Chapter 20

A Spring Dance to Remember, Part II

He proceeded to drag me out of the fire exit even though I kicked and flailed under his grip violently. Rai said, "Can't have you screaming for help now."

My cries were muffled and blotted out as soon as he clamped a hand over my mouth; I jerked and wriggled around, but to no avail. Quick! I tried to remember what Reborn taught me….. ahhhh, now that something's actually happening to me, I've completely forgotten! Why am I so goddamn useless?

"By the way, why did you let that psychotic chick dump her drink over you?" He added, "You can take on us big bad hitmen, but you let bullies walk all over you? That doesn't even make any sense."

I stopped and blinked up at him, then glanced away, embarrassed.

The shapeshifter dragged me out of the school and rounded into the back and into the parking lot, arriving behind two large black cars. I glanced around nervously, realising the streets surrounding the school were entirely empty and devoid of civilisation; this was insane. There were teachers here. There were pupils here. The committee were here. Hibari was here. What were they trying to pull?

"You can scream all you want now," said Rai, as he pulled his hand from my mouth, "But no-one's going to hear you because the music's too loud." He suddenly gave me a brief tug and I realised we had come to a stop; I paled drastically as soon as two familiar figures approach us from the shadows.

It was Haku.

He was wearing an unbuttoned grey jacket with the sleeves rolled up, exposing a white shirt underneath a black waistcoat over a pair of ripped, dark washed jeans (1). On his back, were four different holsters carrying his four katanas.

He smiled at me as he dug his hands into his pockets, "It's nice to see you again, Rin."

Tch, curse these bad guys and their awesome fashion sense…! I didn't recognise the small girl standing beside him. She was rather short… maybe about Yura's height… and she had dull-looking, tired and half-lidded eyes and a pallid complexion, looking somewhat miserable. Her attire consisted of a short bomber jacket and long tunic over a pair of black leggings and ankle ugg-boots with fluffy rims. A knitted beanie hat with a cat's face and whiskers and ears sat slumped over her long brown hair.

"Evie, hold her down." Haku instructed, without even looking at her.

"Yes, Haku-sama." The girl monotonously replied – and I remembered her voice – she was the girl who in the basement along with Rai the other day. She stepped forwards, took me off from Rai and she grabbed me by the back of my neck with one hand and the other clasping my arms together behind my back. She pressed me down, forcing me onto my knees in front of Haku. I struggled fiercely just to get back up, but the girl had brutal grip… and some strength to match. I remained kneeling down.

"Is there a reason why she's covered in orange juice?" Haku asked.

"She let some ugly muskrat throw juice over her." Rai replied, and Haku raised an eyebrow while I blushed. "Can we make this quick? She's attracting flies."

"What's going on?" I asked, still cringing like mad as a phat, hairy black fly hovered near me. I went cross-eyed as it lingered near my nose. Why are all bugs with wings like that? Why are they so in-your-face? I quickly snapped out of musings to focus on the hitmen in front of me. "And how come you're not dead?"

Rai rose an eyebrow. "You honestly think you'd outtrick a trickster?" He snickered and lit a cigarette, before puffing some smoke out into the air.

I didn't understand, and it seemed he wasn't intent on telling me more.

Haku walked towards me and I tried to shrink away. "Perhaps you'd like to know why we're all here tonight. It can end in tears and bloodshed, it may not. It's up to you." He kneeled down in front of me and smiled wider.

"…What do you mean?"

"It's because you are the unfortunate daughter of Innocenti. Your fate was already decided for you." He murmured, as I eyed the four katanas that were strapped on his back cautiously as he stood back up, "…But you have the power to change that. I'll give you a chance to live. This is why we have come tonight."

And why do bad guys have to be so cryptic?

He said, "I'm giving you a choice, Rin - to join our ranks. The Society can put you to good use. You defeated Yura and Rai. Not everyone can do that; I specifically chose them. Therefore, you have some potential - which you must have realised by now, has been denied to you all this time by your very own father." At that point, Rai, who was standing beside Haku, let out a scoff. But Haku ignored him. "You can't possibly believe you can fight us all by yourself. That would be suicide"

I looked from him, then to Rai and finally, up to the girl called Evie who was gazing down at me with an impassive expression; I didn't think I would get out of this alive either way. "And what do you mean by 'join'?"

"Exactly what it means." Haku replied, "However, the fact that your father remains prosecuted cannot be changed."

"…I don't understand what you're trying to say."

Haku smiled then, "Rin, if you join the Society, you can escape from this. You don't have to be tangled with your father's messes."

"You're telling me if I join… Then… you guys won't come after me anymore?"

"I assure you, if you accept my offer; you won't get hurt."

"…What about my dad?"

"I'm sorry, this is a job we have accepted and we have to finish it. Your dad will be on our hit-list no matter what."

"Are you crazy? No way! I won't join! I'd rather die than join you people! If you think I'd join…you'd…you thought wrong! I won't betray my father, either! What kind of person do you think I am?"

Haku raised an eyebrow. Then he sighed.

"Who are you?" I demanded, "Who exactly are you, Haku? And why are you doing this anyway? WHY? What did we ever do to you?"

He gazed down at me coldly, then - "Because this is a personal request from someone very dear to me."

Personal request? Someone dear? Like….Koenig?

He sighed once more. "Well…since you declined my offer... that is unfortunate." He murmured, glancing off to the far end of the car park, before he slowly slid his gaze back to me, "You did have some potential, Rin, I'll admit that. It's a shame to see talent being wasted."

"Be quiet! You don't know anything about me!"

Haku turned away from me then. "I think I will pick…" He said, and he unsheathed one katana out from its holster, fingering the lithe blade with his fingertip gently, "Nocturne."

Suddenly -

"What?"

It was Rai. He sounded confused. I wasn't going to wait to be executed; I thrashed more violently against the girl called Evie. "…N-No, let me go…!" I screamed, struggling and flailing around. This is crazy! Where is Hibari? And the committee? They should be here – no, I can't afford them to get hurt… Haku and the others are way out of their league. They're professional hitmen! They won't have mercy! I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me…

"What's the matter, Rai?" Haku asked, his smile had vanished from his features, replaced with a calculating frown.

Rai stepped in front of me all of a sudden. "I thought we were just to capture her alive and bring her to the society, Haku. It didn't matter if she didn't wanted to join us or not."

"No." Haku swung the katana in front of me, the tip of the blade pointing down to the ground. "She is to be executed. Any offspring of Innocenti is to be eliminated. Since she refuses to be part of the Society, then she is at risk at exposing the Society's existence and our secrets. That, I cannot allow to happen. Move out of the way, Rai."

Rai stared wide-eyed at him, then glanced over his shoulder, to me. I stared up at him wordlessly, shaking my head and my lip wobbling. He gritted his teeth slightly, as he turned back to Haku. "…You can't. She' just – "

"She's just What?" Haku suddenly interjected impatiently, "….You've never thought twice when it comes to other targets." He snapped, yet now he was smiling despicably at him. That smile. That goddamn smile. I wanted to wipe it off. Haku turned to me, knelt down beside me again and lifted my face up to Rai, his long fingers gripping my chin. "Ahh, I see, you've fallen for our target. Yes, she does seem to have some kind charm. How cute."

I tried to bite him but he evaded quickly, as if expecting me to lash out.

"Are you sure you want to be taunting me like that, Rin? Aren't you afraid of death?" He murmured, while I flinched and whimpered loudly, squeezing my eyes shut tightly. Yeah, maybe I really shouldn't have done that….

Rai stood his ground. "Let her go, Haku. She's just a kid." He stepped back over to me and Haku let go of my face, standing back up. Meanwhile, Evie watched a little helplessly from the sidelines.

"Kid or not, they're all the same."

"We've never had a target as young as her."

Haku raised an eyebrow. "Get out of the way, Rai." His voice was cold. Hard. Ruthless. "…Or else you will force my hand on you, too."

Again, there was another brief pause, before Rai slowly stepped away from his spot in front of me.

I let out a squeak and a tear dripped from the corner of my eye. I was stupid enough to think that maybe someone would save me, as they always do. I waited for Black Suit Purple Shirt Guy to come hurtling from the door and pummel them to oblivion, or Hibari, with his tonfas, to start growling 'herbivore' and biting them to death. And I was stupid enough to think that Haku wasn't really going to kill me, and that this was just one really horrendous nightmare that didn't make any sense, but –

Haku brought the blade down.

I screamed and closed my eyes to brace for the upcoming impact, but I was shoved and my back fell against the cold, concrete ground - someone had lunged in front of me just as the katana was about to pierce through and I looked up, to see….

Hibari?

No, not Hibari.

Rai…?

I gawked at him mutely in shock, then at the katana embedded in his back, with Haku still holding it. Horrified, my mouth fell open, as he looked down at me, smiling, a little weakly.

"… You okay?"

"You - " I croaked out, staring wide-eyed at him. "Wh...Why did you…?"

Evie's jaw dropped, as she stared at us both on the ground. She had let go of me. "….Rai…."

"Rai, what do you think you're doing?(!)" Haku snarled at him angrily, withdrawing his blade immediately.

Rai looked over his shoulder, to glance up at his leader. He winced slightly, "…I'm sorry, Haku, but this time, our target …" He said, a trickle of sweat dripping from his forehead. "…Something's not right here, Haku. We're going against orders if we kill her."

"And why would you care? Why do you care for this girl?"

But Rai ignored him and smiled at me reassuringly. "It's okay, you're safe now. I won't let him hurt you."

Haku frowned fiercely and raised his katana again. "… I see. Then you can perish with her – "

"Stop!"

He paused, turning to the fire exit to see Kusakabe rushing towards us, followed by a bunch of other Disciplinary Committee members, about eight to ten. But where was Hibari? "Stop, intruders!" Kusakabe yelled, "I don't know what school you guys are from, but we don't appreciate you coming to harass our students and ruin our Spring Dance!" Kusakabe yelled furiously. "Hibari-sama! We found them! And Kazama-san's here, too!"

Sensing Haku's preoccupation with the committee, Rai grabbed my arm and lifted me up beside him. "Come on, let's get outta here while we have the chance!"

"W-What?"

"If you want to live, you need to come with me right now!"

"With you?"

He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me to face him fully, "Listen, you little brat, I know you don't like me, and I don't like you either, but you and I don't have much of a choice here – "

"Hey you! The one with the tattoo! Get away from Kazama-san!" Kusakabe was suddenly yelling, pointing at Rai accusingly. "And stop smoking on schoolgrounds, too! That's against the rules!"

"Tch!" Rai grunted, cradling his bleeding side with one hand, and I didn't know how to respond, except look down at his wound where blood was spurting out helplessly. He got hurt because of me… He didn't wait for another response, but let go of his wound and grabbed my wrist, before bursting into a quick sprint towards the exit of the carpark.

"You're making a mistake here, Rai." Haku snarled before he lunged at us once more, "I won't let you two escape - "

I screamed just when Rai threw himself in front of me again, but this time, there was a loud clang of steel and I gasped loudly when I saw Hibari standing in front of us with his tonfas blocking Haku's assault. Haku smirked cruelly, "Oh? What have we here? More reinforcements?"

"Are you the leader?" Hibari snarled back at him.

Haku raised an eyebrow at Hibari, before they withdrew and Hibari landed beside me and Rai, and Haku beside Evie, now pointing his sword towards Hibari's face "…To spare the introductions…I already know who you are. Hibari Kyouya. And I know all about how much you like to bite mischievous little herbivores to death."

Hibari growled at him furiously in return, "Why have you come here?"

"You know very well why we are here. But it seems our target has been stolen away from us by one of our former members… "

Hibari smirked. "Betrayed, were you?"

Haku's smile vanished immediately, replaced with a dark look. He thrust his sword down in another attack but Hibari blocked and the sound of clashing weapons resonated in the night. Hibari bounded back again, so did Haku.

Hibari turned to us then, "How is that you attract trouble wherever you are, Kazama?" He barked at me, before he turned to Rai. "You. I thought we killed you."

Rai blinked slowly back at him, "Yeah, you can just keep thinking that."

"Let go of her."

"Pftt. I just saved your girlfriend while you were canoodling off somewhere, half-pint."

Hibari and I tensed up immediately. "He's not my boyfriend!" I shouted, "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Let go of her." Hibari intervened immediately in this three-way conversation, glaring at Rai's hand which was wrapped around my wrist tightly.

"I think you got other important things to worry about – " Rai said, pointing behind him just as Haku came at us full throttle. I screamed, just as Hibari blocked an attack with his tonfa. "C'mon! Let's get outta here!" Rai yelled, trying to tug me along with him out of the carpark.

I glanced back helplessly from Rai to Hibari, and back. "I can't just leave Hibari behind!" I wailed, and Rai stopped, gritted his teeth. He brushed a hand through his hair, muttered a foreign curse under his breath, glared at me thoroughly, then looked side and side as if he was stuck in some mental debate, and then…

He let go.

"Alright then, if you want to get killed by Haku, be my guest!" Without another word, he turned away and began limping out of the carpark by his lonesome towards freedom.

"Heeeey!" I yelped, but I was grabbed back by Kusakabe who had hurriedly made his way over along with the other Committee members, forming a circle around us. I glanced around, completely unused to the Committee surrounding me protectively. Or were they just doing so because Hibari was conveniently standing beside me?

"Kazama-san! Are you okay?" He exclaimed.

"H-Huh? Oh…. Yeah… I guess…" I said, watching Rai's retreating back. He's running away….

Still trying to pry off Haku's attack, Hibari unsheathed his remaining tonfa from under his jacket. "This herbivore belongs to me." He said, and the Committee members nodded in unison.

"Hibari Kyouya's head is mine." Haku commanded to Evie, before his eyes landed on me. I froze up all over and tried to hide behind Kusakabe and his big hair. Haku added, "Those little vultures around the prey are yours."

Evie bowed her head slightly, her eyes closed. "Hai, Haku-sama."

Hibari didn't even bat an eyelid, "The rest of you deal with the other girl. Kusakabe, you get Kazama away from here. Don't make me repeat myself."

"Yessir!" The remaining Disciplinary Committee members saluted him and turned to face Evie who blinked back at them morosely.

She quickly dashed to the left, only to be blocked off by three committee members who laughed raucously and leered at her as they stepped closer to her. She quickly hurried to the right, only to come to a jarring halt when four circled her slowly. She inched away as they closed round, cornering her that her back touched the wall of the gymnasium.

"Get her!" They yelled, and they all lunged at the same time just as Evie threw her arms over her head and –

I didn't see what happened as Kusakabe quickly began to escort me away from the carpark; Rai was no nowhere to be seen. Kusakabe was muttering, "I don't know what's going on, but…"

"Not so fast!" Haku yelled, diving for us until Hibari stopped him in time by blocking once again with his tonfas. "Hmph. Tonfas." Haku sneered, applying more force on his blade with only one hand, "I've come across many like you."

"Spare it, I'm not interested in my opponents."

Haku smirked at him. "Then this is why you won't win this fight. If you don't care to learn more about your opponent, they'll take you by surprise, like this – " In a split second, Haku vanished and came behind Hibari – he defended against Haku's attack but was a second late the blade slipped past and Hibari ducked. But then Haku came to a halt in his action, and raised his blade in front of him evenly.

I watched in horror. He stopped… What's he going to do? My question was answered when -

"Tsubame gaeshi." Haku said calmly, and he made a vertical swipe with his blade in both hands without allowing Hibari a chance to counter; a fierce hurricane of orange light came hurtling out from the blade, ripping away at the tar of the carpark, the impact sending a few cars flying into the air in process.

I yelped at the sight, as Kusakabe and a few Committee members leapt back as a shadow of a car hovered above us dangerously. We immediately jumped to the side safely. Hibari narrowly evaded by diving to the left, and landed back crookedly with a grunt, and the orange light barrelled upwards from the ground and into the sky, before boomeranging backwards, as if it was sucked back into Haku's blade, dissolving into the steel as quick as a flash of lightning.

My eyes bulged at the sight. "What the heck was that?"

When the dust finally cleared, the road of the carpark was completely destroyed just as a few cars crashed back down to earth. "For damaging school property and the headmaster's car, I will make sure you pay." Hibari snarled, gazing at the tarnished road.

"I'd like to see you try." Haku said, before he returned to another offensive stance.

Kusaabe let out an impatient sigh again. "Come on, let's go. Hibari-sama can manage himself." He diverted me further away from the carpark towards the front of the school. Just before we left, I threw a glance at the battling duo. I hope Hibari's okay…

"Ciaossu, Rin."

At the sound of the voice, Kusakabe and I looked up.

"It's a nice evening tonight. But it seems I arrived here a little too late." The voice added.

"Reborn!" I yelped, as my gaze landed at the edge of the rooftop of the gym warehouse. Reborn had a pair of binoculars dangling from his neck and a sniper rifle that was being supported by a tripod stand, aiming directly at Hibari and Haku… speaking of those two, Hibari was too preoccupied with Haku to notice.

"What's a baby doing here…?" Kusakabe murmured.

I noticed in Reborn's hand, was a little green bomb with two blinking eyes. "…Uh…What's that?"

"I think that's enough drama for one day, don't you think? Time to wrap things up." Reborn said, before he pulled on a pair of sunglasses over his eyes and dislodged the ring out of the Leon grenade –

"No, Reborn, wait! We're down here too!"

- and he chucked it down towards Kusakabe, Hibari and Haku and me and the rest of the Committee and Kusakabe and I stared at the Leon bomb as it sailed silently throw the air in slow motion, falling down and down… and down… and when it touched the ground -

…Everything went white.

Meanwhile.

The airplane was quiet.

They were only three hours away from Japan, and the two men sitting in the middle aisle were quietly conversing with each other while the other passengers slept soundly in their seats. The oldest man out of the two, perhaps in his late twenties, had shoulder-length brown hair and crimson eyes. A jagged, almost invisible scar ran down his forehead and over his left eye, stopping nearer his cheek. His name was Reeve, and he was tampering with his iPad until a message popped up on one of the windows he had opened.

"Hm?" He murmured, with an eyebrow raised, "It seems Haku has a predicament with Innocenti's daughter, and Rai."

The tawny-haired young man sitting beside him glanced up from his magazine. "…Predicament? Like what?"

"It seems Rai has betrayed them." said Reeve, with a frown. "Looks like Haku did the right thing to contact me. I'll set that student of mine back to the right path."

Thanks for the reviews! I'm still deciding whether to continue with this story or not, but anyway -

Notes:

1. This is Haku's 'alternate' outfit.

2. Tsubame gaeshi is supposed to be a counter move. In here, it is a long range projectile attack. Haku is the sky attribute so his moves will have…. Orange stuff, I guess

3. Rin blacks out at the end of this chapter

4. The names of the hitmen aren't really a mystery anymore - Reeve, and the other guy is Touya - I drew a picture of Touya last year O.o A picture of Reeve is up to but it's pretty outdated; his scar is a bit of a harry potter scar, being thunderbolt shaped and all. It was such a long time ago since I updated o.O