Treasure Hunt Ushiten

Old Friend

Tendou's POV

Tendou wasn't sure what was happening. When he had gotten home, he opened the door and everything went black. When he woke up, his mouth tasted terrible, his jaws ached, and he couldn't see. His head felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. He opened his eyes and was met with blackness and a tight feeling around his head. I must be blindfolded. His mind, normally so agile and coherent, felt like it was swimming in treacle.

He moved his mouth, trying to relieve his painfully stretched jaws. He realized it was crammed full of a hard substance. Tendou worked his tongue, wanting to get rid of the material. It wouldn't budge. He started to move his hands to his lips, but they were painfully restrained behind his back and stretched across a hard surface. His shoulders were sore. He moved his feet, but they were thoroughly tied down to something. He strained his neck forward, only to nearly choke against a band that encircled his throat. Ropes cut into his face, arms, and legs. I'm probably sitting on a chair. When he wriggled his hands, he received a sharp blow to his face for his efforts. A warm liquid trickled down his cheek.

Shit. I'm blindfolded, gagged, and tied up. Well fuck. He paused, attempting to take stock of his surroundings. Wind ruffled his hair. The air smelled fresh and clean. He could hear birds singing. Someone near him was breathing softly.

Wakatoshi....

"You're finally awake."

The voice was one he knew. He had worked so hard to forget it. But now it all came rushing back. The names. The words. The pushes. The blows.

"Animal!"

"Monster!"

"Yokai!"

Oh yes, Tendou Satori knew this voice.

"Interesting how old friends meet again, isn't it?"

His childhood bully. Kobarashi Hiroko. Tendou had thought he'd shaken him off when he moved to Shiratorizawa for high school, but apparently not. Satori tried to talk back, but the material in his mouth prevented any words from coming out. The redhead mentally cursed the drug that held his wits captive, preventing him from thinking clearly.

"I was willing to live with your existence. I didn't even respond when you had the unmitigated gall to be happy. But when you got engaged, well, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. No one as awful as you deserves a lover. So I decided to have some fun with you two."

Satori struggled to shout, scream, beg, anything to make him let Ushijima go. The former ace was the best thing in Satori's life. Wakatoshi didn't deserve to get mixed up in this.

"Unless you've changed. If you are the same animal you've always been, I am perfectly within my rights to kill you. The law allows extermination of dangerous beasts. But since you have a boyfriend who seems to be normal, maybe you've become human. So I made a little test. If he loves you enough to come for you, and if he can finish the treasure hunt, you might deserve to live. If he can't, well, let's just say you've lived quite a long time for a monster."

A phone beeped. Kobarashi chuckled. "Well, he is on his way, or at least the location signal on his phone is. Perhaps you will survive, after all. Pity for me, but those are the rules of the game."

Silence reigned for quite some time.

"I suppose I should be going. He's at the base of the mountain now, and it wouldn't do for him to find me, would it?" Leaves crackled, the sounds getting nearer and nearer to Tendou. Kobarashi was standing beside him.

"But, as a parting gift from me..." Satori's right sleeve was ripped upward, exposing his pale shoulder. A sharp, searing pain entered his arm. Kobarashi had used a needle to inject something in his shoulder. His captor held the needle there for a moment, then took it away.

"It contains a sleep drug. Effective within ten minutes. Plenty of time for you to fall unconscious and for me to leave, so you won't be able to speak to your precious lover. He'll just find you, passed out and barely breathing, tied up like a beast for slaughter. Quaint, don't you think?"

I think you're insane, Tendou thought.

Kobarashi's fingers dug into his scalp. A grip on his hair jerked Satori's head forward. His throat pressed against the band, constricting his breathing. The band was pulled even tighter, crushing his windpipe. Tendou gasped for breath. He saw stars. His mind grew hazy.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded to the side. The force pulling the cord was ripped away. Tendou leaned back, panting for breath. He heard grunts, then the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Someone groaned. The redhead fought to stay conscious. Who's there? Damn this blindfold!

"WHAT! DID! YOU! DO! TO! SATORI!" Wakatoshi roared.