"Sorry for inviting you over on such short notice, Kei-san," Alex bent her head in apology. "Worick and Nicolas can't cook, and since they were out, I couldn't figure out where to buy groceries, so -"

"It's fine!" Kei chirped, her mood now much calmer than a week ago. "And I told you, stop it with the honorifics, please. It makes me feel stiff and formal - kinda makes me nervous, like how Cody is around Nico."

"A-alright," Alex stammered, but smiled a little at her new friend's joke. The girls had warmed up to each other over the past few days, Kei's sweet personality and the cheery atmosphere that seemed to follow her around making it easy for them to start talking. Alex admired her strength and kind heart, almost immediately making Kei her role model in Ergastulum. As she cut dough into strips, she wiped her forehead.

"Handkerchief?" Kei offered, digging one out of her pocket. Alex accepted with a smile and a nod.

"You always seem to have whatever's needed somewhere on you, Kei," She commented, taking care to not say 'san' anymore. Kei laughed.

"I got used to it after living with the doctor and Nina. Nina's a kid, so that's not news, but the doctor can be a bit … absentminded, so I always have the basics on me - a bit of money, a bit of food, the works." She shrugged. "They're great folks, but … "

"Oh, I can totally relate," Alex agreed. "It's like that living with the Benriya, too. They're soo… " She struggled to find the proper word.

"Immature?" Kei supplied. Alex grinned.

"Yes, that's it." They burst into giggles as Kei reached for a knife and some apples.

"Worick's inappropriate as ever. He was better when he was young, but Nic?" She blew a strand of hair from her face. "Bleh. He's actually quite cheeky, that big doofus."

"Who's a doofus?"

"Ahh!" Both girls shrieked. Alex dropped the dough she was holding.

"Oh, speak of the devil, it's Worick and Nic!" Kei yelped. Alex laughed, and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"Hey, that's not nice." Worick poked his head into the kitchen. "Mm, what's that? Apple pie? Great, you keep doing that. I'll go shower." As he left, Nic strode in, shirt already off - probably in the wash, waiting for semi-permanent bloodstains to soap themselves out. If Kei weren't Kei, she'd probably be distracted from her apple-cutting by the muscles rippling across his torso.

But she was Kei.

So, oh well.

She sliced quickly and precisely. Kei was skilled at cooking - she was skilled at many, many things, in fact - but it was hard to not accidentally chop a finger off with Nic hovering over her shoulder. Alex was being no help in the matter, giggling quietly and casting lingering glances at his curiousity. Briefly, Kei wondered why on Earth was she - the one with the knife who could stab him at any second - the one being bothered. Ignoring that nagging thought, she licked her lips and continued to ignore him.

" … " Meanwhile, Nic continued to inch closer and closer, until she was between 'a wall and a hard place', his crotch pressed suggestively against her … well, her ass. Kei refused to be fazed, however, and kept on cutting. She could feel his breath on her neck now; it was warm and sultry, making it ever more complicated for her to slice without committing self-harm.

"Nic, move please," Kei mumbled, slightly annoyed. He ignored her, and latched onto her waist, nuzzling his face into her neck. Kei dropped the knife in surprise, struggling to get out of his iron hold.

"Ack, Nic, get off!" She whined. Alex tried to cover up another laugh - failed. "You're just like Nina, I swear - oh, wait, now I know where she gets it." Kei muttered under her breath. Then, to her shock, Nic, with a big shit-eating grin on his face, reached around to grab an apple slice and shoved it into his mouth. Kei gasped. "Nico!"

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Worick was missing a shirt this time as well. As soon as he saw Nic with his arms around Kei he chuckled. "Wow, already doing inappropriate things to your beloved princess, I see."

Kei's bantering grin curled into a pout. "He wants to steal food, not molest a poor innocent girl." Nic hummed, chewing his apple slice.

"Hear that, Nicolas?" Worick's tone was leering towards lecherous, nailed it. "That's practically an invitation!"

"Keep right on talking, Worick-san, and maybe me and Alex will be eating seconds tonight."

"Meanie!" He complained, but left the room. Nic finally let go of her to sign:

'Does that mean I won't get anything?' Kei pretended to think it over, then giggled.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that if you keep on eating those apples, no one's gonna be eating anything!" Nic smirked, and stole another piece before escaping to the living room. Kei squealed.

"Nico!" He stuck his tongue out, followed by a toothy smile. Kei growled.

"That's it, you're dead!" She threw her apron onto the floor with a thwack, and sprinted after him. In the time that it took her to get out the door, Nic already had on a fresh shirt, boots, and was running down the street like his life depended on it.

(Which, we assume, it probably did.)

As he dashed past Grandma Joel's stand - "What in tarnation is that damn Tagged up to this time?" - He rounded a corner into the market, a grimace on his face. Kei came running past the cigarette place not too soon after - "You crazy men are scaring away the customers! Oh, Kei dear, he went thataway," - but turned in the opposite direction when she got to the intersection.

"Damn him!" She panted. "Damn him, damn him, damn him!" She skidded to a stop once she realized that she'd hit a dead end in some alley. "Oh, fuck this!" She shouted to no one, stomping furiously. "Well, this is just great!" She backed up a few steps, preparing to vault over it, when she ran into something. "Ah!"

"Well, well, well. Look what we've got here." She rubbed the back of her neck, before turning slowly to see a mafia member - sticky-uppy blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty decent looking - and Co, a group of rough-looking men who were all wearing perverted grins and guns in their holsters. Kei frowned as the leader advanced on her. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing out here all alone?" Kei's eyes narrowed when she heard the jingle of a chain, the clanking of metal plates, and caught the shining of metal from out of the corner of her eye, but chose to not say anything. "Wanna play, little miss?"

"Pft. With trash like you? In your dreams." Kei flapped a hand, cool as Friday. "Maybe if you ask nicely, I won't ask my friends to hurt you."

"Hurt me? P'shaw, like that'll ever happen." He leaned in close, grabbing her chin and tilting her head forcefully. Kei met his gaze with a levelled look. "Maybe they won't even find out about us - not if we kill the messenger, no?" He smiled broadly, and Kei refused to flinch when his hands moved to grope her chest. "How about this - you shut up and obey us." He moved to rid her of her clothing - appropriately, Kei regretted her choice of wearing a cropped shirt and hot shorts - and as soon as his fingers brushed the straps of her bra, there was the schnick! of a blade being drawn. He swivelled, but hands didn't leave her body.

"Who's there?" He frowned when a figure stepped out of the shadows, then laughed out loud when all he saw was a short half-Asian man, holding a katana - a freaking katana? In this day and age? What, was he trying to make a statement? - and expressionless. "Ha, who're you, a samurai? Come to kill me on behalf of protecting this chick?" Kei finally cringed a little when he licked his lips, standing behind her and running his hands -his disgusting, immoral hands - down her sides, slowly trailing them lower and lower until they got to the hem of her pants. "Pretty thing, ain't she?" The man's grin stretched from ear to ear, like that of the Cheshire Cat. "But pretty things are meant to be broken - eventually." His hands dipped into the front of her shorts.

Something, somewhere, crashed to the ground.

Broke.

Colors turned to negatives.

The world split into frames. Cracked.

El Nino raged somewhere to the south.

Then the man's head whipped to the side. Right. Left. Frantic.

"Hey, where'd she go?" A slight breeze curled across his skin. He looked up. There was a ripping sound.

"Ah … ahh!" His men wheezed. Every vein, muscle and artery in Nic's body tensed, taut as the strings of a guitar. Something hit his foot. He looked down.

A human head rolled to a stop at his feet.