My arms were crossed over my over my chest while I stared out the window, deep in thought. Would she really be okay by herself? I mean, I did hand her my gun…but would that even help?
"Will you quit worrying about her? She's fine," stated Utau not taking her eyes off the road.
"Her face is on the news everywhere. It's not that hard for someone to come attack her with revenge."
"Listen, Amu can handle herself. And I'm honestly convinced that if she heard you worrying about her, she'd be pretty furious."
"So what…I'd rather have her furious with me than have her buried under eight feet of dirt with a rock on top of her or stuck helpless in a coma."
Utau shifted her attention away from the road and stared at me with playful violet eyes.
"If you're so adamant on protecting Amu, why don't you ask her to be with you again?"
"She hates me for what I did."
"Look, I know a little about what happened – why you guys broke up I mean. There's also the fact that you didn't tell her about you being the negotiator…it adds up you know? So I understand why it seems like the best you can do for her is the little things like giving her your gun so she can be safe. Did you think that maybe she's confused about her feelings?"
"Why would she be? I'm a jerk and that's clear. I'm a selfish, jealous bastard. She went out with Tadase for one night and I overreacted. Why? Because he was with her. He got to see her smile, her laugh…something I hadn't seen since I had broken up with her. 'I could've had that' I kept thinking to myself, but I was an idiot and ruined everything."
Utau pulled up in front of SWAT building, then turned to stare at me.
"I've know Amu since she was in the same sixth grade class as me. Here's my advice, just wait for her. I'm pretty sure she's trying to figure how she feels about you. My only hope is that she figures it out before it's too late. Now get to your mission."
I was halfway out the care when Utau shifted and called out my name. Pivoting slightly, I saw her leaned across the driver's seat and a little bit over the passenger's side.
"How long?"
"Huh?"
"How long are you willing to wait for her?"
A smirk played across my face.
"Forever."
Before another lengthy set of questions were hurled at me, I pushed the door shut and walked away. Even then, she rolled down the window and shouted from behind me.
"It's a shame she doesn't realize how good of a guy you are yet."
"Not that good of a guy," I mumbled to myself before heading towards the building.
I pushed the glass doors open to see the front room completely barren of people.
"Chief's office," stated the secretary as she flipped a page in her book.
"Thanks."
With long, powerful strides I walked down the hallway and opened the dark wooden door. Inside the slightly spacious room sat the Chief and three other members, who turned to look at me with excited eyes when I entered the room.
"As I was saying, this mission is not the most dangerous one ever assigned to a unit, but do not underestimate the playing field."
"Give us the details," I said pushing forward.
The Chief broke into a dry smile, and even that was quite a lot of emotion for him. However, in his cold demeanor, his eyes sparkled with approval and excitement.
"We have reports that there is a large gang in the southern regions of Tokyo. They're accused of sex slavery and the purchase, use, and selling of illegal drugs. Their leader, Hidetoshi, is charged with murder, rape, and numerous other felonies. Your job is to go undercover and 'gain' their trust. When you are close enough to Hidetoshi, your job is to assassinate him, as well as rescue every victim he is using as a sex slave, and try to put an end to this gang."
"Not the most dangerous mission my ass," mumbled one of the men under his breath.
"Anyways, Ikuto, I'm making you leader of this squad."
A man standing closest to the boss with sandy hair frowned and placed his palm on the desk.
"Chief, is that such a good idea? I mean, Ikuto's the newest member we have and he doesn't have much SWAT experience."
"Yes, I do agree with you. However, I also agree with the fact that his record is in excellent. His leadership, performance, dedication, and commitment are superb. He is more than fit to be the leader of the squad for this mission."
"I understand."
"With that, get dressed and report to the main entrance in fifteen."
"Yes Chief."
As we all left the office, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Amu's number.
Amu POV
The convenience store's perimeters had been wrapped with yellow duct tape I noted as I parked my car to the side. I tucked Ikuto's gun in my holster; I grabbed my little badge as well as the investigation warrant and shoved them deep into my back pocket. I eyed my cell phone warily then on an impulse brought it with me.
R I N G –
Catching me by surprise I drop my phone and it falls onto my seat. Holding my hand against my chest, I look at the lit screen to see Ikuto's name sliding across. Sighing, I grab the phone and confirm the call.
"You scared me half to death."
He chuckled and my heart began racing. Frowning, I held onto the phone tighter.
"Hello to you to Amu."
"H-hi," I managed gruffly. "What do you want?"
"Nothing, I won't be around for a couple of days."
"Hmm…work?"
"Yeah, there's this undercover thing I have to do…
As he explained I felt my head get lighter and heart slow.
…Our squad has to assassinate this gang leader who's been trading drugs and women for the fun of it. It's supposed to be really dangerous – oh don't worry about me either. I'll be fine. Amu? If…you're not okay, I'll just… stay behind."
"What do you mean you'll stay behind? I have no say in this. I can't just stop and tell you not to go because I'm worried that you might not make it back alive. I can't do anything."
"Amu."
"Why are you worrying about me for?" I asked laughing even thought I felt almost sick on the inside. "I'll be fine and so will you."
He was silent on the other end.
"Okay, then I'll be off."
"Bye Ikuto."
"Bye Amu."
Just as I was about to end the call I heard his voice echo through the speaker.
"Oh Amu!"
"Yeah?"
"Please be careful."
And for the first time since this call began, I actually laughed.
"I should be saying that to you stupid."
"It feels good to hear you laughing again," he said before ending the call.
I stared at the screen of my phone then snapped it shut; a smile forming at my lips.
"Let's go Ami."
After she got out of the car, I locked the doors and walked up to the yellow tape. I pulled it up and walked under it.
"So what are we doing Amu? The parking lot is empty."
"Just look for anything interesting."
"Nothing could be interesting out here," she mumbled under her breath lightly.
I walked through the lot searching for anything that could've lead back to a couple weeks ago. After a couple minutes I had found two empty bottles of lipstick, a lot of empty bags of chips, gum wrappers, and a bottle of green tea. I took a deep breath and decided to go for round two. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ami sitting down on a concrete ledge texting on her cell phone. Shaking my head, I began my search once more with the eyes of a hawk. At the end of round two, I found nothing. I let a wave of disappointment pass through as I made my way back to where Ami was sitting. How was I ever going to make it up to them?
Ami looked up at me smugly.
"Told you nothing would be here."
"Yeah…"
"Are we heading back?"
"Yeah."
As we headed back to the car, something shiny caught my eye.
"Ami, wait a minute!" I exclaimed jumping over the yellow tape.
Right next to the green tea bottle, a bullet was lodged in between some bark and a weed. Holding the cool metal between my fingers, I felt a huge bundle of joy being dumped onto me. When I came back with a huge smile on my face, Ami looked at me before turning around.
"Do I want to know why you're so happy?"
"I found a bullet."
It was silent as we walked to the car.
"Amu, you found a bullet. According to what I heard from Ikuto, he says at least a dozen bullets were fired. I really don't want rain on your parade, sis, but I doubt that'll help you find out who fired the first shot."
I looked at the bullet once more and frowned.
"What if the person who fired the first shot wasn't apart of the police squad?"
"You're saying it could've been an outsider?"
"I'm not sure, but what I do know is that I have to go over some reports and compare things."
"So where are we going now?"
"I need to talk with Tsukasa."
"Goodie," grumbled Ami.
Later
"So you're telling me you found this where the crime happened?" asked Tsukasa examining the silver almost bronze like bullet.
"Yeah. Do you think you could tell me what kind of bullet this is?"
"Let's see. It's relatively light weight…I'd say about ninety grams or so."
He flipped the bullet around so its head was facing down towards his desk.
"What are you doing?"
"The base of the shell has something called the head stamp. The head stamp will tell you the caliber and the manufacturer of ammunition. Ah – here we are…the caliber was 9mm. There are also some faint ejector and extractor markings meaning this was shot out of a firearm that was semi-automatic."
"What kind of gun was used then? Can you tell?"
"Not from the top of my head, but give me a moment."
He began typing some things down into his computer. Meanwhile, I took a seat beside Ami who was busy texting again.
"Who're you talking with?"
"A friend. She's saying that at school, Shou keeps asking if I've come out of the hospital yet."
"Oh really?"
"Even though he has a girlfriend. Seriously, it's disgusting."
I nodded in agreement and saw her going through her pictures deleting those she didn't want. She came across a picture of her and Shou sitting in our backyard watermelons in hand. Her finger wavered over the delete button.
"Ami…"
She quickly pressed delete and the photo was dragged to a trash can.
"I need to get over him."
I was about to say something to her when Tsukasa called me over.
"This bullet was fired from a Jericho 941 F."
"I've never heard of that gun."
"No surprise, it was made in the 1990's. However, the company that made it dates back to 1933. It was an Israeli company that was around during the British Mandate in Palestine."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, this gun is the type of gun used for wars by various armies. Not you average Glock."
"This person is experienced."
"Yeah."
"Thanks Tsukasa," I said grabbing the printout and the bullet from his desk.
"Good luck."
As Ami and I left his office, she turned towards me and stopped.
"Are we going home now?"
"Yeah."
"Thank goodness."
"Amu?"
I turned around to see Yosuke in front of me leaning on the wall.
"Oh Yosuke, you have no idea what I found today."
"Hmm?"
"A bullet from the scene."
"Oh? Is that why you were at Tsukasa's office?"
"Yeah, turns out it came from a Jericho 941 F 9mm."
"But that's a –
"Battle gun, yeah I know."
Yosuke leaned away from the wall and walked towards me; his eyes displaying a portrait of puzzlement and worry.
"Amu, are you sure you want to keep involving yourself into this?"
"I'm already involved, and anyways, I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for them. Karyn and Anju deserve justice."
"So what'll you do now?"
"Hmm, well I was going to go over the reports the Chief from the police department gave me, but I think I'd rather just go confront him about my discovery. Afterwards I'll go give all the news to Taro."
"That's probably the best route to go. Good luck Amu."
"Thanks."
Tilting my head at Ami, I smiled at Yosuke and the two of us left the office. Next stop – Kyoto's police department.
Ikuto POV
"Dude, Ikuto, you could totally pass off as a thug," announced one of my colleagues, Hitoshi.
I stood in front of mirror in front of me and looked at the almost unrecognizable reflection staring right back at me. I had messed up my hair for starters, and put on a pair of sagging pants, and white tank top. I had applied a somewhat washable tattoo that started from my shoulder and spiraled all the way down to my wrist. On a whim, I even decided to pierce my right ear and put a fake diamond like gem in.
"What I can't actually believe is that you really pierced your ear," mumbled Kyouta.
"I think it looks cool on him," argued Hitoshi sporting a wide grin that reminded me of Kukai.
"We should probably go now," I said ruffling my hair even more.
Shaking my head as I turned around, I noticed Ryuu, the man with the sandy colored hair who had objected the Chief's decision of me becoming leader of this team, gaze at with an indifferent expression before turning around and walking away. I was about to go up to him when Hitoshi ran up from behind and slung his arm tightly around my neck shouting and laughing.
"Let's get this rendezvous started!"
"What an idiot," mumbled Kyouta as he shook his head.
Mumbling a couple of curses under my breath, I watched Ryuu's retreating figure. This probably wouldn't go as easy as I had hoped.
Later
"Listen up, everyone, this is not going to be easy," I started once we were out of the car and a couple feet away from the gang's hideout. "It's likely that there will be an initiation ceremony and don't go thinking for a minute that this is a slice of cake. It'll be brutal…you'll have to fight, kill, and possibly other things that'll make your ears rot. I want you guys to be cautious at most -
"Save the mushy gushy speech for my funeral," said Hitoshi with a sly grin.
"He's trying to tell a certain idiot to keep his mouth closed or he's going to be beat or killed."
"I'm not an idiot Kyouta!"
"Sure."
"Anyways, if at any point something dangerous is happening, I want you guys to find each other and escape."
"We may have faults, but in the list, the word 'coward' doesn't exist."
I looked from the smiling Hitoshi, to Kyouta, to Ryuu, who didn't seem to be so angry anymore but pleased – excited at most.
"If you guys are ready then, let's go."
The four of us approached the shabby looking house. Leaning on the porch was a man with a shaven head, a joint at hand. He looked up at us with a menacing glare.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"We want to join your gang," I said casually.
He took a quick smoke from his joint, walked up to me, and punched me right in the face. Despite the pain that began searing throughout my face, I held my ground. The man only snorted, mumbled a couple words under his breath and walked into the house. He looked behind him and frowned.
"Don't just stand there you assholes."
He disappeared behind the door, while Hitoshi only laughed.
"Damn it," I cursed rubbing my cheek.
We followed him in, to see that the man had already gathered a crowd of members. At the front of it all, was a tall man with dark black hair. His blue eyes were brutal and cold. His body was lined with scars that must've come from intense fights. The man from before, who was still smoking his joint, approached the dark haired man with a smile.
"Hidetoshi, we have newcomers."
Hidetoshi's face was immediately lit with such a wicked smile that even I had shivers crawling up my spine. He walked up towards me, his hand tracing the red mark his gang member had left on my cheek.
"What a nasty punch…it'll get even worse than that," he whispered to me.
He walked back to where everyone had circled around us.
"So what should we do to them? Any suggestions?"
Various answers were shouted out at us but Hidetoshi raised his hand and everyone immediately silenced.
"A beat in."
A couple people groaned, but the majority seemed pretty interested. Acting as though we weren't standing there, he began a conversation with the two people who were standing on either side of him. My eyes wandered throughout the building, and in the back, I noticed a group of females in skimpy clothing huddled together in the back. That must be them I thought. Just as I was thinking of a plan, I was brought back to reality when someone whistled.
"Hey boss, looks like he's got his eyes on your possessions."
"Why a beat in?" someone else asked. "Why doesn't he just fuck them all?"
"Yeah!"
While shouts of agreement were shouted, I noticed the girls huddle closer together.
"Enough!" shouted Hidetoshi.
He motioned for eight or so people to step forward and urged the others back.
"You each have thirty pure minutes of fighting. Who wants to go first?"
"I'll g-
"Sorry Ikuto, but I wanna be the first one."
"Hitoshi."
Ignoring me, he stepped forward and rolled up his sleeves.
"Make it a good fight. I haven't had a good fight since the fifth grade."
"Cocky son of a bitch."
With that they began throwing punches at each other. There already seemed to be a disadvantage. It was eight vs. one. They were gathered around Hitoshi in a small circle. Even with all of this, Hitoshi was smirking and egging them on.
"What an idiot," I mumbled.
"It's in his blood to fight," answered Kyouta not taking his eyes off him.
I turned by attention back to Hitoshi to see that two men had grabbed him by the arms holding him in place. The others were now using him as their personal piñata. His head was down and I could see the blood sliding down the side of his jaw.
"This is going by too slow," mumbled Hidetoshi as though this was game. "Why don't you three fight as well."
From the tone of his voice, I knew for a fact this was not a question. This was an order. As he picked out eight more people for each of us, I looked back to Hitoshi to see him suddenly kick the men who were punching him to the floor and then flip over the two guys who were holding him.
"I thought I told you guys to make this worth my time," he said wiping the blood that was inching down towards his chin.
"Hey pretty boy, ready to get pummeled down to nothing?"
I turned, a smirk playing across my face.
"Give it the best you've got."
Twenty-Five Minutes Later
Panting profusely, I turned around to see Hitoshi lying down on the floor a wide grin on his face. He met my gaze and mouthed 'I won'. I shook my head. His face was a bloody mess, and a dark ring had started to form around his eye. I looked down at his opponents, and surprisingly enough, they looked even worse than him. I turned to face my own opponents who were sprawled all over the ground as the time was ticking by. If they weren't up in the next thirty seconds at least willing to fight, Hidetoshi would pick another eight.
"What a bunch of pussy assed bastards. Get the fuck up!" shouted Hidetoshi furious.
When none of them moved, he kicked the one closest to him and turned to the guy standing to his left. He motioned his head towards me. The man grinned and sauntered over towards me. My eyes however didn't catch on his over confident smirk, or the coldness in his eyes, but his right hand. There was a metal like ring that covered his knuckles. Over the knuckles was like a metal plate with spiked edges.
"2 minutes left!"
He met my gaze and smiled. One thing was for sure, I would not let him hit me with that ring. He grinned at me once more, and then ran up towards me. In a matter of a couple seconds, he had punched me right where I had been hit earlier and I was on the floor. Cautiously, I raised my hand to my cheek only to realize he hadn't hit me with that hand yet. I studied my opponent with a frown. I saw him running towards me, and I saw him raise his fist. Was he that fast that I didn't even have time to react? Wiping the beads of sweat away from my forehead with the back of my hand I got up and faced him once more.
I steadied my balance out on two feet, and watched my opponent with careful eyes. He came running at me again, but this time instead of trying to dodge him, I just stood there watching. When he was less than a foot away, he raised his fist, and that's when I grabbed his hand, holding it firmly, and kicked him right in the gut. He fell onto the floor, but was right back up again.
Our fight continued. At this point my colleagues were either watching my prolonged fight or laying down on the floor in exhaustion. Our fight wasn't even much of a fight anymore. He had been going easy on me with the first couple of attacks, but at this point he was going full out now. It was more of him attacking me, and me trying to defend myself. Everyone once in a while, if I could I'd try to throw in a couple punches or more likely kicks.
He came at me again, and this time I just grabbed his hands and kneed him right in the face. To be frank, I was exhausted. This time instead of waiting for him to get back up, I sat on top of him, pinning his arms down with my feet and just began punching him in the face.
"Go Ikuto!" shouted Hitoshi in full enthusiasm.
Ignoring him, I kept punching him until my knuckles were throbbing in pain and his face was bloody. That was when I got up and was ambushed by the ever so energetic Hitoshi.
"Dude, I can't believe you sat on him."
"I was tired."
The two of us were chatting, until I felt a sharp searing pain right by my temple. I fell down backward; my back and the back of my head now voicing their complaints. I could feel the cool slivers of blood rolling down the side of my head. And in the midst of my darkening vision, I saw the man with the plated ring stand right in front of me.
"You couldn't beat me even if you tried."
And my vision went black.
Amu POV
I stood in front of the Chief's office, my hands crossed over my chest.
"What is this?" he asked rotating the bullet in his hands.
"A bullet obviously."
He set it down and looked up at me with beady eyes of annoyance.
"What kind of bullet?"
"This is from a Jericho 941 F 9mm."
"Sorry to burst your bubble sweetheart, but our team uses Glocks."
"This was found at the crime scene."
"This single bullet has no connection to my team of officers. If you ask me, it seems like you just want to point fingers without taking in facts. Do you have any evidence it was used by us?"
"I'm not saying it was, Chief. Yet, I would like you to investigate and check if anyone on your team has used Jericho's before or owns one."
"This is none of my concern."
"It is when I tell the court, you disobeyed my search warrant."
Grumbling, he pulled out a sticky note and a pen and scribbled what seemed to be incoherent nonsense on a bright yellow sheet.
"Is that all brat?"
"Yeah…and don't tell anyone about the bullet. Bring it up casually, potty mouth."
I saw the corners of his mouth twitch up, but it was back into a frown in less than a second. I looked towards Ami who was sitting on the chairs, and she jumped out of her seat and headed out the door.
"When do I go pick these up?"
"In two days."
"Make sure its perfect potty mouth."
"Leave and do whatever it is that brats do."
Smiling, I walked out of his office, and in the end decided to go home. Not only was Ami driving me insane, but I figured I'd report everything to Taro once I was sure about the whole bullet incident.
Ikuto POV
Through the thick blanket of darkness and pain, my leg made an involuntary movement. My brief optimism was then shattered by reality. From waist down, all I could move at the moment was my left leg. Apart from that, all I could see was black. Noises began to worm its way into my fog of dark pain. Something cool hit my face. A moment of sheer bliss was then terrorized by the overwhelming intensity of the pain. The blanket of darkness was beginning to allow holes of light to pass through, to the point where I was looking up at some cheap fluorescent lighting. Hovering above me was a young boy; his eyes portraying frantic worry.
With one hand, I pushed the boy away, and I struggled to get myself into a sitting position. I looked at the boy warily.
"Who are you?"
The boy froze and nervously looked to the floor.
"Hidetoshi's brother."
A/N
Happy Valentines Day My Lovelies~
Don't be mad because of my long, delayed absence. I have no excuse to offer but school. So I tried to make this chappie extra extra long for you guys. YAY! Um…so yes, chapters will be coming up to guys very very very slowly. So what's up with me lately, if anyone cares….um I had Asian Showcase at our school on Friday. I was apart of fan dance. Oh and I officially hate geometry…
And Oh My Gosh...Doesn't my writing at the end in Ikuto's POV sound a bit more sophisticated than usual. LOL I just kept staring at it in awe :D
Thanks to the My Lovelies who've reviewed:
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