DARTS
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The dull sound of a knife meeting target fills the mostly empty room, a rhythmic tune that sets the mood in the small café. After reclaiming the small knife, Heine returned to where he had stood before, then threw the blade.
Granny Liza's brood eyed him warily, alert for any possible signs of danger. As well they should be.
He was, after all, a monster.
Face still set in his usual scowl, Heine threw the knife that he had just retrieved. It missed the bullseye by an inch and his teeth ground together in frustration. He'd only hit the centre five times out of seventeen throws. Why his usually superb aiming was off annoyed him.
From downstairs, he could hear a scuffle from the floor upstairs and then a faint squeak. He only shook his head, wondering what on earth Granny Liza was doing to Nill, his winged companion. He'd only come to the café as the old lady had wanted to see Nill. She probably had new dresses for the young girl to try. Granny Liza was honorable and trustworthy, so he didn't worry as to what was happening upstairs.
The jangle of the bell at the front door told Heine that someone had entered the café. He couldn't be bothered to turn around but he did so anyway.
The white-haired man froze when he took sight of her, that woman.
Fuyumine Naoto glared back at him, obviously put off by his reaction to her presence. Other than that, she remained perfectly cool and composed.
"Ah, welcome, Naoto-san," said one of the demi-human bartenders. The woman said a polite 'Hello' back.
"What are you doing here?" Heine asked gruffly, watching her through narrowed eyes.
"Liza-san asked me to come around whenever I was free," she replied, setting down her katana bag so that it leaned against a table. She pulled out a chair and sat down. "And yourself?"
He made a sound in his throat, a grunt of sorts, before saying, "She asked for Nill."
"So they are upstairs?"
Heine grunted agreement, going back to throwing his knife. He heard the scrape of a chair then the scuff of boots on the floor, a sound that he had familiarized himself with. However, they stopped, started up again and the chair moved.
"Aren't you going upstairs?" Heine asked, knowing full well that the woman was back in her seat.
"If Liza-san is occupied with Nill, then I had better not disturb them. She will see me when she is done with Nill."
Silence fell, broken only by the constant dull thump of knife against target and also the low muttering of the two demi-human bartenders.
As he progressed, Heine grew increasingly frustrated with his throws. They refused to meet the bullseye now, no matter how hard he concentrated. His teeth gritted and his temple twitched when the latest throw resulted in another failure.
Growling, he retrieved the blade and upon returning to his original spot, noticed the woman looking at him.
"What?" he snarled, though mostly from irritation from not hitting the target dead centre.
Fuyumine Naoto blinked at him, her dark blue-gray eyes piercing. "You throw the blade wrong."
"And how would you know, huh?" Heine growled.
"I am more accustomed to the blade, unlike you," she said with an edge to her voice, though her face was unchanging. "I would know."
"Oh yeah? Why don't you show me, Miss Blade-Wielder."
Heine looked at her spitefully as she moved to take his place. Taking out her own knife, she positioned herself and threw.
The dull thump filled the room, the knife protruding from the bullseye.
She raised an eyebrow at him, almost provoking.
Heine bared his teeth, annoyance biting at his skin. With his knife he flung it across the room and it embedded itself close by the woman's knife.
Without saying anything, the woman went to the target and tugged out the two blades. She walked over to Heine, holding out the hilt of his blade. "Take it."
Slowly, he wrapped his hand over it.
"Hm." With a tight nod, she pointed at the target with a finger. "Aim."
"What do you think you're doing?" Heine snapped.
"Showing you what went wrong." She pointed again. "Now, aim."
The albino glared at her, but aimed, arm poised to fling the knife.
A cool hand held that arm and Heine stiffened visibly. Naoto either was oblivious to it or chose to ignore it as she calmly sheathed her knife with one hand. Then, she turned to him and said, "Your elbow shouldn't be too close to your side. That only restricts movement. Your forearm shouldn't be at right-angles with your upper arm. The blade you throw will move sideways. It should be like this." Gently, she moved his rigid arm. "And don't be stiff either. You won't be flexible like that."
"Ceh. How can I not be?" he muttered under his breath, sudden embarrassment flooding him. Here he was, getting taught by a woman about the art of throwing knives. And he was supposed to be a natural-born killer at that!
The woman gripped his arm hard. "I won't let go till you relax a little," she said, frowning at him from under her lashes.
The corner of Heine's mouth curled in disgust. He couldn't let himself relent to her wishes, however 'good' she meant them to be. She had a strong grip that was just an indistinct throb to his wrist. He could handle it, he told himself. He could glare daggers at her all day too if she wanted to play the game.
The pair stood there, scowling at each other, both sides refusing to back down. Heine got uncomfortable at one point, realizing that this was a woman, a species he hated and feared.
His eyes fell and Naoto tugged his arm. "Relax," she said again.
The man let out a breath through gritted teeth and let his arm loosen slightly. The woman nodded approval and then continued, "Your wrist must not be so far back. Like that, there is strain on it and the knife you throw will not have as much power. If your wrist was too far down, your knife will never reach the target."
Heine listened and watched as she moved his limb, showing him how to hold it properly. "When you threw earlier, your wrist was slightly off to the side. Just a small mistake like that can prove victory to an enemy." Naoto showed him with her own hand how he had held his blade earlier. "And your elbow was out quite far."
"Now, the only thing left is good aim and belief." The woman let his arm go.
"Belief?" Heine raised his eyebrow skeptically. The person next to him nodded. "If you didn't believe that you can throw it dead centre, then you'll never get it," she said, then tilted her head to the target on the wall. "Go on."
She stepped back to let him position himself. Heine sighed and let his eyes go to the target, raising his arm to make his throw.
"Wrist," Naoto interjected. Heine turned to scowl at her but straightened his hand anyway. After sighting the bullseye, he - reluctantly - took the woman's advice about the belief thing. He willed his hand that threw the knife to hold it straight, then through the that, he willed the knife to hit its victim. With a cry, he threw the blade.
The knife somersaulted in the air, a swishing sound coming from it. The blade closed in on its target and...
The hilt tapped against the target and fell to the ground.
With a frustrated snarl, Heine drew out his white gun and released several shots to the wall.
"Oi!"
When the dust cleared, Heine was breathing hard, red eyes glaring hatefully at the target. He heard the woman sigh behind him.
"Well, I didn't expect that," she said.
"Stupid knife," he muttered.
The two bartenders were staring at him, half-angry, half-fearful. There was some pounding on the stairs and Granny Liza came down with Nill and two of her helpers in tow.
"What happened?" Granny Liza demanded and then saw Heine holding his gun. "Heine! You better have a good explanation for this."
The white-haired man didn't answer but continued to glare at the wall. To his side, he could hear Naoto move . She walked with calm strides to the wall, fingering the battered target. Suddenly, she smirked, glancing at Heine. "You don't need a blade, you know. Your gun will do you fine."
She went over to Granny Liza. "You asked for me?"
"Ah, Naoto-chan. I've got some new clothes for you too!" The small, cat-eared woman frowned at Heine. "You're paying for repairs, you hear, Heine? And if you can't keep that temper down, I'll ban you from this café!" Then, after checking swiftly for any other damage he'd done, Granny Liza ushered the woman upstairs.
Heine shrugged and moved to the wall, curious to what Naoto had said.
He too smirked in satisfaction when he saw that his bullets had pierced the bullseye, five out of five times.
XXX
A/N: My first completed DOGS fanfic! Just a simple story 'cause I'm still very new to it. Ah~ I love Heine! And Naoto too. That's why I had to write them together.
Although I've read all the translated chapters I'm still quite unfamiliar with the Underground and stuff. I called Granny Liza's brood 'demi-humans' 'cause they are only partly human.
For the knife-throwing thing, I actually had to throw something to get a feel of how things move in different arm positions. I don't have a dart set.
BTW, does anyone know where I can read weekly DOGS scans online? It comes out weekly, right?
Please review! I'm hoping to improve my understanding of the DOGS world, so I welcome all thoughts. If I am mistaken about some fact or another, please tell me about it! Thanks again!