Keomi walked through the hallways of the Port Mafia Headquarters trying to remember a better time. She had known she would be expected to kill people and for awhile she had made peace with it. It was to find out what happened to her family, after that flash of green light. She had thought that was more than enough to keep her going on her path. She had thought that perhaps it would be awhile before she had to kill anyone with this... ability.

This 'Gift'.

She would scoff if she was talking allowed, this was all madness. She didn't belong her, but where else could she go? She needed to get her family back and she would most likely have to kill in order for that to happen. Keomi would have to learn how to survive in this world, even if it was to see her father. Her brother. Her Sister. Her mother, she supposed.

The Boss had asked to come to his office to prove that her training with Akutagawa was ready for the next step. She wished Akutagawa or even Chuuya had warned her what would be awaiting in that office. What she would have to do, what she had to force herself to do.

She stopped in the middle of the hallway the blood dripping down from her arm to her fingertips. She glanced down at it, the life force that had been previously keeping a man alive. She had thought her 'gift' was beautiful, the crystals moving with her body as an extension of herself.

Now they were a crimson red, stained to only her eyes and the blood would haunt her forever. Because she had no anger with the man who died, he was not her enemy. He had done no wrong to her, but he had done wrong to her place of work. He was their enemy therefore her enemy.

The blood slide down from her middle finger and, plit-plat, the blood dripped onto the floors. Where darker shades meet the lighter, leaving its stains on the floors for the rest of their time. Plit-plat. Plit-plat.

The Boss had said she was ready to start going out on missions with Akutagawa. He had placed his hand on her head with a soft smile. The kind of smile that one would for a faithful and good dog. He had said, "Good job, Keomi-chan."

She was glad at the very least that Akutagawa would be her 'partner' for missions. Even if he was still training her in a way, even if he wasn't supposed to be her friend. She felt safe with him, even if he had been obnoxious during their first meeting.

"Oi. Why are you just standing in the hallway Shizuka!" She couldn't help but smile when she heard his voice in front of him. There he was, Akutagawa, in the flesh staring at her with those angry eyes. Waiting for her response, impatiently.

"Sorry Aku, won't happen again." Akutagawa let out a small 'ch' sound shaking his head with his eyes closed at her. Still, that didn't stop him from walking up to her and ruffling her hair fondly. He didn't spare a glance at the blood, but she knew he saw it. She wondered if he was proud.

"You ok?" Akutagawa was not stupid he knew that this kind of life was not what the girl had expected her life to be like. He had read her file from the Boss, her father was in Hunting Dogs unit of the military. He worked with an ability user that the military had deemed 'safe'.

Her mother was the other side of the coin, not much was known about her though. Her information scrubbed off of the earth making her look all shiny and new. Akutagawa doubted that Shizuka knew anything about it though. Still she grew up in an upright home and was plucked from it abruptly.

She would leave him to one day.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She looked at him trying to muster the best smile that she could hoping he wouldn't see through her stupid lies.

Akutagawa had two options with how he could proceed, he could tell her that was the right answer. Destroying any hope of her actually ever sharing anything with him. Or he could tell her that it was ok to not be. But that didnt sound like him and he didn't care what his Protege thought about him. He just needed to get her through this stage of her life to prove to Dazai that he could.

"First mission is tomorrow, I'll be at your room at 5 sharp." Akutagawa decided not to comment on any of it instead walking towards Mori's office in a whirlwind his coat trailing behind him with every step.

"I'll be at your room at 5 sharp." Keomi mimicked his voice as she continued to walk around a curve almost to her room. She could finally be alone... or at least she would've if she hadn't bumped straight into someone.

"Don't let him hear you doing that, I have a feeling he wouldn't take too kindly to it." Of course it was Chuuya, after not seeing him for the past month he finally reappeared just when she needed to be alone. Had the pair of them planned this, surely they had crossed paths themselves.

"You say that as if I give a fuck Chuuya." Keomi attempted to walk past him only for him to block her path once more, "Chuuya."

Her voice was lower and closer to a growl then usual. Chuuya simply laughed refusing to move away, every step sideways she took he took as well.

"Go get cleaned up, then I'm going to buy you a drink." Keomi kept the sigh from slipping from her mouth. At the very least, if she couldn't be alone drinking would be the next best thing.

"Fine, give me five minutes and then I'll meet you back here." Keomi exclaimed and only then did Chuuya let the younger girl pass by him letting her head to her room.

"If you're gone longer than five I'll bust down that door and you should know the handy man doesn't come often." Chuuya called after her smirking, mostly to himself, and watching her enter her room. Slamming the door and locking it, as if that would keep anyone out who really wanted in.

Keomi took in a deep breath letting the blood drip onto her floor, she needed a reminder. She always would need to remember what she had done to that man. Plit-plat. Plit-plat.

The Boss didn't speak for a long time waiting for Keomi to take in the scene in front of her. She fought to keep her face completely neutral looking at the man with indifference. He was struggling against his bonds with wild abandonment no longer caring how crazed he appeared.

"Activate Kurisutaru and shred this man." The Boss's voice held so much weight that Keomi almost flinched at the tone. He didn't tell her to kill the man, no, he wanted her to torture the man.

"Kurisutaru." She spoke softly the rings of her ability swirling around her, violent rings of red. She had not figured out why her ability seemed to always be changing colors. Typically her Crystals were a pale purple, but they had also been deep blues, violent reds, and vibrant purples.

Sharp crystals were whipped across the man's skin creating welps everywhere they went. She made whips, much like that time on the roof all those weeks ago, and slashed them on the man's skin. Numb. She was completely numb to it all watching the blood drip from his body. His life force draining from his body, but he wouldn't die from blood loss for awhile.

She ignored his screams completely, instead deciding to be deceptive and letting her lips tilt up into a ghost of a smile. The Boss watched her with a smile of his own, she would become his own hunting hound. With her abilities she could one day... he was getting ahead of himself.

Still she was doing an excellent job and he would let her know such.

Her whips slashed through his clothes and his skin as if they were a piece of paper. The whips became bloodied and the shades of red blended together. Red Crystals dipped in the sweetest of blood.

"I will give you the choice, kill him now or I can." The Boss finally spoke again his tone firm, but this was a test. This was the main test that would tell him all he needed to know about her character.

Keomi dissolved the whips and placed a sleeve of armor around her right arm and walked towards the man. His eyes were pleading with her and she wondered if it was worth it. Whatever he had done, was it worth his life? Was it worth it to the man? Did he have a family? But she would never know these things, she only knew that she had a family. One that needed her to do this.

He let out one last scream as her crystallized arm went through his chest. His eyes widened as his scream faded and he cough up a splotch of blood. Plop. Onto the ground he went right along side the blood that would likely stain the Boss's office for years to come. Keomi let her ability fade away, the blood on her crystals falling onto her arm instead.

The Boss smiled at her watching as she turned facing him like a dog to its master. He walked towards her, delighting in the dripping of blood from her arm, and placed his hand on her head. She looked up at him her eyes completely void of emotion. Her ability was incredible.

"Good job, Keomi-Chan."

Keomi exited her room wearing a pair of jeans with her old brown sweater and a white blazer. Chuuya turned smirking at the girl taking notice that she wasn't wearing the coat the Boss had gotten her. There hadn't been that much blood on it, surely she could have worn it.

"You look, different, with normal clothes on." Chuuya remarked as the two started their way to the bar, Keomi having never been assumed Chuuya knew his way. He had offered to buy her a drink after all.

"I would prefer to not get called on the cops by someone because of a little blood. Even if it's only a little people overreact." She responded rubbing her arms slightly. She felt naked without that stupid coat the Boss had given her.

"Yeah because they would be overreacting?" Chuuya rolled his eyes and slipped his own trench coat off drapping it around the girl, "Here. Don't say I never gave you anything now."

She pulled the coat close to her body feeling safer with having more of herself cloaked in mystery. They exited the port mafia head quarters now on the streets of Yokohama. The bar was rather close to the headquarters and they both made quick work of getting out of the cold night air. The Bar's sign glowed in the deep night sky, blending with all of the other city lights, Bar Lupin.

"What'll ya have?" The barkeep didn't seem like he was aware of who Chuuya was, which meant that most of the people in the bar were regulars.

"Vodka Tonic." Chuuya responded and then looked over to the women questioning his eyebrow raising slightly at her.

"Something with an Alyssum Flower." She spoke her tone wistful, her father's favorite flower which he loved to cook with. She didn't know anything about alcohol, but she figured something could possibly be made with the flower. Since on a sign above the bar there was a drink called 'The Alyssum's Kiss'.

"Comin' right up." The barkeep left them to chat while the waited for their drinks, Chuuya staring at her bizarrely.

"What's up with the flower?" It had been one of the strangest requests he had heard someone say at a bar and he had heard quite a lot of strange requests.

"My father always said, 'Nothing bad can ever be made with an Alyssum Flower.' Figured I would find out if it was true or not." Keomi shrugged as if it was all meaningless, but she remembered what the flower meant. It is supposed to tell you everything you need to know and bring balance into your life.

She needed all of that desperately. She needed her Dad and this was the closest she was going to get.

"Guess you're one of those then." He snarked at her rolling his eyes focusing on the drink being sat in front of him. He took a sip relishing in the burn that went all the way down his throat.

"One of who?" She looked at him not even paying attention to the drink being sat in front of her.

"One of those orphans who actually liked and knew their parents." He responded looking towards her as if to say, 'Tell me I'm wrong.'

"My parents aren't dead Jack Ass they were-" Keomi stopped not being able to continue because she didn't know what happened to them, "Fucking forget it, this was a mistake."

Keomi pick the flower off of the cup and with her other hand she tipped back the amber liquid. She downed the entire thing, which appeared to be some sort of whiskey based on the color. Maybe Bourbon. She coughed as she walked away struggling not to dry heave right onto the floor.

"Keomi." Chuuya called out the her but she was already gone completely done with him and that conversation.

She twirled the flower in-between her fingers as she walked in the cold air of Yokohama. She didn't pay attention to where she went, she just needed to be away from that place. Plit-plat. She could still hear the sound of the blood dripping onto the floors, echoing in her head.

"What do I do, Dad?" She questioned the flower as if it was going to magically answer all of her problems. She knew one thing though, her dad had been wrong. The Alyssum flower did not make that drink good, maybe it's because she didn't eat the flower with it.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but she ignored it knowing that it was either Chuuya or Akutagawa. She needed to head back soon otherwise Aku would plan another training session at two am as punishment. Keomi tried her best to navigate through the sea of people back to headquarters. Eventually finding her way, thanks to Akutagawa putting a nearby address to the headquarters where she could find her way from there.

When she got back into her room she placed the small flower in a cup with a little bit of water. The flower was the last thing that she saw before she drifted off to a horrifying dream.