Gothic Style? I've never really thought of it like that. I guess I am kinda gothic in the story. Well it's good to know I have another fan. Hope everyone's looking forward to the next chapter, cause it's here now.
Chapter 7
"And from these three authors you can see the influence religion had during the Renessance. People were inspired more from it than anything else, ironically it also brought about great leaps in science as well," the teacher said, writing three names down on the board. Ring! The bell to dismiss school rang out. "Okay, you all take care over the weekend now. Be careful on your way home." Everyone started to pack up and leave.
"Be careful? When did he start caring about when we went home?" A student asked.
"Don't you know? It's all about Black Coat," A female student answered in a whisper. "We're supposed to be careful since the police can't catch him and have no leads."
"Oh him, the guy's starting to sound like a Death Note rip off. He only kills criminals and people suspected of crimes. Next thing you know he'll be saying he's god or something."
"You better be careful, I heard that if you badmouth him he jumps out of your own shadow and cuts your head off."
Hey that's not a bad idea. We should try that sometime.- Taruke said as Shou passed by the students.
"I swear, sometimes it's like you want me to get caught," Shou mumbled as he walked through the hallways and out the door of the school.
Hey, don't worry about that, kid. Besides, isn't tonight the night you wanted off? It's not like you'll get caught.
"Hey guys!" Shou called out rushing up to Tatsumi and Sakura outside.
"Oh, hey Shou," Tatsumi greeted as they started walking in a group
"'Hey Shou' That's all you say to me? Not one 'Happy Birthday' all day."
"Alright alright, happy birthday Shou," Sakura said, messing up his hair. "You are the whiniest seventeen-year-old I know."
"Yeah, yeah, so are you guys all set for tonight?"
"Uh, tonight?" Tatsumi asked.
"Don't tell me you forgot," Shou said punching Tatsumi's shoulder. "You're the one who bought me my concert ticket, how could you forget?"
"No, it's just that . . . well it's surprising that you're going. Not to be rude, but you've been doing anything except hanging out with us lately."
"Well I cleared tonight just for us. So you two better be free too," Shou said faking a smirk.
"Oh definitely!" Sakura yelled out happily, wrapping her arms around both boys. "Tonight's gonna be great."
"Yeah, so long as you don't scare off the band," Tatsumi said. Wack! He was sent flying into a trash can from a kick from Sakura.
As the three friends walked off back home none of them noticed the three robed figures standing on a building overlooking them. As the wind blew, it pushed back the robes and revealed they each had holes in the middle of their palms and strange web tatoos running up their arms. As Shou, Sakura, and Tatsumi left their field of vision, they stepped back and faded in the shadows.
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(A few hours later)
"I got three CD's for a dollar here! Three CD's for a dollar!" a vendor called out from his stall. On either side of him and everywhere else in front of concert hall were stands set up selling merchandise from the playing band.
Shou, Sakura, and Tatsumi were walking among the stalls. Shou was wearing very faded jeans and a white long-sleeve shirt under a black T-shirt featuring the band. Sakura was a wearing the same T-shirt, except it had it's sleeves torn off, and a pink miniskirt with knee high black boots. Tatsumi was wearing almost the same thing as Shou, except his jeans had a large tear on the right knee that was barely held up with what little fabric was left, and his shirt was recently purchased from a vendor and had a different picture of the band.
The three were still touring through everything with their tickets secure in their pockets and a bag of souvenirs around Sakura's arm. Apparently, it was her birthday too, since whatever caught her eye, Shou and Tatsumi bought for her. Loud music was playing from the speakers set up everywhere as a trickle of fans went into the concert hall from the crowd outside. As Sakura rushed to another vendor a trio of cute girls came by, all with their hair dyed unnatural colors and wearing band T-shirts and miniskirts.
"Well, well, what do we have here," One with blue hair said as they walked up to Shou and Tatsumi. "Don't tell us your girlfriends didn't wanna come with you two."
"Nope," Tatsumi said. "No girlfriends, we're by ourselves."
"Oh my," a girl with green hair said, faking surprise. "Well what kind of people would we be if we let you two go unaccompanied."
"What kind of gentlemen would you two be if you let us go unaccompanied?" the last girl with purple hair said as they all got closer to Shou and Tatsumi.
"They'd be smart gentlemen." Sakura said walking up from behind Shou and Tatsumi and staring down the three girls.
"Oh c'mon Sakura. You're a big girl now, you can go to concerts by yourself," Tatsumi said as he and Shou edged over to the three girls.
"Sorry," Sakura said, grabbing the boy's shoulders and pulling them back over by her. "But we've got plans together for tonight, so it looks like you're all on your own."
The girl with blue hair smirked, took out a small piece of paper, and quickly wrote something down on it. She folded it up, stepped forward and slipped it into Tatsumi's hand as the girls with green hair stepped forward to Shou.
"Ditch the little kid and come see us later." she whispered before kissing Tatsumi as the green-haired girl kissed Shou.
Before Sakura could hit them or claw at them, the three girls ran off and got lost in the crowd. After a second she started grabbing at the piece of paper Tatsumi had as he tried to read it. After doing everything to keep it out of her reach he passed it over to Shou who took a look at the message.
We'll be waiting by the fountain out front after the concert.
Before Sakura could do anything drastic, Shou and Tatsumi ran into the concert hall. Luckily, it was just about time for the band to start, so it got crowded and they lost her in the fray. Unfortunately, she met them at their seats, and after several insults and a few punches she calmed down, and they sat down to enjoy the concert. The concert went by normally, or at least as normally as Shou could let it.
Taruke and Murai were asleep, since they weren't doing anything, but even without them Shou sensed something about the girls from earlier. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but they just held his attention more than usual, and it wasn't because of the kiss.
"Shou. Shou!" Tatsumi yelled at him as the band finished a song and started preparing for the next, "Hey, you okay? You've been kinda zoned out."
"It's nothing," Shou said, faking a smile at him. "The songs just really resonate with me."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey wait, where's Sakura?" Tatsumi asked, looking around as the new song started.
"I'm right here," she yelled from Shou's other side, hanging off his shoulder.
"Where did you go?"
"I was thirsty, so I got some water," she opened the bottle and took a drink from it. "This is the best water ever," she said, and started laughing and swinging around Shou.
"Give me that!" Tatsumi yelled grabbing the bottle, although Sakura didn't notice. He opened it and sniffed it, then quickly recapped it and dropped it on the ground. "It's been drugged," he whispered to Shou as he reached out and grabbed Sakura.
"Drugged?" Shou asked, grabbing Sakura's bag and following the two out as they left.
"Yeah, dad's not going to like this," he said. They walked into a quieter hallway, "Hey Sakura, who'd you buy the water from?"
"Um . . . I dunno," she answered starting to act really tipsy. "There was some guy's selling water, and a lot of other girls seemed to like it. Oh wait, that's them up there." She pointed to a group of guys standing around the exit door.
As they got closer they saw they were all standing around a cooler and one was counting a stack of money. As they got closer they started to nudge each other and took notice of the trio.
"Well well, if it isn't a returning customer," the one counting the money said.
"Hi guys!" Sakura said happily waving at them. Shou kept his eye's open on them all, his sense was going crazy around them.
"That water seems to have done the trick, didn't I tell you it was good."
"Mmmhmm, sure was."
"Sakura, shut up!" Tatsumi hissed at her quietly, trying to get through the door. But one of the guys put his arm in the way.
"Hey, since you're in such a good mood why don't you come to a party with us. Even if no one else shows up we can still have a good time."
"I don't think so," Shou said, pushing the guy by the door out of the way. The others started to get up from their positions and surround him. "Tatsumi, you take Sakura, and I'll meet you outside."
"You can't be serious," Tatsumi protested as he backed up against the door.
"I'm serious." And Shou pushed them through the door, showing a smile as the door closed. "See you in a bit."
"Big mistake," one of the larger guys of the group said as he walked up to Shou, cracking his knuckles.
As he stood in front of Shou he brought his right arm back, and then brought it forward, aiming straight for Shou's stomach. There was a loud thud but when they all looked, Shou was off to the guys side and his hand was against the door. Before the pain could register in the man's mind, Shou's knee came up and with an audible cracking of a rib or two and the man was sent into the opposite wall.
As the others gawked at what just happened, he quickly went around and beat them. By the time he was done they were all bleeding from a different wound, and were lying unconscious on the floor. Shou finished wiping off his hand with a rag one of them had and threw it onto the body of the one who had been counting money.
"Consider yourselves lucky," he said coldly. "I'd normally kill you, especially since you did something to Sakura. But it's my night off." And he left through the door.
As he got outside he found Tatumi and Sakura waiting for him.
"You okay?" Tatsumi asked, walking up to him, "What happened?"
"I just had a talk with them," Shou said calmly. "They won't bother us, now let's get her home before your dad finds out."
"Oh my, seems they just couldn't wait," came a familiar voice.
Shou and Tatsumi turned around to see the three girls from before standing at the front entrance. They walked over and grouped around Shou and Tatsumi.
"Oh, no it's not that," Tatsumi said, "I just need to get her home quick." He pointed over at Sakura, who was very intrigued by her hand.
"Really? Don't you wanna spend time with us?" the blue haired girl asked, faking a hurt expression and putting her arm around Tatsumi.
"As much as I'd like to I really do need to get her home."
"Well that's no fun. But only one of you needs to take care of her right?" the green haired girl asked. "So that means one of you can keep us company."
"Well then," Shou said, backing up and heading for Sakura. "I'll take that as my cue to leave; have fun Tatsumi." He picked Sakura up as the girls laughed and pulled Tatsumi along with them.
As they disappeared from each other's sight, Shou let out a real smile, happy for Tatsumi. Meanwhile Sakura was very interested at everything that they passed, and took several minutes to check out each one. About an hour later they were only halfway back to her home.
"Hey Shou," she asked suddenly, "why are you so different now. You've been really weird lately."
"What are you talking about?" Shou feigned ignorance. "I'm the same I've always been."
"Nuh uh, you're really distant and cold. It's like you're wanting to be somewhere else and really bummed that you can't be."
"I've just . . . had a lot to think about lately. It's nothing important, just some bothersome stuff," he said, smiling at her.
"You know you can talk to me right?" Sakura said with her head hung low. "I'm your friend, I wanna help if something's wrong.
"I know," Shou said, hiding his guilt behind another smile, "And I promise, if something really important happens you and Tatsumi will be the first to know."
"Alright!" Sakura perked back up, happy as ever. "We're here." and they stepped in front of her house. All the lights were off except the front one.
"Can you go inside alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Sakura said, slipping out of Shou's hold and grabbed her back, planting a kiss on his cheek as she said, "Goodnight," and walked inside.
As he turned and walked away, Shou chuckled to himself. If she remembered that tomorrow, she would be so embarrassed.
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(The next morning)
"New facts and murders are coming to light in the Black Coat serial murders. The police have ensured the public that everything is being done to find the criminal, and are asking for any information about his whereabouts. Meanwhile, a few websites have appeared supporting and his murders and even rallying support for him. No one knows what this controversy will do to the police," the female reporter spoke from her desk in the station as a picture of the website appeared behind her.
We've got fan's. How about that.- Taruke said, amused.
Humans, such pitifully pathetic and deceived creatures- Murai said too -
But some human support could help if we ever need it.
"Is killing all you two ever think about?" Shou asked, annoyed as he finished dressing and went downstairs to the kitchen where Mako was talking on the phone, a grave look on her face. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, Shou," she said, hanging up the phone. "That was Sakura's father, it's about Tatsumi."
"Tatsumi? Oh crap!" Shou sat down. "Look whatever happened, he can just blame me. I let him go out on his own last night, it's my fault."
"Don't say that!" Mako snapped at him, catching him by surprise. She quickly took the seat beside him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"What happened?" Shou asked worried "What happened to Tatsumi?"
"I'm sorry Shou," she said, looking straight at him. Shou noticed the tears welling up in her eyes, "He's dead. They found his body this morning."
End
So what did you all think. I'm pretty sure I ended it well. And major credit goes to Ragnell 37 for helping me with the chapter.
