As a note beforehand, I would like to say this:
The Light's Refrain is amazing, and this is for their oneshot contest!
I'm stretching out a bit of the Japanese culture, using the Shishi-Mai (a Japanese version of the Lion dances done during Chinese New Year) in my story. Please excuse any discrepancies as I and not completely sure in my very quickly done research.
The quote, 'One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal. Soon we'll need a new definition' come from Alvin Toffler. (:
I guess I implemented Shonishi. I guess.
And even less KariUzu. D:
This was typed under 3 hours. Which explains the overall crappyness.
But still,
Enjoy reading!
(If you don't' die doing so)
-+{'The Lion's Dance'}+-
Molco was packed. Every person in the general vicinity was squished, shoulder to shoulder, as they stood on tip toe to see the event. It wasn't for Tin-Pin, a sale, or anything like the sort.
Rather, pounding drums could be heard as what could only be described as an ornate lion's head danced around with a sheet of cloth for a body. Its mouth flapped around, going from open to shut as the white hair on top flew around with it.
"Kariya. Do you see them?"
"Who can't? They're flaming red and have 4 legs. Do you think they're there as well?
"One of them is riding on a skateboard while doing it. I don't' think we have the wrong people. Now get your ass over here!" The intercom gave a slight crackle as the female voice buzzed out. Kariya fixed the glasses perched on the bridge of his nose before sighing. This was not what he wanted to be doing on a Saturday morning.
The whole thing had been sprung on him rather quickly, if he were to think back. The call to his apartment informing him to come to the briefing room lasted 20 seconds. The actual briefing lasted 10.
The Players are at it again.
You, as Reapers, have to stop them.
They'll be at Molco's Shishi-Mai. Find and eliminate all Players before they get to them.
The orange haired man scoffed. Players would be Players. Why interfere? In the Underground world of Shibuya, many things existed, but not many people would think interlaying spy rings would be one of them. The Players represented one side. The Reapers, the other. CEO's, jealous girlfriends and shady businesses' lived for information on both others and each other. Both teams provided them.
Of course, when there are two, there is competition. They wanted the other team gone, Players to Reapers and Reapers to Players. Kariya and his partner worked for one side, while others worked for the Players. Simple as that.
But who in their right mind went undercover for info dressed as a lion? He was pretty sure he saw a deer costume in the background, making him remember that he wasn't the only Reaper on spot. Holding the headset up inconspicuously, he spoke into it again.
"Uzuki. Are BJ and Tenho in place?"
"Of course they are. Just ask them yourself if you're not sure. They'll be sure to give you a pleasant answer, I'm sure." Her voice dripped with sarcasm as Kariya switched lines.
"Tenho. You there?"
"I told you, just ask her and she'll be sure to say - Wait, Kariya, was that you?" There was a yelp and a few swears before the red hooded agent continued. "Yeah, I'm here. BJ's working the head. I got all the heavy lifting."
By heavy lifting, the Reaper agent probably meant that in Lion dances done during the Shishi-Mai festivities, they worked in pairs, like the Players and Reapers normally did. The one in the front, normally the lighter one, had the job of moving the head realistically and being lifted to do stunts every other minute. In the back laid another person, this one usually stronger, as they had to constantly either bend over at the waist or lift the head person above. The two normally worked together to the beat of a drum to perform stunts on poles, in the air and shower good luck in the shops that it entered - giving reason to the performance occurring right now.
"Get yourselves ready. The lion's the one we have to look out for. It's the Players, for sure."
"How are you-"
"Skateboard. I'm out." Cutting off the line, he scanned the layout. Two pairs, one dressed as a lion, while the other, a deer, stood in the open spot in front of the store entrances while 2 groups of musicians gathered off to either side.
To bystanders, the more drums and dancers, the better.
To Kariya, it looked like a faceoff. His own side, with the deer in front, had only 2 musicians. He knew one of them was Uzuki, holding a flute to her lips, but she had done quite a good job hiding the crop of pink hair underneath a wig of black. He guessed 777 was the drummer, the spikes protruding out of the back of his hoodie giving away who he was.
Turning too look at the Players side, he glanced at the lion. The dancer in the back had a skateboard under his feet, but other than that, he couldn't' figure out who was also with who he assumed to be Beat, with the board. Two girls stood by the drums while a pale headed boy mimicked Uzuki.
Placing the lollipop to his lips, he looked down from his vantage point over Molco. Holding the gun in his hand, he nodded his head.
As the two creatures below started to dance, he readied himself over the ledge, finger itching to pull at any time.
-+{''}+-
Uzuki grimaced as she began to play a simple melody on the flute while beside her, 777 pounded loudly on the taiko. This was not the mission she had been expecting. But she, unlike Kariya, for once, knew all the details.
This wasn't your normal Shishi-Mai. One of the stores, Tigre Punks, she believed, wanted info. Dangerous info. Enough to kick Sheep Heavenly out of Molco once and for all. Alone, the rocker brand had almost done it. Now, they wanted them out for good.
And there was only one way to do it. Get in the shop, snag evidence, shoot, and leave. And what better time to do it but during the Shishi-Mai. With the pounding drums, the gunshot to be fired wouldn't' be heard over the crowd.
What the Reapers hadn't been expecting was for the Players to be there as well, dressed up for their own little act. Of course, they were probably working for Sheep Heavenly, probably for some dirt on the punk store. It was a vicious cycle.
And as the music started to ring in her eardrums, she heard another fizz in her ear before her partner's voice came from the headset.
"Look alive - we have company."
-+{''}+-
Barely 5 minutes into the music, when the two pairs started to dance off, something shadowy seemed to latch onto the drummers on the Players side. If it was confusing beforehand, what with the last minute arrangements, snipers sitting atop of buildings, dancers and musicians that weren't really what they seemed to be and pounding music, to say it was anything less that chaotic would be the understatement of the year.
With sharp eyes trained onto the two pairs that were dressed up, Kariya only had a moment to tell Uzuki to watch out before black matter wrapped around the smaller drummer. It took her a second to notice it before she cried out.
And disappeared. Now off beat, the other girl screamed as well, causing the crowd to look around with confused looks.
Shots rang.
They weren't Kariya's.
-+{''}+-
Neku couldn't' believe he had gotten himself into this mess. So what if the Sheep Heavenly clerk feared for her life? It's none of their business. Or, at least, that's what he had tried to convince the others to believe.
But the rest of the Players were adamant in wanting to accept her cause. They knew the time, place and what to look for.
It was just that Neku hated, with a passion, lions.
Now dress up as one and making its head move around, he grumbled into his ear piece.
"Joshua. Why the hell am I doing this? Can't…Shiki or Eri or Rhyme be the head? And for the love of god Beat, get rid of the skateboard!" The orange haired agent muttered, knowing that the other boy was listening on.
"Now Neku. It's tradition. You don't have a girl and a boy do Shish-Mai's, do you? Rhyme and Shiki seem content with the drums, while Eri has an eagle eye on the whole situation. And I didn't take flute lessons for nothing, now did I? Besides. You seem…rather comfortable with Beat's view of your backside."
"Shut up. Now."
"Can't say I envy him though, if that's what you want me to say."
"Josh."
"Ah. Well, you can't blame a man for trying. Now keep an eye out. You know that clerk's not the only reason for why we're here." With an uncommitted grunt, Neku acknowledged the boy's point.
He worked for the Players. As such, he knew the working of Shibuya, inside and out, and being a spy for corporate companies and others who wanted his and his friends services, proved useful. But if only things ended there.
There were the Reapers. Not only were they competition, they were bloodthirsty competition. They wanted nothing more than to get rid of the Players. Or at least, the higher ups did. Of the two he had met, both with hair colours that reminded him of neon fruit, they seemed to rank him below their job, but the girl with pink hair was more than happy to get rid of him.
But it didn't stop at them. News leaked fast within the underground world. Two of their high racking officers, going by names of Minamimoto and Konoshi, had gone AWOL. With them went information crucial to the Reapers. The reason why they left? Unknown. But if the Players managed to get their hands on them…
Let's just say being equal with the Reapers ended there. It was obvious that the other side knew their importance as well, and wanted the two high ranking spies out of the picture.
Just as the routine began to start, someone screamed. Another echoed, the music stopped, and gunshots ran. Neku knew by how rigid Beat had gone that his sister had been the first cry.
Rhyme.
-+{''}+-
The crowd began to panic as the shots rang, and they were soon followed by even more. Running off, eventually, the area was as empty as a ghost town. Only the ones who were on the stage remained.
Uzuki and 777 froze, tense and unsure whether the shots had been Kariya's.
"They weren't mine," He cut in, almost reading their minds.
Shiki had to keep herself from falling to the ground. Where was Rhyme?
"Shiki! …I can't see her anymore. Where did she go?!" Eri screeched over the headset from her point above the stage, gun still in hand. The shots weren't hers as well.
Beat threw off his part of the costume, leaving Neku covered in the whole thing. BJ and Tenho had more of a group effort removing the deer from their body.
"What the 'ell man! What'chu do wit Rhyme!" He cried, revealing a gun strapped to the bottom of the board he stood on. Enraged and protective, he wasn't afraid to fire. However, before he could shoot, more shots rang. This time, it was easy to tell who was shooting.
Joshua held a hand gun and fired again and again into the pavement. It was obvious that he was the source of all the shots.
"J…Josh? What are you-"
"Konishi and Minamimoto. It's their work." The dusty haired boy cut Shiki off. Someone heard a giggle, mature and teasing, while another voice rang through the area.
"It's your turn to be iterated, radians!"
-+{''}+-
Things turned from bad to worse in split seconds. Rhyme should be the first to know this.
One minute, she had been drumming for her brother and Neku. Next, someone had wrapped their hands around her leg and puller her down, which didn't really make sense. She couldn't see anything, the area around her bright white, and she could hear the faint sound of gunshots above her.
"We're adding you to the heap, you 000." She heard one voice speak.
"If you don't' stay quiet, we're going to be shot." Another one, this one female and cold, spoke.
"Not the time to argue now, right, Konishi. How about in 0.7 to the power of 3 hours, we hop into bed and I show you my vertical plane?"
"Only if you stop making sexual innuendos in your math gibberish."
"You like it." Did…he just growl? She though he vaguely sounded like a lion.
"I will find a way to shove that 'vertical plane' into a meat grinder."
"It makes you happy."
"It would be wise for you to shut up. We only have a few more minutes before we have to show ourselves. The girl with us."
"I could always turn her into a work of art." Well, that sounded pleasant. Much more than what the woman had wanted to do the man's…sensitive object.
"Junk heaps are not works of art." Never mind. She feared for her life even more now. One was a math obsessed psychopath, while the other a female Hitler. Rhyme knew she'd be sharing this over the dinner table.
"Well Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. Looks like it's show time. Let's go, you yoctogram." Suddenly, she was pulled back up again with someone pulling on her wrist, hard. She heard a growl, presumably from the woman, before it turned into a giggle.
"Its your turn to be iterated, radiens!"
-+{''}+-
Uzuki let out a snarl as Konishi and Minamimoto showed themselves. "Traitors. I guess that's what I smelled, other than bratty Players." Dropping the flute, she whipped out her revolver and with feet planted, holding the gun steady. However, before she could do anything, a shot hit the ground beside her. Looked like the Players had backup too.
"Don't' chu touch 'er!" Beat cried, as if to emphasize the shooter's point. "Pinky n' Pi-face included!" Looking at the two former officers, she noticed that the girl that had gone missing was now being gripped by Minamimoto, Konishi to his side.
"Uzuki. Get out of there now. You're too close," Kariya spoke with a deep tone. The clicking of a gun in the background only meant that he was serious.
"One shot. That's all I'll need to get rid of them. We can get rid of a few players and grab the info too. It'll be easy," She responded, making a kissing sound to the air before aiming her pistol. To her side, BJ, 777 and Tenho copied her. The other players stood still, almost like deer in headlights.
"Aww what's wrong? Did the widdle kiddies leave the guns at home? Too bad for you," She taunted before aiming at the two traitors.
"But let's take care of you first. 10 seconds sounds long enough for you to eat each other's faces out before I pull the trigger, right?" She continued, flicking back her hair before shouting out the first number.
"Uzuki, you don't' understand-"
"10!"
"You zetta sons of digits think you can-"
"I don't' think so-"
"You're too close! Get out of-"
Before she could call out the second number, something hit her side. Something numbing and painful and -
Crumpling to the ground, Joshua smirked as he pulled the flute from his lips. The dart in the Reaper's side was evident of what he did. Looks like the flute lessons did pay off after all.
-+{''}+-
Not a moment later, Kariya shot. Firing at the boy first, then Konishi, he watched as both of his targets sidestepped the bullets. "BJ. Tenho. 777. Pull out now, Take Uzuki. We'll deal with this later, you're not leaving her-"
"We're on it. Give us a distraction and we're good."
Pausing for only a second, he turned to see 777 had responded, moving away from the drum to hoist the pink haired agent up on his shoulder. Blinking, Kariya smirked.
"777. You kept the fireworks in the drum, right?"
"…So?"
"Step away from it and run. This ends now."
There was the quick shuffling of movement below as the orange haired sniper pulled another bullet, this time hitting the instrument and causing loud, dangerous explosions to fire around as the remaining Reapers dashed out of the way, back towards the Station Underpass. That's where they always met up.
With lead in his fingers, Kariya turned away as well. Move on.
-+{''}+-
"How is she?"
"Stable enough for you to stop asking every minute," The other Reaper snapped, annoyed at the orange haired agents constant questioning.
"Then why isn't she awake?" He responded darkly, and the girl gulped. She had never seen these types of people at the Stationside where she worked before - not while shoveling hamburgers into other people throats.
"The poison did a number to her. You're lucky if she wakes up in a month," She mumbled, leaving Kariya to watch over the now unconscious Uzuki. Staring down at her, he held his head high.
"You should have listened." Silence. "That boy was dangerous. What you were doing was dangerous. Konishi and Minamimoto are never to be doubted. Ever."
"You're waking up so I can keep you safe."
-+{''}+-
2 weeks
"It's over. The thing in Molco? Yesterday's news. Minamimoto's still on the run, but Konishi's…mostly taken care of. We just need to worm out a bit more info.
The Players…the girl Minamimoto had was hurt. He used her as a shield for the explosions. Everyone else was fine. But he got away."
-+{''}+-
1 Month
"You know, you're supposed to wake up now. That's what the girl said. It's not good to ignore the doctor's orders."
-+{''}+-
2 Months
"I'm not getting a new partner. Turns out solo may be the way for me, aight?
Unless…you want to change that."
-+{''}+-
3 Months
"You're taking way too long."
"777, BJ and Tenho are worried about you."
"Or were they worried about me?"
"I think they said something like that."
"One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal."
"Sure, like I believe that."
-+{''}+-
4 Months
"This is starting to feel familiar, you know."
"Has it really been…four months?"
"Wake up."
-+{''}+-
"Wake up," She muttered. With no response, she sighed yet again. She bluntly remembered something BJ had told her once. "One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal."
"…Soon, we'll need a new definition," Kariya croaked, barely being able to make out the image in front of him.
He was lying in a hospital bed. Wasn't it supposed to be Uzuki's? The pink haired agent looked up from her spot with wide violet eyes. Then they narrowed.
"You're never taking a shot for me ever. Don't' argue. I don't' care if it was a dart or not. Never. Do. That. Again," She hissed, eyes bloodshot red.
"…What happened." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Molco. The Shishi-Mai. Things got…screwed up. Konishi and Minamimoto showed up, some kid's about to skewer me with a dart, and you get in the way."
"…What?" He asked, confusion written all over his face. "It happened the other way." Uzuki blinked.
"No. You're wrong. Did the poison get to your head or something?" She responded, letting the back of her hand touch Kariya's forehead.
"…Nah. It's aight. Why don't you…tell me about it? Seems I got a few facts mixed up." He mumbled, removing her hand and smiling, albeit weakly. It was better him in this bed than her anyways.
Besides. He couldn't' keep letting her get to his head like that. Even while drugged up with poison and unconscious after a mission, she's still all he can think of?
Says something.
-+{'End'}+-
Well, that was fun. Not. I spent a week or so typing, and it just wouldn't stop after about…6 pages of pure text.
Scrapping that idea, I threw this all together in under 3 hours. 8D
To clarify a bit, Shishi-Mai's are Japanese Good Luck festivals, or something of the sort.
This was crap. But better than nothing~
No. Not really.