Author's Note: Things only get worse for our heroes as the first phase of Nuba's plan is almost complete. Slight suggestive themes in this chapter, but nothing too blatant.

Enjoy... If you can.

Another Death, Another Tragedy

Dimly lit red lanterns characterise the now abandoned alleyways of the village of Fubai*, the moon's spotlight serving little use in revitalising the poorly kept buildings that form the place. It was a miracle that this village could even stand let alone be used for habitation. Despite its reputation as the closest village to the confines of Chorh-Ghom prison, criminals still use this place as their personal haven. Granted they are much more subtle and secretive about their business than others, as are the few rhino guards that are in league with them. They may have gained enough money from guarding the prison, but greed knows little boundaries. Such greed is what led to the decaying woodwork of the shops that line the streets, their bosses giving little care for presentation or safety as long as it made them money.

Two Amethyst orbs gaze upon the pitiful image in complete coldness, unfazed at the levels of corruption still present after so long. Nuba stands in wait by the window of the only decent looking building in the village, the village inn. Then again calling it decent would be an overstatement, more like just about adequate for a night's sleep. The white tiger keeps her eyes out the window, waiting to see her 'acquaintance'.

She had arrived in the village 2 days beforehand, keeping her ears peeled for any information about the more 'friendly' guards. Her target this time? The self-titled 'king of thieves', Wu Kong A.K.A. Master Monkey's brother. She had already figured out that killing him with the use of her invisibility alone would raise too many questions, and her powers simply exhort too much chi to use both her heart manipulation and invisibility at the same time. So, she had to resort to something a bit more… degrading. She looks down at her attire, a low-cut, sleeveless Chinese dress adorned with purple and white flame patterns, the dress reaching down to just above her knees. A stolen dress of course, the owner obviously lying dead in a ditch somewhere. As if anyone will remember her. Her cold thoughts are interrupted by the lone rhino walking through the snowy streets. He looks around robotically, clearly used to the routine of checking if he had been followed. About time.

Nuba smoothens any wrinkles in her dress whilst sitting on the creaky bed, crossing one leg over the other. Hearing his unsurprisingly loud footsteps approach the door, she focuses her gaze upon the door with a sultry look superbly played onto her face. The rhino guard opens and immediately shuts the door with uncharacteristic quietness and patience. He turns around, looking upon the scantily clad white tiger with a hungry look in his eyes.

She had chosen this rhino in particular not because of him being the worst of the bunch of corrupt guards. No, it was because of his well-known hatred of thieves. Probably something to do with his past life or family? That part mattered little to her. As for her change in attire, it was due to the rhino's past time of philandering with countless 'workers' within the village, earning him the nickname Qingyu*. She not only had the perfect candidate but the perfect alibi for her escape as well. It took little to convince the hot-headed tool, simply a large sum of Yuan and his usual fervour would be for free. Not to mention the satisfaction of being rid of the 'king' of the very people he despises provided more appeal. She eyes his standard green and red uniform, the only difference between him and the other soldiers being the noticeable scar on his horn.

"So?" She simply asks.

"Yeah, yeah. I got him." He mutters impatiently, his eyes festering in their hunger.

Her eyebrow shoots up in question, a sultry expression turned disbelieving. "Your proof?" Another inquiry leading the starving rhino before her to grit his teeth in slight irritation. He slightly unsheathes his combat knife strapped to the right side of his uniform, allowing Nuba to see the dried crimson painting the blade. Noticing how the blood had almost blackened, she can tell that it was real. Wu Kong was dead. He had insisted on using his knife despite her wishes to keep it from getting messy, but knowing of the langur's slight proficiency in kung fu she had realised that this was the only way to do so without the guard being overpowered by the thief.

"Alright. Now for what I promised." She reaches her arm towards her makeshift purse, taking out 1,500 yuan and presenting it to Qingyu. He hastily snatches the coins from her and stashes it in one of his uniform pockets. The sultry look in her eyes return as she softly hums, "Now for your reward." A seductive tone marinates her voice as she lies back on the bed, coaxing the lecherous rhino before her.

Grinning broadly at the seemingly luscious sight, Qingyu climbs onto the bed and lies on top of Nuba, ravenously mashing his lips onto hers. She holds him in place, kissing back with a feigned fiery passion as purple marks travel up the veins of the lust fuelled rhino. Air puffs out of his nostrils, his breathing becoming much harsher. Noticing the difficulty in his breathing, Qingyu attempts to separate from her. He won't budge. His eyes shoot open to see Nuba looking upon him menacingly, her lips giving his much harsher treatment as the insolent rhino's throat constricts. Gasps for air are muted by the white tiger's lips. The purple marks in his veins turn brighter. His eyes flutter, the life leaving them until… His body slumps. She ends the kiss, roughly wiping away the trace of saliva on her mouth and sliding out from under him onto the floor.

She turns his body around, leaving him face up and unsheathes the already bloodied combat knife. Putting the knife up against the throat, she slowly draws a line across his neck, making sure to make it deep enough to kill but look unsteady enough to convince someone he had done it himself. She retracts the knife and picks up his left arm, patting a few drops of blood on it to make it seem like he had held it. She then pushes his arm outwards, so it leans over the side of the bed and drops the knife onto the floor near the hand.

Nuba makes her way to the drawer, dodging the knife that lay on the floor, and opens it to take out something she had prepared hours prior to his arrival. A fake suicide note. She places it on top of the drawer and stares at it face down. Amethyst orbs stare upon the paper for a short time until her eyes begin to drip tears in an attempt to resist the urge to blink. Her tears stain the note, confirming its 'authenticity'. To keep away suspicion from anyone left awake, she pushes the top of the bed down to make a creaking sound. She does this at an increasing pace until it reaches its non-existent climax.

With her job now done and covered up, she swiftly takes the money out of his uniform pockets and places it into her purse. She makes her way out of the inn's room and towards the exit. A black duck with a stained maroon robe sleepily stands at the front desk. The inn keep had seen her rent out the room with him earlier, so her simply leaving without his knowhow would obviously look suspicious. With the same fake cheery smile she had presented him before, Nuba walks up to the inn keep saying, "I should be on my way now." In a high-pitched, sing-song tone.

Slightly startled up by her appearance, the inn keep rubs his tired eyes. "Already?" He yawns, "Odd, he usually lasts longer than that." He mutters.

She replies with an overly feminine giggle, "Guess I must've tuckered him out." She finishes with a wink. Her look switches to one of false concern, "But I would check up on him tomorrow, he looked kinda depressed."

He nods sleepily, completely buying her alibi. Blowing him a kiss to stay in character, she leaves with an overly joyful gait. Once outside, Nuba drops her façade and looks to the large bushes to the far side of the inn. She dashes into it. The white tiger swiftly strides out of the bushes back in her kung fu garb and looks around the village. Seeing that there was still no-one out in the streets, Nuba sprints to the exit of the village of Fubai on all fours. Her Amethyst orbs focused solely on her next destination.

Yellow eyes stare down at the floor in an empty trance. A single candle prevents the room from being completely engulfed in darkness. This candle providing a measly orange glow onto the shellshocked Avian hunched over on his bed, his straw hat leaning on the wall close to the bed. Denial and acceptance clash within his heart and mind, leaving Crane lost on what to do. He barely gives any attention to the scroll placed right beside him, the source of this conflict. His eyes didn't deceive him when he had read the scroll, yet his heart could not help but deny the horrid news that he had received. His heart and mind so focused in their heated battle that he almost completely ignores the concerned voice of Tigress.

"Crane?" He darts his head to her in surprise, only now noticing her in his doorframe. Seeing that she now has his attention, she takes the liberty to ask, "Is everything okay?" her voice managing to be both steely yet caring at the same time.

Crane continues to stare at her, somewhat confused by her concern. In the past she would barely ever concern herself with anyone else's business and if she did, then she would merely tell them that everything will be fine or to just get over it. Guess Po really did change her. This tiny relaxing thought is quickly swatted away by his warring mind and heart. He returns his eyes to their previous subject of the floor.

Needing no other signal of her comrade's plight, Tigress walks over to Crane, intent on finding answers, until she spots the scroll laying next to him. Amber orbs meet yellow in a questioning glance resulting in Crane simply looking back down to the floor in a silent answer. She picks up the scroll cautiously and looks over it. Her eyes stop on one sentence.

"We regret to inform you of the passing of Yan Fan. She had died shortly after suffering cardiac arrest this afternoon."

Tigress' heart froze. She looks towards Crane who still wallows in his conflicted stupor. Her eyes melt in sorrow, finding it impossible to imagine what he must be going through. She looks back to the scroll, seeing that it was dated back to… Four days ago? His mother had died the same day that Viper had received that horrid message about her parents. Tigress' mind screams at her that this couldn't be a coincidence, but she ignores it, choosing to focus solely on comforting the poor avian.

The tiger master sits beside Crane, hoping that merely her presence would provide some comfort. After gaining no response from him, she simply states, "I'm sorry for your loss, Crane." It may be an overused platitude, but it's better than nothing.

Without turning his head, Crane replies with a hoarse, "Thank you." He had barely spoken for the past hour, trapped in his mind turned battlefield. He feels her paw pat his back in reassurance, a wordless promise that everything would be okay. Whilst he appreciates the gesture, he simply can't think right now. That scroll had stabbed him in the heart and the panic inside had only become worse since that point. He puts his head in his wings and sighs, "I'm sorry, I just need to be alone right now."

He feels her paw leave his back feathers, the weight on the right side of his bed leave. He thought she had left, his head still resting in his wings, until he feels her right paw tenderly grip his left shoulder. Lost yellow eyes meet warm amber. A memory flashes by of a younger Tigress with that same kind of warmth in her eyes, someone he could truly call his sister-in-arms.

Tigress keeps her eye contact with Crane, "I understand. But remember, if you need to talk to someone about it, I am right here." She promises with a gentleness foreign to Crane's ears. He continues looking at her as she leaves, someone he can truly call a sister.

Left by himself, Crane looks to the scroll that Tigress had put beside him. After reading over that damning sentence again, his mind and heart finally stop fighting in realisation of exactly what that scroll meant. His mother is dead. Gone. Never to be seen again. Despite all her overprotective tendencies and paranoia, he still loved her. Yet he can't remember what the very last thing he said to her was, and his heart begins to ache at the possibility that she didn't know if he loved her. A tear drips onto the floor. The first to have been shed after an hour of reading that message. The first of many silent tears to be shed tonight.

1* Fubai = Corruption

2* Qingyu = Lust