Back with another chapter folks.

This one would kind of little on the contents, but I've fitted what I wish this chapter to have. Definitely need to speed up a bit soon.

Oh and have a listen to The Dark Knight Returns soundtrack, 'You're never finished with me'

Please enjoy and review.

Chapter 37: You're never finished with me

"Worth it? No regret?"

Hachiman thought on what Shizuka said while she was following behind him leaving the alley. Those few words ringing lingering in his head.

Whether the Huntsman was worth whatever Hachiman had to pay, was there going to be regret coming his way or not?

"I'm heading home this way Hiratsuka-sensei." Hachiman said as he went past a convenience store.

"Are you going to be fine on your own?" Shizuka asked him.

"Do you need me to walk you back?" He asked her instead.

"Um, no it's ok, I can head back myself." Shizuka said, "Make sure you call Etsudo."

Hachiman nodded and they both parted. With hands in his pockets, he was getting closer to his home.

"Shit, how the hell am I going to explain this to them?" He thought about his parents, and his wound.

Approaching his house, he ran through the options he had, which were none actually.

"Yeah, course they would ask what happened, ugh no choice got to say some psycho lady attacked us. Yeah, and I got shot. Dammit, I do not need this at all." Hachiman stepped up to the front door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, "Just get through it quickly."

He entered the house and whispered, "I'm home."

Hachiman winced as the door sounded off a creek, he could hear the television in the living room.

Taking off his shoes, he walked over and poked his head out of the corner, seeing who was in the living room.

His father, Hachiman sighed inside. "Make sure your parents know Captain says, make sure you call Captain says."

His father was watching a baseball match, Hachiman took a deep breath and went into the living room.

"Tou-san." He gave a meek greeting. His father turned to face his son.

"Hachiman." His father said.

Hachiman had a short pause of silence. "Um, uh…"

"Yes?" His father raised an eyebrow, after his conversation with his wife he was careful to be a little more passive.

"Did you uh…did you get a call from someone?" Hachiman asked.

His father shook his head, "No my phone was not with me, why?"

"Um…I uh…"

"What is it?"

Hachiman then quickly said in a flat tone, "I got shot."

The quick and straight answer.

"What?" His father asked, looking confused as to what he meant by getting shot.

"I got shot." Hachiman said.

"What do you mean shot?"

Hachiman bit his lip, unbuttoning his shirt a little, he pulled the shirt to the right, exposing his bandaged bicep.

That got his father's eyes to widen and his brows to knit. He immediately got up from the couch and went up to his son, Hachiman did his best to hold his ground.

"What happened?" His father hastily asked, he wanted to hold Hachiman's arm, but his son backed away a little.

"Don't touch it. Um, the school got attacked." Hachiman held his arm. "A psycho lady shot up the place. It's a graze wound."

"How did you get hit?" His father asked, eyes now on his son's as Hachiman buttoned up his shirt.

"I was protecting a couple of classmates and a teacher." Hachiman answered. His father was a little suspicious at that, his son protecting other people. While his son helping others was something to note of, he still got injured badly which was alarming regardless.

"You got to a hospital? How?" He asked.

"Police officer brought us there. The doctor got it stitched up for me. I'm ok." Hachiman said. "I'm going to go up now." He left the living room and started to go up the stairs.

"Don't strain it. Just leave it as it is." He heard his father calling him.

Hachiman got up into his room, he leaned back on his door and a long groan came out of his mouth. Sliding down to the floor, he ran a hand through his hair. Too much already for one day.

"Ugh dammit Captain." Pulling out his phone, he took out Yin Etsudo's card as well. He dialed her number got the phone to his ear. A few seconds later, his call has been answered.

"National Police Agency, Inspector Yin." He heard her voice.

"Captain." He addressed her preferred name.

"Oh, Hikigaya you're home?" Etsudo said.

"Yeah, uh parent's informed already." Hachiman said.

"Alright good. Are you ok kid?" Etsudo asked.

"Yeah, I'm uh fine? I guess." Hachiman shrugged. "I mean what's the proper reaction to getting shot?"

"Shocked, pained, scared, frustrated, worried but you try to get over it." She gave him her answer.

"Well uh, that's pretty detailed." Hachiman's eyes laid on his bicep.

Etsudo was silent for a second before answering, in English surprisingly. "You know kid I've been in your shoes before."

Hachiman got taken aback, he continued the conversation in the same language. "W-What?"

"Yeah, when I was in the States."

"Gotham?"

"What, nah kid. In Metropolis." Etsudo started to share her story. "I moved there when I was young, was a cop in Metropolis before moving to Gotham then back home. Got into a firefight with a few bank robbers. A ricochet grazed me in the thigh."

"Oh God." Hachiman bit his thumb.

"Yeah. It was scary of course, bullets flying around, no safety net to it, one lucky shot and that's it." Etsudo softly said.

"Uh Captain?" Hachiman asked, eyes looking listless.

"Yeah?"

"You're still here right? I mean you didn't quit being an officer?"

"No, I'm still here. Why?"

"Hiratsuka-sensei spoke to me about helping someone is not a justifiable reason to get hurt. But then what about your case?" Hachiman rubbed his temple, recalling that talk he had with his teacher earlier.

"Me getting hurt cause I have to help people?" Etsudo caught what he meant.

"Yeah, I mean you just told me, you got shot too because you were stopping bank robbers." Hachiman said. "Like me protecting my classmate and my teacher?"

"Kid, Shizuka said that because she didn't want you taking a bullet."

Hachiman countered. "Then what about you?"

"It's a job kid. I'm doing what I have to do, no one's expecting a teen delinquent- I mean a kid to do the same thing alright?"

"Well no one would be counting on the fact that some clown psycho coming into the school Captain."

He heard her sigh at that, even hearing a hand landing on a table. "Dammit kid. Sometimes…shit just happens. But we still have to push through right?"

"Then…" Hachiman sulked at that. "How do you do it?"

He heard her let out a small chuckle. Etsudo answered, "Hmm, well when I was in Gotham, there was a senior officer that I was assigned under, told me this whenever we question ourselves, how do we get by it. We think back on our loved ones, the rest is easy."

"Who was this officer?" Hachiman got curious.

"Well you don't know him, his name's James Gordon." Captain Yin said, "Well anyway you take care of that arm alright? We're going to play this case closer to the chest now. Till next time."

"Hey, Captain." Hachiman said.

"Kid?"

"Is it possible that the shooter was…in the school this whole time?"

There was silence between the two, taking the dreaded notion.

"I'll pin up that theory. In the meantime, you just rest ok? And don't do anything that would turn my cousin into a worry wort. See you." Captain said.

"Goodbye." Hachiman said and hung up the phone.

The longest phone call he'd ever have with a woman out of the family, and it was with a cop, Shizuka's cousin of all people.

"Make sure it's worth it, and no regret." He recalled what Shizuka said. He got up from the ground and headed for the shower. "For who?"

After a long while, Hachiman's room was in pitch darkness, he was in a pair of black shorts and a white singlet, his right bicep still bandaged and exposed.

He was lying on his bed, head on the opposite side leaning on facing the curtains. But he was not asleep. A storm brewed in his head.

"The clown got away, and you got punted to the ground. And Shizuka didn't understand, expectedly. And make sure you don't regret so she says, but what? That I shouldn't do this anymore? Why?" Hachiman's fists clenched up. His voice in his thoughts turned deeper. "I have to…I…can't…What do you want from me?!"

Footsteps approaching his door stopped his thoughts, he got his eyes closed and his body slackened as the door opened.

The shape of the shadow give away who it was, his mother.

She slowly went up to her son, 'sleeping' on his bed. Hachiman felt her hand on his hair gently rubbing it.

"Oh dear God." He heard she whispered, feeling her hand on his arm. His mother took her hand away from his arm and left the room.

As soon she closed the door, Hachiman sighed and turned to face the ceiling.

Nothingness consumed Hachiman, in this darkness he was in. This Abyss.

An intense pressure in his head overwhelmed him, his hands gripping his hair.

He then felt something, a familiar yet haunting sensation.

Someone staring into him, he turned around and scowled in fury seeing who it was.

The figure with those two red eyes fixed on him, he stared at it right back. Thunder roared from above.

Hachiman walked up to him with austere and hard steps, standing face to face with him.

The Huntsman.

"You." Hachiman said.

"Hachiman." Huntsman said, his voice echoing around Hachiman. "You know this cannot bring you down."

"Don't." Hachiman leered.

"You know it your soul, you have to rise from your fall." Huntsman took a step forward.

"For what?" Hachiman gritted his teeth. "What is all this for?"

"You are already know this." Huntsman answered. "And you cannot ignore it."

"Stop it!" Hachiman grabbed Huntsman by the base of the hood by shoved him back. Huntsman growled viciously and a hand grabbed Hachiman's neck.

Both pushing each other to a standstill, both glaring each other down.

"You keep talking that I'm doing this to help people, then what about me?! I'm tired of your bullshit!" Hachiman shouted at him. "Don't you get what happened?! I got shot goddammit!"

"You will let that hold you down forever?" Huntsman snarled.

"If the next bullet hit me right on the target, then that's it! Where does leave everyone huh? How much more am I to give?! You don't care at all!"

His family, mother, father and sister. No matter what, they were family. The Service Club, Yui was on a positive note with him. Yukino, she was on conciliatory terms with him at least, probably more than that. Yumiko, a stretch but she is on passive terms a least. Shizuka, his teacher, the one that looked out for him.

If he dies, where would that put all of them? Devastation, grief, pain.

Huntsman had his answer. "And what would happen, if it was anyone of them who took that bullet instead?"

"I'm not playing this game with you!" Hachiman held his grip tighter. "I never had to suffer any of this. None of this!"

"You'd just stand by and do nothing? We both know that you can't do that! You don't have it in you!" Huntsman tightened his own grip too. "I'm not your enemy Hachiman, I'm you. We didn't create any of those monsters that tried to hurt all of us, and you know we had to battle the threats out there because we can't just watch." Huntsman leaned forward. "You're afraid, you've lost your way."

"No, no you've made me worse than what I should be!" Hachiman said as he grew frustrated. His breathing almost appearing feral.

"You've forgotten, so fast already. Pathetic." Huntsman hissed.

"I didn't forget anything."

"Tell me if you remember this then." Huntsman said, his tone drastically changed, it was almost sympathetic to Hachiman.

A new sound entered the area, a sound which got Hachiman confused. The sound of sniffing, shaky breaths and sobbing.

Hachiman and Huntsman still gripping each other turned their heads, seeing who was making those sounds. It was young child, a boy sitting on the empty ground. Knees brought to the chest, his head ducked in between his knees. His shins and elbows covered in dirt. The boy was crying, sobbing and rubbing his eyes. A little boy, crying all alone in the dark.

Hachiman knew whom this was, himself back when he was very young. Sad little boy.

Hachiman's breathing mellowed, seeing his pitiful self so long ago.

Another sound caught Hachiman's attention, getting him to look in the other direction. It was the faint sounds of consecutive poundings. It was another boy, in middle school age. Behind him was a wall, like it was from Hachiman's room. And that boy was pounding his fists into that wall in rage and anguish. It was him again, years back. A boy so angry in the bones.

Huntsman or not, things would not have made anything different back then, Hachiman would still been knocked down by so much pain, anger and fear.

"But things are different now." Hachiman said to Huntsman, with the people he's connected to, he was unsure if he was regretting, but he was doubtful.

If he died, the people around him would be suffering.

"More reason why you have to do this." Huntsman said. "Despite all this arguing, always going in a circle in us, you have to stop what's coming to hurt all of us. Because otherwise, you know what happens."

They all suffered no matter what, him and everyone. From the horrors out there threatening them all.

Hachiman head hung in defeat. He has to push on, he cannot stop. Regardless of what Shizuka said, whether it was worth it or if there was regret in him or not, Hachiman was still going to be Huntsman.

Perhaps from the start, he started this journey because he wanted to be, or he chose to be, to be someone else more than just Hikigaya Hachiman, the lure of the thrill from the hunt.

Now, because he has to be, for the people around him.

Hachiman let go of his grip on Huntsman and stepped back. He then dropped down to his knees like his legs could not carry him.

Small pairs of glowing eyes scattered all above him. Sounds of screeches came surrounding the two, wings flapping in the dark. The swarm in the darkness all over him.

"Come here." Hachiman muttered, his voice tranced.

The swarm intensified. The Huntsman stepped forward in front of Hachiman.

The Huntsman's red eyes glow brighter, a demonic snarl echoing in the darkness. The red glow would not let up, neither did the swarm around Hachiman. The glow kept getting brighter, consuming Hachiman.

The Huntsman was not finished yet, neither was Hachiman. They will never be finished.

Sitting up from his bed fast, the Huntsman stared at the wall with cold eyes. It was still early in the morning with the night sky. The sound of very pouring came from window.

Hachiman drew his curtain open, the heavy rains poured on. Lightning flashed, thunder roared in the air.

Hachiman placed both fists on the window, pushing onto it hard and his eyes turned cold staring at the city.

The hunt in the city was not over.

A tone sounded off from his phone, getting his attention. An email was sent to him.

He made a safe guess on who it was, he picked it up and went to his desk. Opening his laptop, he logged onto his email.

And the sender's name, it was Alfred Pennyworth's email, the same address he had seen from the name card.

He clicked on it and waited for a moment, it was taking a little longer for the email to load, Hachiman could only suspect that security measures that added into the email. Hachiman leaned back on his seat and waited.

Soon enough, the email loaded up on screen, with the Bat symbol on the background.

Hachiman leaned forward and read the information.

"Hachiman,"

"Yeah hello Alfred what do you got for me?" Hachiman continued reading on.

"I have gathered information on what there is on the companies you have listed out from your email. The premise ownership reveals that the companies mentioned had rented their respective units four years prior, all on the same time period. We've cross-references and their bulk purchases shows that they've been using the same warehouse unit in which you have eliminated the animal trade in…the hell?"

"They're connected, they're all connected and probably the pet store too. But how?" Hachiman wondered.

"We've crossed referenced all listed locations revealing one consistency. All premises had been built and owned by…no…"

"No, no, no you got to be kidding me dammit!" Hachiman's jaw hanged down. His head tilted up and he pulled his hair with one hand.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" He growled in his mind.

Hachiman's eyes were then fixed on the name. This was how the smugglers were able to shift around products so easily. The buildings in Crime Alley, the pet store, the warehouse, all the premises were all built by the one single company. Apart from Wayne Enterprises, this company was probably the most prominent when it comes to premises building and ownerships.

Yukinoshita Constructions.

Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, yeah I'm pretty sure it's not that much of a surprise to all, who was connected in the smuggling trade.

Wish I could have added a line like 'you won't let me live, you won't let me die.' With Hachiman and Huntsman somewhere. Like Huntsman won't let him live 'normal', and his loved ones won't let him die. When bonds become shackles.

Hope to see you in the next chapter.