Fragile

Part 1: Ignition

The leader snorted. Of all of the missions that were given to him, the task Fairy Tale had given him was surprisingly simple. Kill the kids. All of them. Even the young girl must bleed. No mercy, and the bounty would be his. Of course, he would spread it around with his fellow hitmen, but the money that would remain would surely be enough to finance his hunger for nicotine and methamphetamines for a long, looong time. He grinned.

He glanced down at his AK-47. The Kalashnikov was filled with hallow pointed bullets, designed to explode and sear the flesh of the target instead of passing right through. These bullets were designed to kill, not to incapacitate. His companions, he hoped, made the same decision. Using normal bullets against a monster, even fragile juveniles like these, would not get the job done quick enough. They needed to be on the ground, dying a painful death, not on their feet and fighting to survive until one lucky headshot was made.

That worry was quickly banished from his head. No matter. They would die all the same, professionally executed or by a hail of gunfire. It would be too easy, which made the leader so confused. Of course, he had heard of their feats, but what could they do against a slug of metal traveling a cozy 896 meters a second, with no warning?

Nothing. Before they could realize what was happening, their lives would already be forfeit. No matter how strong a monster can be, a weaker one can always sneak up behind him and fill up his head with more metal than there was brain matter. He could give a care less about Witch Summoning, Snow Maiden ice clones, or Succubi illusions. They were not prepared for battle. They would die without a chance to show their true strength.

What amused him more was his employer's weakness. They lost to high-schoolers? Of all things? He couldn't give a damn about the vampire, they could at least have installed sprinklers in the Floating Garden, didn't they? The idiocy, the sheer chance of these teenagers succeeding. The pack leader shook his head instinctively. Such a marvelous palace in the sky, such ambitious plans for a monster revolution... All gone.

The leader glanced at another companion, prone in the tall grass. They were at the border of a cliff, were the ocean crashed down below, where the sun was touching the sea and seemingly vanishing behind it. What a spectacular view this cliff must have, during boundary between day and night. When the spotter had noticed the group taking a long walk towards the cliff, the leader made no hesitation in ordering the strike, even when it was yet to be dark. It was an ample place for an ambush, the gunfire would be quieted by the cascade of water down below. Along with that, one of the companions was a vampire. One good shove, and she would tumble down to the waves below. They would toss all of the bodies after her, when the deed was done.

The leader grinned as he saw the children phase into his line of sight. With his eyes, he could see that they were his targets. They were only 300 meters away, and for insurance, he quietly checked his weapon one last time. The other hunters made no noise, waiting for their boss to fire the first round. The leader flashed a mad grin. For him, it wasn't the moment of killing that pleased him the most, it was the unknowing innocence of his targets, as they marched unwittingly to their death.

Tsukune was relieved. His math test had gone surprisingly well, thanks to the study session with Moka and Yukari, who were more than happy to lend a hand. The stress of finals had finally eased up, and he celebrated with the group at Mononoke Arcade. As they walked back to the school dorms before bed-time, Mizore insisted that they walk along the shining sea. The view was too good to pass up.

The ocean stretched out before them, benign and sparkling in a magenta hue. Tsukune felt a huge wave of relief and calm pass through him. Life was opening up for them, and...

"Tsukune? Helloooo?" Kurumu said.

"Oh! Yeah, Kurumu?" Tsukune replied quickly, snapping out of the daze.

"Geez, silly. You have to pay attention! I mean, I could've fallen back there and you would've kept walking!" Kurumu said in a pouting tone.

"Sorr-"

"I mean, of all of the times! I'm sitting here, worrying about my test, and you go off looking at the horizon! What's so special happening over there?"

"But-"

"No buts! Thats not how you treat your girlfriend!"

"Now wait a moment!" Tsukune said desperately.

"Yeah, hold on there Kurumu. I think you've crossed the line. Again." Mizore said with a nonchalant stare.

"No, crossing the line would be something like this." Kurumu said, hugging Tsukune tightly and forcing her chest to press up against his.

"Point taken." Mizore said, "That's more like it."

"H- Hold on!" Tsukune stammered, split between trying to find a way to break free of Kurumu's embrace, or trying not to show the embarrassment that was visible on his face.

"I won't wait Tsukune. You're being unfaithful. Again." Mizore said, allowing the air around her to suddenly take a massive dive in temperature.

"No, Mizore, allow me." Yukari sighed, summoning a common frying pan to land on Kurumu's head. Kurumu quickly covered her head and messaged it, glowering at Yukari.

"Really, I'd prefer being frozen then to have a little child like you drop cooking sets on me." Kurumu muttered.

"Oh, my mistake. Mizore, please freeze the cow, after all, that's what she prefers." Yukari said in a mocking tone.

"Oh, come on guys, why are we going to do this on such a great day?" Moka intervened. "We've all finished our tests, we're nearing the end of our second year!"

"Y- Yeah!" Tsukune said, cursing himself for the awkwardness. "We've been having such a good time, why ruin it now?"

"Well..." Kurumu pouted "I just don't want to be all ignored and all."

"Come on!" Tsukune laughed, stretching his arms around Kurumu. "Why the heck would I ignore you?"

"Tsukune..." Mizore said in a dark tone, as the air got cold once more.

"With that said..." Tsukune said nervously, letting go of Kurumu. "I'm-"

He never finished.

Tsukune could only watch as suddenly, in a twisted, surreal, fashion as the bushes in front of them seemed to catch fire. The first round clipped him in the shoulder, two more slammed into his stomach. Countless others scratched his frame, and lodged into his chest. As Tsukune fell to his knees, the only thing he wanted to do was close his eyes. But he was not granted such luxury. He watched.

Tsukune watched Mizore stumbled backward as a bullet lodged into her throat, 2 found her way into her stomach and another slammed into her lungs. She simply fell backwards, unable to lift a hand to help her friends. All her face was blank as it always was, unable to comprehend what had just occurred.

Moka was near the edge of the cliff. Clipped in the shoulder, and as more bullets tore through her flesh, she stumbled, and fell. Tsukune stared at her disappear over the ledge, there was nothing he could have done. But the moment Moka disappeared from his eyes, the guilt suffocated him and his sight grew fuzzy.

Yukari stumbled and lay lifeless behind Tsukune. He never noticed her fall. Such a young, innocent girl was now corrupted by lead bullets that knew no mercy. Tsukune was numb now.

Kurumu was the last to fall. She had stood next to Moka, by the ledge. When Tsukune first fell, Kurumu tried to shield him, in a self-less display of love. But instead of being a shield, she was pushed back by the impact of the metal slugs, and could only watch Tsukune kneel to the ground as she too fell off the cliff, down to the ocean below.

For a few spare moments, Tsukune couldn't see, the colors bled into one another, and the dull, cold pain of the metal within him seemed more and more distant, except where some bullets had exploded and ripped into his flesh. Blood spilled out of his mouth, so that all he could taste was heat and metal. Tsukune could only hear his heartbeat, a slow, painful, hammer that seemed to hurt more than anything else. He couldn't seem to grasp reality and time, or understand his thoughts. They seemed to spiral out of control, thoughts he never thought he was capable of.

Damn them. God damn it. All of it. They'll fucking pay.

Suddenly, Tsukune could see. He saw the attackers now, standing out of the bush and sauntering towards him and his fallen comrades.

Fuck them. They're going to all die. DAMN IT.

Tsukune could feel the pain of the bullets again, lodged in his body, burning and stinging.

They're going to die. Fuck it. They're dead. I'll kill them.

He heard once more, acute enough to hear the sudden intake of breath when he stood up.

Closest one. Come here.

He spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth. The pain was gone now, he felt a sudden rush of warmth and power as he started to walk towards the nearest attacker. The banter stopped as the ambushers realized something wasn't going as planned.

I'm going to kill them.

The attackers backed up, their guns came up again, but by then they were far, far to late. Tsukune no longer thought, no longer cared. The only thing that came to mind was one simple goal.

Kill.

Everything had gone well until the kid stood up. The Vampire was dead, and so were his friends. He stood alone. The leader stood back and opened fire, the others following suite. He grimaced as the boy simply sidestepped the projectiles and was suddenly holding one his men by the throat. The leader had no time for sympathy, expertly readjusted his aim. This was not going according to plan. He could not allow a ghoul to start picking off his men one by one. The freak needed to die, now.

In a flash, the boy disappeared once more, and putting distance between the leader and himself. The leader move to fire once more, as the boy nonchalantly put his arm through his victim. The mercenary screamed in fear and pain. The leader payed no mind, trying to hit the ghoul. But the ghoul held the body as a shield to soak up the bullets, and in another moment, quieted the screaming man by tearing his head off. Blood drenched the boy's clothes.

The leader swallowed quietly, irritated by the sloppy and messy death. The ghoul dramatized everything, going to the extremes and using flashy moves, it left so many openings and faults in it's movement. Easy.

...Yet, for some god damn reason, the leader could not seem to hurt it. But that's not fucking possible. The leader swore. We have the advantage. Why the fuck is it teasing us? Its only one god-damn ghoul.

The leader had killed a lot of ghouls in his lifespan, when friends OD'd and went mad with the drugs coursing through their veins. He had killed them all, this one wouldn't be different. He was not going to let some mindless freak intimidate him with flashy decapitations.

"Why the fuck did you guys not get hollow points?" He yelled, never taking his aim off of the monster. He felt sick, quick to blame others for what was about to happen. "For fucks sakes! You people are fucking shit! Reload, everyone hit the damn thing at once! I'm covering you."

The men grinned and began to reload. The Leader suddenly was in cold sweat. These idiots were going to kill him. They didn't understand, they weren't experienced for shit. They didn't take the situation seriously. And suddenly, he knew that he didn't take it seriously enough too. He swore.

The ghoul simply stood there, seemingly glaring down at the men, but The Leader saw that its eyes were focused on something far away, as if it was looking past them. Lost in thought.

What the fuck? Ghouls can't think, they fight, kill, eat, shit, and die. This is nothing. The man thought. But deep down, he knew better.

Suddenly, it lifted its right arm and began to inspect it. The Leader nearly jumped backwards, but experience kept him steady, even though his heart was pounding. The Leader saw the glint of metal and realized the Ghoul was staring at a seal.

The Leader was staring too, in disbelief. Ghouls are stupid. They don't know about seals. They can't even swim if they needed to.

But he knew better.

This can't be. Oh fuck. No, its a god-damn ghoul. Shit.

The ghoul grabbed the bracelet-like seal with its left hand. The men had finished reloading and aimed once, and once again stood ready, waiting for the order to fire. The Leader suddenly knew that this was a losing fight.

Oh shit, nonononono...Fuck. FUCK...FUCK! PULL BACK!

The ghoul ripped the seal off, and suddenly the men were rooted in their spots as a sudden wave of Youki emendated from the freak. The Leader and some others shook it off and were gone, but some stayed in confusion, others simply unable to shake off the pressure that suddenly landed on their backs.

The ghoul smiled.

Author's Note:

Hehe, tried something dark, as you see. Don't worry. This is by far the end. I have it all planned out...

*Laughs maniacally*

So yes, reviews would be sorely appreciated.

For those who are waiting impatiently for my update of my other story, I'm working on it. I've recently had to deal with a whole bunch of real-life distractions and writers block. I apologize.

Soon, I hope to be a lot more productive with my stories. Right now things are slow, but I'm chugging along. Soon enough I'll catch a nice good pace. Patience is a virtue, readers. I know its hard.