Rosario and Vampire
Jaded Edge
Chapter I
Tsukune Aono sat in his casual clothes within an cafe that was unexpectedly open during the later hours of the night, he relaxed while tipping his hat backwards to adjust his headphones. Music mildly played as he studied work online, the work related to his 'business' per say as a rising crime lord in his own right. On the screen was an active chat room mainly used for meetings. Usually one to three people were active within the server based for the said communication, it wasn't anything high up but merely a formal calling to see who was active in the area. Basically a social gathering to check up on things, plus occasionally jobs were listed or sent his way viva 'suggestions' to people who wanted things cleaned up.
His cell phone lay next to the laptop that he was currently on, the ring-tone had been set to vibrate for the moment as he occasionally checked it. Text messages were a given in this day and age, but apart from that he enjoyed the relative peace. Yawning lightly he rubbed both eyes to ward off the urge to go back to his apartment and sleep, it was only several blocks away at the most and it never hurt to consider enjoying the comfort of home. Although that concept made him wince internally, home wasn't a word he associated with comfort, not in this life time and he'd be damned to think it ever turn out that way for him,
"Ugh, don't think about that. No need to spoil your day, just focus on this thumb drive. Might as well take a peak at it, nothing is happening right now."
A hot steaming coffee lay to the opposite side of his dominant hand, so eagerly he began to drink it with a content expression. It didn't taste overly sweet, but it was more oriented with caffeine to make anyone's day all the more active or in his case, keep him awake. He cracked his free hand's knuckles to ward off the stiffness his joints tended to get, nothing major really, it just made him feel at ease in the simplest terms.
"Alright, let's see what surprises you're holding together."
He held up the simple drive before plugging it into the laptop, it didn't take long before the window popped up for him to inspect it. Sipping the coffee while eying the folders, he noticed that they're had to be literally hundreds of them and he whistled out loud, "Damn man, that's a lot of crap for me to go through. Talk about being detailed, I wonder what this all means." He scrolled down several lengths to see really sporadic words that didn't make much sense due to the coded that the files were made up, so it was really fragmented words that honestly made no sense. Rarely did he notice a word that was recognizable at times.
Absently he clicked on one folder that had a word called, 'Eden'.
And what came up made Tsukune narrow his eyes, "What the fuck?"
Images of an old poem of sorts appeared, like really old images that were cataloged in some foreign country that he had next to no clue to imagine. Tracing down the pages to notice several highlighted words like 'origin' and 'seals' which basically made no sense to him, none whatsoever in the least. Blinking a bit surprised when he came up to a sketched image of a person in a hood, it looked like a guy or something but, Tsukune could only take a wild guess. Half the high words were in another language that required some specialist who did this for a living, so officially call him curious! Oh he knew for certain he'd probably send a request out to translate these files.
Backing out of the folder, he went to another one that had two words he recognized.
"Fairy Tale?"
Intently scanning over the page, he began to mummer to himself as the data flowed. Right off the bat the young crime lord honestly snorted in disbelief, "Okay, just what the hell is Fairy Tale? It sounds so stupid." He was looking around at images of buildings in various countries, he noticed several were in Chinese and his native Japanese, plus a few in western styled names as well. Humming thoughtfully he double clicked on a high lighted page, it displayed numerical values and most of it applied to currencies across the world in the present. Things were only required for him to ask more questions, that natural humane feeling called curiosity got the better of his self and he probed deeper within the said files on the thumb drive.
It seemed he was looking at several projected income earnings for a company of some sorts.
"Holy shit."
And these earnings indicated a massive amount of cash.
According to the preliminary findings he was witnessing, this Fairy Tale corporation was in the woods to make billions within the next few months and what not. He had to blink a few times to make sure his brain processed that number right, billions of dollars in different currencies apart from his own country and right there indicated a gold mine. He whistled very impressed at the amounts, now the fun part became in how did he get a chunk of that cash for himself? God damn, if this wasn't an opportunity to start finding out when and where, he'd be a drunken priest who offered candy to kids. Even though that image certainly made him shiver uneasily.
Just what person would accept anything from a drunk priest in that sense?
Slowly he started to chuckle when his eyes passed over certain folders, he copied and pasted them into the chat box with a caption next to it. He wrote in it, 'Mystery Info.' and sent it into the chat room, sooner or later someone associated with his own group would crack the codes. He wasn't the smartest computer wizard around, but he knew when to make it to his advantage, sides coding would take time and he'd learn it eventually. Tsukune could learn only if he was really into it, nothing could be easily learned unless one had the will to desire such talents in their lives. Working hard tended to pay off in many ways, it never hurt at all to consider doing what was considered important.
He went back into the folder to randomly go through several more to pass the time, ideally he'd have hoped for more numbers to indicate just how much this Fairy Tale corporation had in its accounts. That prospect for a large cyber crime really made the reward and risk value sky rocket, if that was pulled off just right than hello massive pay day! Just thinking about it made him grin stupidly, it never hurt to dream and a man had the right to a dream, if it was within reason to attain of course.
Some time went by before anything came to his interest, so Tsukune leaned back into his chair to stretch his arms in the mean time. Eventually the thought came to him to check on the chat room this time around, he blinked tiredly before bringing it up on screen and long behold, activity had been registered inside the social media app.
A screen appeared and one that wasn't a local in his server.
"I don't recognize this screen name! Just who the hell is this?"
Something didn't seem right when he noticed a single user online, the name 'Impaler' didn't register inside his head for contacts he had in the underground crime rings. Narrowing his eyes on the name a small yet definitive 'ping' appeared in a message, Tsukune read the single line of text and he immediately froze in stunned horror...
"Stealing things that are not your own, is not a good thing kid."
Glaring silently he whispered to himself, "Stealing? Wait, oh no fucking way, please don't tell me that it's that flash drive. Then that means whoever is this, knows about me? No, had to catch me on a camera or something. Oh you gotta be shitting me."
He glanced around him discreetly to not see anyone of the ordinary, only a few patrons were around and many of them were in small groups. This left to the idea that the drive was bugged, somehow and he had just got himself caught stupidly. However he got intrigued to reply in kind, so idly he typed in a response to the lone user inside the chat room, "And hacking into my privately owner server is just as bad, pal."
Another ping lit up his screen as Tsukune turned off all the media players and what not to focus all his attention the screen. His nerves were alive with anxiety, someone had knowingly hacked into a server that less than six people in the world knew it's address and password, Koizumi hadn't been one of the admins which knew the password changes. Tsukune personally always did them once a week to keep up on the times, if things were hot than that process was once a day or twice if he got paranoid. Things tended to get done more so in a dangerous fashion when he had been threatened, or treated to an unexpected shock.
He got back to read the message, it turned out to be bad. "True, but I doubt any law enforcement in Tokyo would take the word of a criminal. I like your attitude kid, yet do me a favor, take that flash drive out of your laptop and leave it where it is."
Son of a bitch.
Now it had been confirmed, someone knew about him.
That drive's files must have had a malware, or spyware encoded program within the folders when they were being downloaded. It was anti-piracy to prevent theft of information, the files were legit but the encoded traps 'broadcast' the location of the machine using the tainted files and he'd hadn't considered how valuable this drive actually was in the first place. Tsukune leaned back in his seat, he replied back while being very self-aware of his surroundings now.
If anyone or anything seemed out of place.
He typed back a response while folding his arms, "Well, isn't that kind of you to strike a hard bargain for me to accept, so quit bullshitting me! You want whatever is on here, so offer me something worth my wild and I'll consider it."
A grin wormed it's way onto his face, let's see how this guy wanted to play hard ball. He doubted any corporate executive would be that hard to avoid, the internet tended to grant false bravado. Cracking both knuckles out of reflex, he started to pack all of his loose belongings to make a quick getaway and possibly destroy this laptop immediately. This was the low end spare one after all, he had one for fun and the other for more serious business.
Contingencies were so damned useful.
"An offer? Fine. You get to live, or else."
Alright now there was a difference between being coy and negotiating, yet that third option of being threatened never settled well with him. Tsukune twitched his jaw left to right to ward off that urge to tell this guy to go off himself in a hole somewhere, instead he started to chuckle for no reason and understandably started to leave this cafe. The lap top would serve as a decoy in order to lure out anyone wanting to find him, plus his home wasn't that far off and it'd be plenty of time to get out in time, to find another safe house or something within the city.
Making sure he had everything set to go, he typed back a reply that mirrored his inner emotions.
"Two things, pal. One, come get it for yourself asshole. And secondly, don't threaten me over a chat room, so I say go fuck yourself."
Once he set that reply, the response he got back made him shiver and what got him to have a trace of sweat run down his neck was the exact words. Tsukune felt his stomach lurch when he realized that perhaps he'd had provoked something a little too hasty for once, it'd had been done and usually he could handle the problems that willing came to him. However it was the problems that he invited onto himself that tended to be a bit more difficult, at least from experience and it never ended well enough to say it'd be worth the effort.
Involuntarily his body trembled once the text came back as he moved away.
"As you wish kid, see you soon."
That user logged off without hesitation.
Out of all the strangest things to occur on the internet, or anything related to that subject that certainly had been the most rattling chat room he had ever deal with. Paranoia started to creep into his mind, the kind that certainly didn't make well with what he had in store for some ass clown that threatened him over a measly flash drive. However that information alone certainly would pay off, he felt it inside his gut for real and he grinned rather excitedly, he knew important meant expensive.
Expensive meant pay day from the right buyer!
He walked out of the cafe eying his back just in case anyone wanted to follow him out, surprisingly not a soul did much to his curiosity. Whoever that Impaler user had been, it seemed he could track the laptop via its IP address and he had a hunch if whoever was tracking it would be keeping tabs on the location. So an expendable laptop wasted for his safety could be said to be worth it, but the damn thing had cost him almost a grand in total. Which came to a subject that Tsukune Aono had a small pet peeve, in wasting money and getting nothing back for a return of said cash, so he liked to spend when it mattered into his life.
Greed.
Some called it a sin, others called it a life but he called it his own self-preservation to stay ahead in the game of the criminal underworld.
Consistently he checked over his shoulder to see the empty street, not a single body or sign of anyone following him and he couldn't spot anything out of place. Tsukune didn't feel at all comfortable of all a sudden, his gut had screamed at him to move out of the open and he obeyed the said instincts by going into a full on running sprint for a whole city block! Hell, he had ran this fast in quite some time to be honest and it didn't make him feel better, the young teen checked behind him yet again to see nothing.
"Yeah, I'm hauling ass and getting the hell out of here. Jesus Christ, am I that scared this much because finally someone tracked me down? Even better, the stupid part is that it wasn't for taking care of a snitch, but it'd be a god damned flash drive of all things. Talk about getting screwed over..." He lamented to himself in an irritating tone, the sooner he got back to his apartment the faster a new safe house would be ideal to hide away in. There were several within the city as most of them were boarded up places or the occasional small time house that certainly had livable conditions, plus top it all off, he had to find someone willing to dig into the USB drive in his pocket.
Inhaling deeply and exhaling sharply, a rhythm came to be when he finally reached the apartment complex that his apartment was at currently. Slipping into the lobby, the manager on call tonight waved at him in a greeting, the middle aged guy wasn't half bad until one gave him a joint to mellow out. Long story short, Tsukune withheld a grin to know that the manager was what many considered a, 'one hit wonder' and it never failed to not have him laugh.
"Having a good evening, Mister Aono?"
Said person only shrugged while panting a bit, "No more then usual, decided to go for a run on the way back. You mind doing me a favor, sir?" The young criminal took in a few breathes to move to the elevators that were in working condition, he barely caught the nod from the manager who was more than helpful at his job.
"It's my job to look after the tenants, Mister Aono. So by all means, what do you need?"
Tsukune grinned, the manager of this place always did his job very well as any good man,"Can you give me a heads up if anyone's asking me by my name? I think I might have some friends around, I'd appreciate if you text me the warning, remember what happened last time?" The last time he wasn't given a heads up about people wanting to meet him, or hang out with him was a unique experience he'd wish to forget. That memory certainly got him a bit less than pleased, considering that a joke had been played on him from a few friends.
Having an attractive yet paid prostitute to walk into his apartment when he was in the shower, that day wasn't a good day at all and he almost flipped on the woman. Granted she was attractive again, but he for all he knew the woman wasn't clean, least in the whole sexual transmitted disease department. Mentally sighing at that picture, he had just turned fifteen almost a year ago in that incident and to be fair, he wanted to go his own pace when it came to having a relationship. He could never picture himself as that type of guy, he tried to think of himself as boyfriend material? God he'd rather go jump off a cliff just to prove a point otherwise.
As much as the idea wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
"Sure, it's not a problem."
Nodding once to the manager did the young man quietly move onto the elevators to let out a silent exhale of relief, least he'd have some warning if anyone appeared. Anyone who didn't belong around this neighborhood for one, so better any warning then nothing at all and it never hurt to exploit resources to do a task effectively. Taking one last look into the lobby itself, nothing was out of place at all which was what he liked.
The doors leading to the elevator pinged as they opened, he stepped inside to take it to the fourth floor. Riding up towards home wasn't bad, slight vibrations came and went like usual much to his small smile. Coming back to a place called a home wasn't really the best way for him to accept how shitty life got, yet sometimes he knew when to get off the grid to disappear. In this case he had to leave immediately, so he knew what he had to do to not leave any traces behind and if he were truthful, he'd miss this place for real.
Within minutes he appeared onto his floor, he noticed several gangsters of sorts lingering in the hallways moving in between rooms and what not. They were hired muscle technically, yet unofficially the small time gang served as private warning to him and most of those guys weren't bad folks. Tsukune had to recall this gang which called themselves, the Hounds, a bunch of wannabes that initially were merely kids playing gangster in a closest. Now when they wanted to mess with him, those kids got slammed into reality and long story short, the original leader got his ass handed to him on a silver platter. So fortunately for the rest of them weren't in the same mentality so as a result he got them weapons, drugs and the occasional news to try to expand outwards to take on the larger gangs in the lingering area.
If they reported to him when he called them out for it. It merely boiled down to be a win-win relationship that served it's purpose. The purpose that simply earning more cash on the side, gaining some loyal bodies that were easy to maintain and for once, he'd indulge himself in trying to become more organized in crime over that span of time. Originally that had been his first group to manage before hitting up other dealers to band together to earn more cuts, just as that saying of practice made perfection.
Walking down the hallways, he idly waved off several of the said gangsters who nodded their heads at him in a respective manner. Again unofficially he ran the gang that been trying to get onto its feet, so in truth many of the gangsters looked to him for whatever reasons they deemed to themselves. Soon enough he came to his door unlocking the locks via his keys that were fished from his pants pockets and stepped inside the apartment itself.
"Home sweet home."
That phrase met a bitter taste, it'd wouldn't be home for much longer.
Tsukune looked around to see his near spartan like apartment greet him with an empty feeling, he quickly moved to the bedroom to pull out a dark green duffel bag used to stuff his clothing into it. Well mainly the clothes he used as the Courier, plus a few spare shirts and necessities to make do in his meager life. All of his cash went into the criminal underground, so personal wealth or riches technically didn't fit into his bill, for good reason mainly.
The less thing he owned, less likely evidence or clues were traced back to him via a raid by the cops.
Biggest mistake any gangster, or criminal was leaving incriminating evidence all over the damned place they crashed at. Now always that certainly was not a smart move, so he kept his apartment to the the bare minimum and practically lived like a humble person getting by in life. All in all it was technically true, compared to most people who lived the life he did. He exhaled to ward off the exhaustion inside his body, the packing took less than five minutes mainly and the only thing that took the longest was stuffing some extra objects he'd use to get around, if he failed in finding a safe house.
Extra wads of cash, a few rolled up joints and plenty of magazines loaded with his weapons ammunition. He prepared for anything that could have happened, but in the end he had to go with the flow in which he wanted plenty of lead ready to shot off. Carrying a bit more weight seemed unproductive, so when he re-questioned the idea to stuff more magazines into the bag he mentally chanted, "When in doubt, do it."
And he followed that advice.
Securing most of the stuff within the bag's interior, Tsukune brought it out of his room and placed it to lean against his small table that bordered the kitchen and living room. A cheap yet durable table, it had been serving its purpose for a few months and it was a shame he'd be leaving it behind. Furniture tended to last in his apartments, it always caused a headache to find replacements. Mentally shrugging those thoughts off, the young crime lord got a can of chilled cola out of the refrigerator to settle his troubles.
The other laptop had been already packed, two separate bags for each and it never failed to be prepared.
Tsukune sighed deeply as he scratched the side of his neck in contemplation, "Cola always can get my spirits up, now only question is whether I should high tail it now, or let the others know."
Better safe then sorry, he fetched his better laptop to get it on and send out messages via email to his associates who were apart of the collaborative effort. The screen booted up within a few minutes as he rapidly went through the applications to send the general message, 'I've been made and everyone get off the grid. Contact you when I can, info be released when I'm in the clear. No bullshit.' He had to type this rather accurately before highlighting several emails to spend the massive heads-up, Tsukune yawned loudly when that task was done. Only thing left to do would have been determining the best time to get the hell out of this neighborhood.
Damn shame, the place wasn't half bad to live a quiet life in either.
"Ah fuck it, I never liked staying in one place for too long anyways. Playing rent gets old."
In the end why did it matter, the world kept on spinning and he earned his way through whatever means. Turning off the laptop, its battery still around its full mark did he start to pack that away as well for safe keeping. Idly he flipped the thumb stick a few times to inspect one last time, the slick surface seemingly was polished and it was one of those higher end tools, it stored about a terabyte of information alone. Now that he realized it, the damn thing was completely full based on the free space left when he was going through it and god almighty that screamed insanity!
How did one terabyte on a USB drive have that much information?
"Guess I can take a nap or something...", Unfortunately the sentence got cut off when his phone vibrated!
Just as a single thought went through his mind, "Oh crap."
Picking up the cell phone, he answered it while going to his door in the mean time. His hands started to lock the bolt, the knob and the horizontal linked chain that had been added for people who liked to kick down doors, Tsukune merely said one word, "Hello?"
"I'm waiting down stairs, kid."
This voice sent shivers up his back at how casually faked it had been, Tsukune felt his heart lurch in a painful direction and for once he'd wished he had kept his mouth shut. Tightening the grip on the door knob, the pressure made it groan in protest when he spoke, "I think you got the wrong number, I don't know who this is."
A chuckle came over the line, "You'd like that wouldn't you? But I'm afraid the manager of the tenants here says otherwise."
The feint gurgling could be heard through the phone in the background, also screaming started nearby as well. Tsukune felt his heard race when he realized that whoever wanted this USB had indeed come personally and he didn't sound happy. That came to pass when the speaker on the other end informed him, "I don't know who you are exactly kid, but I'm going to level with you. Every single person in this building is going to end up dead, regardless of what you say to me, I gave you an option to drop that drive but you wanted to play hard ball. I understand, so I hope you understand that I am not in a mood to play games."
Fists clenched so tight that the knuckles popped, Tsukune began to grit his teeth to the point where he nearly chipped his canine tooth, "Well, well, well aren't you the big man to come here. So you want to start shit with me and get folks who aren't apart of this involved? Sorry pal, that's not my style and you aren't worth my time, so because of that go fuck yourself."
After speaking he bolted immediately dropping the phone before rushing over towards his stove, he violently yanked the panel off to see the interior. Searching for the light red plastic tube, he viciously tore it up to slice it open with his pocket life, methane gas surged into the room as it gave off a shimmering smoke and the smell kicked in. Once he did this Tsukune sprinted towards his room throw open his closet to drag out a canister of gasoline along with a bottle that had a rag stuffed two thirds inside.
Panting slightly as sweat dripped down his face, he placed the full canister leaning directly next to the stove and used the home made molotov to do its job. Frantically he hurried to take out the lighter inside his pocket which he shielded away from the methane came to burn the said rag in a glow of orange. Heat scorched his face at the intensity of the flame, so he placed it directly on the counter where his door lead into. Keeping it barley tilted on the edge, so when the door came open the glass would break onto the floor and he had a special trail to lead it for a bang.
Muted screams echoed in the hallway making it sound like hell had arrived to check in.
Growling angrily, "Son of a bitch! I don't know who this bastard is, but I'm going to make him wish he hadn't fucked with me. Guy's got balls the size of marbles if he wants to do this crap."
He kicked the container of gasoline over before stabbing his knife into the plastic exterior, the gushing liquid splashed over the floor as a result. Tsukune quickly got over to his duffel bag and smaller bag that had the laptop, he got them slung over his shoulder while moving towards his bed room. He locked that door as well, sliding the window vertically up he climbed onto the fire escape that lead to the lower floors and directly behind the building towards an alley down below.
If he could get the down the street, he'd have a getaway bike for a clean break.
"Guess this rules out the cops, no way they'd start doing this. Not to mention this isn't some random psychopath walking in with a shogun, plus I know I never heard of any Yakuza family getting this pissed. So what the fuck gives?" Even though the time to be asking questions wasn't right, he couldn't help it for once in his life to ask what the hell was he up against. It just wasn't in the normal of all things but he had to wing it as always when it came to the world.
Shaking his head he rapidly descended by leaping over steps and jumping down them at a running pace, his eyes momentarily closed when a gust of wind howled into his ears. Grunting while keeping his hat on to cover the said body part, Tsukune briefly looked at the other tenants in their apartments or at least the windows exposing the interior of the rooms on the lover floors...
And he promptly stopped in shock.
"Whoa!"
Every single panel of glass literally as far as he could see were splattered in blood! Crimson rivets of human blood were smearing the interior in a mocking fashion, a perverse act of brutality and it blended to show a practical slaughter house. On any other day Tsukune would have imagined that to be the thought of some delirious person, but reality tended to be just as sick as humanity who lived within in it. An urge to vomit came to pretty close to the surface yet he held it back with a great effort. Soon enough more details came to light as he heard screams over to his right hand side.
He just caught the freshest splatter of crimson to slap against the interior window.
And an arm slid down severed from whoever was inside.
A savage yet enraged grin arose when he wished all to hell that whoever did was doing this, he'd beg the devil for a fair shot to cut the bastard to size! Some bastard wanted the thumb drive for a reason, a reason worth slaughtering folks that were particularly not involved with criminal activity! He was impressed but for the sake of his own consciousness in using sheep as a shield...
Tsukune Aono vowed right then and there he'd level the son of a bitch, when he found out.
Spitting over the side of the railing, he continued his way downwards the ground all the same ignoring the agonizing screeches of human throats above. It got to a point where it seemed to be a methodical slaughter, the intervals he could mentally predict and it got him more than appreciative to haul ass to the stored away getaway bike for good measure. At some point he knew this fire escape transitioned to a single latter, so thankfully his gloves could handle the strain of sliding down and avoiding his palm's flesh in not being burned off due to the friction against metal.
Sighing deeply the latter came to be on the second floor, briefly he noticed body parts against the nearest window and the kick to the balls came in the form of a knowledge. That apartment had been a family of four, one mother and three kids raising since the bastard of a sperm donor had left the country. Tsukune knew this because he had requested a previous manager to let the rent be covered by his own funds, honestly is was one of his monthly good deeds to appease the big man upstairs. While not religious per say, the young crime lord definitely liked the idea of keeping divine luck on a good note since he'd be more of a dick if that wasn't so.
Also keeping karma appeased never hurt as well.
Slipping onto the ladder, the young man took a moment to inhale deeply, "Fucking heights! Why in the hell am I scare of heights of all things? God damn it!"
Underneath his gloves all of his knuckles were whiter than hell itself, he grinned before letting his grip slackened to allow gravity to do the rest. That sensation of falling hit him in his guts, air whooshed by his ears into a dull roaring as the wind gusts added to the misery, just as colors mixed into a bland swirl when he slid down the two story ladder. Regardless of how he had prepared for such a route out of the apartment building, that god awful burning hit right through his gloves and Tsukune resisted to scream for several spine busting seconds.
But he allowed a howl of frustration when his hands instinctively retracted towards his body and he slammed into the ground back first, thankfully nothing broke as he hissed out words, "Holy hell! Never again! Never fucking again!" Shaking both hands for a moment he looked up to see how much time he had left, he'd wager not a lot based on the ever growing painted of twisted windows covered in human life bloods. The whole side of the building looked like a twisted asylum for doctors butchering patients for the sheer gall of it all, not a pretty picture in other words.
"Move your ass Aono, leg it out man!"
With that mental motivation he bolted towards the alleyway, his feet were crushing stone and trash alike if it was in his way. He made no subtle movements in order to sprint at the fastest speed he could, his lungs burned ferociously to counter-act his minds will to move as humanely as possible. Blurry buildings zipped past his peripherals when he looked back up towards his apartment, the bloody trail of windows had reached his floor finally!
Damn!
Whoever was up there knew how to work efficiently, so color him impressed.
Panting lightly he came up to a series of trashcans, half a dozen or so covered in black bags of garbage laid out near a corner that lead to the main street. Traffic still went by like nothing was wrong, Tsukune smiled when he nimbly lifted the third trash-bin to reveal a set of keys, while wildly tossing everything over to the side with sweating crawling down his face. What was revealed was merely a second rate motor bike meant to get some speed, at the cost of having to be a gas guzzler compared to most things riding on the streets of Tokyo.
Easy to hide, easy to ride and easy to take in stride.
"Oh contingencies, I fucking love you!"
Yanking the bike out of its place, the ignition came to life once he got onto the seat to get himself prepared to leave. Kicking several bags off the side sitting upright he had to adjust his duffel to avoid it hitting his knees, anything less than balanced would become his skull cracked over the pavement road in the near future. Everything seemed to be order despite the circumstances of a rushed getaway, Tsukune smirked once he realized that everything was ready to go...
An explosion erupted behind him!
Glancing backwards to see a miniature fireball exploded outright where his apartment was located, the mass of orange and yellow created a small shock wave that made him briefly wobble to the side. Due to the glare of the said man made inferno, his eyes traced for any sign of movement. Occasionally glass or granite rained down to hit against objects, quickly the debris filtered onto the ground and he felt the heat of the blaze even at where he sat watching.
Grinning rather devilishly, the reflection of the blaze illuminated his brown orbs and he had to comment,"Oh hell yeah! Now that is awesome." Fire raged within the former confines of his former home, the smoke clogging up the sky in a disgusting black with pieces of wood falling to the ground in a burning glory and the smell of it all certainly reminded him of a cook out. He inhaled deeply the sensation for a moment longer, but something caught his eye to put all sense of enjoyment to rest.
Tsukune watched a person jump four stories to the ground.
"What the hell? No way, just no way did I see that!"
Said person who casually brushed off soot, or dust from the explosive surprise just moments beforehand. The young crime lord had a look of absolute disbelief that twisted into a smile that certainly made him shake his head, "It's official! That there, is something you don't see everyday!" There was no way in hell that could have been possible! No damned person, least he knew for sure could do that but for the love of god, he got proven wrong. Tremors rooted him to the spot as he watched slightly petrified and intrigued, to see the person stand on two feet while looking up at the blazing inferno.
Just then a second person leaped down to the side of the other...
And Tsukune felt his jaw drop, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! That's so fucking bull!"
This second figure was dressed up in some sort of white clothing, he couldn't exactly tell but to the start contrast of a black clothed on the side it looked dirtied. Dust, soot and possible burnt marks scorched certain portions of the second figure, who seemingly had blond hair? Tsukune blinked to make sure he wasn't going blind in the process, blond hair with white clothing and it seemed to be a woman? Officially at the point of no return, the young crime lord considered checking into a hospital to get laser eye surgery when the person next to the blond lit up a cigarette? He noted a flame lingering on the black clothed person's hand, but the general body frame indicated he was a guy at the least.
The blond in white seemed to be flailing around childishly much to his narrowed eyes, the man seemed to be merely taking the jump from the burning build with relative ease and gestured around them. If Tsukune had to assume anything, the blond was holding her white clothing which seemed to be a dress now that he realized it, she was holding it up the man and seemingly pouting about it. Almost like she was disappointed in having burn scorched marks after jumping from a burning building, he thought he was going a bit more insane than necessary.
He finally decided he wasted enough time admiring, he moved to get the bike geared to go. It seemed like only a second had passed before a soft breeze washed over the backside of his neck, ignoring that urge to shiver he got his hands around the bike's handle.
Then a voice came out of nowhere.
"Excuse me little boy, my friend and I are looking for someone who has something of ours. Do you mind waiting for a moment for me to fix my dress?"
Both brown orbs went wide as he looked over to the side, his face paling to see a tanned blond woman who was casually fixing her dress. Elbow length gloves tried in vain to smudge off the scorched singes on her legs, whose sight made him look on in sheer disbelief to see the tanned skin perfectly fine! Not a scratch or burned skin cell, Tsukune almost felt his stomach lurch when the woman's angelic smile came upon his terrified expression.
"How the fuck did she move that quick and the far, without me seeing it! That's...that's impossible..."
Watching as the woman hummed a happy tune to herself, a pair of red reptilian slitted eyes met his own and he almost felt his heart stop immediately. Tsukune watched as she beamed innocently. Just so when his eyes met her own in a fleeting glance it made his body freeze in an instinctive terror, what in the hell was this woman to make him feel this terrified?
He had to think of something to stall her, it had to be something so stupid it'd have to work because no one would expect it. Thoughts mixed into a potent whirlpool before he finally found some words to reply as in fact he even smile warmly to the white dressed woman who tilted her head at his expression. Which was the plan, "You know, I think I do know someone who can help you but you seem like a nice girl. So I have to ask you something, do you want to see a magic trick?"
His offer was met with something rather oddly shocking, "Magic trick? Oh are you a witch, warlock or one of those half breeds? I'd never have thought that one would be living amongst humans! I mean are are you a witch, really?"
Her bubbly attitude threw him off briefly although those terms about what she described about him he kept to himself. There'd be a time and a place to figure that out, so in the end he obliged her. After all what better way to be a nice guy then was to merely offer a heart swelling grin that was incredibly forced on his part, "Good guess, but no! I am a Magician who likes to entertain people, slight difference, but do you want to know what trick I have in store?"
A single nod of excitement came into picture as he smirked mentally at the woman.
"I'm going to make myself disappear."
The blond's expression was in awe, "Really? I've never heard of a spell that can do that? Can you show me please, please before I have to talk to my friend over there!"
Tsukune instructed her seriously, he kept his tone serious which was to get the woman's full attention. He hardly could keep that shit-eating type of grin off his face though, it really almost messed up this trick. "Sure. All you need to do is count to three and close your eyes, can you do that? It's really important for you to do what I tell you, then I'll answer you about whoever you're looking for. Alright?"
She gave another nod. He grinned almost happily, "You're amazing! So, ready? One, two, two and a half..."
Both of this slit red eyes closed happily...
"...and three! See ya!"
Hands brought upon the bike's engine, it roared to life as he sped off without looking back! Completely he ignored all sounds rushing by him as he focused on the main street ahead of him. He floored the bike's throttle to the limit easily passing the threshold going over sixty down the narrow alley zipping around the corner, several cars honked their horns or someone yelled at him. Tsukune didn't care as he kept his eyes trained ahead to narrowly move between traffic as cars or trucks honked their horns at him.
However due to the potent mix of emotions and thoughts surging inside his mind, he didn't give a damn about those people.
"Holy hell, it worked!"
Air whipped past both ears to create a dull roaring, idly he moved into a one way street and zipped past several cars whose occupants looked at him in sheer wonder. Tsukune didn't give a rat's ass to the people beeping their horns or cursing him, he had to get the hell out of this area and he'd be damned to not at least get some pay back on these 'Fairy Tale' bastards, whoever the flying fuck they were. He didn't stop until he was going well over sixty pushing onto seventy down the main avenues in Tokyo, luckily enough he had to avoid certain areas from the local cops.
Turning onto a side street, the bike sped over a puddle of water as it sprayed him in the face briefly. A chill went through his neck as the droplets went down his neckline, he had to ideally shake his shoulders to ward off flinching.
Still he kept his grin in place, "Only bad thing I have to answer for, is that I disappointed a beautiful woman. Oh well, I'm sure I can make it up somehow." He spoke to himself during the whip lash of air and turned onto another street to narrowly avoid another car on the road, yet another horn came to life at the expense of an angry driver. Tsukune could have told the guy in the said car, but all he had to do was merely raise his middle finger while driving by.
That was more his style to deliver a reply.
Side skirting the main bulk of traffic, the young crime lord rode his motorbike through the side streets and alleyway of Tokyo, consistently going a fast clip to put as much ground as possible away from his old home. The last thing he needed was to have a car sneaking up behind him or something, god forbid he'd have to contend with that type of crap. His getaway bike wasn't meant to outperform cars, it essentially got him from point A to point B at a moderate pace for a cheap amount of cash. Plus the gas mileage sucked all the way to the moon and back, it wasn't meant for that type of drive.
"Alright, let's see what are my options now. I can get to another safe house, or get out of the city. I bet some of the boys would be at the safe house yet I can't risk opening this thumb drive, or I'll have bimbo blond painting the interior bright red. Oh man, fuck man I just called that woman a bimbo? Really not cool Tsukune, not cool at all..."
That woman certainly stuck out as gorgeous yet something bothered him not that he realized it. It caused him to reflect back on her face moments ago, the cheerful exterior yet it was those orbs that stood out to keep him rooted on said detail.
Her eyes were bright red.
Seemed to be more like red slits...
"What kind of person can jump four stories, have a pair of red eyes that look reptilian and have no injuries related to said jump, plus an explosion of a ruptured gas line in a confined place? Son of a bitch, I have no idea but I plan to find out, Fairly Tale huh? You guys want to come after me for a fucking thumb drive, congratulations you earned my attention to get shot."
Coming to an intersection, Tsukune had to make a choice on whether to get out of Tokyo and essentially wait for the heat go down, whatever Fairy Tale was, they'd be waiting for him to plug in the thumb drive to nail him. Also add the fact his sever possibly was now compromised, thank god he kept his bank information completely separate from the servers own cloud storage or else, he'd have been fucked royally. Moving on to a more pleasing thought, the young Aono considered taking the metro rail out of the city into another region altogether to get away from anywhere familiar that could be used to track his whereabouts.
The cops had done this a few times so he was used to that fact.
But this time around it wasn't the same thing.
Inside his mind he knew this wasn't the local police department, cops didn't slaughter dozens of tenants to be methodically taking out any lose ends over a thumb drive. Hell, if the manager hadn't called him via the cellphone he'd have been amongst the decorations ranging from dark crimson to a bright red smeared on a window. Scowling now, Tsukune knew he'd want payback in an equal amount of blood for the shit that was brought onto him and those folks around his apartment.
Not all of them were scum of the earth as much as he was apart of that category, those inside his apartment building weren't apart of it. It really rubbed him the wrong way to be indirectly responsible for corpses now meant to be amongst the graves to be dealt with, ignorance and innocence tended to make him feel slightly remorseful at times.
Tough shit.
Yet the world still spun onwards regardless of how were dead.
"Screw it, I'm hitting the subway to get the hell out of here. I'm not taking any chances, least until I get all the facts first. What a lovely day to start the weekend, fucking amazing!" He was grumbling that last part out since pulled onto a main street to catch the nearest intersection leading to the subway. Moving past a few cars in the process to take a right hand turn, Tsukune distinctly felt the back of his neck prickle in warning. Biting the inside his cheek, the young crime lord checked over his shoulder to see nothing, but regular commuters on their way back home from work possibly.
So why did he get the feeling he was being watched?
"Come on Tsukune, stop being paranoid."
Despite that urge to ignore it, paranoia had saved his skin on different occasions. Glancing around the street, several cars passed by him but unlike other days, he knew something was wrong. It was just like so many other nights when he was on the run, on the run from people trying to kill him. No force on earth could place such an instinct and have the owner dismiss it off hand so quickly...
Unless he felt that familiar stomach twisting sensation.
Tsukune immediately widened his eyes as he heard the squeal of tires, tires of a vehicle approaching from behind! He didn't need anymore provocation before jerking his bike towards the nearest side street, he didn't have to turn around to see or confirm that someone had been tailing him ever since getting away from the two at the inferno that was his apartment. If there had been a time where he felt concerned, it wouldn't be now.
Because right now he was getting agitated!
Veering in between several cars, the young crime lord noted the alleyways were incredibly narrower and so would be more than sufficient to dissuade cars. Spitting off the side he guided the bike between a pair of parked trucks, the slim build of the bike and his own body easily slipped through without a hassle. He had to ignore several droplets of water hitting him in the mean time, clouds formed overhead indicating rain was well on its way.
Glaring off to the side, he managed to see a black car model screech to a halt in where he entered. Briefly shaking his head in the mean time to concentrate on where to go, Tsukune maneuvered the bike quickly to the left to take the alleys to cut through traffic, or any obstacles in his way. Times like this made him realize something rather amusing, so amusing that it made a bitter smile worm its way onto his face,"No matter what I do, or what I've done, coming back underneath the shadows of the buildings reminds me when I first started off. Cold and hungry, living in a shanty house..."
Turning towards the exit in which he saw the main road, Tsukune didn't hesitate to gun the bike forward to nearly get hit by an angry driver who shouted profanities at him. He didn't give a damn as he continued straight to cut into another series of side alleyways in order to avoid the roads, he had to play this smart or else he'd risk becoming road kill.
Not an appealing prospect to have brain matter spill over the pavement.
"Should be around the next bend, if I remember right then the nearest subway station is two blocks. Take the next right and boom, I got a clean shot down the avenue to catch the evening train."
And that was what he did.
The ride took less than several minutes to complete as he pulled up to the sidewalk, it made people stared in wonder at him as result. Seemed like they couldn't fathom a young teen driving a motorbike with bags over his shoulders, Tsukune rolled his eyes once he cut the ignition off. Rapidly he adjusted his bags to start running lightly down the steps into the metro station, last thing he needed was to be waiting for the damned thing if it wasn't already loading people up. He had to bite back a scathing remark about his timing, it wasn't worth the effort to lose his cool about what-if's.
The young criminal slipped past several people while deep in his thoughts.
"I haven't had any type of person chase me down this quick, and persistently since I almost shot that undercover a couple years back. People that can jump thirty plus feet to the ground without breaking their legs, plus said people not taking a scratch from an explosion and having eyes that make me want to piss glass. What the fuck is on this thumb drive?" Those questions were lingering inside him, they were gnawing at his mind like a starved dog that wanted food and it never ended. He wanted to find out the answers because it had to be valuable enough to warrant to kill people over, more so to slaughter and massacre an entire apartment complex over the piece of plastic. Eventually he'd find out, or else he'd be six feet under in some far distant grave plot.
Heading down the escalators which were already moving on their own, he moved quickly enough to bypass other commuters on their way back home. Ideally it was that time for heavy volumes of people to get in or out of the city, Tsukune wanted to be with the latter portion of the traffic. Moving down around a corner to see the platform, he noticed several crowds of people and a few empty benches near the far end of the said place.
Sighing in relief he moved towards the furthest bench to have an over-watch of the platform and keep anyone in front of him. Last thing he needed was for someone to shank him in the back, or put a piece of lead into his brain without even getting a warning. Tsukune shifted his bags over his shoulders to ward off the shivers crawling up his back, unknowingly his bags nudge against someone as he sat down. Mentally rolling his eyes he figured to at least say sorry, he didn't need to agitate some person on the bench.
Although when he looked over to see who exactly was next to him, the young criminal almost had to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. Sitting not even several feet away from him was a priest of some kind. The man, or he assumed it was a man, was silent as the grave plus he gave off a bad vibe. The vibe that this wasn't the kind of priest he'd accept candy from at all.
As the priest shifted to turn his head over at him, Tsukune replied a bit uncaring but genuinely apologetic. "Sorry for nudging you man. Didn't see you, so don't mind me."
Leaning back against the wall he rest his head against it, the young crime lord didn't do anything other than exhale out deeply. He finally had a moment to compose himself, a simple break in the lapse of running around like an idiot and enjoy breathing. Idly he noticed that the crowds were getting restless because the train would be coming soon, he hoped it'd be soon enough to skip out of town quickly.
"Running away from home, kid?" A creepy voiced spoke up, it made him nearly jolt in shock to see the priest crossing his legs to stare at him. Warily he looked to see the hood of the man kept low to hid his eyes but the grin in place said it all. Tsukune gave a bored look, "What's it to a priest? You want to offer me candy or something? I hate to say it but I'm not catholic, pal."
The priest chuckled good naturally at the crude humor, his robes shifted to merely get himself comfortable. It wasn't often that a boy no less found the need to talk to him, well to apologize for something trivial which by all rights wasn't a bad thing. "Very cute kid, but seems to me you're running away from something regardless."
Tsukune retorted, he even the mocked man for good measure. The way this guy seemed to probe for answers didn't exactly settle well into his private life, plus the guy's voice had a creeper tone to it. "And how would you figure that out father?"
The Priest merely grinned further before pointing down the platform of the train station, "Them."
"Oh, hell no."
Shutting his eyes to stop himself from letting loose a few swear words, he'd assume his measly dark soul would catch fire from the holy book the priest had and turned over to his right. His eyes burned with an aggravation that came second to fury, he was being tracked yet again over some piece of fucking plastic sitting inside his pocket. What got his attention to the far end of the train platform had came across as several men in black suits, along with sunglasses and seemed to be pushing people aside to search for someone.
Someone that probably that fit his description.
In the end his frustrations boiled down to him hissing out angrily, "Son of a bitch! They're persistent aren't they?" He didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know that men black suits appearing randomly weren't exactly normal, they were with those two from his apartment. Nothing else would have appeared as clearly in truth and it really irritated him beyond belief. And to top it all off, the priest started to chuckle as if witnessing a good joke in the works.
"Friends of yours? I'd think they're lively in searching for someone, though I wonder who and why." Tsukune promptly looked over at the man before literally raising his middle finger. He also added in a few choice words to vent his anger, "Why don't you go find some little boys and have them go fuck yourself with a cross. I'm sure you can find kids in the park, bastard pedo priest."
Yet again the robed man chuckled at the fiery attitude.
Tsukune slipped his hand inside his sweater to thumb the pistol hidden away, if these black suited men got any closer or saw him. He'd unleash some serious lead poisoning when they came close, they were close and so he'd damn the consequences of firing around regular people. A bitterness washed over his mouth as he spat to the side as the young crime lord readied for a fight.
"Have you ever attended school, kid?" That question popped up much to Tsukune's amazement, so he glanced over to the side at the priest who was stilling grinning.
Warily he replied, "Yeah I did once but I haven't been there in years. Some issues came up and let's leave it at that, I never failed classes if you're asking how I did." He kept his eyes trained on the suited men coming closer, they were being methodical in trying to find him and the crowds were a thinning barrier as time progressed. Ideally he looked towards one of the restrooms, the doors were closed and it'd be somewhat better to immediately take one out. That temptation to box himself in and do whatever he could to destroy the said box came very close, Tsukune snarled in frustration as a result.
The priest stared at the young teen in silence as an interested gleam appeared in his orbs and fortunately none of the outside eyes could detect such a gaze. Moving his hand towards a metallic cross the priest idly flicked it before speaking to the boy, "Then it's a very good thing that I'm looking for students to come to my school kid. If you're interested I can make it happen, if you wish." When he offered the choice, the young man practically turned to look at him as if he was insane. Which wasn't a fair assumption to consider despite the circumstances, whatever the case it made the priest inwardly grin at how the emotions played out on the young man's face.
"Are you fucking with me? I really hope you're not cause I'm not afraid to commit a sin." Tsukune said this incredulous to the man who laughed yet again. This one sided conversation had gotten old real quick and he wasn't in the damned mood to play wise guy with a priest who probably picked up little kids.
The simple reply came back to counter the accusation, the priest hadn't even flinched."You have a choice, I'm not worried." Tsukune wanted to punch this guy in the face for the smirk he showed, "Oh fuck it! It's now or never!"
Glancing back at the approaching people in black suits, the young crime lord inwardly bit the inside of his cheek, "If you can get me out of here, which I doubt but hey, sure. If you can get us by those guys, I'll be a student for you." He said this rather calmly despite the inner thoughts that were swirling inside his mind. The criminal knew outwardly showing fear or disbelief gave whoever wanted to take advantage an edge, he'd at least do this willing and see what in god name's this pedo priest had in his pocket.
And he wouldn't bet it'd be a bible...
"Excellent. Simply remain still and try not to lose your mind." The priest chuckled genuinely pleased as he did a few hand movements near his side. If Tsukune were attuned to the properties of sorcery and other such arcane arts, he'd have noticed a small shimmering haze waft over his body. Those who had the supernatural within their blood and bone could accomplish feats beyond humanity, the priest currently was one of those individuals who could such a thing daily.
Tsukune almost bolted to his feet once he saw the suited men walk right up to them, their eyes were scanning underneath their glasses and more than once their gaze went over him. With his heart racing inside of his ears, the young crime lord watched in utter shock and disbelief yet again to see the suited man continue their searches.
Sitting rooted on the bench, the crime lord was in state of pure shock. Shock in trying to figure how this all made sense in the slightest, no answers came to him in this storm of questions. "Okay back up! What the hell is going on here? I'm literally ten feet from this guy and he doesn't see me? The fuck gives? People jumping out of exploding apartments without a scratch, a pedophile priest wannabe and this Houdini magic shit, it's too much! What have I gotten myself into here?" Eventually the suspense he felt subsided into a numb happiness to see the suited men start to leave the area. They were clearly agitated or something of that extent, Tsukune almost felt his heart sink into hell. He had a lot of questions that wanted to be answered and most of it was in a thumb drive in his sweater pocket.
Still he felt a familiar feeling.
"I'm shocked you aren't blabbing like a coherent fool, boy. Color me entertained to see a youth keeping his mind to himself." The priest spoke up chuckling eerily, the robed man beckoned him to stand up with him and the crime lord did so. He kept his eyes trained on the robed figure next to him as the train announced its return to the station, Tsukune didn't even flinch when the horn echoed from within the tunnel.
"I'm not like most people my age." He said that as a fact so anyone would be an idiot to not hear the truth in those words.
The Priest merely looked over at his new student, the prospect in solving the puzzle standing not three feet away would be most interesting for some time. However they know had some tasks to accomplish like arranging transportation and supplying a school uniform for one. In the end the priest replied almost to casually despite wearing a smirk, "Perhaps but like all children your age, they don't realize how large the world can be at times. Yet I don't think you're concerned for how dangerous it can be."
That familiar feeling came back really quick.
"So what's this school of yours supposed to be?" Asking that question to avoid the shiver crawling down his neck, Tsukune watched as the Priest lead him onto the train that pulled to a stop. He turned at the corner of his eye to reveal the whitish orbs that made the young man freeze in his tracks, never had he seen such a detail on a person before at all.
Plus the answer that he got wasn't exactly pleasant, "The kind that I think you might like."
Tsukune knew that feeling all to well...
It was the feeling of being screwed.
End Chapter I
Author's Note: I'll be honest with you readers, I tend to over think things and I try to justify what I write sometimes. So you ever see how someone can approach a same old place, but give you a feeling that you haven't exactly been there? I'd like to think I'm at least giving some build up to Tsukune and to the Academy that contributes into the manga, but I digress. The Academy has its own unique feel to it per say, so the best way for me is to get an old place with a newer feel.
I don't need to explain the 'Priest' save for the fact he's interested, he tends to do what he wants and for the record he isn't aware of Tsukune's occupation. Plus this works both ways, Tskune doesn't know anything about monsters (save for the metaphorical sense of a man) in the current time. So whole sorcery/arcane magic route with the Priest, it's fairly plausible compared to the most obscure crap that the manga revealed via the second season into the final ending which was kind of iffy. I really didn't enjoy the ending to Rosario and Vampire, mainly due it seemed kind of cliche to me but hell I'm going to give myself a good attempt at my own endings.
But if you think that making a barrier to conceal two people is out of the question, the Priest (Mikogami) literally had a whole school concealed via next door to a city.
So sue me if you think it's not plausible.
Beyond that, I have to just hope some people find this interesting to read.
If so leave reviews, I do enjoy them.
