By EliadS

Ibuki walks up the stairs of her house, she hears the door slam shut as Jason leaves and sighs tiredly. She leans her tired body on the rail of the stairway before leaning her head on the wall.

”Why? Why do I deserve all of this? I try to be a good person, I do my best to help mom and everyone, so why are all these crooks and criminals out to get me? Maybe I did something bad in my past afterlife…Hmm…maybe someone up there just doesn’t like me? Oh f*ck it! I don’t care anymore, no use whining…just gotta suck it in and keep on going…” Ibuki thinks.

She inhales deeply and continues climbing the stairs, she brushes her hair back, the locks of smooth black hair who had just seconds earlier blocked her vision now lay in an angle that isn’t bothering. Ibuki then turns towards her room.

She looks around and places her bag on the bed; she sighs audibly and feels her body heavy all of a sudden. Also her legs wobble slightly and she feels dizzy for a second, she closes her eyes and pushes the nausea away, walking up to her closet and grabbing a set of P.Js.

She drags herself toward the bathroom and enters it. She places her clothes neatly beside the marble sink in the bathroom and puts on towel on them. She looks at herself in the mirror before the sink and sighs.

Her eyes are red with lack of sleep, “I gotta sleep…I’m gonna kill myself at this rate…” She mutters and unbraids her hair. When it’s free the strands of smooth hair cascade down her shoulders wildly like water from a newly born waterfall.

She then proceeds to undress, looking down at her nude body she grimaces and sighs, her flawless soft skin is filthy, a large amount of blood and sweat stick to it in a very revolting and unpleasant mess. She throws her dirty clothes into the sink and steps into the shower.

She turns on the hot water and sighs contently, she feels how the streams of steamy water flow down her body, washing the filth off her skin, and making her tired muscles lose their tension, the water metaphorically washing the pain away in it’s gently current.

” Oh God…this feels so good….” She thinks, as she rubs her body with soap, anxious to cleanse her body from the remnants of her mission. She smiles to herself as she notices her healed shoulder, for a moment feeling the warm fuzzy feeling again as she remembers how the wound was banished.

She lingers under the water for a while even though she’s clean, enjoying the water’s soft and warm touch, when she’s had enough she exits the dries off. She slips into her undergarments and clothes quickly and begins brushing her hair absently; the black strands now soft and moist, quite obedient to the brushes gentle strokes now.

” I wonder…if I’ll ever be able to settle down and build a family like dad did, I mean I so want to find love, be loved, not as a daughter, as a woman. And not just sexual lusts like the men show me usually. I want to find someone caring, loyal, gentle and kind. If I end up finding someone like that, It’ll be worth all this pain, please let my future be better than my current life…” She thinks, praying to herself and closing her eyes.

Then she brushes her teeth, pushing the thoughts aside ”Better not be optimistic and cloud my mind with dreams, I can’t afford to lose my focus. I need to push my life aside for a while, Mommy…I’ll do anything to get you back, I won’t let you down…I promise…” She thinks and washes her mouth.

Then she throws the dirty clothes in the hamper and exits the bathroom. She turns off the light behind her and enters her bedroom; she kicks her bag off the bed and leaps onto the bed.

“Tonight I sleep…I don’t give a d*mn about Jason, I ain’t gonna make myself collapse again, he’ll have to wait a lil’ while longer. Hmph, like I give a d*mn about that stupid b*st*rd,” She mutters to herself and covers up in her blanket, she leans her head on the pillow.

She closes her eyes and sighs “Guess I’ll check out that File on Winters in the morning.” She thinks and slowly drifts away into the bliss of sweet night’s slumber.

** Back Streets somewhere in the vast city which is Tokyo **

A figure is walking through the shadowy alleys. The figure is wearing a large trench coat, a large baseball cap on its head hiding, the hat concealing its hair and covering its eyes.

The figure’s body is well developed, the arm muscles still apparent beneath the folds of the cloth, the figure’s lips curl into a smirk and it chuckles darkly. It reaches a wall and stops.

Someone passes by and the figure waits, When the figure is out of hearing and seeing range, it pulls back it’s fist and rams it into the wall forcefully. The wall shakes and dust begins collecting in the air, the sound of stone grinding against stone soon pierces the midnight air.

When the dust clears a large opening is left in the wall, the midnight breeze cast the dust away with its gentle blow. The figure inhales and steps inside. As he does an electronic eye tries to scan his eye, he blocks it with his hand and continues walking.

“Who is the one who seeks Mainframe?” A robotic and rather metallic voice echoes from the bowels of a huge room, darkness the only thing visible.

“Bison? I thought you were dead” The voice speaks again, seeing the man’s eyes are totally white.

“You were right on the Surname, but I am not M.Bison…” The figures speaks and takes off the cap, the gesture revealing the locks of purple hair which sprout from his head.

“Xavier…a pleasure to meet you in person once again, you’ve grown since you last visited me, not for the better mind you” Mainframe’s voice speaks

“You’re not too dashing yourself, you deformed chunk of scrap metal” Xavier says with before hmphing.

“What do you want?” Mainframe asks.

“I want somebody's location, and I want it now” Xavier says, inhaling before being ready to tell him the name.

“Her? Do I look like a mind reader? Give me a name you moron” Mainframe says, beating him to it, a spark of bitterness quite apparent by the words, had he been human probably by his tone as well.

Xavier’s eyes glow in purple softly, anger obviously now coursing through his veins and slowly gripping his psyche, yet Xavier keeps his cool and turns to look at the dark area before him.

His body emits purple-blue flames and the room is illuminated softly. He grins as he sees the center of the Mainframe’s mechanical body, a brain incased within a secured plastic container, many wires connected to the nerve junctions.

Xavier’s eyes burst bright as he sends the answer to the brain, along with a good amount of pain, “Watch you words! A pile of nerves with no body shall not insult me! Am I making myself clear Mainframe? Or must I emphasize myself further?” Xavier asks, continuing the mental attack.

Many machines with monitor Mainframe’s vital status begin beeping loudly and writing urgent messages. “Understood…Just stop it!” Mainframe’s voice shudders.

Xavier smirks and stops. “Now give me her location,” Xavier says.

“Inputting date to satellite web system, locating…locking onto target, enlarging area. Location found, outputting coordinates” Mainframe speaks as his metallic arms tick onto dozens of keyboards and many robotic eyes scan view screens rapidly.

Soon one of Mainframe’s metallic arms hands Xavier a sheet of paper, “Here it is…” The mechanical voice speaks again. Xavier looks at the coordinates and grins evilly “Excellent…This will indeed do nicely, Thank you for the cooperation,” Xavier says and laughs.

His body explodes into bluish-Purple flames and his body and the paper melt in a mass of swirling flames, soon the flames swirl around rapidly before shimmering and fading away, only Xavier’s dark laughter remaining, echoing in the room, rolling and booming with the villain’s glee at his plight.

** Ibuki’s house, In the morning, a few hours later**

Ibuki is up and still in her Pajamas. She is sitting on the couch in the living room and leaning back into the couch’s comforsurface. She’s sitting leg on leg, the file Jason had delivered her the previous evening lying in her lap.

She hmms and licks her lower lip, the surface of the flesh slightly dry. He hair is still a mess and she brushes the locks aside. Them being in the way, and preventing her from reading.

She frowns slightly and shakes her head, sighing lightly before reading the contents with more concentration.

” Hmm…Adam Winters, Let’s see…a Thief, talent and determination give him a good rep in the underworld were his alias is "The Ghost". Current Address is unknown, Brown eyes and black hair…” she thinks as she reads the profile quietly.

”Quite an interesting history and family, seems this guy’s been raised as a thief as I was as a ninja. Hmm... Known contacts in Tokyo...some Mole guy…” She thinks and hmms again, cradling her chin with one hand, now a few minutes had passed and she finished the profile.

” Now here's something interesting...an address. Good…I got an idea, hmm…fixers are usually liars, I won’t trust this one, I’ll just have to take precautions, yes, I know exactly what to do…” she thinks and grins, an idea hatching in her mind.

** The Same evening, a few hours later, Outside a Restaurant in Tokyo **

A figure is standing outside on the backside of the restaurant, the figure is definitely a female by the graceful and perfect curves of it’s body. But its facial features are concealed as it is shrouded in the shadows of the back alley. The woman is approaching something in the backside of the alley.

She has a purse on her shoulder, she takes something out of it, by the way she’s holding it, the object is quite small, she then melts into the darkness, a minute later she leaves the darkness and steps into the light.

Ibuki smiles and navigates toward the front of the restaurant. She’s wearing some casual clothes. Her attire consists of a pair of tight leather pants, which hug her legs like a second skin, quite complementing to her well built legs.

She’s wearing a casual white T-shirt, the cloth cut and revealing some of her cleavage. Above the shirt a small leather jacket covers her back, yet is open in the front.

Ibuki walks up to the street, ignoring some gazes directed to her from passing men, looks that size her up, some even strip her with their eyes. Ibuki sighs lightly under her breath and approaches the door.

She looks up at the sign and raises a brow “Mole” She muses under her breath, She smirks ”Such a gripping name, I can just see the people lining up to enter this place…” She thinks and enters the restaurant.

The interior is decorated in a western style, a bar, Television, table, and waitresses passing from table to table. Ibuki scans the place and hmms. Looking around for someone specific, she finds him and her eyes narrow “Bingo…” she mutters to herself.

As she does someone looks at her from a table in the back of the restaurant. The gaze coming from the dark eyes of an Asian man. The man is scrawny and wearing a suit. He height is average and a mane of short hair covers his head.

He is Mole, the owner of “Mole”, he is known by many in the Underworld and Upperworld as well, he's what the people call a fixer. A fixer is a man who knows the crowd of crime bosses and politicians and rich people, a man who can find any good thief or assassin a job with his connections.

Mole’s agenda in doing this is one agenda many people know well, money, the wish to get his hands on it, and a large amount of it with that. He furrows a neatly trimmed eyebrow as he sees the young lady we know as Ibuki approach his table.

”Hello there…what does such a hot babe want with me, sides the obvious, hehe…lessee what the woman wants” He thinks, yet keeps his facade neutral.

“You Mole?” She asks, thought she knows he is, she quickly runs her eyes up and down his body scanning him real quickly so he doesn’t notice, recognizing him from the picture by 100% match to description and mug picture.

“Last time I checked, yes I’m Mole, what do you want?” He asks casually.

“I’m looking for someone, and my sources tell me you know where he is” She says neutrally, her face a poker face, not revealing any of her emotions.

“Do I look like a Address book?” He asks, smirking.

Ibuki’s facade doesn’t shift or twitch. “I’m serious, I need this information,” She states.

“Who are you looking for?” He asks, crossing his hands, always the businessman, he knows it wisest to first hear an offer before shooting it down.

“I need the location of one Adam Winters" Ibuki says, gazing deeply into his eyes, his eyes lock with hers, the two share a cold and piercing glare for a few moment.

“Can’t help you there, I’ve never heard of him,” He says.

“You sure about that?” She asks.

Mole nods, “A 100 percent sure? My colleagues will not be pleased if you’re lying.” She says.

“Who are these Colleagues of yours? And why do you think you frighten me?” He asks, looking curious putting his hands on the table and raising a brow.

Ibuki in lightning speed unsheathes a Kunai from her Jacket’s pocket and rams it between his fingers, a mere eighth of an inch from cutting off his finger. All the movement taking a second or two and Ibuki never took his eyes off him as she executed it.

Mole’s eyes widen slightly, as he looks at the Kunai and realization hits him. Ibuki smirks and puts it back in. “Since you don’t know…I’ll look elsewhere, goodbye Mr. Mole, I hope you weren’t lying to me…” She muses and turns to leave.

Mole eyes her as she exits the restaurant, closing the door behind her. He can’t help admit that the leather pants quite suit her, and emphasize her curve in an alluring way as he sighs lightly.

“Why would they seek Adam? I better call him, I think I know where that boy is at” He mutters and gets up from his table, heading towards his office, Pushing such thoughts aside, remembering how dangerous she is.

He wonders how this situation will play in his favor and smirking “You’ll owe me big time for this Winters” He mutters while his smirk shifts to a grin.