Chapter 7: Cat

Daylight glimmered through the crack between speckled curtains and washed over Hitomi Konno. She opened her eyes just as the alarm she had set sounded, and got out of bed with a smile across her lips; she was really looking forward to this day. It was going to be the first time she modelled for Kiki, the first time in which she would appear in a nationally published magazine. It was also going to be the first time she would get a chance to meet and work with Jun Fudo, a woman she admired from a distance. Evidence for this was plastered up on her wall, and she kept a portfolio of Miss Jun's work on her bookshelf. Of course, Felice, her friend had been making sure to keep her excitement in check; it was after all unprofessional to act like a starstruck fan for her peers. She was very lucky for that; Felice's advice kept her from being anxious. That was a big part of her success so far, being a fashion model required a lot of confidence after all. She was going to need some time to make sure she looked the best she could possibly look; she was going to kill it today, people would look at her, even in photos next to Jun Fudo, and notice her just as much. Fashion modelling was in many ways a conflicted profession; clients would pay a model to sell their product, but to do the job well a model needs to sell themselves. She took that seriously, and entered her bathroom to start the process of getting ready.

"Oh no, Felice!" She exclaimed. Her friend was great with advice, but Felice had her own terrible habits, and sometimes they would get in the way. She wrinkled her nose at the salty smell, and reached into her bath to pick up the dismembered forearm that lay in it, blood dripping down the drain.

"You didn't clean up after yourself properly, Felice," she said in frustration, "I have to get rid of this first or it'll stink the whole apartment out." Felice peered through the bathroom door and purred apologetically, as Hitomi turned around. Hitomi shook her head

"It's all right, no real harm done. I can't be mad at you." Still, it would probably take the better part of an hour to dispose of the thing properly, she was going to have to be calm do her best not to rush. She wasn't going to let anything ruin today.

As Hitomi boarded the subway train that would take her to Kiki's studio in Jinbocho, she realised somebody was trying to call her. She saw that it was her mother, and despite being boxed in by all the people in the carriage, she answered.

"Hitomi, I just wanted to wish you good luck today! I know you'll do really well," said the encouraging voice of her mother, Yuki, who still lived in Osaka, their hometown.

"Thanks mom, I'm on my way there now. I've got plenty of time. Sorry to cut you off, but I'm in the subway carriage and I can't hear you that well."

"All right, call me back and let me know how things go?"

"Sure, talk to you later, love you, bye." As she put her phone away, she felt something brush alongside her hindquarters, something that felt probing and unwelcome. She turned around and among the throng of people behind her, she felt something quite shifty about the movements of a man in a suit, probably in his early forties, who seemed to be rather keen to move away from her.

Did you feel that? He had no right.

"Don't have time, Felice," Hitomi mumbled, quietly enough that among the mass that surrounded her, the words were unlikely to be overheard by anyone.

We're an hour ahead of schedule. Plenty of time.

"Felice, you promised, nothing was going to get in the way of today."

It'll be fine, I promise.

Hitomi did not disembark the subway train at Jinbocho. She disembarked at an earlier stop in Chiyoda, following the man who may have molested her.

Jun waited in front of her apartment block for Yuasa to pick her up. She had another shoot for Kiki, who seemed more and more keen on using her. As Yuasa's car pulled in, she got in the passenger seat. She greeted Yuasa as she put on her seatbelt; once she was ready, he started the engine, beginning their journey to Jinbocho.

"You look fantastic, Jun," Yuasa complemented, "Definitely ready for today." Jun shrugged and said dryly,

"Did you expect anything else?" Yuasa shook his head,

"Well, no, but I just wondered if you having a housemate who has to go to school, and who lost her parents recently..." He said awkwardly looking for the best wording for his thoughts, "it might have been disruptive. If you had needed time off, you know you could have asked?" She nodded.

"I know, but Kazumi chose to go straight back to school rather than take time off. I don't know if it's the right choice for her, but I felt maybe it would help her if I just got on with things too."

"How is she doing? It has to be hard." Jun sighed and fidgeted with her cufflinks.

"She seems to be doing okay. She is a bit curt with me, but that's fine. I don't think I can be as supportive as I hope to be for her." Yuasa kept his eyes on the road as he replied.

"Don't worry about it, you can only be you, after all." Those words were not as comforting to Jun as Yuasa almost certainly meant. She was going to be glad when they got to the studio, it would take her mind off Kazumi. No, that was selfish, it wasn't that she wanted to avoid Kazumi, but she just couldn't take her mind off of what that bird creature had said, about what had motivated its attack on the Takiura household. And the beast within her bayed for that creature's blood, and she felt equally vengeful, but she wasn't prepared to become that monster night in and night out to go hunting for the beast that called itself Sirene. Asuka wouldn't let her for one thing. The other was she feared giving the beast inside her so much control. She felt she had only maintained her life as a human being by not giving up any more control than she had to.

"Jun?" Yuasa's voice snapped Jun out of her torpor. She quickly removed her hand from his leg, not realising that it had drifted over.

"Sorry, I was spacing out," she exclaimed quickly.

"I... see. You do need to be careful doing things like that, you could distract the driver you know." His tone was so neutral, that if there was any element of approval, she just couldn't detect it. It didn't really qualify as disapproval either. It wasn't something she had intended to do, she was hoping Yuasa had understood that. This car journey couldn't really end fast enough. As if detecting her unease, Yuasa didn't say anything for the rest of the journey.

After she and Yuasa had reported in at reception, Jun visited the ladies room as nature called. Yuasa had gone on ahead to make sure that they knew she would be there momentarily and ready to participate in the photo shoot. However as she left the bathroom she felt something collide with her with force, although not enough to knock her down.

"Sorry, I'm sorry I'm really really sorry," uttered the panicked voice of the woman who had almost knocked her over. Jun pulled back and got a good look of the woman's face; she had long auburn hair, an elfin jawline and pale brown eyes. Not unlike herself; and clearly this was someone else who had come for the photo shoot.

"That's okay, I guess you're running late?" The woman composed herself and bowed,

"Yes, sorry, I was in a rush; wasn't paying attention to where I was going... Jun Fudo!?" She suddenly exclaimed, placing her hand over her mouth as she realised whom she was talking to.

"I didn't realise I was so famous." Jun replied, "and you might be?"

"Sorry, I'm Hitomi Konno," the woman bowed again, "I'm a fan, I like your work a lot. I've messed up today though, I'm a mess. The train was late, although I don't really have an excuse, I should have got an earlier one. " Jun had to agree, Hitomi just didn't look well-prepared. The fact she had been running had puffed cheeks out and if make-up had been applied, it was hard to see any of it now. She had used a lot of perfume, it filled Jun's nostrils with a sickly sweet scent. For the photo shoot Kiki would use their own staff to ensure the models looked just the way they wanted them to; but when entering the building, you wouldn't want to enter like this; it wouldn't give a good first impression.

"I have some things in my bag, Miss Konno. I can at least get you looking presentable within a few minutes if you want?" Jun gestured back to the ladies room.

"Hitomi, please. But that will make us even later. You don't have to do that." Jun shook her head.

"No it's fine, my agent came with me today and he's gone on ahead. I'll just tell them we bumped into each other, and we couldn't help but talk a little. I don't really think they'll hold it much against either of us in that case." Of that she was fairly certain; she'd already had to leave shoots midway through or cancelled many and yet none of this had reflected badly on her; she knew why that was, but why not use that to help out a fellow model?

"That's incredibly kind of you, I can't thank you enough."

"Don't mention it," Jun replied gently, and they both entered the ladies room. As Jun reapplied make up to Hitomi, they both made small talk.

"I came to Tokyo from Osaka. My mother is actually quite a famous entrepreneur, her company is involved in a lot of PR things. I could have got a job through that easily enough, but I really wanted to move and carve out my own niche," Hitomi explained when Jun had asked her a few things about herself, "To be honest I decided to go for modelling after I saw you, Jun, two years ago in Kiki. That was the first time you got featured in a national magazine wasn't it?"

"That's right," Jun confirmed, "Honestly I'm really surprised that anybody would want to become a fashion model just from seeing me," a statement which she meant. She wasn't quite sure what Kazumi so admired about herself either, just from her work.

"You looked so confident; you managed to say that the things you were wearing were worth having, but also that you didn't need them; if that makes any sense. You made it look like a real discipline more than just a job or a means of selling clothes." Looking back, it was true that when she had first entered the industry, she had really gone all out; she had been determined to succeed back then. Her fervor had weakened, and up until a few months ago she thought it was just a job that she had, that she would clock in and clock out. Yet somehow her career had rebounded; and not necessarily just because of Lan Asuka and the organisation behind her. When she was able to complete jobs, she did feel they were back up to the standard of her early work. Her confidence had returned, perhaps even became stronger.

"I'm honoured to hear that, Hitomi." She finished applying the final few touches, carefully applying mascara to Hitomi's eyelashes, and then she moved so that Hitomi could get a clear look at herself in the mirror.

"Wow, good as new. Thanks again," Hitomi beamed.

"I was happy to help. We better get to the studio now." Hitomi nodded happily, and followed Jun out.

Jun was correct in her prediction that neither she nor Hitomi drew so much as a mild scolding due to their tardiness. The job was modelling a series of jeans, and the client wanted a slightly more tomboyish appearance from the models, meaning Jun had her hair tied up in a manner she had never tried herself before. The stylist had left her in the dressing room to assess the work.

"Wow, that makes you look kind of different," a voice behind her remarked. Jun saw in the mirror that Hitomi had gone through a similar process with her hairstylist, and was leaning at the doorway,. "You still look amazing though," she complemented.

"Thanks, Hitomi. You look really nice yourself." Hitomi blushed, which Jun noted; most fellow models would have took the compliment for granted, but Hitomi seemed genuinely relieved to hear it.

"Do you get nervous on camera?" Jun asked.

"A bit, like butterflies," Hitomi answered, "I've only been doing this for a few months though, and whilst I do take some bookings through an agent, I don't have the good fortune to have one accompanying me to jobs. Is that normal?"

"Mr Yuasa does tend to focus his attention on me," Jun acknowledged, "Although he does work with other models in a similar manner. I think he just takes his job very seriously."

"I see," Hitomi replied, "You're still very lucky to have him, it must help a lot with confidence." Jun shrugged,

"I don't really know if that's how it is for me. Tell you what, I'll ask if we can be paired together, and if you follow my lead, I imagine the results will be really good. I'm not trying to be arrogant in saying that, just that I've done my fair share of these and if it will help you be more confident, I'm more than happy to do it." Hitomi barely hid her excitement, she beamed happily.

"Thank you, I'm sure it will help a lot." Jun left the dressing room with Hitomi in tow, ready to participate in the shoot.

"Wow, these are great," Hitomi remarked to Jun as they sat in the corner of the studio after the photo shoots had finished. She was looking at some of the first run copies of the photographs from the start.

"I think we did some good work," Jun agreed enthusiastically. She then noticed Yuasa approaching.

"Ah, that will be my ride home. Why don't you keep those, the agency can get me more copies if I need them," Jun said.

"Oh thanks! I really appreciate that. I was kind of wondering..." Hitomi began to say nervously, "uh, maybe, could we meet up sometime?" Jun found Hitomi's difficulties to ask the question to be incredibly cute. It was a lot like how Kazumi first acted when they first met.

"Sure, how about this weekend? We could meet for lunch on Sunday?" she suggested.

"Really, that's great! Where though?" Hitomi asked.

"Why don't you pick? I'll give you my number, just let me know the address, I'll be there."

"Great, already looking forward to it, I'll pick a nice place." Jun bade her farewells after writing her phone number down for Hitomi, and met with Yuasa.

"Made a new friend, Jun?" He asked, "It's good to see your enjoying things more again." Jun smiled, feeling quite uplifted.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I actually did enjoy today. Working with Hitomi Konno is something I'd like to do again."

"Well, we can look into the possibility of that for the future." Yuasa escorted her to the car park and after they got in his car, they set off for Jun's apartment. They made more small talk about today's events, when Yuasa put on the radio. He set it to a local station, which from the sounds of it was in the middle of a breaking news report.

"... Found within an alleyway in Chiyoda. We don't have much to go on, the local authorities have only released the fact that a body has been found, however some eyewitnesses; including those made the grisly discovery have already given the statements to the police and we have one who is willing to talk to us. Mr Nakajima, can you give us some details on what you saw?" A second voice piped through the radio, gruff sounding and distressed.

"Yeah I'm a local waste disposal collector, we were taking the trash bins from that alleyway because they hadn't been tended to in sometime. In one of the bigger bins, we found some ah, human remains."

"Can you give us any detail onto the state of those remains?" The interviewer asked, his voice straight and focused, unlike the interviewee sounded like he would rather be anywhere else in the world right now.

"It looked partially eaten, whoever that poor bastard was, he'd been ravaged by some animal. I don't know what, I don't know what kind of animal could do that in Tokyo."

"I'm getting word now that more police are coming," the interviewer said, "unfortunately I think this is all the time we are going to have for this story, but if anything more develops we'll be back with more coverage." The story ended and the station simply began playing music.

"How awful," Yuasa said, "Sounded like it happened close by as well. I wonder what did it?" Jun wondered herself, and wondered if she was going to have the displeasure of meeting it soon.

"Who knows, maybe an escaped animal from a zoo? Or maybe an illegal 'pet' someone had in the area. As crazy as it is to keep things like tigers as house pets, some people are stupid and rich enough to do it."

"It's weird though that they discovered the body inside a metal container; an animal wouldn't really hide their work like that," Yuasa observed, "Lots of weird things have been happening lately. Wouldn't they want to stay to get a statement from the police? The interview seemed like it was done guerilla style."

"Yeah," Jun replied , lost in thought. Her mind wandered back to earlier that day; Hitomi had been late, and had mentioned somewhere in the conversation that she had got the train into Jinbocho. Would it have been the one that passed through Chiyoda? Not to mention something about her had made Jun's nose twitch just a little, but with all the perfume it hadn't seemed like anything major. No. No, she was paranoid.

"Well, anyway, I'm going to go meet Hitomi this weekend, I think she's got a lot of potential. And she's just really nice, if you don't mind I might recommend her to the agency?"

"No, by all means. I think they would value your opinion on this. Although I'm pretty sure that girl had already been turned down once before."

"Oh really? Why so?" Yuasa stared forward for a second.

"If the stuff I've heard is true, I'm a little surprised that they're the same person. And I guess I may be wrong, but I'm fairly sure the girls name was Hitomi Konno, and she fits the description of that girl. Her behaviour was quite abrasive when they turned her down. They even said she got a bit violent although she didn't actually attack anyone, I just mean attacking the furniture, that kind of thing. Maybe she just suffered from personal problems, maybe she's put them behind her now."

"Sounds like a different person to me, this probably more than one Hitomi Konno in Tokyo, even in the same profession."

"Maybe so," Yuasa agreed. Jun felt an ever so slight amount of uneasiness creep back into her mood.

When Jun arrived back home, Kazumi was lounging on the sofa, still in her school uniform watching TV.

"Hey, about time you got back, I was wondering where you were." Jun took her coat off and hung it up by the door.

"Yuasa wanted to go over a few things, job offers and the like, it took longer than we thought. How was school?"

"Same as usual, people still give me the silent treatment a lot. I don't think they know how they should speak to me," Kazumi replied.

"Not your friends though?"

"No, they've been fine. They're doing a lot to help me keep going. I did want to talk to you about getting a bed though, sleeping on a futon on the floor makes me feel too much like I'm a kid; it was what I slept on when I stayed overnight at Chika's house." Jun felt silly, she hadn't really thought about the short-term sleeping arrangements that had been made needing addressing.

"I guess that's true." Kazumi reached over to pick up a shopping catalogue she had likely been browsing from the arm of the sofa.

"You've been really good to me, but I'm not broke, I can afford to get us a new bed."

"Us?" Jun reacted incredulously. Kazumi looked at her innocently.

"Well, it's a small room. It would save space, or is your mind on the less practical things?" Kazumi winked. Jun blushed. The sincerity of Jun's reaction made Kazumi laugh. "Relax, I'm not serious. Well, not serious about that. But I am about the bed. Anyways, I would stay for us to have dinner, but I don't have much time, I'm going to go meet my friends to hang out for a bit. Just need to get changed first."

"Kazumi?" Jun finally said. Kazumi turned around.

"Don't worry about the bed, I'll deal with that."

"You sure? I really don't mind paying for it..." Kazumi offered but Jun shook her head spuriously.

"It's not an expense you need to have."

"Thanks, but one of these days I feel I really will need to pay you back somehow." Jun smiled warmly.

"You do that every day just by being here." Kazumi bowed her head, feeling genuinely touched by the sentiment.

"See you later, I won't be too long." Jun waved her goodbye, and picked up the catalogue herself. It was still open at the page that Kazumi had it, a page of double beds ranging in size. For a moment she did wonder what it might be like for Kazumi to share that intimate space with her. It would be nice. A lot of things would be nice to be that close to her. As she reached for her phone to make an order, she started flicking through pages she waited on an answer.

"Quiet dreams mail-order service, how can I help you today?"

"Hi, I'd like to make an order for product number 223... No, sorry I would like to make an order for 323 473."

"All right, can I take your details?"

"Of course," Jun responded and proceeded to complete the mail order by phone.

"It will take a few days by delivery, we can have it delivered to you by Tuesday afternoon?" The salesperson said.

"Sounds good, thank you." She put the phone down, wondering how Kazumi would feel come Tuesday night.

Jun arrived at the café that Hitomi had invited her, an unassuming café with tables and chairs set outside under parasols. From a distance she was able to see Hitomi herself already seated. Hitomi waved to her enthusiastically.

"It was a little hard to find this place, I'm sorry I'm a bit late," Jun apologised as she approached and sat down.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I didn't really think of that, I just decided on this place because I come here a lot. I live quite close to here, in one of the tall buildings you can see." She pointed out behind Jun, and as Jun turned around, she could see several apartment complexes, not altogether too different from the one that she lived in, but they were taller. "I actually live close to the top, from my balcony you can see all along the street. I used to sit there and just watch the traffic go by. You wouldn't think so, but there was a time when I was something of a shut-in." Jun smiled, and replied "I don't find it the hardest thing to believe. It took me a long time to find my confidence too." A waitress approached and took their orders, Jun didn't drink coffee that often but when she did she preferred it weak with plenty of milk. Hitomi asked for green tea. Hitomi knew and addressed the waitress by her name, Kana. The conversation continued as they waited on their drinks.

"I feel like this place was the first step I took. I just decided one day, that if I was bored and had nothing else to do I would come here and sit down a while. I've had plenty of time to get to know most of the staff, I must be like a part of the furniture to them by now."

"Creature of habit it sounds like. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you still try new things now and then," Jun observed. Hitomi nodded. When the waitress came with their drinks, they made further small talk in which they talked about their backgrounds. Jun learned more about Hitomi's mother back in Osaka, about how she built her firm from the ground up.

"She has an incredible amount of drive, even now. But don't think she's the typical laser focused business woman; she's actually a very nice person as well. She's done more than I can ever repay to help me find my feet in life," Hitomi said.

"You both sound really close. I grew up just outside Sendai in a small village, quite an old-fashioned place really. My mother was the local doctor there for some time, but she has a lot of expertise so after I decided to leave home, she took an offer to work in Washington DC." Hitomi's eyes widened.

"I have to say I didn't know what to expect, but that's really something." Jun kept her face straight, preferring not to betray any of the truth to why her mother really left Japan, or how she really felt about it. It was still a sore point. The conversation then went more to their own vocation; it kept them occupied for the better part of an hour discussing their work experiences. Finally, Jun looked at the time. Hitomi noticed.

"Here; before you go, I wanted to give you something." She reached into her white handbag, and held out a small velvet case. "Don't think too much of it, it's just a small gesture." Jun gently took the case and opened it to reveal a golden necklace, which featured an opal embedded between the paws of an embossed cat. It was very pretty.

"Hitomi, you really shouldn't have, this couldn't have been cheap."

"No, I insist you keep it. For me, I've loved cats since my childhood. I don't really own one now, I'm not allowed to keep any because of the tenancy rules. But when I saw that necklace, I felt it was perfect. A perfect way to share my feelings with a friend." Jun decided to try it on. She turned around so that Hitomi could fasten the necklace for her.

"Thank you, it's lovely."

And if this isn't too forward," Hitomi began to see as Jun sat back down, "I was wondering if maybe next Tuesday you would come and visit me in the evening. I'd like to share some of my design projects, my portfolio and also all of the clippings I've collected. Not all of them are of you, but a lot of them are," Hitomi laughed with a slight tint of embarrassment. "It would mean a lot to me." Not for the first time, Jun wondered if Hitomi was not just attracted to her as a model; but that there was more to it. She wasn't repulsed if there was; she wasn't a stranger to the idea of a relationship with a woman, but she had yet to commit to any long-term romantic relationship of any kind. Yet, given her terrible secret, was it responsible to even consider such things at this point? That question should have a simple answer, yet she found herself desiring to continue despite that. And besides, maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe Hitomi just wanted her to be a close friend. And she would be happy to be that if she could.

"Sure, I believe I'm free then."

"Wonderful," Hitomi exclaimed happily. Jun laid down some yen to cover the cost of her coffee, Hitomi indicated that she planned to sit there awhile longer.

"See you on Tuesday!" Jun waved farewell, and headed back towards the subway for her journey home.

As Jun entered down into the subway, an unexpected and extremely unwelcome presence made herself known. Lan Asuka gestured her towards the corner, seeking a private conversation. Before anything was said, Asuka went straight for the gift Jun had just received, clasping it in her hand.

"Well now, I see you made a new friend."

"And what makes that any of your business?" Jun replied angrily.

"Come now dear, your entire life is my business. I'm not going to take too much of your time. Did you hear at all about the remains found in Chiyoda?"

"I'd heard about it on the radio, but you're not seriously saying..."

"I am." Jun scowled.

"You have to have more evidence than that, or do you just assume anyone who has anything to do with me is a devil beast." Asuka was holding a folder that Jun only noticed now when she held it out.

"I'm going to make it simple, considering that you already intend to visit her next week. This is very interesting reading material about Hitomi Konno. I imagine you will draw the same conclusions I have once you put these things together."

"What the hell is in that folder?" Jun demanded to know.

"I don't want to spoil too much for you, but it's all the notes from her counselling sessions that she attended up until about six months ago. Around the same time, her psychiatrist burnt to death in his office along with most of his paperwork, however, he kept copies of his records of recent patients at home. With a little time, we were able to dig them up from the local medical archives." Jun felt sick. She knew she was going to be utterly horrified by the contents of the folder if they really did indicate as strongly as Asuka suggested that Hitomi might be another murderous devil beast.

"Even so, don't you think you might be wrong?" She grasped at desperately. Asuka smirked.

"Never," she answered with infuriating arrogance. If only I could claw that stupid smile off her face, Jun thought.

"Of course we'll take the usual precautions, and be ready to back you up, but by now you should be more than capable of dealing with this debased creature by your own power alone. Just, pay attention to the notes. This creature does display a fair amount of unsettling intelligence. It's the main reason I'm not ordering you to deal with her right now. You need time to read that and prepare. You should make use of the element of surprise." With that, Asuka walked away, leaving the folder in Jun's hands. Jun wanted her to be wrong. Jun needed her to be wrong. But like the diligent hunters hound she was, she was going to read the folder, and she was going to mentally prepare for the worst.

Hitomi was so excited for Jun's visit that she had spent most of the day cleaning and rearranging things in her apartment in order to try and give the best first impression possible. Her association with Jun had already resulted in her being offered more work; not that she was in any way motivated by that; she merely looked at it as good fortune springing from a chance meeting. To her, the friendship was itself the goal. The only problem was Felice. Her other close friend had gone rather silent in the last few days. She didn't think too much of it, it was probably a little jealousy; Felice would get over that in time. Her mother on the other hand had been positively ecstatic for her. She made some final adjustments towards her bookshelf before finally hearing the buzzer. She chided herself inwardly for feeling rather childishly impatient, but the wait was over now.

"Hello," she answered brightly, picking up the handpiece and placing it to her ear.

"Hi, Hitomi. It's me, Jun." Hitomi buzzed her in and waited excitedly at her front door. A few moments later, the elevator arrived at her floor, allowing Jun to step through the doors as they opened.

"You're really punctual, not really like me at all," Hitomi beamed. Jun walked up with a half-hearted smile on her face.

"I think I just get it from Yuasa, you know, my agent. He is quite fastidious." As Hitomi ushered her in, she replied;

"I see, that does make sense. Well, I don't have a lot of experience entertaining guests, but I guess I should start by offering you something to drink. What would you prefer?" Jun sat down as Hitomi asked the question, and answered that she would be fine with some tea. Hitomi's kitchen occupied a segment of her main living room, so she was able to continue conversation as she prepared the kettle.

I know they haven't published the ads we worked on together yet," Hitomi said, thinking what could be a relatively good way to begin conversation, "but I think because of it I've received more offers for work. It's a good thing, the way things were going it was starting to get rather financially tenuous for me to live here."

"I see,"Jun answered, "What would you have done if you were less fortunate?" Hitomi turned to Jun quizzically, surprised by the unexpected question.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to pry, that was probably me being needlessly curious."

"No, it's all right," Hitomi sighed, "I probably would need to go back to Osaka and see if my mother could help me figure things out." Hitomi finished making the cups of tea, and handed one over to Jun, before sitting in the opposite couch. Jun placed her cup on the coffee table, agitation showing on her face.

"What is it, Jun?" Hitomi asked uneasilly.

"Hitomi, you do realise that your mother died two years ago." As the words left Jun's lips, Hitomi dropped the cup that was in her hands onto the wooden floor, which smashed into several pieces loosing its liquid contents all over the floor. Awkward silence fell, eventually broken by Hitomi bowing down to try to pick up the now broken pieces.

"Sorry, I'm so clumsy." Jun sighed, and followed up.

"I need to speak to your friend, Felice. I think she's been lying to you, Hitomi. At least, if I speak to her, we might be able to clear some things up." Hitomi shrugged.

"I don't think Felice likes me talking to you, I'm starting to wonder if she maybe has a point, if you insist on speaking nonsense."Jun stood up and walked around the table, leaning down to meet Hitomi at head level.

"No, most likely Felice doesn't like me. She can smell what I am. I don't know how any of this works, but for some reason I couldn't sense it inside you. It hides itself really, really well." Hitomi got up and tried to pull away, but Jun grabbed her by her arms, with a rough strength that her fashion model body shouldn't possess. "Tell me the truth, Felice murdered your mother, and you can't accept that. Look into my eyes, Hitomi, you need to hear this," Jun ranted, "You signed up to see a counsellor over your grief, and he figured it out too. So Felice killed him and burned down his practice in order to erase all of the notes he may have made. It wasn't thorough enough, he had copies at home, and I've seen his notes." Jun continue to hold onto Hitomi as she appeared to enter a catatonic state.

"I don't know what's real, is this just the face you wear, was Hitomi Konno ever real, come out and face me, monster, coward, you knew when you first smelled me that it was going to come to this; come out and fight, beast!" Jun through Hitomi to the ground in frustration, knowing that the impact would likely force her quarry out into the open if only through an instinctive defence mechanism. With inhuman speed and grace, Hitomi landed upon her arms and legs and bounded away. When Jun looked at Hitomi's visage, she knew Felice was finally out in the open.

"I knew it, I knew it you fucking bitch. You don't care about Hitomi at all," Felice hissed venomously, her face now distorted by feline mutations, her eyes turning yellow, and her mouth distorting into horrific Cheshire grin. "Only I do," the abomination continued, "All she wanted was to be like you; but her mother wouldn't have that," Felice began circling around the room, Jun matching her movements.

"So you killed her," Jun spat, "Sounds exactly like the solution of a lunatic."

"She needed the means to support herself, to move here and to live comfortably. Her mother was worth a lot more money to Hitomi dead, rather than alive. These human concepts, I know of them because I've lived with them my whole life; a life I've shared with Hitomi, but they don't make much sense to me. I just do what needs to be done to make her happy."

"Hasn't it occurred to you that murdering her mother has broken her mind? She lives in a land of denial. You clearly understand enough to care about her, to want her to achieve her life goals, but you only think in terms of violence," Jun continued, "You've brought nothing to her but such extreme pain that the only thing she can do is shield herself from it in ignorance."

"Shut your mouth!" Felice completed her transformation, turning the body of Hitomi Konno into a bipedal tigress; an apex predator. She leapt at Jun with a roar; Jun quickly transformed herself and threw up her arms to prevent Felice from sinking fangs deep into her shoulder. She launched a right hook at the side of Felice's head, impacting with a crunch. Felice staggered back, clearly not used to being resisted with such force.

"No, you don't care about Hitomi," Jun asserted angrily, "she's convenient for you, a place to hide yourself. It's what your instincts told you to do; because you're an animal, and you know that your vulnerable out in the open." Jun's strike has created a wicked gash to the side of Felice's right eye. Seeing her own blood had enraged the monster, causing her to leap at Jun again. The speed was hellacious; and Felice through her entire body at Jun, leaving Jun no time to brace. The force flung them both through the living room wall and into the apartments bathroom. Jun fell into the bath and banged her body against the faucet, which crumpled with the force. Felice again tried to bear down on her shoulder, but Jun quickly raised a clawed hand and grasped Felice's open throat, squeezing hard. Felice weakened, allowing Jun to bear down with her other arm and attempt to choke the life out of the tigress. The beast inside her was in full control, and not interested in showing mercy. However, as Felice showed signs of losing consciousness, saliva drooling from her mouth, her body began to revert to its human state. Jun made herself let go, as Hitomi sat there coughing, grasping for breath. When she regained some of her composure, she looked at the current form of Jun Fudo, and screamed.

"Please, please don't kill me, I beg you, I don't want to die," she cried out multiple times in variation. She attempted to crawl away as Jun casually stalked her. There was a battle within Jun's own psyche at that moment. The beast insisted that this was a ploy; and it would leave them open. Jun however, came into this with every intent of trying to save Hitomi Konno; if she could be saved.

"Hitomi," she growled, reaching forward gently, attempting to show her intentions. Hitomi was in too much shock, however and staggered away, as fast as she was able to.

"Get away from me, get away!" Hitomi continued to yell. Eventually when Jun had her backed up to the living room window, she turned and lept through the window, smashing the glass. Jun ran forward, her arm outstretched to try and grab Hitomi, however, Hitomi's body had once again transformed and had landed on the roof of an adjacent building. Jun couldn't afford to let Felice escape; if there was to be any hope for Hitomi, Jun had to catch her. She soared through the window, unfurling her wings. She wasn't really used to having them yet, but if there was anything that made her feel distinctly more than human, it was the freedom that they afforded. The creature was fast, and even though Jun's eyes had little trouble with darkness, and she had locked onto the scent, Felice had already vanished into the night. She followed the scent to a fire escape; Felice had clearly used this to reach the ground. Jun hovered herself down to the ground using her wings, into a pitch black alleyway. Her nose was accosted with the smell of garbage, but she knew where her quarry was. The attempt to disguise her scent by hiding behind piled up trash cans was clever, but not quite good enough to fool Jun's nose. As she tossed them aside, the pathetic, naked body of Hitomi had curled into a fetal position. If Hitomi had any awareness before, it appeared to have left her now. Jun could hear her faint mutterings, which were comprised mainly of half developed thoughts that must have blighted her mind when trying to process what her beastly half had done. How could she bring herself to murder this girl? Cautiously, Jun reached out to her, however she was unprepared for the sudden, and vicious attack of Felice. Felice almost took her right eye, but Jun was lucky, not that the blood that trailed down her cheek in gouts made her feel that way. As Jun recovered, wiping the blood from her face, and was about to chase after her, she realised that Felice had stopped, because something else had entered the alleyway. Jun barely had enough time to process this before Felice attempted to attack the newcomer.

"Aoi..." Jun realised. But not as she had known her. This was the beast that she had encountered in that swimming centre. Aoi slapped aside Felice's attack effortlessly; a counter that made Jun wince with the casual strength it displayed.

"Jun," Aoi acknowledged, "Asuka had doubts that you get the job done, so I've been waiting in the wings. It looks like that was a shrewd move, doesn't it?" The ram-horned devilman declared arrogantly. Before Jun could respond, Aoi grabbed Felice by the sides of her jaw, and as Jun screamed, tore her entire body in half, the warm pile of organs and splintered bones pouring out into a hideous pile. Jun breathed heavily, incensed, enraged by what she had just witnessed. Aoi discarded the gory remnants of the body she had just torn like paper, and began licking the blood from her hands as she approached Jun.

"I have to say, this body is amazing, I can't believe I was just content with the cripple I was. What?" Aoi finished when she realised that Jun eyes were piercing her. Jun shot forward and slammed her fist into the side of Aoi's face as hard as she could. The force sent Aoi into the wall, severely damaging the brickwork, but not quite putting her through it. Jun attempted another, but Aoi was more prepared, and caught it on her own fist, before throttling Jun with her other hand, lifting her off the ground and slamming her against the other wall. Aoi had almost a foot advantage in height again Jun, and considerable girth around her shoulders as well. For the first time, Jun was really outmatched, before now she had never encountered a being who could immobilise her with one arm.

"Calm down, if they see us like this, they might think we turned feral," Aoi snarled, before dropping Jun. Jun gasped gratefully for breath, and behind Aoi she saw a unit of masked men enter the alleyway, the cleanup crew had arrived.

"You killed her, you didn't even think, you just ripped her apart." Jun growled, feeling most of her power leave her body. She was angry beyond words at the brutal, animalistic ferocity of Aoi's attack; and it disgusted her to think of herself in those terms; but in reality she had done the same thing, more than once. Right now she loathed Aoi, she loathed herself and she loathed the entire Human Alliance

"What the hell was that for?" Aoi grumbled, holding a hand to her cheek, "Asuka briefed me, that creature had killed several people in the last few weeks. It got what was coming to it." Jun stood up, looking up into Aoi's eyes.

"When you turned, they would have killed you. I chose to apprehend you, because I believed you were not a monster." Aoi shrugged.

"I've not killed anybody before now. I enjoyed it a bit too much, I'll admit, but I'm willing to do this for humanity's sake. Asuka can point me that those that prey on people, I'm fine with doing the rest." Jun shook her head in frustration and headed out of the alley, reverting to her human form. She saw Kogare, who held a sheet, and wore a nasty grin on her face. Jun grabbed the sheet from her hands, wrapped her body up and headed straight into the car without a word.

As Jun arrived back inside her own apartment, it was late, well past midnight. She had got dressed into some proper clothes during the journey. The bed she ordered would have arrived earlier in the day, and as she entered the bedroom she found Kazumi sleeping soundly on the bottom bunk. Jun gently caressed her. She then went into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of wine. Finally at rest, she reflected on everything that had happened. She had a lot of questions that would now never be answered; had Felice always existed within Hitomi, or was it the result of the violent transformations of her body fracturing her fragile mind? Had she been taken alive, perhaps those answers could have been found. What she did understand now was the importance of her own acceptance of her own alter ego.

You must be me, and I, you. There is no other way.

On the table was the cat amulet, still in its box. Jun opened the box and held up the amulet. She held it tight within her bosom, folding her arms in a form of prayer. An innocent soul had died tonight. She prayed that soul found peace in oblivion.