Rihoko's eyes widened. "The Witchblade….." she murmured. Could it be this ancient artifact had resurfaced after twelve years? If it had, this would mean that her mother's death was in vain.

"Ah, I see you remember it, your mother, Masane Amaha, fought with it for you sake, although it did destroy her in the end." He chuckled a bit.

"Leave right now." Rihoko interrupted him through gritted teeth.

"But I haven't even stated why I've come." He smirked. "I had a friend, Nishida, who did extensive research on the Witchblade before its disappearance and came to the conclusion that you were a perfect match for it."

"What?" Rihoko stood bent over her desk, her hands flat near the edges of the table calendar. "I can't be a perfect match for an artifact that does not exist. Now if you will." She opened her office door and held it open for Wado to leave.

"If you insist Miss Amaha," Wado stood, keeping his eyes on Rihoko as he walked out of her office. "You'll have questions if you want to know about your mother." He smirked and handed her a business card and continued out of the restaurant.

'Mom…' Rihoko thought. Wado had information about her mother? Could he possibly know anything that could provide closure after twelve years? Or was it all just a trap?

She took a deep breath, putting her uniform back on, she walked quickly back into the busy kitchen.

"Is everything alright, Riko?" Sako questioned. "I didn't like the look the look of that guy."

"Eh, he was probably a traveling salesman, trying to sell the some 'magic kitchen appliance that no chef can live without'!" Yokoshita waved her spatula around making Kazuki a bit uncomfortable.

"Either way M-, Rihoko." Kazuki eyed a smirking Yokoshita. "Are you alright? You don't look so good."

Rihoko grinned. "I'm fine Kazu, are you done with the rice yet?" she questioned monitoring everyone's progress.

Kazuki stirred the white rice and picked up a spoonful. "Almost, just a few minutes longer."

"Good." Rihoko took out a salmon from a cooler and began cleaning then seasoning it. "After this guys we're closing early."

All the cooks looked at her confused. "What?!" Odd Things Amaha never closed early.

"Well unless you guys can manage this entire place without me?" Rihoko smirked placing her hands on her hips.

"Then again that's alright." Kazuki took the rice off the stove and began spooning it onto plates and into bowls.

"Yeah, I can go see an early movie!" Sako grinned, pouring vegetable soup into bowls.

"And I can finally spend some time with Mr. McMuffin." Yokoshita chuckled taking a few pans out of the oven.

"You mean that demon cat." Kazuki remarked, shuddering at the thought of Yokoshita's feline pet. His remark was met with a swift whack over the head with a cutting board.

Three hours later Odd Things Amaha was closed for the rest of the night, the chefs had gone home. Rihoko was the last one out. She sighed as she locked the restaurant's double doors and took out the business card Wado had given her.

MASAYA WADO

NSWF Chief of Research and Development

1-(555)-555-7666

Research and development…. The title catapulted questions into her mind, but it would explain why he'd have any type of information on Masane.

After the Tokyo Tower, news had spread that the NSWF had discontinued all research of the Witchblade, and had destroyed any and all weapons manufactured that dealt with it. The broadcast didn't seem too convincing since they didn't get rid of the 'sisters' instead it was rumored that the new head of the NSWF had picked up where Tatsuoki Furumizu, more affectionately known as 'father', had left off. Instead they were using the genes of several different males, names unknown, but it was all a rumor right? She'd heard her father, Reiji Takayma, talking about it to his used to be assistant at Douji, Hiroki Segawa, but even they said it all was a big rumor, for none of the said 'sisters' had been seen in public as Neogenes. There were nightly attacks, the obvious work of Ex-cons, though; no one wanted to admit it, they weren't causing too much trouble, the newly formed government felt it would cause less causalities if they just let the Ex-cons roam free.

The government set up a national curfew, everyone under the age of 18 had to be inside after 10pm, and adults 11pm. If the rules weren't obeyed you were either A: Killed by an ex-con or B: taken to jail for the night.

Rihoko had a few hours to spare before curfew, it was only 8:07pm. Rihoko walked down the crowded streets to the NSWF headquarters. Taking out her cell she dialed the number on the business card Wado had given her. She had thought the entire way there and decided calling the number couldn't possible do much harm.

It ringed twice before Wado's scratchy voice projected from the phone speaker. "I see you've reconsidered…"

Rihoko quickly ended the call. That was a bit too creepy for words to express. He had been expecting her to call. She had to look into Wado a bit more before making anymore conversation with him.

She dialed another number, a long time friend, he'd always been good at finding out information. Heck he was the lead journalist for the news in Tokyo.

"Hey Riko!" A man's voice answered quite joyfully. "It's been a while, how's it going?"

"Pretty great, Mr. Tozawa." Rihoko chuckled, her voice then becoming more serious. "I need you help getting some information."

"Hm?" Tozawa's voice was obviously of puzzlement; Rihoko had never asked him for information. "What kind of information?"

"On my mother… and the Witchblade…" Rihoko nervously replied, tapping her foot on the concrete sidewalk, shyly looking at people who passed her by as if they would over hear her.

"The Witchblade?!" exclaimed Tozawa, it had been over a decade since he'd heard anything about the Witchblade and now suddenly Rihoko, the very person Masane was trying to keep the ancient artifact from, was questioning about it?

"Who told you about the Witchblade?" Tozawa questioned sternly, of course he knew that Rihoko was informed about the Witchblade, but why suddenly bring it back up? Someone must have brought it up, right? Or maybe she was acting on her free will but his gut was telling him otherwise.

"Masayo Wado…" replied Rihoko, she explained everything the event that had occurred at Odd Things Amaha.

Rihoko sighed. "Listen, Mr. Tozawa, if you're too busy I can just go on my o-"

"No Riko!" He cut her off. "Don't go near him, he's dangerous, and he's lying to you! The Witchblade was destroyed alone with Masane and Tokyo Tower." He said firmly.

Rihoko almost choked as she held back her tears. "Thank you Mr. Tozawa, that's all I needed to know…" She ended the call and looked up at the NSWF building.