"Are we all met?" asked Tatsu Sayo as the squads met in the square.

Not five minutes ago, the different squads had met, purposely staggering their arrival times so as not to appear suspicious, for the much-anticipated raid to be performed in that section of town. Cho, the first squad called, had the associated duty of scouting out the meeting spot for the squads; the Katana, or Mandate Guards, were always second-to-last to arrive, followed by the last group called, with the related duty of scouting out the rear. Today that was the job of the Akai.

This time, Akane came with the Katana. In now properly dyed and newly styled black hair, on account of her recent truancy, and in eye and lip makeup heavy enough to disguise her true facial features, she felt safe again. Since she was also joining the assembled Court squads for a raid, she felt even, slightly, at home again, doing that which she was proficient at, that which she loved to do and did best.

The amazing events of the day up till now continued to run through her head as Sayo asked the squads gathered, "Have we all met?"

As she called each squad by name, each squad captain said, "All present." Each squad was made up of 6 people, including the captains; with five squads and the Katana, Sayo, and Akane present, the group totaled 38 people.

All had combed black ink into their hair, and all wore the long black trench-coats that were the raid uniforms of the Court. Huddled together, they all looked like an omnipresent, eerily black mass. Akane began to feel that mysterious rush again as the roll call continued…

When the vice-captain of the Katana had given the "all present", Sayo turned to Akane and asked with a smile, "Akane, my Tiger of Tokyo, second-in-command and co-commander of the Dragon Court Katana?"

"Present," said Akane, also grinning.

"And I," said Sayo, "Tatsu Sayo, Dragon Queen of the Royal Dragon Court and co-commander-in-chief of the Dragon Court Katana, am present also. Let us begin the briefing, then.

"Akane, would you care to do the honors?" Sayo said to Akane.

"Gladly." Akane turned to the assembly and informed them in a low whisper, "We are about to proceed with a code 201 classic shop burn-and-loot. Whatever you can find that is helpful, valuable, and small enough to conceal, take and keep; everything else, burn. Two squads will be posted at crucial watch points. The Katana will begin the flaming." She quickly checked the surroundings, then continued, "Cautions code 100, we are in a fairly populated area. Code 150, hurry, but not so much that you hurt yourself. Haste really does make waste if you're not careful." She turned to Sayo and said, "Anything else, Tatsu?"

"No, nothing. Squads Amai and Akai will take the watch this time. Agreed?" At the nods of the named squads, supplies were re-checked among the groups, and the night's watch squads were posted. "As for the rest of us," Sayo said as she turned back to the remaining groups, Katana, Cho, Kurai, Inu, "are we ready?"

Murmurs and whispers of "yes" were heard throughout the remainder of the group.

"Then," breathed Sayo in her already soft voice, "let us begin. Minami?" Sayo asked, turning her attention to the vice-captain of the Katana.

The vice-captain grinned, removed a lighter from her pocket, and set fire to the window awnings.

They burned quickly, lighting the street with a light brighter than day. For a moment, Akane had to pause and stare. The fire played in the windows laughingly, brightly, playfully, with a lively spark found nowhere else. It was just so beautiful. Akane felt the familiar rush of the raid run through her veins again, with a pleasure known only to her.

It took her a while to notice that the rest of the girls were headed into the shop, and that Sayo was looking at her with a knowing sigh. “Dear, dear. You’ve been through too much today, haven’t you?”

“I guess,” Akane replied simply. “But it’s ok now. I was just staring at the fire…”

“The fire that so well defines you. You should be a part of this. C’mon, shall we?” Sayo asked as she entered the burning building.

Akane followed as a few girls came up to them and said, “Look, Tatsu, they have plenty of hair dye!”

“Perfect,” Sayo said. “Grab all you can find. Make-up and food, too, you never know when we’ll run out of things…”

Akane watched the other captains light up everything else, and another knife open the cash register with gloves from the store on, so as to not leave fingerprints. Everything that was set fire to burned gloriously… A glory she never saw at her home… the reason she ran away. She wanted to do things, to be somebody… and here, she found all she wanted—and more.

Akane relished in the flames, and found joy in them, pure fire, pure life she never had, vivacious flame, cerise, amusing, musical, joy, joy, everlasting joy… she was a phoenix for a moment, living in the flames, the flames a part of her… running in her veins like some ferocious, unrelenting tiger. The joy took her over, and she laughed in the fire as it reached up and touched the sky.

Then a member of Akai came over to Sayo, and said, “We have heard sirens.”

“Alright, then, is everyone being warned?” Sayo replied as the girl nodded. “Good, then, tell everyone to scatter!”

The girl left, and everyone separated in different directions, long before the sirens were closing in.
...

Back at the Court, Akane lit up a cigarette as tonight’s raid members drifted back into the Great Room. Sayo and Akane, along with the rest of the Court Mandate and squad Cho, had arrived rather early; to pass the time until the rest arrived, everyone was taking out cigarettes and smoking them.

Sayo lit hers and said to Akane, “That was a good raid tonight.”

Akane sighed happily, remembering the fire that had, for a moment, consumed her thoughts, and replied, “Oh yes, it was.”

“We got a lot of supplies this time,” Sayo continued. “Good thing, too, ‘cause we were almost running out of drinks in storage here.”

“Great,” Akane said, her thoughts still fixated on the fire.

Sayo noticed the faraway look in Akane’s eyes, and would have said something if the rest of the raid troop hadn’t returned in that moment.

Sayo stood in greeting, and everyone stood with her. Sayo then sat and motioned for the rest to do so, then asked, “Is anyone missing, or in police custody?”

The squad captains checked attendance, and reported no one missing. Sayo smiled with relief and said, “Squad Akai has informed me that at the time we left, the police were close. Be on the watch, but for tonight, be glad that we all got away safely… and that we got a lot of supplies to replace those depleted. How much did we get?”

The squad members emptied their pockets. They had stolen close to a hundred boxes of hair dye, and almost all of the makeup in the store; they had also taken what seemed to be infinitely many bottles of soda and water, and all kinds of packaged food: chips, ice cream, candies, and other food. Sayo smiled and said, “Good work. Each squad may take a portion of each supply; the rest will go to storage here at the Court. Anyone hurt, or in need of more supplies?” A few members had cuts from breaking the windows; others sported small burns on their fingers; but no one had anything major. They were attended to; then the clothes of the squad members were exchanged so that the police would not have clues from the singed smell of their clothes. After this, Sayo dismissed them, and they all left quietly, except for Sayo, Akane, and Sayo’s guards from the Katana, who moved to the outside of the building to keep watch—and to give the friends some space for themselves.

Akane still had that look in her eyes that gave away the fact that her mind was elsewhere. Sayo looked at her carefully, and asked, “Well?”

“Huh?” Akane asked as she was pulled back into reality.

“Well,” Sayo asked, “What are you thinking about?”

If Akane was truthful at the time, she would have spoken of the fire that she loved so, how she was thinking of her insignificant past, her truancy and newfound freedom… of the old man and his words… of fire that burned brightly, dangerously.

She shrugged it off and said, "Nothing."

Sayo pursed her lips in thought, then finally said, "Well, goodnight then."

"Goodnight, Sayo," Akane replied as she rolled over in the cushions.

That night, she dreamt of a dying phoenix.