Hilda shrugged. "Could he be working with the pirates?"

"I doubt it. He's been crossed by the Kei pirates too often to be working alongside them. But then, why would they come after us?" inputted Suzuka, as she calmly drank her tea.

Hilda sighed softly to herself and stood, running her hand through her hair. They had landed on Heiphon only four days earlier, and since then they had been trying to figure out what was going on. The Outlaw Star was in for repairs and restocking (yet again), compliments of the money they had from a job. Hilda was much more careful with money than her father had been. She had seven hundred and fifty thousand wong saved up, for a rainy day.

Repairs and restocking would take a few more days, and cost about ten thousand wong. Along with the docking charges and parking fees (which were ridiculously high), Hilda would be twenty-five thousand wong lighter. Not that she minded, but she figured, as long as she was spending money, she might as well spend a bit more and enjoy herself. "I'm going out," she announced, grabbing her jacket. She pulled it on and patted it lightly, watching as small clouds of dust rose into the air around her. "I need to get some new clothes."

As the door to the rented apartment slammed shut behind her, Jim couldn't help but shake his head. "She's not very happy."

Suzuka placed her tea on the table and gave Jim an inquisitive glance. "How can you tell?"

"That girl's defense mechanism is to go shopping. She always does it when something is bothering her."

Hilda browsed through the various racks in the clothing store, sipping idly from the soda she had purchased. The various colors and styles of the shirts she was looking at seemed to blur as she thought. Why would the Kei pirates come after us, after all these years? What could they possibly want with us? Do they want the Outlaw Star? No, the would have come after it long before then if that was what they had wanted...

"Excuse me, miss?"

And what was with the McDougall guy? Why had he attacked them, totally unprovoked? What did he know?

"Miss!"

Hilda jumped a bit, the voice wrenching her from her thoughts. She turned to see a sales associate giving her a rather curious glance. "Miss, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Huh?" murmured Hilda, not following the sudden change in topic.

"Is there something specific that you're looking for?"

Hilda blinked a few times, then laughed. "No, no thank you. I was just browsing." Hilda stopped looking through the rack and left the store, her cheeks brightening slightly from a blush of embarrassment. With a small sigh, she tossed the now empty soda into the trash as she passed by, checking her wallet. She had three hundred and fifty wong to spend. Maybe it would be a good day after all.

Little did Hilda know, she was being watched. From an alley across the street, a pair of violet colored eyes watched her every move.

She was very pretty, with her mother's slim figure and her father's height. Even from the distance, the watcher could tell. He wondered though, how difficult it would be to win her over.

Hilda was sitting comfortably at a table in one of those cute little outdoor cafes. She was now wearing a new pair of khaki's and another black tank top. She had replaced her old, beaten up boots with a new pair of boots, much like the ones she had owned. Jim would say that she had wasted money getting the same clothes she had before, but she liked shopping just for the enjoyment. Besides, she stuck with what was comfortable.

She slipped her sunglasses down a bit and glanced at the crowd around her. The day was warm and still only half done, and considering that Hilda still had a hundred and seventy wong left, the shopping was not yet done!

Out of the blue, a figure suddenly shot out of an alley and grabbed the bags that Hilda had placed on the table. Before she could do so much as gasp, the figure was off and running, weaving his way through the tables.

"Oh, you so did not just steal my stuff!" cried Hilda. She was up in a millisecond and after the thief, running at full force.

Hilda continued her wild chase after the thief, her anger and annoyance building to epic proportions. The thief was as good as dead. She followed him through the weaving labyrinth of Heiphon's alleyways. It seemed that it got darker as she went deeper and deeper into the heart of the city.

Finally, she couldn't run anymore. She stopped and doubled over, gasping for air. Although she was in great shape, running at an all out sprint for twenty minutes straight wasn't easy.

Come to think of it, whoever that guy was, he was fast, she thought, when she could finally catch her breath. She glanced around a bit, taking in the dank alley and not to pleasant aroma of rotting garbage. "I can't believe this. What a day." With a sigh, she turned to leave, but what she saw standing behind her made her blood run cold.

A Kei pirate ninja. His bent figure stood in her path, and with a clawed hand he motioned towards her. Hilda took a few deep breaths and turned, prepared to run in the other direction, but there was another ninja standing right there.

No way out...

The one standing behind her lunged at her, it's razor sharp claws preparing to strike.

Hilda did the first thing that she could think of. She knelt down and pulled the gun that she always kept on her from it's resting place in her ankle holster. She rolled to one side in order to miss the ninja's attack and fired off three shots in quick succession.

The impact of the bullets threw the ninja sideways and cleared Hilda's escape route. Without hesitation, she ran. Blindly, she turned corner after corner, until she came to a dead end.

"Shit!" she spat, glancing around to see if there was any way out. She could hear the ninjas in pursuit. Then she saw it. A fire escape. "I must be in a really old part of town," she murmured, pulling herself up onto the ladder. Fire escapes hadn't been used in decades.

She climbed to the top of the building and got herself onto the roof, heaving a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, her relief was short lived. As if they had some sort of homing beacon on the girl, the ninjas knew to go to the roof. They jumped up, and landed with little effort. Now, thought, there were more. Their numbers were now close to a dozen. "Don't you guys ever give up?"

Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa..."

A green orb of light appeared out of nowhere, settling in the center of the ninjas. When it faded, a small boy stood in the center. Dressed in a white robe that bore the yin-yang sign of the Kei pirates. His wide, brown eyes settled on Hilda and he spoke to her, in a high, eerie voice.

"Hilda Starwind, you must come with us," he said, an almost melodic tone in his voice. "You are the key."

Hilda blinked a few times, getting over the shock of the child simply appearing before her eyes. When she did recover, however, she checked her gun. She had twelve bullets left before she would have to load another clip. With a grin that resembled the devilish look her father used to get, she held the gun out, setting her sights on the small child. "I have a better idea. How bout you back off, and I can get back to my shopping?"

The young boy sneered at her and shook his head. "Very well, Hilda Starwind...if you wish to do things that hard way, then so be it."

"Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa...Pa-go-ba-santa..."

At his chanting, the number of ninjas seemed triple before Hilda's eyes. "Not good," she murmured, as she watched her chanced go from slim to totally screwed. The child stopped chanting and reopened his wide eyes, settling their gaze on Hilda. "Get her."

Hilda turned and ran.