Yin's fingers slipped from Hei's hand as she scrambled in through the hospital window. He held position, toes gripping mortared seams in the outer wall, scanning Karakura's night for watching eyes. He couldn't just knock out power to nearby lights to give them cover. This was a hospital. People would notice.

And the less he used his power, the better. They'd hurt the Syndicate in Tokyo. There was no way they'd destroyed it. As soon as the survivors of that shadowy organization picked up the pieces, they'd realize he'd wrecked their once in a decade chance to destroy Hell's Gate... and with it, every Contractor and Doll on the planet.

I was the only one who could stop it. I'll be the only one who can stop it again. They'll want me dead.

Because of his power. Bai's power.

Xing. When I saw her - she was Xing again.

He hadn't seen Xing since he'd left Li Tian behind to become the Syndicate's Black Reaper. He'd given up hope of ever seeing his beloved sister again. As the girl she'd been, not the Contractor she'd become.

Now he had, for one last heart-stopping moment, and... he didn't know what to do or feel or even be next. Xing said he wasn't a Contractor. That he'd never been a Contractor.

But for the past five years he hadn't been human, either. He healed too fast. Moved too easily. And power curled under his skin like silken static; like a cat shoved into a walking harness, scheming just what twists might let it slip loose and wreak acrobatic chaos.

Focus. I've had this power for five years. I use it. It doesn't use me.

Listening to the small sounds of a suburban night, Hei slipped in and closed the window. The ease of escape wasn't worth the risk of a passing night nurse noticing a draft. Yin's specter flitting through various IV bags ought to give them enough warning to lay low, but - better safe than sorry.

A small room. Only one bed. In it was their target; a balding man creeping past middle age, with a face only familiarity let Hei grace with the term homely.

Not our target. Our partner.

A warmth inside him that almost hurt. It was real. This feeling of trust, of relief - it was real. Because he wasn't a Contractor.

Yet Amber had said Contractors and Dolls were changing, that Bai had changed and not told him to protect him, that Contractors had started calling each other friend-

Amber led a charge on Hell's Gate that killed dozens of Contractors and hundreds of Dolls. I don't care how many times she said she rewound time, there had to be a better way-!

Hei shoved the pain and confusion back. Amber... was dead. Evaporated from existence, all of her life's time erased by the use of her power. Whatever she'd done or should have done, they had to deal with the fallout now. Or none of them might make it through the night.

"You three," Huang took a raspy breath, IV-pierced hand fisting on pale blue sheets, "are idiots."

Dark skirt brushing the bed, Yin took his other hand. "Partner."

Huang cast a scowl at her; hunched his shoulders, and looked away. "Idiots."

"Says the live idiot." Mao pulled through a full cat-stretch at the foot of Huang's bed, one long liquid flow of inky fur, then deliberately stepped on the ex-cop's shins. "Hacking the Syndicate through the hospital LAN was a lot safer than trying to dig into their files on the run. I'm just glad I've spent enough time around you walking disasters to have the forethought to set up backup support systems for my program updates. And then backups for the backups. Would you believe the Syndicate locked me out of their network?"

"No kidding," Huang said dryly. "You surprised? No updates mean your cat-brain crashes your damn Contractor mind; takes our team's hacker off the board. Makes it easier to kill all of us. It's only rational."

"Funny." Mao flicked his ear, and cast a violet glance at Hei. "Though he's not wrong. It is dangerous for us to be in Karakura. Much more dangerous than for humans."

A year ago even Hei might have shaken his head at taking a briefing from what looked like an ordinary black cat. By now he knew better. Mao was as sharp as any Contractor - as long as the chip in his ear kept his cat body connected to servers with enough processing power to maintain a human mind. "Why."

After all, he remembered the last time they'd been in Karakura. Mao had been laughing at the rumors about Contractors not being able to come here... and then someone invisible had attacked him on a rooftop. Someone Hei had thought had to be another Contractor.

Only the way Mao had slipped and slid around exact answers to what was wrong in Karakura after that mess, there'd been something else at work.

Huang's gut-shot. If Karakura hadn't been so close, he'd be dead. The doctors patched him up, he should pull through - if we can stay under the Syndicate's radar. But if there's a threat here we don't know about...

Mao twitched at Hei's glare, whiskers flicking. "I didn't tell you, because... well, none of the rumors we'd heard about Karakura actually described the real danger here. Things I've seen in other places, even on some of our assignments. But I've always been able to run away from them. And I hope to keep running." He paused. "Karakura is haunted."

"Haunted," Hei said flatly.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you," Mao sighed. "You know that old folktale about cats seeing ghosts?" A furred shrug. "It's not just a story."

Hei blinked. Eyed Huang. Who was eyeing him and Mao with even more skepticism than usual. "You gotta be kidding me," the ex-cop grumbled.

"There are ghosts here?" Reaching blindly, Yin found the visitor's chair and sat, still not letting go of Huang. Though she did take one hand off to dip into her pocket, into the small bag of water she was carrying for her specters. "But Kiko says ghosts aren't dangerous. Ghosts are just... sad."

"The pink girl also thinks man-on-elephant fanfic is safe reading material," Mao said dryly. "Believe me, ghosts can be plenty dangerous. Usually only to people who can see them... but, cats can. So." Another, stiffer shrug. "And then there are the things that eat ghosts. They can touch anybody. And the ones I've run away from? Think Contractors smell delicious."

Monsters that eat ghosts.

It sounded crazy. But after Hell's Gate, where he'd talked to people who were dead and gone and changed the fabric of reality, sanity wasn't half as clear-cut as Hei would have liked.

It's Mao. Treat it as just another briefing. "Your urban legends said Karakura was haunted," Hei stated, putting the pieces together. "That would make this a rich prey base. Prime predator territory." A ghostly jungle. How fitting; the Black Reaper had been born in haunted jungles.

"For Contractors, walking into Karakura is like swimming in the Nile," Mao confirmed. "Right by the crocodiles. It's the safest place we can stash Huang, but we might not want to stick around ourselves. Sometimes those black samurai take out the monsters before they can devour a ghost, but... sometimes, they're just too late." He licked a paw, swiped it against his whiskers. "I'd rather not be collateral damage."

"Black samurai." Huang's tone was a clear, I'm taking the catnip away now.

Hei had an awful, awful feeling. "Invisible samurai?"

"Invisible to humans, yes." Fangs gleamed; Mao's brightest grin. "I honestly wasn't sure you could affect him. I'd only seen them interact with ghosts and monsters before. But if the monsters can eat Contractors, and the samurai can kill monsters, then it makes sense that a Contractor could hit a samurai." Violet eyes half-closed, amused. "So if something invisible tries to eat you, make like a bug zapper. Or maybe a power line. Some of them are very big."

"Huge invisible monsters," Hei deadpanned. "Hunted by samurai. In the middle of Japan."

"Earthquakes hide a lot of damage." Mao's tail flicked. "All I can tell you is what I've seen. They show up, they tell the ghosts they're here to protect them, they fight the monsters. Sometimes they win. Then they hilt-shot the poor dead bastards and the ghosts turn into black butterflies."

Even Yin stared at that one.

Furred shoulders hunched. "Why did you think I didn't want to talk about it? It all sounds crazy." Mao's tail fluffed; a huff of frustration. "It just happens to be true. That's why we brought Huang here."

"Oh, I gotta hear this," Huang muttered. "You thought dumping me in a hospital near monsters was a good idea?"

"Monsters that will eat other Contractors. Yes," Mao said impatiently. "The Syndicate's looking for you and you're in no shape to run. Karakura General was close enough for us to get you here and still let Hei and Yin breach Hell's Gate in time to stop the Syndicate from wiping us all out. It was the rational decision." A violet glance. "You did stop them?"

"For ten years," Hei agreed. "And Chief Kirihara got some interesting evidence on the head of the Syndicate. They might have a little... trouble, getting organized to come after us."

"Just as well you never killed her," Mao mused. "That irrational streak of yours can come in handy sometimes. Weird."

Hei hid a bitter smile. You have no idea-

Wait. Wait, that was... a possibility.

Yin tilted her head at him. "You thought of something."

It was crazy. But everyone knew Contractors were rational. "The rest of the Syndicate. They'll expect us to flee the country."

Mao's whiskers flicked. "Well, of course they will, because who knows how many of them are still out there and they know we've turned on them. They'll send every Contractor they have to wipe us out. Running's the only sane thing to do-"

"So we won't," Yin said firmly.

"Ah." Huang smirked, though it turned half a grimace as he tried to sit up. "Now you're finally talking sense."

"You can't seriously be considering this." Mao swept disbelieving eyes over all of them. "What are we supposed to do, just go to ground and blend in?"

Hei let himself smile. "Why not?"

"You are crazy."

"Nah, practical. Think it through, furball," Huang snorted. "You run, you have to get out of the country. How? Legal? Yin got smuggled into Japan like luggage, you'd need fake vet records, and I bet Li Shengshun's passport got yanked hours ago. Illegal? Syndicate's got ears and eyes in every dock and airport. I know. I've been them."

"We can't run without hitting their net," Hei nodded. "I might make it. You and Yin wouldn't."

Mao squinted at him, bristling for an argument... then huffed a sigh, and laid down, tail-tip twitching. "Damn."

"Huh. You don't believe it from me, but you do from him?" Huang grumped.

"I've read both your files," Mao said dryly. "You're not the expert at exfiltrating hostile countries after you've set their secret lab and their spies on fire."

Not fair. Not fair at all. "The fire was not my fault."

Mao craned his head back, neck a perfect arch of feline disbelief.

"You had a good reason," Yin said confidently.

As if he'd burn down a building on purpose. That last warehouse had been Mai's power, not his. Blowing the hole in the Gate's wall had been Wei's work. And he'd needed to set up the explosives in Huang's car and set it on remote so they'd have a distraction to get to the tunnels in the first place...

Deliberately, Hei stopped thinking about Huang, and desperate measures, and what they might have done if Mao hadn't found them another option. He'd already lost Xing and Amber. If he'd lost anyone else, he might not have cared if the Syndicate found him.

Let's make sure they don't. "Mao. You can see the monsters?"

"Yes," Mao drew out the word, eyes narrowed to dubious slits. "But-"

"Then we should go to ground here." Hei gave the cat a flat look. "The Syndicate has more than just Contractors. As long as we're in Japan, we can get to caches. Emergency funds. IDs. Here, this close to Tokyo, Section Four will be in position to counter any obvious moves the Syndicate makes. But we're far enough away that Astronomics Dolls won't track us as well. They'll know our stars mean we're close, but as long as we don't use our powers, they won't know where."

Mao's ears flattened. "If one of those ghost-eaters shows up, you will use it. You'll have to."

Yin breathed out, slow and soft. "...I can ask them not to find us."

Black ears shot up. "You can?"

Huang's jaw worked, but he bit back whatever it was. Good. Hei had a feeling it would have been a cutting remark about that really coming in handy on past missions, and... Yin might not have been aware enough to try. Not then. "You can, Yin?" Hei asked, trying for gentle. "Are you sure?"

A hesitation, then one quick nod. "I told the other Dolls what the Syndicate was trying to do. When we were breaking in. So they wouldn't stop us. They know we all almost died."

Dolls and Contractors; the Syndicate had meant to kill them all. Amber had told Hei he'd survive, but - if Bai was really part of him now, how could she be sure?

"I can ask," Yin went on. "Not - don't tell them where. Just... don't tell them exactly."

"Huh." Huang squeezed her hand, just enough to feel. "Good kid. We can work with that." He slid a glance toward Hei. "You'll still have to move fast-"

Yin's head lifted. "Someone's coming." She blinked. "He's careful, but... I think he saw."

Saw her specter, she meant; ghostly eyes shifting from water to water to give them warning. Contractor.

"Well, that was quick." Huang almost grinned. "Should've figured. Bullet wounds get reported." Grimacing, he sank back against the pillow. "Okay, kid. Time to scram."

Hei met his gaze, and shook his head. "No."

Huang growled under his breath. "Don't be an idiot. Take the Doll and the furball and get out of here."

Hei stepped silently over to the blind spot where the door would swing open, nerves alight for any quiver of air that might hint the Contractor was coming straight through the wall. The mask was a lead weight in his pocket, but... low-level Syndicate might not know his face. They would know the mask. "No."

"Don't waste time arguing with him." Mao coiled and leapt onto Yin's shoulder, claws digging into her jacket as she moved back next to the window. "Who knows. This one might be rational."

The room went silent, only broken by monitors checking Huang still had a heartbeat. Hei half-closed his eyes, listening to the intercom in the hall, the buzz of lights, the quiet but non-nonsense formal shoes approaching Huang's door-

Footsteps stopped.

He's in front of the door. Hei listened for any shift in weight. Not reaching for the knob?

A throat cleared. "Normal visiting hours are over. But I can make an exception, in exchange for information on my patient's condition."

Condition? Hei kept his face blank, listening to that icy, formal tone. Huang was shot.

"I'd really like to know if the denizens of Hueco Mundo have started haunting IV bags. It could complicate treatment."

Hollow World?

Spanish in Japan. Definitely not a good sign. Most older Contractors spoke Spanish, or Portuguese; the ones who'd survived Heaven's War, at least.

But Huang had a thoughtful frown, raising his free hand a bare fraction of an inch off the sheets. Hold. Wait. "Door's open, Doc...?"

"Dr. Ishida Ryuuken." A breath. "And you can tell your associates I am armed - but you are my patient. I'd prefer it if no one ended up more injured than they are already."

Hei raised a brow at Huang. It was his life on the line.

"Come in easy," Huang said plainly. "They're a little... twitchy."

"Given the amount of lead we had to pull out of you, I'm not surprised." A matter-of-fact turn of the handle, and the door opened.

Left-handed. Middle-aged, physically fit, white hair, glasses. Hei noted movement and stance, not twitching from where he stood out of sight. The doctor's coat over the white suit was an odd combination, but who knew if he'd borrowed it? Not balanced for close attacks... distance fighter. Gunman? Long-range power?

Whether the coat was his or not, Ishida's first stop was Huang's pulse. Timing it with his own watch, and only then checking the monitors.

He doesn't trust the electronics.

Which was not at all an argument in favor of not being their enemy, because why would he not, unless he knew BK-201 was in the area-?

"Good," Ishida stated. "The residual spirit energies aren't interfering with hospital equipment." He gave Huang a long look, and only then glanced at Yin and Mao balancing on her shoulder. "Given you left power all over his soul to bolster his endurance enough to survive surgery, I'm half surprised they're working at all..."

A twitch of surprise in the lines of white cloth. Hei's hand fell to a knife. He knows I'm here.

"Three separate traces," Ishida said coolly. Deliberately not turning. "I have no intention of attacking patients. Or their next of kin. I'd prefer it if we continued this discussion face to face." His head tilted, but he did not look back. "Or do you not believe in the Hippocratic Oath?"

"All Contractors are liars." But Hei lifted his hand from black steel, and walked into plain view. All Contractors lied. Yet some did have a sense of... code, if not morality. Mao was one. The cat would preserve his own life first, yes - but he wouldn't act to harm their team. Ishida might be the same. If only for self-interest.

After all, a hospital had so many potential hostages.

I'm not a Contractor. I shouldn't want to hurt innocent people.

He didn't think he wanted to. He didn't want to hurt anyone. But death was what he knew, and Huang-

Huang was part of his team.

Ishida gave him a long, assessing look, head to toe; Hei thought the man might have actually spotted most of the knives. "It appears I ought to have more than one patient. Sit down before you fall down."

"I'm fine."

Huang's eyes narrowed, and he huffed. "Sure you are. When you get out of here, you find somewhere safe and crash. Yin? Make sure he sleeps."

Yin walked away from the window, fingers not quite brushing Hei's. "Yes."

Ishida turned that assessing gaze back on Huang. "Exhaustion?"

"Think we've been up a couple days by now." Huang shifted one shoulder; an approximation of a shrug. "Even you guys are - heh. Only human."

Behind glass, blue eyes narrowed. Hei gazed right back at that calculating look, wondering just what Ishida was adding up. And how deadly his conclusions might be.

"An' speaking of safe..." Huang gave the doctor a flat stare. "Who do you work for?"

That seemed to startle Ishida. Or possibly annoy him. "I told you. I'm one of the head doctors here-"

"Don't play dumb," Huang gritted out. "You're standing here and not killing people who tell you no. If you've got it together enough to be a doctor somebody picked you up and cleaned up the bodies until you got your Contract under control. Who? The Russians? MI6? DGSE?"

Ishida touched the side of his glasses, as if buying time to think. "Are you informing me that there are hunters of the supernatural insane enough to work for foreign intelligence agencies?"

Hunters of what? Hei wanted to ask. But first things first. "All Contractors are rational. You should know."

Unless he was a stabilized Moratorium, like Klang had been; maintaining a Contractor's powers without slipping into the blank trances of a Doll-state, holding onto human emotions and free of remuneration. It didn't seem likely. What were the odds there'd been another escaped survivor from Project Wigenlied?

MI6 stole some of that project's data. They might have the formula to stabilize Moratoria.

...I wonder if that's what they think I am?

"Contractors." Ishida tasted the word, as if he'd never heard it before. "There was something on the news, in Tokyo. An attack on the wall around Hell's Gate. They used that word. Is that what you three are?"

Mao blinked, as Ishida's gaze included him. "Prrrt?"

"I know a possessing spirit when I see one," Ishida said dryly. "I've never seen an ikiryou completely detached from its original human body-"

A what?

"-and I have no idea how you're keeping yourself together in an animal form. But I know perfectly well you understand me."

Mao seemed to shrug. "Fine."

A black cat spoke, and Ishida didn't turn a hair. Hei tried not to feel disappointed.

"Let's make a deal," Mao went on. "You tell us what an ikiryou is, and why you think you're not a Contractor, and I'll try to get us all out of your hair before one of those ghost-eating things decides to munch on us."

"You will?" Ishida's eyes narrowed. "First, tell me this. For the sake of my other patients - will there be more bullets?"

"Er..."

"If you reported this shooting, then we need to move," Hei stated. "That's not an option. Two of us they might just use, but they will kill Huang if they find him." He paused, giving the doctor a moment to think. "If you didn't... then we should have broken our trail. For now."

"The paperwork hasn't been filed," Ishida said plainly. "I'll ensure it's not."

Hei tried not to visibly tense. Too easy.

"Because he's my patient." A hint of exasperation crept into Ishida's tone. "I have some experience with being hunted. You may not be entirely human but you went to no little effort to make sure your associate would survive. I'm inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt, even if your enemies are human."

Yin tilted her head, likely trying to make out the blur of the doctor against the room's lights. "You'll help?"

"Within reason." Ishida looked over them all. "If you do think you've been found, I'd like enough warning to keep my hospital out of the line of fire."

A sane, rational, selfish request. Hei almost breathed a sigh of relief. They could work with this.

Whoever Ishida was, he had enough experience to feel the tension drop. The doctor nodded, and glanced at Mao. "An ikiryou is a living ghost. All or a portion of someone's spirit sent out at a distance, for purposes that may be harmless or actively malevolent. You appear to be one that has detached completely from your body; which implies your original life is either in a coma, or dead."

Mao tilted his head, whiskers one slow flick. "Explosions don't leave much. And... interesting. I'd read about displaced spirits in folklore, years ago, but I didn't know you had a word for them here."

The way glasses gleamed, Ishida had just added that to whatever pieces of their puzzle he'd put together. "As for Keiyakusha... I'd never heard Contractors referred to until those explosions on the news last night. But I would say I am not one, simply because the traditions of training spiritual abilities I am familiar with generally do not have to train people not to kill. Rather the reverse. Sometimes an exorcist has no choice but to destroy a possessed body, but taking a life... it's never easy."

Hei traded a glance with Mao, and then a shocked Huang. If Ishida wasn't lying-

Then he's right. He's not a Contractor.

So what is he?

"There are traditions?" Yin stood a little straighter, eyes alight. "Everyone said... no one knew what we were."

"There are several traditions." Ishida regarded her with something that might have been a shadow of compassion. "I am a doctor. I can diagnose more accurately with a list of symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Yin's fingers found her skirt, twisted in purple cloth. "Years ago, everything... went away. I didn't start coming back until we were partners." She breathed. "And I'm still not her. I'm Yin."

"Yin's a Doll," Huang said flatly. "Pretty feisty one, too. She can look after herself, with a little help. Most of 'em can't even walk without orders. Nobody knows how they're tied up with Contractors. Only people who end up in-between flatline into a Doll in a couple months. Or less."

Mao bristled. "You're just going to-"

"Stifle it, fish-breath," Huang ordered. "If the guys after us catch up to the doc, they'll wipe his memories anyway. If the cops catch him, they'll do it too. Doc at least better know the stakes. And who knows. Maybe he can help."

"You have a point," Mao allowed.

Ishida was stiff, outrage frosting deliberate words. "The police would wipe memories of what you are."

"Been doing it ever since the Gates opened," Huang informed him. "S'why I'm not a cop anymore. Lose a piece of me, or work with the monsters? Not much choice." He blew out a breath, as if it were laced with cigarette smoke. "Contractors... they've been happening since the Gates. No one knows how. No one knows why. Some poor bastard will wake up one morning - or evening, or in the middle of a train station and isn't that a damn bloodbath - and they've got a power. A Contract. And part of what makes 'em a person is just... gone."

"By part, he means that annoying thing you humans refer to as a conscience," Mao observed, leaning closer to Yin's neck to steady himself. "Bear in mind, we're not all out to rack up massive body counts. It's just, that first month or so after your star appears, you don't see any reason not to."

One of Ishida's brows twitched, as if that symptom rang a bell. "And after that month?"

"Er. Well. It depends," Mao said thoughtfully. "Most of the Contractors I've dealt with were, ah, located by various groups within a few weeks. Which is long enough that you've figured out that you can't figure out humans anymore. But you still need to eat. At which point your options go to petty crime or signing up with whoever says they'll train you how to use your power and give you work. Most Contractors take a job offer. Especially when it's backed up by food and assassins. It's the only rational thing to do."

From the pinched look on Ishida's face, he was working hard to restrain a very irrational reply. "So you learn not to kill your employers?" He gestured toward Huang. "If they want your associate dead, wouldn't it be rational to use him as a bargaining chip for your own life?"

"Of course not!" Mao's fur puffed at the very thought. "Hei would kill me."

"You wouldn't do it," Hei said mildly.

"Because I'd come down with a sudden case of dead." Mao shook out his fur. "No thank you."

"You wouldn't turn any of us in," Hei stated. "You've had the chance before. You didn't take it."

Mao hissed under his breath. "...You're annoying."

Yin lifted her hand, fingers just brushing behind black ears. "You like it when we make life interesting."

"Those fingers are a cheat," Mao muttered, craning his head back into the scritch anyway. "A Doll who knows how to get her own way. It's unnatural."

"Don't take these guys as standard," Huang advised Ishida. "They've been Contractors for years. They can fake human when they have to. Most of the time." His gaze fell. "Some of 'em can fake it real well."

Hei didn't have to guess what that look meant. "I'm sorry about Shihoko."

"She shouldn't have done it," Huang muttered. "Not for an old sack like me."

"You made her feel warm," Hei said quietly, thinking of that blaze of determination before the Syndicate Contractor had stepped in front of a truck. Choosing her death, instead of Huang's. "You don't know how much we'd kill for that." Or die for it.

Mao pulled away from Yin's fingers, studying Ishida's still face. "And that means something to you. A symptom."

"It does," the doctor admitted. "How much do all of you know about spirits? Or soul-injuries?"

"Mao says ghosts exist, monsters eat them, samurai hunt the monsters," Yin stated. A hint of doubt crossed her face. "He also said the samurai turn ghosts into butterflies."

Ishida covered a cough. "That's... not accurate, but an easy mistake to make. The shinigami summon hell butterflies to carry wandering spirits to the next world."

"Shinigami?" Hei pounced. Usually his Japanese was good, but this was odd. It sounded like his code name in Japanese. That couldn't be right. "Death gods?"

"Spiritual entities that escort and protect souls that have lingered past death." Ishida touched his glasses. "Some of them do a better job than others. It's their duty to fight Hollows; spirits that were once ghosts themselves, but have become corrupt and monstrous."

"And cannibalistic," Mao observed. "Great. But if they eat ghosts, why do they keep sniffing around Contractors?"

"Hollows will eat anything with high spirit energy." Ishida regarded the cat coolly. "The three of you definitely qualify. Fortunately it seems you also have some idea how to shield it, or we'd have Hollows crawling out of the woodwork. That would make me very annoyed."

"Practical." Mao raised one paw in a deliberate aside. "I think I could get to like him."

"Spirit energy?" A faint frown bent Yin's face as she pointed to the IV, where ghostly eyes bloomed. "My specters?"

"Spirit energy is what allows you to manifest those... you call them specters?" The doctor peered at the haunted liquid, touching the bag with one finger. "I've seen something like this on the power lines in Karakura this past year. I thought it was more shinigami experiments."

Spiritual entities that ran experiments? Hei shook his head. The night just kept getting stranger.

"Astronomics Dolls." Huang grimaced. "They work for Section Four. Spying. Tracking down... well, people like us."

"The best thing to do is pretend you don't see them," Hei advised. "The police will assume you're a Contractor. Section Four carries guns. And mind-wiping equipment."

Ishida eyed him narrowly. "I take it saying I'm not would not go over well."

"They wouldn't believe you," Hei said simply. "There's no way to tell a human from a Contractor. Unless they use their power."

Ishida frowned. Turned back to the IV bag, flattening his hand against clear plastic as if to get as close as possible to the pale glow. "It's not an exact match, young lady, and there's a definite overtone of Hollow frequencies, but... I would say your specter is reasonably close to the animating force of a shikigami."

"Shikigami?" Yin brightened. "Those are in manga."

"Hollow?" Fur bristled over Mao's shoulders. "Wait, are you saying we're like cannibalistic spirit-monsters?"

Hei cleared his throat.

Mao blinked, and almost looked sheepish. "Well, most of us don't have remunerations like Carmine's! Thank god." The cat rearranged himself on Yin's shoulder, sitting up like an Egyptian statue. "If she'd gotten her power back- that would have been so messy."

"Human spiritual abilities tend to have one of three overtones." Ishida gave the cat another long look. "Shinigami, Hollow, or youkai. There are others, but they're rare. It's not a comment on individual morality. Some souls simply resonate more with one type of entity than another." He glanced at Hei. "Remuneration?"

"Contracts have a price." But I never did, and I never knew why... "Use your power, you have to pay. Some of us eat flowers. Some write poetry. Some have to break their own fingers. Some... are worse." Hei shrugged. "If you don't pay the price, you die."

"Well, unless your body did die," Mao put in. "We ran into another possessor who'd lost his body, once. He didn't have a price anymore either." Ears perked. "And that sounds like a symptom too?"

"It might be," Ishida allowed. "Physical bodies tend to put limits on how much spiritual power a person can unleash. Many exorcists require rituals to perform their duties, or to recover afterward." He frowned. "But I would rather not speculate without more solid information. May I examine your auras?"

Yin stirred. "Will it hurt?"

"Will it-?" The doctor cut himself off, cold eyes softening. "No, young lady. It shouldn't hurt at all."

"Good," Yin nodded. "Hei's tired."

Ishida's brows jumped. He glanced at Hei again, just a little wary. Then at Huang.

"Eh, he's been worse off," Huang grumped. "Just don't startle him if he's sleeping. You want to go first, Yin? It'll make them feel better if they can watch."

From that almost hidden smile, Ishida had heard loud and clear, So they can tear him apart if he even looks like hurting you.

"I don't mind." Yin looked up. "What do I do?"

"Sit still," the doctor stated. "I need to be close enough to sense the energy clearly, but I should not have to touch you."

Good, Hei thought, watching like a hawk. He didn't know how Yin had been examined after the Syndicate had found her, but he'd gone through enough of his own involuntary visits to their labs to guess. Syndicate researchers were just as ruthless as their assassins. Though they usually didn't leave as many bodies.

Ishida seemed good as his word, though; hand a bare inch above Yin's white hair, eyes half-closing as-

Hei tensed, looking at the impossible. Green light. Not blue-white. Not synchrotron radiation.

And only around Ishida's hand. The rest of him looked - normal.

Not a Contractor.

One minute stretched into three, before Ishida raised his head, green fading. "Hmm. There's definitely soul damage."

Yin's hand strayed to black fur. "Is that bad?"

"It's old, and seems to be healing, if slowly," the doctor stated, shaking out his hand. "But it's very deep. More than enough to explain a fractured sense of self." He regarded her soberly. "Miss Yin. I will need more observations to be sure, but it's likely your soul will never be the same as it was before you were injured. Whatever wounded you tore right down to the foundations. I would honestly say you're lucky to be alive."

Yin nodded. "Partners help."

"They would." Ishida glanced at Huang. "So far as I can determine, her power is somewhere between a medium's and a creator of shikigami. Both of those abilities require the user to ground themselves in the real world to stay healthy. Family and friends, any close emotional bonds, can be the difference between life and simply fading out of existence."

Huang chewed on his lip as if he'd tasted something worse than his cigarettes. "Dolls usually get shopped around wherever people need spies. Or shoved into Astronomics and left to float. Yin being with us for months - doesn't happen, almost ever. That why she got better?"

"It would make a difference." Ishida stared into violet eyes. "Well, Mr. Mao?"

"Just Mao works," the cat sniffed. "I'm more used to that than my old name, anyway." He leaned against Yin's head. "Scan away."

Ishida held his hand above black ears, green shimmering again. Flinched. "That is... I don't know what attacked you, but it needs to be stopped."

"Seriously?" Mao didn't move out from under the glow, evidently satisfied that yes, Ishida was acting as a doctor. For now. "Contractors and Dolls - they just happen. Nobody's been able to find any cause."

"This kind of specific damage does not just happen," Ishida said tightly. "It's the metaphysical equivalent of... the closest thing I can think of is excising the brain's capacity for emotional bonding. Without touching the rest of the higher functions. You didn't become sociopathic out of thin air. Something tore your soul's heart right out of you."

Mao swallowed.

Huang pursed his lips in a soundless whistle. "An' that sounds familiar, huh Doc?"

Lifting his hand, Ishida inclined his head. "The damage is less extreme; their physical bodies survived. But it's similar to the damage done by a Hollow attacking another soul." He grimaced. "Or the hole in the heart created when a soul's Chain of Fate corrodes, transforming an innocent ghost into yet another Hollow. But that shouldn't happen to a living human. It shouldn't even be possible."

Huang nodded slowly. "So this is something up your alley."

"No." Ishida shook his head. "I've seen injuries similar to this, and I may know methods to treat some of the damage. Though the wounds are old and scarred over; any healing will be limited. But I've never seen or heard of anything that could inflict such specific trauma."

Hei felt his nerves twitch. "But you know something."

Ishida glanced at him. Let a long breath sigh out.

Another smoker, Hei thought. No scent clinging to him; only under stress?

"There was a shinigami who went insane." Ishida paused, obviously picking his words. "I don't know all the details. I do my best to avoid those sword-swinging lunatics whenever possible. But I know that he... created things. Using Hollows." A gleam of cold glass. "Apparently he enjoyed setting them loose on innocents."

Fur rose down Mao's spine; the cat pressed himself into Yin's neck as if he could hide under her hair. "Hmph. I was never innocent."

"So you got a suspect, but you don't know," Huang stated. "Any way you can find out?"

The doctor's brows twitched. "Possibly. But asking questions has its own risks."

"You'd draw attention." Hei glanced at Huang. "No."

The older man glared at him, hairy knuckles clenching on the bed-sheets. "Look, if something hurt all of you-"

"Weren't you listening? Whatever it was, if it was anything, it hurt us years ago. Going on a rampage after it now isn't rational." Mao settled his fur. "Once you can get out of that bed without falling on your face, then we might consider stirring up ghost hornet nests. Not before."

Yin nodded. "You're more important."

"Much as I hate to resort to triage, they're correct." Ishida met Huang's gaze. "A half-hour later and you might not have survived surgery. You're in no shape to make a daring midnight escape." Taking a small notepad out of his coat pocket, he scratched down a few characters. "Spiritual injuries fall within my realm of expertise, but I am not a specialist. If we take more time, that would allow me to gather second opinions discreetly." A last scribble, and he looked at Hei. "This would go more easily if you'd sit down."

Reluctantly, Hei took the chair Yin had used, flicking his coat open enough for a knife-grab without a second thought. He hadn't seen anything that made Ishida an assassin yet...

But the best assassins looked harmless. He should know.

"So," Ishida murmured, hand lifted. "One medium, one living ghost, and..."

Hei listened to that silence, and deliberately did not twitch.

Ishida let out a slow breath. "I need a closer look."

Hei didn't move. Yin needed help. Huang did. Even Mao deserved anything Ishida could do for him. "Okay."

Ishida's hand on his head was warm and impersonal; contact, without being intrusive. It could be worse.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Wait. Just like setting up a target.

"And one formerly possessed." The doctor lifted his hand away again, face set. "The spirit left less than a day ago. From the damage, I would say it was inside you for years, and you are incredibly lucky it didn't Hollow in that time."

Mao's stare was flat and hard. "What."

Hei almost smiled, appreciating the irony. What had Mao said about not wanting to sound crazy? "He's right."

"What."

Hearing their own echo, Huang and Mao glared at each other. Yin touched one finger to the corner of her lips, as if she'd pull them up into a wry smile, then looked at Hei. "Was it friendly?"

"Sort of?" Hei shrugged, feeling the doctor's assessing stare. "I didn't know until just before she left."

"Hmm." Ishida made another note. "So you have some idea of the ghost's identity. Do you know how long you were possessed?"

"Five years." Hei thought back. "I could probably tell you the date. More or less. Time got weird in Heaven's Gate and I was... unconscious for a while after they found me."

"Wait," Mao muttered. "Five years ago, Heaven's Gate... oh no. No, you cannot be serious."

Hei gave the cat a wry glance. "What do they say about things always being the last place you look?"

"Bai?" Mao almost squeaked. "She was - for five years you've been shaking down Contractors for any clue and- She possessed you? You never said she was a possessor!"

"She wasn't," Hei said simply. He met Ishida's gaze, determined not to run from the truth. "Ten years ago my sister became a Contractor." And killed - no. Not important now. "I was her older brother. I couldn't just let them take her. So... I went with her." Even when there was blood on my hands, and the nightmares wouldn't stop screaming. "Five years ago we were in Heaven's Gate when someone tried to destroy it, and kill all the Contractors with it. I didn't know about that part until yesterday." Breathe. "I woke up in an aid clinic just outside the warped zone; the rest of the team was either dead or scattered across the world. Bai's star said she ought to be right there, but no one could locate her. The people we worked for wanted answers. They didn't believe I didn't know."

He'd thought he'd kept his face calm. Ishida twitched anyway.

"That's when I found out I had her star," Hei said steadily. Trying not to think of the carnage he'd left behind that day, or the way electricity seemed to prickle under his skin now, like cat fur rubbed the wrong way. He'd learned to control the Contract years ago. Why was it being so pushy? "And her power."

"You had-?" Mao buried his face in his paws. "Now I'm really confused."

Ishida took a moment to take that in, brow climbing. "You didn't know you were possessed?"

"I thought I was a Contractor." Hei gave Mao a wry smile. "We're not supposed to be sane."

"Uh." Huang was eyeing him like a flash-bang that'd gone fzzt. "Doc. I got what I've seen with my own eyes and a hell of a lot of dead enemies that says he is a Contractor."

"On the other hand..." Mao lifted his head, gaze bemused. "That would explain a lot. The lack of remuneration. The astounding lack of rationality sometimes. Not to mention the habit of picking up stray Dolls, trapped police detectives, baby Yakuza..."

Hei glared at the cat. "He was a kid in over his head. I didn't mean to get involved, I just..." He hunched his shoulders against the humor in Mao's eyes. "He had a chance to get out. It wasn't a threat to the mission."

"Irrational," Mao sing-songed. "Then again, that's what makes you interesting." His fur bristled. "Wait. If Bai's gone - how can you still see specters?"

"I don't know." Hei gripped the chair, strangling the impulse to send a shock right down through the metal. Interfering with hospital equipment would be harmful to everyone in the vicinity. Worse, it'd paint BK-201 is here in spectrum fluctuations for all of Astronomics to see. "She's gone, but I still have her power. Amber said I was caught between; that if all the Contractors died I'd be the only one who survived. I don't know what I am."

He could feel his team's attention focus on the doctor, sharp as lasers.

Ishida drew himself up straight. Hei narrowed his eyes, ready to defend his team against the cutting remark he could almost feel vibrating the air-

The doctor took a second look, and sighed like a man at the absolute end of a very long rope.

"I have no idea," Ishida confessed. "Their souls have gaping chasms. Some of the spiritual essence has grown back, but it seems more Hollow than mortal. Your soul is scarred, but mostly human." He frowned, chin gripped between thumb and fingers. "There is one thing I know that might apply. Possession is feared because the possessing spirit damages the soul it's forced its way into. Even when the act is voluntary on both sides, the possessor-" His brows pinched over his glasses. "You might think of it as a spiritual bonsai. The intruding spirit snips off pieces that don't fit. And the host... grows around the intruder, just as a sapling would a wire frame. Given enough time, even if the wire vanishes, the shape remains." He almost shrugged. "In short - Contractor abilities are spiritually based. I'd be more surprised if you didn't have Bai's power."

So she's still protecting me.

He was her older brother. It should have been him... but he'd never been able to change Xing's mind about anything.

I can't protect her anymore. But there is one thing I can do. "The methods you know," Hei stated. "Would they help Yin?"

"I'd need to research subjects I haven't looked into in years." Ishida frowned. "But possibly. Though it might be easier to work on you."

"Easier, but not rational." Mao flicked an ear. "You're a head doctor here. Your time to work on unusual cases will be limited. And we have no idea when we might have to bolt. However we might be injured, Hei and I are quite capable of taking care of ourselves when the lead starts flying. Yin..." He rubbed against her hair. "Hei's told you to run a few times, and you have. But usually someone has to drag you. That's not helpful."

The doctor scowled at the cat.

"Mao's right," Yin nodded. "It's hard for me to do things myself. I try. The programming helped; now I can do more. But it's still hard."

"Programming." Ishida's tone was flat and cold, in a way that twitched the hairs on Hei's neck.

This is a man who can be dangerous.

"Dolls on their own are pretty much walking comas," Huang stated, just as level. "Organizations can program 'em to act like people, but it breaks down in a couple weeks. Yin - she came to me with a high-level package, so she could take care of herself 'long as somebody gave her meals on time. She got... better since she's been on the team. But if the guys after us got hold of her, they'd wipe her. And if the cops got her-" The old operative grimaced like he'd bitten pure wasabi. "I'd like to think they'd do better. But far as I know, cops send all the Dolls they sweep up to Astronomics. Floating in a tank for the rest of your life, only programmed to talk to computers - I ain't doing that to Yin. Not if I can stop it."

"I wouldn't like it," Yin said quietly. "I want to stay with my partners."

"Then we'll do our best to make that happen." Ishida cast a glance over them all. "I'm not going to ask. But from what you've said, you've implied the organization you worked for was not legal."

"Hmm." Mao smirked. "Let's just say, they have a lousy severance package. Usually involves bullets."

"I see." The doctor nodded. "And yet from what you describe, the legal system... refuses to treat you as human beings."

"Well, why should they?" the cat shrugged. "We're not. Not anymore. And if you tell them really all you'd like to do is sleep in the sun, eat canned salmon, and have some interesting work - why should they believe that? All Contractors are liars."

"It's not a matter of whether you're human or not," Ishida stated. "It's whether we are."

Mao's ears flattened. "That's not rational."

"Humans are funny that way," Huang smirked. "You're a cat. Take advantage of it."

"...You have a point."

Hei tilted his head, catching Yin's unfocused gaze on him. "Are you okay?"

"You said you'd protect me." Her fingers caught her skirt again. "Is it okay...?"

Oh. "Part of protecting your partners is making sure they can protect themselves," Hei told her. "It's okay to want to do more. Even just to be able to run."

The ghost of a smile twitched the corners of her lips. "Good." She blinked. "Wanting things is hard too."

Ishida arched a brow, and made another note. Caught their looks, and gazed evenly back. "The more we can pin down what parts of the spirit have been injured, the more effective any treatment may be." Blue eyes narrowed. "The problem may be keeping you all alive long enough to be treated. If you can see energy creations such as those specters, eventually you will see ghosts - and if you stay in Karakura, you'll see Hollows and shinigami." He paused. "Neither of those take well to being seen."

Yin tried to frown. "Mao can see them."

"Yes, but I'm a cat," Mao said dryly. "As long as I keep my mouth shut, I doubt the idiot samurai will notice anything. And I have to run from the Hollows anyway. Ishida's more worried about you two. Aren't you, Doctor."

"Blunt, but true," Ishida agreed. "The best shielding in the world won't hide you from a Hollow close enough to see you. And what you can't see can definitely hurt you."

Hei glanced at Mao. "Stay close to Yin."

A purple wink. "If she's willing to use the fingers, I'll stay as close as she likes."

Ishida eyed their byplay as if it reminded him of someone he wouldn't admit to missing. "And what will you do, Mr. Hei?"

"I've fought invisible Contractors," Hei shrugged. "I'll live."

The doctor let out an exasperated breath. "If you can affect a spiritual entity, you might survive. But that's difficult to test in advance without dying-"

Mao cleared his throat in a hairball-hacking cough. "Consider it tested."

Ishida arched a skeptical brow.

Mao's fangs flashed. "I don't suppose you've seen a shinigami with a truly regrettable Afro?"

Hei sighed.

Ishida looked between them, as if he already knew he'd regret asking. "What. Happened."

Another furred cough. "Well, some months back we were on an assignment, and... he was yelling something about Vizards and facing society's judgment, I really didn't wait around to hear the details." The tip of Mao's tail flicked. "Honestly, anyone who winds up for an overhand strike like that is just asking for it."

"He shouldn't remember us," Hei stated. Then again, given the size of the shock that hadn't killed him... "Unless shinigami brains work different from humans?"

"Sometimes I wonder," Ishida mused. "But Kurumadani must not have seen enough to locate you, or you wouldn't remember him."

That was ominous. Suddenly Hei didn't feel at all sorry for dropping the invisible idiot in the dumpster.

"Ah, hell," Huang grumped. "Seriously? Not enough we got cops and spies and Syndicate running around wiping people's memories, samurai ghosts do it too?"

"Strengthen your spiritual energy to the point you can see them reliably, and the memory alterations won't work anymore." Ishida made another note. "Ordinarily I'd advise you to leave well enough alone; and if you see a shimmer of heat where none should be, just walk the other way. There are enough human monsters to face in the world. But I'd rather not see what shinigami memory alteration might do on top of preexisting spiritual trauma. We'll have to think about that, if you plan to stay in the vicinity."

"Are we staying?" Mao asked Hei archly. "Nile. Crocodiles."

"We did the most damage to the Tokyo faction of the Syndicate," Hei shrugged. "Stay here, and they'll have to rebuild and bring in new members from outside to track us."

"Go anywhere else, the whole annoying organization will be in one piece, and they'll move on us like lightning," Mao sighed. "You had to pick now to be rational."

"Stay," Yin agreed.

"And I'm supposed to be their handler," Huang hmphed at Ishida. "Like herding cats."

Mao's whiskers flicked. "I resemble that remark."

"So we stay," Huang went on. "You got ideas on how?"

"Well..." Hei opened his eyes wide as Li could. "I thought I'd get a job?"

Almost smiling, Yin nodded.

Cat and old operative traded glances. Tail fluffed, Mao hopped off Yin's shoulders, thumping into the sheets at Huang's side. "Okay. Now I'm scared."

A/N: Saying I ran across once: "Only the most foolish of mice would hide in a cat's ear... but only the wisest of cats would think to look there."

Keiyakusha - Contractor.

Project Wigenlied - from the DtB manga volume one. They tried to create an army of super-powered Dolls with by using Musik's (Misa Makita's) ability to steal and absorb Contractor powers. Ordinarily a Moratorium, a poor soul caught between manifesting a Contractor's powers and slipping into a Doll state, will eventually lose their power and become a Doll permanently. The project had a serum that worked to stabilize at least one Moratorium, Klang (Kyo Mifubuki), so he kept both his power and his human empathy. MI6 tried to restart the project but ran head-on into Hei, who had good reasons to want to talk to Musik. Punctuated with knives reasons.

Stuff in that manga is neat, fits with season one DtB, and had a few bits that I could use to bolster this cross, so. :) Now if only they'd publish the Black Flower comics in English too!