Hollow Point

The doorbell rang again, like the person behind the door was extremely impatient. That was all Daelen needed to get his legs moving. With one last desperate glance at the front door, he shot the other way, where he could just see a back door to escape through---

"No, Daelen!" Noire lunged forward and grabbed onto his arm. "Just calm down and go in my room!" She tugged him over to her bedroom and slammed the door shut, locking it from the outside.

There was scuffling from the other side of the door and then Daelen slammed his fist against the wood in frustration. He couldn't stay here. He had to escape, he was trapped again...

She rushed to the door, swinging it open, only to find Scott standing on the doorstep, looking pissed off. "Dammit, Scott. What is it?"

Scott didn't answer, looking over her head, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He rudely swept her aside and walked into the house, looking all around. "He's here, Noire. You brought him here. I know you did."

Blood rushed to Noire's cheeks as she shoved Scott. "He's my friend, Scott. He needed to get out of there!" She glared at him. "Who the hell said you could come in anyways?"

Scott ignored her words again, looking down at her angrily. "You don't know what you're doing! You're going to get yourself in so much trouble! What if you get killed, Noire?! You're the one who said he told you he murdered his sister! How long will it be before you're next, huh?" Scott stomped over to Noire's bedroom, and before she could do anything else, he shoved the door open to reveal Daelen frantically trying to open the window.

She gasped and raced over to Daelen, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him away from the window. "Daelen, it's just my next door neighbor, Scott. He's not going to hurt you. He won't turn you in."

Daelen pulled away from her, breathing heavily. "I need...to get...out." He gasped, and turning on his heel, he fled to the main room

"What's wrong with him?" Scott asked, forgetting his anger for a moment.

Noire looked over at Scott, pain visible in her eyes. "He's scared. He feels trapped. I could probably bet he feels like someone's going to find him and take him back to Hollow Point."

Scott's expression turned into a glare again. "And someone will. They're going to find you. I won't help them, but I can't stop them, either. You've brought yourself into this, and now he's bringing you down with him." Scott folded his arms across his chest. "You should have told me. Now it's too late." Tears were beginning to form in his eyes as he voiced his concern.

"Scott.." Noire walked over and wrapped her arms around Scott's slim figure, hugging him gently. "We're leaving tomorrow morning to go back to my home in Japan. Promise you'll come and visit?"

Scott squeezed her back. "I don't want you to leave, Noire," he murmured. "You just got here, and now you're leaving. You'll be on the run. I'm scared for you."

"I know, Scott. I don't want to go either. But I have to, for Daelen's sake. He needed to get out of that place." She pulled away from Scott and smiled. "Besides, Japan is thousands of miles away from here. I doubt they're going to even have a hunch where we went."

Scott stopped dead. "What about Mr. Ezra?" he asked.

Daelen had stopped pacing when he heard the name Mr. Ezra. "My father?" he asked, bitter feelings rising to the surface. He looked questioningly at Noire. "You talked to my father?" he asked faintly, his fists beginning to clench again.

"Dammit, Scott." Noire mumbled under her breath. Facing Daelen, she took a step forward. "Daelen, don't freak out. When I heard that your father was around here, I just wanted to find out a bit more about you. That's it."

Daelen's whole body tensed in anger. "Yeah? And how was that? Did he call me a demon? Did he go on about how I took everything away from him? I killed my sister and I might as well have killed my mother, is that right?" He turned away from her, dropping his head down into his hands as he sat down.

Noire started crying quietly. "I'm sorry, Daelen! I'm curious and I'm ambitious. When I want something or when I want to know something I go for it. I didn't know it would bother you so much..I'm sorry.." She slowly walked into her bedroom and flopped herself onto the bed.

Scott, who was glancing at Daelen curiously, spoke up. "You'll be okay, Daelen." When Daelen looked up at him with anguished eyes, Scott offered him a small smile. "You're free," he said simply. "Your father will come around. And if not, well at least you won't have to deal with him anymore." He looked over at Noire, who was sobbing on her bed. He came over to her, gave her a kiss on the head, and said quietly, "Goodbye, Noire."

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "I'll miss you." she said, her voice noticeably shaking.

"I'll miss you too." He hugged her tightly, and then strode to the door. "Write to me, alright? I want to know what goes on." And with that, he was out the door and into the night.

Noire walked out of the bedroom, her eyes puffy and red. She looked over at Daelen and sighed. "I'm sorry." she said timidly.

"Me, too." He said quietly. "Is he...your boyfriend?"

She smiled slightly. "No. That's the gay friend I was telling you about..remember?" She walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Daelen.

"Oh." Daelen blushed in spite of himself. "He doesn't trust me."

Noire cautiously placed a hand on Daelen's shoulder. "He's just scared for me. He's scared we're both going to get caught."

He tensed only slightly this time and managed not to brush her off. "We'll make it to Japan," he said. "We will as long as we stick together."

"Of course we will. I'm going to call my parents. I'll tell them that you're my boyfriend. Maybe..you can tell them we're getting engaged? They're strict about boyfriends if I don't plan on marrying them." Noire looked at the ground. "I've never had one."

Daelen blushed the brightest he ever had. "Yes, of course...We'll need an alibi and it makes sense..." He trailed off, refusing to meet her eyes.

Noire grinned, jumping up from the couch. "You'll have to talk to my parents. That's okay, right? You just have to tell them a few things. Do you want me to write anything down?"

"Uh, er. I'm not good...with people," he finished lamely. "So, yes, I suppose so."

She grabbed a notepad and wrote notes for Daelen. "My mother's name is Haruka. My father's name is Tomi. They love guys who can cook for their girl and that know what they want to do with their lives. All you have to say is how much you care for me. Also, mention about how dedicated you are to me." Noire giggled quietly. "Oh, my parents are going to be so proud." She handed off the notepad to Daelen and walked over to the phone.

Daelen sat there frozen. "I can't cook." he said, confused.

Noire smiled sweetly. "I'll be there with you, dearest." She stuck her tongue out and punched in her parents' number.

"Konnichiwa?" A male voice answered.

"Dad!" Noire clutched the phone tighter to her ear, hearing comfort in her father's voice.

"Noire!" her father answered, sounding delighted. "How's Lithuania?"

"It's beautiful, Dad. It's really quiet here and nothing like back home. I miss you guys. Can you put Mom on the phone, too?" she continued on in Japanese.

"Of course," her father agreed. "She'll be excited to hear from you." There was a soft call of "Haruka!" as Noire's father held the phone away from him. Coming back to her he asked, "So, are you missing the city life yet?"

Noire began to say something, but her mother rushed onto the phone.

"Oh, Noire! We've both missed you so much! How are you doing?"

Noire laughed, looking at Daelen. "I've been well, thanks. I actually have something to tell you both."

"What is it, honey?" her father asked in concern.

"I have a boyfriend! And we're moving back to Japan." Noire said with excitement, rushing over to sit next to Daelen.

"Oh, sweetheart. That's wonderful news. What's his name?" her mother asked happily.

"His name is Daelen. He's right here, if you two would like to talk to him."

"Yes, we need to make sure that he's treating our daughter right and that he's going somewhere in life," Tomi said, laughing, though deep down Noire knew he was deadly serious.

She placed the phone against her chest to muffle her voice. "Okay, Daelen. Tell them that you're learning to become a chef. I can teach you how to cook when we get there." She carefully gave him the phone, taking his hand in hers and squeezing. "You'll do fine."

Daelen took the phone. "Hello," he said nervously.

"Hello, Daelen," Tomi said warmly. His accent was thick when using english. "So, what do you do?"

"I, uh. I'm...learning how to be a chef, ri-right now." He paused awkwardly. "I'm looking forward to learning new recipes in Japan." He didn't think he sounded very convincing. He glanced at Noire, unsure.

Noire smiled at him, squeezing his hand tighter.

"How did you meet Noire?" her mother asked quickly. "She's a very shy girl and doesn't usually push herself to meet new people."

Daelen's eyes widened in panic. He didn't expect an interrogation. "Ummm, well. I work at a small restaurant that Noire decided she liked. She came there almost everyday, so we saw each other a lot." He cringed, hoping that they'd buy this story.

"Oh, Daelen. That's really sweet. I'm very glad that Noire found a guy like you." Haruka paused for a moment, before asking, "Do you have plans to marry my daughter?"

He turned to Noire without thinking, his face turning a bright red. "I, uh...yes," he whispered.

"You truly care for her?" Tomi added.

"Yes, I do, and I want her to be...er, happy." Daelen finished lamely.

Haruka let out a small laugh. "Well, you seem perfect for Noire, Daelen. I can't wait until we can meet you."

He blushed again. He did that entirely too much. "Thank you. I can't wait to meet you, either."

"Tell Noire we both love her and that we can't wait to see her. Sayonara." With that, Haruka hung up the phone.

Noire took the phone away from Daelen. "So, are you excited?"

He didn't look at her. "There's no way I'm going to be able to impress your parents."

She frowned. "Yes you will. We just need to fix you up a bit. Before we head to their house, how about we go get you a haircut?"

Daelen turned to the mirror hanging on their right and studied his reflection. "It's not just the hair..." he sighed. There was no way to go around it. He was unhealthy looking. His eyes had a haunted look to them and he was extremely pale. It didn't help that he was so skinny from being underfed. Daelen grimaced, lifting his shirt to inspect the bones practically jutting out from every area.

Noire teared up a bit, but tried to hide how upset she was. "You'll get better..we just need to feed you a lot more, Daelen."

He nodded. He'd never cared too much about how he looked before, but this revelation of what Hollow Point really did to him bothered him more than he thought it should.

She checked the time and winced. "It's late, Daelen. Why don't you head into my room and sleep for awhile? I bet it'll be nice to be able to sleep in a bed for once." She smiled, nudging him towards her bedroom.

He smiled slightly at her generosity and turned to her room. A blush crept up his neck as he realized he was going to sleep in her bed, somewhere she spent hours each night in. He would soil it by sleeping there. He hadn't felt the need to shower for days. He hadn't had enough hope to actually think they'd get this far.

Daelen cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Can I take a shower first?" he asked quietly, almost timidly.

"Of course you can. Don't feel nervous to ask. This is your house now, at least for tonight. The bathroom is through the bedroom. Towels are in the closet." Noire smiled sweetly.

He nodded, grabbed up his bag of new clothes, and headed to the bathroom. The door closed behind him with a resounding click.

Noire threw herself down in a chair, rubbing her temples gently. "How am I going to teach this guy how to cook, not to mention cook Japanese food?" Pausing a moment, she began to think more and her heart raced. "He's my boyfriend to my parents..could it ever really be that way, or should we just call all of this off and try to find our own place?" She sighed quietly and rested her head on a pillow. She could feel her eyelids get heavy and she tried to fight it, but sleep overtook her.

Daelen came out of the bathroom, feeling a lot better. Now that he was clean, he didn't feel quite so gross about himself. He did smell like a girl, but that could hardly help seeing as how only a girl lived here. Glancing at himself in the mirror again, he noticed that he looked a little better as well. Not so much like an escaped convict. He was wearing a t-shirt and some pajama bottoms he found in the bag that Noire had given him.

Thinking of her, he went over to the couch where she had been sitting when he had gone to take a shower. Sure enough, there she was, except now she was lying haphazardly on the couch, one arm trailing down to the ground. He mouth was open and relaxed. Daelen couldn't help but think of how vulnerable she looked. Reluctantly, he touched her shoulder and whispered, "Noire, wake up."

Noire gently pushed away his hand and rubbed her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, Daelen. I must have taken a small snooze-Oh my gosh..you look so different." She began to blush slightly.

He blushed in response, feeling like a giant as he stood over her. "I smell like you." he said awkwardly.

Noire started laughing and got up, smiling. She felt the need to hug him but was afraid he would reject it. She shifted her weight awkwardly. "Well, you can sleep in my room. It's really comfy."

"No, it's okay," he said, looking down at her. "I'll have the couch. It's your bed and I wouldn't want to intrude. Besides, the couch is five times comfier than the cot I had."

"No, I insist. You're the guest, Daelen. Please take the bed." She shoved him gently, giggling quietly.

He frowned, towering over her in a rare display of intimidation. "You've done enough for me, tonight, Noire. You might as well have your own bed for your troubles."

She smiled more and jumped up, trying to compare to Daelen's height. "I'm going to get up all in yo face!" She laughed and raced onto the couch, cuddling herself in a blanket. "Oh nooo. It's too late now. I'm already comfy on the couch."

An uncharacteristic smile flashed across Daelen's face and was gone so fast that it might not have been there at all. His face was carefully blank as he strode to her and scooped her up effortlessly, despite the fact that he was so weak. He walked to her room and dropped her unceremoniously on the bed. "Night, Noire." he said quietly.

Noire watched him walk out of her room, her eyes beginning to water. "Is there a possibility there's a chance?"