Chương 2: Chapter 2: Looks like a Bucket
Vergil was looking at the unmistakable black cat, as he was tapped into his ultra-speed perception.
'Is this who I think it is?
I'm not exactly surprised that Urahara and her are keeping their tabs on me. I'm sure one of them must have seen me using my powers or at least destroying a hollow.' He thought as he walked around the seemingly paused cat.
'What should I do? Well, I can't exactly hide forever. Specially since I'm planning to interfere at that time.
I have to give it to her though. Everything about her just seems like a normal black cat. However, one of the deadliest assassins in this world, can't really hide her instinctual Blood Lust.
At least not from me.' He thought, since for anyone else she could practically be invisible right in front of their eyes.
He swiftly got back to his previous position, and his perception changed to normal. Nothing seemed to have changed, except for a whisp of wind that the 'mysterious' cat, passed off as nothing and kept following its target.
Though, instead of going to his training location, he just went to his home. Opening the door, he saw Griffon perched atop the shoe rack.
"You do realize that a 'Suspicious Cat' has been following you around, don't you?" Griffon spoke.
Seeing Vergil shrug, the bird spoke again, "And, it's been following you for a few days now. That was right after we killed that snake-like hollow too."
"Are you 'that' repulsed by a cat?" Vergil asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, I can tolerate a stalker. But Shadow isn't taking it too lightly. She seems pissed off for some reason, and its only when that cat is around." Griffon spoke.
"Purrrrrr." The big panther purred as she strode closer to Vergil and snuggled towards his legs.
"It's ok. The cat hasn't done anything else other than following me around." He got down and patted her head.
"Besides, I do want to see what it's after." He got up and went to his room, saying, "It's maintaining distance for now. We'll intercept, if it gets any closer."
"Whatever. You're the boss." Griffon shrugged and looked at shadow. "Come on kitty, let's go back. We're almost out of juice today."
After spending a certain amount of time away from the demon realm, they always needed to go back and rest. So, both Griffon and Shadow went back to the demon realm.
Sometime later:
Seated on his sofa, Vergil was having a cup of ice-cream, 'She seems to have left.' He thought and then looked at the calendar.
"March 17, 1994. Man it's already been 7 months huh." He mumbled thinking about all the things that had happened until now.
'Well, now that the cat is gone, let's go do some practice. I won't feel at ease without swinging the Yamato at least few times a day.' He chuckled.
Swiftly changing his clothes, he opened a portal to the abandoned factory that he used as his training location.
Inside the abandoned factory. Vergil was in a clash against his doppelganger. His demonic half completely made out of demonic energy.
Both seemed to be in a stalemate as Vergil was untraceable with his sword, while the doppelganger was blocking and countering every one of his attacks.
As they were clashing, a huge spectral claymore suddenly erupted out of the back of the doppelganger's forearm, and vertically slashed towards Vergil.
Vergil, who was a bit disoriented by an earlier jab, looked up with a smile and put his katana back into his inventory then raised his hands towards the incoming sword.
"BAAAM!"
He blocked the claymore with his bare palm. The shockwave from the attack being blocked, rippled throughout the area which shook the factory itself.
Vergil looked at the doppelganger and gave a subtle smile. His demonic half gave a nod and then disappeared.
There was just a laceration on his palm that was bleeding a bit, but it healed back soon enough. He was always amused seeing the cells and tissues being joined together as if time itself was being reversed.
Vergil suddenly seemed surprised, 'You don't seem to leave me alone, do you?' He smirked as he could sense the same cat again.
'I shouldn't have let her follow me here before.' Vergil thought as he remembered that she had slipped past his senses and followed there before.
He had chosen to ignore her then, but today even if he had used the portal to get here, she might have guessed that he was there.
'Sigh… Whatever, might as well try and talk to her.' He thought and disappeared, much to the momentary panic of his feline stalker.
POV, the Black Cat / Yoruichi Shihoin.
Ever since Kisuke saw this man dispatching a hollow, the fool has been adamant on me regularly keeping my eyes on him.
Everything my eyes told me, the first time I saw him was nothing but that he was a normal human. At least, that's what I thought before I saw him in action.
His Kenjutsu proficiency, the strength and strange abilities he displays and most importantly, his speed. I've never seen anyone like him.
The strangest thing is, whenever he uses that power of his, it reminds of the energy emitted by the Gates of Hell.
Also, as much as I'd like to believe that he hasn't noticed me yet, my instincts are telling me otherwise.
General POV:
As the cat was watching Vergil's fight with the strange demonic looking thing, she was thinking about all those things.
This was also the second time that she was seeing his healing factor in action. 'There's no way he's a human, at all.' She thought but was wide eyed, when Vergil had suddenly disappeared.
She was about to turn back, sensing someone behind her but she heard his voice before she could do that, "A cat?"
It was Vergil, who was now looking at the perplexed black cat. 'Should I try to make her reveal herself? Nah, I'll just play along.
Besides, a cat is a cat. I can't help but wanting to pet one, if I ever saw one.' He thought, getting closer to the cat, who took a few steps back with a small hissing sound.
"Was I imagining things?" He said out loud in a believable tone, as he got down and gently grabbed the cat under its forelegs and brought it in front of his face.
"You're a bit far from where you should be, you know." Vergil spoke to the cat, as he scratched its under-chin.
He was right, this factory was very far into the woods, even wild cats were rare in this area.
'Sh*t, of course it's strange.' Yoruichi thought to herself.
"Did you get lost?" He asked, getting it to a comfortable position on his arms.
Yoruichi wasn't actually going to reply, not yet at least, so, she just meowed, "Meow…"
"Pff-" Vergil almost broke out in laughter as that was the most awkward meow that he'd ever heard.
"Ahem-" He acted as if he was clearing his throat. The cat was giving him the side eyes, wondering whether he was truly onto something or just really thought that she was a cat.
Gaining her attention, Vergil spoke again, "Whatever the case. It's dangerous here so, let me get you back to the city."
Yoruichi was thinking that he would just run fast towards the city or maybe fly there, she wouldn't be surprised considering the abilities Vergil had showed until now.
But to her confusion, Vergil pulled out an unsheathed katana from nowhere. Now that she was seeing it from up close, the Katana was giving her an eerie feeling that she couldn't brush off.
And then to her shock, Vergil slashed the sword twice in the air; vertical and horizontal slashes simultaneously.
The fabric of space and reality ripped opened like a piece of paper, stretching into a cross-shaped portal that extended up to the point where the sword had cut through.
Ignoring the gobsmacked expression on the cat, he just walked in. The other side of the portal was the inside of his house.
Vergil gently put the cat down, near the open window of his living room. And then silently walked towards the washroom.
'The f**k was that. That wasn't a Garganta, but something else entirely. Wait a minute… Who the hell have you found this time? Kisuke you as**hole.' Yoruichi suddenly came back to her senses and then quickly dashed towards Urahara's Shop.
The man in question was resting peacefully inside his room. He held a cup of warm tea that he was enjoying.
Suddenly the sliding door to the room was violently opened. In came, the same black cat, who spoke in a slightly grumpy and manly voice, "What haven't you told me about that man? Kisuke."
"Ah… Yoruichi-san. Who… are we talking about here?" Urahara asked, as he put down the teacup.
"That Vergil guy. I saw him open a spatial portal today. Scratch that, he dragged me along inside of it." She replied.
Urahara raised his eyebrows, "Dragged... You?" He asked.
"Well, not exactly… But that's beside the point."
"Relax, we've seen a lot of non-hollow beings open a Garganta." Urahara replied in a calm voice.
"Tsk, do you think I'd be complaining, if that was a Garganta. No, he just pulled out his katana and sliced through the space-time fabric." She replied.
"Oh. Well, now that's interesting." Urahara cupped his chin.
"Also, we were completely off the mark about his abilities." She spoke, gaining his attention.
"While I know I've been rusty, these past years. But still, I couldn't track his movements when he noticed and got behind me." She was a bit unsure.
Urahara was surprised to hear this, since Yoruichi was known and feared for her speed. In fact, there were only three or four individuals who could match her speed, to date.
"So, will you tell me what you're hiding?" She asked.
"Truthfully, I'm hiding nothing. As I told you, I saw him fighting a hollow with a katana. So, my first thought was that he was some disguised Shinigami.
But that was all thrown out, when the hollow he killed was actually 'destroyed' not exorcised. He also didn't have any spiritual energy to be classified as a Quincy.
Those things raised my interest in him. So, I told you to keep an eye over him. I never told you to make any contacts though." He shrugged.
"Tsk, it wasn't me. I have a feeling he knew from the start that somebody was following him. And it's hard to gauge his intentions, since he's never been hostile nor apprehensive towards our actions." The cat replied as it was seated in front of Kisuke.
"I see, that was the reason huh." They both were alerted when they heard a voice, coming from a dark corner of the room.
'He slipped past our senses? Impossible!' Urahara thought as he looked at the man standing in front of them.
He didn't pull out his weapon but was ready, and the cat jumped behind, ready to act if necessary. He also felt his sword rattling, as if it was... scared?. 'Benihime?' He internally questioned with beads of sweats running down the side of his head.
A tall man with slicked-back platinum-white hair, wearing a long coat with three separate coat-tails. Was standing there with his arms folded and a sword held by its sheath on his left hand.
The coat was dark-blue in color which almost seemed black and was laced with silver linings. Underneath the coat was a padded ascot along with dark-grey pants held by a silver buckled leather belt.
"You may let your guard down. I'm here to talk." Vergil spoke to the two confused but equally shocked individuals.
A few minutes later:
Keeping the Yamato on his right side, Vergil was seated on a seiza position. He was elegantly sipping on the herbal tea, that Urahara had offered him.
Only Urahara and the cat seemed a bit tense, while Vergil was completely relaxed and even the air around him seemed elegant.
"Humm… An exquisite Biwa and Hatomugi brew. You have good tastes." Vergil commented on the tea.
"Likewise. You seem like an expert on this." Urahara commented, taking a sip from his cup.
"Not much. My mother was an enthusiast on Japanese teas." He replied.
"I see… Well, Mr. Vergil. I think we had started on quite the wrong foot here. So, first allow me to introduce myself.
I am Urahara Kisuke, a humble shopkeeper. And this is my friend, Yoruichi-san. Pleasure to meet you." He spoke then pointed towards the cat.
"As for how Yoruichi-san can speak-" He was about to make some stuff up, when Vergil interjected.
"Don't fret over it. A talking cat is the least of strange things, that I've seen. And I believe you know me already but still, I am Vergil Sparda. Good to meet you too."
"Mr. Vergil. I have to ask though. Do you happen know, who we are?" Urahara asked, his inquisitive mind couldn't hold off the question.
"I do have a rough guess. But I am more wondering about what you're doing here in the human world. Though, your secrets are yours to keep." Vergil replied.
Urahara smiled and replied, "I also apologize for keeping an eye on you. I honestly have no more explanation than, having been intrigued by your abilities."
'Urahara isn't lying, but he isn't telling the truth either. He wanted to know, if I was a threat or not. More precisely, whether I was associated with a certain Mastermind.' Vergil thought to himself.
Urahara had a feeling that Vergil could see right through him but decided not to question more to the man, who they had been stalking.
Vergil then said, "I am more impressed by your friends abilities though. The cat's stealth skills are flawless, one would think that it was an extremely skilled... 'Assassin'."
"PFFT- Cough, cough…" Urahara chocked on his tea and the cat was gave him the side eyes.
For them, Vergil seemed genuine with his comment, but only he knew that he was pulling their legs.
Yoruichi was still silent, she was just trying to analyze Vergil's intentions, but she couldn't see past his stoic expression.
Vergil then said, "Now, let's talk about why I'm here, shall we?"
"Of course." Urahara replied with a smile.
"Since you're all hiding your spiritual presence, inside an artificial body. I have no reason to believe that you're here on 'their' job.
Now what you do or are doing, is none of my business. But that applies to you too. I have kept my contact with the hollows minimal, since I know I'm not 'exorcising' them.
I believe you know that too. So, I ask that you stop putting me in your inquisitiveness and stalking tendencies." Vergil spoke, making the man tense.
This sounded like a request, but it was a reasonable warning and even Yoruichi acknowledged that. They had no business acting like creepers on his back.
But it was also their compulsion, to make sure that no threat was brewing right under their noses.
Urahara knew that they would have to stop keeping an eye on him. But his damned heart of a researcher, wasn't willing to let go of such an intriguing person.
He wanted to know more about him. There were too many questions bursting inside his mind, like why Vergil's energy signature resembled to that of the Hell Gate.
But he couldn't directly ask that yet. That was only possible, if they even build some kind of mutual relationship in the future.
"Mr. Vergil, might I bend your ears for a few. I have a proposition, which I believe you would like to hear." Urahara asked, hoping that the man would at the least hear him out.
"You have my attention." Vergil replied.
"I do know that you use an abandoned location for training your abilities, right?" Urahara asked.
Raising his eyebrows, Vergil replied, "What of it?"
"What if I told you, I could lend you a place where you could train without restraints?" He purposed.
'I doubt I could go all out, but even then. It would be nice to let some steam loose once in a while. Not to mention if I could fight one of these two, once in a while.' Vergil thought.
He then said, "Do you mean the dimensional pocket under this shop?" He had a subtle smile on his face.
Seeing the two getting surprised, Vergil spoke, "Don't get tense. Sensing dimensional abnormalities is my specialty.
But the main question remains, what do expect from me? For granting me access to this place. And before you reply… No Lies."
Urahara was wondering whether to tell him the truth, or some random bullsh*t. Though, looking at Vergil's serious gaze, he could pretty much tell that the man would leave if he tied to tell even a single lie.
"Sigh… You really are a difficult man, Mr. Vergil." Urahara chuckled.
Vergil shrugged, "Being difficult at the start is better than any complications in the future."
While Urahara found it a bit funny, the cat seemed to accept his way of thinking. She was now comfortably seated beside Urahara, keenly listening to their conversations.
"Fair enough." Urahara shrugged and then said, "As you might have guessed, my interest in you was purely because, you don't belong to any faction that we know of.
And yet, you hold great and strange powers that an experienced scientist like me fails to understand. You could call it a scientist's mad enthusiasm.
Please, don't misunderstand it as me wanting to conduct any kinds of experiments on you. My main purpose was to know whether you were a threat to us." Urahara looked at Vergil, to see if he was satisfied with his answer.
'Wow, I wasn't expecting him to be 'this' honest. But he still hasn't given me a direct answer. Maybe Vergil's persona rubbed a bit on me, but I have started to hate hidden agendas or unspoken politics.' Vergil thought.
"Understandable. Might have done the same if I was in your position. But the question still remains unanswered, what do 'you' want from me, Urahara Kisuke?" Vergil asked.
Urahara knew that it wasn't some kind of trick question, he wanted an honest reply and if he was being honest... he wanted, "Nothing." He replied with a smile.
Vergil now had a subtle smile on his face, as he nodded with acceptance. He knew Urahara was going to observe him and his powers, whenever he would use this space to train.
So that wasn't what he wanted to know, what Vergil wanted to know was if Urahara had any intentions to involve him in his problems, much less without him knowing anything about it.
Vergil had no doubt that he would eventually fight the big 'bads' of this world. But the last thing he wanted, was to unknowingly be a part of someone's schemes.
That was what he wanted to make clear with the two ex-Shinigamis, and he believed they had realized that too.
"Alright. Your offer is much appreciated, Mr. Kisuke. Though, I do wonder if you have someone I could spar with, once in a while." Vergil spoke.
"Humm… I might have a few individuals." Urahara replied, thinking of a particular group that he had a contact with.
Vergil knew who he was thinking about. 'They could give me a warmup.' He thought.
"You're awfully silent today, Yoruichi-san." Urahara spoke to the black cat.
"Tsk, I was expecting this conversation to go more south-ways. But it seems like you guys have it all figured out." She replied.
"Not very optimistic of you. What do you even think of my communication skills?" Urahara sounded offended.
"On the scale of one to ten. You manage to piss off everyone you talk to. So, it's a surprise seeing Vergil here not grabbing your throat already." She gave a quick reply.
"I have to ask though. What are you really? Don't take this the wrong way, but, you don't seem like a human to me." She asked.
"Well, you're half right. I am part human. But I believe I need to trust you all more, to disclose any more of my personal information.
I shall take my leave now. I have a few errands to finish. I'll be here tomorrow evening, you can show me the dimensional pocket, then." Vergil said as he stood up grabbing his sword.
"I look forward to building that trust, Mr. Vergil." Urahara spoke up.
"See you tomorrow." Vergil spoke then took a single step forward, disappearing from the room.
"You were right. He is fast." Urahara absentmindedly spoke as he looked at the empty space where Vergil was standing before.
"That went well. Now, onto you Kisuke." Yoruichi spoke in a serious voice.
"This is the last time, I'm stalking someone." She gave him a serious look, which was more cute than serious in her cat form, but this wasn't the time for a joke.
"Ok, ok… No need to pierce my soul with that look." He replied, raising his hands.
Yoruichi just frowned and walked away. While Urahara spoke in a saddened tone, "Hah, I guess my poor self will have to do all the stalking from now on."
"You better stop, before someone drives a sword through that stupid hat of yours." The cat remarked from outside the room.
"Hey, what's wrong with my hat?" He sounded offended.
"Really, what's wrong? It looks like an inverted bucket." She replied.
Urahara felt something piercing his soul.
The next day:
In the evening after competing his daily shifts, Vergil was casually walking towards Urahara's shop when he felt someone watching him, again.
This time, there was an irritated expression on his face because this wasn't someone who was tailing him from nearby or just a bit far.
It was from an entirely different dimension.
'At least the ones tailing me had the guts to be near me.' He thought as he turned around with a cold look on his eyes.
He knew who it was, the one and only, 'Keikaku' obsessed stalker, who could give Urahara, a run for his money.
Vergil was looking for any kind of spatial abnormalities, that 'Mr. Square Glasses' could be using for his observation.
Somewhere in a dimly lit room.
A man with wavy dark-brown hair, with a pair of square framed glasses who was sitting behind a screen with a subtle all-knowing smirk on his face, suddenly seemed surprised.
The screen was showing none other than Vergil who was on his way to Urahara's shop. The reason for his surprise was because the man with slicked-back platinum white hair, was looking at his direction with an irritated expression.
Vergil was second guessing whether or not to use his Demonic Aura. 'Deep breaths, no need to cause a scene... yet.' He thought.
Back to the man with glasses, to his confusion, his screen suddenly went black. And unseen by him the white haired man, after locating the spatial link that he had put, had swiftly severed it with Yamato.
Vergil, who was now peacefully walking towards his destination, was desperately fighting back his inner voice that said, 'I hate cowards who hide in the shadows. Destroy the insolent fool.'
It wasn't that hard to fight back his urges, to open a portal directly to that man. Because he knew the unnecessary chaos that would ensue, if he listened to his intrusive thoughts.
Being a normal human with morals helped in that regard.
The man in the dark room had an intrigued look on his face. 'Interesting… Very interesting indeed.' He thought as he adjusted his glasses.
There was no anger or frustration on his face, even though the blacking out of screen seemed sudden or strange.
It wasn't that hard for him to guess, that someone strong could have abilities that could block spatial observation systems.
Better yet, he was more intrigued that someone worth his time, might have finally appeared. With an unshakable elegance, the man stood up from his chair.
With a smile on his face, he slowly walked out of the room.
Urahara's shop:
A big burly man with moustache and dark hair braided into deadlocks, wearing a dark apron was cleaning the compound outside of the shop.
He suddenly felt someone approaching the shop. Looking up, he thought, 'Tall, serious face and platinum-white hair. This must be the one Kisuke-san mentioned.'
Vergil was walking with a hand in his pocket, he was wearing a white shirt with its sleeves folded half-way to his elbows, displaying his well-built fore-arms and black fitting pants, with dark leather shoes.
As he came closer, the man with the broom stick on his hand, spoke, "Mr. Vergil, right?"
"And you?" Vergil nodded and asked, just out of courtesy.
"I'm Tessai Tsukabishi, an employee in this shop. Please, come inside. Kisuke-san told me that you'd come. He's waiting for you in the fourth room to the the right corridor." Tessai showed the way with his hands.
Vergil nodded and walked inside, taking his shoes off and properly placing them on the rack beside the door, he walked in.
'Heh, just like he said. Everything about him screams elegance. And more than that… What an aura this man has.' Tessai thought, because no matter how much anyone tried, they couldn't hide the power that radiated off of their presence.
Unknown to him, Vergil could actually become completely impervious to observations, however the earlier event had caused his mood to get a bit sour, that's why he was unknowingly radiating an aura. Albeit tiny, Tessai himself was sensitive to things like that.
... To be continued !!!
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