"So do we have a plan?" Hikari bounced alongside Yuri as they walked through the woods.
"Eh- somewhat. I think we should go back home, and then figure things out from there. Besides, everyone must be worried about you being gone. Must be awfully quiet." Yuri grinned to himself.
"No way, Kazumi would surely fill in for me on that part," Hikari's face lit up. "Oh yeah! I never told you what Chiyo told me at the sleepover."
"Is now really the time? ...Fine. Go for it." He motioned for Hikari to tell him.
"Apparently," He turned a slight shade of pink. "Someone has a crush on me."
"Impossible."
"No, really! Only, it wasn't Chiyo, as surprising as that may seem." This took Yuri off guard, so his mind ran to a mental conclusion.
"So she lied."
"Yuri! Don't jump to conclusions, it was Kazumi she was referring to."
"Oh." Yuri felt a weight sink in his chest. "Good for you." He managed a smile. Hikari gave him a guilty look.
"I- I didn't mean for it to happen or anything. I had my sights set on achieving celebrity status and marrying a trophy wife!" He laughed. "You and her can still work out." Hikari added.
"Maybe," Yuri bobbed his head back and forth. "Was this conversation really necessary?" Hikari fired up promptly.
"Of course it was! Or, is! Even when we don't know where we may be headed in life, we should always keep the home-like things in mind!" His eyes sparkled with liquid showmanship, Hikari's amount of confidence was surely out of this world.
"I'll take your word for it."
Several hours passed, Hikari and Yuri were both exhausted, the forest still surrounding them in all directions, and to make it worse the sun was setting.
"We need to stop for the night." Yuri panted.
"Agreed." Hikari plopped himself on the grassy ground.
"Hikari... we still need to set up camp."
"With what?" he moaned.
"Nature."
Since Hikari had no motivation to help whatsoever, Yuri took it upon himself to gather the things he needed to make a fire. Some wood and moss as a fire starter would have to do. Once he had the wood set up, all there was left to do was to light it. Too bad they didn't have any matches. Yuri shifted his hand into the closest thing he could use- a wooden stick. Sure, he could have easily picked up a stick. Instead Yuri remained as delusional as ever. Smart move, Yuri. He tried twirling the slick on a log to start a fire. It didn't work that well, since he only had the one free hand. Again, smart move, Yuri.
"Here." Hikari crawled over towards him and took Yuri's stick-arm in his hand, rubbing it. Several minutes passed with little success, but soon enough there was a spark, which led to a small but warm fire. The boys triumphed, high-fiving each other. (Yuri had shifted his hand back to normal by now) They crowded around the little light, discussing what to do next.
"Are you sure we should go back?" Yuri hugged his knees together.
"We don't have much else to go on," Hikari sighed. "Besides, you even said that people will miss us."
"Guess so." he sighed. "I'm going to sleep."
Hikari stretched his arms out. "Okay, I'll probably join you soon enough."
Yuri curled into a ball on the grassy ground. Happy that it wasn't wet, he closed his eyes and went to an uneasy sleep.
"There it is!" Hikari said ecstatically. His house was visible from any point of the city, Yuri thought. It was tall, bright, and almost inviting, if it weren't for the gates.
"Why do you have gates, anyway? Wouldn't it be easier not to have them?" Yuri asked. Hikari shrugged. "Well, Mom and Dad are just suspicious of the wrong person coming in, you know? They're really careful about those sort of things. I don't really understand it, though."
"Maybe that's because you keep dragging strangers in without their consent."
"That too. But hey, you turned out alright, right?"
"I suppose." Yuri agreed. Hikari closed his eyes. "I'd hate to think what could have happened if you were different." Yuri chuckled. "You mean if I was a crazed psychopath? We probably wouldn't be here talking about this, much less friends." Hikari laughed. He reached towards the tall metal gate of his house, pulling on it, but it refused to budge. "Oh, right..." he muttered, taking a couple steps to what Yuri recognized as an intercom. He pressed a red button and spoke. "It's Hikari! Please open the door." But a raspy, cruel voice cackled instead. "Open the door? No thanks.Go away." the last words had a threatening tone to them. "What's...?" Hikari's smile dropped, fear beginning to cross over his face. Yuri felt his mind boil, and slammed the button to the intercom.
"Hey! Let us in!" he yelled.
"Strangely enough, that doesn't make me want to open the gates at all. Try harder." The voice could be identified as a mans, and seemed to be getting bored.
"How about this?" Yuri scowled. "Let us in or we'll let ourselves in!"
The man chuckled softly. "Well if you could do that, then why not try that in the first place?" Yuri fell silent.
"Yuri?" Hikari approached him. "Are you okay?"
"Fine. You know this place like the back of your hand right?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Then you know another way in."
"It might require some force, but yes."
"Let's go."
"It's just behind here - see?" Hikari had led him to the back of the mansion, a good ten minute walk, and pointed to a thick, metal door. In fact, it was the same door that lead to where Hikari had kept all of his animals. In the darkness of the night, it looked a lot more foreboding than it had before. Perhaps it was this that made Yuri's heart race.
"Okay," he said, gulping. "We need to get in and find out what's going on. I can't imagine that it's anything good. I'll break it down if we have to." Hikari nodded, stepping back. First, Yuri went to the door and tried it. Unlocked? Maybe Hikari was right when he said only he knew the location of this door.
"I can't believe this is actually unlocked." Yuri shook his head in bewilderment.
"Me neither. I would have thought if someone had broke in here - if that's what we're assuming happened - that they would lock all of the doors and stuff, like you see in the movies. I guess they just didn't know."
"Or are setting a trap..." Yuri bit his lip, and with a gulp of courage, opened the door. It was dark, as should be expected, but surprisingly empty. The silence seemed to build up the tension as Yuri slowly walked in the door. Hikari followed after him, quiet on his toes. They walked up the stairs that led to one of the small hallways leading to the main hall, and creaked it open. Still, no signs of life were visible or made a sound. It was silent all until the duo went into the main hall. Yuri turned the corner and was almost spotted by a man with a quickly drew back and hid behind the wall, urgently motioning for Hikari to do the same. They hid with bated breath as footsteps began to draw closer.
Yuri started to shift, giving himself a strong shield and tantō for defense, just in case. The footsteps were right beside him, and then they stopped. Yuri's heart beat madly, as he tried to detect any movement.
The figure of a man came swiftly around the corner, his gun pointed at Yuri. Reacting, Yuri pushed the man just as he fired, the bullet rocketing off sideways. Yuri pushed the man down and tried to swipe at him with his sword. The man rolled away, pressing a button on his earpiece.
"Security breach! Requesting backup!" he spoke. Dread filled Yuri like water soaking into a plant. The man stood on his feet, aiming his gun at Yuri and shot. Yuri held up his shield, the bullet deflecting off of it, but he felt all of the pain. He didn't think of how painful it was to be shot, but now that he felt it the pain slowed him down and made his moves sluggish. He heard more footsteps approaching as he fell to his knees. The pain had temporarily blinded him, but he still held up his shield in case any other bullets decided to lodge themselves in him. At least they couldn't stay inside him if he blocked them. Yuri looked up and saw a dozen other men pointing their guns at him and Hikari.
He made an attempt to stand to try and strike a blow, but was hit in the head by an unseen blunt object. Yuri felt himself beginning to black out, and struggled to keep conscious. He caught a final look at Hikari, who was fearful and tried to escape from the arms that held him firmly. Yuri lashed out, trying to hit something, anything, but was hit on the head once again, and finally fell silent.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
