III. WARFARE
No.
No. No. No. No. NO.
This is all wrong.
The boy stared at his computer, the dim light of the screen casting capricious shadows over his soft yet powerful features. He sat still in the silence, his gray-blue eyes fastened to the bold words in front of him.
Today's Headline: Gang Duel Breaks Out in Ikebukuro; Two Fatalities and Thirty Injured.
What on Earth…is going to happen?
"Oi. Shizuo." Kadota leaned against Togusa's beloved van with a heavy air. "Calm down."
In front of him stands Ikebukuro's strongest. And angriest, as of now.
The muscles bulged under the thin fabric of his uniform, and veins popped out at the sides of his head, forming a startling yet intriguing pattern, like a map to the hot blood running deep, all the way through his body. His fists tightened despite his attempts to relax, and his expression was tense, rigid with irritation.
At his feet were men, some unconscious, some wishing that they were unconscious. A river of red blood pooled around them, like some manifest evidence to show the world of this one man's magnificence.
"Ma. A monster is a monster after all."
Shizuo swirled around at the sound of that voice. Nothing was there except the empty darkness of the night.
A throb shook his chest. An…illusion, then?
But what was he expecting? What did he hope to see there, in the depths of the shadows? Or…who?
He shook his head violently.I wanted to see that louse? No. No way that could ever happen. It must be his fury getting to his mind, confusing him. Yeah, that's it. He never wants to see that whimsical smirk again, or hear that maniacal laugh, or chase him in and out of the streets, his hands reaching out, with the thin frame of the flea's body just out of his grasp—
No. He doesn't want to see him again. He hates the flea, and that's something that will never change.
"—Shizuo?"
"Ah?" Kadota's voice pulled Shizuo out of his trance and back to reality.
Oh. Right. The men. The attack. The blood…
"I said, what do you think of this?" Kadota crossed his arms, his expression hidden by the obscure covering of the night. "Who are they?" He turned his gaze back to one of the men and contemplated their situation. "Not DOLLARS, not Yellow Scarves, not even Saika…"
So who are they?
"Don't you think they're from Spades?"
"They can only be from the Black Spades, right?"
"Just look at the clothing—"
"And the faces—"
"Those warlike stances—"
"And that gun!"
A silver revolver, now a crumpled piece of scrap metal after Shizuo's handiwork, lay quietly beside them. The symbol of a spade that was on the butt of the gun glistened under the moonlight. The crew fell silent for a second. Despite their years of clashing with human scum, being suddenly attacked without any warning on a desolate road in the middle of the night by a group of professional assassins with semi-automatic weapons is still a first.
Togusa slammed his fist into the door of his van. "These bastards, luring us out with that kidnapped girl as bait… They almost killed us!"
"But they didn't." Kadota mused. "They stopped. In the middle of that attack, when we were cornered and outnumbered. All of them hesitated, like someone just gave a new order to retreat and leave the prey." Pause. "And when they didn't obey, that certain someone decided in favor of punishment for his hunting dogs."
"What are you saying, Kadota?"
"Look at this." He calmly walked around to one of the bodies. Shizuo followed, and immediately recognized the man. It was the guy who fired the first shot after that brief break in the men's attack, the bastard who planted his bullet firmly into Shizuo's left arm.
And that time, he was obviously aiming for Shizuo's heart, dammit.
Kadota loosened the gun from the lifeless man's hold. An object stuck out on the side of the barrel of the gun, its tip lodged inside the metal from the force with which it hit this deadly weapon. A flick blade.
"If it wasn't for this, he wouldn't have missed."
"…Ah." Shizuo nodded. He knew. That time, the guy aimed for his heart. There was no time to move, no room to move. And just before he saw the flash of the gun being fired, he glimpsed a ray of light hit the barrel like an angel's arrow. A familiar ray, much like ones he'd see in that battlefield for two, when his knife would catch the sparkles of the sun.
A flick blade, dammit.
"Ne, ne, Dotachin, doesn't that look familiar?"
"It does remind me of—eh? Shizuo? What's wrong?"
Shizuo inspected the little weapon that he just snatched from Kadota. His face gleamed back at him on the blade of the knife. A drop of blood rolled off Shizuo's chin and fell silently onto his image, tainting the mirrored world a ruby shade of red. His reflection danced through the veils of crimson, and he is reminded of those eyes, those startling eyes that overlooked the world.
"…It stinks."
IT REALLY, REALLY STINKS.
"Ah—! Could it be that Shizu-chan is missing his wif—"
"Now," muffling Erika with one hand, Kadota glanced around to survey the damage. He scratched his neck, and motioned for the others to follow him back onto the van. "Let's start back. That girl should regain consciousness soon…"
Standing still, Shizuo followed their retreating figures lazily with his eyes. A breeze picked up, carrying away the fetid smell of the gore. But there was something else in the wind. A man's voice. His voice. A voice that isn't really there, but was with him the entire time.
"How mean~. Why am I always linked with Shizu-chan?"
"Can't they see?"
"I hate Shizu-chan the most."
"So, Shizu-chan must be killed by me and no one else."
"I won't forgive Shizu-chan for dying under someone else's hands, you know."
"Ahaha~"
"Shut up, you louse." Frowning, Shizuo whispered to the vacant darkness before turning to leave.
Today's Headline: Five Men Murdered; Gang Activities Suspected…
Today's Headline: Pedestrians Witness Turmoil on Streets…
Today's Headline: Abandoned Factory Blown to Pieces; Eight Bodies Found in Rubble…
Today's Headline: Ten Tourists Gone Missing—Human Trafficking in Ikebukuro? …
…
-DOLLARS Forum-
User1: What the fuck is going on ? ! What is with this whole gang business ? !
User2: Yeah yeah! Who's behind all this, huh ? !
User3: I think it's those Spades. They seem to be very active lately.
User4: That might be so, but many around the city are suspecting this is from DOLLARS.
User 5: I say we team up like last time and kick those bastards out of here!
User 6: Now now. Won't that just put more people in danger?
User 7: Fuck you, you coward! If you ain't goin' to do nothin' bout this, the rest of us can do whatever we want!
User 8: We should listen to the leader.
User 9: What leader? Who knows who this leader is? Why should we listen to some guy who never shows his face ? !
User 10: The hell with him. If they're gonna play tough, we just gotta counter force with force—
"Shogun! We have to take action!"
"Let's beat the shit out of 'em!"
"They took out two of our bros last week! We need to—"
"Silence."
"But shogun! We can't fucking sit back and have 'em look down on us!"
"Yeah! Show 'em who's boss around Ikebu—"
"Silence." The boy's voice dropped a pitch, his presence full of authority. He stared down at his men, each wearing that symbolic yellow, reflected in his very own golden irises.
The Yellow Sky will soon rise, huh.
"No one here will do a single thing unless I tell you to. Do you understand?"
"…Che."
Having temporarily tamed his hostile herd of a gang, he turned his eyes to the sliver of sky showing through the gate of their hide-out. Dark storm clouds filled the sky, oppressing, like an ominous omen. A black cloud, just like that black cloud of men. That cloud of destruction.
And how can the Yellow Sky rise, if those ruthless clouds are determined to reduce the sky to naught?
"Thank you." She bowed and began to jog away, the color of her eyes fading back to a neutral brown.
The children of Saika. They're everywhere. Indistinguishable. Invisible. And that makes them perfect spies.
Yet still she could not exact the identities of her enemies.
Or, more importantly, the identity of her ally.
That shadow she saw in the attack on Saika earlier…
It very well might be her only chance.
"It's time."
The three acknowledged each other, their expressions grim but set. This is not a time to falter.
Who can imagine such a day, when DOLLARS, Yellow Scarves, and Saika team up?
Outside, the clouds are still brewing something terrible.
So this is what you came up with, my beloved humans?
Ahaha~. How interesting, how interesting!
Show me what you can do, show me everything!
Satisfy me, because I love you.
A shadow lingered on the rooftop. Something like a smile seemed to spread across that hidden face as the body twirled round and round in the moonlight. But when the wind picked up again, it was no longer there, as if it never was.
III. WARFARE end
03009: Hello! This is a kinda long (cough: and kinda crappy) chapter, ne. (Cough cough: and with almost no Shizaya, ne.) It was going to be longer, but in the end I decided to cut it in half. So now instead of the 6 chapters I planned, this fanfiction will probably end up with 7. (How did I get to this from the 3 chapters that was my original plan ? !) I would be very happy if you stay with me until the end! And MAN, I really can't write 'action' for the life of me. And AUTOCORRECTIONS-kun on FanFiction is still as uptight as ever. Anyway, for any mistakes I made… Hontouni gomen! Also, about the fact that it's almost halfway through the story and Izaya has only showed up for one scene…(looks away guiltily)… Daijoubu! The informant will make his appearance later on. (Nudge, nudge.) And does anyone else feel like little Romano is narrating the story in the first part…? (Romano-chan: vat the crapola you talking about, dammit?) And to answer adonis-san's question, the doujin's title is Love and Hate, and that is why I said the title of this fanfic is derived from that. However, this fanfiction has nothing to do with the doujin itself (although I would still encourage everyone to check it out…inumog-sensei's works are really well-done. R18 warning, though). Anyway, I'm done blah-blahing. Please review and critique!