Night had fallen. Babette was curled into a ball on her side on the floor of the gaol house, and had dragged a lock of hair over her mouth, nibbling at it absentmindedly. She stared into the darkness around her, the only illumination from a small candle at the round table in the corner of the room, where the Highlander once again sat. He'd long since fallen asleep, his head leaning heavily on a hand he'd propped upon the table. His mouth had fallen open, occasional snores coming from deep in his throat.

She'd been fooled; utterly, completely fooled. How could the man who had given her the greatest despair also be the one that had given her hope? It wasn't right...it didn't make sense. She'd grown up idolizing and hating him. She'd foolishly built an ideal around one moment that probably been but another day in his life. And more than that, she'd felt...

Curling into herself, Babette made a noise and clutched her head, shame and despair coursing through her chest. Now he would leave, and forever be out of her reach. No! She wouldn't let it end like this, going their separate ways. Their paths had crossed for a reason, she felt the kami had led her to that place in the city to begin with.

Feeling a sense of calm settle over her, Babette sat up, her face set with determination. The man or the wolf, which one was she to recognize? She would do as she was taught when all was tangled and unclear; she would let the kami guide her blades. It was time for her to show her hand. She was ready to strike.

She scooted to the frame of the magitek cube, and with a pin pulled from one of the hooks of her chain mail, she pried a small panel loose. How much of an oversight for them even after hearing her tale, to not realize that she would know a little about magitek after she was so open that her father worked in one of the factories. In fact, he was among the conscripted to build these very cubes. A set of blinking lights flashed at her as she removed the panel. It was a fail safe to prevent individuals from being trapped within; the others she could forgive such an oversight, but how had the Wolf not known?

After pressing the buttons in the proper order with her pin, the field powered down. The silence in the room was deafening now that the soft hum of the machina was extinguished. Placing the pin back where it went, she stood, wrapped her scarf around her neck and pulled it high over her nose, and then looked towards the Highlander. A dark smile crossed her face and she lowered her eyelids into a predatory look before dashing across the room to him.

There was a muffled yelp that could be heard from the outside, but it was so quick that if anyone had heard it, they merely shrugged it off as someone stubbing their toe, or being startled by something insignificant. The single light flickering in the gaol house was doused, leaving only darkness and the distant sound of wind. Babette emerged, daggers back in place on her hips, looking every part the shinobi she was. She melted into the shadows as she moved between the houses. A few of Gaius' comrades were gathered around fire pits, enjoying their final night camped in this village as if they were merely leaving from a vacation. Gentle snow had begun to fall once again, muffling all sound.

Gaius sat on the low table he'd been using as a bed the past week, holding his arm out for the village healer to re-dress. Although he'd put the flame out, the molten oil had seeped through his bandages, and onto his already scarred skin. Severa had summoned the village healer to apply salve and bandage him despite his protestations that it was not as bad as it seemed. They had a long journey ahead of them. The closest airship port they could utilize was on the border to the Burn, and that was well over a day's travel from their current location. She did not want to risk him falling ill from infection of an untreated wound.

The healer was just finishing up when Gaius noticed the candle, placed next to his makeshift bed, flickered although he had not felt a breeze blow past. He pulled his arm away from her, clenching a fist and relaxing his hand experimentally. "That will do." he said, securing the last bandage himself. She made no motion to leave, and he gave her a sharp glare. "You should leave now." he said, his voice harsh. The woman huffed in indignation and gathered up her salves before storming out of the house, letting the door fall shut heavily behind her.

Gaius stood, still fiddling with the bandage on his arm, then, with a swift shift in stance, he grabbed a bottle from a pile of garbage that had collected in the corner near his bed, and threw it towards the darkened side of the room.

Light glinted in an arc as Babette cut the bottle in twain, it's two halves flying past her and smashing into the wall behind her. She seemed to coalesce from the darkness itself, and with a grand arcing motion of her arm, flung towards him a shower of kunai. Gaius dodged most of the small blades, but once again raised his arm instinctively to block the one closest to his head. The knife sunk into his already wounded flesh, and his hissed through his teeth. He yanked it free of his arm and threw it back at her quickly as she launched herself at him. It flew harmlessly past her head, but the scant second she took to focus on it, Gaius used to land a kick to her midsection.

This sent her flying, her back hitting the wall and breaking through it. Nearby, his comrades jumped to their feet as she crashed into the ruined house next to Gaius', too surprised for it to sink in that they were fighting. Severa and Valdeaulin, their arms laden with baskets full of supplies, came walking from the village. They were quicker to realize what was happening, and both dropped their baskets and reached for their weapons. Gaius, emerging through the hole Babette's body had made, held up his hand to stop them.

"If she looks like she's winning, I'm going to kill her." Valdeaulin growled under his breath. Severa, still on guard, took a moment to smirk at him.

"Still set on fulfilling that promise, huh?" she asked in amusement. Valdeaulin glanced at her sidelong, but said nothing.

Babette regained her senses and with a animal-like sound, launched herself back towards Gaius. He grabbed a discarded metal roof plate from the ground next to him, and deflected her blows as she fought to land a hit upon him. Trapping her arm underneath one of his, he hit her elbow with the heel of his opposite hand. Pain rocketed through her from shoulder to fingertip, and her fingers lost their strength. Disarmed by one, Babette advanced on him, a flurry of kicks and punches as well as one-handed swipes and stabs of her remaining blade. They were back in the house when he managed to land an open-palmed blow to her sternum, sending her sliding across the room once more. She lost grip on her remaining dagger as she slid across the floor, using her hand to slow her slide so she wouldn't repeat crashing through the wall.

Crying out in frustration, she ran at him again, only for him to catch her by her clothing at her collarbone. He lifted her into the air, his own face contorted into a feral look that matched her own. Babette was not a tall Viera, and her feet dangled as he lifted her high above his head.

"That. Is. ENOUGH." he snarled. Babette gripped his wrist with her hands, and with some effort brought her legs up and wrapped them around his shoulder. She pulled with all of her might, trying to dislocate his arm. With another angry sound he swung her around, slamming her as hard as he could upon the desk, shattering it. The blow knocked the wind out of Babette, and she unwillingly released him.

They both panted heavily as the sawdust from the broken desk puffed up in a cloud around them and then slowly settled. Blood had seeped into Gaius' clean bandages, staining them red. He still held tight to her clothing, pinning her into the splinters of the desk. Putting all of his strength into throwing her against he desk had brought him to a crouch when it collapsed, bringing their bodies much closer than either had intended.

"Give it up woman, you've lost." he panted, his voice little more than a growl. She had her eyes shut as she tried to catch her breath. When she opened them after a moment, she gave him a look that one could almost mistaken for longing, and Gaius' expression softened. The kami had judged him through her blades. The entire fight, while she tried her damnedest to take his life, he had not laid one fatal, or even heavily wounding blow upon her. Everything was defensive. The Black Wolf was gone; the man remained, and she no longer felt shame.

"I am not a thing to be discarded." she said, her own voice soft and heady. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer to her. Gaius groaned deep in his chest as their forms pressed together and when she exhaled a shaking breath, he lowered his face to hers, the air between them suddenly dense. The sound of Severa clearing her throat caused the moment to scatter like a startled school of fish, and Gaius pulled away from Babette.

"Are we...interrupting something?" she asked, a coy smile cracking her face in two. Valdeaulin scoffed from where he stood next to her, shutting his eyes and folding his arms across his chest. Gaius stood, and offered a hand towards Babette. She blushed as she met his eyes, and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"No...I uh...I believe we've gotten it out of our system." Gaius said, picking one of her daggers up from the floor and handing it back to her. A blush high on her cheeks, Babette averted her gaze and took the blade, suddenly looking like a bashful maiden rather than a bloodthirsty ninja that just moments ago was trying to murder someone.

"Somehow I doubt that." Valdeaulin muttered under his breath. Severa snorted in suppressed laughter, her eyes glittering. Shifting his stance he looked between Babette and Gaius. "So. Now what do we do with her?" he asked, distrust still apparent in every fiber of his being. Babette fired a sharp glare in his direction, not appreciating being talked around as if she were not there. He will be the first to die...she thought, narrowing her eyes.

Gaius thought for a moment, then looked at her. "Well...we could use the skills of a shinobi, I think. Most in our group don't have the level of reconnaissance skill that a Doman-trained ninja would...it would benefit our cause..." she met his gaze, her eyes large. Was he...asking her to be his shinobi? "What say you, Babette?" he gave her the slightest of smiles, her cheeks warming in response. Without hesitation, she opened her mouth...

The next morning the outskirts of the village lay silent. A layer of snow had fallen over everything, covering any signs that there had been life there mere hours before.

Sitting on a balcony of an abandoned guard tower, Babette scanned the horizon, one leg dangling over the side of the railing and swinging in the empty air. She finished the apple she'd been eating while she watched for conflict, and licked her fingertips clean before putting her gloves back on. Movement below caught her eye, and she chuckled as her new companions finally caught up to her.

"How does she move that fast? She looks as if she's been waiting for us for hours!" Dyson panted, pausing for a moment to look up at her. Being more academically inclined, he found the walking portion of their treks particularly taxing, especially when burdened with a rucksack filled with books. (He just couldn't leave them behind when he saw them...he'd never read these particular novels before...)

"Mystical ninja skills." the Highlander said, waving his arms in an imitation of what he thought mudra were. Babette had merely knocked him out before, but since he'd still been asleep when she'd done it, he had no recollection of it. He mourned the loss of her daggers, however, and had spent the first leg of the journey whining loudly about it.

Gaius met her gaze and smiled, his head jerking to the side in the barest of movements, inviting her along. Standing up, Babette brushed her clothes off, and without hesitation leapt from the tower, and towards her future.

Fin