Touched and Bound Part 8
About an hour later I found myself sitting in the basement at Branch 2, watching the back of Mari's head as she lost herself at one of her computer screens. She's been quiet ever since I'd arrived and I was left to fend for myself and find something to do to keep busy. There were plenty of computers in the room that seemed to be idling or were capable of being used by me while she had them running whatever she wanted, but I never asked because I wasn't interested. Computers were useful if one knew how to use them in the right ways. Me? I knew the basics, it was one of the things I remembered like being able to eat with a fork and spoon and speak. Apparently, before I'd lost my memory, I'd known at least a little about computers to be able to turn them on and occupy myself on the internet, but at the moment I wasn't interested. I really didn't see the point in aimlessly 'surfing' around to waste time.
I hate to waste time.
Left without much to do I simply contented myself to sitting back in my chair and contemplating my current situation, running over all the facts over and over again to see if there were any angles we'd missed, or any information from the hospital that I hadn't noticed the first 20 or so times I'd gone over my thoughts.
However, my mind didn't seem to want to cooperate with me because it kept switching back to one scene. I kept seeing Duo and Wufei standing in Duo's kitchen. I kept seeing Wufei's arms slide around Duo's shoulders and pull him into a light embrace that obviously meant more to both of them then any other person who happened to be watching them. I'd tried to push the vision out of my mind, over and over, but it kept coming back, refusing to leave me alone. And each time I saw it, I felt that tight feeling in my stomach clench a little more. Something about Duo being in his arms... something about it made me feel angry.
But that was an understatement.
If I'd been a cat, my hair would be on end and I would have had my back arched to the extreme, fangs barred and hissing for all I was worth. I couldn't understand it, but the very idea of Wufei anywhere close to Duo made all my alarms go off and I wanted nothing more then to walk back to the apartment and pull the two of them apart, demanding to know exactly what the hell that Chinese cop thought he was doing. But I didn't, because I wasn't stupid. I knew what this was. It wasn't a matter of being worried or of distrust. But rather it was a matter of one simple, yet horribly complicated emotion.
I was jealous.
One single word and I was forced to completely reevaluate my situation. There was absolutely no reason for me to be jealous, what's more it shouldn't even matter to me that Wufei and Duo had any relationship at all. It was their lives, not mine and it wasn't my place to pry or approve or disapprove. And yet I still found myself sitting in Mari's basement computer playground, seething. Somewhere along the line of meeting Duo I'd developed an attachment to him, an attachment that had even managed to escape me. That is, until now.
It was a silly thing. I know why the attachment appeared; it was simple really. Duo was the first person I'd met since waking up in that hospital and sneaking out, who had given a damn about me in anyway, and I still wasn't sure why. Not a single person before him had really cared about me or acknowledged me as more then another face in the crowd. I hadn't complained, because I wanted to be another face in the crowd. I didn't want to be noticed, because I honestly didn't know what would happen if someone did notice me. I was better off not being noticed and keeping the ability to simply slip away as soon as I wanted. It was safer that way. No one got attached to me and I didn't get attached to anyone else.
Except Duo.
I clenched my fists slightly at that thought, realizing that I was now giving a death glare to the innocent monitor in front of me. How the hell had I managed to attach myself to Duo? Was that why it bugged me so much that he trusted me? Was that why he was constantly able to confuse me and get under my skin, intrigue me? Or was I blowing this massively out of proportion because it wasn't something I'd ever dealt with before?
This was getting me nowhere, so I silenced my thoughts, harshly. I stood out of the chair, quick enough to make more then a few splashes in the water that surrounded my feet, but I didn't care. Standing up I shoved my hands into my pocket and crossed the room, banishing such thoughts from my mind. Behind me I knew Mari was still on her computer, because she didn't move at all, not showing any sign of noticing my movement. I moved over to where she was, intent on speaking with her, intent on using her to help get these absurd thoughts out of my mind.
"How was father when you left?"
Her voice caught me completely off guard. She managed to cut me off even before I'd completely opened my mouth. I paused in mid-step, then rested my foot on the ground, recovering from my slight shock. She hadn't moved at all and her eyes were still glued to a screen, where text scrolled down at a speed that could have easily made a normal person dizzy. I half wondered how long she'd held herself from asking me about Duo's condition.
"He's doing better, I think. The attack stopped completely before I left, if that's what you mean."
A slight nod was my only indication that she'd heard, because otherwise she didn't respond. I tried to contain my curiosity, but decided it was better to ask. Engaging in a conversation with Mari to try and get information was a much better way to pass the time then to let my own thoughts taunt me.
"You knew he was going to have an attack." I pressed, testing the waters to see how much further she would let me wade in. She and Duo seemed to trust me, and though I was wary to take advantage of that trust, now seemed like a good time to test how much they were willing to trust me with. Duo wouldn't tell me why he trusted me so much, or at least wouldn't give me a concrete answer. Perhaps I could coax some type of explanation out of Mari.
"I've only lived with him for a couple of years now, but he should know better than to try and hide his attacks from me. I know he gets them every few months. I've been trying to look for a pattern, but nothing's so much as given me an inkling as to exactly why it happens, and he won't tell me. I've seen him go through more then a handful of them, and that idiot still keeps pretending they don't happen. The minute they stop it's a non-subject and to him they don't exist."
Mari sighed and sat back in her chair, her arms crossing as she closed her eyes and rubbed them a bit. Then she spun the chair partially around and looked right at me, a soft smirk tugging at the edge of her lips. "And no, he's not my real father."
The change of subject didn't escape me, but I didn't bring it up either. I'd hit a sensitive spot by asking about Duo's attacks and obviously had unearthed tension between the two of them, which had been building for a long time. It also wouldn't help the matter if I explained to her that Duo had already told me about the attacks, why they happened, and other such details. I wasn't going to fuel flames that had started long before I was around, at least not if they didn't serve any real purpose to me at the moment. So I let the subject change slip, ignoring it and picking up the new one she'd handed to me. It seemed to be something she was willing to talk about, or she wouldn't have brought it up. Mari wasn't the type to taunt people with information.
"Then why do you usually call him father?"
Mari smiled a bit, her eyes traveling up to the ceiling and un-focusing as she entertained what could only have been a few memories. "I was really close to my birth father, inseparable. Daddy's little girl... you know the type. So I guess, when Duo became my legal guardian, it seemed only right to call him father." Her voice grew softer and she closed her eyes. "After all, he was the one who took care of me after I saw their murder."
I found myself leaning back against a computer desk, listening to her story closely. I didn't even need to voice my questions, because she answered them before I got a chance to form them in my head. I didn't want to think how many times she'd had to repeat the same story to police and cops and investigators.
She continued with open eyes, focusing on the computer screen intently. But then, I wouldn't want to pay any attention to the thoughts in my head either if it was something as gruesome as she was indicating.
"You see, my parents had a lot of money, from some business that my dad owned down town. I don't know the name and I know it's gone now, it pretty much died with him. But it was big enough at the time to put us in the upper classes. Someone must not have liked this, or maybe it was just a simple case of being in the wrong house in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong night. Either way...
"I woke up to muffled sounds from their room. At the time I thought my mother or father was having a nightmare, or something. So I got out of bed and went to their room. It was a nightmare. I found them lying in the bed, the water leaking out onto the floor around them, a lot darker then it should have been if it were just plain water. I saw the guy too, I saw the one who'd killed them, leaving the mess splattered around the room. I saw his long white coat, covered with spots of blood..."
She winced a bit at the memory. "I ran to my room. He must have seen me too, but I didn't stick around the find out. I just ran to my room and locked the door, then locked myself in my closet. The police and Branch 2 found me in the attic, cowered in the corner near some old boxes. Duo was the one who talked me out of the attic. So... Quatre thought it would be best for me to live with him, since we already had that connection and I didn't have any family who could be contacted."
"And because you're still a possible target," I commented softly.
Mari nodded, looking back at me. "And Quatre hired me because of my love for computers and my skill with them. I've always loved working with machines; my ... real dad taught me how." She opened her mouth to say more, but a sound from her computer - reminiscent of a tiger growling - stopped her. It was like a switch had been flipped, because she spun back around in her chair as if nothing had been exchanged or said. And her next words were spoken like we were still engaged in a pleasant conversation about the weather or something just as mundane.
"Speaking of which," she said with a grin. I stepped up behind her and peered at the screen since she didn't seem intent on telling me more until I was looking at the screen with her. So I looked over her shoulder, but it still didn't make much sense to me.
What lay before me on the glowing screen was a list, that much I could tell. Names scrolled down, labeled neatly and spelled correctly in columns lined up with numbers and another set of five or six names that were repeated often. A catalog of names, but that's all I knew. None of them looked familiar in either column. In fact, I had a feeling names would have looked more familiar coming from a phone book.
"Shame on them for leaving the back door open," she chided, a mischievous smirk growing across her face. "Now let's see, father said it was room 197..."
Mari scrolled down quickly on the page, aiming for that number. It soon occurred to me exactly what this page was. Somehow Mari had managed to tap into the computers at the hospital and access their patient listings from her own computer. It occurred to me that this meant all she would need would be a date and room number and she would have...
My name.
"Bingo." Mari said softly as she stopped scrolling down. I watched as she highlighted a name with her mouse, making it easy for me to see. Then she grinned and spun around in her chair, reaching a hand toward me.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Riku Shirou."
~*~
The trip up to Quatre's office had to be the most anti-climactic elevator ride I'd ever taken. Mari and I stood in silence and my mind was abuzz with the information I'd just learned. Not that it was much, but a name seemed like a huge deal of information. Or at least, it should have been.
In reality the name didn't sound familiar at all. All I knew was that it sounded Japanese, which fit with how I looked. So it fit my nationality, but about nothing else. I didn't remember what my name was, and a person could have called me anything and it probably still would have caused the confused expression that rose on my face when Mari had said that. It was just a name, and I discovered that it held no more significance then any other word in any other language to me. Wasn't a name supposed to mean something?
After finding my supposed name, Mari had turned off the screen to her computer and beckoned me to go with her to Quatre's office. She'd explained that she may have all the computers and knowledge, but Quatre's office had a separate computer with a large complement of names and background histories to those names. I had no doubt that she could have easily hacked into it from where she was, but it was a matter of politeness. One just doesn't hack into their boss's computer if one wants to keep their job.
So we rode up in the elevator, heading for the blue hallway and his office. I followed her to his door, remaining silent the whole time, watching everything around me. But mostly I found that I was impatient. I wanted to know who this 'Riku Shirou' was. And I wanted to know if he was me.
I found myself sitting in a chair in Quatre's office, as Mari calmly explained to him what all she had found. The back door into the hospital records along with the information I'd gathered at the hospital and how that had all led us to this one name. The blond listened carefully, nodding every now and then at certain bits of information. When Mari had finished he nodded once more and moved to his laptop. which was sitting on his desk. A few quick keystrokes, that no doubt included a password, and he turned the computer to us so we could look at the screen.
And to my surprise I found I was staring at myself.
The file looked to be government in existence, some sort of directory of names, records and histories complete with pictures. And right on the screen was a dossier of Riku Shirou with my face on it.
I recognized the deep blue eyes, with a slightly Asian tilt that was only noticeable to one who looked close enough. I recognized the dark brown hair that was almost the color of dark chocolate. It was like looking in the mirror in the morning, so much to the point that this computer picture echoed the feeling I always got when I looked in the mirror. I knew I was looking at a picture of myself, but it felt like I was looking at someone completely different.
"Well, it certainly looks like you." Mari commented beside me, as if that ended everything.
Quatre, on the other hand, didn't seem to think that was the end of everything. "Yes, it certainly does." He frowned a bit and turned the computer back, scrolling down the screen without letting us see the information. Behind us the door to his office opened and I heard another person step in. The click of heels on boots along with the way Quatre glanced up and the disapproving look on his face told me that Dorothy now stood behind us. But I still turned to look at her from my chair, only to find her dressed in fencing gear... and a sword flying right at me.
"Dorothy!"
Quatre's voice rang out in the room, but it was too late because the sword was already flying through the air and I was already moving. In a moments time I managed to twist my body around and face her, moving out of the way of the sword and catching it by the hilt as it flew past me. My body reacted on instinct and I was out of the chair, dropping into a fencing stance, bringing the sword in front of me and readying myself for another attack or defensive move. I was on the floor and ready to fight back before I even knew what I was doing, the sword clutched in my hands.
I didn't have to look around to know that everyone was staring at me.
"Impressive," Dorothy said quietly from her place at the door. She clapped her hands together softly. "You've done that before."
I blinked and faltered, forcing myself to relax and stand up straight, letting the sword drop to my side. "I just reacted..."
"Nonsense. I know talent when I see it, and that was true talent-"
"Regardless!" Quatre hit the desk, making Mari jump and Dorothy's head jerked up as she looked at him, her eyes narrowing. "Regardless of skill or not, that was unacceptable! You, especially you Dorothy, should know better."
Dorothy simply shrugged and held her hand out to me, silently asking for the sword back. "I'd like to fight you."
"No," Quatre bit out harshly. But by now both of us were ignoring him.
"I've never-" I stopped and corrected myself. "I don't remember ever learning how to use a sword."
"Well, you obviously know how to use one, or I would have sliced off your ear. You're on a search for your past and who you are. Well, I have a feeling that discovering what you can and can't do will be infinitely more fulfilling then any picture and name typed on a computer screen."
She had a point at that. The moments when I found my body reacting without thought, were the ones when I felt the most at ease with myself. No matter what the situation, using the skills I knew I had, even if I didn't know why I had them, always put me at ease. Maybe that was why I memorized the faces of the customers when they came into the shop when I worked there. It was something I could do flawlessly and I'd been using it as a kind of security blanket ever since I'd woken up in the hospital. I didn't know why I reacted the way I did, I only knew that I did react, and that brought an amazing amount of comfort when I was left confused about everything else.
I handed the sword back to her and nodded. "I accept."
"I forbid it." Quatre said behind us, now standing up behind his desk and glaring like death himself at Dorothy. The blond woman only regarded him with an amused expression.
"Afraid I'll hurt him, little brother?"
I blinked and glanced back at Quatre. Brother? And then it all made sense. Quatre, as easy going as he was, ran the company with power and with an almost iron fist leaving no question as to who was in control, except when he dealt with Dorothy. In the short time I'd been at Branch 2 I'd seen Dorothy get away with enough things that Quatre should have fired her on the spot. But the fact that they were siblings suddenly brought all that together. Of course he let her get away with more; they were related and when two people were related they reacted and dealt with each other completely differently, no matter what the relationship.
Quatre frowned at her but relaxed a bit. "I know how you fight, and it would be... unadvisable at the very least."
Dorothy crossed her arms, looking even more amused. "Is that a compliment or an insult?" She asked with a chuckle.
I turned to Quatre. "I still would like to fight her. She made a good point, and learning what I can and can't do would mean a lot more to me then that picture. The name Riku Shirou means nothing to me. It's just a name."
The blond boy's frown faded a bit and he shook his head. "This goes against all my better judgment."
"Which is exactly why you're the rational one," Dorothy said sweetly. "But in this case, trust me. Besides, I'd like to test a small theory."
Quatre leaned against his desk, avoiding all of our eyes for a long moment then nodded his head, relenting to mine and Dorothy's request. He closed his laptop and pressed the button to turn it off. "You're not stopping me from coming down to watch and make sure you don't send him to another hospital though."
"Oh yee of little faith," Dorothy chuckled. And then she led us out of the room.
~*~
The fencing room turned out to be on a lower floor, right above Mari's basement workshop. Padding covered the walls, making the room into a multipurpose training area that I had no doubt was used for many other forms of fighting aside from fencing and sword play.
I changed into the padding and helmet easily enough, and took a little extra time to look over the various fencing blades in a rack against the wall. Various sizes and styles stood before me, and I found myself drawing a blank with anything related to swords, save for the fact that I'd caught one by the hilt in Quatre's office. So I simply chose one like the one Dorothy held, which had a curved piece of metal around the hilt to protect the hand. Lifting it lightly I tested my grip and finally decided it was probably the best I was going to get with my apparent lack of knowledge.
Taking my helmet I crossed the room and stood facing Dorothy, copying her straight legged stance with sword at one side and helmet held at the other, facing her. The tall blond woman brought her sword up and made a slashing movement that I could only guess was a kind of salute before a duel. I mimicked her movement and then we both slid on our helmets.
My eyes focused completely on her and I mimicked her every move for the first moment, feeling awkward as we both dropped down a bit on bended knee, one hand behind our backs and the other holding the sword.
"Old rules." She stated through her helmet. "Target area is everywhere below the neck. We move only in a straight line and you are allowed one step to the side. Three hits to win."
I nodded, processing what she said in my mind. She took a quick step forward and I mimicked it, backing up in the same strange 'skipping' step motion. That seemed to be some kind of a visual key to her, because suddenly she was moving toward me, and brought the sword up. I moved back as fast as I could, but the thin silver blade was hard to see through the grating of my helmet and the next thing I knew there was a slight tap on my arm. I'd been hit that easily.
Dorothy retreated back to her previous area and resumed her stance again and once again I copied her. But this time I was watching closely, my mind focusing completely on her. I now had an idea of how quick she could move and how easily I could move in the suit as well. Deciding that I had little to lose, I made the first move this time and dashed forward, bringing my own blade to strike at her chest. She backed up a step and brought her blade up to meet mine, deflecting it.
"You're learning. But you're clumsy." She pushed me back and then jumped forward to strike. This time I managed to block her and didn't bother wasting time in a reply, it wasn't worth the breath.
The two of us moved like that for what seemed like a long time to me, but what was probably only a few minutes. Both of us danced back and forth between the two lines on the floor, mostly blocking and occasionally landing hits. I stumbled more then enough times and the suit was constricting, the helmet limiting my vision past the point where I was comfortable. It wasn't long before Dorothy landed the last hit and won. I'd only managed to hit her once.
She slid off her helmet and I did as well, both of us slicing our swords through the air in a salute. For a moment she stood there, regarding me with a curious expression. I simply shrugged and headed back to the rack.
"Perhaps I was wrong," I heard her murmur lightly.
I didn't bother to agree or disagree, but I knew my answer. Once again the hopes I'd allowed to grow in my head were crushed. I'd thought the fight would lead me to something, but the only thing it showed was that I was good at learning from mimicking other's movements, but that I was clumsy and uncoordinated enough to block most professional moves. Even more infuriating was the fact that after that first strike, I could tell that she'd been holding back, as if she were waiting for me show her something. Well, apparently we'd both been falsely waiting for nothing.
Quatre and Mari waited near the door, not saying anything as I went to return my padding and items in the small storage closet. I put away the helmet then turned to place the sword back on the rack, but paused when I felt cold metal cross my neck.
The reaction was instant in its movement and before I knew what I was doing I'd grabbed the blade in my hand and snapped it, breaking the flimsy tape covered tip away to create a razor edge. I turned a glare to Dorothy who seemed only mildly surprised by my action.
She reacted as well and aimed the sword for my chest, tearing at the shirt I was wearing now that my padding was gone. I felt the sharp metal scrape against my skin along with a warm line of blood slip down my side. And that seemed to be the key.
In a quick move I'd shoved her out of the way and rolled away to safety, still clutching my fencing blade in my hand. I snapped the tip off my own blade and sent it flying straight at her. A metallic thunk later and the sword had pinned Dorothy's shoulder to the closet door by the fabric. A small amount of blood began to soak the white fabric, even though I'd purposely avoided vitally injuring her.
Once again all eyes were on me as I stood up and I could feel Quatre and Mari staring in mute surprise. Dorothy merely regarded me with a satisfied smirk. Letting her own sword fall to the ground she reached up and unpinned herself, dropping mine next to her own discarded blade.
"You are clumsy and untrained, but you react faster than any I've ever seen. I've never seen instincts polished quite like yours."
I frowned at her, ignoring the cut on my side that was slowly coloring my shirt. "So you decided to attack me."
"You fought so clumsily on the floor over there that I could have knocked you over and won easily in a matter of seconds. But when placed in a situation where your very life is threatened, you react with deadly accuracy. I'm not sure how that all exactly fits together, but you've got an untapped talent hidden in you that's quite impressive. Whoever you were, your senses are honed to kick in automatically, no matter what the situation. But you don't remember the skills, so I suppose you can't use them unless it's a matter of instinct, or life and death."
My frown and my glare didn't disappear as she stepped closer to me and her voice lowered so that only I could hear her.
"I still don't trust you, but I do respect you for your skill. You're an intriguing person and I'll even admit that I'm curious to find out who you are. But there's now a price with knowing your skill. If Duo, or any others in this company get hurt because of you, I will hold you responsible. Make no mistake, that if anything happens to anyone, especially Duo, I will hold you responsible for it."
I glared back at her and hissed my own response, low enough so only she could hear.
"Be careful, Dorothy. The next time you threaten me, I won't miss."
Then I turned away from her and left the practice room.
TBC...
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