His head hurt. That much he knew. His head hurt, and, more confusingly, he knew the words to say it, knew what the words head and hurt meant and that they currently applied to him.

He knew he wasn’t a cat anymore, not quite.

He knew he wasn’t exactly human, either.

He curled into a ball and shivered.

“You’re being really bitchy about this, Totchi.”

Toshiya was sitting on the couch, spine straight, arms folded across his chest in a gesture he only used when his guard was up.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for him, Kyo. Can’t you imagine how frightened he must be?”

Kyo made a disgusted noise. “Of course he’s kinda rattled right now. He’ll calm down in a few hours. What the hell is your problem? You join the SPCA while my back was turned?”

Toshiya sighed and made a dismissive gesture. “Look, just forget it. It’s futile to try and explain anything involving morals to you, Kyo.”

Kyo shrugged, unoffended.

Toshiya sighed again and glanced at Kyo’s wall-clock (which, despite numerous attempts to recalibrate it, always ran six minutes fast). The digital readout proclaimed it to be well past two a.m.

“Hey, Kyo…?” He put a pleading note into his voice.

“Let me guess: you want to crash here tonight.”

“Well, it’s really late, and my apartment is so far, and I have to get up early tomorrow—“

“What, at the crack of noon?”

“Come on, Kyo, we’re friends aren’t we?”

“I’m your friend. I’m not your hotelier, however. I have work to do.”

Toshiya left the couch and was sauntering toward Kyo, adding an extra sway to his hips.

“Oh no you don’t,” Kyo snapped. “No using your wicked ways to get me to give in. Leave. Now.”

“But Kyooo…” Toshiya bent over to breathe his words into Kyo’s ear. “I’ll make it worth your while…”

“I thought I still owed you.”

Toshiya laughed, voice gone low and seductive. “I’ll put it on your tab.” His hands had begun exploring Kyo’s chest, his touch light and teasing.

Kyo held out for all of two minutes. He let out and explosive breath. “Fucker. Fine, whatever.”

Toshiya smirked, fingers toying with the button to Kyo’s pants.

Kyo pushed his hands away. “Shit, can’t we at least do this in the bedroom?”

“I don’t know. Have you cleaned it lately?”

“Of course, just last month.”

Toshiya sighed, exasperated, but allowed Kyo to lead him back to his room.

The City Council chamber was an enormous room, with a vaulted ceiling so high the cool blue-white track lighting couldn’t penetrate its shadows. The floor was black marble veined with white, polished to a mirrored sheen. Pillars of the same material grew like even stalagmites at regular intervals, tall and wide around as one might envision a redwood tree to be.

The Council Table itself was set atop a dais so high you’d need climbing gear just to reach the Councilors. It was a shallow U-shape, allowing all thirteen members of the Council a perfect view of whomever they might be addressing. It also had the affect of making one feel as though they faced the Emperor’s box at the end of the Roman Coliseum.

There weren’t any lions, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous.

“You have no leads as of yet in this case, Hunter Shinya?” said First Councilor Moran, her thin lips compressed into a tight line.

Shinya kept his eyes on the floor. Best not to look at them directly when they were angry. Moran especially; she seemed to take it as a challenge. “No, Councilor, not yet. You know how difficult it can be to track down those who slip between society’s cracks.”

“What about the renegade Hunter?” This from Councilor Kisaki. Shinya glanced up through the curtain of his chestnut hair; the Councilor was staring at him with too-intense eyes, as if to say You better have something good to report.

Shinya swallowed nervously. He didn’t have anything good.

“Nothing on Hunter Kaoru yet, either,” he admitted, proud that at least his voice was steady. “He’s considerably skilled when it comes to avoiding detection—“

“Just as skilled as this illegal scientist you can’t seem to locate either, hmm?”

Shinya gritted his teeth and kept silent.

“I wonder,” Kisaki went on, “if you are the right man for this job, Hunter Shinya.”

You’re the one who appointed me, Shinya thought bitterly, so you ought to know. Out loud he said, “I have been given my mission and I will complete my mission. I just need a little more time.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a year to spare,” Councilor Moran said, voice acidic. “Those who break the City’s laws must be brought to swift punishment, as must traitors to the ones who make those laws. Otherwise, the authority of the Council is undermined, and chaos and lawlessness will ensue.”

“I know,” said Shinya. His hands were clenched at his sides, his nails digging sharply into his palms.

There was a long, agonizing silence. Shinya could hear the blood rushing in his ears.

Finally, Councilor Kisaki spoke. “Three weeks. That’s all the time we can afford, Hunter Shinya. If you have not apprehended your prey by the end of that time, we will give another Hunter their chance.”

Shinya dropped to one knee, bowing low. His hair swept nearly to the marble floor. “It will be done,” he said, simply.

“You are dismissed, then,” said Councilor Moran, her voice now dull with sudden disinterest.

Shinya rose, nodded once more to the Councilors, then turned and walked out of the chamber.

Toshiya awoke slowly. His neck was stiff, he noted. As he became more aware, various other aches and pains made themselves known. And also, he was cold.

Kyo was still fast asleep, sprawled on his back with most of the covers pulled over him. He was snoring lightly.

And he makes fun of me for sleeping late. Toshiya shook his head, then leaned over to press his lips gently to the sleeping man’s forehead.

Kyo continued to snore.

Toshiya briefly considered waking his friend up, maybe by doing something naughty, but a quick glance at the clock in the other room told him he didn’t have the time to play. Sighing, he pulled on last night’s clothes, raked fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it look “artfully messy” instead of “I just rolled out of bed messy”, gave up, and headed for the door.

Almost as an afterthought, he remembered the not-cat. Would Kyo even remember to feed the poor thing? Toshiya remembered all too well Kyo’s cactus, which had died of neglect. Maybe I should check in on him before I leave.

Opening the door to the experiment room, Toshiya found the not-cat huddled in a corner, shivering. His heart went out to it.

Marching back into the bedroom, he grabbed a layer of blankets and yanked.

Kyo made a complaining noise, curled into a ball, and did not wake up.

Toshiya went back into the experiment room. Approaching cautiously so as not to wake him, he draped the blankets over the shivering form. He turned and headed for the door.

“Thank you,” whispered a small voice.

Toshiya whirled around. The not-cat was peering up at him, gratefulness apparent in his pretty brown eyes. It made Toshiya feel unaccountably embarrassed, as if he’d been caught at something.

“Don’t mention it,” he finally said.

“You’re… leaving?”

He nodded. “But I’ll probably be back later. When Kyo—that’s his name, by the way—when he wakes up, remind him to feed you, okay? He won’t forget on purpose, he’s just absentminded, is all. Half the time he forgets to feed himself.”

“Kyo… What’s your name, then?”

Toshiya felt weird, exchanging information with what had only yesterday been a skinny alley cat. “Toshiya,” he said, turning to go once again.

The thing’s next words made his eyes go wide in surprise.

“My name is Die,” he said.

It was… disturbing.

Toshiya’s thoughts were full of the not-cat (Die, his name is Die) as he made his way along the meandering walkways that led deeper into the city.

It had been easy enough, thinking of it as an animal, as something to pity. But now…

It has a name. It has a sense of self. Oh, Kyo, what have you done?

Shaking his head, he tried to tell himself it didn’t matter. What was done was done, after all. But he couldn’t get the image of those brown eyes, filled with new personality, out of his memory.

Well, nothing he could do just by dwelling on it. And meanwhile, he had to be at work.

Up ahead, a hanging sign made of actual wood advertised the establishment’s name: “GARDEN” was written in flowing blue script. Other than the sign, the front of the place was indistinguishable from the rest of the massive building’s face and the other shops it contained.

Toshiya yanked open the heavy metal door and went inside.

The room within was a surprising contrast to the bland metal face it presented to the world. The floor was covered in thick, soft carpeting in a warm shade of butter-yellow; the walls had been painted a darker golden hue. Fat, cream-colored couches and chairs circled a low coffee table made of highly polished oak. Here and there, flowering plants in terracotta pots made the room seem alive and inviting.

Toshiya hardly ever saw this room; it was a waiting room, designed for customers. To his right was the door (made of real wood, ornately carved and expensive) that led to the office.

A few other people were here, all of them fellow workers. It was review day, and the office was closed to customers.

“Toshiya!” An altogether too-cheerful voice caught his attention, and he glanced over at the couch furthest from the door.

“Miyavi,” he acknowledged, and almost unconsciously he reinforced his metaphysical shields. Most magic-users in this business were immune to each others’ magical “charms”, but Miyavi was an aberration.

The pretty young man bounced over to him, naughty grin in place and artificially-blue eyes alight. He wore a thin, dark shirt that was just short enough to offer flashes of toned stomach, and tight leather pants just low enough to display the sharp delineation of masculine hips. Toshiya found his eyes wandering southward, and he increased his shielding. Mercifully, the urge to throw Miyavi over the coffee table and fuck him senseless decreased.

“Would you tone it down a bit, Miyavi?” Toshiya asked, rubbing at his sore neck wearily. “You’re oozing sex all over me.”

Miyavi pretended to look contrite. He wasn’t very convincing. “You know I can’t help it, Toshiya. The boss says I have too much power for my own good.”

“The boss is right,” Toshiya said.

Miyavi grinned.

The sad thing was, he really couldn’t help it—Miyavi absolutely reeked of power, like a too-strong cloud of perfume. Sex magic just seemed to ooze out of his pores, and anyone who got to close was affected. It made him good at his job, but it also ensured that he would never be able to do anything else even if he wanted to.

“Speaking of the old man, have you seen him yet?” Toshiya asked, moving over to the coffee machine that was enticing him from the corner with its seductive scent.

“Nah, still waiting my turn. He’s with Nao right now.”

As if on cue, the office door opened and a porcelain beauty in a purple-and-black kimono ensemble emerged. He was all dark hair and bedroom eyes and pouty lips, and Toshiya couldn’t stand him.

“Why, Toshiya!” said Nao, feigning astonishment. “You actually made it in time! You’ve sent my heart all a-flutter with joy.”

Toshiya ground his teeth. I will not let him get to me, I will not let him get to me…

“But what on earth happened to your hair?” Nao went on. “You look like you just rolled out of bed. Somebody else’s bed.”

“So what if I did?” Toshiya gave his best “lofty and unconcerned” look.

Nao smiled sweetly. “Giving away freebies again, dear? You’re such a charitable soul. I hope you used a protection-spell—no telling what those fellows living under the Bridge pick up.”

I will not throw him off the balcony, I will not throw him off the balcony…

Toshiya plastered on an equally saccharine smile. “Don’t you have someplace to be, Nao? Better get going, before someone steals your spot next to the public bathroom.”

Nao’s pretty mask slipped for an instant, rage flashing across his features. “Watch yourself, Toshiya. You may be buddy-buddy with the boss, but that won’t last forever. There are better sexcraft artists than you here in the Garden.” And with that he turned on his heel and swished out the door.

Toshiya sighed. I really, really hate that guy.

Miyavi’s expression was sardonic. “Will you look at that guy? He acts like he’s never had to take it up the ass in his life.”

Toshiya choked on his laughter. Leave it to pervy little Miyavi to think of the perfect thing to say.

“Miyavi?” called a voice from the office.

“My turn,” the young man grinned. “I’ll let the boss know you’re here.”

“Thanks.” Toshiya sank down on one of the couches to wait. Taking a sip of his coffee, he found that it had gone cold.

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