Ijyuin Akira;
My arms hurt. That was my first thoguht as I started to wake up. My arms hurt, and one arm hurt more than the other. It was almost like I cut myself, thought I couldn't remember doing so.
My next thought was that I was not lying in my nice warm bed. As I woke up more fully I realised that I was chained to a wall. No wonder my arms hurt. I opened my eyes to look straight into the blues eyes of a woman whose hand seemed to be raised to strike me in the face.
"Eh?" What was going on?
The woman faltered as she looked into my eyes and her hand lowered. Looking over her shoulder she said, "He's awake. Shall I put him under again, Puppet-sama?"
"Iie," a voice said from the door. I looked at the doorway but could see nothing but a shadow, "It's more effective this way."
"Hai, Puppet-sama," the woman replied softly. She seemed sad for some reason.
"I leave this to you Aki-san. I have to be getting back to the Campus." The voice commanded. That said the shadow disappeared from the doorway and I heard the clicking of shoes walking down the hallway.
"Hai," Aki-san said again, just as sadly.
Aki-san raised her hand again, made it into a fist and said to me, "Gomen nasai."
Her fist came down and hit my cheek hard. My head snapped to the side and I gasped in pain. She hit my face a few more times before stopping. I looked at her, my eyes misting in pain. She was looking at the floor with her auburn hair falling across her shoulders. Her fists where clenched at her sides and there were tears running down her cheeks.
I had to do something. After all it was the mission of the Clamp Campus Detectives to be of aid to women.
"Are you alright, Aki-san?" I asked her. This only seemed to make her cry harder. I panicked. If my arms had been free I would have been waving them frantically. What should I do?
"What's wrong?" I asked. Maybe if she told me then I could figure out how to help her.
Aki-san sniffed and looked up at me. "Why do you have to be such a nice kid?"
The problem was that I was a nice kid? I didn't know how to change that... maybe if I was mean... but how would I be mean? Um... I thought for awhile, but my mind was not coming up with any ideas.
Aki-san saved from this by sighing and sitting down on the floor. She picked up a Polaroid camera. She began to talk to me while she played with it.
"I hate this... this travesty. Fu- I mean Puppet-sama having us kidnap you and injure you and..." Aki-san's sentence trailed off and she looked at me, fresh tears blooming, "Gomen nasai, little one."
"It's all right." I smiled at her even though smiling hurt a lot at the moment. "You don't want to do it so it's okay... but why are you here if you don't want to be?"
"Me and my brother are pledged in service to Puppet-sama. Bodyguards, that sort of stuff... we're very good at what we do, but not near as good as the Takamura clan. And..." Aki-san's voice lowered to a whisper, "Fu- Puppet-sama and I were best friends for many years..."
"You aren't anymore?"
"I... I want to be her friend... I miss being her friend, but I don't know how I can be when she does stuff like this," Aki-san gestured towards me. I think I was beginning to see the problem.
"Would you be happy if I escaped? Would you smile then?" I asked. She looked up at me and gave a little smile. Her eyes skirted to the top corner of the room for second before returning to me.
"To have you escape would ruin all Puppet-sama's plans, and I can't allow that," she told me, though I think she did want me to escape. Well, that was good. I was planning to escape anyway. Everything worked out! Sugoi!
Aki-san stood up and gave me a small bow, "I am Yumane Aki."
I gave her as good a bow that I could manage, "Ijyuin Akira."
"Pleased to meet you Ijyuin-san," Aki-san told me. She walked up to me and grasped my chin. She turned my head and studied my injuries.
"This has bruised well enough," Aki-san said, still with a note of sadness. She raised the Polaroid. Oh! She was going to take a picture of me! I smiled at her. Aki-san lowered the camera and laughed a bit. She was very pretty when she wasn't so sad. I was glad she laughed.
"Ijyuin-san, you're not supposed to smile. This is blackmail material for Imonoyama-sama. It's not going to be very effective if you look happy. Though wouldn't that make Fu- um... Puppet-sama mad."
Oh. I forced myself not to smile. Aki-san gave me a small smile and took the picture.
"Arigato, Ijyuin-san. I hope someday to talk to you under better circumstances." Aki-san took the picture from the Polaroid, placed the camera carefully back on the floor and left the room.
Now that I was alone I could escape. It would be unique to use my skills as 20 Masks for something other than making my mothers happy. Of course all my lock picking equipment and such was on my costume... which I wasn't wearing. Maybe I should start hiding my 20 Masks equipment in my uniform like Takamura-senpai did with his ninja stuff. I guess I would just have to improvise.
I looked down at my blood stained shirt (hmm, it was going to take forever to get that stain out). The pin on my tie should do nicely. Now all I had to do was get at it. I turned myself around the best I could and braced my feet against the wall. I walked up the wall, turning myself upside down. Just as I was about to flip over I wrapped my legs around the chains. Now that I was upside down I pulled myself up using my legs and my one good arm. At last the pin on my tie was within reach of my hand. I grabbed it and flipped back right side up.
I cried out in pain as my weight yanked on my injured arm. After I recovered from that I quickly picked the locks on my chains. As the last one fell away I dropped to the ground. I crouched there for a moment, listening. I heard the sound of footsteps pounding down the hallway. I ran out the door and down the hallway as quickly and quietly as I could.
You know this was kind of fun. Wait until I told Kaichou and Takamura-senpai about the adventure I had.
Imonoyama Nokoru;
As Ohkawa Kaichou and I opened the door to the council room, I looked back at Suoh. Our eyes met and I knew it was just killing him to let me go out of his sight with all that was happening. Yet, it was more efficent to work this way, and time was a commodity that we did not have. Besides, Suoh was a more likely target than I anyway.
In his eyes I could see what I had saw when we'd discussed our course of action.
You clearly saw the attackers, Suoh?
Hai, Kaichou. I would be able to identify them, especially the man I fought with. Unfortunately the person who had Ijyuin was masked. I couldn't that person clearly.
That's alright Suoh. If you can identify just one of them he might lead us to the rest. Stay here and go through the school files.
Kaichou...
I had adverted that arguement with a gesture from my fan, but his golden eyes clearly showed that he still wanted to argue the case with me. I glanced down at Ohkawa Kaichou then back at Suoh. I was telling him that I would never knowingly lead a lady into danger. I hope that alleviated his fear somewhat.
Ohkawa Kaichou and I walked to the university computer lab, for they were the one's with the best computers and the best scanners. I said a quick couple of words to the teacher and we were allowed to commendere a scanner for a few moments. We moved to the last and most remote computer in the room. There was a lady working on some sort of program. Whatever it was it was very complicated.
Within seconds my memory gave me a name to put to her face and I gave her a small bow, "Excuse me, Kaouji Fuyumi-san. Would it be possible for us to borrow this computer for a moment or two, please?"
She looked up at me and looked surprised for a moment, before her face became guarded, and unyielding of any true emotion. How odd. She gave me the slightest of smiles and replied, "How could anyone refuse the cute Nokoru-sama? If you'll just give a moment to save this."
I nodded. She typed in a few more commands then saved it. It was a big program and looked like it was going to take a few moments to save. Beside me Ohkawa Kaichou fidgeted in impatience. I merely observed.
Fuyumi-san was wearing the most interesting perfume. It was a light flowery scent that I couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, it was absolutely delightful.
Fuyumi-san stood up and gestured towards the computer, "It's all yours."
"Arigato, Fuyumi-san."
I opened the scanner program. I set it for the best quality possible and nodded at Ohkawa Kaichou. She placed the Polaroid in the scanner, careful not to let Fuyumi-san see it. In a few seconds it was scanned, saved, encrypted, and set to the Elementary Student Council computers.
I got up, smiled at Fuyumi-san and said, "Here is your computer back, Fuyumi-san. Arigato for your aid."
She gave me a small nod. Ohkawa Kaichou and I left the room. On my way out I could feel Fuyumi-san's eyes on my back.
I closed the door behind me and the feeling left. Turning to Ohkawa Kaichou I told her, "Ohkawa Kaichou, could you please go back to the council room and help Souh." Perdicting her question I continued, "I have one last errand I have to do."
She gave a small curtsy and went on her way. I turned and headed towards Rijichou's office.
Rijichou;
Nokoru bowed to me politely before kneeling across from me.
"Rijichou," he voiced politely.
I inclined my head to him, my fan in front of my face, and replied just as politely, "Nokoru-sama."
I gave him the tea I had poured as soon as I had seen his destination on my security system. We both sipped at the same time. As soon as the tea cups hit the table I told him, "I'm sorry about Ijyuin-san. If there is anything you need, feel free to ask, Nokoru-sama."
"Rijichou," he looked at me steadily, "I wish to go through your security records, as I know your system is even more secure than CLAMP's, and less known about."
Clever as always. "I'm afraid that though it is true that few know of it, it too was hit by our mysterious hacker."
"I was afraid of that," Nokoru sighed. Though he looked as composed as he always did around me, I could see the edges of his composure beginning to fray. I let my fan fall into my other hand, closing it with a sharp snap. I stared at him steadily and saw the surprise in his eyes. He blinked and it was gone. He lowered his mask, just as I had lowered mine. Now he looked tired, worn out, and scared.
"Nokoru-sama, this hacker tore through our systems. It has taken CLAMP's best all night to reconstruct them, and they are still not done. Find your friend, and find who did this." With a flick of my wrist I opened my fan once again and drew it up over my face.
Nokoru gave me a slight inclination of his head and stood, "I will find them, Rijichou. Arigato, your help has been appreciated."
With that said he walked to the door, and left to find more clues. I lowered my fan once more and smiled, for I was sure he would solve the mystery. I was sure that my darling son would make me proud once again.
Takamura Suoh;
Click. Look at picture. Not him. Click. Look at next picture. Click.
I sighed. I had already gone through over fifty pictures. Which left close to a three thousand more, even limiting it to senior and college males. It was a daunting task. Click.
Something on the taskbar blinked. I knew it had to be the picture. Which meant Ohkawa Kaichou and my Kaichou would be returning soon. Click. That was a relief to my mind. Though an attack seemed unlikely during the day, my place should be at his side. It was my duty, my destiny to protect Imonoyama Nokoru. Not sit at a screen and stare at pictures. Click.
As usual the reasoning he'd given for my staying had been impectable. Though truly the only reason I'd relented was because Ohkawa Kaichou was with him. So even if something were to happen Kaichou would suddenly gain amazing ablities to defend Ohkawa Kaichou... who had just walked in. Alone.
I looked at her, having just clicked to the next picture. She must have seen the look on my face for she told me, "Imonoyama Kaichou said he had one more errand. He should be right back."
Kaichou... I looked down at my screen so that she wouldn't see the naked frustration on my face. My eyes widened as I noticed the picture. That was him, that was my skilled opponent.
Yumane Yuji.
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I'm beginning to think that just leaving the chapter titles as 'chapter
three', etc., might be more bareable than the titles I'm coming up with.
~laughs~
Isn't Akira just so adorable? ~smile~ He's very fun to
write. He's free of his chains but Puppet-sama's minions are in hot
pursuit of him. Has he escaped just to be caught again? Uh-uh...
I'm not telling, you'll have to read the next part to find out.
-- Written by Koneko, originally in 2000, but with some tweaking done to bring this version in July 14, 2001.