PART I
Rachel sat at her café. It wasn't hers literally, but it could just as well been, since she spent so much time there. Probably more time than the manager himself. In her delicate hand, beautiful to the point of perfection, she held a tea cup. A faint wind blew and made the roses, planted in pots around her bend slightly. One single, blood red petal flew past her. The dark sky did not show off its stars. Instead the neon signs spread an artificial glow, red, blue but mostly green. The buildings, streets, parks and people in the "underworld" came alive during the night and seemed to change or disappear during the day. So did Rachel, and even if she saw everything that happened in this dark world, she wasn't sure if any of it even existed when the sun was up.
She knew everything. Every secret worth knowing, what people were hiding, where they were and sometimes she could even predict the future. She knew she was referred to as "the Observer" as she sat at the café, watching the time age the concrete and its habitants. Sometimes she stepped into that world to change it or to stop something from happening, to change the way of time. It was rare of her to do such a thing, even if she could stop crime and murder if she had done it more often. She just had the role of the Observer, the guardian of this dark world. Rachel loved this city, her city. Her family had lived there for generations and watched it for as long.
This particular night Rachel sat in her black Lolita dress and ate milk crêpes and drank earl grey tea when a single rose petal blew its way into her tea cup and quietly went to rest on the surface of the tea. Her blond ponytails shut some of the neon light out as Rachel looked at the petal with no visible expression but nevertheless felt concern grow inside her.
"Is there something of importance about to happen, miss?" Said Valkenhayn, an old man who had been by her side since the first day she'd come to sit among the roses and observe the city. He knew her far too well (well enough to see when she was troubled) and she didn't quite like that. She was the observer and therefore was not supposed to be observed, although she did trust him. He had transformed into a beast at the times when she had been in the need of protection. He cared for her, maybe simply because he cared for this city. He stood by her side dressed as the waiter of the café he was, with his gloved hands firmly tucked away behind his back and with a small wrinkle between his grey eyebrows.
"Yes... Valkenhayn, the time is about to take a turbulent path. I must not take my eyes of Kagutsuchi these nights to come..."
-o-
Shadow can be the best hiding spot in the whole world, no kidding. Luna sat surrounded by it, in her dark, beige hooded sweater with small cat ears on the hood that she'd pulled over her hair and face. Her platinum blond hair that she'd dyed a peachy pink color had to be covered or it'd give her away in the darkness. She squatted, waiting for the poor idiot to pass by her hiding spot. She was so hungry, it wasn't even funny.
The idiot was a delivery man with his arms around brown boxes stuffed with warm food, hurrying along the dark, narrow street, probably aware of its potential hidden dangers.
Luna wasn't going to hurt him too bad. Like, a baseball bat to the head couldn't hurt that much, right? After all it was painted orange with a cute face at the top. It was to cute to be that bad.
"… Waaaait for it." she whispered, slowly creeping closer. Her whole body was tensing up, ready to leap right at the poor idiot.
"Luna, we shouldn't do this… He hasn't done anything bad." It was Sena, the other person in her body. Sena was always so kind and a crybaby, even if he was a boy. And right now Luna could not stand him.
"Shut up!" she whispered back, angry. "You are hungry right? There is nothing we can do. We don't have any money!" The delivery man came closer and Luna could see that it was probably dumplings he was carrying in those boxes. She could tell by the restaurant logo on them. Sweet. "It's not like this is the first time anyway!"
"B-But, he's going to get in trouble for it… He might even lose his job! What is he going to do then?" Sena was disturbingly persistent this night. He felt guilty for being a part of this, even though he felt so hungry…
"Oh just let it go, won't you!" Luna whispered, tilting her head to the side. "You don't really care anyway, we have done this a thousand times before, Sena. What about all the others we've taken from? You're acting super strange Sena."
Luna didn't let Sena answer because the food was right in front of them now. Quick as a cat she drew her bat from her back and jumped out from the shadows. The idiot didn't even scream before her bat said "bonk" as it hit him in the head. His eyes rolled up his head and he fell like a bag of sand to the ground. The boxes however, rested securely in Luna's arms. The smell of steamed buns sent shivers down her spine and so she set of down the street, looking for a nice spot where they could eat in peace.
Luna's and Sena's name was Platinum the Trinity if you checked their ID. But IRL they was Luna and Sena. Some might call Platinum schizophrenic, but she knew that wasn't it. Sena was just as real as Luna and Sena thought that Luna was just as real as him. There were far worse people out there in the dark anyway, like real criminals. Platinum didn't consider herself as a criminal for stealing take away food. Heck that was like doodling in a library book compared to what the real big shots did.
Luna happily crossed an empty street and made a right into an alleyway as her little golden bell, fastened tightly around her throat with a black ribbon, tinkled softly. It made her feel safe, even though you did best if you didn't make a sound here. Many had been caught up in horrible stuff, simply because they'd made some noise at the wrong place. But Platinum was short and thin and therefore hard to catch, she could escape through and hide in very narrow and small spaces. She was a pretty fast runner, a good climber and she had fought many men who were both bigger and stronger than herself and won.
At the end of the alley, there was an old, rusty fence, about two meters tall. Swiftly, like a cat, Platinum climbed over it, leaving the boxes on the ground. After she'd dropped to her feet on the other side, almost quiet in her black sneakers, she sat on her knees and began to ease one of the paper containers through the small gap underneath the fence. It took some time, since the box was just a little bit too big to fit but with some patience from Sena it worked.
It was quiet around them, and they didn't like it. It was to quiet and it had been that way since they got up this evening. Sena felt his skin prickle as they continued to ease the next box under the fence. The only light there was, was a streetlight at the very beginning of the alley – where they'd come from - and its light did not reach very far. As it was now, Platinum sat in the dark. It was probably for the best but none of them liked to have their back exposed and without any lightning, people could easily get the courage to attack them.
With that thought and with the last box finally on the other side, Luna stocked them all on top of each other, held them close to her heart and rose to her feet. She turned around and then felt her body freeze.
'You got to be kidding me', she thought.
Just a few centimeters away from her stood a blond man, with crazed looking eyes. They gleamed almost red, though Platinum could see they were green. For what seemed to be the longest of time - though it probably was just a second - they stared into each other's eyes, both completely paralyzed.
'How the bloody fuck...?' Luna asked herself before the young man griped her shoulders tight with his hands. She felt his fingers through the fabric of her hoodie, digging into her flesh like bony knifes.
"... Where is he?" The man said. "Where?!" He shook her violently and it made her almost drop the food. That made the worst of the shock disappear and left Luna pissed. She hadn't heard him approach her but she was no longer surprised by it. You couldn't be if you lived here, because if you kept on being surprised and couldn't snap out of it, you'd end up dead. She just felt very, very mad. This crazy lunatic had taken her by surprise and crept up on her(!) and was now shaking her back and forth like a ragdoll and yelling at her.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with you, piece of shit?! Let go of me!" Luna screamed and jammed her knee straight at his nuts. The man must not have been as crazy as Luna thought, because he jumped out of the way, almost too easy.
In the dark she saw him standing bent, with one hand brought to his forehead, while he stared into the ground and seemed to be talking to himself. She couldn't catch any of his words and neither did she want to. She got her bat and held it in front of her with her left hand, the right one griped the boxes. At least it didn't seem like the madman was going to steal their food, that was always something.
"L-Let's get out of here!" Sena said quietly. He did not want to fight the young man. He had dodged their ball kick with ease, which meant that he knew how something about fighting and the way he kept talking to himself with that inhuman look in his eyes made it all much worse. They had been attacked before but not like this and not by someone who was clearly out of his mind. Sena didn't want to know what else the madman could do, he just wanted to eat and enjoy the dumplings, somewhere calm and far away from this district. "Please Luna, don't do anything stu-stupid..."
"For once, Sena, I agree with you." She replied. Slowly Luna began to slither to her right, hugging the fence so that she could keep as far away from the psycho as she possibly could. She had to pass him, because she didn't want to climb over the fence so that her back would become an easy target.
She got to the brick wall and began moving sideways with her back against it and kept the bat in front of her. He stood in the same spot and kept mumbling and staring into the ground. When she passed him she saw a blue snowflake tattooed on his throat.
In the same instant he - without any warning - lashed out towards her with something in his hand that gleamed in the faint light, which she never saw where it came from. Luna dodged it just in time, feeling the cold touch of the sharp object almost touching her cheek. Then she ran.
When Luna got out of the alley and hurled to the right, she glanced back to see if he was following her. She couldn't tell because of the dark, so she kept on running until they were so tired that Sena felt like throwing up and wouldn't stop whining about it inside of their head.
Platinum had run all the way to the Hanging Gardens Park, which looked nothing like what its fancy name promised. The park lay on the other side of the city, so maybe it wasn't too odd that Luna and Sena just fell like timber into a bush and stayed like that for a while, laying on their stomach and sucking in air like a fish on dry land.
Sena kept their eyes shut, but could even then make out the bright yet soft lights from Orient Town, which lay just beside the park. Even though it was so close, he couldn't catch any noise, any music or any voices. Maybe their ears had stopped working due to the lack of oxygen. It had to be that, because Orient Town was the district of noise, celebration, music and shady affairs. And delicious food.
What a waste, Luna thought ironically as she smelled the dirt they laid on. The steamed buns had probably been cooked here and yet they'd bother to make their way to the other side of the city to get them.
When they had recovered their breath to the point where they no longer felt the ground spin and no longer saw planets and galaxies, Luna rolled over and sat up, and then she ripped a box open to reveal four dumplings, almost still hot and just a little mashed. She devoured them all like she hadn't eaten for days. Sena enjoyed himself too, but knew that they'd get a belly ache if Luna wouldn't slow down. But she never could and she didn't really give a fuck about Sena. Not even now, when they'd just escaped a madman. Sometimes she was just so... Simple.
"Shut it Sena, don't think you can act all high an' mighty!" Luna ripped the next box open and simply pushed two whole buns down her throat to make her other poor half shut the hell up. Food was the best way to keep fear at a distance. Food was safety.
When all the boxes were empty and Platinum no longer felt hungry (or felt like food could ever taste good again) she forced herself to get up and began sneaking out of the Hanging Gardens. It wasn't very good to stay for too long in the same place, especially not here. The park was known to have the bloodiest history of all districts in the whole Kagutsuchi, after a war between gangs or whatever had taken place among its trees. Nowadays it was almost always patrolled by the police, who seemed to believe that the same thing would happen here again, which made them look oh-so-stupid. The Hanging Gardens had been abandoned by most criminals, just a few rapes and robberies had taken place there since. Most of it went unnoticed. Never the less, Platinum had to stay out of the open, because if you got caught, there was nothing but shit waiting for you. The police was dumb but powerful.
Sena saw two young women a bit up ahead, one with a blonde braid and one with blonde hair that fell like a curtain over her shoulders and back. Both were dressed in the blue, white and red police uniform and they seemed very focused, never even glancing at the other person or trying to converse. They just kept scanning the area, like each leaf could hide something. It was a miracle that they hadn't seen or heard Platinum when she'd come running like crazy. Maybe they just sucked at their job. Luna stuck her tongue out at them as they passed by in the shadows of the bushes.
Once out of the park they both agreed on putting some space between them and Orient Town. Weird stuff happened there, like, if you woke up and found yourself there, you could be pretty sure that you only had one kidney left. If you were unlucky you might be missing both.
Platinum wanted nothing to do with the district and it's uncrowned Empress Litchi Faye Ling, a beautiful martial expert and surgeon, who knew the human body all to well. The rumors said that she had turned her fiancé into a bag of jelly just by poking him at certain points on his body when he had displeased her. Her nickname was 'The black widow' as she had used and killed several men, including her fiancé, just to climb all the way to the seat of the Orient Town throne.
So Platinum began walking, with her hands in her dark blue skirt pockets and with her orange bat bouncing against her back for each step she took. Slowly the lights from the colorful district began to fade and yet it kept on being way to quiet.
"Hey, Luna... Wasn't Orient Town actually quiet...?" Sena asked, feeling not to well about it.
"What are you talking about, sissy? Are you afraid of silence?" She mocked. But Luna knew all to well that something was very wrong if it was quiet in Orient Town.
"Something bad is going to happen tonight." Sena said, his voice oddly mature. "We better lay low."
"Don't tell me what to do, sissy. You are not the boss around here." Luna had to keep up her rude façade, or she'd start to imagine things. She didn't want to feel afraid, it had happened once already this evening. Up until tonight she hadn't been afraid for ages. She wanted to step right into the light, into the danger of exposure just to prove something to Sena and to shake that sticky fear of her mind, but she didn't. Their little bell gave of its low tinkling but it no longer felt soothing and Luna laid her hand to rest on it, keeping it from making any sound.
Luna and Sena didn't have a permanent home. They had had one once, living with Jubei, a man who loved swords and who had a cat tattooed on his back. She loved him like a master, almost like a father, but he had left, just like a stray cat will leave you eventually, even if you take it in and feed it and love it. He had taught her everything she knew about fighting, sneaking, stealing, about the city, where to go if you looked for this and where not to go if you wanted to stay out of that. Even how to know which delivery man to pick for the smoothest stealing procedure. Right now she thought of him, wanting to hear his voice badly.
"L-Let's head to the Bascule area, Luna. After all it's the area we know best, I think we might feel safer there." Sena's voice had gone back to its usual high pitched-self.
"I feel safe everywhere, thank you." Luna replied peevishly. "But just for now I guess I'll follow your proposal. But it's only so that you will stop whining, okay?"
Sena smiled thankfully and took a turn to the left, on to 9th street, which was wider than the narrow ones they'd been taking before but not quite as wide as the main street, which no one without a death wish took. The 9th street led all the way to the outskirt of the city, to the scruffy area around the bridge. That was where they spent most of their time not-awake. Also, the big, fluffy dog everyone called 'Hype' lived there and even though they both loved cats more, he was a really nice dog.
The street was as empty and quiet as the rest of the city, the only noise that was came from a red neon sign that blinked restlessly, in need of reparation. Not even the wind was present in the September night. You could almost believe that everyone were sleeping but Platinum knew better. A city never sleeps as they say, especially not Kagutsuchi. On the contrary, it woke up in the evening and lived with all its might during the night.
The 9th street ran all the way to the bascule area, but first you had to pass the port and it's big clock. It wasn't necessarily a dangerous area, not all the time. But now and then - around 3 am - things began happening there. On certain days of the month there was a black market held in the old store houses, led by a very large man who was known as "the Iron Man" or "the Red Devil". Platinum hadn't seen him, but she had heard he never took of his sunglasses and that he had a rare skin disease that made his skin red.
This day, however was not a black market-day and Platinum knew that because there had been no one sneaking through the bascule area when she'd headed out that evening. It was always at least one odd ball who tried to sneak through the shadows towards the port. They were mostly highly ranked pimps or human traders or just rich men who wanted to buy a person, because that's what the Black Market was mostly about.
Those men probably knew how to do what the fuck they did, Luna thought. But they couldn't sneak through the dark like she could. Or like any other decent person could either. They were practically glowing in the dark and that's why Platinum always noticed them and then knew better than to go to the Port area.
While thinking that, they had reached all the way to where 9th street began narrowing and then splitting in two, both streets leading to the port. The right one though, did not go alongside the water but instead ran above the Storage houses and the clock tower and wasn't just a straight road, it split into an endless number of small passages, paths and alleys and you had to know exactly which way to go, or you could get mixed up in other people's business, which wasn't very pleasant. Because of this it was known as the Port Web, spitting you out if you fought hard enough and catching you like a fly, ready to be eaten by the many spiders moving around there, if you didn't.
Luna picked the right one.
It was after all safer if you knew the way. The left road meant you had to move alongside the water, with only buildings on your right, which left Luna feeling exposed. She wasn't very keen on taking a swim either, if she'd by any chance fall in. Sena didn't like water much more than she did so he went along with her as they walked into the Web.
The lights here were much weaker than in any other part of Kagutsuchi, adding to the shady, creepy atmosphere. Luna took out the bat again and held it in a firm grip, still with the snowflake man in mind.
The buildings were older and less maintained than on the east side of the city - were she'd taken the dumplings - but still not as bad as the ones in the Bascule area. Probably because these five-story buildings were actually being put to some kind of use. Primarily by drug addicts and dealers but you know, that was at least someone.
As Luna took a right and then later a left and then right again, she'd already passed four different fishy-looking bar-like places, each one with a different, half broken neon sign above the door. That's were the dealing would take place but as you'd go deeper, the more people you'd see, dealing and using drugs in the open. Luckily they wouldn't have to go there, even if they'd probably be left alone, as the exit route ran through the edge of the web. (Luna was quite famous among the "consumers", with her cat ear-hoodie and her death stare she'd give them if they approached. Likely they got scared and run of because they were high as f'ing planes but usually, people would at least leave her alone if she looked at them with her staring.)
"Why do you think it's so quiet tonight Luna?" Sena said, still with one hand on the bell around their neck.
Luna frowned but didn't reply. She just realized that she. Didn't. Fucking. Remember. The. Way. Fucking hell.
"Sena, take over. I can't remember the way goddamnit."
"W-What?! I don't know the way!" Sena cried out, horrified. "I thought you knew!"
"I don't, not now anyway. But like, haven't you paid any fucking attention when we passed through here before?! How could you be so ignorant, so worthless, stupid, unreliable?!" Luna made a stop where the narrow street was crossed by another one, leaving three alternative ways to go and began ranting with a loud voice. It echoed between the concrete walls.
"I-I'm sorry! I thought it was your job! I should have paid attention, I'm sorry! Please just lower your voice Luna!" Sena begged, feeling even worse about the silence than ever. The way Luna broke it did not make Sena feel any calmer.
"Lower my voice?! We are stuck in the web, worthless piece of apology, do you think I care about lowering my stinking voice?!" Luna replied while actually lowering her voice to a normal conversation tone. "Whatever, which way do you think it is?"
"I-I don't know... I don't have a clue!" Replied Sena, who didn't want to be the one who picked the wrong way and got them into real danger.
"Fine. Let's go right... No left, I think it's to the left." And so, they began walking to the left, as quiet as possible on Sena's behalf. He was nervous and couldn't stop thinking about all the dangers that were hiding in every corner.
After about two kilometers of walking, turning back, and then taking new paths, they gave up and slid down a wall until they sat on the ground and Sena pulled his legs up against his chest, feeling very helpless. They were deep inside of the Port Web and yet they hadn't seen or met anyone which was good but also very alarming. And they hadn't gotten any closer to the exit and they couldn't turn back and take the other way along the water, simply because neither of them had a clue where they were. It was a maze, taken straight out of hell. Sena leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes, trying to remember anything about the web and the map that Jubei had for drawn for them and which Luna had taken on the responsibility of memorizing. He couldn't even recall that he'd been present, which he had. They shared the same body after all.
"What should we do...?" He whispered but got no answer. Luna didn't have a clue either. If she could've only remembered the way tonight, like any other night before. But she hadn't and now they were stuck.
Not long after they'd given up, they heard something, a weak groan-like whimper. Luna shot up like a cannonball; weapon in hand, the other at her throat, holding the bell in place. Her hood fell back, but she didn't care to put it on again. She began sneaking toward an alleyway to her right from where the sound had come from. She pressed her back against the building and prepared herself. Then she peeked around the corner.
She didn't see anything. It was just an empty, dirty alleyway but she saw that there was a small courtyard lit up at the very end maybe fifty meters away, shielded from curious eyes by a dark green container. Luna narrowed her eyes, walking as quiet as possible towards the opening. She felt the hairs on her neck and arms prickling and felt the cold sensation of metal against her cheek, remembering the snowflake man. Could it be him? It wasn't impossible. He could've come here while she was at the Hanging Gardens.
Luna wrinkled her brows. Why couldn't she just let him go? The city was full of mad men and it wasn't exactly the first time she'd encountered one. It was stupid. But... It had just been something with the way he'd acted and something about his eyes that had brought out the fear and made her run instead of fight. This night was just not sane, she decided.
When she got all the way to the container she heard a loud, short scream followed by the same man's voice.
"P-P-Please! I'm begging you! Please! I haven't d-done anything!"
Luna narrowed her eyes. She had heard men and women begging for their life before but never in the darkness of the Web. She peaked out from behind the container and saw the small, square courtyard, maybe six meters across.
First she saw a man sitting on his butt in one corner, holding his side with some kind of liquid – blood - pouring out between his fingers and with a look of horror in his face. Then she saw three figures standing in front of the man. Luna felt her blood freeze in her veins.
There, just a few meters away, stood "the Snake". She saw his green dyed hair and the black leather jacket with the orange hoodie underneath. She saw the black snake tattoos under the rolled up sleeves and she saw his butterfly knife gleaming in the faint light. It was stained with red.
Beside him stood a young woman with red hair underneath a black beanie with a large red eye on it. She wore tight black pants with a black coat. On the other side of the man stood a taller blonde man, he seemed older than the two others. He wore a golden mask and a dark purple shirt with a dark jacket. On the back of it was a print picturing a female with blonde hair and a small pink dress. She was tied up like a puppet.
Platinum shivered. None of them knew who the ginger and the blonde were but the man between them was none other than their old master Jubei's most hated enemy. It was Terumi - or Hazama which he also went by.
"... No fucking way in the shitty goddamn universe." Luna whispered. She couldn't be more out of luck than she was now. She was just about to get the hell out of there when the man in the corner shut up because the blonde man had picked up a gun and held it pointed at him without blinking an eye.
"Will you please be quiet, fool." He said, his voice was empty in emotion and nailed Luna to the spot.
Terumi began chuckling and took a step towards the bleeding man. He whimpered and seemed to desperately try to melt into the concrete wall. He failed.
"Oh, what would you not give to lay safely in your bed right now, hm?" The snake said mockingly. "Except that's the only thing you've done for a long time. Am I not perfectly right?" He squatted in front of the poor man who shivered like a leaf in the wind. "Right?" He repeated when he didn't answer.
"Y-Y-Yes."
"So you admit it. Well, do you think I need men like you? Do you think that you do me any good by doing nothing? What do you think she has to say about this?" Luna couldn't see the Snake's face but she could tell he had that polite, angel like smile while his yellowish eyes with those odd reptile pupils showed nothing but pure hell. Those eyes, she knew them and it made her feel sorry for the poor thug.
"I-I-I don't kn-know... Please just let me live!"
"Hazama, this is pathetic. Get it over with or I'll do it myself." The masked man with the gun seemed to have lost his patience. "You have toyed with him enough already. We have better things to take care of."
Terumi, who clearly was taunting his victim in some kind of way – though Luna couldn't tell what exactly - slowly rose to his feet, but kept his back against the man.
"Relius, Old man, watch your mouth. I do what I... See necessary. What I want. So. Don't interrupt me. Ever. Again." Terumi's voice was cold, even colder than Relius monotone voice. When he squatted again, the redhead moved quickly. She took one step closer and held a knife close to Relius throat. Luna saw that it wasn't typical steel, because it shone like copper in the light. Relius didn't move an inch, not even the gun moved the slightest.
"You better put that gun down Relius." She said and you could tell that it wasn't a suggestion. "You should listen to Hazama."
The man in the corner gave of yet another whimper which pulled Luna's attention to him and the snake again. Since the green haired man had his back toward them, she couldn't quite tell what was going on but when the whine rose up to a pained scream and the snake began laughing like a maniac, both Luna and Sena agreed that this whole situation had gone way out of hand and that they should escape now that they had the chance.
When Luna began to back away from the scene, the screaming subsided in a gurgling cough and with it also the laughing. It was painfully quiet again, to the point where she held her breath as she put down each foot behind the other as stealthy as she could.
"See, are you happy now old man? …Wow, easy there miss Tsubaki." Luna heard the snake say joyfully. "…And take it easy mister, don't point your gun at the ever-so-humble me. That could be very dangerous." She shivered, even though she couldn't see them anymore - that voice was unbearable to listen to. It felt like it crept under your skin and fed on your fears like a tumor.
"Humph. Next time you are going to... 'Take care of someone', leave me out of it." The masked man's voice had a bitterness to it.
"Huuuuh? Since when did I ever ask you to come with me, old man?"
"Hazama, we all know that you can't..."
"Can't what?" It seemed like they had begun arguing and Luna saw that as the signal to turn around and run. As quiet as she possibly could, she sprinted out of the alleyway and ran to the left, pass the spot they had sat in before. It wasn't until she'd run to a dead end she stopped and breathed. She had taken several turns to mislead any persecutor and had in the same time put a good distance between her and the courtyard. She felt a little bit better now, even though everything was as bad as it could be.
"What on earth was the snake doing here in the web?" Luna whispered, adjusting the bat on her back. She wasn't keen on leaving the safety in the shadow just yet, not while her breathing was still heavy.
"I don't know but something tells me that the silence this night has something to do with it. I-It's like everyone holds their breath while he's out." Sena replied.
"Yeah… You might be right 'bout that… I just can't get what a shitty luck we've had tonight. First the snowflake man and then walking in on the asshole killing someone. Oh and getting lost in here. Like, what a fucked night. Not really what I expected."
"Maybe we're finally being punished for all the food we've been stealing."
"What is up with you and food lately? We're just borrowing it, but it's not like they want it back the day after."
"Ew Luna, gross!" Sena smiled. "… You know, I just think it's bad to steal. I wish we could pay for what we take but I know we can't. I just wish that we could make this city a little bit better one day."
"… Sena…" Luna looked up at the sky, which was just as black as usual. It was quiet and she couldn't hear any footsteps, so it didn't seem like they had heard them and followed. She began untying the ribbon around her throat and then put the bell in one of the pockets in her skirt. She needed both hands if it'd get to the point where she needed to fight. Then she pulled up her hood over her pigtails and began walking. "Don't go all sissy on me now."
"Are ya' lost little kitty?" As Sena walked down the same street for the fifth time, a door opened with a creak and then a woman poked her head out, which made him almost bash it with the bat.
"W-What?!" He yelled, taken by surprise. He who'd thought he was prepared for everything!
"Ohya, did I scare ya' little kitten? Sorry, hee hee, didn't mean to." The woman took a step out of the compact dark from inside the building and Sena saw that she was pretty tall and slender with dark skin and two long blonde braids. Her face was shrouded in darkness thanks to the long hoodie she was wearing. It looked much like the one Sena himself was wearing, but the ears on her hood was much larger and looked like they'd actually been made to cover real cat ears. "Name's Tao."
She reached out her right hand and Sena just – by pure reflex – took it and then shook it. The woman had a firm handshake. He saw that each of her fingernails was long and painted silver and when his gaze lowered he saw that along one of her legs a cat tail was tattooed.
"I'm Sena." He replied. It was something about her that made him trust her. Maybe because of the cat hoodie she wore, maybe because of her kind voice or maybe because of the energy she was radiating. But her giant boobs who showed through the fabric of her hoodie made him pretty shaken.
"I saw Sena walkin' by maaany times, so I wonder, is the little kitten lost?" She leaned her head to the side and even though he couldn't see her face he heard the genuine concern in her voice. Sena liked her.
"Ehm... Luna didn't remember the way so we… Well yes, I suppose we are lost." He looked down on his feet as Tao closed the door behind her, feeling a little shy as she stood closer to him now. ( He was so LAME, Luna thought. Just because of her gigantic boobs! )
"Luna…? Tao didn't see anyone else but the little kitten."
"Excuse me then." Answered Luna, a little irritated. "Are you implying I'm not actually here?"
Tao seemed surprised by the change of voice and attitude but quickly regained her composure. She seemed to understand what was going on and seemed pretty excited about it.
"So there's two kittens inside of there." She patted their head lovingly and before they knew it, they were pressed against her body as she hugged them. "But don't ya' worry, mommy Tao's gonna' get ya' out of this scary place."
Both Luna and Sena tried to squirm out of her firm grip but didn't succeed.
"Okay, we get it, let go!" Luna struggled as much as she could but this woman just wasn't letting go.
"Hush, hush. It's okay. Mommy Tao's gonna' keep the little kittens safe… You kinda smell like steamed buns too… I could eat you nyah!" In the end it felt like they stood there in Tao's embrace for a good minute or so until she finally let them go. Sena still felt like Tao was a kind soul but began keeping his distance by taking a large step backwards so that she couldn't surprise them again with yet another tight squeeze. "So which way are ya' headin' kittens?" She asked and seemed like she was ready to go any second.
"We were on our way to the Bascule area." Luna answered.
"Bas… Ssss…?" Tao scratched her head and seemed very confused. Luna looked at her with disbelief.
"North, above the Port. The bridge that can open and close, you know?"
"Ohya, north ya' say, little angry kitten girl. North it is!" She tried to grab their hand as she began leading them down the street but Luna was quick to pull it to her chest so that Tao couldn't take it.
'What's with her, really?' she thought.
'I think she's just trying to be kind to us, Luna.' Sena thought as a reply. 'Maybe she feels sorry for us.'
'We are not babies just because we got lost.' Luna felt sour as she walked side by side with the cat lady. She noticed that Tao made almost no sound at all as she walked, like a real cat with quiet paws against the concrete. However she wasn't quiet, she hummed on some melody Luna had never heard before and she appeared to be full of excitement because she swung her arms back and forth as they walked.
"I-Is it really okay to just leave the building like that, Miss Tao?" Sena asked, a little worried that they'd forced her to go with them.
"Hm?" Tao scratched her head again. "Hmmm… O' course. I don't live there."
'Then what were you doing there…?' Sena thought. It was unlikely that she had any friends living there, or she'd probably not been the one to open. She didn't really seem like the typical drug addict or dealer either. 'If she'd be addicted to something, it'd probably be to catnip.' Luna thought amused.
"Okay... Ehm, well... We'd better be careful though, miss Tao. We saw a man named Relius and a woman named Tsubaki in a courtyard before. They were together with Terumi."
Tao stopped abruptly and turned to them.
"Ya' saw the scary guy here? In the web? Where?" Her voice had turned dead serious and her posture was straighter and made her look almost dangerous.
"Yes here in the web. In a courtyard but, like, it's not like I know where it is, we just happened to find it." Luna answered, a bit taken aback by the complete change in the woman.
"Did ya' see what he was doin'?" A pair of eyes gleamed in the shadow of the hood and when Luna saw it she also saw something resembling hatred. It made her certain that she could share her trust with Sena towards the cat lady. Those eyes were a proof of a feeling they shared towards a certain man that they'd like to see dead.
"... He killed a man, a thug. He said something about not needing him. He had already stabbed him when we got there but it seemed like he had toyed with the man for quite a while. The other man, Relius, he ran out of patience and it was about then we figured it was time to leave."
"So ya' didn't see where he went?"
"No, unfortunately not." Sena replied quiet. "He could be anywhere."
"..." Tao appeared to be in deep thought and for a minute or so the night went back to the silence it had been wrapped up in since nightfall. Then, all of a sudden, Tao's posture went back to being laidback and her voice got all jolly and playful again. "If we spot him, Tao will beat the green guy into a hot mess nyah! Don't ya' worry, my little kittens!"
And so, Tao led them through the maze of streets and they didn't encounter or even see a glimpse of Terumi or his two companions. Not a soul was to be seen.
They walked for about twenty minutes and then Luna began recognizing neon signs, some trash bins and then cracks in the pavement. About ten more minutes of walking, they stood just outside of the north exit. Both of them felt like they had been swimming for a long time and finally reached the surface and were now at last, feeling the cool air touch their skin and breathed the fresh air.
"Thank you Miss Tao! Thank you for helping us!" Luna turned to the woman and bowed slightly. "If you hadn't showed up we'd might been lost forever!"
"... Well, not forever. We'd probably made it out of there either way." Luna added to not let Sena make them seem too thankful. It didn't seem to bother Tao though, as she tried to attack them with another of her hugs. They dodged it by taking a large step to the side, leaving Tao almost diving straight into the ground.
"Naw, little kittens! It was nothin'! I'm just happy that I could help ya'! Now ya' better hurry, ya' wouldn't wanna stay here for too long!" They could see a wide smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side.
"You're right... Thanks again, cat lady." Luna said and then she turned around and began walking towards the bascule area. However, after a few steps, Sena turned around. "What about you miss Tao? Where are you going?"
Tao who was waving, lowered her hand and the smile in her face faded.
"Tao got some stuff to take care of in the web." Her voice was serious, like it'd been before. "The web has been confused with a snake pit and I need make it all right again... See ya 'round kittens." Tao took a step back into the shadows before she turned around and ran - silent as a cat - back onto the streets of the Port Web. Sena watched her as she disappeared.
"She's going after Terumi." He said.
"Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen her fight but I don't think she'll stand a chance if she finds him." Luna replied bluntly.
Sena bit his lip and reached down the skirt pocket and closed his hand around the bell.
"I hope he's not there anymore, for her sake."
END OF PART I