Brothers

Chapter 9

The bus rattled to a halt in front of the large office building; representing a museum of sorts by its size. People were walking in like there was no tomorrow; looking around at what artifacts they had to display. Indeed, this was a rather unique office, and it could be easily misinterpreted as a museum. Their securities were very high tech, and they had surgical labs for specific research reasons. When Kirigiri and Ishida entered, Ishida in his disguise as Kirigiri’s brother from America, they looked around at all the people who were being scanned for precautionary reasons. After Ishida’s presence announced on television, all securities were boosted in search of anything suspicious related to Ishida, such as abnormal body temperatures or red eyes. The two of them stood in line; waiting to be scanned.

“Ishida, if you are to simply raise your pulse, you could bust our cover.” Kirigiri whispered to him. Ishida hugged himself; blushing in embarrassment. “This outfit is really weird, I’m tellin’ ya.” Kirigiri rolled her eyes and continued to focus on the pace in which the line was going. As they approached closer, Ishida noticed that these scans weren’t just for security; they were touching people all over to make sure they had nothing suspicious. They even told people to take off any glasses or contacts. This could be trouble. “Kirigiri,” Ishida poked her shoulder. “They’re makin’ people take off contacts.” “I don’t think they will be able to tell if those are contacts are not. Lie to them, if you have to.” Ishida nodded at her response; agreeing with her entirely. “A’ight.” They continued waiting in line; Ishida beginning to complain hours before they reached up to get scanned. When they came up to the scanning process, a tall man stood before them, glaring down at them.

“Do you know why I’m doing this?” He asked them. Kirigiri replied almost immediately. “It is because of the reveal of Operation I.S.H.I.D.A. I know well enough of what he’s capable of.” Ishida gulped. The officer nodded slowly in understanding. “Very well.” Picking up the scanner, the man waved it around Kirigiri, letting her walk through. She did so, and Ishida stood before him. “Who are you?” He asked. “I’m…” “He’s my brother. Thomas Kirigiri. He comes from the United States.” Nodding, the man scanned him, as the beepers went off immediately as he scanned by Ishida’s lower right abdomen. The man gasped. “What?! Everyone evacuate, Ishida is here!” The message was shouted through the intercom, as people started to scream and flood out of the building. Kirigiri screamed at the man who had shouted that threatening message.

“What are you doing?!” “I’m sorry; just doin’ what I was told.” After that, he fled with the crowd. Surgeons with white gowns came running towards them out of nowhere, standing in front of the so called brother of Kirigiri. “Did they say you were Ishida, sir?” One asked. Ishida tried not to freak out, and simply replied with, “My name is Thomas.” “It’s true. He’s my brother.” Kirigiri butted in. The nurse stared into his eyes and smirked. “Contact lenses. Colored… Contact lenses.” Ishida managed to keep in a whimper when she spotted that he indeed had colored contacts. She brought her fingers close to his eyes and poked at the contact lenses, pulling them out slowly. Ishida cringed, and immediately shut his eyes before she saw the true color of them: Red.

“Open your eyes!” She shouted at him, as if she were scolding him. “N-No!” He stuttered, as he walked backwards towards Kirigiri. Kirigiri sighed, and wrapped an arm around him. “I won’t let you take my brother.” She replied darkly. “Honey, we have to take him in. Ishida could kill you.” They didn’t listen to Kirigiri’s testimony on how Ishida was really her brother, Thomas; they disregarded her pleas; they did what they wanted, whether this suspicious guy was Ishida or not. They approached him from behind and shoved a tranquilizer into his arm. As he fell back, they caught him, and they carried him off to the operating room. Kirigiri gasped as he suddenly fell back, and followed behind them down an eerie hall. There were no lights whatsoever, and the only thing you could see were the operation rooms. Why would they want to perform an operation on Ishida? If one thought about it, it would most likely be because of what might be inside him. How are those flames developed? Is there somewhere in which they are stored? The only way to find out was to cut him open and look for the answer themselves.

Ripping off bits of his disguise, such as the wig, shirt, and jacket, they brought out their surgical gear, and placed an anesthetic to make you sleep for a long period of time over his nose. The entire facility shut down, and everyone who had arrived walked over to the nearby bay and hung out there until the office opened up again. Kirigiri was watching from outside; staring in through the window they had showing into the room in which they kept Ishida. Of course, she had a plan to barge through when the time was right. Not much was known about Ishida; and this sudden procedure may have been because they wanted to know more.

The head nurse picked up a scalpel from the table and cut down around the lower right abdomen in which he was caught when scanned. Not protected by any bones or tissues lied a supernatural, unheard of organ. From the looks of it, it was beating like a heart. Veins and other ordinary tubes were hooked up; bringing blood into it and traveling to other ports in the body. The surgeons were greatly perplexed. What was this? Kirigiri examined the strange phenomenon as much as she could from her separated distance; curious as to what that organ was for. If it was what Ishida was caught with, it had to be the one thing that stored all that fire. Kirigiri slowly approached the door, and waited for the right moment. Ishida lied there motionless, just as the surgeons were to cut open the organ.

“Stop.” She boomed, staring at the surgeons with a death glare. “We are simply doing our job.” “I do not care. You seize hurting him at once.” Kirigiri snapped back, walking over to Ishida and gently placing her hand on the organ. Of course, this may or may not hurt him depending on its sensitivity, but she didn’t care now. Before she knew it, flames were crawling up her arm, as if trying to keep her close. Baffled by this discovery, the medics brought up a high tech analyzer, hovered it above the organ, and went to examine the data on the computer. “It says here that this organ is called P.Y.R.O.; which stands for Physical Youth Rhetorical Obscurity. Pyro is also another word for fire, which is probably how it got its name. Supposedly, it is what stores the fire, as we’ve already seen.” They pointed at Kirigiri’s arm, now being overlapped by flames.

“Ishida…?” She whispered to him, wondering if he really did hear her. Of course, he was still alive; he was simply asleep. The surgeons continued to talk on. “It apparently operates like a heart, except it does not distribute to other parts of the body; only his eyes. How peculiar…” As they were talking, Kirigiri grabbed the stitching materials and began sewing up their incision. She hushed at him gently; knowing that this could hurt him. The surgeons turned around at Ishida and Kirigiri and helped her finish off the stitching. They also removed the mask over his nose. “Kirigiri, you cannot be around Ishida any longer. He is not one of us. He is simply a mistake.” The surgeons spoke freely, as they assumed Ishida was not fully awake yet. “He has nowhere to stay.” “Let him live in the dumps if he has to. We wouldn’t have to deal with his problems if it wasn’t for Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s birth obscurity. Leave him be. I already know of what Mr. Ishimaru has tried to do; meaning Kiyotaka Ishimaru’s father. He died trying to stop his son from confusing the economy any more than he already has.”

Ishida sat up, rubbing his eyes and noticing that he had no shirt on, as well as the fact that his lower right abdomen sent a piercing pain up his side. “What’s goin’ on?” He asked. “Ishida, we have to go.” Kirigiri walked over to his side and placed a gently kiss on P.Y.R.O before standing beside him. Ishida tingled. “Eheh… That was awkward.” Kirigiri grinned lightly, and helped him down from the bed. She walked out of the room with him; not saying another word. The two of them walked outside, looking around, Ishida still not wearing a shirt. “There’s going to be more investigating, you know.” She told him. “Thirty more days until the end of the month. I can deal.” Kirigiri managed a smile, bringing down her hand and brushing her thumb against the stitches. “Are you alright?” She asked. Ishida’s face lit up with blush. “I’m good.” After her question was answered, the two were on their way to their next investigation.