Thankfully Himari had entirely too much practice plastering a smile on her face. Judging from the look of the building their cab driver stopped at it was practice well needed. If she had to describe it in one word that word would be 'sad'. She didn't particularly follow Shinto that religiously, but it seemed to cry out to her for love and attention. Years of neglect taking its toll on an otherwise proud building. A sad building amongst sad buildings. Or in a far less poetic sense, a sh*thole.

Once out of the cab she helped the black car in her arms to her shoulder and moved to the back of the cab where the cabbie wrenched his back out of place retrieving their luggage. She offered the man a kind smile and hoisted the locked trunk out of the cab with far less effort. Not entirely remember thanking the man, but sure she had even if it was the tone of a person on their way to a funeral. An icy feeling settling into the pit of her stomach. One that only became more pronounced as they stepped into the place. Well she did at least.

The elevator was of course broken and she ignored the sounds that bled through the thin walls as she trudged up the stairs to the top level. Once they reached their door she shifted the trunk over her unoccupied shoulder to unlock it with a key from her pocket. An awful smell assaulted her sense as she noted the partially open and unplugged fridge.. the rest of it equally disgusting and the last of her exuberance drained from it. "Shall I get the gasoline or you?" The usual vibrant tones of her impassioned self gone at the moment, making the moment ring even more flat. Moving to settle the trunk down somewhere relatively 'clean.' Noting certain stains her lip curled. "I feel like we should avoid asking what happened to the previous person."

It wasn't entirely uncommon to see a cat dogging the heels of its owner out in a city. Japan had been filled with many cats on leashed being touted around by loving pet parents. There was, however, perhaps something different about this cat. The Cabby, aside from spotting two tails and needing an immediate double-take, caught on pretty quick that something was amiss. Perhaps it was how well mannered the cat was, or the fact that it had seemingly caught him in the act of ogling its owner in the mirror just once and hadn't stop glaring at his reflection yet.

By the time they pulled up in the parking lot of the apartments the girl needed to go to he was thoroughly creeped out and very much in a hurry to move along to his next client. He was also fairly used to dealing with mutants considering the city he lived in and the famous school that inhabited it, but the short, pink-haired girl was still startlingly strong despite her looks. He shuffled away sheepishly as she retrieved her trunk.

The cat, he noticed, as he climbed back into his cab, was still looking at him from its owner's shoulder. He stared long enough to catch it lift a paw and motion in a way that almost looked like it was trying to tell him that it was watching him. Ugh. No sir. Creepy as @#$%, he was outta there.

Hiyori, from her fleshy-yet-rock-solid shoulder perch, kept her mouth shut until they were on the stairs and on the way up. While she could have hopped off and climbed the stairs herself, or simply fashioned herself some legs of her own, she was feeling rather lazy at the moment and didn't want to abandon her comfy perch just yet. It helped that she knew her minimal weight had virtually no effect on her very capable sibling.

The climb didn't last long and before she knew it they were out of the suspiciously smelling stairwell and before the door to their new home. She hopped down from her perch with ease, slinking low to the floor as she sniffed at the carpet and its cacophony of stains. "I don't think even fire could burn away such a mess."

Her ears twisted this way and that as she scoped the place out from ground level. Edging toward the small kitchen area. The place was filthy, and that was after what looked like a cleaning from the previous tenants. She could practically smell what they ate last!

"Uwa!" She spotted movement under the gross old refrigerator and darted for it. A small horde of cockroaches of varying sizes skittered every which way. "Sugoi! I take it all back, this place is amazing. It comes with free toys!"

Thoroughly distracted by the erratic little bugs, she scampered around chasing them with her trails happily straight up in the air.

Perhaps the disorganized and varied palette of colors on everything explained her distaste for the modern art is so resembled. "Ok maybe not fire, but it's going to take an annoying amount of cleaning." Which in its own may made her even more irritated and her incurably stubborn streak started to manifest itself. She wasn't book smart, by any stretch of the imagination. Not that she was stupid her own inborn desire to get things done just made it Yokai damned effort. Despite all that she knew.. KNEW with a an innate animalistic instinct their father had found the worst possible place he could find to try and break her spirit. One of her favorite things in the universe was poking sed verse right in the eye and saying 'Ha I did it anyway.'

An hybrid human-animal growl of amusement purred out of her throat as she looked between the surface of things. True it was a crap covered-, (not literally thankfully though she hadn't been into the bathroom yet), -hole everything was mostly sound by first glance. She have wondered if her father hadn't had the place trashed on purpose to try and get her running at first sight. Not that it would be the first time he miscalculated when it pertained to her.

She broke out of her thoughts and grinned at her sister with a soft laugh after a moment. "BAKA! What did I tell you about bugs? Where there are bugs there are bugs. I don't wanna give you another flea bath in my life so long as I can help it." The scratches were more mental trauma then physical but still those little claws were sharp. 

She moved with a determined purpose to the cupboards and found them sparse aside from a few things. Thankfully some salt.. which she poured a copious amount around their trunk and settled in to look around. "It isn't super terrible once you look past the filth. Get some herbs growin' in the windows.. maybe some paint and it will be liveable." Grinning broadly at her sister mischievously. "And since you decided to have fun without me it only makes sense you do the lion's share of it or at least the worst parts." Glancing towards the bathroom with a dangerous gleam in her eye. "It is only fair I think." 

She whipped around with wide eyes at the threat of a dreaded bath and stopped poking at a dead roach with one paw. "I won't get fleas! That only happened a few times!" She wasn't able to blush, but she could certainly feel the embarrassment on the inside. Fleas were a very real thing for her and also very very annoying. It was irritating being covering in the little pests and not being able to pluck them from her fur, not to mention the maddening itching.

Her fur stood on end in an agitated floof when her sister threw her to the proverbial wolves. It was only in jest since she loved cleaning, but still! The small black cat stuck her nose in the air and flipped her tails a few times without comment, weighing if she should be stubborn with her elder sister or not.

"Haiiii, Oneesan." Sometimes there was no use arguing, seeing as they were both stubborn in different ways. "What shall we eat for dinner tonight? I don't know if I trust any of the places around here yet enough to order... I can cook if we can find adequate supplies." Though, considering how the apartment looked she was slightly worried about what the markets would look like.

Sauntering over to the kitchen counter, she hopped up and plopped her fluffy butt down on the cleanest looking patch, and then turned her attention toward the middle of their mostly empty living room. A few boxes were already here with more on the way, some basic furniture, and Himari's things she had cared enough to bring with her. Hiyori herself had only a few possessions of her own on the way, but they were delayed in transit. It would be a while before her various toys and small collection of collars and bows would arrive.

She focused her gaze on the floor, seeking out the residual energy in the air and started the process of forming one of her creations. Or, many, in this case.

She didn't bother with the usual antics of them all digging themselves up out of the ground and instead had the newly made constructions appear standing side by side- five in total. The Zombies, because that's what they were modeled after, weren't terribly gory or overly dead. She wasn't super into that aesthetic. They would certainly get the job done, however, and that was pleasing. The white head cloths and little pink aprons were a nice touch as well if she didn't say so herself.

Hiyori sat back and casually cleaned her paws, half-lidded gaze moving steadily between the five creations as she guided them through various menial tasks. One was scooting around with a rag on the floor, scrubbing and mopping until it was spotless. Another was dusting anything and everything it could reach with its one arm.

With diligence, the place was mostly spotless (some stains would take a bit more elbow grease to get out) and finally livable.

"Oneesan, i'm dooooone!" And without having to lift a single paw, too.

She grinned pleasantly enough at her sister, but was glad to be out of the chore of cleaning. It wasn't as though she didn't like being in a clean environment, but she never quite shook off the loathing of any sort of chore. That and it made her happy to make sure her sister felt useful regardless of whatever any outward appearances may suggest she was capable of taking care of herself and while extremely protective of Hiyori went out of her way to make sure she was part of the family with her own responsibilities.

"Food." She teased with a laugh before sighing and becoming thoughtful. "Good question though. We will have to see what has been delivered and think about what we can make with it then go do a bit of shopping." Shrugging as that wasn't really her forte either. She had a fair talent preparing the meat portions but lacked the patience for tending to food as it was needed. At least they were out of the weather with somewhere fairly comfortable to sleep.

Seeing her sister move into action she placed herself out of the way by curling up on top of the trunk and sitting cross legged to sit and meditate impatiently. More to give the appearance of a calm cool exterior despite the fact they both knew better and tried to force their current predicament out of her mind. Exile for every purpose of the word. A rather unsuccessful endeavor as soon as Hiyori announced it was all done she leap to her feet and stretched while looking around at the place.

"Fina-" Spotting one of the zombies with the pink apron and shaking her head with a smile. "I almost disappointed you didn't manage to put a bow on them somewhere! Ah well.. I figure we can just head to the nearest convenience store and get a ramen and a can of tuna for today. Worry about starting to cook tomorrow if that is alright with master chef?" Sure the tuna was mostly a bribe to get ramen but it did make sense given most of their basic things had yet to arrive entirely.. or needed unpacking.

Now that everything was clean she moved about with an appraising look and wandered through the rooms. "A whole separate bedroom how extravagant." It certainly wasn't their sprawling house back home near the woods. She did already see some ideas for her sister. Given the state of how they came into the place she felt she could reason with the landlord about installing head level shelf all the way around the main room at least for Hiyori to perch on. "You know I will always argue you didn't have to come with. It isn't you he is mad at afterall." Moving to unlock the trunk and pull out her sheathed katana and held it to herself with fond love at the gift her grandfather had given her. Looking at the low ceiling she hummed in thought. Moving over to lock the door from the inside katana still in hand before moving for the window with the fire escape. "Race you to the roof?" A manic gleam in her eye.

The cat grinned a little pointy grin, and one of the zombies spun to show off the glorious fluffy red bow tying the apron in the back. "This is always at least one~"

She perked up visibly at the mention of tuna, a very see-through bribe, and that settled that. She would get her delicious equivalent of junk food, and her Sister would get actual junk food. Win-win! "I will write up a list once we have some food in our bellies." Cooking pots and pans, utensils, paw-friendly things she could flip and stir with (hard to come by).

She hopped from the counter to dog her sisters heels as she explored the rest of the space. "Clearly he needed something to put all of those ideals of his he wants to impose upon you." She knew enough that it wasn't a space set aside for her. She was probably expected to sleep outside or something.

She sat and looked up at her sibling, yellow eyes lidded and calm. "I know. Was her eventual replay. They had been around this same issue many times in the last few weeks.

"And I will always disagree. I know you are capable of taking care of yourself..." It was both easy and hard to admit that she had come for many reasons. Some pure and some selfish, but all centered around her sister. "... but I would have regretted letting them send you off somewhere along and not having anyone on your side here." That was half the reason her father hated her, after all. She was more than willing to be a loud and very vocal opponent to the way their father treated Himari. Being as she was, it was all she could do to try and take care of her older sister who always had the weight of their world on her shoulders. Hiyori was an outcast after all, and Himari would eventually inherit the responsibilities of the family if she so chose.

"I will always be your shadow."

She watched as her sister moved about, marveled at the affection on Himari's face as she held her blade. A race was offered and Hiyori was quick to agree.

"You're on!" She was sure her sister would win, what with her abilities, but all the fun was in the race- regardless of the outcome. She waited at the window for Himari to open it and then darted out, bounding up the metal stairs as quick as she could.

She grinned then laughed at the fluffy red bow. They both shared a passion for ribbons and bows if the several she had in her own hair was any indication. Profoundly grateful for all the normal things her and her sister could bond over. Managing to keep her eyes from quite glazing over at the mention of more things they would have to get done. "Moving is quickly moving up the list as things I don't like to do. Right up there with school." 

An almost sad sigh slipped from her at mention of her father. She knew she should be angrier at him for what he was doing. Unfortunately she had the compassion to realise her own choices had caused him to lash out at what he felt was unfair choices made by Himari herself and in doing so destroyed his own expectations. Still the mention of him made her give a little indignant hmph! and that was that.

Despite the guilt she felt about Hiyori's decision to join her she was unspeakably grateful she wouldn't be alone. The soft brilliant smile conveying those feelings to her shadow of a sister before it grew to a hearty grin. "Rather have you on my shoulder where I can keep an eye on you and give you scritches." 

The race was just a pretext to have fun mostly. Which she did, but it was also a much needed burst of activity after all the sitting. It also happily got them out of their apartment while it aired out a bit. Her sister was faster out the window and she laughed out a "Really?!" Not that she paused for long!

Instead of using the stairs she launched herself off the railing with a twisting front flip. Her powers snapped into place with its corona of darkness and she ran straight up the air leaving her footprints behind and with another flip landed on the edge of the roof with a impish smile. "Whew I needed that!" Waiting for her sister so she could share her enthusiasm before setting off to explore the roof itself after hopping down the ledge and surveying the land around them. To her mild surprise there was a lawn chair and a umbrella as well as a few other assorted things. "Seems we will be sharing this space as well." She remarked with a little shrug.

"I'm going to miss the woods. All the gray is a bit depressing. Concrete and steel everywhere. I fail to see the appeal of the 'concrete jungle'." With every emphasis that she would have much rather braved a real jungle and fought lions and snakes off then be in New York. "How long before the Demon Queen claims this building as her territory hmm?" She was always amused when her sister thought of herself as a demon, not that the reputation didn't have it uses. It wasn't as if she hadn't had numerous reputations of her own back home.