Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ The Suit of Swords ❯ Three of Swords ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: Three of Swords

It had been two weeks since Bombay and he had been returned to Tokyo. He had managed to stumble home on his own. They had not been happy leaving him several blocks from the apartment tower, but Nagi had known it would not have been good if his 'family' had seen him with a couple strange men, let alone a member of Weiss. He was just lucky that in their concern for his injuries, Brad and Schu hadn't probed too deeply into HOW he had gotten home. He'd been honest about the abduction and the aborted experiments. He fed them a story about another victim and him escaping and traveling back to Tokyo together, which was close enough to the truth that it didn't set off any alarms.

Then his still battered body had protested and he was hustled off to bed. He'd pretty much been stuck there for the rest of the week. He was too sore to walk much and after a couple hours of sitting upright his ribs would start to ache. Unfortunately he didn't get out of his school work, which Brad had decided he could complete from his bed. Being home-schooled really sucked sometimes.

This was the first time he'd been allowed out on his own since he'd returned. For the most part, he was healed, only an occasional twinge from the healing ribs and some stiffness. It had taken four days for him to convince his three 'parents' that he wouldn't disappear or suffer some catastrophe if he went to a couple stores by himself. He did truly like them, they were his family, but sometimes they were just too much. He nosed about the computer store looking at the new products. Nothing was good enough for him to bug Brad about. That was one nice thing about being the team's hacker, he could basically get any upgrades he wanted, provided he could make a case for its value to his 'job'. He was very good at negotiating.

He wandered into the bookstore, checking the manga. He found a couple volumes he'd been looking for and grabbed a couple novels too. He had gone through all the reading material he had on hand at least twice, he needed some new stuff. He checked his watch. Probably time to head home, if he was out more than a couple hours Brad would have a cow. As Nagi had predicted the man had been quite upset that he hadn't foreseen what happened.

As the small brunette left the shopping arcade he got a creepy feeling, like he was being watched. He glanced about, but didn't really see anyone that appeared to be following him. Shaking it off as his overactive imagination, Nagi headed for the bus stop passing a tall man with in a long white trench coat. A man with silver-blond hair that fell over one eye.

**

"So were you able to dig up anything?"

Omi was meeting Tsuzuki and Hisoka-kun at a café near the Koneko. He had taken what he had learned about Muraki and his experiments to Manx. It didn't take much to convince her and therefore the higher-ups that the sadistic doctor should be added to their list of targets. While they had no concrete leads yet, Omi was confident that the case would be kept open. He had started to 'dig' around on the net for anything he could get on the man, hoping that maybe he could find something that in the Meifu, they could not.

"Well… nothing solid yet. But I did alert Kritiker… Muraki has been added to the 'most-wanted' list. With a dead or alive notation."

"Go for dead… it's safer." Hisoka sipped his coffee, staring out at the crowd on the street.

Tsuzuki nodded. "I don't want to scare you, but he's right. The man is always two steps ahead of us. He has powers too. You are better off shooting first and not worrying about asking questions."

Omi frowned. "We've fought people with 'powers' before."

"Not like him."

The blond wondered at the ice in Hisoka-kun's voice. There was obviously a history there. Between him and this Muraki. A history that wasn't pleasant. While he wanted to know what happened, to get a better idea of what they were up against, there were just some things you didn't ask about. "Well… his description has been distributed and all the agents are on the alert. They've sent people to Kyoto and Nagasaki, to the locations you mentioned, but I doubt they are going to find anything."

The older shinigami shrugged. "You never know. Sometimes a fresh perspective can help. Also, most of us aren't really trained for that type of thing. Terezuma was a detective, and Chizuru was a police officer, but that's it as far as trained observers goes. The rest of us just sort of picked up what we need to know if you get my meaning."

Omi nodded. "Yeah. Youji-kun was a private investigator before, so he has a tendency to see things the rest of us miss. I had some training, but mine centered more on the computer and hacking. Kritiker has some very qualified people though, maybe they will find something."

"Are we done?" Hisoka didn't seem in the mood to linger and Tsuzuki sighed.

"I guess so. I just want to find something nice for Wakaba-chan. Those treats she made were so delicious…"

Omi smiled. "Well… you're welcome to come back to the Koneko. I'm sure I can put together something nice, the girls that come to the shop certainly like the flowers. And if Aya-kun isn't there I can probably arrange a discount."

The brunette grinned. "Sugoi. That sounds great, right, Hisoka?" The smaller shinigami just shrugged but stood with them and followed them out of the café. Tsuzuki kept up the chatter right up to the shop. As they entered, a taller blond waived from the counter and a brunette peeked in from the back room.

"Hey Youji-kun, Ken-kun… these are some friends of mine, Tsuzuki-san and Hisoka-kun. Tsuzuki needs some flowers as a thank you to a nice girl."

"Well… go ahead and pick the flowers out, you probably have something in mind already." Ken smiled at them. "His arrangements are really nice."

"Ken-kun… mine aren't anywhere as nice as Aya-kun's." The genki blond was already picking flowers out of the display.

"Aya's arrangements are nice, in an artistic sense, but yours are livelier." Youji had to add his two yen in from where he was checking the till.

Omi waived the shinigami to follow him into the back room where he sat at the table. "This will only take a couple minutes." Ken left to help Youji finish closing the shop. They watched as the blond threw together an arrangement that while simple, was full of color and very cheerful. "There we go… how's this?"

"You do that so fast… I'm sure Wakaba-chan will love it… what do you think, Hisoka?... Hisoka?!"

The younger shinigami was doubled over, as if in pain, his arms wrapped around his torso. Tsuzuki jumped up from the stool where he had been watching Omi work and hovered over his partner.

"Hisoka… what's wrong?"

The shinigami didn't answer, just held up his arm. Where the sleeve was pushed up, they could clearly see crimson marks blazing against the pale skin. Tsuzuki only whispered a single word. "Muraki."

**

Omi ducked behind a stack of crates. The warehouse was cramped… even without the minor war taking place inside. He tried to peek around the corner and aim, but a bullet came very close to taking off his nose and he pulled back. Schwarz was unusually violent tonight. But he hadn't seen any sign of Naoe-kun. Scrambling for better cover he turned a corner and was promptly knocked on his rear. He looked up… to see the German telepath's snarling face.

"Where is he, Weiss?!"

"What?" Omi yelped as Schuldich hoisted him up by his neck. He dropped the darts he was carrying and clutched the redhead's wrist.

"Where is Nagi?"

"I… *cough*… I don't… know… what you're… talking… about.." Omi thrashed as he felt the German rummaging around in his head. He was suddenly dropped. The blond landed hard on his hands and knees and coughed, gasping for breath.

~It was you… you helped him escape that lab…~ Omi looked up. Schuldich was staring back at him, a confused look on his face. ~He said it was another victim… he lied to me…~

The arched blinked. The redhead sounded… hurt. Not quite sure why, Omi felt he had to say something. "He probably didn't want to upset you. We just kind of… ran into each other, literally."

~And you helped him out of the goodness of your heart?~ The sarcasm was back.

"Well… yeah."

The telepath shook his head and turned to walk away. ~Fools…~

"Wait! You said he's missing?"

Schuldich turned, concern flickering in those jade eyes. ~He went shopping two days ago… and never came home. Crawford hasn't been able to see anything. I can't find him. We thought YOU had him.~

"Two days ago… that's when…"

~WHAT?!~

"Naoe-kun might be in a lot of trouble."

**

"We got your message, Omi, what's up?" Tsuzuki and Hisoka sat down at the table.

"Hi… we had a run-in with Naoe-kun's teammates. Schuldich says he disappeared two days ago."

Hisoka felt a chill. That was the same day that the curse marks had come out again. Admittedly, he didn't care for Naoe all that much. The teen was too much like himself. There was a darkness inside him that unnerved the empath. He didn't know what that darkness was… but it was there and so he didn't trust the young man. But if he was missing…

"I thought the timing was too good to be coincidence."

"I agree. Especially since this appeared on my desk this morning. No one was seen bringing it in, and yet when I got to work it was sitting there." Tsuzuki pulled a small box out of a pocket of his trench coat. It was plain white, standard type gift box. "There was no message attached, but now that you tell me Naoe-kun is missing… I think I understand." He opened the box and then pushed it across the table to Omi.

Omi took it, and gasped.

Hisoka sighed, he already knew what was inside on the bed of red-stained, white tissue paper. A lock of blood-dark, chocolate-brown hair.

**

The world was gray. When he opened his eyes, that was all he saw. Gray. He blinked. It was hard to think. His body felt too heavy to even try to move. Numb, he just stared up.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there staring up at the gray ceiling, but eventually he heard movement. Footsteps, and a swishing sound like fabric. Into his field of vision appeared a man. He blinked and looked at this person in confusion. He was a stranger. Who was he? Why was he here? Where were they? But his brain refused to focus on the questions and they slid away unvoiced.

"Oh… you are awake." The man's single silver eye peered down at him. The other side of his face was covered by his silver hair. "Well… not quite awake I see. Good to know that the drugs are working."

He frowned slightly, drugs?

"I can see you are a little confused, that's to be expected. But I can't have you being able to use those powers of yours. Intriguing, I haven't met many living humans with powers, only the boy. This bears investigation."

He disappeared for a moment and when he returned he had a syringe and a bottle of some fluid. "Yes, I will definitely have to run some tests. For now, I think it would be best if you went back to sleep."

He felt a sharp prick, then a burning sensation. The gray world faded to black.

**

Oooooooh... evil cliffhanger... some people won't be happy... ^__^ -Yan