A/N: Hi guys! I finally decided to stop being lazy and update this story. For some reason, this chapter ended up being really long...oh well^^
Disclaimer: I only own my characters, all other characters belong to Kafka Asagiri.
***
Suddenly, Shizune felt something cold being pressed against her temple.
"Move and I'll shoot," said a voice from behind her.
...well crap, she thought.
"Turn around slowly," the voice ordered. "Keep your hands where I can see them."
Suddenly, Shizune felt an overwhelming urge to sneeze. Ok, this is definitely not the right time to sneeze, she thought. Think non-sneezing thoughts, Shizune! Be at peace with your inner nose! She raised her hands and turned around while making various weird faces, trying to hold back her sneeze. The person -a man who looked like he was in his early thirties- frowned in confusion at her expressions.
"Don't try anything funny," he warned.
No, I refuse to get shot because of something this ridiculous, Shizune thought firmly. I will not die in such a -OH GOD THAT'S IT I CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMO-
"ACHOO!" she sneezed violently.
The man yelled in shock and stumbled backwards. His shot completely missed her and the bullet lodged itself into a wall.
"Sorry about that," she mumbled, "please continue."
He gripped his earpiece and quickly spoke into it. "Akutagawa-san, I found the target."
"What? No you didn't." Shizune frowned. "I'm definitely not a target. Go find someone else!"
The man ignored her and listened intently to his earpiece.
"Yes sir." He nodded. "Permission to kill?"
"Huh? No! No permission to kill!" she said frantically.
The man pulled out a knife and advanced towards her. Taking a deep breath, Shizune clenched her fists and got ready to fight him with her super awesome nonexistent kung-fu skills.
Unfortunately, at that moment, she felt another sneeze coming.
"Oh, you've got to be kid -ACHOO!" she sneezed even more violently than before, and stumbled backwards from the force of it.
The man flinched and nearly dropped his knife.
"Stop doing that!" He glared at her.
"Well excuse me -ACHOO- for sneezing -ACHOO- while you're trying to kill me!" she snapped, rubbing her nose.
Ugh, I think my allergies are acting up. Shizune frowned. ...what am I allergic to again?
The man lunged towards her, but before she could even think to dodge, a person appeared out of nowhere and punched him straight in the face. The man flew backwards with incredible force and slammed into a wall, which immediately knocked him out. The person turned around and looked at Shizune worriedly.
"Are you ok, Shizune-san?"
Shizune stared at him for a few seconds, then recognized his silver hair. "...Atsushi?"
He smiled. "I saw you running from someone, so I followed you. You're not hurt, right?"
"No." She shook her head. "Thanks for helping m-"
Suddenly, she noticed that he was carrying a large package wrapped in gold paper. She read the label on it and gasped in shock.
"Is that Moose Cheese?" she said, sounding stunned.
He blinked. "Huh? Yes, a client gave it to me as a thank-you gift."
"Do you know how much that cheese is worth?" she asked disbelievingly. "I can't believe you're just casually strolling around while carrying that! Someone could try to kill you! I could try to kill you!"
He looked surprised. "Oh, uh, should I hide it somewh-"
"What are you doing here?" A cold voice interrupted them.
Shizune spun around and saw a man in a black coat walking towards them. He stopped at the entrance of the alley and glared at them.
Oh, he's the guy who I met in the Port Mafia's prison! She realized. His name's...Aku? Amu? Amoose? A moose! Moose Cheese! Ah, I love cheese...
(A/N: Not the best time to be daydreaming about cheese, Shizune.)
Atsushi stiffened, and before she could even blink, he grabbed her and jumped over 20 feet onto the wall of the alley. Without pausing, he leapt from wall to wall until he reached the roof of a nearby building.
Landing lightly, he put Shizune down and gave her the package that he was holding.
"Run!" he told her. "I'll distract Akutagawa for as long as I can."
She frowned. "You can't beat him on your own! You should run too."
"No." He shook his head. "You need to escape first."
Shizune was about to argue when she heard a noise from her left. Turning around, she caught sight of a young girl standing a few feet away from them. The girl was staring at them with wide eyes and seemed to be frozen in shock.
Why's she all alone? she thought in confusion. Atsushi walked towards the girl and knelt down in front of her.
"What's your name?" he asked her gently.
"...Mira," the girl replied, shrinking backwards in fear.
"Mira? Wow, that name brings back bad memories," Shizune muttered under her breath.
"It's ok, Mira-chan," Atsushi said, smiling. "We won't hurt you. It's not safe here, so g-"
A streak of red and black shot towards him, cutting him off mid-sentence. Several more blades followed, and Atsushi stumbled backwards when one of them struck his arm.
"Is that all you've got, man-tiger?" Akutagawa slowly stalked towards them, an expression of disdain on his face. "How utterly disappointing. I don't understand why he chose you of all people."
Without hesitation, he started attacking Atsushi again, and the blades became a blur.
"Here, hold this!" Shizune quickly shoved the package of cheese into Mira's hands, and the young girl gripped it while staring at Shizune in panic.
"Protect it with your life!" she told her.
She ran closer to where Atsushi was fighting, but stayed a few feet back. Although he was dodging most of the attacks, She could tell that he was already beginning to lose speed.
Ok, I need to help him, she thought. What should I do? If I act without thinking, I'll just get in his way.
Suddenly, the roof underneath Shizune screamed in horror and she flinched in surprise.
OH MY GOD YOU IDIOTS ARE GETTING BLOOD ALL OVER ME! it screeched. YOU'RE RUINING MY SKIN! GO KILL EACH OTHER SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Shizune frowned. "Wait, they're both getting blood all over you? But isn't Atsushi the only one bleeding?"
No, they're both bleeding, the ground hissed. I can tell since they're both STILL SPLATTERING IT ALL OVER ME ARGH YOU ASSHOLES ARE AJSDFBLFRKDKL!!!!!
The ground began to swear so violently that Shizune had an urge to cover Mira's ears even though she knew that the girl couldn't hear anything.
Well, Atsushi's been dodging all this time, so he couldn't have injured Akutagawa, Shizune thought. In other words, he was already injured before this fight started. She studied Akutagawa closely and noticed a stain of red spreading across his left pant leg.
"Atsushi! Aim for his left leg!" Shizune shouted.
Akutagawa's eyes widened. "How did you-?"
Atsushi sprang forwards and kicked him with a burst of strength. Hissing in pain, Akutagawa stumbled backwards and his leg buckled underneath him, causing him to stumble over the ledge of the building. He shot several more blades at Atsushi, but missed and destroyed a part of the building instead.
A loud shriek cut through the air, and both Shizune and Atsushi spun around to look for the source of the sound. Mira was standing on the part of the building that had been hit, and before either of them could move, the girl dropped the package that Shizune had given her and slipped off the building.
"Mira-chan!" Atsushi shouted, looking horrified.
"Moose cheese!" Shizune shouted, looking just as horrified.
(A/N: She's totally got her priorities straight.)
They both jumped off the building. Shizune grabbed the package of cheese in midair and hugged it to her chest. I have no regrets, she thought, and closed her eyes.
...hey, is it possible to eat this before I hit the ground?
Before she could try, she felt a jarring impact which knocked the wind out of her. ...that wasn't as painful as I expected, she thought in surprise. Opening an eye, she realized that Atsushi -who was fully transformed into a tiger- had cushioned her fall. NOOOOOO! I SQUASHED A CAT! Shizune mentally screamed in horror.
"OH MY GOD ARE YOU OK?" she shouted frantically. "Um...hospital! Right! We need to go to a hospital. Wait, do cats have health insurance? Can cats even go to hospitals?"
A flash of blue light interrupted her panicking, and when the light faded, Atsushi had transformed back into a human. He smiled at her and nodded reassuringly...then passed out cold.
"No! Don't die!" she shouted in horror.
Suddenly, Shizune heard a loud sigh from behind her. She turned around and blinked in surprise when she saw Kunikida walking towards them.
"Just as Dazai predicted," he muttered, and threw Atsushi over his shoulder. "I'm taking him back to the agency. Don't worry, he'll be fine."
"I'll go with you," she said quickly, getting up.
He shook his head. "Dazai will be here soon, so go back with him. Make sure he doesn't try to commit suicide or cause any trouble for the general public."
Shizune hesitated, then nodded and sat back down. "Ok, but take this back with you."
She handed over the package of cheese to Kunikida, who looked at it in confusion but didn't ask any questions. He turned around and walked down the street, and she soon lost sight of him.
Come to think of it, where's Mira-chan? She frowned in puzzlement. I thought Atsushi went after her. She looked around, but the girl was nowhere to be seen. After nearly an hour of searching, Shizune finally gave up and sat down on a bench on the sidewalk, completely exhausted from the day's events.
"Hi Shizu-chan!" a voice called.
She turned around and saw Dazai waving at her from across the street. She waved back and ran over, then they both started walking back to the agency. After a few minutes of idle chatter, Shizune suddenly stopped and pointed at a graveyard to their left.
"Hey, that looks like a shortcut!" she said excitedly. "If we go through there, then we can probably make it back to the agency and still have time for dinner!"
Dazai nodded and they changed directions. The moment she stepped into the graveyard, she immediately regretted her decision. A heavy fog blanketed the entire place and it was eerily quiet, making her feel as if she was in a horror movie. I should've brought a bag of salt, Shizune thought. If a ghost attacks me, I'll be completely defenceless! Ugh, how could I have forgotten to bring my exorcism tools?
They had almost reached the other side of the graveyard when Dazai abruptly stopped and looked down. She followed his gaze and saw gravestone with a bouquet of white flowers in front of it.
"'Oda Sakunosuke'," she read out loud.
For some reason, she felt a pang of sadness.
"Dazai-san," she said gently, "I'm truly sorry about your friend's death, but there's nothing you could've done to save him."
Dazai froze, then spun around and stared at Shizune.
"You know who he is?" he asked, sounding completely shocked.
She blinked. "Huh? Oh, I guess so. But-"
"Shizune." He swiftly walked over to her and gripped her shoulders. "How do you know who he is?"
"Um...lucky guess?" She flinched at the intensity of his gaze.
"Then do you remember who I am?" he suddenly asked.
"Of course I remember who you are," she replied in confusion. "I just spoke to you this morning. My memory's not that bad."
A flicker of disappointment crossed his face and he stepped back.
"Sorry, forget what I just said." Dazai smiled, looking completely normal again. "Let's go back to the agency."
She frowned, feeling even more confused. "...sure."
They walked the rest of the way back in silence. When they arrived at the building, she waved goodbye to Dazai and went to her room, only stopping once to check on Atsushi who was in the infirmary. Falling onto her bed, she thought about the day's events. Why did I know who that man was? she thought, rolling over on her bed. ...maybe I've been eating too much expired crackers and it's starting to mess with my head.
"I should stop eating expired crackers," she said thoughtfully, then immediately changed her mind. "...nah, it probably won't kill me anyway."
Closing her eyes, Shizune buried her face in her pillow and fell into a restless sleep.
***
A/N: So how did Shizune know about Odasaku? Lucky guess? A coincidence? The power of expired crackers? Who knows^^ Please vote, comment, etc.