A woman wearing a black wool jacket that went to her knees, black capri's and a tight red tube top walked down the sidewalk of downtown Tokyo. Invisible behind her coat, the woman carried an empty scabbard. A cold wind blew, whipping her fiery red hair back. She didn't turn her head to watch the usual scene of urban Japan: namely the many cars, motorcycles, pedestrians and bicyclists zipping and crawling through the streets and sidewalks. No, the woman's head was straight ahead as she approached Tokyo Tower.

Looks like rain, thought a young man on a sporty motorcycle. He shrunk further into his heavy leather jacket against the wind. Stuck at a stoplight, the man watched the people walking on the sidewalk. They were all in such a hurry! The gray sky enhanced the black-and-white scene; everything was in grim, gray shades. The people walking by had little bright color. Most had the traditional Japanese features of dark hair and eyes. Many wore black or dark blue business suits. Businesswomen also dressed in dark skirt or pants suits. Others had on dark trench coats, jackets, any clothing was dark. It was very surreal. The honking of a horn reminded the watching man to accelerate.

The first drops of rain began to fall as the motorcyclist started along the road again. The faint rumbled of thunder rolled across the sky and the pedestrians hurried even more. Suddenly, out of the corner of the man's eye, some color caught his attention. His eyes had found a woman, wearing black pants and a black coat like the others, but she also wore a red tube top. She saw him watching her. For a fraction of a second their eyes met and she licked her lips, deep red with a glossy lipstick.

A person in a dark leather trench coat was waiting at the corner for the woman in the red tube top. "Rouge. Are you prepared?"

"Of course Key." The woman replied as she pulled some sunglasses from the interior breast pocket of her coat. "Am I not always prepared?"

Key looked up as a rain droplet hit him on the head. "Too bad it had to rain," he said dryly.

"Nonsense. The rain makes it easier. Who would come to Tokyo Tower if it were raining? Fewer people make it easier for us."

Key nodded in neutral agreement and walked the rest of the distance to the tower with Rouge. When the reached the main deck, there were few people as Rouge had guessed. "Good luck my friend. Make no mistakes and be filled with honor." Key bent at the waist and kissed Rouge's hand politely before walking off. Rouge watched over the railing as Key opened his black umbrella and walked off into what was now a torrential downpour.

When is he going to get here? thought Rouge. She heard Key's voice in her mind. "He will bear the mark of death. You must get the sword from him at any cost, or the void will open." The void…that great death machine. It would-Rouge was interrupted as she sensed something behind her. Oh! It was only a man. No big deal. It was hard to tell his hair color through the rose tinted lenses of the glasses, but no matter. But as the man unzipped his leather jacket Rouge saw his shirt. It was a t-shirt. Black. And on that black was a detailed print of a skull and cross bones. Rouge gasped and put her hand to her red lips. The mark of death. The man. It was he who held the key.

Rouge tried to step away. The railing was cutting into her back but she couldn't move. This man filled Rouge with inexorable fear. She knew she could not do what Key had chosen her for. Even after all of them, this one she knew she couldn't even come near. Rouge ran towards the elevator furthest from the man and slid in just as the doors were about to shut. For a moment her hand was caught in the elevator door and as she pried it free a silver ring slipped from her finger and clattered to the ground.

The young man who had filled Rouge with such fear had been watching her. He had followed her up from the street and had inconspicuously watched her from behind his black hair. He had seen her run into the elevator, and he had seen the glitter of something falling from the air. The man went to see what had dropped and saw a small silvery ring. Inside the ring was an inscription. "a Rose Apocalypse approaches. Angel Rouge descends from the sky." Only four words out of the ten were started with capital letters. The man shook his head and pocketed the ring as he went back down to where his bike was parked.

Rouge wrapped her body in a red silk kimono and sank into a beanbag chair on Key's floor. "Have you figured out who belongs to the license plate?" she asked softly. She rubbed a little raspberry lip-gloss on her mouth and braided her hair, which fell just past her slender shoulders. All her skin was deathly pale, but her shoulders were especially so and she was proud of them.

"It belongs to one Eric Rous. Seventeen, parentless, a criminal record since age thirteen, stops at age fifteen. Rents an apartment on Roku Roku Street. Owns a motorcycle. That's about it. I'll find more later if you need it."

"Thanks Key. I'll start work tomorrow." Rouge collapsed onto a pile of blankets and a thick feather mattress heaped on the floor. She was asleep in moments, despite her apprehension and fear of what was to begin tomorrow. Key smiled as he shut down his laptop and switched off the light. Rouge looked like a little angel when she was asleep. She would have been innocent, curious and sweet if things hadn't gone for her they way they had. Now she was rough and sharp like the edge of a knife. Any trace of innocence was whipped out save for those moments she spent sleeping. Key smiled and went to bed. It was late, even for a creature of the night like himself.

Eric grunted and smacked the alarm clock. It was one hour before noon. God…he had spent all night online searching for the words on the ring that mysterious woman had dropped. What he had found was an article on the bad effect of brothels on Tokyo. He had read this excerpt: "One of the most notorious brothels in Tokyo is the Apocalypse Rose. People are drawn in with the driving idea of getting their kicks in before the world ends. Although the Countess Vanilla is the main attraction, there is a general undercurrent of anticipation for a far more talented strumpet, Angel Rouge, or the red angel. Apparently better run than most business of its kind, the Apocalypse Rose is still a deplorable scar on Tokyo. The crowds it attracts are by no means small and the…"

That had answered a great deal of questions. Could the woman who had dropped this ring be Angel Rouge? There was something about her; a mystique and a secrecy that drew you in and at the same time enveloped her in a protective shield.

The man pulled some sweatpants on over his boxers and walked shirtless out side with a bag of trash. The trash collectors didn't come until one, so there was plenty of time. Suddenly young man with a safety pin in his lip and one in each ear came and greeted Eric. "Hey man! What's in your life right now?" asked the new comer.

"Nothing much Moshe. I don't have any coffee so I'm going down to the convenience store. How is Akia?"

"High as usual. Her hair is blue lately. I'm thinking of dumping her, she's selling herself out to this Yoshi character." Said Moshe in a bored tone.

"Yhea. That's sounds like the usual. I got to go, I have some stuff to check out today. I'm going to get another tattoo. I have to go before I lose my nerve. Maybe I'll see you at the Green Tea warehouse rave tonight. " Eric moved to go back into the apartment building as Moshe grunted out a sayonara.

Eric snatched a threadbare white muscle shirt from on top of a speaker deck. He pulled it over his head as he slipped on his sandals and went out the door. Rouge was already at the connivance store. She had driven by on her motorbike, purposely trying to figure out Eric's next move. She had stopped at the side, feigning a search for directions and then driven on once she knew Eric was headed to the store. She looked at a few magazines and the potato chips until Eric arrived.

As he walked into the store Eric's bleary senses caught onto two things. The first was the reassuring scent of coffee. The second was a glimpse of red hair, just past the shoulder. Was that…the woman from Tokyo Tower? Angel Rouge? Rouge herself had seen Eric come in from a reflection in the freezer door. She looked over her shoulder as if another product caught her eye. She let herself glance coyly at Eric, a look of shy curiosity. A look that asked if she had seen him before. She sauntered over to the coffee machine and filled a Styrofoam cup with a little poor quality mocha cappuccino. Eric came up behind her and pressed his cup to the lever that poured black coffee. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" asked Eric.

Rouge turned around as though surprised and blinked before replying with, "Perhaps. I go to a lot of places." She stopped talking for a moment as she put a plastic top onto her cup. She turned slowly and looked at Eric for a minute. He was handsome with longish black hair and sharp black eyes. His skin was pale and she could see through the thin, washed out material of his shirt that he was neither skinny nor muscular. He had a tattoo on his arm of a snake with a heart in its mouth and a sword piercing the heart. "Wait! Aren't you the handsome man from Tokyo Tower yesterday?"

"I saw you there." Said Eric. "You ran away."

"I was late for a meeting."

"I have your ring." Eric suddenly remembered and then grinned. Rouge gasped. So that was where it had gone. It was important to her, a gift from Key. Rouge couldn't believe that Key had told her to do this. But she would do anything for him.

"Will you give it back then? Mr…Mr?"

"Rous. And it's at my apartment. I can go get it if you want. It's just that, well, I wasn't expecting to bump into you again."

"I'll wait for you here Mr. Rous." Rouge half smiled and went to the counter to pay for her coffee. Eric quickly slid enough yen for both drinks to the cashier and Rouge looked over her shoulder with a face of surprise. He had paid for her drink?

"Wait here Rouge." Said Eric as he hurried off to his apartment. The cashier was looking at her strangely so Rouge went outside and leaned against the wall to wait. She hadn't been surprised by the fact he had paid for her drink so much as the fact that things were going so utterly perfectly. Rouge had been desensitized to gifts and pretty words from men. Her life before Key found her had taken care of that defect that many other women had. But how had he known her name? Unless he had figured out the meaning of the ring. And that could be utterly dangerous.

Eric came walking down the sidewalk again whistling a song by B'z. He saw Rouge leaning against the wall of the convenience store. Her red hair was fanned out around her face and her red tube top contrasted sharply with her snow-white jeans. "Here is the ring. It is yours isn't it?" Eric placed the ring in Rouge's hand and watched her thin, delicate fingers play with it and bring it close to her face so she could read the inscription. Rouge nodded that it was hers and smiled.

"Thank you for returning it. My-" Rouge had been planning on saying that the ring had been given to her by her brother, but Eric interrupted.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me. I know who you are Rouge." Eric grinned again in a shy sort of way and then leaned close to whisper in the redhead's ear, "Apocalypse Rose. You work as a brothel girl." Rouge sighed with relief, so all he knew was that she was an ex-prostitute and that she had once worked at the Apocalypse Rose.

"I used to work. I'm looking for a job as a waitress. I don't want that kind of business anymore." Rough looked a little faraway for a second before she remember where she was and smiled. "Do you…do you have a favorite restaurant? Where I could work I mean…"

Eric thought for a moment before replying. "There is this nice little Italian place, just a little cafe run by an Italian lady and her Japanese husband. I guess you couldn't make a lot of money, but it's something. The lady is expecting a baby and could use the help."

Rouge laughed a little and nodded. "Show me where it is. We can ride on my bike." Eric agreed and followed Rouge to the motorcycle a few yards away. As soon as they picked up a little speed out of the parking lot, Rouge felt Eric slip his hands around her waist. Unconsciously she winced, but then reminded herself that she had let more things from worse people be done with complete consent. It was one last job.

At the restaurant Eric had guided Rouge to, Eric talked to the couple about hiring a little help. He pointed to Rouge and explained the she was out of work and needed a job. The couple smiled and talked by themselves for a few minutes. Eric walked back over to Rouge and jammed his hands into his pockets. "I did the best I could. And I didn't tell them what your old job was."

"This is the third nice thing you've done for me in one day Rous-sama. Now I have to return the favors. What can I do for you?"

"Have coffee with me tomorrow? I can't think of much else just now. We can leave it at that. Just have coffee with me tomorrow and call it even." Eric flicked his eyes to see what the owners of the café were up to. "How about here at ten in the morning?"

"Could we call it a date?" asked Rouge. Eric nodded and smiled a little from behind his bangs. A beautiful woman just agreed to have coffee with him. This was a good morning. Especially since the restaurant owners just told Rouge she had a job.