I've found a target. Tracking people down when I can't sneak into their online hangouts has become a bit more difficult than I expected. All this newfangled technology has made my life significantly harder than it has any right to be.

Unfortunately for the creepy weirdos I'm hunting, the fact that they're creepy disgusting bastards outside their online hangouts means I still have an ability to find them. I just need to go looking for the gossipy old ladies.

And no, it wasn't just a lucky catch because I went where there were some nice old ladies hanging out and talking mad shit about every one of their neighbors, who happen to think cats are cute and bought me some fishy snacks.

I'll have you know, I approached them because of their gossiping first, and the fishy snacks came later.

I'm digressing. The point is, in this town there are more than a small handful of creepy weirdos. Men who hang out in parks frequented by children aren't as common as they used to be, but one of the grannies had a lot to say about her nephew, who by her own account, seemed unusually close to her grandson.

Unfortunately, while eating the fish-shaped bits of fish-flavored cat food, and I can't believe this actually tastes good to me now, they also confirmed that the man was currently far away. Apparently he lived with his older brother, sister in law and nephew, and was accompanying them on a vacation.

I... am starting to wonder if he's the kind of weirdo I'm hunting, or just another victim of a highly stressful society, someone who couldn't endure the high stakes education system of this country.

...

I'll still check him up because the way the grannies talk, this dude is apparently a major creep. Call me a prejudiced bastard all you want, but I've been right more often than not when looking for overweight creeps with poor hygiene.

Well, that left me with nothing to do... until I spied something interesting.

As I was leaping across rooftops, thinking how it was about time to start heading back home to beat Marina there, I caught sight of a familiar head of straight, long black hair. My whiskers tingled, and as she turned, I saw the glowing of her eyes. Muted, but still there.

The bleak, dreary and boring world that was cast into shadow by the intense light of the sun couldn't dull the shine of her gaze. Much as it happened with Marina, I was captivated by the beauty of the light.

And like a laser pointer, I followed along, stalking after my target as I prepared to hunt.

And hunt, I did.

She was walking swiftly and with purpose. My paws made no noise even as I sped up and jumped across the street, making sure I was climbing up and onto the next rooftop, paws on the tiles, by the time the girl I was following noticed anything was off.

She seemed wary, but eventually, she must've dismissed the sensation of eyes on her as paranoia, because she brought me to her home. It was a fairly old house, an entire estate really, a large mansion, walled in with tall walls. The home was, as I inspect it, built more like a disguised fortress than a regular house, a rectangular structure with no weakpoints, tall walls, small windows...

Hm.

Well. No sense in staying out. The walls only had one gate. Based on the shape I assume it was a gatehouse at some point, but not anymore, there's some spots I can see where there used to be reinforced fortifications, probably to fit in a larger door resistant to attack, but now, it's a normal steel gate, that the black haired girl immediately starts working on opening.

She is the Dark Heart that defeated Marina, and who seems to share in my mission of hunting those that would prey on the weakest and most vulnerable among us.

She seems to be using two separate keys to open two locks, inserting one, turning it, then inserting the other seemingly in the same place. The second key glows the same color as her eyes to my sight, and I can see little glowing red and blue veins spreading from the keyhole on the gate, before she pushed the gate open and crossed it.

The moment she stepped through, I could feel my eyes slipping away from her.

It was irritating. Quite irritating. Almost infuriating ever. Every time I tried to focus, my attention slipped away. I saw something shiny. Movement caught the corner of my eye. A loud sound reached my ears and my head turned by reflex.

Before the rest of my attention failed me, I needed to move. I climbed down from the building I was perched on, and then moved towards the building. Even as I walk I can already feel my mind trying to come up with excuses not to go in there. But I can also tell, this effect, these thoughts, they aren't mine.

Something's fucking with my head.

And I do not appreciate it, not one bit.

I approached the wall and immediately set about climbing it, but for the first time since I woke up here for the first time, I found a surface my claws couldn't find purchase in. I can gouge concrete, slash steel and cut glass, but this wall, I couldn't even come close to scratching.

Annoyance surged through me, and I took a few steps back, starting to think about what else I should do, when I realized that I didn't want to give up just yet, and the effect was insidiously trying to slip thoughts of abandoning the task at hand.

I took the opportunity to give myself a running start, and through the speed I build, I managed to climb about three quarters of the way up, but that was just not enough, even though I easily cleared the height of a regular man, I couldn't quite defy gravity enough to make it up through the wall.

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I had to jump off, and as cats do, I landed on my feet. Again, I began to drift into thoughts that had nothing to do with the task at hand, and immediately, I dismissed them. I moved towards the gate.

Cats... are liquid.

I know this. I feel this. I am this.

I just need to relax, and... check. My face isn't... it's annoying, uncomfortable and difficult, and for some reason every fiber of my being is telling me to go chase a stray sunbeam that caught my attention, but finally my face pops through the gap between the metal bars that made up the body of the gate, and after my head makes it through, my joints are more than capable of twisting and allowing me through.

I wonder if this is the sort of flexibility and agility a caver can only ever dream of. Letting the air out of my body and allowing my lungs to empty allowed me to push my torso through, and my hips had no issue twisting to put me finally all the way through.

If my head can make it somewhere, the rest of my body can as well.

I half expected to have to fight for every step I took, but... my mind was clear. My thoughts were unbothered.

And I wasn't alone.

"Mr. Kitty..?"

The girl was there. I can see the house more clearly now, and it really does resemble a castle. There's a stone base and a set of wooden stairs that lead into a wooden deck that surrounded the entire rectangle that is the house, the windows weren't just small, they were also murderholes. Six columns supported the entire structure, of irregularly shaped stone and mortar, walls that seemed to be polished wood, but which shone in an unusual way when the light of the afternoon sun struck them.

"What are you doing here..? How are you here, actually..." the girl muttered. "Did you follow me home?" she asked.

"Mew."

I tried to be as affirmative as possible in my reply, which she seemed to be satisfied with. "I see, I guess you must've slipped in behind me... I thought I felt some eyes on me, that was you huh?" she said with a small smile on her face.

I could see her a bit more clearly now as well, since the sun isn't glaring quite so hard anymore, and I can tell she's wearing a school uniform from a private, girls-only academy nearby. The uniform was a black blazer, white skirt and white socks combo that gave her the air of some young heiress, and with this castle of a home, it certainly matched.

Still...

I walked up to her. I had some questions, and no way to voice them. I got close enough to bump my head against her shin and calf, and she bent down to start scratching the back of my head and chin. She wasn't as good at this as Marina, but it felt nice to have scratches in areas that my paws simply couldn't scratch satisfyingly.

"Your fur's so nice," she idly noted.

"Reiko... so you're home..."

The voice of a corpse sent shivers down my spine, and I couldn't help but let my claws out and curl around the girl's leg.

I guess her name is Reiko?

She answers to it, in any case. "Grandfather," she replied. "I didn't know you were out here."

"Enough dawdling girl."

An old man, more wrinkles than skin, caught my attention. I hadn't felt him, seen him, heard him or smelled him. He seemed to have popped into existence as far as my senses were concerned.

And though dull, I could see a faint glow around his eyes. A pale pink that might've once been a strong red. Faded, but still present. Though he was bald, covered in wrinkles and wearing a large robe that hid his body, I could tell he didn't need that cane he was leaning on with one of his hands. The other was stuck inside his robe.

Something told me that old man was more than he appeared to be.

"Change out of your uniform already. Your bath is prepared."

"Yes, grandfather," Reiko replied, "I was just-"

"Go already. The water will cool," the old man said.

Reiko nodded. "See you later, Mr. Kitty," she said, crouching and scratching between my ears, before she turned around and left.

The old man watched the young girl, his granddaughter, climb up the steps into the deck and then open the screen doors into the house, again, I could see veins of color, this time exclusively red, spread as she touched her hand on the door and I knew there was probably a similar effect to the walls on the screen doors.

I sat on my butt, and wondered what I should do. I had a sinking feeling, trying to get in would probably result in the old man stopping me, which would be mighty suspicious...

"Why have you come to this land, Evil Spirit?"

"Mrow."

I turned to face the old man and tried to look confused.

"Cats care little for the words of mere men, Evil Spirit."

I would, if I could, replace the next Meow with a swear, but alas, I cannot express my frustration in such a way. Of course I forgot to act like a proper cat at such a critical moment.

"You've followed my granddaughter to her home... if in her duty as a Dark Heart she has angered you and brought about your vengeance, then I will hold nothing back," the old man said.

I heard the sound of beads on strings rubbing and hitting each other, and then he pulled his hand out swiftly, and threw what looked like a collar of beads at me. He threw it like a baseball star, or maybe even faster than that.

But to me, it might as well be in slow motion, and I could easily let my claws out and slash at it midair, cutting the strings holding the beads together and causing them to spread all over.

My eyes focused on the old man as he raised his walking stick, pointing it at me while he put his free hand into a weird pose, his thumb and ring finger curled into a circle while the other three were straight, right in front of his mouth.

"Mrrrrowww," I growled lowly at him.

If this old man attacks me again I'll sneak into his room and piss all over his pillows.

"Though my might as a Heart Knight has faded, I will defend my granddaughter until the flames of my life extinguish..!" the old man whispered, half hissing his words out.

I could see the same red of his eyes gathering in front of his weirdly positioned hand, and then traveling towards the tip of his cane.

Realizing he was almost certainly going to attack me like that, I moved swiftly, jumping towards him and then just jumping onto his shoulder, jumping off it, and making sure to leave a mark on his clothes, before landing, licking my paws, and brushing some of the dirt that got on me off of my fur.

I wanted to make it a point.

He froze, as he realized the point I made.

"I see... Have you not come to avenge yourself upon us, Evil Spirit?"

"Meww," I replied, continuing to wash my face with my paw.

"... Right, I suppose a cat can only communicate like so," the man said. "Then, perhaps- no, it can't be. It is said that they became extinct ages ago... if you are no vengeful Evil Spirit, then... A Guardian Beast..?"

I have no clue what you're talking about, old man. I'm just here because I need to know what the hell is going on and why your granddaughter Reiko attacked my human on sight.

I need to know if I have to smack some sense into you.

"At last... at last!! I never thought I would see the day, but here you are, the gods have not abandoned us after all, a Guardian Beast has come," the old man spoke, and- was he crying?

He was crying!

What the hell man!?

"Ahh, if only my child was here, if he hadn't-" he bemoaned, "if only that girl had lived long enough to witness your arrival, perhaps- no, no, I get ahead of myself," he said. "I must know... Guardian Beast, I must... why have you come? Have you chosen my daughter?" he asked.

I growled lowly at him.

"No... of course, a Guardian Beast wouldn't know," he muttered. "No, I must explain first. Come and follow me, Guardian Beast, this old man would be honored and humbled, should you choose to listen to his ramblings as he cares for his garden."

Finally. Hopefully this is actually relevant to what I need to know.

"It all started twelve years ago, when a Dark Guardian Knight, my very own son, fell in love with a Pure Heart, and chose to give his heart to her," the old man spoke. "It was then that things would start to change, and where this silent, cold war between Hearts began. It all began with their tale... let me weave you a tale of two hearts, o Guardian Beast..."

As we began to move, the old man began to speak, and with my ears perked up, I listened.