++

Kaoru had no idea what time it was, only that it was late and he should be home playing videogames with his boyfriend or hide. He knew he should've had dinner a few hours ago but at the moment, he wasn't very hungry and who could blame him? He hadn't been given the luxury of a blindfold. He didn't really want to know how the place looked where they dragged him. It was a big house, a little too finely furnished for his tastes. Rich people weren't supposed to kidnap other people even if they were bored and they weren't supposed to be involved with the yakuza either. After all, rich people were always the ones who denied that they existed. This was ridiculous.

Kaoru squirmed in his place against the wall, trying to get the feeling of numbness out of his ass. He was sitting in one of the many living rooms he had taken a peek in. There was a large picture window across from him and outside, he could see an old Japanese style garden. There was a fancy couch with dark mahogany wood and white cushions that looked like it was a relic from the Victorian era. The carpet was dark red. When he came into the room, they shoved him down on the couch, hands and feet tied. But disliking the vulnerable feeling it gave him, he squirmed off of the couch and into a corner between a huge tv and a stereo speaker. They had seperated him from Die, who had finally come to after awhile and a lot more sedate than he had been before. Kaoru was afraid that Die could have a concussion.

It was strange. Kaoru always thought that he'd die in one of those crazy missions of his. He shifted uneasily again, out of instinct, because when one's not ready to die, the body and mind definitely make it known that they seriously object to accepting the inevitable. He had thought of struggling out of his bonds but decided against it. Even if he did manage to get out, where he would run to? He vaguely remembered the path it took to get here from the front door but it was guarded. The whole place was guarded. He could escape through the window but that would require destruction and he was sure there were alarms that sounded when something in the large house went 'boom' so to speak.

He had tried to get a hold of hide but he was only met with silence which meant the lines were down. The problem with this was that there was no one to call to complain about customer service. Jesus, Kaoru. The more you're under stress and the more you stay here, the more you make up lamer jokes. Kaoru wiggled and ended up falling on his side with a grunt. Well, at least, his butt would not longer be numb. No, just the entire left side of my body. He did hope that his bandmembers didn't take it into their heads to try a rescue of their own. For one thing, this was more serious than the other times and because he knew how notoriously bad they were at it. Their hearts were in the right place...

...but...

Kaoru gave another sigh, realized what he was doing and snarled at himself. He wasn't a sighing man. Then again, he didn't figure himself a type to be kidnapped either and look where he was. If only Kyo hadn't said anything. If only Die hadn't felt a need to go shopping to appease Shinya. Ahh! If only he hadn't pissed off Toshiya by volunteering to go with Die! Kaoru eyed the floor under him and pondered banging his forehead against it. No, maybe not. It might give the people outside ideas when they found out what he was doing.

He was tempted to ask them what was going on but seeing what they did to Die when he spoke made him think twice.

He hated this. He hated not knowing. And most of all he hated the waiting.

++

Die was not a happy boy.

For one thing, his head hurt like hell, he was hungry, he was without Kaoru to bug and generally be nervous with and he wanted to sleep but who knew what these men were up to? And he was generally aware that he wasn't allowed to go to sleep after receiving a blow to the head like that. Unlike Kaoru, who had landed himself a nice living room with an entertainment center, Die was shoved into a lonely dusty library.

In other circumstances, this wouldn't be so bad. In other circumstances, he'd have thought that it might be a neat place to hold a photoshoot or he'd look at the books out of boredom but as he was tied up and sitting on the floor, it was completely boring. Book cases spanned from ceiling to floor, there was a desk in the middle of the place piled with important looking documents and books, and the carpet under Die was some ugly pattern of colors that centered around brown.

Also felt like the carpet was threadbare and his ass was paying for it.

What a tacky place.

All this opulent elegance was out of place and Die would've given almost anything for some tatami mats. At least, they were a little easier on his butt. He stared up at the ceiling and grimaced at the wooden beams and dusty looking lights. There was nothing for it, he had nothing to do but sit here and wait. He wasn't a man who decided to trust guardian angels too much and figured that him still being alive was the best thing that could have been done really.

Hmm.

To kill the boredom, he began to think of guitar chords to his current favorite songs that he hadn't quite worked out yet. He was a little inconvenienced with his hands tied up but if he closed his eyes, he could imagine his fingers on the fretboard, sliding along the strings. And he wished he had a guitar to see if the tone would match the one in his head but all he could do was hope that it was correct.

He tried not to think about Shinya.

Shinya would still be mad at him. It was late. He knew that and he was hungry. Maybe Shinya would've started dinner and ate and made a place for him and waited near the table. No, Shinya wasn't like that. He didn't sit around waiting for something to not happen. He didn't think Shinya was sleeping either. He was probably just sitting. Sitting and worrying and Die hated to make him worry. Any time it happened, he would try to laugh it off, make a joke about it--anything to try and make the other man smile. It wouldn't work for the first few minutes but when he was grabbed and held tight in a hug, he knew he was forgiven.

There won't be any tight hugs tonight. He thought to himself as he leaned forward, letting red hair cover his face as he stared at the crappy carpet under him. No dinner, it seems. There probably won't even be breakfast. He'd been spoiled living with Shinya. The man believed in the three square meals a day and he'd made sure that Die had more than coffee or a muffin, even if Die said he was trying to diet. Shinya told him there were no simple answers in diets and that most of them were bad. The only thing that Die could hope for was being well-fed and exercising every day.

Shinya was going to be pissed.

That was if they ever saw each other again.

Die would have groaned if he could but he couldn't because he was afraid of the idea of talking. And he was so tired. Unlike Kaoru, who was pondering and trying to avoid the inevitable answer of dying, all Die wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up to the sound of breakfast being made. And then attribute this all to a dream.

But a dream never made his head hurt so much.

~*~

Monday, August 14, 12:00 pm

The weekend was spent giving a report to the police and listening to the detective tell them what witnesses had said. Toshiya had slipped into a sullen silence. He was moody and could lash out at any time. Shinya never said a word and looked fine outwardly. He looked like he didn't need any help unlike Toshiya but when Kyo offered to stay with him, Shinya gave him a weak smile and said that he would like that. Kyo knew Shinya. He knew that the drummer had a tendency to think too much when he was left alone.

Toshiya had hide and Kyo was relieved that hide was there. He may have been Kaoru's angel but it didn't matter to hide. "I'm not doing this just for Kaoru, you know." Kyo thought it had to do with the fact that maybe hide thought of them as friends but he decided not to say it aloud. Sometimes confirming things verbally was really unneccessary and almost seemed to cheapen the entire thing.

Recording went on and Kyo felt that this time he was the one to drag people to the studio and get everyone on there on time and help motivate them to do what they had to. hide was the one who realized when everyone had reached their limits and sent them home. They waited for news about Kaoru and Die. Sometimes, Kyo just liked to hear it be repeated because in some odd way it gave him some sort of hope or comfort.

Mana's little errand was forgotten for the time being. At least the other man was decent enough not to phone them and yell at them for it. In fact flowers, had been sent. Four dozen roses for each member in the band (this included Kami).

Other bands soon found about the missing guitarists. Some sent flowers too with messages, some sent letters and cards, some bands who were friends even came over or called on the phone. Bands or musicians that the band looked up to sent words of encouragement. Inoue tried not to let it leak out to the press too soon but the inevitable happened and now the three were forced to find their way home in more secure measures. What if they were next? The entire fiasco was taking its toll on them and Kyo wasn't sure how he was going to hold the rest of them together.

Today, recording had been canceled half way through. The stress was apparently too much. Inoue told them to go home. So they all ended up at Shinya's place, with not much to say and hide went around getting them all something to drink. Kyo didn't drink but he accepted it out of general politeness.

The phone rang.

hide answered. He was always someone that Kaoru looked up to and Kyo looked up to him too but not as much as he did to Kiyoharu and Atsushi. Toshiya had J. Shinya had Yoshiki. Die had Takigawa Ichiro. But with hide here, he was simply more than that. He was like an elder brother and yes, sempai. And when they all couldn't take it anymore, he protected them. It was really rather odd but Kyo decided that it was better to adjust. "I see. Do you want them to come down to the station? Yes. Alright. Thank you. Goodbye." He hung up, glanced to them all and gave a tilt of the head toward the door.

They had to walk.

Kaoru and Die were the only ones with cars and they were the only ones with the keys.

When they reached the station, surprisingly unharrassed by random passers-by on the street, the three of them sat and listened to the tape of a phone conversation that one of the detectives took. They listened to the harsh voice explain why he did what he did but before the detective could ask what he wanted in return, the man hung up.

"That's all we have so far."

"Ah." Toshiya said and Kyo wasn't sure whether Toshiya would go into another tirade or was just in one of his accepting tired moods.

"I'm sure that there'll be more phone calls in the future."

"Mmhm." Toshiya said in response. Shinya didn't say anything and neither did Kyo. Instead, they all looked to hide and he took charge just as they expected him to. He informed the detective that if they received any phone calls, they would tell him—not that they had received any in the first place. And he would once again make sure that if anything out of the ordinary happened, he would call them. When everything was settled, hide ushered them out of the station and back home. Toshiya and hide followed Shinya and Kyo back to Shinya's apartment. Shinya didn't protest and they all clustered together at the table.

"I…" Shinya began and sat up a little straighter when everyone looked to him curiously. "I hate this." Everyone else nodded but Shinya shook his head. "No, not like before." He looked like he was about to say something else but being unable to find the words he needed, he shook his head again and kept quiet.

"We're not supposed to be used as pawns. It's not right." Toshiya took it upon himself to fill in the blanks. "We're not supposed to be used to settle a feud between too rich old men involved with the yakuza. I always wanted to be cool enough to be liked by almost everyone but not like this."

Kyo gave a sigh and put his head down on his arms. He stared down at the glass table and through the glass table, he wiggled socked toes. According to the rough voice that they heard earlier, the rich man in question's daughter went missing and he suspected his rival of having her. So in retaliation, in pure decadent attention-getting style, he kidnapped a part of his rival's favorite band in order to make him give back the girl that he probably didn't even have. I bet the other guy doesn't even fucking care—so long as he doesn't get in trouble. Gods, people these days should get licenses before they breed. I hate people. He found himself saying that for the millionth time in his life.

There'd be no rescue missions for this one, unfortunately.

"Kyo? Are you okay?"

He looked up at Toshiya, gave him a funny smile and shrugged. "As good as I'll ever be."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." A standard phrase reply, one that should make his friends happy. Kyo didn't prefer to share his misery too much, especially when he was in better shape than the rest of his friends. Pain was reserved for songs even if Kyo wasn't sure he wanted to write about this certain experience. Kaoru and Die weren't his lovers (Thank you, Amida) but they were his close friends and to imagine a place without his friends—Kyo felt the overwhelming sense of loss that he wasn't willing to deal with just yet.

At least no one was crying. He didn't think he could take that. It wasn't as if they weren't capable of crying but…

…crying was past his threshold of comfort.

And there wasn't really anything to be crying about just yet.

Fuck this.

~*~

4:00 pm

"It's past 24 hours, isn't it?"

"I think so."

"Oh. Oh good." Die breathed a sigh of relief and his eyes slid closed. Kaoru watched him for a few moments then looked away. Just a few hours ago, after a night with no rest and of course, no food, he'd been reunited with Die in his library. It was ugly and he couldn't understand how Die could sleep when he wasn't either. He eyed Die and willed the man to open his eyes but it didn't happen. Bastard. Kaoru had been dragged here and none too gently either. He flexed his arms in an effort to get them to stop from aching so much which only made them hurt more.

In a good way.

Well, at least, he thought it was a good way.

They weren't dead yet. And he was glad and then began to think to himself, despite it being bad in a situation like this. The men hadn't talked much to him. Just moved them around while some ugly old man glared at them as if they personally pissed in his pool. Kaoru would've told him that he stopped that sort of behavior when he was a child but kept his mouth shut. Die, he figured, was probably too tired to even give them smart ass answers. This was all for the best. And Kaoru began to think and as he thought, he began to wiggle his arms in an effort to get loose. He read it in a book once. It should work.

They didn't lock the library door. The gangsters hadn't thought that they'd get loose. Kaoru wiggled and glanced to the prone body of Die. The guitarist was going to be pissed that Kaoru woke him up just for a daring escape (that might not even work). This wiggling could take hours. Kaoru gave a frustrated sigh.

He needed a bath.

His hair felt icky.

Wiggle wiggle.

Wait a minute. He had to think. What had the book said? Kaoru paused his wiggling then and suddenly, remembered. But to do what he had to do, he might have to turn on his side and he didn't want to lie down on this dust bug-eaten carpet. It was all well and good for die but that type of thing didn't hold well with him. Well…

…Look on the bright side, if you do fall over on your side, you could take a peek under the door and see if there's anyone lurking out there and acting as guards. And besides, it's not like you're clean right now so getting a little dusty shouldn't matter all that much. Kaoru rolled his eyes and kerplunk!

He fell on his side and then began wiggling out of the space that Die had placed himself in and began to wiggle himself in front of the door. Ugh. Just what I need. Years of acne to revisit me all because of bug crap and…and dust…and ugggh. What a time for vanity to visit. Apparently, his sense of self-preservation and common sense flew out of his head as soon as his stomach announced that dinner and breakfast and yes, indeed, lunch would not be served. They were bastards too. Kaoru glanced at the thin sliver of space between door and floor. Nothing. He narrowed his eyes. Bloody contacts felt dry. At least, they had the decency not to fall out.

No shadows could be seen moving down the hallway.

Good.

Kaoru turned over onto his back and grunted against the pain in his arms at the movement. And he wiggled. He tried to be quiet about it but apparently, his panting was loud enough in the quiet of the library to warrant a response from Die. "Kaoru, I don't know what you're doing and I don't want to know. You're a sick man with sick needs for trying to do that when you're in situation like this. Just stop it and let me go to sleep."

"W-what?" Kaoru thought for a moment then turned his head to shoot a glare at Die. "You stupid--! I wasn't doing anything. I'm trying to get out of my fucking…"

"Pants?"

"Shut up, Die." "This is my defense mechanism, I'm surprised you're not used to it by now." Die said, testily but stopped talking. In fact, it felt like he was watching Kaoru squirm on the ground. Hmph. Kaoru took a deep breath and growled under his breath. The pain only increased as he tried to get his hands under his rump. Dammit, he was flexible!! He could do this!! The trick was to get his hands under his butt and under his legs and then—and then—his hands could be in front of him and he could undo the knots with his teeth.

"Grargh."

Die was silent.

"Fuck!" Kaoru hissed under his breath and panted as his hands remained under his butt and he took a breather. He was going to have to pretend he was from Cirque du Soleil and he'd have to pull his legs high enough so his hands could pass under—but—they really hurt and if he could, maybe just—fuck it, he should've undid his feet first, maybe that would've been easier. Kaoru squirmed and only ended up pushing himself along the floor. GRRRR.

He was flexible! Why wasn't it working?!

"What in the world are you trying to do?"

Kaoru turned on his side, purple hair getting in his line of sight. "Trying to…get…hands under butt and under legs and then I can…untie…knots." He sighed and his breath caused purple hair to float up in the air and settle harmlessly on his face. "My arms hurt."

"Mine too." Die agreed. "Our fans would have a field day if they knew that we were tied up."

Kaoru gave a short laugh. "Mmm…"

There was a sound of Die rolling closer and when Kaoru looked the man was on his back and looking at him. "Have you ever untied anything with your teeth?"

Kaoru shook his head, ignoring his inner vanity screaming about bug crap in his hair. "Can't say that I have."

"You're absolutely hopeless." Die muttered and rolled over to where Kaoru lay. "Turn over on your stomach so I can get a clear shot at that thing." "But you don't know how untie knots with your teeth." Kaoru protested but rolled over on his stomach anyway.

"Don't be stupid. I kind of do. Just because it's not in your list of skills doesn't mean…" Die's words faded off when he took hold of the ropes. There were tugs here and there, muttered complains and more tugs. "Bloody…stupid…knot. Who ties 'em this tight anymore?"

Kaoru sighed. It would've been easier and faster with his original method.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Die pulled away. "One set of knots done." His voice sounded tired but that was to be expected. "God, my jaw hurts." Kaoru had the decency not to snicker over that. Toshiya would've. Ahh…Toshiya.

"Thanks, Die."

"Hey, don't thank me…it doesn't mean we'll get out of here."

Kaoru found himself sighing, unaware that it was a trait that he had picked up from Toshiya. "You're right. They could find about the ropes and we'd be in even more trouble. And if we do escape, we really don't know where are or which direction to go." Kaoru tested the bonds on his hands. The ropes felt a little looser but not as loose as he would've liked them to be.

It was quiet as Die thought or Kaoru liked to think the other man was thinking. "Do you know if that stunt you were trying to do before really works?"

"I don't know. I read it in a book. I figured it was worth a try." Kaoru replied.

"I was thinking," Die said then paused as he glanced at the door. As he did so, Kaoru tried to maneuver himself around so he could get a glance too. He didn't see anything but even so, Die lowered his voice. "I was thinking. Maybe you could do that thing and you can help untie yourself. Some of the knots are on the other side, where I can't reach. And when you're done…you can help me." Die yawned and rolled back over to his corner. "But we can't do anything yet."

And despite his instinct to protest and say that they didn't have a chance against whoever lay in wait or whoever guarded them, Kaoru find himself nodding even if Die couldn't see it. "We could wait until it's dark. When they go to sleep?"

"Do yakuza even sleep?"

"Guess we just have to wait and see."

~*~

Tuesday, August 15, 1:05 am

"Kaoru?"

Kaoru groaned. Die nudged him. He hadn't felt any adverse effects to taking a nap but his arms felt awful. He stretched them and flexed them as much as he could but his body had, frankly, enough with this kidnapping business. "Kaoru!" His whisper came out in a hiss. "Wake up!"

Kaoru groaned again—probably out of habit, Die liked to think. "What?"

"It's time for the Great Escape!"

"Great escape?"

"No. Great Escape." Die said it in English, letting the unfamiliar language tumble off of his tongue. He liked it. Too many languages seemed to roll of the tongue but not English. Not unless you made it into a nonsensical sentence. "Imagine it capitalized."

"Gureeto—"

"Nevermind. Forget it. Everyone's asleep."

"You sure?"

"No."

"At least you're honest." Kaoru struggled to pull himself up and glanced around the darkness of the library or it felt like he did. Die couldn't see very well. Slowly, the other guitarist began dragging himself toward the window where a street light had the decency to peek in. When it didn't seem he'd get far very fast that way, he began to roll. Die rolled after him after taking a cautionary glance at the door. He hoped they were forgotten for the time being. It didn't look as if the library was used very much so he hoped no one would want to use it now even with them in it. There was a grunting noise coming from Kaoru's direction. Looks like he was trying to get his hands in front of him again.

"Grr."

And he was still as articulate as ever.

Maybe it was better for Die not to watch this or he might get frustrated and try to help Kaoru. And then they'd start arguing.

"Almost…got it….almost got it…almostgotit…nnngh."

Die dared a look in Kaoru's direction and nearly gave into the hysterical urge to laugh that was rising in him. Kaoru's legs were straight up in the air and he was doing a perfect 90 degree angle with himself and hands right under the top of his legs—the misty grey area of where the legs began and butt ended. If only it didn't look so awkward.

"Die! Die…tilt me."

"What?" O_o

"Yeah, tilt me…I think it'll help me get my hands up and over. Hurry~~!"

Die shuffled over. "Tilt you where?"

"Tilt—get—push my legs toward my head."

Die did as he said even if he didn't think it wouldn't work. Kaoru continued on with his grunting and wiggling and Die decided that being too near Kaoru while this happened was a bit dangerous for his liking. There were was a grunt of pain and Die gave a peek up. Kaoru's hands were near his knees.

"Can you stand up and tilt me?"

"Uh…" Die gave a nearly mad chuckle, "Right." Like that was going to happen in this century.

Kaoru grumbled at him under his breath and made a few more odd noises that shouldn't be heard by anyone especially close friends. Kaoru writhed, panted and even fell onto his side and Die decided that he was no longer needed. A strange whine came out of Kaoru and died off. And he whimpered.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm…stuck." Kaoru said hopelessly.

Die nearly killed himself with laughter. He managed to smother it and both of them froze, just in case they were mistaken about people being asleep. But after five minutes of panicked silence in which nothing happened, they relaxed and Kaoru began wriggling and struggling again. There were growls of pain and finally, Kaoru managed to get his hands over his legs and feet and fell onto his side, panting and occasionally giving a hiss of pain. He lay on his side. Die shuffled/hopped on his knees over to him and glanced down. Kaoru looked as if his eyes were closed and his eyebrows drawn together in the semblance of pain. "Um…?"

"Nngh." Kaoru said in response, having reverted to a caveman in the past weekend. He righted himself and stared down at his wrists and quickly began mauling the ropes. This was probably going to take longer than Die was comfortable with. Best to think about other things. Like Shinya.

Thinking about Shinya was nice.

Shinya and his nice hair.

And his fingers.

And the certain way he looked when he slept and he didn't know that Die was watching him. Shinya was growing out of that 'young face'. It was hard to explain only that Die liked it. Shinya was changing and growing older but still staying the same. Very hard to explain. Shinya was going to be very mad at him when he came back. He was probably going to hit Die.

Then kiss it better.

And hit him again.

Die frowned. His thoughts kept getting interrupted by the sound of someone trying to eat his ropes instead of untie himself from then. No way am I going to help him after that. He got his spit all over it, probably. Ugh. Die maneuvered himself over to the old desk that was in the library and leaned against it. If it were any other time, he'd have banged his head against it out of boredom but after that lovetap he received the other day, he decided against it. Hmm.

An old…desk.

And in desks, people kept papers, yes.

And letters if they were organized, but it didn't feel as if anyone had been in here for ages. That didn't matter. Because if someone kept letters here, there would be a letter opener…

…and if the guy who kidnapped them was one rich son of a bitch, he wouldn't settle on dull letter openers!

Die stood up and quickly leaned against the desk when he threatened to go down. Letter opener! Letter opener! He hopped from the front of the desk around and sat on the seat. Letter opener. He scanned the top of the desk, glaring as he only saw silly things like pens and books. Erasers. Pencils. Papers. He began to nose under them (literally). Sometimes letter openers were thin enough to be hidden under things. Die took hold of a few things with his teeth and moved them aside but all he saw was bare desk.

Maybe it was in the drawers.

Ah, if he only had hands.

Die thought for a bit, ignoring the bit of red hair that was now tickling his nose. He hoped that Kaoru had finally released himself from his ropes in time so he could come over here. Or maybe…if Die gave him a reason to hurry. "Kaoru!" He hissed. "Kaoru!"

"Mmf?" Kaoru asked, still mangling his ropes with his teeth. "Help me. I think there might be a letter opener in here but I don't have hands!"

"Wait."

Die refused to squirm in impatience. It wasn't dignified and Kaoru would probably remember it and tell Shinya. Or laugh about it with Toshiya. Die settled on a scowl and unable to wait any longer, bent to try to open the drawer with his teeth. Or his lips. Or something. He hoped it wasn't too slippery because Kaoru would have to open it in the end. Kaoru could be squeamish and even if Die thought his 'uwahh~!'s were funny, it wasn't appropriate right now. Die bit down on the metal handle and winced. Ouch.

"Die?"

"Mm?"

"Didn't I tell you to wait?" Die looked up from his rescue mission of the letter opener to see that Kaoru was standing and flexing and stretching his arms. Kaoru began to rub furiously at his wrists, hissing in pain as he did so then began hopping over to the desk. Die scooted out of the way as Kaoru began looking through the first drawer that Die had been trying to open. More papers, coins, slly paperweights…and something in a velvet case.

"Shake it."

Kaoru gave him the infamous look he gave people when he thought they were being stupid just to spite him. But Die didn't mind. He always thought Kaoru's looks were badges of honors. "I'm not going to shake it. I'm going to open it."

"How do you know if it's a bomb or not?"

"Die…" Kaoru began but stopped. He just opened it.

"Shiny."

"Die." Kaoru said in that same snippy tone. But they found what they were looking for and they both grinned at it for a second. Kaoru rescued the letter opener from its velvet place and put the case back into the drawer.

"It's got engraving on it."

"Forget the engraving. Get up and turn around."

Die stood up carefully and turned around in a hop. Kaoru slipped the letter opener between the ropes and began to cut them. He held Die's wrist and began sawing at the ropes. "It's not as sharp as I hoped?"

"It's sharp but it's not meant for ropes." Kaoru said with distinct disapproval in his voice. "It's cutting through but it's going to be awhile." Die nodded and went silent as Kaoru continued to work at the ropes. There was a grumble from the other guitarist and Die hissed in pain at the rough treatment. "Sorry. Almost done."

With one last painful sawing motion and a tug, Kaoru pulled the ropes away from Die's hands. Die rubbed his wrists and began flexing his arms and when he was satisfied that his hands and arms were going to be fine in the long run, he bent to untie the ropes at his feet. "Kaoru?"

"Hm?"

"What are we going to do now?"

Kaoru didn't say a word, one of his tactful maneuvers to say that he didn't know but didn't want to let you down. Die blinked for a second and continued to untie the ropes on his feet and when he was done with it, he grabbed the ropes and tried to stuff them in his pocket. He glanced over to the other man and watched as Kaoru did the same. Kaoru stared at the letter opener for a long moment and tightened his grip on it. "I'm taking this with me."

Die nodded then hurried to the library window to look out. They were on the first floor and this place probably had security lights. He didn't hear or see any guard dogs but that didn't mean that they weren't there. He poked at the window curiously. It probably had an alarm on it. And as he surveyed it a little more, there didn't seem to be any latches on the window to open it and let them out. He turned away from the window and followed Kaoru to the library door.

Kaoru pressed his ear against the door, listening for any noise outside.

Die waited and took a deep breath as Kaoru opened the door quietly.

There was no one in the hallway.

~*~

Tuesday, August 15, 4:25 am

The phone rang.

Toshiya, who hadn't a decent night's sleep in a while, merely rolled over in bed and waited. He hated phone calls. Especially phone calls that happened at odd hours. He listened carefully as hide picked up the phone. There were murmurs on the other side. Toshiya couldn't hear hide very clearly. He sat up in bed and before he knew it, he slid off of the bed and crept toward the door and pressed his ear against it.

But hide had just hung up the phone.

Dammit.

There was a knock on the door and Toshiya slid away from it in a hurry and jumped on the bed. "Come in." He told hide when he was safely in bed and up to nothing.

hide opened the door and closed it behind him. "I'm sorry for waking you, Toshiya."

"No…no, you didn't. Wait a minute. Don't you sleep, hide?"

The angel shook his head, actually adding a sheepish smile in there and then shrugged. "I can't sleep. It doesn't affect me much, I don't think. My sensei says otherwise but I disagree. My human is missing and so I can't sleep. The best I can do is protect you even though you really don't need it. You're a good kid."

"Thanks. So…the phone?"

"They've finally announced a ransom."

"This early in the morning?"

"I don't think yakuza really sleep, Toshiya." hide murmured quietly and ran a hair through wild pink hair. He sat on the bed. Toshiya waited for hide to finish saying what the men wanted but when it was apparent that hide wasn't going to say anymore, Toshiya sighed.

"Well?"

"You're going to hate it."

"What else is new?"

"Really going to hate it." hide replied. He pauses as if thinking of a way to put it that wouldn't make Toshiya angry so much. "They said they'd release Kaoru and Die if they get back the daughter. And an autograph."

"From who?" Autograph? The daughter he could understand but the autograph thing was really bizarre. "Don't they want any money?"

"Yeah, that too but they stressed the first two quite a lot." hide gave a bit of a sigh. "They wanted an autograph from some Enka star. The police said they'd handle it and I'm glad because I'm in no mood to go chasing after an Enka star."

Toshiya nodded, a little numbly and tugged on hide's jacket. "You don't have to do that, you know."

"I know. You going to be okay? You look like death warmed over."

"I'll be fine." The response slipped from his lips before Toshiya could stop it. It had been an answer to everyone who felt a need to ask about him even when it was clear that he didn't want to talk. He knew it was a mistake when he looked up and saw hide staring at him with a strange look on his face. "I'm sorry, hide. It's just that everyone's giving us things and trying to comfort us and a part of me doesn't know if it's real or not and Kyo is acting like I could explode at any second or break down and if he keeps up with that treatment, I think I might. Shinya…well, Shinya's a bit better and I know he isn't sleeping either because he looks like me. He forces on a smile for me while I force one back. And I don't know where Kaoru or Die is or if they're even alive and I keep getting all sorts of thoughts in my head." Toshiya gave him a wan smile. "I just want to sleep."

"I could help with that if you want me to."

"Do you have a sleeping pill?"

"Not exactly." hide touched a finger to his head and the world went black.

~*~

hide closed the door behind him and checked the time. It was still early. He began to wonder if the trick he used on Toshiya would work on himself then decided not to chance it. Knowing his luck so far, he just might put himself into a coma for weeks and there'd be less of a chance of seeing Kaoru alive. He sat at the dining room table and if ever he needed divine guidance, now would be a time to have it.

But none came just as none had come over the past weekend.

hide wasn't surprised. At least, the task had been easy even if it was a bit silly. Have a woman hug him. Honestly.

All he had to do was give a bit of a walk down Harajuku and people came flocking up to take pictures and hug him. A part of him was sure that this wasn't what the Almighty had in mind but he didn't care. No one specified on what type of woman had to hug him. And he had more things to worry about anyway.

Like taking care of three young men who liked to pretend that they weren't feeling more than a little upset, getting some sort of ring for a woman he met the other day (but that really could wait—he wasn't in the mood to go shopping—Kaoru was fucking missing) and last, but certainly not least, finding his human.

hide sighed and stood from the seat. He wandered over to the television and began to search through the various DVDs and videos. He needed to take his mind off of things. Maybe Kaoru and Toshiya had some sort of videos that he hadn't seen before. He made a few murmuring noises as he saw some videos that he had already seen and picked up a tape with a simple label that said:

This could mean a number of things. It could be ecchi but it also didn't have to be. And he bet the fans would love to see this much as many of his fans would've liked to see his own videotapes but he trusted that Hiroshi was keeping it safe. And he hoped that no one had told Hiroshi of what was happening or he'd have a lot of explaining to do. X.x

Sure that Toshiya wouldn't be waking any time soon, hide popped the video into the VCR and turned on the TV. Spending a few weeks with the guys didn't mean that he knew everything about them. And if the ecchi bits came, he promised to himself that he'd fast forward through them even if he wasn't sure he might.

There was a black and white screen for a second before the picture came into view. It was the entrance of an inn with four out of the five men of Dir en grey standing there. Shinya was fidgeting with his bag for a bit before he turned around, looking longingly at the entrance. He obviously wanted to go in. Next to him, Kyo was stretching and making the usual faces at the camera. It was amusing simply because next to him were Toshiya and Die. Toshiya was posing—one leg in front of the other and a hand on his hip with a proud little smile on his face. He wore jeans and a cut off black tee. Die had his arm around the taller man's neck and a beanie on his head. He had sunglasses and a cigarette, making challenging nods of the head toward the camera. "Welcome to the Dir en grey…vacation show."

"Welcome," Kyo repeated in a goblin voice. Toshiya reached over and swung his arm around the shorter man's neck and pulled him in. Kyo gave a sort of hiss and hide snickered.

"Shinya!" exclaimed the voice of the camera man. Kaoru's voice. When Shinya turned to look back at the camera, a black sleeved arm came into the shot and waved him over to the other three. "Stop staring at the inn and get into frame." The drummer looked confused as the camera shakily did a close up on him.

"But I am, aren't I?"

"No, you need to get in with those three."

"I won't drool. Promise." Kyo's voice said. "Not sure about the other two though."

Shinya stared at the camera for a bit and when a shy smile spread across his face, he ducked his head. He nearly toppled when Kyo grabbed his arm and reeled him in and hide smiled. "Kaoru," Shinya said, very politely. "Um…this is a little…"

"Lame?" Kaoru filled in and Shinya nodded.

"Yeah, I know but how else am I supposed to figure out which video it is?"

"Kaoru, you dummy, it's called a label!" Die pointed at him with the cigarette.

"Do you realize how many springs we've visited?"

"Only four. You're the one who believes in making videos." The other four didn't look as if they were going to release each other just yet. Maybe it was the fact that Toshiya's arm looked as if it were choking Kyo and Kyo was trying to maul Shinya's arm trying to get him to save him. Shinya only stood there while Die decided to be the spokesperson. "Do us a favor and try not to breathe too hard into the microphone of this one."

"And don't forget to watch where you're walking or you'll trip again," Shinya shyly filled in. And it was probably unknown to the others, even to Shinya, but Die was staring at him funny.

hide frowned at the TV, glancing from Shinya to Die. Had this been before they were dating? It was very odd to consider people before they were dating someone. It was as if the very idea was unthinkable. It was quite interesting. They always said that they didn't get along but here was evidence that they had been working as a sort of team—when they 'hated' each other. It's like watching kids grow up.

There was a snort from the camera and the tape cut off before another picture replaced it. It was a simple room with nice tatami mats and beautiful wood and a view of the garden outside. Kaoru was staring outside. His hair was pink. hide tried not to smirk and feel just a bit touched. "This is our room." Said Toshiya's voice who was now apparently sharing the camera. "Shinya and Kyo and Die have the room across from us. I hope they don't wake us up with their fighting. And there is Kaoru, who has given up being the camera man for now."

Kaoru turned away from the window and flashed Toshiya a smile. The camera suddenly turned and hide was looking at Toshiya's face and his crooked smile. "We get the room to ourselves because unlike some people we know that we're in love with each other." And Toshiya snickered and hide found himself doing the same.

"Toshiya! Now I have to edit that off the video!"

"You're not editing anything. If they see it, they deserve to hear it. All they do is snipe at each other." Toshiya tilted his head at the camera and his smile widened. "Ne??? Yes. Kaoruuuu."

"What?" A little gruff sounding but that didn't stop Toshiya.

"Let's let them see this video when we're done. Maybe they'll get a hint. They're so lonely anyway and they never listen to what I say."

"Men don't matchmake other men. We're horrible at it." Toshiya visibly pouted on a camera and pretty soon, the camera was taken away and it felt as if Kaoru was in possession of it again. Toshiya was still pouting and turned away when tea was presented. The camera was shut off again.

Another scene this time—the outdoor bath. Toshiya held up a foot and wiggled his toes at the camera before it sunk back into the white hot depths of the bath. "It's white because it has minerals in it. It's good for the skin." Toshiya said and he looked hesitant before he announced sadly to the camera. "Shinya and Die and Kyo got into a fight. They've been banned from the open bath." What would've been a romantic situation apparently had been plagued by the memory of their friends being told to seek a soak elsewhere. "I don't think you should have that camera out here, Kaoru. If you drop it in…"

"No…we can keep it like this."

"If you're sure?"

"Yes."

A smile appeared Toshiya's face and it was a devious one. "Gonna try and make your own ecchi video? Gonna sell it?"

"Totchi." It was a lecturing tone of voice—the type that hide had heard quite a lot but he swore that that type of voice was fading from Kaoru's personality. Or at least, he'd like to think so.

Toshiya, on the video, just laughed. He didn't care if Kaoru was upset with the idea. "How scandalous. I think you should, you know. Any press is good press." He laughed. The bassist had a unique laugh that could catch a person off guard. If you weren't laughing what he was laughing at, you'd end up doing so because of the strange laugh he possessed. "I know!" And Toshiya moved close to the camera, big grin nearly taking up half his face. "We could go back to our room and make like those movies. I'll look suitably helpless and pretend to cry as you ravish me." He laughed again—but this time it was closer to a giggle.

Toshiya reminded hide a little of himself.

And it reminded him that he hadn't heard Toshiya laugh for days.

"Toshiya!"

"Kiss me and I'll stop."

"No, you won't."

"Yes, I will. Kiss me and I'll stop."

"Alright…" The camera was placed off to the side and much to hide's disappointment, it wasn't set to catch a peek of the other two. Not that he was looking. Really. "Toshiya! Let me shut the camera off first!" There was a giggle and the camera was shut off again.

hide paused the video, curiously and looked among the rest of the videos. Oh good. There was more. This'll keep him busy and he could call it a form of research.

~*~

Years later, or at least it felt like it, Toshiya woke up. He was tucked in bed with the comforter right under his chin and pillows around his head. He ran a hand through tangled hair and sat up slowly. How long had he been sleeping? He glanced to the clock and made a face at the time. It was only noon. His body hurt and all he wanted to do was lie down and keep still in an effort to get the ache to go away. But he knew from past experience that it wouldn't help. Toshiya sighed and slid out of bed and stretched. He stumbled into the bathroom, used the toilet, brushed his teeth and all that and stumbled out of the bedroom. He wandered down the hall to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator in an effort to find something to eat.

Unable to find anything that didn't require work before eating it, he settled on a bottle of unopened orange juice until a noise from the living room caught his attention. It sounded familiar. Toshiya slowly made his way to the living room and stared at the scene before him. hide was eating ramen and watching a video.

Shinya's face was on the video and he was blinking in that unsure way of his. He was smiling but every now and again, his eyes would wander off to the side—as if looking for assurance. "Um…This is…Kaoru and Toshiya's…anniversary tape but we're supposed to pretend that it's not."

"Because it's a surprise." Die's voice.

"Yes." Shinya nodded and glanced off to the side once again and Die finally came on camera. His arm slipped around Shinya's waist. "So this'll be the first time they realize that they're not watching just a band party and…stuff."

"You think we're dense enough not to know?" And Die poked his fingers at the camera—going so far as to tap on the camera lens even if Kaoru hated it. Toshiya stared at it and gave a faint smile. Kaoru had been upset a little but he'd gotten over it. "You're an idiot, Kaoru! But not you, Totchi. You're good. You got that, Kyo?"

"Yep."

And Toshiya watched as Kyo moved through the crowd and to the table where he and Kaoru had been sitting. And while everyone else was pretty much drinking themselves into a happy oblivion, they weren't. They were too involved with each other to notice that anything else was amiss and when they finally realized the camera was on them, Kaoru tried to play it off.

Stupid Kaoru.

Toshiya sat down next to hide and stared at the TV. "How long have you been watching?" He asked, almost dazed.

"All morning." hide replied and slurped some more ramen into his mouth.

"Why?"

"Because I was curious." Came the simple answer. "And I wanted to know more about all of you. I mean…they told me about you." The dubious they being whoever sent hide down here. "But..it's not enough." hide paused suddenly and turned to look at Toshiya. "Do you think it's strange?"

"What's strange?"

"That I actually remember Kaoru's letter to me?"

Toshiya stared at him for a second and carefully asked, "You're not saying this just because someone told you that he wrote to you?"

hide shook his head. "I thought that could've been it but I remember."

"Do you remember what he said to you?" asked Toshiya as they glanced back at the video and they could now see him torturing a Shinya by almost kissing him and turning his face away. Die was upset after that and jealous but you couldn't tell if you weren't looking for it. That was probably why it ended up on a fanclub video.

"Hmm. He said I was very big influence on him. He said he had a band and that his fingers were too small for his guitar but he played his best anyway. He also had a bit of a problem because his fingers hurt from practicing so much and he asked if there was anything I could recommend for the pain to be bearable." hide smiled crookedly and took a sip of the ramen soup. "I wrote back to him, of course, I tried to write back to everyone. If I only knew…"

Toshiya hugged his knees to his chest and stared at the television and watched himself make random flirtatious faces. "What about the task? Do you think you still have to do it?"

"I did do it. I had a bunch of girls hug me just by walking down the street the other day."

"I don't…think that's what they meant."

"Yeah, me neither but…" hide shrugged and Toshiya understood. Might as well give it a try. He finished drinking the rest of his soup and handed the VCR remote over to Toshiya. "I have to deliver a package of importance to someone who loves blue almost as much as you and Yoshiki do."

Toshiya stared blankly at him then remembered suddenly what Kaoru and Kyo promised to do. "Oh."

"Yes. It kind of seems out of place, doesn't it?" He paused and Toshiya knew what was coming next. hide placed the bowl in the sink and came back. But before Toshiya could even get up to start running, he grabbed Toshiya around the neck and gave him a bit of a noogie. "Cheer up, bitch." He said and Toshiya struggled, then gave up. "I won't let go until you give me a smile. A real one."

"There's nothing to smile about, hide."

"There's got to be something," he snorted and he gave Toshiya a harder noogie this time.

"Agggh! Enough enough!!"

"Smile!"

"No!"

"Find something to smile about!!"

And Toshiya thought for a bit. He had Shinya and Kyo even if they were as morose as he. He had hide. That was something to smile for and it was hard to think with someone giving him random noogies! He struggled and made a face. Well…the idea of hide watching home videos kind of made him giggle hysterically even though he would later deny that it was a giggle and that it was hysterical.

"See? I told you there was something." hide announced proudly.

Toshiya giggled again and decided that when Kaoru came back, he shouldn't tell him. There was only so much dignity one could retain after their role model just went through their home videos.

++

(Watch closely because this is going to go pretty fast)

Wednesday, August 16, 10:15 am

Ah, August 16. The day of death. hide took a deep breath of morning air and let it out. All things considered, he did feel pretty good. Things could be better but then again, things could also be much worse. He felt alright. Toshiya was a bit less sigh-y today and in an effort to keep his spirits up, hide decided that it would be better to keep him distracted. And so, despite their protests, he encouraged them to go to the studio. There was no better soother of the soul than music, he told them and he really hoped they believed him.

They probably didn't but when he put on a death glare, they did as he said.

hide occupied himself with jewelry shopping and had armed himself with Toshiya's credit card. If it were any other time, Toshiya might have raised a fuss but since he was reimbursed by a nice big check resting in his account, he was complacent. hide still didn't want to make him pay too much, which was probably the reason why he kept hopping from store to store with an occasional grimace on his face. All the nice rings had to have an expensive price to it and he hated it. After three hours of going from store to store, he ended up at the store he had been dreading.

Just the name made him want to grind his teeth.

People with hair the color that nature didn't intend for men to have shouldn't be found in stores like this. Shit, people who didn't wear gowns or suits all the time didn't belong there.

hide twitched, slipped a hat over his head to hide most of the pink fluff and grumbled under his breath.

He took a breath, steeled himself and stalked into Tiffany like it was a war zone and tried to ignore the looks every single employee in the place gave him. He should give them credit. They tried not to be rude. He began to hover over the glass cases, pulling away when he didn't see what he wanted and stopped when he found ones with rings that weren't engagement or wedding rings. And he stared.

Ugly.

Ugly.

Ugly.

Hey, that looked pretty decent. Ugly ugly ugly ugly. hide looked up as a salesclerk loomed over him as he looked. "May I help you?"

"Uhh…sure. How much is that?" hide motioned to one of the rings he'd been staring at. It was a silver ring with a large white pearl on it, surrounded by diamonds in a sort of flower formation. He wasn't sure what Mana or Kazuhide's definition of nice was but hey, he thought it was pretty good.

"240,000 yen."

240,000 yen?! hide prevented himself from doing a double take and blinked at the salesman. "Errr…why?"

"It's not silver, sir. It's platinum."

hide shivered and quickly turned away from the display case as if it were poison. He didn't think there was enough money to reimburse Toshiya for that. "What about this?" He stopped and pointed to a random ring with a dark blue stone and a silver mounting. Or at least, he hoped that it was silver. It looked vaguely Mana-gift-like.

"90,000 yen, sir."

He still shivered when the price was given but at least it was cheaper. Much cheaper. And it looked very nice. "I'll take it!"

++

At the same time, in an undisclosed place across the city, police cars arrived at the home of the man who had kidnapped both Kaoru and Die. The quiet neighborhood wasn't used to such an intrusion. Police cars formed a little barricade in front of the home as a detective on the telephone announced that they had fulfilled their requests and were here to deliver it via a negotiator.

After a brief argument on the phone, it was agreed that the negotiator would deliver the desired things without weapons. If he did, he would be shot on sight and so would the hostages. The negotiator, showing no signs of emotions, slipped through the gates as it opened and placed the things at the front door.

The detective announced that the drop had been made, even if the people inside had already seen it. They now waited for their hostages.

The detective was told that the negotiator must go back—behind the barricade of cars or the two guitarists would not be released. After a brief intense argument on the phone, the negotiator was called back. And they waited.

++

Wednesday, August 16, 12:22 pm

Unfortunately, the trip to Mana's studio was so much more impressive at night when there was lightning. The same effect didn't hold up very well in the daytime. Especially if there were no storms to produce the lightning effect and blue sky could be seen from horizon to horizon and the sun shown brightly. Weather could be tricky like that, hide supposed. Because, really, for every time he had an evil plan (that bought about much mirth for those not involved in said plan), there should've been thunder and lightning.

Weather was a horrible thing.

He made his way to the studio door, pressed the button and announced who he was. There was the usual punch of buttons and the door opened to reveal the same dark interior that he had seen nearly a week ago. Mana stood there, dressed tamely in a long black skirt and white blouse. "Hello, Hikaru. Have Kaoru-kun and Die-kun returned home yet?" He closed the door behind hide.

"No. They said they would call the others as soon as they were released."

Mana nodded quietly and gestured for him to follow him into the rest area. The faint sounds of a bass could be heard and hide smiled. "I'm sorry for making you all do this at a time when you can't possibly focus on anything else. You didn't have to. I would've understood if you all told me that you couldn't do what I asked. If you're here to tell me that now—I mean, I understand."

"It's alright. They're strong kids. I did it anyway." hide handed the gift box to Mana.

"Thank you." Mana gave a bow as he took it and held it against his chest. "I've heard you've been taking care of them. Are they alright? I know what it's like to lose a friend, especially when they're still alive."

This prompted a curious tilt of the head from hide but Mana gave a shy smile and shook his head, as if to say that he didn't really want to go into it. Only that the others had his understanding, even if they didn't want it. "They'll be fine. Thanks for the roses. The thought was nice. They needed it." It felt odd having this sort of conversation with someone he barely knew.

"Kazu-chan was worried." Mana held up the box. "I think…that I shall say this is a present from all six of us."

++

Wednesday, August 16, 2:30 pm

The phone rang.

Thankfully, it was Shinya that picked it up. Toshiya and Kyo closed their eyes, unaware that they were both holding their breaths until Shinya yelled in a very uncharacteristic way.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!!!!!"

Toshiya was the one who stood up first and ran toward the phone in the office. Kyo was right behind him and as they stumbled on to the scene, Shinya looked livid and his eyes were wide and almost wild looking. "Shinya? Shinya, what's wrong?"

"Where else would they be if not there?!" The drummer asked, ignoring the two of them and when the answer apparently didn't satisfy him, he slammed the phone down and turned to Toshiya and Kyo. "Kaoru and Die weren't at the mansion. The police don't know where they are."

It was then that Toshiya's body decided that now was as good a time as any to faint.

~*~

When he came to, he was on the couch with three faces hovering over him. It was hide and Shinya and Kyo. He was about to ask what happened until he glanced to Shinya's face and stubbornly closed his eyes. Maybe if he went back to sleep, he would wake up and he'd see Kaoru.

"Totchi…"

"They didn't find them yet, did they?"

"No."

"Oh…well, then don't wake me until they do."

"Totchi!" Kyo grabbed his shoulders and shook him as if he were a can of juice and only stopped when Toshiya finally opened his eyes. "If you had only stayed conscious for a little bit more, you would've heard that the police called back and they found pieces of rope in the library. The guy who kidnapped them is in their custody. They're just trying to find those two idiots who are probably lost. You know how we are at escape attempts."

"What if they did something to them?"

"Then it's a good thing that they have the guy who kidnapped them in custody," hide said calmly—a little too calmly for Toshiya's tastes. The bassist stared at all three of them for a moment and closed his eyes again.

"Once again—wake me when Kaoru comes back."

Kyo sighed in disgust but left him alone. It was good having that guy as a roommate. At least, he understood how he dealt with things. And it seemed the others just took their cues from Kyo.

Toshiya settled in for a nap but his plans to enjoy it were put to an end when the three above him began talking about him as if he weren't there.

"We can't record with him like this."

"Then forget recording, we should go home." Kyo said bluntly. It felt like Kyo was staring at him now. "Don't know what we're going to do about him."

"I'll take him home," Shinya said. "I can carry him easily."

"People will stare."

"Toshiya'll deserve it."

"You are not carrying me." Toshiya informed them, but kept his eyes closed. "I'm staying right here."

"The studio is not your bedroom, Toshiya. You're going home. And you're either going to walk or I'm going to carry you—what's it going to be?" Shinya replied and Toshiya opened his eyes. He and the drummer glared at each other but in the end, Toshiya lost.

He ended up walking home with Shinya but he made his displeasure known throughout the entire trip. He was hoping to bug Shinya enough so that he wouldn't crack but still bug him enough to make him quite put out. "I don't want to go home if Kaoru's not there waiting for me with a very good explanation as to why he's not where he's supposed to be!"

"No one said we were going anyone near your home," Shinya replied evenly. "You're coming to mine and if you so much as complain about Kaoru not being there, I'll gag you with a dishtowel."

"No, you wouldn't," Toshiya said, offended. "You never use those dishtowels that your mother gave you for normal things--what makes you think you'd be able to use them on me?"

Shinya gave him an almost manic grin as he pulled him into his apartment building. "You're special, Toshiya."

++

Wednesday, August 16, 5:30 pm

When he was sure that everyone in the band was where he had left them, earlier that afternoon, hide quietly took this moment to once again disappear and began to search the city for Kaoru and Die. It had been days since the link had been working correctly and every time that hide had checked it lately, it still showed no signs of working. It was only an hour until the actual death would take place if indeed it would take place since hide did have himself hugged by some females. The problem was--that if he had done as the message stated, wouldn't things have been put right by now? This week was too wacky a week to be even considered normal and even the task was ambiguous.

Something tells me that teasing the Almighty is more trouble than it's actually worth. hide made a face at himself in a shop window and continued to wander throughout the city. He'd have transported but he didn't want to miss a spot in the city. He even wandered through construction sites and down alleyways that he would've otherwise avoided when he was alive. No one hurt him--some could hardly believe that he even passed by. After all, it isn't every day someone just walked by, who was completely intent on finding someone that it almost looked to others like intense concentration.

August days are long and for this, hide was glad. Glad that he could search for Kaoru as long as the light allowed and even if the streets were lit at night, it wasn't as easy to recognize people. He shouldn't have been glad. He knew that. He only really had an hour. Earlier that day, he watched Mana give Kazuhide the ring but none of them knew he was watching. It made him smile before he left and a part of him wanted to burst in and take the hug that Kazuhide gave Mana for his own because of the task.

But he didn't.

And he couldn't explain why.

hide looked out over the sprawl of streets that lay before him and sighed.

++

Wednesday, August 16, 6:00 pm

I have no idea where we are.

There was no bones about it. He had to deal with it. In order to be able to move on and get out of this bind and go home, he had to admit that he had no idea where he was. Kaoru sighed as he sat in the train station and stared at the signs that had stopped making sense to him hours ago. He and Die hadn't been in the train station for days. With the money in their pockets, they had managed to find a community bath to bathe and some cheap clothes to wear. They weren't exactly at their peak of fashion but at least, they no longer smelled. They found a few bandages to patch up the chafed bits from the rope and to hide a few of the bruises so no one would stare at them. They even got a bite to eat.

They were debating ticket choices.

They would've already bought a ticket except that they didn't exactly know where they were. And that was the problem with being a rock star--you were supposed to know your way around the place especially if you've toured nearly everywhere but the problem was that they didn't. Inoue and their staff handled things like that for them.

I have no CLUE where we are.

Their keitai had been taken away. Die tried to use the payphone to get in touch with the others but due to previous circumstances involving unsavory characters trying to get in touch with them, that idea was quickly shot down. Anonymous calls were quickly blocked and Kaoru wasn't about to buy another one. He wanted his old one back--it had EVERYTHING in it.

And he was set to die in half an hour. Kaoru mumbled to himself and stood, walking toward the ticketing booth. "You know where we're going finally?" "No clue at all."

"Well." Die paused and Kaoru was afraid they might get into another argument, "It's better than sitting around."

"That's the spirit." Kaoru smiled crookedly.

"Nothing for it. Let's just ask someone. It won't hurt and no one will recognize us. We'll just be like some punk kids." Die announced and began to head to a group of old ladies before Kaoru could stop him. Kaoru immediately turned around just as Die began to ask them in extremely polite and humble tones for directions back to Tokyo.

Kaoru scanned over the train station, allowing himself to relax when he didn't hear Die being insulted or anything and was waiting for their responses when he spotted faces that he was hoping to avoid seeing again in his lifetime. It was Shorty and two of his henchmen. And it probably wasn't long before more of them showed up. They didn't look very happy either. Quickly, Kaoru grabbed Die's arm, turned to apologize to the ladies for the rudeness and began to haul the other guitarist off.

"Kaoru! What the hell is the matter with you? I was just getting all of the details to get us home, you twit!"

"I hope you remembered most of it because we're going to have to go home quicker than expected. Shorty's after us." Die looked around wildly before Kaoru could stop him and made a quiet squawking noise. "Exactly. Where'd the ladies tell you to go?" As Die rattled off instructions, Kaoru dragged him through the station and down various halls and stairways. He didn't dare to look back. Looking back would call attention to themselves. It was only when Die yanked back instead of being led blindly along that Kaoru realize that he had run blindly into Shorty.

They stared at each other for a bit but not long because Die was running in the other direction—away from their way home but it didn't matter. It was only a temporary detour after all. Don't look back. Don't look back and they'd all be fine.

++

At the same time--

"Oh dear, oh dear…"

hide frowned and turned away from his searching to glance to the woman sitting beside the curb. He didn't understand why he suddenly had his attention captured by her either. She wore a white gown with sequins on them and her hair was piled on her head in elaborate curls. She also had the distinct perfumed smell of someone who was used to a life of luxury and while this would make some people wary, she didn't seem very haughty or mean. Unable to help himself, he inched closer. "Um…ma'am? Is there something wrong?"

She looked up at him and two black streaks fell down her cheeks. Her make up was running but she wiped it away hurriedly and stood up. "I'm lost. You see, I went on a bit of a vacation to visit my boyfriend without telling my father because he doesn't like him and I thought it would be better if my boyfriend didn't drop me off at home. But now…now I'm lost and I don't want to take the train because…because what if there's someone on there that could hurt me?"

hide tried not to grimace. "But the train is the fastest way to get home. I'm sure your father's worried about you."

"He is. And I'm afraid that he's overreacted and done a few bad things because of my absence." She sniffled and hide tried not to think she was acting. You could never tell these days. A lot of people ran around with fake tears but—he watched as more black streaks slid down her cheeks and she hastily dabbed them with a tissue. Maybe she wasn't faking after all. "And when I mean bad! I mean! Very bad! He'll assume things like a business rival trying to kidnap me—"

And something went off in hide's head. SO THIS WAS THE KID WHO CAUSED THIS WHOLE MESS!!! Quickly, he calmed down and took a few deep breaths. "All the more better that we should get you home, shouldn't we?" He tried not to sound too eager either.

She gave him a suspicious glare. "You're not one of those creeps who talk nicely to girls than lure them somewhere to rape and murder them, are you?"

"Ma'am, if I were that type of man, why would I dye my hair a conspicuous color?"

The woman stared at him for a bit and then nodded. "Alright, that makes sense. But if you try anything, I'll let you have it with my pepper spray. And I shan't go on train alone unless you come with me."

hide risked a glance at his watch and grimaced. "I don't really have the time for it but…alright." She grinned and took his arm despite whether he wanted her to or not. They caught a cab and it drove them toward the train station. hide paid the fare and led the woman into the station. He would've moved onto to the ticket booth but the woman yanked him back. "What? Don't you want to go home?"

"I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat all day!"

"Didn't your boyfriend feed you?"

"I was too distressed to eat." She sniffed and hide did his best not to roll his eyes or even throw up his hands in despair. He glanced at his watch and tried not to make a worried noise. It wasn't as if Kaoru was in danger, really. He could afford a bite to eat. And hide had himself hugged by a bunch of girls so it would be alright. He shivered as a blast of cold air caught him and blamed it on the air conditioning. Had to be.

"Fine. There's a McDonalds over there." Even if he wasn't particularly fond of the stuff. Apparently, she didn't feel particularly fond of it either but food was food. He took her there and ordered for her since she was more interested in sitting down. It kind of reminded him of the times he and Yoshiki went out. And he always ended up ordering the wrong thing on purpose to spite the man for not ordering it himself. And then he never let me accompany him to a McDonalds after that but that was the original intent. However, this was different because he didn't even know the young lady in question. Most women watch their figures so maybe she wouldn't want a hamburger. Ah, who knows? He shrugged and as soon as it was his turn to order, he ordered a chicken mcnugget meal for her and some ice cream for himself. He picked up the food when it was ready and handed both drink and nuggets over. Thankfully, she ate it and didn't make any noise while he ate his ice cream. Every now and again, he would glance at his watch.

"Is there some place you have to be? You keep looking at your watch. I hope I'm not disturbing any plans of yours."

"Not really, no," hide replied, because if he did say what he was really worried about, she'd probably call the cops on him. He risked one last glimpse at the clock and set about finishing his ice cream. It was 6:10. Just twenty minutes until Kaoru crashed and burned wherever he was. He tried not to think like that but…it was really hard not to.

"You do have some place to go."

"No." hide said a little too quickly. "It's just that you might miss your train."

She paused while she was eating her food. "When is the next train?"

"Six fifteen." He did his best not to grimace or look nervous. He wasn't sure if it was very convincing or not. "And you still have to purchase a ticket," He reminded but the woman kept on eating after she gave a shrug. hide settled down and realized that there was nothing he could really do. Even if it did turn 6:30, he had no idea where Kaoru was to even save him so the whole thing was rather pointless. He finished the rest of his ice cream then went to the water fountain for a sip of water. When he got back to the table, she was on her last mcnugget and gestured for him to the throw the rest away. He did his best to keep his temper and disposed of the trash before he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her off toward the ticketing booth despite her protests.

"You do have somewhere to go, you—"

"You have a train to catch."

"That willing to get rid of me? I should've known better than to trust you!"

"Look, you said you wanted to go home as soon as possible. I don't know why you're suddenly deciding that you'd rather stay here." Replied hide in a blunt fashion. He was getting sick of this. This was the kid who caused all the trouble and oh, man, he was not equipped to deal with spoiled brats at the moment. She stared at him with a hurt face and he nearly threw up his hands in despair. Instead, he sighed and dragged her along. "Women." He bought two tickets for the both of them and cursed himself for being so nice. She snatched her arm out of his grasp and huffily ascended the stairs to the platform. One of those headaches that Yoshiki complained of—the ones that started behind the eyes and gripped the entire top of his skull—was starting to form in hide's head.

When the train arrived, he got on with her even though she never said a word to him again.

++

6:28 pm

Dead end.

There was only two ways to go—further along the platform or across the train tracks and that wasn't exactly a choice. It was inevitable, really, but Kaoru wasn't ready to go down without a fight. These people weren't going to make him suffer again. He wasn't about to allow it. All he wanted to do was go home, be with his friends and with his boyfriend, and play music. He was sure Die felt the same way. These desires alone made them desperate men. Desperate men were a harm to others, especially themselves. Desperation made them reckless.

Only the lucky survived.

Kaoru decided to throw caution to the wind and try his hand with luck. It had gotten he and Die this far whereas things such as guardian angels and the like hadn't done a thing. Kaoru figured that the best thing to do when your life was in danger was to switch philosophies and theologies to where it suited someone in odd situations. With this in mind, Kaoru took a deep breath and steered himself and Die around to face their enemy. "You two," Shorty hissed through his teeth, "are more trouble than you're actually worth."

"This could all be avoided if you just gave up." Kaoru said.

Harsh laughter clawed up out of the man's throat, making Kaoru take an involuntary step back. No one should have that sort of laugh unless they were sitting somewhere with a straight jacket around them. "Like I could do something as stupid as that. If I don't take you back, the boss don't get out of jail—"

"You are not taking us back." Kaoru snapped each word out crisply—as if enunciating would suddenly drive the point home.

Shorty sneered, "See, that's where we disagree because if you don't get back, you're not getting home."

"Fuck you, we don't need you to get home." Die spat.

"Do you think I'm lying, boy? If you don't come with us, you won't be going home alive."

"You're fucking bluffing." Kaoru said, boldly. "You're in a fucking crowd—"

"That has quickly dispersed." Shorty said and people that Kaoru thought were the general public, became henchmen. They were beginning to advance on him and Die. The two guitarists took a step back and glanced behind him. Nothing but train tracks and the yellow line that the intercom always said it was unwise to cross. There were no trains coming just yet, but Kaoru could hear them. Kaoru took a quick glance at his watch. 6:29.

You only live once.

Kaoru and Die exchanged a glance. Die nodded and shook hands with Kaoru and even though he knew this sounded typical of a dangerous situation, it felt as if time slowed. He and Die turned quickly and began to run for the yellow line. He heard Shorty shout, heard a number of guns being pulled, but he didn't care. He was not going back there—he wasn't going to die in captivity. The train was coming. He could hear it rumbling down the tracks, could feel it through the platform and the trains were always on time. Kaoru was smaller than Die, which made it easier for him to run faster. It was Kaoru who sailed over the yellow line first and jumped off of the platform and onto the tracks. The problem was that desperation warred against luck and it won. Desperation caused Kaoru to be clumsy and made him trip while he ran against some nameless nothing—something that when Kaoru looked later—could've sworn was nothing. Some people can walk and trip over nothing on the sidewalk. This was the same case here.

Kaoru fell on the track, narrowly missing the conductor rail but do you think that mattered to a train?

It was 6:30.

++

"We're here early." She sounded considerably happier than she had been and for that hide was glad. He hated people sulking and he was worried about Kaoru. As the train pulled into the station, their was a sudden jolt as the conductor threw on the emergency brakes. She was in the middle of a sentence—something about her father's friends outside of the train waiting for her—but the sentence ended in a shriek.

Most people were thrown forward and reached for things to hang onto. hide clung to the metal pole set aside for occasions such as these in order not to go crashing into someone else. The girl however glomped onto him and screamed her heart out while trying to squeeze hide's out of his own ribcage.

++

"KAORU!"

Can't think—train coming, rattling around him, through his head, through his teeth and that mechanical shriek of brakes—

--hands seized his collar and yanked him off of the track with an almost inhuman strength but that wasn't the end of it, no—no—the train was still coming—coming and he could feel the horrible sensation of doom bearing down on him. His tshirt ripped in those hands and he should've helped propel his own body to escape but he couldn't think. There was the sound of someone screaming a sort of war cry and Kaoru felt himself being yanked up—

--and falling hard on cement and against someone else's body in a not so nice way bedroom type of way either. Kaoru's head fell back against this person's chest and he groaned—sounding mysteriously like Die. They were both panting on the hard concrete, aching in places—probably Die more so than he—just as the sound of footsteps came pounding in along with the screech of an infuriated train having missed its prey. Guns were being drawn, the triggers cocked back and a loud harsh voice screamed out, "FREEZE, ASSHOLES, PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN. I SAID FREEZE!" But Kaoru didn't care. He just needed to catch his breath and slow his heart. He didn't have any weapons anyway. He heard the train doors open, heard officers curse about telling those operators to keep those doors close and someone ran out of the train.

"Ichigo?!" A woman's voice. Startled, high pitched—angry. The worse thing that could've happened to his ears after those train brakes. But fancy that. Kaoru couldn't help but laugh a little and he laughed harder when he realized Die was laughing with him. Shorty's name was Strawberry. Chased and kidnapped by a man named 'Strawberry'. He'd knew he'd never live it down.

"Ma'am! Please step away from that man—" And while the police and the woman argued, he heard the sound of someone else getting off of the train. The police seemed to ignore this person however, which was odd. Someone with bright pink hair stood over him and laughed his notorious laugh.

"hide!" Kaoru and Die said simultaneously and Kaoru flashed him a grateful smile. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Some people would say that I'd cause sore eyes." hide snickered impishly again and surprisingly, he bent and hugged the two of them—or it wasn't exactly a hug because Kaoru was sure you shouldn't feel like choking in a hug. "C'mon, kids. Let's go home."

Die groaned and from what Kaoru could feel, lay back on the pavement in a sprawl. "Too tired. I've been through too much. And we can't go home yet, they still have to question the whole lot of us and check us over any other wounds and trauma."

"I'd like to be treated for wounds and trauma," Kaoru voiced, "I'm sure I've got a lot to last me a few centuries."

"Suit yourself then. Your trauma and wounds outliving you. How nice." Die murmured and Kaoru nodded. Die needed some help too because his jokes were seriously starting to lack that funny 'punch' they had to them. ^^; "Damn." hide murmured, but like Die's jokes, it lacked that sort of…punch to it. "Alright, kids. I'll go home and tell the wives that you're all nice and happy. And lucky for you…it seems that after finding Kaoru, everything's working in the powers department."

"Better not let Shinya hear that." Die murmured as hide vanished.

"Die…" Kaoru slowly sat up and stared down at his friend. "Thanks."

"Bah. It was nothing. Though you do owe me."

"Of course."

"Just one thing?" "What?"

"No more bloody shopping."

Kaoru grinned and reached for Die's hand to give it a shake. "Absolutely no more bloody shopping."

Two days later—

As soon as hide pressed record on the camera, he made sure to laugh. He wanted the video to start off with his laugh so that when this was all over, they'd remember him. Of course, they would say that there was no way they could ever forget him but hide wanted them to remember him in a specific way. He wanted them to remember him with big smiles and to laugh when he laughed as soon as the tape came on. So here the boys stood—all five of them—in the studio surrounded by all sorts of gifts and things bought over from their management's office. It was almost like Christmas except it was August and there was no tree involved. Nothing could ruin today's mini-celebration and Kyo even smiled at Mana's little Lolita messengers that showed up at the studio doorstep with presents. 'AH!' Kyo had said, 'Something more useful than roses'. It was a giant basket filled with food that served as lunch and could indeed serve as dinner, later. As hide looked through the lens, he made sure to pause on each face. Toshiya was flushed and happy. He had been unable to stop smiling that entire day—which was a vast improvement from yesterday when all he could do was stare at Kaoru and sob. Every now and again, he would quiet down while tears slid down his face—but he ended up sobbing again. Today, there were no traces of any tears and hide was glad. He hated people to be unhappy.

Shinya was smiling. Quiet as always but smiling. Unlike Toshiya and Kaoru, who were content to be in the same room and be with their friends, Shinya had developed an abnormal growth that was attached to his hand and wouldn't let go unless they were practicing or recording. It was Die, of course. He looked a little thinner and worse for wear and sometimes, he irritated Shinya because he stuck too close. He didn't irritate Shinya too much though and that was what mattered. Shinya's face hadn't made an angry face in all this time.

Kyo did the opening of presents or announcing of who sent them what. He also seemed to be taken with a letter opener that Kaoru had nicked from the library and none of the members seemed inclined to give it back. Kyo said it was a symbol—claimed that there were symbols everything but if pushed—he'd make up some elaborate story that made no sense at all. Whatever the symbolism was—hide supposed that you either understood or you didn't. Currently, Kyo was using the letter opener to slice open some boxes that were wrapped up for them. Kyo was bouncing back and forth between friends' apartments in order to spend time with both guitarists and had said that their absence had yielded only one good thing: That he could beat them on any video game that he could never have done before.

"Hey, look! Even hide got us something!"

"I did?" hide asked, doing a very good act of looking confused. Kyo opened the box, only to find five more boxes with different names on each. When Kyo passed out the rest of the boxes, they glanced to hide and ran from the room to open it out of general politeness for the giver (even if said giver pretended that he hadn't given them anything at all). When they came back, they were all wearing the skull necklaces that hide had designed and looking generally proud of themselves—a quiet admission of thank you.

"We all match now. It's like some sort of super hero thing where all the members in the team where the same thing and when trouble rears its head—"

Shinya glanced to Kaoru, who slowed in talking as soon as he saw Shinya's gaze. "Kaoru? Um…That was kind of—"

"Lame?" hide and the rest asked, just as Shinya nodded and Kaoru's shoulders slumped.

"And to think—during our captivity—I was actually thinking of missing you."

hide snorted, "Toshiya! Kiss him to end his whining!"

"What? And damage the camera?" Kyo asked, with an innocent look on his face, only to get elbowed by Toshiya—HARD. Toshiya reached for his boyfriend, hands cupping his cheeks and bought him in for a kiss, just as everyone else threw up their hands and made noises of 'eww-get-that-mush-away-from-me'. It was a picture perfect moment really—if only it hadn't been for the sound of three men in a mock-argument.

"Here, Shinya, gimme a kiss on a camera."

"Kyo, if you touch him—so help me—"

There was a demonic laugh just as Toshiya pulled away from Kaoru with a blissful look on his face. He then grabbed a cymbal off of Shinya's drumset and threw it at Kyo. There was a crash, Shinya's yell of indignation and more demonic laughter and for the sake of self-preservation and camera-preservation, hide stopped recording and shut it off.

Well…he did wish for things to be normal again.

^^;

++

End of part five

The girl is no one. Just some random chick I picked up along the way.

I can garner a moral for this but if I say it aloud it doesn't quite make as much sense in my head. It has to do with a feeling and sadly, I can't manipulate English to make these feelings known. ^^;

But--

I still don't know anything. XD

++

Part 6a

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