SHATTERED

Chap:13:Intersecting Paths

Author's Note:The pic on the right is of Sora

The traffic light glowed green, opening the zebra crossing as swarms of people went forth. A boy stood lounging against the pole , staring intently at a phone clutched in his hand, amidst the mobile crowd.

The screen lit up showing an incoming call as he tilted his head back and answered.

"So you received my little gift eh ? " a voice crackled from the other side.

"Yeah....thanks", he replied. Then pinching the bridge of his nose, added as an afterthought ," I've been wondering about this though....how did you find me ? "

"About that ...." the voice coughed in uneasiness, " ...don't flip out on me but it seems dad put a tracker on you ..." it trailed off.

The boy's eyes flew open as he lurched forward .

"Son of a bitch ! Am I his fucking pet ? " he cussed out loudly , lowering his voice only when the passerby gave him the stink eye. " Like father like son huh ? You didn't think it important to mention this before did you ? How long has this thing been on me ? " he hissed into the phone.

" I don't know . I swear I found out just recently ! He just considers you as....uh...unpredictable. So....well...a tracker isn't all that bad ! " the voice felt compelled to reason, " It proved pretty useful in locating you this time ! All I had to do is push a button haha..ha...ha..a" came an awkward laugh .

Any effort to lighten the atmosphere was futile.

The boy's scowl deepened.

"Are you seriously taking his side Axel ?" he threatened into the phone.

"No! Damn it. Why must you always blow up like this ? I'm Switzerland man ! I don't take nobody's side ! Chill man . Chill. " the voice vehemently denied .

The boy smiled , satisfied.

"That's good. I thought I lost you for a second bro . " he chuckled.

"......"

"Oh ! ", he replied as if suddenly recalling something , " next time any move that faggot makes against me..." the boy trailed off , letting the sentence hang in the air.

"I got it . I'll make sure to let you know. " Axel sighed dejectedly , " You might as well get a base for now , rescue mission might take a while. Can't say exactly how long. Since I don't want to alert dad and through him the council , suddenly asking for a patrol in this city. With so many mysterious occurences , they are sure to take action soon , we'll strike then. That okay with you ?" he asked.

"Its not like I have any choice." the boy muttered.

" Yeah you don't. If you weren't such a loose canon we wouldn't be in this shit !" Axel hissed.

"Yeah well, if someone wasn't slacking off at their job, I wouldn't have been trapped so easily ! You're the incompetent one ." the boy hissed back.

"Don't you dare blame it on me ! Who wanted to play Sherlock huh Kai ? It was you ! " Axel sneered.

What the boy wanted to say was :

" Spoken like a true hypocrite Axel. Who was the one who suggested it ? You want to play rebellious yet at the end of it all its my fault eh ? Its nothing new after all , ever since we were young , whenever there was trouble , acting like the coward you are , you always tried to shake off your half of the blame ! "

But instead he ground his teeth together , swallowing his anger and pride, reminded himself that right now Axel was his only way out of this place.

"You're right , I'm sorry. Forgive me bro ? " he tried console.

"...........Expect another package in a few days ", Axel grumbled, cutting the call.

Kai sighed , tired.

" Note to self, dissect jacket later. I'll show you bastards what happens when you try to leash something you can't control. " he muttered .

Kai scanned the street signs on the other side of the road. He crossed the road and entered a cafe .The neon pink cursive letters read :

"Cafe Sweet"

**************

Sora stands before Miagi's grave. It had a simple headstone, still retaining its new shine.

He could still vividly picture the boy's frightened eyes if he closed his own. The face as clear as day was etched into his mind. He placed the bouquet at the feet of the grave.

The soft breeze ruffled the petals of the simple white flowers.

Despite it being a graveyard , the air was surprisingly more fresh compared to that of the city. Erasing Sora's previous assumptions of graveyards smelling of the decay it housed. Sora chuckled as a thought occured to him, in his eyes he was the only pollutant here.

Who ever heard of the murderer paying respects to his victim ? What kind of a sick, twisted thing was this ?

It didn't matterwhat the reason was, what the circumstances were, whose fault it was or what methods were used. Nothing mattered except for the fact that he had taken someone else's life and that made him a murderer.

Did he regret it ? He didn't know the boy enough to regret his abscence. It doesn't matter now. Even if he did....what good would it do ? This was the first time Sora had to get to know his own kill. The first time he stayed long enough on a job to ponder over his actions . The first time he let the questions flood his conscience, rather than locking them away.

Miagi Satoshi.....What kind of life had he lead ? What were his hobbies ? What did he like and dislike ? Did he have any friends ? Did he have anyone he loved ? Was there anything that could have pushed him to do drugs ? Where was he going that night ? More questions kept plaguing him.

The longer he took, the more suspicious it would become.....something like a perfect murder must not be allowed to exist. But how ? How can he cover up his mistake? How can he earse this boy's existence once and for all ? The questions were going round and round like a vicious cycle, preying on his sanity with no cure to soothe the pain. It was like Miagi satoshi was watching Sora's every action and as time ran out , gleefully waiting to drag him to the depths of hell.

Squatting down with his head in his hands, lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the footsteps on the gravel. He didn't notice as it stopped behind him . Only when the observer spoke did he realise that he wasn't alone, he didn't know he was being watched all this while from the moment he came to a stop at the boy's grave.

Just five words , were enough to set a chill down his spine. Sora forced himself not to react.

"Did you know my boy ?"