"Your target is a man named Kekkan Jootai. He was in prison the past year and a half for murder, rape, assault, and child molestation," the deep voice spoke over the screen. While he spoke, pictures of a man were shown on the giant TV. [1] "You know him best as the man who attacked Abyssinian when he was known as Red Rook in Crashers. White Hunters, deny this dark beast his tomorrow."

"With pleasure," Schuldich growled. Only one day had passed since Weiss and Crashers had told Manx where they stood concerning the man. She had said she would talk to Persia, but they hadn't thought the mission would come up so soon.

"Just for the sake of routine," Manx started. "Are you all in?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Yohji questioned, his voice incredulous.

"As I said: for the sake of routine. I take it that that is a yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Rannie, be good for Crashers, okay?"

"Hai!" the tiny voice chirped. Schu looked over to Reiichi.

"Do you think you can handle it?"

"There are five of us, and we're watching a single two-year-old. I think we'll be fine."

"If you say so. He's got a lot of energy, though."

"Nagi, we've been here the past five months, too."

"Is it really July already?" Omi asked, walking into the entryway from his room.

"Yes it is. And tomorrow is Rannie's… okay, is it third or twenty-first?"

"If you're counting the number of years he's been alive, twenty one."

"So we're using twenty-one candles?"

"No, we're using three tomorrow."

"But… You said… "

"We'll discuss this more later tonight. For right now, though, we have to leave." Omi turned around and counted heads. "FARFARELLO!!!! GET DOWN HERE!" the boy screamed. Farfie jumped over the banister of the upstairs living room and landed at the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't jump down like that, Farf. You'll give the children ideas," Nagi told him, glaring pointedly at Yohji, Schu, Naru, Ken, and Yuushi.

"Can we go now? This will be an interesting night, if we leave soon enough to get to the man."

"Oh, did you get a vision, Bradley?"

"Yes I did, and don't call me that."

"I'm only calling you by your name," Schuldich insisted sweetly. He then received a smack to the head.

"Don't be stupid," Brad admonished.

"I didn't do anything!" Schu protested.

"Remember it later."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Be careful! Come back soon!" Naru waved as he ushered the assassins out the door. When they had all gotten outside and into Hachi (which is what they named the eight-seater van they got after Schwarz joined them) Naru shut the door, and immediately regretted it.

"KENKEN!! SCHUUUUU!!" One small chibi screamed. Ken and Schuldich immediately rushed back inside, told the child a quick goodbye, and rushed back into the van. Ran sniffled awhile longer, looking expectantly at the door.

"Rannie? What are you doing?" Masato asked, squatting down next to the redhead. Ran looked up at the man seated next to him.

"Waiting."

"For what?"

"Kenken and Schu-niichan."

"It'll be awhile before they get back. Why don't you help me finish off last night's cake while we wait, okay?"

"Hai!"

"I cannot believe you let him have a piece that BIG!" Masato winced as Queen shouted in his face. He had given ran a piece of cake that was about the size of a tea saucer. The child had loved it, and Masato hadn't known any better, so they saw nothing wrong. Until, however, Ran finished the cake and ended with a massive sugar rush. Reiichi had begun the reprimanding, and Queen had taken over after Reiichi lost his voice.

Now Reiichi was gargling salt water to regain his voice, Queen was beginning to go hoarse, Masato had cowered into a corner from all the yelling, and Yuushi and Naru were still chasing Ran around, trying to catch him. Ran had, by that point, been running from them for roughly an hour, and all three were beginning to get worn out. Masato suspected they wold have traded culprits, except Yuushi and Naru rarely yelled at Masato, and Queen had yet to figure out how to run at any speed in those tight skirts she insisted on wearing.

Said blue-haired woman was quickly running out of voice, leading Masato to suspect that he would be able to skulk to his room shortly and hide out in there for the rest of the evening. His plan was shot when he saw Reiichi pulling out a few Halls cough drops and popping them into his mouth. Masato groaned. Time to shift authority figures again. He just hoped Weiss were having a better time than he was.

"I thought you said he'd be here?"

"Calm down, Ken. We've only been here ten minutes. He'll show," Yohji whispered reassuringly. Everyone was anxious to have a piece at the man – Kekkan Jootai – that night. They would kill him, all right, just not before they made him pay for what he had done to Ran.

Just as Ken was starting to fidget again Kekkan appeared. The pictures they had seen at the mission debriefing could almost have been of a different man. The man from the pictures had been stick-thin, and well groomed. He was tall, with a strong presence. While the man was still tall and commanding, he had let his appearance go. He had a beard that was at least a month old, and shaggy black hair that fell past his shoulders. His brown eyes were piercing and shifty, leading Weiss to believe that he was expecting danger of some sort. He had also gained weight. The waif-like creature from the pictures had grown to an oversized figure, and very little of it was muscle.

Kekkan Jootai was wearing a pair of worn and torn brown cargo pants and a sweater that was so covered in holes that the black T-shirt he wore underneath was clearly visible. His shoes were old sneakers that had definitely seen better days – they looked as if they could be as old as Kekkan himself. However, Weiss did not let his appearance change their opinion of the man. He had attacked, scared, and hurt Ran too many times to let the fact that he was poor affect them in the least.

With a deafening shriek of anger Ken jumped out of his hiding place and attacked the man. He kept his claws retracted, knowing that if they were out the man would die too soon for any of them. Schuldich was the second out of hiding, though he focused primarily on the man's psyche. He uprooted, then displayed, all of the man's worst and most feared memories. He twisted the happy and pleasant ones around to torment his brother's attacker. In short, Kekkan was receiving both physical and mental torture. And then Farfarello joined the fight.

"Can we color?"

"Sure. Do you know where the crayons are?"

"Hai!"

"Have fun," Queen rasped. The cough drops had helped, but after an hour and a half of chewing Masato out, her voice was almost nonexistent. Her only relief was that Ran didn't seem to have a stomachache. That, and the fact that he had finally been caught and calmed down.

"Are you gonna color, too?" Ran asked, walking back into the room with a box of washable markers. Queen shook her head, too tired to even answer him verbally. "'Kay."

After less than five minutes had gone by, Kekkan Jootai was wishing for death. He was also beginning to wish he had left the boy alone when he escaped from prison. He would still be healthy now if he had. He had time to think on this between being stabbed, shot at, slashed, cut, kicked, punched, mentally attacked, mocked, and thrown against the wall. He also managed a moment to note that when he was thrown against the wall, no one had picked him up. The air had just pushed him against the wall, seemingly of it's own accord.

And still the attack continued. Schuldich had begun to shoot his target in random places while messing with his thoughts and memories – but only in places like the legs and arms, places that would not be fatal immediately. Ken had begun to use his bugnuks by the time twenty minutes had rolled around. Farfarello was taking out all of his insanity upon the man, and Nagi was using his gift to hold the man down sometimes, and heal certain wounds at other times.

Nagi? Why are you healing him?

Concentrate on him, Schu, not me.

First tell me why.

It'll keep him alive longer.

Does that mean that if I shoot him in the head you could heal him?

Only if I finished before he had a chance to die. I wouldn't recommend it.

A sharp moan took both of their attention back to the pathetic excuse for a human in front of them. He was trying to get away, though with all of them attacking him, he couldn't do more than raise himself slightly. And they still continued attacking him.

"RAN! What did you do?" Yuushi yelled. The toddler looked up at him with giant, tear-filled eyes. He had thought Yuushi would like his artwork. He had drawn everyone in it. There was Yuushi-niisan in blue, Masato-niisan in red, Queen-neesan in purple, Naru-niisan in orange, and Reiichi-niisan in green. Schu-niisan was in red, too. Farfie-niisan was in orange, Omi-niisan and Yohji-niisan were in blue, Nagi-niisan and Brad-niisan were in purple, and Kenken was in green.

"Colored. You're pretty!"

"Ran… why did you color on the walls?"

"'Cause. None of the papers were big enough."

"Ran, you can't draw on the walls."

"Why?"

"It's wrong. Coloring is for paper!"

"Sorry." Ran's voice was tiny and downcast. Yuushi bent over and picked him up, hugging him tightly.

"I'm not mad at you, Rannie, but Reiichi and Queen will be mad at me."

"Sorry."

"That's okay, we'll figure something out."

They managed to draw out his torture for three hours. However, after that time, they couldn't take it any more. Ken had slashed through his chest at the same time that Schuldich shot him through the head. Neither cared who had the killing blow, so long as it was one of them. Everyone else was fine with that, too.

They headed back to the Koneko apartments much quieter than they had left. They had just gotten rid of all of their pent-up frustrations and anger on the man that had caused most of it. Also, everyone had turned his thoughts towards the man-turned-toddler waiting for them. They couldn't wait until he got older again so that they could tell him that the threat was over. Permanently.

"Can we play now?"

"What do you want to play?" Yuushi asked. Ran's boundless energy had worn them all down, even Naru, who seemed to have a near endless supply of energy himself.

"Pillows!" the toddler shouted, flinging a small pillow at the blond Crashers member. Yuushi grinned and tossed it back half-heartedly.

"Why don't you get Naru to play with you?"

"All of you!"

"Oh my."

A/N: Yeah, ending here. Trust me, the next chapter will start bringing it back. It will be longer next time! The man is now dead. Sorry if that section sucked; I'm really bad at writing conflicts. At least, I think I am… Oh well. Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

[1] – First, his name means Defect State or Condition. So basically, his name translates to 'Defective Condition'. Also, has anyone besides me ever wondered why they need such a big TV for seeing who they'll be killing in a few days/hours? I don't think they're ever seen doing anything else with that TV.

I'm trying something a little different this time, so bear with me. Thanks to those who have reviewed for this chapter. Also, if you did review for this chapter and I don't mention it, it's because I uploaded this chapter before getting your review. I'm still infinitely grateful, I just can't make a big deal out of it! So, on with the thanks…

Anime the Fallen Angel: I'm glad you've liked this fic so much. I hope this is soon enough for you. I've been on minimal computer time lately, but that seems to be changing! I hope you enjoy the rest!

Dragon Shadow4: Did you like how I did the fight? I hope I got it good enough for you. I had to give Ken a shot, too. You think this is suspense? Hmm, I've never had my writing described as suspenseful before. Thanks!

KyraEnsui: I'm glad you like it so far!

Manx16: You gotta leave me an email address! I want to thank you personally, but I can't get ahold of you 'cause you're anonymous. I hope you enjoy those stories; I liked them. Esp. 'My Boys'. Wow! That's two saying I'm writing something suspenseful! Is this quick enough? I hope so. Thanks for the review!

Alright peoples, if you want to see your name listed here (and maybe a personal comment in regards to your review) please review for this chapter quickly so I'll be able to include you. I'm already working out the chapter overview right now, so it shouldn't take too long to write it. (All I have to worry about is my mom commenting on how much time I'm spending online and on the computer in general lately! ^^) Of course, if I don't get a lot of reviews for the next chapter (four is a small number people) I might wait awhile before uploading the next one. I'm no trying to bribe you or whatever it is, I'm just saying that it's kinda depressing to write a chapter and then have very few comments on it. Of course, that could be my fault, too. Too impatient to see what you guys think to wait more than a day before uploading the next chappie… Eh. Please review!