Chapter one

The lightning scar

"Keep up Mongoose!" Called a blonde girl wearing a skin tight black suite that matched her eyes. Her hair whipped the boy called Mongoose across the face as she turned mid jump. He followed her. Spreading his arms out as though they were wings. He sailed over the gap between the houses and her head and hit the ground running right in front of her.

"What are you talking about, Mouse, I'm right here," he teased. Mongoose's untidy, shoulder long, dark brown hair flew out behind him and revealed his shockingly bright blue eyes as he led the group.

"Will you two shut up?" A black haired girl snapped at them.

"Sure Grasshopper, as soon as you stop bossing us around." The girl called Mouse shouted to her, now running backward. Grasshopper's honey colored eyes narrowed. Mouse backflipped over the street about eleven feet below and to the next roof. A girl with fiery red hair rolled her green eyes at them.

"Amateurs!" She teased, "Make way! She ran a bit faster, preformed a perfect front hand spring, took out her bow staff and used it to vault over the space between the houses.

"What ever!" Mouse called happily. "Check this out Sparrow." She preformed a series of eight back hand springs, as she was still running backwards, jumped backward over the gap, twisted around in mid air, landed with her back to the others, and shoulder rolled twice to steady her self.

"I expected something better from you, Mouse!" Mongoose called. He started off the same way mouse did but when he reached the space between the houses he did a double front flip, landed on the next roof on his hands, preformed another front hand spring, landed on his feet, and front flipped again.

"Beat that Grasshopper!" he yelled teasingly.

"What you are doing is immature and infantile, I do not partake in such doltish activities." She said sternly. "Nothing you say will change that." She leaped the gap with a single bound, landed lightly and silently on the roof, and continued to run swiftly, straight backed and gracefully.

"Buzz kill!" Mongoose shouted. Grasshopper rolled her eyes. Suddenly an idea sparked in the back of his mind. He began to sing a very repetitive song, loudly and high pitched. Grasshopper groaned. "I wont stop unless you take you're turn!" He called as he resumed his very off key singing.

"Fine," she said. She ran at top speed arms out straight behind her back. She ducked her head down, which increased her speed, when she reached the edge of the roof she did not jump. She was running so fast, however that the temporary lack of ground made no difference. When her feet touched solid roof again she jumped up onto her hands. She covered the entire length of the roof in two very large front hand springs. At the very edge of the roof she bent her legs and quadruple flipped over the street and landed lightly and silently on the next house. Her teammates stood two roofs back, staring at her with their mouths open slightly. She smiled innocently down at her feet as they caught up with her.

"What was that?" Mongoose asked her in disbelief.

"I used to play house jump when I was still training." Grasshopper admitted.

"Well, this is all shocking and every thing" Sparrow began, "but that next house is our mark."

"Right," Grasshopper said, suddenly brisk looking up. "In and out, don't trip any alarms. We each grab a souvenir before acquiring the target. Be quick, silent, and no matter what..."

"Don't be seen!" The three others interrupted her. Grasshopper nodded.

"Go!" she said. Mongoose jumped silently onto the roof of the target house. He scaled the chimney and slipped inside. 'To easy' he thought to himself. There were no alarms or security at all. No cameras and no way to get caught unless he was stupid and woke up the home owners. He shoulder rolled silently over the red and gold silk carpet that stood just in front of the fire place. He took a quick sweeping look around the room. A small solid gold molding of a shuriken immediately caught his eye. He snuck silently over to the table it sat on and picked it up. On it the words 'Chikyu, Mizu, Kasai, Kuki, Earth, Water, Fire, Air)' ran along the bottom in shining black that contrasted attractively with the gleaming white marble base. It was perfect. He placed it carefully into a black velvet lined box and tucked the box in his bag. Silently he snuck up the stairs and into the second floor hall. He crept up the red carpeted hall and slunk silently pass the glass trophy cases that lined the walls. Mouse came out into the hall admiring a thick shining gold cain with beautiful diamonds hanging off of it. Grasshopper, eyes gleaming, was staring at the collection of antique throwing knifes that she held in her hands. She put the mahogany wood lid back on the case and tucked it safely in her black bag.

"Where's Sparrow?" She asked almost inaudibly. When the other two merely shrugged she cursed under her breath. Sparrow came walking silently into the hall wearing a black leather choker with what looked like solid gold spikes lining it and matching bracelets.

"Sorry," she whispered. "Went jewelry shopping. There were to many options." She grinned mischievously.

"Lets get in that safe, snag the painting, and get out." Mongoose said as he looked over his shoulder. "This place gives me the creeps."

"What is this your first heist?" Grasshopper snapped turning to the safe never the less.

"He's right, though." Sparrow said "this place is creepy." Mouse nodded.

"Sh, quiet." Grasshopper said as she pressed her ear to the safe and turned the dial. One minute latter the safe popped open.

"Nice" Mouse whispered clapping Grasshopper on the back. She walked into the gargantuan safe and looked around for the painting they were looking for. She eyed it warily and looked around for traps and alarms. There were none as far as she could see. She motioned for Mongoose and Mouse to come help her. Mouse bent down by the painting and nodded.

"As far as I can tell, this is the real one." Mongoose nodded pointedly toward the painting, when Sparrow nodded too, he picked it up and turned it carefully over examining the japanese words written on the canvas. He gave it his approval and handed it to Sparrow. He then took a knife out of his pocket and carved the words: 'The thieves of Kasai' on the wall. He re-pocketed the knife and nodded.

They walked out of the safe and silently closed it. Grasshopper took it and jumped out the window, the other three followed. The white-blonde, blue eyed girl nicknamed Butterfly pulled up in a limousine.

"Want a ride?" She asked. The four shook their heads and she sighed. "Oh well, just toss the painting in the back and I'll bring it to the fence." Mongoose took the painting from Grasshopper and put it in the back seat of the limo. They nodded at Butterfly as she drove off bringing the priceless painting with her. The four thieves walked down the street in the same direction Butterfly had just gone. A loud blast sounded through the air followed by screaming and another bang. The three hastily looked over at Grasshopper as she nodded. They turned and ran right toward the explosion still wearing their black and white 'Thieves of Kasai' uniforms. An unearthly scream filled the air but it was silenced almost immediately. A child's cries rang sickly throughout the night. The four hurried even faster. They turned the corner and saw at once what the loud noises had been. What must have originally been a beautiful and handsome house was now nearly destroyed. A child laying in his crib on the second floor was bawling. How he survived that insane explosion was unknown to any of the four there. Mongoose sprung into action. He scaled the wall quickly and jumped up landing lightly in front of the baby. The boy had a head of untidy jet black hair, shocking emerald eyes, and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. The baby boy quieted at the sight of Mongoose. He held his arms out to him as though he wanted to be picked up. Mongoose obliged and also picked a pale blue baby book that had the words 'Harry Potter's first years' accompanied by a picture of the little boy he now held in his arms. He was so taken by the child he held in his arms, he passed by the pile of singed robes on the floor without noticing them.

He jumped down lightly and quickly ran over to the other three.

"What are we going to do?" Mongoose asked.

"Ooo, can we keep him, please, please, please?" Sparrow asked, eyes sparkling. Grasshopper nodded hastily looking at the baby boy with much concern. The white limousine pulled up again and Butterfly opened the doors.

"Now how about a ride?" She asked teasingly.

"Ah, Butterfly, you're a life saver." Mongoose said gratefully. The four of them climbed into the back seat of the limo, Mongoose still holding baby Harry. He buckled in and held the black-haired baby securely to his chest. It was like Harry was his baby brother and he had to take care of him. As they drove away Mongoose could've sworn he saw a motorcycle fall from the sky sporting a rider who looked a lot like himself. Baby Harry cooed and grasped Mongoose's pinky in his tiny hand and seemed to fall asleep in the arms of his new big brother. Mongoose smiled down at him. The car hit a bump and Mongoose instinctively looked over his shoulder. When he looked back down at the black haired baby, Harry had taken a sparkling gold pendant from Mongoose's pocket. There was no doubt that baby Harry would make a good thief, he had just pick-pocketed one of the best. Mongoose decided, right then and there, that he would do anything to protect Harry, anything at all.