked over to the other man, grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him in roughly. Tackey’s eyes widened as a brutal kiss was forced on him, lips smashing against his, making them bruised and red and even though he cursed Koichi in that moment it brought back memories he had long forgotten. When Koichi drew back, his gaze pierced right into Tackey’s confused eyes.
“I loved you,” Koichi whispered bitingly. “You’re the one who blew it.”

The next second Koichi vanished right in front of his eyes and Tackey gasped. The other had not again retreated into the stream.
“That… was unexpected,” Tackey muttered.
Ryo could only stare at the scene in front of him. “What… where did he go?”
“I don’t know,” Tackey shamefully admitted. “Gotsob.” He sighed. “I should have thought of that.”
“But how can Koichi do that?” Ryo asked, shaking his head.
“Why, I guess his little lover taught him,” Tackey suggested.

“No,” Ryo opposed, shaking his head. “I was there when Koichi told him to never show up again. He didn’t meet that guy anymore.”
“I’ve been following Koichi around whenever I found the time,” Tackey explained. “They did meet. Remember that when next you consider how truthful Koichi is.”
“But… if you knew about it, why didn’t you act before?” the younger man wanted to know.
“I can’t sack Koichi for hanging out with people I don’t like,” Tackey explained. “And I didn’t have evidence against that hunter. The only one who did was Koichi. I wanted to wait until he’d make a mistake. It’s too bad he got away. But at least we have the book,” he analysed.

He held out his hand, signalling that he wanted the item and Ryo almost naturally wanted to hand it over, but then he suddenly pulled it back and held it close to his body. Tackey first blinked, then laughed mirthfully.
“What are you doing?” he asked, shaking his head.
“Koichi said not to give it to anyone,” Ryo mumbled.
“Yeah, well, I guess even when he’s gone he still wants to torment me,” Tackey said pointedly. “But really, you don’t know how to use it. If you don’t read it properly, souls will get lost. I promise you, I don’t want to steal it from you. You can work with it. But you can’t be the keeper.”
“I’m not giving it away,” Ryo insisted.

Tackey sighed. “I don’t know why, but as I understand it you don’t trust me that far. Very well, keep it, then.”
Ryo eyed the other sceptically. Once again Tackey chuckled.
“There’s no need to be wary,” he told the younger man. “I cannot take it from you forcefully. It’s yours. I can’t be stolen from you.”
Ryo blinked. “Really?”
“Really,” Tackey confirmed with a nod. “And since you’re unwilling to let go of it, I’ll find someone else to teach you how to use it.”
“O-okay,” Ryo nodded.

“Very well, then,” the other smiled at him. “You should go home. It’s been a tough day. Don’t bother with the office, I’ll write a report. Just come back early tomorrow morning. Same office. You’ll have a new trainer.”
“Alright. I… I’ll just be on my way, then. See you, Takizawa-san.”
“Yes, see you,” Tackey smiled and waved.

________________________________________________________________________________________

“By all means,” Tackey stated insistently, his eyes dark and lips tight, “get that book back from the boy. I don’t care what it takes. Whatever you have to do.”
“Do you really want damage dealt to the boy?”
“Our first priority is to get the book back. If he doesn’t know how to use it, it’s dangerous. If he knows more than he’s letting on, it’s dangerous too.”
“Most probably he is clueless.”
“Eve so,” Tackey insisted, “we can’t know how deep Koichi got into his head. What kind of ideas he’s given the boy. He might have poisoned his mind. Find out as much as you can. Treat him well. Gain his trust. And bring him back on track. That’s the most important thing. And doing that, see that you can get that book back.”
“I understand…”

________________________________________________________________________________________

“Ano… good morning,” Ryo said timidly as he opened the door to the office after knocking. “I am here for…”
“Ah, there you are. Good morning.”
Ryo stared at the man standing in front of him. “What… are you doing here?”
“Tackey said you needed a new trainer. And he assigned me to do it,” Uchi explained.
“You’re… my trainer now?” Ryo asked in disbelief.
“Yup,” Uchi confirmed. “What - disappointed?”
“Er, no,” Ryo blurted out.

“Well, fine, then,” Uchi nodded. “Here’s our rout for today. Go and get it verified. Then come back here and… get your book.”
“Right,” Ryo said warily.
“Tackey said you didn’t let go of it anymore,” Uchi said with a grin.
“Well, I…”
“Hey, I’m not judging you,” the other shrugged. “I doubt Tackey would have told you, but nobody in their right mind would have let it go.”
“Eh?”
“You will understand what I mean,” Uchi promised with a smile. “Now go already. Today’s list is pretty long.”
“Okay,” Ryo nodded and headed out the office.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Finished. \^o^/ I hope you like it. ^^ Finally Koichi had to break with his life. For now he disappeared. Where will he be going? And what is Tsuyoshi going to say once he hears aobut it? Poor Ryo. He's a bit lost now, I think. But it'll be interesting to see where he will be going. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks, everybody, for reading! <3 *huggles*

Chapter 10

Chapter 12 (FINAL - Part 1)