Elementaldemoness: Hiya! The first chapter is done! (grumbles) Finally............
Disclaimer: Neither I or Dan own Yu Yu Hakusho
Scene 1: The Ambush
"Kuwabara! Hold on, damn it!" a bloodstained Yusuke yelled, pounding Kuwabara on the chest to keep him conscious. Kuwabara coughed, sputtering up blood, his eyes opening wide due to the sudden, sharp pain. Yusuke was supporting Kuwabara on his shoulder, walking as fast as he could with Kuwabara's added weight… and traveling up five flights of stairs is no easy task.
What had happened to the two? Yusuke and Kuwabara had left the apartment to get some take-out food for everyone back at the room. However, on their way back to the room, Shinobu Sensui's band of killers ambushed Yusuke and Kuwabara in the streets. The two humans would have had a chance if the battleground had been somewhere, ANYWHERE else… But, they had been attacked in broad daylight in the middle of the street.
Without being able to attack without risking killing more humans, the two detectives were incapable of fighting to their potential, whilst their enemies wanted to strike as many humans as possible. Kuwabara had been hit by two of Sniper's dice, a crushing blow to the side of the skull to render a concussion, and a sickening die with the speed and deadliness of a bullet to the chest. The spray of blood had hit Yusuke, catching his attention just in time to see his comrade fall to the ground. Yusuke had to abandon his scuffle with Sensui (which, I might add, was not going well) to get Kuwabara out of there. Unless he got out of there, he would have died due to heavy bleeding, or Sniper would have finished him off.
In their retreat, Yusuke managed to block several more dice while Sensui hung back, but the other five made contact on his back and legs. Only by ducking in with the panicking pedestrians did the two manage to escape. After several blocks, Yusuke spotted the apartment building, almost a monolith amongst the other buildings, shining like a beacon in his eyes. Entering the building, and going up two flights of stairs would bring you to where the two currently were.
…and for whatever reason, Yusuke's shirt was blasted off, while Kuwabara just had a hole in his shirt from where Sniper hit him with the die.
Yusuke glanced at Kuwabara again after hearing a small cough; a sign that his compatriot was regaining consciousness.
"Urameshi…? What… happened?" Kuwabara asked groggily.
"We got ambushed, Kuwabara!" Yusuke stated.
"Did we win?" Kuwabara asked.
"No, IDIOT!! They're still after us, and I need to get us back to the room before they catch up! We got caught with our pants down, and they hit us in public! We didn't stand a chance!"
Kuwabara cursed under his breath… Yusuke's explanation accounted for the cut on his head…
Yusuke finally made it to the fifth flight of stairs, just as he reached the peak of his ability to stave off exhaustion. As best he could, Yusuke dragged the weakened Kuwabara down the hallway.
::Several Blocks Away::
"Sniper, you put the Death Bull's Eye Targets on Detective Urameshi, correct?" Sensui asked, walking down a black alleyway. The police were just arriving at the area of town where the recent fight had occurred, and it would be hours before they searched the area for suspects, not without proper backup.
"Yes, Master Sensui. While his back was turned," Sniper replied, hands in his pockets.
"Good… he thinks he is safe, but he is about to get a rude awakening," Sensui smirked.
"Shall I hunt him now? Undoubtedly, he is returning to the rest of his team, and they will evacuate if we do not act. It is better if we don't let him slip away; Seaman is close to gaining the power he needs to slice through the Kakai barrier, and the oaf has no meaning to us if the means lay on our side." Sniper asked in his characteristic, emotionless monologue voice.
"See to it; I will see you back at the cave to await your progress report," Sensui said, slowing down enough to let Sniper go past him. As he did so, he pulled five small spheres, probably marbles or some other common item, and tossed them right in front of Sniper. Before these marbles could hit the ground, Sniper snatched them up in his grip, and tightened his hold on them.
"The murder weapons?"
"A fitting end for the trash of the Spirit World."
::The Apartment::
"OPEN THE DOOR!!!" Yusuke yelled, banging his free hand against the door. However, no sounds could be heard from within, and the door wouldn't open. Yusuke had already tried turning the door knob, and it proved unsuccessful – someone had locked it.
"In five seconds, I'm knocking the door down if you don't open up!" Yusuke yelled.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
"Alright, you asked for it!!" Yusuke yelled.
CRACK!!! Down went the door; its hinges broken off by the force of a powerful left-footed kick.
"KEIKO!! GENKAI!! IS ANYONE HERE?!?!" Yusuke demanded, dragging Kuwabara into the room. But alas, there was nobody left… it seemed as if the room had been cleared out in a great hurry; Genkai's tea still sat upon the table, steaming hot, while two hands of cards from a poker game were left on the floor, the game apparently interrupted.
"What happened here…?" Kuwabara wondered aloud.
"I know as much as you know…" Yusuke said. His eyes rolled just after saying this, and he thought, 'Ok… maybe I should rephrase that…'
Yusuke dropped Kuwabara on the couch, and turned around to see where the communicator set Botan had been lugging around this whole time had been put. After several seconds of scrounging through a few suitcases that had been carelessly thrown about, Yusuke found what he was looking for.
"What was that combination…?" Yusuke wondered aloud as he crouched down to be level with the contraption. Kuwabara looked at Yusuke's direction, and caught a glance of Yusuke's exposed back for a second. That's when he noticed something peculiar.
"Urameshi, what's that on your back?" Kuwabara asked.
"What?" Yusuke asked, turning around.
"Uh… you have something on your back… did you get a tattoo?"
"…no," Yusuke said, his eyes widening slightly, "What's this 'tattoo' look like?"
"Uh… it looks like a cross inside a circle, with all the edges touching the circle…" Kuwabara said.
"…$#! !!" Yusuke cursed, "I was in Sniper's territory! He must have put them on me, and if he put that on me, and he's able to hit something from-…!"
"He's gonna hit you when your back's turned!" Kuwabara realized.
"No, he's gonna nail us BOTH!" Yusuke yelled. He was fumbling with the padlock, but it wasn't working. Having had enough, Yusuke grabbed a sharp metal decoration that was on the nearby coffee table, and slammed it on the lock. The force of the strike busted the lock, and it fell the short distance to the ground in a mess of scrap metal.
Yusuke quickly opened the case, and started hitting buttons like crazy, hoping that one of them would turn on the communication screen. However, nothing happened… the machine didn't turn on, the screen didn't light up, no lights blinked, and just his luck: THERE WAS NO RED BUTTON FOR HIM TO PUSH!!
Kuwabara looked up suddenly; towards the window across the couch from him, and just in front of Yusuke, who was crouching just in front of it. With the better hearing of the two, Kuwabara heard it… the sound of an engine firing, growing louder, as it came nearer.
"Urameshi! Somebody's comin'!" Kuwabara said.
"And who would THAT be?! There's over a million people in the city, why would you think it's either of those bastards?!" Yusuke asked violently.
"I'm not the one to say this, but use your head!" Kuwabara said, "After what happened earlier, do you think anyone would be on the streets?! I been in the streets longer than you, and I know that ain't a police bike!"
"…" Yusuke stopped what he was doing, and he looked up. Slowly, Yusuke raised his level, never leaving his crouching position, so that he could see out the window. Coming down the street was none other than the red-coated Sniper on wheels.
"It's Sniper again!" Yusuke realized, dropping back down to avoid being seen in the window, turning his back to the wall to look at Kuwabara. "How did he find us?!"
"That thing he put on you! He can follow you!" Kuwabara said. The carrot top went silent all of a sudden, and looked down at his jacket. Realization hit him as he put both his hands on his jacket, and opened it up so that he could see the 'wound' on his chest. He also had the bull's eye mark!
"Urameshi, he got me too!" Kuwabara exclaimed.
"Ah crap…" Yusuke muttered. Just then, the sound of the engine ceased, and the new (but shortly lived) sound of tires screeching reached their ears. It was perfectly obvious…
::Outside::
Sniper's bike was turned perpendicular to the window, standing still and no longer moving. The cold, emotionless look never left his face while his gaze was directed at the apartment room.
"So it seems, Detective Urameshi Yusuke, that you and your friend pose no threat to us," Sniper said. With his right, leather-gloved hand, the marksman dug into his pocket and fished out all five of the large marbles previously given to him. He looked at the four items in his hand, and then back up to the window. He tossed them up in the air, and then caught them in his left hand. He put his right hand just above the palm, index finger ready to become the launcher.
"Time to die," Sniper said, flicking the first marble, and the second, and the third, and the fourth, and the last out of his hand.
Like spherical cruise missiles, the marbles flew with astounding speed towards the window. Yusuke looked towards the window just in time to see the marbles approaching. He didn't have enough time to even widen his eyes in shock, and the weakened Kuwabara stood no chance in moving off the couch.
Chiiiiiingncrincnenrncnr!! The glass exploded as the first marble made contact.
…and even if they did move, what then? They would get perhaps two feet before the marbles homed in again.
::Soon…::
Two minutes had passed, and the sounds were as dead as the place itself… how could there be sounds if there was no one or no thing remained to make them? Perhaps I was wrong… the sound of footsteps being taken, and someone coming up the stairs tells us that there is someone left… but no, it is not any resident of the building, nor is it the police, scouring the area for clues in the murders and injuries just a few minutes prior in the middle of the city.
The violet eyes of the man named Sniper showed no emotion; a marksman with emotion would miss his targets, and if he or she remains emotionless, they will not miss. The man exited the stairwell as he arrived at the floor 5 exit. His psychic senses told him that his targets were in the fifth floor before the signals ceased, and he was merely following his senses.
The man began to walk down the halls, slowly, for he had the time and luxury to do so, as he was under no deadline. As he neared the end of the hall, he saw that one of the doors was knocked down – kicked in, it appeared, forced in some way, for the door's hinges were broken, and splinters of wood lay in the doorway. The minion cracked a faint smirk, and he spoke to the dead air, "I thank you for sparing me the trouble of tearing the door down myself."
Casually he entered the room, and yet, he walked in a manner like that of a jungle cat, knowing that it owned its prey. The smirk left his face as soon as he entered the living room. Broken glass was all over the room from the window, and various items were strewn about by a wind; presumably from the sudden breaking of the window, and the winds up at this height. It was the lack of two things that had wiped the smirk off his face.
Blood, and bodies.
Neither of them were in sight, and there was no indication, therefore, that a hit had been made. Only one of the five 'marbles' was visible – it had ripped through the couch's back, and was embedded in the wall. It had gone through nothing but the couch and the empty air. It had seemed like a wind had blown through, but it also seemed the wind had come from inside the room, for everything had been flung in a radial pattern in every direction away from a center point on the coffee table – the item exactly halfway between the two detectives.
Sniper had hit nothing.
"So, you have escaped to the Spirit World, have you?" Sniper asked rhetorically. His eyes narrowed, and he turned about for the door. As he walked away, he merely said, "Touché…"
To be continued…
Elementaldemoness: Ohhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Cliff-hanger!!!!! Mwhahahahaha!!!!!! Don't forget to R &R!