Recap;

After reading Little Guy's letter, I had ran out to see him (after being semi-interrogated by Gabe – what was his problem anyways? Lying about something so serious... That's just not like him; he wouldn't take it that far...Would he?)

When I had found his cell and walked inside, I slowly realised what some of the prisoners have done to him, after one week. I have a deep suspicion that the prisoners didn't find out by themselves.


Adjustment Series;

Book One; "Adjusting to Parenthood"

By Naomi Kimishima

Chapter Six: Reopened Wounds

I tightly pulled his closer to me. His arms wrapped around my waist and he buried his face into my collarbone. I nestled my chin on top of his head and stroked his back soothingly. His breath hitched in his throat, when my hand reached an area just below his shoulder blade. The area felt warmer that the rest and it also felt like something was...Pulsing under my hand. I looked at my hand and met with a familiar sight of blood.

"Little Guy, I need to have a look at your back...Is that okay?" I whispered softly to him, using a soft, gentle tone of voice, as if I was talking to Alyssa or someone younger. He hesitated briefly and then nodded slowly and turned around. He struggled to pull off his shirt for a few minutes, but when he eventually got his shirt off, I gasped at the horrid sight.

There were large scars of a tender pink colour spreading in a radial pattern across his back. One particular scar caught my eye though. The one below his left shoulder blade, that was poorly covered with synthetic membranes and was soiled with blood. I carefully peeled the membranes off, watching closely for any reactions from Little Guy that indicated that he was in pain. Softly, I dabbed the gauze over the wound, in order to clean the blood up properly and then drowned the area in membranes and antibiotic gel and covered them with a bandage.

"Where did these scars come from, Agent? They look recent." I asked my shivering partner. I handed him back his shirt to put on.

"F-From the S-Sandra Lieberman case...The bomb meant for the First Lady."

How could I be so careless? I should've known that! But that wound looked too...Precise to be self-inflicted. It's either Little Guy's got a hidden skill with knives...Or someone with access to this cell is doing this to him...I suspect the latter is the case.

"What about the wound I bandaged?" I pried.

"P-Please...Don't make me talk about it..." Little Guy begged weakly. I re-draped my coat over his shoulders and sat on the bench next to him. Little Guy leant forward and rested his forehead against the wall.

"Why...Are you...Here?" He croaked out, snivelling slightly in between his words.

"You asked me too."

He sighed heavily and managed a faint smile.

"That's right...I did." He chuckled nervously. His ice-blue, watery eyes looked at mine, glittering with sorrow. He shyly inched closer to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. "You...Look cold." He murmured against my collarbone. I fought back a hot blush and shivered slightly. We stayed like this for a few minutes, Little Guy hiccupping/sobbing slightly every few minutes. He ended up resting his head against my chest, his eyelids drooping heavily and his breathing slowly becoming relaxed.

"Little Guy..." I whispered to him, brushing a few remaining tears away from his cheeks, "I want you to promise me something.

"I'll...Do anything for you, Dr. Kimi...Shima" Little Guy responded drowsily adding more pressure onto my chest.

"Promise me that...No matter how bad you're...Situation is, don't give up."

"Naomi..." He whispered lovingly, "I...Promise."

Good, that's what I wanted to hear.

I looked down at Little Guy who had fallen asleep at this point. I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair again. Despite the cold air that was being repeatedly blown around the room, he looked comfortable and at peace with himself. His scent was alluring and smelled heavenly of cinnamon and French vanilla. I kissed the top of his head and leant against the cool, metal wall and slept for awhile.


Time Skip: Approx. 30 minutes

"Naomi..." I heard a faint voice call out to me. I shifted slightly and drowsily opened my eyes. Little Guy was awake and looking a little less pale than earlier, "*sigh* Ah, thank goodness...I was beginning to get worried."

I checked my phone for any messages. There were 3 from Gabe, 2 from Chief Wayne and a missed call. I checked my messages;

From: Gabe

Received At: 12:31 pm

Message:

Naomi, its Gabe...Sorry for earlier, I'm going to check up on your brat, text you later.

Funny...But he's going to get it later, I'm pretty damn sure he didn't mean his apology.

From: Chief Wayne

Received At: 12:46 pm

Message: Naomi, just to let you know that you're new liaison has shown up at work earlier. Her name is; Camilla Niguel. She works at the same level as you do, so I hope that you two will get along.

Niguel...Well that confirms it. She's Victor's wife; do I even want to know what she's like? If Chief Wayne is telling the truth, then I won't be going easy on her...

From: Gabe

Received At: 13:01 pm

Message: Is Alyssa allergic to cheese? She wants a cheese sandwich and OMG! She bears a strong resemblance to you sometimes! And I'll be cooking this meal... That reminds me... I'm hungry. :S

As far as I'm aware...I don't know if she is or not. The only cooking Gabe will be doing, is watching a cooking show on a Saturday morning, and anxiously waiting for the football highlights. I'm willing to bet anything that Gabe won't actually cook anything. He'll just buy food from a supermarket and claim that he made it.

From: Chief Wayne

Received At: 13:14 pm

Message: Don't worry about your paperwork for the previous cases. Camilla's looked at the case reports and finished your paperwork for you. Your next case has been e-mailed to her, she's already analyzed all the data that has been provided and has drawn up a few conclusions. She'll give you a more detailed analysis, when you return to work.

Impressive...If she's able to do that within a few minutes, then I may need to keep a close eye on her...She could easily find out about my past if I slip up...

Missed Call From: Unknown Number

Received At: 13:23 pm

Press "1" to call them back.

I hesitantly pressed "1" on the keypad and placed the phone up to my ear. I heard the familiar vibration and smoke caress my cheeks.

This time round it was a room, full of people. I could recognise a few faces that were nearer the front of the room, but the rest of the people in the back of the room were coloured blurs. I heard a female coughing and choking. The blur of brown and green began to spew blood and slide down the wall. I saw a smaller blur of white enter the room and hold the brown and green blur. The white blur seemed to be wailing her head off, as the brown and green blur carried on coughing up blood...

My head very nearly met the floor, as I snapped back to reality. Little Guy had supported me and was looking very frightened and pale.

"N-naomi!" He exclaimed relieved, "You were about to pass out, so I ran an-"

"That's fine, Agent. Thank you." I cut Little Guy off.

First a male, now a female...What's going on? Ugh, if I left my mind drift back to those phone calls, I feel faint... Gabe... He was in that recent phone call. He was one of the two people, aside from me, in the room that wasn't a blur.

"You...Need to leave." Little Guy stated bluntly, "Now...Before-"He stopped himself from saying anything more.

"I understand. Don't forget your promise." I smiled softly at the prisoner. His cheeks became tinted slightly with a pale shade of rose.

As I left his cell and headed back to CIFM, for once in my life I decided on a vow.

Little Guy...My promise to you is to save you...No matter what.

It would be dishonourable if I broke that vow. The Kimishima children would make a vow on our ancestor's graves to never break any promises or vows we make, once we turn 18.


This wasn't the original way I was planning this to turn out like, but after reading through it, I decided to keep out a few important little details, just to keep you guessing.

Next chapter will be a little different. Every 5/6 chapters there will be a "Bonus Chapter" which basically means, that you'll be viewing Naomi's storyline so far through someone else's eyes. You'll hear their thoughts and opinions on the matter so far (almost like the Prologue of this story) and you'll learn things about the story plot that Naomi doesn't know yet.

Keep an eye on some of the other Adjustment stories, as they could tell/spoil some of the plotline for this one. Each story is intertwined with all the other ones.

Any guesses on who it is on the recent phone call?