***Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Seed or the characters…

Hey everybody! I'm sorry it took a while to write this. I've just been busy with my other fics. Anyway, I hope you like this and please review!

Chapter Three

"So you came, Kusanagi?" Akima said, folding her hands on the table. "I'm surprised."

Kusanagi sat down in the booth and glared at her. "I'm not a coward, Akima. And I'm not afraid of you."

It was Saturday in the city of Tokyo. Akima and Kusanagi sat in a dim diner during rush hour, which is all the time in Tokyo.

"I didn't think you were," she said, and sipped her tea. "I meant that I was surprised that you came alone, without your giddy sidekick. What's her name--Momiji? Yeah, that's it."

"Yeah. Whatever. Let's just get this over with, because I have someplace I need to be," he said, annoyed. "Why did you ask me here?"

Akima grinned. "Just wanted to have lunch with you, Kusanagi. Can't I meet with my own partner without inquiry about my motives?"

"For one thing, we're not partners," he said.

She put her lip over her top like a baby that is ready to cry. "Oh, Kusanagi. That hurts. Don't you trust me enough to be partners?"

He shrugged. He wasn't sure what to think. Should he trust her? Or should he deny her of his trust? He didn't know what to do. His mind was clouded, like the sky outside.

"Anyway. I already ordered you a drink, since you weren't here when the waitress came around," she said, sliding a white cup across the table to him. "It's green tea."

He picked up the cup and sipped it slowly, so it wouldn't burn his lip. The tea traveled down his throat, sending hot sensations all over his body. But there was something about the taste that was different. It had the flavor of a bitter medicine. The taste made his body shudder. He quickly spit it back into the cup and wiped his mouth off with a napkin.

Akima laughed. "Is it too strong for you, Kusanagi?"

He clutched his throat as the acidic taste stung him. He started to gag.

She slightly shook her head, grinning. "Don't you know not to take drinks from people you don't trust? I thought you were smarter than that. I guess I overestimated you."

She pulled out a small vial with blue contents. She smiled mischievously and rolled the vial towards him. He picked it up and examined it. He noticed on the side panel, a picture of a skull with crossbones.

"Poison," he said in a hoarse voice as he grasped the vial in his hand. "I should've know you would double-cross me."

She leaned in and whispered, "It's time for you to stop trusting people so much, Kusanagi. Because in war, you can only trust yourself."

His vision started to get blurry and soon he saw two heads on her shoulders instead of one. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get his vision back to normal, but it was no use. No matter how much he tried, his vision only got worse. He couldn't hold onto his consciousness. It kept slipping farther and farther away from his grasp. And soon after, his body collapsed onto the table.

People around them started at them curiously. Seeing that he was out cold and she just sat there smiling, they started to whisper back and forth.

She stood up and lifted his arm up around her shoulder. "I told him not to drink too much. But he didn't listen," Akima explained as she walked past everybody. "Now he'll have a hang-over and the toilet bowl is going to be is best friend."

She left the diner and tugged him into a dark alley that was out of public view. She propped him up against the wall and pulled out her watch. "Akima here," she said. "I have Kusanagi with me."

"Good work, Akima," Murakumo said. "Now come back to the underworld."

"Yes, sir," she said. "We'll be there soon."

--

Kaede glared at the sight of Akima teleporting Kusanagi to the underworld. She hated the fact that the Arigami needed Kusanagi to overrule her and Susana-oh. It was disgracing.

"Look at them," she said, amused. "They actually believe that they can truly beat us with Kusanagi. Well, I guess we'll have to tell the TAC."

Susana-oh pulled on her dress and looked up at her in confusion.

"Don't worry. I'm not on their side," she said, smiling down at him. "I'm not going to do it for them, I'm doing it for us. If I tell them, we'll gain their trust and then we'll finally be able to use Momiji as a sacrifice for a better reason than they will."

Susana-oh nodded and looked over Tokyo.

"They won't know what hit them," Kaede assured, and then disappeared along with Susana-oh.

--

Momiji impatiently looked at her watch. It was way past the time Kusanagi was supposed to meet her for lunch. She stood in front of a small café, waiting for him. Cars buzzed by, but none of them had Kusanagi in them. She wondered where he was, since he would never stand her up or be late without telling her in advance. It was unusual. It wasn't like him.

"Kusanagi," she said, looking at her watch worriedly. "Where are you?"

--

To Be Continued… Please Review!