[y/n] intently stared at the still untouched dish on her lap. She felt like drowning in a sea of blood, or like floating in a crimson space- The transcendental, illusory sensation captured her, and she sensed her inner being slowly wandering to another dimension the harder she tried to focus on reality. The girl would have blamed it on the food, would suspect it to be dosed with chemicals that were capable of manipulating her perception- but firstly she still hadn't managed to take one single bite of the sandwiches and secondly, she knew the reason was the room itself.

The silky- soft vermeil couch she sat on, the scarlet carpet beneath her, the ruby paneling around her, just like almost every single piece of furniture; it all shared the same sultry yet elegant color. Even the illumination was a glowing hue of red, immersing the area in a fervent, invading light, creating a sensual and passionate aura. The glamorous surrounding's vibes could have been calming, could have been relaxing- If there weren't the displeasing presence of a certain frowning man who slit up the insecure female's awareness with his analyzing, piercing glare.

The girl's indisposition filled the air, causing a stinging tension of discontent and the oppressive stillness only aggravated the strained atmosphere. [y/n] tightened her grip on the plate's edge. She couldn't say what unsettled her more: To be trapped with the intimidating stranger across from her in a room that quintessentially reminded her of a premise in a red- light district; or the unrevealed intention of the same black haired man who had brought her in this secluded, more private part of the building, quite isolated from other residents and their possible help. She felt cold sweat forming on her palms and her back slowly hurting from her tensed up, unnatural posture and cramped limbs. The awkward silence which henpecked the individual's togetherness since the very beginning didn't seem to lose its intensity. As much as she had loved to avoid social interactions with the household's members just several minutes ago, as much as she wanted to flee the unwelcomed company of the three boys in the living room- Right now, she preferred to go back to the more busy parts of the basement, was even ready to force herself through bogus yet harmless small talks. Her restless gaze glided to the door. The recollection what quarters the exit separated her from let all earlier happenings in the office overflow her mind once again. She gulped at the harsh reminder that the leader's absence was only temporary.

"Rat." 

[y/n] winced by the abrupt break of quietness and almost let the porcelain slip from her thighs. Quickly, she took hold of the flatware before its content could scatter on the ground and switched her focus on the male who had suddenly risen to speak. Isamu regarded her with the same aversion and scorn that resonated from his addressing. "Clean your plate, wretched girl. I haven't got for ever."

The girl blinked and bluntly looked from the ravenhead to the dish's content, examining it with dull inexpressiveness before she eventually guided the soft matter to her mouth. Even though it was her first meal since the night's beginning, she doubted the current condition of her stomach being strong enough to not send the swallowed food right back through her esophagus. While she ponderously shoved the good from one side of her dried out mouth to the other, her eyes remained on the tall man. Absentmindedly, her regard travelled along his body, while his form appeared in front of her mind's eye. The longer her focus lingered on him, the further her thoughts took her back to previous and up to the very first encounters with the young adult. Faint pictures of shared attendances started to wander through her consciousness. Single scraps and pieces of conversations came to the front, seemed to had become stronger enrooted into her power of recollection.

Her chewing movements instantly paused as particular moments in her memories became sharply focused, salient lucid. Moments that contained the presence of a certain individual in charge.

"One more disrespectful gesture toward our leader, and I will make you regret being born."

Uncontrolledly, [y/n] recalled more and more instances that showed the ravenhead's acting and behavior around his leader. Like someone had opened a special folder in her brain, these certain parts of the bygone days appeared on her inner canvas. Whether it had been savage reactions following her irreverence or the immediate and radical execution of the blond's instructions- each situation seemed to expose little hints for the ravenhead's relationship towards Katsuro. The female gingerly placed her food back on the plate as she regarded her opponent more intensively. However the relation between the two males might look like, Isamu's actions surely held a meaningful submission, or even something like sincere loyalty. Anyway- She felt like having found someone who might be able to answer questions that a certain superior refused to care about. She silently tittered to herself.

The man watched the slack captive melancholically chew away on her sandwiches and was internally amused by her uncontrolled change of expressions as her thoughts seemed to had taken her mind far away. Her attendance as the only entertainment to pass time with, he narrowed his orbs and eyed the girl more attentively: Her [h/c] hair that slowly lost its natural shimmer, the color of her [e/c] eyes that already seemed less vibrant than a few days ago; her young and vivacious appearance in general which was drawn by stress, exhaustion and fear- Traversed by visible and invisible scars and marks of dark times, yet essentially still pure and sprightly. The recollection of the cruel fate which was awaiting that fragile being of hers made him eventually come to a final decision.

"Isamu.... Can I ask you something?" The addressed adult arched his brows in surprise at the captive's sudden choice of talking. [y/n] had spent the last few minutes with thinking about how to put her question- which implicated certain risks- in proper words in order to avoid the worst of the unpredictable outcomes; but eventually choose to simply be straightforward, knowing her insolence would cause vexations one way or the other. "Do you... Do you know why he wants me to be a part of this- of your gang?"

The slight amount of serenity which was slowly building up relentlessly crushed down by a wave of livid condemnation. Isamu stared at her wide- eyed, bitter consternation clearly written on his virile face. Seconds of dumbness elapsed and the girl started to ponder on whether she had just dropped a bomb of shocking news or if the male simply wasn't ready for the sudden mention of the serious topic. But what shimmered in the man's grey orbs wasn't confusion- It was unpreparedness; and [y/n] had a hard time hiding a small grin of gratification as her assumption of the member knowing about the leader's plans seemed to be true. Nevertheless, the man quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat. "I am aware, yes." He intently glowered at her, narrowing his eyes to support the pressure in his following vocals. "But that doesn't mean I am going to tell you."

[y/n] huffed out in sullenness at the male's quick dismissal of her attempts. She examined him, wondering what strings she had to pull to break through the resident's rejecting attitude. Eventually, she put on a testing smile. "Well, he will have his reasons. I guess he just had realized how much of a gain I would be for this group..." The girl dismissively shrugged her shoulders, just putting the right touch of obviousness in her voice to sound convincing yet not too complacent.

Isamu regarded the person in front of him with a mix of obtuseness and perplexity. Completely clueless about what kind of enrichments she might refer to, he found no values or skills in her entity that could catch his leader's appreciation or interest. With a derisive grunt he waved the captive's illusionary assumption off as simple narcissistic credulity. "Must be it."

The [h/c] haired individual slowly proceeded with her meal, analyzing and processing the subliminal information the ravenhead had given her without his knowledge. His sarcastic reaction eliminated the only imaginable reasons for Katsuro's dubious offer one could think of- which were her abilities of survival- although this option had appeared as very unlikely right from the start. However, it only exacerbated her suspicion, yet as well the flickering feeling of curiosity deep inside. Aware that the blond's ulterior motives might be even more equivocal than she could ever vision, the female couldn't find the power to swallow the remaining chunk on her tongue as she once again questioned her allegedly insignificant position in the general situation she was trapped in. Sensing his lingering eyes on her, she decided to clear her mouth before forcing the chopped of talk to run on. "You and Katsuro..." Once the name had sound, the girl closed her lips again, unsatisfied with her choice of approach. She feared that a direct addressing of the wanted issue might hit immediate resistance, especially with so intimate questions like the one she was up to express. So she chose to hide her inquiry in a less offensive way, hoping to reach the man's more sensitive traits. "Katsuro, is he... a good leader?"

Isamu was too taken aback by the sudden interrogation that he could do nothing but regard her with furrowed brows. He warily examined every line of her mien, surveyed her with testing looks but found no hint for derision or quip or anything else that would take away the question's severity. The captive's eyes were glued to the plate on her lap, her facial features strained with suppressed misery and deep reflection, while she awkwardly kneaded her hands. In her tender, quiet voice and passive expression the male only gathered indications for odd graveness. Eventually, he sighed. "You could say so."

The ravenhead directed his look on a meaningless spot at the ceiling while his gaze softened. His focus vanished to a state of consideration as his mind began to recall plenty of different moments he had shared with the blond through the eternity of several years. A gentle feeling of nostalgia warmed his inside as he reminisced about long bygone days, about the worst and the best phases the two of them had guided each other through; and how the green eyed man had never failed to make the right decisions in the most tensed and desperate situations, to lead his little army through the darkest of times. Lost in thoughts, the tall male didn't even realize how he started to explain. "He knows what he is doing, that's for sure. He tends to dangerous decisions, yet never acts premature..." [y/n] silently watched with high attention how the grownup's vocals and facial expressions became more and more eased, his dark grey eyes more permissive with every word that left his mouth. She attentively followed his pronouncements while studying what his changing countenance revealed, swallowing each detail that gave further references for the relationship of the oldest two among the group of kidnappers while he continued.

"...Even though I feel an urge to kill him most of the time, no one would ever be able to replace him-"All of a sudden, Isamu harshly snapped back to present as he finally perceived the observing gaze of the other individual in the room. Blood rushed to his head as he eventually realized his slipping actions, his disclosure of thoughts he had never meant to speak out loud, especially not around someone like the current company. His eyes hastily scanned the quarters as he searched for a way that would get him out of the awkward situation he himself had induced. Eventually his regard came to a sudden stop on the female who looked at him pure innocence in her [e/c] orbs, flashing him a hesitant weak smile. Anger built up in the male's chest. A growl escaped his lips while the fury about the girl's tricks he had almost fallen for once again encased his intellect, taking control over his motor function.

[y/n] traced with increasing apprehension how the adults's visage contorted once again, from a calm, absentminded countenance to a grimace of boiling temper- only to become completely stern and blunt the next moment. In the split of a second her feet suddenly left the ground, making her hover mid- air as the collar of her shirt was clenched roughly. Instantly she grabbed for the strong arm around her neck area, using it as support for her hanging, instable position that swung above the floor. Her eyes met two glowing anthracite ones, barely inches away.

Coldness crawled from her skin to her bones as the fiercely sparkling pupils were directed straightly on her owns. Isamu's expression was deeply traversed by restrained cold-bloodness, with a touch of pure bloodlust. The girl's heartbeat started to gain speed as she felt his sharp breath stroking her skin while he hissed in deep, low vocals: "You little wretched girl. What do you think you-"

"Isamu, what were you expecting?"

The man's mouth instantly stopped moving. His orbs widened and his mien lost its tension as he picked up on the sobriety and sedate earnestness in the female's intonation. He could only stare at her unperturbed face, irritated by her calmness despite his abrasive movements. Her tone of voice had not only caught him off guard, it also momentarily washed away the blur in his strained mind.

"I am serious. Look at me" [y/n] released her upholding grasp on the man's wrist, causing her to fitfully sink deeper. She stretched her arms to the side, signalizing complete defenselessness with her opened and labile stance. "I am just a girl. Living in the shadows of a heartless city. I made my way through the streets, unsuspecting, simply looking for some drugs to sell." Pausing, she intensified the eye- contact, flashing her opponent a passive, insecure grin before continuing with a calm, sober voice. "And now I'm held captive by a gang of strangers, neither knowing where I am nor whether I'll ever leave, faced with the possibility to get killed any moment, or worse. And you expect to simply sit in the corner and do nothing?"

The female's words entered the male's cognition with frigid impact. The cold and prosaic depiction filled his mind, pushed away any other thoughts and emotions and left his interior in a temporary state of void; which was now charged with the vague and unexaggerated delineation. Isamu's grip on the textile tightened as he sensed a gnawing feeling of insight building up in his chest. His brain hardly worked on finding any aspect in her statement that could alleviate the weakening and unfamiliar sensation that crept through his guts- But the stronger part of his consciousness has already determined that there was nothing but truth in the girl's ghastly presentation of circumstances. He attempted to cover the stinging awareness about his behavior with his usual haughtiness, recalling his mission and orders and the importance of rational thinking. The man still focused on the hovering body in his grasp, so motionless and vapid like marionette without a puppeteer. As this image suddenly took over his inner view of the girl, her appearance was mentally replaced by the picture of a doll- a frail and delicate puppet, forgotten in the dark corners of a callous town.

But what actually truly hurt the ravenhead was how his pride suffered from the acute effect the words of an inferior stranger had on him. Yet he held on to the unsettling irritation- Because his subconscious already started to remind him of the reason for his rare susceptibility. Blurry images of his own past came to the surface by the scene the captive had pictured, reminding him that he as well had been in a similar situation- with similar fears. And now he himself had become a part of the fruition of those anxieties; for the individual who gazed at him with severe yet pale [e/c] eyes.

Slowly, disconcerting gentle, [y/n] was placed back on the ground. Isamu had gaped at her for an irritating amount of time without the slightest change of mien- His ashy hues had silently pierced in her skull while the rest of him had appeared to be as petrified as the female herself. His sudden change of behavior made her question whether she should feel alarmed or relieved as her toes finally touched the soft carpet again. Her shoulders, arms, back and actually the rest of her body too ached from the constrained position she was kept in for too long. Massaging her scapular, she warily eyed the man who still daggered her with an unreadable stare.

Eventually, after some more empty seconds he remained static on the spot, the male finally retracted his gaze off her and let out a long, stress- loaded exhale. "Go find another place to eat your damn sandwiches. I am done with you" He groaned in effeteness while gliding his hand through his black, silky hair. [y/n], who still couldn't sort the individual's sudden variances of behavior in a logical context, now pondered on why her interlocutor had even undertook the self- imposed task to share his company if her attendance was so stressing and displeasing from the very beginning- Not to mention the incoherent disclosure of the current location. She began to examine the older man with a look of deliberation as she recalled what goings- on had caused her to cross the individual's path. Soon she came to a rickety surmise which contained her malaise around the other boys, the option of passing her meal in an unattractive improvised haven and- what made her advisement so shaky- a specific amount of benevolence. The female kneeled down and started to pick up the scattered remains of what used to be her breakfast. "Fine. I will leave. And I will try to avoid you as much as possible. But first... " [y/n] stood upright again, making sure to have caught the collocutor's attention and gaze."Tell me why you've brought me here."

Isamu raised his chin and turned his head away from the captive's vision, covering any feature that could reveal a hint for his obscure and unreasoned thoughts with a mask of arrogance. Crossing his arms, he glared down at the girl. "Well, a bothersome rat like you can't be left unsupervised, especially not in the presence of other bothersome rats. I simply searched for a place where no one will mind if blood flows."

The girl watched the tiny fragile ray of hope hidden in her previous assumption crumbling down to even smaller pieces than the food's remnants in her palm. The pricking, disdaining words of her opponent's toxic voice created a knot in her windpipe and made the few swallowed bites of bread weighty like stones in her stomach. A slow, impassive nod was all she had to add to the strangling conversation before she turned on her heels for her final departure.

The ravenhead watched the younger individual leave his view. Satisfied with his skills of concealing his true intentions and yet providing a new alternative of resort for the captive, he allowed a small smile to adorn his pale lips before displacing the events from his mind and going back to other missions that would require a lot of concentration and power.

An inhuman, bloodcurdling groan charged with the deepest frustration and the heaviest exasperation thundered through the living room. Yasu retracted his focus from the chess simulation on the TV to check for the source of the disturbing noise- And was greatened by the slumped back of the female who half sat, half laid on the floor, her gaze directed to the kitchen's clock. [y/n] tore her [h/c] hair in moroseness at the sight of the clockhands which presented that not even the half of the guessed time had went by since her last check. Despite the emaciating fatigue and tugging depletion what urgently need to be treated with abundant rest and calming soleness, the night's end was still a long way away. The girl perceived her whole being as unmovable gravitated, especially her eyelids had gained the weight of plumb. She tried to force herself up on her feet in order to flee towards the nearest object of convenience. Though, she only managed to balance her weight on her shaky and weak legs for the pathetic progress of two steps before finding herself on the ground again, even less upright than before. With her form already being in the requested position, she sensed a mist encircling her perception which slowly started to fade out one after another sense for her surrounding against her will. Attempting to regain the upper hand over her body's rebelling manners, she once more heaved herself in a sitting posture. But the vague effort the fractional motion required seemed to had claimed the last bit of strength her extremities could muster up. The voice of her rationality which demanded her to struggle against the sudden loss of control quickly faded away, blocked out by the rest of her mind which silenced any thought that would strain her mentality further. She knew the reason for the abruptly triggered condition wasn't only the lack of sleep but also the permanent weight of anxiety and uncertainty she had to carry since her first collision with the gang; exacerbated by the attritional happenings, far too many and way too engrossing to be handled in such amount of hours. The girl eventually was left in a kind of trance where she didn't even find the volition to care anymore and simply stared at the cracked ceiling with a soulless gaze, waiting for her body functions to finally shut down and guide her in a dimension of peace and solitude.

[y/n]'s eyelids flattered a few last times and would had closed completely, if there weren't the sudden emergence of two bright cyan hues in her foggy vision. Perceiving the strange presence in her personal perimeter her sight focused again, forming the lines of a young face that gazed at her with blank blue eyes. Only now the female realized that in the short period of absence, the number of male individuals in the room had decreased from the count of three to the one beside her.

Yasu's head hovered above hers. He examined her with lethargic interest before he started to poke different parts of the female's visage. A sudden cold sensation shot a refreshing shiver down her spine as the boy gently placed his cool palm on her forehead. "You have a fever." The bluehead's soft voice had managed to reach her ears, yet not her consciousness. [y/n] barely perceived how the ground's hardness vanished from her side as her whole form was lifted up in a smooth movement and began to move through the air. Cradling the girl's body in his arms with minimal effort, the male made his way towards the next chamber where he tenderly placed the enfeebled being on the mattress.

By the time he reentered the area with a wet cloth, the female had already dozed off into a tender and peaceful slumber. Indecisively, the boy lingered in the doorframe before he carefully tiptoed closer, cautious not to cause the slightest noise that could interrupt the captive's passive recovery.

Yasu silently regarded her dormant form. His eyes traced the soft lines of her face for a copious moment before he gingerly kneeled down beside her pillow. He stroke some strands of [h/c] hair away and delicately placed the cold lope on her heated forehead, then pulled up the blanket and gently covered the female's inactive form. Even though his task was done, he found himself remaining motionless on his spot; his gaze lost on the girl's relaxed features. His thoughts circled back to an earlier point of memory, where his and the other individual's eyes had met for the first time, bathed in dim city lights. Her expression of deep assuagement traversed by pure fear as she discovered her miscreants to be eliminated still lingered in his mind. A disconcerting sensation, a feeling that reminded him of something like regret, started to creep through his form as he recalled the certain events and their consequences. At the retrospective calculation of happenings, a weak wish formed in his chest: The wish that the circumstances of their path's crossing were different, that he had freed the girl from the dangerous situation and simply had left it at that.

But then, with the might of a rigorous fisticuff, he remembered the orders he had to execute before his thoughts would drift of father into empty and senseless illusions. The female body next to him was nothing but the mere proof of his success, and a living reminder of the accolade he had received from his leader. Shaking his head to get rid of the distracting and unnecessary cogitations the boy got on his feet again, leaving the quarters without a second glance behind.