Kasi woke up with a start. It was still pitch dark outside and she didn't know what woke her up, but something felt out of place in the room. The very next moment she felt a twang of youki and a pair of amber eyes with split pupils emerged upon her. She suppressed the prime instinct to scream and instead rolled out of her bed, or she tried to but felt herself pinned down, and a hand pressed on her mouth. „Is me, Dog," a voice croaked in her ear. She nodded. Now that the first shock washed over she recognized his youki.

He let her go and as she sat up. Dog squatted next to her bed. „What the hell are you doing here?" she asked in a whisper. "It's...," she squinted at her clock, „still deep night. It's not 2am yet."

„We have to go now," he said, looking up on her.

„Now? Go where?"

„Ya want the spear-blade or not? I found out they're doing business tonight, it's the best chance to surprise them."

Kasi looked at him. So that's what he was doing recently, why he hadn´t shown up for several days. He succeeded where she failed to get information.

„Get dressed. I'll wait for ya down," he said and with that he disappeared through the window.

Kasi groaned. She nevertheless jumped out of her bed, slid into her „working" dress consisting of tight pants, a belt where she also stacked a pair of small throwing daggers, a T-shirt and a zip-front jacket, all in black. She tied her hair on the back of her head and at last put on a pair of black leather gloves. Finally she grabbed a black backpack from her closet and then followed the same way as Dog, only she didn't jump straight down but let herself hang from the window sill before she carefully dropped down to land on her legs.

The rest of the way she got transported on Dog's back as before. There were several times when she had to bite her tongue in order not to scream - Dog was setting an incredible pace that made things around her go blurry and was fond of high places like roofs, and also of jumping from one building onto the other because, as he claimed, it was much faster than running on the ground. Kasi was not afraid of heights and she could jump from one roof to the other, provided there was not a 10m wide gap between them. Dog didn't mind 10 meters. When he finally landed and Kasi slid from his back, her legs were shaking a bit and she was glad of feeling the solid ground under her feet again.

Plan... what plan?

She looked around. „It's the ware-house district!"

„Yeah," answered Dog. „Found out they were meeting here tonight, dunno where exactly. You should be able to find 'em."

„What's the plan?" asked Kasi.

„Plan? Erm...we find 'em, we attack 'em and get the blade."

„That's it?"

„Yeah, what'd you expect ...?"

„I don't know, maybe a more thought through plan?" she threw up her arms in frustration. „Why are you so sure they still have the blade and they will trade it tonight?"

"Cause I was checking on them for several days. That thing is costly, but I think there's maybe something more to it, dunno. It smelled like youkai business and ya confirmed it last week." Suddenly he stopped took in a full breath of air. "I think I know where they'll do it."

Kasi raised her eyebrows, he really was like a dog. "Did you smell something?"

"Yeah," Dog said. "They probably made some preparations, maybe a trap. Evil youkai do evil business," he said with a frown. "Maybe they want to kill the other party and just take the money, without giving up the blade."

Kasi shuddered. A worried feeling crept up her stomach. Somehow she started to think that this thing grew too big on her. She was more a spy, not a soldier. She tugged Dog on the sleeve.

"What?"

"Dog, are you sure about this? You are talking about murders, and there's only the two of us and we don't even have a plan."

He grinned at her: "You were braver the other night, fighting alone against those thugs. Ya want the blade or not? Don' worry, I'm strong, I'll protect ya."

"I don't need protection, I can take care of myself." Kasi protested. "I'd just rather sneaked up on them and stole the blade than challenged them to open confrontation."

"Yeah, whatever. We're here." "You sure?" "Yeah, and we're first."

They stood in front of a shamble building. Although it lacked a roof, the walls were still standing and the doors were secured with rusty locks. Except for one entrance where the lock was new and shiny. Dog pointed at it. "See? They were here before, and they should come tonight again."

He walked around the building, to the other side, and he halted in front of a small door. "Good," he said and then in a flash he cut the lock with his claws and Kasi gasped. "Whoa, you can do that, just like that, whoosh and the metal is cut?"

Dog simply nodded and walked inside the moon-lit hall. They could have jumped over the walls, but an open door secured an escape way for her, should Dog be occupied elsewhere. Kasi followed him inside and looked around her. It was a single open space, but stacks of old boxes, barrels and sacks full of something created partitions and corridor-like spaces, so that they couldn't see the whole room at once. It was just as good, they could find a good hiding place for a quick ambush. Which was probably the plan. Dog sniffed the air again and pointed to an open square. "Here." They hid behind the wall of sacks and waited.

Moonlight, rats and pidgeons

Kasi thought about the lock again. "Your claws...you could easily cut a throat, or slice a person in two," she whispered.

Dog frowned. "Keh, I don't kill people,"

"You never killed a person?" asked Kasi.

Dog was silent for a moment, and then looked at his hands. "Once, they were bandits, murderers and rapists. It was long ago," he paused and shook his head. "I still smell their blood on my claws. It was not right to kill them."

"Why did you do it, then?"

He looked at her and for a moment something wild flickered in his eyes: "Was not myself at that time. Is just an excuse, I know, but can't change it now."

Kasi thought about it. "Well, I guess you lived in hard times. Is your skin invulnerable as well?"

"No," he said. "But human power cannot really harm me, only shallow wound, cut the skin. Or a very good blade, a master katana, prob'ly. "

They waited, but for a while nothing happened. Kasi grew restless, but Dog obviously didn't mind the waiting. He sat with crossed legs and arms, his eyes closed but his ears alert. As the minutes passed, the moon changed its position on the sky and its light caught on Dog's white hair, previously hid in the shadow of the stacked sacks, and it gleamed and the visual effect startled Kasi.

She pushed down his head, deeper into the shadow. He protested, but ducked nevertheless.

"Jeez, Dog, your hair shines like a damn fairy powder. Be more careful, for god's sake, it's not like you weren't flashy enough in your appearance, but your hair! Can't you do something about your hair? Like cut it? Or dye it at least?"

"I tried, didn't help. They just grew back in few hours, and the dye doesn't work at all. Is my form, I guess, cannot change it." "Oh...what about wearing a cap?" He shook his head. "I need my ears."

"Right...your ears. Then at least try to stay in the shadows as long as possible!"

They still waited. Kasi whispered again: "Where do you live, anyway? What do you eat?"

"Here and there. On streets. I catch my food, there are plenty of pidgins everywhere."

"Catch? Oh... pidgeons...ew?"

"Better than rats. But I like human food, ya know, that stuff you get at gas stations food in paper bags and cups that you can carry around, and ..."

"You like fast food? You know, sometimes you are pretty unbelievable. You know that it's unhealthy. Not good for the cholesterol...although on the other hand I don't think you have to worry about something like that" Kasi laughed.

Dog nodded. "I can't get sick. Not human sick, anyway. "Then he perked up and hushed her. "They're coming."

Rats and dogs

Kasi´s heart beat sped up as she heard the key in the lock and the squeaking of the rusty front door which was followed by shuffling legs of a group of people. Dog signalled her with his fingers, there were 8 of them. Like he predicted, after a while they appeared in the space in front of them. Kasi's senses tingled. The group consisted of young and middle-aged, wiry men of mostly Asian origin, as far as she could tell in the dim light. They were like cut out from Japanese B-movies about yakuzza. It felt too surreal, yet they were there in front of her and they looked like they were ready to cut her throat anytime. She had no choice but to quell the fear she felt inside and wait. Dog poked her arm to get her attention. He silently mouthed her: 'Boss' and shook his head. Kasi nodded. Their evil boss, the one that Kasi located on the boat, was not with them. She felt relieved. They obviously didn't reckon with any difficulties tonight. One of the men held an oblong object wrapped in some filthy cloth. It was the blade, no doubt of it. The aura it gave of was of the same quality as of the ring, only slightly stronger. It was strong enough to overpower other youki in the vicinity. She raised her eyebrow at Dog. 'What now?' He pointed a finger at her and then down on the ground – she should wait here, and then at himself and in the direction of the gang – he will attack them. Kasi shook her head vehemently. She didn't like this plan. But her protests stopped dead when she suddenly felt a blade on her throat and a hand that gripped her around her middle and forced her to stand up. A ninth thug somehow discovered them and managed to creep up on them without Dog noticing them. He was on his feet as well, crouching, a deep growl in his throat and a deadly glance in his eyes.

The thug that held Kasi cackled. "Lookie what I got here. A rat and her dog." Now the others were alert as well, looking in their direction and producing a wide array of weapons, knives, brass knuckles and chains and something like a machete. They grouped protectively around the thug carrying the blade, ready to join the fight anytime.

"Let her go," Dog snarled through barred teeth. "Or what?"spat back the thug and grazed the skin on his captive's throat with the knife. She tensed and tried not to move until the right time came to wring herself out of this situation. But she never got to that.

"Or I'll kill you," the hanyou said and without further warning sprang forward. Kasi didn't even had any time to react, to try to avoid the threatening blade or to get a scare of her imminent death, when she heard a gurgling sound behind her. The hands that grasped her got limp, the knife felt on the ground with a clank and when she spun, she saw the attacker collapsing to her feet with his eyes wide open. He didn't count with such a speed from his opponent and it proved his fatal mistake. On his throat was a deep gash filled with bubbling blood, of which the majority was spilled on his clothes and the floor below him. Kasi stifled a scream, jumped backwards from the man in agony and looked over the sacks, to the centre of the space. Dog was already in the middle of the other gang members. He was a furry unleashed, a deep red smudge among the black clad thugs. Three of them already lay on the ground, but still alive, as Kasi saw with relief. Then Dog burst out of their middle. He had the blade and run directly towards her. He thrust the heavy object into her hands: "Hold it," and before Kasi had has time to react, he picked her up in his arms along with the blade and leaped in the air. Soon they were flying over the roofs, Dog maintaining great speed with powerful leaps which easily covered over a dozen of meters.

Flight

The cold air forced Kais to grasp her senses. "Put me down," she yelled at Dog. "Put me down," she started to squirm in his arms. He slowed down and Kasi wrenched away from him before he landed properly, and sprawled ungraciously on the hard roof. But she picked herself up immediately and turned to face Dog. Her eyes were full of rage and she held the now naked spear-blade in front of her. "What was that all about?" she yelled furiously. "I thought you don't kill people. You slit his throat in cold blood!"

"Keh," he snorted. "He was about to kill you." "That's not an excuse for a murder! Couldn't you just knock him down or something? You said you don't kill people." Kasi trembled and she short of crying but she didn't want to show so much distress in front of him.

"He was youkai. That's why he was able to sneak up on us without me noticing. Didn't ya feel his youki when he was holding ya?"

"Well excuse me, I was concentrating on his knife pressed on my throat. You still didn't have to kill him."

"I didn't. It takes more than slicing a throat to kill a youkai. He'll be fine."

"He didn't look fine to me when he fell on the floor with bloody throat."

"Ya don't understand, stupid! He would have killed you in the next moment!" He looked behind him. "Them catching up with us. Let's move!" Kasi blinked away the tears that pooled in her eyes and focused her look behind Dog. Three figures were leaping from one roof to the other in similar manner that Dog had. "Youkai?" she asked.

"Three youkai, and a hanyou like me. The rest was human. I didn't kill them!" he said with obvious irritation. "So shut up and let's move!" But Kasi didn't bulge. "You fight them. You're strong enough." "But yer not!" he shouted and meanwhile the first pursuer landed on their roof. Dog turned and readied himself for an attack, then froze and swore. "Fuck! That son of a bitch, their boss is coming here as well," he said.

Then Kasi felt it. The nausea and the foul feeling in her mouth. Jaki. She shuddered.

Dog turned to her and picked her up again. "Let's get out of here," he said. "He is too dangerous, we'll deal with him later." Kasi didn't protest this time.

Before Dog leaped in the air again, Kasi saw the thug behind them pulling out a hand gun and yelled out a warning. The thug shot and she felt Dog twitch although he didn't slow down. He just snarled and then spat out: "Let's lose them first."

The thugs were quite tireless. At least the feeling of the evil jaki slowly faded away. It seemed like their boss had better business to do than join his underling pursuing the two of them. However, after a while Kasi realised with a shock that Dog was breathing heavily, as if he was exhausted. This was so at odds with what she got to know of him, that she felt worried. "You alright?"

He said through clenched teeth: "I have to land. Try to set up a barrier."

Reaching inside

"A what? How? I don´t know how?" Kasi panicked, because she had no idea what was he talking about. But they already lost altitude, and when Dog touched the ground in a narrow alley it was not so smooth as usually. He dropped to his knees and let Kasi fall with a thud. "The barrier, now!" shouted Dog.

Kasi knew it was crucial that she managed to set up this barrier, be it what it might. She closed her eyes, plunged deep into herself, to the very bottom of her soul and mind and found there what she was looking for, a thread of a power, and she pulled it out and cast it out upon them like a net. In the very moment three dark clad figures swooped through the night sky, far above them in the gap between the buildings without stopping. Kasi opened one eye and asked "Did it work?" Dog was propped on his knees and had a lopsided grin on his face. He was bent forward and holding the back of his left side with one hand. "Yeah, it did. Good job." She scrambled up on feet and, abandoning the blade for a moment, crawled to Dog " What happened?" she asked him, worried.

"They shot me," he said and pulled away his hand. There was blood on the back of his shirt. Kasi inhaled, "Oh my god," she whispered. "I thought human powers couldn't hurt you."

"That´s not human powers. Guns are stronger. Just have to stop the blood, I'll be alright."

Kasi examined the wound closer. "The bullet is still inside." She frowned. "It should have been a clean shot- through, I don't understand. There's only muscles there"

"Is because I'm half youkai. My muscles are stronger, they stopped the bullet," Dog twisted his torso with a flinch and tore his shirt to expose the entry gash.

Kasi pulled out her knife and frowned. "We have to take out the bullet, but we don't have anything to sterilize it with. You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?"

Dog snorted. "Keh, I don't need no sterilisation and no hospital. Besides, they couldn't cut deep enough with common steel blades anyway."

"How do we get the bullet out?" Kasi asked.

"Like this," said Dog and, to Kasi's great horror, he plunged his claws right into his flesh on the front side and plucked out the bullet without as much as a flinch. He only clenched his teeth and exhaled in relief, when the "operation" was over.

Kasi gaped at him. "Are you nuts? You could have hurt yourself!" she yelled at him but Dog only grinned.

"Blah, don't panic, look, the wound is already closing."

It was true, the bleeding stopped and the sides were already pulling close. Kasi forgot her irritation for a while and observed him with fascination. Youkai were something, after all, even those of half breed.

Dog propped himself against the wall. "Let me rest for half an hour, and I'll be fine again. That barrier was awesome, by the way." He told her.

The barrier! Kasi has all but forgotten all about the barrier, and the blade as well. She spun, picked up the discarded object and sat down next to her partner. "I have no idea what I've done and how I've done it."

"Well, ya done a great job anyway," he said and closed his eyes.

Respite

Once they rested for a while Dog declared himself ready to take Kasi home. She insisted on walking, but he cut her short by explaining that it would leave more marks to aid their followers in tracking them, than if they travelled through air. But he promised her not to jump too far and to restrain his stride.

When he dropped her off in her room, she put the blade under the bed after she carefully wrapped it again in a piece of fabric. She was glad to get rid of it. Dog told her to set up the barrier again, and Kasi searched for the now familiar thread of power inside her. "Did it work?" she asked when she thought she did what she was meant to. "Dunno. I think so. You...it was impressive what ya did there. The barrier and so. Without proper training, I mean. Yer more powerful than I thought ya'd be."

Kasi threw her shoulder. "Well, you'd be amazed of what you're capable of when worried about your very life. But you definitively have to tell me more about these miko-powers, or how you call them." "Uh-huh, will come to that, no worry."

Then Dog asked her after the ring.

"I don't have the ring anymore," she said.

"What? Where is it?" he sounded irritated, as he perched on the table chair. He obviously liked to perch on things, Kasi thought to herself.

She sighed and sat on the bed. She was exhausted. "I gave the ring to my grandpa. Actually it was an assignment from him, to find it. But of course you wouldn't know, I never got the chance to tell you what I am doing. It's a long story."

"Well, you better start then," he said without flinching or taking the hint.

Kasi puffed out a breath of capitulation. She took down her shoes and unbuckled her belt, and also shed her jacket. Then she found a more comfortable position on the bed and started to talk. It took nearly an hour until Dog's curiosity was at least a bit satisfied, although not entirely. He kept her asking, but Kasi was so exhausted that she barely answered and so he finally gave in. He announced, however, that he'll stay with her, just in case. He jumped on the floor and propped his back against the far end of her bed, crossed his legs and arms and closed his eyes.

Kasi didn't have the power to argue with him, because she was sleeping before her head hit the pillow.

In the fiend's lair

Gecko sat on her chair with crossed her legs. She was not amused at all. She looked over her gathering with half-closed eyes and lips pressed thin in annoyance. She was sitting in a badly lit room, in a seat on a raised dais, like she was some queen. In some sense she was. She was the queen and ruler of this ragged band of thugs, petty youkai, outcast hanyous and other sort of criminals. Most of them she brought with her from Japan, some of them she picked along the way in China and others she recruited among in the Chinatown underground scum in big cities here. She was the only reason they were able to survive in this hostile, strange world, so far away from their roots and traditions. They thanked her for everything. Rage distorted her beautiful face - and still they managed to screw up majorly this time. It all was their fault. She called on one of her underlings.

"Report, Slime." She tapped her finger on the armrest. "How come two people- against you nine- were able to steal the blade and beat you up?"

Forth came a small, wiry man. His forehead and neck was covered with beads of sweat, although upon closer examination they looked like little blobs of slime. It was clear where he got his moniker from.

"They were not human, boss." Gecko raised an eyebrow and pressed together her lips. The man paled and gulped nervously. The slimy dribbles slowly slid down his temples and around his nervous Adam's apple. He sank on his knees and touched the ground with his forehead. "My lady."

"Go on," she beckoned.

"At least one of them was a youkai, m'lady."

"A hanyou," interrupted him another beaten looking man who sported a half-closed gash around the front half of his neck. "He reeked of mixed blood, human and inu-youkai, m'lady."

He stood next to Slime in front of his youkai ruler. He was taller and even more sinewy than his companion, but not less ugly. His face was haggard and the skin hung tight on his cheekbones and a prominent chin. His eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out of his head. The sides of his face and nose were covered with various sized and coloured warts, which got him his nickname, Wart. Obviously, originality was not at demand in this part of the world.

"An inu-youkai bastard, how interesting," Gecko said, but her mouth twisted with hatred. "And the other one? A girl, as I heard."

"Yes, my lady," said Slime. "But she was no ordinary either. She was human alright, but there was definitely something strange about her."

"Definitely," agreed Wart. "I held her, I almost killed her, but..." He scratched his wound. "The inu bastard attacked me. He was very quick and very strong."

"You mean stronger than you, a full youkai," said Gecko with apparent sarcasm. Wart shrank together. "Ye..eah...m'lady."

"He got hold of the blade and then they ran away," Slime tried to rescue his comrade. "And it's strange but he...he didn't kill anyone."

"And then you followed them, right, Slime?" asked Gecko "You shot him. Surely you'd be able to follow a strong scent like a blood trail, or am I mistaken?" Her voice was sugar-coated poison, and her henchmen knew it. Slime ran his hand through his mucked forehead which only made it worse.

"We did, my lady. We followed the scent trail for quite a while. But it suddenly disappeared."

"Did it, really? Just like that?" Gecko's voice started to show irritation. She flapped her crossed leg in raising frequency.

"Yes, m'lady. It vanished into thin air, just like both of them."

The other members of the gang raised a nervous murmur and in short while the underground room hummed like a wasp nest, when Gecko stood up. "Silence!" she yelled.

"You useless lot, all of you! You've got one job to do, and you fuck it up majorly!" she bellowed. "The ring is already gone who knows where, and now you lose the blade as well, you stupid scum! Stolen. By a girl and a hanyou. From a group with four full youkai and five other grown men!" Gecko trembled visibly with rage and the band of haggard men shivered of terror. She finally calmed down and in a normal voice she beckoned the two thugs to her.

"Slime, Wart, come here. Closer." Wart grasped nervously at his throat and made a few shaky steps forward. Slime followed him after a short hesitation.

When they were in front of her throne, Gecko descended the dais and leaned very close, as if she wanted to embrace them like a mother welcoming her children, or a lover who wanted to whisper something in the ear of his beloved one. Then she straightened and seated herself upon her raised seat again.

The room was dead silent. The tranquillity was broken by a strange sound of someone gasping at air like he was choking. Slime fell first, without a sound, face down, and didn't move again. Then Wart collapsed, sprawled on his back and with the strange gurgling sound coming from the re-opened wound on his throat. His mouth was gaping: his tongue was black and swollen, his eyes popping open and clouded over with a green membrane. Now he was really dead.

Gecko leaned back and scrutinized her ragged retinue. "Get them away," she beckoned to a pair of underlings, meaning the dead bodies.

"I hate failure and I hate stupidity. But most of all I hate when someone makes a fool out of me." Her voice was now calm and cool, but the thug didn't dare to relax yet. They voiced their agreement quickly with a short clatter.

"I do not want more incidents like this one. No one steals from Gecko."

Again the affirmative collective murmur washed through the room while the two designed thugs pulled away Smlime and Wart. Their dead bodies left a trail of a dark, foul smelling liquid. Gecko wrinkled her nose and stood up again.

"Gash and Crawley, follow me to my rooms. We have things to find and people to kill," she beckoned at two of her followers. As she left the crowd, she murmured under her nose with a hatred filled-flash in her eyes: "Cursed inu-youkai..."