Story Title: Nacht Jäger

Chapter Title: The Path of the Hunter

Author: Mathais

Rating: T

Fandom: CLAMP Campus Detectives

Warnings: Violence

Pairings: At this point in time, unknown.

Summary: With his mothers' deaths, Akira embraces a silent blade to slay those who cannot be brought to justice. Changed from his innocent youth, he only grows more and more tired as time passes now, all he does is stand with the support of the people around him.

Disclaimer: The characters and locations of CLAMP Campus Detectives and the shadow organization that appears do not belong to me.

OoOoO

Golden eyes sparkled as a lithe figure moved into range. A small mouthpiece was centered over his mouth, into which he spoke his position softly. An answer was heard, to which a small nod replied despite not being seen, and two short swords appeared in his hands. A silent cry left the man's lips as a body enclosed in black leather leapt from a hiding spot, effortlessly trisecting one woman in an instant. As her partner fell, the target drew back, drawing claws.

Blond hair creating a curtain to mask her intent, the woman flipped expertly away from a double slash. Three shuriken flew out, but the man savagely knocked them away by reflex and gave chase.

A spark of turquoise shined once, and the woman ducked a crossbow bolt. Cursing, she ran faster, dodging both bolts and slashes in her attempt to flee.

She could have maybe noticed a flash of crimson before a battle fan embedded itself in her skull. The woman fell to the ground, dead instantly.

"The predator and cub have fallen," said a crimson-eyed woman into her mouthpiece. There was a small confirmation of sorts as she melted back into the shadows.

The man stared at the fallen woman long and hard, a look of deep concentration on his face that barely muted the fires of hatred in his eyes. He snorted once, turning away from the rapidly cooling corpse after ripping the battle fan out to return to his partner. "Not her."

"Fighter, what is it?" The woman who wielded the battle fan came out of the shadows once more, speaking sharply.

"Nothing Mi', just nothing." The golden-eyed man shook his head, silently pleading to be let off. "She's got nothing on her linking her to the Tasogare no Uta."

"Stay with codenames on a mission." She narrowed her eyes, her gaze piercing, though the slight smile on her face softened the blow. "We've been in this too long to forget that."

"Okay Mage..." The man dubbed Fighter rolled his eyes as the two assassins disappeared into the shadows once more.

OoOoO

Nokoru frowned. He had gone through the paperwork quickly, but the latest thing he had found was rather disturbing.

"Another one?" sighed Suoh, his eyes darkening. "How many does that make?"

"Two more make it ten." The chairman of CLAMP Campus frowned harder, his eyes slanting slightly. "Ten people dead. I don't know how that's possible." His finger impatiently tapped on his desk, as he spoke, annoyance coloring his voice in a way that few things could. "Ten murders, all within the vicinity of CLAMP. How come those responsible haven't been apprehended yet?"

"It hasn't helped that the most promising future police commissioner had left," agreed Suoh in a wry tone.

It was true. Kobayashi had been so promising, but when... he disappeared all those years ago, Kobayashi had switched from policing to detective work, missing persons in fact. It was well known that he was close to them and that he had a personal stake in finding him. He was also connected to those still working on their murder. In fact, it was only through him that the case files were still open, having called in many, many favors. The Ohkawa family's missing persons files were still open due to their wealth and influence, though the many years had taken a big toll on the hopes of the family.

The mother of the two missing girls was the only one still standing strong—the father had fallen ill and was almost entirely bedridden. Even then, she was a bit thinner than before, losing much of her compassion in favor of the cold countenance that was required of her.

"No clues at all," Nokoru whispered faintly. His hand tensed, his fist turning white. Suoh immediately noticed the happenings and quickly made sure that the area was empty and secure, even more so than usual. He locked all the exits, using a speed that few other than ninja could possess before appearing at Nokoru's side, whose shoulders began to shake.

"It feels like it's happening all over again," his voice rasped out, choked with repressed tears. "I didn't realize. How could I have not—"

Suoh ignored the tears pricking in his own eyes, as he quietly rubbed Nokoru's back in one of the man's few moments of lowered guard. He needed to support the man now, not fall into his own grief.

"Why didn't I ever—" Nokoru continued in his half-broken sentences, his voice steadily becoming worse. "He meant... He was—"

"I understand," Suoh's quiet voice cracked slightly with his own emotions, but he cleared his voice and continued on, "I understand what you're staying. He—he meant a lot to us."

"He was more vital than he probably realized," Nokoru looked up with blue eyes shining with tears into similarly saddened golden eyes. "Maybe... If we had—"

"But we didn't," Suoh cut in gruffly, his voice choked with pain, "and there's nothing we can do about it now. We can only—"

"—walk forward," Nokoru finished, a sad smile on his lips.

Silently, he turned back to his work, leaving them both to wallow in their own pain.

OoOoO

He let the warm water fall down over his skin, reveling in the heat. The dust of the night washed away with his scrubbing, and the tanned, muscled body was freed from the sweat by which it had been previously coated. Grime and filth disappeared from his dark brown hair amidst the hot stream, and the temporary purple dye bled out as well. Content, he slowly began to close his eyes.

Here, he could let the world disappear in the swirl of steam and the rush of water. Nothing else mattered aside from himself. Not the darkness, not the hunt, not the blades, but only he himself. The masks could fall; everything could slip away until all that remained was him.

He could be himself for this small fraction of time. He could be the person he was underneath everyone else.

When he opened his eyes, they were steel gray.

When he stepped out of the shower and looked at that gray, he felt no emotion as he slipped in his contacts, turning the dark steel into bright gold.

With a few deft motions, he slipped his hair into a ponytail and toweled off the remaining droplets of water clinging to his frame. Slipping on his body-hugging shirt and jeans, he stared into the mirror again.

"Good morning, Toukaku Kira."

His lips twisted into a parody of a smile, all wrong lines and sadness. Kira slipped out of the door to the bathroom, leaving trailing sparkles behind him.

And he tried to tell himself that they were from his hair.

Walking down the steps into the kitchen, he greeted the one already there. "Good morning, Miko."

Souma Miko nodded back from her position at the table, scanning the paper before her and a cup of coffee in her hands. "Good morning, Kira. Is Yumi up yet?"

He shook his head in a negative as he poured himself a mug of coffee, black. Bringing it to his lips, he allowed the slow burn to overtake him, and he closed his eyes at the warmth. Once done, he addressed Miko. "She's still asleep. She did too much last night when she had a cold."

"I'll open up then. Do you have class today?"

"I have a lecture at nine, but nothing else past that," Kira admitted. "Sorry about leaving the shop to you."

"It's fine." Brushing back her shoulder-length black hair streaked with swishes of pink, she carefully stood and emptied the last of her coffee. Placing it in their sink, she walked toward one of the doors, glancing back at Kira. "Do you know when this'll end?"

"When we've weeded out the Tasogare no Uta from this place," he answered softly.

She didn't move, only continuing to look back at him. "Does it hurt, going back there?"

"Every little bit," he forced himself to say. "Unfortunately, they're even infiltrated there, so I have to do this."

"And then we can go back," she whispered.

"We're far too into this to go back," came the slightly nasally voice of a newcomer. Dokyu Yumi stepped out from the staircase, green-streaked black hair falling to her neck and framing a face flushed with fever. Turquoise eyes first stared into crimson and then gold. "We made our choice years ago."

"We made our choice," Kira echoed. He bowed his head, hair framing his face and blocking his eyes. "Can you ever forgive me for dragging you into this?"

"There is no forgiveness necessary," admonished Miko. "We chose this, and we stay by our choices, all right?"

"Yeah," chimed in Yumi.

"It's all right," whispered Kira. He looked up, nodding toward Miko. "You should open up the store; Yumi, you need to be back in bed until your fever breaks, all right?"

"Yes, sir." Yumi dutifully went back upstairs, not willing to argue when it took all her effort to just get downstairs and then to concentrate enough to get coherent sentences with her head pounding as such.

"I'm heading there early; I had to miss the last lecture, so I'm going to steal notes." Kira looked at Miko, at the turquoise eyes and the casual shirt and pants, and he breathed out a couple words under his breath.

"You don't need to be sorry," Miko called out as the door swung shut.

"Maybe not to you," he murmured to himself as he went to their small living room to wait a bit before he had to go leave.

CLAMP Campus... It felt like so long ago—it was so long ago.

He sighed and buried his face in his hands.

OoOoO

The lecture over, Kira smiled at one of his fellow classmates as they left the lecture hall. He handed back the notes from their last lecture to the grateful man and moved to duck away from the classroom. He had a shift in an hour or two, and it took at least that long to get back to the store and grabbed something to eat.

His professor stopped him.

"Toukaku-kun," she called, "would you please wait a moment?"

"Yes?" he stopped and turned back toward his professor, only to be treated to a deluge of words about something or other he couldn't quite remember. As she got further into her words, his eyes widened in recognition.

His thesis!

As per orders, they'd continued their education and development of their talents. He'd been taking courses toward an economics and mathematics double-major, and he'd done well enough that those credits had been able to be transferred to CLAMP Campus. He'd forgotten that he had submitted his thesis for review before transferring, and it was apparently sent over along with him. Shit, he hadn't expected that; he hadn't realized he'd be in the Campus long enough for them to do so. Now he was further on record here, especially if he was considered as a CLAMP graduate before he left and pushed toward his Masters or even a Doctorate.

Apologizing profusely that he had to run out, Kira smiled slightly and left as quickly as he could. Brushing away his hair from his face, he looked toward the sun in the sky and sighed. He seriously needed a break, but none of them could force themselves to refuse anything.

Kira walked to one of the Campus's many restaurants, intending to get himself something quick and easy to eat. While he could have made his own lunch, he preferred at times to sit down and eat. Sitting down at a small café, he ordered himself a small soup and sandwich, asking also for a cup of ice water. When the food was delivered to him, he quickly set to work on it, knowing that Miko would have his head if he was late. She already had to pull a double-shift in order to cover for Yumi, and a triple-shift without lunch was out of the question.

Finished with his meal, he moved to stand, only to bump into another person.

"I'm sorry," came the apology on reflex, and Kira silently berated himself for his inattention.

"It's all right," was the answer from a kind, slightly husky voice.

When Kira turned to the man, his face froze. Though age and grief had certainly taken its toll on the man before him, there was no question to his identity. He turned and fled as quickly yet discreetly as he could.

Akechi Shigetaka's face rapidly paled, as if he had seen a ghost. And to him, he was pretty sure had seen one. Forgetting about his own plans, he moved to run after the fleeing man.

That can't be you... can it?