Generation New
A/N: I hoped everybody enjoyed the last chapter, and I hope you all will enjoy this one even more. A lot of Hei/Misaki fans should like this one somewhat.
And this message is to Aerysa: thank you for pointing out my mistakes, and I tried taking your advise on wording. I tried my best, and I hope this is a little better.
As for the next chapter, give me a bit since I want to finish my other story first. I put that off so I could get to these two chapters.
Enjoy, everybody.
xxx
A Star Shines Brightly to Beckon One to Follow part two
Charlie, Chaplin, and Peppermint stared up at the star shining brightly, puzzled at how it had been reborn. It was not possible. The man who had owned that star had died twenty-seven years ago.
"Its… its just one man, right?" whimpered Peppermint.
Chaplin glared at him devilishly, grabbed his shirt, and said, "Just one man?"
"Y—yeah. You… beat him before."
"It was a fluke how Jackal and I killed him! This is BK201! Kuro no Shinigami! It's the man the Syndicate had named Hei!"
"He also goes by the name of Li Shengshun," said Charlie, shrugging. "So my ex kept on telling me in our eight years of marriage."
Chaplin glanced back at Charlie displeased, pushed Peppermint away from him, and straightened out his suit.
"You both need to take this seriously," he said. "If that is BK201's star, then no doubt he's coming after us."
"What are the chances it's his star?" questioned Peppermint.
"Ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent," replied Charlie. "There has never been a star reborn with a different host."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and it's a new host."
The secretary came running back into the office room looking even worse than before.
"Um, sir," she began, gulping. "Security just called, and, well… eh… they had said that… that… BK201's on the tenth floor, along with Mr. Jackal. And I have some bad news from South America." Chaplin narrowed his eyes, as he expected something terrible. "Heaven's Gate, it… it disappeared… again. Along with half of our men and women serving there."
Chaplin breathed out heavily, walked over to his desk, and pulled out a nine-millimeter.
"You two either stay here, or return to the party," said Chaplin to his two old friends, "or what's left of a party. I'm going to take care of BK201 once and for all."
He stormed out of the office with Charlie sighing and looking over at Peppermint.
"How much you wanna bet my ex starts looking for Madam O. now?" he said, taking his seat while staring up at BK201's star.
Xxx
Megumi hurried back into the party, as everybody began to rush out to look up at the sky. Word had surfaced concerning BK201's star. Shoji, Sakura, and Saitou were amongst the crowd. They fought their way towards her, looking dumbfounded.
"Is it true?" spoke up Saitou. "Is it really BK201's star?"
Megumi nodded.
"Get a team ready," she ordered.
"Ready? For what?" Shoji asked.
"We're heading for Hell's Gate."
"Hell's Gate? Why?"
"Because, if a Contractor loses his or her power, they can regain it by going back to the Gate," said Saitou.
"Exactly!" Megumi applauded. He wasn't a total idiot. "Which means he's at the Gate right now."
"So…" whimpered Shoji, "you're planning on taking on the most notorious Contractor, who, might I add, somehow resurrected from the dead!"
"Scared!"
"NO!" he whimpered again. He cleared his throat. "I mean… no."
"Good!"
Megumi was about to give off another order, but her attention shifted to her right. Her mother headed for the exit, looking as though she was in a trance. Megumi made her way towards her, hoping to prevent her from gazing upon BK201's star and retain what she had left as a mother.
She stormed out of the building, breathing heavily while scanning for Misaki, and located her a few feet away. She was too late. Her mother's eyes were fixated on BK201's star, twitching with hysteria.
"Li…kun!" she whispered.
Megumi stared at her, knowing she had lost her mother completely.
Shoji, Saitou, and Sakura ran outside and came up beside Megumi, as people ran around in a ruckus, pointing up at the sky and calling friends concerning the news.
"Chief, bad news," spoke up Saitou. "Just as you ran off, somebody had said that BK201 is here."
Misaki's attention shifted towards them, as Megumi's eyes widened while staring back at Saitou.
"What? That can't be right?" she shouted. "How can he get from Hell's Gate to here in less than five minutes?"
"Well, he's been spotted on the tenth floor."
Megumi's jaw line tightened while she thought for a second, and then said, "Saitou, Shoji, get a team together and head for the Gate. I'll check out the tenth floor."
"What? But BK201 is up there, not at the Gate!" yelled Shoji.
"Don't argue with me! Just do what I say!"
Shoji opened his mouth to protest, but Saitou grabbed his shirt and dragged him off. Megumi turned around to head back into the building.
"Wait, Megumi, I'm coming with you!" shouted Misaki.
Megumi looked back at her, shook her head, and said, "No, Mom! You're too emotionally attached to him. If you get in his way, or mine at that manner, he'll kill you."
"Megumi! I know him better than anybody else, including you. You need my help."
Megumi frowned, knowing she wasn't going to like this one bit.
"All right, but you do what I tell you," she demanded.
Misaki nodded.
Megumi lifted up her dress to unfasten her back-up gun and handed it over. Misaki checked it to see it was fully loaded, and followed her daughter to the elevator.
Xxx
Jackal stared at the Black Reaper. BK201 reached into his coat to remove a double-sided blade with a split down the middle, and held it backhanded. He settled into a fighting stance, sent a small spark through the blade, and charged at Jackal.
He swung his blade horizontally, causing Jackal to block it and then parried a vertical strike. Jackal followed with a vertical slash, which made BK201 dodge right, duck under a horizontal attack, and then moved left to avoid another vertical strike. BK201 finished his move with a roundhouse kick in which Jackal was struck and sent back a couple of paces, as BK201 hopped back to gather some room and stand in a fighting pose.
His blade sparked again, little pulses this time, as though he was taunting his opponent to attack.
Jackal wiped at the blood seeping down his chin, and charged at BK201. He swung his katana viciously, forcing BK201 to duck under it, and slash his blade upward to have it knocked aside. Jackal kicked and struck BK201's stomach, giving him an opening to jab his sword into BK201's gut. However, BK201 had the sword slide into the split of his blade, made it spark, and twisted his wrist to snap the sword like a twig.
"Impossible?" whispered Jackal to himself.
The broken piece clanked on the floor, as BK201 tripped Jackal to have him fall on his back. He stared down at him, raised his knife with both hands over his head with the point facing downwards, and as he was about to finish him, a gun went off.
A bullet ricocheted off the back of BK201's coat and bounced off the floor. BK201 lowered his hands, turned around, and saw Chaplin standing at a corner holding a gun. BK201 made his blade spark again simultaneously, as though stating he was annoyed.
"How is it possible?" questioned Chaplin.
BK201 began to charge at him, but stopped as another shot hit his backside again. He looked back to see a brown-haired woman in a red dress holding a gun, and Kirihara Misaki standing next to her looking dumbfounded.
"Li…kun?"
Megumi frowned.
"Put your hands up, whoever you are!" she demanded.
BK201 stared at her for a second, and then said, "Stay out of my way."
"Can't do that!"
"Then I guess I do this."
The Black Reaper charged at Megumi, causing her to fire, but her bullet bounced of his coat again. She ducked at the last minute, as he swung his blade. She tried to trip him, but he hopped over it. BK201 came up behind her, placing his knife to her throat, and having her drop her gun while holding her before Misaki.
Misaki gasped and pointed her gun at BK201 finally. It had been a mistake to bring her along.
"Back up," demanded BK201.
Misaki shook her head.
"Back up, or I kill your only child."
She looked at him puzzled.
"How…?"
"I just do! Now back up, Commander Kirihara, or watch helplessly as her blood spills from her neck!"
"Li-kun!"
"MOM! Just do it! He's not the Li you once knew! Please, get it through your head!"
A tear escaped her right eye and lowered her gun. BK201 slowly guided Megumi towards the elevator with everybody parting aside. He hit the down button, and entered it with her.
"Let her go, L—Li!" demanded Misaki. "Let her go!" The elevator doors closed with Megumi still held by BK201. "NNNOOO!"
Misaki ran up to the elevator, slammed her fist against it, and found her eyes were doused in tears.
Xxx
BK201 released Megumi, surprising her, and gave her the chance to attack him. However, to her luck, he caught her punch with his hands, and twisted her arm to make her bend forward.
"Ouch!" she screamed.
"I'm not going to kill you, if you behave," he stated.
"Like I'd believe that! You're a Contractor who lies and deceives people. For all I know, you could lead me on false hope, and kill me anyways."
"You really think that: especially from all the stories your mom told you about me?"
"That's my mom talking. She wanted to believe you're a good guy, but we both know the truth. You're a heartless killer."
He loosened his hold on Megumi, turned her around, and smacked her across the face. He shoved her against the wall and held his knife to her throat. She did not quiver, even though she was terrified.
"If you're going to kill me, then kill me," she taunted. "Maybe then my mom will see the real you."
BK201 snorted and released her while sheathing his blade. The elevator dinged to have its doors open. He pushed Megumi out and guided her down the sixth floor's hallway.
The one thing she was concerned about was her dress. If it acquired any smudges or the miniscule of rips, Aunt Kanami would strangle her since it was a Christmas gift from her. Her mother and father never liked it since it showed too much cleavage.
They gradually walked around the floor, making Megumi wonder where they were heading. Moments later, they entered a men's bathroom and then stepped into a stall. BK201 locked the door, put down the seat and sat on it, as Megumi looked on dumbfound.
She had had her moments in men's bathroom stalls, but this was new.
"What are we doing in here?" she asked.
"I need to think," he said, his legs crossed, and his right hand under his chin.
"Eh?" The Black Reaper, also known as BK201, code name Hei, needs to think? "About what? How to kill me?"
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now."
Megumi's eyes widened and thought, lucky me!
"I'm thinking of how to escape," he said. "I kept you around just incase I need someone to bargain with."
"I'm a hostage? Why don't you just do your little magic trick?"
BK201's mask shifted up, and said, "Magic trick?"
"It takes almost thirty minutes to drive from Hell's Gate to get here. How did you get here in a matter of minutes and reach the tenth floor without anybody spotting you?"
The man behind the mask sat quietly, as though pondering on the question.
"Teleportation," he said.
Megumi pursed her lips, and said, "So why not use it to get out!"
"It's complicated. I came here for one purpose. Kill the Minister and his lackeys. The banquet was the best time to strike."
"The best time? With innocent people littering the first floor? You're insane!"
BK201 stood, grabbed her neck, and slammed her against the stall's door.
"You have no idea what's going on!" he said in a low, and deadly voice. "The Minister, his cabinet members, and his friends across the world aren't what they seem!"
"Wh—what?" gasped Megumi, as she narrowed her eyes, and felt her heart sinking. Her father was on the Minister's cabinet staff. "What…? What do you… mean?"
"If you knew, you'd be dead before you got a second older."
"Liar! You're messing with me. My father isn't behind anything!"
BK201 titled his head, and muttered, "Your father? Who?"
"Itashi Charlie."
"I don't know any Itashi Charlie." Megumi felt a heavy burden lift off her shoulder. "I know of a Charlie Smith."
Megumi felt her heart skip a beat, believing that that was her father's real name. She didn't know why, but something about hearing that name sent chills down her spine. She could be over exaggerating and Charlie Smith was somebody else.
BK201 released his hold on her and sat back on the toilet. Megumi settled down to stare at him with an awkward feeling.
"Why wear that?" she asked.
He looked up at her.
"Wear what?"
"Your mask? Everybody knows what you look like, so why wear it?"
"To strike fear in my prey."
"Can you remove it for me until we leave here?"
"No!"
"No? What, scared or something? How about I remove it for you?"
"Try!"
Megumi felt a sudden fear overwhelm her. She cleared her throat, and began to reach for his mask, but stopped and backed off.
"So, um, what happened to you?" she asked. BK201 titled his head curiously. "Your death, and why do you look so young still?"
"Complicated."
"All right, so explain."
"I don't feel like it, and if you keep interrupting my thoughts, I'll kill you."
Megumi gulped and waited quietly for BK201 to devise an escape. She wondered how Saitou, Shoji, and the squad were doing at Hell's Gate.
Xxx
Saitou, Shoji, and a couple of trucks with fellow officers pulled into the destruction area just outside Hell's Gate. They stopped the vehicles behind the fence line and exited them.
The area gave Saitou the creeps. The weather was warm, but the place had a cold feeling to it. Years of decay and looters stealing salvageable things took a hold on the buildings. Cars were also stripped down to their frames.
"This is what we're going to do," spoke up Saitou. "Group one is with me, and group two is with Detective Kiski Shoji. Group one, we'll head towards the Gate. Detective Kiski, take your team east. If there is any sight of BK201, call it in, and proceed with MAJOR caution! Understood!"
"Yes, sir!" they shouted.
Saitou and Shoji headed out, guns at the ready, with the squads following. Saitou guided his men down a cracked, weeded, and dusty street that had not had a single footprint left behind in over two decades.
They checked every nook and cranny, keeping a sharp eye out for any type of movement. It felt unnerving like it had in his younger days searching for Havoc. He never liked this part of the city, and he wished he could be watching Misaki and Megumi's backs.
However, his boss gave him an order, and he was going to follow it through. That was who he was, and he would be like that until he took his last breath.
He peeked down a rugged alleyway that had seen better days before the meteor strike, and continued forward. His team shined their lights everywhere to give off an oval shaped illumination around them.
The Gate's wall began to dwarf them as they drew closer to it. The mere size of it seemed illogical to anything else that Saitou had seen: Tokyo Tower, the Eifel Tower, Sears Tower, and even the Grand Canyon.
A clanking noise to Saitou's left caught their attention. They turned towards it to shine their lights in an alley. Saitou motioned for a man near him to follow. They moved in while the other men held their lights on them.
Saitou drew cautiously on a decomposing and noxious garbage pile, as the officer checked on a slanted garbage bin against the wall.
Suddenly, a black cat jumped out of the garbage pile, meowing hysterically, and landed on Saitou's head, clawing at it.
"OUCH! Get off!" he screamed.
He grabbed the cat's fur, trying to pull it away, but its claws dug into his skin. He began yanking hard, feeling as though he was a participant in a Saw movie.
Once he pulled the cat free, he threw it down the alley, having it plop and roll on the ground a few feet, and then stood on its paws. It flicked up its tail in the air, and dashed off.
"Stupid cat!" blabbered Saitou. "Can't even land on all four!
"Eh, sir," spoke up the officer. "You all right?"
"Yes, why do you ask?"
The officer pulled out a small-rectangular mirror from one of his pockets, and showed Saitou's reflection. He gasped, as he noticed he had sixteen bleeding scratch marks on his face.
"AAAAHHH! NNNOO! I can't… believe it! I… I look… hideous! How is Kirihara-san going to love me with this face!"
"Eh? Kirihara-san? Really?"
A loud bang came from behind them. They turned around, pointing their guns, and noticed an old man in his seventies standing in the garbage bin. He wore a mangled greenish coat, had long gray hair, and big sunglasses. He also had smudges on his face and probably reeked as bad as the trash container.
"Freeze!" ordered Saitou, as blood seeped into his mouth, and sprayed outwards. The old man threw up his hands. "Who are you?"
"Kohaku!" he shouted.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm living out here!"
"Live out here? Why?"
"Eh, I got nowhere else to go since I'm living out on the streets."
"Why out in the middle of a dead zone?"
"It's peaceful. I don't have to worry about some other hobo trying to take over my sleep quarters or edible food that I find."
"You have a point!" nodded and smiled Saitou, causing the officer to look at him peculiarly. They lowered their guns to let the old man put down his hands. "You seen a man in black walking around here."
"No. I haven't seen anybody in weeks since I've been out here."
"If you do, call the… eh? You can't do that. Run as fast as you can. He's a really dangerous man."
The old man nodded.
Saitou and the officer returned to the others and headed off with the old man watching them. Once they were out of sight, the old man easily hopped out of the can, placed his hands in his pockets, and headed towards the fence line.
Saitou and his team scanned around for an hour and returned to where they had left their vehicles. When they and Shoji's team returned, they noticed Saitou's car was gone.
He couldn't figure out how that could happen since the car cannot start without the person's fingerprint.
Xxx
BK201 and Megumi had left the men's bathroom twenty minutes ago. They were headed up to the seventh floor to look for an exit on top of thr roof and avoid the ruckus downstairs. Megumi had suggested to him to knock out a waiter and take his uniform.
"You forget," he had snorted. "People like Kirihara know who BK201 is."
Why did he care so much about leaving on the mask? Had he been burnt severely, maybe scarred, and why had he suggested himself in third person? BK201 wasn't making any sense. More to the point, he should be dead, so why did it even matter to know what was going on.
She thought about running for it, but she knew he would be on top of her faster than her last night's date was. Megumi wished she had not given her mother her spare gun. She could have used it to get the upper hand on BK201. Even so, knowing the history of this man, he would have expected such a thing. She had to admit, she was kind of disappointed a hot guy like him did not strip search her.
Megumi smack herself in the same spot that BK201 had slapped her earlier. BK201 glanced back at her, and asked, "You all right?"
"Fine!" she lied.
She was far from fine. How could she let such a thing enter her mind? She was not going to fall for his wit and charm like her mother had, even though he had not flaunted it at her, yet. She was stronger than that.
They turned a corner, and as they did, BK201 jumped back onto Megumi and slammed them to the ground as a katana swung over their heads.
She couldn't believe it! A ruthless killer like him had just saved her life when he didn't have to. Was it because he still needed her as a hostage, he wanted to be the one to kill her, or was it he cared for her. He was driving her crazy.
What made it worse was his muscular body on top of hers. A shiver ran down her spine, and prayed BK201 had not felt it. However, she pushed that thought aside, as she noticed his mask was before her. All she had to do was reach up a few inches and yank it off.
As she was about to reach for it, BK201 stood and helped her up. They looked back to see their attacker was Jackal.
"Are you trying to kill me or the girl?" BK201 asked.
"You," said Jackal. "If I accidently kill her, she's merely collateral damage."
"You best back away."
"Or what? You'll kill me? You forget, I beat you twenty-seven years ago, and I can do it again. You just caught me off guard."
"I wasn't talking to you!" BK201 pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "I was talking to her."
Megumi gasped.
Why did he care if she got killed? He had threatened her several times, and here he was telling her to take cover. He was driving her up the wall, back down it, and then up it again. For a Contractor, he was thinking irrationally more than a dog thought about food.
Megumi settled behind a corner and watched the two stare at each other.
"This time I'll make sure you stay dead," said Jackal.
"This time, you won't get a handicap," taunted BK201. He pulled out one of his blades backhanded and made sparks shoot out from it. "This time, you don't have a Contractor hiding anywhere to drain my energy every second."
Jackal frowned, saying, "How'd you know that?
"He told me four years ago before I slit his throat."
Jackal gripped his sword and settled in a nervous stance with sweat pouring down his face. BK201 placed his blade before him while taking a fighting stance. Jackal's eyes twitched, showing fear from the calmness BK201 portrayed.
Jackal clinched his teeth and charged full steam at BK201. He swung with all his might to have BK201 flick away the katana not once, not twice, but three times before BK201 kicked Jackal backwards. Jackal regained his footing and attacked BK201. BK201 sidestepped and kicked him through a nearby door.
Jackal fell on the ground as pieces of wood littered the floor. He growled as he stood with shrapnel sliding off his back, and gathered his composure. BK201 waltzed into the room with Megumi following. She did not know what was wrong with her. Now would be the perfect time to escape.
"I knew if I hung around here instead of running off, you'd show up again," said BK201.
Megumi looked on startled. BK201 wasn't trying to run; he was biding his time to have another one-on-one duel. If that was the case, then she was never a hostage. Why did he need her?
Jackal settled into his kendo stance, closed his eyes while taking in a deep breath, and released it as he opened his eyes. BK201 tilted his head peculiarly, as though he was thinking Jackal's Zen moment wasn't going to make anything different.
Jackal attacked, surprising BK201, and barely avoiding a downward slash that happened to cut his coat's sleeve. Blood started dripping from it to have BK201 look at it. He pushed it aside and dodged as Jackal swung a horizontal attack, followed with an upward strike, and blocked another downward slash in a split second. The next thing BK201 noticed was Jackal's foot pounding against his stomach and stumbled back.
"It seems the playing field has evened out," pointed out Jackal.
Jackal swung his blade to have BK201 block it backhanded and pressed hard against it. It looked to Megumi that BK201 was struggling with his opponent. He fought whole-heartedly against Jackal's force, which seemed the blade would give and snap soon.
Suddenly, BK201 lightened his tension and held Jackal back effortlessly. Jackal and Megumi stared on dumbfounded.
"Just kidding," said BK201.
BK201 moved aside to have Jackal tumble forward, and then BK201 placed his left hand on his head to slam him to the ground.
"You're nowhere near my capability!" stated BK201.
His body highlighted in blue and then he electrocuted Jackal, causing him to scream hysterically. Seconds later, BK201 stopped using his power to leave Jackal's body lying motionlessly, and stood straight. In that moment, Kirihara Misaki entered the room and stared on lost for words. BK201 looked back at her, which caused Misaki to raise her gun at him.
"You're under arrest, BK201!" she shouted. "Throw down the knife and raise your hands."
BK201 kept his attention on her, as if they were having a stand off.
In a spilt second, BK201 threw his knife at the window, shattering it, and ran towards it to have Misaki fire. Unfortunately, her shot went wide left and shattered another window. BK201 leaped onto the windowsill and jumped out of the building.
Megumi ran up to the window and looked down to see no signs of the criminal. Misaki came up to stare down as well. Megumi gave her mother a displeasing expression.
"Either you lost your contact lenses, or you intentionally missed," she said.
Misaki gulped while looking away, and walked off. Megumi knew it had been a bad idea to bring her along.
Xxx
Megumi sat on a bench on the JR line platform watching trains go by. She didn't know how to deal with the night she had had. First off it was finding out about her father's heir name, BK201 being reborn, her mother mesmerized by it, getting so-called kidnapped, and then having her mother miss a chance to stop him.
It seemed nothing was going right, except her dress.
She wondered what she should do the rest of the night. Hit a club and pick up some loser, or head home and relieve her stress there.
Her stomach growled.
Or perhaps get something to eat since she only had bits of fruit.
"A pretty lady as yourself shouldn't be left stranded all alone in a train station," said a familiar voice. She looked to her right to see Kamui Hizumi walking towards her. He had undone his top two buttons and had untied his tie. "This seat taken?"
She shook her head and gestured for him to sit. He took it while pulling slightly up on his pant legs.
"Some night. Some party!" he said.
"Telling me!" she nodded. "Glad to see you're all right."
"Thanks. Same to you. You heading home?"
"No. I just came up here to get some fresh air to clear my head."
"I don't think a train station is a good place for that! Too much noise with the trains going by."
Megumi chuckled and smiled at him, as he gazed at her. He then noticed a bruise on her face.
"What happened?" he asked, gesturing towards it on his own face.
"Oh, nothing. I, ah, was thinking something stupid, and well, I smacked myself to get my head in the game."
"Really trying to teach yourself something, hey?"
"You could say that! You heading home?"
"Actually, to tell you the truth, I was on my way to a restaurant that's still open. I heard it serves vegan food."
"Vegan? You're a vegan?"
"No. I just like their food."
"Oh. Ah, maybe I should check it out sometime. What's it called?"
Hizumi looked at her for a second, and then said, "How about I show you and we can get something to eat together."
"You mean… a date?"
"No! I mean… if you want to look at it as that."
Megumi smiled, and said, "It's a date!"
Hizumi smiled, stood, and offered her to take his hand. She did so and, as she stood, the side of her dress ripped.
"Ah, no!" She looked down to see her dress had caught on a sharp part of the armrest. "Kanami-san's going to kill me!"
In the distance, the old man wearing the mangled green coat and big sunglasses, watched Megumi and Hizumi walk onto the next train. As soon as it departed, the old man frowned at the couple, placed his hands in his pockets, and headed down a nearby staircase.
Xxx
The next day in Yokohama, Misaki awoke to her doorbell ringing. She entered her living room and walked up to the door. She opened it to see a blond-haired woman with purple glasses and purple lipsticks staring at her with a smile.
Misaki gasped.
"Hello, Misaki," said Madam Oreille. "Or should I call you, Ichinose Yayoi?"