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 if not ignored. This has been inspired by many people works and I give credit to all of them and in no way am I claming that all of these idea's are mine.
AN: Just finished the second chapter...2 minuets ago. It's 8: 16 p. m on September 12th, and I'm starting before the first chapters even out. That gives you an idea on how much I like this story...I don't even know how I'm writing any of these chapters. I'm working off a scratchy outline...Gods, I'm insane. I don't even know if anyone likes this story...
Italics language change, English mostly
P.S.: Since I've never been to Japan, I don't know the differences in time's from one city to another. I'm working with a map of Japan that has like.... nothing on it. So if my times a little wrong, or I make up city names and such, don't get mad at me...please?
The Collector
By: SAL-Chan
Chapter Three: The Hunt
Quiet had settled in instantly, leaving the graveyard as quiet as it had been before any other soul beside myself was here. I had continued to stare at the spot Kazuma was moments ago, absorbing everything that happened to take place. Shit...no one at work was going to believe the hole I dug myself this time. I glanced at the open grave and thought that was a very bad analogy.
A few simple strides around the hole and I was starring down at the folder. With a quick movement I grabbed the folder off the floor and opened it. There were three pieces of tea stained paper laying in the folder with hand written notes covering both the fount and the back, along with a glossy photo that sat in the back. I didn't even bother looking at any of the words or looking at the picture. A lot of damn help they were gonna give me at the moment...
A wind pushed its way across the graveyard - the first wind I had felt all night. It moved the old willow back into its fulmar places, letting small branches tangle on angels' wings again. It fluttered its way across my face and moved my hair away from my eyes. I slowly clicked the safety on and slipped the Magnum back into its resting place, then clipped it shut. I tapped the butt of the gun, touched my cross - that had grown cold once again -under my shirt, ran and hand through my hair, and sighed.
I pulled lightly and my running rope and pulled it off. I turned toward Yosuki, a sudden calm settling in my stomach. He stood there equally still and I could feel his eyes resting on mine. My calm was sinking deeply into my heart, but vaguely I felt my hands shaking. The fingers on my left hand were almost completely numb. I had almost no circulation in the hand, but as I flexed my fingers I felt the wetness in the palm of my hand. I didn't have to look down to know middle of the star on my palm had opened again.
"There's no shifter, is there Yosuki?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I felt him blink at me, and then he smiled.
"No, and my last name isn't Yosuki."
"Then what is it?"
"It's Atsuo. Just, Atsuo..."
"Just Atsuo? Like...Madonna, or Cher?" He gave me an odd look. I shook my head at him and waved my bleeding hand. "Never mind."
"It was business, Sohma," he said simply, defending what had just happened. I gave him a look.
"Business with a vampire?"
"I'm free now," he said it like I should have known all along. I gave him a look. He shook his head at me and waved his hand. Bastard. "You wouldn't understand..."
"No shit." I cursed at him in English, and I felt him blink at me. I was suddenly tired. I shut the folder and turned to go.
"Would it help if I apologized about this?" He said, and I stopped in mid step. I turned back to look at him, letting him see how tired I was in my eyes. I felt my hands give another wild twitch before they settled again. Mild shock that always seems to come with meeting a vampire - let alone two, one of which was the cause of a few months of nightmares and the sole cause of my insomnia. They were all going to come back to me now, just after I had moved on to the dissection of my hand and the pleasure it caused. Well damn, I liked the new one's so much more. It's like picking between a rock and a hard place.
"Not very much. It would help, but not much."
"I apologize anyway. Business is business..." And with that Yosuki-...I mean Atsuo turned and walked off toward the darkness that eats at all graveyards. I sighed again and made my way quietly to the Jeep that look very out of place in the middle of the cemetery. I unlocked it and slid onto the black cloth seat and put the folder on the seat next to me, shutting the door with a loud slam.
I will not hyperventilate, I will not hyperventilate...
I set my head on the steering wheel ungracefully, glancing at the clock out of the corner of my eye. It was nine on the dot. The whole confrontation took six minutes altogether, but it felt like a shit load of stuff just happened in a few hours - not seconds. I thought for a moment about going home and sleeping forever, and then my cell phone sprang to life on my dashboard, singing at me. I stared at it for a moment, wondering whether or not to take the call.
I'm too good of a person. I sat back and snatched the phone off the dash, looking at the number. It was Sean. I flipped the phone open almost immediately. We normally never call each other unless the other's help is needed.
"Yeah?" My voice sounded as tired as I felt. I tied once again to concentrated on the thing that was happening now.
"How long will it be till you get here?" His voice was almost drowned out by sirens and others voices.
"Where are you?" I almost yelled to compensate for the noise he was surrounded by.
"Hongo!" His voice was just about drowned out. Then suddenly with a snap all the background noise was shut out, muffled to a dull roar. I heard him panting lightly on the other end of the phone. He repeated, "Hongo."
I blinked, even though he couldn't see me. "Hongo? The hell? My nine o'clock tonight was at Ginza. What the hell are you doing an forty-five minutes away from there?"
"They ran the hell away, that's what," he said as a voiced yelled in the background. Panic, it sounded like panic. Shit
"What's going on?"
"Four suckers broke away from their kiss." His English was a hell of a lot better then mine - No shit - but my limited English helped out when we didn't want anyone else to understand what we were saying. He probably was around reporters. That's the only time we switch languages. "A master and three little ones. The have seven kills already, four females and three males, all 25 or younger. They're club hopping, and not caring who sees them."
"Well… shit," I said, snapping my seatbelt on and getting the car started. I pulled out of the cemetery at 9: 02 and floored it, heading toward the expressway. I cut from the expressway to the back roads with mild traffic. I would be there in an hour - maybe less. "How the hell did you get there so fast?"
"Set phoned me after he called the office asking who was on this one. He's stuck in Ginza now; he called me a few minutes ago, telling me that he had to stay for damage control. Told me to call you. Sorry if I cut you appointment off."
I blinked, sidetracking for a second. "Setsu's back from Bangkok?"
He laughed for a second, and then sobered as someone said something to him that I couldn't here. I slipped onto another emergency road and floored it. The road was empty except for my little Jeep. "Yeah, he flew in this morning."
"His day might suck more then mine is."
"What happened?"
I sighed. "I can't explain now. I'll tell you when I see you. Where in Hongo are you?"
He told me the street name. It was quite close to the University of Tokyo. I knew the area well. He stayed on the line while I manage to write the street name on my hand and drive over 60 at the same time. Whoever said I couldn't multitask was a big, fat liar. Screw you, Shigure.
"What's up?" I said, dropping the pen on the folder next to me. We normally hand short conversations over the phone. Street name said, and it was a mutual hang-up.
"It's bad." I raised my eyebrow at the phone.
"Bad as in bloody bad?" I heard him shake his head. A woman's voice almost flooded the phone, and I heard him moved it aside as they exchanged a muffled conversation. A moment later he came back.
"No, not bloody bad. That more regular then it should be for me. How much longer are you going to be?" His voice was growing hoarse. He was probably the only LVE there - we have a tendency to be the ones in charge when on a crime seen. I watched an exit sign fly by. That reminded me...
"Bout a half an hour. Where are you talking to me from?"
"The van outside the seventh victim's house."
"Where's the vamp?"
"That's why I needed to call you." Well damn, they had a loose vampire on their hands. He sounded desperate, "What should I do?"
I changed lanes a little more aggressively then I should have. I felt my eyebrow twitch. Me, an aggressive driver? Never! My stomach was still unsettled from the last vampire collection I was in the middle of. "What way are they heading?"
"North." I snapped open my glove compartment and pulled out my Little Black Book. Normally men have little black books with woman's names in it. My book was full of listed killers, executors, and illegal informants that the Japanese police would love to get their hands on. Shows you the status of my sad sex life.
"Ashiya lives in Sugomo." I said off-hand, flipping through my book to find her name. "She's the Tracker we worked with for the RainChaser Pack we hunted six months ago. I'll give you her number. She's probably much closer to you then I am." I gave him the number, and I heard him write it down on his hand. He still didn't hang up after that. I grunted and read another exit sign that flew past. 7 more exits. 20 minuets.
"What's so bad about this one?"
Apprehensive silence flooded the other end of the phone. I almost growled. "Sean?"
"They're just meat, Kyo." He said my mantra to me, and I knew it was bad. People were never just meat to Sean. I was afraid he was going to snap soon because of it. "That's all that's left."
"Shit." I muttered. "Call Ashiya. Tell her I'm asking for the favor. I'll be there soon." Exit 5 flew by.
"Hurry." was the final comment from him the phone beeped with the end of the call. I snapped it shut and let it fall to the floor next to me. I dumped my Little Black Book back into the compartment and pulled my LIVE badge out. Exit 4 flew by.
Tonight was not looking up at all.
Twenty-Ninth and Main Street, Hongo, Japan.
Wednesday, 21: 56
There were squad cars by the tenth's parked all over the place, lights flashing and yellow tape up all over the place. It looked like all of Hongo was on Twenty-Ninth and Main tonight. I had to park a mile away and jog through pedestrians and reporters to get to the yellow tape. The noise level was two notches below what an airplane engine sounds like. My 'excuse me's and 'get out of my way's were lost in the noise. I was reduced to shoving my way through the lines of people. That's another thing I learned; people tend to move out of the way if you have a naked gun on you.
I didn't look very detective-like in my red T-shirt and faded jeans, but my shoulder holster and knives made me look likes something to not be messed with. I slipped under the yellow tape and was making my way toward the black van when - finally - a uniform approached me, his hand on his gun.
Well shit, I was going to get into a fight with a cop. really don't like us that much unless we can save their sorry asses. I raised both of my hands above my head to show I wasn't holding any weapons, but that didn't make him let go of his. I felt hundreds of eyes on the back of my head. I guess anyone armed who walked on to a crime scene was like a flare in the night.
"Sohma Kyo, VE. I'm being expected." I half shouted to the officer, slowly pulling my license out of my back pocked and flashing it at him. Almost immediately he let go of his gun and rushed at me, a relived look on his face.
"Where's Dekoura?" I snapped at him before he had a chance to say anything. The uniform was about to say something when a muddled 'Sohma' was shouted over the noise. I turned back toward the crowed and found Ashiya ducking under the yellow tape and hurrying toward us. I grinned toward her.
"Long time no see, Ashiya." Ashiya Risa was a girl of her mid twenties who look about her teens. She stood shoulder to shoulder with me, which put her at five five. Her hair was a raven black that was cropped short, almost as short as mine. If you put her in a suit, she could pass for a man when you looked at her from behind, as long as the suit wasn't form fitting. Her face was anything but masculine.
She had doe brown eyes and full lips that never seem to stop smiling. She looked at ease in a black long sleeved dress shirt and dress pants. Her shoes were black Nikes, like mine. Her holster was a dark black leather that was almost invisible against her shirt. Two knives were strapped to her forearms, and two to her calves. I watched her address me with plain, dead, doe brown eyes, and a smile lit her face.
"Not so long, Sohma. I thought you weren't going to be here."
I shrugged. "I managed."
"In no time flat I see. I made it in thirty-five. You must have flown here." We started moving toward the van, and she flashed her LIVE badge toward the uniform. I spotted Sean talking with a group of officers around the other side of the truck. He looked very panicked, and they looked very scared. All he had added to his outfit from this afternoon was a shoulder rig and a high-powered riffle that was slung across his back. Maybe it was just me, but Sean look a lot less imitating with more guns then with less.
As one, Ashiya and I shouted "SEAN!"
He turned, and even from feet away I could see the relief wash through him. I could also see the relief wash through the officers around him. I picked up a jog and headed through the officers to him.
"The situation?" Ashiya beat me to it. Sean grinned at her.
"Two dead inside, and I've seen no movement. I think they're long gone from here. Heading toward Komagome."
"We ready to fly?" I asked, touching the butt of my gun. Sean pulled a roll of paper out of his back pock and showed it to us.
"Four legalized execution papers. We're ready to follow you guys any time. Just give us the word."
I looked at Ashiya, and she looked at me. I shrugged, and then turned back to him. "Word."
Sean eyes lit up, and a grin captivated his face. He spun to face the officers and said, "Hit your cars, guys! This is gonna be a wild ride!"
I sighed and shook my head, then the weight of a Running Rope slipped around my neck. I turned toward Ashiya and found her doe eyes pitch black, a smile on her face. I laced one around hers as well. "Grab the trail, and I'll follow your lead." she said.
"It's your area." I said.
"It's your favor." she said. I smiled, and then I cast my ability around us.
Being a Tracker is like being a dog - I've overheard us call that by some cops. Truthfully, that's what we become, without the whole shape-shifting part. So is sent my tracing aura around us - I let it flow from the hole in me, and instantly I was able to see the aura's of anyone who had been in the area. Dogs track with smell like they see it, and so do we - but with aura and magic instead of the nose and smell thing.
Sean's leftover aura was a light lime-green color toward my left, and I knew that somewhere in the group of cops that had surrounded us a moment ago was a physic with a purple aura. And the instant I saw the house, I could see black strikes of vampire energy all along the doors and windows. I tasted old death in the back of my mouth, and I followed the black strikes with my eyes down the block.
"You see it?" I asked, and I felt her nod through my rope. I heard cars start around us and I followed the lime-green streak to a cop car a few feet away.
"Ready to go?" Sean said brightly, lost in a haze of his own energy. I smiled at him.
"Try to keep up. I'm leading." I turned back to Ashiya and her own brown fog and mumbled. "I am leading, right?"
She smiled and nodded. "I'll try to keep up."
I smiled back at her, the turned my attention to the black streak. I could see that the streak went over the next house and around so I took up a light jog and headed down the street. The people were cleared away from the yellow tape and formed a line that was wide enough to let the cop cars past. I jogged thought the yellow line clearing, my eyes on the streak. Ashiya was on my heels the entire time. I vaguely heard one officer who was holding back the crowed say, "They're going to walk after it?"
I stopped in the middle of Main Street and stared down the long black streaks that painted the road. I jumped twice to get my legs started then called back behind me "Ready?"
"As ready as you are." Ashiya answered, and then I stared to run. I took a deep breath through my mouth and ran into the aura trail of the vampires, yanked at the power in my chest, took another deep breath and my Tracking instincts took over.
It's been said that Trackers have blood of hunting animals in their bodies. Somehow the Earth gives you another piece of 'something' that lets you have any Talent. I've worked with a few Trackers on the island, and it seems like we all have a different anima we embody. Ashiya - for instant - hunted like a wolf. I was more like a lion. I hunted better in a group when I could wait and ambush. But whatever animal we were considered, we could all run.
I can't really tell you much of what it's like while tracking, but I can tell you what it feels like before you are absorbed by the hunt. I know all you're energy is pushed into your legs, and I knew that the better the Tracker the more they looked like the animal they were referred to. I've never seen a tracker shift into another form, but I've seen some close.
A guy I knew a few years ago had his entire bone structure almost completely change. His legs would grow and his feet would be manipulated for speed and running. His toes became claw-like, as did his hands. He ran on all fours, and I wasn't able to keep up with him. His teeth were pointed, even when the rest of him looked normal, and his ears would extend back to a point. He had a howl of a dog as well. He was the closest thing to a true and legendary Tracker that I've ever seen.
But all you know when Tracking anything is the way the aura tastes on the back of your tongue, the thickness of the energy in your hands, the way you move through it. You loose yourself in the fields of energy with your only goal is finding the thing that made this and making it yours. Good Trackers are able to stop when they find the prey, but some who are new to Tracking loose themselves in the animal-blood fueling their bodies. That's why people who were new to this went out in groups. In groups, the ability doubles and the hunt is as controlled as the most controlled person in the group.
Never do Trackers just let themselves go and run in the feeling. You only do that when you trust your running mates as much as you trust yourself. I, myself, have never let go and basked in the feeling of running free. Not many have.
A good pair of Trackers can feed off each other's stamina and strength, and their minds can work together without words said. Ashiya and myself were a very good pair. I could tell because my human mind was able to break through the cloud of hunting and I was able to understand what was going on. On this Hunt, I can only remember one moment of human clarity while running. I remember checking to the side and seeing Ashiya, eyes electric brown, smile on her face and teeth pointed. Her neck seamed to stretch more then normal, and her arms were extended, her hands more claw-like then ever. She caught my eyes with her wild ones a second later and let out a long howl.
I faded away in the hunt instantly after that.
Ozu alleyway, Komagome, Japan.
Thursday 00: 17
I brooked back into human conciseness with my Magnum drawn and my back pressed up against the side of a stone house. Cement was steady under my feet, my breath coming in harsh gasps. I ground my teeth together and felt the last imitating points of some kick-ass canines fade away. I was alone next to an alleyway, and I heard a woman protesting weakly around the corner. Ashiya was nowhere in sight, neither was Sean.
Ashiya was on the roof of the building above me, waiting for my signal - I could feel her waiting on the other end of my line. There was a woman with four vampires around the corner from me, and if I didn't do anything, she would die. All the vampires had life-wavers with wet ink still staining the paper. My White Place flooded my mind.
I touched my cross with one of my hands, set my hands on my gun and centered myself. Three slow and even breaths later, I had pivoted on my foot and come into the alleyway, my gun going off with an echoed bang. I snagged one of the smaller vampires with my bullet, and Ashiya got a brown haired one from above at the same time. Two down, two to go.
As I felt my gun auto-reloading, I saw a man stand straight and drop a body - then suddenly he was on top of me, my gun flying out of my hands. A second shot went off as the side of my face slammed into the pavement, the vampire riding my body to the ground. White splotches filled my vision for a second, but faded with the puff of a breath on my cheek. One of the vampire's hands was on my shoulder, the other just touching the side of my face. He was leaning early close to my neck, sure of himself that I was out cold.
I calculated a few things in a matter of milliseconds. One; Ashiya wouldn't fire at the last vamp because he was on top of me, two; the vampire on top of me was left unguarded against it's 'defenseless' pray, and three; I damn well wasn't defenseless.
I yanked the knife on my left forearm out with my right hands and stabbed the vampire on the right side of the chest. It stopped in mid motion - seeming to calculate just what happened- then reared back onto its knees, surprised. I saw it look down at the knife as I reached for my short sword on my calf. The vampire smacked my hand down next to me again with a sickening crack, and then it pulled the knife out in a single fluid motion. Gray dotted his shirt where the knife had been a moment ago, and it was thick on the blade he held in his hand.
I felt more then heard the vampire laugh. "Vat did you tink d'is could dou to me?" His voice was thick with an accent I couldn't put my finger on. I grinned despite the situation.
"It was worth a shot." I mentioned, and I saw his face move to look at me. His hair was a pail blond - a true, blue pale blond. A foreign vampire...now that wasn't something you see running amuck in suburban Japan every day.
"-Ond now you die?" he asked politely, spinning the knife around in his hand and stabbing down, just grazing my arm. Distantly I heard a distinctive high-pitched sound - somewhat like a teakettle put a few octaves higher. It tapered off with a defining ping, and I felt the vampire still on top of me. I met his pale blue eyes through the night and I knew he knew what that sound meant.
"And now you die." I said and covered my face with my arms. A moment later the vampire's body was ripped off of me and tossed away by the force of the blast we both knew was coming. I felt wet, warm raindrops scatter over my torso and arms and knew I was splattered in gray.
"Kyo! You alright?!" Sean's voice echoed down the alleyway and slowly I moved both my arms from my protective position and laid them back down on the ground. I just lay there for a moment staring up at the midnight blue sky, then took a deep breath.
"Fine." My voice was echoed against the walls, and I slowly pushed myself onto my elbows. Sean stood at the other end of the alleyway with his right hand extended - palm forward and fingers spread. Smoke floated from the middle of his palm, and a large black hole looked glued onto the pale skin of the palm of his hand.
I then turned and found the foreign vampire slumped against the wall, head gone. Seconds later I turned back toward Sean, not really in the mood to see that tonight. Ashiya dropped down gracefully in the alleyway then, landing steady on both feet . Her gun was back in its holster, and she looked mildly amused.
"Nice shot." She directed the comment toward Sean, and I grabbed my knife that was embed in the concreted and pulled it out with a grunt. I slid it back into its place and whipped my face with the back of my hand, feeling liquid smudge.
Great, more blood stops on my face. A quick look at my clothes proved that my face wasn't the only thing that would need a wash when we got home. If I didn't get killed before I got home, that is.
I looked up toward Sean again, and suddenly the alleyway was flooded with cops. The peace after a sudden kill went up in smoke as an EMT rushed up to me and insisted that I had a concussion. I said that the dizziness would wear off in a few hours, no I didn't feel like puking that much, and that if I didn't need stitched I would leave then and there.
I left the alleyway two and a half hours later after my LIVE boss showed up - without a stitch in my head and standing on my own two feet.
People often wonder why I haven't crossed from being an Assassin/LIVE to being a cop and doing the country a favor. It's the minimal paper work and flexible hours that keep me away, or that I'm tied to my family. Tonight I found out that all cops in this damn country either have an IQ of 5 or would rather be eating then talking to anyone like me.
Then again, I would rather be eating donuts then talk to myself after tonight as well.
And it was only 3: 30 in the morning. I had another nine and half hours to go until I was off.
The day was not looking up...
(End of Chapter Three)
Ranting: I wrote this in two days. I cant believe I wrote anything this fast. It's 10: 45 on September 13th. It's been 26 hours since I started. This is now my record.
And the first chapter isn't even out yet...Sigh's
Happy New Years and Holidays to everyone!!!
Date Finished: September 13th, 2004. 10: 45 p.m.
Date Edited: January 3rd, 2005. 10:38 p.m.
Anyway...
Cat: Thank you fro your review!!
Mike: Thank's!
2 reviews Is very sad.... but as I said, I'm not not posting this. Happy New Year everyone!!!
Ja!
SAL-Chan