HEY guys!!! So I've uploaded a new chapter XD!!! As usual, thank you for reading so far :D. It really makes my day to know you took the time to get through all this. I hope you've enjoyed it. This chapter is a bit slower than the others, but it sets the stage for some important plot development. Like I said, the story is FAR from over. Also, I've been getting a lot of requests to incorporate other initial D characters. Not to worry, that will happen eventually. I just need some space to establish a link and bring them into the picture. Alrighty, so without further interruption… please comment and hope you enjoy it!!

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There was complete silence now, and Ryosuke speed along the high way. He'd always been confident doing first aid and taking care of people, but when he'd seen her and realized truly how fragile Yasmine was, he felt afraid. He was afraid to break her. He could not stand to see her in pain, and sight of her face contorted in pain, as the adrenaline wore off was enough to send shivers down his spine. He bandaged her as best he could with his limited resources, and gave her some painkillers, which seemed to have had their desired effect. Resting her head on the passengers seat, Yasmine and Hikaru up front were fast asleep and the four in the back also sleeping. They had been through a lot in the past little while. What Ryosuke didn't know was that this didn't even begin to cover what Yasmine had been through.

He quite enjoyed watching her sleep. It was the one time she didn't show him a restless expression with her eyebrows furrowed. From her reaction earlier, he'd guessed she didn't fall asleep much. But now she'd fallen asleep in front of him, disarmed, not once, but twice. He counted himself lucky.

Stirring, she woke up only find Ryosuke staring at her. "What're you looking at?" She asked rather defensively.

Looking away, he responded "Are you always this tense?"

"No. Of course not." She said settling down a little.

"How do you feel?" He now asked with marked concern.

"Better. Thank you, they medicine helped. So do you just carry a first aid kit with you everywhere you go?"

"No but apparently you do." He said, having found it in her trunk.

Surprised, she remembered this was her car. "That's right. I'm clumsy."

"Come on, Yasmine! Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Now she was genuinely confused.

"You know! I ask you a question and you always evade it!" He asked with frustration. "I was there with you when you went into the warehouse, yet you knocked me out. I found you when you were running out of the fire, yet you won't tell me anything about how you got hurt. Normal people in Japan don't carry first aid kits with them, so obviously, there is a reason for you to. Which means that you getting yourself into trouble is not all that uncommon. And you won't tell me why!" He hadn't exploded like that in a LONG time. The last time he'd lost his composure and become angry was when his little brother had crashed on an oil spill while running their final race in Saitama against those thugs. "Look, I don't know about you, but I don't normally visit underground black market places, nor infiltrate secret hospitals, or scale buildings. This is all a first for me, and I think I deserve to know what happened."

Yasmine sat in silence for a long time. Though she didn't like his pompous attitude very much, she had to admit, he was right. He hadn't asked to get dragged into all this. It was just his bad luck. So she started with when she'd awoken and told him the rest of story. At the end of it, Ryosuke drove in silence. He didn't know what to say. He just felt disturbed and sickened by his staff. "You know, the sickest part of this whole thing, is I think they were trying to do good. Like the death of one saves the lives of many."

"I don't know how this slipped past me." Ryosuke was frustrated he hadn't caught on. For a man of his perception, this was very out of character.

"It wasn't really your fault. I wouldn't have thought too much of it if I hadn't been hospitalized a few weeks ago and the girl beside me hadn't mentioned the 'bad place'. In the end, I never really figured out what the bad place was.

"Anyway, where are we going?"

"We're heading to my hospital first, where my father with personally take care of you. I'll upload your pictures, and the children to the police and they can deal with it form there on."

"What about Hikaru? He doesn't have anywhere to go."

"He could return to the hospital, but after what he went through, he'll need someone he trusts to be with him. Like you. You know, maybe if you took him in, he'd recover quite quickly." Ryosuke was hoping that by taking Hikaru in, Yasmine would do things that were less dangerous. She's have someone else to think about and be responsible for.

She sat there for a moment, deep in thought. "I would love to," she started. "But I don't think I can take care of him. I've never been around kids before and honestly, you've how my line of work can get. It's not exactly a 9-5 job and then go home to take care of the kid."

"You're a journalist. So settle down. It might do you some good to write about things from the safety of your desk."

"That's not possible. I'm sorry."

"Excuse me? What do you mean that's not possible? What more do you intend to do?" He asked now becoming more and more concerned.

"Again, not like I have to justify myself to you, but in order to understand cases and get inside information, you have to go undercover a lot."

"I'm not sure if I understand you. You WANT to put yourself in imminent danger?"

"No of course not, it'll only be for a while." Immediately Yasmine knew she'd said too much.

"A little while? So when are you going to stop. Why not now? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" He grilled.

"Okay, listen! Stop with the questions, it's my life, and at this point in time, I just don't have the resources to take of anyone other than myself."

With that Ryosuke didn't say more. He couldn't tell if he liked the woman, or hated her. He'd take in the kid, but between everything else he was doing, he wouldn't be able to care for him. And at this point, if Yasmine didn't take him in, it wouldn't matter who else did.

He dropped off all three children and Mizu to the police station and handed over the pictures Yasmine had taken. It was there job now. After giving some statements, he took Yasmine to the hospital to run some tests and make sure they hadn't done anything else to her. Her arm was badly swollen and the cut on her thigh badly infected. The rope burns on her hand were shallow, however, and her soreness in her back was bound to go away. Aching, everywhere, she sat down on a couch waiting for her results to come in.

Hikaru ran up to her. "Yasmine nee-san! Am coming with you?"

He looked so innocent it broke her heart to say no. But with the kind of work she did she'd never be able to care for him the way he deserved. "Hikaru-kun. There are a lot of good people in this world. Ryosuke-sensei for example is a great person. I can't take care of you now. But I promise, you'll be somewhere where you'll always have love and affection. And I'll come visit."

She could already see the boy's face begin to fall. But the ever polite child held his tears and said, "I don't want to live with anyone but you nee-san!"

Yasmine's heart softened looking at his sweet face. She didn't want any harm to come to him. She had grown attached to the child and wasn't really ready to let him go either. As much as she wasn't sure if she could handle being with him, she wasn't sure if her heart could let her let him go. "Okay." She conceded. "From now on, you'll be in my care."

His eyes widened. That soft golden hair bounced up as he relaxed. And for the first time since Yasmine had met him, the child broke out in such a beautifully radiant smile, she was sure that saying yes was the best decision she'd ever made.

"Looks like you have a heart after all." Startled she turned around, only to that Ryosuke had snuck up behind her, his face only a few inches away from hers. "So I guess that's it with the undercover missions?"

"Maybe. We'll see. I guess I'll have to find other ways to get what I want."

"What you want? So there is a motive behind the way you operate."

"Maybe." She relied nonchalantly. She was a woman with an agenda. She wasn't sure how she felt about Ryosuke knowing everything about her. Even if she felt safer around him, it was clear he was trouble. He messed with her judgment.

"In any case, I've decided to keep the child. But I might need your help if I have to leave for a few days."

"Why me?"

"Because he actually knows you, as opposed to some stranger."

He was hoping the response would be something less logical and cuter, but he guessed there was a limit to hoping.

"Alright, that's fine. All your tests came out negative, by the way, so you're free to leave. I'll take care of the paper work for you tomorrow night, and you'll have to sign a few documents to gain custody of Hikaru."

"Alright then." She got up to leave and was nearly out the door when she heard Ryosuke call her again.

"You said Hikaru reminded you of someone. Who was it?"

She paused momentarily thinking hard to herself. Turning around, she stared at him for what seemed to be an eternity. Her piercing grey eyes looking at him with pain. "Hikaru. He reminds me of my son. He's out there somewhere. I'll find him eventually. By now, he must be about 7 years old." Choking back a lump in her throat. She took hold of Hikaru's hand and walked out the door, got in her car and left, leaving a shocked Ryosuke behind to deal with his emotions.