First I'd like to thank all of you who read and reviewed. Then I'd like to once again apologize for the short chapter. The next chapter will likely be short as well, but it was the only way I could properly split up the story.
As always, please review, it is food for the author's soul.
Four hours after the attack, and Tsugumi's heart still raced at the thought of what had happened. The assassin had used an anti-material variant of a high powered rifle meant for piercing through armored targets and obliterating soft targets. They had given almost no warning. Most impressively, they did not lose their cool after a missed shot, and did not follow up with a wild and panicked second shot. Those facts made it abundantly clear to Tsugumi that the would-be assassin had been a professional.
Thinking on it again, if Raku had not shifted his weight, and had the assassin not moved to adjust at that exact moment, she never would have caught the glint of the of the sun off of the rifle's scope. Two coincidental actions had been the deciding factor in their survival, and that bothered Tsugumi.
The fact that she had not been in a truly life-threatening situation since she had departed from America had caused her to lower her guard. At least there she had always been on alert due to the many enemies of the Beehive. An attack like this one would never have worried her back then. The surprise it had caused here told told her that the cushy, normal girl lifestyle had allowed her skills to deteriorate. That deterioration was the biggest thing that bothered her. Maybe the White Tiger had been right when she first arrived. Maybe she had gone soft...
She quickly shook that thought out of her head, and then realized that her heart was also beating in excitement. The exhilaration she had experienced after the terror had subsided was unlike anything she had felt in a long time, well, almost anything. There was that pesky feeling...that infatuation with Ichijou Raku...the one that made her feel the same way she did during the assassination attempt. Terror, excitement, happiness, embarrassment and a touch of regret were all applicable emotions. Once more she shook her head, trying to clear it of distracting thoughts. She needed a calm heart and a cool head if she was going to make it through the wait for information from the Beehive investigation team.
Paula McCoy, the White Tiger, and Claude, her mentor, were heading up the investigation, so it might end up being successful, but she had her doubts. There was no way a professional like the one who took that shot would leave anything behind. Assassins like that went in like ghosts and left like a shadow. As her mind followed that train of thought, she was startled by the sudden assault of her cellphone's ringtone.
"Black Tiger. Go ahead," Tsugumi answered brusquely. She wanted the information found by the team, and she was not going to waste time with pleasantries.
"It's the White Fang...we weren't able to find anything. The tower and the surrounding areas seemed completely untouched. They tower didn't even have a speck of dust, but the owner put that down to his meticulous cleaning of the building. There were no signs of anything being disturbed at all. Like if you saw a ghost, if it wasn't for the crater where the bullet struck, you'd have to ask yourself if they were ever even there," Paula reported, giving her evaluation on top of the findings. Though her voice was steady, Tsugumi had known the girl long enough to sense a slight hesitation at the end of her report.
"Paula...is there anything else you aren't telling me?" the black-haired assassin inquired. After a lengthy pause, Tsugumi though that Paula was not going to respond, but a heavy sigh finally emanated from the other end.
"I should have known you would sense that there was more. Alright...I haven't told Claude or the Beehive this, because I wanted you to know first," Paula began to explain. After a short pause, she continued.
"I searched the area after the rest of the team called their search. I told Claude I'd call you once my search was done. While I was going around, I found a series of marks around the very edge of the park. A pair of fangs in two flower beds, placed like reference points. A long scratch mark, from a large animal's claws, in the side of a concrete barrier wall on the opposite side of the plaza from the tower. The last mark was inside the bell...a much smaller, but identical scratch mark that the team missed on first inspection," the White Fang explained. The marks that she described sent a series of chills down her spine. There was only one individual she could associate them with.
"Paula...your assessment?" Tsugumi asked. The reply came almost instantly.
"Tsugumi...an old friend has decided to drop by and visit us all the way from the U.S. The Smiling Wolf is here, and he is already stalking his prey."