: Down In A Hole :
by
- GlazedAndConfused -
DISCLAIMER
You're having a laugh, aren't you?
WARNING
This fic revolves around the subject of drug use. Thus, there will be scenes some may find unsettling; if this is the case, then read no further. This will also, inevitably, contain strong language from the onset. If strong language or the topic of drug use offend you, or if you don't like OOC-ness (well, this IS an AU fic after all; thus it takes place nowhere near the manga or anime timeline), then don't read.
"..." - denotes speech.
"(...)" - denotes whispering.
Italics denote thoughts and Japanese dialogue.
Chapter One : Curiosity
Not for the first time in three months, Keitaro was sitting in his room, feeling lonely as the evening hours set in. Why he chose to become the kanrinin of Hinata Sou, he will never know. The Christmas period had just finished, and the start of the New Year was only a few minutes upon the world. Normally a happy time for many people. But even with such a time of year having come and gone, it was still business as usual at Hinata Sou for the hapless young man. What with those three around not doing much to help his depression.
Those three. Naru, Kitsune and Motoko; the short-fused Toudai aspirant, the foxy, conniving vixen and the heiress to the Shinmei Ryu kendo school. The source of his problems. What with Naru and Motoko often providing punishments for his frequent clumsy spells and constantly degrading him about his poor grades, and the older woman Kitsune roping him into otherwise embarrassing situations - as well as using him as her own personal bank for saké and a source of free rent, he had no reason to be happy. Slowly declining grades at his prep school meant that his dreams of making it into Toudai and fulfilling his 15-year old promise were slowly becoming less and less possible. Naru constantly degrading him constantly for his apparently poor efforts and telling him that he may as well give up on shooting for the stars only piled onto his misery.
The worst thing about it was... he even found he was starting to fall in love with Naru. Her looks. Her fierce - sometimes, all too fierce - determination.
Above all, her smile. It was just a real pity that her personality at times did not seem to match her exterior.
The Urashima man found himself thinking that if he ever did make it into Toudai, he would still be beaten, humiliated and ostracised. The promised girl might even probably be as impulsive with an 'act now ask questions later' personality like Naru and Motoko. A thought that made him shudder. It was as if they enjoyed hurting him, enjoyed degrading him. Rubbing his third-year ronin status in his face. He tried running away from it all, tried leaving Hinata Sou in the thought that the girls would be better off without him... only to be brought back again by Naru, who seemed to be more easy-going. I should have known better than to expect that to last, Keitaro thought bitterly. The moment we got back to Hinata Sou, it was 'as you were'... kicked by Su, swindled by Kitsune, assaulted by Naru and Motoko... yeah, that was one really happy Christmas... at least Mutsumi, Shinobu and Haruka-obaasan treated me with respect.
Shinobu, Mutsumi and Haruka were possibly the only ones who treated him with any sort of respect or dignity. Apart from the odd blow around the head from Haruka, they were willing to help him and listen to him whenever he had problems. The violet haired cook, despite the brainwashing from Naru and Motoko telling her that he was nothing more than a pervert who seeked to defile her innocence, stuck by her sempai through thick and thin. Seeing him hurt or depressed often made her feel sad; sad at the fact that he was that way in the first place, yet also sad that there wasn't a lot she could do to help.
Leaning over, he opened up the front pocket of his rucksack, and saw the source of relief provided to him; a hypodermic needle, with clear plastic sachets of white powder next to it. The silver of the fine blade shone dully, yet tantalisingly at the same time, as it was pulled out of the rucksack, the powder looking surreally appetising.
Hmm... he thought, examining the needle and the sachets. Haitani and Shirai told me this would help. I wonder how?
He thought back to the conversation he had with his friends and classmates earlier that week...
"Hey, Keitaro!" Keitaro turned around and looked over his shoulder to see Haitani and Shirai approaching him. The former settled beside him, his smile turning into a frown as he noticed the empty look on the slightly older man's face. "What's up, man?" asked the slender teen, slinging an arm around the Urashima man's shoulders.
"Yeah, you have a face on you like a wet week!" Quipped the shorter and stockier of the two. "Did you do shitty in your midterms again?"
Keitaro felt as if he had been stabbed through the back with a proverbial sword that had come straight out the other side. "Oh, it's nothing," he commented, trying to wave off their concern. "I did do pretty bad in my midterms." He paused. "Well, that, and Naru's been putting me down about them. I just don't know if it's worth shooting for the stars anymore. And being treated like an outcast isn't helping much either."
"Hmm." Haitani put a hand on his chin, deep in thought. Then he clicked his fingers as an idea came to him. "Hey, I know something that might help..." The skinny man then winked at Shirai to indicate what he meant.
"Oh yeah! We use it when we're feeling down."
Keitaro looked up, curious. "What's that, then?"
"Come with us to our place, and we'll show you."
Ten minutes later;
The three found themselves in apartment block in one of the more seedy areas of the small hot spring town. Shirai and Haitani started rummaging through the former's bag, in search of something. Keitaro watched on, confused at what possibly could take so long to look for.
"Found it," Haitani notified, beckoning Keitaro to come closer. When the Urashima man did so, Shirai pulled out what appeared to be a needle and two sachets of a white powder.
Keitaro shuddered slightly. "Are those... drugs?" He spoke, speaking the last word with hesitation, his face paling.
"We prefer to call them 'relievers' ourself," Haitani spoke, gently admonishing him.
"Want to try a shot?" Shirai asked, offering the needle and a sachet.
"No, thank you."
"C'mon, man! If it's about leaving some for us, then don't worry - we have plenty for ourselves."
"It's not th --"
"Is it the fact that the needle shouldn't be shared? No worries - we have plenty of those too."
"NO!"
"What is it then?" Haitani asked exasperatedly.
"I'm not taking dru--"
"Relievers."
"--relievers. It's just wrong."
"And being beaten by teenage girls and flunking your midterms isn't?"
Keitaro shuddered at the cheap shot, but nonetheless retained his composure. "I'd rather that than end up a junkie dying with a needle in my arm."
"So you'd rather be the biggest failure in academica and a loser that no girl would even go near for the rest of their life?" Shirai shot back,
"But I --"
"Look, Kei man; this helps you get rid of your problems. Trust me! Within a quarter of an hour you will feel a lot better!" Haitani didn't give Keitaro the chance to debate the issue any further as he slipped open the kanrinin's rucksack pocket and slipped the needle and sachets inside. "We'll let you have this batch for free, but if you choose to continue using them then it's Y1,600 per bag."
A few minutes of silence followed as Keitaro began to weigh up the good points and bad points. This drug would take his problems away, temporarily or not. There was always the chance that he might become physically dependant on it, but he wanted something - anything - to make all his problems be washed away, even if it was only temporary. Haitani and Shirai were his friends, yes - the only ones that have ever stood by him, most likely. But when it came to something like drugs, he could trust their words... right? After all, they were his friends; they wouldn't lie about something like that... would they? He sighed as curiosity overcame him. "Alright, I'll take it."
Haitani grinned and shook his hand, pleased to have done business with him for the day. "Good man. Remember, this lot is for free - Y1,600 for the next batch, remember!"
The more the kanrinin stared at the needle and sachets, the more curious he became about it. He wasn't stupid, contrary to what Naru liked to claim; he had learnt about drugs and the hazards that came with them as part of his pre-teen education. But what actually drove people to take them? What was there to gain out of using them? Especially when there were stories of people taking one too many and overdosing? Yet he could have felt a lot better than he did at that moment in time; no man would have envied him if they had known of what he went through on a daily basis. Then again, no man would have even believed him. Deciding to let curiosity overwhelm him once again, he opened up one of the sachets and removed the plunger, pouring the contents into the needle.
"Ten seconds to the start of the New Year!"
"Keitaro!"
Keitaro cringed. It was her voice again, ringing through his ears. Couldn't he get at least a moment to himself without having the auburn-haired girl, or Motoko, admonishing him for one reason or another?
"Urashima-kun?" called the softer voice of Mutsumi, which relaxed his nerves only slightly.
"Hai?" He called back, hoping that neither Naru nor Mutsumi would pull away the piece of plywood that covered the hole in the ceiling separating her room from his. Knowing his luck, the auburn-haired girl did - and he froze as he had no time to hide the sachets and needle without looking suspicious.
"Hurry up, you're going to miss the start of the New Ye..." Naru trailed off as she saw the needle and sachet resting on the kanrinin's thigh, the unfamiliar sight making her face turned into a confused frown. Mutsumi's face turned into a look of worry upon noticing the needle, placing a hand over her mouth. "What are you doing with that needle?" she asked, the faintest traces of worry in her voice. Not that Keitaro would have noticed anyway.
"Urashima-kun?" Mutsumi asked, the worry in her voice more evident. "Are you unwell?"
Keitaro paused for the briefest of moments to think of a reason to throw the auburn-haired girl and the Okinawan woman off his case. "Erm, it's for my medication."
"Medication?" Naru looked at Mutsumi, who looked back at her, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Neither you nor Haruka mentioned anything about that."
"Yeah, well, it's nothing really. An illness I had earlier this year left a pretty bad side effect which lasted for a while, so I was advised to take this medication just to be on the safe side."
"Okay then..." The younger girl seemed to be convinced enough by his story. Choosing to think nothing more of it, she pulled the plyboard cover back over the hole.
"Six..."
That was close... Keitaro thought, letting out a breath even he didn't know he was holding. Shaking his head, he rolled up the sleeve of his sweater and picked up the needle, his eyes searching for a vein that he could use.
"Five..."
Frowning at the fact that he couldn't locate a vein so easily in his arm, the kanrinin looked around for something that could act as a tourniquet. A sock? No; too small. A shirt? Too big. He spotted a towel. Perfect, he thought, leaning over to pick up the piece of fabric.
"Four..."
He tightened the towel chosen to act as a tourniquet tightly around his arm; not so tight as to restrict circulation of his blood, but tight enough for a vein to be visible.
"Three..."
He took a deep breath and readied the syringe, finally locating a vein that he could use.
"Two..."
Keitaro grimaced slightly as the stinging sensation of the needle piercing his skin shot through his arm, but he ignored it as he pushed down the plunger to inject the white powder into his vein.
"One..."
"Happy new year, one and all..." he whispered quietely, sitting back and leaning against the wall, waiting for the effects of the drug to kick in. Waiting for all his troubles to be washed away, temporary or not.
: AUTHOR'S NOTES :
My apologies about the short opening chapter, but then again my first chapters are always short. The title was inspired by a song byAlice In Chains of the same name.
Don't get the wrong idea about this fic; I am not glamourising drug addiction at all. I'm trying to capture the horrors caused by drug addiction in a way I've been thinking of exploring for a long time. Hopefully it's been done in a tasteful way that won't offend.
Originally, this fic was to be about Keitaro taking heroin - a drug I've read a lot about - but after an AIM conversation with GreyWolf4, he convinced me that Amphetamines would be more convincing and appropriate as heroin use is fairly rare in Japan... at least I think that was what he told me. Thanks for that.
Admittedly, I had my doubts about writing this story at first. And as you may well agree, I'm taking a pretty big risk by writing this, because I have to get all the facts nailed down right about such a topic - including the minor facts. But the more research I did on Amphetamines, the more confident I felt of trying to pull this off. Updates for this one may be few and far between, not just because of college coursework (come on, three lots of it to before Christmas? Welcome to college.), but also because of additional research on Amphetamine addiction.
This story will be pre-read by Joshua Falken (who I forgot to send a copy of this chapter to - sorry)and GreyWolf4.