Kaori had sprinted from rooftop to rooftop gracefully, like a bird soaring in the air. The darkly colored silk robe she wore trailed behind her in the night like a cape, its floral design catching the glint of moonlight every so often. She gained speed as she went, skipping and leaping over the gaps between buildings until she finally came to the end of the block. She stopped short of the ledge. Looking across the street to the next rooftop, she knew she was unlikely to make a jump that far. It would be foolish to attempt it, and would likely slow her down even more if she tumbled and broke a leg. It would heal, but she didn't have time to wait. 

The sound of foot-steps and bated breath alerted her to the pursuit coming up behind her from below. Three pounding heartbeats, she counted. And again, the distinct scent of the hunter who had stolen her prey. Her own pulse pounded in her ears. Long, delicate fingers curled into fists at her sides as she considered the ways she might correct that wrong.

Within the medley of noise in her head, she experienced the unsettling feeling of one sound giving out. It was the same sort of sensation that occurred when one side of a pair of headphones stopped working. She refocused to realize that the running steps below had come to halt. [i]Dammit. I have to keep moving.[/i] Just as she began to move towards the ledge, considering swinging down and finding an open window into the building, she caught movement in the corner of her eye. 

Kaori swerved to the side instinctually, narrowly avoiding a trash can and a line of randomized junk that had come flying with it. Her eyes darted to the direction it had come from, catching the slightest glint of light on a number of small shards of glass slicing through the air. She hit the ground. Normally, she might try to deflect it, or outrun it. Glass wouldn't kill her. It would, however, permanently damage the robe that had belonged to her deceased mother. Kaori pressed her hand to the back of her head to protect her long hair as well. Her dark locks had suffered enough damage for the night.  She felt the slightest pinch when one shard nicked the back of her hand as it sailed by. 

She could hear yelling on the street below. She recognized the voice of the plain female, [i]"If you have anything useful in that bag of yours, now is the time!"[/i] Kaori stood again, bracing herself for what was to come next. It was a surprise to see the hunter land before her. 

[i]"You,"[/i] she hissed. It was difficult to say what Kaori actually felt concerning the hunter. It was an odd sense of predatory obsession. She was only absently aware of the sound of beating wings behind her. With each breath she took, she was reminded of the night she had first encountered the hunter. She had never forgotten that scent. It nearly pushed her to leap from where she stood to tackle him to the ground. 

But she stayed still. They had her flanked. Her narrowed eyes - an unsettling contrast to the smooth femininity of her features - never left the face of the hunter. She studied him, as if she were trying to read a very dense book. "What do you want with me?" she finally asked. In the back of her mind, she contemplated the ways she might escape. Speed, and the nighttime shadow would be on her side. Yet, her curiosity over this brazen human kept her rooted.