Takao Kazunari slowly crunched the ball of paper into a small ball, narrowing his eyes. He arched his arm up, flicking his wrist forward and watching as the paper ball sailed through the air. It hit the edge of the bin and dropped to the ground, bouncing twice. He could hear snickering behind him and spun in his chair, glaring at his squad mate.

"Shut up," he muttered, resting his forearms on the desk and slamming his forehead onto them. He was bored out of his mind and wanted to do something. He had finished all the paper work assigned to him (most of which wasn't even his, it was just someone in his squad was too lazy to do it herself) and everytime something was called in, they wouldn't answer it. "Can we answer the next call in, Imayoshi-Sempai?"

Imayoshi Shoichi was sitting comfortable at his own desk, munching on a melon roll and reading a newspaper. His eyes slid from the page to Takao as he stopped chewing, his head tilting to the side as he contemplated Takao's request. His eyes then flicked to the laziest member of their squad, Takao following his gaze. Izanami Raeden, when he first hear that he was to join her squad Takao was more than ecstatic. Everyone knew that if one managed to stick in her squad for a year, then you were more likely to be promoted in ranks and taken on interesting call outs that was often reserved for high ranking officers.

Takao had been in the squad for six months, and most of his days was filled with him filling out Izanami's unfinished paperwork or sitting at his desk staring up at the roof, trying to imagine a day that was fun. Not that Izanami wasn't amusing in her own right. Too often a new officer would give her some sort of lip and she would react in unexpected ways. Like the time that jerk, Takao couldn't remember his name now, he didn't last that long, told her to shut up and get in the kitchen because that's where she belonged. Everyone expected her to shoot him in the foot, but she had just disappeared into the break room for the rest of the day. Every time a male tried to enter she would shriek how the place was 'the domain of women' and threatened to spray them in the face with a fire extinguisher. The dumbass actually tried to force his way in and returned with a face full of foam. Takao couldn't remember a funnier event than that.

"Izanami-San, what do you think?"

"No," Izanami yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth. Takao shook his head. Everyone knew she had an immunity in the department, and not even the Chief knew why. All they knew was when he made a complaint to the Superintendent-General, he was told she must remain where she is. Imayoshi and Takao have a bet it's because he can't be bothered dealing with her anymore. "And I saw you miss Kazu-Chan."

Takao winced at the nickname she had given him on the first day of him joining the squad. He had hoped she would relent as time went on, but now it seemed to be a habit more than anything. Izanami was lying back in her chair, her feet up on her desk scattered with a range of yet to be filled forms that would no doubt be pushed to Takao. He groaned, smacking his forehead back down onto his forearms and wishing something would happen.

"Why not?" he ended up whining, spinning his chair around to face Izanami. She didn't react to him, but slid further down in her chair. Compared to the rest of them, she looked quite comfortable. Takao couldn't think of a time when he hadn't seen her stroll into the department wearing a pair of loose jeans held tight against her calves by flat soled leather boots and comfortable, flannalette shirt. Part of Takao wanted to scold her for looking so unprofessional, the other wanted to dress like her.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I said so."

"Uh," Takao groaned, sinking into his chair and glaring up at the roof. Sometimes he considered not even coming in to work when he was required because they never did anything. Imayoshi just laughed and returned to his newspaper, munching on the melon roll again. Takao was about to give up on having a conversation with anyone because Izanami closed her eyes and was no doubt about to start having a nap, when the door opened. "Kasamatsu Sempai!"

"Shut up you idiot," Kasamatsu Yukio snapped as he walked in, carrying a tray of drinks. Takao sat up, grinning like an idiot as he was handed a drink before Kasamtsu breezed passed, gently placing one on Izanami's desk before walking to his own next to Imayoshi's. Takao happily started sipping at the coffee, thankful they at least had their own, cut off office space to work in. It was probably more a way to try and contain Izanami's behaviour to a secluded space. The momentary happiness quickly drifted away when Takao found himself growing bored again. Kasamatsu had busied himself with his computer and Takao let out a sigh, ready to resign himself to boredom when Izanami sat up suddenly, frowning and rubbing her temple.

"Ugh, this is shit. I'm going for a walk," she muttered, standing up and swaying in place slightly. Takao opened his mouth to object when she stalked out of the office space, slamming the door behind her and leaving the men in silence.

"Her headaches are getting more regular," Imayoshi noted. Takao spun his chair, seeing that both Kasamatsu and Imayoshi were staring at the door looking worried. Kasamatsu pulled back from his computer, rubbing his jaw and looking to Takao briefly before looking to Imayoshi.

"You think it has something to do with...?"

"I do not doubt it. This happened the last time," Imayoshi sighed and Takao found himself wanting to beg them for answers, but when they fell into silence he felt as though he didn't quite want to know what they were talking about.

...

Kuroko Tetsuya ran as fast as he could down the street, looking over his shoulder to the two behind him. It wasn't as though he hadn't run into others of his own kind before, he just had never seen two like this before. He turned the corner, tears streaming down his face as he pushed himself to run faster, but they were catching on him quickly. He turned the next corner, looking over his shoulder still, only to find that he had pushed himself into a dead end. His feet slowed as he realised that he would become trapped, and when he heard the pair behind him turn into the alley, he stumbled to turn his body towards them.

They were taller than him by a few feet and their arms were thick and muscular. Their faces were taught, their skin looking thin as they jutted over their cheekbones. Their heads twitched from side to side, their eyes fallen into darkness. A sob broke from Kuroko's throat, something that was almost unheard of. He was terrified, not for himself, but for his family. They would wake that night and find his bed empty, none of them knowing where he would have gone. They would try to find him, track him down, and what would they find? Would they find anything?

"Kill, kill, kill," the words clicked from their tongues and Kuroko's back hit hard, cold brick. His knees gave out and he started sinking towards the ground, apologising to his family in his head as he closed his eyes. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I'm sorry. Long fingers curled around his neck, lifting him off the ground and started to choke the life out of him. Kuroko whimpered, clawing at the hands as best as he could but he wasn't built for fighting. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please, I'm sorry, please, I don't want to die. Someone, please.

A loud shriek filled the air and Kuroko was dropped to the ground. He heaved and tried to pull as much are into his lungs as he could manage, clutching his neck and choking on the sudden influx of air. He looked up in time to see one of the men scaling the wall in an attempt to run whilst the other was lying face down, dead eyes staring into nothing and black blood beginning to pool from his throat. Kuroko didn't notice another person in the alley until they were kneeling right in front of him, one hand on his shoulder and the other still clutching tight onto the knife they held. His eyes focused on the white markings etched under the skin of the hands, swirling like flowers on those hideous curtains he would see in the antique store near his home, and he closed his eyes again, waiting for the knife to be dragged across the skin of his neck and kill him.

...

Izanami let out a sigh, pulling her hand away from the man's shoulder and sliding the knife back into it's scabbard in her boot. She looked over her shoulder to the creature behind her, frowning slightly before looking up. The sun was high in the sky, shedding light on the land and she bit her lip.

"It's a bit early for you to be out, isn't it?" She didn't recieve an answer. She didn't expect to. She grabbed the man's arm and stood, yanking him to his feet. Tears were dripping from his chin as his head remained bowed and Izanami frowned, looking him up and down. He definitely wasn't a Warrior, and if he was his Tribe was in a fuck tonne of trouble, and she rocked back onto her hip, tapping her chin. "Are you an Underling?"

"Ano," he all but whispered, looking up to her with a pair of eyes so blue they looked unreal that she was slightly stunned, "if you are going to kill me, please do so already. I do not want to be toyed with."

"I'm not killing you," Izanami said, putting her hands up, palm facing him to show that she wasn't holding any weapons. He didn't look like he believed her, but the tears had stopped so Izanami assumed that was a good thing at least. Her gaze focused on the body lying behind her and she grimaced, this was going to take paperwork that she wouldn't be able to shove off onto Takao. "You should probably get home, there's still that other one out."

Izanami didn't try to look at him again, he would have been gone the moment she had taken her eyes off him. Instead she knelt beside the body of the creature, rolling it onto it's back and looking it over, clicking her tongue lightly. He was a big a boy, or had been at least, but the sunken cheek bones gave off a new feel. Fallen into depravity, he wasn't the first one like that she had run into.

"Hey Izanami-Sempai, I was look..." Izanami looked up to see Takao standing at the end of the alleyway, his eyes bugging out of his head and his mouth gaping open as he took in the sight in front of him. Izanami sighed, standing and walking over to the younger officer, patting his shoulder gently.

"Yeah, this is going to take some explaining."