Chapter Text
"Why did I agree to do this again?"
Hakuba let out a short chuckle. Heiji shot him a glare.
"It is turning into quite the ordeal, isn't it." Hakuba sounded as tired as he felt, finally.
The bastard wasn't so bad when he wasn't actively being a thorn in his side.
"Hike, you mean."
"That too. Ah, That's the car."
"Great," Heiji grumbled, watching the fuck-off expensive sports car roar up the road. "Couldn't have seen that coming a mile away--Wait, do you see that?"
He felt the other detective lean forward into his space.
"Shit."
A dark line barely visible in the distant glow of the traffic light. It hadn't been there before. Someone punched a hole in the gas tank.
They both pulled their phones out--if he could find the rich bastard's phone number and fast enough maybe they could stop the car before--
The flash would have been blinding if it wasn't behind half a forest by now.
"Damn it!" he screamed, started running toward the road, up the hill. Bad fucking information, or timing, or guesswork--Whatever. There was no way the bastard was still in one piece, and now they were working a murder case instead of a blackmailing. Fuck.
A tail of light flickered into existence under the traffic lights.
Damn it .
" Get out of the road! " Heiji heard, and managed to backpedal fast enough to avoid another car, just as fast and expensive as the last. License number ha 42-32, lamborghini of some kind.
No way they were getting to the crime scene before that did.
"Yes, Hakuba Saguru," he heard somewhere behind him, past the tree line. "I am reporting an apparent homicide."
That was the best they could do, move as a group up the mountain once they could keep an eye out for each other. It was stormy tonight: pitch black. Without the fire or a light he couldn't see his hand in front of his face
Hakuba gave the location. Heiji waited impatiently. The fire was dwindling now. There went his hope of using the thing to have an easier time not tripping over his ass.
Figured. The forest was safer just because there weren't death machines on it--or a clear line of sight from any murderers who could afford to get themselves a gun if they really wanted.
If Hakuba could just hurry up and--
Something was wrong.
What was it; why the hell was the hair on the back of his neck suddenly standing on end?
The call ended. --no Heiji could still see the white flash of Hakuba's phone screen. He didn't know what was happening but--
"Run!" He yelled, voice cracking as he bolted into the treeline toward Hakuba. "Fucking run--- "
A heavy thud, the sound of air being knocked out of lungs. Heiji pivoted and nearly slipped on plant matter. Hakuba's phone was face up, the call timer still ticking up, illuminating bugs, then something else--
He could just make out where Hakuba's body was, heard a strained yell rip out of the other teen's lungs. He could also just make out the massive shape pinning him down.
He got his footing and took a running start at the thing, slamming his shoulder into--fur?
A deep, guttural growl he could feel through his skin where he had contact with the thing revved into existence. He glanced toward the phone. It was fur, dark.
The body moved, too much muscle, he realized. It--Was it a fucking bear?
A scream ripped out from below him.
Fuck .
Heiji followed the line of the body down until he found the head--it was buried close to the ground, jerking minutely from what he could only imagine was Hakuba struggling. He could feel thick muscles under his fingers locking its jaws in place.
He found the brows, aimed lower, and dug his fingers into the thing's eyes.
It reared up in a fit of noise, knocked Heiji's arms out of the way seconds before a sharp pain dug into his chest and shoulder, then slacked to readjust for an actual hold. He kicked himself backward--and landed badly, started crawling to get his feet under him.
That same pain, worse, in his ankle. He screamed, loud as he could, and kicked his free leg into it's nose, hard, over and over until it let go, and bit again, and let go--
Then it turned forward, grabbed him by the upright thigh of his good leg, and Heiji felt the world stretch and pop for a moment as the primal part of his brain braced for impact.
Teeth dug into his leg, puncturing, the eyes were reflecting the last dying light from the fire, or maybe the phone, he didn't give a fuck in that moment, but he could see them.
Then the head shifted slightly to the side, and he felt the head start to thrash him from side to side before it even started.