Oktoberfest* '08 Entry by Duski

[atoli.livejournal.com]

*and not "Octoberbest" like I originally had there. s- sigh.

Title: The Trick's On You
Author: Duskino
Beta (if applicable): Re & Javits peeked!
Word Count: 2,912
Rating: PG?? I dunno, but there's nothing too graphic.
Character(s): Kaito, Heiji, evil things :E
Pairing(s) (if applicable): HA HA no.
Summary: It was a bad time for Kaito to be left alone in the hallway.
Notes (if applicable): .... sdhfkahla. /)_(\ Um. Nothing terribly exciting, just some random scene idea... D: I wrote this all at like 5 AM, so there's probably mistakes galore. I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot to describe entire bits of something. Anyway sdfjhk beware of italics/hyphen/semicolon abuse, grammar fail, and sorry for such an abrupt ending :(

If there was any warning this little mission of theirs was going to take a turn for the worse like this, Kaito certainly never caught it until now—and bad timing ‘now’ happened to have. This felt ridiculous—he was always sure to be careful, and he didn’t even let his guard down this time, or get too immersed in what he was just doing, or—

Uhg. That was the only way he could think of a way to sum up how he felt at the moment; it was the first word that came to mind and it fit well enough. He hoped he looked a lot better than he was feeling, especially after all the rustle and tussle that only just occurred. Or perhaps it had been minutes and it only felt like seconds, or had it been longer? Kaito couldn’t even tell anymore, which was more than enough reason to finally start feeling his hand across the floor where he leaned back against the wall. Dropping the flashlight on the way out had definitely not been one of his smartest moves, whether he had been rushing like a bat out of hell from the previous rooms and back out into the hallway or not.

“Hey, Hattori,” Kaito called out, and even he had to admit his voice was a little shaky. Encountering anything in these rooms that weren’t human was always frightening, and while he wasn’t exactly going to be announcing this fact, he was far from denying it, as well. His friend and partner was oddly quiet, and Kaito froze in place, but pressed on despite this; “Do you still have your light on you? I can’t see a darn thing out here.”

Unfortunately for him, he quickly found out that he was speaking to nothing but the never ending darkness that spilled all around, and it hadn’t found much worth responding to. So all the teenaged boy got was complete and utter silence for a reply, leaving Kaito to hold his breath in suddenly increasing worry.

Oh, this wasn’t good.

“Hattori?” Kaito spoke louder this time, and although he knew that may very well attract the attention of whatever type of freak of the night they had fled from, locating Heiji deemed itself a much bigger priority fairly quickly. Besides, he would have preferred to have the thing chase them again with at least somebody else on his side as opposed to being alone—bigger numbers were always best, and everything else that went with it. Maybe round two could have worked in their favor this time, now that they were more prepared for it. Okay, sort of; Kaito knew he was never going to be totally prepared to face a monster no matter how many times he did it (and honestly speaking, he was kind of hoping he wouldn’t have to do it often anyway). But at least they would know there was something at all and could devise a plan to take it down and...

Well, it didn’t matter how many hypothetical scenarios Kaito could think up, because Heiji still wasn’t responding, which meant he was on his own for now. The both of them were, he realized, and one could only hope to several different deities that his partner wasn’t in any worse condition than he was, otherwise... No, no, dammit, that was not something he was going to do as much as consider! They both got out okay and simply didn’t pay well enough attention to each other’s actions to see where one or the other was heading to.

All right, if Heiji wasn’t in this hallway, then he was definitely in a room nearby. It wasn’t as though he would run from one side of the institute to the other in hopes that the thing gave up the chase halfway, giving ample distance between the two. At least, that’s what Kaito gathered; it wasn’t like the two really knew each other that well, despite coming from the same place, and that didn’t mean much at all when the two met here. As your regular, everyday high-school people, that was, and thankfully not as thief and detective. Oh boy, very thankful, but why was he mulling over that issue again when it really shouldn’t even be a concern?

They were going to find each other first, and then Kaito could continue to contemplate all the crazy, complex little things that ‘coming from the same place’ entailed.

Kaito spent the next few and entirely too long moments grazing his hand across the linoleum floor again, cursing to himself that even these few seconds was wasting valuable time. With an annoyed huff, he nearly gave up, finally pushing himself to his feet; it was dark, but he wasn’t completely useless without it. Besides, all his heists were always done at night, and it wasn’t like he spent every corridor, hallway, and room in such museums flashing a light to see where he was going. Granted, the playground was very, very different, but the point was he should be able to handle himself in dark places. It was certainly more risky, yet at this point there were much more concerning things to worry about.

Ironically enough, a few steps later, his foot bumped into a clearly solid object, sending it sliding across the floor before stopping abruptly with a thud against the wall. By now, Kaito’s eyes adjusted well enough to vaguely make out what the item was, and with them he frowned—if anyone were around to see it, they would be able to make out his fairly exasperated expression. There solved that problem, and Kaito went to fetch it, inspecting to see if it was still intact with his hands before fumbling a bit to locate the switch and click it on.

And let there be light! This was worlds better now that he could actually see, despite what he told himself moments earlier. Having the advantage sounded much better than testing your limits, especially when alone. Of course, he may have known at least someone who would think otherwise, but regardless of some of the things Kaito had pulled off before, he liked to think he wasn’t crazy.

Let’s see now... Just as he figured by the lack of response by someone else, the hallway was in fact empty. It was a little surprising no one had come or passed by yet; there were things around here a lot of people were looking for, right? Although, it was entirely possible they had just been quick to arrive, or, unfortunately enough, no one else had decided to come this way tonight. It would have been nice to have someone else help out in his search, but who was he to complain?

But most of all, where to start? Perhaps he could go where this entire mess started, much as he would rather not. That’s where god knows what was, and, well... He crossed hall towards the appropriate door anyway, barely opened; the space between the door and the wall wasn’t wide enough to be able to see inside as well as he had liked. If sight was failing, it was best to put his other senses to good use. Kaito stood still, leaning in close, straining to hear any kind of sound. After several long moments, there was still nothing; there must not have been anything in there anymore, he figured. However, just as he was inches away from pushing the door further open to slide in, the sound of something shifted echoed inside, as if a table had just been moved, disturbing the utter silence the room held. Kaito immediately stiffened—clearly, something still was inside.

Quietness took over once again, but not for long once the sound of rhythmic, heavy breathing pushed that aside, accompanied with footsteps. Hm... No, it wasn’t much of walking as it was the sound of who (or what) ever dragging their feet across the floor, as if they were struggling to get to their destination. Kaito took a step back, and then another, both anticipating and dreading what was heading his way...

Strangely enough, he found himself not moving very far, not even when a figure themselves got the door opened and, without much of a warning, stumbled into the teenager’s arms as if they anticipated him being there the entire time. Naturally, this took Kaito by surprise, and if it wasn’t for his trained sense of balance he probably would have fallen right over from the sheer unexpectedness of it. Shock took over him for the briefest of seconds and came fairly close to shoving what just fell into his arms away, but as quick as it came he came to a realization—this was human! It was no Heiji, but it was a person, and that was the second best thing he could hope to appear.

“H- hey,” Kaito said quickly, grabbing their shoulders; he could tell right away this was a girl, and unless first glances were deceiving he could tell right off the bat that she must have been around his age. He shifted his posture in an attempt to better position the both of them, the girl feeling like she needed the support in order to stand. “Hey, are you all right? What happened?”

“I...” Her voice could be an accurate reflection on her condition—weary, exhausted, hurt. It almost pained Kaito to hear, but instead of sympathy on his face, there was disbelief. That voice... It was too familiar for comfort. “I don’t know,” she continued, interrupting Kaito who had just opened his mouth.

He lifted a hand to push up her chin with a single finger, aiming to get a better look at her face. “Look, let’s—” In an instant, his disbelief became surprise. This only confirmed it now; he wasn’t looking at just some stranger’s eyes, no. They weren’t lively or angry or shining brightly in a moment of bliss like he was used to seeing, but it was still— “… Aoko?”

Aoko, as now identified, seemed just as taken back as he was when she was finally able to see who exactly she fell into. Despite her condition (blood covered a portion of her face, her arm felt as though it was falling more limp than the other, her breathing sounded strained), she was able to jump to her own feet, although it hardly lasted long before she slumped right back into where she was before. “Kaito,” she breathed, in much the same surprised manner, then buried her face right into his shoulder again, clutching tightly on to his shirt with both hands. “Kaito, you’re here,” she echoed his name again, this time sounding much more pleading, if not desperate.

Kaito had no idea what to say, and his face showed it. A million and once things rushed through his mind before it all finally fell into incoherent words. “You’re hurt—what happened?! Why are you—how—but...” He paused, taking a breath before stating what was, of course, not only the obvious, but it was repeating exactly what she had just said to him. “You’re... here.”

Good lord, she was here. Never mind he missed seeing her, as well as their daily bickering and bantering, the walks to and from school, and everything else in between... This was hardly the place he wanted to meet her again, and this moment was proving exactly why. How the hell did he miss spotting her before?! Now, instead of being able to look out for her and prevent something like this, somehow she wandered off all the way here and got hurt! Kaito knew she wasn’t stupid enough to go this far on her own, so obviously she had to have been with someone; someone who did an awful job of looking out for their company. If he ever found out just who let this happen...

There were more pressing issues to tend to at the moment, he had to remember. Aoko was in trouble and he needed to make sure he could get her back on the right track.

With a tiny, reluctant nod, Aoko went on to explain, “I don’t remember where I was before, or what happened, but... something came and attacked.”

“You can try to tell me later,” Kaito insisted, trying his best to sound assuring. “Right now we both need to get to a safer place, and get you looking better than you do now.”

But Hattori... Kaito began to feel conflicted about what he should do. He internally debated while glancing between the girl in his arms and at the door. Dammit, I hope you fled like a pansy, because I can’t bring her in like this! Guilt was going to rest quite comfortably on his shoulders the whole time, yet Kaito opted to do what was best right then and there for mostly the more injured of the two.

“Wait,” Aoko spoke up quickly. “Just for a minute. I don’t want to move yet.”

“Huh?” Puzzled, Kaito gave her an odd look. “Don’t be stupid, all right? This is serious.”

She didn’t respond, however; silence was the only thing filling the area as she continued to lean in, her body still. Then, slowly, she lifted her head by Kaito’s shoulder—and for some strange, unexplainable reason, he had the feeling something was horribly off.

“Kaito?”

“... Huh?”

She lifted her opposite hand by his chin, holding it carefully, whispering eerie, chilled words that sounded very uncharacteristically not her into his ear; “I’ll make it quick.”

Kaito wouldn’t have been able to explain what happened next if he tried. Inexplicable pain rushed through his body in a matter of seconds, leaving him stunned, almost forgetting to breathe. Sharp somethings dug into his shoulder, piercing through both cloth and skin, and he could feel it nearly ripping off.

Amazingly enough, he was able to figure out just what was going on: She was attacking him. With haste, Kaito shoved her away with all the strength he could muster, and luckily it was enough to make her stumble away from him. Instinctively he shone the flashlight in her direction, and it was then that he learned things were growing more and more disturbing.

That wasn’t Aoko’s face. It was something sinister, something inhuman—it was a monster’s, imitating that of his best friend since childhood. It no longer resembled the girl with monstrous features like it now bore, murderous intent in its eyes, the bottom half of its teeth-ridden jaw stained with blood. His blood, he realized, after raising a hand to clutch the source of the pain. Kaito couldn’t pinpoint just how bad the injury was right away, but if how it felt was any indication, it was far from a small one.

“Hold still,” it growled, now completely dropping the act.

As it took a step forward, and then another, the teenager found himself unable to turn and run. He was afraid, of course, because he couldn’t tell how this predicament would turn out, but above all something like anger flared somewhere inside him. Of all people to use as a decoy to deceive him, it was Aoko. Anyone could understand how he felt, right?

Kaito couldn’t say he knew what to do right away, although he hardly had the time to think about it, either. Before as much as a flinch was made, a whole new voice barked through the hall, echoing well enough to be carried down an impressive distance; “Oi, Kuroba! Get th’hell outta the way!”

The actions that took place soon after her quick and swift, as if the entire scenario had been planned out and executed perfectly. Kaito didn’t even see who was coming or from where, but when his instincts told him to duck, he did. Though, it was more like he allowed his legs to collapse under him, having a less than graceful fall, but it wasn’t like anyone was judging him on his performance here. Kaito tried to keep the flashlight facing forward to see what had went on, but this time he was too slow to act. Before he did, the sound of a heavy thud hit the monster—if he guessed right, it had to be metal. The monster hissed in pain, and now the roles were reversed, now being attacked instead of doing the attacking. It wasn’t down just yet, and the opponent—the telltale accent while cursing aloud easily gave away it was none other than Heiji Hattori, by some miracle from above—flew towards the creature once more, swinging down a blow with such skill only that those who trained in kendo as much as he did wield.

The body fell to the floor, and Kaito only gave it a quick glance in the light long enough to see it twitch, immediately diverting both his eyes and the flashlight away before he felt any more sick to his stomach.

“Kuroba,” Heiji breathed, sounding like he just finished running a race. He offered a hand, looking rushed. “Sorry I took so long to find ya. I dunno if that thing is dead or not, but I ain’t tryin’ again to find out.”

Kaito blanched, but eventually accepted his hand wordlessly.

“Y’okay?”

“—Let’s just go.”

Heiji aided his partner up and away, but unfortunately, Kaito wasn’t giving away any details, and he had the feeling he wouldn’t be getting them anytime soon.