Akai sipped at his beer, a smile still dancing on his lips. He sighed again and rubbed a hand through his red hair, before scratching at one human ear. No matter how often he took this form, the edges of his ears always itched.

“You sure look happy for someone who's gang just had their asses handed to them.” Martin, the bartender said.

Martin was actually the owner of the Cat Box, but he preferred to be called the bartender. Akai wasn't curious enough to ask why. The Cat Box was an excruciatingly bad name for a bar, but it was where most of the neko in the area met to be social. Martin was also one of the leaders of the Yokai in this part of the city.

Akai just shrugged. It was worth the defeat to see Kita in action. He was... exquisite. Every movement of the fox was a symphony. The cat could tell so much from each perfect move. Kita loved beauty, it showed in that movement. He slid and dodged like water. His clothing flowed. His hair looked like a shining cloak that spun out and caught the eye. He held himself with an ancient grace, that the cat surmised, he didn't even realize he had.

Akai could have kept up with the fox in a fight, though. He was the only one in the gang who could, none of the others could come close, and it showed in the alley fight. The neko was almost as old as Kita, though, and he knew what Kita was when he'd stopped him. Not that he'd told the rest of the gang. He had been curious about how the fox would react to a bunch of bakeneko cornering him. It had been cute when Kita had looked at them with the same curiosity a cat would have shown, and it was simply adorable when the fox tried to warn the neko “kittens” away from fighting him.

His smile turned into a grin, which he smothered by taking another drink. Considering the drink tasted and looked like watered down pee, maybe the Cat Box was aptly named after all. He made a face and wrinkled his nose. “When are you going to get decent beer on tap, Martin?”

“Maybe when you guys aren't always asking for the cheapest thing on tap?” The bartender replied without looking up from the glass he was polishing. “If you want better, buy a bottle you cheapskate.”

“Hey! At least I tip, unlike most of these reprobates.” He smirked.

Martin nodded and looked up as he sat one glass down and picked up another. “You bet your tail, you tip. Your grandmother would haunt you if you didn't.”

Akai tisked and waved his hand, “don't bring her up! You know that old bat already found her way into another life by now.” He stood and tossed a twenty on the bar. He'd unwound from his night of roaming, it was time to sleep the morning away. “I'm heading up. If anyone asks, I'm not here.” He paused and looked back at Martin. “Unless he says his name is Kita, then send him up.”

Martin raised an eyebrow but agreed and waved him away with his bar towel. Akai grinned and made his way to a door at the back of the bar. He was whistling softly through his teeth, the tune was a Japanese song about tricky fox, and he was in a great mood. The cat was thinking about how he could approach the fox next, because he wasn't about to give that god the chance to be Kita's fiance.

Right as he reached for the doorknob, a neko dodged in front of him, stopping his progress. He rolled his eyes as the golden haired neko leaned her back against the door, causing her breasts to jut out and her shirt to tighten, putting her assets on display. He despised this girl, and usually he loved women. Just not the conniving, deceitful, evil ones. If he'd realized she was in the bar, he would have gone straight up to his apartment. “What do you want Jordan?”

She batted her jewel like green eyes at Akai and ran a finger down his arm as she purred, “who's Kita?”