A/N: Thank you to DatAznKid, Chocolate Ribbons, Stuffedninja101, ausumist, Sheepoa, hiyomi, DarkRoadHina, Anindoufu, Oluhasuu and Hidden Gates for reviewing! As always, it is greatly appreciated. :D
Thank you so much to Hitsugaya's GreenEyes for beta-reading this chapter.
~...~
A woman in her early 20s shielded her eyes and exhaled wearily as she stepped off the taxi parked in the Namimori shopping district. She squinted her eyes as the bright sunlight hit her face and proceeded to take out a pair of stylish sunglasses to put on.
She grinned widely, white teeth flashing. "All right. It's time to find her~"
~...~
Possession
Chapter 7: Disappearance
"Masami-senpaii!"
Masami turned to see two girls running towards her. She blinked. They stopped in front of her. The girl waited patiently for them to stop heaving for air. She knew exactly how it was to feel out of breath.
"Yep?" she asked politely. The pair both looked up at the same time. Masami unconsciously stepped back from their flashing eyes.
"We have a question..." the one with the glasses began.
Masami smiled pleasantly. "Well, hit me with it then."
"I really do want to hit you-!"
"Yoko! She's part of that club. We can't!"
"Tch. Fine." the other girl said, dyed hair swaying as the girl looked away.
Masami stepped back, confused. I think I just witnessed something unpleasant...
The nicer girl looked up at Masami again. "W-We were wondering if... you and...Yamamoto-kun were...going out."
Masami's eyes widened. "W-what? NO!" She raised an eyebrow at the unrestrained relief the two showed. "Why did you think that?"
The mousy girl twiddled her thumbs. "It's just that... We saw you two were at the movies the other day and we thought..." she trailed off.
Masami smiled. "Oh, yes. I was there with him." She didn't notice 'Yoko' being held back by her friend. "I also went with Tsunayoshi-kun and Gokudera," she continued on obliviously.
Her two underclassmen blinked. "We thought since you had been holding hands..."
Masami pursed her lips. She remembered that unplanned experience and sighed inwardly. So every time you see a boy and a girl holding hands, you assume they're together? "
It was unplanned," she stated.
Yoko raised an eyebrow. "How can that sort of disgusting display of affection be unplanned?"
The prefect groaned inwardly. "It was Reborn. He glued our hands together." She had had to go to Yamamoto's house to wash it all off. It took two hours. She wasn't in the best of moods after having to walk home in the dark, even though Yamamoto had walked her home.
Glasses girl raised an eyebrow. "Who is Reborn?"
Masami glared murderously at nothing in particular. "A brat. A real bra-" She felt a sharp blow to her hand, interrupting her in mid-word. The two girls screamed as their senpai fell to the ground.
...
Reborn blew the smoke out of the barrel of his tranquilizer gun before twirling it with one finger expertly.
"Ow, ow, ow..." Masami moaned as she staggered out of the infirmary. She clutched her head to nurse the headache. She had a distinct suspicion that it was Reborn who had caused her little trip to the infirmary.
"Damn that little baby..." she stumbled outside of the building, school bag hanging haphazardly off her free arm. She shook her head before standing up straight again.
Okay, it hurts a lot less! she thought optimistically. Another sharp ache through her head pierced that thought. Ok...it isn't, it isn't. What the heck did he do to me? She touched the band-aid on her neck and winced. It had the same sensation as being pricked with a needle. Masami stiffened. She could feel... someone looking at her. Masami turned around and looked up to see a familiar figure perched on a third floor window sill.
Hibari looked on silently as the herbivore waved to him enthusiastically before clutching her head. He closed his eyes to yawn and his superior hearing could vaguely hear an indignant huff coming from below. When he opened his eyes again, she wasn't there anymore.
"Why is this happening to me?" Masami grumbled as she knocked down a trash can she ran past.
She made a triumphant huff as she heard the cries of surprise. Some of her pursuers had tripped over the spilled contents of the trash can. She turned a corner only to see another alley. Masami paused. She had been in the shopping district just five minutes ago, walking around. It was Saturday so she could spare a little extra time without worry of homework or Hibari for the rest of the weekend. She may have even been able to catch another movie with her friends.
But... Masami chanced a look behind her.
Um...
Even with the little incident back there, there now seemed to be more of them?
She had been approached by a group of suspicious-looking men who asked if she was Sakata Masami. Masami felt like hitting her head against a wall. She shouldn't have said yes! She shouldn't have run away! Especially into an alley! She really was no good with acting calmly when she was in a bind, which was now fully proven, what with strange men chasing her. Masami faced back ahead.
Now she was in this crazy situation. She was a fast runner, but that didn't make a difference in this situation. Her endurance had always been terrible and lazing around for the past few months in school and with friends hadn't helped at all. She could feel her lungs struggling to get enough air as she ran. They felt as if they were on fire. Masami bit her lip. She knew she couldn't last much longer.
The girl turned another corner...
...only to be met with a fence blocking her. She could hear the confused shouts behind her, perhaps wondering which way she had gone. It was dark, so naturally it made sense if they lost track of her.
Masami's eyes darted around and landed on several crates, stacked neatly upon each other and beside the fence. It looked perfect as an escape route. Masami ignored the pain in her chest and scrambled to the pile and climbed up them quickly. She had just put one hand on top of the fence when she felt a rough hand grip her ankle tightly and yank her down.
Masami registered her screaming before she was knocked out by a blow to the stomach.
Tsuna felt like shit. He shrieked as his two friends were flung beside him against the wall he was right now situated at. He squinted as he saw an upside-down image of black dress shoes approaching the trio and gulped.
This was all Reborn's fault. This was seriously all Reborn's fault! The baby had wanted to sneak into the Reception Room for some unknown reason. Well, actually, he did know the reason. The baby had wanted to know why Masami had been missing from school for a day. A day! The baby had ignored Tsuna's suggestions that maybe -just maybe- the girl was sick. Instead, he had ordered them to distract Hibari while he snuck into the room to do some snooping.
Tsuna still didn't see why going into Hibari's office would somehow indicate where Masami was. For all they knew, she could be sick! Why did nothing normal ever cross Reborn's mind?
A cool voice interrupted Tsuna's inner rant. "Sawada Tsunayoshi," Conveniently, he was the only one who was conscious at the moment. "Right yourself up immediately and explain why your group of herbivores decided to make so much noise."
"Y-yes!" Tsuna flipped himself so he wasn't sitting on his head anymore. He stood up quickly. Hibari nearly rolled his eyes as the herbivore almost tripped over his own feet.
"U-um, well, y-you see, Hibari-san-" Tsuna winced. What could he tell Hibari? That the "noise" was actually a smoke bomb planted by Reborn? That didn't seem to be the type of thing that Hibari would take well.
"Well, I'll be off now," Reborn announced as he walked to the building. "Create a distraction, you three."
Tsuna shrieked indignantly. "HOW are we supposed to do that, Reborn? Besides, none of us want to do this." He turned to Gokudera and predictably, following his beloved Juudaime's wishes, he nodded.
Yamamoto laughed. "Hahaha, I actually want to do this, guys." Tsuna gaped and Gokudera made an outraged noise. Yamamoto smiled and held his cell phone up. "She hasn't picked up her cell phone. That's a bit worrying, ne?"
Tsuna shook his head. "NO! Masami-san could be too sick to reach the phone!" Why did everyone he know always go for the outlandish possibilities?
Reborn sighed. "I prepared something just in case you were unwilling."
Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Reborn-san?"
Reborn smirked and then made a great show of taking out a remote control, his finger on the button. Tsuna paled. What was that?
The baby pressed the button.
Tsuna fainted as he felt the smoke permeating his nose.
Then they were beaten up, courtesy of an irate prefect. Now Tsuna was in this situation with a none-too-pleased Hibari facing him, tonfas out.
"Erm, w-well, y-you see," Tsuna began once more. "W-we were just wondering where Masami-san was..."
Hibari frowned. "Because of you three, I'm behind schedule," he said vaguely and then promptly walked out of the school gates.
...
Okay, what just happened? Tsuna could only stare at the gates that Hibari -one who had just let them off the hook- exited from. His incredulity was interrupted by something landing on his head.
"R-Reborn!" Tsuna exclaimed as the baby neatly hopped down from his head. His shout woke up his two companions.
"What happened...?" Gokudera groaned. His eyes widened as he realized where he was. "Juudaime! Are you okay?"
Tsuna nodded weakly. "Y-yeah. Thanks Gokudera-kun."
Reborn stared at the three seriously. "I found something in the Reception Room. It seems Masami was kidnapped." He held out a wrinkled piece of paper, an envelope in his other hand and ignored the different emotions invading the three. "It doesn't say the location though, but it says that something would happen to Masami if Hibari Kyoya didn't 'get his ass over here!'" Reborn said mildly, quoting the poorly-written note addressed to the prefect.
Reborn sighed. "I'm guessing an abandoned warehouse or factory is where she's being held from what I can tell from the picture."
Tsuna furrowed his eyes worriedly. "Picture?"
Tsuna's eyes widened at the picture presented to him. It was clearly Masami, unconscious, tied to a chair. Tsuna grimaced. Scratches lined her arms and face and she looked to be bleeding from her forehead, judging by the stream of blood that was lining her cheek. The background depicted large windows, cut up into smaller squares by black metal bars.
"Oh..." was all Tsuna could croak out as he watched the now fragile-looking girl looking peaceful in her slumber. He gave a start as he sensed Yamamoto rise, bat in his hands.
"Let's go Tsuna. We should go save Masami."
Tsuna looked up and was surprised to see Yamamoto's regular smile wasn't there. Instead, it'd been overtaken by a more, dare Tsuna say, dangerous expression. Yamamoto swung his bat experimentally and Tsuna could honestly say that his friend was imagining Masami's captor's head in the path of the swing. Tsuna cringed and wondered if he would suddenly have a 180 degree change in personality if Kyoko was ever kidnapped.
Reborn shook his head. "That isn't necessary." He blinked up at the trio. "After all, Hibari's going to go get her." He turned to Yamamoto warningly, who looked like he was about to say something. "She'll be fine if it's Hibari."
Tsuna's eyes widened in realization, remembering Hibari's parting words.
"Because of you three, I'm behind schedule."
"Umm, excuse me."
The gruff man turned around to face Masami, who was staring at him flatly. She assumed he was the leader. He was the biggest out of the whole lot and looked to be about in his 40s. He even had the stereotypical look of 'the boss' around him. He was wearing a leather biker jacket, with biceps bulging out and threatening to break the expensive material. His small, beady eyes shifted around once in a while, but she knew it wasn't because he was afraid of her. It was just a natural tendency for people who were criminals that didn't want to get caught. And to top off it off, his hair was slicked back with too much hair gel.
Oh... She noticed something amidst her slight fear of him. Is that a gold tooth?
"What, you bitch?"
Masami frowned. No need for language... "Why am I here?" she said as she discreetly struggled with ropes around her wrists. Damn, no good. The man and his companions snorted condescendingly. She twitched. She so wanted to kick all of them where it hurt right now.
"You see, girl, we had planned to kidnap Kusakabe Tetsuya as payback for your esteemed leader, who had headed a drug bust a few months ago. We've been watching him and his members for a long time and carefully scheming and devising our plan that has come into fruition on this very day." After his long-winded speech, they went back to ignoring Masami to talk about how they were going to kick "that bastard Hibari's ass!".
Meanwhile, the female prefect was thinking many pointy things about Hibari, gaze darkening. You stupid bastard... getting me into this. What kind of 16 year old leads a drug bust anyway! And now I have this unpleasant feeling knowing I was being stalked by a bunch of grown men! She shuddered. They may know where I live now! Damn you, Hibari! And do I look anything like Kusakabe? No! Our height, face and hair are completely different!
Masami paused. Wait a minute... "Why did you kidnap me and not Kusakabe then?" she asked mildly, still trying to struggle with the ropes. They turned their attention to her.
The man smirked. "We couldn't find him so we had to settle for the next best thing."
...
That isn't something to be proud of, you second-rate stalkers, Masami thought bitterly, feeling a bit hurt she was only second best, even though it was second best on 'the list of people to kidnap'. She bit her lip. There was no way Hibari was going to go and save her. From what she could tell, his feelings of her ranged from anger to indifference.
Which means my chances of being swept off my feet and rescued are slim to none, Masami thought sarcastically. On the other hand... He does like fighting unnecessary fights... She chuckled inwardly as she imagined Hibari eager to send these men into a world of pain.
He would come not for her, but for the sake of just fighting.
But I still should try to get out of here... Masami remarked inwardly.
Her eyes narrowed at the stairs behind the large intimidating guard. They were on an elevated platform in what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. Masami couldn't recall any warehouses in quaint Namimori, so that meant they were, at best, at the outskirts of the town.
Worst case scenario is that we're really far away from Namimori. She cocked her head. That wouldn't make sense though, since they expected Hibari to come, they would make the location easily accessible. Her chair was conveniently situated next to windows that reached from well below the elevated platform they were on to the high ceilings on the building. Masami raised an eyebrow. Why would they put her beside a window which she could escape from? She leaned in towards the window to take a look-see outside.
Oh... They were not only above the ground as expected, they were way above ground. She was counting about 40 feet, maybe more. Her tentative escape plan was interrupted by a loud aggravated shout. Masami jerked her head towards the sound. It was one of the men.
"WHY ISN'T HE HERE YET?" the leader roared. His minions shrank back.
"I-it's only been a day, boss. I'm sure he'll come in a while..." one of them said quietly.
What the-? Masami's eyes widened in surprise as the leader punched his subordinate in the face.
The other man fell back from the force of the punch. She gaped at the teeth and blood beside the unconscious man's head and swallowed slowly. His eyes had not closed either and she felt herself unable to tear her gaze away from the whites of his eyes. He had been knocked unconscious before he could even close his eyes.
But Masami's gaze was torn away when she felt rough, large hands dig their fingers into her cheeks. Her neck was twisted painfully and she looked up into the beady eyes of the leader. Her nose scrunched up as she smelt the alcohol on his breath. He was drunk, which Masami knew would be unwise to be against an opponent like Hibari.
Yet... She glanced at the leader's subordinate. It could be an advantage seeing as how his level of violence was now on par with Hibari. She bit her lip.
Masami barely registered the threat from the man that if "Hibari didn't come in an hour, then she would wish she were dead." She was too scared to listen properly, but not for obvious reasons. Masami's dilated eyes looked at the large puddle of blood around the unconscious man's head after she was flung into the windows. The momentum had made angry red marks around her wrists, but she didn't even notice that. All she could feel was dread slowly making its way into her body as she slowly realized something.
It would be all her fault if Hibari was hurt.
A/N: Cliffhangerr! Haha, this chapter may have been a bit boring, but please look forward to the next chapter! There will be quite a bit of fluff! XD Masami's and Hibari's relationship will be moving along now. Tell me if it's moving too quickly and I'll do my best to slow it down. :) On another note, I'm expecting this "Daily Life" arc to end after I'm done chapter 10, then Mukuro will make his appearance.
Oh yeah. A new community called 'Gamble' was recently made by Fish and Chipz for KHR OC fics! If you have any recommendations for awesome OC fics, then just tell me via review/PM or maybe even Fish and Chipz. You can also ask her if you can join as a staff member. Here's the link: .net/community/Gamble/89415/
Thanks for reading and please review to tell me what you thought of this chapter! :D Your reviews fuel my passion to write. ;)
Next Chapter: Development (Yes, it's a lame title)
"Why here? I don't want to stay here."
"I think Masami-san should quit the Disciplinary Committee!"
"Are you two a threat to the Vongola family?"
"She isn't, but I can't say the same for me."
"I mean that I will knee you and I hope it hits you."
"Don't disobey me."
