Inevitable Two

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Cold. Slowly. Silently…

The rain poured down. Hitting hard against concrete. Smeared concrete. Red splattered concrete. Loose swirls of flying colours. Spreading wide; spreading deep. Right under his feet.

Under the sole of his shoes. Sneaking silently through narrow gaps. Slipping between the railings, down the rooftop. Falling, falling, falling-

Blood drops spluttered down. Making itself known.

He pulled knife out. Body hunching down. Falling down. Motionlessly. Lifelessly. Sinking into the spreading wetness; spreading rain drops; spreading blood drops.

"I'm sorry," a whisper carrying through the dark, humming passed dead ears into a mind long gone, "But you were warned, Manaka, weren't you?"

The rain flung on, drenched his shoulders, soaked his auburn hair completely and misted his glasses.

"You were warned."

Chris eyes snapped open. Senses flooding back to life. Noticing the quiet greeting him, lulling into his ear and dragging back to sleep but- thud, thud, thud- what was that? He sat up straight, listening to the sound before following it, floor creaking under his feet as he marched across the hall, down the stairs to the rummaging sound of cupboards opening and closing, of drawers being pulled in and out. Chris sneaked a glance up the stairs, hoping that none of the others were roused from sleep. It'd be bad for them to wake up now. They needed their sleep. A loose mind could never control a body to the fullest. It wouldn't be anything but fatal. Chris had a tongue lashing ready for whoever it was that disturbed the night rules, that was until he entered the living room.

A shadow sat at the corner of the room, amidst open paged books and markers, a lone laptop strewn across his legs, turned on and shining brightly against his shirt, the curve of his chin, the slight curl of downtrodden lips, the high rise of a familiar pair of cheek bones- alight and oozing of the character of a single person. Tanba. He stepped closer, waking the latter out of his stupor, dim eyes glancing at Chris, a minuscule tilt of a grin before it flatten into half lidded eyes and upturned lips, his else youthful face wrinkled into tiny folds, further ageing him.

"If you keep this up, you'll turn into grandpa before the rest of us," Chris mumbled, pushing the books away and seated himself next to him, stretching a hand out, messaging the folds away from Tanba's bald head, "Don't knit your face like this, you'll scare people away."

"That doesn't matter," Tanba leaned his head away, gazing pointedly at the opposite direction with furrowed brows, slightly leaning his head back, bumping it against the wall, careless, lazy, but the sound was the same- thud, thud, thud.

"I thought you were fine," soft the words flew out from Chris, his eyes tinged with the same gentleness despite the hinted tease sprouting from his words but Tanba seemed to understand anyhow. The cue was given. It was fine. Tanba sunk his head, shoulders trembling beneath Chris hand, his fisted hands tighten and soon enough, small droplets hit the cool wooden floor. Chris faced away, staring out of the window across the room into the direct night life. Glad that the curtains were not drawn. He tightened the arm around Tanba's shoulder, squeezing, conveying his support through easy touches.

"Who do you think killed him?"

"Hmm?" Chris tilted his head him, still not looking, listening to the rustles next to him until Tanba shuffled, left his seat to pick some books of the floor, handing them to him, gazing at him with determined eyes despite the glowing redness in them. Chris glanced down, surprised to find them to be notebooks, flipped a random page open, scrutinising the content, trailing after the scribbled details and pinpoint information regarding Manaka's death. His gaze hardens. "We aren't meant to meddle in these matters."

"I know," he mumbled, tracing the many characters with his forefinger, round and up and down and then again, gaze flicking here and there, pulling his legs closer to his chest, "but I can't leave things like this."

"Tanba..."

A low warning that set Tanba's emotions on fire, the latter whipped his head at Chris, gaze afire with such heat it threatened to burn Chris whole.

"They killed my friend for goodness sake! You can't expect me to sit around and do nothing!"

With a bat of an eye lash, Tanba was already standing, towering over him, the marker he held clutched in his hand moments ago pointed down at him, centimetres away from poking Chris' eye out. "If you don't want to help me, then that's fine. But don't tell me to abandon Manaka like this. He was my friend!"

"We only have each other." Chris mumbled, speaking of hollow promises and forgotten feelings, reminiscing in lost comrades for seconds before levelling a dangerous glint at Tanba, full of warning reflected his glowing green eyes, "You're aware of the consequences, yes? There's no turning back."

"Yeah," he sat back down, shoulders hunched in unmeasurable weight, "but I can't help but feel that it's up to me. I'm sure he wanted me to do this. To avenge him," he glanced at Chris, eyes softening with a small smile hanging at the tips of his lips, "I mean, if it isn't me then who will? I'm the only one who can. Everyone else is too scared."

"You should be too," when Tanba didn't respond, Chris stood up, picked every notebook from the floor and tucked it under his arm, "It'll take sometime to read this so let's meet up tomorrow. Shall we say same time?"

"What?" Tanba snapped his eyes at him, wide and round before they narrowed, a teasing mark flickering in his eyes. "Don't tell me you'll help me with this. Didn't you just lectured me not to meddle?"

Chris gave him a look despite the underlying softness swimming in his eyes. "If I didn't who'd make sure you'd be coming home safely? We can't have you end up dying too."

Tanba's brows furrowed as he canted his head at him, challenging, "What makes you sure you won't die along with me?"

"Unlike someone I'm not planning to rush to my death any time soon." Chris smiled and walked back to the direction to the bedrooms with Tanba striding right behind him, a hand raised up to rub the last streak of tears from his face, the small smile on his lips widened into a careless grin.

"Yeah, thanks."

It was two o'clock in the morning when Chris poked his head inside an empty living room, plies of notes under his arms and a half drunken mug of coffee in his other, sneaking with silent steps towards the couch, patient eyes looking out of the open slid door, into side kept stairs, ticking the seconds away, calmly sipping from his cup until the cushion next to him mutely sunk from bodily weight. He was here.

"Is it safe to assume, you believe it was the work of the Bloody Six, too?" he glanced at him, cold and hard, "Or do you think it was suicide?"

"What makes you sure it couldn't be another assassin?" Chris brows shot up, motioning to the data he was lightly waving with his hand, "It's not quiet impossible. Think about it- having only Manaka-san's fingerprints on the weapon sounds to be rather unreasonable proof for suicide if you consider how easily it is to remove them, if not avoid leaving them at all." Chris eyes narrowed, a tinge of seriousness misting deep into the green hues of his orbs, "In fact, this person seemed to be quite the professional. There has been only a gap of ten minutes between the time Manaka has been found and murdered. To think he'd erase himself from the scene so quickly..."

"Wouldn't you think that's the problem?" Tanba gritted out, fingers clenching tight on his sweatpants, fabric wrinkling underneath the firmness of his hands. "Only ten fucking minutes. That sentiment of that psycho makes me sick!" His eyes glowered, glaring deep into Chris clam eyes. "He used Manaka's phone to text Takahiro to take 'this piece of trash away!' knowing wholeheartedly 'hiro was in the gym down the road! He didn't risk himself be caught, he made fun of us!"

"So you do think someone from Manaka's social circle has done it."

"No. That's impossible." Tanba shook his head, brows knitted tight, "Killing another is taboo and will be dealt with death if found out. Nobody would considered it at all. It's one of the ways to regulate us after all. Besides," he stole an uneasily glance at Chris direction, fingers idly playing with the hem of his shirt, gazing away, "There is still an important detail I haven't written down yet. A potential reason for Manaka's murder."

"Oh?"

Tanba swallowed deep. "Remember the myth? You know the one they drilled us in since we first started…the little rumour about the Bloody Six?"

"Yeah, 'Whoever comes knocking on our doors, sniffing by our odours, digging deep into our roots, knee deep in soot will the death day come soon, hands and feet stuck in mud, will pay with immeasurable amount of blood' . . . .was it, yes? What about it?"

"It's exactly as it says. Manaka has been….'sniffing' about them. Apparently he conducted his own personal study on them. They must've found out somehow and decided to kill him."

"Hey, now..."

"Chris, there's no other explanation for it. Manaka didn't even got a Death Letter nor did his phone give out the Ready Signal despite the frequent rise on purges around us. The organisations have definitely nothing to do with it. It must've been a personal grudge on somebody's part. Manaka was definitely not purged by the organisation nor has he committed suicide. He's not a coward, dammit!"

"I know. If you've forgotten I knew him too." Chris eyes fluttered shut briefly, "But since you're so firm in your idea, how about we test it out? Whether you're right or not, whether it was grudge or not, weather it was suicide, whether it was murder, whether it was really their dark deed?"

Tanba gave him pointed look. "Why am I starting to have bad feeling about this?"

"Is that how much trust you have in me?" he laughed quietly, minding the sleepy heads slumbering in their nest laying in the rooms above them. "Disappointing. But wouldn't it be really something if we figure it out?"

"Okay now. Go on. I'm all ears," he waved his hand, rolled his head back, hitting his head against the wall- thud, thud, thud- "Tell me about the cause of my future deathbed."

"Don't exaggerate. I only meant for us to research this by ourselves. After all," Chris smiled at him knowingly, "The way I know you, you've already decided to lure the B6 out from their hideout. Although, I'm also fairly certain you're unclear as to how yet. But that's why I'm here for, right? To tell you how this'll work."

"Tch," Tanba turned his head pointedly away, fighting down the rising redness crawling up his cheeks, "….don't get ahead of yourself. Besides-" he whipped his head back at him, eyes narrowing suspiciously at him, "What are you scheming anyway? I smell something fishy-"

"Hey, hey. Now, that's not a nice thing to say," annoyance slid weak into his sleepy voice, words jammed together in an uncoordinated slur, tousled auburn hair flaring over, framing black rimmed glasses, head leaning against the door frame, slouching against it, throwing a careless and far too easy smile at them. "It can't smell that bad."

"Miyuki, shouldn't you be in bed?" Chris brows furrowed. Had they been too loud? Did they wake him? "Go to bed," he whispered as though the growing quietness will rouse sleep to take over him again, but Miyuki firmly shook his head and pushed off from the frame, stepping into the moonlight. Chris eyes widened. "A-are you crying?"

"What?" Miyuki rose brow, hand reaching up, swiping across his cheek and holding it out into the direct light. His lips curled up then, twitching at the corners and Chris knew he was about to laugh. "Oh, it's just blood," he stretched his hand out for them to see, "Just came straight down from a kill, you know?"

Chris gazed at the liquid oozing down from his fingers, eyes moving up to his grinning face, narrowing at his red matted hair, streaked face and strained clothes, wondering how he didn't notice the front door being opened by him. "Who have been fighting against?"

"….somebody twice my size and triple as dumb." Miyuki's grin faltered, brows knitting back in thought of that bulky idiot strangling him, exposing his neck wide whilst he was at it- a stupid mistake. It didn't take much from Miyuki to slit his throat open. Although at the cost of having that pig's blood rain all over him. Disgusting. He bit back a shudder and waved a hand, walking out the door. "I'll take a shower and head to bed. Don't stay up to late. Oh and-" he turned, eyes softening behind thin lenses, lips tweaking down a tiny bit but it was enough to cause Chris brows to furrow. What was wrong? "Don't do anything uncalled for, okay?"

Tanba snapped his head at him, forehead twitching in ire."What was that?"

"You heard me," he said over his shoulder, warmth flowing through auburn orbs hidden behind thin lenses. "You've been warned by me. Nothing stupid, got it~?"

"What's with that dingo?" Tanba muttered, stealing a questioning glance at Chris who was mutely observing the door. "What's up?"

"Nothing," he slowly shook his head, brows furrowing deeper, "Nothing at all." I wonder what he meant…

Chris shook his head, and turned back to Tanba."As I was saying we need to take a deeper look into Manaka-san's death. I was thinking that we should split the task. I'll try to find out any additional helpful information whilst you'll lure them out."

Tanba rose a sceptical brow. "How?"

"Whilst I'm searching within the organisations you'll draw out attention from outside by completing S and A rank mission like Manaka-san did prior his death. Like this, whoever was after Manaka-san will be after one of us."

"And we'll know then who his murder was," concluded Tanba grinning, any form of animosity completely rubbed off from his face, gazing at Chris with bright eyes, excitement shimmering under the broad onyx colour from his orbs, fist trembling from tight restraint. "Yeah, we'll do that. Let's do that. Let's do that now."

"No. I'd like us to wait." Chris sighed, held a hand up to silence Tanba's flaring protest. "If you rushed to act now it'll only raise suspicion from the wrong people. We have to build the plan up slowly or else it won't seem natural in the least. Having people notice so soon what we're up to is dangerous, especially if we face high chances of Manaka-san murderer getting an idea about us before we're able to get any relevant idea about him."

"You can't be serious."

"Slowly," he stressed, locking gaze hard with Tanba's, drilling the latter's welling heated emotions away until it deflated and only vast annoyance bubbled under Tanba's skin. "It's important you understand that, Tanba. If you rise the ladder up too quickly it'll only irk the people around us. There will be numerous rumours in a matter of minutes and you know how quick they spread. Especially if there are nasty rumours about Seidou's Best to tell. Our group is despised enough as it is."

Tanba breathed out deeply from his nose, onyx eyes glowering at Chris from the side despite understanding from which spot Chris' ideas exactly originated from. From the way his shoulders slumped Chris was sure Tanba knew that with their plan they were risking more than a little burn, more than a sacrificial service with their lives to avenge another- no, they were risking the lives of their entire group. A responsibility they had to preserve and keep tact of.

"I know. Having them assume that our whole crew is behind this little plan is disastrous. It'll only put them in danger. We can't be selfish. I know."

"We only got each other, Tanba," he placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing, passing on warmth in sole comfort. "It goes without saying that we have to single ourselves out from our group. That's why you need to have some patience. I understand how badly you want to take them out but-"

"I got it. I got." Tanba closed his eyes briefly, a slight smile forming on his lips, glancing sideways at Chris, "So...I guess that there will be only C rank mission this week?"

Chris nodded. "Next week you can mix up the C's and B's until it's safe to raise up to few A ranks. Leave the rest for next month. We can't rush things now."

"I got it." Tanba threw his head back, hitting against the headboard of the couch again, ringing thud, thud, thud clearly into Chris ear until he stretched his hand out, planting it firmly behind his head, stopping another thud from resounding and felt a bump on Tanba's head. Chris sighed deeply.

"Harming yourself won't change a thing. Do you really feel this much agitated?"

"It's natural, isn't it? After all my friend was murdered. Killed. Slaughtered."

"Breathe." Chris eyes softened, massaging the swelling spot with cool fingers, depicting the bitterness in his voice, thick hatred that Chris all too wanted to scrape out. It's doesn't belong there, he reasoned. "Promise me you won't storm head first into this mess, yeah? Promise you'll take it slow."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," he chuckled, striving a hand over his forehead, repositioning his cap. "Man, you're worrying way too much."

"I have to. I'm dealing with you after all."

Long forgotten words, shimmering idly in memories fought to the foremost part of his brain, pushed forwards and demanded attention Chris was too willing to give, turning the new found words over his head as cold showers rippled down from his shoulder, sinking to the pit of his stomach, old memories bubbling up, rising past the mist, becoming clearer.

A hand shot up, rising over the heads of many. A childish voice calling out. Straight down to the instructor. A question. Easily answered by another rumour. Another myth. Another staying. Another story.

"Those who find their ways to us, come howling to us, will surely burn in the hottest flames straight down from hell." The instructor quoted, smiling brightly at them, "Never-"

"Stuff your nose in places it doesn't belong." Chris ended loosely in thoughts, staring at Tanba walking away from him, slipping into the consuming shadows, sending a last smile at Chris before vanishing out of sight into the dark completely.

Chris clenched his fingers. He wasn't going to take any chance. Their actions were defying everything they've been taught up to now. He knew and yet-

With a thumping heart he whirled around, coming to face with sharp eyes, upturned lips and furrowed brows framed by a towel strewn across his head, brown hair with a crown of pure auburn, dandling of droplets- drip, drip, drip- filling out the stretching silence in between them.

"I came back to wish you lot goodnight." Miyuki mumbled, gaze trained on the wall in front of him, back leaning against the wall as he canted his head at Chris, any previous sign of sleepiness washed away with the glistering drops trailing down the side of his face, "To tell the truth I expect something like this might happened. It was predictable taking Tanba's personality into consideration. But. . ." he laughed quietly to himself, slanted smile playing at the tips of his lips, regarding Chris with shallow, dreary eyes. "It seems that somewhere in my heart I've hoped that it will never come to this and perhaps it was unreasonable for me to think so. Tanba's not the type to brush the death of a friend easily off his shoulder after all, nor is he the type to let matters like this rest any time soon. In fact, he won't be satisfied until the assured the death of the murder himself. How practically fitting."

"Miyuki-"

"Don't get any ideas, Chris-Senpai. I have no intention of shying away from this and neither am I quite ready to lend a hand." he winked then, replacing the slanted quirk of his lips with a cheeky smile and mischievous crinkling eyes. "I mean, meddling is just not allowed, right?"

Chris smiled. "You got that quite right. But I must say I'm quite impressed. I haven't heard your footsteps at all and usually I can depicted them out from miles."

Miyuki's smile gained on length, "Or perhaps you prestigious ears are losing their touch."

"Or you've been secretly practising." the sternness from Chris eyes drilled into his eyes and not long after Miyuki lowered his eyes, a frown perched between his brows.

"Why would I do that?" he lifted a brow then, auburn eyes glowing with a challenging glint in them, "Think I'm planning something suspicious?"

Chris stared at him deep into his eyes, gazing passed auburn eyes, dark irises, coming across vague mist of flitting amusement and something underneath, lurking deep in the depth of the swimming brownness he couldn't dip into and a fading greyness mixed along the shrouded hues he couldn't reach into. It was too far away. Too guarded. Miyuki wouldn't let him see it. "I don't know what you're planning. But I hope it's nothing besides the occasional prank."

"If you knew…!" Miyuki laughed and grinned so unabashedly normal that Chris didn't think any more of it and dismissed it, filing it in the part of his brain he designed for occurrences like these. A part reserved for strange situations, or more like in this case strange conversations. He shrugged.

Let him play with what ever he wants to. After all, where could the harm in that be?

What will happen to them?

You'll have to read Centenarains to find out what fate awaits them.

I can only say that it won't be pretty.