Chapter Eleven

Rei? Natalia mentally shook her head, and chuckled at her own moment of shock. It’s a common name don’t get yourself worked up. The smell of him was making it hard to think, humans made first impressions based on sight, Kitsune made them by scent. Natalia was willing to bet this male was a seventh dan like her, which was the only reason she could think of which would make him smell so good.

She walked over to the dead female and pulled her shock-stick free; she cleaned it using a bit of the Feral’s shirt. It gave her time to steady her nerves. “I should thank you properly.” She watched as interest sparked in the male’s eyes, and remembered what that phrase could mean in Undercity. She barely repressed a shudder. “I meant can I buy you dinner.”

“Sure”, said Rei his eyes still sparkling.

“I know a good Italian place not far from here, if the riot hasn’t gotten that far...” Both Kitsune winced as the piercing sound of sonic pistols began echoing through the street. The Riot Patrol had arrived and was now viciously putting down the violence, with smoke bombs, flash bangs, and sonic pistols set to area disbursement.

“Anywhere is better than here!” shouted Rei “Lead on.” The two ran down the street, away from the small market that had become a war zone

They worked their way to a restaurant and got a table. Natalia excused herself to run to the lady’s room to wash the blood from the fight off of her hands. Once safely locked in a cramped stall she quickly tapped out a missive to her team that she was safe, and that she was buying dinner for a civilian who had helped her get out of the riot.

Seconds later she breathed a sigh of relief as two messages pinged back in. Aaron’s just said. “All clear.” Saki’s said “All clear. Is he cute?”

Natalia rolled her eyes. Saki was only sixteen, and next to Shido was the most mischievous of her people. Natalia smirked “Yes he is cute, and he smells as good as a no-limit cred-chip.” Figuring it’d get a rise out of the girl.

“Score! You go have fun; I’ll keep the stiff off your back.”

Aaron had just been released from the crèches, counter to what they had been told. He was a bit stodgy even for a Siren. Saki loved teasing him. Both of them had come late to Natalia’s team, Saki had replaced a young Kitsune who had gotten killed by Ferals on his day off, and Aaron to replace Cassidy, who had gone to be a mother.

Natalia walked back out to the table, enjoying the rich red colors painted on the walls, she wished she was wearing something other than baggy human clothes, or that she had grown her hair to a proper length or done anything to seem more Kitsune and less Human.

She sat at the table and handed her yellow cred-chip to the waiter, who then gave them menus.

“So what brings you to this part of the City? I know I haven’t seen you before?” Rei observed.

“Bad luck, or good luck, depending on your point of view. I was buying a present for a friend of mine.” She blinked and checked her pocket. The box had been completely crushed by her fall. She carefully pulled the box apart, and smiled as she pulled the earrings out, unbroken.

“Hand cut and carved plasticine. Nice.” Rei said. “Are they supposed to be green?”

“I don’t think so…Maybe. It doesn’t matter, she likes weird jewelry.”

“Heh if there was ever a mascot for the Kitsune it would be the Platypuses. Platipi, whatever.

Natalia laughed, as she carefully wrapped the earrings in a folded napkin and slid them back into her pocket. “I was wondering the same thing earlier. So Rei, what brought you to the riot today?”

“Same thing that drove a lot of these morons and daisies out, I was stir crazy from being stuck inside.”

The waiter came back with two glasses of clear iced water and took their order. He didn’t bat an eyelash as the two patrons both ordered two entrees. Natalia was starved, she had done a lot of shifting in that fight, and her stomach was now telling her it was time to pay the piper.

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Once the waiter left Rei scooted closer to her, and she was torn between scooting away to get him out of her personal space or scooting closer so she could breathe the scent of him in. She had heard that some Kitsune could attract others with an almost irresistible natural pheromone; she hadn’t believed it till now. She forced herself not to move.

“Natalia. How is it a pretty creature like you managed to go unsealed?”

The glass of water was cool in her hand as she took a sip debating about what she wanted to say. “My father bribed the officials to make sure the scanners weren’t working the day I was born. He’s an official up in Perth, and couldn’t afford to have a subbie child, so he did what he could to stack the odds.” She said, using one of her stock cover stories. This wasn’t the first time she’d been forced to shift wearing a human persona, and probably wouldn’t be the last.

“Nice. So you actually live in Human-topia?”

“No.” Natalia laughed. Human-topia was about right. The Perth district didn’t allow any Kitsune or Sirens to have housing or run businesses in their precious walls. “He lives in Perth, I was fostered out in Adelaide when my, oh so human, little brother was born.”

“Ah.”

“What about you?”

He gave her a jaunty grin, “I was born and raised in the Undercity, and I do odd jobs, here and there. It’s not glamorous but it’s a living.”

“My dad sends me money to stay away from home.” Natalia returned. “I sometimes pick up a temp job here or there. It’s hard to find steady work, even when you can pass for human.”

Rei sadly nodded, his eyes brightening as the waiter began bringing their food. The protein heavy meal covered the table, and for a few minutes neither of them spoke as they worked on feeding their over-clocked metabolisms.

Their conversation, once it began again, wandered easily from topic to topic as they sipped the clear water. Natalia couldn’t remember feeling so at ease with anyone that hadn’t been raised with her. Rei was intelligent, and considerate, and didn’t bring up the past, he didn’t want to talk about his and he didn’t expect her to.

She glanced down at her comm and was startled at how much time had passed. “I really should get going. I was supposed to have met up with some friends an hour ago.” She remembered Shido and Takada who were always trying to get her to have interests outside of their crèche. Her heart pounded in her throat; she didn’t know why. “I have next Thursday off. I…don’t suppose.” She cursed the nervousness in her voice. “I don’t suppose you’d maybe like to get together?”

Rei smiled as he considered the female Kitsune’s question. Normally the rogue preferred to live his life as a ghost, most people only ever seeing him once before he shifted form and vanished from their lives. This time, however, he found himself wanting more.

It was out of character for him, and he knew it, but she was intelligent, funny, and her scent was damn near addictive. A heady mix of honest sweat and enticing musk, it caused a stirring in him that was more than physical. He knew what it could mean, having been lectured to about Kitsune sexual and emotional responses since puberty by the teachers in the Deep, but he couldn’t help but want to spend more time with her.

He decided to take the chance. “I’ve got nothing going on Thursday, so I’d love to. Do you know where the civil service kiosk in district four is?”

“Sydney district four? Yes.” She couldn’t help but look perplexed by his question, which caused him to smile more.

“Well about two blocks down is a little, family run Vietnamese style noodle shop which is like a piece of heaven fallen to Earth. Have you ever had Vietnamese food?”

“No, but you make it sound wonderful.”

Rei grinned, standing as she did and walking her to the door of the restaurant. “Meet me at the kiosk around seven that evening. This time, I’m buying.” He was still smiling when, ten minutes later, he stepped aboard a thankfully deserted tube-car.

Sitting under the public security camera he closed his eyes and thought about the girl he’d just left. Natalia hadn’t told him the entire truth about herself, not that he blamed her having held more than a few things back himself. The euphemism of odd jobs, which both of them had used during their conversation, was nearly slang for smuggling and theft among Kitsune in Undercity. She also lacked the retiring nature of an Uppercity princess, though he did believe the story about her father. It was actually a story he’d heard before, and you couldn’t go a month without another kid or young adult being revealed on the news channels after having passed as human for years.

Her martial arts skills actually supported her story, since they were definitely dojo learned, not straight street fighting like his own. A common method for getting exercise and learning self-defense, the martial arts were alive and well in the City, though her teacher must have been excellent for her to translate class based skills into a real street battle.

In fact, there was only one thing keeping him from worrying that she was a Leo, or worse yet InSec, officer and that was her shock-stick. That modded toy with its crudely elegant snap blade was pure street and not the weapon of even a good undercover officer. In Rei’s experience even the best of the Leos forgot that, on the street, the blade was king. Natalia had obviously learned that the hard way.

“Next station, Sydney Shopping Torus. We remind our Kitsune passengers to remember that shape shifting in public areas is a public safety violation. Please be considerate to your fellow shoppers.”

Rei chuckled and checked the car to make sure it remained vacant except for him. That message never stopped amusing him since shifting in public was more of a personal safety issue with twitchy Leos and shopkeepers patrolling the torus. Standing, he ran his fingers through his now black hair as he stepped onto the boarding platform.

Kay had requested toys for her munchkins, and with the Leos busy with dozens of riots throughout Sydney there was no better time to get them.