Crime Syndicate

Chapter 8

Echizen knew that voice; tone, emotion, diction, word choice. He knew who the shadow looming over him belonged to. He recognized the sound of the gunshot and the click it made when another bullet was cocked into the chamber. He didn't remember the last time he saw Ryoga but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything at the moment; all he wanted to do was sleep. He fought to keep his eyes open as best he could hoping that he would be able to stay conscious long enough for something to happen.

"Hey Chibisuke." Ryoga's voice seemed gruff yet comforting and protective. "Still getting into trouble I see." Echizen scoffed.

"Still getting in the way of things that aren't your business Ryoga?" The man sat up and wiped his face.

Ryoga gave him a glare that could very well compete with Fuji's. "Not my business? How is my brother not my business? Please tell me. I'm dying to know."

Echizen listened to the conversation between the two males. From what he gathered the man standing before them name was Jack. Apparently he and Ryoga had met before in Australia while Ryoga was there with his tennis team.

"What will you do now? Don't look like your brother can stay awake for much longer." Jack said flicking a knife up and down. "And considering the injuries from the crash and all the moving he's been doing, I wouldn't be surprised if he started coughing up blood due to internal bleeding."

Ryoga spared a glance at Echizen. He was paler than he should've been and he was breathing hard but there was no way his injuries could be that bad.

"I'll tell you what." Jake spoke. "I'll let the kid go this time considering what you did for me a few years back." He put his knife back in his belt and started to walk away back to the trees. "But next time he's coming with me."

Ryoga stayed in a defensive stance until he was completely out of view. His eyes stayed on the spot for a few seconds then he hurried around to Echizen.

"What are you doing here?" Echizen asked as he got into a sitting position.

"Who do you think Kaa-san called to keep a watch on you?" Ryoga did a quick look over of his brother's injuries. "You look like you're about to pass out."

Echizen held out the metal dart still in his hand. "He drugged me with something."

"At least you'll be able to get a decent amount of sleep for once." He pulled him onto his back. "Let's get you back home."

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"There were a lot more of these guys than we thought." Kikumaru shouted from the trees.

"Nothing but stupid flunkies if you ask me." Momo said as he kicked one in the leg.

"Well thanks to them their boss was able to go after Echizen." Fuji pointed out. "Let's go find him and make sure he's alright."

"What are we going to do about these guys? We can't just leave them." Kikumaru asked.

"Don't worry. They'll be taken care of." Momo took out his phone and snapped a picture of the injured men. "Let's just find Echizen. He may have already found the others."

The three of them walked from the group of injured men and back towards the park. They searched for Echizen but no sign of him and when they ran into his security and found out they hadn't seen him since the four of them left earlier, they got worried. The group continued up and down streets nearest to the park but still nothing. Momo was about to call for several of his members to be sent out to help search when he received a text.

At the house, fine for the most part; better if you come over for an explanation.

"How could he have gotten back to his house already?" Kikumaru asked as they all ventured back to Echizen's house.