"Alright, I'm not going to ask this again."

"Okay."

"Do you-" Ezio put slowly. "-know where a cat named Yusuf might be?"

Karışık stared at him in confusion before looking off to the distance and putting a hand on her chin. Then she sighed and shook her head. "No. I do not know. I never heard of him. Is he from the South side?"

Ezio facepalmed and turned around to pace across the room, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index and thumb to ease the throb that had started in his head. Listening to this one was more than frustrating, it was pointless and a waste of time. An absolute waste of his viliant time and effor-.

"But I do know some good spots where a cat might hide if they have to, good ones that are hard to come across."

Upon hearing that, Ezio looked up and turned back to her. Did she finally just say something USEFUL? He thought.

"What?"

"I know some good hiding spots," She repeated. "Your friend might be in one."

"Where do we start first?" Annette asked, standing up excitedly.

She tapped her small chin in thought before stating, "I do not know what you call it. But we always referred to it was the Water Yard. It has all these giant wooden structures that float on the water like fowl."

"The Arsenal," Yerman concluded. "But why so far away?"

"I don't even know if Yusuf could have crossed the river." Ezio added.

"You want to find your friend or not?" Karışık questioned with annoyance, teeth bared. They were one of the few things that hadn't changed so drastically, her canines ending in sharper, longer points than a normal person, the front teeth were small and tightly compact, as for what would be molars, they were razor-like trianglar points. They were meant for tearing up meat, he knew well enough.

Ezio nodded.

"Then listen to me." She warned, then stood up. "Now come on. I do not thing he will wait forever."

With those words, they started out to the Arsenal.

"It's so musty down here..."

"I told you before," Shahkulu hissed through his helmet. "Stop complaining before I run a spear through you!"

The soldier looked back in horror, Shahkulu did have his spear strapped to his back, and he had the murderous-mad-man complex to go through with his threat without second thought or any sort of remorse. It was surprising they had been digging for a day and a half with this guy in charge, and no sort of casualty yet.

He sighed and turned back to the axe in his hand and continued to pick at the dirt and rock. This would be a long dig.

He felt a strange pain in his limbs he did not recall having before.

Sure the peircing sense of hunger knarreled at him, but he had grown used to the feeling of an empty stomach. It eerily reminded him of when he was so much younger, before he was recruited to the Assassins, when he arrived at Istanbul he had been little more than a petty theif. Looking to cut the purses off of unsuspecting civilians' belts in order to pay for his next meal, having to run as far as he could when he was caught, sinking into the shadows when he was creeping in towards his next victim, and the ache of hunger when he was unable to make enough to pay for even a small fruit at the cheapest of vendors. He remembered it all as though it happened only last week.

It was simply the knowing of slowly loosing his sense of judgement, the knowledge that he had gotten so far as to eating a songbird raw simply to ease the groan of his shrinking stomach, that drove him to stive harder to get back to the hideout, find Ezio, and return to normal. He wanted, no NEEDED, to be back in his own body, return to the life he had.

But this new pain, he didn't recall having it before, it throbbed with ease pulse of his heart, his vision had become cloudy with spots and floaters he tried to chase away. Had that bird been enough to settle him one day? Apparently not. Although Sevmek implored he stop with her and try to hunt something, he refused and waited for her to finish eating what she managed to catch. The reak of blood hitting his nostrils, making his mouth water as his stomach gurgled, and his stare turn into one of longing at the carcuse that he watched the white feline bite into. It was surprising even to him how he managed not to run off again in desperation. And when Sevmek swiped her tongue over her reddened muzzle, he was once again reminded by the pain that he passed up another chance to feed himself.

I'm going to make this shorter for you guys who skipped those big paragraphs. He was f-ing STARVING himself.

Anyways, he didn't remember his legs ever hurting, maybe he was tired, it could have been a reasonable answer. But he knew that it couldn't be true, he wasn't tired at all. He had been asleep an hour ago, how could he possibly be tired again?

So he settled on the concept that maybe his legs were just sore from all the walking. They had in fact been keeping their quick pace until they had reached the docks and snuck onto a boat. When they were found and unceremoniously thrown off at the next dock, they scurried away from the unhappy man swinging at them with a broom.

Then he looked up to the rooftops, hoping to see one of his recruits.

Guess who he did see.

Ezio was running across the rooftops with what appeared to be Annette and Yerman behind him, and some stranger woman dressed in simple clothing.

Desperate, he ran after than, trying to call out to his friend, but also knowing that as a cat, his friend would neither understand or hear him. He needed his attention somehow. But no matter what he did, it was no good, Ezio quickly was out of hearing range, and hadn't noticed him AT ALL.

Jeez, you'd think this old man, who says he a mentor, would notice a cat on the ground from the rooftops. And he brags about having "hightened senses". HIGHENED SENSES MY ASS! Yusuf cursed to himself. If he did then he would have seen him! Or took note! But no. Just no!

Heated with irritation, he turned and coontinued to the hideout. It wasn't far now.

Yup, leave it to Ezio to miss Yusuf when he was right there. Nice going...