Chapter 2
"Is it time?" Akane asked nervously. Hisoka nodded.
"Alright, I'll go through the front door. Hisoka, you and Akane enter through the back."
"Got it." Hisoka and Akane said in unison.
"Alright, go!"
Hisoka helped Akane up, and they ran for the backdoor. By the sound of it, Tsuzuki was already bashing the front door open. From inside Akane heard a voice shouting in a drunken slur. That voice…that dreaded voice. She almost stopped running. She was back in there for a second. It was her and not the woman screaming, she was still under her father's control.
"Akane!" Hisoka whispered harshly while grabbing her arm. "Snap out of it! Don't panic, it's affecting me. Everything is going to be fine, and your father will see justice." She blinked a couple of times to clear her mind.
"Sorry." Akane apologized.
"Stand back." Hisoka ordered. She stepped back a pace, allowing him enough room to kick the door in. It fell forward on the tiling with a loud "Crack". Akane raced in and met a familiar scene.
Her father had his hands around the woman's neck, shouting some indiscernible profanity. Hatred beat down the rising fear in her stomach as she marched towards the murderer.
Tsuzuki beat her to it. He landed a clean blow across the man's jaw. Flying backwards he let go of his hysterical wife, and landed next to Akane and Hisoka in a pile of rubble.
"Hisoka! Now!" Tsuzuki shouted. Hisoka kicked the man in the gut with all of his might before he could get back up. He felt air escape and ribs crack under his foot. Akane's father gasped, and fell face forward. His eyes were open and blank, his limbs spread in awkward positions. Hisoka bent down, and checked for a pulse.
"He's alive." He said with no indication of relief or regret. "Just unconscious."
Akane wasn't sure if she was disappointed or not. She should be, she thought she wanted him dead. However, you couldn't just kill your family without a thought.
Well most people couldn't. She thought looking down at her father. Why couldn't she be as cold and heart less as him. If she had been given the chance, would have she killed him? She had every right to do just that. All the pain, and suffering he had bestowed upon her and her mother…He deserved to die a thousand deaths for that.
But she wasn't like him. She had a heart, and a conscience. She believed in second chances, and love. She knew what love was, despite how she had previously believed. Her mother had loved her, and protected her till her death. Akane believed that her mother had been the strongest of their happy little family. She had loved a man who could do no right. To Akane, that was something she didn't think any normal person could do. She certainly hadn't been able to do it. She hated her father from the moment he had first hit her mother, and she knew she would continue to hate him.
She kneeled down beside what she supposed would have been her step-mother. The woman was pale, and bruises were beginning to form around her thin neck. She was more of a wraith than a person, much like Akane's mother had been the year she died. Why on earth would someone marry her father? She thought angrily. All it brought was pain.
"She's passed out too." Akane finally said as she stood up.
The sight of her father had previously stunned her, and had almost made her revert to her old, frightened self. But she was a new person now. Free from his control. She was dead, and there was nothing more he could do to hurt her or her mother.
Gushoshin, the chicken-like worker for the Summons Department appeared behind Hisoka. "Good work!"
All three of them jumped. "W-What the heck is that!" Akane gasped. The shock of talking bird had brought her out of her melancholy funk.
"Excuse me!" The bird said indignantly. "I am Gushoshin young lady, and I work with Tsuzuki and Hisoka. I came to say that chief Konoe is pleased with your work, and that he wants you back I his office immediately. I will see to it that this man is locked away in a high security prison." He snorted with contempt and placed a weak little kick at the unconscious man. "As for the woman, she'll be dropped off at a local hospital."
"You sure are prepared Gushoshin." Tsuzuki marveled. Gushoshin puffed up his chest in an act of pride, and strutted about the room.
"Now back to HQ for you." He ordered in an act of superiority.
Akane sat down between Hisoka and Tsuzuki. She had come to terms with the events that had just transpired, and was beginning to relax.
"Very well done you three. You make a good team." Konoe said shuffling a few papers on his desk. "Here is your next mission."
They stared blankly at the chief for a few seconds, not quite understanding what he meant. Finally Hisoka retained enough sense to reply.
"What do you mean next mission? You don't mean that Akane is still working with us?"
Akane suppressed the urge to smack him. "Hey! If you don't want to work with me, that's fine by me!"
Hisoka sputtered, not sure how to reply. "W-Wait I didn't-"
Akane turned to face the chief, still frowning. "Is this the payment you were speaking of earlier?"
Konoe nodded. "You'll call me chief or boss from now on. I figured since you three are already best friends, why not keep you together? You can show Akane the tricks of the trade."
"Isn't this great! Akane is joining our team! Yay!" Tsuzuki jumped out of his chair and gave Akane a big bear hug. "This'll be so much fun!"
Akane smiled in spite of herself and struggled to breath. "Y-Yeah. This will be fun."
"Aren't you excited Hisoka?" Tsuzuki let go of Akane and smiled happily at Hisoka.
"Yeah…" Hisoka looked thoughtfully at his hands. "Are you sure this is right though Chief? Being a Shinigami is dangerous! Maybe Akane should be some-" Hisoka stopped himself when he saw her expression. It was one of indignation, and anger. "Eh…" Hisoka scooted back nervously.
"You think I can't handle it?" She kept her voice frighteningly even.
"Ah, no. I don't think that. But-"
"But nothing! I'm taking the job!" She slammed her fist on the table, scaring Konoe.
Tsuzuki waved a flag, and cheered Akane on. These next few months held a lot of promise. Akane had a lot of potential for Fuda magic, the power that Shinigami use to fight demons with. With a bit of training, and a few fights under her belt, she could be a very useful ally.
"It's settled then." Konoe announced. "I'll give you one night to get your things together, and mull over this next assignment."
"Right." Hisoka had regained his composure, and picked up the papers containing the info for their mission. "Let's go."
"Akane. I just thought of something." Tsuzuki stopped walking. "You don't have a room do you?"
"Uh, no. I don't."
"Well we have a spare room that would just perfect for you! The rooms here a very nice, but somewhat small…"
"That's fine. I don't need a big room." She replied indifferently.
"Here it is!" Tsuzuki opened the door for her with a "Tada" escaping his lips.
Akane walked in to the cold room. It was pretty plain except for the dark blue curtains. The walls were a pale blue, along with the bed sheets. There was a small, white dresser with a mirror attached, and a single window.
"Don't worry about the temperature." Hisoka stepped in. "They'll kick in the heat soon enough. And there's a small bathroom over there." He pointed to a door at the far end of the room.
"Shower and everything!" Tsuzuki piped in.
"This is great! It's bigger than my old room." She flopped down on the bed. "Where are your rooms?"
"Two doors in that direction." Hisoka pointed to the right. "His is one next to mine on the far side. If there's anything you need, just let us know."
Akane nodded her thanks.
"In celebration for her first night here I propose a…SLUMBER PARTY!" Tsuzuki flung himself on the bed beside Akane and began to hop up and down.
"Idiot!" Hisoka knocked him across the head. "Get down and act your age!"
Tsuzuki sat down on the bed stubbornly. "Awwwww. It'll be fun Hisoka!"
"No means no! Now get down or I'm leaving with the plans for the next mission!" Hisoka fumed.
"Hisoka, we could just look over the info here. You can sit down too." Akane offered.
Hisoka frowned. "…Fine. But I'm sitting in a chair."
Tsuzuki leapt up in joy "Yay!"
Hisoka laid out the plans on the bed. "Ok, here they are." Everyone took a moment to look over the information on the sheets of paper.
"What's this! We have to chase down a rabid werewolf!" Tsuzuki sighed dramatically and slumped against the bed post.
Akane and Hisoka continued to stare at the pages.
"Quiet a way to start out huh…" Hisoka commented.
"Are werewolves difficult?" Akane asked carefully.
"Only extremely. Not only are they nasty quick and deadly, one bite and you change into one yourself." Tsuzuki sighed once more.
"Hmph." Hisoka snorted. "Quit whining. This is our job, so get over it."
"Hisoka you're so mean!" Tsuzuki whined.
"Shut up idiot! I said stop whining!" Hisoka bumped him on the head again. Akane couldn't help smiling.