ONE: A Beast with Anger Management Problems
The vending machine was wrenched off of the ground and lifted high into the air. On the ground, a man was whimpering since his legs gave out on him and was trying to crawl to safety. "Where the hell is the money?" the man with the super human strength yelled as the vending machine was sent flying across the air. The man scrambled furiously and just as he expected several broken bones, the vending machine landed inches before him.
"Tomorrow," he whimpered.
"Say that again, I can't hear you."
"T-Tomorrow, Shizuo-san, Tom-san! All of the money, I'll get it to you by t-tomorrow!" He braced himself as Shizuo, the man throwing the vending machine, stepped forward. He picked the man up by the back collar of his jacket and shook him.
"That's a promise, right? Otherwise, you're not even going to get to choose which organs you're selling," Shizuo dropped the man to the ground and he flailed a bit before finding strength in his legs again to run away whimpering and yelling thanks.
"Shizuo, was that really necessary?" the other man, Tom, asked as he walked up to Shizuo.
Shizuo didn't answer and took out a cigarette box. He lit one before he answered, "He pissed me off with all that whimpering!"
Tom sighed, "But, didn't what you just do make him whimper even more?" Tom stopped talking when he saw that Shizuo had bit down hard on the end of the cancer stick that was in his mouth. Shizuo turned around, signaling that it was a subject he didn't want to tread on to. Tom sighed again before following his companion, "You really should do something about that temper of yours," he mumbled, "One day, it'll get you into a hell lot more trouble."
Little did Tom and Shizuo know, that day was today.
One of the higher ranked officers, Kyohei Kadota, looked at the vending machine that used to be bolted to the ground. Now, it laid dented on the ground. He could see very clearly the places where Shizuo had gripped the metal since there were two nice hand shaped figures there. The glass had fractured from when it hit the ground.
"It's bent here," one of the officers reported, "And the glass is cracked. If we try to stand it upright again, it'll just topple over and hurt someone."
"I know that, Officer Yumasaki. I have eyes and a brain," Kadota said and ran a hand through his hair.
Officer Walker Yumasaki shrugged and gave a fox like grin, "I'm just doing my job, sir!"
Kadota rubbed his temples. Why did he get stuck baby-sitting the rookies? Of course, they were all roughly the same age, but there have been some new recruits recently and they were a bit…odd, for a lack of a better word.
A girl swung herself into Kadota's vision, surprising him so that he took a step back, "At least he didn't damage the sidewalk this time, right, Dotachin?"
"W-What? What did you just call me? No, just don't call me that," his cheeks tinted slight pink at the memory of the nickname. That person must've stopped by, then, he thought as he pressed his lips into a thin line, he hasn't been here a while. I hope he won't be causing any trouble.
The girl giggled, also in an officer's uniform, "Hey, hey, Walker, maybe there are some savable parts in the machine?"
"Yea, there probably are," Walker agreed, "We should go find Togusa to help us open this up to check inside, Erica."
"Sure," the girl responded with a grin of her own. Erica waited until Walker stood up beside her and they started walking back outside of the area lined with yellow tape.
Kadota sighed again. How did he get stuck in such an unfavorable position? It was like they promoted him just so they can push this headache on to him. His first task upon receiving the promotion was to list and record all damage done to the city. Well, it would usually be an uneventful task, but when one of the citizens was Shizuo Heiwajima, that changes many things. This job was effectively one of the worse things bestowed upon a government worker. The first day alone Kadota had to see many inexplicable things and damage that made him wish he worked in another city, or at least another department.
Once, he even got to the scene right as Shizuo pulled a sign post, cement still stuck to the bottom half of the rod, and swung it at some punks who made the mistake of trying to pick a fight with the strongest man in the neighborhood. The officers who were around that had come to the crime to "stop a fight" had run off at that sight. Kadota was the only one who managed to stand his ground. He even attempted to do his job and calm the raging man down. That didn't work, of course, and Kadota got a three month stay in the hospital instead. Surprisingly, Shizuo came to visit and apologize several times. And the several times he did, he always broke something, be it a vase, a table, the counter, or the nurse's arm, it was inevitable.
The two of them became something similar to friends, but there was one topic that Kadota knew never to touch. His problem with his anger. Kadota never heard the full story of it and any time it was brought up, Shizuo would snap. Later, Shizuo admitted briefly that he hated snapping so easily and doing things that would scare others, but he can't stop himself.
Still, it didn't change that the damage Shizuo made in the city was a constant headache for him. Shizuo will continue to destroy the city from the inside out and Kadota will have to continue recording every piece of damage made to the city. Kadota sighed. Not to mention the moment he got out of the hospital, they assigned him with another annoying assignment. They had told him they'll be two extra pair of hands to help him and his driver, Saburo Togusa, out in following Shizuo around.
Goddamit, why don't he quit already?
The sound of sirens broke Kadota's thoughts as he glanced over to the yellow tape to see more police cars arriving. That's strange. This was simply some statistical data they were gathering. It's not like they needed reinforcements.
"What's the matter?" Kadota called as he walked over to where the three of them were standing and ducked under the tape to join them. A motorcycle weaved it's way between the cars until it came to a stop before them.
"Officer Kyohei Kadota?" he asked.
"Uh, yes. That's me. And you are?"
"Kuzuhara," he responded, "I'm here to tell you that you don't need to record any more damage."
There was a collective sound of surprise from the whole group. Wide eyed, Kadota asked, "Why? Did something happen?"
The man nodded, "Yea, the government decided to send me in to stop Shizuo Heiwajima."
"Wait, what? We all know perfectly well that man doesn't simply get stopped."
"That's why we brought some help. I don't like him very much, but…The government asked me to cooperate."
There was the sound of shoes on pavement and the group turned around. A black motorcycle next to a person dressed completely in black. They didn't even hear the bike's approach. Only when the rider had stepped off did they notice his presence. The rider held his hand up and did a little wave.
"…The Black Rider?" Togusa blinked in surprise, "You got the black rider to help you?"
"I don't know his motives, but he agreed to help out." The rider approached them and held up a PDA.
Please call me Celty, was typed on the screen.
"Celty?" Erica said with a grin, "Sounds foreign. And kinda girly."
Celty flinched, as if surprised by Erica's statement, uh, that is… He seemed to have given up thinking of a proper statement and just left it as an unfinished sentence.
"That's enough, Officer Karisawa," Kadota warned, "Don't be rude." He turned to look at the Black Rider. He could see nothing beyond the yellow helmet, "And how do you plan on stopping Shizuo? He doesn't really stop."
Celty's shoulders moved in a way that Kadota assumed he was smiling underneath the helmet. His fingers tapped lightly on the phone screen and when it was turned to them, it read, with a little magic.
He turned around and walked back to his black motorcycle. To the group's surprise, the bike made no sound as it sped off. Kuzuhara and the police cars followed. For a moment, the four of them stood there, somewhat dumbfounded by the change of events.
"That's pretty impressive, getting so close and personal with the infamous Black Rider," Walker finally broke the silence, "You think the rumors about her being headless are really true?"
"True or not, I heard he's pretty strong too."
"Eh? You just called the Black Rider a 'her'?" Erica piped up.
"Huh? Even you said so, right? Her name's girly. She's a girl, isn't she?" Walker said with a perfectly calm look on his face. The other three of the group laughed.
"No way! Such a tough girl!"
"Well, you're pretty tough yourself, Erica."
Erica grinned, "Nah, I'm just someone who loves anime, manga, novels, and adventure." But everyone already knew full well just how insane she can be inside. Erica and Walker might be new recruits, but they have already become infamous in the department for being able to get witnesses to talk. (Although, their conventions for doing so might be illegal…but those are behind closed doors guarded by Kadota and Togusa.
"But, now that you mention it. I think…the Black Rider could be a girl."
"It doesn't matter what you think about the gender of him or her. We still have to get this cleaned up so no stupid punks will come over and try to break it further," Kadota said as he ducked back under the tape. They weren't off duty yet.
"Well, it's about time that we call it a day," Tom said as Shizuo took a seat on a park bench, "Have a good evening, Shizuo."
Shizuo nodded, "Thanks, you too." He leaned back against the bench and Tom walked away. Shizuo looked up at the sky. The sun was setting and the orange and red rays it painted on the sky looked peaceful. Ahh, it was nice to feel happy rather than angry. He could nearly hope that this feeling would last forever.
But as always, it ends quickly.
The sound of tires screeching on cement brought Shizuo back to reality. Looking forward again, he saw lots of police cars and a guy on a motorcycle. "Huh? I didn't break any laws."
"You're a danger to this city," Kuzuhara said as multiple police officers stepped out of their cars.
Shizuo currently had nothing to snap in his hands, but his anger was reaching that berserk point. "You just randomly declare me a danger to this city and come to arrest me? Who the hell gave you that right? In fact, how did you find me?"
"You destroy government property and start fights on a weekly basis, you really want to ask that? Anyways, I'll do the questioning here. Please don't fight back—"
"To hell with that!" With that statement, the policemen raised and pointed guns at Shizuo. Like that would stop him. It was fine, though, because it was just a distraction.
Immediately, Shizuo charged forward, only to notice that the shadows on the ground bent strangely and the moment he hesitated, it wrapped around him, restraining him. After a moment of struggling, he turned his head to the side, just seeing Celty in his line of vision. "Celty?" there was shock in his voice. Was his friend betraying him?
Celty left her bike's side and typed a message in her PDA. She then walked over and held it up for Shizuo to read. I'm sorry, Shizuo, but this is for your own good! I've recently been able to remember some things about my past life. One of them was a spell that can suppress your strength. …And I thought, you'd be happy with that, right? You told me your strength has been a problem for you. So I agree to help them.
It was a rather long message and Shizuo took his time reading and rereading the message. But, his mind was actually more stuck on the fact that Celty betrayed him. He had thought of Celty as a close friend, in a way, they were both monsters.
Hearing nothing from Shizuo, she took that as an ok to continue and erased the message, replacing it with, just relax.
The shadows began gathering around Shizuo and started swallowing him whole, "Wait—" The shadows turned into a giant ball, trapping the strongest man in the city in it. From the sidelines, the police held their weapons, but they were beginning to see just what sort of supernatural things existed in this world. Even Kuzuhara had no words for it.
Celty walked over to Kuzuhara with her PDA, it should be fine now.
No sooner had she said that, a clawed hand made its way out of the ball and Celty turned around in shock.
"What's going on?" Kuzuhara demanded.
Celty typed as fast as she could, I don't know! Something must have went wrong with the spell! Celty pocketed the PDA and ran back over to the breaking ball. Her gestures showed that she was truly confused and somewhat scared. What had she done to her friend?
The ball finally broke open and what stood there gave everyone chills. A hairy beast. Claws and fangs. At least six feet tall. Wolf-like. Bear-like. A pair of horns on the top of his head.
Everyone wanted to run, but their feet were glued to the ground.
Shizuo felt a blinding rage take over him, but once he looked down at his hands, he was filled with shock. From what Celty had said, the spell was supposed to suppress his power. This…this didn't look like a suppression of power. "C-Celty—" he paused. His voice. It sounded so awful. A cross between tormented and angry—that barely made sense, but that's what it sounded like, "What…What did you do to me?"
The PDA was whipped out again and Shizuo saw her fingers moving in an extremely fast pace. The PDA was then held up to his face. She had to stand on tip toes now that Shizuo had become taller, ok, calm down. It'll be alright. I just…I just made a little mistake in the spell. You'll be alright. This should be reversible.
"H-How?" he crunched up his face. He really didn't like the sound of his voice.
Celty took her PDA back and typed one or two words and paused. Shizuo held his breath. She didn't forget it, did she? After a moment's pause, she resumed typing, it's not fully reversible.
"Just tell me how to turn back to normal, goddamit!" the rage was coming back up again and in this form, Celty was worried if she could stop him.
Well, this spell will allow you to change back to normal for the last hour of the day and the first hour of the day. In other words, between 11PM and 1AM. This spell can only be cast once and will last up to five years. In this time, it is possible to break the spell, if you can find someone to love you. Pretty simple, right?
It seemed that Celty believed her own words, because her shoulders resembled chuckling at the last sentence.
"Simple? Simple! What girl will love me when I look like this?"
Celty flinched, realizing her mistake, I did not think of that…
There was a lot of anger and half a rampage afterwards, but everything was fixed once more. Well, fixed wasn't the best way to describe it. It was more of an attempt to fix things. Celty cast the second spell on Shizuo since it was better than nothing. But for a girl to fall in love with him when he's like this, Shizuo might as well give up hope.
In apology, Celty promised she would make sure he had a good house to live in and that he won't have to worry about food or work. Shizuo knew she really wanted to help and it was just unfortunate that she ended up making a mistake. It took two weeks of smashing everything in his new house before he calmed down and accept the fact that this is what he's going to have to deal with.
For the police and the government, this was a surprising turn of events. And while they prepared for the worse, they soon discovered they didn't have to. Shizuo seemed to have given up all hope of walking out as a normal person. (At least before, he looked human and approachable to those who didn't know him. Now…even that did not exist.) The only times he came out were the times he looked human and that wasn't enough time for him to cause trouble.
It was lonely, being in that house all day long by himself. His friends Celty, Shinra, Tom, Kadota, and his brother would all stop by from time to time, but only ever at night. They don't mind stopping by in the daytime, but Shizuo didn't want to risk it. He already had monstrous strength and now claws and fangs were added to the list. If he ever snapped, he was afraid he would really kill them.
So at half past eleven, Shizuo sat at the park outside his house with his brother, Kasuka. Shizuo got angry far less often now, but he wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't provoked or if he was really cured.
"Why don't you go and try to meet someone?" Kasuka asked.
"Huh?"
"You look normal right now," his brother turned to face Shizuo, "You could go to a club and it'd be normal for you to hook up with a girl."
"Er…" Shizuo blushed, "I don't really like hooking up with people like that. And besides, if I accidentally stay overtime and transform in front of everyone, that would be bad."
Kasuka didn't say anything, but simply nodded. After a moment, he added, "You'll break the curse. I know you can. You have five years. I don't believe that no one can look past how you look and see who you really are."
"Who I really am…" Shizuo mumbled, taking out a cigarette and lighting it up, "Who I really am…is probably just a monster."
"I don't believe that."
"Maybe not, but even now, I could kill someone. All I have to do is get angry. Who wants to love someone who would lose it at a drop of a hat and try to kill them?"
"Well, I've put up with it and loved you."
"You're my brother."
"Yes, I'm aware. I didn't mean it in any other way." Shizuo breathed out smoke nervously. Kasuka didn't change his facial expression, but Shizuo could tell he was laughing on the inside. He continued, "Bottom line is, Shizuo, if you don't try, you won't be able to find someone to love. And you won't find someone to break the curse. The person who can love you is out there. You can't always expect them to come to you. Sometimes, you have to look for them too."
Statements, not questions or suggestions. Shizuo took a breath of smoke. Five years. He still had four years and ten months.
Haha, what am I doing…starting a new multichap fic when I'm not done with my other ones? O-Oh well, they'll get done eventually. Can't stop them plot bunnies. And just to be clear, this is AU xD I tried to keep relationships similar, at the least. For one thing, I've forgotten how everyone in Kadota's group call each other. Um, I hope it was alright…
So, um, I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter of this Beauty and the Beast retelling c: I don't know when the next chapter will be up cause of school, but it will be up! (I'm excited to write~!)