Sinister Business

The room was eerily dark and empty that evening except for the soft flashing of the television in the far off corner and the light from a small laptop screen as the rhythmic clicking of computer keys reverberated through the silence. A blue haired young man sat there with a calm, cool demeanor, conducting business that most people would find deplorable without even the slightest show of conscience whatsoever. He surveyed the progress of his internet empire while sipping casually at a steaming cup of coffee, awaiting the return of his friend and compatriot who was making a delivery over at the alley behind Port Island Station. A brief smile spread across his face as he read and made a note of the latest request that had recently popped into the website's inbox from yet another anonymous sender. It was always that way. Nobody ever had the guts to own up to the dark and primitive desires that drove them to make such secretive requests. Theirs was a business of revenge and more often than not, people ended up in a very serious state after all was said and done. Sometimes the targets lived to see them walk away and sometimes they didn't. They always got their business done in one way or another and it didn't matter how it happened; conscience or  morals played no part in it whatsoever. Strictly speaking, revenge was their business and this time the job was especially tempting.

The young man working away at his laptop looked up from the screen as distant footsteps and the light jingling of keys sounded at the front door.  It opened without much further sound, revealing a tall, lean, young man with long hair and eerie golden eyes that could seemingly bore straight through a person's soul to where their true thoughts lay. He was one of the few people who wasn't put off by this strange parody of a western messianic figure and his peculiar ways.

"Jin." The newcomer greeted his friend, casually stuffing his keys into the pocket of his snug, faded jeans.

"Takaya." Jin acknowledged with a nod, turning back to his screen.

"Burning the midnight oil so to speak, I see." Takaya spoke without his typical sneer as he entered through the door of their somber apartment,  the pale skin of his shirtless torso almost ghostly in the darkness of the room.  He moved with an unnerving sort of fluidity to his stride as he made his way over to the end of the table where Jin sat with his laptop open, pondering the upcoming job. With his disturbing voice and eerie mannerisms it was no wonder why so many others found his friend frightening. Not Jin though. Takaya had saved him from a life of self destruction years before, showing him the error of his ways when Jin was still coming to terms with the cursed power they had both been given. The two had since become close friends. Well, as close of friends as one could get when life was measured day to day instead of dwindling away in blissful years like everyone else. Jin was intelligent and calculating, but reclusive, whereas Takaya was charismatic and the one whose boldness allowed him to take the lead in most situations. It was an arrangement that suited them both quite well, and along with a third member, a strange girl named Chidori, they made the most out of their situation. "It would appear  as though we have some more business to conduct, my brother."  Takaya's long hair swayed as he leaned over to look at the screen, the tattoos on his arms seeming like shadows cast on his skin by the faint electric light. "Tell me, who has incurred the wrath of their peers this time?"

"Heh, you'll like this one, Takaya." Jin grinned mischievously as he sat up eagerly in his seat, expanding the message to full screen so they could both view the gem of a job brought to them. "It seems that our rivals' fearless leader has made a few enemies herself." He glanced over at Takaya, with another sip of his coffee in anticipation of his friend's reaction.

A sly smile spread it's way over Takaya's thin face, golden eyes lighting up as they surveyed the news presented to him. "I see." His voice was syrupy smooth as he stood up, resting one hand on his narrow hip while the other pensively stroked at the stubbled hair of his  chin. "A very appealing request indeed. It is one which we would be fools not to accept." Takaya paused, his interest piqued and a flush of color rising to the surface of his pale skin briefly at the thought of dealing with this particular target. " It appears as though not even someone such as herself is impervious to the effects of jealously. What do you say to this, Jin?"

Jin set his coffee down on the table and nudged his glasses back to the bridge of his nose with a slender, nimble hand. "I say we take it, of course. You really think those pains in the ass will  be trying so hard to get in our way once we're done with her? We'll be able to keep the dark hour for a while longer and have a little fun while we're at it." He chuckled quietly and smiled with narrowed eyes, sweeping the blue fringe of hair away from his face as he mulled over the options and potential risks that lay ahead of them in this mission.

This girl, this 'leader' they spoke of was an enemy of theirs;  the one who had been there each and every time their plans had been foiled and who seemed to be the very glue that held SEES together. Not only that, but she was more than a little easy on the eyes as well. All the guys on both her team and theirs could see it and she had won many admirers amongst the student body with her pleasing appearance and annoyingly sunny disposition. That, in fact, was what landed her in the hot water that warranted the request they'd received in the first place. The name of the sender remained anonymous as always, but it wasn't difficult at all to piece together what was going on after hearing from Chidori all that occurred within that little gang of goody two-shoes.  From what Jin could surmise, this girl was a school rival of Minako's for the affections of a certain silver-haired boxing champion and was driven by a deep seeded jealousy and hatred over his choosing of her to put a hit out on the girl she felt had wronged her. Their website had become quite popular in recent weeks since the rumors began spreading through the gossip-hungry halls of Gekkoukan High, and she'd managed to track them down in order to exact the revenge she felt entitled to. The message this girl sent to them was seething with anger, calling for the defiling and crushing of her rival's spirit.

'She took Senpai away from me, and  she needs to pay. Make it so she never wants to be with him ever again. I don't care how you do it, just crush her.'

Jin and Takaya glanced at each other, their combined interest visible on their faces even through the faint glow of the laptop screen. It was agreed in that moment that they would take this person up on their request, not only for the pay but for their own personal gain and satisfaction as well. To see the opposition demoralized in such a way would be a great boon to their cause as SEES had become quite a nuisance in the weeks since their new leader's arrival. They weren't going to kill their target this time, oh no. They were going to leave her alive to savor the sweet agony and dehumanizing hopelessness that would wither her spirit and eat away at her very soul, and damn it, they were going to enjoy every last tantalizing second of it.

"There will be retribution for this, you realize." A quiet voice called out from the corner of the darkened room. The voice belonged to their secretive third member, the artistic and reclusive Chidori. She sat huddled in the corner of the room, barely illuminated by the flickering of the television, quietly sketching unseen images onto the worn pages of her art book. Her long, crimson hair hung in ribboned segments around her slender frame which was almost entirely concealed within an intricately laced and decorated white, Gothic dress which billowed out around her like a blanket. Even clad all in white she still managed to remain concealed the entire evening until the moment she chose to speak up. Her voice was haunting, as though she were some sort of otherworldly being speaking to them of dark and terrifying possibilities. "Take heed to not reveal yourselves to her. She is strong and there are those who would hunt you down for what you are about to do." Chidori warned, looking more like an eerie porcelain doll than the person she was.

"Quiet yourself, Chidori. Find her for us." Takaya's yellow eyes glared at her from between long, wispy strands of dusty colored hair before he turned to Jin with a smile on his gaunt face that practically oozed with anticipation and sinister intentions. "Tonight, my brother, we hunt."