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Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 01

By: Vixandra



Fluffy's Futures: Cara/Tachikawa Ca

I knelt there, dressed in solid black with blue accents, blood pouring all around me, wondering why things always seemed to turn out like this.

Shoving a body off of me, I stood, pushing my silvery hair back into a pony tail. The room was quiet around me, dead quiet. I know, bad pun for one leaving behind multiple corpses. A look out the window showed it was snowing- good luck for the New Year. I heard the bells toll with my canine ears, ringing in the New Year- I'd barely made my dead line. But I'd made it, that's all that counted really.

Back to my apartment to email a report to Talon now, I mused. And get a shower, I added with a sage smile. A hot shower.

I turned to leave and saw him standing in the door way, staring at me in horror, gun clutched in his hand. And my world screamed to a halt in a heartbeat. My hand flew to my own gun, though I knew if he decided to shoot me it would be to late. Of course, it was too late anyway, now.

Something told me this job and my life were about to go south fast now and it was to late to do anything about it. Too late now for many so things. 

4 Months Prior:

I'd been offered the job months before through the agency I worked for. Our public name, Fluffy's Futures, was as inane as the boss, Talon McLeod was serious. A store front that sold odd little bunny dolls and knick nacks hid the real operation. We were a mercenary group, killers for higher, assassins in the night for the highest bidder. 

Former military, CIA, FBI, French Secret Service and more were on FF's pay rolls. Me, I'm a relatively straight forward case. Former cop turned bounty hunter turned mercenary. Started life as an orphan, never really close to anyone, least any humans, finished high school at 16, my Bachelor's Degree at 23 and the academy at 24. Was shot at, jaded and fed up with laws that don't work by the age of 26. Joined a group of bounty hunters by invitation of an old friend, followed him into the mercenary field out of boredom and a desire for something new. Watched him die rather horribly because of a job gone wrong. Joined FF shortly after that and have been with them ever since. 

I'm a grand old 34 now, with many years ahead of me, long as I don't screw something up. I don't "feel" 34, its just a chronological number. Meele, my companion, tells me I'm still very young for a hanyu, the human equivalent of a teenager. I act that way too, most of the time. I could be serious, but for the most part, life's too short and too fun to be deadly serious all the time.

Oh, forgot to mention- the reason I'm an orphan. My mother was a Japanese dog demoness, one of the canine youkoi, my father a common human sorcerer who'd caught her in a spell. Through some not quite legal searching and investigating, I'd learned my mother was a youkoi noble forbidden from interacting intimately with the human world. I was a symbol of her breaking that law, so I was cast out to the humans so she wouldn't have to leave the youkoi clan she belonged to. Some mom, huh?

My father, well he hadn't known my mother was pregnant until I found him at the age of 25. Was remarried with kids ranging from 20 to 13 and wasn't too thrilled to see me. Turns out he'd given up magic when he married his new Christian zealot of a wife. His loss I suppose.

So I was alone, except for the occasional lover, the people I worked with and for at FF, and my life time companion, Meele. Meele's something special, though what I couldn't tell you. Something like a cross between one of the youkoi, a dragon and a shadow, though that doesn't do him justice. He pops in and out of this realm of existence, though is generally there when I need him. Or when he wants my attention. He found me as a small child and decided that he was going to watch me, help me, make me into a proper young half youkoi, hanyu to some, or something like that. He's more like a doting uncle then anything else. Okay, a blood thirsty, shape changing uncle, but he loves me which is more then I can say for anyone else from my mother's people. 

He was with me the day Talon McLeod offered me the Tokyo job. Our jobs never had anything more then a case number made up of the year and the hunter's annual kill count with a city name, none of the "targets" were named in the titles. Was bad for business to call something the "Mirazoli hit" or something like that. So it was the city job and that was that. Talon's rules and ideas, not mine.

I sat in his plush, manly secret office, Meele standing behind me, trails of smoke coming off of him occasionally. Talon was one of the few humans Meele trusted with his true identity, so we got to see his natural form- a humanoid male with huge draconic wings, more like a Christian's devil then anything else. Though he wasn't a devil- completely different theology group, Meele was. 

A folder sat on the oak desk before me, Talon drumming his fingers on it. His voice was cultured and refined as he spoke giving no hint of his origins or background. "This is a special job- they want someone who can get in and out without being noticed."

"Anyone can do that," I told Talon with a smirk.

Meele behind me added, "What's so special about that? You could do it. We were told you needed us specifically, Talon."

"The mark is a hanyu."

"Oh, that changes things," I said, startled for the first time in front of Talon. "So no glamour, but need to be able to take magic counter attacks."

"That's why I want you on this," Talon said with a nod. He was one of those odd non-descript people. About six feet tall, brown hair, brown eyes, one of thousands of men in New York alone who looked like that. And just as forgettable as those unknown masses. "You're the only yukoi, okay, hanyu I have on staff. This is a 22 million job, 2 for us, 20 for you."

"Sounds fair enough," I said unfazed outwardly. Inside I was dancing around like a little kid. 20 mil to off some idiot hanyu?!? I could do that easily! 20 million dollars tax free is nothing to laugh at. Even with expenses taken out of it, still a lot left over. There would be enough for me to buy that lake I'd been eyeing. Yes, the entire lake and all the land around it for three miles in each direction. I like my privacy. "So where and who's the mark?"

"A Danny Tamagushi," Talon told me, pushing the folder closer to me. I picked it up and skim read it as he talked on. "Part of the Japanese Yokuza. They can't seem to get rid of him and he's next in line to be boss of the Kanto prefecture. Considering how long those things live, I don't blame the underlings for wanting to off him now before he's boss. Even the current boss agreed to this- it was his people that contacted me."

"Charming," I quipped. "Looks like I'm going to Japan for a few months, huh?"

"I want you to blend in with the local populace, look and act Japanese," he told me. "I've had Japanese documents made up for you."

He tossed me a leather carrying case that held a Japanese passport, credit cards, bank cards, driver's licenses, and other such things. I read the name in the pass port. "Cara Sarashimi, cute. Sounds like Irish sushi."

Meele chuckled. "You could not look truly Japanese without glamour and the mark would see through it."

"That's why you're only half Japanese. Easier to pass off that way- and you can pass for it easily."

He was right, sort of. Dark brown hair most of the time, crystal blue eyes, small wiry frame, small bust to match and standing at all of 5'5", passing for Japanese would only require a bit of make up and a switch in accents. I guess my mother probably looked Japanese though Meele wouldn't confirm it. He didn't like to talk about her for some reason.

I spoke fluent Japanese, thanks to one of my foster families as a kid. I'd been with them for three years before the state decided that I needed to be in a special school (read containment facility with a school inside) because of my heritage. They had meant my father being a sorcerer- magic wasn't kindly looked upon. My being a hanyu was something the state didn't know. I disappeared from the system the first chance I got, getting a new identity and working in a gun shop while going to school. I'd kept up with the Japanese, taking classes on the language and the country whenever I could. Japanese cultures was my minor in collage, my major being criminal justice. Lot of good that did me now, I mused before getting back to the topic at hand. 

"So I go in, get a normal Japanese job, rent an apartment, that type of thing, scout around, do the hit and come back?"

"That's the gist of it," Talon said with a nod. "Do you require further information?"

"Is there a time limit?"

"Before the first of the New Year, and since its just now the beginning of September, I believe you have plenty of time."

"Thanks, Talon. I'll shoot you an email after the job's done." I stood, bowed and left, Meele at my heels, shifting to look like a normal human in a business suit, more ordinary then my black pants dripping in chains, studded necklace and magical bracelets, midriff baring black t-shirt and wild blue hair. I looked like almost every other young adult who wanted to be different. Sometimes its easier to hide in plain sight. I know Meele and I looked like father and daughter, since I could pass for 17 with ease and he looked about 40 or so. It was a lie- he was far older then that, by a few thousand years. 

The bracelets were really an altered form of bracer that I wore around the clock to keep my appearance human. They stored the jakai, the demonic or yukoi energies I emitted as a hanyu. Because of this, other yukoi or hanyu couldn't tell what I was unless I wanted them to know. Saved me trouble, being able to hide and store my jakai energies. I could tap those energies later on, either turning full yukoi or for magical spell work. Most of the time they masqueraded as bracelets, but they were really bracers that covered my arms from elbow to wrist, lacing on the bottoms, harder then steel on top. The only "gift" I'd ever received from my mother's people, though I knew it was more to prevent me from exposing the presence of yukoi and hanyu beings in the world then for my own good health. Joys of being born to a female of a society that had once been great and wide spread and was now clustered and dying out more and more with each generation. Such was my lot though and I thought I dealt rather well it, all things considered. Just ate a bit more then a normal woman my size to make up for my body using energy to make jakai.

"Want to get some lunch before we head back to the hotel," I asked, my stomach rumbling. We'd flown in the day before from our current home in the middle of no-where, Florida. New York was always the same, busy and bustling, never really changing much. I disliked the city but could handle it. Most of my mother's realm couldn't handle being around so much steel and so many humans. I didn't like it but it wouldn't drive me mad or hamper my magic. Meele had taught me most of the magic I know, the rest I'd found on my own.

"How about Italian?" Meele asked, crossing a street with me.

"Bonitos?"

"Yum," Meele said with a sigh. "That man, oh he can cook. Never before have I tasted such fair. Not in the court of the light nor in the court of the dark. Divinity in food form."

"I'll take that for a yes," I said with a laugh. 

"Yes," Meele said, glaring at a taxi driver who almost ran us over. The driver paled, something rare for a New Yorker.

"Lets go then," I said, leading the way.

It was a few days later, after some heavy research, that I sat on a plane flying from LAX into Tokyo's Narita Air port. The mark was living in a city called Tachikawa, a few hours from the capital by car or an hour and a half by train. We, Meele and I, planned to set up a base camp in a near by city, get me a job in Tachikawa itself at a place where the mark went frequently, learn his habits and decide a further course of action from there. Meele had decided to join me in this mission, though why he wouldn't say. He does things like that sometimes.

I hate trans Pacific flights- they take for bloody ever! Even with my lap top I was bored senseless. Meele had declined to accompany me on the plane, claiming he couldn't take so long in a flying tube. The wretch didn't need such things for transport, he could fly. Oh well, things I do for my job. 

After an 11 hour flight filled with turbulence and screaming babies, I landed at Narita in the early afternoon, Japanese time. The day was clear and beautiful with only a light smog overlay. I'd later learn that Japan is always covered in smog except for the two days following a typhoon (hurricane)'s passing. Then it was clear and beautiful for a short time before going back to its smoggy norm.

A quick train ride from Narita to Tachikawa, taxi to a local hotel where I had reservations. Meele popped in to greet me for a little bit before popping out again to "visit an old friend."

I caught an early dinner and went to bed early. I was tired and already feeling a bit jet lagged. I slept like a rock and rose at 7am feeling very refreshed. 

I slipped into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with random English on it, heeled boots, and a pair of sunglasses, then followed it by a quick breakfast of an energy bar and coke. My hair, back to its normal dark brown, went up in a pony tail to keep it out of my way. Touches of make up at my eyes and to pale my skin slightly and I was ready to go.

It was a bright pretty day, already warming up. I was grateful for the sunglasses very quickly. The closely packed Japanese buildings will reflect sunlight rather viciously to one accustomed to working nights.

First stop- apartment hunting. I spoke in fluent Japanese, my accent that of someone from a southern provincial area of Japan. I soon found a quaint apartment above a Chinese restaurant named Bamiyan's. It was small, only a single bedroom, living room and kitchen, single bathroom that had an oddly large tub. Oh well, it worked. I picked up the keys and headed up town to take a look at what I'd signed for. It was clean, neat and a bit musty. I flung open all the windows, welcoming in a light breeze. 

After gathering my things from the hotel, I checked out, paid my bill and caught a taxi back to my apartment. Meele popped in me as I was setting up a circle of summoning to move my things from the Florida house to here. Or rather things for the bedroom, kitchen and living room. Everything was a space saving design, from the bed with built in dresser beneath it to the kitchen table that had storage for pots and pans beneath it.

Meele helped me finish the circle and cast the four separate spells. We managed to get everything set up and unpacked by the end of the evening and headed to the restaurant below me. The smells inside were wonderfully enticing and the food was even better. Even Meele was rather pleased, smiling from his Japanese man's face. 

My cover was that of a woman and her uncle who'd moved here from the provinces to find her a city husband and a better life then rice farming. I allowed my eyes to grow wide at the city and its luxuries as we walked around after dinner through the main shopping district of Tachikawa. It was truly something different, their cities. Reminded me a bit of New York, a bit of Los Angeles and of something far older. Looking at the layout of their roads it was easy to see they'd been laid out for carriages and rickshaws, not cars in mind. Could also be why many of the American's I'd talked to about Japan said they hated driving here. 

Meele and I turned back to our apartment, bags of food and sundries in hand a few hours later. I wanted to get an early start on the morrow to go pick up my motorcycle from the company I'd used to ship it here from Florida. I loved my trucks but for sheer maneuverability and subtly a motorcycle is the way to go. So a quick dinner and early to bed, snuggling happily into my newly set up waterbed, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 02



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Case 2004033

My American Harley was a midnight blue with silver lightning striking along its sides, a racing style seat, specially made engine. Between all the after market additions, changes and adaptations and the magical protections, spells and anti-hexes, it was really a special machine.

I watched the men at the shipping company pry open the crate it was held in with an eager smile. I couldn't wait to have my baby back- it was the one item I'd had shipped to Japan, not trusting my summoning skills on it. If I destroyed a bed in transport oh well, but if I destroyed my bike- that would be a tragedy. I handed over cash for the delivery fee and helped unpack my bike. Pulling a cami from a pocket, I lovingly dusted off its tank and seat, feeling more at home now with my bike then I had with my other physical possessions. I could feel the workmen's eyes on me after I'd returned from changing into my bike suit. The snug blue and silver coverall reminded me of something I'd seen in a kung-fu movie but I couldn't for the life of me recall which one. 

"Thanks for taking care of my baby," I cooed in soft Japanese. "It means the world to me."

They practically fell over one another to say it was no problem and they were honored to serve me. I nodded and straddled the bike, kick starting it after I stowed my normal clothing and back pack in a specially designed storage area. I've always felt slightly dwarfed by the bike, its so big. Or perhaps its just that I, at only 5'5" and slender at that was tiny- nah, bike's that big. Has to be it.

Giving the workmen a final wave, I roared out of the parking lot of the shipping company. The wind whistled outside my blue and silver helmet as I rode through the streets, learning my way around my new home and some of the surrounding cities. I knew tomorrow would bring responsibility, finding a job, locating my mark's private unlisted residence and beginning to plot his assassination. But for now, the bike between my legs and the road under us took my attention.

I finally went home after refueling the bike at a gas station a few blocks away from my apartment. Japanese gas prices were four times what American gas prices were, so I'd have to be far more conservative now of my fuel consumption. Still, I felt wonderful and alive as I greeted Meele who perched on the couch, flipping through a manga I'd picked up. It struck me as hilariously funny to see a thousands year old creature reading a Japanese girl's comic.

"Its not that funny," Meele said, slightly affronted as if I'd laughed over his choice of clothing. 

"Oh, yes it is," I quipped back with a smile. "You, the ultimate male yukoi bad ass, reading a Japanese girl's comic- its funny."

Meele rolled his eyes, though he smiled. "I'll never understand why you American girls view things as so divided by gender."

"You were the one who told me I'd either have to get married or become a whore to get anywhere," I reminded him jokingly, knowing he hadn't been serious, slipping out of my bike suit into a robe. I walked into the kitchen to prepare the steak and veggies I'd gotten to make for dinner. "Where's the gender equality in that?"

"That was different," Meele answered haughtily. 

I giggled. "Sure it was, Meele-sempi."

"Imp."

"No, outcast," I said without malice. I knew the yukoi as a people didn't want half breeds unless they were incredibly powerful either physically or magically, which I wasn't. Sure, I could do high level magic but it took a full circle of runes and such for me to do so if I didn't want to drain my bracers. And I used weapons as my balancer, be they guns or blades, and that didn't count to them. "Moving along, how do you want your steak?"

"Rare." Meele said, coming into the kitchen behind me. He sat at the table, watching me cook. 

I bustled around the kitchen, firing up the grill and making a dinner of steak, rice and steamed vegetables. I served it with a coke for me and a bottle of sake for Meele. I said my prayers before eating, thanking Goddess for a safe journey, the safe delivery of my bike, the food and asking for good luck in the days to come.

I finished, saluted Meele with my chopsticks and dove in. He acted as if he wasn't as nimble as I with the wooden utensils but I knew the opposite was true. He was just being a smart ass.

"No, Meele, pick it up- not spear it," I said around a laugh. 

He looked at me, aristocratic eyebrow raised before laughing with me. A man that can laugh at himself is priceless.

I ended up working at a technology based department store frequented by Americans, both those living in Japan and those who were stationed here with the US military. It was a 9 story store called "Bic Pic" with an arts and crafts store on top and played its own cute little theme song inside every few moments. It would stay in my head for the next few years, but then many Japanese advertising things are like that. Very persistent advertisers, the Japanese are. 

I worked on the top Bic Pic floor, the 6th (there was a basement) selling toys, of all things. Got me an employee discount though, so couldn't complain that much. Besides, the pay was good, the people there were wonderful and I got to play with toys all day. Never a bad thing.

My evenings, I spent either researching and hunting for my mark, who was out of town on a business trip, or blending in with the locals. I became a favorite at a local karaoke bar, never paid for my own drinks after the first one unless the house was empty. Though being hanyu it took a hell of a lot go get me drunk. Like hours of straight drinking hard liquor which I never do. Learned my lesson about that as a kid- being drunk and having hang overs is not worth it. 

My hunting proved fruitful one dark evening after I'd finished singing "Fly Me To the Moon" at the karaoke bar. A man who was dressed for all the world like an American 30's mobster, sat down next to me after buying me a refill on my Blue Hawaii. He was handsome though and matched the description I'd gotten of the mark's right hand man.

"You've a pretty voice," he said in accented Japanese. I figured him for someone from northern Japan. 

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head respectfully. I could at least feign respect even if I didn't feel it yet. Took a while to earn my respect. I smiled at him. "I haven't seen you here before."

"Just got back from a business trip with my boss," he told me, downing half his beer. "No alcohol, no women, no fun, just work."

"Sounds awful," I said, pity in my voice. Really did sound crap-tacular. "Who do you work for?"

"Danny- I mean I work for a special industry, you probably wouldn't know about it," he said, trying to be evasive.

"Oh, special industry," I echoed. "Sounds just wonderfully fascinating. Sure you can't explain it to me?"

"Not tonight," he said, shaking his head. "I don't even want to think about work anymore. Just want to drink and listen to some music. Perhaps you'll sing again?"

"Sure," I said, dropping the subject. Build trust, get him more drunk and then ask questions. "Any special requests, Mr.... I didn't get your name."

"Tigushi Samu," he told me.

"I'm Sarashimi Cara," I told him, putting my last name before my given name in Japanese fashion. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," he told me, giving me a once over. I subtly returned the favor- he was of average height, for a Japanese man, about 5'10" or so. Black hair, clean shaven, pretty brown eyes, handsome in a clean cut sort of way but otherwise unstriking other then the mob suit, at least in the dim light of the bar.

"So, what song would you like to hear?"

"Something soft and pretty," he answered. "Boss likes to listen to that harsh American rock shit. I hate it."

"Something soft coming up," I said, heading to the selection box. One of the other regulars, Mina was just finishing up a set. I found what I wanted- a song by Yoko Kanno, a popular Japanese composer and singer. The song was a ballad about a dragon clan, soft and beautiful. I followed this up with a Japanese classic- "My Boyfriend's a Pilot" from the Macross Saga then a song from a current movie soundtrack.

I returned to my seat, a fresh drink waiting though I'd barely drank half of the last one. Was going to be a tipsy night, I thought with a smile. I was lucky I could sing- drinks in Japan were expensive. I normally only paid for my first drink and my first set of songs, the rest were paid for by various men and a few women. 

"That was lovely," Samu said with a sigh, partway into his second drink of the night that I'd seen. "So, you from here originally?"

"No, I'm from further south," I said, the lie slipping off my tongue easily. I lied far too easy for one of my mother's people, Meele often told me. It came in handy though, and I saw no reason to tell the truth. Besides- he probably wouldn't even have believed me.

"I have family down south," Samu said, chugging the rest of his beer. The bar keep was immediately there with another, his eyes all seeing but never saying much. "Don't talk with them much though- they're all farmers, country cousins. Not my gig."

"Same here," I said picking my drink up. "A toast- to not being in the country-side."

"And to new friends," Samu added, clinking his glass to mine and downing his drink. "You here all alone?"

"No, I'm staying with my uncle," I told him. "Uncle Masahiro was nice enough to take me in so I could find a job here."

"Where are you working?"

"Bic Pic," I answered.

"That's nice, good job for a young lady," Samu said then caught himself. "You're legal right? To drink?"

"I'm old enough, thank you very much," I said with a grin. "I can drink and I can hold my own while doing it."

"Good," he said. The look on his face clearly showed he hadn't meant drinking age. "Maybe I'll come see you at work sometime."

"That would be nice," I said, blushing delicately. I looked at my watch. "Thinking of work, I've got to get going. I work tomorrow from ten till seven up on the top floor."

"You sell toys?" Samu stared at me for a moment then laughed. "Fitting, I bet you're good with kids. I'll see if the boss wants to go shopping tomorrow- we'll probably stop by."

"I'll look forward to it," I told him with an honest smile. If he worked for who I thought he worked for, I really would look forward to it. "Good night and thanks for the company."

"Pleasure's mine," he said, waving as I left. I felt his eyes on me till I walked out of the karaoke bar and around the corner. This was very promising, I mused as I walked home, huddled in my jacket. It was going to be a cold winter, from what I could tell.

I told Meele what had happened as I unbundled at the front door. A quick shower and then I was in bed by one am. I knew nine would come early.

"Thank you and have a good day," I said with a smile in heavily accented English to the American family I was helping. It was about two thirty and I'd just seen Samu and another man walk off of the escalator. I whispered to the girl next to me that I knew Samu and left the front desk. Something about Samu was different, more then the business suit he wore, there was something else about him that I couldn't place yet it called to me like a moth to flame. Dangerous but beautiful, okay handsome in this case but the point was the same.

"Good afternoon," I said in Japanese, cheery and sweet. "Is there anything I can help you find, Samu-kun?"

"Ah, Cara-chan," he said, turning to me with a wide smile, flashing even, white teeth. "I'd like you to meet my boss, Tamagushi Dan. Danny-san, this is the girl from the karaoke bar I told you about."

He looked a lot like his pictures, almost dainty, but handsome non the less. Of course, he was a hanyu, a fire cat hanyu, so it was to be expected. He was short, about 5'6", normal for a man here but he wouldn't have done to well in the US. Looked as if one side was Japanese, the other was either yukoi or hanyu. Made sense that he was here in Japan instead of in the US like the rest of us hanyu. Though "us" only included two others I knew about.

He was kind of smarmy seeming- greased hair, a lustful look in his eyes as they raked over me. According to Meele, it was rude for a male not to look over one of the opposite gender in such a manner, but considering I was playing human and there's no way he could have known I wasn't , it was rude of him to do that. 

I smiled brightly. "I'm pleased to meet you, Tamagushi-san. Is there anything I can help you find today?"

"I'm looking for a present for my nieces' birthday, twins they are. One's a tomboy and the other's a total girly girl." Dan's voice was cultured, educated in its tone but there was an undercurrent of something else as he skipped past formalities straight to business. I'd have to review his educational background later. 

"Do you know any of their specific interests?" I asked. By the end of the encounter I'd been invited to a dinner party being thrown in the twin's honor, helped the mark get the presents and even gift wrapped them. Samu and Dan left with a promise to send someone by with directions to the party during my shift the next morning. I got off work and went shopping for something semi-formal and a pair of presents. 

I tried everything on once I got home, joys of being able to shop by sight alone. I ended up with a crimson pleated skirt that hit mid thigh, a pair of thigh-high lace topped black stockings, a crimson silk shirt with long sleeves and a black lacy vest to cover it. I'd wear my coverall over the outfit while outside.

Meele looked up from his comic as I walked into the living room. It had been the only place we could fit a full sized mirror. Patent leather heels shone black as I walked over the thick rug. I spun in front of the mirror, making sure the skirt didn't flare too high. Wouldn't do to flash someone. I turned to my companion with a tilt of my head. "What do you think?"

"Bright, festive, it works," Meele said, eyes taking in my outfit. "I rather like the red and black on you. Looks good."

"Thank you," I said, bowing deeply. I knew that the blouse was open enough to flash just a glimpse of my breasts, made larger then they really were by a black push up bra that matched the stockings, garter belt and panty I wore. Meele's gazed heated appropriately. "And thank even more for that, Meele-sama."

"Imp," he said with a loving smile before going back to his comic. I slipped the heels off, leaving them by the front door. I'd come home from work to change before heading to the party, so wouldn't need them till then. Certainly didn't need the C4 hidden in the heels at work, I thought with a grin. I was going relatively unarmed to the party to keep with the fact that I was playing a farmer's daughter come to the big city. Besides, the silver watch I wore held a thin garrote wire, my earrings both held single doses of poison enough to kill a man, my hair would be up with a set of hair clips that could be separated to double as throwing blades. Yes, this was my idea of unarmed. Not having a gun on me was a strange thing. But I didn't want to get caught by the local authorities carrying a weapon in a country where even baseball bats had to be registered. They were strict about their weapon control here. 

For good reasons too, I'd learn later on.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 03



I pulled the map that had been delivered to me at work hours earlier out at a stop light- almost there, I thought, noting the street names, glad they were in English as well as Kanji. I ended up being about ten minuets early, so I used the time to slip out of the bike suit and check the plaits in my skirt. Once everything fell right and I was comfortable, I rang the bell to the large house. A man I didn't know answered the door with a "who the hell are you" look on his face. 

Smiling, I bowed. "Hello, I'm Sarashimi Cara! Samu-kun invited me for the twins' birthday party." I held the presents I'd picked up for the girls before me like a proclamation giving me permission to be there.

The man grunted at me and turned to let me in. He headed off down a hall way and for lack of a better idea, I followed him. The house felt like a museum, pieces of art encased in glass in nooks all around. Deeper into the house though, there were more personal touches, hints of the man who lived within.

The grunter lead me to a room decked out with pink and blue streamers, a pair of pretty thrones just the right size for the nine year olds perched in them and other such party decorations. I thanked the grunter politely and found my way over Samu.

He wore a pair of black slacks and a shirt that was almost the same hue as mine. I smiled up at him from my 1 inch heels. "Hey, looks like we shopped at the same store."

"Cara, thanks for coming," Samu said with a smile that lit up his entire face, changing it into something more handsome then before. I hadn't seen it the night before in the dim bar but here, in the light, the sheer force of his personality, his good nature, made him look like more then could be caught in a picture. "These parties are kind of dull- pin the tail on the donkey isn't my idea of high fun."

"There are worse things," I said with a smile. "Could be stuck cleaning toilets- that's worse."

He looked at me quizzically. "That's an interesting way of looking at it. I suppose its right. Well lets introduce you to everyone."

I was introduced to the twins, Touhu and Taru Kiribyashi, their parents, Don and Maki, then to a few other relatives from around the area, ending with saying hello to Dan Tamagushi. 

Bowing deeply, I greeted him. He took my hands in his and smiled at me, eyes on my cleavage instead of my face. Guess that push up bra was really working. "Its so good of you to come, miss Sarashimi. I assume you had no trouble finding my humble home?"

"None at all," I said, face a polite mask. Humble my rear end, I thought with an inner sigh. "You've a very lovely home."

"Amazing what money can buy," Dan said with a smirk that seemed to imply it could buy other things as well. Then Touhu and Taru mobbed their uncle- apparently maternal from my research though I didn't ask. Would be rude to pry into something not my business.

The twins were the focus of the rest of the evening, climbing all over Dan and Samu, then over me by default. They were identical twins except Touhu wore a pretty pink party dress and Taru wore jeans and a blue blouse. They seemed pleased with the gifts I'd brought- a stationary set for Touhu and a pocket video game for Taru. 

They were quite cute but I was glad when they were put to bed in one of the house's many guest rooms around 9:30. Too much cake and ice cream for both of them. Once the kiddies were in bed, Dan broke out the sake. I drank a tiny little bit before stopping, pleading that I had to drive home and didn't want to wreck my bike. 

As the evening progressed into night, Dan, his cousin and her husband progressed in their levels of blood alcohol. They were singing and falling over one another before 11, a rather strange thing for a hanyu- even a weak hanyu. Must be he didn't get the blood filters I did, or perhaps he just couldn't hold his liquor. I'd have to ask Meele about that later on.

Samu and I retired to a Zen garden behind the house. It was a very spacious yard for residential Japan. The garden more then the house spoke of money to burn. 

I held a coke in my hands, my breath slightly frosting in the midnight air. "So how long have you been working for Dan?"

"I started when I was 24, I'm 27, so about three years now," Samu said after thinking for a moment. "Some of the guys lower in the um, company, said I was nuts for coming to work under Danny but its been a great experience."

His voice as he reminisced captured my attention, taking me away from my study of the area's buildings. I looked at him intently as he stared up at the sky and went on. 

"Danny's a bit strange- can live through things that would have killed a normal man. Also tends to be a bit of a womanizer, but that's okay in the end I guess. Most of the women after him aren't looking for someone to call their own. And he certainly isn't looking for someone to come home to at night. Guess it evens out."

"Not in the middle of the night when you're alone in a bed of your own making," I whispered, barely loud enough to be heard. There was something about Samu that made me want this to be more then a simple job, more then just an assassination. And that desire alone, or rather the realization of it, put my hackles up. I stepped back from Samu's side, where I'd huddled for warmth. 

He looked down at me, eyes unfathomable in the starlight. "You sound as if you've made a mistake or two before."

"No one's perfect," I said with a grin I knew didn't reach my eyes. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth dear Horatio then you or I shall ever know."

"Shakespeare," he said, chuckling. "I take it you're well read?"

"I grew up for a few years in America with my father and his family before returning to Japan with my mother when they divorced." The lie slipped easily off of my tongue though my conscience panged at it. Why was it bothering me to lie to him? I couldn't answer that question as I went on with my tale. "Mom later remarried, and I ended up moving in with Uncle Masahiro when he decided to move to the city. We all, the family, figured it was a good launching platform for me to take the last few courses I need for my degree, get a job and perhaps, at least as far as my mother's concerned, find a good Japanese husband."

"So you're looking for a husband?" Samu asked, his voice slightly hopeful.

"Not actively," I said with a light laugh. "But I'm not adverse to the idea either."

"That's comforting," Samu said with a sigh. "I was afraid you were going to ask for a ring or something?"

"On the first date," I said, prancing away a step to look up at him incredulously. "Surely you jest- a woman of social standing does not do such things!"

Laughing, he took a step, closing the space between us. "Lets just say, once bitten twice shy- I'm not looking for a wife."

"Works for me- I'm too young to get married anyway," I said with a saucy grin and a toss of my head. The motion brought my face very close to his. I could feel a blush creep over my skin, blazingly hot in the moonlight. Samu froze with the sudden awareness of how close we were.

"Would I be terribly forward if I kissed you," he asked, ever the gentleman.

"I would think it a missed opportunity if you did not," I replied in a whisper.

"Good," he said before putting words to action and kissing me gently. I let him lead the kiss, playing the relatively innocent country girl with ease. He pulled away from the kiss first, leaving me slightly dazzled in the starlight.

"You taste like fire and vanilla," he whispered, lips still close enough to mine I could feel it.

"I take it that's a good thing?" My voice was breathy, shaken. 

"Yes, a very good thing," he replied, not sounding that different then I.

A grandfather clock inside the house tolled the midnight hour. 

"Its midnight," I said, realizing now my hands were on his shoulders, my body close to his. 

"The witching hour," Samu answered. "Have you bewitched me, Cara?"

"Only as much as you have bewitched me," I told him, stepping away. "I should get going home- Uncle Masahiro will be worried that I'm out so late."

"I'll walk you to your bike," Samu said, taking a step back himself. 

I made my good byes to Danny and his passed out family. Danny hiccupped at me happily, waving a bottle with barely a cup of sake left in it. I bowed respectfully before following Samu outside to the front drive.

I slipped into my jump suit, bouncing around a bit to warm it up after I exchanged my heels for bike boots. 

"How did you get this bike," he asked walking around my little speed demon. Harley's weren't unknown in Japan but one like mine was quite rare.

"Worked my tail off for it while I was stateside and had it shipped here," I told him, which was essentially true. I had worked hard for the bike- for about three hours total. Easy kill, that one had been. Something told me this wouldn't be anything like that one.

The reason for that watched me intently as I straddled the bike and kick started it, gunning the engine for a moment before letting it purr into idle. I looked up at him from the bike's seat.

"So when are we going to see each other again," I asked with a teasing smile.

"How about Friday- there's a new movie opening at a theater in Iruma. Ever heard of Inuyasha?"

I about melted in my seat. One of my favorite things was Japanese animation art, be it manga- comics or anime- cartoons. "It'll be the fourth movie right? Oh, I can't wait- Friday's opening night?"

"Yes," he said, sounding surprised. "Always nice to find another otaku."

"We're everywhere you know," I said with a salute. "Well the time has come for me to go- where do you want me to meet you Friday?"

"We can catch the 7 o'clock show of Inuyasha, so I'll pick you up around 5:30 so we can grab a bite to eat first," he told me after a moment's thought. "Sound good?"

"Very," I said, genuinely excited. "I work till 5 so I'll meet you in front of the Bic Pic at 5:30. I can change there in our employee locker room."

"It's a date then," Samu nodded. "I'll see you then."

"Till then," I said, waving. I shifted into first and roared out of the drive way onto the almost empty streets. 

Meele was awake reading yet another manga when I came in, shucking my boots and heels at the front door. 

"So, how did things go," he asked, laying the book aside. 

"Wonderfully," I said, knowing my cheeks were flushed, eyes were sparkling. "Danny'll be an easy mark I think, once I get everything laid out according to plan and figure out which other Yokuza faction to blame the hit on. His bosses don't want it traced back to them, even by suspicion. I'm worried about Samu though- he could make or break everything."

"And you like him," Meele said, voicing aloud what I had not. I looked at him startled. "Surely you don't think I let you go into the enemy's home unwatched? I was there- I saw and heard the whole conversation. I can't remember the last time you blushed without meaning to."

That statement made me blush yet again, heat flooding my face. "That wasn't very nice of you- I can take care of myself."

"I have always watched over you, Cara," Meele said with a fleetingly sad smile. "You are the last of my family, the only one besides me and your mother left. You are our hope for a future generation, our genes to be carried on. Of course I watch over you."

It wasn't the first time he'd talked about me being related to him, though he'd refused to say how. It was an old argument, not worth messing with at this time. So instead, I sat down next to Meele and hugged him, settling into his arms. "I know you do, Meele, and I do appreciate it."

"I know, Cara, who is not yukoi but is not human." He stroked my hair back as he spoke softly, his voice lyrical. I fell asleep listening to him murmur about how things would be fixed one day and my rightful place be retaken. I didn't know what he meant by that, didn't care honestly. Life was pretty good the way it was.

Friday was clear and beautiful, the rains of the night before leaving the city of Tachikawa clean and fresh. Well, as fresh as it can get with so many people running through it on a daily basis.

We were slammed that afternoon, parents buying their children "good grades" presents, kids spending their allowances and the standard adults drooling over mecha models.

I bowed slightly to an elderly Japanese couple as they left, calling "have a wonderful day" as they left. I shot a glance at my watch- 5 o'clock. Time to change and get ready for Samu.

I checked out with my floor leader, clocked out in the lounge and grabbed my duffle bag to change. I slipped into a pair of white jeans with crimson lacing up the sides, matching boots and a dressy shirt in white with poet sleeves. Crimson lace coated the cuffs and ran along the bust lines. My hair was left down, dark brown with the occasional crimson highlight. I darkened my mascara, added a bit of eye shadow, some lipstick and I was ready to go with a few moments to spare. I stowed my duffle bag in my locker and picked up my black leather jacket in the process. 

I whirled around in front of a full length mirror with a smile. I looked good and I knew it.

At 5:29 I was downstairs and Samu drove up a moment later, his RX7 purring in the street. I slid in next to him before he could get out. Traffic around us was starting to move again as I buckled up.

"Hi, Samu, how you doing?"

"Much better now," he said, casting a glance at me. "You?"

"Bout the same," I answered with a grin. "So where we going to eat?"

"You like Yakiniku style?"

"Um…" I stalled for a moment. I had no idea what that meant, hadn't seen it in any of my cultural studies or back ground research. "I'm sure I can find something there I like."

"As long as you eat beef, you'll be okay," Samu said with a laugh, as if I'd been coy. I'd let him think that as long as it kept me out of trouble. Coy was better then ignorant or worse- having my cover blown.

"In that case I'll be fine," I said with a giggle, thankful.

The afternoon was surprisingly clear, a bit windy, making me glad I'd chosen jeans instead of a skirt. It would be getting much colder later in the evening. But the sky was clear and I was in good spirits as we roared up Route 16 in Samu's tiny car.

He pulled into a restaurant with an already crowded parking lot, even though it was only 6. The building was a typical mix of Japanese style and Western flare blended harmoniously together. We stepped inside and the scent of freshly cooking beef, udon and gyoza filled my nose.

"This smells wonderful," I said with a happy sigh.

"And its all you can eat," Samu added with a grin. 

"My kind of place," I noted with a smile. I stood quietly as he paid for both of us, planning to get the movie tickets later on. I was only partly Japanese and held the belief that a man shouldn't have to pay for everything on a date. Just wasn't fair.

A hostess escorted us to a table set with a grill in the middle, handed us a pair of tongs, bowed and went on her way. I looked at the table and then at Samu, hoping he'd take the lead so I could follow. I felt rather lost, a rarity for me. 

Samu obliged me, taking my hand and leading me to a row of plates, trays and the main item- food. Platters of raw meat sat in a three tiered open refrigerator, ready to be picked and cooked. Samu took some from a couple of different trays. I stuck mainly to the identifiable red meat, not trusting the pale white meat. I wasn't big on squid, and I suspected that's what the slimy stuff was.

After gathering my raw food, a glass of Coke and some veggies to munch on while the meat cooked, I sat down in the booth across from Samu.

We talked of trivial things, how he grew up, how long I'd been living with my "uncle" and such nonsense. Typical humans getting to know one another, I mused to myself as I ate. I could already smell that he was from a rural area, just by the way his body smelled. Could see it in the way he carried himself, could hear it in his voice as he talked to me. 

Perhaps if things were different… I pushed the thought from my mind as I laughed at a joke, my laughter bittersweet. 

"What's wrong- you look so serious all of a sudden." 

I looked at Samu and sighed inside, though a smile was on my lips, my eyes carefully blank. "Just a memory of things long past… its nothing that can make any difference now. Funny how the world works out sometimes, isn't it? What was once up is now down and vice versa."

"Philosophical, aren't you?" Samu asked.

"Occasionally," I said, slurping up my udon with a practiced ease. "I am many things and many things are me."

"So I see," Samu said, studying me carefully, a new light in his eyes. Almost as if he'd see right through my eyes into something deeper. 

Looking away I studied the meat browning on the grill before me. "You study me as if there's more to me then meets the eye."

"I'm sure there is," he said, the surety in his voice shaking me.

Why was I so bloody nervous? There was no way he could know me for what I truly am, half demon half human. What else could he be searching for so deeply in my eyes. For loss of a better tactic, I asked a bit bluntly. "What are you looking for?"

"I look for many things," Samu said, tilting his head to one side in thought. "You're like a book, occasional pages open, shown to the outside while the rest are a mystery. Until you open the book to that page, then exploring it line by line till you understand it."

"You make me sound like classical literature," I said laughing. "As if I'm some great work of art to be studied by scholars."

"Perhaps you are," he said, catching my face in his hand. He ran his fingertips over my jaw, gently, caressingly. 

I caught my breath, felt my cheeks grow warm as I whispered, "I am simply me, nothing more and nothing less. Just me, Cara."

"I know," he said. "But there is little simple and nothing less about you, Sarashimi Cara. Nothing simple indeed."

"Thank you," I managed to choke out. "I think."

Yup, I was in trouble yet didn't seem to mind too much at all.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 04



The movie was packed, every seat taken. I didn't get to pay for the tickets- Samu had bought them earlier to get good seats. The theater in Iruma was one of the few that allowed you to reserve the seating you wanted ahead of time, ensuring you sat where you wanted if you got to the ticket box early enough.

We strolled into the theater, arm in arm, smiling at each other like a pair of teenagers. How far from the truth that was… alas, there was no changing it. And besides, I was having fun.

I managed to sneak my way into buying the popcorn and sodas for the both of us though he insisted in paying for my churro, though I couldn't figure out why. It struck me as odd that a Japanese theater would carry churros, a Mexican treat, but they did and it was pretty authentic to boot.

We settled into our seats as the house lights started to dim. A cool gust blew over me from an air conditioner above me, making me shiver. I'd left my jacket in the car, not wanting to be bothered with it in the theater. I ran my hands over my arms for a moment before feeling Samu's arm slide around my shoulders. Meant I didn't have to adjust my body temperature, so I leaned into him happily.

I glanced away from the screen to look at Samu. He smiled at me before turning back in time to watch Inuyasha slice someone in half. I leaned into him, snuggling into his warmth. He smelled wonderful, I thought with a contented sigh. Like a spring meadow lined with trees, kissed by sunlight. A smell that I would know anywhere in the future, no matter where I was, I would know the smell of Samu.

The night was sharp and cold when we got out of the movie and I regretted not having my jacket for a moment before my skin adapted to the cold warming faster then a human's would have. I spun around for a moment on the sky walk that ran all over central Iruma, taking in the world around me. Then lights overhead flickered for a moment before going out.

"Guess there's a power outage," I said with a shrug. The street lights below ran on solar-charged batteries, it was just the city that was dark. I turned my head up to the sky above. The stars overhead were unusually bright, unobscured by the smog that usually overlaid the land and the light pollution that was so common here in Japan. 

"They're so beautiful," I said to Samu, eyes upon the stars.

He embraced me from behind enfolding me in both his arms and the folds of his ankle length camel wool coat. The wool was as warm as he was. "When I was a kid, I wanted to catch a star and hold it in my hands. They were so beautiful where I grew up, so bright and sparkly."

I leaned into him and enjoyed the feel of his voice against my back, his breath over my ear. I shot a glance at the moon and gasped. There was barely a sliver left before the full moon- I'd escaped disaster by but a single night! The full moon pulls my full yukoi form from me, whether I wish it or not. The price I pay for living as a human.

"What's wrong?"

"I um… well, I had the same dream," I lied smoothly, my training taking over. "I wanted to catch the stars and the moon, string them together on a necklace and wear them to a dance."

"A little girl's dream," he mused softly in my ear, turning his face to cuddle into my neck, his breath warm making me shiver slightly. 

I inhaled deeply, breathing the night and Samu in together. A scent caught my attention, subtle but unmistakable. I concentrated on my hearing and heard it, whatever it was approaching. I cursed under my breath before whispering, "There's something coming."

I had a moment to shove Samu away from me and jump to the side before something slammed into the ground where we'd been standing. I landed in a crouch, teeth bared, eyes wide in the darkness as I caught sight of our attacker. 

I stood, laughing softly. "What kind of idiot are you?"

The one who'd attacked us turned to face me, eyes glowing a vile green in the newly shattered street lights. I whispered a few words, releasing the jakai from my currently bracelet shaped bracers, allowing me to shift to my natural form, my hanyu form. Without a weapon on me, my claws and speed were all I had. Glass seemed to float down from a broken light above as we dove at one another, my claws flashing in the weak moonlight as they grew from my fingertips. I felt my hair lengthen and shift as my ears changed from normal human ears to those of my hanyu form, much like a chow's. I had to blink hard to refocus my eyes after my pupils shifted from human round to the diamond shape of my hanyu and yukoi forms. Everything I saw, heard, smelled and felt was in a kind of hyper focus, details sharper even in the darkness.

"Damn hanyou," the creature hissed at me, masculine by its voice. It rose to its full height of about 5'10" and stared down at me. Blood dripped from its lightly furred humanoid body. The lack of lighting made it difficult to make its color out but if I guessed, it'd be a dark green or blue most likely. I'd managed to catch it in an arch down its chest, very messy but little real damage.

"Hanyou or no, I'll still kick your ass," I growled back at it, moving in front of Samu. He watched us as if it were a dream and he the dreamer, not quite believing what he was seeing. "You're just a lesser youkoi, I can smell it on you. And you're getting weaker with each drop of blood that spills from your body. Quite sad really."

"You bitch!" The youkoi yelled as he launched himself at me, claws curving, glistening with what I knew was poison. I dodged seemingly effortlessly to the side, guiding him into the concrete at my feet with ease. I slammed my hand into his abdomen, reaching upward for his heart as I straddled his body. Grabbing it, I ripped my hand up, tearing his heart from his body. A reflex movement more then anything else brought his hand to rake over my arm before it shuddered for a moment then dissolved into a fine mist that settled into the air. The still beating heart joined the creature, the blood evaporating off of my skin with a soft whoosh. Joy of killing lesser yukoi- their bodies dissolve, making clean up a lot easier. Greater yukoi and hanyu had to be cleaned up after death but that was a whole different ball game. Still left grime, blood and heaven only knew what under my nails though. Not really sure why.

I stood, shaking myself from head to toe like a dog, throwing off any remnants of the youkoi's magic, his jakai. The world fell into a more human focus again, Samu watching me as if I had sprung out of a myth or scroll from ancient times. Cursing fluently in multiple languages, I reactivated my bracers, which had stayed as bracelets, unable to protect my arms that way. The bracelets flared for a moment as they adsorbed my jakai, leaving me human once more.

The street lights, the ones that the yukoi hadn't shattered, flared back to life along with the rest of the city, startling Samu as I walked over and knelt down next to him. "Are you okay Samu? I'm sorry I had to throw you- couldn't think of anything else to get you out of harm's way fast enough."

"What… what was that?" Samu stuttered out, obviously shaken.

"Well," I said, stalling for time. "Um… aw hell. There's no way to explain it out here, come on. We're going back to my place. I need to tell Meele what happened."

I pulled Samu to his feet. He swayed for a moment before fainting, probably from shock, or maybe he'd hit his head when I threw him. Either way I cursed under my breath before lifting over my shoulders in a fireman's carry. Least I hadn't worn high heels tonight, I muttered, making my way to the parking garage across from the Toys-r-us. All that weight lifting I'd done for the assignment prior to this one came in handy, letting me lift three times my body weight easily in human form.

Getting Samu into the passenger seat was just as much fun. Then hunting through his pockets for the keys to the RX, adjusting all of the mirrors, the seat and the steering wheel. I hate being so bloody short some days.

I paid the parking, much cheaper then normal- I love validated parking. The roar of the turbochargers on the night darkened streets woke Samu up.

"What… where…" he turned to me. "Cara?"

"Yes, Samu-kun," I said, up shifting. "Please, hold your major questions till we get to my place. It'll be easier to explain there."

"Okay," he said, falling silent. I could feel him studying my profile as I drove. The left-handed gear shift felt odd but it was drivable after a few moments of adaptation.

My cell phone rang shortly after I got through Fussa. I pulled it out of my jacket pocket, fixing the head set at a red light. I switched it on and said, "Cara here."

"What happened?"

"Nice to hear from you too, Uncle Meele," I said with a roll of my eyes. "Such a polite greeting."

"Cut the crap, Cara," he said with a growl. "I know you got attacked. It got you didn't it."

Not bothering to ask how he knew, for he wouldn't tell me anyway, I looked at my right forearm. Yup, it had gotten me pretty good. Damn it. "Yeah, right forearm. I'll be at the house in twenty minuets. Samu was with me when it attacked."

"Shit," Meele said, following with some yukoi curses. "How could you let that happen? You know better then that Cara! Fighting with a human near you!"

"I didn't plan on it! It was let it kill me or fight it. This isn't what I had in mind for my date tonight!" 

"Obviously not! You'd have had your bracers out otherwise!"

I growled deep in my throat. The noise made Samu jump in his seat. Turning to him I made myself calm down because I didn't want him afraid of me. I spoke into the phone, "I'll be home in a bit Meele. See you then."

I hung up, tossing the phone back into my pocket. I sighed. "Sorry you had to hear that. Meele, my uncle, isn't pleased."

"What's going to happen? Are you in trouble?" 

I shot a glance at Samu. "Nah, Meele will growl and fume at me but I'll be okay. He wouldn't hurt me for the world. Outside training anyway. But that's different."

"Okay," Samu said, accepting what I said. He was quiet for a few blocks before saying, "What are you, Cara? Really what? Those claws aren't human… and your eyes… god your eyes… they weren't human… they were diamond shaped, not human."

I sighed. "Samu, I… like I said, once we get to my place I'll explain."

"Promise?"

I hesitated. I could lie but I couldn't break a promise. "I'll tell you what I can. That's the best I can do."

"That will have to do, I guess."

We finished the drive in silence. I parked the RX in next to my bike. I had two reserved slots, just hadn't bought a car yet. Hadn't planned on it but paid extra for the two slots anyway. Didn't think I'd be using it for this reason though.

I lead Samu upstairs to my apartment, unlocking the door. I pulled up my pants legs to slip off my boots at the door. My socks, bearing a bunny insulting the reader didn't seem to phase Samu much. Of course there were better things to be phased about tonight. "Come on in. Welcome to my home, Samu."

"Yes, welcome, human," Meele said from the living room. He'd cleared away the manga off the coffee table and replaced with them a mortar, pestle and assorted herbs. There were bandages and a first aid kit on the floor next to the coffee table. "Cara, let me see your wound."

I pulled up my sleeve, hissing as I pulled the drying blood away with it. A bright angry trio of claw marks traced down my right forearm, easy to see now and seeing it made it start to hurt sharply instead of the dull ache it had before. "Why is it that it doesn't hurt till I look at it?"

"Because you're hanyu," Meele said, matter of factly before looking back at Same. "Well come in, tis rude to lurk in doorways. What are you here, human?"

"This is Samu," I told Meele, sitting on the couch. "Samu, come in, take a seat. Meele won't bite."

"Unless asked by someone prettier then you," Meele added as Samu removed his shoes and stepped into the living room. "Maybe if you looked tastier. Or threatened me. But anyway, our little human wouldn't dream of doing that, now would he?"

I had time to roll my eyes before Meele grabbed my hand, pulling my arm close to his face. I hissed in pain again as he studied the wound, poking at the edges and smelling what came away on his fingertips. Yukoi medicine does not involve the blood hazards that human does.

"Does it hurt a lot," Samu asked, concern coating his voice and his face.

"I've had worse," I said evasively. Hurt like hell fire, but I wasn't about to say that. Who ever said that women need to whine over pain was a moron. Playing tough tended to save more pride and make others worry less. "I'll explain everything once Meele's done. The wounds infected, I think."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Meele said with a snort. He let go of my arm and started mashing herbs together, adding a bit of water occasionally. "You've got a rather weak infection building. It was a pestilence yukoi you fought."

"Didn't have time to notice which type it was," I said honestly. "I was kind of trying to kill it, not study it. Jane Goodall I'm not."

Samu laughed at the joke, though Meele didn't seem to get it.

I smiled at Samu, taking a deep breath before Meele started slathering the compound he'd made over my arm. "That stuff burns!"

"Good, means its working," Meele said, a slight smirk on his face. "Its what you get for getting scratched by a lesser yukoi. Not my fault it got you. You're the one that messed up."

"I know," I said, shaking my head. "I know I screwed up. Then I ripped its heart out."

"No wonder your nails are filthy," Meele mused aloud as he wrapped my arm with a length white cotton gauze. "You can wash that off tomorrow. I'll leave you to explain things to your young man."

I watched Meele leave and felt Samu take his place on the couch next to me. "Okay, Cara, I'm ready."

"Wish I was," I said with a sigh. "Okay, here goes."

I told Samu the real story of my birth, of my mother being a yukoi, a demon of sorts. How my father was a sorcerer that had captured her with a powerful spell (though I omitted the human sacrifice part) and fallen in love with her until she almost killed him while escaping. That I'd grown up in the US in foster care because neither of my parents wanted me. I told him of Meele coming to me, helping me get through my early years of learning to use my powers, teaching me to unlock my bracers to allow my true form free.

I finished this with stepping away from the couch after removing my bracelets and setting them on the coffee table. "Stay where you are, Samu. This may be scary, but I won't hurt you, I promise. I'm going to show you what I become when in danger and every full moon, often whether I want to or not."

With those words, I relaxed my entire body, letting go of the jakai that I kept tied so tightly within me. The power flowed out from the center of my being to fill me, flow out and around me, bringing with it my true form. My hair turned a shimmering silver, my ears poking through it like those of a chow chow, an oriental guard dog. Teeth lengthened into small fangs, nothing too dramatic but noticeable. Muscles rippled under my skin in places where they hadn't been before. Stronger then before by far, skin thicker, darker by a few shades. Fingers tipped with vicious claws that had earlier carved so easily through another's flesh. My pants were stretchy so didn't break but my shirt, worse for ware after the fight, was hopeless now, stretched by my wider shoulders and taller frame.

I spread my hands as I stood before Samu, only my the color of my eyes the same crystal blue they had been before. The pupils were diamond shaped, and even I thought they were the strangest part of my yukoi and hanyou forms. Meele tells me they're just like my mother's.

"This is me, as I truly am," I told him, my voice a bit deeper. I raised my eyes from the floor to his face and wasn't surprised by the traces of fear and wonder I saw there. "Yeah, I'm a freak."

"No… you're beautiful," he said at last, standing. I let him approach me, trace his fingers through my hair. I stood a bit taller now, about 5'5". For some reason my human form was shorter then my hanyu form. 

He ran a finger over my ears, making me shiver at the sensation. Like any dog, I loved having my ears caressed and leaned into the touch.

"Do you hear better with these," Samu asked gently, his voice scarcely a whisper. 

"Yes," I answered. "I can hear your heart beat, the cars outside, Meele puttering around in the computer room giving us the illusion of privacy. I can smell better- the food from below, the cologne you're wearing, your fear."

"You can smell fear?"

"Like a spice," I said. "Being a hanyu is a mixed blessing. I am not human, I am better. I am not yukoi, I am weaker, at least to start with. As I am now, I'm as good as most yukoi, most full demons. Because I trained hard to be as good. If I am not as good or better then I'll die, that's the world I live in being a hanyu, a creature that's half yukoi and half human. Belonging to neither one, always on the outside it seems."

"Sounds like a hard life," Samu said. "I can easily understand."

"How so?"

"My life…" Samu paused for a moment before shaking his head. "You've been honest with me, its only fair of me to be honest with you. Danny's a Yokuza leader, a city boss in line for a regional position. I'm his right hand man, so to speak."

My gut clenched at his words of honesty. I wasn't honest, I was lying to him, at least in part. Joys of my line of work. "I figured you were not both normal business men."

"How?"

"You don't act like it… and you don't dress like a typical business man."

"Its that obvious," he said, astonished. 

"Only to one who studies you," I said before thinking. I blushed, my cheeks turning red despite my darker skin. "I mean… um…."

"Its okay," Samu said, running his hand along my jaw. "It's a compliment- means you want to know more about me."

"You're right," I said with a grin, grateful he took my comment at face value. "So, where do we go from here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Most men…" I turned away from him. "Most men leave once they've learned what I am, forcing me to take steps to protect myself."

"How so?"

"Meele and I erased their memory," I said frankly. "I can't risk exposure to the rest of the human world. That would be very bad. Very incredibly bad. I won't live as a lab specimen or a military tool. So I protect my secret every way I can."

"So if I can't accept you and keep your secret you'll take my memories of tonight?" Samu asked softly.

"Yes, exactly that," I told him. "I don't like it. I know its not fair, but that's how things are."

"I think I can accept you," Samu said. "What you did tonight, you saved both of us. I'd left my gun at home because I didn't want to scare you. That thing could have… would have killed us both if you hadn't been able to kill it."

"That's what they live to do," I said. "Most yukoi live to kill those weaker then themselves which tends to keep their population numbers down. But I think someone sent this yukoi to kill me. This couldn't be a random attack, this was planned and I don't like it one little bit. If it wasn't planned, the it was one hell of a coincidence that the power went out just in time for it to attack and came back on once it was dead. But, until I find out who ordered the attack, there's nothing I can do about it."

"You're so strong," Samu said, wrapping his arms around me. He pulled me close to him, careful of my bandaged arm. "Not even blinking when that thing attacked, showing me your true self even though it might mean I'd reject you. Being honest though it might hurt you."

"I'm not as grand as all that." I said, not feeling admirable at all. I mean, I was still lying to him, about why I was in Japan in the first place. But… but I couldn't tell him that, couldn't say why I was really here. "Believe me, I'm not that great. I just do what needs doing."




Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 04



"If you don't see your good qualities, then I can't convince you they're real in one night," Samu said softly. "I can accept you, no matter what your form, no matter your bloodline, as long as you're a good person."

I leaned into his embrace, pulling him closer. "That remains up for debate, but I try to be good most of the time. Unless fate dictates that I must be otherwise."

"Most people are like that," Samu told me, pulling away to look into my eyes. "You've such beautiful eyes. They… it was scary when they changed earlier but now I know why. And its okay, the pupils I mean."

"Its okay to be scared," I said, looking away from him. "It means that you've seen the real me, as I truly am."

"I'm not scared anymore," he said, taking my hands in his.

I growled as he moved my right hand, unable to help myself. "That hurts, Samu. It'll heal by tomorrow night's end but it hurts now."

He dropped my hand like a hot coal, holding my left one still. "I'm sorry- completely forgot that you were wounded… hurt defending me. It should have been the other way around. I should have saved you."

"Thinking like that will get you in trouble with me," I told him. "I'm very American in my mind set. I can defend myself just as well as any male of my ilk could if not better. If you start acting like I'm less tough then you because I'm female then we're going to have big problems."

"I'm sorry," Samu said, pulling me close again. "I just hate the thought of you being hurt. I want to keep you safe, away from harm. But I know that's not reasonable. Not possible. And that you can take care of yourself. But if you need help, I'll be there for you, all you have to do is ask."

"Thanks for that," I whispered against him. "I can take care of myself most of the time, but sometimes I need help. No one can stand alone against the world. Thank you for wanting to stand with me."

"Your welcome."

How long we stood there, holding one another, I don't know. It felt like an eternity that didn't last long enough. 

Meele eventually walked out of the small computer room and eyed us speculatively. "You two need to get a room or something. Cara- you need some sleep, that cut and all the shifting back and forth will tire you out, you know that."

"You're right," I said, pulling away from Samu. I shot a look at a calendar on the wall and then a clock. It was almost 5 am. "I don't have to work today, I'll be okay Meele."

Of course then I yawned, making him laugh at me. "Go, get some sleep and take your beau with you- he looks deader on his feet then you do."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. I looked at Samu- he did look tired. "You aren't well enough to drive home are you?"

"Not at the moment," Samu said around a yawn bigger then mine. "I live up in the mountains west of here. Mountain roads and being sleepy aren't a good combination." 

I shook my head. "Fine pair we make- first date was exhausting."

"Nothing like being attacked to make things memorable," Samu said, his voice laughing.

"I'd have remembered it anyway," I countered. "There's only one bed here- I'm not inviting you to do anything more then sleep beside me and only that because I've no where else for you to stretch out other then the couch and you're too tall for it."

"I'd love to hold you while we sleep," Samu said, a faint blush on his cheeks. He had nothing on my blush, a nice hot pink. 

"Okay then…" I trailed off for a moment. Yeah, I was feeling really cosmopolitan tonight… and the Easter bunny's coming for tea.

Meele picked up the slack. "I'll get Samu some of my pajamas to sleep in while you change, Cara."

"Right, thanks Meele," I said, stepping away from Samu. "You can change in the bathroom, Samu."

I left him in Meele's hands with a happy sigh. Meele kept his clothing in the computer room's closets- a good thing since I swear he has more then I do. 

I studied the contents of my underwear drawer for a moment before settling on wearing a pair of silk running-style shorts and a matching camisole to wear to bed. They were both a silvery crimson which set off my still silver hair and darker skin nicely. Wasn't going to be able to change back to human until I either got some sleep or put my bracers on. Since I'd heal faster anyway, I was staying in my hanyu form. Though it did make my pajamas look a tad bit skimpy but otherwise they were fine for sleeping in. I had swim suits that covered a lot less. Of course, Samu hadn't seen me in one of those I mused as a few moments later Samu knocked at my bedroom door and I let him in. He looked a bit silly in the deep red robe and shorts Meele had given him to wear. I couldn't help laughing a bit.

"Did you choose that or did he?"

"He did," Samu said with a cringe. "Said something about how of his pajamas, these covered the most. Not a comforting thing."

"Considering he sleeps on a mat in the computer room with the door closed, it makes me no mind," I said with a laugh. I looked at my water bed on its raised platform with drawers underneath. Yet another space saver- didn't need a dresser because of it. 

"I tend to keep my bed on the cool side," I said, pulling the covers on the queen sized bed back. "And its pretty stiff for a water bed- just a little wave, not a lot."

"Perfect," Samu said, taking off the robe and hanging it on the door knob. "I don't like sleeping on a heated bed- I make just enough heat for me to be happy, don't need anymore then that."

"Yeah," I said, suddenly feeling awkward. I could feel the sun rising outside though I couldn't see it due to very thick curtains. I disliked having light on me while I was trying to sleep. "Um, which side of the bed do you want?"

"Which ever," Samu said, crawling into the bed. He looked out of place on my black sheets in one way, but in another his presence looked natural, like he was supposed to be there. Or maybe it was just me- I hadn't slept next to a man in such a long time. It seemed strange to be doing so now. Especially on the first date.

Shaking my head at my own thoughts, I turned off the main light in the room and crawled into bed myself. A few moments later we were curled up together, him spoon me from behind. It was a very comforting way to fall asleep, wrapped in his arms, surrounded by 500 thread count cotton sheets. 

I sighed deeply and snuggled closer before sleep took me into the realm of dreams.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 05



I awoke the next morning, startled by a sound that I hadn't made, reaching for my gun hidden in the headboard before fully aware of my surroundings. The arm thrown around my waist tightened as I moved, bringing the prior evening back, waking me up the rest of the way. Easing down and leaving the gun in its hidden holster, I rolled over to face Samu, contemplating his face as he slept. 

His thick lashes looked darker against his cheeks, face relaxed and at ease. A lock of hair fell across his face, prompting me to reach up my hand to brush it away. The touch of my hand against his face made his eyes open, blinking rapidly, to clear away a lingering dream perhaps.

"Good morning," I whispered softly, hand on his cheek still.

"Yes, it is," he answered with a boyish grin. "Best I can remember at the moment."

I felt the blush from the night before returning in full force as I answered, "I... um... yeah. Sleep good?"

"Yeah," Samu said, chuckling over my unease. "What time is it?"

I shot a glance at the clock that hung on the wall behind him and raised an eyebrow. "Its about ten after four in the afternoon. We slept about ten hours."

"Danny's going to kill me," Samu said with a sigh. At that moment, a fine ringing noise came from the corner of the bed room. He rolled out of bed to get the noise maker- his cell phone. Flipping the phone open he answered, "Moshi-moshi."

I listened to a pretty one sided conversation, didn't adjust my hearing so I could hear who the caller was though by Samu's face I was pretty sure it was Danny and he wasn't pleased. 

The conversation included a lot of, "Heit, Danny-san"'s and other affirmations without a lot of talking from Samu. Shows who was the boss in that pairing, I thought with a roll of my eyes. I had never seen the point in being a "sure I'll do that cause you asked" kind of girl. Had caused more then a few problems when I was on the police force. Bet he was better at dealing with people with issues then I though.

Samu hung up with a sigh, running a hand through his sleep-ruffled hair. "That was Danny, obviously, and he's a bit upset with me for missing a meeting this morning. Nothing too big, just a meeting with the Iruma regional chief. Something was mentioned about how someone saw me with a strange woman before the city blacked out and were curious as to what I was up to and did I cause the black out."

My mind flew with this news- a group to possibly blame Danny's murder on after I'd done it, I thought to myself, though my face and body gave away nothing. Nor did my voice as I asked, "Are you trouble?"

"No, Danny will be okay," Samu said with a boyish grin. "I just need to get up and go back to my place, change and head into work."

"I'm glad," I said with genuine relief. I didn't want Samu in trouble for some nonsense caused by me, at least not yet. "Call me later tonight?"

"After I get off work," Samu said as he dressed. He didn't bother to leave the room though he did ask me to face away as he changed into his clothing that Meele had left folded neat and clean just inside my door. I was tempted to catch a peak of him naked but managed to restrain myself, but just barely. With effort.

I rose from the bed after Samu said it was okay to look, smiling at him in his slacks and dress shirt from the night before. Padding across the floor I looked up into his soulful brown eyes with my own blue ones, studying him, wondering why fate had brought him into my life at a time like this. Oh well, nothing worth doing is ever easy.

He seemed to study me as well before speaking. "I do wonder what goes on behind those midnight blue eyes of yours, Cara, I really do. You don't scare me but you do make me afraid for you. As if there's something your not telling me about your past that could find you and hurt you."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be okay," I whispered before kissing him, ending that line of thought for the time being. Wouldn't do to have him ask me about a past I was going to have to lie about. Like I could really tell him I was 34, an ex-cop, former state bounty hunter and currently an assassin for hire. That'd go over real well, and then he'd buy ocean front property in Arizona. Right. 

I broke the kiss of when I felt both of our body temperatures rise though I only noticed it because his hand was underneath my top, working its way up to my side with the probably intent of cupping my breast. Bit too much for a first date, no matter how odd it ended up being. I took a step back, breathing deeply to calm myself.

He looked just as riled up as I did, eyes darker with tiny flecks of gold in them now that I hadn't noticed before. 

"You need to go," I managed to say, though I didn't really want to. What I wanted to do was pull him into the bed behind me and fuck him until we were both exhausted and begging for mercy. What I said was, "Danny won't be happy if you linger too long." 

"I know," Samu said with a rueful grin, eyes still bright. "Will have to continue this at some point."

With a Cheshire grin, I said, "That would be nice."

Samu came up to me and ran a hand through my hair, tracing the line of my jaw with his fingertips. "I think it'd be more then nice, Cara. A lot nicer."

If one could get dizzy from sudden blushing, I think I would have. I'd never been talked to like that, at least not in my own bedroom wearing pajamas and staring at a man I'd just slept with. Of course, I'd never just slept with a man before either, so I guess I was par for the course today.

"Uh, yeah," I said, licking my suddenly dry lips. With that he laughed and turned around, heading for the living room with me following behind, admiring the view. He did have a rather cute butt.

Meele was perched on the couch, reading yet another shojou manga, this on I didn't remember buying. Guess he was buying his own girly manga now, I thought though I didn't say anything. He looked up and asked as we walked in, "So, have a fun evening?"

I glared at him, an eye brow raised. "Meele, don't be a pain."

"Apparently not," he said with a wry smile before going back to his book, for all intents and purposes ignoring us.

Rolling my eyes, I lead the way to the entry way, letting Samu slide past me to the slightly lower level so he could put his shoes on. My white boots slumped forlornly over one another, odd blue stuff splattered across the toes. I hmped and picked one up, smelling the toe. Yukoi blood, absorbed by the leather for some reason. Was going to have to burn the boots if I couldn't get the scent out, which would suck because I thought they were cute.

"I did have a nice evening," I told Samu as he tied his shoes. "Even if we were attacked."

"Me too," he said standing up, shoes all tied. He held my face in hands and kissed me again. "I'll call you tonight. Will have to tell Danny who I was with. He'll get a kick out of it being you."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"That I took you out, wined and dined you and then slept with you," he said before slipping out the door laughing.

Yup, smart ass but at least it was a cute smart ass. 

The rest of September seemed to fly by, me working and getting to know Samu better. The fall days brought with them an unseasonably late cyclone which caused no damage but left the skies clear and beautiful for a few days after its passing.

Meele and I were out shopping on one of these days, picking up veggies and fruits at an open air store. 

I was bagging some bell peppers when he spoke.

"You're not doing your job, Cara," he told me softly in English since we were surrounded by other people. But because it was a rather rural area, English was a rare language to speak here.

I looked up at him. "What? I work, I cook, what am I not doing?"

"You're not stalking your mark," Meele said softly. "You should be concentrating on killing him, not dating Samu."

His words shot through me. "That's a bit harsh, Meele. I am doing my job."

"Slower then ever before," he said, bagging a couple of peaches. The peaches were bigger then my outspread hands. Apparently he wanted a cobbler. "Normally, the mark would be dead by now and we'd be back in Florida."

"So you want me to hurry it up, is that it?"

"No," Meele said, turning to me. "I want you to evaluate what you're doing. How you're behaving is dangerous. Why you're pussyfooting around instead of taking care of the mark. This isn't like you, to fall in love."

"I'm not in love," I said and immediately knew it was a lie. "Okay, that's not true, but I'm not letting it cloud my judgment. This is an odd case, they want it to look like a hit from an enemy gang. That takes time and finesse not to mention a good deal of research on who I'm going to set up for the job."

"If you say so," Meele said, though the look in his eyes said he thought I was shading the truth. 

I was starting to get angry. "Yes, this job is taking longer then usual, but what better do we have to do? We've enough in the bank to be set for a human lifetime."

"You'll live longer then that," Meele said, "hopefully. If the council doesn't figure out you're here and kill you. Or you screw up."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I hissed at him. We moved to the register and paid for our produce. "Wait- who is this council? They're here in Japan?"

Meele refused to say another word as we walked back to the apartment in silence. I couldn't think of anything to say to him that would convince him that I was not "pussyfooting" around. Come to think of it, I couldn't think of anything to convince myself that I wasn't. Not a good thing that.

We were back in the apartment cooking dinner when I asking about the comment he'd made about the Council. "What did you mean by that council remark, Meele? Who are they?"

"The Council that controls all of the Yukoi activity here in Japan," Meele said, slicing bell peppers for stir fry. "Japan is the regional seat for the Asia Pacific where the Clan rulers assemble to discuss policy and such. Its also where they try hanyu into the Yukoi. I'd rather they not find out you're here. It could... cause problems."

"Like what kinds of problems," I asked seriously.

"Problems that could get you killed," Meele said softly, setting down the knife and turning away from me. "There is a very real possibility that your mother, Inu Marika could challenge you into the Yukoi."

"I don't have a mother," I said, my voice cold. "She abandoned me, not the other way around. Do you really think she'd challenge me into the Yukoi? I mean, you yourself said that she was her clan ruler and held one of the council's seats. Why would she mess with me?"

"Because you are of her blood."

"Of course I am, I'm her daughter," I said.

"That's not it," Meele said with a sigh. "You are of her flesh, of her blood line, of the true line of Inu Maru, the first dog Yukoi, founder of the Moon Wind Clan. From him come the powers of your line, the claws, strength, stronger sense of smell and touch, agility and poison or fire. The fact you can call fire to your hands without being burned, can shift into your full yukoi form without loosing your mind, proves that you are truly of Inu Maru's line, truly Marika's daughter. After seeing you, she won't be able to ignore that. None of the Council will. They'll make you join a Clan so you're under someone's thumb. You're too powerful to be left a loose end. They'd fear you'd rise against them or some such nonsense."

"What about you, Meele? Are you part of one of their stupid clans?"

"I am of your mother's stupid clan, little one," he said, his tone chastising, "the Moon Wind Clan. I was once its second in command though I gave that up after your mother gained her position as Clan Chief 32 years ago."

"Right before you found me in the US," I said, making the connection, finely understanding why he hadn't been there my first two years. I had never asked, had not seen any reason to, until now.

"Yes, right before because it took me two years to get the information of where she'd left you from Marika and to track you down," Meele said, settling down at the table to watch as I finished cooking dinner. 

He was quiet until I set his plate down before him, talking between bites of food. "Thank you, Cara. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, Marika fought for her council seat along with leadership of the Moon Wind Clan and was badly wounded in the fight. I was able to heal her but the price of that was sharing some of her memories. Most specifically the ones she made in the US of how that human sorcerer captured her, how they fell in love, how she became pregnant. What he did when he found out she wouldn't give up her yukoi to become human to stay with him. She fled after that, finely strong enough to break the spell he'd cast over her. Marika absorbed the spell into her body, making her stronger, faster and more powerful. Her anger was terrible but she couldn't hurt the father of her only child. Marika gave birth in secrecy and then gave you up for adoption, giving a fake name as her own, foolishly naming your father. There was no way you'd be adopted being the daughter of a powerful sorcerer but she didn't know that. After dumping you, she returned to Japan and began her bid on the Clan Chief's spot, using her new powers to gain it. 

"I left her side after I found out about you, couldn't bare to see one who had abandoned her own child to further her ambitions."

"Why do you say that, to further her own ambitions, Meele?"

Meele laughed harshly. "She knew that if it was known she had whelped a hanyu, one that might never show any powers, then she would have never been allowed to fight for the Chiefhood of the clan nor for her Council Seat. Because she's held her seat for so long and because you can take full yukoi form, there's no reason for her not to acknowledge you now but then... she left you so she'd have a chance to rule."

"Sweet gal isn't she," I asked rhetorically, rolling my eyes. "So Marika abandoned me not to save my life but to further her ambitions. What a bitch."

"Exactly," Meele said around a bite of steak and peppers. "Marika knows why I left her and has done nothing to contact me for news about you in all these years. I know she felt guilt over leaving you the way she did, but not enough to tell me about you sooner nor do anything about it herself.

"There is a possibility that the council will find out you're here. That yukoi you killed was sent by someone."

"But I haven't seen hide nor tail of any other Yukoi since I got here," I said with a shrug. "Other then the mark of course, and he's a hanyu. Not powerful enough to control even a low grade yukoi like that one."

"Are you sure," Meele asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know as well as I that it is possible to hide one's jakai, the energy that we emit. It is possible he has something similar to your bracers, though I doubt it. I've seen this Danny, he is a weak power."

"Other then his mob connections," I reminded Meele. "While he's weak as a yukoi he's very powerful as a human."

"Powerful enough his bosses want him dead," my mentor said with a snort. "You need to kill him so we can leave this country, Cara. I hate to say it but we are in danger here."

"You worry too much," I said with a wave of my hand right before my cell phone rang, its tinkling song filling the apartment. "I'm going to grab that real quick. But for the record, I think we'll be fine."

"I hope so."

I answered the phone after digging it out of my coverall. "Moshi-moshi."

"Cara," a male voice said, making me smile. It was Samu. "You doing anything tomorrow night? Its supposed to be a full moon, so the moon and stars will be visible."

I looked out a window and laughed. "There's no stars here, Samu. You know that as well as I do."

"Maybe not down there," Samu answered. His voice sounded like he held a great surprise. "But from my family temple up in the mountains, the stars are very clear."

"Oh, a mountain temple," I said coyly. "Sounds fun."

"Before that, how about you meet me for dinner at Don's Family Steak House, in Fussa? Its an easy drive from there, you can follow me up on your bike."

"I'd love to," I said with a grin. "But we'll have to eat and be at your place before sunset. I..."

"Its that time you told me about?"

I blushed, for some reason embarrassed over what my body did without my control. "Yeah. Wouldn't be good to shift from my human form to my hanyu or yukoi one in public. Might scare the locals."

"Probably," he said with a laugh. "Okay, I'll meet you there at three thirty then? Early dinner and we can have dessert at my place?"

Part of me was tempted to ask what that dessert would be, since Samu and I hadn't actually made love yet but I managed to contain my curiosity. Instead, I said, "Okay. Don's at three thirty, I'll be there with bells on."

"What?"

"American slang," I answered with a grin. "Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow night, Samu."

"See you then." There was a crashing sound in the background on Samu's side and I heard him sigh. "I've got to go, I'll talk to you later, Cara. Bye."

"Bye." I said before closing my phone, smiling happily. I turned to look at Meele who was studying me seriously, as if I stood in a light he hadn't seen me in before. "What?"

"You seem different when you're with him and talk with him," the dragon yukoi said with a shrug. "Softer, less hostile, easier to approach I guess. I'm not sure it's a good thing safety wise but I believe it's good for you as a person. As long as he doesn't find out you're the one who killed Danny after you do the hit."

I glared at Meele. "Thanks, hadn't thought of that yet. Not. Meele, I have had that turning around and around in my head since our first date- trust me, I know the risk I'm taking here. But if I break up with him now, I loose my best current resource on information about the mark and other Yakuza groups here I could blame the hit on."

"You're heart's going to suffer," Meele reminded me softly.

"How's that new," I asked rhetorically. "My life has never been one plus one is two. Its always five or purple or something crazy like that. I'm used to nothing being normal. Sad way of living though...."

Sad way indeed.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 06



The full moon found me on the roof of Samu's house in the country. Well, relative country by Japanese standards. He lived up in the mountains near Fussa in the midst of old trees and curving mountain roads. 

The house was a reformed shrine of sorts, complete with zaori arches and a Zen garden. Samu had told me it had all been rebuilt during the 60's after WWII.

I breathed in the air, fresh and crisp at this altitude. My hanyu ears twitched, listening for Samu. He was coming up the ladder to the roof.

I spun around, my feet silent on the rooftop in their leather dance-like shoes. I was garbed from head to toe in black from my stretchy jeans to my sleeveless t-shirt, the only accents a deep blue along the collar and hems to match my eyes. I looked like a cross between a ninja and an royal assassin between the outfit and the blue detailing along the oriental collar. The top of the outfit was held shut with six blue buttons. My hair flowed freely, parted by my ears, brushing them in a silvery curtain. The silver hoop earrings I wore glittered in the starlight. A large cabochon cut onyx was visible on my forehead through my bangs, held in place by a headband that kept my hair out of my face. My bracers, full size now, covered my forearms. Around my waist, two straps crisscrossed, lighter then usual. I'd left my guns and their holsters at home along with kitana and my throwing knives were tucked into a hidden compartment in my duffle bag. I didn't want to scare Samu, or give him an idea of why I was here but I wasn't going around unarmed. Saying, "Hey I want to kill your boss and best friend," wouldn't get me many brownie points.

A set of blue knee pads, snuggly laced into place and a spiked right shoulder guard, completed my garb. I looked deadly and pretty, though I've never been sure which was more prominent. The straps, knee guards and shoulder guard had appeared via a magical triggering effect after I fell into my full Yukoi form at the moon's calling. I could no more deny the moon's call then I could stop breathing. Many hanyu are tied to the new moon for their transformations, but they spend most of their lives in hanyu or full yukoi forms, rarely, if ever, becoming human by choice. This means their human blood has to have a night to enact itself. I'm the opposite- spend too much time in human form so my yukoi blood asserts itself.

Samu didn't know what hit him when I stepped out from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, darting to his other side before he saw me, taking full advantage of the roof's shadows.

I ended up perched on top of the chimney, smiling down at him. He cheated and pulled out a flashlight, blinding me for a moment in the beam before my eyes adjusted.

"That's cheap," I said, my voice laughing.

He turned the light away from me. "So is darting around in the shadows."

"That's neither here nor there," I said, hopping down to stand on a rise in the roof about two feet above Samu. "Its so pretty up here, the stars are so bright. I'd forgotten how beautiful they are."

He looked up at the sky overhead. "Yeah they are. You going to come with me to that dance I told you about?"

"Sure," I said, secretly grinning. The local area mob bosses were having a Black and White ball and Samu wanted to take me as his date. Would give me a great chance to meet other mob bosses. Why would I want to do this? Simple- someone to take the fall for the murder of Danny after I did it. Leave a few tell-tale signs at the scene, a calling card of another rival boss and no one would look my way. The upper brass in Danny's organization, who were paying for the hit, would make sure of it.

"Wonderful," Samu said cheerfully. "You do have a white or black formal right?"

"Aw, I can't go as I am now," I teased.

"Sexy as that is, no." Samu laughed and held up his arms to me. I hopped down to stand before him, almost falling into his arms. He closed the gap between us, bringing his lips to mine.

I allowed the kiss, returning it in full measure. We were still new enough to one another that every kiss was a rush, every touch something special. I ran my hands over his back, careful of the claws I could not retract. Wouldn't do to destroy Samu's shirt, especially since most Japanese men would have never made a move on me sober like he was.

The full of the moon forces me into my hanyu form, makes it impossible for me to appear human. I am my true self in the light of the moon, the creature I was born as. Samu embraced all that I was. He'd asked questions, both of me and of Meele, about hanyu in general, yukoi, and anything else he could think of that might give him an insight into me. He hadn't asked me why I was working at a camera store selling toys yet or my real age. I was hesitant to tell him I was chronologically older then he and certainly didn't want to tell him I was a killer for hire. Something told me that it would take the sparkle out of relationship to say the least.

We stood there in the dark, on top of a shrine older then both of us by far, kissing in the starlight. I pulled away from the kiss with a gentle smile.

"We best be careful or I'm not going to want to stop," I told Samu honestly. We still hadn't "done the deed" as Meele would have said in his modern slang. "I'm more dangerous in this form, more likely to scratch you or bite."

"And that's a problem how," Samu asked, his voice serious. "Cara, I accept you for what you are- human, demon, mononoke, hanyu, whatever. This is the real you. This silver hair," he ran his hand through my hair, "this darker skin, these startling eyes. This is you as you were born and I love you."

My breath caught in my throat at his words of acceptance. "You accept me, knowing I've killed before, knowing that I'm a monster."

"You've killed in self-defense, nothing wrong with that."

"Oh, how little you know," I muttered.

"What do you mean," he asked.

"Nothing, its nothing, Samu," I said, laying my head on his shoulder. "I've done some things in the past I'm not proud of, my love. You don't want to hear the details. Sometimes I wish I didn't know the details."

"The devil's in the details," Samu said, the cliché making me laugh.

"More then you know," I said with shake of my head. "Moving along- what did you mean by its not a problem if I hurt you?"

He stalled for a moment, searching for the words that do not come easily to Japanese man. They tend to be quiet about their sexuality unlike Americans who blurt it out for all to hear sometimes. "I mean that its okay if you rake your nails down my back or whatever. I don't mind- besides a little pain at the right moment can heighten everything else."

A man after my own heart! "So you don't mind?"

"Not at all," he said, shaking his head. "Long as you don't mind being bitten a bit."

"Oh, I'd mind if you didn't," I mused aloud. "I am part animal yukoi- we tend to be a passionate, violent lot of creatures."

"Lucky me," Samu whispered against my lips. "Long as I don't need to go to a hospital afterwards, I'm alright with just about anything else."

I shuddered against him as he kissed me again, nipping at my lower lip. I moaned as his hands ran down my sides, pressing my hips closer to his body. I could tell he was happy to have me there. Very happy.

I chuckled as I kissed him deeply, tongue running along his, tasting, exploring. Teeth grazing his lower lip, I bit him back, then kissed my way to his neck. I licked a line to his ear, occasionally biting him, hard enough to make him move, softly enough there would be no mark. I whispered in his ear, "Perhaps we should adjourn to your room. Should be more comfortable then the rooftop."

"As my lady wishes," Samu said with a laugh that only means sex. "Any special requests on the way?"

I thought for a moment before saying, "Protection."

"Covered," Samu said before laughing at his own pun.

I joined him, laughing as he climbed down the ladder, jumping down myself. I landed easily and watched him finish climbing down, admiring the view of his tight butt. Couldn't help it and didn't want to. Some women are all about abs, chest, whatever. Me- I'm a butt kind of gal- if he doesn't have a cute or tight ass it just might be a deal breaker. Luckily, Samu had the tightest and cutest butt I'd seen on a Japanese man, actually on any nationality of male I'd seen in the past few years.

"Like the view," he asked, catching me looking.

"Yup," I said honestly. "Its nice but I imagine there are nicer things to be seen this night."

"I imagine so," Samu agreed, feet hitting the concrete walk that surrounded his house. "Follow me and perhaps you shall see something nicer."

"I believe I shall," I said, falling into step behind him. A small voice in my head asked me what the world I was planning to do. Sleep with a human? Surely not! I hushed the little voice, rolling my eyes at it. It was the part of me that was yukoi, that disliked humans for being weaker. Only reason they were the dominant species on the earth was because they breed easier. And crossbreed fairly easily too, as I was proof of.

I relearned that night how wonderful that ability to breed was though I wouldn't bear a child from it. Now that would have been quite a problem.

I awoke late the next morning to my cell phone ringing angrily from my pile of clothing. I raced across the room and after a quick search, I found it and left the bedroom where Samu still slept.

"Cara here," I said, flipping open the phone.

"I need you back in town," Meele said abruptly. 

I sighed, rolling my eyes in the process. "What's so bloody important? This is my first real weekend off in a long time. Not to mention a few other first-time-in-a-while-things."

"The Asia-Pacific Council of Elders wants to meet you and they don't give a damn if it interrupts your sex life," he said as if it were supposed to mean something incredibly important. 

"Who?"

"The body that governs yukoi activity here and throughout the Asian side of the Pacific," Meele told me, his voice chastising.

"I'm not a child, I just didn't know their formal name," I said with a growl. "When to they want me?"

"Tonight, at the moon's rising," Meele said. "So you need to come home, get some rest, change and we need to be out the door by five."

"So much for a romantic breakfast," I sighed. "Okay, I'll be home within the hour if traffic cooperates, Meele. Want me to pick anything up?"

"No, I'm good, just get here."

With that he hung up, no good bye. Meele was still working on the whole phone etiquette thing. Shaking my head, I closed my phone and went back into the bedroom. My eyes immediately went to the bed where Samu lay, hugging the pillow I'd just vacated. There was a soft, boyish charm about him in his sleep, I mused as I picked up my duffle bag and headed for the bathroom to shower. 

Clean and dressed I came out twenty minuets later to find Samu awake and dressed as well.

"Good morning, Cara," he said with a warm smile. "What's up?"

"Meele needs me," I said, not elaborating. Yukoi politics can be a dangerous thing- the further outside he was the better. "I won't be back tonight- Meele needs me to go with him to some meeting that will probably take forever to get done."

Samu nodded. "Okay, I'll call you tomorrow then to see how you're doing. Did you sleep well last night?"

A blush stained my cheeks at the memory. "Best I've slept in a long time."

"That's good." His cheeks, I was pleased to note, were also a bit pink. Nice to know I wasn't the only one a smidge embarrassed but more pleased by last night. Of course, his words of "where in the world did you learn that trick" were pretty good indications that he'd had fun too.

"Can't argue with that," I said, pulling on my bike boots. I was wearing simple jeans, a t-shirt declaring I was a butterfly and a scarf to keep my hair in place since I was back in human form. 

"I'll walk you out to your bike," Samu said as he picked up my duffle bag. "What do you have in here? An armory?"

"Closer to the truth then you know," I said with a smile. "I may not be able to call you tonight, so don't worry if I don't."

"What are you doing tonight, Cara? And why is Meele taking you to a meeting? I thought he was retired."

"He is, sort of," I said, slipping around the question. "But I think this is a family related meeting. He didn't explain much, just said get home now. Since he doesn't ask for much, I kind of have to- this could be important."

"If you say so," Samu said with a shrug, as if he didn't understand but really didn't mind. 

"Thanks for understanding, or at least not arguing," I said as we stepped outside into the sunlight. I ruffled through my bag for a moment before pulling out a leather riding jacket. It was chilly this morning and it wouldn't do to get a cold before facing the majority of the big, bad-ass yukoi in the region. Sneezing is not an effective threatening tool.

I fired up the bike, kick starting it and letting it purr in idle, warming up. "If I don't get home too late, I'll give you a call, but no promises."

"Don't worry about it, Cara," Samu said with a boyish grin. "I'll understand if you're too tired to come out and play."

The look in his eyes implied what left me too tired to come and play and I laughed as I kissed him goodbye and took off, keeping that warm laughter wrapped around me, knowing I'd probably need it tonight.

After waking up from a wonderful night of love making, four that afternoon found me back at my apartment, arguing with Meele over the clothing he'd chosen for me to wear to the shindig tonight. A very skimpy, sleeveless, short black dress that was barely decent for mixed company, crimson belt and an odd cloak in red set with black four petaled flowers plus my boots were all I'd be allowed in addition to my bracers and onyx Sphere of Moon storage. Oh, and the earrings that would allow me to talk with Meele without speaking. Mustn't forget that or the veil I was supposed to wear. He'd said something about protecting my identity in the human world. I thought it looked silly and said as much.

"This is immodest at best, immoral at worst," I said, frowning at Meele over the outfit. "How come you get to wear real clothing and I'm stuck looking like a gypsy geisha girl with dog ears?"

"You look great," Meele said, giving his chest plate a tug to put it in place. He looked like a shogun from Japan's past, deadly and a bit archaic. The fact he had his fighting axes on his back said many things about how he expected tonight to go, none of them good. A long, puffy sleeved shirt and matching pants, both black, his white and red body armor, a deep blue sash, and a cloak that was the opposite of mine, black with red flowers, completed the outfit. 

"You look spiffy too," I said. "But that's beside the point. I look like a little slave girl compared to you."

"That's because they think of you as such," Meele said, clipping on his Sphere of Humanity to the ties between his shoulder plates. "As of now, you hold no status with the Counsel of Elders other then my sponsorship. Tonight you may prove you are worthy of entrance into the Yukoi world but till then you're just a weak little hanyu I keep around for fun."

"That's fair," I grumbled at Meele, voice dripping sarcasm.

"Blame your mother," he told me with a sigh. "If she'd admitted to birthing you, your status would be assured because of that and your rather high kill count. She's the head of the Moon Yukoi Clan for all of Japan and on its international leaders counsel. As such, she will be part of tonight's festivities."

"She'll be there?" I could feel myself getting pale, despite having made the change into my hanyu form. "But- Meele, I've never meet my mother... Marika. How will I know her? And why's my kill count important?"

"That's not hard," he told me, pulling me into a hug. "You will know her because her eyes are your eyes, her skin is your skin, her walk is your walk. Inu Cara, you are the daughter of Inu Marika, and though the rest of the world knows it not, she will. In response, Marika will either be easier on you then the rest of the counsel or she'll be your hardest taskmaster tonight.

"As for kill counts- the higher a being's kill count, the higher their social stature in the Yukoi is. It means they're not afraid to cause deadly harm to an opponent, backing up their threat with proof of their seriousness."

"Sounds fun," I said with a sigh, hugging Meele back. "Does she... does she know its her daughter Cara coming tonight? Or am I just some random hanyu you're sponsoring for the evening?"

"I do not believe she knows its you," he said honestly. "She may not even be there tonight, though the chances of that are rare. Marika keeps up with current events- an important factor in leading a clan that boasts the most income and technology of the five Asian Pacific Clans."

I pulled away from Meele. "How come you're allowed to go in there armed and I don't get a single blade?"

"You haven't proven yourself worthy in their eyes of a blade yet," Meele explained. "I know- don't yell at me for it. You're as good as any your age and better then most at that. But they won't see it that way- you're hanyu, not full yukoi. That is a huge mark against you, so they'll underestimate you. I'm hoping to make them regret that."

"You and me both," I said softly. "You and me both."



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 07



The meeting place of the Council of Elders was a huge building with a central open air courtyard. Filled bleachers ringed either side of the courtyard except where a huge dais with multiple thrones sat. Of the five thrones, two were filled, the rest sat empty. The central chair held a mole-like yukoi, short and stocky with a young looking girl kneeling next to him,

her eyes taking in everything. To the mole man's left sat a beautiful woman that made me double take. She looked familiar.

Meele stood beside me, in his full yukoi form, his draconic wings held tight against his back. He looked around studying the assembled yukoi coolly many of them bowing or shirking away from his gaze. He thought at me through the cuffed earrings we both wore. Its been a long time since I was last here. Yet nothing really has changed except those on the thrones. The woman sitting in the left one is your mother.

I studied her for a moment, trying not to stare at the yukoi sitting easily in her throne. Where I was uncomfortable in my skimpy dress, she seemed at ease in her, for lack of a better word, teal leather bikini top and hip hugging skirt. Her hair hung to her waist full and silky, a deep crimson with ribbons of violet running through it. Human-like, pointed ears, delicately arched eye brows, eyes that were a mirror of my own, blue with diamond shaped pupils, and a small upturned nose. Her lips were a bit fuller then my own, tiny fangs showing when she smiled. On her forehead she had a symbol similar to Meele's. A white full moon hung above a red crescent moon that held within its curves a black moon all of it smaller then my palm. In her chin and cheekbones I could see my own, as if I were looking at an edited picture of myself. It was quite eerie.

Her slender waist was encircled with a thin silver chain bearing silver disks. As she stood, I could see that her skirt, green with a repeating pattern that matched her forehead symbol, hung her hips to her toes. Zaori sandals and little white socks covered her feet- I guess she got cold toes same way I did. Course, I was wearing knee high black boots with red laces so couldn't complain. 

"Ryu Meele, so good of you to grace us with your prescience once more after these thirty and two years," she said, her voice and bearing regal. It was hard to believe that she was the one who had birthed me. When she said Meele's name it sounded like "may-ray." Guess it was either his original name or its how they said his name here.

"I have my reasons, Inu Marika," Meele said, leading the way across the hall. I followed a step behind and to the left as he'd told me to do.

"Indeed," she said, her eyes taking me in. There was no recognition in her eyes as she looked at me, nothing that might have tied us together after all these years. I guess I was hoping for a tender moment of reunion. Instead I got, "She doesn't look like much, Meele."

My temper got the better of me and I spoke before thinking. "Well, you can't blame Meele- if my mother, the yukoi of my parents, had actually been worthy of bearing a child, I might look more impressive."

Meele glared at me for a moment. Behave, Cara! He turned to Marika. "Forgive her, she knows little of Counsel etiquette."

Marika's eyes narrowed sharply at my words. "No, Ryu Meele, let the little hanyu speak for herself. I don't mind teaching her Counsel etiquette if necessary. Unless she is stupid, she'll learn rather quickly."

"That's enough, Inu Marika," said the mole man, standing at last as Meele and I came to stand in front of the dais. "I am Shinkoru of the Asian Elders Counsel, Lord of the Tunnel Yukoi Clan. Welcome, Ryu Meele and Inu Cara."

"In... Inu Cara?" Marika stuttered for a moment before regaining her composure. Her ears twitched before she tilted her head to study me. "Is that so?"

I bowed to Shinkoru, my hair almost brushing the floor as I'd been instructed. "I thank you for your welcome, Elder. Inu Marika, I am indeed Inu Cara, my mother was a dog yukoi."

"The bitch gave birth to a hanyu and then left her for dead in California on the eastern side of the Pacific," Meele said, his voice calm and cool, as if he cared little for the circumstances of my childhood. "I found Cara as a young child and have watched her since, teaching her how to control her powers."

"Powers?" Shinkoru asked, obviously intrigued. He turned his head to the child beside him. "Raffia, test her, if you would please. Lightly."

"Yes, my lord," she said, rising to her feet and approaching me. She wasn't a child at all, just a very short, slender woman. A long sleeved,

skin tight dress hugged her body from neck to mid-thigh in an earthy brown. Pointed black slippers covered her feet until she tossed them off before leaving the dais. She was full yukoi, pointed ears and diamond eyes, black hair brushing her shoulders in carefully styled spikes.

"I am Raffia, second in command of the Tunnel Yukoi of the Pacific. I bid you greetings, Inu Cara."

"I return your greetings with many thanks and wishes for your good health," I said, bowing to her.

"She has manners," Raffia said, tossing a glare over her shoulder at Marika. "And she's beautiful too, my lord."

"Thank you," I said with a genuine smile. "I like your slippers, where'd you find them?"

"At the Seiyu in Fussa," she said with a smile in return. "Moving along though, I would like to duel with you, Inu Cara."

"Just Cara is fine, Raffia-sama," I said.

"Call me Raffia then," she said with a small smile. "All right, Cara, will you duel with me? First blood, no holds barred, no permanent maiming or poison."

"Sounds good to me," I said, removing my cloak. I handed it to Meele, who moved onto the dais to watch the fight. I stretched for a moment, going up on tip toes. Relaxing I took a defensive position to the shorter Raffia and said, "Okay, first blood wins. I'm ready when you are."

She grinned at me, her face changing, becoming more, well more angular, as if she were partly changing into an animal, probably a fox from what I could see, before holding up her hands. Claws slid from her nails, vicious and thick. Her hands looked more like paws then hands now. I nodded and matched her movements, letting my own claws come out, sharp and canine. I couldn't retract them like a cat could but they were stronger for it. The rest of my body shifted into my yukoi form, stronger, skin darker and thicker. My eyes, human before, now held diamond shaped pupils, bringing a surprised lift of the eyebrows from my opponent as she circled me.

The look in Raffia's eyes suddenly changed from gentle to harsh, as if there were a different person looking out of those earthy brown eyes now. I felt my full power around me and knew that it shone in my eyes like lightning in a blue tinged bottle.

Even the way she moved was different, low to the ground, almost slinking. I imagine it worked well against tall opponents, but at only 5'5" myself it wasn't a huge difference to her 4'9". We circled one another, our feet landing in time to a music only we could hear. 

"Get on with it," a voice from the stands that surrounded the central courtyard of the Council Hall called. It seemed to spur Raffia on and she launched herself at me.

I barely managed to dodge aside, bringing my elbow down on hers. There was the sickening crunch of bone as she flew by me and landed, crouched upon the floor, hissing a rather fowl comment, favoring her left arm. 

"That's not very nice," I said, tilting my head to the side as she turned to face me once more.

"Since I am a fox and we are not a nice lot, its appropriate," Raffia said, slurring her s's slightly. "Let us try this once more."

"As you wish," I said, launching myself at her without warning, claws aiming for her wounded arm. 

She fell back under the onslaught and I darted around her, attacking from the side. Whirling, she faced me though I could see it caused her pain. Round and round we went, neither managing to draw 

blood, though I knew I'd have a lovely shiner come morning if I didn't heal it. She had a nice bruise forming above her collar bone.

"Last round," I whispered and she nodded in affirmation. 

"So be it."

We met again, claws flashing. I managed to grab one of her wrists as she grabbed mine. I grinned and threw myself backward, rolling over my back and ended up in a crouch on top of her, claws at her jugular, growling. Blood trickled in a thin line from her bottom lip where she'd bitten herself upon landing.

"You win," she said around a gasp for air. I leapt off of her, landing with a click on my booted feet, eyes still on Raffia. Taking my offered hand, she sat up, rubbing the back of her head. "That throw is something I haven't seen since Marika fought for command of the Moon Clan."

"Really?" I said, surprise in my voice over the thought that we might use similar fighting techniques. I recovered my bearing as we stood together, backed up a few paces and bowed respectfully. "I thank you Raffia of the Tunnel Clan for that battle."

"The honor is mine, the victory yours," Raffia replied with a nod. Returning to her master's side she whispered in his ear for a moment before kneeling at his feet once more. 

"You are worthy to stand here among us, hanyu," Shinkoru said, his voice carrying through the room. "Which clan do you claim as your own?"

Meele answered before I could ask what he meant. "She is of the Moon Yukoi Clan!" 

"Is she now," Marika asked, descending from the dais. She came to stand about ten feet in front of me and studied me carefully. "We need to talk before the Moon Clan will take her and well you know it Ryu Meele."

"If the Moon Clan doesn't take her then the Fire Clan will happily," came a voice in the crowd. A man walked forward, his step confident, as if he owned the world. He wore red, from his crimson assassin's garb to deep red boots to a fire lined cloak. His forehead bore a small flame that seemed to move when he raised his eyebrows. "Salutations, Inu Cara of no clan. I am..."

"Dokkasomaru," Meele said, his voice nearly a growl. He thought to me, This one is trouble! He'll either try to take you for a concubine or make you one of his assassins, unless he has changed his ways, though I doubt that.

Got it, I'll be careful, I thought back at him. "Dokkasomaru-san, I am pleased to meet you." 

His eyes were a strange shade of orange but it looked right with his red hair. Those eyes did a complete once over before returning to my face as he replied, "It is my pleasure, Cara-chan."

Marika stepped between Dokkasomaru and myself. "I shall speak with her first- if my old master wishes her to be part of my clan, even I, the

great Inu Marika must listen to his reasons. If, and only if, she is unacceptable to the Moon Clan, then the Fire Clan can try to win her."

"As you wish, Lady Marika," Dokkasomaru said smoothly. "Though I would like to talk with you later, Inu Cara."

"If you like I'm sure something can be worked out," I said, helpful without promising anything. Something about him put my guard up and it

wasn't just Meele's warning.

"Come along, Inu Cara," Marika said after giving Dokkasomaru a haughty glare. "We've many things to talk about."

"Coming, Inu Marika," I said, trailing after her. Meele took up the rear, draping my cloak over my shoulders. 

You need to be careful when you're near Marika. It would be bad to have someone out you as her child unless she wills it, Meele told me silently. She could kill you for it to avoid shaming herself. That'd be bad.

"Tell me about it," I muttered behind my veil. Somehow it had actually stayed in place during the fight- Meele must have laid a spell on it or something.

Marika looked back at me over her shoulder as we left the courtyard. "Did you say something, Inu Cara?"

"Nope," I said with a smile. She shrugged and lead the way to a set of black doors bearing her symbol on them. Whispering a word, she waved the doors open revealing an opulent room. Thick carpets 

covered the floor, tapestries adorned the walls, and overstuffed couches were scattered around. 

"This is my reception room," Marika said, herding Meele and me inside. She closed the doors behind us. "We are secure- no one may enter or hear in here without my permission if I am inside. Now, Meele, what are you about this eve?"

"Simply being me," he said evasively as he wandered over to a table bearing a decanter and small crystal glasses. Pouring himself a drink he relaxed onto a couch, looking at Marika and me. "You know, Cara, you actually do look like her. I hadn't thought you'd resemble her so much. Oh well, perhaps I see more similarities because I trained her as well." 

"Meele, who is this girl?" Marika demanded, pointing a long nailed finger at me. "How does she carry the name 'Inu' and why is she here?"

I let Meele answer the questions, taking a seat beside him. 

"She is Inu Cara, daughter of the human sorcerer Michael Irwin and of a full dog yukoi," Meele said with a vicious grin. "Her father didn't know of her till she was twenty-five and her mother, well her mother threw her to the wolves rather then raise a hanyu."

Marika looked stunned for a moment before regaining her composure. "You cannot mean to imply that this little whelp is my child?"

"Wow, Meele, she really is a bitch yukoi," I said, my voice bored. 

"What was that, hanyu?" Marika made "hanyu" sound like a dirty word. "Is that a challenge?"

"Merely an observation," I said evasively. "Look, Inu Marika I don't want to fight you. I want... I'm not sure what I want of you, in all honesty."

"She is your daughter," Meele said after a moment's silence. "Flesh of your flesh, blood of your blood. You would be a fool not to acknowledge her before the Counsel. Someone will notice that you two

are mother and daughter before long."

Before Marika could protest, I removed my veil. "Meele, you will not force her to acknowledge me. If she wishes to claim her daughter then she will. If not, then I can do fine on my own."

"You are my own," Marika said, approaching me her eyes oddly soft. She ran a hand over the curve of my face. "Daughter of my body who I was forced to leave behind in order to assume leadership of the Moon Clan."

"You were not forced," Meele said, heat in his words.

"I was," Marika said, taking a seat across from us. "To bring a hanyu child here would have been her death."

"You did not have to return to the Moon Clan," Meele told her before turning to me. "Marika was offered a place with an American branch of the Fire Clan but turned it down for a chance to rule here. You were not even a year old when she gave you up for adoption, tossing you to the wolves of the state foster care system. Did you know, Marika, that she spent three years in a state school for gifted teens?"

"Gifted school my ass," I said with a growl. "It was a hell hole prison for those that could use magic. Rotten, stupid..." I trailed off, cursing. I'd gotten out twelve years ago but the memories of that place still haunted me some nights. Nothing I had seen as an assassin compared to the

horrors unleashed within those rune-lined concrete and steel walls. "I will NEVER allow any offspring of mine to be in such a place."

"I... I had no idea," Marika said, looking away. "I'm sorry you were in such a place, Cara. It was not my intent. I was assured that because you

were so young you'd go to a permanent home, be adopted as someone's daughter. I couldn't bring you here as a babe- you would have been killed."

"You told them I was the daughter of a sorcerer- who wants to adopt a child like that," I asked rhetorically. "I was labeled as a 'high risk' from day one, inadaptable, and that never changed. Frequently moved, tossed from home to home until the school took me. I barely made it out alive and only because Meele was there for me! And all that without even mentioning what you were, what you are. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if Meele had not come and saved me."

"She speaks the truth," Meele said, his eyes on my mother's face. "Cara was nearly dead by the time I found her after coming back from here to help you secure your throne when she was 15."

"Why didn't you tell me," Marika said, her voice choked. Tears began to flow over her cheeks. "You never once mentioned that you even knew Cara."

"Why should I tell you of what you threw away," Meele yelled, anger in his voice. I'd always known he was angry over my mother leaving me since he considered family very important. But nothing had told me just how angry he was. "I, her great uncle, have done more for her then you ever have. How sad is that? Her own mother, didn't even stick around long enough to teach her to control herself, just left a hanyu in the human world!"

"I did not know," Marika yelled at him, rising to her feet. "How could I have ever known she possessed the powers of a yukoi? She's a hanyu! Most of them never manifest powers. And she has the bracers!"

"All dog hanyu have them, least those that come from powerful lines on either side," Meele yelled back at her. "You knew she would manifest yukoi powers! You knew she was flesh of your flesh, not just your daughter. You knew she was heir to the powers of Inu, the first of your kind."

"Damn you," Marika said, falling to her knees. "I had no choice. If I brought her here, Cara would have died. If I stayed there I would have faded away from the yukoi. I would have died."

"No, you would not," Meele said. "You would have become more human, your heart would have warmed. That's all that would have happened."

"Not everyone wants to wear a Sphere of Humanity for the rest of their lives, Meele," Marika growled. "I refuse to do so. I am not human, I am yukoi!"

"That's for sure," I said, standing. "Least you are one and not the other. I am both! I am human and I am yukoi. I am hanyu- that which is neither and both. Even the name you gave me means emptiness, the way you spelled it, a single symbol saying Kara. I am a thing apart from everything else, much like the VW Thing. Just without the Nazi support."

Meele laughed at my humor though Marika didn't. Guess she didn't get the joke or I'm not that funny. She must not have gotten it.

"That is not the point," Marika said angrily.

"You're right," I said with a nod. "The point here is whether I am part of the Moon Clan or should I be looking for a Clan to join."

"True," Meele said, staring at Marika. "Well, Inu Marika, niece of mine, is she part of your clan or not?"

Marika hesitated, turning around. "I don't know. I cannot accept anyone I myself have not bloodied in combat unless they were born and accepted into the clan as a babe."

"Fine lets go fight," I said with a roll of my eyes. "This seems to be a 'lets challenge Cara when she's new' type of night. Might as well."

I managed to duck, making her miss on the backhanded slap she aimed at me. Catching her wrist, I gripped her hard enough to leave bruises on a human. "Never strike me outside of announced combat again. Mother or no, Clan leader or no, I will hurt you back."

Marika studied me for a moment then laughed. "You are daughter of my blood, whether I raised you or not. I brook no one's touch unwelcome unless its in open combat. It does me good to see you feel the same."

"It still stands," I said with a smirk. "If you want combat, fine, bring it, I'm game. But I'll not sit here and be knocked around. Not even Meele may do that."

"As you have said," she said. "Then let us return to the main arena to fight. Hand to hand fair enough?"

"Since I was made to leave all my weapons at home because I am hanyu, hand to hand sounds fair," I said. "Long as we're just testing one another and not seeking a death, I'm okay with bare hands."

"If you are truly of my line then no one could kill you empty handed without resorting to magic," Marika said with a smirk.




Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 07



Awfully full of herself, I thought with a shrug. "If you says so, Marika-san."

She flinched. "Must you call me that?"

"What should I call you then," I asked. "Inu Marika sounds far to formal, and well... I can't exactly call you the Japanese term for mother, Oka-san, now can I?"

"You could if she'd admit to what she did," Meele commented.

"Why is that so important to you," I asked before Marika could comment, staring at Meele. "She obviously is not ready to admit that I'm hers before everyone out there- why are you pushing the issue?"

"Because he wants to see me pay for abandoning my own kin," Marika said with a growl. Meele merely nodded before she went on. "It is a sin amongst us to leave one of our own to grow up with the humans. Most don't consider those children that are born a hanyu to be part of us, part of the yukoi. Meele has always believed differently, has always fought for the hanyu underdogs, so to speak. But you have shown the powers of the yukoi, otherwise Meele wouldn't have spent time on you. And that display with Raffia proves you've at least some of my strength. So you're essentially a yukoi under the rules of kin care."

"What's the punishment for abandoning me?"

"Oh, a rather nasty one," Meele said when Marika didn't answer. "She either gets to face trial by combat with your champion, or face the gauntlet to redeem herself of her sins. You're choice."

"What's the gauntlet?"

"A terror the like few have ever seen," Meele said with a vicious smile. "Tell her, Marika, tell my Cara what the Gauntlet truly is and whether you think your mind could survive another trip through?"

Marika glared at him, something akin to hatred in her eyes. "The Gauntlet is a place of nightmares run by the Spirit Yukoi Clan and their henchmen. A telepathic yukoi controls it, bringing out your worst fears from your deepest nightmares to torture you with. If you survive the full day in there, you're acquitted of your crimes."

"And if you don't?"

"You go mad," Meele said with a vengeful laugh. "Though for this I imagine the punishment would be more then a day, Marika. We already know you can survive that because you had to in order to clear your name of killing the Ice Cat tribe leader outside of a combat ring! No, it would be longer, perhaps a week, or maybe the length of time Cara spent in that school being tortured because you fucked a human and couldn't take care of the results!"

Tears pooled in her eyes though Marika did not cry again. I was pretty amazed- my own eyes were tear-filled and he wasn't even yelling at me. I think it was the emotion in his voice, the sheer disappointment and anger that shined through despite his words that made me want to cry with or for Marika, I was not really sure which. 

Marika spoke at last, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands. "I will admit to her being my daughter, but I think her father's identity should remain secret. No one knows whether I slept with a sorcerer or a hobo and I'd like to keep things that way."

"I'm a bastard one way or the other," I said with a smirk. "Makes me no mind. Besides, the sperm donor didn't want me, not that I'm surprised. Married a goody two shoes Christian woman and gave up magic and all claim to it. Idiot."

"He was more powerful then sensible," Marika said with a rueful smile, though the fear in her eyes still showed. "Moving along, Meele will you be pleased if I acknowledge before the Council that she's my daughter?"

"I will not seek retribution on her behalf if you do so," Meele said with a happy smile. "You admit she's yours and let her into your clan and all is good on my side."

"And you, flesh of my flesh?"

It took me a few seconds to realize that she meant me, then I pondered for a moment before shrugging. "There is nothing to gain by punishing you for something you did over thirty years ago, however idiotic it was at the time. Admit that I am yours in flesh, blood, and magic and I'm happy. A clan would be nice too, but its not a big requirement. I'm not planning on staying here."

"What?" Marika studied me for a moment, eyes wide. "You're going to leave the yukoi?"

"We're leaving Japan after New Year's," I told her. "I'm only here for an assassination. Its what I do for a living."

"Assassination- you're a damn assassin!" Marika growled at me. "My own child, a killer for hire."

"What's wrong with that," I asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer. "It's a living, I'm good at it. And I don't kill anyone that hasn't murdered another human before. What's the big deal?"

"You're a damn assassin, that's the big deal," Marika said. "That raises your kill count, means you're higher on the Clan's totem pole so to speak because of it."

"And the point you're trying to make would be?"

"You come in with a secured position," Meele said with a smile. "Tell her, Cara, how many kills do you have now?"

"Oh, let me think," I said, tallying up numbers in my head. "I'm at 64 so far, wait, no that yukoi last month- 65 total so far."

"All solo kills?"

"Yup," I said. "I don't count the ones Meele takes out when he comes along to help. Though that's a rare thing now and days. Lately he's been mostly playing part of my cover, like now."

"You help her?" Marika sank onto the seat. "Even I have 70 kills, human and yukoi, and I'm Clan leader. My second only has 48. This isn't good. Yukio will have to fight you to keep his position as my second."

"But I don't want to be your second in command," I protested with a sigh. "Why is everything here about fighting?"

"Because they're more animal then human now," Meele said with a smirk. "They've cloistered themselves among one another to the point where they no longer have the ability to reason higher then animals."

"That's not fair," Marika told him. "A few, okay a lot of us in the Yukoi are more animal-minded then anything else, but those are the weaker ones amongst us. Those of us in power still retain our human forms and reasoning."

"Then why do I have to fight this Yukio?"

"Because he will challenge you," my own mother told me. "He wants to lead the Moon Clan, I know this. But since he cannot defeat me, and yes he's tried, he will kill to remain second. He's a very good fighter."

I shrugged. "We'll deal with that when it comes, que sera sera."

"Then let us get on with it," Marika said, rising. "You should replace your veil until I claim you as my own and there for part of my Clan without the need for combat."

"Nice, no more fighting."

"Not quite," Marika said. "Yukio is here and he will more likely then not challenge you to a duel. He will try to kill you, daughter mine. Perhaps you should join the Fire Clan. It would be safer."

"Life is not safe," I said matter of factually. "I'll join the clan of my mother. It is appropriate after all."

"Come, Fiery Silk," Meele said spelling out the Kanji used to spell my name these days, holding his hand out to me as he rose. I took it after replacing the purple veil that hid the lower half of my face. Marika started at what he'd called me. "You surely did not think I'd leave her with the a spelling meaning 'emptiness' did you?"

"It meant sky, and well you know it," Marika said haughtily. 

"Could have fooled me," Meele said. "I changed the spelling a bit to two symbols- fire and silk, spelling Kara."

"You had not right," she said as she lead the way from the room, unsealing the doors then locking them behind us. 

"Your point?" Meele asked right before we entered the Council arena once more when Marika couldn't answer.

There were more people in the stands now, almost every seat filled. The all wore something in common with their leaders- Marika's people all wore a scarf with her symbol, Dokkasomaru's people's clothing had flames licking up their sleeves, and Shinkoru's people all wore muted earth tones in brown and black. There were two other groups whose leaders were now perched in their respective chairs on the dais. Both were female but the similarities ended there.

Marika, leading me with Meele taking the rear, whispered to me. "The one in the twelve layer kimono is Kanoko, Chief of the Wave Rider Clan Yukoi- she's the child of a yukoi powerful enough to be known as the Water God. The other one, the short female in those odd miko's robes, has no name. We call her 'Tama-chan' or Soul child for lack of anything better. She leads rules the Spirit yukoi... and the gauntlet."

"Creepy little thing," I whispered back before seeing Raffia lean into Shinkoru's ear, whispering probably that we were here.

I must have been right for he spoke. "Welcome back to our chambers, Dragon's Companion, Phantom Dog and hanyu. Have you reached any conclusions?"

Marika lead the way to the center of the arena, motioning for Meele to stay back. Her hand seemed to fly at me out of no where, ripping the veil from my face. There were gasps as she stood next to me, the purple cloth trailing from her clawed fingertips. 

"I, Inu Marika, Holder of the Second Seat of the Yukoi Council and Chief of the Moon Clan, have an announcement."

"Get on with it then," Dokkasomaru said impatiently.

"All in due time," Marika said calmly. Gone was the emotional mess we'd seen in her private chambers. Now she was commanding, strong, like an impenetrable fortress of walking will power. It was quite a change. "I would like to remind all, my clan especially, of the two year sabbatical I took to the US before returning here to Japan to begin the fight for leadership of the Moon Clan."

There were mutterings in the crowd, nods and bewildered looks. Marika went on. "For reasons my own, things happened during those two years that I have told no one else about, saving my teacher, Rye Meele. In that two year period, I became pregnant by a human and gave birth to a girl child. Rather then risk a hanyu who would probably be powerless, I left her to the humans, to be raise among them as one of their own."

Gasps and shouts of outrage filled the hall before Shinkoru demanded silence. "Go on, Inu Marika."

"Thank you, Council head." Marika said with a deep bow in his direction. "As I said, I left her to be raised by humans because to bring a hanyu child into a power struggle would have been, in my mind, giving her a death promise. That I could not do, even to a child with powers. So I left her there where she was raised by humans. Meele, as we all know, left me shortly after my accent to Clan Chief, for parts previously unknown. He left Japan for America and watched over my child, saw to raising her to control her powers, which she did develop, despite being hanyu. Now, as an adult, she has returned to the yukoi.

"I present before you, Inu Cara of the Moon Yukoi Clan," Marika said grandly, ripping off my veil. I felt as if I were being presented at a livestock show due to all the eyes that studied me careful. "Flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood, clan of my Clan, she be. Killer of 65, a mix of humans and of yukoi, she is well bloodied in combat and needs no entrance battle into my clan!"

Shouts went up from the Moon clan, some in protest others in praise. A voice from their top bleacher silenced them all.

"Quiet! All of you," hissed a male yukoi who looked a few years older then I. He stood and took a leap to the floor, landing about ten meters from Marika and I. "Marika-sama, far be it from me to question you, but she has not been bloodied by one of our own. How can we, the Moon clan, accept what we have not seen proven?"

I looked at the man standing before us and before I could help myself I said, pretty loudly, "You've such beautiful eyes!"

The eyes in question, a deep sea-green, widened before narrowing suspiciously. His angled face was framed by light brown hair that fell to the bottom of his cheeks. Feline ears peeked through his hair, a slightly darker brown with pink insides. The center of his forehead, above his slightly upturned nose, was a solid black sphere, I guess it was supposed to be a moon. A forest green shirt flowed over his upper body, apparently tucked into a pair of leather-like black pants. Around his waist was a long red scarf bearing Marika's symbol sewn in solid black on the ends. All in all a rather handsome guy, not as handsome as my Samu, but close.

My hands flew to my mouth. "I'm sorry, that was just a bit... um..."

"Presumptuous," he supplied, walking up to me, his gait like that of a big cat. He looked me over from head to toe and back again. "Well, you certainly look somewhat like Marika, if one accounts for your American heritage. Still, I don't think you are truly of the yukoi. The claw trick is really nothing special, hanyu."

He said the word the way Marika had earlier, as if it were a huge insult. I laughed, couldn't help it. "You seem to think that's insulting. I am a hanyu, I freely admit it. I'm half yukoi and half human, can't change it so I've accepted it. I'm used to being a freak."

"You lie," he said.

"I never caught your name," I pointed out, ignoring his statement. Whether he believed me or not, it'd be no skin off my nose. At least not yet and I wasn't planning on letting it be. Skinned noses hurt.

"I am Neko Yukio, Second of the Moon Yukoi Clan and Chief of the Ko'ori Neko Zoku!"

"Impressive sounding," I said sarcastically as I mentally translated "Ko'ori Neko Zoku" to Ice Cat Tribe. I stepped away from Marika and held open my hands. "Am I supposed to cower now?"

"Yes, hanyu," Yukio growled.

"Perhaps you've found someone to bloody your bastard, Marika-san," said the woman in the third council seat, her voice kind where her words had not been. She was the one wearing the twelve layer kimono yet she looked almost cold in it. Long black hair reached down to her ankles, leaving her face clear. A blue violet water drop adorned her forehead set above a small nose. Deep brown eyes surrounded by the what I would have said was pale skin if I hadn't had the little girl on the dais's to compare it to. The woman was smaller then Marika, taller then Shinkoru. "I am Kanoko, Chief of the Wave Riders Water Yukoi Clan. If you are truly of the Yukoi, then you will be able to call magic to defeat Yukio, who has very little magic of his own. If you are not of the Yukoi, then you will die."

"That's a great set of options," I said with a sigh. I unclasped my bracers and tossed them to Meele. I breathed out then in deeply, gathering my magic around me as I did so, slipping back into my full yukoi form. My pupils went from rounded human eyes to the diamond eyes of my mother, my eyebrows taking a sharper tilt. I could feel my claws lengthening and my body growing slightly taller. Shaking my hair, I looked up at Kanoko. "Well, how's that for a start?"

"If you can back it up, it will be worth noticing," Kanoko said, her voice even kinder now. 

I turned back to Yukio. "Well, cat boy, bring it on."

He studied me for a moment before shrugging and whistling. A woman in the stands threw him a kitana in its sheath. "This is going to be fun, I get to rip up the child of the infamous Inu Marika and there's not a damn thing she can do about it."

"I don't have a blade," I protested.

"That's not my problem," Yukio said, advancing on me. "I call you out, Inu Cara, daughter of the Chief of the Moon Yukoi Clan. Come at me if you dare."

"I'm so going to kick your kitty ass," I growled before feeling a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at my mother.

Marika smiled at me and offered me her own sword, Moon's Song which she seemed to pull out of thin air at her side. "If you are truly mine, it will head your call. If you are not, well, then we need to know that too."

"That's reassuring," I said with a roll of my eyes. I looked at the kitana in my hands with hope. It looked normal enough, if a little old. Pulling the blade from the sheath, which I promptly dropped in surprise, there was a flash of light. The sword flared, then settled down to a dim glow, humming softly in my hand. I looked at the blade in bewilderment. It was not longer scruffy looking, but a piece of master craftsmanship. I could feel it in the weight as I wielded it. Something inside me clicked, fell into rhythm with the blade, as if it had a heart beat that matched my own. 

Twirling the blade around I smiled then laughed. "Oh, this is a fine blade in deed, mother mine. Well, Yukio, we're evenly equipped, relatively speaking. Shall we dance this dance of battle?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Yukio said, slinking toward me. We circled one another, the kiss of steel against steel the only sounds in the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Marika on her throne on the dais and Meele sitting on the base of the Moon Clan's bleachers. 

"You're not paying attention," my opponent hissed, taking the opportunity to run his blade down my unprotected left arm to leave a shallow cut that I was able to heal on the spot. I was really missing my bracers right about now. "I won't kill you- we don't do that to new entrants. But I'm going to enjoy making you kneel before me, watching you bleed, hanyu! There's no way you can win this fight, little dog. No way you're taking my position in the clan."

"I don't want your position," I growled at him and at the pain I felt. I redoubled my efforts, putting everything I had into the sword, hoping that I'd find a way to beat him. I had no illusions- Yukio only had to outlast me. My stamina wasn't going to last anywhere near as long as his because it took extra energy for me to switch between hanyu, yukoi and human forms. Not to mention I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, I thought as I threw myself into a roll. Calling power into my left hand, I rolled into a crouch a few feet away from and flung a fire ball at him. The fire ate through his shirt, making him roll along the floor, screaming in anger as he beat out the flames with both hands.

A bit scorched and furious, Yukio rose to his feet. "That was a cheap trick, hanyu."

"Effective though," I said, stepping up to his sword. I kicked the blade under the bleachers, knowing better then to try to pick it up myself. 

"Unfair," Yukio said, his eyes on my hands now instead of my face. 

As he rushed me once more, Moon's Song pulsed in my hand, almost forcing me to bring it to bear against Yukio. The blade sang out as it bit into his flesh, taking him in the side, a flesh wound yes, but a very bloody one. Blood from his wound flowed unchecked, a small stream of crimson on the dark tile floor. Apparently he couldn't heal small wounds on command like I could. Made me think he wasn't full blood yukoi.

In the moment it took me to free the sword from his body, Yukio's clawed hand found my right arm, grating along the bone near my elbow and ripping out finely near my wrist. He didn't hit the main nerve or muscle groups but it bleed and hurt like hellfire and forced me to switch sword arms. I was decent with my left hand but not as good as I was with my right. Still, in pushing him away, I put myself between him and his sword.

I danced back, away from the blood pooling on the floor, careful of my footing. Heeled boots on slick marble tiles was not a good combination. Calling another fire ball to my right hand (about all it could handle at the moment), I released it on Yukio as he tried to circle around behind me. He dodged this time, expecting the attack. The dodge put him in his own ever growing pool of blood. 

Then, I did something truly unexpected. I literally threw Moon's Song at Yukio, aiming for a point a foot beyond his chest, not caring if I hit him or not. The blade screamed through the air as I dropped to my knees, sinking both hands into the puddle of blood and letting the spell of blood poisoning wash over me. It would contaminate his very blood and eventually his soul if he didn't get the spell reversed in time. It was a last ditch effort because I knew that I only had so much magic left in me. Without the bracers, I wasn't able to keep my full yukoi form for very long and I needed it if I was going to withstand Yukio's attacks.




Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 07



I finished the spell before really looking up at him. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him, pierced by Moon's Song through his lower abdomen, staring at me in obvious shock. I watched the poison flare through his pooled blood and into his body, both from the flesh wound I'd caused and from the sword wound. His reaction to it was greater then any I'd seen before. The scent of his flesh rotting from the poison filled the room.

Throat convulsing, I backed away from him, scared by what I'd done. Yukio sank to his knees, eyes blazing in hatred and anger. Before I could say anything, he ripped Moon's Song from his chest and threw the blade at me. I caught it from reflex alone, hand gripping the now bloody pommel with a surety the rest of my body did not feel before throwing it back at him, sinking the blade into his flesh once more, this time through his left upper thigh, piercing the femoral artery. Blood gushed forth from the wound in a rhythmic series of gushes.

"I..." I stuttered, unsure of what to say as Yukio collapsed to the floor, his body limp.

A voice from behind me spoke, proud and sure. "Well, this should answer anyone's questions about whether she can use the powers of a full yukoi or not. She wields my sword, Moon's Song, as it was meant to be wielded- to prevent the healing of wounds on the battle field and to increase the power of spells cast around it."

As I turned to look at Marika, my yukoi fled from me, draining away as horror in what I'd done filled me. I'd killed someone simply because they didn't want me to take their job, which I didn't want anyway. A horrid reason to kill someone, really. Claws became normal nails as I shrank to my human size, though my hair remained silver, my ears those of a dog. Meele would later tell me my eyes became split- the left human, the right yukoi. My voice seemed to echo though it felt as if I were whispering. "I killed him... I didn't mean to do that. Meele- how did I do that?"

"The sword amplified your power as it does all dog yukoi," Marika said, walking off the dais. She moved over the blood like it wasn't there and ripped the sword from Yukio's body. Smirking she slapped him in the face, making him moan faintly. "Come on, wake up, you fool. Time to admit she beat you."

"He's not... dead?"

"No, he is not," another voice from the dais said softly. A girl came forward, she couldn't have been more then ten. A yin and yang symbol flashed above her solid black eyes. I stared at her in a mixture of curiosity and bewilderment. What kind of creature didn't have irises? "At least not yet. You may kill him if you like, that is your right."

"Who are you," I asked, partly worried she was going to challenge me too. It had been one of those nights.

She tilted her head at me, pale skin framed by that odd lavender hair. A pink, jeweled headband kept most of it off of her face, her long bangs blending with the rest of it. "I have no name that I claim. I hold the Fifth Council Seat and am Ruler of the Spirit Yukoi, Master of the Gauntlet."

"Tama-chan, that's less then friendly," Shinkoru chided her. "Yes, she has forsaken her name, Cara-chan. We, for lack of anything better, call her Tama-chan, soul child. She's a bit cold to strangers."

"A bit," Tama said, raising her eyebrows. She looked down at me, head tilted, studying me. "You shall be interesting to watch, Inu Cara of the Moon Yukoi Clan. Interesting indeed."

I turned to my mother. "Am I of the Moon Clan now?"

Marika in turn faced her assembled people. "What say ye?"

"Aye!" came the assembled shout of the Moon Clan. I notice one of them remained silent, a female yukoi who bore the same cat ears that Yukio did. She strode from the mass to kneel before Marika.

"Mistress, I humbly ask to be allowed to tend my brother."

"Of course, Neko Shimori," Marika said with a negligent wave of her hand. She turned away from Yukio and returned to her Council throne.

Shimori rose and bowed to my mother before giving me a glare. "I am Neko Shimori of the Ko'ori Neko Zoku. Watch your steps, dog."

"Was already planning on doing that," I said with a shrug. Shimori turned in a huff and picked her brother up, ignoring his moan of pain at being moved so roughly. She left without looking back, blood leaving a trail behind her as she carried Yukio out the door I'd followed Marika through earlier. I guess that was their part of the building.

I looked around at all the bleachers full of yukoi, the council on their thrones once more, Meele who'd moved away from the Moon Yukoi to stand near Dokkasomaru's Fire Clan, murmuring in a woman's ear as she smiled wickedly and to a small boy standing next to the woman. He bore a striking resemblance to Dokkasomaru, though there was a kindness in him that was clearly a reflection of the woman next to him, obviously his mother.

I called out across the room, my voice loud and clear. "Meele, are we almost done with this?"

"I don't know," Meele said honestly, looking to Shinkoru. "Are we done with this? You've met her, seen her fight not once but twice. Cara's been acknowledged as the daughter of Inu Marika, been accepted into her Clan. What more do you wish of her?"

"Many things," Shinkoru said, his voice the same friendly steady tone it had been all night. "But we've done enough for this eve, don't you agree, my fellow council members?"

"For this eve, yes," Dokkasomaru said, his eyes on Meele instead of me. "She and her watcher can go home, for all I care."

"I am satisfied with tonight's work," Kanoko nodded. "A new yukoi has entered our fold, never a bad thing. At least one hopes this is not something that will bring us ill."

"And you, Tama-chan?" Shinkoru asked. "What say you?"

Tama left the dais and approached me with steady, decisive steps. She did not touch me but another step and she would have. Her eyes seemed to catch me, make me unable to look away. Inside my head I heard her voice. There are things I would speak to you about, Inu Cara and sooner rather then later.

If you like, I thought back, suddenly afraid of the small child before me. I could feel her power now, rustling around me like a web of silk. Tonight's almost over, but I'm off work, goodness, Thursday night if you'd like to talk then.

She smiled at me and it made her something else. Gave her beauty a warmth I hadn't seen before. I would like that. Akihito and I shall come visit you in your human home three nights hence, Inu Cara.

She finely blinked and I was free. Apparently no time had passed though and the smile she'd showed me was gone. "You can leave, hanyu. I've certainly nothing for your this eve."

Spinning on her heel, Tama left me looking bewilderedly after her as she returned to her Council Seat, pausing to bow to Shinkoru first. He acknowledged it with a nod of his head before addressing me again.

"Inu Cara, you and your guardian, Ryu Meele, may leave now," he said with a smile. It was rather odd seeing someone smile and not seeing if it reached their eyes or not. Made it hard to judge the sincerity of the smile itself. 

"Thank you," I said, bowing to the Council. I turned to the Clan I was now apparently a part of. "Hopefully I will be able to meet more of you in the future. I would like to know more about my new Clan, the Clan of the Moon Yukoi."

There were mutterings through the Clan but no one said anything to me as I walked over to Meele. He nodded, whispered something else in the woman's ear and left. I followed him without turning back, happy to be leaving the assembled Yukoi in once piece. Relatively speaking. 

Once outside, I studied the cut that ran from just below my elbow to just above my wrist on my right arm. It looked like it had been frozen shut and once I started looking at it, it started hurting like an icy flame. I would have fallen if Meele had not caught me.

"Why- why does this hurt so bad, Meele?"

He studied the wound for a moment. "Because he wanted it to scar and so froze it with his sword. I can stop the pain, but it will mean it'll scar. If I leave it in pain, it will not scar. Your choice, Cara-chan."

"Do it," I said, not caring. I had enough magic to hide the scars if I needed to. He shrugged and magic flared from his hand before he laid it on my arm. The world ran in icy colors, pain roaring through me before everything faded into a blessed black. My last thoughts were of how close the stars looked before my body shut down into a dreamless sleep.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 08



I awoke early the next afternoon, trying to scratch my arm and blocked by my bracers, moaning as I rolled out of my waterbed. I felt like something the cat drug in, half alive, half dead. I made it to the bathroom and realized I at least looked like what I felt. The mark on my arm was an angry red, the skin that oddly smooth scar tissue that only bad cuts develop. I was ashen, my normally lightly tanned skin pale, made paler by contrast with my almost black human hair. I still wore the outfit I'd worn the night before, much worse for wear from the fights, blood splattered and torn. My knees and hands still had blood on them, I noticed with a grimace, the entire evening prior coming back to me.

Forcing myself, I showered and got ready for work, though I had an hour to spare before I needed to leave. I'd need to eat before heading into work or I wouldn't be able to make it through my four hour shift.

I emerged from my room, at least looking nicer, decked out in my Bic Pic uniform of a blue knee length skirt, matching vest and long sleeved white shirt. I'd added makeup, a rarity for me, to hide the ashen tone of my skin. It had taken quite a bit of make up, more then I usually wore even if I was going for "glamorous."

Carefully, I took the blood-stained blankets and sheets from my bed and tossed them in a corner to clean on my next day off. Luckily none of it had gotten through to the pillow top of the waterbed mattress due to the high thread count of the sheets I used. Practical and posh. 

Meele already had food laid out on the kitchen table, a small salad, bowl of rice and a plate almost overflowing with a red wine chicken that Meele was known for. High on protein and carbohydrates, just what the doctor ordered.

"I could kiss you," I said before plopping down on a chair. I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and started wolfing down food, not stopping to talk. Taking a drink of the coke Meele set down in front of me a few moments later I paused in my eating. "Why's my arm scared so badly? I've never had a wound do that before."

Meele answered as I ate, understanding that all the fighting and healing had taken a lot of energy. "Yukio is of the Ko'ori Neko Zoku along with his sister Shimori. The Ice Cats are just that- cats that use ice attacks. They're originally from northern Russia but immigrated here during the 1500's by European reckonings. One of their attacks is focusable through a sword or other metal blade. Yukio focused his ice magic through his sword and hit with it when he sliced your arm. He made sure that you'll bear the mark of his attack for the rest of your life."

"We shall see about that," I said haughtily. "I imagine I can do something about it."

"If anyone can, you can," Meele said. He stole a glance at the kitchen clock. "You need to go in a few moments. Oh, and Samu called for you earlier. I didn't want to wake you."

"Thanks," I said, pushing away from the table, stomach full. I felt much better, the food fueling energy that coursed through me. I rose from the table feeling about three quarters alive and found my cell phone in my purse. Dialing from memory, I sank onto the couch, feet up on the coffee table. 

Samu picked up on the third ring. "Moshi-moshi."

"Hey, Samu," I said with a smile, though he couldn't see it.

"Cara," he said my name as if it were something special and warm. "One sec."

I could hear him yelling in the background, noise all around him before it suddenly grew quieter. I had to ask, "Where are you?"

"A meeting," he said evasively. "I can't really talk about it. How'd your thing go last night?"

"Better then I expected," I said with a sigh. "Not great, but no one died, so not that bad."

"That's a sorry standard," Samu chided me gently. "When you determine how good or bad something is by the carnage involved."

"Oh, if we're counting carnage it was pretty nasty," I said honestly. My watch chirped at me, reminding me I needed to go. I slipped into a bike suit to keep me warm as I talked to Samu. "Was a rather messy event, truth be told."

"Are you okay," he asked, concern in his voice.

"Of course," I told him. "I'm going to work tonight."

"Want to come get a drink with me afterward?"

"Hmm… I work tomorrow at noon, so it will have to be a quick one," I said with a sigh. "You could come over to my place instead, you know- I get off at nine…."

"So be there at nine-forty-five," Samu said, finishing my sentence. "That should give me time to get Danny home and transferred over to his night shift guard."

"Works for me," I said, fighting the stray thought that said tonight would be a good night to make the hit on Danny since Samu was out of the picture and would not be caught in the crossfire. "I'll see you then."

"Love you, sweetie."

"Love you, too," I answered back before he hung up. The words had slipped out without me planning it and it startled me. I did love Samu- I honestly really did love him. And I was going to kill his boss and best friend for money. Whether Samu was in the crossfire or not should not have been one of my major concerns and I knew that far too well. 

I drove to work and went through the motions in a partial daze, my thoughts chasing after each other like a pack of dogs. If I really loved him, I'd turn the job down, refuse to make the kill. Pay Talon out of my pocket to make up his share. But I had never broken a contract before and I'd sworn Danny would die before the end of New Year's Day. My word or my heart, which had a stronger pull on me? I didn't have an answer for that at the moment, wish I did.

There weren't many customers, a blessing, leaving me free to think while I straightened shelves and put out new stock. I didn't reach a decision before closing time. I clocked out with everyone else and slipped back into my coverall. The streets were almost empty, the rest of the world seemingly asleep even though it was only 9:05 PM. 

I scrubbed my face and changed once I got home. The jeans and t-shirt were hardly high fashion but I was comfortable and relatively presentable. I looked at the scar on my left arm, startled by how vicious it looked. It streaked like blue lightning down my forearm a good half-foot long and about two inches wide at most. I slipped my bracer back on, partly hiding the mark. Would take sleeves to hide it completely and I wasn't about to put on a long sleeved shirt. Meele kept the apartment far too warm for that.

Thinking of the yukoi, he wandered into the living room from the computer room he'd taken residence in. He slept in a small version of his natural form, a dragon. Curled up like a snake around the computer desk, cute as a button long as you weren't afraid of reptiles.

Padding out, he looked sleepy eyed and half awake in his human form, plaid pajama bottoms all he wore. 

"Morning, sunshine," I said a bit sarcastically. "Well, okay, its 9:30 at night, but still, hello."

"Eh," he said, heading for the kitchen. I heard the fridge open and close before he walked back out with a Tupperware bowl. "Chicken good," he said before going back into his room. Guess I wasn't going to get a chance at the leftovers.

I was still laughing when the doorbell rang a few moments later, shaking my head as I answered it, letting Samu step into the dimly lit living room of my apartment. Rapid healing sometimes makes me photosensitive, hence the dimness.

"Hey, beautiful," Samu said, standing there in a three piece suit and looking incredibly handsome. I felt a quite underdressed as he held bags of take out in his arms. "Hungry?"

"You're an angel," I said, letting him into the apartment. I lead him into the brighter kitchen, finding bowls and chopsticks as he laid out what he'd brought. Crab Rangoon, teriyaki chicken, tempura and gyoza with obligatory white rice cartons. "That smells heavenly."

"Almost as good as you," Samu said, pulling me into his arms after I set down the bowls. He hugged me close, making me hiss as he pressed against my arm. 

Samu pulled back and studied me, eyes worried. "Are you okay? Cara you look ashen- what the hell happened last night?"

"What was the meeting you were at about," I asked instead of answering, raising an eyebrow. I waved away his unspoken response. "I know, you can't talk about it because it might endanger me. Same thing applies for what happened last night. Lets just say that I've meet and talked with the yukoi rulers of this region and things are relatively okay."

"You won't tell me what really happened, will you?"

"Nope," I said, my voice brooking no argument. "I cannot and will not tell you what happened last night. Its something only a creature of my blood could understand and live through dealing with. I won't put you in that danger."

I made myself stop, forced myself to keep from saying that I couldn't protect him after I left and that someone from the yukoi might hurt him to get me to return to Japan. That I was leaving after I killed Danny and probably not returning. 

"Please," I said, laying a hand on his chest. "Don't ask me to tell you what happened. The knowledge will only get you hurt."

"I can protect myself," Samu said angrily. "I'm not some kind of weakling. I can handle an assassin or monster if need be."

His words shot through me, the irony painful. I responded in anger, hiding the pain he'd caused me, that I'd caused myself. I pulled a knife from the collection on the counter top and was behind him, blade at his throat before he was even aware I'd moved. "Okay, handle this, mister big and tough guy. Because I'm telling you now, I'm slow compared to them. I almost got myself killed because I'm a bit too slow, had to resort to magic to save myself, something I hate doing. I've killed dozens of people in my life, some of it legal from when I was a cop, some of it not quite so legal. Now you tell me, Samu, if you can't handle me, how the hell can you handle a real yukoi? You didn't do so well against the last one either, if I remember correctly."

He was still against me, blood rushing to his face in anger and surprise. "You… why'd you pull a knife on me? Cara- what the heck is going on? You were a cop?"

"Shit," I swore angrily, realizing what all I'd said. I dropped the knife from Samu's throat and sat down at the table with a sigh, mentally railing at myself. I'd never once broken my cover like this, never put myself in a position like this. "Where to start?"

"The beginning would be nice," Samu said, sitting down across from me, his eyes nervous, angry, and scared. "How much have you lied to me, Cara? That wasn't a move I'd expect from a toy salesgirl."

"How much have I lied," I mimicked, stalling for time. I shook my head sadly. "I can't tell you everything, heck I can't even tell you half of it."

"Why not? Who… no what are you Cara? You're not here taking classes and working like a normal person would be are you?" 

I cringed and turned away from Samu, fighting to keep my expression neutral and failing badly. My voice was steady and clear though, not showing the turmoil I felt inside. "You're right, Samu, I'm not in Japan doing things like a normal woman would be. Heck, I'm not even full blood Japanese."

"Is Cara even your real name?"

"Now that's uncalled for," Meele said from the door way to the kitchen. I turned to look at him and started. He was garbed in his yukoi armor as he'd been the night before though his form was still human. "There is not time for this sharing, Cara. I need you to come with me."

"No, this is important," Samu said, eyes a bit wide but otherwise non-pulsed by Meele. "We need to talk, Cara and I, so I can find out what the heck is going on here, why she lied to me."

"You act as if she has a choice in her actions or if you've a choice in ours," Meele said, eyes narrowing dangerously. 

That look alone made me place myself between them, back to Samu. My voice was soft and tightly controlled as I spoke. "You will not threaten what is mine to protect, Ryu Meele. I will not allow such a thing and well you know it. Now what's going on?"


"We've been called back before the Council," he said, turning that harsh look on me. I didn't back down though part of me wanted to. Meele was not someone I wanted to fight with. But I couldn't afford to be weak with him, not when he was behaving like this. Weakness just might get me hurt and Samu killed, something even I couldn't forgive.

"Why are they calling us back? We saw them last night." I protested, still guarding Samu.

At least I was until he shoved his way from behind me. "No, I won't let you shield me like a child."

"So you refuse her protection, human," Meele growled, tilting his head to the side with a cruel smile. I noticed then his Sphere of Humanity, the stone that allowed him to shift human and stay there, wasn't around his neck like usual. It meant that his mindset was more yukoi then human, colder and less likely to care about whether he killed someone or not.

"Meele, where's your Sphere," I asked, hoping Samu would shut up. Of course, that didn't happen and both males ignored me.

"I don't need her protection, Meele," Samu growled back at the yukoi before him. He stepped closer to Meele, invading his personal space in a way that I never would have done in anger unless I wanted a fight. "I need to talk to her and you're not taking her away until we're done."

"You are a fool, mortal," Meele whispered, eyes glittering as they changed from a standard human brown to the slit-pupil purple eyes of a dragon or snake. His body altering magic that let him appear human fell from him in a rush of power that made me throw up my bracers reflexively. 

Meele stood there, wings half furled, forehead symbol blazing and glared down at Samu, death in those strange, inhuman eyes. For his credit, Samu didn't back down nor did he look away. He did have spunk, had to give him that, even if he had the common sense of a village idiot.

"I'm not afraid of you," Samu growled at my teacher. It was an act of defiance in the face of a killer, reminded me of myself facing the council and the other yukoi I'd met over the years. 

"You should be," I told Samu, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Meele to face me. "You will NOT fight with Meele this night. If you want to die another day, go ahead and try your luck. I've seen Meele fight- you'll die, horribly. Don't make me watch that today, Samu, not before going back in front of the Council. Not before my own possible death at their hands."

The words "own possible death" seemed to shoot through Samu, making him study me for a moment. "They can't be that dangerous."

"You've no idea," I whispered, shaking my head. "I am a child among them with a status higher then it should be because of what I've done in the past. I can barely back up that status and if truly pressed, I'm not sure I'll come out alive. Happy? I'm admitting they may kill me, that what I am might truly kill me, something I've never feared before, not really. 

"Not as a cop working nights in Los Angeles, not as a bounty hunter tracking a serial killer across the sands of New Mexico, or hunting a child molester through the slums of Houston. I walked without this fear of death through the gang areas of New York and through a Colombian drug lord's compounds deep in the South American jungles. Samu, trust me, I'm afraid of the yukoi and Meele, despite how human he may appear sometimes, is one of them. One of those scary, elemental magic controllers. You are an idiot to challenge him to a dual over whether we can talk tonight or not. It is not worth your life, trust me, please." 

I stepped away from Samu. "I must answer the Council's summons or they'll send someone to bring me in against my will. That would be hard to hide from the humans because they wouldn't take me peacefully. Now, here's what's going to happen- you're going home. I will call you once I'm free of the council and head to your place. I'll explain what I can there. Meele- get ready to go answer the Council's call."

Meele snorted at me before turning to do as I bid. I was lucky he liked me- most who ordered him around ended up maimed, or worse, dead where they stood.

Samu wasn't taken care of so easily. He followed into my bedroom as I stripped out of the clothing I wore and into my black assassin's outfit. I turned away but didn't order him from the room. That would have been kind of silly- hey, I'm embarrassed even though we slept together already so could you leave the room. Yup, silly. 

"Cara, you can't leave like this," he protest angrily.

I sighed deeply. "And you can't keep me from doing it, Samu. I may be a woman but I am not your possession. You cannot stop me from doing what needs to be done. I must meet the Council tonight, despite the fact I don't want to, that I'm terrified of what it is they want."

"Then don't go," he said angrily. Part of me wanted to smile and the other part of me wanted to cry over his naiveté. 

"I have to, Samu, m'lo…" I cut the words off, stopped myself from saying "m'love" to him because I didn't have that right. I was a killer for hire, not bridal material. I knew that but knowing it didn't make it any easier to accept. "If I don't go, they might kill me over the insult. I can't afford that. I've a job to do."

"What job? Why are you here, Cara," Samu asked, his voice tortured. "Some part of me thought it was fate that brought you here, to me but I don't think its that. Please, before you go, tell me, what you are. Then I'll shut up and let you go and wait for you at my home."

After unlocking and detrapping my gun safe, I slipped on my thigh holsters and slid my guns into them after checking they were full plus a round in the chambers with the safety on. As I slung my sword sheath over my left shoulder, I answered him. "Samu, you're not going to like this. I'm a… God there's no nice way of saying this… I'm an assassin, a killer for hire to the highest bidder long as the mark is the scum of the earth and the price is high enough."

Same sank heavily onto my bed, eyes wide, shaking his head in disbelief for all the good it would do him. "You- but, how? I mean… you're not an assassin, that can't be."

"Its true," I said, shrugging into my right shoulder guard, careful of the sharp spikes it bore. I was ready for bear or demons, whichever came first tonight and possibly even both. "I kill people for a living. I'm a millionaire in my own right, have about two hundred mil in various banks around the world. I am not in Japan for a pleasure cruise, Samu. I'm here for a reason."

"You've an assassination here," Samu whispered, face in his hands as he sat on my bed still. "You can't do this, Cara. You can't kill people for money. Its not right."

"Oh, and killing them for the mob is so much better," I retorted viciously. "I've seen your records, Samu and I am not a fool. You've a kill count that's about a third of mine. Don't act all innocent on me here."

"I didn't… I mean… how did you find out about that," he asked, staring at me in bewilderment. It seemed to be a theme tonight. 

Meele's voice came from the hall. "We need to go, NOW, Cara!"

"I've got to go, Samu," I told him with a heavy sigh. "Like I said, I'll call you when I'm done with the Council. Life first then matters of the heart, you have to understand that."

"I understand it, Cara, but I don't like it." There was a finality in Samu's voice that made me cringe. He softened then, in a way that I could not have. It was a mark of how much more human, how much more humane Samu was then I that he could soften after all he'd heard so far. "I'll wait up for you, Cara."

"Thank you," I said, running a hand over Samu's face tenderly. "I will do all within my power to be by your side one way or another after I am done."

He leaned into my gloved hand, taking comfort in the touch. "I'm going to get going, let you do your thing. I'll see you later, Cara."




Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 08



I watched him go in silence, not trusting myself to speak. When the front door closed behind him, I let out a breath I'd been holding. Meele peeked into my room and looked at me with an arched eyebrow.

"Having fun, little Cara-chan?"

"Thrill an hour," I said with a wry smile. "I don't like having to lie to him… or telling him partial truths. But there's no choice really."

"Nope," Meele agreed. He held out a clawed hand to me with a smirk. "We're flying to the Council meeting tonight rather then taking a bike. It is time they remembered who Rye Meele is in truth, not what they saw last night."

"So that's why your not wearing your Sphere of Humanity," I noted, surprised. "Can you take your dragon form while wearing it?"

"Don't think so," Meele said after a moment's thought. "Never really tried- why would I want to be a humane dragon? That makes no sense at all, little Cara. Dragons are not humane, we are dragons."

"I get the point," I said with a laugh. Trust Meele to tease me into a smile by being overly yukoi. "So, how we doing this?"

"You're riding in style tonight," he answered. "I'll be in my dragon form and will fly in, you'll leap off and land prettily in a bow before the Council with a flourish. Tonight is about show, Cara. It has to be because I don't think you're up to another fight with a full yukoi."

"Tell me about it," I said, hissing as my the ache in my arm caught my attention for a moment before subsiding. "Will the cat siblings be there?"

"It is possible," Meele said, leading the way to the roof of our apartment. It was the highest building in the immediate area, the rooftop covered in satellite dishes and a couple of laundry lines but otherwise empty at this time of the night. "We'll have to wait until we arrive. They won't like that your armed, Cara."

"They can kiss my ass," I said with a wave of my hand. I kept talking as Meele shifted into his dragon form. It wasn't the violent change that some of the yukoi experienced because Meele didn't fight his dragon form. He embraced his dragon, was one with it in a way that many yukoi were not. It reminded me sharply that he was over four hundred years old and from a time when legends of dragons flying through the skies were reality. "I have to be armed tonight, Meele. I'm not going to set myself up to get killed just because some snotty bitch things I'm not worthy of a blade or weapon."

"Actually, you are worthy now," Meele said, his voice echoing in my mind instead of aloud. His dragon form was huge unless he willed otherwise. Tonight he was about half of his maximum size, about forty feet from snout to haunch with another fifteen feet of whip-like tail. Meele was more a European dragon then an Asian one. Apparently got it from his mother who was from a Latin country in Europe. His eyes were the only thing that remained the same, the only way I knew this huge silver monster before me was my friend. Well, that and the fact he wasn't trying to eat me. 

"What do you mean," I asked as I got up on his back and found my seat just in front of his webbed wings. 

"You belong to the Moon Clan, so are allowed weapons," Meele answered, taking to the sky, his natural magic hiding us from the eyes of others. "The Moon Clan is known for making and using weapons, both ordinary and magical. Now the guns are a new thing but not taboo. I doubt anyone will argue with you but they won't like them."

"They can argue all they like," I said, hand running along the grip of one of my guns. "Long as they don't try to take them away, we'll all walk away alive."

"That's my girl," Meele said, winging to the Council's open air dome with sure, easy flaps of his wings. 

Five hours later, Meele landed in the parking lot behind the temple where Samu lived, roaring loudly, "Human get out here and help me!"

I slumped against the dragon's back, dizzy and light headed from blood loss and the flight there, black spots filling what little I had left of my vision in my right eye and all of my left as Samu raced outside into vague light of the false dawn. "Hi, Samu."

"Cara!" he shouted, eyes wide. "What happened to you?"

I tried to smile but couldn't, it hurt too much because of a quartet of already swollen lacerations running from my right eyebrow to the bottom of my jaw. "A Snow Cat challenged me to a fight and I had to answer it or give up my true reasons for being in Japan. I won but not by much."

I fell off of Meele, the world spinning around me. Samu managed to catch me before I hit the ground, swinging me easily into his arms. I didn't have enough power to keep my hanyu or yukoi form so couldn't flash heal the wounds that Shimori had caused. While lacking the ice claws of her brother, the cat yukoi more then made up for it with much longer, sharper claws. I'd only barely beaten her and that only by burying myself in her chest, face tucked against her while I ripped through her stomach, digging for her heart. Of course, Marika had stopped me before I killed the cat, saying that I didn't need a higher kill count. Couldn't argue with that, not and win. So I let her live after wrapping the last bits of my expendable magic around her heart and telling her if she ever stood against me again I'd kill her with a snap of my fingers. I'm afraid I fainted right after saying that, taking some of the scariness out of the threat… but then she fainted right after I did, or so Meele told me.

I'd awakened with Marika helping magically bind me temporarily to Meele's back and bidding us a quick flight home. At my insistence, he'd flown me to Samu's house. I had sworn to him that I'd be there after meeting the council. Wasn't his fault I was a bit anemic at the moment. Okay, a lot anemic and rapidly going into shock, but I doubted it would kill me. Hadn't before, though this was probably the worst I'd ever been torn up without putting me into a healing coma for a few days. Trust me to think such a thing too soon. Egg to chicken counting, I was.

I didn't even wince as Samu carried me inside, leaving the door open behind him for Meele to follow. He set me down on the huge island countertop in his kitchen, obviously figuring it wouldn't stain and be easier to care for me from there. I hissed in pain as I touched the countertop, pain flaring along my back, where she'd done the worst of her damage to me. My back lay in tatters, ribs exposed in some places, muscle in others. I'd managed to stop her before she caused a spinal injury but that didn't mean much to me at the moment. 

No, at the moment tears flooded from my eyes, causing the claw marks on my cheeks to burn all that much more, though it was nothing compared to my back. She'd gotten all of the major muscles and a good deal of the minor ones there, leaving me writhing in pain, eventually managing to turn myself over onto my relatively unharmed stomach. I was lucky I could move at all really.

I heard Samu through the haze of pain though I could no longer see, my vision too clouded by black spots and a red haze from the pain. 

"What happened to her? Why did you let someone tear her up like this, Meele? I thought you were her uncle… or was that a lie too?"

Meele, wearing his sphere once more, calmly replied, "I am her great uncle, that was not a lie. I could not protect her from this- she was challenged and had to fight this battle or she would be branded a coward and anyone's meat who wanted her. That is not a safe thing to be branded with, Samu."

"You're calmer now."

My last trickles of awareness faded away as Meele explained the Sphere of Humanity to Samu. I was safe and would be okay, that's all I needed to know.

The only thing that tipped me off that I was dreaming was the fact that there was no scent to the blood that coated everything I could see.

I stood in a room with soft blue carpet and drab gray walls, the huge bay windows lined with lurid green curtains that were shoved to one side of a hole in the glass. One of the glass shards, a makeshift blade larger then my forearm, was imbedded in the chest of a man lying next to the window, a stillness to him that only death could bring.

Pinned to the wall beside by my own claws was another man, one who was not human but hanyu, like me, only he was dying. My spare left hand held a smoking pistol, the bullet from it deep in a woman's forehead, stopping her from charging at me.

Surrounded by this death, I was not afraid, but relieved. It was over, the job was done, I was free to do as I wanted now after I added the tale-tale tokens I'd collected that would make it look like a drug hit instead of an assassination. 

But, before I could do anything, the door opened as I let the mark slide from my claws and in it was the silhouette of a man. I gasped in the dream but could not see who it was. 

I tried as hard as I could but was unable to see who it was only that they held a gun and it was pointed at me. I heard the click of the trigger, the thunderous cry of the round leaving the chamber, the thump as it entered my body before the world ran in colors I didn't have words for…



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 09



I woke up gasping, a scream in my throat, hands flying to my chest where the bullet had struck me in the dream, throwing multiple blankets from my body. The movement brought a howl of pain from me as it pulled healing muscles and skin in my back and shoulders. The sound echoed nicely since I was still in Samu's kitchen, laying on my side atop his island, wrapped in blankets. Somehow I think it was accidental. I mean who plans for good acoustics in their kitchens?

Samu came running into the kitchen, Meele close at his heels, saving me from further pondering the acoustics of the kitchen. One of them must have slipped me something though the feeling of utter randomness was slipping away as I blinked in the bright lights. 

Samu and Meele both wore bathrobes, Samu's over a pair of matching pajama bottoms, Meele's over nothing I could see though it was tightly belted shut. The dragon has no modesty, I swear. 

The sight of the two of them was comforting, though in different ways entirely. Meele's presence was welcome in a way a father-figure would be, Samu's in the way one would welcome a lover and friend. Though how much longer the latter would remain that to me was debatable. The dream I had shook me to the core, making me shiver though there were three heaters in the kitchen all aimed at me. I looked at the metal boxes with their glowing filaments and tried to push away the lingering fear and horror the end of the dream had brought with me.

"Are you okay, Cara," Samu asked, laying a hand on my now bare shoulder as I sat up.

I winced under his touch, looking at the flesh beneath his hand. Apparently Shimori had bitten me as well. "Stupid cat bite," I growled in English without thinking before switching back to Japanese so Samu could understand me. "I'm fine Samu, relatively speaking. I've been hurt worse then this."

"Thank goodness for that," he said, the lines around his eyes relaxing. "I mean not that you've been hurt but that you'll be okay."

I pulled my legs to sit cross-legged on the counter, shaking my head to clear the last trendles of sleep away. My voice was scratchy and rough from disuse. "Thank you for letting me use your kitchen to heal. How long was I out?"

"Ten full days," Meele answered from my other side. I turned to stare at him as he went on. "I know, your longest restorative sleep yet, but you needed it. Look at yourself, still marred from the fight after almost a week's time. I'm half tempted to put you back to sleep for another week or so to finish the job."

I did as he said, pulling the blankets away from myself to look at my skin, wincing as I did so. Along my sides and shoulder, my skin was still raw and pink, shiny scar tissue that pulled when I moved. I sighed, knowing what needed to be done but not liking it. "Don't put me back to sleep, Meele. I need to get up and move around or the skin will heal too tightly for me to move freely without tearing it at first."

Meele nodded and turned away. "I'm going to the store," he called over his shoulder. "We've been feeding you soups and broth all week but you'll need something meatier if you're going to be moving around. Try walking on your own now, until I get back. Samu, be nice."

"I'll make sure she doesn't over do it," Samu called as Meele left the kitchen to get dressed. He turned back to me, eyes still worried. "Are you feeling okay? Can I get you something?"

"I'm okay, Samu," I said though in truth I wasn't really but I'd get there. "Can you help me off the counter?"

He moved to help me shift my legs off the counter, hand on my arm to steady me. "Nice and slow, Cara."

"I know," I answered, gritting my teeth against the pain as I slid off the metal island. My feet hit the cold floor with a jolt and I hissed sharply at the flares of pain from my back and legs. The world swam in techno colors for a moment before I forced my body to steady itself. With that, my human form melted away, body taking on my hanyu form for the first time since I'd been injured. I gasped at the shift but embraced it, even though it hurt worse then standing had. In my hanyu form I'd heal twice as fast, if not faster, then in my human form, though there was a cost. The additional pain was a small price to pay in return for the ability to defend myself if the situation called for it. Even if I didn't think danger lurked at Samu's house, paranoia's only unjustified until someone tries to kill you.

The claws from my fingers bit into the metal counter top, marring the surface permanently. By will power alone, I made myself let go to stand on my own. Of course, right after making such an improvement, the muscles in my back, newly regrown, began to spasm, sending me to my knees howling in agony, hands just barely catching my fall.

"Cara!" Samu called as I fell, unable to catch me before I hit the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," I hissed, jaw locked tight against the scream trying to get out. "Just a back spasm... totally expected under the... oh, dear God!... under the circumstances."

After a moment the spasms faded, leaving me breathing heavily and still on my hands and knees. "That's less then fun."

"What happened," Samu asked, kneeling beside me. 

"Spasms from rapid healing," I whispered as I caught my breath once more. "Like I said, its normal though I've never had my back torn up like this. Had spasms after I got my arm almost torn off by a mark on steroids. That hurt... not as bad as this though. Guess this hurts more because of all the muscle groups involved. Almost every move you make moves something in your back, you know."

"What kind of life do you lead," he asked, voice soft in wonder and underneath that, fear. "This shouldn't be normal."

I laughed harshly. "Its normal for me. In the past my life revolved from one crisis and mark to the next. I couldn't pursue a normal job because of my body. Can't pass the anti-magical physicals that more and more companies are using now. So I'm stuck doing the one thing that doesn't require a physical that holds my interest."

"Killing people is all that holds your interest!?!" Samu's voice was astonished and appalled. "That's... I don't even have words for how inhuman, that is. What kind of monster are you?!?"

"Guess I deserve that," I whispered, pushing myself to stand before him, wrapping the blanket around me like a sarong. His words stung, like flames licking into my heart and mind, threatening to light the essence of my soul on fire. How easy it would be to slip into my Yukoi form, to end this relationship built on false pretenses in that moment. Show Samu what a monster I really was by killing him. 

With a gasp, I forced those darker thoughts down, bound them tight under the ties of my humanity, begging for enough strength to keep them locked away until I knew I wouldn't hurt Samu. I realized in that moment that I couldn't harm him directly, that to do so would break something inside of me that I could never repair. 

My weakness... the only person I would do anything for, anything to save and keep safe. A weakness that I could ill afford and yet there was little I could do about it.

Overwhelmed by the realization and the pain, I began to cry, slowly at first then in great wracking sobs that shook my entire body.

Samu, even in his horror and anger with me, pulled me into his arms, careful of my back, holding me tight against his chest even though he didn't know why I was crying. Smart man didn't even ask, but whispered apologies for calling me a monster, that he was sure there was a reason why I took the jobs I did.

How long we stood there, I don't know. Time often seems to move differently in that kind of moment. When you're wrapped in your beloved's arms, being comforted against something you never thought anyone could or would comfort you over.

"I'm sorry, Cara," he whispered after a while, his voice soft. "You're not a monster. You've done what you had to do to survive. I can't throw stones at you, not when I've killed others simply because they betrayed a fellow Yokuza member or pissed off someone higher in the food chain."

"I've only killed those who've killed others or had them killed in cold blood," I said against his chest, my voice muffled but understandable. 

"Better then me at least," he said at length, apparently pausing to think about what I'd said. "To condemn you is to condemn myself, which would be stupid. I'm not proud of what I've done, but I accept it."

"A therapist would say that's very healthy," I said, an attempt at humor. Why is it my brain tries to be funny when it should be serious?

"A therapist would say we're both nuts," Samu said around a laugh, arms sliding down around my waist. "I've talked a lot with Meele while you were... asleep. He's helped me understand a lot about you and what and who you are, Cara."

"Is that so," I asked, wondering just what Meele had told him about me. "And what did he say?"

"That you'd been ridiculed by the human world from your birth, bounced from foster home to foster home, even though some wanted to adopt you. The state, afraid of you, refused to let them do that and put you in a center for 'gifted' children that nearly killed you. He told me how he helped you escape, get a new identity and watch you enjoy freedom for the first time in your life at the age of sixteen."

"You make it sound grander then it was," I whispered, blushing against him. "I only did what I had to."

Shaking his head, Samu tipped my face up to look at his. "You did what most would fear to do. You fought for your freedom, fought for your right to live as a sentient being, not just some magical guinea pig. That is very admirable, Cara. Plus years in the police department and more still hunting down those that harm others? That's not monstrous, Cara."

"Some days it is," I said, fingers curling with the sensory memory of the dream, grasping at flesh that wasn't there. "I'm not an angel, Samu. There have been times I've killed just for the sheer rush of it and the pay check I'd receive upon confirmation of the kill. True, my marks have all killed others, but then so have I. Only reason I'm still alive is because I'm not human. I'm sometimes not even very humane."

"According to Meele you are," Samu countered. "He told me that your kills are almost always in one shot if possible, minimal suffering of your target. Clean and quick, not traumatic and horrifying."

"And that makes killing people so much more ethical," I said sarcastically. "You know, most men would drop me like yesterday's donuts if they knew a third of what you know."

"I'm not most men," Samu said with a smile that reminded me suddenly how close we were, how little we were both wearing. "Trust me, Cara."

"I want to," I said honestly. "I don't know if I can trust myself. I'm not a great person, Samu. I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"I like wolves," he told me, moving his head closer to mine. I let him kiss me, dismissing the subject for a more intimate one that required no words.

At least not until his hands slid up my back, causing my claws to rip reflexively into his sides at the sudden influx of pain. I pushed away from him, gasping and trying to dampen the pain. It took me a few moments but I managed to push the pain far enough away that I could ignore it. 

"Don't think I'm up for that quite yet," I managed to choke out as I pushed the pain down. Once my head cleared, I said, "I'm sorry, Samu but don't think I'm quite ready for that. Never thought I'd say my back hurts too much...."

Samu laughed, his eyes dancing with it, shaking his head slightly. "Only you would apologize for being too wounded to be made love to, Cara. Though maybe if you were on top...."

I smiled at him as he trailed off suggestively and was about to give it the good old collage try when Meele returned, making sure we heard him coming in the front door of the temple house. Great timing for a guardian, I mused with a sigh. Not that I had any virtue left to protect.

I could smell the meat in the bags he was carrying, licking my lips in anticipation of it. Somehow, I managed not to jump on him or attack the raw beef, though part of me, the yukoi part, wanted to. Protein deficiency tends to make me not too picky about whether my meat is cooked or not though the next day I tend to be disturbed by the lack of cooking. E. coli is an awful way to die, or so I've heard.

Meele saw the hunger in my eyes and knew what it meant, perhaps even better then I did. "I'll have some of this cooked up soon, Cara. In the mean time, Samu why don't you get her a robe to wear or something. She really shouldn't be parading about semi-nude you know. Might catch a cold."

Samu went off in search of a robe that was light enough not to bother my back while Meele cleaned off the island and began pulling out cooking utensils. It suddenly struck me that Samu's kitchen was huge for a Japanese home but I didn't say anything. Maybe he or some previous resident loved to cook.

I knew that Meele did, though he'd only learned it in the last few decades. Apparently he'd never had the opportunity to cook before joining me in America and now enjoyed it thoroughly. 

He turned that serious gaze of his upon me after he began sautéing the chunks of beef he'd bought with some onion and red pepper slices. For me, in my current state they'd only be cooked enough to get hot in the middle and then served, still bleeding or not. "How's your back?"

"Been better," I said, trying not to drool. "Spasms are further apart now and they're the worst part."

"Good," he said, shaking the pan to turn the meat. "I imagine they'll only last a couple more days then you should be back to normal within a week or so."

"First few stretching sessions are going to suck though," I muttered in English. I've been told I slip into my native language more often when I'm complaining about something.

"I imagine so, Cara," Meele agreed with a smile. "You do deserve it though. You could have just shot the damn cat."

"That would have killed her though," I countered. "And I didn't want to kill her- what if Yukio came after me for killing his sister? More drama that I don't need."

"That is true," Meele said before his eyes narrowed and he switched into a language spoken by the yukoi alone so Samu wouldn't understand him. "What you do need is to get this job done so we can get the hell out of this country! The council will not sit idly by, they're going to want to test you again on a full moon to see if you're stronger then or not. I've already heard whisperings of this from a friend."

"Wouldn't happen to be the pretty woman with fire-like hair that's married to Dokkasomaru would it?"

"Pest," Meele teased. "Too observant by far."

"Alive because of it," I said with a grin. "That done yet?"

Meele rolled his eyes and gave me a serving of the meat once the onions were finished cooking. I dug in as he continued to speak. "I'm worried about you Cara. You've left a gaping hole in your natural armor by falling love with that human. Especially a human of the Tigushi family."

"What's wrong with the Tigushi family," I asked around a mouthful.

"Don't talk with your mouth full of food," Meele chided absent mindedly switching back to Japanese now that he was done chastising me. "The Tigushi family was not always simple mountain dwellers. They're the real reason the Yukoi number so few."

I stared at him blankly, wondering what in the heck he meant. 

Meele must have understood my look because he nodded. "It's true, my little cub, the Tigushi family was a huge family of yukoi hunters. Men, women and even children who trained their entire lives to slaughter Yukoi, be they good or evil, harmless or harmful.

"Can you imagine that, Cara? Can you see yourself and your entire family being hunted by these humans? Your own wife and children slaughtered by them because you were out hunting?"

The sorrow and grief in Meele's eyes brought tears to my own. I'd known that his family had been murdered by humans but he'd never gone into detail about it. Not the detail he went into now, his voice mournful as he spoke in Japanese, not caring if Samu heard and understood him or not.

"Their bodies, Goddess, their bodies were torn apart for their bones, the skins of my youngest taken for cloaks to protect from fire. My wife, pregnant with our fourth child was massacred in her bed as she finished her labor. The only way I knew this was because they missed my youngest child. My newborn daughter lay in that bed between her mother's legs, soaked in blood, squalling in fury over her mother's inattention. I looked through her eyes and saw her mother finish delivering her just as the sword fell, taking my wife's head from her body.

"My wife, trapped in her human form by the dark of the moon, didn't stand a chance against those warriors. Armed with weapons crafted from the bodies of other Yukoi and tipped off to our presence in these very mountains by a traitor who I took joy in killing."

I sat there, crying softly before I caught his last words. "Wait- tied to her human form? Your wife was a hanyu?!?"

Meele nodded solemnly as Samu asked, "Why's that such a surprise? Is there something wrong with being a hanyu?"

"Yeah, just a lot," I whispered, bolting down the last of my food. "The fact that I'm accepted by the council and have a clan to claim as my own is amazing for a hanyu. Most of those born as a hanyu are too weak to compete with the true yukoi on their own without special weapons or help. I manage because I carry the powers of my mother's people and the sorcery of my father's line. Otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance. For a Greater Yukoi, one of the most powerful of his race, to be married to a hanyu is a big deal."

"Izuoi was a big deal," Meele whispered harshly. "For four hundred years I have mourned her death, mourned the death of our three elder children. For four centuries I have cursed the Tigushi family for their murders."

"That's why you told me to drop Samu," I whispered, eyes wide. 

"No, its not," Meele said, gaze shifting from me to Samu. "I warn you away because he carries within him the yukoi killing abilities of his predecessors. A bullet shot by Samu could hit you where others have failed." He held up a hand to prevent Samu from protesting and went on. "I buried my children, all of them, because of the Tigushi family and their love/hate relationship with the Yukoi. One generation hates them and the next loves them, even breeding with them, giving their descendants more strength against us."

"Well... didn't see that one coming," I said at length, wondering what in the world I'd gotten Meele and myself into this time and where Samu fit into my life now.

Couldn't blame him for what his family had done in the past, right?

Heaven save us from the sins of our forefathers. And mothers, too, just for good measure. 



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 10



Two nights after Meele's startling revelation, I perched atop the chimney at Samu's house, alone in the darkness. Samu was off on a three day trip to Okinawa with Danny and Meele was pleading for more time from the Yukoi Council of Elders. They had this lovely idea that it would be nice for me to come visit again and both Meele and I disagreed. The fact I couldn't move my back through my range-of-motion exercises without hissing in pain and tearing the skin open again was all the reason we needed though we couldn't let on to that. Might be seen as a weakness I could ill afford. I was getting pretty damn tired of yukoi politics.

Above me the night sky was lit only by distant stars, the moon shrouded by the Earth's shadow. Reminds me of life at the moment, I thought with a rueful smile. Shaking my head, I stood, stretching my hands to the stars and breathing deeply of the crisp night air. Bundled up in long sleeves and jeans with boots as I was the chill in the air didn't bother me. 

Looking around me I was suddenly struck by how odd it was not to see Trick-or-treaters bouncing from house to house on a candy gathering high, chased through the darkness by well meaning parents and older siblings. Halloween doesn't have any real meaning for the Japanese, though it had one for me.

On this night, of all nights, when the gate way between this world and the next is at its thinnest, even I could feel the cry of those dead and buried within the mountain Samu's ancestral home stood upon. 

Samu had told me the entire mountain was owned by his family, from the very base up to the tip top very his home stood. Distant cousins now, true but family non-the-less. Generations of hanyu, humans and yukoi tied to the Tigushi family lay buried here in marked graves, sacred caves and raised carrions deep in the trees. Every body was a nail in the mountain's defenses, if one knew how to use them. Meele had told Samu and I of holy mikos, priestesses who could invoke the wards placed with the dead bodies, raising a protective barrier over the entire mountain. Apparently that ability was lost though, for Samu had said while he'd heard of it from his great-grand father as a child, it was thought to be legend, not fact. 

What I could feel around me was not legend, it was fact. I wasn't sure if it was my familial ties to Meele and his kin or the fact that I was a hanyu, but the dead here clamored for my attention. I closed my mind off, steeling them outside to whisper through the trees instead of within my head. Even I cannot appease the dead who seek to talk to those dead and gone to ash longer then I've been on this world.

I think that was part of why Meele had left, not to say that placating the counsel wasn't important but avoiding the voices of those long dead may have been a larger factor the he let on. 

It is often quite difficult to tell with dragon yukoi. They play their emotions close to their chests. Sometimes as a protective measure, sometimes just to be secretive bastards and others because they don't know any other way. Meele's rather emotional outburst was, at least for him, a startling new facet of him that even I had never seen.

This job had brought on so many strange things, Meele's outburst, me falling for the mark's best friend, seemingly prophetic dreams….

I laid a hand upon my chest, remembering the dream and the bullet that slammed between my breasts in it. The sensation memory was so great I half expected my hand to come away bloody. 

Of course it didn't, just my imagination running wild, from the whispers of the night, the fact it was All Hallows Eve, Samhein, or from simple nerves I didn't know, nor did it really matter.

A sound in the almost liquid darkness drew my attention, a child's cry in the dark, terrified and shrill. I sighed, knowing full well it might be a trap and activating my bracers anyway. My hair was already pulled into a solid black hair wrap to keep it neat, body covered in the same monochrome color scheme, a regular thing when I'm in charge of my own wardrobe. The bracers added some additional protection plus extra power recourses- two full weeks of charging without use had left them almost overly full of magic and begging to be used. As was my kitana, strapped to my back, vexed with me for not risking it within the Counsel walls.

One doesn't take a magical kitana forged by a man hunted by the yukoi for such things into a whole den of the monsters and expect to walk away without answering where it was gotten. The sword's forger was hiding in America for a reason- he was retired and didn't want to be bothered. So I kept his secret, killed who he wanted me to, and he repaired my blade when it needed it. Pretty fair trade, far as I could tell.

I carried the kitana tonight because the guns seemed a bit overkill for a home in the mountains. Not sure why the sword seemed more appropriate but it did. Like taking a gun to a knife fight, the sword was also supposed to be overkill for anything I'd expected to find on this mountain.

Again the child's cry sounded, urgent in the dark, pushing away any other thoughts. It was closer now, as were the sounds of breaking branches, as if it were running away from someone or something large and fast.

A single leap took me to the soft ground of Samu's garden, a vault over the garden wall and off into the trees that covered most of the local terrain. I got about ten meters before stopping and listening closely, searching by sound for what I could not see, the child and its pursuit. 

"Save me," came a cry from about fifteen meters ahead of me to my right accompanied by a crash and a shrill squeal of pain. "My ankle… help me! Someone… anyone…."

I crept closer, eyes straining to see in the near dark of the trees, ears picking up sounds of both the child and whatever was after it. A shake of my head and I moved further forward, far enough to see a small clearing. In the center of the clearing, sprawled across the lush grass, was a small boy on the ground with bright orange hair wrapped in a now rather tattered blue cloak with flames along its bottom edge. 

It was the cloak that told me who the child was, Akihito, son of Dokkasomaru, Leader of the Fire Yukoi Clan. Not that it mattered, I was going to try to save him anyway, no matter who his parents were.

If I could, I thought, staring at the monster that now hunted the little boy. A rolling mass of crimson flesh, writhing in upon itself, with a gaping maw full of razor sharp teeth. Human-like arms, legs, hands and feet stuck out of the beast at random intervals, giving it movement. It was a nightmare, plain and simple.

A long tongue whipped from its mouth, wrapping around Akihito's right ankle, causing the boy to howl in both terror and pain. A flash of moonlight showed the ankle to be broken and swelling already.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," I mused in a whisper before darting in, sword drawn. I managed to get a good cleave in at the monster's tongue, lopping off the part wrapped around Akihito's leg.

The thing reared back, tongue thrashing around like a headless snake, howling in pain and anger. It turned most, if not all of those strange eyes on me, glaring I think. It was hard to tell with little light and the thing having more eyes then I could count on the fly.

It was a monstrosity, as if someone had taken the bodies of humans, yukoi and whatever else it could find and melted the torsos together, forming a mass and leaving only the eyes and that gaping maw as its features. The limbs that seemed to erupt from its flesh varied from muscular and male to delicate and feminine to slimy and so not human. Just looking at it made my stomach give a jerk though I managed to ignore it for now. Could vomit later, life saving first. Priorities.

Akihito lay behind me now, crying but soundless, shrinking away from me as well as the monster.

"Akihito-kun," I hissed, moving into a crab-like crouch, getting ready to attack the monster. "On my mark, get away. Follow my scent trail back to the house and lock the doors once you're inside, okay?"

Brave little lad that he was, Akihito managed to answer, "Okay… I think I can. Is that you, Cara? The one Momi-chan wants to talk to, from the Council?"

"Yeah, its me," I answered and the creature paused and studied for a moment, tilting its head, as if it could hear something I couldn't. I didn't care what it could hear, I just wanted it dead. Attacking children should be against the rules of the universe or something, at least in my book. I took a deep breath to steady myself and threw up a mental pain block. This was going to hurt, a lot and the block would only last for maybe ten minutes tops. But it would keep me from being distracted by pain.

"Now, Akihito!" I yelled as I launched myself at the monster in a roll that brought me under it. I didn't look to see if the boy had moved or not, I had bigger problems to deal with.

For every limb I hacked off the bottom of the creature, three more were there, clawing and kicking at me. At my best I could have avoided the majority if not all of them. But I was no where near my best right now and I was in trouble.

A well placed kick caught me on the hip and sent me sprawling out from under the creature, landing in a heap about ten feet in front of it, where Akihito had been. From the sound of things, he was moving toward the house as fast as he could.

The limb-monster knew this too and abandoned me, chasing off into the forest after Akihito.

Now I'm a patient girl, but to turn your back on me during a fight as if I'm not a threat? That's just more then any healthy girl's ego can take. And mine had gotten quite a bruising lately between being cut up by the ice cat and being told to stay home and behave by Meele earlier that evening. 

Embracing my anger and letting it fuel my change into my full yukoi form, I yelled aloud as I ran after the thing, "I'll be damned if I let some squalling, putrid, piece of shit conglomeration such as you get the better of me! Turn around and fight like a man… er… a Yukoi! Yeah, that's it, fight like a real Yukoi, you idiot limb monster." 

Though it didn't seem have ears, I can only guess that the thing heard me because it changed direction with a speed that surprised me, rushing toward me once more. Taunting had worked a bit better then I'd planned for.

"I'm in for it now," I whispered before bringing my sword up once more in a fighter's defensive stance, feet planted but ready to move. Like a matador with a raging bull, I called to the beast, hoping its fury would make it stupid. "Come here, you monstrosity. Come on, how many females invite you to do anything? Must be hard to get a date, though you must come in handy occasionally."

The screech that came from its mouth was a mix between a human woman's scream and a lion's roar. It grated on my ears and made me wish my hearing wasn't as sharp as it was. Grass, sticks and the earth itself crunched under its limbs as it rushed toward me, mouth wide, that long tongue lashing out at me.

I was ready for the attack this time and parried away the tongue, slicing off another two feet of it, opening another wound that bleed furiously onto the forest floor. Of course, its thrashing also got a good deal of blood on myself, but that was okay. Long as it wasn't my blood that soaked my clothing things were going well.

Rolling in its tongue, the thing tried a new approach. Grab and bite seemed to be its new game plan and it seemed determined to make this one work where the tongue had failed.

I darted out of reach and back in, sword flying, arms falling around me like grotesque hail in a storm of blood and thicker things. How many kicks exactly it managed to land while I darted about I wasn't sure but it was quite a few. The monster couldn't seem to grab me though, sword slicing at its arms.

I concentrated on the arms because frankly they could grab me and the legs couldn't. Also seemed to hurt more when I took off an arm instead of a leg. 

Soaked head to toe in blood and heaven only knows what else, I whirled around the monster, heedless of the pain that wracked my body, driven by a battle lust to see the thing bleed more. It had hurt me, hurt a child and it had to pay, said my primitive mind, the part of me that is almost an animal with fewer higher brain functions. Since the rest of me agreed, I kept to that plan, hacking off arms as fast as I could, dancing around the limb creature until there were no more arms. 

The lack of light made it impossible to tell if it was paling due to blood loss but its movements were becoming slower, less organized. The rare kicks it did manage to land now were light, a mere taste of what it had thrown at me earlier.

Finely, there were no more arms left on the creature, only legs and blood-gushing holes, eyes and that gaping maw, howling in pain now. The legs were no longer as much of a threat as they had been so I concentrated on the eyes, sword gouging out large tracts of flesh with each sweep. I was truly lucking in the sword I wielded for it was a truly magical blade that adapted to whatever work the owner was doing.

So from a cutting broadsword it shifted into a gouging scimitar, wickedly sharp to slice whole pieces of flesh from the creature's main body mass. I hacked and sliced into it until the limb monster finely gave a final, soul grating howl before collapsing to the ground, apparently dead.

I stepped back, flicking my wrist to knock some of the blood from my sword. The droplets hit the ground in a staccato hiss of sound. As I watched, the monster began to smoke, its body slowly dissolving as only the body of a true yukoi could. Made clean up a lot easier, I mused as my skin tingled with the dissolving fluids. I shook my hair, releasing the vapors trapped there and took a deep breath. 

Well, I thought, thank goodness that's over. Now to find the little lost boy.

I found Akihito as he reached the garden gate, limping and crying in pain but still trying to do as I'd told him. I called out to him before I cleared the trees, to be sure he knew it was me and not the monster. "Akihito-kun, are you okay?"

"No," he said and his voice carried pain and fear. "I can't walk… my ankle, I think its broken."

"It'll be alright," I said, walking up to Akihito and scooping him up in my arms. He was a solid little boy and I was glad of the extra strength I had in my yukoi form. "Lets get you inside and get some ice on that ankle."

We went inside and I set him on the kitchen countertop I had so recently vacated myself. "While I'm getting your icepack together, tell me, what are you doing out here?"

"Are you sure the monster's dead," he asked instead of answering me, his blue eyes wide.

I nodded. "Yup, dead, dissolved and no longer of this world. My word on that, Akihito-kun. Now, why are you on this mountain? According to Meele the Fire Clan's home is further south."

"It is," Akihito said, hissing in pain as I lifted his foot and set it down on an ice pack then put another on top of his foot. He went on though, his voice betraying none of the pain his face showed. "I wanted to talk to you about something so came looking for you. I'd heard you were in this region and thought I could find you. But as I was looking, that thing came out of no where and broke my travel spell. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there…."

He trailed off, leaving unspoken the fate he would have suffered if I hadn't intervened when I did. I smiled at him and leaned back against the fridge, thankful for its cool surface against my back. "Its okay, Akihito. I'm just glad I was there to help in time. How's your ankle feel?"

"Better," he said and sounded surprised when he said it. "It doesn't hurt nearly as much anymore. Thank you."

"No problem," I answered with a shrug. "So what did you want to find me for so badly that you left your parents protection?"

"Its about Momi-chan," he said in a whisper, as if someone could be listening. "She needs help and I think you're the one that can help her."

My gut was telling me to say no, can't help, I have a job to do then I'm going home. But since when did I ever listen to something that sensible and still have fun? "What's wrong with her?"

"Its her body, I think its falling apart," Akihito said, not looking at me. 

It was then that my pain block faded, leaving me alone in a sudden sea of agony, back and sides aflame in pain. I reached a hand to my back and it came away bloody. Great, I'd reopened my wounds. I forced myself out of the sea of pain, surfacing enough to concentrate on what Akihito had said as I grabbed a chair, spun it around and sank into it backwards, straddling the back of it.

"What do you mean," hiss of pain, "falling apart?"

"I think she's got more power then her body can handle," Akihito said, eyes wide, staring at me now. "Are you okay?"

"Nope," I said with a sigh. "I'll heal though. These bracers I wear let me store extra power, I'll just use some of that to heal myself."

I put actions to words, releasing some of the still brimming energy from the bracers, sighing as relief washed over my back in a cool healing rush. Only in my full yukoi form could I use sheer energy to heal like this. My hanyu form couldn't and my human one was useless almost in healing things. I was suddenly glad the monster had gotten me mad enough to allow me to use the rage to push into my yukoi form. Would have hurt a lot worse if it hadn't.

"I'm glad you're alive," Akihito said with the innocence of a child. "I'm sorry you got hurt on my behalf."

"Its okay," I said softly. "I needed a work out. Not that much of one mind you but still needed one. Now, how do you know Momi's hurt?"

"She's so pale," Akihito said, staring at his hands now. "I mean, she's pale normally, but even at her wrists she doesn't have any color. Its as if her entire body is bleached out except her hair. And she's been glowing constantly the last two weeks, like a candle in the dark or something. She usually glows when she's using her powers or very angry but I've never seen her glow while sleeping."

I nodded. "Sounds like she needs to use more of her powers then she's using or stop producing as much."

"She can't stop, least that's what Mama said," Akihito protested. "She said that Momi's hurting because she's an old soul and too strong to be so young. That she should have been placed under limiting spells as a toddler or something."

I looked at my bracers, the limiting spell I still used. "Maybe if we could find another set of Bracers like mine, she could siphon that extra energy off and not be so glowy."

"That would work," Akihito said, looking at me now, hope shining in his sky-blue eyes. "I'm so glad."

"That done, do your parents know where you are?"

"Um… not exactly," he said evasively.

"That's a no," I said with a sigh. "Your mother's going to be worried sick about you."

"Nah, Mama and Dad are at the Council meeting tonight along with Momi. I snuck out earlier, after Meele came in and started arguing with them about how you have a job and can't come play." He studied me for a moment. "But that's not the reason you're not coming, you're too hurt to go to the Council, aren't you?"

I sighed and stood, flexing my back. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much anymore, as if that overflow of power had healed my back completely. "I'm going to go get cleaned up, grab a shower and take you to the Council meeting spot to your parents."

He started to protest and I held up a hand. "I cannot let you go back on your own and if I wait for Meele to get home, your parents will be frantic. I have to go back. Will also give me a chance to see Momi-chan and judge how bad she is."

"Okay," Akihito said with a sigh that was older then his 11 years. "I just don't want you to get hurt tonight."




Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 10



"I'll be okay," I assured him, ruffling his bright orange hair. "I'm a heap big hanyu, it'll all be good."

I walked off with him laughing at me, bright and carefree. Ah, to be a child again and be able to trust that everything would be okay because an adult said so. Wait- the only adult I'd ever trusted to make everything okay had been Meele. 

Least I'd had someone to trust, I mused. Poor Momi-chan has no one other then Akihito. 

Of course, I didn't truly know why she was so alone, maybe I'd learn when I got to the Council meeting spot. If they didn't kill me on sight for walking in with a missing prince. Yeah, that'd be a great thank you.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 11



It was only after I'd walked up to the dais of the Counsel that I realized that coming here carrying the bloodied child of one of the council members and in full yukoi form, might not have been one of my brighter ideas. From the threats being howled from the Fire Clan's section of the arena, I'd say they thought I was less then bright too. Least I'd washed the blood off myself that hadn't evaporated away.

Akihito looked up from my shoulder where he'd buried his face during the transport spell to protect himself from the harsh winds that accompany it. "Why are they all staring at us?"

"I think they though you were dead," I whispered back. "And maybe I killed you."

The little boy looked at me, clearly puzzled. "But I'm not dead."

"Minor detail. You're covered in wounds- who's to say I didn't cause them?"

"It does not smell like your work," a small, feminine voice said from the right of the dais. Tama-chan, the nameless ruler of the Soul Clan turned those large, iris-less eyes on Akihito and I, her face unreadable. "Though you are correct in your assumption that others might think so, Inu Cara. What brings you here in such a state as this, dog?"

"Momi-chan," Akihito said with a smile though his eyes were still shadowed with pain and worry, I guess for her. "Cara-san saved me from a Teashioni that seemed rather bent on killing me. She hacked it to pieces, even though it could have killed her and me both. I owe her my life and you know that is not a light debt."

"No light debt indeed," Momi said, her diction a bit on the archaic side. As if she were speaking Japanese from Shakespearian times, a rarity in modern Japan. "And why, pray tell, were you in such a place that she could save you, Akihito-kun?"

"That's something we'll talk about later," Dokkasomaru said from his council chair. "Mokuka, if you would take our son please, we can continue with this meeting. He does not need to see what has been found."

"What did you find," Akihito asked, echoing my own thoughts.

"Nothing for your eyes," a woman said as she came up to us from the Fire Clan's bleachers. It had to be Akihito's mother, Mokuka, if only because they looked so alike. Mokuka was delicately formed, heart shaped face framed by some of the most unusual hair I'd ever seen. Akihito had told me she was a Priestess of the Great Flame, a high standing miko that few dared to challenge even among yukoi known for flame abilities. Like the clan's sacred fire, her hair flowed from her head in a reverse flame, yellow at the roots, turning orange around her ears for about two feet and the rest of her thigh-length hair was the crimson of a hot flame, dangerous to the touch in more then just appearance. Most of her body was hidden by the Fire tribe's seemingly customary blue cloak, hers edged in bands like her hair instead of the flames that licked up Akihito and Dokkasomaru's. A yellow skirt and mid-riff baring top edged in red and orange plus a pair of coal black boots completed her clothing. Spiffy.

She held her arms out for her son and I smiled as I handed him over. "I think his ankle's badly sprained if not broken. Its got ice on it now but its melting fast."

"Thank you," she said, her voice gentle and soft. Mokuka smiled at her child and then at me. "The Fire Clan will not forget what you have done this night. My husband and I thank you for care and the battle you fought for Akihito, Inu Cara. You are welcome among the Fire Clan, daughter of the Moon Clan. You and Meele should join us for dinner at some point."

After giving her invitation, before I could say anything, Mokuka walked off, carrying Akihito as if he weighed nothing at all. I looked to Meele, standing beside my mother on the dais like her attendant. He nodded to me and I turned back to Mokuka, speaking as she set Akihito down among his people. "We would be honored to accept your hospitality."

"A civil tongue to go with her supposed warrior's blade, how surprising," a voice from the Moon Clan's bleachers said. "I find that laughable." Why is it that the bad guys, or gals in this case, always heal faster? Shimori, the ice cat who'd torn me up so nicely, was alive and well, standing there glaring at me seemingly fit as the proverbial fiddle. Wish she sounded as nice. "She's not even strong enough to take a kill that's hers."

Instead of glaring back, I pulled at that curl of magic I'd wrapped around her heart, bringing her to her knees in a crushing, fiery pain she could not escape, howls and screeches of agony erupting from her mouth. I knew from experience that that little curl of magic felt like a heart attack crushing her chest. It wouldn't kill her but few things could hurt more without slicing her limbs off. After a moment, I released her, stopping the pain that wracked her body. "Anymore smart-ass remarks, Shimori? I own your heart now, so please, either give me a reason to shred it or shut the fuck up." 

A glare was the only answer I got from her before she crept back into the bleachers. Yukio, her elder brother, hissed at me but said nothing. Some nights that's all you ask for.

"If you're done with the theatrics," Tama-chan said with a wave of her hand. "I have something that to speak with the joint counsel about, Inu Cara."

I nodded to Tama-chan. "Of course, I shall take a seat with my clan."

The violet haired girl smiled at me and walked to the center of the room as I took a seat hastily cleared for me on the bottom of the Moon Clan's bleachers. I watched Tama-chan point to her throat for a moment before speaking again, her voice carrying through the room as if she were only five feet away from any given person. Nice trick.

"I have received a report of a rouge hanyu this night," she said, carefully not looking at me. "A creature of vile tastes and past times. Rather then tell you what I have discovered I shall show you from the vantage point of one of my own, one of the Spirit Clan what this monster has done. For their own sanity, I have blocked the senses of those under age in here. This is not for their knowledge."

Thunder rumbled through the room as she clapped her hands, a sphere of swirling images growing between them as they spread wider and wider. The sphere grew to fill the center of the arena as she poured her power into for all to see. "This is from the eyes of young girl of my clan. It shall be obvious by the end of this why she is not here tonight."

Darkness.

The fluttering of eyes one feels as one awakens. The girl's hands as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, a sudden gasp of fear with the realization that some of the shadows are moving.

Screams building in her throat as someone reaches from the darkness for her, a hand that's obviously a man's but almost dainty due to its small size, though to the girl it appears huge.

That hand, roughly yanking the bedding away from her body, her eyes following the flying coverlet, showing a thin cotton nightgown, its color indistinguishable in the dim light flowing from the window. A street lamp outside gives enough light to cast her attacker in shadows.

The hand clamps on her throat, fingers tight, the second hand bearing sharp claws that shred the cotton nightgown.

The girl's cries of horror, pain... mindless terror and agony....

His face, a glimpse of it in the street lamp's meager offering... a face I knew....

I had tears in my eyes, fueled by sorrow and anger. Sorrow over what the girl had gone through at the hands of that man and anger because I recognized him. I knew who had raped the girl. Perhaps girl was the wrong term but she was so much younger then I and so defenseless. 

Tama pulled the sphere back into herself, skin aglow with power, her eyes dry of tears but overflowing with a closely held rage. "If this creature is not dead and at my feet by New Year's day, I shall personally wreck havoc through his clan, every single one of them. I have been forbidden from hunting him myself due to the counsel and my foster mother's wishes," she added with a angry look at Mokuka. The woman shrugged and Tama went on. "A reward shall be paid for the killer of the one who did this."

"You cannot make our people assassins," Marika growled from the dais. 

"I can and will, Marika," the girl shot back, turning that rage on my mother. "And you're not enough to stop me, are you, Mari-chan? Come, challenge me over this, I would love the second counsel seat!"

Before Marika could speak, Dokkasomaru intervened, "You would have to defeat me first, child, then Kanoko-san, and that will not be tonight. Stand down, Spirit Clan leader."

Tama shot a baleful glare at Dokkasomaru but returned to her seat with a parting shot. "I will give a substantial reward to whom ever kills this creature and brings him to me. You cannot stop another counsel member from doing that."

"Indeed you cannot, Marika-san," Meele said from behind my mother. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear for a moment. Her eyes grew wide for a moment before she nodded.

"Very well, Meele, I'll let the brat do as she pleases," Marika hissed, "for now."

The assembled people were dismissed shortly after that, people flashing from the room with transportation spells or flying into the night under cloaks of the night sky itself.

Soon, only Meele, Marika, Tama, Dokkasomaru, Mokuka, Akihito and I were all that were left in the Counsel Arena. 

With a heavy sigh, I walked over to Meele, leaning against him, speaking mind to mind. You recognized him, right?

Of course, Cara-chan, Meele thought back to me. We will speak of this more later though. Tama-chan can read thoughts if they're too loud sometimes.

I stepped away from him, tumbling this new bit of information on the girl through my thoughts, storing it away with the stuff to worry about later.

Shooting a look at my watch I sighed. It was already 4:30 AM and though I no longer had to keep up the pretense of working, it was later then I wanted to go to bed to say the least. Especially if I had to start planning the hit on the rapist.

Tama, as if catching my thought, studied me for a moment, those iris-less black eyes searching. "You know something of the monster who harmed my clanswoman."

"Mayhap," I said evasively. "It's a suspicion at best, Soul Clan leader."

"I will not be evaded so easily," she said, walking up to me and stopping about a foot away. "This is not so easily over."

"Nor should it be," Meele said diplomatically pulling me close to himself and away from Tama's touch. If she could read minds without touching what could she do with a simple tough? Better not to find out.

Dokkasomaru cleared his throat and looked over at Akihito who was falling asleep in Mokuka's arms. "I need to get the both of you to bed, Momi-chan. Counsel leader or no, you do need sleep."

"As that may be," she said coldly. Her face softened when she looked at him though, taking some of the sting out of the words. 

Marika rolled her eyes. "So tough yet so young, little Tama-chan."

"Old enough to scare you," Tama replied harshly. 

"I am not afraid," Marika said, voice full of bravado. I could see the fear in her though, shoulders tight and eyes narrowed. I did the same thing when afraid.

"If you say so, then I'll not push it before I leave." 

"Stop this, you two," Mokuka said with a roll of her eyes. "Its far to late for such nonsense as your never ending bickering. Now, come Momi-chan, tis past time for bed."

"Heit, Mo-kasan," the child said, her words meaning "yes, mother" in Japanese. She turned to me though with a final parting shot before she left. "That male will die, no matter who stands between him and death, Inu Cara."

"I understand," I said, even though I knew who stood between him and death- his chief body guard who I would rather die myself then kill. 

Even in full yukoi form, I couldn't fire off multiple transport spells without aid, so Meele flew us home. A bright sun was just peeking over the horizon as we circled down to the mountain that was our temporary home.

I hate seeing the sunrise- means I've done too much and not slept yet. Fatigue coursed through me, catching up to me now the intrigue of the Counsel was over. Joy.

Meele settled down lightly one the lush grass that covered the central courtyard of the temple. "Much better then last time I landed here with you, huh?"

I laughed, couldn't help it. "Yeah, not fainting from blood loss does improve the landing procedure."

"You weren't fainting," Meele said as I dismounted. Shimmering blue light surrounded him as he shifted back to his human form. His Sphere of Humanity was in place along with the rest of his clothing, giving him access to the humane heart inside himself. Also seemed to unlock his sense of humor better too. "You were delirious. There's a difference."

"Same smell," I said, walking inside. The house was cool and quiet in the new sunlight streaming through the windows. "I'm glad you guys managed to clean the blood up though. Would look awful against this carpet."

The pale cream carpet was soft underfoot as I stripped off my shoes at the door, a force of habit after living in Japan. I took a deep breath, searching for the scent Samu among his things and found another scent that was quite different. With the potential for quite a lot more danger.

I dove behind the couch, pulling my sword, cursing the fact I'd left my guns behind before visiting the Counsel earlier. I felt rather then heard Meele dart into the kitchen behind me, obviously smelling what I did, who I did. 

"Nicky! You swore you'd never come against me without prior warning," I yelled over the couch, listening for his heartbeat. My ears rotated slightly before I heard him, he was in the dining room, just inside it, probably with a gun or small cannon pointed at the couch. 

"I can't understand that Japanese crap," I heard the man yell back. I risked a look over the couch and saw him leaning in the doorway to the dining room, hands empty. I knew better then to say he was unarmed though because even stripped down to his skin, Nicholas Axel was never without a weapon at his disposal.

It seemed silly to stay crouched behind the couch so I stood, repeating myself in English. "You swore never to come against me without prior warning, Nicky."

"And I'm not fucking coming against you," he said, his voice carrying an edge of humor. I was one of the few that knew that Nicky grew up around San Francisco and, unless he was acting, used the word "fucking" as a normal non-cussing part of his vocabulary. Just seeing him made me smile, now that I knew he wasn't gunning for me. "I'm here for something else and I heard a rumor that you've got the same hit from a different buyer."

I shrugged, neither yes or no and walked over to hug him. "Long time no see, Nicky. Whatcha been up to?"

"Oh this and that," he said with a smile, his hazel eyes more green then brown against the deep emerald of his trench coat and hat of the day. The man owned more trench coats in every color of the rainbow then I had ever seen anywhere else in the world. It was his signature, his trademark and, sometimes I thought it was a form of security blanket. He'd once told me he felt safer with one on, as if it were some kind of magic. Though with Nicky it probably was. 

One of the most powerful human witches (which is a dual-gender term despite what many say) I'd ever met returned my hug, chuckling as I ran my hands through his waist length, curly black hair. "Its longer, this Botticelli blessing of yours."

"Yeah, I haven't cut it since right before I last saw you," he said, and I was suddenly aware that while I wasn't looking for anything beyond a friendly hug from him anymore he may not realize that. Then he blew that out of the water. "So, I hear you're shacked up with a Yakuza monk, Cara?"

I looked up at him, those full lips and heavily lashed eyes giving away nothing he didn't want me to see. "Yeah, that's about accurate."

"Real love?"

"More likely then not."

"Why do you sound so sad?"

"Because his best friend and boss is my current mark," I explained. "And he doesn't know what a monster he's dealing with."

"Yeah, my client told me he was a hanyu," Nicky said as if that meant monster.

I shook my head. "No, I mean yeah he is a hanyu but he's a monster in the real sense of the word." I explained about the girl from the Soul Clan and watched Nicky's eyes grow cold, quite a feet for hazel ones.

"Well, that solves the 'has he done enough fucking evil enough to deserve death by assassination' question, don't it, Cara?"

"To say the least," Meele said from the kitchen, leaning against the door. "Though if you're both on the hit, you might work together. That way you both get paid. Cara even has the fall for the hit planned out already. I'm off to bed, kiddies, play nice."

With that parting shot, Meele left the house, supposedly for some cave or something he liked sleeping in. Camping- yuck.

I looked up at Nicky as I plopped down on the couch. "Well, you in on this with me? I'd feel better with back up. Damn Yokuza idiots have a lot of firepower, even if none of its too bright."

"Even the one you're fucking?"

"Nah, he's different," I said with a soft smile, my mind on Samu now. "Fell in with the wrong crowd after saving Danny's life when they were kids. Its not what he wants to do, its what he does for his friend. Without Danny in the picture, Samu would leave, I know he would."

"If you say so," Nicky said, his voice supportive and doubtful all at the same time. "So what did you have in mind, Cara m'girl?"

I got back to business and the next few hours were spent planning and plotting, coming up with the plan to kill Danny Tamagushi.

Sad thing is- I already knew how the hit would go since I'd already seen it.

Prophetic dreaming sucks some days.



Fluffy's Futures: Cara Ch. 12



"If life is only blood and hate,
Then what's there to left to demonstrate,
Why can't the evil all just die,
To leave us alone,
For peace to fly?"

The words of the song blared through the headphones in my helmet, bike a purring monster beneath me as I wove through traffic, gloved hands keeping a tight grip on the handle bars of my motorcycle. The music was by a local Japanese/American group, composed of both American GI's and Japanese youths. Pretty good, in my opinion.

I had just finished for an appointment with a dressmaker that was known for throwing things at picky customers. What I do for a custom outfit these days, I thought with a sigh, flipping off a Toyota that tried to merge into me. But to be able to conceal my weapons and shift shape from human to hanyu to yukoi with me, it would take a specially made dress. I'd had a lot of things thrown at me.

The one I'd commissioned fit those specifications nicely. The inner dress was a relatively simply blue sheath dress and could be worn alone if needed. Would have to change the weapons configurations for it though. 

At first look it was a black velvet floor length, A-line with a corseted bodice that lead to a flared waist and poet sleeves. Then one saw the cut-away panels that revealed the separate blue sheath underneath. The bodice was tightly fitted with a built in bra and V-neck, the edges of the neck bearing the same repeated triangle pattern in deep blue silk embroidery that the hems of the sleeves and skirt portion did. The poet sleeves connected to the dress at the shoulders via an expandable blue velvet crease. The magic of my shape shift would trigger the expansion of the crease and its retraction. At elbow and wrist, more blue silk, in thin ropes this time, wove in and out of the fabric, acting as ties to bring the entire sleeve up to my shoulder or to cinch it tight. It is rather embarrassing to drag one's poet sleeves in one's soup. A cut away panel right beneath my breasts curved around to my back, partly bared by a deep V between my shoulders. More of the blue rope crossed the bare portions of my flesh, acting as support for the heavy sleeves. Right above my hips and extending down to my upper thighs were another set of cut away panels. The skirt of the dress flared out gracefully to skim over the ground, assuming I was wearing 3" heels or in hanyu form. 

As lovely as the dress was, its practicality was what made it most appealing. The hem of the skirt was weighted to prevent it from flying up around my waist in the gusty Japanese autumn with specialized smoke bombs. Some were simple smoke, others tear gas and one was a yukoi-specific knock-out gas. The hip panels gave me access to a pair of fighting daggers on either hip and a set of throwing knives attached to the boning of the corset-top on the inside. Slender little silver knives, the throwing ones were but deadly and launchable with a mere flick of the wrist. A pair of small, very slim profile derringers, two shots each, were at the small of my back, accessible through the waist panel. The blue sheath I wore under the main overdress protected my skin from the assorted harnesses and knives hidden in the main dress itself. 

I would also be wearing my Sphere of Humanity and my bracers, the bracers storing my assassin's outfit and even more weapons and gear. Never knew what one would run into at a gathering of the Yokuza big wigs.

All in all, a fine piece of work, even if the seamstress making it was a bit nuts. Of course, she was around three hundred years old, a yukoi of the fire clan, making me the dress as payment for saving the leader's son. Better then a monetary payment for an act I would have done for free any day.

The protection enchantments on the dress had been woven into the fabric, a gift from my mother to "make up for all those missed birthdays" or so she'd claimed. Whatever, it was magically enhanced fabric for a dress I knew would look great once it was finished.

Why such a fancy dress? Because there was to be a "Black and White Ball" for all the Japanese Yakuza headmen and their associates. This year it was being held in Tokyo, though I'd been told last year's ball in Osaka had been beautiful. For the event, I was to accompany Samu, acting like arm/eye candy for the night, which suited me perfectly since I was there to gather information, not chit-chat. I felt bad about using Samu this way but not bad enough to not do it. I needed information on who hated Danny, other then the yukoi, and who I could blame the hit on. 

No way was I spending time in a Japanese jail, heck no. I shuddered despite the heavy jacket I wore. No, jail time in Japan, where manual labor was still a "good thing" was not on my list of things to do while I was visiting the country. And all that after the initial holding period. In Japan, one can be held by the police for 28 days without being charged with a crime. Quite the show stopper.

Of course, since Nicky would be at both the ball and the assassination, there was very little chance we'd be caught by the Japanese authorities. Magic couldn't solve everything but it made for excellent distractions while one escaped. Nicky would be at the party as part of a visiting group of American 'mobsters' from the West Coast, supposedly from his home town of San Francisco. He had a legit invitation and everything. We'd both be gathering information on the oft-warring factions of the Yakuza so we could place the blame for the hit on the most believable group. I would feel bad about transferring the blame if they weren't all guilty of killing in cold blood at some point. The unbloodied Yakuza ends up dead quickly.

The air around me grew colder as I made my way up the mountain roads to Samu's home. I slept there more then at my apartment, though it had occasionally caused a few awkward moments. Like Samu asking why I was in Japan if I wasn't working or going to school. Luckily Meele had burst in howling for dinner and I'd been saved but I knew it wouldn't be long before he cornered me and asked me again.

Things were getting more dangerous by the day, it seemed.

And yet, I shouldn't have worried that evening about Samu asking questions about me. No, his questions were about monsters and the yukoi.

I walked in the back door to the kitchen, windblown and chilled to the bone but happy to see Samu, back just this afternoon from the trip to Okinawa with Danny. That happiness evaporated at the look on his face, a mixture of fear and anger, loathing and terror. I had to ask, "Samu, what's wrong? Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"I'm okay," he said, voice oddly blank. "I just... I saw... Oh, God, Cara...."

I went to him and pulled him into my arms, asking again, "What happened?"

"Danny... he... he's made some kind of pact with demons," Samu said at length. "I saw him talking with one while we were in Okinawa... she, Cara, she was a woman but not and then she leapt off a cliff into the water and became a whale. I know this sounds crazy but its true!"

"Not as crazy as you might think," I said with a soft smile, my true thoughts running frantically in circles. How many whale yukoi could there be from Okinawa with the power to take human forms? I could only think of one- Kanoko, Third Council Chair holder. But I gave none of this away as I looked into Samu's eyes. "Look who I grew up with- Meele turns into a dragon for heaven's sake. Whales aren't that unbelievable to me, Samu."

"I forget that about you sometimes," he whispered into my hair as he held me close. "You seem so human, my love."

"I am human, part of the time," I protested, pulling back from him a little bit. "Anyway, what difference does it make that Danny's making deals with the yukoi?"

"You told me yourself they're dangerous," he reminded me, eyes honestly scared for his friend who he knew almost nothing about. "I don't want Danny to get hurt. We've been friends since we were kids- I've always been his right hand man."

"I know," I whispered and made soothing noises. Meaningless really but Samu seemed to feel better for them. At least one of us did. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell Samu that Danny was a pedophile and a rapist but I didn't. It would hurt him enough to know Danny was dead, why add pain on top of that now when he didn't need to know?

Instead, I decided to turn his mind to other things. Namely myself.

"Samu, I missed you," I whispered, turning my face up to his. I laid a kiss against the side of his neck, licking my way up to his ear. "Things will resolve themselves, you'll see. But I've missed you terribly, Samu."

I felt him react against me and gave him a sultry smile. "You know, I've been wanting to fly to Okinawa and ravish you down there. But sanity prevailed and so I waited."

I began to shed my clothing as I guided Samu toward his room. "I've waited..." I removed my shirt and bra, "so very long..." off went the pants and panties, "to just throw you down on the bed."

Samu's eyes were wide as he took in my naked form. "You're just trying to make me feel better, Cara."

"Yeah, there's a little of that in there," I said, rising to my tiptoes with a full stretch. "But I'm also horny as hell."

I pushed him back onto the bed where he landed with an "oomph" before I straddled his hips, giving him an uninterrupted view of just how much I'd missed him. My body shone in the light from the living room, hairless from the neck down. My inner thighs were damp with my arousal and the fact I could feel Samu's body growing warmer, hear his heart pumping harder, only added to it.

"Move up further on the bed," I instructed as I climbed off Samu for a moment, "after you strip out of those cloths. They get in the way, just a smidge."

"Just a smidge, huh?" he asked as he did as I'd bidden him. "Very bold for a Japanese woman, even one who's spent time abroad."

"You have no idea," I whispered as I began to show him just how bold I was. 

I awoke to sunlight flooding the room and a wave of nausea rolled over me with such fierceness I barely made it to the bathroom in time to retch. Even after my stomach was empty my body heaved until I finally collapsed against the side of the tub, forehead pressed to its cool porcelain. 

"Why am I so sick," I whispered, shaking my head. I laid a hand across my belly and knew why I was sick. "Oh no. Not this... I can't be...."

A shuffle from the other room and I heard Samu asking through the door, "Cara, are you all right?"

"I'm okay," I forced my voice to sound normal though tears sprang to my eyes. "Just some bad sushi last night I think. Don't worry about it."

"Can I get you anything, Cara?"

"No," I said, wishing he'd go away, wishing he'd come in and hold me. Sometimes, being a woman meant I wasn't making any kind of sense, not that I'd ever admit it out loud. "I'll just stay in here a while longer, until my stomach feels better, then get some more sleep."

"I'll use the guest shower then, Cara," Samu answered back. "If you need anything yell or call me on my phone after I leave for work, okay?"

"No problem, I will," I told him, knowing I wouldn't call him. I couldn't tell him. If he knew then he'd want to marry me and even I couldn't keep a secret as big as mine from a man I married.

About half an hour later I heard him leave, his car rolling down the paved driveway to the streets and down the mountain. I left the bathroom then, tears running freely down my cheeks as I flung myself on to the bed, howling in frustration.

To be pregnant, to carry a life is a wonderful thing.

To be unwed while doing so isn't necessarily so.

Planning to assassinate the best friend of the baby's father really isn't healthy.

Planning to leave the country after said assassination is just icing on a cake that only fate could bake up.

My own cell phone rang on the bedside table and I picked up on the third ring, voice couched and almost normal. "Moshi, moshi."

"You know I fucking hate that Japanese, Cara," came Nicky's voice. "We have to talk, puppy-girl. Situations have changed and the target's got to go down."

"Tell me about it," I whispered into the phone before taking a deep breath. "Samu's gone for the day, house is clear if you want to come over."

Nicky hung up on me and I heard the back door of the house open as he came walking in, nearly glowing with power and just the sheer joy of being able to do his job.

Pulling on a silk kimono-like robe, I padded out to the kitchen, knowing my eyes were red-rimmed and not caring. 

"Cara, what's wrong?" 

I gave a bittersweet laugh as I sat down at the kitchen table. "You know how I always said the best way to fuck up one's job was to get pregnant?"

"Yeah...."

"I fucked up my job."

Nicky's hazel eyes, more brown this morning, widened as he stared at me, jaw agape. It was the first time I'd seen him really startled. "You're serious."

"Can't get much more serious then a child," I replied.

"Isn't that letting the cat among the canaries," he muttered with a shake of his head. "So what are you going to do?"

"Do the job and flee," I said, head down, shoulders slumped. "I can't stay here after killing the target and I can't marry a man after I've killed his best friend."

"So honorable, my Cara," Nicky said, taking a seat beside me. "A bane and a blessing that honor. However, don't you think he at least deserves to know you're with child, Cara? And what about your vision?"

"We'll wrap my lower torso in Kevlar," I replied to the second part of the question, leaving the first alone, hoping Nicky would drop it. "Dual layered Kevlar over a magic barrier spell should protect the baby front, back and from the sides."

I saw thoughts whirl behind those hazel eyes as Nicky thought, sparks flaring as he ran through spells to guard the baby. "If we're going to wrap your belly in it, why not wrap all of you in treated Kevlar?"

Sighing, I tried to explain. "Because, the vision will come true. I will be shot and I will bleed. Nothing can stop that. If it doesn't happen in the location of the assassination, then it will happen somewhere else. What if that somewhere else is after I step out of the shower? What will be protecting the baby then? No, I have to take the bullet when its due, I can't evade it. I tried doing that once, it worked out badly."

I didn't mention that 'badly' had meant my former bounty hunter partner getting killed, nearly dying myself, and involving the local authorities in my bounty hunt. Not good press that. So I didn't avoid my visions, I accepted them when they came and moved on. 

"Fine, we'll let you get shot," Nicky said, rolling his eyes. As powerful as he was, visions had never been something he'd gotten, so they weren't in his realm of understanding. I couldn't destroy Tokyo with a single spell or cure paralysis with another, so I guess it made us even. He went on, thinking out loud. "Okay, so we'll layer the Kevlar, the spell, more Kevlar and your normal outfit, sorry dear you're going to look fat. I'll be standing by with a healing spell after I kill whoever shoots you and we catch the next flight to LA out of Narita."

With a shake of my head, I disagreed. "I don't know who shoots me, Nicky. It could be anyone- they may not deserve to dye. I mean, I'm kind of caught in a compromising position."

Yeah, bloody claws, smoking gun, dead bodies everywhere, that's compromising, right?

Nicky fell artfully onto the couch, bare feet on the coffee table that I'd never seen used for coffee. "Understandable. I'll be ready to non-lethally restrain your shooter then, with the option of killing him. And then we hop to LA."

"Alright," I said, grabbing some blank paper from Samu's printer and sitting down in front of the coffee table. With a set of pens kept there for cross word puzzles (Samu's hobby, not mine), I started drawing out Danny's house. Nicky and I plotted his and his bodyguard's deaths, going over every detail till the sun was sinking low on the horizon. 

I hate spending a day planning the death of others, it feels so wasteful. Which I guess it should, death is wasteful, isn't it?