Nikos motorcycle roared as it increased its speed to the point where it appeared as a blur to anyone actually managing to notice it before it was already long gone.

She glanced at her rearview mirror, not expecting to see anything other than the blur of streetlights.

Instead she saw a black motorcycle, covered in lines of gold and yellow lights covering the sides of the wheels, that gave it a regal appearance, despite just being a common motorcycle. The driver was wearing fullbody motorcycle gear with a large yellow helmet on their head.

What surprised Niko the most was not the motorcycles appearance however, but the fact that the motorcycle was there in the first place. Whilst Niko often boasted of her skills as the worlds best thief, one of the skills that not too many knew Niko possesed, was exceptionally good driving.

As any (ex)man, Niko was very fond of various toys, one of Nikos favourite toys were her many motorcycles, which she spent riding most of the time that she wasn't sneaking around museums or international gold desposits.

Which is why Niko was slightly surprised by to the fact that there was a motorcyclist that was actually able to keep up with her without being scared off.

"Hoo..seems this one actually has some skills..but let's see if you can keep up after i take it up a notch!"

Nikos motorcycle braked, black smoke coming off the tires, as Niko pushed with one arm and pulled with the other as hard as she could, causing the bike to slide to the side and change direction.

Just as soon the bike was facing to the side, her motorcycle roared and flew off at a great speed, not bothering to accelerate properly, which made her bike groan in the form of small clicks and barely audible cracks.

She looked at the mirror, and as expected, the mysterious golden driver was still right on her heels, or wheels.

Next Niko attempted another extreme turn, this time she didn't even bother to brake, instead choosing to turn her bike as she leaned over to one side, her bike leaning dangerously close to the ground as she gradually turned to the side whilst still at max speed.

Nikos turning was succesful only by a hair breadth, her bike managing to complete the turn only by the time it almot drove into the side of a building as she drove on the pedestrian walk. Her bike leaned far enough to the side, that parts of her foothold were ground away by the friction from the ground, sparks of hot metal flying off behind her.

Finally having made the turn, Niko gradually leaned the bike back to its normal straight up position. Feeling slightly relieved over the fact that there were no people walking on the pedestrian crossing this late at night in this part of town.

She once again looked into the mirror, feeling slightly smug over the fact that she succeeded in her bike turn that no sane person other than Niko would even think of attempting in a normal street.

What she saw next caused her to almost crash her bike, as her eyes went wide while being unable to look away from the mirror.

Instead of the golden biker slowing down to turn, or even attempting to do the same as Niko, which Niko was sure would fail and result in the biker crashing miserably, the biker instead did something that went against all the laws of known physics.

Niko saw the golden biker driving straight ahead, in the direction that Niko was heading before, then suddenly the biker turned their bike sideways and continued to drive towards Niko, as if nothing had happened. She did not do a simple turn or a complicated turn or a dangerous life threatening turn, she simply turned, while driving at top speed, and made a 90 degree turn as if it was nothing, continuing to drive behind Niko.

"T-this...this isn't just some biker punk looking for a race is it...?"

She gulped as she thought of any other ways to escape from this strange biker, her thoughts not getting anywhere as everything she thought of was shot down by the fact that her opponent was even capable of doing something like that physics defying turn.

"Correct~"

Niko turned her head to the side and saw the golden biker driving right next to her, her head turned towards her as she wasn't even paying attention to the road. While they dodged passing cars, the golden biker still casually at Nikos side despite Niko doing her best to drive through the small opening between cars or underneath large trucks or doing other various kinds of things in order to shake the other bike of her side.

"My, am i that unpleasant?"

The mysterious biker spoke, in what Niko now recognised as a high pitched feminine tone.

"Who are you, what do you want!?"

Niko glanced over to ther side before giving the road her attention.

"Me? I'm just the one who's going to kill you and all your friends~"

The biker giggled lightly and swerved around Nikos bike.

Niko suddenly felt an enormous sense of danger from the mysterious biker, causing her to almost crash into a passing car.

"My, my, you don't have to be so nervous, i won't do it yet, i rather enjoy myself for a while longer, now why don't you stop, before i have to knock you off that little bike of yours, dear~?"

Niko had a feeling in her gut that told her this strange biker was best to not mess with, and seeing her earlier capabilities, Niko didn't question her ability to throw Niko off her bike.

Niko slowly slowed her bike and parked at the side of the road, not daring to get off her bike.

"That's good, children are cute when they're obedient~"

The biker stopped behind Niko, getting off her bike and slowly making her way towards Niko.

It was hard to see before, since the biker was on her bike, but this mysterious scary biker, was quite short, even shorter than Niko infact, who was already quite short due to her young body.

The biker took off her helmet, wiping some sweat from her brow, and winked at the still confused Niko.

"A..child?"

Niko blinked a few times at the creature standing before her. Infront of her was a young, short girl, with long golden blonde hair, roughly 8-10 year, even younger than Niko, Nikos current body that is.

"My, my how rude, do you realise that i'm your elder, child?"

The young girl spoke in a haughty tone, unsuited for her appearance.

"No No, no matter how you look at it, you're a child, right?"

Niko waved her hand, quickly relaxing now that the mysterious scary person was just a child.

"I could snap your neck right now if i wanted to, girl.."

The young girl grabbed a nearby sign, bending it sideways as if it were made of paper.

Niko began to visibly sweat upon this display of killing power.

"Now, now, you don't have to be so worried, i have no interest in killing weak little girls~"

The little girl smirked at Niko, who didn't even bother to correct her when she said 'little girl'.

"Now, i didn't just stop you here to chat, i want you to deliver a message for me, to those cute friends of yours, that Samurai looking fellow, and that cute looking young boy~"

"...Zatoichi..and Shoki?"

"Yes yes, i want you to tell them that they should probably increase their skills a bit, or else they won't be able to stand a single seconds against me, which would be quite boring~"

She winked at Niko and put her helmet back on and headed back to her bike.

"And be careful with that cutie of yours, i might just take him away from you~"

She giggled as she jumped onto her bike.

"W-what, Shoki and i aren't like that!"

"Oh~ but i didn't say that i meant Shoki, hmm well either way it will all be pointless since you will all die sooner or later, but not before giving me my fun~"

The young girl drove away, her bike silently driving off into the distance as Niko listened to her giggle which disappeared as she got further away.

"What was that...even.."

Niko glanced at the bent metal sign, feeling slightly relieved that the strange creature that looked like a little girl was gone.

Her relieved face was soon replaced with one of worry, as she noticed the blue and red neon lights in the distance, quickly approaching her.

"Ah crap, i've lingered here for too long!"

Niko quickly started up her bike and drove away, her bike hiccuping every now and again, the abuse Niko had dealt to it earlier having taken its toll.

She tried to get away, but her bike was having a hard time, as it would randomly stop, causing Niko to consider simply abandoning her bike and running away on foot.

"Tch, i can't do that, i already stick out like a sore thumb the way i'm dressed as i'm pretty sure they got a good look at my clothes when i drove by them..."

The blue and red lights were gradually getting closer as Niko stood still and bit her nails, thinking of her next move. Before she had noticed, the lights that were coming towards her increased in number, and were now coming from seemingly every street, surrounding her from the distance.

"The hell, how did they even.."

Muttering in confusion, Niko glanced up at the sky, hoping a sudden idea would hit her.

A hundred or so meters above her head, hovering silently, was what looked like a small multi propeller powered device.

"A drone, of course...just my luck.."

Niko was no longer surprised at how the cops had figured her location out, they must have sent out several drones to patrol, and this one must have caught sight of Niko.

"Damn surveillance machines..stupid kids and their new toys.."

She muttered ironically enough as she was currently a young girl herself, which made her sound slightly silly, if anyone was listening.

Finally She looked around at the cars that were quickly becoming bigger in the distance all around her, trying to think of how she could talk her way out of this, when she noticed something.

Just beyond the long line of blue white cars ahead of her, she saw something large raised in the distance, giving her the perfect idea.

"Come on...just another five minutes is fine..come on.."

She twisted the bikes handle repeatedly, the bike making an almost whimpering noise.

"Just fucking work you piece of scrap!"

She snapped at it, kicking the bike in the side. Somehow her anger must have done the trick, as the bike suddenly roared again, its engine coming back to life.

As soon as the bike had made the noise Niko was looking, she had already began moving towards the long line of cars that were giving off red and blue lights, her target being the large object in the distance.

"Once i get there, this will be easy, if i can get there"

She continued to drive straight towards the line of cars. At this point in a few seconds time, it was going to end up with Niko crashing into one of the cars, which both Niko and the car infront of her knew.

The driver of the police car,however , didn't feel threatened as he was up against a motorcycle whilst he was inside a heavily fortified police car, so even if they did crash, he would be in no large danger.

Thus the driver had no hesitation in his eyes, not wavering a single bit as he continued to drive towards Niko in this silly game of chicken.

"Don't underestimate Bikes, you bastards!"

Just a second before the inevitable crash of the two vechicles, Niko pulled herself back, putting most of her weight on the backside of the motorcycle, whilst pulling the handles back as she did so.

What resulted was Nikos bike standing up, its front wheel suspended in midair as its back wheel continued to propel it forward.

The driver didn't get any time to react before his vision was filled with a large tire, which threatened to make its way through the front window.

Niko could very well have put enough force to slam the front wheel into the window and crack it open like an egg, Her goal however, was just to get past the car, not destroy it, so she opted for simple lowering the wheel on the window, the back wheel keeping the bike moving forward, causing it drive over the car, and past the line of cars that covered the entire road.

The line of cars stopped and began their clumsy attempt of turning their cars around, which resulted in them bumping into each other-

"Hah, fools, The great Niko doesn't let herself get captured that easily, uh, i mean himself!"

She looked ahead at the target infront of her, a large bridge, which was currently standing up and open, presumably to let boats through underneath it.

"And it's actually already up, how lucky!"

Nikos bike increased in speed as she prepared herself.

Nikos bike creaked slightly as it suddenly started climbing an almost 90 degree angle upwards at great speed.

Niko looked back at the police cars which now stood at the edge of the bridge, the police men slowly coming out of their cars with confused looks on their faces.

"Hah, you might think this kind of jump is impossible for people like you, but not for the great Niko, this much is nothing, see you on the other side losers!"

She tightened her grip around the bikes handle, the last part of the bridge quickly coming to an end, to be replaced with nothing, as Niko was now riding through empty air.

"Alright..now to land this perfectly, i need to brace myself just before the impact on the other side...Hm...other side..where is the other side..?"

She looked ahead, and instead of being met with the second half of the bridge, a great scene unfolded beneath her, streets that were descending downwards appeared from under her, descending down hundreds and hundreds of meters like stairs, lit up by various store and street lights.

The entire scene almost looked like glowing stairs leading down into hell.

"W-w-w-w-where's the other part of the bridge!?!?!"

She looked back desperately, noticing something strange about the bridge. It did not look well used like other bridges, and it was also seemingly made of the same material all around, even the screws and street lights on the bridge looked to be made from that material, which looked alot like copper.

That was when Niko realised, it wasn't a real bridge, but some sort of realistic statue of one.

She glanced down, realised that there was no way she could make a safe landing. If it had been a real bridge, even if she had failed the jump, she would still end up safe in the water, but this was something she did not account for.

"Stupid artists, who the hell makes statues of bridges anyway!!?"

She let out her frustrations as she was still flying forward, her momentum still having an effect on her fall.

She let go of the motorcycle, as it was now useless to continue holding it.

"Why didn't i pack a parashute or a glider...you'd i would learn from my previous mistakes.."

She sighed as she slowly began to fall downwards.

"Maybe the golden orb, ah right.. i don't have it right now.."

She sighed again, now out of options, she resloved herself to her fate, not particularly saddened by her situation.

"I mean..i should already be dead, and i got to live a bit more, and have fun with Gary"

Putting her hands behind her head as if she was relaxing, she continued to fall down at an ever increasing speed.

"And i got to meet some neat people too, Ah Hannah, those globes were quite glorious, and Zatoichi, that is one crazy samurai fanatic, too easily tricked though"

She smiled as she recalled herself resting her head in Hannahs chest and tricking Zatoichi with lies that a five year old could see through.

"And also...Shoki..He's always cold to everyone, not showing any emotions..how lonely...it would have been nice to see him smile..."

Niko felt something twist in her chest.

"Ah..what's this..what a wierd feeling...i don't get it..."

She wiped her face in order to calm herself, it was best to die calmly, that way she would be remembered as a fearless thief.

"...Tears...why am i crying..not like i feel sad about dying..i was prepared to die all along since i chose a dangerous job like a thief..so why..."

The teardrops floated up due to her body falling faster than her tears, creating small orbs of glittering water all around her.

"Stupid Shoki... didn't you promise to be my partner until we reached our goal!"

She let out a pathetic cry, as more beads of water flew down her face.

"...I did!"

Niko looked up, and saw Shoki's figure right above her, flying down towards her.

"W-what are you doing here, You're going to die too, what good is that!?!"

She cried at him, attempting to hit him with her small fist.

"...I won't...and you won't either.."

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"What the hell are you saying, you didn't even bring a paraschute or anything, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"It's fine..."

"What do you mean, it's fine, you stupid Shoki, it's not fine, you should have just let me be, now you're going to die!"

"I said..It's fine!"

His intensity caused Niko to shut her mouth, surprised at the fact that his voice actually seemed to carry emotion, even if it was annoyance.

The emotion that Shoki felt however, was not annoyance, as Niko thought, but determination.

Niko felt his arms wrap around her, as she was held up firmly to his chest.

"H-hey, w-what are you doing..i know we're both going to die..but..i'm..a..man.."

Her words became more and more distant, until she silently burrowed her face in his chest, afraid to look anywhere else.

"It's fine, we won't die."

Shoki spoke as if it were a commonely known fact.

As they were falling down, Shoki skillfully made his fall deter to one side through twisting his body in the correct fasion as one would do when skydiving. Causing him to get next to the giant wall which was underneath the bridge statue, and seemed to be some kind of natural cliff face, which was artifically flattened for aesthtetic reasons.

The wall stretched from the bottom of the bridge statue and down several hundreds of meters.

Taking out a small knife from his pocket, he thrust the knife into the cliff face, making sure only the handle stuck out, whilst the rest of the knife was burried in rock.

Still clutching Niko with one arm, he used the other arm to keep hold of the knife above himself as he dragged the knife down through the rock with his and Nikos momentum, gradually slowing it down.

The effect was significant, as their speed slowed down quite a bit, The knife however, was almost at the end of its durability, cracks beginning to spread through the blade, causing Shoki to frown in annoyance over the weakness of his tools.

Looking down, his eyes were drawn to the large collection of caffes and restaurants underneath him.

Choosing the perfect landing spot, he let go of his crumbling knife, kicking himself and Niko to the side with one foot, towards the center of the street.

He quickly spun in midair, making sure Niko was held above him as he faced the ground with his back.

--

An old man was casually sipping his tea underneath a large colourfull tent.

The tent was ususally used during the day by people who wished to escape the sweltering sun. The old man however, liked to sit there even during the nights as there would be less people there, giving him his beloved peace and quiet.

Just as the old man was about to get up to get a refill, something smashed into his table infront of him, ripping a hole through the top of his tent, and crushing the frail wooden table into mere splinters.

The first thought that came to the old mans mind was aliens, but after quickly realising how silly that was, his mind instead turned to thoughts of war. 'Have the americans began another attack' He thought.

His worries were unnecesary, as after a quick glance, he saw that instead of a bomb, it was infact just a young girl and a young man, that were laying ontop of each other.

"Uh, young people these days.."

The old man muttered to himself and headed outside, thinking it wasn't his problem.

Niko slowly opened her eyes, as she slowly awoke.

The first thing she noticed was the fact the she was desperately clutching onto Shokis chest, which made her quickly jump back in confusion, before remembering what had happened only a few seconds ago.

Looking up, she could just barely make out the statue of the bridge in the distance, only visible as a small dot from this distance.

"We..fell..from up there!?!"

Niko quickly ran up to Shoki, checking his vitals.

"Pulse okay..but..no breathing?!"

She panicked unsure of what to do.

"Shoki, wake up, breathe, breathe, BREATHE!"

Shokis body was shook as he was desperately yelled at.

"No no, this isn't good....what do i do...oh right..i need to get air in his lungs again..right..mouth to mouth!"

She took a deep breath and moved her face close to his.

"Ah, no i can't, i can't!"

She covered her face and moved away.

"Eh..why can't i..we're both guys, so it's fine right..?"

She pondered.

"No, no, it's because we're both guys, right..but i'm not a guy right now..but i am inside..GAH i'm confused!"

She shook her head as she suddenly remembered that Shoki was dying.

"No, whether it's okay or not doesn't matter, i need to make sure he doesn't die!"

She resolved herself, taking another deep breath and moving her face closer to his and closing her eyes. Closer and closer, She inched her face forwards, until their lips were almost touching.

Suddenly she felt something covering her face, and she opened her eyes, seeing a hand covering her mouth as she was pushed away.

Looking past the hand, she saw that it was infact Shokis hand and that he was awake and breathing.

"Sh-Shoki, you're alive!"

She hugged his outstreched arm, before suddenly realising what she was doing, quickly letting go.

"......Some..how..."

He muttered as he slowly got up in an awkward fashion.

"Wow, even a fall like that was nothing for you, you're amazing Shoki, let's go, before the cops get here!"

She started moving out the tent, Shoki slowly following after, his body abnormaly more stiff than normal.

--

"That was way too risky, i couldn't even contact you because you messed up all your electronics with that signal jammer!"

"Ehhh, who cares, i succeeded, didn't i?"

The house shook with loud activity, which made it literally, Shake.

The main source of the noise in the house however, was a loud argument between two people, their different distinct voices making the neighbors assume that it was some sort of argument between father and daughter.

"Why did you even attempt to steal such a useless thing anyway!?"

Gary stomped his foot onto the ground, forcefully enough to shake the floor slightly.

"You should be gratefull, i was going to give it to you, since i know you were running out of money, and we need funds!"

Niko similiarly stomped her foot, her force however, was much smaller, making her look even more small than she already is.

"Well, thank you, but still, you could have died, AGAIN, damnit Niko, if Shoki wasn't there, you really would have died, did you ever think what would have happened if you actually died!?"

"Well, you would go back to being a shitty lawyer, so wouldn't that be good for you atleast!?"

Niko huffed and turned her head to the side, pouting.

"That is true, but you do realise that i would feel terrible, do you really think i would feel fine after my best friend just went and died, especially when i could have prevented it, and think about Hannah, it's her sisters body you got there, how would she feel if her sister just went and died becuase of your stupidity. Zatoichi too, that bastard although i hate him, he would have to go back to his shitty gang, and that life that is lower than a street thug, and did you even bother thinking about Shoki, he was the one who saved you, he risked his life, for someone just willing to risk their life for some stupid rock!"

Niko had never seen Gary so angry in the many years she had known him. The Gary who would normally just shrug or sigh and do as he's told when she complained too much was gone, instead replaced with a slightly nostalgic figure, full of anger, not the bad anger, but the soft anger one feels when genuinely concerned about someone close to you. Faced with that kind of Gary, Niko could only lower her head in defeat and shame.

"...Sorry..."

A small, barely audible word, escaped her lips, causing Gary to stop his speech, the anger seemingly evaporating from him.

"Look, Niko, i know that this is your thing, i know that you have to do this kind of thing, but please realise, that the present you, is not capable of just doing whatever. If it was the old you, it would have been fine, you could always escape somehow, but now...Ah whatever, you won't listen to me anyway, just do what you want!"

Gary threw his hands in the air, giving up on trying to lecture Niko, and turned to leave.

"I'm sorry...don't be mad.."

Gary stopped once he felt something tugging at his sleeve, turning around he found Niko tightly clutching his sleeve.

"I'm not mad, besides what do you care if i'm mad, don't you always try to get me mad anyway?"

Shrugging, he sighed and turned to leave again, but stopped once he noticed something strange about Niko.

Small droplets of water were making their way down Nikos face, making Gary confused.

"Niko, are you crying, what's wrong, did you get an injury earlier?"

Gary crouched down, attempting to see if Niko was bleeding anywhere, But looking up, he saw something that caused his heart to turn and writhe in pain.

Niko was quietly sobbing to herself, attempting to clean the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

It was a face he had never seen Niko make before, a face he believed someone like Niko was incapable of making, a face full of sadness, confusion, amd most of all, fear.

"Niko..what's wrong, are you alright?!"

He asked, slightly startled at how Niko was behaving.

"..Don't hate me..please..Father..i'm sorry...i'm sorry..."

She continued to sob, her figure now looking less like Niko and more like a small confused girl who was just scolded by her father.

"What Father, what are you talking about, Niko, Niko!"

He shook her slightly, as she looked up at him, her eyes now filling with light again.

"...Huh... I never said anything about a father..?"

Confusion filled her eyes, before she slowly touched her cheek, wondering why it was wet.

"Did you spill water at me, Gary..really..that's something a girl would do!"

She wiped her face with her sleeve, the strange feeling surrounding her earlier now completely gone.

"What..but you were..you were acting weird just now, crying and saying something about your father?"

Gary stood up, observing Niko, wondering if Niko was trying to play a trick on him.

"Hah, cry, why would i cry, you're not making any sense, You sure the stress isn't just getting to your head?"

Gary was given a look filled with amusment, and slight worry.

"No, no, never mind...i guess?"

"Well, whatever you say, let's go celebrate, i'l leave the gem statue for you to sell, and since i'm the one who got us our lousy book and some extra payday, you will be the one paying!"

"Ah...sure, another restaurant?"

"No, no, we are going for Kareoke night, i'l go tell the others!"

She ran off out of the kitchen, and into the living room where the rest sat.

"That was weird...am i just seeing things..or is Niko acting really weird recently..?"

He shrugged and went into the living room behind Niko.

"Hey, guys, we are going for Kareoke, so get prepared, let's go!"

She urged everyone with an excited smile.

Zatoichi who had only just come inside,late due to having to deal with distracting the police, earning him a scolding about interfering with police in the future, was sitting at one end of the sofa, chatting away with Hannah, who was sitting next to him in a comfortable manner.

"Ah, a night out with comrades after well done job is very good indeed!"

Zatoichi happily agreed to Nikos suggestion and got up from the sofa.

"Niko, shouldn't you rest for today, and maybe do that tommorow, i'm sure everyone feels very tired and it's almost morning"

Hannah said with some concern in her voice.

"What, and spoil the good mood we have, no no, we are going now, while the night is dyill young, or atleast before the sun is up!"

Niko declared with determination.

"Oh well i guess it's fine just this once, since the job went so smooth this time, but remember stealing is bad, doing just this once is fine since we really needed it, but at other times its bad okay!"

Hannah nodded determinedly, almost as if she was trying to convince herself.

"Went smoothly?"

Nikos eyebrow was raised in confusion.

"Ah yes, of course, i already told her all about how it went, it went really smooth, right, in and out without a problem, right Niko!"

Gary ran in behind Niko, talking quickly, and giving Niko a strange stare.

"Ah...yes of course, it all went smoothly, couldn't have been easier for the great Niko!"

"Great, great, so shall we head off!"

Gary attempted to change the conversation as subtly as he could, which was not very subtle at all.

"Ah, but where's Shoki, i haven't seen him since we came back?"

Niko looked around, making sure Shoki wasn't hiding in some dark invisible corner.

"Ah, you go ahead, i will find and tell boy to come"

Zatoichi gestured for them to go ahead as he slowly headed into another part of the small house.

"Okaaaay, don't take too long"

Once they were all gone out the front door, Zatoichi made his way towards the bathroom, slowly opening the door.

"You in worse shape than i thought, boy"

He looked over at the pile of bloodied towels laying on the floor.

"...I'm..fine..this much..is nothing..."

Shoki breathed out as something cracked in his chest, he took out his fingers from inside a large wound in his chest that he seemed to have inflicted upon himself with one of his knives.

"Such sloppy work to set rib, boy you should go to hospital if you so hurt"

"....No need...it's fine...i'm already..done.."

He swiftly sewed up the wound, and shifted his attention to his leg, which he held between his hands, giving it a swift twist, a disgusting cracking noise filling the bathroom.

"All...done..."

He breathed out, most of the colour in his face drained.

"Boy, that was big fall, you not done, why try to keep secret.."

Zatoichi asked with deep concern, he knew that even if one was victorious in battle, one could still die a horrible death due to the inflicted wounds, no matter how small, either due to infection or internal bleeding. Luckily in this day and age, such deaths were uncommon, as one could easily get treated with a quick visit to the local hospital.

"...i don't want..Niko to find out...she would most likely feel responsible for my wounds...however.. i need her to be in her best condition..in order to quickly find out a way to resurrect...someone.."

He said with a weak voice as he quickly cleaned up all the blood in the bathroom and splashed water onto his body in order to clean off any obvious blood.

"Is that really all that is to it, you only want help girl because she useful?"

"That's...all there is to it.."

Shoki said, his voice weak but determinned, Zatoichi however, was used to having these kinds of talks with his previous members of the Yakuza after they would have a fight, and he knew that there was more that Shoki wasn't letting on, but he chose not to prod any further, as doing so is not true to his samurai conduct.

"I understand, come boy, girl and rest are going to kareoke, they waiting for us"

Zatoichi waited until Shoki had dressed himself again, making sure to add an extra layer of clothing in order to hide any obvious wounds from where he cut himself in order to get at the bones inside or any swellings caused by him freely setting his bones back in place without any medecine.

"...I'm done, let's go"

Shokis face was back to his usual noncaring look, although if anyone would look closely enough, they would see that he straining himself.