I do not own Martin Mystery or it's characters. I do own Taki, Sousuke, Arashi, Hiro, Takakura, and Takumi. Isaac Alexander belong to Saiyan5Nine-tails, you should read his stories!
-The Red Monarch-
It felt like forever before a doctor came out to speak with them, and he was quickly bombarded with the usual questions. He answered them monotonously, "Mr. Komatsuzaki is fine, he won't die, however there is a chance he may never be able to use his right arm again." The room suddenly felt a little lighter. Arashi wasn't going to die today, that was a good thing, despite the loss of his right arm.
"Can we see him?" Tatsuki asked timidly. The doctor examined her form for a moment and then nodded.
"You may." The doctor said, "but, only one at a time, the room isn't that big."
Tatsuki entered the small room first, silently closing the door behind her, "Arashi?" she questioned with a small, meek voice. The body on the bed made some sort of grunting noise and shifted ever so slightly. Tatsuki brushed a stubborn strand of black hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear. She could sense that Arashi was looking at her, and expecting her to say something more, but her voice was caught in her throat and her eyes seemed to be stuck on her navy blue converse sneakers.
"You don't have to stand so far away, you know." Arashi said his chocolate brown eyes held an amused light to them. He held back a chuckle as he watched Tatsuki scuttle closer to his side, her eyes still glued to her shoes and her petite fingers twirling a strand of her bangs that she had just pushed behind her ear. "It isn't a sin to look at me either." He wanted to say it like he was annoyed, however it never quite came across that way. Tatsuki only briefly managed to raise her eyes to meet his before they quickly darted back to her sneakers. Arashi could only sigh.
"I'm sorry." Tatsuki said after a few more moments of playing with her hair and staring at her sneakers.
Arashi cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. He scratched the back of his head with his only functioning arm. "Why?" he asked, "You really don't have to be sorry about anything." He said.
Tatsuki's head snapped up, her brownish-red eyes quickly meeting his milk chocolate brown ones. "Of course I do!" she said, "If it hadn't been for my freak out, we could have gotten you to a doctor sooner!" her voice rose in pitch only by a fraction, "If it wasn't for me, you're right arm probably could have been saved!" Tatsuki clenched her fists tightly; "If it wasn't for me, you probably wouldn't have been shot…" she bit her lip to silence any more words from coming through.
Arashi beckoned Tatsuki to come closer; silently the small girl complied, once she as within his reach Arashi placed his left hand on top of her head, "We don't know if that shooting had anything to do with you." He said with a smile, "it was probably just coincidence. Also, I lost feeling in my arm as soon as that bullet hit me, I don't think it was ever salvageable."
-
Takumi Yamada continued to laugh much to the sugegasa boy's irritation. He had no idea where he was, and this boy seemed intent on interrogating him. Every time he was asked a question he would answer vaguely, and every time he answered vaguely the sugegasa boy's face would become red with frustration and he'd barely be able to keep himself from shoving the barrel of his gun down Takumi's throat. "Tell me, Sugegasa Boy," Takumi smirked with a queer light in his eyes, "What do you know about Yomi?" the boy's lack of answer seemed to suffice for Takumi, "Guess you can't expect a foreigner to know much." The blue haired man huffed with a maniacal grin. The silver haired boy who had worn the sugegasa reached into his blue trench coat's pocket and pulled out a cellular phone and dialed a number.
-
Colin Price jumped when he felt his thigh vibrate and quickly reached for his cell phone, "Hello?" he answered rubbing his temples. His eyebrows knitted into confusion, "What do you need to know about 'yomi' for?" he asked.
"Colin, who are you talking to?" the voice of his former partner chimed in, surprising Colin into almost dropping his phone. He turned to the owner of the voice with a nervous smile plastered to his face.
"Ju-just someone I do some business with!" Colin said, the only way to lie to MOM was to not lie at all, i.e. Substitute the whole truth for parts of the truth. MOM gave him a hard stare.
"This isn't the time, or the place for your 'business,' Colin." MOM said, "I want to find out who shot that boy and have him in custody in three days, tops!"
Colin saluted her as she walked passed him, "Yes ma'am!" he said before turning his attention back to the phone, "I'm not really the person you should be asking." Colin said, "It sounds like a question for Tatsuki, you got a pen and some paper?" he asked, "Okay, here's her cell phone number (assuming she has it on)."
-
MOM looked over to her three agents, "I'm really at a loss as to what we should do now." She said after a moment.
Martins face seemed to contort into some strange cross between the emotions associated with being involved in a shooting and amusement at the strange circumstance where his superior had no idea what they should do next, "Really, that's unusual for you, maybe you've lost your—ow," Diana elbowed her step-brother hard in the rib cage.
"We could go back to Torrington, "Diana suggested with what seemed to be a forced smile (AN: Tenjin Matsuri takes place in July, however, I always thought of Torrington to be a year round type private school.) MOM placed her chin between a hooked finger and her thumb, thinking about Diana's suggestion.
"Java thinks Ja-pan is nice but he misses Toring-tun." Said the caveman.
"I don't wanna go back to school!" Martin whined childishly, "We barely got to see much of Osaka!" Not that he avidly tried to get out of the shrine to go experience it. MOM closed her eyes and pursed her lips, a measure to ignore Martin so she could contemplate whether or not it was a good idea.
Her eyes opened slowly and she side glanced at her agents, "Well, no matter where I send you three with Tatsuki, Mr. Komatsuzaki will have to stay here to recuperate." She said Diana looked hopeful at the prospect of getting to go back to school and be in a country were she could speak the language fluently. She had gained a new respect for Tatsuki in that particular sense. "I'll wait and see what Tatsuki wants to do." After all, her opinion matters as well.
"I'm fine with either solution." Tatsuki said as she came out of Arashi's hospital room. Her quiet voice slightly startling them all.
Martin pouted, "You should be more decisive, Taki." He 'glared' down at the small Japanese girl. Tatsuki just shrugged the comment off.
Diana approached her carefully, "Is Arashi okay?" Tatsuki nodded and Diana smiled reassuringly, "That's good to hear."
"So," MOM began, "Diana and Java would like to go back to Torrington, Martin wants to go back to Osaka, and Tatsuki could care less." She assessed each person before she gave her answer, "I suppose majority rules, and back to Torrington it is." MOM smirked. Martin complained loudly.
-
Even now Torrington Academy was quite an impressive sight to behold for Tatsuki Miyabe. "I can't believe we're already back at this place." She heard Martin mumble darkly under his breath.
"What's so bad about it?" both Diana and Tatsuki inquired at the same time. Martin stared at them incredulously.
"Its school!" he stressed, "Hell on Earth! Prison!"
Diana sighed, "Well, maybe for people like you, Martin." She said with only a half-attempted glare as she proceeded back to her dorm to get reacquainted with her things. Martin stuck his tongue out at his stepsister's back.
"Come on, Taki, Java make Tamagoyaki." Java said heading for the building.
"That's sounds good Java." Tatsuki smiled and followed the caveman to the cafeteria.
"Hey, wait!" Martin called after the two of them.
-
The next day seemed to proceed as normal, too normal for Taki's taste, 'How does the Center do it? How do they cover up 3 students and 1 employee's prolonged absence?' she wonderedto herself as she journeyed to class.
Taki wore her normal boyish looking clothes; though she was still new to not having to wear a uniform she found these slightly oversized garments comfortable. Her shirt was of a character called 'GIR' from a Nicktoon called 'Invader Zim' that Martin seemed to like. The shirt was blue, and in fade green colors it read: 'Your intelligence is stupid!' Her pant were black and for the most part, slightly form fitting until they reached her knees, then the became large and baggy, she couldn't even see her shoes as she walked. For the most part, her hair was left unbrushed, but nobody around her seemed to care. In fact, a few girls had gushed about how adorable Taki was as she walked by, 'I had forgotten, most of the students here think I'm a boy.' Taki thought with a sigh,"Taki!" Taki looked over her shoulder to see Jenni Anderson approaching her.
"Hello, Ms. Jenni." Taki said her head slightly cocked to side, her brown-red eyes lit only with politeness. "It has been awhile."
"Oh, well yeah!" Jenni exclaimed, "I heard you had a family emergency back in Japan, is everything okay?" Taki's eyebrows furrowed, a…family emergency? Suddenly her eyes widened, 'So that's how they do it, but I wonder what Martin and Diana's cover was?'
Taki smiled serenely, "Yes, it turns out everything is fine, Mr. Price just had a little smoker's scare."
Jenni was confused, "Mr. Price?" she asked, either Japanese culture was a lot different then she thought, or Taki may have mistranslated her words, but 'Mr. Price' didn't sound like someone in her family.
"Mr. Price is the man who took me in after my parents died." Taki explained. Jenni's eyes took on a look of sorrow, Taki bristled, "Please don't feel sorry for me, Ms. Jenni, really!"
"But I feel bad, though, I wouldn't know what it's like to lose both my parents, but it must be devastating." Jenni said, then suddenly shook herself of depressing thoughts and took Taki by the arm, guiding her down the hall, "Anyway, last time I saw you Martin was always like, super close by." She said, "I don't know how you or Diana can stand him, he's so annoying." Taki came to a dead halt, "Hm? Taki?"
"He has his good points, you know." The brownish-red eyed girl said. Her eyes were hard, and if one interpreted further, you'd say Taki was aggravated. "Aside from some childish tendencies, Martin is a loyal friend and a great guy," Taki said, "granted, he doesn't practice 'look before you leap'," Taki recalled how Martin, like Colin before him, braved the force field made from her raw power, despite how much pain it should have imposed upon him.
"But he's such a freak Taki, you can't tell me you don't find his paranormal mania annoying." Jenni didn't seem to get the point, or she ignored it.
Taki rarely ever found herself angry, not that she was never irritated by something, or something said before, but what emotions filled her stomach was something Taki would equate to bees swarming and preparing to sting the fool who mess with their hive, and it wasn't something she was particularly used to. The young Miyabe's eye's flashed, "At least he's passionate about something, Ms. Jenni." Taki said coldly, Jenni found she was taking a step back, being completely unfamiliar with the Miyabe Glare, the look she was getting frightened her. 'The paranormal has made up most of my life, having people like Martin around who are interested in it…this-this girl could never understand.' Taki thought brusquely. "What are you passionate about? Is it gymnastics, or do you like movies, would you like to be an actress? Or are you only interested in the current pretty boys in front of you? What is it that you're passionate about, Ms. Jenni Anderson?" Taki's eyes narrowed, Jenni placed a hand over where her heart was as she continued backing away from Taki, tears forming in her cerulean eyes, Taki knew she must have been getting through to the popular girl on some level, "If being into the paranormal makes a person a 'freak', Ms. Jenni, then I'm one, too, because my whole life as a shrine keeper is shrouded in it." Taki spat, and proceeded to walk around Jenni and onward to her class.
"Wha-what do you mean, Taki?" Taki could hear the girl's shock and her slightly crushed ego intertwined within those few words.
Taki paused again, and without turning to face the girl she breathed in deeply, as if to settle the swarming bees in her stomach, "You had a dog once didn't you?" Taki said more then asked, "That dog died, didn't it?" Taki turned her head slightly and peered at the popular girl's unsettled visage, then brown-red eyes flickered to the iridescent creature that was always following the auburn haired girl at her heels, she locked eyes with it, and the spirit told her the story. "You were 12, and if it wasn't for Alexis, you would have been struck by that truck and be dead right now." Taki said her eyes softened considerably, "You have had the great fortune of being surrounded by people, and a pet, which care for you, who are loyal to you, and want to protect you, Ms. Jenni." Taki smiled kindly to the popular girl, who seemed disturbed by the things the small Japanese girl was saying, but the smile Taki gave her seemed quite sad, "Alexis, even in death, is still trying to protect you, sort of like your very own guardian angel, or should I say golden retriever?" Taki left Jenni to think on what she had said and went to class.
Jenni covered her mouth, a queasy, unsettling sensation entered her heart; it was much similar to the feeling a person would get before they got on a rather infamous for 'hurl factor' roller coaster, no, it was like being seasick, but much worse. Jenni sank to her knees, a few tears freely cascading down her cheek from the corner of her eyes. "I never…told anyone…not even my own parents…that Alexis saved my life that day." She hiccupped, 'I haven't even told anyone at Torrington I ever had a dog, let alone one named Alexis!' As she sat there in her turmoil, the spirit dog whimpered, and nuzzled against the arm of the hand placed at the floor instead of her mouth. He couldn't understand why his master never seemed to acknowledge him anymore, even though that other human told her he was there. Even so, he'd continue keeping his master safe, even if she wouldn't acknowledge him anymore.
-
Taki rested her chin in her palm, and glared up at the offending clock on the wall, 'When is class over?' She thought with disdain, she needed to figure out how to make it up to Colin for leaving him alone to deal with Kisaki and what other Gothic Lolitas she'd be bringing, plus, his birthday was tomorrow, and she was still drawing a blank as to what to do. 'I should have dealt with Jenni better, I didn't mean to make her cry.' Taki had heard it from some boy at the start of class, Jenni had been reduced to tears, and she knew Martin would be after the culprit. 'I wonder what he'll think when I tell him it was me, and why?' Tatsuki sighed, 'I'm not sorry for what I said, though.' The bell finally rang, and Tatsuki happily gathered her things. When she placed her things inside her bag, the edge of her binder pressed the 'on' button of her cell phone, which lay at the bottom of her bag. Taki's eyes were filled with surprise when she heard the sound that indicated she had missed calls. She dug the phone out and investigated, she had over 20 missed calls, and a few text messages, all of them in some way reading 'What is Yomi? – Isaac'. Taki stared at the phone for a moment, and then, "How'd he get my phone number?" she asked out loud, causing a few people to look at her strangely.
She pressed reply and slowly, as she was not nimble in the ways of text messaging, typed 'How'd you get this number? Anyway, the translation depends on the way it's written. Context please.' And she sent it to the number it came from. Before she could erase the text from the screen, she received a response from the other end. She got to it as quickly as she could.
'Colin gave it to me. Yomi used in a sentence 'what do you know of Yomi'. -Isaac'
Again she replied as quickly as she could, 'the only meaning that makes sense is Yomi as 'the underworld'. Should I even ask what you need this information for?' and she pressed send. Again, she received a response before she could erase the message she had already written, "Uh, Miyabe, you're class has already ended, you should go to your next one…" Taki throw a glare haphazardously over to the student who had just spoken. He shrunk back, deciding that Tatsuki was not in a very approachable mood.
The next text message read: 'No. Thank you for the translation. -Isaac'
Taki turned the phone off rather forcefully, 'At least he said 'thank you'.' She thought as she shoved the rest of her things into her bag and hurried to her next class.
-
Takumi lazily eyed the Sugegasa Boy, "Did you finally get the answers you were looking for, Sugegasa-kun?" Takumi asked. The silver-haired foreigner pressed a button on his phone, and Takumi saw the screen go black before the phone was flipped shut.
"Yomi is… the underworld." The silver haired foreigner said with a glare.
Takumi's eyes sparkled, "Very good." He said with a deranged grin. "Can I go now? I've been kept here for a day or two and I could really use a bath."
'Sugegasa-kun's' left eye twitched, "What does the underworld have to do with the shooting?" he inquired.
Impishness caused golden eyes to glow, "Nothing at all." Takumi smiled. "Not everything is valuable information, Sugegasa-kun." Frustrated with the blue haired shooter he was interrogating, 'Sugegasa-kun' or rather, Isaac Alexander nudged the wooden hair Takumi was constrained to with the sole of his boot, causing Takumi, chair and all, to fall to the floor. "Ouch." Takumi said dispassionately as a vial fell from his pocket. Isaac picked up the vial and examined the contents.
"Blood?" he gave Takumi a disgusted look, he wasn't some sort of Richard Chase case, was he? "Whose is it?"
Takumi grinned impishly once more, "Namie Miyabe's." he said, the look upon the young foreign child's face made Takumi laugh, "Namie Miyabe, Sousuke and Tatsuki Miyabe's biological mother." Takumi made a 'keh' sound and noted the recognition that entered the sapphire eyes above him when he mentioned Sousuke and Tatsuki Miyabe, "You are aware of who Sousuke and Tatsuki are, I see."
"…Yes." There was a flash of hatred in the foreign child's demeanor.
Takumi's grin became wider, "Sousuke gave me that vial of blood, he knew that his precious little sister would be tricked into sealing him away the minute one of those agents abducted her from their home," Takumi said with a bright smile, "Before he buried the bodies of his parents, he acquired his mother's blood, know why?"
Isaac glared, "I have a feeling you're going to tell me." He pulled out the gun Colin had given him the day before and aimed it at Takumi.
"Because, in order to perform the ritual to bring Sousuke back from Yomi, the blood of a female Miyabe is needed, Sousuke could never hurt Tatsuki, and would kill anyone if they tried to hurt her."
Isaac adjusted the setting of Colin's new invention, "You said Yomi wasn't viable information."
"Tsk, tsk, Silver-Hair, you asked what Yomi had to do with my shooting, and I said 'nothing at all' and therefore Yomi had no validity to what you were questioning me about." Takumi said knowledgably from his place on the floor. "Hey!" Takumi growled as he saw Isaac place the vial of blood in a pocket on the inside of his long, navy blue trench coat. "Give it back!" Takumi thrashed on the ground.
Isaac raised an eyebrow, "You thought I'd give this back to you? After what you told me?" he seemed mildly amused by the thought, "Nuh-uh, no way, confiscation." He said as he pulled out his cell phone again, and turned it on. A number was quickly dialed and the phone was placed at Isaac's ear. "Colin!"
"You know, sometimes I wish you'd address me more respectfully. I'm still your elder." A voice sighed from the other end of the line.
Isaac shrugged, not that Colin could see it, and "I have something you may want to put behind bulletproof glass, and someone who'll need psychological help." Isaac looked at the older Japanese male rolling on the floor in anger with a continuous rant of 'Give it back! Give me back my blood!'
Colin's end was silent for a moment, "…what did you do?" was his immediate question, "Never mind, where are you?!"
"Nothing short of genius," Isaac said, his eyes caught sight of movement in the shadows, "I'm not far from where the shrine is just…" As he expected, someone else was in the room as well moving around in the shadows, Isaac fired a blast of electromagnetic energy at where he perceived the figure to be, only to see it dodge easily, Isaac made a 'tch' sound, sneaky bastard, "I have surmised a problem with your new invention already, Mr. Price." Isaac said, as the bigger form began to come closer.
"And what's that?"
"It takes too long to charge between shots." Isaac said before the bigger figure grasped the wrist that was outstretched in front of him and applied a painful amount of pressure to it, causing the gun in Isaac's hand to fall to the ground. With his free arm, he tried to fend off the bigger man, but the dark figure grappled that one as well. He heard Takumi laughing from the ground, and then more movement, someone was behind him, how did he miss this other person? Isaac didn't have time to ponder it, because a cloth was placed over his nose. When he inhaled what ever the rag had been doused in, Isaac became dizzy, suddenly he felt strangely fatigued and he was sure he was developing a headache, 'Chloroform?' he thought before he passed out.
-
"Hiro-kun will be mad that you kept this from him." The smaller figure dangled the vial of Namie Miyabe's blood in front of Takumi, who was being helped to his feet by the larger figure.
Takumi ignored the statement, "Is he dead?" he nodded his head in the direction of the fallen boy.
"Unless he's had previous prolonged exposure to Chloroform, then no, he should be awake before long, meaning Yamada, we need to go." The smaller figure, which was female, said as she leaned down to pick up the boy's phone, she could hear the voice on the other end. "Do not worry. He is not dead." She told whoever was listening, and then turned off the cell and tossed it over to the boy's body.
-
Colin's mouth hung agape for a moment and he stared at his phone, his mind was trying to make sense of what just happened. A female voice came on the other end of the phone line, and told him not to worry, Isaac wasn't dead, was she on crack?! He discarded his phone and immediately went to his briefcase, unlatched it and pulled out a small square machine. He sighed in relief; the tracker he had placed in the gun was still functioning. 'Assuming they haven't moved him away from that gun, Isaac should at that point.' And Colin was out the door.
-
Isaac opened his eyes slowly to see a rather plain ceiling, "Wha-?" as he awoke; the headache he had begun to feel before he passed out was throbbing religiously against his temple. When he sat up, he noticed he was in a bedroom he was not quite familiar with. The room was neither girly, nor boyish, it was clean and in favor of the minimalist movement. A cup of swirling yellowy-green substance was pushed into his face.
"Green Tea. Drink it." He heard Colin say. Isaac looked up to see an unusually straight-faced Colin standing in front of him. "You said you had something for me." He said. Isaac nodded and reached for the vial he had placed in his trench coat pocket, only to find it missing. "Something wrong?" Colin asked when he saw Isaac's face pale.
"They took it." Isaac's voice sounded raspy to his own ears. "They took the blood!"
Colin, not having any idea what Isaac was talking about, was confused, "They took…your blood?"
Isaac shook his head, "No, there was a vial with …what was her name…Namie Miyabe's blood in it. They took it!" Isaac said, "Colin, they're going to bring back Sousuke with it!"
It dawned on Colin, Sousuke could have been brought back at anytime, He highly doubted Isaac was the original owner of the vial he spoke of, but why hadn't they brought him back yet if they had the means to do it?
-
"Why didn't you tell me you had this earlier!" Hiro fumed as he tightly held the vial of blood.
Takumi stuck his tongue out, "Because I knew the irony would be too delicious, and" he paused dramatically, "I don't like you." Hiro roared with rage and Takakura held their current acting leader back.
"Now, now, let's just perform the ceremony and bring Sousuke-sama back to us." Takakura said. Hiro seemed to settle down.
"No…" a smirk slowly formed on his face, "I want to see the look on Tatsuki's face when we bring her brother back." Hiro then initiated the evil laugh.
"Does this mean we're going back to Canada?" one anonymous voice asked.
"Yes." Someone answered.
"Dammit, I was just starting to like Chicago." The first voice said.
"SILENCE!" Hiro shouted.
-
Taki had gone out with Diana to pick out a birthday present for Colin, and came back with electric blue hair dye. "So…he'll like this?" Diana asked.
Taki nodded, "Yeah, he likes to dye his hair different colors." Diana shrugged, it seemed strange to her, that an adult would want some weird hair dye for his birthday, but then again, Taki knew Colin better then she did.
"DIANA! TAKI!" It was Martin, racing toward the two girls as if hell were at his heels. He only paused long enough to take the girls by the wrists and drag them back toward wherever he had come from, "The Center is calling!" he said before shoving them in a portal, then jumping in himself, followed soon by Billy in human disguise and then Java.
-
MOM had been horrifed by the news Colin gave her, "And how did you find this out Mr. Price?" she asked after a moment.
Colin twitched, "Sources."
MOM's eyes narrowed, "What sources?"
"Reliable ones." Colin said with a forced grin.
"Colin, I would hate to have to kill you before your birthday." MOM said in a low, threatening voice.
"I would hate to die before my birthday." Colin replied his attention was quickly diverted from the irritated woman in front of him to the teens that just entered the room. "Taki-chan! You know, leaving me to deal with the rest of Tenjin Matsuri by myself wasn't very nice." He said in a pouty voice.
"I know." Tatsuki said with a small apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, but Diana and I got you this." She held up the blue hair dye for Colin to see.
"Aww, thank you," Colin said, then a gleam entered his eyes, "now hand it over!" he demanded and held out his hand expectantly.
"As this is all beside the point," MOM said looking sharply in Colin's direction, effectively making the man 'eep' as Taki place the blue hair dye in his hand, then placed herself back in between Martin and Diana. "The reason you are here, agents, is that it seems Colin has something, rather important to tell you." Colin sweat dropped.
"Sousuke, could be brought back any moment." He said.
There was silence, then a collective, "WHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAATTT?!"
I wanted to do more for Colin's birthday but, it just didn't happen. Though, he -will- bring those Goth Lolis to Torrington for that Tea Party.
please REVIEW!!