A/N:
So finally after re-figuring out the story line; here is chapter two!
Reflection
Chapter -2-
September 6th:
The early morning light glowed a faint grey, as it crept slowly through the city of York Shin.
There weren't many walking the streets at this time, the early risers preferring to keep to their cars.
One of the few making their way through the city was a grumpy blond, consuming a box of poky at an irate speed.
There is only so much hotel food one can take after all.
As she marched down the sidewalk, Jika reached for anther chocolatey stick, only for her hand to meet air.
She sighed. Oh, this was just getting better and better. It was just her luck that she had moved jobs and ended up in York Shin during this exact time.
The mess with the Genei Ryodan had hit the city hard. Even if the average citizens did not know what had been going on, they knew something had.
And then there was the whole matter with the city's police force. All Jika could say, was that she was happy to be working by her own morals.
And then she had gotten her hands on the flyer for the head hunt.
Upon seeing the supposed "Black Bandit" on the list, she had wished more then ever she could send a complaint to fate.
She knew how fate worked, and there was no way she could escape the city without running into him again.
Fate loved irony, and wouldn't it be perfectly ironic for her to have escaped death by that man's hand, only to meet him again here, in York Shin, and actually die?
Yes, fate would love that.
But then six members had been killed, and him along with them.
It's seemed fate had simply wanted her to stew a bit.
Yes, it would probably send vampires after her in the end. She hated those.
She pulled herself from her thoughts to enter the little cafe she had arrived at.
It was plain, and a little rundown, and thankfully cheap.
It went by Hiku-En, and must have been around for a long time, judging by all the senor citizens that congregated there.
One of the waitresses led her to the little patio on the side of the building and Jika found herself a cozy corner near the street where she could watch people go by.
She sipped at her hot chocolate, (out of season, but whatever,) happily, and pondered all the news she'd heard of the Genei Ryodan this week.
Apparently they were from Meteor City, and she mentally updated the short thief's file in her head, even if said file was now destroyed.
You didn't keep files on Meteor City citizens, it just wasn't done. At least according to the government.
She laughed at the government. (Secretly, of course.)
She had always been fascinated by Meteor City, in a slightly horrified sort of way.
She didn't exactly have anything against the residents, they were only human after all. But the city as a whole left her wondering.
Her breakfast was soon brought to her, and her mind soon wondered to her current predicaments.
Being a bounty hunter, and working so often with the police, she had a fair amount of access to any police or government files.
Officially or unofficially as it often was. She wasn't a hunter for nothing after all.
While the Hunter Website could give her limitless information, (at a price,) there were certain things she needed for her job that were best taken straight from the government.
Simple things that were of no use to anybody other then herself and a select few, such as files on minor criminals, that could lead her back to her larger target.
She had been brought in to York Shin when someone smart, (there were relatively few of them,) had realized how severely lacking their Undercover Opt's were.
With the troupe drama that had been going on she still hadn't started said job, having been recruited to guard a few doors instead, seeing as how they never had enough men to cover everything. Today she could hopefully get started.
And this french toast was amazingly good.
It was as she was reaching for the syrup bottle that she saw him.
He was walking down the sidewalk towards her, seemingly still unaware of her presence.
Jet black hair and cloths, and that trademark skull. Now that she thought about it; was that pink?
The bottle dropped from her fingers to the table, and her expression froze in an open mouthed stare.
The bottle may have been plastic and barely made any sound as it hit the table, but her shock was probably too obvious.
Dark grey eyes darted in her direction, and she found herself in a staring contest with one supposedly dead, high classed criminal.
And he was only about a foot away.
There was a moment of silence, then;
"Talk about the walking dead, what on earth are you doing here?"
His eyebrows shot up at her blurted question before narrowing in a frown. And the next instant he had jumped over the railing and had taken the seat across from her at the little table.
"What are you doing?" He hissed in a voice so low she almost didn't hear it.
Jika blinked. "Sitting in a cafe with one of the Genei Ryodan, apparently."
Seeing his face darken, she quickly amended. "I received a better job offer."
"Hn."
His eyes felt like needles on her skin.
When he didn't immediately speak, she decided to voice her own question. It didn't look like fate wanted her to get away anyways.
"Can I assume all the deaths were faked then?"
"You can assume whatever you want. Though it would be unwise to pursue your curiosity."
Jika winced. "Touche."
She reached for her abandoned fork and started picking at her toast.
She didn't feel like rushing him in deciding her demise after all.
"You work for the police."
Seems he was done already.
"Yeah, for the moment anyway."
"If danchou hadn't wanted to keep a low profile, I would kill you." He murmured, and Jika could have sworn the air turned a bitter cold.
"The government is scared. They will no longer hunt us. You realize this?"
She smiled wryly. "I am a Bounty Hunter. Since there is no money for information on you anymore, meeting you does me little good."
"Smart woman."
"Somehow that sounds like a insult." She muttered under her breath, though he undoubtably heard it.
"Don't push your luck."
And with those words he rose from his chair and was gone, having faded back into the crowd without a trace.
Jika sat there for a moment, letting the realization that her head was still firmly attached to her neck sink in.
Ah, fate. Such a wonderful thing.
"Oh no, ma'am. Did your friend leave already? I was going to bring him a menu."
The waitress was back, with a coffee pot and menu in hand, and looking truly apologetic.
"Ahhh, no. I mean, it was just a chance meeting, and he had somewhere to be, so don't worry about it."
"Well, alright then. Let me know if you need anything."
And with a cheerful smile the waitress left to attend to her other customers.
In Jika's humble opinion, it was a very, very good thing the waitress had arrived when she did and not sooner.
She doubted her surprise companion would have taken kindly to the cheery woman.
With a sigh, she returned to her meal.
It was unfair to be so exhausted at only seven in the morning.
October 9th:
The police headquarters in York Shin was certainly more impressive then the one in Mikils.
Even after a month of working in the building, Jika still found the thought flitting across her mind every time she stood in front of the massive mini sky scraper. An oxymoron, but true none the less.
She'd worked in such buildings before, but somehow this one made her pause in her step.
After Mikils, it was a stark difference.
Maybe it was simply that she had loved working in the little city and was only now realizing how much she missed it.
Oh well.
There was nothing she could do about it now.
The sliding glass doors were large and impressive where they stood, flanked on each side by a burly guard.
Jika, however payed them no attention as she walked by, her mind already on the report she had to deliver.
In her time working in her current position she had already brought in three criminal single handedly, much to the joy of her employers.
The state she had found the Undercover Op's in was just sad in her opinion, and any licensed Hunter would have agreed with her.
Though, perhaps she was being unfair.
For civilians with little training, (in comparison to Hunters,) they really weren't all that bad.
Still, she had been all too happy to take over.
Even so, with the way her job was set up, she still had to answer to the "superiors."
Jika quickly made her way up to the fourth floor and delivered her report, making sure to add as much meaningless babble as she could come up with, and watching with amusement as her boss tried to make sense of it.
Though she did feel a bit bad for the man trying to write it down.
By the time she was finished it was already late.
People were packing up and starting to leave, only the necessary lights being left on in the building.
Jika however, headed in the opposite direction of her colleagues, making for the archives in the back.
She had nowhere to be after all, and there was still something she wanted to look up.
The Archives was one of her favourite in the building aside form the cafeteria.
York Shin was an old city, and it had the files to prove it.
The dim room she entered was incredibly large and lined with so many filing cabinets one could literally get lost between them.
Without bothering to flip the light switch, the blond weaved her way easily through the aisles.
As she passed a specific section on A-ranked criminals her thoughts were drawn to the Genei Ryodan.
She hadn't seen any sign of them since that morning in the cafe and no one seemed eager to learn of their whereabouts.
Personally, she thought it a little disconcerting that they were left to run amok.
But who was she going to complain to?
Jika reached her destination and quickly skimmed through the files for the one she wanted.
It belonged to the former head librarian that she was being sent to tail, an old man with supposed shady connections.
Finding the papers in question, she started to read; soon becoming so engrossed in the file that she didn't notice the passing of time.
It was some time later that something pulled her back to reality.
Jika frowned, she really should have hit the lights.
How late was it anyway?
She was probably one of the last in the building.
It was only then that she started paying attention to the tingling on the back of her neck.
Her frown deepened.
That wasn't good.
Years of bounty hunting had taught her that her instincts were always right.
And they were currently screaming "danger" at the top of their lungs.
Slowly, she lowered the papers; setting them down soundlessly.
How she wished she'd turned on the lights.
She couldn't feel anyones presence, but she knew they were there. Though wether they were in the room already or still outside was unclear.
She slipped a dagger into her hand and turned for the door.
It was as if she had pulled a trigger.
She hadn't even taken a step when her assailants decided to make themselves known, appearing beside her like ghosts.
It was pure luck that allowed her to move in time, as she flung herself backwards; the hand that would have broken her neck missing her by a hair.
She stabbed to the left and ducked the gleam of metal on her right, vaulting over a filing cabinet and bolting for the door.
That is where her luck ran out.
One of her attackers cut in front of her with ease to block her escape, allowing the other to knock her legs out from under her and twist her arms at impossible angles behind her back.
She bit back a cry of pain as she felt her shoulder dislocate, and at least one of her arms snap.
"Quick little thing, ain't cha?" The one in front of her laughed, as he straightened and walked towards her. "We weren't expecting you to catch on so soon."
He wore some sort of odd jogging suit, and even in the dim light she could make out his grin.
"What should we do with her, Feitan?"
"Kill her. What else would we do?"
The monotonous voice from her second captor was sadly familiar.
Now Jika knew she could be melodramatic, but she really wanted to bang her head against a wall right then.
Also;
"Your name's Feitan? Why couldn't you have said so from the start?"
There was a pause, where the first crooks eyes widened considerably, before she was yanked around to face the second.
Feitan scrutinized her for a moment, then let out an aggravated sigh.
"Not you again."
"As charming as ever, I see." Jika managed around the hiss of pain his sudden movement had caused her.
"Do you go looking for trouble, or is it an innate ability?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Ouch. There goes my ego."
"I hate to interrupt, but mind filling me in?" The other man piped up.
Jika figured she was pretty accurate in placing him as one of the Genei Ryodan.
"Ran into her on a mission." Was Feitan's brief reply.
"And you didn't kill her?"
"She was insignificant."
The man shrugged. "Okay. So lets finish this job."
Jika winced as Feitan yanked her to her feet. "I'm going to assume you didn't come here for me."
Feitan snorted. "Hardly. Can I kill her now, Phinks?"
The man, Phinks, had started pulling open the filing cabinets at random.
"Ah, hold on. Maybe she can help us find this stuff; I got no idea where to look."
The short thief let out a huff of frustration. "Look under his name."
"But I am, and he's not here." Phinks complained, slamming another drawer shut and turning to their captive.
"Oi, you know where the file on Octavian Anthros is?"
The bounty hunter frowned thoughtfully. "Octavian? He's got statues with the police so he wouldn't be filed ordinarily. Check the third aisle on your left under sponsors."
"Oooh, being sneaky even on paper, huh?"
"I hardly think that counts as sneaky." Jika pointed out dryly.
"And why are you being so helpful?" Feitan murmured, and she felt his nails dig into her skin.
"Because you would make me tell you anyways, and I don't relish the idea of parting with any of my limbs. Plus, you'd eventually find it anyway."
"Hn. Where's your undying loyalty to the police?"
She tried not to flinch as his grip continued to tighten. "I'm pretty sure we've been over this before, but I'm not actually employed by the police.
I'm a Bounty Hunter, so they like to recruit me every once in a while. I don't have any loyalty to them, as you put it."
In the tense silence that followed as Feitan mulled over what she said, Jika almost wished she'd made a different career choice.
Moments like these were not endearing at all.
Phinks broke the silence with a quiet cry of triumph and waved a file at them. "Found it! And it's got the papers danchou wanted."
He started making his way back to them quickly. "Say girl, you said the police hired you, right?"
Apparently he'd been listening to their conversation.
"And being a Hunter, they give you special status, right?"
"Status?"
"I mean, you have access to everything the police has to offer, don't cha?"
She had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"Well, yes. It's sort of needed for my job."
The grin her reply received spelled "bad news" in every possible way.
"Hey Feitan, don't you think danchou could make use of her? It would save time finding an informant or whatever."
"Probably."
"Great then!" Phinks turned back to Jika with an ever widening grin. "Congratulations on winning a first class stay with the Genei Ryodan."
She was going to sue fate one day.
Getting out of the headquarters was actually rather simple.
They jumped from a fourth floor window with Jika slung over Phinks' shoulder as carelessly as if she were a sack of grenades.
Said metaphor used, because the Genei Ryodan would have indeed been carless with grenades.
Speaking honestly, Jika was very thankful that she didn't have to do the jump herself with her mangled arms.
Still, flying through the air while hanging upside down was hardly her favourite means of transportation.
The two bandits landed soundlessly on the street behind the building and took off at a run through the back allies of the city.
Although she was having a hard time focusing through the pain, Jika could tell they were taking her deeper into the older part of York Shin.
Here the atmosphere seemed calmer and quieter, the buildings they passed showing obvious signs of age.
The cars on the streets were a quiet murmur, versus the thundering storm of the downtown, and the lights were softer then the harsh street lamps.
They came to what appeared to be a rundown apartment building and cleared the first few floors in a single leap, entering through a dirty window.
There was a lone light bulb hanging from the roof, Jika noted, before she was tossed unceremoniously to the floor.
That hurt.
A lot.
It took her a moment, but by the time the spots had stopped dancing across her vision, she was relatively aware of the others in the room.
"Dude, Phinks, if you think that's a file, you need some glasses."
"Haha, very funny. Where's danchou?"
"In the bedroom." Another voice piped in.
The room housed a couch with the stuffing falling out and an old TV, which, from the looks of it, was probably even older then the couch.
Sitting on the couch was the perfect stereotype samurai. Actually, he looked a lot like one of those guys on the flyer from last month….
And kneeling in front of the TV was a blond kid; probably about her age, now that she thought about it.
He had also been on the list. Supposedly dead too.
Phinks strode past her to the door near the machine that the blond was trying to fix, with little success.
He raised a fist and knocked, (actually, pounded,) on the door.
"Hey, danchou! We're back!"
A sharp prod in the back by Feitan's foot was her cue to struggle to her feet, though not without a pointed glare in his direction.
He could have at least helped her up, seeing as how she didn't really have the use of her arms at the moment.
Okay, so he was a criminal; that wasn't really his thing.
But did he really just have to stand there?
Jika stepped carefully through the room, trying not to move her arms too much.
Phinks had already passed through the door, leaving it open behind him.
Feitan poked her again, and she reluctantly entered.
It was indeed the bedroom, although no mattress was present, leaving only the bed frame and a wardrobe.
The wardrobe was probably the newest thing in the apartment, if you ignored the missing door.
And there by the window stood the man identified as the leader of the troupe.
Jika decided the most disconcerting thing about him, (aside from his choice of clothes,) was that he looked normal.
Far more ordinary then the 'normal' people she saw on a daily basis.
Phinks it seemed, had just finished his explanation, and the leader's oddly unreadable eyes were on her now.
One thing she did know, was that he was assessing her worth right then, and that anything that happened after, held not effect on his evaluation.
When he finally spoke, it was to address her.
"My name is Chrollo Lucilfer, and I am the leader of the Ryodan. Phinks tells me you are a Bounty Hunter in league with the police. Am I right, miss-?
Well, there was a demand for her name if she ever heard one.
"Jika Ringgold. And yes, I often work as an agent for them."
The man, Chrollo, nodded. "Tell me, miss Ringgold, do you know Octavian Anthros?"
He was holding the file now, and eyeing the pages with interest.
Jika tried to shrug, but stopped half way through the motion. How on earth did she forget her arms already?
"Not personally."
Chrollo flipped another page.
"Octavian is a minor government official, well known for his contributions to the police. Of course, he is also connected to the darker side of society. He's rising in the underworld."
Another page turned slowly.
"Drugs. A fairly ordinary method, but profitable nonetheless. And he's rising fairly quickly in the business, mostly through his uses of unmodernized countries and his police connections."
He paused to hum thoughtfully at something in the file before continuing.
"Apparently he is enough of a threat to the other black market dealers to warrant drastic measures. Let's leave it at the fact that we have five different clients for this job."
The file closed with a snap, and suddenly his entire focus was on her again.
Jika could feel cold sweat slide down her back under his gaze, and the urge to cower was unbearable.
"You have information. While we can hack the police systems easily, your knowledge would save us time. "
He moved towards her, and with each step she could feel the pressure in the room building.
He wasn't bothering to hide his nen, and in that moment Jika felt fear.
The terror that prey feels when it's being hunted; the undiluted horror that freezes your blood in your vains.
He stopped directly in front of her, and she hated her body for shaking.
"Wether you give us your cooperation willingly or not is up to you. But make no mistake. We will get it."
Slowly, she managed a nod. "I understand."
Her voice barely shook, a fact which she was proud of.
Chrollo smiled, an expression sitting at odds with his aura. "Wonderful."
He turned then to Feitan and Phinks. "We will decide our next move in the morning, once Machi and Shizuku have returned."
They nodded their assent, and headed for the door, pulling Jika with them.
The door shut with a soft click and Jika felt relief rush over her.
The other two Ryodan members were still there and it seemed the blond had gotten the TV to work.
Phinks wondered out of the room and Feitan leaned against the wall, ignoring her.
She was stuck with a gang of thieves for the foreseeable future, without even a change of clothes and no one had any idea.
Well.
Might as well make the best of it then.
The flickering static of the TV caught her attention.
"Is that the new episode of Billy Boy Hunter?"
And who said she couldn't enjoy herself while she was at it?
A/N: I'm sorry Kurapika! I undid your hard work! (;_;)
This takes place with the small change that he never bought the eyes at the auction. So while there was still a confrontation, it would have gone diferently. Maybe I'll get to fit it into the story somewhere. ^_^;
Please leave a review to let me know if I've butchered the Genei Ryodan or not!
And what did you think of Jika?
