1 Shrine maiden by day, assassin by night

On top of a skyscraper, there was a girl dressed fully in black, seemingly analysing something in the neighbouring building. She wore black pants, and a hoodie with a kitsune mask only showing her amber eyes. There was also a pair of silver-haired fox ears that poked through the hoodie as well as a tail that came out underneath.

"Why the hell am I doing a night operation when I literally have the brightest hair colour." grumbling to herself, she scrolled through her phone that had information about a person.

"He should be in the penthouse and if what the master said was true, he should be out drinking with some of his business pals." Thinking out loud, she took off her bag and looked through it.

"Hmm, this hook should be enough." The fox girl pulled out a grappling hook and thanks to her being on a higher building than the one she needs to enter, allowing for an easier jump.

Putting back on her bag, the fox girl stood back to give herself a running start.

Sprinting to the edge she jumped off the roof of the skyscraper with a hook in hand. The city lights illuminated the ground below and some lights were on in the building.

While in the air the fox girl threw the hook toward a hotel building and just as she hoped, the hook was going to make it to the roof. Free falling for a few more seconds, the hook finally latched onto something forcing her to go right into the building.

However just before she hit the window an orange wall made out of flames appeared in front of it. The fox girl put her hand up and feet up to the wall and her swing was suddenly halted. Dissipating the firewall, the fox girl was free to climb the building.

"Good, I didn't fall too far." only being a few floors away from the penthouse she started to climb up.

Once reaching the window of the penthouse, she started to swing as there was a balcony to her right. Once she had enough speed, she was able to slide down the rope once she was over the balcony.

Successfully landing on the balcony, she pulled on her grapple hook and got it unstuck. Packing it back in her bag, she now needed to get inside without triggering any alarms.

'It is the balcony so I doubt there are any triggers on the door.' Walking up to the glass door, she contemplated if she could just walk in.

As her hand approached the handle a red barrier appeared causing her to quickly pull back.

'So, there are alarms.' Clicking her tongue, she now had to go through the complicated way.

Walking away from the door, she stood in front of one of the many windows and sat on the ground. Touching the ground with her finger she made a circle out of flames around her. She then put her hands together and began to chant something quietly.

"In the name of goddess kitsune Akene, bestow upon me the power of teleportation." The circle of flames that surrounded the fox girl suddenly rose into the sky engulfing her in flames. Suddenly a ball of fire appeared within the penthouse and shortly after it dispersed revealing the fox girl.

"Ow! When will it safely put me on the ground, not just drop me?" Due to the spell elevating her in the air, once she was released she fell directly to the floor.

'Anyway, now I just need to wait.' Looking around there was no person in sight, giving her free reign over the place.

"Hehe~ let's see if there are any gifts for me." Needing to kill time, she started to explore the penthouse which was rather fancy having 2 floors. The first floor contained the living room, kitchen, and a small play area for parties. On the second floor were the bedroom, pool, and bathroom which was where the fox girl assumed the valuables would be.

Making it to the bedroom, she started to open every drawer looking for anything until she reached the closet. Walking in, it was filled with the same suit, but what caught her eye was the rather large safe hidden behind them.

"Yes!" Happy she scored gold, she quickly moved all the clothes out of the way, so she could open up the safe.

The safe was about the size of herself which indicated there was worth a lot of money inside and this excited her but also hoped she could carry it.

Putting her hand up against the safe a fire ring appeared, and the flames started to violently shake. Soon a sizzling sound could be heard, and a decent size hole was created giving her access to whatever was inside.

Clicking her finger, a small flame appeared at the end of her finger which illuminated the dark vault. Poking her head inside she looked around in the vault hoping for cold hard cash, but instead was met with disappointment.

"Eh? Where is the money? There are only documents in here." Pulling out a bundle of files she read the front page of one.

"Top secret, plans to manipulate the market and fuel the government to allow for increased funding for the military." Reading the title, she couldn't quite understand what it meant as there had been no conflict between other countries to even be worth building up military.

"Oh well, probably old." Flames engulfed her hand, burning the documents and not bothering to look at the rest, threw the burning plans in the safe.

"Wait, I should seal it, I still need to kill the target." Moving her fingers in a circular motion she chanted once more.

"In the name of goddess kitsune Akene, bestow the seal of protection." A kitsune symbol appeared in the circle indicating it worked. Pushing her palm on the circle she applied it to the safe encasing the smoke in an invisible barrier so no smoke alarms would be triggered.

"Now I just need to wait." Going back to the bedroom she laid down on the bed and waited for her target.

*

<30 minutes later>

Almost falling asleep on the bed the sound of doors being slammed open echoed out through the penthouse causing her to wake up.

"Thank you, you can go now." A middle-aged man stumbled into the penthouse with a couple of guards and since he was home, he dismissed the guards leaving so he could be left alone.

"Are you sure sir?" The guards were rather concerned as he had drunk way too much and could hardly stand.

"It's fine, now go before I fire you." Leaning up against the wall he waved off the guards and hearing they would be fired quickly left.

"Urgggh my head." Making his way up the stairs, he spotted someone on his bed laying on their side.

"Oooo someone left me a little gift, heh." Seeing it was a rather feminine figure assumed one of the boys ordered him a prostitute.

"What's your name miss?" Stumbling over to the bed to get closer, the girl had gotten and approached the man.

"The name is Ayame and I'm not your toy." Wrapping her hands around the neck of the man, suddenly his head was set ablaze. The man went to scream but before he could let out a single sound something was lodged into his throat.

A rather peculiar-looking knife that had a glowing orange gem at the end was lodged into his neck and he felt something pull on him.

"Sweet, with your soul being extracted, your body should disappear soon and my job will be done." Pulling out the knife from the man's neck, his body fell to the floor as it now became lifeless.

Ayame watched as his body turned to ash leaving no trace of his existence.

*Sigh* "Finally I can go home." Picking up her bag she left by the bed, she pressed the button by the bedside to undo the balcony security allowing her to leave

***

<Next morning>

In a shrine that resided in the city, it was early morning, but a woman with long black hair in a black samue was looking at the TV with a rather angry look. Her eyes were also an amber colour and due to her anger fox ears were poking out of her head.

"AYAME!!!" Calling out her name, soon a girl who seemingly lost her fox traits made her way out of her room.

Ayame wore a white nightgown and her long silver hair was a complete mess as hearing her name caused her to get up in a rush. Going through the hallway she made it to a tatami room where the woman was sitting watching TV.

"What?" Rubbing her eyes, she wondered what the issue was and when looking at the TV there was a blurred figure jumping off a roof which was clearly her.

"You didn't put on the concealing spell?" The woman looked close to snapping as this was a big deal and it was fortunate that it was impossible to make out who it was.

"I-I umm sorry Master Tomoe." Realising she screwed up looked away not wanting to make eye contact.

"You are lucky they can't tell what it is, but if it wasn't for the news of the target, I wouldn't have known it was you." Sighing she couldn't be too mad for long as it did not expose them, but she needed to somewhat scold Ayame for messing up.

"Anyway, come have some breakfast, we need to prepare the shrine for today." The fox ears vanished into Tome's hair while she turned to the table with food on it. Ayame kneeled at the table with her head still low as she still felt like she was in trouble.

"Hey, don't look so depressed, it's only a warning… for now." Tomoe smirked as she saw Ayame shiver from her words.

"Yes, I understand, thank you." Ayame was glad it was just a warning but knowing full well Tomoe's power hope she doesn't mess up again.

After finishing their meal Ayame changed into a shrine maiden outfit and was sweeping outside of the shrine. Looking around they were surrounded by a lot of trees, but just over them, you could see the rather tall buildings of the city.

'Wish we can move.' Hearing the slight rumbles of the cars in the distance, she wished they were not so close to the city and moved to a typical shrine location like at the top of a mountain, not in some park in the middle of the city.

"Oi, stop slacking, we will be having visitors as the exam period is just beginning." Tomoe shouted from the shrine as she saw Ayame lost in thought.

"Yes, I knowww." Getting back to cleaning up the path, she couldn't wait for the day to be over.