I do not own anything written by Rumiko Takahashi or Kosuke Fujishima.

London, several days later:

Mara's back arched, her mouth wide as she hissed thanks to the pleasure ripping through her — for a change she didn't have to fake her orgasm, the Minister of Parliament currently jackhammering her was a considerate lover who had made certain she was well primed to blow before beginning his final assault. She'd have to make sure his accommodations when he arrived in Hell weren't ... as bad as they could be, maybe 'borrow' him from time to time.

(Considering that he thought he was fucking an agent of a foreign power on less than friendly terms with his nation, there wasn't much doubt about where he was headed — though in a way he was correct, since the woman who had signed the contract with Mara was an intelligence operative for a foreign power, if not the one the MP thought. Sure, Mara could have gotten the intelligence Vedenin had contracted for without seducing Cecil, but where was the fun in that? And she'd get points for killing two birds with one stone.)

Then a tendril of power tapping on her shoulder yanked her out of her pleasure haze, and her gaze followed that tendril to the window, to find Gorash crouching on the window sill. This had better be good! From the unworried grin on the imp's face he obviously thought it was, and with a mental sigh she sent her own tendril of power.

Cecil twitched when the cell phone in her purse went off with a blaring of trumpets, then resumed thrusting into her. She sighed and lightly pounded on his shoulder. "Cecil, stop, I have to take this call. He groaned but complied, rolling off of her, and she rolled over to grab her purse off the night stand and fish in it for the phone.

A moment later she flipped it open and the trumpets stopped. "Hello?" ... "Sayanskaya, what's wrong?" ... "Of course, I know something's wrong, or you wouldn't be calling me at this time of night!" ... "He did what? Who's — ?" ... "Right ... right, she did good, but you were right to call. I'll be there as fast as I can manage, but it's going to be at least an hour." ... "Well, he'll just have time to reflect on how stupid he's been, won't he?" ... "Yeah, I doubt it'll do any good, either. Anyway, I'm on my way."

Closing the phone, she turned to Cecil to find him softly laughing. She smiled ruefully as she slid off the bed and began gathering her clothes off the floor.

"Ah, the glorious life of a spy," he murmured. "You don't hear that in the movies."

"Yes, well, James Bond never married any of the women he hopped into bed with and end up with teenagers. Hopefully, you won't be reading about this in the morning paper. I'll call as soon as I can."

"I'll be eagerly awaiting your call, if only to hear what that was all about," he replied as he started gathering up his own clothes.

/\

As soon as Mara closed the door to her car, Gorash crawled out from under the passenger seat. Mara glared at him for a moment before returning her attention to the road. "You couldn't have waited?"

"I did wait," the imp replied with a smirk. "You got off, didn't you? It's Cecil going home with blue balls. Is there such a thing as blue ovaries? And aren't you a little high rank to be doing this kind of grunt work?"

Mara shot it another look at the mention of her target's name, but mentally shrugged it off. If she asked, it would just say it needed to know enough about her current project to avoid blowing anything up when it reported to her, all while looking as innocent as any imp was capable (not much). And she'd have to accept it, because it was a reasonable excuse. And neither one would believe it for a moment.

So rather than waste time on the dance, she replied, "Others may prefer the Master act for keeping subordinates in line, I prefer the common touch — they're less likely to feel like I don't care about their input when they see me doing the same work, even when the know better ... besides, it's fun. But you already knew that, you just wanted an excuse for that horrible pun — I mean, really, 'grunt work'? So, the idiots are finally making their move?"

"The delusional, really, Kuno is intelligent enough once you make allowances for his delusions, and Gosunkugi's had reality club him alongside the head, knocking a lot of that unthinking arrogance out of him. But yes, Gosunkugi's imps have finished his construction and cat collection, he's putting his plan into operation today."

"All right, alert Calise, she knows what to do."

The imp nodded and slipped back under the seat's shadow and away, and Mara's lips stretched into a predatory grin. This was going to be fun!

/oOo\

Kodachi felt her gut tighten when she sauntered out of her algebra class to find her new mistress waiting for her. It was all she could do to keep her shoulders straight and her eyes level, and she thought she saw a hint of respect in that mistress's eyes. But if so, it was just a hint in the fiery-haired, tattooed woman's cool gaze.

"Kuno-san, there is an issue at your brother's school that needs to be dealt with. Come with me."

"But of course, anything that impacts my dear brother," Kodachi snarked, eliciting chuckles from students listening in. "Lead on." Calise raised an eyebrow but said nothing, turning to lead the way out of the school. Kodachi joined her, silent until they left the building. As they walked down the school's steps, she quietly said, "Please forgive any disrespect, I could not act differently without questions being asked about you that I believe you might not want asked."

"So there is a brain underneath all that accumulated arrogance," Calise mused. "The way you treated your servant after our little meeting suggested as much, but it is nice to have that reinforced. Perhaps you will be of more use than I thought.

"But," she continued, voice hardening, "you will amend your behavior, so that you can give me proper deference ... and quickly. If you wish to avoid public humiliation I suggest amending your behavior toward everyone, so that your subservience will be lost in the clutter. Understood?"

Kodachi blanched and nodded frantically. "Yes ... Mistress.""

Calise glanced at Kodachi out of the corner of her eye, and decided to ignore the hesitation. Kodachi was still growing accustomed to the sudden change of direction her life had taken, the demonic troubleshooter could accept a little arrogance and disrespect while her newest minion adjusted. A little arrogance ... for a little while.

So to Kodachi's relief her mistress said nothing more about it. Instead, she lifted a hand and a package wrapped in plain brown paper appeared in her palm. "Here is your broach. It's magic has been veiled but it is still distinctive, so wear it under your clothing and you should be safe from assault by others that would be desirous to take it from you. Make use of only its inherent gifts or, in an emergency, tap it to only power your ki techniques. If the gift for more awakens within you I will see to it that you receive training, but untrained magical use will simply shred the protections on the amulet and make you a target. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Kodachi's agreement was stiff as she controlled her reflex to ... reprimand ... anyone that sought to dictate to her. Still, that control came easily and she was rewarded with an approving nod from her mistress.

"Excellent. Your mission, and you will accept it" — a grin flashed across Calise's face and was gone — "will be to go to find your brother at his school and shadow him." She handed Kodachi the package, turned her hand upward, and another object appeared in her palm, a ring this time. "This ring will keep you unnoticed to all around you, mortal and supernatural, unless you attempt to physically assault them. Which you may well have to do. Your brother is acting the unwitting pawn of a young mage whose hatred of Tendo Nabiki — the sister of the Tendo that bested you in the ring — is all-encompassing. That mage is seeking to slake his hatred by seizing control of Ranko — the spirit that was protecting Akane when you tried to attack her — and turning her into his personal sex toy. It may well be that the spirit and the Tendos won't need your help, so intervention only if necessary. Do you understand?"

"Shadow my deluded, stick-up-the-ass brother while he plays the fool, intervene only if it seems that the mage he is servicing is likely to succeed in his aims. Do not allow my presence to be noted otherwise."

"Correct. And don't let anyone see your broach." Calise handed her minion the ring and vanished.

Kodachi stared at the empty space where her new Mistress had stood, and for a moment her features twisted into pure, burning fury before she managed to school her expression. She did not scream her overwhelming hatred to the sky.

The invisible Calise floating beside her was impressed ... there was definitely more to the girl than just another brat. Though I should have realized that after I read of her skill in manipulating ki, that is not that mark of one more spoiled rich kid.