Chapter 20: Hunter's Past

The sun was beginning to set that evening. Shadows were starting to form. It was the beginning of another peaceful evening here at the academy. But Haruhi's mind was anything but peaceful. So much had happened earlier that day. He found himself still thinking about it.

" How troublesome," he muttered as he strolled around the academy. It was already curfew but he couldn't be bothered. Besides, after all that has happened, he doubt that even Zero would care. His eyes narrowed as he remembered something. Something really disturbing.

Flashback

Dressed in his school uniform and a brown coat, he coolly walked towards a place that most vampire hunters hate. The Senior council's office. As he walked along the corridors, he could feel the wary eyes of the vampires watching him. He could only smirk. He never did care about what vampires think of him. Haruhi never hated vampires in general, he just couldn't be bothered to get involved with them. Indifference, you might call it.

When he reached the place he was looking for, he pushed open the grand-looking doors in front of him. He strode into the large office while noticing its atmosphere. It was dark and gloomy, not the sort of place you want to be in for a long period of time.

" So you have arrived," said a familiar deep voice. There, sitting at his desk, face partly covered by the shadows, was none other than Ichiou. His sharp eyes were wary and careful as he stared at the hunter in front of him. Haruhi walked towards the nearby sofa and sat on it casually, not caring about what Ichiou would think. He turned his multi-colored eyes towards him and looked at him calmly.

" It's rare for you to summon vampire hunters to your office. In fact, I could say that this might be your first time," he said coolly. " Have you decided to give up on your life, old man?"

Ichiou walked over to Haruhi, stopping just a few feet in front of him. " How rude of you speak like that to me, human. But I'll forgive you just this time. After all, to err is human, to forgive divine," he spoke.

Haruhi smirked. " How nice of you to say that,"

Ichiou dismissed his smirk and continued to face Haruhi with a solemn expression. ' I'm sure you're wondering why I summoned you, human,"

" Haruhi,"

" I beg your pardon?" said Ichiou.

" My name isn't human. Its Haruhi," replied the teen, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple, as if suffering from a headache. Ichiou narrowed his eyes and continued talking. He didn't want to concern himself with a mere human's name.

" As I was saying, I summoned here because I have a task for you,"

" A task? Sorry, old man, I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse, whatever it is," Haruhi eyed the vampire in front of him with a tired expression. " I'm a hunter, I don't accept orders from vampires unless I want to," The last thing he wanted is to become some vampire's obedient pet cat.

Ichiou didn't seem to be unnerved. Instead, his lips were twisted into a mocking smile. " Oh, this isn't something you could refuse, human. In fact, it's something you as a hunter are used to do," He said it with absolute confidence in his voice, as if he was so sure that Haruhi would agree to his orders if he knew the reason.

Haruhi merely raised an eyebrow. " Oh? What would that be?"

" Kill," Ichiou said it coolly. He didn't said with hesitance. Well, of course not. This is ICHIOU we're talking about.

Haruhi stared at him for a while. Then, he let out an amused smirk. Which turned into an amused laugh.

" Old man," he said after his laugh," you're a vampire. A beast which is designed to kill and hunt. If you want someone to be killed, do it yourself. Or have you lost your edge?"

This time, it was Ichiou's turn to smirk. " Ah, I could have, human. But this person isn't someone you want to be killed by others,"

" What do you mean?"

Ichiou walked over to his desk and fished out something from the drawer. It was an old photograph, nearly worn to dust. But it was carefully taped to keep its shape. He handed it over to Haruhi.

" Look at the picture carefully. This is the one I want you to kill," he said.

Haruhi examined the photograph. His eyes widened as he did. There, in the photo, was a little girl. Probably around 7 or 8 years old. She had shoulder length silvery hair, cream skin, beautiful emerald green eyes and she was grinning happily. Can you guess who it was? Yes, it's....

" Hitomi," Haruhi whispered disbelievingly

End of flashback.

Frustrated, Haruhi punched the nearby tree trunk. His fist caused a bump on the bark. " Darn it!" he cursed. How he hate this! Not the fact that he was asked to kill his little sister, but the fact he was actually starting to reconsider it! After what had happened, he started to think whether Hitomi needed to be killed or not.

All of this shouldn't have happened if he didn't do what he did several years back. His actions the caused everything to change. Also, that caused his already broken family to be shattered into pieces.

Why is my life so darn complicated?

Flashback

" I'll be home before dark, I promise,"

The 11 year old Haruhi was cornered to the wall by his sisters. Both Hitomi and Hitori faced him with a disbelieving expression. Hitori had her hands on her hips while Hitomi pouted cutely. They obviously didn't want their older brother to leave.

" You said that the last time!" Hitomi whined.

" And you came home at 8 o'clock the last time too! And it was way dark then," Hitori pointed out.

Haruhi could only laugh sheepishly. Let's just say that his sisters had difficulty of staying home alone without him. Whenever he had to go out to buy something, he had to go through THEM first.

" I'm sorry, there was a commotion then and I was stuck in a big crowd. I'm only going out to buy some juice ad potato chips for us to have for supper," he explained. "I'll go straight home after that," he promised. His sisters still didn't look convinced. Haruhi sighed. He had no choice but to resort to his emergency plan.

" Tell you what? I'll buy you girls something too," he smiled, hoping that this would work.

" What?" his sisters demanded in unison.

" Hmm...." he pretended to think." Maybe... a chocolate fudge for Hitomi," he said, knowing her favorite dessert. Sure enough, she started to smile excitedly. " And a nice new book for Hitori," he continued. Hitori always loved to read and she too started to reconsider of letting him leave.

" Well..." she started.

" Okay! You can go!" Hitomi interrupted her. She had a happy grin on her face. Hitori turned to her sister in disbelief.

' Hitomi! How could you! You promised to be on my side!"

" But one-san, he promised chocolate fudge!!!!" she whined. Htomi wasn't about to risk loosing her favorite dessert. Her face was serious about it, too. Hitori stared at her for a while. Finally, she let out a sigh of defeat.

" Fine, you can go," she sighed.

" YAY!!!!!" squealed Hitomi.

" Thank you. I'll buy you both the things you want," Haruhi promised.

" Make sure you do!" called out Hitori as he walked away.

If only they knew, that they were never going to get the things they want...

~*.*~*.*~*.*~*.*~

Carrying a plastic bag filled with stuff he bought, Haruhi began to made his way home quickly, knowing that if he's late he'll only got scolded again by his sisters. He quickened his pace as he glanced at the setting sun.

" I got to hurry," he whispered.

As he walked, it was then he realized something. Amidst of all the different sounds made at the busy street, there was one distinctive sound that caught Haruhi's attention. It was the sound of footsteps. Calm footsteps, completely different from the ones he normally hear on a busy sidewalk. It was soft at first, but it got louder, at least louder to Haruhi's sharp ears. Tap, tap, tap it followed him. He knew it. When he turned to one corner, the footsteps followed him.

Someone was clearly tailing him. He quickened his pace and kept turning to corners in attempt to loose whoever it was who's following him, but to no avail. Finally, once he thought that he was alone enough, he swiveled on his heel and turned to the source of the footsteps.

" Come out! Whoever you are!" he called out.

Nothing but the cool evening breeze blowing can be heard at first. Then, a group of men started to appear from the dark corners of the street and alley, approaching him. All of them were wearing trench coats and carried weapons of their own. Haruhi immediately tensed. This could mean trouble.

Finally, just a few feet in front him, the men stopped walking. One of them, however, continued to approach him until he was only inches away from him. His face was calm and his grey eyes were cold as he looked at him.

" Ai Haruhi, I presume," he said. Haruhi didn't said a word.

" We've been looking for you, you know. Your father was a vampire hunter, correct?"

Haruhi's eyes widened. These people must be from the Hunters' Association.

" What do you want from me?" Haruhi began carefully.

" We want you to join the association as a hunter," the man replied coolly.

" Huh?"

" Your father betrayed us.... He left us without warning. Plus, he even saved his target out of pity! But he was found dead soon after... Heh, served him right," the man smirked.

Haruhi's heart seethed when he heard the man talked about his father with such rudeness. " Why do you want me to become a hunter as well?" he asked cautiously. The man eyed him from top to bottom as if studying him. " The association sees your potential, boy. You'll be perfect to replace your father," he replied dismissively.

Haruhi was already starting to hate the Hunters' Association. If all the associates were anything like this man, why should he get himself involved with them? Slowly, he backed away, intending to get away. He let out a smirk.

" What makes you think I'll agree? If you insist I join, you have to catch me first," he said before he sped off.

" Huh? Wait!" cried the man. " Follow him!" he ordered the other men, who nodded and started to chase after Haruhi.

Now, Haruhi was no slow runner. He dashed through the streets as fast as he could. One man narrowly grabbed him by the arm but he kicked him, causing him to cringe in pain and released his arm. Another grabbed his shoulders, but Haruhi grabbed his arm and flipped him over, causing the man to land painfully on his rear.

" You better try harder if you want to catch me!" he called out.

Finally, he turned to an alley and leaned against the brick wall, panting heavily. Wrong move. Strong hands grabbed his neck and pinned him to the wall. Haruhi gasped by the sudden force and looked up to see the man who spoke to him just now. He had a sick smile on his face.

" Nice try, boy. But I caught you at last," he sneered. Haruhi squirmed under his grasp, attempting to escape. The man gripped his throat tighter.

" Why...a-are you...doing...this?" Haruhi gasped.

" As punishment for your father's betrayal. You'll come with us and you have no right to refuse. Or else..."

" O-or else what?"

The man smirked. " Or else they have to pay the price," he said as he held up a photo. Haruhi's eyes widened as he looked at it. It was a photograph of Hitomi and Hitori walking home from school, taken without them knowing. This man is... threatening to hurt them!

" Now, you don't want them to suffer do you, boy?"

Haruhi looked down. Darn it! What could he do? He didn't want to leave them but...

" Fine," he gritted. "I'll come. Just... don't hurt them!"

The man snickered, satisfied by his answer. He let him go, leaving him there sitting against the wall. " Good, we'll meet you at the train station in exactly an hour. You better come if you know what's good for you," And with that, the men left. Haruhi watched them go, eyes wide under his black bangs. What...had he got himself into???

There, under the evening sky, in an alley, sat Haruhi, crying to himself.

End of flashback.

Haruhi gritted his teeth as he remembered. He was too weak back then. He couldn't protest. If he did, his sisters life would have been in danger. He hated it. He hated at how weak he was.

He glanced at the evening sky, as if tying to find answers simply by looking at it. or at least clear his confused head. He sighed. He was at loss and had no idea what on earth he should do.

Sighing again, he whispered," What should I do now?"

Author: Hey there!!! I'm back! Sorry I didn't update for I don't know how long!!! I only get the chance now, during the one week school holidays, and even now, I couldn't update much because of the time limit. I promise, I'll try to update as much as I could. Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, I just hope it's interesting. I'm just dealing with emotional stress right now, you know? Please understand! And please...REVIEW!!!!