I can't believe that girl was actually able to hurt me. How did she know when to strike? Was she able to see me? Did Saitama teach her some super speed technique? The ninja winced and pressed a hand to his damaged side. He had cleaned and wrapped the wound, but refused to rest until he had answers.

The catgirl was a hero. That much he had gathered from her conversation with the convenience store clerk. When he looked her up online, he was able to find very limited information on her. She was called Samurai Catgirl and was from City G. It said nothing about where she preferred to work or what her special skills were besides being part cat.

It was irksome to think back on their fight. He should have been able to take her down, but she was an oddly skilled opponent. She had twirled and taken a decent amount of damage before the incident. Sonic remembered nearly severing her right arm at the shoulder. The girl had taken the attack with gritted teeth and a sharp yowl of agony, but had continued to fight. Whether it was her cat instincts to fight to the death or her trademark as a fighter, she was unable to stop herself. She was determined.

Sonic had walked into the ghost town, armed and ready to continue their fight if he saw her. More than anything, he hoped to glean more data from the convenience store clerk at the edge of the ghost town. The boy seemed to be pretty interested in the catgirl so he could hold valuable information.

As he continued his stroll, the wound began to throb. He could remember it so clearly. Things had escalated and he had scaled a nearby building faster than a human eye could perceive. He had made it to the rooftop and went to leap down to attack her when suddenly the catgirl was on him. They had struck back and forth with blades at close range and it was as he prepared exploding shuriken that he felt it. A sharp, stinging pain in his side and the unmistakable warmth of blood drenching his shirt. In his brief moment of distraction, despite moving so fast, the girl had managed to slice him open on the side farther from her. She cut him and then leapt to that side of him, hoping to catch him on his wounded side to win the fight.

The corners of his lips drew back as he remembered the fierce look in her vibrant green eyes as she drew back, blood droplets decorating her blades and speckling her face. She's actually strong, he thought with a surge of euphoria. I want to see her again. I want to fight her again. His grin grew even wider as he once more pictured those eyes. Their shade was a sharp, almost lime green. Almost a yellow-green, which made her look all the more like a cat fighting for their life. If she could wound him once, surely she could prove a worth adversary again in the future. Excitement flowed through him as he neared the convenience store and saw that same boy from the night of their fight working at the counter.

Shift P.O.V

"When are you going home?"

Noriko had been sitting at the table, staring down at her plate of dinner and trying in vain to lift a fork to her lips. She looked at Saitama across the table, her tail twitching at her side. "Hn. I want to go back to my building, but-"

"Master, letting her go by herself now would be dangerous. Noriko-san is still injured." Genos set a plate in front of Saitama and then seated himself next to Noriko with his own meal. Without a word, he reached over to help lift her fork to her mouth and was only satisfied when she began to chew her food.

The bald hero raised an eyebrow, looking from the cyborg to the catgirl. "She looks fine. She wants to leave anyway. And I told you that it's cramped enough in here as it is."

"Master Saitama, did you catch the person that she fought with?" He saw the older man look a bit sheepish as he glanced away. "Until he is caught, it would be unwise for her to be left alone in her wounded state. If you do not want her in the apartment, I can go-"

"Hn. Just…what if I stay in the next apartment?" the catgirl asked. Her tail curled at the end, ears perked forward as he patted the top of her head.

"I will retrieve your items from your building if you-"

"It's not…hn. I mean, I'm not moving in. I'm just staying there for the night." When he lifted another forkful of food to her lips, she took the bite without complaining, realizing just how difficult he could be to argue with. Chewing, she was once again impressed by his cooking. "Hn. Thank you, Genos-san."

"I don't know why you're both being so formal. I mean, he's basically seen you naked," Saitama pointed out.

Her feline ears flattened, her lips curling back on reflex to bare her fangs. "Just what is it…that you're talking about?" She could feel the fur on her tail beginning to bristle in outrage.

"When he changed your clothes. What'd you think happened? Can you imagine trying to change someone's clothes with your eyes closed?" Saitama caught a blush rising to her cheeks and smiled in that dopey way that he did so often. "Hey, I didn't know you could make that kind of face."

She wanted to tell him off, but stopped herself. Genos really respected him and she did feel indebted to Genos now. Taking a deep breath, she released it quietly and felt herself calming down. Looking at him from the corner of her eye, Noriko watched Genos eat his meal. It was strange. She had seen him eat before, but it always struck her as odd that he was able to enjoy food. I just need to stay calm. After I heal, I can just leave the city. I need to move on anyway.

"Hey, so what's with Grey Corporation? Genos said that you're trying to destroy it. Don't they make stuff like cellphones and machine parts?"

"They…specialize in electronics," she replied. "The Grey Corporation. They needed young test subjects…so they could start work on medicine and biotechnology. My brother's friend heard that Grey Corporation was looking for test subjects for a particular project…where they fused human and animal DNA to make a more powerful person. He wanted that, but…they said he needed to bring a younger subject. So he chose me.

"That monster…murdered my family…and took me to the testing facility of Grey Corporation…where they made me into this. There are others like me…that were altered at a young age. They continued to drag children from their homes. Children that they think would be good candidates. Because they're young…and their minds and bodies aren't fully developed. But he…was too old. They gave him something, but they were unable to give him what he really wanted."

Saitama saw the evil half-smile growing on her face, interrupted when Genos fed her another forkful of rice and vegetables. "So it's about revenge."

"Hn. It's about freeing the others."

"How did you get away anyway?"

"Noriko-san, I was wondering the same thing. The Grey Corporation's testing facility has high quality security systems in place," Genos spoke up.

Seeing that he was watching her, she felt her tail begin to sway side to side lazily and her heart beat a bit faster. Why is he looking at me like that? After that kiss, he wanted to keep helping me. Even after I rejected him. Why kiss me in the first place? She felt him wipe at the corners of her mouth with a napkin and her gaze shot back to him, heat rising to her cheeks. "Um…"

"I saw some rice on your face." He reached over and swiped a metal thumb over her bottom lip to get a grain of rice off of her mouth.

In all honesty, she knew that she overreacted. Noriko jolted away the second that she saw him lick the rice from his thumb and crashed into the wall, blood running from her nose. She quietly swore and looked around for something to soak up the blood. To her further embarrassment, Genos handed her a tissue. She pressed it to her nose and sat facing away from the two male heroes, scowling to herself.

What's wrong with me? Why did I get a bloody nose over something like that? And it's not like he's…hot…right? She glanced at him over her shoulder and caught him looking at her. Green met gold and she swiftly turned away from him again, her face burning red. It's just that I'm not used to being around guys my age. Right? No! Damn it! Then it's like I'm weak! So weak that I just fall for the first guy that's nice to me! I won't be like that! I have to be stronger than this! Trying to regain her composure, Noriko took a deep breath and exhaled in a sigh. Her injuries pained her after moving around so much so when she sat at the table again, she leaned forward onto her elbows. "Hn. Thank you, Genos-san."

"You have tissue sticking out of your nose," Saitama pointed out. "Looks bloody. Why is your nose bleeding, Nya-chan?"

"…doesn't matter…" she muttered, glancing at Genos. She was now on high alert; waiting to see what he might do next. He was eating, his attention seemingly fixed on his meal. Noriko decided to try using her fork again, determined to prove that she was at least strong enough to feed herself. It almost made it to her lips, but her arm started to shake and fell. Pain made tears spring to her eyes and she bowed her head, trying to hide her discomfort behind stray locks of violet hair.

Genos caught her look of defeat and was about to reach over to help her, but the catgirl stood and excused herself to the bathroom. He turned toward Saitama. "She wants to be independent."

"So just let her go do whatever she wants to do." There was a pause, in which Noriko was unsure of what Saitama did. She was in the bathroom, hearing their voice from behind the door. "Hey, so did you do that thing you were going to do?" Another pause. "How did it go?" There was an almost teasing tone to Saitama's voice when he asked this. As if he could already guess the answer.

"I told Noriko-san that I had feelings for her and kissed her, but she said that she could not do that sort of thing right now. I am sure that she turned me down. I still intend to take care of her until she is well enough to fight and then I would like to spar with her. Ultimately, I would like to help her destroy Grey Corporation, but I know that it could be a ways off."

"Uh, slow down, okay? So you just told her that you like her and kissed her the same day? You can't do that. It's just not how you do things like that."

"Master Saitama, how do you ask girls out?"

"Huh? Um…well, you know. It's like…you tell them that you like them, right? And then you wait for an answer. And sometimes it takes a while. Like a really long time." There was a pause. "What exactly did you say anyway?"

"I told her that I have feelings for her."

"Wait, so you didn't even say what kind of feelings? You just-?"

Noriko opened the bathroom door and walked back to her seat at the table, feeling even more determined to get out of the apartment as soon as possible. This is bad. I'm pretty sure that I like Genos.