Gaijin

 

    Part 10

 

    I will survive!

 

++++++++++++++++

 

    Carrot sat down on the floor at the
small table that 
now resided in the
middle of his floor. He had a small cup
of tea in his 
hands and looked quite
irritable. The fact that he looked that
way more 
and more seemed to go unnoticed
by his new roommate. She bustled about
the 
room cheerfully; cleaning things
that didn't really need cleaning. 
His
attitude wasn't unusual, especially
since he'd figured out that the 
Youma
were trying to assassinate him along
with the Yakuza. Life sucked in 
general
these days. Then there was Mei Lin.

 

    "Oh! I should start dinner!"
exclaimed the girl as 
she stopped
dusting and moved over to the tiny
refrigerator and microwave 
that rested
in the corner. Most men wouldn't mind
having a woman around to 
cook and clean
for them. Some even insisted on it,
Carrot found it 
somewhat annoying.

 

    "I hate my life."

 

    "That's nice! So, are we going to go
and find the 
evil tonight?" asked the
girl cheerfully as she pushed her
glasses up onto 
her face as she turned
to look at him.

 

    "No," he replied sourly.

 

    "We really should, I mean..."

 

    "The evil will find us on its own,
believe me," he 
muttered as he put his
forehead on the table and sighed.

 

    "Oh," said the girl as she blinked
at his reply. "Are 
you sure?"

 

    "Unfortunately, yes," he responded
as he picked his 
head up to glare at
her.

 

    "Well, at least you don't have to
face the darkness 
alone! Now you have my
help!"

 

    "You couldn't beat a pile of shit,"
he replied as he 
put his head back down
on the table. He sat upright again and
frowned as 
he glanced around. "I'm
bored."

 

    The girl looked at him again. "Are
you sure you don't 
want to go searching
for evil tonight?"

 

    "Yes, I'd go outside, but I know it
will find me if I 
do," he responded with
a small sigh. "Maybe I'll play a game?"
He looked 
over at his television and the
game system that had a small pile of
disks 
stacked next to it neatly.

 

    There was a knock at the door and
Carrot blinked. 
"Huh?" He stood up and
walked over to open it. Gia was standing
there 
looking at him with a grin on her
face. "What's up?"

 

    "Well, aren't you cheerful today?"
said the woman as 
she smirked at him.

 

    "Not really," he replied with a
small shrug. "Did you 
want something?"

 

    "I'd like to talk with your
girlfriend," said the 
woman with a
slight smirk.

 

    "Oh. Hello Dr. Mizura," said the
girl cheerfully as 
she walked up behind
him and smiled.

 

    "Hello dear, why don't you come with
me. The grouch 
will probably appreciate
a little time alone."

 

    "The grouch would appreciate a lot
of time alone 
actually," replied the boy
as he snorted and turned away 
in
disinterest.

 

+++++++++++++++

 

    "So, how are things with him
lately?" asked Gia as 
she smirked at the
girl sitting with her.

 

    Mei Lin sipped on the tea she had
been given and 
sighed. "Fine I guess, he
doesn't do much."

 

    Gia sighed and rolled her eyes. "I
figured as much, 
that lazy bum. All he
did before was sit around his apartment
as much as 
he could. I had to twist his
arm to get him to even get a job."

 

    "Really? He seems so...active."

 

    "Really? And he complains about me
and Spike, that 
dog," said Gia with a
small frown on her face.

 

    "He's always training, I've been
here for a week and 
it seems that's all
he does besides sitting around in front
of the 
TV."

 

    Gia blinked at this. "You mean you
haven't...?"

 

    "Haven't what?" said the girl
obliviously.

 

    "Never mind," said Gia as she shook
her head for a 
moment.

 

    "Okay," said the girl cheerfully.
"He doesn't spend 
much time working
though."

 

    "Yeah, it's sort of an easy job, he
works with my 
boyfriend," said Gia with
a small shrug.

 

    "What does he do anyway? He's never
told me about 
it," said Mei Lin with a
small frown of her own.

 

    "Really? He's sort of a delivery boy
for a guy in the 
neighborhood. It pays
pretty well," replied the woman with a
small shrug. 
"I'm not sure of the
details myself."

 

    The Chinese girl sighed and pushed
her glasses onto 
her face a little more.
Gia noted it as a nervous habit the girl
had 
developed. She seemed somewhat
anxious about him. "I wish I knew 
more
about him."

 

    "He's certainly not the friendly
type, I'm surprised 
to see a girl like
you with him," said Gia.

 

    "He's really a very kind person,"
said the girl 
immediately.

 

    Gia almost choked on her tea, but
managed to calm 
herself a bit. "Um,
okay. I guess he's not all that bad."

 

    "Despite his gruff nature, he's a
very gentle person. 
I've never seen him
do more than raise his voice at me a
little. Even then 
it's not bad."

 

    "Well, I certainly hope not!" said
Gia with a 
slightly irritated frown.

 

    "He's supposed to be helping me
though. I'm not sure 
what kind of powers
he has, we need to destroy this evil
that plagues 
Japan together." Mei Lin
looked slightly irritated as she glanced
at the 
wall that separated the two
rooms.

 

    "Right," grumbled Gia with her frown
growing a little 
wider. "Fight evil. I
can't believe that pervert is taking
advantage 
of..."

 

    "Huh? Why is fighting evil
perverted?" asked Mei Lin 
in genuine
confusion.

 

    Gia blinked at this, apparently this
girl had no clue 
about what the boy was
obviously doing to her! She was
delusional! "Look, 
he's a boy right?"

 

    "Uh huh," said Mei Lin.

 

    "Don't you think he might be taking
advantage of you? 
I mean, fighting evil?
Come on! That little pervert! I can't
believe he'd 
stoop to this!"

 

    "Do you really think he might take
advantage of me?!" 
said the girl in what
looked like worry.

 

    "You never thought about that?" said
Gia as her jaw 
dropped.

 

    "My sister will be so jealous!" said
the girl 
cheerfully.

 

    Gia's head hit the table in
frustration.

 

++++++++++++++++++

 

    Carrot was blissfully alone, he had
a huge grin on 
his face as he stretched
out across the floor and deliberately
toppled the 
neat stack of game disks
that sat beside the game console. A bag
of chips 
was strewn at his side, with a
number of the chips spread out on 
the
floor. He also had a soda without a
coaster on the table. He was 
feeling
quite rebellious at the moment.

 

    Suddenly he sat up and blinked.
"Man, I'm so 
pathetic!" He hung his head
and sighed. Without another word he
cleaned up 
his mess and put a coaster
under the can. "I wish, I wish, I wish,
I had a 
spine."

 

    He glanced around the room and stood
up, walking over 
to the closet. He
opened it and sighed as the girl's
clothes now took up 
more than half of
the space in there. Gia had been rather
generous in 
dumping a lot of old clothes
off on her. The pair wore the same 
size
almost, Gia was a little larger, but Mei
Lin liked clothes that hung 
a little
loosely. She was cute, but in a sort of
dorky way. Carrot hadn't 
really thought
about it much, it didn't matter how cute
she was, and he 
just wanted to figure
out a way to get rid of her. He could
probably 
rationalize it and toss her
out. He'd offered to pay for her flight
home 
after all, and he didn't really
need to do more. He couldn't bring
himself 
to toss the girl back onto the
street again though. Morals were
annoying, 
he needed to see what he could
do about that.

 

    He snorted as he shoved her clothes
aside and pulled 
his dogi off its
hanger. Getting a bit of exercise would
do him some good. 
He changed clothes,
not caring if she came in and saw him.
With a quick 
jerk, he pulled the black
belt tight and nodded to himself as he
walked 
towards the door. He reached for
it and paused just before he opened 
it.
"What the hell am I thinking?" he
muttered irritably as he grabbed 
the
knob and jerked it open. He strolled
outside and slammed it shut 
forcefully,
full of determination. The rebellious
feeling coursed through 
him again as he
started down the hall. "I don't believe
this!" he grumbled 
as he stopped
suddenly and hung his head. "I really am
this 
pathetic!"

 

    He turned on his heels and went back
into the room, 
scrawling out a quick
note. "Gone for some training to clear
my head, be 
back later." He sighed and
left it on the table before he walked
out the 
door again feeling like a
complete ass. "I really do hate my
life."

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

    The park was quiet, there were
couples off in quiet 
corners, and
children playing happily nearby. It was
blissful, serene, and 
had a lot of open
space. Carrot ignored most of this of
course as he found 
himself a nice patch
of grass in the open to practice in. The
place was 
about a block from his home,
and it was away from the damn woman. She
had 
an irritating habit of following him
up to the roof and trying to 
converse
with him while he was practicing.

 

    He was performing a Bo kata with an
iron poll that he 
had found. He now knew
that finding them was anything but a
coincidence, 
and was growing more and
more suspicious of their origins. The
thought had 
even occurred to him that he
might be creating them somehow, but 
he
couldn't figure out how he was doing it
if that was the case. It was 
a
frustrating enigma for him, but one he
had grown to accept.

 

    As he finished the exercise he
smirked to himself as 
he realized that a
small  crowd had gathered to watch in
the 
distance. No one got very close
though, and he was mostly ignored. 
His
practice was little more than atmosphere
for the park than anything 
else. He
wiped his brow with the sleeve of his
dogi and relaxed his 
stance, it was
rather nice out that day. The sun was
shining, and there 
was a tiny breeze
that rustled the treetops. He frowned
suddenly as he 
realized that things had
been going a little smoothly for him
lately. 
"Well, let's see how long it
takes. A thousand one, a thousand two, 
a
thousand three..."

 

    "You!"

 

    Carrot cringed and hung his head
with a heavy sigh. 
"Hello." His tone was
deadpan as he turned around to face the
girl that 
was staring him down angrily.

 

    It was Makoto, Sailor Jupiter,
whatever she wanted to 
be called. He
frowned as she simply glared at him
hatefully. "What are you 
doing here?"

 

    "Practicing martial arts, are you
blind, or just 
stupid?" he replied
curtly as he returned her glare evenly.
"Go 
away."

 

    "So, you think you're a martial
artist do you?" she 
snorted as she
glanced around.

 

    "Too many people around to
transform?" he chuckled as 
he spun the
pole in his hand and planted it into the
ground firmly. It was 
a rather
impressive pose really, he was quite
proud of himself.

 

    "What would you know about the art?"
she snorted in 
disgust.

 

    "Don't you go calling me a Gaijin
half-breed," 
snorted Carrot irritably as
he turned his head away.

 

    Makoto gaped at this. "How dare
you?!"

 

    "I thought I told you to leave! If
you don't want to 
be insulted, don't
hang around," he replied calmly. "I'm
having a good 
day, I don't need you or
your half dressed friends to ruin it."

 

    "Well tough!" snapped the girl
angrily as she stepped 
back away from
him slightly.

 

    Carrot snorted. "I've never attacked
you before. Why 
would I start now? Just
get lost brat. Leave me alone."

 

    Makoto frowned at this and seemed to
consider her 
options. "I should..."

 

    "What?" snorted Carrot. "Fine. I'll
leave then." He 
turned away from her and
started walking.

 

    "Where do you think you're going?!"
cried the girl as 
she started after him.

 

    Carrot turned quickly, and the girl
jumped back 
slightly in response to
that.

 

    "You sure are jumpy," he commented
idly as he looked 
her up and down for a
moment.

 

    "I can't let you escape!" she
snarled as she tensed 
her body.

 

    Carrot blinked at this and simply
stared at her. 
"Escape?"

 

    "You threatened my friends!"

 

    "Only if they don't leave me alone,
you're getting 
dangerously close to
that, Kino," he replied as he narrowed
his eyes at 
her. "Stop bothering me, and
we'll get along fine."

 

    "I can't do that! You're dangerous!"
she 
replied.

 

    "A snake only strikes if you provoke
it," replied 
Carrot carefully. He was
starting to get nervous, Makoto was a
little too 
on edge for his liking. She
seemed ready to attack him, not that 
he
couldn't handle her as she was at the
moment. It would attract a lot 
of
unwanted attention, something that was
already happening.

 

    Makoto paused to consider his words.
"You're in 
league with the enemy aren't
you? Admit it!"

 

    "What enemy? Who are they? What do
they want?" he 
responded coolly. "Your
paranoia is starting to grow
bothersome."

 

    Makoto was at a loss at how to
respond to that. 
"I...damn..."

 

    "See? Don't start accusing me of
things you don't 
even know about
yourself," he said as he turned to start
walking again, 
only to find himself
staring at another familiar figure.
"Shit."

 

    "It's about time you got here!"
growled Makoto.

 

    Carrot cursed under his breath.
Makoto had been 
trying to stall him, and
she'd succeeded admirably. "I can't
believe I 
fell for this."

 

    "So. We've found you," said Sailor
Mars with a 
vicious looking smirk on her
face as she glared at him hatefully.

 

    "There goes my day," grumbled Carrot
with a small 
sigh. "Don't you have a
youma to fight or something, Hino?"

 

    Usagi appeared nearby to Rei with a
small, frightened 
looking frown on her
face.

 

    Ami walked up on the red clad
senshi's other side. 
"He wasn't
bluffing!" She looked almost as
surprised as Usagi.

 

    "Great, the whole gang," grumbled
Carrot as he 
noticed Minako move up
beside Makoto. The brunette glanced
around and 
started to back off. She
wasn't transformed like her friends
were.

 

    "What are you going to do? Attack me
in the open?" he 
snorted as he glanced
around. They were the center of
attention in the 
park now. The crowd was
steadily growing and the Senshi looked
around. 
"That will do wonders for your
image I'm sure."

 

    "Damn," growled Minako.

 

    "What's he talking about?" asked
Usagi dumbly.

 

    "If we attack him now..." said Ami
as she looked 
around at the crowd. "It
will make us look very bad."

 

    "So what?" snorted Rei.

 

    "You don't get it do you? I haven't
done anything," 
said Carrot as he
smirked at her. "Attack me here, and
you'll be the 
criminals."

 

    "He attacked Makoto!" said Rei
irritably.

 

    "He never touched her," said Ami
calmly. She looked 
angry and frustrated.

 

    "I'm leaving now," said Carrot as he
started walking 
towards Usagi. She moved
out of his way and blinked as he winked
at her as 
he passed.

 

    "Wait!" snarled Rei.

 

    "There's nothing we can do right
now," said Ami with 
a sort of calm
coming over her.

 

    "Maybe we should just leave him
alone?" ventured 
Usagi. "He really
hasn't done anything."

 

    "What? Are you insane? He's
dangerous! He knows who 
we really are!"
said Rei as she whirled around and
stared her down. 
"Meatball head!"

 

    "She might be right," said Ami.

 

    This caught the other girls by
surprise.

 

    "He hasn't done anything yet,"
continued the girl. 
"I'm starting to
believe he won't. He's a jerk, but he's
never attacked us 
without provocation."

 

    "What? He attacked me!" snarled Rei.
"You all saw 
that!"

 

    "You struck first," pointed out Ami.
"We almost 
killed him for it."

 

    "What's with you all of a sudden?"
asked Makoto. 
"Luna says..."

 

    "Luna said we shouldn't trust
Usagi's boyfriend 
either," replied Ami.

 

    Usagi was somewhat perplexed by
this. "Well..."

 

    "He's dangerous!" snarled Rei
hatefully. "He has to 
be..."

 

    "What? Killed?" snapped Ami. "I'm
not a 
murderer!"

 

    This silenced all the arguments.

 

    "I don't like him either, but the
fact is he hasn't 
done anything."

 

    "That youma we saw him talking
too..." ventured 
Rei.

 

    "He says he was turning him down,"
said Ami calmly. 
"I haven't seen
anything that tells me it was a lie."

 

    "We decided he had to be destroyed,"
said Rei 
coolly.

 

    "We should discuss this elsewhere,"
said Ami as she 
noticed the crowd was
starting to edge closer to them. They
were still 
confused by the scene, and
were muttering amongst themselves. "I'm
sorry 
Rei, but as things are right now,
I can't kill him."

 

    The girls dispersed and the crowd
ambled around for a 
moment. Hidden in
the branches of a nearby tree, Carrot
frowned to himself 
as he took all of
this in. "Well, things might be starting
to go my way." 
He smirked to himself and
watched the crowd below him for a time.
"It's 
about fuckin time!" he muttered
distastefully.

 

    After a few minutes, interest in the
area dropped to 
zero, and he jumped down
from his hiding place. "Not that this
helps with 
my other problem much." He
frowned and leaned against the trunk 
in
thought. "Those Youma want me
dead...why? What's the connection 
I'm
missing here, first they want me, then
they want me dead? Is it 
because I
refused them?" It was a very real
possibility, but it didn't sit 
well with
him. He had a bad feeling it was more
than that.

 

    He cocked his head and blinked for a
moment after 
mulling over it. "Hey, you
don't suppose that...nah! Couldn't be."
He 
shook his head for a moment and
laughed to himself. "I wonder who the
hell 
else I'll run into today?"

 

++++++++++++++++++++

 

    "He's still alive," growled the
Oyabun as he stared 
into the shadows of
the corner of his office angrily.

 

    "He is not an easy target," replied
the shadow that 
stood out of sight
somewhere in the darkness. The blinds
were closed on 
the window allowing more
darkness to fill the room than normal. A
small 
dim desk lamp was the only light
in the room.

 

    "You said he'd be dead by now,"
growled the old man 
irritably.

 

    "We underestimated him," replied the
shadow calmly. 
"It's a matter of time,
that is all."

 

    "My organization won't stand for
failure," said the 
old man icily.

 

    "You're a convenience, nothing
more," replied the 
shadow calmly. "Don't
go thinking we need you old man."

 

    "Enough of this pointless
bickering," said another 
voice. It was
old, and forceful. A smaller figure
melted out of the 
shadows, he was a
short and frail looking old man, but his
fluid motions 
hinted at a hidden power.
"Arguing about it won't solve the
problem. We 
are working to correct it,
but this man is more than he seems."

 

    "Obviously," replied the Oyabun.

 

    "I suspect Mitsuki is hiding
something from me," said 
the old man as
he turned to look at the other shadow.
"I'm wondering if 
you know anything
about that?"

 

    "What would we care?" snarled the
Shadow in 
disgust.

 

    "Hmmm, I see," said the old man with
a short nod. 
"Still, this boy bothers
me. His skill is nothing to be scoffed
at. Kasumi 
was almost inhuman in his
ability. If he was able to defeat
her..."

 

    "Heh, you suspect that he is with
us?" said the other 
shadow calmly.

 

    "It had crossed my mind, but I feel
it is unlikely," 
replied the old man
with an equally even voice. "I don't
trust you."

 

    The shadow said nothing in reply to
this.

 

    "It doesn't matter, I will serve my
duty to my clan, 
and my master," said
the old man with a heavy sigh.

 

    "Tread carefully old man," said the
other shadow 
icily.

 

    "The Youma, they are becoming
bothersome as well," 
said the Oyabun
suddenly. "My operations are suffering
losses because of 
these  things."

 

    "How so?" asked the shadow.

 

    "A few of our front operations
were...taken over so 
to speak. Usually
to set a trap for those girls that have
been running 
around killing them. A few
of our jewelry and money laundering have
been 
targeted," said the old man with a
rough snort.

 

    "I'll see what I can do about that,"
said the 
shadow.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

    Carrot was walking home, it was a
five minute trek, 
so what could go
wrong?

 

    He paused in the middle of the
street, a strange 
tingling sensation
started on the back of his neck and he
frowned. "What 
the?" he muttered as he
scratched at it. It almost felt like the
area had 
gone to sleep. "That's weird,"
he muttered to himself idly as he rubbed
at 
it for a moment.  He was standing on
the sidewalk in the middle of town, 
a
few pedestrians walked by and he stepped
forward again. The tingling 
stopped for
a moment, and then started again. Once
again, he sidestepped 
and it faltered
for a moment before starting all over
again. "What the 
heck?" he muttered as
he stepped from side to side for a
moment. After a 
few seconds it remained
constant. He blinked and ducked, and it
stopped 
again, only to start again in
the exact same place, he frowned as 
he
realized that it moved slightly. It
seemed to be shifting a tiny bit 
along
the back of his neck, focused on a
single point. "This is weird." 
He
continued to move around, oblivious to
the odd stares he was getting. 
After a
moment something popped into his mind
and he turned around.

 

    The sensation moved onto his face,
and he shifted 
around a little more.
"Okay, Carrot, your life is weird
enough, this isn't 
what you're thinking,
I'm sure of it." He tensed his body and
moved around 
a bit more, jumping back
and fourth now. The sensation was never
more than 
a half second away though, and
it always returned. This time it moved
onto 
his chest, and upper torso as it
seemed to try to keep up with 
his
movements. He narrowed his eyes and
searched around as he moved. 
"There!"
His eyes moved up to a window nearby,
and he saw a small glint of 
light. "Oh
shit."

 

    He dove away and rolled behind a
mailbox on the 
corner. His heart racing
as he gripped the iron pole that he knew
would be 
there. He turned his head and
stared at the hole that now resided in
the 
metal box just beside his neck. It
was about two inches wide. "Sniper," 
he
muttered to himself fearfully. "Man,
this really sucks."

 

+++++++++++++++++++

 

    Akira growled as he adjusted his
aim. He was in his 
late twenties and had
slicked back black hair. He was wearing
a 
three-piece suit, rather like that of
a common salary man. "This is 
insane!"
he said to himself as he glared through
the sight of his rifle 
and tried to keep
a bead on the target. He was leaning
against the 
windowsill of an abandoned
apartment. "Does he see me?" he muttered
to 
himself as his target started to jump
around. "Son of a..." The boy looked 
up
at him and frowned, his eyes growing
wide as he rolled away. He took 
the
shot, and missed. "Shit! How the fuck
did he notice me?" growled the 
man
angrily. He stood up and shifted behind
the window where no one could 
see him.
The rifle was silenced, and no one
seemed to notice the 
shot.

 

    "Son of a bitch, this kid is good,"
he growled as he 
peered down into the
street and noticed that his target was
gone. "Damn." 
He dismantled the rifle
and put it back into the hidden
compartment of the 
briefcase he had
brought with him. It looked plain, and
unimportant, yet 
another part of his
disguise. He growled and grit his teeth
as he backed 
away into the apartment and
away from the window. He glanced down at
the 
photo in his palm and snorted. It
was a picture of Carrot, he had a 
staff
in his hand and looked like he was in
the middle of a fight, 
probably taken in
the heat of a battle with someone from
the organization. 
The fact that he was
still alive at all told him that the job
probably 
wouldn't be easy. He'd had a
hell of a time finding an area where the
boy 
passed regularly, and had spent the
better part of a week waiting on 
him.

 

    He looked at the small cell phone
that he had just 
taken out of his pocket
and growled. He dialed the number he had
been 
given and didn't wait for a
response from the other end. "The target
is 
still alive." He hung up and cursed
under his breath. "Damn it."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++

 

    Carrot was pressed against a wall in
an alley, 
waiting for the strange
sensation to return in the shadows. It
didn't and 
he simply waited in the
darkness. "Well, ain't this peachy.
Seems I've 
developed a Spider sense." He
wasn't sure if this should annoy him 
or
not.  He gave a heavy sigh and sat down
on the pavement for a 
moment, mulling
over this new development. "It's kinda
cool I suppose, but 
the fact that I seem
to need it sucks. That was too close."
He turned his 
head and looked down the
alley. It looked like he'd have to start
taking 
the long way home. It added
another ten minutes to his walk, which
wasn't 
good. It would probably be best
to avoid the area for a while. He
growled 
under his breath, assassins were
annoying, and he had no clue how to 
deal
with this kind of threat. "Shit. Damn
them for being so 
inconvenient!"

 

    A year ago he'd probably think
himself insane for 
thinking of people
trying to kill him as annoying for
merely making him go 
out of his way
again.

 

    The boy sighed and hung his head.
"Why the hell not?" 
He chuckled and
started walking through the alley. "I'm
turning into 
Spider Man, next thing you
know, I'll be sticking to walls." He
wouldn't 
be surprised if he managed it.

 

    If course, the sensation started
again and he sighed 
as he jumped
straight up into the air. This time it
had been a straight 
line across his
belly.

 

    Out of  the darkness, a familiar arm
with a 
familiar knife slashed at where
he had been. Kei stumbled out of 
the
shadows, having over committed  herself
to the strike. "Damn it!" 
she cried as
he came down behind her and jabbed the
pole in his hand into 
her back.

 

    Carrot stared at it for a moment
after watching her 
fall over his
shoulder. She was sprawled out flat and
the pole held his 
interest more than she
did. "I'm making these somehow." It was
a sort of 
uninspired statement. It had
appeared in his hand in midair. He
pushed it 
aside as the girl stood up and
glared at him. "Akira missed?"

 

    "If you mean the sniper, yeah,"
replied Carrot 
calmly. He looked more
annoyed than anything else.

 

    "Akira never misses," she replied
dumbly.

 

    "Well he did this time? Did you want
something, or 
are you just trying to
kill me again?" he said sourly as he
glared at her 
for a moment.

 

    "Well, we could put it off for an
hour or two if 
you'd like," said the
girl as she gave him a sultry smile and
pulled on 
the front of her gi, giving
him a small peak at her cleavage.

 

    "We already discussed that, you're
not my type," he 
responded as he pulled
his pole into a defensive position in
front of 
him.

 

    "Too bad," she said as she flicked
her wrist at him 
and tossed the throwing
star she had grabbed while teasing him.

 

    Carrot shifted his weight before she
even moved, the 
new tingling sensation
alerting him to the danger. The tip of
his pole 
intercepted the weapon and it
clattered to the ground at his feet.

 

    Kei noticed this and jumped back
with her knife held 
ready. "You didn't
used to be that fast."

 

    "You're getting predictable," he
responded 
calmly.

 

    The girl narrowed her eyes at him.
"So are you, how 
do you think we found
you this time? We've been watching you
in this area 
for a week."

 

    "Well, it's a learning experience,"
he replied calmly 
as he narrowed his
eyes at her.

 

    Kei snorted and charged forward.

 

    Carrot felt the places on his body
where the strikes 
were aimed and dodged
around them with seemingly no effort.
This was 
starting to be pretty cool in
his opinion. Occasionally, he'd react
too 
soon and the tingling would shift on
his body as she corrected herself, 
he
always had a half-second warning though
and managed to avoid it.

 

    "You're reading my moves?" gasped
the girl in shock 
as he jumped back away
from her and landed on the ground near
the wall. He 
was looking rather
impressed with himself at the moment.

 

    "Maybe I am, you're just getting
easier to deal 
with," he replied calmly.
"Maybe I should thank you for all 
this
training."

 

    "Smug bastard," she snorted
irritably. "I'm really 
starting to like
you. Too bad you have to die."

 

    "I'm starting to think that's a bit
beyond you," he 
replied coolly.

 

    Kei turned red with anger, and
Carrot's whole body 
started to tingle.
"Uh oh," he said as his eyes grew wide.

 

    What followed was a rather nasty
experience, Kei had 
pulled dozens of
throwing weapons out of her clothes, and
was flinging 
them at him relentlessly.
He took quite a few light hits as he
dodged 
desperately around them and
jumped into he air, twisting his body to
avoid 
the onslaught as he managed to use
one of the wires hidden in his 
sleeves
to swing along one of the walls.

 

    Unfortunately, Kei had been
expecting this reaction 
this time, and
she jumped onto the opposite wall,
springing off of it with 
her knife held
ready as he moved by.

 

    Carrot grunted in pain as the weapon
caught his face. 
He fell to the ground
clutching the wound painfully. Blood
seeped through 
his fingers as he held
the right side of his face and cried out
in pain. 
"Augh! Damn it!"

 

    "I have you!" screamed the girl as
she twisted after 
the strike and fell
into him with the knife held forward. He
screamed 
again as it sank into his left
forearm for about an inch.

 

    Without thinking he pushed at her
with his legs, 
shoving her off before
the knife sank in any deeper. The girl
stumbled 
back and quickly righted
herself in a ready position. "At last!"

 

    Carrot jumped upright with a roar of
anger and pain. 
He landed on his feet
and glared at her, blood covering the
right half of 
his face from the very
nasty looking gash that now ran from his
eyebrow to 
near the bottom of his cheek.
"That hurt!"

 

    "It gets better," replied the girl
with an evil 
looking smirk on her face.
She started to edge forward and lunged
again 
with the knife.

 

    Carrot grunted as he shifted to the
side and swung 
his pole up at an angle,
forcing her to stop and duck. He kicked
off a 
nearby dumpster and flipped in mid
air with his legs extended in 
what
appeared to be a hooking kick aimed for
her head.

 

    Kei moved under him, trying to stab
upwards, but 
instead of a kick, Carrot
twisted and punched her in the face with
his 
free hand halfway through the flip.
Kei was thrown into the wall from 
the
force of the blow and he landed in a
kneeling position with his staff 
held
ready.

 

    Kei shook her head and managed to
regain her senses 
rather quickly, while
Carrot's mind moved into a familiar mode
of thought. 
"Gotta get away! Gotta get
away!" He was berating himself mentally
as 
well, he'd gotten cocky, and it had
gotten him nearly killed. He hated 
to
think of what might have happened of the
Senshi had called his bluff in 
the park.
He'd probably be a half-frozen pile of
ash right now.

 

    Kei jumped forward on the attack
again, his new sense 
almost forgotten
through the pain he was feeling at the
moment. He managed 
to realize the
feeling and jumped back away from the
slash. She twisted 
and stabbed back
after the arcing slice, forcing him into
the wall. With a 
final thrust, she
stabbed the wall as he ducked down under
the strike and 
lashed out with his fist.

 

    The girl lurched forward with the
wind knocked out of 
her for a moment.
She growled angrily as he found yet
another of those 
damn poles and held it
offensively. He poked at her, and
missed.

 

    "Your aim's off," she commented with
a small 
chuckle.

 

    "I realize that," he responded
icily. He edged back 
towards the center
of the alley and started to move away.

 

    "Trying to run away? Why don't we
just finish this?" 
she said calmly. "Or
are you not so far beyond me as you 
had
thought?"

 

    Carrot only growled in response to
this.

 

    Kei jumped forward, closing the
distance between 
them, or rather she
tried too.

 

    Carrot snorted and threw the pole in
his hands at her 
as she jumped forward.
It slammed into her chest and she
grunted in pain 
as she was thrown
against the asphalt roughly. She coughed
painfully as 
she struggled to breathe as
her vision blurred. "Damn!" she managed
to 
groan as he slashed at the air above
her with her knife, hoping 
desperately
to catch him as he tried to take
advantage of the situation. 
After a
moment she could breathe again, and she
jumped up and searched 
around. Carrot
was gone. "Son of a..." She pushed her
hair up in 
frustration and paced around
for a moment. "That bastard!"

 

    "Who's a bastard?" said a voice from
behind her. She 
tried to turn to see who
it was, but pain exploded across the
back of her 
head as Carrot slammed his
pole into her head like it was a
baseball bat. 
She was knocked out cold.

 

    He spit onto the ground to the side
as he kicked her 
over onto her back and
smirked. "Heh, you ain't bad looking,
but no way am 
I going to settle for that
old guy's sloppy seconds." He kneeled
down 
beside her and picked up the knife.
"This has caused me a lot of 
problems
from you." He flipped it over in his
hands for a moment and 
smirked as he
walked away and left her lying there.

 

    Once he was out on the street again,
his smirk fell 
away as the throbbing
pain in his face reminded him that he
was injured. 
His adrenaline rush stopped
with the force of a mach truck and he
almost 
fell to his knees as he clutched
at his face in agony. "Damn!"

 

    He staggered forward towards his
home and frowned at 
the group he
suddenly found himself facing on the
sidewalk. The street was 
empty except
for them, and it was starting to get
late. "Twice in one 
day?"

 

    The senshi were no longer in their
fuku, but they 
were all looking at him
in a sort of numb horror.

 

    "Are you all right?" said Usagi.

 

    "Do I look all right to you?" he
growled as he stared 
at her with his one
good eye. His hand was pressed against
his face in an 
attempt to slow the
bleeding.

 

    "You're hurt! We should..." said the
blond as she 
moved towards him. The
others weren't sure what to do.

 

    "Get away from me!" he cried as he
swiped at her and 
jumped back. Anger
contorted his face and he suddenly
realized something 
was wrong.

 

    The girls all froze in place. Usagi
blinked at him 
and stood upright.

 

    "Oh shit..." muttered Carrot as he
simply stared, 
unable to move.

 

    A long line of red started to form
on the girl's 
neck. He simply stared in
horror as Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon,
made a 
gurgling noise and spit blood out
of her mouth. She looked like she 
hadn't
quite realized what had happened yet.

 

    "Oh god no," muttered Carrot as he
continued to 
watch. The girl fell to her
knees, looking at him in confusion. Her
eyes 
asking him why he had done it.
Slowly, he turned his head down towards
the 
knife in his hand. He had almost
forgotten it was there, blood 
dripped
from the blade and he could only hear
the pounding of his heart . 
"What have
I..." Slowly, he turned his gaze towards
the girl who was now 
lying face first on
the pavement, and the growing pool of
blood on the 
ground beneath her.

 

    "Usagi!" It was the first sound he
heard, he wasn't 
even sure who had said
it.

 

    Without another word, he jumped
forward, rolling the 
girl onto her back.
He planted the knife into the ground and
punched 
Makoto dead in her face. He
fumbled at the wound, wiping the blood
away 
desperately. Pulling the girl back
as her friends tried desperately to 
get
to her. He felt hands pulling at him and
jumped up suddenly. He 
performed a
spinning kick that hit at least two of
them. Pulling the 
injured girl a little
further away from them he peered at the
wound again. 
She was starting to turn
blue.

 

    "She's choking on her own blood!" he
realized at 
once, the artery wasn't
severed. He looked up at the girls
desperately as 
the managed to pry him
away again. "She's suffocating you
idiots!" he 
screamed as he broke free of
them. "We have to get her to breathe!
She's 
going to drown!"

 

    Muscling his way through them he
rolled the girl onto 
her back again, and
blood poured out of her mouth. :"What
the fuck? What 
do I do?" he whispered
harshly.

 

    Ami Mizuno was the one who finally
came through. 
Carrot had knocked her
away for a third time, and she had a
nasty looking 
bruise on her face as she
knelt beside her friend and made no
attempt to 
subdue him this time. He was
roughly pulled away by the others and
Makoto 
and Rei shoved him against the
wall roughly, finally bringing him 
under
control. He simply looked on in a sort
of fascinated horror as Ami 
took a dirty
straw off the sidewalk and plunged it
into the wound. Blood 
squirted out of it
for a moment  and then there was a sort
of hissing 
sound.

 

    Carrot looked at the girl's face as
she lay there. 
She was staring straight
up into the sky, and worked her mouth
open and 
closed as she tried to breathe.

 


        Finally pain exploded across 
his
face again, Makoto punched him; he
wasn't sure how many times he'd 
been hit
in the end. Rei helped hold him against
the wall with Minako 
taking his other
side as the brunette laid into him with
tears in her 
eyes.

 

    "Bastard! You killed her!" she
screamed at him 
repeatedly.

 

    He simply stood there and took it,
his head hung low 
as she beat on him. He
didn't even try to stop her.

 

    Ami's firm proclamation stopped this
though. "That's 
enough! We have to get
her to a hospital!" she screamed. "I
need help! I 
can't stop the blood! I
need someone else to help me hold the
wound! My 
hands aren't big enough!"

 

    Carrot felt hands leave his body and
he almost fell 
to the ground. Someone
managed to hold him upright and he
raised his eyes 
enough to see Rei
glaring at him. "I'm going to kill you."
Statement, 
promise, he wasn't sure what
it was.

 

    Makoto and Minako were both at
Usagi's side with Ami 
giving
instructions.  The whole thing was
little more than a blur to 
him. "You'll
try." He wasn't sure if it was what he'd
intended to say, or 
just a reflex. He
realized at that moment that he really
was an 
asshole.

 

    Rei jumped back, Carrot noticed
Minako was rushing 
off, probably in
search of a phone.

 

    "Mars Power Makeup!"

 

    Carrot was slumped against the wall,
looking at 
Sailor Mars's legs for a
moment. "How dare you?!" screamed the
angry 
senshi.

 

    Carrot staggered to his feet and
looked up at her. "I 
guess I'm going
down, in a blaze of glory."

 

    This caught the raven-haired senshi
by surprise and 
she stepped back.

 

    "Maybe I don't deserve to live
anymore, but I'll die 
fighting," he said
calmly as he rose his head upright and
stared her down. 
His wound bleeding
freely and giving him an air of
intimidation he'd never 
intended.

 

    "Fine by me," said Rei as she moved
her hands up to 
attack. "Mars Fire..."

 

    "Your attacks take too long for
close combat!" he 
responded as he jumped
forward and punched her in the chest.
She staggered 
back, hurt by the blow.
She didn't care though and kicked at
him. He 
shifted and avoided the strike.

 

    Ami and Makoto watched the battle
silently, neither 
one took their
attention off the girl lying between
them for more than a 
moment. "Hold on
Usagi! Help is coming!" said Ami
desperately.

 

    The girl simply continued to stare
into the 
sky.

 

    Carrot growled as he jumped back
into another alley. 
Mars was right
behind him as he turned to face her. He
had no intention of 
running away this
time.

 

    "Bastard! Die!" screamed Mars as she
extended her 
hand. "Fire Soul!"

 

    Carrot jumped up and caught the
bottom of a fire 
escape ladder, he
heaved himself up and grunted from the
heat of the 
flames below him.

 

    "No you don't!" snapped Mars as she
jumped up onto 
the first rung of stairs
just behind him as he started to ascend.

 


    "Come on! Let's see if you've got
what it 
takes!?" he snarled as he
punched her again and pushed her back a
little. 
She responded by kicking him in
his legs. He stumbled a bit and 
fell
against the metal staircase. He growled
and flipped back  as she 
tried to punch
him. Her fist slammed into the metal and
she grunted in 
pain.

 

    Carrot lashed out with a kick that
managed to catch 
her face. They traded
blows, all the way up to the top of the
fire escape, 
and he jumped onto the
roof.

 

    "We'll hunt you down and destroy you
monster!" cried 
the girl angrily as she
charged another ball of flames and shot
it at him, 
not even bothering to shout
its name.

 

    Carrot rolled away from the shot as
a chimney 
exploded in a spectacular ball
of fire. He pushed himself back onto 
his
feet. Distance fighting wasn't very
smart against Mars, and he knew 
it. He
rushed forward, hoping to close the gap
between them before she 
could retaliate
with another fire attack. Halfway there,
a familiar tingle 
came to him on his
back. "What the?"

 

    Mars snarled as he charged her,
suddenly he jumped 
sideways and she
jumped back in shock. A mess of sharp
looking throwing 
knives could be seen
embedded where he had once been.

 

    "You're having one hell of a day,"
said Kei as she 
looked down on the pair
from the edge of the roof, it was
slightly 
elevated and she smirked at
Carrot. "You shouldn't have left 
me
alive."

 

    The boy frowned at her as he
crouched low against the 
ground, a feral
looking flame burned in the back of his
good eye. He was 
growing weaker from the
loss of blood, it still dripped down his
face. 
"I've already killed once today.
What's one more?"

 

    Kei chuckled. "Seems you're having
some trouble with 
this one? What does it
matter to me? As long as you're dead,
I'm happy." 
She jumped down and eyed
Mars for a moment.

 

    Rei frowned at the girl and looked
back at Carrot 
again. "Who are you?"

 

"Someone who has a problem with him, he
stole my knife, and I want it 
back,"
said the girl as she gave the senshi an
appraising frown.

 

    "Don't get in my way," said Mars
calmly as she raised 
her palm again.

 

    "Wouldn't dream of it," agreed Kei
as she produced a 
large number of
throwing stars between her fingers.

 

    Carrot was backed against a wall as
he glared at the 
pair. He was screwed,
and he knew it. "Shit."

 

    Mars and Kei let loose at once, both
throwing their 
respective attacks. The
area covered was far too large for
Carrot to jump 
over or move to either
side to avoid.  What he did, neither of
the 
girls was expecting. He simply stood
and leaned back, tumbling over the 
edge
of the roof just before the attack hit.
A huge pillar of flame 
blasted over the
side, shattering the edge of the rooftop
and sending a 
shower of debris into the
street below.

 

    Carrot heard the pair cursing as he
fell away, he 
flicked his wrist and sent
a line into one of the nearby buildings,
aiming 
for the street below. It was
rather busy, but he thought he could
manage a 
landing there. Of course, the
double-decker bus that rounded the
corner in 
the area he was planning on
landing in didn't help matters either.
It was 
loaded with tourists, and a
little too high. He was going to hit it
if he 
didn't react soon enough. He
pulled himself a little higher on the
line 
and grit his teeth as he passed
over the top barely.. The line hit the
low 
point of his swing, and he slammed
into the back wall of the seating 
area
on the roof. He lurched over it
painfully and managed to hold on 
and
pull himself back into the passenger
area. He slumped to the ground 
and
groaned in pain. The bus was stopped
now, and tourists were all 
looking at
him in shock. His face was covered in
blood, his belly was on 
fire, and he was
basically in a world of hurt, not to
mention that he was 
probably now wanted
for the murder of the girl who was
supposed to save 
the world soon.

 

    He wasn't quite sure why he was
laughing 
really.

 

    He turned his gaze upward as he
staggered to his feet 
and looked up to
the rooftop he had just swung from. A
tour guide was 
standing on the other end
of the bus, and he walked up to the
woman and 
took the small microphone from
her grip. She made no move to stop 
him.
With a wide grin on his face he said
something into it.

 

    "First I was afraid, I was
petrified...." He then 
started to sing.
"Kept thinkin I could never live without
you by my side, 
but then I spend so many
nights thinkin how ya did me wrong., and
I feel 
strong, and I learned how to get
along! And so you're back, from 
outer
space. I just walked in to find you here
with that bad look upon 
your face!" He
started dancing, openly taunting the
girls on the rooftop. 
"I should have
changed that stupid lock! I should have
made you lose your 
key! If I had known
for just one second you'd be back to
bother me! Oh, 
now go! Walk out the
door, just turn around now, cause you're
not welcome 
anymore! Weren't you the one
who tried to hurt me with desire? Think
I'd 
crumble? Think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no not I! I will survive! As long 
as
I know how to love I know I'll stay
alive! I've got all my life to 
live,
I've got all my love to give, and I'll
survive! I will 
survive!"

 

    The bus started moving again and
Carrot continued his 
song until Rei and
Kei were out of sight. He chuckled and
waited for the 
next stop and jumped off
the top of the bus onto the street. "So,
I guess 
I can go home now."

 

++++++++++++++++++

 

    "Ami..." Minako's voice was laced
with worry. All of 
the girls were
together, sitting in a waiting room.
Tears flowed freely 
among them as they
sat there in silence for the most part.

 

    Ami had just come back and looked at
her friends. 
"She has a chance." The
group was hoping for more, but it was
better than 
nothing. "We can't do
anything more here. We should go home."

 

    "I'm staying," said Mars calmly.

 

    "You can if you want, but we won't
be able to see her 
for a few days at
least. Her condition is not very
stable," replied Ami 
quietly. "The
doctor sound's hopeful."

 

    "That bastard dies," said Rei
firmly. She glanced 
around at the
others.

 

    Minako nodded slowly, Makoto with
her.

 

    "Who was that girl with you?" asked
Ami. She had a 
scowl on her face as she
said it. The girl had stolen important
evidence 
to the crime. They had spent a
good part of the evening talking to 
the
police. They had very little information
to give them, and it 
frustrated her.

 

    Usagi's family was huddled together
on the other side 
of the room. The group
looked over to them and a silent
exchange of 
glances sent out sympathy to
them. It was obvious they didn't want to
be 
bothered. The doctor had given them
the news a few moments ago, and 
then
passed it on to Ami.

 

    "I don't know who she was," said Rei
coolly. "She 
said he stole her knife."

 

    Ami nodded and pushed it aside. "We
all need rest, 
we've got a long day
ahead of us if we're going to find him."

 

    The girls stood up and walked out of
the hospital 
together.

 

++++++++++++++++++++

 

    Carrot was sitting in Gia's office.
The woman was 
absolutely mortified when
he had walked in. Stitches now lined the
right 
side of his face. Fortunately his
eye hadn't been damaged, but the 
wound
would probably leave a nasty looking
scar.

 

    "This is serious!" she snapped as
she glared at him. 
"You need help! You
can't keep this up!"

 

    Carrot frowned at her and sighed. "I
can't go to the 
police."

 

    "Whatever this problem of yours is,
its got to be 
better than dying!" she
snapped angrily.

 

    Mei Lin was sitting in the corner
silently. She 
looked slightly miffed,
apparently Carrot had run off to fight
evil 
without her. She did look worried
though, it was a nasty wound. He 
didn't'
seem too bad off, and the bleeding had
mostly stopped by the time 
he had
arrived. "You should have taken me
along."

 

    "You'd have gotten me killed. You
can't even beat a 
pile of shit, much
less that crazy bitch Kei!" he snapped.
He'd only told 
them what he thought they
needed to know, and left out the senshi,
and the 
sniper he'd run into while he
was out. "Are you done yet?" he grumbled
as 
Gia put in the last of the stitches
and sat back.

 

    "Yes, I'm finished. She put a
bandage over his eye 
and taped it down.
The stitches weren't completely covered
though and it 
was still pretty repulsive
to look at.

 

    "Eew," commented Mei Lin.

 

    "Well, it feels worse than it looks.
Come on, I'm 
hungry," he stood up and
walked towards the door.

 

    Gia frowned as she watched the pair
walk outside. She 
was getting more and
more worried about the boy. Whatever he
was involved 
in, it was serious. "That
girl could get dragged into this. What
can I do 
though?" She sighed and turned
her eyes to the phone on her desk.

 

    She walked over and picked it up,
dialing the number 
quickly. After a
moment of silence she spoke up. "Hello?
Spike? I want you 
to do me a favor..."

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

    TBC...

 

    Next Time: Hunted!


--- Carrotglace

--- carrotglace@mindspring.com 

--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.


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