READ THIS, DUDES:

This is NOT a 100% realistic story. I'm not going to be bringing in magic or fantasy, but this story will take as reality certain abilities that are not physically possible in the real world. There will be parts that are ninja-esque or "superman"-like under the pretense of excessive training. (ie, like Train from Black Cat).

Also, for the record, this is much easier to read if you change the page width to ¾ or ½.


"How are you, Ryoma?"

The boy in question looked up through his bangs. Queen was always like this. She danced with words, never getting to the point straight away. He always had to choose his words carefully around her. One misstep in the dance, one wrong answer, and he could be gone, nothing more than an afterthought in the Tokyo underworld. Today her veil was red, which probably meant she was in a good mood.

"I'm doing well, Queen. What're your orders?" There, that was neutral. Should be safe.

Her thin lips pursed, the red lipstick making her mouth into a stark red slash. Something about his answer dissatisfied her.

"Don't be so unpleasant, Ryoma dear…" Her fingernail, painted with a demure pale lavender shade, tapped the desk. A small ruby glinted on her ring. The veil was wrong, then. She was irritated. Between his meeting two days ago and their rendezvous today, something had ticked her off. The silence dragged on for a few minutes, broken only by her soft tapping. Finally, she continued, "Tokyo Police have taken their MCR team off of active duty to pursue you." Nothing he didn't know already, so that mean she was looking for a reaction.

"They can try." He'd meant to sound neutral again, but he couldn't help the disinterested note of cockiness. He was one of the best, and he knew it. His life as one of the Queen's people had taught him caution, but sometimes he couldn't control himself.

The red slash tilted upwards to become a wide smile as she replied, "But why are they trying?"

Ryoma frowned, puzzled. The Queen was fishing for something. But what was he supposed to say?

"Think, dear boy, think. I haven't sent you out to do anything more major than petty burglary in Tokyo. It's only been two weeks, I doubt those idiots in Kansai would have connected the dots and sent your file up. Not to mention, the media has conveniently given you a different name," she paused, veil fluttering as she shook her head, "So if they don't know the other incidents, why would they send their best team out to get you after four small burglaries?"

He paused to think for a moment, his face impassive while his mind whirred. She was right; there was no reason for a MCR team to be entirely focused on him when all they knew was that he was a small time burglar. A smart one, but not exactly the next big criminal mastermind. So what..

Suddenly, he had it.

"Someone's informing on us. Only someone with inside knowledge would know what the burglaries are going to lead up to, and major news like that would definitely make Tokyo PD freaked out enough to send out a MCR team." He smirked. It was nice being a genius of sorts.

Shadow Queen's laughter was gentle. Her wide, red smile was pleased as she said, "I knew I kept you around for a reason. Now, despite what I've said, I don't want you hunting down our little traitor," she let out a girlish giggle, clearly amused at his disgruntled expression, "You have bigger and better things to do, my little Prince. Leave it to the underlings to…take out the trash."

As he settled comfortably in the armchair next to hers, they began going over his new directives.


Tezuka surveyed the room as his team filed in. The mood was somber, the tension high. As they looked at each other, the tension became palpable when they realized that Kaidoh was not in the room. Momoshiro looked physically ill. Tezuka knew that despite the intense rivalry that his two junior investigators had with each other, they considered themselves comrades and brothers in heart. After all, when Momoshiro was rejected by a girl, he always spent the night out with Kaidoh, drowning his sorrows with a sympathetic shoulder to lean on. And when Kaidoh's customary silence slipped into depression, Momoshiro was always the first to notice, the first to offer a silent, encouraging hug.

A glance to the right told him that Oishi was not fairing any better. Though at first it would seem more likely for Inui to be close to Kaidoh, given their compatibility, something about Oishi's mothering appealed to Kaidoh's quiet, sensitive personality. They didn't spend much time together, but Tezuka knew that Oishi saw Kaidoh as a younger brother and felt responsible for his wellbeing.

As amusing as it was to watch his team tie themselves into anxious knots—Fuji was rubbing off on him in a seriously bad way—they had no time for speculation. He opened his mouth to put them out of their misery and said, "Kaidoh is still on the team."

There was a moment as his words were processed, and an audible collective sigh of relief came from everyone.

He continued, "You'll notice that Inui is not here today either," he paused as he watched them shuffle awkwardly, because no, they had not noticed, before continuing, "Kaidoh and Inui have been summoned by the Chief to discuss the particulars of the Prince case and decide what further action will be taken. As we all know, Inui is one of the members of the underground data commission in charge of compiling information about the current situation in Tokyo."

Momoshiro interrupted, "But what does Kaidoh have to do with that? What was that creepy shit that happened yesterday at the scene?"

Tezuka glared as he said, "As I was about to say, what you have not been told is that Kaidoh is on the commission as well. He is serving as an informer as well as a consultant."

The puzzled faces looking back at him told him that nobody understood what he meant.

"An informer, meaning, a former member of one of the Tokyo gangs, helping to crack the secrets he used to be a part of. Going by the conversation we heard at the scene, probably the Warrior Maiden's group or the greater Earth alliance. If he's good enough to have had a nickname like Heaven's Serpent, he must have been fairly high in the ranks. With that sort of background, he would be valuable not only as an informer, but as a consultant on how different groups will move and act. Hmm?"

Okay, one person understood.

"Right, Fuji, thank you for your deductions." The smile-eyed genius nodded in acknowledgement.

"What? Kaidoh was in a gang?" Taka's shock mirrored the rest of the team. Kaidoh looked surly, but it was an open secret that he had a soft heart. It was hard to imagine him being successful in the cutthroat underworld of Tokyo.

Oishi broke in with dry humor, "I think what Tezuka and Fuji are saying is that not only was Kaidoh in a gang, but he was pretty damn close to the top."

"Eh? Then why doesn't he have a great big tattoo like that guy Jin?" Eiji wondered.

"He does, it's just not on his arms. That's why he never takes his shirt off," Momoshiro replied absently. He was staring hard at the floor.

Eiji looked askance at Momoshiro and said, "How do you know, if he never takes his shirt off? Ehhhh~?" His eyebrows waggled suggestively.

"What? No! I just mean—that is—I saw it once when we were in the showers at HQ after we got caught up in that chemical explosion, that's all!" Momoshiro sputtered.

The serious atmosphere dissolved when Fuji jumped in, his quiet voice gilded with suggestive tones, as Eiji egged him on. Tezuka didn't smile, but his shoulders unclenched and relaxed. His team was a family, and it was good to see that a few skeletons in the closet wouldn't break the bond they had.


So, how was that? I'll admit it took a lot of brainpower for me to wring out even this measly chapter this quickly. I'm hoping to release a new chapter weekly from now on, and try to write more ahead of time so that if I don't finish this before uni starts, I'll have chapters ready to publish and you won't be left hanging! (although I'm on a bit of a kick right now, so you might get more than weekly updates for a while ^_^)

Please review, favorite, or alert this if you enjoyed it! As always, I would be grateful to hear your comments, advice, and suggestions as well as plot ideas if you have them.

Thanks again to those of you who alerted, favorited, and reviewed as of the last update :)