Lost & Found - Episode 1 Part 4
Title : Lost & Found
Chapter Title : Missing In Action
Setting : Hidarime Tantei EYE - Post Special Drama
Summary : What if at the end, Ainosuke's resolve crumbles, leaving him vulnerable in front of his older brother. What will Ainosuke do? And how will Yumeto react to the drastic decision his baby brother had come onto?
Rating : K+
Disclaimer : The characters n original storyline are not mine. Only the changes in plot is :)
Kato slid down onto a chair tiredly, a canned coffee clutched tightly in his hands. Letting out a big sigh, he let his mind wander.
The kidnapper had worked unbelievingly fast. Just this late morning, the ransom call was made and by mid afternoon, it was paid. Then, this early evening, the distraught parents had their child back.
Fast. Simple. Efficient. Though, the kidnappers were not caught.
If only the case with Ainosuke-kun was also that fast…
Well, he could hope.
He took a sip from his canned coffee and slumped to his seat some more. He was so tired. And not just because of today’s events. Yet, it felt like there was something else he needed to do. The kind of feeling that continued to nag at the back of your head until you do it.
Sano Mai. He needed to check on her. Not meet her personally, it would have been weird since there was nothing he could base this from except for a drawing of her by an anonymous witness. If anything, it would freak the child and her parents out.
No, they didn’t need that.
Finishing his canned coffee, the police officer stood up and started walking away from the chair and out of the police station.
Time to go home.
And tomorrow, perhaps, he will do what Ainosuke-kun had wanted him to.
xxx
“Ouch! That hurts!” the boy hissed to himself.
He had woken up to the pitter-patter sound of water hitting the ground, as if sensing his mood and crying for him. The sun was hiding itself fully behind the dark clouds. Only the blinking light at his nightstand could be any indicator of the time of the day. Which, after some calculating, indicated to him that he had stayed in bed for 6 hours… plus 24 hours.
Remembering what happened yesterday night, he had deliberately curled up, buried his face on his pillow and pulled the blanket closer to himself.
That had succeeded for about 5 seconds.
Apparently, Rin had decided that its master had spent far too much time in bed and whined to him insistently while biting and pulling his blanket. Only his conscience kept him from wailing in his own roller coaster of feelings. He had a pet. Even if he didn’t feeling like eating, he at least needed to feed Rin.
So, reluctantly, he had risen from the bed. Taking some time to rub his eyes, he had slowly taking step out and down the bed.
And promptly had felt the need to flail his arms around as his vision zoomed in extremely fast to the floor. Obviously, he had not noticed that the foot he had tried to put on the floor was tangled in his blanket because of Rin’s incessant pullings.
Hence, the headache that he had now.
Ainosuke blinked as he laid on his side, trying to clear his vision which was stubbornly keep flashing brilliant white. With a jolt, he realized that his left eye was showing him something.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, images flashed in front of his eyes. He noticed that most of the images were mostly the same as before, except two, no, three of them.
His own problem immediately forgotten, he scrambled to his feet. He could feel his heart beating furiously in his ribcage as he looked around for his cell phone in panic. His heart dropped when he realized that it was with Yoshida-san, the older man having taking it after his little stunt yesterday.
He felt prickles behind his eyes and blinked repeatedly, mentally berating himself that there was no use crying over this. He looked over to his window, eyes gazing at the rain with a lost expression on his face, which quickly dissolved into determination. Hurriedly, he turned over to his bed and arranged his pillows and blanket to look as if he was still cocooned in the blanket.
As if sensing and knowing that its master was going to do another thing that was even more reckless than yesterday, Rin started whining. The boy looked down to his pet and his face softened a bit.
Walking, then dropping on his knees in front of his pet, he drew it into an embrace.
“I’m sorry, Rin. I need to do this. Someone I know is in a grave danger,” he put the dog down, hands still tangled in its fur, making it looked at his face. “I need you to cover for me, okay? I’ll be back soon. Wish me luck.”
Eyes full with sadness and fear, Ainosuke stood up and walked out of his room, after listening to make sure that Yoshida-san was not around his room. With a soft click, he disappeared behind the door.
Behind him, Rin was whining softly with his ears flat on his head.
xxx
This time, when the phone rang, Kato immediately ran for it. His heart beating fast, expecting, hoping, praying that it would be Ainosuke-kun again who called. But it seemed that a miracle did not happen twice, for it was the voice of a distressed and scared mother who greeted him.
Pushing his disappointment aside, he quickly asked for the details as he once again beckoned for his colleagues. However, he froze when he heard the name of the victim.
He mechanically told the crying mother that they would be there shortly and ran to the car alongside his colleagues.
“Kato-san, what’s wrong?”
He turned to his partner who was now buckling his seatbelt and, realizing that he had forgotten to do so, quickly fastened his own.
“I’m late.”
“For what? Your date with that school nurse?”
He threw his partner an irritated glare, which the man pointedly ignored and grinned at.
“For the last time, she is not my girlfriend!”
“Okay, fine, I get it! No need to get so defensive.”
Kato scowled as his partner started the engine and drove away. This man, he did not even know half the things he was worried himself sick about. He liked dense and simple-minded Ohuchi-san better.
“So, what were you talking about? You’re late to what?”
His heart clenched at the reminder of his inability to respond to the clue Ainosuke-kun had given him fast enough. He had failed the boy. He sighed dejectedly.
“I was too slow. I might safe a family from such anguish if I was quick enough. Now, it’s too late.”
xxx
Ainosuke was gasping for breath. His hand was grasping the pillar in front of the police station while the other was clutching the jeans he was wearing on the knee, now soaked with water. The sound of dying rain was playing behind him, telling him that the sun would be coming out soon.
He felt something warm and fluffy dropped gently onto his shoulders and jumped in surprise. Looking up, he was met with a pair of concerned eyes belonged to a female police officer.
“Are you okay? Are you lost?”
She asked him anxiously as she wrapped the towel tighter around him. Behind her, he could see some other police officers staring at them curiously.
He knew he must have looked quite pitiful. A teenager suddenly turned up in the police station, soaked wet and gasping for breath. Anyone would immediately assume that something bad had just happened to him. But it was not him who was in trouble. Well, not yet anyway.
First, though, he needed to regain control of his breath to be able to speak.
“I need to speak to Kato-san. Immediately. Please.”
He asked her with a pleading expression plastered on his face. The woman looked at him regretfully and he felt his heart fell even before she answered him.
“Kato-san had just gone out. He was called on duty somewhere. But, you are welcome to stay here while waiting for him to come back. We can find you a set of dry clothes too.”
His heart was gripped with fear.
“Where?”
He managed to ask her weakly, dreading the answer. But she only shook her head slowly.
“I don’t know. We are not exactly in the same division.”
Without another word, he unwrapped himself from the towel and pushed it back into the kind woman’s hand. He gave her a small smile as he did so.
“Thank you, but I really need to go. I’m sorry for interrupting. Please, excuse me.”
With that, he bowed slightly, turned around and, in a blink of an eye, had ran under the rain once again, ignoring the shout that was calling for him to come back.
xxx
Detective Fukuchi stared at the scene that was unfolding before his eyes. He was in his way back to his office from Kokusho Akira’s cell when he saw his subordinate wrapping a towel around a boy. Slowly, he walked to them, eyes never leaving the pair, ignoring the other police officers who walked out of his way once they saw him approaching.
Then, suddenly the boy unwrapped the towel from his body and pressed it to his subordinate’s hands. He was almost at the front door when the boy gave a small bow and ran out of the building.
Eyes never leaving the retreating figure, he approached the stunned woman.
“Who was that boy?”
The called woman spun around to face him with a surprised yelp, very nearly dropping the now soaked towel.
“Fukuchi-san!”
He raised his eyebrow and waited impatiently for the answer.
“I don’t know, sir. He just suddenly came here, out of breath and soaked to the bone. He asked for Kato-san and when I said he was not in, he simply thanked me and went on his way again.”
The senior police officer widened his eyes. There was only one boy whom he knew about who would be looking for Kato. Turning his attention to the direction where the boy had gone into, He frowned when he could see nothing except the slight rain that was dying and some cars passing by.
“Get back to your duty. All of you!”
He said sternly before averting his gaze. He could hear shuffling behind him and saw at the corner of his eyes when his subordinate walked into the building. Letting his sight lingered on the road for a few more seconds, he turned around and get back to his duty with a pang of disappointment in his heart. If only he was a little bit faster…
He had let Tanaka Ainosuke slipped away when the kid had been so close.
xxx
The sky was now, thankfully, clear. There was not even a single could on sight. It was hard to believe that only an hour ago, it was raining heavily. The only prove that it had been raining were the puddles of water that made a wet splash sound whenever his feet landed in them as he ran.
Stopping and leaning cautiously at the lamppost nearby, his gaze fell on the familiar neighborhood and his eyes caught sight of a few doves flying out a window. His eyes widened as he remembered the doves that he saw through his left eye. Just as he was about to push himself away, a few men were running out of the apartment. His eyes widened when he saw Kato-san among them.
He opened his mouth to call out to him, but he was never gone that far. A tingling sensation on his left eye distracted him and he gasp in surprise. His hand flew to his left eye and he could only watch as the policemen ran out of his sight. He sighed, dejected. Seemed like he was not able to talk to Kato-san after all.
Ainosuke eyed the lamp post warily and decided that it would not do that he had come this far for nothing. Ignoring the consequences that he would face later, he banged his head onto the metal pole.
Groaning in pain in his head, he slid down and knelt on the ground, ignoring the water and the dirt. He pressed his fore head to the cold metal in attempt to ease his pounding head and stayed still as, once again, images flashed in front of his eyes.
There was only one new image that he saw, the rest were from the previous visions that he had. And he was as clueless now as the first time he had them.
His hands scrambling about for something he could hold on to as he pushed himself to his feet.
“You…”
His head snapped up at the somewhat familiar voice. Mai-chan’s mother was currently staring at him from the gate to the apartment with her eyes puffy because of all the crying she must had done for the past few hours. He stood up straighter as the woman crossed the road and approached him in haste.
He was about to say something when she beat him to it. Her hands gripped his arms tightly and he had to wince at the bruising grip she had on him.
“You came yesterday too. You knew something, right? Please! Please, return Mai to me! I beg of you! Please, return her to me!”
Ainosuke bit his lip unconsciously as he thought over what he should say now. He could help, he just didn’t know how to tell it to the anxious mother without looking like the kidnapper. He sighed deeply.
Well, here goes nothing.
“I’m here to help.”
The woman stopped begging him and looked up to stare at him, stunned.
“I can help. I can’t explain anything, but… Just… Can you lend me some paper and pencil?”
His knees almost went weak with relief when the mother wiped her tears and nodded without asking anything. She stuttered something about having some papers in her house and started leading him back to the apartment.
As he was following her, he realized that he had been shivering lightly and that his jacket had been no help against the cold in its soaked condition. Rubbing his hands against his arms for warmth, his mind wandered back to what Kato-san had said to him, last night incident and the images he had seen through his left eye.
“What are planning now, big brother?”
xxx
The sun was setting at the west, quickly disappearing behind numerous building. The sky in the opposite direction was already turning a dark blue coloration, gracefully dissolving to violet and finally scarlet, then fused with the bright yellow colored circle.
Yet, the boy who was now opening an apartment door cautiously had no time to admire this all. Ainosuke stepped through the front door of the apartment that he lived in and, as quietly as he could, closed the door behind him.
He quickly stepped out of his shoes and took them in his hand, tiptoeing through the living room and the outside of the kitchen.
He breathed an inaudible sigh as he saw Yoshida-san san preparing dinner in the kitchen whilst whistling softly to himself. Turning away from the scene in front of him, he continued to tiptoe to his room, tad a bit quicker than before now that he was confident he was not going to get caught.
It was just as he closed the door to his room when he sneezed, rather loudly, if he might add. And before he could do anything else, he was tackled to the ground by an over-enthusiastic fox-like dog.
He laughed softly and wrapped his arms around his pet.
“Nice to meet you too, Rin. I see that you did what I asked you to wonderfully.”
The boy let out a chuckle when Rin let out a bark and then snuggled close to him. His eyes wandered around the room that he now called his own. He still remembered vividly the first time he woke up in this room.
(flashback)
There was a pounding in his head and he felt like he had gone running for hours. He felt drained. And the soft mattress he was laying on top of was far too comfortable for him to want to move out of.
All he wanted was just to stay there for the rest of his life. He didn’t care if his brother…
His eyes snapped open as his mind finally caught up with reality.
He sat up quickly and groaned when he felt pain in the back of his neck. His mouth let out a small whimper as he wrapped his arms around himself and looked around the room he was in.
It was a plain and simple decorated room. Aside from the queen sized bed he was currently sitting in, there were night stands at its either side. There was a wardrobe on the wall facing him to his left side and the door was beside his bed, on the right side. Directly in front of him was a desk with a big window - he could see the sight of the city at night through it - right in front of it, at its right side was a bookshelf which was mostly empty. There was another door next to the wardrobe and then another bookshelf - which was fuller than the other - right next to the door.
He took in all that in confuse. The last thing he remembered was surrendering himself to his older brother, allowing and asking his brother to kill him. Then, a pain on the back of his neck and he knew nothing afterwards.
His big brother had made it clear to him that the older had nothing to do with him anymore. Feeling alone and heartbroken, he had wanted to die. So when his brother - his dear, beloved, older brother - had said that he could easily kill him, he had made his decision and offered his life.
So, why?
Why had his brother let him live?
A sob escaped his lips and he drew his legs closer to his body, hugging them close to his chest. Burying his face on his knees, he let out his pent up emotions and cried brokenly.
(end of flashback)
His musing ended abruptly as he felt a lick on his face. He snapped his attention to Rin as the dog whined softly. He chuckled and wiped the tears that had started gathering in his eyes. Scratching the dog behind its ear, he stood up and took his pet into his arms.
He pulled his pillows from under the blanket and put the dog on his bed. He rubbed its head and smiled softly.
“Thank you. Let me take a quick shower, then I’ll take you down for meal. I think I’ve deprived us both of food long enough, don’t you think?”
Rin let out a cheerful bark and he smiled wider. He opened his wardrobe - now filled with clothes - and took some clothes and headed to the bathroom, fully intending to put his head under the shower for a few minutes to ease his pounding head.
xxx
k59: should i just copy the author’s note from ff? that sounds rather silly to me, somehow (^_^;).. anyway, I was quite proud for finishing this chapter faster than the others before.. i’ll do my best to update faster.. n as i said in ff, there was this crazy idea that appeared in my mind but i’m not really know how to do it.. it may be a one-shot, but don’t expect anything.. thx for reading^^~
Chapter Title : Missing In Action
Setting : Hidarime Tantei EYE - Post Special Drama
Summary : What if at the end, Ainosuke's resolve crumbles, leaving him vulnerable in front of his older brother. What will Ainosuke do? And how will Yumeto react to the drastic decision his baby brother had come onto?
Rating : K+
Disclaimer : The characters n original storyline are not mine. Only the changes in plot is :)
Kato slid down onto a chair tiredly, a canned coffee clutched tightly in his hands. Letting out a big sigh, he let his mind wander.
The kidnapper had worked unbelievingly fast. Just this late morning, the ransom call was made and by mid afternoon, it was paid. Then, this early evening, the distraught parents had their child back.
Fast. Simple. Efficient. Though, the kidnappers were not caught.
If only the case with Ainosuke-kun was also that fast…
Well, he could hope.
He took a sip from his canned coffee and slumped to his seat some more. He was so tired. And not just because of today’s events. Yet, it felt like there was something else he needed to do. The kind of feeling that continued to nag at the back of your head until you do it.
Sano Mai. He needed to check on her. Not meet her personally, it would have been weird since there was nothing he could base this from except for a drawing of her by an anonymous witness. If anything, it would freak the child and her parents out.
No, they didn’t need that.
Finishing his canned coffee, the police officer stood up and started walking away from the chair and out of the police station.
Time to go home.
And tomorrow, perhaps, he will do what Ainosuke-kun had wanted him to.
xxx
“Ouch! That hurts!” the boy hissed to himself.
He had woken up to the pitter-patter sound of water hitting the ground, as if sensing his mood and crying for him. The sun was hiding itself fully behind the dark clouds. Only the blinking light at his nightstand could be any indicator of the time of the day. Which, after some calculating, indicated to him that he had stayed in bed for 6 hours… plus 24 hours.
Remembering what happened yesterday night, he had deliberately curled up, buried his face on his pillow and pulled the blanket closer to himself.
That had succeeded for about 5 seconds.
Apparently, Rin had decided that its master had spent far too much time in bed and whined to him insistently while biting and pulling his blanket. Only his conscience kept him from wailing in his own roller coaster of feelings. He had a pet. Even if he didn’t feeling like eating, he at least needed to feed Rin.
So, reluctantly, he had risen from the bed. Taking some time to rub his eyes, he had slowly taking step out and down the bed.
And promptly had felt the need to flail his arms around as his vision zoomed in extremely fast to the floor. Obviously, he had not noticed that the foot he had tried to put on the floor was tangled in his blanket because of Rin’s incessant pullings.
Hence, the headache that he had now.
Ainosuke blinked as he laid on his side, trying to clear his vision which was stubbornly keep flashing brilliant white. With a jolt, he realized that his left eye was showing him something.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, images flashed in front of his eyes. He noticed that most of the images were mostly the same as before, except two, no, three of them.
His own problem immediately forgotten, he scrambled to his feet. He could feel his heart beating furiously in his ribcage as he looked around for his cell phone in panic. His heart dropped when he realized that it was with Yoshida-san, the older man having taking it after his little stunt yesterday.
He felt prickles behind his eyes and blinked repeatedly, mentally berating himself that there was no use crying over this. He looked over to his window, eyes gazing at the rain with a lost expression on his face, which quickly dissolved into determination. Hurriedly, he turned over to his bed and arranged his pillows and blanket to look as if he was still cocooned in the blanket.
As if sensing and knowing that its master was going to do another thing that was even more reckless than yesterday, Rin started whining. The boy looked down to his pet and his face softened a bit.
Walking, then dropping on his knees in front of his pet, he drew it into an embrace.
“I’m sorry, Rin. I need to do this. Someone I know is in a grave danger,” he put the dog down, hands still tangled in its fur, making it looked at his face. “I need you to cover for me, okay? I’ll be back soon. Wish me luck.”
Eyes full with sadness and fear, Ainosuke stood up and walked out of his room, after listening to make sure that Yoshida-san was not around his room. With a soft click, he disappeared behind the door.
Behind him, Rin was whining softly with his ears flat on his head.
xxx
This time, when the phone rang, Kato immediately ran for it. His heart beating fast, expecting, hoping, praying that it would be Ainosuke-kun again who called. But it seemed that a miracle did not happen twice, for it was the voice of a distressed and scared mother who greeted him.
Pushing his disappointment aside, he quickly asked for the details as he once again beckoned for his colleagues. However, he froze when he heard the name of the victim.
He mechanically told the crying mother that they would be there shortly and ran to the car alongside his colleagues.
“Kato-san, what’s wrong?”
He turned to his partner who was now buckling his seatbelt and, realizing that he had forgotten to do so, quickly fastened his own.
“I’m late.”
“For what? Your date with that school nurse?”
He threw his partner an irritated glare, which the man pointedly ignored and grinned at.
“For the last time, she is not my girlfriend!”
“Okay, fine, I get it! No need to get so defensive.”
Kato scowled as his partner started the engine and drove away. This man, he did not even know half the things he was worried himself sick about. He liked dense and simple-minded Ohuchi-san better.
“So, what were you talking about? You’re late to what?”
His heart clenched at the reminder of his inability to respond to the clue Ainosuke-kun had given him fast enough. He had failed the boy. He sighed dejectedly.
“I was too slow. I might safe a family from such anguish if I was quick enough. Now, it’s too late.”
xxx
Ainosuke was gasping for breath. His hand was grasping the pillar in front of the police station while the other was clutching the jeans he was wearing on the knee, now soaked with water. The sound of dying rain was playing behind him, telling him that the sun would be coming out soon.
He felt something warm and fluffy dropped gently onto his shoulders and jumped in surprise. Looking up, he was met with a pair of concerned eyes belonged to a female police officer.
“Are you okay? Are you lost?”
She asked him anxiously as she wrapped the towel tighter around him. Behind her, he could see some other police officers staring at them curiously.
He knew he must have looked quite pitiful. A teenager suddenly turned up in the police station, soaked wet and gasping for breath. Anyone would immediately assume that something bad had just happened to him. But it was not him who was in trouble. Well, not yet anyway.
First, though, he needed to regain control of his breath to be able to speak.
“I need to speak to Kato-san. Immediately. Please.”
He asked her with a pleading expression plastered on his face. The woman looked at him regretfully and he felt his heart fell even before she answered him.
“Kato-san had just gone out. He was called on duty somewhere. But, you are welcome to stay here while waiting for him to come back. We can find you a set of dry clothes too.”
His heart was gripped with fear.
“Where?”
He managed to ask her weakly, dreading the answer. But she only shook her head slowly.
“I don’t know. We are not exactly in the same division.”
Without another word, he unwrapped himself from the towel and pushed it back into the kind woman’s hand. He gave her a small smile as he did so.
“Thank you, but I really need to go. I’m sorry for interrupting. Please, excuse me.”
With that, he bowed slightly, turned around and, in a blink of an eye, had ran under the rain once again, ignoring the shout that was calling for him to come back.
xxx
Detective Fukuchi stared at the scene that was unfolding before his eyes. He was in his way back to his office from Kokusho Akira’s cell when he saw his subordinate wrapping a towel around a boy. Slowly, he walked to them, eyes never leaving the pair, ignoring the other police officers who walked out of his way once they saw him approaching.
Then, suddenly the boy unwrapped the towel from his body and pressed it to his subordinate’s hands. He was almost at the front door when the boy gave a small bow and ran out of the building.
Eyes never leaving the retreating figure, he approached the stunned woman.
“Who was that boy?”
The called woman spun around to face him with a surprised yelp, very nearly dropping the now soaked towel.
“Fukuchi-san!”
He raised his eyebrow and waited impatiently for the answer.
“I don’t know, sir. He just suddenly came here, out of breath and soaked to the bone. He asked for Kato-san and when I said he was not in, he simply thanked me and went on his way again.”
The senior police officer widened his eyes. There was only one boy whom he knew about who would be looking for Kato. Turning his attention to the direction where the boy had gone into, He frowned when he could see nothing except the slight rain that was dying and some cars passing by.
“Get back to your duty. All of you!”
He said sternly before averting his gaze. He could hear shuffling behind him and saw at the corner of his eyes when his subordinate walked into the building. Letting his sight lingered on the road for a few more seconds, he turned around and get back to his duty with a pang of disappointment in his heart. If only he was a little bit faster…
He had let Tanaka Ainosuke slipped away when the kid had been so close.
xxx
The sky was now, thankfully, clear. There was not even a single could on sight. It was hard to believe that only an hour ago, it was raining heavily. The only prove that it had been raining were the puddles of water that made a wet splash sound whenever his feet landed in them as he ran.
Stopping and leaning cautiously at the lamppost nearby, his gaze fell on the familiar neighborhood and his eyes caught sight of a few doves flying out a window. His eyes widened as he remembered the doves that he saw through his left eye. Just as he was about to push himself away, a few men were running out of the apartment. His eyes widened when he saw Kato-san among them.
He opened his mouth to call out to him, but he was never gone that far. A tingling sensation on his left eye distracted him and he gasp in surprise. His hand flew to his left eye and he could only watch as the policemen ran out of his sight. He sighed, dejected. Seemed like he was not able to talk to Kato-san after all.
Ainosuke eyed the lamp post warily and decided that it would not do that he had come this far for nothing. Ignoring the consequences that he would face later, he banged his head onto the metal pole.
Groaning in pain in his head, he slid down and knelt on the ground, ignoring the water and the dirt. He pressed his fore head to the cold metal in attempt to ease his pounding head and stayed still as, once again, images flashed in front of his eyes.
There was only one new image that he saw, the rest were from the previous visions that he had. And he was as clueless now as the first time he had them.
His hands scrambling about for something he could hold on to as he pushed himself to his feet.
“You…”
His head snapped up at the somewhat familiar voice. Mai-chan’s mother was currently staring at him from the gate to the apartment with her eyes puffy because of all the crying she must had done for the past few hours. He stood up straighter as the woman crossed the road and approached him in haste.
He was about to say something when she beat him to it. Her hands gripped his arms tightly and he had to wince at the bruising grip she had on him.
“You came yesterday too. You knew something, right? Please! Please, return Mai to me! I beg of you! Please, return her to me!”
Ainosuke bit his lip unconsciously as he thought over what he should say now. He could help, he just didn’t know how to tell it to the anxious mother without looking like the kidnapper. He sighed deeply.
Well, here goes nothing.
“I’m here to help.”
The woman stopped begging him and looked up to stare at him, stunned.
“I can help. I can’t explain anything, but… Just… Can you lend me some paper and pencil?”
His knees almost went weak with relief when the mother wiped her tears and nodded without asking anything. She stuttered something about having some papers in her house and started leading him back to the apartment.
As he was following her, he realized that he had been shivering lightly and that his jacket had been no help against the cold in its soaked condition. Rubbing his hands against his arms for warmth, his mind wandered back to what Kato-san had said to him, last night incident and the images he had seen through his left eye.
“What are planning now, big brother?”
xxx
The sun was setting at the west, quickly disappearing behind numerous building. The sky in the opposite direction was already turning a dark blue coloration, gracefully dissolving to violet and finally scarlet, then fused with the bright yellow colored circle.
Yet, the boy who was now opening an apartment door cautiously had no time to admire this all. Ainosuke stepped through the front door of the apartment that he lived in and, as quietly as he could, closed the door behind him.
He quickly stepped out of his shoes and took them in his hand, tiptoeing through the living room and the outside of the kitchen.
He breathed an inaudible sigh as he saw Yoshida-san san preparing dinner in the kitchen whilst whistling softly to himself. Turning away from the scene in front of him, he continued to tiptoe to his room, tad a bit quicker than before now that he was confident he was not going to get caught.
It was just as he closed the door to his room when he sneezed, rather loudly, if he might add. And before he could do anything else, he was tackled to the ground by an over-enthusiastic fox-like dog.
He laughed softly and wrapped his arms around his pet.
“Nice to meet you too, Rin. I see that you did what I asked you to wonderfully.”
The boy let out a chuckle when Rin let out a bark and then snuggled close to him. His eyes wandered around the room that he now called his own. He still remembered vividly the first time he woke up in this room.
(flashback)
There was a pounding in his head and he felt like he had gone running for hours. He felt drained. And the soft mattress he was laying on top of was far too comfortable for him to want to move out of.
All he wanted was just to stay there for the rest of his life. He didn’t care if his brother…
His eyes snapped open as his mind finally caught up with reality.
He sat up quickly and groaned when he felt pain in the back of his neck. His mouth let out a small whimper as he wrapped his arms around himself and looked around the room he was in.
It was a plain and simple decorated room. Aside from the queen sized bed he was currently sitting in, there were night stands at its either side. There was a wardrobe on the wall facing him to his left side and the door was beside his bed, on the right side. Directly in front of him was a desk with a big window - he could see the sight of the city at night through it - right in front of it, at its right side was a bookshelf which was mostly empty. There was another door next to the wardrobe and then another bookshelf - which was fuller than the other - right next to the door.
He took in all that in confuse. The last thing he remembered was surrendering himself to his older brother, allowing and asking his brother to kill him. Then, a pain on the back of his neck and he knew nothing afterwards.
His big brother had made it clear to him that the older had nothing to do with him anymore. Feeling alone and heartbroken, he had wanted to die. So when his brother - his dear, beloved, older brother - had said that he could easily kill him, he had made his decision and offered his life.
So, why?
Why had his brother let him live?
A sob escaped his lips and he drew his legs closer to his body, hugging them close to his chest. Burying his face on his knees, he let out his pent up emotions and cried brokenly.
(end of flashback)
His musing ended abruptly as he felt a lick on his face. He snapped his attention to Rin as the dog whined softly. He chuckled and wiped the tears that had started gathering in his eyes. Scratching the dog behind its ear, he stood up and took his pet into his arms.
He pulled his pillows from under the blanket and put the dog on his bed. He rubbed its head and smiled softly.
“Thank you. Let me take a quick shower, then I’ll take you down for meal. I think I’ve deprived us both of food long enough, don’t you think?”
Rin let out a cheerful bark and he smiled wider. He opened his wardrobe - now filled with clothes - and took some clothes and headed to the bathroom, fully intending to put his head under the shower for a few minutes to ease his pounding head.
xxx
k59: should i just copy the author’s note from ff? that sounds rather silly to me, somehow (^_^;).. anyway, I was quite proud for finishing this chapter faster than the others before.. i’ll do my best to update faster.. n as i said in ff, there was this crazy idea that appeared in my mind but i’m not really know how to do it.. it may be a one-shot, but don’t expect anything.. thx for reading^^~