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Chapter 2: The Red Clan


There were about four people in the room but Hidaka felt like an entire crowd of people had suddenly gone quiet and stared the second she had entered the room.

She felt like she was on a huge stage and there was a giant spotlight pointed directly at her face.

"Umm... hi," Akira said nervously before immediately wanting to hit herself in the face for the lameness of that greeting.

What are you doing? She demanded of herself, show no fear! Remember? They can smell fear. Or Scepter 4 was pretty sure they could anyway.

"Um, I'm looking for Rikio Kamamoto; he said I could find him here?" She tried instead, hoping she wasn't going to get bodily thrown out of the bar.

The blond bartender with the sunglasses, HOMRA's strategist, had been talking as she'd walked through the door but trailed off in surprise as he looked at her, he blinked, then was over his shock.

He gave her a polite smile, "just a second," he walked to an open doorway with a set of stairs and called up, "Kamamoto! There's someone hear to see you."

While she waited Hidaka took in of the other people at the bar, one of them was -her heart gave a funny lurch- the new Red King, a tiny, slender young girl of maybe twelve or thirteen who didn't look strong enough to be King of anything, but Hidaka knew looks could be deceiving.

She acknowledged the new Red King with a slight bow, not a formality she would have given the previous Red King but hey, they were all starting over. Hidaka swallowed to ease the dryness in her throat and mouth and firmly reminded herself that she was probably not going to be murdered.

After a few seconds of unabashed staring at the crazy Blue, Anna Kushina's features resumed their normal blank expression and she gave a slight nod of her head in return.

The last two people at the bar were a young woman maybe a few years younger than Hidaka with scruffy blonde hair and a look in her sky blue eyes that was part wary, part hostile, and the tiny, brown-eyed, strawberry-blonde baby she was holding in her arms.

Wait? Who brought a baby into a bar?

HOMRA did obviously but... wait...

Why did HOMRA have a baby?

Well maybe they'd found him or her in a basket on their doorstep, Scepter 4 had run into that problem before, it wasn't fun. Although admittedly the real problems there had been that the baby was a Strain and the Captain had been toying with the idea of adopting him. And the fact that the members of Scepter 4 were good at a lot of things but evidently childcare was not one of them.

The bartender gave Hidaka a bright smile, "he won't be a minute," he promised.

"Th-thank you," said Hidaka, her muscles tensing the second she was addressed. It was funny, had she been ordered to come in here for any reason she wouldn't have hesitated for a second. But because this was a social call of her own choosing she was now terrified.

Just then Kamamoto stumbled down the stairs, looking curious about who was here to see him. When he saw Akira the curiosity morphed into happiness and he smiled hugely, "Hidaka! You came," he tactfully left off the end of that sentence which Hidaka was sure was something like 'I didn't actually think you would,' and moved around the bar and the females sitting there, and, before Hidaka could even register what was happening he had hugged her tightly and let go.

Hidaka's head swam slightly, "come on in," said Kamamoto cheerfully, "let me introduce you to everyone." He turned to gesture at 'everyone.'

"This is Anna, our new King," he beamed with joy and Anna inclined her head to Hidaka again, a gesture the brunette returned.

"This is Mr. Kusanagi, HOMRA's second in command," Kamamoto said.

Izumo Kusanagi lifted a hand in greeting, "hey, nice to meet you member of Scepter 4," he said with a small smile.

This was a much more cavalier reaction to her Clan than Hidaka had been expecting, she wasn't really sure what to do.

She gave a slight bow to him as well, "it's nice to meet you to!" She said semi-sincerely, thankfully not stumbling over her words this time. Dear Gods, what was she doing?

"This is Erica Solt, a member of HOMRA," Kamamoto continued as though he wasn't aware of Hidaka's cheeks getting redder by the second.

The blonde nodded, her expression no longer hostile, though far from being friendly. Hidaka nodded back.

"And Erica's wonderful son Kouki!" Now Kamamoto's grin became blinding, like the sun. "The second child to ever be born into the inner circle of HOMRA and the first boy."

"Two kids in three months, not bad for a group of idiots who don't have the first idea about raising children," Kusanagi sighed, but there was warmth and love in his eyes. It was obvious that to be a child of one member of HOMRA's inner circle was to be a child of all. That touched Hidaka's heart. These children would probably never have conventional lives but they would never want for love or affection.

But they would probably be well and truly worn out by the time they were adults. Akira had only been in the bar ten minutes and she was already exhausted. She'd hate to think about doing this her whole life.

"Wow, congratulations," she said.

The blonde, Erica, smiled and her face softened, "thank you," she rocked her baby gently and the Red King peeked over the red (of course) blanket to look at the baby's now sleeping face.

"Everyone, this is Akira Hidaka, a member of Scepter 4," Kamamoto said. He rubbed his head and laughed embarrassedly, "we're sort of friends," he glanced anxiously at Akira as though worried she would start vehemently denying it.

Instead, she nodded, "I think so."

Kamamoto smiled again and ushered her into the bar properly, "come on in, have a seat!"

She sat, Kamamoto sat with her.

"Can I get you anything?" Izumo asked, setting the glass he had resumed polishing away.

Hidaka shook her head, "no thank you," she said politely.

For the first time she really took in her other surroundings, not just the people, there were several low tables as well as the bar and a long, black leather couch that looked softer than the ones they had in the break room at Scepter 4. The windows had a slight red tint to them, bathing the whole room in an appropriately red glow.

Hidaka lightly touched the exquisitely carved rosewood in front of her, "this is a beautiful bar," she murmured.

Now Kusanagi's smile threatened to outshine even the sunniest of Kamamoto's, "why thank you!"

Erica and Kamamoto both winced, "now you've done it," murmured Kamamoto in his slow voice.

"You fool," muttered Erica.

Hidaka didn't see what the big problem was.

Izumo launched into a tale about how this bar had been imported from England and how it was the masterpiece of the bar HOMRA which made everything else come together. Hidaka nodded along and actually found herself smiling. Who knew the members of HOMARA could be so enthusiastic about benevolent topics?

This whole evening had been a real eye-opener for her!


It was fully dark out by the time Akira, fully grinning herself now, said goodbye to the members of HOMRA and began the walk back to Scepter 4.

She'd actually had a really nice time; the members of HOMRA weren't the demons Scepter 4 often made them out to be. Actually, once you got to know them, and it helped if you had a man on the inside, they were like a warm extended family. Not a family unit Hidaka thought she would be comfortable being part of but one she envied for its closeness none the less.

And Kamamoto had asked her out to dinner the next time she had an evening off. She had his phone number so she could call or text him when the opportunity arose. The idea filled Hidaka with a pleasant and unexpected warmth.

Part of her hesitated, he was a member of HOMRA, she shouldn't be talking to him, let alone having dinner with him and you could just forget about actually going to the HOMRA bar! That was a big no-no.

But she'd done it anyway and she was still alive, the ceiling hadn't caved in and the world hadn't exploded. So the hesitant part of her was much smaller and easier to ignore than it would have been several weeks, days or even hours ago. She actually found herself fairly eager. Kamamoto was just a pleasant person. It had been way to long since she'd had dinner with someone who was simply nice to be around. Well, except for her co-workers, of course, but they didn't count. Not to Hidaka.

Actually, she didn't think she'd ever just had dinner with a guy. A lot of the other members of Scepter 4 complained that their jobs and their lifestyle really cut into their social and romantic lives. But Hidaka had never had that problem, she didn't date, she just didn't and her social life was fine. Sure it probably wasn't grand and exiting but she had never noticed its absence. She thought about it now though, since the members of HOMRA seemed to have little else but their social life with each other. The two Clans were so very different.

A winter breeze blew through the streets and Hidaka shivered, she was in her Scepter 4 uniform but was not wearing her coat. She had agonized over what to wear to the bar. She had thought of going in casual clothing but then any HOMRA members in the bar, like the King, Kusanagi and Solt would be unable to recognize her and she didn't want to catch them unawares or pretend to be something she was not.

However wearing her full uniform, with or without her sabre, seemed too much like asking for trouble. She could be reckless and unintelligent at times but wasn't actually born without a brain.

So she had ended up wearing her uniform but leaving her coat and sword behind. It hadn't been that cold when she first walked to the bar (it still wasn't actually that cold now) and the coat and the sabre were what really made the outfit a uniform.

It had certainly worked; they'd known where she was from instantly. But they'd been kind to her anyway.


Hidaka toed off her shoes and flopped down on her bed. Her roommate, Tatsuya Enomoto barely glanced up from the book she was reading, "you were gone a while, how was your afternoon."

Akira stretched out on her bed, "good. I won't as how yours was; I saw the others while I was coming in."

She grimaced in sympathy, both Domyoji and her poor Goto were still stuck doing a report for an incident they'd dealt with earlier that day.

"Their own fault for slacking off," said Enomoto, "what took you so long, I thought you would be back hours ago."

Akira shrugged, though due to the fact that she was lying down with her arms above her head it probably looked more like a weird twitch.

She toyed with the idea of telling Enomoto that she had actually been somewhere this time, instead of wandering around aimlessly like she usually did with her free time. But then Tatsuya would want to know where and it was the idea of telling her that which made Hidaka hesitate.

Enomoto was a very lovely young woman, inside and out, with a very sweet, very calm temperament, but she was a worrier. If Hidaka told her where she'd been (and who she'd been with) she'd worry. If she told her she was planning on continuing to see Kamamoto she would continue to worry.

But she was pretty much the only person Akira could talk to. Benzai would be the best choice, she was calm and level-headed, rational, but, although they got along alright, they weren't altogether that close, so Hidaka didn't consider telling her.

Although Hidaka and Domyoji got along like a house on fire, Akira didn't consider telling her either. If Andy found out she'd made friends with a member of HOMRA she'd probably scream the building down.

Or would she? Andy had sort-of made friends with a member of HORMA too, once, she was at least aware that they were not mindless machines of destruction as Scepter 4 had once believed.

But if Domyoji found out Hidaka had actually been in the bar HOMRA, alone, she would definitely scream. Probably very loudly.

So that pretty much just left Enomoto. Poor Enomoto.

"I made a friend recently," Hidaka said.

Enomoto looked up, "oh really? And when did you have the time to make a friend? Or is it someone from here?"

Hah, if only. "No, he doesn't work here, but I've known him for a while. Recently we've become friends."

"That sounds nice," said Enomoto, but there was a look in her olive eyes that said she was wondering where this story was going.

Which was fine because Hidaka was about to tell her.

"He's from HOMRA," she admitted, and braced herself for the inevitable explosion.

Enomoto dropped her book, hardly the fiery death Hidaka had expected.

"Is that bad?" Akira asked anxiously, and then winced, what sort of question was that? Why couldn't she ever say the right thing when it mattered?

Tatsuya picked her book back up, but closed it and rested it on her bedside table, "in theory; no, we should learn to get along with HOMRA better, and things would go much smoother for both Clans if we could understand each other's wants and only fight when we have opposing missions instead of every time we cross paths. But in practice... then it probably is bad, or at least not good. We don't get along, we can't understand each other's wants and we don't even try and we always have opposing missions and ideals. Plus we fight every time we cross paths. They're Red, we're Blue. That's all there is to it."

A solid argument if Hidaka had ever heard one, her heart sank from her chest to rest somewhere in her stomach. "So you think I should stop hanging out with him?"

"I didn't say that," the bespectacled computer-whiz replied, brushing a lock of her long black hair away from her face, "unless of course you're doing more than just 'hanging out'?"

Now there was an interesting topic, Hidaka resisted the sudden urge to smirk and say 'maybe' in a way that would have her younger friend awake all night telling her the horrors of choosing men who were inappropriate gangsters for anything.

But she didn't. Partly because she adored Enomoto and partly because she wanted to get some sleep tonight.

So instead she told the truth.

"I'm considering the possibility. But I don't even know if he's interested in me that way," she admitted truthfully. "But he's nice, like really nice. And friendly, and genuine and funny. Not such a bad catch. But like I said, I'm not even sure if he's interested. I said he was really friendly and he is, he could just be interested in being my friend. He could already be seeing someone. I dunno."

Unexpectedly Tatsuya smiled and shook her head, "no. If he's straight and he has eyes he's interested in you. Believe me Hidaka. There isn't a man alive who wouldn't be."

Hidaka smiled back and her chest warmed, "thanks Eni. But I dunno," she shrugged, "I have my good qualities," Hidaka wasn't a stunning beauty but she knew that she was, at least, pretty, but her really good qualities lay in her personality, she was a good person and she knew it, "but I'm not..." she searched for a way to explain it, "a Red." She finished, feeling that pretty much summed it up.

Enomoto shook her head again, "if he's straight and has eyes he's be interested in you," she repeated. "Even if he's a Red."

Aww, Tatsuya was so sweet.

"I'm not pulling this idea out of nowhere though," Akira continued, "he's pretty much just been friendly with me up until now but he did just ask me out to dinner. He even gave me his phone number so I could call him and tell him when my next afternoon off was and we could arrange something."

Enomoto just stared, "I agree with you, before it just sounded like you two were friends but I wouldn't give my phone number to someone from HOMRA for the world. That probably means something at least. And he asked you out to dinner? Not coffee or lunch? Dinner?" Even Enomoto and Hidaka were aware of the meanings behind that, coffee was the most casual get together possible, lunch was easy-going and friendly, dinner meant a little bit more.

"It could be nothing," Hidaka said, shrugging, "but let's see where this takes us."

"Good idea," said Enomoto, sounding as though she thought it was the worst idea she had ever heard, she actually looked sad.

"Oh what now? Please tell me that expression isn't just because he's in HOMRA? Eni, it's dinner, we're not getting married." Hidaka said, rolling her eyes, before rolling onto her stomach.

"No, it's not that, it's Goto," Enomoto admitted with a sad sigh.

Goto? Her blue-haired friend had been the furthest thing from her thoughts that night, "what about him?"

Enomoto sighed again, "and they said I had no clue," she muttered, louder she said; "Hidaka, he's in love with you."


Done! Let me know what you think guys. Bye!