Heaven's Crime (gxg) ✓

twenty-six. skullcrusher, slayer of hello kitty

                Skullcrusher is a girl.

                And she's not just any girl. As soon as she opens the door, there are three things I can immediately distinguish.

                1. Her apartment is decorated in pink stuffed animals.

                2. Her kitchen is on fire.

                3. She is wearing Hello Kitty headphones.

                "Heaven!" she shrieks. "It's been so long! I missed you!"

                 How, exactly, do I casually mention that her kitchen is on fire?

                 Veah smiles―a real, genuine smile, as if she is truly glad to see this pink-loving, Hello-Kitty-Wearing creature. "I missed you, too."

                  "Um," I begin.

                  "You know, you promised me you would be back soon,"  Skullcrusher says. "Two years isn't soon. Where have you been? I heard about―"

                  "Uh," I stammer.

                  "My bounty?" Veah laughs. "I know, ever since I left the Cais―"

                  "The thing is," I start.

                  "―they've set out a contract for you," Skullcrusher finishes. "I know, I've been tracking them down and setting up―"

                   "―false locations? I could tell." Veah is grinning widely now, the same way she does when she is jumping out of crashing airplanes and being chased by murderous truck drivers. My stomach pinches. "Thanks for that, by the way. You've been leading the Cais on a wild goose chase, but what I really want to know―"

                    "Behind you," I try.

                    "―is how they found you in Florida?" Skullcrusher claps her hands together. "I tried to cover up your location. I even set up a false ping in Moscow, Russia. But somehow, they didn't buy it. There has to be a―"

                    "―rat?" Veah finishes. "I figured, but―"

                    "―it can't be possible, right? Because Okami would sever the head of anyone who even so much as thinks in the wrong way, so―"

                    Okay, I've had enough.

                    "Your kitchen is on fire!" I shout.

                    Both of them turn to look at me.

                    Veah peers behind Skullcrusher for the first time, and her eyes widen at the sight of the fire in the corner of the kitchen. 

                    Skullcrusher glances back. "My plant!" she cries, running into the kitchen.

                    "No, don't," I say automatically, as she fills a glass with water.

                    She tosses the water onto the fire.

                    For a moment, the fire flickers―wavering. 

                    "You probably don't know the origin of the fire," I explain. "If it had been electric or caused by oil, putting fire on it would have only spread the fire because the particles could have combined. That was dangerous. You really should have just called the―"