I'm terribly sorry for the long time it took me to put this here... Truthfully I got the story ready over a week ago, but just didn't have time to submit it on and wanted to be a bit ahead of the story so I wrote another chapter which was actually finished about a eek ago too... Well... I'm a bit lazy sometimes... I found myself making a major mistake in Kouno's name and it's going to be fix (I still haven't edited the first chapter to it). I also decided to name Kouno with 'ou' instead of 'o', how I did in the first chapter (it got already changed).
Oh, and so You know the bold signs before each part suggest from which character(s) the narration is...
Chapter 2
Yutaka Kouno
Kouno walked quickly with his hands in his pockets and eyes staring at the ground as if they were looking for some answers. He was tired. He started having hallucinations and fell asleep in the bathroom. He didn't have a headache like in the last few days, but he felt weird. Like his head was clear. He felt, deep inside of him, guilt for leaving Saito all the paperwork, but somehow it was very far away from him. In fact… If he thought about it… he didn't even feel that guilt. He knew it was there, but it was only his brain. He panicked. What if they weren't hallucinations?
A dark shadow appeared next to him. He tried to pass by it, but he noticed its presence too late. He bumped into a young man, making him drop a plastic object on the ground. They both fell down and started apologizing.
'I'm sorry, sir…' the young, black-haired man said looking for the object he just lost. It was a memory card for the small camera he was holding in his hand. That was probably the reason why he didn't see him coming.
'No…' Kouno answered quickly. 'It was my fault… I-I should've watched where I was going…'
'No, it was me…' the young man still tried to take all the guilt on him. Ah!' his eyes spotted the memory card he just lost and he picked it up. 'Excuse me…' he said already standing up.
'Wait!' Kouno said quickly, making the boy stop.
'Huh?' he looked innocently back at the detective.
'I'm sorry… nothing…' Kouno said and looked as the young man walked away. His black hair reminded him of someone, but he couldn't remember who.
He resigned of trying and headed back to his apartment.
Hei
Hei looked back to see the detective walking away. There was something familiar in him. It wasn't the fact, that he saw him on a few crime scenes. It felt like there was something more going on. And what mostly surprised Hei was his presence. He noticed it in the last second when it was already too late.
'Leave it… Next to the pine tree on your ten o'clock…' he heard Huang's voice in the microphone.
'Understood…' he answered. He looked in that direction and saw a small pine tree and a bricked garden wall right before it. He placed the card on it and went on ahead. He didn't have to turn around to know whether or not it was taken. The quiet ringing of a bell was a good enough signal.
'You're going back there tomorrow…' Huang continued.
'I can't… The woman will get suspicious…' Hei's cold voice showed no emotions.
'That's the only place where the information could be…' Huang started but the contactor quickly got in his word.
'There was no information about the experiment…' he said. 'It was a secret to the government… there's no chance they would keep it in a public astronomy observatory.'
'Do you know what the Syndicate will do if they find out we don't have almost any information? SK609 was there when…'
'When the Heaven's gate was destroyed… I know… I heard about him…' Hei cut in. 'You shouldn't be a prisoner to the Syndicate, Huang…' he added.
'You have no idea what they're capable of!' the speaker said loudly with anger. It was his sensitive point. 'Neither of you… you lifeless weapons…' he added.
'Well, I'm glad we got that settled…' Hei answered calmly and pulled the microphone out of his ear.
He walked quickly with his hands in his pocket's looking at the ground before his legs. It was not long till he sensed a presence following him and heard the quiet ringing of a bell.
'Don't you think that was a little too harsh, Hei?' a black cat asked. 'What's going on…?' it added after a short moment of silence.
'Nothing…' a cold voice replied.
'You've never acted so cold towards him… At least not after the incident with Shioko…'
'It's nothing, Mao…' there was no change in Hei's voice.
'Hei, I know you… You never act so cold, unless something's bugging you…' the cat walked right next to him on a small fence. 'What is it…?'
'Huang's somewhere around here, right?' Hei pulled the conversation onto a different angle.
'What makes you so sure?' Mao asked after a brief moment of silence. He finally decided to give up. Even if he were to ask him all the way to his apartment there was no way that the contactor would say anything.
'You don't have the card…'
Mao sighed and sat down on the cold, red bricks. He waited patiently licking his fur for Hei to disappear from his sight and slowly started walking in the other direction. For a moment he saw a ghost-like creature in a pond on the other side of the fence smiled. Looks like he wasn't the only one concerned about his teammate.
Well… more importantly… This looked like quite an interesting story…
Yutaka Kouno
The boy standing before him had a red suit on him. Like one of those usually used for combat on special missions. Like those he saw they used for special missions in South America. He was a teenager and had dark, blond hair and bright, green, emotionless eyes. Nothing was happening, but that was what was making him shiver. He reached towards the boy. He did the same. His hand was surrounded by a blue light, just like the boys. The pupils of the teenagers green eyes became the same color as his suit. The boy smiled emotionlessly and…
The ringing of an alarm clock cut through the deep silence in the room. Kouno opened his eyes and saw the magnificent view he had to watch every day. A simple, white lamp above him. In the end it was the only thing that was normal in it. The rooms were painted in deep, bright colors, such as orange and red. Sometimes in stripes. The furniture also didn't lack any colors. He liked his apartment being so bright. For some reason he had an irrational fear or loosing colors. Everyday he woke up relieved that they were still there. He explained it with a fear he had since being a little boy, but he knew there was something else to it. He just didn't know what.
Kouno looked at the clock. It was five am, but he didn't feel tired at all. He made himself stand up and get ready for work. It didn't take him long. Just the usual thirty minutes. He went out wearing his usual red jacket and matching jeans.
The street was almost empty. He passed a few corners and ended up before a small neighborhood market. It was rare for him to stop in this store before going to the train station. He usually just bought something on the run in a small shop next to the station to save time. But when he had enough time he usually made some bigger shopping.
He went inside and found himself surrounded with high shelves with groceries. He went to the dairy products and took a bottle of milk. He started buying bottled milk only to make fun of Saito, but now he just got used to it.
There were two other people in the store besides him and the cashier. An old lady, who he saw every time doing her shopping and a man he never met before.
He heard a glass break. A wave of pain entered his head once again. He looked down and saw the milk spilled and the glass scattered all over the ground. He raised his hands and saw a blue light around them. Another wave of pain. He fell to his knees and grabbed his head. He heard someone scream. He didn't want to turn his head but his muscles moved on their own. He saw the old woman looking in panic at a hole in her chest. The man on the other hand was stabbed by a huge number of daggers.
The lights went off. He felt another pain, this time in his entire body, except it was different. It was more real. And then everything was just black.
Hei
Hei looked in the mirror and saw his image in it. SK609… He remembered him… That one meeting was one of the weirdest he ever had. But after South America disappeared he also did. That young teenager with everything covered in colors… Blond hair, bright, green eyes…
He left the bathroom and took his green jacket and a backpack. It was still dark outside, but that wasn't a problem.
He walked slowly searching for the right place. He finally found the block he was looking for. It didn't take long for the door to open and a young man in a red jacket came out. He followed him to a small neighborhood market and waited outside in a small alley.
He heard a scream. Three screams to be more accurate. He opened his backpack and took out a mask and a coat. He threw the backpack and his jacket behind a few trash cans so that nobody finds it and quickly went inside the building from the back door in the alley, making sure nobody sees him. He found the power transformers and put his hand on one of the cables. A small spark appeared and the lights were gone.
He silently went inside the shop and found the man he was looking in the darkness. It wasn't hard since he had a blue light around him. He touched him. The man fainted into his hands and the light faded. He went outside carrying the young detective on his back.
A black cat was sitting on his bag. It had a ribbon with a bell on his neck.
'So this was what you were up to?' the cat said.
'It's none of your business…' Hei answered taking his coat and mask off. 'Just be sure not to tell Huang…'
'I have no business in telling anyone… But you know that if anyone finds out… You're dead…'
'I know…' Hei answered pushing Mao of his backpack and putting all his accessories in it. 'That's why you can't tell… Neither you nor Yin…' he added.
'Well… I'm not gonna save you if you get caught…' the cat ran out of the alley making his small bell ring a few times.
Kirihara Misaki
The cell phone rang quietly in Misaki's purse. The woman took it out as fast as it was possible and answered.
'Misaki!' she immediately recognized her friends voice. 'Two stars were just active. SK609 and BK201!'
'Kanami… Or you sure?' she asked and showed Saito to wait.
'Yes… Most certainly…'
'If that's the case… I'll call you later… bye!' Misaki hung up and looked at Saito with a bit of irritation and anger in her eyes.
'What is it?' she asked.
'It's about Kouno…' said Saito yawning. He almost didn't get any sleep after yesterday's paperwork. 'I can't get to him on neither his cell phone nor his stationary phone… He doesn't answer any of it… And he'd probably call if he wanted to take a day off…'
'First we need to get to the market. It seems that BK201 could be involved…'
Misaki leaned over the desk supporting her head with her hands trying to concentrate and put together all the information they had. Saito just looked in another direction and sighed.
'Looks like we got our self an interesting day…' he said.
