Disclaimer: I do not own Seraph of the End

"Speech"

"Thoughts"

Chapter 3: Downpour

Yuichiro sat watch inside of a little apartment building that his squad decided to hold up in. The darkness of the night was periodically brightened by flashes of lightning and the only noises that could be heard were the deafening cracks of thunder and the pitter patter of the falling rain. It was one of the most severe thunderstorms that Japan had seen in a long time and it was also the day of the Nagoya mission. In just one more hour, Yuichiro and his squad would leave their hideout and rendezvous with Guren and the rest of the Moon Demon Company to begin their assault under the cover of the rain. Personally, Yuichiro thought it was odd to be attacking the vampires at night. In his mind they were at a total disadvantage, but he trusted Guren so he decided not to argue with his CO this time. He was just worried about his friends. At that moment he turned to their sleeping forms and smiled. For once everyone looked peaceful, despite the fact that they were going to be risking their very lives soon. "No matter what happens, I'll protect every single one of you. I swear it." Yu promised to himself. His attention was forcibly returned to the window after he felt the very building rattle. Just outside was one of the Four Horsemen of John and it appeared to be chasing after something. Yu readied his sword in case another child was on the run because of the vampire's twisted tactics. Trap or not, he wasn't going to let anyone die on his watch. He waited until he got a better view of what was going on to take action, and he was surprised to see that the Horsemen of John was trying to get ahold of a vampire. To his knowledge, they normally left the bloodsuckers alone unless provoked. Trapped and with nowhere to run the vampire was slaughtered mercilessly by the apocalyptic creature. Seeing that its work was now done, the Four Horsemen of John left the area in search of its next meal. Just behind it however, Yu could have sworn he saw a hooded figure. Since the whole ordeal awoke the entire Shinoa squad, Yuichiro decided that he was just imagining things and informed his squad that they were to be leaving soon. The group then ate quickly and decided it was time for them to meet up with Guren and the others. After gearing up and checking their surroundings, Shinoa squad moved under the cover of the rain.

The whole trip was silent and uneventful. When they arrived Guren briefed them on the situation and their squad's orders. They were to locate and kill Fifteenth Progenitor Lucal Wesker with the help of Narumi's squad and then regroup at the specified destination. Although Yuichiro and Kimizuki were ready to go, Guren informed them that they still had some time before everyone arrives. He ordered them to wait until he gave the signal and left.

"So we have to sit in this pouring rain!? This sucks." Mitsuba complained.

"Hey, it's not so bad. I find it to be kind of refreshing." Yoichi said. The bow and axe user then engaged in their own conversation while Yuichiro and Kimizuki were making bets on who could kill more vampires. Shinoa watched her squad silently before drifting off into her own thoughts. Deep down she was worried. In the week that led up to this mission, Yuichiro and Kimizuki both battled their demons for over 20 hours, Mitsuba was promoted, and she got a chilling note from Kureto requesting an audience with her squad directly after this mission. To top it off, she still hadn't found the chance to talk to Yuichiro about the night they had spent together and at this point she was beginning to wonder if she ever would.

"I wonder if he even remembers what happened that night…" As if on cue, Yu looked over at Shinoa causing her to look away in embarrassment. "I didn't say that out loud, did I? No of course I didn't. It was just a coincidence he looked at me. Why am I acting so weird!?" she was brought out of her thoughts by the very boy that she was thinking of.

"Shinoa are you okay? You've been acting kind of strange lately." He said bluntly. Further proving his point, the small girl 'eeped' and jumped back.

"You idiot! Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's not polite to sneak up on girls?" she replied. She wasn't expecting Yu to approach her so suddenly, especially when she had been thinking about him. Luckily for her it was dark, so Yu couldn't possibly see the giant blush on her face. "And I'm fine. Why do you ask?" she asked.

"I don't know. I mean ever since we slept together that night you've been acting kind of funny. I didn't make things weird between us did I? I was just worried about you is all." Yuichiro answered.

Shinoa was surprised. One that Yuichiro actually remembered that night and two that he was paying that much attention to her. In the entire week since that night, they had barely said a few words to each other and she had completely avoided him for the most part whenever they were all together. Up until now she hadn't realized she had been doing all of those things and felt bad that she was allowing something so trivial to get in the way of the things that were most important to her. "No you didn't make anything weird. I'm sorry if I made it seem that way. It's just that I wanted to talk to you about something—"

"Shinoa if you wanted to talk, all you had to do was ask. Honest. If that's what is making you act so funny then let's talk now. What's on your mind?" Yuichiro interrupted. Even for an interruption Shinoa saw a different Yuichiro. The normally rude and flame-headed Yu was replaced by a gentler and sweeter person, one that cared deeply for the people around him. She smiled and felt more at ease now then she did before.

"Well you see, um—" Shinoa started to nervously press her fingers together, an act that was completely out of character for her. "—about that night Yu."

"What about it?" he said.

"So you're the teenage brats that I've been paired up with for this mission?" a tall man with a mole under his eye stated.

"Damn it!" Shinoa thought in frustration.

"What was that?" Yuichiro turned around and faced the man.

"Easy there rookie. Didn't anyone teach you not to disrespect your superiors? Makoto Narumi at your service. It is to my understanding that our squads are to eliminate Lucal Wesker." He said casually. Shinoa put a hand on Yuichiro and nodded for him to calm down. Whatever she was feeling before, she quickly hid as she approached the man.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Shinoa and this is my squad. I look forward to working with you." She said as she extended her hand. Makoto shook the small girl's hand and smiled before speaking up again.

"The same to you. Allow me to introduce the rest of my squad. The one with the glasses is Yayoi, next to her is Rika, the one in the bandanna is Taro, and that last one there is Shusaku."

"Nice to meet all of you. You've already met Yuichiro there, behind him is Kimizuki, and then the two sitting down at the edge over there are Yoichi and Mitsuba." Shinoa finished with the introductions.

"Pleasure to meet all of you. Well Guren sent me over here to retrieve you so that we can finally set out. I'll be acting as the team leader for this mission and Shinoa will be the second-in-command. Also, allow me to inform you that since this has become a night op my squad will be taking point with yours bringing up the rear. Although I'm not so sure about that brat having my back seeing the look he is giving me." He said as he gestured towards Yuichiro.

"You know, keep talking like that and I'll shove this up your—"

"He means to say that he has your back! Nothing is going to get through him! Yeah!" Shinoa said as she covered his mouth. Makoto huffed and began walking away.

"Your lack of discipline will be your downfall. I'll overlook that outburst this time. In any case, when your squad finally has it together meet us at Lucal Wesker's ward. We have reports that he is on the move. Please hurry." He called back.

"Man, that guy really gets on my nerves." Yuichiro said when Shinoa finally removed her hand from his mouth. He then received a big 'bonk' on the head courtesy of Mitsuba.

"You idiot! Were you trying to make us look bad!?" the blonde haired girl shouted.

"Way to go genius." Kimizuki remarked.

"Yeah yeah whatever! Like you guys need me to make you look bad. Don't tell me that you guys didn't think he was annoying either!" Yuichiro defended.

"Just because we thought he was annoying doesn't mean we say it out loud bonehead! Sometimes I wonder if you have a brain." Mitsuba said as she crossed her arms.

"Well at least—"

"That's enough, all of you. This is a pointless argument! Now that we aren't wasting time, let's go meet up with the Narumi squad." Shinoa interrupted Yu. She started off in the direction of the ward and was happy to see that her team was quietly following her but disappointed seeing as how everyone but Yoichi looked like they wanted to kill one another. She turned to face them one last time. "Alright enough with the looks. Aren't we a family? What's the point of being a squad if we can't even talk to each other? Let's quit being mad at each other and instead take out some nasty vampires. The Narumi squad is counting on us. The world is counting on us and I'm counting on you. Can I trust you guys or not?" She asked. Shinoa smiled after her squad cheered in unison. "We definitely need some work, but we are getting there." She said to herself. On that note, the quintet set out to join up with the Narumi squad.

Guren's Makeshift Office…

"This doesn't make any sense! Guren, what's really going on here and why are we attacking at night? It's not like you to put so many lives on the line, especially for a mission as stupid as this one." Sayuri said as she tried to get through to her beloved commander. She'd follow him to hell and back if he asked, but this was completely odd for him. It was like he was trying to get everyone killed and for the sake of his oldest rival. "You've been silent the whole way here. It's obvious that something is bothering you, so what is it? You know that you can trust us Guren. Stop keeping so many things to yourself. It isn't healthy."

Guren knew that there was no use in hiding his plans anymore. The Moon Demon Company leader sat back in his chair and looked at every member of his squad. He smiled in his head. "These guys have always had my back. I won't keep the truth from them any longer." With a sense of newfound purpose Guren said the words that would set his goals in motion, "It's time." He was not however, expecting the reaction that he received especially from the most silent member of the group.

"What?! Now!? With all due respect Guren we aren't nearly ready for that yet! It is much too soon. I don't think tha—" Shigure stopped when Guren slammed his hand on the table.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Guren paused when he saw his team back up. Sighing, he sat down and ran his hand through his hair before finally finding the will to speak again. "I'm sorry guys. I know that I haven't been myself lately and trust me, this isn't the way I had it planned. Kureto has forced my hand and now we have no other choice than to enact my plans now. Believe me when I say that I know full well we aren't ready. So I thought up a different solution, the Moon Demon Company disappears."

"What do you mean, 'disappear'?" Mito asked.

"Since we aren't up to strength yet, why not disappear until we are? This is the reason for this night op. I know that it's risky, but this rain and the cover of night are the two best times to make our escape." Guren explained.

"Then why not just make our escape now? Why risk so many lives for a mission that everyone knows is a suicide run anyway?"

"Because Norito, if we just up and vanished then the Hiragi's would know that something is up. I'm not too fond of constantly trying to avoid their army, so we have to make it believable. We show up here, clear out as much as we can and then vanish. Then it's up the Japanese Imperial Demon Army to decide what happened to us. You said it yourself Norito. It is a suicide run after all, so what are they going to do when there isn't a survivor to be found?"

"But the lives at stake here…" Sayuri said softly.

"I know Sayuri. It's terrible and it's why I feel so horrible about this operation, but there isn't much we can do. If we disappear or not, either way the loss of life on this mission is inevitable. We have Kureto to thank for that. So we just have to make sure that these brave men and women don't die for nothing." Guren stood from his desk and in a rare gesture placed his hand in front of his squad. He motioned for them to put their hands in the pile and waited for them to do so. Once everyone had their hands in, Guren spoke once more. "No matter what happens, I promise that we will bring down the Hiragi's. For all the harm and suffering that they have caused the surviving citizens of Japan. I can't say that the road to bring them down will be an easy one, but as long as I have all of you by my side I have faith that we will put an end to their reign. To bringing down the Hiragi's!" Right after finishing his speech the group threw their hands up and cheered. Each member of the Guren squad eyed each other and silently vowed to see this through to the very end. Happy that everyone he wanted on board with his plans were finally seeing eye to eye, he proposed their next objective. "Now that that is over with, it's time to set things in motion. First order of business is—"

Lucal's Ward…

Yu ripped his katana from the stomach of his fifth kill. The vampire howled in pain as his body turned to ash. The downpour of rain seemed to be working in the group's favor as they had been able to get the jump on most of the bloodsuckers they came across.

"There it is. The cathedral where Lucal is to meet his end." Makoto said as he approached the Shinoa squad. "This time we'll have Yu, Kimizuki, and myself up front and the rest of you following behind. Yoichi I want you to slip into the shadows and wait for the right moment to light the bastard up! My squad knows what to do. Be on your guard. There's no telling what's in there." The squad all nodded their heads in unison and moved into their respective positions. "Yuichiro, take point. We move when you do." Makoto ordered.

Taking a deep breath Yu opened the doors to the cathedral and stepped inside. The inside of the place of holy worship was pitch black save for a few candles lit here and there, as well as the occasional flash of lightning. The pounding of the rain echoed throughout the great chamber in a thunderous roar. Looking around Yu saw absolutely nothing. The rows of pews were all destroyed and scattered about. It looked like a fierce battle had already taken place inside, making the entire squad question if they took too long in reaching their target. Their confusion was lifted when Lucal himself appeared, sitting idly on a dangling cross that looked dangerously close to falling.

"Well I seem to have all the luck today! First a squad of hopeless maggots came barging in, in some pitiful attempt at my life. Too bad my loyal servant Esther put down his life for mine, and I made very quick work of those pesky humans. Now another—hmm let's see—one, two, three, eight, nine of you have come to play!" Lucal leapt from the cross and drew his own sword, allowing it to pierce his hand to drink his blood. The sword gave off an eerie red glow as he stepped into the shadows. "Well if the maggots want to play, then let's play!" Lucal made the first move as he dashed behind Yu in an attempt to cut the young swordsman down. It would have worked if Kimizuki hadn't blocked the attack mid-swing.

"You're mine now bastard!"Kimizuki shouted as he slashed with his other sword. Instead of connecting his attack however, Lucal simply smacked his left sword away and kicked Kimizuki into one of the pews. Makoto stepped forward immediately after Kimizuki was taken down and succeeded in pushing Lucal back a few steps with several well placed attacks. Lucal quickly escaped back into the shadows and planned his next move. He wouldn't have enough time however, as a flash of lightning exposed his position in which Shinoa and Mitsuba quickly closed in on. With nowhere to run, the vampire intercepted Shinoa's scythe attack and took hold of her scythe. A quick flick of his wrist sent Shinoa flying straight into Mitsuba where the two girls crashed into a nearby beam.

"These maggots could never hope to touch me!" Lucal thought proudly. He charged straight for Makoto who quickly went on the defensive. Yayoi came to her squad leader's aid and saved him from what would have been a death blow. The vampire retreated back to avoid being overwhelmed but leapt right back into Yu.

The green-eyed katana wielder hacked and slashed away, landing a few attacks on the fleeing vampire. Lucal parried one such attack and made the move to finish Yu but was cut short by Kimizuki, who succeeded in slicing off one of the vampire's arms.

"That's twice today Yu! You're getting sloppy." Kimizuki pointed out to his rival.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just kill this freak, okay?" Yuichiro said annoyed.

"Argh, you damned maggots! How dare you strike at me! Do you not know your place? Looks like I'm going to have to show you that you are no longer on the top of the food chain!" Lucal howled. He prepared to charge forward once more but stopped when he saw Kimizuki carrying his left arm.

"Yeah? Well let's see how you fight with one arm bitch!" Kimizuki stabbed the loose appendage and activated his cursed gear, leaving behind a small pile of ashes. Seeing his arm vanish into nothingness sent Lucal into a raging frenzy. The bloodsucker went on the attack, relentlessly slicing away at Kimizuki. The orange haired teen succeeded in blocking his attacks, but he was slowly being pushed into a corner. If he didn't get help soon then he was done for. Another flash of lightning revealed Yuichiro lunging in at Lucal, whom barely managed to get out of the way. Not letting up on their attack Mitsuba followed with a vicious strike from her axe that left a small crater which Lucal narrowly escaped. Shinoa was up next as she slashed away with her scythe catching the vampire's stomach. The blow was not a killing one, but it set up the next step of the unified attack as Yayoi, Rika, Makoto, and Taro all managed to land several cuts in on him but failed to kill the vampire.

"Is that all that you lowly maggots got? That whole synchronized attack and you barely managed to land a couple of scratches? How pathetic! You really are—" Lucal stopped speaking when a chain caught him by the leg and bound him in place. Shusaku appeared from the shadows with a smile.

"It seems my calculations were correct." He said.

"I won't go down like this! Not to these maggots. I will kill them all." Luscal thought as he cut off his bound leg and leapt up in an attempt to escape his doom. The attempt proved to be pointless as Yuichiro quickly closed the gap and cleaved the vampire into two halves. His upper half flew up into the air completely exposed. Yoichi smiled from his position in the back.

"Now's my cue! Drop dead mother—" the rest of his words were cut off by the sound of the arrow cutting through the air. The shot hit Lucal right in the middle of his chest and pinned him to the dangling cross that he was sitting on earlier. The fifteenth progenitor howled in pain as he was beginning to disintegrate.

"You damned humans! This isn't over! I swe—" the vampire's words were cut short once again as the massive cross finally collapsed with the dying vampire in tow. After the dust settled, the two teams regrouped outside and celebrated their victory. Makoto approached the Shinoa squad and offered an apology. When they all agreed that there was no ill will between them, Makoto remarked that they were 'not so bad after all.' He informed them all that they needed to meet up at the rendezvous and made it a point to get there as quickly as possible. The group nodded their heads in agreement and set out. About halfway to the meetup, Makoto ordered that the group stop and take a quick break. They stopped at a street that was directly beneath a railway. A lone street light was the only thing that separated the group from the darkness of the night.

"Five minutes and then we are off again!" he exclaimed.

Shinoa took this time to approach Yu, who was sitting silently by himself near one of the abandoned buildings. "Hey." She said.

"Oh, hey Shinoa what's up?"

"About that night—I just wanted to know what you thought of it."

"What I thought of it?"

"Yeah." She answered shyly.

"Hmm, I don't know. It was nice I guess."

"Just nice then?" she said somewhat disappointed. "I'm really just overthinking this whole thing. Now I'm just being weird. Well better—" Yuichiro brought the petite girl out of her thoughts once more.

"I got the best sleep of my life thanks to you."

"Yeah, I slept like a rock too. So then you did like sleeping with me?" she said with a sly smile. Yuichiro took note that she was being serious and yet her usual self at the same time. He laughed when she gave him a confused look. "What's so funny?" she asked. Instead of replying right away, Yuichiro decided to tease his teammate this time around.

"Oh nothing, it's just that you looked cute for a second there." He replied casually. He smiled when her expression changed and her pale face was assaulted by several different shades of red.

"W-w-what?" Shinoa barely managed to say.

"Nothing." Yuichiro laughed. "So then, what did you think of that night then?" he switched the subject. He could've kept going but he decided that the purple haired girl had enough for one night. Little did he know that his next question caused her more embarrassment than his initial comment.

"I—um—it was nice." She said.

"Good to know. I never got to thank you, you know for staying by my side while I was in the hospital. It really meant a lot to me. It made me feel like—I belonged somewhere. So thank you Shinoa, for making me a part of this family and for being by my side, even if you are a little weird." The last comment irked Shinoa somewhat but she smiled nonetheless. "Oh, and Shinoa?"

"Yes?"

"You should smile more often, and not like that creepy one you do when you are about to say something dirty or whatever. But like the one that you are using right now. It really suits you." Yuichiro said before running off to join up with the group. Shinoa sweat dropped at the compliment, but deep down she found herself jumping for joy for the second time.

"I don't know what it is… but something about him just—" she never finished her thought as she ran to join up with everyone else. Once she arrived Makoto seemed like he was looking for something, or somebody for that matter.

"Anyone seen Yayoi? She was here a second ago." He said. All 9 members of the Vampire Extermination Unit called out but received no answer. They searched frantically but still found no sign. After about ten minutes everyone heard a loud 'thump'. Right there, in the middle of the lone light underneath the railway was the bloodied corpse of Yayoi. "Oh my… no… Yayoi…" Makoto began. A dark figure then leapt down from his hiding place on the railway and stood menacingly before the remaining members of the Makoto-Shinoa squads.

"Were you the little shrimps that killed Lucal and Mel?" the hooded figure called. He was such an intimidating presence that none of the members spoke up. They all felt like they were being choked right where they were standing. Although, to Yu and the rest of the Shinoa squad the voice sounded strangely familiar. "Well are you going to answer me or not? I haven't got all—hey wait a minute. I know you. You're the kid that went berserk back in Shinjuku. Seems like the humans don't put a leash on their pets, and you. You are that girl whose blood was so delicious. Ha! Looks like I'm in for a treat. Looks like we get to finish what we started after all! Too bad Chess and Horn aren't here to join in on the fun. Well more for me!" the hooded figure exclaimed.

Makoto turned around to face the Shinoa squad. "You… know him?" the sergeant was still clearly distraught at the loss of Yayoi. Yuichiro was the one that finally decided to speak up.

"Yeah we do. On our way to Shinjuku we ran into him where we were about to fight… but he left before we got the chance. He's extremely powerful. According to Shinoa we were as good as dead."

"Who is he?" Taro asked. This time all of Shinoa squad responded in perfect unison.

"Thirteenth Progenitor Crowley Eusford."

2 weeks later…

"I get that, but 100 soldiers don't just magically disappear!" Kureto shouted from his position in the war room.

"We recovered 18 bodies on sight. Maybe they were captured or something. You did send them on a suicide run after all." Tenri informed his raging son.

"What about Shinya? What happened to him? They are up to something! I can feel it!"

"Quiet you fool! You sent Shinya to investigate their disappearances. Or did you forget that already? As of right now, the entire Moon Demon Company has been declared M.I.A. That is the official report and it is going to stay that way until proven otherwise." Just after Tenri finished speaking, a soldier knocked on the doors outside of the war room. "Come in." Tenri ordered.

"Sir! We've found something! I've come all the way from Nagoya to deliver this to you." The soldier held up the small key-like item and handed it to Kureto.

"What is it Kureto?" Tenri asked.

"If I'm not mistaken… this is Shinoa's cursed gear."

A/N: And there it is! What happened to Shinoa? Did they manage to escape Crowley? Tune in next time to find out! So you Seraphans if any of you would like to leave any comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns please feel free to leave a review or PM me if you'd like. If not, then enjoy the story! Until next time! Frosty out!