"Almost there!" Kazuha rasped as she ran from her pursuers, speaking aloud to encourage herself. The phone booth up ahead glimmered in the light of the flickering streetlamps and she knew, if she could just get there and close the door, she could call for help and she'd be safe. But, despite the fact that she was in shape and a quick runner as well, the two men caught up with her before she even got close.
"Gotcha!" the taller of the two said in triumph as his hand closed around her wrist in a iron grasp. She opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could before he clamped a hand over her lips. "Shut up, bitch, or we'll have to do this the hard way. Either way is fine with me, but I'd hate to mess up your pretty face." He sneered, forcefully turning her head to make her look him in the eyes, her own eyes large and shimming with her barely restrained terror.
He began walking then, dragging her along by her head and waist toward an alley off to the side of the sidewalk, his comrade following close behind him. Above them, the streetlights flickered sporadically, going dim, then bright, before flickering out completely for a few seconds and then coming on yet again, only to repeat the process.
"Hey!" came a voice from behind them and they all turned around immediately, Kazuha's eyes lighting up as she saw the man who she was sure would save her. "What do you two dick-heads think you're doing?!"
The man removed his hand from Kazuha's mouth in a flash, but kept one arm around her waist. "Hattori! We aren't doing nothing. Just going for a stroll."
The other man, Hattori, sneered at them. "You think I believe that load of shit? I told you, no more of that on my turf!"
He was dark skinned, though not in a foreign way, and dressed in what her father had often referred to as hooligan's clothes, his shirt and pant's ripped and shredded strategically so that it looked as though he were tough, but didn't show anything inappropriate. Over his shirt he had a relatively intact blue jacket and on top of his head was a worn looking SAX hat. Overall, he did not look all too threatening until you got to the boken that was in is grip, the wooden blade resting on his shoulder.
"We weren't going to do anything to her, Heiji-kun." The second of the men said and the other one whispered harshly in Kazuha's ear, warning her against speaking out unless she wanted to die. "Isn't that right, miss?"
The Hattori turned to her and her captor's fingers tightened painfully on her waist in warning. "Yes." She said and then mouthed the words 'Help me.'
He saw immediately and marched over, grabbing her upper arm and wrenching her free of the man's grip. He took the wooden sword and whacked both men across their foreheads in a single swipe. "I said no more of this bullshit! You think you can get away with this in my city, on my turf? Think again! I catch either one of you doing anything like this again, even hear talk of it and you won't be out of the hospitals until you're a couple of old hags! Got it?"
The boys nodded, hands clutching their bruised skulls. "Yes, Boss, of course. We just don't much like the new rules and-."
"And what? I said no more and I meant it, do you understand? Make sure the rest of you scum know it too." Heiji glanced back at Kazuha, who was standing slightly behind him, feeling more like a scared little girl than the twenty-two year old she was. "Come on, miss, I'll walk ya home."
He turned and began walking and she turned and stumbled sprinting slightly to keep pace with the tan man and looking behind her every couple of seconds to make sure the other two weren't following them.
"Name's Hattori Heiji. You?" he said after a minute or so and she looked at him in shock.
"Toyama Kazuha. Thank you for saving me, Hattori-san." She said, brushing aside the butterflies in her chest when she saw his eyes looking at her intensively.
"Was nothing. Don't you know better than to be out at this time of night in this part of the city?" he questioned and she felt slightly indignant.
"I was doing a community service project for college and ran late." She said haughtily and his eyes sparkled in amusement.
"Oh, a good girl, huh?" Idly, he looked over and noticed her shaking slightly. "Hey, you cold?"
Kazuha shook herself once, stopping her slight quivering nearly instantaneously. "No."
Heiji shrugged and went back to looking ahead, but out of the corner of his eye he watched her begin shaking again and sighed, pulling off his coat and dropping it over her shoulders without ceremony. "Don't lie, you stupid girl. If you're cold, you're cold, admit to it the first time."
Kazuha blushed but made no attempt to give the coat back to him. "Where are we going?"
Heiji blinked. "Your house, of course, I said I was walking you home and you never said we weren't going in the right direction. We are, aren't we?"
"Ah, yes, it's about a block from here I think. Aoyama Daichi Mansion, you know where that is?" Kazuha said, slightly flustered.
"Yeah, come on, I know a short cut." Heiji said and they cut through an alley, coming out right in front of the building. Heiji walked with her all the way up to her door and she unlocked it, standing in the open doorway shyly, unsure if she should invite him in.
"Did you want to come in?" she asked and he looked as though he did but shook his head no, hands in his pockets. "Thanks again for rescuing me....ah, goodnight."
Suddenly, he grabbed her and pressed his lips against hers in a hard, hungry kiss that left her feeling weak in the knees. Just as suddenly as he had started it, he ended it, pulling away swiftly and breathing heavily, his eyes on hers and she thought to herself that he looked surprised, as if he was the one who had been kissed out of nowhere, instead of being the one who had initiated it.
Quickly, jerkily, he stepped back from her and began walking away without a word, his steps seeming sort of off, in a sense.
"Are you sure you don't want to come in?" she called and he paused before beginning to walk away again, raising his hand behind him in a silent farewell. Sighing, she shut the door, turning the lock as she did, and leaned against it, her heart still fluttering widely in her chest.
What in the world had just happened?
Okay, so I lied. This is the next one of Kirby's Pet Projects. The vampire!Heiji one is still in the works, mind you, I might even post the first chapter of it tomorrow and do a back and forth sort of thing if I feel up to it. It all depends. But this one worked it's way into my mind approx. six hours ago and hasn't shut up since then.
KIRBY: I rather like it myself. Heiji's going to be a bad boy in this one and Kazuha's going to try and change him or something, I don't really know. Or, I do know, I just don't know how to explain it. She doesn't want him to change, really she just wants him to be...himself, I guess. Ah, it's a confusing concept. We'll get to it eventually.
So either, please continue to support us! We'll be out of school all next week, so if we get some good feedback, we'll make sure to have lots of lovely little chapters for you to read!
