Chapter 17: Suspicion

The next morning opened to heavy cloud cover and the threat of rain. The wind was strong and the air was cold as it beat against the cheap windows of the run down apartment Asura currently called home. The dark haired teen sat on a sleep mat in the one room space with a blanket pulled around his shoulders for warmth in the chilly apartment. In his lap he held a long-muzzled hand gun, which he was meticulously cleaning. Once complete, he placed it to the side of the mat in its proper place between four other guns of various sizes. He briefly glanced at the small window as the sound of the wind picked up before returning his attention to his last gun. This particular firearm was a decent sized hand gun with a trigger action but lacking a hammer. The metal was a mix of black and silver and the inlay was a rich brown wood. It was quite the extravagant weapon in its design but deadly efficient in its practicality and he took special care to see that everything was in working order on the weapon before placing it alongside the others.

"Soon." He mumbled, lingering his hand over the weapons momentarily before quickly collecting them and returning them to a large gray duffel bag that rested near the wall. By the time this was finished it was nearly seven in the morning, causing Asura to begrudgingly place other more pertinent tasks on the side in order to get ready for school.

oOoOoOo

School proved to be more interesting that Asura had anticipated it to be. While he didn't have to concern himself with the classes he shared with the Blade Children until the end of the day, it didn't slip his notice that Kanone Hilbert and another student he was unfamiliar with seemed to be present during all of his breaks or class transitions. He had seen the black haired teen with the determined killer in the past, but he didn't know his significance. Still, the fact that Kanone Hilbert had suddenly taken such an interest in his presence had Asura both intrigued and wary. Both males were not always present, but at every moment outside of class, Asura noticed the presence of one or both, always nearby; always watching. By the end of the day he had grown irritated with his less that secretive stalkers and took the first opportunity available to confront them.

The confrontation occurred just inside from the fourth floor emergency stairwell. Disregarding his final class of the day, the gray eyed teen had made his way to the secluded stairway in hopes that his pursuers would follow. To his surprise, they were waiting for him.

"Glad we decided to wait for you." Kisame smirked. Asura spun around, surprised at the unexpected voices directly behind him. His eyes darkened dangerously, his body language becoming hostile.

"What do you want? You've been following me all day. Tell me why!" Asura's voice was demanding and lacked any hint of apprehension. The transfer student did not appear to be intimidated in the slightest by the two older teens that had backed him into a physical corner. His frown deepened when a sweet smile came over Kanone's face.

"We just wanted to talk to you, that's all. There just hasn't been an opportunity earlier than this today." Asura didn't believe the statement in the slightest, but the genuine nature of Kanone's expression and tone made him consider the possibility. Still, his belief in Kanone's status as a killer deadened his ability to believe the innocent act the teen was portraying.

"Cut the crap! Do you think I'm a fool?" Asura's tone was angry, but Kanone's smile didn't waver in the slightest.

"Not at all. Why would we think that?" Asura's eyes narrowed.

"We really did just want to talk to you. You've been watching some of our friends quite steadfastly and we were just curious why." Asura turned his attention to Kisame as he spoke.

"Who are you?" He snapped. Kisame mimicked Kanone's smile.

"Kisame. You're Asura Noragami, right?" Kisame's blatant exclusion of his last name didn't escape Asura's notice, but he didn't fight for it. Realizing that he was faced with an intellectual match, he forced himself to calm down and looked coldly at the two Blade Children.

"Have I been making your friends uncomfortable? I've only been here a week. Surely I haven't made enemies already?" His tone was calm and cold and he presented far more rational than he had been previously. He purposely didn't deny the accusation that he had been watching the other Blade Children. He watched them warily.

"That doesn't answer the question." Kanone commented, not willing to allow the subject to change. Asura shrugged.

"No particular reason. They just seem to be the most interesting individuals out of all my classes." He stated calmly. "They're certainly the smartest." He added as an afterthought, having observed Eyes' and Kousuke's participation in their classes and the obvious favoritism the instructor showed them. Both killers maintained their smiles.

"Surely it would be more engaging to actually speak to them rather than simply watching them all the time." Kanone suggested, playing along with the concocted excuse. Asura shook his head slightly.

"I'm not very good with people. I prefer to just watch."

"You're doing fine with Kisame and I."

"Not like I have much of a choice." Kisame smirked at this and took a step closer to the teen.

"Well if you just need the right situation, then let us introduce you. I'm sure Kousuke would be more than happy to meet you." Despite Kisame's sarcastic intentions, his words came across completely genuine and his face mirrored this nature. "Izo probably won't seem too interested, but that's just his nature." He added. Having nothing to mark Kisame with, Asura was more inclined to believe this offer. He felt confident in his ability to protect himself if he needed to against the killers, but he still shook his head.

"That's okay. I'm not really interested in doing the whole "friends" thing."

"You should give it a try. Maybe you'd change your mind." Kisame pressed. Kanone nodded in agreement. Both teens had moved subtly closer to Asura, forcing him closer to the emergency exit that was his only available escape. Feeling slightly trapped, Asura conceded.

"Okay, sure. Maybe sometime." He muttered, clearly not thrilled about the idea. "I have to go now. I'm late for class." Without another word he pushed quickly past the Blade Children and hurried down the hall. Kanone and Kisame stood side by side and watched him go, a smirk on Kisame's face and a mild smile on Kanone's. Once Asura was out of earshot Kanone spoke.

"Keep your friends close." Kisame's smirk darkened in amusement as he nodded.

"And your enemies closer." Without another word the two made their way out of the hallway and headed in the direction of the school's exit to wait for the other Blade Children to arrive.

oOoOoOo

Asura sat on the roof of the school as the sun began its descent from the sky. He had been lazing on the roof for the better part of an hour since his advent after the campus had emptied. He had entertained the prospect of returning home in lieu of resting on the roof, but his apartment wasn't much warmer and the fresh air was pleasant.

Asura sat with a stoic expression on his face, looking out over the city. He had been running over the events of the day and the meeting with Kanone and Kisame roughly three hours prior. The overall encounter had been fairly standard and by no means placed itself outside the normal behavior of ordinary students. Granted the location was unique, but it wasn't enough to prove or disprove any of the suspicions Asura was currently entertaining.

In the week since coming to Tsukiomi Academy, Asura had learned about the events of the previous year and had a fairly good understanding of what had transpired with Kanone Hilbert. With this knowledge, Asura had been able to piece together a bit of an idea for what sort of person Kanone was likely to be, as well as the likelihood of a personality disorder. But Kisame's presence confused him. He felt no killing intent from the black haired teen who seemed to possess a genuinely kind nature. The fact that he was willing to spend his time with Kanone even after the events of the past school year was another tribute to the golden eyed teen's forgiving nature. As a result, Asura couldn't help but wonder whether he was over-thinking the possibility of a trap from the other killers.

"Could it really just be that they didn't want me watching their friends?" Asura looked up at the sky, leaning back so as to rest his weight against his straightened arms.

"Hilbert is definitely dangerous, but he doesn't seem to be that bright, if what I've been hearing is any indication." He mumbled. He looked down, his brow furrowed in thought.

"So what's their end plan? All of them being here isn't just a coincidence. What's the reason behind it?" He shivered slightly as the wind arced over the roof and he tightened the collar of his coat around his neck to fight the cold. He had closed his eyes at the advent of the wind and now focused out over the roof's edge once more.

"Should I meet them? It'll probably be the best way to learn more about them. A friendship with fools could be advantageous in the long run. If I play my cards right I could use them for my benefit." He mused, rising to his feet. He paused mid rise as the sound of a single beep shattered the quiet air. Looking down at his watch, he noted the late hour and rose fully to his feet.

"I guess I should just keep my head down until its time to make a move. There's no real need to rush things and act before its the right time." He placed his hands into his coat pockets for warmth and turned toward the door that would lead him down from the roof.

"I can't be hasty when dealing with their kind. At this point there's no reason to start an unnecessary fight." He looked up at the sky again.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to meet them." He said, returning to his initial train of thought.

"Besides, if I don't that could open up a Pandora's box I'm not willing to walk through." With a sigh, Asura gave a light nod to himself in affirmation of the decision and left the roof, returning to his less than inviting apartment to weather the rest of the cold night.

oOoOoOo

The weekend found Hiroshume standing alone on the small balcony that rested on the far wall of his apartment. The air was cold at the late hour but he didn't move to return inside or retrieve anything warmer than the thin, gray t-shirt he currently wore. The nearly full moon shown bright above him in the clear sky, lighting the balcony in pale light and catching in the teen's upturned eyes. He looked at the moon with little expression, his hands resting loosely in his pants pockets against the cold.

Hiroshume had spent most of the evening out on the balcony and no longer felt the sting of the cold air or the icy wind that lifted from the ground on occasion to pass over his skin. His most recent meeting with the Blade Children, followed in close succession by his meeting with Kiyotaka, had left him wondering about his role in the current game and what his involvement should be moving forward. As he had told Kiyotaka, he had no intention of dropping out of the game, or whatever was going on, but he felt at a loss with the small amount of information that he currently had to work with. He had tried looking into Kanone Hilbert and Eyes' other associates except for Kisame, still too intimidated to risk angering the older teen, but had come up with nothing that aligned with the current way that Eyes and the others were acting. There simply wasn't enough information available through his regular information gathering avenues.

He had also tried looking into the term "Blade Children", but had discovered equally unsatisfying results. Whatever had been available on the subject had been removed from every location that he searched. All that he had been able to determine was that the term had at one point held an association with a project in genetic research and bio-medical science and that the project had been shut down sixteen years prior. Any information about the details of the project were no longer available, despite Hiroshume's best efforts to locate them or repair the broken code that contained the desired files.

He was also puzzled about Eyes' companions working behind the pianist's back. While the tasks Kisame had provided him with had worked to alleviate his boredom, he still was unsure about where his actions would leave his relationship with the Englishman. He didn't suspect that Eyes would ever find out, as neither he nor the offending Blade Children had any intention of telling him, but the situation provided Hiroshume enough interest to consider possible ramifications of the work he was doing for Kisame.

One of the biggest matters that currently occupied Hiroshume's thoughts was the division between Eyes and his supposed allies. While Hiroshume had personally offered his services to the two deadly Blade Children without Eyes' knowledge, he hadn't expected to see so much movement outside of the performer's knowledge. It bothered him that he didn't know enough about the current situation to accurately judge the nature of these hidden actions. He didn't feel any particular loyalty to Eyes in regards to the current matter, as the actions of Kisame and Kanone did not appear to have a risk of endangering Eyes, but ultimately his concern was focused on Eyes over the others. While he had all but denied it upon his first meeting with Kisame and Kanone, he considered Eyes to be one of his few friends and although he feared Kisame enough to do as he said without question so far, he had no intention of serving the older teen if his requests conflicted too strongly with what was in Eyes' best interest.

With a heavy sigh, Hiroshume turned away from the balcony railing and opened the sliding door to his apartment. Entering, he walked over to the small black couch that served as his bed and sat down, picking up a small flash drive from the nearby coffee table as he did so. Resting his elbows on his knees, he fingered the drive between his first two fingers and thumb, staring at it listlessly. The drive contained the information that Kisame wanted on Naoki Sato, but Hiroshume wasn't in any hurry to give it to him. Truth be told, he had finished collecting the information days ago but had not cared to deliver it before this point. Not actively seeking something to do, he reasoned that Kisame would ask for the information when he had grown tired of waiting. Until that time, the hacker was content to hold onto it. Tossing the drive back onto the small, glass-topped table, Hiroshume turned and stretched out on the couch, his one leg bent so his foot rested on the couch and his knee rested against the side. The other leg remained on the floor alongside the couch as he crossed his arms behind his head and rested back against the arm of the couch.

"So much going on that they don't want me or each other involved in." He breathed sarcastically, a hint of humor sounding in his voice as he looked up at the dark ceiling in the moonlit apartment. "So why do they continue to involve me, I wonder?" He lay a hand over his eyes and sighed, shivering slightly as the warm air of the room's interior began to penetrate into his cold frame. After a few minutes he removed his hand from his eyes and retrieved his cell phone from his front pocket. Flipping it open, he looked at the time, one o'clock in the morning, before locating Eyes number in his contacts list. Initiating a message to the pianist, Hiroshume smirked as he typed out a single line of text and pressed send.

He lay staring at the phone screen for a few minutes, wondering what Eyes' reaction would be when he read the message. He wasn't surprised when he didn't get a response back after several minutes and he laughed as he tossed the phone onto the table next to the USB drive and turned over on the couch to sleep. As he lay peacefully in his apartment, a far less calm Eyes sat at the piano in the center of his main room. His jaw was set in an angry line as he stared unmoving at the short message he had received several minutes earlier.

"What are the Blade Children?"

A/N:

Hey all!

Here is another chapter of Who Knows What Fate May Hold For You. I apologize for it being a little bit late, but I was struggling with plot issues up to this point and was not at a point where I could post a quality chapter. I hope that this chapter will be worth the wait. I will do my best to deliver chapters more regularly now and will continue to put all my effort into making this a story that is worth reading. Thank you all for being so patient with my slow and unreliable publication. I will try to do better in the future. With that, I hope that you have enjoyed chapter 17 of Who Knows What Fate May Hold For You and I hope to see you again in chapter 18!

Please review if you like this story!

Thanks,

Spiral of Destiny