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Neko felt Riyo tense a little under his grasp as if she were battling herself trying to decide if she wanted to stay there or not. Not giving her much of a choice her held on to her firmly as she explained that she didn't fully know who that man was, only that he had been following her and had been for a long time.

That's when 'the man' spoke up, reappearing out of no where like a ghost from a nightmare. Neko would have told him to sod off but it seemed he had a few more details to the story that Riyo had obviously suppressed. "The raven?" Neko questioned calmly. He didn't quite understand what the man was explaining but the story did sound familiar in a way. Something his mother had told him when he was little, though he couldn't remember much about it. The Black Cat. They had thought it was him, he remembered that much, that's why he and his mother had been cast out of their village and nearly killed in the process. And though it wasn't true, they had every right to fear him. The stories his mother had told him, he remembered none of them had happy endings.

Then the man spoke again in response to one of Riyo's questions, but this time he was harsh about it which made Neko hold onto Riyo all the more protectively. "What do you mean by all that?" Apparently his questions wouldn't be able to wait. In a way he didn't want to know, he didn't want to shed light on Riyo's dark past, but it seemed like others refused to let it go. "What..." Neko hesitated as he looked at Riyo. He didn't want to ask, but maybe if he did they could get past it all. Maybe he could help somehow. "What did you do?"

"Payment?" Atticus asked in response to Blade's question. "I need no money. But perhaps you could answer a question for me..."

He packed up his bag and walked over next to the door, leaning against the wall with his hands folded in front of him. "That girl. What do you know about her? Do you feel like there's something a bit... Off about her?" He stared directly into Blade's eyes with those black eyes. Eyes of wisdom. Eyes of judgment.

"Please. Tell him. He's dying to know." Were the man's last words before he once again took his leave without an ounce of warning.

Riyo's eyes looked up at him as if she wasn't sure if he actually asked that. When she realized he had indeed questioned what she'd already said she didn't know, she fell silent. She looked down for a few moments, then slowly looked back up at him. Eyes once again changed. There was a smile on her face... But it wasn't the friendly kind. "What did I do?" She repeated his own question, tilting her head. "When the world makes a monster out of you... Do you live up to it's expectations, or die?" She laughed. "You'd think I went overboard with the children, But those little bastards had what was coming to them. They got the worst."

Her laughing picked up after every sentence. "I don't regret it. It was a beautiful sight. Each and every one of them served a purpose as the harvest moon looked on in delight." She stopped, just to look up at him with those red eyes. Her smile had disappeared. Very slowly, she moved her lips next to his ear. "You can keep a secret, can't you?"

Neko was unsure how to react as Riyo's personality switched into unfamiliar ground. Her voice was cruel, edgy, and full of delight in the deed she had done. And as much as Neko hated to admit it, as much as he hated himself for it, a small part of himself enjoyed what she was laying out to him. The thoughts, the images ran wild in his head as the demon side of him forced a small smile on his face.

As soon as the smile appeared, however, Neko shook his head regaining his senses and his expression faded back to normal. Well as normal as possible when someone tells you they are a psychotic murderer. Strangely enough though Neko's reaction to her question was rather calm, as if the first part of her declaration had never even passed her lips. "I can keep a secret as well as you can." He whispered back turning to face her, his face dangerously close to her own.

He stared into her crimson pools and found himself entranced by them as his own icy blue ones took life, swirling in a smokey gray that was their demonic true color. He was no stranger to sin, he was no stranger to taking innocent life. At least what society would deem as innocent. He was surprised, but strangely not repulsed.

"I see... and I'm Blade by the way."

Frowning at bit at Atticus's warning regarding Riyo, the thief wondered just what exactly she had done in the past. He also wondered what the connection here was. The girl seemed to be innocent enough (most of the time), so he generally wasn't too sure what to make of all of it.

But soon he snapped from his wandering curiosity as movement from Atticus caught his attention.

"Eh? What's wrong? You ok there?" he asked while getting up to see if he could try to help the doctor get back onto his feet.

Riyo watched him leave with a grin of victory, though it didn't last. As he left, she closed her eyes and then quickly opened them. "N-nyu?" Hadn't Neko just been right there? And where had the man gone? Had she... Done something? She blanked out when he asked her that question.

What had she done? "What did Riyo do?" She asked herself, who didn't answer back. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little cat doll she'd had since she was a baby. "What should Riyo do?" Neko wouldn't kill her. She'd seen it in his eyes. He couldn't. So what then? The cat's button eyes did nothing but stare. No words of wisdom. No consoling. Without a word, she stood and moved over to the bed, sitting on the side closest to the wall.

Just as soon as it started, it stopped. Atticus looked up toward Blade. "I'm alright..." He sighed and stood up by himself. "That was the worst yet..." Now he was mumbling to himself. Perhaps the doctor was the one who needed doctoring. "Just keep what I said in mind. I won't warn you anymore than I already have. So what you do from here is completely up to you." He took another puff of his pipe before opening the door so Blade could leave at his leisure. "Words are pointless. It's actions that make the difference."

"Maybe.. Leaving is the best thing for Riyo to do." She was still talking to her doll, not expecting any words back. She just didn't like the thought of being alone right now. "Mmm.." If she stayed, it would be for her own selfish reasons. And now was not the time for those. If she didn't think about the safety of her friends, then who would? Neko wouldn't. And... She didn't really understand that. "It doesn't matter, nyu..." She sighed out. If he wasn't going to look out for his own best interests, then she would. Even if that meant giving up the only thing she really had in this world.

Stepping back to give the doctor some room, the thief nodded before glancing towards the door.

"I'll keep that in mind."

With that said, he left Atticus, closing the door behind him. Once in the hallway, he rubbed his shoulder some before looking over towards the door to his own room. But then he thought he might at least give Neko and Riyo an update on his shoulder before going to rest.

Not knowing that Neko had left the room, or what had happened inside, he just went over to their door and knocked on it lightly.

As the door opened, Blade didn't take long to realize that Riyo was the only one in the room. Blinking at this, he soon shook his head to himself before looking at Riyo with a bit of a smile. In the back of his mind, Atticus's warning echoed. Was Riyo really as bad as he had said?

At the question of his wellfare, he rubbed his shoulder some.

"A lot better, that's for sure. My shoulder was just dislocated so it's just sore right now."

After saying this, he peeked into the room some to make sure he wasn't wrong on Neko being missing at the moment.

"What about you Riyo? I didn't really see what happened but you kinda ran off earlier. And.. where's Neko right now?