When no reply came, the purple-haired girl bit her lip. "Koushirou? Hey, are you here?"
The redhead did not appear. Daisuke glanced at Miyako. "Does he always come at this time."
"Always!" The female looked extramely worried. "Aki has basketball practice, so it's the only time we see each other alone."
"We ought to check his room, then," Ken said quietly.
"Good idea. He has his own room on the second floor, but Aki forces him to spend the nights in his room up here. We'll try there first." Miya led Daisuke and Ken down the hall to one of the plain wooden doors and knocked tentatively.
No answer came--but there were some strange sounds being made in there. Thumping, and what sounded like muffled whimpering. Miyako pounded harder. "Aki? Koushirou?" For a second the noise stopped, before returning more loudly than before, accompanied by shrill noises. "What's going on in there?! Koushirou! Koushirou?"
"If I had to guess, it sounds like someone's tied up in there," Daisuke said meekly.
Fire burned in Miyako's eyes. "If it's Koushirou, I swear to God I'll rip Aki's head off!" Ken backed away from the screaming girl.
"Watch it, Miya!" Daisuke hissed. "You sound like a girl more than ever!"
Miyako quieted, storming down the hall. "I'm going to find Aki."
The scene that the three students arrived at horrified them. Aki was indeed present, along with Osamu, Michael, and several other boys--who were viciously attacking a young blonde lying prone on the floor. Iori huddled a few feet away, trembling in fear.
"AND WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Miyako screamed, catching the gang of boys off-guard.
Michael backed away from Takeru, who was lying unconscious. Aki winced. "Shit."
Daisuke ran to his friend's side as Miyako leveled her face an inch from Aki's. "What. is. Going. On?"
"Motomiya, you little shit!" Michael cried, sneering. "You'd better just stop trying to take over our system, before somebody--like your little friend here--gets hurt!"
Osamu was glowering. "Well, if it isn't Daisuke and Ken. You've decided to come back to us, haven't you Ken-chan?" Daisuke noticed with apprehension that the group of teens around them outnumbered them three to one. He had heard about Shinichi-Miyako's judo skills, and could usually hold his own ina fight--but Ken, Iori, and most importantly Takeru were completely helpless.
Miya had other matters to discuss. "Now, Aki, why don't you tell me where I can find Koushirou? I've been told he wasn't in classes today--is that right?" He voice became sugary-sweet. "He's not sick, is he? I'd really like to check on him."
Aki went pale. "If you so much as touch me, Inoue, your toyfriend is a good as dead."
"Well then, care to fill me in on what's going on?"
Osamu stepped in. "It's come to my attention that you're protecting these troublemakers, Inoue Shinichi. That's terribly noble of you--but as I mentioned to dearest Daisuke here, he had angered me, and any friend of his is an enemy of mine. If you want Koushirou released, stay away from him and Ken. The same goes for Takeru."
"I couldn't help overhearing," Taichi's cold voice said from the doorway. "And I suggest, Ichijouji, that you make haste before--"
"TAKERU!!!"
"--Yama arrives." The brunette winced.
Yamato flew into the room in a rage, eyes blazing. "You fucking bastards, what have you done to my brother!?" Daisuke scooted away from Takeru to make way for the the enraged blonde. "Who did this?"
Daisuke pointed wordlessly at the instigators, mainly Michael, Aki, and Osamu.
Yama jumped up and stalked toward Michael, eyes locking. Taichi frowned and entered the room, checking on Takeru before standing by his master's side. The brown-haired boy didn't even have time to make a threat before Yamato punched Michael hard in the jaw, and all hell broke loose.
As though spurred on by her friend's attack, Miyako launched herself at Aki and started to pummel him, sending them both to the floor. Daisuke took at swing at Osamu while Ken tended to Takeru. Taichi, standing behind his boyfriend, fended off any attackers that tried to stop Yamato's assault on Michael.
Osamu landed a few hard punched on Daisuke, and the mahogany-haired boy reeled. Just as the genius pulled back to deliver the final blow, however, the shy Jyou grabbed him by the arms and held him back. Osamu thrashed. "Let go, you bastard! Let go!"
"I'm sick of this!" Jyou declared, tightening his grip. "I'm not going to be your playtoy any longer!"
Iori leapt to his feet, shocked by Jyou's rebellion against his Master. He looked at Takeru, limp and bleeding on the floor, and then back at the crowd of thugs about to go after Jyou. He snatched a hockey stick from the floor and ran to defend the other Pet.
Aki was lying facedown on the hardwood, and Miyako was currently tackling two more of his allies as Yamato and Taichi continued to beat down the athletic Michael. Ken huddled beside Takeru's prone body, whimpering.
Daisuke delivered a firm right hook to the side of Osamu's face, sending the boy and his Pet sprawling. Jyou scrambled out from under the wild-haired genius. Iori was employing the hockey stick kendo-style, having been obviously trained in the art. Miyako was going through the unconscious Aki's pocket's and emerged victorious with his room key. Taichi and Yamato had finished off Michael and were assisting a dazed Jyou while Ken sopped the blood away from Takeru's face and arm with his jacket.
Jyou was the first to speak. "Oh my God...we could have been killed..."
Yamato ran to his brother's side. "Takeru! Wake up, can you hear me!?"
"We've got to get out of here. Now," Daisuke commanded.
"It's not safe," Iori agreed. "But where will we go?"
Daisuke took Ken by the hand and locked eyes with Miyako. "I don't know about the rest of you, but Ken and I are going back to Odaiba. Who's with us?"
"Koushirou and I," Miyako said venhemously, clutching the key to Aki's room.
"Definitely us," replied Taichi. "Sorry, Yama, but this isn't the place for us. I say we take Takeru and bail."
"I'd like to go," Jyou mumbled. "I don't want to be here when Osamu wakes up."
Iori agreed. "I'll go where Takeru goes."
Miyako had bolted from the room to rescue Koushirou. "It's decided, then." Daisuke decided. "It's already starting to get dark--let's meet outside Miyako's room on the forth floor in ten minutes."
Jyou was checking Takeru over, who had finally come to. "It looks like he's got a broken arm--I can set that if need be. Other than that it's all cuts and bruises."
"Will he be okay?" Yamato asked worriedly.
"He should."
"I'll get our things," Iori announced, removing their room key from Takeru's left pocket. Taichi followed suit after Yamato smiled weakly at him.
Daisuke grabbed Ken and dragged him out of the gym. "Let's go, Ken."
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Next chapter: Ken, Dai, Koushirou, Yama, Jyou, Iori, Takeru and Tai make their escape--but Osamu and his cronies are close behind! How will they get back to Odaiba? How far away is Odaiba anyway? This story is metamorphing into something else altogether--tune in next time!
tadaima = I'm home