Spiderwebs

Spiderwebs Chapter 2

Touma heard the chime of the bell above the bar door as he came back up from the stockroom. The night had been fairly busy, but with the hour growing late he wasn't expecting many more customers. Usually visitors this late meant someone from the B&B, as his old co-workers knew he was willing to let them stay past hours. Amagai had mentioned stopping by, so he was expecting him. Katsuki was another frequent visitor. A handful of other possibilities also crossed his mind. Still, he found himself pausing as he entered the main part of the bar. "Jin-san."

"Touma." Jin returned the greeting. He gave the bar a cursory inspection. "You haven't improved the decor any."

A smile twitched Touma's lips. Jin, he contemplated, never changed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

The host gave him an amused look. "I miss seeing you around too." He jabbed at him.

Touma chuckled, stepping behind the bar to put the bottles of liquor he was holding away. "Can I get you anything?"

"If you like. Katsuki been by tonight?"

The bartender paused as he pulled down a cup. "No. I remember him saying he had to work tonight."

"He's on the schedule, but he's not there."

Touma frowned. "That's not like him. Did he call in sick?"

"He called off. Said something had come up."

"Did you try his cellphone?" Touma asked. The look Jin shot him was hard to interpret. Either it was - Of course, are you an idiot? Or - Of course not, are you an idiot? He was trying to figure out which one when Jin continued.

"Amagai been in?"

"No, but I'm expecting him. You going to wait?" Filling the cup, he set it on the counter.

Jin seemed to hesitate, then shrugged. "Why not?" He took the offered drink, downing it with ease.

Touma turned back to his chore, mulling over his sudden visit. Jin had come to the bar only a handful of times since he'd opened it. The last time had been about Katsuki too, only that time the youth had been there. The two had obviously had a disagreement because Katsuki was mopey and seemed to have decided to get drunk before even entering the bar. He didn't get far into that plan, as Jin had entered a short time after him. With only a brief greeting - plus one of his usual caustic comments about the bar - he'd settled into a corner seat, waiting. Katsuki had tried to ignore him, but hadn't seemed able to continue his binge drinking in the other man's presence. Eventually he'd excused himself, storming out. Jin had stood, bid them goodnight, and followed. He could guess what happened afterwards, because when Katsuki returned to the bar a couple nights later, he was smiling.

The way Jin had phrased Katsuki's reason for taking off bothered him. Something had come up. What would his younger friend consider so important that he hadn't mentioned to any of them? "Did you two have an arguement?" He asked, despite his better judgement. Jin favored him with a frown, setting the empty cup on the counter. Touma had the impression the host found the question annoying. He moved to refill the cup, since it seemed Jin was not inclined to answer.

"Know someone named Tane?"

The return query caught him off guard, and before he could answer the chime of the bell indicated another customer. He glanced over to see Amagai had arrived, and was coming over to join them. With a nod of greeting, he turned back to Jin. "Tane? It doesn't sound familiar. Does this have something to do with Katsuki?"

"That's what I was hoping you could tell me."

"Tane?" Amagai broke in. "As in Katsuki Tane?"

Jin's eyes narrowed. "KATSUKI Tane?" He stressed the surname. "I didn't think the boy had any family."

Amagai snorted. "Calling him family is pushing it." He opinioned. "When did Tane get back in town?"

"Last night, I assume. That's when Katsuki got a phone call from someone by that name. Said he had to go meet them - at 2am. Then he called off work tonight." Amagai didn't reply, instead he pulled out his cellphone and turned to head back toward the door. In a swift motion, Jin caught his arm, standing to step in front of him. "I'm waiting for an explanation, King."

Amagai didn't pull away, but he didn't step back either. "Don't worry about it. I'm his Sempai; I'll take care of it."

Jin's mouth curled into a wry smile. "You think you can dictate what is or isn't my concern when it comes to Katsuki?"

"I think if he wanted you involved he would of told you about Tane last night."

The smile disappeared as the elder host's eyes narrowed. "And if he wanted you involved, you wouldn't have been shocked to hear the guy was in town." He countered.

"Knock it off, you two - You're going to scare away my customers." Touma broke into the tete-to-tete.

"You don't have any customers, Touma." Jin pointed out to the bartender, not turning from his face off with Amagai.

"And if anyone walks in and sees you two, I won't get any either."

"Close up early tonight. Amagai's going to explain to us what's going on." Jin told him.

Amagai seemed to hesitate a moment more, before nodding. "Close up, Touma." He repeated the order. "This could take awhile."

Jin released Amagai's arm as Touma passed them to lock the doors. Stepping back, Amagai took his usual seat at the bar, waiting for the other to return. Jin retook his seat as well, tossing down the contents of his glass. Touma returned, refilling Jin's glass and pouring two more. When Jin gave him a sideways glance, Touma shrugged. "It's after hours."

Amagai smiled at his friend's quip, but it quickly faded. He sipped from his glass as the two turned to him, waiting. "I only met him once. But once was more than enough to form a bad opinion of Katsuki's elder brother."

Among a group of other late night passengers, Katsuki stepped off the bus, heading toward his apartment complex. Just as the doors were about to close, one last man slipped out. His hat was worn low, obscuring a clear view of his face. He mulled around the bus stop until Katsuki turned the corner, then he headed up the street after him.

"It was when I was still working here, actually." Amagai confessed.

Touma frowned. "Why is it I never met him?"

"It was that time you were ill. You left me in charge."

"I was only out a few days." Touma's frown deepened in remembrance. "But I remember thinking Katsuki was acting odd when I got back. Wait, wasn't that when he started dating that Misao women who'd been coming around? I never liked her."

Amagai gazed down into his drink. "He didn't care for her either, if you recall."

"That's why I was surprised to find out he'd agreed to see her."

"You wouldn't have been surprised if you'd been here."

Jin glanced between the two, his own face impassive. "What's his dating this Misao women got to do with his elder brother?"

Amagai wondered briefly if it bothered Jin to hear them mention Katsuki's exes. He passed off the notion as being too hypocritical even for Jin. He couldn't help but chuckle over the question, though. "Oh, from my understanding of the situation, it has everything to do with Tane."

Katsuki pulled out his keys as he approached his apartment. The clink of something being kicked drew his attention behind him, and he turned to look over his shoulder. When he saw no one he swallowed nervously, turning in the direction of the sound. "Tane? Is that you?" When no reply came, he backed closer to his door. No. Tane would still be in the hospital. "Tadeo-san?" Again there was no answer.

Katsuki kept backing up until he felt the door under one hand. One final thought hit him, and he gazed up the shadowed path hopefully. "Jin? Jin, if that's you...this really isn't funny." When no one emerged, he jammed the key into the lock, opening the door hastily and shoving inside to slam and lock it behind him.

He leaned his forehead against the cool wood of the door, trying to calm his breathing. After a moment, he turned on the lights - tossing his keys on the stand by the door. "Damn it, now I'm jumping at shadows."

He saw his cellphone on the stand was flashing, and picked it up reluctantly. There was several missed calls in the time he'd been out. He'd purposefully left it behind so not to be distracted. Glancing through them he dialed his voicebox.

"One new message." The mechanical voice droned.

"Katsuki-kun, it's Mitoki. I'm sorry, Jin dropped by the desk and...well, I tried but he knew something was up. He asked if you'd called the company line, and of course you had. The calls are all recorded, so...he seemed pretty unhappy. I thought I'd warn you in case he came by. Sorry."

Katsuki groaned as he deleted the message, flopping onto his couch. The cellphone rang and he picked it up without even glancing at the number. "Katsuki Kyousuke."

"Have you got my money yet?"

"Tane!" He sat up, scowling. "Why is it every time you come into my life you screw it up?"

"Ever think that you screw it up on your own and I'm just an easy excuse?"

"You used that line when I was seventeen. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

"So I'm trouble, what's new? What about my money?"

"I don't have it, and I can't get it."

"You've never let me down before."

"Things have changed."

"What sort of things?"

"My life isn't your business."

"This involve whoever I heard with you last night?" Katsuki bit his lip, before he could reply, Tane continued. "That the guy I met last time I was in town?"

"Amagai-sempai??" Katsuki made a face. "Ew, No. I'd never do it with him."

"So why can't you get the money from whoever you are with?"

Katsuki cringed at the idea of asking Jin for money at all. Let alone the amount Tane needed. "Not a chance."

"So now you date cheapskates?"

"You've never needed this much before. What's going on? Hyouga said you lost merchandise."

Tane's chuckle was grim. "That's one way of putting it. I need that money."

"What do you expect me to do about it?"

"You always seem to have some rich loser hanging on. There's gotta be someone you can knock up for it."

"Why don't you knock someone up for it yourself if you're so desperate?"

"You're the one who inherited her looks, remember? I wasn't so lucky."

Katsuki picked up one of the pillows on the couch, and curled himself around it. "No. You look like him."

"No accounting for taste."

"You've never been in love, have you?"

"..."

The silence on the other end of she phone took him by suprise. "...Tane?" He asked hesitantly.

"Didn't you once tell me that you didn't think you were capable of love?"

"I'm hanging up now, Tane."

"What about the money?"

"You're just going to have to find yourself a new piggybank."

"You know it's not that simple. Tadeo knows-"

Katsuki hung up, cutting off his brother's rant. When the phone rang again, he turned it off.


"I didn't notice when he first entered the bar. The first thing I noticed was that Katsuki was acting strangely. Almost...annoyed and nervous all at once. Misao was there, and I thought at first she was to blame. Then I saw some guy grab Katsuki's arm when he went to walk away. He released him when I came over to ask if something was wrong. The guy was quick to say there was no problem, which didn't surprise me. It bothered me when Katsuki backed up his claim, though.

"I'm not sure what I thought at the time. That he was hitting on Katsuki, maybe. He got up and left a few minutes later, but Katsuki still didn't seem to relax. It was almost closing time anyway, so I told him he could go early if he wanted. He almost seemed reluctant to do that, but he did leave. So I was surprised when I left the back way to lock up to find him and the guy from the bar in the backalley. They stopped talking when they saw me, but I'd caught enough of their tone and words to know they'd been arguing.

"That was when he introduced himself as Katsuki's elder brother. Tane."

"You couldn't tell they were brothers?" Touma asked.

"No. I'd never have guessed." Amagai ran a hand through his hair. "They didn't look anything alike. Katsuki had mentioned once that his parents were both dead. I'd always assumed he had no siblings."

"He never talks about his past much."

Jin snorted. "Do any of us?" He pointed out.

The other two paused to contemplate his words. "I guess not." Touma studied his drink.

"So, go on, King. Aside from manhandling Katsuki in the bar, what else did Tane do to make you dislike him?"

Amagai frowned. "His whole attitude I guess. The way he treated me like the interloper even though I'd known Katsuki for months at that point and he was the one who'd shown up so suddenly. And the way Katsuki was about him. He argued with him, but he was protective of him at the same time. Even though all Tane seemed to do was drag him into trouble. "

"What sort of trouble?"

"...I only met Tane that one time. But the next night another man came to the bar, asking for Katsuki. It didn't matter how fine his suit was, or how polite his smile - It couldn't cover up the feeling of how dangerous he was. You know the type."

Jin's frown was dark. "I don't suppose he left a name."

"No, but when I told Katsuki he seemed to know immediately. An aquaintance of Tane's, was all he'd say. I asked if he was in trouble, but he said no. That Tane was, because Tane always was. But he'd take care of it." Jin snorted, and Amagai offered a sour smile. "I felt about the same, actually. But he said all Tane needed was money. That that was always why he came to see him."

"But how..." Touma began, but trailed off. "Misao?"

Amagai drained the rest of his cup. After a moment, Touma followed suit. When Jin stood and headed for the door, Amagai stood hastily. "Jinnai, I can take care of this."

"No, King. You'll stay out of it."

"Katsuki-"

"Isn't your responsibility anymore."

To Be Continued...