Been a while again, huh? Not much to say here. Well, enjoy the chapter.

Godzilla is © Toho


MS. AKANE OTANASHI

"Rokuro!" The middle-aged man bellowed from upstairs.

"Don't! Call! Me! That!" Rojo shouted back from downstairs.

"Did you get the mil from the store?"

"We've got plenty!"

"Just get it!"

Grumbling to himself, Rojo left through the front door. A few more years, and he could be out of that house, doing what he wanted instead of listening to that fat lazy bastard who sent him to the store at midnight just so he and his new girlfriend could screw.

"Asshole," he muttered darkly as he dropped the bag into the outdoor trashcan.

"Y'know, they say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," a female voice purred from one side. Leaning on the fence of the front lawn was Megan. "Thanks for letting me study here earlier," she cooed.

"What are you doing back here?" Rojo asked, a little irritably.

"Just… some extra-curricular activities," Megan smirked, before glancing up at the moving shapes behind the upstairs curtain. "Of course, if the house is occupied… there's always my place."

Rojo glanced back at the house, then at Megan- specifically, how low her neckline was, before answering: "Why not?"

--

Takuya leaned against the railing on top of the building, idly tapping it with his fingertips.

"You don't need those," Akane motioned to his eyes.

"What?"

"The contacts. I know," Akane explained.

"How?" Takuya demanded. "Who are you, and… how the hell did you do that wing thing?"

"The same way you can breathe fire and toss a man into a parking lot," Akane replied simply. "Of course… I'm assuming you can breathe fire."

"OK," Takuya blinked, no more informed, "Let's try another approach- I feel like I know you."

"You do," Akane answered him. "Or… did. But that wasn't you."

Takuya just looked at her as if she'd dribbled all over herself.

"What do you know about the Kaiju?" Akane finally asked.

"I know they're gone," Takuya replied simply. "Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, all of them."

"And they were," Akane continued. "Now they're returning."

"What… like Godzilla? He's coming back?" Takuya seemed somewhat alarmed.

"In a sense. Look," Akane stopped herself, "This probably just sounds like gibberish, and I really don't know what to tell you, and…" she sighed, shaking her head, "I could really use something to eat."

Takuya appeared to look away in thought for a second. "You know what?" he finally asked.

"What?"

"That's the first sensible thing you've said since I met you," Takuya declared. "Come on, I'm buying."

--

"So," Zaine asked as he leaned back in the chair behind his desk, "I take it we have an accord?"

"Oh, yes," Ogata's voice echoed from the other side of the office. "So how dead do you want 'em?"

"As dead as possible, preferably," Zaine replied dryly. "Do enjoy yourself."

--

"Well, this is nice," Akane commented with a hint of sarcasm as she and Takuya sat in the corner of the pizza store, sharing a large pizza with pepperoni on one half, cheese and tomato on Akane's.

"Here we are, then," Takuya addressed her irritably, "So: let's take it from the top. I'm not human. You're not either. So: what are we?"

"Didn't you ever wonder?" Akane asked curiously.

"Not much. I'm what I am. Not gonna be anything else any time soon."

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Akane half-laughed.

"Like who?"

"OK…" Akane began, taking a deep breath, "Godzilla and all the other Kaiju just disappeared, right? Vanished into thin air."

"Right."

"Right, so: Where did they go?"

"I figured something killed them," Takuya shrugged.

"No, not all of them. Not that simply. The Kaiju didn't just leave, they were removed. As in, put somewhere else."

"What, something trying to stop them?"

"Probably. That makes as much sense as anything else," Akane admitted. "The thing is… we know where they are. We don't know why, or how they got there, but we know that."

"Wait…" Takuya interrupted, "'We'?"

"I brought someone to meet you," Akane explained, her blue eyes suddenly sparkling.

Then, from down on the table, near the salt and pepper as far as Takuya could tell, came a pair of tiny, female voices that said "Greetings, Takuya Serizawa."

--

Sato's had garnered a reputation for itself as one of the seediest nightclubs in Tokyo, owned by the eponymous Mr. Aoki Sato. He had, as Takuya might have put it, fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course; if you could smoke it, drink it, fire it, gamble it or have sex with it, he had a share in it. Doing so made him rich enough to hire some very effective personal bodyguards who stood guard outside his office.

Therefore, it was rather disconcerting for Mr. Sato when one of those bodyguards came crashing backwards through the door to his office with his tuxedo on fire and what looked to be a melted crowbar sticking out of a red patch in his stomach.

"Mr. Sato," the young man addressed him as he entered the room. "I'd like to place a bet."

"That so?" Sato snarled, pulling a handgun from a holster in his shoulder.

"Yeah," the boy chuckled, taking a deep breath.

His blonde hair waved slightly, as a fringe of golden horns suddenly sprouted from his skin to frame his face, fanlike gold wing spread from his back, and his very skin took on a golden hue. His eyes flashed blood-red as yellow light swirled in his mouth.

"See, somebody's gonna get killed tonight," the creature smirked, "And my bet is that it's gonna be you…"


And I'll leave it there for now. Revelations and such next chapter. All Reviews Welcome!