Chapter 10: Conference

Disclaimer: I do not own this. Spiral: The Bonds Of Reasoning is the property of Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno. The only ownership I claim is for this story and the OCs involved.

Cold hazel eyes stared calmly out of the window overlooking the city. From this vantage point, the rooftops could clearly be seen and the street below looked small in comparison to the rest of the view. The aforementioned gaze was focused on one building in particular, Tsukiomi Acadamy. Though the high class institution was currently devoid of students, due to the late hour on the last day of the school week, this did not deter the viewer's gaze. A thin, dark, ominous smile slowly formed on the viewer's face.

"They gather like flies. But what do they really believe they can accomplish?" The individual mused aloud. The speaker's focus was drawn away from the window by the sound of a second voice recalling his attention.

"Your move." A female, Yan Higurashi, said in a dull tone. Her opponent looked back at the game board, where a chess game was currently underway. He noted that while he had been distracted, Yan had found a way to capture his knight, her black bishop standing proudly where his soldier had been moments before.

The man, Sai Ewogasa, smirked before taking his turn and focusing his attention on Yan. He watched as the younger woman observed the game board with a critical and calculating eye, debating her options before settling on a move. His grin widened when he saw her take his rook with the same bishop she had used to slaughter his knight. Once her turn had concluded, she looked up at Sai with the same bored expression, waiting for him to play and provide her with another opening.

Instead of taking his turn, the Hunter leaned casually on the arm of his chair, resting his cheek on his knuckles as he watched Yan, a thin smirk marking his face. Yan tolerated his gaze for a few moments, meeting his gaze with one of her own, but soon broke away and refocused on the game board, coming to the conclusion that he would not be playing until whatever silent reverie he had fallen into was finished.

Sai's smirk widened as he watched Yan break away from his gaze. He knew that it had not been due to intimidation that she had broken eye contact, but rather boredom. He loved to watch the way that the female Hunter's mind operated. There was no compassion or kindness present in the woman, at least none that he had seen. She did not appear to care for anything that she did and always approached her tasks with indifference and an attitude akin to boredom. As he watched her, his mind wandered to Naoki's report concerning the recent attack on the Blade Children and the number of casualties they had sustained as a result. Most of the Hunters that he had worked with in the past would have tried to do something to save the younger Hunters from walking to their deaths, but Yan had not seen fit to do so. She was content to let the men die for their disobedience and stupidity. While it meant that more members would need to be recruited, Sai approved of her tactic and was pleased with the way that she had handled the situation.

As he mused on these thoughts, he slowly leaned forward and moved his king to capture Yan's bishop. The black haired woman looked up at Sai once she saw his action, a faint flicker of annoyance glinting through her eyes before dissipating and being replaced by the look of indifference once more. She returned her attention to the game board and contemplatively rotated the tip of her pointer finger on the top of Sai's king, causing the piece to pivot slightly.

Sai watched her with amusement, knowing that she hated when he used his king for combat, but he said nothing. He watched Yan's face as her mind worked through alterations that could be made to her strategy now that a pivotal piece had been removed from her army. Sai smiled as he watched before returning his attention to the façade of Tsukiomi Acadamy. In the moonlight, the building stood out in stark contrast to the brighter fields that surrounded the campus. In the background he could hear Yan take her turn, but he didn't look away from the window. After a few moments he heard Yan sigh in defeat and lean back in her chair. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, only to see that she too was looking at the institution in the distance. He smirked again, shifting his position so that he was leaning on his opposite arm, placing his position closer to the window.

"What do you think, my dear? Will the Blade Children act or will we make the first definitive strike?" He questioned lightly, good humor showing in his voice as he spoke softly. The lavish apartment was silent for a moment before the Hunter replied.

"They will act." She said with certainty, her gaze still fixed out the window. Sai nodded in approval of her answer.

"Should we let them do that?" He questioned, glancing at her and moving his head with the action in order to catch her attention. She looked at him, her gaze meeting his. Her eyes were serious, a contrast to their usual appearance and her voice was firm and without any hesitation as she answered him.

"Yes."

oOoOoOoOo

The weekend opened on a dreary, foggy day. Naoki and Akito moved quickly down the empty street. Although it was already past seven o'clock in the morning, the two Hunters appeared to be the only ones out of doors. The air was heavy with humidity and smelled of rain, a clear precursor of the storm that was sure to come.

Neither of the men spoke much as they walked. They had just come from the Hunter's traditional meeting place. They had intended to join up with Yan and their boss, but found the location deserted. As a result, Naoki and Akito now made their way to their leader's apartment in order to participate in the meeting they had been ordered to.

As they continued to walk, Naoki began to quietly complain to himself about professionalism and how the higher-ups should follow their own rules and display some themselves. Akito allowed the older Hunter to continue his angry rant for fifteen minutes before he spoke and broke his companion's train of thought.

"It's not that big of a deal. So we have to go to his apartment instead. What else would you be doing?" He questioned, knowing that Naoki worked afternoons, even on weekends, and so had no excuse to give. As Akito had both intended and expected, his question caused the blond Hunter to fall silent after casting a hard glare in his companion's direction. Akito smiled to himself at his roommate's reaction and buried his hands deeper into his pockets to defend against the cold, damp air of the morning.

The destination that the two men were approaching was a considerable distance from the roommate's apartment, as well as their usual meeting place. Normally, this would not have been a problem for them, as the two men would have simply taken a train to their leader's apartment. However, because they had already walked to the regular meeting location, they would have wasted more time backtracking to the train station than it would to walk to their destination from their current location. Despite this fact, Naoki made sure to inform Akito repeatedly that he did not approve of the younger man's decision to walk in the bleak weather.

Akito ignored him for the most part, only acknowledging Naoki enough to keep the man satisfied that he was at least listening and not merely brushing him off. He continued in this manner until something that Naoki was saying caught his attention.

"I still don't see why we need to go and meet with him today anyway. We saw him yesterday. It's not like things are going to have changed any from then until now." He said, his tone calmer than it had previously been. Akito nodded, focusing on the ground in front of him.

"That's not necessarily true. He may have found something worth notifying us about. He could have found some information or come up with a new strategy he wants us to implement when dealing with the Blade Children next or he could want us to launch an attack on them." Akito speculated, causing Naoki to frown and look at his shorter companion.

"He couldn't have just told us what he wanted when he texted us last night about this meeting?" He asked in annoyance. "And why couldn't he have told us that we were meeting at his place?!" He added, throwing his arms in the air dramatically as his voice grew louder in frustration. Akito chuckled.

"He probably wanted to irritate you. You were rather rude to him during the last meeting." He said lightly. Naoki glared at him, though it was clear that his anger was not directed at Akito.

"He was being an idiot. I simply told him so." Naoki defended, crossing his arms carelessly behind his head as he walked.

"Yes, and now he's making you pay for disrespecting him." Akito replied calmly, smiling at his roommate's reaction. Naoki just shook his head and looked straight ahead. The silence continued until they reached their leader's apartment.

Upon entering the lavish lobby of the upscale apartment complex, Akito withdrew his phone from his pocket and dialed the number of the suite on the second to top floor. He didn't want to drop in unannounced even if he and Naoki were responding to a request for attendance. As he waited for the call to connect he looked over at Naoki, who was busying himself by talking with a disgruntled toddler who stood in the middle of the lobby while his mother checked their mailbox.

The child looked tired and altogether displeased about being up at such an hour. Akito assumed that the mother was taking the boy to a childcare facility before going to work or some other commitment, as there wasn't much other reason for the child's mother to be dressed as formally as she was while having her son up and active at such an early hour on a Saturday. Akito mused idly about the trivial matter until he heard a voice coming through the phone and he turned his back on Naoki and focused on the words spoken by the person on the other end of the line.

Meanwhile, Naoki busied himself with the toddler. The child was around two years old and stared at Naoki as he stooped and spoke to the child. As he spoke he did not shift his speech tone to that used by most people when speaking with a baby or young child. He kept his voice the same as when he spoke to Akito, though he softened it slightly in order to not cause the child to cry when he spoke to him, as he despised the sound of children crying. It grated on his nerves and annoyed him to no end. Not being a patient man by nature, this was not a good thing for the children involved and Naoki had entertained the possibility of killing more than a few children on account of crying but had yet to act on those impulses. It was this very act that Naoki was trying to avoid which prompted him to speak with and distract the child.

He now crouched down beside the toddler, having taken the stuffed rabbit that the boy carried. He proceeded to poke the nose of the stuffed toy into the boy's neck in a playful manner while talking to him, causing the child to giggle and smile. Naoki kept this up until Akito walked up beside him and nudged him with his leg, letting him know that they now had permission to join their leader in his home. Without another word, the kindness that Naoki had managed to keep on his face while with the child fell and his cold hard countenance returned. He dropped the bunny and stood, not bothering to hand the toy back to the child and letting it fall to the floor. He turned without a second glance and made his way to the elevator, Akito in tow, leaving a confused mother and child standing in the lobby of the building looking after them.

As the two men stood alone again inside the elevator, waiting for the machine to reach the determined floor, Akito spoke.

"That was rather uncharacteristic of you." He commented, leaning against the back of the elevator and crossing his arms over his chest. Naoki glanced over at Akito from where he leaned on his left shoulder against the right side wall of the elevator.

"I hate brats and even more so when they cry. Did you look at that child? He was going to explode any minute. If I have to tolerate entertaining the brat for a few minutes to keep the thing from crying and annoying me then it's worth it in my book. Don't fool yourself into thinking it was something sentimental." He said calmly, having already dismissed the earlier event as a necessary annoyance that could now be forgotten. Akito smiled.

"Expect such a thing from you? I wouldn't dream of it." He said with slight sarcasm, though he was serious in what he said.

"That's because you aren't THAT stupid." Naoki commented with a slight nod, adding emphasis to the word 'that'. Akito just shook his head and looked straight ahead at the closed metal doors, waiting for the elevator to reach the desired floor.

oOoOoOoOo

The two men entered the apartment without bothering to knock. They walked quietly into the main room where the other members were already assembled. As they looked around, they noticed their leader, Sai Ewogasa, seated in a plush chair by the window, looking out over the skyline and gazing lazily at the learning institution in the distance. He glanced slightly at Naoki and Akito as they made their way into the room.

The other members in the room consisted of Yan, who was stretched out lazily upon a large red leather sofa that stood in the center of the room facing the large window and a young man that neither Akito nor Naoki recognized. This individual was sitting a short distance away from the others and was busily typing into a laptop.

"So what did you want?" Naoki asked with annoyance as they reached the others. He stood beside the couch where Yan was currently laying. As Naoki spoke, Sai turned his attention fully toward the individuals in the room.

"I wanted to inform you two about what the plan is for moving forward from this point on." He said calmly, speaking exclusively to Naoki and Akito. The roommates looked at each other briefly before nodding. They watched as Yan slowly sat up and stood in order to seat herself in an available chair near Sai and in front of an unfinished chess game. Sai motioned for the younger Hunters to seat themselves on the now vacated sofa before beginning to speak.

oOoOoOoOo

An hour later, the conversation had died down. Sai and Yan had filled Naoki and Akito in on how they wanted the Blade Children situation to be handled and what freedoms they were to allow the murderous teens. Now the room was quiet. Only the soft sound of typing broke the calm atmosphere that pervaded through the apartment. The young man who was the cause of this gentle typing had said nothing during the entire time that Naoki and Akito had been in the apartment. The two males had wondered about the significance of his presence but had not inquired and neither Yan nor Sai had volunteered the information.

Now, as the individuals sat in the silence, each busying themselves with their own task, the young Hunter elected to speak.

"I have everything that's available for both of them." He said, his voice reserved as he spoke. Sai looked over at him, momentarily pulling his attention from the chess game that he and Yan were currently conducting. Naoki also looked up from his phone as the other man spoke, but his attention was quickly redirected from the unknown Hunter to Sai. Akito looked to Sai as well, wondering if he and Naoki should dismiss themselves at that point. The next words from Sai answered his unspoken inquiry.

"Read it aloud, then. I would like everyone present to hear what you've found." He said calmly taking his turn in the chess match. The young Hunter looked slightly unnerved by the request but did as he was instructed.

"Because the total information is rather unimportant, I'll start with only the relevant information I could find, which incidentally wasn't very much. A lot of their information is either missing or never existed to begin with." He began, feeling the need to justify his lack of results before he showed the meager fruits of his extensive labor. Sai nodded without looking at the Hunter and waved his hand lightly at him, signaling him to begin. With a slightly uneasy breathe, the Hunter complied.

"Here are the basic profiles I was able to compile on the two Blade Children that were requested:

Name: Kisame Hoshagi. Age: Seventeen. Blood Type: O. Birthday: October 13th. Sign: Libra.

Profile: An extremely dangerous individual with extensive knowledge of and skill with weaponry and combat. His threat level has earned him the title of "The Savage Gun" and extreme notoriety among the Hunters.

He was raised by his father after his mother's death when he was two. His father appears to have cut all ties with his son a number of years ago and passed away three years ago under questionable circumstances. The Blade Child does not appear to have any living relatives.

…

Name: Kanone Hilbert. Age: Seventeen. Blood Type: A. Birthday: September 25th. Sign: Libra

Profile: A highly dangerous individual who is an expert when it comes to gun use and knowledge. Due to this and his threat level he has earned the title "The Winged Gun" and extreme notoriety among the Hunters.

His mother's name is Evangeline Hilbert. She is still living, but has had no contact with her son since he was ten. There is not a lot of information on his family, but it does not appear that he is in contact with them anymore. Who his father was is unknown. He does not appear to have any other living relatives.

"There is some other data available on where they were born, where they went to school, and other such information, but it doesn't really give us anything that we could use against them." The Hunter replied, scrolling through some files on his computer. Sai nodded and looked at the man.

"All the same, please give me any information you have on them. I may be able to find something worthwhile that you are missing." He said calmly. The Hunter nodded and left the room to fulfill his orders, noting that Sai did not want him to read anything more.

"Well that was a waste. We don't have anything we either didn't already know or didn't need to know. What good is information like that going to do us?" Naoki spat from where he was now seated on the red leather sofa Yan had recently vacated. Sai smiled and turned his attention to his dissatisfied subordinate.

"Any information we have on them is useful, my boy. The better we know them, the better we can combat them. If you don't see the significance of this sort of information, then you simply aren't looking at it the right way." Naoki glared as he heard Akito laugh slightly at their leader's subtle jab at his roommate. Shrugging, Naoki reclined back into the cushion, stretching his arms out across the top of the couch.

"I guess I'll leave that aspect to you then. I don't care enough to waste my time at it." He said bluntly, having lost interest in the angle that Sai had chosen to try and follow. He felt that it was a complete waste of time. Sai smiled and Akito looked at Naoki before turning his attention to their leader.

"Is there anything else that you needed to tell us?" He questioned respectfully. Sai shook his head in response to Akito's question before removing Yan's queen from the game board with his bishop in order to protect his king. Akito returned the nod and rose to his feet.

"All right. I think we are going to dismiss ourselves, then. Please contact us if you need us for anything. Come on, Naoki." He said as he pulled his roommate to his feet. Sai gave them another nod in both agreement and farewell, never returning his gaze to them. Without a word, Naoki and Akito quietly let themselves out.

oOoOoOoOo

Tsukiomi Academy stood tall and silent in the cold air, the mist wrapping itself around the massive edifice and partially concealing it from the view of those who would pass by it along the street. The campus was empty, save one individual that stood outside the gates and stared up at the massive institution. The individual was a teenager wearing Western style clothing that clashed sharply with the Japanese style that was common. As the individual stood before the great gates, shaggy brown hair fell away from the person's forehead to reveal cold, dark grey eyes that stared at the school with an expression akin to contempt. As the eyes focused on the edifice, they took on a murderous glint. The jaw was set in a hard frown as the person glared at the building.

This display continued until the first drops of rain began to fall from the dark, cloud-filled sky. As the raindrops gently impacted the person's face and hair, the individual slowly bent to pick up a discarded duffel bag from the sidewalk near they're feet and gradually walked away from the campus, silently hiding the hand gun that was previously being carried within the pocket of their jacket.

A/N: Hello all. I apologize for the unexciting nature of this chapter. I promise that the next chapter will contain action as well as more excitement than the last chapters have previously contained. At this point in the fiction, the plot should pick up and allow the story to move along at a more desirable pace. Thank you everyone who has stuck with this fiction up to this point. I promise to try my best to deliver a more satisfying product in the future.

~Spiral of Destiny