Gaijin

Part 4: The Tower

by Sean D'Anna

=====

Carrot cursed as he moved through the shadows of
Tokyo's back streets and followed after Kei. She
was moving through the open, and was disguised as
a street urchin again. Her movements were
cautious, but she was easy enough to follow,
looking in every direction but behind her to find
her prey.

"I've got a sneaking suspicion she's looking
for me," grumbled Carrot as he moved after her.

After about two hours, he started getting
bored. She was making a circle of the area she had
fought him in along the ground. He noted that she
seemed to know the area he liked to hang around in
recently and made a mental note to move on after
he was finished following her.

She snorted and stepped aside into a shadow
and seemed to vanish, but he caught a hint of
movement in the darkness.

"What's she up to?" he muttered under his
breath as he paused and watched her. He started
sliding back as she remained where she was for a
long moment.

Finally, she stepped out again and looked
around in every direction.

"Bathroom break?" he ventured to himself as he
continued to watch from behind a large dumpster.
She started moving again and he went after her,
cautiously rounding the same corner.

A scream caught his attention and he turned to
see her descending on him from above, her knife
raised over her head as she fell towards him.

"Shit!" he screamed as he spun around and fell
back onto the pavement. His eyes closed and he
waited for the blow, hoping it wouldn't be too
bad.

After a moment, nothing happened and he slowly
opened his eyes. "Huh?"

Kei was hunched over the pipe he now held in
his hands with a dazed expression on her face. It
was a cross between shock and anger. He was
holding her up with it as he lay on the ground.
The strike had caught her in the stomach, and she
was suspended in the air. Fortunately, the pipe
was too thick to pierce her belly. She simply hung
in the air without moving.

He blinked and let the pipe go, sending her to
the ground on his right side. "When the hell did I
grab that?" he muttered to himself as he looked at
the pipe. He didn't even remember picking it up.
"Must have grabbed it when I fell without
thinking."

The girl was sprawled out across the ground
messily, out cold.

"Damn," he grumbled as he poked at her leg. "I
can't follow her now. I guess I'll just have to
ask her when she wakes up." He picked her up by
the back of her shirt and pulled her along behind
him.

After glancing around for a moment he blinked
when he recognized the area where he was. "What
luck," he said cheerfully as he pulled her towards
a large metal door that didn't have a knob on it.

He pushed it open and glanced around for a
moment to check things out. The building was
empty; a lot of homeless used it at night to
escape the elements. There was no power, water, or
any heat, but it was better than the outside. The
only reason he usually avoided it was the fact
that so many others used it. There were probably a
few bums inside of it now in fact, there were a
lot of rooms. It was a sort of abandoned
apartment. It would be gone in a month or so
though, it would be torn down and replaced by a
newer housing building most likely.

"So, we should be able to get some privacy,"
he said as he looked down at his captive and kneed
her in the head. "Don't want you waking up too
soon," he commented to himself.

++++++++++

Carrot frowned as he wiped the sweat off of
his brow and made a disgusted looking face as he
tossed another knife into the growing pile at his
side. The girl's clothes made up the bottom
portion, and she was sitting with her ankles and
wrists bound in the nude in front of him. He had
managed to scrounge an old looking wooden chair
from one of the rooms. Otherwise, the small room
they were in was completely empty. The window was
boarded up and trash littered the dirt-covered
floor.

"Jeez, what are you Mousse?" he grumbled as he
pulled a long needle that was hidden in her hair
out and tossed it aside as well. He paused when he
noticed the girl was staring at him now with a
snarl on her lips.

"Awake now?" he said cheerfully.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked
calmly as her gaze became calm and she turned her
head away.

"I dunno, if you don't tell me what I want to
know, probably kill you," he replied with a shrug.

She glared at him as he stood up and walked to
the other side of the room. After a little
shifting in her seat, she snorted and looked up at
him. She narrowed her eyes as she moved her hands
underneath her rear and slowly slid her fingers
into herself.

"I'm afraid you won't find anything. I took
the liberty of removing your weapons. Took me a
while to find them all."

"I'm impressed, most people won't search in
there," she commented as she pulled her fingers
back out and smirked at him.

"Yeah, I suppose not. Don't bother with the
other place either, those little throwing knives
of yours were a real pain to get out." He made a
disgusted face and wiped his fingers on his shirt
reflexively.

She turned her head away and growled at him
before turning back again and smirking. "You
should have waited until I was awake, I would have
enjoyed it more."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't have," he replied
calmly.

She snorted in disgust and started to work at
the knots behind her back. She stopped cold when
he stepped forward and picked up one of her
throwing stars from the pile. "I suggest you stop
that."

She complied and smiled at him again. "I saw
you hiding behind that trash can. It took me a
minute to figure out why you weren't coming after
me when I hid away."

"Don't look so surprised, I've been following
you most of the day," he replied calmly.

Her face fell for the briefest of instants,
but quickly moved back to her smile again. Her
eyes became almost lazy, as she seemed to relax a
bit. Carrot noticed she opened her legs ever so
slightly.

"So, what are you going to do with me?"

"Why are you trying to kill me?" he asked her
as he sat down across from her.

"Tell me something kid, have you ever seen a
woman like this?" she sneered.

"Does it matter?" he replied calmly. "I
suggest you stop acting like a little whore and
take this seriously. You're trying to get me to
let my guard down, and it isn't going to work."

She pouted cutely and fell off the chair onto
her knees. "Maybe I am, don't you think a little
carelessness is worth it?"

"You haven't answered my question," he
replied.

"What does it get me if I do?" she asked
seductively.

"You get to leave alive," he replied as he
casually played with the throwing star in his hand
idly.

"Not much of an incentive," she replied.
"Maybe I can do something for you?" She started to
move her head down towards his crotch, but stopped
cold as one of the points on the star met with her
throat.

"I think you bite," he said calmly.

"Maybe, but not too hard," she replied as she
sat back up.

"I told you to stop playing with those ropes,
don't make me tell you again," he said coolly.

She narrowed her eyes but continued to smile
as she lay back on the ground and spread her knees
apart. "This one can't bite you."

Carrot stood up and walked up to her, moving
over so that she was lying on the ground
horizontally. She arched her back a bit and
grinned at him in triumph.

He kneeled down at her side and roughly
grabbed her breast, squeezing it hard.

She moaned in pain and pleasure.

Carrot snorted and pulled the small metal
spike that poked from her nipple out and tossed it
aside. "I thought so, I missed these." He repeated
the same action with her other breast and moved
back to his previous position in front of her.

"What's the matter? You gay or something? Don't
stop now, you've got me started," she said with a
slight irritation in her tone.

"Lady, you're trying to kill me," said the boy
casually. "I may be young, but I'm not stupid."

"Stay with me tonight, and I promise I won't
hurt you," she said seductively.

"Trying to prey on my youthful innocence or
something? What about in the morning?" he said as
he looked her dead in the eyes.

She turned her head away from him and frowned.
"Boys as young as you aren't usually this smart.
The fact that you seem to have your hormones in
check surprises me as well."

"Heh, I thought so," he replied cheerfully.

"What do you want to know?" she said
hatefully.

"Well, don't look so upset. I did enjoy the
show. All I really want to know is why you're so
dead set on killing me."

"Because I was told too," she said calmly. She
started to work her mouth from side to side in
what appeared to be a frustrated gesture.

"If you're trying to pull this out of your
throat, you can stop now," said Carrot as he held
a small leather bag in front of her face. It had a
long string attached to it with a tiny loop on the
end.

Her eyes went wide and she stared at it for a
moment in shock.

"I was very thorough," he said calmly.

"Obviously," she replied. Oddly enough, she
didn't sound very upset anymore.

"Who ordered you to kill me?" he asked as he
sat back against the wall and watched her. She
wasn't moving anymore and seemed to be carrying on
a normal conversation with him now.

"The Oyabun of the Hisami family," said the girl
as she frowned at him. "He thinks you're out to
kill him. That you're from a rival family."

"Paranoid bastard isn't he?" said Carrot as he
frowned at this.

"Apparently so," she replied with a shrug.
"Now it's a personal matter, you embarrassed me. I
have to kill you to regain my honor."

"That's too bad," he replied with a small
shrug. "I'm not just gonna lie down and let you ya
know."

"Give me the chance, and I might make it worth
your time," she said seductively.

"I doubt that," he replied a little sourly.

"Cocky bastard aren't you?" she replied with a
sly looking grin on her face.

"Maybe. Hisami huh?" he said with a thoughtful
frown.

"He's very powerful," said the girl as she
turned her head away from him. "You might as well
let me, you're dead already if he's after you."

"Something like that, I don't really care one
way or the other. It's obvious you won't leave me
alone."

"So what's the problem then?" she asked him
calmly. "Just get it over with, take it like a
man."

"Right, like I'm that stupid," he said as he
frowned at her. "Look lady, nobody orders a hit on
me. I was minding my own business when this crap
started, and I'm sure as hell not just gonna roll
over and die."

"You're some kind of Ruroni!" said the girl as
her eyes went wide with shock.

"I thought you called me a shinobi or
something..." he said as he looked thoughtful.

"You're no assassin. I saw the look on your
face, you weren't expecting me to surprise you
that way," she snorted. "You fight too directly.
Don't play stupid with me. You run and hide like a
Shinobi though."

Carrot sighed and stood up. "Whatever."

"Hey, where are you going?" she snapped.

"Away from here, don't bother looking for me
around here. I won't be around," he responded as
he walked out of the room and left her lying
there.

"You can't just leave me like this!" she
snarled angrily.

"Why not? You would have killed me, be glad
that's all I did," he snapped.

"I was hoping you'd do more," she snapped.

"Tough," he replied from the hall.

"Why didn't you kill me?" she replied as she
realized he was just outside the door.

"They'd just send someone else, someone just
like you," he said calmly.

"You're right," she admitted. "Why leave all
my stuff behind?" she asked him as she noticed her
pile of weapons and clothes was still there.

"You'll just get more before we meet again,
there's no point in taking it from you. I don't
know how to use most of that stuff anyway."

She growled and glared up at the wall. "I will
kill you!"

"You'll try," he replied as he started walking
away again.

+++++++++++++

"Hello? Hisami office," said a pleasant
sounding voice on the other end of the line.
"Hello?"

Carrot sighed as he hung up the payphone and
frowned at the phonebook in front of him with a
sort of surprised snort. "Who could have thought,
the local Yakuza boss's phone number was in the
phonebook?"

He frowned and looked up at the towering
building that loomed over the skyline of Tokyo.
"Well, it's the only Hisami listed. Couldn't hurt
to check," he muttered under his breath. He
frowned slightly at that and looked at the page
he'd torn out. It didn't seem like a name that
would be that unusual really. "This is odd, there
should be more. I'd think his family would be
working for him at the very least."

He'd halfway expected to have to sift through
a few dozen numbers at least, and probably not get
many leads, if any. Strangely enough, the first
and only number listed was an office. "Maybe their
home numbers are unlisted?" he muttered with a
shrug as he started walking towards the seventy
story tower that stood tall among a few others
like it. It wasn't the largest building, but it
was more than enough to make Carrot nervous.

++++++++++++++++++

Night fell, Carrot stood across the street
watching the building calmly. NO one bothered him
as he sat in a small nook in the side of one of
the buildings, he was beneath anyone's notice.
Unfortunately he was exactly the kind of person
that would stand out in an office building.

It wasn't quite dark yet, and the offices
inside the huge tower were beginning to close
down. There were a few that would stay open long
into the night, but around ninety percent of the
workers would leave the halls almost deserted
completely.

He stood up and made his way towards the glass
doors of the office and looked inside for a moment
with a frown on his face. The security guards sat
at a small desk just in front of the windows. One
of them frowned at him, but a large group of
exiting employees moved between them. When they
passed, Carrot was gone.

The man snorted in disgust, not noticing the
tiny glimpse of a shadowy figure moving out of
sight of one of the security monitors for a split
second at his desk.

Carrot smirked as he sat behind a large cement
block with a few large plants growing in it. He
was out of sight of the cameras, and the windows.
He relaxed for a moment as he watched the movement
of the camera out of the side of a metal trashcan.


After it was facing away from him, he rushed
by, quickly jumping into one of the elevators as
the doors closed after another small cluster of
employees left. None of them noticed him.

He frowned as the indicator flashed on the
elevator signaling that it would stop a few floors
ahead, he pressed one of the buttons just below
the floor and smirked as it stopped before moving
up any further and opened.

To anyone looking, it would seem as though the
elevator stopped on it's own. Carrot appeared and
glanced around nervously for a moment. He snorted
and stepped out when he saw no lights or movement.
Slowly he stepped out, looking for any kind of
sensors along the walls or ceiling. There was
nothing, no motion sensors or lights. After a
moment, he relaxed and strolled down the hall.

He walked around looking for a sign or
directory of some kind. He hadn't bothered to
check what floor he'd stopped on. Finally, he
noticed a small room with the kanji for 'Janitor'
written on it.

He frowned and glanced around for a moment
before opening the door and stepping inside. The
janitorial staff would have been particularly
active at this time of night.

After several moments the door opened and an
older Japanese man stepped into the room. He never
saw the mop handle slam into the side of his head.
Carrot snorted as he rolled the man over and
smirked. He was out cold, but not seriously hurt.
He grabbed a roll of rope that he'd found in the
room and began to tie the man's arms and legs,
after he'd finished he pulled some tape out and
covered his mouth.

"Sorry old man, you're just gonna have to stay
here for a while," he muttered apologetically.
"Can't have you tellin anyone about me." He stood
up and glanced at the door. There was a pair of
overalls hanging on the door. "Another worker?
Someone who hasn't shown up yet? Or just a spare?"
he muttered under his breath. He glanced down at
the old man and frowned.

+++++++++++++++

The old man gasped as he was woken up by a
gentle splash of water. He sat upright with his
eyes wide. "Just relax, and don't turn around old
man," said the voice of someone behind him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" muttered the
man fearfully.

"Nothing, not from you anyway," said the voice
calmly. "I said don't turn around," repeated the
voice as a pair of hands forced his head back in
the direction it was facing.

"Why..." started the man.

"Just answer my questions, and I'll leave you
in here alone. You'll be fine when someone finds
you in the morning," said the voice calmly. "Don't
ask anymore questions, because you don't really
want to know the answers."

"I suppose you're right," muttered the man
halfheartedly.

"Is there anyone else working here besides
you? Another janitor?"

"No, only on the weekends," muttered the man
pathetically. "I'm alone here until midnight, and
then no one comes until four."

"Good, that means I won't have to find him and
take care of him," said Carrot coldly. It was more
to scare the man than anything else, he didn't
want him getting brave on him.

"What are you going to do with me?" muttered
the man.

"Nothing, I'm going to leave you in here, and
you're going to stay until someone finds you in
the morning. Get some sleep or something," said
Carrot calmly. "Don't bother trying to escape, I'm
going to bar the door. You'll be safe enough until
then if you stay here."

"Okay," said the old man as he relaxed a
little.

The man heard the door open and then close,
after that he was simply alone in the dark. He
turned his head and saw the shadows of feet moving
on the other side of the door. There was the sound
of something being propped up against the door and
then nothing.

"..."

"..."

"My boss is going to kill me."

++++++++++++++

Carrot smirked as he exited the bathroom and
adjusted the dull gray ball cap that rested on his
head. He was dressed in the overalls and was
actually washed now. He smirked to himself; he'd
forgotten how good it felt to be clean. The soap
in the dispensers and the sink had been enough to
do him considerable good, even if the soap was
watered down.

He wiped his face off with a paper towel and
put it into the trash bag that was slung over his
shoulder. The bag contained his clothes and the
paper towels he'd used in his impromptu bath.

Luckily, the Japanese were a pretty short
people, his young teenage body fit into an adult
set of clothes quite easily. They were a little
large, but not too much.

His change of clothes was more to disguise his
distinctive odor than his appearance. Anyone
walking by could smell him easily, that was his
biggest fear in the lobby, more so than being
seen.

Now he tossed the bag into the old janitor's
cart, burying it in a pile of other bags that the
man had collected. He glanced up at the wall and
smirked as he noticed a sign that told him what
floor he was on. "Seven." He smirked to himself
and adjusted his cap again. "Well, that means I've
only got...fifty nine more floors to go." He
sighed and walked over to the elevator again.

++++++++++++++++

The trip up was relatively painless. He'd
gotten off the elevator and then on again several
times to avoid the last remnants of the employees
in the building who were leaving. After about
floor sixty, the elevator stopped suddenly. There
were keys to move up to higher floors.

"Shit," he grumbled as he stepped out into the
hallway and glanced around. The door to his right
was a fire escape. He shrugged his shoulders and
opened it, stepping into a long winding stairway.
It went down for sixty floors, and up for ten.
"Well, I'm going to sixty six," he muttered to
himself as he walked up the stairs.

Finally, he came to the door and frowned. As
expected, there was no handle on the door, only a
deadbolt. He frowned and kneeled down beside it
for a moment. "Well, I can't pick this." He sighed
and reached into his pocket, pulling out the
throwing star he'd taken from the young kunoichi.
"It's worth a shot," he said to himself as he
stuck it inside the crack.

It took him several minutes, he slowly slid the
long deadbolt back into place by stabbing it with
one of the points and slowly moving it back a
millimeter at a time. It was a frustrating task
made more difficult by the fact that the bolt was
spring-loaded, if he screwed up, it simply went
back into place. He managed to use a key that he'd
found in one of the uniform's pockets to hold it
in place while he worked it.

Finally, his efforts paid off. The door opened
and he frowned as he stepped into the darkened
hallway.

"Whoa," he muttered as he paused and saw the
net of red lines that filled the hallway in front
of him. He scratched the back of his head and
sighed. "I thought these things were supposed to
be invisible or something." He shrugged and moved
through them with relative ease, he simply moved
over or under the lines, they crossed through each
other several times creating a complicated web,
but it wasn't all that difficult. After a moment,
he was through.

The walked through the hallway slowly and
cautiously. The lack of security cameras bothered
him a bit. The place was decorated more like a
home than an office, an expensive home at that. He
was standing in what appeared to be a sitting
room, but there was a desk in it. There was
another hallway, and a large set of doors that he
assumed was a restroom. The whole room was dark,
but not so much that he couldn't see fairly
clearly. He turned towards the hallway and groaned
as he noticed another web of lasers blocking his
path. Unfortunately, these were moving in set
patterns along a checkered floor. Their movement
was geometric though, one set crossed left to
right, and the other up and down. They all moved
in unison.

"Pretty crappy security," he commented as he
moved through them carefully. It wasn't difficult
really, he just waited for the path in front of
him to clear and stepped forward, then repeated
the process.

"Okay, so now what?" he muttered as he found
himself standing in the middle of an exercise
room. There was a weight set in the corner, and a
few aerobic machines, like a bike machine and a
treadmill. "Man," he muttered to himself. "I think
this guy lives here." He glanced around at his
surroundings and frowned. "What the heck would a
guy with this much stuff care about me for? Why's
he tryin to kill me?"

"Because you're a threat, the fact that you're
standing here proves that," said a voice from the
shadows.

Carrot spun around and stepped back into the
weight bench. He almost fell over it. "Who the
heck are you lady?"

"I am Mitsuki, I serve Lord Hisami," said the
woman coolly as she stepped out of the darkness
and glared at him. It was obvious she hadn't
expected him to be able to spot her as quickly as
he did. "You should not have come here. Now you'll
pay with your life."

"Actually, I thought I was already supposed to
pay with it for something. I was hoping to talk
with your boss and clear that up, but I doubt if
you're going to just let me," grumbled the boy as
he hung his head and sighed.

"You are correct, you will not be allowed near
the Oyabun," said the woman coldly.

"Great, I figured as much. You're probably
going to try and kill me now right?" said the boy
as he somehow managed to look even more pathetic
and frustrated.

"I have no intention of 'trying' boy," she
said in slight amusement.

"I've been hearing a lot of that lately,"
grumbled Carrot as he grabbed one of the thick
iron poles that rested against the wall next to
the weight bench.

"Oh really? What did you do with my daughter,
if I might ask?" said the woman calmly.

"You're her mom? Figures, I guess I can see
it," said Carrot as he squinted against the
darkness.

"I'm not sure if I should thank you or attack
you for that," she replied.

"Well, you might as well thank me, you're
going to attack me in a minute anyway," said the
boy with a sigh.

"You didn't answer my question," replied the
woman coldly.

"I left her tied up in an abandoned building.
I'm actually pretty surprised she's not here," he
said with a shrug.

"You should have killed her," snorted the
woman.

Carrot put the bottom of his pole against the
ground and leaned on it. "That's not a very nice
thing to say."

"She will hunt you to the ends of the earth
now boy," replied the woman hautily.

"Oh, yeah I know. She told me about that," he
said with a shrug.

"You take my clan lightly?" she asked with a
sudden anger in her voice.

"Most parents would be happy to hear that news
lady, you've got some serious issues to deal
with," snorted Carrot as he spun the pole around
on his palm skillfully.

The woman blinked and moved into a defensive
stance. "That pole weighs forty five pounds," she
thought to herself. Her hand rested on the hilt of
the Katana at her side and she slowly moved
forward.

"Hey lady," said the boy.

"What is it?" she replied without taking her
eyes off him.

"Catch," said Carrot as his hand snapped
suddenly.

Mitsuki reacted without thinking, she gasped
as she realized that her blade was drawn and the
pole fell on either side of her, cut clean in
half. "What?" She realized that the boy wasn't in
front of her any longer. "Clever..."

Carrot cursed as he rushed down the hall and
found himself facing the web of lasers again. He
cursed under his breath and dove forward, rolling
and jumping through the net as fast as he could.
He paused and turned once he was through it and
noticed Mitsuki was staring at him in confusion.

"What is he?" she muttered to herself in
confusion as she saw him finishing up his
acrobatic display. She gasped as she looked up and
saw the lenses for the beams of light moving
slowly along tracks in the ceiling and walls. "The
lasers! He's dodging the lasers?" She placed her
palm against the wall and frowned as the beams
shut down for her to pass. "He is impressive if he
knows where the beams are just by where the lenses
are on the walls. Especially when moving around
like that."

Carrot growled as he paused in front of the
wall as several small stars embedded themselves
into the wall in front of him. "Damn."

"I'm impressed, it's almost a shame I have to
kill you now," she said coldly.

"Great," muttered Carrot to himself as he
glanced around for escape. There wasn't anything
he could see easily.

The woman was moving closer with her katana
held at the ready.

He frowned and noticed a sword hanging from
the wall just behind him. It was in a glass case
and looked quite old. It had a black hilt and
scabbard, carefully crafted to look like the
scales of a dragon. The hilt had a serpent head,
with two gems for the eyes. He shattered the case
with his elbow and reached for the blade.

"I wouldn't recommend that," said the woman
with a smirk on her face.

Carrot looked at her and frowned. "Screw
alarms! I'm dead anyway!" he thought to himself as
he grabbed it anyway and pulled the blade from its
scabbard.

He frowned as a tingling sensation ran up his
arm and a low humming sound filled the room. "Nice
alarm," he commented.

The woman was stopped dead in her tracks. Her
jaw hung open and she simply stared at him in
horror. "That's impossible!" she whispered as she
stared at him and stepped back.

Carrot held the blade in a defensive stance in
front of him. He really had no idea what he was
doing, but was hoping he could fake enough to keep
her from just rushing him. It seemed to be
working, and he noticed an undisguised look of
shock on her face.

"How?! How did he draw that sword!?" screamed
Mitsuki's mind as she stared at him and found
herself unable to move.

Carrot was slowly moving towards the exit with
the blade constantly pointed towards her. He was
taking small sidesteps towards the second hallway
of laser beams.

The silence between them was broken as a
bookcase next to Carrot opened into a doorway. A
pudgy looking old man stepped out with a briefcase
in his grip. He was wearing a pair of silken
pajamas and noticed the ninja woman in front of
him.

"Mitsuki, I am tired. Come to bed," he said
with a slightly lustful smirk on his face.

"Gross!" cried Carrot as he moved behind the
man and put the blade up to his throat. "Jeez old
man, you're old enough to be her grandpa
probably!"

Mitsuki gasped in horror. "No!"

"Who are you?" snapped the old man as he
suddenly realized the situation. "You'll die for
this!"

"I just wanted to ask you why you were trying
to kill me. This lady didn't think I needed to
speak with you," said Carrot coldly. "I must admit
she's a nice piece of ass, but aren't you a little
old for that sort of thing?"

The old man found himself being pulled into
the room he'd just left. It was a large office,
with another set of doors that were opened on the
left side of the room. Carrot noticed a bed inside
the room. Behind the desk was a large set of
windows that made up the entire wall behind him.

"My clan takes our responsibility quite
seriously," snorted the woman angrily as she
followed them with her sword held ready.

She started to kneel down and put her sword on
the ground.

"Keep your hands on that hilt or he's dead,"
said Carrot coldly.

The woman looked up at him in surprise.

"I noticed your daughter had quite a few
throwing weapons on her. I'm not interested in
finding out how skilled you are in using them," he
said calmly.

"Kei is dead?" said the old man calmly.

"No, not dead," snorted Carrot. "What do you
care?"

The man was shaking with fear and anger,
Carrot felt his arm becoming wet with the man's
sweat as he pulled him along in front of him.
After a moment of silence Carrot blinked and cried
out in disgust.

"EEEWWW! Gross! I'm glad I turned her down
now," he shouted. "Man, you've got some seriously
fucked up...gah!"

Mitsuki was shaking with anger as she glared
at the boy hatefully. She almost dropped her blade
again, but a quick motion by Carrot as he
reapplied the blade against her Oyabun's throat
stopped her.

"Now, tell me exactly why you're trying to
kill me," said Carrot calmly.

"You! You're that rouge Shinobi!" gasped the
old man in horror.

"What the hell are you babbling about old man?
I'm no Shinobi," snorted Carrot in disgust. "You
just started sending people to kill me, I want to
know why."

"You were operating in my area, you're
obviously an assassin, sent by Kanzaki," said the
old man hatefully.

"Kanzaki? Sorry old timer, I've never met the
man," said Carrot calmly. "If I was working so
well, I wouldn't be living in the streets, that's
for sure."

The old man turned his head slightly as he
found himself not moving back any further. He was
standing in front of the window now, just behind
his desk.

Carrot chuckled as he turned his head back and
looked down at the ground.

"What are you doing?" snarled Mitsuki.

"I imagine every security officer in this
building is alerted to me being in here by now,"
said the boy calmly.

Mitsuki frowned, it wasn't true. The boy
didn't know that though. "Give up, you can't
escape."

Carrot chuckled as he suddenly lashed out with
his leg. The Oyabun's huge leather chair sailed
back and shattered the window behind them before
tumbling to the ground below.

"What are you..." said Mitsuki in shock as she
dropped her blade.

Carrot dove from the window and jerked shoved
the Oyabun aside, the man was sprawled against the
ground. The briefcase fell from his hand and out
the window as Carrot dropped the sword and spread
his arms. The blade landed in front of the old
man's face, no more than an inch in front of his
nose as it was impaled into the floor.

"No!" screamed Mitsuki as she reached into her
robes and tossed several stars at the descending
figure just outside the window. They stuck into
the glass, cracking the window but doing nothing
more.

+++++++++++

Carrot smirked to himself as he jumped out the
window. A huge metal flagpole was just below the
office, an easy jump from where he was. He knew it
was stupid, but his chances of survival were
better than trying to fight his way by that ninja
woman. He'd been hoping for an emergency exit, or
a private elevator inside the man's office.

He neared his target and reached to grab for
it. "Ha! I'll just grab this flagpole and break
that window!"

He promptly landed face first against the
metal pole. It lurched down violently as the
screws holding it in place were halfway pulled out
by the impact.

He somehow managed to wrap his arms around the
pole despite the pain in his face and groaned as
he hung there for a moment. "Shit. That was really
stupid."

His right shoulder suddenly ripped open, a
spray of blood was all he remembered as something
whizzed by him. "Man!" he whined as he looked up
to see Mitsuki hanging from the window and
throwing various blades and throwing stars at him.
There was a long gash on his shoulder and he
kicked his legs and tried to climb up the pole
towards the nearest window.

The pole moved downward again, even more
precarious than ever. He slid all the way down
this time and found himself tangled in the
Japanese flag on the end. The cloth waved against
his body in the wind, and was quickly becoming
full of holes as the Shinobi woman corrected her
aim.

Carrot groaned and felt his hands slipping as
he tried to hold on desperately. "Shit. I'm
screwed," he muttered as he finally let go.

Mitsuki's smile registered in his mind as he
fell again, but only for a short time.

Just below the flagpole was something he
hadn't noticed before. A long thick wire. It
looked like a telephone line or a power line. The
thick plastic covered wire extended across a the
street to the side of another building. He grabbed
it as he fell and found himself swinging violently
from side to side as the thing lashed around from
the sudden impact. Cursing to himself he kicked
his legs and began to work his way towards the
building again.

"What the?" he muttered as he noticed
something pass in front of his face. "Oh man," he
grumbled as he realized she was still throwing
things at him. "How many of these things does she
have? Give it a rest will ya?" he cried as he
looked up at her.

She reared her arm back and threw another
object at his location. He blinked in surprise as
it hit its intended target. The power line he was
hanging from.

"Oh shit," he said to himself as he saw the
last bit of line holding him up slowly snap apart
about four feet in front of him. The next thing he
remembered was the sudden sensation of falling.

Carrot screamed as he rushed downward towards
the ground, he was hanging desperately on the
wire, clutching it as best he could. The line
arced towards the building in front of him and he
knew that as soon as he hit that wall, he'd be
nothing more than a red smear against the
concrete. He blinked in surprise he realized that
the line he was hanging from had become tight
suddenly. "Huh?" he muttered to himself as he
looked up.

There was another line hanging just above the
wire, a thin support wire. Halfway along the
stretch of wire there was yet another thin wire
that hung down from the larger cable. He looked
back and saw that several of these had snapped as
he had descended, but the one halfway through
managed to stop his decent. He was now doing
nothing more than swinging back and fourth.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "I've got to
climb up, I'm still sixty stories up," He sighed
and started to ascend. Of course, he'd gotten no
more than two more feet when the line snapped
again and he was sent plummeting towards the wall
again. "Not again!" he screamed.

This time, his decent was slowed as each of
the support wires snapped individually as he
plummeted towards the side of the other building.
Finally, he slammed into the side painfully. "Oh,
shit," he muttered to himself as he felt the pain
of the impact.

He had finally stopped again. With a frown he
looked down and sighed. The end of the wire was
moving about wildly, throwing sparks in every
direction. That limited his choices of movement to
up. Well, that and the now fifty story drop from
the bottom of the wire.

Once again he started to slowly make his way
up the thick cable. He grimaced in pain with each
movement. "Man, this really sucks. It can't get
any worse than..." He stopped as he realized what
he was saying. The wire jerked and he felt
something give at the top. "Man, me and my big
mouth," he grumbled as he started falling again.

The wire was actually bolted onto the side of
the building with several metal strips that held
it in place. It ran all the way down to just above
the street before it crossed into another
building.

Carrot was too terrified to notice this as he
plummeted towards the ground again. Finally, after
what seemed like an eternity of falling, the wire
stopped again. It jerked down violently, almost
causing the boy to lose his grip.

Carrot was clutching on for dear life, his
eyes were closed and he was braced for the impact
that would end his life. After a moment of
hanging, he seemed to realize that he wasn't dead
yet and frowned. "Great. Now what? I wish this
would just end..." he muttered to himself as he
slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

He found himself looking at a street sign. He
was hanging two feet above the ground, several
cars had stopped in the middle of the street, and
people were looking at him in shock.

He stared back at them for a moment and let
go. He blinked and glanced around for a moment.
"I'm not dead?"

In answer to that, the live wire jumped
towards him, spitting sparks angrily. He dodged
and ran away from it, moving across the street. He
had no intention of stopping, but stumbled over
something in the pavement and landed face first on
the ground.

"Ouch!" he muttered angrily as he held his
nose and rolled onto his back. After a moment he
pulled his hand away and groaned. "I dust boke my
damned doze!" he snapped hatefully. He touched it
tentatively and sighed as he realized he was
correct, it was definitely broken.

"All that, and the worst injury is over
something this stupid!" he snorted as he looked
down at what had stopped him.

Sitting in the ground, inside a large crater,
was the briefcase the old man had in his hand. The
latches were both broken off, and it was heavily
dented, but it had survived mostly intact, and
even stayed closed. He shrugged his shoulders and
picked it up as he staggered towards an alleyway.
He stepped around the remains of the huge leather
chair as well.

The sound of sirens filled the streets as the
police moved towards the scene.

Carrot finally vanished into the shadows and
decided to get in some well-deserved rest.

++++++++++++

Mitsuki watched the scene in absolute awe. The
boy's skill was beyond amazing. His claims about
not being a ninja were absolutely ludicrous. He
managed to survive a drop from a seventy story
building with someone of her skill taking pot
shots at him, and come out with nothing more than
a scratch on his shoulder. "Amazing."

"Who is this insolent fool?" growled the
Oyabun hatefully as he glared down into the street
at her side.

"A very skilled warrior my lord. He is not to
be taken lightly," replied the woman as she bowed.

"Skilled is he?" commented the man as he
glared at her.

"My lord, I shall not be able to defeat him on
my own, nor will my daughter. He is far more
skilled than we anticipated."

"Is that so?" said the man calmly as he looked
at his windows and sighed. "You making a claim
like that to me, tells me that you are honest.
This is the first time your family has ever failed
me."

The woman bowed low before him. She pulled a
small knife from her robes and set her Katana on
the ground at his feet. "Then I shall perform my
honorable duty, Kei will join me when she
returns."

The old man's eyes flashed for a moment as he
seemed to consider it. "No, I shall need your
skills more than ever now. Call the clan together,
this cannot be ignored."

The woman put her nose against the carpet as
she knelt before her master. "As you say."

The Oyabun left the room and went into the
bedroom. That meant she would have to deal with
the police when the arrived. She stood up and
retrieved her katana, placing it back on her side.

She paused and looked at the katana that sat
in the floor. "He drew this sword. A cold smile
came to her lips as she realized that it was now
out of its scabbard. "No one needs to know that
the unworthy fool is the one who..." She reached
out to grab the hilt as she said this. Her
sentence went unfinished as a powerful energy
crackled at her touch. Blue tendrils of energy
shot from the blade and ran down the length of her
arm.

Mitsuki screamed in pain as she was brought to
her knees. The blade hummed angrily as it blasted
her arm away from itself. Finally, she collapsed.

No more than a second later she opened her
eyes again and slowly rose from where she had
fallen. Smoke was wafting from her body as she
struggled to her feet and looked up. The blade was
gone.

"No!" she muttered in horror as she stood up
and rushed out of the room. She turned towards the
display where the boy had taken it from and fell
to her knees. It was sitting back in its place,
the only sign it had ever been disturbed was the
broken glass of the display case. "This...it
cannot be! He cannot be the one! I cannot accept
this!" Tears flowed from her eyes as she looked at
the blade in horror.

For the briefest of instants, she thought the
jeweled ruby eyes of the hilt glowed in anger. She
bowed her head and ground her teeth in anger. "I
shall destroy him before the others find out about
this. I will not accept this to be true. Without
the sword, he is nothing." She stood up and walked
towards the elevators to meet the police.

+++++++++++

Carrot woke up the next day and frowned. He
looked up at the sky and groaned in pain. His face
felt like it was being pounded on with jackhammers
from the inside, and his shoulder was little more
than a dull burning pain.

"Man, this sucks," he muttered to himself as
he sat up. He was lying hidden in a pile of
garbage bags, and they tumbled away from his body
as he popped his arms and legs just by moving
them. He felt stiff, and now every part of him
ached. His head was little more than a pounding
throbbing mess.

Finally, after several tries, he managed to
stand up. Glancing around at his surroundings, he
realized he was alone. Turning his head, he found
himself looking at the briefcase he'd grabbed as
he left the scene the night before. With a heavy
sigh he kneeled before it and noticed that the
only thing holding it shut, was the fact that it
was bent inside of itself. The latches had popped
out from the impact, and one corner was dented
badly.

With another heavy sigh he pulled it open,
with only a little effort.

Somehow, Carrot smiled. Despite the pain,
despite his injuries, he found himself chuckling.
In his hands was a briefcase, a briefcase full of
money. A briefcase full of ten thousand-yen notes.

"Oh, this is rich," he chuckled to himself as
he fell against the trash and slumped against the
wall. "Well, I am at any rate. Heh." He looked up
at the sun and realized that his day suddenly
looked a whole lot better than it did before.

Finally, he stood up slowly and started
walking with the case under his arm. He knew he
couldn't just walk to a normal bank and deposit
the money, he also knew he couldn't just start
throwing around large mark bills that way. He
scowled and tried to think of exactly what he
could do with it. "This is going to take a little
thought."

He turned towards a nearby fire escape and
slowly started climbing to a rooftop to think.

TBC...