"Yes. Yes. I've accessed it now. Yes. Thank you Your Highness" Awashima Seri spoke, switching off her PDA as she worked on her Computer. Behind her, Munakata Reisi watched the investigation progress, a nearly completely puzzle situated on his desk. "Captain, coming from the feed of the Gold King's technical security, I've gathered information on a Suspect, I'm loading it up now"
At that moment, the big screen popped up, displaying a picture of particularly petite man looking to be in his mid-twenties.
"He has no record of ever being a Strain or a Vassal, but is a rather important figure in the Yakuza. However, it seems he has been in contact with the Colourless King at one point before Totsuka Tatatra's murder and is suspected to be a clansman. He's been missing ever since the Ashinaka High Incident" Seri reported in a completely authoritative tone. "Our course of action?"
The Blue King merely hummed, gathering a few puzzle pieces and fitting them in their places. His phone sat beside the large puzzle on his desk, and he spared it a glance. "For now we will stay put" he stated.
Seri blinked.
Reisi smiled knowingly. "It seems Fushimi-kun has once again taken matters into his own hands, it would be rude to intervene"
"But Captain, as of Yesterday Fushimi is—"
"He can take care of himself" the Blue King cut in before she could continue. Seri remained silent.
"We are all aware of Fushimi-kun's capabilities; not once has he failed to meet expectations. We'll stand by for now…" he trailed off, humming wistfully as he prodded the device on his desk. "If ever our assistance is required, that is."
"…" Scepter 4's Lieutenant released a light sigh in acceptance, knowing full well what the King was speaking off. "Yes Sir"
~_*K – Project*_~
Fushimi strode forward with graceful, silent steps, looking up at the building which was a good 5 stories high. He raised his guard, ready for an ambush; he found that it came very easily due to the Red Power, and he could sense well into the entire floor and a portion of the next.
The moment he stepped foot inside, he felt eyes on him, watching his every move.
But he couldn't sense anyone.
Where…? He looked around, inspecting the desolate area. The entrance hall they were in was barren, only bits and pieces of broken glass and fallen debris blocking their way, but particularly dense rubble peeked out on the connecting halls, preventing passage.
Nothing. There was no one around. At least, he couldn't sense any physical presence.
'Heh? This is almost like something from a Horror Movie'. He thought with a smirk 'I bet Misaki's scared shitless…' He frowned, the image of Misaki's fearful face, tied up somewhere, injured, bleeding, erased any humour that may have come with it.
Instead, anger coiled in the pit of his stomach like a snake ready to strike.
From behind him, Izumo whistled. "Fre-aky…" whether the comment was due to the eeriness of the building or the fact that Saruhiko is shrouded in red flames, the pavement crumbling slightly under his feet, he didn't care. Turning towards the left, he made his way down the ragged corridor and up the nearest –stable— staircase. Izumo followed suit, checking behind them for any sign of pursuit.
The second floor was just as run down as the first; the Scepter 4 official ignored it, heading straight for the third.
"You sure we shouldn't check around more?" the blond asked, looking around at the foot of the stairs before he rushed to keep up with the raven.
"We can leave this floor to the others, right now I want to find the bastard behind all of this" Saruhiko stated in a low tone, whipping out his PDA as they reached the top of the steps. "If he's as tyrannical as he made himself seem, then he'd probably like high places" A message was displayed on his screen from Lieutenant Awashima, containing information on a suspect.
Saruhiko paused as he saw it, face twisting into a sadistic smirk. "Heeh? So this is the guy?" he stated, the phone nearly cracking in his forceful grip.
Izumo peeked over his shoulder, face darkening at display. Saru noticed. "Kusanagi-san, you know this person?"
"Yeah… he'n his group got into a run in with some of our guys before. 'parently the bastards been dealing shady business right under our nose. Mikot-o" he choked on the word, taking a deep breath. "…Mikoto and I dealt 'im some payback. 'twas back before Totsuka… died" he explained, fetching his packet of cigarettes from his packet and lighting a stick. He took a long drag.
Saruhiko's nose scrunched at the smoke but didn't comment. "I see… So he knows you…"
"Yata-chan probably doesn't know 'im though, he was stuck with a cold when the whole thing happened. Personally, I think the guy's crazy for pissing the Red King off…" he trailed off, looking at Saruhiko with a lopsided smile.
Saruhiko grinned. "Heeeh? I see…" he turned and resumed walking through the corridors, eyes flicking left and right. Someone was on this floor waiting for them, the raven could sense it.
He stopped in front of a set of regal double doors, out of place in the complete ruin that was the entire building. Before he could make another move, they opened.
"Welcome, Red King. Tell me, have you considered my bargain?"
~_*K – Project*_~
Chitose and Dewa crawled in through a shattered window on the opposite side of the building, flashlight on the raven-haired's hand. "Where do you think we should start looking?" Dewa asked, scanning through the dark hallway with cautious eyes. Beside him, Chitose shifted, following his gaze.
"S'kinda hard to move around here don't ya think?" the brunette commented, eyeing the fallen pieces of wall blocking any passage, as well as the ceiling that looked like it can crumble any moment... "Fushimi wasn't kidding"
Dewa stepped forward, approaching the less damaged side to the right. "Well, we still have to check. Let's look around a bit and see if we can find a way up"
…
"So…" Chitose began as the two began to scour their immediate surroundings, pushing aside rubble and breaking into any doors they come across. "What do you think?" he asked his partner.
"About what?" Dewa returned, closing the door he'd been looking through as silently as possible.
"The Red King"
"…."
"I don't… really know" the raven of the pair answered carefully. "Never saw it coming"
Chitose chuckled. "Yeah… For that antisocial loner to actually be a King… and Mikoto-san's colour too…"
"He's kinda keeping it together well don't you think" Dewa commented when they reached a staircase, the greater part of the bottom half crumbled off. "Think we can get up here?"
The brunette made a jump, landing on the 6th step. "What do you mean? About keeping it together?"
Dewa followed suit. "I mean, when we first met Mikoto-san as a King, don't you think he was a little… I dunno, destructive? It looked almost like if Totsuka-san wasn't there he'd be on fire 24/7" he explained, climbing up the steps, mindful of the cracks.
His companion hummed. "Well… Anna excluded, the kid was the quietest member of our group, or should I say coldest? A cold Red King… Now that I think about it, have you ever seen him seriously loose his cool?"
"More or less when it involves Yata"
"Yeah… It's like Yata is Fushimi's Totsuka-san. Only the opposite…"
"…" they both became silent, suddenly cautious of the obvious lack of people in the area. "So the guy might be a King and all but… isn't it a little too careless for him to not have at least a couple of lackeys with him?" Chitose mumbled out, shivering slightly from the eerie silence.
"Do you think this is a trap?" Dewa spoke when they've made it halfway through the second floor, turning to his partner with worried eyes.
Chitose can only stare worriedly back.
~_*K – Project*_~
The voice came from the very man on the file, back turned at the other side of the room, overlooking floor-to-ceiling glass window that showed nothing but a dark semi-deep forest.
The room itself was odd, set up to look like some penthouse in a five star hotel. It was spotless, large glass panes letting in a lot of natural light from the clear night outside.
"So you knew I'd find you." It was a statement, done in monotone. Saruhiko regarded the man's back coolly, no trace of emotion in his expressionless face even as his hand rested on his saber.
A chuckle, brief, crazed, resounded, sending slight shivers down Izumo's spine as he reached into his pocket for his trusty lighter. Something was definitely different here…
The man turned. "Of course! I invited you after all…" the chuckle that followed was even more unsettling, but it wasn't quite what set Saruhiko off.
Rather, it was what the person was holding up.
"Misaki!" he was before the man in the blink of an eye, sword raised and poised to attack, eyes a wide frenzy as flames engulfed him.
"FUSHIMI!" Izumo cried, and the teen's eyes widened. Saruhiko barely had time to react as glass shattered around him, cutting at his uniform and exposed cheek. He immediately reached a hand up, gripping at the cracked ledge to keep himself from plummeting, ignoring the stabbing pain from the shard sticking out of his arm.
He looked down, eyeing the five story drop with crazed eyes. Misaki! MisakiMisakiMisaki…
Nothing but debris and crackling flames. No sign of a body. He breathed.
In a flash of red, he effortlessly pulled himself up before Izumo could reach him, pulling the offending shard from his right arm and watching as the blood soaked through his blue uniform. Judging by the gaping hole behind him, it seems he had accidentally singed off an entire portion of the back wall, exposing the cold night for all to see.
"Fushimi! Are ya alright?" the blond called, worry slightly evident in his voice. Saruhiko ignored him.
Applause.
The two whipped towards the sound, a glare clear on the younger's face. The man was laughing as he clapped his hands, the glimpse of brunette that he had seen before nowhere to be found. As if it was never there in the first place.
Saruhiko regained his composure.
"That was quite a splendid reaction Red King!" the man giggled. Then, almost as if in a flick of a switch, with no transition whatsoever, a curious expression replaced it. "A Blue Clansman and a Red King… my… how curious, how odd, how completely unexpected… Such a dichotomy existing in one person…" and again, without warning, a furious glare marred his face. "Thief!"
Saruhiko watched the obviously unhealthy shift of emotions with a bored gaze. 'I can understand his connection to the colourless King.' "Where is he?" he asked threateningly, having little patience for whatever game they were playing.
The man's expression lit up once more. "Well not here obviously" he stated mockingly, spinning around with his arms spread open. He stopped. "Renounce your throne, King, and I will return your clansman unharmed. That seat was not meant for you."
"And how do I do that?" Saruhiko replied with a question, face as blank as his tone. Izumo remained in the background, not knowing what he should be doing as he looked from one to the other.
The man's face darkened. "You're smart." He grinned, laughter bubbling up in his throat as his gaze bore deep into Saruhiko. Inwardly, the new King cringed. This guy's a psycho…
And then he felt it.
He screamed.
AAAANd that's chapter 7! XDD Hope you liked it! XD Oh, and btw, this isn't really that important but I sort of re-wrote a portion of Chapter 6 ^^ It's not really that Plot-relevant and you don't have to read it, but... yeah.
And thank you all for the support! I LOVE YOU GUYS!
And I am /still/ drawing it out... o_o ... err... sorry, I'm bad with fight scenes, so I'm leaving that for the next chappie ^^;; So judging from this and my lack of thought for any good plot twist thingy, there might be around 3 or 4 more chapters left of this fic with one epilogue.
And yeah... I guess my cliffhangers are Overkill... *orz*
What do you guys think?
Anyways, Please review and tell me what you think! XDD