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Chapter 1

Misaki did all she could do in the situation: follow him into the store. They were supposed to be staking out places where he thought one of his former coworkers, for lack of a better word, would show up, but so far the only places they watched were supermarkets.

"They've got to get food sometime," was Hei's reasoning. Misaki wasn't convinced. Not once had they stepped out of her car to check the store out. That is, until today.

He hadn't even said anything, just got out of the car and crossed the street to the entrance. It took Misaki by surprise, and she had to run in order to catch up with him.

They went up in down the aisles, Hei not glancing at the items, but at the people. He paused in the candy aisle, picked up a bag, and turned his head toward the entrance. After about a minute just standing there, he turned and walked back two aisles that they had previously viewed.

Once again he picked up an item, busying himself by reading the ingredients. Misaki suppressed her urge to ask him what they were doing when she heard a voice.

"Um, sir?" The speaker was a short Chinese woman, probably in her mid-twenties, who looked nervous as she approached Hei. "Would you mind grabbing me a couple boxes of that rice?" She asked while pointing to the top shelf. "I'm afraid I'm too short to reach it." she said with both a smile and embarrassment.

"Sure," Hei easily retrieved the boxes and handed them to the woman.

"Thank you so much, sir," she said with a small bow, then turned and walked to the registers, Hei's eyes following her.

They returned to roaming the aisles. He chatted with some middle-aged women in the fresh vegetable section and exchanged pleasantries with the cashier. All they purchased was a new type of candy bar on sale.

They went back to the car, and Hei returned to staring at the supermarket. Misaki couldn't stand it anymore. "Okay, why now of all days did we go in there? Was there a contractor? Did we make contact?" Hei only nodded his head. "Well? Which one was it? The cashier?"

He sat back and heaved a heavy sigh. "Let's go back to head quarters."

With a huff, Misaki started the car and drove back to base, her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel so hard.

They entered the building and walked to their little patch of desks. Saito, Kono and Matsumoto huddled in a circle, laughing instead of working. As soon as they saw Misaki, the men hurried back to their desks and tried to look busy. She sighed and tried to look disappointed, but inside she was truly happy to have the old team back together, even if they were no longer working for the police.

Misaki sat down angrily at her desk and looked at Hei. He casually typed a few things into his computer then leaned back in his chair. Despite becoming a member of the New Syndicate a few months ago, he still didn't quite fit in.

"So, did you two find anyone, chief?" Saito asked expectantly.

"Yeah, but he won't say who." Misaki glared at the contractor while he continued to stare at his screen. "If you won't say which person in the store it was, will you at least tell me which contractor?"

Without looking away from his computer, Hei said, "CL-413."

There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone as they considered that new piece of information. The star had been active during a string of assassinations and had recently be tracked to the Tokyo area. Other than that, the contractor was a complete unknown. The only ones who knew any information were Hei and Mao.

Hei clearly wasn't going to reveal anything, and Mao only had a little knowledge.

"I thought the guy was dead, killed by his own sister in fact." the cat said while cleaning his paws. At Misaki's questioning look, he continued. "His sister was also a Syndicate agent. A human one. She started a year or so before Hei and actually trained him. Soon they rivaled each other for the position of top agent. You know how Hei is called the "Black Reaper"? They called this girl "Death's Shadow". Anyway, CL-413 went rogue, and she killed him."

The rest of the day in the office went by uneventful until it was time to go out in search of contractors. Hei, dressed as the Black Reaper wandered through the city on the tops of buildings while Misaki and her team drove through the streets. Once or twice she thought she saw a dark figure watching, but never got a good look at the person.

They found no sign of contractor activity. Around one in the morning, Misaki decided they could stop for the night. They guys went home, and she returned to head quarters. Hei was already there, putting away his equipment.

"Mao tells me that you and CL-413's sister were rivals in the old Syndicate. That true?" Misaki pushed for more information, but Hei maintained his silence. "He also tells me that CL-413 is dead, but I talked with Kanami, and she said that the star is still there. Do you know what that's about?" He continued as if she didn't exist. "You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" He walked away and as if in answer, raised his hand and gave her a small wave.

Misaki watched him as he disappeared into the elevator going down to the lower levels where he was assigned to sleep. She felt bad for him sometimes, having to sleep in the same place where he was forced to work. It was one of the conditions when he joined the team.

While driving to her apartment, Misaki's thoughts wandered back to Hei. It was just four months after the Izanami incident when they finally caught BK-201. He was sitting at a makeshift grave, staring at the headstone that read no name. According to Mao, it belonged to Izanami, or Yin as they called her. He didn't put up any resistance what-so-ever, didn't say a word.

They kept him locked up in his little room for three months before the head of the new Syndicate, Kobayashi, went in to talk with him. When he came back out, they had a new team member. It made them all nervous, especially after all the time they had spent trying to capture him. Part of their job was making sure he didn't step out of line, but they needn't worry. He never did anything worthy of reprimand. He just went through the motions of the day.

According to Mao, Hei wasn't himself. "He was never really a talker, but he was never this silent. Plus, he's not eating as much as he normally does."

It was already three in the morning. If Misaki wanted any sleep, she would have to stop thinking about contractors, at least for the moment.