Standard Disclaimer: I don't own FruBa. This plot and original characters are mine, but not Fruba itself. Any twisted, enhanced psychotic tendency, morbid reactions, deep and well deserved brooding and/or beating ones self up that happen to appear in the story are mine and I stake full claims with some help and idea's. Please review, and any flame will be laughed at if not ignored. The works of many has inspired this and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these ideas are mine. But most are -

AN: I'm starting to write the second chapter before the first one is even out, so I don't even know if reader like it or not. Frankly, I like it - and that's really all that matters. (No, I lie. I would love it if you guy's liked this story. I just say that to make me feel better if the story's crap.) The first chapter was really an introduction, a prologue really. In this chapter, something will actually happen, and a plot/ conflict will make itself known. So buckle you're seatbelts lady's and gents, this is looking to be a very interesting chapter...

The Collector

By: SAL-Chan

Chapter Two: The Proposition

Mikona Cemetery, Shinjuku, Japan.

Wednesday, 20: 50

The moment my foot touched the gravel drive, I knew I shouldn't have gone.

The directions Yosuki gave me led me to Mikoan Cemetery, a small piece of land about thirty minutes away from the outskirts of Shinjuku, really closer to Ushigome then Shinjuku. I knew the place - I've chased groups of rampaging vampires through it once or twice- but it was the first time I would ever meat a client in a cemetery. The thought unsettled my stomach a little, but that was nothing new. I hate graveyards.

I shut my Jeep door with an echoing bang and scanned the dark horizon. The sun had set about an hour ago, letting darkness fully capture the sky when I first drove through the cemetery gates. It was dead quiet out here - excuse the pun...

Ivory angels looked out over the almost flat land, gracing the dead with their forever unchanging faces and their eternally falling tears. Wings fanned out into the air as if they were about to take flight, while others' wings were folded contentedly behind the stone winged children. Crosses stuck up sparingly in the air, mixing with the angels to break up the almost flat land. Cold marble headstones were scattered in-between and around the pillars of belief. If the dead only knew how breathtaking their resting places were, they would be even more envious of the living.

The grass stood high, hiding some of the footstones. Most of the land was covered in the yellow-green grass, the color of grass when it's in need of some major rain. It hadn't rained lately, but I could smell rain coming in the air. I felt it coming in my knees.

A great willow sat on a slight hill above all of it, letting its long limbs stretch out toward the angles and headstones around it. Some branches were tangled around random crosses and angels' wings, like the tree was trying to hold onto the memory the monuments symbolized. The darkness stretched around the tree and leaked through the leaves, light stars speckling the sky. There were almost no street lights out this far, so it was dark enough to see some stairs.

The whole scenery would have been beautiful...except for the fact that I had the worst sinking feeling in my gut.

I rubbed my thumb over my cross under my shirt and then touched the butt of my gun - a nervous habit I picked up from my other part-time partner. Though he normally then touched every other fire arm and knife he had on him, I normally ran a hand through my hair and sighed. I did run a hand through my hair, but I suppressed my sigh. I wasn't that nervous yet.

I checked that my jeep was locked, the made a cross over my chest with my hand (another picked up habit when in or near a grave yard) and made my way toward the old looking willow. It was about 8: 52, but I liked being early for meetings - even by a little bit. I could scout out the area before he came. At least, I hoped I was early and he wasn't standing on the other side of the tree waiting for me...

The only noise in the cemetery was the grass being stomped under my feet as I made my way around head stones. I felt my heart hammering in my chest and I heard my blood rushing through my ears. My breath came in quiet and quick gulps and I strained to hear anything. Paranoid? Me?

The sight that greeted me at the top of the willow's hill was not a happy one.

An open grave sat just around the great willow, fresh dirt crowded to the side of it - complete with shovels stuck in the still moist soil. The hole in the ground was an abyss of darkness, a bottomless pit. The moon peeked out from behind a cloud and illumined the grounds, shadowing the grounds and casting an eerie shadow in the hole. I felt my stomach drop out as I stared down into the empty hole. It wasn't every night that you saw an open grave...

I became instantly still, staring at the hole in the ground. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood at attention, and the utter stillness of the night captivated me. I was encased in silence so thick I felt like I was trapped, writhing in it. My stomach was suddenly trying to fold in on itself, and the creepy feeling increased ten-fold...

A dry wind swept across the graveyard, and it wasn't anything - cold, warm, moist, or crisp. Wind normally feels like one of those, but this wind seemed to move right around me, making the willow dance and leaving my shaggy hair still on my head. I felt the bottom of my heart drop out, I felt my body still, and I felt all feeling die in my eyes. Suddenly there was no noise that I couldn't hear, no movement that I couldn't see. I had entered my White Place, my Zen zone. I could do anything and not feel a drop of any emotion when in my White Place. It was a very dangerous ability.

I turned and pulled my gun as quickly as could, clicking the safety off and aiming one-handed before the words "Sohma-San-" reached my ears.

Yosuki was standing on the other side of the open grave, slightly down hill - about 15 feet away. The sleeves of his light blue dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows, and the first two buttons were undone. His hair was still pulled back, but the mass of hair wavered in the wind I still didn't feel. The black strip of his sunglasses cut across his face harshly in the night, contrasting the paleness of his skin. His lips were parted, and his delicate eyebrows were raised in obvious surprise. Bet the little bastard didn't think I could move that fast...

The moment I saw him I threw a Running Rope around him. It's liked like a hunter's - which I am, technically - leash on one of their dogs. It was only temporary for tonight, so I could feel him move rather then keep my eyes on him all the time. I normally did that to anyone I went out with, but I wanted to watch Yosuki without having to keep my eyes on him. The rope made him shut his mouth quickly with a quiet little snap that I barely heard. I was still in my white area, I could hear very well...

It was then that I tasted magic in the wind. Strong magic tastes like sugary plastic, and it had the ability to suffocate you. The wind was all magic, ominously avoiding my aura space. Thus the reason I didn't feel the wind. I can put 2 and 2 together and get 4, but all I had at the moment was 3 and a half. If the wind magic wasn't from me, and from my rope I knew it wasn't from Yosuki. I knew Yosuki could do this if he wanted, but it wasn't him. That meant there were more 'people' here...and yes, I quote the 'people' part.

Then I saw Yosuki smile, and then I got 4. It was a trap. A trap. Shit, shit, shit! I knew it. Damn!

"Damn!" It slipped from my lips before I had time to think to stop it, and my White Place fell away with a rush of adrenaline. Crap, my aim was shot to hell until I could concentrate again. I felt the ache that came with holding a stance for too long lace up my arms, and my muscles twitched. I still didn't drop my aim totally, only sighted down the barrel. My natural talent for shooting was gone for a moment, so I had to compromise.

"Sohma....please, know that I'm regretful to do this-"

"Don't be coy, damnit! Now tell me exactly what you did." I almost spat it him as another tremor ran up my arms. Remember I said before that torturing me will put me on my shit list faster then you can say 'Damn'? Well tricking me is pretty high up there on the list as well. I hate being f'ed with, in most meanings of the word.

"I asked you to come." He said it simply as another fake gust of wind carried his hair away with it.

"You damn well should be regretting this!" I snapped back, trying in vain to keep my un-directed anger under control. Something was out there that I needed to find. I was about the throw a tracking line around the graveyard to find whomever, but Yosuki's voice stopped me-

"I wouldn't." It was sharp, and it brought my attention back to him. "Don't even try."

"Why shouldn't I?" I snapped back, feeling my muscles shutter again. His face became very serious all of a sudden, all emotion draining from his face and body.

"Leave."

I blinked. "What?"

"Leave now." He said again, gaining some force in his voice. He flicked some copper hair away from his face with a swift flick of his hand. I felt his eyes on me like a lead weight. It was almost pushing-

"Why?" I brought my gun up and aimed down my arm. The movement refreshed all the muscles in my arm and I was able to hold the gun without it shaking again. He bit his lip, and then took three steps forward with his long legs. We were now ten feet apart.

"Don't ask questions. It's better if you know nothing and forget I ever met you. Leave now and save yourself a lot of grief." His voice was monotone but dangerous. Seriousness fit him very well.

"Like hell!" I mentioned offhandedly as the wind picked up around Yosuki. The willow's branches flapped in the wind, adding a little needed noise to the night. "You think I'll walk away after you go and pull some stunt like this? 'The hell do you want? To kill me, or something?"

"I'm not the one who wanted the meeting with you. Just trust me and leav-" He cut himself off abruptly, snapping his jaw shut. I felt him tear his gaze from me to look behind himself, and then slowly turned it back to me. The breeze picked up around him, flinging his hair over his shoulder. The willow's branches shuttered and flew away from us. I felt the magic in the air thicken, and I felt my eyes widen.

"What the hell is going on?!" My voice was thin and shaky as I tried to shout over the wind. I've never seen magic indirectly move nature before. The Earth has a mind of its own when it comes to magic, and it doesn't like things messing with almost as much as I did. I locked my eyes on Yosuki, chills falling down my spine - and realized a few moments to late that I should have run the hell away...

"Too late." He said simply, and then the wind picked up. I heard snapping noises as the willow's branches broke off from the tree to fall to the ivory angles and marble crosses below. The grass was almost lying down against the ground, and Yosuki's hair was waving a few feet away from me. The thing that disturbed me the most was that I saw all this happening, but I didn't feel a lick of the wind.

The suddenly - like a flip of a switch - everything stilled again. And looking into Yosuki's grim face, I knew I should have ran...

I should really listen to my insistences more often. I knew coming was a bad idea, but I came anyway. I knew something bad was now going to happen, but I didn't run. I'm such a little shit-

"Kyo Sohma." I couldn't move. All my muscles cramped at the same time, and my eyes widened even more. All the alarm bells went off in my head, and it felt like a warm sponge had wiped off the top of my brain. I felt my cross grow warm under my shirt and it was a sharp contrast to the chill my body had taken.

The chill of a vampire.

I turned - painfully so - and looked behind myself to where the voice came from.

He looked about his late twenties, early thirties. His face was clean and pail, free of anything that would take your sight off his eyes. His hair looked older then he did, a dark gray with strands of white in it. It was long and cut away from his face, tied back into a low and loose ponytail that hung far down his back. His charcoal pressed three-piece suite fit his body loosely and comfortably. His dress shirt was black, making his entire gray self look darker. I would tell you his eye color, but rule one is; you never look a vampire in the eyes. It's not sane...

He stood tall, with his hands in his pockets, and power prickly blew out from him. The confidence that radiated from him made me instinctively take a step back. I was more armed to track a shifter - I didn't expect a vampire to just show up like this. After a moment of thought on whom the worse evil was, I swung my arms around and sited down the gun toward the vampire.

"I offer you no violence, Sohma, yet you point a gun at me? Do you know no manners?" His voice elegant, no really hint of any emotion as he said it. He was right, I had not been offered any violence, and so I simply lowered the gun - not putting it away or clicking the safety.

Damn vampire politics...

"Vampire manners don't help me much." It was low. I was slipping into my White Place again. Thank God. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want with me?"

The Vampire shook his head, laughing a laugh that sent shiver down my back. "Must it be about you, Sohma?"

"You sent your lackey to bring me to you." I jerked my head toward Yosuki, my face scrutinizing. "And since we're the only peop-...'things' here, I guessed so."

"I'm not his lackey." Yosuki's voice was strong, and suddenly he was standing next to me, facing the vampire. I spun and pointed the gun at him, backing up three or four steps. I hadn't felt him move with my rope. That was bad. My heart was pounding in my chest like a caged bird. I had the worst cottonmouth ever. Nothing to send the White Place away like a big ass hit of fear, ne?

"The hell you aren't...what do you want?" It was a comeback, albeit soft. I heard movement a moment later - the movement of someone who had to walk, like the rest of us mortals - as woman stepped out form behind the willow, making the grass move under her feet.

She was gangly, her limbs seemed long on her thin frame. Her body was skinner then normal, like her bones would show through her skin. Her thin black tank top fit her chest loosely, the dark color making her almost white shin seem to glow. Her skirt was tied by a red ribbon around her waist, the skirt a soft black velvet that reached a little past her knees.

Her face was striking, even though it looked as if the fullness it once had was sucked out. Her cheeks were thin but strongly built, her mouth set in a firm line. Her auburn brown hair was light, turning ever so gray to my eyes. I was betting it was on the reddish side of brown, all in all a pretty color in my semi-colorblind state. Her eyes were what bothered me the most though. They were gray - and I could tell by the coloring that it wasn't my red-gray I was seeing. Her eyes were really the color gray, and for some reason I knew they weren't that color when she was born. It was a pitiless gray, like something very important had been sucked out of her body and it showed in her eyes. In fact, that was probably true by the way she look...

I've only seen one other person in her condition, someone by the name of Audrey Sain. She was an Irish woman from way back in the day who had been bound to a vampire by a blood promises. She had signed over her soul in order to keep her young daughter alive. She had looked like a walking corpse when I met her. She had walked away with pitiless eyes as well, told me that it was probably from a break in the contract between the vampire in question and herself.

The only question with this woman would then be whom was she once connected to?

"This-" The vampire said, gesturing toward the woman, then to himself, and then toward the tree. "is Honda Kyoko. My name is Kazuma, and that's Hiro."

The last name made me spin around to look toward the tree. Within the branches was a little boy, maybe 12 years old. His hair was a dark light honey color crossed with wheat, cut short around his ears. His face was very pointed for his young looking body, barley able to hold his large tree-bark brown eyes. His eyes were very faded around the pupil, but always very bright and hungry. His thin and small frame showed him as a little boy, and it would for the rest of his eternal life - and I'm saying eternal as in as-long-as-he's-not-out-in-the-sunshine long. Vampire long.

Tonight he was wearing a plain pair of brown pants and a thick black belt. The rest of his pale and unblemished skin was out for the night air to touch. It was then that I realized how the wind had become so strong - Hiro's control over his flying ability was prefect - but just a bit windy. Yeah, right.

"We've met..." I said briefly toward the child-vampire, who laughed out loud when I turned from him to Kazuma. It was a very dark and child-like laugh - it unnerved me even more then I was at the time. If Hiro was here, it meant that some badass stuff was happening. "...but the reason I'm here still isn't very clear."

"I want you to find my daughter." Kyoko's voice was as strong as I thought it would be, very level and very serious. I stared at her, my gun still pointed toward Kazuma, and blinked.

"Your daughter's missing? Why not got to the police."

"The police are idiots." she said simply, blinking back at me. Her eyes were very deep, and very forcefully - and very heavy as well. This woman had seen many things that could scar the body and the heart...

"Was she taken by another vampire? A shifter?" I asked.

Kyoko shook her head. "No."

I felt my arm start to twitch again. Shit. "Was she kidnapped?"

She started looked like she was going to say something, but-

"-Yes." Kazuma interjected, stepping closer to Kyoko and placed his hand on her shoulder. The woman stilled instantly. "She was kidnapped, and Honda-san wants her back."

I shook my head. "I don't do police work-"

"She was taken because she has power." Kazuma stated, and I felt Yosuki tense. I almost jumped as the feeling of the running rope came back into my mind. He was almost back to back with me, and for some strange reason I trusted him there for the moment. I could tell by the way he was dismissed that he wasn't with Kazuma and company. Even though he sold me out, I hated these guys more then him for the moment. He was probably just doing what that old saying says; the enemy of my enemy is my friend...or something like that. As of right now, I was Kazuma's enemy, and Yosuki was my friend...kind of...I would still kill him if I had the chance. Damn bastard...

I blinked at him, adjusting my stance so the acid that built up in my arms could swish around in there again and refresh my muscles.

"Why should I help a vampire? I'm against you guys, remember?" I asked, the weight of both Kazuma 's gaze - as well as Kyoko's - making me nervous and fidget. I adjusted my aim again.

"That's the same thing I said." Hiro's immature voice came from the tree branch he was sitting on. I didn't turn to him. "Why ask a lazy, no-good slayer for help? Don't ask me, I only know how your sorry ass so-called skills suck-"

"Quiet, Hiro." The older vampire snapped, and Hiro shut up immediately with a small 'humph' of annoyance. I could see the hierarchy starting to develop, and it didn't look like I was any closer to the top then Hiro was.

"I can't help you. I kill, I don't get back anything." I said grumpily. That made Kazuma frown in the play-acting way.

"But Sohma, you just agreed to track something today, and get it back alive." Damnit! I knew the moment I saw Yosuki this morning that this wasn't a good idea. Crap, crap...think Kyo...find a way out of this. You're good at this kind of stuff...

"I can't help you." I said again, taking my aim one more. I had a feeling that if said 'no' a few more times, the peace the dead hoped for on their resting grounds would be broken by blood - most likely mine.

"You could help more then you know..." Kazuma said lowly, and he lit the fuse. This toying around was pissing me off quicker then I though it would. Knowing vampires, Kazuma brought Hiro to piss me off. Lucky him, it was working. I didn't not want to be in the company of that...thing. I was told to keep my anger in check when around vamps too, because they push back harder. I decided to end it, and get the hell out of here.

"I'm not going to help you." I changed one word, and I meant it. I slowly lowered my gun and took a step back, then a few more. The more steps I took, the warmer the smile on Kazuma's face became. I turned on my heal a moment later and came face to face-..well, face to lower chest with Hiro. The little vampire's eyes had bled all bark brown, and he had a smile on his face that let his fangs show. I stared down at him, and I slipped into my white place that instant. I let him see my dead eyes, and his smile just widened.

I moved as fast as I could, and a moment later my gun was lying on the side of Hiro's head, and the little vampires hand lay over my heart - nails pointed and sharp. We both froze on the spot, staring into each other's eyes. Hiro's eyes didn't effect me like others did, maybe because he had fed from me when we were both new to this game - I'm not sure. I was immune to his eyes, as well as his mind games. Luck me...

"Try it," he tested, eyes unafraid. "I'll kill you before you pull that trigger."

"We would both be dead." I said quietly. "My fingers are as fast as your hand. My job is easier, you have to push through bone and muscle while all I do is pull."

A low hiss made its way from him, and it sounded a lot like a cat's hiss. It looked so wrong coming from a child's face that I almost lost my mental balance. I knew that one day me and Hiro would square it up - I was the reason he had knife marks in his back, and he was the reason for the scars on my knee.

"...Kyo...her name is Tohru, and she 19." Kyoko's voice carried over my White Place with an earth shattering desperation. "She works in a soup kitchen Thursday and Friday nights from 6: 30 to 11, and she gives all her old clothes to charities. She's interning at a hospital in the pediatric department, working with kids that have cancer. She comes home almost ever week and tells me that another one of her friends died, knowing she could have helped but wasn't allowed. She's attached to this little girl named Asa who has a brain tumor and has about...the rest of this week to live. The hospital called me yesterday and said that she's been asking for Tohru. The only person she's asking for is Tohru..."

I found myself staring down at the top of Hiro's head, my gun dangling at my side. The vampire had let his hand fall to his side as well and was staring around me toward Kazuma. I turned too, wanting so much to see the woman's face that was speaking, to see if she was lying to me. I prayed she was lying to me...

Gray lines ran from the corner of her eyes and dripped off her thin face to the ground. It was my type of gray, I could tell by the way it looked against her skin. Her face was set in perfect stone, but I saw the need to get her daughter back raw in her eyes. Her eyes were begging me to do it for her daughter, to do it for the little girl that I didn't know and would have never cared about if not men. The moment I saw the proud woman crying tears of blood for her daughter I knew I would be doing this whether I liked it or not.

I stared hard at Kazuma, keeping everything I could out of my eyes. "If I refuse, then what?"

Kazuma smiled and looked down at the open grave that separated us. The symbolism was very apparent.

"Then I guess I live if I do it, huh?"

"For the most part, yes." Kazuma answered, and I felt his power trickle out to brush mine. I almost flinched away, but I brought up my barriers before he could touch me. That was the only reason Yosuki had found the hole in me before - I let him touch my skin. I tried to glare at him the best I could, but without eye contact it was a little hard to get my point across.

"Will I be paid?" I asked, a very sharp edge to my voice.

"With your life, yes." Came the exact answer I expected. I stared at Kyoko's eyes one more time to try and remember to remind myself why I gave my answer.

"Then I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I asked with a grin, shrugging my shoulders. Kazuma smiled slightly and pulled a folder from his pocked and dropped it on the ground. Kyoko blinked at me and gave me the barest of smiles as the wind once again picked up around everyone but me.

"No..." I heard Kazuma say, his grin laced in his voice. It was at that moment that I locked eyes with him and found them an almost black gray of coal. His face suddenly became solemn, as he spoke slowly. "...no, you don't."

And with an updraft the two vampires and the mother who cried blood left me alone with a traitor in a graveyard with an open grave and a hell of a lot more to do tonight then I had originally planned to.

And the day had been looking up in the beginning. I wondered vaguely if I would see my apartment this century. Then I thought with my new work lode, probably not.

I had no idea what I just singed myself up to do in my free time. And staring down at that small manila folder, I knew I would do it never the less. And I still had dried blood spots on my face. It was always good to leave a meeting with dried blood spot on your face rather then wet ones.

Then I remembered I still had company...

(End of Chapter Two)

Ranting: Well I'm going to Florida in less then 9 hours. I really don't want to go...really.

Well I've just read that FF.N wont be allowing reviews for the next three days. I hope you will review when you get a chance...I'll be working on the 6th chapter of Collector, and the 16th chapter of SH, so I'll have work to do while I'm away. I sent chapter 15 of SH to Misaki, and I'm going to send chapter 3 to her today too. Hopefully I'll be able to find a cable connection down there to plug in as get my mail, as well as posting anything I can get... I really don' want to go.

Anyway...

AllHailSophietheQueen: Thank you! Review again sometime!

loon: Glad you liked it. I'm trying, but now that both I and my editor have school and plays going on, it's a little hard. Please come back and review again!

YumeTakato: I'm trying to be as witty as I can. Kyo has my humor. Sorry bout that -U and Your right, I didn't finish telling you.

Cat: Lol thank you. Again I'm sorry this took so long to get out. But review again for this chapter too!

HanaTenchiHimeko: Lol thanks. lad you liked this story too. I'm working on SH, don't worry. It's just taking a wile for everything to come together in my head. It will be finished soon though...but don't be sad. I'm very glad you like this. Please review again. It's always good to hear from someone who's reviewed so many times before.

Date Finished: September 12, 2004. 8: 14 p.m.

Date Edited: November 20, 2004. 6: 50 p.m.

Ja!

SAL-Chan