Summary: A 10 year old girl appears to the children and is later accepted as a government esper. But what does she have to do with the recent esper organization's attacks, and what does the organization need her for?

Normal font = narrator

"Quotation marks" = things said aloud by characters

Italics font= the thoughts of characters

*asterisks* = onomatopoeia sounds and such

Disclaimer: I don't own Zettai Karen Children, the characters, or any of the places in the story that might be mentioned. All of that belongs to the writer, Shiina Takashi. I only own my OC.

Chapter 11: Court House Part 2

Moji then stood up to interrogate Aya as well. "What are your feeling on the relationship between espers and government?"

"As it is right now, I don't think it's appropriate. For one thing I see the government as using espers for status in the world. And also, hiring children. I think that counts as misusing espers. Even if The Children are physically capable of stopping other high level espers and preventing disasters, I do not feel they are mentally ready. I'd rather a trained adult normal rescue me than a child esper." Aya meant everything she said.

"Aya, are these feeling towards the government what drove you to create the Anti-Government Esper group?"

"Yes I started the esper group. It's a support group of sorts. Is that a crime?" Aya asked her eyes trained on the lawyer.

"No, that is not a crime, but you did not answer my question. Is that why you started the Anti-Government Esper Group." He leaned in close, but Aya did not yield. She met him glare for glare. "First of all, it's not called that. But to answer your question, yes. Yes I created the group based on my opinion of B.A.B.E.L. and similar organizations."

Moji took a step back. He paced for a moment to decide where the best point of attack would be from here. They had no solid evidence to prove that Aya is negatively involved with the Esper group. If anything, they could only convict the three espers from earlier, and Aya would go free. No, they couldn't allow that. Even if they lost the battle dealing with Haruko, they couldn't afford to lose the war. It was now or never. If they weren't able to pin Aya now as someone who may potentially be a threat to the government, then when B.A.B.E.L. went to bring her down it would look like they were harassing the family and they would not only lose against the esper group, but the little support they still held with the public. And that was not something they could afford now.

It was obvious that B.A.B.E.L. was likely going to lose the case with Haruko. There was no way you could justify what had happened. There best bet was to find a hole in Aya's story and exploit it.

"Has you're…support group, as you put it, ever had any ill intentions towards the government?"

"Well of course we have. Some of us want the government to do one thing while the rest want another. It's only natural. Let's see, the worst we've ever done is put of flyers about esper rights. Simple protest," she smirked. She already figured out his plan. She'd spent many hours planning on this. She wasn't going to lose her daughter, or her fight against the government.

"What about those three espers you sent out to look for Haruko? You say they are good friends of yours, yet Haruko was scared of them. Not only that they caused major damage her in Tokyo."

Aya frowned. This would be her biggest challenge yet. She still didn't know why those three were so stupid. "Yes, well, I'll admit that was totally my fault. I didn't think it would happen like that at all. Haruko does know them. She's known them since she was capable of remembering faces. I think… I think she just didn't want to come back home. You know, like how a child on the run will flinch when a cop spots him or her. I can't speak for her, but if I were her I would be worried that they would take me back to a place I didn't want to go back…" she trailed off down casting her eyes, an unsure look creased her face.

Moji noticed her change in demeanor. It was the first time she was not displaying her overly confident attitude. This must be a subject she didn't want to touch upon.

"Your honor, I would like to call Haruko up."

The girl's head snapped up. She hadn't expected to called up at all and she was nervous. What was she supposed to say? Where they going to be harsh with her or gentle? She watched as her mother exited the booth. Haruko stood up from her chair and made to switch places with Mother. As the croseed by each other, Aya gave her daughter's hand a firm squeeze of reassurance. Haruko was definitely thankful for that. She sat in the chair and got comfortable.

The brunette looked around the room noticing all eyes were on her. She got a bit uneasy at the feeling. Fortunately, she didn't have time to dwell on the feeling as Moji began to question her.

"Let's start from the beginning. Can you please tell us your account of what happened from the moment you left your home to now?"

That's a loaded question. She rubbed her palms and squirmed in her seat as she tried to think back to the beginning.

"Well, um it started when I ran away from mom. I saw my opportunity and I took it. I didn't like it there, cause I never got to go out much but…" Haruko bit her lip.

"But what?" Moji gently urged. Seeing as Haruko wasn't likely to respond soon he took a step closer and took on a kinder tone. "I know this is a lot to do and at such a young age too, but I'm sure you can do it. Just take your time and go at your own pace. Okay?"

Aya was unsettled. She wanted no more than to be there to help Haruko through this. Unfortunately, she couldn't. The defense could call her out on maybe forcing Haruko to say something. She seethed. Such audacity the lawyer had. To try to calm her when it was him who'd placed her there in the first place.

Haruko nodded looking to her mother for reassurance. She was just so nervous. The child received a gentle smile and nod in return. That was all she needed to gain the courage to continue. "But looking back now, it wasn't like she was bad or anything, I just wanted things she couldn't give me. Anyway, I flew away as fast as I could. Not bothering where I was headed. And I ended up smashing right into B.A.B.E.L. Next thing I know I'm in this examination room. I panicked at first but they were nice to me. When they introduced themselves I knew I was in B.A.B.E.L. They said they thought I was an esper and I confirmed it saying I didn't know my level. I let them take my readings because I thought if I became a government esper, I wouldn't have to go back. That's why I lied about not having parents.

Admittedly, I had a lot of fun there. But when the first mission came, I was worried because they had found me. I knew who they were. In fact Goro had taught me a few ESP tricks. I just didn't want to go back. Well eventually I came back, though it was a hostage situation-"

"Sorry, if you'll allow me to cut in there. You said the reason you went back was due to a hostage situation. Can you elaborate on that?"

Aya wanted to smack her head against something. Those three were god friends of hers, but they didn't know how to handle things. They always resorted to violence.

"Yeah, sure. They said if I didn't go with them, they'd hurt The Children and Minamoto. I didn't want that to happen so I said yes. But then Kaoru did this glowing red thing and it was so strange! The wind picked up and things were flying all over!"

Haruko's intention wasn't to help one side or the other but just tell her side of things. Little did she know that she was setting up B.A.B.E.L. for failure. Aya knew Haruko would bring this up just like any excitable 10-year-old would. It would portray the government espers as near killers.

"She got so angry that they were going to harm Minamoto and everything! I don't think she even recognized me anymore! I was glad we were able to teleport away! That would have been trouble!"

No Haruko you need to stop there! Minamoto was in a near panic. Haruko's story was showing that B.A.B.E.L. espers had no control.

Daisuke jumped on the opportunity. "Your Honor, if I may interrupt. As you can see B.A.B.E.L. had no control over this esper, Kaoru. As Haruko just pointed out, it looked like the girl would have blown away her friend along with the actual problem makers. What if this were to happen in a more dire condition, such as a hostage situation?! Would Kaoru just blow up the whole building because the robbers threw a few choice words their supervisor's way?! Obviously, if the point was to train espers to control their ESP, then they are clearly not doing a good job!"

Kaoru flinched at the accusation. It was true she had been ready to send the espers to the far corners of the earth, but now that she thought about all she had seen was red. Her anger had consumed her and quite literally clouded her vision and judgement. If she had taken action upon them, Haruko would have suffered as well. What if it did happen again? What then? The government would only be able to cover for so long before the public became outraged.

Moji was losing the jury fast. He shouldn't have asked her to elaborate. He had wanted to highlight the fact that the espers had taken hostages, not Kaoru's anger. He couldn't end his round here either, but by what he'd been told Haruko was now getting along with her mother and anything after now would only help the prosecution's case. What to do?

"But Kaoru was only acting out of self-defence, right?" He scolded himself on the inside. That was a horrible way to go. Now a days, juries tended to not agree with self-defense pleas when concerning espers. It was generally agreed that espers, since they have ESP, should be able to handle the situation with minimal damages.

"Yeah I guess, but it was still kinda of scary in a cool sort of way."

"That'll be all, your honor." Best to stop while he was ahead. Was he even ahead at this point? All he had going for the defense was an apology and some heavy doubt about the three espers that had caused damage in Tokyo. But the case was about Haruko, not about those espers. Perhaps he should have capitalised on that aspect a bit more and try to think them to Haruko's mother thereby winning the case by proving that Aya was not a suitable mother. But it was too late now.

"Right I will now open the floor to any last words from the lawyers. Prosecution, you first." The judge anonouced.

"Thank you, your honor." Daisuke stepped in front of the jurors. "As you have been shown, my client is nothing, if not a caring mother. All she wanted was to keep her child away from the hurt she faced when she was a child and the harm B.A.B.E.L. could bring since they are incapable of properly training there espers," he gave a pointed look to Kaoru, who looked away in shame. "I believe that you'll do the right thing and reunite these two back together." He gave them a nod and went to sit back down.

"Defense." The judge nodded at B.A.B.E.L.'s side.

Moji stood, unsure of how to make his final statement. "For the short time that Haruko was there, B.A.B.E.L. provided her with an environment where she was able to interact with other espers and make friends. She has also gained improved control of her ESP. We aimed to protect her from the Anti-Goevernment Espers that her mother sent her after, who did nothing but destroy our city. Do you want to reunite a mother who put her daughter into that kind of danger?"

"The jury will now deliberate and return with their answer. Please ensure that you carefully review both arguments and that all of you agree on your final decision."

The jury filed out of the room and were led to the room. Meanwhile the tension in the courtroom was rising. Both sides were unsure of what the outcome would be and could only hope for the best.

Hours later, everyone was called back into the court room to hear the final verdict.

"Jury number four, have you all decided?" the judge asked.

"Yes," the man stood. "The jury's verdict is that the defendant is guilty." Aya let out a quite cheer and pulled her daughter in for a hug. Meanwhile, B.A.B.E.L. didn't know what to say, how to react. The continued to listen for the extent of their supposed crime. "They should have taken more consideration to Haruko's sudden appearance and kept her out of harm's way. It was agreed upon that B.A.B.E.L. working conditions are a bit harsh even for espers and especially for child espers. This is in no way a place for a child, such as Haruko to reside at. We feel this should be reviewed and revised," the juror concluded.

The judge turned addressing the crowd. "The prosecution will be granted the $10,000 as well Haruko will be granted a restraining order. Till she is 18, or granted permission from her mother, she is not to be approached by B.A.B.E.L." he smacked his gavel. The decision was final.

A/N: Finally, after how many months? Anyway here's the next chapter.