Shadows of the Canopy (Flame/Shinku)

[Flame]

~Biri Biri, Biri Biri~

A den den mushi adorned with lengthy blonde hair and a pair of devilish wings rang from it's place on the table. Striding into the room a thin girl with black hair stepped straight over to the den den mushi. "Hello?" Her curious voice probed whoever had connected over the other line of the snail phone.

"Yo! How's it been going Moonwalker?" The laughing voice came from the den den. The girl's eyes narrowed and she frowned at the den den. "Aren't we supposed to be laying low, they are still after us." Her terse voice and expression were relayed through the phone without cause. On her side the smiling face of it shortened and grew more solemn. It grimaced, "You could really do with cheering up a little. If you live your whole life worrying about that stuff you'll waste away your youth. Anyways, I'm just checking in. Making sure that you aren't letting those events rule your life." A smile returned to the snail.

A sigh was let out from Moonwalker's mouth "Well I'm fine. And it's not ruling my life, I just have a healthy interest in staying away from those who want me dead." She said the tick of displeasure twitching through her right eyebrow. "Have you found anyone else?" She asked with a hesitant interest in seeing if Devil's Kiss had made any progress in her work. Expressions passing through the snail spoke paragraphs revealing the answer before her handler could even respond. "Nope, either dead or turned. I'll be heading to the next one shortly, how about you?" Plopping down onto the chair before thee den den the woman sunk her head into an awaiting brace of hands. "Not yet but, who knows he might be somewhere else. The change of this island from what it was to what it is was recent and tumultuous as you know."

"You don't sound hopeful." The voice was perky yet dangerous as it questioned her mood. A souring face before her revealed perhaps more trouble for her handler than knew. "Well I'm going to take another look for him. There's still some places I haven't put my eye on just yet. I'm holding out faith ..." She said in hollow words. The snail scoffed at her, its eyebrows raising nearly off its face. "Faith? You??" Incredulity infused speech was the last thing she needed to hear right now. "Yeah I know. Well, I'd best go make my round. Later Devil." She said swiftly stepping back up from the table in a hurried move that sent her chair screeching along the ground for a few steps.

Reaching beneath her red jacket she slid her fingers about the rubber hilt of her dagger. Closing her eyes she inhaled, her heels began to rise slightly and she exhaled. Just like that as the balls of her feet slowly lifted themselves from the floor she dropped back down to the wood beneath. Those fingers slipped off of the hilt and she looked about her quiet room. Alright then ... Stepping forth she headed for the door her eyes slices and observant already tension was rising. Her handler might not be feeling the pressure but she certainly was. It was a few month's since Shadow's Reach had fallen and Tsukihi Kazeki had been left to the throws facing down what she thought might be the full terror of her enemy. She needed to find help wherever she could find it. Other agents scattered about the Grand Line, she couldn't be the only one. Hopefully she would find what she was looking for here. He was here or was supposed to be at the very least.

[Shinku]

The Grand Line, he had not planned to return and yet he was here again. How long had it been since he had last set a foot into these waters? Two years? Three?  
No. It couldn't have been more than two years, even though it felt longer.  
And yet it wasn't so long since he... since they... the boy's mind went blank there. Too painful was the recollection of what had happened and he pushed it back into a deep corner of his mind, as deeply down as he could, so it couldn't break him down. Sooner or later he would have to face it, he knew. That's why he was here... that's why he had come to this place. To hunt down his past... It still felt strange to have a goal.  
 
His sense of time had been quite hazy while he had let himself drift from one place to another, without any real goal or purpose. His feeling has been likewise numb and shallow and aside from the frequent spikes of fear he had managed quite well to keep strong emotions out of his life... The same way he had kept strangers out of his life and blocked every attempt of others getting close to him. That last one hadn't worked that well and somehow the grumpy and mistrustful boy had made not just one but two friends. That had changed him, he knew it. Maybe it wasn't something a stranger would notice, but Kyou could observe how his way of thinking was slowly taking a different direction. His way of acting around people had... softened up, a little at least though you would never be able to guess it when you saw his frowny face and his cold behavior. But the change was there, poking him constantly from the inside. In a way that scared him just as much as being back in the Grand Line.  
The teenager had had no plan to ever go back to the infamous Grand Line, though neither had he planned anything else at all. But somehow he was here again and even out of his own accord.  
 
This particular island was not one he had visited before. Though he had sailed the GL in his... in the old times, his journey had never brought him here. The first impression he got about the island wasn't pleasant. The trees were too big and too tall and the way they towered over him made him feel small and vulnerable.  
 
The young man brushed his dirty-pink hair out of his face. The humidity had turned it into an unkempt mess and it was sticking to his face in a very uncomfortable way. Not for the first time he considered that it was time to cut his bangs so they wouldn't get into his eyes all the time. On the other hand.. if he waited just a little longer, the bangs would be long enough to get pulled back into his little ponytail, which would solve the problem just as well.  
 
Instead he pulled out some hair clips from his pocket and fastened the wisps of hair to the side. The hair clips were horribly bright and colorful and unfortunately very girly. They had been a present from his twin sister and were the only hair accessories he owned.  
It was that or nothing. At least one of them he liked. It had the face of a white cat who looked something between blank and annoyed on it and Kyou could identify with that feeling very well. The cat looked even more annoyed because it was fastened just next to the horrible bright yellow smile face, which seemed way too cheerful for his taste. 
 
Irritable he tugged at his shirt. The aloha shirt was bright pink with lots of green palm trees printed on it and much more colorful than he liked it. But the shirt had been a present from Inari and Kyou had not wanted to turn down the gift since the other man had been so nice as to give him a ride to his desired destination. The merchant had even switched course from his original route to drop Kyou off and the young man was grateful for it, although he suspected an ulterior motive on the sly merchant's side.  
With a sigh he stopped fumbling with his clothing and took some half-confident steps into the depths of the forest. There was a reason he was here so he better get going.  

[Flame]

Stepping out the door she moved directly onto the balcony of the room she was staying in. Pressing both hands against the wooden railing she looked down from it. Her eyes scanned the mobile town. The day was already in full motion with townfolk all the like scurrying about the buildings under the shade of the large trees looming overhead, she glanced about it. The hustle and bustle of the day seemed largely underway. Folk with bags and the like making their usual living about the island doing whatever was normal. Rolling over it with keen eyes she looked for anybody of suspicion. With no one ticking off her internal radar she nodded to herself.

As a breeze rolled over her head she drew displaced hair out of her face lodging it safely behind her ear. Calmly she held her lips together. Moments later she began to feel lighter, the heel of her foot started to lift itself from the planks beneath her feet. Silently she floated upwards over the crest of the railing. That soft breeze sent her swaying sideways. Slipping open a small hole in her mouth she began to lose altitude. Reaching out with a hand she grasped the railing of the balcony as she passed by it to control her fall. With the fall controlled she managed her mouth controlling her rate of fall with the utmost care. Very carefully she descended downward to the ground below.

Where she would find him was uncertain. Her organization's office had been since abandoned and she'd made a quick round of it when she'd arrived here. The forgotten Shadow's Reach had left almost no trace of itself at the building as far as she'd noticed. There were no bodies, just some signs and logos set about the building introducing the trading company and it's customs to potential associates. The actual lack of true connections could've signaled multiple possibilities. She was fairly certain that it was just a clean up afterwards but she was betting on the possibility that this agent hadn't been caught. Now then if I were outed where would I ... she tilted her head upwards eyeing the trees hanging above the town. No, it was quite unlikely that he'd be up there even with his odd code name. There were probably only a few who would resort to hiding out in the trees. No, it was better she check the office again. She'd been quick about her search last time, perhaps a more thorough search would turn up something she missed before.

Glancing about her she made certain that no one was paying attention to her. Then started walking. The office was near the edge of the shore next to the former warehouse. A long walk from her current position but it was probably going to be her only lead in this case. She moved slowly her eyes ever vigilant of her surroundings. A shadow in an alley, a passing person cloaked or in a trench coat, everything was of worry to her. The streets of the town beneath the trees were shaded which only troubled her more. Slightly uncomfortable with everything she reached behind her and slipped her trusty dagger from it's usual place into a slit in her sleeve. She felt safer with it closer to hand though it did provide a mild discomfort with its cold metal pressing against her arm.

[Shinku]

The rustling leaves, snapping branches and the noises from the different animals of this island unnerved him. Behind each of these noises could be a potential danger and because of the thick foliage and the wafts of mist there was no way to say where that danger might be hiding.  
Kyou almost regretted his decision to go ashore at a patch of the island that wasn't habituated, but only almost. The harbor wasn't that far from his location, according to Inari, and the merchant did know his job - which was to hire the best professionals money could pay for. If his navigator said it was only a short way off, then it was only a short way off. Kyou had already been surprised at the crew's skill when they had dodged various whirlpools in order to let him go on land where he wanted, so he had no reason to doubt the man. 
As agreed beforehand, Inari would take his crew to the port where he would go about his business while Kyou took care of his own matters. The merchant would wait a week for Kyou, if the pinkhead wasn't back by then, he would sail away without him.  
A week was a long time. Long enough for the trickster merchant to play elaborated pranks on the natives and while Kyou had no doubt that his friend knew how to time his little tricks and cons in a way that would let him get away unharmed an untroubled just when he was planning to do so, Kyou still didn't like the idea of being seen together with the man. If he had taken Inari's ship to the harbor, people would associate the two of them and it wouldn't be the first time where Kyou would have to pay for Inari's wrongdoing. 
  
Something in his leather bag moved and a white ball of fur poked its hardly visible nose out of it, sniffing the air and letting out an excited cry. The apple-sized animal jumped out of his bag and vanished into the shrubbery, while ignoring Kyou's call completely.  
After a while it came back, looking very happy. The haggis was a native to the Pikt Archipelago, where the weather could be very rainy as well and the forests, though smaller than this one here, were equally green and lush. Despite Pikt being cooler than Treelore, the haggis seemed to be feeling quite at home. Its triangular ears were twitching with excitement and the short tail was wagging up and down. The shiny white fur was long enough to hide the short legs, giving the haggis the appearance of a round furball with cat ears. The black eyes gleamed with an unhidden zest for action. 
 
"Don't just run off Bruce. You don't know what kind of animals are living here. You're going to get eaten!" Kyou rebuked the haggis, which answered with a haughty look and an angry squeak. 
The haggis waited for a moment for him to continue his way then proceeded overtake him and started to lead the way. It looked rather pleased with itself.  
 
The navigator had not lied. After about forty minutes of cleaving a path through the overgrown land, the vegetation retreated a bit and left space for buildings and people. Even here the trees were an integral part of the town. Since he had chosen to go through the forest rather than following the coastline directly, he had arrived at the side of the town and needed to reorientate before he was sure in which direction the port was.  
He couldn't see the harbor from here, but it was likely that Inari had already arrived ahead of him. For a moment he considered going there to see what the merchant was up to, but decided against it.  
If he put off his task, it would only get so much harder to motivate himself to do it. It had already taken him a lot of courage to take this path and it would not do to abandon it now that he had come all the way to the Grand Line. So no more excuses and diversions! This he needed to do! 
Kyou put a hand in his bag and closed it around the letter there to strengthen his resolve. When he pulled it out again he noticed that it was shaking. Not because of the cold though... Treelore was not the warmest of islands, but compared to the North Blue islands Kyou was used to, it was a rather mild climate.  
In order to stop it from trembling, he put it on the hilt of his sword. The metallic wood of his bokken reflected a ray of light that had found its way through he canopy, but then he moved and the light around him dimmed.  
 
"Now... where to start..."  

[Flame]

She frowned, what was once probably a fairly active office-warehouse had fallen into disrepair. Shadow's Reach's former base on Treelore had a dreary and dirty look to it now. The large brick building of the 'trade company' not a block or two from the harbor had a stained look to it. The sigh declaring it such had been torn from its seams, only a few reminders of it was left the icon having either fallen down or been taken off. In it's place was the pointed axes that made up the icon of the Compass painted atop it like some naive vandalism.

Only those like her who had the requisite knowledge would've realized what it really was. Tsukihi gripped her fingers together into a ball, biting down on her lip she took a few quick glances about her. Too many people ... Even without the bustle of economy that her former organization brought, or the numerous folk of the more residential areas of the town here in the warehouse district the firm step of people about her made her plan untenable. They'd definitely notice her if she tried something like try to clean up the paint strewn across the facade of the building, especially if she used her personal skill. It would have to wait for another day, she sighed shaking her head.

With a sense of urgency she stepped up the stairs to the office doorway. Grabbing the handle she gave it a twist pausing as she felt resistance. "Locked huh ..." She murmured to herself beneath her breath. Tsukihi smiled, this might be fun. Flicking her wrist the dagger concealed within slung down and into the grip of her hand. With the other she fiddled about for a second before removing a small pin from her person. A few more casual looks about gave her the all clear to put her skills to use. Sticking the tip of her dagger into the hole she brought the pin in as well and began to fiddle away. Her eyes narrowed and ears perked up as she continued to work the lock. Clicking away with her tongue she eyed it carefully leveraging her dagger with care. A few more moments placing her delicate care upon the lock freed it from it's frame. A soft click and the door swung free.

Quickly and as slyly as she could she slipped through the door pulling it shut behind her. Turning about she looked upon a sparsely lit room. Through leaves and dusty windows what light did pass through shone upon a mess. The once organized room was a mess of papers and turned over furniture, it was obvious something had happened, she had diagnosed this in her first quick stop here. Now she came back determined to look over it with a finer comb. This time she would miss nothing, hopefully such detail-oriented-ness would lead her to the missing agent, hopefully it would not tip anyone off who might be stalking her former colleagues or herself. She had large asks with big risks involved, she couldn't run forever though. So she definitely needed help, she was to a word desperate.

[Shinku]

Somewhere in the harbor there had to be an office, Kyou knew. Or at least his informant had said so and the young adult relied heavily on her information. His own knowledge about the recent ongoings in the underworld was poor at best and he lacked the proper connections to find out what was going on. Luckily for him he had ran into a detective who's knowledge on the topic had helped him out a great deal. With her help he had been able to find out which organization the intercepted letter was referring to and where he might find their representatives.  

 

The organization.. what was its name again? Troubled Kyou fished for his notes.  
"Stupid brain." he thought as he unfolded the sheet.  
Back in the old days he wouldn't have needed a memo to remember such stuff. Back then he had been good at remembering things. But since that time... his memory  just didn't seem to work properly anymore. Remembering stuff was a pain and if he didn't write it all down he was likely to forget it. 
It was kind of embarrassing to not be able to keep a simple name in your mind for more than a day and yet there seemed to be nothing he could do to improve his memory no matter what he tried.  

"Shadow's Reach" he read the name and continued to skim through the rest of the notes until he found the address.  
The group was active in North Blue as well, but the stolen letter had hinted that the writer had been in the GL and so Kyou had decided to try his luck here rather than in the North Blue where certain happenings had earned him a few more enemies that might look for him. 

Kyou folded the note again and pushed it back into his bag. The young man wasn't feeling comfortable at all about establishing contact with an underground organization. Indeed it made him very nervous. The palms of his hands already felt sweaty and he could feel his heart beating painfully hard quickening his pulse. 
"Information gathering, blackmail and assassination" the note listed some of their activities. The assassination part was especially worrisome, but Kyou needed the collecting information part. 
He really didn't want to deal with the underground world, but if he wanted to find clues about that guy, then he had no other options. The letter was his only lead and it had led him to Shadow's Reach. 

The docks had seen better times and yet they were far from the worst Kyou had seen. The streets were busy with people - some more respectable looking than others, though the boy knew how deceiving that could be - and the constant stream of merchandise, residents and visitors gave the place a friendly look.  
"No one is watching you, no one even cares you're here." Kyou tried to calm himself, though his frown got deeper and he couldn't relax his facial muscles no matter how hard he tried. Being in a crowd was always an unpleasant experience for the antisocial youth.  

Slowly he wove his way through the people, all why carefully looking for the sign that would mark the office of the organization. Their front was that of a respectable and completely legal company, while their shady business happened hidden from the eyes of the public. If you didn't knew about it, you probably wouldn't find it. Or so the female detective had said.  

Street passed after street and still he hadn't seen their trademark sign.  
Had he missed it?  
Luckily the detective lady had added a little map for him and after some careful study of it, Kyou decided that - indeed - he must have missed the building.  
With a sigh he turned around and went back the way he had come from. 

[Flame]

Putting a pointer finger to her mouth she gave it a soft lick. Paging through paper after paper was tiring work. Such a tiring combing through of all the papers strewn across the room would take forever. However she needed to check all the same, maybe something here would give her a hint. Or perhaps .... she paused picking her head up from the desk she leaned over and swiftly scanned the room again. Her eyelids flickered as thoughts passed through her head quickly. There was small fidgetting in her eyes as they seemed to pass thought after thought through them.

Pulling a single finger against her inner eye she frowned slightly. "If it is that ..." her words paused as she mumbled them to herself. Fast feet sent her about the room, paging through documents at each of the different desks that populated the outer former office of her organization. After ruffling multiple stacks of papers she stopped, two fingers pinched her forehead as she furrowed her brows in thought. The front was really well done ... In which case ... she stood up fully her eyes twisting about messed up room with a discerning eye. Tapping a single finger against her chin she pursed her lips turning her eyes across the room again. Slowly she walked about the room. There was the obvious door leading to the warehouses where all the items of trade would be found. Of course it was possible she'd find her quarry there, but she doubted it. If she'd learned anything when it came to covers, the deeper it went the better.

Passing by the door with a relaxed jaunt she eyed the wall, the floor, nearby desks, anything that might hold clue to what she was looking for. Stopping for a second she breathed in the air of the room, it might've been circulating slightly though honestly she couldn't tell in the moment. She licked her lips, she liked a good challenge, now she felt it rather unfortunate that she'd never been to this office before now. Such prior knowledge would've made her life so much easier. Walking up to a nearby bookshelf she glanced at the different book spines layered across the number of shelves riding across it. She bit her lip in thought as she looked at one book after the other. Raising a single finger she put it on a single book that seemed out of place compared to the others. Putting it on the top of the book she hooked it against its' cover and pulled. It tilted forward and Tsukihi paused looking around almost expectantly.

Silence ...

Nothing happened at all, giving it another little pull the book fell out entirely dropping down flat upon the shelf. "Guess not ..." she spoke silently to herself glancing at the book. It seemed some idiot had just misplaced the book or something. She frowned giving a cursory look to the other books making sure she hadn't missed some other one that seemed out of place. With a sigh she found no such issue with one hand on her hip she raised the other to the side of her head scratching at the top of it now very confused. There's got to be a secret entrance somewhere ... She frowned giving a bemused look to the room about her. She was definitely missing something, but what? Maybe its in some other room ... The thought was laced with uncertainty and mild disbelief at that possibility.

Couldn't hurt to look I suppose she did her best to convince herself as she headed for the door that connected the office to the rest of the warehouse.

[Shinku]

There it was, or at least, Kyou thought so. After doubling back and checking again, he still hadn't found the building, so he had fished out the paper again, which luckily included a very detailed man and counted the buildings from the easy to find butcher's shop to where the office was supposed to be. Seeing it now he understood how he had missed it. Someone had sprayed a different icon over it and now you could only make out the dark mountain of Shadow's Reach if you knew it was there.  
Why would they have done that? Had they switched their office?  
If so, Kyou would have no clue where to find them. His informant had only given him two locations and one of that was in North Blue. Now that he was back in the GL, getting to the Blues was harder, although not impossible and the pinkhead really hoped that he wouldn't have to try. 
 
"Piiii?" it cheeped from his side. Bruce the haggis was looking up to him, trying to figure out why his food-provider was standing motionless in front of a building. 
 
"Yeah... ... It's likely here." Kyou told him and turned silent again. 
 
Now that he had found the office, what should he do? His stomach was already hurting from the prospect of having to deal with people from the underworld and the pointed axes on the front was not helping with that feeling. There was something foreboding about them.  
 
And then there was the other problem. Kyou did not actually have any money. Or no money to speak of. He had a little bit of cash that would pay for his living expenses while he was here, but... it was nowhere near enough to pay the prizes that the organization would ask him to pay for their services.  
Without even properly knowing how much such organizations charged for selling their information, Kyou was still sure that it would be more than he had right now.  
 
"Maybe I could force them." he thought with no big conviction. Even in his head the idea sounded stupid and unworkable. "Seriously," he chided himself, "if you want to commit suicide, there are easier ways than to pick a fight with a strong underworld organization that regularly offers assassins for the hire."  
 
"Maybe I could offer an exchange of information? The information I am looking for is probably not all that expensive after all."  
But what sort of information could he offer? Was there something he knew that would be of interest to a group like Shadow's Reach?  
On the top of his head he couldn't think of anything, so that wasn't a very useful thought either, though it wasn't completely pointless either. He wasn't as clueless as he looked and although most of his info would be more than a year old, some of it might still be valuable. If he decided there was something he could actually sell...  
 
Well...  
 
If everything else failed, he could borrow the money from Inari - which was probably as good as selling himself into slavery, but at least he could get forward with his investigation.  
"It's not like that's really important to me... I can always just drop the whole idea and go home." he told himself though he was not convinced at all by his own words.  
There was no home he could return to... and it WAS important, deny it as he may.  
"I have owned a lot to many people through my life. This is something I own to myself and there's nothing wrong with it."  
Unlike the previous thought, this one sounded true and right. Dangerous as it might be, this was something Kyou wanted to do.  
 
"PIIIKKKKKYUUUUUUU" came an angry chirp from Bruce. Kyou's hyperactive snowball had tried to get his attention for quite a while now, but the teenager had been too lost in his own thoughts to notice. That now got him a nasty bite mark on his calf.  
"Ouch! What are you doing Bruce?! Inside? Yeah, we're going inside." Kyou answered just as angry and scowld at the haggis who simply ignored him. The little animal was a lot more eager to move than he was.  
 
Taking a deep breath, Kyou readied himself.  
"It will be fine. I'm a client, they won't just kill me. I can keep a poker face, so that's fine too." His face rarely showed anything else than a frown so it was unlikely that they would notice his nervousness. Appearing too hostile might be bad, but showing weakness seemed even worse, so for once Kyou wasn't unhappy about his face.  
 
"Pyuuu..." Bruce was starting to sound impatient. If Kyou wasn't going to come, the haggis was likely to go in there by itself. So the boy had no other option than to follow the furball to the other side of the street and into the building.  
 
Slowly and carefully he opened the door and peeked inside.  

[Flame]

Strolling over to the door leading into the warehouse section of the building was quick and easy. Her light footsteps made nary a trace as she quickly walked there. It was then that she heard the voice. Correction, the voices. One seemed no more than an animal but the other the other was definitely a person. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the entrance. Who is it ... She wondered considering heading for the door to try and sneak a look before they came in.

Could be the Compass ... that thought steadied her before she took a step towards the door. She paused glancing to the door, given the distance she judged them from being to the door she didn't have much time. Closing her lips together she jumped forward. Tsukihi floated towards the door not even touching the ground for a few moments longer than it would normally take. She landed inches away from the door at the back grasping the handle. She paused glancing back at the entrance way. That there was talking seemed a little odd to her but she was always one to side with caution.

Twisting the handle she cracked the door just enough for her to slip in. Sliding past the door she looked down the dark corridor for a moment. Shadows filled it and only the bare amounts of light passing from window to door served to illuminate it at all. Sharpening her eyes she looked harder, there were what seemed to be doors farther down but right now she had other concerns. Taking her dagger from its resting position up her sleeve once again she gripped it carefully in a reverse hold. Placing a hand on the door she slid out of the line of the window at its center. Warily she inched forward slightly glancing back towards the entrance at the far side of the office.

In the window of the entrance is where she saw the shadow reaching for the door. She cursed now that she hadn't locked it, and more so that the darkness was so prominent in the room. She could barely make out the person opening the door and she didn't recognize him in the slightest. Who is that? She questioned staring through the window with cautioned interest. Could just be some Compass lackey making rounds, or someone in to steal anything that might've been left behind ... or .... she continued to think hundreds of possibilities filling her head. The creak of the door warned her that he was entering. It swung open and she had to keep herself from pressing against the small window in an effort to get a better look. Curiosity and caution battled each other as she eyed the figure carefully.

[Shinku]

The place looked like a horrible mess, with papers lying around everywhere and furniture that seemed to have been moved recently to less logical locations such as two or three steps away from the wall instead of just adjacent to it or in the middle of the room where they were even more in the way. Some of the furniture were even lying upside-down. 
Either someone had some very poor housekeeping skills paired with a weird sense of style or the office had been ransacked.  
But by whom? The Marines? No, that couldn't be. If the Marines had found and raided this hideout, they would have taken everything with them, so they could look through the papers and other stuff for any important information. They would also have put up a "Do not enter" sign at the door as long as their investigation was going on. Unless the one in charge was a real incompetent - that certainly couldn't be ruled out - but it seemed unlikely to Kyou. Even low ranked members should know the protocol. 
So then who? Had the local authorities found out about this underground business in their town? It seemed much more likely for local policemen to leave such a mess than it was for the Marine, but that still would require a great deal of incompetence.  
"It must have been someone who didn't have a lot of time to do the search... That's why there's such a mess in here. They wanted to be done before anyone else showed up..." he thought.  
Someone who didn't want to be caught... a traitor maybe?  
That thought made him shiver and his hand clenched harder around the hilt of his sword. Kyou hadn't even noticed that he had gripped it.  
He forcefully stopped himself from gritting his teeth and took another look around. People were walking past him on the busy street and he was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable as he stood there in the half-opened doorway. Sooner or later someone would take notice of him and find him suspicious and yet he still hesitated to enter. 
 

The place was giving him chills and the boy was close to turning around, leave this place and let the whole matter rest after all. But Bruce pushed past him and with a few little hops, the white furball entered the room and sniffed around, undoubtedly looking for any interesting scents.  
"Choo!" the haggis sneezed as dust got into his nose and irritated it.  
After a moment of hesitation, Kyou stepped inside as well and closed the door.  
To prevent himself from wanting to leave right away, the pinkhead took a few steps inside and away from the door. 
 

"!" Kyou winced and suppressed a curse. He had hit his shin against a toppled over chair that he had not noticed in the semi-darkness. For a moment he just stood there at the entrance and let his eyes adjust to the dim light.  
Now that there was no light coming from the door, the shadows in this room seemed darker and Kyou eyed them with distrust. His ears were listening for suspicious sounds, but the only thing he could hear was the rustling of paper as Bruce walked over it.  


Maybe it hadn't been a traitor. Maybe it had been a rival organization who wanted to claim this territory for themselves. To his acknowledged poor knowledge of the underworld, such things happened.  
"That would explain why they just destroyed this place rather than to take the papers. Hmm... though it does look as if they searched for something."  
That could also explain why Shadow's Reach sign had been painted over by a different mark.  
"Pff... Just like animals, marking their territory with piss." he thought, half amused. 
 

"Pii!" came the cry of the haggis and Kyou looked over to the furball who was jumping up and down on a desk, next to a stack of paper. 
"What is it Bruce? Did you find something?"  
Kyou went over to his companion and looked down at the desk where the haggis was demonstratively sniffing at the documents. Something about the papers seemed off, though Kyou could not say what exactly...  
"They are kind of neatly stacked..." he thought before the realization hit him.  
Someone else had been here after the place had been ransacked.  
Panic rose inside him and he tried his best to push it down. It was irrational to get scared because someone else had been here. There was no way to find out that person's motive... it could be someone who had bad motives, but it also could be someone like himself who had come to look for information. Seeing ghosts in every shadow was not helpful for his task and yet he could not help it.  
Nervously he relaxed the grip around his bokken and breathing out slowly he relaxed the rest of his body until there was no tension at all anymore. For an observer he would look unstressed, but in true, Kyou was making himself ready to move at once should the situation require it.  
"Bruce..." he started, not sure what exactly he wanted to say to the haggis.  
"Damnation, I really need a code word or something like that." he thought.

[Flame]

The one who entered was an oddity, pink hair and ragged clothing with a furball in his hand. She frowned, as she looked through the glass toward the character who had come inside this abandoned building. Doesn't look like a compass agent. The look is too unprofessional, too flamboyant for them. Softly she bit her lip trying to figure it out. If it wasn't an agent then what? Too flamboyant for an agent, it could've been a higher up, they tended to have more leeway but wouldn't they be attended by guards. Her eyes scanned the other windows of the office front as best she could make them out.

There was no one, apart from the chatter of that man and his animal the whole place seemed empty, save for her. Stepping softly away from the door she hid herself out of view. I could just leave, if he never knows I was here then it'll be safe I can always come back once he's gone ... The possibility appealed to her, she always tended to fall on the safe side of things. But if he found something and took it, it could have the hints she needed. Could she allow that to happen? Both of her hands reached up grasping her head between them and drawing them down her hand. Breathing in for a moment she sighed with one hand pinching her nasal bridge. I'm going to have to deal with him ...

In that case ... she tightened her lips feeling the lightness which gathered in her when she did so. Waiting moments she felt as her whole body began to lift itself from the ground. Regulation was the key as she began to float up, she loosened her seal. A small stream of it releasing from her lips halted her upward momentum leaving her floating in the air, it was a hard regulation to keep but she had some experience with it. Placing a hand upon the door she carefully tilted it open keeping quiet so as to not make a sound.

Peeping outwards she made sure that the pink-haired intruder had his attention compromised before using her hands to pushed herself out of the door opening on a straight trajectory for him. Gripped in her hand was her dagger, her plan was simple, dagger on the neck and use him to anchor her so she didn't float away. Then release the excess gas and the question him. If he was a member of the Compass he might have valuable information, if not. Well, if not then he might need to be silenced. She thought of using vents to speed up her attack but the sound of the breeze it would create, inside this closed building, she'd be found out immediately. That she needed to avoid at the very least.

[Shinku]

Trying to move only his eyes but not his head, Kyou looked around as good as he could. Which wasn't especially good since he was facing the desk and that desk was placed close to the wall. So instead he tried to give Bruce a pointed look in the hope that the haggis would have a look around, but his companion was too focused on the sheets to notice him. Something about their smell must have poked his interest and the animal was nothing if not curious.  
No choice but to act himself then. 
Trying to look nonchalant, Kyou turned around and pretended some interest in the other papers that were lying everywhere. He eyed the broken furniture, but none of them seemed big enough or placed properly for someone to hide in their shadows. Maybe with the little exception of that overturned table over there... and the big filing cabinet in the corner... But as much as Kyou exerted his eyes and ears, he could see no motion or hear any breathing.  
 
The pink-haired boy relaxed for real this time.  
Thinking about it, wasn't it stupid to assume that the person was still here? Animals usually had good senses and there was no reason to assume that Bruce was an exception. He could probably smell it if someone had been here a few days ago and all that panic was pointless.  
Since getting on this island, no, since finding that letter, he had been way too tense. Even more than his normal tenseness. It was just so hard to tackle his fears and it made him so tired... Kyou really was glad he had taken that step forward, but on the other side he also wanted to do nothing more than turn around and run away from it all.  
 
With a sigh he turned to the papers again.  
Where they of great importance that someone had spend time with them or had someone just searched through the pile of rubbish without finding what they were looking for?  
Ignoring Bruce's protest that he wasn't finished with his smell memorization yet, Kyou picked up the papers and scanned them.  
Numbers and stuff... it made Kyou's head ache just by looking at it. And it wasn't that the teenagers was completely rubbish with bookkeeping, but it was rather long ago since he last had to deal with something like that and to be honest... it was a giant pain in-  
The papers got yanked out of his hands as Bruce jumped up and caught the bottom of the sheets with his mouth. Partners they might be, but the white furball was not amused at all when his food-provider took away the stuff he had found. Bruce could tolerate Kyou and even liked him quite well, but the human had to learn about proper hierarchy!  
Angrily the animal cheeped through the paper in his mouth and hid with them under the table.  
 
"Oi! Don't be stupid and let me have a look!" Kyou complained and bowed down to retrieve the possible evidence for whatever. His companion resisted, but in the end, Kyou won the fight and had most of the papers back in his hand - although they lacked a corner now.  
"Ouch!"  
Angry as he was about his stubborn companion, Kyou hit his head on the underside of the desk.  
Rubbing it carefully he stood up, while Bruce was still sulking under the table.  
 
"Now then..." he thought, when suddenly...


OOC: Tsukihi's turn =)

[Flame]

Her path through the air was almost perfect, the slightness by which she was off track was small and would make no difference in her mission. Shifting a leg she slid by a chair by a hairsbreadth. A silent sigh of relief passed her lips as she slipped by that chair and another without bumping into them at all. Such a thing would've blown her ambush immediately.

~CHEEP CHEEP~

Suddenly the furball began to make noise. Tsukihi's eyes widened and she cursed in her mind that she had forgotten that such a creature would likely notice her even if the man did not. The danger grew and she pulled the dagger closer to her face prepping for if the man turned about. The distance shortened, only a few moments and a couple feet kept Tsukihi from her objective. Shit ... The word slid through her mind quickly as the man bent down ducking under the table for some reason. Now she was too high, the ambush wouldn't work if she couldn't get the knife to his throat fast enough.

Rows of pearly whites bit down onto her lip, this was going horribly. Everything had been that way lately, ever since the fall of Shadow's Reach, she'd been all out of sorts. She'd asked Devil's Kiss to come and join her a few times but had met with nothing but denial. The situation needed to be salvaged as best as could be. Then her eyes widened, as if answering her prayers the man stood back up rubbing the back of his head with a single hand. It seemed he was still unaware of her existence, which was perfect because it was at that moment that she came down atop him.

Simultaneously she grabbed his far shoulder with one hand and brought her blade up against his neck. The cold flat of its metal pressed carefully against the man's neck. Anchoring herself upon him both feet touched the ground letting it absorb what remained of her forward momentum. "If you move you die." She said regulating her voice to a darker more sinister version of itself.

Taking half a moment she scanned over the ragged looking man, his pink hair did not match his otherwise ghetto-ish choice in clothing. "Who are you? Who do
you work for?" She demanded pulling the flat of the blade stronger against his neck. If he said the Compass he'd be dead in moments likely. Here in the moment she wasn't feeling it as necessary to question a member of that organization as she might've with a cooler mind. "Answer quickly. Your life may depend on it." She said softly twitching the blade softly in her hand while staying careful to not actually cut her new prisoner.

[Shinku]

Blood seemed to flee his face like a criminal from a crime scene and left the already pale boy even paler. Kyou froze as the cold blank steel pressed against his throat. He could feel his heart throbbing and for one an absurd moment he could picture how his carotid artery was showing with each passing pulse of his heart. That of course was nonsense, but unfortunately, the person threatening him wouldn't have to see his artery. Just cutting deep enough would work fine and he would bleed to dead in a matter of seconds.  
 
His first impulse was to raise his hand in the universal gesture of "Hey-look-I-am-not-armed-although-I-might-have-something-in-my-pocket-and-I-might-draw-that-out-if-you-give-me-the-chance-but-for-now-you-can-see-that-my-hands-are-empty-so-why-don't-we-talk-instead-of-killing-each-other?" but the woman had ordered him not to move on the risk of his life, so he didn't. It wasn't hard to stay immobile, the fear had him frozen pretty well already.   
 
"OhbloodyhellbloodyhellbloodyhellwhymestupidBrucewhatdoIdonowfreakingbloodyhell..." 
His panic was running away with his mind and Kyou had to chase them down and bring them back because he needed his brain to process her question. At least he assumed his attacker to be a she, considering her voice and the slender hand on his shoulder. Her grip didn't seem very heavy but it was not weak either and there was determination behind it.  
 
Although he didn't need much wit to answer her, as it were two rather easy questions, he still had a hard time getting the words out.  
"I'm Kyou." He pressed through his lips as he didn't dare move his head too much and his jaw was too tense to work properly anyway. "And I'm currently between jobs." Which was basically a fancier way of saying that he was unemployed, but it was an answer to her question all the same, although Kyou could not say why he cared.  
"So, no. I don't work for anyone." He hurried to clarify.  
 
Whatever that woman was after, she didn't seem very patient or calm. Not like having someone calm pressing a blade against your throat was much better - being killed in cold blood made you just as dead as if you had been killed under a raging temper - but calm people seemed more likely to listen to what you had to say.  
 
"What do I do now?" He wondered, while waiting to see her reaction to his answer. His mind had calmed down a little and he had to think for a solution to his situation. Just cursing himself for being stupid enough to get caught would not help him.  
"I'm fast, I could probably try and grab her wrist and throw her around, but I don't know how fast she is and she won't need much to cut my throat. She's already almost cutting it."  
 
"I don't even know who she is and what she wants... I need more information.. but asking her seems risky. Who knows how she might react to questions."
No, he decided. He had to be ready to react at once should she make any attempt to kill him anyway, but for now, waiting and seeing what she would do seemed like the better option.  

[Flame]

Doesn't work for anyone? She questioned the response in her head. He could be lying, it was a possibility, if he was it would definitely be better to simply slit his throat right now and leave him to die. Definitely it was the safer option. She paused, there was no reason for her momentary hesitation as she held the knife to his throat. But she hesitated all the same, she'd worked as an assassin before, killed bad people, corrupt people, but the innocents, the innocents she did her best not to. However there was in the end some innocent blood on her hand. Biting her lip she strengthened her grip on his shoulder.

More questions couldn't hurt, with her blade firmly pressed against his neck there wasn't much he could do to stop her. It was unfortunate interrogation was not her specialty, if Devil's Kiss was here, likely she could do it much better than Tsukihi. "If you aren't working for anyone what are you doing here?" She asked aiming for the feeling of simple curiosity. "Rifling through the files of an out-of-business trading company." It switched quickly from curiosity to accusation in those few words. The grip she held upon her dagger tightened pulling the blade up against his neck a little more. She could see him trying to bend his neck backwards away from the blade.

With her dagger arm she pressed her forearm against the back of his neck. Removing her grip upon his shoulder she placed her now free hand firmly in the small of his back. Before he began to answer she continued. This time having brought her face close behind his she whispered. "Do be careful, the blade is so very close to your neck. Moving too much could cause some sort of accident." She said her mouth tugging at the ends of what could be a smile. In her mind she was trying to create the persona she had so often seen others take when performing interrogations. It was hardly a good imitation of it, and she didn't have much faith in her ability to simply beat it out of somebody with her fists.

"So I'll ask again. What are you doing, rifling about the papers of the former trading company Shadow's Reach? What is your real motive here?" She asked pulling her head back slightly, the pink of his hair was starting to annoy her. She didn't need another reason to kill this man, instead she was looking for some better reasons to not at the moment, not that she'd let that on.