Kaede felt a slight twitching in his jaw as he watched the pair standing in front of him.
"So I figured that it would be great if all of us were to watch it together," Akira told him as he lazily hooked his chin on Hanamichi's shoulder. The redhead remained silent and instead of the cheerful grin he always sports, the smile seemed uncomfortable. Kaede thought it odd since he knew that if Hanamichi did not like something the redhead would undoubtedly make his displeasure known. Pummel the spikey-haired brunette on the ground most probably. Instead, Hanamichi accepted Akira's affection without complaint. Vocally, anyway. The redhead looked about ready to burst, his face aflame as Akira continued to drape himself over the redhead not relinquishing his hold even one bit as they walked towards the common room where the family's impressive entertainment system was set up.
At that moment, a door to one of the studies opened and Hisashi's face popped into view looking at Akira and Hanamichi in surprise.
"What are you two doing here?" he asked as he loosened his tie from his neck. He had just came home from work and after putting away his workpapers in his study he was about go and take a bath when he heard Akira's voice at the door.
Akira graced his cousin with a bright grin as he shook a bottle of 1976 wine in front of Hisashi's face. "To celebrate. Our drama is previewing tonight so I think it'll be fun to watch it together."
The scarred-face man blinked. "Oh. Ok."
A few minutes later, the four have made themselves comfortable in the common room, Hisashi in one of the armchairs, Akira and Hanamichi sitting on the floor while Kaede sat on a velvet stool behind his cousin and the redhead.
"Ah," Hisashi sighed as he sipped on the wine that Akira brought with him, "We should do this more often. It's not always we relax together like this." Beside him was a cart laden with snacks Hisashi had the servants brought in and in front of Akira and Hanamichi was a low table where the tall brunette and the redhead ate their snacks and had their drinks. Hisashi's plate was sitting on the cart, the eldest Kanagawa in the room apparently having already eaten like his two guests. The only person not eating was Kaede who was quietly staring at the commercials on the television.
Kaede was less verbal than usual for he have not spoken a word after he opened the door to let he and Akira in. Hanamichi was dreadfully concious of that fact that he dare not turn over to look at the young man. Afraid that he would see anger in the blue eyes. Or worse, indifference.
"Hey, look! The show is starting!" Akira exclaimed gayly as he slung his arm over the redhead's broad shoulder.
Hanamichi sighed as he took a draught from his wine, grimacing at the unfamiliar sour taste. What the hell. 'Might as well have some fun tonight.
The next day:
The door to the spare room creaked as it slowly opened. A sluggish redhead appeared from behind it, dragging himself wearily out of the room and slowly down the stairs.
After what he thought were miles of agonising walking, he finally found the dining room where Kaede sat eating his breakfast alone.
"Ohayo," Hanamichi mumbled as he leaned his body against the dining table. "Thank God it's Sunday," the redhead croaked, "Thanks for letting me stay here last night. I feel wasted."
"You were last night," Kaede said, slicing his fried eggs with a knife, "I didn't know you could be that agressive."
Hanamichi blinked at the fox-eyed brunette in confusion. "Huh?"
"You nearly forced yourself on aniki before Akira could pull you away," Kaede said cooly, "And that was before Akira sat on his lap."
Hanamichi sputtered as his face went red. "I - Akira - We... I DID NOT!"
"Yes, you did."
The redhead tried to think back on what happened last night but all he could remember was the continuous flow of wine, warm hands, excitement, the feeling of wicked glee...
Kami-sama, he probably did hit on Hisashi-kun! With Akira-baka, too, since he did remember the baka cuddling Hisashi while sitting on the young man's lap and Hisashi turning to all shades of red before dumping Akira on the floor with foul words that would have peeled the paint off of the walls.
"Shimata..." Hanamichi groaned.
"I hope I'll never see that again," Kaede said after he took a sip from his juice, "Or else nothing will be left of my sweet memories of the past."
Hanamichi turned to glare at the brunette with a frown on his lips. "I see. So, your memories are more important to you than myself, eh?"
Kaede looked up to regard the redhead with a thoughtful expression that was genuine. "Maybe...."
He turned his attention back to his breakfast. "I always dreamt that you as the person in my memory would never think of betraying me. But /you/ have been going against me since we met."
Hanamichi scowled like a child being unfairly scolded before he turned around to walk out of the dining room.
"Whatever. I'm going home."
The redhead heard a chair being pushed back before the brunette said, "Let me send you home, then."
"No thanks," Hanamichi snapped, "I'd rather walk."
After stepping out of the mansion's compound, the redhead instantly headed towards the train-station, grumbling about stupid kistune with their stupid dreams and their stupid logic.
Fine, Hanamichi thought, If that's how he sees me, then I'll keep on fighting him until the end. Let's see who can hold on, that stupid, cold, ugly, idiotic-
"Sakuragi Hanamichi?"
Hanamichi turned around to the source of the voice who called him and saw a heavy built man with brown hair and olive skin leaning against the hood of a black Lexus parked beside the street. The stranger pushed himself away from the car and walked towards the redhead and gave the young man a lazy smile, a cigarette trapped between his white teeth.
Hanamichi stared at him. "Do I know you?"
"Yes, you do," the stranger said as he slipped his hand under his jacket. Before the redhead knew what was going on, he found himself staring at the barrel of a gun, pointing straight at his face.
"I'm your kidnapper."
~~~~
When Akira appeared in the dining room, Kaede has already finished his breakfast three hours ago and was now reading a copy of a business document Hisashi gave to him to read.
"'Morning," Akira greeted weakly as he dropped onto the chair beside Kaede, "Where's the coffee?"
"It's one past in the afternoon," Kaede pointed out.
"Coffee. Please. I'm dying here," Akira whined.
The fox-eyed brunette sighed and called for the maid to bring his cousin a pot of warm coffee. When the drink came, Kaede leaned back to watch Akira drink a cupfull of coffee in one go. As Akira's face slowly got some of its normal colour back, the actor let out a satisfying sigh before he picked up the pot of coffee for a refill.
"Where's Hanamichi-kun?" Akira asked before he sipped his second cup of coffee slowly.
"He walked home earlier," Kaede told him, turning back to his paper, "He probably needed to walk the alcohol off after last night."
Akira peered from under his lashes as he held his cup under his nose.
"Jealous, are we?"
Kaede snorted. "I could see the act that you two put on last night. I thought you were a better actor than that."
Akira arched an eyebrow.
"How do you know if I was acting or not?" he challenged
"I know you," Kaede told him, "And I know Hanamichi better than you think."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"You're not cute anymore."
"I didn't know you cared," Kaede said monotonously before he continued to read the business performance section.
At that moment, a maid walked in with a cordless phone in her hand.
"Sir, a phonecall for you," she said offering the phone to her employer.
Kaede took the phone with a nod and answered, "Yes?"
"Kanagawa-san. Do you remember me? We met at the Hakuba resort a few weeks ago. Your boyfriend, Sakuragi Hanamichi is with me at the moment. Interesting fellow. And very talkative."
"What?"
"Oh, did I forget to mention that this is a kidnapping?"
Suddenly, Kaede remembered who that person was by the voice. He stood up so quickly that surprised Akira into alertness.
"You're the one that nearly had us snowed in at Hakuba. Where's Hanamichi?!"
"He's safe. And if you want him back, you have to follow the instructions we placed in your mail."
"I want to hear his voice," Kaede demanded. Akira has stood up and was now crowding against the fox-eyed youth to listen to the phone as well.
In the black Lexus, the young man who sat behind the wheel turned around to push the phone in front of the redhead's face. "Say something. Your boyfriend wants to hear your voice."
Hanamichi who was sitting at the back seat with the other man glared at the slender youth and kept quiet. Only his blazing brown eyes showed his kidnappers how pissed off he was.
"Stubborn boy," the tanned man said under his breath.
Hanamichi gave the man a grin of triumph, knowing that they knew he would keep his silence for Kaede's sake. Even if they beat him up, he won't make a sound. His kidnapper, however, had other ideas because suddenly, the man gripped Hanamichi by the back of his neck and pulled the redhead in for a vicious kiss that shocked his wits.
The redhead struggled and when the man released him, his screaming voice was shaking from the humiliation and shock.
"Yaro! I'll kill you!"
The young man sitting at the driver's seat chuckled before he spoke to the phone again, "You heard that? We'll be waiting."
Before Kaede could say anything, the line went dead. Immedietly, he reached for the mail beside him that was brought in by the servants, and sifted through them, looking for an unstamped letter that might have come from the kidnappers.
"What are you looking for?" Akira asked.
"A letter from Hanamichi's kidnappers," Kaede told him quickly.
"They probably put it in the mailbox after they took Hanamichi," Akira said, seeing that his cousin couldn't find what he was looking for.
"I'll go take a look."
Kaede dropped the stack of letters and bills and followed Akira out of the house. Ignoring the servant's surprise, the two brunettes snatched a key for the mailbox and rushed to the gate where the mail was dropped off. Upon opening the box, they found a note made from a simple piece of paper and on it were the words:
'Come at 2pm to Ueno Park. Look for a message at the waterfall.'
Kaede looked at the watch on his wrist and swore. "It's fifteen minutes to two."
"We can take my car," Akira told him, rushing into the house to fetch his keys.
Not long after they were speeding towards the park, burning enough rubber for Akira to buy a set of new tyres after they were done. They were thankful that no policeman stopped them along the way for they doubted that Hanamichi's kidnappers would be pleased at seeing a uniformed escort with them.
They reached their destination ten minutes later when a thought occured to Kaede.
"Wait. Where would we find a waterfall in a park?"
Akira blinked. "I don't know. Look, there's a map over there. We'll use that."
The two young men hurried over to the board map in front of the park and scanned for any keys of a waterfall. To their frustration there was no waterfall of any kind in the park. Just as Kaede was about to knock the map off to the ground in anger, Akira let out a yelp of victory. "Here it is! Something called "waterfall" but I can't tell what it looks like. Could that be it?"
Kaede nodded, relieved. "It should. Let's go."
Akira nodded as well and followed Kaede into the park. It didn't take long for them to find the waterfall.
It was a man-made structure built from rocks and rusty-grey coloured tiles and around it was a small pond made from more tiles of dark blue. The pond was empty and the only hint that there was ever any water before it was drained dry was the smell of chlloroform.
"It doesn't look like a waterfall," complained Akira, "Heck, there's not even any water in it!"
Kaede eyed the structure in scrutiny. "This should be it," he insisted. Suddenly he spotted something on the tiles in front of him and upon realising what it was, he pulled at Akira's jacket urgently.
"Look! There! Another message!"
Akira looked to where Kaede was pointing and read, "'You have half an hour. The boy is in the park.'"
"He's here," Keade whispered before he turned to his cousin, "We split up and look for him."
"Shit! We only have half an hour! And this park is huge!" Akira cursed, "Alright. We meet up later at the stairs to the north of the park we saw on the map. Hanamichi's gotta be here somewhere."
Kaede nodded in agreement and took off in the opposite direction to where Akira was running to.
Hanamichi clenched his fists on his lap as he watched Akira and Kaede run away to look for him. On the bench was his olive-skinned kidnapper, lounging lazily beside him as he smoked his cigarette. Standing behind them was the other young man, cocking the gun against the redhead's neck, the weapon hidden from view with a newspaper.
"Why are you doing this?" Hanamichi demanded through gritted teeth.
"Because it's fun," the man drawled before he threw his finished cigarette on the ground. Grounding it with his foot he then draped his arm over the back of the bench and laughed.
"And it is fun to break the cool composure of his. Fun indeed."
Hanamichi turned around to glare at him. "You're crazy. If I didn't know any better, you're probably part of the Kanagawa family."
"Actually I am," the man said, gracing the redhead with an enagmatic smile, "Nice to meet you, Sakuragi Hanamichi."
~~~~
"Hey! Isn't that Sendoh Akira?!"
A surprised gasp. "Yes it is! What's he doing here? Is he doing a shoot?"
Akira ignored the gaping girls and hoped that they wouldn't draw any unwanted attention by screaming or following him around. He ran faster and finally he caught sight of Kaede running towards him from the other side of the park.
"Found him?" Akira panted, wiping his sweaty forhead with his sleeve. When the fox-eyed youth shook his head, Akira felt his heart dropping to the pit of his stomach.
"Where can he be?!" cried the actor furiously, "This is crazy!"
Sudden realisation hit Kaede smartly on the head and he stared at Akira with an odd look. "You're right. This is crazy."
"Damn right it is!"
"No, what I mean is - who would be crazy enough to do this? Who do we know that would find it worthwhile to make kidnapping a game?"
Akira's blue eyes grew wide. ".... it can't be."
"It's possible."
Akira huffed. "Ok. But we still don't know where Hanamichi is."
Kaede wiped the sweat above his upper lip distractedly. "If it is him that's doing this, then we can get an idea where he might be keeping Hanamichi. He is an artist. He told me once he likes the coldness of stone rather than the warmth of human beings, saying that beauty can be created from stone rather than volatile people. He called Ueno park Ueno forest, the forest of art because of its natural and man-made architectural beauty.... I'm guessing that he would choose a place with a statue of some sort."
"I know!" Akira cried, "It's the statue of the man that he brought me to see a few years ago. It's the only one in the park!"