Author Note: So I've been burnt out for awhile for numerous of reasons, but I've recently felt more invigorated. I've had this idea and I'm going to be trying to work at it. I've even been planning it out, and Crazyeight and Shrub360 have been looking it over for me, so hopefully I'll manage to keep all your interest even though I'm writing this solo. I don't have anything witty to say this chapter, but give me time. I'm sure I will next.
Edit: Fixed grammar mistakes.
Chapter 1: Dark Eyes
The neon lights of Kabukicho illuminated the dark streets, causing the red light district to appear more like a carnival rather than one of Japan's most dangerous neighborhoods. Waves of people passed underneath unique billboards, storefronts and signs, all of which were competing to attract the attention - and money - of those who walked past. Women ignored the men who followed them up and down the streets, encouraging them to come work at one of the hundred hostess bars in the 100 block area.
Instead her amber eyes flickered between watching the ground and staring into the dark alleyways, calling forth a memory. A shadow, almost invisible save for a pair of haunting red-eyes that shone with the eerie light of the street. She shivered, suddenly feeling ten years younger and much smaller again. From the alley, she fancied she saw something move, dark and ghostly, and she clung closer to the boy for comfort.
The darkness of the alley, hiding cats and monsters real and mythical, gaped at her as they passed it; a nightmare's mouth, and as they left its shadow, unseen, red gleamed within.
"OK, so we swept the hostess bars down this street. Nobody has seen them, and we picked up three more missing posters along the way," a Chinese boy said, flipping through a pile of papers the group had accumulated in the past few hours, his lips pulled down into a small frown. "Just by looking at them, there doesn't seem to be a discernible pattern."
"Yes there is." The girl's voice broke its silence for the first time that night, causing a lull in the conversation as the attention centered on her. "They're all victims of the senshihenge."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, the Chinese boy took a deep breath before exhaling.
"Katou, for the last time, its just an urban legend-"
"Says you!"
Despite being a good foot or so smaller than Jianliang Lee, Juri Katou drew herself up to the full height she could muster, pushing herself on her toes to stare into the cool grey eyes of the half-Chinese boy, ignoring the heavy bags underneath them. However, he didn't blink or look away once - not that he had a chance to as Takato broke up the staring contest merely seconds later, pushing himself between the two, laughing awkwardly.
"Guys, I thought we agreed not to fight?" he pleaded, looking between the two of them.
"I dunno man, that's going to be hard considering Lee here hasn't learned women are always right," Hirokazu smirked, tapping ashes off the butt of his cigarette before taking another long drag. "I'm an idiot, and I learned that much. Maybe if you got yourself a lady friend …"
"I doubt it, especially when they have your charms to contend with," Jianliang replied, glancing at the other boy, quirking a brow as a smirk twitched on his lips.
"Look man, I'd turn off this swag if I could, but this is a curse I was just born with," Hirokazu sighed dramatically before dropping the remains of his cigarette on the ground, grinding his heel into the asphalt to put it out.
Juri frowned as the two boys went at it, toeing the line between teasing, trolling and outright flirting. Her eyes flickered to Kenta for half a second, whose mouth had formed a thin line as the two went back and forth, but upon noticing her gaze gave her a small reassuring smile. The brunette tried to smile back but it came out more as a grimace.
Ayaka and Miki - not to mention gods only know how many other people now - were missing, and her friends weren't taking it seriously. They were just wandering around a dangerous neighborhood at night, and if things continue as they were, they would have nothing to show for it. Just like the police officers, they were putting their heads in the sand and refusing to consider all possibilities. Even if Takato, Hirokazu and Kenta didn't come right out and say they didn't believe her like Jianliang did, she didn't need them to. It was written all over their faces.
Honestly, Juri wasn't sure which attitude was worse - she was either being patronized or disregarded.
And a shapeshifting animal which kidnaps people makes more sense than the crime rate suddenly skyrocketing and nobody knowing what's happening, she thought, kicking at the ground, a scowl growing on her face.
That's when the fliers for Ayaka, Miki and some of their other classmates were put in front of her face. Blinking as she stared into the brown eyes of her childhood friend, the lopsided smirk on her face a painful reminder of their current situation, Juri looked up to see Kenta smiling kindly at her, pressing the papers into her hands.
"We should continue to ask around," he said, before glancing around at their surroundings, his smile dropping slightly as they stared into the darkness which surrounded them. Even with the neon billboards lighting up the streets, shadows still played on the corners. They even seemed to cling to the people themselves, some of whom didn't feel quite human. It was like walking in a different world itself, one ruled by darkness and shadow.
People barely glanced at them when they showed the posters. The most helpful information they got was from a bouncer on a smoke break.
"Haven't seen 'em," the man grunted, tapping off the ashes clinging to the cigarette end, before jerking his head to posters lining the wall of the nearby building. Faces which none of the group recognized smiled back at them - most of them women, but there were some men too. "Ya can put 'em with the others if ya want. It's gettin' to be a real problem though. Nobody seems ta know anything."
"We're getting nowhere," Hirokazu growled, slouching as he marched down the street, slightly ahead of the rest of them. "It hasn't been that long, how has nobody seen anything?"
"It's very possible they were kidnapped for some sex slavery ring," Jianliang noted, his mouth in a thin line as his grey eyes darted around, his body tense like a coiled spring. "We should go home. We've been out much later than any of us initially agreed to. It's dangerous for any of us to stick around."
"But we haven't gotten anywhere," Takato said, his shoulders slumping like a kicked puppy. Juri's heart twisted at his defeated expression, and she wished she could find the source of the wedge which came between them. Either that or rip her heart out of her chest to stop the painful build up each time she looked at him and pretended like she was OK.
That's when suddenly her body stopped - not because of a magic spell, though later down the line she would wonder if that had been better - but good old physics; a body in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. And in this case the outside force was a tall muscular man, tattoos of a spiraling dragon covering his face. If he was part of the yakuza, Juri honestly wouldn't be surprised.
Spluttering out an apology as his dark eyes narrowed, the conversation between the other boys came crashing to an abrupt halt as the world itself seemed to stop breathing. With every passing second, it felt like the man was growing larger, looming over them all - even Hirokazu who was touching just over 1.8 meters. And when he spoke, Juri swore up and down the ground underneath their feet rumbled with each syllable he uttered even though nobody else noticed any tremors.
"Watch where ya going, bitch."
"So-sorry, I'm so sorry," Juri stammered, taking a few steps back, only for the goliath's hand to snap out and grab her arm tightly. He pulled her closer, and she could smell the familiar scent of alcohol on his breath as his bloodshot eyes dragged down her body, before a crooked smile crossed his lips.
"Ah … don't worry. Ya can make it up to me," he purred as a shiver ran down her spine, and she forced down the wave of nausea. Her hand began to stretch down toward her purse where the mace her father never let her leave the house without lay hidden.
"Oh?" she asked, forcing a smile well practiced over the years on her face. Her voice didn't quiver at all when she tilted her head, her fingers clasping on the button of her purse flap, fumbling with it. "What did you have in mind?"
However before he could answer, the predatory glint shining brighter in his eyes, there was a yell and Juri felt her body move backwards a few inches as Hirokazu and Takato literally launched themselves on to the goliath of a man.
It was like the howling wind trying to cause a mountain to bow, and even Hirokazu sinking his teeth into the man's exposed flesh like a vampire didn't seem to phase him; the attack caused more distress to Jianliang and Kenta, both of whom looked like they were watching a train wreck in a slasher film in slow motion.
Shaking them off like a dog, throwing both boys to the street with ease, the man's grip on her got tighter. Even though the rising anxiety attack was making it harder to breathe, somewhere in the back of her mind she felt like the captive of King Kong.
"What the fuck, ya little bitches," he growled, rubbing the area of his neck where Hirokazu had bitten him like a mosquito had nibbled at his flesh, making it itch. "Can't ya see the lady and I are talking?"
"Can't you see she doesn't want to?"
Twisting her body to see whoever spoke, she came face to face girl with bright red hair pulled back into a ponytail, garbed in a long white trench coat with a popped up collar.
Yet instead of feeling assured or even relieved, it was like Juri had been dumped into a cold vat of water. It was like the girl was cloaked in the shadow of Kabukicho itself. And when the girl looked up, there was nothing but darkness in her eyes - a dark ocean which lead to the bottom of the void. The girl's hand reached out and gripped the fingers which were digging into the brunette's arm and pried them back, causing a yell of pain to escape his lips as a sickening crack reverberated through the air and Juri almost lost the remains of the hamburger she had for lunch hours ago. Yet her body moved on instinct away from the danger - though now at this point in time she didn't know who was more dangerous.
The mountain reached out with his free hand toward his escaping prize before turning on the red-head, snarling like a vicious wolf.
"Bitch-"
That's all he was able to get out, however, as he was laying flat on his back as this girl who didn't even make it up to his chin grabbed him by the front of his shirt and threw him on the ground, the pavement shaking as it reverberated.
Faster than Juri could blink, the girl was sitting on him, her weight no doubt like a pebble but she was using the man's own finger like a knife as she pressed the appendage on his eye. The man screamed between his gasps for air as he desperately tried to struggle out from underneath her, reaching out with his other hand to push her off only for it to be caught and slammed into the ground with a sickening thud.
"Apologize," she commanded as attention from around the street was drawn to the scene which was unfolding, yet nobody stepped in to help. Juri looked fearfully over to Takato - or even Jianliang, he knew how to fight - for help, only to be met with equally shocked expressions.
"Wh-what?" he spluttered, gasping in pain, trying to push his way up only for her to press harder down on his eye, starting to draw blood. He yelled again, his eye twitching as it desperately tried to close to protect itself - not that it seemed to be doing a lot of good.
"You seem to mistake this as a request. You bumped into her. Now apologize." Her words were cold and measured in an almost lazy drawl. There was no viciousness or even malice in her voice, and somehow it made the situation worse.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he cried, gasping in pain, tears running down his eyes, and the girl relented ever so slightly.
"If I ever see you again touching another woman like that, I won't just let you leave with a broken wrist," she promised before getting up, brushing dirt off her jacket as she did so. In a second, the man was back on his feet, standing clumsily like a newborn deer, cradling his useless hand, glowering at her with his one good eye before absconding like a kicked animal.
Juri felt frozen in place as the girl's eyes watched him go before fluttering downward to the missing person posters the brunette must have dropped in the initial scuffle. Bending down, the girl picked up a piece of paper and studied it, her lips pulling down into a frown.
It was then Takato's voice broke the silence.
"Ah … did you uhm … see them?"
"No." The girl's reply was blunt but when she looked up, the darkness seemed to have ebbed away revealing two brightly burning violet eyes. "But I know where to look."