His wound had finally healed so he hoped to find her quickly. A sweep of the ghost town revealed nothing of interest, besides Saitama. The hero had watched him speed past without a word, but he had definitely seen him. Now he was in town, walking around and wondering what to do with the rest of his day. He had planned to find her and pick a fight. Having no current jobs, he was actually finding himself bored.

When he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, he swiftly turned and prepared to fight. His eyes were met with a young woman around his age, wearing a black suit and sunglasses. Long, wild grey hair hung over her eyes and she grinned up at him. "What do you want?"

"It's…Speed o' Sound Sonic…right? The ninja…the assassin…the human garbage that fought with a purple-haired catgirl near the ghost town?!"

Looking down into her pale eyes, he saw absolutely no sanity there. "What did you call me? Just what do you want?"

"That cute, little catgirl…comes from Grey Corporation's biotechnology laboratory…and I'd like to get her back. My cute…sweet…little pet." A blush rose to her cheeks as she spoke, her breathing growing heavy.

He took a step back from her, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"I'm saying…that I want to hire you…to catch my pet…and return her to me." She reached into the suit jacket she wore and produced a business card. "Grey Kyouna…vice president of Grey Corporation and…collector of cute, little pets."

Sonic barely spared the card a glance. "What do I get out of helping you?"

Her grin spread and she tilted her head. "What…do you mean?! She's an…absolute treasure to fight! Grey Corporation…we still have her last opponent from the facility…in the medical bay. He's been in a come…for so long…because of her! Knocked his head so hard…we thought he'd die! She's brilliant! And in feral cat mode…she's absolutely deadly!"

The idea that she had such strength made him remember their last fight. A grin tugged at the corners of his lips, but he refused to show his bad habit in front of this stranger. "What's feral cat mode?"

The young woman touched the tip of his nose, giggling to herself. "The smell of human blood…drives her crazy! The longer she smells it…and the more blood there is…the stronger she gets! She could even lose her humanity! Heheheh! It's just…so evil…but so cute! And so…will you catch my favorite pet…and return her to me?"

Shift P.O.V

Noriko wiped blood from her face, scowling. She had expected the monster to be cleaner before dying. The thing that she had fought spewed blood and bodily fluids in every direction, pus dripping from its abdominal area and soaking the grass. It was finished now; lying in ruins on the ground at her feet. Still, she wished that it could have been less messy. Her shirt and skin were besmirched with red droplets and splashes. She could feel it on her cheek and wanted to retch. At least it wasn't stomach acid this time.

Turning away, she looked toward City Z. With Genos out of town and Saitama just not caring, she had been forced to fight the monster alone before it could get too close to the city. It was unclear where the thing had come from or what its real motive was, but she could tell by looking at it that it was malevolent. Again, she looked down at her clothes and grimaced at the mess. If nothing else, it would have caused a fair amount of destruction if it had gotten into City Z.

I need to clean this off, she determined as she ran her fingers through her hair. She winced, remembering the blood, and shook her head. Going into town to use a bath house was out of the question. Somehow, she knew that asking Saitama if she could borrow his bathroom would result in rejection.

A stream in the forest would have to do. It was easy enough for her to find one and she stripped off her jacket and sneakers. A quick rinse got off most of the mess, with the exception of a few chunks that clung to her flesh. She was scrubbing at her arms with her bare hands when her left ear twitched. The feeling of being watched made her glance over her shoulder. Nothing was behind her.

She was on high alert now. Though she could not be sure if it was human or monster, she knew that something was watching her. The gaze made goose bumps rise on her flesh and she sank a fang into her bottom lip to try to distract herself. She wanted to finish washing away the blood and then return to her makeshift home. She could always seek a bath house at night once most normal people would be settled in their homes for the evening.

I didn't sense anyone on my way to the stream. Is it an animal? Or maybe it's Genos? Over the past couple of weeks, she had noticed him monitoring her when he seemed to think she was preoccupied. It was hard to miss the cyborg standing across the street watching her train or attempting to subtly follow her down a crowded sidewalk. Even if he had tried to hide his presence, he would still have stuck out.

As Noriko finished rinsing the blood from her legs, she straightened and felt a hand swiftly clap over her mouth. The pressure was hard and she felt something wet smearing over her mouth and nose while another hand gripped her upper arm. Her body was lifted, turned, and sent flying backwards. The hero's swords, jacket, and shoes were left at the water's edge as a figure in black pursued her.

The catgirl's back struck a tree trunk hard and she twisted to avoid a shuriken burying in her throat. What the hell was that?! She narrowed her bright green eyes on the figure in the distance and shakily reached to her mouth to try to figure out what he had smeared over her lips and nose. Her fingers came away dark crimson and when she lifted her gaze to him again, she saw the fresh wound shining red on his forearm. "What…did you do to me?!"

Sonic unsheathed his blade from behind him and grinned evilly. "Somebody told me that catgirls like the smell of human blood. They said that it drives you crazy. It looks like they were right." He could see her pupils dilating, her tail puffing up and swishing side to side as if she was hunting prey. "What's the matter, Noriko? You're looking feral."

She crouched low to the ground, her feline ears flattening as she released a hiss. Her sharp nails dug into the earth beneath her and she could feel a growl settling at the back of her throat. "Why would you do this?!"

"I want you to go all out! No holding back! Come at me with everything you've got!" He was suddenly right in front of her, bringing his blade down over his head to strike at her.

Noriko moved fast to block it, lifting her left arm and letting it bury in her flesh. Blood flowed from the wound, but his katana was now stuck in her flesh. When he tried to draw it out, he found her lunging forward with her fangs bared. Her legs wrapped around his waist to keep her attached to him as she snapped at his throat again and again.

Sonic growled at her attempt and moved, slamming her back into a tree and pinning her there with his body. He released his katana and instead gripped her throat, forcing her head back to hit the tree trunk behind her. The catgirl's eyes narrowed up at him, burning with complete and utter rage. "Is that all you've got?" he taunted. "I hoped that feral cat mode would make you more powerful, but you look pathetic."

"I'm just getting started!" Noriko moved on instinct and forced her way to his arm, sinking her fangs deeply into his already wounded appendage. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the katana. It was pulled from her flesh and then plunged into her shoulder, nearly piercing through to the tree. She released his arm, throwing her head back and shrieking in agony. "You…bastard! That hurts!"

His hand gripped her neck again and he grinned down at her, keeping her face positioned so that she had to look at him. "What's wrong, Noriko? You can't take a little pain?" The ninja slammed his hips into hers, forcing her back to hit the tree even harder. He saw a pinkish hue rise to her cheeks and his grin grew, moving past what he knew was normal. It was unprofessional, but this was most definitely not business. "What? Don't tell me that the little hero is a virg-?"

"Let me go! Let me go right now or I'll-!"

"What are you going to do?" He saw his blood shining on her fangs and painted around her lips like macabre makeup. She began to thrash to try to free herself, desperate to get away from him, but he easily turned and slammed her into another tree trunk. Her leg lifted and kicked at him in an effort to keep him at bay, but he was soon on her again. His fingers tangled in her wild, violet hair and forced her face up so it was inches from his own. "What's the matter? I thought all of you heroes were supposed to be brave!"

Her mind was in an utter panic. It was true; she was terrified. Her feral mode not only made her stronger, but it messed with her ability to reason. This was why it was so dangerous for her to fight humans. Why she had always had to wear a mask when she worked as an assassin. Why she tried to avoid fighting evil humans and tried to fight monster exclusively. Not only was she afraid that he might kill her, but there was another fear. A fear that he might do something worse.

"I heard that you were an assassin, too," he remarked. "No wonder you can keep up with me. I'm almost impressed. But you're still just a girl, aren't you?" His free hand gripped her chin and forced her head back, his face drawing close to the side of her neck. "If I wanted to kill you, it would be easy. Just a quick slice to your jugular and you would bleed out. But that would be a waste."

Her shoulder ached as he reached over to casually twist the blade planted in her flesh. A sharp cry of pain left her, followed by a string of curses. "Let me go!" she demanded once more, tears glimmering in her eyes. She could taste his blood on her lips and it was driving her insane. Her hands went to his chest when he drew close, pushing at him with all of her strength.

"Yeah. It would be a waste to let you get away like that. Not many people can keep up with me the way that you can. You're not as fast, but you're still better than most of the people I've fought." A rather evil thought came to him as he stared down into her teary green eyes and he decided to try it. He leaned down and covered her lips with his, tasting his own blood and marveling at how soft her lips were. She did not put up with it for long; sinking a fang deep into his bottom lip and forcing him to break the kiss.

She watched him wipe his mouth on the back of his hand and felt her heart start to beat even faster. What is he going to do?! What is he-? A gasp escaped her when she felt blood-slickened lips on the side of her neck. Her body tensed in his hold and her fingertips dug into his chest. "What…are you doing…to me?!"

Before she could get an answer, he had moved aside and a powerful blast struck her square in the chest. Gritting her teeth, she tried to focus her gaze on whoever it had come from and was met with a slightly blurry figure with blonde hair. Genos?! Wait…was he actually watching me earlier? Shaking her head, she pushed herself to stand and ignored the pain that was running through her arm and chest. The smell of Sonic's blood was still clouding her mind and her thoughts swiftly turned from Genos to the ninja.

The cyborg watched as she sprinted toward the dark-haired man, swiping at him with her sharp nails and attempting to bite any exposed flesh that she could. He had barely noticed who her opponent was when he interfered. All he had seen was that another man had pinned Noriko down and was kissing her neck. It was enough to make him take action and now he was glad that he had. The very sight of Speed o' Sound Sonic made him join the catgirl in the fight.

Sonic was easily dodging her attacks, watching her come at him again and again. It was only now that he was seeing the true power of her feral cat mode. The girl's nails were lengthening and when they missed him, swiping instead at a tree trunk, he saw that they had grown immensely sharp. They sliced through the tree bark like it was nothing. He wished that she had retained some of her human logic though. None of her hits were connecting and it was if she was unable to read his very obvious intentions. However, he was rather impressed when she managed to kick a tree beside him and split it in two.

"Noriko, that is enough! Allow me to finish this fight for you!" Genos shouted above her feline snarls.

She received no further warning before she was hoisted over his shoulder like a sack of rice. The catgirl hissed in outrage and swiped at his back, slicing through his shirt and thrashing her legs against his front. Her efforts were futile; his hold was secure and he was determined to keep her out of danger. She took the moment to try to wipe Sonic's blood from her face, licking her hand to get it off.

"Now!"

"W-wait! What?!" The catgirl flew through the air and had to improvise. She twisted in midair and shifted position as Sonic came into view below her. Noriko landed on her feet in front of him and rushed forward. She leapt and drew her lips back, prepared to tear into the man's throat with her sharp teeth. In a flash, he was gone. The grass was wet with blood and she grimaced at the strong scent. Her eyes turned to Genos as he approached, trying to gage whether or not he was a threat in her hazy mind.

He caught her in his arms as she fell forward, the energy drained after feral cat mode. "Noriko? Do not worry; I will keep you safe as you recover your strength."