Youji slumped on his bed, exhausted and worried.
This was the hardest day in Ko-neko ever! he thought, taking off his sunglasses and putting them on the nightstand.
He rubbed his eyes, brushed his slightly curly locks off his face and sighed. Well. It was already starting to get dark, it was around eight in the evening. Right now he had two options: one, go to sleep, because sleep he definitely needed, or two, stay up, take it like a man and start looking for Omi. Ken had said that he could handle it, but honestly, the boy was a professional at goofing things up without intending. He made a good teammate, but alone he was a clawmitt-wielding disaster. If the situation had been any less dire, he would've let Ken take the job and then empathically pat him on the back when he returned, unsuccessful. But this was Omi. And from what Manx had said, they would need his hacker skills on their next mission. This was a mission best done as quietly as possible, they should sneak in and out without a sound. Their target was a generally trusted, well-to-do businessman who lived in a big, probably heavily secured house. If they came in clawing and slashing and strangling, the whole neighborhood would wake up. And considering that lots of influential people lived in that area, the mission could easily turn into a major disaster. Aya had gone off to check the place and think up a plan, but the truth was that they couldn't really do anything before they found Omi.
Omi has never betrayed us, Youji thought to himself grumpily.
He's always there when we need him, always ready to do the dirty work for us. Just exactly how much does that kid do? How can it be that when he's gone, we're completely paralyzed?
He shifted uncomfortably, the other half of him starting to doze off and the other trying to get up and go help Ken.
Omi's not the kind of a boy to leave us to handle both Ko-neko and the mission and go date a girl. Even if he HAS been a bit absent-minded lately, he has done his job. No... there has to be something to it.
He got up with a yawn and stretched his arms.
After all, he IS a kid. And as naive as he tends to be, he could easily get in trouble.
"Oi, Ken, you still here?" Youji called, looking left and right in the corridor.
Ken came from his room with his clawmitt in his hand, but not wearing the rest of his assassin gear.
"I was just about to leave. You coming?"
"Yeah, I can't let both of you to get lost."
"I'm not a kid, Youji-kun", Ken reminded sharply and frowned as they went downstairs.
Youji grabbed his long velvet jacket.
"Wakatta, Kenken, but you sure as hell act like one sometimes."
Youji flashed him a self-confident grin and opened the door to the slightly chilly evening twilight.
"Hey, I meant that in a good way", he added when Ken began to walk offendedly without saying anything.
"There are not many guys who can do what we do and still savour that child's innocence."
"Somehow, I don't feel too grateful", Ken muttered and looked around him worriedly, trying to pierce the darkness with his gaze.
"Oh beHAVE. You're starting to sound like a kid again. Why's everybody sulking today?" Youji rolled his eyes.
They trod towards Omi's school, their sharp assassin eyes scanning their surroundings. When they reached the building but still didn't see anything, they stopped, not really knowing what to do next. Ken was mentally hitting himself in the head with a BIG hammer for not prying Omi further about his worries. That would, at least, have given them some kind of a clue of his whereabouts.
Youji lit up a cigarette and tried to think up some names of Omi's friends. The truth was that he had never heard Omi speak about his schoolfriends. He had always shrugged at it and simply thought that Omi was one of those lone computer nerd types. But it was shocking none the less to find out that he knew nothing of Omi's life outside the work. He had always prided himself for being good at reading people. Even Aya, who didn't seem to have a life to speak of, even him he knew to have some hobbies. Aya was often reading when he walked in his room without warning (now when did I start doing that?) and sometimes he seemed to be scribbling something, himself.
Definite poet material, Youji smirked, a killer up to his ears in angst, who thirsts revenge. And living in denial, on top of it.
He glanced over at Ken, who was calling someone with his mobile.
"Who're you calling? Aya-kun?" Youji asked.
Ken nodded hastily and then furrowed his brows.
"Hai, it's me. No, we haven't found him yet... Why do you sound so out of breath? I'm afraid we'll have to drop th - What? Okay, we'll be right there!"
He hung up and grabbed Youji's hand.
"The target is moving! He just got into his car and is driving northwards along the highway 17!"
"Is Aya on his trail?" Youji asked as they ran swiftly back their own tracks.
"Yes, but he said he wouldn't make it far, he's running out of gasoline."
"Shimatta!" Youji growled.
Why does it always have to be all or nothing? This morning everything was just fine and now Omi's missing and, soon enough, so's our target. It all started when Omi didn't come back from school... we would've probably taken care of the target already if he had! Che, I don't like this at all!
"You go get our assassin gear, I'll go get Seven", Youji breathed when they finally reached Ko-neko.
"I have all I need with me. You follow as soon as you can", shouted Ken and rushed to get his motorcycle.
Aya was standing next to his car and surveying a map. He could vaguely tell where their target was heading. Now he only had to make sure they got there in time, because of the target's further intentions, he had no clue. Gritting his teeth in frustration for not being able to do anything, he called Ken again.
"I'm on my way!" Ken shouted right away, almost breaking his eardrum.
"Where are you? Wait, I think I can see you!"
Aya hung up and watched as the lights of Ken's motorcycle came closer and closer until he hit the brakes in front of him. Aya jumped on the bike behind Ken and grabbed him securely around the waist.
"Move it. We can't afford to miss him."
"H-hai!" Ken managed and ignored the way his heart leaped into his throat.
Meanwhile, Youji had just hopped behind the wheel. His glove-clad finger was following the highway 17 on the map he was holding.
Whaddya know... there's an old gas station near the road. That would be a perfect place for a secret meeting... and what else could that guy have in mind if he's driving off in the middle of the night? Yosh', let's give it a try.
He drove through the maze of streets of the night time Tokyo. Because Valentine's day was coming, there was actually traffic, even at that time of the night. Youji growled a few curses when he got stuck in it for the second time. He decided to avoid the direct road to the place, if Aya and Ken were in trouble he'd better not make a big entrance. Fortunately he knew a smaller road which would lead him nearly directly to the gas station. He growled as he nervously checked his watch.
Taking another route also means I'm gonna be there later... I really hope they've got it handled.
Finally, he had passed the centrum and turned to follow the somewhat secluded road. One could see that it wasn't used all that often. Well, all the better for Youji - he had broken the speed limit a long time ago.
He could hear men shouting when he approached the gas station. He left Seven behind the station and checked his wires quickly before sneaking to the way the sounds seemed to come from.
"Stop right there!" ordered a loud, masculine voice.
Youji growled and spun around, letting the wire fly through the air as he did so. He missed the man pointing a gun at him, but then again, it had been a blind attack. He ducked to the ground as the man instinctively fired the gun. Youji's second attack didn't miss, however. The wire caught the hand that was holding the gun, another one snaked around the man's knees and threw him out of balance, and gave Youji a good opportunity to kick the daylights out of him. He quickly gathered up his wire and spun around the corner, taking a look at the frontyard of the station. There was no mistake now that he was in the right place.
Ken was panting heavily. He could feel his heart pounding furiously in his ears.
There are just too many of them! he thought as he slashed the bodyguard in front of him, hitting only air. He suddenly spotted the station door, which was wide open, and made a daring leap towards it. He managed to get behind the door just in time to avoid being shot by another bodyguard. Ken slumped down to a sitting position, leaning on the wall, trying to even his breathing.
Then the sound of Youji's wire straining made his eyes grow big. The bodyguard let out a cry and soon after that, Youji said something in an amused tone. Ken was just about to step back outside when he heard someone suppressing a cough.
"Come out of there!" he snarled, getting on his feet.
It was dark in the station, and the remnants of furniture offered many hiding places. His eyes darted to and fro as he tried to spot the lurker, hoping he would come out of his hiding place. And he didn't have to wait for long.
Youji liked the heat of the battle. Especially if the enemy was skilled enough to provide some resistance. The excitement captured his mind completely, and damn, was it a sweet feeling. It had been all too easy to deal with the first two guys, so he had foolishly thought that the one left would be just as unskilled. His wire hit only air, and before he could even breathe in sharp in surprise, he felt a sudden flash of pain pierce his leg. He sunk down, gritting his teeth, and spun around to capture the bodyguard's gun. The man hadn't expected him to move so quickly after being shot, so he managed to fly the gun somewhere into the darkness that surrounded them. Youji slowly got on his feet, fighting back his urge to cry out in pain.
"You're a tough motherfucker, aren't you", the bodyguard sneered and aimed a punch towards Youji's head.
He managed to dodge it, but the next one hit his jaw and made the world turn into a hazy cloud for a while. He could keep most of the force of the punches off with this wires, but could tell that the man was a skillful brawler, he probably couldn't dodge his hit if he really tried to kill him. The man was playing with him, his punches weren't meant to kill him - yet. But it sure seemed to be shortly in coming. In conclusion: he was in big shit.
Bloody hell!! Where did Ken go? And where the fuck is Aya?!
Youji took a deep breath.
Oh fuck... damn it all to hell.
He prepared himself for the next punch, leaning against an old advertisement sign for support. He was all out of wire; there was absolutely nothing he could do. Youji closed his eyes, but the punch he was expecting never came. His eyes darted open as he heard a short "Arg" and a slump as the man fell to the ground.
"Youji-kun!" Omi yelled, his big blue eyes quickly scanned the surroundings for more enemies.
When he spotted none, he dropped his crossbow and hurried to Youji, who tried to focus his gaze on the arrow in the dead man's back. The world was spinning around him like crazy. From somewhere came Omi's panicked voice.
"Youji-kun! Hang on!! Where are Ken-kun and Aya-kun?"
"I'm right here", said Ken, a little bit out of breath, walking out of the station door, blood dripping from the claws of his mitt.
"Aya-kun ran off to the woods after our target."
He leaned down to get a worried look at Youji.
"And where did you appear from, Omi?" he asked.
"Never mind that!" Omi yelled straight at his face, "we have to get Youji-kun to a doctor!!"
"Right. But - "
"Aya-kun can take care of himself. Now c'mon, help me!"
Youji blinked a few times and managed to get a look of Omi as he threw his crossbow on one elbow and reached out for him with the other. Then everything went hazy, and slowly turned into complete darkness.