‘Well. What’s been going on here?’ Fox asked, his cheerfully amused voice waking up both Akiko and Tom, still in their midnight arrangement.

‘What the hell-‘ Tom managed, as Akiko shot back. The man ran a hand through his mussed hair as Fox grinned like nothing else.

‘Oh shut up.’ He growled, and glanced at Akiko, more curiosity in his glance than anything else.

‘Yo-you were tossing and turning.’ Akiko said, not looking at him. ‘I found if I touched you, you calmed right down. I guess you were so warm, I fell asleep.’

Fox laughed to a stage where both Tom and Akiko were wishing he’d choke on his own tongue and die.

‘Fair enough.’ Tom shrugged, but he stared out the window like something she had said was bothering him.

‘What?’ Akiko asked. He shook his head, and flashed her a tired, but familiar, careless grin.

‘Nothin’.’ He told her. ‘Got any painkillers, princess?’

‘You’re not going anywhere.’ Fox and Akiko snapped at the same time, pointing accusing fingers in Tom’s direction.

‘Ookay then.’ He muttered, staring down the length of the digits with some bemusement. ‘And why not?’

‘Why not?!’ Akiko gaped. Fox sighed, straddled a chair, and waved a fork at his old friend as he explained.

‘For one thing, buddy- your right leg is in no condition to be used. Don’t think I wasn’t watching for Nurse Akiko’s operation last night. It’s messed up bad. That glass bomb did its job too well. And another is the side effect, namely loss of blood. Despite your valiant effort it tying up the wound-still with glass in it- with the bottom of your shirt, your trousers must have been carrying a litre of your own lifeblood.’

Fox stuck the four prongs of the fork in his friend’s face. ‘Henceforth, dear friend- you will not be venturing forth into the world today.’

‘Bu-‘

‘And no buts.’ Akiko said firmly, glaring at him with her arms folded. Tom stared at her, and then Fox, whose light eyes twinkled cheerfully, but also held no room for appeal. He was beaten unless he could sneak out.

‘Fine.’ He sighed, picking up his coffee. Fox nodded, and Tom dodged as the fork shuddered into the plaster beside his head.

‘Hey!’ Akiko growled. ‘That’s my wall!’

‘No sneaking off, either.’ Fox vetoed, and left the fork embedded in the plaster as he turned around to face Akiko.

‘Anyway- look, Akiko, those guys know whee you live now, and that Tom’s here as well. If they know that Kira and her sword are here-‘

‘How did you find out about that?’ Akiko asked suspiciously. Fox just flashed his teeth at her and continued like she’d never asked the question.

‘- they’ll be back, and a lot more serious than those idiots with the pressure cannon like before.’

‘He’s right.’ Kira said, from where she had been leaning on the wall during the entire exchange, hugging her coffee in both hands. ‘It’s putting you in a lot of danger, Akiko- you realise you’ve invited probably three of the most wanted people in the entire city into your house?’

‘That’s right, there’s the kid as well.’ Fox grinned, and then pointed at himself. ‘And I am proud to say I am in the top twenty most wanted criminals list. Of course, the most that can get on me is that I’ve got blue hair and dress in black.’

‘What do they have you down as?’

‘ “The Blue-haired Guy Who Dresses In Black and Throws Knives.” ‘ Tom supplied nastily, then added, ‘I’m serious.’

‘And I’m the- third most wanted.’ Tom said, after thinking about it for a while. Akiko stared at the three people looking at her. Fox was smiling-like usual- Kira was looking slightly worried, and Tom’s gaze was slightly calculating.

‘Great.’ She muttered, slumping down in her chair. ‘And here I thought my life was kind of boring.’

‘It ain’t.’ Tom muttered. ‘At least, not anymore.’

‘Right.’ Fox agreed, putting down his hot chocolate. It had two marshmallows bobbing under the foam, quite peacefully.

‘Hey, princess-‘ Tom said. ‘I want you to get the kid and stay low, all right?’

Akiko nodded, thinking it best not to question why the three around her were suddenly covering their mouths as they talked. She crept into Shinta’s room just as gunfire exploded around her. Shinta, sitting at a small table and drawing, dived at her in terror.

‘What’s going on?’

‘I’m not sure.’ Akiko said, only partially lying. ‘Shinta, into my room. Keep low.’

He nodded, and scrambled into the room across the hallway. Akiko hissed through her teeth as bullets sprayed the wall at the end of the hallway. She waited, and then rolled into her room, wincing as a bullet caught her leg.

‘Damn-‘ she swore, and tore off a piece of the sheet on her bed, binding the wound tightly. It had only taken off skin, thank god. Shinta was under the bed. She tucked his silvery tail under the bed border and went to her cupboard, pulling out an old bag and looking at it like it was going to bite her.

‘Well, I wanted to come to Crime Capital.’ She muttered. ‘Thank God I’m not entirely naïve.’

She slung the bag onto her back and hurriedly shoved a pair of old jeans, t-shirt and jacket on after whipping off her pyjamas.

‘Shinta!’ she hissed. Shinta’s head stuck out, his eyes terrified with the noise going on. She beckoned to him.

‘Come on.’ She hissed, pulling a rope out of her cupboard and flinging open the window. Apparently they didn’t have the whole place surrounded. Akiko stood on the windowsill and gripped the edge of the window, not looking down. Reaching across, she grabbed the end of the washing line and braced herself.

‘Shinta, c’mere.’ She said, her mind numb with what she was about to do.

The little boy trustingly came out and put his arms around her neck, burying his face in her collarbone.

‘Whatever happens, Shinta.’ Akiko muttered, hearing footsteps pound around her apartment. ‘I want you to get out of this city and go to K’eriol. Find the big house on Rio Street. My parents live there. Remember?’

‘Y-yes.’

‘Good.’ Akiko muttered, looping the rope around the washing line. ‘I cannot believe I am doing this.’

She pushed off the wall.

Akiko yelped as a bullet shattered a brick on the opposite building as soon as her feet touched it. She gripped the rope tightly.

‘Shinta, move it.’ She snapped. Shinta obediently scrambled onto the room and dived behind a chimney, Akiko bit her lip as a bullet buried itself in her arm, and rolled onto the roof.

‘Let’s go, Shinta.’ She snapped, breaking into a run.

‘Where are we going?’ Shinta asked, following the teenager as she ran across the rooftop.

‘Where’s Tom’s house?’ Akiko asked. Shinta looked around wildly. ‘Don’t point!’ Akiko yelped. ‘No actually- point, in the opposite direction.’

Shinta pointed right. Akiko nodded and pulled what looked like a gun out of a side pocket on her bag, and fired upwards. A heavy disc slammed into the bottom on the city Watchtower, trailing a steel cable. Shinta grabbed a hold of the girl as she jumped off, watching the ground rocket up towards her.  The impact hurt, but she ran left.

‘Okay, tell me where to go.’ She told Shinta. Shinta looked up at her, and the blood soaking her left arm, and bit his lip.

‘Turn right here.’ He said, running as fast as he could manage.

Tom slammed the door in the face of his pursuer, and looked around the room. He looked under the bed, and then at the open cupboard. He knelt, picking up a grenade.

‘What the- KIRA! FOX!’ he yelled, kicking the cupboard doors shut. ‘GET THE HELL OUT! RIGHT NOW!’

Kira and Fox, fighting back-to-back, looked around at Tom’s shout.

‘What the hell is he on about?’ Fox gaped.

‘Don’t ask me, but I say we do as the man says.’ Kira grunted. Fox nodded, and grinned at the guys around, muttering,

‘Shut your eyes and run for the window and jump.’

‘Are you crazy?’

‘Why do people always ask me that?’ Fox sighed, slamming a pair of sunglasses onto his nose at the same time as hitting something on his belt. Blinding white light exploded into the room, and Kira lashed out wildly and ran for the nearest window- or where she could remember it to be. She could just opened her eyes and leapt on to the sill, pushing off.

‘Well. At least it’ll be quick.’ She muttered. ‘No washing lines on this side.’

‘Hey Kira.’ Fox said, hurtling past her. She blinked as he rolled over and held up a gun.

‘Er, Foxy-‘

‘Won’t be a minute.’ Fox said, firing. Kira watched the disc, trailing a steel cable, fly upwards and slam into the steel reinforcements on the rain cover for the alleyway- or that was just the fancy name for the reinforced, metre-long metal sheets sticking out over the edge of the building. Fox grabbed her around the waist, and they both let of a gasp as they were jerked to a stop. Fox let go, and they both fell the remaining five metres with ease, landing with their feet already making running motions in the air.

‘Don’t you feel like a coward?’ Kira asked, hearing the bullets shatter bricks behind them.

‘No!’ Fox yelped, dodging a bullet. ‘We do we go?’

‘Don’t look at me!’

‘Ah. Then we have a problem.’

Tom laughed from where he was on the rooftop.

‘I guess you guys were too eager for the fight not to leave anyone on standby duty. Man you guys are doomed- if I don’t get you first, anyway.’ He added, pulling the pin out of the grenade and leaning over the gutter. He flashed a pointed grin at the conscious gangsters inside, few of which were fortunate enough to see him as he threw the grenade inside. He disappeared from view and pulled off his jacket as he ran across the roof, jumping off and using his jacket to catch a washing line.

‘This is going to hurt.’ He muttered, watching the opposing building approach rapidly. Ignoring the explosion behind him for the moment, Tom glanced to his right, and noticed the absence of washing on the line he knew to be Akiko’s.

‘Hm.’ He said to himself, and looked down at the stray items of lingerie and clothing on the dirty alleyway ground. ‘Who’d have guessed? Oh shit-’ he muttered, bracing himself for impact against the wall. He let out a small moan as his leg smacked into the bricks, and allowed himself a paused for recovery before scrambling up onto the roof. He looked back briefly, and frowned at the white powder he could see floating around Akiko’s windows. He looked at his hands, and sniffed them. Tom sneezed, and shook his head.

‘Good God.’ He muttered. ‘Sleeping powder….really gotta get outta here-‘ he looked around, and his eyes fell on the steel cable going down to the ground.

‘That girl-‘ he muttered to himself, not knowing whether to be angry or amused as he jumped off, grabbing the cable with his jacket-wrapped hands.

‘What’s in your bag?’ Shinta asked, looking over curiously as Akiko gratefully threw the heavy thing on the ground.

‘Nothing.’ Akiko said automatically, looking around the residence of the one of the most feared alleyway mercenaries ever. It really needed some light. Speaking of really needing-

‘Shinta, try and find a torch or something please.’ She told him, and shot back as the door to the small hut was opened. Tom looked down the barrel of a gun.

‘Well, I’m beginning to think I really, really underestimated you, princess.’ He grinned. Akiko lowered the gun, looking pained as he shut the door.

‘Whoopee. I didn’t actually intend to use this stuff.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Tom nodded, agreeing with her. His gaze fell on her arm. Shinta presented him with a torch and a smile.

‘Akiko can’t operate on herself.’ He supplied, as if the man didn’t know that already. Tom sighed and helped Akiko up onto the beaten up couch.

‘Shinta, you hold this. Don’t look, though.’

Shinta nodded and obediently held the torch steady while keeping his eyes shut.

‘This is gonna hurt like hell.’ Tom warned Akiko, opening the TISC. She bit her lip.

‘I know.’

Tom nodded, and picked up a scalpel reluctantly.

Fox threw open the door, never one for placing down his own arrival.

‘Hey! We found it! Oh, that looks nasty-‘

He looked at the blood-covered bullet sitting peacefully on a piece of paper. Tom didn’t look up, pulling the needle through a sleeping Akiko’s arm. As Fox and Kira looked over his shoulders.

‘She got hit, huh?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Tom nodded, picking up a bandage and beginning to wind it around the girl’s arm. ‘So how did you guys find this place?’

‘With a combination of brilliance, charm and daring-‘ Fox cut off as Kira drove an elbow into his stomach.

‘I asked a few of the street kids.’ She sighed, and looked back at Akiko. ‘Did you knock her out?’

Tom paused, and then nodded. Fox’s eyes glittered with tears as he clasped his hands together.

‘That’s so…sweet!’ he bawled. Kira and Tom stared at him.

‘He needs therapy.’ Kira muttered, sitting down and leaning against the wall. Fox stopped bawling at glared at her playfully.

‘That wasn’t nice, Kira.’

Kira stuck her tongue out and shut her eyes, falling asleep almost straight away. Tom rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand and knelt down to wash his hands in a small basin of water. Fox helped himself to the only chair in the place, and glanced across at where Shinta had curled up on a relatively soft mat with a blanket over him, fast asleep.

‘Do you think that kid knows he snores?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Tom said absently. Fox glanced at his friend sidelong.

‘There’s one thing I wanted to ask about, Tom- what Akiko said about last night. Your nightmare.’

Tom’s hands stopped moving in the water, and his green eyes unfocused slightly.

‘You’re still thinkin’ about her, aren’t you.’

There was a long silence. Tom’s hands resumed their movement in the water, the faint slapping of the liquid against the sides of the bowl the only sound in the hut for a long time. Fox sighed.

‘It’s been, what- seven years?’

‘Haven’t counted. A long time.’

‘Yeah, I know. You worry me, Tom.’ Fox sighed, rested his chin on his hand. Tom dried his hands on a towel, his bangs covered his eyes.

‘Don’t bother. Get some sleep, Fox.’

Fox nodded uneasily and watched his friend sit down on the crouch next to Akiko and shut his eyes. Slowly, Fox did the same.

When the blue-haired man awoke the next morning…er, afternoon, Tom had disappeared and Akiko was looking at him like he’d killed her parents.

‘What?!’

‘What the hell did you say to Tom?’ she asked. Fox’s eyebrows shot up.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Well, he woke up this morning looking like he’d seen someone have their intestines ripped out and used as pantyhose, grabbed his coat and stormed out muttering something about fresh air.’ Kira supplied. Akiko looked slightly sick.

‘That was needlessly detailed, thankyou, Kira.’

‘Sorry about that.’ The black-haired girl grinned. Fox folded his arms.

‘So you automatically assumed Tom’s little tantrum is MY fault? Oh, I’m flattered.’

‘Maybe not your fault, exactly, but you must have some clue what it’s about.’ Kira pointed out, putting her nose an inch from his and glaring into his light blue eyes. Fox smiled innocently and said nothing. Akiko frowned.

‘If my good arm wasn’t useless right now, you would so be kissing the dirt right now.’

‘Please.’ Kira grinned nastily. ‘Allow me.’

Fox yelped as a fist slammed into the back of his head, and Kira sat on his back.

‘Now, dear boy. What is wrong with Tom?’

‘Hey! If I could tell you I would!’

‘Curious choice of words..’ Akiko said, kneeling down to his level. ‘Does that mean he doesn’t want you to tell us?’

‘Could be.’ Fox muttered, wishing Kira would get off his back. He couldn’t move- but he refrained from making any remarks about this, past experience telling him that comments about a girl’s weight could be fatal. Akiko shrugged.

‘All right.’ She pulled on her jacket. ‘I have to go own to work and tell them I won’t be able to come in for a while. Shinta, did you want to come?’

‘I’ll stay with big sister and Foxy, Akiko.’ Shinta grinned at her, waving a small puzzle board at her. There were nine squares, each of which slid around each other to make a picture. Obviously, the idea was to mess up the picture and re-make it. It was turning out to be a lot harder than it sounded. Akiko nodded, waved briefly to the two older friends and shut the door behind her, stepping out into the street.

‘Wonder where he went…oh well.’