BANG

Blood and brain matter spattered on the dilapidated concrete walls of the building, the sound of a gunshot still echoing throughout the large, mostly empty room. A body fell to the ground with a thud, a pool of red growing underneath the man and staining the cold gray a dark maroon. All the lights were off, the only source bleeding in through the cracked and broken windows. The moon was full and high in the sky, the only witness to what was happening in the old warehouse by the docks. The air was cold, as if Death itself were there in the room.

Both males knew it wasn't true. Death himself didn't come for just anyone; Reapers were far more likely to be contacted for such a job. Besides, it was the middle of November. Such weather was expected. Sudden cold air, now that would have been concerning. A ghost or demon's presence was usually introduced by a change of smell or temperature, but neither were concerned with the air now. It actually felt warmer now. The smaller one wondered if it had anything to do with the warm blood slowly cooling, crinkling his nose at the metallic scent.

The taller male snickered quietly, patting the head of the much shorter and smaller male. He couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old, dwarfed by the adult he was standing beside. They looked similar other than the height- black hair that shone from the moon's rays and was around the same length, pale complexion, sharp cheekbones, long lashes, thin lips, and skinny frames. One drastic difference was their eyes. The adult had rusty brown eyes, glinting with amusement as the other flinched away slightly from his touch. The child's eyes were a sharp, crystal blue, hidden behind thin-rimmed glasses with no amusement whatsoever in them. They were narrowed slightly and flat with cold boredom, his brows furrowed just barely.

Another difference was that one was holding a gun, and the other wasn't.

"Still can't shoot straight, ne~?"

A silent sigh escaped the one holding the gun, closing his eyes. Nothing really pleased the other, but he was used to that. Familiar to the teasing abuse. There was no genuine praise, no warm and kind words. There was no place for that here, on this cold night and in this drafty warehouse. Only thin coats, thin words, and thin blood everywhere.

The older male, still laughing, took the gun from the child's hands. "Maybe I shouldn't let you have this back- you were a couple of centimeters to the left, you know? You shouldn't be handling this toy if you don't know how to use it properly..."

The child looked into the empty eyes of the body, his eyes moving just barely up to the man's forehead. There was a hole between his eyes where the bullet had entered, but not completely centered. The centimeters seemed to mock him the more he stood and stared at the wound, his fist clenching just barely at the sight. Could he really not even do that right? His aim was growing better as the days passed, but he still wasn't perfect. And even though he tried to convince himself that he didn't care, didn't care about his aim or imperfections or what the man beside him had to say, he still did.

He supposed he'd grow out of it.

He still didn't say anything as the adult male approached the corpse, crouching down and poking him with the barrel of the gun. He looked even more amused when the body rocked slightly with the motion before it stilled once again. "Hey, how about we drag his body outside? That way someone will find him easier. And there's even some security cameras that I can hack into and see everyone's reactions!"

"Pointless," the child spoke up before he could stop himself, pursing his lips when the man looked at him with a smirk. He continued with only slight hesitation, knowing that if he agreed that he would be the one to have to drag the fully grown body outside while the other male watched. "... He'll be found here about as easily as outside, and there won't be any interference in his decomposition from the outside elements."

The older male barked a sudden laugh. "I see right through you, you just don't want to do any heavy lifting, do you?" The child winced slightly at having been caught, panic on his face. "Tell you what, I'll let you pick! Do you wanna drag this guy outside or do you wanna have dinner tonight? Fair's fair!"

The child frowned and looked away. The answer was obvious and the adult male smiled. "Thought so. Well, since you're not wanting to do any heavy lifting or work tonight, how about we head out now! You never know what type of things are crawling around at night..." He stood up, twirling the gun with his finger and whistling a quick tune before he paused and grinned at the smaller boy. "What did you learn?"

"It has a weakness to silver," the boy started automatically, his voice cold and analytical. It was always like this. He would go in blind, not knowing what he was getting into, and he would have to figure out for himself what exactly he was up against and how to deal with it. "So a silver bullet killed it quickly.. Um.." He trailed off, not sure how to continue. At the man's expectant look, he ducked his head. "... What exactly was 'it'?"

The man's grin only grew as he strutted over to child. "Very good! It wouldn't really be a learning experience if you didn't know what you were fighting, ne~? Can't categorize it's weakness properly if you don't know what it is..." He pat the smaller male's head again, only getting hunched shoulders instead of a wince this time. "I've always told you that everything has a weakness, and that life isn't as 'precious' as you may like to think, but I don't think you've really taken it to heart..." The child was starting to get a sinking feeling in his chest. "And since this is a special day, I thought I would make today's lesson special! I won't keep you holding your breath much longer," he laughed, crouching down so he was eye level with the child. He placed his hands on thin shoulders, leaning closer. "Today's victim wasn't a monster.." The kid's eyes widened, his brain reaching the conclusion before he even heard what the older male said.

"It was a human."

The child felt the cold seeping into his bones, his skin clammy. His face was frozen and twisted in an expression of shock and horror, his stomach churning violently at the realization. He covered his mouth and the taller male barely moved out of the way before his knees collapsed and he was vomiting. Revulsion was rolling through his body in waves, his eyes staring down at the concrete and his ears ringing at the sudden spike of his blood pressure. When he finally managed to focus, he heard the other male practically howling with laughter. He looked up at him just as they both caught their breath for different reasons, catching the smirk and amused expression that was sent his way.

"His so-called 'precious' life was ended so easily, don't you think? Not really much of a struggle, no healing wounds or black smoke. Just a lonely little meatsuit devoid of any purpose or meaning. Pretty low on the food chain; it's sad, really. And don't worry! If it wasn't you, it would have been something else to show up and take his miserable little soul." He pat the child's head again, walking towards the exit as the boy's eyes involuntarily filled with tears.

"Happy birthday, my little monkey..."

PRESENT DAY

"Fushimi! You were supposed to leave twenty minutes ago, what are you still doing here?"

"Considering I'm the only one around here who knows how to do anything," Fushimi muttered to himself, his fingers flying across the keys of his keyboard. He was fixing the mistakes of his subordinates' reports before they were to be delivered, particularly Domyouji's- ever since they switched to computerized reports and not hand written, he hadn't been able to doodle on his reports anymore. But he made up for it in a much more annoying way- clip arts and various onomatopoeia that littered the entire report, and personal excerpts that didn't belong in a professional report recreating the extermination of a vampire.

"What was that?" his superior, Awashima, asked sharply when she heard his low tone. If she knew him like she thought she did, it was probably some scathing remark.

Fushimi clicked his tongue and saved his progress, shutting off his computer and standing up. "Nothing, Awashima-san."

"Good," she replied, narrowing her icy eyes at him as he grabbed his jacket and put it on. It had been carelessly slung on the back of his chair and probably wrinkling in some places. She hoped it did- it seemed to be a fitting punishment for breaking the dress code. "The captain expects quick and efficient results with the mission he's assigned you."

Fushimi couldn't help but roll his eyes. 'Mission', huh? It was the 'politically' correct way to say it, but to Fushimi it was just a hunt.

They were a government faction that hunted the supernatural, so why sugarcoat it? A hunt was a hunt in his eyes.

"I suppose I can't keep His Majesty waiting," he said sarcastically, grabbing his sword and gun that he strapped to his belt- the sword on the right side and the gun on the left side. He ignored Awashima's long-suffering sigh and made his way out of the stiff, perpetually cold building.

Scepter 4 Headquarters slowly disappeared in the distance as he made his way to his destination. He didn't like taking the company vehicles- and legally, he couldn't drive. He may be eighteen, but he had more important things to worry about than getting his driver's license. And he would be damned if he had to ask one of those morons for a ride. Besides, from the address he'd been given, he knew it was in the general vicinity and wouldn't take too long to reach by foot. Why Munakata decided to send him out to investigate this case he didn't know. Normal people would call a shrink if they thought that their loved ones were in two places at the same time, but he didn't work at a place that dealt with normal. Some person believed that their brother or son or something like that was framed for a crime, but swore that they had been with them the entire time. Honestly, most cases like this were the result of the ridiculous instinct that people had to protect their loved ones from suffering. How incredibly troublesome of an emotion.

The reason he was being sent out to investigate was on the off-chance that it wasn't just that emotion.

The supernatural did exist and it seemed to be running more and more rampant each time he turned around. Ghosts, ghouls, demons, vampires, werewolves- you name it, it probably existed. Fushimi's job was to hunt such creatures and send them crawling back to whatever part of Hell they had crawled out of- theoretically, of course. Most of those monsters weren't directly from Hell itself.

For this particular job, he suspected it was something along the lines of a doppelganger or shapeshifter. He hoped it was a shapeshifter. They were more gross, with how they shed, but they were also easier to deal with and less troublesome. The sooner he could get this job done, the sooner he could go back inside his office and not have to deal with bothersome monsters or the stifling August heat.

Fushimi paused when he reached an apartment building that looked like the place he was supposed to be. He checked his PDA so that he could make sure the address was correct, and once he confirmed it, he knocked on the right door and waited for the owner to answer.

It was a poor weeping gypsy-looking woman with wavy light brown hair, obviously dyed, claiming to be a Clairvoyant. Fushimi doubted it, looking at the cheap, fake 'crystal ball' that rested on the round table. He didn't mention his doubts, however, and simply took her statement as quickly as possible. From what she had told him, he was right to assume that it was a shapeshifter.

"Its eyes!" she cried dramatically. "They shined a horrible gold color before it disappeared, I swear it! It looked just like my poor baby brother, how could it get him in trouble like that? You have to find it!"

Fushimi mentally cataloged the appearance of her 'poor baby brother', though he didn't know if he could trust that the thing would still be masquerading in his skin or not. If it knew it was being pursued, it had probably changed appearance once again. How irritating.

He got the whereabouts of her brother- still in jail, lucky him- so he didn't shoot the wrong thing, at least. He managed to escape small talk by assuring her that he would work hard and start searching diligently for the creature.

He had to wonder just how good of a 'Clairvoyant' she was if she couldn't even see through his sarcasm.

Fushimi opened the door, pausing when he heard a rather loud curse. He peaked around the door, raising an eyebrow at the body sprawled on the ground.

A redheaded teen was rubbing his red, blotchy forehead with a scowl tightening the features of his face. His skin was tan, which seemed a little odd for his hair color. Even as he sat up on the ground, Fushimi knew that he was shorter than him, if only by a couple of centimeters. His golden brown eyes opened to glare up at him, making him seem immature even though Fushimi deduced that he was around the same age as him. "Watch where you're swinging the door, asshole!"

Fushimi snorted. "Don't be in my way, shrimp."

"What did you just say?!" the male shouted, quite obnoxiously in Fushimi's opinion, as he jumped up. Fushimi's eyes were immediately drawn to the symbol of the necklace around his neck. It was peculiar, in the shape of a vertical flame that almost looked tribal. He squinted slightly to get a better look. It was black with an almost red sheen to it when the artificial lights of the apartment building met it, and he couldn't identify the material it was made with. The necklace itself wouldn't have interested him... But he could have sworn that he'd seen the symbol before. Considering his job, it was no surprise. He dealt with symbols all the time, his photographic memory categorizing them all appropriately. Witch symbols, ancient summoning symbols, Devil's traps, Reaper's traps, Angel sigils, even symbols that could help dispel evil spirits. He couldn't place it, but he had seen it before somewhere.

And if he'd seen it before, that meant that it had to be something to do with the supernatural. And if it had something to do with the supernatural, then that meant that whatever was standing in front of him with a murderous look on it's face wasn't human.

"Yata-san?! Is that you?!"

Fushimi flinched at the grating, annoying voice of the woman. She slipped past him and flung her arms around the other male, who sheepishly returned the gesture. "You've come to see me! I knew you'd be visiting soon!"

"Ah, I heard about your brother and wanted to check and see if you were okay and if there was anything I could do!" Fushimi counted too many 'and's in his sentence. What a moron. "Who's the asshole?"

"Oh, he's.." Her voice was hesitant, which was immediately suspicious. Either she had something to hide from the redhead or she had something to hide from Fushimi. "He's... He's a friend of a friend of a friend, and he's going to help me with the situation my brother's gotten himself into."

Why was she being so vague? If this 'Yata' knew that something was happening with her brother, surely he knew specifics. So they were both either stupid or... No, just stupid.

"O-Oh!" Yata cleared his throat, looking back at him awkwardly. "So... You know about it, huh?"

What an imbecile. "If you're talking about the possible shapeshifter, yes," he replied blandly. "And if I had to guess, you know as well. So you're either a well educated human or something else.."

The woman tensed and Yata's eyes widened as the sudden realization hit him, jerking his head quickly to look at the woman. "Y-You called a hunter?!"

So his theory had been correct.

"What was I supposed to do?!" she cried again, the back of her hand going up to cover her forehead. Seriously? How idiotically dramatic could she get? "My poor baby brother was set up, I had to do something!"

"If I may interrupt," Fushimi said dryly, tilting his head. "You're in consort with supernatural creatures and you failed to mention this? Or report it?"

She froze again, but Yata jumped to her defense. Quite literally. He placed himself in front of her, between her and Fushimi. "Hey, back off!" he barked. "Hunters don't need to get involved, we can handle this just fine!" He bared his canines at Fushimi, acting purely on instinct as far as Fushimi could tell.

Fushimi clicked his tongue, a silver infused knife slipping into his hand from up his sleeve. "I don't think that's true. It's my job to exterminate such creatures, like shapeshifters and whatever you are.." Yata's eyes shot down to his hand when it started moving to throw the knife, yanking the woman out of the way and rolling to the side. She landed much less gracefully on the ground, scrambling up and back to the safety of her apartment with an exclamation of fear.

Whatever Yata was, he had sharp instincts and was fast. No matter. Fushimi was an experienced hunter, he'd most likely dealt with whatever Yata was. Almost everything hated silver, so he could work with that.

It wasn't his first time entering a fight not knowing exactly what he was up against.

Another knife disappeared from his hand, throwing it in Yata's direction. Yata dodged left as quickly as he had the first time, lurching forward with a snarl. Fushimi was ready and quickly drew his sword. No one was allowed to draw it without permission first, but Fushimi saw this as an 'emergency' for those rare times they were allowed leniency, so he didn't think twice about it. He brought it in front of him protectively, the silver infused blade hopefully warding off whatever Yata was.

It seemed to do the trick, because the creature narrowed its eyes and suddenly flipped back at a distance when he got too close. "What, can't fight up close?" he growled, circling around him slowly with measured movements. Its eyes were glued to him, the glinting gold and dilated pupils making it look even more predatory.

Fushimi wasn't bothered by the gaze, he'd been under it many times before by many different things, and he knew it wouldn't be the last time. "Afraid of a little silver?"

The creature didn't respond like he thought it would, which was honestly a little disappointing. No matter. He rushed forward, his steps quick and precise as he thrust his sword forward. Yata dodged left and threw out his leg to kick Fushimi, but Fushimi was already rolling out of the way and landing in a crouch, throwing two more knives at him. Yata yanked a piece of rusted pipe from the dilapidated building's wall, swinging it like a bat and hitting the two knives away like they were baseballs.

Fushimi stood up slowly, brushing off dirt from his uniform pants. "If you couldn't recognize me as soon as you saw me, I wonder just how much you know about our organization," he commented idly. If he could use Yata's temper to get information out of him before he perished, it might come in handy.

Yata couldn't hold back what sounded like an infuriated, inhuman growl that sent shivers up Fushimi's spine. He was once again grimly reminded of his mortality as a simple human, and was immediately irritated with himself because of it. "Oh, I know about your stupid organization," the creature spat, disgust and rage dripping from every word. "You hunt what you don't understand, claiming to protect the citizens while slaughtering innocent creatures just because we're different and not human! You should be going after the ones that are total dicks-!"

"I'm sorry," Fushimi drawled, picking at the end of his knife nonchalantly. The creature bristled indignantly at the interruption and his casual posture, like he wasn't in the middle of a fight. Fushimi looked back up from his blade with a dangerous smile, tilting his head to the side. "But I don't expect monsters to be filling out personality quizzes." He tossed another knife, aiming right for the creature's head. Yata dodged and leapt at him with an enraged howl- was it just a trick of the light or were his incisors sharper than before? Fushimi smoothly sidestepped, his saber slashing at Yata's torso-

Or, where it was supposed to be.

Yata was suddenly right in front of him, going for his throat. Could he teleport? Was he just that fast? Fushimi barely had time to jerk back, his hand coming up defensively to intercept Yata's sharp teeth. They sank into his palm and part of his pinky like razors, missing the knife in his hand by centimeters. Damn. If he'd burned his mouth up, it might have been worth it.

Fushimi gasped in pain when Yata bit down harder, bringing his other hand with the sword up to slash at him. Only then did Yata let go, jumping back to gain some distance between them before the hit could land. Fushimi looked at his hand to assess the damage- he probably didn't need stitches, but damn did it hurt. He was also bleeding a lot. At least it wasn't his dominant hand, that would have been even more of a pain. He looked back up at Yata just in time to see him lick his blood from his stained, grinning lips. "Where's all that cocky talk now?" he asked mockingly.

Fushimi narrowed his eyes at him. What a rookie move, letting the thing get so close to him. But he'd had worse; this was, quite literally, just a scratch to him. He let the blood drip to the floor, deciding that now was obviously not the time to deal with it even though ew, what kind of germs did that thing have in its mouth how disgusting. Fushimi watched as the creature circled him again, looking for any weak spots that he might have. He relaxed his posture, following him with his eyes. "Perhaps you shouldn't be as cocky as you are.." He swung his blade out, feigning a slash. Yata dodged left, again. How predictable. Fushimi was ready this time, two knives flying from his hand towards the creature.

With a wet 'thunk', one of the blades sunk into Yata's bicep. He let out a pained growl, stumbling to the ground and holding onto his injured arm. Fushimi watched the blood flow out onto the white t-shirt and tensed.

His silver and steel blade wasn't burning it.

Sure, the thing definitely wasn't human, but silver wasn't hurting it at all. It looked like a normal stab wound, bled like one, hurt like one it seemed.

Just what the hell was this thing?

Fushimi didn't stop to ponder it- he couldn't have the luxury of hesitance. He'd think about it later, once the thing was dead. All he needed to know was that it wasn't human, and that was enough in his opinion. He rushed forward, his sword drawn back as he looked down at the smaller male. Yata's eyes met his just as he brought the blade down, widening with fear and terror as his mouth dropped open to beg or scream-

A sword suddenly struck his, stopping the movement a mere foot away from Yata's neck. Fushimi jerked back, looking over to see who had interfered and scowled when he saw who it was.

"I don't believe this was part of your mission, Fushimi," Awashima said sharply, pulling her sword away. "Stand down."

Fushimi clicked his tongue, his heart still racing from the adrenaline of the fight and the anger of being interrupted from his killing blow. "Awashima-san, it's protocol to exterminate supernatural creatures-"

"It's protocol to report your findings in before acting, Fushimi," she replied, narrowing her eyes down at Yata. The teenager paled, scrambling up and hissing as he yanked the knife out of his arm and threw it to the ground. "Get out of here if you know what's good for you.."

Awashima was letting this thing go? "Awashima-san," he spoke up in irritation, wanting to ask her just what the hell she was doing letting a creature go like that, before he was interrupted once again.

"Put away your sword and report to the captain immediately," she ordered, her voice telling him that she meant business and to do as she said. He clicked his tongue, looking over at Yata- well, where he once stood. The only evidence that he'd even been there was Fushimi's throbbing hand and the blood on the ground. He saw the woman in her doorway, clutching her phone and watching with wide eyes. At least she was silent. He slowly slid his sword back into the scabbard, narrowing his eyes at her as he contemplated just why she would let that thing go. Surely she didn't need the captain to authorize a little kill like this one- that was why he had Awashima, to deal with the smaller things that he couldn't be bothered with. At least, that's how Fushimi saw it, anyway. He and Awashima did the mundane things while Munakata sat in his office playing with puzzles, not a care in the world. He apparently cared about this, though, since Awashima was sending Fushimi scurrying back to him with his tail between his legs.

Just what the hell was going on here?

"Awashima-kun tells me that you caught a little trouble during your mission, Fushimi-kun..."

Fushimi resisted the urge to scoff at the amused tone, but couldn't help rolling his eyes. He stood by the door, his hands behind his back as he stared at Munakata. The older male was working on a puzzle, what else, picking up a piece delicately with his long and slender fingers. He held it up in front of him, looking at it- no, through it. He was actually staring intently at Fushimi, he realized belatedly. "What happened?"

"If Awashima-san told you there was a problem, surely she told you what it was," he couldn't help but say, frowning at him in irritation.

"Ah, she did. Very observant," he praised. Fushimi felt one of his eyebrows twitch. A moron could guess that she'd done as much, it wasn't anything special. "However, there were events that unfolded before she arrived. I would like to know what prompted you to attack, Fushimi-kun. You're not one to normally act without thinking.." He finally set the puzzle piece down, locking it in place beside another one.

"Are you implying that I wasn't thinking?" Fushimi asked, getting even more annoyed.

"Of course not," Munakata said pleasantly, his expression not at all changing at the accusation. "I merely assumed that you wouldn't simply jump into a fight. Am I correct?"

How sneaky of him, goading him into explaining like that. "I didn't just jump into a fight," he said, a little defensively. "The woman was consorting with a supernatural creature."

"How did you know he wasn't human?" Munakata asked easily, looking back down at his puzzle and moving another piece with confidence.

Fushimi felt like he was being patronized. He didn't like the feeling at all. "It knew about hunters," he sighed out through gritted teeth. "And I based my suspicions on how it reacted. It was almost like an animal, with how it bared it's fangs and presented itself. But it didn't react to silver..."

Munakata looked up at him, making Fushimi's chest tighten a little from something when the captain looked intrigued by the knowledge. "Oh?" he asked, tilting his head. "How interesting.."

Fushimi clenched his fist, the dry blood cracking from the movement. He hadn't had a chance to patch it up, though no one had noticed it yet. "Do you know what that thing is, sir?" The way Munakata was suddenly deep in thought sure made it seem like he did.

Munakata blinked and smiled at him easily. "You were right to assume that he wasn't human. Your instincts are rather sharp," he commented idly. The way he said it put Fushimi on edge, though. He felt like he was a science experiment under a microscope to be observed by the man in front of him. "What are your instincts telling you now? What do you think that creature was?"

Fushimi almost replied sarcastically, but he paused to actually think about it. Yata had moved inhumanly fast, so fast that he'd managed to pull one over on Fushimi. He wasn't immune to stab wounds but was definitely immune to silver. He had sharpened teeth, almost animalistic instincts..

"I'm not sure," he finally said, the words tasting bitter in his mouth.

Munakata didn't look at him with amused disappointment like he half-expected, however. He just looked at him with a gentle smile. "I'm sure you can figure it out, Fushimi-kun. For now, perhaps you should clean your wounds and rest up. Surely the battle has tired you out."

"What about the mission I was assigned, Captain?" Fushimi didn't particularly care, but work was work and he hated leaving unsolved things on his desk overnight. He was also a little peeved that Munakata had noticed that he was injured- not that he expected any less.

"I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow, when you're well rested," he said pleasantly. "Your hand needs time to heal and you can't work if you're tired. I'm sure the case will still be waiting for you when morning comes."

Fushimi sighed irritably. He didn't need this man's concern... But if he knew anything about his boss, he wouldn't let Fushimi just go back to work. It was getting a little late, anyway... And he could always try to locate the shapeshifter on his personal laptop in his dorm. "Fine," he muttered finally, turning to leave. He ignored Munakata's pleasant goodbyes, heading down the hall towards the bathhouse. He could use a nice soak after all of this, and there most likely wouldn't be anyone there at this time.

It wasn't until he was in his dorm, freshly bathed and hand bandaged, that he realized that Munakata hadn't answered his question when he'd asked what that Yata creature was.