Unchained Memories *complete*

Author: JadeHeart
Fandom: Gravitation
Warnings: Implied violence, deprivation of liberty, implied rape and torture.
Summary: The last days of Nittle Grasper after the New York incident with Kitazawa; Ryuichi’s dark past that changed him forever and the introduction of Kumagoro into his life; and the bonds that tie Tohma and Jim Harris together. (Side story to ‘The Key to My Heart’)
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this, apart from Jim Harris and Brian Turner; the rest belong to the creator of ‘Gravitation’.

-oOo-

Unchained Hearts: Chapter 10


Tohma hung up the phone, eyes prickling. He had arrived home and instead of heading for a shower and to change he had picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. As soon as he had heard Mika’s familiar voice he had felt himself relax a little, feel a little more at peace and grounded. Suddenly the dam inside him burst and he began to tell her all that had been happening lately. It was then that he realized just how much he had been keeping secret from her and for how long. He was ashamed of his behaviour but Mika didn’t once scold him for his unthinking actions, instead she listened silently, asking questions only sometimes and let him talk it all out.

He had begged her to tell him how Eiri was doing and had waited as the silence had lengthened before she had quietly said, “Not good.”

His heart had clenched again at those words. He didn’t ask for anything more and she didn’t volunteer anything further.

“I’m sorry,” he had said.

“Don’t be,” she had said back sharply. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It is because of you that we even have Eiri back with us. That means more than anything else.”

Although her words warmed his heart they didn’t completely chase away his guilt.

“Shall I come over?” she had asked him.

“No,” he had replied, even though a part of him was desperately wanting just that. He wanted her by his side during this time. “No, Eiri needs you more,” he had said reluctantly.

“Maybe,” she had said sounding a little depressed.

“Mika?” he had questioned.

“Never mind,” she had replied. “Tell me if you do want me to come.” she said firmly. “Don’t try and do this on your own.”

“I won’t,” he had said with a half smile. “Nori’s here. And there are others helping.” Though after his run in with Jim this evening he was wondering if he had ruined that connection. Had he just made everything worse in his effort to help?

“Call me more often,” Mika said suddenly, her only concession to telling him off. “I need to hear your voice.”

He smiled to himself. She had always been able to say such things so easily, unlike himself. Her confidence to do so was something he admired.

“I will,” he promised.

“You sound like you need to get some sleep,” she said. “Go to bed. I’ll talk to you later on.”

“Very well,” he complied, still smiling as she ordered him around. “Take care, love,”

“You too,” she said and they hung up.

Now he sat there feeling down, longing to hear her voice again after only just hanging up from her. He wanted to cry yet the tears wouldn’t fall. Now he was feeling lost and uncertain of what he should do next. Events had spun out of control, something which Tohma Seguchi wasn’t used to having happen in his life. He had always made certain that he had that control at all times.

The knock on his door startled him and he stared at it for a few moments thinking he must have misheard. When it came again he stood and went over, opening it and further startled by whom he saw on the other side. Jim Harris looked just as much worse for wear as he felt.

“So are you going to invite me in or leave me hanging here in the hall?” Jim said sarcastically a little.

For a brief moment Tohma was tempted to slam the door shut but instead stepped back, opening the door wider.

Jim stepped forward whilst Tohma shut it behind him.

“Got a drink?” Jim asked.

“You know where things are,” Tohma indicated, returning to his seat. “Help yourself.” He didn’t feel in the mood to play host. Not this morning.

He watched as Jim walked over to the sideboard, glancing over the range of bottles inside before selecting one and pouring a measure into two glasses. He walked back to where Tohma was sitting and held one glass out to him.

“Drink up,” he said. “You look like shit.”

Tohma reached up and took the glass. “As do you.”

Jim sat in the chair opposite, although fell would probably be more accurate. “Good, that’s how I feel.”

They both drank in silence for a moment, neither speaking.

“So what were you doing there tonight?” Jim finally asked.

“Looking for Ryuichi.”

“I told you to stay out of it.”

“We’ve already been over that,” Tohma said tiredly.

“Yeah, I guess we have.”

Further silence.

“Hey,” Jim suddenly said making Tohma look at him. “You’ve got some blood here,” and he indicated on his own face the spot.

“Oh,” Tohma reached up and wiped, feeling the caked dryness of the blood as it flaked away, wincing a little as it stung. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Jim took a sip of his drink and the tension seemed to ease between them.

“So how did you get away from that guy back there?” Jim asked, again breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” Tohma queried, still lost in his own thoughts.

“That guy. All that fancy hand stuff,” Jim waved his hand vaguely around. “You into martial arts or something?”

“Not really. Not in the way you think.” Tohma answered honestly.

“So how could you do that?”

Tohma looked over at the other man seeing that he was generally interested. “Through my tai chi.”

“Huh? How’s that?” Jim looked at him curiously. “Isn’t that for relaxation?”

“Certainly it is, and it helps build strength, muscle control and balance. However, what many people don’t realize is that the moves in tai chi can also be used for both offence and defense if it is put into practice as a fighting move.”

Jim leant forward a little. “Really? Now that I didn’t know. So I should take up tai chi instead of sweating my arse off in tae kwan doe classes?”

Tohma smiled at him. “Well, that is up to you. But like anything, tai chi requires just as much dedication, effort and time to learn it fully and thus be able to apply it to its best.”

“You look pretty good at it.”

Tohma nodded modestly. “I have been learning for some time.”

“So you’re an expert.”

Tohma laughed softly. “Hardly that,” he said. “In fact, very far from it. However it has stood me in good stead. As tonight proved.”

“You were damn lucky!” Jim said with a small growl.

Tohma acknowledged the chastisement. “Agreed. I hadn’t expected such an….event.”

Jim sat back then with a sigh. “Neither were we,” he admitted grudgingly.

“So can you tell me what did occur?” Tohma asked.

Jim thought for a moment and then spoke. “It was a money laundering and gun smuggling operation.” he finally said.

“So no sign of Ryuichi?”

“None.”

“I see.”

Jim stood, setting the glass down on the table before stretching his back with a wince.

“I’ve got to get back to the station.” he said.

“Aren’t you going to get some rest?” Tohma asked, concerned.

Jim grimaced. “No time yet. We’ve got to arraign the guys we pulled in and get al the reports written up. These cases get pretty messy in court. The mafia have got some pretty slick lawyers on their payrolls so we’ve got to make certain everything is spot on.” He headed for the door.

“What about Ryuichi?” Tohma asked quietly.

Jim paused in the act of opening the door and turned to look back. “We haven’t given up.” he stated firmly. “We’ll go back over the evidence and see what we come up with. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” Jim stepped out and began to close the door. “Get some sleep. You need it,” and he closed it.

Tohma swung his legs up onto the couch, leaning back against the cushions. Where are you, Ryuichi?, he thought as his heavy lids began to close. Where are you?

-oOo-

“Are you sure?” Jim asked, leaning on the table and looking over the papers spread out before him. The glossy photos dotted the type written sheets, some quite grainy and difficult to make out, others far clearer.

“It’s a clear trail,” Brian said, looking up from the other side. “A couple of eye witness reports came in from a door to door knock to correspond with this so it’s a very good chance.”

“That’s what we thought the first time.”

“Come on, Jim, that sort of mistake can happen, you know that. We still got the bad guys.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Jim said, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

Should he make the call on this one? He looked the evidence over again, thinking over everything Brian had told him. It was his decision to decide to mobilise a team or not. It was his career on the line if he screwed up. The first time was a fluke that he had actually scored big in making that bust. But it could have gone very differently as well. If there had been nothing there he would have had his butt kicked.
But if this really did lead him to Ryuichi then how could he not do it?

“Okay,” he said, straightening up. “Let’s do it.”

“You won’t be sorry.” Brian said confidently.

“You’d better be right.” Jim half threatened.

Brian gave him the thumbs up with a grin. “If I’m wrong I’ll buy you lunch for the next year.”

“Good,” Jim said, as he left. “Because if you’re wrong I’m going to be busted back to a beat cop and I won’t be able to afford lunch!”

Now everything was in readiness and that left only one thing to do. He had pondered long and hard about this, but had realized that it was the only way. If he didn’t call Tohma and tell him what was going on he might just follow them again, and this time it might not go so well for him.

He dialled the number and waited for it to be connected.

“Tohma,” he said when he heard the familiar voice. “Get ready and I’ll be by to pick you up in half an hour.”

“What’s happening?” Tohma asked.

“We’ve got another lead,” he said as he walked towards the car.

“So soon?” Tohma sounded a little skeptical.

“Are you interested or not?” Jim snapped, still not liking having to do this.

“I’ll meet you downstairs.” Tohma replied and hung up.

Damn jerk, Jim fumed as he slid behind the wheel and pulled out into the traffic.

By the time he had reached Tohma’s street he had calmed down again. It was just his nerves becoming frayed; the stress of the case, the additional workload the recent bust had generated for him, and the worry over Tohma. He was also feeling guilty that he was neglecting Kerryn far too much. She was wisely staying clear of him while he was behaving like a bear with a sore head. He promised himself that he would make it up to her after this was all over.

Tohma was true to his word and waiting on the footpath and, as soon as he spotted Jim slowing down, stepped onto the road and quickly slid into the passenger seat.

“How far is it?’ Tohma asked as he belted up.

“About an hour across town.” Jim answered.

“So what is it this time?”

Jim glanced quickly at him but couldn’t detect any sarcasm there, just a genuine query. He was getting touchy.

“They went back over tracing the van’s movements as identified through the CTV camera’s.” he said. “They found a couple more from a petrol station and a 24 hour store where it went past further on.”

Jim stopped talking as he crossed through a busy part of town before picking up the story. “They’ve had the beat cops asking a few questions around the area where it was finally lost and got a few eye witness accounts that pinpointed it to a house. The cops couldn’t get much more about the resident, just that he seemed the real quiet type. There was no record of such a van being registered to him but that doesn’t mean anything. We got word back yesterday that the van definitely had been seen there for the past three days and hadn’t moved.”

“Is that a good thing?” Tohma asked.

“Well, there’s been signs of the suspect still being at the house so he hasn’t fled. Since the vehicle used in the abduction is still parked round the back, he doesn’t seem to be making any efforts to hide his tracks which means there’s a good possibility that he doesn’t think he’s done anything so bad he has to hide yet.”

“Meaning that Ryuichi might still be alive.”

Jim glanced at him again. “A good possibility.”

“I know,” Tohma assured his friend so he didn’t have to actually say it. He looked out the window. “I know it’s still a long shot, but it’s still something.”

“Yeah,”

They drove the rest of the way in silence apart from Jim occasionally discussing things with his team over the two-way as they drew nearer. When he finally pulled up in the suburban outer suburb Tohma looked around in a little surprise. It seemed such an ordinary place; ordinary houses, ordinary people, nothing to suggest that anything untoward might have been happening here.

“Surprising, isn’t it?” Jim said, startling him.

He turned to meet the other’s eyes.

“It all looks so normal,” Jim continued, glancing out the window, leaning on the steering wheel. “No-one thinks that there could possibly be anything wrong happening here. Until you find that a serial murderer has been living next door to you for the past ten years when the bodies start getting dug up.” He sighed. “Somehow it doesn’t seem right that even places like this can be disturbed by such things.”

He unclipped his belt and opened his door. “Come on,” and Tohma followed him down the street.

Tohma hung back as Jim met up with the rest of his team and they discussed details of what action they were to take. He had no part in that and had no intention of interfering. From where they were parked he could see the house in question which Jim had pointed out to him. It looked so normal. Was Ryuichi inside? He hoped so – with all his heart.

“Okay,” Jim said as he came to stand beside him. He was dressed in his bullet proof vest as were his team. “I want you to stay right here until you get the all clear from me.” He fixed Tohma with a steely stare. “Can I trust you to do that?” he asked bluntly.

Tohma nodded. “Yes.”

Jim continued to look at him as though trying to determine if he was truly telling the truth. “Fine then.” He turned away and motioned for his people to move in. “See you shortly.” he said to Tohma and then set off at a sprint across the road.

Tohma watched as the police swarmed around the house like black ants, holding position for a moment and then spilling inside and disappearing from view. One minute they were there, then they were gone.

He waited and counted his heartbeats, trying to curb his impatience and desire to go over there also. But he had given Jim his word and he would not break it.

Finally a black clad figure appeared on the porch and waved to him and he let his breath out in a whoosh, hurrying across the road and up the steps. The man led him silently inside. Tohma glanced at the rooms as they passed by; they all seemed perfectly normal. He was taken down the steps towards the basement and saw Jim at the bottom speaking to one of his men. He looked up as he heard Tohma’s step and the grim expression he wore made his heart freeze.

“Get on to that now,” Jim finished saying to his man, who hurried away to do his bidding as he turned to face Tohma.

“Ryuichi?” Tohma questioned.

Jim shook his head and Tohma’s heart fell.

“He’s not here, but it seems like it was the right place.”

“Why?”

Jim motioned with his head and Tohma followed him further into the brightly lit room. Now he took in the whole décor before him and he swallowed against the bile building in his throat. He could see the chains, he could see the implements, gleaming steel set out neatly on the metal tray. He could see the stains on the floor and his nose twitched at the metallic scent of blood, vomit and urine.

His stomach rolled and he swallowed hard. His eyes fell on the torn shred of plastic pushed to the far corner and he hurried over to it, hand outstretched.

“Don’t touch it!” Jim’s harsh shout halted him and he froze, looking back over his shoulder. “Don’t interfere with the crime scene.” Jim ordered.

Tohma took a deep breath to try and calm himself and merely nodded to show he understood. Walking slowly and carefully he crossed the last few feet and gazed down at the name still partially showing on the torn bag.

“That is the store where Ryuichi made his last purchase,” he said clearly, turning to face Jim.

“Are you sure?”

Tohma nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Forensics will be here shortly. They’ll take it from here.”

Jim turned around and Tohma could see his eyes tracing over everything, probably seeing far more than tohma could from what was here.

“Did you….find the person responsible?” Tohma asked.

Jim looked over at him. “”This way,” and lead him back upstairs, through a few rooms and into the kitchen.

There at the table a man sat, looking perfectly average apart from the glint of steel circling each wrist as his hands lay clasped on the table before him. He looked up as they entered with a smile.

“Hello,” he said evenly.

Tohma gazed at this person, this creature, before him. Were they saying this was the person who had taken Ryuichi? Surely not. There was nothing remarkable about him any way. He was nothing more than regular human being; a person you would pass by a hundred times on the street and never look at twice. And yet they believed this person planned and abducted, and from the evidence below, tortured Ryuichi. How could that be?

“Come this way,” Jim said gruffly, leading Tohma now upstairs to the next floor.

They passed a room that was obviously a bedroom, and at the far end Jim opened another door. Tohma stepped forward and stopped, frozen in shock. He stood and looked all around him and everywhere he looked his eyes were assaulted by the images of Ryuichi. From floor to ceiling and even stretching across that span above them the plaster was covered with pictures of Ryuichi. He could see that some were taken from magazines, others were obviously amateur ones from various concerts, others showed evidence where either he or Noriko had been cut from the picture so only Ryuichi remained.

He walked on unsteady legs further into the room, stunned by what he was seeing. Now he saw that some of the pictures had been defaced; obscene things written or drawn on Ryuichi’s image, others showing him bound or dead.

His eyes were drawn to some pictures that seemed more recent, overlapping those underneath. He drew closer and could now see that it was Ryuichi but what made his breath catch was that in some he was wearing the same clothes as when he went missing.

Unable to stop himself Tohma’s eyes ran across the pictures displayed there, beginning with the ones of Ryuichi clothed, obviously unconscious, continuing on to see him in various states of undress, face contorted in pain and fear, ones where his friend was completely naked with blood smeared across his flesh, and then clearly showing he had been violated, even with one shot showing all too clearly the penetration by another person.

Tohma couldn’t hold down his feelings any longer and bolted for the door. Jim grabbed his arm and pushed him across the hall into a bathroom where he fell to his knees and vomited violently over and over again until he could bring up nothing more and still the spasms would cease. Tears coursed down his cheeks as he silently wept, the images imbedded in his mind.

“I know,” Jim’s voice penetrated the fog of despair that clouded his mind. “I know how you feel.”

Tohma looked up at him.

“It made me sick too.”

Tohma didn’t know if he was just trying to sympathise with him or if he actually meant it in the literal sense. It didn’t matter either way.

“Did that…..person really do this to Ryu?” he managed to whisper hoarsely.

“Looks like it,” Jim answered shortly. “We found the remains of Ryu’s clothes. The sick bastard had kept them as well.” He turned his back on the huddled Tohma.

“So where….is Ryu?” Tohma asked, dreading the answer.

“We don’t know,” Jim answered honestly. “We haven’t found any sign of him.”

Tohma swallowed hard again, then took a deep breath and stood, automatically brushing himself down. Jim turned as he did so.

“Thank you for allowing me to come, and for your hard work.” Tohma said, holding out his hand.

Jim took it and held it tightly for a moment, staring hard at Tohma. “I’ll let you know,” he said.

Tohma nodded and walked carefully down the stairs, out the door and away from the house of horrors.

-oOo-

Jim scrubbed at his face again, ignoring the stubble, ignoring the tired muscles and stinging eyes, ignoring the pain he was feeling. Gods, he hated this. He had known the chances were slim right from the start and had only grown less but he had still…hoped.

Now there was none. All the evidence pointed to that.

He rubbed at his eyes again. He couldn’t face going back into the interview room again. He had done so the first time, he was the lead detective after all. But the smarmy confident suspect had just driven him to the brink of violence, for the whole time he was speaking all he kept seeing were those photos of Ryuichi’s torture and violation and that not only made him sick but it made him angry. So he had finally handed over further questioning to one of his men, needing to distance himself from the events for a moment.

Well, that was it. No more searching, no more wondering. Now Tohma and Noriko would have to find a way to announce to the rest of the world that Ryuichi Sakuma was gone. After all they had both done, it had all been for nothing. Gods, life sucks.

“So this is where you are,”

Jim looked up at the voice to see Brian leaning on the door.

“Hiding are you?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t take it any more. One more condescending word from that bastard and I was going to put a bullet between his eyes.”

“Whoa, bit testy are we?”

“Did you see what that fuckwit did to that kid?!” Jim started out of his chair, eyes blazing. “He’s a sick psychotic bastard!”

“Hey, hey! I’m on your side remember?” Brian said, holding up his hands and backing away a little.

Jim took a deep breath and sat down again. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Brian said, coming close again and sitting down also. “And, yes, I’ve seen the evidence. I’ve been running things out at the house remember.”

“I know. Sorry.”

“You’ve already said that.”

Jim just rolled his eyes at his friend who gave a small grin back.

“Look I didn’t mean to press a button there.” Brian said. “I just meant that I wondered what tack you were taking to try and get information out of him as to where the kid is.”

“Just asking him outright. We’ve got more than enough to evidence to nail him on the case. We just need him to spill where he’s hidden the body and it’s all tied up.”

“Body? Why are you looking for one of those?”

Jim looked at his friend. “What are you talking about? You’ve seen what he did to Ryuichi. We couldn’t find him anywhere in the house so he’s obviously dumped the body somewhere else.”

“What I mean is, what makes you think that he’s killed him?”

Jim just stared at him. “You think he’s still alive?”

Brian shrugged a little. “I don’t know for sure, but just from the way this guy has gone about it I don’t think he would have killed Ryuichi except as a very last resort. Everything about him indicates that he wanted to totally possess the guy, in all ways. And yes, that is really sick, but it doesn’t indicate that he actually wanted him dead. He had no idea you were coming so it’s not like he had panicked and got rid of Ryuichi, so that could mean that the kid’s still alive.”

“But he’s not in the house.” Jim said.

“No, he’s not, and we’ve gone over the place with a fine tooth comb so we’re sure of that.”

“Which means he must have moved him somewhere?” Jim worried at his thumbnail with his teeth as his thoughts raced. “But to where?”

Brian stood. “That’s your job to find out,” he said, walking to the door. “I’ve got a number of samples I’m testing so if any of them come back with anything I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” Jim said, then gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

Brian waved. “Anytime, pal,” he threw over his shoulder as he left.

Jim sat there but now his thoughts were turning in new directions. Right, he needed to go back over everything they had found at the place and let’s try a different direction in the questionings.

-oOo-

Tohma felt dazed. He knew he should contact Noriko, she would be getting extremely worried about him. There had already been a number of messages left on his phone from her, as well as a note placed prominently on his kitchen bench which indicated that she had come over at least once since he’d been gone.

After the raid he had found the nearest open bar and began to drink steadily. He’d done that for most of the day and had only had enough thought still left to help him flag a taxi and get home to his apartment, where he had promptly thrown up again before falling into sleep.

When he had awoken he’d found himself still lying on the bathroom tiles in his previous clothes and stinking of alcohol, cigarettes and vomit. His head pounded unpleasantly. He could hold his liquour quite well but had truly exceeded his normal limit yesterday.

He had turned on the shower and stripped his stinking clothes off under the water, peeling them away layer by layer until he was naked, and just that act seemed to help clear his mind. Now he was thinking a little better he tried to make sense of things.

Despite the evidence to the contrary, a part of his heart couldn’t seem to accept that Ryuichi was gone. They had been together for so long that he had always believed that he would know if something happened to either Ryu or Noriko, so it seemed surreal that Ryu was now dead and he couldn’t feel anything different.

No matter how his mind tried to rationalize it his heart refused to accept it. It kept on saying that Ryuichi was still out there, it kept telling him that he had to keep looking. He was beginning to think that he was going mad from the strain. By the end of the day he’d had enough. He didn’t care if he was in denial, or crazy, or what. All he knew was that something kept telling him Ryu was alive and he had to find him.

He rang Jim’s number and waited for it to be answered, relived when it finally was.

“How are you holding up?” Jim asked immediately before he could speak.

“As best as possible,” he answered honestly. “I have something to say to you.”

“What?”

Toham took a deep breath. “I know everything indicates that Ryuichi is…dead. But I’m sorry, I don’t accept that. I know he’s still alive.”

Tohma waited, expecting the tirade of abuse for not accepting the facts, or solicitous words to indicate that it was just his grief deluding him.

“You do, do you?” Jim said instead in a quiet voice.

“Yes,” Tohma said firmly. “I do.”

“Well, it seems like you’re not the only one.”

“Pardon?” Tohma was caught by surprise.

“Yeah, there’s a couple of things that seem to be indicating that possibility,” and Jim stressed the last word, “that Ryu was shifted from the house to somewhere else so he may just still be alive.”

“Where?”

“Don’t know; that’s the problem. They’re running every possible test on everything in the house to see if we can come up with anything to indicate where he might have been taken. It’s still a long shot. We’ve had the place under surveillance for three days and the van didn’t move during that time so if Ryu was shifted it was before that. So that makes it four days since this guy has gone to see him. I doubt he would have put him up in a nice hotel with room service so he’s probably getting damn hungry by now.”

“Yes, I see what you mean.” Tohma’s mind raced through these realistic difficulties that he hadn’t considered.

“So we’re still on the clock with this if you’re right. We’ll keep squeezing the bastard who took him to see if he spills anything more. I’ll let you know what comes up.”

“Thank you, Jim.”

“You’re welcome,” and Jim hung up.

So he wasn’t mad after all, Tohma thought. That’s always nice to know.

-oOo-

Jim listened as the tape played back again, trying to put the pieces together. He stood by the whiteboard, absently twirling the marker in his hand as he listened. His eyes scanned the information before him; photos, analysis reports, arrows and written text linking each portion as they remapped the movements of the suspect over the past weeks.

“Any luck?” Brian said as he entered, file in hand which he set down on the table and began flicking through.

“I’m not sure.” Jim admitted, feeling as though he were close but seeming to be missing something still.

“Well, here’s another little tidbit,” Brian said, holding up a sheet.

“What is it?”

“The final analysis has indicated that that sample seemed to have been picked up in some of our waterworks.”

“That doesn’t help that much,” Jim groused with a frowned. “We’ve got hundreds of miles of those.”

“True,” Brian said, “But this is obviously from a much older area due to the build up of residue there. There a few other things that came out which we are tracing which may lead to us being able to get a bit closer to pinning down a location.”

Brian grinned at him. “As you know, everything used to go down the drains so the residues left behind often give us an idea of what type of industries were in the area, even if they aren’t there now.”

“So you think that could help?”

“Where ever this guy moved the kid to, wasn’t done randomly. This guy hasn’t done anything randomly so it had to all have been planned before hand. So this means that he knew the place he took him to and knew it rather well. That’s got to give us something to work on. Why don’t you start making a check on all the places this guy has worked before; the type of companies and stuff? It might be somewhere that he came across during those times that he’s used and that might give a match to what we come up with.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Jim said, nodding. “We’ve got to start somewhere.” He looked at Brian with a lop-sided grin. “Sure you don’t want my job?”

“Nah,” Brian said good-naturedly. “I couldn’t stand working with you lot all the time!”

-oOo-

Tohma walked into the station and waited as Jim was contacted, wondering what the other man had found out. It only took a moment before Jim was there and signed him through, leading him down the corridor to his office.

Now Tohma sat and looked at the cluttered white board before him. It meant little to him but obviously it had great significance to Jim.

“Okay, we think we may have just struck pay dirt.” Jim came straight to the point.

Tohma sat up straighter, eye shining with interest.

“A colleague put me onto the trail and we started trying to find out more about this guy’s background as far as where he had worked in the past. We learnt that he had once been a sanitation worker, as in maintenance of the city’s sewage system.”

“How does that help us?” Tohma wanted to know, interrupting.

“It gives us a potential location.” Jim explained. “Some of the samples found in both the house, van, and even on some of the suspect’s shoes seemed to indicate that he had been in old sewer pipes, most likely some of the disused ones. There’s plenty around you know. It’s easier to just cut or block them off and leave them there, than try to dig them out fully and dispose of them.”

“So you think he took Ryuichi into somewhere like that? But how are we going to find him?”

“Brian and his boys ran a few more tests and narrowed it down to certain areas around the city, based on the residues still in the muck that was dragged up. Don’t ask me to get into all the scientific mumbo-jumbo, that’s not my thing.”

Jim pulled over a map where a couple of grids had been marked off. “These are the areas they say are the most likely matches to what they’ve come up with so far.” He looked up at Tohma. “There’s no guarantees on this. It’s still just a guess. You willing to take a chance?”

Tohma nodded firmly. “Completely.”

“Good. Let’s get going. I’ve managed to get two teams together. One will go with us and we’ll do here,” pointing to one portion of the grid markings. “The other will check out this region,” indicating the other. He stood and Tohma followed him towards the back door heading for the car park.

“By the way,” Jim said as they walked. “Some good news is that the bastard did let slip that Ryu had been alive when he had moved him.” Tohma felt relief wash over him. “However, we don’t know what state he was in at the time and he’s been without food for nearly a week now, and possibly water as well. Those aren’t good conditions.”

Tohma nodded thoughtfully. “I know.” He looked over at Jim. “But he was still alive then.”

“Yeah,” Jim nodded back.

-oOo-

“Shit! It stinks down here!” One of the men exclaimed, trying to cover his nose.

“Shit is right,” another grumbled. “How the hell did we get this job?”

“That’s what they pay you the big bucks for,” Jim said back, not breaking his stride.

“What’s that?” the first officer complained back. “You must be looking at someone else’s pay check because it sure aint mine!”

“Mine either!” another piped up.

“Cut the chatter and stay alert!” Jim ordered, bringing the mirth to an end. “He’s most likely not going to be just out in the open so we need to check every area out.”

They continued on their way before coming to another branching in the tunnels.

“Geez, again!” One of the men said, then turned to Jim. “We’ll go this way. You’ll be okay on your own?” he asked, casting a quick glance towards Tohma standing by Jim’s side. They may have accepted Tohma as being part of the team but they didn’t accept him as being part of their group, which meant it left their leader on his own in their eyes.

Jim nodded. “I’ll be fine,” he assured his man. “Call in with what you find.”

“Will do,” and the man turned to head off in their intended direction, followed by his partner. Their torchlight was swallowed up quickly by the darkness.

“Still okay to go on?” Jim asked Tohma.

Tohma nodded. “Lead on.”

Jim turned and they continued walking down the tunnel they extended into the distance.

Tohma had become used to the smell by now. It still made his nose twitch with distaste and the back of his throat itch, but he could ignore it by now. He no longer paid attention to the state of his clothes either. Jim had insisted that they both wear coveralls, for which he was extremely grateful now.

Their gloves were slimy from having to grip onto things to pull them along, their boots caked in grunge, and more than once one of them would have to pause to struggle to pull their foot free as the sludge sucked it down, refusing to release it. They both looked quite a sight.

They had navigated their way from the more pristine modern versions of pipeworks to this area where once the hatch had been oxy cut open from its welding, they had been forced to wade through liquid and sediment that was best left unknown. Tohma didn’t even want to hazard a guess as to how long some of the stuff had been stagnating here. Now he really could believe some of the urban myths about alligators in the sewers of New York.

Jim paused and Tohma nearly ran into him at the sudden stop. He then noticed that Jim had come to a standstill before an alcove set back a little from the main tunnel wall to their right and there was the outline of a wheel lock. Jim took the locking mechanism in both hands and threw his weight against it.

Tohma had lost count of how many of these they had checked, how many other alcoves they had searched. The calls came in frequently from the other members of their team, as well as the second team scouring the other region, broken and crackling due to the poor reception of trying to filter through the depths. Nothing had been unearth as of yet and Tohma was beginning to think that they had made a mistake in coming here. Perhaps they had been too hasty in taking this path. Perhaps the suspect had deliberately thrown them a red herring to send them on this wild goose chase, all the while laughing at them. And all this time Ryuichi was left alone longer, suffering.

Tohma pushed that thought away before it could take hold of him. He had to focus on what was happening now. He had to stay focused and positive. Ryuichi was still alive. That he firmly believed. And the other thing he believed now was that he would find him.

“Damn, this one’s stiff!” Jim puffed, throwing his weight against it fully.

“Let me help,” Tohma said, stepping forward and grabbing also.

It was difficult with the two them as the wheel wasn’t that big, as well as their grip being slippery and difficult to find a secure grip, but they persevered. Finally they were rewarded with a creaking and grating and it shifted a quarter turn before stopping again.

“Aw, shit! Come on!” Jim cursed it, throwing his weight at it again.

It didn’t move this time and he searched around, eyes alighting upon a short piece of pipe hanging loose. He grabbed it, yanking it backwards and forwards a few times till it came fully away from where it had been wedged.

“Stand back,” he cautioned Tohma, who moved away as he raised the bar above his head and brought it crashing down on the wheel. He did this a few more times and then pushed it between the spokes to use as more leverage.

“Give us a hand!” he gasped out and Tohma grabbed hold again and they both pulled once more.

This time they were rewarded with the wheel turning fully, although not freely, and every inch was won with the sweat of them both. They kept going, forcing it around until they felt the door shudder as the latch finally came free.

Jim pulled out the bar and tossed it to one side. “Okay, let’s get this baby open,” he said, hauling backwards.

It moved slowly, inching out, pushing against the build up of muck that coated not just the floor but around its outer edges also. Globules of this muck fell upon them but they ignore it, still heaving against the dead weight. When it was open wide enough to allow a man to enter Jim stepped forward, shining his light around.

He flashed it up to see that it was an actual room, not another old air shaft. The low ceiling started back at him, barely enough room for him to stand up. His light roamed around the perimeter. It wasn’t much of a room.

“Nothi…” he began when his beam fell upon a dark shape in the middle. He stared at the sight before him, shocked.

Tohma seemed to sense something was wrong and pushed forward, his own light searching. “What is it?” he said, peering forward.

His voice choked as he too saw the shape which now moved upon hearing his voice.

Ryuichi’s unmistakable face looked up at them, eyes wide and bright still, although black streaks of grime covered not only his face but also the muck almost completely covered his body.

“Tohma,” Ryuichi’s voice was hoarse, completely unlike his usual melodious sound.

Tohma rushed to his side, taking in the pitiful state of his dearest friend. Ryuichi looked gaunt, ribs showing all too clearly, and the smell surrounding them indicated that all of the muck he was lying in was not all old.

But Ryuichi looked up at him and a smile stretched his lips, hand reaching out to him which he clasped tightly as he fell to his knees. Behind him he could vaguely hear Jim making frantic calls to his team but he wasn’t paying any attention to that. He was completely focused on his friend.

“I knew you would come,” Ryuichi was saying, his words sounding painful as though he had forgotten how to speak. “I told Kumagoro you would.”

“Kuma..goro?” Tohma questioned, confused.

Ryuichi’s smile grew broader as his other hand held up a dark blob that Tohma could just now see wasn’t just dirt but the furry toy Ryuichi had bought so long ago.

“See, Kumagoro,” Ryuichi turned his head to look at the toy. “Didn’t I tell you that Tohma would come?” He paused as though listening to a voice only he could hear. “That’s okay,” he said as he patted the toy’s head. “It’s all right that you doubted me, but I never doubted Tohma.”

He looked up at Tohma now with another of those strange bright but inane smiles that froze Tohma’s heart. “Tohma, meet Kumagoro. He’s my friend.”

Ryuichi waited expectantly as Tohma struggled for words. His friend had always been a little…strange, Ryuichi’s mood swings were quite the norm but he had never seen this childlike regression before under any circumstances.

He saw the concern begin to creep over Ryuichi’s dirty face as he remained silent and he quickly spoke. He looked directly at the dirty toy and said, “I am very pleased to meet you, Kumagoro,” he managed to choke out formally. He bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for looking after Ryuichi.”

Ryuichi let out a crow of laughter, startling Tohma who looked up at him, thinking he must have done something wrong, but his friend was hugging the toy tightly, smiling brightly.

“Kumagoro is pleased to meet you too, Tohma! He’s heard lots about you but he thought I was making you up.”

“Really?” Tohma said a little faintly, beginning to feel overwhelmed.

“Hey!” Ryuichi suddenly said, startling him again, and he noticed that he was looking past him and turned his head to see Jim standing there. “It’s Mr Policeman! Look Kumagoro, it’s Mr Policeman!” He stuck his tongue out at Jim. “I don’t know if I like you, Mr Policeman. You keep bothering Tohma.”

“Uhm,” Jim was at a complete loss of words as he gazed down at Ryuichi.

“Come on, Ryuichi,” Tohma finally said. “Let’s go home, shall we?”

“We can leave now?” Ryuichi asked, turning wide eyes to Tohma’s. “The demon’s not out there waiting for us?”

Tohma could see the dark shadow of fear in Ryuichi’s eyes and his heart clenched as he realized that he was speaking of his captor. He shook his head.

“No, Ryu, the demon is gone. We caught him.”

“You did?” Now Ryuichi’s bright smile was back as he turned to his toy. “You see, Kumagoro, didn’t I tell you Tohma was the best? He can even beat demons! Nothing can stop him! He’s my hero!”

He beamed at Tohma as he snuggled the toy against his face, heedless of the fact that it was smearing further dirt over him. “Kumagoro thinks you’re pretty cool.”

“Then please thank Kumagoro for his praise. How would you both like to have a nice hot bath when we get home?” Tohma struggled to keep his voice even and light.

“Ooooh, that would be nice! Kuma too?”

“Of course, we can’t leave him dirty. That wouldn’t be very nice.”

He reached out and helped Ryuichi to his feet, supporting his friend who seemed unable to stand on weakened legs.

Ryuichi looked up at Tohma’s face, only about an inch from his. “I knew you would understand,” he almost whispered, and for a moment Tohma saw the old Ryuichi there, clear sane eyes looking back at him. “I knew I could count on you.”

“Always, my friend,” Tohma whispered back. “Always.”

Ryuichi nodded but stumbled a little as he tried to walk. Jim reached out and grabbed them both, helping to balance them in the unsteady footing.

“Here,” he said, wrapping a blanket around Ryuichi’s nakedness. “We’ve got a stretcher coming so you don’t have to walk.”

Ryuichi’s head came back up and he looked at Jim now. “Give me a piggyback ride!” he demanded and Tohma’s heart fell as he returned to the childlike persona once again. “Want a piggyback ride!”

“No way!” Jim said, stepping back.

“I want, I want!” Ryuichi began to chant.

“Now, Ryuichi,” Tohma said quietly. “Don’t you think Kumagoro would be more comfortable lying down?”

“Oh!” Ryuichi stopped and thought about it for a moment, then turned to the toy for a moment. His face fell and he looked dejectedly at Jim. “Kumagoro says he does want to lie down.”

“Yes, I thought so,” Tohma said, helping him through the door.

As they exited he saw the other members of their team arriving and two immediately unfolded the portable stretcher they carried. He made certain that Ryuichi was strapped in securely, Kumagoro by his side.

“There you go,” he said, tucking in the blanket. “Let’s go now.”

Ryuichi’s hand snaked out and grasped his tightly, jagged nails digging in his flesh.

“You’ll stay by me?” he said in a small voice.

Tohma squeezed his hand. “I’ll be right here.” he said and smoothed back Ryuichi’s lank strands of hair from his dirty face with a gentle touch. “I’m not going anywhere.” he promised.

“Kuma too!” Ryuichi demanded and Tohma obligingly patted the toy’s head as well, bringing that bright smile to Ryuichi’s face again.

“Okay, time to go,” Ryu stated brightly, and they set off, Tohma at his side.

Within a few minutes Ryuichi had fallen into an exhausted sleep and didn’t even stir when they finally exited the dark tunnels and he was once more bathed in light.