Spiral Suiri No Kizuna Fan Fiction ❯ The Epic ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Title: The Epic

Chapter: 4/ many

Authors: Kyo-chan and Koko-chan

Genre: Shounen-ai

Disclaimers: We do not own the characters or the series. They belong to Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno. This fanfiction is written by fans purely for the enjoyment of fans.

 

Author's Notes: This is where things start to get interesting. Hunters, guns, and demons, oh my!

 

~*~

 

Rio yawned and tumbled reluctantly out of bed. The sun shining in her eyes had awakened her, and considering that her window faced the west, there was a good chance she had seriously overslept. Admittedly, she and the others had stayed up past three last night, but Rio usually preferred to be up with the dawn if she could manage.

Feeling the total apathy towards appearances that most do after a late night, Rio didn't bother to change out of her lilac pajamas or brush her dove gray hair. It's not like she'd be going anywhere for the moment, after all. Right now, all she wanted was the bathroom, her morning/afternoon cup of cocoa, and breakfast. She sighed regretfully. It was a pity that Narumi Ayumu was going to be confined to bed until both she and Eyes dubbed him well enough to move around, because otherwise Rio would have asked him to cook.

Speaking of Ayumu, Rio decided it was probably best to go check on him. She didn't expect any danger, but she hadn't lived this long without a healthy dose of paranoia. So she padded down the hall in bare feet to the red biohazard that marked Kosuke's room, and quietly opened the door.

The sight that met her eyes was unexpected, and she had to stifle a little yaoi fangirl squeal.

Ayumu was curled up in the bed, Kosuke's horrible orange blankets making a shapeless cocoon around him, leaving only his peaceful face uncovered, his hair mussed and obscuring eyes closed tight like a child's. And next to the bed, in the battered chair that Kosuke usually used for target practice, was Eyes, curled into the seat and dead to the world, his own expression having melted from the empty mask to something a little more real, but no less serene. His hair splayed over his shoulders and face like a snowfield, and he looked remarkably comfortable for someone who was crammed into one small chair. Rio didn't know if the silver-haired boy had originally meant to sleep there or not, but it was an adorable picture.

Rio wondered if Eyes had come in here to watch over Ayumu, or if he had merely wanted to be where the reminders of Kosuke were strongest. She smiled softly, looking around the cluttered but oddly neat room. It had probably been a little of both. Rio knew perfectly well of Kosuke's and Eyes's fascination for the younger Narumi brother, so she shouldn't have been surprised that Eyes would watch over him while he was ill. And the room itself…well, Rio didn't believe in God, but she did believe in objects and even areas taking on the feel of their owners after a while. And this whole room resounded with the warm sensation of Kosuke's gentler and more protective moods. It felt like even though the redhead himself wasn't here to guard his heart's treasures, a part of his spirit had been left behind to do the job.

Rio looked at the two sleeping boys for another moment, then slid out as silently as she had come, thinking to let them sleep as long as they could. And she knew that if she watched too long, she'd get a little sad. To her, the picture was incomplete. Her stability and her hope slept safely in that room, yes, but it just wouldn't feel right until her laughter was brought home to rest between them.

~*~

Kousuke drifted, stuck somewhere between the void of sleep and the light of consciousness. He was awake enough to know he was in danger, that Ayumu was also in danger, and that he was wounded. But he was still out of it enough not to really feel the urgency of any of those things.

He couldn't open his eyes, and he couldn't move his limbs. He had probably been restrained. He could hear voices, but only make out fragments of what was being said. None of the voices he heard sounded anything like Ayumu. The Blade Child was unsure as to whether he should be worried about that. The last thing he remembered was being in a tiny little cell with no windows and only one door, holding the brunette as he suffered from the lingering effects of having been poisoned. Then the door had opened and he'd been dragged away. Kousuke could only hope that Ayumu would be able to survive.

For now, however, he needed to see to his own survival. He could only assume that the voices around him were from Hunters, like the one that had caught him. If that was the case, it was a small miracle that he hadn't been killed already. Why was he still alive? He tried to listen to the voices around him for answers, but everything was fuzzy and coming in fragments.

“…chemical supplements have been designed to enhance…”

“…still not enough…”

“…used to take down the mental walls of…”

“…more tests…”

Okay, thought Kousuke, beginning to feel irritable, the Blade Child is now officially clueless. Say something to enlighten the unenlightened here, people!

“…possible signs of animal genome within…”

“…force out the latent…”

“…make use of subliminal encoding to…”

Right. The unenlightened shall remain stupid. Great. Kousuke sighed silently to himself and tried to push himself towards full wakefulness. It turned out to not be a good idea, finding himself violently aware of the gunshot wound in his left shoulder, which had only been given rudimentary treatment to prevent infection and stop the bleeding. It throbbed and felt like someone had shoved a hot poker in it. He couldn't stop himself from letting out a pained hiss.

The voices stopped. There was a silence so deep that Kousuke began to wonder if he'd been dreaming them up, but then rough hands tore away the strip of duct tape that had been holding his eyes shut. Kousuke let out a yelp as it felt like he'd just had his eyebrows torn off. He snapped his eyes open, and immediately regretted it as the bright lights of the room blinded his vision.

The rough hands grabbed his jaw and tilted his face upwards, and as the spots cleared from Kousuke's vision, he was left facing the Hunter that had caught him and Ayumu before. She was dressed in a white lab coat now, and smiling in a way that made Kousuke want to find one of his daggers and cut it off.

“Well,” she murmured, “the freak awakes. Just in time for the work to begin. You'll make a better lab rat than the ones before, I hope?”

Kousuke's golden eyes narrowed at the insults, but he kept his mouth shut. Ones before? Lab rat? What has she been doing to the Blade Children she hunts?!

The Hunter waited, but when no answer came to her question, she merely shrugged, her smile taking on an odd cast that sent a fissure of pure fear down Kousuke's spine. “Never mind. I'll get plenty of screams out of you yet, my little puppet.”

PUPPET?! Where do you get off calling me your fucking—OW! Kousuke didn't get the chance to voice his anger, the sting of the syringe followed almost instantly by nothingness. He only had the last words of the Hunter to guide him into the blackness.

“We'll work on unlocking this creature's latent genealogy, first. After the first round of treatments, toss him in a different cell from the other boy. We don't want them in contact with each other now…”

 

Kousuke didn't know how long he had been there. They'd knocked him out or forced him out of drugged stupor too many times for him to have an accurate idea of day or night anymore. All he really knew at any one point anymore was pain.

The experiments that the Hunter and her assistants had done on him so far made little rational sense, just exposing him to some odd sort of multicolored light for what seemed like hours at a time. But there must have been something more to that light, because after every session, Kousuke felt ill and pained, like something was burning under his skin, straining to get out. At first, it eventually faded, but it had taken longer and longer to do so with every session, and the burning feeling had gotten exponentially worse.

In another room, they'd started doing a second set of experiments. Instead of light, they stuck needles in him and pumped him full of some sort of drug. He didn't know exactly what it was supposed to do, but his head always felt like it was going to split in two when it was in his system. And he had odd waking dreams with no images, but countless feelings. He sensed insane fear, icy hatred, insatiable greed, sickening hunger, acid joy, and dark obsession. They were so overwhelming in his dreams, to the point where he had lost himself more than once, unable to discern his own mind and heart under the pressure of those painful emotions that ate away at his mind like wild beasts. It terrified him, and he'd tried more than once to escape into his own mind, but he couldn't even find the path into his own mentality in that drugged state.

The oddest part was when the drugs began to wear off, however. When that happened, the waking dreams with their overpowering emotions but no sight would overlap the real world. When that happened, it almost seemed like all of the terrible painful things came from the Hunter and her assistants, instead of being fragments of delusions in his own mind. In the latest drug sessions, he'd started being able to keep a slight hold on the outside world, and could almost identify which emotion was who. What confused him was that he could still feel flickers of other emotions, even after the drugs had worn off, and that weren't in the room with him, gray despair and aching loneliness. Were there others in this prison? And none of them had an `Ayumu' feel to them. That scared him. But there was nothing he could do.

He was kept too weak to fight the people that dragged him from one room to another, food being nothing more than vitamin supplements given to him intravenously. He also could not remember the last time he had gotten true sleep here. When he wasn't being tortured or given an hour in an empty cell to suffer alone, he was restrained and fitted with some sort of odd headset. The moment it was turned on, he immediately was forced into something that wasn't quite sleep, but definitely wasn't awake. He supposed it was best described as a total shutdown of his mind. He wasn't aware of anything, yet he was still awake in some odd way. But beyond that, he had no idea what they were doing to him. Every time he `woke', all he had was the odd feeling that something bad had happened, like a terrible nightmare that could never be remembered after the dreamer awoke. And his throat was always sore, as if he'd been screaming.

Kousuke shuddered, curling up in the corner of the tiny cell, every fiber of his body aching and burning. His hour of so-called rest was almost up, but he just felt worse than he had when they tossed him in here. It was easier to ignore the pain when there was so much that it overloaded the senses. Here, where the only stimuli were from hurts already given, it was much harder to block out. Especially now, when the burning under his skin felt like someone had tucked a miniature sun inside him.

He tried to distract himself, first with trivial things, like wondering what the Hunter had done with his clothes or if all of this would leave lasting scars. But those thoughts slipped into more weighty matters, wondering if Ayumu were still alive or if Eyes and Rio were looking for him.

Kousuke didn't personally believe that the fate of the Blade Children could be changed by anything but death, but he couldn't bear the thought of being the one responsible for taking away Rio's and Eyes's one ray of hope. If Ayumu was dead, there would be nothing for his little adoptive family to strive for. And he and Eyes would never be able to find out just how deep that strange need in their hearts for the younger Narumi brother went.

And no matter how much the redhead suffered here, he sincerely hoped that Eyes and Rio wouldn't find him. He didn't want them coming here, to this place where Blade Children were just lab animals. Especially not Eyes. He knew that Eyes was the one that the Hunters really wanted. He was the putative leader of the Blade Children, after all, and all the others, even the ones under Kanone's faction, looked up to him. And Kousuke couldn't bear the thought of the silver-haired boy being put through the same tortures he was.

Despite the fact that he'd never believed in gods, Kousuke found himself praying to any deity that might listen that Ayumu was okay and that Eyes was not looking for him. And the more he prayed, the more the image of a great fiery cat solidified in his mind. He didn't understand it, but somehow, he got comfort from that image, and so he concentrated on it with all his will, praying for the safety of the people important to him. The image in his mind's eye seemed to be moving towards him, getting nearer and larger with each second, until he could visualize every individual hair of its pelt. His overtaxed mind absently noted that the fur was the same vivid red as his own hair, and the bright yellow eyes staring at him were his own. Weird…

And then the pain hit.

Kousuke screamed as the burning under his skin roared into true flames, the crimson tongues bursting from his body and filling the room. He felt like his entire being was melting, his bones becoming like molten metal that was being stretched and twisted into some new shape. He screamed again, but it came out as an animalistic roar that matched the firestorm about him. He wanted to weep from the pain, but something was wrong with his eyes and he could no longer produce tears. He wanted to run, but he couldn't get up from all fours. He wanted to call out for someone, anyone, to give him aid, but all that came from his throat was more roaring. Fear ate at Kousuke's heart, and he wondered if he was dying.

However, the pain gradually began to fade away, the fires around him dying out. Kousuke was eventually able to think enough to take stock of himself. He was shocked at what he found. In the place of a slender human boy was now the body of a young red leopard, the black spots patterning his crimson fur. His hearing and his sense of smell had both sharpened, catching the echoing of his anxious gasps and the scent of scorched concrete.

What's more, the strange sense of emotions that the drugs had always caused in him was also there, in his mind. It wasn't as intense as when under the influence of the Hunter's drugs, but instead was just the same as the hearing or smell, another sense to add to the rest. It was like there was an instinctive barrier around his mind, keeping the sharper edges of it out. And deep in his mind, he could feel the flames that had raged through his body. They didn't hurt now, but instead just rested in that corner of his mind, waiting to be called on again.

What the fuck just happened?! Kousuke tried to yell, but it only came out as an odd cross between a snarl and a yowl. He couldn't even talk in this form! It took all of the redhead's will not to panic at that moment. Okay, deep breath. Don't freak out, not yet. Let's try to fix this mess first. Relax, suppress your usual urge to freeze at surprises, and think. How did I get into this? I was thinking about the image of a red cat made of fire, and I changed. Maybe if I concentrate on being myself again, it'll go away.

Kousuke shut his golden eyes, trying not to think about the tail that was twitching with anxiety behind him or the claws that dug into the stone floor. He just visualized his own face and tried to concentrate on changing back.

The transformation was no easier this time than it had been before. It still hurt, like he was forcing his body to do something it wasn't ready for. But he refused to stop until something in him, some instinct he barely understood, told him that it was safe to do so. Even so, it wasn't a fully human form he opened his eyes to. His body was once again outwardly human, but as Kousuke looked at his arms, he saw the leopard's spotty pattern over his own pale skin. His hands were now clawed, and a quick swipe of a nervous tongue proved that he'd kept the fangs. A strange twitching feeling at the top of his head turned out to be a pair of furry cat's ears, and a long elegant crimson tail still twitched restlessly behind him.

He was reminded strongly of the storybooks that he vaguely remembered his mother reading him when he was young. There had been certain beings in some of those stories, part cat and part man. “Nekojin…ka?” he whispered to himself.

“Correct. But then, you freaks were always quite the intelligent ones. So you're a red leopard, ne? I've never heard of that species having that color in nature, but then, you and your kind are an unnatural bunch.”

Kousuke hissed, hackles he didn't know he had rising at the sound of that hated voice. He looked around, but the cell door was still closed and no one shared this place with him. Most likely, there were hidden cameras and speakers in the walls. Probably fireproof, if they had survived the inferno the first transformation had triggered. “The only freak I know is you, lady. What the fuck did you do to me?!”

There was a mocking laugh, and Kousuke shivered. He hated that laugh. It always promised pain. “I just forced a few of your own disgusting traits into fruition. Normally, they probably would have developed on their own when you reached about eighteen, but by then that damned Yaiba would have you monsters destroying all of humanity.”

“We're not monsters!”

The Hunter's voice became angry. “Oh? What would you call a child that lights fires with only his mind and is half cat? You and all of your kind are monsters! I've studied several Blade Children, and never once have I come across one whose natural mother was human. You're all demons, born from a devil and his demon wives!”

Kousuke grit his teeth, mentally groaning as he realized this particular Hunter was yet another twit using the stupid Christian terms for the whole mess. He ached, and he was tired, and he desperately wanted to curl up somewhere and hide. “Whatever. Why the fuck did you do this to me, if I'm just some monster to kill?”

“Because you're more useful to me like this. From the data I've collected, I know that it's not possible to get near Eyes Rutherford. So I'll use you, his trusted friend. It's a perfect irony, using one of Yaiba's own creations to kill another.”

Kousuke's eyes widened, and then he snarled loudly, baring his fangs in a catly show of defiance. “Like hell! I'll never help you! You'll never get Eyes!”

There was a moment of silence, and then the sound of quiet chuckling. Kousuke started to get even more scared. “Oh, really? Activate password: Judas. Asazuki, get on your knees and bow.”

And suddenly, Kousuke's body wasn't his own. While he'd had every intention of telling the crazy woman off, he found himself unable to speak, his body moving to her command. The soul that was Kousuke was pushed somewhere to the back, replaced by the false personality that had been programmed into his mind during the times he'd been forced into semi-sleep.

Not-Kousuke finished the bow and got to his feet, smiling ever so slightly. “What are your orders, mistress?”

No! You can't do this!

The Hunter's voice laughed from wherever she was. “Such an obedient little puppet. I'll have to remember to keep you around, if you do well.”

I'm not your pet! Dammit, let me go!!! But no matter what Kousuke tried, he couldn't get his body and mind back. While he could watch what was happening, he couldn't influence it. He was well and truly trapped, with a construct made by a Hunter in full control of not only his body, but also new and potentially lethal abilities.

“There has been a small group of what pass as children that have been sniffing around the edges of this compound. One of them is your target. I want you to terminate Eyes Rutherford. Kill anyone who gets in your way.”

Not-Kousuke bowed his assent, and the cell door opened to reveal a few of the assistants, carrying his clothes and weapons.

Inside, the spark that was Kousuke screamed his anguish. No! Eyes! Rio! You can't do this, you can't make me kill my family! But the body was unresponsive to his commands, and all that the Blade Child could do, deep inside a mind no longer his own, was curl in on himself and cry.
~*~
Rio sighed. It had been almost a week since Kousuke and Ayumu had first gotten caught, and they still hadn't found a way inside. The doors had been fused shut, the windows rigged with explosives. The fire escape that Ayumu had first escaped on was now locked. Rio was just about ready to say the hell with caution and just blow a huge hole in the walls. And while they all dithered out here, who knew what Kousuke was enduring. She wanted to scream.
"The roof." Ayumu's voice was quiet in the shadows. He'd stood before the building after circling it twice and taking note of all the ways they'd been shut out. In the week that had passed, he'd recovered from the effects of the poisoning. He'd sworn he was ready to go a couple of days ago, but ended up waiting at Eyes's insistence. After losing the rather quiet argument, he'd given in and let them watch over him while they brainstormed a plan. No plan they'd come up with had factored in that every single entrance would be blocked, up to and including any ventilation or windows that they could fit into. He couldn't help feeling that the extra precautionary measures were like bait to a trap. They were meant to get in, just not meant to think it was easy.
~*~

Kousuke stood on the rooftop, his eyes following the three figures below. Outwardly, he showed nothing but the programmed calm of the false personality that the Hunter by his side had implanted into him. Inside, he was banging against mental walls, trying desperately to move under his own power, to take one of the various knives hidden on his person and gut the woman standing next to him. But the body remained still, only moving as she directed it. He was on the verge of killing those that meant the most to him, and he was helpless. He wanted to scream.

The Hunter smiled, watching them and reading the lips of Narumi Ayumu. Not much longer, now. She sent the order down for someone to make sure that the monsters and their sympathizer found their way to the hidden back stairs. She couldn't wait to see their faces when she showed them her surprise. And soon after that, all of them would be dead and the world a little cleaner.
~*~

The younger Narumi stared up at the top of the building, eyes narrowed in scrutiny. He turned to the other two a moment later and motioned them to follow him.
Rio followed readily, tense and wary for any possible ambush. That the Hunter hadn't sent people to attack them bothered her.
It bothered Eyes too, and he couldn't help but feel like they were walking straight into a trap, like reliving the story that Kousuke had told about the rescue of Rio and that Hiyono girl. But there was no other way to go after Kousuke, and they certainly weren't going to leave him there. He trusted Ayumu to get them in, but the rest would be up to all of them.
Rio caught notice of something, a line of shadow where the mortar between old bricks had fallen away. They had passed that old wall several times but...was it her imagination, or was the crack wider this time? She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but it still seemed wider. Not wanting to do something dumb just because of wishful thinking, she looked for a second opinion. "Eyes? Do you notice anything about that wall, or am I just going nuts?"
Blue eyes turned to where Rio was pointing and then narrowed. He hadn't seen anything there and a glance in Ayumu's direction showed that the other boy hadn't noticed anything before either. There was something very suspicious about that.... "It appears as if it's a weak spot that was left untouched."
"A weak spot that wasn't there five minutes ago," Ayumu said bluntly.
Rio glared at the crack in the wall, which as she studied it was looking more and more like a secret door. "As much as I'd like to say ignore this and find our own way up, we've pretty much confirmed that there isn't another way. So what do we do?"
Ayumu crossed his arms. "Hang-glide from another building? I think it goes without saying that I don't like this at all."
"I think it goes without saying that it might be our only choice," Eyes responded, his frown just as deep as the brunette's.
"Well, we could go back and have Eyes use his charming face to cajole a helicopter from somewhere, but that would take too long. I want Kousuke out of here!"
The Hunter smiled at her newest pet. "Hear that, they want you out of my care."
Not-Kousuke raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Away from my lovely mistress? I think not."
Eeew...okay, that's just gross. Enough with the sappy talk with my body!
Ayumu sighed. "Then let's see where it leads, shall we?"
As expected, the crack in the wall did turn out to be a cunningly designed secret door, opening to a stairwell leading up. It was as dusty and ill-used as the rest of the outer building, but there were several sets of footprints in the inch-thick dust, including one set that was too small to belong to a full adult.
"I...don't like this," Ayumu whispered.
Eyes nodded his head in agreement, but followed the other boy in ascending the stairs.
"I agree. This just reeks of a trap." Rio whispered, glad that they were all armed to the teeth. She'd even gotten Ayumu to carry one of Kousuke's daggers, though whether or not he would actually use it was unknown. But she followed the others up. After all, what else could they do?
"Especially since that hole in the wall is a new addition. It's like they gave us long enough for them to get their defenses together, and then let us in," Ayumu mused.
Rio nodded, glancing at Ayumu before moving her gaze back to the stairwell in front of them. She wasn't finding any traps, but it wasn't going to hurt to be cautious. "I know. But what else can we do? Wander out, let Kousuke die, and when we all met again in the afterlife and he asks about it, we just say 'Sorry, buddy, but it was all just too much of a setup so we decided to high-tail it out of there and let you rot'? He'd curse us to spend eternity as turnips or banana slugs or something like that."
"I wouldn't leave him behind, but I can't just pretend that everything's all right either." Ayumu looked towards the top of the staircase. He sometimes felt like he had to keep talking, or he'd run out of the nerve to go through with things. He'd gotten better since meeting the Blade Children, but he still had a distinct lack of faith and desire to go throwing himself into unpredictable situations.
They soon reached the top of the stairs, where a simple old door barred their way. Rio glanced at the others for confirmation before pushing it open, squinting against the sudden daylight in the gloomy tunnel.
"Saa," said a familiar voice, "And here I was thinking I'd have to come looking for you. You guys took forever."

Eyes started a little, glancing around for the source of the voice, knowing whose it was. Even Ayumu recognized it and was on the lookout. Both were afraid it was a trap, and mostly sure they were right.
There was an amused chuckle. "Well, are you going to hang around in the stairwell like idiots, or come out on the roof?"
"Now now, Kousuke. They have every right to be wary. After all, we're all here to kill them." That was a female voice, and one that Ayumu would recognize, even if the others couldn't.
Eyes stiffened next to Rio, and his expression was immediately cold. He took the first step forward, and Ayumu followed regardless of the risk. The brunette really thought it would be best if they backed away from this. If that were really Kousuke and they had to fight him, it was possible that something really bad would happen.
Sure enough, there was Kousuke, leaning casually against the wall and smirking at them. Rio's eyes narrowed, both in suspicion and a little confusion. Something seemed...odd about him, but not in a way that could be easily pinpointed. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't making any extra movements at all, or that the few movements he did make were made with a certain fluid grace that seemed out of place in the redhead. Not that he wasn't graceful, since he had more than enough agility to get by, but something about the way he moved didn't seem quite natural.
And standing next to him, totally at ease, was the Hunter, who smiled in a way that very much reminded Rio of honeyed arsenic. Sweet, but poisonous. "So good of you to join the party. Kousuke has been telling me all sorts of interesting things. But then, that is why I sent him."
Rio's blood seemed to freeze in her veins, but that was nothing compared to what she heard next come out of Kousuke's mouth.
"I merely do what my mistress wishes."

Ayumu frowned deeply, making the faces that Eyes wouldn't dare. "That's her," he growled. "And that's not Kousuke." His eyes locked on those green-gold ones, reaching out for that sense he got that something wasn't right. His instincts screamed that this was somehow not the same person that had dared to save his life and protect him when he needed it most.
Kousuke raised both eyebrows in a look of amused surprise. "What, don't you recognize me, Narumi Ayumu? Oh, or perhaps it's the attitude change? That's easy enough to explain. It was all an act. I've been working for Samantha here for almost two years now, gathering info on my fellow Blade Children. But now she's got enough, and I don't have to pretend anymore."
Something odd was happening while Kousuke spoke. Ayumu could hear a second voice, exactly the same, but the words were wildly different. However, no one else seemed to hear them...
Oh, like hell! I can't act my way out of a paper bag! And what's with this 'mistress' crap?! Dammit, lemme go!!!
The brunette narrowed his eyes at Kousuke for a moment, focusing harder on what could possibly be that complacent exterior, trying to listen for that second voice. Then his gaze turned on the woman. "What did you do to him?"
The Hunter shrugged and waved a hand in an indifferent motion. "Nothing, just brought him back to my side and gave him orders. It was a pity I had to shoot that gorgeous body of his, but we had to make it realistic. Otherwise, you would have been suspicious, and never would have brought my real target here."
Kousuke looked mildly bored. "And we spent the whole week waiting for you to bring Rutherford here. We actually had to show you the door."
BITCH!!! If you make me hurt him, I'll...I'll...I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty!
Eyes clenched his fists at his sides. He didn't have to ask why he was always the one being targeted. He supposed that Rio had been right when she'd said all those things a week ago. He let out a soft breath. "You could have found a better way of inviting me, couldn't you?"
Kousuke chuckled, his gold-green eyes gleaming like gems, lovely but hard. "After all the time we spent together, I knew this was the most effective way. I worked very hard to get into yours and Takeuchi's affections. And hey, I got to lure Little Narumi here as well. I wasn't sure he'd come back after his clever little escape. My mistress wants to study him, you see. Find out just what the heck's so important. I won't say it hasn't been fun, though. The moments before I left were...amusing."
Rio let out a low growl, caught between hurt and rage.
And if Ayumu wasn't going mad, it would seem that Rio wasn't the only one upset. NO! Don't listen to him, Eyes! It wasn't a joke! I'd never do that to you! Dammit, why can't I stop this?!
"I'm not going to be anyone's guinea pig," Ayumu said with a shake of his head. "You all got me once, but you're not going to do it again. We came here for Kousuke, but if he just wants to hang around with a bunch of losers like you, then it's his own business." He waved his hand as if he didn't care one way or the other.
"Free will brought him, free will could take him," was all Eyes would say. Not a single expression showed on his face.
The voice that only Ayumu could hear...sobbed. It was the sound of someone who had watched his worst nightmares come true, and lost everything he treasured.
There it is again.... Ayumu stared hard at the redhead, wondering why he was hearing something that didn't seem to be there. What was going on? It did seem like it was in character for Kousuke to play the winning side, but there was still something very ... off about the whole situation. Ayumu really didn't believe that Kousuke would have helped him escape if he worked for the Hunter the whole time. After all, they wanted a piece of him now, right? Why let that get away when they could have prevented him from escaping the whole time. It didn't make sense. His mind was trying to reach for that voice, that thing he was hearing. Had he just gone crazy?
If so, then whoever he was hearing was crazy too. While Ayumu didn't manage a full touch, he somehow got the sensation of 'brushing' against the unseen speaker, and that had seemed like the exact feel of Kousuke. Held up to what they were currently facing, it was obvious to tell which one was a fake.
N-nani...? Narumi-ototou? Is that...you? The voice was so quiet, so unsure, as if he couldn't quite bring himself to believe.
The Hunter, meanwhile, grew bored with the dialogue. She got up and placed a quick peck to Kousuke's lips. The real Kousuke immediately forgot about the insane notion that Ayumu could possibly be hearing him.
AAAAUGH! My lips are defiled! Bleach! Need bleach!

A sword was in Eyes's hands before he even realized it, the slim blade coming from somewhere beneath the long trench coat he wore. Even if Kousuke did work for the other side now, true or not, that woman was not going to get away with stealing what he thought was his. The blade glinted in the sunlight, and he bared it offensively at the both of them.
Ayumu rubbed his temples when he heard the other voice again. What is this...? He glanced over at Eyes and then gave Rio a worried expression. This encounter wasn't going to go very well.
Rio wasn't much of a help. Her gaze was just as fierce and angry as Eyes's, thinking she had been betrayed by one she had seen as a brother.
Kousuke pulled away from the blonde, glancing at the three in front of him. "Anger," he murmured, almost to himself, "anger and...confusion? What would confuse you so much, Little Narumi?"
The Hunter shrugged and stepped back. "Never mind that. Be a good boy and take care of the Blade Children, won't you? Just keep the Narumi boy alive."
Kousuke grinned, and it wasn't a reassuring sight. "As you wish."
The voice within suddenly sounded panicked. No, not this! Don't make me! Please don't--Narumi-ototou, if you can really hear me and I'm not just going mad from what that bitch did to me, then listen now! RUN! Get Eyes and Rio out of here! They can't fight me! I'll kill them!
But....we can't just leave you here.... Ayumu looked torn between listening to that disembodied voice and going along with the others to fight Kousuke.
Eyes took a step forward. "You will get neither of those wishes today."
If you don't...you will have to kill me. I can't live with the knowledge that I killed Eyes and Rio. I just can't!
Kousuke just smirked, and suddenly a blaze of fire exploded around the sword Eyes held, turning the metal red hot in his hands.
"What the--?!" Ayumu said, startled.
Eyes bit his lip and held out for a moment before dropping the blade.
Kousuke...what was that?!
Kousuke laughed, and the air around them suddenly grew very warm. "I suppose I should mention that my mistress taught me a few new tricks while I was here. I can call the flames at will, now. And I can feel your fear. And of most interest..." There was a bright reddish glow around Kousuke for a minute, and when it faded, they were staring at a Kousuke much transformed. Leopard spotting trailed down his fair skin, and crimson ears poked out of his hair. A long sinuous tail twitched behind him, and his hands were clawed. He smirked, showing fang.
The voice inside, the real Kousuke, didn't get the chance to answer Ayumu. He had started screaming, as if the transformation hurt him.
Eyes actually had the grace to look shocked, his mouth parting into an 'o' of surprise, taking one step back. It was as if they'd stepped into some sort of strange nightmare, and he certainly wanted to wake up.
Ayumu didn't move, trusting the other two to watch his back for a moment. His eyes closed and he concentrated on that screaming, trying to latch onto the voice....trying to find the real Kousuke. He didn't understand how, but that Hunter had managed to superimpose a submissive personality over the top of the real thing, and that was not acceptable.
Ayumu could almost see him, using that strange unexplained instinct of his. The barest outlines of a vision, of Kousuke curled up within himself, boxed in on all sides and helpless to do anything but pray to a god he didn't believe in for death. This close, he could feel some of Kousuke's emotions through the redhead's empathic ability. There was fear, and there was pain, but most prevalent was despair. The ones he loved thought he'd betrayed them. They would never trust him again, and he'd be left alone to deal with the shame of what the Hunter had done and a bunch of abilities forced into fruition far before their time.
Ayumu may have never seen Kousuke cry, but here, he could feel it.
It hurt... Ayumu's hand went to his chest, the fabric of his shirt getting twisted into his fingers as he tried to wrap himself around that feeling. If that's really you, Kousuke.... you have to help us fight what she's done to you... He didn't know if Kousuke could hear him, but he couldn't just give up.
Eyes was reaching out to take Rio's hand. He was beginning to think that they should run and he didn't know what Ayumu was doing.
The true Kousuke seemed to shudder, but forced himself to calm enough to think. It...might help if my body's distracted. I know from the information in what she did to me that this complex looks over the ocean. If you can knock me into the water, I... My body will probably kick into basic survival instincts, because I don't know how to swim.
Rio squeezed Eyes's hand tightly, but was keeping an eye on Ayumu. He looked in pain, but at the same time as if he was concentrating on something. She didn't know what was going on, only that the temperature was still rising on the roof, as if Kousuke was trying to set the very building aflame. She palmed the tiny pistol she kept hidden up her sleeve, part of her quailing at the thought that she was about to use this on someone she had cared for.
It's kind of pointless to go through all this just to make you drown... Ayumu's eyes opened slowly. "Rio..."
If I drown, I drown! At least Eyes and Rio will be alive, and they can kill the bitch that did this!
Rio looked over at Ayumu, glad that he no longer looked like he was in pain, but confused by the sudden look of purpose. "Nani?"
"Can you take out the Hunter on your own?" His voice was almost like a breathy sigh, as quiet as he could get it.
Eyes was looking at him now, and Ayumu turned to meet that pretty blue gaze. He looked determined, and this time, there was no room for doubt. He had to believe in their only chance...and himself for making such a decision. For all he knew, that voice could have been something the Hunter had done to distract him, but he didn't think so. He was more inclined to believe he'd been speaking with the real Kousuke, even if he didn't know how. The timing had to be right...
Rio's eyes narrowed, but she nodded. "Whatever your plan is, Little Narumi, you'd better explain it in full if we get out of here."
"You mean 'when'." Ayumu stepped towards them, his arms slightly outward as if he were giving in. He raised his voice now so that Kousuke and Samantha could hear him. "Well, I guess if I'm what you want....." His eyes sharpened, landing on the redhead as he gathered up his nerve. "You can have me!" He darted forward, bracing himself and slamming into Kousuke full force.
The redhead let out a startled growl, very much like the hunting cat he so resembled. It almost toppled him over the edge of the roof, but he managed to brace himself at the last minute.
With the redhead distracted, the temperature died back down, and Rio turned to aim at the Hunter, who was beginning to look angry.

Ayumu was in his face now, grinning as if he knew the answer to the world's questions. "So, Asazuki...it's my turn to challenge you. Do you know what is alive, but not alive, real but not real, and murderous yet despairing?" His voice carried across the roof, his eyes intense as he watched the Blade Child.
Eyes watched the whole thing with that slightly stunned look still on his face. He wasn't sure how to gain his composure again, and with Kousuke acting like he was and Ayumu looking like he was about to send him off the roof, he didn't think he could. Narumi's words drifted back to him, and he puzzled over what the boy was trying to say.
Cuuuute. That's an interesting way to describe this little slice of hell. Knock me over, Narumi-ototou. The weak point is my shoulder.
Kousuke snarled. "Why the fuck would I know the answer to something like that?"
That made Rio pause. That statement was more than out of character. Kousuke adored riddles, and she knew that adoration had been genuine every time she saw it. To hear him refuse to even consider a riddle set off all her garbage alarms. Eyes too also wondered at the lack of interest in riddles. Even in the heat of opposition, this challenge was right up his alley.
"The answer is right here in my hands." Ayumu braced his hand and slammed his palm into Kousuke's wounded shoulder, already knowing the weak point before the real Kousuke had pointed it out.
Kousuke let out a yowl, the sudden sharp pain making his body go numb down that side. He lost his precarious footing and fell from the roof towards the sea below.
The real Kousuke gave a soft sigh of relief. Arigatou, Na--Ayumu. And in case I don't make it after this, there's two other Blade children somewhere in the complex. Get them out, and...tell Eyes I'm sorry. And then he hit the water. Base panic took over, making the programmed personality brittle as it lost its foundation. All it would need now was the slightest push from them both.
Stay with me... Ayumu grasped the edge of the roof, the force of the momentum he'd put behind the push almost tumbling him as well. He stared down at the unsettled waves where Kousuke had broken the surface of the water, wind whipping his hair around his face. Let him fight it, not you...
A flurry of movement rushed beside him. Eyes ran past, vaulting off the edge and diving after Kousuke. He knew that the redhead hated water, and likely couldn't swim. Programmed or not, he wouldn't let him die.
Kousuke shoved against the mental barriers that kept him trapped, barely noticing when his body sank like a stone. All that mattered was gaining his freedom. And between the force of both their minds, the programming cracked, then shattered. Kousuke's and Ayumu's minds touched, then connected. And suddenly, there was more to it than that.
To Kousuke's mind, it was almost like the beginnings of a spider web, but instead of thin strands of silk, it was the strands of memory that made up his life, with Ayumu's memories anchoring it from the center. Kousuke knew instinctively that if he had wanted to know anything at all about Ayumu, all he had to do was touch that web, and Ayumu could do the same if he wanted any answers about Kousuke. For that reason, Kousuke refused to touch it. There were secrets about himself that he didn't want anyone knowing, and he figured Ayumu was the same.

Unsure of how to control this new connection, Ayumu was trapped inside this little world that looked like the beginnings of embroidery, but with light instead of thread. His physical hands released the guard wall that he was leaning against, his entire frame sinking down to his knees. Amber eyes had gone distant, withdrawn into himself and that strange place where he could hear the real Kousuke. He was defenseless like this, but it didn't seem to matter. What...is this?
That was how he knew when Kousuke began having trouble. Now that the redhead was back in control of his own body, he didn't have the false strength of the programming to rely on. He'd spent the entire week with no real food or true sleep, and with the shocks and emotional upheavals of the day, it just shut down, dragging Kousuke into unconsciousness beneath the waves. He wasn't even aware enough to realize he was drowning.
Meanwhile, the Hunter was annoyed that her pet had failed, but her secondary target, the Narumi boy, seemed to be in some sort of odd trance, leaving him vulnerable. She began to approach.
Rio, however, wasn't having any of that. She raised her little pistol and fired all of the three shots that would fit in that tiny weapon, killing the woman before she could even touch the brunette. Nobody messed around with the hope of the Blade Children if she had anything to say about it!

Eyes hit the water in a clean slice, his focus entirely on the direction that Kousuke's body was going...which seemed to be down. The redhead barely fought, not even with the panic that usually would come with someone that didn't know how to swim. He moved as fast as he could, shedding the extra weight of his coat to get to the sinking Blade Child, his arms wrapping around the unconscious form. He then kicked as hard as he could, pulling them both back to the surface. His head broke free, and he took a huge gasp of hair. The water was cold, and he wanted to get to shore as soon as possible.
Kousuke was breathing, but only barely, with a hitch that suggested water in the lungs. And though he had always been slender, his waist felt too thin under Eyes's arms. There were also signs of exhaustion, in the way his skin was taking on a slightly grayish pallor, and the dark shadows under his eyes that the yellow shades had hidden before getting knocked off on impact with the water's surface.
The deep worry that came from just one look at Kousuke's features overshadowed any other thought. He dragged the other to the shore and pulled him out, laying him back to start getting the water out of his lungs.

~*~
With Kousuke's unconsciousness, Ayumu began to pull himself back from the Web within his mind, clarity coming back to his golden eyes. He blinked a couple of times, surprised that he was on the ground instead of still gripping the edge. It had felt like hours had passed in the span of a few minutes. He immediately searched for Rio, realising he'd blanked out in the moment that Eyes had run past, leaving the girl alone with that Hunter.
Rio was quite calm, kneeling over the corpse of the woman that had once been a Hunter, and methodically going through her pockets, checking her identification. "Hmph. I think I've seen this woman on the news. She's wanted in Germany for illegal human experimentation."
Ayumu glanced over at her. "That right?" He got up slowly and then looked over the edge of the roof, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw both Eyes and Kousuke on the shore. "We should get finished here and get out as quickly as possible. Kousuke said to check the inside of the compound...there are two more Blade Children that she hasn't killed in there."
Rio paused, then gave Ayumu a funny look. "When did he say that? I certainly didn't hear it."
"It's....a long story. Remember how you were saying that I'd have to explain my plan if it worked?" He glared down at the woman that had almost brought about his early death and then headed for the doorway that they had come from.
Rio nodded. "Save the story until we get to Eyes. I have the feeling that he's going to want to hear this even more than I do."