Don't Burn The Messenger

The stars were shining beautifully in the night sky. Everything was peaceful until all of a sudden, a door to the roof burst open as a man dashed out. The man ran until he came to the edge of the roof. Stopping in place, he turned to look back at the door. Flames started to shoot out of it in rapid succession. “To hell with that.” After saying this, the man immediately jumped off the roof and onto another. As he landed, the man performed a combat roll, then continued to run full force while a shadow was chasing him.

“Damn it, Zed.” the man said as he jumped onto the next building rooftop. “I specifically told him nothing tedious!” The man turned around and saw shuriken blades being thrown at him. Instantly, he performed a one-armed cartwheel to avoid the attack. Changing course, the man was running in a zigzag motion hoping to confuse and avoid any more incoming attacks from his pursuer.

Feeling fed up due to the current circumstances, the man put on an earpiece. “Call Zed!” After a few rings, his call was answered. “Hey Kai, what's up?” the voice on the phone said casually. “Don’t ‘Hey Kai” me! Why did you give me this job?” Kai said angrily just as he was about to dodge an incoming fireball.

“What? I told you the job was a simple one, you just had to deliver the message in the envelope.”

“That was before I knew what the message was and who it was for!!!!”

“Would that really have mattered?”

“Yes!!” Kai said as he crashed through a window, interrupting a family dinner and spilling half of the food on the floor. Not wanting to stay and get caught, Kai continued to run, but not before saying, “Sorry!”

“What’s that noise, are you okay?” Zed asked, concerned.

“Nevermind that. Besides, I’m a detective, not a delivery boy.” Kai comes across a window, jumps out, and proceeds to climb to the top of the other building.

“I didn’t think you’d be so nitpicky about it.”

More shurikens came flying in Kai’s direction. Annoyed, Kai pulled out his revolver from his chest pocket and began shooting down all the shurikens that were flying towards him.

“I believe I’m allowed to be nitpicky when you send me to do your dirty work for you.”

“Oh, like all those times I did your dirty work?”

“That’s not the same thing and you know it.”

Kai finally reached the top of the roof and took a small break to catch his breath. As he looked up, Kai saw a fox-eared woman wearing a short red qipao holding a katana in one hand and a metal shan in the other. The woman’s eyes glowed yellow in the night as they narrowed on Kai. As she was glaring at Kai, her nine tails could be seen twisting behind her. Feeling cornered, Kai grumbled back in a whisper, “You should’ve mentioned you were breaking up with Segumi.”

“I take it by your tone she didn’t take it well.”

“Yep, I’ll call you back.” Ending the call, Kai raised his hands in surrender.

“Segumi, how unfortunate it is we had to meet under these circumstances.”

Segumi immediately pointed her katana at Kai’s throat.

“Where is he?” Segumi said flatly

“Come now, you know I can’t answer that.”

Flames appeared on Segumi’s tail as they burned fiercely.

“He just left! Just like that! I kept wondering where he went all that time and instead of explaining himself, he sent you to break up with me? He doesn’t even have the balls to face me.”

I mean, can you blame him?! This bitch has been chasing me all over town.

“Look, it’s not you, it's him. You run a criminal organization and he works with a detective. You understand the conflict of interest, right?”

“That doesn’t stop you two from coming and going where you please.”

“Hey look, last time I saw you, you were about to get married and you left Zed first.”

“That was when my father was in charge of the organization, but now I’m in charge. Besides, he could’ve tried to stop me. We might've been able to make it work.”

“If you are suggesting what I think you are, you and I both know Zed would never agree to be a homewrecker.”

For a brief second, Segumi’s eyes showed a tinge of sadness at Kai’s words. Feeling some empathy, Kai tried to comfort her. “Look, I know how you feel, but chin up. Things will get better.”

“You’re right, and things will go back to normal once I get rid of the detective in the equation.” Suddenly, Segumi’s eyes had shifted gold, the eyes of a predator ready to cut down her prey, and aimed them directly at Kai. This crazy-ass bit-

All of a sudden a bus could be heard down below honking its horn. Both Kai and Segumi’s heads turn in the direction of the sound. Sensing an opportunity, Kai dashes towards the sound, getting ready to leap off the roof. Seeing this, three of Segumi’s tails began to ignite. The fire spreads towards the fan powering up. Kai jumped off the roof but while in mid-air, he pivoted his body to face Segumi and fired a couple of shots at her. Instead of preparing to retaliate, Segumi caused the fan to grow, using it as a shield to block the incoming attacks. As Kai was free-falling, he turned his body back to face the bus. Reaching into his chest, Kai takes out a knife and hurls it at the top of the bus. Back on the roof, Segumi folds the fan and gazed down below to see Kai safely on top of the bus as it drives away. Noticing her gaze, Kai gave her a cheesy grin as he waves goodbye.

Segumi, having no way to catch Kai, walked out of sight. Feeling relieved, Kai decided to lean back and relax on the bus. His rest was quickly disturbed as he heard a few gasps and surprised reactions from the people in the city. Assuming that they were gawking at him, Kai attempted to wave until he saw people pointing at the sky. Looking up, Kai saw a giant fan flying through the air. As the fan cut its way through the air, Kai took out his knife and gun in each hand preparing for battle. As soon as Segumi got closer, she jumped off, landing on the bus in front of Kai. The fan above them began to shrink as it landed in Segumi’s hand. She quickly got into a fighting stance. As Kai stared at the whole spectacle before him, he couldn’t help but say, “I hate fox spirits.”

Kai also took a fighting stance as the two stared each other down. After a few seconds the two dash towards each other. Segumi swings her sword down at Kai’s head. Kai immediately responds by blocking with his knife. Seeing the opportunity, Kai takes his gun and aims at his assailant’s face. Using the fan to protect her face, she manages to deflect the bullets. Both combatants jump back away from each other. Soon, Segumi swings her fan, summoning a gust of wind attempting to blow Kai off. Kai stabbed his knife into the moving bus, preventing himself from falling off. He soon hears a loud battle cry as Kai looks up to see Segumi coming down from the sky, attempting to cut him down with her sword.

Kai quickly lets go of the knife and starts hanging on the edge of the bus. Not letting up, Segumi quickly steps on one of Kai’s hands to keep him in place. Preparing to slice him again, Kai responds faster and fires his gun, causing Segumi to jump back to avoid the bullets. She barely manages to dodge one by crouching down as the bullet whizzes overhead. Segumi looks ahead to see that Kai is no longer hanging off the edge. Suddenly, the hairs on her neck stand up as her animal senses kick in and she turns overhead to see Kai preparing to punch her in the back of the head. Quickly, she intercepts his punch using one of her tails. However, before falling to the ground, Kai manages to kick Segumi’s sword away from her. They both fall to the ground while rolling away from each other on opposite sides. Briefly, Kai looks to see the sword falling on the side of the road as the bus rides further and further away. “Ha, it seems like you're down one sword,” Kai teased.

“Just like you’re down one knife.” Segumi shot back.

“I suggest you get your eyes checked,” Kai said as he pulled out his knife.

Segumi quickly took a few seconds to look behind her where Kai originally stabbed his knife. Only to see the knife gone, with only the stab mark left to prove where it once was.

When did he take it back? Not wanting to waste any more time talking, Segumi dashed at Kai, slashing at him with her fan. Managing to dodge and occasionally block with his knife. The two clashed with their weapons colliding, both struggling and neither giving an inch.

Despite her small frame, Segumi was by no means physically weak, though Kai was no slouch himself. However, he soon found himself being pushed back ever so slightly. Meanwhile, Segumi’s tails begin to blaze once again. The fire spreading to her fan caused Kai’s knife to become harder and harder to touch. Kai began to grimace in pain as wisps seemed to be emanating from his hands, causing his grip to loosen. Seeing he has no choice, Kai’s knife begins to glow green as the blade starts to enlarge. In addition, Kai was no longer being pushed back, much to Segumi’s chagrin.

“How is it getting bigger?” Segumi exclaimed.

“Maybe it’s just happy to see you,” Kai said with a laugh.

In the brief moment of Segumi’s confusion, Kai quickly took advantage and managed to disarm her, flinging the fan into the air. “There goes your biggest fan, mh?!”

As soon as Kai disarmed Segumi, she quickly closed the distance and passionately kissed Kai on the lips. The kiss paralyzed Kai as he felt all the strength in his body begin to leave. One of Segumi’s tails managed to catch her falling fan as she continued to deepen the kiss between her and Kai. Kai tried to reach for his gun holstered in his chest. However, the strength in that arm started to fail. He was mesmerized by the softness of the young fox woman’s lips as they enveloped him. Her tongue intertwined with his, Kai lost more and more of his strength as each second passed. Soon, all of Segumi’s tails began to embrace Kai as his green eyes began to hollow out. Just as he was about to drop his knife in his other hand, with the last of his strength, he stabbed Segumi’s right arm.

Feeling the sharp pain, Segumi backed off, releasing Kai as his body fell down like a lifeless husk. Segumi immediately removes the knife from her arm as it bleeds profusely. Irritated from the pain, she drops the bloody knife behind her as Segumi walks towards Kai’s body.

“I was trying to make your passing more enjoyable, filled with pleasure rather than pain. But now I feel like burning you to a crisp.” Kai tried to mouth off a response, but he was too weak.

Grabbing the fan from one of her tails, Segumi ignites her tails again. Soon with the fire spreading to her fan, the angered fox prepared to swing her fan down at Kai.

“Bye bye, Detective.” With that, Segumi swung down. A gust of flames consumed Kai’s body.

There was now a raging flame in front of Segumi on top of the bus. In a few seconds, she started to breathe a bit heavier than before. Why am I out of breath already after I took his energy? She felt exhausted, but she was content to know that she had finally done away with one of her obstacles.

However, that thought only lasted until she felt a sharp pain in her back. Staggering, Segumi turned around to see Kai behind holding a bloody knife, barely able to stand himself. With her eyes widened in disbelief, she roared out, “When did you? How did you? Why are you still alive?!”

In response, Kai merely put his hand up in defense, signaling her to wait.

Feed. On command, a few green sparks lit up as the knife began to absorb the blood. It was as if the knife was consuming Segumi’s blood. After a few seconds, Kai was good as new. Segumi looked at the scene in complete shock.

“Phew, you Huli Jing really are crafty. It’s a good thing I had insurance. I have to thank you, Segumi. Because of this, I think I have enough energy for a round trip.”

“What are you?” Segumi said.

“Apologies, it’s not my nature to kiss and run, but I believe this is my stop. So I’ll be taking leave.”

At that moment, Kai jumped into the air grabbing onto a street light, as the flaming bus continued to drive away. Normally, Segumi would have given chase. However, the previous fight had made her too exhausted to try. Kai waves as he sees her drive further and further away. “May we not meet again!” Kai said, blowing her a kiss. As soon as Segumi was out of sight, Kai dropped down. With his nine-tailed assailant no longer bothering him, Kai went into a somber mood as he stared into the night sky. “Man, I hate the holidays.” As if responding to his declaration, a cold gust of wind blew as a small snowflake fell on Kai’s nose. It started to snow, causing Kai to gaze into the sky with annoyance. Wanting to return home, Kai merely snapped his fingers.