Chapter 26 - The Lost Member

"You know, this feels pretty nostalgic." She inhaled deeply, the familiar smells making her smile at the memories that flooded through her mind. "I wonder if anything has changed." She pondered aloud as she leapt down from the tree branch she had previously been sitting on. Her small body landed with a light "thump" as she landed gracefully on her feet. A gentle breeze blew her waist-long hair slightly as she began to walk towards the large T-shaped tower in the distance.

xXxXxXx

Ciel Phantomhive sighed as he watched his new "team members" argue and scream at each other. Well, mostly it was just Inuyasha and Robin butting heads… although Bard pitched in every now and then. All in all, it was most aggravating. Honestly, he is the youngest out of all of them, yet he is more mature than these people.

"Honestly… can we please stop acting like children?" Ciel finally suggested; his hand on his forehead as to maintain his growing headache. The others turned towards him after hearing the annoyance and ridicule in his voice.

"You have no right to talk! You're a snot-nosed brat!" Inuyasha yelled, his fist clenched and shaking towards Ciel. Ciel kept his expression composed as he stared Inuyasha in the eye. Golden honey clashes with a single sapphire and tension began to build up.

"Regardless of my age, I am more mature than you." Ciel remarked, a small smirk appearing on his lips. Ciel's eyes widened as a clawed hand grabbed him by the collar and his face was suddenly inches away from Inuyasha's snarling face.

"That's it! I'm going to teach you a thing or two about mouthin' off!" Inuyasha yelled, his other hand forming a fist as he reared it back. Ciel's lips parted, a name forming on his tongue as his eyes widened in shock.

"Sebas-" Ciel was cut off as a hand grabbed Inuyasha's fist, stopping the attack. Inuyasha turned to see who was brave enough to stop him, an annoyed expression on his face. Half expecting to see Sebastian, he was quite surprised to see Bard holding him back. The usually lazy chef glared down at the half demon, anger visible in his blue eyes. Inuyasha was slightly shocked at how strong this man was, he had thought the chef was nothing more than a failed cook.

"Unhand my master." Bard said simply, all signs of joking erased from his face. Inuyasha and Bard exchanged glares, neither of them talking. Inuyasha still held Ciel's collar firmly in his hand. It was when a small hand touched his shoulder that he finally let the Earl go.

Inuyasha turned towards the direction the hand came from and he met the emotionless stare of Raven. Bard had released his other hand and moved over towards Ciel. Raven pulled her hand away and removed her hood, revealing her pale face.

"We are all teammates now. Let us not start off our first day like immature brats." She scolded, her tone monotone, yet slightly annoyed. Inuyasha stared at the gothic princess before scoffing.

"Keh. Whatever." He muttered before walking away and leaning against the wall on the opposite side of Robin's room. Raven sighed and walked over to Ciel and Bard, kneeling slightly so that she was at eye level with Ciel.

"Also, you are still a kid. You shouldn't be acting so much like an adult just yet. I don't know the circumstances you were under back at your home, but here," She gave him a small smile and placed her hand on the top of his head and ruffled his hair slightly. "You can just sit back and be a kid."

Ciel's eyes widened and he was speechless as she turned away to return to her previous spot she had been sitting in. Bard gave his master a slight look of worry, wondering if he would be scolded by Sebastian for not stepping in sooner. Bard sighed and crossed his arms behind his head in a lazy manner. He was about to walk away when Ciel's quiet voice stopped him.

"Bard." Ciel whispered, alerting the servant who thought he was about to be scolded. "Thanks." Ciel smiled a bit and turned to go stand near Raven. Bard watched his master walk away and a smile broke out on his face. Ruby eyes watched from the shadows and a small smirk appeared.

"It appears my services were not needed after all."His smirk vanished as he sensed something in the air. In an instant, he disappeared just as quickly as he came.

xXxXxXx

Fade was fast asleep in her bed, her hair tousled around on the pillow and he breathing was slow and peaceful. A loud, buzzing noise came from the small dresser to the left of her bed. Groaning, she slowly woke up, her eyes slowly blinking open. She turned her head to the left, her brown eyes staring at the vibrating cell phone on her nightstand. Her hand slowly reached out to it and she grasped it gently in her hand. She looked over at the caller ID, and she immediately sat up and flipped open her phone and pressed it to her ear.

"You usually don't call this late." She whispered, glancing over at the digital clock that was across the room. It was 2:15am. She let out a soft laugh and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I shouldn't be calling you anyway. But, I will do as the mission requires." The voice on the other line replied in a sarcastic manner.

"Yes, yes. I do appreciate the updates. However… don't you think you've been taking your mission a little too seriously… Crys?" She whispered, a smirk upon her lips. Crystal laughed on the other line.

"Well, yes, but I do have to make it convincing. I haven't killed anyone, though." She joked. Fade lifted an eyebrow as the memory of Flame's near death experience flashed in her mind.

"You came awfully close to it, though." Fade whispered. Her eyes clouded in pain as she remembered her short time of being prisoner to the other demon butler. "You've been quite convincing. I was starting to think you actually wanted us dead." She whispered. Crystal sighed.

"I am sorry about the Claude incident. I'm sorry about killing Kikyo, too. Well damn… I'm just sorry about everything." She laughs bitterly. "I bet everyone hates me, huh? Boy, do I feel like Itachi. Oh!" She gasped. "That's right! Mind telling me why in the hell Kakashi Sensei and Sakura popped out of nowhere?" Crystal nearly shouted. Fade blinked at her sudden outburst then sighed.

"I wish I knew the answer. It was rather shocking to me as well. From what dad was saying, everyone who had died on that day has been brought back to life."

"Ah… Well, a part of me is happy… but now this could be a problem. By Konoha's standards… I'm a rogue ninja and I will be targeted by the special opps." Crystal sighed. "We both know that the ANBU and ROOT are troublesome."

"That's right… well, they might not find out?" Fade said with slight hope.

"Wouldn't Kakashi report in to Tsunade? That is assuming they returned to Konoha." Crystal asked, igniting Fade's worry.

"Sh*t. I forgot about that…" Fade groaned and mentally slapped herself. "I guess we do have a problem… This really is like Itachi's situation..." Fade muttered bitterly. Meanwhile, a young girl was standing outside the tower, her large blue eyes staring up at one of the top windows. Her eyes were glowing with determination.

"I wonder who they would send…" Crystal pondered while going over the names of the ANBU members that she had worked with in the past. The girl outside smiled and slowly walked up to the main door.

"Well, we will handle such a problem if it truly arises." Fade whispered before hanging up. She sighed and set her phone down and stretched out her arms. A pair of red eyes watched her every move from the shadows.

"This is most surprising… you keeping such a huge secret." A voice called out, causing her to jump slightly. Her eyes widened and she instantly pulled a kunai from under her pillow and held it in her hand; prepared to fight.

"Who's there?" She asked, a threatening tone to her voice. A gloved hand gently grabbed her hand, stopping her from using the kunai.

"You and I both know that such a toy cannot harm me." He whispered, his breath tickling her neck. She let out a relieved sigh and smiled slightly.

"Ah, it's you, Sebastian." She whispered as he released her hand. She put the kunai back in its hiding place and then turned to face the butler. There was a small smirk on his lips as he stared at his young lover.

"Now… would you care to explain why you have been lying to everyone?" He asked, his eyes glowing a light purple as he stared down at her with amusement. She gulped slightly and a light blush formed on her cheeks.

"It's a ninja thing… you wouldn't understand." She whispered and turned her head away from the demon, who was now chuckling softly.

"I would not understand? From what I have overheard, it sounds like you had sent Miss Minami out on a top secret mission. A mission that requires her to act as our enemy and obtain information on the actual enemy, but no one other than you and her are to know about this. Am I correct?" He finished while smirking at her shocked expression.

"Y-yes…" She muttered. "I did send Crystal out on this mission… she never really betrayed us… but no one is supposed to know that. She is gathering info on Trigon's reconstruction so we can stop him. This plan is called the 'Uchiha Plan'." She explained and then looked at Sebastian, who seemed curious as to why it was called such a thing. She sighed and began to explain more thoroughly. "In our village, there was a large family called the 'Uchiha Clan'. It was believed that the Uchiha's were planning on starting a war against the village. Itachi Uchiha, the head clansman's son, was ordered to kill his entire clan in order to protect the village." Her eyes lowered in sadness. "No one knew that this was a mission. Everyone thought that Itachi had become a rogue ninja and mindlessly killed his friends and family. His younger brother, who he could not bring himself to kill, even thought his brother was a villain and set out to kill him and avenge his clan. Up until Itachi's death, everyone thought he was a traitorous villain, but he was simply following the mission assigned to him by the village he loved." She whispered. Sebastian nodded and looked to his left where a picture of Team Alpha stood on her dresser.

"So… in order to protect her friends, Miss Minami agreed to such a mission? Even though she knew she would be hurting those closest to her and ending up being hated by them?" He asked, his eyes showing a bit of sympathy for the blonde girl. Fade nodded.

"She was willing to do it. She said that in the long run, everyone she loves will be safe." She whispered while trying to push away her growing feelings of sorrow. Sebastian chuckled and placed his hand on the top of her head.

"You humans… I use to believe every human was the same, however," Sebastian looked over to the picture frame on her nightstand and his eyes seemed to smile along with him. "There are always a good few who never cease to surprise me." Fade smiled.

"Yeah, same here." She whispered. Sebastian frowned and turned his head in the direction of her door. Fade looked up at him, a confused expression on her face. "Sebastian?" He looked at her, all his amusement from earlier had vanished.

"It appears we have a visitor."

xXxXxXx

Misaki awoke abruptly and sprang up from his bed. His startled eyes quickly scanned the darkened room. He swore he had heard something. Having been left alone quite frequently growing up, he learned to be a light sleeper and quite observant while asleep. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and let out a nervous chuckle. Ever since the Claude and Alois incident, he's been on alert for any signs of someone breaking in. It didn't help that his room happened to be the one closest to the main door. A shiver ran down his back at the thought.

'Yes… if someone were to break in… I would be the first room they'd go to.' He shuddered once more before lying back down and pulling the covers up to his chin. He stared up at the ceiling and found himself wishing for his lover's company. Not that he would admit it to anyone. He still felt as though something was watching him. He closed his eyes and focused on his hearing; it was a skill he had learned back at Usagi's house when he would often hide in fear of being molested. When he concentrates, his hearing is quite amazing. Sure enough, he heard someone else breathing. His breath caught in his throat and his heart skipped a beat as he prayed that it was only Usagi teasing him. But why would the author hide? Normally he would come at him head-on (Literally). He slowly moved his hand under his mattress and his shaking fingers grabbed a cold, metallic object.

Flashback::

"You all saw what happened to Fade, Kagome, and Mimic right?" Naruto asked his team, a lazy tone about his voice. His teammates nodded, all somewhat bitter about the whole event. Even the indifferent, perverted author was slightly put off by such events. Naruto tossed everyone a small package and everyone except Misaki caught it easily. Naruto sighed as he watched Misaki hold his nose in pain after missing the package thrown at him.

"What are these?" Usagi asked quietly, opening the package and pulling out a kunai knife. He examined them closely before throwing one in Patzie's direction. The girl dodged it easily, catching it between her two fingers. She turned to the author who was currently unfazed and clearly not apologetic for his actions.

"What the hell? If I was anyone else, you could have seriously hurt me!" she exclaimed, her fist shaking in his direction. Usagi nodded and held out his hand and waited for her to hand him the kunai.

"Exactly. If it were anyone else I would have not thrown it… that hard." He muttered the last part, and instantly everyone tensed and feared what their new "teammate" would risk doing to them.

"Anyway… Naruto, what are these exactly? I've seen a bunch of you use them…" Beastboy muttered, studying the object in his hands. Naruto lifted an eyebrow.

"Clearly it's a weapon." He said dully. Beastboy glared.

"I knew that!"

"Then why did you ask?" Naruto teased and a small smirk formed on his lips. He then cleared his throat. "These are called Kunai Knives. They can be used in close combat or at a distance. As you saw Akihiko do earlier, you can throw these at your opponent and with the correct amount of speed and accuracy, the damage could be lethal. You can also use them as you would a normal sword. I am giving you these as a protection precaution… some of you, I won't say who, will clearly need it." Naruto finished, his icy blue eyes staring at Misaki who cringed at such an intense stare. He then noticed everyone else was staring at him. Had they no faith in him?

End of Flashback…

Misaki let out a shaky breath as he closed his eyes once more and strained his ears. There! He quickly threw the kunai and heard a small gasp from the direction he had thrown it. Suddenly, two kunais flew back at him. His eyes widened and he shielded his face and let out a frightened yell. The sound of metal clashing was heard and after he had realized that he felt no pain, he opened his eyes. The sight caught him completely off guard. Blue. All he could see at first was blue; a strong, vibrant blue. His eyes adjusted to the light and he realized that there was a figure consumed in blue. His eyes widened. They were blue flames. The figure was that of a boy who held a long sword… Wait. He knew him from somewhere.

"Hey, you okay?" The flame-covered boy asked while turning his head slightly to look at Misaki. It was then that Misaki noticed the boys pointed ears and the blue flames that took the shape of horns on the top of his head. He let out a small noise of shock as he fully recognized the boy. It was one of the new comers, Okumura… Okumura Rin. Misaki nodded slowly, still in disbelief of what was happening.

"Good." Rin smiled, revealing his fangs. He then turned back to the direction the previous attack had come from. A girl stepped out from the shadows and stared emotionlessly at the two boys. Misaki stared in awe. Such a cute girl! He thought with a blush.

Her hair was long, all the way down to her bottom, and it was a light brown. She wore all black, except for the small amount of silver armor that was on her arms and chest. Attached to her hip was a white mask that somewhat resembled a cat. Both Rin and the girl prepared to fight, Rin clutching his sword and the girl lifting her arm to throw a kunai. Misaki's eyes caught something on her arm. He looked closer and saw a red, swirly symbol. His eyebrows furrowed together as he wondered why the symbol looked so familiar.

Team Alpha came to his head immediately. He remembered when everyone had gone to the beach; he caught glimpses of the same exact marking on their arms as well. Even the new girl, Patzie, seemed to have one. If this girl had the same signal… then that would mean…

"Wait!" Misaki yelled out and ran to put himself in-between the two. Both parties were shocked by such a dangerous act. Misaki turned to look at the girl, a smile on his face. "You're a part of Team Alpha, right?" He asked, earning a surprised look from the girl. She slowly put away her kunai and lifted an eyebrow at him.

"How did you know?" She asked, her childish voice shocking them both. Misaki let out a small laugh of relief.

"The other members have that same swirly thingy on your arm." He pointed to her tattoo and she nodded and let out a small smile. Rin, no longer sensing any trouble, placed his sword in its sheath and his blue flames extinguished. The girl watched as the flames disappeared and her large, blue eyes became filled with curiosity.

"Misaki!" Everyone turned to look at the girl who had just flung herself into the room, her eyes wide and frantic and her breathing short and choppy. Fade stood there in the doorway trying to catch her breath. Her gaze had immediately gone to Misaki and after seeing that he was unharmed, she looked over at Rin and the girl. As her eyes fell upon the girl, her breathing stopped.

"…Aiko?" She whispered in disbelief. The girl, Aiko, smiled and waved.

"It's been a long time, Keira."