Disclaimer: I don't own Mai Hime or TMoSH.

Here's the first part of two for "The Real Story Begins". As the title suggests, this is where things really start with the Justice Sentai's adventures. Expect a lot of chapters like these next two to pop up, except with many different types of fantasy beings. (As I've said before, there will still be fluffy/funny parts, but they'll be mixed in.)

Urgh... I'm getting Midori withdraw from not being able to write her in any of these chapters...


Youko Sagisawa approached the school's parking lot with some apprehension. Of course, this was to be expected as it was going on ten pm, the school-wide curfew. She wasn't some goody-two-shoes who followed the rulebook like a bible, but after meeting the disciplinary team (a.k.a. Haruka), she was justified in her fear of the repercussions of getting caught. However, she was only human and her curiosity won over her better judgment; she stood at the edge of the school's parking lot, looking around -feeling rather silly- for any sign of either Yuuki or Kuga.

Blue eyes scanned the area for anything unusual, quickly noting, with a hint of sarcasm, that the only thing "unusual" out here was that she was out of her dorm at 9:57 PM, after having promised Nao Yuuki of all people that she'd meet up with her in the parking lot.

The brunette frowned, disappointed at herself for falling what she was quickly recognizing as a prank. "Way to be gullible, Youko," she said to herself, sighing. "Honestly, why would Yuuki-sempai call you out into the parking lot at ten at night? What reason could she possible hav—"

"Kid!" came the harsh whisper from nearby.

The future doctor frowned, confused, Speaking of Yuuki-sempai… she thought, recognizing the second year's unmistakable voice. Dark blue eyes darted around, "Where—"

"Over here!" Youko saw a hand waving from above the top of an uncovered convertible. The brunette quickly scampered over at the urgency in Nao's voice and ducked down next to the popular second year. She opened her mouth, but her words caught in her throat.

The redheaded troublemaker wore a brown fedora, the color complimenting her cream shirt and brown vest she had on. She had on a pair of thick-soled, earth-toned boots and brown shorts, the belt strapped around her waist carrying an assortment of tools, including the whip Youko had spotted earlier.

Sagisawa's eyed swiftly glanced upward, almost flinching under the intense green stare that looked back. The first year's lip twitched as she held back her comments.

Nao's deadpan stare turned into a frown, "Go on. I know you want to say something. Get it off your chest now," the words were delivered curtly, as if she was use to this, and still annoyed every time it happened.

Soon enough, the Indiana Jones theme song softly hummed passed Youko's parted lips, the future doctor desperately fighting off the smirk wanting to form on her face.

Nao rolled her eyes, turning her glare toward her reflection in the car's paint job as she waited for the first-year to finish. Once Youko had looped the tune a couple times, Yuuki turned back, "You finished yet, Doc?"

"Yep," Blue eyes danced with mirth before quickly looking down at the redhead's attire once more. Quiet giggles erupted, Youko bringing up her hand to cover her mouth.

"Apparently you aren't!" Nao hissed, glowering at the future doctor.

Sagisawa quickly humbled herself, "S-sorry it's just…" She looked Nao up and down for a third time, able to keep the smirk at bay this time, "What's with the outfit?"

"My employer has a thing for action heroes…" Nao grumbled, a hint of malice in her words.

Youko frowned, barely able to make out the mumblings, "'Employer'?"

Nao suddenly grit her teeth, twisting to look the brunette square in the eyes, "Look, I have a lot to tell you and not enough time to do it!" Of course this confused Sagisawa even more, but Yuuki pushed on, "You arrived three minutes before ten! Three!" She showed Youko a black, electronic wristwatch the first year hadn't noticed before, "I've been sitting here since fifteen minutes before waiting for you and now I have less than three minutes to explain things because you took your jolly time getting here!"

The brunette frowned, "You said meet at ten, not before ten, at ten. I thought I'd get here a few minutes early."

There were a couple moments of silence before Yuuki scoffed, "Whatever, I'll just fill you in with as much as I can before it starts."

"One more thing."

"What?" Nao's ire was visibly rising.

"Kuga-sempai said she'd be here."

Green eyes blinked, "… Kuga?"

"Yep."

"As in Kuga Natsuki?"

"Yep," Youko repeated.

Nao scowled, "Fan-fucking-tastic," she growled out. "Bird-brain's coming." She shook her head, bringing her attention back to the first year next to her, "Forget her for a moment; I gotta fill you in with the basics before it arrives."

Sagisawa, getting annoyed at how ambiguous Nao was being, went straight to the point, "What is 'it'? And why're you dressed like that?"

As if on cue, a large swirling white vortex appeared in the parking lot, lying flat across the paved ground. Before Youko could get a word in, eight large, bristle-haired legs lifted up from the center of the portal and stretched upward, bending at the joints before finally landing its pointed feet outside the outer edge of the swirling mass.

The eight legs pushed upward, four legs on each side, and slowly the rest of its body was revealed: the legs were connected to that of a spider's body, looking akin to that of a tarantula. Even more peculiar than finding a ten-foot long body of a spider was that the said body was attached to female human's torso. The two parts connected smoothly where a woman would normally have hips. Small, brown bristles started under the human-half's navel and evenly grew out to fit in with the rest of its body. Some of its facial features were bizarre: it had pointed ears, glossy black eyes and two sets of fangs protruding onto its bottom lip. Long, straight white hair fell down until just before the ends touched its spider-half's backside.

The hybrid creature threw its head back and let out a shrill cry that would make any banshee green with envy; all the glasswork nearby vibrated and shattered under the intense wail.

Nao and Youko gripped their ears, helpless under the sheer power of the creature's cry. They stayed crouched behind the convertible, gritting their teeth while willing the ringing in their ears to stop. "Goddamnit," Nao cursed under her breath as she shook the shock away. The redhead quickly glanced to her right to see Youko still curled up into a ball, cupping her ears, "You okay, Doc?"

Okay?... 'Okay'? ! Youko shivered, breathing heavy as her blue eyes stared straight ahead, looking at nothing. Tha-that spider-woman-thing just showed up out of nowhere in a portal that suddenly appeared! It's half spider, half woman and it gave a cry that's still making my head spin a whole minute later!

The said creature looked about, twisting its head this way and that. It started to move its legs about so it can turn, moving the front of its body toward the nearest car. It gave out a small cry, much like the one from before, except not as ear piercing. It shuffled its eight legs and moved forward, studying the car up close, inquisitively.

"Wha-what…" Youko's shuddered voice trailed off as her shivering form watched the hybrid's actions from under the car. She frowned, willing herself to finish her sentence. She leaned back up and looked at Nao, "Just what is that thing!" she hollered, forcing the words out and she watched as the redhead gave her a horrified look in response. The next thing Sagisawa knew, Yuuki had her hand covering the first year's mouth, pushing the future doctor against the side of the car and giving her a severe look that said, 'You wanna get us killed?'

Nao relaxed a little, even as the creature turned its attention their way. "That's the 'it' I was talking about earlier; it's a demon," she clarified. The explorer-clad teenager ignored the incredulous look she received from her companion and instead reached for the knife in her tool belt. She pulled out the small blade and looked back to the brunette, "and I'm going to kill it," she ended, looking every bit serious.

Youko Sagisawa watched on as Nao continued to check her various equipment, making sure it was all there and in place. 'Kill it' she says… Youko's crystal blue eyes fell to the glass-littered pavement underneath them. She's going to kill that thing? This was all too surreal! Under any other circumstances, Youko would have just laughed and played along but… That thing is real.

The future doctor (If I have a future, Youko added pessimistically.) was still trying to wrap her mind around the situation: That's a demon… Her rational side wanted to yell at her that this was all just some crazy dream, But it's not, that screech hurt too much to be a dream. I would have surely woken up by now.

The brunette shivered as the reality set in, This is actually happening.

"Doc…"

Sagisawa lifted her gaze away from her shattered reflection to find green eyes staring back.

"You'll be okay," Nao said in the most serious tone Youko had ever heard the second year high schooler speak in. "You'll make it out alive, I promise." Before the shorter girl could ask how she could be so certain, the redhead continued, "I'll make sure you live, even if I die trying."

Youko gasped, her eyes widening at Yuuki's words. 'Even if she dies trying'? Another shudder ran down her spine. How can she say things like that so easily? Sagisawa's breathing came out in a quiver; the young girl was frightened to her core.

Nao revered back to her normal demeanor, mocking smile and all, "You act like there'd be a point where I'd have to save your sorry butt." Her smirk grew, her eyes shining wickedly, "That demon will be dead before you know it."

Youko relaxed a little under the familiar cocky expression; even that tiny amount of normality was doing wonders for her jumpy nerves. The brunette managed a forced, shaky smile, "You act like you've been doing this for years."

"I have," was Nao's arrogant response.

Sagisawa frowned, intrigued, "If you've been doing this for years then that means demons have been around for years… Why haven't I heard about them up until now?" It seemed preposterous, any way Youko looked at it, that knowledge of these monsters wasn't more known if they'd been around for a long time. "Why aren't they talked about as creatures that threaten humanity? How can—"

"Whoa," the adventurer-clothed teenager held up both her hands, effectively stopping Youko's barrage of questions. She leaned back against the car to get more comfortable, "Seeing as how that thing doesn't look like it'll find us any time soon, I'll explain a few things." Yuuki scowled at the first year, "You should be happy the demon quickly lost interest in your hollering, otherwise we'd be scrambling for our lives right about now."

"So says the seasoned slayer," Youko relied, having relaxed enough to think up comebacks. But that in itself is strange, the little voice of logic in the back of the brunette's mind nagged, How am I able to accept this so quickly? That can't possibly be normal. Then again, Youko's judgment on what she deemed "normal" was a tad askew at the moment.

One of Nao's eyebrows ticked at this, "Anyway. First off you have to understand the basics: you know how the story of Heaven, Hell and Earth are usually told, right?" Nao asked.

"Um… Angels and devils waging war for thousands of years?"

"Correct."

"So you're telling me that's actually true?" Youko sent the upper classmen a dubious stare.

"Shall I point out the giant spider-woman walking forty feet away from us?" Yuuki sent Sagisawa a pointed look.

The brunette resigned, "Carry on…"

"As I was saying: the demon you see trudging around was summoned by a devil somewhere nearby. However, an angel will take care of the devil- it's my organization's job to take care of the demons the devils let run loose. Demon hunters, as we're known as, kill the demons and bring in proof that they killed the creature; the organization gives out money rewards for each kill. People in a different sector of my organization take care of the clean-up job when the fighting's over."

"If these fights are happening all the time, how come they're not more known? Certainly some civilian would have seen a demon if they're sent out randomly."

"That's the tricky part, they're only visible by people who actually believe demons exist."

Youko was taken aback, "But I don't- didn't… um…" she ended lamely, unable to finish.

The redhead grin impishly, amused, "Apparently you did. Maybe it was subconscious but somewhere in your mind you believed demons existed." She watched as Youko withdrew to within her thoughts and waited a few before getting the future doctor's attention again, "Anyway, that's the gist of it. Of course there's more to it than that, but that's where it gets complicated and I don't have the time or patience to explain it."

"So, now what?" Youko asked after an awkward pause in the conversation.

"I'm gonna kill it; I want that money, duh," And with that, Nao lifted a little from her crouched position and flung the knife she'd kept in her hand during the whole explanation. Both girls watched as it sliced through the air and landed in the creature's side, the human-half's torso now bleeding from the fresh wound. It let out another ear-piercing scream.

"God, that thing is loud," Nao hissed as she uncovered her ears. She started heading towards the hybrid demon, using the various cars as coverage as the creature whipped its gaze around in a fury.

"W-wait!" Youko called out to the demon hunter in a harsh whisper. "What about me? What do I do?"

"Just stay there and don't get eaten!" Yuuki replied before disappearing from sight.

The first year blinked, dumbfounded for a second or two before slumping, 'Don't get eaten'? She leaned back against the convertible, Why me? First Suzushiro and Kikukawa-sempai and now Yuuki-sempai; why tell me? What do I have to do with any of this? The brunette sighed, feeling the beginnings of a headache around her temples, I've been asking myself that a lot lately.


Nao crouched down as got close to the towering hybrid creature before her. She pressed her back against the parked vehicle as she took out her pistol, loading a new magazine into the gun's handle. Being a trained expert, she knew rushing out to attack that thing would be suicidal, and she couldn't die yet- not before her revenge.

Green eyes hardened as she thought back to that dark day, the day she swore she'd kill any demon that she came across. The screaming, the blood- images flooded her mind until she felt her thoughts grind to a halt, Wow, stuck in the past when the Doc's out there waiting for you to kick some ass- some demon hunter you turned out to be, Nao. A small smirk appeared on her visage as she quietly clicked the safety off her gun, "Just another day at work."

The redhead turned and lifted her gun, aiming at the creature's legs. She winced her teeth at her own stupidity, "Yeah, like wounding one of its legs is going to make that much of a difference; it has seven more," she muttered sardonically to herself. Nao decided to just shoot at the front and back-most leg on its right side, causing it to rear up and turn in Nao's direction, keeping its two injured, bleeding legs suspended in the air. It let out an infuriated scream as its beady, black eyes spotted the hunter, charging towards the car she was hiding behind. Nao stood up and held up the gun as it charged, trying to aim at its heart and end this without too much fuss, but of course it wouldn't be that easy.

It never is.

"Ah, shit!" Nao cursed after she shot, watching the spider woman jump up, way up high into the night sky, the bullet just grazing the hairs on the spider-half's underside. Without looking back, Nao quickly scrambled to get away from the car, trying to put as much distance between her the creature's target. A crashing sound from behind informed her that the summoned monster had flattened the car with its body, the gust of wind that came afterward almost knocking the hunter off her feet.

The second year whirled around and brought up her gun, firing blindly as the dust fell. She gasped, making a split second choice to roll to the side, dodging a thick ball of webbing, dropping her gun in the process. She panted as she propped back up into a crouching position, looking wide-eyed at the web-covered, impaled car that could have been her, "Why do I never find the easy assignments?" she groaned wearily.

The second year high schooler took a deep breath and got up, taking out a hunting knife. She climbed up on top of the car and watched as the demon lifted its body high by stretching straight its six usable legs, folding the back part of its spider body to rest on its belly; spheres of webbing the size of a cannon balls were shot. Nao pushed off the roof of the vehicle, jumping over a sphere before it smashed into the car, sending the automobile backwards into another car. She landed and sprinted toward the demon, all the while dodging left and right, pumping both her arms and legs.

As she got close, the creature bent down the upper half of its body, trying to snatch the hunter with its human arms, but missed. Yuuki slid under and skidded until she was beneath the abdomen, stabbing it in the center. She hung on as it cried out in pain, moving its abdomen to its normal position, with her kneeling on top of it. The hairs on its back pricked up and Yuuki gritted her teeth as some of them dug into her legs; pulling her knife out of its body, she swiftly took out her whip and snapped it forward with trained ease, constricting its woman-shaped torso. She pulled back, tightening her hold around the creature until she was satisfied it couldn't budge. Nao grinned, "Well, this turned out to be easier than I—What? !"

The reason for the demon hunter's exclamation was not because the hybrid creature had started to charge forward once more in a fury, no longer directing its actions at Nao, but who it was rushing at:

"Shizuru!" Youko yelled out in horror, watching her best friend back up in fear against the school building's brick wall. Fujino's trembling figure was donned in only a nightgown and robe, looking ready to go to bed, But why is she out here! Sagisawa took in the look of terror the albino was giving the quickly approaching monster, She can see it too?

She shook her head, berating herself, "What does it matter if she can see it! She's going to get killed!" And in a very uncharacteristic manner of "do now, think later," Youko darted out toward her best friend in an attempt to knock her out of the creature's path.


Don't you just hate cliffhangers? So do I, but they're needed every now and then. =P