~Part 2-3~       "I wonder..." Lina lay in bed, thinking to herself, unable to sleep. She rolled onto her side and glared out the window at the night sky. It was cloudy and rather unappealing. "What could have happened to that thief that stole that jade jewelry."
    Kagemi was sharing the room to save some money while Filia and Amelia were next door. Gourry and Zelgadiss were across the hall and Naga strongly insisted on her own room, paying her own way, much to Lina's relief. Someone walked down the corridor outside the room and a sleep-disturbing light ensued, illuminating the floor under the door, "For crying in the mud..." Lina mumbled and shifted in her bed.
    A series of knocks drove away any possibility of sleep for Lina and she got up to see Kagemi already wandering through the room to give the knocker a piece of her mind. Kagemi opened the door and had not noticed Lina had come up behind her and peered out the door as soon as it opened enough to see out.
    A young looking, blond guy stood outside Naga's room with lantern in hand, paying no attention to Lina and Kagemi. Kagemi stepped forward only to be halted by a gesture from Lina. She put her index finger to her lips and closed the door to a crack, listening. Naga finally stumbled to the door and was in her PJs as it opened.
    "You!" the man said, minding his volume, "Give me back that clip."
    Naga looked confused, "What clip?"
    A sweat drop appeared over the man's head, "I never gave that to you!" he tried to get into the room to search, but was blocked by Naga. He growled slightly, to no avail, "You shouldn't steal from people!"
    Kagemi couldn't contain it any longer, "You should talk!" she marched into the hall, forgetting to keep it down.
    Lina stood in the doorway and crossed her arms.
    "Oh... that clip!" Naga retreated into her room as the stranger looked in Kagemi and Lina's direction. His eyes clearly bugged out, stopping Kagemi in her tracks. She didn't like that expression on his face. She quickly remembered the stolen clips, "Who's the thief here!?"
    The man obviously recognized her somehow and looked at Lina, not intentionally. At that, he began backing away. Naga returned with the clip, only to find the man some ways away from where he had been a moment before.
    "What's with you?" Kagemi said threateningly and stomped after him.
    "UAA--" he said, bumping into someone. Looking behind him, he saw some woman who was as scantily clad as Naga during the day, only with less of a cape, and less substantial shoulder guards and dark, pinkish hair in a ponytail. She scowled at him and drew a huge, unproportional sword.
    "Dammit! You're supposed to be asleep!" the woman pointed right at Kagemi.
    "Huh!?" both Kagemi and Lina jumped in unison.
    The blond man attempted to leave the premises, but remembering the hair clip, he went in a round about way, passing Naga, snatching the trinket, and proceeded to go around the woman.
    "Where do you think you're going!?" she grabbed him by the cape and yanked him back, sending him into Naga. That prompted a large crash .
    Zelgadiss emerged, clothed normally, and looked in confusion at the gathering. Filia and Amelia similarly came out of their room.
    "What!?" the pink-haired woman pointed at everyone again, "I thought I just put everyone sleeping here under a spell!!"
    "Well, obviously, we weren't quite asleep," Filia crossed her arms while Amelia stifled a yawn and struggled to keep her eyes open.
    "What's this!? I'm not involved here!" the blond man protested, ignoring the dumbfounded Naga under his leg.
    Lina stepped forward as the woman gave a nasty look at the man, "You are a witness... therefore you must die as well!"
    "Excuse me, but attacking in the middle of the night is kinda indecent of you," Lina did up a button on her blue night shirt.
    "I'm only after her!" the woman shoved another finger in Kagemi's direction.
    "Don't you know it's impolite to point!?" Kagemi grew even more impatient, a frustration mark appearing on her forehead in the process.
    "GAAAH!!" the woman spazzed and grabbed her hair with both hands, dropping her sword to the carpeted floor.
    "Fire..." the blond man began and all eyes fell on him, "Ball!"
    The spell collided with some sort of meager shield in front of the woman.
    "Whaa!?" she disappeared within the smoke, sizzling carpet grains, and charred support beams.
    "What'd you do that for!?" Lina yelled and punched the man, "I'm NOT paying for this!!"
    Zelgadiss leaned against the door frame and grew a familiar sweat drop. The man lay sprawled on the floor as Lina grabbed Kagemi, tossed her into the room and likewise Naga, throwing  her into hers, "GET CHANGED! WE'RE LEAVING RIGHT NOW!"
    Gourry finally reached the door, looked at the blond guy on the floor, then the rubble of the hallway, "Okay..." he muttered in amazing understanding and without change in his half-sleeping expression, he turned and re-entered his room.
    Filia and Amelia proceeded to exit the building and Zelgadiss waited for the others. The blond man got up, rubbed his head and followed Filia and Amelia.
    "Yo!" he called after them.
    Filia looked at him with suspicion as they walked out the door and Amelia nearly tripped while she was resting her eyes.
    "Hi, I'm Kitty!" he said, catching up with them outside.
    "Kitty? Isn't that a girl's name?" Filia insulted, not relinquishing her suspicious attitude towards him.
    He face faulted, "Uh... not necessarily..."
    "Well, I am Filia and this is Amelia," Filia did not hold out her hand, "I don't associate with thieves."
    Kitty's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms, "Lina Inverse is a thief."
    "Pha, not you're kind!" Filia raged in defense.
    "Shhhh," Amelia waved her arm between them, "I want to sleep."
    Kitty cleared his throat, "I don't suppose I could travel with your group for a while, could I?"
    Filia looked at him, "I would say no, but I leave that decision to Lina."
    Gourry appeared followed by Zelgadiss, Naga, Lina, and Kagemi.
    "Don't just stand there! Let's get going!" Lina pushed Gourry and Zelgadiss toward the exit of town. The sky was brightening and a rooster crowed.
    "But where are we going, Lina-san?" Amelia rubbed her eyes awake.
    "Anywhere but here! Get going before the inn keeper gets up! I don't want to be here when they see that mess, or we will have to pay for the damage!" Lina shot a look to kill at Kitty.
    They quickly evacuated town and processed into the forest for shelter, successfully before the town became active for the day. "Phew!" Lina sat down against a tree.
    "I'm sorry..." Kitty mumbled quietly.
    Kagemi and Zelgadiss joined Lina while Amelia took to a tree as lookout. Gourry lay down in a bush and Naga stood and leaned against another tree
    Lina looked at Kitty, "And what's your deal? Why did you steal that jewelry in the first place!?"
    Kitty hid a smile, "That's what thieves do."
    Lina raised an eyebrow, "But why did Naga have it?"
    "She swiped it from me when I wasn't looking!"
    "How so?" Kagemi entered the conversation.
    Kitty sighed, "She followed me. At first I thought she knew I was the one who stole that stuff. She stopped me and tried talking to me- that relieved my suspicion. I happened to drop my pouch with the stuff in it and I must have missed picking it up when everything spilled out."
    Naga looked away, obviously not happy with this version of the story. There was a pause as Naga decided not to share her version, possibly for her sake.
    "And what do we do about that woman who seems bent on killing us?" Zelgadiss brought up.
    "We don't even know the extent of her powers... if she has any, " Lina continued, "There's no way to tell if she's a threat to us... but I really doubt it."
    "Ha. She wants to kill me, even though I've only met you twi-- I mean once..." Kitty added, "Just because I saw her."
    "Hmm..." Lina made the sound most people make when they're thinking, signaling to anyone listening, that they were indeed, thinking, "Well, now that you seem to be involved with whatever's going on, you may as well stick with us a while longer. Safety in numbers and all that."
    Kitty looked over at Filia, who only frowned in defeat.
    "And then there's another matter..." Lina looked at Kagemi, "She said she was after you."
    Kagemi shrugged, "I don't know, I've never seen her before.
    "You don't seem to be too disturbed by it," Zelgadiss contributed again.
    "I've had to deal with my share of assassins and murderers and such in my career. No big deal. Just one more in my adventure diary," Kagemi explained a little, briefly skimming some past events she had encountered in her brain.
    Amelia rejoined the group, "No one's coming this way. I'd say it's safe to catch up on sleep!" she curled up on the ground on the other side of Gourry where Filia sat and prepared to nap.
    Zelgadiss sighed in his little corner of two trees, "None of this makes any sense..." Okay, maybe some of it did, but none of it pieced together the way it should have.