http://clampfix.fanworks.net/kenichi/essen09.txt </head><body><pre> "They have walked amidst the stars and They have walked the Earth. The City of Irem in the great desert has known Them; Leng in the Cold Waste has seen Their passing, the timeless citadel upon the cloud- veiled heights of unknown Kadath beareth Their mark. Wantonly the Old Ones trod the ways of darkness and Their blasphemies were great upon the Earth; all creation bowed beneath Their might and knew Them for Their wickedness." - Liber Logaeth (translated by Dr. John Dee) Chapter Nine I felt pity for the young soldier as I saw Rio yell mercilessly into his ashen face. Whatever the big black Sergeant was saying to the young man must not at all be the least bit pleasant, as I could see tears streaming down the young man's cheeks as Rio blasted him with what I believe to be every possible expletive in any language's dictionary. Rio dismissed him quickly, as it became pretty much apparent that it was my turn to get yelled at. The stern look on his face relieved me of any illusions of gentility as he waved me into the room. He didn't disappoint my expectations, as I heard his voice thunder into my ear like an elephant's furious bellow. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID I COULD TRUST YOU!!!" I froze as attentively as the young guard before me. A voice of nagging conscience in the back of my head told me that I should never have left Tokyo... Or Kyoto, for that matter. "...AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN WATCH OVER A FIFTEEN-YEAR OLD KID!?!" Rio's yelling was a continous stream of expletives and curses; some in Nihongo, some in English, whatever the language, it seemed Rio was most adept at churning out curses better than any other human being on earth. "...HOW COULD YOU HAVE SLEPT THROUGH ALL THIS, YOU NINNY-HAMMER?" It was tempting to yell back at him, but that would have served no sensible purpose, other than to complicate things further. Ken was gone, and I slept through it all. Rio had trusted me, and now he blamed me for the disappearance. In some way, it really was my fault. If I hadn't tried entering Ken's psyche, he might still be here. Bed- ridden maybe, but at least under our care and observation. For the most obvious reasons, I doubted a hard-boiled military man like Rio would believe my story of going into Ken's mind. "THAT'S IT!!! I'm going out to look for him!" With a snap and a turn, Rio was out of the room in a rage. I followed him as he stormed out of the wardroom cubicle, all the way down into the bowels of the hospital building's parking lot, silent and careful not to aggravate the big man any further. There was little doubt in my mind that Rio could and still might grab me by the nape of my neck and tear me in half... literally. It took him quite some time after disembarking the elevator to finally realize that I was tailing him, and he was understandably upset. Who wouldn't be...? "What, You haven't done enough damage for one day?" The accusation stung badly. Especially since I knew I was responsible. But responsible or not... "My guess is that Ken went home. It's the only logical place he'd go to, for now..." Rio looked at me sharply. "It dosen't take a genius to know that's obvious." He first turned to go, but stopped and looked over his shoulder. "All right, follow me and make yourself useful." The jeep slowed to a stop as we approached Linda Wang's house. Rio's face was gaunt and firm as he stepped off. He took a few steps toward the house, then stopped. I leapt off the jeep cautiously, looking around as I did so. So far, there was no indication whatsoever that Ken was anywhere around the premises. Oddly enough, the door was left ajar, apparently unmoved since the other night. Rio snorted as he strode slowly up the pathway. What...? Rio and I whipped our heads toward the same direction as we heard the noise. A cracking... splintering wood torn like the rages of hell. Rage... Ken. We were like arrows shot from a bow, immediately rushing to the source of the noise. Inside. The sounds seemed to reverbate across the entirety of the house as we entered. Something dull and heavy, prying... smashing on a wooden surface. Whoever it was, it wasn't Kenichi. Unless Ken had a penchant for wearing a ski mask in broad daylight... Was shaped like a football player... ...And carried a crowbar to pry closets open with. Rio and I were shocked in our tracks as we saw the figure ripping at Linda Wang's room drawers and closets like a man posessed. Silently, the two of us stood rooted, unwilling to disturb the man, though in Rio's case it was more of observation rather than shock. Frantic... Frustration... Looking... Looking for something... Looking... but looking for what? I felt a chill as the strange man stopped. Turned to look at us, unafraid. He smiled. Horrendously cruel, that smile. With eyes that seemed to flare a perverse joy in seeing us. Blue eyes... As if he were mocking us for our inaction. And the words... He hissed them like a chant through his teeth. "...Tekeli-Li... Tekeli-Li... Tekeli-Li... Tekeli-Li... Tekeli-Li..." And I knew. Somehow, deep inside, I felt even Rio knew... It was a chant, indeed... A song... A melody... A hymn of worship, maybe... ...for madness. Rio roared like a wounded bull and simultaneously charged at the stranger in like fashion. The calm yet insane look relayed in the masked man's eyes welcomed Rio as a cat would a suicidal mouse. The man's thick arm lithely, almost nonchalantly, whisked the crowbar at Rio's face. I was aghast at the ease with which Rio parried the solid iron bar swung at him; as if the solid steel of the weapon was little more than a toy. He then landed a flurry of punches at the cowled face with an almost automatic regularity. Throughout it all, I stood frozen, a mere observer unable to interfere nor escape. I could almost feel every blow that Rio pummeled the other man with and shuddered at the damage he could produce. Yet the man kept smiling, the way Seishirou... No! Not Seishirou--think NOW, not the past! The masked man slipped the bigger Marine's grasp and began bulldozing a path out the door, and the fact that I was standing in the doorway didn't seem to bother him in the least as he slammed into my ribs like a rampaging rhinoceros...or at least something to that effect... Odd; I had expected to feel pain, yet there was none... Adrenaline, like doctors said. Fight or flight syndrome. I had nowhere to run. And neither did he. I clinched the figure tight and let my body drop, taking him with me. I hadn't actively thought of Aikijutsu; I just reacted, instinctively, and rolled on my back, tossing the man forwards... The body slammed into the wall, but he got up as soon as he fell. Without even a whimper, or a limp. Like he felt nothing. I tried to stand, then collapsed onto all fours. The pain only hit my chest then, and I grimaced as I suddenly felt the delayed agony that the stranger's tackle had caused. There was a stifled whine... and I knew it came from my own lips... Somewhere in my pain-muddled head, I doubted that any human being could take a beating like this one did and still have the strength to keep the running pace he had. Yet there he was, bolting away as if nothing at all had happened. Rio was already hot on the man's heels as I picked myself painfully off of the floor. From the look on his face, it was obvious that he didn't expect to know where I learned that throw nor did he want to learn why. The man dashed out the outer door, nearly home free... Then, with a surprising amount of agility, Rio tackled him by the legs, sending them both sprawling along the living room floor and shattering the glass coffee table which Linda used to think so highly of. The man began to lift himself from his position, but Rio was soon able to overpower him. Even with all of his strength, Rio had difficulty restraining the man, who ever continued to chant those horrifying words in a maddened, singsong voice. "WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU...?!?" Rio tore the mask off... ...and regretted doing so. The black sergeant stared in mute shock as we both recognized the man behind the mask. Rio's MP partner. The selfsame one who accompanied Rio when the two of them accosted me just a few days back... The husky white caucasian snarled at me like a rabid dog. Rio held him still, but was aghast. "Oh shit... Jake...?" "Jake" elbowed Rio fiercely in the gut and charged at me once more. This time, I was unable to stop him as I was thrown into the air like some rag doll, landing on my pained side. Jake had made a rushing exit through the door... A sudden noise, like the crack of a gunshot... ...And then Jake was very promptly thrown back inside, so suddenly that Rio and I were nearly hit by his flying body. I ducked as I saw Jake suddenly thrown backwards and then careen into the wall behind. He fell, still not making a single noise... But by this time, he was most obviously unconscious. Rio yelled something in English; probably was wondering what the hell was going on... I rose, then the stabbing pain of my ribs returned to humble me. "Am I always picking up the pieces after you, Sumeragi?" I turned to see, of all people, Richmond. The smug grin accentuated by the way he proudly brandished the aluminum baseball bat in his arms. From that moment on, I KNEW my had day just gotten worse. To my surprise, Rio heatedly confronted Richmond and exchanged quite a large number of spits and curses in English, all of which Richmond curtly replied to, in like dialect. It was odd, that I would find two of the most difficult people I had ever met, to take such a sudden dislike for each other... But the way the two were bellowing their hearts out trying to out-patronize the other, I would have almost called them old enemies...or best friends. I almost hated breaking up their little discussion...almost. "Excuse me..." The two turned to me with a violence that could have snapped their necks off. In almost all aspects, I'd say Richmond and Rio were... alike. "---Now what?!?" "What the hell do you want, Sumeragi?!?" Had the situation not been so serious I would have broken down laughing my head off. "Rio, I just wanted to mention that we STILL haven't found Kenichi, not to mention I can't exactly drag your friend over there anywhere..." Richmond slung the bat over his shoulder. "Pah. Rio always gets to team up with the weirdoes..." Rio glared at Richmond but said nothing. This alone seemed to confirm the suspicion I had; that they had met each other before. Rio easily slung the unconscious MP over his shoulder and walked out. Richmond gave a hearty shrug and followed, leaving me alone in the house. Kenichi wasn't here... where would he be? I looked out and saw a tree outside. Of course. That gave me all the answer I needed. "No, MISTER Carter here..." Rio furiously jerked a thumb at Richmond as he kept driving. "...Will not, was not, and will never, ever, be any friend of mine! Never! I'd sooner become a monk than be friends with 'numb-nuts' here..." "And a grand Hallelujiah to that!!!" Richmond, in his usual... almost comfortable... irritating manner, reclined in the back of the jeep, keeping tabs on the still-unconscious Jake. "If all of your friends end up like this guy I'm glad I'm not one of them, you sorry-assed jarhead..." I sat with an arm on the jeep's door as I candidly viewed the fairly abrasive interaction between the two. It was amusing, at the very least, but it only propped more questions. "Begging my curiosity... If so, then how do you two know each other?" A united groan from both parties was the reply. Rio's booming voice once again took precedence as he and Richmond started nagging at each other's heels once again. As I planted my head into my hands, I silently prayed for earplugs as the word war erupted once again. "Richmond Carter, that worthless slime-of-three-million bastards, was the reason my brother got killed." That certainly sounded like reason enough to hate him... "That's a lie and you know it, Maxwell!!! Just HOW bad is your memory, you dipshit military moron?!?" I wasn't sure what was worse; Richmond's irritating sarcasm or Rio's Ear-shattering explosions of rage. "I should never have listened to your 'expert advice' on that Occult bullshit in the first place!" Wait... occult? This was a surprise; Richmond, a fervent skeptic of the supernatural dealing in Occultism...? "Dammit, I NEVER want to hear about that ever again!!!" I was about to ask what kind of occult that Richmond, of all people, was once interested in, but by then the jeep slowed to a stop. All was silent then, neither Richmond nor Rio uttering a word. The treeline was almost deathly silent... No sound broke the stillness of the wind in the trees. Nothing... Nothing but the sound of bare fists on hardwood. And the agonized, muted gasps that spoke of anger and agony. Rio laid his arms over the steering wheel and stared to his right. He spoke in an oddly soft and undertoned voice. Like the whispering of a slight breeze. "He's over there." I turned to see the tree Ken always abused. And Ken himself. Each blow, each punch and kick he delivered onto the tree seemed merely to increase his rage. Feeding the fury rather than tempering it. Rio leaped out of the jeep but made no move to approach the boy. I disembarked as well, but carefully made steps toward the tree, making silent my steps so as not to jolt him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rio silently shake his head. I was within a few steps of him when he ceased his attack on the tree and turned to me with a painful slowness. The look in his eyes was that of a distant, lonely soul. Lonely. And angry. Angry beyond all comprehension. I tried my best to soften my voice as I took a step further. "Kenichi..." There was an icy hate in his eyes when he looked at me then. That kind of hatred one did not expect from a boy his age. Hate... As if it were the only emotion he knew now. "Subaru..." I let out a thin shudder as he tensed, like a crossbow ready to fire. "...You're just like him... I'm going to kill you..." I don't know why I didn't react; Maybe it was because I felt responsible for his predicament... Or that I was simply taken off guard... In any case, I felt my neck twist and my face spin as Ken's right fist suddenly decided to take up space where my cheek was. My eyes shut immediately... This hurt even worse than the rifle butt to my head... I felt thankful for the next punch, which hurt not at all as my world suddenly turned from sky blue to oblivion. </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>