Author's Notes: someone asked in a review what "dorama wa korekara" Literally, I suppose it's more like "Drama from now" but in a more loose translation, it was the Japanese for the title of the previous chapter XD; It was um.. sort of.. taken from the Pocket Monsters song Lucky, Lucky by Shinichiro Miki. That song is really funny, I couldn't help myself, I had to use that line. The title for this chapter is a line from Tatu's "All the Things She Said". Probably most of the chapter titles will steal song titles. And I beg you, please read the notes at the end of the story, they're important!
Sortilege
by: butterflie, formerly known as Crimson Goddess
Chapter 2: And I'm all mixed up
"Yamato, have you seen Takeru?"
This was the greeting I got as I walked in the apartment after spending the last few hours over at Taichi's. My stomach twisted. Takeru's missing. I frowned. Now where the heck did that thought come from? That was stupid.
I shook my head at 'tousan. "No, not lately. I've been sort of busy. Why?"
Now he frowned. "Well, your mother said that he hasn't gotten home from school yet..."
Takeru's missing. I growled inwardly at myself. Enough with the stupid paranoid thoughts.
"He probably went over to a friend's house and forgot to call her. Has she called Hikari or Daisuke? Or he could be at Ken's, though he doesn't usually go all the way out to Tamachi.."
"I don't know. I'll call her and let her know to check." He went over to the phone, a worried look on his face, then picked it up and started dialing Natsuko's number.
He's missing, he's missing, my mind insisted on taunting me. Takeru never forgot to call Natsuko if he went over to one of his friend's houses. And it was six 'o clock. He didn't stay out this late..
There's a first time for everything. So he just forgot, for once. Doesn't mean he's missing.
I watched 'tousan anxiously as he talked to Natsuko on the phone, explaining to her what I'd said. Eventually he hung up the phone and turned back to face me, looking a lot more calm. "Apparently he walked in the door while I was on the phone. You were right, he was over at his friend Ken's and just forgot to call her."
"Oh, that's good. Though he usually doens't forget..." See? False alarm. You're too paranoid, Yamato. Hmph. Inwardly shaking my head at myself, I headed back to my room to start on my homework. Just a false alarm. Takeru's safe.
Another night, more hours of sleepless worrying. It had been a week since I'd witnessed that awful scene late that night in the alley, and I probably hadn't had more than a combined ten hours of sleep total. Mostly I kept stressing out about whether or not to tell what I'd seen. I'd been watching the news, and of course that poor murdered girl had been found by now. Her name was Ogawa Yuniko, and she'd been just fourteen when she was killed. Her parents were also important government people in some way, and so of course the media and police were making a big deal out of it. The parents were even offering a reward for anyone with information about the murder, not that I particularly cared about that. I was mostly just worried about Takeru and myself. I mean, it was probably irrational of me to do so, but I couldn't help it. After all, it had been a week, and except for that brief scary moment when we thought Takeru was missing, everything was fine. No scary murderers lurking in the shadows waiting to kill me. No strange phone calls demanding ransom or silence about what I'd seen in exchange for my brother's life. No weird threatening letters in the mail, no stalkers trailing my every move. I was just paranoid. Really. It had been late at night, and dark, and whoever he was, he was probably intent on finishing what he'd started and then getting the hell out of here. Just because I've actually seen his face clearly doesn't mean he's seen mine. I tried desperately to convince myself of that fact, though I couldn't really make myself believe it.
But then again, I did know something about the murder. Was I doing wrong by not going forward and telling what I knew? was it better to report it, or to keep my silence and hope that'd be enough to protect those I cared about? I didn't know, and I couldn't even hope to know, or have someone tell me what to do. I was in this all alone, and I was rapidly drowning. I only hoped I could keep my head above everything long enough to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do next.
There were a couple of times when I'd almost told Taichi. I wanted to so bad, to not have to keep this horrible secret alone, to have someone to tell me what they thought I should do, to comfort me and reassure me things would be alright. But no matter how times I opened my mouth to come out with it, something always held me back. Fear. Fear of him somehow knowing, fear of him coming after Takeru or myself, or my friends, as if he knew exactly who I was and who I cared about. Of course, it's not like it was that hard to figure out who I was. The band was on the verge of going major very soon, my face was practically plastered all over the whole of Odaiba. Anyone with half a brain could take one look at me and know I was Ishida Yamato, lead singer of the Teenage Wolves. If you lived in Odaiba and didn't know that by now, you were probably out living under a rock somewhere.
I sighed, restlessly turning on my side for the fifth time in the past half hour, and closed my eyes again, begging my stupid mind to shutup and let me get some sleep, even if it was just a few hours worth. Tomorrow I'd promised to spend the day with Takeru, going wherever he wanted. So I had to try to sleep, no matter how useless it might have been.
Of course Takeru would want to go see the movie I just saw last weekend. Oh well. The movie had been good, so I supposed I could sit through it a second time for my little brother's sake.
We walked to the movie theatre together, chatting easily about what was going on in our lives. I was shocked to find out my brother was dating someone, and even more shocked when he told me who it was. "You're going out with Ken?" I'm sure my eyes were about bugging out of my head.
Takeru frowned at me. "What's wrong with that? Ken's nice, and I like him. I like him a lot."
I saw immediately that I'd hurt his feelings. "I'm sorry Takeru, I didn't mean it like that. I just thought you and Ken weren't that close friends. And I guess I always assumed you'd end up with Hikari. But not that there's anything wrong with you and Ken together," I added hastily.
"Hikari's going out with Daisuke," he told me shortly. "Anyways, Ken and I have been good friends for about a year and a half now. I kinda.. stopped hanging with Hikari so much when she started dating Daisuke."
"Oh, I see," I replied, though I didn't really. Why he would stop being friends with Hikari and Daisuke just because they were going out was beyond me. Surely he wouldn't let that come between a long-time friendship...
We got to theatre, and I insisted on buying both our tickets, as well as whatever snacks he wanted. He protested a bit at first, but settled down when I promised to let him buy the next time we went.
It was when we were walking down the hall to the theatre room our movie was playing in when I saw him. I stopped dead in my tracks and almost dropped my popcorn. He was next to the wall across from us, cleaning up some spilled soda and popcorn mess when we went past. He didn't look up, for which I was grateful. I didn't want him laying his eyes on Takeru if I could help it. It was bad enough that Takeru was in close proximity with him. If the bastard looked up, I was sure he'd recognize me. And it wouldn't be that hard to realize Takeru was my brother, we looked well enough alike that it was easy to tell.
"Yamato?" Takeru asked questioningly, and I wanted to yell at him. My eyes darted back to the guy, risking a glance. He still wasn't paying attention to us, so I quickly shepherded Takeru into the theatre and down the aisle a ways. He looked surprised at the sudden but gentle pushing, yet wisely didn't say anything. He seemed to sense I didn't want to talk about it, whatever it was. I couldn't have been more grateful.
"Here, find us some seats," I instructed him, handing over popcorn I no longer wanted. "I'll be back in a minute."
"Wha-? But Yamato, the movie's starting soon! You'll miss it! Where are you going?"
But I was already heading back out of the theatre, and didn't answer him. I had to see, had to make sure. Had to know that really was the guy I saw in the alleyway, had to know that I wasn't paranoid and going crazy. Pushing open the theatre doors, I calmly walked back out into the hallway, trying to look as if I just needed to go make use of the restrooms. I glanced around the hallway as I walked, wanting one more look. But it was too late. He was already gone.
He watched the two boys as they went past him. It was definitely the boy from last week, the same one who'd come upon in the alleyway that night. Ishida Yamato, lead singer of the Teenage Wolves, fast gaining popularity, about to go major. Oh yes, he'd done his homework well. This time the Ishida boy was with a younger boy who looked much like him. It was most likely his younger brother. Takaishi Takeru, aged fourteen, living with their mother Takaishi Natsuko. He'd done his homework very well, alright. It always paid to know as much as possible about the witnesses. And soon, he'd do his best to ensure that this particular witness didn't talk. Yes, soon indeed.
Chapter 2 fin.
Author's Notes: Ok, so here's the deal. I left ffnet back in July (see my profile or the story Waiting at ffnet for details and a link to my new place), but since no one seems to realize that, and because everyone keeps begging me to update this, I've decided to go ahead and continue updating Sortilege here. Once Waiting is finished, which should be sometime within the next few months, I'll re-upload the whole thing at once here. But anything new that may come after that, whether it's a new story or chapters to stories previously uploaded here, will all be uploaded at my fanfiction livejournal. Also, I know you guys want more of this, and I'm sorry for not updating in five months, and I'm sorry the chapter isn't long like I promised, but honestly, my life has been hell. At one point I was seriously thinking it'd be nice to not be a part of this world anymore. And really, life is still hell, so if anyone reads this, please understand why I won't be updating Sortilege very often. I haven't forgotten it, and I'm certainly not going to abandon it, it's just that I haven't found very much within me to care about writing. But all that aside, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which I suppose was more of a transitional chapter than anything else. The real drama should be in the next chapter. And the Taito and Kenkeru will become more apparent too. Well, actually I guess it's TakeKen, but whatever. If you feel like leaving a review, I thank you. Take care, and ciao for now.