A Dark World
An SI/Mega X-over
By Tomas Megarson
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com
See my page at: http://nighthawk.anifics.com
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"
were created by and belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The characters,
settings, and places of "YuYuHakusho" were created by and belong to
Yoshihiro Togashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Black
Cat" were created by and belong to Yabuki Kentaro. The characters,
settings, and places of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040" belong to those who
created the anime, and are too numerous to name here.
Chapter 7
"Oh shit."
Detective Sudo gazed at the young man before him and raised an
eyebrow at the response. It hadn't been exactly what he'd been
expecting, unless the kid had killed her, of course. That would be
quite strange, however, given that the forensic team hadn't found any
sign of struggle and no wounds on the teacher. Until the autopsy was
finished, they'd have no idea how the woman had died. Still,
questioning the kid was important. "Why do you say that?"
Sudo's eyes watched the green eyes of the kid, Tomas, as they
flicked around for a second. He raised an eyebrow as the black hair
kid turned his head around for a moment to take in the rest of the
party before turning back to him.
"She was my daughter's teacher. Eve's gonna probably take
this hard." Tomas' voice was soft as he spoke. "Do you mind keeping
your voice down, I'd rather be the one to tell her, and later so it
doesn't ruin her time here."
"I see." Sudo trailed off for a few seconds and glanced over
at his partner, Takimoto. The other man hadn't made any signs of
noticing anything wrong, and so he continued the questioning. "When
was the last time you saw Mrs. Ketsunoana?"
"This afternoon." Tomas' voice was steady and clear, and the
nervousness that Sudo had noticed before was gone. "She'd wanted to
see me because Eve was having problems in school. How did she die?"
The question was asked quickly before Sudo could respond to Tomas'
previous answer.
"We don't know," Takimoto spoke for the first time.
Sudo managed to keep from grimacing, though it was hard.
Something seemed off to him in the kid, but thanks to his partner's
response, he could already tell the kid was slightly more relaxed.
The damn rookie ruined an opportunity to press the boy. Biting back
his anger at his partner, Sudo continued his short bit of questioning.
"What sort of trouble was Eve having in school?"
Tomas gave the detective a bit of a shrug. "I never found
out. When I went to see her she started yelling at me how she was
going to tell my parents about me trying to cover up for Eve or some
crap like that. I told her to check with the government and she'd see
I really was Eve's father, but she kept calling me Eve's brother and
telling me how much trouble I was getting myself into. I finally gave
up and stormed out of the conference room the meeting was it."
"And she was alright when you left?"
"Well, if you call being extremely pissed and threatening to
call my parents alright, then yeah." Sudo watched with slight
interest as Tomas shrugged. "If she does find my parents, though, I'd
love to meet them."
"Hmm?"
The green eyes that were taking in Sudo blinked. "I'm an
orphan. Never knew my folks. If I ever meet them, I think I'll deck
them for abandoning me." Sudo watched with some interest as Tomas'
gaze turned away from him and back to the small blond child. "Then
again, maybe not. After all, who knows what would have happened to
Eve."
Raising an eyebrow, Sudo inquired, "What do you mean?"
Tomas continued speaking without moving his gaze. "Eve's
parents were friends of mine, though quite a bit older. When I was
living in an orphanage in Kyoto, they were there too, and took care of
me. They died a few months ago, and Eve lost her memories. I
couldn't bare the thought of her going to an orphanage like I was in,
so I adopted her, with some help, obviously."
"I see." Sudo frowned for a few moments as he thought.
"Who's help did you have?"
His gaze returning to the detectives, Tomas replied,
"Suzakimi-san, in the parlament. He was a friend of an old boss of
mine, and was happy to help me."
Sudo's face blanched ever so slightly as that name was spoken.
Suzakimi was well known and far above reproach. If he vouched for
this kid, there was practicly nothing he could do. Still, he had to
continue his questioning. "Back to Ketsunoana, how long were you with
her?"
"I don't know, maybe five or so minutes."
Finally, Sudo sighed. As things stood he knew he couldn't do
anything about the boy. While something about him felt off, there was
no way at all to bring the kid in for more intensive questioning. "As
far as we know, you're the last person who saw her, so stay in town
until we get back to you."
Tomas nodded to the man, "I got no plans to go anywhere, so
its not a big deal."
Pulling one of his business cards out of his pocket, Sudo
handed it to Tomas. "If you think of anything give me a call."
"Yeah, will do."
Turning away from the boy, Sudo began his walk across the
Shrine's grounds, his eyes taking in the couple of groups of people
that were milling around. The age difference between the various
people caught his eye and made him curios as to how the group had come
together, but he'd save the questioning for later. He could respect
the kid's request to tell his daughter on his own.
The fact that a kid that young had a daughter made Sudo very
curious. He was definitely going to check out the records on the
subject and find out how someone so young managed to get a daughter.
Just as he reached the steps, a cry of "SHIT, MY BURGERS!" reached his
ears. Glancing over his shoulder, he shook his head as he caught an
angry expression on Tomas' face as he looked into his grill. Then, as
he moved down the steps he lost view of his suspect. Unless the
autopsy told otherwise, of course.
***
Glaring into the grill at the charred and flaming remains of
what should have been dinner, Tomas' green eyes filled with anger.
"Damn it, I KNEW those two were trouble, I just knew it. Man, when
they asked me if I was Tomas, I should have said no."
Looking at the fuming host of the party, Linna shook her head.
She wasn't sure how to react to the now ranting young man. For him to
go from dealing with an on the sport interrogation to complaining
about some burnt food, she just couldn't get it. Finally, she asked,
"Are you alright?"
Adding the charred remains of the last burger to the pile on
the plate next to him, Tomas sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine."
From next to Linna, Nene spoke up. "You seem to be taking
this well."
Moving toward the Shrine, Tomas waved for the two to follow
him. Not looking to see if they were doing so, he replied, "I've
known people before who've died, and to be honest, spending five
minutes with the woman listening to her rant and rave doesn't really
leave me with much of an impression on her death." Besides, he added
to himself, I've been dealing with this for a few hours now.
"Oh," Nene's voice came from behind him, "I guess that makes
sense."
"Not really," Tomas shrugged, and spun, so he could face the
two women while he walked backwards toward the kitchen. "I'm just
fairly good and shoving my emotions aside most of the time. It'll
probably hit me bad later." Before Tomas could continue his speech,
however, something hit the back of his legs. He didn't have time to
do anymore then cry out as he fell over backward and slammed into the
ground, his head hitting it hard.
Cries from both the girls came as Tomas fell over; their eyes
watched the burnt food move through the air spreading across the
ground. Nene moved toward Tomas' head while Linna looked to see what
he'd tripped over. "Are you okay?" Nene asked.
"I don't know," came the groaned response. "What'd I run
into?"
"They're cats," came Linna's surprised response. "Nene didn't
tell me you had any cats."
"I don't." Pushing himself up, Tomas pushed his fingers
through his hair to feel where his head had hit the ground. Bringing
the fingers around, he was glad not to see any blood. Taking his mind
off that fear, he looked at the two cats. "Damn it L," Tomas bit back
the moon cat's name and swallowed down more curses. As Tomas went
back to rubbing his head, he drew in a shuddering breath and did his
best to calm down and think.
As he thought things over, he realized that he was starting to
make serious slips, and it was going to get him into a lot of trouble
if he couldn't learn to control it. He could just see himself now
running into the Knight Sabers and calling them by their real names.
That would get him killed very fast, probably faster then the demon he
was waiting for to show up and do the job.
Shaking his head and bringing himself back to the present,
Tomas looked at the two cats, which were trapped under his legs, but
squirming to try to get out. Frowning for a second at the black and
white pair, Tomas reached over and as he bent his legs up, he scooped
the pair each into an arm. "I'm going to find out who these two
belong two." Sliding his legs under himself, Tomas climbed back to
his feet. "You two wanna come?"
"Umm..." Nene looked down at the mess on the floor and then
back to Tomas. "What about that?"
Looking at the mess, Tomas shrugged. "I was going to throw it
out anyway. It's already on the floor, so leaving it there for
another ten minutes won't hurt anything."
"What are you going to do for dinner, then?"
Looking at Linna, Tomas smiled. "I've got more in the fridge,
of course." His smile quickly vanished. "I was planning on using it
for dinner later in the week, but, oh well."
"Oh, I see." Nene thought for a few moments before speaking
up again. "Tomas, why don't you go ahead? Linna and I can clean this
up and bring out the extra food."
Tomas looked at Nene and blinked. "Uh, you don't have to.
Its not too big a deal."
"No, no, I insist. You're the host, so you should be spending
time with everyone."
Looking at Nene for a moment longer, he shrugged. He hated
cleaning up, so this worked out fine for him. "Okay then, I'll see
you two in a bit, I guess." Turning around, Tomas headed out of the
kitchen, carrying the cats with him.
After Tomas was gone, Linna turned and glared at Nene. "What
was that about?"
Looking through the door Tomas had gone, Nene had an intense
expression on her face. "After what happened with those two
detectives, I want to learn more about him. This gives us a chance."
Kneeling down, Nene began to grab up the burnt food. "Come on, help
me toss this into the garbage and we'll go explore."
"Nene," Linna was practically glaring at her friend. "That's
the wrong thing to do. If you want to know, you should ask Tomas, not
go snooping around."
"Linna," Nene sighed, "if there was something bad about him, I
don't think he'd just tell us. Snooping is the only sure way to find
out. Now, come on and help me."
Sighing and knowing that she wasn't going to get out of it,
Linna bent down and began to help Nene with the quick cleaning.
***
"Hey, what's this?"
Turning away from the closet she was looking through, Linna's
attention focused on the book Nene was holding up. The book's cover
was solid black with Tomas' name written in white. "A diary, maybe?"
"Hmm..." Opening the book, Nene scanned the first page before
shaking her head. "No, its not handwritten, or even printed on
computer paper. Also, it's written like you'd find in a bookstore."
"Strange." Shrugging it off, Linna turned back to the closet.
"Why don't you read through some of it and see what it says?"
"I plan to," Nene replied as she sat down on Tomas' bed.
It was a couple of minutes later when Linna called out in
surprise. "Now this is interesting!" Turning back to Nene, Linna
help up a small black device with a single button with the word Hack
written on it. "Do you think this is some kind of joke?"
Frowning at the device, Nene reached up and took it from Linna
as the brunet walked over to her. Flipping the device over in her
hands a couple of times, her eyes searched for anything more
distinctive then the one word button. Finally, her eyes caught
another pair of words, though these two had been scribbled over in
black marker. "Black Ice?" she mumbled the question to herself. Her
eyes glazed over slightly as she thought hard on the name, sure now
that it was familiar. Suddenly, it hit her and Nene's eyes shot wide
open as she began to tremble slightly. "My god, I know what this is!"
Linna raised an eyebrow at Nene. "Are you going to tell me?"
Nene nodded and began talking in a soft voice. "A couple of
years ago there were a bunch of rumors about Genom developing a high
level hacking tool that was both simplistic and powerful. Being a
hacker myself, of course I was interested. There were all sorts of
vague rumors running around about how it could remotely hack into any
system it was near, and how the more often it was used, the more
powerful it's hacking abilities became."
Grabbing her purse from where she had tossed it as she and
Linna had entered the room, Nene pulled out her pocket computer.
Bringing the Black Ice near it, she pressed the Hack button as she
continued speaking. "Getting in any system was supposed to be as easy
as this." Nene blinked as her pocket PC turned on and a small bar
with the word 'Hacked' above it came up on the display screen on the
Black Ice and ever so slowly began shrinking. "No way..." Nene was
breathless for a second before she quickly hit the hack button again.
Her pocket PC instantly turned off.
"What's wrong, Nene?"
"This...this has to be the Black Ice." Slowly Nene's
trembling hands put both the small black tool and her pocket pc down.
"My god...it went through my security like it was nothing."
"Right." A small smirk came to Linna's lips. It was actually
nice to see her friend humbled in the computer area for once. Still,
that wasn't why they were here. "So, why does Tomas have it? How did
he even get it?"
"Well," Nene swallowed slightly before continuing, "the last
rumors about it were that someone had broken into the research
facility where it was being developed and stole the prototype before
destroying the entire place."
"You don't think Tomas...?"
Nene shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't know. He
seems nice enough, and Eve is really cute. He just doesn't seem like
the kind of guy who could do that."
"But we don't really know him, do we?"
"No, we don't." Looking off to the side, Nene eyed the book
with the young man's name written on it. "But this might tell us."
"Do you really think so? It's not really an autobiography, is
it?"
"No," Nene replied, "But it's a lot better then asking."
Linna blinked for a second and frowned. "Wait a second, you
mean you're going to steal it?"
Nene shook her head as she put the book, her pocket pc, and
the Black Ice into her purse. "Not steal, just barrow. I'll bring
them back when I'm done. I'm sure Tomas will understand."
"And if he doesn't?" Linna replied as she began heading toward
the door. They'd been in the house about as long as they could, and
she knew it was now only a matter of time before Tomas came looking
for them.
Getting up and following Linna, Nene responded, "Don't worry,
I'm too cute for him too stay angry with."
"Right," came the sarcastic reply as the pair moved into the
kitchen. "Come on, lets just get the food and get back out there."
"Right."
Getting the spare meat out of the fridge proved no problems,
and the pair had almost made it to the front door when it slid open
and Tomas stepped in. On seeing them, he blinked. "I was worried
something happened. Are you two okay? It took you quite awhile."
Giving a smile, Nene shook her head, doing her best to keep
her emotions and all the questions she had bottled up. "I just had to
use the bathroom. You don't mind, do you?"
Shaking his head, Tomas stepped aside and gave a small wave to
the door. "Not at all, except people are getting hungry. Lets get
dinner part two cooking, eh?"
Nodding her head and stepping outside, Nene smiled. "Sure
thing."
***
With a garbage bag slung over one shoulder filled with the
remnants of his party, Tomas stepped back into his home, the soft
lights casting a warm glow through the living room. "Well, that
wasn't a complete bomb, at least," he mumbled to himself as he set the
bag of garbage down and closed the door behind him.
In truth, the party hadn't been a total disaster, and had the
first batch of food not been ruined, he could have counted it a
success. He managed to have at least short discussions with everyone
who had shown up for the party, and everyone had apparently had a good
time, though he wasn't too sure about Priss. He was surprised she'd
even shown up, and more surprised that she stuck around. That had to
count for something.
Collapsing on the couch, Tomas let his gaze drift out the
window and into the night sky. His eyes slowly traced over the stars
as his thoughts drifted back to home, his real home. He wondered what
his parents were doing, and his sister, and even his roommate, though
they'd only known each other for a few months. Closing his eyes,
Tomas mentally said a small wish for his parents and sister, hoping
they'd be able to live their lives and be strong without him. He'd
hate to be the cause of his family falling apart, especially after all
he and his sister had done to get their parents to still realize that
they loved each other. That had been a trying two years.
Opening his eyes again, Tomas' gaze returned out the window as
a soft cool breeze blew through the screen that was in place. The
smell of the fresh air filled his nose and gave him a sense of peace
as his eyes sought out more stars. A slight glint below the sky line
caused him to focus his eyes more, however. Blinking at the spot, he
slowly worked out the complete shape.
"OH SHIT!"
`Throwing himself off the couch and to the side, Tomas went
into a slight panic as a gunshot rang through the room. He didn't
wait to see what was going to happen, instead gathering his legs under
him and sprinting down the hall and toward the kitchen, wincing as a
second gunshot called out. Not feeling any pain, however, Tomas kept
his sprint up.
When the door to the kitchen banged open, Tomas truly began to
get terrified. A second man was standing in the doorway, a gun in his
hand and aiming for Tomas. Acting on instinct, Tomas bent over as far
as he could as his long legs carried him toward the man at an almost
uncontrolled rate. The man got a single shot off, and as the bullet
scraped along Tomas' back and caused him to grunt in pain, but he
didn't fall.
And then Tomas was on the man. In the split second it took
for Tomas' last step to cause him to reach the man, his mind went
through the choices of what to do. And then he was there, and Tomas'
fist lashed out, carried not only by his strength, but by his momentum
as well. The fist didn't crash into the man's stomach, didn't slam
into the man's surprised face, or even get shoved into the man's
groin, though that was an option. Tomas wasn't feeling that kind
about the whole situation, and getting slightly wounded by the single
bullet had brought his head back to reality and out of the fog of
fear.
Just as he reached the man, Tomas' body straightened up and
his fist came in an upper cut that didn't hit the man's chin, but his
throat instead. Tomas felt the soft part of the man's body cave in
under the blow, his ears filled with the sound of the throat being
crushed. Then his momentum caused the rest of Tomas to slam into the
man and the pair fell to the floor.
Even as they hit the ground, Tomas gave the man no more
thought. He knew that the guy was dead, and that was perfectly
alright with him. Scrambling back to his feet, Tomas continued his
dash away from the man who'd been in the front door, his right hand
lashing out as he passed the counter. The hand came back to his body
now clutching a pair of steak knives that he'd torn from their wood
block holder. His ears caught the sound of the rest of the knives and
the block itself crash to the floor as his momentum pulled it off the
counter, but he paid it no more mind then he had the dying man behind
him.
Crashing out the back door and into the night air, Tomas
immediately cut to his left and skidded to a stop. Breathing heavily,
Tomas tossed the knives he was carrying up onto the roof, and then
jumped up, grabbing the edge and then pulling himself up after them.
Breathing heavily and his heart pounding in his chest as he'd
never felt it, Tomas gathered up the knives, one in each hand, and
moved to the edge of the roof, crouching down. Struggling, he began
to slow his breathing, trying to make himself as quiet as possible.
Even as he did so, he couldn't resist speaking to himself. "Fuck,
this is insane," he managed to croak out between breathes. Then,
drawing in one large breath, he slowly let it out, managing to get his
breath under control.
With that done, Tomas let his eyes scan as much of the yard as
he could see, struggling to search the shadows as his eyes slowly
adjusted to the darkness. It would really suck to get shot from some
guy standing by the trees, after all. Thankfully, however, he didn't
manage to see anyone, so instead he inched his way over a bit so that
he was above the door.
Now, rather then struggle with his eyes, he began to struggle
with his ears, trying to hear if or when the man who'd tried to kill
him in the living room was going to come out. Then, a bit thankfully
to him, a thud came from the kitchen telling him someone had fallowed
him there. Tensing himself, Tomas waited, his focus now on the ground
below him, waiting for it to be filled by a human form.
It wasn't a long wait. The door quietly opened, but the light
streaming from it and the shadow of a person gave Tomas all the
knowledge he needed. His tense muscles began to twitch as he prepared
himself for the move he was about to try. As the seconds ticked away,
Tomas grimaced, his muscles straining to keep him in place. He was
about to relax himself when the person in the kitchen doorway finally
stepped out.
Tomas didn't hesitate a second, not wanting to give the man
even a split moment to turn around and look up. Tomas' legs propelled
him up into the air and directly over the man in a small jump. Then
he fell. As his feet slammed into the man's broad shoulders, Tomas
collapsed his knees back into a crouch and drove both knives he held
into the man's throat. As the pair hit the ground, Tomas twisted and
jerked the knives, hoping it was enough to ensure the man wouldn't be
getting up and shooting him.
The man's gurgled response was all Tomas needed to be sure the
man wouldn't be getting up again. Leaving his knives where they were,
Tomas rose to his feet, and stepped back off the man so that he was
now in the doorway. A grateful sigh released from his lips as he
realized all of the training he'd done was most likely the only reason
he was still alive.
"You're good kid, too bad I gotta kill you now."
The man's arrogant comment was all Tomas needed to react. He
wasn't fast enough to remain completely safe, however. Even as he
trough himself backwards something extremely hard slammed into his
stomach and propelled him farther back into the kitchen. He slid
across the floor a bit before coming to a stop. Looking up, Tomas
blinked and swallowed as a huge man with bulging muscles followed him
through the door, the man tossing a metal baseball bat over his
shoulder. Coughing up a bit of blood, Tomas twisted his body so he
could propel himself back trough the kitchen door. He blinked and
turned back to the man, swallowing hard.
"Yeah," the man said in a rough voice, "Kenzo did a good job
blocking your escape. You ain't gonna run through that door with the
fridge blocking it. There ain't no way you're gonna move it before I
can carve ya up." So saying, the man pulled out a pair of large,
military style knives from behind his back. "I'm going to slice you
real good boy."
As the man slowly began to stalk forward, Tomas pushed himself
back, not bothering to stand. "Well," he muttered under his breath,
"guess I'll be seeing you soon, Botan-chan."
"What was that," the man asked, a slightly amused look now on
his hard face.
"Oh," Tomas spoke up, "nothing, nothing...at...all..."trailing
off, Tomas' eyes widened slightly. Botan...of course, he was a Reiki
detective! He wasn't out of this fight yet. Steeling himself, Tomas
raised his right arm, index finger pointing toward the man and gripped
his wrist with his left hand. A nasty smirk came to Tomas' face.
"Well," his voice was now filled with arrogance and slightly snide as
well, "come on. Let's get this over with."
"Are you going to poke me to death? Well, if you insist..."
"Oh, I do. Unless you're scared."
The man's arrogant look faded even as Tomas' simply grew
bigger. "Fine kid. Just die." So saying, the man propelled himself
forward with a speed that didn't fit his size.
As the man started his charge, a ball of blue energy quickly
formed at the tip of Tomas' extended finger, growing to the size of a
pool ball. As the man leapt for him, not even noticing the energy,
Tomas' mind went blank. His jaw dropped open as the name of the
attack fled from his mind, stunning him into inaction. Something in
Tomas wouldn't let him launch the attack while remaining silent.
Trying as hard as he could, he failed to launch the attack at the man.
As the man's charge brought him to tower over Tomas and the knives
streaked for him, Tomas snapped.
"SHIT!"
A beam of blue energy erupted from the ball, slamming into the
man and driving him up and backward, continuing to do so until the man
slammed into the corner between the far wall and ceiling. Then the
beam died out and man fell to the floor.
Pushing himself to his feel, Tomas turned his gaze to his
finger. "Great, so I got a Shit Gun now? Man, just my luck." At a
groan, Tomas turned his attention to the man, the panic that had
filled him fully gone now. "Well, was it as good for you as it was
for me?" Tomas couldn't help himself, he just had to taunt the
fucker. After scaring the hell out of him, it was the least he could
do.
"What the hell was that?"
Without any pressure, the real name of the attack came back to
Tomas. "My Rei-Gun," he said with a rather pleased smile. "Isn't it
neat?" The smile quickly changed to an angry glare. "That was my
nice attack. This is my evil one." Raising his right hand, Tomas
twisted it so that his True Rune was facing the man. "Soul Eater!"
As its name was called, the Rune began to glow with power and an image
of it formed above Tomas. "FINGER OF DEATH!"
The same black line of energy that had taken the life of Eve's
teacher tore from the image and slammed into the man. The man's
anguished screams filled the shrine as Soul Eater's powers ripped out
the man's soul and destroyed it, claiming his life in the process. As
the magical attack died away, a sense of satisfaction entered the back
of his mind. Glancing down at the Rune, he nodded. "This time, I
agree with you."
Then he let go of the tough, arrogant persona he'd taken
leaned heavily against the kitchen table. "Damn, but this is a mess.
God, I hope it didn't wake Eve up." Blinking, Tomas turned to the
kitchen door. "Oh god...EVE!"
Straightening, Tomas faced the blocked kitchen door and raised
his right hand, gripping his wrist once more. With a mix of anger and
just plain not caring about himself, a ball of blue energy formed at
the tip once more. "REI-GUN!" The beam launched out and slammed into
the door, throwing it off its hinges and down the hall.
As the Reiki died down, Tomas stumbled and fell to the floor
feeling more wasted then he had in his entire life. Still, he knew he
couldn't let that stop him, and shoved himself to his feet. Vaulting
over the refrigerator that remained in place, Tomas stumbled again and
leaned against the wall. "Shit...that was dumb..."
Gathering what strength he could, Tomas forced himself down
the hallway and to Eve's room. The door was still shut, but Tomas
didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. Reaching to the
handle, he pressed himself against the wall to give as little profile
as possible to anyone who might be inside, and slowly turned the knob.
As soon as it was turned all the way, Tomas threw the door open as
hard as he could and dove into the room, hitting the floor fast, and
scanning every corner, ready to unleash Soul Eater again. Seeing no
one, his attention turned to the bed.
Neither Eve nor her blankets were there, however, the mattress
bare and looking empty. Trembling slightly, Tomas' gaze moved up to
the large window, and seeing the screen cut away and the glass still
open, he could only swallow and turn his gaze to the closet, the only
place in the room it was possible for someone to hide in. Moving to
the door, he quickly grabbed the handle and threw it open even as he
tossed himself backwards. Besides clothes, however, the closet was
empty.
"No...no...fuck no..." Pushing himself back to his feet,
Tomas moved almost lifelessly out of the room. Turning left, he
stumbled his way back toward the living room. "Kami-sama, no." He
hated this part of himself sometimes, at times like these. He grew
attached to people fast when they were in his life constantly. Eve
had become part of his life, someone who had slightly replaced the
family he'd lost.
And now he'd lost her. What the hell was he going to do?
Looking toward the front door, he noticed that it was open, probably
left that by the guy he'd killed with the knives. Turning to head to
it, to close it, his eyes narrowed as they caught the outline of
someone in the window and moving toward the door. Finding energy he
didn't know he still had, Tomas propelled himself to the door, Going
into a jump kick just before he reached it and the person stepped into
the frame. His foot connected with the person's chest, causing a
female cry of pain to go up.
With almost wild eyes, Tomas dove forward, his knees hitting
the woman in the stomach and his hands wrapping around her throat.
"Where's Eve! Where the hell did you take her!" His gaze bore into
the woman's fear filled eyes, and as they did so, he slowly came to
realize whom it was. Pushing himself off the girl, Tomas rolled off
of her and wrapped his arms around his knees. "Nene, god, I'm sorry.
It's just...Eve...those bastards."
Coughing and sitting up while holding her stomach, Nene turned
her expression to Tomas. Her eyes were still fearful, but as she took
in the boy's haunted expression, that fear faded away slightly. "What
happened?"
"Some guys, tried to kill me, kidnapped Eve. I thought you
were another one. Sorry." Trembling from a mix of shock and
exhaustion, Tomas turned his gaze to her. "I killed three of them. I
don't know how many more might have come. God, Eve..."
Nene took a moment to absorb that before she asked, "Kidnapped
Eve? Who could have done that? Who would have done that?"
"I don't know, damn it, I just don't." Tomas stopped suddenly
and his eyes narrowed. "No, I do know. Only one person would have
done this. Torneo." Pushing himself to his feet, Tomas offered Nene
a hand to help her up.
Nene accepted the offer, her worries over what Tomas might do
to her gone now that she knew at least somewhat as to what caused it.
"What are you going to do?" she asked as the pair headed into the
house.
"Kill him."
Author's Notes: Well, yet another cliffhanger! BWAHAHAHAHA! That
last scene was fun to write, though I'm sure I could have done it
better. As for next time, well, suffice to say, things get moving.
An SI/Mega X-over
By Tomas Megarson
E-Mail me at: NighthawkTM@Yahoo.com
See my page at: http://nighthawk.anifics.com
Disclaimer: The characters, settings, and places of "Sailor Moon"
were created by and belong to Naoko Takeuchi. The characters,
settings, and places of "YuYuHakusho" were created by and belong to
Yoshihiro Togashi. The characters, settings, and places of "Black
Cat" were created by and belong to Yabuki Kentaro. The characters,
settings, and places of "Bubblegum Crisis 2040" belong to those who
created the anime, and are too numerous to name here.
Chapter 7
"Oh shit."
Detective Sudo gazed at the young man before him and raised an
eyebrow at the response. It hadn't been exactly what he'd been
expecting, unless the kid had killed her, of course. That would be
quite strange, however, given that the forensic team hadn't found any
sign of struggle and no wounds on the teacher. Until the autopsy was
finished, they'd have no idea how the woman had died. Still,
questioning the kid was important. "Why do you say that?"
Sudo's eyes watched the green eyes of the kid, Tomas, as they
flicked around for a second. He raised an eyebrow as the black hair
kid turned his head around for a moment to take in the rest of the
party before turning back to him.
"She was my daughter's teacher. Eve's gonna probably take
this hard." Tomas' voice was soft as he spoke. "Do you mind keeping
your voice down, I'd rather be the one to tell her, and later so it
doesn't ruin her time here."
"I see." Sudo trailed off for a few seconds and glanced over
at his partner, Takimoto. The other man hadn't made any signs of
noticing anything wrong, and so he continued the questioning. "When
was the last time you saw Mrs. Ketsunoana?"
"This afternoon." Tomas' voice was steady and clear, and the
nervousness that Sudo had noticed before was gone. "She'd wanted to
see me because Eve was having problems in school. How did she die?"
The question was asked quickly before Sudo could respond to Tomas'
previous answer.
"We don't know," Takimoto spoke for the first time.
Sudo managed to keep from grimacing, though it was hard.
Something seemed off to him in the kid, but thanks to his partner's
response, he could already tell the kid was slightly more relaxed.
The damn rookie ruined an opportunity to press the boy. Biting back
his anger at his partner, Sudo continued his short bit of questioning.
"What sort of trouble was Eve having in school?"
Tomas gave the detective a bit of a shrug. "I never found
out. When I went to see her she started yelling at me how she was
going to tell my parents about me trying to cover up for Eve or some
crap like that. I told her to check with the government and she'd see
I really was Eve's father, but she kept calling me Eve's brother and
telling me how much trouble I was getting myself into. I finally gave
up and stormed out of the conference room the meeting was it."
"And she was alright when you left?"
"Well, if you call being extremely pissed and threatening to
call my parents alright, then yeah." Sudo watched with slight
interest as Tomas shrugged. "If she does find my parents, though, I'd
love to meet them."
"Hmm?"
The green eyes that were taking in Sudo blinked. "I'm an
orphan. Never knew my folks. If I ever meet them, I think I'll deck
them for abandoning me." Sudo watched with some interest as Tomas'
gaze turned away from him and back to the small blond child. "Then
again, maybe not. After all, who knows what would have happened to
Eve."
Raising an eyebrow, Sudo inquired, "What do you mean?"
Tomas continued speaking without moving his gaze. "Eve's
parents were friends of mine, though quite a bit older. When I was
living in an orphanage in Kyoto, they were there too, and took care of
me. They died a few months ago, and Eve lost her memories. I
couldn't bare the thought of her going to an orphanage like I was in,
so I adopted her, with some help, obviously."
"I see." Sudo frowned for a few moments as he thought.
"Who's help did you have?"
His gaze returning to the detectives, Tomas replied,
"Suzakimi-san, in the parlament. He was a friend of an old boss of
mine, and was happy to help me."
Sudo's face blanched ever so slightly as that name was spoken.
Suzakimi was well known and far above reproach. If he vouched for
this kid, there was practicly nothing he could do. Still, he had to
continue his questioning. "Back to Ketsunoana, how long were you with
her?"
"I don't know, maybe five or so minutes."
Finally, Sudo sighed. As things stood he knew he couldn't do
anything about the boy. While something about him felt off, there was
no way at all to bring the kid in for more intensive questioning. "As
far as we know, you're the last person who saw her, so stay in town
until we get back to you."
Tomas nodded to the man, "I got no plans to go anywhere, so
its not a big deal."
Pulling one of his business cards out of his pocket, Sudo
handed it to Tomas. "If you think of anything give me a call."
"Yeah, will do."
Turning away from the boy, Sudo began his walk across the
Shrine's grounds, his eyes taking in the couple of groups of people
that were milling around. The age difference between the various
people caught his eye and made him curios as to how the group had come
together, but he'd save the questioning for later. He could respect
the kid's request to tell his daughter on his own.
The fact that a kid that young had a daughter made Sudo very
curious. He was definitely going to check out the records on the
subject and find out how someone so young managed to get a daughter.
Just as he reached the steps, a cry of "SHIT, MY BURGERS!" reached his
ears. Glancing over his shoulder, he shook his head as he caught an
angry expression on Tomas' face as he looked into his grill. Then, as
he moved down the steps he lost view of his suspect. Unless the
autopsy told otherwise, of course.
***
Glaring into the grill at the charred and flaming remains of
what should have been dinner, Tomas' green eyes filled with anger.
"Damn it, I KNEW those two were trouble, I just knew it. Man, when
they asked me if I was Tomas, I should have said no."
Looking at the fuming host of the party, Linna shook her head.
She wasn't sure how to react to the now ranting young man. For him to
go from dealing with an on the sport interrogation to complaining
about some burnt food, she just couldn't get it. Finally, she asked,
"Are you alright?"
Adding the charred remains of the last burger to the pile on
the plate next to him, Tomas sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine."
From next to Linna, Nene spoke up. "You seem to be taking
this well."
Moving toward the Shrine, Tomas waved for the two to follow
him. Not looking to see if they were doing so, he replied, "I've
known people before who've died, and to be honest, spending five
minutes with the woman listening to her rant and rave doesn't really
leave me with much of an impression on her death." Besides, he added
to himself, I've been dealing with this for a few hours now.
"Oh," Nene's voice came from behind him, "I guess that makes
sense."
"Not really," Tomas shrugged, and spun, so he could face the
two women while he walked backwards toward the kitchen. "I'm just
fairly good and shoving my emotions aside most of the time. It'll
probably hit me bad later." Before Tomas could continue his speech,
however, something hit the back of his legs. He didn't have time to
do anymore then cry out as he fell over backward and slammed into the
ground, his head hitting it hard.
Cries from both the girls came as Tomas fell over; their eyes
watched the burnt food move through the air spreading across the
ground. Nene moved toward Tomas' head while Linna looked to see what
he'd tripped over. "Are you okay?" Nene asked.
"I don't know," came the groaned response. "What'd I run
into?"
"They're cats," came Linna's surprised response. "Nene didn't
tell me you had any cats."
"I don't." Pushing himself up, Tomas pushed his fingers
through his hair to feel where his head had hit the ground. Bringing
the fingers around, he was glad not to see any blood. Taking his mind
off that fear, he looked at the two cats. "Damn it L," Tomas bit back
the moon cat's name and swallowed down more curses. As Tomas went
back to rubbing his head, he drew in a shuddering breath and did his
best to calm down and think.
As he thought things over, he realized that he was starting to
make serious slips, and it was going to get him into a lot of trouble
if he couldn't learn to control it. He could just see himself now
running into the Knight Sabers and calling them by their real names.
That would get him killed very fast, probably faster then the demon he
was waiting for to show up and do the job.
Shaking his head and bringing himself back to the present,
Tomas looked at the two cats, which were trapped under his legs, but
squirming to try to get out. Frowning for a second at the black and
white pair, Tomas reached over and as he bent his legs up, he scooped
the pair each into an arm. "I'm going to find out who these two
belong two." Sliding his legs under himself, Tomas climbed back to
his feet. "You two wanna come?"
"Umm..." Nene looked down at the mess on the floor and then
back to Tomas. "What about that?"
Looking at the mess, Tomas shrugged. "I was going to throw it
out anyway. It's already on the floor, so leaving it there for
another ten minutes won't hurt anything."
"What are you going to do for dinner, then?"
Looking at Linna, Tomas smiled. "I've got more in the fridge,
of course." His smile quickly vanished. "I was planning on using it
for dinner later in the week, but, oh well."
"Oh, I see." Nene thought for a few moments before speaking
up again. "Tomas, why don't you go ahead? Linna and I can clean this
up and bring out the extra food."
Tomas looked at Nene and blinked. "Uh, you don't have to.
Its not too big a deal."
"No, no, I insist. You're the host, so you should be spending
time with everyone."
Looking at Nene for a moment longer, he shrugged. He hated
cleaning up, so this worked out fine for him. "Okay then, I'll see
you two in a bit, I guess." Turning around, Tomas headed out of the
kitchen, carrying the cats with him.
After Tomas was gone, Linna turned and glared at Nene. "What
was that about?"
Looking through the door Tomas had gone, Nene had an intense
expression on her face. "After what happened with those two
detectives, I want to learn more about him. This gives us a chance."
Kneeling down, Nene began to grab up the burnt food. "Come on, help
me toss this into the garbage and we'll go explore."
"Nene," Linna was practically glaring at her friend. "That's
the wrong thing to do. If you want to know, you should ask Tomas, not
go snooping around."
"Linna," Nene sighed, "if there was something bad about him, I
don't think he'd just tell us. Snooping is the only sure way to find
out. Now, come on and help me."
Sighing and knowing that she wasn't going to get out of it,
Linna bent down and began to help Nene with the quick cleaning.
***
"Hey, what's this?"
Turning away from the closet she was looking through, Linna's
attention focused on the book Nene was holding up. The book's cover
was solid black with Tomas' name written in white. "A diary, maybe?"
"Hmm..." Opening the book, Nene scanned the first page before
shaking her head. "No, its not handwritten, or even printed on
computer paper. Also, it's written like you'd find in a bookstore."
"Strange." Shrugging it off, Linna turned back to the closet.
"Why don't you read through some of it and see what it says?"
"I plan to," Nene replied as she sat down on Tomas' bed.
It was a couple of minutes later when Linna called out in
surprise. "Now this is interesting!" Turning back to Nene, Linna
help up a small black device with a single button with the word Hack
written on it. "Do you think this is some kind of joke?"
Frowning at the device, Nene reached up and took it from Linna
as the brunet walked over to her. Flipping the device over in her
hands a couple of times, her eyes searched for anything more
distinctive then the one word button. Finally, her eyes caught
another pair of words, though these two had been scribbled over in
black marker. "Black Ice?" she mumbled the question to herself. Her
eyes glazed over slightly as she thought hard on the name, sure now
that it was familiar. Suddenly, it hit her and Nene's eyes shot wide
open as she began to tremble slightly. "My god, I know what this is!"
Linna raised an eyebrow at Nene. "Are you going to tell me?"
Nene nodded and began talking in a soft voice. "A couple of
years ago there were a bunch of rumors about Genom developing a high
level hacking tool that was both simplistic and powerful. Being a
hacker myself, of course I was interested. There were all sorts of
vague rumors running around about how it could remotely hack into any
system it was near, and how the more often it was used, the more
powerful it's hacking abilities became."
Grabbing her purse from where she had tossed it as she and
Linna had entered the room, Nene pulled out her pocket computer.
Bringing the Black Ice near it, she pressed the Hack button as she
continued speaking. "Getting in any system was supposed to be as easy
as this." Nene blinked as her pocket PC turned on and a small bar
with the word 'Hacked' above it came up on the display screen on the
Black Ice and ever so slowly began shrinking. "No way..." Nene was
breathless for a second before she quickly hit the hack button again.
Her pocket PC instantly turned off.
"What's wrong, Nene?"
"This...this has to be the Black Ice." Slowly Nene's
trembling hands put both the small black tool and her pocket pc down.
"My god...it went through my security like it was nothing."
"Right." A small smirk came to Linna's lips. It was actually
nice to see her friend humbled in the computer area for once. Still,
that wasn't why they were here. "So, why does Tomas have it? How did
he even get it?"
"Well," Nene swallowed slightly before continuing, "the last
rumors about it were that someone had broken into the research
facility where it was being developed and stole the prototype before
destroying the entire place."
"You don't think Tomas...?"
Nene shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't know. He
seems nice enough, and Eve is really cute. He just doesn't seem like
the kind of guy who could do that."
"But we don't really know him, do we?"
"No, we don't." Looking off to the side, Nene eyed the book
with the young man's name written on it. "But this might tell us."
"Do you really think so? It's not really an autobiography, is
it?"
"No," Nene replied, "But it's a lot better then asking."
Linna blinked for a second and frowned. "Wait a second, you
mean you're going to steal it?"
Nene shook her head as she put the book, her pocket pc, and
the Black Ice into her purse. "Not steal, just barrow. I'll bring
them back when I'm done. I'm sure Tomas will understand."
"And if he doesn't?" Linna replied as she began heading toward
the door. They'd been in the house about as long as they could, and
she knew it was now only a matter of time before Tomas came looking
for them.
Getting up and following Linna, Nene responded, "Don't worry,
I'm too cute for him too stay angry with."
"Right," came the sarcastic reply as the pair moved into the
kitchen. "Come on, lets just get the food and get back out there."
"Right."
Getting the spare meat out of the fridge proved no problems,
and the pair had almost made it to the front door when it slid open
and Tomas stepped in. On seeing them, he blinked. "I was worried
something happened. Are you two okay? It took you quite awhile."
Giving a smile, Nene shook her head, doing her best to keep
her emotions and all the questions she had bottled up. "I just had to
use the bathroom. You don't mind, do you?"
Shaking his head, Tomas stepped aside and gave a small wave to
the door. "Not at all, except people are getting hungry. Lets get
dinner part two cooking, eh?"
Nodding her head and stepping outside, Nene smiled. "Sure
thing."
***
With a garbage bag slung over one shoulder filled with the
remnants of his party, Tomas stepped back into his home, the soft
lights casting a warm glow through the living room. "Well, that
wasn't a complete bomb, at least," he mumbled to himself as he set the
bag of garbage down and closed the door behind him.
In truth, the party hadn't been a total disaster, and had the
first batch of food not been ruined, he could have counted it a
success. He managed to have at least short discussions with everyone
who had shown up for the party, and everyone had apparently had a good
time, though he wasn't too sure about Priss. He was surprised she'd
even shown up, and more surprised that she stuck around. That had to
count for something.
Collapsing on the couch, Tomas let his gaze drift out the
window and into the night sky. His eyes slowly traced over the stars
as his thoughts drifted back to home, his real home. He wondered what
his parents were doing, and his sister, and even his roommate, though
they'd only known each other for a few months. Closing his eyes,
Tomas mentally said a small wish for his parents and sister, hoping
they'd be able to live their lives and be strong without him. He'd
hate to be the cause of his family falling apart, especially after all
he and his sister had done to get their parents to still realize that
they loved each other. That had been a trying two years.
Opening his eyes again, Tomas' gaze returned out the window as
a soft cool breeze blew through the screen that was in place. The
smell of the fresh air filled his nose and gave him a sense of peace
as his eyes sought out more stars. A slight glint below the sky line
caused him to focus his eyes more, however. Blinking at the spot, he
slowly worked out the complete shape.
"OH SHIT!"
`Throwing himself off the couch and to the side, Tomas went
into a slight panic as a gunshot rang through the room. He didn't
wait to see what was going to happen, instead gathering his legs under
him and sprinting down the hall and toward the kitchen, wincing as a
second gunshot called out. Not feeling any pain, however, Tomas kept
his sprint up.
When the door to the kitchen banged open, Tomas truly began to
get terrified. A second man was standing in the doorway, a gun in his
hand and aiming for Tomas. Acting on instinct, Tomas bent over as far
as he could as his long legs carried him toward the man at an almost
uncontrolled rate. The man got a single shot off, and as the bullet
scraped along Tomas' back and caused him to grunt in pain, but he
didn't fall.
And then Tomas was on the man. In the split second it took
for Tomas' last step to cause him to reach the man, his mind went
through the choices of what to do. And then he was there, and Tomas'
fist lashed out, carried not only by his strength, but by his momentum
as well. The fist didn't crash into the man's stomach, didn't slam
into the man's surprised face, or even get shoved into the man's
groin, though that was an option. Tomas wasn't feeling that kind
about the whole situation, and getting slightly wounded by the single
bullet had brought his head back to reality and out of the fog of
fear.
Just as he reached the man, Tomas' body straightened up and
his fist came in an upper cut that didn't hit the man's chin, but his
throat instead. Tomas felt the soft part of the man's body cave in
under the blow, his ears filled with the sound of the throat being
crushed. Then his momentum caused the rest of Tomas to slam into the
man and the pair fell to the floor.
Even as they hit the ground, Tomas gave the man no more
thought. He knew that the guy was dead, and that was perfectly
alright with him. Scrambling back to his feet, Tomas continued his
dash away from the man who'd been in the front door, his right hand
lashing out as he passed the counter. The hand came back to his body
now clutching a pair of steak knives that he'd torn from their wood
block holder. His ears caught the sound of the rest of the knives and
the block itself crash to the floor as his momentum pulled it off the
counter, but he paid it no more mind then he had the dying man behind
him.
Crashing out the back door and into the night air, Tomas
immediately cut to his left and skidded to a stop. Breathing heavily,
Tomas tossed the knives he was carrying up onto the roof, and then
jumped up, grabbing the edge and then pulling himself up after them.
Breathing heavily and his heart pounding in his chest as he'd
never felt it, Tomas gathered up the knives, one in each hand, and
moved to the edge of the roof, crouching down. Struggling, he began
to slow his breathing, trying to make himself as quiet as possible.
Even as he did so, he couldn't resist speaking to himself. "Fuck,
this is insane," he managed to croak out between breathes. Then,
drawing in one large breath, he slowly let it out, managing to get his
breath under control.
With that done, Tomas let his eyes scan as much of the yard as
he could see, struggling to search the shadows as his eyes slowly
adjusted to the darkness. It would really suck to get shot from some
guy standing by the trees, after all. Thankfully, however, he didn't
manage to see anyone, so instead he inched his way over a bit so that
he was above the door.
Now, rather then struggle with his eyes, he began to struggle
with his ears, trying to hear if or when the man who'd tried to kill
him in the living room was going to come out. Then, a bit thankfully
to him, a thud came from the kitchen telling him someone had fallowed
him there. Tensing himself, Tomas waited, his focus now on the ground
below him, waiting for it to be filled by a human form.
It wasn't a long wait. The door quietly opened, but the light
streaming from it and the shadow of a person gave Tomas all the
knowledge he needed. His tense muscles began to twitch as he prepared
himself for the move he was about to try. As the seconds ticked away,
Tomas grimaced, his muscles straining to keep him in place. He was
about to relax himself when the person in the kitchen doorway finally
stepped out.
Tomas didn't hesitate a second, not wanting to give the man
even a split moment to turn around and look up. Tomas' legs propelled
him up into the air and directly over the man in a small jump. Then
he fell. As his feet slammed into the man's broad shoulders, Tomas
collapsed his knees back into a crouch and drove both knives he held
into the man's throat. As the pair hit the ground, Tomas twisted and
jerked the knives, hoping it was enough to ensure the man wouldn't be
getting up and shooting him.
The man's gurgled response was all Tomas needed to be sure the
man wouldn't be getting up again. Leaving his knives where they were,
Tomas rose to his feet, and stepped back off the man so that he was
now in the doorway. A grateful sigh released from his lips as he
realized all of the training he'd done was most likely the only reason
he was still alive.
"You're good kid, too bad I gotta kill you now."
The man's arrogant comment was all Tomas needed to react. He
wasn't fast enough to remain completely safe, however. Even as he
trough himself backwards something extremely hard slammed into his
stomach and propelled him farther back into the kitchen. He slid
across the floor a bit before coming to a stop. Looking up, Tomas
blinked and swallowed as a huge man with bulging muscles followed him
through the door, the man tossing a metal baseball bat over his
shoulder. Coughing up a bit of blood, Tomas twisted his body so he
could propel himself back trough the kitchen door. He blinked and
turned back to the man, swallowing hard.
"Yeah," the man said in a rough voice, "Kenzo did a good job
blocking your escape. You ain't gonna run through that door with the
fridge blocking it. There ain't no way you're gonna move it before I
can carve ya up." So saying, the man pulled out a pair of large,
military style knives from behind his back. "I'm going to slice you
real good boy."
As the man slowly began to stalk forward, Tomas pushed himself
back, not bothering to stand. "Well," he muttered under his breath,
"guess I'll be seeing you soon, Botan-chan."
"What was that," the man asked, a slightly amused look now on
his hard face.
"Oh," Tomas spoke up, "nothing, nothing...at...all..."trailing
off, Tomas' eyes widened slightly. Botan...of course, he was a Reiki
detective! He wasn't out of this fight yet. Steeling himself, Tomas
raised his right arm, index finger pointing toward the man and gripped
his wrist with his left hand. A nasty smirk came to Tomas' face.
"Well," his voice was now filled with arrogance and slightly snide as
well, "come on. Let's get this over with."
"Are you going to poke me to death? Well, if you insist..."
"Oh, I do. Unless you're scared."
The man's arrogant look faded even as Tomas' simply grew
bigger. "Fine kid. Just die." So saying, the man propelled himself
forward with a speed that didn't fit his size.
As the man started his charge, a ball of blue energy quickly
formed at the tip of Tomas' extended finger, growing to the size of a
pool ball. As the man leapt for him, not even noticing the energy,
Tomas' mind went blank. His jaw dropped open as the name of the
attack fled from his mind, stunning him into inaction. Something in
Tomas wouldn't let him launch the attack while remaining silent.
Trying as hard as he could, he failed to launch the attack at the man.
As the man's charge brought him to tower over Tomas and the knives
streaked for him, Tomas snapped.
"SHIT!"
A beam of blue energy erupted from the ball, slamming into the
man and driving him up and backward, continuing to do so until the man
slammed into the corner between the far wall and ceiling. Then the
beam died out and man fell to the floor.
Pushing himself to his feel, Tomas turned his gaze to his
finger. "Great, so I got a Shit Gun now? Man, just my luck." At a
groan, Tomas turned his attention to the man, the panic that had
filled him fully gone now. "Well, was it as good for you as it was
for me?" Tomas couldn't help himself, he just had to taunt the
fucker. After scaring the hell out of him, it was the least he could
do.
"What the hell was that?"
Without any pressure, the real name of the attack came back to
Tomas. "My Rei-Gun," he said with a rather pleased smile. "Isn't it
neat?" The smile quickly changed to an angry glare. "That was my
nice attack. This is my evil one." Raising his right hand, Tomas
twisted it so that his True Rune was facing the man. "Soul Eater!"
As its name was called, the Rune began to glow with power and an image
of it formed above Tomas. "FINGER OF DEATH!"
The same black line of energy that had taken the life of Eve's
teacher tore from the image and slammed into the man. The man's
anguished screams filled the shrine as Soul Eater's powers ripped out
the man's soul and destroyed it, claiming his life in the process. As
the magical attack died away, a sense of satisfaction entered the back
of his mind. Glancing down at the Rune, he nodded. "This time, I
agree with you."
Then he let go of the tough, arrogant persona he'd taken
leaned heavily against the kitchen table. "Damn, but this is a mess.
God, I hope it didn't wake Eve up." Blinking, Tomas turned to the
kitchen door. "Oh god...EVE!"
Straightening, Tomas faced the blocked kitchen door and raised
his right hand, gripping his wrist once more. With a mix of anger and
just plain not caring about himself, a ball of blue energy formed at
the tip once more. "REI-GUN!" The beam launched out and slammed into
the door, throwing it off its hinges and down the hall.
As the Reiki died down, Tomas stumbled and fell to the floor
feeling more wasted then he had in his entire life. Still, he knew he
couldn't let that stop him, and shoved himself to his feet. Vaulting
over the refrigerator that remained in place, Tomas stumbled again and
leaned against the wall. "Shit...that was dumb..."
Gathering what strength he could, Tomas forced himself down
the hallway and to Eve's room. The door was still shut, but Tomas
didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. Reaching to the
handle, he pressed himself against the wall to give as little profile
as possible to anyone who might be inside, and slowly turned the knob.
As soon as it was turned all the way, Tomas threw the door open as
hard as he could and dove into the room, hitting the floor fast, and
scanning every corner, ready to unleash Soul Eater again. Seeing no
one, his attention turned to the bed.
Neither Eve nor her blankets were there, however, the mattress
bare and looking empty. Trembling slightly, Tomas' gaze moved up to
the large window, and seeing the screen cut away and the glass still
open, he could only swallow and turn his gaze to the closet, the only
place in the room it was possible for someone to hide in. Moving to
the door, he quickly grabbed the handle and threw it open even as he
tossed himself backwards. Besides clothes, however, the closet was
empty.
"No...no...fuck no..." Pushing himself back to his feet,
Tomas moved almost lifelessly out of the room. Turning left, he
stumbled his way back toward the living room. "Kami-sama, no." He
hated this part of himself sometimes, at times like these. He grew
attached to people fast when they were in his life constantly. Eve
had become part of his life, someone who had slightly replaced the
family he'd lost.
And now he'd lost her. What the hell was he going to do?
Looking toward the front door, he noticed that it was open, probably
left that by the guy he'd killed with the knives. Turning to head to
it, to close it, his eyes narrowed as they caught the outline of
someone in the window and moving toward the door. Finding energy he
didn't know he still had, Tomas propelled himself to the door, Going
into a jump kick just before he reached it and the person stepped into
the frame. His foot connected with the person's chest, causing a
female cry of pain to go up.
With almost wild eyes, Tomas dove forward, his knees hitting
the woman in the stomach and his hands wrapping around her throat.
"Where's Eve! Where the hell did you take her!" His gaze bore into
the woman's fear filled eyes, and as they did so, he slowly came to
realize whom it was. Pushing himself off the girl, Tomas rolled off
of her and wrapped his arms around his knees. "Nene, god, I'm sorry.
It's just...Eve...those bastards."
Coughing and sitting up while holding her stomach, Nene turned
her expression to Tomas. Her eyes were still fearful, but as she took
in the boy's haunted expression, that fear faded away slightly. "What
happened?"
"Some guys, tried to kill me, kidnapped Eve. I thought you
were another one. Sorry." Trembling from a mix of shock and
exhaustion, Tomas turned his gaze to her. "I killed three of them. I
don't know how many more might have come. God, Eve..."
Nene took a moment to absorb that before she asked, "Kidnapped
Eve? Who could have done that? Who would have done that?"
"I don't know, damn it, I just don't." Tomas stopped suddenly
and his eyes narrowed. "No, I do know. Only one person would have
done this. Torneo." Pushing himself to his feet, Tomas offered Nene
a hand to help her up.
Nene accepted the offer, her worries over what Tomas might do
to her gone now that she knew at least somewhat as to what caused it.
"What are you going to do?" she asked as the pair headed into the
house.
"Kill him."
Author's Notes: Well, yet another cliffhanger! BWAHAHAHAHA! That
last scene was fun to write, though I'm sure I could have done it
better. As for next time, well, suffice to say, things get moving.