Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ K2: The Crimson Daylights ❯ Chapter 11

“How is the flushing out of the aphrodisiac?” a voice stated.

 

Keitaro groaned a moment, his eyes slowly opening. There was a slight glare of the moonlight, but the second that his eyes adjusted themselves, he found himself on the ground, his legs tied. Feeling his arms, he found them bound as well… though not by rope like his feet were. He closed his eyes as he suddenly felt the pain all over his body.

 

“Its okay… we flushed it out our system and in the air. They weren't kidding when they said about the hybrid's blood being made of the damn thing. Fucked, having sex drugs for blood?” another voice stated.

 

“I told you…” another voice stated. Keitaro recognized it as the girl with the sword he had been fighting earlier. “Tsuruko-sama herself had fallen victim to his blood. I say we get him to the car, bring him to our employer, and finish the job.”

 

“How about the U Agent with him?” another voice stated.

 

Keitaro's eyes opened again. This time, he looked towards his chest, and frowned when he saw that they had bound his arms with a straight jacket. He looked at the direction of the voices, and looked at the group of mercenaries talking to each other.

 

`Laharl,' Keitaro thought as he saw the hybrid slumped on the ground, his arms still bound behind him, and the black plastic bag covered in his head. Behind the him was a car, black. Keitaro couldn't make out the model and kind, but at this situation, he didn't feel it was of importance.

 

“Kill him,” one of the mercenaries stated. “If the U Agency is involved with this Laharl demon, then they would give our employers a hard time if he gets the word back.”

 

`Kill me, eh?' Keitaro smiled a bit, mentally. Why is it that every time he puts an impression, he is either liked, or hated enough to warrant murder? Scanning his surroundings, he saw a mercenary on his right, his guard supposedly, holding his weapon, though his attention was more towards his companions. Well, that would be normal… Keitaro was wearing a straight jacket, and in short, quite harmless.

 

He stiffened his jaw. Holding back his scream, he forced to dislocate his shoulder, the very same shoulder that the two neko-lycan twins broke before, and without much sound, slowly began to free his arm. After seconds of excruciating pain, he successfully freed his limb, and then, slowly began to remove the jacket.

 

The mercenaries finally decided what to do. Carrying Laharl towards the back of the car, they all nodded at the plan. Mana and her partner would bring Laharl back to their employer, along with a few mages and mercenaries as guard in another car. The rest would take care of the U Agent.

 

As the two cars drove away, they nodded at each other. Taking out bladed weapons, longer than a dagger, but shorter than a sword, they proceeded towards the U Agent. But before they could get towards him, they looked at the guard standing there in front of them.

 

“Come on, we're finishing him,” one of the mercenaries said to the guard. When the guard didn't reply, the mercenary shook his head. “Hey, did you hear me? Get out of the way.”

 

The guard seemed to understand, slowly moving towards the side with a side-step. The mercenaries nodded and looked towards where the U Agent was… except he wasn't there. In his place was the straight jacket.

 

“What the…” the mercenary began to mutter, surprised. He looked towards the guard, who had Keitaro's silenced gun aimed towards him. His eyes widened before the shot was fired.

 

That's when everything went to hell. One of the mercenaries went and stabbed the guard who had shot and killed their leader, but even when he had stabbed the man, he seemed to raise his weapon again to him. Another shot rang out.

 

Keitaro kicked away the corpse he had been using for cover. When he had escaped the jacket and untied the binds in his feet, he went at once towards the guard, and broke his neck with a swift movement, and used his corpse as a cover, waiting for the group to arrive. And when they spotted his escape, it was too late.

 

The leader went down, along with the one that tried to stab him. The rest of the group, consisting of three other mercenaries, they didn't stand a chance as Keitaro raised the gun he held, and shot another mercenary in the head, before ducking the incoming strikes.

 

Rolling on the ground, he aimed towards the nearest attacker, and shot him in the thigh. He went down, shouting a bit in pain. The last mercenary threw his weapon at Keitaro, who dodged accordingly, but was still grazed on the arm. He shot the man in the head, and aimed at the fallen man, who suddenly raised his hands.

 

“No wait…” he muttered. “I'm just doing my job.”

 

“So am I,” Keitaro muttered coldly before he pulled the trigger.

 

Keitaro sighed as he lowered his weapon, and leaned towards the wall. His body was probably bruised with all the hits he's taken with the baton sticks earlier, and now he had the cut arm to contend with. Looking at the jacket he escaped from, he muttered, “They don't make those like they used to.”

 

Groaning Keitaro slowly began to run towards the Hinata-sou. From where he was, he knew he wasn't that far away from the place. But after a few minutes or so, his injuries began to bother him, and his pace slowed significantly. By the time he reached the stairs, he was feeling sore all over. Forcing himself to take more steps, he began to climb the steps, which seemed to torture him right now.

 

When he reached towards the top, the pain was now overwhelming. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain. He needed to get to Su's room. Fast. But when he opened the front door, he collapsed.

 

Oh what would he give for some pain killers now? Keitaro struggled to get up, only to groan when his arms gave away, and he kissed the floor again. Cursing mentally, he stayed there momentarily, waiting for the pain to go away before he tried again.

 

“S… sempai?”

 

Keitaro looked at Shinobu's form as she stood over him. His eyes suddenly lingered over her legs, and slowly going towards her hips, then without much thought, towards her chest and her face. His blood began to pump faster, and his heart began to beat harder. Keitaro shook his head.

 

`What the hell…' Keitaro thought.

 

“Sempai! Are you okay?” Shinobu asked worriedly. Helping him up, Shinobu put his arm around her shoulder, blushing at the same time when his body made contact with hers.

 

Keitaro's blood pumped even faster when he noticed the scent lingering around her. He shook his head again. What the hell was wrong with him? Then, he looked towards Laharl's still wet blood on his pants, and his mind began to click.

 

“How is the flushing out of the aphrodisiac?”

 

“They weren't kidding when they said about the hybrid's blood being made of the damn thing.”

 

His eyes widened as his mind reminded him of the conversation that took place earlier. Kami-sama… if that was true… he'd need to get to Su. Now!

 

“S-Shinobu-chan…” Keitaro mumbled weakly.

 

“Yes, sempai?” she asked.

 

“B-bring me to Su's room… please,” Keitaro replied weakly.

 

“B-but you're injured… that blood!” Shinobu pointed out towards Keitaro's pants. “We need to get you some first aid…”

 

“Please…”

 

Shinobu's a weak willed girl. She's shy, an introvert, and despite her amazing talents in cooking and taking care of people, she has low self confidence. She might have changed a bit, especially when it concerns Naru and Motoko's seemingly absolute hatred with her sempai's new friend, but no matter what kind of Great Walls of China she'll build, it topples readily at Keitaro begging at her.

 

Without another word, she complied. Supporting him well, she slowly helped him inside the dorm. After taking the stairs, Keitaro looked towards the young cook, and asked weakly, “Where are the others?”

 

“Motoko-san and Naru-sempai have gone to the bathes,” Shinobu replied, her stutter slowly fading. For some reason, she felt snug and comfortable around Keitaro right now. Like something in the air that made her… less shy… and… hot. “Su's probably in her room… why are we going there, sempai?”

 

Keitaro began to sweat. Her scent gotten more… intoxicating and her movement became more graceful. Her hips were swaying beautifully. “No reason,” Keitaro replied softly.

 

When they arrived outside Su's room, Keitaro opened the sliding door quickly, and the two went in. His skin was starting to become sensitive, for some reason, and his eyes kept shifting from Shinobu's petite chest, lips, and hips over and over. Shinobu herself seemed pretty flushed, her body now attaching itself to Keitaro's. Her smile became less innocent, and her arms supporting Keitaro was around his stomach area.

 

Keitaro pushed the hidden button that got the elevator tube up. Shinobu's eyes widened with surprise, and that got her to stop thinking about Keitaro for a moment.

 

“Come on,” he mumbled.

 

“H-hai… sempai,” Shinobu slowly helped Keitaro towards the elevator. Pushing the button, the supernatural agent began to slow his breathing. When they arrived to the floor of KU's lab, Shinobu totally forgot about Keitaro now.

 

She hadn't been quite close to the Indian girl, and while she knew that Su had a penchant for technology, making new inventions that either help clean the floors, or destroy the grounds, she didn't know that the extent of her inventions got this far. Underground lab, which Su never bragged about? And why would Keitaro even know about it?

 

The moment she stepped in the lab though, the alarms began to blare. Both Shinobu and Keitaro blinked as the intercom began to chant:

 

“Level 3 Contamination… airborne toxic identified. Biohazard precautions initiated.”

 

“What in the world's… Shinomu?” Su stopped on her tracks, wearing something close to a gasmask, except it was clear. “Keitaro! What happened to you?”

 

“I just found him like this…” Shinobu's stutter reappeared. “He told me to get here… Su… what's going on?”

 

Su nervously scratched the back of her head. “Eh… I'll explain later…” she looked at Keitaro. “Really Keitaro… what were you thinking…” she spotted the blood on his pants, and frowned. “Who's blood is that? It doesn't look like it came from you.”

 

“Laharl's…” Keitaro answered at once.

 

“No wonder…” Su accessed her holographic keyboard from her metallic wrist band, and began to type on it. Moments later, a few small robots entered the area. Some held hoses which then began to spray some sort of red liquid at Shinobu and Keitaro.

 

Immediately, Shinobu found her shyness again, and Keitaro's pulse lowered. After a few moments, the robots stopped spraying, and another batch came forward, carrying baskets.

 

“Remove your clothes,” Su ordered. “Put them in the baskets.” Shinobu's cheeks flushed at that, and Su grinned. “I meant Keitaro, Shinomu.”

 

Shinobu's blush got redder when Keitaro seemingly followed Su's order without question. Removing his pants, while still holding on Shinobu as a support, he exposed his black boxers to the two under aged girls. One grinned appreciatively and the other looked like she was about to faint.

 

“Alright… let's bring you to the medical facility,” Su began to lead the way. Keitaro, still holding on Shinobu as a support, followed. “You can explain on the way what happened.”

 

Keitaro nodded silently. He needed KU's help anyways. Laharl was in danger.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Somewhere…

 

“Here he is…” Mana stated, presenting Laharl towards her employer. The hybrid had regained consciousness during the ride, but didn't do anything funny… well, he couldn't. He had a blade in his neck and a gun on one side of his head.

 

“Impressive,” the employer nodded, taking a few steps around Laharl. He still had his face covered in the black plastic bag, so he really couldn't see who it was. But judging from the voice though, the employer is definitely female. “Here is the money. One hundred thousand each.”

 

Mana grabbed her briefcase, and nodded. She was about to leave when her teacher called to her.

 

“Mana-san…”

 

She looked back at him. “Yes, Naruto-sensei?” she asked.

 

“I still expect you to submit your project,” Laharl muttered.

 

She smiled. “Will do,” she replied and left.

 

A few moments later, the employer's voice once again rang around. “So… we finally meet, Demon Eyes Laharl.”

 

“A displeasure, believe me,” Laharl muttered. He earned two hits behind the knees for his cheek. Groaning as he went and landed on his caps, the black bag was yanked off roughly from his face. Then, he saw her.

 

There was only one word to describe her. Golden. She had curly golden blonde hair that flowed freely behind her back, touching her knees. She wore a white dress robe with gold seams. Her eyes, too, were yellowish. Her skin was beautifully pale, and her form was absolutely stunning.

 

Someone behind Laharl grabbed him suddenly on the neck. As he vainly struggled, another pair of hands inserted what seemed to be swimming goggles with darkened glass. When the goggles were fitted, he was released.

 

“That will keep your Demon Eyes out of this,” the golden maiden stated with a smile. “You know, from things I have heard of you, I was expecting you to be… bigger.”

 

“Rumors are bullshit,” Laharl muttered with a small glare towards the woman.

 

“But I don't listen to rumors, my little victim,” she replied with a smile. “I get my tales from my mistress.” She looked towards her subordinates. “Get him up. We'll bring him to the execution room.”

 

Forcibly carried up, and pushed, Laharl continued the conversation. “Execution room? Kinda dumb, aren't you? If you wanted me dead, you'd have just asked those mercs to do me in.”

 

“But I want to do you in,” the golden maiden stated with a smile.

 

They arrived at their destination. It was a brightly lit room filled with several blades, tools, and very crude mechanics that got Laharl to blink. In the middle of the room was a metallic frame with shackles.

 

“… Execution room?” Laharl looked towards the woman. “More like a torture chamber.”

 

She just smiled evilly. “When a body takes too much damage, whether human or demons, that being dies. So, yes, this is an execution room. Like many of the past demon agents that Hell has been sending were destroyed here.”

 

Walking around, she grabbed a rather crude looking rod made of wood with spikes on it. Unmistakably, it had dried blood around it.

 

“See this?” the woman showed Laharl the rod. “Around it is the blood of the demoness that you replaced.”

 

“… Maya…” Laharl whispered.

 

“I never got her name… after all, it's pointless,” the woman stated with a small laugh. “Why bother asking for the name of animals like you demons? Beings like you are the ones plunging this world to darkness, corrupting everything in your site. But…” she paused, and gave a sort of satisfied smile. “I find demon screams quite arousing… intoxicating. Then I realized, why just kill demons without making them suffer for what they did? Fitting end for your types… guts spilling, blood spraying, and your throats sore yet still screaming.”

 

“You're sick,” Laharl muttered.

 

“The last demoness said the same thing… just before I shoved this rod on her demonic tunnel,” the woman began to cackle. “Her screams were as entertaining as her body twitching in pain as she bled from the spikes. It was even more entertaining when I continued punishing her without pause.” She looked at him. “And you… I have heard you'd be more entertaining then her.”

 

“I take what I said back,” Laharl muttered. “There is sick, and beyond sick. And you are beyond the latter.”

 

She approached him and softly caressed his face with her fingers. Laharl shivered suddenly as he felt her touch on his skin. She smirked. “The Lust Blood Curse you have… very strong magical curse given to you that transforms your blood to aphrodisiac, which in turn makes your skin super sensitive, and more so when near sources of mana. I shall enjoy exploiting it.”

 

Laharl spat on her, but she didn't flinch. Grabbing out her napkin, she slowly wiped his spit off her face, and then, she raised her hand, and slapped the hybrid hard that ruptured a blood vessel. He flinched as his small cut was five times more painful than it actually was.

 

“Strip him, and put him on the parrilla,” she ordered. The guards complied and began to rip the clothes of Laharl. One of them grabbed his watch, and looked at it for a moment before the golden maiden motioned that guard to give the watch to her.

 

“Omega watch eh?” she smirked at the naked Laharl. “You won't need it, now would you?”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

KU's Lab…

 

“Wow…” Shinobu looked at Keitaro with bright eyes as she finished bandaging the cut on his arm. “You're actually a… wow! You're amazing sempai!”

 

Keitaro smiled a bit. “You actually believe that?”

 

“No use reasoning, Keitaro,” Su smirked as she began to type again on her holographic keyboard. “Shinomu has a bit of an open mind.”

 

“That or complete naivety,” Keitaro muttered softly, inaudible as not to hurt Shinobu's feelings. He looked at Su again, and asked in normal volume, “So… can you do it?”

 

Keitaro had explained the whole situation to Su when they arrived in the medical facility, telling her about their night bathing and the details on how they got captured. He asked if he could use the spy satellite to track down where the cars that carried Laharl, but he didn't have such luck.

 

“Sorry K2,” Su stated, in her business mode, typing on her keyboard. “Last time, I was able to track down Shinata because I was keeping a watch around the house, and I was able to follow her with that observation. Even if I could pinpoint the cars, it'd take hours for the mainframe to create clearer images of where they actually went.”

 

“We don't have hours,” Keitaro mumbled. He then groaned suddenly when he felt his bruises acting up. “Painkillers.”

 

“I'll get it,” Shinobu declared. “Where is it, Su?”

 

“There,” the inventor stated, pointing towards a medicine cabinet.

 

The shy girl nodded, and without wasting time, she grabbed a bottle of painkillers, opened it, and gave it to Keitaro. He grabbed and took two pills and swallowed.

 

“What can we do?” Keitaro asked, frowning.

 

“We can ask our contacts to spot for anything suspicious,” Su began to analyze. “We can also give descriptions of the cars that carried Laharl away. You have the make and model?”

 

“All I remember was they were black cars,” Keitaro shook his head. “I… I didn't really see what model it was.”

 

“Well, that makes things even harder,” Su frowned, and began to type again. “I can start with the satellite, and make it general scans. I'll even stop some programs to speed up the calculation process to get details of… oh hello. What is this…”

 

Keitaro and Shinobu suddenly watched as Su began to type again. “What is it KU?” Keitaro asked.

 

“K2… did you activate your watch audio recording system?” Su asked.

 

“If it's activated, it wasn't on purpose,” Keitaro stated, looking towards his watch. “I'll close it…” he blinked as he stared at the Tag Huer watch he was wearing. His mind suddenly recalled the moment in the bathes where Laharl had given him his watch. “That… bastard. That no good bastard.” He looked at Su. “Can you open the file? Or at least… can we listen to it?”

 

“Sure…” Su nodded, and typed on her keyboard again. The recording began to play on the speakers around the medical facility.

 

“Its amazing, isn't it, when a demon screams?”

 

Shinobu covered her ears as Laharl's scream suddenly pierced the room. Keitaro's face darkened and Su winced a bit.

 

“I like your screams, especially. Pure, un-adultured screams of pain. Mistress was right… without your scalpels, using heavenly bonds to stop your strength, take out your demon eyes, you're almost helpless. How does it feel, you big shot hybrid?”

 

Laharl's scream once again vibrated around the room. Shinobu's eyes became teary as she could feel the pain being inflicted. She wasn't the only one though… Keitaro and Su were feeling it too, thought they were reacting differently.

 

“How does it feel, having electrical mana run through your body? My mistress suggested this method of execution for you. The mana makes your pain ten times more unbearable, and if you are screaming to just this much current, then I would love to hear it after gradual increases.”

 

“W… why…”

 

A weak voice… Keitaro shook at how defeated Laharl sounded.

 

“Must you always ask? I already answered. I like to watch you suffer before you die. Like all those demon agents…”

 

Laharl once again screamed but this time, his torturer began to cackle. Keitaro felt sick.

 

“Increase the current. Oh my dear Demon Eyes Laharl… you should see yourself. Your muscles are contracting uncontrollably, and you can barely speak. Parrilla… wonderful execution method, don't you agree?”

 

He screamed again, but unlike the last two, it was short lived. His scream turned from pure pain to gurgling in seconds.

 

“You set the current too high! Control your mana flow! I don't want him to be driven to unconsciousness this early in our execution! And you clean him up! Sick hybrid… he probably derives pleasure from this. When everything's done, bring some smelling salts here.”

 

Shinobu looked green. Su herself looked really uncomfortable, and Keitaro was beside himself. His hands began to shake. “Su… stop it,” Keitaro ordered. The Molmolian nodded.

 

“I can track him down with by locking down the source of the recording,” Su stated, beginning to type on her holographic keyboard. “Give me an hour… no, forty-five minutes, and I can pinpoint his exact location.”

 

“You'll probably have faster results with this,” Keitaro muttered, removing the watch he was wearing. “That damn Laharl switched watches with me. And knowing him, he'd have taken the tracker with him too.”

 

Su grabbed the watch, and studied it. Indeed, the tracker in the watch was gone. She pressed the adjusting knob of the watch once, and on the dials, one of the bars began to blink. “Yeah, this will help a lot. Give me five to set it in the mainframe.”

 

Su left the medical facility, leaving Shinobu and Keitaro alone for a moment. The girl looked at her secret crush for a moment, and was about to speak, when she changed her mind, and just went silent.

 

“He really is impressive,” Keitaro mumbled.

 

“Huh?” Shinobu asked, surprised at Keitaro speaking suddenly.

 

“He somehow knew what was going to happen… he knew he was going to get captured, and switched watches with me,” Keitaro stood up suddenly and began to pace around. “Recording the torture, unknowingly letting his torturer give evidence against her… keeping a tracker on him… he probably even knew what was going to happen to him, yet he dove towards the lion's den.”

 

He then remembered what Savanti told him three nights ago. Everything suddenly became clear to him. He smiled a moment, and began to chuckle. “Reckless, but amazing…”

 

“S… sempai?”

 

Looking at Shinobu, Keitaro smiled a moment. “Shinobu-chan… I'm sorry I got you involved.”

 

“N… no, sempai… it's okay…” she blushed.

 

“Can you keep this a secret for everyone?” Keitaro asked.

 

“O… of course!” Shinobu nodded. “I'll not say a word to anyone! I promise.”

 

Keitaro nodded, and patted her head, making her blush in deep crimson. “Thank you Shinobu-chan.”

 

The intercom went on, and Su's voice went around the lab. “K2, go to the mainframe. We finally got the coordinates.”

 

“Come on,” Keitaro stated as he dragged Shinobu towards the computer room, where Su was waiting.

 

The first thing Shinobu did was look in awe as she saw the room filled with large electronic boxes. In the center was a large screen, showing a birds-eye view map of area of a factory. While the shy cook was looking at the computers with curiosity and confusion, Keitaro studied the screen.

 

“He's inside the building, right?” Keitaro deduced. He began to scan the area. “What timeline is this?”

 

“Present one,” Su replied.

 

“Roaming guards in the gate, building probably abandoned by the look of its state…” Keitaro paused. “Wait… no, it's been used… not for producing goods though,” he noted as he looked at the building closely. “It's supposed to look abandoned… KU, do you have infra-red view?”

 

Without a reply, Su began to type on her five keyboards again. The screen then turned a shade of blue and red.

 

“Hmmmm…” Keitaro studied the surroundings again. “Lots of guards, though the room where Laharl is…” he looked towards the building, and saw a small group of heat signatures… one of the figures was seemingly trying to move, but couldn't. He assumed that would be Laharl, restrained. “Not much guards in the interior, eh?”

 

“I guess they didn't expect Laharl to escape in any way,” Su theorized. “The guards are placed so that no one comes in.”

 

“The way they guards organize themselves… they know what they are doing,” Keitaro muttered. “Sneaking in might be the most logical way in, but it would take a really long time with their patrol routes. From what I'm seeing, they use three routes, each covering their bases, and with that in mind, I can see three second… no, wait, five second window of opening. It'd take a lot of time to penetrate the building… and it would be almost impossible to plan an escape.”

 

“Well… there is another way in,” Su then began to trace her finger along the map. The route that she put in front of him was… odd to say the least. She started with the main gate, and then traced towards the roving guards, and then towards the factory building.

 

“That's suicide you know,” Keitaro stated evenly towards Su. “You expect me to just run through the front gate?”

 

“Not run… drive.”

 

Keitaro blinked for a moment, and then his eyes began to smile along with his lips. “KU… you're a genius,” Keitaro muttered.

 

Su laughed. “Ohohoh, stop flattering me, K2. You'll have lots of time for that when I get ready for you.”

 

“This will need preparation, though,” Keitaro muttered. “I'll get myself armed… and…” he frowned. “Look… this is the only time I'll let you touch her, okay?”

 

Su laughed again, in a silly manner. “Don't worry. I won't scratch her. I'll just add some stuff…”

 

“No self destruct mechanism…”

 

“Awww, you're no fun!” Su complained with a pout.

 

Keitaro grinned. Shinobu, who now stopped gawking around the room looked at her fellow tenant and manager exchanging looks. “Um… d-did I miss anything?” she asked.

 

To Be Concluded…

 

Everything ends… the conclusion to the Crimson Daylights, next!