Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Dark Slayers ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Takeru rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and wondered how he had gotten himself into this mess. His other hand clutched the text book he had been holding for the past hour as he was led, between two guards, through the maze like corridors of the infamous Yagami manor.

The room they brought him into is littered with gym equipment and though it looked empty a lone figure sat with a towel draped over his head.

One of the guards moved forward and inaudibly whispered into the seated person's ear. After a moment the figure pulled the towel back and stood. Dressed only in grey sweat pants the man moved steadily to the front of the room.

There was something familiar in his lithe frame and the distinctive features of his delicate face. That icy blue like stare, Takeru shifted his gaze and that serpent tattoo.

The detailed black and green scales etched carefully into his left arm as the body twisted its way around the forearm and bicep until it reached the shoulder where it moved across the toned chest where the head lay – right over his heart.

Takeru had seen this man before.

He was reminded of the lessons he had with Gennai. The hours he sat hunched over his desk studying every little detail of this man and the people he represented.

In the criminal underworld he was dubbed 'The Angel of Death' because he was the last person you saw before you died.

Ishida Yamato - Yagami Taichi's own personal hit man and Takeru's brother.

"Trespassing." He said softly but his words echoed loudly in Takeru's ears.

And despite his lithe frame there was something darkly threatening about this man.

"No," Takeru instantly denied. "I was just trying to return this." Like proof he holds out the book which Takeru looked at but did not take. "She was lending me some of her notes and I- I forgot to return it before and we have this exam coming up so I thought I could... give it back now."

"Hikari" The Ishida simply said as he read the name written neatly on the cover.

"Yes."

Yamato looked up and called Taka and the man on Takeru's right stepped forward. "Return the book to Miss Yagami and escort this man off the premises." He then eyed Takeru and though he said nothing Takeru could feel the threat vibrate in every fiber of his body.

Takeru was then grabbed roughly from behind while the book was snatched from his grasp. It was only when he was ushered out of the Yagami manor that Takeru realised how sweaty his palms were and how fast his heart rate was racing.

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In his study, Taichi rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck after the last of the paperwork for Watanabe's Printing Co. was signed.

His fingers drummed steadily on his leather arm rest as his eyes laid on the photo frames placed neatly on his desk. A small faded photo of him and his father, a more recent photo of him with Yamato, Koushiro, Jyou, and Ken at some business function he can't remember.

His wife had put them there. She said it gave him something nice to look at.

He then pointed out that the 4 did not have nice faces and that he saw them everyday anyway. She then rolled her eyes before kissing him softly on the forehead and wondered what he would do without them.

Taichi smiled at the thought of his beautiful wife as he looked at the last photo, a minimised version of his wedding day picture.

She loves him. Despite everything, she still loves him.

She worked as fashion designer which Taichi found somewhat mocking.

She wanted him to go legit and he had promised her he'd try.

He wanted to, he didn't like having his wife's life in constant danger because of him.

But a life like his was a hard life to change.

Taichi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Every night ended like this. Torn between what he wanted to do with what he needed to do. He wasn't sure which was which anymore.

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Yamato knocked on Hikari's door and after the soft stuttered reply of consent he let himself in. The youngest Yagami sat at her desk with her hands folded.

Leaning against the doorframe the Ishida asked "Did you get your book back?"

"Yes, thank you Matt." Her gaze fell short of meeting his eyes.

"Class mate" He folded his arms.

"Fuun Takeru" She answered and Sasuke noticed she inadvertently smoothed her hand over the cover of the returned book. "He is in some of my classes."

Yamato nodded like those were the answers he was looking for. "Ok" Yamato said softly and leaned forward to reach the door knob. "Don't stay up too late."

"Yes Matt." Hikari replied obediently as the soft click signalled he was gone.

After glancing at the door one last time she re-opened the notebook and smiled as she looked at the note that was hidden between the pages.

'Thanks a lot Hikari. I owe you one. Maybe I can treat you to lunch one afternoon after class?'

She re-read the messy scrawl and smiled.

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Mimi grumbled to herself as she stalked down the hallway in her expensive heels. Owning a business was a lot harder then she had assumed.

She opened the door to their bedroom and was slightly amused to see Yamato sprawled out on their bed. He lay stomach down with the covers half hanging off his shirtless body and Mimi could not resist running her finger nails down the smooth toned back of her beloved. He shivered but did nothing more. She brushed back stray locks of his blonde hair before retreating to have a shower and to get changed.

She didn't notice the careless strewn of clothes until she had tripped over them. She shrieked loudly before it was cut off by a loud 'thud' as she hit the ground. On the bed Yamato cracked open and eye and simply said, "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to sleep here."

Suddenly all the great amusement and affection Mimi had for Yamato vanished as she made a lunge for him. He managed to roll out of the way before flipping her over to land beside him.

"I love you too." He smirked as he used his body weight to pin her down.

"You lazy, messy litt-" Mimi's torrent of insults was cut off when he kissed her.

She struggled for a few moments but soon succumbed to the embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"I have something to tell you." Mimi said as she brushed her long, blonde hair.

Looking at her from the reflection of the mirror she was standing in front of, Yamato cocked an eyebrow. "You're not pregnant are you?"

She rolled her eyes and put the brush down. "No. But I did make a very important decision, as an owner of a business, today."

"You thought screw the pastries and decided to sell jewelry instead?"

Mimi decided to ignore her husband as she began to loosely plait her hair. "I hired someone, all on my own."

Yamato folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. "Please don't tell me you hired some random stranger off the streets, Mimi."

Ino whirled around, "Of course not!" she protested before pausing briefly. "He's one of Kari's friends and by the looks of what he was wearing, I'd say he needed a job."

"Hikari's friend?"

"Yeah. Messy, blonde hair, kinda cute and he seemed able enough to carry around a few boxes in his spare time."

"Fuun Takeru, I assume?"

She looked perplexed, "Uh...yes. How did you know?"

"The boy came in last night at the Yagamis' to return a notebook of Hikari's. He looks oddly suspicious. . ." Yamato replied. And familiar. . .

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The early morning light filtered through the cracks of the drawn curtains but Hikari was already awake, quietly changing out of her night gown. She scanned her History paper again as she headed down the stairs and into the dining room. She wasn't surprised to see Koushiro awake at this hour, sitting in front of his lap top still dressed in the clothes he was wearing last night.

"Izzy?" she whispered, but in the silence of the room her voice was loud and clear.

"Kari," he said, without taking his eyes off of the screen. "You're awake early." He greeted with a small smile as he gestured for her to come closer.

"Are you busy?" she asked making her way to his die.

He closed the screen before she could see anything. “Not anymore.” Before he left the room, he just remembered something. "By the way, Ken is here."

Hikari was a bit startled at the fact that Ken is here earlier than the usual time he's there to go to school with her. "Oh, why? Some meeting?" Koushiro nodded. "With who?"

"Your brother wants him to engage in on some important issues with Motomiya Jun, the daughter of the head of The Flares," Koushiro replied. "Well, I'd best be on my way."

Koushiro walked away leaving Hikari alone. The scent of smoke has caught her attention and driven her to Ken's location.

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"Well, well. Don't we look sexy in the mornings? I wouldn't know since you never spend the night with me anymore." Jun smirked as Ken sat down opposite her.

"What do you want?"

“You’ve stopped visiting, so I started to get worried and since I was coming into town anyway, I thought why not drop by and say hello.” She purred, lightly running her foot along the inside of Ken's thigh.

Ken shifted before swatting her foot away. “I’m engaged now.”

She snorted, “To that weirdo girlfriend of yours, Miyako? Like that’s ever stopped us before.”

The Ichijouji ignored the statement completely. “This is irrelevant to what we were suppose to discuss. Why are you here?”

“I’m afraid that’s private and confidential, family business,” she shrugged, “You know how it is.”

Ken raised an eyebrow as he stuck an unlit cigarette into his mouth. He swore under his breath after he patted his pockets and realised his lighter was missing.

His problem was solved when Jun struck a match and lit his cigarette for him. “Don’t pretend we don’t work together. What does your little virgin girlfriend have that I don’t?”

“Don’t compare yourself to Yolei, Jun.”

The brunette scowled, marring her beautiful face. “Is it because I'm too old for you? Do you even love her?”

“Don’t contact me again.”

Jun laughed, “Or what? Are you afraid that your precious fiancee will find about us?”

“There is no ‘us’, Jun. But if you come anywhere near myself or Yolei I'll k-”

“Are you threatening me, Ichijouji?”

“No, I’m warning you.”

“Nobody discards me like that.” Her eyes narrowed when Ken didn’t reply. “You will regret this Ken, you will regret everything.”

“Now, who is doing the threatening?”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” She hissed between clenched teeth. “Remember that.” Then with that she stood, smoothing down the front of her red dress, and left.

Ken stayed were he was and for a moment sat in silence. He stubbed out his cigarette and pulled out his cell and hit ‘redial’.

Fifteen minutes later, Jyou slid into the seat that Jun had earlier occupied.

“Let me guess,” He said before Ken had a chance to say anything. “There’s a problem.”

“Yeah, there’s a problem.” Ken sighed and rubbed his eyes, he had never felt so tired. “I have to go. Kari must be waiting for me.” As Ken walked out the door, he peeked his head back in. "Oh, mind if you talk to that hell of a woman for me? It seems I'm not fit to do the discussion of matters with her."

Jyou nodded and Ken immediately ran out. Hikari was lucky enough to not get caught as she ran away before Jun left. Soon after, Ken and Hikari met up with each other and walked to school.

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“Kari, are you okay?” Takeru asked. “Not hungry?”

“Oh, I-“ Hikari fidgeted. “Takeru, what would you do if you knew something…” She trailed off.

Takeru's stomach clenched and he inwardly hoped his look of confusion was believable. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes flickered, and she shook her head. Then with an unsteady hand she reached for her chopsticks.

Takeru caught her wrist.

“T-Takeru?” She tried to tug her hand free but his grip was firm.

He had been undercover for two months and he still had no leads, no clue to what was going on. He was still a stranger wandering around on dangerous territory.

Everyday, it felt like he was running out of more and more time. He didn’t know what was going to happen let alone when but his gut instincts told him, whatever it was, it would be soon.

The tension on the streets was suffocating, the people were scared and no one stayed out late anymore.

And Gennai was getting impatient.

“Kari, if you know something, anything, you need to tell me. I can help you.”

For a moment Hikari was shocked but her eyes soon narrowed, “How can you help me?”

Takeru hesitated, “Do you trust me?”

Hikari was suddenly reminded of vague conversations she had with Koushiro, Ken, Yamato, and Jyou. They told him to be wary of any strangers that suddenly appeared in her life.

The instructions were all from Taichi, but her brother never had the time to personally pass on his own messages to her face, no, he was too important for that. Hikari felt a pang of bitterness settle in the bottom of her stomach.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never forget that she was overlooked, ignored, in favour of Taichi, and the fact that he was born first.

Yamato, Koushiro, Jyou and Ken looked out for her because she was their obligation, they had to and the females took her under their wing because they were kind. But if there was the luxury of choice nobody would even look at Hikari twice. She was quiet by nature and had the natural ability to blend in with her surroundings, sometimes; people would forget she was there.

Takeru didn’t look down on her, through her, or past her. Takeru looked at Hikari, she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done that.

For a moment the two sat in silence.

“Yes” She replied. She took a deep breath and said, “Ken is having an affair.”

Takeru wasn’t at all surprised. He did, however, feel somewhat disappointed with the information. It wasn’t the big break he was hoping for.

“With Jun-“

Takeru stiffened, he was well aware of who Jun was and more importantly who she was associated with - The Flares.

“How do you know this?”

Hikari smiled sadly, “I can be very quiet, that people don't even know I exist. I'm afraid for his fiancee. She happens to be my best friend.”

Takeru placed his hand over Hikari's. He genuinely liked this girl and he sincerely hoped she would come out from all of this,as a stronger person.

He may have only been handed a small piece to the puzzle but it was something and Takeru was always that guy who saw the glass half full.

Soon, the door flew open and in came Ken and Miyako. Hikari noticed the two and quickly hid her face.

"What's wrong?" Takeru asked.

Hikari shifted her eyes to the couple by the door. Takeru looked behind him and got the idea. "Mm hm. I'm afraid of what they'll do to me if they see me with you."

Ken was the first to notice Hikari and walked over to her. "Kari, pleasure seeing you here with the new boy I presume?"

Takeru and Hikari nodded. "Its Takai- I mean Fuun Takeru." Takeru lent out a hand as Ken shook it.

"Oh wait! I know you! You're the guy I bumped into yesterday!" Miyako realized. "So, are you two on a date?"

The two blushed as Hikari looked away and Takeru waving his hands in denial. "No its not like that. I'm just treating her to lunch since I owe her," Takeru replied.

Miyako was unimpressed. "Still sounds like a date to me. Wait till I tell Davis about this!"

Hikari turned a bit nervous as she heard Davis. Takeru was confused. "Who is he? Is he your boyfriend or something?" Takeru asked disappointedly.

Hikari quickly shook her head. "Motomiya Daisuke is the son of the head of The Flares and Jun's younger brother," Hikari began. Ken stiffened when Jun's name was mentioned. Takeru paid more attention hoping to get more info. "He has an immense crush on me. Davis gets jealous if he sees any guy with me besides himself and has his bodyguard Hida Iori drive the guy away. Iori, we call him Cody for some reason, is also part of The Flares."

Takeru managed to get as much as he can for his Captain. Then a question popped into his head. "How can you two get along and be friends when you're from Crime Families that rival each other?"

Hikari went silent. "The university forbids any talk of The Dark Slayers of The Flares. So, within school, they're free of their associations with the Crime Families. Outside, they're to stay away from each other," Ken replied. "I'm assigned to watch her as she goes to school. Afterwards, I have my own business to attend to."

"Oh,"

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