War is Declared

They streaked over the lawn, eyes set on the front door. Going in blind wasn’t the ideal way to breach the house, but they didn’t see any guards out front, nor any snipers in the windows. Besides, they couldn’t wait anymore. The sound of gunfire split the night like screams, as well as crashing which shook the house. There was no doubt Hinata was in trouble. She had cleared the way as much as possible with her stealth tactics.

Now it was time for a fight.

“She better be okay…” Harry growled as his head lowered, his shoulder readying itself for the front door.

“Harry…” Reo started to say as his friend reached the double front doors, his exorcist body like a living battering ram as he burst through them, splintering wood with a great roar. He wanted them to know they were there. Whoever was left had to split their focus between them and Hinata. It was their best shot to clear the house and get Gouki God damn Kageyama.

Best shot, however, didn’t mean good shot.

About a dozen men froze in the foyer, coming from side hallways and down the wide stairs in the center, their guns drawn, clearly running to go further into the house. Harry and Reo struck before they had time to recover from their surprise. “Focus on the fight! Hinata is fine!” Reo said as he ducked punches and sidestepped bullets, his fists and feet plowing into Gouki’s men.

“Promise?” Harry asked as he picked up one of the larger men and threw him into three others, following it up with a flying elbow on top of the pile. Growing up with pro wrestling sometimes paid off, he thought.

As the last man went down, a great crash echoed through the room. Time seemed to slow down as Harry and Reo saw Hinata’s body flying through the air as the wall of the upper hallway blew out, her body bleeding and beaten, before hitting the ground and tumbling towards them. Harry knelt to catch her, absorbing the impact as his arms received her. Her breathing was erratic, short gasps coming out as if her lungs were trying to remember how to be lungs.

Hinata’s eyes briefly met his, as if apologizing for not being stronger.

The thought of Hinata thinking she was weak pissed him off more than he figured any idea possibly could. His hammer materialized in his free hand as he readied himself for whatever was coming.

Both men turned their eyes to the top of the stairs, where Gouki God damn Kageyama emerged from the hole in his wall, wearing only his underwear and holding his gun, followed by a nine foot tall monstrosity who crouched low under the ceiling. The demon was animalistic yet dressed impeccably, with tufts of fur growing from its visible skin. A bat like face looked back at Harry, and he knew what he was looking at. A yamachichi, a variation of a vampire, able to suck the breath from victims. Both man and demon wore smarmy grins, as if they hadn’t been caught by surprise by Hinata. They looked like they had them exactly where they wanted them.

Gouki pointed his gun right at Harry’s heart. It would be so easy, he thought. One bullet. Even an exorcist can’t survive a bullet to the heart. But Harry Vickers had a habit of surviving the impossible.

“Harry,” Gouki said, his voice stone cold like an unmarked grave.

“Gouki,” Harry said, spitting out the word like it was venom.

“How did you find me, Harry?” Gouki asked.

“The smell,” Harry said.

“Cute. Please meet my friend, Yami Ishikawa. Top tier demon assassin, just back from Europe. Getting him across borders is a pain in my ass, but so worth it,” Gouki said, gesturing towards the yamachichi to his side. The demon leapt up onto the rail, sliding down the banister and landing smoothly before the exorcists. Harry stood up, putting himself between Yami and Hinata. Reo, however, seemed hesitant, joining Harry, yet his steps faltering.

“Good seeing you again, Reo,” Yami said, licking his lips as he glanced at Hinata again. Reo stayed still. He remembered the last time he had encountered the assassin known as the Final Breath. A spate of political killings had been happening, with victims asphyxiated despite no evidence of strangulation. Demon activity was suspected, and Reo spent months tracking down Yami. It ended with the detective he had been working with dead at his feet, her future snuffed out by a demon who cared nothing about her life, only the payday he could get by ending it. “Don’t tell me you’re still mad about your lady friend. A business before pleasure man like you…”

“I was going to have Yami kidnap Hinata, trade her for grandfather’s diary,” Gouki said, looking around the room like he was taking in the sight of it for the last time. “But you two had to declare war. It seems the time for hiding is over. I failed to operate from the shadows, and so…”

“Oh no…” Harry said softly, beginning to realize what was about to happen. This whole affair with Reiji’s diary began with a kappa demon robbing a bank. When the man under the demon had failed…

“…war it is,” Gouki said, pointing his gun at them, cycling between all three. “First, though, I’m going to savor giving the middle finger to grandfather one last time.”

Before anyone could question what Gouki meant, the entire mansion was rocked by an explosion. Gouki raised his arms, tilting his head back, as if he were a conductor directing a symphony, ridiculous and terrifying in his silk boxers, gun waving in the air. Harry grabbed both Reo and Hinata, hauling ass towards the ruined front door.

“MOVE!” Harry screamed, practically throwing them out of the house as more explosions blasted through walls, the ceiling igniting in a pyre which stretched up into the sky. He pulled them as far away from the detonating house as possible, shielding them as much as his large body could. Reo pushed away, standing up as Hinata coughed, her breathing beginning to normalize.

As smoke and flame reached into the sky, obscuring the stars and filling the air with the scent of burning wood and bodies, the three of them looked up to see the massive bat demon rising through the chaos. Yami shot skyward, holding Gouki close to his body as yet another explosion wiped out more of his grandfather’s mansion. Gouki looked down at them, and even from the distance he was at they could see the yakuza crime lord give them a smile and a little salute, as if he were giving them credit for a good move.

“See you in the end game, Harry!” Gouki shouted.

Harry and Reo helped Hinata to her feet. “I’m fine,” she said, lying through her teeth. But they could already see her demon biology taking care of her more serious wounds. “He caught me by surprise. I’m sorry…”

Harry flicked her fox ears, causing her to squeak. “Don’t apologize. None of us thought he would blow up his own damn house,” Harry said.

Reo walked away from the Inferno, pulling out his phone to call the situation in to the police. Harry stood there with his arm wrapped protectively around Hinata, his thoughts darkening by the moment as he realized what had occurred. Gouki wouldn’t have done something as extreme as he did if he weren’t prepared to do far worse. With how many yakuza and demons Gouki could pull together, the words he said in the mansion were clearly not for show.

Gouki God damn Kageyama had declared open war on the police, the exorcists of Tokyo and Harry Vickers personally.