Part 10
Duo's face was a grim mask as he listened to the tale. He could feel tendrils of fury choking his breath and clouding his eyes. He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand the idea that someone could be so cruel. He regarded the woman crying in front of him.
"Please help us," Leia sobbed. Duo placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright ma'am. I'll help you. Tell me what happened."
"It was Mr. Tsubarov! He kept coming by the house and visiting us, even though we didn't want him to. He kept talking to my little Mari, even though she's only nine. He wanted to court her and of course I said no. But he kept coming back. And yesterday... he took her away.... he took my girl..." Leia managed before a fresh flood of tears overwhelmed her.
Duo patted her shoulder gently. "I will help you. Don't worry." Leia nodded as she was led away. An older man with a badly scarred nose spoke quietly with Duo.
"We will give you what reward we can. We are not rich people," he said.
"I don't care about the reward, I only care about what's right," Duo said softly. The man nodded.
"Thank you," the man said. Without preamble, Duo swung into his saddle and rode off. As he left, he looked into the eyes of the gathered crowd. Women, young children and old people, the people he had sworn to protect, as long as he still breathed air.
His inner thoughts seethed as he rode towards town. He felt the wind pick up and knew a storm was coming. The wind tugged at his clothes and stung his eyes, making his eyes water. Through the moisture, he could see the town approaching, and with it the home of Tsuberov.
As he rode, he seethed, feeling an anger building in him. This was a calibre of anger he had never felt before. No, that wasn't true. He had felt it before, after finding Solo...
He shook his head, forcing the memories back. It didn't matter now. He would fight, until he rested in Shinigami's embrace.
He approached Tsuberov's house, and dismounted, signalling Shados to hide. He crouched down, crab-walking to a window. He tested the window and found it to be open. With a smile, he opened the window and slipped into the house.
He looked around the gloomy house, acutely aware of how dangerous doing this was in the middle of the afternoon. He heard whimpering from one of the bedrooms and followed the sound. The door was locked, but Duo quickly fixed that.
Upon opening the door, he saw a young, red haired girl curled up on the bed. She looked up at him with red eyes. Duo smiled at her gently.
"W-who are you?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm a friend," he said softly. "Your mom sent me to find you, Mari."
Mari smiled, nodded and got off the bed. "Mr. Tsubarov left to go to the store. I don't know when he will be back."
"That's fine, we just need to be fast," Duo said, offering his hand to Mari. She took it and he led her down the hall to the window. As he was helping her out the window, he spotted an ugly, grey haired man walking towards the house. As he saw Duo, he started yelling.
"Shit," Duo cursed and bolted for his horse.
TBC...