Gaijin

by ContraBardus

A man from another world finds himself alone in a strange world, and fighting for his life. This puts him at odds with The Senshi, the Youma, and the Yakuza. Can a mere human last long against such forces?

32. Chapter 32

Gajin

Part 31

Day of the Devil.

OooOOooOO

A haze surrounded his eyes as he slowly came too.

"Ah, you are awake. I admit, I am a bit surprised you came to me for aid my old friend."

A familiar voice to him, one he'd not heard in a few years. "You were near."

"I imagined that was your motivation."

"Takeshi. What happened to me?"

A face the boy would know, the man he'd met when he'd kidnapped Yoshi. There was a bright light behind his head, and the man was lying on his back.

"Your back was broken. Your entire left side was paralyzed. I'm surprised you were able to drag yourself to my doorstep to be honest. You are more fortunate to have found your way to me. We were able to repair the damage."

"What happened?"

"You almost didn't make it out of your meeting. Yoshida is taking care of things for you, though I'll be surprised if he is expecting you. You've been dead for a few weeks."

The last thing the man remembered was crawling half blind on his right arm and leg across the pavement. He was soaking wet and pulled himself into the doorway of a building that was familiar to him. It was a warehouse in the industrial district.

"If I'm awake, I take it I'm well enough to move about on my own?"

"Yes. Feel free to get up and have a look at what I've done if you like. I'm sure you'll be finding it useful. We have a mutual problem. I'll let your friends inform you of the details when you get back. You've been gone a while."

OooOOooOO

Carrot stretched his arms and yawned as he looked back over his shoulder at the temple like home of the Ninja clan, there were small simple homes dotting the mountainside around it, well hidden in the trees. The people there were dressed simply, and went about their business. It looked like a normal small class neighborhood almost. It was much too clean, and everyone looked healthy. Carrot found it looked a bit surreal as he glanced around as he walked off the grounds with Kei. She'd been next to him the whole time he'd been awake, and hadn't spoken much. He'd mostly ignored her, she wasn't setting off his danger senses at all anymore. Both of them had been getting a lot of stares. The village was surprised to see the kunoichi at all. He had been expected, the fact that she was with him seemed to make it worse. Everyone seemed to know about the fight they'd been having. The girl had cut her ties to the clan because of how bad her curse had gotten.

The boy glanced back over his shoulder. "You don't have to hang around me forever you know."

"I don't trust the clan much just yet. If you weren't half dead, I wouldn't have brought you here. I'm not certain all of them have heard of your kindness just yet." The girl growled a little as she spoke.

"Well, my place is crowded enough. I can't have you following me around when I'm working either."

"You don't think I'm good enough?" She seemed a little irate with him.

"I don't want to be connected to people I know outside of that job." He was annoyed at the subject as well. He crossed his arms and started pouting a bit as he walked. "Plus, without that knife, some of the monsters I fought would tear you apart. You haven't met Carnage. Pray you don't."

That caught the girl off guard. "I can't stay here. I'll never be a member of the clan again. They won't turn me away with you, but I won't be permitted to live here."

This didn't help his mood. "Great." He had a feeling he was going to have to buy something expensive to fix his problem. "Another one." He realized that he could make them take her back. If not as a member of the clan, he doubted they would tell him no if he decided she should stay there. He didn't feel like pushing the issue, and didn't want to annoy them too much at first. The truth was, he needed to move out, but there was too much going on there as it was. He needed to check in with Yoshi, Mei Lin would follow him if he left now, not that he could blame her. He'd met Carnage, and he was smart enough to realize she felt more secure with him around most of the time. The senshi were fine, but Usagi was something he needed to avoid. He had to do something about her soon. Without the Senshi around to keep Beryl and her two remaining butt pirates in check, he had to find ways of dealing with it himself. It was becoming more and more impossible to do that, he hadn't heard from them in more than a month. "Shit." He hated thinking. It always reminded him of just how much crap had ended up heaped onto his shoulders somehow. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten involved in the first place. "No. I know why now." His face was becoming red as he glared at the path ahead and kept moving.

"Who or what is Carnage?"

These weren't topics the boy liked much. "It's a really psychotic monster. Trust me, if you see something that looks like it's made out of blood, don't even try to fight. Just get the hell out of there. I wouldn't even try to fight it on my own." He knew that he would have too at some point. Monsters had an irritating habit of catching him on his own.

"Fine." The kunoichi seemed a bit irritated with him as well.

By this point they were just walking amongst the trees back towards the city. It was a few miles out, but not far from the edge of the suburbs. Kei's flying costume had been destroyed in the fight. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt with a jean jacket. He was wearing the same thing, but had declined the jacket. His costume was in a bag that was hung over his shoulder.

He hadn't really been introduced to anyone while he was there. Hakage was the only other ninja he spoke too, as others were mostly busy with daily duties. There were classes being taught to students of varying age groups. The adults didn't come inside the school much, and the teachers were all instructing classes. Hakage was in charge of things, the role of principal fell on his shoulders. It had been a very polite and formal meeting. He'd taken a day to get back onto his feet, but was too worried about what had gone wrong while he'd been out to stay around to meet everyone.

"You're in a bad mood." Kei frowned at him and walked with her hands behind her back as she glared at the back of his head.

"I'm worried about what I'm going to find when I get back." He didn't bother to look back at her. "Plus, since you can't fly, we have to take mass transit to get there."

"I'll catch up."

"You don't know where we're going yet."

"What could have gone wrong?"

"That's an understatement I'm not going to bother to explain. Trust me, something has gone wrong." He did look back at her and didn't look very angry. He looked somewhat depressed. She seemed like the type of girl who wouldn't shut her mouth once she got started. Things had been relatively quiet up until they had started to leave.

"Do you have a feeling or something?" She seemed a little confused.

"No. I don't need one to know something has gone wrong." He shrugged and kept his pace.

"Fine. I'm not leaving unless you kill me though. If you're gone too long, I'll find you." She looked away into the woods as she said it and didn't sound very passionate on the subject.

"As long as that means you aren't going to stay right next to me all the time, fine. I don't care what you do, and I'm sure we'll find a use for you."

"Is that why I'm not dead?" Another casual comment.

"Pretty much. If you're really hanging around, you're about to step into a pile of shit that goes up to your neck." He seemed to relax a bit and became casual as well, putting his hands into his pockets as he walked.

Kei was caught off guard by that comment. "What do you mean?"

"I don't like talking about it enough to explain it all. You'll figure it out. Trust me."

She growled at him a little. "Are you always like this?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You of all people should know how screwed up my life is most of the time. We're practically on the brink of the kind of destruction you can't imagine. I can't do anything about it, but I have to fix a few things so the people who can do something about it don't fail miserably. Welcome to the fifth level of hell." He almost looked like saying it made him feel better.

The girl gave a small sigh and hung her head. He seemed to be out of his mind, but from what she knew of him, he wasn't kidding. She didn't feel much like asking him any more questions at the moment. He was pretty much ignoring her presence if she wasn't speaking to him. It was unsettling, she'd been trying to kill him only a few hours before he'd gone out. He seemed far too relaxed, and wasn't very interested in her. "He's not stupid, what's with him? He should be watching me like a hawk if he's not planning on killing me." Any reaction at all she would understand, but to be ignored was confusing, and frustrating. She was left not knowing what to do. He didn't seem to want her around, but didn't seem to care much she was there. It was very odd.

OooOOooOO

Yoshida stared out at the city lights. It had grown dark, and the moon shined down on Tokyo. He was in the main office of the Hisami building. He was relaxed, holding his head up with his finger and thumb ans he reclined in the chair behind the desk and simply watched the city at night. The neon reflected off the surface of his glasses as he turned the chair around.

The door to the office opened and a large familiar figure walked into the room, removing a hat from his head. A long coat covered his shoulders, and a suit and tie could be seen underneath. "Yoshida."

The tall thin man's eyes went wide as he stood up slowly. "Sir."

"I trust you have kept my affairs in order while I've been gone?"

"Yes, sir." He took a glance down at his drink and back up at Hisami as he stood there staring him down with a cold frown on his face.

The old man smiled a little. "I'm afraid it's not the drink. I have business to attend, and I need to be sure you remember your position in my organization."

Yoshidia nodded and stepped away from the chair and around the desk slowly. "You survived? Might I ask how, if it's not of concern to you.:"

"An investment paid off. Where is my son?"

"Hakage killed him."

",,,"

"The boy has your sword."

Hisami was shaking with rage. The tall man stepped back a little under the glare he was getting. "The boy?"

"Yes sir. I have kept your affairs in order as best I could. You will find little has changed."

The old man nodded and walked over to his chair to plop himself down. "I see."

Yoshida looked calm as he stood in front of the desk in a familiar position. He was far from comfortable, he'd seen the old man with that look in his eyes before. People in the room with him often died when he had it.

The old man was running his finger down the side of his face, thinking with his maddening angry stare locked onto his number two man. "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Only that I hope to be of further surface to you in the future."

"You may leave."

"Let me know if you need anything." The tall man bowed and turned away from the desk towards the elevator.

Hisami briefly considered killing him. His glare never left the man's back as he walked away. He was smart enough to leave him be for the time being. Yoshida was good at keeping things running, and he would be useful until he concluded his other business. The worm knew better than to step on his toes as well. It would be hard to replace him. There were a few things he needed to take care of before he could announce his presence again. He needed his number two man for that.

OooOOooOO

Carrot had his fist balled up. He was standing by Gia as the woman looked Michiru over.

They were standing in the back storage room of the bar. There was a cot in the back corner next to a sink and a small table. The trash was full of bloodied bandages, but the mess had been cleaned up. The girl wasn't awake and her breathing was slow and shallow.

"He did a good job patching her up." The woman stood up and looked over her shoulder at the boy. Jiro was standing behind him with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face.

The boy had frozen the moment he walked into the room and saw her lying there. He'd yet to move, his fist was balled up and he glared in silence.

"How long do I have until she wakes up?"

Both of the adults looked at him in surprise. Jiro uncrossed his arms and stepped forward. "I don't think she'll be able to do much for at least three or four weeks.'

"Tell me who did this. Who gave the order, who carried it out?" He seemed calm and though neither of the other two knew it, he wasn't even looking at Michiru. Something else had caught his attention on the wall just above her shoulder.

"Why would I know that?" Jiro shrugged.

"If you find out anything, you need to tell me. We have to take care of this before she recovers. It's important." He had put his chin into his hand and looked almost thoughtful, never taking his eyes off the wall.

"I'm afraid my getting any more involved with this than I am could be dangerous."

The boy turned to look at him. "Her father was an undercover cop. His cover got blown, and someone hired a hit on her family. I'll wager she's all that's left." He seemed very serious, but calm and soft spoken.

"So, you have heard? I knew about her father, though what the particulars of..."

"I am not a police officer, and I'm not stupid. There's something going on here that you don't understand. I have to get to them first, before she recovers. It will be bad for you if I don't."

"Is that some kind of threat?" The old man was angry, but tried to cover it up as amusement.

"No. That means something to me." He pointed his finger to the wall. There was a small carving of an elongated stylized skull in the wood. "This situation is more dangerous than you might realize."

"That's been there for..."

The boy leaned in and brushed his thumb against it. "No, it's still fresh." He stood back up and dusted his hands off as he looked at Jiro. "If you can't help me, point me in the right direction. I've got my own ways of finding things out. This needs to be taken care of. It's more pressing than you might think"

"What it means?" Jiro arched his eyebrow as he peered at the crude carving.

Carrot didn't bother explaining. "Something like this doesn't happen on your turf without some sort of notice. Not if whoever it is doesn't want you getting offended and complaining, the other factions will expect Hisami to respect your claim on the area. It would make them look bad not to say something first. Maybe you didn't know the specifics, but you can tell me who's been conducting affairs in your house."

The old man was giving him a stern glare, but remained speaking in a calm tone. "Hisami."

"Even dead he's still a prick. I can figure out who her dad was involved with, I'm betting I can find the who and why if I can get my hands on his case files. Expect them to disappear soon."

"This is a dangerous game." Jiro seemed worried as his anger seemed to abate a little, Gia had already left for the front of the bar. She was smart enough to realize early on that she shouldn't be listening in.

"I'm equipped to deal with it." Carrot didn't seem very upset, even standing next to his bedridden girlfriend. His eyes were hard, but he seemed cold and calm. "There won't be any connection to you. I'll make a point of making sure they know this is personal. I've got other sources I need to squeeze. I'd prefer it if you just forgot about this conversation."

The old man nodded and shrugged. "You look like you could use a drink."

OooOOooOO

Kei was sitting with a large gruff looking man in his thirties behind the bar. He was giving her a rather cold stare and seemed to be getting annoyed. "Yer deaf? Bar's closed."

"I'm not thirsty." She didn't feel like getting into it with some dumb grunt.

"You got business here?"

"Not with you." She shrugged and drew a line in the counter top with her fingertip.

"You want da boss den?" He seemed to calm a little. "He's busy, yer gonna have ta..."

"No. I don't need to see him either." Most thugs were smart enough to stop asking questions at that point.

"If yeh ain't got a reason to be here, ya gotta leave. We're closed." The man puffed himself up and tugged on the collar of his leather jacket.

"You're going to act tough for a sixteen year old girl?" She looked up at him with wide eyes and a half cocked grin. "What would your mother say to that?"

"Err." The thug looked a bit confused and his face flushed. "Look. Come on, I'm tryin ta be nice about dis. Yer not really old enough to be here."

"I've got business, it's none of yours, leave me alone and I won't bother you. How is that?"

"Yer just gonna sit dere?"

:"Yeah." The girl seemed a little relieved to have gotten somewhere with him at all.

"Okay." The man shrugged and continued to set up the back of the bar. The bar would be opening in about an hour.

Carrot was only a little surprised to see Kei at the bar when he walked out of the back room. Jiro froze like a dear in headlights, he didn't walk into the room and stayed in the doorway.

"Hey Spike."

The boy glanced up to see the larger man looking back at his boss.

The old man walked behind the bar and kept his eyes on the girl as he walked up to her and ignored the other two. Spike was between them, and seemed confused as he realized he was being used as a shield. "What are you doing here?" He seemed nervous and swallowed a little.

"Waiting on my boss."

"Boss now is it?" Carrot frowned at her as he seemed to realize that Jiro had met Kei before.

The old man's eyes shifted to the boy. "What?"

"I told you I could handle what needs to be done. Don't worry about it." He strolled towards the door and walked outside into the street. "I'll be by to pick up Michiru soon. I can get her into a hospital without a name or getting any questions asked. The parking lot of the bar wasn't very large and he walked along the sidewalk on the other end and down the road for a bit with the Ninja girl following close behind him. He flipped the cell phone on his belt open and lifted it up to his ear after pressing a few buttons. "Kajura. Yes, it's nice to hear from you too. What can you give me about the name Kaio? As in, a recently slain undercover officer, working for an unknown area of Japanese law enforcement. I'm only interested in what he was working on." The boy paused and nodded. "None of your business how I know. I take it you do know something, working with you was he? Interesting." He was looking at his fingernails as he said it and dug a bit of dirt out of one of the corners of his nails with his thumbnail. "Who was he investigating, and what for?" The boy paused his stride and looked around. "I hate meeting with you, it's better when you're not within arms reach. Makes resisting the urge to punch you easier to curb. I also don't trust you." The boy nodded and ripped a page out of a phone book from a nearby booth.

Kei glanced down over his shoulder and realized he was writing names down, five of them. Familiar names, people she used to work for.

The boy pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment as a bit of colorful language was shouted from the other end. "No, I'm going to make them disappear. If you'd like to arrest one in particular, I'll be happy to leave a long messy paper trail right too him."

Another long string of profanities filtered through the ear piece. Carrot held the phone away from his head and sighed. "No, I was going to trick them into doing it for me themselves. Shouldn't be too hard. Thing is, there will be a last man standing. Which do you want?" He was looking at the list in his hand and frowned. "You sure? Fine. I'll pick then. I'll call you and let you know when you should show up. If you do what I say, you'll catch him with the gun in his hand. Later, and thanks. I needed these names."

Carrot hung up the phone and rubbed at his temples for a moment. "Why does he think I care about what sort of paperwork he has to fill out, honestly." Walking back to the clinic would be a good way to pass the time, and he had a few calls to make. "Will you take care of something for me Kei?"

"You want me to kill them?" Her eyes fell a little as she looked away.

"No. I want you to do what I tell you, so they do it themselves. I'm gonna need more than one ninja for this, you're the next best I know at sneaking around. I get attacked so often, I'm not reliable to put enough attention as I'd need to get it right. I need someone who knows them, their habits, and what sort of things they are into. We're going to be making up a few obvious double crosses, should be fun."

"Where do you want to start? I know these men well enough, and I don't mind killing them." Kei shrugged and kept up pace.

The boy glanced at her for a moment. He was a bit surprised at her tone, she seemed confident, and sure of herself.

"I said you could kill me, and you still may, but I never said I would obey you. I'm just not leaving."

"Just don't get cocky. It will get you killed."

"If you want my life, by all means..."

"I wasn't talking about me."

"Can you be any more boring? You sound like my mother!" She crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the are, looking genuine in her irritation with him.

The boy narrowed his eyes at her and glanced over his shoulder. He didn't reply and kept walking

The reason why frustrated her a little. "I didn't like my mother. I'm not upset that you killed her, it made my life easier when she died." She looked away towards the ground and hugged her elbows a little. "She didn't want me to love her, and I didn't."

The boy hung his head and gave a heavy sigh. "I don't need protection. You want to watch my back, fine, but you can't do it if you're in the way."

"Why would I be in the way? I nearly killed you."

"Because you're too headstrong, looking to prove yourself, and over confident in your own abilities. Don't think I didn't notice how far you fell behind me without that knife. I know you're not useless, but you've weakened, and you'll do more harm than good getting in over your head. This is a war involving magic, really strong magic. Like, I need more than that sword to stay alive kind of magic. I don't want you getting yourself cursed again just to help out either. It was bad enough the first time, and I'll probably end up dealing with it if you do. Things like this have a way of biting me in the ass later."

"Why are you so slow suddenly then?" She strolled by him at a faster pace miffed at his criticism.

The boy growled at that and kept his own pace. He'd gotten himself to the bar in an awful hurry, and he hadn't fully healed from his fight yet. He couldn't rush back if he'd wanted too. It also meant he'd have to wait another day or two to get started himself. "Don't confuse injured with weak." He dialed a new number on his phone. "Hakage? We have another 'patient', I'll be driving her later. She's stable enough to move." Carrot narrowed his eyes as he took a single moment's glance back towards the bar. He could keep her drugged if he needed more time, but only a day or two. It would be a good way to keep an eye on her while she recovered as well."

OooOOooOO

The boy had decided walking was the best way to get where he was going. He'd taken the train into the city, but once he'd arrived, he blended in with the hustle and bustle. "Do try and keep up."

Kei frowned, and then gasped as he vanished into the crowd in front of her. "How does he do that?" she growled as she made a similar exit.

Carrot was having a good chuckle about throwing the girl off as he strolled into an alleyway. She'd touched a few sore spots, and forced him to talk about subjects he'd been avoiding. It was a small victory, and he knew it was a bit shallow. If nothing else, she knew where he'd end up.

"Jeeze, she's been stuck to me like glue. What the hell am I gonna do about her?" He glared at her a bit as she moved off through the crowd towards the clinic.

As he turned to move down an adjacent alleyway to make sure he'd lost her and get a bit of time to himself as he made his way home. We all know how well a plan like that can go at times.

Carrot cussed as something landed in front of him and sent his senses blaring. He hopped back and stuck to a wall looking up at what the hell had almost landed on top of him. Standing in front of him was a man wearing what could have been a small sheet over his body. His head looked like a pillow case hood with a wooden noh mask sewn into one end over what appeared to be a man's face. Carrot felt fortunate the man was wearing pants as a rather dramatic wind blew through the alley. "Um, nice table cloth."

"I know that voice."

"Great. I don't know you. An explanation would be nice." The boy wasn't in the mood, or condition for a fight. "Come on buddy. I've had a rough day, and I don't want any more trouble."

"Never seemed to bother you!" The sheet clad man rushed forward and punched at the boy, he blocked and flipped over the man's head to the other wall and bounced back into a kick to the back of his head.

Carrot was a bit surprised when his foot was grabbed and he was twisted and tossed out of his kick and into the side of a dumpster. "Ow." He staggered out of a pile of plastic bags while the figure in the mask waited motionless in the middle of the alley.

"Tell you what. I'll come back later, when you're less pissed off." The boy jumped onto a wall and sent out a line. He pulled a mask from his pocket and pulled it on over his head as he flipped into another swing.

He was a bit surprised when a mass of cloth forced him to pull up into the air. A familiar sounding whir forced him to duck his head from a length of metal wire that flew from the man's wrist. He was swinging well enough to keep up. Carrot's shoulder was giving him trouble, the stab wound had closed up, but it was far from healed. Jerking himself straight up into the air did a real number on it and his next swing was rather limp.

His opponent took full advantage of it and rammed both of his feet into the boy's gut.

Carrot hit the pavement rather hard, even though he'd only fallen about six feet. He pushed himself to his feet and kept his head low as the idiot in the mask tried to swing in with a shot to his jaw. The boy grabbed his chest and swung him head first into three aluminum trash cans near a wall. His opponent was on his feet faster than expected, and his senses warned him of a hit he should have dodged. He couldn't push himself out of the way fast enough and took a hard body blow. The boy staggered back clutching his side. His ribs hadn't healed all the way either. His face was red, and his eyes bloodshot.

"Angry? I'm afraid that while this has been a tad easy, it is very satisfying."

"Who the hell are you? What's your beef anyway?"

"Why should I tell you anything?" The man in the mask kicked him in his face and sent the boy on his back. With another swift kick to his stomach, he was tossed up into a brick wall back first. "I'm kind of disappointed. I was expecting more from you."

The figure in the mask grabbed his shirt and pulled him up against the wall. He took a few shots to his head with the front of his mask and chuckled as the boy hung there. "I'm gonna get you for this."

"I'm not afraid of you." The masked figure dropped him to the ground and grabbed Kei's punch. The girl gasped in surprise as she took an open handed strike in her mid section. "Get lost. This is personal."

Carrot wasn't out, and still had more than enough energy to plant his foot right into the man's crotch as hard as he could. It was enough, and the figure almost fell on top of him.

Kei had taken the strike, and spun unto a kick that twisted her fist free and put her thigh across the front of the mask as she sent him flying head first into a wall after staggering backwards for a moment. "It seems you're quite the fearless oni, when your opponent is injured."

He pushed himself off and shifted aside from the punch she followed up with, also shifting aside from the kunoichi's kicks as she pressed her attack. He shoved her back with another open palmed strike to her belly, but she flipped over on her hands and managed to catch him in the chin. He flipped up and away, turning to run as he landed. Carrot had gotten to his feet behind her, and was raising his hands to try and shoot some webbing onto him. He was out of firing range after a moment and lost to the shadows.

"Should we follow?" Kei growled and looked back at him.

"Are you kidding?" The boy seemed irate and staggered out of the pile of trash he was standing in. He brushed a sticky paper plate off his shoulder and plucked a straw from his hair. "I'm going home. I've had enough for today."

The girl nodded at him and opened her mouth to ask a question.

"Who the hell was that asshole? What the hell?" He was shaking his head and looked a bit punch drunk. "I'm so gonna beat his ass later."

The girl smirked at it, his mouth was bleeding and he had a big shiner on his left eye. "I'll bet."

"Man, now what?" He didn't seem as upset as he should have been in a rather jarring change of mood. "Who the hell is this jerk? Is he some kind of monster, or just some jerk..."

"This is normal for you isn't it?" She was leaning against the wall and glaring at him. "You look half way dead again. I'm glad I know where to take you this time." She walked over and put his arm around her shoulders, almost by force. "I'm not dragging you back to the school again this time."

OooOOooOO

"Hello, welcome to Happy clinic, how I being of servant too you?"

"Heh. You caved."

"Carrot? Are you all right?" Mei Lin's head snapped up as she noticed him standing in front of the reception desk.

"Yeah. I need some rest, I over did it a bit while I was out." He looked like he couldn't hold his feet. The girl under his shoulder holding him up hadn't said anything yet and looked about the room taking the place in as she ignored them.

"What happened?"

"Some jerk in a wooden mask kicked the crap out of me." The boy looked like he was keeping his own feet and staggered with a little help from his new friend towards the door.

"Um, wait! Some stuff happened..." She didn't have time to tell him anything when he'd stopped by with the same girl earlier. He'd taken off right after hearing about Michiru. She kind of wished she'd thought to mention it last. Though, in retrospect, it might have been better that she hadn't.

"No shit."

"You!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Mei Lin walked in with her head pushed down between her shoulders. She swallowed as she rounded the corner and saw the new girl with her fist in her sister's jaw. Mao Lin had a mace held over her head, while the new girl held the boy away across her shoulder. He was hanging down her back head first and flipped over her shoulder and onto his rear on the floor. "Jesus Christ!" His face was red and he was gasping for breath as Kei pushed the older girl away and onto her back. She wasn't out, but she was getting up slow.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Mei Lin was standing over her sister.

"You're back! Pet me!" Luna jumped into his lap and started purring.

He looked down at her and growled a little. "What do you think..."

"Luna! What are you doing! Get away from him, he's dangerous!"

"Huh?" It distracted him long enough to keep him from tossing the cat aside.

"Aw man. This sucks!" He was clutching at his head and almost rocking back and fourth.

"Um, you live here?" Kei was looking around in a nervous fashion.

"I hate you! I hate you all! Just die! I'm going home to my mother! Good bye! Prick!" The back door slammed itself open as an angry looking young woman stormed out the back exit and slammed it in her wake.

"Waaaiiittt!" Hibiki staggered out after her.

Gia gave a heavy sigh as she grabbed his ear as he left the door and pulled him down to a seat at the table before he could run off after her.. "She didn't go down on her own you know. I gave her a shot when you tagged her." She shoved herself off the door and looked around the room. "As for you, it's time to let go. She'll be safer with her mother, less of a burden on us, and available for later retrieval should you so desire. Sit down, and shut up. We're all glad she's gone. We didn't like the same soaps."

"Is all you think about television?" Hibiki was irate with her, but she brushed it off and sat down, lighting a cigarette and sipping on a cup of coffee. She was still dressed from seeing to Michiru at the bar. She'd taken over for the more expensive professional once his operations were complete. Spike had proven himself to be a much more worthwhile boyfriend than she'd thought when she'd met him. The boss, whoever he was, paid well. She knew Jiro was the boss, but was smart enough to pretend like the rest of them.

"Finally, one down." The woman sighed and sat back in her chair. "I'm right, that's what's got you so upset."

"Shut up!" Hibiki was reduced to grumbling and glaring. He was looking away and muttering to himself, trying to talk himself into being right.

"Only to find one more. Hi. Are you going to live here too now?" The woman was smiling and cheerful.

"God I hope not." The girl was staring at the talking cats. Artemis was walking back and fourth in a nervous pacing, watching Luna in the boy's lap. He was looking up and down from the boy's face to Luna.

Carrot was stroking her fur and didn't look to be all there. He scratched at her with his fingers around her head and she shifted around and purred.

"Don't worry, he'll snap out of it soon. If we're lucky, he'll lock himself in the bathroom." Gia leaned over the table and offered the new girl the opposite seat. "Welcome to the nineth level of hell."

"Funny that, he said it was the fifth."

"We've slipped a bit." Gia sipped at her coffee and looked at the folded up newspaper that had been lying in front of her.

"I think Carrot has met my sister before." Mei Lin was still looking at the sleeping girl. She was drooling, and snoring a little.

"This is your sister? You didn't think to warn me about this?" The boy snapped out of his stupor and pushed Luna out of his lap.

"What were you doing? Are you crazy? Luna!" Artemis was calling towards the cat in his lap, but didn't want to get any closer.

"What are you whining about?" The other Moon Cat grumbled at him. "I thought it was nice to meet another talking cat, it's great you know me and all, but I'm starting to wish you talked...less."

"What?" The white cat's ears perked straight up as his eyes went wide.

"Who are you again? Is this more of that Usagi crap he's been going on about? I can't remember you know, doesn't seem worth it to bother. I don't get what the big deal is."

"Oh god! What has he done to you?!"

Carrot had taken note of the conversation and grabbed Artemis by his coat. "Hey. This was not my fault. I was talking to her on the roof, and someone threw a grenade at both of us. We were both nearly killed, and neither of us is to blame for it. If you think you can talk that into Usagi with that thing on her, please do. She's driving me crazy, and I can't get Luna to remember anything. So, Romeo, it's up to you to convince her it's worth remembering. Don't forget, the fate of the Galaxy rests on your shoulders. I'm sure you've been unsuccessful in finding a way to get Sailor Moon back. Luna told me she knew there was a way, right before we got hit."

"Why should I trust you?" Artemis didn't struggle, but pulled his ears back and almost yowled as he spoke.

"Well, take a look at your position, in the grand scheme of things. Great Darkness, and all that. Now, what makes you think I want any more of that than you do? Maybe I'm not what you'd call 'ethical', but the enemy of my enemy is my friend." He put the cat down at his feet and sighed. "Luna trusts me. I've no idea why, but for some odd reason she's taken to me. Now, I'm willing to use that to my advantage to help you out if you feel the need. I want her out of my hair, she'll be more likely to remember things with Usagi. First we have to get that thing off of her, or she'd eventually get around to killing you both in a mad rage. I'm hoping we can put a stop to things before it gets that bad. It will by the way."

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Wouldn't you be, if you had to deal with tall of this?" He put his hand on the cat's shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Don't worry too much. It's not like you have to go out and fight the monsters like I do. I know it's tough, but you're basically a magical tech support outfit as I recall. Look at the bright side!"

"The bright side!? I've just found the only female left of my species in a nut house, and she's acting just as crazy as everyone else! What bright side?" The cat looked like it was having a panic attack.

"Did you just say 'only female left'." Luna was looking at him with wide eyes as she stared him down and paced up to his face. "You know I can hear you from any room in the house. Why are you whispering?"

"Y-you can?" Artemis was shaking a little.

"Answer my question."

The male nodded as hard as he could. He was feeling meek and more than a bit flustered.

"You mean... This is it? This is my option? One guy?"

"You're in no position to be picky. It's him, or the walking piss and hair dispensers outside. If you're nice to one of them, they might help clean your fur."

She was looking up at him with wide eyes. "You knew?"

"Yeah. Kinda."

"Hey! I'm still here you know!" Artemis had his ears back and was looking away behind himself as they sat on either side of him discussing it.

The black cat fluffed her fur and growled. "You're not joking are you? You'd better not be joking."

"No."

She seemed to relax all at once. "Okay. You'll do." She walked over and started looking him over and sniffing him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Artemis was embarrassed by her attention and backed away fearfully. She cornered him and put her nose up to his.

"So, now what do I do with him?" She looked back at the boy.

"Nothing. No kittens until you move back in with Usagi. That means remembering how to turn her back into Sailor Moon, so she doesn't just pup your heads off because she's gone crazy."

"Kittens? I don't know if I'm ready for that sort of commitment!"

"Well who else are you going to do it with then? Unless you'd prefer one of those brain dead sluts I've seen yowling and rolling around on the grass. Though, I admit it does look a bit fun." The female was perplexed and annoyed with her new mate.

"No kittens. You can't get pregnant, there's enough of us here as it is.. You've been taking birth control anyway, and I'm not paying for all that cat food when you've got a perfectly good owner. You're good for a while, Gia's been giving you a shot we picked up from the vet a while back. I didn't want you going into heat and getting all weird on us."

"Uh. What good is he then!? Why couldn't you have just stopped by after that? Jerk." The female's ears perked up as she seemed to think of something. "Um, so I can't get pregnant?"

The boy sighed and smiled at her. "It wears off, you're getting boosters as long as you stay here. Fair warning." He poked his finger into her nose.

She looked back at him over her shoulder and grinned. "Really? He doesn't have a very strong will I've noticed. Shouldn't be too hard to convince him I suppose."

"What? What have you done to her?" He seemed unsure if he should be upset and squirmed in his corner. With a final gasp, Artemis could take no more and passed out.

"Man, the only guy left and he's a wuss. Crap." Luna's ears fell back a little and she walked over and started poking at him with one of her paws. "Jeeze, the jerk is out cold. What a dork." She grinned to herself and gave a small snicker as she poked at him a bit.

Kei noted that Mei Lin and Gia were ignoring the boy. Mei Lin was patting the boy's back as he cried.

"I wish I didn't know you're really a minor." Hibiki lamented as he bawled into his own elbow softly.

She shifted away from him a little, but didn't stop trying to comfort him.

"That was the strangest conversation I've ever heard." Kei was looking back and fourth between the three of them. "It's nice the family is having an emotional moment, but it's a bit odd that no one..."

"Remember the one about Happy Cat litter?" Gia looked at Mei Lin and smiled.

"Or the time she told us about the soaps that we missed when we went without television for a while?" The Chinese girl seemed pleased. Her sister groaned and held her head as she sat up with a bit of effort.

"Don't attack him again! I can't believe you!" She rushed over and started fussing at her sister.

"It's always like this then?"

"Well, now that we seem to have hit our stride, yes. It won't last forever. I'll admit it sucks, but some day it will make a really great story, with pieces omitted depending on who I'm talking to at the time." She winked at her and smirked.

"I think it's great, even if some of it isn't fun. I've never had such an exciting time!" Mei Lin called over her shoulder towards the new girl.

Carrot stood up walked towards a room with a cot in it, and closed the door.

"Who are you anyway?" Gia looked at the girl out of the corner of her eye. "I hope you don't think you can keep him. He's been trouble since I've know him, not a bad kid though."

"I'm the last person who tried to kill him."

"You're the one who beat him up again?" Mei Lin looked surprised and a little alarmed.

"No. He was more interested in beating him than killing him. It's why I didn't step in until I did." She gave a small snort of laughter. Gia didn't react, Mei Lin looked a bit nervous as she helped her sister to a seat. The drugs would take a bit longer to wear off, even though she wasn't out.

"Man, that kid is awesome. Why can't I be that lucky?" Hibiki looked up from his elbow for a moment before diving back in for another round.

"Hmmm. The crying I think." Kei lifted her eyebrow and looked down at him.

He stopped long enough to glare at her. "That was mean."

"So it was, but also true. Excuse me, I can't let him escape. He might try to leave through the window. He likes to crawl off on his own when he's injured." Kei stood up and walked into the same room.

"Um, escape?" Mei Lin looked confused.

"Well, I'm not going in there to check on him, are you?"

"I don't want to know if she meant it or not." The girl shrugged and got up to make her own cup, and one to help her sister recover. She was going to have to use her immobility to try and figure out why she attacked Carrot.

OooOOooOO

The boy ignored her intrusion. The new devil character seemed to hate him, and he was getting a bad feeling about his fight with the Hisami faction's remnants. He didn't want to draw them all into it. It wasn't going to be easy.

Kei wrapped a blanket over her shoulders and leaned into a corner with a pillow behind her head. It didn't take long for her to drift off, and he didn't bother speaking up, despite the fact that he was awake and staring at the ceiling. It was like he knew something else was going on there, and it was likely he would have to deal with whatever it was himself.

From the look of things, Jiro didn't own his turf so much as he rented it from larger factions. He couldn't trust the man in dealing with anything bigger and stronger than he was. He had little doubt the old man would stick a knife in his heart, or Michiru's if he knew the danger her condition might put him in. He needed to get her out of there, before she really had a chance to think about who she'd gone to for help.

OooOOooOO

She stared up at the light bulb over her head. She was aware of her surroundings, she'd even stayed awake long enough to realize she had visitors. Nothing of what they said or did was clear. Her mind wasn't occupied with such trivialities. Flashes of pain ripped through her, even through the pain killers she could feel it. Watching her fother die, seeing what had happened to her mother, to her home. She wanted to hurt them, to make them feel what it was like, to punish them.

She still couldn't sit up, the bullets had done a nasty number on the muscles in her torso and chest. They had missed anything important, and she would recover, with time. She didn't have her duty anymore, it was stripped from her. "Perhaps I've found a new duty?" She turned and fixed her eyes on the skull carved into the wood next to her. It was almost comforting to look at.

OooOOooOO

TBC...

Punishing tirst, a race with the Devil.