Disclaimer – I do not own Sin City or any of its characters – Though you probably new that already (I'm not putting this on again)

"McLean's not his real name then?" I asked, having returned once again to the 'base camp' of my sister and her associates. Gail had lured me into having one of her Cuban cigars, apparently a present from an old friend. Each sentence of mine ended with a slight splutter, getting worse the more I tried to prevent it. Those Cubans sure know how to make a smoke.

"Obviously not. He's called McLean 'cos of his teeth. I still call him by his old nickname, when he was a lowly assassin like Miho." As soon as Gail spoke she realised she had said something wrong. I didn't particularly mind, I knew what she meant. "I didn't mean it like that. Miho is one of my closest friends and an assassin is a respectable job. She helps a lot of girls, people. She helps a lot of people."

I laughed, wondering how such a powerful and ruthless woman could muddle herself so. Stubbing out the cigar I flashed Gail a smile, surprised how much I've likened to her after the initial difficulties.

"It's fine. Tell me more about this McLean. How dangerous is he?" The last of Gail's girls left the bar and stumbled off to her bedroom, obviously not wanting to hear the same old story.

"Well from what Miho told me, those were nobodies who attacked you. I know the people we're against, these were hired muscle, trying to get as far as finding out where I am. No, the big guys one of the last bosses of Basin city. We survived the wars that made this town infamous and so did he. He eliminated his competition and the lowlife followed him on up. It sounds like he wants to make the first move, it's our job to keep him in check." Gail watched me consume this information; I didn't know what she expected me to do. Did she expect me to object to Miho's involvement? Then go and hand her over to McLean? I thought she wouldn't expect what I would do.

"I obviously…" I looked back at Gail. Her eyes seemed to tell me what to say. "I obviously need to help. I don't know if I can be much use to any of you, though."

"Of course you can be. Now, I anticipated this, so the girls and me got you a little present." Gail rose from her barstool and moved over to a pile of cardboard boxes stacked by the window. "Call it a sorry, for nearly killing you. I hope you'll like it, stuff like earlier today will be easier to manage, let's say."

Gail folded open the first box and lifted a small pistol from within. Not sure what to make of it, I watched her place a large clip into the guns handle. Gail casually strolled over to me; gun in hand, looking like a bond girl with bondage.

"It's a Colt .45 automatic pistol, Uzi for short. Here, wanna' hold it?" Gail leaped up onto the bar and slid towards me, casually dropping the pistol on the counter.

The gun just out of my reach, I stood up and clutched the pistol. Testing it out, I aimed at the window and across to a lighted room in another building.

"No, not like that." Gail dropped down from the bar and advanced behind me. My mind raced, not sure what to do. I continued to point at the illuminated window, feeling Gail's hands softly touch my shoulder.

"Point straighter. You'd never hit the light from here the way you're standing." Like her touch, Gail's tone was gentle, her hands slowly moving up my arm to focus my aim. I turned my head slightly, seeing Gail resting her head on my shoulder, her eyes concentrating on the target.

What should I do?

My brain raced, Gail continued to concentrate on the target and I continued to look at her. She amazed me; everything about her confused and astounded me. Like a flash Gail looked up at me, her hands still wrapped around mine, her body still pressed against mine.

"Shimizu?"

I immediately turned to find Miho standing in the doorway. Gail released her hold and me and stepped back, not looking at her. I placed the gun on the bar and mentally debated whether I should approach her. Miho obviously wanted to talk; she hadn't changed clothes since she had rescued me previously.

"Come on Mi-" Gail attempted to communicate with her, only to be silenced by a wave of Miho's hand. I watched as she turned to leave, noticing something outside the window. Turning briefly I spotted a wisp of cloth rise rapidly followed by a foot. Grabbing for the gun I aimed out the window to find the figure had vanished.

"Some one was outside." I called to them, Miho immediately sprinting back to her room for her sword.

"Here, pocket these." Gail threw two more clips at me, which I placed in my side pockets. "We've got to move quickly, Miho will have gone on ahead but we need to back her up. I'll take to the street and you follow Miho to the roof, the ladders out side. If there's an advantage of these slums it's the roof system."

Gail zoomed out the door still loading her guns. Stunned, it took me a few seconds to realise her orders and follow her out, into the darkness.

I climbed the steps and burst through the door, collapsing into the moonlight. I'd expected it to be darker, being on top of a roof in the middle of the morning. The moon seemed like an onlooker, so large and round, urging me to join the hunt. I stumbled as a wave of bitterly cold wind crashed in to me, freezing what seemed like all of my body.

Come on Shimizu, I told myself, beginning to run across the roof in no particular direction.

This is crazy! I don't even know where they went, I'm not even sure I saw anything any more… Like a whisper of encouragement from the wind, a clang of steel against steel distinctly wafted past. Knowing it came from behind me, I changed course and pounded back along the concrete.

As if on cue, the clang occurred again, louder, closer. Still pounding along unthinkingly, my legs stopped inches from the buildings edge. Teetering uncomfortably, I stepped back and surveyed the distance between me and the next building. It was a possible jump, I could imagine Miho and her target making it with ease, but I'm not them.

I whispered macho self-encouraging words as I wondered back, absent-mindedly brushing my trousers in anticipation. I can do this; it was easy to say but hard to believe. I heard a grunt from the darkness that I was trying to reach, as loud as the sword clashes from many roofs ago. Had Miho underestimated the person she's trying to pursue? Whatever is happening, I need to get there. What happened next is, well, I believed I could.

My legs startled even me with the speed and power in which they made for the edge. Probably too far from the edge, I leaped with all the might my body could muster. For the shortest millisecond I saw the alley below, felt the wind pass me by and then I landed. My legs wobbled with shock, making me sway slightly as I rose up from my landing position. Peeking behind me before carrying on, I was ashamed to realise how small the gap was. God knows what has happened because my dawdling.

The next few buildings I'm sure had gaps but my mind was too fixed to even be worried. Two figures loomed through the mist that had curtained the roofs just after my jump. I pulled out the gun from my back pocket, clicking off the safety, my eyes not moving from the larger figure in the mist. Only a couple of rooftops away, the scene fully presented it self.

The fly on the window I had noticed now stood over Miho, their weapons probably had been used to the point of breaking. Kitted in a black Shinobi Shozoku (Pyjama's wouldn't be too far off), he looked quite the ninja. I stamped over a corrugated metal roof, only one building from the ninja and Miho, hearing the noise he instantaneously looked in my direction.

Still charging I pulled the trigger, the ninja already moving away, only to find it wouldn't completely push down. The ninja realised I had the safety lock almost as quickly as I did, moving towards me before I had time to wonder why Gail gave me a gun I was fully capable of shooting. I flicked the safety off 'again' whist leaping behind a chimney as the ninja threw a shuriken (flying disk) in my direction. Turning to my left I noticed Miho with her eyes shut, knocked out on a brick wall.

Expecting a continued onslaught of attack, I waited for a few seconds before rolling out into the open. Looking up I saw the ninja had vanished.

"Shit." I prepared to follow pursue him when I heard a whisper from behind me.

"Shim – Shimizu." I crouched down by Miho, hoping she hadn't been poisoned. "He dropped many Tetsu-Bishi behind him, watch where you step. I've never faced anyone like this before. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Her eyes remained clothes, the freezing air pierced by the sound of her breath.

"Go!" She screamed with all her remaining energy. I stood up and looked at the stone before me, covered with at least 10 shiny metal objects. Each object wrapped in poison tipped spikes, designed to trip up the pursuer, even kill them. Slowly, I made my way through them and on to a parallel row of buildings where I believe he went.

Moving slower than previously when making my way along the rooftops, my eyes constantly flitting from ground to in whatever may be in front of me. Another shuriken came whirring past out of the darkness, as fast as a bullet and smashed into a near by wall. Though my knowledge of ninja's is modest, I know Shuriken are used as a distraction to slow rather than aim for the kill.

The mist was still extremely thick; another sly shuriken would probably come too quickly for me to dodge – if on target. Ploughing through wet and the fog I didn't expect the edge of a blade to swipe in front of me, narrowly giving me time to spin out of the way. I turned to where the sword swing had come from, only to find the mist still blocking me from seeing anything more than a foot away. I decided my best tactic was too keep moving, hoping he hasn't decided to escape.

"Come on! Where are you? Don't understand me? Then you know nothing, you're worth nothing!" As I shouted abuse, black seemed to zoom past the edge of my view. The occasionally footstep, or blow of the wind made me spin with paranoia. Hearing a grunt from the mist to my side, I rolled forwards, noticing a loud CLINK of metal hitting stone. I kicked as I span to face him, knocking his sword into the rapidly decreasing mist. The ninja swiped his foot in my direction, nearly ripping out my throat with the spikes attached to his feet (designed to help ninjas climb).

I toppled backwards from jumping back so quickly. Noticing the moon, I looked around to see the mist dissipate around me, unfortunately for me, the ninja hadn't. I got back to my feet and quickly tried to locate the ninja, spotting him on the edge of the roof a millisecond before he smacked me down again. My head vibrated under the force of the hit, blood surely pouring from my nose and on to the hard stone I rested on. I watched as the ninja prepared to jump from this roof to the next, only to be shocked backwards by gunfire from the street.

"Don't want any of this?" I heard Gail call in the distance. The ninja stepped back from the edge and began to move on. He would have, if I hadn't pulled out my Uzi and fired him full of the whole clip. My eyes groggy, I watched him fall down to my level, his pupils wide with pain before shrinking – death adding another to his list. Managing to stand, I hobbled to the edge to alert Gail, who on cue stood patiently below.

"Hey, I got the ninja." Gail laughed at my words, despite me being bruised and bloody.

"Ninja? If there are such things this guy wasn't one. You'd be the one lying where he was if he could do what Miho says a ninja could." Gail started to take apart her gun. "And throw the body down while you're at it, I'll suitably dispose of them." Even being on top of the roof I could see her wink at me. Too tired to do anything quickly, I moved towards the body at a snails place. Removing the hood covering the face, I confirmed to Gail it was a man before coughing in surprise.

"What now?" Gail called impatiently.

"Um, he has a wire, he probably told them already." I pulled out the small black wire with a minute microphone attached. From down below I heard Gail scream with anger.

"I new I should have taken the roof." Gail swore and marched off down the street. Standing on the edge of the roof, I watched her silhouetted against the streetlamp, her shadow sway with her hips. She obviously didn't care about the body anymore so I just left it and walked back to Miho. Gail didn't even ask where she was, in a way I hope there is a rift, I just want Miho back.