Chapter 3: Lost and Found

Despite having a pretty face and an easy going smile, Luhan was Shadow Blade’s most coldblooded weapon.

No one knew his past and no one dared to ask, with the exception of the Boss. He got silence as the answer. They just knew him as a delinquent that even the rowdy street gangs avoided.

From the bits and pieces of the rumors that went around town, most of the Shadow Blade members found out that he had no family. From painful experiences, they knew that he was an excellent fighter.

After one particular fight that left half a dozen gang members injured or cowering, the Boss had approached the petite 19 year old, only to be greeted with a flying fist. Kris had caught the punch before it made contact and the two of them shared an intense glare before Luhan backed down.

Boss proposed that he join their gang and be a part of their family. Luhan had agreed to join the gang but not the family. So, Boss left him alone for most of the time.

The first time the Boss had sent Luhan out to kill an adversary was the first time they saw him smile. It scared the bejesus out of them but soon they realized that Luhan was a guy who liked to smile.

He won the hearts of the grandmothers on the streets he covered, with his polite words and sweet smiles. No one knew how he metamorphosed from a smiling flower boy to a steely assassin.

One of the few people that talked to him without any fear was Minseok. He had initially approached when Luhan was in his room, shoving clothes into his cupboard, with an invitation to play football.

“We need one more person for our team”, Minseok had said hesitantly, his head cocking anxiously to one side. Luhan had agreed and after an hour and a half of running after the ball, shouting their heads off at fouls and mad cheering or booing depending on who scored the goal, they had lain on the ground, sweating, panting and with laughter in their eyes.

From that point on, Luhan was welcomed much more warmly and much less apprehensively by the Blade family. As he hit 22 years, the Boss celebrated by entrusting him with one of his major night clubs as Kris looked on appraisingly. Luhan vowed not to fail and he had kept his promise till date.

He mingled more freely with the members, laughed more often, and remained loyal to the people who thought of him like family. But he never forgot his real mission.

Each day scorched that reminder deeper into his mind. But he would not go back to his impulsive rage like in his younger days. He would bid his time and wait patiently for the right moment. For now, he let his blood sing his vengeance.

*       *        *

It had been only two days since Tao had arrived and Luhan enquired to the maid about the boy almost immediately after everyone had left the house. He was impressed and dismayed from what he had heard. But there was nothing he could do, especially since Kris wouldn’t do anything.

The next morning as he made his way into the house from another night of work, he was surprised to see a tall, lanky boy standing outside the dining hall. Luhan noted that his hands were held stiffly at his side and his head was bowed so that he was looking at the ground.

The boy bowed low as he entered the hall.

“Zitao?” Luhan asked, his hand pausing on the door.

“Yes, sir”, Tao replied, respectfully and Luhan smiled.

“Just call me Luhan. Titles don’t really matter here. We’re more or less like family. Only Boss is called Boss. And sometimes, Kris. But that’s just to annoy him”, he snickered.

 Tao gave a small smile and bowed once again. Luhan sighed, got inside and seated himself at the empty table. He checked his watch; it was 6:30 A.M. He leaned forward slightly and called out.

“Tao, come sit inside. Yixing won’t be coming for another fifteen minutes.”

“No, thank you. I’ll wait for Duizhang”, Tao answered in a low voice and resumed his statue-like stillness.

Luhan was almost amused by the seriousness of Tao’s voice. They only called Kris ‘Duizhang’ just to see him scowl and this boy called him that with full respect.

Yixing came through the door just as Luhan was shoveling some ham into his mouth. He had also paused at the doorway and told Tao to have breakfast with them, only to be refused. He seated himself and glanced back with worried yet admiring eyes.

“I don’t know whether Kris would kill him or me”, Yixing whispered.

“Where are Minseok and Jongdae?” Luhan asked through a mouthful.

“Minseok should be down soon, I guess”, Yixing shrugged, “But I don’t think Jongdae would get up any time soon.”

“Why not?”

“He drank himself silly yesterday night.”

As if on cue, a tired whine floated outside the room. Luhan and Yixing exchanged a grin at that and heard the heavy drag of feet mingled the firm thumping of footsteps. Minseok and Jongdae entered the room, just pausing beforehand to ask Tao if he had breakfast. At the firm refusal, Minseok raised his eyebrows and Jongdae weakly nodded.

“Kris is not going to be happy”, Minseok muttered as he sat down next to Luhan, who yawned in agreement. Jongdae quietly ate his porridge, his face pale and pained; he kept rubbing his temples in an attempt to get rid of the hangover and drinking the hot tea that Minseok always made in case of hangovers.

“Good morning, Duizhang”, Tao’s clear voice penetrated the crisp morning air.

“Uh-oh”, Luhan grinned.

If Kris was surprised, neither his face nor voice betrayed it. If anything, he appeared irked to see Tao outside.

“Get inside and have breakfast!” Kris scolded and made his way in with Tao at his heels like an obedient puppy.

After the general chorus of “Mornings!” that made Jongdae clutch his head again, they ate their breakfast in relative silence. Yixing flipped through the newspaper while pausing to read articles that caught his interest, Kris ate his food while checking messages on his phone, Minseok had left to prepare more tea for Jongdae who was lying face down on the table and Tao quietly ate his porridge without looking up much but Luhan caught his covert glances towards Kris.

Not for the first time after joining this gang, Luhan wondered how come the biggest gang of South Korea consisted of people like this. Two Chinese people in the top command and in the top offices, a giant of a boy, two university students, himself; his head hurt just thinking of the rest of the random people in it.

Boss was well known for picking up strays because everyone knew that strays made the most loyal pets. There was no doubt that Boss treated all of them well and that they respected and feared him. Hell, he even offered education to the ones he thought that had potential.

The sharp ring of Kris’ phone made Jongdae whimper and Kris gave him an apathetic look before answering it.

“Yes, Boss?”

That perked everyone’s interest although Kris remained composed as always. Yixing put down his paper and leaned forward as Kris’ eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“You want to deal with that today itself?” he asked, tersely. Kris looked at Luhan for a second and then at Yixing, nodding at the steady flow of instructions coming from the phone, “Yes, Boss. I’ll see to it that it’s taken care of immediately”, he paused, “Yes, I’ll send him”, another pause, “Of course.”

He ended the call and put the phone into his coat pocket before answering their curious gazes.

“He won’t be coming back today as planned”, he declared, “He’s extending his vacation.”

Yixing raised an eyebrow to prompt him to go on and Kris took a bite of his ham before continuing.

“Boss wants to deal with that drug problem immediately”, he said looking around at everyone and finally resting on Yixing, “Apparently, sending men to break the legs of those involved wasn’t enough”, he added, dryly.

“He’s always hard on the drug business”, said Yixing, sighing “Makes you wonder why he’s so against it.”

“He’s more adverse to selling drugs to school kids rather than university students”, said Minseok, matter-of-factly.

“So what does he want you to do?” asked Luhan, curiously. Boss sometimes went overboard in situations like this.

“He wants you to handle it”, Kris smirked and Luhan groaned.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too harsh?” Yixing asked, frowning and Luhan grouchily agreed. Although he was creative with a knife, Luhan would rather use a gun to do his business. Simple, fast and clean.

Kris had already started on the paper that Yixing discarded and he muttered distractedly, “Boss wants it done. Get it done.”

Kris looked up at the communal sound of dissatisfaction to see four reproachful faces staring up at him. Beside him, Tao was looking down but his jaw was clenched. Kris fixed them all with a hard stare.

“Look”, he began slowly, “There were five dealers selling drugs to school kids and we managed to get only four of them. The fifth one managed to escape and the four hussies with him said that he was the leader. So from our reports, the drugs have reduced significantly but it’s not out yet. That means that this guy is working alone and I have to say that I admire that man’s guts”, he finished with a sip of coffee, looked at Luhan who was listening keenly and continued, “So breaking his legs won’t do. Break him. That should be enough of a message to keep others at bay.”

Luhan looked at Kris’ ice-like eyes and nodded. There was no use arguing in the first place but it was worth a shot. Besides he could do with reinforcing a small reminder on who those idiots were messing with. It would make his life much less bloodier.

“I’ll get on with it in the evening”, Luhan said, rising from his seat. Kris nodded at him dismissively, eyes raking through the paper and Yixing and Minseok looked at him sympathetically. Luhan just smiled tiredly at them and stalked out of the hall towards his room.

His bedroom was sparsely decorated; he didn’t buy much and the only things he owned, besides his clothes and a mobile, were his sports shoes that he kept under the bed and an old revolver. He dived onto his bed and twisted himself to lie on his back and look at the cream colored ceiling.

He closed his eyes and felt the exhaustion clouding his mind after the long night of work. He forced himself to stay awake and remember that night, just like he did every time before he fell asleep. He bit his lips at the surge of rage that flowed through him and relaxed himself, again and again, until he fell into a dreamless sleep.

*       *        *

Luhan knew he had missed lunch when he woke up. His eyes were heavy with the remnants of sleep and he moved sluggishly outside his room through the crisp afternoon atmosphere. He gave a quick glance at his watch and groaned; he still had four hours to waste before heading to the club.

He looked through his messages in his phone and found the latest one was from Kris. It was just two words.

Don’t forget.

For a second, his mind was blank as though fear had a tight grip on him. ‘How did he find out?’ he thought and then, he relaxed. Kris was reminding him of his mission. He chided himself for panicking like a child and started to plan for the evening.

He called Chanyeol, the right source for all the information required. He had friends in every corner of every street that would report to him on the daily happenings of the street life.

“Glad that Boss is finally making a move on this guy”, Chanyeol said amidst asking a guy for the place Luhan need to go to, “He surfs up once or twice a month and vanishes so that the trail becomes cold. But this time”, there was a note of vicious satisfaction in his voice, “we’re taking the bastard down.”

Luhan smiled to himself. Chanyeol hated drugs more than Boss did. It did destroy his family, after all.

“So what’s the place?” he asked and he heard Chanyeol confirming with someone before replying.

“Red Nam Arcade Center. Bring in the kids to have fun and sell them everything they don’t need”, he added spitefully.

“Alright, Chanyeol, I’ll take care of it”, said Luhan before cutting the call. The smile was gone and his mouth was a grim, thin line. It was in the opposite direction of the club and he didn’t want to take his bike out for it. He needn’t worry about people identifying him; no one would recognize him after ten years.

But to get to that area he might have to cross a memory.

Dressed in his signature black jeans and black shirt, he slipped a small, sharp knife into the pocket of his jacket and walked towards the subway. He decided that he could avoid that forbidden zone altogether by getting off at the next station and walking back to the arcade center.

Curiosity killed the cat, they said and Luhan had seen the proof to that proverb first hand. But, he thought wearily, that fatal curiosity must run in the family, as he stepped out of the train and into the station he had wanted to evade.

He was struck by how vividly he could remember the place; the broad walkway, the pillars, the stairway, every structure remained the same. However, the ten year absence was felt as he stared at the unfamiliar graffiti adorning the pillars and stairway and the shinier retrofitting on some of the faded, old utilities.

He moved up the wide stairway leading to the main street, along with the throng of people around him, and was greeted by a rapidly darkening sky and a brightly lit, crowded street.

He walked robotically through the streets, his gaze unfaltering as he took in the buildings on either side. He recognized a lot of them, like the candy store he used to frequent, the library his father often got books for him and the supermarket his mother used to send him to fetch groceries. There were quite a few new ones too like the corner diner, a huge shopping complex and a store completely swarmed with giggling girls so that he couldn’t see its sign.

Everything had changed more or less, he thought as he automatically turned into one of the by-lanes that led off the main street. A shrill child’s cry startled him and he realized that he was in a residential area. He stared blankly ahead, recognized the street and gave a small groan. He was retracing his old path when coming back from school.

The streetlights were flickering on one by one and Luhan quickened his pace. He wanted to see his house, or whatever remained of it, one last time. And maybe, he could see him.

Luhan pushed that unnecessary thought out of his mind as he turned left at the fork in the road. There was no need to see him, why should he barge into his life after ten years of no contact?

He stopped near the end of the street, staring at the large empty plot between the last house and the wall that indicated the boundary of the area. Nothing remained.

He suddenly felt the prick of tears and quickly blinked them back. Now was not the time to become sentimental and weep for his loss; he had made sure that he didn’t have any more energy left to cry before embarking on his mission.

The loud laughter from the adjacent house made him turn and take an unconscious step towards it. Maybe he was still there?

“Hello, we live next door,” the lady was saying to his mother from the entrance door, “We saw you all move in yesterday evening so we came up to ask if you needed any help.”

“Oh, thank you so much but”, Luhan heard his mother begin to refuse politely. The lady was smiling at her and then at him. Luhan smiled back politely and bowed.

“Who’s that?”

He looked up to see a small boy, standing behind the next door lady such that he was partially hidden, pointing at him with wide eyes.

“Sehun, I’ve told you that it’s rude to point”, the lady scolded him and the boy scowled.

Luhan grinned at him and said, “I’m Luhan. What’s your name?”

The boy retreated behind his mother almost shyly before mumbling a reply, “Oh Sehun.”

“How old are you?”

“Five” and he stuck out his arm with his fist spread wide.

Luhan found it adorable and he smiled, “You wanna see my toys?”

The boy’s smile widened as he followed him excitedly up the stairs.

--- --- ---

“Luhan!”  Mrs. Oh shouted from the bottom of the staircase, “Your mom is calling you for dinner!”

“Yes, I’ll be right down!” Luhan shouted back and started putting back the toys they had taken out of Sehun’s toy chest.

Sehun was pouting, eyes bright with tears as his playtime came to an end. His face was sullen and the tip of his nose was red as he put back his toys.

Luhan got up and ruffled Sehun’s hair and got an annoyed sigh in return. He grinned and said, “See ya, Sehunnie. I’ll come again tomorrow!”

His hand was on the door when Sehun caught a hold of his other hand.

“Hyung, don’t go”, he whimpered, the tears finally slipping down. Luhan sighed; Sehun had gotten pretty attached to him in the past two weeks.

He gently pried off the fingers and ruffled his hair again; this time Sehun kept quiet.

“C’mon, Sehun, don’t be like that. I’m right next to you, aren’t I?” said Luhan, gently and pointed towards the balcony attached to Sehun’s bedroom. It was right next to his own balcony.

Sehun sniffled and rubbed his eyes, “You promise? You won’t go anywhere?”

Luhan grinned at the cute gesture, “I’m not going anywhere.”

--- --- ---

“C’mon, Luhan hyung, we’re going to be late!” Sehun shouted from in front of his house. Luhan scrambled down the hallway, into the garage and picked up his bike. Sehun had already mounted his and was waiting impatiently. They both dashed down the street and managed to get through the school gates just as the bell rung.

Hurriedly parking their bikes, they walked towards the main entrance.

“So”, Luhan huffed, trying to catch his breath, “How’s middle school life going?”

Sehun looked at him wryly, “Much better than your high school one.”

Luhan made a face at him and Sehun laughed.

“You have football club today, hyung?” Sehun asked as they climbed the staircase.

“Yep. I’ll be having it for the rest of the week so you’ll be going home alone” Luhan answered with a smirk.

Sehun gave an exaggeratedly disappointed sigh as he reached his floor and waved Luhan goodbye.

--- --- ---

“No-listen to me! Both of you have to go back to China! I’m going to arrange a flight-“

“What about you, darling?? Won’t you be coming with us? The embassy-“

“The embassy needs me here; you know I can’t drop this matter. But I can do is get you both back to mainland where they can provide complete protection.”

“Darling, please-please be careful. If things get too dangerous-“

“If?? It’s already too dangerous. The Triads are going to come after me and they’ll start with you and Luhan. The Korean police can do nothing against them, so I’ll be damned if I let my family in danger!”

Luhan opened the front door and both his parents froze at the sight of him.

“What’s going on?” he asked and both his parents looked at each other. He frowned, his heart thumping wildly.

“Dad, what’s going on?” he repeated the question loudly and his father looked at him gravely.

“Luhan, both you and your mother will have to go back to China immediately”, his father said, his voice low with a trace of panic, “Our family is in danger. I was investigating some Triad matters, on behalf of the embassy, and I stumbled across some evidence against them for labor and other forms of trafficking. The Triads have gotten a wind of it and they’ll be here to silence me any day.”

Luhan just gaped at him, stunned.

“We’ve been provided a guard at the moment but it’ll be useless against the Triads”, his father continued grimly, “Both of you will have to get out of the country. I’ve already started making arrangements. You’ll leave in two days.”

Luhan looked from his father’s serious gaze to his mother’s distraught one.

“What-what about you, dad?” he finally asked, weakly.

“Curiosity killed the cat”, his father replied with a sad smile and hugged him tight.

--- --- ---

The next morning Sehun made fun of Luhan on the way to school on how his parents hugged and kissed him as he was leaving for school. His dad had slipped him a small revolver and whispered, “Just to be safe” and Luhan nodded and took it with trembling hands. His mother held back tears as she told him to stay safe.

Luhan just smiled at Sehun’s jabs blankly. How could he tell him that it was his last day at school? That he was going back to China and, probably, will never come back? He couldn’t spill anything his father told him; he wouldn’t put Sehun in danger too.

“See ya, hyung”, Sehun called out while running to his class and Luhan waved at him with a smile and a heavy heart.

Luhan walked home with brisk, nervous steps while looking over his shoulder every few minutes. He felt neurotic and weight of the revolver in the side pocket of his bag seemed heavier. The sky was just beginning to darken and the busy street was being cut through by a wailing ambulance.

The damned class duty had been his today and Sehun had gone home with his friend. He wasn’t supposed to out this late, he thought with a shudder.

He entered the by-lane to his residential area when he saw the residents teeming outside their houses and the smoke swirling in the sky, some distance away to his left. His heart sunk as he broke into a run, pushing past the residents, hoping and praying.

He turned left at the fork in the road and nearly slammed into the crowd of people. He began pushing them aside, breathless with fear and numb legs. He could nearly see Sehun’s house and then… the pitch black, charred remains of his house.

Someone screamed and, suddenly, strong arms enveloped him and started to push him away.

“Hyung, don’t go there, don’t go!” Sehun sobbed into his shoulder.

Luhan didn’t cease screaming for his mother; his legs jerked uncontrollably under Sehun and he felt the heat of his tears on his face.

Sehun kept hugging him until he collapsed from the shock and exhaustion and the ambulance took him to the hospital to be treated for trauma. He was awake the next day when Sehun visited with the newspaper with an article on how the body of a Chinese embassy worker was found under a local bridge with his throat slit.

Luhan didn’t say a word and when Sehun returned that evening to the hospital, Luhan and his revolver were gone for good.

And now, he was back even if it was just for five minutes, he thought bitterly as he crossed the residential area and headed towards the Red Nam Arcade Center. He glanced at his watch; 7:15 PM, another good fifteen minutes until the guy shows up, at least according to Chanyeol’s reports.

He reached the big, red, brightly illuminated building teeming with high school students in less than ten minutes. He watched a chattering bunch of kids exit, with lollipops in each hand, from a dim corner while sweeping the area for his guy.

Ten minutes passed without any suspicious signs, but he knew that patience was the key in such situations. A group of boys were nearing the building and he gave them a disinterested glance, until they stopped near the entrance of the building, walked away from it and into the adjacent alley.

He immediately sprang up and followed them, slinking against the wall as he neared the alley entrance. He slunk low as he crept in and hid behind a large dumpster and took a peek at the boys talking to a hooded man. The boys seemed nervous and the man kept catching one of their shoulders in a friendly motion.

Luhan cursed internally; he wished he had bought his gun. He gripped the blade inside his jacket and waited for them to make a move. Almost immediately, the hooded man put an arm around one of the boys’ shoulders and began to guide them further into the alley.

Luhan bounded forward from behind the dumpster and the scraping of his feet on the ground made the man and boys turn around with a jerk.

“Hello there, we need to have a small talk”, Luhan drawled and flicked the blade up so that it gleamed in the meager lighting. One of the boys gave a strange hiccupping sort of sound before he and his friends scrambled away from the man, almost tripping each other in their haste to get away.

The hooded man swayed slightly at his spot, as Luhan edged closer but made no effort to run away. Luhan could barely make out the man’s face which was shadowed heavily. He knew the man could see his own face but that wouldn’t matter after he was done with him.

Luhan narrowed his eyes as he checked around them for any sign of a third person; the man was standing too calmly for his comfort. As if he read his mind, the man turned and ran into the alley. Luhan charged without hesitation. His mind concocted various reasons for this late reaction but his best guess was that the man was fleeing to his comrades. He was in trouble only if said comrades had a gun and he cursed himself again for not taking his revolver.

‘Or’, Luhan thought with a start, ‘He’s luring me. But that’s impossible.”

The man turned at a corner and into a dead end and Luhan followed, frowningly.

‘He either means to shoot me or he’s just trapped’, Luhan supposed as he lifted his blade a little higher and walked purposefully towards the man. The man was now against the wall, arms stretched down as if he was going to launch into a tackle.

Luhan slipped his blade back into his jacket and rushed forward to beat him to the ground before sending the message. The hooded man moved forward as well and Luhan staggered as his punch was blocked expertly. He raised his other arm to deliver another punch when the man wrapped his arms around Luhan’s torso and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“Hyung, don’t!”

Luhan froze, his arm still in the air, and looked down at the man. The hood had been blown back revealing a mop of dark brown hair and his face was buried halfway into his chest.

“Who the hell are you?!” Luhan hissed icily, trying to twist out of the man’s grasp and reach for his knife. He wouldn’t fall for like this.

The man looked up and Luhan saw pale skin, a wide mouth and tortured eyes. He suddenly felt as if all breath had been knocked out of him. His arm lowered and unconsciously caught ahold of the man’s back.

“S-Sehun?”

DON'T KILL ME FOR UPDATING SO LATE!

I was insanely busy because I got a call to join a company and I had to go around town telling my relatives all that. Plus, I got the next book in Game of Thrones and I'm seriously hoping that it won't influence this fic.

So, still a slow start but hey, the characters are just coming in so give it some time to build up to the .

Anyhoo. Any guesses on who the Blade Boss is? Comment your guess and the winner gets a fic request!

Keep the love coming and all of you Kris stans, stay strong!