Running Blind...

[The Cinderella Man]

((Closed to Reiko.))

[‘Saddle Ablaze’, Radasanth Slums District, 2 weeks ago...]


It was a usual night down in the Slums. The humid air smelled of decay and dust uplifted from the dirt roads that chopped the less fortunate district of Radasanth in a myriad of uneven blocks. Beggars and hobos that waddled through this maze of alleys during the day crept back to their holes, some squandering what little money they had on cheap booze, but most seeking refuge in one of the abandoned houses of which there was always a fresh supply. Somebody old always ran from the Slums. And somebody always found a new home here. The ladies of the night – though who came to idea to call them ladies was beyond even the wisest sages – were already on their corners and the unlit back alleys each once again became a potential ambush spot. The moon above – three quarters of a cheesy coin – looked down as if with a mocking smirk. All in all, it was business as usual in the Slums.

The interior of the ‘Saddle Ablaze’ seemed no different. Strippers – that too found a better title for themselves, using the term ‘exotic dancers’ instead – pranced on the set stage, their scantly clad bodies basked in the illumination that seemed to have more colors then a rainbow. Their bodies bent and flexed, their lips smiled, their eyes teased, working together to elicit both sighs of lust and uncanny generosity from the clientele. On the saddle that dominated the entire scene, black-haired Star was riding a non-existent horse, wearing nothing but a hat and spurred boots. Fat merchants and stick-dry thieves alike were captivated by the sight, spreading their coins at Star’s feet.

Truth be told, ‘Saddle Ablaze’ wasn’t exactly Victor’s kind of joint. Ogling shameless women and wasting hard earned money in the trance of lust wasn’t something he was prone to nor did he have pockets deep enough for it. Not that he didn’t like the scenery, especially if Kitty did her performance, shaking that cute little behind of hers with fake fuzzy ears and a tail. He liked Kitty and not only because she usually wore something that women usually wore beneath the sheets, but rather because of a simple reason that the lithe girl seemed to actually give a damn about him. At first Victor thought it was just professional courtesy, but the more he frequented the place, the more it became apparent that Kitty wasn’t stopping by his table for a chat just to earn an additional coin or two. She became a friend and there was a definite shortage of those in the boxer’s life at the moment.

He came to the ‘Saddle Ablaze’ to say goodbye to her tonight, but unfortunately the girl with the blonde-brown hair was nowhere to be seen. So he sat in the dim illumination of the nightclub, sipping on his ale and tapping the folded note on the table surface. He sipped, he tapped, he looked at Star shake her bosom. The note was the reason why he was here, why he was going away from Radasanth for an indefinable amount of time. By now the boxer knew what it said without looking at it:

Dear Victor,

You once told me that whenever Inari or I need help, I could turn to you. And as reluctant as I am to draw you into my problems, I beg you to come to my aid. Something has happened... I’ll explain it better in person. Please meet me in Narkash, a small town due southeast from the southernmost point of Tylmerande barony.

Praying for your safe journey,

Doji Kadenzaa

It was a while since he saw Doji. In fact, prior to the letter, it was a while since he thought about her. The adventure he had with the foxy female and her vibrant daughter Inari was a good memory and as such usually hurt the most. Because even though they went through quite an ordeal together, and even though there seemed to be somewhat of a spark between him and the furry ronin, it ended in a manner that romances usually ended in his life; prematurely and with a bittersweet taste. At the end he went his way, they went theirs. Case closed.

That was, until today afternoon. It was today that a rather young looking lad caught him by the sleeve, asking him his name and stuffing a note into his hand after identification. Victor wanted to ask him who’s this note from, but by the time he unfolded it and read the contents, the boy was gone, leaving him alone with the written plea from one of the few people that he actually cared for nowadays. Kit and Inari were peculiar birds, there was no doubt about it, but also as sweet as candy and as good-natured as they come. Despite all the dangers that they went through, despite the scar that Doji gave him that nowadays marred his right cheek, despite the near-death experience that they had in the dry desert of Fallien, he liked the furry pair. Mayhap it could be said that he even loved them.

That was why there was no doubt would he go to this Narkash to meet them. He disregarded the queer looks that most people gave him at the docks when he asked around for anybody sailing to that destination. He even disregarded that the only transportation he found was a free merchant from a peculiar land unknown to the local cartographers whose name he couldn’t pronounce. He did what had to be done; paid for a cabin onboard the strange ship, bought a fistful of bullets and prepared to deal with whatever troubled Doji. All that was left to do was say goodbye to Kitty. The girl would be worried if he went missing for weeks without notice.

However, the night drew on and there was no sign of her, and when the dawn broke, Victor could wait no more. He left Radasanth behind him and stepped onboard the Vik’han Tranos, starting his journey to the unknown once again. And once again, it was because of a woman.

[Reiko]

((Note that this character is Kit and Inari merged into a single being, a nine tails, through a magical accident and I have permission to use her as this))

A new life…

That was sure true for the fox girl; most people didn’t get to start over as a whole new person, a person that was formed from the combination of two beings. Ki was the result of this combination between Kadenzaa and Inari. She was both and she was lonely.

It was strange at first and still to be born with the memories and souls of two girls. Ki felt like a thief that she had stolen their state of being just by existing. She looked like a normal anthropomorphic nine tails with a cute body of a healthy young adult, not nearly as muscular as Kadenzaa and more of Inari’s lithe but healthy build and height. Her hair was jet black as was the fur on her ears and nine tails and finally her bright eyes had lovely gold irises.

Still her exotic looks didn’t make life unlivable, and Ki wasn’t going to be lonely for long since she realized it was lunch, currently the nine tails favorite time since it meant eating at the Broken Sword Noodle Hut. A place that had the best noodles in Radasanth and the best company that Ki knew in her short life with her new friend, Kazuka Daichi, a fine ronin and chef.

“Aha, Ki! Glad you came in again, might have to change the name to Nine Tails’ Noodle Hut if you frequent it so often.” Daichi laughed and moved to his favorite fox while noting the melancholy look in her eyes. “Feeling down again?”

Ki nodded as she looked down at her feet while fiddling with her jet-black hair. Of coarse to Daichi that meant she ordered the usual, Kitsune Udon, though not because it was what she ordered most but sometimes he had to come up with something if she forgot to order.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?” The ronin cook said with reassuring smile.

“Well I feel like an abomination, I don’t think I should exist, the two girls that are me should be running around instead of me.” Ki said as she took a sip of water that Daichi put down.

“You shouldn’t regret your existence, you can’t help it and it’ll only make life worse. Well something to cheer you up, someone sent a letter for a tailed girl with a black sword. I think it’s for you since there’s a nice picture of the sword and it matches yours. I think it might be a friend too.”

“R, really?” Ki moved forward while wagging her tails curiously. Could it be a friend of Kadenzaa or Inari or maybe even a friend of her own? Ki needed answers as she tore into the letter and read the parchment. It was a friend and he was in trouble in a town called Narkash. “Yeah I think he is a friend and he needs help!” Ki said with urgency before paying her tab, she didn’t even touch her noodles.

“I don’t like this much, She’s such a sweet girl and not really smart enough to tell a trap. I don’t want anything bad to happen but if she does find her friend she wouldn’t be so down.” Daichi shook his head as he looked out the window to see the nine tailed girl running through the streets.

***

Narkash wasn’t hard to find, for it was actually a nice trades town. It was familiar to Ki through the dreams of memories of her past selves. The place looked like a town in Nihon with colorful and well crafted building where the architects had some artistic sense but the people were odd, they were a cross between crow and man. They were Tengu.

“Greetings nine tails, what brings you here?” A pair of short tengu came close, dressed like samurai with colorful armor that was made to give the wings freedom.

“Umm hi!” Ki said not sure what to say, there wasn’t any chance that she’d get through the town not being noticed, the tengu seemed to be wary about having a kitsune running around.

[The Cinderella Man]

“So, how come most of the other captains dislike Narkash? It seems like a rather quaint place to me.” Victor said as Vik’han Tranos crept towards the sturdy looking docks that jutted from the shore of the town beyond. From what the boxer gathered from rumors and chewing the fat with the sailors, Narkash might’ve been the very courtyard of hell. From what he saw right now though, the place failed to differ from a myriad of coastal towns in Tylmerande or Yarborough. Houses stretched deeper into the landmass with their peculiar curved roofs, the fishermen’s shacks and boathouses spreading both left and right from the rather idle docks.

“Quaint? Damn queer if you ask me. ‘Tis because they are crow folken.” Captain Dortho said, turning the helm fractionally to the right, then to the left, then to right again, maintaining a rather straight course towards the vacant pier. The countless golden chains and piercings glittered under the noon sun, jingling every time the dark, bald man moved. Around him, the main deck was as busy as a broken anthill, chocolate-skinned sailors scurrying this way and that, tying the sails, coiling ropes around their elbows, readying the anchor. Victor found the dark-skinned folk on board the ship a rather non-conversational lot, obeying the commands wordlessly while on duty and sticking to lower decks and their peculiar tile games on their spare time. They seldom spoke Tradespeak, so Victor reckoned it was the language barrier that made them regard him with nothing more then a glance and a nod.

“Crow folken?” the pugilist-turned-adventurer asked, turning to the commander of the merchant vessel and leaning against the bulwark. Even though it was a rather hot day, Victor still donned his leather coat, thinking it was better to suffer a bit of heat then to walk around with his revolver out for all to see. Mayhap it wouldn’t make him seem hostile since a lot of people didn’t even know how firearms operated, but it would definitely raise a few brows and he didn’t want to attract too much attention once he set foot in the town that was becoming larger with every second.

“Aye. Scary things if you ask me. Half bird and half men. You never know what they’re looking at with those black birdish eyes of theirs.” Captain said, turning the helm a bit more as he aligned his ship parallel to the wooden docks. “Some say they were once wicked men cursed to be vultures all their lives. I don’t care. They’re good traders and they offer better prices that some vultures that wear man-skin, if you ask me.” he finished with a raspy laughter, his thick accent a clear proof of his foreignness.

Captain Esser Dortho docked Vik’han Tranos as smooth as smooth could be, the large vessel stopping in the shallow waters just shy of actually touching the wood of the docks before the anchor splashed in the azure water with the din of the unrolling heavy chain. After rather short and business-like farewells, Victor made his way down the broad plank and onto the Narkash docks, his left hand clutching to his worn gymbag that rested on his shoulder. His right wasn’t on the butt of his gun that was hanging from his hip, hidden below his dark coat, but it wasn’t exactly too far away either. Dortho was right, they were queer with their bird heads and eyes that seemed endlessly deep and endlessly emotionless as well. The boxer didn’t know exactly how to decipher the looks that the crow folk at the docks gave him, and that was enough to keep him alert. For all he knew, they might stretch their wings and come pecking at him, seeing nothing but the next meal.

“Fox people, cat people and now crow people? How do these half-breeds even come to existence?” it was a random thought, something to keep him occupied with something other then trying to comprehend what message were all those black eyes sending. It was also a funny and a disturbing thought because there was no plausible way a man could mate with a crow. Unless there was magic involved, of course. Magic, of which he had a hatful by now and it failed to change his opinion towards it.

He walked down the main street rather casually though, despite the fact that he was rather disconcerted by both the look of these crow people and the looks they were giving him. Regardless of how peculiar they looked, they probably had a tavern or two – after all, they seemed to live in houses and not nests – and that was where he could probably get some information. A bit farther down the streets he could see two of these birdfolk wearing armor and talking to a pitch-black furry with an abundance of tails swinging from her backside. Victor remembered how strange Doji’s three tails were and he reckoned this dark-furred woman had a handful with thrice as much tails. It was enough to make the prizefighter smile mildly as he continued to explore the town.

[Reiko]

“Dodging the question, eh?” The tengu squawked with a bit of humor. No, Ki wasn’t dodging the question but she had her thoughts interrupted with the sight of another visitor, he was familiar but the nine tails wasn’t sure why she thought she knew him.

“Oh, Um sorry,” the vixen apologized with a bow and fanning out her tails. “I’m looking for a friend.” Ki admitted as she looked around.

The other Tengu looked closely to Ki’s waist and even went to pull her sword out.

“What are you doing?” The vixen yelled but she stopped when the crow person spoke.

“One of old Ryoden’s swords. Ha! It’s one of his better ones. Lady, you should be careful, he hates foxes and when he knows you have one of his swords, there’ll be trouble.” With that the two tengu returned the sword and went on their way.

Careful they said. Ki didn’t like the sound of that. Ryoden had to be a powerful fellow to make such a blade, and here she was in his back yard and having one of his broken toys on her. It wasn’t going to be good for the girl at all.

Maybe it would be best to stay low, but what about the friend she had came here for. He needed help and she didn’t want to be lonely, so she had to look for him.

Three more of the crow people came forward, dressed in black armor and carrying weapons, one had a sword and the other two had hammers. Ki couldn’t tell what they were thinking so greeted in a friendly manner. “Hi, how’s it going?” The vixen asked cheerfully.

“Give back the blade you stole and soiled, then we will make your death quick,” was the answer of the leader of the black birdmen.

“Huh?” Ki answered but she couldn’t get another word in before having to dodge the katana slashed at her belly. Ki jumped backwards and drew out the Onitachi to gleam in the sun. “Hey, I didn’t even get to explain my self.” The nine tails complained as the sword came at her again, though Ki turned the lade wide of her neck, he wasn’t goofing around.

“Are you two going to just stand around, help me!” The leader ordered his underlings and Ki started to feel sick. Three against one wasn’t the greatest of odds but she didn’t have much room to fight them, the streets were pretty wide but the debris could trip someone easily and then there was the fact she had to keep on the defensive against the aggressive sword crow that didn’t give her a chance to counter. Every time Kit had a seed of a plans she had to concentrate on dodging a swipe of the sword or a hammer that wanted to crack her skull. She needed to think of something.

[The Cinderella Man]

He finally gathered enough courage to speak to one of the feathery people – a woman, he assumed, given her colorful violet-yellow attire – when the calm of the main street transformed into a battlefield. The pair of friendly tengu that was conversing with the black multi-tailed cat was replaced by an ominous trio that seemed strangely eager to make short work out of the furry lass. Sword and hammers flew at the peculiar woman, but she had some skills of her own, dodging and blocking the incoming blows with uncanny agility. Victor could’ve sworn that he saw the fighting style before, but then again, he also saw a fair share of wandering swordsmen and swordswomen, so it was hard to pinpoint where the semblance came from.

“Not a lot of furry ones though.” the voice of reason reminded him, and it was right. Actually, the only furry swordswoman that he knew was the one that sent him the letter that brought him to Narkesh. Granted, the pitch-black vixen didn’t fit Kit’s description – too many tails and too dark fur – but chances were she knew something about her. As if that wasn’t reason enough for him to help her, there was a fact that she was a woman. And Victor was a sucker for women that got themselves in a pickle. It was probably not the smartest thing to do, but the down-and-out boxer probably wasn’t a terribly smart person to begin with. After all, smart people didn’t pick pugilism and saving damsels in distress as their occupation.

Pulling back the brim of his coat back, he grabbed the butt of his revolver, but a firm hand stopped him from pulling it out. The beaked face of the woman peered at him with those empty bird-eyes. “What are you doing, laddie? Those are Ryoden’s men. You don’t want to be messing with them.” she advised him, her voice strangely human for somebody who looked like a freak of nature. Victor yanked his hand out of her grasp vigorously, taking a couple of steps away from the tengu and pulling out his gun.

“I think I do. I don’t like creeps that hit dames.” he replied, cocking his gun with a smartass smirk before turning back to the battle scene. Unfortunately, he was never even got a chance to aim his six-shooter. A hammer came from his left, the wielder lucky enough to advance just when Victor was turning his back to the crow woman. The heavy weapon-head struck him in the chest, sending him crashing backwards into the basket of dry cloth and knocking the air out of the prizefighter’s lungs. His vision grew dim, the expulsion of oxygen so abrupt that it left his entire body in a state of such shock that he didn’t even feel the pain of the bludgeon wound. Instead his lungs struggled for air, managing only shallow breaths that hurt his entire torso. A tengu, attired in a strange dark armor made out of interlinked metal plates, towered above him, lifting his hammer in order to finish the job.

Victor’s hand moved almost instinctively, lining the gun with the man’s chest and squeezing the trigger. The revolver exploded, the high-caliber round breaking through the ornate armor and perforating the flesh beyond it. The bird-man staggered a step backwards, his hammer falling from his grasp and landing on his head, knocking his lights out even before the blood loss killed him. Victor barely saw any of this, using all his strength and concentration to normalize his breathing and fish himself out of the wicker basket and its contents. Once he finally succeeded in doing so – with the help of the frightened tengu female whose cloth he soiled – he finally got a chance to take aim at one of the three that harassed the tailed woman. Only this time, he wasn’t given the time to pull the trigger. A pair of glittering star-shaped objects came whistling from the shadows of an adjacent alley, striking both the forearm and the shoulder of his dominant hand. The firearm slipped from his fingers, the pain bolting through his nerves and enflaming his arm.

He wanted to yawp in pain, but never had a chance to do so, since another two projectiles were thrown his way. This time he had just enough time to roll forwards and below them, grabbing his revolver with his left and backpedaled towards the opposite side of the street, where the foxy woman fought her battle with her adversaries. He fired twice while retreating, lumbering his hurt, almost lifeless right arm, but if the aim with his right was lousy, it was even worse with his left. The bullets whizzed across the street, making the woodwork explode in a myriad of splinters. His shadowy foe, seeing that Victor had a formidable ranged weapon as well, tucked away his throwing stars and pulled out a pair of short swords before darting across the street, as quick as a mongoose. With his eyes on the advancing tengu, Victor spoke to the black-furred cat: “You watch my back, I watch yours.”

It seemed like a fair deal. Alone they probably didn’t stand a chance, especially in a wide open locale such as a main street.

[Reiko]

Ki was getting hot, as she kept up her defensive dance. Damn they were good and they had the jump on her and outnumbered the fox and though the nine tails was a better fighter, she just couldn’t make a move sacrificing a moment that could lead to her death. Ki needed one thing to go her way and she could turn the tables.

And then the cavalry came and got smashed with a hammer. It was an awful price to pay to help but the man stayed up, he was tough enough to stay up and keep fighting, using a strange and powerful device to blow out the chest of the assaulting Tengu. There was only two left and the odds were in her favor. “Thank you…” Ki whispered to the man for his help and the sacrifice he made by taking such a hard hit.

The vixen retreated down the street in hopes of getting some room to fight off the two remaining Tengu. She needed to end this fight quick since she was going to tire at this rate and while the tough guy seemed to have his own problems and pain. Something in Doji’s gut gave her the idea that he now needed her help.

The two bird warriors made a predictable move and pressed the assault, sure they would win. But Ki was ready this time to meet their offense with one of her own, a burst of foxfire shot to the face of the sword wielding Tengu, forcing the goblin bird to squawk in pain and make a clumsy and over balanced slash that Ki easily dodged as she brought her sword to meet and stop the coming hammer. The foxy ronin pushed with her sword to knock away the blunt weapon and then slashed to cut off the hammer’s head and finally made another slash to end the hammer wielder’s life. The swordsman came back with a yell of equal pain and fury, but it was ended as Kit went forward and sliced at his side, ending the two.

The fox panted as she tried to calm herself and realize that while she didn’t get a single bruise, she was still a mess. But her gut was right earlier, for the tough guy needed help. He was wounded and under the assault of skilled tengu warrior with two blades. Kit had one chance to help the man that saved her. Thank the kami she had her bow strapped on her back. It was from Inari’s younger years but still was a deadly weapon. Ki took an arrow and notched to take careful aim.

It was a matter of patience, but that would not be enough since every moment could mean the death of her savoir, it meant timing and luck too. Ki needed to loose at the right moment and to have the perfect shot. Too bad she wasn’t as good with a bow as a sword, but the sword was a bad idea, too much distance to close and foxfire might hurt her ally. The bow was the best option to Ki so she waited and hoped that she had a clear shot before seeing what looked best and let the arrow fly to embed itself in the final Tengu’s back then repeating a few shots to make sure it would die without harming the human.

Finally it was over.

Ki went to the stranger and curtsied to the man that saved her life and took all the harm, all she did was get blood and feathers on her. “Thank you. I don’t think I could of won if you didn’t show up.” Ki smiled politely though it disappeared in a look of concern. “Are you alright, we should get you to a healer.” The worst was his arm; there was something sinister about the shuriken wounds. Ki knew the ninja stars were mostly a distraction on their own unless poison was involved.

[The Cinderella Man]

Aiming with his left was like trying to take a shot while drunk. His hand was unsteady, his fingers clumsy, making the muzzle of the revolver move everywhere except the incoming tengu. Which, by the way, certainly wasn’t dumb enough to run in a straight line. Seeing that Victor was trying to shoot him, the blackbird with two swords zigzagged deftly, turning aiming into a frustrating game played by a man with trembling hands. The wounded boxer made an attempt to steady the gun with his right, but his right was too busy being overcome with sharp ache with two throwing stars pulsating like epicenters.

He would’ve been undoubtedly done for if the black fox-lass didn’t intervene. After dispatching her two opponents – with some damn fine swordsmanship, as far as Victor was concerned – she replaced her sword with a bow, and just as he was about to squeeze the trigger of his revolver despite his inability to line it up with his target, she let the arrow fly. The bird assailant, obviously focused on the firearm threat, was caught in a pincer attack and stood no chance against her arrow. His knees buckled in mid sprint as if an invisible blade sliced through its tendons, forcing him to a crash landing that uplifted a dense puff of dust. He tried to get up, one hand pushing against the soil while the other desperately sought the arrow imbedded between his shoulder blades, but before Victor managed to take aim at the now static target, the tailed swordswoman repeated the process, filling him with another handful of arrows.

The wounded gunman sighed in relief once all the threats had been eliminated. Clumsily he holstered his revolver – using his left to return it in a holster on his right hip – and by the time he was done, the battle-prone fox was standing before him. She was worried, her big violet eyes noticing his wounds, and it was enough to make the whole ordeal worth it. And she wasn’t an ingrate, though he felt like he owed to her more then he repaid with his little distraction. “Seems to me you saved my ass in the end. Shall we call it even?” the prizefighter replied with a smirk before he pulled one of the stars out of his flesh. His face crumpled into a painful grimace in a heartbeat, the pain forcing him to clench his teeth and support his back against the wall of the nearby house. He wanted to throw the projectile away, its serrated edges one of the reasons for the pain, but instead he put it away in his pocket. No sense in throwing good weapons away.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright. I wouldn’t hold my breath for a healer though. Not when these people welcome us this heartily. Why were they after you anyways?” Victor asked, then yanked the second shuriken from his shoulder. This one hurt a little less, the two points of the star failing to penetrate bone-deep inside his flesh, but it still made him stifle a groan and breathe out through his nose. He tucked the second missile away as well. He was about to take off his leather coat and make some sort of a makeshift bandaging for the wounds that filled his sleeves with blood, but a voice interrupted him, coming from one of the alleys.

“We are not all Ryoden’s servants, stranger.” a robed figure spoke, clearly discernible despite its black attire. It was, after all, a sunny day, and no shadow was thick enough to hide even the stealthiest regardless of how hard they tried. The eyes within the hood heeded Victor for barely a moment though, slipping to the furry female and her blades. “Ah, one of the accursed blades. I think it’s safe to assume you’re not here to hand it over to Ryoden, yes?” the figure – who was undoubtedly another tengu since his beak couldn’t be hidden with a tent, let alone a hood – spoke before he summoned them with a gesture of his hand. “Come, we don’t have much time before he sends more soldiers.”

Victor was pretty damn reluctant to follow the cryptic figure. Regardless of the seemingly benevolent intentions, he was attacked by a bunch of them moments ago and he wasn’t keen on getting in another pickle while his right was still out of order. However, the black-furred lass did just paint the street red and he did aid her in that little domestic disturbance, so it was probably best to get out of plain sight as soon as possible.

Their mysterious benefactor led them through the short alley and through a backyard of several houses, finding holes in the fences as if he went through them countless times. Several tengu – mostly what looked like housewives and their children and an occasional lazy dog – regarded them with nothing more then an inquiring glance before they fled back into their houses. A few nodded to the dark figure, a barely noticeable gesture that was supposed to mean something but was lost on Victor. After several minutes of sneaking through the yards and gardens, the three squeezed through a rotting wooden fence and into a young forest of beech trees.

His hand throbbed with every step he made and fine stream of blood oozed from the sleeve of his coat, so the walk seemed to last for hours to the boxer. However, it wasn’t long before the dark-robed figure pushed aside massive leaves of some oversized ferns, revealing their destination. The two-storey house was made out of wood, though its structure was nothing like Corone cottages. Instead of having bearing walls made out of wood, this building had no outer walls on the ground level, the weight of the upper level and the thatched roof borne by a web of supporting columns. He wondered how they kept these places warm during the winters, what type of wood they used for insulation, was it faster to build a house this way, how they dealt with the problem of the staircase in such a fragile construction, and all the thinking about the architectural aspect of the house took his mind away from the pain.

They were ultimately led in what seemed like a common room, the leading tengu taking off his shoes before entering, Victor and black cat following his example. The boxer would’ve been embarrassed by a hole in his right sock that let his thumb out, but his pain made him deem this unimportant at this moment. There were no chairs in the common room though, just a bunch of cushions, several ornate vases and sticks of incense burning on a table that seemed way too short to be a proper table. When they sat took a seat on one of the plain cushions, the robed man went to fetch a healer and some food and drink, leaving the unlikely pair alone. Victor figured this was as good time as any for introduction.

“With all that commotion I believe we were not properly introduced. I’m Victor Callahan, fresh of a ship from Corone.” he said, making an attempt to offer a handshake and receiving nothing but pain from the attempted motion. He settled with a nod in the end. “So what brings you in this strange place?”

[Reiko]

Why were they after her? It was a good question that the gunman had. Ki had to think as about that for a second. “I think they wanted my sword.” Was the best she had come up with and it made sense. The Onitachi was a great weapon that would make a swordsman much more deadly, though thankfully it could no longer posses the wielder with an evil spirit. It was the sword they wanted, Ki was sure.

But soon another tengu came to lead them away. Ki normally would have been suspicious because of the dress and the reputation that the tengu were more mischievous than even her kind. But the vixen had a trustworthy smell from the tengu. The cloaked bird had a desire to help but still Ki wasn’t sure what his reason was. Still it was better than nothing and the nine tails was sure it wasn’t a trap, or at least hoped.

At least the wounded fighter made the trip safely as well. Ki was still worried about him since the damage to his arm had disabled it, hopefully just for now. The place they were led to was a rather wealthy in that was built like a hybrid between a towering nest and a tavern of Nihon. Ki was rather impressed, though taverns were a common place for an ambush, at least in the stories that her past selves had read. The fact that it was a tower meant bowmen could get a good target without much trouble from retaliation. But everything seemed in order as the pair removed their shoes and sat down to talk.

Ki liked this man, he felt familiar and brave man. His name was even more familiar; Ki had come here because of that name. “Vic!” Ki cried out with joy as she pounced and hugged him. “I came here because of you. See here’s the letter.” The ronin girl took out the parchment from her kimono. “I thought you were in trouble, and I wanted to see you again, since you helped me with the Onitachi.”

The vixen blushed when she realized that it was going to be awkward. ‘I’ was a ‘we’ last time they met, two kitsune girls, not one. “I’m sorry. Um a bit has changed. Inari and Kit… Are, well, um… me.” The nine tails stammered hoping she could shed some light on the change. Ki was no longer the mother and daughter but she was they at the same time, having the memories of the pair, though they were highly fragmented. Ki was now alone and all she had were glimmers of friends from two lived that were a part of her, she wanted to rekindle those memories to an actual friendship.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor was in the middle of gently prodding one of his wounds with the finger of his left hand when the black multi-tailed fox pounced down on him with the agility of her bestial genes, locking him in a heartily hug. He nearly toppled over from surprise of both the rapid movement and the claim that the furry girl made. She knew him? She came here because of him? The boxer was perplexed to say the least. He maybe wasn’t the most unique person when it came to facial and body features, but he didn’t have one of those faces that made people think they met him once before. Still, seeing the awkwardness of the moment, he returned the embrace reluctantly, his left patting the lass on the back in the same manner he would pat some random drunk that claimed he knew him.

The letter should’ve clarified the matter, only it didn’t. The letter was a plea for help – bearing odd semblance to the one he received from Kit – and it bore his signature (and a rather good copy of it), but it was not written by his hand. Still, the contents were equal to the one he pulled out of his coat, placing it beside the one that the seriously confused fox provided. The handwriting was different, as were the names, but other then that, the two letters were almost completely similar. Which, in turn, posed a question why this deluded nine-tailed maiden had a letter that he supposedly sent to Kit. He was about to inquire about that peculiar detail when she spoke again, once again rendering him speechless.

“Inari and Kit are... what?! What do you mean you? Is this some kind of a trick?” Victor fired his question in a salvo, just a tad irritated by the amount of illogical events. First, he got a letter from Kit and Inari, then he got to the town where a bunch of feathery freaks tried to turn him into bird food, and now this lunatic fur-covered girl is making no sense whatsoever.

However, there was no shrewdness in the violet eyes that looked at him, no slyness that would reveal foul play. If anything, the girl seemed coy and apprehensive, even scared to a certain extent as she looked at him. Victor maybe was easy and lenient when it came to women, but his judgment of character was one ability that seldom let him down. And there was no ill will in this girl, even if she was a bit loopy. He didn’t know the word for the condition she might be affected by but his sister Yavannha – who was growing up to be quite a scholar and quite a bitch as well – would’ve called it schizophrenia or something akin to that. Victor knew few fancy terms and even fewer meanings, but there was definitely something wrong with this woman. She maybe had a good heart, but a bit further north the lights were flickering on and off in a rather funny way.

It was then that his light flickered on and he started to use what little brain didn’t turn to mush from all the bouts. He looked at her face and found that, even though the color of her fur was different, the eyes were oddly familiar. He looked at her clothing and found that, even though what lay beneath had more tails, she was wearing one of Doji’s kimonos. He looked at her weaponry and found that, even though the wielder didn’t look the same, the sword was the same accursed blade that gave him the scar that even now decorated his visage. Only it wasn’t just Doji that he saw in all those details. It was Doji and something else, something more vibrant, something more alive, something... someone that seemed tiresome during their mission in Fallien. A pretty little furry thing called Inari, Kit’s daughter. She was there and she wasn’t, somehow present in every glance, every movement, every word spoken. And suddenly the words that the insane furry lass was saying didn’t seem so insane.

“Doji? Is it really you? What in gods’ name happened?!” the wounded gunman asked, his shocked glare colliding with a much more timid glance in her own eyes. Before she got a chance to answer, one of the sliding doors moved and a tengu with a vessel of hot water, ointments and bandages entered. The cryptic fellow, clad all in black, didn’t follow, and the birdwoman approached Victor, telling him to take off his coat and let her mend his wounds. The prizefighter almost didn’t notice the woman; such was his amazement with this new discovery that he made. That changed once the birdlady started to actually work on his wounds though, the soothing, cleansing touch of warm water rapidly substituted by the hot-and-cold sensation of the healing salve that bore deep into his flesh, mending the torn tissue and congealing the blood into scabs. Victor allowed a wince or two, but generally remained consumed with this mind-boggling revelation, waiting for some kind of explanation from this new and blackened Doji.

[Reiko]

Doji felt her heart strain against breaking when she heard Vic’s response. He was surprised and pretty much didn’t believe the nine tails, instead scanning her visage for any proof of lying or madness. Ki twitched her tails and laughed nervously as she realized how silly it was. But no matter how silly or dreamlike her state was, she wasn’t going to wake up to find it some weird shared dream between Kit and Inari. Ki was Ki and most likely forever more.

To the vixen’s relief that Victor accepted the fact that Doji had told the truth and that it wasn’t some lie that a kitsune would use to trick a man or some madness of her mind. There was a great relief for the swordswoman that he accepted her like this.

“Well um it’s a little strange.” Ki started to recall the events, not something that her old selves were no strangers too as it wasn’t the first time that magic had greatly altered one of them though this time it had altered both. “I think I remember that it was a quest to hunt down a rogue dragon after I met Leon, my lover and my father…” Doji yelped and blushed at her mistake. “I mean Kit’s lover and Inari’s father.”

Doji took some deep breaths as she fidgeted with one of her nine tails while recovering. “During the adventure we found some treasures among the hoard and one was a magical piece of jewelry that Inari wanted to put on.” The nine tails shifted her weight back and lifted her left foot and pulled back the hem of her kimono, showing the charm around her ankle and a bit more leg than the vixen expected. “Inari wanted to try this on and when she did, we came together and I was um… born.”

The vixen seemed to wait until she could read what Victor thought, though it was interrupted as the tengu woman that was treating Vic’s wounds looked at Doji and chided. “My lady, I know that kitsune customs are different but that’s not appropriate.”

Ki blushed and rapidly went back to her normal sitting position though a few tails were caught under the kitsune’s weight and would fall asleep if Ki didn’t move them out from under her, though she was too embarrassed to worry about the uncomfortable tails.

[The Cinderella Man]

“See, that’s why I’m staying the hell away from magic. Because you make one mistake and you wound up seriously messed up.” Victor thought as he listened to the story of the metamorphosed Doji. All the impressive fireworks and conjurations and uncontestable magical perks aside, but it took just one misstep for magic to backfire at you. Not that he thought that it backfired at Kit in a very terrible way. He was rather fond of the red-furred kitsune with three tails and there was no reason why he wouldn’t be just as fond of her now when her tails multiplied and her hair grown pitch-black. What counted was beyond the flesh and hair and tails, and when looked in such a light, Kit was one of the sweetest women he knew. She was just wearing a different attire now.

It was perhaps that fondness that singled out a seemingly unimportant part of the story as something that hit him like a punch in an unflexed gut. “Leon.” she said. “My lover.” and Victor had to admit that it stung. He didn’t know any information about the history that this Leon and Kit might’ve had, but he remembered full well the events in Fallien. He remembered how much he liked Doji and her daughter and how much he was willing to sacrifice for them. And he remembered the dawn at the oasis, when they sat next to each other, sopped from the swim that only enticed what looked like a seed of genuine affection to grow between them. But life was a whore and it gave the least to those who deserved a handout. So Victor got a scar and a kiss, both on his cheek, and this Leon person got to have something that the prizefighter never had, and something that, given this peculiar turn of events, he would never have. Perhaps it was ridiculous that this was what the gunman deemed most important in the whole tale, but he couldn’t stifle the jealousy that arose inside of him.

He could, however, prevent it from displaying on his face, but as it turned out, there was no need for concealment. Because once the tailed maiden swung back the hem of her kimono to show the reason for this transformation, Victor had another thing to marvel at. The anklet was naturally around her ankle as it befitted an item bearing such a name, but – unintentionally or not, the boxer couldn’t say and couldn’t say he cared either – the nine-tailed kitsune revealed her leg all the way up to mid thigh. And as much of a gentleman as he always strived to be, Victor couldn’t help but look. And he had to admit that for a hairy woman, Doji certainly had nice, smooth legs. Or leg at least.

“Nice.” was the only comment coming from his smiling mouth. He snapped out of his rude ogling session at about the same time as the tengu woman reprimanded Kit. “The anklet, I mean.” he corrected himself, diverting his eyes as the leg disappeared below the kimono once again. Consequently, it reminded the prizefighter of the oasis again, when the young furry mother was in a rather eye-catching bikini. He wondered what would’ve the birdwoman said about that. As if she heard his thoughts, the feathery healer started bandaging his arm rather tightly, awakening the pain that her herbs dulled moments before, but it was far from the throbbing sensation from when the wounds were wide open.

“So, how does it work? The whole merging thing, I mean? Are you Kit or Inari or a bit of both? And can I still call you Doji or is there another name you use?” he asked, this torrent of questions much more amicable then the last one. Partially it was because he understood the situation a bit more, but he had to be honest and admit that it was mostly because he was a man and he got a sneak preview of some of Kit’s charms. Perhaps it wasn’t ladylike for her to do so and perhaps it wasn’t gentlemanlike for him to watch, but not all women were ladies and not all men were gentlemen, not in the archetype understanding of the title anyways. “Did you try taking the anklet off? It’s not still active, is it? I mean, I’m not going to wake up with some fur and half a dozen tails or something?”

The last was said in a jest, his smile widening slightly and his eyes looking into hers. There was some actual concern in him on the matter, but he seriously doubted that would happen. He maybe knew nothing about magic, but the part of his brain that worked with common sense still operated. And it told him that it was still active, this new Doji would’ve been a combination of more then just a mother and her daughter.

[Reiko]

Ki wondered why she showed her leg like that with the anklet, it was probably a slip of the hand but maybe, deep down, the vixen wanted a distraction from the magical accident. Something that made Vic think of Ki more as a woman than some curiosity.

Though it still didn’t stop Victor’s curiosity about the magic could not be stopped but some of the questions seemed important so Ki answered to her best, though she shifted to a more comfortable position, folding her legs under her and pulling some trapped tails free.

“I’m not really sure, not like I made the anklet.” Ki smiled hoping not to sound discourteous since that’s truly how she felt though she knew a bit more about her state of being. “Um Doji works, it’s a family name. I don’t feel like I’m Kit or Inari at a particular time but someone knew and yet the same I guess. For my own name I chose Ki.” Then came the last question that lefty the nine tails with a shrug. “Can take it off but I only get really dizzy until I put it back on. It should do anything to you unless you put it on.” The ronin finished as she looked at the gunman’s arm hoping it wasn’t too bad.

But in a moment Ki started to get restless, she didn’t get to hardly explore the new town and the place was getting a little cramped, not to mention that the tengu woman that was treating Vic’s wounds was making the little vixen feel rather uneasy, not distrust but in a way that left the fox girl to feel a bit dirty for the little leg stunt and just for being a kitsune.

“Um, Vic? I know it’s a little dangerous and you need to get your arm to heal but I want to see the market and do a little shopping and have some fun. I’m sure if we’re careful we won’t have any trouble. Also if we stay out of the other guy’s turf then we shouldn’t have to worry.” Ki wagged her tails in hope but she left the decision to her human friend who she needed and wanted to come along but he was the one that needed to rest.

[The Cinderella Man]

“Dames. Nothing can take them away from shopping.” It was a rather unfair thought, but it was the first one that popped into Victor’s head. After all, they were in a life-threatening situation less then an hour ago; the only thing he could think of was the dull pain that every movement of his right arm elicited and the reasons why somebody would send those letters to both of them. It was obvious that they didn’t send it to each other which led the washed out boxer to think that somebody wanted them to come here. Why was beyond his deduction skills, however. Not like he had the brains or the time to dwell on it for too long; the former was bashed out of him by ways of prizefighting and the latter was snatched away from him by the entry of their mysterious host.

“I don’t think you should be doing that, miss,” the beaked creature said, its – his, Victor’s mind insisted – animalistic face now not obscured by the shadow of the hood. He stepped into what boxer reckoned was the living room, sliding the door shut with one hand and balancing a simple wooden tray on the other. On it were three small porcelain cups and a large vessel that looked like an alabaster bottle. With what sounded like grak! – albeit a rather gentle one – the tengu dismissed his female counterpart before lowering the drinks on the short-legged table and taking a seat himself. He talked while he poured. “Ryoden seldom sends his soldiers downtown. If he sent them for you, he wants you pretty badly. Or something you’re carrying.” His eyes slipped to the sheathed katana at Doji’s belt.

Victor couldn’t say he disagreed with the man. When you’re greeted in the manner that they were, it was obvious that somebody either wanted you back on the boat or six feet under. But more important then why was who for now. “Who is this Ryoden?” the patched up pistoleer asked, reaching for one of the filled cups. “And who are you while we’re at it? Why are you helping us?” Boy, he certainly had a lot of questions today, so many that he felt all he did was asking questions and getting peculiar answers. He took a sip of the transparent liquid. The alcohol was so strong it almost felt like a slap in the face with a hot pan.

“You can call me Mikken and any enemy of Ryoden is a friend of mine,” the tengu said, opening up his beak to show a row of tiny teeth before dumping the contents of his cup inside his maw. “As for Ryoden... Well, he wasn’t always a tyrant that terrorized the rest of Narkash. Until recently he was just a blacksmith, working in his small shop by the docks. But several months ago he completely lost his mind. First, he closed his shop and worked for weeks behind closed doors. Until one morning we heard that lord Ewion was dead and that Ryoden took over his castle up on the Nest Hill. Ever since then he’s the shadow that looms over our town. I figure that sword of yours is one of his and he wants it back badly for some reason,” he finished with a nod towards Doji and her blade.

It made some sense, the prizefighter thought, but it still left quite a few holes in the story. If he wanted the sword back, why did he summon Victor here as well with that letter? Sure as hell wasn’t the shabby combat knife that the boxer carried around. “If he’s a simple blacksmith, how could he take over an entire castle?” Victor asked, feeling the liquor turn to fire in his entrails.

“Nobody knows. But now all of the castle guards are under his control. I managed to gather a small militia, but they’re barely enough to keep this part of the town safe,” Mikken the Birdman said, and the boxer knew what would come next. What always came in situations such as this one, what was always asked from strangers walking into a troubled town. As it turned out, he was wrong. “I’m not asking you to help us. What I’m asking you to do is get on the next boat out of here before he gets to you.”

“Well, this was unexpected.” Maybe it was just reverse psychology, but even if Victor recognized it, there was too much humanity in the eyes of the feathery humanoid, too much sincerity. The boxer prided himself to be a rather good judge of people, and though this tengu scarcely looked like ordinary people, there was more benevolence in those queer brown eyes that there were in a myriad of human ones. Victor looked at his furry companion, consulted with her with a smirk and a nod before he spoke again.

“We appreciate your concern and your help, Mikken. But I think we’ll stay. Sniff around a bit, see if we can chase some rats out,” the gunman said, taking out his revolver awkwardly and swinging the cylinder out. He spoke as he replaced the spent cartridges with the fresh ones, using his left rather awkwardly. “I think there’s more to this story. If he sent for Doji because of the sword, why did he send for me?”

“I think you shouldn’t risk finding out. Ryoden has some pretty big rats,” Mikken said, his tone a bit wistful.

“I bet none of them is bulletproof,” Victor retorted with a smirk, swinging the cylinder back in its proper place and holstering his pistol. He got up with a grunt, tapped the birdman on the shoulder and looked towards the nine-tailed lass. “Come on, Doji. Let’s do some shopping.”

[Reiko]

Ki smiled brightly at Vic as he agreed to go even after the protests of the two friendly tengu. “I knew you’d agree!” She cheered while grabbing Vic’s good arm and leading out into the streets towards the marketplace in the center of town, they were always easy to find since they were lifeblood of most cities and Narkash was no exception.

The place was bustling with birds that were buying and selling all kinds of items, from swords to beauty supplies. “Aren’t you glad we came Vic? I really thought we should get out, that place was getting so boring and I thought I’d go nuts if I had to stay there too much longer.” The vixen perked her ebon fox ears at the smell of one street side cook before she made a quick dash away from the boxer and came back with two kabobs with many meats and vegetables and handed one to Victor, though she could no longer drag him around by his arm. “Here, it smells really good.” Ki chirped before looking to a store, Doji could feel some kind of aura coming from the place. Also it had a lovely wooden and ornate structure that reminded the fox girl of home that was only a part of her dream like memories that belonged to the two girls that had become the nine tails.

“Let’s go in there!” Ki went to the shop, though she slowly entered with caution, not sure if it was one of Ryoden’s traps. The ronin fox noticed all kinds of items that was like every shop rolled into one.

“Good day miss, Welcome to my shop of artifacts. Nice to see someone other than the crows come in.” A woman’s voice purred out as Ki looked to see a two tailed neko with orange white and gray patches on her fur and hair. “Especially Kitsune.” The cat girl smiled though she looked to Ki’s sword for a moment.

“Heh I’m just browsing.” Ki returned a smile and went strait towards the dresses, there was the kimonos that one would expect though some lovely Coronian and Raiaeran ones as well, too bad the vixen had no place to keep them. “Hey Vic, isn’t this place neat?”

“Everyone Get out of the Market!” Called a random crow from the outside and caused Ki to sigh and go to the door only to see a large muscular oni with two heads and one red eye each with copper skin, wielding a huge sword that Ki could hardly lift.

“Hey, lotsa tails. That our girl!” One head roared while the other smiled and agreed, “yup, cute fox girl, fun to smash.”

Doji yelped as she had to run to avoid the downward slash that would have either crushed her or cleave her in two. Damn that Ryoden was really making this tough. “Vic, we have trouble!” Ki yelled hoping that Victor would hear and either help or run, Doji wasn’t sure what she wanted the gunman to do.

[The Cinderella Man]

If Victor was the least bit uncertain in the authenticity of Doji’s story, that doubt was erased the moment they arrived to the marketplace. The black-furred kitsune seemed overjoyed with the bustle of the trading grounds, dragging him along as she scampered from one stand to the other without a worry in her mind. And while such behavior wasn’t unexpected when it came to females and shopping, it was Inari, Kit’s daughter, that acted the way this new combined foxy woman did. There was an air of childish innocence around her, radiating vibrant mirth like a miniature sun, and just like in Fallien, it drew a smile on his brooding face. It was beyond question that this newly formed woman indeed had aspects of both the mother and the daughter, and Victor couldn’t say which one he fancied more. Luckily, with this new Doji, he didn’t have to choose.

The marketplace was surprisingly vast for a modest port such as Narkash, but the reasoning for this Victor found in an explanation that Captain Dortho gave him during the journey from Corone. Narkash maybe was nothing more then a speck on the maps, but it lay on one of the trade routes between Corone and the southern realms. Fallien Cillu glass, aromatic spices in tiny carved wooden boxes, perfumes in decorated vials, brass ornate plates with what looked to Victor like fake rubies, yards and yards of variously dyed, variously textured cloth, that an a whole lot more was being sold beneath the awnings of the numerous stands. Unsurprisingly, the hawkers were mostly not tengu, humans and elves and even a dwarf who looked like he smuggled the damascus weaponry instead of buying it somewhere in Alerar. There was even a woman that wore scarcely enough cloth around herself to cover her private areas, dancing and twirling and shaking her body, making a thousand of tiny ducats twinkle around her waist. Victor thought her something akin to the exotic dancers back in Saddle Ablaze, but the woman moved in a significantly different provocative way then the dancers back in Corone. Not that Vic wasted too much thought or looks on the woman. It would’ve been rather rude while exploring this foreign market with a female at his side.

Doji eventually led them into one of the stores, and it was a small wonder that it dealt mostly in various types of clothing. The Inari side of the kitsune was thrilled, scuttling over to the wide assortment of kimonos and dresses, swishing her tails happily as her hands shuffled through the displayed attires. The shopkeeper – a cat-woman with tawny-gray fur – offered to show some of the clothing to him as well, but male kimonos still looked a bit too much like the female ones for his liking. He liked pants and shirts and black leather trench coats. Kimonos looked like overblown bathing robes to him.

He voiced none of these thoughts to either of the two furry women though. Instead he declined politely, nibbled on the seasoned meat-on-a-stick that Kit bought moments earlier, and prepared an indulging statement for Doji. Unfortunately, it got stuck in his throat (together with a chunk of meat that made him cough dryly) when a guttural voice of one of the bird people bawled a warning. By the time the gunman managed to force the food out of his breathing channels and into his esophagus, the word swept over the entire marketplace like a fast-spreading plague. People were running and shouting and collecting their wares greedily and closing the shutters on their shops, but the mayhem didn’t seem awfully chaotic. Usually, in such situations the mass turned into a stampede. Here, they moved almost as if they were following a protocol that they knew from before. It seemed that Ryoden had a habit of terrorizing the marketplace.

Or at least his rats did. And Mikken was right; he had some that were pretty damn big. Standing in the middle of the marketplace was an abominable creature. Like Kit, it seemed to be a combination of two people, thought the merger was nowhere near as kind to this monster. Victor never saw an ogre himself, but this thing looked pretty close to the descriptions he heard with a small deviation; it had two heads. Clad in clothes so tattered that they couldn’t even be called rags, with a human-sized sword in its meaty hands, the creature noticed Doji the second she exited the shop. “No surprise there.” Victor thought as he followed the black fox out of the clothing store. “The damn thing has two set of eyes.”

That was about as much cerebration as he was allowed, because the moment he stepped outside, that titanic blade came crashing down. Kit ran right, Victor rolled right, both just in time to evade the deadly downwards swing that cleaved through the wooden porch with a deafening crash. The scattering people were terrified, their eyes huge as they peered at the huge ogre, but no help would come from them, the prizefighter knew. Some of them weren’t looking at the two-headed monster though, but instead looked beyond it and upwards, towards the roof of the shop. Victor spared a moment to acknowledge why while he backpedaled away from the mountain of flesh and its monster blade. Perched on the top of the two-storey buildings was a pair of creatures, but what were they, the gunman couldn’t say. All he knew was that with a head of a lion, the wings of a giant owl and a tail of the scorpion, they didn’t look like they were there to help Doji and him.

“Trouble indeed,” he thought, drawing his revolver with his right and wincing at the pain that shot up his arm.

[Reiko]

It was a mistake, a big mistake for the ronin samurai who really should have known better. But Ki wanted the lighten the mood, it was hard to stay happy while hiding at the inn and she thought that a quick trip to the marketplace would ease her mind and hopefully Vic’s as well but it just led her into an ambush of a two headed beast and flying cats with scorpion tails.

“I’m really sorry victor, I just wanted to have some fun. I should have expected a trap.” Ki apologized to the kind prizefighter before she had to dodge another clumsy blow from the two heads.

“Stay still Girly!” The heads cried out in unison as one of the manticores swooped down to pick up the swordswoman. Ki fell backwards on the ground, causing her to grunt but she brought up her blade to slash at one of the talons of the hybrid beast and severing it while the manticore screamed and flailed its tail while trying to pin Doji to the ground. The nine tails rolled to the side and tried to deflect the tail and yet it found a strike to Ki’s leg.

The vixen screamed as she felt the bile fluid painfully enter her body. The scorpion tail had it’s own brand of venom that the fox girl would soon know. Was this the end of her, most venoms meant death and even if it was minor, she still had to fight the ogre and the manticores while handicapped and Victor was already handicapped from his wounds.

Still she couldn’t give up, Ki made her stand as fast as she could, though once up the samurai fox whimpered as her head throbbed with pain and her vision swam, she could see two ogres and two manticore and two Victors and Two Onitachi and four hands. The ogre came on to crush the girl again but Ki dogged, barely and she fell to the ground again with the ogre coming on right at her.

Thankfully the Manticore left her to the ogre alone or Ki might not have a chance but that would be overkill since the girl already had enough venom and had a companion to take down as well. But still the ogre should have been quite enough.

The ronin girl had to do something, she couldn’t charge and be effective at the moment, and the poison had sapped some of her strength. Instead she would defend, hold her self still even though she really wanted to swoon. No she will meet the two-headed giant’s attack with her own blade.

“Isn’t she a dumb one eh?” The ogre head said to the other. “Yeah she’s just waiting to be squashed.” The ogre yelled as he charged in at Ki with his swords swinging wildly. But Doji stayed and brought her own sword to bare while focusing on ignoring her weakness, one quick slash of the fox brought the ogre’s sword and a second cut the ogre’s belly, killing the beast. The nine tails yelped as she fell to her knees in the foul blood of her latest victim.

“I’m really sorry victor.” Ki shuddered as she struggled to get up and help with the two flying demons.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor wanted to help Doji – the ogre looked like a much more potent threat after all – but by the time he brought his revolver up, the winged monstrosities gave flight. One swooped down towards the furry woman, double-teaming her, while the other made certain that Vic couldn’t assist. A terrifying roar preceded the flyby, the hybrid coming in low and hard, aiming to collide with the bulky pistoleer and dig its claws into his flesh. Victor had to throw himself backwards and behind a row of stands covered in watermelons and pears and apples. The beast crashed through the awning, seemed like plummeting down with the canvas stuck to its wings, but at the last moment it flapped its wings and ascended once again. It circled above the marketplace for several seconds, roaring and twitching its scorpion tail restlessly, stalking its prey.

Victor fired a few rounds, his aim sloppy due to the adrenaline and the frantic pace of the battle, making him waste bullets as if the cost a gold piece a dozen. Three times he squeezed on the trigger from a squatted position amidst the fruit-and-wood rubble, the recoil punishing his wounds every time the gun roared back at the beast. But the flying lion was a mobile target and Vic was never good with those. Two times he undershot and the third time a jolt of pain sent the gun sideways and the bullet into the clouds. The third time was definitely not the charm in this situation. The monster came at him again, refusing to give him enough time for an aimed shot, leaving him just enough time to dive to the side and into a cart of freshly baked bagels.

Unfortunately for him, this time the crossbreed didn’t lose sight of its target, its claws plucking the gunslinger from the debris. The sharp hooks tore into the back of his coat, lifting him of the ground before tearing it completely and sending him sliding down the uneven cobbles. His arm ached and bled. His face got a clean shave from the stone. His knee was scraped and oozed crimson liquid through his dark blue denim pants. By the time Victor turned on his back, the beast was on top of him, pinning his gun hand with one of its paws while its maw roared an acidic roar into his face. The pointy tip of the scaly tail rose above its rich mane. Twice it went for Vic’s bruised face and twice he dodged, turning his head this way and that, utilizing his boxing reflexes. But there was only so much he could do in this position. Sooner or later the thing would bite his face off and munch it down like hors d'oeuvres.

Luckily, while the hybrid might’ve been strong and vicious, it wasn’t the brightest jewel in the crown, leaving Victor’s left hand free. The gunman used it to fish a combat knife from the sheath tucked into his belt and, without a second of hesitance, drive it into the throat of the beast. The thing roared and jerked and backed away, its thick warm blood spraying down onto the bulky man, covering his face, forcing itself into his mouth, introducing a caustic taste that nearly made him gag. He rolled away from the crimson waterfall and no sooner then he got up, the monster collapsed into an assortment of buns and pastry.

Victor coughed, careening away from the hideous corpse like a drunkard, trying to wipe the blood away from his face, but succeeding only in smearing it further with the sleeve of his leather coat. It was only then that he heard and saw Doji again. He maybe looked like he had a bloody baptism, but she seemed in an even greater mess, her leg wounded, throwing the girl on her knees. Next to her, the double-headed ogre laid sprawled, his gut open and his intestines crawling out like a pack of snakes. Completely disregarding the fact that there was no sight of the second crossbreed, Victor scuttled to the furry woman as fast as possible, helping her up with his healthy left.

“Doji, are you alright? Can you walk?” he asked, but the look in her eyes was hazy and her face had a jaded pale expression. He threw one of her arms over his shoulder, but by then another one of those roars echoed through the ransacked marketplace. A three-legged hybrid came at them, the bastard waiting for the right moment to get them both in one single swoop. Victor repositioned Doji in his arms, pulling her close with his left while his wounded right did the aiming. The bandages were soaked, the blood running down his sleeve again, but he kept his hand steady. He waited. The beast plummeted down and still he waited. It roared and snapped its jaws and he still waited. Doji shivered in his arms and he still waited. And only when the monster aligned itself for the final approach, the revolver thundered, spewing fire and smoke and a projectile and crashed through fur and bone and brain, sending the manticore on a crash course with the wall beside them.

By the time the things tails and wings gave one final twitch, Victor put away his firearm and focused on the kitsune. “Talk to me, Doji. What happened?” he spoke, checking her for any other wounds. The fact that he could find none save the one on her leg and yet that she was fading away as if she was shot through the heart was a mystery to him. He hoped she would shed some light, but he couldn’t wait for her answer here. He had to get them both away before more of these monstrosities came at them. Supporting her with his left shoulder and willing away the pain that riddled his right arm, the pair walked away from the destroyed marketplace as fast as possible.

[Reiko]

Ki could barely stand up without Vic’s help, perhaps not at all. The prizefighter had to drag her up and help her walk. It was embarrassing to the fox girl who considered herself a samurai and a great swordswoman; there just wasn’t much she could do about it.

Heck, Doji couldn’t even complain, her mouth had trouble forming coherent words, only the bestial whimpers and moans of pain. All her pain seemed to radiate from the wound in her thigh from the manticore tail. Ki felt limp as she thought about that tail. The manticore had a scorpion like tail and there was something special about those kinds of tails. Ki had to strain to think of what those tails had that would be important or critical. Scorpions were bugs with hard shells, claws and sharp tails. The tails were like spider’s fangs in a way… They were poisonous.

Ki yelped as she realized the fact that she was poisoned. No wonder the world was all a blur and she had trouble standing and had to be helped by her friend to even walk. The fox girl realized that she was dying at this very moment and she had little idea what to do. Maybe if she could talk to Vic, maybe his mind that wasn’t clouded by the venom could figure something out.

Ki tried to speak though her mouth felt a little numb and didn’t want to cooperate. The poisoned samurai had to concentrate; she tried to focus on Vic’s face. She liked the human and how he was strong and yet so gentle and caring and not to mention that Victor’s life was similar to hers in that he had no home of his own and wandered about looking for work, and also he was such a fun person to play with too.

Still Doji Ki had to speak and so she did the best she could. “V…Vic! I was po… Poisoned by the tail.” Ki felt each word easier to say as she said it and as her body fought the poison and fought to keep going, though it was probably still a losing battle. “Ya… you don’t need to do this. I’ll only slllow you down.” Ki whined as she tried to stay with him though it just didn’t seem be doing as well as she liked or needed. “It it it’s my fault. I’ve been only trouble.”

[The Cinderella Man]

Given the fact that he was in no position to observe Doji during the battle with the flying lion monstrosity, Victor couldn’t comprehend the cause for her weakness. The gash on her leg probably was rather painful, especially when she walked, but it was nowhere near fatal. And yet her figure was so limp that she was prone to sinking on the ground if he let go of her arm. It seemed as if all the energy was sapped from her and she was barely left with enough to move her feet in relative sync with his own. The pistoleer would’ve carried her – the furry woman seemed lithe enough and he was no slouch when it came to lumbering things – but his right arm was lame and numb from the blood loss and the accompanying ache of the reopened wounds.

They barely departed from the marketplace grounds, leaving the havoc and the ruckus behind them, when Doji spoke and shed some light on her condition. And it made sense the way things always did when somebody revealed them to you. Those scaly scorpion tails that the crossbreeds towed around weren’t just for show, one of them probably injecting a fair dosage of venom into the sword-wielding kitsune. Now, Victor was not the most knowledgeable man in terms of fauna of the wilderness and the exotic animals, but he heard stories of fist-sized scorpions and how potent their poison was. If the size was proportional to the strength of the poison, then Doji was in a whole lot of trouble. There were scorpions whose venom killed minutes after the sting. He had to do something about the poison and promptly.

“Ssssh, don’t speak. Save your strength.” he said to her softly, holding her in a supportive embrace and advancing down the main street. He hoped that some of the locals would jump in to help them the way Mikken did, but the street seemed dead and vacant. Most window shutters were closed tight and those that weren’t, had nothing but empty darkness behind them. It seemed not everybody had the boldness of the birdman that saved them once before. On any other day Victor would understand their reluctance, their craven side that made them crawl into their corners and wait for the storm to blow over, but right now he hated each and every one of them. His friend was dying in his arms and none of them had the decency to offer a helping hand. His only solution was getting back to Mikken’s, but the peculiar house was more then ten minutes of casual walk from the marketplace. Ten minutes that Doji didn’t have.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get us out of this. I’m not leaving you behind,” he kept talking to her, trying to keep her conscious, praying that she wouldn’t grow completely lifeless in his arms. His thoughts were frantic, running around his head in panicky circle, doing more harm then good. “You fought well, Doji. It’s not your fault that they came at us. Just stay with me.”

“Poison, poison, poison... What to do? What to do? She’s dying, she’s such a sweet girl and she’s dying. Do something. Help her,” voices that were foreign and yet his own bawled in his head. He wished he could tell them to shut up, to yell back that he knew all of that. And then one of the voices actually proved itself useful. “Get it out! Get the poison out!” Yes, that might work. He never did it, never even saw anybody do it, but he heard a fair share of stories while working on the docks of pirates that sucked the poison out of their wounds after a snake bite. Granted, it wasn’t a snake that was in question here, but the concept ought to be the same. But he had to do it instantly, before the venom spread through her entire system.

Scuttling away from the well-trodden main street, Victor led the way into one of the side alleys. To his left was a long row of shabby fences, barring entrance into the backyards. To his right, however, was a barn-like structure with huge double doors. It seemed abandoned, decades old, with its wood decaying and its roof dangerously slanted, but he was in no position to be a chooser. Almost dragging Doji now, the gunman took them through the creaky door, entering what looked like spacious stables once upon a time. Though there were no horses in the pens anymore, the place still had a rather prominent scent of horse feces and dry hay. Luckily, he found a batch of latter and not the former in one of the corners, lowering the furry woman on the piled straws.

“You’re going to be alright. Doji, look at me,” he implored, kneeling next to her doggedly and placing a hand on her forehead. She was burning, her skin leaving a sheet of spray on his palm. “I’m going to try to take the poison out, alright?” He spoke as if he was asking her permission, and in a way, he did. Because once his hands took the hem of her kimono and drew it high enough to reveal the would in full, he was in a position to take a peek at much more then when she offered a glimpse of back at Mikken’s. However, that was the last thing on his mind right now. Well, perhaps not the very last – he was a man after all. But far more focus went to the coin-sized gash that oozed liquid so dark red that it might’ve been black. Around the perforation in her skin, dark sickly tendrils started to spread over otherwise silky skin marred with blood.

“Please, let it work. Please, don’t screw something up,” Victor prayed as he bent over her and pressed his lips against her skin. Instantly, the acidic taste struck his taste buds, the tainted blood tasting like absinth. He did his best to create vacuum, then sucked in as much as he could, took enough blood to fill his mouth cavity completely. He spat sideways, then repeated the process, again and again and again. Each time he looked up at Doji’s face, fearing that he would see blank violet eyes looking down on him, but no such thing happened. The more blood he took out of her, the more crimson it became and the further the black veins retracted. Even the taste changed, the bitter one replaced with a metallic warm taste of healthy blood. Finally, when he was out of breath and it seemed like he managed to get most of it out of her bloodstream, he stopped the process. Instead of wiping the blood from his face, he hurried to tear a strip from her kimono and tie it around her thigh.

“It seems that instead of getting a new kimono, we’ll have to ruin the old one,” he added in a rattled tone with a smile that was undoubtedly disquieting, his teeth rosy, his cheeks caked with her blood. “Feeling any better? We need to get back to Mikken. If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you.” His right arm insisted that it couldn’t handle such a feat, but Victor knew that he would make it handle the weight if need be.

[Reiko]

Ki wished she could do more than be limp in Vic’s arms as he dragged her to the barn and started to do something strange. The gunfighter was lifting her kimono’s hem enough to see things that gentlemen shouldn’t look at without permission of the lady. But even if she wanted to the poison really made protesting pointless and it was likely an attempt to help her, yes it was an attempt to help the nine tails recover. Ki moaned weakly from the pain as he sucked the venom out.

Ki shuddered a little and wanted the sucking on the wound to end though for some reason it was helping and when victor was done, Ki was feeling a bit better, not good but better. “Ung, It’s ok, though I don’t think I can afford to fix this kimono.” Ki replied feebly as she tried to get up, though still it was no good but Victor helped her up and walked towards Mikken’s inn.

The travel was slow but quiet as all the tengu were in hiding and the streets were as quiet as a ghost town. “I guess we’re even now.” Doji said as she got sick of the silence and wanted to pass the time though she was still weak and it pained her a bit to speak it.

“You Damned Foolish Little Fox!” Cried Mikken as he came out to great the pair, with a powerful chiding, though mostly focused on Ki since it was her foolish idea. “Why didn’t you heed my warnings?”

Ki felt terribly since she knew the crow was right that she was being stupid to try and have some fun at a time like this though Ki really didn’t want to be cooped up, and now she had no choice whatsoever. “I’m sorry.” Ki replied, unable to think of anything more that the pathetic response.

“Whatever, go in and get some rest and I’ll get some food. I hope you learned your lesson.” The tengu said, almost sounding like Kadenzaa’s father and giving the two-soul vixen a bittersweet memory.

“I-I learned my lesson. I’ll be more careful from now on. I just wanted to have some fun.” Ki apologized and then turned to Victor, “Thanks for carrying me. I hope you didn’t mind. I don’t like being such a drag. Next time I’ll carry you if you need.” The fox girl smiled and managed a weak giggle. “And maybe next time I can get some shopping done before the monsters attack.”

[The Cinderella Man]

It seemed that the relationship between Doji and Victor was a game of owing and repaying. It began on a remote island, where the furry vixen saved his life from a horde of brainwashed locals that nearly tore the skin off his back, and he repaid her in Fallien, where he managed to stop a demon from killing Kit and her daughter Inari. She broke the deadlock once again earlier today and once again he brought the score even with his poison sucking stunt. And while this chase was rather intriguing, Victor had to admit that it was not the kind of relationship that he desired with Doji. Being her comrade in arms wasn’t supposed to be the pinnacle of their connection, but a single step towards another kind of caring; the romantic kind. And as he held her in a supporting embrace, the gunman could almost fell getting there.

Until Mikken started throw fire and brimstone on them, that is. The tengu was furious, the way a parent was furious on a child that went out after curfew, and in front of the barrage of his words, the wounded fox grew even more diminutive. Doji’s apology was sweet and weak-sounding, her fatigued smile bringing back a portion of the mirth from before the marketplace clash. “You weren’t a drag,” Victor responded, despite that he was still, in fact, supporting her and dragging her further into the interior of Mikken’s house. “I’m just glad that you’re feeling better. But let’s try not to get ourselves in another pickle that might reverse the roles.”

“Ay, ay, ay. The next time you come in, you’re probably both be hurt,” the usually silent female birdwoman said, shaking her beaked mug in disbelief as she approached. “Here, give her to me. I’ll make sure she gets a nice hot bath.” The tengu healer woman embraced Doji from the other side, taking on her weight before she took the tailed woman through another sliding doors and towards the garden beyond.

“That girl is nothing but trouble,” Mikken commented. Victor thought that the birdman might’ve rolled his big black eyes as well, but it was hard to discern such a motion of eyeballs that were seemingly all black.

“All girls are trouble,” the pistoleer added with a smirk that made it clear that they weren’t necessarily the unwanted kind of trouble. “You shouldn’t be so hard on her though. It’s not her fault that some harebrained blacksmith and his minions are out to get her just because she might’ve made a purchase once upon a time.”

“Well, your little shopping trip left our marketplace in shambles. It will take us weeks to get it back to what it was before you and Ryoden’s monsters ransacked it,” the robed tengu spoke, dissonance coloring his voice just enough to send the I-told-you-so message that Victor was getting tired of.

“And whose fault is that?” the boxer retorted, planting himself beside the short-legged table cross-legged before struggling to slide the wounded arm out of the sleeve of his coat. Despite their disagreement, Mikken aided him in the task, fetching some cloth strips for the open wounds. “This Ryoden is one man with a small garrison of soldiers. And monsters, apparently. There are at least five thousand people in this town. You could’ve taken him down if you worked together.”

“But we’re not soldiers!”

“Well, neither is Doji and neither am I,” Victor said curtly, using the rags to wipe the blood away from his face first. The taste of Doji’s blood and the sensation of her feverish velvety skin on his lips were still present, refusing to let go. “So don’t chide her. At least she’s trying to do what she thinks is right. Can you say the same for yourself?”

Mikken opened his beak, his eyes locked in what looked like a frown, but no sound came out of his gullet except a guttural sound that might’ve been a sigh. “If we did what was right, many would die,” he said in surrender, his shoulders slumped.

“Perhaps,” Victor said, the laconic tone gone as his left hand worked on soaking the blood from the wounds on his right arm. His shoulder wound was merely oozing blood by now, but the one on his forearm required some pressure. Only now, when the adrenaline was gone and he noticed that he lost more then enough blood to cake his entire arm, Victor started to feel the weakness from the loss. “But you’re dying a slow death anyways under his boot.”

“You want us to rebel against Ryoden?”

“No. Right now I want to rest. Maybe a sip of that liquor you offered us before. It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s what you want that you should be looking into.” With that said, Victor stretched himself on the floor of the living room that had no beds or armchairs, thinking vaguely that these bird folk probably slept in nests high in the tree crowns given the lack of furniture.

[Reiko]

Ki wished she could come to her defense, but her weak voice betrayed her face and gave further evidence to her failure and mistake. The shame was as bad as the venom and the fox girl wished she could just disappear and the bird woman came to the rescue and led Ki off for a bath and some healing.

Doji was glad to be away from Mikken and his gaze that made the ronin feel rather foolish and pathetic. Ki was supposed to be better than this for the sake of the girls that made up her. Doji Ki had to be worth at least the sum of her parts if not more, otherwise it made the unwitting sacrifice of Kit and Inari to be in vain as far as the nine tails was concerned. “I’m really too much trouble.” The samurai fox said more to herself but the tengu woman easily noticed.

“Don’t take Mikken’s words to personally. He has his heart in the right place but he doesn’t like bravery. He’s jealous and at the same time worried for you.” The tengu lady said calmly to reassure the injured kitsune. It was surprising to hear some positive words coming from the tengu healer, though Ki was more surprised to hear what came next. “Well anyways you need to take off your clothes.”

Ki looked up, rather shocked and blushed. “What?! Why?! I um… don’t think it’s proper.” Ki replied and being flustered. “We hardly know each other.”

“And you have no qualm about showing your leg in front of our patrons. This is so I can check everything I can. Though that last bit of energy is a good sign.”

Doji nodded and started to undress and placing her kimono in the corner, not with much care since it was already a mess. She sat there and looked at the bird goblin with trepidation and yelped as she felt the scaled bird claw brush over her heart.

“Well your heart rate isn’t too bad. Have a strong body, though most the venom leaked out before doing much damage. Feels worse than it actually is.”

“Still if I wasn’t an idiot, I wouldn’t be injured in the first place.”

“You never know, even those that hide still get hurt if they’re found. Now relax.”

Ki did the best that she could as the bird woman picked her up and placed the fox girl into the hot spring that was nearby. The water was hot and Ki whimpered as she was gently placed into the hot water.

“That should help the pain, and I’ll be back with some new clothing. Try to get some blood off if you can.”

The Tengu left Ki alone in the spring, allowing the vixen to appreciate the sharp leafed flowers that had red blossoms like fireworks in the night sky with some blue flowers that looked like a spring day with a few clouds. Something about the flowers was magical.

Finally Doji could relax and stop blaming herself. The quiet mixed with the soothing heat of the spring made everything seem right for the moment. But the door to the garden was being opened for some reason. It must be another assassin and here Ki was naked and vulnerable. The samurai kitsune tensed and looked for an exit or a weapon, she’d have to use fox magic, though she wasn’t sure if it would work in this state. But once the figure was noticeable, Ki saw it was Vic.

“Umm, Hi Vic.” Doji blushed as she lowered further into the water to obscure her bosom. Ki thought she should chase him away but something stopped her, somehow she didn’t mind him being here, despite it being embarrassing, he was the one that was helping her through thick and thin now and he was the one that save her life. Maybe his company was what she needed despite lack of dress. “I’m having a bit of trouble washing my tails, if you help me clean them then it won’t take as long.” The vixen smiled lightly. She really didn’t mind being alone, but she just wanted Victor near.

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor thought that he would be able to get some shuteye, but once Mikken poured them each a cupful of the alcoholic beverage, the heat proved to be rejuvenating, snatching the wounded boxer from his lethargy. He didn’t know what the stuff was or what it was made from, but it sure as hell wasn’t similar to the usual piss that they served in every tavern in Corone. Unlike all the booze that dimmed the wits and blurred the vision, this had a relatively opposite effect, revitalizing the body through the alcoholic warmth. It still tasted like acid though, failing to stray from the usual in that aspect. Victor wanted to ask the tengu what it was made from, but by the time it occurred to him to pose the question, Mikken was walking out of the room, croaking something about having business to attend to.

Left alone and wide awake thanks to the hard liquor, the pistoleer got bored in a hurry. He shaved several minutes of his solitude by attending to his gun, taking out the spent cartridges and plucking the fresh ones from his belt, but once that action was done, he was again left with the monotonous common room and its beige, non-descript walls. The interior was at least as peculiar as the exterior, the thin plywood walls stretched between solid wooden columns, with sliding doors that had some sort of cotton instead of glass. It didn’t look like the sturdiest construction ever made, but it had a certain exoticism to it. Though, the lack of furniture, he couldn’t explain. No sofas, couches, armchairs, nothing but short legged cupboards and just as short legged table. There were several cushions though, all with intricate weaving depicting some part of the flora, but they looked too flashy to be crushed beneath various behinds, Victor’s included.

Finding nothing of interest in the empty common room, it didn’t take long for the prizefighter to decide venturing beyond the sliding doors. The first two he tried led him to a pantry and a rather spacious kitchen, while beyond the third, a lush garden awaited. With wide-leafed ferns, neatly trimmed cherry trees, climbing plants that coiled around the trunks and gave birth to a myriad of timid flowers, rose bushes ascending up small wooden ladders, the place was a piece of paradise condensed in Mikken’s modest backyard. Victor didn’t know did the birdman attend to the garden himself, but whoever did obviously liked this place very much.

The natural beauty that the doors opened to was only further enhanced when the gunman actually stepped into the garden. Because, as soon as he moved away a pair of gigantic leafs, a scene opened up that nearly left the man petrified in a very good way. Doji was sitting in a bubbly pond, and even though Victor could only see her bare shoulders above the surface, he was rather certain that the murky water covered with tiny flower petals concealed her naked figure. As if that wasn’t enough to make his throat as dry and raspy as sandpaper, the furry woman reacted to his intrusion in an amiable manner, inviting the boxer to help her with her bath.

“Alright, say something. Don’t just stand like a nitwit. Any time now. STOP STARING AT HER!!!” The last thought, screamed at him in his mind’s voice, finally tore his eyes from the blushed woman and forced some words to stumble from his mouth. “Uhm... I, uh... I’m sorry for walking in on you like this...” Gods, he was acting like a juvenile who never saw a woman naked, and Doji’s nakedness wasn’t even visible. A chaste part of him told him to leave, but it was in vast minority. The more dominant part reminded him that he wanted more intimate closeness with the fox and insisted that this was a chance for it.

“Oh, sure. I’d love to help you. If it’s alright with you, that is.” The last remark was unnecessary; she did invite him to help her and not the other way around. But Victor was never a lady’s person. He was far too introverted, far too uncouth to be a charmer. He walked to the pond slowly, proceeding to take off his boots and roll up his jeans before he sat on the edge with his legs submerged into the water all the way up to the knee. He offered a mild smile to Doji, fighting off his chagrin and looking at her, noticing her rosy cheeks, the velvety skin of her neck, the sinfully beautiful curve of her bare shoulders that tempted him to touch them. He didn’t though. Instead his hands picked up one of her numerous tails, his fingers doing their best to wash out the crimson taint from the black hairs.

“Feeling any better? I’m not sure I managed to get all of the poison from the wound,” Victor spoke, evading eye contact for the time being and focusing on tender care of her tails. It was difficult to clean them properly; the black fur concealed the congealed blood rather well, so he worked diligently through the fur of her tail. But no matter how much he bent his mind on the work at hand, all he really thought of was the naked vixen at his side, her white skin and black hair constantly in peripheral vision. He remembered the oasis in the distant desert land of Fallien, where the two of them sat side by side as well. Doji was a bit more dressed then – though not by much, sporting a scandalous yellow bikini – but one of her tails found its way to his lap back then just as it did now. And there was a spark between them, a seed of something that could’ve grown if not for the local shamans and his grunts that successfully murdered the magic of that moment. Victor hoped that something similar wouldn’t happen this time around.

“You shouldn’t feel bad about what happened today,” he continued, this time meeting her violet eyes. “You couldn’t have known that the bastard would send his monsters to plow the marketplace. This way at least we know what to expect from this Ryoden. And besides, you gave me a chance to return the favor for saving me from that sword-wielding freak.”

[Reiko]

Ki really loved the feel of Victor washing her tails. His gentle strength gave the fox ronin a nice massage that made her feel warm in her heart as well as her body though that was thanks to the spring. It was also cute that he reacted almost innocently to seeing her naked and bathing, as if it was truly an accident and he was a little shy to be around a beautiful girl.

Though Ki made sure that Vic wasn’t doing all the work, he wasn’t a servant but a friend and the truth was that Doji didn’t want to wash all nine o her tails alone with nothing, though with Vic helping, the vixen wouldn’t have minded washing a hundred tails while Victor talked about his concern, it was far better than Mikken’s harsh rebukes.

“I think I’m better, my vision is a little blurry and I feel heavy. But I’m able to stand up.” Doji smiled as she turned her head to look at her friend, who still wore pants that were rolled to keep from getting wet. Then their eyes met. It didn’t matter that the naughty bits were hidden from view, having Victor gaze into her eyes like that made Ki feel even more naked but the kind of way an animal was naked, nudity was a natural state and it was good to share it. Though remembering that one had clothes took away form the effect.

“Yeah you’re right but it’s still hard to not blame myself. It was selfish of me and you weren’t recovered. I knew there was a trap but I just walked into it with a wink, thinking I was invincible.” Doji looked down and back into Victor’s eyes. “I just didn’t want to hide from Ryoden’s Wrath while I… and you were miserable. But I wasn’t thinking.”

Doji now looked down to her reflection, she seemed so soft and vulnerable. Not the dangerous swordswoman that she tried to portray and then back to Victor. The man knew violence like she did but he didn’t seem any harder than Ki. “Thanks, at least you believed in me.” Doji turned to Vic and stood up slightly and slowly, revealing more than appropriate. She moved closer to his face, locking with Vic’s eyes and the fox girl couldn’t hide her smile as her tails disturbed the water behind her. Closer still, Ki would not be content until they touched.

“My word! Miss Fox!”

Doji’s ears perked towards the sound of the tengu woman who just entered. The nine tails’ legs went weak and she fell backwards into the pool as hot water broke her fall. Once Ki got up and dripping the tengu started up again.

“You two aren’t in any condition for that kind of activity. Now get dressed for Mikken wants to speak to the both of you again.” The bird woman moved to the door. “I can’t take my eye off of you two for a moment. You need to rest, not make love like rabbits that ate an eel!”

Doji couldn’t speak other than say “Sorry” again; something she was sick of hearing coming from her mouth. Picking up a towel that was next to her new clothes, Ki dried herself off and smiled meekly at Vic before getting dressed. Doji wasn’t too concerned that Victor might be watching, in fact she wanted him to for some reason. The garb was a dancer’s uniform made up of a blue silk top that only covered her breast, a pair of blue silk pants that went up to her waist, a pair of straw sandals and to finish it off a rich purple hapi light robe that was meant to be open most the time. “Well, not quite what I had in mind when I wanted to try on some clothing.” Ki smiled when she realized that underneath the clothing was an ornate bow and arrow that was made out of a golden antler of a large beast.

“I really didn’t mean for you to feel bad, but it’s the fatherly part of me that makes me try to make sure you’ll learn a thing or two from your mistakes.” The voice belonged to Mikken; everyone seemed to want to barge in on Ki’s bath. ”I hope you like the bow, I made it for my son. Made of Kirin horn.”

“Thanks, It’s um great. But I um could have been… well Naked.” Ki blushed at the raven man then to Vic.

“Well you didn’t mind when he barge in on you and you were naked.” Mikken laughed and looked to Vic. “I have a gift for you too. Though you have to promise me that neither one of you will barge off until you get some rest and heal a little. Otherwise I’ll have to tie you both up until you’re healthy.”

(I figured this would be a good way to introduce the spoils^^ before the ass Kicking should commence.)

[The Cinderella Man]

Everything he hoped for when he stepped into the garden minutes ago was coming to pass. Everything, and more. Victor was a lonely man for far too long; ever since his little pirate escapade with an untamed girl named Eris, no woman looked at him the way Doji did on this occasion. He desired that look, desired to converse with somebody who was more then just a passerby, more then just an acquaintance who came and went like the wind. In the furry woman he saw the potential for that extra attention, for a connection that would bind them closer still, make them something even more intimate then friends. Because, even though months passed between the events in the Fallien desert and the ones in the present, some things seemed to be recurring. Once again she looked at him with soft eyes filled with desire, once again they were a touch away from each other, once again a word away from that final confirmation of this eerily affection that weaved through their plight with invisible threads. And when she stood up, revealing a portion of her womanly charms and getting so near the gunman could feel the heat her glistening body emanated, so near that he could feel her reluctant breath passing by her lips and touching his own, Victor knew that this was the moment their relationship was bound to transcend.

Unfortunately, the intimacy wasn’t the only thing that recurred. Because no sooner then the bulky pistoleer brought his hopes up, the tengu crone shot them down with her exclamation. Her reprimand of Doji broke the charm of the moment like dispel magic, making the wounded swordswoman sink back into the pond, leaving Victor with nothing but wishful thinking. And though he was never a violent man by nature – regardless of the fact that his pugilistic vocation stated otherwise – Vic felt a desire to draw his revolver and shoot the hag in the beak. It would’ve been unfair and wrong and whole lot of other things, of course; the birdwoman was going out on a limb to help them in their predicament. But the fact that this was the second time he was robbed of Doji’s kiss was nearly enough to tip the scale towards belligerency.

“And this is exactly why people put baths inside their houses,” Victor thought, the whole situation eliciting a half-remorseful, half-tired sigh from him as made peace with the finality of the moment. However, while he was in the process of rinsing his hands and drying off his legs, Doji gifted him with another memorable sight. The foxy woman got out of her bath almost shamelessly, drying herself up before proceeding to don the provided clothing. And as much as he wanted to play the role of a gentleman, the scene that took place mere several feet from him was too much like a vision that glued his eyes to the luscious female and her body that was slowly robbed of its nakedness. The attire Doji put on was a bit on the scandalous side when compared to the rather conservative kimono, but Victor most definitely didn’t complain.

The final nail in the coffin of the idyll was Mikken’s reappearance, once again, in good intentions, and once again something that the gunslinger didn’t want to see. But wish in one hand... Bah, it wasn’t like it was the first time he got the short end of the proverbial stick. Maybe third time would be a charm. That is, if there would be a chance for the third time. Stuffing his feet back into the worn boots, Victor was rolling his pants down as the birdman spoke of the weapon he gave to Doji. The bow seemed like a remarkable piece of craftsmanship, though coming from an observer as inept in such weapons as the boxer, that could’ve been both an understatement and an overstatement. Just like the sword that Mikken intended for him.

“I noticed you carry no blade. You’re going to need one if you plan to stick around,” the tengu said, offering a sheathed curved sword. With ornate scabbards covered with intricate motifs, the weapon looked majestic. Unfortunately, it was also completely unusable to the prizefighter.

“Thanks, but I never really learned to use those things properly. If it comes to melee, I like things up close and personal, if you know what I mean,” the boxer responded, demonstrating his hand-to-hand prowess with a right-left-right combo.

“Ah, I see. In that case, these might serve you better then they did me.” Pushing his left hand into a spacious pocket of his threadbare robes, Mikken pulled out a pair of metal objects and handed them over. “I don’t know how helpful they’ll be against Ryoden and his guards, but they pack quite a punch.”

Victor examined the pair of knuckles closely. They didn’t seem too impressive to him, just a pair of blunt pieces of metal with what seemed like a set of tiny runes across the punching surface. But they were still far more useful to him then a sword. Chances were that, while wielding a sword gave some unexplainable courage to a man, the pistoleer was probably more prone to cutting of his own appendage then the one belonging to his opponent.

“So, does this mean you’ll be joining us?” Victor asked, trying out the acquired weapons and finding them quite fitting to his large hands.

Mikken didn’t answer. Instead, he led the way back towards the house. “Come on, let’s get inside. You need to eat and rest.”

“Seems it’s just you and me, Doji,” the prizefighter said to the tailed vixen, taking off the knuckles and stuffing them in the pockets of his pants. “You look nice, by the way. These new clothes are definitely... different.” God, he was rusty when it came to giving compliments to a woman.

[Reiko]

Ki and Vic were left alone once again but they were expected to follow but tarried anyhow. The moment of romance was lost in embarrassment as the two were dropped on by the two tengu and so that promise was gone for the time being. But still it seemed that Doji didn’t quite want to follow right away and Vic seemed to try and talk in private.

Though he didn’t say much, nerves must have temporarily fried his brain and he simply commented on the nine-tailed girl in looking good despite the dress. “Heh, I’m glad you like it. I was kinda worried that I look like an idiot.” The vixen smiled and blushed to show that she still thought she looked like an idiot. “Well let’s go get dinner before any more awkward interruptions happen, and I’m a bit hungry. Ki decided to lead the way as she went to join the bird goblins to bowls of noodles with meat and vegetables as well as miso soup, nice and cloudy.

“You two are really too kind. Thank you.” Ki was rather formal for the ronin as she bowed and smiled, then dug in to eat. Being poisoned made the girl to actually be really hungry instead of hindering the appetite. The flavors of the food were divine, and when Doji took a sip of her cup she was surprised that it was sake instead of the tea she was used to. “This is really good. I really hope I can make it up to you guys and you too Victor.” Ki giggled and begun eating the noodles.

“It’s nothing really.” The Mikken replied between polite bites. The bird was really the opposite of Doji in eating habits; the fox girl was devouring the food like a ravenous dragon. The old tengu laughed lightly at the Vixen’s manners. “Well if you plan on playing hero, I do know of a secret passage in the castle, might give you a fighting chance. But please don’t think my gifts are to compel you to do so. I just wanted people who’d actually use them.”

Ki stretched a moment before looking into Mikken’s avian eyes. “Thank you but I know that I have to do something. I feel like the jobs not finished and I really hate leaving something undone because I’ll forget it and won’t remember until it gets worse.”

[The Cinderella Man]

Victor generally wasn’t a big fan of pasta and soups. When you train to be a boxer all your life, you get used to the fact that you need something coherent in your diet that would energize you enough for the bouts. Pork chops, venison, cooked veal, bacon, hell, even dry jerky, it was all meat and all good for building and maintaining muscle mass. Suffice to say, he was rather skeptical towards the food that tengu served. It was all neatly presented though, noodles and soup in matching white bowls made of white porcelain, additional spices in tiny little shakers, minute cups containing the same fiery hooch that Victor already consumed today. And it wasn’t like the gunman and his companion had a choice; they weren’t exactly the pair of faces most of the locals would like to see in their establishments. Not after the marketplace flop.

However, once he actually tried the food, he found it not only quite satisfying, but genuinely delicious as well. Pasta usually had a bland taste, most of the tavern chefs either overcooking it or making it too dry to be edible, but what Mikken and his wife offered couldn’t be related to those cheap meals even remotely. The noodles were perfect, saturated with the soup whose seasoning Victor couldn’t decipher. That didn’t stop him from gobbling it down though, the two fights he went through with Doji opening quite an appetite for him. The booze was as fine as it was when they came from the marketplace, spreading through the body like molten lava, only alleviating the aches instead of eliciting them. And once the meal was done, the carnivorous boxer had to admit that his hunger was sated quite successfully.

Food and apparel weren’t the only things that Mikken offered them, though. The mysterious birdman also offered them means to approach Ryoden’s castle in a not so bullheaded way, revealing the existence of a secret passage. But regardless of his guileless benevolence, Victor was suspicious. How secret could this passage be if somebody like Mikken, who was pretty much a nobody in the town of Nakesh, knew about it?

“I reckon that this secret passage either isn’t too secret or is a bitch to get to,” the prizefighter said, slurping the last strip of pasta and gulping down on the remainder of the murky soup.

“Well, no and yes. I mean, it is secret in a way that it’s forgotten. I used it once or twice while I was young and worked for lord Ewion, but even then only a handful people knew about it. Now, with the lord and his personal guards dead, I figure the knowledge of the passage died as well. You shouldn’t worry about its secrecy. The main problem will be getting to it,” the robed tengu said, taking a tiny sip of his drink.

“Don’t tell me. It’s underwater. No, wait, it goes through the sewers. Or even better, it goes underwater, through the sewers infested by monsters,” the ever pessimistic mind of the pistoleer commented. Victor’s actual words were far less bitter.

“Why do I get a feeling I won’t like this part?”

Mikken chortled in a throaty manner, opening his beak in an expression that might’ve been a smile. “Because you don’t have wings. You see, the castle is set on a hill whose fourth side is cut off, turning it into a steep cliff. The entrance is carved into the face of this cliff. You’ll have to climb up to it.”

Victor thought to ask how far up, but decided it would be better if he didn’t know. The vertical distance wouldn’t diminish whether he knew its size or not. The only thing that would diminish was his spirit, if that was even possible, so he let the matter rest for the time being and decided to wrestle it in due time. Instead, a wide yawn overtook him, reminding him of the length of the evanescing day and all the trouble he got into from his arrival on the shore of the island.

“Great. It wouldn’t be fun if it was easy,” he commented in his usual, phlegmatic tone. “Say, you don’t have a bed or something where I could get some shuteye?”

***

They didn’t have a bed, but there was a nice mattress covered with velvety quilts and blankets that seemed too tidy to be ruffled up by a haggard, bloodstained man like Victor. Luckily, the female tengu – that finally introduced herself as Enka – assured him that there was nothing to worry about, though the boxer thought that was not quite true and that the birdwoman was more prone to kindness then neatness. Regardless of his doubts, he sunk into the velvety cloth almost like in a tub filled with molasses, and by the time he struck the bottom, he was sleeping like a log.

The night passed and the morning came in what seemed like a great hurry to Victor, the first one slipping by way too fast, introducing the second way too early. His wounds still ached and his bruises hampered his movement considerably, but after light breakfast and some rather bitter tea, he seemed to be back to the working temperature. Not that any work needed to be done immediately. Mikken advised them to move under the cover of the night, and neither Doji nor Victor could argue with that. After their little escapade in the marketplace, they were as inconspicuous as if they were wearing pink attires as camouflage. Instead, they bided the time with planning and walking through the garden, conversing about various topics. It was a short reprieve from their plight, a day of peace during which the multi-tailed woman and the bulky pugilist managed to busy themselves with more then just blood and pain and death.

After lunch, Mikken even provided a game for them to play, a weird one that was played with a myriad of black and white pebbles that were set by each player in turn on a large wooden board. He explained the rules to the two of them, but when he departed and went about his business, they forgot most of it and just made up their own, placing the pebbles at random and laughing at each other’s incompetence. It mattered little who won and who lost and who cheated. The game took their minds off the deed they had to do, allowing them a breather before the deep plunge.

[Reiko]

It was strange for Ki to spend the day waiting, they had to go at night and both needed to recover from their injuries. The vixen ronin spent the day with Vic as they tried to pass the time and relax, though not in the hot spring since yesterdays visit was an awkward disaster. Still Ki couldn’t stand still with their attack on the horizon, her tails weaved about and occasionally entangling with each other while she sat and played the mind game with Victor.

Ki knew the game for her past self’s childhood. Kadenzaa used to play the game with her father; it was a man’s game for samurai, so it wasn’t surprising that the old Samurai taught his daughter the game since he wanted his kitsune girl to be a samurai despite gender and species. But Kit was never good at the game ergo Ki wasn’t very good either and Victor proved her match even when it was his first game.

But at least the incompetence in playing the game lightened the mood. Ki wasn’t a clever fox and Vic wasn’t the smartest man in the world but it was fun and Doji was able to get her mind off of the anxiety of what the night would bring.

* * * *

The sunset came both too soon and too late. Doji wanted to get it over with and free the tengu people from their hardship of the Tengu Tyrant and then again she didn’t want to risk her and Vic’s life. Mikken thought they should run away and the ronin vixen was temped to but there was a side of her that didn’t want to. She felt in her heart that she had taken the job to rid the earth of this man when she took the Onitachi. And then there were the prizes from Mikken and Enka, the Kirin bow and the dancer’s attire.

“Well I guess we should get going.” Ki smiled to her gunman companion before taking his hand and guiding him to the beach. It wasn’t tough to get through town with most the tengu asleep; being part bird meant they probably fell asleep when darkness came. Though the lanterns of Ryoden’s castle were bright and the guards would resist the urge to sleep and be ever vigilant, and Ryoden’s Demons would probably prefer the dark.

The beach was a calm place where the only sound was the waves that easily covered the pair’s steps. The moon was near full giving enough light that Ki had no trouble seeing at all. And luck seemed to be with them since there were no guards on the beach or the entrance. But the cave was high up on the sheer cliff.

“Wow, he wasn’t kidding, this’ll be a big climb. I guess I’ll go first if it’s ok?” Ki said while in awe of the climb, it wouldn’t do any good to wait, she made sure her sword and bow were secure as she grabbed at the handholds on the cliff. It wasn’t easy with the little bit of light, though Doji decided to give Vic some encouragement. “At least it’s not too hard once you get going, it won’t be too far.”

(Feel free to Bunny Ki as much as you need to get into the castle or introduce a peril if you want.)

[The Cinderella Man]

The prizefighter-turned-freedom fighter didn’t mind his foxy companion leading the climb for two reasons at the very least. First and foremost, Victor was a terrible climber. Well, perhaps not terrible, but he had hardly any prowess in traversing the vertical distances. Even walking uphill was usually a pain for him, and a pain that he liked to evade as often as possible. Like his stamina, his dexterity was reserved for the boxing ring, and ascending by means of stone cracks and wobbly indentations like a human spider had little in common with dodging and countering punches. Having Doji go first plotted at least some kind of course, the boxer doing his best to keep track where she found leverage and copying her movements. The second reason was relatively connected to the first, and it was the fact that Victor and heights were never at good terms. So having somebody lead by example managed to alleviate at least some of the tension from him, slowing his heartbeat just enough for the ever-beating muscle not to come up his throat.

Besides, with the multi-tailed fox leading the way, the look upwards was infinitely more attractive then the one that led to the gradually shrinking beach. The boxer did his best not to look past her tails and up her robes too often, but sometimes it just couldn’t be helped. Luckily, none of these unchaste peeks made him lose his concentration and slip on the unhewn rocky cliff; the affection for his life was still stronger then the affection for glimpses of some curvy feminine landscape.

So, one shaky move after another, Victor Callahan followed Doji up the cliff, fighting the wind, the fear, the gravity and emerging victorious once he pulled himself up over the edge of the designated perch. He didn’t get back up to his feet immediately though. Instead, the bulky prizefighter allowed several seconds of stillness for his heartbeat to slow down, sighing in a prominently relieved manner. “I don’t care how many monsters this Ryoden has. We’re taking the stairs back,” he said in his usual manner, half in jest, thankful that he didn’t lose control of his bladder on his way up.

Victor hoped that the worst part was done once the climb was over, but it really wasn’t. The cavernous entryway led them to a lightless passage, making them cling to the walls and feel their way through the inky darkness. Sticky cobwebs clung to their faces, bony chitters of unseen rodents fled before their footsteps and the stench... The foul reek of something rotten and forgotten made the boxer gag. Every passing second he expected something to jump at them, some disfigured abomination that disposed of intruders in a very bloody manner. However, despite his fears and his disgust, their walk was rather eventless, taking them to what looked like a faint source of unnatural light.

Once they got close enough, the speck of yellow light grew into a round opening barricaded with a rusty grate. By then, the foul fetor forced them to cover their faces and filter every inhale lest they would vomit. It also became clear where the malodor came from. Beyond the dented iron bars was the dungeon, miserable in the flickering light of a handful of torches, but instead of the prisoners, the cages confined a fair number of monsters. In addition to the ones Doji and Victor already met, there were others, winged creatures that looked to be made of stone, statue-calm in their cells. The gunman was able to count at least a dozen of them in total, far too many for the pair to handle on their own.

“Some secret passage. That bastard send us right into the devil’s gullet,” Victor thought as they observed the dungeon with similar conclusion in their eyes. “There are too many,” he spoke, his whisper so faint it might’ve been merely soundless movement of his lips. “We need to go back and come up with a better plan.”

It seemed that they wouldn’t be given a chance. Even as the prizefighter finished stating the obvious, an armored birdthing came charging into the dungeon, rattling his sword against the bars and shouting, “GET UP, YOU LAZY FREAKS!! TIME TO EARN YOUR MEALS! WE HAVE INTRUDERS...” This is where Victor thought that they were busted, that Mikken sold them out and that it was only a matter of seconds before all those creatures come pouring into the passage. And then his brain registered the rest of the words. “...IN THE COURTYARD!”

“In the courtyard?! What the hell?”

He looked at Doji, but neither had a viable answer, and neither was too eager to find one. Once the beasts stormed out of their cages and through the wide doors, the dungeon was left completely vacant and soundless. There was not a moment to lose. Whoever these intruders were, they just created an opening for the infiltrating duo. The muscled brawler tested the grate twice with his shoulder, lunging at it the third time and knocking it off its hinges. “We should make haste,” he said, still whispering as he pulled out his revolver and cocked the hammer. This was it, the point of no return. Here, they still had an option to double back through the passage and down the cliff, but looking in Doji’s eyes, Victor knew that neither of them was going to do that.

[Reiko]

Ki had to pretty much stifle her own scream of fear and frustration. Life had its unpredictable moments and ones that left people wondering if they were going to make it out unharmed. But it was madness to have information from a friend to literally lead Doji and her friend into the monsters den.

Victor spoke about leaving and while Ki agreed she really didn’t want a sound coming from any of them. “Shh, if they hear us, we’ll be torn apart.” The vixen whispered, making her a hypocrite. The ronin nine tails grabbed Victor and hugged him tight as she did her best to squeeze into a corner as the beast master yelled about intruders in the courtyard. If the pair were caught then it’d be over. Ki might be able to fight a few of the beasties but not all of them and without the room to maneuver; it’d only be a matter of time for them to fall. Running away would be worse since the cliffs would give the flying monsters. All there was to do was wait until the monstrous roars and the squawking tengu gave away to silence and then they could move.

“I don’t think my heart could take many more of those.” Ki panted out, sure she was safe as they moved through the dungeon turned monster pen. The place stank of the foul beasts that would eat, sleep and relieve themselves there. As Doji moved, she had to watch her step since the excitement must have made some of the beasts to leave large and stinky booby traps. “I think it’s clear, we should have no problem getting to the Ryoden.” Doji said as she opened the door, that sadly led to the courtyard.

It was a war zone with many tengu fighting, all with swords and war hammers, not the farm tools that most rebels used. But still Ryoden’s side had the advantage of the monsters; they took many arrows to down while the tengu only needed one to fall. “I think we can sneak along the wall and get to the leader. Once we kill him the guard should probably give up and try to quell the monsters… I hope.” Doji tried to smile with her words and hoped that the wag of her tails was her body saying that she was confident in herself and her mysterious allies and the fact that the enemy was fighting for only their leader.

The ronin girl led the way as they snuck onto the rampart. There was only one guard but he could call out and draw attention if they were caught. It was a good chance to try out the new bow. The Kirin bow drew easily, and with the arrow notched and ready, Ki aimed and made sure she would hit. A quick release went true and the guard fell down, the arrow impaled the lung and silenced the bird goblin. Ki motioned Vic to follow her and went onto the wall, but several gargoyle-like demons saw here and came down. Also there were some guards at the door she needed to get through.

“Vic, Clear the door and go ahead, I’ll hold off the monsters.” Ki yelled as she notched and released another fatal arrow that killed one gargoyle, though the others were too close and she had to drop the bow and fight with her sword, they were dodging away and not taking a real offensive, hoping to wear the vixen out. Hopefully Vic would be quick so she could follow, she couldn’t hold out all day.

[The Cinderella Man]

“Mikken, you old bastard. I would kiss you if you didn’t look like something that escaped from a nightmare.”

Even though the battle was frantic as the pair snuck down its fringes, Victor was able to distinguish the munificent birdman that cut through the melee with a large curved blade. There were many tengu around him, several hundred at the very least, some fighting ferociously, some dying in the midst of the havoc, but all united in an effort to defeat Ryoden’s minions. They managed to break through the heavyset main gates (quite a feat on its own given the gate’s girth), but now they found themselves in the main courtyard, surrounded by black ramparts from all sides. Manticores and gargoyles came sweeping down at them, followed by barrage after barrage of arrows from the archers atop the walls, but Mikken and his group weren’t completely defenseless. They formed a triangle in one of the corners, the front line holding their mismatching shields up, breaking only to let through lobs of bolts from their crossbowmen. They were holding on, but it was clear even to one as inept in battle tactics as Vic to know that they wouldn’t be able to do so for long.

This, however, distracted most of the sentries and opened up a window of opportunity for Doji and Victor. Ryoden’s entire watch focused solely on the intruders, making themselves blind to a pair of queer figures sneaking up the stairs that led to the crown of the fortifications. The entire castle was built in a rather peculiar manner; the ramparts encompassed the courtyard from three sides, while the castle itself occupied the fourth with its twin towers. With the yard on one side, the stunningly high cliff on the other and a pair of manned walls on each side, the core of the fortress seemed impenetrable. The only mistake was that the walls led directly to side entrances. During war times, these entrances were usually closed shut, but this intrusion of Mikken’s measly group obviously wasn’t considered a war effort, because both doors were left unguarded and unbarred.

Well, almost unguarded. There was the issue of about half-a-dozen of gargoyles that came plummeting down at them. Victor squeezed a pair of shots, but the booming sound of his revolver did more damage to their cause then good, attracting the attention of additional units. Perhaps this was the reason why Doji told him to make a run for the doors instead of assisting her. The pistoleer deliberated for about a half a second, but then another gargoyle started its descent from the moonlit sky above, practically ushering him further down the ramparts. Victor sprinted as if his ass was on fire. As Doji’s sword clanged against the stony claws of the beasts and Mikken shouted “FIRE!” for umpteenth time from below, the shabby boxer ran, chased by the constant flapping of the wings. The creature was almost upon him, his brain stated in the panicky manner it always did, and for a moment there was a doubt that he wasn’t going to make it to the door and that the thing would grab him by the back and turn him into a crimson smear on the wall.

The thought was more then threatening enough to make him do something drastic.

He was some ten feet from the door when he leapt as far as his limited agility allowed him. It was a forward leap, the kind that put the prizefighter’s body in a spin. A tiniest fraction of a second before his back slammed against the door, Victor was able to fire a single round at the flying creature. The result was shattering, in every sense of the word. The bullet struck the gargoyle straight in the face, shattering its head, and at about the same time the wooden door was torn asunder as the boxer came flying through it. The landing was expectantly painful, the cold tiles below doing a good job at robbing the muscular man of his breath.

Luckily, nothing but darkness awaited him beyond the destroyed door, so Victor had enough time to level his breathing and regain his footing. The corridor was lightless, but not nearly as ominous as the secret one that they passed through minutes ago, so he navigated through it with some ease. It took him less then a minute to leave the darkness and step into what looked like a gigantic lobby. The high ceiling gave the room an almost divine air, as if giants themselves used to thread through these halls, the columns as wide as five men abreast rising in a pair of long lines. Between them, the tiles were polished and crimson, a red carpet made of stone instead of thick fabric. There were no tapestries on the walls though, no statues on their daises, no usual lofty ornaments that decorated such majestic edifices.

Instead, at the end of the long line of columns, an enormous chair made of brown metal stood. Such was its size and girth that the bird creature that sat on it seemed like an infant. The creature itself was scarcely different from any other tengu that Victor saw so far, with standard issue beak, feathers... Only the eyes were different. While others all had raven black eyes, this one had xanthous ones, the eyes of metal heated several degrees away from melting. Around the throne and the seated birdthing stood four inanimate armors, each easily two feet higher then the gunman, their armor enameled and as dark red as hour-old blood. Each had a different weapon; a warhammer, a halberd, a greatsword and a flail.

“Ah, the worthless fist-fighter enters!” a squawky voice echoed through the too-big hall, descending from the dais and bouncing off the stone in an evanescing series of cackles. “I hope you didn’t lose your furry whore. It would be a shame that she died before she faced me again.”

“She’ll be coming soon enough,” Victor responded, his steps tentative as he made his way down the bloody tiles. His revolver was already aimed at the tengu, the muzzle a bit wavering due to his ineptness. The birdman, still at least thirty yards away from that gun mouth, merely snickered and tapped his claw on the armrest of the iron chair. “I’m assuming you’re Ryoden.”

“You assume both right and wrong. I used to be Ryoden, or at least this bestial shell used to be. I think another name has a better ring though. You might recognize it.” The small bird goblin paused and leant forwards, just enough to look down at the intruder before saying a name that struck dread into Victor. “Antareth.”

Victor’s mouth twitched minutely, the scar on the left side of the face itching even though it was only a barely visible line. It was this scar that related him to that ominous name, the scar made by Doji while possessed by the spirit that inhabited an uncanny sword. It was in the land of Fallien, when this current Doji was still two people that tried to break a curse from an enchanted sword. As it turned up, a demon dwelled in the blade, and it had the ability to possess the wielder as well. The name of that demon, the demon that the Fallien shamans banished (for good, they said), was the same one that still ricocheted off the stone walls and refused to fade away.

“It can’t be.”

“Oh, I thought the same. One moment I was cast into nothingness, and the next I was in some crummy forge, making a horseshoe. Suffice to say, I didn’t want to spend my life as a blacksmith,” reincarnated Antareth offered an explanation. It was not enough for Victor.

“It was you... You sent us those letters. Why?” the muscled desperado asked, finally stopping his advance some ten paces away from the first step that led to the elevated throne. The thing that wore Ryoden’s body like a suit wasn’t terribly concerned by the threatening void within the gun barrel.

“Why?! WHY!? Let me think.” He tapped his chin with one of the clawed fingers, but it was clear that he was doing no thinking. “Maybe because you banished me from that sword, stripping most of my power and casting me into this... this abominable body!!!” Once again, Antareth stopped his speech, this time his yellow eyes flaring like a pair of oil lamps. “Now, I want the sword back, I want my power back, and I want a more suitable vessel. Yours will do quite well. Boys, take him down, but don’t break him too badly.”

Victor couldn’t quite comprehend to whom the bird freak was speaking too, but in several seconds that it took him to deliberate on it, it became rather clear. The four full plates of armor that he initially designated as scenery came to life, the metal clacking and clinking and scratching against the stone as they formed a line or russet metal between Ryoden and his new vessel. Though the illumination was dim within the lobby, the gunman could see past the folds of their armor, through the opening in their helmets, and he could see nothing but the interior of the metal apparel.

“Oh, great,” he murmured, backtracking slowly. For every two steps back he made, the four made one gigantic step forward. They didn’t seem too spry though, so Victor had enough time to reload his gun while backing away, replacing the regular cartridges with the armor piercing ones he bought in the Bazaar weeks ago. The merchant said these would go through armor like through churned butter. There was only one way to clarify that claim.

KA-BLAM!!! KA-BLAM!!! KA-BLAM!!! KA-BLAM!!!

The four shots raised up such a racket that nothing else could be heard in the hall for several second as smoke swirled from the mouth of his Widowmaker. The good news was that Victor didn’t waste any bullets on missing, all four projectiles making brand new holes in the breastplates of the giant metal creatures. The bad news was that the bullets were wasted nonetheless because the quartet didn’t even flinch at the impact. The pistoleer squeezed two more, this time aiming at their head. He took the helmet clean off with one, missed badly with the other, and then they were on top of him. The one with the halberd aimed high with the butt end of his weapon, but Victor managed to duck beneath it. Unfortunately, the flail came sailing from the other side almost immediately afterwards, the ball overshooting him but the chain catching his left side and sending him sliding all the way to the opposite wall.

“Of course. He just couldn’t have regular guards. Oh, no. That would’ve been too easy. Where’s a wizard when you need one?” Victor thought, bitter and aching as he tried to reload his gun despite the fact that he hardly did any damage.

[Reiko]

Ki was glad to see Victor made it into the door way, she was sure the gunman would have held out here as long as she did, for he didn’t seem to have a good defense against the large beasts coming down. Though even the Onitachi wasn’t the best thing to defend against the winged monsters, though when she got a chance to strike the hard gargoyle skin wasn’t enough to stop the blade. But Ki had to concentrate on defense, especially when the manticores came as reinforcements. Unlike the claws of the gargoyles, the stingers could put the vixen ronin out in one glancing hit, making Doji work all the harder.

It was good that she was able to keep them at bay, not taking any real damage since the fine blade often made any attack on the vixen, one that the attacker would regret. Still She needed to get into the door and the sheer numbers would win, and Doji knew that she couldn’t get too weakened out here. Ki needed a plan and needed one quick.

Doji decided that she had an idea as one of the larger gargoyles came at her, the others in hot pursuit in hopes of overwhelming the Ronin, and it seemed like they would. Doji thrust the Onitachi forward into the heart of the gargoyle and called forth her fox magic to bring a cloud of falling leaves about her, blinding everyone then turning so the monster would be used as a shield and then retract her blade and run before the leaves would settle and disappear. The tactic worked and Ki got away to hear the monsters tearing at their ally and she was in shelter before they got the wiser. Closing the door behind her it seemed like everything was safe.

“Ahh, welcome little fox slut. You’re just in time,” the voice cackled and red eyes looked at Ki, “just in time to watch your friend fall before you follow the same fate. Don’t worry, they won’t kill you, I’ve had too much frustration from you two to just kill you like that.”

Ki looked at the glowing eyes of the demon tengu that seemed to do nothing but laugh before she turned to see her friend struggling. “Vic! Don’t worry, I’m here!” Doji tried to reassure the kindhearted fist fighter. Before she charged the animated armors that resembled demons, much like armor of evil samurai.

Ki ran at the one with the flail first, since it was closest and took the artifact man by complete surprise as she made a quick downward chop that cut the thing in half and scattering the remains.

“You still have my blade! Give it back!” Ryoden’s body commanded and Ki felt her arm go numb as black smoke started to come out of her right arm. The three armors gave up of Vic and came at Doji and drove the girl back, since she couldn’t parry she could only dodged and retreat back.

“No, It’s mine and it’ll be put to better use with me!” Ki yelled, almost sounding like a spoiled child that wouldn’t give up her toy. “You’ll…” Ki stopped as her last dodge landed her on her back with the armor’s nodachi right between her legs. “You’ll just use it to hurt people!” Ki had to practically will her arm to throw the Onitachi away, since it wasn’t going to let her fight. Calling a bit of foxfire to slow the armor down, Ki ran away.

“All talk, you really can’t do much other than talk and lay around.” The bird laughed again.

Ki kept running until she had some room and grabbed her new bow and turned around. She had to get off a clean shot with the bow. Sadly it wasn’t enough room and Ki had to dodge a war hammer from splitting her skull and run away again as the bird demon laughed. But this time Ki turned around and since she didn’t have to get the bow off her back she had an extra moment to draw the arrow and aim then fire. The arrow flew out with a blue glow to it. The shot was true and the arrow pierced out of the chest plate of sword armor, the glow spread out and the armor fell apart, only too more to go. But Ki was cornered and she was now dancing between the two weapons and trying to get out, no chance to draw another arrow if she wanted to live, and the fox girl really wanted to live.

[The Cinderella Man]

Had Doji not appeared when she did, Victor was pretty certain that he would become the latest victim of this demonic body snatcher. Because, even though his fumbling fingers managed to reload the revolver in a timely manner, the gunfire did nothing to the animated pieces of metal. Well, perhaps not nothing; if he fired his gun enough times, he was pretty certain that he would make a rather nifty sieve out of the enameled pieces of armor. Luckily, by the time he flipped the cylinder back in its proper place and cocked the hammer, his furry companion came to the rescue. Her blade came slicing through the metal, disposing of one of the uncanny enemies with ease that shamed all his efforts so far. However, even with all her battle prowess, Doji had to scurry away from the armors, her tails dancing as she drew their attention.

Victor saw this as a perfect time to put a rather large hole in Ryoden’s face. Pushing himself up to his feet with an audible grunt, the pistoleer swung around one of the columns and faced the unremarkable throne once again. The birdman saw the threat just in time to utilize his wings and fly behind the backrest of the massive chair. “I bet if I shoot you in the head, those things would stop their attacks,” the voice of the prizefighter rose over the incessant clanking that the armors made when they moved. The beak of the possessed tengu peeked over one side, followed by the grotesque face.

“True enough,” it cackled, completely unimpressed and worriless. “But by the time you get me, you’ll lose your little squeeze. Is it a price you’re willing to pay?”

The demon knew the answer to that question before he even asked, and Victor only confirmed it when he spared a moment to cast a look over his shoulder. On the other end of the spacious hall, Doji was cornered, facing three armors that forced her into defense, making her dance away from them and switch to her bow. One of her arrows sniped the head of one of the armors, but the remaining two were getting too close, too threatening with their uncannily tall figures and oversized weapons.

“Bastard,” was the only thing the prizefighter muttered, reeling and sprinting down the length of the hall. His approach was about as subtle as one of a raging bull, so it came as no surprise that one of the armors evaded his attempted tackle, then countered effectively. The flat side of the greatsword slapped Victor’s back, sending him stumbling forward until his right shoulder collided with the wall. His revolver went sliding down the polished tiles almost as if it wanted to run away and leave the boxer completely weaponless, rendering his rescue attempt a complete failure. Even the contents of his coat pockets went sprawling across the floor, a strange menagerie of items ranging from small pieces of cloth and some pebbles to a pair of shurikens and knuckles that Mikken gave him. Strangely enough, the knuckles seemed to be emanating a faint azure hue, the same one that enveloped Doji’s arrow that took down one of the armors.

“Ah hell, what do I have to lose?” the desperate gun wielder said to himself, reaching for the metal knuckles and sliding his fists through the holes. Even though the pair of weapons glowed as if the metal was ready to be weld, Victor could almost feel his fingers freezing when they came in contact with the metal. Down the front of the knuckles, a set of runes seemed to be throbbing with eerily power. For some reason beyond Vic’s comprehension, the glow temporarily paused the attacks of the remaining two.

“Go. Take care of the demon,” he said to the tailed vixen, but instead of letting her go, his hands pulled her close enough for his lips to caress her own sloppily, strongly. If he was going to die, testing some oddball weapon, at least he would go down with her kiss lingering on his lips.

The heap of metal with an oversized flail made a move to stop Doji, but by then, Victor was on the move as well. He ducked beneath the slicing greatsword, approaching the flail-wielding armor and launching a punch at its shoulder. To his immense surprise, when the metal of his knuckles collided with the metal of the armor, a sonic boom could be heard, announcing the might that tore the armored arm clean off. “That must’ve hurt,” he said, a cocky smirk replacing the troubled expression. The hollow armor retaliated, launching a hook with its remaining hands, but this was Vic’s territory now, a fist fight, and here he excelled. He pulled back and away from the punch, then ducked beneath the backhanded follow up before launching a punch that nearly caved in the glistening chest plate. The force of the strike made the metal thing stumble backwards, but by the time it made two steps backwards, his companion finished him better then Victor ever could. The greatsword came in a wide horizontal arc that forced the fist-fighter to throw himself on his belly, making the gigantic sword turn the animated armor into scrap metal.

Still in downed position, the boxer threw a punch at the metal shin of his attacker, eliciting another small sonic boom as the shinguard was torn away from the invisible body. This, in turn, robbed the armor of its balance, making it attempt to hobble backwards before it and its impressive sword came crashing down. Victor was on top of the thing in less then a second, throwing a swiping hook that pried the helmet away from the rest of the armor, sending it rolling down the entire length of the hall until it struck the first step that led to Ryoden’s makeshift throne.

[Reiko]

Ki was rather surprised by Vic’s rescue, not because when the fighter came in it was a disaster but he regained composure quickly, but because in the midst fight he found the time to embrace and kiss her. Victor’s lips were strong against Doji’s though it was hardly a good kiss, just pressing of the lips and nothing more but then again a good kiss would have killed them at this time, the quick peck was dangerous enough. As soon as victor let go of Ki, she ran and ducked under the flail and continued running.

“Well that’s quite a show. I didn’t think your Libido’s were that bad to feel each other while my minions are trying to kill you.” The demon bird laughed while rolling on the throne. Ki blushed a little since it was rather embarrassing to have such a horrid being witness their intimate act. But in the end Ki was glad it happened, it meant that Vic thought of her as more than a fighting companion but something more.

But Ki didn’t retort with words since the Tengu demon would not really care about what she had to say, but he would care about an arrow pointed at his skull. Doji had the bow drawn and the arrow ready to fly fatally into the demon’s body. Once the arrow was released flew with the blue glow like the other, but before it could silence Ryoden, a crack in the air appeared around the arrow like it was stuck in a sheet of glass. “What? Why didn’t it hit?” Ki asked as she looked at the arrow just float in the air, perfectly still.

“A shield spell, my little whore.” The fowl birdman taunted as he moved his hand, causing the discarded Onitachi to vibrate and soon lift itself up and charge against the nine tails girl. Ki heard this and ran towards a pillar, ducking and rolling to avoid getting pierced by the demon blade. Once at the pillar she tried to keep the column between her and her sword. “See, the sword will always be mine and soon both of you will be.”

“No, you haven’t won yet and you won’t.” Ki yelled as she released another arrow to the same fate that the previous one did and then the ronin girl hid behind the column as the demon blade came again, making a large gash on the stonework, after a few more arrows and dodges the pillar was like a tree that was ready to fall to the woodsman’s axe. Ki had to do something different. The Onitachi needed to be stopped.

Ki left the pillar and braced herself, placing the bow on the ground, unarmed combat was Victor’s thing but even this would no be easy for him, so Doji was unsure if she was making a foolish move that was going to kill her. But she had to try before she wore herself out.

The blade rushed forward again, not being a very skilled attack, the vixen dodged it easily but she didn’t get a chance to put her plan to action. The next charge was better as Ki dodged again but moved forward and snapped her hand like a viper to catch the swords handle and hold on. Ki soon fell to the ground and wrestled the blade, trying to keep it from cutting her flesh. She was then rolling around on the ground with the blade, though it managed to scrape her a few times the wounds were minor and after the struggle went on a couple of minutes the fox girl plunged the blade deep into the ground, too deep for the magic to pull it out. Once that was done, Ki got up and looked to the Tengu, Vic had the armor distracted and Ki could take aim, it seemed pointless but the cracks seemed like damage and if Ki kept shooting then she might break the shield.

Every arrow left cracks as they hit the shield that was once invisible but no longer. “It’s not going to work! My magic is stronger than your silly arrows.”

Ki simply kept shooting, though she was running out of arrows, there were only three left when the sound of glass breaking filled the room. The shield was broken, Ki aimed slower as the demon actually showed fear, he whimpered and Doji smiled as she drew a bead. Accuracy mattered now and she couldn’t miss, it also was nice to see the creature that had terrorized her from afar was now at her mercy.

But before Ki could fire the killing shot, the tengu fell over with a bleeding belly. The fiend committed Hari Kari and robbed Ki the chance to end the battle with her own hands. Doji twitched her tails as she continued to glare at the dying tengu.

“You haven’t won, there are others that would serve as a proper vessel.” The Tengu’s burning eyes turned into a lifeless black.

“Hey Vic, are you alright. That was a tough fight, huh?” Ki fell on her knees; she had really tired herself out with the fight. “But I guess we won this round, I hope he’s bluffing about coming back, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting him.”

[The Cinderella Man]

By the time Victor was done with dismantling the mobile suits of enameled armor, Doji had the berserk birdthing on the ropes. With his mystical minions turned to useless heaps of metal and his magical barrier shattered by Doji’s repeated attacks, Ryoden was pushed into the proverbial corner. And in that corner he was nothing but a miserable little bird goblin caught red-handed in mischief too big for him, a horrible creature that almost deserved pity. But only almost. The memories of the marketplace and the manticores and the shuriken imbedded in his arm were still too fresh, too unyielding in front of Victor’s usually benevolence. So the gunslinger was rather content with waiting for the demon to get what he deserved, a bloody end at the end of one of the arrows of the furry vixen.

However, as it turned out, the wretched demon didn’t have enough integrity to meet his end with dignity. Instead he plunged a dagger into his own belly, spilling his own guts and bawling a final futile threat. By the time some of his intestines slithered down from his abdomen like dead snakes, the fire in Ryoden’s eyes was extinguished, evanescing in front of the abysmal emptiness of the black. Unlike the last time they killed Antareth the Demon, this time there were no fireworks, no explosions, no earthquakes. This time the demon was cast out with a whisper.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Victor replied to Doji’s inquiry, collecting his revolver, uncocking it before he stuffed it back into the holster on his thigh. “My shoulder hurts like hell. It appears the stone is sturdier then bone and flesh. Who would’ve known, huh?”

The muscular pistoleer approached the throne casually, but his eyes were still bent on Ryoden, half expecting that the bastard would awaken even more peeved then he was prior to the suicide. But seconds passed in utter silence, so Victor reckoned it was safe to lower his guard. “I hope so too, but I wouldn’t bet all my chips on it. Bastards like him seldom make empty threats,” he said, sliding the knuckles off his aching wrists. The pair of weapons definitely packed quite a kick, but the resonating power they expelled wasn’t overly kind to the knuckles of his fingers. “I reckon he’ll think twice before coming after us though.”

“Come on,” he ultimately added, figuring there was nothing more to see or do in the castle now that the tyrant was down for the count. “Let’s go see if Mikken needs help with those wretched monsters.”

Though they entered through the secondary entrance, they walked out through the main door, weapons brandished and eyes scanning the courtyard for the winged devils. However, nothing but still silence returned their gaze. The courtyard was a mess, covered with a menagerie of wings, legs, heads, scorpion tails, and unfortunately black feathers and the accompanying cadavers that could only belong to the tengu warriors. It was hard to determine who lost and who won the day; there wasn’t a single survivor to be seen in the darkness of the night and it made the atmosphere chilly as the pair walked through the aftermath. Amongst the many corpses – who all looked terribly similar to Victor with their long beaked faces and odd eyes – they were able to locate one whose hands still clung to the large curved blade.

“Mikken,” Victor said regretfully, squatting next to the birdman. “For somebody who isn’t a warrior, he fought well. They all fought well,” he added, making a move to close the eyes of the leader tengu. However, even as he was about to do that, one of the hands that clutched to the blade intercepted his attempt, wrapping the clawed fingers around the boxer’s wrist.

“I wasn’t always a pacifist, Victor Callahan,” the raspy voice emerged somewhere beyond the clacking beak, making the prizefighter’s sorrowful face break into a smirk as he helped the old bird up.

“Thank the gods for that,” the gunman said, first shaking the tengu’s clawed hand, but them proceeding to give the abominable creature and brotherly hug. “I’m afraid the others didn’t make it.”

“Grak, have no fear. It’s a tactic we use from time to time, playing dead so the enemies can’t recognize us amidst the already fallen.” With that said, Mikken made a screeching croak, and before long, the courtyard was active with resurrected birdpeople, dusting of, gathering their wounded. “I didn’t expect to wake up to see the monsters gone though.”

“They probably dispersed after Ryoden died.”

“You killed him?” the tengu asked in an almost sad tone that confused Victor. “Ryoden... Well, Ryoden before this demon possessed him, he was my brother.”

“No wonder he was reluctant to fight,” the prizefighter thought. He wanted to explain the details of the actual death, but he reckoned that Mikken didn’t want to know that his brother committed suicide, even if it wasn’t his brother who was in control of the body that was still sitting on the iron throne, with guts dangling between its feet.

“But let us get out of here. It’s been a long night.” the birdman said, sheathing his dented blade and leading the way through the gates. He commanded a few of his troopers to remain behind and guard the citadel until sunrise, offered a shoulder as a support to one of his comrades and made his way down the winding road that led to the town.

[Reiko]

Well it was over; Victor soon left the room leaving Ki alone for a moment. Doji looked down at the dead tengu, it wasn’t his fault that the demon took his body but he ended up dead because of it. The vixen hated the idea that the demon could do such a thing but she just didn’t know how to help Ryoden, he was dead and she couldn’t.

Ki soon grabbed the Onitachi and yanked it out of the ground, leaving the sword there would just be asking for trouble and the fox girl felt like she was the thing’s official guardian to prevent it from being used for evil, then grabbing Mikken’s gift so she wouldn’t forget it.

Once Doji caught up to Vic in the courtyard, she saw Mikken was ok. The vixen ran down and pounced the poor bird and hugged him. “I didn’t think you’d make it. I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“I’ll live longer if you don’t crush me.” Mikken squawked.

“Oh, sorry…” Doji dropped off and blushed. “I guess we win, I really could use some loosening up.” The vixen straitened out her hair and dusted off her kimono.

“Well let’s go back we really could use a rest.” Mikken said before leading Ki and vice back to his home.

Later that Evening Ki was feeling a little restless, she did get to unwind a bit but something else was nagging her brain, she didn’t want to think about Ryoden or the demon and avoiding those thoughts made her think about the hot spring and what would come of it if the two Tengu didn’t interrupt. It was too early to sleep, Ki wasn’t hungry and she wasn’t in the mood for Go. So what could she do, maybe another game, yeah Vic might be bored too. Perhaps the kitsune could kill two birds with one stone and play a game and figure out what would have happened in the hot spring.

First was talk to Mikken and Enka, who were in the same room look fairly melancholy, do to Ryoden’s Demise. Ki steeled herself as she entered, she needed to ask the question in order for her plan to work, maybe after this she could help those two but right now she was thinking about herself and Vic. “Um Mikken?” Ki was shy at first since it was pretty obvious what she was going to do while asking the favor. “Um would you mind if my and Vic have some private use of your spring.” The vixen fiddled with her tails as she waited.

Mikken looked with the unreadable tengu face and simply nodded. “Sure, I guess it’d be ok. We’re not using it.”

Doji felt relived that she had a yes, she searched for Vic and thankfully she had a good idea where to look. Once she found the gunman in the manor, Ki smiled widely and swished her tails excitedly. “Hey Vic! I got Mikken’s word we can use the hot spring without any interruption. I’m sure you really could use a little break.” The Vixen couldn’t help but hope that Victor would agree.

(feel free to bunny Ki into the hot spring)

[The Cinderella Man]

Adventuring was hard work, Victor decided once he finally caught a breather in another one of the chairless rooms of Mikken’s house. For a long while now, the prizefighter looked at various heroes with a certain amount of disdain. Heroes always got to be in the best of tales, they always got to save some gorgeous maiden in distress, slay the beast, defeat the villain, reap the glory, have a long a prosperous life with the said maiden... It made the boxer sick even thinking about it. Regular people such as himself only read about such outcomes. Regular people gained little, despite of how much they invested in a certain endeavor. Regular people wound up sore all over, sitting in a room without chairs, cleaning their weapon and pondering on the bleak tomorrow that brought more of the same monotony prior to their little escapade in the world of heroes, where they didn’t belong. It was a real pain to be regular people.

And yet, so far Victor failed to find a way to stay clear of these adventures. Most of the time – this particular one included – it was his benevolent nature that coerced him into doing something, even though more often then not, he had not the slightest concept of what that something should be. Luckily, most of the times the muscular fist-fighter wasn’t alone in the pickle, so he was able to pull through by playing his role as the brawn and leaving the brain part to others. So while he might’ve been jinxed when it came to getting into these dire situations, Victor Callahan seemed to also have some luck when it came to getting out of them with his head still attached to the rest of the body.

But still, it was tiresome work, and not only because of the physical aspect of these endeavors. Physical part he could handle; wounds eventually healed, energy returned, bones mended. Far more annoying was the impact on his psyche and the fact that he always got the short end of the stick. Regardless of the scenario, regardless of the outcome, at the end of the story Victor Callahan was always left on his own. He was expendable goods, a good-hearted acquaintance that served his purpose before going his own way once again. Whenever he had a chance to get closer to someone, the fate, the gods, the circumstances all found it appropriate to nip that relationship in the bud. It happened with Feru, it happened with Asuka, and it repeated itself twice with Doji now. It was as if there was this invisible barrier that stood between him and the rest of the world and he kept hitting his head against it like a fly that failed to acknowledge the closed window. He wasn’t surprised though; regular people seldom got a chance to play the role in quixotic stories.

Given such gloomy mood, it wasn’t a surprise that Victor welcomed Doji’s invitation with skepticism. On one hand, the pistoleer remembered rather well in which direction their last visit to the spring went, or rather where it would’ve gone if Mikken and Enka haven’t interrupted them. Now, the multi-tailed vixen was offering him a chance at restarting that flame that sparked between them. On the flip side, because he knew where all of this could lead, Victor was reluctant. There was still some integrity left in him, fragments of his pious upbringing that flashed warnings at him even now. And even if there weren’t, Vic feared that this would lead to no good. Just like he had nothing to offer to Feru, a lost mage girl back in Concordia, he had nothing to offer to Doji either. He was a bum, a homeless bastard who liked to call himself a pugilist, and the kitsune was a wonderful woman, and as such deserved better. Better then him.

“I...uh... I have to finish this,” Victor finally said, defending himself with an unimportant chore. Once he saw that that probably wasn’t a good enough excuse, he smirked and added: “Besides, I’m not a big fan of bubbly hot water. You go on ahead.”

“Idiot!” his mind screamed at him even before Doji’s elation disappeared, effacing her smile and calming the constants swishing of her tails. Facing rejection, despite how finely it was sugarcoated, the furry female left the room, stifling the disappointment with a courteous smile. His mind was right, though; he was an idiot. He definitely felt like one as soon as he saw the intricate transformation of her face. And even as she departed from the room, the boxer wanted to run after her, embrace her, kiss her... But that was what heroes did. Regular people stayed behind and cleaned their guns.

“Would you stop with the self-pitying?!” again his mind’s voice, again reprimanding. “Go! Go after her! Who cares what happens? Go! You want to be with her. She wants to be with you. Go, get up. Go, you bastard! GO!

It was like there was a rope tied around his weight, and with every word that his own voice bawled in his head, something tugged at the far end of that rope. Ultimately, he found himself unable to do anything; his fingers fumbled the metallic pieces, his mind flushed every thought save the one of Doji and he started to feel as if somebody was churning butter in his stomach. There was only one cure to this condition, he knew, and most likely it awaited him in the hot spring.

“Ah, what the hell...”

When you had nothing, you had nothing to lose.

Setting aside the brownish canvas that contained the pieces of his revolver, Victor got to his feet and made his way out of the house. The garden was as wonderful as he remembered it the last time, basked in the fiery orange of the dawning sun that made every color a mere shade of the same color. In midst of this little piece of heaven, Doji was sitting in the murky water of the spring, a tinge of sadness touching her face. Her ears perked once the prizefighter moved the large fern leaves though, and she seemed to force a smile on her face, dipping her naked body a bit deeper in the water.

“I... uhm... I changed my mind. I’d like to join you if you don’t mind,” words stumbled out of his mouth, clumsy as they always were coming from an unsmooth talked such as himself. Despite their uncouthness though, they managed to erase the doubtful smirk off her face and bring out a genuine smile that served as a definite invitation. Victor proceeded to take off his clothes, leaving only his shorts on before he entered the bubbling pool tentatively, gradually introducing the heat of the water to his limbs. He was antsy, there was no doubt about it, his heart pounding as if he was a teenager who just got to be in the same pool with is first crush. Still, once he settled himself next to her, the uncharismatic fist-fighter even found some words in the chaos that raged in his head.

“I’m glad you made it alright out of that hell. Though, it’s rather funny when you look at it. Three times we met now and all three times we got in so much trouble...” Victor wouldn’t proceeded with his senseless maundering, but he found himself unable to once Doji pressed her lips against his own, silencing him quite effectively. The boxer was surprised at first, feeling the heat hitting his face more ardently then any hot spring ever could, but it didn’t take him long to adjust to her kiss and embrace her smooth, sopped body.

And it finally seemed that, though it was tiresome business, adventuring had some perks in store even for the little people such as him.

((SPOILS:

A pair of enchanted knuckles made of titanium, dubbed Holy Mitts. This rather unremarkable pair of weapons has runes engraved on the front which glow faintly when they are equipped. Aside from the normal physical damage, these knuckles deal sonic damage with every punch that has a twofold effect. To corporeal targets, they dish out double bludgeon damage. They are, however, also able to harm the ethereal beings. Every time they hit solid matter, sonic damage resonates around them, dealing regular amount of damage by disturbing the incorporeal beings with the sonic waves. The damage is equal to the damage the wearer is able to make using his physical strength.

Also, a pair of steel shurikens. Victor doesn’t know what to do with them, but they remained in the pocket of his coat.))

[Reiko]

Did the Kiss mean nothing? Was it just some silly foolishness to happen when the pair was so close to death? Ki asked her self as she sat in the hot spring while being very alone. Her ears were flat as a frown masked her face. She had set up the day so she could be alone with victor to share more than a hasty kiss or have him wash her tails. Victor seemed to be interested in her and not taken already as far as the nine tails knew. So why did he decline.

“I guess I’m nothing be trouble. He isn’t found of trouble so a ronin girl with a bunch of tails would only cause him trouble and I guess he realized that.” Doji told herself as a few tears streaked down her body and into the water. It was probably a good reason to leave her be, no sense getting involved with a woman that’s more trouble than she’s worth especially if she’s just one of the furries who was only good at getting in trouble, no one in there right mind would want to be with her.

Then Ki perked her ears to footsteps and saw Victor Enter. Ki thought of what to say but she found her mind just couldn’t form a plan for the rejection that she was going to face. “I… I… Um”

“I... uhm... I changed my mind. I’d like to join you if you don’t mind,”

Victor beat her to it and Doji had to smile as the water started to swirl behind her from the excited tails. She was still speechless of a positive reason as she watched the athlete reveal his body. It wasn’t like the sculptures that one would find at the citadel or other places, he wasn’t a man of pure muscle with a little fat with other flaws, but it was those flaws that made him a person.

But better than seeing Victor almost naked was feeling him and kissing him. The way his tough and strong body pressed against Ki’s soft curves was intoxicating to the fox girl. The kiss was like the last and strong yet lacked finesse but Vic learned and soon he made a good kiss and Ki was able to play with it, letting her tongue sneak in and keep things interesting before breaking it. “I’m glad you made it too. I’m sorry for causing so much trouble. I don’t think I can help it.” Ki smiled a bit realizing that it was not the time or the place to bring back her guilt and so decided that she needed to go further and silenced her own mouth by kissing Victor one more time as her hand sneaked to remove his shorts.

Ki wasn’t going to forget this adventure.

(Spoils:

Seikyu: a short bow made from the antler like horn of a Kirin. It’s a strong and supple bow that has the range and power of the longbow but the ease of drawing as a short bow due to its excellent craftsmanship. Also the arrows fired from the bow radiate with a celestial energy causes extra burns with the wounds and won’t cauterize the arrow wound as well as doing twice the damage to demons, undead and magical creations powered by evil magic.)

[Witchblade]

Storyline

Continuity: - 6 This was definitely an interesting quest, one that I enjoyed reading to the very end. Some parts of it were a little iffy, especially since the reader doesn’t get the information on why Ryoden sent letters to both of them until the end. I actually thought that for a little while you guys may have forgotten about those letters and was pleased to see their appearance though slightly questioning the simple reason behind them. The guy only wanted a new body and to enact some pain on them? That was it? The birds suddenly attacking Ki for no reason other than the sword she carries is odd and to a first time reader of the characters who knows nothing of this demon Antareth and the sword she possesses and the revelation at the end loses some tension since neither of the characters tend to make too big of a deal over it. It’s like ‘oh, he’s somehow still alive, let’s kill him again and hope it works this time’ kind of deal. One of the other things that kind of got me was the scene in the marketplace. It just seemed so odd, they’re out shopping and all of a sudden some monstrous being with two heads comes and attacks them with B-movie dialogue?

The quest was set up nicely and the history between the characters was laid bare for the reader right from the beginning, which I liked. I would have liked a little more explanation about how Ki managed to be in the peculiar situation of being both Kit and Inari from the beginning, but it adds something to it to have first time readers to her story find out when Victor does.

Setting: - 6.5 Duro, your setting was rich and vibrant and came right off the page and into the reader’s mind. There were a few times when the setting was used by both characters, but for most of this quest it was just a tool to let the reader know where they were. Reiko, you really need to add more detail into your posts, setting is something you lose very easily and that puts the burden of describing every detail solely to Duro, which leaves the reader with only one set of eyes looking at what’s going on. I’m not expecting you to come up with these beautifully descriptive and long winded paragraphs, I am hoping that you begin to look more closely at where your character is and what’s going on around her. Try to realize it’s not all about what people are doing and saying and also about where they’re walking.

Pacing: - 7 The pacing was pretty good and set the readers up well for the climatic ending you knew was coming and also for the event that followed. If that had not been added in I would have been sorely disappointed in the both of you. The end of Ryoden was a bit less on the dramatic side though. His barrier tends to break rather easily, just keep pummelling it with arrows and it will eventually shatter. And then his sudden suicide and Ki’s nonchalance afterwards as if she really could care less that she’d just faced down a demon was a little jarring to the reader. This is supposed to be one of the climactic moments in the thread, make sure to keep it that way.

Character

Dialogue: - 5 The dialogue between the characters and those from the NPC’s was good though at times I felt like I was thrown into a horribly cheesy movie where the bad guys spouted out lines that were utterly pointless. The monster in the marketplace in particular had some really bad B-movie dialogue ‘me going to squash you now.’ Ki also has a few issues with dialogue, she tends to jump around a lot and some of her comments don’t make very much sense considering the current situation.

Action: - 5.5 The actions of the characters were very much within their personalities as far as I could tell. There were a few times when Duro would write something in his post and Ki would come in and do something completely different then what he posted. I know it’s hard when you’re posting back and forth and not writing a steady story but try not to pounce and hug a character Duro has already written as starting to head down the hill and then have a quick conversation with him.

Some of the fighting scenes, mostly with Reiko, were slightly confusing. The first one in particular when she was attacked by the three tengu after first entering the city lost me rather quickly and soon I didn’t know what was going on and what moves she was doing.

Persona: - 8 The personalities of the characters came out rather well throughout the quest and I do have to say that Victor is starting to grow on me as a character. His inner thoughts are hilarious at times especially the one where he’s talking about the secret passage and how it quickly gets worse. I loved that. Ki is a very cute and loveable character that you just want to hug until her head pops off and her carefree innocence is a nice contrast to Victor’s pessimistic look on life. They would be a good couple if you guys keep this romance going.

Writing Style

Mechanics: - 6 Duro, Duro, Duro! Read over your posts! In your introduction I found numerous punctual mistakes, missing words and a few spelling mistakes and this is surprising coming from you. Keep your eyes open for them, it wasn’t just your first post littered with these mistakes but they were prominent throughout the entire thread.

“Magic, of which he had a hatful by now and it failed to change his opinion towards it…”

If you could see the expression on my face…

“The boxer would have been embarrassed by a hole in his sock that let his thumb out…”

His thumb? Is Victor some sort of mutant because the last time I checked people had toes on their feet.

Reiko, you too have your fair share of grammatical, punctual and spelling mistakes. You also have a habit of capitalizing the next word following someone’s name or another thing that normally would be capitalized. This isn’t too big of a mistake and it’s not something easily picked up by reader or spell check, just try to keep your eyes open for it. You also tend to leave out words or put the wrong one in.

Technique: - 6.5 I didn’t spot any kind of advanced forms of writing in your quest, though both of you have good writing styles in your own. Reiko you do need to work on the flow from sentence and sentence and paragraph-to-paragraph though. I picked this up rather easily in the first post; your writing is very jumpy and kind of throws the reader around a bit. In particular when it comes to actions you go through them very quickly.

Clarity: - 6 Clarity was all right throughout the quest. I could understand what was going on all the time, except for that one part in the first battle already mentioned, but some things just went by too quickly for the reader to properly comprehend the actions.

Wild Card: - 6 This was an overall good read and I did enjoy it. There are some points of writing that need to be looked at and if addressed they’ll make the reader enjoy your posts so much more.

Total: 62.5

Rewards:

Victor receives 2,000 experience and 150 GP!
Ki receives 2,800 experience and 150 GP!

Victor receives his Holy Mitts with their requested enchantment and also finds those shuriken in his coat when he pricks his finger on one. Damn dangerous those things…

Ki receives Seikyu with its requested enchantment.

[Cyrus the virus]

EXP added.