If it is to be that way… farewell.
And all Natsuki could do was watch helplessly as Shizuru simply turned on her heel and walked away from her, her throat dry and unable to say the words that unbeknownst to her were screaming in her heart. Something deep down in her soul ripped more and more with each step Shizuru took away from her and for the second time in her short life, she felt a hole filled with emptiness replace her beating heart…
And Natsuki had no idea why.
These feelings were alien to her and only brought back the memories of pain from her childhood…
So she did what she had learnt to do best. She repressed the pain and pushed on doggedly, automatically.
Natsuki watched Shizuru go until she lost sight of her and finally managed to regain enough control of her limbs to turn towards her motorbike and find the keys that would unlock the compartment for her helmet – not being in the mood to return to the party. But before she could even turn the key, she froze as she caught on the shiny curved surface the reflection of a shadow dart behind her.
Initially she ignored her gut instinct to shrink into the shadows and investigate what it was. She firmly told herself that she was still very suspicious from her old days… but found herself already zipping up her black leather jacket until none of her white top was visible, pulling on her biking gloves and creeping into the shadows…
Old habits died hard.
Using all the skills she had nurtured over the years, she moved silently in the shadows before cursing her permanent inability to think in advance when she realised that her only weapons were her motorbike keys and a biro that she had accidentally taken from the gift shop earlier. The gift shop that she had browsed for almost an hour looking for the perfect gift for Shizuru… Natsuki viciously squashed the thought as she focused on the task at hand. She glimpsed the merging of a moving shadow with the darkness of a small alleyway and glancing around at the surroundings, leapt up as quietly as she could onto a fire exit staircase with all the agility of a lithe wildcat. What she saw from her vantage point made her wonder if she had just been hit by cruel déjà-vu…
There were a group of heavily armed men in suits… the very image of the First District agents that Natsuki had fought so many times over the years. There was a very uneasy feeling that settled deep into her gut as she tried to eavesdrop in the agents' whispered conversation. After a few moments, all Natsuki had picked up were "capture dead or alive". She ground her teeth in frustration and pressing herself up against the wall she tried to move closer to hear more… only to pick up a phrase she never wanted to hear again…
"… I tried to follow, but Experiment 24601…"
Experiment 24601.
Natsuki felt numb. She felt the numbness course through her veins as she felt the dead organ in her chest encase in ice and feel heavy once more, like it did before the Carnival, before Shizuru…
"…Fujino won't be too hard to track…"
Natsuki stopped breathing.
"It sounded like she was heading for her flat…"
"Then we follow. We have our orders."
Natsuki did not need to hear anymore.
The agent who was speaking had no idea what hit him. And neither did his colleagues. One moment he was setting out a plan, the next moment a shadow passed over his face and a biro seemed to grow out of his neck before he suddenly turned his M4 carbine onto them and fired.
Natsuki had leapt down onto the man and stabbed him in the neck with her only weapon. Using his body as a shield, she grabbed his rifle and shot down as many as she could before the unscathed remainder of the contingent scattered to hide behind things that would protect them. She then grabbed any weapons close to hand and leaving the agent's body to drop to the ground, she swiftly threw herself behind a large dumpster, narrowly avoiding a trail of assault rifle fire.
Knowing that if she did not act soon, someone would call for back-up, she took stock of her weaponry (a fully loaded SIG Sauer P226 and two knives) before slamming her shoulder into the dumpster to get it rolling. As the agents busily fired at the moving dumpster, Natsuki used her diversion to single out her targets and dispatched them silently. She was still left with three heavily armed agents when they finally realised that there was nobody behind the dumpster and they were combing the alley and firing randomly into dark corners. Natsuki knew she only had a few bullets left in the SIG and one of the knives was dropped in a scuffle she had with the last agent. She got away with a deep cut over her eyebrow and the agent never got up again.
Wiping away the blood that was flowing down to prevent it from restricting her vision, Natsuki took a deep breath to calm herself before once again leaping onto the next victim, who had just turned into the corner she was hiding in, only to swiftly find a knife in his trigger hand and a bullet in his skull. Dropping the used SIG, she took the unfortunate agent's fully loaded one and another knife before pressing herself against the wall as she saw a shadow of another agent moving closer. From her experience, she could estimate where the agent was and slowly sliding down to the ground, timed their footsteps and stabbed the knife into the unsuspecting agent's foot before aiming up with the gun and firing twice, efficiently dropping yet another enemy.
What Natsuki was not expecting, however, was the one remaining agent to have been walking right behind the last one and it was instinct that drove her to roll out of the way of bullets and try to get back up into a position where she could return fire. It cost her a slash in her side as a bullet skimmed past her but her own accuracy with the gun brought down her final threat within three shots.
There was a sudden quiet but all Natsuki could hear was her own thudding heartbeats and heavy breathing. Then the gun clattered to the ground as she staggered backwards into a wall and realised what had just happened.
A buzz from a radio sharply cut her from her numb daze. She blinked as she began to take in the words blasting out of the radio, "Suzuki, report! Back-up is on the way, over."
Natsuki stumbled towards the nearest fallen agent and searched their pockets.
"Suzuki, report! Has the intruder…"
Natsuki found an ID pass that had written on it, "Searrs: FDU".
"…been eliminated, over?"
Natsuki swallowed hard.
"Damn it, Suzuki! The police have been alerted. Clean-up crew are on the way, over."
Natsuki pocketed the ID pass and ignoring the sharp pain from her wounds, she darted back to her bike and made her way out of the scene of crime as fast as she could.
Driving like a person possessed, she rode her bike the wrong way up one-way streets, shot round corners and would suddenly change direction without indicators to ensure that she was not being followed. As soon as she arrived at her destination, a dark secluded area under a bridge, Natsuki brought out her phone and dialled a number that she thought would never use again.
"Plaza Pizza Delivery Service! May I take your order?" A squeaky voice chirped on the line.
Natsuki was surprised when a grin found a way to her face at the voice, "I'd like to speak with the port captain, please."
"I'm afraid you may have the wrong number. Good-bye."
Natsuki hung up as the line went dead and waited a few moments before her phone rang. As ever, she picked up and immediately identified herself, expecting the caller to do the same, "Kuga."
A deep voice replied, "Yamada."
"That was fast."
"I was just making a set of secure lines when you called."
"I see."
There was a pause before Yamada spoke first, "It's been a while, Kuga. I thought you'd never call."
"So did I."
"Ah… so, what can I do for you?"
Natsuki realised that she was officially back into the life she had tried so hard to leave behind. And with all the ease of having done this too many times, she replied, "I need you to dig up all you can on the First District and Searrs."
There was another silence on the other line. Then Yamada's voice finally came through, "Are you sure?"
Natsuki closed her eyes, "Yes."
"Anything else?"
"Access to a weapons dealer."
"Untraceable, I presume?"
"Yes."
"Same place?"
"Hidden place."
"See you in twenty."
Natsuki hung up and carefully getting off her bike, finally got a chance to look at her wounds. The cut above her eyebrow was now nothing but caked dry blood and the wound at her side was still open but did not appear to be deep. Natsuki was almost more annoyed at the fact that her leather jacket now had several tears in it and so was no longer wearable. Almost as soon as she was done tying a provisional bandage to staunch the blood flow from her side, Yamada arrived.
He still looked exactly the same as he had done for the last ten years Natsuki had known him. Giving her a hand signal that she should follow his truck, he drove off again and Natsuki got on her bike and did as directed.
They drove through what looked like a series of unused underground storm drainage tunnels, and suddenly stopping in a more open spot where the tunnel began branching into three, Yamada got out of his truck. He strode over to Natsuki, who was getting off her bike, and with his usual expressionless face, glanced at her wounds before asking, "How many?"
Natsuki assumed he was talking about the number of agents, "Seven, heavily armed with suppressors on all firearms and carrying these." She handed over the ID pass she had collected.
Yamada took the pass from her and took a deep breath in before letting it out slowly while nodding.
"So it's not over yet then?"
"Apparently not."
Yamada pocketed the ID card, "Alright, Kuga. I'll look into it." He started walking towards the left tunnel but stopped suddenly as he continued, "By the way, you've never asked for a weapons dealer before."
Natsuki shrugged, "Never needed one."
Yamada hid a smile that was creeping to his face at her typical terse reply that did not exactly answer his question, "Anyway, this guy's good but he only deals in American dollars. You got any?"
Natsuki opened up her seat and brought out a black canvas bag and rifling through it, nodded, "Got enough."
They started walking into the tunnel and Natsuki made a comment on the squeaky voice Yamada had used to mask his number. He grinned at her impression and replied that Natsuki's voice would never reach that high unless she had hormone therapy. Leaving her gobsmacked, he hurried around the corner – away from any violent reactions that may have been brewing. When Natsuki's mouth finally closed, instead of wanting to kill the guy, she could not help but smile at how normal Yamada was trying to make it all seem and followed him around the corner.
The moment she caught up, Natsuki was introduced to a skinny man with short black hair that was slicked back with either gel or grease, showing greying streaks, and arms displaying impressive dragon tattoos running down from his shoulder to the back of his hands, their fangs reaching his knuckles. He gave Natsuki a good look as if he was assessing a candidate for a highly paid job and spoke, "Got into a scrape, I take it?"
Yamada answered for her, "With 7 heavily armed goons."
"I see. What can I do for you then?"
Natsuki shrugged and replied curtly, "Weapons. I only had a biro."
The weapons dealer threw back his head and barked out an incredulous laugh. "Then, who won this round?"
Yamada smiled as he again replied for his client, "She did, Kenji, and she does every time."
Kenji started moving around several cargo boxes and while still laughing, looked straight at Natsuki, "Damn, I like you, kid. You sound like fun."
Natsuki glanced at Yamada who shrugged.
"He likes you, Kuga."
Natsuki rolled her eyes at Yamada's helpful comment but turned her attention to Kenji again when he asked, "So what can I get you? I stock pretty much anything."
Natsuki's sharp green eyes swiftly took in some of the weapons that Kenji had displayed.
"Have you got a SIG P210-2?"
Kenji raised an eyebrow, "They stopped manufacturing them a couple of years back so I don't stock them. They're too traceable. I've got a P220? Or a Beretta 92 – they came in last week?"
Natsuki shook her head, "No thanks. What about Glock 19?"
Kenji smirked, impressed at her knowledge of guns, "Good choice. Yeah, I've got one crate left. How many are you looking for?"
"Four."
"And magazines?"
"Two for each."
As Kenji went about collecting the items she wanted, Natsuki asked for another model.
"You don't by any chance have the Smith and Wesson Bodyguard?"
Kenji shook his head, "Out of stock, kid."
"Then, any small Glocks?"
"You're in luck, fresh import brought in yesterday…" Kenji rifled through a crate and brought out a small handgun, "Is a Glock 42 good enough? Or the 43?"
"Two of the 43s and two magazines each."
"Sure thing. Anything else?"
"Concealable knives."
"Got a country or manufacturer preference?"
"Russian."
Again Kenji looked impressed and brought out a box, "I'd say my best knives are probably from Kizlyar in Russia. What kinds do you want?"
"A couple of folding knives and military knives."
Natsuki was handed three of each as she continued, "What about kunais?"
Kenji tapped his goatee thoughtfully before bringing out another crate. "How many?"
Natsuki looked into the box and taking one out, she tested its size and weight… by throwing it into the eye of a dartboard that was hanging on the wall beside them. Kenji raised his eyebrows at her accuracy and Natsuki grinned at the quality of the kunai.
"I'll take twelve."
After testing her requested guns as well, Kenji packed all the weapons with the requested ammunition, suppressors and holsters in a canvas bag and Natsuki handed over the money. Before Natsuki and Yamada could leave, however, he called out, "Hey kid, I can offer you a handgun on the house."
Natsuki tilted her head to one side, "Why would you do that?"
Kenji grinned, "I like you, remember? Take your pick… let's see… A Desert Eagle or a SIG?"
"Desert Eagles are too bulky for me… and I'll only take the SIG if it's a P226."
Kenji handed it over with a spare magazine and said, "You sure know your weapons, kid. Come by again sometime, I could do with a knife throwing contest to keep me sharp."
Natsuki held up a hand as she walked away to acknowledge the invitation and Yamada soon followed after exchanging farewells with his old friend.
Natsuki and Yamada also soon parted and Natsuki made her way home. As soon as she got to her apartment, loading one of her new guns, she checked that it had not been broken into and that there were no nasty surprises left for her. Once she was satisfied, she sank down onto the sofa that Shizuru had picked out for her, and touched the side that Shizuru had sat down on the few times she had visited.
And reality struck…
Natsuki let her head fall into her hands and finally let the emotions crash down on her.
This would be the last time she would let herself feel… Her hands were already stained with the blood of others, her heart had already begun to freeze over and her mind had already become set on one purpose.
Take down Searrs. To protect the Hime. To protect Shizuru.
Natsuki scrubbed her eyes free of tears.
'So, it begins again.'