Into Enemy Territory

The street looked empty, and Kira hoped such was true.

It was the perfect hour for eyes to be closed, heads laid in pillows and blankets pulled up around the chin to seal one’s self off from the chill, and the perfect neighborhood for skulking the streets knowing the inhabitants considered night air a burden on their lives. Here, most eyes had lost their ability to see beyond arm’s length even in the light. The dark was friend only to a few, and those few – hopefully – were more concerned with licking their wounds than a strange, dirty figure slipping from car to car to corner wall, a curious case in her hands, and a backpack slung over her front. Her neck whipped back and forth, alert for watchers on twilight strolls, or a wrinkled aberration who’d grown nocturnal in their advanced age.

In truth, Kira would have been worried the least by those she could see.

Satisfied she’d gone far enough, the thief doubled back the way she came, jumping from cover to cover, until arriving at the vending machine she’d chosen as a marker. A crumpled form was leaning their head against it, the exposed half of face under the hood rendered pallid in the machine’s flickering light.

“I think the coast is clear,” whispered Kira. “Can you make it the rest of the way?”

“Do I have a choice? Not like you can carry me.”

“She’s not much further down the road, and then you can rest.”

“If she lets us in.”

“If that’s such a concern, then don’t give Allie her first reason not to.”

Arata groaned as he wobbled to his feet, voice straining at the exertion. He managed a few steps, then a few more down the sidewalk – a vast improvement over the last jaunt – but he started to keel over after another handful of seconds, collapsing against a parked truck. One hand kept inside his pocket – a familiar crystalline shape making an outline along his thigh.

He spat out a glob of saliva into the truck’s bed. “Still think we should have gone towards my place.”

“We already agreed you wouldn’t make it to the other side of the city in your current state. Maybe I should hold on to the crystal. Just in case it’s the reason for your condition.” Arata shook his head. Beads of sweat rolled down his nose; almost a quarter the amount plastering Kira’s hair and clothes to her body, mixing with the ash and smoke residue accenting her features. In the right light, she thought, I probably look like a tiger myself.

“Bad idea. If the crystal is to blame, then you’ll just burn yourself up, too. One of us has to stay functional to keep eyes out.”

Kira shrugged. “Allie’s it is, then. Once we check if she has any concoctions to keep you on your feet we’ll head out again.”

Swallowing down any reply he’d planned to make with an audible groan, Arata stumbled forward, a hand against the truck to brace himself. Kira watched, wishing she could offer a shoulder. It had started the same way, his sudden condition: a groan, then complaints of a headache, only devolving since as whatever afflicted him progressed. Poison wasn’t out of the question; the weapon of criminals – wielders and not, alike. And if poison applied cunningly were the culprit, then Allie could help.

The two made their way deeper into the neighborhood, stopping at a particular apartment building at a particular address. Snow blanketed the front unshoveled. For most with unsteady legs it was a lazy trap, but Arata navigated without issue. At the front, under the awning, were two identical doors. Kira knocked on the right one, where white bags tied up in string were neatly stacked in front of, the logo of some delivery service emblazoned on each. A camera observed their every move, but both Kira and Arata knew it had been dead for an extended period, serving less as a functional appliance and more as deterrence.

They waited, and continued to wait.

Arata leaned his head against the door, taking a heavy breath. “If those sneaky bitches catch us in their turf…” He turned his head to the apartment’s frosted window. No lights had come on inside, and the buildup of snow and ice on its frame suggested lengths of time come and gone without opening.

Pressing her own ear to the door now, Kira listened for any notice inside. The extremity had started to stick by the time she heard the thump of movement. They waited a bit longer as the thumping drew nearer, and Kira waved at the door’s peephole when it stopped. After a moment, they heard the slick-slack of several breeds of lock being undone.

“Door’s open,” came the rough voice.

“Want us to bring in the bags here?” Kira asked.

“Just knock on the other door for Granny Tsubone to come get ‘em.”

Inside the apartment was dark, and completely devoid of furniture, so the unmitigated light sneaking up from the stairwell outlined the plump figure of its sole occupant sharply, catching off the sticks of her forearm crutches and the bagginess of the clothes she wore. Nudging the door closed with a foot, Kira turned to her and Arata’s harborer and bowed low enough to compensate for him. He’d probably have hit the floor upon trying. “Sorry for the trouble,” she said.

The light revealed another detail, as well – the soft fluttering of long ears extending from the top of the woman’s head.

“The ears are looking bigger,” Kira added, smiling.

There was a serpentine motion at the woman’s shins, like the wagging of a dog’s tail; although, it belonged to a different animal entirely. Her ears were the same, not matching the proper proportion for any common four-legged pet. They stuck nearly straight up and were covered in fur matching the auburn color of the hair draping down past bare shoulders. The tanktop she wore was stained myriad shades of green and grey.

“Come on downstairs,” Allie said, returning a grin that was nothing short of mischievous, revealing a selection of elongated canine teeth. “It’s too cold up here by half for me.”