"Why would you attempt something as reckless as hacking the CT?! Are you asking to end your life?!" Inu's voice pierced my eardrums as he chewed us out for our little 'game'. Not just Hitode and I, Raion and Ga had joined about half way through.

Inu wasn't angry that we had screwed up, he was made because we succeeded. And that he hadn't been notified of our plans to run counter-measures in the slim chance they had decent hackers themselves.

Tuning back in I heard him sigh before logging off. Well that was unusual.

"Think he's getting used to our stunts?" Ga asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"Maybe." I heard the shrug in Raion's voice.

"I have to go. Can't be playing around all day."

"Go get them dogs Hito!" Ga whistled.

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

"I work with bigger pussy then you do."

"God, you're so gross! I'm logging out to save my ears and maybe my brain."

Everyone said their goodbyes and I laid my headset on the desk, running my hands through my hair. I shook my head as I stood up. I needed a shower. Then I think it was about time I treated myself to dinner out on the town. I had gotten paid today after all.

The waiter motioned me to a table against the wall in the nearly packed restaurant. I smiled at him as I sat down, he left me with a menu saying he will be back to take my drink order.

Fancy restaurants like this weren't usually my thing but hey! Acting a little spoiled now and again was nice. It was also a good stress reliever, knowing I could be someone different for a night.

"What would you like to drink tonight?" The waiter was back with a notepad and pen ready to write.

"A regular coke will be fine."

"I will be right back." He walked away and I looked over the menu once more. I wasn't much of a steak and potatoes person, and I was getting a little tired of ordering seafood dishes every time I went out.

Hmmm… Lots of decisions but only one choice. I guess I would go with something I had not had in a while.

As I waited for the waiter to return I looked around the place. Majority of the customers seemed to be on dates, couples filled the tables with a family here and there. I seemed to be the only single diner tonight. Typical.

A lot of people were too ashamed of being seen alone in fancy places like this. Now go to any fast food joint and it is crawling with single men and women.

"Your drink, and are you ready to order? Or do you need another minute to decide?"

"I'd like the lasagne with a Mediterranean salad." I handed the menu back after he wrote it down. He smiled and left me to look around again. There wasn't much else to see. The place was pretty but most restaurants are.

Feeling bored, I pulled out my cell phone and checked my email. Inu had sent me another project but nothing else. Guess work was slow at the moment, did that mean I had time to fool around with my own projects?

I could always ask him to give me a week or so off. It's not like I was desperate for money.

My phone beeped, letting me know someone had sent me a message.

Yo Kit-chan! ^^

I'm bored.

-Kamakiri

Isn't there anyone online for you to bug?

-Kitsune

Nope ^^

-Kamakiri

*sigh*

-Kitsune

Did you get the new project from Inu?

-Kamakiri

Haven't looked at it yet. I'm out to dinner at the moment.

-Kitsune

Am I interrupting a date? 0.0

-Kamakiri

Nah, it's just me. Got another paycheck from Mr. M so I'm celebrating. ^^

-Kitsune

Neat :) Message me when you're done so we can talk about the new project. I'm your partner this time. ^^

-Kamakiri

Will do.

-Kitsune

I slid my phone back into my purse and settled the napkin on my lap. The waiter had yet to arrive with my salad. I sipped my pop and settled into my thoughts.

Kamakiri said he was my partner this month, I wondered what Inu wanted us to do.

"Your salad miss. Parmesan cheese?" I shooed the waiter away and began to eat slowly.

It was good. I would have to come back again. I was taking a sip of my drink when I heard a somewhat familiar voice some tables over.

"Illu-chan!" My eyes sought out the owner of the voice and they landed on the red head from Monday's class. I don't think I ever learned his name.

I continued to watch as the long haired boy – though I still found it difficult to believe – wearing a suit approached the red head's table. I guess they were on a date or something.

"Here you are miss. Would you like another drink?"

"I'm fine, thank you." I smiled politely as he placed the plate of lasagne in front of me and took the empty salad bowl away.

I tried to avoid looking at the two men, who could not be all that much older than me, but failed constantly. Curiosity would kill the cat, or in my case, kill the fox.

I really wanted to know why they were here when most kids would be out at bars or something. Did they both come from good families? If that was it, they wouldn't be attending the local college. I shrugged as I took the final bite of my meal. Delicious and filling. Just as I wiped my mouth with the napkin my waiter reappeared. This guy was good.

"Can I have the check please?" I interjected before he could ask about the meal.

"Certainly miss."

I rhythmically tapped my nails against the wooden table until the bill arrived. I didn't spend longer than necessary paying. I was suddenly antsy to get home. Seeing those two…

It was unsettling when I couldn't become lost in cyberspace.

The second I walked out the door, head tilted down to my left, once again looking for my phone, I glanced back.

My eyes locked with the red head's and he smiled, lifting his hand in a girlish finger wave. I shuddered, walking away faster and pointedly keeping my attention forward.

"So how was dinner?" Kamakiri's voice asked the second after I logged on.

"It was good." I clicked open my email and scanned through everything Inu sent me. "So we're on maintenance this month huh? Figures."

"Haha, yeah, Inu has a sense of humour."

"Have you checked the site lately?" My eyes scanned across my monitors; the one on the right was email, the left was still on the desktop, and the center monitor was signed onto the main page of the website. I liked the name we had created: SUNSRISK HAHKG.

It took the first letter of all our code names combined into a kind of pun. We didn't have enough letters to correctly spell 'hacking' so we went as close as possible. That was the main reason. The second was we all knew it was stupid to name our company after something that is technically illegal.

"There's nothing to be done tonight." Kamakiri replied as I saw he too had logged in. "Inu said he would message us tomorrow about the changes to be done."

"That sounds like we'll be doing all the updates."

"Yeah, but that's Inu for ya." Kamakiri laughed as I smiled. We continued to talk until he said it was time for him to go. Then it was just me.

With nothing to do.

I scanned through all the videos I had but knew them all by heart, nothing was peeking my interest. I was about to give up and try to sleep when a message popped up on my left monitor.

Kitsune

Who is this?

-Kitsune

Are you alone?

What? Was someone playing a joke on me? 'Cause this wasn't funny.

Who are you?

-Kitsune

Answer. Are you alone?

No.

-Kitsune

Wrong move.

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

Warnings and messages began popping up. Someone was hacking into my systems. I was not that easy.

Let's dance.

-Kitsune

My typing speed doubled as I kept up with his pace. He was good. And he was trying codes I never would have thought of. Impressed as I was, I was taking notes and still fighting back.

I was not losing on my own system. Breaking away for a sum of seven seconds I typed a string of coding that began back-hacking his system.

Beep… Beep…

"Can't talk." I snapped, not even sure who had logged in. Another message flashed from my opponent.

You're good.

So are you.

-Kitsune

"Kit, what are you doing?"

"Can't. Talk." I growled, eyes moving constantly from one screen to another. This guy was getting faster, or was it me who was getting slower?

"Kitsune!"

"What?!" I broke my eyes away long enough to see that the one talking to me was Inu. "I'm busy Inu."

"Are you getting hacked too?" I took a second to process his words.

"Wait – too? You're getting hacked?"

"Yeah, and this guy is good."

"Double team?"

"How long will it take you to sync the servers?"

"Keep him off my tail for sixty seconds."

"Done."

Trusting my back to him I focused on this string of code that would sync our servers together so instead of the hacker trying to get to us individually he would only be able to get through us one at a time, which also gave us more time to build locks, traps, and back hacks.

"Kit."

"Sync's up."

Nice play. Goodbye.

Every alert in my system suddenly stopped. I ran a detailed check through everything. He had never made it into my files… So why had he stopped?

"He's gone."

"Here too. What do you think that was all about Inu?" I sat back, steepling my fingers as my breathing slowed.

"No idea. Did he get anything from you?"

"Nothing. I'm running a deeper search no but everything seems normal. You?"

"Same. Let me know as soon as you find anything wrong."

"Will do." I signed off and went to the kitchen, letting the computer do its thing. Did I still have chips in the house? God I hoped so. I was craving something salty right now.

Who had that hacker been?

What had they wanted?

They had known who I was. They had left no signature. The messages were unsigned.

Mr. Mystery?