SHRUBBERY –Yagami High School Grounds. – Monday - 1710 hours.
Alpha lay amongst the trees and bushes that ran along the border of Yagami high school. His arms relaxed around a high-tech looking rifle wrapped in camouflage. Through his scope he watched as his bullet shattered the teacup into tiny pieces. He smiled as Takano dove for the black haired girl pinning her to the ground and taking her out of the line of fire.
"That could have easily been your head last night spy girl…" Alpha said under his breath lying absolutely still.
"Oh really?" said a woman's voice from behind him, followed by the cocking of a gun.
Alpha swore underneath his breath. "You know, I was hoping to get Takano's attention not yours."
Itoko held an M1191 to Alpha's head. Alpha, getting the message, places his hands above his head.
"Stand up…Slowly…" Itoko says, motioning for Alpha to stand up. He obeys.
"Turn around." Itoko said backing up to a safe distance in case he tried anything funny. Alpha obeys again, and he turns slowly around revealing most of his gear. Itoko fought hard to not show any sign of shock or weakness.
The man in front of her was dressed from head to toe in a military ghilli suit that seemed customized for the Yagami school gardens. His type of Kevlar vest was something she had never seen before. On it were plenty of ammunition, frag grenades, a sidearm, breaching charges and even a Kukri attached to a belt. Whoever this man was, he was not dressed as an assassin. He was dressed to fight world war three.
Itoko made eye contact with the man's eyes through the slits in his ski mask. "Take off your mask" She said
But this time Alpha shook his head. "Can't do that ma'am."
Itoko's eyes narrowed. "I don't think you're in a position to negotiate."
Alpha gave a small laugh. "Oh I do believe I am. You see, I have information that could save Takano's life. If you want her to live you'll at least let me speak to her."
Itoko smiled and repositioned the gun in her hand. "Then you'd better start your talking, she's right behind you." Alpha peaked over his right shoulder and saw Akira standing there, dressed in her Yuukata and pointing an Uzi in his direction. Alpha noted her injuries.
"Damn you look terrible. Grey and Celadon really pulled a number on you."
"Urusai!" Akira said coldly slamming the Uzi down on his right shoulder, before pressing the Uzi against his head. Alpha flinched from the pain but kept his hands in the air.
"What is it that you want? Do you want what she took back?"
Alpha shook his head. "No, it's too late for that now."
There was silence for a little while as a steady wind began to blow. Itoko relaxed a little but still kept her gun trained on the enemy in front of her. If they don't want the merchandise back then what is it that they want? She thought.
Akira pressed the gun harder on his head. "What do you mean?"
Alpha sighed. "Your employers didn't send you to the Ikebukuro warehouse to steal that case…they sent you there to die…" The wind stopped and a puzzled Akira took a step back from her enemy. Itoko raised an eyebrow. Alpha kept talking.
"They knew who we were…and they knew what we are capable of. They sent you to us expecting for you to die by our hands."
Alpha turned around to face Akira. "…And lets face it. We almost got you."
"Do you expect me to believe that?"
"Do you expect to believe someone who didn't blow your freaking head off?" Alpha retorted.
"Do you know it only takes .6 seconds to end a man's life?" said Akira' who's finger was beginning to itch on the trigger as she was getting steadily more and more pissed off.
"Do you know what someone like me can do in .6 seconds?" Alpha said stepping closer to Akira with his hands still above his head.
"OK!" said Itoko putting away her handgun and stepping in between the two of them before bullets started flying. "That's enough of this." Alpha backed away, and Akira reluctantly lowered her weapon.
"What assurance do you have for us that your telling the truth."
Alpha smiled. "Well for starters, you can keep my rifle…" said alpha jabbing his thumb at the high tech looking rifle that lay on the grass. "…Don't worry, its not bugged. Just consider it an apology to the young lady for messing up her face…and…"
Akira made a violent advance towards Alpha but Itoko blocked her. "…And?" She prompted coolly.
"Harima Kenji."
Akira stopped her advance, and Itoko looked at Alpha with Intrigue.
Alpha folded his arms. "Yes I'm talking about Harima Kenji, also known as the manga-ka Harima Hario who has had a crush on Tenma Tsukamoto since middle school and grew a beard and wears sunglasses to hide his identity and hide the fact that he rescued her from a thug and was forced into a misunderstanding of trying to take advantage of her and… "
Alpha stopped to see the look on the women's faces. "…Well you get the idea…what I'm saying is we can track him down, and recover him for you…Do you understand?"
"I see you do your homework." Itoko said unable to hide being impressed.
Alpha gave another small laugh. "Just call us straight "A" students. Anyways the point is we can track him down for you. And believe me when I say this. We will find him."
"Hold it." Itoko said sternly not breaking eye contact with Alpha. "This sounds a little one sided doesn't it? What does a terrorist organization like yours care if my student here lives or dies? Or rather…what kind of terrorist organization gives up their weapons and then offers to find long lost friends?"
Alpha looked at them both, first to Itoko and then to Akira. "Are you serious? You still think were a terrorist organization?"
"You just terminated my cup of Ginseng Tea with extreme prejudice." Akira said in a monotone while looking completely serious. "If that's not an act of terrorism, I don't know what is…"
Alpha places two fingers on his temple and shakes his head. "Look, its either you believe us or…"
Suddenly something blared on his headset. He held up his finger as if to say wait a moment, and suddenly looked very stern. He knelt down, focusing on whatever was being said through the headset. Akira raised her Uzi up at him in case he would try anything. Itoko crossed her arms and leaned up against a tree, watching Alpha with interest. Alpha looks up at both of them.
"My commanding officer says hi…" Itoko and Akira, collectively sweat drop. Alpha continues.
"He also wants' me to tell you, that the situation is constantly changing and that you will be hearing from us again…both of you…" Alpha stood up and folded his arms again. "Lastly, be cautious when delivering the 'Merchandise' to the enemy, at this point we don't know what they'll pull since their plan to have us kill you failed."
"You still haven't answered my question…" Itoko said still leaning up against a tree.
"Why would your organization care about my student at all? Especially since she stole something of value to you? "
Alpha placed his hands to his headset as if receiving what to say from his commanding officer.
"She was a tool used by our enemy, and we don't tolerate that kind of cowardice. Besides she's in this war now whether she likes it or not. The question is, which side is she going to be on?"
Akira spoke up in her usual monotone "I prefer the side that doesn't shoot perfectly good ginseng tea out of my hands."
"Will you get over that!" Alpha said annoyed, but his annoyance had to wait. Loud whirling sirens began to approach the high school.
"Well, well, well, it's about time. " Akira said raising her Uzi up to full length. Itoko looked at Akira.
"You called the police?" She asked, not sounding alarmed at all.
"This man just attacked my school and endangered one of my friends. I think that's worthy of reporting to the authorities."
Alpha gave a huge sigh. "Ok you know what? Your something else Akira…you really are…"
Three police cars came rushing through the school gates and skidded to a stop right in front of them. Akira kept her Uzi pointed at Alpha, fully expecting armed police officers to step out of the police cars and take charge.
These men that came out were armed alright, but they were not police officers. Instead, out from the three squad cars came soldiers dressed in full grey urban combat fatigues complete with vests and gear.
Itoko and Akira stood there silent, as these soldiers took up position around them and around the car. Half of them trained their guns outward scanning the surroundings, while the other half trained their guns on the two women. One of the soldiers shot the Uzi out of Akira's hands with his silenced MP5.
"None of that lassie!" said the violating soldier. Akira felt a surge of rage threaten to break her calm demeanor. She recognized the voice as belonging to Celadon from the previous night.
One of the soldiers carrying an M4A1 SopMOD spoke up. "Alpha, wed better get going…were beginning to attract unwanted attention…"
Alpha nodded "Sure thing Cobalt." He turned towards the branches above them. "O.J. Lets go!"
"Yes sir!" Yelled another man in a ghilli suit who just dropped from the trees above them.
This time the look of surprise was obvious on the two's woman's faces as they watched someone, who had completely masked his presence from both of them, enter the police vehicle. Within seconds, the soldiers piled into the police cars and left in the midst of screeching and blazing sirens.
A few seconds of silence passed by before Itoko broke the silence. "Well whoever these guys are…you have to admit… They're good."
TEA CLUB ROOM CLOSET –Yagami High School. – Monday - 1720 hours.
Yakumo sat in the darkness of the closet inside the clubroom. I wonder what that was about? She thought, recounting the events. First sempai's teacup shatters, and then she tackles me to the ground. Then she drags me to this closet and tells me to stay here.
Yakumo sighed. She considered opening the closet door and look around, but she knew better than to disobey her sempai.
The closet was filled mostly with tea bags and herbs so staying inside this small, and enclosed space wasn't all that Bad. But it didn't help her thinking about what to make of the situation. She knew Takano-Sempai had been acting weird ever since she got back from the weekend. Perhaps it was the stress from her work. She looked injured after all. But what would make her stressed enough to ruin her own drink?
The doors to the closet slid open, and Takano Akira stood before her. "Sorry about that…"
"Takano-Sempai…" Yakumo began, but she stopped when she noticed words and kanji appear above Takano's head.
Yakumo has lived with this blessing and curse of being able to read people's minds, especially of those men who are attracted to her. Recently she has found that reading other peoples minds has become much easier as of late. And being able to read the usually impenetrable Akira this easily attested to that.
"What are you staring at me for?" Akira said.
"N…nothing!" Yakumo said waving both of her hands slightly. "I'm just wondering what happened a few minutes ago."
Akira did not so much as bat an eyelash. "Some friends from work were playing a practical joke. It's all over now. Would you like some more tea Tsukamoto-san?"
Yakumo shook her head. "No thank you sempai, I need to get the house ready for when Sarah returns from her missionary trip."
"I see…" Akira said nodding. "Hanai and the others went with her am I right?"
Yakumo nodded. With that, the two friends said their goodbye's for the day, and Yakumo walked away rolling the written image she saw above akira's head: "I hate them all."
Coming Up Next Chapter: Plenty of Akira Action as she confronts her employers about her mission, also...whats going on with Yakumo...AND WHERE THE HELL IS HARIMA? Please Read and Review.