"What happened to her family?" Atsushi had asked looking towards Dazai who normally had all of the answers, and who choose to typically keep those answers hidden until asked point blank. Dazai faced the rest of the room all of them waiting to see if he knew the answer.

"Around Six months ago someone came after her and her family in the middle of the night. Somehow she ended up stranded here and her family disappeared." Dazai spoke simply and didn't elaborate very far.

The Boss, Mori, had been on edge for the past two weeks and every member of the port mafia was feeling it. None more so then Akutagawa. Mori had grown so angry at his failure that he transferred Keomi's training to the only other member that she knew, for the time being. Chuuya.

Keomi hadn't seen Akutagawa in those two weeks and she was feeling progressively more guilty as time passed. She heard the whispers that softened as she walked by. People were talking about Akutagawa being tortured as easily and as often as one would talk about the weather. When she walked past the would talk softer knowing he had been the one training her.

Chuuya had been relentless with one principle in his training and decently lax on the rest. They had been training her stamina, something that Chuuya had apparently been pressing Akutagawa about it ever since she passed out in his arms. Instead of normal training she would be banned from missions, as per Chuuya's orders not Mori's, until she could use her ability for 96 hours straight.

It was a daunting task but she continued to attempt it for the past week and a half. She always got to 72 hours when her ability began to wane and cause her to pass out from exhaustion. She was currently on hour 71 and was finding it increasingly harder to keep her ability armor going.

She needed to go out on a mission and push herself to her limits. Get in a dangerous situation that would wake her up. Except Chuuya wouldn't allow her on any missions until she completed her training. Which meant that she would have to find her own mission if she really needed it.

And goodness help her she needed it.

She had asked around and found that most operatives couldn't use there ability that long. Most of them could only use their ability for around twelve hours at a time. Anything over that and they would pass out from exhaustion. Which made her wonder how long executives could use their abilities without passing out.

The only thing was she didn't know any executives besides Chuuya. Which meant this information was currently unavailable to her for the time being.

It was ridiculous that he expected her to heavily use her ability for 96 hours straight. Keeping it alive even when she was asleep.

Keomi walked along the dock trying to find something to do, anything really that would keep her awake. She could barely keep her eyes open, someone needed to attack her. Anything would do. She just needed someone, something, to fight.

Like a prayer has been answered the next thing she knew there was one weretiger flying through the air. He slammed into the railing that kept the ocean at bay. The bars bent underneath the force and he let out a strangled gasp. His eyes raised as blood ran down the side of his face as a gash opened across his forehead.

She started towards him knowing she was probably getting involved in business that she didn't belong in. But, so long as it wasn't apart of the mafia's doing then it would be fine. That was until she saw who the weretiger was fighting. The man was shrouded in a dark mist with a black mask over his face. His eyes were as black as the mask he wore and black rings were circling his body.

She staggered back in shock as fear gripped her heart and she let out a small whimper. The man, she assumed he was a man, seemed to smile from the mask. Even if she couldn't see him, somehow she knew he was smiling a malicious smile that chilled her to the bones.

"Shizuka Keomi." The man spoke his black eyes glinting with sparks of chaos. His sights were no longer on the weretiger that laid nearing unconsciousness. He watched as the confident mafioso girl turned into a scared child who truly feared.

"Who are you?" She hated that her voice began to tremble in front of the man and the weretiger. She hated that the fear in her body was on full display.

"I find your fear delicious Keomi. I want more." The man did not answer her question, on the contrary he began to walk towards her as he stared at her intently.

"Where's my family!" This time she wasn't asking instead her ability flared up, her previous exhaustion long forgotten, and she sent dozens of crystals flying towards the man.

He vanished into smoke and she watched as the smoke began to float towards Atsushi. The masked man still had a mission and whatever it was... he needed Atsushi. She quickly went towards Atsushi using her crystals to propel her forward so she could reach him faster. Then she created a dome over them to keep the masked man out.

Her exhaustion kept the dome from being full power, but still it was strong enough to keep the masked man out should he try to attack them. He didn't fully come back instead it was more like a shadow of the man appeared in front of the dome.

"If you come with me I will take you back to your family." He spoke his voice brittle and cold, "Your father yells for you every night."

"You're the ones who took them and I imagine that they are already dead." Her own voice turned cold as she stared at the man, not even believing the words that she spoke. She couldn't accept that her family was gone, not until she found them. Dead or alive.

"You don't believe that child. But, very well... I will be back for both of you another time." He went to turn back into the smoke except he turned his face back towards her, "You have grown so much. Master will be proud of you child."

Then he was gone his body turned into the black smoke and he went with the wind. She had half a mind to follow him and if she hadn't been using her ability for so long she would've. But as it stood, she had a severely injured teen and an exhausted body. Even if she shouldn't, she knew she couldn't leave the boy here.

She picked up his limp body, he had passed out thinking for whatever reason that he was safe. That she would protect him and wouldn't just give him over to the enemy. She looked down at the boy shaking her head. He needed to be smarter than this. She was a member of the port mafia. She was his enemy... she was not his friend.

She struggled all the way to the agency feeling the adrenaline in her body fading. She needed to get back to the base and yet the thought of walking all that way. She finally got to their offices and opened the door her eyes barely open. Everyone in the office looked towards the opened door and before anyone else could react Akiko Yosano leapt into action.

She reached for Atsushi and quickly hurried away. Keomi staggered as the weight of the body was lifted from her throwing off of her balance. She stumbled to a desk chair falling into it not caring whose chair it was. She could feel the sweat running down her face, Atsushi's blood which had dripped onto her, and she felt as her ability began to flicker threatening to quit. She fought against all of it trying to keep her ability alive.

Akutagawa.

She had to see Akutagawa again which meant that she had to keep her ability on. She didn't know how Chuuya would figure out if she allowed hers to fade, but she didn't want to be caught lying to him. She worried what could happen to her... or to Akutagawa if she tried.

"Sh-ka!" Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head as she tried to stay awake. Where was she again, "Ke-mi!"

It wasn't until she realized that someone had touched her shoulder that she finally opened her eyes again. Her eyes snapped open as she felt her ability leaving her. Her eyes were met with a deep brown set of eyes that stared into her own. Those eyes were the last thing she saw as her vision went completely dark.

"Akiko!" Kyouka was the one to yell for the woman as they watched Keomi pass out right in front of them. What had happened that had caused Atsushi to be put in that condition. Not only that, but what had happened to cause Keomi to help her supposed enemy.

"What happened Dazai-San?" Atsushi had finally woken up and to his surprise he wasn't in an enemy camp. No, on the contrary he was laying on a cot while Dazai-San sat next to him.

"Well, until Key-om-i-Chan wakes up, I doubt we will have the answers you seek." Only after Dazai spoke those words did Atsushi look over to see Shizuka sleeping in the cot beside of him. He watched as every few moments her ability hit the light just right so he could see the dome cascaded over her.

"She passed out after carrying you all the way here. We have no clue how either of you ended up in such a state." Dazai spoke his own eyes watching the girl as well. After passing out they had carried her here, but Akiko had said that she was just exhausted. So, she couldn't heal the young mafia operative since it was just exhaustion that ailed her.

"I-" Atsushi paused as he tried to remember what had happened, "It's all so fuzzy after that guy launched me towards the pier."

"Who was it?"

"I don't know, I..." A picture flashed in Atsushi's mind, even if it was a little hazy... Fear. Unfiltered and unmasked. Total fear towards the person who had been hurting him. Another flash seemingly a little bit later, her back was to him and a thick purple sheet was around them, "She was afraid."

"Hm?" Dazai hummed looking back at his protege although why he seemed to believe that the girl was scared was beyond him.

"She wasn't there originally I think. I was almost knocked out by then but when she saw the person... She was terrified Dazai-San." Atsushi explained as the pictures in his mind, while still fairly hazy, began to clear faintly, "She protected me from him."

"You didn't know who he was? But she seemed to recognize him?" Dazai questioned him looking back to the unconscious woman. She would probably be punished if she didn't check in with Chuuya. He had half a mind to alert the mafia to their agent's state. But then she would have to explain why she helped Atsushi and he didn't surmise that the conversation would go well.

"Yes. She seemed to recognize him but... I don't think he was from the mafia." Atsushi began to pant a little bit from all of the talking.

"Go back to sleep. Don't overwork yourself." Dazai pushed the boy back towards his pillow and stood. He waited until Atsushi stubbornly closed his eyes acting like he wasn't tired at all. It took only a few minutes for the boy to fall fast asleep once more.

"no." Dazai looked towards the girl who mumbled a word. Her face contorting, unable to mask her emotions while she was unconscious. She mumbled again as her body tossed to lay on her other side involuntarily.

Dazai walked towards the girl watching as her ability flared up like it had been for the past three hours. It was slowly turning into a deep blue-grey instead of its usual purple. Dazai watched as slowly each gemstone turned to the new color. He wondered if anyone had figured out yet why her crystals turned different colors. It was obvious to him.

Dazai crouched down to look the girl in the face, her eyes scrunched together in concentration. Her mouth with a permanent frown. He lifted his hand to touch her dome when she whispered something else, "Dad?"

Dazai froze as she watched a few tears slip past the girls closed eyes. Was she truly only doing all of this to find her family. He couldn't imagine the lengths someone would go for their actual family. He would do a lot for the agency but they were not related by blood.

Dazai gently touched the dome watching as it shattered falling away. He couldn't tell if it was only because of his ability or if the dome had been fragile at the very beginning. Only giving the illusion of safety. She stirred ever so slightly. He needed her to wake up so he could question her on what had happened.

"Keomi you need to wake up now. Otherwise you'll never see Akutagawa again." Dazai tried to goad her out of her slumbered state by using the only person he knew she cared about right now. He briefly thought about mentioning Kimi or her family but decided that Akutagawa was the best.

"Aku?" Keomi muttered as she stirred a little bit more in her cot.

"You have to be strong if you want to see him again Keomi." Dazai spoke again watching as her eyes slowly opened and blinked once... twice. Then she shot up in the bed rapidly looking around realizing where she was. Her memories flashing by her as she realized what all had happened. But not only that...

"Is Atsushi okay!" Dazai was surprised by the urgency in her tone as her eyes finally fell upon the boy who laid resting in the cot beside her. She let out a small sigh before she stopped herself. She wasn't these people's allies. She shouldn't be concerned for him at all.

"You know, eventually your going to have to make a choice Keomi." She didn't look at Dazai as he spoke even though she knew he was watching her. Just like he always seemed to be.

"I imagine Dazai." She paused tearing her eyes away from Atsushi and looked towards the traitor her eyes glinting dangerously, "That I've already made it."

"I'm not so sure about that." Dazai looked towards his protege in question and then continued, "Otherwise you wouldn't have protected him. Right?"

"He's a kid. He shouldn't have to live like this." She spoke even though she imagined that he wasn't much younger than herself. Yet, she found herself not only pitying his situation but wondered why anyone before the age of twenty should have to fight like this.

"He's eighteen. He'll be fine." Dazai spoke watching as her eyes widened just a fraction. Dazai had found that she was only nineteen herself. She was barely older than him and yet she acted like he was five.

"You want to know who attacked him I imagine." Keomi deflected not liking this particular topic. She began to slip off of the cot spying her jacket on the end of her bed. She went to grab it only to find Dazai holding it in his grasp, a sly smirk resting on his face.

"Of course, if you would be so inclined." Dazai spoke as if she really had a choice about any of this. She was at the agency, in the belly of the beast, no one knew where she was and she had no allies here. She rolled her eyes snatching the jacket away from him, knowing fully well that if he wanted to keep it from her then he could.

"He was there." She spoke softly as Dazai tilted his head in a silent question, "He was the one who took my family."

"Atsushi said you feared him? That you had seemed terrified of the man." Dazai was watching the way her body seemed to flinch at the thought, even though it was barely noticeable. She shrugged while she slipped on the jacket, feeling its protective warmth around her once more.

"He was on the verge of collapse, he was probably just seeing what he was feeling himself." She responded as she started towards the door. But once more Dazai's voice stopped her.

"If you had been given the choice. If the agency had found you first-" Dazai began his final question but she never let him finish asking it.

"You can not change the past, surely you know this Dazai. There's no sense in even asking that question." She responded and even though she didn't say yes or no... her answer spoke volumes of the kind of person she was.

Because Dazai has no doubt that the answer to that question was a Yes.