Story Title: Nacht Jäger
Chapter Title: The Coming of the Night
Author: Mathais
Rating: T
Fandom: CLAMP Campus Detectives
Warnings: Violence
Pairings: At this point in time, unknown.
Summary: With his mothers' deaths, Akira embraces a silent blade to slay those who cannot be brought to justice. Changed from his innocent youth, he only grows more and more tired as time passes now, all he does is stand with the support of the people around him.
Disclaimer: The characters and locations of CLAMP Campus Detectives and the shadow organization that appears do not belong to me.
OoOoO
"Takamura-senpai!" shouted a joyful voice into the silence, a genuine bubbly tone which brought smiles to most of the people who had the pleasure of hearing it. The two inhabitants of the room looked up at the familiar voice, both greeting the newcomer.
The blue-haired secretary nodded his head in greeting, a small lift in his normally cold lips. His bubbly nature was infectious; even his cool nature could not stifle the warmth his presence brought.
"Akira!" The blonde board president smiled widely as his own greeting, genuine happiness at seeing his friend permeating even through the desire to escape from his work and play.
Their treasurer held up a plate covered with a light blue cloth. "I brought some snacks for us." The smile on his face grew wider with all the innocence of the holder.
"Let's stop for a moment, Suoh!" the board president spoke lightly in a blatant attempt at evasion. Akira cheerfully turned away from the scene rendered as normal in his eyes, instead choosing to busy himself with clearing one of their tables in order to properly place the snacks down.
Suoh slammed his hand down in a sign of his increasing irritation, though his twitching eyebrows telegraphed his emotions better than the loud crash echoing through the room. "President," he stated slowly through clenched teeth, "You will finish your paperwork now."
Tears, every single one of them able to be called upon a moment's notice, slowly ran down the president's eyes. "But Suoh," he whined in a tone of voice reserved only for private meetings such as this one, "please!"
Akira gave a small gasp as he realized something, a distressed look coming onto his face. "I forgot something! I'll be right back!" With that, he rushed out, leaving Suoh and the student president alone together.
"O Nokoru..." Suoh held up a length of rope threateningly, his eyebrows continuing to twitch in anger.
"Suoh... Please Suoh... SUOH!"
OoOoO
Akira ran from his house as fast as he could, where he had made a, and in Akira's exact words, "super-special-yummy-craft secret-fluffy-whipped cream," but forgot it the last time he had gone to the office. He happily followed the familiar path to the CLAMP School building where his two best friends waited for him, a slight skip in his step he could not suppress.
Along the way, however, Akira froze, his instincts kicking in almost immediately to alert him of danger.
"Someone's here. Hiding," he thought, nibbling his lower lip in worry as his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Hiding extremely well." After the stunt CLAMP's head pulled on them, he'd taken to becoming more aware of presences than ever before. It got to the point where he perhaps even surpassed Suoh with his abilities.
Spurred by a flash of intuition, Akira raced off, dodging between trees with almost inhuman reflexes. His pack was readied as a makeshift weapon, a defensive measure for anything that might come his way. While his job as Twenty Faces usually entailed some high-tech equipment, he hadn't reached his current level of skill at notoriety without some ability in improvisation.
He blinked as he skidded to a stop, suddenly seeing a woman in a white shirt and black pants bring out a wicked-looking dagger and try to stab a brown-haired man. The man dodged as he brought out two rows of claws sheathed in his gloves, weapons Akira recognized as bugnucks. The brown haired man held them in a defensive position as the woman advanced slowly, cautiously. Something flashed behind her—and Akira's eyes widened when he recognized what he was seeing.
Acting on instinct, Akira tossed one of the textbooks from his bag. It hit the woman cleanly on the wrist, sending the handgun flying out of her hand.
Akira broke in at that moment, launching into a perfected flying kick which knocked the woman away. The man stared at him in no little surprise, but Akira made the universal gesture for "get the hell out of here" with his hands. The man did as ordered, but not before he flashed the boy a thanks with his eyes. Akira nodded before returning his gaze to the woman he downed, ready to react if necessary.
The woman merely snarled at him. "Do you know what you just did?"
His reply was to smile in what would be smugness in anyone else, and he followed in a light tone, "Stopped you from killing someone."
"You little bastard!" The woman lunged at him.
Akira sidestepped the wild attack before swinging his foot around and kicking her in the back with a smooth move, one he had perfected when he was five. In comparison to Suoh, he wasn't as good, but he was far better than a person his age had any right to be, so surprise was on his side when she spun and attempted another attack, only to be deflected in a similar manner. He landed lightly on his feet, his eyes narrowing noticeably in a look few ever saw him with. He was not a boy to be trifled with, not at any cost.
The woman hit the ground harshly, but she was far from out. "You'll pay for this!" she growled. Recognizing that she was a little outmatched, however, she threw a smoke bomb down, and Akira coughed as the noxious gas filled the area. When the smoke dissipated, Akira was alone, the killer gone.
The boy sighed, troubled, as he picked up his textbook. "Who was she? How will she pay me back for denying her her prey?" Walking back to the Student Body Office, Akira thought about what happened, an uneasy chill ever-present in his spine.
"Akira?" Nokoru looked up, feeling something out of place for the younger boy. Careful observation revealed a tension in his stance and his eyes which was completely at odds with his previous cheer.
"Yes chairman?" Akira's voice was soft and melancholy, despite his best efforts to mask it. It immediately caught the attention of Suoh, who looked up instantly.
"Is something wrong Ijyuin?" asked the blue-haired secretary carefully, concern briefly flashing in his eyes.
"Nothing," Akira shook his head unconvincingly, offering a weak smile. "Here's the cream for the snacks I brought." Placing the canister down, he returned to his desk. "I'll be working."
The two others exchanged a glance, but Nokoru shrugged. Suoh sighed as he paused for a moment before he continued working, though not without a sense of unease.
OoOoO
It was on Akira's mind all week. The only person he talked to about it was Utako during their usual meeting on Friday, and even then he couldn't help but feel as if something's wrong.
Utako sipped her tea. "So, you're saying that a professional assassin is after you?" She was taking it surprisingly well considering her age, and her eyes were completely serious.
Akira nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I am. All because I denied her the prey she wanted."
Utako's eyes suddenly widened in horror. "Don't you have parents?" she asked quickly.
"Mom!" Akira jumped up with all the speed of his profession. Utako moved out of his way as he shot away with as fast as he could, forgoing some of his usual secrecy in his desperation. Fear pounded in his heart every step of his return, and he couldn't help but hope against all the possible changes. "You have to be all right! Please!" If he didn't need all his breath for running, Akira would have whimpered.
"Moms! I'm home!" he yelled out franticly once in the now dubious safety of his house.
"Akira!" His two mothers came out, entirely unfazed by his rush. "It's nice to see you!"
"Are you all right?" one asked, now concerned once she caught sight of her boy.
Akira gave a sigh of relief, a tired smile stretching over his face. "Yes. I'll be in bed," he replied, brushing a light sheen of sweat away.
His mothers nodded in worry. "All right."
"Do you need anything?"
Akira shook his head and went to his room, feeling a sense of foreboding overcome his relief.
His two mothers stared worriedly after him.
OoOoO
On Monday, Akira was walking home after finishing his duties at the boardroom. With a growing sense of foreboding, Akira neared his house. There was something off—something was really strange, and he hadn't survived as a thief without his intuition. Slipping his shoes off, he called inside. "Moms! I'm home!" There was no answer to his call, and Akira's worry and anxiety only grew. Cautiously, he stalked around the house, checking each room quickly yet thoroughly, always keeping to the shadows and depending on his thievery training for a silence the Takamura family would be proud of. Despite his search, however, he came across no one. He came to his mothers' room at last and, gulping, Akira flung open the door.
He muffled an ear-splitting scream at the sight. Both his mothers' bodies were lying on the floor, blood coating their corpses. Akira could instantly tell that they were dead. There was no way that they could be alive, not with their glassy eyes, their faces still marked with their pain they felt before their deaths, and the slowly cooling blood.
He couldn't help the tears that rolled down his face, couldn't help the pain in his heart. Stumbling back from the sight, his eyes came across a note scribbled onto a paper attached to the wall.
Akira picked it up and read it.
I told you that I'd pay you back. I know who you are, Akira Ijyuin, and I know who you work with. I don't care if you are partnered with the Imonoyama-zaibatsu or the Takamura shinobi clan—either way, you will be hunted. Unless you disappear... Chase me, little kitten, and let us finish this once you find me again.
Akira gulped slightly, fear for his friends running rampant before being replaced but a cool logic and stirring anger. He made a decision and went for it, because there was no other option. This was his own problem, his own fault—he had brought this upon himself, and his mothers had paid the price. But—he would not let anyone else be harmed by his own problems. His friends mattered too much to him for him to endanger them.
Gathering some things, he slipped them into a bag, going about with a cold efficiency in his actions. If she wanted him to chase him, then he would chase her to the ends of Earth and even hell itself in order to make sure she stayed away from those he cared about. Scribbling a quick note as he went, he vanished from his home.
No one saw him leave.
OoOoO
That night, there was a knock on Utako's balcony door. Opening it, she found nothing but a note—one whose contents made her knees weak. Reading it over, Utako began murmuring worriedly to herself as her heart beat faster and faster with emotions so powerful she didn't know what to do.
"It happened. No, I can't leave him by himself. Not when his parents are dead." Hastily, making a choice out of a love stronger than most would ever be blessed by, she threw together some of her things, packing as light and efficient as she could. She had almost made it out of the balcony's doors when her own door burst open to reveal her older sister.
"Utako?" the voice was tinged with worry, shock, and not a little bit of indignation, "What are you doing?"
"Mako-onee-sama!" gasped Utako in surprise, before fumbling with her answer. "I'm... Um..."
Snatching the letter out of her hands, Ohkawa Makoto scanned it. "You're going after Twenty Faces, aren't you?" she accused, eyes flashing slightly with their own tumultuous emotions.
Utako steeled her resolve and nodded, burning defiance in her eyes. "Yes, I am."
Makoto gave an uncharacteristic sigh, a cool, early maturity seeping into her eyes and posture. "All right then. I'm going with you." Utako was about to protest, but Makoto gave a small glare, bending back her little sister's fiery passion with her own cool iron. "I'm going, and that's final! You're my little sister—I can't leave you by yourself."
Defeated by her sister's willpower, Utako assented, and Makoto raced to pack some of her own items in preparation for their journey. Together, the two headed out of the window. There, they faced Akira waiting for them, the warmth in his stance already gone. This was not the Akira Ijyuin of the day that stood before them, not by the darkness in his eyes.
"Akira-kun!" Makoto's eyes went a little wide. "You're Twenty Faces?"
Akira nodded sharply, glancing over with them. "I take it you two are coming with me."
It wasn't a question, but both girls nodded anyway. "I know that we won't be treated like we usually are, but we're going with you," stated Utako softly and firmly, Makoto agreeing.
"We're going to disappear." Akira displayed his own bundle containing, among another things, dyes and make-up. "No one will recognize us—we'll obtain false identities and everything. No one must know that we are who we are—we will cast off our names and blend in the shadows."
The Ohkawa girls nodded, Makoto looking at him with a hint of respect for his steel.
No one noticed as three small figures glided through the night.
OoOoO
The remaining members of the CLAMP Campus's Elementary School Board were worried when Akira didn't show up the next day.
"Where is he?" Nokoru was beyond normal worry—his playful personality was subdued by the shaking of his hands and the worry beating through his heart.
"Perhaps he's sick chairman." Suoh suggested, but the words sounded hollow to his own ears, and he fell silent.
"Imonoyama-sama!" The sound of urgent knocking caught their ears, and Nokoru straightened in his seat.
"Come in!" Nokoru called after sharing a glance with Suoh. One boy and one girl—both young—entered, and Nokoru immediately recognized them. "Kindergarten Secretary Kinomoto Tohru and Kindergarten Treasurer Shindou Hiroshi," he addressed them in their panic, "What's the matter?"
"The Kindergarten President is gone!" Both cried out simultaneously.
"Gone?" Both boys of the Elementary School Board stood quickly, sharing their own panicked glance.
"She just disappeared!" Hiroshi wailed, his high tone frantic with worry. "She wasn't in her room! Neither was Ohkawa Makoto-san!"
"That's strange," murmured Suoh, a darkness appearing in his eyes. "Do you think that Ijyuin is missing as well?"
"Perhaps we should check his house," suggested Nokoru, though the possible results of their search flashed through his head and made him ill to his stomach.
Both of the Kindergarten Board Members were trembling now. "Do we have to elect a new president?" Nokoru remained silent, so the two made their way to the door, hugging each other in their worry and grief. "We thank you for your time."
"Let's go. Akira's well being is more important than paperwork."
Suoh didn't argue—he instead burst of the door, Nokoru only barely on his heels.
Akira—was too important for them to lose.
Suoh's heart beat in his chest faster and faster as they neared the Ijyuin home. Though he loved Nagisa with all his heart, and he served to protect Nokoru, Akira had become very important to him as well, and he didn't want to lose the cheerful boy on whom he could depend.
They entered the house, Suoh first, and the Takamura ninja found it to be a bad omen when the door was already unlocked. As Nokoru still needed to catch up, he made it his own job to secure the premises. To both his satisfaction and discernment, the entire place was empty—of the Ijyuins themselves also.
It took all of his training to squash the initial urge to recoil once he hit the master bedroom. Even as a ninja, the utter cruelty with which the women inside were killed horrified him.
"Suoh?" panted someone behind him, but before the ninja could turn and stop him, Nokoru's head turned the corner and caught the sight within. "What's—" The boy grew silent, his face first paling then growing green. "I think I'm going to be sick," he said faintly.
"Go back," the ninja said sharply, "and inform the police of a double homicide." The Imonoyama did so, only giving a fleeting glance backward.
Kneeling at the bodies, Suoh immediately knew that this was a professional assassin as well as a torture expert—and a sickly feeling burned in his stomach because Akira wasn't present.
Could it be?
No, he didn't want to think about it. He could only hope that the boy was found... hopefully, alive.
OoOoO
But the Takamura's wish didn't come true—Akira had not been found. And, as he looked back, it has been many years since that day. Fourteen years, to be exact. Neither he nor Nokoru ever forgot Akira. They never took on another treasurer either, always choosing some to delegate, but never to join their inner circle. Because they never got over the person they lost.
Deep within the city, however, there was a very important gathering.
"This is you target," a digitized voice said from a video transmission purposely left murky and unidentifiable as a stony-faced woman handed out three folders. "Her name is Ishii Miyako. Her target is Kikuichi Keiichi. Despite being a wealthy businessman, he has remained clean of any illegal dealings and is one of our trusted informants when it comes to other teams."
"We believe she also has ties to the Tasogare no Uta," cut in the woman briefly.
"Your objectives are to protect Kikuichi, take out Ishii, and gather any information on the Tasogare no Uta. Do you accept?"
"I accept," a woman answered, taking a folder with a practiced eye.
"I'm in as well," the second woman, younger, also received a folder.
"I will." The third, a man, nodded as he took the last.
"Hunters of the night, deny this predator her last hunt." The shadowed silhouette disappeared at the same time as the woman left, leaving the three remaining to look over the files they were given.
OoOoO
Revised since original posting