The street outside was crowded with people, most of them drunk or well on their way. Hei spotted Jiao-tu's roommate standing near a group of smokers. He walked past the group and leaned against the wall of the building where he could still see her without being obvious. He watched as she took a cigarette from her pack and lit it with quavering hands.
Is she nervous about something? Upset? Boyfriend stood her up, maybe?
Hei didn't know if this woman was involved in the fire or not, but he thought it more likely to be her or that man than Jiao-tu. He was glad Kirihara seemed to agree with him. He still wasn't sure that confiding in Kirihara was the best thing to do, but with her analytical mind, she would be able to get to the bottom of the situation faster than he could, and so far, she seemed trustworthy.
He was sure that she had Jiao-tu's best interest at heart, anyway, whatever her opinion of him. Based on her visit to his apartment, her opinion wasn't exactly favorable - not that he could blame her. It had taken guts to approach him like that though. Of course, guts were not something that Kirihara Misaki could ever be accused of lacking.
The woman in the red glasses took out her phone and typed something. When she was finished, she didn't put it back in her pocket but just held it in her hand and took a long drag on her cigarette, pacing back and forth.
Hei was glad to be outside, although the cool night air stung his burns under their bandages. The bar had been noisy and oppressive, and it was hard to keep focused with Kirihara there. He hadn't wanted to approach her at all, but had started to consider it when other women, seeing him alone, kept propositioning him, even after he told them he was waiting for his date.
Then her friend had shown up, and he'd been so preoccupied with watching the way Kirihara smiled and laughed - what had she been laughing so hard at, anyway? - that he nearly forgot to keep his eyes on Jiao-tu. He'd thought then that maybe if he sat down with her, she'd stop smiling and they could discuss the situation without distractions. So when her friend got up for another drink, he took advantage of the opportunity.
But it didn't help; the way her brow furrowed when she was deep in thought was just as captivating as her laugh, and all he could think about was how soft her hair had felt in his hands the night she had kissed him. He hadn't even noticed when her friend came back. That was a problem; they were lucky it had been her friend, and not an enemy.
Emotions are unnecessary distractions, he reminded himself. Kirihara was, at best, just an asset, someone who he could use to help keep Jiao-tu safe until he understood what was going on. And at worst, she was a potential liability. She was probably hoping that by spending time with him and getting him to trust her, she could obtain information about the Syndicate. But Hei had had plenty of jobs that relied on seduction; he knew how to keep a woman interested without compromising himself, and he knew how to protect himself from such a ploy.
He wouldn't repeat the mistake he had made with Amber. He hadn't been able to protect Bai, but he could protect Jiao-tu.
The woman in the red glasses checked her phone, appearing to read a message. She didn't respond to the text and put her phone in her pocket. Then, oddly, she pulled a different phone out. She entered a text, then tucked that phone away as well. Hei scanned the area carefully, but didn't see anything of interest. Why did she have two phones?
The woman lingered outside for a few more minutes to finish her cigarette. Dropping it on the sidewalk, she stubbed it out with her shoe and then headed back inside the bar, Hei following at a discreet distance.
A wall of noise greeted him as he pushed through the door; the place seemed even more crowded than it had been when he left twenty minutes ago. The woman with the red glasses returned to the karaoke booth.
Hei started to head towards Kirihara's table, but realized with a start that it was now occupied by strangers. He looked around the bar carefully, but didn't see her anywhere. Had she decided to leave? No, she was too persistent to give up on a case that interested her so much; and he was sure that she hadn't followed him outside.
He'd asked her to watch Jiao-tu; the only reason Kirihara would have left was if Jiao-tu had. They hadn't gone out the front, so…he followed the sign pointing to the restrooms. Had Kirihara followed Jiao-tu in there? Hei considered for a moment; if he were following a target who knew his face, he would have waited outside rather than risk them seeing him in such a confined space; he was sure Kirihara would be smart enough to do the same. Not the restroom then. At the end of the hall was another door, with an exit sign above it. He couldn't think of a reason why Jiao-tu would have left out the back, but where else could she have gone? He should have stayed on Jiao-tu himself, and sent Kirihara out with the other woman.
Hei pushed open the back door, just in time to hear a shot ring out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jiao-tu and Chihiro collapsed back onto the bench, laughing.
"Us next!" Liang said, pulling a barely conscious Umi to her feet and going through the music catalog.
Jiao-tu sipped her beer; this was her third. She was trying not to have too many since she and Tian were Skyping with her parents tomorrow - she'd made the mistake of talking to them hung over once, and of course her mother had noticed right away. She wondered if Tian had friends that he went out with. He should; he'd had lots of friends back home…then again, he wasn't quite the same friendly person that he used to be. Maybe she could convince him to go out with her, Mei-li, and Liang next weekend.
Liang and Umi had chosen their song, to the cheers of the rest of the girls. Between Liang's heavy accent and Umi's state of inebriation, they were sure to win the prize for worst rendition of the night.
Jiao-tu's phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it out - a new text from Mei-li; where was Mei-li? She hadn't noticed her roommate leave the booth. She read the message: I need to talk to you. Meet me behind the bar, there's a door by the restrooms.
Strange. What does she want? Jiao-tu set down her beer; the others were engrossed in Liang and Umi's performance, laughing with them and heckling. She texted back to let Mei-li know she was coming; it must be important, or she would have just talked to her here or at home. After pulling on her jacket, Jiao-tu left the booth and made her way laboriously through the crowded bar towards the restrooms. They were down a hall; at the end of the hall was a door with an exit sign.
Jiao-tu paused. Why did Mei-li want to talk to her out back, instead of in the front of the building? Were the bar patrons even allowed to go out this door? She didn't see anything that looked like a warning sign, so she pushed open the door. To her relief, no emergency alarms sounded.
She stepped out into a long, dark alleyway, cluttered with crates and stacks of delivery boxes. Jiao-tu shivered. It was a little creepy out here. It reminded her of the park.
"Mei-li?" There was no sign of her roommate. Wait - there was a woman standing at one end the alley, outlined in the neon glow from the street, waving to her. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jiao-tu trotted down the alley towards her.
"What are you doing out -" Suddenly a large hand clamped down over her mouth while an arm pinned her against someone's chest, catching her arms. She tried to scream, but no sound could escape her throat. Jiao-tu dug at his arm with her fingers, but her attacker didn't let up.
"Stop struggling," he hissed in her ear.
The woman from the end of the alley ran up to them - it wasn't Mei-li, Jiao-tu realized, but a Chinese woman she didn't know. "Give us your phone," the woman said. "And tell us what you told the police." She had a hard look in her eyes.
"Idiots!" A voice shouted in Japanese from somewhere behind the man who held her. "We don't need her alive, just take the phone!"
Jiao-tu liked to tell people that she knew kung fu because she'd taken lessons at the school for about a year, but she'd been terrible, so she quit. However, her father and grandfather wouldn't let her quit until she knew at least one move, one which she'd had plenty of opportunity to practice on her brother (and one very-ex-boyfriend). It was practically instinctual now. She could hardly think through her rising panic, but the threat in the second man's words galvanized her into action.
Taking a wide step to the side, she swung her knee into the back of her attacker's knee, throwing him off balance just enough that his grip on her loosened. Before he could recover, she twisted and slammed her elbow into his diaphragm. The man dropped to his knees, wheezing, and Jiao-tu threw herself bodily at the woman before she had a chance to make a grab for her.
They both fell to the ground, the other woman's head hitting the concrete with an audible thud. Jiao-tu jumped to her feet. Dragons could fight, but rabbits could run. She sprinted towards the end of the alley, desperate to get back out onto the main street with its crowds. A cross street was up ahead, just past a large dumpster; from there she could turn and run back up the block to the safety of other people.
She was nearly to the cross street when a heavy wooden pallet slammed into her hip, knocking her to the ground. Jiao-tu struggled to push it off of her.
"This is what happens when you send humans to do even a simple job," a man's voice sighed. "Good thing I decided to tag along."
Jiao-tu twisted to look behind her. A broad-shouldered man was strolling casually up the alley towards her, highlighted in some kind of blue light. Jiao-tu stared wide-eyed, and renewed her efforts at freeing herself.
"Where do you keep your phone - I wouldn't want to damage it," the man was saying. "Probably not near your head."
She heard a rumbling sound and looked up - the dumpster across from her was starting to shake and slide towards her, seemingly of its own volition.
"Poor drunk college girl, wanders into an alley and gets crushed by a -" A gunshot reverberated in the alleyway, and the dumpster stopped moving. Afraid to look behind her, Jiao-tu gave one final shove and pushed the pallet off of her legs. Her hip was screaming in pain, but she ignored it and staggered to her feet. She could reach the street, she had to.
A hand grabbed her arm, and she screamed.
"It's okay, Xu, it's okay!" a familiar voice said. Jiao-tu looked at her captor in surprise.
"Chief…Kirihara?"
The police chief nodded, her face grim. "You're safe with me, okay?" She was speaking slowly, as if Jiao-tu was a deer that would bolt at the slightest startle.
"Okay," Jiao-tu managed, her breaths coming in short gasps. "What -" They heard footsteps running up behind them, and Kirihara let go of Jiao-tu's arm to aim her gun, then lowered it as a man ran up.
"Is she alright?" Jiao-tu never would have guessed that that cold voice belonged to Tian if she hadn't seen him speak.
Kirihara was nodding. "She's okay. I'll call -"
"No," Tian cut in, his voice hard. "She's not safe here. I'll clean up and find out what I can, you get her away."
Jiao-tu could only watch, dazed. What was Tian doing here? Kirihara looked like she was going to argue with him, but he leaned over, gripping her arm, and said something in a low voice that Jiao-tu didn't quite catch; Kirihara nodded, her face set. She took Jiao-tu's arm again.
"We need to go," she said, pulling Jiao-tu towards the street.
"But…" Jiao-tu looked back. Tian was making his way back down the alley, where the man who had glowed blue was lying on the ground; her cousin hadn't so much as looked at Jiao-tu.
"He'll be fine," the police chief was saying. "Come on, it's not safe to stay."
With one final look at Tian, Jiao-tu allowed Kirihara to lead her out into the main street.