Snippet #1377468

Kyo winced at Tsukiko's voice, cursing under his breath that he had been found out. And by her of all people. He seized the girl by the arms and dragged her into the alleyway, away from where prying eyes might see them.

"Listen." He whispered. "This isn't what it looks like..." He struggled to finish that sentence before realising that yes, it was indeed exactly what it looked like. "Look, just... go home. OK? I'll explain later." He turned away from her and moved cautiously into the bar's basement. His footsteps were loud against the metal steps of the staircase and he gritted his teeth, slowing his pace with gentle footfalls. The darkness was suffocating down here, the silence, deafening.

Kyo had always possessed a sort of natural danger sense. A result of the constant threat of beatings that came with his undeserved reputation. Now that sense was ringing like mad. The alarm bells in his head were sounding like never before and he had to fight with all his will to keep from bolting back up those steps and back to his apartment. something down here was not right. He reached into his pocket for his flashlight and switched it on, casting the bright beam across the dank basement.

"You feel that?" He asked Tsukiko under his breath. He knew full well that she would follow him no matter what he said.

***

"What did you say you lil twerp?" One of the heavies snarled. The young man at the pool table turned back to his game, leaning over the table once more.

The pool cue came down hard over his back and head and the boy's face slammed down onto the table. The other thug grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and lifted him up before smashing a brick like fist across his jaw. The boy spun into the wall behind him with the momentum of the attack. He slid down the wall, sprawled out. However the expression on his face was not that of a man defeated or even a man in pain. Indeed, he never stopped grinning. As though he found the whole thing... amusing.

Kojiroh looked over to Yuki, who nodded at him. It was time for him to show these guys the door.