Here we go again! :)

Murciélago

Chapter Four

Outside of Las Noches, the tall, one-eyed ebony known as Nnoitra Gilga stood, a phone to his ear. He would have been inside already, sitting with his boss as he should have been, but he had to get business sorted through before he could speak with Ulquiorra about the situation. And, this time, he had a damn good reason to do so.

"Pantera, are you sure about this?" He whispered into the phone, not all too comfortable with the new piece of work he gave them. Business was slow as of late, sure, but the boss wouldn't want this walking in their direction. Not without a very damn good reason.

A chuckle came from the other end. "For the last time, Santa Teresa, I'm sure. The Berry's good on his word, and the badge walking in has a good track around here." He stated with confidence.

Nnoitra shook his head. "A badge? No way. How the hell could she manage?" He asked in utter disbelief. He did his homework on the "badge" in question, and sure enough, she was good. But, that didn't get you far with Ulquiorra.

"She's the badge that got Zaraki out of jail, and even risked it to make sure he wasn't arrested last week." He stated simply.

The mantis' mouth went agape slightly. "No way." He breathed out.

"Way." Pantera replied. "Besides, she only wants an appointment. Strawberry's made it clear to her that she both has to pay and informed that she needs a damn good reason to get the demon working for her." He added, trying to put a good word to her.

The ebony sighed. Normally he didn't care about bringing people in, he loved having chicks coming in even more. But a cop? "Alright, I'll tell the boss. Don't expect him to agree to it, though." He warned. Pantera didn't even say goodbye, he just hung up. Sighing once, Nnoitra lugged his bag over his shoulder before looking at his watch.

1:09

Shit, he was late.

The man rushed to the front door, making his way in and moving stealthily to the corner where the meeting was bound to have been going on already. And, as predicted, the boss was in his corner, drinking an Angry Orchard while listening to Szayel report about his contacts. "I'm sorry, sir, but Verruga hasn't gotten anything new, not since we helped Coyote's daughter last week." The pink-head would have said more, had it not been for the fact he noticed Nnoitra standing there.

All eyes were on him within seconds, his colleagues knowing that the mantis would be in trouble if he didn't have a good reason for being late. Ulquiorra, in the darkness of his corner, put his bottle on the table with an audible slam. "You're late, why?" The shorter ebony asked him, far from pleased.

Nnoitra wasn't afraid of his boss, one of the reasons he enjoyed working with him was because he managed to keep life in the darkness interesting. Keeping everything precise was never really fun, but it was done for the sake of not being caught. Noticing one of his employees missing rose alarm, seeing them come in late rose suspicion.

Thankfully, he did have a viable excuse. "Sorry about that, Boss. Pantera kept me for longer than usual." He stated firsthand before moving to sit down. Sitting between Hallibel and Yammy was never ideal, but he was in no position to complain. "Someone wants an appointment with you." He added, passing the files he could dig up about the woman from underneath the table.

Ulquiorra took them, reading them as they laid open on his lap. The man had very good eyesight, making his life in the night suitable. Especially since the ability was handy in the case where you wanted to read papers that no one wanted seen. Pretty soon, though, his boss' glare came about him once again. "A badge?" He questioned.

"That's what we were talking about outside." Nnoitra stated firmly. "I don't like the idea that some chick from homicide wants to pay us a visit, but she got info about us from Strawberry, and Pantera was happy to give her a chance. Seems as though she's got a nice track record on that end." He stated.

"How?" Hallibel found herself asking.

Nnoitra chuckled. "Kenpachi Zaraki, that's how." Eyes widened around the table. There weren't a lot of people who didn't know that a cop from homicide helped Zaraki get out of jail through a psych evaluation, but there were few who knew her by name.

Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed before lowering his gaze down at the picture of Detective Yukimura. His eyes widened but only a fraction. It was rather hard to forget the blue-haired woman, especially since she bought most of his blackberries off of him. He almost smirked at this; he never imagined the woman as a police officer, let alone ties into the dark life in Hueco Mundo. Yes, he had become curious about the woman.

And anyone who got him curious deserved to be looked into at least once.

"Very well, then. I'll see what this badge has to say to us." He stated, passing the files underneath the table to Szayel; a silent order that called for more research. "Hallibel, I want you to inspect Homicide and make sure they aren't working on anything to compromise business. Yammy, call Zommari and tell him of the arrangements. Nnoitra, tell Pantera to give her instructions for pick up on the Western side tomorrow night." He informed them.

They stood to leave, and Nnoitra was about to head out back the way he normally did when it came time to leave. "And Nnoitra," Ulquiorra called, having not moved that far away from his seat. The taller ebony stopped, looking at his employer with a straight face. "Do it now." He ordered. The latter only smirked, nodding once before leaving the building.

Day twelve of Artemis' suspension, and needless to say, she wasn't thrilled. The body count totaled to eighteen now, and her boss was still not allowing her back into work. Normally this matter would be resolved right about now as Captain Tousen knew that he needed Yukimura's profiling skills to help narrow the suspect pool, but that simply wasn't happening. The Captain was now on a higher horse than ever, this time going after mafia boos Coyote Starrk as the killer, despite the fact the man had been worrying about his daughter Lilynette for awhile. And with good reason, as she almost died a little over a week ago and was recuperating rather slowly.

What was worse, Lieutenant Kuchiki couldn't hold his sanction on the Captain. It was swatted away, as if it never existed, making no argument they had useful. It was pathetic. The Captain remained on his high horse, putting people in jail for crimes they didn't commit, and for what? Justice as he put it, but that wasn't it. Tousen would do anything to get people he thought scum in prison. Which was part of the reason she let Zaraki out. He did bad things, sure, but he was not only put in jail for the wrong reasons, but even learned from his time in there.

Remembering things like this made the detective pissed. How she wished his career was ruined. Stained to the point he couldn't redeem himself, then maybe homicide could be run properly.

The home phone ringing brought Artemis out of her thoughts. She looked at the number, however, couldn't recognize the number. Pressing talk, she answered: "Yukimura."

"I'd hope so." A male voice said from the other end of the line. "Otherwise the demon bat would be on my ass." He added. The woman stayed quiet. It didn't take much for her to know what the call was about. Murciélago was the Spanish word for bat, and the Japanese word for black-winged-great-demon, meaning that if this wasn't Murciélago's employee, then he knew one of them. "Congrats, by the way, Detective. He's made a spot in his planner just for you." He added.

"What do you mean?" Came the immediate response.

The man chuckled. "Just follow these instructions, honey. And you'll find out." And Artemis listened intently, allowing the man to keep talking as an interesting thought came into her mind.

Yukimura smirked at this. She finally knew what she wanted Murciélago to do for her.

You like it? I hope so, because next chapter gets interesting.

~ K. Fang-sama