Il Nono Storia: Tra le Strade Della Città

The orchestra paused mid-waltz. The dancers separated, and murmurs of confusion filled the vacuum of sound. Liberta scanned the room in an attempt to ascertain the cause of the disturbance. Suddenly, the French doors above the balcony flew open with great force, and the Governatore entered the ballroom with all the pomp and circumstance Liberta had come to expect from the man. He waved languidly to the partygoers as he walked to the balcony's railing, flanked on each side by his personal guard. Liberta huffed in irritation.

"So, it looks like he purposefully interrupted the waltz. He is quite an attention seeker this Governatore," he muttered to his friend at his shoulder. Nova nodded stoically. Liberta smirked in response, thinking to himself that he could find no difference in a Nova that wore a mask, and one who did not.

"Attention! Attention! Please show respect to your host and Governatore!" one of the guards heralded. Whoops and cheers exploded from the men of the crowd and the women demurely clapped their hands.

"Thank you! Thank you all for coming! This is truly a day to celebrate! La Signorina Benedetta has truly blessed the land of Fortuna. I am pleased to announce her entrance into our fine society," the Governatore shouted. "Where are you, my dear? Please come and accept your due honors!" he called out to the crowd.

Everyone in the ballroom eagerly searched the room, anxious to catch a glimpse of the famed Amica del Diavolo. Earlier that evening, Liberta overheard the women as they gossiped. The topic of conversation being the methods the Governatore employed to tame such a fearsome creature. The rumors were enough to cause Liberta to blush furiously and his friend Debito to clench his fists in a barely suppressed rage. The silence seemed to stretch on forever, and discontent began to spread through the crowd. The surrounding tension crackled against his skin. Liberta turned his anxious gaze towards the balcony to see a guard lean into Governatore's ear.

"Ah, it seems that Our Lady has briefly retired for the evening. She will return. No matter. Please return to your reveries, my friends, and drink to the glorious victory of Fortuna over those Venetian dogs!" Governatore shouted to the enthusiastic cheers of his guests.

The music resumed its cheerful chorus, and the guests returned to their dance with bright and cheerful smiles, their past confusion and irritation forgotten in their celebration.

Liberta turned to Nova, and said "I'm off to greet the Governatore. Try not to get lost, Chickpea."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll keep an eye out for Debito. I haven't seen him in awhile," Nova responded irritably.

"You don't think he's managed to drag her away already?" Liberta laughed.

"You were a fool to have done that. Weren't you the one going on and on about how we should keep an eye on him?" Nova asked. Liberta shrugged, nonplussed by Nova's accusation. Debito needed to lighten up, and if it took a little philandering to get those results, so be it. While Liberta wasn't going to participate, he wasn't going to get in the way either. Besides, it was a carnival! This was an event that was almost made for Debito.

Liberta continued to gently push his way through the crowd towards the Governatore when a firm grasp on his shoulder halted him.

"Where is La Signorina Benedetta?" a low voice growled in his ear. He turned sharply to glare angrily into the face of a guard who looked strangely familiar, and it was then Liberta recognized him as the same guard whose dance he interrupted when he pushed Debito onto the dance floor. Liberta blanched at the implications and swallowed hard, his glare melted to a weak smile.

"L-La Signorina Benedetta?" Liberta choked out.

"Amica del Diavolo. There's not a person on this island that doesn't know her name. So don't try and make a fool of me! I know you're the one that pushed that rogue on to the dance floor. Now, she's run off with that scoundrel, and if he's done anything to her, I swear, I'll personally see to it that you pay with blood," the guard growled.

Liberta was speechless. That was Amica del Diavolo? He couldn't believe it. In what way was that beautiful, refined creature who glided gracefully through a waltz the same woman who spat at his feet at their first meeting? However, this was the least of his problems now. His thoughts were scrambling through a massive list of scenarios of which not a single one ended well.

"Don't worry about this. We will take it from here." Liberta heard Nova's low voice from behind him.

"Like I'd trust you, Regalo scum! I know what you're trying to do. I know that you've been after the girl from the beginning. It was my duty to protect her from the likes of you, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to her. If you don't know where she is, I've got nothing more to say to you. Stay out of my way, or there will be trouble," the guard snarled, and pushed roughly past the two Regalo men.

Liberta sighed and ran his hand through his rough-cut mop of blonde hair. He glanced his shoulder at his friend and immediately wished he hadn't. There was so much judgment in that blank white face.

"You don't have to say it, Nova. I already know. I messed up. Big time," Liberta said, his voice flat and hollow with resignation. He really couldn't see a way out of this.

"Good. Glad we're on the same page. Now, let's go clean up your mess," Nova said as he placed a hand on Liberta's shoulder.

Debito leaned against the wall outside her chamber door. He removed his cap and ruffled his mass of white hair. A whimsical smile played across his relaxed face. This girl was really something else. When he arrived at the party that evening, the last thing he would have imagined was that the first girl he danced with would drag him off into the night.

She had disappeared into her quarters with the words "slipping into something more appropriate", and that was the last he saw of her for quite some time. Even with all of the waiting, he felt free. The haze of what he could only call obsession dissolved the moment she slipped into his embrace, taking with it the restlessness and irritation of the weeks passed. He almost felt like his old self again. Maybe Liberta was right. It was time to put this mess behind him and stop chasing after Amica del Diavolo, stop chasing after answers to questions he did not know.

The hinges creaked and Debito turned his attention to the door. Over the threshold entered, quite simply, the most beautiful woman Debito ever laid eyes on, which was quite a compliment considering that Debito considered himself to be quite a connoisseur of such things.

"So what do you think?" she asked gleefully, twirling around and kicking the train of her black Flamenco style evening gown. It was formfitting through the waist, that even while fully clothed did not leave much to the imagination, and tapered out at the bottom in a flourish of ruffles.

"I think you look radiant, vulpina," he intoned smoothly. He was rewarded with the carefree jingle of her laughter.

"Vulpina? How clever! Let us go, sconosciuto. There is still so much night left enjoy!" the woman said as she laced her fingers through his. With a gentle tug, she guided him through the corridors of the mansion and out into the night.

They walked along the city streets, brightly lit by strings of colorful lanterns, weaving in between their fellow revelers as she guided him deeper into Fortuna. It was quite a thing to behold. The city was alive with celebrations. Couples kissed and danced in the wide brickwork roads with reckless abandon. Fools and entertainers occupied every street corner, dancing and juggling torches to the jeers, laughter, and applause of the crowd. The colors, lights and sounds painted a surreal landscape in his mind.

Soon, the houses gave way to shops and taverns. Music filtered into the thoroughfares and the girl stopped short. The exotic tones of the guitar filled the air, and Debito knew exactly what caught the woman's attention.

"Let's dance!" she cried, pulling him into the dimly lit and crowded tavern.

Single-minded in her determination, she pushed through the dancers and towards the front of the room where the guitar players picked their skillful melodies. They were synchronized together in a rhythmic pulse that set his blood hammering in his veins. The song ended, and after boisterous cheers from the crowd, a new one resumed. The girl released her steady grip on his hand and walked uninhibited on to the stage, where she bent down and whispered into the guitarist's ear who nodded his response. The music stopped and all eyes shot to the musicians.

"The lady says she will dance for us," one of the guitarists announced. "Make room."

Abruptly a space opened up on the floor, and the girl took her place in the center. Her one arm was raised above her head, the other cradled at her waist. Her hands bent at her wrists as she posed for the beginning of song. Tension and anticipation gnawed at his gut, and he watched on with a hungry gaze. As soon as the first chords were struck, her body came alive with movement. Her feet hammered out a thundering staccato, punctuated by the twirls and swift, shallow kicks that whipped the train of her skirt around. Her hips sashayed as her hands twisted around her wrists, floating around her body. Only pausing their hypnotic dance to clap out the furious beat. The song soon reached its conclusion and applause and hollers exploded around him. Debito found himself frozen, unable to join them, his gaze fixed on the exotic woman that accompanied him this night. He wanted to know her, everything about her until no secret remained hidden from him. His throat burned with the simple question that suffocated his thoughts.

"What is your name?" he asked as soon as she returned to his side.

"My name?" she replied, breathlessly. "Tonight my name is Vulpina."

A/N: Sorry if this is really long, there's a lot of house-keeping to do that I've been ignoring.

Alright! The Ninth Story: Among the City Streets has now met its conclusion. This was a lot of fun to write, more so than even the last. It's nice to know that Amica has a feminine side. Even underneath all the pirate-ness, a girl is still a girl.

I also wanted to make a note of where I drew my inspiration for this chapter. If you go to your you-tube machine and type in 'Boy With a Coin official video' you will see Iron and Wine with flamenco dancers accompanying him. It's a really simplistic and beautiful video, and the song is quite the same. I wouldn't say by any stretch that this is flamenco music, that's something different entirely, but it's what I used as the model for her dance.

I didn't make note of it last chapter, but I would like to thank BelleDayNight, my beautiful senpai, for doing a Beta for Ch. 8 as well. She was able to uncover a lot of stuff that needed to be sorted. I was under the weather with a pretty ferocious run of what I can imagine is bronchitis. I'm not a doctor… All I know is that today, I am finally feeling a little better! So that's good. Nothing like a good romance to clear your sinuses, right. So thank you, BelleDayNight for all your help. (Oh, and a note. The senpai thing- I never went to school with her. She's my fanfiction mentor, if you will. I use it as a term of respect and endearment! Just seemed appropriate considering.)

I would also like to do a little plug for her. She's got a lot of really great fictions running right now. So please do yourself a favor and check them out. She's a master of anything Naruto, but she also does a lot really fun Inuyasha fictions. Also buy her book, she's a real life author, now. It's reasonably priced on Amazon. Get that stuff for your Kindle and support your fanfiction friends!

Review shout-outs (Running really behind on this, lo siento!) While the majority of these come from my friends, I still want to say thank you. Actually, I especially want to say thank you to be nish0 and BelleDayNight, because both of you have been so wonderful and supportive that I'm sure that this fiction would not have been near as successful without you.

BelleDayNight- Geez! Thanks for letting the cat out of the bag! I guess my foreshadowing wasn't quite as subtle as I had hoped, although I was pretty arrogant to think that I could slip one past my clever senpai!

Nish0- Your reviews are so great, and I really love to see your enthusiasm! It really inspires me to write more and better chapters just for you! (Meanwhile ignoring your Beta for Mosaic Hearts… So maybe you should lay off, huh? So I can get back to work!)

Guest- Thank you for kind words! I'm trying to update as often as possible, but it's so hard to keep up with your demands. You're really a slave driver, ya know. ;p

Well, I think that about covers all of it. Now, on to the translations!

All that really needs done with this are the names they chose for one another:

Vulpina loosely translates to female fox or vixen. (Because of her mask, see Ch. 8)

Sconoscuito means 'stranger'

La Signorina Bendetta – The Blessed Lady

The Chapter is called The Ninth Story: Among the City Streets