Song: Drowning Pool – The Man Without Fear (I couldn't find complete lyrics…so you'll just have to locate the song and listen to it to understand…sorry)

The Man Without Fear

He stood and angrily looked down at his hand, flexing it and curling it, causing joints to pop.  Three other men around him looked at each other nervously.  He looked up slowly at the others, his fire like eyes burning with anger.  "Find her…and bring her to me!" He yelled suddenly at them, his wild white hair flying out behind him as he spun and walked into his private room and slammed the door.

Two of the men glanced at each other, and then looked over at the third.  His eyes glowed bright blue, a smirk crawling its way across his face.  "Well, we better not let Jei down, now should we?"  In response the other two smirked as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ken glanced over at Nagi, "What time is it?"

Nagi narrowed his eyes at Ken, "Five minutes since the last time you asked."

The other blinked at him, "Are you sure? It feels like it's been longer than that."

"Why are you so impatient for Akane to get here? We can train just as well without her."  To prove his point, Nagi sent Ken flying backwards into a wall.

"Gahhh!!!  Nagi!  No powers! You promised!!!" Ken shook his head and stood up slowly.  "And it's just…she's never late for practice…and when she and Omi came home last night, she didn't seem to be ok."

Nagi straightened up and glanced at the exit to the training room, "That is true.  She almost seemed…in shock.  Did Omi tell you anything of what happened to them?"

Ken walked back towards Nagi. "No…he didn't.  He said he was tired and just wanted to go to bed."  He attempted to catch Nagi off guard and flip him, but Nagi noticed and spun out of his way, letting Ken fall into the opposite wall with a grunt.  Ken sat up stiffly and rubbed the top of his head as he turned to see Nagi walking towards the exit.  "Where are you going?"

"To check on them." Nagi looked back at Ken, "At breakfast, Crawford informed me that there had been a clan fight in the park last night."

Ken blinked and stood up, jogging over, "Do you think they ran into that?"

"Possibly…"  Nagi walked out with Ken following right behind.  To their surprise, Schuldig and Youji were waiting in the hallway.

"Took you two long enough…" Schuldig grumbled.

Ken blinked, baffled.  "Have you talked to Omi yet?" Nagi asked.

Youji shook his head, "Nope…he's still asleep.  Whatever happened, he's really drained."

"Then we should check on Akane." Nagi responded, walking down the hallway to her room, the other three following right behind.  Nagi knocked on the door lightly and waited.  With no response he looked back at Schuldig questioningly.

The telepath shrugged, "I haven't been able to contact her, she has her mental blocks up…had them up ever since she got home."

With a frown, Nagi turned back to the door and knocked a second time.  This time with no response, he laid his had on the door knob.  "Akane…we're coming in to check on you."  Ken glanced between Nagi and the other three, obviously nervous about walking into a woman's room like this.  Slowly Nagi twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

The room was dark, "I'm going to turn on the light, Akane…" Nagi warned quietly before flipping the switch.  Ken glanced down the hallway nervously, hoping she was covered.

The light clicked on to reveal her room in shambles.  Books and clothing were strewn all over the place.  Her desk chair was tipped over, blocking the path they would have taken had they walked in in the dark.  Akane sat on her bed, in the same clothes as last night.  She didn't even look up at them, her eyes focused blankly on the bed in front of her.

Upon seeing this, Nagi rushed in, "Akane-chan…" Schuldig and Youji followed right behind him, careful not to trip over to the debris in their path.

Ken glanced over and narrowed his eyes slightly, slowly following the other three in.  "Shock…she's in shock…"

Youji frowned, "How long has she been like this?"

Nagi quickly pulled the blanket off the bed and started wrapping it around her, getting Youji to help.  "Let's take her out to the couch.  Maybe we can get her to eat something."

Ken turned and walked out of the room.  Schuldig glanced at Ken's back then looked at Youji and Nagi, "I'll come help in a minute." He then quickly turned and followed Ken, placing his hand on Ken's shoulder right before the other burst into Omi's room.  "Wait…"

Ken looked up at Schuldig, "We need to know what happened!"

The telepath shook his head, "Not right now.  We'll find out, but pushing Omi for information right now will only make matters worse.  Let's go help the others with Akane and see if we can get her out of shock, ok?"

Ken glared lightly at Schuldig, glancing back at the door for a moment longer.  "Fine…you all deal with her…" He spun and quickly walked away from Schuldig as he walked out of the house.

Youji and Nagi looked at Schuldig curiously as the telepath walked into the living room.  "Very impatient man…"

"Hai!" The other two agreed in unison.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Mr. Yakamota, I'm afraid Miss Shiguru isn't in school today." The secretary looked up from her paperwork at the man with absolutely gorgeous blue eyes.  "One of her roommates called in and said she was quite ill."

He bowed his head slightly, "I thank you.  I will contact her another day then."  Quickly he turned, put his coat and hat back on and then walked out of the school building.

Asmadeas Kyla stood around the corner in the school office and frowned as he watched this 'Mr. Yakamota' walk off.  Something felt off to him and he quickly flipped through student files before the secretary caught him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Mr. 'Yakamota' climbed into a car waiting right outside the school and closed the door.  He took off the hat and leaned back in the seat, glad for the dark tinting on the car windows.  The driver looked over at him, "Yama, did you find anything?" 

Yama looked over at the man with sandy blonde hair and purple eyes, and smirked "Yes…she's out…sick…"

The driver smirked, "Awww…poor thing…"

The two chuckled a moment then Yama looked ahead, "Let's go get Jiro and see if he's found out anything about Miss Akane Shiguru…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Schuldig, Youji and Nagi looked down at Akane.  They had gotten her to the couch fine and immediately she had curled up on her side, staring blankly ahead at the wall across from her.

"Food?" Youji suggested.

"Television?" Schuldig added.

"Let's try both. Youji, see if you can find something soft or something she can eat easily." Nagi responded as he picked up the television remote and flipped through the channels trying to find something calming.

Youji walked to the kitchen, mumbling about him being the one to find something for her to eat.  Schuldig glared mildly at Youji's back, then promptly followed him to the kitchen to help him figure something out. 

While the two argued about what would be easiest for Akane to eat, Nagi continued to flip through channels.  Finding a nature channel of some sort Nagi sat down on the couch beside her.  His eyes widened as she scooted closer to him in her curled up position.  He looked down at her; she was looking at the television and seemed to be relaxing.  Glad that she seemed to be coming out of shock, he let her put her head in his lap as she continued to watch the television.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jiro watched as the car pulled up and quickly dashed over, jumping into the back seat.  "Whew…thought you guys would never get here."

Yama turned around to look at him, "What did you find?"

The other frowned and leaned forward, "Apparently Miss Akane Shiguru's family is all dead and she is now living with Officer Mamoru Takatori…and a bunch of Hunters."

The driver, paused at a light, looked back at Jiro, "How…is that possible? Why would Hunters let a vampire live with them?"

Yama looked at the drive, "Maybe they don't know she's a vampire, Kiyoshi.  Let's go visit Miss Shiguru, shall we?"

"Hai!" Kiyoshi responded as the light changed and he turned the corner.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Youji and Schuldig sat on a second couch as they, along with Nagi, watched Akane eat a bowl of ramen noodles. She blinked at them and mentally inquired of all if they had to watch her eat.  Instantly they all diverted their eyes back to the television.

"What…is that? A koala?" Youji blinked at the television.

"I'm…not sure…" Nagi responded.

Schuldig blinked and glanced over at the door, "We have guests…" Just that instant the door bell rang and Schuldig stood up and walked to the door, opening it slowly. The other three turned and watched from where they were, Akane only half paying attention as she was still trying to eat the noodles.

Two men stood at the door, "Hello, I'm Mr. Yakamota and this is my associate Mr. Howell.  We're here to talk to Miss Shiguru."

Akane blinked at her name and set the noodles down, turning to watch.  Unfortunately she couldn't see much of the men's features.  Schuldig eyed them, "About?"

"Ahh…about graduation and college options.  It's really important that we speak to her."  He smiled slightly to Schuldig, obviously slightly intimidated by the German.

Schuldig eyed them a moment more before turning to the others.  "Akane…these guys want to speak to you about college.  Do you feel well enough to talk to them?"

She blinked a moment, and then slowly stood up, tightening the blanket around her and waddling over.  Nagi and Youji stood and followed her, standing a few feet away from the door.  "Hai?" She looked at the two men questioningly. 

Mr. Yakamota turned to Mr. Howell who pulled up his briefcase and opened it.  Mr. Yakamota reached in a pulled out something, whipping his hand out quickly.  A second later Schuldig gasped and stumbled backwards.  Another flip of his wrist and Youji and Nagi were doing the same.

Akane's eyes widened as she saw Yama's eyes blow bright blue as he smirked at her.  "IIE!!!"  She backed away from them but the two rushed in an grabbed her.

Suddenly Jiro was thrown backwards.  Yama, holding Akane tightly against him looked up at Nagi and growled, his fangs showing.  Nagi glared back but found he couldn't fight the sedative that had been used on him and collapsed as Yama hauled the struggling Akane to the waiting car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She struggled weakly against the ropes tying her to the chair.  Her mouth taped, she nervously eyed the three men in the room with her.  She had no clue where she was because the instant they and gotten her into the car, they sedated her with something.

Yama glanced at the time and scowled, "Where is he?"

Kiyoshi shrugged, "He'll be here…"

Yama smirked slightly walking close to Akane, "He better be…or there might not be anything left…" She attempted to move away from him as he slid his fingers down her face.

Suddenly the door slammed open, "YAMA! Get away from her!!!" 

Yama jumped and quickly moved away, "Hai…gomen nasai Jei-sama…"

Akane's eyes widened as she looked at the man Omi had fought the night before.  His eyes gleamed with evil as he looked at her.  As he walked towards her, tears began to fill her eyes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Omi woke up and glanced at the time.  "I was more exhausted than I thought."  He rolled out of bed and walked out to the main area where he found the door wide open and the three passed out on the floor.  "What the…."

Just that moment Ken walked up to the door, "What the hell happened!?"

Omi looked up at Ken, "I was hoping you could answer that."

Kneeling down, Ken pulled a Schuldig inside and shut the door behind him.  A small glitter of silver caught his eyes and he pulled out a small dart. "Shit…" He looked up at Omi, "Darts…"

Omi walked over and looked at the dart, frowning, "These…are…Farfarello's clan…"

Ken spun and punched a wall, "I knew we should have taken him down when we had the chance!"

Shaking his head, Omi retrieved the darts from Youji and Nagi.  "Hopefully they will wake up soon…" He looked at Ken.  "I'll go check on Akane…make sure she's ok…"

Ken glanced over his shoulder at Omi, "They had brought her out here to get her to eat…"

Fear instantly settled on Omi's features.  "He has her…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Akane screamed in pain as she hit the wall, "iie…stop…"  Her body ached, blood slowly oozing from cuts across her body.

Yama, Jiro and Kiyoshi stood back as they watched their leader attempt to get information from her.  Jei stalked towards her, "Show…me…your power!"

She looked up at him, tears streaking down her face.  "I…can't!!!"

Angered more by her answer, he lashed out, kicking her in the stomach and hauling her to her feet.  "You will show me…or you will die!"  He hissed at her, causing sobs to wrack her body more.

"Uhh…Jei?" Yama spoke up hesitantly.

"WHAT?" Jei spun around and looked at the other, his eyes blazing with anger.  Yama walked up slowly and whispered into Jei's ear.  Jei glanced at Akane, "Is that so…"  Yama nodded and quickly retreated back to where his comrades were standing.  Jei eyed the three, then looked Akane, smirking.  Seeing the smirk, she shook in fear.  "Well…I suppose that could at least be tried…" He flung her over his shoulder, and walked towards the door, "But not with you three around." He sneered at them and walked out.

05/07/03