Doll (Sequel To Blue)

Old Faces

Your lady friends working the corner were right about one thing, it was getting cold fast. Sure enough, only a few days after that rainy night, the temperature dropped enough for you to feel the biting cold through your thin apartment walls and it snowed. While your apartment had plumbing, it lacked heating and cooling. You had to face that on your own.

It was still better than being out in the elements while you worked, you had to wear clothing revealing enough to entice potential customers. At least you could throw colorful little jackets over the top. You'd be okay up top while your legs would still shake like a new born calf's in the weather. The worst part of it all was the dragon in you despised the cold. That meant in the morning, you moved more like a heat deprived reptile. To put it another way, you were too damn cold to move fast.

Every moment was slow and your bones ached and complained constantly. If you were cold enough, all you could do was shudder and shake uncontrollably. It'd get almost painful some times. You remember vividly how bad it was last year. After leaving Killer, that first winter alone was the worst you'd ever gone through. There were many nights when you cried yourself to sleep, wanting nothing more than to go back to him and curl up in his arms.

It'd be easier this year, you were sure of that, but that didn't mean it'd be easy.

Tonight had you in a sour mood as you marched to your usual spot. The ice under your heels melted enough from the heat you put off to keep you from slipping. You were always radiating more warmth in the cold but it never seemed to stick to you. At least it kept the fat snowflakes that fell from actually meeting you're skin. They evaporated in the air around you before they could reach you, only letting a fine mist meet your face.

You were almost to the other women when you paused. You were a short distance from them, all you'd have to do is cross the street and reach the end to meet up with them. But there was an unfamiliar group of men chatting them up. It wouldn't have been a big deal, except you actually recognized one of the men there. He was always hard to miss.

A perfectly styled mohawk, dark, round glasses, and a thick white coat draped over his shoulders. Hayate, the Kid gang's doctor. He hadn't changed a bit.

He shouldn't have been around here, so far from the rest of the gang and their hideout. And you were sure if he saw you, he'd recognize you. You slowly stepped back until you were at the corner and turned to duck behind it quickly. It was best to go home for now, see if you could figure out why he and part of the gang was around. You hoped he was just recruiting. That would explain all the unfamiliar faces he was with at least.

You made your way back home carefully, checking every alley and shadow as you went, just in case there were others around. That was something you honestly didn't doubt. Hayate never went out of the city by himself. His role was too important to the crew to wander alone. And he and Heat were pretty close friends so you wouldn't be surprised to see the blue haired man close by.

Heat was no where in sight though, neither were any more of the Kid crew. But you'd still be on the look out. When you got home, you quickly changed into warmer clothes since working was out of the question for now. From there, you hopped out your window and lifted yourself to the roof, peering into the city for anything abnormal. So far, it was the usual. The sounds of far off scuffles, stray animals digging through nearby trash cans for scraps, the occasion gunshot. Gunfire was still surprisingly rare around here. Unless there were gangs fighting over territory, that usually wasn't a problem.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask about what happened after you left, figure out what the gangs in the alliance decided to do. You could find an local information broker, pay them the cash you had hidden away for emergencies. It'd make it easier to see if you should pack up and move again or not.