White Rabbit

Jukebox: Wow! Two chaps since my last visit. What a pleasant surprise. Well, the story is progressing well, your two main characters beginning to feel something for each other even though they stiill want to deny it. I\'m curious of Ashi\'s classmate too, wanting to know where and when he\'ll be someplace. Spying on his friend? For the bad guys maybe? hmmmm *strokes chin in contemplating way* Hopefully Garnen the protector will catch up to the little rabbit, because as tough as nails as Ashi is, he so vulnerable. And his self-esteem seems so low - is it because he\'s a rabbit and feels the world is against him? *huggles him again*

If you thought he was low on self-esteem before...eeesh...sorry for the depressive Ashi in this chap. He\'s not feeling quite up to par. Tray...*chuckle*...yes, yes...for those that don\'t like him...that dislike will probably only increase, not in this chapter, but later. Garnen! I\'m a sucker for the whole rescuer scenes...not overblown I hope, but yes. Garnen to the rescue. ^_^

FlamesEmbrace: I\'ll write a more comprehensive review when I wake up, sometime in December. :P

I really like this story. Ashi\'s a very interesting character (bunny ears! :D) the tension between the two main characters is really well done- and it\'s nice to see a relationship that has more than sex- and the plot is nice and fast. I have a short attention span, so fast is good. The only critisism I can give is minor grammar errors- putting apostriphes where they don\'t need to be (want\'s instead of wants) for the most part. That doesn\'t distract over-much from the story itself, though, so it\'s all good. ^^

Thanks for reviewing! I\'m glad you like it, and yes, I like plot, or at least enough of it to not feel like I\'m writing a complete waste of time. I know I\'m pretty terrible with grammer. I do everything on my own, no editor or such but...yeah. That part may suck, forgive me! Thanks anyways though! ^_^

Falcon Bertille: Yay! New chapter! I love the way you describe your characters. \"He had angular, pointed features, a thin, but not quite scrawny figure, and light rimmed glasses, usually hanging low on his face as if he had not the time nor will to keep them in place...\" That painted such a vivid picture inside my mind. Every chapter you make me worry more and more about poor Ashi! Despite all his talk about surviving, he seems set on a course of self-destruction, ignoring the help that others might give him. I hope something happens to make him realize that he\'s so much more than \"portal trash\".

Oh, and about \"To Please The Wind\". I have many more adventures in mind for Lethe, Hesperos, and Melanthe. As soon as I finish \"Jelly Babies\" (the third and final installment in the \"Sugar Hearts\" trilogy), I\'ll get back to them. Thanks for asking!

Love,
Falcon

Your reviews are so wonderful! Thank you so much. Ashi...yes, that cycle tends to continue. He\'s got so many people worried about him. I hope to get that something happening eventually...though he must indure a bit more. :gonk: Yay! More of Lethe! ^_^ I look forward to it...and Jelly Babies is awesome so far by the way!


Note: Slight n/c...*cough* rape *cough*... Ok, so it\'s not really rape...but...ahem...Ashi\'s boss wants repayment for his absence...fill in the blank. I hope it doesn\'t offend anyone! Who am I kidding...nothing offends people in this place...:gonk: *flops head to desk in guilt* On with chapter!

Chapter Six

The bar looked blank, dark, and empty from the outside, likely closed at this hour anyway, but Ashi stood unfazed by outer appearances. The empty streets of the more ‘night focused’ town lay silent, uninhabited, a ghost town by any standard, and anyone who didn’t know the place might think it deserted, so many buildings boarded up, locked, chained, and closed tight like unopened in years. The rabbit knocked. Once, twice.

“We’re closed!” The voice came loud, raspy, but muffled behind the block of steel, wood, and whatever else the manager decided he wanted for protection, a valuable precaution in this area. Even through it all, Ashi recognized the tone.

“Toni! Let me in!”

“Ashi?” He waited as he heard the scrambling of clacks and locks on the other side of the door. Finally, after some considerable amount of crashing and rambling, the door gave and a reasonably rounded, pudgy man stood on the other side, eyes squinting and defensive before he grinned widely at the sight. “Ashi! What happened to you? I told you to come this morning! Come, come. Inside.”

Ashi followed lightly behind him, waiting a bit for his eyes to focus to the darker interior as opposed to the bright of outside. “Didn’t I tell you to come this morning? What happened to you? You said you had no classes, I remember specifically...”

Shi waved his hand in distraction. “I...had a bit of trouble last night...”

Toni suddenly looked worried. “No one hurt you did they? I told you, one day-“

“No one hurt me.”

“There’s my rabbit. Good boy. Now get around...I need you cleaning the tables, we had quite a havoc last night after you left...police everywhere...they found a body, not far from here, Onisho residence, you know?” Ashi tensed but the man didn’t notice, continuing carelessly. “Swarming cops...not good for business. Lot’s of gunshot. Half our usual crowd is likely behind bars now...” The man shook his head in sadness. “Ah...I’m not sure I’ll be able to-“

“If this is another attempt to dock my pay-“

The man looked up. “If you can’t even come when I tell you...”

“I told you I was held up! I got here as quickly as possible...”

Toni shook his head. “I’m afraid you’ll need more than that to convince me, rabbit.”

Ashi frowned as he glanced over his shoulder, a single hand down on the first table, about to clean as instructed. His boss stood directly behind him and he felt the heavy weight of his gaze. “Toni...I got here as fast as possible...” He repeated, as if saying it again would change the man’s mind.

“No, rabbit. I’m afraid I need much more than that...” He felt a hand grip him from behind, leaving no room for incomprehension and Ashi shut his eyes, forcing back a grimace at the reality of his upcoming task. It wasn’t an unfamiliar request, Toni had taken him before of course, but still, he disliked the action and typically avoided it as often as possible. He needed his job though, and turned slowly in the man’s hold till they stood chest to chest.

“What can I do for you, boss?”

The man’s smirk came disgustingly satisfied, like a cat, with the bird already firmly caught in it’s teeth, and Ashi forced back a wince. “There’s my rabbit.” He appraised. “Now...how clean did you get that table?”

“I...just started.”

“Well you’ll have to clean it then.” If more than a little startled by this, Ashi didn’t let on and turned, if not a bit warily, to the table. When he picked up the washcloth though, Toni added. “After we take care of some other buisness.\" The rabbit forced back a curse, shutting his eyes and taking a breath before nodding.

\"Of course, boss.\" He waited for the command, and even as he heard it, it still left a knot in his stomach.

\"Strip.\" He paused slightly as the other gave a tiny nod and finally added. \"It’s not your usual dress is it?”

Ashi glanced to his wear and frowned. He was right, it wasn’t. He still wore the clothes from Garnen’s boxes, the light, loose white shirt and pale stained jeans. For a brief instant, he felt a twinge of regret, disgrace, at having these clothes in such a position, like his wearing them somehow made them unclean, dirty, as he felt at that point.

He shook his head at the foolishness and lifted the shirt, rising it up, over his ears and shaking them free. He set the cloth neatly to the side before lowering to the snap of his pants. Even as he did so, he felt the other’s gaze on him, boring and penetrating, he forced back the lump in his throat as he dropped the barrier cloth.

“On the table, on your knees.” Ashi pitied, at that moment, whoever happened to choose that table that night, but got on nonetheless, as instructed. Feeling the cool of the smooth tabletop against his bare skin, he shuddered and Toni spoke again. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

A hand trailed his backside, slipping down lightly and Ashi bit his lip, willing the man to just continue, get it over with. “Beautiful...but used. How often now, rabbit? Every night? Does a different man take you each night, Ashi?”

The rabbit nodded easily, knowing now to just agree with everything, go along. “Yes, boss. Every night.” He forced every bit of steady composure he could muster. Why feel so guilty now? So many times before, but now he had to start feeling filthy about it.

“You like it, don’t you...” The hand graced beneath his waistline. “...like it every time...like the feel of it...like the rush...”

“Y-yes, boss. I love it.” He got it out, and it didn’t even sound like a lie. It came so easy. “I love all of it...I need it...mm...oh god!” Ashi tightened as he felt two fingers penetrate him simultaneously, pressing rough within him and he squint his eyes shut, unseen by the man above.

“I bet you’re open like the little whore you are. Loose, don’t even need stretching.” The rabbit only offered a small whimper of incentive as the other moved his fingers. “Little whore, slut. Tell me what you are, Ashi.”

“God, I’m a slut...I’m a slut, I’m a slut...ahh...and I love it.” He ignored the pain of coarse fingers, pushing it off as norm and continued his speech. “Shit, yes, I love it, please...take me, boss. Take me now...”

Ashi gave a corresponding screech, dying to a keening whimper as the man did just that, hitting hard, rough, and dry into his spread form. The sting of it shot harsh and burning, but in his time he’d grown used to it, used to ignoring it.

“That’s right, little rabbit. So many men may take you, but you come back to me. You always come back to me, and you’ll remember me. You belong to me, my rabbit.” Ashi nodded mutely, keeping up the tiny noises as Toni moved within him.

“Yours, boss. Always...oh...s-shit yes...” He forced his mind off somewhere else, anywhere else, gripped tight to the table, finger between his teeth with the other.

“Scream for me, conejo...” The voice was low and raspy against his back, neck, and he gave a shudder, complying loudly, his scream of completion filling the otherwise empty room with sound as Toni finished within him. The large, panting man lay heavy above him and Ashi now felt more suffocated, but spoke quietly nonetheless.

“Is that satisfactory for forgiveness, boss?” Toni laughed slightly, though Ashi could hear the breathlessness in his tone as he removed himself.

“Yes, little rabbit. Quite satisfactory. Get yourself together...and clean that table.” The albiri nodded and picked himself up slowly, coming first to his hands and shaking a throbbing head before getting up fully and off the table, despite his newfound discomforts. His whole form felt shaky, aching, and sore, but he knew the feeling and pushed it from his mind, other things needed attending to first.

After dressing, promising himself a shower, and cleaning the table as best as humanly possible (still out of pity for whoever happened to choose it later), he finished cleaning the rest, swept, reset stools and chairs around the bar counter, and dealt with the several other problems created from the havoc of the night before. By the time he finished, his head ached, far worse than before, and he briefly wondered if he were coming down with something, but decided that unimportant as well.

He now sat, alone in silence, propped up against the main bar counter on one of the many uninhabited stools along the area, all being empty at the time. As he waited, head down, rested on crossed arms, he tried to remember the last time he sat alone, truly alone, in the quiet of a still room.

The rain pattered outside, tapping lightly from overhead, and though he didn’t mind rain, usually enjoyed it in fact, it’s presence at the time foreshadowed a long, cold walk home.

He sighed as he lifted his head, frustrated at feeling so miserable with himself. Misery had no purpose and no place in his life, he had no time for it, but each passing minute his headache increased, and his stomach now churned, reminding him he’d had nothing to fill him since that morning. If Garnen only knew what a great gift seven doughnuts really were...

He chuckled and shook his head, but frowned as he realized his thoughts, once again, turned toward the police officer. He needed to quit that, and soon.

“Lift your head, rabbit.” The command fogged through his drifted thoughts and he did so, frown only deepening as he tried to blink back the rising dizziness the move brought about. “The customers don’t need a half-dead drowsy attendant.”

“There’s no one here yet...” Ashi mumbled in distraction, tired, and not quite into focus yet as Toni looked less than satisfied.

“What’s the matter with you? You look paler than usual...”

Ashi shook his head quickly, but regretted the action instantly as his head throbbed in response. It felt like a dull hammer thud and he forced back a groan. “I’m fine...” He denied dully, eyes shut as he waited for the sensation to pass.

Toni made a muffled ‘hmpf’ noise, unconvinced and more than a little displeased. He said nothing to that effect though, and merely added in a lower mutter. “Yes, well...you better be, rabbit. I need you here you know.”

Ashi gave a weak smile that didn’t exactly work to confirm a perfect state of health, but at the time, that felt all he could muster, and Toni seemed satisfied. Watching his boss turn away, his eyes followed briefly before turning back down to the counter before him.

It he didn’t hate the man, he reserved hate for the utter most undeniably filthy on his upper ladder of loathing, but he would go so far as to say he disliked the man to a reasonably high extent. Toni was neither cruel, nor kind, however, if one needed to place him on one side of the two, he more fell to the former by a large extent.

At this point though, Ashi didn’t blame Toni for his discomforts, nor anyone else for that matter. No matter how easy it came to do so, especially when faced with such a load of worries as the albiri possessed, he never felt fit to place blame on others. Everything that came about in his life, he dealt with, and any problems that arose, he took credit for.

At the moment, he felt disgusted with himself. One could easily go so far as to say he rarely did this, and in most cases, that proved true. Ashi handled his life, and each thing that came into it, with an avid persistence and an undying will.

When he spoke in the car to Garnen of his disgust with suicide, he spoke no fib. He loved to live, however much he may hate his life in particular at any one moment. That moment though, he possessed less than a fond liking for the situation.

The crowds began to enter. Slowly at first, than faster, picking up till, despite Toni’s previous worry, Ashi wagered they had at least the regular crowd, if not more. But perhaps, the man considered, it only seemed more, seeing as how each shout, each crash of breaking glass or falling chair, brought an insistent ring to his ear and a pounding, dizzy sensation to his whole form.

The orders came in. Loud, shouted, obnoxious calls, offers, even the occasional threat, but Ashi passed them all off as norm and took it in stride with routine. In a more vigilant state, he may have noticed the single pair of eyes that kept on him all through, may have caught the glance, and registered that, even as all others came and passed over him, this stayed.

So many watched him though, so many bodies, so many people. Ashi didn’t notice. He didn’t register an ounce of change from the ordinary, and kept up perfect business as usual, if not a little less enthusiastic than true to form.

By the time he usually departed for outside activities, or his ‘second job’ as some often put it (himself included), he felt like toppling on the spot. Toni’s voice got through to him through the crowd before he made his exit.

“Rabbit! Where you going? We just got started!” The larger man called out through the mayhem and Ashi paused, glancing back to his questioning form as he answered.

“A breather, Toni...you know I usually quit by now anyway.”

“You can’t be going out there tonight...surely no one picks up in such weather?”

“I think I’m just going home...I’m a bit tired’s all.”

The man looked disappointed, if not otherwise bothered, but finally nodded his acceptance. “Good luck then, rabbit! Don’t hurt yourself! I need you around tomorrow...”

Ashi nodded, mumbling something lost to the havoc and wondering briefly what exactly Toni needed him for, but not really having to let his imagination wander for an answer. He shook his head and filtered into the crowds, out to the door, throwing back unpleasant thoughts, any thoughts for that matter, as he reached for the cold metal and pushed.

The instant he made it out, he felt the sigh of relief leave him, like a previously unknown stress, lifted and gone, off his back as he gave a small, but honest smile of content. Letting his eyes shut in the cool, pattering stillness, he simply stood for those few brief seconds, feeling the light, misted splatter of clean rain against his closed eyes and face, and reimbursing in the stillness.

Taking a breath, though slightly shaky, his smile kept and he stepped out into the rain.

The usually well populated strip of sidewalk lay empty, desolate and drenched in the ongoing downpour, and Ashi suspect most of the more determined lot at least had traveled inside, picking up safe and dry in the comforting protection of the bars walls.

Rain fell heavy by now, in constant sheets, making the already dreary and darkened street into a fogged maze of bleary, yellowish lights. Those simple attempts, cast by the few working street lamps in the area, failed on near every occasion to actually clear up the area, only succeeding in giving a sort of eerie, off-put haze to their small circles of color.

Within a minute, Ashi lay soaked to the bone, and Garnen’s gift clothes (which he still wore, never having bothered or had the time to change from them) clung to his skin, plastered, and drenched all through.

If the complete desertion of the streets unnerved him however, he gave no sign, and kept on, seemingly mindless of the situation. Despite his original confidence though, when the foggy, dark alleys he’d grown accustomed to became monotonous, all taking on the same, unfamiliar characteristics, his worry began to peak.

Ashi lived in the area, knew the streets so well, yet, at each pass, each turn, he felt less and less at home, and more and more at an utter loss to his location. His heart clenched in an on-coming panic. He, more than anyone else possibly, knew the dangers of this town alone, on your own at night.

Dark, water-clogged gutters crashed, roared with their falling torrents, like swallowing waterfalls beneath him, and the pouring sheets of continued rain pelted at his skin, icy needles. Cold, wet. He shivered, but his face burned with heat, fever. He stumbled, once, twice. He blinked to clear his head and tried to catch his shaky breath, tried to sort out his position, his predicament. He couldn’t think, his mind raced and his body hurt.

A gunshot rang, loud and piercing, clear and hard over the pounding rain. The wall, just to his left, shattered off fragmented brick where the shot only just missed him, and the meaning of it took seconds to register before his eyes widened with an all new worry.

Just before he could react, a hand yanked from behind and spun him, snapping the forceful hold to face him around and he stumbled, hearing, just an instant after, the follow up of another shot. That shot, watching the matching shatter, looked as it would have hit him if not for his other worry, now throwing him down in the rain drenched alley.

As he splattered to hard concrete and his vision turned briefly black before phasing back in, he wondered which better, raped, or shot to death, but didn’t have time to consider as his second attacker/savior cut off all options for him. Ashi muttered a silent curse. Not a good night.

~

Garnen couldn’t sleep. He tossed, turned, stared at the clock. 2:09A.M.. He groaned and sat up, flipping on the bedside lamp. It made no sense. Off-duty, free-time, relax, sleep, but his body knew no such words as he glared heatedly to the blank wall ahead of him.

2:10A.M. The rain poured outside his window, crashing at the panes, rushing over his balcony and running off the roof in torrents, mini waterfalls. He wondered if anyone else was up at this hour, it couldn’t be healthy...

2:13A.M. Lightning flashed outside, the thunder following after almost instantaneously. Close. Less than a second.

2:14A.M. His lights flickered, turned wet out. Off, on, off. One, two, three, back on. He cursed as his clock gave an error sign. He needed a new one anyway...

2:15A.M. The phone rang.

He couldn’t place it, didn’t know why, but somehow, every bit of him waited for that phone call, that ringing tone he normally only felt displeasure for, and he had it in his hand before it finished it’s first ring. “Evans speaking.”

/Lieutenant...?/ The chief’s voice came with no undue surprise, and Garnen noticed it even over a second roll of increasingly loud thunder. /Not sleeping these days?/

“Thunder woke me.” He lied easily. In all truth, he hadn’t slept since the night before, couldn’t, and even then hadn’t gotten much in the way of peaceful slumber. If the other detected the untruth, he said nothing. “What’s the chase?”

/Gunshot, southern end, possible killing./

“Don’t we get that all the time down there?”

/Just blocks from the ‘Black Rose’. Ever heard of it?/

“Isn’t that the old drug roost? I thought we busted that years ago...” Garnen’s tone came puzzled as he worked over what he thought he knew of the place, and it’s position.

/New owner, turned it into a bar slash strip club, a late night party-goers hang out. It’s still low on law, whore central, Evans. Guess who serves drinks?/

“Ashi...” The name fell from his lips before he even realized he knew the answer. But he did, he knew, without even the tiniest bit of confirmation, he knew exactly who worked tables at that bar, and at that same instant, knew the vivid importance of the man’s call. Someone fired a gun, and Ashi might lay dead right now. He hung up the phone.

He didn’t care that he just hung up on his boss, he didn’t even think about the fact that he had little to no precise information on the man’s location, he just knew he had to move. Fast. In the little time that he’d known the rabbit, he liked to convince himself that he thought nothing of him, but in all truth, that slender form had not left his mind for one instance since his last departure, and he couldn’t bare the thought of harm on him.

It took near no time to dress, and in less than a minute he finished. Three minutes later, he left his door, and in five, he was down the street and on his way. Nothing explained his actions at that moment, and, had anyone questioned him then, or on a later date, he couldn’t have answered, but at that precise moment, he gave no thought to his actions. The reasons faded away and he followed sheer instinct, not a second thought in his mind.

Later, he would use his job as an excuse, for, after all, Ashi was assigned to him. His witness, his responsibility, therefore, he came to blame if the man turned up in any unwanted position. Namely dead.

Garnen frowned as that thought returned, increasingly unwanted each time it did, as images flashed irregularly to his conscience. Rain drenched, candy pink hair darkened with water, blood, plastered over a still face, flat and motionless on a dirty sidewalk. The officer shuddered, tried to shake it away. White ears, still, unmoving and spread to the ground, red in the gutter... He shook his head violently and glared ahead in frustration.

At least he knew the basic direction. His mind turned over the chief’s words, replaying them through his head on a constant cycle. Black Rose, south. He cursed, again reminding himself he should have waited for more proper instructions. To late for that now.

Another corner, down the road. He drove purely by intuition now, using any instinct he had left. A cluttered sign hung dangerously loose over the seemingly abandoned building, a fading image of it’s namesake beside the title. If he hadn’t just been told the place still kept active, he wouldn’t have expected it.

Several blocks down, he slowed, almost sensed it, if that were possible. He wasn’t one to rely on faith these days, but as his engine quieted, obvious shouting reached his ears and his lips twitched with the tiniest smirk of triumph as he slowed to a stop.

Ashi’s voice, he couldn’t be sure, but had no time for doubts and only hoped the man kept up his resistance from whatever held him.

“Just keep talking...” Garnen urged almost silently, even with no one to hear as he moved forward, raising his gun and locking it to place as he did so. His eyes flickered briefly over the shattered indent in the brick, presumably the gunshot the chief spoke of. He followed down the alley beside it, and muttered his first prayer in years.


Note: Please review! Please, please, please... I\'ll be working on editing up my coming chapter...and writing more...weekend! I\'ll be getting a lot done this weekend. Hope you liked it! ^_^