~Stealing Fun~

In the time of war, peace, and chaos mixed together, there are two boys living in China, scraping by with the thievery from food stalls. However, one day, a rival girl thief emerges from the shadows, naming herself "Princess Wits". Determined to stop her and gain back his position as the number one thief, he searches for her true name. But it is not long before the leader of the two is pulled back into the political and emotional conflicts burning within the capital of China and Japan.

We shall begin this tale, where our two thieves committed their number eighty eighth crime. The item of theft—

Steamed pork buns.

Yes, the thing Bankotsu loved most other than trying to sneak a peek at the beauties working behind the counters, he loved to eat steamed pork buns. In the successful society of China, their food was the best. Often he chuckled to himself, giving him all the credit for leaving his home country Japan, and sneaking to China on a trading boat.

Along with him was Jakotsu, who again was up to no good. That is, he was looking at men.

The next set of dialogue shall explain why and how that was bad.

"Who's the lucky guy?" he asked sarcastically. Jakotsu gave him a whoop of joy.

"That guy—he's so muscular!" A squeal that the braided boy could've sworn should've belonged to a girl came out of his mouth.

"Dude, please. I don't care if you're going to fight me for that girl in that restaurant but please, stop looking at guys!" He pulled Jakotsu's head toward him, his gaze intensifying. "Repeat. I will stop being gay."

Jakotsu slapped his cheeks and giggled like a child. "Ooh, that guy is even sexier!"

Bankotsu groaned and was about to fall off the roof they were sitting on.

Every morning, at the break of dawn, they would sit on the roof of the wealthiest landowner's house in town. It was an ideal spot to plan today's thieving items because the view on top of the roof was so wide, it was like having eagle eyes in their human sockets. Not that they actually had eagle eyes.

After Jakotsu slid down the tiles of the house to proceed with the plan involving buns, Bankotsu pulled a stone out of his pocket. He tossed it in the air two times playfully before his eyes lay on the landowner's servant. With careful aim, he flung the stone at the laundry bucket that was filled with water. The servant immediately spun around in his direction, but he had already jumped without a sound to the other roof. Suspicious, she paced over to the roof he had been at before, staring at the water pipes. Behind her, Bankotsu slid one finger in the pocket of her coat and fished out a string of coins. As she retreated back to the laundry, her hand feeling the empty pocket, Bankotsu had taken off.

Jakotsu was standing in line, which consisted of hungry servants waiting patiently to buy their breakfast. He was the next one in line, nervous because Bankotsu had not come with the money yet. But he didn't have to wait any longer, because Bankotsu had slipped in next to him, the coins on his hand jingling.

"How much you got," he asked, bouncing up and down on his heels.

The braided boy gave him a smug look and opened up his hand. Instead of coins, there were two silver nuggets and three gold nuggets. "I nabbed only the good stuff. I mean, we need her to live to give us the cash, right?"

When it was their turn to receive their buns, Bankotsu winked at the girl who was packing the buns into a brown paper bag. She instantly blushed and stuck an extra one in the bag secretively when the chef wasn't looking. As she handed it to him, she put a finger to her lips.

"Thanks," he said, winking again. The girl screamed and fainted. Bankotsu scratched his head and pulled Jakotsu out of there before people started gathering and wondering what happened to the girl.

Walking slowly down the streets so that they didn't look out of ordinary, Bankotsu handed Jakotsu a piping hot bun. They chewed with relish as Jakotsu asked him a question.

"Hey Aniki," he addressed him, the Aniki meaning "older brother" in Japanese even though Jakotsu was older, "do you think if I do that eye thing with guys, that guy will notice me?"

Bankotsu sighed. "No Jakotsu. You'll scare them away. Winking only works on girls."

But when the bag of steamed buns was stolen from a shadowed figure with long flowing black hair, Bankotsu knew that winking wasn't going to get back his pride without a fight.

The girl landed on a roof, turning around with a smirk on her face that made everyone turn. Her golden eyes were the bright hue of an emperor's silk robe. She wore a stunning American turquoise skirt and a white dress shirt with a similar flashing red jacket. On her head, she wore a black paperboy hat.

Her girlish laugh echoed within Bankotsu's mind in the days to come.