Arms race

Two years ago

Yuina had taken the news surprising well. The flood of tears Kazuki had expected had never come and he assumed that the news was not unexpected. But Tsuki could tell from her time with Yuina that the woman was heartbroken. She witnessed death on a regular basis and knew that tears only worsen the suffering of those who are left behind. The three of them sat together around Kazuki's bed, not speaking very much. Kazuki was thankful for the mint green pyjamas they had given him, although secretly he would have preferred something a little darker. Eventually, Tsuki cleared her throat.

"So, what have you been up to since I last saw you, Zuki-kun?" she asked.

Kazuki adjusted the bedclothes, conscious that the button-fly on his pyjama bottoms was broken. He thought about the initiation ritual, meeting Kaito, being attacked; trivial things like that. He remembered the night he had killed the man in the woods. He could still taste the blood on his lips.

"Nothing much," Kazuki replied, shrugging.

Tsuki raised an eyebrow. "How'd you get so badly injured?" she inquired.

Kazuki absent mindedly scratched at the faint scar on his arm. "I was ambushed on the way here," he said.

"Really?" she exclaimed, eyes widening, "By who?"

Kazuki shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted, "There were about six of them, dressed in red with katanas."

Yuina suddenly woke from her daze. "What?" she asked, blinking at Kazuki, "Did you catch their names?"

Kazuki frowned, thinking back. "Yes, actually," he said, "I heard two of their names. I think it was Aoi and…" he thought for a moment, "Gorou."

A horrified look appeared on Yuina's face. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Kazuki nodded. "They said that 'the boss' didn't need me alive." He narrowed his eyes at Yuina. "Do you know who they were?"

Yuina bit her lip and nodded sadly. "They work for Ryoichi…"

Tsuki's eyes widened in surprise. Kazuki looked at her in puzzlement.

"Who's Ryoichi?" he asked.

Tsuki glanced at Yuina, who was staring at the floor.

"He killed her children," she explained quietly, "And now he must be after you, although I don't know why. He's insane."

"That's true," said Yuina without looking up, "But he is brilliant. He wants to kill you because you are the closest thing to a blood relative I have left. If you die, I am alone."

Kazuki blinked at her. The three of them sat in silence.

"Anyone know where the cookie dough is?" asked Aya, suddenly bursting into the room.

Everybody looked at her. The black haired girl, noticing Kazuki, stopped.

"Hi, Zuki-kun!" she greeted him.

Kazuki blinked in surprise. "How do you know my-"

"This is Aya," interrupted Tsuki, "She can read minds."

Kazuki nodded slowly. "Fair enough…" He turned back to Aya. "I can turn into animals."

Aya raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I know."

Kazuki stared at her for a few seconds. "Don't call me Zuki-kun," he told her coldly.

"Tsuki does it all the time," she protested, smiling slyly.

Kazuki didn't say anything. Yuina cleared her throat loudly.

"If I could bring the conversation back to important matters," she said, "If Ryoichi's men were following Kazuki, then they probably know he's here."

"I killed all of them," Kazuki pointed out, "Nobody knows I'm here."

Yuina shook her head. "Ryoichi has many more men at his disposal," she said, "There will have been more watching you all the time."

"So does that mean they're coming here?" Tsuki asked anxiously.

"It's very likely," replied Yuina, "We'll need to prepare."

Kazuki hobbled along the corridor, using a broom as a makeshift crutch.

"Hurry up!" shouted Aya, waiting with the others by the big metal door at the other end.

Kazuki let out a dog-like noise which puzzled the others, only Kazuki knowing how offensive such a word was to canines. The armoury was located in the cellar below the hospital; down a steep flight of stairs that Kazuki was annoyed to find that nobody offered to help him down. The armoury contained the many weapons that the deceased patients left behind. Yuina said they would need them to fight off Ryoichi and his men.

"There's a good variety," said Yuina once Kazuki had caught up, "Take what you think you will be best with."

Pulling a large silver key from the sleeve of her kimono, she unlocked the bulky padlock and the door began to grind open. Walking inside the pitch black vault, Yuina switched on the light and immediately jumped back with a startled cry. Kazuki leaned around her to see what was going on.

"Oh God…" he sighed.

"How're you doing?" said Kaito, sitting cross legged, a long twin-bladed staff across his lap.

"Hi Kaito…" mumbled Kazuki, cringing from the other's stares.

Kaito looked him up and down. "Nice jim-jams," he said.

Kazuki's reply was cut short by Yuina leaping at Kaito with remarkable speed and dexterity for such an old woman. Kaito was caught by surprise and ended up pinned to the floor, a sharp, thin needle poking into the skin of his neck.

"Yuina!" cried Kazuki, attempting to leap to his rescue, but instead hobbling forward like the cripple he was, "It's OK! He's with us!"

After a moment of deliberation, Yuina released Kaito and replaced the needle back in the bun in her hair. Tsuki and Aya just stared at him, obviously not yet over the effect of seeing a –sort of- invisible person.

"How did you get in here?" asked Yuina.

Kaito frowned. "Through the door," he said, pointing at it.

Yuina glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

Kaito's face became very serious. "I'm here to help you fight."

Everybody blinked in surprise.

"You know about Ryoichi?" asked Tsuki.

"No…" replied Kaito, "But I know something bad is on the way, so I want to help."

Kazuki moved in close to him and peered at him. "Are you stalking me?" he asked suspiciously.

Kaito started. "What?! No! I…"

"Wait a minute," Aya interrupted, looking at the two men standing next to each other, "I can't read your minds."

Kaito and Kazuki stared at her in puzzlement.

"Your mind…" Aya said, narrowing her eyes at Kazuki, "It's like there's hundreds of different voices in there, all chattering away and I can't understand any of them."

Kazuki frowned and concentrated on her.

"How about now?" he thought at her.

Aya's eyes lit up. "I got that!" she told him in her mind, "Cool! I can talk psychically!"

The others stood watching them in confusion, due to the fact that they seemed to be staring at each other in silence. Aya turned to Kaito.

"And your mind…" she said, "Is like someone reciting the alphabet over and over." She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "It sounds like Morgan Freeman…"

Kaito nodded. "That would make sense."

Yuina cleared her throat. "Ryoichi could be here at any moment," she pointed out.

Everybody immediately started going for weapons (apart from Kazuki, who was just trying to keep upright). Kaito kept with the twin-bladed staff he had found, confident in the weapon and his 'spontaneous forkination.' Tsuki immediately went for a katana lying at the top of a crate full of foam. Pulling the blade out, she found that there was a chain attached to the hilt, with a long, straight dagger on the other end of it.

"Cool!" she exclaimed, twirling the dagger around on the chain, making everyone duck.

Aya, on the other hand, went for the 'more is more' approach, gathering up as many weapons as she could strap onto her person. The first addition was a massively long katana, which Yuina informed her was called a 'zanbato.' To compliment this she added a pair of spiked knuckle dusters, a truck load of shuriken and a bunch of short, bone spikes which she stuffed into the black leather cuffs on her wrists.

"What're they?" asked Kaito, indicating the unusual items.

With a sly smile, Aya flicked her wrist and a trio of spikes shot across the room, embedding themselves in the brickwork. Everyone regarded Aya with suspicion after that. Tsuki realised that the worst thing to do in the world was to give Aya a weapon.

"Er… what do I get?" asked Kazuki hopefully, leaning on the broom for support.

Yuina laughed. "You're not fighting!" she exclaimed, "You can barely stand!"

Kazuki looked crushed. "But…" he began.

"We'll handle it, Zuki-kun," Tsuki assured him.

He grunted and stared angrily at his feet.

Yuina slid a handful of shuriken into her belt. "Alright," she said, "Everyone upstairs. We need to barricade all the doors and windows and be prepared at any moment."

She turned to Kazuki, who was still sulking, "Kazuki," she said firmly, "You go to bed…"