Tekeshi watched from the top of a stack of containers that looked like they hadn't moved in decades. It was possible, companies went out of business and couldn't retrieve their goods, so this might have been a stack of unclaimed containers. He briefly wondered if there was anything good in them.
He shook his head. He had gotten too used to the little bit of peace he had been able to live. He wasn't in a position to keep killing time watching Swan Lake, and having a normal family outing. Granted it was a strange coincidence that he was in that area during a production that his Grandfather was attending at the same time.
He had to go back into war fighting mode. Had to be ready to kill, and leave a river of blood behind him. He had to be ready to fight and take possession of that artifact. He didn't have a choice, but to succeed this time.
He wasn't carrying a rifle at that moment though. He wasn't dressed in his knockoff Punisher clothes. He was dressed as he did when hiding among the people. He didn't need to fight the same way as he did when he was attacking. This was going to be a predator, a cat, taking a mouse. He only needed to watch, and be patient.
He saw the freighter enter the outer boundaries of Port of Tokyo, several miles out still. It might not be until morning that they were actually given permission to approach the piers and dock. He had time though. The sun didn't bother him, any more than darkness.
He still reached up to check the grip of his revolver where it lay against him under his arm. He wasn't a fool, or he might have been considering that they couldn't hurt him. He hadn't shed a drop of blood when he faced the golem, or whenever he was struck by a fusillade of bullets.
He took a breath and relaxed. He didn't have to get agitated. He was the cat, and they were the mice. Mice that he was about to run about, and harry them until they went mad.
He smiled as an idea came to him. He had a very heavy rifle, and he had a very good eye. They were also pretty much dedicated to come in to dock. Otherwise it would attract attention from the JMSDF. Of course, would they also take the chance at reporting if a long range shot knocked out a light.
He flicked his arm out and a long rifle appeared, from wherever this place that things stayed was. The weapon was even taller than him. It was also chambered in an absurdly large round for what it was designed for. The same round that many nations were still using as their fighter mounted cannon round. He hadn't ever gotten to use it though. Turns out that there weren't that many situations when you would get to shoot something in the face with a twenty millimeter round. He was actually sad about this.
He hummed as he started setting the rifle up. This was actually going to be fun, he hadn't ever shot a ship before. Again, it was a very specific situation that he hadn't ever been presented with. Did he need to lead it? Nah, something that big he couldn't miss. Not that he really missed that often.
Part of his mind went back to the ballet he had attended a couple days earlier. It was refreshing, and had helped relax him so much. He had also enjoyed watching the interaction between his Aunt and the pregnant ballerina.
He didn't know that much about his Aunt, but now he understood that she had been a deep agent for his father. He didn't like the idea of using family as a weapon like that. She had apparently volunteered for it though. What surprised him most though, was the fact that despite her manner, she was at least as intelligent as he was.
Somehow him and his Grandfather had begun talking about a threatening war that was brewing in the Balkans, something that was as common as it could be. She had chimed in concerning the military disposition of the involved countries, and how it would lead to economic collapse for both countries regardless of who won. It had been the same point he was about to make, and to then watch her discuss baby names like it had never happened blew him away.
He also though back to both of the ballerinas. The one who thought that she was too old for dancing, and the other that was so thankful for the chance to shine. When Yui had returned to the box after the ballet finished, Emi had given her a hug, and said that she was so proud of her. The younger woman almost had trouble standing with the shock.
Utsuki had once said that there really wasn't much difference between humans and yokai when it came down to their souls. He hadn't really thought about it at that time, since that kind of thought wasn't as natural to him, but seeing the two humans act like he had seen a pair of yokai ballerinas act during a private performance that his Uncle had been invited to, he knew that she was right.
He also found it a little funny when the older ballerina started teasing Yui about being so nice to Tekeshi, and then her being floored when the younger woman told her she was a lesbian. The look on Emi's face had been priceless, as was the torrent of giggles and teasing that came from his Aunt toward her.
Coexistence really didn't matter, just existence. Everyone had been looking at things the wrong way. Human's and yokai didn't need to learn to live together. People needed to learn to live together. It didn't matter anything beyond that. Everyone was a person.
He looked up the check the distance to the ship and laid down behind the gun. It might have sounded a little hypocritical given what he was about to engage in. He believed it though. Yui had been able to get over her fear of him so quickly, just because he was kind, and treated her like he would anyone. In the back of his mind, he hoped that this could be the end of his days of killing.
He swept the scope over the deck, looking for anything that he could hit that would cause a commotion, but not enough of one that it would attract the attention of the frigate that was patrolling the bay. Either they were doing a training patrol, or something had happened that concerned them. Either way, he needed to avoid giving them a reason to intercept the vessel.
Briefly he looked at the suppressor on the end of the barrel. He had his doubts about how much you could suppress something that large, but anything would help the report get lost in the industrial noises in the port. Well, hopefully. Hopefully he didn't get a full on man hunt for him.
Was this a good idea? He was starting to think that it might not be a good idea. He could definitely see how this wasn't a good idea.
Reluctantly he stood up and banished the weapon to wherever it went. It would have been fun, but he had to be smarter about this. One of the primary modes of operation he had maintained was keeping a low profile. What was wrong him now?
He laid on his back and looked up at the sky. It was strange being in a city again, and not on the fringes of civilization. To not be able to see stars due to the light pollution, it bothered him now. How many nights had he spent camping in the desert, or huddled under a tree.
It must have been how close he was to the end of this. How close he was to going home. Not to that house of misfortunes, but to Utsuki and Deesseedra. His mother, his father, Aunt Mizore, his sisters and cousins, and all of his friends. That was his home.
"So, what was with the man portable artillery if you weren't going to use it," a voice said from off to his side.
In an instant Tekeshi was on his feet with his .44 level at... his Aunt Kahlua. What was she doing there, and how did she find him?
"That is both rude, and dangerous. Plus it hurts my feelings. I thought you liked me," the woman said with a pout.
"Uh, I do, but where did you come from," he asked, confused.
"I don't know. I just started walking, and I felt something weird up here. I wanted to see what it was, and it was you," the pout quickly turned to a smile as he lowered the gun.
"I, see. Who randomly goes walking in a busy port," suddenly more confusion came to him.
"Who lays around on top of a bunch of inter-modal containers in the back lot of a busy port," she had him there.
"I'm about to start hunting a group of men that are on that ship. Uh, the smallest ship out there. Not the military ship, the cargo ship. Yes, that one. They have something that I both want, and need," she pointed at various ships as he spoke.
"Can I help, I won't kill them. I don't like killing. Killing makes me cry, so I don't like to do it. I will beat them up though, I can do that," she made a series of sharp jabs shadowboxing, which was a weird sight given the yellow evening dress she was wearing.
"Uh, I think it would be better if I did this by myself. I don't want to cause trouble for anyone else in our family. If I do something, I can take care of it, and nothing is capable of harming me. I don't want to take the chance that you could get hurt or killed," he said softly.
He wasn't prepared for the impact as she flung herself at him and hugged him, "You do like me. You don't want me to get hurt. Even though I used to be an assassin, you don't want me to be put in any kind of danger. I'm so happy."
"Right, wait. You were an assassin? Ok, I was told that you used to be part of Fairy Tale, and I know you were a spy for my old man. No one said anything about you being an assassin," he was surprised at the admission.
"I'm a forty six year old vampiress belonging to the Shuzen family, Is that really that much of a surprise?"
"You do know that I spent a decade living away from my family? Plus, the Shuzen family has changed some since those days," he deadpanned as he replied to her.
"That is true. Tsukune is much nicer than Daddy used to be. Daddy is much nicer now though, I like him better this way. I'm bored, have fun hunting. I want to go find someplace that has chocolate cake," and with that she left.
"I have no clue what was just happening. Oh, they sent out a launch. I didn't know that cargo ships even had launches."
"How the Hell did he get here? How did he know that we were even heading to Tokyo?"
The small squad were in a panic as they broke any and all traffic laws. The last thing they had expected once they got onto the highway was the large black shape of an old car. The Lexus they were driving was a fairly large car, but this one was heavier with how much the back end of the sedan fishtailed when it was hit.
They couldn't see the driver well enough to identify him, but it really didn't take a genius given they had been there when their boss took him down. She just didn't take him down enough.
The back glass exploded as the other vehicle careened into the trunk of the sedan. The shower of glass left small cuts on the exposed skin of the two in the rear seat. Thankfully they didn't have any glass get in their eyes. It meant they could actually start shooting at the car. It didn't matter if they did, the attention was being drawn by the attack on them.
For a moment the leader sitting in the passenger seat wondered if they might survive if they pulled over and just opened the trunk. That was what he wanted for some reason, even if none of them knew what for. However he would most likely still kill them, given how many different cells had gone quiet over the last few months.
He looked over at the speedometer. One hundred and seventy kilometers an hour. These kind of speeds were an invitation to getting killed if they hit anything. He hoped that the almost new sedan was able to go much faster than whatever that monstrosity was. If not, they were dead.
The two men in the back seat charged their rifles and began firing back. Sparks flew off the hood of the pursuer as the rounds ricocheted harmlessly. Spider web cracks formed in the other car's windshield. Nothing seemed to slow it down. One started firing at the grill of the vehicle hoping to hit the radiator, and force it to overheat. Metallic pings and sparks showed that all that was hit was armor.
They needed to find a way to stop him just long enough to speed away, and find a tunnel. If they could do that, they might could get away from him. That bitch of a supreme commander didn't know what she was doing, but they weren't about to get killed for her.
A round ricocheted and struck a man driving a box truck. The round killed him instantly, and his body slumping over forced the truck over to hit their pursuer. At least that human had proven useful.
They watched behind them as the armored car jerked sideways and began flipping. It was luck, or maybe providence. Regardless they were going to get a chance to survive.
"Sir, I hate alarming you, but I can't slow down. He must have damaged something major. I can't even coast and lose speed. The throttle body must be jammed," the driver said as he stomped on the brake pedal.
The man looked down at the emergency brake, but that would probably kill them if it was pulled at this speed. There was never something good, that wasn't balanced out by the bad.
He looked at the driver, "Is there any way to cut the engine?"
"Not driving this fast. They set it up as a safety feature to keep people from copying a stupid stunt video on the internet. They have built them like that for fifteen years now," it was obvious how much effort it was taking him to keep the vehicle straight.
There wasn't a good end to this for them. He could see that the fuel gauge read three quarters. They would have crashed long before the tank ran dry. All he could do is wonder where they would meet their end.
Getting off the highway they continued barreling through at almost literal breakneck speeds. The only good thing was they had gotten off on a country road, and there was no one ahead of them. If they could find a lake, or something soft they might could live through crashing the car into that.
As they continued they saw a mountain tunnel coming up. Even from as far back as they were they could tell that it was actively connected to somewhere already. That wasn't good, as they didn't know where they were headed.
They passed into the tunnel, doing over two hundred and fifty kilometer per hour on the speedometer. The darkness seemed more oppressive than any other tunnel they had seen. Something bothered them, but then didn't know what.
Then they came out, and the driver instinctively swerved to avoid a blue haired girl talking to a shorter black haired girl in the road. The tree didn't move out of their way however.
The War Machine Buick came out of the tunnel, and rolled to a stop as Tekeshi saw the smoke rising ahead of him. The amount made it seem like there was only oil getting on the exhaust, not the car itself burning. He could see a crowd gathered ahead of him, but he really didn't care.
He popped the transmission out of gear, and pulled the hand brake. This was hopefully it. It had to be, he could feel the power from the artifact ahead. He was going to get to go home finally.
He pulled a wide brimmed hat from the backseat and put it on as his hair grew out and turned platinum. He didn't want anyone to recognize him as he typically went around. He grabbed a sawn off pump action from the passenger seat as he got out.
He let the shotgun dangle as he strode forward. He could hear yelling, and some even aimed at him. He ignored it though. He saw that one of the Fairy Tale soldiers was still alive, and trying to crawl away. He simply raised the gun. Another yell was aimed at him as he fired..
He ignored the corpse as he continued on to the car. The car's trunk hadn't opened when the car struck the tree hard enough to splinter the trunk, so he raised the gun again. The deck lid flung itself open as the tension on the sheet metal was released as the lock was obliterated. Then there was the case.
He noticed a sword blade hovering near his eye. Strangely though, he felt actual danger from this one. Something he hadn't felt in months.
He followed the blade to a golden tsuba in the design of two snakes poised to devour each other. There was only one blade that had that design. He raised his sight to notice porcelain skin, and further to see a pair of carmine eyes framed by raven black hair. He knew who this was.
He turned and pushed the blade to the side. He reached down and placed his fingers under the chin of the woman that faced him. He bent down, and pressed his lips to the woman's.
A gust of wind took his hat as he heard gasps, and yells and cries of joy. He pulled back from the kiss.
"You don't know how much I missed you 'Suki."