Silvery water stretched from horizon to horizon, glowing faintly as it reflected the pure white sky above it. Below its surface the water rapidly faded from silver to a dark navy, then finally black. No bottom could be seen, just as no end to the sky could be defined.
Silence filled the air, not uncomfortable silence, silence that meant the comfort of sleep. The comfort of rest after a long journey.
A lone male, though effeminate, figure rested atop the waters, half submerged. Long rose pink hair drifted around him, two purple fox ears peeking out from the sides of the skull. The strands framed and delicately features, pale face, appearing to be no older than twenty. Half open lids revealed mismatched eyes, one white blue, the other purple. Simple, white sheets of soft cloth enshrouded the body like a robe, a trailing end tangling around the boy's single grey and pink draconic wing.
The boy's breathing was light, that of someone half asleep. Never did he move, as content as a sleeping child after a long hard day of play.
Above him the white sky seemed to part and a golden figure began to descend down, to hover above him. The figure was neither male nor female, beautiful, with golden feathered wings, garbed in clothes of white, silver, and gold. When it spoke, its voice was an echoing, haunting mimicry of a mother calling to a wayward child.
"Ibetsu... Long we have awaited your return. Is your journey finally at an end?"
The boy, Ibetsu, made no answer, though his eyes opened slightly more. They continued until they were half open, unfocused eyes staring at the hazy image before him.
"Are you coming home Ibetsu? Are you going to end your pain? Will you finally rest?" The figure offered its hand, inviting Ibetsu to take it, "Will you let it end now?" The young boy's hand slowly rose as his eyes continued to stare blearily.
His fingers were inches away from the being's, when a sharp jolt pulled him back down into the water. The jolt forced him to blink rapidly, and his vision came sharply back into focus. Staring up at the being's still offered hand, he struggled to reach farther and grasp it.
The force strengthened and as powerful chains snaked around Ibetsu's body, pulling him deeper into the water and farther from the golden light, a deep, chilling voice rose up through the water.
"Not yet. You still are necessary."
The chains tightened and drug Ibetsu like a ragdoll down into the black abyss, his attempts to return to the now fading light wasted.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The sky was heavy with loss and grief, grey rain pouring down onto the bleak soil that covered the ground. Though the sun could not be seen behind the heavy, dark clouds, all could tell afternoon was fading into evening as faint light around the cloud's edges disappeared slowly.
Four people stood around a fresh grave, looking down at the red-brown coffin they had just lowered into place. None of them knew the person they buried, none cared. It was merely thier job to bury the body. Each person grabbed a shovel and began to refill the hole with the earth they had dug out of it.
Several hours later the hole was now a small mound of dark earth, and the four had left. However another figure remained.
Clad in a mofuku, a black kimono worn only when someone close had died, with navy blue hair, both untouched by the steady rain that had fallen as he had watched the four bury the casket. Once bright green eyes were clouded with anger and despair. The face was that of a boy, in his late teens, and greiving.
The young boy kneeled at the foot of the mound of earth, looking at the headstone, eyes glistening with tears. His voice rose in a harsh whisper to form the name that had been carved into the headstone.
"Ibetsu... Muttsu..."
The boy's hand curled up into a fist and punched the soft earth, leaving a deep imprint, which quickly filled with water.
"I'm sorry... I never meant for this. They can't get away with it this time... no... not this time..."
The boy gazed at his reflection in the silvery rain water that had filled the mark on the earth his fist had made. The sad green eyes were now sharp, tinged with gold, filled with hatred. His voice became a snarl as he looked once more at the headstone.
It was there that Ame Arashi spoke a vow in a voice the dripped with a dark, acid tone.
"I will not let this be forgotten. I will not let them... nor anyone else forget you."
With that, Ame rose and walked away, never glancing back at the headstone that now marked the grave that now marked the final resting place of the only person left who he had cared for.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"He's waking up..."
Purple cat ears flattened as the words knifed through his mind. The voice seemed familiar, and so loud. He wanted to clap his hands over his delicate ears as more voices joined the first in a babble of sound.
'Goddamn... could they be any louder?'
His mismatched eyes opened to find the sources of noise and make them quiet thier grating noise. His eyes were met with blinding light, so bright he cringed, moving his forearm to cover his eyes. His eyes burned, as if they had been lit on fire.
He sat up, moving his hand to cover his eyes as his others groped for the headband that had served to hide his eyes for so many years. Then he stopped. He had seen light.
'Does this mean...'
He slowly pulled his hand away from his face, looking down at it. Seeing it. Studying the lines that creased his slightly clenched palm. Turning the hand so the palm now faced away from him, he saw a needle stuck in the back of his hand, a thin tube leading away from it.
"I can..."
"See? Yes, I'm sure you can after that bit of shock. Doesn't surprise me at all..."
Ibetsu's eyes darted towards the sound of the deep voice, ears tracking the speaker to somewhere near his left. He turned, and got his first good view of where he was.
It seemed like a normal hospital room, aside from more than a few extra machines of unknown purpose. The room was bright white, everything was, and the metal that wasn't was bright blinding silver. Not a place someone who was so used to seeing nothing but darkness for years to wake up at. The curious part of the room was across from the bed he was sitting on, there was a pane of dark glass set into the wall. Though he couldn't see past it he was sure there were people behind the glass, observing him and the one whose voice had awoken him.
Remembering his initial reason for looking around his eyes quickly found the speaker, a tall boy, most likely in his late teens, wearing a dark purple coat missing the right sleeve.
Eyes narrowing sharply as he examined this boy carefully, Ibetsu tensed his muscles, ready the jump and fight if the boy made any threatening movements.
The boy's hair was cut fairly short, except for a long portion of bangs that hung over the right side of his face, obscuring it from view. The look on the boys face was one of kind welcoming, though there seemed to be a sneer within the visible, dark red eye.
Ibetsu's eyes quickly moved to look at the boy's shoulders, or to be more exact, what seemed to be attached behind his shoulders.
Metallic wings that protruded sharply from his back, frames of dark silver, burnt black at the joint. The feathered 'plates' that formed the actual wing were light steel blue in color. The wings seemed to be fairly light despite they're apparent metallic makeup, as the boy didn't seem to be the least bit hindered in his movements by them.
The boys right arm made a quick movement, which caused Ibetsu's eyes to snap thier gaze to it.
The arm was bare, covered in a dark winding tattoo that seemed to shift ever so slowly, changing even as Ibetsu watched it.
The movement that it had made that drew Ibetsu's gaze was the drawing of a small paper fan, the kanji of 'death' written in red on it. The boy gently fanned himself with the thin paper. His face broke into a smile as he noticed the pink haired man in front of him take actual notice of him.
"Well... seems like your finally awake. Took long enough. How do you feel?"
Ibetsu's lip curled at the question, ears flattening even more. This guy sounded like a doctor. Those meddlers always trying to interfere in things that were none of thier concern. Holding back a full out snarl, he spoke with a voice that sounded more like a feral growl.
"Who the hell are you?"
Whereas most people would respond to such open hostility with thier own, the boy merely smiled serenely. His eyes closed and his lips curved upward in a knowing smile.
"My, my, where have my manners gone. I am Damien Trinitae, an... employee of Nagoyaka Inc. It is a pleasure to finally speak to you, Ibetsu."
His polite speech, and calm demeanor did nothing to calm the anxiety and distrust in Ibetsu's heart. It served only to add rage into the mix at the mention of the name of that company.
His eyes narrowed sharply, glistening with sparks of danger. His tensed muscles uncoiled quickly as he jumped backward away from the boy, placing the bed and machines between them. Not noticing that he wore only a hospital gown, and was unarmed, he took a defensive position close to the wall, eyes darting between the boy and the door.
Damien continued to sit calmly, his peaceful smile not fading in the slightest. He held his hands up, palms outward, carefully speaking in a calm, even tone, "Now, now. We aren't going to hurt you. There's nothing to fear."
After a few minutes of silent anger, Ibetsu responded, voice laced with a biting sarcasm.
"Yeah.. nothing to fear. Nope nothing at all. Not from the those that tried to kill me..."
A small frown flickered across Damien's face, only to be quickly be stifled by the same collected smile he had worn earlier.
"Ah... now you see... that wasn't the company. Twas a few individuals going against Nagoyaka-sama's will. They've been punished... and for the record, you were dead for about half an hour. Today's medical technology is such a wonderful thing. Let us fix that awful hole in your lung, or what was left of it by the time we got to you, and it-"
"You're trying to say I died and you brought me back? That's bullshit. There isn't any technology that could revive the dead, or else you bastards would've saved Inji-kun."
The knowing smile crept further across Damien's face, his words calm and measured, "And who said we didn't?"
He paused to let these words fully sink in, before continuing.
"In whatever case, you should be free to go after a few tests. Sit tight and have fun, good day to you."
Damien rose and proceeded to the door, about to pull the handle when a final question from Ibetsu halted his progress.
"Where's Ame?"
Turning to glance back at Ibetsu with a glint in his eye, Damien's dangerously toned voice echoed in the cold room, "Somewhere where he should be of no danger to you..."
Not allowing any further questions, he passed through the door, leaving a confused and raging Ibetsu to stare at the cruel blank door as it clicked shut.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ibetsu's foot flew out connecting with the bed, sending it skittering several feet away on its side.
The lights had dimmed after Damien had left, what seemed to have been hours ago, and the room had become less blinding. Still Ibetsu sought refuge in the corner farthest from the observation window, curling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them, ears laid flat against his skull.
Damien's speech had left more questions than answers in his mind, the most burning one concerning what he had said about Inji.
"Did they bring him back? Surely I would've known... Inji would've contacted me... or something. He wouldn't have left me in the 'ever so loving' care of his employees."
'But what if he didn't care. What if everything was just a big joke or revenge? What if he was there laughing the whole time?'
"He wouldn't... He didn't..."
'How do you know? You've always been a joke... don't you remember? Don't you remember Tokyo?'
Ibetsu's eyes widened as images of flames began to dance across his field of vision. The sharp stench of burning flesh stung his nose, ears ringing with screams.
Turning his head to one side, trying to block out those images, he saw a small girl holding a squirming, yowling cat, tears pouring down her ash streaked face. In her hand she held the larger hand of a slightly older boy, trapped under a fallen bookcase. As the fire moved to consume the pair, two of the many voices raised up in terrified screams, a dark chuckle pierced Ibetsu's ears.
Wildly spinning in an almost complete one-eighty, his eyes landed on a small boy standing amidst the center of the flames, completely untouched by the raging red force that swam around him. Cold eyes narrowed, short pink hair flowing as if it was part of the fire. The boy laughed again, sending another wave of flames outwards from him, as screams were renewed in volume.
Ibetsu snapped his eyes shut, blocking the images, but not the sound of the cruel laughter or horrified screams. He curled up trying to block out the memory of his former self, shaking with rage, yet frozen by fear.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Damien peered through the tinted glass at the collapsed figure of Ibetsu, face twisting into a frown of concern. His eyes briefly darted to his left to regard his companion, before returning to gaze on the curious scene.
"What happened?"
Standing next to him, a slightly shorter girl with long blonde hair, clothed in a lab coat gave a shrug of her shoulders. Her eyes scanned a pile of papers she held in one hand, as if reading notes.
"The people on duty said something about him talking to himself, then it seemed like he had a seizure. However there aren't any records of him having past trouble with epilepsy or the like. You didn't say anything to dramatic did you?"
Damien turned, flashing a wolfish smile, "Me? I did not but drop a few tantalizing bits of information about Nagoyaka-San and Arashi-Kun. Nothing wrong with that, is there Kohaku-chan?"
Kohaku matched his wolfish smile, with one of her own, though hers seemed more like the one a cat would have after catching a bird.
"Not at all Trinitae-Sama. Not at all."
Damien nodded and turned his back to the window, yawning, stretching his arms out.
"Well. Shall we go get lunch? I doubt much will change for a few hours."
The two exited the room, entering a long empty corridor of white walls, and silver unmarked doors. At the far end of the hallway was an elevator, a small glowing green pad on the wall next to it.
When the two reached it, Damien placed his hand on the pad, and the elevator doors opened slowly. A false cheerful voice welcomed them onto the elevator, emitting from a small box above the door, which most would mistake as ventilation.
"Good afternoon, Agent Trinitae. What level will you be traveling to?"
"Civilian Access level one please."
The doors slammed shut as the elevator began ascending, its two occupants leaning against opposite sides of the elevator in silence.
The elevator continued ascending for what one could take as hours, but in reality was a mere 15 minutes. A long time for an average elevator, but this one had to travel several dozen stories to reach the ground floor of the main complex.
When the metal box finally came to a halt, the doors shuddered open, revealing a very brisk, typical business like lobby. Men in suits scurrying around with breifcases, a few people sitting at small cafe tables typing furiously on thier laptops.
Damien stepped out of the elevator into the stream of people, Kohaku shadowing him, always within ten feet of him, though appearing to nonchalantly be rifling through a pile of manila envelopes.
Both broke off from the main stream as they reached the double doors into the cafeteria, entering together. The large room was built like a typical food court, though the atmosphere was very different. The furniture was dark wood, seats covered in a rich, wine red velvet like fabric. The floor had a matching deep red carpet and the walls and ceiling were both covered in a slightly lighter wood paneling. Light came from simple hanging lights, a shocking contrast from the fluorescent lights that lined the hallways and offices not even five feet away.
There were several people in here, taking late lunch breaks, but no more then two dozen or so scattered across the room. It was fairly quiet, though the radio playing through the speakers set into the wall, concealed nearly all that was said.
Bypassing the food, Damien made a beeline toward a small island-like station with coffee, tea, and the like. After a few minutes he walked away with a cup of strong ginger tea, balancing it carefully as he found a table far away from the other occupants of the room.
Kohaku joined him shortly after, setting down a salad and tea, trying to keep up a pretense of just having lunch. However, she didn't touch it, instead launching straight into the point of the meeting, keeping her voice low enough that only Damien would hear her.
"Trinitae-sama, you said you wanted all the files on Muttsu, so I tried to get them all. Most of them are kept under heavy lock and key, more so then Arashi's files, and even yours and Nagoyaka-san's files. Most of what I did get was heavily censored by the company. They blacked out most of the information but there are some basics in there."
She handed the envelopes across the table, giving Damien a few minutes to go through the contents before continuing.
"So far all I've gathered is that he was the project they based in Tokyo, and also the one they've had the least direct influence on. He was placed with a family that had been well known for taking in orphans, humans and morphs alike.
"I'm not quite sure what happened, the part containing information on this was fairly large, though everything but a few sentences were blacked out. As far as I can guess something set off the trigger on the power they built into him and the entire family went up in flames. After that there is mostly notes about gang activity, and everything from when he meets Inji till when Arashi killed him is missing."
Damien nodded slowly, absorbing the information his subordinate had gathered thoughtfully. Skimming a few papers, he looked up, nodding to show he appreciated her effort.
"This gives us something to work with," his voice was eerily calm with a note of amusement, "Though there's nothing we can hang over the higher ups as blackmail or bribes."
Kohaku smirked, her voice full of the pride a crowing rooster has at the break of dawn.
"I did manage to find out a little bit about the team that worked on him. You know how there were four teams originally? Team 'I' worked on Nagoyaka, Team 'D' worked on you, and Team 'A' worked on Arashi. Well the other team, Team 'E', was working on Muttsu when there was an explosion at the lab. None of the documents are accessible to anyone, even the higher ups I go through the get this information. There are rumors that it was caused by Ibetsu, but anyway, I'm getting off subject. After the team was killed or injured, Team 'I' took over the work on Muttsu."
Not letting Kohaku finish, Damien cut in, voice tinged with a note of excitement, "If they used the same techniques as they did when they made Nagoyaka-san, then Muttsu's power must be almost equal."
He stood up abruptly, his tea sloshing over the edges of the cup at the sudden movement.
"This information is very helpful, dear Kohaku-chan. I've just remembered, I have a meeting to go to."
He left without another word, leaving a beaming Kohaku to pick over her salad and contemplate her next target for information.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ibetsu's world was a twisting vortex of flames, faces from his past floating through as if trying to reach him, only to be burnt away. Voices, screams, cries of anger echoed through his mind, always followed by the bonechilling laughter.
A pair of pale hands reached through the swimming vortex, the flames turning into wisps of smoke as they reached to consume the intruders. The pale hands grasped Ibetsu's shirt and pulled him forward, forcing him to pass out of the vortex, into the quiet dark blue void outside.
Tilting his head up, eyes searching for the owner of the two hands, mismatched eyes found the smiling face of Inji, eyes alight with amusement.
A raspy voice fought its way from Ibetsu's stunned body, forming the Inji's name carefully.
As soon as the last syllable left his lips, the face blurred and the hands released Ibetsu's shirt, letting him fall into the void. For an instant Ibetsu could see the smiling faces of those he had once known and cared for, surrounding Inji's now blurred face. Then it the laughter returned, shattering the image, showering Ibetsu with jagged shards.
Ibetsu's eyes flew open as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Snarling his hand shot out the grab the offending appendage, closing around it sharply, with force rivaling that of a bear trap snapping shut.
A cry from the owner of the arm brought Ibetsu to his feet, ignoring the fact that this twisted the arm in his hand quite uncomfortably.
Around him three scientists had been crouched, debating on the best way to wake or move the once unconscious form of Ibetsu, though now they were backing up, looking quite shocked at the sudden awakening of thier subject.
Eyes darting to analyze the partially open door, and then back to assess the strength of the scientists, Ibetsu made his move quickly.
Spinning to gain momentum, he flung the poor trapped scientist into the others, ignoring the sharp snapping sound as the bone finally collapsed from the abuse. The three scientists dazed, Ibetsu bolted for the door, crashing through the security gaurd that had appeared as he had spun.
He leapt over the remaining gaurds and scientists, kicking a poor intern who had been standing at the door into the hallway in the face, spilling boiling coffee all over the place.
Not waiting to assess where he was, he barreled down the hallway to the nearest open door, smashing into it to reveal an empty dark room. He felt a sharp sting in his side as he entered the room, but ignored it in his dash for freedom.
Crouching behind a desk, he searched wildly for a window or ventilation duct. He found one halfway up the back wall, and grasped the edges, pulling the grating off with little difficulty.
Adrenaline burst wearing off, he gathered his muscles and sprang up, sliding through the duct with some difficulty. It hadn't been made for humans to crawl through, and though it was fairly tall, it wasn't very wide, making Ibetsu thank the Gods for allowing him to maintain such a thin frame without sacrificing too much strength.
His wing was cramped uncomfortably against his back, and more than a few times Ibetsu believed the frame was going to break from the abuse of crawling through such a tiny space.
He could hear alarms going off, though it only made him move faster. Battered and tired from what seemed like hours of crawling, Ibetsu finally saw light filter through a grate, accompanied by fresh air.
Bringing his elbow up to bash against it a few times until a few slats of the grate gave, allowing him to grip the others and after a little moving, he managed to make a large enough hole so he could drag himself out.
To his surprise, he rolled out onto a patch of soft grass, and after a few seconds of adjusting his eyes to the bright afternoon sunlight he noted he wasn't in some weird rooftop garden. He had come out on the ground level, though he had climbed upward for the majority of his journey.
Though curious he wasn't going to question, he stood up and ran, straight across the lawn and into the hedges that wound thier way around the building.
Not looking back, he kept running untill he finally ducked into an alley to catch his breath.
As he slumped down against the brick wall, a sharp sting in his side reminded him of the wound he had yet to inspect. His hand slid around and delicately removed a small dart, a now empty glass chamber set within three prongs.
Sniffing it delicately, he noted that it had held a sedative of some sort, though whatever it was hadn't been enough to knock him out. It did explain why he felt very sluggish now, and why his eyes just seemed to take control and shut, sending him into a world of darkness and rest.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Ame Arashi sat curled up in the bright white cell that had been his prison for the past week, his head rested against his arm which hugged his knees close to his chest.
His green eyes glared out from underneath his deep navy hair, thier gaze fixed on the people who stood outside the door. He didn't know them, but they were free and he was not. To him it was reason enough to despise them.
For the most part the people standing outside his cell were professional bodyguard looking grunts, though there were a few suits flipping through files, occasionally staring at him.
They didn't care if he heard anything, but he only cared to hear what he wanted to hear.
Through his wavering sanity, words of traitorous intentions, insults of various kinds, and other statements of termination of more than just his job leaked into his mind. His anger writhed like a coiled rattlesnake, just waiting for the opportunity to strike.
'What do they know? They have no right to judge me or speak I'll... I should just-'
His thoughts were cut off by sudden silence from the squabbling suits, though one managed to squeak out, "Nagoyaka-sama!"
Raising his head, blinking to clear his vision, Ame's eyes fell upon the less then impressive figure of Inji Nagoyaka. Presumed dead by some, worshipped by all who ever stepped foot into the building, the leader of the company commanded a great deal of respect despite his casual appearance.
To anyone who did not know any better, they would see a very tall laid back man in his mid twenties, clad in a loose white t-shirt and black slacks, shoeless, walking around in his socks. His deep azure eyes were soft and calming, like the night sky, framed perfectly by the golden tips of his black hair.
He stepped forward casually, eyes running over Ame before turning to speak to the men who had been talking about the files. His voice was calming and soft, though it seemed to command all to listen to it and heed every word that it formed.
"My, my. I seem to have missed much in my absence. I do not remember Arashi-kun to be a prisoner, just a good hard-working employee. Whatever has he done to earn this?"
One of the men in suits spoke up tentatively, as a man would when he bore ill news to a powerful superior.
"He acted against your wishes, and conspired with the traitors that ordered the death of Ibetsu Muttsu. We were-"
His voice trailed off uncertainly, as Inji turned to regard Ame with eyes that held a trace of surprise and curiosity.
"Arashi-kun... Killed my lovable little Ibetsu-chan?" His voice was serious, and a moment of silence followed his question, before he himself broke it with a derisive laugh.
"I find that hard to believe. Killing is not in Arashi-kun's nature. Release him. He has done nothing wrong."
For a moment it seemed as if an argument was going to break out, until one of the guards pulled out a keyring and unlocked the door.
Inji turned to regard Ame with something resembling pity, his voice soothing, "He's left here. For your sake, and his sake, go find him. On my word, there won't be pursuit."
Without another word Inji walked away, several of the guards and suits following. The remaining guards escorted Ame through the complex to the ground floor, allowing him to leave through a back entrance so that he did not draw undue attention from coworkers who hadn't seen him in awhile.
In a daze, Ame turned to look at the soaring marble building. His eyes traveled to the top levels where Inji's office was, as if searching for some explanation as to the parting words.
Finding no explanation he hailed a cab, giving the address of the house he had shared with Ibetsu for all those precious months.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A persistant nudging forced Ibetsu's dazed eyes open, the eyes struggling to adjust to the dusky light that filtered through the alleyway. A few seconds passed and he could make out the form of a human, masculine in appearence, standing over him.
His last meeting of Ame flashed through his mind and he threw one arm up instinctively to shield himself. It took him a moment to notice the figure was speaking, and that the voice it used was familiar.
"Ibetsu. Ibetsu? Will ya wake up goddammit."
Struggling to sit up, Ibetsu blinked rapidly, trying to make out the face of the man who had awoken him.
"Wha.. who are you..."
The man gave a snort, reaching down to grab Ibetsu's arm, pulling him up from the ground. He dusted off the confused morph's shoulders before replying.
"Jesus, Ibetsu. Its me Saitou... you're classmate. What the hell're ya doing here. Were ya out drinkin?"
Ibetsu shook his head, to out of it to form words. Slowly the name registered in his mind, the name connecting with the quiet classmate from the university he had attended before this mess had started. He allowed Saitou to half carry, half drag him out of the alley, to tired to argue.
They finally stopped in a small park, three blocks from where Ibetsu had collapsed, Saitou setting the morph down on a bench carefully.
It was late evening, the park deserted, lit by the yellowing lights set atop poles scattered along the path through the trees. In the yellow light, Saitou's normally brown short, messy hair showed its tinges of purple sharply, and the small tattoo like stripe marking on his right cheek glowed an eerie green as opposed to its normal sky blue.
Giving Ibetsu a few minutes to catch his breath, Saitou choose his words carefully as if unsure of what would be to intrusive to ask.
"So eh.. Ibetsu. Whats up. Ya been gone for a month or so, you go on a trip?"
Ibetsu gave the boy a sharp glare, debating wether it would be kinder to punch him for his meddling, or ignore him. Choosing to ignore him, Ibetsu shook his head and began to clean his nails meticulously.
Saitou's orange eyes turned down in exasperation, his voice turning into a sigh like whisper, "Still as stubborn and introverted as ever. Come on. I've known ya since yer days in the street gangs. Surely ya can tell me whats up. I mean, hell, ya've tossed that damn blindfold ya always wore. Ya give up on the blind act?"
Ibetsu's eyes were cold, as was his voice as he responded to the bothersome boy, ears pinning themselves back in annoyance.
"The gang was nothing but childsplay. It didn't mean anything. Just a way to survive. And my blindness was never an act... I've just had a... procedure that has returned sight to me. Not that its any of your business, you troublesome punk."
The orange eyes narrowed coldy to glare back at the blue and purple ones, thier owners voice becoming acid like.
"Whats yer problem? I'm just worried about ya. And Ame. He hasn't been at class for a while. I was gettin worried about him, what with you dissapearing and all. Ya know where he is?"
Ibetsu's eyes lost none of thier harshness, and as he stood up, his body took on the same rigid apperance. Not bothering to turn and face Saitou, Ibetsu began to walk away, leaving the boy with few parting words.
"I don't know where Ame is, nor do I care."
Before Saitou could react, Ibetsu burst into a sprint, clearing several blocks before he finally stopped to readjust to his surroundings. Noticing several familiar stores, he deduced that he was to far from his home.
Walking briskly, he followed the streets in thier winding pattern, avoiding heavily populated streets. A few minutes later he stood staring up at the western styled house that he had dwelt in with Inji, and then Ame. The house that held so many of his happier memories, yet also his worst.
He pushed the wrought iron gate open, padding carefully up the sidewalk, ignoring the fact that the lawn didn't seem to have been taken care of in some time.
When he reached the porch, he knealt before the steps, feeling along the cracks in the top step untill he felt one of the pieces of cement shake. He pulled on it and it slid out, a grating sound resulting from the cement grinding against cement. The now removed block of cement revealed a hollowed out chamber where a single dusty key sat, vivid purple keychain attached.
Ibetsu picked it up and replaced the cement block, smirking slightly.
'Knew having a spare hidden was a good idea.'
As he approached the door, moving to slid the key into the slot that would unlock the door, he faltered. His hand wavered with his thoughts, thoughts of fear of what might happen if he opened the door.
Several minutes passed, Ibetsu standing there, frozen, staring at the door. Finally he slid the key carefully into the slot, turning it until he heard the telltale click of the opening lock.
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