"Is it confirmed?" Captain Testarossa asked.
"Confirmed," Mardukas said. "Target is destroyed."
"Without the facility for their research," Kalinin said. "The KGB will have no reason to target Kaname Chidori."
"Then we can recall the guard on her," Tessa said, a relieved tone in her voice.
****
Kagome growled as Sousuke showed up in front of her. How dare that pervert show his face to her after last night. She didn't even bother listening to what he had to say, something about collecting garbage.
Collecting garbage was right. That's all his mind did was collect garbage and then spew it right back out at her.
Garbage about pipe bombs and letter bombs and assassins and what ever else his commando, paintball overdosed brain came up with.
"Get back in line and get on the plane, Sousuke!" Kaname yelled.
"But, Chidori..."
"Get!"
"I need..."
"NOW!"
"Yes, Ma'am," Sousuke declared, snapping to attention and saluting before turning about to get in line.
Kaname sighed expressively as the military nut walked back into line, and her eyes turned toward another situation.
Walking in line past her position was Eija Satomi, and she was the only person in class with about three feet between her and the people in front and behind her.
The sound of a camera click brought Kaname's eyes toward her side and saw Kyoko taking a picture of the oddity.
"You know, I've never seen so many people avoid such a cute girl before," Kyoko said.
"Yeah, well she's creepy," Kaname said. "What can you do?"
"Anyway, what's up with you, Kaname?" Kyoko asked. "Did you and Sousuke have a fight about something?"
"Stop saying stuff like that like he's my boyfriend," Kaname snapped in frustration, knowing that she wouldn't phase Kyoko at all.
"I'm not the one who keeps suggesting that," Kyoko teased as she looked around to find another shot to snap, catching a posing Naiki as she went into the plane with her class.
Kaname blinked as she noticed the girl, despite the cheerful pose, seemed to be sweating a lake going onto the plane.
"At least I'm not the only one out of sorts," Kaname said as she moved in behind the last group of kids.
"Naiki doesn't like flying," Deimosu Satomi said right in front of them with a cool sort of politeness. "Where's your bodyguard, Chidori?"
"Oh great, this day keeps getting better," Kaname said, eyes half-lidded.
"Don't worry," Kyoko said. "As soon as we're on the plane, everything will get better."
Behind the students came a tall, unshaven man with a rumpled black suit and dark spiky hair.
****
Kaname turned to look to the seat on her side, where the pale, dark-haired Satomi was looking out the window next to her.
"Yep," Kaname said, turning to look at Kyoko on her other side. "The day just keeps getting better."
"What's the matter with her?" Kyoko asked.
"Don't worry, lots of people are uncomfortable around me," Eija said looking back towards them, shrugging.
With that Kaname just felt worse. After all, Eija hadn't ever done anything...especially creepy...on purpose. She was actually a lot more normal than Sousuke in many ways. She just sort of generally was...creepy.
"Anyway, I love flying," Eija said as she looked out onto the ocean below. "The world is so serene from up here."
"What about your sister?" Kyoko asked, looking back to see Naiki clutching her chair and still sweating. "She should drink some water if she keeps sweating like that."
Click went the camera.
"Oh," Eija said, looking around cautiously. "She tried to pilot a helicopter once."
Kaname peeked over the back of her chair to watch Naiki, eyes twitching as she noticed the arms of the girl's seat cracking in her grip.
"I'm guessing it didn't go well," she said.
"She got about ten meters through the hangar," Eija said nervously.
Then her eyes focused straight ahead intently, widening worrisomely before she flinched, and the airplane jolted.
The airplane shook violently for a few seconds, punctuated by a high pitched scream from elsewhere in the plane.
"May I have your attention please," the voice on the intercom said. "We are currently experiencing..."
As the crew gave them reassurances, Kaname watched Eija take what looked like a scroll out of her purse and unroll a length of the thin parchment before quickly tearing a piece of it off and putting the rest in her purse.
"What are you doing?" Kaname asked as the girl took out a pen and started writing.
"Oh," Eija said hesitantly. "I'm just a little nervous, so...I'm doing a ritual for good luck."
"A good luck ritual?" Kaname asked. "Like a prayer to the gods or something?"
"To someone," Eija said, starting to the fold the piece of cloth several times until it resembled a butterfly.
That done, the girl took it up, cupped in her hands, to her mouth and breathed hard into the space she left between her fingers. In the same moment she spread her hands wide and the parchment was gone.
For a breath moment, as Eija breathed into her cupped hands, the world flashed into negative colors for Kaname, but the instance was too quick for her more than notice it.
"Just like with her sister before," Kaname muttered.
"Wow," Kyoko said. "You really can do magic."
"Oh, that was nothing," Eija said hesitantly. "Excuse me, I need to go calm down my sister before she damages something."
Kyoko and Kaname shifted momentarily to let her past.
"She's acting funny," Kaname said.
"Well, she's worried about her sister," Kyoko said, shrugging. "That's to be expected."
****
Sousuke watched as Eija Satomi moved from her seat and walked back toward her sister and start speaking in Greek.
"Uh, Naiki," Eija said, the green-haired girl whipped her head around towards the dark-haired one. "I need you to..."
"Are we all going to die?" Naiki asked.
"No, not yet," Eija said. "But, there's something important..."
"Because you'd know, right?" Naiki asked. "You'd know if we're going to die."
"You know what," Eija said hesitantly. "I think I'll talk to Deimosu first. Just...calm down, we'll be fine."
"Are you sure?" Naiki asked. "You don't feel us dying do you?"
"Nope, I'm not feeling anybody in the class dying," Eija assured her. "We're fine. Now, I'm going to go talk to Deimosu."
Sousuke arched an eyebrow and decided that now would be a good time for a restroom break. He was soon in the aisle walking slowly behind Eija.
He slowed down as he passed Eija and Deimosu talking to each other in undertones.
"Are you sure?" Deimosu asked.
"I felt it, violent sudden death," Eija said. "In the cabin just as the plane jolted."
Sousuke's eyes widened suddenly and he stopped.
"You didn't tell Naiki did you?" Deimosu asked.
"I started to until she started asking if we're all going to die," Eija said, sighing. "I already sent a message to Okaasan."
"You have a means of communication?" Sousuke asked outloud. "My cell phone isn't receiving here."
Deimosu turned toward him with narrowed eyes.
"You speak Greek," he said accusingly.
"If your sister's right, we're in a dangerous situation," Sousuke said. "And it is best to get information out as soon as possible. So, do you have a means of communication?"
"It's...complicated," Eija said uncertainly.
"Who do you want to contact?" Deimosu asked, drawing out a scroll.
****
Ranma sighed and shook her head as she saw a butterfly drifting into her home and landing on the counter.
"At least a job will give me something to do while..." Ranma stopped talking as she came to the message and recognized the handwriting.
"Pilot's murdered."
"Kuso," Ranma whispered.
A few minutes later a second butterfly landed in front of her and unfolded with a name and cell phone number along with a short message.
****
Melissa Mao blinked as a butterfly landed on the table in front of her and proceeded to unfold into a piece of paper with writing on it.
"The hell...?" she said as she reached down to pick up the paper as if trying to see if it was real.
A moment later, her cell phone started to ring off to her side.
Opening the cell phone and answering she heard a familiar voice on the other end.
"Did you just get a butterfly?" Ranma's voice asked.