The guards were first on the scene, and the fire department not long after. By the time the police showed up, I had plenty of time to get my story straight. It was a while before I had gotten to actually talk to Tatsuro, but I maintained my story. I was honest about most of the encounter, except that I had seen their faces, or that they had tried to kidnap me. I was going to find them, and I wanted to know why they wanted me before I did. "You didn't see their faces?" Tatsuro asked dejectedly. I shook my head.
"I'm sorry Tatsuro," I said with my head downcast. "It all happened so fast, and I couldn't really see anything. It was so dark." I had no plans to tell them that I had gotten two of their names either, these guys were mine. I'd email him the file once I exposed the Black Foxes, but until then, this was my only lead, and at this point it was a matter of pride. I had names. Now if I could just figure out who those names were attached to, I might be able to find them. The wheels in my head were already churning.
"It's ok Kana," Tatsuro stroked my hair, in an oddly intimate gesture, making my heart skip a beat. "I'm just glad that you are alright. You must be terrified." I nodded and looked down at my feet, I hated lying to Tatsuro. Partly because he was always able to tell, partly because I had spent the vast majority of my youth head over heels in love with him. But I had my own work to do now. He put me in a patrol car and a uniformed cop took me home. I thanked him for the ride and got out of the car waving as he drove off.
I chill crept up my spine, and I knew I was being watched. I looked casually around, but it was so late at night that I was the only one out. I couldn't shake the feeling, as I retrieved my mail and went inside, locking my door tight behind me. I looked through the peephole, but there was no one there. I exhaled and slumped to the ground, my back against the door. It bugged me. I wasn't prone to paranoia, so there had to be something that I had missed. I took deep slow breaths.
"It has to have been the night," I said aloud to my empty apartment. "It has to be." I had been through the ringer. I had narrowly escaped being kidnapped, and had stared down the barrel of not one, but two guns. I had spent hours talking to the police, and had lied to Tatsuro. "That has to be why I'm on edge. No one is following me. I am perfectly safe," I tried to reassure myself, but it only partially worked. I closed my eyes replaying the encounter with the foxes for the thousandth time. "Why had they reacted to my ring that way?" I wondered.
I held my right hand out in front of me to examine Gran's ring, which I wore on my middle finger. It had been my great-grandmothers, but it wasn't anything particularly special, it was sentimental. My Gramps had designed it and made it himself before asking Gran to marry him. He had given it to me only days before he died. "Wear this and it will bring you good fortune" he had said.
I rose from the ground with a sigh, and I threw my mail down on the counter where a white unaddressed envelope caught my eye. I picked it up, and slid out a card with a black fox printed on it. "We're coming tonight…" was all it said.
I dropped the card and darted to the window, gazing out and saw only a woman walking her dog. I double checked the locks, hoping that it was some sort of awful joke and went to shower this awful day off my body.
It may be strange, but I did some of my best thinking in the shower. I could stand there under the scalding hot water and my mind would make connections that I often didn't quite understand. I muttered to myself.
"Hiro and Kenny," I muttered. I tilted my head upwards letting the water wash over my face. "Not surnames," I said my thoughts trailing off. They wouldn't be dumb enough to use surnames. So these were most likely their first names. I roughly grabbed my shampoo bottle and began to wash my hair, not even paying attention to the relaxing vanilla scent that I had spent so much time trying to find in shampoo form.
I had some of their first names. It wasn't much, but it was a hell of a lot more then I had had only 24 hours ago. But there was something else, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I closed my eyes as I rinsed out my hair and liberally applied conditioner. I replayed the entire event over and over again in my memory, as I lathered up and washed the rest of me.
It wasn't until I was rinsing off that it occurred to me. "Gran's ring," I said. I tried and failed to leap out of the shower, nearly killing myself when I slipped and ran into my bedroom, where I had placed my ring before getting into the shower.
"They knew the ring," I said picking it up off the top of my dresser. If they knew the ring, then they knew Gran, if they knew Gran then they knew Gramps, if they knew Gramps…
There had to be a way to trace them that way. All of the Foxes I had seen were young, closer to my age than anything, but maybe…just maybe they had met gramps when they were children. It was the only way that they could have known about the ring. But how was I going to figure that out?
I had a bunch of Gramp's old journals and sketches that I just refused to part with. I'd read them about a hundred times, but maybe somewhere in there was a reference to a Hiro, or a Kenny. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was something.
I lay in bed unmoving, keenly aware of every sound that my apartment was making. The hum of the fridge, the dumping of the automatic ice tray, the tick tock of the old clock in the living room, each noise suddenly seemed menacing, as I remembered the plain white envelope with the simple words, "We're coming tonight…".
A floorboard creaked in the kitchen and I went ridged. Floorboards didn't creak on their own…did they? After a few minutes of nothing I relaxed again. I was behind locked doors, there was no way someone could get in. I decided to get up to check the door and windows for a fourth time, when the door to my room opened. I froze, every nerve on edge, only to be looking down the barrel of a gun for the second time that day. My heart pounded out of my chest, even as I wanted to beat the confident smirk off his face.
"No fire alarm to pull this time," Leader said quirking an eyebrow. He stood in the middle of the doorway, blocking my only escape route. Really poor planning, on my part, if you ask me, that the only way out of my room was the door or a three story drop out the window. I should have gotten a ground floor apartment. I looked over Leader's shoulder only to see more men. The now familiar faces of Hiro and Kenny were there, but there was a new guy, angry looking with pale blonde hair.
"What," I asked glaring at Leader, "You couldn't handle one small woman by yourself so you had to bring back up?" I regretted the words the second they left my mouth, and bit my cheek to keep from saying something else stupid. I should know better than to provoke when I'm so obviously outnumbered and outgunned, but something in him just brought it out of me.
"Where did you get that?" the angry looking blond pointed at my ring, the same one that seemed to fascinate Leader. I clasped the ring in my fist, but said nothing. I was not giving up my ring, no matter what.
"Come with us," Leader smirked, his eyes laughing at something I didn't quite get.
"Absolutely not," I shouted back, now beginning to think that the three story drop from the window didn't seem like such a bad idea.
"You don't have much of a choice," Hiro laughed from behind Leader. I scowled at Hiro, who looked so much younger than I had originally thought. I narrowed my eyes and studied them. I highly doubted they planned to shoot me at all, the guns were there for intimidation. If they only wanted my ring, they could have shot me already and taken it. Hell, they could have just taken the ring from me back at the museum. This was about me, they wanted me for something. I had two choices. Scream bloody murder and hope that one of my neighbors called the police, or I could go with them and find out what they wanted.
I was really leaning towards option number one, until I realized that this was precisely the lead I needed if I wanted to take the Foxes out. If I went with them, I could figure out who they were, if I figured out who they were, I could get that info to Tatsuro…
My eyes shifted from one face to another, hoping to see something there that I could trust. They could kill me the second I left the building. My eyes landed on Kenny's face, his face was hard but his eyes pleaded with me to trust them. Was I developing Stockholm syndrome already? Could you develop it this quickly? I sighed heavily and against my own better judgment, I threw the covers from my body and stood up. A ripple of panic went through the group of men and I was pleased-much more than I care to admit that they clearly thought I was a force to be reckoned with.
"I'll get dressed," I snapped in resignation. They all chuckled and turned their backs. "Get out."
"Not a chance kitty cat," Leader chuckled seductively. I stiffened at the nickname that my great-grandfather had used for me. It was a large part of why I had chosen chosen Black Cat as my alias. Kenny smirked.
"We know more about you than you could possibly imagine," Kenny laughed, but there was an edge in his voice "So don't bother trying to escape."
"You want me to trust you right?" I glared at him. Kenny looked at the man they kept calling Leader, and then nodded. "Then trust me, and get the hell out of my room," I hissed. I locked eyes with Leader, as if daring him to shoot me while praying that he wouldn't. He chuckled bitterly, and lowered his gun,
"We'll wait in the living room," Leader said with a smirk. "Don't make me regret this decision."
"If I have my way," I scowled, "You are going to regret a lot of your recent decisions." Leader chucked again, and the four men left me in the relative privacy of my bedroom. I heard one of them say "Firecracker," as the door closed quietly behind them, and my knees gave out. I sunk to the bed for a few moments, shaking uncontrollably. Twice in the same day I stared down the barrel of a gun, twice in one day I had been at the mercy of the Black Foxes, and dammit-I wanted to know why, even if it was to satiate my own curiosity.
Curiosity killed the cat, my own thoughts teased me. I took a steadying breath and dressed as quickly as I could, hoping that none of the strange men would suddenly decide to walk in. I threw open the door, a smug smile on my face as they all flinched. I held my head high as Leader put his hand on the small of my back and urged me toward the front door. They lead me out of my apartment and down the stairs into a van. I sat in silence trying to look angry and petulant and not at all as if I was about to throw up, as they drove off into the night. Kenny sat next to me in the van, his gun visible in his holster.
"Don't worry," he whispered kindly to me. "This is not what you think." I scoffed. I wasn't worried about the Black Foxes, they had ample opportunity to do any number of terrible things to me, but they hadn't. They weren't bad guys as far as criminals went, I however had to be cautious. If they knew about Gramps nickname for me, could they know that I was the Black Cat? I was always so careful, wearing a mask and gloves, wasting money on expensive burner cell phones and always paying in cash and always tossing them after my mission was over.
I shook my head, there is no way that they could have known about my extracurricular activities. If they did they would have said something. It would have been easier to abduct me using blackmail to make me go quietly. I looked around the van, Kenny was sitting next to me while Leader drove. The angry blonde sat shotgun plunking away on a laptop and Hiro sat across from me. I could see all the high tech surveillance equipment that had all been bolted to the workbench.
I sighed heavily and Hiro laughed, "Don't sigh like that Kana," I looked up at him with a curious look. "You'll let all the happiness out." I rolled my eyes and glanced at the angry blonde again, he shot me a dirty look and then resumed plunking away rapidly at his laptop.
"Lay off her Takuto," Kenny laughed kindly.
"What the hell is wrong with him?" I muttered to myself.
"Did you say something?" Kenny asked looking down at me kindly. I shook my head furiously and cast my eyes down at the floor for the rest of the ride. I had to be careful. Years of talking aloud while trying to piece together puzzles were finally catching up to me at the complete wrong time.
But Kenny had clearly figured it out, "Don't mind Takuto, he gets weird around pretty women." I had to force myself to keep a scowl on my face and not blush. The compliment had taken me completely by surprise, and this was very much not the appropriate place to be flirting. I tried my very best to send Kenny a withering glare, but was fairly certain that I missed my mark when he smiled before turning his attention to Hiro.
The van stopped and I was ushered out. My jaw dropped as I looked around for the name of the place and laughed aloud, almost doubling over from hysterics. I had taken three years of French in college and had spent some time abroad, and this was just too good.
What's wrong with her?" Hiro asked. There was a long pause while I giggled uncontrollably.
"Le Renard Noir!" I shouted between gasps. "The Black Foxes hideout is a restaurant called "The Black Fox,"
"Best to hide in plain view," came a voice I didn't recognize at all. I looked up, wiping tears from my eyes, fairly certain the reason for my hysterics was entirely fear related, and saw a man coming out of the closed bar. "She cause much trouble?"
"Nothing we could handle Boss," Leader said tossing him the keys in a casual motion. I suppressed the urge to kick him and turned my glare at to the newcomer.
"Welcome Kana Nakumura," Boss said with a sweeping gesture that clearly meant that I was supposed to go inside. I quickly looked around for a possible escape route but knew that Kenny was standing right behind me, and it was unlikely that I would get very far. I may be good at breaking and entering, and have a great grasp of gymnastics, but there was no way my basic self-defense classes would be enough to get me away from these guys when I was so grossly outnumbered and they were all on edge waiting for me to run. Adopting an air of annoyance, despite my fit of giggles only a few minutes ago, I walked in to the bar.
I stood near the kitchen and watched the Black Foxes, who all seemed oddly relaxed considering they could now add kidnapping to their rap sheet. "Come on Kana," Hiro called and he gestured at the empty seat next to him.
"Yes sit down," Boss called. "We've got a lot to talk about." With no other options, I slid into the empty seat.
I ran my fingers through my hair. "This is all just too much," I said. The table was silent. I scanned all of their faces for some sign of deceit but found nothing. "You're all telling me that someone is after something of Gramps', and that you want my help to steal it before they get it. But you won't give me what, who, or where and you expect me to just uproot my life and live here."
"Well," Boss aka Astumu smiled. "Not necessarily here. Depending on who you choose to be you're, well babysitter for lack of a better term, you'll likely stay with him."
"That's so much better," I crossed my arms irritated, "I'll just be expected to move in with a guy I don't know, who I just met and to top it all off is a criminal?"
"Thief," Kenny, whose name was apparently Kenshi corrected me automatically.
"There's a difference?" I asked obstinately.
"Yes," Riki, who they all called Leader responded. I sighed, burying my face in my hands. My Great-Grandfather was a genius, he was a skilled painter and a brilliant inventor. I knew that a genius like his could have come up with anything really. But the fact that no one seemed to be willing to give me details was really grating on my nerves. It was like they didn't trust me with the information, but expected me to trust them anyhow.
"Listen Kana," Atsumu leaned forward, elbows on the table. "I know this a hell of a lot to ask. Please believe me when I say that, it is too dangerous for you to be out there on your own. You're grandfather wanted us to protect you."
The guys had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gramps had known them and their grandfathers, and that he had entrusted the protection of some of his more controversial pieces to them, and in turn, their grandchildren. Photos and letters all sat before me on the table, and I could see my great-grandfathers tidy scrawl on the papers and in the journals. But this wasn't about or them.
This was about Gramps.
I had to set all the crap aside and focus on Gramps. He would have been devastated to know that someone was willing to go to such great lengths to steal something of his. "I can't let that happen to Gramps legacy," I sighed. "I can't." I looked up and saw such kindness on all of their faces, and I knew my decision had been made, Stockholm syndrome it was then. "Fine. I'll help however I can." And if I played my cards right, and if they pissed me off or were lying to me, I was in the perfect position to get enough information on them to put them away for their crimes. Two birds-one stone.
"Now to the bigger question," Riki flashed me a seductive smile again. "Who's going to look after you?"
I glared at him trying to use annoyance to buy time. I had no idea who to choose. My eyes met with Kenshi's and I remembered how nice he was in the car, how sweet he was being despite me being as cold as I possibly could. I felt I could trust him, though I'm wasn't entirely sure where that feeling was coming from. "Kenshi," his name was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
"Me?" Kenshi asked somewhat perplexed.
"Aw Man," Hiro pouted. "I really wanted her to pick me."
"Don't be a sore loser," Atsumu chided Hiro.
"Come on," Kenshi rose from the table and walked past me, "Let's get back and get some of your things before we head to my place." I sighed heavily before I stood up and followed Kenshi to the door where he shot Atsumu a meaningful look before opening the door for me. I smiled a little in spite of myself-I couldn't remember the last time that someone had done that for me. I muttered my thanks, and we made our way back to my apartment.
"This is cute," Kenshi said as he stood in my living room watching my throw stuff in a bag. Despite the chit chat, Kenshi seemed on edge, and he kept absentmindedly touching the gun in its holster. I tried to ignore it while I grabbed clothes and some toiletries. My files for my ongoing investigations were on my laptop, so I snagged that and the cord and shoved it in a bag, when my eyes fell on the brand new burner cell that I was using. I glanced at Kenshi who was looking out of the window with a stern expression on his face, and I snatched it and shoved it in my bag too. It was password protected, and would erase all the data if someone plugged in the wrong password. I really didn't think that the Black Foxes were on to me, so I felt it was safe to bring.
"Ok let's go," I said from behind Kenshi who simply nodded and lead the way out. I cast a glance at the box of old sketches and journals that I had pulled out before I went to bed. I couldn't bring it now, but I did hope to come back for it soon. I locked the door behind me wondering when I would be back…if I would be back. With a deep breath I hurried down the stair to catch up with Kenshi was already waiting at the bottom of the long staircase.
"You don't mind walking?" Kenshi asked with a smile taking my overstuffed bag from my hand. I shook my head, my eyes locked on the bag in his hands. The bag that had everything about my other life in it. "I don't live too far from here."
"Are you sure you want to carry that?" I asked. "It's a little heavy."
"It's not like I'm going to run off with it," Kenshi laughed. I gave him a look that clearly said I didn't actually believe him, but that only made him laugh a little louder. "It's not that heavy. And I feel like I sort of owe you. We did kidnap you a few hours ago."
I rolled my eyes "So you're playing the nice guy card now," I muttered to myself.
"Did you say something Nakumura?" Kenshi asked startling me out of my reverie.
I inwardly cursed for talking aloud again. "No," I said. "It's nothing. I just always thought that criminals would be lacking in basic manners," I tried to laugh but it sounded forced, even to me.
"Thief," Kenshi replied automatically a small smile on his face.
I rolled my eyes, "You're really particular about that aren't you?"
"Yep," Kenshi chuckled.
"Well," I said, deliberately picking a fight to keep my distance from him. Gods help me if he wasn't charming. "What you do is still illegal, so I guess it doesn't matter what you call it."
"The Black Foxes don't steal for profit," Kenshi said in a matter of fact tone. "So we're not really criminals. We steal art that has been stolen and return it to its rightful owners." I opened my mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. He was right, technically, what he did really wasn't all that different from what I did as the Black Cat. "It's kinda like the Black Cat," Kenshi said as if reading my mind. "She doesn't steal anything, but the breaking and entering she does is still illegal."
"She?" I didn't even need to feign surprise. "Are you saying that the Black Cat is a woman?"
"Yeah," Kenshi laughed. "We always assumed that she was a guy too. But we…uh…ran into her recently. It was quite a shock." Kenshi's voice seemed distant. I blushed again and felt slightly bad about biting him, until I remembered the feeling of Kenshi's hand on my breast, but I was relieved that the Black Foxes hadn't put two and two together…yet. "Here we are." Kenshi said brightly.
I looked up to find that we were in front of a massive very traditional Japenese house. "Oh my god," I said. "I've been here before. This is Kikufugi." Kikufugi was an incredibly popular, high end, traditional Japanese restaurant. I had been there for a work Christmas party only a few months ago.
"Yeah," Kenshi smiled as he unlocked the door for me and opened it. "My family has owned it for years."
"Do you work here then?" I asked looking around at the darkened entryway.
"Only sometimes," Kenshi said leading the way up a flight of stairs to a long corridor with several rooms. "I work at the fire station, but sometimes my mom needs me and I pull a shift in the kitchens for her. Bathroom's at the end of the hall." He said pointing, and he opened a door to a traditional Japanese room.
You'll sleep here. I'm the room right next door."
"This place is huge," I mutter. I walked to the window and looked down. Once again it was too high to jump, but I might be able to climb down, if there is some kind of problem. I reached out to touch the window and quick as a flash, Kenshi had a gentle grip on my wrist. I struggled against his hand, instinctively and he pulled me a little closer, placing his other hand above my waist effectively holding me in place.
"Don't," Kenshi leaned in and whispered in my ear, his voice somewhat pained, but stern. "As far as I'm concerned, as long as you don't let on what's actually happening you can live your life however you want." I was a bit surprised by this, but he went on. "But don't run away. It's not safe." His breath on my ear made me desperately want to shiver, but I suppressed the urge, and instead turned on the spot.
I had expected him to intimidate me, try to force me to stay. I had a feeling it's what Riki would have done, but not Kenshi. His eyes begged me to stay. I hadn't expected this. I cleared my throat and nodded. I felt his grip on my wrist soften and felt him take a deep breath, before he removed his hand from my waist. "It's really late," he said ruffling my hair as if I was an exuberant child. I batted his hand away and automatically smoothed my hair back in place. "Get some sleep," and with that he left me in a strange room to try and get some sleep.
"As if I'm getting any sleep tonight," I muttered to myself, wondering after my 'would be captor'. "Maybe I made the right choice."
Kenshi walked to the end of the hall, and opened the bathroom door, making sure to lock it behind him. He knew that the others would have handled that differently, but it didn't feel right to threaten her or force her to do anything. He had watched as she'd peered down to the ground under her window, and knew exactly what she was thinking. He could have done what Riki had suggested and kept her in his room, where he could keep a closer eye on her, but that would have required a very different cover story for his mom.
He rubbed his eyes and stared at his reflection in the mirror. "You're in deep shit Ken," he whispered to himself. He remembered how warm she was with his hand on her, and his heart sped up. He loved that spark of defiance in her eyes anytime someone 'told' her how things were going to be. She's stared down Riki while he held her at gunpoint as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He wondered if it was shock that was keeping her going, or if it was something else. He gripped the side of the sink as he thought about her. She was short, only maybe passing 5'4, long dark hair cascaded past her shoulders and over creamy skin. Her eyes were dark and somehow could see right through him.
She was beautiful and he wanted her.
He kept telling himself that had been a long time since he'd been with a woman and that's why she was affecting him so much. He looked up at his reflection. "She's one of us now," he whispered to himself, staring intently at his reflection. "Just one of the guys."
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he grabbed it grateful for the distraction. "Yeah," he snapped.
"Sorry," Riki's voice came over the phone. "Am I interrupting anything?" His voice was suggestive.
"No," Kenshi snapped. "What's up?"
"He found her," Riki said. Kenshi took a deep breath and instinctively glanced back down the hall at the closed door, the light still shining underneath the door. "We got her out in time, but Takuto found that her file was accessed at the museum tonight. Oddly, right around the same time we met Kana."
"She can't go back to the museum," Kenshi said leaning back against the sink shaking his head.
"She really can't," Riki agreed. "Boss is already on it. But it's not going to be pretty."
"I can imagine," Kenshi rolled his neck, hoping to relieve some of the tension.
"You still think it's a good idea not to tell her?" Riki asked. "About, everything I mean."
"Yes, I do," Kenshi answered his voice sounding tired. "It's best that she doesn't know. She's…" he paused, several words floated to the front of his mind, but none of them were the one he wanted. "She's normal, what do you think she'd do if she knew what was really going on, why she has to live with me, why she can't go back to work."
"You sure?" Riki asked. Kenshi didn't have to say anything. "OK. But you need to figure out something to tell her in the morning. She's going to be pissed that she's not working at the museum. Doubly so when her things arrive from her apartment."
"I'll figure something out," Kenshi sighed. Riki hung up, and Kenshi suppressed the urge to hit something. Instead he made his way down the hall back to let his mom know about their new house guest. She didn't say much but the way she stared at him gave him the impression that she secretly hoped they were dating. "Sorry mom," Kenshi laughed quietly as he left her room, "She's just a friend." He didn't quite believe the words he'd spoken, and if the look his mom gave him when he left her room was any indication, neither did she. Kenshi trudged the hall back to his room, and was up until dawn trying to come up with a plausible reason why she couldn't go back to work in the morning, before falling into a restless sleep.