Toichi lightly padded across the marble floor, his footsteps silent. The only noise was the sound of his white-clad legs brushing together, the swish of his mantle, the sound of fabric rustling against itself. He found what he was looking for in a matter of seconds, and his grin shone as brightly as the lock picks he slid from his pocket. For a few seconds, there was only the clink of metal against metal, a noise that ended at the sound of a quiet click.

The lid of the display case opened.

Toichi's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the jewel nestling on its cushion. It was huge, a clear diamond cut so that it caught what little light there was and threw it back in rainbow rays. And deep in the middle, only a little larger than a marble, hung a red orb.

The miracle gem, the jewel of immortality, Pandora.

Toichi grinned and picked it up, ripping it free from the wires attached to its underside. The lights snapped on in the room, a siren beginning to wail. There were distant, startled shouts.

"Uh oh", Toichi said.

What the hell?

Toichi almost shrieked, but years of practise came to his aid and stopped him just in time. All that came out was the tiniest squeak that managed to slip through his clenched teeth.

Really? That's the answer I get? 'Eek'?

Toichi stared around wildly, trying to find the speaker. He was vaguely aware that the distant footsteps were getting alarmingly close.

You might want to run. These people aren't the kind to ask questions before shooting, if you get my drift?

Toichi decided to take the disembodied voice's advice and ran for the exit, a tiny window set high up one wall. The door burst open as he jumped, a bullet chipping a chunk off of the sill as he pulled himself through.
He was on the roof now, and he could hear people being ordered up. He took off, sprinting as fast as he could to the other side of the roof where there was enough space for him to unfold his hang glider. He would glide out of sight, hopefully before the armed men made it to the roof, and then change into civilian clothing to blend into the crowd.

Are you stealing me?

Toichi gritted his teeth and kept running. Where was that voice coming from? Had someone slipped a walkie talkie or something onto him somehow or something?

Or something.

Wait a minute…

Toichi darted a quick glance down at the jewel in his fist. Red light glowed from between his gloved fingers in the moonlight, shards of light that seemed too invasive for a normal jewel. They left funny shadows at the corner of his eyes and seemed to be physically trying to burrow through his corneas.

"Stealing you?", he panted, then felt a bit of an idiot for talking to an inanimate object. There was a distant crash as the door to the roof burst open.

Yes, me. Who else?, came the voice that, now Toichi thought about it, seemed to be coming from the depths of his own head rather than from outside of it.

Um, you've been running at the edge of the roof for a while now, and unless humans have somehow developed the ability to fly-

"I have a plan", he hissed. The roof edge was drawing closer now, speeding toward him-

Well, unless your plan is to splash into the ground, you might want to change your course.

Just a metre away-

Oi! MOVE!

Toichi stepped off the roof into mid-air. There was a moment of pure, terrifying weightlessness before he dropped.

A push of a button, the tug of the harness, and the hang glider opened up like the wings of an angel. Toichi rolled in the air before he gained control, steering frantically to fly away as swiftly as possible. There was a whistle as a hail of bullets shot past him, one lucky shot catching him in the arm. For the second time that night, he had to fight against screaming.

Toichi knew that with his white glider framed against the dark sky, he was pretty much a sitting duck for anyone with a gun. Good thing he had thought to make a black hang glider for situations like this.

Oh God... I'd throw up if I could.

Ah…

Toichi brought the jewel up to his face, steering the glider with one hand. He began to circle downwards to an unobstructed patch of ground where he could land and hopefully find a crowd to melt into. He would have to move fast to avoid being caught, but maybe they wouldn't be able to tell where he landed.

"What the hell is going on?", he hissed. "What are you?"

I'm a talking jewel and I can see right up your nostril. Mind moving me away a little?

Toichi landed with a thud, staggering a little to stay upright. "Jewels can't talk!" The clank of the glider folding shut was swallowed up by the yells from the rooftop he had just vacated.

There was a bark of laughter that made his head ache. Yeeeaaah. I'm totally not talking to you right now. You're just going crazy.

"I'm not going crazy!"

It's one or the other.

"Just tell me what's going on!" Toichi grabbed his arm with one hand, trying to staunch the blood. Ooh, this wasn't good.

Sure. You run, I talk.

"Run? But I've lost-"

Snake isn't one to give up easily.

Toichi went cold. "Snake?" He turned to look back at the roof, which was now alarmingly empty.

Like I said, you run, I'll explain.

Toichi shuffled in place for a second before turning and sprinting. Scratch the crowd idea, Snake wasn't one to hold back when civilians were involved. Maybe he could get up high again… run along the rooftops and head to a safe place.

Where was a safe place?

There was the sound of a breath, as though the jewel had somehow inhaled. It began, Have you ever heard of the legend of the Pandora jewel…?

A/N

I know that Toichi is known for being all suave and gentlemanly, but I suspect those traits would desert him when being addressed by a talking jewel.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Send this struggling fanfiction author a review :)