Its been a week since Buds' faithful encounter with the Senshi of Time, and for the whole week, Buds thought that he would be jumped at any moment. He did, after all, attacked one of the Senshi, and that Tuxedo Kamen loser.

But surprisingly, his week was relatively peaceful and quiet. His days passed without anything. No confrontations, no attacks, no challenges, and right now, no trouble, until now.

"BUDS!" shouted a voice behind him. Buds flinched as he recognized the voice. It was a voice he learned to dread for weeks to come.

-| Omega X Present |-

-| Omega |-

-| Chapter 08: The Hunted |-

Repeat after me: This world is made of Love and Peace! –Vash the Stampede, The Humanoid Typhoon.

He was continuing school, as his connections with other people were getting stronger. He met new people, new girls, from his school or other schools. Some liked him. Others didn't. Others annoyed him to hell, like the one behind him.

Turning around, he faced a girl with wild curly brown hair, which went down to her neck. She was attractive in a sports sort of way. Her breasts were small, but she didn't care. All she had prided on was her basketball skills and the powers she had. Buds met her one day when he was peacefully shooting some hoops. She challenged him, and she lost. After that, she wouldn't stop hounding him.

Momo had her hands across her chest and was glaring at him. "What do you want now, Momo?"

"You haven't tried out yet for the basketball team," Momo replied angrily. "How long are you going to make me wait?" She clenched her fist, her eyes filled with fire and brimstone. "How long will I have to hold my fist in your face until you can finally be convinced it's for the best?"

(Best for you, you mean) Buds thought angrily.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Momo shouted angrily.

Buds was taken aback. (Did I just say that out loud?) he thought.

"I'm psychic you idiot!" Momo shouted, whacking Buds' head with her fists. "Why do you think they made me team captain of the basketball team?"

"Yeah, I remember now," Buds sighed, wanting to hit his head. All his thoughts spoke loud and clear to her no matter what he can do. "But no matter how good you are, your psychic powers didn't save your ass when you challenged me."

Momo turned red and her head enlarged with rage as she dove towards Buds, landing on top of him, strangling him. A few clicks are heard, and another girl emerges from a bush. She had black hair and glasses on her head. She had white shirt, cycling shorts, and a blue jacket vest over her. In her hands was a camera.

"Well, this is a new recruiting method..." the photographer said smiling. "Rape them until they join, ne Momo?"

"Ran Hibiki..." Momo grit her teeth. She turned towards the other girl. "Why don't you mind your own business?" Momo stood up and went towards the photographer. "Buds is meant to play basketball!"

"To each on her own I guess..." Ran sighed. She suddenly straightened up, and she began to talk on the microphone that suddenly appeared from her hands. "Momo, age 17 and senior of the Taiyo High, the only female member of the basketball team, and with an added bonus, she is also the team captain and star player. She challenges a new boy who was peacefully shooting a few hoops..."

"He wasn't just shooting a few hoops!" Momo shook her fist. "He was playing one on one with another player from the team, and Buds was beating him!"

"Right..." Ran said. "Anyway, she challenges the new kid in one on one, and hoping for a quick victory, her ass gets handed back to her."

"I... I didn't lose! I just... let him win!" Momo punched the ground, cracking some concrete. Ran didn't look even amused.

"Right... And right now, she is trying her best to 'convince' the new kid to join the team. She even resorts in giving her virginity to him," Ran continued talking to her mike.

"I was not offering my virginity! Mike already took it!" Momo said indignantly, and suddenly clasped her mouth shut. Ran just smiled at her as Momo turned from a shade of red, and then turned purple and finally green. "I think I'm going to be late for class..."

Ran smiled as Momo walked away, not turning back. She shook her head, and approached Buds, who was now standing, watching the whole thing with amazement. "How are you Buds?"

"Wow... the school paper didn't make a mistake in appointing you as a scoop girl..." Buds commented with a smile.

"Thanks. Flattery will get you everywhere," Ran said. She smiled and looked at Buds. "You know, I kinda wonder why it seems your hair seems longer than yesterday." She gently grabbed Buds' ponytail. "It's about 5 cm longer."

Buds scratched his head. "Yeah, my hair grows longer each day. Something to do about my blood I think."

"Well, that's nice and all," Ran said, gently caressing her camera. "I would charge you for wasting my time, but Hinata wouldn't like that."

Buds scratched his head again nervously. "I'm sorry Ran. Seems you have to trouble yourself for me, huh?"

"Nah, forget it," Ran said, waving her hand to the apology. "What are friends for? But you do owe me a few favors. If you have any info, tell me. I got to have the scoop."

Buds smiled weakly and just nodded and both figures walked towards Buds' class.

=Juuban Streets=

B. B. Hood or also known as Bulleta was walking down the streets, the cape of her red hood was flapping behind her in the wind. With her basket of wads of money, she proceeded to the back streets of Juuban. The back streets have stores hidden so carefully in the society that even authorities don't have a clue about them. Some examples of these store either sell pornographic tape of underage girls which neither the girl or the supposed rapist of the girl is acting. Other stores have girls inside them, with prices on their bodies per hour. Prices vary from age and experience.

B. B. Hood paid no heed to the men around her. They either asked her to join them in the bordello, or even for am hour of 'fun' but she ignores them. She had to do something now, and she can't waste time with them. And why would she waste her time on these humans? They could never experience what she did; death, destruction, hatred, thrill of the kill and pride of destroying a being; human or Darkstalker, it doesn't matter.

Finally B. B. Hood reaches her destination. 'Guns and Roses', a store which specializes in guns of all models, whether they are handguns, sub-machine guns, rifles, or bazookas, they have it all. All illegal of course, either taken from discarded piles by the police, military, or ordered from gun dealers from around the world.

The bell, which was hit by the opening door, announced her entrance, and it got the attention of an old man who was taking care of his rose plant. When he looked up, he frowned a bit. "Another job, bounty hunter?" the old man asked.

"Yes, hello to you too, old man," B. B. Hood smiled. Her eyes gleamed dangerously that would have scared the shit of any normal person. The old man was not a normal person though. The old man was Joe, an American soldier who found Japan a very good place to retire. He experienced all. Vietnam, Cambodia; the old man seen hell and still lived to tell the tale. He was the closest thing for a normal companion for B. B. Hood.

"How many?" Joe said, straight to the point.

"Three MP5s, clips full. Five AK-47s with silencers, clips full as well. Bazookas, heat-seekers, grenades, mines, and C4. Plus 20 dozen 9mm Spartan, and 30 dozen bullets of AK-47 neatly stacked in metallic boxes," B. B. Hood said, opening her basket, pouring out all the money inside. Joe raised his eyebrows.

"Going to war on the drug lords? Or maybe you're going to attack Police Stations, or maybe the Japanese Army?" Joe asked.

"Mind you're won business, old man," B. B. Hood said with a warning glare.

Joe didn't look miffed. She usually was like that, and he didn't care. She had the money. That was all that was important.

"I got what you need..." Joe said.

=Taiyo High=

Up in the rooftops of the school were the usual four friends. Hinata with her face stuff with cake, Batsu had his face stuffed with random things, Kyosuke, face clean, slowly eating with Buds who also ate slowly. That was strange, because most times, he eats like Batsu.

"Buds, what's wrong?" Hinata asked carefully. "Lina didn't cook that well?"

Buds of course, explained about him and Lina living together. Batsu was whacked by Hinata for having dirty thoughts. "It's not that," Buds replied quietly. "I feel like I'm being watched."

Kyosuke looked up, a bit nervous. Batsu paused a bit, but continued eating. Hinata just shook her head.

"Buds," Hinata began, "I know you don't like Japanese language that much, but trying to scare us wont save you from making us sure that you will study for the tests this week."

"It's not that Hinata," Buds said calmly, looking at the sky. "I'm serious. I felt this before, and I used to ignore them, but during the courses of time, I began to trust them. Someone is out there, watching us. I can feel it."

Kyosuke paused a bit, and frowned as well. "I can feel it too. I felt it since we started to eat here."

Hinata looked between Buds and Kyosuke. "Guys?" she asked. They looked so serious. They had a gleam in their eyes and were looking dead serious. Hinata felt the panic rise in her brain as she began to nervously look around.

Suddenly, Kyosuke and Buds burst out laughing and began rolling on the ground. Hinata looked at them with an appraising eyebrow and began to glare as the two boys didn't stop laughing. "Alright, what is so funny?"

"You," Buds said between his stifles. "Did you actually believed us?"

"Did you see her face?" Kyosuke asked, stopping his rolling on the ground. "She actually was looking around!"

"I know!" Buds exclaimed, and made a comical expression, trying to copy Hinata nervous looking and glancing around.

POW! SLAM!

"You TWO IDIOTS!" Hinata said, having hit both boys in their heads. Both were currently on the floor, supporting a big bump covered in a cross bandage. "I expected something like that from Batsu, but from you guys?"

Whether they did or did not feel it, they were actually being watched.

=Hino Temple=

"Who in that roof is our target?" Haruka asked. The Sailor Senshi were currently looking through Michiru's Mirror Talisman and watched the whole thing.

"The one with black hair," Setsuna said. She turned towards the Inners. "Was he the one who rescued you?"

"Yup, that's him alright," Minako said sadly.

"He destroyed the youma without braking a sweat..." Makoto said. "Damn... He looked like my old sempai."

"I don't know..." Haruka said, watching Hinata whack Buds in the concrete with her feet. "He looks normal to me."

"He's acting normally," Setsuna nodded, "but I know what he is. I don't know what his plan is, but he is dangerous. He beat me alone, easily. That signifies a lot."

"He looks scrawny to me, not to mention, a bit overweight," Haruka replied.

Setsuna nodded. That she also noticed. He was a bit bulky for a 6 footer, but they way he moved was so fast, so fluid. And the strength he has packs a wallop. Her magical Sailor Fuku almost fazed out with the punch he gave her during their fight. "He is dangerous, and that's all I know. We have to prepare our attacks carefully, watch him. I doubt that we could watch over him in 24 hours, so we have to get everything we need from him," Setsuna said.

"Wow! Can we watch him take a shower? Or maybe change clothes?" Minako asked.

"That would be so cool!" Makoto replied.

Setsuna made a face and silently whacked her head in her palm. How do these Inners have it in them? She missed the good old days where the Inners were actually scary and tough and would not hesitate to call arms. Right now she had a bunch of growing adolescent. She really needed her aspirin bottle right now.

=Taiyo High=

Sniper scope, zooming in to the windows. B. B. Hood took a deep breath and moved her hands steadily as she tried to find her target. Moving steadily from window to window, she tried to find which class held her target.

After finishing her shopping at 'Guns and Roses', B. B. Hood stashed most of her 'goodies' in her rented apartment. It was cheap, and had a privacy act of the highest degree with some more yen. A perfect hiding place.

After that, she just went towards Taiyo High, where Dema said that the symb-demon was studying, and with a little talking with Student Affairs, she found her target.

Since she didn't want to get noticed right away, she refused the girls offer to go visit Buds' class. After all, he was a symb-demon. She couldn't take him on directly. All she had with her was the element of surprise, which she hoped would be good enough.

Finally, after jumping through a dozen windows she finally finds her target. He had been described accurately. Black hair done on a small pony tail, he looked like he was concentrating on something.

Suddenly, he looked directly towards B. B. Hood through the scope, and for the first time, she saw his red irises.

++++++++++

Buds' hair was raised in one end as he felt something watching him. This time it was for real, the feeling of being watched and the danger of something began to burn deeply in his head. He could feel a person, right outside the window, right into the next building. The person was watching at him, maybe aiming at him, but for what reason?

Suddenly, his vision seem to zoom into the rooftops and he saw a young looking girl in red hood, with a rifle aiming directly at him. His eyes widened as she saw her smile and pull the trigger...

WHACK!

"OW! HEY!" Buds complained, rubbing his head, which now had specks of white powder on them.

"Mister Kintaro, if you would like to cheat in the test by looking at other peoples work, please don't be so obvious," Kyoko-sensei said evenly, waving her pointing finger at him.

"I wasn't cheating miss!" Buds complained.

WHACK!

"HEY!"

"You're getting noisy during the test. Unless you want me to fail you, continue quietly without moving your head," Kyoko said as she sat back down in her chair, reading 'Modern Doctors'.

Buds rubbed his head angrily and look back down to his test, but he checked out the window again. He couldn't help it and looked at the roof. Nothing happened and that scared him. Was the girl sill there? Did she really exist?

Turning back to his test, he continued his essay about the famous hitokiri called Battousai.

++++++++++

"Buds," Hinata called. "What is wrong? You've been acting... weird since the test."

"She's right," Kyosuke replied, rubbing his hair gently up his scalp. "You are so quiet now."

"Is something bothering you, Buds?" Batsu asked. He smiled sillily. "You can tell us."

Buds took a deep breath. He and his three friends were currently walking in the school grounds going out to the gate. Dismissal bell rang a few minutes ago, and the four friends were walking calmly out, not particularly in a hurry.

After pausing, he finally spoke, "Guys, have you ever felt so weird that you didn't know what you saw was real or not?"

"Are you trying to quote Neo from The Matrix?" Hinata asked.

Buds quickly face faulted to the ground. "No! Neo said 'Have you ever had the feeling that you don't know if your awake or still dreaming'."

"Oh, you watched the Matrix too?" Hinata said, jumping up and down.

"Hinata is a Matrix fun," Kyosuke said, frowning. "She bought the music of it even though she hates heavy metal."

"Hey, Neo is cute!" Hinata said, smiling.

Buds got lost already in their conversations, didn't catch up to what they were now conversing. "What's wrong with Heavy Metal?" Buds asked stupidly.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked sarcastically, like Buds was being stupid. "Heavy metal is not music! Just instrumentals and bad voice singing."

Buds shook his head. "Heavy metal is an acquired taste. Not everyone likes it."

"And you do?" Hinata asked.

"Me?" Buds pointed at himself. "I like heavy metal rap like Linkin Park, Guano Apes, Korn and others."

"Korn?" Hinata asked. "You like them?"

"Some songs only," Buds said, waving his hand. "But not everything..." his eyes narrowed as he felt something as his vision seemed to zoom to something. It was a girl, a gun, and a flash of light... "GET DOWN!"

Buds pushed Hinata down as a gunshot was heard. Kyosuke's eyes narrowed and Batsu shouted. Buds was on top of Hinata, and the pillar behind them had a new small crater where the bullet impacted.

"What the hell is going on?" Batsu complained as he approached Buds.

"GET OUT!" Buds said as he suddenly stood up and pushed Hinata towards Batsu. Another gunshot was heard and a slight glare of sunlight reflecting from something metallic. The bullet impacted the ground a few meters to the left of Buds.

"Buds... What the..." Batsu began.

Buds cut him off. "We have no time for this, Batsu. Someone is out there... she's shooting at me. Get out of the way."

Batsu was about to speak, when Kyosuke took his shoulders. "Buds is right, Batsu. We should leave him."

"But he may need our help!" Batsu complained.

"I don't think so," Kyosuke countered. HE shoved his eyeglasses nearer his eyes.

[Picture of Buds with his tentacle of his left hand and was moving slowly, with the bullet in front of him. The tentacle hit the bullet and the bullet rebounded out of the way, and the tentacle retracted back at his hand]

"He knows what he is doing," Kyosuke said. "We should take his advice."

Batsu looked from Kyosuke to Buds and then to the unconscious Hinata. "We should get Hinata somewhere safer."

"Correct," Kyosuke said, nodding. He bent down and helped Hinata on his shoulders. He turned to Buds. "Stay alive. We'll help as soon as we are able to."

Buds nodded.

Five more gunshots were heard and this time, Buds, dropped his school bag, and used his two tentacles to block them all this time, and when he was done, he stretched his tentacles towards the source of the shots.

B. B. Hood's eyes widened as the two tentacles went for her, and she jumped out of the way high up in the air, twisting carefully, while holding her skirt from flying and took her Mac-10 SMG [sub-machine gun]. She fired volleys at Buds, thinking that he would be busy retracting his tentacles. She was right, but she didn't expect Buds to jump sideways, avoiding her shots, and when he was retracting his tentacles, they moved towards B. B. Hood behind her and took her arm and leg. Using circular motion, he slammed the bounty hunter right into the school halls.

B. B. Hood grit her teeth as she tried to stand up. Pain of all pains ignited in her senses as she felt like she was run over by a trunk. The tentacles let go of her limbs and retracted back to Buds. The bounty hunter grit her teeth as she tried to stand up. She couldn't, and if she were a normal human, she might not have been able to walk at all without any hospitalization. She could feel her body healing, but slowly, her target was walking towards her.

He looked scary and big in the bounty hunter's position. His red irises were looking straight at her and his face wasn't showing any emotions. What was he thinking?

(He's going to kill me...) the bounty hunter thought as her target was now approaching him. He was taking steady steps, like a predator, going to his prey.

Buds was actually walking carefully to avoid tripping on the ground. Quite a ruble he caused, he checked the girl out. He didn't want to kill her by accident after all.

(It's the same girl from my vision!) Buds thought, shocked. He carefully approached the girl and his eyes narrowed. Her red hood was off and exposed her blonde hair. (What the hell? What's with the red riding hood get-up? Or is it Akazukin Chacha a famous anime here? I should ask Hinata later...)

"Are you going to kill me?" B. B. Hood asked.

"No. I got questions to ask, like why are you shooting at me?" Buds asked.

The bounty hunter felt her body now sore, and her bones felt healed. She could finally move. "You're a symb-demon, right?"

Buds narrowed his eyes. "What is it to you?"

"I've been hired to kill you...!" B. B. Hood suddenly raised her hand. There was her Mac-10 and pointed it at Buds' stomach and pulled the trigger. Nothing. "Wha...?"

Buds smiled weakly as he backed away from her, and in one of his hands was the clip for her gun. "How...?" she asked.

"Tentacles. You learn to love them," Buds said heartily as he smiled. He then turned serious towards the girl. "Who hired you?"

The girl smiled at him. "Sorry kid, can't tell. I'm a professional."

"Some professional you are," Buds countered, showing her the clips. "You should think of getting a new job girl."

"You should watch who you are insulting boy," B. B. Hood said, and stood up completely. Something from her skirt went down and she kicked it towards him. Buds jumped instinctively out of the way and dodged the exploding mine.

(Damn it) Buds thought as he jumped farther away as B. B. hood took out her guns and began to shoot at him with her gun. (She's going to hurt someone if she keeps this up!)

"Sit still!" the bounty hunter hissed as she corrected her aim and fired another volley of bullets.

CLICK!

(NOW!) Buds though as he jumped towards B. B. Hood as she began to reload her gun. Buds unleashed two of his tentacles towards the bounty hunter. She barely dodged the two whips as Buds went on offensive, mixing up his whipping movements, and people watching around saw only blurs. The bounty hunter grit her teeth as she tried to jump away to reload her gun, but Buds wouldn't let her, as one of his tentacles grabbed her foot and dragged her back into position, making her waste her movements in dodging more whips.

Buds lead the bounty hunter out of the school buildings and into the school grounds, hoping to cause minimal damage to the school. After all, if the girl escapes, who will they blame?

B. B. Hood had just enough of the boy playing with her. The boy was playing HER! B. B. Hood, the most feared bounty hunter! She got mad. The bounty hunter discarded her Mac-10 SMG and took out her rocket launcher.

Buds' eyes widened as he saw the change in weapon of the girl, and his shock stopped him from his tracks for a second. That was all the bounty hunter needed as she fired her weapon towards Buds.

A twist in air... a fluke and lucky twist in the air was all Buds did to avoid the direct hit of the rocket as it flew faster than the eye could follow as it passed through Buds. The time seems to slow down as Buds saw B. B. Hood's smile to frown and then, her face showed triumph as Buds felt something explode in his back. The heat and shrapnel hit his back and Buds felt pain again as he flew through the air, his vision blacking out for a while, and landing painfully on his back.

Seconds flew like minutes, minutes like hours, as Buds just saw the clear blue sky in his vision. Moving his body was painful, and it took almost all Buds' strength just to move his neck. The bounty hunter was approaching him, her gun in her hand, and smiling evilly, her eyes glistening in the sun. She raised her weapon. She began to walk towards him.

How many seconds did she take? Buds didn't know as all he saw were blurs of the bounty hunter walking towards him, people running away, and glint of metal in the school's rooftops. His senses were knocked out with shock, and he didn't know what to do.

"Not so confident now, are you, symb-demon?" B. B. Hood asked, as her face suddenly appeared in Buds' vision. Her weapon was trained on his stomach. "Now, where shall I shoot you first? You played with me, and no one! No one plays with me!"

Buds grunted as he felt the bounty hunter move her weapon to his knee. "Maybe I should take the kneecap first... It's very painful and you'll still live long enough for me to put more slugs in you." She began laughing. "I don't usually take pleasure in business, but with you, I'll make an exception..."

Buds smirked as his visions and senses became to clear. He found himself very weak and pinned to the ground with the bounty hunter's body. She didn't know it, but she just laid herself in a trap. "I'm honored..." he said weakly. "It makes me want to give you something in return..."

"What..." and she stopped as she felt two cold tentacles slithering in her body. They came through her skirt, and one was rubbing her crotch and the other one was moving in her dress towards her breasts. She shivered. "What are you doing?!" she hissed.

"I watched hentai series that do these... Tentacles rubbing around the female's body..." and Buds smiled as the bounty hunter shivered violently as he caressed her faster. "I think they liked it."

"You asshole... you don't have what it takes," B. B. Hood smiled despite the rise in her temperature.

"You're right..." Buds said seriously, and his tentacles stopped caressing and suddenly stopped and wrapped tightly around her and suddenly, B. B. Hood felt weak as she felt her energy being drained away from her. Buds concentrated as he felt her energy coursing through his body, healing his body, and powering him. The more he drained, the better he felt.

The bounty hunter went rigid, her mouth hanging open as she felt being sucked dry and as she couldn't move, couldn't breath, couldn't see... It was though like she was going to die.

Suddenly, it stopped and B. B. Hood took a deep breath as she felt her body released. She fell into the floor painfully and she began to pant.

"Damn... I almost killed her..." Buds muttered to himself, shaking his head, and standing up. He grunted a bit before he could straighten out. (The energy input I take in is not much the same as the energy output I could suck from people. There is an energy waste... but where does it go?) Buds thought.

"Damn you..." B. B. Hood grit her teeth as she tried to stand up. "I'll get you..."

"You'll try..." Buds said nonchalantly. With that, he turned around and walked away, ignoring the bounty hunter's shout of curses and bad words. "The hell... What am I leaving her alone for? I should bring her to the authorities!"

With that thought in mind, Buds turned around and found nothing but air. The ground where the bounty hunter laid a while ago left a deep impression, and Buds could not find any traces of her. Buds scratched his head. "The hell? Maybe she should teach me how to do that... if we meet again..." and he turned around and walked away.

Near the trees, a girl with a torn hood watched the boy walk away. "We will meet again..." and she disappeared.

Buds, meanwhile was walking away from the destruction towards the place where he dropped his bag, hoping to get home before anyone sees him. "They'll probably blame me..." he muttered sadly.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, as he felt something in his left, right, front and back, and above. Buds whirled around and looked up, and saw a blur coming towards him. Buds jumped back a bit and the ground where he stood exploded as the blur hit it. Concrete and asphalt ruptured everywhere as Buds whipped some of the rubble coming towards him out of the way.

The dust cleared for a moment, and Buds saw the silhouette of nine figures emerging. Judging by their clothing and curves, they were either cross dressers, or...

"In the name of the Moon!" a voice sounded, and the silhouette with the meatballs in her head moved and made a pose.

"Just what I need..." Buds muttered as he looked up in the sky. "Senshis..."

To Be Continued...

NEXT: From the bounty hunter to the Senshi. Weakened from his fight, Buds now has to face the trigger-happy soldiers of love and justice. What happens when he tries to replicate their moves and use them on them, and gets dire consequences? Life is not what we want huh?

Author's Note:

Writer's block alert! Sigh... I hope I can get over it! Until next time!