DISCLAIMER: The following story is based off of Air Gear.
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Quietly, two brothers stared at each other across the table. One seemed bored, the other conflicted. For awhile, the two just sat in silence until at last the younger of the two spoke up.
"You over did it Nian" said the conflicted brother. He couldn't stop thinking about his brief encounter with Akito and how the kid looked completely battered. He shuddered involuntarily as he remembered the utter hatred in the child's voice when he had spoken to him. He had never heard Akito use that tone before.
"I didn't. He was stubborn. I did what I had to in order to break him. Look on the bright side of things, little brother. Now you won't have to play pretend friends with the little whelp." Nian lifted his cigarette to his lips and inhaled deeply. His brother looked away. He hadn't visited their captive in three days. He had no idea what Akito thought about him now.
"….yeah" He finally mumbled. Akito wasn't his friend so it didn't matter what he thought of him. Akito was just …just what?
"We're moving him by the way. Out of this town and closer to a bigger city." Nian informed his sibling. Kirin looked surprised.
"Why? You said yourself there's nobody to bribe, so why do we still even have him? Why can't we just dump him back on the streets?" Kirin asked. Why couldn't they just let him go already?
"Kirin come now. Everything has value, including that vermin downstairs. He's what some bastards call 'petite with a pretty face'. I'm sure once he's cleaned up he'd make a cute pet for someone with deep pockets and unusual tastes." Nian smiled as he exhaled smoke. He glanced at Kirin who didn't seem too pleased with their latest plan of earning some quick cash.
"Kirin. It's not like we can just let the little shit go. He knows our faces. He'd go to the cops. The alternative is to kill him and personally I'd rather make some sort of profit from all this." Nian said calmly as he took another drag of his cigarette. Kirin excused himself and headed upstairs into the private lounge. It was here that he laid on the couch for well over an hour, and it was here that he was found by none other than his cohort in crime.
"Hey. You know… you're taking this a little hard ain't ya? Don't tell me you've got a soft spot for the 'angel'." Came the voice as someone sat down beside the sprawled mess of a person. Kirin moved his arms away from his eyes to look up at Gio.
"I'm just tired. It's been a long frustrating couple of days." He said flatly and Gio laughed.
"Yeah tell me about it. Count yourself lucky that you haven't had to play guard the past few days. Whatever the hell Nian did to her made her completely snap. Sure she was quiet the first night, but all hell broke loose when she was finally able to move again" Gio shook his head and chuckled again. Kirin was curious now. He knew he shouldn't be, but he couldn't help it. He asked Gio what was different and Gio sighed as he began.
"Well for one thing, she spends her free time tugging at the chains. I expected that kinda shit when we first caught her yet she didn't try once back then. It's weird she's trying to break them now… but anyway, the second thing is if she catches anyone looking in on her she becomes a waterfall of profanities. Don't matter if you look away and lean back against the wall, she just keeps on shouting to the high heavens. I'm seriously shocked the music can drain her out." Gio shook his head again and rubbed his temples. He was starting to miss the old angel. This new one was just too feisty. Where did a kid learn that kind of language anyway? Their angel 2.0 swore worse than a sailor. A really mean sailor in a particularly nasty storm.
Kirin had finally sat up, straightening himself on the couch and thinking over the changes Gio was describing. He was still in his thoughts when he heard the brunette speaking to him again.
"Maybe you should visit her again."
That sentence made Kirin stare at Gio. Nian had said he thought it was a bad idea for Kirin to continue the charade and Gio had readily agreed. That alone was enough to ring warning bells in Kirin's head. When those two agreed he knew it was serious. They thought Kirin was getting too close to this and there was no point in him talking with Akito anymore anyway.
"Why? What good would that do?" He finally asked.
"Well I just wanna see if you can make it out alive" Gio replied with a grin. Kirin was confused.
"Dude, the last three people I sent in to feed that little monster were all attacked. The last guy came out with a broken nose and a sprained ankle…. She's getting harder to control" His smile faded and he looked serious now. Gio was unnerved by the child. He had always found the kid interesting and kind of odd, but he had never suspected how viciously she could just attack like that. Every movement was so precise. They were moving her to a new location soon and he did not want to be part of the team that had to go in there and get her. He wondered if Kirin could get the kid to come quietly. There was a fair chance Kirin's past discussions with the kid could calm her enough to control her, though he wasn't going to put much hope in this plan. Kirin folded his hands and rested them against his chin, elbows planted firmly on his knees. He thought about it for a few minutes, trying to decide what was better for their job, trying to pull those reasons away from his own personal reasons. At last he decided.
"Alright. That's no problem. It'll be nice to have something to do again" Kirin said softly with a gentle nod of his head.
Agito's skull was pounding. Ever since that dick with the blonde hair and braid came in and whacked him with a gun, the dull throb of a headache just wouldn't leave. It didn't help that Agito would not stop his hollering and thrashing about whenever he had enough energy. The man that had moved his eye patch by accident during their first little one sided fight had returned the next day with a gun. Even at gunpoint Agito had laughed in the man's face. He hadn't believed Agito when he said nobody was going to give him shit in order to have him back. It wasn't until he reminded the man that he had been missing for well over a week and nobody had reported him to the police that the man finally seemed to accept the answer. The blonde was instantly suspicious, questioning how he had known nothing had been reported to the cops. He didn't like Agito's reply of just quiet chuckling. Agito and Akito had figured it out pretty easily though. Why else would they send in that other younger prissy blonde to try to weasel out information from Akito all week? The gun wielding bastard didn't like Agito's attitude and knocked him out with a blow to the head with that shiny metal pistol. Agito was used to being hit so it didn't really take long to recover.
Agito growled as he thought about that son of a bitch. Suddenly a loud noise interrupted his thoughts. He glanced down at his stomach and glared at the noisy disturbance. His glaring did little to stop it from growling at him.
"Okay fine…. Maybe I went a bit overboard with the last guy." Agito muttered to himself.
'Agito… you made him pee himself.'
Agito smiled at the memory. He hadn't been given anything the day after his encounter with the blonde gun toting menace, but the following morning breakfast was brought down by a new guy. Agito thought his expression was too smug and quickly chewed him out. He also decided purple suited him better and crippled his body with bruises. The man left in a hurry but Agito didn't get to eat the food. It had splattered onto the ground during Agito's attack. Dinner didn't go any better. That morning yet another new face had come in with a tray of slop. He must have been warned about the boy's latent savagery because he had looked terrified. Agito had played coy until the man had placed down the tray. For a moment the guy had seemed relieved but it didn't last. He left with a bloody nose, bruised ribs, a twisted ankle, and in need of a new pair of pants. Agito had felt accomplished. He managed to scare someone, beat someone up, and get a bite to eat all in ten short minutes.
But now they were afraid of him.
"When I get out of here, I'm going to carve my road so deep in that fucker's body nobody will be able to recognize him." Agito growled, letting his voice echo off the walls. He vented his hunger and irritation at the entire situation at that one guy who had attacked him and Akito. He was glad the patch had moved during the battle. He had hated that feeling of utter uselessness as his lighter half was beaten down while he just watched. A movement caught his eye and he stared at the shadow standing at the door. He grinned. Who was the next toy they had sent for him to break?
"And here I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me." He purred with bitter sarcasm. "Hurry up. I've been bored all by myself. Let's play" He added giving one of his demented fanged grins. It faltered and his eye widened as a familiar face appeared. Instantly he was quiet and his slitted pupil tracked the blonde boy as he approached.
"Good evening Akito" greeted that voice. That voice that had become so familiar and to Akito, a slight comfort. Agito frowned and glared at the older boy as he sat down just as he had always done the past week. As if nothing had happened to change their routine.
"You've already gotten your precious details about my lack of family. What the fuck are you doing here Kirin" Agito said with a flat dead tone. He didn't even give the food a glance. His amber gaze was locked on the man who had stood by while Akito had been tortured.
"What do you want to talk about today?" he asked in his calm patient tone. Agito stomped to his feet and glared down at Kirin.
"Listen to me you bastard! You think now that it's been a few days you can just come in here and play buddy buddy?" snarled Agito. Kirin just glanced up at Agito with a smile. Agito growled and kicked Kirin down so he was flat on his back with Agito's foot planted on his chest.
"What are you trying to do? There's nothing to be gained from this bullshit." Agito hissed venomously. He stared at Kirin with a narrowed eye, waiting for an answer. Kirin was still calm.
"I haven't talked to you in awhile so I thought I'd say hello," came the blonde's reply. Agito glared down at Kirin and let out a growl.
"You fucking Liar" He hissed. He stepped away from him and walked over to the side of his prison, not bothering to look over as he listened to Kirin sit back up. After a moment, Kirin stood and walked over to the blue haired boy. First he glanced at the cuffs which had managed to grow even more grotesque since he last looked at them three days ago. Akito's skin was a mix of yellow and purple from the fading bruises and dried blood was plastered on the left side of his face and hair. He knew Nian had come back down to pay Akito another visit and that nasty looking bump on his head must have been his parting gift to Akito. He reached out a hand and gently touched Akito's hair, but the boy flinched under the touch and immediately pulled away. He turned to face Kirin once more, body posture completely guarded. Any step Kirin took towards him, the boy would take a step away, moving in a circle to ensure he wouldn't be pinned against the wall. Kirin smiled. Once again he was proving he was a very bright kid.
"Really Akito… I'm not going to hurt you." He offered, though it only received a forced 'HAH' in reply. The boy forced a smirk on his lips as a distrusting glint lit his eye.
"Of course not. You call in that other blonde bastard with the braid when you want me roughed up right?" He said with a dark accusing tone. For a moment Kirin seemed hurt at the accusation but it was only for a flicker of a second and it was replaced with that calm mask he had been wearing all day.
"I told him he shouldn't. I told him we didn't need to hurt you. Nian didn't think you'd talk any other way. Believe me when I say I disagree with his methods." He said as he watched the boy who he had once talked so freely with carefully walk around him, eyes wary and disbelieving.
"What a load of bullshit. So you're trying to tell me you're not the bad guy here?" Agito started as he stepped over the chain on the ground and continued to circle Kirin like a shark. "You're saying just because you didn't think it was a good idea that it's still okay that you stood by while that bastard attacked a defenseless child who was chained to a fucking wall and half starved?" He snarled, his expression steadily growing angrier. It was a look that should never be on the face of a child so young.
"Akito…" Kirin started, his voice kind, only to be cut off. The boy before him suddenly lifted his arms behind him, gripped the chain connected to his cuffs, and pulled. The movement had been so fast, Kirin had just enough time to blink before he felt the chain that kept Akito connected to the wall tightened around his arms and body.
"Fuck! Stop it! Don't act so fucking friendly with me. I'm not a dumb little kid, I know that you're trying to manipulate me and it won't work." The boy had stopped circling him. Instead he continued to pull the chain, letting the metal crush against Kirin… though with Agito in the state he was in, malnourished and tired, it wasn't as effective as he had wanted. Seconds later the door slammed open and the goggle wearing guy was charging in calling out to Kirin. He grabbed the chain and gave it a powerful yank, pulling Agito backward and making the boy stumble, though he did not actually fall down. The chain binding Kirin slackened and finally clattered to the ground. Gio grabbed Kirin's arm and pulled him away from the child who just stood still where he was, glaring at Kirin.
"Akito humored you and put up with your bullshit, but I won't." He hissed even as Gio was urging Kirin out the door.
"Jeezes god that kid is messed up. Do you believe me now Kirin?" Gio exclaimed as he stared at the door that was the only barrier between them and the demon within. Kirin rubbed his arms where the chains had pinned them against his body. He finally let the shudder he had managed to withhold travel through his body.
"There is no way that's Akito." He said, voicing his denial. Gio clapped him on the shoulder.
"I guess we'll just slide the food over next time. She's –"
"He"
Gio stared at Kirin and cracked a lop-sided grin. "Seriously going to correct me after I saved you from the demon in the dress?"
"Oh so he's not your little angel anymore?" Kirin asked, though his mind was still trying to grasp something the blue haired child had said earlier. His parting sentence had been strange.
" Well…" Gio shrugged and folded his arms behind his head. "Hey. You know what I don't get? You said she had a lot of friends…but now she's saying nobody wants her. What about those friends?"
Kirin looked up at Gio. He made a valid point. And what about the stories about how he has to be quick at dinner? All this time Kirin had thought he was being the tricky one, luring Akito out into the open to get him to talk… but had it been himself that had been being played the entire time?
"I guess he was just lying to us. Nian was right." He said with one last blank look towards the door. He headed back upstairs leaving Gio alone in his guard duties.
"Booooo." Gio groaned as he slumped against the wall. "You could have at least kept me company a little longer ya jerk" He called after his friend, though Kirin was most likely out of earshot. He turned his head towards the door. Once again he couldn't help but think of how precise the kid's movements had been. Even in that injured state. How could that kid not be in pain with all those bruises? Gio had also noticed blood on Akito's face. Their angel was the farthest thing from angelic now. He glanced at the window of the door, tempted to look in yet wary at the same time. Carefully he approached the door but he shook his head. Why was he bothering with caution? It wasn't like that demon angel could do anything. He looked through the little window with confidence. Akito was there, bent over something on the ground. The tray of food. Gio had almost forgotten the reason Kirin had even entered the room. Gio continued to watch as the kid ripped into the bread, swallowing large chunks without bothering to chew. The kid stopped suddenly and looked up, catching Gio's eyes. They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity to the brunette, dark brown eyes locked with a single cold predator's. Gio leaned back against the wall. He decided he much preferred it when Akito shouted profanities at him over that look.
Agito continued to glare at the door long after that nosy goggle guy had fled from his field of vision. He straightened himself and began pacing back and forth. His muscles screamed in protest, wanting nothing more than to sleep for an entire week or two, but Agito couldn't stand still. He couldn't stand being in the same spot for so long. All he had seen the past however long he was trapped here was the same god forsaken walls. Yes, he had been caged before, but not like this. This type of confinement was far worse than anything Kaito had ever done. He listened as the chain dragged across the ground. It just made him more frustrated. He grabbed it with his hands as best he could and began thrashing it about in a vain attempt to vent his frustration. All that accomplished was making the metal cuffs dig against his wrists. Not that it mattered. His wrists had gone numb awhile ago. He vaguely wondered how nasty they looked right now. He growled as he walked closer to the door, as close as he could before the chain pulled him back.
"Hey." He said flatly. He waited and got no reply.
"Goggle dick-head. I know you're there." Agito waited again, mouth twitching into another snarl as he grew impatient. At last the brunette peeked through the window with light amusement on his guarded face.
"Surprise surprise. You've never wanted to talk to me before angel." The man said, though the way he said 'angel' was forced and not as playful as the way he usually said it.
"Cut the shit. What's the point? Kill me or free me. You already know there's no money." Agito said flatly earning that look of surprise that he'd been receiving quite often since arriving in this dump. Gio truly was surprised. Surprised that Akito could so freely accept they might try to just kill the kid.
"We're not going to kill you angel… don't worry, you're not as worthless as you think." He said smoothly, and at last a small trickle of a smile made its way to his face. Agito narrowed his eye and almost smiled himself as the man's own grin faded.
"What makes you think that?" He said darkly, his voice calm yet demanding an answer.
"Did you know most people have some strange quirks? It's usually the wealthy, probably because they have the money to feed their little habits. The black market is where they go to find the materials for those habits. If you're lucky, maybe the habit you'll feed will be something like being a living dress up doll or a cute little pet. My heart goes out to ya kid, I hope you get a good master" He said with an insincere wink. Agito stared as he understood those words. He let out a soft 'fuck' as he turned away and continued his pacing. So they were going to sell him were they? That was fine. Once he was unchained from this goddamned wall he could make his escape. They couldn't be far from the crow's place. He'd been in the same room so clearly they hadn't moved him. He'd been over this town plenty of times on his ATs so he was confident he could find his way back to the Noyamano house. Walking there was going to be a bitch though.
Gio smirked at the pacing child. Always the interesting one, that demon angel. He could tell Akito knew what was coming and she probably had an inkling about it even without his not so subtle hints. He pitied the person who would end up owning her. Sure he did honestly hope she got a decent master, but the mouth on that kid was bound to piss someone off. The more Gio thought about the kid the more baffling she became. Catching her had been so simple, but had she fought them off like she fought off her feeders with her hands tied behind her back no less, she probably could have escaped back to… wherever she lived. It was just too strange for her to be behaving so different. Maybe Nian had really broken her… but then, the way the kid fought almost looked as if she was trained. Gio groaned and held his head. This was too freaking confusing.
"Aww poor baby has a headache?" Mocked a voice from the steps. Gio lazily opened his eyes to look at Nian.
"Do you really think someone is gonna buy her with the way she keeps cursing and lashing out like that?" He asked, ignoring the blonde's comment. Nian rolled his eyes and walked over to the side of the steps, opening something beneath them.
"They don't need to know about his personality quirks. We can just keep the little prick sedated." He glanced at Gio with a superior look in his eye. Gio crossed his arms and stared back.
"Don't act so smug just because you have one good idea. Here's my idea, we should sell her off as a biological weapon." He scoffed and Nian just continued to smirk and went back to what he was doing.
"Gio…get my brother" Nian finally said as he pulled out what looked like a strong belt of fabric with a nozzle on the end. Gio raised an eyebrow at Nian.
"Now tell me dear Nian… since when have I ever taken orders from you?" He purred. At last a look of annoyance crossed the blonde's face and he glared at Gio. With a huff he threw down what was in his hands and stormed upstairs. Gio chuckled before making his way over to investigate. He bent down and realized what it was. A hose. The type with a durable skin and a forceful flow. They weren't uncommon in commercial areas like this just in case there's a fire. He straightened and stretched his arms over his head, meandering back to his place by the door. The kid had started pacing again. Gio wondered just how much energy Akito had. He glanced up as the Shou siblings finally came back down. Kirin didn't really look like he wanted to be there at the moment and Gio couldn't really blame him.
"You can hold it or you can turn it on" Nian said calmly to his little brother who ran a hand through his reddish blonde hair. Gio felt out of the loop.
"What's up? What is that demented little mind of Nian's thinking up now?" Gio asked Kirin, expecting better results from asking his friend over his grouchy accomplice.
"We're moving the boy later tonight, so we're cleaning everything." Kirin summed up nice and quick as he headed towards the side of the stairs where the knob to control the water flow sat waiting.
" Ahh. We can't exactly leave any traces that we trapped a demon angel down here. I see. What about Akito. Any ideas on how to get her to come quiet? I doubt she's just gonna let you walk up and sedate her." Gio glanced at Kirin first. When the younger brother just shrugged and shook his head, Gio looked over to Kirin.
"And you Mr. I-has-a-great-idea-today? Got any tricks for catching demons?" He waited for Nian to reply, but the older blonde only smiled in that twisted way that Gio recognized. Apparently Nian did have an idea. That sucked. Now Gio would have to put up with his cockiness until he outshined him again.
"Why didn't you just ask Gio to help?" Kirin's words brought the attention of both other boys in the room to stare at him. Then they turned and glared at each other. Kirin shook his head but couldn't suppress that faint smile. "You know… this is a high pressure hose. You will need help to hold onto this thing. Gio, could you?" Kirin faced the two. Nian looked utterly opposed to the idea and that was why Gio readily agreed. Anything to annoy his favorite target. He scooped up a bit of the hose and glanced back into the chamber. The kid wasn't looking at them anymore. Akito was standing still, facing the back wall.
"Alright. Let's get started. Hopefully the kid will be smart enough to stay out of the way of the water." Gio noted as he stood behind Nian with the flat bit of hose held tight in his hands. He didn't catch the grin that spread across Nian's face as he opened the door and headed inside.
Agito paced back and forth in the room for the umpteenth time that day. His eye kept flicking over to the door. He could hear them talking, at least three distinct voices. One was Kirin. He ground his teeth together until at last he stopped and just stood still. Akito was right. He would wear himself out if he kept this up. He sighed and closed his eye, focusing on the voice that shared this body with him. Moving the eye patch back and forth was a much easier way to talk to Akito, surprisingly. He didn't like cutting himself off from the real world to talk in his head. Akito was much better at talking in his mind than Agito. Maybe Agito was just too paranoid to sit by for the length of a full conversation. He took another deep breath.
'We have to keep up our energy so we can make our move.' Akito whispered into Agito's thoughts.
Agito nodded. "The best time would be when they try to move us to wherever they're going to sell us." He replied quietly, still casting glances over his shoulder to check on their captors.
'We will have to hide immediately after our escape. If we try to run in our condition, they'll catch us.' Akito said as the duo continued to think about their plans.
"Yeah, or I could just knock the shit out of them" Agito offered.
'No Agito, be serious. We have a much better chance of getting to safety if we use our energy sparingly. Hiding is the best bet.' Akito was the voice of reason in this chaotic mind.
Agito sighed but nodded. He knew Akito was right. He probably could take out a few of those guys, but if a whole bunch came at him, how well could he do in his state?
'I can't wait to get back. I'm going to crawl straight into Ikki's bed as soon as we're home.'
"What the fuck Akito, focus!" Agito barked, clearly irritated at his other self's fantasies.
"Cursing yourself out now? I didn't scramble your brain by accident did I?" chuckled a voice that made Agito's blood boil. He spun around to face the door, glaring at the blonde man with a single braid hanging by his face. In the doorway, the goggle wearing guy was watching curiously. Agito snarled at him and stepped closer, only to be reminded by the clink of metal that he could not reach the man.
"Ooh so scary. Here, maybe I can fix you with this" He said sardonically as he patted the heavy looking metal nozzle. He made some weird motion to someone out of view, who Agito assumed had to be Kirin, before stepping closer and closer. Agito waited patiently, knowing the limits of his leash. The man stepped even closer. There. Agito started his charge, racing towards the man who only smiled back. He pulled something on the nozzle and Agito felt his whole body fly backwards as pressurized water pinned him against the wall.
