Title: Instinct
Author: setlib
Rating: Mature.
Pairings: Misaki x Hei
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any characters from Darker than BLACK.
Timeline: This scene runs concurrently with Season 2, episode 10, Your Smile in the Street of Lies. If you haven't seen Season 2, this contains massive spoilers.
Summary: Hei is ordered to get information out of Misaki using any means necessary. Misaki begins to suspect that Lee might be the Black Reaper. Both decide to uncover the truth, using seduction as their method of interrogation. Can love grow among so many lies?
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Instinct, Chapter Nine: Enemies
Hei cut down a back alley on his way to the 18th Research Building. It was time to hunt down Izanami. To find her...and finally kill her, before she could join with Izanagi to destroy all the contractors on earth. It was his fault she had lived this long. His weakness, his hesitation to kill the body of Yin that Izanami now possessed. But now he was ready to rectify his mistake.
Suddenly his senses went on high alert. Someone else was in the alley. He knew who it was – he could smell her distinctive perfume, hear her breathing up on a fire escape stairwell behind him. He stopped.
"I'm sure that I had cut my ties with you," he said, almost politely.
"You've done your job well."
He turned his head to regard Madame Oreille out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to continue this discussion. The woman was some kind of witch, her schemes and manipulations more dangerous than any contractor. Somehow she always knew where to find him, always knew exactly what to say to goad him into doing her bidding. And yet he couldn't leave without finding out why she wore such a smug smile. "What?"
"You brought her to Tokyo, didn't you? You let her go, though. A casing was found from the Oomiya incident. And an anti-tank rifle modified for left-handed use." She laughed then, but it wasn't a kind sound. "Poor little red star. I wonder how Section 3 is going to treat her?"
He flinched. Section 3 had captured Suou? Damn it. He shouldn't interfere. If he was smart, he'd finish off Yin right away and let Suou handle her own problems. But he couldn't escape a sense of responsibility – if it weren't for him, she wouldn't be here. He'd already lost everyone he had ever cared about. Could he just stand by while she was in danger?
"Since you know so much, why don't you tell me where she is?"
Madame Oreille smiled. Once again, she had him just where she wanted him.
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Hei took a moment to secure his wire, gauging the distance between the balcony where he was perched and the lobby of the apartment building to which he had been directed. Suddenly Suou and July ran out, then collapsed onto a planter box just outside. There were no police in sight – had the witch lied to him?
But then a woman ran out after them, brown hair hanging down her back in a long ponytail. He would recognize that plain brown trench coat and blue suit anywhere. His stomach clenched as he remembered the fury he had felt when she had betrayed him. Misaki was part of Section 3 now? Did her treachery know no limits? His hand dropped to the steel blade on his belt. He would show her what happened to people who tried to use him.
He swept down behind her, grabbing her by the neck and pressing his knife to her throat before she knew what was happening. But Suou distracted him, shouting for him to stop, and in that split second of hesitation Misaki slammed her elbow into his shoulder, rolling away and coming up with her gun drawn in one smooth movement.
"Why are you in Section 3?" he growled.
"Answer me first!" she panted. "Where's Youko?"
Her gun was pointed at his face, but he didn't care. He charged her, knocking the weapon from her hand and delivering a vicious blow to her upper spine. She lay on the ground below him, incapacitated, and he raised his blade to finish her off.
"No!" Suou cried, wrapping her arms around him.
"She tried to capture you," he bit out.
"She did! But she gave me steamed buns!"
How better to lure a child than with food? Just as she had lured him with her body. The woman's treachery astounded him. But he didn't want Suou to have to watch while he killed her. The girl had seen him commit enough violence already.
He sheathed his blade and turned his back, leaving Misaki twitching in the street while they walked away.
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Sleep eluded him that night, as it often did. Suou and July were curled up on mats on the floor of the small apartment while he sat on a couch, looking out the window at the gray clouds moving through the sickly brown sky, like rotten leaves in a muddy stream. It was never truly dark in the city, and he found himself missing the clear, cold skies of Russia. Even if the stars were false, he still wanted to see them, to see the hole where his own star had once shone so bright.
Mao climbed up on the windowsill next to him, speaking softly. "It's because Suou's incomplete that she fell in love with you."
Hei didn't reply. Damned interfering rodent. She was clearly desperate and confused if she clung to a cruel bastard like him. He should be disgusted by her weakness, but instead he found himself wanting to shield her innocence from the evils in the world a little bit longer. Of course there was a limit to how much he could protect her.
"Why did you really come back anyway?" Mao pressed further. "Is Suou too much like your sister now?"
"Perhaps I saw myself in Suou," Hei admitted. "Swayed by ignorance and swayed by our incompleteness. But," he paused, thinking of what he would have to do to Yin tomorrow, "neither Suou nor I have the time to be swayed."
