#reminds me of when I brought up a worry to my boss that an instructor was mistreating the esli students (it was a false alarm)

[praise-the-lord-im-dead]

I have had three encounters with people today trying to point out crimes and evils committed by non-white or non-american people as some kind of gotcha and I just.

Oh my!! My whole worldview, shattered!

You mean lots of people can do evil things?? How fascinating! How new! How unheard of! That completely erases any and all need to try and understand our past, doesn't it. That makes everything that's ever happened okay and not worth examining. Evil is so pervasive that we just don't need to fight it, ever, at all, because if we can't approach a situation by separating people into good and bad categories along lines of ethnicity or nationality, then it's just too complex to think about. It's better to go on without examining our prejudices, because other people are prejudiced too, so prejudice is now a cool and good thing!

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Pacific Rim 3

I outline the plot of Pacific Rim 3 as experienced by me in a waking fever dream before and during today's 4am shift as a way to distract myself from real life stress with imaginary stress, written in breaks during work and in the parking lot before driving home because I'm going back to sleep when I get there and I want to preserve this fever dream first before I lose the details of it,

Ok I've been here for 3 hours and I don't know how to do a read more link on mobile I'm sorry you're getting this as is whether you want it or not I need to sleep goodbye

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen are working on building their own portal to the Precursors to beat them up once and for all

Jake is seen giving an inspiring speech to a new wave of cadets who've been training with the old ones, now fully realized Jaeger pilots. Amara is everyone's favorite instructor.

Jake is very imposing and military and inspiring. Jake is everything the kids need him to be. Jake slips away from the party early and tears off his uniform before disappearing down a side street in his civilian clothes

Nate has the visible emotional human reaction of milk curdling and goes after him

Dr. Gottlieb and Liwen Shao are talking to someone about how they're making progress on the rift but they need help. Someone in particular who knows about alien tech. He's coming in on the next flight, actually. The person they're explaining this to gives a disbelieving "no..."

NEWTON

Wakes up in his house in the middle of fuckass nowhere. Somewhere away from technology he could theoretically use For Evil, or people he could theoretically hurt. This is, however, a self-imposed isolation, as he seems to have been granted his freedom, conditionally.

We see his morning routine, featuring normal stuff like making coffee, panic attack in the shower ft. indistinct memories of the Precursors, taking a massive dose of PPDC-granted experimental medication, starting the car, another indistinct alien trauma flashback, listening to the radio on the way to the airport where people appear to recognize him and he low-key has a panic attack because oh God everyone knows what I did

Jake leaves the bar and runs into Nate, who gives him the old Argh Argh Responsibility And Pride talk and Jake is like yeah man I know shut up

They have a fistfight in the rain and the neon lights in the alley outside the bar

No one properly wins because they've drifted so many times and they can predict each other's attacks but they both land a few and take a few, Jake gets hit a bit more because he's drunk

They both end up just sitting in the rain feeling sorry for themselves

Nate: Jules proposed to her girlfriend.

Jake: I know

Nate: they're getting married.

Jake: yeah that usually happens when someone proposes

So Jules wasn't going to end up with either of them and they're both sad about it. Nate suddenly suggests they go back in the bar. He'll buy Jake a drink to make up for beating him up. Jake is like ok sure but the drink's gonna be soda because I was LEAVING the bar because I was ALREADY drunk

They share a Soda Of Angst at the bar and talk about how they're gonna die alone. Jake says "at least we've got each other" and it's impossible to tell if he's joking. Nate is like "you know what this place isn't that bad we should come back sometime."

Newton reaches the lab. He is terrified of Liwen and awkward around Hermann. He instinctively calls Liwen "boss" and she reminds him matter-of-factly that they're working as equals now, "since you ruined my life's work."

Hermann asks how the medication is working and Newton indicates that it works fine but he still gets anxiety about it not being enough. Hermann promises him it's been proven effective, thus why the PPDC let him out of his crimes against humanity iron cell of shame. It's revealed that what they're giving him is a stronger dose of a medication originally developed for burned-out Jaeger pilots with unmanageable symptoms, and that it blocks out memories related to the drift--and since this is how the Precursors were reaching him, this works to block out their influence. The cost is that Newton doesn't remember much of anything past building his own neural bridge. He knows it happened but the details won't load. He's constantly worrying that it's not enough, that the Precursors will come back, and is taking a dangerously high dose that gives him constant hand tremors and worse insomnia than usual.

The first time he and Hermann are left alone they have an uncomfortable attempt at talking which gradually turns into an argument about nothing in particular. Newt keeps calling him Hermann but it sounds Wrong and Hermann hasn't been allowing people to just use his first name here and he finally snaps at Newton to stop it and he's like "oh my God I can't call you your NAME? what the hell am I supposed to call you??"

Newt says something angsty and Hermann says something like 'yes well the nicest thing that ever happened to me was drifting with a dead and decaying piece of kaiju viscera' and he says it sardonically but he's serious

Newt doesn't remember any context for the time they drifted.

Newt assumes he's being maliciously sarcastic and starts SCREAMING at him

Hermann just looks at him in shock at first then just lets him go for a little while

Eventually shutting his mouth by jabbing him under the chin with his cane and saying, very quietly and coldly, "get out of my lab"

Newton gets out of the lab

Newton runs into Nate and Jake at The Angst Bar and they recognize him but he has no idea who they are but he's willing to just roll with it at this point and asks them if they know Hermann well enough to give him advice

"like that was sarcasm right? I'm pretty sure he was making fun of me but now I'm less sure idk"

Nate's: no he's immune to sarcasm

Jake: yeah it's kinda funny

Nate: *the gaze*

Jake: I mean, nothing wrong with that, but yeah if he was being sarcastic that'd be first time it's happened as far as I can tell

Newt: are. Are you telling me. That someone actually. For some reason. Offered me a sincere compliment. And. I yelled at him

Jake: that's your call, I mean, you know him better than us, right? You guys were friends right?

Newton, who doesn't remember any of these people:

Nate: I mean I wasn't there, only way to tell is to go back and ask him

Newt: aaaaaaa

Newton goes back and Liwen is like "hey I've got no idea what's going on here but can you weirdos just act normal for two seconds so we can get some work done" and Hermann and Newt both just kinda. Laser focus on rift stuff

Remember the guy with the "no why would you involve Newton"reaction? No because he's but important and has no name or real identity? Yeah ok every Pacific Rim movie needs one Designated Douchebag to cause Interpersonal Drama and this guy is it. I'll call him DD for short

DD shows up and is like oh my God you actually turned Newton loose in the lab?? Why would you do this we're all going to die

Everyone just ignores him

Designated Douchebag has the self-importance of a high elf and the confidence of a fucking walnut and doesn't like being ignored

And starts talking directly to Newton, which really freaks Newton out but he continues pretending to ignore him

DD: so you're safe now? Not going to start speaking alien gibberish?

Newton: don't plan on it

Hermann, without turning around: DD you may not like to hear this but it was never your business who we brought in to assist, we don't need your permission, and complaining about Newton now that he's already here is certainly not going to do any good.

DD: alright fine but you'd better keep a close eye on him.

DD: anyways Newton tell your girlfriend I said hi

Newton, blank: who?

DD: you know, Alice?

Newton's face registers several emotions as he grapples with a name from the buried memories-confusion, disgust, terror-mostly shock

There is an abrupt cut

Liwen, thinking her two colleagues were acclimated to each other enough to allow her to leave the room and get tea without disaster, is walking back down the hallway talking with a lab tech when they hear the sound of something breaking

A moment later the doors to the lab are flung open and DD is forcibly ejected, collapsing on the floor in front of them. Dr. Gottlieb exits the lab behind him, holding his cane like a cricket bat. There is a muffled sound of Newton yelling OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING

Liwen backs out of range of cane damage and sips her tea, mildly intrigued. The lab tech starts to run for help and nearly crashes into Nate and Jake, who came running to see what the yelling was about.

Nate: what is--

Dr. Gottlieb, panting with restrained bloodlust: HELLO SIRS GOOD TO SEE YOU I BELIEVE THERE'S BEEN A SECURITY BREACH BECAUSE THIS FELLOW HAS JUST BEEN CASUALLY CHATTING ABOUT RESTRICTED CLASS-J49 INFORMATION PLEASE LOCK HIM UP

DD: it's COMMON KNOWLEDGE and he ATTACKED me

Dr. Gottlieb: YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID SIR!! *He takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes some blood off the handle of his cane*

Nate: WHAT is happening

Newton: *trying to have a quiet hysterical laughter meltdown in the lab before anyone remembers he's there*

Anyways next plot point. An alien shows up

Not a Precursor! A nice alien

Listen if PR:U gets to pull all that bullshit with Mt Fuji I'm allowed to add aliens okay

Hermann should have a nice non-genocidal alien friend I think he deserves it

Anyways the alien is clearly a different species than the Precursors (or Kaiju) and seems friendly but they can't communicate with it, the linguistics team is working on it but it's going to take A Lot of Work

Hermann goes "hm I've got a quicker and more accurate option"and wheels out the drift interface

This alien's mind doesn't link well with human minds but Hermann is a pro and powers through

He gets seasick and throws up and finally comes out shaky with a bloody nose and eye but he's managed to communicate!

The alien is a diplomat from another world the Precursors attempted to colonize, they survived because the Precursors underestimated the humans' resilience and spread themselves too thin, trying to invade earth and the alien homeworld at the same time and then getting distracted dealing with the humans, which left the aliens time to prepare their defense

They're here to help with the war effort, they don't have a lot that's relevant to current human scientific understanding but they can help fill in some of the gaps in the human's knowledge about rifts

They're making progress! Yay!

Things are getting serious, training montage Jake and Nate and the new pilots getting ready to kick ass

Newton finally brings himself to apologize to Hermann and explain he was confused but the net progress here is still zero because then they immediately have ANOTHER argument

Hermann has started writing his notes in the alien's language, he wants to make sure he can remember it well enough to help the linguistics team, and it's also beautifully precise and he just loves it and loves that he's able to write it, come on who wouldn't be proud of being the first contact human

Newton sees a bunch of notes of Alien Gibberish (to him) and gets Bad Vibes

Newton doesn't think they can trust the alien, Hermann does but his proof is mainly "I can tell because I drifted with them" and Newton 1. Doesn't remember what that's like and 2. DOES remember that the last time he thought it was a good idea to drift with an alien he ended up nearly killing literally everyone on earth

They yell at each other some more

At some point Hermann tries to deescalate and asks why they can't be friends again and Newton, still yelling, says "people keep acting like we're friends and I don't remember it! As far as I'm concerned this is all we ever had! I barely remember you at all and what I do remember is that we hated each other!"

Hermann: ....I never hated you. .. alright, colleagues, then? We've got a rift to build

Newton, still hyperventilating slightly: ok ok yeah sure yeah

Interlude: Jules gets married!

She asks Hermann to walk her down the aisle (where she meets her wife, who walked down the opposite aisle to meet in the middle)

Newton, protesting "I don't know I don't feel like I should be here," is physically dragged into the venue by Liwen, who is telling him that this is a diplomatic event it's his duty to be at.

She drags him over to Hermann and settles between them, soaking in the chaotic gay science panic vibes

She seems to be enjoying herself

Jules sees Hermann in the audience and an evil gleam comes into her eye

She has a strong arm

She hurls her bouquet directly at his face

Hermann ducks, panic granting him lightning quick reflexes

The bouquet, travelling at about Mach 5, zooms past him and hits Jake Pentecost squarely in the nose

He inhales several petals of baby's breath and gets slapped in the eyelid by a vine and goes into a dramatic coughing fit. Nate pounds him on the back.

Alien, speaking through a translating device they've got set up (it isn't perfect but it works on a basic level mostly): is it bad luck to touch the flowers?

Hermann, still slightly panicked from the near miss: no it's ahh, there's this silly tradition that whoever catches the bouquet is likely to get married next, and ah, as you see there, sometimes a bride with a sense of humor will, err, intentionally aim it at someone who, uh, didn't necessarily want it?

Alien: I think I understand. My sibling often tells me to go the southern hills of ^°^=^^°^°^^°°= to find a mate, though I have told them many times that I have no such desire.

Nate and Jake are like "ok neither of us have a date I guess we're drinking our sorrows away together at the reception" and do that

And maybe make out a little bit

Neither of them is ready to deal with Feelings so they both just blame it on the alcohol and try not to think about it too hard

Newton, venting @ someone, explains that there's an empty space in his memory where he knows that that something about Hermann is supposed to go and it doesn't feel like the other, worse memories he's blocked out, it feels like he lost something precious, but he has no idea what that is

Hermann tells Newton he's been working on a device that might block out the Precursors' influence without affecting his memory, so he can use all of his knowledge. And so he isn't constantly so confused about who he does and doesn't know but he doesn't say that part

It connects to his skin a bit like a drift interface

Newton is terrified but enthusiastic about maybe being Less Confused All the Time

The fact that he is guarded by a full security detail to make sure he doesn't Become Evil Again the whole time he's going off his meds really doesn't help the stress much

Memories start coming back but they're confused and jumbled and at first he's not much better off

The Precursor nightmares are about what he expected but he keeps hearing Hermann's voice in there too and he's not sure why and he can't remember when he heard it like that

Meanwhile Hermann keeps needing to drift with the alien to clarify important details about the rift that they don't know how to translate into human terms, but it fucks him up a little bit more each time he does it until the last time he passes out for like at hour and wakes up disoriented with a nosebleed that just won't stop and Jake orders him to stop drifting

He's ok with that because they've got the information they needed anyway!

IT'S TIME, THEY'RE SENDING THE JAEGERS INTO THE RIFT

Newton, despite his misgivings, reluctantly joins Liwen, dr. Gottlieb and the alien in command to supervise the mission, still wearing the device and getting random bursts of confused memory

Jake and Nate are piloting the Lady Avenger (did u know gypsy is a slur and they prefer to be called Romani) and go though first and start punching Precursors and their bodyguard Kaiju

Newton goes very still and just stares at Hermann for like a solid minute while he's trying to work, his expression shifting to something new

Hermann, softly: what?

Newton, smiling: I remember you.

Hermann, furiously trying to interpret alien data: is this really the best time??

It's a close fight across the rift, the Precursors are on their home turf and the Jaegers are not, fighting in a bizarre low-gravity environment that doesn't really have floors

Their base is set up differently than expected and Hermann decides he needs to check something with the alien. By drifting with them. He's still bleeding uncontrollably after the last stunt that got him banned but he's determined to do it because It's Necessary

Newton takes the headset from him and puts it on instead

It feels Bad

But then he sees another planet, beautiful, so different from his own yet so similar. He sees aliens attacked by monsters from the deep, responding more or less how the humans had, moving inland, building useless walls, building their own monsters for defense. He sees the alien diplomat losing friends and family.

He sees the journey to earth, and drifting with Hermann. He sees the alien's memories of Hermann, and Hermann's memories in the drift. He sees how Hermann remembers him. What he forgot. What the Precursors had blinded him to.

He doesn't have time to think about it because he's feverishly trying to translate the knowledge he's receiving into data that works with their human technology so they can help the Jaegers and there's blood dripping from his face onto the controls but it's there, in the back of his mind, he knows now. Hermann missed him.

The Lady Avenger is hit and Jake is knocked unconscious. They begin to drift downwards as Nate, unable to move the Jaeger alone, yells at Jake with no response

Newton disconnects from the drift, nearly blacks out, and has to sit down for a minute. When he comes back around he sees the Jaegers are in trouble--none completely disabled yet, but they need more help

Newton has an idea

Newton: ok I'm gonna do something stupid. *To his security detail* listen I need you to aim your guns at me and shoot if you think I'm out of control

Liwen, with zero hesitation, reacting quicker than anyone else in the room, pulls out a gun and sticks it right in his face

Newton: see, yeah, that's what I was saying, like that. Thanks boss, glad someone here's got guts.

Liwen: not your boss

Newton: I kinda like saying it tho

Liwen: hm. I'll allow it.

Newton: ok. Hermann--uh

Hermann, hearing his name said right this time: it's ok

Newton: :) ok cool I'm going to deactivate the blocking device I need you to turn it back on as soon as I squeeze your hand, can you do that

Hermann: absolutely.

The Precursors are a hive mind. In battle, when pressed, they can force their thoughts outwards, confusing and scrambling the communications of other species while keeping in contact with each other. This is going well and normal until there's an unexpected distortion which resolves into Newton's voice

Yelling WHAT'S UP MOTHERFUCKERS I'M BACK

(epic Tom Morello riff)

Newton can't keep the connection open for more than a few seconds before they start to overwhelm him, Hermann pulls him back. It was enough to confuse the Precursors and give the jaegers an advantage.

During the delay, Jake wakes up. He's disoriented and in pain and so is Nate, still linked to him, but they can move again. They one-hit-k/o the Precursor that was creeping up on them, turn around, and realize they've drifted almost right into the reactor they've been looking for

So they blow it up

Hermann is still holding Newton's hand as everyone else celebrates. He looks at Newton for confirmation, who nods in relief.

"they're gone. Well, those ones are, anyway."

Humans start opening rifts across the galaxy to kick Precursor ass across multiple star systems

(epic Tom Morello riff intensifies)

Humans team up with multiple alien races previously menaced by the Precursors to take out their common enemy. Jaeger tech is combined with alien science, humans and aliens drifting

They figure out how to use a recording of Newton's Precursor-influenced brainwaves as a weapon to confuse them

So basically Newton makes a recording of himself screaming at the Precursors that's weaponized by teams across the galaxy and it's incredibly cathartic

Jake, in a hospital, is woken up by an infuriating snoring noise. Nate is sleeping in a chair by his bed. He's both annoyed and touched. Mostly the latter.

Hermann writes a book in what is now his third language, the alien script precise and beautiful

We see Newton and Hermann getting dressed together for an Important Event, they're both complaining about having to go but seem not to mind too much. Newton ties his tie too loose, like in the good old days. Hermann fixes it for him.

No one died

The free peoples of the galaxy took down the Precursors with no casualties and the power of screaming

[kitanoko]

tdmm mafia AU

Note: hello everyone!! im back with more tdmm ...written fast and for the hell of it I thought wow since i’m playing a mafia game...im getting tdmm vibes...so here it is. I dunno if there’ll be a part 2, probably? Enjoy!

Momo is a preschool teacher that had just started working at the school in her neighbourhood. Her longtime friend and roommate, Jirou, works in the same school as a music instructor. To Momo’s dismay, Jirou had tried many times before to match Momo up with someone. “You’re beautiful and smart…I really don’t see why anyone would reject you!” Jirou had always said. Momo laughed every time and told her friend how she wasn’t looking to date.

“Now you and that guy…Kaminari –“

Jirou cuts her off immediately and the round of teasing stops with Jirou blushing from ear to ear.

Truth be told, Momo hasn’t met anyone with whom she felt particularly attracted to just yet. It’s also a known fact that after 8 p.m. no one would dare go out, in case they got caught in the crossfire between the different families of the mafia that ruled the city. Every single night she’d hear bangs and booms outside her window. Curiosity got the better of her and she’d peek through the curtains to see blood splatters and sometimes even bodies being dragged towards the alley. Momo shuddered, flashbacks of her parents being captured, never to be found, once again flooding through her memory. She still hasn’t discovered their whereabouts but surely she will, even if it cost her her life.

Aizawa is a close family friend of Momo’s, once a disciple of her father’s and now a great private eye. He occasionally contacts Momo and makes sure she knows some of the discoveries that he encovered about Momo’s parents. One day, he tells her that he’s been getting some leads but was unwilling to share more than that.

“It’s to protect you,” Aizawa would say every time. Momo was frustrated and decided to follow him that very night. It wasn’t easy that’s for sure, with Aizawa being such an experienced investigator.

After twisting and turning and driving through back alleys, she ends up at the pier in front of what looked like a drug trade!

Momo is standing quite close to the dock, and she was freezing. Should’ve brought a scarf or something, she thinks. She watches closely….Aizawa was across, glaring at someone who she recognized straight away. It was the leader of the Shigaraki family…Shigaraki Tomura.

But wait a minute. Momo looks to the left and sees 3 younger men, around her age, standing there in expensive tailored suits. The green haired one whispered something to the peculiar white and red haired man. They were the other party involved in this trade? They look way too young to be mafia!

In the corner of her eye, someone else caught her attention. A familiar face hovered somewhere on one of the boats and she gasped. Was that…her father? Her eyes teared up. No way. This must be a joke or something. She could see Aizawa having the same reaction and it was then she knew it was real. Her father looked solemn, aged so much that she hardly recognize the gentle eyes he once had. Was he working for Shigaraki now? What was going on? The fear crept up her spine and she held onto a nearby crate to steady herself, except of course the worst situation happens…the crate tips over and crashes 3 ft below where she was.

“WHO’S THERE?” Momo sees Shigaraki usher his men over as the noise startles the crew. All of them were holding guns and running. They had seen her!

Oh no. This was NOT good. Momo rushes down the platform. Even if she could stay alive after this ordeal, Aizawa would murder her!

Momo bit her lip, trembling as she ran across to where she had parked her car, bullets were wheezing past her now. Good thing their aim is worse than stormtroopers, which is saying something.

Her legs weren’t moving fast enough and her ears were ringing from anxiety. Before she could reach the pavement, a car zooms past her. The window is down and the same green-haired man that she saw earlier commands her to go in the car.

“BUT..BUT…I don’t ---“ She doesn’t finish. A bullet scrapes past her cheek and bounces off the car door.

A blond man wheels down the passenger window. “HURRY THE EFF UP WOMAN. YOU GOT A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHIN’?” Momo had no choice, she wasn’t about to get gunned down before she could meet her father again. Mustering all her courage, she hops into the car. These 3 strangers could kidnap her or worse but she tries not to think too much.

She hears herself sigh in relief when the car speeds out across the bridge. A full five minutes pass without anyone saying a word, she knew the three younger men had saved her from certain death but somehow she didn’t know if she should be thankful. They ARE mafia after all…who knows how many people they had murdered?! Are they going to hurt me, she thought, and she finally looks up.

The first thing that greets her were heterochromatic eyes, very steel cold, as if she was staring into a mirror.

“You okay?” The man asks, “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you. But you better stay with us for awhile.”

Momo scrunches her brow in confusion. “Stay with you?” She repeats.

The blond one scoffs. “Do ya hafta ask, Todoroki? Just drop her off somewhere and let her find her way home.”

So, he was the infamous Todoroki?!

The girl immediately eyes the man in front of her. He was so close she could smell his perfectly gelled hair.

“You’re the boss of one of the biggest mafia families here,” Momo says, “I…I…”

She couldn’t finish. Her mouth was dry and staring at his face….okay he was handsome, she had to admit. Momo was slapping herself inside. He could’ve killed thousands of people in the past year and she wouldn’t know! She had morals. Right?

“You mean, THE biggest mafia families around? Yes.” The green-haired one answers while driving, “I’m Midoriya by the way, nice to meet you. The yapping one is Kacchan.”

What a cute nickname, Momo notes.

“He means Bakugou, the murdering KING of EXPLOSIONS,” The blond refutes and made idiotic hand gestures as if things were being blown up.

Momo couldn’t read the atmostphere at all. It was almost like they weren’t part of the mafia.

Todoroki finally clears his throat and speaks. “You should take my offer. If you want to live, the only way for you to stay safe is within our estate. Shigaraki saw your face. He’ll have men hunting you down in every part of town. He has people in the government, the police force….you name it.”

Momo thinks for a bit. Jirou would be worried if she doesn’t come home…and living with these strangers, how would she ever feel ‘safe’?

“We’re here,” Midoriya says. Momo looks around and sees their estate, bodyguards lining the yard, fences all around. Reminded her of her childhood.

Midoriya opens Momo’s door and she follows the men inside.

The house is decorated with modern art, very contemporary which was something Momo had not expect. Todoroki leads them to one of the rooms and offers Momo some tea.

“Thanks,” Momo takes the cup and says but all should do was shakily place it down on the endtable beside her. She wasn’t feeling like drinking anything. Who knows if it was poisoned.

Todoroki reads her mind and pours some for himself. He takes a sip.

“It’s not laced with anything, miss.”

“It’s Momo.”

“Ah…Momo,” Todoroki sits down beside her while Katsuki snickers, “Can you tell us why you were at the port.”

Momo hesitates and bites her lower lip. She felt herself tremble again.

“I was there because…I was looking for someone. For something. I wasn’t sure what, but trust me. If you’d let me go, I won’t say a word about tonight. Nothing at all!”

Todoroki puts a hand on her shoulder and she backs away. She wasn’t going to let anyone touch her.

“Sorry,” The white and red haired man notices her anomosity, “We can’t let you go. You know too much and now that Shigaraki’s seen you, he’ll have you dead in a matter of minutes. Let us at least help you. What were you looking for?”

Momo breathes hard. No, this was not happening, she had to get home!

“My friend…Jirou, please at least, let me call her?”

Todoroki eyes Midoriya and the green haired man nodded.

“I’ll make you a deal, Momo. You can call her tomorrow, but for now, let Midoriya show you to your room and you can rest up.”

~~

Midoriya takes her to a suite, and as if reading her mind, he takes her phone and leaves her with some toiletries and water.

“Let me know if you need anything else,” he had said before closing the door. Momo sits silently and curls up in the unfamiliar bed. Hoping this was all a bad dream.

~~

The next day proves to her that the dream continues. She had phoned Jirou right away when Todoroki hands her back her phone after breakfast with the 3 of them. She barely had appetite but watching Bakugou and Midoriya’s bicker was entertaining and she had learnt that they were both childhood friends of Todoroki’s who ended up being taken in by Todoroki’s dad due to their parents passing away when they were young. After Todoroki took his father’s spot and lead the group, Bakugou and Midoriya became his right-hand men and advised him whenever he needed. It was almost endearing, Momo had thought, their friendship.

Was she crazy? Clearly she was supposed to be sickened by them. They were criminals for Pete’s sake!

Fast forward. Right now she stands shaking, hugging Jirou in the middle of their apartment. Jirou’s cry becomes a whimper as the bloody dead body lays flat beside their couch. Todoroki had shot that man dead when Momo found out her friend had been held hostage in their apartment when Shigaraki’s man, and not Jirou, had answered the phone. Stumbling inside just 5 minutes earlier, Momo saw Jirou tied up to a chair with eyes widening in alarm. Momo called out to her friend and Shigaraki’s man attacks her before Todoroki came and stood in front of Momo just the right second. Next thing she knew, he had shot him dead.

“Everything’s okay now Jirou, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault!” Momo says and she could see her friend’s confusion through her wet eyes.

“They’re mafia, I have to stay with them to keep us both safe,” Momo notes and pats Jirou on the head.

“How would they keep you safe Momo?!”

Todoroki sighs. “With this man dead, it acts as a warning to Shigaraki. Don’t worry, I’ll have bodyguards watch over this place.” He makes a signal to Midoriya and Bakugou and the two rolls the man in a carpet and drags him out. “They’ll take care of the body. I’ll get you a new carpet if you’d like.”

Jirou could only slump against Momo while the latter attempts to explain what she could to her.

She wasn’t even sure if Jirou was paying attention.

“Relay the message to Aizawa please. Let me him I’m safe and I’ll call him when the time is right.”

~~

The next few weeks go by with new events, one more absurd than the other. For one thing, Todoroki proposed a plan with her so she could still go out in public (with guards of course) but with additional safety measures.

“You’re now my fiancee.”

Momo blinks.

“What?”

Todoroki sighs and repeats again. Bakugou was curling up laughing at her reaction.

“Oh I FEEL BAD FOR YA. HAVE TO BE ‘IN LOVE’ WITH THIS FCKING LOSER.” Bakugou keeps laughing and Momo keeps silent.

“Being my fiancee gets you immunity. It’s a rule. Mafias don’t mess with each other’s family members. It’s unspoken but stands true.”

Momo could only nod.

And so the next several nights, she goes out with Todoroki on dates and parties. Galas become a pasttime and in some ways, she starts feeling….something for him.

No, nononono, Momo you cannot fall in love with him. No matter how nice he is to you. No matter how …charming he is!

Sometimes they’d even do the fake ‘kiss on the lips’ for people to see and oh God, Momo’s mind swirls every time. There’s girls she could see eyeing her like she was a target. There’s no doubt, they want to be the one in her ‘pretend’ shoes.

One night at a dinner party, Momo sees Todoroki standing really close with a woman about their age. She was gorgeous, blonde, tall, overall very model-esque. She feels her face heat up and locks eyes with him as their dialogue continues. Momo gasps and quickly runs back to her seat at dinner.

When Todoroki comes back, she feels herself distancing away.

This is all for show, Momo. He doesn’t actually love you and you’re not his actual fiancee!

He watches her eat and tries to make conversation and she shys away.

“Is something wrong?”

Momo ignores him.

Todoroki scrunches his brow and grabs her hand as she stands up.

“I need to use the powder room if that’s okay.”

“Momo, you can tell me if I made you upset in anyway.”

The girl still doesn’t look at him. “Why don’t you find company with the pretty lady over there. She seems overly pleased to have you around.”

Todoroki gives her hand a squeeze. “You’re jealous? Of her?”

“Of course not! That’d be…that’d be silly!”

He stands up and wraps an arm around her. Todoroki’s eyes were so captivating that in so many ways, Momo couldn’t help but to listen to what he had to say.

He leans in to whisper. “There are a lot of people here. Lets talk out in the garden.”

~~

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 6 (HLITF)

if anyone possibly wants to get on a tag list I’d be happy to make one

👉 @theshove 👈

If you wanna catch up, Part 5 is right here! Happy reading :)

Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn’t want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests.

Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer?

Warnings: Language, Reference to sexual activity, Forceful nature, description of traumatic child abuse.

~~~~~~

It had been a few days since Kaga went to negotiate with the mafia by himself. Ayumu seemed to have forgotten all about whatever he was trying to accuse me of, which only made being around him more nerve-wracking. I wondered if he was trying to gather evidence against me, but why would he waste his time doing that when we had a mission to prepare for? Well, knowing him, he could probably do both at the same time. Not that I would ever show the fact I was impressed by his skills- his head would grow two hat sizes bigger- but he was an efficient detective.

The mission in question was my undercover assignment with Instructor Kaga. As his girlfriend. In the moment, I was sat in the Monitor Room, partaking in an investigation briefing, surrounded by all of the special instructors. 

"Kaga and Atsuko will go undercover as a couple to tail Takeda." Soma reminded us all, showing a picture of the subject of the mission. 

"I've hacked into Takeda's cell phone GPS so I'll be able to find him," Shinonome announced. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I didn't have a smart phone with connection to external sources except for cell service. It was easy enough to hack into, especially for a man like my father who has endless amounts of money for tech-wizards to find me.

"The target is currently south of Main Street. According to Ishigami's information, it's likely he's heading to a luxury sweets bar." 

‘What the hell is a politician doing at a sweets bar?’ I quizzed myself, forgetting all about the fact he was a suspected criminal.

"It's a couple’s place. You two won't stand out at all. This is Takeda's favourite retreat." Maybe mistaking my confusion for worry, Ishigami ensured it was a place where we wouldn't seem suspicious. 

"In other words, it's likely a place where he holds secret meetings." Shinonome brought up the answer to my thoughts and I nodded in response.

"I've got the gist of it. Let's go, Atsuko." Immediately after saying my name, my instructor had his arm wrapped firmly around my shoulders. He laughed at me as he usually did, but he wasn’t normally this close. I could smell the cigarette smoke in his breath, mixed in with the fresh scent of mint. 

‘Ri-Right, we're a couple from now on.’ I sighed to myself. ‘Well, at least he won't bully me for a bit.’ Trying to lift my nervous spirits, I reminded myself why I was here in the first place.

"Motomori, good luck." Ayumu, who hadn't really spoken to me since our confrontation in the Staff Room, spoke up. My gaze darted to his, but he seemed unaware of any unease he had caused me.

"I wish you the best of luck." Soma chimed in to break our eye contact. 

"Kaga, I've said this countless times, but acting on your own accord is-." Ishigami could hardly get in a sentence before Kaga brushed him off. 

"I'm well aware. You don't have to tell me." Sounding like a bored kid, the Captain walked out of the room, taking me with him by his grip still around my shoulders.

~~~~~~

The sweet bar we arrived at was chic and the lighting was dim. There were fish tanks in the walls and champagne on almost every table. I couldn't help but grimace at all the fancy people sitting around us. This was the type of place my father liked to take us if he ever let us out. Usually we were an excuse to get cops off his tail or stop any suspicions.

"This is the place Takeda holds his secret meetings?" I spoke in a low voice, not wanting to draw attention from anyone eavesdropping. 

"Don't use that name anymore." All Kaga could do was criticise me for my loose tongue.

He and I were standing in the entrance, waiting to be seated. I forced myself to look around the shop, not wanting to seem restless in the stuffy atmosphere. Doing so, I noticed a man whose photo I had been studying. It was Takeda, sitting on a table in a far corner of the room. 

"Kaga, over there." Trying to seem more friendly and regard him more casually, as I was told in the briefing, I tried to get my instructor's attention.

"No. Do as you were told in the briefing." Not accepting that as personal enough, he whispered in my ear as we were directed to a table in the back. I grumbled a little, but gave it a go anyway. 

"Hyogo. That better?" Although it took a second, I was able to force the name out of my mouth.

"It could be better." He smirked as we passed behind Takeda. As we did, I noticed a blind spot in the corner of my eye, which I was sure my partner had also noticed.

When we were seated, Kaga removed the hand he had around my waist. "Okay, call the shop and ask for Takeda. Act like you're a reporter." He reminded me of the plan. I was meant to lead the politican away so that the Captain could plant a listening device.

"Sure thing." I whipped out my phone and called the sweet bar. Eventually, Takeda made his way to the phone at the counter.

"Hello, this is Takeda." The politician announced and Kaga got up to approach his table. Goto's team was busy distracting the staff from going over to Takeda's table so that Kaga wasn't spotted. 

"Hello, sir, sorry for the sudden call. I'm a reporter with Toho News." I watched as all of the members in the team in the bar worked seamlessly. Kaga was quick to plant the device and gave me a nod when he returned. "Well, there has been a rumour about you’re having an affair with a certain actress." Keeping my voice upbeat, the suspect quickly hung up after having a go at me for wasting his time.

"That was more nerve-wracking than I thought." I breathed a sigh of relief as I put my phone back in my bag, glad I hadn't made a mistake like accidentally blabbering our entire plan to the man we were tracking. 

"You did good." The blunt compliment was a little surprising, seeing as it seemed like the instructor could only ever see my faults. A small smile graced my lips as I saw Takeda take his seat.

Pushing an earphone in his ear, Kaga looked at me to hide the fact he is listening in on the suspect. As I decided not to distract him, Kaga started talking about the menu. I was sure it was to make us look less inconspicuous, so I quickly played along. 

"Well, they're sweets, so I'm sure I'd like just about anything." I smiled up at him as he was sitting next to me with the menu in one hand. We were sitting in a booth, allowing us the view of the whole room. Despite all the space, we were pushed up against each other, Kaga's hand on my hip. Even though I had never been on a date before, I was surprisingly comfortable in this situation. Maybe it was the excitement of the mission, but I was actually enjoying myself.

After we've ordered, Kaga stroked my cheek softly while we waiting. "You have a weird smile." He commented and it instantly flattened. I had heard from Naruko that my smile when I was hungry to work is a little... off-putting. She said I looked like a villain from a kid’s movie, which doesn't really instil me with confidence. 

"Well, I was excited." I pouted, crossing my arms on the table. Looking around at all the other couples, I noticed how close they were as well. I was trying to act like a girlfriend, but I had never done it before. I became a little disheartened.

That was until Kaga grabbed my chin, gently guiding me to look at him again. "Oh yeah, what're you excited about?" The evil grin on his face made it clear he was teasing me. 

"This is my first investigation," I stated bluntly, trying not to blush as our faces were so close. I couldn't pull my gaze away from him.

Suddenly, our waiter returned with our food and I diverted my eyes from my instructor. Kaga stabbed his cake with a fork and turned towards me. 

"Open up." He whispered in my ear, bringing the piece covered with cream to my mouth. I worried he might carelessly shove it down my throat in an effort to punish me in someway or another, so I wasn't all that happy to follow his order.

"Hold on, promise you won't choke me." I was hesitant at first, but the look on his face forced me to open my mouth. He gently fed me the cake and it was actually quite nice.

As I'm fascinated by the flavour, Kaga got my attention with a simple "Hey". When I looked up from the food in front of us, my instructor's face was right in front of mine. The closeness brought me back to everything Naruko had said about him, and I couldn’t help but blush. 

‘He's more handsome up close.’ I couldn't help the thought from crossing my mind as he started drawing closer. Before I know it, he has gently pressed his lips on mine. I hadn't even thought that was a possibility in the situation.

‘Th-That was my first kiss.’ I was wide-eyed as he drew back, swiping his finger along my lip and licking the cream that came off it. ‘I don't think I'm breathing.’ I reminded myself to do as such as I stared at him. 

"That's fairly good. The sweetness is perfect." He smirked down at me. 

"Y-You j-just..." Stumbling over my words, I couldn't stop looking at him. 

"If you're not going to eat it, then give it to me." Kaga gradually ate his way through all of the sweets in front of us. I was too shocked to protest to my half being eaten.

Forcing myself to think about something else, I remembered the night I brought him his midnight snack. ‘He must have a sweet tooth.’ I thought back to the two pots of mousse he wolfed down that night.

Suddenly, he put his fork down and his finger on his ear where he had the earpiece. "The woman." Directing my attention back to the table, I glanced over and was in shock of who it is.

Juna.

My sister's birth name echoed in my brain as I felt an arm gently wrap around my waist and pull me towards the man I was sitting with. My mouth went dry and my eyes felt a little dewy. Even though she had a lot of makeup on, I could tell it was my twin sister. It was that distinctive dark green hair she had pinned back. She hadn't noticed me yet as she sat at the politician's table.

‘Dad must be working with him.’ I regained my composure as I remembered why I was here. 

"Don't look." One hand on my waist, Kaga grabbed my hand with his other. "Your voice will be easily picked up. Don't get flustered." Maybe realising how shocked I was when I saw the woman dressed in fine clothing entering the shop, Kaga tried to silence me so that I wouldn't talk over the two. His lips were so close to my ear, I could feel them brushing against my lobe as he whispers. I nodded several times, but he didn't let go of my hand.

‘I need to go to the bathroom. What if she sees me and says something without realising?’ I began to panic as all the worst-case scenarios flood into my brain. 

"She looks like a normal woman, but she's an intermediary," Kaga informed me, thinking I have no idea what was going on. 

‘I know full well what he's using her for.’ I spat internally, trying to ease my hand out of his. "I'm going to the bathroom." I jumped up quick enough so that he had no time to decline me. On my way, my sister's gaze fell to my silhouette disappearing through the door.

In the empty restroom, I clutched the sink basin to try and calm my breathing. ‘Okay. Game plan. So, if she's seen me, she'll probably follow me in. I can explain to her then, but we can't spend too much time in here together or Kaga will get suspicious.’

Suddenly, the door openen and I spun around to see who it was. 

"Katsumi." My sister gasped my birth name, running over and throwing her arms around my neck. I was frozen stiff, not knowing what to do. 

"Juna, I heard that you quit and then this guy called me from a payphone. What happened to you?" My worry overflowed as I pulled back and held her hands to make sure she was tangible. 

"He found me at a concert a few months ago. Then, a couple weeks ago, he pulled me off the street. I was so scared." She was teary-eyed by now, but I held her cheeks to try and catch her tears. 

"It's okay. I can help you. I'll help you get out." I commanded as her gaze fell to the floor. She looked so lost, so scared and broken, it seemed like the only expression I ever saw on her face in person. Those emotions and feelings were the only constants in our lives, the familiarity of them all too nostalgic. Although, not the good kind. 

"But how, Katsu? It's not like he's eased security." Juna was a mess as she explained how little time she got alone.

"Look, I got into an academy to become a detective. I won't tell you everything because it'll just put you in danger, but I'm on a mission right now." I explained. 

"For Takeda." She nodded in understanding. 

"Right. If this ties to dad, I can find a way to get you out of there. Meet me as this address this weekend. It's a safe place, I promise." I wrote an address down for a cafe I knew was outside of our father's territory. "We can talk more there. But, I need to go now or I'll look suspicious." I hugged her one more time as she stared down at the napkin I had pulled from our table.

"Katsumi," Juna called out as I reached for the door handle. I turned back to see her smiling. "I missed you." The words made me feel like my heart was breaking into even smaller pieces than they already were to let her go back to that man. With a heavy sigh, I smiled back. 

"I missed you too."

~~~~~~

Once I returned to our table, Kaga didn't seem very happy. I explained that, even though she had followed in after me, the woman sitting with Takeda didn't talk to me. It didn't take long for Juna to clean herself up and return to the table. 

"What are they saying?" Hoping to ease the anger from my instructor, I spoke in a low tone. 

"They seem to be setting up a private meeting involving the Prime Minister. But does he really have anything to do with this?" Kaga's expression became severe as it seemed like we're uncovering a government conspiracy.

"What do you think they're planning on doing?" I was quiet, not trying to impede on the investigation. 

"There's been some reports of strange monetary movements recently. That could be in exchange for national secrets." He whispered in my ear and my heart raced. 

‘Dad getting involved in government secrets? Oh my god, what is he planning?’ I bit my lip, my eyes darting around, trying to figure out what my sister was talking about. 

"It has to be someone else, not the Prime Minister. There must be some scheme." Not believing the prime minister could be corrupt, Kaga went on to explain that they're talking in code to set up a meeting. I had been out of the ‘family business’ for so long, I didn't think there was any way I could help to decode what they said. That would be awfully suspicious as well, especially since our conversation will be sent to Shinonome for decoding.

Suddenly, Kaga stopped talking and I peered up at him for answers. "Seems like they're bumping the meeting up to tonight." He announced quietly and I got the gist of what he was suggesting. "We're going to tail Takeda and track down the others." As Kaga explained that, Takeda and Juna stod up, splitting up. My instructor callsd Shinonome so we could continue to track the politician's GPS and follow him.

"Let's go." Sliding the phone back into his pocket, I stood up and Kaga slipped an arm around my waist once more. 

‘He seems too used to this.’ I gazed up at his profile as the growing awareness of my racing heart pounded in my ears. On our way out, I saw Juna getting into a car on the sidewalk just outside the shop. I couldn't help but let my eyes wander to her and our gazes click together. Her expression was somewhat sad and I could see the panic in her eyes as the man driving yelled at her to get back in the car. She looked from him and then back to me, and I worried Kaga would notice the way she stared at me. That knowing gaze boring into me. I mouth to her that she would be safe before she was pushed into the car without anyone noticing me.

~~~~~~

After following the directions Ayumu gave us, we finally saw Takeda, who I now noticed had two men by his side. 

‘They could be dad's people.’ I thought, staring intensely at the back of their heads. This looked a little suspicious due to their muscles and tightly shaved heads. Having seen my sister was okay, I had a new spark in my heart to do well in the investigation.

Suddenly, maybe feeling eyes on his back, Takeda seemed a little hyperaware. Scared he was going to turn around, I pulled on Kaga's blazer and pushed myself up against a glass building. 

"What're you-?" Maybe taken aback by my sudden forwardness, my instructor glared down at me. 

"He's looking right at us." With my face hidden from them all, I frowned up at him, speaking in a whisper.

With this new piece of information, Kaga trapped me in his strong arms. "H-Hey now." I began to panic, not realising this was the situation I was getting myself into. 

"Relax, you're so stiff." He grunted as my face was buried in his chest. "If you give us up now, this was all meaningless." With those words echoing in my skull, I swallowed my pride and stared up at him. His expression was stern, having his back to the men so they couldn't see. Then, he ran a hand through my hair. My breathing hitched as his lips touch my temple. I gulped to try and calm myself down as his hand trailed from my cheek to my neck and then to my chest, reaching for the buttons on my blouse.

‘Is that bit necessary?’ By now, my cheeks had flared up beyond belief.

"Don't take your eyes off Takeda." With his head nestled in my hair, I was able to take peeks at Takeda, who had now started walking about.

"He's gone." My voice was shaky as Takeda disappeared into an alleyway. Kaga broke away from me and I breathed a sigh of relief. 

"That was quick thinking." He grumbled as we started walking again. Through all of it, I remembered I had initiated it. All I could do is make quiet noises in response. 

‘You have to get used to this, Atsuko. This is what undercover is like.’ I told myself off for getting so excited as we slowly trailed the steps of the politician.

As we were about to turn the corner, Kaga stopped. I looked up at him in confusion as I noticed the crease in his brows. "I've got a bad feeling. We're going another way." He turned suddenly and, holding my hand, he pulled me along with him. As I stumbled over my heels that I wasn’t used to wearing, I kicked a bottle and the clashing sound vibrated in the silent street. "What're you doing, moron?" Kaga glared back at me as I regained my balance. 

"Well, you just pull-."

Before I could finish complaining, someone jumped out of the shadows, brandishing a knife in one hand. 

"Die, Kaga!" The man yelled out, lifting the knife above his head. 

"Instructor!" I pointed the man out as I jumped in front of Kaga, punching the man just under his ribcage and grabbing his wrist. Shaking the knife out of his hand, the man fell to the floor. Kaga quickly kicked the knife away, asking the man who he was sent by.

With my heart racing from the adrenaline rush, the man tried, and was successful in making a break for it. He disappeared around the same corner as Takeda. I had loosened my grip so Kaga could interrogate him to heart's content, but didn't think about how that would turn out.

"Missed him," Kaga grumbled, watching the man flee. 

‘I should call Shinonome and get him to track Takeda.’ Finding the need to fix what I messed up, I pulled my phone out of my bag.

"What're you doing?" Kaga turned back around to see me typing out the number. I was about to explain, but the instructor cut me off. "Too late. He's probably already noticed we're tailing him." Kaga sighed and my heart dropped. Disappointed in my clumsiness, I apologised. 

"I don't need apologies." Kaga was scowling at me, probably calling me a useless moron. 

"I lost sight of Takeda and ruined all our work." My annoyance was most likely displayed on my face. I bowed my head despite myself, but Kaga only stared at me. Noticing the time, I saw that it was long past the last train. 

‘Am I really that useless?’ I sighed to myself, spacing out at how much I screwed up. How the hell was I supposed to save my sister when I couldn't even stay silent enough to follow someone?

"Your leg." He suddenly announced and my gaze jumped to him. I saw him looking at my leg, so I follow his gaze to see a slice of red on pale skin. 

‘Oh... The blade must have hit me when it fell.’ Blood trickled from my shin. "It's fine, I can walk." I sighed, more annoyed than in pain. 

"I can't leave you here." Seemingly ignoring me, Kaga offered me support to walk. I gave in, not wanting to reject my instructor.

"Are we going to the dorms?" I asked, a little embarrassed. It felt like I was making one mistake after another. 

"My apartment's closer from here." His exasperated expression was so close to my face as I hobbled beside him. 

"Your apartment?" I yelled out in shock, worried about being alone with him in his personal space. 

"Don't shout in my ear." He complained and I quickly shut up.

~~~~~~

Kaga's apartment was much more upscale than I expected it to be. ‘How much does a Public Safety Detective make, anyway?’ I awed at all the expensive furniture and worried about bleeding over his floors. My instructor told me to sit on his leather sofa and I try to angle my leg where I wouldn't damage it. He pulled a first aid kit out of somewhere and kneeled in front of me to lift my long skirt. 

"I-I can clean it myself, thanks." I panicked as he cradled my ankle in his hands, moving it around to see if I had caused any further damage. 

"Quiet..." He grunted and I shut up, scared to anger him so much he kicked me out without warning.

As he fixes up my leg, a sharp pain shooting up my leg from the antiseptic, I couldn't help but think about my sister. She has to be okay. She's useful to him. I bit the tip of my thumb when another sharp pain made my leg jerk.

"Hey!" I yelped, too much in my own head to remember what was going on. 

"I'm going to put this on." His hands came to a stop on my calf as he put on the gauze and bandages. As he stares at his handy work, I peered into his face. He looked interested in something. When I was about to ask, he started poking and pinching my skin.

"H-Hey! What're you doing?" I jumped from the sudden action, slightly ticklish from his finger gliding along my skin, a sensation I wasn’t not used to. 

"I'm reducing swelling." He looked somewhat satisfied at the softness of my leg. 

"More like inducing it." I pouted, looking away as I crossed my arms.

Suddenly, his hand moved further up, towards my thigh. "Ha-Hang on. This is sexual harassment!" I yelled, pushing his hand back. 

"Hush. Stop with the shouting. I'm enjoying the feeling." His serious glare shot up at me. 

"Does it look like I care? Hands off." I held his hands away from my body as he frowned.

"I'm going to take a bath. I expect you to have dinner waiting." He stood up and I almost snorted at the request. 

"You expect me to cook you food?" I raised an eyebrow. He may have patched me up, but my leg still killed. 

"Is there anyone else here?" He questioned, his concerned frown returning. "You can use whatever's in the fridge." He looked down at my shocked face. "Or would you rather get in the bath with me?" A teasing smirk played on his face and I jumped up. 

"No thank you!" I cheered, waddling over to the kitchen on the other side of the room.

Opening up the refrigerator, I couldn't say I was surprised by what I saw. 

‘Well, he's definitely a sweet tooth.’ Remembering all the instances of Kaga before now and all the sweet rice cakes he ate, I couldn't help but smile. ‘I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.’ I laughed, thinking how a man like Kaga could enjoy sweet things so openly. There were very little ingredients that could be used for a real meal, not to mention the absence of any vegetables. I hurried to make a recipe of meat wrapped in seaweed dumplings. I praised myself for being lucky for the past experience I had in a Japanese kitchen.

~~~~~~

As I'm finishing up the dumplings, Kaga returned from his bath. His hair was wet. ‘Wow... He is... Just, wow.’ I couldn't help but let my mind wander as I saw the sex appeal he was exerting. He frowned, somewhat perplexed by me not saying anything. 

"Hey, what're you just loafing around for?" He jabbed and I jumped out of my trance. 

"You have no vegetables in your fridge," I commented to distract him from my staring, turning back to the dumpling I was about to finish. 

"It's not like I'll die if I don't eat them." He frowned, but it was different from the times he has frowned at my mistakes. 

‘Is he... Pouting?’ A blush flared up my cheeks as I thought about how he must have been as a kid at his childish comment.

"Dumplings?" He spoke up, peering over my shoulder at the food I had prepared. I tried to ignore the warmth of him on my back. 

"It's the best I could come up with when you have next to nothing in your fridge," I explained, putting them all on a plate. "Don't worry, I used seaweed, so it's healthy!" I smiled, turning to him on the couch.

He stuffs one in his mouth without any complaints. Then, he returned for another, and another, and another until they're all gone. 

"Well, you didn't entirely mess that up." He seemed to compliment me as I sat as well.

"I used to work at a cafe, so I learned a lot while I was there," I commented, smiling back to my time before I entered the police academy. After I ran away from home, I needed money. I was lucky enough to get the job there, and the people were all so nice. Although, maybe they pitied me for having such big dreams to become a detective.

"Where's your's?" Noticing I hadn't eaten, Kaga pulled my attention back to earth. 

"Oh, I wasn't hungry." I shook my head, pulling my foot onto the sofa. I was starting to get a little uneasy, realising I was in a man's apartment. Alone. It was my first time. The thought of 'first-times' brought back the memory of our kiss and I blushed.

While I was spiralling into embarrassment, Kaga retrieved something from the refrigerator and had thrown something at me. "At least eat this." I jumped out of my thoughts to grab it, finding a sweet rice cake in my hand. 

"Oh... You sure?" Thinking about how much he must love these to stockpile them, I looked up at him glaring at me. 

"I've got plenty. If I run out, I'll buy more." He shrugged, falling back onto the sofa. I began to unwrap the sweet when I realised the rare packaging. Naruko was always complaining she couldn't find any. I could really care less about candy flavours, sugar is sugar, but I know finery when I see it.

"How did you manage to get so many?" I was in shock as I thought back to the contents of the fridge. 

"I bought them at every store I saw them in." He explained and I was honestly shocked with how far he went. 

‘Who are you and what have you done with my instructor?’ I yelled in my head as I stared at him digging into the one he brought over for himself. ‘First the first-aid, now he's feeding me a rare candy?’ I continue to stare in bewilderment.

"Give it here if you're not going to eat it. Or are you going to make me feed you like I did earlier?" He held out his hand but I quickly denied him. He laughed faintly at my blatant shock. When I turned my gaze back to him in surprise, it isn't a happy expression I see on his face. It's the same, cold stare he always shows me. 

‘He does seem a little more laid back than usual... Maybe it's because this is his private space?’ Knowing I would calm down too if I was in my dorm room, I continued munching on the cake in my hands.

"Anyway, when you're done, go to bed." He commanded. 

"Okay. If I could get a blanket, I'll be fine." I announced that I would sleep on the couch, but he quickly rejected me. 

"You'll sleep in the bed." The kind, yet indifferent, statement was a little shocking.

"But this is your home," I argued, but it only made him tired. 

"I said it's fine. I don't need the unnecessary modesty."

"I'm sure you're more tired than I am. The sofa will be difficult to sleep on." I responded stubbornly.��

"I'm not tired. And you're probably a wreck mentally." 

‘Well, you're not wrong there.’ I sighed to myself, not seeing the confrontation going anywhere positive. 

"If you tell me you're not tired yet, I'm kicking you out." He scowled. 

"No, no, thank you. I'm going." I jumped up from the sofa, not wanting to walk back to the dorms this late at night.

~~~~~~

In his bedroom, I couldn't help but look at the sofa he was going to sleep on. 

"What? You're staring." He jerked his head at me and I shook mine. "Do you want me to jump into bed with you?" His suggestive comment was void when his expression didn't change. 

"No, thank you," I replied bluntly, suddenly overcome with a wave of tiredness. 

"Then, do you wish we could sleep together?" I could see the growing smirk on his lips as I yawned. 

"I don't."

‘It might be a weird way of going around it, but he's trying to be kind.’ I think as I sit on his bed.

When the lights go out, I noticed Kaga tossing and turning for a bit before he finally relaxed. As I thought back on all the kind things he had done, and not just today, I remembered the rumour that went around. 

‘He can't have killed his partner. I don't believe it.’ Because he's usually so scary, I wasn’t surprised that a rumour like that could spread so quickly. 

I thought back to the scared woman I saw in the bathroom and shut my eyes, falling asleep fairly quickly. ‘I have to become a good detective like him. So I can save Juna.’

~~~~~~

In the middle of the night, I woke up with a sudden deep breath. 

‘Just a dream.’ I told myself as I looked around at my surroundings and noticed they weren't what they were in my nightmare. I had dreamt about my childhood, soon after my mother had disappeared, and dad was mad. He was angrier than I had ever seen him. Luckily, Juna was at the community centre, taking music lessons. Dad, on the other hand, was screaming at a go-between for another gang.

"Why haven't you found her yet?" He roared, throwing an old vase at the man kneeling on the ground. He was beaten up and the water splashed out around him, making most of the people in the room jump. Including me, who had been peering around the corner of a door frame.

"We've followed everyone she knows. No one knows anything. It's like she disappeared into thin air!" The theatrical display the man was showing only made my father angrier. 

"That's impossible! Find her or you will take her place in the dirt!" My father roared, making the man scurry out of our living room. Following the pathetic man, my father's gaze fell on me.

"You see, Katsumi. This is what happens to traitors!" My father stormed forward, grabbing my wrist and pulling me into the room. I tried to struggle, but he threw me in front of someone lying on the floor. I couldn't see his front, but there was blood oozing out of his neck. I threw myself back, not wanting to listen to the dying gurgles of the victim in front of me.

"Katsumi, you will look! Look at what your mother has caused!" My father yelled, grabbing my wrist tightly and forcing my head to look in his direction. When I tried to struggle again, he hit me. I cried out, tears already falling down my cheeks, and he eventually started taking his anger out of me.

As I sat there, panting in the dark room, I clutched the sheets to help me realise I was awake. I gulped, blinking several times to help me see through the darkness. When my heart wouldn't slow down, I crawled out of the bed and walked back to Kaga's living room, wanting to turn some lights on without waking him up.

Sitting on his couch, looking out at the city below me, I bit the tip of my thumb. I couldn't stop thinking about what my father could be doing to my sister since he found her. I looked down at my hands, using one hand to feel the smoothness of my fingertips. 

I had tried to escape once. Just to see if it was possible. Of course, one of my uncles caught me and told my father. That night, he forced my hand into a pot of bubbling oil and it burned off my fingerprints, and any nerves in them. Then, to somehow scar me further, he told me the only way I could soothe the pain was washing them in the tub of boiling water next to me. With blistering hands, I remembered him telling me that if I did go missing, no one would ever be able to identify me. He wouldn't come forth and I would be buried nameless. I gulped, thinking back to the tears pouring down my sister's face as my father made her watch the feeling in my hands practically melting away.

‘I have to stop making stupid mistakes.’ I tell myself, falling back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. As I thought about all the ways I could have done that day to make myself a better detective, I fell asleep.

[bates--boy]

Knock knock.

Before the occupant of the office space answered, Peter cracked the door open and poked his head in. “Morning, Mr. Halgorn!” he chirped. “Can I come in if you’re not too busy?”

Halgorn’s eyes flicked from his computer screen to the door. His lips pursed within his beard, something that Peter noted had grown bushier over the months and gave his boss more of a wilderness man’s look. He gestured Peter forward. “Might as well. What’s up? Hippos turning on each other again?”

“When have they ever stopped?” Peter chuckled as he took his seat, though the humor went dry and awkward in his reply; that really is a concern they need to take care of before it gets wildly out of hand. “No, I actually have a revenue-boosting proposal I’d like to share with you.”

Halgorn’s eyes moved from side to side along his screen, one hand on the mouse, the other positioning a sleek, personalized pen over some files. Financial reports, good timing.

“Let’s hear it.”

“Great. Okay, so have you ever heard of this place called Achillles Den?”

Halgorn raised an eyebrow, his focus unbroken from his file. “That student-ran joint in downtown? Yeah, my daughter drags me there every couple weeks.”

Peter nodded. “So you’d know that every Saturday, they hold live shows from local artists, and that the only way you can get in is by buying tickets.”

“Or a full adult meal,” Halgorn added. Then, blinking, he turned his head completely towards his employee. “If you’re suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, you do know that you already do that, right?”

Oh, Peter was well aware, and more than raising a little bit of extra money to go to the care of the animals and maintenance of the center, Peter adored the opportunity to swim with the animals, and put on shows for the whole family to enjoy. Knowing that once every couple weeks he would get to dazzle crowds with a smile and a few dives and a swim with orcas and dolphins make it easier for the young man to get out of bed. But...

“But what I mean is something that would draw in a bigger crowd, something unique and spectacular that would keep them coming back and spreading the word.”

“Which would be…?” Halgorn prompted.

Peter raised his hands, fingers spread, feeling invisible clouds of glitter burst from the tips. “Aerial silks.”

“...What?”

“Aerial silks!” Leaning forward, Peter explained, “It’s this wonderful, exquisite form of performance art where the artist makes a dance in the air by hanging or swinging from a beautiful fabric.”

“And you know how to do that?”

Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket, nodding again as he searched for the video among the many of his family and pets. “Yep! Been practicing for months! Watch!”

And he handed the phone to Halgborn.

--

“Show us what you got, Pete, whoooo!” Mei clapped her slender hands as the young man stepped up to the pair of silks.

He waved at his fellow students crowded along the mirrored wall, nervous smile curled tight on his face, feet shifting about and toes pressing into the cushion. Peter had been advancing well, and he knew he did with or without the impressed cooing of their instructor. It’s just that the camera (on his phone) was rolling, and the idea that he had fallen asleep to every night and turning it into a breathtaking dream hinged upon what that camera captures.

And for the fourth time that minute, Peter took a deep breath. He straightened his back and puffed his chest, raising his hand.

The instructor’s assistant hit play.

“I’m in your waterfall. I’m in your waterfall. I’m in your waterfall…”

Peter dipped his body, one leg outstretched, arms spread upward and out like the wings of a swan. The reggae trance wove its wave into Peter’s bloodstream.

“I’m in your waterfall…”

Like he had practiced at home with his own rigged silks, Peter twirled up, catching both silks in one hand. Using the silks as the center, Peter twisted and shimmied and swirled his body around it, remembering to tone down the sensuality the song was feeding him to keep the dance below PG-13 if this was going to work.

The verse merged into the bridge, and Peter hopped up and hooked a leg around the fabrics. He twisted his torso and hooked his legs, contorting his body higher and higher to the appropriate height that Mei would allow. So far, polite claps.

He wrapped the fabrics around his hands and parted them, swinging his body up into midair splits, then swung back down to twirl his legs around each silk until each of his calves were wrapped in one. He released the wraps around his hands to spread his arms again and, with a hopefully subtle jerk of his body, set the rig to gently swing him around.

The clapping grew louder, followed by some cheers.

Now to get crazy.

Peter reached up and grabbed the silks, tugging his legs upward and jabbing them back down so that the fabrics would trap his ankles. He tilted his body between the fabrics, keeping his ankles together, until he hung completely upside down. He whipped his arms about so he’d spin wildly.

And the cheers erupted, with someone shouting, “Oh, my God, he’s pulling a P!nk!”

It was a bit of a struggle to right himself, which he had to do by bending his knees and curling in until he could reach the portions of the fabrics above him to tug up and undo the footlocks. He posed, arching his back while doing a handlock, but mostly to breathe deeply just one more time before the rundown with the sequence of moves he had prepared. With an upward swing, Peter brought himself to the split rolls, unfurling himself and properly wrapping the silks around his waist and thighs for some outside leg hangs and prone poses.

Somewhere in the middle of a hiplock, Peter lost himself in the fan and tangle of the silks, hypnotized by the suspension, like he was submerged in the color and music. Not once letting the silks stop spinning, not once touching the ground and the reality it held. It was near the end of the song that he remembered to do his star drop, and finishing it by sliding off the silks into a splits on the mat.

--

Halgorn huffed a chuckle and stopped the video just as the cheering grew obnoxiously loud. ‘Wow, that’s… that’s honestly really good.” He held the phone back out towards its owner.

“Thank you!” Peter said, barely containing his glee as he reached for his device. “Now think: combining the synchronized swimming in the aquarium with the aerial silks dancing. It’ll be so beautiful, that people will come in wearing their fanciest clothes!”

Halgorn frowned. “I don’t think that’s doable, Kirkland.”

Peter snapped his fingers. “I can make it doable.” Halgorn began to shake his head, and Peter hurried to add, “Look, I understand that it’s risque, so how about this: we incorporate the silks into a couple of the shows, give the audience a taste, do a test run. Then, maybe a survey? Get some thoughts on the new show to decide to keep or nix it?”

“And with what budget are we going to explore this endeavor of yours, Peter?”

Peter was going to reply don’t worry about the budget, but a quick look down on Halgorn’s desk reminded Peter that worrying about the budget was literally one of the man’s duties, and it would be easy to miss the genuine earnestness in his assurance.

“I… I can work on it, myself?”

Halgorn went to typing on his computer. “Oh?”

“Yeah… Yeah! I’m sure I have enough in my savings to invest in this, and I can maybe get some friends -- certified engineers -- to help me build the rig needed for the silks. I have a setup at home that I can bring here.”

Peter tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. “Can I?”

Halgorn rubbed his hand down his face, smoothing down the beard. “You’ll have to discuss it with your team--”

“On it!” Peter hopped out of his chair with a salute and flounced his way out of Halgorn’s office.

“Hey, hey!” Halgorn’s voice followed Peter out and down the hall, “We all will have to meet to discuss official details!”

Peter shouted over his shoulder, “Got it!”

[misssunflowersandsangria]

Muse

Authors Note:  Hello Tumblr-Verse!  Keep in mind that this is a Modern AU Soulmate story.  Okay, enjoy! 

Sai walked through the open space checking to make sure that everything was in its proper place as it had been 40 minutes ago.  He was nervous but after years of mini-shows at smaller venues, he was finally being featured at a well-known art gallery.  This art collection was his most personal one to date but also his favorite.  He was nervous to share it with the world but it needed to be seen. All his close friends and instructors heaped praises on him, congratulating him for the accomplishment at such a young age.  They told him that it was just the start of bigger and better things. And yet, something felt like it was missing. His brother’s loss was definitely felt but there was something else, someone else, that he felt like should be sharing in his success.  His small group of friends would be there and he was thankful for their presence but something made him feel restless and unable to celebrate as much as he should. He tried to shake off the feeling and focus on the work at hand. The caterers and florist would be arriving soon and he wanted to be present and show himself as a true professional artist. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come tonight?”  Sakura asked for the 10th time. “All of our friends will be there.  It will also be a great way for you to mingle and meet new people.” She was worried about her childhood friend. She had been mostly staying to herself and not wanting to go out and socialize like she used to once returning home. 

“I have a pretty big order to fill then studying.”

“Who would have thought that Yamanaka Ino would have turned into such a nerd.”  She teased her.  

“Oh hush, this doctoral program is no joke.”

“Fine, fine, but you can’t avoid people forever, next time okay?”  She asked hopefully.

Ino worried her bottom lip. She knew that Sakura was concerned for her. “Okay, I promise.”

 Ino sighed placing the last bucket of flowers in the truck.  Her mother had asked her last minute to help with this event.  Thankfully, she had little to no social life so it wasn’t as though she was missing out on anything.  Her coworker had already gone ahead to start setting up and she was coming with the last few bouquets.  The arrangements were gorgeous, apparently, the client himself was an artist and helped design them. She was hoping that she could meet him.  

The gallery was in a nice area of downtown, a modern space with large windows.  When she walked in she was hit by a flood of colors and smells that reminded her of walking through a forest.  It was absolutely ethereal and she felt like she had wandered into another world. The roof was covered in leaves and lights.

“Hey, boss!  Pretty amazing huh?”

Ino nodded greeting her coworker.  “Yes, it’s incredible. How’s it going over here?”

“Good, I’ve got most of it set up, did you need help with the last few arrangements?”

“Just help me bring them in and I’ve got the rest.”

“You’ve got it.”  As much as she wanted to wander through she focused her thoughts on the setup and began arranging what was left according to the schematic that he’d left the shop.

 “This looks incredible, thank you.” Ino smiled at the voice taking a step back proud of her work.  

“Thank you but I just brought the flowers, it takes a creative mind to come up with something like this.”  She looked up and froze meeting dark eyes.  He was so handsome and she felt her face blush brightly. He looked at her with a smile before it dropped and his eyes studied her curiously.

“Have we met?”  She asked peering back at him, something about him seemed so familiar but she was sure that she would have remembered him. It was strange and she could feel her hands shaking.

He shook his head, but even he didn't seem too sure.  “No, uhm at least I don’t believe so.  I’m uh Sai, it's my gallery opening tonight.”

“Oh!  It’s nice to meet you, I’m Ino!  Seriously, it looks incredible in here.  The flowers, plants and lights accent your work perfectly.”

He took her outstretched hand in his and shook it politely.  His hand lingered a little longer against hers, her smaller ones fitting perfectly in his own.  “Thank you, Ino.” He said her name with such sweetness that it made her heart flutter.

“Let me help you with the rest.”  She was about to protest but he took the plant from her hands and placed it in the right spot.  She smiled next to him as they put together the finishing touches.

She couldn’t help but be talkative and friendly, it was in her nature and she felt comfortable with him despite having just met.  Fortunately, he didn’t seem to mind her chatter and was willing to converse with her. He was funny, a little blunt and shy but he was kind and complimented even the littlest things that she did and implemented any idea she had.  If she wasn’t so sure, she would have sworn that she’d met him before. There was something that seemed so familiar in how he smiled at her.  

 They both took a step back looking at their hard work in its entirety.  He insisted on walking her hand in hand through the space and it felt terribly romantic and almost like they’d done this many times before.  Sai had created a forest indoors. Every inch was covered in greens or florals. His work blended into the ambiance rather than standing out.  

“You did an amazing job Beautiful.”  He told her affectionately her hand still safely enclosed in his.  She blushed brightly at the compliment and shook her head.  

“I was happy to bring your vision to life.”  She assured him shaking her shoulders.  For some reason, he felt like he knew that she would do this often when she got embarrassed.  

Sai got a thoughtful look on his face looking at her with the same question in his eyes.  “Ino...do you mind if I show you something?”

“Oh, sure!”  She replied thankful to have even a few more moments with him. 

They walked towards the back of the gallery into a small corridor.

“My studio is back here.”  He explained opening up a door.  She stood there shocked and confused.

“Do these flowers mean anything to you?”  She nodded slowly. On every wall were pictures he’d drawn or painted of the same familiar flower. 

“Yes, they are called Purple Bush Clovers, my mom used to plant them in her garden.  Our backyard is covered in them.” She remembered playing amongst them as a child. Her father told her that it was their family’s flower and it meant positive love.

He nodded and drew her into the space.  “When my brother died, I stopped painting in color.   The world seemed very bland without him. I almost gave up painting completely. Then one day I had this dream.  I was drowning and then I saw this light. It morphed into a hand and this beautiful girl was standing there surrounded by light and these purple flowers, she pulled me out.  She told me to go with her and that other people were waiting for me. After that, I started painting in color again. I started to paint this flower over and over.  Not only that, I started to draw and paint her over and over again.” He opened up a sketchbook and showed her pages and pages of her. Some were more detailed than others but no one could deny that it was her.

Her eyes were wide and confused.  “How?”

Sai took her hands in his.  “I don’t know. I kept dreaming of you, I kept seeing you in my dreams and so I started to draw you.  I thought that I had just imagined you. That it was impossible that someone so kind and beautiful existed. Then, I saw you here today like something out of my dreams.”  She carefully reached up and brushed his hair back staring into his fathomless eyes. There was something so familiar about how he looked at her so softly and sweetly.  

“When I saw you, you seemed so familiar, it was like coming home. I don’t know Sai...maybe we met before, somewhere in a land hidden in the leaves.”  It seemed impossible and unlikely and yet seemed so right. It was too much of a coincidence. She’d been drawn back to this town. She had other options and schools but something was calling her back home. Her feelings of restlessness and loneliness seemed to vanish with him standing there.  

He kissed her forehead softly, that feeling of familiarity and home wrapping around him.  “I’d like you to stay tonight as my guest. Please, I’ve been dreaming about you for so long and having you here, well it seems like that missing piece is found.”  He asked her hopefully. Even if she was to reject him he’d easily follow her to the ends of the Earth.

She nodded stepping into his arms before they enclosed tightly around her.  “I’d like that Sai.” She couldn’t help the tears appearing in her eyes. “I’ve missed you.”  It was strange to say to someone that she had just technically met. But, there was a very real part of her that missed this familiar artist.  

He rested his head atop hers, clutching her tightly into him his own heart echoing her sentiments.  “I missed you too Beautiful.”  

 She returned hours later after going home to get ready.  She’d woven fresh flowers into her hair. She wanted to stand proudly next to him while he introduced his art to the world.  He greeted her happy once she returned, relieved to see that she was indeed real and it wasn’t another one of his dreams. 

“Ino, I wanted to show you something before it was revealed to the guests, it's the masterpiece of my collection tonight.”

Sai took her hand in his and led them towards the front and center of the room. 

“It was one of my first dreams of you.”  He explained as she stood there shell shocked.  He placed the painting after she had left. “It was our wedding.  I tried to capture how beautiful you looked at that moment.” Her eyes couldn’t help but water seeing herself reflected in that painting.  She was wearing a brightly colored, flower printed kimono rather than a traditional white one. Surrounding her were thousands of painted flowers that he then framed with real ones.  She looked radiant and happy and she could tell that he’d painted it with so much love and attention.

“I kept that image of you in my head, of you smiling so brightly, so happy and ready to be married to me.  That picture of you helped keep me going on even the most difficult days. I know that it’s completely crazy and probably impossible but I know you.  We’ve lived a life together before this, a crazy, dramatic but amazing one. You’ve been my muse in this lifetime but also every one before.”  

Ino couldn't help but throw her arms around him.  “Truthfully, I've felt a little lost recently. Like something was missing despite achieving all these goals and all the different things I'd set out to do.  Today though, being here with you, working together, just being together. It made me happier than I've been in a long time. I’d like to see where this could go and imagine what we were.”

He very softly and gently kissed her and while it was warm and familiar it was unlike anything he’d felt before.  It was as though the missing pieces of his heart were found. “I’d like that too.”  

“What are you doing here?”  Ino turned and saw her pink-haired friend staring at her confused. 

“What are  you doing here?”

Sakura couldn’t help but look at her strangely.  “It’s my friend Sai’s gallery opening. This is what I wanted you to come to tonight.”

Ino looked at her surprised, one way or another she was destined to meet Sai.  “Seriously?”

“Yes, back to my original question.”

“The flower order I was filling was for him.  We met and talked and he asked me to stay.” She explained.

“Oh…,”  Sakura replied with a grin.

“Stop it!”  Ino blushed brightly.

Sakura just ignored her embarrassment.  “Okay, okay. You know I always thought that you two would get along.  I was using tonight as a way to get you to meet.”

“Can’t fight fate I guess.”  Ino smiled looking over towards where he was greeting various guests.  He seemed to sense her looking at him and sent her a smile. He wanted to stay glued to her side all evening lest he wake up from this dream, but she promised that she’d still be there at the end of the night. 

“It’s not like you to fall head over heels for someone so fast.”  Sakura thought out loud.  

“I don’t know, it’s different with him.  Have you ever met someone and felt like you’ve known them before? Like for some reason, it’s like you’re meeting again for the second time.”

Sakura smiled in understanding.  “Yes, it’s how I felt about Sasuke.”

Ino nodded, her friend had long told her that she felt like she’d met her boyfriend before in some other place or time.  “It’s like that. It’s just like meeting him again in this timeline. It's new but familiar all the same.” Sakura just smiled happily for her friend.  She deserved all the happiness and love this world had to offer. 

 Once all the praises were heaped and congratulations were given Sai and Ino laid in the center of the gallery staring up at the leaf and lights covered roof, their hands entwined between them. 

“I’m proud of you Sai.”  She told him sweetly shifting on her side to look at him.

“Thank you Beautiful.  It was an amazing night and I‘m so happy that you were able to share it with me.  I think that my painting of you is what convinced them to take a chance on me.”  He replied gently playing with her loose strands of hair. He’d dreamed a million times of what it would be like to actually run his hands through her hair and it was far better than he could have imagined. 

“It’s so strange but being with you feels so natural like we’ve done this so many times before.”

He kissed her gently drawing her closer.  “Perhaps it was just fate, we were meant to meet again in this lifetime and I promise you, no matter what, we’ll meet again a million times more.”

 Flashback

 "Sai?  Do you believe in soulmates?"  Ino asked as they laid beneath the stars, shifting closer to him to keep warm.  He placed an affectionate kiss on her head.

He paused thinking about the question.  He had read about the concept in his books before.  "I don't know.  Before you, I doubt that I would have ever believed in something so impossible but you loving me, well that's changed everything that I'd ever believed in."  She smiled sweetly at him her blue eyes sparkling.  She met him in a kiss wanting to use every moment she could to remind him just how much she loved him. 

While the war had ended years ago it still left them with scars and feelings of loss.  It pained her to believe that she had only a finite amount of time with her Love.

Her eyes stared up at the shroud of leaves and the stars twinkling between them.  "I'd like to believe it.  I'd want to believe that even after we pass in this life your soulmate finds their way to you in another."  He smiled at the idea, wanting to believe that they had a million shared lifetimes and a million more to be had. 

"Well when that day comes, I can promise you that I will find you again.  We will always find our way together."  They met in a kiss, a shared promise that no matter where, what universe, or space and time they'd always meet under the leaves.   

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21458557

[writeforcarat]

Home [Part 1]

—Cat Shelter Volunteer!Wonwoo × Reader

—Fluff

A light drizzle specked the hot grey pavement before turning into a summer downpour.

It was almost noon on a Monday and you hit the brakes of your bicycle near a subway exit, where a sea of commuters had started emerging, pulling out their umbrellas, cursing at how the rain had just put a damper on their already busy day.

You, too, had a packed schedule ahead. It was your second week working as a part-time English teacher at an academy. And while tutorial classes were held in the afternoon, instructors were expected to arrive before lunchtime—an unwritten rule you had managed to comply with up until now.  

In a hurry, you slipped into a raincoat (thank goodness, you packed one), and checked the time. You had about 20 minutes to get to the school, which wasn’t that bad. If you could just speed up a bit, you’d make it on time.

You hadn’t gone that far yet when you heard it—an excruciating yowl that only got louder as you approached the end of the street. Curious and a bit alarmed, you came to a stop, got off your bike, and brought your ears closer towards a patch of bushes, where the sound seemed to be coming from.

Another cry pierced through the humid air, and you instinctively took a step back.

Taking a peek through the bushes, you found a spotted white and grey cat—drenched, soiled, and cold—your gaze meeting its feline eyes that were veiled with agony. The poor creature tried to stand up, only to fall back down on the wet ground. That was when you noticed that it had a limp and wounded leg.

You felt a pang in your heart. You had always had a soft spot for animals, especially cats, and this was a situation you couldn’t simply ignore. A cat needs help. Your help… but you were also running late. Sighing in resignation, you shrugged off the thoughts about work (maybe, they’d understand) and scooped the cat into your arms.

“You will be fine,” you whispered to it. “I’m here.”

Somewhat comforted, the cat purred in response, and you repeated reassuringly, “I’m here.”

Shifting its weight to your left arm, you tugged your bike with your free hand and walked towards the shed of a bus stop nearby. Thankfully, the sky was starting to clear up again and the rain was nothing more than a light shower. You sat down on the cold steel seat so you could let the cat rest on your lap.

Think. You said to yourself before resolving to text your supervisor to inform her about your “emergency.” You didn’t go far into detail, really. That you would explain only if worse comes to worst later. You then started searching for cat shelters nearby. Multiple results returned, with the closest one about eleven blocks away.

Chimes pleasantly rang, as you opened the door of Happy Cat Shelter and Veterinary Clinic. The cold air from the AC sent a chill that crawled on your skin, which the cat probably felt, too, since it snuggled closer to your chest.

“H-hello?” You called out, a tremble caught in your throat.

“Welcome to Happy Cat!” You heard someone respond from the inside; his voice deep yet friendly. A crashing sound reverberated through the walls of the office. “Be there in a sec!”

The shelter was not exactly big, but it wasn’t small either. From where you were standing at the receiving area, you could see cats crawling and prancing about in their playroom, and to your right, you eyed the door of the clinic with a sign that said the doctor was out, making worry flood through you. The next closest shelter with a vet was much farther away, and you couldn’t afford to take another side trip.

You glanced down at the cat. It was so exhausted; its sleepy eyes had fluttered shut.

A door swung open, and you looked up with a start. A lanky bespectacled boy clad in a black shirt came walking towards you, wiping his hands on his jeans. “I’m sorry about that,” he apologised before letting out a gasp, as you and the cat became clearer to his sight. “Oh my God.”

You realised that you were still dripping wet, a puddle surrounding your feet, locks of your wet hair matted on the sides of your face. Of course, your makeup was messed up, too. Shit. You were not a pretty sight, nor was the injured cat in your arms. You lowered your head in embarrassment.

“Please, don’t move. You might slip,” the boy said concernedly before you could even utter a word, his hand gesturing for you to stay put. “I’ll go get towels.”

Wonwoo wasn’t having an easy Monday. He wasn’t supposed to be working, but two of his co-volunteers called in sick, and the shelter’s manager, who was on vacation, begged him to cover for their shifts.

Not that he didn’t want to come in for duty, it was just that he had previously asked for a few days’ off, as he had to work on an important project before the summer break began. It didn’t help that the cats were also being extra temperamental and extra energetic, thrashing about the place with much vigour.

So when he saw you standing at the door—drenched and in distress—he knew that his day wasn’t about to get easier. Nevertheless, it had always been in him give help to anybody who needed it—be it a person or a cat. In this case, both.

The bespectacled boy returned shortly with a rag, which he dropped to the floor to absorb the small pool of water around your feet, and, as promised, soft and clean towels. He handed out one to you, and as you accepted it with a “thanks,” he carefully took the cat into his arms with another towel, whispering soothing words to it.

“I saw her on the street,” you said, wiping yourself dry with the towel. “I was actually on my way to work, but I couldn’t leave her. She’s wounded and injured.”

“I can see that,” he said, intently examining the cat in his arms. “Thank you for bringing her here,” he glanced up at you.

Now that he was standing closer, you finally had a better view of his face, and, God, he’s handsome. With his dark fringes falling just below his eyebrows, you instantly noticed his stunning eyes that showed both sincerity and softness as he looked at you.

You’d be lying if you said that the sight of him carrying the poor cat you’d just rescued didn’t make your heart melt a little.  

A bit flustered, you turned towards the direction of the clinic and said, “I’m not sure to what extent you can help, but, please, keep her safe until the vet arrives.”

“Of course,” he said almost instantly. “The vet won’t be here until after lunch, but I will give him a call, since this kitty needs to be treated.”

“Thanks,”

An awkward pause engulfed the room, and you realised that you hadn’t even introduced yourselves to each other yet.

“I’m Y/N,” you said just about the same time he told you that his name was Wonwoo. Both of you let out a sheepish laugh.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” he said, diffusing the tension. “Let me bring her inside first. I’ll be right back,”

“Erm, I should get going,” you said matter-of-factly, motioning towards the door.

“Hang on,” Wonwoo snapped, “I know you’re in a hurry, but we have protocols here. There’s some paperwork to be dealt with before we officially take in any cat.”

“Right,” you bit your lower lip, starting to worry more about work at that point. “I understand, but I am running really late right now.”

Having thought of a quick solution, Wonwoo shifted the cat’s weight to one arm, then swiped a clipboard and a sheet of paper from the reception desk with his other hand and suggested, “Perhaps, you could, at least, give us your contact details and bring this drop-off form to fill out and submit later. We don’t usually do this, but I’ll try to explain the situation to my boss. I’ll call or text you if anything turns up. Would that be alright?”

“Yeah, sure,” you nodded, taking the clipboard and form, grateful that he was being considerate enough. You quickly wrote down your name, mobile number, and email address on the contact list on the clipboard, and handed it back to Wonwoo. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” he said, and reminded you to come back with the drop-off form filled out before you left.

A wave of relief washed over you, seeing how your co-workers didn’t seem to notice your absence earlier when you arrived at the academy about 30 minutes later. They said hello like they usually did, as you walked into the teachers’ office; some were even offering you lunch food. Your supervisor was also nice enough to ask if you were okay and give you a clean shirt to change into.

Your classes ran smoothly that afternoon. The gradeschoolers enjoyed the vocabulary exercises you had prepared for them. They surprisingly expressed much excitement about their pop quiz, too, when you said that top scorers will get a choco pie each.

As you were packing your things, looking forward to calling it a day, your phone buzzed, an SMS popping up on the screen. Although it came from an unknown number, you already knew who it was from. You tapped on the notification to read the entire message.

“Hi, Y/N! Kitty’s okay now. No need to worry anymore. Just don’t forget to sign the form and bring it to the shelter. You can drop by tomorrow. We’ve also got some good news.  -Wonwoo”

The message tugged the corners of your lips upwards into a smile. For some reason, receiving that text made you feel so much better after a long day.

“Hey, look at that beautiful smile,” your co-instructor quipped, as she walked by.

You looked up from your phone, still beaming. “What?”

“Did your boyfriend text you? I haven’t seen you smile like that before.”

Your eyes widened and your lips parted, as though to say something, but not a word came out. Your co-instructor chuckled at your expression. “You’re adorable. See you tomorrow!”

“See you,” you said, happily thinking about what tomorrow will actually bring. [PART 2]

Thanks for reading until here! I didn’t actually intend for this story to get this long, but I guess I got too carried away with writing it. Anyhow, if you enjoyed this scenario, hit like or reblog and please do look forward to the continuation of the story.

My Q&A is also open to requests. Don’t hesitate to drop some prompts or suggestions, and I’ll see what I can do!

[bffhreprise]

Entry 312

 Throughout the night, I gave James a rather lengthy tour of my ancestral home.  Sadly, he admired the architecture far more than the relevance of the antiques to my family, but I wasn’t particularly surprised.  Still, I did my best to explain the family history without boring him too much.  If only there were more from Arthur’s time still around, I might have been able to hold his attention at length, since he did have a fondness for that particular ancestor.

 When I insisted on doing a little bit of work, he was obviously disappointed.  I could understand why he refused to use my secondary computer, given how incredibly slow these machines were compared with Mila’s hardware.  I doubted James really considered how much the technology in his house could revolutionize the world, but none of it could be shared.  Aaliyah wouldn’t let us.  With gaming out, James went out to roam, so I absently tracked his meandering course through the mansion as I did my best to finish quickly.  Unfortunately, new problems always arose, though there weren’t any so pressing that I insisted on keeping at them when he returned.

 “Have much left?” he inquired.

 “Always, darling, but I can excuse myself if you are ready to begin.” I assured him.

 “Well, Sebastian has already procured everything we’ll need, so we might as well.” he replied, sounding hopeful.

 Smiling, I said, “Excellent.  Give me thirty seconds.  I’m quite interested in seeing what sorts of spells are utilized in your craft.”

 “About that…” he started, interrupting my thoughts immediately.  “Will you be completely disappointed if there is something for you to sign?  Sorry, but there are reasons, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

 I nodded, feeling dejected.  “This is precisely why I worried about her getting involved in your life.” I asserted, knowing the reasons revolved around Aaliyah.  I knew I was being a little silly, since James probably wouldn’t have discovered whatever he was about to show me without Aaliyah, but I wasn’t in the mood to admit it.

 “Still worried about her?” he asked as I hurried to close my meetings.

 “Always.  As fantastic as she can be, I know her mood can be mercurial, and there is nothing that will withstand her wrath.” I asserted, unable to share what I had seen of the devastation she had done to my family.

 James had the nerve to smirk, saying, “I find her perfectly adorable.”

 “You’ve seen her other side.” I pointed out, knowing the Reaper wasn’t forgettable.

 “As I recall, everyone was a bit put off by her presence when I was fighting for your hand.  She seemed fine by me.” he replied, actually looking as if he was considering what had happened.

 “Has she actually shown you what happens to someone killed by her scythe?  I know she’s generally too quick, but she’s not above demonstrations.” I replied, certain he hadn’t.  The chilling display still haunted me whenever my thoughts meandered to it.

 “Want one!?” questioned Aaliyah, appearing out of nowhere.  She was giddy as ever as she stared between us.

 “No.” I told her firmly.  “Never again.”

 “No promises.” she teased with a wink.  “I brought the paperwork for you!”

 “Lovely.  Was I saying too much?” I questioned, wondering why she decided to disturb us at this moment.  I had barely ended my meetings.

 “No, Alpy.  James is more aware of who I am than anyone else alive today, including Carl, and that’s really saying something.” she insisted, overly happy about the idea.

 “Please excuse my disbelief.” I told her, taking the tablet she held and perusing the annoyingly threatening document.  Still, part of my mind considered the truth of her words.  If James really did know her better than even my family, which was possible given he knew about the flying and Chronos, could he have an actual reason to trust her?

 “I can’t explain yet, but I’ve seen her.” stated James.  “Really seen her, not how she is now or as Death.  She’s magnificent, I assure you.”  He winced very slightly as if his head was hurting, but he didn’t look to Aaliyah as if she had done something.

 “Don’t worry, boss-man, sir.  She’ll know well enough one day.” promised Aaliyah, which made a chill go up my spine, but James instantly relaxed.

 “If she’s truly that magnificent, then why must her infernal contracts be quite so complicated?” I asked, uncertain how to interpret part already.  “Surely, she could have me promise not to tell and accept that my word would suffice.”

 “As you wish.” stated Aaliyah, snatching the tablet away from me.

 I nearly reached for it again before saying “What?  Are you serious?”  Gauging her with all of my senses wasn’t enough.  She still seemed perfectly adorable without a hint of deceit as she nodded.

 “Uh huh.  We’ll be boring this time.” she replied, feigning a hint of regret over the loss of the “fun”.

 “But what about…” I started, pointing toward the tablet.

 “I trust you.” she replied, interrupting me.

 Despite her apparent earnesty, the lack of specifics left an inherently more frightening, vague threat in my mind.  “I haven’t even promised anything yet.” I pointed out, hoping she’d give me some defined lines of where I could stride safely.

 “And I trust you.” she insisted solemnly.  Then her face took on that enormous grin as she exclaimed “Have fun!”  She vanished with the sound still lingering in the air.

 “She’s messing with me again.” I insisted as I visually looked for her.  She could hide her heat from me with ease.  “The bloody girl is playing another of her games.”

 James suddenly hugged me, kissing the top of my head.  “Shall we get started?’ he asked as he pulled back to pull me behind him by the hand.  The materials for our project were effortlessly gathered with a spell, reminding me that not even a year had passed since he first learned of magic.  He did at least allow me to undo the protective spells guarding my father instead of sauntering through them as if they weren’t there.  I wouldn’t fair so well against them.

 After greeting my father, which was still a thrill for me after the seemingly endless years of silence, James started explaining the spells he had planned for us, starting with the most basic.  His surprise at my knowledge of metallurgy amused me, though I didn’t admit some of his spells seemed slightly better than what I would have used, especially regarding the formation of an alloy I didn’t recognize.  As he explained the metal's properties and the reasons behind these particular spells, my trust in his ability grew by leaps and bounds.  This was certainly the man who had made my engagement ring.  I had given Aaliyah too much credit for its design in my head, not that I was holding that against James in any way.

 Then I noticed something disturbing.  Pointing to it, I said, “This part here looks like something I’ve seen in a book on the dark arts.”

 “I’m sure it’s similar, but we’ll be using that bit to identify one another.” he insisted.

 “James, this probably isn’t wise.” I argued, knowing stories of family members who had attempted to unravel the dark arts with unfortunate consequences to their bodies and minds.

 Solemnly gazing into my eyes, he said, “I swear on my life that this is perfectly safe.  I know in great detail what every part of these spells does.”

 I wanted to trust him, but part of that came from his magic having free reign on my mind.  Protecting myself in any way from his enchantment while keeping my mind open to Father was impossible.  Forcing myself to fight that bewitchment, I said, “How could you possibly know what every part does?  No one does.  We simply know the rough purpose of any given pattern we use, but I’ve demonstrated to you the disastrous results that can happen when attempting to alter patterns as well as combinations we know to be disastrous.”

 He sighed, dismantling his spell while creating another with which I was quite familiar.  Taking on the tone of an instructor, he started making claims about what each individual part of the spell did while explaining what the small changes he made throughout it would do, which he certainly could have known from seeing me use it, but he altered it further.  Then he released the spell, creating a large wave of fire to shoot outward in a plane above us.

 Ignoring my father’s amusement at the sight, I said, “You’ve obviously done that before, so knowing what will happen isn’t that impressive.”

 “Yes, but I’ve also studied, as I’ve told you before, from a book of sorts which I can’t share with you yet.  Trust me.  These spells we’ll be using are perfectly safe for this use.” he insisted, sounding as if he desperately wanted to say more.  Indulging himself a little, he said, “I’ve been studying magic a great deal since I enhanced Jarod’s suits.”

 “Fine.  What is this supposed to do?” I questioned, demonstrating the necromantic portion he had created earlier.

 “We’ll be using the part that reminds you of necromancy to identify one another, so the rings will react to us.  If you prefer, we could tie the rings to each other and leave things at that, but I thought a little extra information would be nice.” he replied somewhat evasively, smiling at me.  He obviously wanted me to ask for more.

 “What sort of information?” I questioned, indulging him.

 “We’ll not only know precisely in what direction the other is, but we’ll have a sense of distance as well.  The rings will also pulse slightly in time with our heartbeats, so you’ll know if I’m alive and calm no matter where I am.  Furthermore, the rings won’t function for anyone else.” he stated proudly.

 “All that from a bit of necromancy?” I asked, impressed by the notion.  If he truly came up with that on his own, James was probably the greatest authority of magic I knew, not that I would admit it to him until receiving further confirmation.

 “Well, more than that the bit of necromancy will allow for it.” he replied, still being evasive but unwilling to say more.

 “I can easily imagine some saying that feeling your partner’s heartbeat through a ring is a bit much.” I teased, finding the notion romantic myself.

 “Are you one of those people?  Personally, I’ll find knowing with absolute certainty that you are alive to be wonderful.” he insisted, obviously hoping that I’d agree.

 “You’ll also be able to avoid me when I’m angry.  Nothing gets my heart pumping quite the same.” I replied, losing my humor as the reality of the thought reminded me of how far I needed to come in self-control.  My temper had always been a problem for me.

 “I’ll know where to find you, so I can find out what’s wrong.  Besides, I always know when you’re angry if I’m nearby.  Your magic gives that away.” he explained, gazing into my eyes as he lightly touched my cheek.

 “And what if I don’t want to be found because I might lash out at you?” I questioned.

 “Marriage isn’t a perfectly smooth ride for anyone.  I’d rather know where to find you than be left wondering where you are.  There are also a number of protective spells I’d like us to place on the rings.  I do need to warn you that undoing these spells is far more difficult than placing them.  You could consider this an eternal bond if we go through with it.” he warned, looking quite serious.

 “I figured as much.” I admitted, finding that as the most logical point of the necromancy.  The rings would draw energy from us.  “Let’s do it.  All of it.  I find myself amused by the idea of always having your heart.”

 “Well, there’s that too, but you don’t need a ring for it.” he assured me with a charming smile.

 The conversation on spells continued for a time before moving onto a discussion of aesthetics.  Our rings would have engravings, imperceptible to most, of us dancing with one another in a sequence around the bands.  His ring would have twin bands of rubies to match the ruby of my engagement ring, and mine would have sapphires to also match my other ring.  Set into the dark metal of his alloy, we believed the effect would be quite fantastic.

 When we started on our test rings, I felt James watching me.  He surely wasn’t surprised that I was doing this with my eyes closed, at least he shouldn’t be with how much he knows of my abilities with heat.  Our test rings were so perfectly formed that we could have used them if not for a peculiarity of certain spells.  James claimed that they would only fully set if applied while the metal was molten, so I took his word for it.  I was very impressed that he was able to craft so perfectly without my power over heat.

 The final rings took an incredible amount of concentration due to the complexity of the spells going into them, probably the most complicated spells I had ever cast.  Keeping myself from wondering how he had managed to come up with these was somewhat easy until after I finished, due to my inability to think of anything outside of the rings or spells in those moments, but the moment I finished, my musings started taking hold… until I saw him smiling at me as he held up my ring.

 “Let’s hope you got the sizing right.  They won’t come off easily, so we can’t try them on.” he teased, still grinning at me.

 I playfully hit him and insisted we showed Father.  I knew from the scattered images pressing into my mind, that my father couldn’t fully comprehend what we were doing or why, but he loved me still.  Knowing that his love for me lasted through his mental breakdown gave me hope that I could still have a meaningful relationship with him, even in this state, and James was fully in support of it.  How lucky was I?

[creative-type]

The Murder of Arthur Wright XI

First Previous AO3

Chapter Eleven: Bad Business

The walk to Fernando’s office was just long enough for Margot to thoroughly berate herself. She tried to keep her expression calm, but Cain’s betrayal cut deep. Margot knew not to trust him on blind faith, but they had been so busy there had been little time to do anything other than verify he was a licensed detective. Margot had allowed herself to be drawn by his affable manner and had forgotten they hadn’t even known one another a week.

Had it all been an act? When Margot thought about it, it seemed that Cain was accustomed to wearing different hats as the need arose. She remembered how he had manipulated Felix Wright into hiring him in the first place, and how different he seemed prior to their meeting with Anansi.

Reputation is a man’s greatest and most fragile mask. Look behind it at your own risk.

It seemed like it had been an age since Anansi dispersed those words of wisdom. Of course they had been referring to Felix Wright at the time, but Margot got the feeling like she was finally getting a glimpse past the façade Cain tried so hard to maintain.

And she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

There was danger following him any further. Margot was confident in her ability to fight her way out of any situation, but that was nothing compared to the damage that would be done if someone recognized her. While the Academy’s good conduct policy didn’t specifically forbid professors from going into private meetings with known mobsters, she suspected that the Board of Directors would be none too pleased if they learned of her actions thus far.

It wasn’t funny, but Margot almost laughed anyway. Being fired was the least of her worries. This was the second time Cain had gotten her involved with the Casettis without her knowledge of consent. Already she had a known hitman talking about her with a bookie of what was likely an illegal gambling operation.  

“This way,” Tony said, leading them away from the cheering crowd to an office complex. It looked…deceptively normal. The dwarves were all in good spirits, making small talk with Cain and joking with one another. Though it was starting to get late, the sun still shone brightly in the sky. There was nothing dirty or off-putting, nothing shady that would tip off it was a center for criminal activity.

Finally Tony came to a stop and rapped his knuckles against the doorway. Like the restaurant that started this whole mess there were two entrances, one meant for dwarves and another for so-called big folk. There was no answer, and he knocked again.

“Open up, Fernando. You’ve got visitors.”

There were a few moments of silence before the door opened, revealing a silver-haired dwarf. He scowled at Tony before canting his neck up to Cain. Between a pair of dark glasses and bushy beard covering his mouth it was difficult to make out his expression. Margot supposed the glasses would almost be a necessity to keep from being blinded by the heavy rings he wore on nearly every finger. When he stroked his beard the sun glittered off of jeweled cufflinks, and it wouldn’t have surprised Margot if the chain of his pocket watch was made of gold.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, surprised.

“What kind of greeting is that, Fernando?” Cain asked. “Can’t a guy come around for old time’s sake?”

The dwarf removed his glasses and cleaned them slowly with a kerchief. “Uh huh, I suppose not, but last time we talked you didn’t seem too keen on coming back.” His eyes shifted to Margot. “You brought a lady here? What kind of gentleman brings a lady into his business?”

“She’s the professor Viola was talkin’ about,” Tony said. “The one who fought the drath.”

“The one who saw Master Wright die,” Fernando said. There was something about his tone, the ease in which he said it, that put Margot on edge. He sighed, and returned his glasses back to their proper place. “I suppose you better come in.”

Margot and Cain entered through the appropriate door as Fernando directed Tony and his men to wait for them outside. The office was fastidiously tidy, with each quill and book in place. Fernando ambled behind his desk and clapped his hands. Two chairs, made to seat dwarves, sprung up in size.

“Handy spell, that,” Fernando said as they took a seat. “Enchanted by a guy on Twelfth Boulevard. He does great work.”

“Only the best for you, Fernando,” Cain said.

“Cut the *$!!@&#*, Cain,” Fernando said. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey now, no need to be hostile—“

“And what you doing, bringing a professor from Kemptson here?” Fernando said. There was dry hoarseness to his voice that reminded Margot of a tomb. “The Wizard may be gone, but her type don’t belong here. You should know that, and if you don’t someone otta be teaching you a lesson.”

Cain frowned, and reached for a stick of jerky. His expression was passive as stone, but Margot could see the sweat beading on his forehead. She slid her gaze back to Fernando.

Despite his diminutive size, there was no doubt who was in control of the room. If the jewels weren’t already a tipoff, it would have been impossible for Margot to mistake him for a mere bookie. The dwarf wielded menace like a weapon, and they were in his territory, playing by his rules.

Silently cursing Cain’s recklessness, Margot said, “I am sitting here, you know. It might help if you give us a chance to explain ourselves.”

Fernando’s moustache twitched. He leaned back in his chair and regarded her as if she were a bit of mud he had forgotten to scrape off his shoe. “Alright Professor, I’ll bite. Why in the nine hells are you here?”

“I need to talk with Felix Wright,” Cain said. “If he’s here, I thought it better to let you know before causing a scene at your establishment. You know, as a professional curtesy.”

“And if he’s not you figured I would know where to find him,” Fernando finished for him. He leaned on his elbows, the deep furrow remaining between his brows. “And what makes you think I waste my time looking after Felix Wright?”

“Viola said your Father knew him,” Cain said with a shrug. “Figured you were in business together.”

Fernando let out a harsh bark of a laugh. “As if I’d waste my time. Give him a century or two and he might be worth the effort, but I don’t deal in uncut gemstones. Brilliant mind, but without the common sense the gods bestowed on a common pudding.”

“But you know where he is?” Cain prompted.

“Comes in often enough, braying like the ass he is.” Fernando seemed to have come to the decision that they were not a threat. He reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of spirits and three tumblers. “Can I tempt you? You won’t find better anywhere in the country.”

“No, thank you,”

“Naw.”

“Suit yourself.” Fernando poured himself a drink and took a bracing sip. “You still haven’t answered my question, Cain: What’s the deal with the professor?”

“Professor Margot is just a consultant for a case,” Cain said.

“And what case would that be?”

Fernando set his tumbler down and laced his fingers together. The intensity returned to his gaze, hidden as it was behind dark glasses, heavy and nearly overwhelming. He moved the ring on his left thumb a quarter turn, and the hair on the back of Margot’s neck prickled. Magic.

Margot called on her power, ready to activate the charms in her skirts, when Cain raised a hand to stop her.

“I just want to talk to Mr. Wright,” he said calmly. “I think you’ll find it mutually beneficial.”

The dwarf rested his hands on his desk. “Yeah?”

“If nothing else I can get him out of your beard for a day or two.” Cain said.

“That’s not good enough, Cain,” Fernando said.

Margot suddenly remembered a story one of her instructors told her years ago of a snake he’d come across while traveling. Before biting it would always shake a rattle on its tail. Fernando was like that rattlesnake, his words equal parts warning and threat.

“I’ve heard whispers, boy,” he continued. “You’ve been sniffing around where you don’t belong. You better be careful were you stick your nose. One of these days it’s gonna get cut off.”

Cain’s grin returned, wolf-like to Fernando’s snake. “It’s a good thing I just want to talk to Wright junior then, isn’t it? Hells bells, I’ll even stay on premises if you’re that jumpy.” He leaned forward as if sharing some conspiracy and stage whispered, “It’s almost as if you got something to hide.”

Fernando’s lip turned down in a silent snarl, flashing a glimpse of a golden tooth. “Tony!”

The door opened immediately. “Yeah boss?”

“Find the elf and bring him here. He was in the luxury box last I saw.” He whirled back to Cain, pointing one meaty finger at his chest. “And you get out of my sight. I’ll overlook your insolence this once. But you’d do well to remember, Cain, you get away with a lot as a friend of the Family, but you ain’t Family.”

“What in the world is going on here?”

Cain shook his head slightly, and said out of the corner of his mouth, “Not here, Prof.”

They were waiting outside of Fernando’s office, still watched by Tony’s goons. A glare from Margot was enough for them to back a respectful distance away, but there were undoubtedly surveillance spells marking their every move. Margot had already spotted two All-Seeing Eyes, only partially hidden by the natural shadows of the building. Who knew what else was watching them.

“Fine, but when this is over you owe me.”

“Fair enough.” The corner of his mouth twitched…was that in regret? Or frustration? “And I know it probably doesn’t mean anything, but I am sorry.”

Margot grunted. “You better be.”

Margot was more than content to give him the cold shoulder—perhaps literally, depending on how this turned out—but the stony silence only lasted between them a moment or two before she heard Felix complaining loudly.

“I’ve paid my debts, dwarf! You have no right to bring me here. I had twenty gold riding on that race! Unhand me, you scoundrel! Unhand me at once—“ His voice shriveled into a strangled croak when he finally saw Cain and Margot.

“You!”

“Us,” Cain said. He shoved his hands in his pockets and offered his friendliest smile. “Time to go home, Wright. Your wife’s waiting in my office.”

“Isabella?” Felix’s eyebrows drew together, a slur in his voice making it sound more like Izbell. His eyes were bloodshot, and Margot wondered if he was drunk or merely sleep deprived.

Margot had run out of patience either way. With a flick of her wrist she gathered a handful of water, drawing away enough heat to make it just the right side of freezing, and flung it at his face.

Felix yelped and strung together a string of Elvish curses, a few Margot recognized from her time with Lyra. It was hardly the sort of language a gentleman would use. Margot crossed her arms across her chest, unimpressed.

The scientist in her noted the dark bags under his eyes, the frumpled state of his clothes, the messy disarray of his hair with clinical detachment. The man who stood before her was nearly unrecognizable from the one she met at the mage’s conference, a mere shadow of the confident, charming man who was the face of his father’s research.

Her heart softened just a little. Estranged or not Felix had just lost his father, and people dealt with grief in different ways.

That iota of sympathy vanished when, still in Elvish, he suggested her mother had had inappropriate relations with an orc, which even if true would not have been something for Margot to be ashamed of, and she doused him a second time.

That sobered him enough to shut his mouth, and Cain shook his head. “You deserved that one, Wright. Now let’s get you home.”

Isabella was still waiting for them when they returned, which surprised Margot. She scrambled to her feet at the sight of them, her entire attention immediately drawn to her husband. The color left her cheeks, and her already-enormous eyes grew even wider as she covered her mouth with horror.

Stuck between Margot and Cain, Felix looked like a rat caught between a trap and a hungry cat. He swallowed hard, his expression crumpling with shame. “Isabella, I can explain…”

“I’m just happy you’re safe.”

Felix tried to meet his wife’s earnest expression, but was unable to.

“I know you’re eager to get him home, Mrs. Wright, but do you mind if I have a word with your husband?” Cain asked. “I private?”

Isabella looked very much like she wanted to refuse, but Cain didn’t give her the chance, half leading, half dragging Felix Wright but the collar into his office. Margot followed, and as soon as the door clicked behind them Cain traced a sigil that would prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

It was the first spell Margot had seen him perform halfway competently, and that made her think that he was forced to use it often.

“What do you want with me?” Felix muttered as he slunk into his seat. “Have you found Desdemona yet?”

Cain took his time in answering. He drew a stick of jerky out of his pocket, but didn’t put it in his mouth. His expression was hard. “Not as of yet, no. But there were some things I wanted clear up that would be a real help.”

“Well get on with it,” Felix said irritably.

“Alright then, I’ll cut right to the chase: Where did you go after Anansi’s play?”

Felix jerked spastically and threw himself to his feet. “What do you mean where did I go? I told you, I waited for my father—“

“And you lied,” Cain said calmly. “Again.”

For a moment Felix was speechless. His eyes bulged, his lips working wordlessly as he tried to speak but couldn’t. His arms went limp by his sides, and he fell back into the chair. “You think I did it.”

Felix laughed. It started as a disbelieving chuckle and grew in volume and intensity until his whole body was shaking with it. The more he tried to stop himself the louder it got, until he was howling hysterically. At that moment Felix Wright seemed less than sane, and Margot was grateful his wife wasn’t present.

“You…you th-think I did it!” Felix managed between halting breaths. “Me! Kill my own father, when he was about to make me more money than your plebeian minds can imagine.”

“Did you hear that, Cain, we’re plebeians now,” Margot drawled.

“Uh huh.” Cain started chewing on his jerky stick. “Mr. Wright, I’m not accusing you of anything, but it is imperative that we know the truth.”

“It seems to me that you already know the truth,” Felix said.

“Not from the horse’s mouth.”

“I’m beginning to think my faith in you was misplaced, Mr. Cain.”

“Please, Mr. Wright. Every little bit helps.”

Felix snorted disbelievingly. “Well, since you asked so nicely.” He straightened himself in an attempt to appear proper, but the affect was undercut by the fact he was still a wet, sopping mess.

“Everything I told you about that illusionist’s performance was the honest-to-gods truth. Father went to confront him, and I went…out.”

“Where,” Cain interrupted sharply.

Felix’s mouth pulled down into a snarl, and he clenched his hands into fists. “I had just seen my sister come back from the dead. It…shook me. I needed some fresh air to clear my head. I took a walk around, and ended up at a tavern a few streets over. I stopped in for a drink.”

He looked up at Cain, and for a moment he looked vulnerable and lost. “I hadn’t gotten drunk since before my sons were born. I swore I never would again, but I just wanted to forget everything I saw. To pretend that it never happened. Some lads at the tavern started a game of cards, which turned to another and another, and before I knew it was two in the morning.”

“I don’t remember making it back to the hotel, but I must have,” Felix said, slumping back into his seat. “Father was furious, of course. We argued, but nothing we hadn’t argued over before, and I was in bed by three.”

“And your father?” Cain asked.

Felix shrugged. “He was still scribbling away in his little notebook. I don’t know if he slept at all. You remember, Professor, how distracted he was when I introduced you? It wasn’t like him to forget like that.”

“What exactly did you quarrel over, Mr. Wright?” Cain said.

Felix’s expression hardened. “What you must understand, Mr. Cain, is that my father cared only for his legacy. He could have stayed on at the University with a state of the art research lab and all the assistants he could have dreamed of and finished his research in half the time, but he insisted on doing everything alone. Or as alone as he possibly could. If he could have avoided working with me he would have, but he couldn’t, and I think he resented it.”

“But that doesn’t make sense, he wrote me for help developing some of his contingency spells,” Margot said.

“Ah, but it was his idea to write you, was it not?” Felix said. “And his idea to integrate your ideas into his research. And really, with all the contingencies he had already put into his device the spellwork you contributed was largely superfluous.”

“That didn’t stop it from blowing up,” Margot said.

“No, it didn’t.” Felix got to his feet, swaying slightly. “Now if you excuse me, my wife is waiting.”

“I may need to call on you another time,” Cain said.

“I pray to any god that cares to listen that won’t be necessary, but if it is you know where to find me.”

“Just one moment,” Margot said sharply. “I get what you were doing the night before the conference, but what about today? You wife was worried sick about you.”

“That’s none of your concern, Professor. Now kindly move aside.”

Margot stared down Felix Wright, and did not budge from the door. “What’s your connection with the Casettis?”

“Professor, let the man leave,” Cain said quietly.

“Do you realize what kind of damage Master Wright’s research could do if it got into those hands?” Margot asked. “Do either of you realize?”

“So first I’m a murderer, and now I’m in the pocket of a mob family,” Felix said scathingly. “Cain, have this woman step aside, or I swear I will move her myself.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“My business is my own,” Felix said, his voice icy cold. There was a look in his eye that was eerily reminiscent of his mother at her most imposing. Still Margot did not move. She needed answers, and she knew that Felix had them.

For a split second Margot thought Felix would attempt to hit her, but with visible effort he gathered himself back under control, and a terrible grin spread across his face. “You’re fired.”

“Excuse me?”

Margot couldn’t tell if she had said the words or Cain. Perhaps they had both spoken, but regardless of which of them spoke Felix’s gaze never left hers.

“I said you’re fired. A man knows when it’s best to cut his losses, and it’s obvious that you two are of no help to me.”

“Mr. Wright, please, I know today’s been a difficult day for you. Maybe once you get some rest—“

“That’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Cain,” Felix said, his voice deadly calm. “I’m thinking more clearly now than I have since my father’s death. I gave you one simple task, and that was to find Desdemona and prove her guilt, and all you’ve done is upset my mother at my father’s funeral, distress my wife, and accuse me of murder. I put too much stock into the Westmacott name to see you for what you truly are: a fraud.”

“But your father’s death…”

“I don’t care about my father’s death,” Felix said. “In fact, the more time that passes the more I realize how little I care at all. So what if he was murdered? That changes nothing except I no longer have to suffer his hubris. My business is my own, and I’m more than capable of standing on my own two feet.”

This time when he moved for the door Margot stepped aside. His wife stood waiting, pale and worried. He didn’t spare her even a look as he brushed her aside. “Come along, Isabella. We’re going home.”

Isabella looked from her husband to Cain, eyes full of questions she dare not ask. As Felix put on his hat and coat she pressed a small pouch of coins into Cain’s hands. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice scarcely above a whisper. “His father always did bring out the worst of him.”

[biofreak659]

Please enjoy some dragon age fanfiction. In other news, this is now a Cullen hate blog

“Are you mad!” Cullen slammed his hands down on the war table as Kaaras walked into the room. “What the hell are you—what are they doing here?”

Kaaras stepped forwards. Vivienne, Solas, and the Tevinter mage flanked him. The leader of the mage’s rebellion had declined their invitation, and had sent a young mage with a modicum of political experience in (their) place. The girl was nervous, and huddled behind him, while trying to look like she wasn’t hiding.

“They’re mages,” Kaaras said before Vivienne could start telling Cullen he was right, “and you have a habit of ignoring what mages want.”

It had taken a few favors with some old friends, but the Valo-Kas had the advantage of being nearly seven foot, on average, as a whole, and having the most ruthless, kniving tal-vashoth in existence as their leader. What Shokrakar wanted, she got. Kaaras eventually received a dossier on former Knight Captain Cullen Rutherford. It told an unpleasant story, and one that Kaaras was sure Cullen didn’t like people knowing.

But, fair was fair, and Kaaras had found his own dossier in Cullen’s private files when he had decided to break into the human’s room on a whim. As tempting as it was to correct it and scribble in some personal commentary, that would have inevitably spawned some boring sit down and talk with Cullen, where he got lectured at about respecting people and their things from a human who could barely stand to look at him.

It wasn’t worth it.

“What you have done is madness!” Cullen got back to shouting. “Do you have any idea what they’ll do, now that they’re loose? Do you have any idea what a precarious position you’ve put us in by allying with those blood mages!”

“We aren’t blood mages!” The mage’s diplomat stuttered. Kaaras imagined it should have been a shout, but the waif was too nervous.

“There,” Kaaras gestured to her, “they aren’t blood mages. Problem solved.”

“You speak as if enslavement is the better option.” Solas interjected. Kaaras couldn’t stand him on a personal level, but he was full of himself enough to counter Cullen’s own bloated ego.

“Not enslavement, control. Lady Vivienne,” Cullen turned to Vivienne, “you know as well as I that mages need to be controlled. They’re too dangerous otherwise.”

Vivienne crossed her arms delicately over her chest. “I approve of the circles, yes, but I admit to some concern about the radical nature of your suggestion. Surely rehabilitation is an option for the rebels? We’ve had success with it in the past.”

“You want to rehabilitate blood mages?” Cullen scoffed. “I assume that’s why you brought the Tevinter?”

“I’ve got no part in this,” the Tevinter raised his hands defensively, “and you already know my position on mages’ rights.”

“Look,” Kaaras stepped up to the war table and casually picked a token representing a Templar unit, “I don’t care how much people trust the Templars, I’m not starting my damn religious order by codifying mage slavery.”

“Oh, and you say that with a Tevinter at your back? Do you want to codifying elf slavery, then?”

Solas bristled. “Don’t use my people’s tragedy as an argument.”

Solas wasn’t used to disagreement, Kaaras could tell. He was the sort who, when faced with an argument, would rather wander off into the woods, than stay and bicker. The Tevinter didn’t say anything, but his guilty expression poke for him.

“Cullen,” Cassandra spoke up, laying a hand on Cullen’s arm, “the Inquisitor had made his decision. We must respect that.”

“Like he’s respecting the people were fighting for? What happens when one of them is killed for some blood magic rite? What happens when they kill a child? Are you prepared for that? It rest on your shoulders.”

“Don’t be hypocritical, Cullen.” Kaaras planted his hands on the war table and leaned close, pitching his voice low. “After all, there were children in Kinloch Hold.”

“Who were killed by blood mages.” Cullen hissed.

“Were they?” Kaaras leaned back. “What would happen if I asked Solas here to take a stroll through your dreams? What would he see? Would he see Eathln?”

Cullen’s face went white, but he remained remarkable stone-like and he didn’t start stuttering.

Josephine stepped forwards, nervous about getting in between two heavily armed and angry men. “Commander, Inquisitor, please. What’s done is done. We have other things to discuss regarding the mages. Housing, for example, among other things of a logistical nature.”

“(Leader of mages) has the numbers on record.” The mage diplomat stepped forwards. “We have fifteen adults, twelve elderly, and fifty children.”

The Tevinter boggled. “Fifty mage children? In one circle? That’s preposterous. No wonder so few of them survive their trials.”

“One might think it was intentional.” Solas spoke up. He seemed angry, but Kaaras knew that magic children were precious to elves.

Even Vivienne looked concerned. “Those are distorted numbers. Did your instructors die during the rebellion?”

The diplomat checked her paper. “One of the elderly, Miss Trevge, died from pneumonia, and five children died from exposure. There were no deaths directly attributed to the fighting.”

“How abnormal. In Orlais, we strive for a one to one ratio of students to instructors. Of course, there are exceptions, but nothing so extreme as that.”

“Enough!” Cullen shouted. He was still angry, but this wasn’t the fuming rage from before. He was old now, calculating. “Inquisitor, this needs to be a private meeting between yourself and the advisors. Leave.”

The last part of his statement was addressed to the mages, which was fine. Kaaras only needed them long enough to plant a seed of doubt about Cullen and the Templars’ intentions. He had succeeded, judging by the way Vivienne was calling a courier over to her as she left the room. The mage diplomat looked back, worried, but Solas caught her by the elbow and shook his head. Kaaras was too far to catch his words or read his lips, but from what he knew of Solas, it was probably something like ‘don’t worry, he’s a great qunari brute; come with me and we can discuss my magical superiority over nasty grass tea’.

He didn’t know Solas too well.

The doors slammed shut.

“Can’t let the mages talk on their own behalf, I imagine. After all,” Kaaras tipped his head and let his gaze slide to Cullen, “they aren’t people like you or me.”

“You self important ass.” Cullen said, all pretense of tolerance dropped. “You’re a fucking quinari. You’d do worse to them.”

“One of these days,” Kaaras shifted, “I’m going to have to explain the vast difference between a tal-vashoth and a quinari. One of these days, I’m going to have to take you to meet my mage brother. One of these days,” he stepped forwards and loomed over Cullen, “I’m going to have to beat you bloody.”

“Try it.” Cullen hissed.

Kaaras did.

He caught Cullen with an open handed slap, that sounded much more impressive than it actually was. Still, he was big, and Cullen twisted back before he recovered himself and threw a punch aimed for Kaaras’ neck. Kaaras gagged when the blow hit and shoved Cullen away, throwing him onto the war table.

“Bastard,” he swore lowly, heaving.

Cullen kicked him in the hip, obviously aiming for the groin and launched himself off the table. He was too self disciplined to tackle Kaaras and turn this into more of a bar fight than it already was, so he aimed for Kaaras’ knees instead.

Kaaras stepped back before the blow could hit, and punched Cullen across the face again, taking advantage of his overswing.

“Inquisitor!” Cassandra shouted. She and Josephine were at the far end of the room, barricaded behind some of the chairs. As as Cassandra was, she wasn’t stupid enough to get in the middle of a fight between them. “Cullen!”

Cullen reached up, catching Kaaras’ chin with his knuckles. Kaaras staggered back, swatting his hand at Cullen, trying to catch the collar of his shirt.

“Hold it, boss,” a pair of arms caught him under the armpits and yanked him back into a broad chest. Cassandra took the moment’s pause to pull Cullen into a full-nelson.

For a second, there was only the sound of Cullen and him trying to catch their breaths.

Then: “Damn, boss, you hit hard.” The Iron Bull pulled him back a bit, letting him get his footing. “Your head cooled now?”

Kaaras thrashed his arm. “Let go of me.”

“Ah, not yet. You got him, Cassandra?”

“Yes,” Cassandra nodded.

Kaaras’ let the battle fervor drain from his mind and looked around. The war room doors were open, and the diplomat and the Tevinter were peering in the room. The rest of Bull’s Charger were there too, presumably to keep the growing crowd of witnesses from getting a look at the Inquisitor himself get into a brawl with the Commander. Cullen looked like shit, but Kaaras supposed he probably looked similar.

“Well, this is a shitshow,” Bull said broadly, leading Kaaras into a little walk around the war room. Aaras had no choice but to stagger in front of him. “I gotta say, boss, the way you run things, I like your style.”

“Don’t fuckin’ insult me,” Kaaras panted.

“What, I could say that you remind of myself when I was young, but I’ve never been such a hot head. You good?”

“Yeah.”

Bull let him go, and Kaaras stood up, rubbing his knuckles. He turned, regarded Bull, then slammed his forehead into Bull’s. The Chargers surged forwards.

“Calm down, guys.” Bull waved a hand. “It’s a tal-vashoth thing. We’re good?”

“Sure. Keep quiet.”

“I’m a regular secret keeper, boss,” Bull mimed zipping his lips, then gestured for the Chargers to disperse. He grabbed the diplomat and the Tevinter and gently pulled them away too. The door slammed shut.

“The mages stay.” He croaked. In the smoldering ruins of his reputation, the thought occurred that perhaps it was unwise to beat the shit out of one of his advisors. “End of discussion.”

But damn had it felt righteous.

[bondedbrotherhood-blog]

Here and with Shadows - by Zera

Zera: It was a dark, and dreary Tuesday…

Original way to start one of these, isn’t it?

I tell you, if people spent less time worrying about the state of the weather and trying to wax lyrical, then maybe the race wouldn’t be in so much trauma and distress. I know, I know, in Shakespearean terms, describing the ferocity of the winds, and the rain, and all the goings on outside a dwelling set the scene beautifully and gave a sense of impending turmoil, but to be honest, my life really hasn’t been that bad.

I may have lost my mahmen before I even had a chance to know her, but my father has been a wonderful role model and support. I may never be the girliest girl you’ll ever find, but I do know my way around the basics, and what I lack in sculpted and subterfugios femininity, I make up for in other ways.

And you can get your mind right out of the gutter; I’m not talking about my prowess between the sheets. Or against the wall. Or under water. Or in the car. Or… well, I’m sure you catch my drift.

My father had no idea how to raise a girl, but I will always love the fact that regardless of his inexperience, he didn’t try to put me on some unattainable pedestal. He used what he knew, and the both of us ran with it full tilt into the great beyond. Like many civilian families, we didn’t have a swell of money to rely on to keep us afloat. Instead, my father had ventured out into the human world, trying to find a place to carve out his own living. He found it in something useful: the provision of sports and recreational gear.

What started out as a small afterhours business had flourished to a budding success by the time I was born, and I spent many hours in the store as I grew up. By then he had a day manager and several staff, all of which were more than happy to let him pull the long nights; they never thought to question why. They just believed he was a good boss, allowing them to go home to their families.

Technically, it wasn’t just my childhood that I spent in the store; I spend a hell of a lot in them now too, but that’s because I manage it for him. In the past few years we’ve expanded: what started out as a Ma and Pa store now includes a number of abseiling walls, a gym equipped with weights and rooms for classes, an enclosed shooting range, and I’m pretty sure he wants to look at putting in a pool. Why, I don’t know. But it’s his baby, and I won’t stand in the way of him getting what he wants. He deserves it, after his only daughter caused the death of his beloved Cecilya.

The violence of the birthing bed left her too weak after she brought me screaming into this world, but not once has he ever held it against me. He tells me I have her fire, and her beauty. All I know is I have her eyes and his technical skill with a weapon.

From the time I was old enough to understand right, and wrong, my father let me take karate with the instructor at the gym. I was the only girl in the class, of course, but that didn’t stop me trying to whoop the boys. The fact that they believed they could beat me just because I was a girl made my stubborn ass want to be faster, stronger. It worked, too. As I climbed through the belts, I don’t think I’ve seen my father prouder. Well, except for when I started throwing in a little MMA, and when I took down my first deer.

I think I was maybe 17, and my father had taken me off on a hunting trip. For years I’d wanted to go with him, but he’d always left me behind with one of the staff. Doting father that he was, he didn’t want to leave me alone in the house; female vampires are precious gifts, after all. We’d been doing day trips out into the farmlands since I was 15, just shooting cans and paper targets. But it wasn’t the same as having to measure the wind and account for movement, like when you were shooting at something that was likely to bolt if the wind changed and carried your scent in its direction.

It was exhilarating, even if it took four days before I was confident enough to take down my first.

His pale green eyes had shone until they were practically luminous, and I grinned so hard I thought my cheeks would crack. Since then we’ve gone a couple of times a year together, though he still goes off on his own too, while I watch the shop. I think he likes the solitude. It gives him a place to think, some time to just… be, away from the responsibility of being a business owner. I don’t blame him, though it saddens me a little that he hasn’t found someone else, that he closed off the part of himself that could love another woman the way he had his Cecilya.

And yet, I know there’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do is try and make his life a little easier, while I try to make sure I don’t lose who I could become in the process.

I still take classes at our gym; I run the karate program for the kids at night, and train with an MMA instructor into the early hours. I’ve started branching out there too, bringing in blades and blunt instruments to widen my range.

I consistently have some of the highest scores on our gun range. I even came up with a monthly game of BINGO. They’d scoffed at first, but when they realised there was money and beer to be won, they came around.

I’ve knocked out more idiot thugs than I need to remember; whether it was because they were new hotheads at the gym that needed reminding that a female can be just as strong as them, or on the rare occasion I graced the clubs on Trade Street, because they patted my ass just one time too many without an invitation.

But I’m growing restless. As much as I love my father, and the business I’ve helped to cultivate, I want something more out of life. The race is fading, dying at the hands of that scourge, the Lessening Society, and I don’t know how much longer I can go without contributing. I’ll never be the kind of female that works well in a nursing setting; I just don’t have the temperament needed for the right design of bedside manner. I’d be too hard, too coarse; don’t get me wrong, I can be sweet, and charming most of the time, but my tolerance for bullshit is pretty low.

Let’s just hope that all holds in my favour.

Because I want to apply to be a Trainee.

*****

The sound of cloth wrapped fists hitting the heavy hanging bag barely greeted my ears as hip hop music blared hot and heavy through the speakers of the gym. I’d clocked off and closed down the retail side of our establishment a little over an hour earlier, and at this time of night, only the young and the motivated were here. So in actual fact, it was only me. Even if I did have company, they generally didn’t mind my music choice, and if they did, they didn’t mention it.

The shooting range and abseiling walls were done for the evening too, leaving me and a skeleton crew of one other to monitor reception. While the average 24-hour gym leaves their desk unattended during the graveyard shift, trusting their patrons with secure keys, we didn’t take that luxury. The vampire in us made us cautious, and so instead, either my father or I was here at night.

Increasingly, I found it was me that pulled the graveyard shifts, but that was more a symptom of me wanting to train and give him a break, than anything on his part.

Breathing in short bursts through my lips with each fall of my fist against the heavy fabric, I let my body twist and contort naturally with my movements. As the music swept over me, I started to include the rest of my body, throwing elbows, and knees, and kicks as distance, rhythm, and the sway of the bag dictated. I grit my teeth as I threw my weight into each assault, sweat beading on my skin as the bag began to test its counterweight in the ceiling.

My father would kill me if I pulled any more plater out, so I eased back and away from it as I thought about whether it was time for my cool down.

“Damn, Zed. What’d that bag ever do to you?” the sound of Jacob’s voice, one of our regulars, causing a broad grin to curve across my lips before I turned to him with a serious expression.

“What didn’t it do? It was just standing there, giving me the glad eye,” shaking out my arms and cracking my neck. Here, in the human word, I’m known as Zeraphina Davidoff, so while those of the race call me ‘Zera’, the human’s call me ‘Zed’. It’s kind of cute, really; while my personality didn’t change, it gave me some strange sense of security, knowing the human’s wouldn’t piece together what I really was.

I never went full out at the gym unless I was alone; the less questions that were asked the better, and I hated having to scrub their memories. You had no idea what it was you could be erasing, so I mitigated the risk by moderating myself. I’d heard of vampire only gyms that had been opened in the more industrialised areas of Caldwell, but there were other risks associated with being a female vampire, alone, in any vicinity that could be traced directly to our kind.

The Lessening Society was a constant concern, so the less time I spent in murders of vampires was probably a smart move. It was one of the reasons I didn’t hit Trade with the others; the Society stalked the clubs, picking off civilians like we were sport.

It made me want to clench my jaw so hard my teeth would crack.

“Earth to Zed. Come in, Zed?”

The sound of Jacob’s voice had me snapping out of my reverie, and I finally gave him a wry smile. “Sorry. It’s that time of the night again. Josh still out on the desk?” walking the few paces I needed to and scooping up my towel.

“Yeah. But seeing as it was just you in here, I’m pretty sure he’s spending most of his time on Tinder,” to which all I could do was snort.

“You’re here late,” I commented, and he raised his shoulders in a slight shrug.

“There’s no rest for the wicked Zed, you know that.”

Oh didn’t I just.

“You’re preaching to the choir there, Jay,” slinging the towel around my shoulders, holding an end in each hand after I dabbed at my face and chest.

“Is that why you’re always here until the early hours of the morning? Trying not to be bad?”

A dark chuckle escaped past my lips. He wasn’t trying to be flirty, which was a good thing for him, because if he had, he would have earned a severe look from me. “You really don’t want to know why I’m here,” releasing the towel and turning so I could drop it on top of my workout bag. As I turned back to him I pushed my hands back through my hair to slick it down, cracking my neck as I let them fall away from short, dark locks.

“Man trouble?” which of course just made me snort.

“C’mon. When are men not trouble? Besides, I don’t date,” leaning down to pick up my stuff and sling the long strap of my bag over my shoulder. I always kept it with me when I trained. Paranoid? Possibly. Practical? Always.

“You’re missing out, you know,” I heard him call as I headed for the door of one of the training rooms.

“Nah, you see Jay, what guy could keep up with all of this?” which just had him snorting a laugh as I kicked through into the bare room; thick black matting its only adornment.

What guy indeed.

Dropping my bag in the corner, I knelt down and slipped two Gurkha blades from my knapsack. I’d spent enough time working on my musculature. Now… now it was time to play with blades. Tomorrow would be the bow staff. The day after throwing knives. It was taking some time, but I was getting used to them. I’d been toying with the idea of buying a naginata, but there were only so many bladed weapons you could purchase without people starting to ask questions.

Breathing calmly, I rolled my wrists and subsequently the weapons I grasped loosely in my hands,

I needed to find a leather maker in town to make a custom holster for me.

Something to add to my to do list.

And with that, I lost myself to the hip hop that beat out at me through the speakers, its momentum blending with mine as I wielded the razor sharp blades with measured confidence. To be afraid of them left you liable to be sliced through; being over-confident or cocky left you with the same result. So as I turned, and curved, and thrust, I imagined it was a body that was in front of me; an invisible shadow partner that forced me to be strong, to be fast, to be accurate. I tried not to leave myself exposed as it returned every joust.

With each set of combinations I worked through, I grew more fierce, more focused. Other aspects of my training started to shine through. I threw kicks, and bobbed and weaved, slicing upwards or across through vulnerable skin. As my session drew to a close, my body wasn’t just misted with sweat; my muscles ached, and a low throb had begun to build beneath my temples.

That’s what concentrating too hard for too long will do to you.

As I twirled the blades around cloth wrapped palms, I took another shuddering breath, sending a side eye to the door as I heard a slow clap reverberate throughout the room.

“Damn, Zed. Remind me not to piss you off.”

I smiled.

At least I wasn’t showing fang.

Here and with Shadows - written by Zera.

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 5 (HLITF)

if anyone possibly wants to get on a tag list I’d be happy to make one

👉 @theshove 👈

If you wanna catch up, Part 4 is right here! Happy reading :)

Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn’t want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests.

Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer?

Warnings: Language, Reference to sexual activity, Forceful nature

~~~~~~

It had been decided that I would go undercover as Kaga's girlfriend. So, some days later, I found myself in the Metropolitan Police Headquarters. 

"Hey, get me that file." Kaga ordered, pointing at a beige booklet on someone else's desk. I quickly follow his commands, and then his next and his next. He seemed to be working even more than we had already been, and that meant me following him around more. Naruko had started to worry about me, especially after I flipped out on her. 

It was an accident. She asked if she could look at more pictures from my childhood. I guess that breif insight into my childhood a few days after we met made her curious. The memory angered me and I walked away making her feel bad. We repatched things, but she had been checking in with me more and more afterwards. I had to keep reminding myself to chill out and forget about the past. But I couldn't get that phone call out of my head.

As I'm about to ask the instructor a question about the investigation, he rejected me before I could say a word. 

"Hyogo, you have a minute?" Shinonome appeared and Kaga is more than happy to answer any questions he has. "We haven't had any contact from that Shige guy who's undercover in Hoshi's office." The atmosphere instantly became tense as the subject is brought up.

"Last contact?" Kaga responded, not looking up from his files. 

"Yesterday at midnight. Nothing after that." My heart stopped at the thought of a man being behind the front lines, not being able to get in contact with the people he needed to report to.

"Yamashige is supposed to be good at undercover work." Another detective in the room spoke up, also seeming worried. 

"Do you think he's been caught?" The word 'caught' made me clench my fists, holding a stack of files Kaga is having me sort.

"Atsuko, sorry, but could you make some tea?" Ayumu leant over me and it pulled me out of my spiralling thoughts. 

"Sure thing." I jumped up, welcoming the distraction. 

"You don't have to be so nervous." He showed me a kind smile and, maybe because I had been so on-edge lately, I didn't see, or suspect, any malice behind it. Shinonome patted my back with a thump, pushing me in the direction of the drink station. "Look, Hyogo took you to eavesdrop at that love hotel the other time. That was tough enough, right?" Not surprised he knew that, I simply nodded. From what I had heard, Ayumu was meant to be a pro at collecting information, which is why I always found him a little too curious.

"There are people like Yamashige that get sent in for the initial stage all alone." Ayumu, maybe trying to calm me down, explained. 

"And you've had no contact with him." Appreciating the conversation to distract me, I started asking questions so I could actually learn something here. 

"Yeah. When it gets to a point where there's no contact like this..." I didn't have to listen to the rest of what Shinonome had to say, I already knew that side of it.

Once I had finished the tea, I passed some to everyone in the office before the door opened with a sudden bang. It was an old man, obviously a superior by the look of his stoic face. 

"Kaga, is your man really missing?" Were the first words out of his mouth and even I was surprised. Word really got around quick.

After Kaga also noticed this, the higher-up started to order him around. "You need to take responsibility for this mistake. Cut him from the team and give his mission to someone else." The bluntness of the savage order made my ears buzz. 

‘How could someone think that would be okay? If you have the resources, why wouldn't you go save your man?’

The man then threw some files at Kaga, which I was sure were resumes of other officers that would be able to take over the mission. When I watched Kaga really consider the papers in front of him, I started to think he was really up for the idea. 

‘Surely not?..’ I thought back to the phone call he had when we were walking to class and my palms grew sweaty.

"Of course. Dregs like him won't work. Thanks. I'll reorganise the team immediately." The words leaving Kaga's mouth left a satisfied smirk on the higher-up's face. Me, on the other hand, had anger bubbling up inside me. Maybe this was my naivety playing again, but how could they just leave a man to die? That was something my father would do. Again, it was becoming harder to separate the two.

"Yeah. Find someone suitable to take his place." The man nodded in satisfaction and left the room.

"Instructor Kaga." I walked up to my mentor's desk and he glared up at me. 

"What?" He spat and I tried to compose myself, not wanting to sound too emotional. 

"You're not deserting him, are you?" My words made the room go cold, but Kaga was the only one that reacted. 

"What're you talking about?" As if he hadn't just had that conversation, Kaga looked at me with a frown. 

"The investigator who hasn't checked in." I reminded him. 

"Are you saying I have to go there and save him?" The captain seemed exhausted just to vocalise the idea. His indifference frustrated me, but I gave everything I had not to raise my voice.

‘He says he'll get rid of morons on a daily basis... But he's going to abandon a man in a life or death situation?’

"Ayumu, you finished?" Ignoring my internal rage, Kaga looked over to his subordinate. 

"Of course. Everything's ready to go at any time." Shinonome passed a small USB to the Captain. "There's a backup." He reminded Kaga before he stood up. 

"I'll be away for a while, so you handle the rest." Kaga grabbed his blazer from the back of his chair. 

"You'll be going home today?" Shinonome replied.

"Yeah. I doubt it'll be that easy though." As Kaga nonchalantly headed for the door, I couldn't help but bite the tip of my thumb. The situation had made me spiral into where my sister could be and I was unbelievably nervous.

"You still here? Hurry up and get back to school." Kaga called out to me and I didn't really hear him. 

"I still have work to do." I was pulled out of my trance when I saw him glaring at me. 

"You're good for today." Kaga placed the USB Shinonome gave him in his pocket and leaft the room without saying another word to anyone.

‘How can he just leave like that?’ Obviously not having any clue what was going on in his head, I stood there, fuming. 

"Well, back to work." A detective's words made the atmosphere in the room alleviate- almost immediately. The detectives seemed more scared about what Kaga would do to them if they didn't finish their own work than for their endangered coworker. It was as if nothing had happened.

"You're all going to forget about this guy?" I was quite honestly shocked. I thought the police force I was joining was to save people, not to lay back when it's too hard to give it a try. 

"There's nothing we can do about it anyway." The detectives try to deviate me away from thinking about the subject, but it was too late.

"Atsuko." I heard Ayumu speak up behind me and I turned to see a meaningful smile on his face. I ran over, hoping to talk some sense into him. Hopefully whatever rivalry we had between us made us somewhat fri-enemies.

"Isn't he your teammate? You can't just leave him there!" It may have seemed like I was overreacting, but in the current state of my life, I felt like it was necessary to try and save someone if I have the chance. There was so many people in the same situation as Yamashige I had watched die at the hands of my father and my uncles, I wanted to help at least one of them,

"Don't say these things so loudly." Ayumu tried to calm me down. "It's like they said, don't say anything and let Hyogo do things his way." Shinonome seemed to know more than he was leading on but returned to work before I could question him further.

Just as I began to feel like I needed to go after Kaga, I was nearly hit by a yawning man emerging from a back room. 

"Excuse me." Thrown off by the strange occurrence in such a prestigious office, I jumped out of the way without thinking.

 "Yeah." The man merely grunted, looking too tired to be walking around. 

"You napping again, Chief?" Ayumu smiled at the man. 

"You're all so noisy; I woke up." He grumbled in response. 

‘That's the Public Safety Division's boss?’ I was completely thrown off by the man who still had bedhead. ‘He's the guy responsible for his subordinates. Surely he would help!’

I took a step in front of the chief, bowing after I introduced myself. "Yeah, nice to meet you." He smiled, now starting to wake up. "Do you need something from me?" He spoke so smoothly that I took an involuntary step back. 

He seemed a little mysterious; I felt like I shouldn't have been talking to him. I quickly shook the thought out of my brain and clenched my fists. "Um... Detective Yamashige has possibly failed his mission and been caught." I started to explain, but Chief Namba's expression d idn’t change. "But nobody will help him, not even Instructor Kaga..." Feeling a little betrayed on the detective's behalf, I got more annoyed at my instructor.

"Kaga?" Namba seemed shocked at the name. He took moment to think, looking a little stressed. "I leave matters like that to the squad captains. It's just not something I butt into." He sighed, looking away from my strong gaze. I instantly deflated; it felt like I had used my last hope.

"Oh, now that I think about it, you're the one going undercover with Kaga as a couple." Not realising my defeat, the Chief brought up a totally different subject. 

"Yes. I'll work as hard as possible." I sighed before answering him, not wanting to sound ungrateful for the opportunity.

"Then make sure you practice well for this role. If you're going to feel like a real couple, you should stick with Kaga." The chief's suggestion sounded like a death sentence. I would have thought he was joking, if not for the serious expression on his face. 

"He'll bite my head off but... Can you tell-?" Cutting me off seemed to be a trait for the officers in Public Safety. 

"Alright, I'll leave the rest to you." He winked before heading for the exit. 

‘Okay, he thinks its a good idea...’ I silently followed him through the exit to find out where the Captain had gone.

~~~~~~

I found myself in front of the building Chief Namba believed Kaga had escaped to. ‘I know this building’. I peered up at the skyscraper in front of me, wracking my brain for why it seemed so familiar. This was meant to be where the missing investigator infiltrated. Hopefully, Kaga came here to save his man.

Lost in thought, I didn't notice when two nasty-looking men exited the building. 

"Hey, you! What're you doing here?" The more muscular of the two called out and I jumped around. 

‘That tattoo!’ My eyes grew wide at the ink peeking out of his collar. It looked similar to the mark my father's mafia used and my heart dropped at the thought I could have walked right into his territory. 

"No way... You got something to do with that police guy, don't yah?" Probably noticing my pantsuit and not my familial features, the two started to surround me. 

"Seems like it'd be bad if we let you go. Come inside." Sensing my defensive aura, each man grabbed one of my arms. I started thrashing about, trying to get out of their grasps as they dragged me into the building.

~~~~~~

"Get. Your. Filthy paws. Off. Me!" I grunted as the men pulled me into an office on one of the upper floors. They threw me down after closing the door behind them. In the room was a desk and a man I knew for a fact I had seen before. He was one of my ‘uncles’. There's no blood relation, but my father trusted him with some of the more sensitive parts of their business. My eyes grew wide in fear of him recognising me. Standing beside my uncle was Kaga, holding a USB.

"Caught this woman sniffing around outside!" One of the rough men announced while I was still sitting on the floor, breathing heavily from trying- and failing- to escape. My heart was beating like crazy, fear of being shot on the spot swimming in my gaze as it didn’t leave that man. 

"We think she might have something to do with this guy." Kaga coudn’t help but glare daggers at me, but I didn't want to take my eyes off of the boss in the room. He was just as slimy-looking as I remembered. A shiver ran down my spine.

"The Chief told me to follow you," I announced to my instructor, not letting my gaze leave the man sitting at the desk. He glanced over at me, not noticing anything unusual. Especially the fact that I was one of his boss' runaway daughters.

"That was completely unnecessary," Kaga complained. "You obviously need more tailing training." I finally deviated my gaze from the old man to my boss, hoping a different angle of my face wouldn't light a bulb in his brain.

The tattooed guy from before spoke up, but Kaga quickly shut him down. "This girl is mine to deal with. Don't touch her." He threw them a relaxed smirk, otherwise unphased. "So, what're we doing? Negotiate or get thrown in a cell. Pick whichever you'd like."

"Y-You don't even care what happens to this girl?" The man who pulled me in here yanked on my arm to pull me up, making a show to get Kaga's attention. 

"I said get the fuck off me!" I yelled, punching him in the jugular. As he fell back, most likely choking on his Adam's apple, I rolled my shoulder back to make sure he didn't dislocate it. 

"So you're not an entirely useless moron?" Kaga seemed a little shocked, but otherwise didn't change his expression. I narrowed my eyes, annoyed I got myself in this mess. Why had all my years hiding in the shadows amounted to this? Sitting on the floor of the office owned by a demon of my past, glaring at the man that was meant to teach me how to defeat them And now my pants were dirty from the slightly grubby carpet. Who knew what was gone on in this room...

"I'll overlook all of this for you if you bargain." Kaga turned back to the boss, waving the USB in front of his face. Only now did I realise he looked like he had been roughed around a little- which did lift my spirits. 

"The original data is on hand, of course. If anything happens to me, you're done for." Kaga smirks as my uncle begins to sweat. "Well, choose." He demands once the boss hasn't said anything. I realise that the USB given to him by Ayumu has all the information of their crimes. Well, obviously it won't be all. But for them to be this nervous, there must be a decent amount. I glared from the USB to the pathetic man cowering in his office chair.

"I... I understand. We'll return your investigator." Defeated, the man slouched with a tired sigh. 

"Your understanding has saved you." Kaga waited for someone to make a move, but no one did. "What're you standing around for? Let's go." Kaga seemed to be talking to me, so I returned my gaze to him before the boss could match my eye contact. Kaga then gave the boss some advice on how to stay lawful, which seemed like a joke since he was chuckling and I knew all too well what crimes these people have commited.

Although, having seen Kaga's infamous skills used in real life, I was a little stunned. I didn't even realise it when my uncle's gaze clamped onto me. Kaga grabbed Yamashige, who had been huddled in the corner of the room, and I hurried after them as he left.

~~~~~~

Outside the building, I saw Yamashige, the one who lost contact. I looked down at his worrisome state. His clothes tattered, skin bruised and cut. It was obvious they had tortured him. I scowled to myself, knowing how well he really got off. It could have gone much worse for the investigator.

"Kaga, I'm sorry! I had just a little bit more to go, but I messed up like always." Yamashige begged for forgiveness as Kaga scowled. 

"Thanks to you, everything we have achieved is ruined. I had to save you because you have will-power, but you can't seem to use it." Despite his mean words, Kaga had gone out of his way to save the man. I couldn't fault him in that. Although, I couldn't stand his tone a second longer.

"Instructor Kaga! You shouldn't speak-!" Before I could try and defend the lost investigator, Kaga snapped back. I knew what this man had been through, he certainly didn't need a talking to right now. The least he needed was to see a doctor, then maybe a psychiatrist.

"You remember this. I have no use for morons who screw up. There is no next time." Kaga gritted his teeth, threatening either my livelihood or Yamashige's, I couldn't tell. With a final huffed out sigh, he seemed to calm down a little. I was sure he needed a cigarette by the tells I had noticed; spending extended amounts of time with him.

"Well, I guess thanks to that we'll now have a big information source in the future." Kaga was surprisingly positive about the situation, seeing as he gained the organisation's subordinates through his bribe. 

‘That is if they don't get him involved.’ I subconsciously bit my lip, worried about any security cameras or delayed epiphanies that might blow my cover, as Kaga laughed.

"Hey, servant." Kaga beaconed me and I jumped, used to that pronoun now. "Get this tattered dishcloth-looking guy some medical care." Although insulting him, Yamashige thanked his Captain. Then, Kaga took his leave, neglecting both the investigator and me.

~~~~~~

While I was helping Yamashige to a nearby hospital, as I had no other way of transporting us, I w asconstantly apologising. Not just for how uncomfortable this must have been, but for how he was caught, how he was treated, not only by the mafia but Kaga as well. Although, I didn't specify my regrets for him.

"I feel like I recognise you from somewhere." The detective spoke up as we turned a corner. I stiffened a little, worried about what that could mean. 

"I have one of those faces," I explained nonchalantly, walking a little faster so I could leave him earlier. Who knew what pictures were left out of me in that office or in my childhood home- if he was lucky enough to be trusted to be allowed entry, that is. My father was highly sensitive to the security of his main base, his home, he hardly let anyone in unless they lived there or had come to die. I remembered thinking the only way anyone would leave that place was in a bodybag. It could have been me on the several occasions my father got a little testy. 

"No, I'm pretty sure it's your face I've seen before." He persisted and I was really starting to get nervous. 

"Is this some weird pickup line?" I laughed, trying to throw him off his suspecting threat. What stopped him questioning me further was our arrival at the hospital.

~~~~~~

Back in the Instructor's Staff Room, a day or so after Kaga went out to save Yamashige, Ayumu was sitting in his office, alone. He was working on cases, classes and anything to keep his hands busy. Just as he was getting into the groov, his phone rung.

"Ayumu, we need to talk. It's Yamashige." The previously missing detective announced on the other end of the call, making the instructor a little surprised. Yamashige explained how familiar the woman who had come to save him looked. Being another detective, however clumsy, Ayumu agreed to look into it. 

"Have a look at the database. And see if she has any ties to that organisation." Yamashige sounded desperate, having had time to wrack his brain and not finding where he knew her from. 

"Are you insinuating-." But, before Ayumu could ask his question, Yamashige begged him, again, to investigate. "... Okay. I'll look into it." Shinonome sighed before hanging up. Then, he heard the door open to the common area. He stood up to look at who it was. When he saw the girl he had found suspicious since their first, official, meeting, having an obvious fraudulent entry, he closds the blinds so that she couldn't see him.

~~~~~~

As I'm doing filing work for Kaga in the Staff Room, Ayumu's office door flew open. I jumped at the sound of the door banging against the wall and saw him walking straight towards me with a sheet of paper in his hand. 

"What is this?" He slapped it on the table in front of me and I instantly noticed it as a missing person's report. I gulped, seeing what looked like my face on the paper, but the hair colour was all wrong. I explained the basics of what it was and Shinonome frowned. He told me to look at the face and I did. I noticed the report was made a couple of weeks ago, for the name my sister had been using. 

‘I guess that guy was telling the truth.’ I sighed internally, becoming more depressed as the conversation continued.

"Okay, she looks a little like me," I admitted teasingly, knowing there'd be no way to flat out deny it. We had the exact same face. "But what does that have to do with anything?" Acting as dumb as I could possibly, I waited for him to accuse me of something. He couldn't accuse me of being the girl in the photo, I had been enrolled by the time the report was filed.

However, before he could continue, the door to the office flew open. There was Instructor Soma, walking in from a lecture. Ayumu quickly hid the file behind his back, smiling in greeting. I breathed a silent sigh of relief for the interruption. When Soma disappeared into his own office, Ayumu turned back to me.

"The case was closed the day it was opened. She called in saying she was okay." He leaned down to me, turning my chair and putting a hand on either arm. The explanation made my heart stop. 

‘She's okay? She was alive enough to call the police and sound okay.’ The hope and joy bubbling up in my heart were hard to contain as Ayumu peered into my bored expression.

"Okay?" I pulled a confused expression, trying to get him off my back without gathering too much suspicion. He sighed, standing up straight and screwing the paper into a ball, throwing it in the trash can. 

When he finally returned to his office, I finally let myself breath. ‘Why did he think to look into that?’ The sudden realisation made my joy turn to anxiety, thinking about what I could have let slip for him to research my features.

~~~~~~

Soon after Shinonome disappeared back into his office, I decided to go up to the roof to get some air and clear my head. Pushing the fire escape door open, I began pacing the floor, running through my thoughts as I had no energy to do it mentally. 

‘Okay, if she called, that means dad obviously forced her, to avoid suspicion. So, that probably means he needs her for something.’ I think about my father's reasoning for having my twin ensure she wasn't missing. ‘He would have just killed her and made sure no one found the body if he didn't need her. She’ll hopefully be safe for now.’

Biting on the tip of my thumb, I was able to stop my thoughts from wandering to a darker place, but it was too late when I imagined her mutilated body thrown over the backyard of my home, right over the several unmarked graves my father placed all his other victims like trophies. Grass never grew from that patch, the earth was up-ridden every other week to add another body. It was like my father enjoyed the stench that came from the rot. At one point, he had to move to cremating remains and sprinkling them over the soil. There was no room left.

Suddenly, I saw someone standing at the edge of the railing which I hadn't noticed before. I turned to see Kaga, smoking a cigarette and leaning on that railing. It seems like he hadn't seen me as he hadn't yelled or even glanced in my direction since I started staring.

He looked better than usual. My thoughts even surprised me. The version I saw here, I couldn't imagine him insulting me or getting annoyed at everything I did. He hadn't had a barrier he would normally have up, which made my heart flutter a little. It was the same side profile as usual. 

‘Why does this make him look so different?’ Looking at the surrounding light from the setting sun and the peaceful aura of the rooftop hang out area, I questioned my views on men or any type of beauty standard.

‘I should go before he sees me.’ I told myself, scared I'd get into trouble, and ran back to the Staff Room to take my work to my dorm, pushing all my haunting memories and thoughts to the back of my mind.

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Switching Sides: Part 7 (HLITF)

if anyone possibly wants to get on a tag list I’d be happy to make one 👉 @theshove 👈 If you wanna catch up, Part 6 is right here! Happy reading :) Premise: Growing up in a life of crime in a Japanese mafia, Atsuko Motomori has seen enough injustice to last her a lifetime. To try and give back to the universe her family has taken so much from, she dreams of being a detective from a young age. Her twin, sharing her disgust for her father and many uncles, just wants an ordinary life away from the crime, paing and suffering. Instead, she wants to be in the spotlight with the soft notes she makes with her cello. In their escape of 2015, on their coming of age birthday, they must split ways, never to be together ever again. If one was found, they didn’t want the other dragged down with them. Atsuko, having changed her name and appearance as best she can without a scalpel, sets off to start her life of car chases and arrests. Four years in a seemingly dead-end police station in the middle of nowhere, being passed over time after time for promotion, Atsuko finally gets a shot at her dream, having been sent to an academy for the best candidates in the country by her boss who had always kept an eye out for her. After discovering her boss may have made her bite off more than she could chew, Atsuko must become the slave of a dominating instructor!? Who so just happens to be the captain of the most famous police unit in Japan? Not to mention a total knockout! Will Atsuko finally achieve her dream? Or will her new instructor put her through the wringer? Warnings: Language, Reference to sexual activity, Forceful nature, Description of bloody scenes

~~~~~~

When I woke up next, there was a face right in front of mine. I yelled out in surprise to see Kaga peering down at me. 

"Hush with the shouting." He frowned as he straightened and I jumped up. I looked around to find I fell asleep in his living room. "Why are you out here?" He asked and I remember the nightmare I had last night. 

"I-I couldn't get to sleep in there," I muttered, shy that I didn't have a very good excuse. Instead of questioning me further, he threw a towel in my face, telling me to go shower.

As I walked into Kaga's bedroom, I noticed something glinting in the sunlight. I kneeled down and reached under his bed to pick up whatever it was. It was a picture frame, cracked before I had anything to do with it. There were men dressed in suits, one I recognised as Kaga. I started to worry that, in my frantic awakening last night, I knocked it off. Pretending like I hadn't seen anything, I place it on the sideboard, hoping he won't realise as I ran into the bathroom. 

~~~~~~

When I got to school, at a different time to Kaga as he left while I was in the shower, I was listening to Naruko gossip about my night at his apartment. As usual, she was less worried about me messing up than she is with the risque situations she can think up. 

"You two alone... seeking out each other's skin to heal your tired bodies." She goes off into her own little world as she pictured it. "Then your shadows overlap..." I quickly tried to silence her as her retelling of the night got too vulgar for me. A memory of him recently out of the bath flashed through my mind and my cheeks burn brightly. ‘Not to mention how much nicer he was...’

~~~~~~

After school, I was walking to the Instructor's Staff Room for a briefing on Takeda's mission. My leg still hurt and I had to rebandage it in the infirmary during my break because it started bleeding again. ‘I’m lucky it wasn't that deep, but it needs to heal quickly or I'll fall behind.’ I began to worry about my training as I walked along. Taking a quick sigh, I knocked on the door. 

Many people were already there, so I walked fast enough so that no one can see my limp and bowed my head to Instructor Kaga. "I'm truly sorry for inconveniencing you yesterday." He didn't even look in my direction as he looked at the papers in front of him. "I understand that I failed miserably and I'm very sorry." Thinking he wasn't listening, I tried apologising again.

"This mission is back to square one thanks to you." He spat. "I have no need for useless morons." He scowled but still couldn't look at me. 

"Yes sir. I will be more careful next time." I straightened my back, trying not to seem scared as he rightly reprimanded me. 

"You can leave already. Disappear." His final words made my heart stop, but I quickly regained my composure. 

"I have no use for useless morons. Get lost. Now." He announced again and I tried to find the words to respond. He seemed angry. Usually, he would just be annoyed and get me to do more meaningless filing. But, right now, there's hatred in his words. 

"Didn't you hear me? I'm done with you. Get out." He didn't even raise his voice to brush me off, but he may as well have. Everyone around us acted like nothing was happening, just like at the station. I clenched my fists to calm myself down. What had changed since last night? 

"Yes sir," I muttered, turning to leave when the door opened. There, Ishigami came to stand in front of Kaga.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Ishigami directed his question to Kaga, but I was the one who tensed up. 

"It's no big deal. Just getting rid of this moron." 

At my instructor's words, Goto stared at me. I try to seem unaffected by them, but I felt so tired from the little sleep I got last night, I couldn't meet his gaze. The triggering words don't help, my fists clenching harder, but I couldn't feel the pain I'm sure I'm inflicting on myself. I couldn't feel anything. No pain. No warmth or sensation. It wasn't only the mental scars I left that house with. 

"Kaga, explain." Ishigami looked at Kaga with a stern expression. 

"As you know, the investigation was a failure thanks to her mistake yesterday. There's no value in using her, so I'm disposing of her. That's all." The triggering words he was saying set alarm bells to go off in my mind. I was left frozen in this room of professional detectives. 

"Same as ever, aren't you? You can't simply-." Soma tried to butt in with a smile, maybe even to help me out, but he was cut off. 

"This is my decision," Kaga argued. Even though it was my first job, there seemed to be no excuses in the Captain's eyes. Why was I surprised?

For a moment, I felt numb. My heart was hammering hard in my chest, my temper through the roof, and stress pumping through my veins, mixed with the maddening adrenaline. Squeezing my eyes shut in an effort to calm myself down, I took a deep breath, not really caring how strange or pathetic I might have looked trying to console myself. When I opened my eyes again, luckily, no one was looking at me.

"Excuse me," I muttered before he could insult me further and left the room without a reply. 

~~~~~~

I escaped to the rooftop, seething with anger and trying to breathe through it. ‘Why am I so stupid?’ I scream at myself, kicking a trash can with my injured leg. 

‘Okay, that hurt more than I thought.’ I held my foot, hopping over to a bench by the railing. 

"What is wrong with me?" I asked myself, letting my head fall into my hands. ‘I'll never be able to help Juna at this rate.’ I let out a heavy sigh, falling back in the seat to look up at the orange-hued sky. 

Soon, the door to the roof opened again and I heard someone call my name. It was a girl's voice and, getting ahead of myself, I thought it was my sister coming to comfort me. Unfortunately, it was just Naruko and some of our male friends. Naruko saw me physically deflate as she approached. She sat down next to me, placing a hand on mine. 

"Did you really get cut from doing undercover work?" She gasped and I almost laugh. 

"Yeah, but that's not what's bothering me." I forced a sad smile as our male friends stood around us.

Naruko smiled to encourage me to continue. "I think my sister's in trouble." I sighed, bringing my knees up to my chin. She seemed shocked and told me she thought Juna was dead. The guys were more shocked, they had no idea about any of my relatives. 

"What would give you that idea?" I raised my voice in shock. She explained how sad I seemed when she brought up the pictures and anything about my family. 

"Well, I can assure you she's still alive." I laughed, maybe trying to make myself aware of that fact. I sighed just thinking about it and fell back on the back of the bench. 

"We didn't grow up in a great family. My dad was a pretty bad influence and my mom left us when we were kids. It was hard to leave home, but when we did, we kinda lost contact." I tried to be as vague as possible, but I wanted to get some of this stuff off my chest. I had been bottling it up for years. "I guess I've just had her on my mind lately." I looked at my printless fingertips and wiped my thumb over them again as if reminding myself of the damage my father could do.

"Well, Instructor Kaga has been pushing you really hard." Naruko smiled and I nodded. She probably thought the stress of school was rehashing old memories. "You made it here! So don't get down on yourself when an instructor forces you to do more than you could do." She tried to cheer me up. Even though she made sense, it was nice to think Kaga trusted me enough to do more than I thought I could do. Besides, if I wanted to stay here, I needed to be able to do this stuff.

"Besides, it's probably best he cuts you loose now." Our friend spoke up and I threw him an inquisitive expression. 

"How's that?"

"There's a rumour about him. That he killed his part-." Before another classmate could continue, I brushed it off. 

"I don't believe it." My adamant statement seemed to shock my group of friends. "I accept he's mean and scary, but leave a man to die..?" My brows furrowed as I contemplated everything the instructor had done for me. 

"Isn't there a saying for that? There's no smoke without fire?" The men started to shrug off the rumour as something they would never really know as true or not and they all left me on the roof to cool off. 

~~~~~~

Left with my own thoughts, I started to realise what being fired as Kaga's aide meant. I would have no access to the case. No way to make sure my father was involved. No way to tell Juna if she would be safe or not. And I sure as hell couldn’t keep tabs on who the team was dealing with. 

I groan out upon the realisation that I had messed things up so much more than I originally thought I had. 

"You depressed over Hyogo tossing you out?" A voice I wasn't expecting to hear called from the direction of the fire escape and my gaze darted over. 

"Shinonome?" My face screwed up in confusion as he walked over. 

"Or are you depressed over being yelled at?" Ayumu finished his question as he came to a halt in front of me. 

"I've been yelled at far worse than that before." I laughed self-deprecatingly, thinking back to when my father was ever in a 'good' mood; whenever he didn't feel like he needed to punch the closest thing to him

"Wow, you're tough." The young detective smiled and I stared up at him. 

"Besides, it's not like he's yelling for no reason..." I sighed, pouting at my own shortcomings. 

"Then why are you making that face?" He looked down at me suspiciously and I felt like glaring back. Whenever he asked me questions I felt like I was being interrogated. I didn't trust him or his stupid smile, and I especially didn't trust his words of consolation- if that's what these words were meant to be.

"What're you doing here anyway? Coming to accuse me of being a missing person again?" I frowned, dropping my chin into my knees. I just wanted to mope around now, not have him question me. Ayumu just sat beside me. Maybe he was here to hear me out. Maybe he was here to tell me I was out. But I couldn't tell when the only expression he had was somewhat positive. 

"I came here to save people, and all I've done is mess up over and over again." I sigh, staring at the floor in front of me. "It's like I don't know anything, no matter how long I've been here. Every time I try to fix something, I end up doing something worse." Thinking back to when I tried to stop Takeda from being suspicious of us by pulling Kaga close, I also remember how I eventually broke the investigation. 

"Well, if you're comparing your detective skills to Hyogo's, you would be close to nothing." Ayumu laughed and I secretly glared at him. 

‘How was that meant to make me feel better?’ 

"It's because that guy has put everything he has into becoming a detective." The statement made me think back to everything I had been holding back. All my past experiences with the law and seeing it fail miserably, just like I felt like I was doing, had been locked away so no one can figure out who I was or where I came from. I didn't want anyone to get close or to draw any unneeded attention to myself, it had only ever gotten me in trouble. But, when you're in a competition to get to the top, or pass the bare minimum bar, you really need to show everything you've got. 

"By the way, they may seem like complete opposites, but Ishigami is the same way." Ayumu leant over to pull me out of my thoughts. 

"Don't tell them that." I laugh at the idea of both of them having a similar trait. 

"We're here because those two recognised something in us." The instructor closest to my age added and it filled me with a little hope. Until I remembered my application here was totally falsified. 

"But..." Ayumu got my attention again before I could spiral. "I've seen very few people last this long with Hyogo. Let alone a woman or a student." I started to think that maybe my childhood experiences could have attributed to my ability to withstand the man's abuse with a smile most of the time. 

"I can follow him like a puppy all I want. That doesn't mean I'm at all helpful," I complained, thinking back to my late night filing sessions and carrying Kaga's papers from classroom to classroom. 

"Really? I'm sure Hyogo would've cut you off much sooner if that's all you do. Just think about the guy in the alleyway." Ayumu seemed a little surprised with my depressed attitude. 

"What?" I recalled defending Kaga from that blade-wielding maniac as we tailed Takeda. It was an instinct, mainly meant for when I was protecting Juna from any of the men in our house. 

‘Kaga wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place if not for me though...’

"Since he hadn't then... surely some part of him approves of you?" The word echoed in my brain and my heart fluttered at the idea. "Well, it could just be his fickle temper too..." Ayumu immediately shut me down. "The only time I thought you were helpful was when you made me tea." The innocent smile he portrayed was completely different compared to his demeaning words. 

"And I was just starting to think we could get along." I sighed, standing up once I realised my private time wasn't mine anymore. Although, I did feel a grin growing on my face as I thought about the possibility of Kaga approving of me. If only a little. 

"I'm going to put everything I have into this exam." A grin finally appeared on my face. 

"Where did this come from?" Ayumu, on the other hand, was evidently confused. I had only ever done one exam in my life, and that was the officer's exam in the police academy. I did pretty well in it, so I was confident I could prove to Kaga I wasn't completely useless. 

"That's all I can do, for now, to prove I'm worthy." I looked triumphantly into the distance. 

"Do your best. But Hyogo will be giving the exam." The information slightly deflated my resolve. 

"That means I'll just have to try harder than my all." I nodded to him before turning and leaving the rooftop.

~~~~~~

It was the weekend after my abysmal show of a mission and I was on my way out of the school to meet Juna at the cafe I suggested to update her on my situation. It was hot. Unbearably so. So I'm wearing shorts, which I hadn't worn since enrolling in the basic training academy. And, to hide my face from anyone looking for someone with my features, I had a baseball cap and sunglasses.

"Atsuko, where are you going?" I heard Naruko call out to me in the cafeteria. Usually, on our days off, I'm doing work for Kaga. Maybe there was one blessing to come with being let go. 

"I'm just leaving campus for a bit. Need to clear my head." I kneeled down to grab the coffee can I bought from the vending machine. Naruko was in her casuals as well as everyone else in the room at this point in the morning. 

"Oh? I thought you were going on a date." She cheered and I just laughed her off, used to her vivid imagination by now. 

"I'll see you before curfew!" I waved behind me as I ran out of the cafeteria.

~~~~~~ 

Just as I was about to pass the school gates, I heard my name again. I turned to see Instructor Soma wearing his usual suit. 

"Are you teaching today, Instructor?" I asked as he walked up to me. I was in a rush, but I disn't want to seem rude or suspicious in front of the only friendly special instructor. 

"Something like that. Are you on your way out?" He asked with his kind smile. 

"Is that a bad thing?" I laughed awkwardly, not wanting to seem like I was slacking off after Kaga dropped me. 

"Not at all, we all need some r'n'r" Soma grinned at my reaction to his question. 

"Then you should too, sir! I'll see you around." Finding that I'd have to leave now to catch my train in time, I ran out the school gates.

~~~~~~

At the cafe I used to work at, I took a seat at one of the tables outside. It hadn't changed much, except for some of the staff that ran around taking orders. The last I heard, my father didn't control this area of the city. Control in the sense of demanding protection money or laundering money through its businesses.

After I asked for a coffee and what I remembered my sister's favourite drink to be, I saw a woman walking up the street with long, flowing green hair. She sat at the table behind me.

"Were you followed?" I asked low enough so only she could hear, hiding the movements of my lips with the edge of my phone I knocked against them casually. 

"No, I went on three different lines to lose them. And left my phone in his house." She replied in a whisper as well, looking down at the paper menu left out on the tables, lifting her shades only slightly with one hand. "What about you?" Her question surprised me, seeing as she was the one being held hostage. 

"Who's going to follow me?" My face screwed up in confusion before I realised I had to be covert, sitting up and looking around just in case her own concerns were valid. I shuffled in the metal seat, my own sunglasses sticking to the place on the bridge of my nose with the glisten of sweat that collected there due to the weather and my nerves. Luckily, I didn't see any familiar faces or vehicles. 

"You literally go to a school for cops." She laughed in response and I heard the screech of her chair being pushed back as she stood up again. I jumped up as well, turning to my sister dressed in large sunglasses to hide her face from recognition. 

"I'm so glad you're safe." I breathed a sigh of relief as we enveloped each other in a tight hug. I sniffed to hold back my tears, of relief or fear I didn't know, and the fresh scent of the shampoo my father had us use filled my nose. The sense of fear that I drew from that made me hold her just a bit tighter, my arms wrapped around her neck.

"I had to get to you, didn't I?" She pulled back with a bright smile, noticing my tenseness, and we sat back down on my table. I took off my sunglasses but left on the cap and she left her glasses on. 

"Not like you to wear shorts, though." Juna looked down at my bare legs once we got our drinks. When we lived with my father, I hated showing any skin in front of our creepy uncles, or anyone for that matter. My sister grew a little concerned at the bandage around my shin.

"I came to the realisation that heatstroke is more important than keeping my modesty." I laughed nervously in response and she giggled, pushing her questions to the side for now because I seemed positive. As we made easy conversation, I felt my nerves bubble up again.

"Juna... I... I got kicked off the case." I told her, anxiety written all over my face. Her hand freezes from stirring her iced tea and my palms became clammy around my freezing coffee. "I messed up when we were following Takeda and we got attacked. He got away and my instructor got really mad." I explained slowly, trying to speak in a low voice so no one would overhear who or what we're talking about. 

"Actually, I have something to say as well." She responded in a low, frail tone and I gulped to push away my guilt. I put her in danger by asking her here, just to tell her that I was losing my chances to save her. 

"There's a meeting happening at a hotel in a week. Dad's going to be there, along with a lot of the uncles... Katsumi, I'm scared they're going to do something really bad." Her glasses were off now and I could see the true fear in her eyes. 

"And... I overheard someone talking about a detective that broke into one of the offices. They mentioned a woman that they found familiar..." She didn't have to explain why they found me familiar. I already knew who she was talking about. I sighed, frustrated I had been so reckless. "They know you're in the city, but I don't think they know your name or where you live..." She explained and my heart stopped. I was lucky Kaga doesn't refer to me by name and I didn't have my badge on show. 

"I think we need to leave while we can. The next meeting is going to be big. If you can manage to be there, I'll be waiting for you. But I'm leaving the first chance I get." Her words echoed in my skull. 

‘I'll have to leave my life behind? The one I worked so hard to get? I'll have to leave my job, Naruko..? I'll have to leave Kaga...’ The words vibrated in my skull like a resounding alarm as I thught about what being discovered meant. 

"I have money and a ride. Somewhere to stay. It won't be difficult once I get away. Katsumi, I want you to come with me. My life has been so empty without you. So much more than I expected..." Juna reached forward to grab my hand. I was biting the tip of my thumb, trying to plan with the information she gave me. 

"We'll be safer together..." Juna added on, leading off when she realised I was stunned to silence, clutching my hand to bring me back to earth but knowing I couldn't feel her support that way. Her fingers worked up my wrist and I finched when she touched the skin on the inside of my wrist, a place I could feel, and my gaze fell on her. She looked just as scared, just as earnest as she was the day I talked her into running away. I never thought I'd be the one that would hesitate. 

"What about our plan, Juna? I'm so close. If I can just get the pictures to one of my instructors, he'll be locked up. Maybe even executed. They're already doing an investigation." I explained. I really wanted to stay. I was enjoying the life I had made for myself. Even with how hard it was right now. Even if the people I had grown close to c ould never know the real me, the reason I became a cop, I felt like they knew the me I had become. Hopefully they trusted me enough to not ask why I had those pictures.

"What happens when they ask you where you got them? When they find out who you really are? Who we are? The moment dad realises where you are... He'll kill both of us." She argued back, trying to bring me to my senses. 

"You're not safe there, Katsu. Just look what happened to you when you got involved with his case." Juna gestured to my bandaged leg and I cursed how right she was. If they were already suspicious, it wouldn't take them long to realise what I was working on. The threat of being discovered would push them to be more reckless. More unpredictable. Who knew what they'd be willing to do. 

"I've been out for too long. Look at this. It might help you decide." Picking up the black backpack she had carried here with her, Juna sighed. 

"What is it?" I asked, pulling on the zip. I peered in to see a few files of paper, a piece of cloth and a flash drive. 

"I found your old camera hidden in our room," Juna explained as I pulled the paper out to find photos of gruesome acts and forced them back in desperately but carefully enough not to crease them. 

"Juna..." I led off, knowing how dangerous it could be to get these images. 

"I saved some accounting documents to the flash drive. It proves they're embezzling from uncle's company and they’re paying off cops and hitmen. I think I saw Takeda's name in there as well." She continued and I looked at her in shock. 

"You're a better detective than I am." I laughed defeatedly, ashamed she had to do this when it was my job to protect her. I should never have left her or made us try and forget each other.

"It's kind of exciting. I can see why you do this." She returned a tired smile. She was probably kept awake at night, worrying that someone would discover what she was doing. I know I was.

"What's this?" I pulled out a silken rag decorated with red splatters. 

"It was under dad's bed. I'm not entirely sure, but it might be from mom..." She led off, knowing what this meant. 

‘So he really did kill her.’ I clenched the bloodied scarf in my hand, having a vague memory of our mother possibly wearing it. 

"I have to get going. Will I see you at the hotel?" She stood up without the bag. I looked up and smiled sadly, giving her a heavy nod. 

As she turned to leave, I noticed a black SUV approaching the shop with the back window pulled down. Seconds later, a hand pulls a gun through the window. 

"Gun!" I screamed, running to Juna and pushing her to the floor with the full force of my launched body. As bullets sprayed into the glass storefront, I held my body over my sister's to protect her. 

When the blaring bangs halted, I hesitantly raised my head to look around. Car alarms were going off and I could hear a woman crying loudly as I searched for the car. 

"It's gone," I muttered, standing up to get a better view of the street. 

As I looked at the destruction in front of me, my sister hobbled to her feet. "A-Are you okay?" She looked at me with trembling legs, arms reaching out to hold mine, maybe in an effort to stable herself or make sure I'm actually alive. I saw some customers rising from the hiding spots and heard a man calling for help.

"You need to go. Before the police get here." I rushed to my sister's side, guiding her in the direction she was already going. 

"But Katsu-." 

"They'll question you if they see you here. Go home, tell dad it was a rival or something. Just go." I spoke in a low voice as I pushed her along. "I have things here," Were my last words to my sister as she started running down the street.

When I turned back around, I saw some bodies laying on the floor and glass was sprayed everywhere. 

"Ma'am, can you call emergency service?" I kneeled in front of a woman who was likely in shock but seemed otherwise unaffected. She gave me a rushed nod as I got up to look at the injured.

There was a man lying in the doorway with the cafe's uniform on. A woman in a similar uniform was holding him up, tears spilling out of her eyes as blood poured out of his abdomen. I hurriedly grabbed a fabric tablecloth from where I had been sitting and rushed over to them, not caring for the glass mugs that shattered on the ground. 

"Sir, are you awake?" I asked, remembering to apply pressure to the gunshot wound from my training in the police academy and what I could gather as a child. 

"H-He passed out. Or he's dead. I... I can't tell." The woman stuttered out as his head laid in her lap, voice hoarsening as she spoke. 

"Miss, can you press on here. I need to see if anyone else is injured." I didn't try to make my voice softer as I grabbed her arm, pulling her to my side. I had felt him breathing through his mouth. There's nothing more I could do for him personally. I had no first aid kits and no professional medical training apart from this.

"Bu-But what if he dies?" The shock she was in prevented her from wanting to touch him except for cradling his skull in her lap. 

"He won't if you apply pressure. An ambulance will be here soon, but he won't live if you don't do this." I forced the tablecloth into her hand and then on the man's side where he was hit.

Once I ensured she was aware enough to continue, I moved onto the next person. There was an older man, resting, or having fallen that way, with his back against the half-wall of the cafe. He was clutching his shoulder, red seeping through the partings of his fingers.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" I slid to his side, asking to see his wound so I could assess the damage. 

"A... A little woozy." He stammered out, trying to act strong but I could tell he was scared. 

"That'll be the shock. The bullet went straight through, so it should be an easy fix when you get to the hospital." I explained as I took the tie from around his neck, obviously asking first. 

"Well, I've lived this long. I guess I've gotta keep going." The man was in the makings of a suit, but I assumed he had left his blazer at his office. Tying the tie over his wound, I took a few of the paper napkins from the host's counter just outside the front door and stuffed them under the tie. I knew he'd be too weak to put appropriate pressure himself. 

"Too right. Stick tight, help will be here soon." I put a comforting hand on his other shoulder and gave him a calm smile before heading inside.

Climbing through the now empty window frame, as I wasn't sure if I should move the man from the doorway and sure as hell didn't want to try and step over him, probably scratching up my legs on the shards that settled there, I looked around for anyone crying. Calling out, I heard a little kid yelling from the back of the small room. My eyes widened at the familiar cry of an innocent child and charged to where I heard them. In the corner, behind the service counter, a little boy was sitting next to a woman with blood already puddling at her sides.

"H-Hey, kiddo, how are you doing?" Knowing how traumatic it could be to witness something so horrific, I kneeled by the opposite side of the woman the boy is sitting. The spots of red on her blouse, holes ripped through it, was obvious she had been hit twice, maybe three times, I couldn't count right now. Not when it was possible this kid may watch a human being die right before his eyes.

"M-Mom got hurt." I could see he was trying to hold back tears as he held his mom's hand. I looked down at her body and saw a splatter of red pumping out of her thigh far more intensely than the others on her torso. The mother's expression was pained and she looked a little out of it, probably delirious with agony and blood loss. 

"Toto. Are you alright?" She mumbled over and over as I found something to plug the hole in her leg.

"Is that your name? Toto?" I tried to distract the kid from his mother's slurred words, trying my best to plug the two other holes in her body. Hopefully, god please, I could help her enough until paramedics arrived. The kid nodded curtly, scared if he talked he would cry. 

"I'm Atsuko. Can you be brave for me?" I asked, pressing on the wound that likely came from a major artery. He looked up at me. "I asked a woman outside to call the hospital, but she seemed a little shaken up. Can you call them for me?" I tried not to let my gaze leave his, wanting to draw his attention away from the wettening body below us. Taking the phone from my back pocket, I hand over what must look like a relic to him.

The boy called the emergency services and put it on speaker so I could talk. "This is Officer Atsuko Motomori. There's been a shooting at Cafe Zero down Empire Street. Please send paramedics for at least three victims." As I announced my badge number so they knew I wasn’t lying, I spoke fast and clear, noticing the mother's consciousness fade. 

‘You can't do this. Not to him. You can't die in front of him.’ I moved from her leg to her torso, feeling for a pulse on her neck. ‘It's weak, but there.’ I started pushing on her chest to keep her heart beating and blood pumping to her brain. Luckily, there was a waiter watching over us that had a belt so I could secure a makeshift tunicate to her thigh so she doesn't bleed out as fast.

"Ambulances and police are on their way." The operator responded bluntly. 

"Can you take him somewhere else?" I peered up at the waiter standing in the opening of the counter. 

"No! I don't wanna leave my mom!" Toto cried out but I shot him a concerned and slightly annoyed look, probably scarely similar to Kaga's. 

"Your mom doesn't want you to see her like this, okay, Toto? I'm going to make her better so that you guys can go to the hospital together, but it's going to be scary." As I'm telling him, sweat is growing on my brow far thicker than the ottest day on earth could make as I pressed all my body weight on the woman's chest to a rhythmic beat. 

"I-I'm brave enough." The boy stuttered and it was clear he was terrified. 

"You're not a wimp to go, Toto. You're not cowardly to hide, you're brave to leave your mom's life in someone else's hands. Trust me, you don't want to see this." I lowered my voice so only he could hear, hoping to seem more personal. He looked from me to his mom's sleeping face and I could see the tear dams break behind his eyes. He got up and took the hand of the waiter, walking to a table on the other side of the counter.

"You can't die on him, you hear me? Do you know what that will do to him?" I panted as I whispered, enraged my father would open fire on a building of civilians. It was likely that the people following Juna hadn't lost her and decided to do this as a warning. Hopefully, for both of our sakes, my sister could convince him that this was some sort of action performed by a rivalling gang trying to intimidate him or a gang members betrayal.

When I next checked the mother's pulse, it was slightly better than before. 

"The paramedics are here!" A voice called out and I looked up in relief. Toto came running around the corner, probably having escaped the waiter, and looked down at his mom, covered in blood but slowly awakening. He cried out her title and ran to her side and I couldn't help but smile. I stood up, calling the paramedics as they made their way through the door, having extracted the male waiter.

"She lost consciousness for a bit, but I performed compressions and she's coming around again," I explained as they came running around the counter. I grabbed Toto and pulled him off her so the trained professionals could get a look at her before sending her to an ambulance. 

"I-Is she going to be okay?" He asked as I picked him up, carrying him around the counter so that we wouldn't intrude. I didn't want to give him false hope if I was too late to save her, but I didn't want to break his heart unnecessarily.

"She should do good. It was all because of your bravery that she woke up again." I laughed, tapping underneath his chin to get him to raise his head. I only noticed now that my hands were covered in blood. I looked down and so were my legs, having kneeled in the mom's blood that had come out before I got to her. 

"Thank you!" He cried out, wrapping his arms around my neck as he sat on the counter.

Then, the paramedics announce that they were ready to go. I told Toto to go with them and he ran after her gurney.

Finally having a moment to myself, I dropped to the floor in exhaustion. I had been running on so much adrenaline that my head now felt light as I sunk to my knees. Soon, the waiter who had helped me with Toto ran to my side, helping me up so I could sit in a glass-free chair.

After he got me a glass of water and the other paramedics on the scene looked over me for any serious injuries, I heard police sirens driving closer. Several uniforms came out of the cars that pulled up outside and started questioning us all about the incident. I explained how I had seen the car approaching and, after I heard the gunshots ending, went to help the people who were injured. I left out the part where my sister had been here, not wanting to get her involved, and hoped no one else noticed her through the mania.

"Well done, Officer Motomori. You were good to act so quickly. Although, you do look a little pale. Do you want a ride to the hospital?" The officer questioning me slapped his booklet shut and I jumped a little at the sudden noise. 

"I-I should be fine." I stuttered, even though I noticed my hands shaking. I had already refused an ambulance ride, I definitely didn't want to go in a squad car.

"...Okay. We'll give you a ride back to your home. You can't go wandering the streets like that." The older man chuckled and I looked down at my reddened body. The bandage I had around my leg had unravelled and my own wound had started bleeding again, probably because of any glass that I most likely kneeled in. I had a lot of little cuts as well.

"Can I make a call first?" I look back up with a tired expression and he nodded, handing me his phone. I had washed my hands by now, so I wasn't too worried about getting blood all over his possession.

Shakily, I typed in the number for the Instructor's Staff Room. "Captain Ishigami." The stone-cold voice spoke up over the phone and I was somewhat disheartened, somehow expecting to hear my mentor's. It wasn’t like he would answer a phone anyway. I shook my head. 

"U-Um, sir, it's Motomori. I'm sorry f-for disturbing you. But... There was this... This..." Not knowing how to explain the situation, I took in the scene around me. There was glass swept all over the floor and tables and chairs are overturned. I could see bullet holes in some of the furniture and the actual bullets were either in the wall or on the floor next to it. A cold shiver ran through me to finally understand how close to death I really was and the sweat on my body only made the breeze blowing through the hollowed window frames icy.

"Motomori, what is it?" Ishigami sounded annoyed that I was lost for words. Then, the officer who had been watching me took the phone back. He introduced himself before explaining the situation, but I wasn’t  really listening. 

‘I was actually able to save someone.’ Joy filled my heart. My father had done something despicable to so many innocent people, and I was actually able to help. I didn't just have to sit there and take pictures for when I could use them in an investigation, I was able to stop a murder from taking place in the first place. However, that delight was short lived.

"Alright, Officer Motomori, you're captain will be by soon to pick you up." Hanging up from the conversation with my instructor, the officer looked at me with a smile. 

"Did that really just happen?" I looked up at him with shame and fear wrapped in my expression. Even though I was able to help, it was still my fault they all got hurt in the first place. If I hadn't come here or told Juna to meet me, there would never have been a shooting. Toto would never have had to see his mom almost die. 

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" The officer put a hand on my arm as my gaze wandered again. At the end of the counter, I could see the puddle of blood left by Toto's mom slowly crawling out, almost taunting me with the knowledge of my naivety. 

‘How could I think we could meet safely?’  

I nodded with a small, encouraging smile.

~~~~~~

By the time Ishigami arrived, I was still sitting with the cop, just trying to compute what happened. He looked at the destroyed cafe, and then at my bloodied body. Soma was with him, but no Kaga. I found myself looking around them in hopes he would be here. 

"Captain Ishigami. You have a very capable, young cadet here!" The officer sitting with me jumped up, trying to lighten my spirits by praising me. "She was able to act quickly and three people are on their way to the hospital instead of our morgue." However morbid, the statement was true. It was lucky I had the training I needed to save them.

"Atsuko." Soma kneeled down in front of me to catch my gaze as it drifted to my legs. The blood had dried by now, staining my legs and my clothes. I looked at Instructor Soma as he smiled kindly. 

"Instructor. I...I'm sorry." I apologised, but I'm sure they didn't know why. He laughed at this and I realised what I said. I bit my lip to stop myself from talking further. It was an instinct from a child. The last time I had seen this much blood in one room.

"I'm not Kaga. I'm not going to yell at you. Come on, you need to rest. Remember that r'n'r we talked about?" He s stood up and I followed his rising stature with my eyes. 

"O-Okay." Embarrassed by the apology I made, I got up. As I was walking out the door, I remembered the bag Juna had left for me and rushed to pick it up, making sure the zip was closed so that no one could see the contents.

"Is it really okay? Won't your car get messy?" I asked as Ishigami tells me to sit in the back seat. My legs were covered in blood, thankfully not all mine. I only had little cuts and scrapes. And when I say covered, it looked like I was wearing red shin pads. My clothes were likely ruined and I felt like I might smell a little, having exerted so much energy trying to keep Toto's mom alive. 

"It's fine, just get in." He got in the driver's side and I was forced to jump in before I got left behind.

~~~~~~

When we got back to the academy, everyone that was sitting out in the rays of the setting sun were staring at me. I probably looked crazed. Maybe they thought I had flipped out after Kaga dropped me from the case, because it looked like I had killed someone. Suddenly, Naruko ran up to me as I walked behind the instructors. 

"Atsuko! Oh my god, what happened to you?" She held my arms as she shrieked. 

"There was a shooting at the cafe I went to. Don't worry, I'm not hurt." I laughed, trying to help her not worry. To be honest, I probably wasn’t as affected by that scene as I should have been. I had watched people die before, many times before, so I was somewhat used to it. 

"You're covered in blood!" She yelped again and I could tell Ishigami was getting annoyed. I reassured her that it wasn’t mine and she just sighed. "How are you so calm?" She sounds exasperated as she held my arm, encouraging me to keep walking to the dorms. 

"My dad was a butcher, so I'm used to blood." It took me a moment to respond with a nervous shrug, hoping to make up a viable lie. Hopefully the instructors wouldn't feel the need to double check that information on my made up file.

"I swear you're not even human." She laughed, thinking back to all the training I was able to do without complaint.

~~~~~~

Once she escorted me back to my dorm, I threw my bag far underneath my bed and took a shower, scrubbing at my skin to get all the blood off. I hadn't realised, but I had smudges all over my face from where I was wiping the sweat off my brow. 

‘This... This can’t happen again. I can’t let it happen again’. I clutched the water basin to hold my weak body up during my contemplation. I felt so guilty and helpless in that moment. If I couldn’t go back in time and stop that shooting from happening, stop Toto’s mom and all those people from getting hurt, I would have to make sure it never happened ever again.

~~~~~~

When I was done cleaning myself up, I went down to the cafeteria to get a well-deserved meal.

"Hey, Motomori! Heard about that cafe. Well done out there!" A male classmate called out from his table as I passed. 

"Oh, thanks, but I was just doing what I could at the time." I showed an anxious smile, not wanting to give it more attention than it already had.

"Motomori, did you really bring someone back from the dead?" Another called out from a different table and my gaze whipped around. 

"W-Well, it was a close call, but she didn't die. And how did you hear about that?" I replied, stumbling over my words as everyone started to surround me, asking questions of what it was like to be in such a disastrous scenario. 

After a bit, having escaped the line without buying any food, I got overwhelmed and stormed out the hall.

~~~~~~

On the roof, I made sure whether or not anyone was there before I started to pace. If Kaga wast here, I would ave hated for him to see me so freaked out, he would think I was more moronic than he already did. Unfortunately, I saw him in his usual corner, breathing out smoke. Just as I was about to turn, his gaze caught mine. He looked down at my body, scanning for any signs of fear or delayed shock. When he saw that I'm neither shaking nor swaying, holding my breath just in case my racing heart betrayed me, he turned back to the view of the city before him. I released the breath I was holding and ran back to the door, wanting to be here as much as I wanted to be badgered by my overexcited classmates.

~~~~~~

Once I returned to the dorms, it was a little after dark. "Oh, Atsuko, there you are!" Naruko cheered when she saw me pass by a common room she was lounging in. 

"Sorry I had to leave! I just needed to get some air." I smiled, although nervous that she would ask me where I had been. 

"It's not a problem. Those guys were too pushy." She shook her head and frowned at some of the men that had surrounded me earlier. 

"So, what did you do today?" I asked, wanting to get my mind off those memories. She looked a little surprised at first, but soon understood why I asked. 

"I got to do some serious studying for next week's exam!" She smiled brightly as we started walking to our rooms. 

"Oh yeah..." I quickly remembered a big part of my plan for next week might be greatly impeded if I were to attend.

"It's at this hotel. Apparently it's a big meeting of some major crime syndicates!" Naruko was so excited, she didn't even notice me stop. 

‘Could that be the meeting Juna was talking about?’ I started to think about how, if the mission went well, I wouldn't have to run away again. I could continue my life here, like my past wasn't a thing. As Naruko pulled me back to earth, I showed her a smile full of hope.