Three months of hell: Part 1

Yuno finally rids herself of Candice and gets in the car starting the engine.

Ken opens the driver seat and pokes his head in looking Yuno in the eyes, "You weren't really about to just up and leave were you?"

Yuno turns her head and lazily smirks, "I was going to just up and run you over before I leave, now move Ken, Ian is already here."

Ian gets in the car after meeting Maria who was talking to Xavier for a while, "Ready to go?" He asks Yuno and she turns to Ken who kisses her before closing the door for her and driving off.

Ken gets in his car driving behind Ake to lunch for a meeting.

"So, Ken Tachibana wants to have a meeting with me, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Ken shows him a picture of Kaminari's office building, "I take the east you take the west, we buy the building and learn to share, what do you say?"

Ake was thinking of doing the same thing with someone else but doing business with Ken means things will be handled faster and he can negotiate a discount if that's what he wants, "I'm guessing you're the one who beat me to getting the extra bit of land on the milky way"

Ken shakes his head, "Unfortunately not, Ryujin beat us to the punch if this building wasn't so damn big and so expansive he would have the building too"

"I see, well you know I'd never say no to a deal like this so I guess you and I will learn to get along."

Ken nods and sighs, "That's not really why I'm here, that stupid mark the Empress placed on me is back I was wondering if yours is back too."

Ake pulls his sleeve up and sighs, "She's dead so why do we still have her cursed marks on us?"

Ken sits back in his seat with a cool expression on his face, "Because she isn't really dead. I seriously can't go through 3 months of hell, especially with you. Again."

Ken remembers that the Empress started chanting some few words and this mark that looks like the silhouette of a fortune cookie appeared right after showing him the Mirror trick.

"You have to look for three stones hidden somewhere in the world out there be back in 3 months or you'll die. Your bodies will slowly deteriorate from now until then, no one can know about this and to give you motivation to finish this trip faster I brought a friend to tag along."

Ake groans being dragged into the room against his will, "I'm no politician so what's the meaning of this?" He sees Tachibana on the floor passed out and the Empress turns to him chanting and his body slumps down.

Waking up after a few hours both men glare at each other and the door swings open, "This mirror will be your guide your first clue is a man by the name Mike Connor who studied the stones he'll know where to go.

"If the mirror breaks you're going at it blind so I suggest you two take good care of it."

Ake takes the mirror looking confused he's the only one in the dark about what's going on here, "Who the hell is Mike Connor?"

The mirror shows a picture of the man in question in Los Vegas at a Casino that Ake has frequented a bunch of times.

"I'm guessing you have a mistress there." Tachibana remarks upon seeing the expression on his face.

"Actually, your sister has one there." Ake replies with a matter of fact tone handling the mirror with care.

"Oh God, not her too." Ken gets up and Ake follows behind him nagging until he was finally told what he's in for.

They passed by Kim's lab dragging her along without an explanation barging into her office and Ake slung her over his shoulder making a B-line for the airport.

Ken called Yuno telling her he'll be gone for a while and Kim looks at her brother with a wide smile.

"Wow, I'm surprised you two lasted this long I might assume you're actually serious about her."

Ken drags along behind them hoping the physical distance will do him some good and he can catch a break because he is not in the mood for the bitch sister and the annoying childhood friend he's grown to hate.

"Well, doesn't matter because Ken is a mamma's boy and if Maria says she doesn't like the girl Ken will dump the girl."

Ake hasn't forgiven Ken for toying with his sisters feelings the way he did and breaking her heart by letting his mother have too much say in their relationship until he couldn't tell who's lying and who's telling the truth.

At the end of the day he chose to side with his mother even though Candice was never at fault in no way shape or form.

Maria is just one of those mothers whose son isn't good enough for anyone, but the woman of her choosing which just so happened to be Xavier's' mother and things were good between them at first then it went to shit faster than a pin drops.

Ken feels bad because after a long time of thinking and rethinking he finally admitted to himself that he was in the wrong and made the wrong choice, but going back is not an option there's no way in hell things would be the same.

He lost Candice the minute he walked away and Ake won't let him forget it not that he ever means too.

"If you want me to feel bad you're too late I do feel bad and I will never stop feeling like this because I loved her and she loved me, but I fucked it up and too many things were said in the end that going back is not an option.

"She and I talked some time after and I'm at peace with myself. So, how about we stop trying to start something that isn't necessary?"

Ake chuckles as they board the flight, "Mirror Mirror on the wall, who does Ken Tachibana love more than them all" Ake sings to the mirror and shows Ken the mirror waiting to see who appears.

His question was Vague so the mirror showed an image of Xavier, a part of Ken's past he never shared with Ake, "Is this your son? The resemblance is uncanny and he looks older than Hitori so who's this?"

Kim takes the mirror from Ake and puts it away, "What if there's a daily limit or something? Don't abuse the mirrors power we might need it later and it glitches on us."

The flight is long and awkward with occasional chit chat here and there, but the elephant in the room is hard to miss. Ake asks the mirror where Mike is and he doesn't recognise the place.

"I know where that is, my ex lives close by."

Ken and Ake face Kim who's already requesting an uber thanks to Kai's app that allows someone to call an uber no matter where they are in the world.

You send in your location and the app will ask you to download a care package that will update your app settings so that you can make contact with any driver nearby.

"Get in you're wasting time."

The car stops just an hour away from the airport and in front of a big apartment building with people going in and out, some in a rush others like they are lost.

Kim is already heading for the entrance and they both know she did not pay the guy so one of them has to settle the cab fee.

"Did it have to be an uber though? A normal cab would've cost half the price."

"I know right? Your sister likes being dramatic." Ake settles the cab fee and they join Kim inside looking excited to see her ex.

Ken rolls his eyes just thinking about how she likes to get excited about things she shouldn't be so overly excited about.

She knocks on the door and giggles looking hyper and ready to jump the bones of whoever opens the door.

A handsome male with a clean shave and long comb over stands at the door with a sceptic expression on his face especially when he sees Tachibana and Ake standing behind the random overly excited female he doesn't know.

Kim opens the door wider and passes through, "Is she here?" She walks around the place and swings the shower door open smiling at the surprised female in the shower, "Hi babe, did you miss me?"

Kim gives her a tight hug and deep kiss before walking back to join the three males just standing in the room not saying anything at all.

"Hi, I'm Kim Tachibana are you her boyfriend?" The male nods and she smiles, "I want them both." Kim skips excited and smiles at the boyfriend.

Ken walks away rolling his eyes and Ake scratches the back of his neck not sure what to say to the shocked boyfriend that is confused.

"Excuse us, we're just passing by looking for a Mike Connor," Ake pulls out the image he searched of the guy and the boyfriend looks like he knows something, but lies.

"So, who's dealing with the guy? Ken is a no no because by the time he's ready to give answers he'll be too dead to tell us." Ake asks and Ken turns around resting a hand on the boyfriend's shoulder burning him lightly.

"That's the fun part about your ability, we can kill him over and over again until he comes back to life it's no big deal."

Kim shakes her head and gives the guy a tight hug, "No one touches him, he's mine." Her ex walks into the room dressed and Ken asks if she knows Mike Connor.

She lies too and Kim calls Yuno in front of Ken to stop him and Ake from going through with the torturing the answers out of them idea they have in mind.

"Hey Kim, woah! You're in LA. What?"

Ken glares at his sister and she smirks having a casual chat walking towards the window and showing her the quiet streets.

"That is one sketchy looking spike head by the passage, how weird."

Kim smiles and keeps Yuno busy while Ken drags Ake out of the room.

He forgot that Yuno has wondering eyes that sometimes pick up on the smallest of details that everyone else missed.

They stand by the alleyway and Ake looks around, "The mirror showed some kind of open window behind him, but he was standing right here."

"Then undo the cloaking shield or whatever, we don't have all day."

Ake closes his eyes and looks around knocking on a door that Ken cannot see, opening it, and walking inside disrupting the shield and a small bar comes into view.

"Well, that was too easy." Ken immediately regrets his words looking around to see the two of them are now surrounded.

"Who are you people?"

"Uhm, messengers only here to talk to a Mike Connor. Pretty short with spikey hair goes by the name Porcupine head."

Mike steps forward and looks between Ken and Ake with their hands up he recognises the marks on their wrists from a book he studied in Egypt that talked about witches and the type of spells they do.

This mark signifies a witches Hex that forces someone to do their bidding either wise they will kill them using the mark.

"Who sent you?" Connor asks curious about how real the tattoo's are.

"The Empress of Japan, you have to help us find 3 stones you researched unless you have them."

"I know where they are, but I don't have the resources to make the trip."

"We do, and if you haven't noticed we don't have all the time in the world to wait for an answer. So, you decide if we do this the easy way or the hard way."

Kim stands behind them and sighs, "Quit tormenting the men and get this over and done with you'd choose the hardest way if that was an option. I'll keep an eye on our target just don't leave any dead bodies behind."

"Fine, but that depends on them." Ken and Ake look too excited for people claiming they are fighting because they don't have a choice.

"You two will never grow up will you?" Kim asks out loud and Ake winks at her.

"You know we could never run from a fight, sort of why everyone thinks we're cold blooded killers now."

"You have no idea how such a crappy rep makes it hard to get through to acting out teens." Ken states keeping his eye on the buff male attacking him.

Kim laughs remembering when Kai and Setsuno were up his ass about him always killing their fun and brought up all the crazy stories they heard about him which were all true and he couldn't lie because that would come back to bite them in the ass if they didn't know the truth.

Yuno didn't care she just gave him an X which is something she did to justify why she keeps rejecting him and right now he has more X's than necessary.