I expanded "Boxed In".

[estirise]

The added section splits my original part 4 (which posts as part 5 on fanfiction.net) into two parts for easier reading. So, for those curious folk, here is some added material.


These scenes take place between the conversation between Executioner and Hotaru about Wataru, and the Executioner's visit to the Council.

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A few days later, Wataru found himself sitting across from the Executioner, though his father, Yuri, and Megumi-san were sitting too, keeping him safe and protected, Megumi-san's arm firmly around his shoulders with her holding him close. He'd initially run to a phone, calling Megumi-san's phone - he knew the number by heart - and telling her that he'd run and he needed help.

Megumi-san had come with a guy she'd been seeing, a man that she'd been dating that belonged to another hunter group. They'd taken him to the home of another member of his group who'd been willing to help hide Wataru; in fact, Wataru remembered that they'd been willing to help smuggle him out, once Shima-san had secured his false passport.

But The Executioner had come to his father, and Yuri, and apparently they'd had a very long talk. Wataru wasn't sure of what conclusion they'd come to, but apparently he'd convinced them to turn Wataru over to him. If Wataru wanted to be turned over. He was sure Yuri-san was ready to hand him his false passport and drop him at an airport for transport out of the country. Or had been, before the Executioner had spoken to them. From what little the others had said, one of the Executioner's colleagues had a lot of pull and it would have been futile to try to smuggle him out.

Wataru had to wonder if the Executioner knew about Megumi-san's boyfriend and the other hunter group. He probably did. He seemed to know - through the Fangaire known as the Watcher - a lot about the hunter groups, both those who hunted rogues and those who hunted Fangaire regardless of good or evil leanings. Wataru had met a rather radical hunter- a man named Nago - who had dated Megumi-san for a short time and was almost as scary as Megumi-san's father. Fortunately, Megumi-san had broken up with him and that was the last they'd seen of him.

He focused on what The Executioner was saying. "It's only for a few days, maybe a month," The Executioner was explaining to Yuri-san. "The members of the council are not stupid. They know Wataru's fairly comfortable with me. And I've talked to the person in question. What she *needs* to see is that Wataru's adjusting, and that your presence is critical to that. And she's not going to see that if she doesn't get to spend time with Wataru. I'm sorry that Wataru's going to not be in touch, but if we can sway her, that will mean that it might be easier for future kids, and easier for Wataru in the long run."

"And if things go wrong?" Yuri-san asked. "Like the Council decides that you're not a good guardian, and decides he should be with someone else?"

That was what Wataru was afraid of, really. What he'd been afraid of when The Executioner had kidnapped him. He could have lost his father and Yuri-san and Megumi-san, but he'd lucked into someone who had let him have them back.

The Executioner might not have understood everything, but he understood enough.

"It's been confirmed to me that Wataru is my apprentice, and that won't change. The question is, of course, whether I can convince them to let him stay with me and let him stay in touch with you. My opinion is not particularly popular among the Fangaire. My hope, and I would presume Wataru's, is that they do let him stay. I hope to convince them that, if nothing else, Wataru needs to be with me, and needs to be training, because there is a threat to humans that you can't even imagine, and the Fangaire need him trained as soon as possible."

"What kind of threat?" Yuri-san asked, ever alert. Megumi-san was listening closely too.

"There are those Fangaire who have forgotten that protecting humans does not mean killing them," The Executioner said cryptically. Wataru knew what he was talking about - the Fangaire who wanted to reduce humanity's numbers to save their prey and the world - but he hadn't gotten around to telling Yuri-san, the whole thing having slipped his mind in the excitement.

"And?" Yuri-san asked, clearly expecting more information.

"I'd really like to have Wataru on the job by then," The Executioner said, either not getting the hint, or at least not acknowledging it.

"No, the Fangaire," Yuri-san clarified.

"Ah. Why don't I have Wataru explain it to you when I get him back?" The Executioner asked. "He can explain it to you so much better than I could."

"Why don't we have Wataru explain it to us right now, while he's right here?" Yuri-san snapped.

"Because I'm still gathering information on the threat myself, and therefore haven't had time to go over more than the basics with Wataru," the Executioner pointed out. "If we do tell you, could you at least not go without Wataru by your side?"

Yuri-san raised her eyebrows. "We?"

"Wataru is my apprentice," The Executioner pointed out. "I think I can speak for him."

"Wataru can speak for himself," Yuri-san replied sharply. "Just because you found him doesn't mean you get to speak for him."

"It's all right, Yuri-san," Wataru said, speaking up, only realizing belatedly that it wouldn't sound too good to Yuri-san if he was defending the Fangaire. She'd only be convinced that he was being brainwashed... and he knew that he'd be out of there fast if Yuri-san was convinced of that. "I'd like to go hunting with you out there." He cast a pleading look at her, hopefully enough that she wouldn't try to do anything bad to the Executioner.

Because at least if the Executioner had custody of him, things would be okay. And if Yuri-san took him hunting, at least maybe she'd stop being so worried about his humanity, or lack of it.

Yuri-san glared at him, but seemed to back down. "You need to bring Wataru back with you," she said simply.

"If I don't, I will be the one to explain it to you. And give you the information about those rogues," the Executioner promised. "And then I will bring him back." Wataru knew that the Executioner had been serious about involving Yuri-san and his father in his life, despite Fangaire laws that should have stopped him from doing it. He'd done what some considered treason to keep them in contact, and that should have been good enough.

Just not enough for Yuri-san. "Yuri-san," Wataru said, "He's telling you the truth."

"If you really didn't in some way trust him," his father said, "we wouldn't be here."

Yuri-san glared at both of them. His father stared steadily back at her. And Megumi-san held him tight, ready to take him out of there. He wished that she and Yuri-san understood that the Executioner would hunt him down again if they tried to take him away. Plus he had stopped wanting to run away from the Executioner; it was the rest of Fangaire society he didn't like, didn't want anything to do with, and he trusted the Executioner to try to keep him away.

Finally, his father and Yuri-san broke it off. "Right," Yuri-san said reluctantly. Megumi-san was still holding onto him, as if afraid to let him go.

But eventually she did let go.

* * *

Hotaru was surprised, in a way, that she'd gotten Wataru back. Or at least in her custody, since she'd never really had him in the first place, as it was supposed to be. She'd seen the Executioner's point about how Wataru had emerged from his shell after he'd been allowed to see his family; there had been a marked improvement in his behavior, and as the Executioner had pointed out, Wataru was adapting. Just not in the usual ways. Maybe the Executioner had the right idea, at least in Wataru's case. It might only work with him, or might work with any other hunter-born ferals they recovered.

In any case, he was at her house, patterned (though he seemed less than happy about that, and she'd have to talk to the Executioner about it) and not shying away or really avoiding her like she'd seen in some ferals. She listened to the faint sounds of violin music; Wataru was getting in some practice, it seemed.

The music eventually wound down, and as a few minutes passed, no new music took its place. She remembered vaguely hearing her first violin music about two centuries ago, the sound of the imported musical instrument pleasant to her ears. Wataru was a good player, which wasn't surprising. From what she knew of Wataru's family, his father had also had that talent too. She didn't have a problem with him practicing the violin – it was something quite acceptable, and in some cases, encouraging. She thought the Executioner was insane to let Wataru make violins, with all the tools that he could have used to attack his foster parent, but playing the instrument was harmless.

Wataru wouldn't be the first foster child to come with and play a musical instrument, though various types of flutes and pipes were more common. Hotaru had had one other violinist that she remembered throughout the years.

She looked up as the door to the living room opened. Wataru stood in the doorway, as if unsure that he should enter. “Wataru, come in,” she said invitingly. No matter what the Executioner had done, the young man was hesitant, quiet. Polite, too, and the impression that he'd given her in their brief conversations was that he'd been sequestered, kept away and kept safe. So typical of a hunter-born Fandiri. She wished once more that they'd found him and rescued him sooner, but there was nothing that she or anybody else could do about it.

Wataru slipped into the room, bowing politely as he took the chair she indicated. Some of the older hunter-borns that they'd rescued had attacked her, but Wataru had shown no such interest. She had a suspicion that had she gotten him first, he would have been withdrawn rather than dangerous. And she could deal with a withdrawn Fandiri, even if it was only because she wouldn't have to restrain them. Whether she'd have been able to bring him out of his shell was a good question, but she'd love to believe so. Even if it took longer than it had the Executioner.

"The Executioner wanted me to tell you what he'd done," Wataru said softly. She'd never heard the boy speak in a normal tone of voice, and wondered if that was part of his normal personality, or if he was still scared. Just because he seemed to be adapting, didn't mean that he couldn't be scared. And she'd take scared over withdrawn any day.

"He did tell me something of what he'd done," Hotaru said, "But I want to hear it from *you*. Because you're the one this affects."

A lot of what she'd recommend to the Council would be dependent upon her evaluation of Wataru's mental state. Sure, he was adapting... but he'd still run like the feral he was when she tried to collect him. That was worrisome. She also wanted to make sure that Wataru was meant to be the Executioner's apprentice; though she had met enough of the hunter-born to know that some of them were quiet rather than aggressive, even that hadn't made any of them able to function in Fangaire society.

"You won't drug me this time?" Wataru asked pleadingly.

"Not if you tell me what's going on," Hotaru said. "And Wataru, I did that for your own good. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have lived up to my obligations to keep you safe."

Wataru's expression screamed that he didn't agree with that, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he started talking about their original topic. "The Executioner brought my father and Yuri-san home one day. He said it was because he wanted them to see I was okay... and that he thought I'd be better this way."

Aso Yuri. She'd heard of the woman, slightly more radical than the rest of her cell. She had to question why such a person was allowed access to a vulnerable Fandiri. Wataru's father seemed far less dangerous. If it had been his father, given Wataru's improvement... maybe she would have less of a problem. "Why the two of them?"

"He came for my father, and I guess Yuri-san wanted to come along," Wataru said hesitantly. "Yuri-san didn't want me with the Executioner, but my father talked her into not trying to take me back."

That was a useful piece of information. Hotaru had to remind herself that Kurenai Otoya was a hunter, but at least he showed sanity that most hunters lacked. Which made her wonder how he'd ended up in such a pitiful group in the first place. Of course, the Executioner would probably argue that taking Wataru away from him would turn him radical, but she had hope that he, like most humans, had more sense than the hunters. "Do you feel better that your father and Aso Yuri are able to visit you?"

Wataru nodded. "I don't think they'd leave me there if they couldn't see I was all right," he said. "And I know that they'd get me free if they thought I wasn't."

"You mean, you want them to visit because you're afraid that they'll think you're in trouble?" Hotaru asked. That shed a new light on things. If Wataru was trying to keep the peace between his past and his present, that was something unexpected.

"I don't want to be Fangaire," Wataru said. "And Yuri-san knows that. If she's there, I'm safe, because she wouldn't let that happen."

The determination in Wataru's voice made her pause, reminded her that she was still dealing with a feral. "Is she that important to you, Wataru?"

"Yuri-san helped raise me," Wataru said. "She taught me to fight. She protects me. She's part of who I am."

Which made Wataru more dangerous than he seemed, but also made him an ideal candidate for the Executioner's apprentice. They had to channel his fighter instincts and training somewhere, after all. But there was more danger here than Wataru's upbringing, danger to Wataru himself. He couldn't be who he was supposed to be if these humans kept holding him back.

The trouble would be protecting Wataru from himself. Or getting him to the point where he could see that he was meant to be Fangaire, not human. Where Aso Yuri and her attitudes didn't matter anymore.

She smiled as she realized that she might have to, like the Executioner, think of a radical solution. "Hiraoka-san?" Wataru asked hesitantly.

"I was just thinking... Wataru, you think you're an adult, don't you?"


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I revised the section after that, since these two scenes covered some material I'd glossed over.

(And yes, I snuck a mention of Nago in. And Jiro. And at least Megumi got a bit of an appearance, and I finally got Hotaru's POV into the main fic.)