Noiz knew it would be a shitty week with that date a mere three days away. That particular day was always in the back of his mind, creeping along the edges of his thoughts like a merciless stalker; unable to be seen but undoubtedly there, sneaking ever closer until it was breathing down his neck and no hopeful pretending could make it disappear.

He hated how something as simple and unassuming as a particular day had such an effect on him. He hated how he had anticipated the dark memories clawing their way to the surface of his consciousness and bleeding into his dreams. He hated how his ridiculous paranoia forced him to check the doors to make absolutely sure they weren't locked every single hour.

What he hated the most, however, was that there wasn't a single fucking thing that he could do about any of it.

As Noiz predicted, the symptoms began to appear two days before the actual date—apparently he was too pathetic to even be able to confine it to twenty-four hours. Knowing the nightmares that awaited him, he ignored the drag of sleep that night and threw himself into work. The bright screens helped to blanch out the impending images, if only slightly.

By halfway through the next day exhaustion had begun to seep into his bones. That he could handle; it wasn't unusual for him to pull all-nighters. Far into the second night, though, he missed a number in a piece of coding while hacking into a confidential database. Realizing his mistake almost instantly, he swiftly pulled back his digital worm and narrowly avoided the databank's closing firewalls.

Cursing, Noiz rubbed his strained eyes and exited out of the screens. That had been a foolish mistake that could have earned him police notice.

Without the glaring lights of screens burning into his retinas the shadows around him seemed to deepen. The darkness crowded in, transforming familiar furniture and items into ominous shapes. Suddenly the worn coffee table appeared eerily similar to a lonely, fancy table meant for a single child. The television and couch blended into the low light as if they were no longer there. The color of the wooden door darkened to an expensive hardwood and shit shit shit, it was closed, it wasn't going to open, why weren't they letting him out what did he do wrong—

He roughly twisted the knob and nearly fell forward when it opened. Breathing in deep gasps of the cool night air, the chill brought back clarity. He didn't even know when he had rushed to the door, but he didn't care. It hadn't been locked. He was still in Midorijima. He was okay.

Noiz scoffed. If he was okay he wouldn't be out here in the middle of the night, exhausted and hallucinating. Glancing around outside, he determined that thankfully no one had been around to see the episode.

The actual day wasn't even until tomorrow and he was already fucked up.

He had to get some sleep; that much was obvious. His intelligence was his most valuable asset, so if he was too exhausted to properly think then he might as well say goodbye to his usefulness.

Not that he was useful to anyone anyway.

After several minutes he reluctantly turned around and closed the door. A shiver ran down his spine at the quiet click.

Noiz curled up on the couch and, after some hesitation, allowed his eyes to slip shut. Everything felt so quiet, empty, and cold; a prime time for the memories to emerge. Sensing them crawling into his consciousness, he forced himself to think of something, anything else. Pissing off that Benishigure leader. Battling in Rhyme. Remembering that cute bunny video he watched last week.

Soon his fatigue won out and he slipped into blank, blissful sleep.

If only it had stayed that way.

He found himself staring at a door. The door. The door that separated him from the rest of the world.

Eyes dry and round cheeks stained with tears, he looked down at his small hands. A band aid adorned one of his fingers and covered a small cut. A maid had placed it on him four days ago; one day before he had been locked in this room.

The adhesive had mostly worn off and struggled to stick to his skin. It had fallen off several times already, but each time he put it back on. He didn't know why. It just seemed like, if he lost it, then he would lose yet another connection to the people outside.

Why? Why did they trap him in here? Why couldn't he see mother, father, or Theo? This must be a punishment for something. He knew he got into a lot of fights, but never had he been reprimanded this severely. It had to be something else.

His eyes roved over the bandage again. He remembered hearing other people talk about how they felt something when they received an injury. They called it pain. It made his father grimace when he cut his fingertip on paper or Theo cry when he bumped his knee against a table. When Noiz was wounded, though, he never understood why they had such a reaction. Sure, it made red liquid drip out or discolored skin, but that was no reason to look so distraught.

Was that why he was in here? Because he didn't understand?

He stared down at the pale expanse of his wrist. Maybe he could make himself understand. Then father and mother would love him again and he could play with Theo.

Digging in with blunt fingernails, he raked down the underside of his wrist. Puffy pink lines quickly appeared where his nails had been.

Nothing.

He scraped harder until the skin tore and blood welled up.

Still nothing.

Noiz kept desperately clawing, hoping that if he burrowed deep enough that he could find the salvation he needed. Miniscule shreds of skin and crimson liquid clogged his nails as he relentlessly scratched at the bloody mess on his arm. No matter how long it took, he had to do it. He had to find this 'pain.' Even if it meant working down to the bone, he would…

The blonde woke with a strangled gasp. Chest heaving, his eyes darted down to his wrist, expecting to see nothing but red. To his surprise, it was smooth and unblemished. His senses slowly came back to him and he glanced around the dark room. The pounding of his heart eased as he recognized his living room.

He reached over to the table and grabbed his coil. Bringing up a small screen, he blinked many times before he could focus on the painfully bright image to check the time. It took him even longer to remember what time he had gone to sleep.

An hour. He had only been asleep for an hour. Now that the adrenaline from the nightmare was beginning to wear off, he could believe it; every fiber of his muscles felt drained.

Sighing heavily, he set down his coil and stood. It looked like he wouldn't be getting any sleep unless he passed out and there was simply no way he could work like this. Maybe he could tire himself out by walking.

He headed toward the door, completely forgetting about his hat and coil. His tired brain was having difficulty on remembering the small details. After fumbling with the doorknob he stepped out, clumsily closed it behind him, and started moving in a random direction.

There were a few people out on the streets in the area. He gave them all a wide berth and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Focusing on the scenery around him—thinking about anything important was simply too taxing for him to bother with right now—he continued on.

Eventually Noiz paused at an intersection. He glanced down each way, uncertain of which path to take. He knew he recognized this place, so he should know what was where, but currently he just couldn't remember. Shrugging to himself, he chose to go left.

How long had he been out here? He raised his wrist to check his coil, only to pause in confusion when he realized it wasn't there. That was odd. He always took it with him…oh. He left it at home. He shoved a hand into his pocket to search for his Usagimodokis, but they too had been forgotten.

Annoyed, he looked up at the sky. It had to be at least midnight by now. Then again, his sense of time was pretty skewed at the moment, so it could be later than that.

Suddenly hands were on him, firmly gripping his arms and torso. By the time he realized what was happening he was already successfully caught. Instinctively he attempted to fight back, but the weak punch he delivered hardly ruffled the man it hit. His hands were promptly forced behind his back and his mind whirled to register the flurry of activity. There were three men…no, four?

Either way he found himself being walked forward. He knew he threw out a few questions at them about what they were doing or where they were taking him, but if they answered he didn't catch it.

The next thing he knew he was being pushed into a building and led into room. After sitting him down the males tied his hands behind his back, mentioned something about someone coming to see him in a few minutes, and closed the door.

The echo of the metal door caused his breath to catch in his throat. He looked around wildly and saw nothing but blank gray walls and a few lit lights above him.

No. No no no. This wasn't his imagination this time; he really was locked in here. That realization crashed into him with all the subtlety of a barreling train.

His chest constricted as if a two ton weight had decided to take residence on top of it. With what little sanity he had left Noiz attempted to calm himself down.

He was smart. He could find a way out of this, so there was no reason to panic.

But he couldn't get out before.

Fuck. He was shaking. Swallowing, he reassured himself with the reminder that they had said that someone was going to come see him.

That did say that, right?

He hadn't imagined that, right?

How many times had he hoped it was all a bad dream, waiting for when he would wake up…

His breaths came out harsh and loud in the otherwise silent room. He was slipping, inch by unbearable inch, into the dark abyss of tainted thoughts.

Whoever had caught him must have done so for a reason. So they had to come back.

No matter how many times he cried out, young voice raspy from overuse, no one came back.

But what if they didn't? What if they left him here and that door never opened again? They caught him, Noiz, the atrocity who couldn't feel. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume they would want to lock him up where he couldn't interact with other people.

Other people? Could he even be called a person?

No. That's why he was stuck in here, in this…this…

Lonely room filled with empty, expensive furniture.

Cold, bare chamber lit by cheap buzzing lights.

This was it. The door was closed and it was never going to open again. The world had learned its lesson of letting him run free and had no intention of releasing him again.

Noiz started twisting his wrists violently, vainly trying to free himself from the tight knots. He had to get out, had to try, had to escape the looming emptiness and cold and alone, so alone please anybody please please please he couldn't do this not again never again—

"Woah, woah! Hey!"

Something clamped down on his shoulder, just tight enough for him to register it. The fear razing Noiz's mind jerked to a complete halt, leaving him disoriented. His body followed suit and went still.

That had been a human voice. And that was a hand on his shoulder.

It didn't matter who the hell it was. All he knew was that he wasn't alone, and that was enough for him to crack open his previously clenched eyes.

Concerned sea foam green eyes were looking back at him. Seeing that he had Noiz's attention, the person sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god. I thought you were about to start hyperventilating."

Noiz's breathing was slowing to a more normal level. He didn't speak, however, and simply watched the other male.

"What happened? I mean, I know I should have expected you to want to escape, but that was so…" He trailed off, as if he didn't want to voice the words.

When he still received no response, he pulled his hand away to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. Noiz immediately missed the touch—he couldn't remember the last time he had contact with someone that didn't involve fighting or sex—but didn't dare ask for it back.

"Right, sorry, I guess that's none of my business." He decided when Noiz didn't respond.

"…why are you apologizing?" Noiz finally asked. The syllables came out slowly as if his tongue had struggled to make them.

The gentle grin on his face revealed that the other was satisfied that the blonde had responded. It quickly gained a guilty edge, however. "Well, you being here is sort of my fault. Unless this happens to you at home too then that…episode…just now happened because of me. Sorry."

"What do you want?" Noiz demanded. He didn't have the patience to deal with this; not with this room, not with his words, and especially not with his stupidly charming smile.

"You know who I am, right?" It was a simple question without a trace of haughtiness.

Noiz looked over his face again. Green eyes, burgundy hair, dark skin, white tear drop tattoo…he should know him. A little tickle at the back of his mind insisted he did. His brain, though, seemed too exhausted to connect the face with the identity.

After a full minute of waiting the man spoke again. "I'm Mizuki."

Mizuki. He turned that name around in his head several times before it finally clicked. Mizuki was the leader of Dry Juice and owner of the Black Needle. Noiz had looked up information about him a long time ago to familiarize himself with the leaders of the teams in the area.

It only irritated him more that it took so much coaxing for him to remember such an easy fact.

"And you're Noiz," Mizuki continued. "I heard a couple of Rhymers the other day saying your name."

Noiz sighed. "That's fucking great and all, but you still haven't told me why I'm here."

Mizuki whistled. "Damn, you're in a bad mood. Although I guess I would be too if someone captured me without a reason." The older male shifted from his kneeling position to cross his legs comfortably. "I didn't want to have to bring you in like this, but I couldn't find any other way of contacting you. I told a lot of your teammates that I wanted to speak with you but I never got a response back."

"That's no surprise." Noiz interrupted. "We don't talk much. They probably had no intention of ever telling me."

"But…they're your team," the other male said slowly, as if he were at a loss.

"So?"

"So surely they would want to at least tell you that I talked to them."

"Nah. We leave each other alone mostly. Unless I have orders or they want to work on something together we don't talk much." If Noiz were fully awake then he would know better than to be giving out so much potentially harmful information. As it was, though, the filter between his thoughts and his mouth had practically dissolved.

Mizuki seemed absolutely flabbergasted, his eyes slightly widened in confusion. "But they're your team. They should be like your family, or at least friends—"

"Well we're not, so shut the fuck up and tell me what you want." Noiz snapped.

Instead of getting angry like the younger expected, Mizuki sighed heavily and ran a hand down his face in exasperation. "Alright, alright. There was an incident the other day that we need to discuss. I don't want it to happen again."

Near the end his voice hardened with a serious sternness; a clear warning.

The blond stared at him blankly. Incident? Either he didn't know about it or he just couldn't remember it right now.

Noticing the Rhymer's lost expression, Mizuki's strictness ebbed. There was something clearly wrong. While he hadn't seen the other much he had heard tales from Koujaku about his sharp tongue and wit. Also, according to his members his attempt to fight back earlier had been nothing short of pitiful.

He observed the other's face again. Shadows colored the skin below his eyes, which distractedly moved to look at something else every so often. Noiz must be having difficulty focusing. Suspicions aroused, Mizuki placed a hand by the younger's ear and snapped his fingers.

As expected, Noiz took a split second longer than he should have to react. "…the hell did you do that for?"

"When was the last time you slept?" He demanded instead.

Noiz paused, registering the inquiry, and then glanced away. That was all the answer Mizuki needed.

In this state there was no way Noiz would be able to fully comprehend what they were talking about. Hell, he probably wouldn't remember much of this conversation as it was.

"Let's talk more later. For now you need to sleep." Mizuki insisted.

"No shit," he mumbled.

Ignoring that response, the older male pulled a pocketknife out of his jacket. Noiz watched him, more out of curiosity than wariness. It wasn't like it would hurt if used on him, after all.

Mizuki moved around to the other's back. He stopped in surprise when he noticed the state of the Rhymer's arms. The area around his wrists had been completely shredded by the thick, stained rope, leaving ragged rings of blood and raw skin. It must have happened during Noiz's manic struggling earlier.

"Holy shit," he breathed. The blonde must have been really far gone to not have felt the pain, he thought. He carefully cut through the ropes and let them fall to the ground. When Mizuki moved back in order to look at Noiz again, it seemed to take the younger several moments to realize that his hands were no longer bound. He eventually brought his hands out in front of him, glanced over them, and then to Mizuki, clearly wondering why he had done that. Odd—Noiz didn't seem concerned about the injuries at all.

"That should make it a little more comfortable for you, though you really did a number on your hands there." The Rib leader commented.

"You do realize how much easier you made it for me to try to escape." Noiz bluntly replied.

Mizuki shrugged. "I'm not worried. I trust my teammates to make sure you don't leave this room. Besides, to be frank, you look like shit. I'm not even sure you'd be able to walk straight."

"I don't need to be able to walk straight to kick someone's ass." …wait. Shit. He just admitted that he couldn't move properly right now. Unfortunately his wittiness seemed to have deteriorated too.

"Yeah, yeah." Mizuki placed his hands on his shoulders and gently yet insistently started to push him down to the floor. "Go on and lay down. I'm going to get some bandages for you."

Too exhausted to resist, Noiz found himself looking up from the ground.

Satisfied, Mizuki stood and headed over to the door. "I'll be back in a minute." His hand closed around the handle.

"Wait!"

The word echoed with a sharp, breathless desperation. Surprised, the Rib leader turned to look at him.

Noiz blinked. Oh. That had come from his mouth.

"What is it?" Mizuki inquired.

He hesitated, battling between stubborn pride and impending fear. The looming terror soon easily overwhelmed any semblance of his composure. To hell with it, he decided. Pride wasn't worth it.

"…don't close that door."

"Huh?"

"Just…don't."

The quiet plea sent a pang of sympathy through Mizuki. He couldn't just ignore it; maybe he was as softhearted as some of his members warned him to be.

"…okay. I'll leave it cracked open a little. Will that be alright?"

Noiz looked up at him as if he hadn't expected to actually have his request. Finally, he mumbled, "yeah."

Mizuki nodded. "I'll see you in a bit then." He stepped out and, as promised, left the door open a couple inches.

The blonde stared at the door for several minutes, unsure of how to take what was happening. His strained mind simply couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. The door had been left open, though, so that was all that mattered.

Muffled voices and rustles of clothing filtered through the slightly open door. There must be several people outside. The noise soothed his weary thoughts. It reminded him that there were people nearby, people that would undoubtedly interact with him if he were to leave—even if it was only to throw him back in the room.

For him, that was more than enough.

Before he knew it his eyes were slipping closed. The chilly, hard floor felt like nothing less than a fluffy mattress to his drained body. Shifting onto his side, unconsciousness washed over him in seconds, finally giving him the peaceful sleep he needed.

Mizuki returned twenty minutes later with a small box of medical supplies. Once inside he closed the door and turned around.

Noiz's eyes were closed and his chest moved gently with each breath. He was curled up onto his side, injured arms loosely bent in front of him. Without the distrusting gaze and deep frown he appeared much younger than earlier.

The Rib leader briefly wondered how old he must be. Nineteen? Twenty?

Shrugging to himself, he sat down in front of the resting male and opened up the medical kit. He picked up Noiz's left hand in order to examine it once more. It still oozed slightly but the majority of the blood flow had slowed to a stop.

He meticulously cleansed the injury, bandaged it, and then repeated the process with the other wrist. Noiz didn't stir at all during the treatment.

Mizuki glanced over him one last time contemplatively after he finished. This certainly hadn't been what he had expected when he had asked his teammates to bring in the Ruff Rabbit leader. He supposed the fault could be placed on himself; he hadn't exactly given specific instructions.

Placing everything back into the kit, he stood and headed back to the entrance. As he left he made sure to keep the door open just a crack.

Consciousness returned languidly, like a small light slowly brightening until the full illumination of awareness returned. When Noiz opened his eyes to see a cracked door and blank concrete walls, confusion settled in.

He sat up and stretched to loosen his stiff muscles. While he was unsure of how long he had been asleep, considering how well rested he felt, it must have been a generous amount of time. Although he had no idea of his whereabouts he oddly didn't feel much concern. If his captor were stupid enough to leave the door open then it shouldn't be too hard to escape.

As Noiz lowered his arms the stark white of new bandages around his wrists caught his eye. He inspected them curiously. It couldn't have been done by himself; he never bothered to be this neat when wrapping injuries. So who…?

Mizuki. The name flashed through his mind and stirred the beginnings of vague memories. He remembered bits and pieces of their conversation—damn, Noiz almost wanted to cringe at how weak he must have appeared—and hazy memories. He could recollect enough pieces to understand the outline of what happened, but any specifics might as well have vanished into thin air.

The sound of the door creaking open caught his attention. He looked up to see Mizuki, who greeted him with a startlingly warm smile.

"I see you're finally awake, sleeping beauty. You've slept half the day away." As he stepped inside Noiz noted that the taller male carefully chose not to fully close the door.

"…you're acting awfully cheery toward someone you captured," Noiz finally said.

Mizuki didn't seem ruffled in the slightest. "It's hard not to considering how terrible you looked before. I could have punched you in the face and it would've taken you five minutes to notice. Besides, there's no point in being unpleasant unless I need to be."

When the Rib leader stopped in front of him Noiz stood, not wanting to have to look up as they talked. Mizuki's eyes briefly sparked with vigilance, watching to ensure Noiz made no move to escape. They still had business, after all.

"Did you do this?" Noiz questioned, holding up one of his arms to indicate the bandages.

"Yep. I did it while you were asleep."

"Why?"

"It would be inhumane to just leave you to bleed and get an infection. Plus it was sort of my fault that it happened, so it was the least I could do."

His sheepish tone took Noiz off guard. Obviously the other couldn't be telling the full story; Mizuki must have done it for some sort of advantage. The gesture had probably been done to establish trust or to put the younger in his debt.

Either way, the blonde had no intention of thanking him.

"So what did you want to talk to me about? I doubt you're a voyeur that just wanted to watch me sleep." He wanted to get this over with. The way the other was taking his time was starting to frustrate him.

Mizuki blinked, having not expected that type of response, and then gave a small laugh. Knowing that the lighthearted sound had been prompted by his own words caused a strange flutter in Noiz's stomach.

"No, of course not. I figured you wouldn't remember what I told you earlier." His tone then dropped into a more somber, serious note. "Two days ago information was leaked about one of my friends. Luckily it wasn't anything too important, but he will have to lay low for a while because of it."

"You think that someone from the Ruff Rabbit did it." Noiz stated.

Mizuki nodded. "Your team is known for being information brokers. All I want is to know who did it so I can warn them, and you, not to mess with anyone from Dry Juice. This is the only warning I'm giving you."

Noiz scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You think a little threat is going to stop me from doing my job? The only reason you caught me was because I was having a bad day. I couldn't care less about what you do to any of my members anyway."

Suddenly Mizuki lunged forward to grab the front of Noiz's shirt. He backed the other up against the wall, jaw set and eyes flashing with fury. The stark contrast from the easygoing man from mere seconds ago left Noiz stunned.

"How can you say that?! I get that you need money and whatever, I expected you to say that. But you can't just act like your teammates are nothing! I didn't say anything earlier because I figured you were so tired that you were lying or something, but you're still saying that? They follow you for a reason, don't they? You should care about them."

The blonde calmed as he listened, exasperated by how ridiculous the other sounded. Expression neutral, he only looked at him with a mildly irritated gaze. "Too bad for you, but I don't. They joined my team purely for the work or money, like it should be. I don't know why you care so much about that."

Mizuki's grip tightened and his other hand, curled into a fist, shook. The Rhymer fully expected to be punched and waited for it without blinking an eye. However, after a good few moments, the taller male lowered his head. Mizuki released him and silently stepped back.

Noiz absentmindedly readjusted his tie and then crossed his arms. "You're a dumbass for caring about so many people. It's a Rib team so fights and other shit is going to happen. If you take all that so personally you're going to be screwed when something bad happens."

"Shut up." The words were strained and almost unstable, as if anything else would set him off. Noiz had never been one to take orders or be quiet, but for now, he kept silent. He had no idea why. It shouldn't matter how the other felt; he had been the one who captured him, after all. For some reason his stomach twisted at the thought that it had been his fault that the previously happy male was now upset.

Noiz blamed it on his earlier trauma. Anyone would be screwed up after not sleeping for almost three days and then being kidnapped, right?

Mizuki turned away, recollecting himself. Then, as if nothing had happened, he released a long, slow breath and turned back to the blonde. The ire had dissipated but left a simmer of tiredness from the intense emotion.

"Sorry about that."

Taken aback, Noiz stared at the other in utter disbelief. How the hell could the Rib leader be apologizing to the person who had deliberately made him angry? It made no sense.

The older continued, not noticing the Rhymer's incredulity. "I brought you here to talk and I shouldn't have let your words get to me. Forget what just happened, alright? "

Completely lost, Noiz could only nod.

Mizuki attempted a small smile and, although it was clearly taking a large amount of effort, it served to put the blonde at ease.

"Okay," Noiz said. "Fine. The broker's name is Manato. I can't guarantee that none of my members won't get more info on your guys, but I can tell you that I won't. I have no interest in your team anyway."

"…I guess that's the best I'm going to get." Mizuki relented. An awkward silence stretched between them, neither sure what to say next. Finally the Rib leader spoke again, but it was not something to Noiz's liking.

"When you first got here, you…kind of flipped out. What happened?" He shook his head. "Never mind. You don't have to answer—"

"An anniversary." Noiz spit out before he could think better of it. It wasn't much of an answer—there was simply no way he could tell the entire truth about Germany and the day he left—but he had felt compelled to say something anyway. This person, this normally happy-go-lucky Rib leader who cared too much for his own good, affected him in ways he didn't understand.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though.

Mizuki waited for an explanation, but when he realized he wouldn't receive one, he nodded in acceptance. He walked over to the door and placed his hand on the knob.

"You're free to go. You've been here for a while so it's pretty late in the day," he said.

Noiz watched him for a few seconds before moving. In the back of his mind he recalled the date; however, he wasn't worried. All of these new complex thoughts swirling around in his mind would keep him occupied for a while. And if they didn't, well…maybe he could caught by Mizuki again.

Huh. Wishful thinking.

When he was within a few feet of the door Mizuki spoke again, making him pause.

"…you're welcome to go to the Black Needle sometime. I think you could use a drink every now and then more than most people."

Noiz had no reason to want to go to Mizuki's bar. He could easily drink on his own at home, where there was peace and quiet. He wouldn't have to deal with noisy patrons or loud drunks.

But the thought of seeing Mizuki again was more than enough to sway him. He was drawn toward the first person willing to show him any semblance of not only kindness, but humanity. Noiz wanted to be around him and desired to understand the enigma that was Mizuki.

"…we'll see."

Mizuki gave him a parting smile. It may not have been as strong as the blonde would have liked, but it was intended for Noiz, and that was enough. The Rib leader opened the door and held it open. After one last glance at his former captor, Noiz faced forward and walked through. A few Dry Juice members cautiously watched him go.

The Rhymer ignored them, wondering when he should make time to go to a certain friendly bar.