NOTE
1. Thank you for follows, faves, and reviews guys!
2. This chapter may seem a bit too fast-paced, but I want to keep a lighter tone, so I kind of deleted some scenes
3. If anything confuses you in this chapter, just tell me. I have a tendency to be discreet and confusing.
4. Warning: implication of animal abuse, implication of murder
5. Just an addition, its hard for me to write about animal's abuse, so I didn't make any explicit description of it. Still, it broke my heart there. I dont support animal's abuse in any way. As for the other explicit stuff I've wrote before..., that's a different case.
HER CAT, A HUNTER
Colonello was sitting in the nearby cat cafe with Kyoko and Haru – again – to have their daily chat before work. Honestly, the blond male had no idea why he willingly go with these two's whim. He even had a cat ears bandana on (because its the cafe's weekly cat day). Of course, the man insisted he still had his masculinity intact, even in the middle of sipping the super sweet coffee inside that pink mug – its a bother how he started to like this cheap coffee.
Kyoko and Haru were in the middle of taking a selfie when the door to the cafe opened with the loud tinkle from the bell on top of it. A very familiar figure stepped inside the cafe half running. Their eyes were wide in that ridiculous surprised manner. It was Skull, and he was gawking at Colonello. "Oh my God!" the goth exclaimed, a bit impolitely as he suddenly pointed at their table, "It is true! You are into cat cafes!"
Colonello's jaw slacked. The girls didn't help him one bit as they acted like no one had just ran into their table and half screamed to their table. These girls..., really did not care. "Now wait a minute, kora!" Colonello stood up for his dignity, "What do you mean its true!?"
"I knew it! It has to be these girls from the intel! You wretched intels, you always planned something behind our back, didn't you!? What did you do to the real Colonello!? Now I lost my bet to that fucker Luce again!" Skull ranted. He slammed his hand on their table once – not that it scared Kyoko and Haru. The girls only stared at him absentmindedly.
"You have a bet over me, kora!?" Colonello's hand reached out to the collar of the goth's leather suit, "Luce must be behind this, right!?"
But Skull's horrendous face got worse. He stared at Colonello in fear before whispering, "Oh no... I-is it Africa? Africa must have done something to you. Why, Colonello? Now me and the guys had to give half of our wage to Luce again..."
So in the end, Colonello had to punch the guy in the face to calm him down. The four people now sat peacefully at the table. They even made sure Skull got his own cat ears bandana (and its pink. Pink can calm everybody's nerves, the cafe manager told them). Colonello had to smile apologetically at the manager. He didn't want her to see Colonello badly after being her favorite customer (she even drew hearts on Colonello's pancake once).
"It's nice to have you join us, sir," Kyoko said sweetly, while Haru twittered next to her, "The more, the merrier desu".
"Please just call me Skull," Skull answered with a flirtatious smirk. Oh Skull, if only you knew the real face of these girls.
"So you're trying to get into Lal's pants? That kind of makes sense, though people have been talking about you being into girly stuff like cat cafes, you know?" Skull added after hearing more of Colonello's story. The goth then sipped his coffee, "I mean, with you guys meeting in this place – fuck, this coffee is too sweet".
Colonello rolled his eyes and sipped his own coffee. Kyoko and Haru giggled as their default answer. Skull grinned, "But too bad, Colonello. Luce told me to join you and Lal on eliminating Cenzatti's ass. So I'm going to be a cockblock in your date".
"Kora, I never heard of this before," Colonello frowned, "Since when exactly?"
Skull sipped his coffee again, "Two days ago I think. Right after Luce created the bet".
Wait a minute, that must be why Verde was looking at him weirdly yesterday at the Sky Bar. They had this weird idea of Colonello hanging around in a cat cafe (thanks to Luce). The blonde male wiped his face in resignation. "Look. Firstly, don't make a bet on me. Secondly, Lal and me don't need your help. Luce clearly knows that we can handle it without you, kora," Colonello complained, although in defeat.
"The thing is, Luce told me that Cenzatti is out for Lal's kitty," Skull explained, "And she said its better to keep Lal out of it because she'll snap if anyone dare touch her kitty. The last time she got angry, the mission went out of hand".
"Which is funny, right?" Skull continued, "I mean, dude, its just a cat".
"Its not," Colonello really wanted to tell him that the cat was actually a human. Yet, there was something wrong in talking badly about the woman you like. Lal was like a goddess in Colonello's eyes, therefore, saying "You know that Lal? She has something for a kid. Do you know she has been sleeping with an under-aged kid in her bed?" was unimaginable to him.
Skull rolled his eyes, "Whats with people exaggerating about this cat?" Skull ranted, "Its a cat, okay? A fucking cat. So what? Is it special? A rare breed? An expensive one? Stolen from the CIA?"
There was a deja vu there. Colonello remembered ranting in the same fashion. A long time ago.
He wanted to explain more, but Haru cut him to it. "Lal texted, desu!" Colonello sneered at her for using her polite 'desu' around Skull, but no longer using it around Colonello, "She said there is something urgent and asked us to come ASAP. Something about her cat, desu".
Haru showed them her phone, in which Lal's text was shown in italics:
Fucking geezer is threatening with my cat. Come. ASAP. Urgent.
Skull frowned even further, "Oh my gooooodddd. Its a cat. She can buy a new one if anything happens".
Colonello sighed, "S'not a cat. Its a...". But he couldn't continue. Why is it so hard to just say it!?
Now he understood why Kyoko and Haru never told him exactly.
"It's a boy," Skull muttered next to him.
Colonello turned to him, "Yup".
"Its a human boy," Skull repeated; face now the perfect image of flabbergasted, "Why the fuck did no one tell me?"
Colonello deadpanned. Was he that shocked too before?
They were currently inside Lal's apartment, watching Kyoko and Haru gushing over Lal at the living room. The blue haired woman was lying on top of a white lounge chair; clad in her lacy black lingerie and black night robe. Her hair was in a messy bun and her eyes in bloodshot. The scariest expression latched on her face as she pointed her silver handgun to the ceiling.
BANG! The gun went. The sound was loud enough to make the visitors flinch, but not loud enough to push away the sleepy looking boy who was curled right next to the woman.
The boy, Tsuna, laid right beside his 'owner'. He comfortably put his head on top of Lal's stomach, not even bothering the huge bosom touching the back of his neck as he paid more attention to his PSP Vista. The human cat also didn't seem to notice the commotion around him, only yawning a couple of times in between punching the buttons on his console. His black night shirt was a match of Lal's black night attire – which makes perfect sense for the people who knew Lal's antics when it comes to dressing up her kitty.
It didn't make any sense for Skull, however. Especially when he witnessed said 'cat' finally sitting up from his curled position to look around, noticing Kyoko and Haru next to his 'owner'. He then leaned closer to said owner to nuzzle her neck. Lal automatically circled an arm around the boy's brown head. She kissed the top of messy brown hair then hissed on how she'd create the most painful death for some 'motherfucking geezer' who was 'stupid enough to ever think of hurting kitty'.
"There has to be something sexual in here, right?" Skull asked Colonello as the two stood further from the scene. Colonello glanced sideways, "Uhh, none so far".
Skull's nose scrunched and Colonello sighed in defeat. Lets just say, finding Lal's protectiveness toward her 'kitty' could be so shell-shocking for some people. Colonello found this the hard way too, especially for the one week he'd been coming over to keep watch over Cenzatti's next moves.
It had been one week since the Cenzatti incident at Lal's place. Knowing that old geezer, he would want some revenge, especially for being treated that way by a woman. It was the reason why Colonello had been hanging around Lal's place so much for the last week. He and Lal were sure that old man would come around soon. While he was happy to be able to spend more time with his dream woman, Colonello admitted that watching Lal and Tsuna everyday could be... demotivating for his mission on getting into Lal's pants.
... especially that one time he found out that Tsuna likes to sleep naked in Lal's bed.
"This is horrible!" Kyoko commented. Colonello perked. The golden haired girl was holding an opened pink colored gift box.
"Whats wrong, kora?" Colonello approached her. When he and Skull stopped beside her, they understood why Lal was so angry.
Inside the box was a body of a dead cat. It was such a gruesome sight, a huge contrast to its pink container. A note with glittery pink writing was attached on top of the cat; it will be your kitty next. C.
"Is this Cenzatti?" Skull started, taking the note carefully to not touch the bloody figure inside the box.
"Most likely, kora," Colonello observed the note, "Not that many people recognize Tsuna as her cat, if you know what I mean".
Skull nodded. Considering the circumstances of the note and the gift, it would be most likely to be Cenzatti. Yet, a lot of Lal's exes seemed to have a 'C' initial and know of Tsuna's role in her life. Colonello turned to the girls, hoping for more information, but he was greeted by quite a strange sight.
Kyoko and Haru, both usually cheerful and energetic, had serious looks on their faces. The sight was so new to Colonello that he ended up not saying anything. Skull took the cue to say something, "Well, I get it that this gets to your nerve, Lal, but we've decided you're no longer involved in Cenzatti's chase".
Haru was the first to complain, "Why!?"
"We cant allow emotion in missions, ladies!" Skull scolded, "As I said, it's not that I don't get it, but you know that we cant allow our personal grudge messing with our missions. A tiny bit of this could spoil the strongest plan. So it's better not to get involved if it riles you so much".
Both Kyoko and Haru kept their words to their selves, but their expressions were unreadable. Colonello shrugged next to Skull. He was quite used to the drama. "And I think Lal could understand this herself," Skull continued, "Right, Lal?"
They turned to the blue haired woman, just in time to see her being kissed on the forehead by her 'cat'. At that second, she instantly seemed to calm down. Before Skull was able to gather himself to call the woman again, Lal responded to her cat's love by kissing him back on the temple.
They thought, Lal would truly calm down for once.
But Colonello should have known better.
It was only the day after, and Colonello had already found himself dragged away from his apartment at the Arcobaleno HQ. Colonello was sure it was early morning when his doorbell suddenly rang. Knowing that only the inner circle could access the Arcobaleno's Top 7's living quarters, Colonello was not even on his guard when he opened the door. After that, it was black; he went unconscious.
When he came to, he was already sitting inside one of the Arcobaleno's jet plane, facing Lal's bored face and the snickering face of their travel assistant, Max. Colonello looked down to find himself in his assassination suit. Lal seemed to be ready in her suit too, hidden under an elegant white coat. Next to them were Kyoko and Haru. The two were tapping furiously on their computers and gadgets.
Yes, Colonello should be aware of these intel ladies. They never complied to orders; they were independent and conspiring.
Without even asking what had happened before he got himself in that flight, Colonello had already concluded that they were on their way to kill Cenzatti. As Skull was nowhere in sight, Lal must be planning this on her own without Skull's acknowledgement. "We're not even sure Cenzatti is the one who sent you that gift yet, kora".
"Oh, we're sure," Lal muttered while looking at her gold watch, "I had Kyoko and Haru analyzing the gift last night".
Colonello's eyebrows couldn't be any higher as he glanced at the two girls next to them, "And, kora, what are they doing?"
"They are tracking for Cenzatti's exact position," Lal answered. When he caught the gape on Colonello's face, she smirked, "I picked them myself, you know? People tend to misunderstand Kyoko and Haru's real nature, but they are the best in what they do".
Colonello couldn't disagree. Seeing the two girls now, its hard to believe that these two were the same giggling girls Colonello had been hanging out with in a cat cafe. He forgot that these two were Lal's most trusted agents from the intel department. That should have warned him since long ago that these girls were more than what they seemed.
"Kora, if you have these good of man power, you shouldn't take me with you," Colonello complained, "Killing that geezer Cenzatti should be a piece of cake for you".
Lal snorted, "Who said we're only going to kill Cenzatti?"
When Colonello looked at her questioningly, she leaned closer, "We're going to eliminate all of his underlings. All of them".
Shit. Colonello should've been more aware of this. Skull had warned him that Lal was scary when angered. She would go beyond the limit.
"Oh boy, Skull would be pissed if he finds out," Colonello sighed.
"He already knows," Lal yawned, "I put him in charge of watching over kitty".
"Kora!?"
Somewhere away from the flying private jet, Skull woke up at the worst time. The only thing he remembered was someone ringing his doorbell at 6 am. The next thing he knew, there was a pair of huge brown eyes. A beautiful pair of brown eyes.
Skull blinked.
Owner of said brown eyes then jumped away from him to hide behind the white sofa in Lal's living room. The 'cat', Tsuna if Skull wasn't mistaken, then peeked from behind the sofa, before hiding again, then peeking again. Was he... playing peekaboo with Skull?
Honestly, Skull almost considered it adorable.
Almost.
If not for the fact that he was mysteriously removed from his own apartment, tied up, and laid on the floor of Lal's living room. Lal had not moved to the Arcobaleno's HQ yet, so Skull was sure there has to be a special reason if she went through all the trouble to move him from his apartment to her's. And knowing Lal's personality, this special reason must be something bad, possibly involving killing Cenzatti's fat-ass. To make it more dramatic, the woman even left a note on Skull's leg. It was written with red ink and said, "Take care of kitty for me?", decorated with a kiss mark at the bottom.
If the woman thinks that sexy note would make him forgive her, she is wrong. Skull rolled his eyes sarcastically before he moved his body with certain precision to get himself off his bond. He could get himself free in seconds, but he stopped when he heard a soft giggle from behind the sofa.
The goth perked up.
His eyes met Tsuna's, and the boy let out a small giggle with his throaty but high pitched voice. The human cat jumped from the sofa to approach Skull once again. He did so with such elegance and playfulness that it caught Skull off guard. It almost looked like a cat's movements.
A real cat's movements.
The boy touched Skull's hair curiously, as though wondering how it got such a color and sharp texture. Being tied up, Skull couldn't really avoid the touch – not that he wanted to avoid it. The boy was... beautiful for sure. His laughter was captivating and so energetic. Skull didn't mind being tied up if he could watch this boy play with his hair. It successfully changed his mind from trying to get away and deal with Lal quickly.
Dealing with Lal's antics can wait, right? Whats the worst that could happen anyway? They had dealt with the aftermath of her anger before. It couldn't be as important as... playing with this cat for awhile.
One hour of playing (and nuzzling) with Tsuna, the boy then left the goth alone at the corner of Lal's room. Unlike dogs, cats have a limit in their skinship. They would get tired of too much play. It seemed like Tsuna had reached his limit and decided to sit on a weird, colorful looking chair (that was too much of a contrast to the rest of Lal's livingroom design). The human cat sang to himself and ignoring Skull completely.
Skull took the cue to get himself off the rope binding him. Surprisingly, Tsuna didn't seem to mind when Skull jumped to his own feet and moving around freely in the living room. "Uhh, Kitty, right?" Skull tried to call. The boy spared him an uninterested glance. "I'll be out for awhile, yeah? Gotta check on your – uhh – owner and... my pal, Colonello".
Tsuna didn't answer nor did he make a move to sign an answer. Skull ignored it and continued to leave the room. Fortunately, he had his cellphone with him in his pocket. It seemed like Lal had something in her room to avoid any services and any tracking devices, which made Skull phone useless inside her apartment.
When he walked out of the room though, he found a lot of texts. Some of them from Lal (explaining why he was in the room and what she was up to). The most surprising were the ones from Colonello. It ranged from "PICK UP" to "URGENT. DANGER. RUN". Skull was standing next to the canned drink machine when he picked up a call from Colonello.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, KORA?"
Skull frowned, "Yeah, I was stuck in Lal's room," he gulped guiltily when he thought of the time he spent playing with Lal's cat, "For a reason. Wait, where have you been? Do you know where Lal is?"
"Kora, we've finished everybody from Cenzatti's group," Colonello sounded as though he just ran a mile and back, "Except one dude".
"What? Cenzatti escaped?"
"NO. He's dead. Lal killed him," Colonello answered hurriedly, "Kora, watch out for anything suspicious around Lal's apartment. Check the door, the window, the chimney, everything. Cenzatti had sent a very dangerous assassin to Lal's place, kora".
"What?!"
"His name is Birds. Very dangerous, very skilled. Do not let Tsuna alone, kora".
Birds. A serial murderer known for his pedophilia tendency. He was not only a murderer, he was also a sexual predator with unknown number of victims. This one had been one of the most wanted murderer of all time and he had been free from the justice system for almost thirty years.
"You hearin', kora!? Dont leave the boy alone!"
Skull's eyes turned sharp. His instinct peaked as he dashed back to Lal's apartment. He had been away only for ten minutes, but even he was aware of Birds' sneakiness. Birds is as skilled as The Arcobaleno Top 7, therefore he is the type of assassin who could make an opportunity out of a mere second of unawareness.
Skull was warned when he saw the door to Lal's apartment. Not that there was anything wrong with it; it stayed shut as Skull had left it. Yet, Skull instinct told him there was something different about it. Someone else had been here.
He opened the door slowly, greeted by the well-lit room. But he wasn't fooled. The air was thick. A dangerous presence was lurking behind this beautiful place; Skull could just feel it. Only the best assassins could make a place seem so peaceful, yet leave behind an awful stench of life-threatening danger.
Skull stepped inside slowly, in that soundless steps The Arcobaleno Top 7 were known for. However, the further he walked inside, the more he found no one in sight.
Except the still form of Tsuna.
Skull froze. Yes, there was no other presence except Tsuna's. Yet, the sinister feel inside the place stayed. He observed the boy quietly, noticing how different the boy feel. He was standing tall in the middle of the room, eyes wide and unblinking toward Skull's form. It almost felt surreal, but Skull was sure the boy's eyes turned dark golden for awhile.
He looked like a huge feline on its hunt. And Skull was unsure who was the prey.
"Tsuna?" Skull called.
The boy blinked once. Twice. Before the tense air dissolved to nothing.
Skull let his guard down and tried to let the boy know he was not a threat. As though catching the signal, the boy pouted sweetly before he strutted back to his weird-looking chair. And Skull stayed still for a second longer.
What just happened?
That evening, Luce called Skull to join a celebration at the Sky Bar, saying that they had achieved 'a huge accomplishment' and Skull was 'one of its main contributors'. Honestly, Skull only wanted to go there with the goal of ranting at Colonello and Lal. Because how could they? After they left Skull alone in confusion, they actually asked him to leave after their return. So yeah, that evening, he wanted to get drunk and make both Lal and Colonello deal with his drunkenness.
Luce's overexcited face at the entrance of the sky bar, however, confused him. "Oh my lovely!" the woman in white greeted, "Eliminating The Cenzattis and capturing a high level assassin in one day? That was wonderful, dear!"
"What?" Skull stopped walking, "I don't understand".
"Oh, was it meant to be a surprise?" Luce smiled softly before she took a glass of martini from her butler, Gamma, "I expected Lal to accomplish something as grand as this, actually. It was a good decision to send her to Cenzatti after all. But you? Dealing with that Birds? Truly, I didn't expect that".
The woman squinted her eyes teasingly before she drank from her glass, "And It was perfectly done too. So little blood and well cut. Where do you hide it anyway? Do you plan to keep it as trophy?" she winked meaningfully, "Anyway, there was a huge bounty for that guy. With this catch, I might consider giving you guys a 100% raise".
"Wait, wait, wait. Birds came after all?" Skull gaped, "What happened, Luce? I don't get it, seriously".
The woman finally took a good glance at him. Her butler, who was standing behind her, copied her expression. "We found Birds' body in the dumpster behind Lal's apartment complex. One vital organ was taken away from the body neatly, resulting to instant death, probably taken as a trophy. This obviously coming from an expert's hand, and you're saying you didn't do it?" Luce's eyebrows were raised.
Skull's jaw slackened even more. He didn't say a word, but his eyes denied everything. Luce's expression turned from serious to playful. "Well, of course! Of course!" she turned around toward her butler, "How wonderful! Knowing this, I should have prepared a feast rather than a meet-up at the bar. Am I right, Gamma?"
She left with her agreeing butler tailing her, leaving Skull alone in the middle of the luxurious bar with the view of the night sky. Skull knew he didn't even meet this Birds guy, but, if Luce words were true, then that assassin was present at Lal's apartment. But why was he dead? How?
Who?
"Here comes the champ!" Viper called from their usual VIP corner. Skull approached them awkwardly. It seemed like they all think he was the perpetrator behind this Birds' death. Lal and Colonello were there with the rest of the Top 7 too, and there was no way they would let Skull take the spotlight if one of them were the true killer.
So who killed Birds?
"Kora, why didn't you tell me you've dealt with Birds? Luce has been ecstatic!" Colonello slapped his shoulder when Skull settled on the spot beside him.
The goth glanced left and right before he whispered lowly, "I-its not me".
Colonello turned to him with suspicious eyes, "Kora?" before he smiled, "Oh, that's a good joke, kora!"
When Skull didn't laugh along though, the blonde male paled. "Then who?"
"It could be Lal".
"No, she's with me all the time, kora".
"The girls from intel?"
"They're all brains, but they're not trained assassins, kora".
The two males watched each other with careful eyes, probably waiting for one of them to crack the joke. But none came up. The truth is, they had no idea what happened to this Birds dude. And if there was another skilled assassin in the lose, it should warn them that this assassin was around without their acknowledgement.
The tension between the two broke only when they heard the rest of the Arcobalenos making a noise at Lal's story. "What a cat!" Viper commented loudly, successfully stealing Colonello and Skull's attention, "Truly is a loyal one!"
Lal was smiling proudly as she fingered the mouth of her glass of sazerac, "Of course. He was trained by the best after all".
Interested, Skull asked Verde, who was sitting not far beside him. "Whats Lal talking about?"
"Her cat," Verde said, strangely not as bored as he usually was, "It gave Lal a welcome home present".
"What is it?" Fon chimed in, "A cat's present usually consists of hunting goods, right?"
Lal lifted her chin in pride as she closed her smoky eyes. She was boasting about it. "Indeed," she started, "And it was done so perfectly. So neat. Presented on my working desk".
"It's a heart".
Verde whistled and Reborn could be seen leaning closer to the table as if interested. Something in Skull's mind, however, warned him.
"Colonello," he started, "What organ was missing from Birds' body again? Luce told me a vital organ was taken from the body. Right?"
Colonello didn't seem to be aware at first. "It's a...," but then he froze in alarm, "... a heart".
Unaware of these two's private conversation, Fon commented to Lal's story. "That's really neat! Most cats don't bother to cut an organ to be presented to a companion. I mean, I've heard of dead snakes, a chicken's head, or a living animal," the Chinese man shrugged, "Which animal's is it?"
Lal laughed playfully. "I think," a smile, "its a bird's heart".
The Arcobalenos loudly commented on how common it was for cats to hunt for birds, but complimented Lal's cat's skill.
Skull and Colonello, however, were terrorized by one question.
There is no way, right?
Right?
Tbc.
If cat's owner ever find a dead animal or any bloody stuff in front of their doors (or anywhere they'd find very visible), usually its put there by the cat as a 'present'. This 'presents' are usually the result of the cat's hunt; like dead birds, rats, etc (it could be alive too). There is more to this than just a 'present', of course, like its actually the cat feeding you, or they think you're not a good hunter therefore they are 'teaching' you, but for Lal's case, I'll leave it at that. I'm not stating the obvious in the story, but you've known Birds' killer already, right?
And for lovleydragonfly, your review got me laughing. But, honestly, its unplanned! It surprises me even - like seriously! XD
