Since it's been a while since I've last updated, here's the next chapter! Please enjoy!

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Disclaimer: Lux-Pain (c) Killaware
Claimer: everything else (c) me

Chapter Fourteen: Lack of Explanations

A couple of hours later, Dr. Kisuke Honda arrived at Liu Yee's apartment room to see Fumiko.

"Ah, Dr. Honda," Liu greeted. "She's right in here."

The dark-haired, green-eyed doctor entered the bedroom, and Fumiko was sitting on her bed with Atsuki by her side. She could see that he looked to be around his late twenties, had broad shoulders, was moderately tall, and was exceptionally handsome. He was wearing a white collared shirt, dark brown pants, and wore a long white lab coat.

"It's nice to meet you Miss Kasugazaki, Mr. Saijo, I'm Dr. Kisuke Honda with FORT," he introduced in a light tone. "Chief Ray explained everything to me, and I'm here just to make sure that nothing has infected your mind. Is that alright with you, Miss Kasugazaki?"

She nodded. "It's nice to meet you too, Dr. Honda," she replied. "Please, do what you can."

He grabbed a chair from the room and sat down across from Fumiko. "Okay, now I need you to close your eyes and relax," he told her.

She did as she was told and exhaled deeply. He placed a hand over her eyes, and used his other to press two fingers against his left temple, and closed his own eyes.

Liu and Atsuki watched as Dr. Honda silently dived into Fumiko's mind, searching for any signs of troubles. Fumiko seemed to remain calm, and Atsuki was holding one of her hands, and her body seemed to be relaxed, her mind shaky, nevertheless calm.

After a few minutes, Dr. Honda withdrew his hands, and opened his eyes.

"Miss Kasugazaki, you can open your eyes now," he told her gently.

She did as she was told, blinking first at the doctor before looking at Atsuki and Liu before shaking her head quickly, returning her attention to the doctor in front of her.

"How is she, Doctor?" Liu implored.

He looked up at the 24-year-old Sweeper standing next to him. "Well, I've searched her entire mind for any odd Silent-related inconsistencies, but there doesn't seem to be anything of the sort. The only exception would be the one deep within her heart tied to her life, but it doesn't seem to have done any harm to her, therefore, it is not the problem."

"But then what's this strange Silent that Fumiko is seeing?" Atsuki implored.

"Well… according to the description Fumiko gave me," Liu began, "FORT has absolutely no record of it or anything close to it."

Fumiko inhaled deeply before letting out a sigh. "Now what am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I'm not going crazy, am I?"

"Not at all," Dr. Honda assured. "Though it may be true that I have no explanations to why you are seeing these nightmares, I believe that due to the extensive search I've just done, there is no definite reason to believe that Silent is responsible."

Even though Atsuki and Liu Yee seemed to be slightly more relieved, Fumiko's expression didn't change much. Something stirred in her heart, and she felt that there was more to her mental "illness" than met the eye. But since she had no incriminating evidence to prove it, she had no choice but to let it go… for the time being.

"So it's just a temporary thing?" Atsuki queried. "Eventually it'll go away and Fumiko's sleep patterns will return to normal."

Dr. Honda nodded. "It should," he said. "But if there are any other complications or new developments, please let me know through the FORT. I will be around and about, but I will still be within a couple hours reach."

"Okay, thanks, Doc.," Fumiko thanked quietly. She looked at Liu and Atsuki. "Hey, guys? I'm gonna go out and take a walk, okay? I need some fresh air."

Both of them looked like they were about to protest, but Liu understood how Fumiko must have been feeling.

"Very well," he sighed. "Call us immediately if you need anything."

She nodded. "I think I'm gonna head over to Sweet Ring or something," she began unsurely. "Otherwise I think I might head to Rainbow Hill or Chitose Pond…" She began to trail off, biting her lip. "Well… you guys can give me a call if you need me or if there are any problems."

Atsuki nodded. "I'll come meet up with you afterwards," he told her.

Fumiko didn't respond as she left to the bathroom to splash water on her face to cool herself down. After that she left, leaving in her white blouse and dark pants with her small shoulder bag, her Shinen seeming sad.

"Her Shinen is very conflicted," Atsuki told them. "I wonder what's wrong?"

"Well… even though it doesn't seem like anything too serious," Dr. Honda began, "you both need to keep a careful eye on her. Report any abnormal activities to FORT, so try to keep an eye on her as much as you can. Miss Kasugazaki could still be in grave danger…"

xXx

Fumiko sighed, walking around Kisaragi absentmindedly. The next thing she knew, she found herself standing in front of Chitose Pond, staring at her reflection in the water.

"Kasugazaki?" a voice broke her out of her reverie, and she turned around to see Akira, Mika, and Rui walking towards her.

"Hey, are you alright?" Mika implored. "You just collapsed this morning."

"Are you sure you're well enough to be walking around, Kasugazaki?" Akira added.

She looked at them. "Uh… yeah, I'm feeling a lot better now. I had a friend take good care of me, but I just felt like I really needed some air," she explained, "I've been stuck inside all day since I got sick. I'm a lot better now, but I think it's best if you guys keep your distance, just in case. I wouldn't want to get you guys sick as well."

"Awww… don't worry about it, Fumiko," Rui assured. "You don't look or sound sick anymore."

"Well… we're going over to Sweet Ring for a snack, do you want to come?" Akira offered.

She shook her head. "No thanks," she replied. "I'm just walking around and enjoying the fresh breeze and whatnot. You guys go. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?"

"Awww… okay," Mika said. "Bye, Fumiko."

"See ya," Akira bid, Rui chiming her own farewell before the three friends left, Fumiko staring back into her own reflection in the clear pond water.

Fumiko… a distant voice called in her head. Fumiko… come to me… Fumiko…

She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but the park was empty… deserted, almost.

"Hello?" she called, looking around. "Who's there?"

Fumiko… come play with me… the voice called again. Come play… so you can lose… and I can devour your mind… and your soul…

She stared into the water, seeing a dark shadow standing next to her, but when she turned, she saw no one there. Looking back into the water, she gaze was trapped by a pair of twin yellow eyes, dark purple claws, and a dark swirling Shinen of evil.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn't see or sense the black-cloaked man sneaking towards her, a large-bladed knife brandished in his hand. His blood-red eyes were focused on his unsuspecting prey, his hood pulled over his head, hiding his eyes. As he drew closer to Fumiko's form, he raised his knife, ready to kill. A pitch black serial killer Shinen rose around him, but Fumiko couldn't sense it.

"Fumiko! Behind you!" Atsuki cried as he ran towards them. Natsuki had called to alert him that there was a Shinen of a pure evil serial killer in Area 1, and that it was approaching Fumiko's Shinen. Immediately he had ran to find Fumiko, hoping to reach her in time. "FUMIKO!"

Fumiko snapped back into reality as she whirled around right as the man plunged the knife down at her. Immediately, she just barely dodged the blade before he followed-through with an upwards slash, but Fumiko managed to skilfully back-flip away, her foot catching him under the chin, causing her assailant to drop his knife.

CIA training kicking into effect, she lashed out a few punches and kicks before knocking him out with a final roundhouse kick to the lower jaw, knocking him down to the ground. Immediately, she grabbed out her handcuffs from her purse and cuffed him, pinning him down on the ground.

"Atsuki, I'll call the police, I'm sure they'll want to take him in for questioning," she ordered, taking out her cell as she stood up. "But first, check his Shinen, I think we'll find that his matches that R. Shinen of the violent attacker we found the first day I was here. Not to mention erase the Silent."

"Good idea," he agreed. "I think you're right."

Atsuki activated Σ and began to read his thoughts.

Unsuspecting girl in the park… Perfect victim… kill… infinite power… I can do anything… I am invisible… death… blood… hate them… young woman… victim… death…

As Atsuki finished reading the man's mind, he swiftly erased the Silent haunting his mind, and when he had completed that, Fumiko had just finished talking with the police.

"Are you alright, Fumiko?" Atsuki implored worriedly.

She nodded shakily. "I'm alright, thanks to you," she sighed gratefully. "If you hadn't of alerted me when you did… I would have probably…" she trailed off, the both of them knowing very well what would have happened.

"How come you didn't sense him?" he asked. "You normally don't let anyone sneak up on you like that, especially someone with such an angry and evil Shinen like that. He would have killed you."

Fumiko looked away. "I-I was distracted," she admitted. "I wasn't thinking straight. Something was… bothering me…"

"As long as you're alright now," he sighed, his voice filled with relief as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close.

"Thank you, Atsuki," she breathed against his shirt. "It's thanks to you that I'm alive. If you hadn't have arrived, I would have been murdered. Thank you so much."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again," he told her. "That was just way too close. If Natsuki hadn't called, I would have no idea what was about to happen."

She inhaled deeply, exhaling shakily as she felt her knees about to collapse, unintentionally leaning against Atsuki. He held her up before she was about to fall, and he looked into her eyes.

"Fumiko, what's wrong? Why aren't you sensing this? That was just too close. You could have been killed," he told her. "I would never forgive myself if I had arrived too late."

The both of them could hear sirens approaching, and Fumiko pulled away from him, looking up into his eyes.

"You should go, Atsuki," she told him softly. "You don't need to involve yourself with this. This is my problem."

He shook his head. "I'll stay," he replied. "I just said I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Fumiko sat down against a tree, staring up into the sky as the police stormed the area, including Aya Nagashima and Yui Yamase.

"Fumiko! Atsuki! Are you alright?" Aya demanded.

"We're fine," she assured. "He's out cold and already cuffed. Don't worry."

Yui looked at her, back at the unconscious man, at Atsuki, then back to Fumiko. "What happened here?"

"In one sentence, this guy tried to kill me," Fumiko said, looking down at the unconscious man.

"Tell us everything," Aya ordered.

"Atsuki spotted the man before I did as he crept behind me, Atsuki called out to me, where I was forced to enter an unfortunate engagement with the man, otherwise he would have downright just killed me right there," Fumiko explained quietly to the two women. "Well… anyway, I knocked him out, cuffed him, and called for help."

Yui looked shocked. "You took out this guy?" she gasped.

"Uh… yeah, about that, Yui, when we head back to the station, come to my office, and we'll explain it to you," Aya said. She looked at Atsuki. "Hey, Atsuki, you alright?"

He nodded. "A little shaken though," he lied.

"Well… you just nearly saw your ex-girlfriend get killed," Yui muttered under her breath before turning back to Fumiko. "Are you well enough to come down to the station for a few questions?"

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine. Unharmed, a little shaken up though, but I guess that's still the adrenaline pumping." She gave an uneasy chuckle as she stood up.

"Saijo, you should probably come as well," Yui said. "Can't leave you alone here either."

Aya nodded at Fumiko. "Good job, Fumiko," she said approvingly. "We had a report last week about an assault on a young woman as well in Area 1. He matches the description she gave us. Thanks for nabbing him for us."

"Just doing my job," she replied. "Let's get going… I think the aura's getting a little too tense in this situation."

Yui looked at Aya and nodded. "The others can stay here and investigate the scene and take him in for questioning," she agreed. "Let's head down to the station and get everything cleared up."

Fumiko sighed tiredly as she took a shaky step forward before seeming about to collapse, and Atsuki caught her against him. "Hey, Fumiko, are you sure you're up to this?" he asked.

She nodded. "I hope to get a good night's sleep to get my strength back," she replied. "After that, I should be perfectly fine in the morning. For now, let's just get this done and over with."

xXx

When they arrived at Aya's office, Fumiko and Atsuki sat down across from Aya and Yui at Aya's desk.

"So… what is it that I need to know?" Yui implored.

Aya looked up at her. "Well… you know how Atsuki has his own history with law enforcement being a profiler and all," she began, "Fumiko also has her own fair share of history with law enforcement."

"Really?" she exclaimed, eyes widening, "What did you do?"

"CIA agent," Fumiko told her simply. "Still am, technically."

Yui blinked before bursting into laughter. "C-CIA agent, hahaha, that's so funny!" she laughed, holding her sides while laughing hard. But Aya, Fumiko, and Atsuki weren't laughing. Sobering up quickly, she blinked at them. "Are you serious, Kasugazaki?" she implored.

"Yeah," she replied, pulling her badge from her pocket and showing it to her as proof. "I was with the CIA for two years, then I retired from the agency, but then I was just recently called back, so I suppose I'm back with them."

"B-But… you're so young!" she protested.

"Well… Atsuki was a profiler himself," Aya pointed out. "And he's the same age as young Agent Fumiko Kasugazaki."

Fumiko tossed a teasing glare at her before shaking her head with a sigh, causing the undercover FORT agent to chuckle in amusement.

Yui bit her upper lip. "So… that's why you had handcuffs and could take him out without harm done to yourself," she realized, crossing her arms. "Wow… CIA… how did a young girl like you get in the CIA?"

"Long story," Fumiko sighed, "classified information. The less you know about me regarding the agency, the better."

Aya nodded in agreement. "It was best to tell you before you starting getting people to dig up background information on her."

"But Yui, if anyone asks about me regarding me being with the CIA, deny it all. Claim to not know anything about it," Fumiko requested. "If anyone should ask about me that you haven't seen before, don't engage them, but make sure you remember their faces and a basic general description, and if so happens, please get a name."

She nodded. "It's still hard to believe that you're in the CIA, Kasugazaki," she said. "I find it really unbelievable."

Fumiko smiled. "That's why I'd be one of the last people anyone suspected to be an agent," she said, "which protects me at the same time."

"So… I suppose you used your CIA training to take down that man?" Yui implored, and she nodded. "Well… that explains a lot. Any other info regarding the guy?"

She shook her head. "I'll alert either you or Aya if there's anything else," she replied. "Oh… and if the media asks about this case, no comment. Oh, but if you guys need help or anything, don't be afraid to call me for help."

"Wait a second," Yui realized, "does that mean the CIA agents who went into AMS Bank the other day included you?"

She nodded. "My partner and I," she corrected. "Yeah, we infiltrated AMS Bank and thankfully managed to rescue all of the hostages without any casualties to them."

She gasped in amazement. "Astounding," she breathed. "And you're only 17."

Fumiko chuckled. "Yep," she agreed. "Please don't tell anyone about me."

"Your secret's safe with me," Yui assured. "There's nothing to worry about, Kasugazaki."

Atsuki looked at Aya and Yui. "Not to be rude or anything, but can we please go now? Fumiko still needs to recover after having a fever earlier," he requested politely but there was a hint of impatience in his voice.

Aya nodded. "Be careful on the way home," she bid. "Hope you recover completely soon, Fumiko."

"Thanks," she replied. "See you later."

xXx

There was only silence between them as Atsuki walked Fumiko back home as it was a few hours past sunset, and there was little light left in the sky. The silence seemed slightly awkward, but Atsuki could feel that only sad Shinen rose in Fumiko's heart. He knew better than to try and read it knowing that she'd put up a block.

"Fumiko?" he addressed quietly. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah…" she lied, sighing. "Do I seem not alright or something? Oh… it's probably my Shinen…"

He looked at her. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

She smiled at him tiredly. "I wish I could, Atsuki…" she trailed off.

"Atsuki! Fumiko!" a voice called, and they both looked to see Nami running up to them, a small bag in her hand, Melody chasing after them.

Melody still couldn't speak with Nami anymore after that previous incident the first time Atsuki went there.

"Ah, hey, Nami," Fumiko greeted softly.

"Hi Nami," Atsuki added. "What are you still doing out?"

"I heard from Yayoi," she replied, looking up at Fumiko. "Are you alright, Fumiko? Feeling better?"

She nodded, smiling kindly and sincerely at her. "Thanks for your concern," she replied gratefully. "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

"That's great!" Nami said, offering her the small white paper bag she had in her hand. "I got this for you as a Get Well gift. It's a cute dog cell phone charm that looks a lot like Melody!"

"Awww… thank you," Fumiko thanked, kneeling down in front of Melody as she slipped the bag into her pocket. "You didn't have to get me anything. But since you did… I have something in return."

Closing her eyes, she placed her hands on the sides of Melody's head, focusing hard as she began to use her Σ to try and repair Melody's old Shinen, fixing the twisted Silent back into normal before erasing it completely. Both Nami and Atsuki could feel powerful waves of energy emit from Fumiko with their powers, and Fumiko sighed, releasing Melody as she collapsed sideways.

Before she completely fell, Atsuki caught her with his arm, kneeling down to press her against his chest, feeling that the girl had collapsed from her exhaustion entirely. He could tell that she was sleeping peacefully now.

"Melody?" Nami breathed in wonder, staring at her beloved friend as Atsuki could see her Shinen beam in rays of yellowy happiness. "C-Can you really speak to me again? Oh Melody!" She threw her arms around the dog as Melody whined in affectionate reply.

Atsuki wondered how Fumiko did that. Using Σ to fix Silent before erasing it? It hadn't been heard of, at least… not that he knew.

"Is Fumiko okay, Atsuki?" Nami implored worriedly.

He nodded. "She just needs to sleep," he replied. "She's had a long day. But she'll be up on her feet and at school tomorrow, so of course she'll recover just fine."

"I'm going to thank her so much tomorrow!" she cheered determinedly. "She fixed Melody!"

Atsuki chuckled gently, picking Fumiko up on his back, her arms drooping limply over his shoulders, her head resting against his upper back, "I gotta take her home to get some proper rest, so I'll see you later, Nami."

Nami nodded as Melody barked softly. "Make sure you take good care of her, Atsuki!" she told him. "Melody wouldn't be happy if her saviour was injured."

He chuckled. "Don't worry," he assured her. "Good night."

"Night!" she exclaimed, and they went their separate directions.

"Sleep well, Fumiko," Atsuki said softly and affectionately before carrying her back to Liu Yee's house. "I know you probably can't hear me… but I really love you…"

Well... that was quite an eventful chapter.

I know that that thing with Fumiko fixing Melody thing seems pretty random, but it will play a part in later chapters, so don't overlook it just yet. :D

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter!

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