Tainting Innocence chapter 2
Title: Tainting Innocence
Fandom: CLAMP School Detectives
Characters/Pairings: Akira, Suoh, Nokoru, and OCs
Akira has gotten sick and revealed that he is being blackmailed by an unknown man. Nokoru and Suoh want to help him of course, but if they do then how can Akira keep his identity as 20 Masks secret?
After his confession, Akira slept fitfully, once or twice waking up gasping or crying or screaming. Each time, Nokoru and Suoh were there in an instant, calming the dark-haired boy until he could fall back asleep. Perhaps it was because of the fever that the nightmares were worse, but now his friends could understand why he had not looked well before-hand. How he had managed to fool them, hiding the pain behind his ever-present smile, they could not understand.
The second time Akira awoke from a nightmare, Suoh had remembered to give him the medicine. It made Nokoru wish they had some sort of sleeping pills, but those were in another building, and with the snowstorm still raging outside - already there were a few feet of snow - no one was going to be going anywhere for a while.
So with plenty of time on their hands the two healthy members of the student council got to work. They may not have been able to go out to investigate, but they would do what they could with what was available in the student council room - namely, the student records and the computer. However, they didn't exactly have much to go on.
"If only Ijyuin could give us more information," Suoh commented, glancing at the unconscious treasurer. Nokoru followed Suoh's gaze.
"Perhaps when he wakes up."
An hour and a half after Akira's third awakening Nokoru and Suoh were feeling tired and dejected. Suoh was shifting through the student records listlessly, looking for anything that might hint at being connected to Akira's blackmailer while Nokoru searched the internet, eyes reflecting the blue-ish light of the screen they were glued to. Neither boy noticed when Akira awoke, for once quietly.
At first, the youngest boy simply stared at the ceiling, trying to sort out his thoughts through the haze of the fever. He remembered Nokoru and Suoh's discovery of the mark on his neck, and telling them that he was being threatened, but after that were only the fuzzy images of nightmares and waking up to Nokoru and Suoh's concerned faces calling his name blurred together into an indiscernible swirl of color and darkness.
A crash made all three members of the student council board jump. Akira sat up to look at the same time Nokoru and Suoh looked around; a large tree branch had been slammed against the building just below the window of the student council room by the wind.
Akira glanced over when he heard Suoh sigh and just saw the glimmer of steel being tucked back into some secret pocket. Guilt prickled Akira's mind and choked him as he wondered if they were so jumpy because of him; because of that man threatening him.
"Oh, Akira, you're awake." Akira turned around when Nokoru spoke up, blinking back the tears that were brewing behind his eyes; although he couldn't remember quite clearly, the boy had a feeling that he had cried enough today.
"Are you feeling better?" the blonde asked. Akira nodded in response, not entirely sure he could talk yet. His throat felt raw and dry. A hand came around and pushed under his bangs to his forehead. A quick glance confirmed that is was Suoh.
The ninja pulled his hand back and said, "You still have a fever, but it feels a little better than before."
"Can we get you anything?" asked Nokoru. The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to say that he was fine, but changed his mind. "Water." His voice sounded horrible.
Nokoru went to get a glass of water and handed it to Akira with a kind look. The youngest took a long, grateful gulp. "Arigato." The water had helped.
Nokoru exchanged a look with Suoh. "Akira…" the blonde began slowly. "Is there anything else you can tell us - about that man?"
Lids closed over silver eyes. He had expected this, but calling back those dark memories while he was awake after seeing them so many times in his dreams was not easy. "He has contacted me… five times since that first night. Three times over the phone, once through e-mail, and once more in person."
"Where were you the times he met you in person?"
Akira took a steadying breath before answering, but his voice still shook. "The first time he found me was the night of that big storm. I… took shelter by a house and he… came out and… pinned me… down."
His mouth felt dry and he took another drink of the water. He could feel his heart beating harshly, yet it felt somehow detached as if it weren't his own heart, beating in his own chest. What could he tell them? They needed to catch that man, he was obviously dangerous, but what then? Wouldn't he tell everyone the identity of 20 Masks, wouldn't he let everyone know that the elementary division treasurer was a thief? He had indisputable proof. What would his mothers do? How could he explain his thieving?
"Akira! Daijoubu ka, Akira?"
He suddenly realized that he was shaking, his breath coming in great gasps that tore at his lungs and throat. He felt dizzy, the world spinning before his eyes, a kaleidoscope twisted and shaken to make the bits of color shift and mingle, creating a vertiginous whirlpool that was sucking the dark-haired boy in, and drawing away necessary oxygen. It was not just being unable to catch the man that scared Akira; it was catching him as well. Nonetheless, as darkness began to creep at the edges of Akira's vision, he fought back. If he fainted again, it would only cause more worry for his friends. This was Akira's burden, and he would carry it alone.
The two elder board members watched the youngest helplessly as he struggled to breathe, his eyes unfocused. They could do nothing but wait as they witnessed the boy pull himself out of the darkness that threatened to engulf him.
Akira's breaths gradually slowed and deepened, until they were near normal. His face was an unhealthy mix of fevered red and ghostly pale. But when he closed his eyes and opened them again, they were clear and determined. Something about the look in the treasurer's eyes gave his board-mates a bad feeling.
"…Akira?" Nokoru questioned cautiously. The treasurer did not look at him.
The next four words fell like heavy stones into the quiet. "Forget what I said."
"…Nani?"
"Forget what I told you. I don't want you to get involved." He still refused to look at either of his senpai.
"No way! Ijyuin, what is going on!" "We're your friends, why can't you tell us?"
"I told you: I don't want you to get involved. I can handle it." In some part of his mind, Akira wished he could make himself seem cold and unfeeling like Suoh. He wished he could lock the emotions below the surface and put on a mask as easily as he put on the 20 Masks disguise. But he had never had to do such a thing before, nor had he ever wanted to. He was too naïve, too honest to wish for a mask. As the tears built up behind his silver eyes, Ijyuin Akira, treasurer of the CLAMP school elementary division and the great thief, 20 Masks, longed for a mask of ice.
Alas, he had no such mask and it was too late to fake a smile.
"Ijyuin." It was Suoh. He grasped Akira's face and forced him to look up. "Look at me." Akira reluctantly allowed silver to meet gold.
"We are going to go after that man, no matter what you say," the ninja said, gazing steadily into Akira's eyes. "This is serious, and you cannot stop us from trying to help you. It will be a lot easier if you talk to us, but we will not force you."
And then there were two pairs of arms wrapped around him and twin tracks of tears running down his cheeks. At first he tried to squeeze the tears back with his eyelids, but they only filled and overflowed anyway; so he let them fall, clutching his friends tightly, not uttering a sound.
Eventually, even as he fought it, exhaustion overtook and Akira slipped back into unconsciousness. But this time, there were no dreams, no nightmares. Just blissful black nothingness…
Nokoru and Suoh laid their friend gently back on the couch.
"Suoh."
The ninja nodded, not needing anything more, and headed for the computer. Immediately he was typing wildly away on the computer, eyes flashing back and forth across the screen.
Satisfied that Suoh would work from that end, Nokoru picked up the phone and dialed. It was answered after the third ring and a voice chirped with false cheeriness.
"Yes, this is Fujiwara Ayumi of Japanese Telephones International, Tokyo local division, how may I help you?"
Nokoru spun in his chair so that he was facing the window. "Yes, this is Imonoyama Nokoru. I'd like the phone records for a certain residents for the past month."
"I'm sorry sir, but the records for any residence are classified."
"I'm aware, but it's a good friend of mine. I know there are some necessary procedures, so I you could just begin…"
For a normal person it would have taken a few hours to go through the proceedings to get the phone records for any residence, but Nokoru completed them in just over an hour.
As soon as the records printed out of the fax machine, they were snatched into the chairman's hands. Blue eyes scanned over them at an almost inhuman speed; two pages into the small stack, he found something.
"Suoh!" The blue-haired ninja was next to him in an instant. "Look at this."
21:34, April 14, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller (private number): It's me.
Residence: What do you want?
Caller: Kirin's Horn. By the end of the week.
Residence: Alright.
Phone call ended by caller.
Worried blue and gold met.
"Wasn't Kirin's Horn stolen by 20 Masks around that time?"
Nokoru nodded, gaze returning to the paper. After two calls by Akira's mothers to some foreign designers, there was another call from a private number.
21:17, April 16, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller: Konbanwa, is Akira-kun available?
Residence: Hai, he is. Akira! There's someone on the phone for you.
Moshi moshi?
Caller: How are you doing, Akira-kun?
Residence: Fine.
Caller: And how are your mothers?
Residence: Leave them alone.
Caller: Mmm, I'll think about it. Leave Kirin's Horn on Tsukime Street tomorrow morning on your way to school.
Residence: Wakarimashita.
Phone call ended by caller.
One last conversation from a private number was from just a couple days ago.
22:46, April 24, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller: I'm sorry; were you about to go to sleep?
Residence: What do you want?
Caller: Now, you really shouldn't take that tone with me. There's something I want.
Residence: What is it this time?
Caller: What are you doing-? Shut up, you idiot! Well, sorry! -slam- I'll call you with the details later!
Phone call ended by caller.
"Sounds like someone walked in on him. Someone he knows," Suoh observed, glaring at the words on the paper. Although no emotion or pauses could be shown through the typed black words, the mocking in the caller's words and Akira's distress were evident enough.
Nokoru nodded, picked up the phone, and dialed.
"Moshi moshi, Ijyuin-san? Hai, this is Imonoyama Nokoru. Have you received any calls from a person looking for Akira?" He paused, listening to the answer. "Hai, arigato gozaimasu. Iie, it's nothing to worry about. Ja ne." He hung up. "They haven't received any calls, but he'll probably contact them tonight. If not, then it's possible he lives on Clamp campus."
Suoh nodded. If he didn't contact then it would show that, unless something had happened, he knew Akira could not answer because of the snowstorm. There was silence except for the blowing of the wind as the two boys mulled this over, anger flashing in their eyes. Then Suoh stood and returned to the computer. Vicious typing echoed throughout the room, sounding as if the keys were about to crack. After a moment of watching the ninja absently, Nokoru sat down back at his own desk.
Suoh was close to finishing his own task. He had already hacked into Akira's e-mail, but there was no sign of anything strange. But even if something is deleted, once it's on the internet, it's almost impossible to get rid of every trace. A screen popped up. He had succeeded.
"Kaichou!" The blonde rushed over.
Gold and sapphire locked on the computer screen as Suoh clicked on the file.
Dear Akira-kun, aka 20 Masks…
Nokoru and Suoh gasped.
"What… Ijyuin…" Suoh glanced over at the still-sleeping boy.
Nokoru just stared hard at the screen, a grim look on his face. Then his gaze joined Suoh's in staring at the young treasurer.
"So this is the secret so great that it's being used to blackmail him and that he couldn't tell us… Akira…"
Fandom: CLAMP School Detectives
Characters/Pairings: Akira, Suoh, Nokoru, and OCs
Akira has gotten sick and revealed that he is being blackmailed by an unknown man. Nokoru and Suoh want to help him of course, but if they do then how can Akira keep his identity as 20 Masks secret?
After his confession, Akira slept fitfully, once or twice waking up gasping or crying or screaming. Each time, Nokoru and Suoh were there in an instant, calming the dark-haired boy until he could fall back asleep. Perhaps it was because of the fever that the nightmares were worse, but now his friends could understand why he had not looked well before-hand. How he had managed to fool them, hiding the pain behind his ever-present smile, they could not understand.
The second time Akira awoke from a nightmare, Suoh had remembered to give him the medicine. It made Nokoru wish they had some sort of sleeping pills, but those were in another building, and with the snowstorm still raging outside - already there were a few feet of snow - no one was going to be going anywhere for a while.
So with plenty of time on their hands the two healthy members of the student council got to work. They may not have been able to go out to investigate, but they would do what they could with what was available in the student council room - namely, the student records and the computer. However, they didn't exactly have much to go on.
"If only Ijyuin could give us more information," Suoh commented, glancing at the unconscious treasurer. Nokoru followed Suoh's gaze.
"Perhaps when he wakes up."
An hour and a half after Akira's third awakening Nokoru and Suoh were feeling tired and dejected. Suoh was shifting through the student records listlessly, looking for anything that might hint at being connected to Akira's blackmailer while Nokoru searched the internet, eyes reflecting the blue-ish light of the screen they were glued to. Neither boy noticed when Akira awoke, for once quietly.
At first, the youngest boy simply stared at the ceiling, trying to sort out his thoughts through the haze of the fever. He remembered Nokoru and Suoh's discovery of the mark on his neck, and telling them that he was being threatened, but after that were only the fuzzy images of nightmares and waking up to Nokoru and Suoh's concerned faces calling his name blurred together into an indiscernible swirl of color and darkness.
A crash made all three members of the student council board jump. Akira sat up to look at the same time Nokoru and Suoh looked around; a large tree branch had been slammed against the building just below the window of the student council room by the wind.
Akira glanced over when he heard Suoh sigh and just saw the glimmer of steel being tucked back into some secret pocket. Guilt prickled Akira's mind and choked him as he wondered if they were so jumpy because of him; because of that man threatening him.
"Oh, Akira, you're awake." Akira turned around when Nokoru spoke up, blinking back the tears that were brewing behind his eyes; although he couldn't remember quite clearly, the boy had a feeling that he had cried enough today.
"Are you feeling better?" the blonde asked. Akira nodded in response, not entirely sure he could talk yet. His throat felt raw and dry. A hand came around and pushed under his bangs to his forehead. A quick glance confirmed that is was Suoh.
The ninja pulled his hand back and said, "You still have a fever, but it feels a little better than before."
"Can we get you anything?" asked Nokoru. The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to say that he was fine, but changed his mind. "Water." His voice sounded horrible.
Nokoru went to get a glass of water and handed it to Akira with a kind look. The youngest took a long, grateful gulp. "Arigato." The water had helped.
Nokoru exchanged a look with Suoh. "Akira…" the blonde began slowly. "Is there anything else you can tell us - about that man?"
Lids closed over silver eyes. He had expected this, but calling back those dark memories while he was awake after seeing them so many times in his dreams was not easy. "He has contacted me… five times since that first night. Three times over the phone, once through e-mail, and once more in person."
"Where were you the times he met you in person?"
Akira took a steadying breath before answering, but his voice still shook. "The first time he found me was the night of that big storm. I… took shelter by a house and he… came out and… pinned me… down."
His mouth felt dry and he took another drink of the water. He could feel his heart beating harshly, yet it felt somehow detached as if it weren't his own heart, beating in his own chest. What could he tell them? They needed to catch that man, he was obviously dangerous, but what then? Wouldn't he tell everyone the identity of 20 Masks, wouldn't he let everyone know that the elementary division treasurer was a thief? He had indisputable proof. What would his mothers do? How could he explain his thieving?
"Akira! Daijoubu ka, Akira?"
He suddenly realized that he was shaking, his breath coming in great gasps that tore at his lungs and throat. He felt dizzy, the world spinning before his eyes, a kaleidoscope twisted and shaken to make the bits of color shift and mingle, creating a vertiginous whirlpool that was sucking the dark-haired boy in, and drawing away necessary oxygen. It was not just being unable to catch the man that scared Akira; it was catching him as well. Nonetheless, as darkness began to creep at the edges of Akira's vision, he fought back. If he fainted again, it would only cause more worry for his friends. This was Akira's burden, and he would carry it alone.
The two elder board members watched the youngest helplessly as he struggled to breathe, his eyes unfocused. They could do nothing but wait as they witnessed the boy pull himself out of the darkness that threatened to engulf him.
Akira's breaths gradually slowed and deepened, until they were near normal. His face was an unhealthy mix of fevered red and ghostly pale. But when he closed his eyes and opened them again, they were clear and determined. Something about the look in the treasurer's eyes gave his board-mates a bad feeling.
"…Akira?" Nokoru questioned cautiously. The treasurer did not look at him.
The next four words fell like heavy stones into the quiet. "Forget what I said."
"…Nani?"
"Forget what I told you. I don't want you to get involved." He still refused to look at either of his senpai.
"No way! Ijyuin, what is going on!" "We're your friends, why can't you tell us?"
"I told you: I don't want you to get involved. I can handle it." In some part of his mind, Akira wished he could make himself seem cold and unfeeling like Suoh. He wished he could lock the emotions below the surface and put on a mask as easily as he put on the 20 Masks disguise. But he had never had to do such a thing before, nor had he ever wanted to. He was too naïve, too honest to wish for a mask. As the tears built up behind his silver eyes, Ijyuin Akira, treasurer of the CLAMP school elementary division and the great thief, 20 Masks, longed for a mask of ice.
Alas, he had no such mask and it was too late to fake a smile.
"Ijyuin." It was Suoh. He grasped Akira's face and forced him to look up. "Look at me." Akira reluctantly allowed silver to meet gold.
"We are going to go after that man, no matter what you say," the ninja said, gazing steadily into Akira's eyes. "This is serious, and you cannot stop us from trying to help you. It will be a lot easier if you talk to us, but we will not force you."
And then there were two pairs of arms wrapped around him and twin tracks of tears running down his cheeks. At first he tried to squeeze the tears back with his eyelids, but they only filled and overflowed anyway; so he let them fall, clutching his friends tightly, not uttering a sound.
Eventually, even as he fought it, exhaustion overtook and Akira slipped back into unconsciousness. But this time, there were no dreams, no nightmares. Just blissful black nothingness…
Nokoru and Suoh laid their friend gently back on the couch.
"Suoh."
The ninja nodded, not needing anything more, and headed for the computer. Immediately he was typing wildly away on the computer, eyes flashing back and forth across the screen.
Satisfied that Suoh would work from that end, Nokoru picked up the phone and dialed. It was answered after the third ring and a voice chirped with false cheeriness.
"Yes, this is Fujiwara Ayumi of Japanese Telephones International, Tokyo local division, how may I help you?"
Nokoru spun in his chair so that he was facing the window. "Yes, this is Imonoyama Nokoru. I'd like the phone records for a certain residents for the past month."
"I'm sorry sir, but the records for any residence are classified."
"I'm aware, but it's a good friend of mine. I know there are some necessary procedures, so I you could just begin…"
For a normal person it would have taken a few hours to go through the proceedings to get the phone records for any residence, but Nokoru completed them in just over an hour.
As soon as the records printed out of the fax machine, they were snatched into the chairman's hands. Blue eyes scanned over them at an almost inhuman speed; two pages into the small stack, he found something.
"Suoh!" The blue-haired ninja was next to him in an instant. "Look at this."
21:34, April 14, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller (private number): It's me.
Residence: What do you want?
Caller: Kirin's Horn. By the end of the week.
Residence: Alright.
Phone call ended by caller.
Worried blue and gold met.
"Wasn't Kirin's Horn stolen by 20 Masks around that time?"
Nokoru nodded, gaze returning to the paper. After two calls by Akira's mothers to some foreign designers, there was another call from a private number.
21:17, April 16, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller: Konbanwa, is Akira-kun available?
Residence: Hai, he is. Akira! There's someone on the phone for you.
Moshi moshi?
Caller: How are you doing, Akira-kun?
Residence: Fine.
Caller: And how are your mothers?
Residence: Leave them alone.
Caller: Mmm, I'll think about it. Leave Kirin's Horn on Tsukime Street tomorrow morning on your way to school.
Residence: Wakarimashita.
Phone call ended by caller.
One last conversation from a private number was from just a couple days ago.
22:46, April 24, 19XX
Residence: Moshi moshi.
Caller: I'm sorry; were you about to go to sleep?
Residence: What do you want?
Caller: Now, you really shouldn't take that tone with me. There's something I want.
Residence: What is it this time?
Caller: What are you doing-? Shut up, you idiot! Well, sorry! -slam- I'll call you with the details later!
Phone call ended by caller.
"Sounds like someone walked in on him. Someone he knows," Suoh observed, glaring at the words on the paper. Although no emotion or pauses could be shown through the typed black words, the mocking in the caller's words and Akira's distress were evident enough.
Nokoru nodded, picked up the phone, and dialed.
"Moshi moshi, Ijyuin-san? Hai, this is Imonoyama Nokoru. Have you received any calls from a person looking for Akira?" He paused, listening to the answer. "Hai, arigato gozaimasu. Iie, it's nothing to worry about. Ja ne." He hung up. "They haven't received any calls, but he'll probably contact them tonight. If not, then it's possible he lives on Clamp campus."
Suoh nodded. If he didn't contact then it would show that, unless something had happened, he knew Akira could not answer because of the snowstorm. There was silence except for the blowing of the wind as the two boys mulled this over, anger flashing in their eyes. Then Suoh stood and returned to the computer. Vicious typing echoed throughout the room, sounding as if the keys were about to crack. After a moment of watching the ninja absently, Nokoru sat down back at his own desk.
Suoh was close to finishing his own task. He had already hacked into Akira's e-mail, but there was no sign of anything strange. But even if something is deleted, once it's on the internet, it's almost impossible to get rid of every trace. A screen popped up. He had succeeded.
"Kaichou!" The blonde rushed over.
Gold and sapphire locked on the computer screen as Suoh clicked on the file.
Dear Akira-kun, aka 20 Masks…
Nokoru and Suoh gasped.
"What… Ijyuin…" Suoh glanced over at the still-sleeping boy.
Nokoru just stared hard at the screen, a grim look on his face. Then his gaze joined Suoh's in staring at the young treasurer.
"So this is the secret so great that it's being used to blackmail him and that he couldn't tell us… Akira…"