Okay, I know what you are asking. "Blue, where the crap is Rutilus' update and why are you updating this story that I don't really care about?"

Well, my friend, I am alternating writing for Rutilus and writing on here. For you see, the Rutilus update is going to be a long chapter and my poor brain can only handle so many hours trying to make it perfect - because PERFECT IT SHALL BE. So, I'd pull this up and play with it for an hour or two and then try to get back to Rutilus. This chapter got so crazy fun that I couldn't help sharing it with you guys. So, bear with me. Rutilus will come.

But for now, I offer this chapter up as a humble substitute.

The queue was like a giant winding snake swiveling along the concrete. With only glowing rope lights draped between metal rods to guide the boisterous multitude of excited clubbers into some kind of conformed line, the gathered throngs thickly joined together in bulky clumps. Laughing, talking, pushing…

Hitomi sighed as they inched forward only three more steps and felt the elbow of the person behind her poke into her back. At least thirty minutes had passed and they only curved around the first part. The action, the excitement, the adventure had fizzled out like a neglected soda pop with the small progress they were achieving. Combining the whirlwind of these past few days, she almost couldn't stand being still like this. Her body had been on high alert for so long: kidnapped by Zaibach soldiers, running from the Zaibach Elite in the train station, escaping from the hotel, almost getting attacked on the bus, then the seven or eight hours of pent up expectation only to collide into a magic infused prostitute yelling at them in the streets. Hitomi felt like her body was constantly getting small electric shocks of surprises.

And now, despite the hustle and bustle, she felt like they were at a stand-still. In the midst of the terrible flashing lights and outrageous dance music, she was bored. Uncomfortably bored. Much like how her life was before she made this trip. Much like how she was when she was younger, living her mundane life before she decided to crack open her father's journal for the first time.

Patience. Would she ever find that delicate feeling again?

Surprisingly, with each slowly passing minute, she noticed Van growing just as restless as she was. His long arms uncrossed and crossed over his chest for what must have been the tenth time, his thin fingers tapping out a strange rhythm, sometimes following the heavy beat of the outrageously blaring music, but most of the time following their own random pattern. She had to admit there was actually something she and the misplaced king had in common – they both hated waiting.

"What do we do when we get in there?" Hitomi asked in a bit of a yell to make herself heard over the pounding music. The tall man turned towards her, his quick eyes only partially sheltered under his navy cap. Chordata, standing easily in front of them, remained quiet and still, but her white ears twitched backwards to catch their words.

"We need to request to see the owner of this establishment."

"The owner?" she swallowed down a strange lump had suddenly appeared in her throat. "How in the world do we get to him? Look at this place. It's practically a fortress with a front line army of hookers." Gesturing to the flashing building that was now glittering an array of pink and silver sparkles over the windows and doorway, Hitomi lifted her eyebrows as more scantly-cladded woman giggled on the outsides of the roped line. Van answered her, but she never caught his words. One woman, slipping near a rowdy group of men several rows in front of them, threw back her perfectly tossed blond hair and gave them a seductive smirk. Her bikini, covered in pink cowboy tassels and copious amounts of glitter, made her perfect body like a hypnotic siren.

"Pricilla!" One of the men called out and she gave a flirty wave. "Will you marry me?"

"Only if you can pay for me!" She hollered back and the love-drunk crowd howled with laughter.

"How much you charging these days?"

"If you are willing to pay my kind of price, you may make an honest woman out of me anytime-you-want!" She gave her hips a suggestive toss and Hitomi felt disgusted.

"Where's Jenny tonight?" Another man shouted.

"What, I'm not enough for you?" The blond answered, her beautiful face contorting into a cute pout. The men lapped up the expression with evocative calls. "She had to call in tonight. You guys are too much for her. But as for me, I can never get enough!"

The line hadn't moved an inch. More women came to join Pricilla on sidelines to entertain the crowd, their enticing bodies sashaying to the beat. Green eyes flicking towards Van, she wondered if his mind would be diverted like the normal men around them. As soon as her eyes touched his, she blinked rapidly and gave a weird air-filled swallow. Her stomach flipped strangely.

How long had he been looking at her?

"Wh-what?" She asked through a thick throat as his mahogany eyes zeroed in on her face.

"I might have a plan." He announced reluctantly.

"A plan? You mean on how to get inside and not stand in this unmoving line?" He was silent for a full minute as he studied her in his mute, analytical way.

"It is something you cannot accomplish anyway," the king dismissed after concluding his deep scrutiny and he turned away, switching his sharp gaze to the person in front of them.

"Okay, stop that," Hitomi snapped, grabbing his arm to turn him towards her. "Tell me what you have in mind. Maybe we can try it."

In the midst of the catcalls directed at the ladies, the king's chest visibly rose and fell and he leaned down to Hitomi's ear to whisper. Her green eyes widened as he continued to talk. Her face fell in horror, and she resisted the urge to slap him again. As he backed away, her face and body felt so hot with embarrassment, she could have sworn the night had heated ten degrees. Glanced down at herself, she took in the full effect of her dirty jeans, nasty shirt, and completely unhip, wrinkled jacket.

"You cannot be serious. You are not serious. I'm not doing-"

"It would be a fast way in and the best advantage to reaching the owner." Van clicked his tongue. "But like I said, it is something you cannot do anyway. You lack the skills and certain qualities necessary."

Her brain switched gears as the lack of confidence in her sex appeal bit hard into her pride. "What makes you so sure I can't?"

Van rolled his hooded eyes. "Must I say it? You will only be angry with me."

"I am in a constant state of anger and frustration with you. I don't see how this will make a difference."

"Very well. First off the top of my head, you are visibly uncomfortable with everything about this place. You unconsciously glance at the ground when the building flashes colors brighter than blue. You also cannot stand the way the women at the front are dressed. You have pulled at the bottom of your shirt fifteen times since we arrived as if to hide your figure. You are ashamed – embarrassed - of what you are lacking." At that, Hitomi let go of her shirt, which she had been unconsciously yanking down over the front of her pants. "That is only one reason why you cannot pull this off. I have more if you wish."

"Master Fanel!" Chordata swirled around with a shocked expression on her face.

"No, Chordata, let him keep talking." Hitomi felt her eye twitch as she pressed her lips together and gestured to him. "I'm embarrassed of my own body, huh? What else?"

Van's mouth pulled into a small smirk and he turned to her fully, using his tall stature to hover over her head. "To continue the first point, you do not have the confidence to even wear a short-sleeved shirt in front of others. It is the reason you have kept your jacket on all this time we have traveled in these streets. You are ashamed of your arms and legs. You think they are too skinny. You have not let yourself see the sun like these ladies have. Your skin is as white and pale as death. You keep your hair short because you do not want to hassle yourself with taking care of it. No face-paint, no sense of style, you have no way of attracting the kind of attention we need. Your nose is narrow, your eyes are too big, and your mouth…" his mahogany eyes flicked down to her lips and he swallowed quickly. "Your mouth is as wide as a dog."

"I'm sure you have more observations to give than just physical. And by all means, let me hear them." Entangled with her thinly-veiled anger, a very powerful feeling swelled from within and took hold of her. She took a bold step closer to him and her back straightened much like her Strategos personification. Blinking with mock-innocence at the man, her words were saturated with sarcasm. "Please, tell me how I lack beauty. It's what every girl wants to hear. I have an idea! Why don't you elaborate more on how I've spent most of my life crammed into books instead of working on a flat stomach and sun burning myself?"

"I feel as though I have clarified enough on that subject. I might as well move on to my second point. You do not possess the engaging nature in which to properly infiltrate a regime such as this. You could hardly stand being grabbed by Old Grubs on the bus."

"And the fact that I didn't want to be groped by a man named Old Grubs makes me lacking in your eyes?" Hitomi shot back.

"It was merely a precise surveillance of your reaction to that kind of attention."

"I've had a boyfriend before!"

The king let out a very unkingly snort. "You are lying."

"I am not!"

Hitomi knew her face was red. She knew her hands were clenched. She knew he could tell he was getting his way by making these comments. And that just made her want to show him up even more. Her battered pride just kept rising and rising.

With his smile developing further, Van ignored her comment and continued his observations. "Thirdly, you cannot read people. These women feel the crowd's mood and work with it to their advantage. You are bumbling blindly in the streets. They understand the importance of body language." Van pointed at the flashy blond and Hitomi watched as she giggled at three young men two rows behind them. "They are out of your league."

"I…I can do that…" She was breathing heavily.

And then he said it.

"Fourthly, if you must insist, when I first saw you, I thought you were male."

"Get out of my way, you bastard!" She snarled shoving her bag at his long, thin chest. She ducked under the rope. "You want to see a show? Then let me give you one!" Van's smile pulled further up his tan cheek as he held her rumpled bag in one hand.

Chordata was frozen. Her mind slipped with panic. Her amber eyes followed as Lady Hitomi shimmy past those waiting and squeeze by another thick group talking excitedly in line. Several men called out angrily at her and the girl provided them a glare so fierce, they were stopped in their tracks.

"Master Fanel… why… how…" Chordata's thoughts couldn't process. She turned slowly to face the man. "How could you say such a thing?"

Van's smile widened further, his red gaze following the back of the hotheaded woman. He noticed her duck one more rope and approach the scantily-cladded women dancing.

"I said it because she needed to hear it." He answered simply.

"But everything you said was-"

Van interrupted her by placing a tan hand on the woman's soft head. "I know what I said, Chordata. She can handle it. Trust me; she needed those words spoken to her."

"No woman should hear those words, Master Fanel." The cat ducked from under his fingers and frowned disapprovingly. "It was cruel. If she forgives you, she is a better person than I."

"I do not need her forgiveness for anything." His tone was so nonchalant; Chordata could barely stop the hiss of anger that wanted to rip from her throat. She'd never raised her fur or claws at the young man she deemed almost a nephew to her, but, by the spirit of Usg, she wanted to give him a sharp lash right now! He didn't even look worried.

Was he really that horrible? Or was her brain so limited she couldn't predict what he had planned? She could see the wheels in his mind spinning, but he didn't seem to realize what a dangerous idea this was. How insulting he had been.

And for the first time in over thirteen years, Chordata finally spoke her mind.

"Master Fanel, I have remained faithfully at your side since you arrived in this place. I have raised you to the best of my abilities. Having no kittens myself, I have devoted my entire life to you. I have always held my tongue when it came to your decisions and allowed you the freedom to learn and adapt to this life, but now I refuse to let you take one more step without listening to me. You have been separated from normal human interaction for a long time, but that is an excuse I should never have made for your bad behavior. You are not conducting yourself like the man you should be."

As she predicted, the black-haired man rose to his defense. "I am doing what I think is-"

"You have spoken quite enough and it is your turn to listen to me now, Van Slanzar de Fanel!" Chordata's usual soft voice rose to an angry pitch Van had never heard before and he tried to mask his complete surprise. She'd always called him Master Fanel, never his full name. The crowd of people beside and in front of them turned with curious looks as her white fur slowly rose on her neck. "You are not to play with people's emotions. Especially those that have sworn to help you. Lady Hitomi is a very sweet girl and you are manipulating her with meanness. She will leave you if you keep this up. What woman would submit to such terrible treatment? You leave her out of your plans, you refuse to answer her reasonable questions, and you berate her on ideas that are better than your own. How about we point out your mental and physical flaws for the world to hear and see how you feel about it!"

Van opened his mouth, but the cat instantly latched her hand around his muscular arm. His mahogany eyes widened in shock as he felt tell-tale pricks where her claws threatened to dig into him. "I said I was talking. I am done with standing idle while you play with her! She has given up her life to help you: her friend, her mother, her country. I should think you owe her some respect for it! But what do you do? You manipulate her to throw herself in danger all because you are impatient. You knew she didn't want to be here and yet now she is in the lion's mouth just for you! This isn't someplace you can solve with your sword, Master Fanel. There are no Zaibach soldiers here. This is a place full of innocent civilians. What if she gets kidnapped, raped, murdered? What will you do? What will you do when she is hurt? What will you do when one out of the two people in this world who are willing to help you is dead because of your thoughtlessness?"

The tall man, his proud smile long gone from his tan face, felt an abnormal stir in his stomach as he glanced up to see the blond dancer nod excitedly at Hitomi and grab her hand. He buried the burn in his chest and gave the cat an expression of uncaring nonchalance.

"Let me go, Chordata."

Chordata released a long breath that sounded like a hiss. "Think over what I have said very carefully." She slowly retracted her claws and lowered her hand while murmuring, "You are a fool, Master Fanel, and it's high time you realized it."

And, just like what he wanted, the short-haired girl was pulled into a side-entrance of Mystess. A thick navy blue door slammed solidly behind her.

The heavy door shut with an echoing snap and the short-haired girl was greeted by lovely silence. The beat of the music outside was still audible, but the crowd noise, the flashing lights… her brain gave a sigh of relief. In opposite to her reprieve from the bright lights and noise, her nose hitched and she swallowed down a choke. The entire hallway reeked as if fifteen various perfumes declared a jousting tournament for domination over her nostrils. Splashes of simple blues and calming greens swirled up and down in elegant patterns on the walls of a long, highly odorous hallway. Clean, white, fluffy carpet sunk in with her dirty sneakers. The yellow florescent lights on the tall ceiling were not blinding bright, but gave a nice homey glow to the modest decorations. Several mirrors of varying lengths were mounted sporadically on the walls and ceiling. Why the ceiling, Hitomi decided she didn't want to know. Numerous closed doors lined the way, a swirly cursive label outside each one.

Crinkling her nose and trying to keep her eyes from watering, Hitomi followed the brilliant blond as she talked ecstatically, "I am just so glad you came! Totes in the nick of time, too. The club has seen its share of cray cray nights, but damn. Everyone wants to party here! We are already understaffed with the Customer Receivers, and then, Jenny being preggo and all and I told her over and over that he would run whenever she told him, but 'whatever Pricilla, it's not like you know anything', am I right?" Passing a long, floor-length mirror, Hitomi unthinkingly checked her reflection as they walked by it and grabbed off her tacky hat off her head on reflex.

Yikes… she looked worse than she thought. How this chatty blond believed her, Hitomi would never know. An image of Van's smug face swirled in her memory and strengthened her resolve.

"…if you must insist, when I first saw you, I thought you were male."

Bastard.

Hitomi cleared her throat and asked, "So, what can you tell me about this place? Like I said, I used to work at Jugs back in Austuria-"

"Oh, my god, if that was true, this place totes would be cray all day, you know? I mean, not that it isn't already," she added swiftly before continuing, "I know this place was named after like the last mermaid ever recorded in history or some dumb cray like that. I think her actual name was Mystic, but somehow it got all jumbled together and lost in trans, if you know what I mean." The barely-clothed woman continued to talk and walk, her footsteps clipping easily in god-awful, glitzy, pink heels. "That's why this hallway is totes swirls of blue and stuff. Even the main area – which you'll see soon - has like totes under the sea feel. Tristian's great-great grandfather owned like the second to the last one and his grandfather spent his fortune trying to catch Mystic, but like never could, right? So, he settled here and named a bar after her."

"That's quite ambitious." Hitomi commented once the girl had to take a breath.

"But totes enough about that. Do you mind if I call you 'Tomi'? I find nicknames really work well with the job, oh, except I hate being called Prissy. Goes too well with a certain woman's body part, if you know what I mean…" Hitomi didn't, but tried not to act like it. "Totes serial though, it was so good of Jenny to send you to cover for her while she snaps out of the break-up. Tell her she should be back in the glam by next weekend. Just cause she's in the baby way don't mean a party bust, but oh, my god, she's totes thoughtful and I can always count on Jen, and you can totes tell her I forgive her for stealing Mark away from me cause he is major President Douche-bag and Jenny is too adorbs to hold a grudge against."

"Yep, Jenny's the best." Hitomi chimed in awkwardly, hoping she'd translated the girl's run-on sentence correctly. "So, do I interview with the owner or just… uh… head straight to it?"

"Jenny didn't tell you? Tristian left me in charge of handling the Customer Receivers a week ago, and since you told me you used to work at the legendary Jugs in Austuria, plus that awesome accent of yours, you'll be totes adorbs by all the males! It's totes easy, too. Just feel the rhythm, read the waves, oh, and I'll get you your wig while you step in the spray tan machine. What color do you usually wear? It's funny; my real hair is like crazy, frizzy brown. It's practically like as short as yours under all this glam. Yours is so smooth and stuff. You are so lucky and I am totes jelly! Like oh, my god, Tomi, no one can recognize me when I step out of here in the morning sans glam. It's cray, girl. Totes cray."

"Totes… cray…" Hitomi whispered to herself. What did that even mean? It was like this girl couldn't speak without adding in extra words in there that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Would she be expected to speak like that as well?

Click-saving the words 'totes cray' in her brain, she watched the loquacious fake blond stop at a door labeled Bertha and pushed down the left cup of her bikini top to get a key from her under her breast. Twisting her green eyes embarrassingly away, her face blushed brightly at the woman's complete lack of modesty. And then Hitomi finally caught what the girl said.

"Wait. Spray tan? I'm getting a tan?"

"Yeah, Tomi." Pricilla gave her a confused look as she fumbled with the keyhole. "You must have been out of work a while. You have skin like milk. Granny Bertha will totes fix you right up."

"Granny Bertha? Wait, I might be a bit out of practice." The short-haired girl mumbled, feeling a wave of anxiety wash over her. "Is there any chance I could meet with the owner before I go outside?"

"Why? I sign your tip-outs and I totes promise to give you a little mula under the table to more than pay for a night's work. Boss man usually hangs in the back, believe it or not." Pricilla let the door swing open and she tucked the key back inside. "He only shows his face when there are real big issues."

"What kind of issues?"

"Like customer riots, or bar fights, or someone yanking on us girls. He's very protective of his staff."

A spike of fear sent Hitomi's heart pounding hard in her chest. As the girl held the door open for her, she hovered for a brief moment on the doorstep. Turning to the blond, she decided to take a stab in the dark.

"Pricilla, can I ask you something kind of strange?"

The blond gave her another beautiful smile, but this close up; Hitomi saw it didn't reach her blue-colored contacts. "Ain't nothing strange that I haven't heard before, hon."

Blinking at the triple negative, she asked, "Do the words 'things are not always as they seem' mean anything to you?"

Pricilla's smile never changed, her features betraying not one inch of her thoughts. "Is that going to be your pick-up line outside? Wow, we need to get you a dark wig if you are planning on playing the mystery card." She placed a small hand on Hitomi's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "Men will lap that up, Tomi. Be ready."

Her words stuck in her throat, Pricilla's hand pushed Hitomi inside the doorway and the door swung closed with a frighteningly solid click. Green eyes wide with confusion, fear, and just plain shock, she vaguely registered Pricilla's muffled voice shouting, "Make sure to take off all your clothes, tuck all your hair in a shower cap, and turn Bertha on volume three. You won't believe how many times I actually have to say those words to some girls. Oh, and use those towels on your left once you are done with the second coating. Try not to get streaky. That is totes a mess when you are wearing a bikini. We will store your clothes in the makeup room, so no worries on anyone jacking your stuff. We don't do that here anyway."

What have I gotten myself into… the short-haired girl groaned as her green eyes timidly focused on what looked like an upright silvery coffin in the middle of the heavily decorated room. Hitomi guessed this must be Bertha. The flower print wallpaper etched with a mismatched lacy trim gave the room an odd grandmotherly feel. A rack of pink fluffy towels lay folded beautifully in a row on a long beige shelf. Next to the towels, bolted to the wall hung a deep ceramic sink and a slightly foggy mirror. Turning towards the mirror, Hitomi looked at her reflection and stifled another groan. This plan was positively dumb.

Burying her face in her hands, she cursed Van with everything she had. That stupid king and his stupid face and stupid hat! He put her up to this! He pushed all her buttons and used some weird voo-doo reverse psychology thing and now she was going to be a stripper. Oh wait, a Customer Receiver… How in the world could they get anything helpful in Van's quest? The only thing Hitomi seemed to be accomplishing was making some extra money for their trip by flouncing all the unattractiveness she possessed at wild boys in a bar.

Her hands dropped and her green eyes shinned with confusion.

But… Pricilla had said be ready…

That couldn't be just a coincidence…

Could it?

Hitomi shook her head and dropped her hat on the marble tile floor. This was a mystery to be solved at another time. She had bigger issues to deal with at the current moment. Her green eyes flicking over the coffin with apprehension, she turned around and tentatively walked closer to press the button labeled OPEN. The coffin's door slid with a spaceship's whoosh to allow her entrance. Peering inside, she saw the instructions.

Thank GOD for instructions.

Simple pictures and four word sentences told her everything she needed to operate Bertha. Reading them over three times to make sure she was not going to accidently set this contraption on self-destruct, Hitomi finally pushed four buttons and heard the machine whirl to life.

Now the worst part of this… stripping…

She'd just taken off her bra when she heard the door knob jiggling. With a small scream and hands cupping over her breasts, the door burst open and in popped Pricilla carrying two boxes, one long and one short. The blond tossed her the short one, which hit against Hitomi's bare stomach and bounced to the floor.

Pricilla laughed. "You're a horrible catch. It's my bad though. I forgot to restock the shower caps in here." The blond stopped and regarded her with confusion. "Well, we haven't got all day. Get in the tanner. I have your uniform and wig in this box." She set the long box on top of the pink towels. "Put the outfit on and come to the room across the hall after you have made sure to towel off. I'll help you with makeup and hair. You'll be ready to go in twenty minutes flat."

"O-o-ok-okay…." Hitomi tried to recover from her shock. The blond gave her another beautiful grin.

"Maybe you should be the shy girl. You got the innocent look like totes down. If you are out of practice, don't worry, Tomi. I'll make sure you totes make your money's worth tonight."

Master Fanel was back to tapping his fingers. Even without his smell, which was spiked with irascibility, the white cat could easily read from his body language he was not in the most pleasant of moods at the current moment. Chordata couldn't blame him. This was the first time she'd ever verbally scolded and then challenged him with her claws. She felt bad for threatening him like a misbehaving kitten, but the man was being insufferable. She was never thought she'd ever regret teaching him the basic fundamentals of body language all those years ago.

It was – after all - a cat's first language.

The way Master Fanel had purposefully used this talent to shame, humiliate, and anger the poor Lady Hitomi was uncalled for. Especially since she was doing him a service. Master Fanel had never treated Chordata like that. She knew he trusted and loved her like a family member.

So, what was it…?

What made him want to torture the girl? Why was this bizarre side of Van Slanzar de Fanel coming out now? Or maybe… Chordata's amber eyes twitched to see his right sword hand clenching and unclenching, his mouth dropped to an uncompromising frown. His eyes – as light as day to her sharp night vision – were bouncing from person to person, girl to girl, to the front door and to the obscure door Lady Hitomi had disappeared in. The lights would flash and it would set his eyes back on the course.

"Chordata," Van's deep voice was the last thing she expected to hear. Especially since he hadn't spoken since her harsh verbal scolding. She gave him a small glance and straightened her back proudly in a bargaining defense. His mahogany eyes were staring at the navy door, but she knew he read her body language because he instantly matched her pose.

"Yes, Master Fanel?"

"Perhaps, perhaps I have been…" his words caught and his pose slipped a bit as his left foot shifted on the golden concrete gravel. He's nervous. Chordata instantly read.

"Perhaps I have been..."

"Yes, Master Fanel?"

"What would…" again the sentence stopped and Chordata waited patiently, watching his foot slip back into place. "What would one say to someone, hypothetically speaking, if they felt they had been in the wrong on certain elements of a delicate situation?"

Oh, the fight for the smile was intense. The white cat struggled to not let even a whisker twitch.

"Well, Master Fanel, hypothetically speaking, I think it would be wise if that person apologized as soon as they saw that particular someone who they had wronged. Personally, I think that individual person would forgive and possibly apologize as well."

"Are you confident in this positive outcome? What is the probability?"

Chordata reached to casually lick the back of her hand and smooth the fur alongside her cheek. "Just trust me on this. Lady Hitomi will forgive you if you ask."

"I never said it was her." The king renounced immediately and his defense dropped as his left foot turned completely away from his body.

Oh, her stupid, stupid little king.

"You should not deny it either." She rubbed the fur a little faster, desperate to hide her growing amusement.

"I said hypothetical, Chordata."

"And I am inclined to think this is not as hypothetical as you claim. Just apologize to Lady Hitomi and let this silly war of wills be over with."

"This is not a war of anything."

"Then why did you bring the subject up?"

"You said she is in danger."

"She might be in danger, yes."

"And you said it was my fault."

"Who else would it be?"

"Even though she decided to do this on her own free will."

"She did it because you insulted her. She would have never stepped out of line if you hadn't bullied her to it." The cat tried to stop her eyes from narrowing with irritation. Lowering her hand from her cheek, she noticed he was back to staring at the door. "What has been done is done, Master Fanel," Chordata sighed gently. His mahogany eyes barely twitched away and all her anger evaporating with his palpable disquiet. Vaguely, she registered the people in the row in front of them yelling excitedly at something. She had to raise her voice to be heard. "The girl is strong. She'll come out of this perfectly fine. Even with you teasing her left and right, she's smart and cunning in her own way. And…" the cat stopped for a moment with consideration to her words. "I think you bullied her because you trust her."

"Nonsense." He countered immediately.

"Master Fanel, whether you want to admit it or not, you do respect her. It just might take you a while to comprehend it yourself."

"You are crossing a line, Chordata." The black-haired man was still, straight, and stoic, but she saw his eyes dart instantly to the navy door once more. "I-" Van started, but stopped as he turned his head to the front where the noise had picked up. His mahogany eyes grew unnaturally wide underneath his cap and Chordata noticed his long arms and legs tense up like a bow's string and then grow strangely loose. His shoulders dropped forward an inch and his mouth hung uncharacteristically slack. In an instant, every single bit of his usual stoic persona was unhinged. She had never seen him behave like this. Her amber eyes narrowed with curiosity and she tried to look over the tall crowd. Hearing her master give a bizarre swallow, she flicked her amber eyes in time to watch him blink rapidly and almost drop Hitomi's bag.

"Master Fanel? What has happened?"

"I- ahem," he cleared his throat and coughed twice as if something tight was in his chest. "I…I…" He couldn't seem to finish his thought as his eyes turned cold at whatever he was seeing.

"What's wrong, sir?" Chordata tried again.

The muscles in his arms flexed briskly. She saw his strong tan fingers curl into tight fists at his side. And suddenly, without another word, he pushed Lady Hitomi's bag into Chordata's arms, ducked under the lighted rope, and disappeared like a ghost amongst the crowd.

Hitomi emerged from the make-up room, her new hair fluttering in soft waves to her waist like a curtain and tickling her exposed back. Pricilla had decided a dirty blond wig was best. The shy girl look matched her better than any other stereotype. Hitomi had to agree, though she thought the red bikini she'd been forced in wasn't a very shy color. "Red means fun and flirty, and a touch mysterious. If you are totes uncomfortable in any way, you can use the hair for cover and pull off the shy look. But don't be too shy and cover too much," Pricilla had winked as she smeared more dark eye-makeup under Hitomi's eyebrows. "Men here want something to tease, so you have to totes dish it back to them from time to time."

Surprisingly, there was no mirror in the room and – once declared 'totes perfect!' from Pricilla- the only difference Hitomi could tell was she was practically naked and her neck was carrying at least ten extra pounds of weight. But now, fully finished as a Customer Receiver and using the wall as a brace, she took experimental steps in her new red, glittering heels. Her wrists and arms jingled bracelets and chains with each wobbling step she took. Glancing down at her visible stomach and legs, she resisted the urge to cover her belly with her tanned arms.

"You gotta stand up straighter, Tomi. In glam, you are a lioness on the prowl, a cougar chasing a gazelle…"

"I feel like a panda eating bamboo." Hitomi murmured to herself darkly, shivering in the air conditioning. The blond waited for her to stumble out to the hallway before she lowered her top once more to retrieve the key from its snug hiding place. The shock of her exposure wasn't half as bad as before. Hitomi was actually beginning to see the convenience of cleavage.

Safe, effective, and you always knew where it was.

"Seriously, Tomi, I'd kill for those big green eyes. That's why you're in red. Makes the green just pop out at you, ya know? And once I got those boob stuffers in there, you got one rockin' bod, babe."

"I… I'm not sure about this…I guess I've forgotten how to be comfortable being so… naked." Reaching back, she tried to fix her red bikini bottoms, which were beginning to ride up on her.

The woman clicked her tongue with a charming frown. "Rule number one: don't pick at yourself. Let the glue dry properly and it won't go anywhere."

"The problem is I think you glued it up there." Hitomi complained with a face.

"Just settle into a walk and everything will be fine. You totes look like you can use alone time with the heels, so take a stroll down the hallway to get your groove while I put some of this supplies in the back."

The blond gathered the makeup kit she had used and walked so easily, Hitomi wondered if she was somehow touched in magic in some way. Straightening her bare shoulders, the green-eyed girl took several steps without the wall and had to stop. Her ankles wobbled like a new born calf.

"Alright, Hitomi, you have gotten this far. It's time to get this right." She hissed at herself determinedly. Breathing slowly through her mouth, she took ten tiny steps. "Okay, okay, I can do this." Turning back around to walk the other way, she was startled to see someone standing right next to her.

Curved lips open slightly in complementary red lipstick that made the eye focus on her blushing cheeks; her lightly tanned skin glowed in the florescent light like an angel. The long tresses down her back fell like the hair of a mermaid waiting for her true love to hear her song. Green eyes wide and beautifully decorated in swirls of maroon and green eye shadow, it took Hitomi way too long to finally realize that the creature she was looking at was, in fact, herself. When the comprehension at last hit home, she stepped up closer, her ruby mouth dropping even further in shock.

How was this her? How could this person possibly be her? She had never looked like this in her life. Looking her body up and down, she noticed the spray tan had covered most of her bruises her sensitive skin had accumulated during the past few days. It was like every flaw was completely gone. Washed away in the magic that was… what did Pricilla call it?... glam. The fake eyelashes made her face more slender, appealing. She smiled slightly and her mouth looked… sexy…

"You're hot, but you're here to work, not ogle yourself in the mirror." Hitomi blushed brightly at being caught staring at herself in the mirror and turned to see Pricilla smiling at her. "Been a while in the glam for you, huh? I was that way my first day here. Learned it all from Tristian. The man's totes a genius with an airbrush." The blond beckoned with a finger. "Follow me. Since you are new, you get a debut. Majority of the time we come out of the side doors like how we entered, but I'm taking you out the front. You are totes a masterpiece."

Following the sway of Pricilla's hips, Hitomi tried to match her way of walking and tripped up only once.

Maybe, just maybe, she could actually pull this off. The blue-green hallway followed around a series of small steps and doors. By the time Pricilla stopped at a dub-step beaten door labeled Main Lounge, Hitomi was slowly getting the hang of her new attire. The pads of her feet already ached and the bikini bottoms felt like a thong, but at least she wasn't going to make a complete fool out of herself.

At least, she hoped she didn't.

As the blond pushed open the door, a wave of cigarette smoke and something like melted caramel wafted into Hitomi's nose and she found herself inhaling the smell deeply to get rid of the horrid burn of the perfumed hallway. Main Lounge was an encompassing dark blue; the only light available to help with navigation were single-spaced tiny green light fixtures and insanely flashing strobe lights. An array of dark wood tables and squashy couches filled the large room, which, the more Hitomi studied, the bigger it seemed to get. There was room for three full-sized bars, two dance floors, and many private nooks that were curtained off for some reason. On the walls were iridescent orbs that flashed various shades of blue and green all around the room while the strobe lights from the DJ's table bounced from sparkling ground to ceiling occasionally illuminating the wiggling bodies of the many dancers on the spangled dance floor. People were everywhere in the room, dancing, drinking, laughing, kissing, groping… the pounding music took on the lyrics of a rapper spilling out the details of his current love-making habits. Four large flat screen TVs were mounted on the walls, flashing images of people around the bar area. The green-eyed girl thought it was kind of a cool idea until one of the TV screens focused on a couple interlocked on a couch.

Her blush grew to maximum capacity.

So… this was the party scene she'd heard so much about. No wonder Yukari always told Hitomi she was no fun. She'd been to a bar or two in her lifetime, but never anything this wild. If a rampaging robot came storming in through the ceiling, Hitomi found she wouldn't be surprised. It felt as though anything could happen here. And now she was expected to act like she not only was at ease, but part of the main scene.

A lioness on the prowl…

Oh, God, this was a bad idea… she could hardly stand in her heels, let alone dance, drink, and make small chat with strangers. Stupid, stupid, stupid Van Fanel!

"Come this way!" Pricilla chirped over the music and grabbed Hitomi's hand. "The entrance is through here. Don't get lost. I already see four creeps in the corner like totes coming for you."

"Wha-for me-where?" Hitomi choked out, turning her head back and forth to catch a glimpse of who was looking at her. Brushing her new long hair out of her face with impatient hand, all she managed to see was dazzling decorations, blinking lights, and rocking bodies. How in the world was she supposed to traverse with all this blinding, sporadic darkness and heavy beats pounding her eardrums into oblivion? Letting Pricilla drag her around the back wall and zig-zag through irregularly placed tables, her heart leapt as she spotted the familiar large doors opened wide. A large golden carpet rug lined the floor like the bricks outside. Beyond that was the tell-tale snaking line of customers…

This was the line Chordata and Van were in.

The backs of at least a dozen huge men dressed in black shirts with SECURITY written in glow in the dark white stood like soldiers all around the doors. Hitomi's green eyes slipped over the expectant and excited faces of those in the front line waiting to get in and she suddenly felt like throwing up. Never in her life did she ever think she would have to perform anything. Especially not in front of a crowd filled with excitable young men gawking at her a red bikini!

The nausea turned and tried to move up her esophagus. A sheen of anxious cold sweat started appearing on her forehead and armpits. For once she was grateful for the copious amounts of perfume that beguiled her body.

She was going to need it.

"So… uh… what do I do again?" Her teeth had started chattering. Was she having a panic attack?

"Just ride the rhythm of the beats, Tomi. Wave to the crowd, smile, bat your eyelashes, tease as much as you can, but I should totes give you a warning before we go out there."

"Now you give me a warning?" she cried incredulously. Pricilla stopped and turned to face her with her blue eyes rolling.

"This should be totes 101, but don't let customers get near enough to touch you. You let them get close and we might have a problem. They tend to grab and not let go. I've seen one night were a girl got stripped naked and it took four bouncers to pull the men off of her. It was totes cray, but she wasn't careful. So, keep your distance, laugh at them, give them something they can look at, but can't touch, ya get me?"

"Totes," Hitomi answered trying to mask the fear, anxiety, panic, and outrageous dub-step that were knocking her senses off jilter.

"Put on the game face and let the fun begin!" Pricilla gave a blinding smile and she let go of her hand to walk out the doors. All the green-eyed girl could do was stare as the blond tossed her fake hair and strutted out to the nightlife like a movie star; drinking in the rigorous amount of cheers that erupted for her. Taking a deep breath, Hitomi shut her eyes for only a second picturing what she'd looked like in the mirror. Right now, she shouldn't be 'Hitomi', conspiracy theorist currently on the run from Zaibach on a quest for answers to a century old question. She had to channel from something new. A part of her she never really focused on before: seduction, charm, pose, sexuality. Her mind instantly zeroed to the image of a navy hat, a cocky smile spread on tan lips, sharp mahogany eyes that glanced her up and down with dismissal. Hitomi felt her anger and irritation rise – and along with that – her pride.

"…if you must insist, when I first saw you, I thought you were male."

Her head snapped up, her spine straightened, her hair fluttered over one shoulder, her shinning green eyes opened wide and beautiful, and on her red lips blossomed a smile she had never shown the world before. With a walk of confidence despite her slightly wobbly ankles, she made her hips sway with each stride. And- just as if she'd planned it with the DJ in the club – the continual dub-step switched to a quiet pause before dropping a beat so ridiculously eardrum-wrenching, she emerged through the doorway like a party goddess.

The group in the front line blasted her with encouraging cheers till she could no longer hear the music. Giving a timid wave, but still smiling like a secret siren, she walked slowly, allowing every movement to flow with graceful ease. Strolling past a group of girls in brilliantly colored wigs, Hitomi gave them a blowing kiss and they screamed for more.

Apparently, Joko was very free with their affections.

It was exhilaration! It was fantastic! And Hitomi couldn't get enough of it. For the first time in her life, she felt herself float away with basic instincts. No worries about running from danger, no life-threatening pursuits, no Zaibach soldiers, no translating clues left from her father...

Best of all: No Van Fanel.

It was just her, the music, and the customers. And they loved her. They cheered for her when she walked. They cat-called when she gave them a tiny shake with her hips. They wanted more of her and she was ready and willing to do it. Several called for her name, but she gave them a shushing gesture with her finger. Oh, they loved it. They were beside themselves for her. Her confidence had never been so high; her pride in her looks – which had once been nonexistent – gave her the feeling of power she'd never known before.

She was enriched by the self-reliance it gave her. The other girls had moved on to the back rows, but Hitomi made her way slowly, smiling and giggling as flirtatiously as she could. Her green eye focused on three men in bright pink suits all calling out for her. She grinned and gifted them a small sway of her hips.

She had barely made her way to the third row of customers when she registered a strange yell projecting three rows down. A woman let out a blood-curling scream and several more people joined with shouts of panic.

That was when the insanity bomb was dropped.

Every single customer split in terror; a rage of people scattering to the four winds like wild tom cats in an alleyway. Throngs of bodies ran, knocking over ropes and each other, screeching in terror. Quite a few men jumped the line and came for the Customer Receivers on the sidelines. The bouncers – though large in size – could hardly handle an intense panicked horde this size and had begun pounding anyone in their way.

So many screams, so much terror.

What the hell happened?

Dodging right and left as more people knocked past her. She was finally tilted off-balance by the three pink suited men who she had flirted with only seconds before. Two grabbed her arms while the other snatched for her ankles. Her screams were drowned out with the horde as she kicked her legs. Her right heel jammed into the man who held her knees and he doubled over with a wheeze-filled agony and was trampled by four running people. With her legs now free, she tried to retain her lost balance, but the two that had her arms were dragging her backwards, further in the shadow of the building…

Further into darkness…

Hitomi screamed again, the bands on her bare arms jingling a wretched tune about her feebleness. Their hands were too tight. They held her like she was nothing. People fled past, not stopping to help, but continuing on their own panicked road.

She was alone.

The hands threw her hard into a wall where an audible crack in her head brought stars to greet her eyes. Sliding down with a feeble cry, her skin on her back scraped on the unyielding stone and somewhere her consciousness, she registered one of the men was leaning forward and grabbing for the red ties on her bikini bottom. The other held her arms above her head, hissing at the other one to hurry up.

"No… no, stop…"

Her brain was jumbled. Her vision wavered from the dark alleyway where she currently being held to the black cold tin box in Fanelia. There, she had been trapped, waiting for her death. No hope of someone to rescue her.

And yet, someone had come.

In the train station while trying to escape the soldiers, their hands had caught her. She couldn't escape. She couldn't fight.

And yet, there he was again.

She had no hope he would come now. Why would he? Her brain flicked over the horrible things she had said to him. The impatience she'd shown with his acute observations of her. He was just being honest. Brutally so, but he was telling her what she already knew about herself. She wasn't attractive. She wasn't a glam girl.

And the few minutes that she was a riot had broken out.

Van had his good moments, even though they were few. He was brilliant and reliable and – thought she didn't want to admit it - fun to fight with.

And he was always there.

Yet, here she was, once again held down against her will. Maybe it was her fate to have been raped and killed in Fanelia. Maybe she had escaped the destiny penned out to her because of Van Fanel and now she was doomed to repeat the scenario over and over until finally she did die just like the world wanted her to go. Whatever destiny had in store for her, Hitomi knew with a weird pang in her stomach, that there was no seeing Van Fanel ever again-

The moist hands of the grabbing men froze for a moment. The air whistled over their heads with a heavy flapping wind and it tossed her long hair with it.

"Shit! What the hell was that?" The man holding her hands yelped loudly.

"Looked like a bird." The other one muttered, letting her go and backing away. "Dude, we should scram."

"That ain't a bird, man. That was…"

Something soft had landed on her stomach. It was strangely warm and light. Her green eyes cracked open to see something white …

A familiar swish like a blade slicing through air followed a blustering breeze that swept past them.

The men tore themselves from her crumpled body releasing howls of agony. Her hands dropped limply to her side. From her hazy vision, she saw one of the men cradling a spouting red arm against his chest. She blinked and her eyes cleared to see a hand lying several feet away from him. The other man head's was a blanket of blood, shining thickly from his jaw down his chest. There was a deep slash across his young face; sliced from ear to mouth. The grotesque working muscles of his cheek, teeth, and tongue were exposed in a thick gush that was beginning to dripped down to the concrete. Days ago, a sight like this would have made her fear for her life. She would be inconsolable for months, mounds of therapy bills, nightmares.

But not anymore.

The men, tossing on the dirty floor with their bodies sliced meant only one thing…

Rolling her head up against the brick, she watched with blinking fascination as a tall figure landed in front of her from the sky, his dirty tennis shoes touching gently beside her outstretched legs. A long sharp blade flicked in the air with an expert twist before catching into a waiting sheath buckled at his hip. He leaned down, a tower of two pure white wings draping off his back and spread over his head. His hair, ebony black and shining in the low light, hung long down his tan neck. As he wrapped a snug arm around her back and another circled under her legs, she was tenderly lifted off the ground. Naturally leaning the side of her face against his chest, she wrapped her trembling arms around his broad shoulders.

He was warm. So very warm.

She saw a soft line of black chest hair, felt the flex of his thin stomach, and wondered at the tenderness of his strong fingers as he cradled her against his body. A wind picked up and gently swept the black strands off his face. Looking up into his mahogany eyes, her heart clenched strangely and her stomach gave a off-putting lurch as she saw a deep wildfire within.

Heat, rage, and something else.

Fear?

He bent his head down to her. With her breath catching in her throat, she tensed in his arms.

"Are you okay?" His voice, that accent, the smell of wild grass, of pure blue sky.

All she could handle was one soft nod.

"I believe it is time to see the owner." He murmured quietly. She nodded another agreement.

Then a sudden thought struck her as she felt the wind brush against her face as his lovely wings spread wide. As she gasped at the free-falling gentle dive that escalated their speed and her hands tightened around his neck. As below her, a city full of lights and sound flashed dangerously yet beautifully like a shimmering stage set just for them.

Once again. Like a mysterious archangel.

He was there when she needed him most.

The thought brought with it both chills and a mysterious heat within her heart. Glancing at the winged man carrying her so easily, so carefully in his arms, she pressed her ear against his chest and heard his strong heart pounding a fierce beat.

Almost as fast as her own.

See what I mean? If I'm writing this kind of stuff just wait for freakin Rutilus to pop up. It's gonna be totes cray (by the way, the writer in me hates those words, but the American in me giggled every time I wrote them. I'm such an idiot sometimes).

Thanks for the read. It's been insane in the office as of late. The CEO of my company got freakin' fired on Monday and they just let go of five more people today... if I lose my job, Rutilus will probably be updated much faster because I'd be drowning myself in the action and romance instead of facing my problems like an adult.

But, let's just be clear, don't wish for me to lose my job. I quite like having money.

Have a good weekend and I hope to hear some growing thoughts and predictions.

blue...