| Fan Fiction |
by shattered teardrops
a/n: nani - what, Yokatta - I'm glad
With stealthy and calculated steps inside the rundown building, Thanatos hid behind a stack of empty wooden boxes, away from his predator’s eyes. Holding his gun close and his breath closer, he listened for any particular sound of any incoming danger. Beads of sweat trickled down his face as he waited for an opportunity to strike. Though this was nothing more a simulation, one has to be careful in order not to get stained.
A creak!
A faint creak but a creak nonetheless! Shinichi found himself anticipating an incoming fiend. He waited for additional sounds until the creak became slow and steady footsteps. A smile suddenly appeared on Shinichi’s lips. He had been waiting forever for his last and final kill for the day. With precision and viciousness, Shinichi ran out of hiding and jumped in mid-air. As he did, he fired his guns with an accuracy that of an eagle eye could only have. In a split second, a red paintball erupted solidly on the opponent’s head gear. As for Shinichi, he landed on his shoulder with a smirk on his face.
Lights suddenly illuminated the whole run down building as soldiers in full gear with wet paints parading on different parts of their body, emerged from the shadows. Some grunted disappointedly. Others merely sighed. Only one of them arrogantly took off his head gear and wordlessly walked out.
“You didn’t have to be so unforgiving. It’s just a simulation after all…” Lt. Nakamura puffed out a thick whiff of smoke from her mouth. She was leaning by the stairs waiting for the simulation to finally be over. Or, to be more specific, she was waiting for Shinichi to finish playing.
“With all due respect, zip it, Lieutenant.” He merely replied with a heavy tone. His expression was dark and unforgiving, almost angry.
“Aww… You seem pissed off. What’s wrong?” Lt. Nakamura knew Hara Shinichi above anyone else. After all, she was his spotter, his watcher, his superior officer and they’ve worked together in countless missions within the last two years. It was safe to say that Nakamura had gotten used to Hara Shinichi’s rotten and often erratic behavior. He was an unpredictable man for a soldier. Sometimes, he’d obey orders without questions or hesitation, other times he’d move on his own will.
“Get me out of that school… What happened to my previous assignment?! I was very close to nailing down Azrael! I was this close to nailing the damn Angel of Death! Now, tell me, why did they suddenly change my assignment into a… A babysitting chore?!” Hara suddenly lost his composure and complained in full force.
Nakamura sighed as she dropped her cigar to the floor and squished it with her black boots. “Because… That girl may be Azrael’s next target.” Her tone was dry and straight to the point. She wanted to taunt Hara a little more but he seemed to be reaching his limit so she decided to finally let off a piece of information that would appease him. And as she predicted, Hara Shinichi was soon silenced.
Azrael, also known as the Angel of Death, was a famous assassin hailed in Asia. He was responsible for the murder of more than a dozen political figures in different countries throughout Asia. According to the latest information on Indeco, Azrael had also begun to take contracts from America, even as far as Europe, and was beginning to make a name for himself throughout the world. Azrael was a madman, a killing machine, and what was worse was that, he seemed to take pride of his ‘kills’. He would send the CIA, even the Pentagon, a clue to his latest target and then, after only a span of two weeks to a month, he would mock them with headlines containing the death of his latest kill.
For more than a year, Hara Shinichi and Lt. Nakamura Ienari had been trailing the whereabouts of Azrael. They had been close to uncovering the persona behind the madman but they always seemed to be evaded. There had been copycats of Azrael and they were no match for Hara’s killer-instincts. However, the real one remained to be a big mystery. And so, as Hara Shinichi chased for the Angel of Death, it became his personal crusade to nail down the arrogant assassin. It became a crusade to the point of obsession.
“How did you know that?” Hara finally calmed down and began to think logically.
“You are aware of Article 9 in the Japanese Constitution, are you not?” Lt. Nakamura began and looked at Hara for any form of response. He only shook his head to her dismay. Hara had always been uninterested in learning about the Constitution. “Anyway, Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution states that Japan renounces war. Article 9, section 2, stated that it also forbids the maintenance of any war potential in land, sea and even air forces. If you knew your history, Japan has been a force to reckon with during World War II. It was the only country in Asia who was able to match the powers of the Westerners, although, it was later defeated. After the war, its enemies were afraid that Japan might unleash its viciousness once again, hence, they created provisions in the Constitution of Japan, stating that it shall not allot a big budget for the maintenance of a strong defense force other than Japanese Self-Defense Forces, which are even tried in courts as civilians, instead of being judged as soldiers.”
“Wait, wait… What does it have to do with Azrael and that girl?” Hara was growing impatient due to Nakamura’s lengthy, not to mention, boring explanation of Japan’s history after the second World War. He wasn’t particularly interested about history. Personally, he found it boring.
Nakamura sighed. “Good question. Isn’t it a surprise that though Japan is a leading economic country, it does not boast of a strong national defense force?” Lt. Nakamura lit another cigarette and puffed out a not-so-healthy whiff of nicotine before proceeding. “In 2005, then Prime Minister Takada Junichiro proposed an amendment to the Constitution in order to increase the role of Japan’s Defense Force in the international arena. The proposition was met by various protests, not only inside Japan, but also from organizations throughout the world. Imagine what would happen if a highly developed Economic power suddenly decides to mobilize its Defense Force. Japan would not only be an economic threat.” Nakamura took a pause and took in another whiff of nicotine before proceeding.
“In 2007, Kago Masato, the current Prime Minister, succeeded Takada Junichiro. And guess what? The current Prime Minister vowed to aggressively push for the approval of the former Prime Minister’s proposition. He was even successful in passing legislation that a referendum on Constitutional Reform could take place on 2010 at the earliest, and would need the approval of majority of the voters. That’s where his daughter comes in. It’s already 2009. As the year of the Constitutional Reform draws near, so did the threats to the Prime Minister’s life, as well as on his own daughter’s life, increased. Now, that’s where Azrael comes in. He’s an arrogant bastard. He wouldn’t resist the temptation of having a kill that could attest to his viciousness as an assassin. Kago Miharu would be a tempting example for his clients that Azrael has no mercy, even for a young high school girl. He’s a madman after all.”
“All that you’re saying are mere hypothesis. Where’s the valid information that he might target that bratty princess?” He asked again. Even though Nakamura’s explanation was thorough and precise, he wasn’t buying any of her crap unless it was verified that Azrael was planning to kill the girl.
Nakamura chuckled. “You see, it’s not because people are against war that’s why the Prime Minister and his daughter’s life are threatened. It’s actually because some powerful individuals or organizations benefit from war. They can pay a prosperous amount of money to get what they want. It’s them, that’s been threatening the Prime Minister. Apparently, the Prime Minister has expressed that he’s been having doubts whether to pursue the Constitutional Reform on Article 9 or not. They wouldn’t touch the Prime Minister. He’s their key candidate to start a potential war. Imagine how other countries would be threatened if Japan began to strengthen its Defenses. Say, build an Air Force, a Naval Defense or employ a large scale Army. It would surely shake the Defense Forces of other countries and send them panic-buying for armaments and even nuclear weapons. And those men who benefited from war, they would probably target his weakness: his daughter, to force him to proceed with the Constitutional Reform on Article 9. In short, powerful men are attempting to start a war. Other than that, our double agent from Deadstone 77, the company which receives assassination contracts for Azrael, has given us information that a contract for the Prime Minister’s daughter had been handed down there. And Azrael was given the contract. It’s his decision whether to take it or not. So far, Azrael has been a little silent. But that madman is very unpredictable.”
Hearing another batch of thorough information from Nakamura, Hara couldn’t help but breathe deeply. He surely suffered too much information overload from Lt. Nakamura, but of course, he understood her point perfectly. Nakamura may be a big nagger, but she does her job flawlessly and for that, Hara was glad to be under her wing. However, his latest mission still appealed very little to him. He was an expert marksman, yet, he was being forced to be a high school student.
-oOo-
He was known as Fujiwara Shin, the mild-mannered young man who seemed to be the only gentleman inside Class 3-D of Kairan Academy. However, unbeknownst to everyone around him, he was lethally known as ‘Thanatos’ or for his co-leagues, Hara Shinichi, a topnotch sniper and undercover agent of Indeco. He had been informed that he would be enrolled at Kairan one week before Kago Miharu’s transfer. But he has only been three days at Kairan and he was beginning to grow tired of a bunch of misfits who think like they own the whole world or something. The only thing that kept him going was the idea of having a chance to personally confront Azrael.
After only three days of being in Class 3-D, Fujiwara Shin had been a well-liked person by most of his classmates, except for one male student who seemed to despise him. Hara Shinichi played his part as a high school student well. He would help out with little chores around the classroom, such as erasing the board before class officially started or hang out with the guys after school. From what he has observed, there were three guys who seemed to be the center of leadership in Class 3-D. The first one, was of course, the useless Class President who seemed to love sleeping above anything else, Kuroda Akira. The second one was the metrosexual guy who had a fanclub of his own and who seemed to detest him, Nakashima Taiki. And the third one was the silent guy who always looked bored, Ishiguro Ryou.
“Erm… Nakashima-san… Ano… May I ask you something?” Fujiwara Shin tapped Nakashima Taiki on the shoulder and inquired with a highly innocent expression on his face. However, his real motive was to ultimately piss off the guy just for amusement. Well, it was a good way to pass off the time.
Feeling Fujiwara’s touch on his shoulder, Nakashima Taiki suddenly froze in annoyance. “Nani?” He asked, trying to keep his cool though he could feel his gut steaming with anger and jealousy over the guy who began to steal a few members of his fanclub.
“Ano… Nakashima-san, if you don’t mind, do you have any problem with me? I mean, did I do anything to offend you?”
“Ehh? What are you talking about? Why would I have any problem with you?” Nakashima lied. His inner self shouted ‘Hell yeah! I got a problem with you! You’re mere existence is a major offense!’, but he chose to keep it and lie instead. Apparently, he was a very bad liar. Ishiguro Ryou, who was watching from his seat, couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Nakashima deal with the man who elicited unsurpassed anger from him.
“Yokatta…” Fujiwara pretended to be relieved and smiled. He even clapped his hand in front of his chest to act out a cheerful demeanor. “Then, have you done your assignment in Trigonometry? May I borrow it?” He asked again, this time, with an even bigger smile, almost like a grin. He predicted that Nakashima had to prove to him that he didn’t have any problem with him, so he will be forced to let him borrow the Trigonometry assignment.
As predicted, Nakashima turned to Ishiguro Ryou with an annoyed expression. “Oi, Ryou, may I borrow your assignment on Trig? I haven’t done mine yet.” With that, Ishiguro sent his notebook flying over to Nakashima, which in turn, Nakashima handed to Fujiwara. “If you got problems with assignment, just borrow from Ryou…” Fujiwara nodded and threw a thankful smile at Ryou as well. It was only then that Fujiwara Shin remembered that Ishiguro Ryou was the only person on the top ten during the last semester who was from Class 3-D. If he remembered correctly, Ishiguro Ryou was second in rank among the top ten students, who were mostly from the top sections.
To Be Continued...
a/n: Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution exists as explained herein. In August 2005, there really have been talks of amending Article 9, headed by then Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro. If you wish to read more about this Chapter and Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, I suggest you check out this page >>> http://shatteredteardrops-indulgence.blogspot.com/2009/04/crimson-insignia-chapter-03.html