A/N- While reading through this story, I've got to admit how terribly it's written. But come on, I've improved, haven't I? ;)
Here's a few more fights, more Misaki/Hei interaction, and a little explanation of why Misaki just doesn't realize who he is. Simple: she's in denial and a little preoccupied. For someone as smart as her, it would be very unlikely for her to have no suspicion, but Li is just so different from the Black Reaper that it takes her a while.
So, here's part 3! Please R&R!
-Bleu Tsuki
A nearby explosion sent fiery sparks floating in their direction.
"Where is she? Bring her out and no one gets harmed!" a woman's voice boomed. Misaki was offended by the way people spoke about her like she was merchandise, but that was the least of her problems: Another fire ball zoomed passed them.
"Come on out!" the contractor baited again.
Misaki took a step forward, but Mao shook his head and flicked his tail in warning. Stay put, he mouthed. Frustrated she couldn't do anything yet, she melted back into the shadows of the alleyway.
Hei took center stage. Li slipped out from the alley he had hid in and walked forward with his head down. Once out of Misaki's sight, he slipped on the mask before his opponent could glimpse his face. While difficult, Misaki was a little preoccupied sending irritated looks at Mao. Once in the street, Hei was able to get a good view of her. The contractor was a heavy, muscular woman with spiky blond hair. (It seemed all the contractors wanted to stand out, as if they weren't unique enough). She was wrapped in a white cotton dress that was stained with splashes of blood.
The contractor looked up at Misaki's protector and recognition dawned on her with horror. She stared straight ahead like the emotionless killer she was, but inside she was terrified of the Reaper. The rumors of horror and mystery that surrounded him were enough to make anyone tremble.
"Got here first did you? Well I'm about to get the prize. What will my partners say when they learn who I've killed?" the woman smiled at him and activated on her power.
"Actually, we started off with her, you're the second thief so far." Hei told her in his dark 'contractor' voice, discreetly taking out his wire. Hei dodged the flames she sent tactlessly and flung his wire to wrap around her neck.
"What-? How-?"she yelped.
Hei electrocuted her so quickly that her surprised expression froze on her dying face. Okay, so maybe he used a little too much power, but she was starting to get on his nerves. Behind him, Misaki started to stir, and Hei quickly slipped off his mask.
"Li, are you hurt?" Misaki yelled coming to his side a minute too late to see his mask. The area was burned to a crisp, but the only evidence of the battle on Hei was his slightly heavy breathing.
"Thanks Misaki, but don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Let's change positions. Mao, where's the least populated area right now?"
"Contractors or humans?" Mao asked curiously, "There's a mob of contractors by your apartment, and a mob of humans by the movie theatre." Mao reported. Mobs!? Misaki thought. This was some entertainment! Oh, if she could just give Hourai a piece of her mind knowing that he had set this up...
"I asked for least populated, Mao!" Hei said.
"Oh right!" Mao checked the specters' map of town he had hacked into. "Actually, where you two were training is pretty cleared out. I had a feeling most of the fighting would be there since it's a wide field with trees as cover."
Misaki sighed. This was way more than she bargained for. Couldn't she go out for food like any normal person and return from a nice meal? No. Destiny just had to throw in a few dozen curveballs, right?
"Misaki, we need to move now." Hei said forcefully. Misaki wasn't used to taking orders from just anyone, and certainly not from Li who would've ordinarily not have ordered her in the first place. But she found herself not caring.
The trio ran towards Sakura Park and waited.
"Don't you think Misaki should get some action? This whole thing started out as training; perhaps we should make use of this game." Mao suggested in a whisper.
"Fine." Hei said bitterly. He really didn't need Misaki to learn more about him than needed...or get injured...or killed.
"What do you mean 'fine?' I handle this stuff all the time!" Misaki cried outraged.
"Sorry, forgot." Mao lied blithely, "But when was the lat time you were the one everyone was chasing ?" Mao asked her.
"You have a point there." Misaki gave in with a sigh. Besides, they were only trying to help, she shouldn't get so irritated.
Just then, four figures walked onto the field with three more behind them. Could she never catch a break? How did they find them so damn fast?
Hei made to go out to greet them, but Misaki grabbed his arm on reflex.
"Seven against three, Li! Look, I don't want you to die." Misaki whispered furiously. "How do you expect to defeat them without serious damage and injury to yourself?"
"Don't worry, I've done more." Hei responded quickly before leaping out, leaving Misaki with her mouth hanging open.
She pondered what he meant by that. More? Oh right, Li had told her that his sister and him were in a war zone. But seriously, how was she supposed to remember his past when his present, gentle demeanor contradicted the very connotation of war and violence? Then it clicked: South America. How could she be so dense? How could he be so different from what she believed? Perhaps she had even stared at his star at night without even knowing, but that was silly...the only star she stared at was (she blushed)...BK-201.
"Who do you work for?" Hei demanded fiercely.
The seven contractors stared back at him determinedly, searching his dark blue eyes for weakness, but found none.
"The Syndicate, you idiot. Now where is she? We can take her together." the leader replied, trying to negotiate. Apparently, Hei's mask was the difference between being an idiot ally and an intimidating enemy. The girl to the leader's right, however, wasn't so sure. She glared at him with piercing green eyes, making it obvious when they just happened to change to red.
He's the one who has her!" she yelled much to the commander's surprise. The other five contractors apparently seemed to rely on her more and began glowing blue as well.
So the seven decided to take Hei on before retrieving the oh-so-defenseless Misaki?
"Not too bright." Hei muttered.
The contractors zipped left and right sending out fire, knives, wind, and themselves. After a minute of pure confusion, one contractor managed to grab Hei on the neck (not completely impossible); the others gathered around to watch.
"Now, where is she?" the leader commanded assertively, attempting to regain his commanding rank for the blunder he made previously. Hei stared angrily up at him, and activated his power. The contractor holding him fell to the ground. Hard and callous as a boulder. The others tried to retreat, but Hei's wire wrapped around them one by one. And one by one they fell with a barely visible spark . Finally, only the second in command remained. Her wild green hair flashed around her as she sent a twister at Hei.
Hei was taken up in the gust, but quickly sent his wire to wrap around a tree branch. While he was tethered to the ground, he sent a shower of knives at the contractor; it hit her on the chest and the wind died with her.
"More are coming!" she breathed threateningly, then fell down dead.
Misaki emerged from behind the trunk of a rather large cherry tree.
"Li!- Oh my God, you-" Misaki stared wide eyed at all the electrocuted bodies on the ground. Perhaps she was in denial, not piecing together the electricity, black trench coat, and handsome black hair. It must all be a coincidence, separate factors having no relation to BK-201. Add this to the fact she was running every ten minutes, with a talking cat she had never seen in her life, with a student she met as affable Li, and learning her boss was a complete psychopath, how was she supposed to formulate what her normally clear mind would not?
"Don't worry, only the green haired one is dead. The rest I knocked out." Hei said casually trying to be sensitive to Misaki's interpretation of him. And yes, as far as he was concerned, the other six were knocked out...
Misaki get it together! You've seen more than one dead body before, the rest are just unconscious! But somehow, she just couldn't take in the fact that Li was a contractor. Only a few hours ago he was just her naïve friend. Now it was her that was naïve, and Misaki was used to many things, but not a switch this drastic. She was snapped out of her thoughts by Li's voice.
"Misaki, more are coming, do you want to fight alongside me now?" Hei offered, knowing he would have to have backup sometime. Misaki nodded eagerly.
"Of course."
"Me too!" chimed in Mao.
Yes, they'd make a great team.
Suddenly a short man in a brown jacket came running towards them. Misaki positioned her gun before the others saw him, and fired. Quicker than light, Hei had the gun redirected at the ground. Boom! But no bullet came out.
"What the-!"
"That's Huang." Hei informed her with a casual wave. Huang didn't return the gesture, just gave him a raised eyebrow and frowned. Misaki, on the other hand, was shocked (once again) by Li's amazing reflexes, and berated herself to think of him differently now. "What is it Huang?" Hei asked.
"The Syndicate's Game has been attracting a lot of attention. The CIA and MI-6 were going to get involved., but before that, the Syndicate called the whole deal off. Misaki's officially on our team." Huang reported out of breath, and a little shocked at being shot at.
"Well that's great!" Mao said beaming at Misaki, and waving his little black tail.
"The CIA? MI-6? Why are they involved now? Or, er, were?" Misaki asked.
"They were really confused as to why so many Syndicate stars were falling. If there's a contractor who can defeat the Syndicate's agents, then they'll pay a good amount to obtain him or her. But obviously money can't buy everything, so they're sending, how you say, recruiters." Huang said simply, before leaving the way he came, but not before tossing Misaki a package of rounds. "Better load up. The night's not over yet."
"Great." Hei said dryly to Mao. He was going to have to put his mask on.
"Sounds like I'm not the only one who's wanted in this game." pointed out Misaki with a tired frown.
"Hei, I'll take Misaki to another part of the field, you can deal with the rest here." Mao said. Wait. Hei? Did he just say Hei? Misaki thought before she realized that Hei must be Li. Oh!
"Actually, I don't mind now. Misaki, you're going to be working on our team from now on so you can go where ever you want." Hei decided. "Just...don't get killed."
"Good. Then I'm staying right here!" Misaki said determinedly, choosing to ignore the fact he cared about her safety.
"Well, I'm not! Hei, I have a feeling you'll get hungry later, so I'll go grab you some spare clothes so you can go straight to a restaurant later." Mao enlightened them before scampering off towards the apartments.
Abruptly, a blur shot past them. Misaki was on high alert. The blur stopped moving and became an average looking man...with orange hair...and was normal except for the fact that he was a contractor.
"I'm from MI-6. We'd like you to join us." He extended the invitation to Hei. So this was how contractors joined agencies... Misaki thought, thinking it pretty dull and void of emotion.
"I'm declining." said Hei throwing a nice, double-bladed knife his way. The contractor easily dodged it.
"We can pay you much more than anyone else can! Just help us take down the Syndicate." he elaborated in a whisper. Misaki was affronted: how was money that persuasive? Did Li, Hei, get paid a lot? Why did he choose to live in a bare apartment then? Goodness knows November 11 didn't...
"I work for the Syndicate. I have no use for money." Hei answered coolly, throwing another three knives. The man dodged them as easily as before. Though confused at first, the MI-6 agent decided that it was time for Plan B. Mao was unnoticed as a contractor, but Misaki was quickly spotted. With the sudden illumination of synchrotron radiation, the agent became a speeding blur once more.
"Come on!" the contractor joked, reappearing with Misaki's neck in his grasp.
Misaki gasped for air and tried reaching for her gun...just a bit longer. "Wouldn't want your girlfriend to die now...would you?" Hei didn't move. "Just joking," The man's grip didn't loosen. "We haven't spotted a contractor that has the skill to rival the Black Reaper yet. Join us."
From further down the field, Mao, unseen on the ground, let out a small laugh causing Misaki to look his way. Her eyes flicked to Li- no- Hei's face next and realized he was barring his teeth. Then he pulled out from under his coat a mask...and not just any mask.
A/N- Sorry for the cliffy! Will Misaki believe him? Will she faint? Run away? Shoot him as an impostor? O.o (Very unlikely)
Thank you for the 7 very LOVELY and WONDERFUL reviews! They made me glow with happiness for 24 hours at least.
So please, WRITE your THOUGHTS!
- Bleu Tsuki