(Opening Theme: Sunday's Without God OP-Birth Performed By Kitamura Eri)

-Later that Night; The Common Realm, Beneath Kikka (The Slum Town Ashtown)-

Karasu immediately got to work on getting the information that was needed. The best place to start off was what he used to call his home for awhile before he took the entrance exams. That had been the town below the ring of Kikka, and a place that had been mostly overlooked .

That had been the little ruined town… Ashtown.

The little town had been runned down as most of the buildings looked to be half finished. Most of the houses looked to have been made of wood, and held together by mud, and rope. Cloths or old clothing had replaced most rooftops as the only thing a lit were one or two lanterns along the beaten path, which had been nothing more than dirt and broken stones.

Many of the people looked to be hanging ruined and blood stained Magic Knight robes as it looked to be torn up, and some appeared to be burning them as they had been saying cruel and harsh words.

Karasu had walked through the road, only wearing a dark gray cloak over his outfit instead of his Black Bulls robe, as he knew the locals around there didn't take kindly to Magic Knights, especially since most of the locals around there had been thieves and rejects from the Magic Knights in general. Shiromori seemed to have poked his head out of his cloak as he looked around.

"It's better if you stay hidden for now." He told him, "Don't want anyone around here to go and swipe you for your skin."

Shiromori gave a hiss, like he had been talking to him.

"I appreciate your concern—" Karasu said before gently pushing him back in the confines of his cloak, "—But I know what I'm doing."

He was surprised that he had survived such a hellhole.

Eventually he had approached a place that had been considered a restaurant. It had been the slums version of a beer garden. The tables had been ruined and not to his own surprise many people were picking a few fights not to mention what had been close to music had been playing the pianist himself. Even the way he sang had been eerily off.

I like my town, with a little drop of poison

Nobody knows they're lining up to go insane

I'm all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter

But I feel much cleaner after it rains

He soon approached the bar as a young girl who looked to be fifteen as she had what looked to be a short and choppy cut in the color that had been in the color of a black as her eyes had been in a shade of pink. She had been wearing a simple collared shirt with a dark red tattered vest and beaten dark brown and looked to be bare foot as a set of bangles had been wrapped around them, revealing her toes.

She looked to have a grimoire, with the cover resembling that of fire, wind, water and earth circling around a three leaf clover on the cover, as it had been a lightish purple with vines decorating it.

She had been arm wrestling a man that looked stronger then her, though she had practically thrown him off the table with ease. The whole crowd cheered as she held her hand in triumph after jumping on the table before cheering herself.

"Your winner for tonight's match, Avalon Rhoderick!"

"Thank you!" The girl-Avalon had said as she bowed her head, "Thank you ladies and gentlemen!"

She soon hopped off the table as she went over to the man who had been recovering; all the while she had a smile on her face.

"I'll take those yules now." She said as she held out her hand towards him.

The man grumbled before he handed off a small sack of yules to her, leaving her incredibly satisfied as she chuckled to herself. It was then that Karasu made his approach as he gave a clap.

"Still the strongest girl in Ashtown I see." He said with a teasing smile.

Avalon looked in his direction as her eyes brightened. "Holy shish kabob!" She said, "Karasu Arai!"

"In the goddamn flesh." Karasu said as he opened his arms wide.

Avalon had no hesitation as she ran towards him as she gave him a hug, which he gladly returned. "I gotta be honest, I did NOT expect you to come wandering back here!" She said as she had a mischievous little smile as she whispered, "Did the Magic Knights kick you out already?"

"You wish." He said with a huff, "How's life been with you these past few months? Still having trouble reading your grimoire?"

"Oh you know, swiping people's wallets, playing tricks, winning fights, self teaching is a bick, the usual biz." She replied, "Not as interesting as you and Sachi have been having it. How is your sister enjoying the new life by the way?"

"First of all it's 'is a bitch', I still don't know how I'm better at reading then you, and second, her and Yoshi have been adjusting. But otherwise they're in good health." He soon placed his arm around her shoulders, "Though I'll be sure to catch you up on everything the next time. For now, I need a favor."

Avalon noticed the change in his tone as the expression on her face even shifted slightly. She soon had a smile back on her face, "What kind of favor are we talking about here?"

"A pretty big one, and one I need to be kept under wraps." He said.

Avalon soon motioned him towards a corner of the table that had been empty as it had been farthest from the crowd. He had soon told her what it was he wanted from her, which did surprise her, though then again she expected nothing less.

"So let me get this straight here-" Avalon said, "-You want me to found out where the Fox's Pack leader is aka your former gang which I your best friend convinced you to leave to take the Entrance Exams for, because they made a friend of yours the mark?"

"That's basically the whole story, yeah." Karasu replied.

"Aww man-" Avalon said as she facepalmed herself, "-Does your Captain know about you being in the Fox's Pack?"

"He only knows what I tell him, and it's going to stay that way." He said, "As of right now and always, he just knows me as the Bad Luck Charm Thief. "

"I thought we agreed you wouldn't lie in exchange for sending me some of the yules they pay you for doing your job in protecting people."

"That was until I met the Cap personally. He's a bit more than I bargained for-"

"-Hey at least he gave you, your sister and your dog a roof to live under. Makes me almost wish I'd go to the exams. Maybe next year if I'm lucky."

Karasu rolled his eyes as he chuckled slightly, "More to the point-Can you get the information I need?"

Avalon soon gave him a look as she tapped her finger on the table giving it some thought. "What's in it for me?" Avalon asked.

"Double your usual amount, the second I get my next pay." Karasu said, "It's all yours if you do this for me."

Avalon thought about it again before she let out a sigh as she could see the look in his eyes, "I'll ask around, because it's you."

"Thank you." He said with a smile, "Really, you have no idea how much this means to me and my friend."

"Oh? Are you dating this someone?"

"No I'm not. She's just a friend."

"Whatever you say, foreigner guy!"

With one last pat on the shoulder, she headed out of the beer garden, minding the people that had been in front of her. Karasu sighed with relief as he felt a weight had been lifted off of his chest. Though just before he could take his leave… A mug had been placed in front of him; foam had been forming along the top of the cup.

"Oh, I didn't-" He started to say.

"Compliments from the young man inside-" The Waitress said, "-Green hair. He said you wouldn't mind a float from the bottom shelf."

Karasu looked towards the makeshift building as he could hear chatting coming from within. He sighed as he knew all too well who it had been. "Thanks." He said to the Waitress nonchalantly.

"But-" She soon said as Karasu noticed she had a smile, "-I gave you some from our secret stash." She gave him a wink which made him turn red a little, "Lucky you."

Karasu could only laugh sheepishly as the young waitress went to attend to the other customers that had called upon her. Though the smile soon fell from his face as he looked towards the building again. Heaving another sigh he took the wooden mug before he ventured inside. Compared to the outdoors it had been more packed, not to mention loud.

Though he could see one person standing out from the crowd when he had gotten close to the table. That had been a young man, with green hair that had uneven and spiky; he looked to have on a long black trench coat with a tattered white shirt and a set of dark gray pants that looked to be stitched along the knees. He had on a set of brown boots that had stitches as well. His eyes had been that of grey as he had his own smile on his face.

"Sup Arai?" The young man said as he waved casually.

Karasu didn't reply as the look in his eyes changed. Though he knew all too well who the young man had been.

"... Blaise." Was all he greeted with before he approached the table. When he had gotten closer, he saw a familiar looking fox mask had been set as well as a grimoire that looked to have an insignia of a dog on it. Karasu turned to the young man-Blaise as he raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to do something.

As if reading his thoughts he rolled his eyes, before he removed the grimoire and mask from the table, setting them onto the space in the bench.

He soon took his seat just across from him.

"So-" Karasu said, "-What do you want?"

"Hey now-" Blaise said as he shrugged, "-A guy just can't catch up with his partner?"

"Ex-Partner-" He corrected as he took a sip from the mug, "-And he could. That is IF he wanted to. So how about we get to the point of what you want?" He let out a burp which didn't phase Blaise in the least, "Unless you plan on buying me another? You know, like good old times?"

The smile soon fell from Blaise's face as the look in his eyes hardened slightly as he only asked one thing, "... Who is she?"

Karasu didn't say anything as he tapped his finger on the table, "Who exactly are you referring to?"

"Don't be a smart ass with me Arai-" He said, "-You KNOW exactly who I'm talking about here! Don't think we didn't recognize you in the Noble's Realm marketplace! To top it all off you're the very thing this town loathes since the King told them to up and abandon us and oh yeah—Take ALL of this town's finances!"

"It does beat stealing and half-starving."

"Our way of life is not that bad!"

"Sure it's not-We're just scaring people into giving us things that we either need or can care less about. I know I was forced to live that way, but I never said I liked that sort of thing."

Before Karasu could reach the handle of the wooden mug, Blaise took hold of his wrist; though he didn't flinch back, he could feel his painful grip.

"You know what happens if they find out your one of them." Blaise told him in a dangerous tone, "The ONLY reason why I'm keeping my mouth shut is because you're the only one that can actually tell us jack shit about our mark. So answer me-Who is that little tomboy girl?"

"... She's just a noble's daughter we were assigned to protect for a bit." Karasu replied casually, "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Noblemen and Royals maybe rich as hell, but they don't get a Captain to protect them unless you're related to that lazy asshole of a King." Blaise said, "Erin, Dylan and I just want to know who EXACTLY we're up against."

"Even if I did know-" He said, giving him a look, "-You know I wouldn't tell you."

Blaise gritted his teeth, and with a growl he let go of his wrist before sitting back. "You guys should think about joining up with the Magic Knights." Karasu soon asked as he shook his mug allowing it to stir, "It's good work, and the pay's not that bad. Plus you get to have a roof over your head, and have hot meals. No expenses."

"Hey, don't bring that crap on me." Blaise said, "Besides, I seem to recall you're the one that decided to up and leave to join the little playhouse with guys that protect the rich and guys that get paid off to look the other way. Which is saying a lot considering WE'RE the thieves here. The Fox's Pack housed you and your little sister when you got shipwrecked, and you ended up turning your back on them."

Karasu took another sip, this time it had been a large one from the wooden mug. "They were turning into killers." He said, "I didn't want Sachiko to be a part of it."

"But we were your family."

"Maybe that's my problem. Maybe they just didn't know the meaning of that word."

BANG-Went the table as Blaise had hit his fist onto the wooden board before standing.

"We're the only things keeping this town alive!" Blaise said, "And as a member of the Fox's Pack I will do EVERYTHING in our power to ensure we survive another decade!"

"Even if it involves kidnapping people? And selling their lives like they were objects in a store?" Karasu said, "I thought the motto was we took what they neglected."

"Things had changed since you decided to break it off with us and the Pack. That method wasn't working anymore." Blaise said, "People in the black market were starting to catch on where we were getting the merchandise from. We needed bigger fish to catch and that was the answer."

"This is inhumane and you know it. You could get yourself killed with the way things are going."

Blaise merely scoffed, "Relax, Erin, Dy and I have always been careful around the Magic Knights"

"I'm not talking about the Magic Knights." He told him, as he surprised him, "And you know that."

The smile on Blaise soon returned as he soon chuckled, "If you don't know who that mark is-" He soon picked up his mask and set his grimoire in his pouch, "-Then we have nothing left to talk about."

Karasu soon took hold of his own wrist to stop his movements; though Blaise didn't seem phased by this. "I don't know who the new leader is either. But if you do-I need you to tell me."

"Why in the world would I do that?" He asked him as he managed to get free from his grip.

"Because that mark you're targeting happens to be a close friend of mine." Karasu replied, "And if you or anyone else ends up hurting even a single hair on her head… You're going to answer me."

Blaise chuckled again as the candle that had been lit in the beer garden seemed to have gone out; Even though the windows had been closed and there hadn't been any breeze of any kind.

"Come on-" Blaise said, "-We both know if you wanted to kick my ass, you would've done it a long time ago."

Karasu could only growl at this as he could feel his bandaged arm throbbing.

Blaise soon set on his mask as he soon gave a whistle, "Oh, babies~"

A pair of hounds soon appeared out of thin air as they looked to be made of flames. "Be dears and take me home would ya?"

The hounds gave a bark as he hopped onto one of their backs. Blaise soon moved his mask slightly before he gave Karasu a wink and a smile, "I'll see you soon, Arai. Hopefully We can make amends after all this is over."

"In your dreams Blaise." Karasu told him as he rolled his eyes.

Blaise only laughed again before he gave the hound a tap, the back before they dashed out of the beer garden hut; regardless if there were people in front of him as he could hear the people cursing at Blaise as he watched him go down the beaten path.

Karasu let out an annoyed sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Just my damn luck…"

(Ending Theme: Cardcaptor Sakura Ending 2-Honey Performed By Chihiro)