Disclaimer: I think you already know what goes here.
Notes: A bug in the system is preventing me from inserting horizontal lines in this chapter, so you're gonna have to bear with the three dashes.
Updated Author's Notes: Ok, not even the three dashes are being shown. Since this is bothering me greatly, I've updated this chapter just to insert those pesky horizontal lines.
Iarra stared at Gitsu, unbelief evident in her eyes.
"Surprised?", Gitsu asked, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Don't be. We both know that Dark Fleet has never seen a better fighter than me."
She snorted. "Actually, I'm more surprised about the extent of your inflated ego."
As soon as those words were uttered, daggers from Gitsu's hands came flying towards Iarra at incredible speed. Years of training gave her the needed reflexes to leap just in time. When she landed on the floor, she saw more daggers flying at her direction. She rolled to avoid them. She cartwheeled, then did leaps, twists, and somersaults as more and more daggers were thrown at her.
She did one more backflip then landed safely on the floor a good distance from Gitsu, but not without getting a couple of tears on her suit by her shoulders. The daggers flew back into Gitsu's hands. Gitsu held his palms out to her, four daggers on each hand, with a dagger being held between each of his fingers, their tips pointed towards her.
"Wow", Gitsu said, grinning. "I've never seen those moves before, Iarra. You've gotten pretty good since the last time I saw you."
"I've been practicing", she said, a hard look in her eyes. "Tell me Gitsu, why are you doing this? Is it the money?"
He glowered at her. "Don't insult me, Iarra. It's not the money." Then he grinned. "Not that the Dragons don't pay well."
Iarra raised her eyebrows. "So if it's not the money, then what is it?"
He sighed exasperatedly, then replied, "Don't tell me you're satisfied with the way Havoc runs things."
"What do you mean?"
He laughed. "Sheesh, you're even more naive than I thought."
Iarra frowned. "He's the best leader Dark Fleet could ever have."
"You don't have to suck up to him. He can't hear you right now", he snickered. He moved his palms around in a different battle stance.
C'mon Iarra, she told herself as she glared at him. Get him to talk. "So what does the Burning Dragons offer you that Dark Fleet doesn't?"
He smiled. "Freedom."
She frowned again. "Freedom? From what?"
"From Havoc's stupid restrictions." Anger flared in Gitsu's eyes.
"Restrictions." She stopped and thought about what he said. "Ordering you to stop going on a killing spree everytime you're on a mission is hardly what I call a stupid restriction."
"I get the job done. What's wrong with eliminating the obstacles in our missions?"
"Eliminating the obstacles?", Iarra asked incredulously. "We're talking about innocent people here."
"Those innocent people don't give a damn about us! Why should we give a damn about them?"
"Uhh.. Gitsu", she said with strained patience. "It's a little something called honor. It's apparently something your puny brain can't comprehend."
"Honor? HONOR?" Gitsu hurled his daggers at Iarra. "We're smugglers, Iarra! We break the law for a living! What HONOR are you talking about?"
A child, who looked like he was three years old, skipped happily down a set of stone steps in front of his mother, licking his chocolate ice cream.
"Ruki!", the mother yelled. "Stop skipping on the steps! You might fall!"
The child didn't listen and continued skipping. When he got to the bottom of the steps, he lost his balance.
"Ruki!", the mother gasped as she reached out and caught his arm, keeping him from falling.
Much to the kid's dismay, he dropped his ice cream cone and it hit the ground with a splat.
"Waaahh!", the child cried out as he looked down at his ice cream.
The mother picked her son up. She held him in his arms and whispered, "Shhh.. It's okay. Don't cry."
A younger Iarra was leaning on the balcony railings, watching the scene below. The man beside her placed a hand on her shoulder then gave her a gentle squeeze.
"See that kid, Iarra?", the man said. "Right now, his biggest problem is his ice cream."
She looked up at him, and chuckled.
He looked at her. "I'm gonna give you your first assignment soon."
Iarra's eyes widened. "Really?"
"You're ready, Iarra", the man answered, smiling. Then he turned serious. "During missions, you might encounter innocent people like them every now and then. They have nothing to do with us. They're just living their lives peacefully." He looked directly into her eyes. "Respect their peace. Always remember that, my dear."
Iarra jumped to avoid the daggers, then flung her own daggers toward Gitsu. Gitsu easily leaped to dodge them. They landed on opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other over the unconscious bodies of the Dragons strewn all over the hall. The daggers flew back to their respective owners' hands.
"Just because we're smugglers doesn't mean we have to be savages", Iarra said.
Iarra winced as she felt a fresh cut on the left side of her neck. She cursed. She should be more careful. Her earlier fight with Mido, then the hours spent in the tunnels, then the fight with several Dragons were beginning to take a toll on her body.
Gitsu noticed the cut and gave a sly grin. "Give it up", he said. "You can't beat me. You never have, and you never will."
She glared at him. She really wished she could wipe that smirk off his smug face right then. But not yet, she told herself. Just a little while longer. "There's always a first time, Gitsu."
"Stop it, Iarra", he said, shaking his head. "You've got the will, but you don't have the skill. You never even hit the bullseye during our targeting competitions, so don't even hope that those daggers of yours can even touch me."
She continued glaring at him, but said nothing. Keep talking, jerk. Aloud, she said, "So let me get this straight. You joined the Dragons so you can kill anyone at will?"
He grinned again. "It's a good deal, don't you think so?"
"Well, sure", she replied, a giving him a look of disgust. "If you're a cold-hearted bastard."
He glared at her. She looked directly into his eyes and gave him a glare of her own.
The shelf had slid completely open to reveal a large circular vault behind it. The top of the circular steel door was as tall as Ban's spikes. At the center of the door was a steel handle that looked like a ship's wheel. To its side was a keypad with a small electronic display.
Ban closed his hands around the handle and pulled. Nothing happened. He frowned, then yanked the handle with all his might. The sound of metal bending against metal grated against the retrievers' ears. Finally, the lock gave way with a loud clank. Ban threw the large steel door to the side, peered at the room beyond, and stared.
The room was square, about ten meters across with steel walls, a steel floor, and a steel ceiling. It briefly reminded Ban of the metal prison cell that he was previously in, except that this room was significantly larger and filled with makimonos (1), sculptures, ancient-looking vases, shields, and different kinds of weapons.
He thought, Man, they've smuggled a lot of -
Crrrunch!
Ban turned to the source of the startling sound and found Ginji chewing on an apple. He raised his eyebrow at his partner.
Ginji stopped chewing, blinked at him, then asked, "Want one?"
Ban gave him an exasperated lookthen turned back to the vault. Ginji took that as a 'No'. The Get Backers stepped inside, then looked around.
"Wow", Ginji said. "Look at all these antique stuff, Ban-chan."
Ban stepped closer to one of the vases, then shook his head. "This one looks pretty new", he muttered. He looked at another vase, then another. Finally, he concluded, "They're not antiques. They're just really well-made replicas."
Ginji walked to the far left corner of the room, and spotted a black kikou with gold trimmings.
"Ban-chan", he said. "Look." He pointed at the kikou.
Ban walked over to the kikou that was mounted on a wooden skeleton frame. Even though he knew it was just a reproduction, he marvelled at the skill of the craftsman who made it. Large vertical steel plates with gold cherry blossom designs surrounded the torso, and an elaborate gold crest embellished the helmet.
She said the sword's right behind this thing, he recalled.
Just then, he noticed the outline of the top portion of a small door behind the kikou, just above the shoulders. He quickly moved to push the heavy kikou to the side, then examined the square door to what looked like a small compartment.
Gitsu hurled daggers at her again. Iarra somersaulted again to avoid the daggers raining on her. She threw her own daggers at him, who just easily moved out the way.
He shook his head. "Such a shame. We would've made a great team", he said. He grinned again. "You can still change your mind, though. What do you say?"
C'mon, Gitsu. Tell me something useful. She snickered. "Team? You've never been a team player, Gitsu."
He smiled his greasy smile. "I guess you're right. Let me rephrase that." He shook his head again. "Such a shame. You would've been a great subordinate."
"Gee, when you put it that way...", Iarra said, sarcastically pretending to think about it. "The answer would have to be..." She looked at him. "... NO." Then Iarra laughed, turning Gitsu's smile into a scowl. "With your recruiting skills", she said. "It makes me wonder who would be bone-headed enough to join you", she said.
This time, it was Gitsu's turn to laugh. "You know nothing, Iarra." The greasy smile on his face reappeared. "This operation is backed up by none other than Big Boss Hakiyora himself."
She stared at him in shock, which brought a good deal of amusement to Gitsu. He continued, "Oh, yes. Big Boss Hakiyora, one of the major bosses directly under Havoc. Can you imagine that?" He laughed again. "Dark Fleet's outpost in Japan is going down, Iarra. Don't go down with it."
The small metal door was about one foot in length and had no handle. Ban pounded his fist into it, creating a small dent. He frowned. It looked like this one was made up of stronger material. He slammed his fist again, but much harder this time. The door bent a little.
He groaned, "How the hell should we open this damn door?"
"Let me try", Ginji said.
Ban stepped aside to let Ginji come closer. Ginji held his palms out towards the door and closed his eyes. Waves of electricity danced from his fingertips to the door. After a few seconds, the metal door imploded with a bang and was pushed further inwards.
Ban peered over Ginji's shoulder and saw that the door was now very far out of their reach. He scowled at his partner, who just gave him a sheepish grin and said, "Ooops."
He was about to bonk Ginji on the head when he got an idea. "Hey, pull the door towards you."
"How?"
Ban grinned. "Use your magnetic personality."
Ginji smiled in understanding. "Oh, right. You're so smart, Ban-chan."
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Shut up and just do it."
"Okay."
Ginji held his palms out again, but this time concentrated his energy on turning his body into a magnet. The door shook, then flew towards him. He caught the door before it hit his chest.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the metal door was not the only thing that Ginji's magnetism had attracted. A large medieval-looking shield hit him from the side. He turned chibi as dozens of other metallic things, like spears and sculptures of different alloys went flying towards him. And since Ban was right behind him, the poor brunette was unlucky enough not to be spared from the metallic rain.
"Aaack!", Ban yelled as he ducked and covered his head with his arms to shield himself from the various flying objects hurtling towards him. "You overdid it, you idiot!"
The kikou beside Ginji shook, then tumbled on top of him, crushing the poor chibi creature under its weight.
"Waaah! Ban-chan!", chibi Ginji cried. "I can't breathe!"
As soon as the objects stopped their flights and dropped to the floor, Ban stood up and placed his hands on the kikou's shoulders to pull it up when he saw something that made him gasp. Strapped diagonally on the its back was the Mikazuki Munechika.
"I don't believe this. When she said it was behind the kikou, I didn't know she meant that it was really BEHIND the kikou", he breathed out. He unslung the strap from the kikou's shoulder, grabbed the sword, then laughed with glee. "Ginji, we have the sword!"
"I'm really glad, Ban-chan", his partner's muffled voice spoke out. "But I still can't breathe."
Ban rolled the kikou off his partner, picked him by the hair, then said with a grin on his face, "Let's go home, Ginji."
Gitsu laughed once more, then gave Iarra a feral grin. "I'll give you one last chance, sweetheart. Do you want to stay aboard a sinking ship?"
"I can't believe you're underestimating Dark Fleet. You should know better than that", she said as she shook her head. "We'll survive without Hakiyora."
He laughed again. "But it's not just him, Iarra."
"What do you mean?", she asked.
"Our best commando team has defected as well", Gitsu answered, grinning.
She frowned. "The Kujiki (2) Squad?"
A self-satisfied smirk appeared on his face. "They're the ones who helped the Dragons with the layout of this place."
She raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "Is that all? Or are there any other traitors we should actually be afraid of?"
He glared at her. "Oh, don't worry. Dark Fleet's gonna have its hands full. I promise you that."
"So it's just Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad, huh?", she said.
"JUST Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad?", he repeated, his eyebrows raised. He snorted. "I don't think you'll be saying that once we're done with what we've planned for Dark Fleet."
Iarra didn't say anything more, but just looked at him intently.
Confused with her silence, he asked, "What?"
Well, it looks like that's all I'm gonna get from you, Gitsu. Without answering his question, she said in a low voice, "I see."
"Huh?", Gitsu asked.
Her eyes narrowed to slits. "You are such a liar, Gitsu", she said.
He saw the look in her eyes, and stared. I've never seen Iarra like this, he thought. "What did you say?", he demanded.
"I'm gonna have to verify what you said about Hakiyora and the Kujiki Squad since it's very stupid to trust a liar."
He glared at her. "Stop messing with me, Iarra. Nobody challenges the Silver Claw and gets away with it." He threw a dagger at her face.
She swung her right leg in a wide counter-clockwise motion, catching the dagger with her foot and stepping on it as she brought it down on the floor.
Gitsu gasped. What the...?
"You're right about that, Gitsu", she said, her eyes hard on him. "But you're also wrong on one thing. Very wrong."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh yeah? And what is that?"
"You're not the Silver Claw."
"You're funny", he said, chuckling. "Amuse me further, Iarra, and tell me. Why do you think that?"
"Three reasons", she answered, her face indicating that she was not amused. "First, the Silver Claw will never betray Dark Fleet."
He laughed aloud. "I really can't believe how naive you are, Iarra."
"Second", she continued, ignoring his comment. "The Silver Claw is not dumb enough to leak information just like that."
His smile disappeared. "You've called me dumb, and a liar. You've got guts, Iarra."
He hurled all eight of his daggers at her. She threw her two daggers to his direction, reached into her boot for the rest of her weapons, and hurled them at him. Her daggers hit four of his as they flew in the air. She reached out. As her daggers changed direction to fly back into her hands, they hit the rest of Gitsu's weapons, and all eight of them dropped to the floor.
Gitsu's jaw dropped.
"And third", she continued. Her eyes, as hard as stone, gazed directly into him as she stated her third reason. "I am the Silver Claw."
Gitsu stared at her, his eyes wide. He whispered to himself, "No way."
"What's the matter, Gitsu?", she asked, her face expressionless. "You look pale."
He reached out, summoned his daggers back, and flung them at her. With her eyes fixed on Gitsu, she easily jumped and dodged them, coming closer to him with each leap. She threw one of her daggers at him. He leaped up and avoided it. As he completed his backflip in the air, a second dagger went flying directly at him, and hit him straight at his left chest. He gasped, then dropped down on the floor with a thud.
He lay on his back, panting, sweat dripping from his forehead. He turned his head to Iarra, who was slowly stepping closer to him. He started gasping for breath.
Dammit, he thought. He could feel his heart slowing down.
Iarra stood over him, her face still expressionless. "Impersonating the Silver Claw is a very stupid thing to do."
"H-how...", he tried to say as he gasped for air. "... can this be?"
"I never hit the bullseye...", she said. "... because I never aimed for the bullseye."
She sat down next to him, her eyes softening as he took his last breaths. "I'm sorry, Gitsu", she whispered.
His breathing became more shallow. Finally, his eyes glazed over and his body went limp.
"I really am", she whispered. She reached over to his face,carefully closing his eyes with her palm, then bowed her head.
Notes: Whoa, people have been busy writing new fics for the past two weeks. Anyway, I really did aim to post this last week, but things got hectic, and I didn't get to finish writing this chapter until now. Sorry again, guys!
EffyDurach: Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but you were wrong hehe :D You're going to close your account? Can't you just keep it open just in case you get inspired? :D
limelie: The secret has been revealed just now :P
rabid lola: Oh, shoot. You are sooo right! Thanks for the correction. I'd just like to apologize for being too lazy right now to correct it -
monkey man: Really? Wow, thanks! You know, for a moment there, your name made me think of Shido hehe.
Atropos' Knife: Actually, when Ban tried to warn her, she cut him off. That was my super-subtle way of saying that she kinda knew, but wanted to catch him when he slips. Yeah, it was super-subtle, nobody caught it. Oh well, I promise I'd be less subtle on the next chapters :D Well, there's another way of looking at it. She was so good that she even fooled you hahaha :P Now, about that Ban and Iarra fic... a comedy of errors, huh? Yeah, that could work ;-) Let's see when I get the time to write it. Now that's the tough part.
Littleadryan: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter.
(1) A makimono is a Japanese horizontal scroll.
(2) Kujiki means to crush or shatter.