"Its fine, its fine. You're going to be okay!" Kaiya blinked slowly awake to find herself lying on a couch, two people were standing over her, one was smiling and the other was looking worried. She sat up abruptly, everything coming back. Her muscles were sore, but she began to struggle against the sheets, a warm hand on her shoulder made her fall still. The smiling one's eyes shone with concern, "I found you running away from a rough looking bunch, but we lost them. Don't worry, you're safe here."

"Where am I?" Her voice rose with fear and she took a few breaths to settle herself before continuing, "Who are you?"

"This is the HOMRA bar, I am Kusanagi Izumo, the one who brought you to our doorstep, where you promptly fainted, is Totsuka Tatara."

"Hi!" The smiling one, Totsuka-san, gave a small wave.

HOMRA? The gang? She jumped away from them and pressed herself tightly to the back of couch like a threatened cat, "Stay away from me! Please don't rape me!" Her eyes were wide with fear and her heart rate had once again picked up, but now she was too weak to fight and she slouched after a couple moments. Totsuka caught her from falling off the couch and repositioned her, "We promise no harm will come to you and we would never take advantage of a young lady. Now, can you tell us why you were running?"

Taking a deep breath, she began with the loss of her mother...and a few hours later she yawned and laid her head against the armrest of the couch, "And then I bumped into you so I guess you know the rest."

"So you have nowhere to go?" Totsuka asked gently, which she simply nodded in response too. "Then the answer is simple! You can stay here and join HOMRA!"

Kaiya blinked, "Join a gang? But they'll still come after me and my dad will keep trying to get me back. I don't want to cause trouble for you with the police-"

"But if you go back," It the bartender who had been thoughtful while she told her story, "Your father will hand you over to them?" Again, she nodded solemnly.

Totsuka gave that easy going smile, "Its fine, its fine! You'll be safe here!"

()

"Is this Scepter 4? My name is Tsukihisa Kane. My daughter is a strain and…she's run away from home." He gulped, his fingers shook. The Yakuza gang had given him a chance to redeem his payment after he told them he'd have the police find her, that he could pull strings for them to make it top priority.

"Yes, her abilities are still undetermined, am I correct?"

"Um. Yes." And with a sigh of relief he began to offer them information in their search for her. Within the hour he was saying goodbye after being promised they'd have missing posters up the next day.

()

"Is it really okay for me to stay with you, Totsuka-san?"

"You have nowhere else to go, and you can meet our king after you've gotten some rest, you've been through too much. Don't worry. It will all work out." He unlocked the door of his apartment and ushered her in, "Your clothes are filthy, so I'll lend you some."

"Thank you." She bowed quickly, "I'm sorry to trouble you."

He laughed, "Just get some rest. I'll go get you some extra clothes." He walked off, leaving her in the living room, and when he returned she'd already curled up on the couch and fallen asleep, so he pulled a blanket over her and placed the clothes on the other armrest along with a quick note of "I'll be at the HOMRA bar if I'm not here." And left her to sleep.

()

"And you just bumped into her and decided to bring her here?" Kusanagi lit a new cigarette and shot Totsuka a dubious look.

His optimistic friend smiled, unaware of the look, but his smile slipped away and his gaze fell thoughtfully to the floor, "Mikoto will let her join if he hears her story."

Outside the bar a police officer put up a missing poster and moved on. Kusanagi walked to the window to get a better look and his jaw tightened, "She hasn't even been missing for 24 hours, so the police shouldn't be involved yet." Totsuka joined him at the window and slowly skimmed over the poster a few feet from them, with a picture that was unmistakably the girl he'd brought here.

()

When Kaiya awakened it was no longer dark, the sky was just becoming light. Her clothes were filthy, and glancing around she noticed the T-shirt and jacket Totsuka-san had left for her. She scanned over the note and then went in search of a washing machine.

His house was clean, not what she expected from a bachelor, but there was no sign that he lived with anyone else though. He mentioned the pub in the letter, maybe she'd go down and ask him if she could use the washing machine. But just then the door opened and he came in, and stopped. He greeted her with a good natured smile, "I just came back to check on you. Did you just wake up?" She nodded, clutching the fresh clothes. "The police are putting up missing posters for you."

Kaiya tensed and backed away, but Totsuka raised his hands in a surrender gesture, "Don't worry, we won't turn you in, but I brought Suoh Mikoto, the red king, to meet you."

The man behind him was scary looking, but unlike her bruises her confidence had healed with sleep. "Red king? What does that mean?"

Totsuka gave a brief explanation of the 7 kings, and that magical powers do exist. She didn't look convinced though and when he finished she turned to Mikoto, "Prove it."

Mikoto had his hands in his pockets and looked rather unconcerned. Fire leapt forth from his skin and Kaiya barely suppressed a look of surprise. The fire faded and she nodded, satisfied, and then retold the red king about the trouble she was now in. And when she finished Totsuka piped up, "And we'll have to disguise her because her face is probably all over this city by now with those missing posters."

"What?" She spun around to face her savior, her eyes wide. She knew she'd have to hide, but a disguise hadn't crossed her mind yet. But in her defense, she'd just woken up and was more preoccupied with finding a washing machine.

But Totsuka continued, "Since Yata can't deal with girls, we can just disguise her as a boy. It shouldn't be too hard."

Mikoto stepped toward her and reached out his hand toward her, "If you want to join HOMRA, you can."

Kaiya eyed his hand, but tentatively reached forward to take it and was suddenly engulfed in flames. Fear shot through her…and Totsuka fell to his knees. She jumped backward and looked around, her fear slowly faded as she realized she wasn't on fire or being cooked alive. There was warmth on her upper hip and she pulled her jacket up a bit. A weird symbol in red now adorned her skin, and Totsuka, who was now back on his feet, explained, "That's the HOMRA symbol. So Tsukihisa Kaiya, welcome to HOMRA."

And with bleach, scissors, sunglasses, bandages, and boy clothes, Kaiya was transformed into Kai-kun. Totsuka brought her to the HOMRA bar that afternoon to introduce her to the rest of the gang. A bit of rest and food had brought her confidence back and she slid into the role of a 15 year old boy with ease.