Jin the Assassin sat on a bench, his feet relaxing on the table in front of him. His signature crossbows swung from his hips. He was a tall fox, as large as a leopard, and as thin as a reed. His clothing was bright green all over, with a white sash, and the best that money could buy, with polished brown boots to top it all off. His fur was an equally bright orange and white, with bright blue eyes, additionally his fur formed a 'beard' just under his chin. Currently he was playing a card game-and winning.
The inn was an odd establishment in that the owner couldn't really have cared less who came inside it. For all he knew the Daimyo could have waltzed in, ordered five cups of sake, payed double and he still wouldn't give two tails.
That was why Jin liked it. The only other place like this was the Underworld back in China, but there everyone knew you were a criminal. Here, he could walk around scott-free without so much as a glance from anyone else. Here he could be himself and he knew the Imperial Army wouldn't come busting down doors and smashing windows.
"I win!" He yelled, slamming his cards on the table and grabbing the pile of coins in front of him and pouring it onto his lap.
A baboon looked from between the cards and the tables and stood up. "You are wrong! I win!" He slammed his own cards onto the table.
Jin didn't waste time looking at the cards and instead pulled out his crossbow, leveling it with the simian's head."Ya think so?"
Japanese people, he found, were less cowardly and more stubborn than the Chinese. This baboon was an exception, he quivered fearfully and left.
This was the life!
The door opened just as he started counting the money, and in walked two figures.
Hei Zei was short, and clad in black, the little of his paws that showed were wrapped in bandages, yet Jin knew what he looked like beneath the hood and bandages, scarred and burned from the flames of their childhood.
Lang was just the same as usual with his thick muscles and cocky smile. His pants were all the same as well. The only difference to his appearance was a long, ugly scar going right down his front.
His jaw dropped. This couldn't be happening. They were dead.
Clearly from the widened eyes and dropped jaws they thought the same thing. Then Jin fainted clear away.

"Okay, I think we're here now. So get back in the barrels and I'll-" Wing cut the fox's sentence short by grabbing him around the neck.
"No, no, no. This time you can go inside the barrel and we can walk out."
"But they saw me walk in-not you!" The kit protested weakly. Wing dumped him face first into the barrel anyways, before slamming the lid over it.
Su rolled her eyes. "Well, hopefully nobody knows what we look like. Come on. Let's check out some of Japan."
"Yippee!" Wan praised, clapping her paws together.

Jin sat up, his eyes still tight shut. He had been dreaming. Hei Zei was a dead raccoon and Lang was a dead wolf. They had not walked in on him winning a card game. He opened his eyes, they were staring right at him. He fainted again.

The Wus released the fox from the barrel after they had gone through the town.
"Right. Which way is the Silver Fang?"
The fox opened a scroll and studied it. He pointed a finger at a spot. "Right there. Okay, we'll go, that way!" He pointed in one direction, directly at a thicket of brambles.
Su lead the way, slicing the foliage away with her claws. Within seconds it fell off-to reveal a large boulder.
"Okay. Let's go around it." The fox suggested. Ignoring him the Wus put their tails together, and spun. Nothing, except Master Croc's back had ever withstood the power of the Wu vortex. The boulder was no exception, and neither was the forest. From where he stood the vulpine got a clear view of the trees collapsing. He frowned. "Professional assassins with no sense of subtlety. Now how's that for a change?"

The fourth time Jin came to he managed at least to form eligible words.
"You're real?"
"Pinch yourself if you don't believe us." Hei Zei offered, his paws steepled in front of him.
"B-b-but-"
"Trust me, we thought you were dead too." The raccoon explained helpfully. "And until recently we didn't even know about each other either."
"How did ya find me?" Was the first question Jin asked, before throwing fifty others at the duo. "And how did ya survive? And where's your scar from? Cool scar by the way. And how did you meet each other? And when? And what are ya guys doing here? And-"
"It will be easier to explain if you don't interrupt." Hei Zei began. "But first we need to clarify some things." He pulled out a wanted poster from somewhere in his cloak, and held it up for the fox to see.
It read 'Jin the Assassin' 'Wanted Dead or Alive' had a large number at the bottom that was his bounty. Luckily though, whoever had drawn up the poster had not gotten a good look at Jin's face. He wasn't so grim! He was grinning! He always grinned.
"This isn't-" Hei Zei sounded like he was pleading.
"I'm not an assassin! That's silly!" Jin forced a loud, nervous laugh.
Lang had always been a bit slow and breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I was a bit worried about all that stuff."
Hei Zei was not convinced. "The guys at the inn said you styled yourself as Jin the Assassin-"
"Hunter! I'm after this-guy. He even looks like me!" It was a lousy excuse, but Lang bought it anyways.
"Ooooh, that explains why we found you at the same place this guy's meant to be."
"Yeah, he got away this morning though. Too bad." He gave another nervous fake-laugh. "When I was done with him he'd have looked nothing like me!"
Lang laughed, and even Hei Zei managed a chuckle. "Jin you have not changed at all, have you?"
Jin made himself grin, and it wasn't that difficult. He had loved these two once upon a time, if he could just keep conversations away from assassins and the Wus, then this would be a blast! "So, how are ya-you guys?" It was probably best if he dropped the accent as well.
"Pretty good I suppose." Hei Zei replied.
"Yeah, the usual." Was Lang's response.
"And now that we're together again we can unite to defeat the Wu sisters once and for all!"
Oh crap!
The Brotherhood and the Wu sisters went far, far back. They had all grown up in Hubei, but the trio of leopards were their own thieves, whereas the other trio had been the heads of the Thieves' Guild, a gang of orphan thieves. They successfully recruited the Wus after burning their house down, this came back to bite them when the future assassins had set fire to the Thieves' Guild Hideout, killing those inside, save and except for the trio that became the Brotherhood. After many years they had caught up to the leopards and locked them up once and for all. Wan had escaped first, mostly due to Jin's surprising lack of cunning. She had then freed Wing and the two had bust out of Gongmen with ease, apparently killing Lang in the process. Then they had freed Su and tried to form a criminal syndicate to conquer China, the Master's Council Ox, Croc and Rhino along with Grandmaster Oogway, had put a stop to that, but Hei Zei had come back for more. He had tried his hardest to kill Su Wu again, and had fallen into Hubei volcano as a result.
To Jin's surprise the raccoon laughed. "You're right. We're here in Japan, let's make the most of our time here."
Jin breathed a secret sigh of relief. Disaster averted. But another thing was bugging him, when was the last time Hei Zei had laughed?
"Yeah! Lang agreed. "Let's go grab whatever these people drink!"

"This is the place." Chibiki informed the others. "The innkeep keeps his mouth closed. We'll wait it out in here. Come on guys."

"This is the place." Denko waved a wing at the small, run-down inn. "The guy who owns it doesn't really care who visits, so you tend to get some shady characters. Just head in, talk money and you've got your guards."
Han Guan nodded reverently, mentally taking notes of the raven's advice.
The door flew open from the right and in walked the Brotherhood of Bloodspilt Hands. Almost a moment later the door on the left opened and in walked Han Guan, Reidak and Denko.
Exactly a moment later the Brotherhood emerged from a bedroom door.
Each group sat down at a table.

"Right. Talk quietly." Chibiki advised the others, before revealing the layout of the Silver Fang estate.

"Speak commandingly, like you own the place." Denko advised.
"If it helps, imagine everyone as naked." Reidak chimed in.
Han Guan was sweating more water than a leaking pipe and was nodding feverishly now. He closed his eyes, and opened them again. Then he slammed his paw over them as if he had just stared into the sun. "No!" He said weakly. "It doesn't help."

"Right. So ya-you guys are still alive. H-how? And when did ya meet up? And that scar is frickin' awesome-"
Hei Zei held up a paw for silence. "It started when I fell down the volcano."

"I'll fly in." Sutoaraiki was saying. "Knock out the guards on the estate's side of the door, while Izumi-chan seduces the other two. Then I open the door, and she silences the guys."

"As I was falling I managed to catch a ledge. I thought I was taking Su with me, but she wasn't there. I guess one of her sisters must have got out and freed her. So I pulled myself up and tried to calm down." He shuddered.
Jin remembered he was scared of fire, getting surrounded by lava while reclining on a ledge in a volcano must have been his worst nightmare. "While I was there I did a lot of thinking. I realized that I spent so much time obsessed with the Wus that I lost myself. When I heard you guys were dead I- I didn't feel anything. I realized that I threw my life away looking for revenge, that I became nothing more than an empty husk. So I lounged around for a couple of years, wasting my days. Not knowing what to do with my life." Hei Zei sighed. "Eventually I met Lang, and then we went back to the old job. The rest is history."

"Meanwhile me and Buruto-san will be causing a disturbance here." Chibiki pointed at the Easternmost corner of the wall. "We'll kill the guards posted at the gate and then start roaring challenges. If these foxes are all as honorable as Lord Hoku-sama says, then they will have no choice but to come at us one on one. We will deal with as many as we can, then the pair of you come in and finish them from behind. There should be twenty men left to guard the place, we'll make short work of them. Then, the vaults are a level below the dungeons, on the same level as the fireworks we've been supplied with. Me and Buruto-san will bring the fireworks, Sutoaraiki-san you have to make sure we don't blow up the whole place. Take the powder and set it up against the door. Then blow it open and we've got the gold."
Buruto held out his hands and received a high five each from Chibiki and Sutoaraiki. But Izumi was frowning.
"So there's twenty guards. Me and the bug get two each, so that leaves eighteen to you? That's not fair!"
"It's eighteen to me and Buruto." Chibiki scoffed. This wasn't about kills!
"He doesn't kill people!" Izumi snapped. "So you get eighteen, we only get two!"
"Actually he'd get sixteen." The hornet pointed out, but the bobtail was having none of it.
"Same difference! I wanna swap. You seduce the guards, I get sixteen kills!"
"And how pray tell, am I meant to seduce anyone?"

"You need to calm down. Nobody's going to listen to someone in the middle of a panic attack." Reidak said, placing a helpful paw on Han's shoulder.
The wolverine took a deep, deep breath. He could do this. He rose to his feet, radiating an aura of confidence, until he got everyone's attention. "Ummm, REIDAK HAS SOMETHING TO TELL ALL OF YOU!"
He sat down quickly, Reidak glared at him from behind his bandana. Han Guan stood up again. "BASICALLYI'MGOINGTODIEBECAUSEIJUSTFIREDALLOFTHEGUARDSATTHESILVERFANGANDIFANYONEFINDSOUTMYHEADISROLLINGANDIDON'TWANTTHATTO-"
Denko kicked the back of his knee, so that the wolverine fell back into his chair. "That is not commanding."
"What did he say?" Asked a tall fox.
He was replied with a 'he's irrelevant', 'yeah you're better off tuning him out'. Han Guan stared at the table in front of him, both sad and worried.
"Well, you tried your best." Reidak comforted.

"Right, after that rude interruption." And thus Lang pounced upon his tale.

"Did he just say the Silver Fang is empty?" Sutoaraiki asked, dumbstruck by the sheer implausibility of it all.

"And then my guts were all hanging out and stuff and I was bleeding, and my ribs were shattered. But my vitals were still working and I wasn't just going to die!"
Several other tenants gave Lang odd looks.

"Well. I suppose we could go check it out." Chibiki suggested.

"And then she did this weird thing with the poltices and she managed to replace my ribs. It was weird to be honest. I don't even know how the old goat stitched my intestines back together!"
Even Jin and Hei Zei were going green from all the details.

Denko watched the quartet leave silently, and noted that none had even ordered drinks. He watched the black bear tuck a scroll into the back of his pants. And right after Han Guan had told everyone that the Silver Fang estate was unguarded…
"Do you guys think I'm worthless?" The wolverine asked suddenly, his voice glum with depression as he drew circles with his claw.
"Er- we did just meet a short while ago." Reidak began, clearly unsure how to console a near-stranger.
"Excuse me." The raven began. "I think we need to leave."
"Okay, you guys go ahead. If I'm going to be executed I might as well be drunk when it happens."
"You're not going to be executed!" His two companions snapped.
"I heard Lord Tohru-sama was very forgiving." Denko soothed.
"Yeah, he is. But this is like the twenty eighth time I've caused disaster."
"Why don't you tell Reidak all about your life? I'll be right back. I just need the bathroom." Denko walked away, before breaking into a sprint and flapping out the door with clear urgency.

"And then she poured the metal over my chest and the blood oozed out. I was screaming so loudly, I'm sure the whole of Gongmen heard me! And then the metal had to dry and I had to lie there in agony!"
"Since when was he so descriptive?" Jin asked, leaning to the side to whisper into the raccoon's ear.
"No idea." Was Hei Zei's immediate response.

"So I guess it all started when my mother and father met-but I don't know much about my dad. I never met him. And my mum isn't really the greatest parental figure. He-he." His nervous laughter was soon replaced with total silence. If Reidak hadn't sensed something urgent he really would have tried his best to help the mustelid. Unfortunately, the way Denko had decided to leave the inn so abruptly bugged him greatly. Then it clicked. The Palace was empty. The raven had only brought them there so that he could go rob the place with ease.
"Han we need to go now!" Reidak said, rising to his feet.
"Go ahead. I'm not leaving until I've hired somebody!" Han Guan stood up again, sucking in his courage.
The tiger growled in frustration. "It's an emergency!"
"WHOWANTSMONEY?" Several animals pulled seats up nearer to Han Guan's table as soon as the words left him.
"We're listening." Came the innkeep's thick voice.
Reidak would have rolled his eyes if he had any. He could have walked away fine. No scratches, no cuts. Nothing. But the wolverine, dumb as he was, didn't deserve to die, or worry about dying before being given a lesser punishment. And that meant stopping Denko himself.

"I'll be right back." The tiger announced, before shooting off on all fours.

"And then it was just the same old business. Catching crooks and stuff." Lang's bloodcurdling tale ended. Both Hei Zei and Jin shivered.
"Since that other Jin is clearly not here, how about we hear out that guy." Hei Zei suggested. "Let's see if we're as good as we used to be. Besides, it's been way too long since we've done anything together."
"Yeah. Waaaaaay too long." Jin agreed. As long as the wolverine didn't have anything to do with assassins things would go smoothly and Hei Zei and Lang need never know that there was no other Jin.

"Will you hurry up?" Wing snapped. The trio were at the foot of the estate, arms crossed.
The fox kit was huffing and puffing through the wreckage of the forest, fifty feet away.
"W-we shouldn't be doing this now!" Was the first thing the vulpine said when he reached the trio.
"Okay. You're right." Su agreed, before Wing got the chance. "The three of us will sneak in-you can go find a place for us to rest and plan after reconnaissance."
"B-b-but I'm-" Su gave him a warning look, Wing glared and Wan was trying and failing to look sympathetic-it probably would have been more convincing if she wasn't a professional killer. "Okay. Bedrooms it is." And he scampered back through another side of the woods.
"Right sisters. Let's check this place out." Their claws extended and up they climbed.

"So we're just guards? No actual target?" Lang asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
"There's money in it, I mean the wages of four guards each-that's a l-lot and it's, it's fun!" It was small surprise Han Guan had chased off the other tenants.
"We are used to having more specific jobs." Hei Zei murmured thoughtfully.
"We'll do it!" Jin exclaimed suddenly. It was perfect. A win-win situation! The wolverine got his guards, he got to spend some time with his old friends and there was no one from the underworld who might have had more details about his current career.
Hei Zei and Lang looked unsure at first. Then Zei nodded. "You've got yourself a deal."
Han Guan jumped to his feet, his paws raised above his head. "Yeeeeeeees! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Then he noticed that everyone was staring at him. "Um- Lord Tohru-sama has just bought one of my artworks for a lot of money. Sake for everyone!" This comment was met with cheers.
"So you're an artist as well, eh?" Jin asked. This day got better and better!

"Right. Follow the plan anyways. Izumi, Sutoaraiki you know what to do. Buruto, with me!" The Brotherhood of Bloodspilt Hands divided.
They were close to the easternmost corner when Buruto tripped over a little fox reading a map. The gorilla fell forwards and Chibiki turned around. The fox was frowning at him. He said something. Chibiki hadn't understood it.
"What's the hurry?" The vulpine repeated. This time Chibiki understood it was Chinese. The bear returned the frown.
"Business." Buruto was on his feet. They were leaving when the fox spoke again.
"You dropped your scro-" As he bent over to pick it up the fox noticed that it was titled 'The Silver Fang Estate Layout'. He looked at the bear, realization and worry dawning on his face.
"You've seen too much." Chibiki growled, unfurling his kusarigama from around himself.
The fox took a step back, before snatching up the scroll and narrowly avoiding the blade as it flew an inch above his head.
Then the fox turned tails and ran.
If he gets away the whole clan will be onto us. And if someone finds out we were robbed by a kit... "Don't let him get away." And the two gave chase.

Izumi frowned. There were no guards. Something was definitely up. But who was stupid enough to fire a garrison and then tell everyone? Suddenly she realized that this was probably a trap.
"Is something wrong?" Came a voice, and she turned to see a raven with green eyes staring right at her.
She removed several knives from her person. "Not at all."

Footnote: Well I guess it's about time things got going! Now we have the whole cast assembled. Jin, Hei Zei and Lang belong to Berserker88, I didn't go into toooooo much detail about their past, but enough so you guys know about them. They are from Always Together, a fic I reccomend wholeheartedly.

Right, time for a little action, coming next chapter :) Also the title comes from the repeated use of dividers here.

Enjoy