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Part 2
The Heist
"Youko! Let's move!" Kuronue yelled and tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the fox to quit playing with the plants.
"I'm coming," the other thief growled and walked into the kitchen. He threaded a few blades of grass into his hair among his other seeds and small plants. "What's the rush anyway?"
"It's the girl's first trial run. I want to be there to mess it up for her as much as possible."
"You're looking to come to her rescue like some noble moron, aren't you?" Youko drawled, a smug look on his face.
"Hardly!" Kuro guffawed. "I want to see if she can deal with a little bad luck and find out who wanted what out of our vault. It's payback time…" His glare deepened in slight anger.
"Sure," Youko said and walked past his partner. "Let's get going so we can find out who hired the bird head and take him down our selves."
The two left their house and pulled up all the defenses they'd put in place over the years. They immediately went to where the rest of their band stayed and asked where Itekurai was.
"She's already left, chief," one of the higher-ranking demons told Kuro when he was asked. The bat left with the fox and stopped just outside the door.
"Well?" Kuro asked. "You get her scent?"
Youko turned his nose into the air and took a deep breath. "Faintly," he replied and inhaled again. "She seems to be heading south. Let's go." He headed off without another word. Kuro nodded and followed his partner. A few hours later, they caught up to Ite but stayed out of sight. This was her only shot to keep a space in the ranks of the two's team. If she messed up now, it would be the end of her. If she messed up on a future heist, it would also be the end of her, but now she had the chance to prove herself. She reached a clearing, changed into a raven, spread her wings, and took to the air.
"Follow her," Youko commanded. "Stay hidden."
"Yes, Mother," Kuro drawled rolling his eyes and lept into the air himself, keeping close to the trees so he wouldn't be seen easily by the higher flying raven.
The sun started to peak over the horizon when Itekurai finally landed, folding her wings gently before returning to her normal form. Quickly, Kuronue banked back into the trees and folded his wings, dropping to the forest floor silently. "She's going to do this in broad daylight?" he wondered incredulously. He crouched down and returned to the girl's trail.
Youko soon caught up to Kuronue, having sent a tendril of ki out to his friend to attach them so he would easily follow the trail without having to give himself away. He didn't say anything, just appeared from the shadows to slowly slink along next to Kuro in pursuit of the girl.
"The Thief's Guild?" Kuro wondered when he took a moment to study his surroundings and realized they were familiar. "Figures they would pull a stunt like this. Probably her entrance test."
Ite sized up the wall in front of her, pacing a little in thought. Finally, she snapped her fingers, fumbled with something at her waist and walked boldly up to the wooden barrier. Daggers flashed in her hands before she slammed one into the wall as high as she could. She pulled herself up a little with one arm, sunk the other in higher, and pulled herself up again. She continued this, walking up the wall, using her knives as movable handholds. Kuro pondered for a moment, wondering why she didn't just fly when he realized her black wings were no longer visible. She could pass as a human should she choose to.
"She's got strength," Kuro commented quietly, watching her arm muscles flex as she heaved herself onto the top of the wall, lying flat to remain unnoticed.
"She's stupid, that's what she is," Youko half laughed. "I'm having trouble believing she's attempting this in daylight."
Kuro nodded and sat back to wait for the girl's return, if she did. The guild wasn't the friendliest in the Makai.
Ite dropped to the ground inside the walls, careful not to make a sound. She rose into a crouch, staying in the shadows cast by the wall at her back. The main doors stood to her right, the back door to her left. Neither was the entrance she wanted. She looked up and picked out the stained glass window three stories up. Turning into a raven wasn't an option. There were charms all around this place to prevent any transformations of any kind. Doing so outside the walls wouldn't help either. They too were warded so that anyone that attempted to come in transformed would immediately loose their grip on the form they wore. Her wings that normally rested easily wouldn't be useable here. They too were part of her transformation, the part of her she'd gotten from her father. She preferred it, knowing few knew it as opposed to her natural appearance that was more like her mother's. She wouldn't be able to fly to the window using any form of wings. Who was she kidding? No power at all could be used within these walls without the Guild Master knowing.
Ite sized up the building in front of her. She could see pressure sensitive marks up as far as she could see. If more weight than that of a bird rested on them, they would go off.
"If I weren't clever, I'd have to take the suicidal approach of the front or back door," she thought smugly and walked over to a nearby tree. Her kit awaited her return there. She dug threw the leather bag, found the object of her search, replaced the bag into the higher branches, and walked over to the wall. The bottle she held in her hands was small, only about as big as her thumb and the red liquid inside didn't look too friendly. Still, she let one drop fall onto her tongue and waited a few seconds for it to take affect.
On the third floor, a window creaked open as Ite let go of the winds she'd used to lift her off the ground. Thank heavens for that apothecary she'd come across three months ago. She'd cleaned the place out in the space of an hour when the owner took his afternoon lunch break. Among the bottles of random ingredients, she'd found a few recipes and finished potions, one of which concealed the use of any amount of ki used, no matter how large or small for three minutes.
Her booted feet made no noise on the floor as she tiptoed through the room, over to the bed where a snoring demon lay. Ite could smell the alcohol he'd consumed the night before easily. He wouldn't wake up for another three or four hours, no matter what noise was made, but the girl didn't take any chances. The Guild Master's belt hung on the bedpost. With a smirk, Ite pulled the key ring off it and left the room, heading for the center of the compound, taking care not to make any noise and to avoid all noises that could be the result of some early morning wanderer.
The guards to the guild's vault were snoring in their chairs. Ite rolled her eyes. "So much for impenetrable," she thought and let a few drops of oil fall on the hinges. The padlock snapped open easily with the help of the keys the girl had stolen a few moments before.
The traps were easy to dodge. Arrows, flames, pits; all too simple for those with good reflexes to avoid. The last one, however, was harder. Twenty yards of space stretched out before her. She couldn't jump it, but her winds could carry her across. The problem was having the control to be able to hold herself in one place long enough to unlock the door to the main vault, grab what she wanted, and be back to where she stood all in the space of twenty seconds. After selecting the appropriate key, she took a deep breath, stepped back, and took a running leap towards the gap, using winds to help propel her. Her aim wasn't the greatest but she did manage to get rather close to the keyhole. She took another second, sweat pouring down her face as she tried to control the gale surrounding her, to place the key into the lock and turn it. The winds around her dropped as she grabbed the handle, pushed the door open with her feet, and jumped inside the vault.
Ite grabbed what she could, including the Guild Master's favorite treasure all in thirteen seconds. Stuffing what she'd grabbed into a bag, she lept out of the room, calling winds again to hold her long enough to relock the vault door before launching herself back to the edge of the gap she'd crossed seconds before.
She left the first vault door in same way she'd come to it, locked and with two sleeping guards. Quickly, she slipped down the nearest staircase, heading for the bottom floor. She knew she only had enough energy to call winds up to force herself over the wall and make a less than graceful landing on the other side. Her trip went unhindered. She lept into the tree outside, grabbed her kit, and called winds with the last remaining amount of strength she had to lift her over the wall. She barely made it and fell unceremoniously onto the ground before stumbling into the woods and resting.
"Here she comes," Kuro told his partner, feeling the girl's ki approaching the wall. Seconds later, a wild mess of red hair poked over the enclosure, followed by the head and body of a strong girl before it tumbled to the ground. She hauled herself up and staggered to the woodlands, yards from Youko and Kuronue.
"I thought you said she was coming," Youko commented, absently coaxing a vine near him to grow up a tree.
"It's her," Kuro answered, equally bewildered, "at least that's her ki signature."
"In any case, we should head back before she does. It seems she's passed. Hope she got something to add insult to injury to that over blown pickpocket that calls himself a thief."
Kuronue nodded and took to the air as his partner transformed into a fox. The two headed home before the girl could beat them.
Back at the house, Youko munched contentedly on his breakfast when Kuronue finally walked in. "I thought you were going to make as much as you could go wrong for her," he commented, watching his winged friend from the corner of his eye.
"You know the charms and spells on that building as well as I do. Last time we stole from them, they got a little wiser and guarded it specifically against our powers. The only way I could make things worse for her was to go in myself and it's not really worth my time. Besides, I did leave her a parting gift."
Youko shrugged and went back to eating, propping his feet up on the table.
Eight hours later, Ite walked in through the front door, her bag full of prizes slung across her shoulder.
"You sure took your time getting back," Kuronue commented as he sharpened his scythe.
Ite threw a set of keys onto the table in front of him. "Here," she said yawning. "I assume the master keys to the Thief's Guild are enough insult upon injury to that overblown pickpocket that calls himself a thief?" She plopped down next to Youko, setting her loaded bag next to her.
"You heard us," the fox stated, picking the keys up and examining them carefully, a slight grin on his face.
"You weren't exactly quiet in your conversation when I came over the wall. I wouldn't be surprised if you woke up half the guild considering how quickly they came after me. It took me an hour to get them off my tail. Either that or the burst of power Kuronue threw at the barrier did the trick."
The bat smiled cheekily as he looked over at her. His parting gift had given her some trouble after all.
"Well, Youko," Kuro turned to his partner. "Now that she's back, let's get to work, shall we?"
"More work?" Ite demanded and fell out of her chair. She was beat. Curse that bat demon and his pranks. If she hadn't had to run from the guild, she'd be more reasonable towards doing another job so soon.
"What?" Youko asked. "You think you get a break? Hardly! You're sloppy. You're weak. You need training and it starts now." The fox stood and dragged the girl bodily out the door by the collar of her shirt as she yelled angrily at him the entire way.
"Poor girl," Kuronue murmured shaking his head sadly. "She'll never live through his torture. I better go save her." He started towards the door as well, then saw her bag next to the table. "After I look through that and take what I want." He leaned over and reached out to the black canvas.
"MINE!" Ite raced in, snatched the bag up, whacked the bat on the back of the head, and fled the room.
"Get back here!" Kuronue and Youko yelled simultaneously and gave chase.
Ite had locked her bag up in her room where the two boys couldn't find it, irking both of them to no end, and was now outside preparing herself to undergo training with a certain evil fox for her mentor.
"Can you fight?" Youko inquired, circling the shorter girl.
"Well enough," she snapped in reply, disliking his tone.
"I'll be the judge of that."
Ite didn't receive any more warning. Vines lashed out and coiled around her form, leaving deep gouges. Crying out, she dropped to her knees in pain and tried to pry the thorns out of her flesh as her hands slipped in her own blood.
A vicious flick pulled her to her feet and left her arm scratched worse but mercifully free of the fox's vine. "You're slow," the cold voice growled. Another portion of the plant pulled free, leaving another bloody scratch, this time on the girl's shoulder. "You're weak." Another yank and another line of blood dripping down her form. "You're sloppy." He pulled again and this time Ite dropped back to her knees as all but one piece of the plant pulled free. "On your feet." Youko ordered and yanked the final branch, this time tearing a line of flesh from her back.
She struggled to her feet again, reaching for a weapon in the same movement. One of the daggers she'd used that morning to climb the wall outside the Thief Guild flashed in her hand as she lunged forward, swinging wildly. Youko smirked and a blade of grass he held grew and strengthened until it formed a green broad sword. When she was in reach, Youko struck. Ite dropped her knife and clutched her now bleeding wrist.
"You can't fight." Youko concluded. He tossed his blade aside and walked away. "Go practice with the lower members of the gang. See if one of them can teach you, although you seem hopeless with those knives. I suggest choosing a different weapon."
Gritting her teeth in pain, Ite climbed back to her feet and limped out of the garden Youko'd been teaching her in to bandage her wounds and decide on a new weapon.
Since she was little, Itekurai had been on her own, stealing to live, which soon became living to steal. She was a fast flyer, a good runner, but not the best so she'd taught herself basic self-defense that would get her away from most pursuers. She carried her daggers mostly for purposes of stealing, not for fighting. No one had ever trained her, and now she was painfully aware of her lack of skill.
"Rough day wi' th' heads, eh?" A tall, spiky brown-haired demon asked as Ite hobbled into the building that housed most of the gang. His name was Onshi and had been Ite's guide over the last little while, showing her where her room was, where she could get food, and so on. Now he steered her into her room and sat her on the bed.
"Yeah," Ite groaned, and rifled through the drawers next to her bed, searching for the bandages Onshi had shown her earlier. She pulled a role out and went to work on her arm. "Youko decided to see if I could fight. I think I failed his test."
"Used th' vines, did 'e?"
Ite nodded grimly. Then remembered what Youko had told her. "Onshi?" the pointed ears twitched at the sound of his name. "I need to learn to use a weapon, something other than daggers. What do you think?"
The demon stepped back from her for a moment and studied her thin build with appraising grey eyes. "You're a wee bi' small fer a broadsword," he muttered. "Eve' try a'chery?" he asked.
Ite nodded. "Disastrous," she replied looking at the inside of her left arm. A long scar showed white against her tan skin. "My arms bend funny," she informed him showing the way her arms bent inward when she locked her elbows.
"Double join'ed," Onshi nodded. "You'll wan' somethin' ligh', wee, bu' able t' be thrown if you need t'…" he trailed off as he thought, glancing around the room. A decorative fan on her wall caught his attention. "A shukusen?" he asked her. Ite raised her eyebrows in confusion. Onshi pulled the fan down. "A fan like this, only th' ribbin's steel and goes a wee bi' pas' the cloth, comin' t' a sharp point. You can use 'em as a knife," he snapped it shut and made jabbing gesture, "a circular blade," he flicked it open and made a slicing motion, "or you can t'row i'," he left it open and threw the wooden fan, it sailed across the room and slammed into a wall before dropping to the floor.
"Bladed fans?" Ite inquired skeptically as she continued to wrap cloth around her injured left arm. "I don't know…"
"Give 'em a try!" Onshi encouraged with a smile. "I'll go fin' a pair while you finish wha' you're doing. Mee' me outside when you're done and we'll star' your trainin'."
"Thanks Onshi," Ite replied with a sigh, tying off the bandage on her arm.
"Don' worry abou' 't. Jus' 'urry up. I have a job tonigh' wi' some o' th' guys and I wan' nap afore I go." He left, not giving Ite a chance to reply.