Lost Town Outeredge, Kageo's Apartment

(From 'Main Thoroughfare')~~~~~~~~~>

After having made his way back towards his apartment from the busy streets of Orient Town, after some ways he would make way out into the open of the barren streets. Except that of old buildings, the odd looking, abandoned buildings long forgotten by those of the city, the kaka had whisked his tail around, taking Aoko through the confusing degree of identical buildings until reaching a building attached to another: a two story Victorian sided apartment. It was designed to stand off to the side of the other buildings and yet give some room.

As he unlocked the main door and guided Aoko inside, she'd find him closing the door, locking it and then taking her towards the right, where a narrow staircase lay. Once up the stairs, he'd unlock a second door and open it to reveal his home to her."Well here we are, its not the biggest, but its clean at least." his apartment had three bedrooms, though beside the master (Which was at least decent) the other two were a bit small, but would work. He had a nice kitchen/living room combined space: a couch against the area nearest the window, a small chair in the corner, a small bed in the corner where he normally slept. A bathroom and some running water (just by sheer luck!), it made for an ideal place away from S7. It was the quickest place to come in and leave quickly when it was needed, it helped him of course concealing that he was anything more than a smart kaka to most.

"Wow..." Aoko took in the ambiance, noting that it was much more homey than her two floor flat, though that place was as lavish as far as a Kisaragi's household could be.

"Nice place you have here!" she added with a smile

Giving her a light nod, he'd smiled lightly again, in thanks for her kind words, while he stepped off to the right. With a tail flicking, he'd decided to give her the second largest room he had here. "This way please, while you are here also, make yourself at home. As my friend, I want you comfortable above all." he'd say this while heading down the right hallway, walking forward and drawing the door open, he'd gesture in with a hand: where a small room sat, there was a made bed in the corner, a small table in the corner; place to walk around at least, a small set of windows next to each other in the corner. "It's not much, but its yours for the night or longer if you need it." he imagined she might be here for only a day, but he wasn't going to seem like he was kicking her to the curb either.

"Aren't you going a little too far for a friend?" Aoko smiled in jest, her eyes twinkling with mischief while her tail wagged back and forth.

In truth, she found a lot to like in Kageo. He was kind and quite the gentleman, allowing a lady like her to live crash here for a bit.

The kaka had laughed and shook his head. "For a friend? Nope! This is just the basics, you might say I treasure a friendship. Even newly bonded ones.~ ^^" answering as honest as the sunlight was bright, the kaka let off said statement without a hesitation in the world.

"And honest too." Aoko smiled as while she thought "Rare to find that in a guy these days."

"So..." She said while looking around "You got some clothes I can use? I wasn't able stop by my place to get any."

Clothes? Well he hadn't thought of that, a kaka's jacket wasn't exactly standard issue for other beastkin. "Well nothing that'd be suitable for you out of my wardrobe, but uhh...a clean garment or two in the closet in this room, though 'box' is probably more like it. I washed them and left them there, some woman who had lived here's old clothes. I left it because hey, nostalgia and stuff! Its washed by me, since I just tend to do things like that." oh what some kakas wouldn't do right?

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Aoko took a look at the box and found an old, oversized t-shirt and some shorts that reached up to half her thigh, as well as a bra and panties that was just her size.

"Yup, this'll do." she nodded with smile before turning to Kageo "Can you show me to the bathroom please?"

Nodding lightly, he'd turned and gestured to her to follow, it wasn't far of course, just down the other hall. He'd take her to the bathroom: a medium sized room, with an old cast iron tub, faucets on one end, a small shower-like head that he'd likely hooked up at some point and a shower curtain pulled back to reveal the aged, beaten, but clean looking tub. The toilet in the corner, old and yet sturdy looking, kept clean as possible: like the rest of the house was. "Here you are Aoko~" he'd say this before stepping back, letting her step in as she wished, he'd headed back to the the living room/kitchen to brew a little tea.

"Classy." Aoko quipped, chuckling at how simple it looked "I'll take it from here, Kageo."

Once he had left, she turned on the tub's faucet while she slipped out of her NOL uniform. Once that was all done, she slipped into the tub, sighing at how warm the water felt.

"Ah...this feels nice~!"

He'd already taken to brew a cup of some rose tea, looking over the tea while he'd have rubbed the side of his head; flicking his tail and like a busybody the kaka was already moving around the kitchen in action. Getting out a small jar of honey, one of some sugar, bottle of cream. He'd hopped around energetically and simply was preparing the place for he and his present company. He could be very silly and this was such a sign of it!

After some time, Aoko finished her bath. She dried off, put on her clothes and stepped out of the bathroom while she was drying her hair. The over sized t-shirt did well to cover her curves, but the shorts revealed a good amount of her legs.

"Thanks for the bath, Kageo!" she mewled happily once she got to the living room.

As the kaka turned to her, the sweet smell of brewing tea would catch upon the air, having spread in to mix the soft smell of jade incense, the kaka knew that things could smell musty in this old apartment; hence why he chose to freshen it with the incense. "Anytime Aoko-san~"

He'd not yet taken notice, at least until he was about to invite her for the tea, while considering just the words he'd used, he did get an eyeful of her figure; a nice harmless look over the shapely kitty. To say the least, while his cheeks turned pink, it was likely not visible due to his hood. "Glad you enjoyed yourself, come! I have tea here, I was going to have some and wanted to offer some to you too!"

"Oh thanks!" Aoko smiled as she took her seat in the couch, eagerly watching Kageo with the tea "Do you get visitors here often, Kageo-san?"

Having moved to sit down beside her once the tea was well in hand, he'd have placed the spout over the first cup and began to pour their rose tea while he responded to her question "The occasional kitten or three, maybe another kaka clan member who wants to talk, but not really no." it was a pretty funny thing to ask he thought, but again it was just polite. So as he finished pouring her cup of tea, then his own and before setting the teapot on a small dish to keep it from touching the table. "also, there's honey, cream, and sugar if you prefer. I like my tea with minimum cream personally.~"

While he poured himself a little cream, a small spoonful of honey afterwards, he'd set the cream down and honey aside before flicking his tail up and down behind him against the couch. It was going to be so tasty!

Aoko nodded as she took her cup. She took a spoonful of honey and sugar after pouring some cream for herself. She took the time to bring the cup up and take in it's aroma, allowing the fragrant scent to linger in her nose.

"Smells nice." She remarked after taking a sip, then turned to Kageo with a grin "and tastes nice too!"

He'd been glad that she liked the taste of it, more that she made such a gem of her response. As he poured a bit of cream, a nice taste of honey as well, he'd raised his tea and sipped it, before sighing at the sweetness of it. "I love this taste too, its so good~, its wonderful after a hard day, so may it soothe yours, Aoko-san ^^" the kaka kicked his feet in delight, well this was a lovely spot of a day. He hadn't expected he'd be a host of any kind really! yet the chance was here and it was going well so far he'd thought.

"Hard day doesn't even begin to describe what happened to me."

Aoko sighed as she took another sip, thinking back to the events that had transpired; her old classmate Carl Clover just up and attacked her and Kinjou-san. This in turn forced her to resort to contacting Takeru, the dhampir vigilante she called friend, to track him down while she looked for her 'brother' Jin.

Then she learned that Takeru DID see Jin, which in turn led her to Kageo who showed her the hospital he was in. She then learned that Takeru was WAY over his head; After all, if Jin Kisaragi, the famed Hero of Ikaruga, couldn't defeat the SS Class Criminal, what chance did he stand against him?

"I better find him," she spoke aloud unconsciously, unaware that she gave her thoughts voice "I have to make sure he doesn't get himself killed..."

Having listened to her words, he'd naturally looked up at her, some minor concerns crossing his face, someone getting themselves killed? "Um, Aoko-san who might I ask are you looking for? Maybe I know them? I know a lot of people in Kagutsuchi.~" naturally the kaka was trying to be helpful, if he could set a few things straight and at least point her in the right direction. That would be a boon unto itself.

"Should I tell him?"

Aoko debated with herself internally on this matter; on one hand, she didn't want him to get involved in whatever mess she could get into. He seemed nice enough and she didn't want him to get hurt. On the other hand, he could be helpful in the matter, maybe he could give her some advice.

In the end, she decided she could trust him.

"His name's Takeru Oda." the blue haired beastkin sighed as she took another sip of her rich tea "He's a vigilante I hire for some jobs from time to time and he's a good friend, if not a goof at times. He's one of those interested in Ragna the Bloodedge's bounty. At first, I thought he just might be able to handle it, but after seeing Jin-nii..."

She trailed off there, hoping that Kageo got her message.

Well this meant that she was concerned about something that he believed for now was actually...dealt with in a way. He wasn't going to exactly blurt out something of his being with Sector 7, but he was still a vigilante. Part of this could come out cleanly, without bringing Aoko any knowledge of that. Even if her sibling as it seemed, knew well who he was...he'd felt it better to leave that little tidbit quieted.

"Takeru-san? Oh I know him! Me and he got into a fight about Ragna the Bloodedge already. I don't think you'll have to worry about that, I...kinda beat him up earlier o.o. I hoped to see him realize, if he cannot beat me then Ragna the Bloodedge is beyond his power range." he gave her the cliffnotes of that particular conflict, which had ended in Takeru's loss pretty convincingly. He was sure the young man would focus on trying to defeat him first before going after Ragna again.

At first, silence reigned in the living room.

"You beat Takeru?" Aoko spoke with confusion obvious on her features. She was honestly a little surprised; Takeru was not nowhere near Jin's level, but he should be able to hold his own in a fight. The fact that her new friend just stated that he defeated him...just how strong was he?

"Well, that takes care of a major worry in my list." She sighed in relief, unconsciously scooting closer laying her head on his shoulder "He can be so stubborn some times..."

Having looked in her direction after feeling her head resting on his shoulder, the kaka had whisked his tail around a little bit. Of course a little different in feeling, though he wasn't sure what it was that he felt. Lightly nosing her hair, he'd have drawn up his tail to rest across his lap before he'd sip his tea. "Oh yes, your friend is quite strong, but a bit too forward in his fighting style." he'd just left it at that, since he felt ultimately that was it.

He was glad that she wouldn't worry about him anymore, it was good enough as a reasoning right? He knew that Takeru wanted to try and defeat him first off. "And good, you shouldn't have to worry much, if at all Aoko-san.~" in truth he'd hoped none would have to.

"Straightforward doesn't even begin to describe him." Aoko sighed in dismay at the thought of her reckless friend.

Still, if Kageo had beaten some sense into Takeru, then that means she has one less worry to deal with. "Thanks for stopping him." she took a sip of her tea before continuing "If you hadn't stopped him..."

She didn't even want to think about what could've happened.

Kageo was certain that he'd stopped something bad from happening, even if it was just the greater of the desire to see such a thing stopped; but the effort put into motion. As he gave her a light look and nodded in understand, he didn't know Takeru so well and he imagined head strong fell short itself to describe him as well. "I admit I don't know what may have happened either, but either way your welcome, Aoko-san.~"
 he'd meant that, as friends it was but the minimum service would could give, to save a life important to them even by force as he had.