Crime Syndicate

Chapter 10

"Are you sure you're alright Chibisuke?" Ryoga asked as the two of them were driven to the house.

"I'm fine, just shaken." Echizen answered. "He's not like other people that have done this. He's hunting and he's enjoying it."

"I won't let anything happen to you Chibisuke. I won't let some scumbag bounty hunter get his hands on you just to make a few dollars. You've already been through too much in your life and even if something does happen I'll get you out of it."

The car pulled up to the house and the two boys existed. There was one thing that Ryoga noticed that immediately put him on edge and it was the fact that there was no one outside to greet them.

"Ryoga-sama." The security member realized it too.

Echizen had at least a dozen of security members at his disposal and yet the only one with them at that moment was the driver. Sure there were the few at the school searching for the shooter but there still should've been some at the house to keep a watch on everything. Ryoga hoped that Momo's people would hurry and meet them. At least then he could be reassured that if anything happened they would be able to take Echizen to a safe place for the time being.

"Keep a visual for anything. Chibisuke stay close to me." The two boys went in the front while the security went around the back.

Everything seemed normal as they searched. The only thing remotely close to an attack was Karupin leaping at Echizen from out of the darkness; both upstairs and down, nothing was out of place, there were no people or traps waiting for them, just a dark house. They still didn't know why the other security members were gone but they couldn't really contact them given the current situation.

"All we can do right now is wait for everyone else to get here. Try to get in contact with your group members and see what's going on." Ryoga huffed out. The security member nodded and went outside. "Chibisuke how are you holding up?" Echizen was lying face down on a couch with Karupin on his back. He made a barely audible groan and hand movement. "Do you want something to eat?"

Echizen brought his head up. "Do you think that I should've just gone with everyone to Sapporo?"

"What are you saying?"

"All of this could've been avoided; the car accident, the first attack in the park, and the one just now, none of it would've ever happened." He rolled over and put Karupin on his stomach.

"Not to mention making friends and having a relatively normal life. Do you think you should've gone with them? Would you have been happy if you went with them?" The room was quiet for a moment. "Don't go saying things you'd regret later. I'll make you something to eat."

Echizen laid there, Ryoga was right. If he had gone to Sapporo, he wouldn't have met everyone and he certainly wouldn't have been happy. Even if he had a chance to skip out on everything that had happened so far, it meant he wouldn't have met everyone and that made everything worth it. Besides, it was better to go through all of those things with people that understood to a point what it was like instead of practically dealing with it by himself like the other times.

Karupin pawed at his chest and hopped down. Echizen stood from his spot and stretched. He called to Ryoga that he was going to be taking a bath upstairs and to tell him if someone arrives when he's there. He went to the bathroom and turned on the water then to his room to get a change of clothes then back to the bathroom. Despite everything that had happened in the last few hours, he felt calm and relieved. The tension and pain from his injuries had left and he felt like he could fall asleep. He didn't know how long he was in there when Ryoga told him that Momo's people had arrived but he wished it was longer.