A gunshot. First she couldn't breathe, then a gunshot. Now she could breath cool, crisp air. Swallowing a deep breath, she coughed, coming out of her semi- conscious state. "Mirumoto, what do you think you're doing?" Her attacker's cold voice -- hard as steel. "I won't let you harm her anymore." Mirumoto- sensei -- holding the smoking gun that saved her. "Do you realize what you're doing? You owe me! If you do this, I will slay everyone in this entire school! Every last student!" You owe me... "What you will do is leave immediately. These bullets might not be able to kill you, but they sure hurt, don't they?" What does he owe her? "Then so be it," she muttered. "You've sealed your fate, Mirumoto. She raised her other hand, and thrust it at Setsuna. "Starting with this one!" * * * * Mystery Club Part 8 "The Roads that were Taken" Created by Aaron Peori This part by Salemeow * * * * Setsuna woke up with sweat running down her face, breathing hard. She almost always remembered her dreams for some odd reason. Usually details weren't very clear, but this time, she remembered everything. Yesterday, Lyss's attempt to kill her, Mirumoto's odd ties to her, Mitsurugi -san saving her... How _did_ he get involved with that vampire lady? She'd have to ask him later on. And then there was Treasa to worry about, and also the paranormals that Mitsurugi wasn't able to sense, and Ibuki being unable to leech off the Lampir’s strength. Not to mention that incident with Junko...So many things going on at once, and she still had her training to do! She looked at the clock. 5:30- It looked like she wasn't going to get any more sleep now that she had begun to think about everything. Sighing, she got up and fixed herself some green tea to relax herself. "I just need some time to rest... and to forget about what's going on." She sat down, and began sipping her tea quietly, enjoying the few moments of peace. *** "Mirumoto- sensei." The old man looked up from the books he was translating. "Ah! Ibuki- chan! What can I-- help... you... with?" His last words coming out softer, as a frown crept across his face. Ibuki stared at him dead in the eyes. "Look here, old man. I saw Mitsu- chan take Setsuna home. He told me what happened, so you'd better give us the scoop on this lady vampire. What was her name? Alisa? Lisa?" "Lyss. She's a Succubus- you know, charms her male victims to bed and then sucks their energy?" "I don't care about her history! What I want to know is how she seemed to know you! Mitsurugi said she threatened to kill everyone in the school! Now, I think we deserve to know a little bit about our enemy! Don't you?" The old man sighed. This was going to be a loooong day. "All right then. I'll tell everyone when they get here. Just... wait until then, okay? It's a long story, and I don't really feel like telling it twice." Ibuki growled at him, a finger pointed accusingly at him. "You'd better, old man, or I'm gonna change you from a rooster to a hen in two seconds." She then turned and left. "My, my. Kids these days don't respect their elders any more..." *** "Treasa, Treasa, Treasa. You're getting rusty. You don't even know I'm here, I bet." Lyss smiled, watching, as her enemy calmly walked through a park in the morning. Lyss smiled to herself. "You will know, soon enough, though... Why you are so interested in that girl, just because she's able to resist us, I don't know. But that doesn't matter. If you want her so badly, I'll kill her." Lyss' grin grew wider as Treasa walked into the forest. The sun started to peek over the horizon, and Treasa smiled. "But first, I think I have to keep a promise to an old friend..." Walking off towards the direction of the school, she let out a soft chuckle. "It's too bad it had to turn out this way, Mirumoto. We used to be close, didn't we?" She almost shed a tear at the thought. The memories they had together early in their lives- what she wouldn't do to relive those days. *** Akumu never needed sleep. He did so occasionally, though only to get his mind off of things that bothered him. Not a common occurrence, but last night, he was troubled. Things like: who attacked Junko, and why was he after Kuroko? She didn't mention any outside connections... But then again, she always did a lot of things in secret. And from what he'd heard from Setsuna, this was someone who shouldn't be taken lightly... Some sort of psychic person, with glowing blue eyes... It didn't sound like anything he knew of. Powerful enough to spot a Kitsune playing tricks, and powerful enough to stop the kicks of Ibuki... Whoever this man was, he'd have to watch out. He looked up. "If you're there, Kuroko, stay with me. I'll need you these next few days." *** "Ibuki? You there?" Setsuna knocked on Ibuki's apartment door, room 130. No answer. "Ibuki? We need to talk!" "Setsuna? What's up? You're up early." Setsuna turned around to see Ibuki walking up the stairwell. She paused. Was it right to pour all her worries onto Ibuki? Would she even listen? Ibuki smiled as she noticed Setsuna's worried look. "Go on, you can tell me. What's bugging you, hmm?" "I'm worried. About Treasa, Lyss, and... everything. I mean, my life used to be normal- all I had to worry about was school, bills... normal things. Now I've got to worry about paranormals trying to kill me; you training me. I feel like I've gotta be on guard all the time! It's starting to get to me." She sighed, closing her eyes. "Look, Setsuna. I'm beginning to think of you as my little sister- so you don't have to worry about everything. Just some things. I'll be there for you, okay? And with the training I'm giving you, you'll be able to handle a lot more than you used to!" She paused. "Oh! and by the way, we're having a club meeting in a little while. Why don't you stay over here until then? I'll show you the things I've learned about Paranormals- think of it as a break from your training, okay?" Setsuna couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, Ibuki. Thanks, onee- chan." *** The members of the Mystery Club sat in their meeting room; Ibuki spoke up. "So, what are we talking about today?" Mirumoto stood up. "Several things. First, and foremost, Lyss, as She threatened to kill everyone in this school, however, we can't let her. Second, this, Nanatsuki person, and what we'll do with him. Third, Treasa. She hasn't been spotted in while, but Lyss is and old enemy of hers. That's probably why she attacked Setsuna. Last, since we haven't seen them for a while, those creatures with the pendants- Mitsurugi couldn't sense them, and Ibuki couldn't leech their power." Setsuna raised her hand. "Yes, what is it, Setsuna?" "How do you know so much about Lyss? And what did she mean by, 'You owe me?'" The old man looked down. Looked like there was no getting out of it this time. "It happened a long time ago, when I was around 28." *** "It was a rainy day. But that didn't matter- Lyss and I loved the rain. We'd been dating since high school, and I had hoped to some day get married to her. She was human, at the time. She wasn't always a vampire." *** "Mirumoto-sama, don't you just love the rain? I mean, it feels so nice against your skin, doesn't it?" Lyss asked, smiling. Mirumoto laughed. "You already know I love the rain. Why's it any different today?" "... Mirumoto, do you love me?" The sudden question surprised him. "Of course I love you! Why do you ask?" Lyss blushed. "Well, you know that I've- we've been together for several years now. And you haven't been paying attention to the hints I've been dropping... That I want to... get married." Mirumoto faltered for a split second. "Ah... well, I really _did_ notice them... That's why... I bought... This." He produced a small box from his pocket. "I was just sort of waiting for the right moment." She felt her cheeks redden. "A western wedding?" "Yes... I wanted to make this special. So... will you?" "I... will..." She pulled him close to her, and leaned forwards ever so slightly, so his lips met her own. He returned her gentle kiss, adding a bit more force and passion to it... They broke their kiss, blushing, staring into each others eyes. At the same time, they said, "I love you." They spent the rest of the day in the park. *** "We got married, in western- style- It's what Lyss wanted. It had been four years since our marriage. We were too busy for children- Happy, but busy. She worked for a man named Dairoba Mishii, an odd man who was know for secrecy about his company's experiments. What his company did, no- one knew, but it was said that horrible things happened to those who leaked out information." *** Lyss quietly walked in the door. She had been doing so for the past few days. She seemed nervous and pale, always jumping at sudden noises. "Honey, enough is enough! Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?! When you're like this, I get nervous, too! Tell me what's wrong!" She looked down at her feet. "You know who I work for. I can't tell you... I'll get fired if I do... I'm sorry, Mirumoto... I can't." "Damn it, Lyss! I'm not going to take that as an answer! Please tell me! You know that this is killing me, too!" The last comment caused her to give up. "O- okay... It's like this. The company I work for... does experiments on... things. I found this out about a week ago, when I went in a lab marked as a restricted area. It scared me- I mean, there were _things_ in there... Monsters... They were being experimented on- there were things that looked like... Werewolves in there!" She began to describe horrible things she had seen, while Mirumoto listened. Of course, he didn't believe her- He _knew_ there weren't things such as Werewolves, Vampires, and the other things she was describing. By the time she had finished her rant, she was sobbing quietly in his arms. He tried to calm her. "Shh... It'll be okay. You know there's no such things as vampires, and whatever else you said. It'll be okay. I'll get you some help- we'll make these things go away. Lyss pushed him away forcefully upon hearing this. "You- you don't believe me?! How- How could you?! I've never lied to you before! Why would I lie about something like this?!" She was screaming at him. "Honey... Calm down. Think about what you're saying! Everyone knows that-" Lyss interrupted him with a yelp. "I _SAW_ them, Dammit! How could you not deny that?!" "Honey, you're hallucinating! Have you ever seen a Vampire before? Has anyone else?" She quieted. "...I- I guess you're right. I- I'll be reasonable about this now... I know there are no such things as vampires. The things I saw in the laboratory were just from lack of sleep or something." Mirimoto smiled. His wife would get better. "That's better, honey. Now, we'll get you to a doctor tomorrow, to get some insomnia medication." *** "Of course, she didn't listen. She knew what she saw, and she was going to prove me wrong. So instead of going to sleep that night, she sneaked out to get some evidence to prove she was right. I still have no idea how she got into the building- Treasa probably helped her, but I'm not sure. Once she was inside, however, she headed straight to the laboratory." *** "The gate's open! Why? I thought that Dairoba- san locked up tight!" There were no guards on night duty, and it was very easy for her to slip in the building unnoticed. "Something's fishy..." She thought. "But never kick a mad horse in the ass... or whatever..." She quickly made her was to the lab. Pulling out her camera, she opened the laboratory door. Peeking through the crack, she decided it was devoid of people. A low growl reminded her that there _were_ things here. Swallowing her fear, she bravely stepped in the room. She flipped on the light switch, and began to walk around the room. Chained to a table, a naked man looked up at her. She took a picture. A light- blue skinned woman hissed at her. Click. A misty form was encased in a glass box. Snap. On the next table, another Vampiress smiled at her. Only this one wasn't chained. Yellow, cat slitted eyes stared at her, locking their gaze on her. Turning pale, she took a step back. The Vampiress sat up from the table. "I see you're touring the lab, little one. Did you enjoy it?" Sliding herself off the table, she advanced towards Lyss. Lyss turned around to run, but was stopped by the Vampiress' eerie voice. "Where are you going, little one? You're not leaving, are you? I'd enjoy it if you'd stay a little while. STOP." Hypnosis taken effect, Lyss stopped in her tracks. "Very good, little one. Now, come closer... I need a friend!" Lyss walked towards her. "My name's Treasa, little one. It's been about two hundred years since I've been able to play with someone. And I need a little snack. Show me your neck." She obeyed. "You're kind of young, about 24, I'd say... That's good. I like young blood. Very sweet..." Lyss let out a soft moan as Treasa bit down on her neck. "You've got very pure blood, little one. So sweet... You know, I can lick your blood from anywhere on your body... But I'm a traditionalist... And besides, this way's so much more convenient... All right, little one. I've had enough. Are you ready to become a vampire now?" Biting her own tongue, Lyss let some of her blood drip down into the open wound in Lyss's neck. Almost immediately, she started to convulse. Lyss began moaning loudly as she felt Treasa's blood spread throughout her body. Thrashing wildly, she forced Treasa to drop her. "Help me, Mirumoto!" Treasa smiled. "You're going to retain your memories, little one. You'll remember everything. You can thank me while we're playing." Lyss stopped thrashing. Breathing heavily, she looked up at Treasa. "What... What did you do?" "There's no need for you to breathe, little one. You're what I am now. You can do many of the things that I can, like walk in dreams. I'm not sure if you'll be as powerful as me, though. The blood transfusion doesn't let you be as powerful as me. But that's okay, we can still have fun..." "What... What ARE you?!" Lyss asked, panicking. "I'm a type of Vampire, little one. I can walk through people's dreams, little one. "I- I'm a vampire now? Why- why did you do this? I don't want to be a monster! Change me back! Please!" "Sorry, little one. You can't go back, now. You'll just have to accept what has happened, and the- What's wrong, little one? Why are you crying?" "Why did you do this to me?! I have a husband, a job, a home... I HAD A LIFE! Why did you choose me of all people?!" "Calm down. Everyone's like this when they begin. You know how to get your husband back? Give him some of your blood. But you'll get used to this. Eventually." She managed to choke out though broken sobs, "I don't want my husband to be a monster! I love him too much!" "Well, get used to it. You can't see him anymore, because he'll hate you. Unless you make him a vampire, too. But first, let's get out of here- Someone's coming." Lyss felt Treasa grab hold of her wrist- a cold hand, like a dead person's. With a rush of air, the inside of the room faded away. Slowly, as if coming out of a deep mist, her bedroom began to appear. "Where are we?" Treasa held up a finger to her lips, signaling for her to be quiet. She pointed to Mirumoto's sleeping form. "Now is your chance, little one. You can be with your husband. All you have to do is give him your blood..." Whispering those words to Lyss, she disappeared. Lyss was about to say, "I love him too much to..." but she hesitated. Could she really give up the man she loved forever? He would grow old, and die, while she would keep on living. Forever was a long time... Swallowing, she crept quietly to the bedside. Bending over, she could see his neck. Just a quick bite, and a bit of her blood, and she'd be with him forever... He woke up when she was leaning in to bite him. "Hmm? Lyss- sama? What are you doing?" She froze. She couldn't go through with it. To make the man she loved live forever... She _did_ love him too much. "Look at me, Mirumoto! Look at what I am! You don't believe in Vampires, right? Well, I AM one, now!" Still sleepy, Mirumoto managed to mumble, "What? are you still saying that? It's too late for this, hon. Go to bed, and we'll got you some help tomorrow." She gasped. "You- you don't believe I'm a vampire? Wake up, dammit! Look at me, and tell me what I look like!" Mirumoto reached to turn on a lamp. "This better be good..." As his eyes adjusted to the light, he gasped. "What happened to you? You're all pale..." He got up and touched her face. "You're so cold, too. You almost feel dead..." "See? I AM a vampire! Why didn't you believe me?" "Nice fangs. They almost look real... You really went pretty far on this joke, Lyss. Take off the makeup, and go cover up. You'll catch a cold if you don't get warm soon." Lyss recoiled from the shock of hearing him say that. "Wh- You don't believe me, even after you see a vampire?" The shock was now replaced by rage. "I- I thought I LOVED you, you bastard! How could you do this to me? I'm going to be a monster the rest of my life, and you act like I'm joking!" Mirumoto's eyes widened. "H- how are you making your eyes glow, Lyss? Stop, you're starting to scare me now..." Treasa's voice echoed in her mind. "This is your husband? He abandoned you when you needed him the most! You don't deserve someone like him. You should punish him..." "Yes... I should, shouldn't I?" She looked at him, eyes ablaze. "How could you, Mirumoto? I thought you loved me, but I guess I was wrong. You don't love me, do you?" He let out a small whimper. "I'm sorry, Lyss! I didn't believe you, until now! Please forgive me..." Lyss smiled at him. "Too late for apologies, I'm afraid. You'll have to die, now." Mirumoto closed his eyes. he took a deep breath. "Fine then... If it gives you some peace of mind, then go ahead and kill me. You know that I _have_ always loved you... But I just didn't believe you this time... So, I'm sorry." "Ha... You're good. Trying to use my emotions to save yourself... That's pretty low." She started to cry. "Damn... it... I still love you too much to do this... I'm too weak for this..." Mirumoto smiled. "You're not weak, Lyss. You're a lot stronger than me- Look, you went to the Dairoba building by yourself, didn't you? Even when I didn't believe you. You knew what was there, and-" "Shut up, Mirumoto. You're going to make me change my mind if you go on like that... I've got to leave- I need some time to think about this. The only thing I know for sure is that you owe me, for sparing your life. I'm not sure about any of this, now... I don't know if I love you anymore, or if I should trust Treasa..." She rushed from the room. "Treasa? Who's that?" Mirumoto called aloud as he watched Lyss leave. *** "I think Lyss tried to kill Treasa, but she couldn't because of Treasa's superior power. Now she follows Treasa around, stopping her from having fun- it's the only way she can get back at her." The Mystery Club remained silent for a few moments. Setsuna broke the silence. "Is that why she went after me? Because she saw that Treasa was after me?" "That's what I'm guessing, yes." Mirumoto looked just a little more frail just from telling the story. "Now, on to the other things. We've got to stop Lyss from killing all the students in this school. Does anyone have any ideas how?" Ibuki spoke up. "Just a minute, old man! You expect us to stop Lyss knowing this? I don't think that I'll be able to do it!" Mitsurugi spoke up. "She's a paranormal threatening the lives of people, Ibuki. We can't give her leeway just because she was Mirumoto- sensei's wife." Setsuna, in a broken voice, said, "I- I don't think I can fight her, either. I won't let her kill me... But... I won't fight her either. Not after knowing the truth." Everyone was startled when Mirumoto slammed down his fist on the table. "Look, everyone! This happened a long time ago! It's over between me and her! If you don't like the orders I'm giving you, then fine! You can quit the Mystery Club, and let the students get killed! Is that okay with you?" There was a pause. "So who's out?" No one spoke. "Good. Then on to matters at hand. Right now, we don't know when Lyss is going to start attacking, so all we can do is be on guard constantly. We might get some help from Treasa, since Lyss constantly stopped her fun. Next, Nanatsuki. Mitsurugi, did you get the sapphires? Good. Then we'll go after Nanatsuki or whoever in four hours. Treasa- We've gotta be on guard when she's around, so even if she starts helping us, watch out. Last, the monster wearing the pendant, we don't know too much about them, so if you see anything, report in immediately. None of you can do much to prevent things from happening, so only attack it if it attacks you. Got it? Good. Now I'm going to take a break for a while." With that, he walked out the door, slamming it as he left. "What was that... just now?" Ibuki had never seen Mirumoto act that way before. Even Mitsurugi was surprised. "I don't really know." Setsuna, however, sagely said, "How would you feel if you had to kill your wife?" *** The three sat in the meeting room for a little while longer, discussing the matters at hand. Setsuna spoke first. "Do you think that Kuroko could have something to do with the pendants those paranormals were wearing? Who do you think gave them those?" "Who knows. Have you noticed, though, that the activity of paranormals is increasing? I mean, four years ago, we'd only get a job every month or so... We've had more jobs during this week than ever before! Could those pendants be the reason behind it? I'm pretty sure Treasa or Lyss wouldn't have that effect on the supernaturals. This... bone parasite might, but I don't really think so. What do you think, Mitsu- chan?" Mitsurugi glared at Ibuki. "Don't call me Mitsu- chan. I don't know. All I know is that the paranormals are threatening innocent people. We just need to stop them." "But why are they attacking? I know you don't care why, Mitsurugi, but I do!" Setsuna was flustered by his lack of curiosity. "Maybe if we found out why they were attacking, then we could stop some of the paranormal's attacks!" Thinking this over carefully, Mitsurugi replied, "We don't know where to start, Setsuna. If we did, Mirumoto would probably have us investigate. So, until we get some clues, don't worry about it." The meeting adjourned, the mystery club departed. *** "As a friend, I just want you to know that Taro-kun isn't everything he seems to be. I've known him for a good bit longer than you. Just be careful." Akumu's word's floated around in her mind, as she contemplated his apathy towards Lyss. "How could he not feel any emotions? Maybe Akumu was right to warn me about him..." She sat up from her position on her bed. "I think I'd better have a talk with Akumu. I'm going to get some answers from him..." She walked out the door, going to look for Akumu. *** Mitumoto walked down the street, towards the high school building. He had walked around the city to come to this place, to help him clear his mind. Whenever he was troubled, he always came here. Lyss would keep her promise. She hadn't taken any actions yet, but that would soon change. Although he acted like he could around others, he wasn't really sure he could bring himself to give the order to kill Lyss. Entering the college, he walked his way up to the second floor. Third room on the right... This was where they first met... He could remember it clearly, how he helped the sweet girl pick up her dropped books... Their first "date" in this lab... "You remember it well, don't you? It seems so long ago, though, doesn't it?" Mirumoto looked up. Lyss had just appeared in the classroom. For a few moments, no one spoke. Lyss broke the silence. "... I want to talk to you, Mirumoto." ******************************* Author's Notes: Wow. around 26 K of writing. I'm really proud of myself for writing all that. I know a lot of it was cliched, but it's hard to come up with original things nowadays. To compensate for it, I tried to put a lot of emotions into this. The parts where Mirumoto speaks is when he narrates... He's just sort of guessing what happened, and telling the Mystery Club everything. The parts where he doesn't narrate is what really happened. For sake of future authors, we'll just say that he was pretty much right. I didn't mean for the Dairoba Mishii building (or him) to be anything, but future authors can mess around with it, if you like. Umm, there were a couple of LAME jokes in here... They just sort of appeared. The first one's referring to Ibuki doing something to Mirumoto's... erm... The second one, I didn't mean to put in. I meant to put in the real saying at the time, but I couldn't think of it at the time. Many thanks to my prereader, Starfire, and Lady Brick for helping get out of a rut I was in, and to Saikou for helping me with the kissing scene... I'm not good at that stuff. And Mom, thank you SO much for doing some last minute editing to this! Also thanks to Starfire for helping me think up of a name for this chapter, as I suck with naming things.