Disclaimers: I don't own Mai Hime and its characters. (I do wish I did though)

Chapter 3: Silence on the Train

Haruka Suzushiro rests her head on her right palm, her elbow placed firmly on the table as support, while the fingers on her left hand tapped the surface of the office table. She had just called her companion, Yukino Kikukawa, to come into her office. However, Haruka's ability to cope with patience was skimming from thick to thin.

"YU-KI-NO!!" Haruka called out once more.

"Yes, Haruka-chan…?" Yukino answered faintly behind the office door.

Haruka remained immobile as Yukino twisted the door knob gently. Once a small 'click' echoed through the silent room from the door knob, Yukino opened the door only slightly, providing evidence to Haruka that her companion was hesitating.

"Come in." Haruka said firmly, removing her head from her palm.

"May I be of assistance?" Yukino questioned politely, closing the door behind her.

"Quit the formal act." Haruka slammed her right hand on her table. "Are there any news on that murderer A.K.A. assassin?"

"To my regrets, Haruka, I have none."

Haruka sighed and motioned Yukino to take a seat in front of her table. Yukino complied and sat down, observing Haruka carefully.

"The government has our asses." Haruka started.

"I don't quite understand, Haruka-chan." Yukino adjusted her specs as she stared at her chief.

"Our sponsors are getting impatient. They are blaming the Force for demonstrating poor responsibilities on the case of this notorious killer." Haruka turned her chair lightly. "They sent me a letter this morning."

"May I see it?" Yukino asked; her anxiety increasing.

Haruka passed the letter to her companion and continued, "The contents of the letter are filled with ammunitions."

"Admonitions, Haruka-chan."

"Err…yeah. Basically; if we do not find the killer soon, the government will cut us off from our paychecks and end the Force program permanently—that's trouble for our career." Haruka sighed again and forced herself up from her chair; stress building on her shoulders.

Yukino watched Haruka silently as Haruka strolled back and forth across the table. Haruka paused and stared at Yukino, her fingertips on her chin. Haruka then walked to Yukino and hesitated again. She stretched her hands to Yukino's collar, not a word slipped on either of their mouths but the level of comfort decreased around them.

"HOW DO WE FIND THAT BASTARD WITHOUT A LEAD?" Haruka broke in anger and clutched Yukino's collar before Yukino could flinch back.

"Haruka…ch-chan…" Yukino's lips parted as her hands held against Haruka's. Yukino, beginning to lose her energy, looked into Haruka's violet eyes tenderly as her complexion began to deteriorate in color.

Haruka finally being able to sustain her anger took in the situation and unclasps her hands around Yukino. Yukino coughed lightly as she panted for air, falling back into her seat.

"I'm sorry Yuki--" Haruka was interrupted by the ringtone of her phone.

Haruka caressed Yukino's right cheek affectionately and she walked back to her table and picked up her phone.

"Lieutenant Haruka speaking." Haruka reported on the phone and listened attentively.

While Haruka was on the phone, Yukino reached her standard breathing rate and adjusted her collar. A mixture of compassion and sorrow flowed through Yukino as Haruka spoke on the phone. Yukino didn't know which way to take in the past event, she was confused.

"Understood." With that, Haruka clicked the phone off and looked at Yukino apologetically. "We have something to do…"

Yukino shifted her eyes slightly and listened to Haruka, uncertain of what that 'something' is.


Over a distance of 100 miles from the Force's Headquarters, the lone wolf, Natsuki, observes the routes the train takes regularly.

Leaning on a metal pole, Natsuki also scrutinizes the lead Yukino had given her.

"A train from Tokyo to Kyoto…on Fuuka Street, near the academy…?" Natsuki questioned herself while she looked at the scrap in her hand. Yukino was one to give lengthy reports and heavy analysis of her findings that when Natsuki received Yukino's email, the cobalt head had to have some patience to skim through Yukino's work after discovering what she wanted so she would have some acknowledgement of potential background information.

With that being said, Natsuki jotted down the important keys in Yukino's report for safety measures. Information from the Force should be treated critically, after all.

Natsuki slipped her hands in her black jacket to pull out the photo her client gave her. She took another quick glance at her victim.

The victim had crimson eyes that reminded Natsuki of an ocean of blood. The light brown hair Fujino bore looked silky from afar and her skin, a smooth cream color, gave an illusion that resembled the clouds. She was radiant.

"She's beautiful…wait…did I just say that?"

Natsuki furrowed her eyes at her unconscious thoughts and crunched the photo back into her pocket. She then looked at the sky, marveling the atmosphere given at hand.

The sky was gray. The clouds shrouded the sun, causing the weather to be breezy and cold. To Natsuki, the sky foretold the future events of time. Should the sky change from sunshine orange to gray the next day, the sky reflected what was yet to come.

Death.

"Even the sky mourns for you, Fujino Shizuru." Natsuki spoke softly, her head tipping toward the sky. She inhaled in the cold winds of the sky and walked off to enter the train, her bags held in her arms dragged behind her.

Since today seemed unforgiving as a consequence of the sky, the train station did not have its usual masses. It was rather empty, only a few men and women were spotted boarding the train; perhaps for business trips. Whatever reasons it might be that they are present in the train station did not concern Natsuki. The less people there are; the less witnesses…and deaths.

As she reached the entrance of the train, she gave the ticket to the train's attendant and boarded in casually. There's no rush to kill yet.

Inside the train, the accessories and decorations had its elegancy. It's not a surprise for a first class train, lavished with expensive fabrics and red floorings; it was fit for a king. The windows appear to be clean, the seats seemingly soft and the sects were rather bigger than a common train.

Natsuki chose a platform seat far away from any passengers, not like there were many, but for caution she did so. She then sat down, her black trousers and white blouse making a rustling sound as she sat.

The train had not departed yet, for it would take another 20 minutes until the designated time that Natsuki decided to take a diminutive break and close her eyes…Unaware of her desires to sleep.

Within the time lapse of Natsuki's slumber, loud repetitions of footsteps flooded the train sect she was in. The footsteps never ceased and only grew thunderous. The reverberations startled her awake and Natsuki responded hastily by crouching down below her seat.

Frankly, Natsuki had no rationale to be cautious but she did so anyway. She quietly unzipped her bag under her seat and stuffed her hands in. Natsuki paid no heed to pull her eyes to her bag because she was inspecting her sect, trying to identifying any threat that might impose on her. So her hands groped for the items in her bag and pulled out a pair of brown gloves.

Natsuki quickly pulled on the gloves and reached in the bag again, only to take out an Eagle pistol and its ammo pouch. She quickly slipped both into her jacket and then peered through her seat, inspecting the situation more carefully.

The train sect she was in was vacant, not a soul sparked but hers. However, her perception of footsteps could not be overlooked. There must be something here.

Slowly, Natsuki stood up; only to be greeted with immediate gunshots.

"The HELL?" Natsuki yelled as Natsuki ducked back down, the shots barely missing her body. Her mind was racing, did the cops finally figure out her identity?

"Shit!"Natsuki cursed intrinsically and peered through her seat again. She scanned the room rapidly to spot her adversary.

"There!" Natsuki could see a figure kneeling between two platform seats, dressed in dark blue and armed with a rifle.

With no time to waste, Natsuki hurled side-ways and aimed her gun at the figure's head and fired. The figure was to slow to react and dropped the rifle as the bullet connected to the head. A pool of blood splattered across the sect as the bullet precisely pierced the forehead, a belch of agony filled the room as the figure fell to the ground. It was a deep voice, a man.

That belch was trouble. Its reverberation could be heard by everyone on the train. Now that the situation knotted tightly together because of the gunshot and the cry of agony, Natsuki had to move fast, to kill the daughter of Fujino.

There was no room for mistakes, her only options were to kill or be killed.

With the adrenaline rushing through her veins, Natsuki bolted to leave her train sect to enter the other sects—to find Fujino Shizuru.

As she made her way through several sects, she discerned at the vacancy of the train. "A set up?" Natsuki thought, anticipation hitting her head like a brick.

Before entering the next set of sects, Natsuki's eyes caught a glimpse of red. She slowed down her pace to move herself closer to the hue of red, curious of the current predicament she was in.

Once she reached to the stain of red, multiple bodies were seen on the floor. All deceased—all the bodies on the floor were annihilated with one or multiple holes eating the flesh. Natsuki kneeled down to the bodies and slid her hands across the surfaces of the wounds, noting that the injuries were the works of a shotgun.

If this was the fate of the train's passengers, would that conclude that Fujino had died too? Natsuki could not be sure; she had to find out herself, to confirm her assumptions with her own emerald spheres.

But Natsuki was beyond baffled. Could her pursuers- the cops, pull off such a stunt as a massacre? Were they going to cover it up on the news? Or was something more behind this?

Natsuki pulled her hands back as she tried to comprehend what was going on. Everything was a complete chaos, Natsuki had not expected this.

However; regarding the situation, she must persist to find her victim, or the remains of her victim. For that, she shrugged the shock off and whirled around quickly. She was about to sprint to the next train sects until she heard a rustle.

She stopped completely. She was sure everyone was dead, but the rustle could not be the work of a ghost.

She listened intently for the similar noise and heard it again. This time, it came from under the seats, to the right of the bodies.

Natsuki unhurriedly placed herself down to view what was under the seat, her emerald spheres meeting crimson spheres.

"Fujino?" Natsuki gasped.


A/N: It hit my head when I looked over the last two chapters that they were really short; I hope this chapter makes up for that error. Bear with me if my grammar becomes horrid, and thank you for your reviews. They are all cherished to me and it's like my moral support, I'll continue to update ASAP! I hope I'm progressing this story well?