No longer Lily's POV Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, and alerting!
Trouble
"Do you know how worried I was?!" Rachel demanded once Brianna and Lily were inside and away from the door. "This worried!" She held her arms out wide. "You could have died or worse got raped and I wouldn't have been able to do ANYTHING because I'm stuck HERE thanks to SOMEONE who SWEARS that she will be CAREFUL and wouldn't do anything STUPID!" She shouted/empathized on the parts needed.
Bria winced back at each one, and then just listened as the girl kept going, effortlessly tossing her suitcase and bag off to a corner near Lily without the slightest interruption.
Rachel took in a few breaths after a while and then said, "Had me scared so badly I thought I'd be chasing you down, and you know how bad my sense of direction is!"
Brianna smiled soothingly and placed her hands on Rachel's arms, "Sister, calm down, and breathe," she said softly, "I'm fine, I'm unharmed, and I'm here. I'm sorry to have worried you," she hugged the girl, "I've missed you, by the way…"
Thanks." Rachel rolled her eyes and then hugged her back. "Missed ya too."
Bria chuckled and stepped back when she did, "Now, Rach, this is Lily," she gestured to the shy Neko standing against the wall, "Lily, this is my sister, Rachel."
"Hola," Rachel said with a smile.
"Konbanwa," Lily nodded respectively.
"Mi casa es su casa. Hope you enjoy," Rachel said, "Because at times its hell, unless you like waking up to noise…"
"I'm used to it," Lily smiled sadly, "Bria-san has told me her story, and she knows mine. However, I do not know yours and you don't know anything about me…except for the fact I'm a Humanoid Cat…" she swished her tail for emphasis.
"Well, I never asked you anything about yourself." Rachel replied with a slight smile. "I can tell that you know Japanese...great that means sis can start talking to you using a foreign language I don't know."
"She has been...and I've learned English quickly from her. Surprisingly, since my transformation on the 4th, I'm a swift learner. I had no idea what you were just saying until you told me the translation right after. I'm assuming it's Spanish?" Lily tilted her head.
"Si," Rachel grinned, "Yes, sometimes I speak Espanola and it annoys my Hermana greatly. Although, I do it just because it annoys."
"Hermana?"
"Sister."
Bria laughed and nudged Rach playfully and then turned to the Neko, "Here, I'll put my things away while you two swap stories," she chuckled and then grabbed her suitcases and backpack before disappearing around a corner.
"Alright, so who goes first?" Rachel asked looking at Lily.
Lily was about to answer, and then a silver cat jumped into her arms, "Ah, hello there," she smiled and petted her fellow feline in the places that she knew would be loved, "I'll go first...but, what's this pretty girl's name?" she asked.
"Lucy," Rachel grinned, "Ella se llamo es Lucy."
Lily stared, waiting for the translation.
"Her name is Lucy," Rachel laughed, "Lo siento. Sorry. Forgot myself there for a minute."
"No problem," She petted Lucy, and then went to sit on the couch, "Alright…it's long…sad mostly…if you want me to stop at any time just say so…ok?"
"Alright," said Rachel with a slight smile.
Lily took a deep breath and told the story.
Rachel listened, nodded, and didn't interrupt. It was a sad story; there was no doubt about that. However, she was a sucker for them. Quite literally. She leaned as forward as she could go, on the edge of her seat, listening, and listening. Offering silent support and comfort if she needed it.
Lily fought tears and ended with the Cruise, and after they docked she mentioned the two men, "Then, we arrived here and I met you. That's pretty much it…"
"I see," Rachel said. "I'm not sure what to say…the story was sad yes, and it was breathtaking. Like a really good plot." She smiled lightly, "I think that's insulting though…to you anyway."
"No, no, I like hearing your opinion," Lily smiled. She looked at the clock and raised an eyebrow, "That four hours or so...it's about 11:30 now, and it was around 7 something when we started."
"Possibly you're tired," Rachel said with a slight smile, "Want me to show you to a guest room?"
Lily shook her head, "Iie," she smiled, "Tell me your story, now."
"Me? My story? But aren't you tired?" Rachel blinked at the cat girl.
"Bria-chan and I would stay up almost 'till dawn talking," Lily chuckled, "I'm fine, really."
Rachel smiled, "Alright. You know my age, my name and all that good stuff, so let's see…" She thought for a minute. "Ah! Okay, I used to be a fortune teller in Arizona. I used to go around doing people's fortunes. Move from alley to alley. My mother was sick and my father had no care in the world for me. Well, one day my mother died and I refused to live with mi papa. Therefore, I lived in New Hampshire for a bit, doing fortune telling, got kicked out because I was doing them, and here I am." She gestured. "I wound up in New York because I felt like I had to."
"So…how'd you meet Bria-chan?" Lily tilted her head.
"She walked in my shop," Rachel said, "A fortune telling shop. She was a skeptic at first and then I showed her what I could do. My readings of the Tarot cards are amateurish, but since I can see other people's future's just by touching them, I can either warn them, or celebrate with them." Rachel smiled a bit. "Bria-chan...came to me with a proposal soon after that."
Lily was finding this all very fascinating, "Proposal?"
"Si," Rachel nodded. "She obviously knew that I knew the streets like the back of my hand since I fortune told in many, many alleyways when I feel like I wandering away from my shop. I knew the gangs, the safe spots, the allies; I was well worth value to the Aka Ryuu." She smiled a bit, "What Bria-chan didn't know, was I'm skilled at not just Future seeing. I'm also known for using my poisons."
"Poison?!" Now Lily was the one on the edge of her seat.
"Yes. I don't have a collection, but I do know a lot of them. And I know a lot of antidotes too. My favorite poison is rattlesnake venom. I can only get it from one of the gangs out here. My connections were another thing that was worth value. I had many allies, and hardly any enemies."
"Another thing," Rachel grinned. "That I'm well-known for is my information gathering. The connections have information; I can get it and use it. Bria-chan does some of that stuff, too, she has more stealth skills than I do…But all of that is boring to you," She sighed dramatically, "I'm sure."
"Hell no!" Lily grinned, "This is great to know. I was wondering about the Aka Ryuu, and how you joined. Are there any more of you?"
"Just one and that'd be Angel. I don't know her very well." Rachel sighed. "Then again, I'm mostly on the streets."
"But you're not anymore," Lily pointed out, "Not since you met Bria-chan."
Rachel laughed and then said, "That's true. That's why I'm so white right now. I used to be darker. Tanner."
"Little light?" Lily smiled slightly, "Hai, Nao-dono is just as pail as us," she chuckled and then blinked, "Rachel-san…?" the redhead had gotten a blank look on her face, "Rach…Rachel?!"
Rachel's breath was sucked in, and her heart ceased for a bit. In her mind black and white, she saw a boy with a hockey mask on and a girl standing side by side, with three or four people surrounding them. They both looked like they were ready for a fight, but so far, she could tell that they were talking.
Something Angel or even Casey said must have grabbed the four's attention and from the angle one of them shifted in, she could see a tattoo. A clear one. Rachel's eyes narrowed. The Purple Dragons? What were they doing with them? A fight broke out immediately after she thought that.
Bria came in hearing Lily's cries and hurried to Rachel's side, "Esu-san, what are you seeing? Who's in trouble and where?"
"Madison Avenue; Angel and some guy are up against the Purple Dragons," Rachel sighed breathlessly.
Bria gritted her teeth, "Get dressed, pack a suitcase, I have a feeling we won't be back for several days...I'll write a note for Mrs. Morrison," she herself still had her clothes from that day on, so after she went to the kitchen and wrote the note, she hurried back to her room.
"I'll just…stay here," Lily mumbled as both girls hurried off. She carried the silver cat, Lucy, to a room that had an old woman sleeping in it and set her on the bed, "Take care of yourself and your master, now, alright?" she purred/mewed softly in Cat Tongue.
"I will," Lucy mewed back.
Lily petted Lucy one last time and left, closing the door softly behind her. When she got back to the main room, she waited for the two women. Once they joined her, she stared as they were strapping weapons to their person. She looked them over and noted what they were wearing and what they had.
Brianna had on a black Japanese fighting outfit outlined in dark red with no sleeves and a slit on the left side all the way up to her hip. She had on only a pair of black spandex shorts for covering underneath. Then, I saw as she knelt that the outfit she had could be inverted to have the dark red dominant with black outlines. For shoes she had grey socks that covered her ankles and black and red tennis shoes.
As for Rachel, she was wearing a black skirt that reached to the tips of her knees. Her shirt was long sleeved and very loose. Her shoes were sneakers like the same ones she wore when Lily first got in the apartment.
After strapping a dagger to either thigh, Bria stood and started tying her long hair into a high-n-tight ponytail and she braided the red streaks that weren't seen before and then tied those over the ponytail holder. She then slipped a red/gold clip right in front of the tied area and she smoothed out her outfit, "Well, I'm ready." Her eyes turned green to show she was fired up and ready to go.
"Same." Rachel said as she slipped her sword over her shoulder and tightened the strap. There was a belt that was on her that held a pack of some sort. Her eyes were sparkling and happy almost. Like she was dying to fight. "Lets hurry up and get going!"
Bria flung her backpack on instead of a suitcase and Lily took Rachel's suitcase. Just as the trio reached the door, a series of knocks alerted them that someone was there waiting for them.
"Lynx! Kerica! Please, it's me, Angel!" a desperate cry echoed.
Bria put a hand on the door and frowned, "It's her," she confirmed, "No one else knows the code," she said and opened the door. Sure enough, the purple-haired 15-year-old was standing there, tears in her eyes, "What's wrong? Rachel saw you were with someone...wait, how long ago was that?" she turned to Lily who had put her hood up.
"Actually, about 15 minutes. She would have had time to get here," Lily told them.
"Then what happened to the boy?" Rachel demanded.
"His name is Casey," Angel told her absently before telling them, "He's in trouble. Hun showed up, and he told me to run and get you two…" she looked to the cloaked figure, "Who's she?"
"Louise," Lily answered for the two girls, "Lily Louise Mikadzuki, but call me Louise on the streets."
"Okay!" Rachel said, "First of all, is Hun still at Madison Avenue?"
"Yes," Angel nodded, "The guys…wait…" she shut her mouth swiftly. Could she tell them? She looked at Louise, and the two locked eyes. She sucked a breath, seeing that they were cat-eyes. "Louise, take off your hood," she demanded.
Rachel shook her head, "Its okay, Angel. She's with us."
"No, I want her to take off her hood," Angel kept staring at Louise.
"Come on we don't have time for this!" Rachel groaned.
"It's alright, Lynx," Lily chuckled and took off her hood, also shaking out her white hair with orange and black highlights. Her Neko ears twitched, and she unwrapped her tail from around her waist, "I'm a humanoid cat. A Neko, if you please," she bowed her head, "To keep it short, I was once a full cat, born and raised in Japan, transformed on the 4th, met Kerica on a cruise ship, and came here."
Angel stared, "A humanoid…transformed how? By what and who?"
She by-passed the 'how' part, "I was transformed by my master, Nao Mikadzuki, who had her own sort of transformation from a mixture of green ooze from the TGRI and four types of blood. Three were from humanoid turtles and the fourth mine. I am looking for one of those turtles; the Twin Sai wielder, Raphael."
Angel smirked, and motioned to them, "Then, you will find him tonight. Come, follow me. Lynx, Kerica, I will fill you in on the way," she said and started running, climbing the fire-escape to the rooftops so they would have a faster route.
Kerica knew all this, but would like to know from Angel's perspective, so she grabbed her sister's hand and the trio followed close behind.