CHAPTER 9:

ATTACK OF THE OWL

Eto Yoshimura sat on the bed of her hotel room in London, bouncing up and down. This was a simple pleasure she never got to experience as a child, and she just enjoyed the simple sensation of enjoying bouncing on a mattress. Yet another of life's simple pleasures her father denied her when she was left with Noroi.

An intellectual part of her knew she was being a little unfair. If her father had truly wanted her dead, he could have either done the deed himself, or else left her to fend for herself in the 24th Ward, or given her up to V. Instead, she had to say, as hellish as that life was, Noroi was a good guardian, at least until V, sniffing around, robbed him from her, forcing her to use part of her kakuja to turn him into what was little more than a puppet, a zombie.

But her father was also trying to scrub away the sins of his past by running a coffee shop, of all things. Anteiku, it was called. He and his followers subsisted off suicides they scavenged. Yoshimura didn't even try to change the world, try to find a way to bring down V, and the Washuu clan. All he was was content to sit on his wrinkled old arse and try and forget his past by serving coffee to humans and Ghouls. Oh, she could understand trying to protect the Ghouls under his aegis, and to be fair to him, he did good work. But in Eto's eyes, it would never be good enough. Thanks to him, she endured over a decade living in Hell on Earth, growing up stewing in despair and hatred.

It was only her fateful encounter with Kishou Arima that gave her any cause for hope. And even then, Arima wasn't the one who truly gave it to her. Oh, they cooked up their little One-Eyed King plan, based on the Washuu rebel from a century ago whose remains lurked deep within the 24th Ward, and that gave her something to strive for. But it was Harry who gave her hope, a desire to live beyond the fruition of the plan.

It was Arima who introduced them, shortly after Eto made her first step onto becoming an author. Eto viewed the boy warily, especially as Arima confirmed that he was training the boy to become a Dove, to say nothing of his past as a Scrapper and the existence of Edward. And yet, his first words, beyond the greetings, were, "You're the One-Eyed Owl? Thought you'd be taller."

Eto should have felt insulted by that. And yet, oddly enough, the sheer bemusement and lack of insulting tone actually made her laugh, loud and long. Not her usual laughter, too scornful and cynical and lacking in mirth for a girl her age. His eyes showed that, for all his wariness, Harry made the decision to treat her like she was a girl his age, and not one of the most infamous Ghouls in Tokyo.

This wasn't to say that they truly hit it off from the start. Their relationship for the first few months was undeniably rocky. And yet, the fact that he made her laugh was the first part of a bridge between them.

Eto smiled ruefully to herself. A human, making her feel such things, actually giving her such treacherous feelings like hope for the future. Then again, he was as broken as she was, if not more so. It was one of the reasons why she loved him. As Tyrion from A Game of Thrones said, she was fond of cripples, bastards, and broken things (while she read a lot of Japanese literature, she also devoured what Western literature she could get her hands on).

Oh, her love for him wasn't exactly healthy, though it was far better than the love she would probably normally feel. It was a possessive love, a love that could see her labelled as a yandere. But not in the way many were portrayed back home in Japan. She wouldn't kill any girl who so much as looked at Harry funny, or else Hermione would not have survived their first night at 12 Grimmauld Place. In truth, she found the bushy-haired bookworm interesting, for all her worship of authority and bossiness. Rather, it was a protectiveness of Harry, though she knew he could look after himself very well.

But while possessive, it was also a genuine love, twisted though it was. She knew this because…well, there were few people she'd be willing to die to protect, and only one of them was a human being. She let him have his distance when he needed it, and he let her have her own. There was mutual respect, and not just of their respective lethality, but their worth as people. He made her feel wanted, not for her worth as the One-Eyed Owl, or as Sen Takatsuki, but as Eto Yoshimura. In other words, he made her feel like her life not only had value, but one beyond all the treasures in the world. Her, a Ghoul, the very creature he was supposed to hunt.

She was very well aware of the literary trope of the starcrossed lovers, and she despised it. Tragic love, while a great concept for stories and certainly something she'd have no compunction about inflicting on her characters, experiencing it for real was another matter. She was no Juliet, committing suicide to be with her Romeo out of some foolish pubescent infatuation. Hell, she despised that Shakespeare play for the reason that Romeo and Juliet probably didn't have true love, but teenage infatuation.

No, if Harry died, she would not follow him until she did her damned best to destroy the CCG, and to hell with collateral damage! True, she was trying to bring down the organisation and the Washuu backing them, but she was trying to be more subtle, make sure that there was something left to be used to govern the world that remained. Whereas if Harry died…well, she would ensure as many people shared her pain and misery before she followed him to whatever afterlife existed, if any did at all.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her burner phone trilled. It'd be very early in the morning there, given that it was barely eight o'clock here, but it seemed Tatara wanted to talk to her. So she answered the phone. "Moshi moshi?"

"Eto," came the distinctive calm and collected voice of Tatara. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yep. Got my little Portkey ready to shuttle myself back and forth between London and Tokyo, thanks to Harry. Uncomfortable as fuck, but what can you do? Wizards wouldn't know how to make a comfortable means of transport to save their lives. Well, save for magic carpets, and apparently there's an embargo on them in Britain. Anyway, Tatara, did you call just to say hi, or is there something else?"

"Yes. When Voldemort's agents approached us, I took the liberty of persuading one of our lesser members to go with them, to act as our spy. He has been returned to us…in pieces. I recognise Yamori's handiwork."

Eto scowled. "Damn. Either someone got suspicious and got Yamori to torture it out of him, or else Voldemort or one of his followers used Legilimency and discovered this. Tatara…how much of him is missing? Specifically, his kakuhou?"

"His kakuhou has been extracted, Eto, and surprisingly cleanly. And that is disturbing. Yamori would not extract it so cleanly if he wished to feed on it."

"…Which means they needed it for something else," Eto mused. "And with those rumours around Rookwood looking to perform some sort of hybridisation experiment…I have a bad feeling about this, Tatara. Rookwood, according to Baum, is still in Azkaban. However, she wouldn't be surprised if sooner rather than later, Voldemort staged a breakout."

"He would have to contend with those soul-sucking demons guarding that place. Then again, he'd doubtlessly claim they can feed on souls with impunity. That could sway them to his side."

Eto nodded. "Did your spy report back where he was being based?"

"His particular group was based at Battersea Power Station," Tatara said.

"Hmm…well, I think I should go and see the sights…"

One little-known fact was that the kakuja of a Ghoul was not immutable. With time and a little effort, one could change its appearance, and not just through the usual growth it had via cannibalism. She even heard rumours of one Ghoul who could use their kakuja to actually disguise themselves as other people.

The reason for this contemplation was simple: she didn't want any reports about the One-Eyed Owl being in Britain. Someone might put two and two together to make four, and as four had connotations of death in Japan, you could see why she was concerned. After all, if someone put together the presence of either Harry or herself together with the appearance of the One-Eyed Owl, well, things would get needlessly complicated.

She also chose a different costume to the one she usually wore while working with Aogiri Tree. Instead of the hooded dress and the bandages wrapped around her body, Eto simply donned a hooded tracksuit and donned a facemask she had picked up in a novelty store that depicted a caricatured version of Margaret Thatcher. Apparently, according to what she heard, it was a popular disguise choice for British Ghouls, particularly those who grew up during the Eighties.

She was, surprisingly, let in to the so-called secret lair without much trouble. All she had to do was unleash her kagune to show that she was a Ghoul at the door, and then, they were let in. She was thankful they didn't look for her kakugan, as she only had the one, and a One-Eyed Ghoul would have raised all sorts of red flags.

As it was, the meeting was rather small, maybe a score of Ghouls, and with a pair of humans, Death Eaters given the getup, at the front. Either they had backup, or some sort of emergency Portkey. Otherwise, they'd have to be pretty ballsy to be standing in the midst of a number of Ghouls.

"Who're those wankers?" she asked in her best Cockney accent, which was admittedly pretty damned cod. She could speak English almost like a native(1), thanks to Harry's tuition and watching some movies and TV, but she still, normally, had a slight accent. She thought exaggerating a Cockney accent might work to disguise that. If called out on it, she would just claim she was trying to disguise her real voice…which was the truth.

The Ghoul next to her muttered, "The Carrow twins, Amycus and Alecto. Probably just as well. If the Dark Lord sent Macnair, we'd be feasting on him tonight."

"Macnair?"

"Walden Macnair, one of the headsmen for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures," he said. "Bastard killed my sister with that Quinque axe of his. You…do know about the Ministry of Magic, right?"

"Only found out a couple of years ago. I've been more concerned with the fucking Doves," Eto retorted.

The Ghoul next to her nodded. "Ain't that the fucking truth," he muttered. Eto liked him…until he said, "By the way, uhh…are you seeing anyone?"

"Yes. And I'm sixteen."

"…Uhh, okay."

Great, she was here on a mission, and she got hit on by some Ghoul who hadn't got any for a while. And probably much older than her, given his voice and smell. Her thoughts of bloody vengeance against the lech were interrupted when one of the Carrows clapped their hands. "Hey, order! Order!" cried out a woman's voice. "Shut up, you cannibalistic cockheads, and listen!"

That got silence, and more than a few glares with kakugans. Eto had to stifle a giggle. The alliteration on 'cannibalistic cockhead' wasn't too bad.

"The Dark Lord is pleased with the number and quality of those who have volunteered to join us," the woman, presumably Alecto, continued. "Rest assured, the spies and traitors have been dealt with most thoroughly. When the time comes, you shall be our vanguard in establishing supremacy over Muggles, upon whom you will be allowed to feast with impunity!"

Over the sounds of cheering, Eto thought, Huh. She's actually doing quite well with the speech…wait a bloody moment…is she looking at a note?

Alecto continued, "That being said, the Dark Lord has decided to test your resolve. To this end, you will be attacking a number of targets around London over the next few nights. And then…" Alecto suddenly did a double take, as her crib notes were no longer in her hand, but rather, being read by Eto, who was standing behind them. Then again, when the mood took her, Eto could be so fast, she'd be basically like one of the Bleach characters using Flash Step or Sonido.

"I called it," Eto remarked. "Wow. You can't even do an evil villain speech without crib notes? I'm unimpressed. Look, I can give you pointers, though it'd help if you had improvisation skills and…" Eto dodged a rather nasty-looking spell from the other Carrow twin, and scowled. "Rude."

"Give me back my notes!" snapped Alecto.

"Umm, no. Seriously, if you need to put your evil villain speech on notes, you're doing it wrong." She noted down the locations on the speech, before she threw them into the air, and turned them into confetti with her kagune. Then, an impish smirk touched her lips as the Carrows stared in horror at the crib note confetti, and acted. When they finally looked at her again, her hands were filled with bloody shards of bone. "By the way," she said to the other Carrow twin, "you dropped these. Your ribs." She let them drop to the ground just as the Carrow realised he had been ripped open. A Ghoul with a decent regeneration ability would survive that, but a human?

Blood burst out of the mouth slit of the skull mask, and the man collapsed. "AMYCUS!" Alecto screamed.

Eto flared her kagune, before she roared, "Any of you shitheads want to die, then STAY RIGHT THERE!" And with that, she began firing shards of crystalline matter from her ukaku kagune, descending on the Ghouls present in a hailstorm of crystal. The smarter ones were already fleeing. She also deliberately hit Alecto with some, not enough to kill her, but enough to prevent any naughty retaliation by Alecto.

Soon, the room was clear of Ghouls, and Eto looked at the bodies. Amycus was still moving, barely alive, so Eto casually kicked his head, making it sail into the air like a soccer ball. "Oops," she giggled. "I don't know my own strength." Which was bullshit. She did know her own strength.

"…Amycus…" whimpered Alecto. "…Bitch…kill you…"

"I'd like to see you try," Eto said. "I left you alive because, well, I studied your tactics. You have personal Portkeys in case things got too hairy, from what I heard. Sooooo…I've left you alive because I want you to deliver a message, to your master, and…do you know a Ghoul called Jason?"

"…That freak?"

"Yep! To Jason, say that I'm gonna make his stay in Cochlea seem like a stay at a hot springs resort by comparison. And to Voldemort…tell him he should've stayed dead. If he is one who eats death, then I will be the one to eat him. You know, it's interesting…I would have thought the death of your twin would have done something more. You know, those myths about twins being linked and all that crap. Still…I feel the need to leave more of a mark on you." She let her modified kakuja grow forth. "Time to PLAY…"

It was a satisfied Eto who returned to her hotel later that night. A shame she couldn't share that outing with Harry or Edward. A good meal, a lot of bloodshed, and she got to make a lot of people piss themselves, if the smell mingling with the blood was any indication. Plus, she caused a bloody mess within a famous landmark, which was always appealing. She done it to so many places in Tokyo, she was getting bored, so doing that in London helped.

Still, she doubted what she did was little more than a fleabiting. She used her burner phone to call the CCG hotline to warn them about the possible attacks, having read the location on Alecto's crib notes before destroying them, as it was possible that there were other Ghoul groups controlled by Voldemort looking to do the same. She then disposed of it, knowing she'd have to get a new one to contact Tatara later.

As she lay in bed, looking at the ceiling, she thought, The first strike against Voldemort…I hope you still feel fear, Voldemort. Because the One-Eyed Owl has her eye on you. She grinned viciously, her kakugan glowing gently in the dim room. And you will know your folly for a very long time ere you die…

CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear. Voldemort's in trouble. Eto's drawn first blood.

1. It's worth pointing out that Maaya Sakamoto (Eto's Japanese voice actress, as well as the actress for Mari from Rebuild of Evangelion, and Jeanne d'Arc and Da Vinci from the Nasuverse) can speak English fairly well. If you watch the Japanese version of Evangelion 2.0, listen to her character, Mari, speaking English. While still accented, it's much better than Kaji's actor speaking English at the very beginning of the film.