The Daemonic Arc: Chapter 1 _An Ultimatum
Sasazuka has always shrugged things off when it came to the Demonic Investigator team. However certain situations have caused him to become more apprehensive towards the assistant.
Sasazuka waited as the lights flashed against the numbers above the elevator doors. He had just finished interrogating a few witnesses on the murder case of the foreign politician. It had been a grueling day, what with Usui-san being on his case once again for not being there before that 'brat investigator' to gather evidence. However Sasazuka was not the type to let things get to him, normally he would just let this roll off his shoulders. But it was not Usui-san or even the case itself that was bothering him, what was really on his mind was the encounter he had made with the blind gypsy women about a week ago.
----1 Week Ago----
During one of his out of country assignments he had run into Yako and her assistant once again. For him it was nothing new by now to meet up with them there, as she had the habit of turning up on very crucial moments. He wasn't even at all surprised when she had solved the case so easily within the week; even though he was already aware of how things worked. It was the brief interaction between him and one of the suspects that he did not expect, and the information which she had given to him.
Perhaps it was the fact that he was use to people confining to him about almost anything, or that he had been through so many experiences that he had grown immune to subjects that were unusual. Whatever the case may be, this was something he was not entirely prepared to hear.
He could remember quite clearly, the willowy old woman with glassy eyes like a fox and a very solemn expression. Her slight frame draped in scarves of black and deep red that were stained and tattered as if she had wandered the streets for years, with only a few rusty bells hanging at the tips.
All throughout the case she would mumble random and incoherent words under her breath while observing the situation with a piercing stare. She would simply shuffle her peeling tarot cards and watch as they solved the case without a show of much interest. It was not until they had finished and were preparing to head home that she finally spoke up. In some odd way he kind of wished she didn't, because her voice gave off a foreboding tone that sent a chill down the spine.
"Ah, that young man is a very curious one. I sense a nefarious aura emitting from him, and yet there is a flit of mortality that is gradually ebbing through the flow. " She was directing her gaze towards the assistant who was patting Yako on the back for a job well done, or beating her to the ground to be more precise.
She absentmindedly took her cards in and out of the deck as she gazed at the two. "A most interesting fellow indeed..." She looked to the floor, placing one card to the corner. He thought it was strange that she should suddenly be so open to express a fascination for anyone at this point, seeing as she was quite reluctant to the interrogations and such earlier. But being who he was he just listened to her babble and agreed nonchalantly.
"A pity for that young girl though for being in league with such a creature that can only bring her deeper into the ominous shadows that lie before her." She said this in a piteous tone as she began to shuffle her cards again. This brought Sasazuka's attention about. "What did you say?" He looked at her as if he did not hear her correctly, a hint of worry in his tone.
"He is rather puzzling, with conflicting auras of ephemeral and perpetual that make it somewhat difficult for me to distinguish his sense of being..." She began to place her cards down one by one. "But nevertheless I can see quite clearly that he has marked that girl as his property, poor dear. She can do nothing but obey him and follow him to where he desires. And from what I can see, it can only pull her further into a terrible darkness where light can no longer reach." She placed another card down in front.
He looked back at Yako as she trailed behind, huffing defiantly at his actions. He had always known that there was something about the guy that made him feel highly suspicious, especially since he had discovered his true identity only a few months ago. Before he could ask her more she was already retreating back into the misty alleys.
"W-wait a minute..." He tried to follow her, but her silhouette had already vanished into the fog. Only her voice echoed the last of her chilling words.
He could not comprehend what they were because she spoke them in a language that was completely unfamiliar to him, however he could still sense the portentousness of it. The one word that he caught as the voice faded into silence was
"Neuberos".
----The Present----
The light ring sound of the elevator had awaken him from his . He stepped into the vacant room and pressed the button for the ground floor. "Please wait a moment Sasazuka-keiji." Yako's assistant had made his way into the elevator, smiling brightly as usual. "Sensei had asked me to gather some evidence once again, so I must get back to her as soon as possible." He said this in his friendly manner all the time, which was pretty much natural to most. However as the assistant smiled and chatted, Sasazuka's perception had become slightly more tense.
Before he was very casual with him and didn't let the odd aura he gave off bother him. But somehow he felt a little more on guard with him now, even more than usual.
"Ne? Is that alright with you Sasazuka-keiji?" The man looked at him with his usual grin.
Sasazuka was not really paying attention, but he did catch most of what he asked from him. "Yeah, sure." He agreed politely.
"That's good, sensei will be pleased to hear that. With everything taken care of this will all go according to her plan." He looked up at the numbers as it counted down, his eyes closed as he continued to smile. A few uneasy minutes of silence had passed between the two before one finally spoke.
"Tell me, how exactly did you meet Yako-chan?" Sasazuka decided to try and make some kind of small talk to interrogate him.
Since he was such a laid back person he hardly ever felt the need to pry in other peoples affairs, but this was an exception. The assistant took his gaze off from the flashing numbers.
"Hmm?" He acted as though he did not understand what he meant by that, but Sasazuka could sense that he understood him perfectly. He knew that the assistant could read minds, but that didn't stop him from pursuing to questions.
"I just never really bothered to ask for some time, but I've always wondered how it was that you two had met." He figured this was a wasted effort with a supernatural being like him, as he only continued to act like a simpleton to even people who already knew.
"I found sensei a long time ago when I was struggling to understand a mystery of my own. She of course used violence and threats of eating me in order to obtain a new slave and assistant..."
"But you seem pretty sharp, not to mention very inclined to explain her plans and theories for her." He put out this fact to him.
"Oh that? I'm just really good at public speaking. It's sensei who has the real talent for conducting the investigation, she's just not good with declamations is all." The assistant looked to him.
"Was that all you wanted to say to me?" Sasazuka eyed him warily, still feeling that shiver of apprehension that would not leave.
"Just one more thing..." In one swooping motion he pulled the gun from inside his coat, cocking it once as he pointed it towards the assistance face.
"S..Sasazuka-keiji, what do you think you're doing? That's rather dangerous..." He lifted his hands up in fear, though there was a slight hint of mockery in his manner of speaking.
"I've always let things go with you two because I didn't think there was really anything to worry about with the successful cases you've closed in the past, and the fact that you've manage to avoid risking Yako's life on the line by barely a margin; I even thought that your teamwork could benefit us at some level or another. However..." He kept his gun at point blank as he looked at the assistant with a cold glare.
"Should I ever find that there is some kind of underlying motive to this partnership that could endanger Yako-chan's life like the way it had before..." He cocked the gun again as he referred to the incident with Sicks. "I will not hesitate to find a means of killing you." The assistant merely smiled and looked up.
"What are you talking about Sasazuka-keiji? I would never even consider putting Sensei's life on the line...." Suddenly the atmosphere had changed around him from an aura of friendliness to one of pure hostility. Sasazuka's heart had actually stopped in that one brief instant as the mans eyes became unusually dark and intense. He'd seen him use this type of atmosphere before on suspects and opponents, yet it was a different experience when it was directed at him.
"Even if I am threatened." He ended that statement in a hiss-like tone. Sasazuka's composure had shaken a bit at this sudden change, he had been through many situations before and encountered people of many calibers that were quite intimidating; but never had he been in the presence of a person like this. In fact he did not even feel like a person anymore as he poisoned him with that stare.
The light ringing from above signaled that they had reached the ground floor at last, Sasazuka's arms were slightly lowered as he came out of the hypnotic stand off with the assistant.
"Ja, this looks like our floor." He had returned from his vicious stance to his carefree personality in an instant.
The doors opened to reveal the posh lobby of the hotel. In the seating area directly in front of the elevators was Yako, sitting with one of the suspects. She looked like she was listening to him intently as they came out of the metal doorway. The assistant gave his usual abusive greeting to signal that he had gathered what was necessary. He grabbed her roughly by the head to stand her up, as she rubbed it furiously.
"Well then we'll be off to make the preparations, until than please have everything ready for us Sasazuka-keiji." He began to walk off with Yako following him. She waved back at Sasazuka and smiled innocently as she caught up to her assistant. In that short moment he saw a flashback of his younger sister as she waved, followed by the terrible memory from ten years ago.
"Sempai, it looks like all the other suspects have returned to their rooms now. Would it be too much to ask if I can go to the gift shop? They have these 'kuru''kuru' fighter dolls that I've been collecting for some time..." As his assistant ranted on about rare figurines and collectibles, Sasazuka continued to ponder the strange gypsy womans words...particularly the word Neuberos.
Even though he still felt an overwhelming feeling of malevolence from the assistant, Sasazuka was quite determined that he could not afford to let anything happen to Yako. He had already lost his family once before, he was not going to lose another important person to him like that again. He would have to work on this another time and just keep a watch on the demonic man more carefully from now on. For now he just had to concentrate on the case at hand.
"Good. Until then you're on watch duty Ishigaki. " He passed by him as he said this and headed for the exit. He wanted get some cigarettes from the stand close by.
"Eh?! But I wanted to get a Ace 1 kurukuru fighter..."
"No." He said this in his usual bluntness that sent tears to Ishigaki as he went out of the building.
He made his way to the stand, passing by a narrow alley way that was completely deserted. Perhaps if he wasn't so preoccupied he would have noticed the old woman sitting in the damp floor with tarot cards in hand.
She looked up at him with those same glassy eyes and firm expression, which suddenly broke into a crooked smile. Her eyes that were glassy were suddenly glowing a devilishly yellow glow as she gave off an eerie chuckle.
As a car flashed by she vanished into thin air, leaving behind the presence of a sinister premonition yet to come.
((Phew! - w -
This took me quite a while to do, but I finally got it done.))