Hello everyone, I'm back! Nice to see you again. Hope you enjoy the new chappie!

And a special thank you to my best friend viexon for her review: characters are always cute with their kids, aren't they?

I own nothing.

Chapter 2: Introduction

The sad thing, Ryuho Kamo thought, well one of the sad things here was that his co-worker seemed more comfortable sitting on his ex-wife's couch than he did. Benzai was relaxed, her posture professional, but not rigid, her expression calm, she excluded confidence and tranquillity. On the other hand, Kamo thought he was a few seconds away from hyperventilating, he felt as bad as Kasa looked, his ex was holding it together, but only just, her face was flushed and a light sheen of sweat sat across her forehead and her chest rose and fell quickly, like she had just run a mile.

"Ryuho," she spoke calmly but there was an edge to her voice that reminded Kamo of the awful last days of their marriage, just before they'd gotten divorced. Shit was about to get real. "This what-whatever is going on, you said you might know something?" Unfortunately he did, he and Benzai had both been hoping that there was another explanation for this, any other explanation, but when they saw Miki they had realized there wasn't one, Miki had stopped using her powers and was upstairs now, playing with her favourite action figures and dolls. "And I don't mean to be rude," Kasa continued, "but what exactly are you doing here?" A nod of her head indicated that this last question was for Benzai as if they couldn't have already guessed.

Yujiro gave a slight smile, "I'm here to validate your ex-husband's story," she said without missing a beat,

Kamo mentally thanked her for having the tact not to say that she was his emotional support and probably the only thing that had stopped him from running out the door screaming. So far.

"I'm sorry, but what is that supposed to mean?" Asked Kasa, looking from one to the other.

Ryuho hesitated for a second, trying to decide how to tell her this, eventually he reached out and took both her hands in his and squeezed gently. Now it was Kasa's turn to have her heartbeat accelerate, Ryuho only ever did that if he had bad news he needed to tell her and wanted her to stay calm, he probably hadn't realized it but she had, every. Single. Time.

"Kasa what I'm about to tell you is going to sound insane. Benzai's here to prove that I'm not crazy and you aren't either. This is all going to sound absolutely unreal but I need you to hear me out, you have to trust me, can you do that?"

She looked up at him and Ryuho stared into the deep brown orbs he had once loved so much, he no longer felt that way, but they still respected each other, still cared about each other and, he hoped, still trusted each other.

Kasa nodded, "I trust you."

Well great, so far so good. Now what did he do?

He didn't think anything he could say would explain this as well as anything he could do, so he let go of one of Kasa's hands and held his clenched fist out between them, palm up. Slowly he unfurled his fingers. A blue flame danced on the centre of his hand.

Kasa gave a shriek and then clapped her hand over her mouth to prevent Miki from hearing, she stared at the technicoloured fire on her ex's hand, just sitting there innocently, conjured through will alone, and proving harmless to his skin or his clothes.

She reached out and held her hand a little above the flames, she could feel the heat rising, warming the bottom of her palm. There was a million things she wanted to ask but the first question that came out of her mouth was, "isn't that hot?"

Benzai smiled, "not to us."

"Us?" Demanded Kasa.

Time for an explanation he had no idea how to give, "Kasa, Benzai and I have..."

"Superpowers," Yujiro supplied helpfully.

"Superpowers," agreed Kamo, "and Miki has them too-"

"No," his ex-wife interrupted, "Miki can't do anything like that. She was just moving things without touching them, we all saw her."

'Just' moving things without touching them? "Miki's are a little bit different," Ryuho continued, "Benzai and I are called Clansmen, we got our power from what's called a King, Miki didn't. You see, Kings are..." So he went back to WWII Germany, to Adolfina. K. Weismann, the sole female German war scientist and her discoveries, to the consequences of those discoveries, the Silver and Gold Kings, to the power Kings possessed; the creation of Clans, the Kagutsu crater, and ending with the enthronement of Reisi Munakata as the long awaited next Blue King and the creation of her Clan; Scepter 4 and how he'd come to be in the Blue King's service, a year before he'd met Kasa.

"I don't know why she picked me," he admitted honestly, but when she'd beckoned, he'd always known he'd follow, there was something about Reisi Munakata, all Kings were magnetic but he felt she was even more so than the others, probably why he'd become her Clansman and not one of the other King's.

"I don't think any of us know why she picked any of us," admitted Benzai honestly, and Ryuho nodded.

"So the two of you have fire-powers? And there are six other 'Clans' who also have fire powers? And no one knows about this?" Kasa demanded.

"There should be six but it's more like four other Clans at the moment," said Kamo, thinking of the Silver Clan which had two people and an MIA King and the Colourless Clan which used to have only two members before they'd both jumped ship, "and there are a few individuals who know about this, the Prime Minister, for example, but yes, for the most part we operate away from the public eye."

"Why are they all called 'Kings' if some of them are female?" Asked Kasa, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully.

Benzai and Kamo glanced at each other, this was hardly one of the questions they expected to answer, "...I think it's because it's more of a job title than an actual rank like a normal king or queen," said Benzai.

Kamo noted the use of the words 'I think,' even they weren't sure. Kings could be so damn ineffable sometimes.

Kasa nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer, "but if the first one is female then shouldn't they all be Queens?" She asked.

Benzai and Kamo glanced at each other again, "I've never thought about it," admitted Benzai, she didn't seem particularly inclined to give any other answer.

"But what's that got to do with Miki?" Kasa asked.

So then Kamo spent the next twenty minutes explaining about Strains and how Scepter 4 was trained to handle them with the help of the Usagi and how they gained their powers without receiving them from a King.

"So Strains are just random people who gain random supernatural powers out of the blue with no discernible rhyme or reason?" Kasa demanded, amazed and kind of ticked off.

"Yes," said Kamo.

"And they can be anyone, even five year old girls or babies?" She asked.

"Yes," said Benzai.

"Or even animals, like horses?!"

Benzai and Kamo grimaced, "yes," they both said.

"Why didn't you tell me," asked Kasa quietly, "when we first met you told me you were a public servant."

Ryuho felt like a total asshole, "well..." his cheeks reddened uncomfortably, "I am." Technically, he was.

Then Kasa and Ryuho both became aware that Benzai was still sitting next to him on the couch awkwardly looking out the window and kindly pretending she hadn't heard a word of the relationship drama going on right next to her.

Both Kamo and Kasa stopped talking awkwardly, "we should go explain this to Miki," Ryuho said to his wife after a while.

They stood, so did Benzai, "I'll go down to the Gold Clan headquarters and see if I can't get them to give me a power-limiter bracelet, then I'll go back to our headquarters and turn in a report," she said.

"I can't ask you to do that, I'll turn in the report," said Kamo, it was his kid after all.

Benzai smiled, "no, it's fine, I haven't got anything else I should be doing. All of my other reports are done."

It was a rare and wondrous occasion for a member of the Special Squad to find themselves with no more reports to write.

Kamo hesitated, "I don't want to inconvenience you any more than I already have..." He began, but Benzai waved him off.

"It's fine. Say hello to Miss Miki for me," he nodded, Benzai reached out slightly as though she was going to touch his arm but her eyes flickered to Kasa and she let her hand fall, "I'll see you when you get back."

They both saw her out and then he, apprehensively, walked up the stairs to his daughter's bedroom, Kasa right behind him, "what are we going to tell her?" Kasa asked, "we can't tell her all that, she's five, she'll never understand it. I don't fully understand it myself." Yeah, neither did he.

"We'll tell her the truth," Ryuho decided, "that's she's a very special girl and she has an amazing ability and nothing to be ashamed of but that it would be better if no one else knew about it. And that she's going to get a special bracelet that will make her powers go away until she's old enough to control them." He turned on the stairs to look his ex in the eye, "you have to make her understand that she cannot take this bracelet off Kasa," he said seriously.

Kasa hesitated, smoothing back her long brown hair anxiously, "it won't hurt her?"

"Not at all. I would never let it near her if it would." He assured her, feeling kind of insulted that she even considered he would make his daughter wear an object that could cause her harm. But he knew that Kasa was just (understandably) frazzled and wanted reassurance, wasn't like he'd blame her for that.

Kasa nodded strongly, "I'll make her understand," she promised.

"Not just her, your parents if she takes a bath while staying there, any swimming instructors, anything, she cannot take it off no matter who tells her to." He insisted.

She nodded, "how old... how old will she have to be before she can learn how to control it?"

Ryuho thought for a moment, "usually around eleven or twelve, though she can start practicing almost immediately." He made to keep walking but hesitated, he had the feeling there was something else his ex-wife wanted to ask.

He wasn't wrong, "and you're sure her being a Strain has nothing to do with you being a... Clansman?" She asked.

"Kasa," Ryuho placed both of his hands on her shoulders, "I can only imagine what you must think of me after hearing all of that, but I would never do anything that would put my family in danger." Or his potential family, he had been a Clansman for almost a full year before meeting his wife. "It's a complete coincidence."

And that was the truth.

Kasa smiled, "okay," she squared her shoulders, "let's do this."

He opened the door, Miki's room was exactly as he remembered it, the walls a pale blue, the carpet an off-white, mermaids covered the bedspread and dolphin and other sea creature plushies and figurines littered the room, Miki loved sea life, especially mermaids.

"Hey darling," Ryuho knelt next to his daughter who was building a castle out of small, brightly coloured blocks.

She looked up and smiled, "hey daddy. Are you hear to help me build a castle?" She asked.

Ryuho's heart ached, it had been months since he was able to just sit and play with his daughter, only being able to see her once every three months was torture.

Once every three months minus whenever they ran into each other or she turned out to have special powers, that was.

"I can't today sweetheart," he told her gently, "Mummy and I have something very important we need to talk to you about."

"Is this about me making things move that made mummy scream?" Asked Miki, looking upset. She might be young, but she wasn't stupid.

Kasa crossed the room and sat down beside them. "Yes sweetie, it is, but don't worry, you're not in trouble, you didn't do anything wrong," she added hurriedly, seeing the expression on her daughter's face.

"Sweetie, what you can do is very special, that doesn't make it wrong. But it is dangerous," Kamo told her, "so you need to make daddy a promise, you need to promise me that you won't ever tell anyone about these powers okay? Not ever."

Miki stuck out her lower lip, "but daddy, sometimes it happens even when I don't want it too," as if to prove her point, the shelves behind Ryuho rattled even though nothing had shaken them.

Ryuho placed a calming hand on his daughter's shoulder, "I understand that pumpkin but a very good friend of mine is going to get you a special bracelet. It will make this go away. But you have to promise me you will always wear it. Always, okay?"

Miki looked into her father's very serious eyes and bit her lip, she didn't like this, it was scaring her, but mummy had said she hadn't done anything wrong and she and daddy didn't look angry, so maybe it was okay.

"I promise," she held up the smallest finger of her right hand and Ryuho linked his with it, it was official now, neither of them would ever break a pinkie-promise.

"Sorry that took so long," were the first words out of Benzai's mouth when she came back.

"On the contrary, I was just about to thank you for being so quick. Did you run into any trouble with the Usagi?" Ryuho asked.

Benzai shook her head, "they were more than happy to give a power bracelet to me once I explained that they wouldn't have to get involved."

She handed it to him, "thank you," he told her, heartfelt and relieved.

Benzai actually gave him a small smile, "it was no trouble."

She waited at the door while Kamo and Kasa took the bracelet up to Miki, "Miki darling here's the bracelet I told you about. Remember our promise?"

Miki nodded seriously, "always," pinkie-promises were unbreakable vows.

Ryuho knelt and clicked the bracelet around her tiny wrist and then hugged her tightly. "I love you sweet- pea."

"I love you too daddy."

As he and Benzai walked through the door to Scepter 4 they were both in high spirits, "you must be so relieved," said Yujiro, her steps light.
"Oh I am," Kamo assured her, he'd been quietly terrified before, the terror hadn't overcome his thought process but it had been there. He'd been so frightened that Miki would hurt herself, or that this was somehow worse than what he thought it was (how, exactly, he wasn't quite sure), or that something bad would happen to her, he was so thankful it hadn't.
"Thank you for your help," he told her again, "I don't think I would've had the courage to face Kasa on my own."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Benzai asked quietly, as though she was half hoping he wouldn't hear her. She hummed in agreement, "Your ex-wife is a remarkable woman to adapt to this as quickly as she did."
"Yeah, she's amazing," agreed Kamo.
"Do you still love her?" The question was out of Benzai's mouth before she could stop it, Ryuho looked round at her, Benzai's cheeks went pink.
She dropped her gaze, "I'm sorry, that was incredibly nosy of me, I don't know what I was thinking asking you that. It's none of my business."
Ryuho considered his answer for a second, "I guess I do kind of still love her," he admitted.
Benzai's heart sank and she inwardly frowned at her own reaction, stop it. You're acting like a lovesick teenager who found out her crush likes somebody else. She told herself sternly.
"Like we've both said; she is remarkable, and I love her as the mother of my child and I like to think as my friend. But no, I am not in love with her, if that is what you are asking me. I no longer love her as a man loves a woman, simply as a friend." Kamo gave a small smile, "my being in Scepter 4 did not cause our relationship to fail," he said, unsure of which one of them he was trying to convince, "but it was the icing on the proverbial cake. I am beginning to think that if I were to ever start dating again the woman I began a relationship with would have to be another Clansman, and judging by the less than stellar relationships between the seven clans probably a member of Scepter 4. So I don't like my chances." Wait, why had he felt the need to share that last part with her?
"I don't know about that, Enomoto used to say the same thing, now look at her," countered Benzai. Tatsuya Enomoto and Daiki Fuse, both of Scepter 4 were now engaged and had a child of their own on the way.
Ryuho shook his head in wonder, "I never saw it coming, their relationship."
"Really?" Asked Yujiro, she'd thought it was obvious.
They reached their desks just in time to see Andy Domyoji leap to her feet, slam her hands down on the table and shriek in frustration. "I don't get it! I give up!" She ripped the top sheet off her report, scrunched it up, and threw it aimlessly across the room. It whizzed past Benzai and Kamo...
To hit Mr. Fushimi in the side of the head.
"Oh crap," said Benzai calmly.

Biggest cliff-hanger any of you have ever seen in your lives. Don't deny it.
Well there you are guys. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know what you think. Bye!