Truth's Disgrace - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Harbored Secrets


It was just after dawn before the WBBA helicopter finally arrived at the Tokyo WBBA building, both Ayano and Sichiro being woken up from their short naps as they touched down on the landing pad and were permitted to get off onto the roof of the Tokyo WBBA.
Still visibly anxious about being in Tokyo at all, Sichiro glanced around while rubbing one of his arms in the uncomfortable air that surrounded him, practically following Ayano like a lost puppy.
The greenette sighed silently, noticing how Sichiro had seemed so nervous the entire time they had been on the helicopter coming towards their current destination and simply deciding to put up with his behavior and excuse it for the nervousness of coming to a new city that he wasn't used to; she knew the feeling.
Walking beside him as they made their towards the WBBA worker that appeared to be waiting for them on the rooftop, Ayano glanced over at Sichiro who appeared to be biting the inside of his lip.

"Just follow my lead, and it'll be fine." She said in hopes to comfort her colleague, "I've done this a million times before, I know what I'm doing. Just let me do the talking, and then we can get to work."
Sichiro's steel grey eyes caught her own cerulean blue ones, seeming to just establish the words she had said to him after she had said them, and simply nodding in agreement to let her take the lead and do the talking.
Ayano nodded as well, looking forward once more as they both came up to the WBBA worker of the building, who was a chestnut-haired man with green eyes in a dull blue suit, his hands behind his back in a formal manner as he stood waiting for them. Ayano mimicked this, her back straight as she stood in front of one of the many workers of the Tokyo WBBA.
"Ayano Kagome and Sichiro Yamauchi of the Metal Bey City WBBA." Ayano declared. The man nodded, bowing in the formal Japanese manner towards the official guests of the Tokyo WBBA.
"Oh, yes.." The man said in a soft voice, "Director Hideyoshi has been expecting you both.. If you'll follow me?"
Ayano nodded in agreement to the worker who turned around and headed for the door on the roof that would lead them down into the building.
The greenette glanced back towards Sichiro, who simply followed her in silence as he seemed to grow even more anxious than he previously had been, though he did well at keeping it to himself.
The cold yet comfortably warm night air was shut off from all 3 of them as they entered the building, heading down the stairwell into the building where the worker was leading them.

"I take it Director Hideyoshi got Tsubasa's message?" Ayano questioned, to which the worker glanced over his shoulder too.
"Yes." He answered, "He told many of us to wait for your arival. And I got put out on the roof... Again.."
The worker's words sounded disheartened, almost awkward yet still with a slight playful tone dancing on the edges to which Ayano could simply smile too.
"Well then it's a good thing we're here, so you don't have to stand out there anymore." She responded, and the brunette simply smiled in return.
"Yes." He answered, "It's also a good thing because the Director has actually been a bit eager to have you hear... Which is definitely rare."
Pale green eyes glanced back towards Sichiro, of who caught the look like could easily have been misplaced as just checking that he was still there - he didn't have a choice either way, now did he? But the split-second glance he was given didn't make his anxiety calm down as they walked through the halls, trying to keep his breathing steady and not make a scene about it that would draw attention to him - that was the last thing he would want, especially here.
All he did was remain as silent as was possible as they made their way through the halls, and through a few work areas where the workers were strangely busy, even at this early in the morning.
Several glances went their way, which only agitated Sichiro even more and did nothing to settle his stressed soul that wouldn't be getting any better until he knew they were heading back to Metal Bey City.

The worker they were both following lead them towards nothing work area, where both Sichiro and Ayano could see a man that was rather finely dressed, that seemed to stand out among the other workers with a sense of authority and a cunning nature about him.
He wore square-shaped glasses on a long nose, and appeared to be in his late 50's to early 60's from the soft wrinkles on his face and his dark brown, graying hair.
He wore a beige suit that definitely seemed to compliment him, with a dark blue tie, and dark brown dress shoes.
He was speaking to who appeared to be another worker - a woman with her brown hair tied tightly back into a bun, sort of like Ayano, with a hardened expression and a rather intimidating aura about her that seemed to effect most within a 3 meter radius.
"That's the Director.." Ayano whispered over to her colleague, "Try not to seem as nervous when you're talking to him, okay?" Sichiro didn't answer her, and she simply brushed it off.
Of all people, Sichiro did not need anyone to point out who this man was exactly - he had already known.

"Director." Spoke the worker that lead both of the other Metal Bey WBBA workers, "Sichiro and Ayano are here.. I brought them as requested." Turning his deep blue eyes towards the worker that had spoken, Director Hideyoshi smiled calmly and nodded.
"Thank you, Satoshi." He said, which the worker - dubbed Satoshi - simply nodded to, "You can go now." On cue, Satoshi left them all to themselves, and the many workers around them that took a few glances before simply going back to their current work, which they always seemed quite sensitive about, as Ayano had seen many times.
"Good morning, Director Hideyoshi." Ayano greeted as the man turned to her with a smooth smile.
"Very good morning." He said in reply, "And very early.. Quite a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Kagome. And I suggest that this is your colleague?"
Said blacknette tensed as the man's eyes went to him, a strange glint in those deep sapphires as his eyes landed on the one person who had hoped he would never have to be here.
"Yes, this is Sichiro.." Ayano said, introducing the two of them while giving the raven the 'look' that somehow told him not to seem so stiff - it wasn't like he could help it, being here.
"Tsubasa paired me up with him for this." Ayano continued, giving a reasonable and almost apologetic smile towards the Tokyo Director, "He's never been here before, so excuse his behavior." Humming softly, Hideyoshi simply nodded and smiled.
"You needn't worry about it." He said, seemingly brushing the matter off without a care in the world before outstretching his hand towards the anxious-looking raven, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Sichiro."

The way he said that almost made said worker run out of the building entirely. But he tried to relatively keep his cool and shakily took the Director's hand, shaking it in a friendly greeting of which passed by like mere dust in the wind.
"Now." Ayano said firmly yet politely now that the greetings were over, "About why we're here..." The Director seemed to get the message and simply nodded.
"The city profiling, of course." Hideyoshi said, almost picking up where Ayano left off, "Your Director Otori told me all about it. Naomi, would you please lead Ms. Kagome to the work place we have set up for her? I believe she would like to get right down to business as soon as possible."
Naomi nodded, her expression unchanging as she went to beckon Ayano along to where they would allow her to do what she had to.
"You don't mind if I borrow Sichiro for awhile, do you, Ms. Kagome?" Hideyoshi asked politely, earning a small smile from the greenette in question.
"Not at all, Director Hideyoshi." Ayano answered, her eyes shifting to Sichiro which gave a silent message to 'not screw things up' as it seemed.
With those last words, Ayano proceeded to follow Naomi to wherever she was leading her, likely to wherever they had set up for her to do her work.
Now, without Ayano, Sichiro felt completely naked out in the open, unsure of what he was supposed to do now that he was alone with the Director of the Tokyo WBBA in the middle of a work area where people weren't taking to much interest in them anymore.
As Ayano disappeared from his line of sight, Sichiro nervously looked back towards Director Hideyoshi with steel grey eyes looking into deep sapphire that he could see were deceiving, a glint in them that was only towards him. But of course, he knew every reason why.

"So, Sichiro..." Director Hideyoshi began, the friendlier face that had been towards Ayano disappearing and being replaced with one that held a more authoritative and intimidating aura, "What brings you here, to the Tokyo WBBA?"
Said raven shifted uncomfortably where he stood, unsure of how he was supposed to be handling this situation now that he was in it.
"The same as Ayano.." He answered, trying not to stutter and keep his cool towards the authoritative man, "Profiling.. Director Tsubasa paired me up with her for this."

"I see.." Hideyoshi said with a soft hum, "Well then, I suggest that your Director knows nothing about you're-"

"Don't!" Sichiro said hurriedly, a panicked cry lacing his voice and causing a few familiar - yes, familiar - eyes to turn his way for a moment before they went back to their work.
"Please.." Sichiro said, restating his request, "Don't talk about it... And no, if I have to answer..." Director Hideyoshi seemed to smile in amusement at Sichiro's attitude and behavior towards him and reaction in being here - so nervous, anxious, looking like he was about to freak out with every step further into the building that he took.
"Well, alright then, if you insist." The Director said calmly, seeming to have no problem with how the younger man was acting, "After all, if you want it to be so secret, than that's your issue. Still... Your friends seem to like you quite well.. They should know something by now, shouldn't they?"
Sichiro growled under his breath, looking away slightly while his long black hair brushed over his shoulders.

How he hated him - no, them...

All of them...

"But I suppose I have no right to judge you, my good man." Hideyoshi said rather kindly as he shifted his weight onto the opposite foot, his hands in front of him almost as if he were holding a cane, "After all... We all have to leave the past behind sooner or later.. No matter how dark it is."
Sichiro almost retorted back to him with something sour before everything went dark, the lights quitting out for a moment with only the lights of the computer screens for guides, before they flickered back on.
The raven anxiously looked to the ceiling as the lights continued to flicker with apparently no effect on anything else, no real cause behind it that seemed to concern anybody, from how most people just continued with their work.
Of course, Ayano did say that they were quite secretive in a few things that they did. Hideyoshi glanced up at the ceiling as well where the lights flickered almost with a pattern, a small hum coming from deep in his throat before he looked towards a nearby male worker wearing a white suit that was the opposite of a black one who had already been looking at the Director as if this meant something.
Hideyoshi beckoned the worker over, of which he abided by, and the older man said something to him to which was audible to Sichiro's ears.

"Go check on him.." Hideyoshi instructed, which the worker obliged by and hurried off to do. The feeling of anxiety in Sichiro's chest did not calm down at all as the Director turned back to look at him - before the man could say anything, Sichiro finally made a suggestion.
"I'd like to go work with Ayano now." He said, which was not a request, but more of a command, "That's what I was sent here to do in the first place." Hideyoshi looked long and hard at the younger man for a moment, as if testing him to see if that was what he was truly settled on - which it definitely was.
Sighing through his nose, the Tokyo Director beckoned another worker over, saying to lead Sichiro to where Ayano was, likely analyzing the profiles on the other staff.
Sichiro did not look back over his shoulder at the man who was likely staring into the back of his skull, though his anxiety still remained as the lights continued to flicker for an unknown reason.....


It had been rather early in the morning when Zyro and the others had all set out once again.
They had all slowly awoken, starting with Madoka who probably had gotten used to not having a full nights sleep from her work and how had things had been over the past couple of weeks, and the rest of them slowly followed.
They had a small breakfast around the barely smoldering fire before they put it out entirely and left their small camp to fade away into something that would mean nothing later.
Now all rested, they were able to set out on a rather good pace that already them about 2 miles away from their small camp within the hour.
Maru was the one who kept track of everything, making sure they stuck to the route that they were taking - either way, as long as they could even faintly hear the sound of the busy main highway, they would know that they were on the right track.
Thank god it was nice out, especially since they were traveling for such a long distance on foot - either way, it was summer, and Shinobu had definitely been right when he said that it was warm out (And 75 degrees actually sounded quite accurate).
They had already passed over the river that lead to Lake Hinuma, which - as Maru said - meant that they weren't too much farther from the city of Mito that they were hoping to get to by the end of the day at the pace they were going.
They had had to actually go to the main rain to get across the river, seeing as how it was very large and the only likely bridge for quite a ways before they settled back to the relative wilderness near the highway - which was actually more like farm-land now, with lessening trees and flatter ground.

"How are we looking, Maru?" Madoka asked, looking down at her young student who responded by bringing up her wrist and checking the map that was equipped inside the bracelet Tsubasa had given her. After a few moments of messing around with it, the girl finally answered while still looking at the screen with her lavender eyes.
"We're actually not to far off from the outskirts of Mito." Maru answered, keeping her eyes on the map yet still watching where she was going through its transparent self that came with its' holographic design, "A few more miles, though..."

"There's always going to be a few more miles, now that we're out here." Kira said, not really helping the situation but saying it in a matter-of-fact way.
"You don't say..." Shinobu muttered irritably, of which Kira simply responded to with a roll of the eye - well, at least they were getting a bit better around each other, as Zyro had noticed, since less arguments had broken out between the two of them. Despite that, their dislike for each other was very prominent.
"At least it's not too far off." Zyro commented, "Maybe we can get somewhere there."

"Well, Mito's a big city." Benkei said, looking up towards the tops of the trees that they had yet to pass by as if he were looking up towards buildings, "I say we split up once we get there. Cover more ground, ya know?"
Madoka, a smile on her face, glanced over her shoulder towards her purple-haired friend.
"We can decide what we're doing when we get there, Benkei." The shop owner commented before looking forward once more to watch where she was going, "This is gonna be a long trip, for sure."

"Good thing we brought our motivation with us." Ren commented in turn, hinting towards their very blatant want to finally destroy the psychopath that had played them fools the entire time, "It actually helps me sleep better at night... Is that weird?"
Ren raised one of her eyebrows as she asked this, a sort of weirded out look on her face as she thought about how making Alcorin pay would help her sleep better at night.
"Kind of helps with me too.." Maru admitted as she looked back towards Ren, "The guy gives me nightmares, either way.."

"I can see why." Kite commented, hoisting his backup up on his shoulders to make sure that it wouldn't slip off, "Eight had to sleep with the lights on for a few nights at home after what happened with that guy.." Huffing, Eight looked up towards his elder brother with a bit of a pouty-face.
"That was you, big bro!" The bluenette replied sternly, "Don't even try and blame it on me!" Several laughs rang through the crowd at this protest, while Kite blushed in embarrassment and pushed his glasses up on his hide to try and hide the fact that he was flustered at all.
Ren's cackling was, unintentionally, the loudest of all of them, and was actually fairly amusing from the almost witch-like sound that came from her throat.
Zyro laughed a bit, which Shinobu and a few of them were happy to see - most of them kept their eyes on the Fire Blader, as they were clearly able to see the ways that he had changed throughout all that had happened in such a short time span.
They had all changed in several ways, even if it wasn't evident that it was with Zyro, or they just simply refused to admit it, much like Kira - though most could guess that he was still his same self.
And while all of them kept their eyes on Zyro, there would always come the time when he would notice their eyes on them, know that they were watching him with wary eyes in case he was about to shatter like dried, raw pottery.
He had already noticed, with the eyes that he say on him out of the corners of his own, but did not say a word about it as he simply knew that it was his friends' concern about him that caused them to watch him so carefully.
He had almost died at Alcorin's hands, and he would've had the life completely strangled out of him if not for Maru.
So to hear as much as a breath coming out of him, let alone a laugh, as a relieving thing to both hear and see; Kira was the only one who tried to deny that it was such a thing, an inner torment that he kept shoving aside only to have it come back and try and convince him that some part of him cared even more fiercely than before.
Even so, they all kept their personal matters to themselves as they continued on, the laughter dying down but still with welcome conversation.

"Hey, what are we gonna do once we get there?" Ren asked, "I mean, are we gonna stay somewhere?.. Are we gonna camp out on the outskirts or something? Cause, like, covering the city is gonna take... I dunno... Forever?" Madoka glanced back towards the blond as she asked this question, and even began wondering herself.
Where were they going to stay? What were they going to do exactly, save for looking around for information if they could gather any? The others wondered about this too, now that Ren had brought up the subject.
"There's probably a bunch of hotels around there." Shinobu said, looking towards his blond friend, "But god knows how much those cost to stay in for even a night.."

"Well..." Madoka began, clicking her tongue as she tried to think before simply smiling in reassurance, "We can figure out what we're doing when we get there.. We might have to camp out on the outskirts, or something, but we definitely are not going to be freezing our tails off, or going broke." Shinobu responded once more towards the expression 'freezing our tails off' with a bit of a weird expression.
"Again." He began, "75 degrees out here. I don't think we'll be freezing anything off anytime soon." Zyro chuckled softly and shook his head.
"Calm down, Shinobu." The ginger-ravenette said with a smile, "It's not the end of the world!" Shinobu smiled a bit in response to Zyro's optimism, before Maru spoke up near the front of the group.
"Well, we're almost there." The pinkette said, though did not have the map in her bracelet in front of her this time, "Or at least I think so, since those should be the buildings of the outskirts."
All of them looked forward and into the not-so-far-off distance, where they could indeed see what appeared to be a suburban type of landscape, overshadowed by taller buildings that weren't to much farther off from the outskirts of the city that was within their sights.

"Wow, I honestly thought we were way off." Ren said, raising an eyebrow as they all stopped to admire the city that they had been heading towards for the past 2 days - they were rather all surprised with how short the trip had actually been.
Benkei, Kite, Madoka, Eight, and Shinobu had thought that it would've taken them, perhaps, another day or so to even be able to see Mito from a distance - but apparently that wasn't so.
"Me too, actually." Benkei admitted, all of their eyes set on towards the city that would have to spread out through if they were going to try and find any answers.
"So is this just what you guys do when you go on trips?" Kira asked, his hand on his hip as he stood there with them, looking towards the city that they had been given the task of heading to first, "Camp out, laugh, and then gaze at cities from the distance?"

"That's what I kind of did when I first came to Metal Bey City.." Zyro commented, his sky blue eyes glancing over towards the pastel-haired blader of who he was wondering why he had come along, "Well... Not really the first 2, but the last one I did." Kite raised an eyebrow at this, looking towards the shorter male with a questionable expression.
"And where are you from, exactly?" The brunette asked, and Zyro simply shrugged.
"One of those really small towns where everybody knows everybody and nobody really acknowledges its' existence." The Fire Blader answered, which seemed to satisfy the brunette enough.
"Well, let's hope that luck is on our side for once..." Madoka sighed, recalling everything that had happened no more than a week or 2 ago and how everything hadn't actually been in their favor, "I could really do for something like that right now."

"Well, we're obviously not getting anything done by admiring the sights." Kira pointed out, flicking his wrist off to the side as a sort of gesture, "Unless this counts as some sort of progress with all of you?"

"Okay, we get it, Kira." Shinobu retorted, a slightly annoyed look on his face towards the other blader of which he was evidently not going to warm up to anytime soon.
"Well, we should get going either way." Madoka said, taking Kira's words into consideration, "It'll definitely take awhile."

"More, walking?~.." The child complained, an almost adorably irritated look on his face at the thought of having to walk even more after so much of doing so.
"Oh, you'll live." Kite said, hitting his brother on the head lightly, who whined in protest.
"Let's get to it!" Ren suggested, pumping her hand up in the air, "I'm really in the need to get some good news out of all of this."
It was almost painful to see Ren being more enthusiastic than Zyro, but they knew she was just trying to keep up the spirit, like he had before.
Finally, they set out once more towards the city that they were heading to, still keeping mainly to the road that would lead into the city of Mito. One thing was for sure - the city was definitely big enough to get lost in, since apparently none of them knew anything about it, save for Maru who did have her map that could show them the layout of the city so they would know where they could meet if they split up.
Hopefully, things would go a bit alright for once in the last month and a half......


He couldn't respond to anything, Alcorin knew that perfectly well as he gazed at his brother who sat there on the throne, dead eyes half-open yet staring at nothing from the state he was.
Being catatonic, he was nothing more than a vegetable, laying there almost lifelessly as his eyes remained open, yet with no one to look out of them - Alcorin already knew that from being in his coma, he was already too far deep into his own mind to likely wake up anytime soon, if at all.
It almost saddened him, as he gazed forward into orbs of golden-brown with his own crimson red that stood out upon pure white skin and hair, but he soon found that it didn't matter - whether comatose, catatonic, or awake, all that he had ever needed was him.

Gingka was everything to him.

Yes, he had put him through unbearable pain, yes, he had tried to kill him and had for a few minutes as it had stood, but he loved him like he had never loved anything before.

The things he would do for him sick, twisted, but it had always all been for him.

Gingka was his one weakness, the one thing that he ever cared about.

He had planned out practically everything, granted with the few flaws that he had been presented with when others had decided to interfere.

He knew what putting Gingka into a coma would do, knew that they would try and find him from the challenge that he had left them, knew that none of them would be there except for Hikaru when they went to find him, and knew what Hikaru would do when he released her of her lucid state. He had ruined lives, taken lives, given lives back, and it had only ever all been for the sake of his beloved brother.
"It was only ever for you, Gingka..." He spoke, his voice echoing against the walls in the dreaded silence, and knew that his brother would likely not hear him, "We're finally together, dear brother.. No matter what kind of state you are in.."
Alcorin's footsteps echoed as he made his way closer to the catatonic redhead who's head was tilted forward in the slightest bit from the way he sat lifelessly, white robes dragging and fluttering around him all the same as he came up to the brother that he had never known.

The albino stopped in front of him, and reached out a hand as white as freshly fallen snow, his fingers savoring the feeling of fair skin that somehow sent a hypnotic and strange feeling surging through him lightly, something that he had come to recognize, even though only having made physical contact with him one other time.
His skin was pale, paler than it normally should've been, but still with the fairness that was a rarity upon most humans.
The tiny freckles that dotted the bridge of his nose and his cheekbones were like faint stars on a black night filled with clouds, his bangs hanging over his headband like they always did from their length.

Gingka was his, and only his.

They were brothers, siblings, 2 people that were born to love each other no matter the type of relation.

A small giggle escaped white lips at that thought.

No... Gingka could never love him.

More like he would never love him, after everything he had done to him and his friends.
From being in a coma, he was unlikely to know about what had happened and what he had done to Dynamis and Hikaru, and what he had almost done to Zyro, but the redhead had made it clear that he hated him before they had ever even met.
The way that he had taunted him in return with a shaking voice as he lay on the floor, pleaded for the pain to stop, suffered in silence with no one to help him through it but himself - that was enough to make it perfectly clear about how Gingka felt about him.
There was nothing but resent, nothing but contempt as he loathed him more and more through what had seemed like endless days as he had slowly crept towards the death that he would only be pulled back from.
His own mind was his prison, that he had been damned to by his own brother - the sick and twisted brother who he had never known, and perhaps would've been glad not too.
But of course, he could not say, or express any of that in the state he was in.

Alcorin's smile faded, standing up as he looked down at the redhead with eyes that were of his more natural form. They were different, very much so.

The pleading in the back of his head to leave him alone had faded to mere whimpers as everything as drained from the child that still hung on to the to shadow that he cast, a stubbornness that made them both so alike.

Stubborn, persistent, and the willingness to do anything for the people they cared about.

That was what made them the same... But he knew that Gingka would strongly deny them ever being related if he was able to.
But Alcorin simply shook his head, turning away a bit while his eyes remained on the only flesh and blood that he had.

"You are no better than me, after what you've done." The albino spoke, a small giggle escaping his lips and amusement tracing the edges of his tongue that seemed to lack pigment just as his skin and hair did, "And once you're little friends perhaps find out, they'll never find the will to forgive your sins... We were never meant to be kept away from each other, dear Gingka.. For more reasons than one."

Absently, Alcorin lifted his left hand, looking down into the pure white palm that his slender fingers descended from; the exact hand that he had crushed poor Gingka's make-shift heart in.
It had always mattered... With nothing more to say, Alcorin turned and left to retreat to elsewhere in the domain that was rightfully his - well, maybe not exactly his...
The only thing that was left to be heard was the screaming from inside Gingka's own head where it would never reach the outside world that it tried to claw its' way to for 2 different reasons.

And only in the silence of the large room that he was left in did the skin on one of his finger's visibly crack.


..Help me...