Tyrant Fanfic: Blood, Love and Tears. Chapter 27
Wow.
I think I’ve outdone myself, but not in a good way. >.<
When was the last time I’ve updated this story? Don’t tell me, please! I’m so ashamed it’s taken me so long. >.<
But at long last, here it is. You might be a bit disappointed but I’m mean and I don’t care (I like it the way it is). XD Yes, bad author, very bad author.
Title: Blood, love and tears
Author: yaoilovefan
Beta: elyrian
Warnings: language
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Tetsuhiro, Hiroto, Kurokawa, Isogai
Note: It's an AU fic.
Summary: Morinaga is a vampire and wants to play around. One night in a club he finds an interesting human and is mesmerized by him. Will he only use his new prey or will he fall in love? And how will the other one react on an immortal lover? What will his feelings be?
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
The sky was turning black and it was getting chilly. Morinaga felt very nervous. He was again in the Human World, on his way to find his lovely Sou-chan. Despite the threat of encountering the Hunters, Morinaga couldn’t stay away for even one more hour. He needed to see Souichi. There was no biding his time any longer. His brother could kiss his ass; the Hunters could go fuck themselves; Morinaga was going to have his longed for reunion with his human no matter what.
‘Even if I have to fight with the whole world, I won’t be stopped.’
“Angel-kun, slow down a bit, will you?” Hiroto whined from somewhere behind him.
‘Well, at least there’s one person who’s on my side in this. Even if he apparently wants so slow me down,’ Morinaga thought, exasperated.
“You can go a bit faster, Hiroto. I’m not slowing down. We need to hurry away from here before the Hunters arrive. They are bound to feel the energy of the opened portal.”
“That does not mean that we need to break our legs while getting away! Slow down, will you? Souichi waited all this time, he can wait a few more minutes. Not to mention he doesn’t even know we’re here,” Hiroto ranted unhappily.
Morinaga hissed in irritation. He tried to remember why Hiroto had even come with him. He would have preferred to travel alone but unfortunately Hiroto had threatened to tell his brother where he had gone and Morinaga couldn’t let that happen. Hiroto was his friend and he didn’t want to get him hurt in any way or form. Having him see Morinaga’s brother would end up getting him hurt. The only thing he could have done was exactly what he had - take Hiroto with him.
There was one upside to his friend‘s presence. If the Hunters interrupted his reunion with Souichi and Morinaga needed to get then away fast, Hiroto would be able to open a portal and let them get away. Morinaga had opened the portal into the Human World and unfortunately he wasn’t powerful enough to open it so soon after performing the magic once already.
“Two weeks, Hiroto! Two excruciating weeks! I can’t wait even a minute more than I have to. I need to see him,” Morinaga said with vehemence, wanting Hiroto to understand and angry that he didn’t already.
“You don’t even know where to start the search, or do you?” Hiroto asked, exasperated at his friend’s eagerness and utter lack of patience.
“Yeah, I know where we’re going. I have a connection with him, you know,” Morinaga said conversationally, not even glancing back.
“And how strong is it? How stable?” Hiroto asked, genuinely curious.
“It’s good enough. I know where he lives. Don’t worry.”
“So are we going there now?”
“Yes, we are,” Morinaga hissed. He wasn’t really in the mood to answer endless questions.
“Then lead the way, Angel-kun.” Hiroto giggled, finally backing off on the questions.
Morinaga ignored him and concentrated on his surroundings. He felt something peculiar in the air that he couldn’t identify and he wasn’t even curious. It had nothing to do with Souichi so it wasn’t important. Morinaga knew that he should be paying more attention to his surroundings since the Hunters were still there, lurking somewhere and being a genuine threat, but his attention was almost entirely elsewhere.
Last night he had had such a very delicious dream. Morinaga had planned to wait a bit longer before he went to the Human World, but after that dream he threw caution out the window and just had to come and see Souichi. His brother’s threats be damned! Even the annoying prospective of fending off the Hunters couldn’t slow him down.
They were nearing their destination when suddenly a bullet embedded itself right in the place where Morinaga was just about to step. He halted in mid-step, and behind him Hiroto did the same. They looked ahead, trying to find the source of the shot. It turned out that it was a man with blond hair and sharp eyes. His whole posture screamed business and Morinaga had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if he or Hiroto even blinked the wrong way. They had just encountered a Hunter.
‘Just my luck.’ Morinaga shifted nervously. He didn’t need this. He just wanted to see Souichi and not have to fight for his and Hiroto’s lives.
“Ah, ah, ah,” The man in front of them sang and pointed the barrel of the gun right at Morinaga. The gun wasn’t anything fancy. It resembled a normal gun although a bit larger than average, black with subtle engravings. It was likely loaded with ammunition specially designed for killing all sorts of creatures from the Demon World.
“Please, don’t make any abrupt movements. It would be such a shame if I had to shoot you. Tatsumi-kun might never forgive me if that happened,” he said lightly although his posture indicated anything other than relaxation.
Morinaga stared, surprised. Hiroto exhaled suddenly behind him. His friend moved from his hiding place behind Morinaga’s back and stepped forward. Morinaga reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. The Hunter had said not to make any sudden moves and Hiroto moving was quite sudden. He didn’t want his friend harmed in any way. He shouldn’t have been worried.
The Hunter didn’t shoot Hiroto. He didn’t even shift the gun from Morinaga. The only thing he did was lift his eyebrow and clear his throat.
“What do you think you’re doing, little Vampire?” he asked, intrigue mixing with suspicion in his voice. The gun was still pointed at Morinaga although the Hunter’s eyes were focused solemnly on Hiroto.
“Hey! I’m not little!” Hiroto pouted.
Morinaga thought the whole situation was quite ridiculous. The Hunter could clearly shoot at least one of them; even a Vampire’s heightened speed wouldn’t be a big help. Morinaga knew the Hunters were trained to be able to identify the signs of impending motion so he didn’t even try, at least not yet. Right now he was slightly baffled by the way supposed prey and hunter, Morinaga wasn’t sure who was who right now, stood across from each other one clearly teasing and the other pouting, not really all that disturbed by the gun and threat it implied Morinaga shook his head in disbelief.
“I told you not to move,” the Hunter reminded, steel in his voice.
“He’s moving,” Morinaga pointed out his sniggering friend. “Stop that!” he hissed at Hiroto, not pleased at all with the other Vampire’s behavior.
“He’s a cute one. He’s allowed to,” the Hunter smirked, looking at Morinaga with a glint of something he couldn’t identify. He shot a brief glance in Hiroto’s direction but after that focused entirely on Morinaga.
“First little, now cute! You have quite some nerve, Hunter!” Hiroto made a face, but Morinaga knew him well enough to know that it was one of his ‘I’m flirting with you’ faces and his eyes widened. The situation was turning into something bizarre and Morinaga wished to be anywhere else but here at the moment.
“You can call me Isogai,” the Hunter’s smirk widened into a full out grin, his eyes now on Hiroto, but he still didn’t lower the gun pointed at Morinaga. “And you are…?”
“My name’s Hiroto.” Hiroto performed a small bow and then pointed at Morinaga. “And this is Angel-ku- I mean Morinaga.” He giggled, and then gave the Hunter a brief, appraising look. “My, my, what a big gun you have,” he said teasingly.
Morinaga winced. Apparently Hiroto didn’t know what being subtle meant, but as it turned out the Hunter didn’t mind it at all.
“You have no idea, little Vampire, no idea,” Isogai said in a very suggestive voice, smirking again.
Hiroto looked the Hunter over from head to toe and he didn’t hide his appreciation, which clearly amused the Hunter.
Morinaga rolled his eyes. His friend had met his match.
“To bad I’m not interested in inter-species relationships!” Isogai smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Hiroto’s face was priceless. Morinaga was trying very hard not to laugh, but he couldn’t suppress a snort which he swiftly covered by clearing his throat.
“Will you shoot me if I move?” Morinaga asked. He was getting stiff and wanted desperately to relax his muscles more than he was currently allowing himself.
“I’m still debating. First, I want you to answer some questions. My next actions will depend on the answers you give me,” Isogai said, business-like again. His attention was once more centered on Morinaga.
“Ask.” Morinaga gritted his teeth. He really didn’t need this. He was not here to cause any trouble. He only wanted to see Souichi.
Before Isogai could open his mouth and start grilling him, another person ran out from one of the nearby streets and stopped near Isogai.
“Any luck?” Isogai asked shifting his gaze to the newly arrived man.
The other man, who Morinaga suspected was also a Hunter, only shook his head in denial.
“No.”
The other man seemed to have regained his breath already. ‘These Hunters appear to be in very good shape.’ The other Hunter straightened his posture and looked at the two Vampires, assessing them and probably measuring the danger level they represented.
“Don’t worry. We’ll know everything in a moment. Let me make the introductions.” Isogai pointed at the two Vampires. “Morinaga and Hiroto.” Then he pointed at his Hunter friend. “This is Kurokawa.”
“Morinaga?” The new Hunter looked at the two of them with widened eyes, shifting his gaze from one to the other and clearly not sure who was who.
Hiroto was still sulking so Morinaga took it upon himself to clear up the other man’s confusion. He nodded his head once. “Morinaga.”
Kurokawa opened his mouth but shut it the next moment without saying a thing. He just looked Morinaga over, although without the lust that Hiroto had displayed when he was checking out Isogai.
The whole situation was raising Morinaga’s hackles. Only the gun still pointed at his chest prevented him from lashing out. He was losing precious time. If his brother were to find out that Morinaga was even here in the Human World then there would be hell to pay. He wanted to avoid such a confrontation. He wasn’t sure how an encounter like that would end but he doubted it would be in his and Tatsumi’s favor. He really didn’t want to find out if he was right.
“Can we get to the point?! I’m in a hurry.” He glared, vibrating on the inside from impatience.
“So you’re missing Souichi-kun so very much, hm?” Isogai said, one eyebrow arched.
“Actually, yes.” Morinaga sent the Hunters a very unfriendly look. Maybe it wasn’t wise but he was nearing the point where he’d stopped caring about the consequences.
“Where is he?” Kurokawa asked sternly, although without anger, before Isogai could say anything more. He was staring at Morinaga with an expectant look clearly thinking that the Vampire was able to answer his question.
Morinaga opened his mouth to answer but shut it in the same manner that Kurokawa had just a moment ago. ‘Why is the Hunter asking about Souichi’s whereabouts?’ Morinaga frowned.
“Isn’t he supposed to be home? Or going there?” Hiroto answered in his stead. He was still pouting and had his arms crossed on his chest but it looked like the worst was over. Everyone could hear the surprise in his voice together with the confusion.
The Hunters ignored him and both concentrated their attention on Morinaga. It was clear that they wanted an answer from him and not Hiroto.
“You know exactly that he’s not,” Isogai said sternly.
“What do you mean he’s not?!” Morinaga asked, alarmed. He was a person prone to panic and the possible implications from the Hunter’s question were very quickly sending him down into a black hole of dread. “Where is he?!”
The two Hunters looked at each other worriedly. Something was terribly wrong. It looked like he had a legitimate reason to panic.
“Where is Souichi?” he asked again, this time calmly despite the storm of emotions that were raging inside of him. The only one who noticed that his calm was the sort of calm right before a storm was Hiroto who flinched and shifted a fraction away from Morinaga.
The Hunters looked at each other again. If Morinaga didn’t know better he would have thought that they were speaking mentally with each other. It felt like they came to some kind of silent agreement and then Isogai lowered his gun. It wasn’t the wisest move the Hunter could have made. The moment Morinaga was sure he wouldn’t get a specially designed bullet piercing his flesh, he lunged. Within seconds he had Isogai pinned to the wall with his hand wrapped a bit more tightly than necessary around the Hunter’s throat.
“I’ll ask again, where is - “ Morinaga felt the barrel of a gun pressing into the back of his head. It appeared to have been a mistake to ignore the other Hunter. He just hoped he wouldn’t pay the ultimate price for his thoughtlessness. Even so he didn’t release the Hunter’s throat. Isogai was desperately struggling for air and trying to pry Morinaga’s hand away but he held on firmly, his whole being screaming at him to find Souichi now. Somewhere from very far away he heard Hiroto’s yelling but ignored it for the moment.
“Let him go,” Kurokawa said calmly, pressing the gun a bit more firmly into Morinaga’s skull. “I don’t want to hurt you, Morinaga-kun, so please let my friend go and step aside.”
Morinaga had to admit that despite the situation the Hunter was very calm. He briefly wondered how often they ended up in such dangerous situations and how many of his kin these two had killed but it wasn‘t really important at the moment.
“You can call me Morinaga-sama,” he snarled loosening his hold on Isogai’s neck so that the Hunter could breathe just a little bit, but not letting him go entirely. “I refuse to be played with.”
“Look, whatever Isogai did or said, ignore him. He’s a dick. There are more pressing matters than this petty pissing contest. So. Let. Him. Go,” Kurokawa said and then added, “Please.”
Morinaga considered the situation. He was slightly impressed with Kurokawa and utterly annoyed with Isogai. But there was just no way to kill Isogai and not have Kurokawa kill him in return. ‘Maybe attacking Isogai wasn’t such a good idea after all? It isn’t helping me find out where Souichi is and I need to find him.’ Now he was sure of it. Something was terribly wrong and he had a suspicion that the Hunters didn’t have any idea what it was. ‘It’s still worth trying to find out. He shrugged mentally.
His decision made, Morinaga moved his head closer to Isogai and whispered into the Hunter’s ear. “Don’t aggravate me. It’s not healthy.”
Then he let go and watched the Hunter slide down and land on his bum, breathing deeply and coughing. The barrel was removed from his head and he stepped a few feet away from the Hunters. When he did that Hiroto rushed to his side and gripped his arm like a vice. It looked like his friend wanted to make sure he wouldn’t cause them more trouble.
“We - cough - well, - cough - well, if you were - cough - this loving to Tatsumi no wonder - “
“Isogai!” Kurokawa yelled, interrupting something that might have ended in disaster if Isogai had had the chance to finish the sentence. He turned his attention from his idiot friend to the two Vampires.
“Souichi Tatsumi is nowhere to be found. We thought he was with you,” he explained. “But now it’s clear he’s not.”
Morinaga froze. This was not what he wanted to hear. He took a deep, calming breath, then another and another. Hiroto rubbed his hand up and down Morinaga’s arm, comforting and calming him. In the meantime Isogai had put himself together and was standing up and looking sourly and also a bit apologetically at Morinaga.
“I’ve noticed him being stalked but thought it was you waiting for the best moment to approach him,” Isogai grimaced. “Whoever stalked, or rather hunted him, got to him today. Too bad it wasn’t you,” he looked almost ruefully at Morinaga.
“What?! What do you mean someone stalked him? Who? A demon? And he’s missing now? Aren’t you here to prevent such situations?!” Morinaga yelled, his heart beating frantically. Hiroto tightened his grip on Morinaga’s arm. They both couldn’t believe what they were hearing. It looked like the tales about the Hunters told in the Demon World were as exaggerated as the ones humans, especially the Hunters, told about Demons in the Human World.
“We thought it was you,” Kurokawa explained. As if that explained anything.
Morinaga’s head was spinning. He felt as if he had ended up in a bizarre dream that was turning more and more into a nightmare the longer he dreamed it.
“So… what? Are you saying that you wouldn’t fend me off? Why?” he asked incredulously. In his understanding of what the Hunters were and were supposed to do, a situation where a Hunter would let a Demon near a Human, deliberately, was preposterous.
“Because he misses you and clearly wanted to see you again!” Isogai said, offended. “We thought it a good idea to let you two meet, that’s why we haven’t been keeping an eye on him today. Thought you’d use the opportunity.” Isogai shrugged, twirling his gun with a finger in the trigger guard.
Morinaga’s mouth fell open. He stared for a moment and then blew up with fury.
“I just got here! I haven’t been stalking him! Haven’t sent anybody to do that for me! Fuck!” he yelled, gripping his hair in apprehension. He started to pace a few steps in one direction then a few in the opposite one, all the time wishing it was just a bad dream.
While Morinaga tried to calm himself down in order to start thinking and looking for Souichi, Hiroto looked at the Hunters and asked a few questions of his own.
“You said you backed off so that Angel-kun… I mean Morinaga could approach Souichi, right?” When the Hunters nodded he continued. “Then what are you doing here now?”
“The portal,” Kurokawa answered shortly. Isogai rolled his eyes and elaborated.
“It was the third portal that was opened tonight. We went to investigate and hopefully find Tatsumi-kun in a compromising situation,” Isogai chuckled but his chuckle died very quickly; his eyes lacked the teasing glint that the Vampires had seen earlier. “It didn’t go as planned.”
“We need to find him,” Morinaga said finally wrapping his head around the situation and concentrating his whole attention on finding Souichi.
“Where do we start?” Hiroto asked, looking from one person to the other. He wasn’t very good in combat; he was a kind and playful soul whose motto was “Make love not war,” and although he suspected that he wouldn’t be of much use he still wanted to help.
“Here’s as good a place as any.” Isogai shrugged with seeming nonchalance although Morinaga noticed that he was more tense than before and his brow was slightly furrowed. “We’ll split up and search for any traces and meet at Tatsumi’s place in,” he looked at his watch, “an hour.”
“You’d trust us to enter a Human house?” Hiroto asked dubiously. He was still cross about Isogai’s previous comments and didn’t really believe in the Hunter’s plan.
Isogai waved the comment away. “We’ll get there before you,” he said confidently, as if being there before the Vampires resolved the issue.
Hiroto snorted. “There’s one problem,” he said with one eyebrow raised.
“And that is?” Isogai asked, his eyebrow also raised to match the Vampire’s.
“I don’t know the address.”
Hiroto was acting childish. Morinaga’s patience was getting thin again. They were standing there and talking about nothing when Souichi might be in serious trouble.
“You can come with me,” Isogai smiled invitingly.
“The hell I will,” Hiroto hissed. He was just about to say something more when Morinaga spoke.
“Look. Fight all you want. I’m not going to waste more time standing here and watching you arguing about nothing. Meet you at the house in an hour!” Morinaga dashed away with great speed, leaving behind three stunned people.
Chapter 28
Note: Morinaga didn’t want to behave in this chapter. Naughty Morinaga! XD Also, I planned a nice relationship for Isogai and Hiroto and just look what those two did with my plans! They made the whole thing so difficult!
You probably want to yell at me for not writing about Souichi and what had happened to him so I’m assuring you that the next chapter will start with Souichi waking up in his captors clutches. ^-^ I have it almost done and am hoping to check it during the next week so give me two weeks or less to update this story.
And now give me some love or whatever you want to give me: cookies, chocolate, old shoe thrown at my head? ^-^
I think I’ve outdone myself, but not in a good way. >.<
When was the last time I’ve updated this story? Don’t tell me, please! I’m so ashamed it’s taken me so long. >.<
But at long last, here it is. You might be a bit disappointed but I’m mean and I don’t care (I like it the way it is). XD Yes, bad author, very bad author.
Title: Blood, love and tears
Author: yaoilovefan
Beta: elyrian
Warnings: language
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Tetsuhiro, Hiroto, Kurokawa, Isogai
Note: It's an AU fic.
Summary: Morinaga is a vampire and wants to play around. One night in a club he finds an interesting human and is mesmerized by him. Will he only use his new prey or will he fall in love? And how will the other one react on an immortal lover? What will his feelings be?
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
The sky was turning black and it was getting chilly. Morinaga felt very nervous. He was again in the Human World, on his way to find his lovely Sou-chan. Despite the threat of encountering the Hunters, Morinaga couldn’t stay away for even one more hour. He needed to see Souichi. There was no biding his time any longer. His brother could kiss his ass; the Hunters could go fuck themselves; Morinaga was going to have his longed for reunion with his human no matter what.
‘Even if I have to fight with the whole world, I won’t be stopped.’
“Angel-kun, slow down a bit, will you?” Hiroto whined from somewhere behind him.
‘Well, at least there’s one person who’s on my side in this. Even if he apparently wants so slow me down,’ Morinaga thought, exasperated.
“You can go a bit faster, Hiroto. I’m not slowing down. We need to hurry away from here before the Hunters arrive. They are bound to feel the energy of the opened portal.”
“That does not mean that we need to break our legs while getting away! Slow down, will you? Souichi waited all this time, he can wait a few more minutes. Not to mention he doesn’t even know we’re here,” Hiroto ranted unhappily.
Morinaga hissed in irritation. He tried to remember why Hiroto had even come with him. He would have preferred to travel alone but unfortunately Hiroto had threatened to tell his brother where he had gone and Morinaga couldn’t let that happen. Hiroto was his friend and he didn’t want to get him hurt in any way or form. Having him see Morinaga’s brother would end up getting him hurt. The only thing he could have done was exactly what he had - take Hiroto with him.
There was one upside to his friend‘s presence. If the Hunters interrupted his reunion with Souichi and Morinaga needed to get then away fast, Hiroto would be able to open a portal and let them get away. Morinaga had opened the portal into the Human World and unfortunately he wasn’t powerful enough to open it so soon after performing the magic once already.
“Two weeks, Hiroto! Two excruciating weeks! I can’t wait even a minute more than I have to. I need to see him,” Morinaga said with vehemence, wanting Hiroto to understand and angry that he didn’t already.
“You don’t even know where to start the search, or do you?” Hiroto asked, exasperated at his friend’s eagerness and utter lack of patience.
“Yeah, I know where we’re going. I have a connection with him, you know,” Morinaga said conversationally, not even glancing back.
“And how strong is it? How stable?” Hiroto asked, genuinely curious.
“It’s good enough. I know where he lives. Don’t worry.”
“So are we going there now?”
“Yes, we are,” Morinaga hissed. He wasn’t really in the mood to answer endless questions.
“Then lead the way, Angel-kun.” Hiroto giggled, finally backing off on the questions.
Morinaga ignored him and concentrated on his surroundings. He felt something peculiar in the air that he couldn’t identify and he wasn’t even curious. It had nothing to do with Souichi so it wasn’t important. Morinaga knew that he should be paying more attention to his surroundings since the Hunters were still there, lurking somewhere and being a genuine threat, but his attention was almost entirely elsewhere.
Last night he had had such a very delicious dream. Morinaga had planned to wait a bit longer before he went to the Human World, but after that dream he threw caution out the window and just had to come and see Souichi. His brother’s threats be damned! Even the annoying prospective of fending off the Hunters couldn’t slow him down.
They were nearing their destination when suddenly a bullet embedded itself right in the place where Morinaga was just about to step. He halted in mid-step, and behind him Hiroto did the same. They looked ahead, trying to find the source of the shot. It turned out that it was a man with blond hair and sharp eyes. His whole posture screamed business and Morinaga had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if he or Hiroto even blinked the wrong way. They had just encountered a Hunter.
‘Just my luck.’ Morinaga shifted nervously. He didn’t need this. He just wanted to see Souichi and not have to fight for his and Hiroto’s lives.
“Ah, ah, ah,” The man in front of them sang and pointed the barrel of the gun right at Morinaga. The gun wasn’t anything fancy. It resembled a normal gun although a bit larger than average, black with subtle engravings. It was likely loaded with ammunition specially designed for killing all sorts of creatures from the Demon World.
“Please, don’t make any abrupt movements. It would be such a shame if I had to shoot you. Tatsumi-kun might never forgive me if that happened,” he said lightly although his posture indicated anything other than relaxation.
Morinaga stared, surprised. Hiroto exhaled suddenly behind him. His friend moved from his hiding place behind Morinaga’s back and stepped forward. Morinaga reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. The Hunter had said not to make any sudden moves and Hiroto moving was quite sudden. He didn’t want his friend harmed in any way. He shouldn’t have been worried.
The Hunter didn’t shoot Hiroto. He didn’t even shift the gun from Morinaga. The only thing he did was lift his eyebrow and clear his throat.
“What do you think you’re doing, little Vampire?” he asked, intrigue mixing with suspicion in his voice. The gun was still pointed at Morinaga although the Hunter’s eyes were focused solemnly on Hiroto.
“Hey! I’m not little!” Hiroto pouted.
Morinaga thought the whole situation was quite ridiculous. The Hunter could clearly shoot at least one of them; even a Vampire’s heightened speed wouldn’t be a big help. Morinaga knew the Hunters were trained to be able to identify the signs of impending motion so he didn’t even try, at least not yet. Right now he was slightly baffled by the way supposed prey and hunter, Morinaga wasn’t sure who was who right now, stood across from each other one clearly teasing and the other pouting, not really all that disturbed by the gun and threat it implied Morinaga shook his head in disbelief.
“I told you not to move,” the Hunter reminded, steel in his voice.
“He’s moving,” Morinaga pointed out his sniggering friend. “Stop that!” he hissed at Hiroto, not pleased at all with the other Vampire’s behavior.
“He’s a cute one. He’s allowed to,” the Hunter smirked, looking at Morinaga with a glint of something he couldn’t identify. He shot a brief glance in Hiroto’s direction but after that focused entirely on Morinaga.
“First little, now cute! You have quite some nerve, Hunter!” Hiroto made a face, but Morinaga knew him well enough to know that it was one of his ‘I’m flirting with you’ faces and his eyes widened. The situation was turning into something bizarre and Morinaga wished to be anywhere else but here at the moment.
“You can call me Isogai,” the Hunter’s smirk widened into a full out grin, his eyes now on Hiroto, but he still didn’t lower the gun pointed at Morinaga. “And you are…?”
“My name’s Hiroto.” Hiroto performed a small bow and then pointed at Morinaga. “And this is Angel-ku- I mean Morinaga.” He giggled, and then gave the Hunter a brief, appraising look. “My, my, what a big gun you have,” he said teasingly.
Morinaga winced. Apparently Hiroto didn’t know what being subtle meant, but as it turned out the Hunter didn’t mind it at all.
“You have no idea, little Vampire, no idea,” Isogai said in a very suggestive voice, smirking again.
Hiroto looked the Hunter over from head to toe and he didn’t hide his appreciation, which clearly amused the Hunter.
Morinaga rolled his eyes. His friend had met his match.
“To bad I’m not interested in inter-species relationships!” Isogai smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Hiroto’s face was priceless. Morinaga was trying very hard not to laugh, but he couldn’t suppress a snort which he swiftly covered by clearing his throat.
“Will you shoot me if I move?” Morinaga asked. He was getting stiff and wanted desperately to relax his muscles more than he was currently allowing himself.
“I’m still debating. First, I want you to answer some questions. My next actions will depend on the answers you give me,” Isogai said, business-like again. His attention was once more centered on Morinaga.
“Ask.” Morinaga gritted his teeth. He really didn’t need this. He was not here to cause any trouble. He only wanted to see Souichi.
Before Isogai could open his mouth and start grilling him, another person ran out from one of the nearby streets and stopped near Isogai.
“Any luck?” Isogai asked shifting his gaze to the newly arrived man.
The other man, who Morinaga suspected was also a Hunter, only shook his head in denial.
“No.”
The other man seemed to have regained his breath already. ‘These Hunters appear to be in very good shape.’ The other Hunter straightened his posture and looked at the two Vampires, assessing them and probably measuring the danger level they represented.
“Don’t worry. We’ll know everything in a moment. Let me make the introductions.” Isogai pointed at the two Vampires. “Morinaga and Hiroto.” Then he pointed at his Hunter friend. “This is Kurokawa.”
“Morinaga?” The new Hunter looked at the two of them with widened eyes, shifting his gaze from one to the other and clearly not sure who was who.
Hiroto was still sulking so Morinaga took it upon himself to clear up the other man’s confusion. He nodded his head once. “Morinaga.”
Kurokawa opened his mouth but shut it the next moment without saying a thing. He just looked Morinaga over, although without the lust that Hiroto had displayed when he was checking out Isogai.
The whole situation was raising Morinaga’s hackles. Only the gun still pointed at his chest prevented him from lashing out. He was losing precious time. If his brother were to find out that Morinaga was even here in the Human World then there would be hell to pay. He wanted to avoid such a confrontation. He wasn’t sure how an encounter like that would end but he doubted it would be in his and Tatsumi’s favor. He really didn’t want to find out if he was right.
“Can we get to the point?! I’m in a hurry.” He glared, vibrating on the inside from impatience.
“So you’re missing Souichi-kun so very much, hm?” Isogai said, one eyebrow arched.
“Actually, yes.” Morinaga sent the Hunters a very unfriendly look. Maybe it wasn’t wise but he was nearing the point where he’d stopped caring about the consequences.
“Where is he?” Kurokawa asked sternly, although without anger, before Isogai could say anything more. He was staring at Morinaga with an expectant look clearly thinking that the Vampire was able to answer his question.
Morinaga opened his mouth to answer but shut it in the same manner that Kurokawa had just a moment ago. ‘Why is the Hunter asking about Souichi’s whereabouts?’ Morinaga frowned.
“Isn’t he supposed to be home? Or going there?” Hiroto answered in his stead. He was still pouting and had his arms crossed on his chest but it looked like the worst was over. Everyone could hear the surprise in his voice together with the confusion.
The Hunters ignored him and both concentrated their attention on Morinaga. It was clear that they wanted an answer from him and not Hiroto.
“You know exactly that he’s not,” Isogai said sternly.
“What do you mean he’s not?!” Morinaga asked, alarmed. He was a person prone to panic and the possible implications from the Hunter’s question were very quickly sending him down into a black hole of dread. “Where is he?!”
The two Hunters looked at each other worriedly. Something was terribly wrong. It looked like he had a legitimate reason to panic.
“Where is Souichi?” he asked again, this time calmly despite the storm of emotions that were raging inside of him. The only one who noticed that his calm was the sort of calm right before a storm was Hiroto who flinched and shifted a fraction away from Morinaga.
The Hunters looked at each other again. If Morinaga didn’t know better he would have thought that they were speaking mentally with each other. It felt like they came to some kind of silent agreement and then Isogai lowered his gun. It wasn’t the wisest move the Hunter could have made. The moment Morinaga was sure he wouldn’t get a specially designed bullet piercing his flesh, he lunged. Within seconds he had Isogai pinned to the wall with his hand wrapped a bit more tightly than necessary around the Hunter’s throat.
“I’ll ask again, where is - “ Morinaga felt the barrel of a gun pressing into the back of his head. It appeared to have been a mistake to ignore the other Hunter. He just hoped he wouldn’t pay the ultimate price for his thoughtlessness. Even so he didn’t release the Hunter’s throat. Isogai was desperately struggling for air and trying to pry Morinaga’s hand away but he held on firmly, his whole being screaming at him to find Souichi now. Somewhere from very far away he heard Hiroto’s yelling but ignored it for the moment.
“Let him go,” Kurokawa said calmly, pressing the gun a bit more firmly into Morinaga’s skull. “I don’t want to hurt you, Morinaga-kun, so please let my friend go and step aside.”
Morinaga had to admit that despite the situation the Hunter was very calm. He briefly wondered how often they ended up in such dangerous situations and how many of his kin these two had killed but it wasn‘t really important at the moment.
“You can call me Morinaga-sama,” he snarled loosening his hold on Isogai’s neck so that the Hunter could breathe just a little bit, but not letting him go entirely. “I refuse to be played with.”
“Look, whatever Isogai did or said, ignore him. He’s a dick. There are more pressing matters than this petty pissing contest. So. Let. Him. Go,” Kurokawa said and then added, “Please.”
Morinaga considered the situation. He was slightly impressed with Kurokawa and utterly annoyed with Isogai. But there was just no way to kill Isogai and not have Kurokawa kill him in return. ‘Maybe attacking Isogai wasn’t such a good idea after all? It isn’t helping me find out where Souichi is and I need to find him.’ Now he was sure of it. Something was terribly wrong and he had a suspicion that the Hunters didn’t have any idea what it was. ‘It’s still worth trying to find out. He shrugged mentally.
His decision made, Morinaga moved his head closer to Isogai and whispered into the Hunter’s ear. “Don’t aggravate me. It’s not healthy.”
Then he let go and watched the Hunter slide down and land on his bum, breathing deeply and coughing. The barrel was removed from his head and he stepped a few feet away from the Hunters. When he did that Hiroto rushed to his side and gripped his arm like a vice. It looked like his friend wanted to make sure he wouldn’t cause them more trouble.
“We - cough - well, - cough - well, if you were - cough - this loving to Tatsumi no wonder - “
“Isogai!” Kurokawa yelled, interrupting something that might have ended in disaster if Isogai had had the chance to finish the sentence. He turned his attention from his idiot friend to the two Vampires.
“Souichi Tatsumi is nowhere to be found. We thought he was with you,” he explained. “But now it’s clear he’s not.”
Morinaga froze. This was not what he wanted to hear. He took a deep, calming breath, then another and another. Hiroto rubbed his hand up and down Morinaga’s arm, comforting and calming him. In the meantime Isogai had put himself together and was standing up and looking sourly and also a bit apologetically at Morinaga.
“I’ve noticed him being stalked but thought it was you waiting for the best moment to approach him,” Isogai grimaced. “Whoever stalked, or rather hunted him, got to him today. Too bad it wasn’t you,” he looked almost ruefully at Morinaga.
“What?! What do you mean someone stalked him? Who? A demon? And he’s missing now? Aren’t you here to prevent such situations?!” Morinaga yelled, his heart beating frantically. Hiroto tightened his grip on Morinaga’s arm. They both couldn’t believe what they were hearing. It looked like the tales about the Hunters told in the Demon World were as exaggerated as the ones humans, especially the Hunters, told about Demons in the Human World.
“We thought it was you,” Kurokawa explained. As if that explained anything.
Morinaga’s head was spinning. He felt as if he had ended up in a bizarre dream that was turning more and more into a nightmare the longer he dreamed it.
“So… what? Are you saying that you wouldn’t fend me off? Why?” he asked incredulously. In his understanding of what the Hunters were and were supposed to do, a situation where a Hunter would let a Demon near a Human, deliberately, was preposterous.
“Because he misses you and clearly wanted to see you again!” Isogai said, offended. “We thought it a good idea to let you two meet, that’s why we haven’t been keeping an eye on him today. Thought you’d use the opportunity.” Isogai shrugged, twirling his gun with a finger in the trigger guard.
Morinaga’s mouth fell open. He stared for a moment and then blew up with fury.
“I just got here! I haven’t been stalking him! Haven’t sent anybody to do that for me! Fuck!” he yelled, gripping his hair in apprehension. He started to pace a few steps in one direction then a few in the opposite one, all the time wishing it was just a bad dream.
While Morinaga tried to calm himself down in order to start thinking and looking for Souichi, Hiroto looked at the Hunters and asked a few questions of his own.
“You said you backed off so that Angel-kun… I mean Morinaga could approach Souichi, right?” When the Hunters nodded he continued. “Then what are you doing here now?”
“The portal,” Kurokawa answered shortly. Isogai rolled his eyes and elaborated.
“It was the third portal that was opened tonight. We went to investigate and hopefully find Tatsumi-kun in a compromising situation,” Isogai chuckled but his chuckle died very quickly; his eyes lacked the teasing glint that the Vampires had seen earlier. “It didn’t go as planned.”
“We need to find him,” Morinaga said finally wrapping his head around the situation and concentrating his whole attention on finding Souichi.
“Where do we start?” Hiroto asked, looking from one person to the other. He wasn’t very good in combat; he was a kind and playful soul whose motto was “Make love not war,” and although he suspected that he wouldn’t be of much use he still wanted to help.
“Here’s as good a place as any.” Isogai shrugged with seeming nonchalance although Morinaga noticed that he was more tense than before and his brow was slightly furrowed. “We’ll split up and search for any traces and meet at Tatsumi’s place in,” he looked at his watch, “an hour.”
“You’d trust us to enter a Human house?” Hiroto asked dubiously. He was still cross about Isogai’s previous comments and didn’t really believe in the Hunter’s plan.
Isogai waved the comment away. “We’ll get there before you,” he said confidently, as if being there before the Vampires resolved the issue.
Hiroto snorted. “There’s one problem,” he said with one eyebrow raised.
“And that is?” Isogai asked, his eyebrow also raised to match the Vampire’s.
“I don’t know the address.”
Hiroto was acting childish. Morinaga’s patience was getting thin again. They were standing there and talking about nothing when Souichi might be in serious trouble.
“You can come with me,” Isogai smiled invitingly.
“The hell I will,” Hiroto hissed. He was just about to say something more when Morinaga spoke.
“Look. Fight all you want. I’m not going to waste more time standing here and watching you arguing about nothing. Meet you at the house in an hour!” Morinaga dashed away with great speed, leaving behind three stunned people.
Chapter 28
Note: Morinaga didn’t want to behave in this chapter. Naughty Morinaga! XD Also, I planned a nice relationship for Isogai and Hiroto and just look what those two did with my plans! They made the whole thing so difficult!
You probably want to yell at me for not writing about Souichi and what had happened to him so I’m assuring you that the next chapter will start with Souichi waking up in his captors clutches. ^-^ I have it almost done and am hoping to check it during the next week so give me two weeks or less to update this story.
And now give me some love or whatever you want to give me: cookies, chocolate, old shoe thrown at my head? ^-^