[Fanfic] Where Might You Be?- Maki, Toma, Yamapi, Shun ~~ Ch14

[shardaunei]

PREVIOUSLY
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13

CURRENTLY

Chapter 14

Yamapi and Makiko had reached the main street where there were lots of stores and other business establishments. Luckily, it was already nighttime when they reached the area, so they were able to hide in the darkness. They stopped at an alleyway between a pizzeria and barbershop, hiding in the shadows beside a big dumpster. Makiko gently put Yamapi down on the ground and made him lean his back to the wall. She had half-carried, half-dragging him for a good fifteen minutes from the Watanabe estate, and she was wiped out.

“Here,” she said and handed him the bread and the bottled water. “Wait here and I’ll be right back.” She quickly got up before he could say anything. A few minutes later, she came back with some bandages and a first-aid kit. She then started treating the wounds on his face.

“Itai” he winced as the alcohol swab made contact with his skin. “Did you get this stuff at the convenience store?”

Makiko nodded as she helped him take off his shirt so she could clean the cuts on his chest and back. He struggled to lift his arms. She cleaned the wounds, and started wrapping the bandages around his torso. He slowly and painfully put his blood soaked shirt back on.

“Here,” he said, handing the bread to her. “You need to eat.”

“That’s for you,” Makiko explained. “You need it more than I do.”

Yamapi shook his head. “I can’t eat this knowing that you must be hungry, too.” He put the bread on her hand. “Eat.”

Makiko tore the bread in half. “Let’s share it, then.” She fed the bread to him. Yamapi gave her a smile before he wolfed down his half in one bite. When he was done chewing, he slowly stood up, and Makiko tried to help him up.

“Where are you going?” she asked. He didn’t answer, and instead looked around.

“My apartment is the closest from here,” he said looking back at her. “If we hurry, we could reach there before Yousuke finds out we are gone. We just get some things from there, then head over to my friend, Sakurai Sho’s apartment.”

He walked limply ahead. Makiko grabbed the first-aid stuff and threw it in the trash bin in the alleyway, and caught up to him just in time to catch him before he fell.

“Here, let me hold you up,” she said as she draped his arm around her shoulder. Yamapi looked at her sadly.

“I should be the one taking care of you,” he said with a frown. Makiko smiled at him, and together, they headed in the direction to his place.

##

They were forced to walk slowly since Yamapi had a hard time walking and Makiko had a hard time holding him up. He underestimated the time to get to his place. It was true that getting to his apartment was only twenty minutes -- by car. Walking slowly in the streets and stopping every few minutes, however was a different story.

Every time a car approaches in any direction, Yamapi and Makiko would hug each other to hide their faces from the headlights. A couple hugging on the street at night was normal compared to individuals covering their faces with their hands; it was less conspicuous. They kept themselves alert, knowing that Yousuke might be able to catch them anytime.

They finally reached the street that led to Yamapi’s apartment around midnight. They slowly climbed the steps up to the apartment complex, and then the stairs up to his apartment unit. Yamapi felt for the light switch as they finally got in, and then turned it on.

There, sitting calmly on the bed and smoking a cigarette, was Jin, who apparently had been waiting for them. Yamapi and Makiko quickly backed up and headed for the door, but unfortunately, Eita was hiding behind it when they entered, and was now blocking their only means of escape. Koki and two other of Yousuke’s men came out of hiding as well.

Jin slowly stood up and walked towards them. The others were closing in on the two as well. Yamapi glared at the men and bravely stood ready to fight them. He nudged Makiko to get behind him.

“Do you know what happens to the men who betrays Yousuke, Yamashita?” Jin calmly said, stopping a foot before him. “They get this.” He landed a fist into Yamapi’s stomach. Yamapi bent forward from the force of the punch, gasping for air. Jin caught him by his shoulders and stood him upright before giving him a punch to his face, sending him backwards and hit the ground. He tried to stand up to fight back, but he was still too weak from the last time, and fell hard back down. Makiko yelped and hurried over to him, but Koki grabbed her by the waist before she could reach Yamapi.

“You know, Makiko, just because you lock the deadbolt back didn’t mean that we wouldn’t know you two were gone. Have you heard of an alarm? That room had a silent alarm if you set if up, and I definitely did.” Jin kicked Yamapi on the stomach while he struggled to get up again.

“Jin stopped!” Makiko yelled at the top of her lungs. Koki quickly covered her mouth to silence her. She struggled to get from his grasp, but he held onto her tight. Two of the men now held Yamapi up by his arms as Jin used him as a punching bag. Makiko screamed through the cloth that Koki clamped over her mouth. Tears were flowing freely from her face.

Then Jin suddenly stopped. Yamapi groaned, breathing heavily. He looked up at Jin with anger and growled to leave Makiko alone. Jin cocked his head to the side, a sinister smile formed in his face.

“Gentlemen, do you what’s the best way to hurt a man?” Jin asked philosophically as he looked at his men. Each shook his head, wondering what he was up to. Jin went over to Makiko. “You hurt his woman.” With that, he hit Makiko hard across her face. Makiko groaned in pain.

“No, get away from her!” Yamapi growled, a fiery strength renewed within him. He struggled to get his arms out from the two men’s grasp to attack Jin, but they hang on tight. Jin laughed mirthlessly.

“See?” he said with the smile. “He can’t do anything to help her.” He hit her again on the other side. Makiko tried to kick him, but he merely dodged her legs, laughing like it was some kind of a game. He paused for a moment to check his watch, and sighed.

“Ah, looks like it’s time to go,” he said in regret. “It’s been fun.” He motioned Koki to get Makiko out. Makiko dragged her feet in protest of being taken away from Yamapi. Yamapi struggled to get her, yelling her name, but Jin started punching him mercilessly.

“Makiko!” Yamapi gasped as another punch landed on his cheeks.

“Makiko,” he said softly, as he was struggling to breath after receiving another powerful slug of Jin’s arm.

“Let’s go,” Jin said, and started ransacking the apartment to make it appear that it had been burglarized, then headed out the door. The two men dropped Yamapi on the floor, turned off the lights to set the scene of a burglarized apartment, and headed down the stairs.

Yamapi could hear the screeching of the tires as a car got away. He was lying face down flat on the floor, struggling to breath.

“Makiko,” he whispered, then everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kazunari paced back and forth angrily, punching his open hand with his fist. He was really pissed off that Yamapi had not arrived yet. It was the night of the open mic competition, and for them, everything was at stake. The winner was to get signed by any of the record label of his or her choice. Their band, Expired Tofu, had been wanting to get a label so badly and this was supposed to be it. Now their drummer hadn’t even bothered to call to let them know he was going to be late.

“Wait till I get a hold of him,” Kazunari mumbled his threat as he continued pacing and punching his hand. Sho looked calm, but internally, he felt like throwing up from nervousness. Standing next to him were Shun and Maki wishing them luck as they waited for their bandmate. They were slightly amused at Kazunari’s pacing, but tried to keep a straight face.

“He’s your drummer, right?” Maki asked. Sho nodded. “Maybe I could help.” She offered.

Kazunari stopped pacing for a moment to give her a whatcha-talkin-‘bout look. Sho and Shun glanced at her questioningly, too.

“I play the drums,” she explained. “Well, I used to play the drums. I don’t have a set in my apartment since it’s too tiny, but I learned to play it when I was little. I’ll play for you guys. Besides, I heard your song over and over from the demo tape that I memorized the drum beat.”

Sho and Kazunari hesitated. They looked at how she dressed and wondered how to break it to her that she didn’t look the part of a rock star. She looked down at what she was wearing and was able to decipher their hesitation.

She took off the light sweater that covered her shoulders to reveal a sensual halter-top. She took off the pin that held her hair in a bun and showed off her soft, shiny hair that grazed her shoulders.

“And, I have eye shadow and eyeliner in my purse to make my eyes look dramatic if you guys let me play the drums for you,” she said with a smile and held up her purse.

The three guys hypnotically nodded their consent. Maki smiled and happily went to the ladies’ room to use the mirror. The guys stared open mouth at her until she disappeared around the corner. The guys shook their heads to get out of the hypnotic vision they just saw.

“Damn, Shun, you lucky bastard,” Kazunari said with a pout.

“Thank, Nino,” Shun replied, all smiles.

Someone approached them. It was the WaT duo they had met before. They greeted each other and Sho introduced Shun to them. Shun caught Eiji’s last name, and wondered why it sounded so familiar, as if he had seen or heard it somewhere. He couldn’t quite remember, but he didn’t bother to ask since he didn’t want to appear rude or weird.

“Oh, and my sister’s here to cheer us on, too,” Eiji said, pointing to the direction of the tables. “She went to save us a seat. You guys should meet her.”

The other guys nodded. The manager came up to them and told WaT that they were up next. He also informed Sho and Kazunari that Expired Tofu would play after two more acts from WaT. Eiji and Kokkei greeted a “see yah” before heading to the stage. They played two songs before their act was finish and headed to the tables.

Maki finally got back from the restroom. Her newly made up face now made her look the part. Sho and Kazunari sighed with relief, and soon, they went on the stage themselves.

##

Mackenzie clapped politely for each performer on stage. She was getting tired of sitting there by herself and of getting harassed looks from hentai guys. She couldn’t wait to go home, and planned to do so after Eiji and Kokkei performed.

They finally got on the stage to perform. Mackenzie clapped the loudest, and put her thumb and index finger in her mouth to whistle loudly. She was getting strange looks from the other costumers, but she didn’t care. She figured that if Eiji knew she cheered really loud, maybe he would agree to go home earlier than planned.

Her brother and his friend came over to the table after their performance. She gave them congratulatory greetings and hugs, and asked if they could leave now. At first, Eiji and Kokkei disagreed, saying that they wanted to hang out with some new friends later after the show, but Mackenzie was persistent. Grudgingly, Kokkei and Eiji agreed and soon left the bar to head home.

##

It was close to midnight when the competition was over. Sadly, the prize went out to some boy band named V6. Shun, Maki, Sho, ad Kazunari had gone home separately. Kazunari was still mad at Yamapi for not showing up at all.

“You know, I’m really pissed off,” Kazunari said. “I’m not gonna wait until tomorrow to tell him off. I’m heading to his apartment right now.”

Sho sighed. “Nino, just leave the guy alone. Maybe he has a good excuse.”

“If his excuse involves a girl, I’m gonna really pound him for choosing a girl over us.”

They soon got to his apartment building around a little after midnight, and Kazunari marched up the stairs to his unit. Sho ran to catch up, making sure that his friend wouldn’t do anything he’d regret later. Once they reached the top of the stairs, they stopped abruptly. They saw that the door to their friend’s apartment was ajar. Knowing something is definitely wrong, they quickly ran inside. Kazunari felt for the light switch and turned it on. There, they saw Yamapi lying face down on the floor, and his apartment was in shambles.

“Pi!” they yelled in unison.

They hurried to his side, and Kazunari quickly used his nursing school knowledge and assessed his friend. Sho dialed the emergency number and gave them information they needed to get there in time.

Kazunari felt for a pulse on Yamapi’s neck and sighed with relief that, although faint, he could still feel it. He didn’t turn him over for fear that he might injure him further, but he stooped down and felt for his breath. Thankfully, he was still breathing, but it was slow and almost far between.

“Pi, hang on, buddy,” Kazunari whispered, his eyes welled up in tears. “Help will arrive soon. Just hang on a bit longer.”

“Pi, you’re gonna be okay,” Sho sniffed. Tears were slowly flowing down his cheek. “Just keep breathing and listen our voices, okay?”

The siren of the ambulance brought relief to their ears ten minutes later. The paramedics quickly transported Yamapi from the apartment down to the ambulance, and sped off. Sho and Kazunari followed it close behind.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A/N: Another one, and Chapter 15 is on its way, too. woot!

Just one nihongo:
itai- ouch

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Chapter 15