Shade was sound asleep on the table. Her head was laying between her arms as we let her rest. It's been a rough month for all of us to try to keep up with things to where it was becoming overwhelming. Kitsuno was sitting next to her and was having a slow sip of her tea as we enjoyed the relaxing sounds of the rain hitting the window outside. Honestly, we were lucky that this diner was still open for a while longer to weather out the storm a bit.
Our apartment was a fair distance away from work and we didn't have a vehicle to use. Previous one Shade and Kitsino had got stolen so we had to resort to walking. We did ride the bus at one point, but after an incident with a few perverts and some screaming children, it's safe to say we all are walking at this rate.
Granted, things could be a lot better. The city we are staying in isn't exactly friendly in some parts to travel through. Between the usual brutes and thugs we have seen and have beaten up, there has been rumors of a mafia group moving into the area. That's the last thing we really need at the moment, more trouble.
Part of me wonders where I would be if I never decided to mess with Shade back in the northern territory. While she did beat me up and I ended up getting raped by her in the pillory I was stuck into from the law up there, I do wonder about my decision to follow her. While she was battle hearty back then, it's really a surprise that having to live in this type of environment has taken a drain to her. She's been more tired lately, and that's not from the amount of sex we have had.
I move a hand over to her face to give it a poke and she had no reaction. "Hey Kitsuno, you think Shade will be okay?" The twin sister sitting across from me looked up from her book and at her sister. "Shade's resistant Melissa. It's... she just needs to learn that she has limits. She means well, you know this."
This is true. Despite what happened back then and with me following her all the way here during her travels, Shade offered me a place to stay with her sister. Hell, she even helped get me a job where they both worked at, even if that place is terrible.
Looking up over at the clock, I gazed into the neon lighting to see that the time was two forty in the morning. We've been in the diner for two hours by now. Thankfully the place is empty, aside from a waitress and the owner, who both were fine with us staying this long. The storm outside was horrible earlier due to it blowing some debris around in the streets. Could have sworn I saw a ladder from a fire escape fall off. But now it has turned into a gentle rainstorm that sounds pleasing against the window.
My eyes wander outside though as I still have some of my old habits with me, like seeing which of the other stores look like they would be worth breaking into to steal stuff to sell. Shade and Kitsuno don't seem to have that much money with them. The two told me that what they had was the last of their emergency funds they got from some mansion Shade snuck into. I'll have to bug Shade to tell me that story as I am curious about it.
Our time to ourselves was coming to an end soon though as the owner, an olive green looking salamander guy dressed up in a red shirt and blue jeans walked up to the table. "Hello ladies, I do appreciate the stay we all had here tonight. But with the storm finally dying down enough to where it is safe out there, I think it would be best to head on home now."
I look over at Kitsuno and she closed her book to look at the salamander. "Yeah. It has been a while now and it seems quieter out there. Hopefully it doesn't pick up when we head back out there. I think we can make it home from here. We are grateful that you let us stay here Frank." He nods and looks at Shade, who was still asleep on the table. "No thanks are necessary Kitsuno. You and your sister have been good business for me, I'd hate to have you two go through that deluge." His face had a look of concern on it though as he kept looking at Shade. "Though I do worry about your sister, she hasn't been looking well lately."
Kitsuno reaches over and rubs a hand over Shade's back. "She's just been working more than she needs to. So called boss of ours ended up with a few mistakes and told her to fix it like he always does." Frank shakes his head before heading to the main counter of the diner to grab his blue jacket. The cat like waitress had already gotten a coat on to protect herself from the rain. "I've heard stories about Boris, most of them are pretty sketchy. Though some are from the town drunks, so who knows who to believe at this point?"
Once he had his jacket on, he fished out a set of keys and waited on us. Kitsuno kept rubbing Shade's back to stir her awake. It took a few mintues but she started moving and lifted her face up. Her eyes were a bit bleary and cloudy as she opened them and looked around. "Buh.... what time is it?"
"Time for us to head home and sleep in an actual bed sis. The storm's died down enough where we can get moving again." Kitsuno stands up and puts her book back into her coat pocket and picks up her drink to take with her. I get up as well and stand by Shade to help her up as she stumbled a bit getting up off her seat. We gave her a few moments to readjust back to the land of the living and she led us all outside. "Thanks again Frank. If you need anything, let me know."
Frank shakes his head as well all exit and he follows suit and locks the door. "You don't have to Shade. Just being a good friend and customer is enough for me. Now you take care and go get some proper rest at home." After he puts the keys in his pocket, he and the waitress walk in the opposite direction where we were headed.
We walked through town and made pur way to the apartment that we were staying at. It was decently quiet out due to people not being around much during the night, especially since we were in the middle of a strong storm. I do feel bad for whoever has to stay out in this weather, the storm was strong enough as it was, I would hate to be one of those who were soaked.
Though, this is where it came to a stop as we reached our apartment complex. The moment Shade tried pushing on the door was where she got stopped by it and ran face first into the door. She pulls back and looks at the door. "What the fuck? Okay, what's going on?" She looks around the door to see what was happening.
Kitsuno was puzzled as well but then takes a look inside through the nearby window. "Great. Looks like the power got cut here." I look around the area and take a look at some of the other buildings. Only a few had power on. Shade bashes her head on the door a few times before walking away from it. "This is why not everything need to be electronically hooked up. God damn... I am starting to regret staying in this city. We should have left with Onn when we had the chance to."
Kitsuno looks around a bit more inside before walking away from the window. "I don't see the person at the desk either. I doubt she is doing her job to get this fixed." Shade shakes her head before pushing herself off the door and walking away to the alleyway of the complex. "She's probably got her faced stuffed between the legs of one of the prostitutes that live here."
Shade walks towards the back end of the building and looks up around the windows on the next floor. Kitsuno looks at her sister as we followed her, "Sis, what are doing?" She had her eyes focused on one of the windows and moves towards the wall to rest her back against it. "Getting us inside. I know someone who never locks their window." She then pats her shoulders and cups her hands open in front of her. "Now come on, I'd rather not wait for the rain to start picking up again."
Kitsuno was unsure on which neighbor she was talking about as there are a few who are likely to leave their windows unlocked. I quickly got up to Shade and placed a foot into her cupped hands and she hoisted me up onto her shoulders. Once I was elevated enough, I leapt up and grabbed the bottom of the window and lifted myself up to see if anyone was inside.
Forcing the window up, I get it open and slink my way inside. I end up landing on a pile of clothes that was thrown over by the window. Looking around the room, the owner of this apartment was long passed out on the couch. Turning around, I poke out the window and waved to give the signal that it was okay. Kitsuno nods and approches Shade to get hoisted up to the window next. I helped her get inside better than how I did and she quietly made her way through the room. I followed her and passed by the couch swiftly to not wake up the unconcious feline.
Once we fiddled with the door to the apartment, we made our way outside the room and into the hallway. Kitsuno lets out an exasperated breath, "God damn it smelled in there. The guy could have used an air freshener or something." I could agree that it did stink a bit in there. But I honestly thought it was a different type of musk.
We walked through the darkened hallway until we reached our room. Kitsuno fishes out a key for our door and fixes it in place to get it opened. Once we are inside, I head towards the window that led outside and looked for Shade. She was walking towards our place and I started waving.
Kitsuno had started digging through some of our stuff to find a rope, "Here, we can use this." I turn back to catch a part of the rope she tosses at me and I start feeding it out the window. Once we had as much of the rope outside, Kitsuno and I had to hold steady on our footing to hoist Shade up on the side of the building to get her inside. Once she got to the window, she clambered inside and fell face first onto the floor. "Ugh... damnit."
I helped her up off the ground and she rubbed a hand on the top of my head. "Well, now that is done with. Time for bed." She turns around to close the window and then started walking towards the bedroom and started stripping off all of her clothes. Kitsuno went to lock the door and latch it properly before following suit and I had started stripping clothes as well. None of us could shower since the power was cut, let alone did we need to? We didn't have to work today so we got some spare time to try to relax.
Shade immediately flopped into bed when she tossed her clothes into the laundry basket. I went ahead and tossed mine in with hers and got in with her to snuggle up close. She grabs me and plants a kiss on my cheek and quickly fell asleep. With what she had to do yesterday and the day before, she was just exhausted.
Kitsuno came into the room and was folding her clothes before putting them in her basket and then laying in her bed. She let out a yawn before settling her head onto her pillow and closing her eyes. I myself kept cozy in Shade's grip and eventually fell asleep myself.
