What Kept Him?

Deep inside the sector seven lab walked a lone figure, with long white hair, carrying a long sword on his back and a mask over his face. His name was Hakumen, one of the Six Legendary Heroes that defeated the black beast a hundred years ago. As he walked, looking for a way out it seemed, he thought about what had happened a few moments ago. He was freed from his prison by that accursed vampire, she said to meet her at Kagutsuchi, the base of NOL, he wondered what that little girl had planned for him.

As he continued he took a look at his surroundings, how this was possible was a mystery since his masked covered his entire face, including his eyes. He seemed to be in a dark cave inside the sector seven lab, he wondered what use could a cave hold for the people of sector seven, more specifically that damned grimalkin. As he finished his thoughts he arrived at what appeared to be a high-tech door to enter the actual lab, he quickly scanned its surface trying to find a way to open it without attracting attention, but after a few seconds he came to the conclusion that, "It's a wall…" he sighed, knowing that there was only one thing he could do he prepared for that accursed red devil to attack as soon as he entered. Once he finished concentrating he slashed the door with his sword. To the naked eye it would appear that he slashed it only once but as soon as the door started coming down it was clear that he has slashed it into hundreds of pieces, after all he was still angry that he was imprisoned here by that catgirl.

After the smocked cleared he walked inside, to his surprise no alarm had been sounded, and that behemoth hadn't come to stop him from escaping. All this seemed strange to him, so he slowly went inside, making sure that this was not some trap. But the lone hero did not know that close by there was someone watching him, someone with a lollipop in hand.

He continued to look for a way out inside the lab, but after what seemed like hours (30 minutes to be exact) he came to a conclusion which he could not deny any longer! "I'm lost…" said the masked man in annoyance to this fact, "Curse that damned grimalkin for never giving me a proper tour of the lab!" he said, beginning to lose his patience. After taking a few minutes to mentally curse that damned cat, he scanned the area and found what looked to be sings on the walls, "How could I have missed that?" he muttered to himself as he read the sings, one pointed left and read "Weapons Lab" the other pointed right and read "Kokonoe's secret project, DO NOT APROACH!" questioning why there was such an un professional sing like that here he headed in the direction that the sing said not to go, to the secret project room, he hoped that something there could help him escape this place.

He arrived at another door, this one larger than the one he encountered before, and this time it was a door, not a wall. There was a big sing on the door that read in big red letters "KOKONOE'S SECRET PROJECT, DO NOT ENTER, ENTER AND YOU WILL DIE!" "How un professional" the hero thought as he pushed the huge metallic door opened, and was surprised by how easy it was to move. He then entered the room, which was pitch black for some reason. He tried to find a light switch; he continued to look for a good 5 minutes until he found one.

As the lights illuminated the room he gazed at something that horrified him, something that caused thousands of horrible flashbacks and old nightmares to re-enter his mind. Before him there was a large missile, standing upright, with an all too familiar logo on its side. "What the hell is that damned grimalkin thinking having this monstrosity here!" as he said those words he heard footsteps coming from the doorway, he drew his sword and turned, ready to counter the imminent attack of the red devil which must have found him.

The attack never came, and the red devil was not there, instead there was a girl. She was slim, with golden eyes that had glasses, and cat like features, her hair was pink colored, she wore a white cote which only covered the upper half of her body revealing her stomach and red pants that where way too low for comfort, one could see the straps of a black thong which she liked to wear because it was the only kind of underwear she could use because if her two tails, which was a characteristic which all grimalkins shared.

"You…" hissed the hero as he withdrew his sword and glared at the girl, "where is the red devil?" he asked still glaring at her. "I sent him on a mission, so im the only one here, more importantly why are you out of your cage Hakumen?" she asked crossing her arms and glaring back at the masked hero. "That is irrelevant and none of your concern!" the hero snapped, which surprised the pink haired girl because Hakumen was always calm and relatively cold. "Why…." he muttered, "Why what?" responded the girl not understanding what he could possible mean. "Why do you have that thing here, don't you know what that monster is capable of?" "Yes, I am well aware of what it can do, and that is precisely why I have it here, I shall use it to kill that son of a bitch Terumi once and for all" was the response the girl gave to the hero, not understanding why he was so upset about it.

"I knew you where obsessed but I never knew you could be so blind!, do you not know what does things caused during the era of the black beast? Because of those things most of the world was uninhabitable before the black beast was even defeated!" Screamed the hero, memories of the horrors he witnessed during the war with the black beast filling his mind, entire countries being wiped out, close friends vaporized before his very eyes, nightmares that still haunt him to this day and children thousands of miles away from the blast dying of poisoning because of that thing.

"Such stupidity, it is obvious you do not understand the situation we are in! Ragna's Azure Grimoire is a fake, Terumi has Noel Vermilion the true successor to the azure, and on top of all that he controls all of NOL! There is no other way to defeat him! Besides, this way I get to kill him myself, ill make him pay for killing my mother!" screamed the girl in response to the hero's remarks.

"So that's why you're planning on using this! For revenge? You plan to kill thousands maybe even more just to get revenge on this one man?" questioned the hero, walking towards the grimalkin as he spoke. "Don't you get it! There isn't any other way! We have to kill him before its too late!" said the girl, glaring at the hero as he got closer to her. As Hakumen got within close proximity to Kokonoe, he said "Is this what your mother would have wanted, to kill so many just for her…?" he asked, saying those words softly as to make sure she can understand what he says.

"How…HOW DARE YOU MENTION MY MOTHER, YOU NEVER KNEW HER, YOU NEVER MET HER, I HAVE TO KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH, HE MUST DIE, BUT THAT IS NOT SOMETHING SOMEONE LIKE YOU COULD EVER UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU'VE NEVER LOST SOMEONE YOU LOVE YOU HEARTLES BASTARD!" screamed the girl, completely overcome with rage, not caring what that fool before her might think or say, but before she could even look at the man again something happened.

Hakumen slapped her, hard, but not hard enough to make her fall to the floor, something he was well capable of. Kokonoe, in complete shock looked up at Hakumen, which towered before her because he was easily twice her size, "Wha…!" "SHUT UP!" she was cut up before she could respond to the slap she has received, and at that moment for the first time in years, she started to feel fear, fear of what this man could do to her, fear that there was no one here to stop him.

"YOU SELFISH LITTLE BRAT, YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE HE HAS HURT, YOU THINK YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS LOST A LOVED ONE BECAUSE OF HIM!" screamed Hakumen, overcome with emotion, which was something Kokonoe had never seen before, "THAT MONSTER DID IT ALL, HE USED THE WOMAN I LOVED TO PROTECT HIMSELF, KILLING HER IN THE PROSSES!" memories of Tsubaki's dead body and flash backs of her death filling his mind, tears starting to come out from his eyes behind the mask, "MY BROTHER GAVE HIS LIFE TRYING TO DEFEAT HIM SO THAT I WOULD BE SAFE!" flashbacks of how ragna turned into the black beast and tried to defeat Terumi, but failed when Terumi used his younger brother as a shield. Hakumen, so over comed with emotion is he that he is brought to his knees, and on the ground he continues, "I SAW THEM ALL DIE IN FRONT OF ME, AND I WAS TOO WEAK TO DO ANYTHING TO HELP THEM, SO DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT I COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND, BECAUSE I KNOW MORE THAN ANYONE WHAT ITS LIKE TO LOSE EVERYTJHING YOU HOLD DEAR IN THE WORLD…!" with this final outburst, he completely loses it, his sobs now uncontrollable, his sorrow overflowing him. Kokonoe, still in complete awe to what just happened, looks down at the sobbing hero, she feeling tears also coming out of her eyes, bends down to him and gently hugs him, knowing how wrong she was, and that the one that was truly heartless was her and not Hakumen she whispered "im sorry…your right…I could never understand what my mother truly wanted me to do…" they both remain there for a few minutes sobbing, letting all their pain and sorrow out.

Moments later, after the sobs have stopped, Kokonoe grabs Hakumen's mask and takes it off, and is shocked by the man that's under it "J.. JIN KISARAGI!" she gasps as Hakumen's face is revealed. Indeed it is Jin KIsaragi, his face and bright emerald eyes where unique and a dead giveaway, but his hair was white, not blond, then Kokonoe remembered that his brother Ragna was also blond until that traumatic moment in his life when his sister was killed, she immediately knew that this was really jin.

"Please…don't tell anyone.." said Jin as he looked away trying to hide his face, "Very well…I wont tell anyone…or ask how its possible for there to be two Jins" said Kokonoe, giving him a soft warm smile, Jin smiled back and replied "Thank you Kokonoe…". The grimalkin was shocked as his reply, this was the first time he has ever called her by name, at this moment they both noticed they were holding something with their hands, they both looked down and saw that it was each other's hands that they were holding, they both quickly pulled away, got up and turned their backs at one another, hiding a blush that appeared on their faces.

"A…anyway, I'll get rid of that thing…but only if you promise that Terumi will be defeated…" said Kokonoe, not looking at hakumen and still embarrassed of what happened a few moments ago.

"Don't worry, he will be defeated…This I promise you" responded hakumen putting his mask back on.

"well the exit is over there…you might want to use it…" said Kokonoe as she pointed in the direction of the exit. "Then I better get going…" said the white haired hero as he began to walk towards the exit.

"And Haku…." Said Kokonoe as he passed her causing him to look back at her, "…thank you…" was all she said softly, with a blush on her face which she could not hide. Hakumen smiled under his helmet and replied "…no…thank you Koko…" said the hero as he began to walk away "Farewell" was all that could be heard from the heroes direction as he disappeared from kokonoe's site.

It was at this moment that the grimalkin noticed what he had called her "Koko" she said softly as her face turned completely red and she said "FIRST MY FULL NAME AND NOW HE HAS A NICKNAME FOR ME!" in complete embarrassment.

*over 12 hours later*

Hakumen arrives at Kagutsuchi, there he find the vampire girl waiting for him, "your late" was her reply, "My tea has gotten cold " replied the girl a little annoyed that he had taken so long, "I apologize for making you wait vampire but there was something that needed my attention" was the reply she received from the hero, "well then what kept you?" asked the vampire, "That is none of your concern…" said the hero as he smiled underneath his mask.

Before the girl could respond the Murakumo Unit Known as Lambda teleported between the girl and hakumen, "Target visualized…" said the girl in a monotone voice as she laid her eyes on hakumen.

"Oh my, it looks as if we have a visitor. Well Kokonoe I know your there so please state your business" said the vampire girl, now very annoyed because of the interruption. "Rachel? So it was you that freed hakumen..ugh never mind, I have no business with you, I just send Lambda over to give hakumen a message" replied the grimalkin by using the transmitter in her lab with could make anyone hear her voice as if she was right there. "Um…Haku…" she said, a little embarrassed of what she was going to ask, "Yes?" said the hero, wondering what she was going to say, "C..C..Could you…please meet me here later…?" said the grimalkin, a huge blush all over her face, as she finished her sentence Lambda handed over the name of the place, which was written on a piece of paper, over to Hakumen, who quickly looked at the name and knew what place it was, "A restaurant…?" said Hakumen , "yes…in about an hour ok…I'll meet you there…" said Kokonoe and she hung up and Lambda teleported back to the lab.

Hakumen smilled again and looked at Rachel "Again im sorry but there seems to be something else I must take care of" he said as he began to make his way towards the restaurant.

Rachel was left alone, and as she teleported back to he castle she looked back and said "I Wonder what does two are up to…surely no good can come of any plan kokonoe could possibly come up with…"