Eh, three short chapters in one day won't hurt I guess. I'm kinda on a role here. ;) Enjoy!
Mouse loved many things.
She loved the feel of the wind whipping her hair in every directions, she loved the way her blood rushed with adrenaline when she leaped across buildings; Mouse loved the scent of grass, the feel of dirt on her bare feet as she ran through the woods, leaping gracefully over dead trees. She loved the way the sun looked as it rose above the eastern horizon, even more as it died in the west, red light bleeding across the sky, staining the clouds pink.
She loved the night even more than the day. The way the shadows stretched hungrily across the ground, tendrils of black seeking to cover everything in their path, concealing her every movement as she stalked through the dark alley ways. Mouse loved the way the moon shone down, cold and unfeeling as it silently watched the sprawling city below, much like she did every night. She loved how bright and clear the stars shone in the sky when she was far away from the city in the dark woods around it. She loved everything; from the great lake off to the east of the city, to the tallest skyscraper she was currently perched on, looking down and observing.
Mouse loved the simple things most, like flowers, warmth, sleep, a good book. She loved music especially, and her iPod, choosing to drown out the normal chatter of life around her, sinking deep into the gentle crooning of a violin, dancing to the melody of a piano in the background, or blaring the sound of heavy guitar solos instead of having to hear the rest of the world. She loved her friends, her mismatched "family", her home. She even felt some content happiness towards her almost-life. But the one thing Mouse loved more than everything else,
Was her job.
Mouse grinned, flesh crawling with anticipation. Oh yes, she loved her job, most definitely. It was the one thing she looked forward to every night, no matter how bad her day had been. It was the one way she could effectively take out her frustration without harming the people who lived far below her, the one job where she could run as fast as she could, and feel her true power course through her with every heartbeat. But, her job was also her darkest secret. Mouse scowled slightly, allowing herself a moment to contemplate on the negative thought.
If anyone were to discover Mouse's organization and what it was for, it would ruin her already seemingly normal existence. It was already bad enough that the city knew of the organizations existence, labeling it as a violent gang terrorizing the streets of Konoha. Mouse smirked at this. If only those fools knew, knew that Mouse's organization was really protecting their feeble human lives from the true threat that stalked through the back alleys, preying on unknown citizens. The smirk was replaced by another scowl, deeper than the first. They wouldn't understand though. Her job was deadly, bloody, and cruel. They had a right to call the organization a violent gang terrorizing Konoha. Because in a way, they were exactly that; Mouse was a killer, her organization made up of killers as well. But their victims were special.
Their prey was vampires.
These vampires were the lowest of the low, fools of humans that gave in to the lure of power and suffered the consequences for it. They became Berserkers within a few weeks of becoming a full-blood vampire; that's where the organization came in. The small organization was made up of a few selected individuals, almost every member being an undead as well. It was their job to find the Berserkers that appeared within Konoha and destroy them before they killed anyone else. They weren't always so lucky, though, as the only way to find the Berserkers was to wait until people started dying, and start from there. At most, a few people would die before the vampire was able to really start feeding, but there were some cases over the past few years when handfuls of people would die. It was frustrating, having to allow others to die before they were able to hunt down the crazed vampires, but it was overall unavoidable.
Mouse dug her sharp fingernails into the concrete below her, anger bubbling up inside her. She was ready to go; her subordinates had located the new Berserker and had been trying to kill it for the past hour. The vampire was fast, and surprisingly sane enough to think semi-properly. It had managed to evade her men so far, and was now heading towards a populated area, hoping the closeness to the humans would get the hunters off its trail. Mouse narrowed her eyes and looked down from the edge of the roof. That thing was seriously mistaken if it thought she'd give up that easily. With that, she stood, running along the lip of the roof until she reached the corner. From there she jumped, her well trained body easily pushing itself twenty feet away from the building. She felt a slight rush as she flew through the air, suspended for a few moments until gravity finally took ahold of her and sent her dropping towards the other buildings below.
With a soft thud, Mouse landed on the top of a hospital building and dashed across the concrete. She leaped across the rooftops as she navigated through the city, finally leaping down silently into an alley. Mouse stood as close to the entrance as she could while still being concealed by the shadows, feet planted firmly on the ground and arms crossed over her chest. She stood as straight as her spine allowed, and fixed her eyes on the back corner of the alley, where she could hear the sounds of running feet and loud panting approaching through the connecting back alley. Moments later a figure skidded around the corner, slamming into the wall as it tried to stop and change direction.
The vampire's loud, frantic breathing came in gasps, and it cast a glance over its shoulder as it ran for the exit. It skidded to a halt when its eyes fell on Mouse. For an instant, Mouse took in the vampire's appearance. The vampire was a girl who looked no more than seventeen, her school uniform torn and bloodied from her last victim. Her lanky brown hair was clumped together with dried blood and pulled into two high ponytails, bangs framing a gray face. Her eyes were a complete, solid black that seemed to glow brightly in the dark alley. Mouse's heart fell slightly. It always disappointed her to see Berserkers that were nothing more than teenagers who had fallen to the greed of power vampirism offered.
The girl panicked, spinning around on her heel and running back through the connecting alley. Mouse was about to run after her, the creatures speed no match for her own when the girls thoughts suddenly slammed into her. Mouse staggered slightly, the force of the girls fear nearly overwhelming her. The girl knew she was being hunted, and what would happen if she was caught. The girl was afraid of the organizations presence circling in around her, but there was something else that paralyzed Mouse. The girl wasn't just afraid of the organization hunting her down, she was afraid of her own existence. The girl was afraid of what she had become and would gladly die if only she could, but nothing had worked before. And the people who were hunting her down scared her, throwing sharp objects at her that cut deep into her skin unlike the knives she had used, and wielding katanas that flashed dangerously under the street lights. Their very presence promised a painful demise, though she didn't understand it.
Mouse choked out a strangled cry as she grasped her head, trying to force the girls' thoughts away, but to no avail. With a shaky step, she forced herself to ignore the girls' fear and chase after her; she still had a job to do. Mouse managed to catch up to the girl in the back alley, grasping her arm tightly. The girl let out a loud shriek of fear, falling to the ground with Mouse tumbling down with her. The girl struggled, trying to get away, but couldn't escape from her captors grip. The girl could sense the others dropping into the alley around her, and she fought harder, trying to get away. A loud, angry hiss next to her ear caused her to freeze, body shaking in fear. She whimpered into the ground awaiting the pain that would surely come.
She gasped as she was pulled up and set against the wall, a hand against her throat the only thing keeping her there. The girl looked up at the people surrounding her, eyes widening in fear as she took them in. They all wore the same cloaks and each had a different white animal mask hiding their faces. The girl stared into the black eye holes of the figure pinning her to the wall. She stiffened, as the small figure pulled a gun from inside their cloak.
"Relax." Mouse's muffled voice came from behind her mask. "It'll be quick, I promise." The girl blinked in surprise. Mouse smiled wryly behind her mask. Maybe her job wasn't so great after all.
"You don't want to hurt anyone else, so I'll help." Mouse said softly as stared intently at the girl, who stared back in confusion, not sure of what to make of the sudden situation. Mouse tapped the side of her head with the gun.
"I know." She said simply. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and slowly she nodded. She didn't feel as terrified of her attackers anymore, seeing them as her saviors now, willing to save her from the terrible existence that was forced onto her for no reason. She was sad that she had to die, but didn't want to hurt anyone else, so she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Mouse inwardly sighed, placing the gun on the girl's heart. The girl stiffened slightly, but her body went limp a second later as Mouse pulled the trigger, the shot muted by the silencer. Mouse stood up, allowing Crow to glide forward and kneel before the body. Seconds later, the body ignited as flames started to envelope it. The body burned within seconds, not even ash left.
"Let's go." Mouse said, suddenly ready to return home. Instead of the reply she expected, a loud shriek resonated down the alley. Mouse hissed and spun around, crouching low as she stared at the intruder. At the end of the alley back the way she came, a young woman stood frozen, staring in horror at what she saw. Mouse narrowed her eyes. It was too late for them to erase the girls memory, her scream had already alerted the other people who had been waiting at the front of the connecting alley for her as they were starting to appear behind her. With a growl Mouse jumped up, landing on the roof with her subordinates not far behind. They took off as the girl began babbling hysterically at what she thought was a witnessed murder. Mouse heard V swear profusely behind her and would have smirked if she was not cursing inwardly herself.
The group had seen them, had definitely saw the cloaks and would have identified them and go then go straight to the police and then the news station. The media would surely have this out by the morning news, and Mouse was not happy about that. The city's police would be searching for them for weeks, which meant they'd have to be even more careful about their job. Sakura smiled wryly behind her mask as a sudden thought struck her.
Her job really wasn't all that great sometimes.
Well, there you have it! Three updates in one day. This last chapter was sorta written write before I uploaded them, so it might not be entirely great and all. I did kinda like it though, since it gave a little bit of insight into Mouse and her character. It really isn't supposed to be clear on her abilities and such though, which I promise is intended because I want to slowly reveal them and all. So, please review since it's great motivation to write these chapter out for everyone!