Visual Kei

I awoke to another day of Kiiro ignoring me. The others noticed it too, but didn't say anything about it in front of me. They must have known that something had happened between us. It was obvious that something had happened. Any fool could have known.

Today, I was leaving for the rest of the week. I had gathered what little I had brought over and packed it in one of my many backpacks. I had it slung over my shoulder and I scoped the house once more for anything I might be leaving behind. Rei and Shinji moped around, but the others seemed rather unaffected, except that they shot me apologetic glances every now and again. It was finally time to leave, though. In a way, it was a comfort, being away from Kiiro for a while.

"Bye, guys," I said, forcing a smile at Shinji. I panned across their faces, most of them worried. I stopped at Kiiro's. It was expressionless, covered by his sunglasses. He wasn't even looking at me, probably. I felt my heart shiver in my ribcage. I swallowed once and turned the doorknob, returning to my home.



As always, Arvin and I were leisurely walking toward the airport checkpoint with plenty of time to spare. We were waved through without problems. Our airport terminal was full of mostly people who looked Japanese, but there was the occasional Caucasian, too. We stood by and waited for them to board. I saw Kiiro out of the corner of my eye. He was riding the same airline that we were and nodded his head in acknowledgement when I looked over. It must have been part of the guys' plan, but why him and why now?

I examined the boarding ticket again, trying to ignore what had happened those few days ago with Kiiro. The ticket was larger than I remembered, and the print was bigger. Not all of us were blind old people. As I was examining it, I said to my brother: "I'm so excited" in Japanese. He nodded in agreement, and finished texting one of his friends on his Blackberry. He was as bad as a high school girl sometimes.

"Excuse me," a college-age Caucasian man said. "Where did she come from?" He was pointing at me. Arvin looked up from his phone and stared levelly at the man. At first, I was confused, too.

"Japan," he answered, his voice a little confused.

"Which island?"

"Why?"

The man shifted casually. His voice was nasally and a little whiney. Annoying, to say the least. All he was missing was the pocket protector and the cheesy suspenders. He seemed like the kind of guy who spent his weekends speaking Klingon with his buddies and brooding over a game of Dungeons and Dragons. "I've been looking for a mail-order bride like yours for some time now. Mostly, I keep finding Chinese and Malaysian brides. I'm looking for ones like her, with the paler complexion."

Arvin and I were quiet for a long moment. We glanced at each other a moment. He grinned. It was his way of telling me "play along".

"Then Japan is definitely the way to go. My wife, Shiroi, is from Hokkaido, Japan," Arvin improvised. I smiled at the mention of my middle name. The man stared at me, looking me up and down. I just stared back, pretending to not understand what they were saying.

"Yeah, I figured. How old is she?"

"Seventeen."

"Does she have any hot siblings?"

"Me."

The man looked confused for a moment, unable to speak. Gradually, that look changed to horror as he realized what my brother was implying. He stood there, his mouth open and no sound coming out. I looked over and Mikaru was laughing a bit, silently of course. My brother smiled.

"Isn't that… illegal? Plus, you don't look Japanese."

"Where she comes from, it's normal. I'm not Japanese, she's half German. We're only half related, so it's only half messed up," Arvin reasoned, with a completely serious face.

The attendant announced that the plane was boarding, so our fun was cut short. The guy walked off in the other direction as quickly as possible. Arvin led the way behind a handful of other passengers filing in. Kiiro was right behind me. He ended up sitting one seat behind us, next to a Japanese oompa-loompa (A.K.A. ganguro girl). The plane took off without troubles.

A group of about three men sat a few rows in front of us and kept staring back at me. Their faces reminded me of the man who had attacked me about a week previous. Becoming uneasy, I sneaked a glance in Arvin's direction. He had his eyes closed and his mouth open. Judging from his breathing, he was asleep. I used to put makeup on him in his sleep and other childish pranks like that. I wrote on a piece of paper to look at the men and handed it to Kiiro. He leaned forward as if trying to grab a carry-on back between the seats.

"I've been watching them, too. It's them," he whispered grimly. "The Aku." As he said that word, I felt a shiver go down my spine. I nodded in acknowledgement. "I think they recognize you. If any of them stand, go as quickly and calmly as you can to the lavatory. Wake your brother and tell him that you see those men staring. Don't mention the other part, alright?" I nodded again. Kiiro leaned back in the seat.

I nudged Arvin and he made a weird snorting noise and shifted a bit. I poked him again. "Hey, Arvin," I whispered. He shook his head to clear the sleepiness away. "Those men over there have been staring at me," I said. "They are starting to scare me." He nodded, his eyes focusing on them. One of them stood and I automatically stood as well. My heart began to beat quickly. You better not try to come over here, douche bag, I thought. My thoughts were pretty brave, seeing as I felt about to piss myself at any moment.

"I have to go to the potty," I said quickly to Arvin, twisting out of the seat. I power walked stiffly to the bathroom like I had something up my ass. Before entering, I took a look over my shoulder. The man was not pursuing me. I sighed with relief, pretended to be nauseated, and entered the lavatory.

I slid the lock behind me, standing in the middle of it. It smelled like a cow's butt in there, but at least I was safe. Now, I just needed to sit back and wait for the plane to land. Great, twelve hours of cow's butt perfume. When the plane landed, all I had to do was wait for Kiiro and they could take care of those men. I sighed with relief. Then, like the last time, I was wrong.

The intercom beeped twice in a stereotypical way. "We are taking control of this plane. Give us the female named Alice Tanoue and we will allow all others on this vessel to live without harm. The person who gives her up to us will be given a reward. If we do not receive her within twenty minutes, we will kill a new person every minute starting with the children. We suggest that you bring her here in a timely and orderly manner." They didn't play around, did they?

I held myself against the lavatory door, listening as the panicked voices of the passengers fought to be heard. There was chaos outside. Damn it, what was so important about me? There was a soft knock at the door. I listened harder.

"It is me," Kiiro said from beyond the door. I unlatched it and he came in, quickly latching it behind him. He adjusted his sunglasses. "We don't have much choice, I have to hand you over to them and I'll need you to play along with whatever I come up with. Hopefully we can learn something from them in the process. Contact Chino. I must block him out, as they will be more vigilant with my thoughts than your own."

"But why? They can't possibly go through with something like this? They can't possibly kill children!" I gasped, "Isn't there some other way?"

"No, there is no other way. They are not human... they will follow through with their word. Alice, there is no time," he insisted. "Be brave." I nodded, biting my lip in fright. Never had I been so scared in my life. His hand reached up to my shoulder and I closed my eyes, trying to take in all his words. "I promised I would protect you and I intend to keep that promise."

He led me out of the lavatory. I let him drag me toward the pilot's quarters, glancing swiftly over the room. Kiiro should have gone into acting, too. The other passengers were sitting around, unsure of what to do, but too afraid to do nothing. Arvin was looking desperately for me near the lavatory. He obviously hadn't seen me step out with Kiiro. When we got near the control room, he knocked and waited. He entered.

There was an Asian woman crying in Japanese that she wasn't me. A white man was trying to force her to a stand, insisting that she was. "Shut up!" he yelled at the woman. The Aku looked her over and snapped the man's neck easily before tossing the screaming woman out into the coach. Upon our arrival, they immediately knew it was me. The largest of them scanned Kiiro entirely, taking in what he could about him.

"You aren't human, are you?" the man asked, his voice even deeper than Kiiro's. As he spoke, the dense muscle cords in the man's trunk of a neck moved menacingly. His hand flicked out and his wide fingertips brushed my jaw line with something akin to reverence.

"Don't friggin' touch me!" I growled, feigning to struggle in my captor's arms. I tried to ignore the fact that the dead man lay very near my feet.

"I am not," Kiiro answered. "But I have Tanoue, Alice." He shoved me forward with convincing roughness. I played along, refused to completely comply. "What is my reward?"

"You will be coming with us to find out. Our leader wishes to confer with someone of your stature," the man answered. I realized then that all of these men had completely black eyes, as if their pupils had dilated all the way, and past their irises. It was horrifying. I refused to stare into their eyes. "Restrain her," he ordered as I pretended to struggle.

Kiiro pulled me close, his hands holding my wrists together.

The men announced over the intercom that they had captured me and that the other passengers were safe. Oddly enough, they held their end of the bargain. As we landed, I could feel a presence near the edge of my mind. Chino, I thought with relief. Kiiro is with me.

Is he? Good. Please pay close attention to the scenery around you as they transport you so that we can track your location. I believe you have stopped in Chicago before we will, even if only by minutes. That may be enough time for them to get you beyond our reach. Kiiro told me of his plan before taking you to the Aku. Now he is blocking me, which is good. Observe your captors now, if you can, Chino's voice decreed, resonating around in my head.

I looked at the blocky men, who looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger with an extra helping of steroids. All they were missing now was the banana hammock. They each had the same squared jaw line, veiny and muscled arms, and stubble. Like Hollister, they seemed to be mass-produced.

Kiiro ushered me out of the plane, following one of the men. They had one leading and two behind us. I felt awkward and exposed. Chino, please hurry off the plane with Shinji, Rei, and Tsurara. I don't know what they will do to us.

We just landed. We will be disembarking in a minute or so. We will hurry. Don't worry, Alice, we won't let anything happen to you or Kiiro.

The men forced us into a limo. This was all a very well-staged ruse, so that other travelers would think nothing of this otherwise strange occurrence. I took note of the license plate number. The seats were luxurious, if you didn't count the chains and other restraints built into the vehicle. The man who had done all the talking made sure the leather straps were taut over my wrists, shins, and neck. Kiiro flinched almost unnoticeably at the neck restraint.

Can you see out the windows? Chino asked.

Barely. I'll do my best to watch.

Every time I turned my head, the leather rubbed my neck. The bumps in the road made it worse. I wanted to kick someone's ass, but I knew that I couldn't and even if I could, it would be counterproductive in this situation.

We can't find you. Are you still able to see out the windows? Chino asked urgently.

No, I've been staring at my boobs this whole time, sorry, I replied sarcastically, my dismay beginning to fester.

Alice, Rei has searched all the land in a 10 mile radius from the airport and he didn't see what you are currently seeing. We can't find you. What direction did you go?

East. Go East.

I focused on the scenery as much as I could. The three men that had accompanied us up to this point were no longer at our sides, but I knew for certain that they could hear if Kiiro and I were to begin to speak. He looked out the window as well and his left hand slowly slid across the seat until it was touching my thigh. I didn't look at him, nor did he look at me. I struggled not to think about him… or what happened that time…

After what seemed like an hour, we stopped. Chino's presence had faded, but was still clinging to the edge somewhere. The window began to go blurry, and then gray, white, and black lines began to ripple across its surface, like the white noise and static of a television on "video" without a tape in the VCR. After a few moments, an image sprung to life where the lines formed previously, as if nothing had even happened.

We began to pass trees, shrubs, and the occasional car. Oh, I forgot to mention, we were still parked.