Nevermind rules Chapter 24: Tetu is arrested, a gokusen fanfic

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back! :3 I do apologize for the month long break but It helped me a great deal I got lots and lots of rest that I needed and to make up for my absence I made this chapter as long as I possibly could, It's almost 4o pages long!

Alsooo there is a guest character that I felt deserved to be brought back so I hope you enjoy it.

Either way I'm still holding the contest for Yuni's until the end of Nevermind Rules. Once again all you have to do is guess which drama her background comes from and you can create an OC that will be in Yuni's fanfiction when I put it up. I shall not keep you all from the chapter so I'm just going to move on ahead okays?

Chapter 24: Tetsu is arrested

Nine months.

For nine whole months this house with the sea foam green painted walls was missing a person, a family was missing a mother for nine whole months but the child, the daughter of this missing mother, could not understand why. She sat atop a stool watching the tall man across the counter before her. Her large eyes were wide and focused on the adults skilled hands as he worked the rice in his hands into a perfect shape. When he noticed the child's stares he paused smilingly warmly at her before going back to work.

"Papa" her innocent voice broke the peaceful silence the two of them sat in.

"Hai, Ume" the father glanced at the child briefly still working away.

"Why hasn't Mama come home?" she asked. This child was no fool, she understood that her mother had been missing for nine whole months and not simply leaving the house before she could wake up. The question made her father stop what he was doing again only this time he did not look at her with a smile, a small frown had curved his lips for a brief moment.

"Mama had to go and take care of your grandpa" he answered after a moment's pause and he was back to work again with the rice in his hands "Grandpa is really sick Umeki" he explained to his daughter "Mama had been at his house all this time taking care of him"

"Will she be home soon?" Umeki, the young four year old girl, asked curiously.

"Of course" her father grinned "just wait my little Ume she's going to come walking through that door any day now" he smiled brightly at his daughter and she in return smile back at him.

The missing mother of the house did return that very same day looking flustered and requesting to move from their current home. It was a few days after this that Umeki's father passed away by this same mother's hands.

Why would such a moment matter? One might ask. Because it takes eight months for a baby to be born. That had been the reasoning Umeki had use to what she had just been informed of. It takes eight long months for a child to grow within a person before they are born and Umeki, at first, could not recall a moment that her mother had ever been pregnant since her own birth. The only time that Umeki couldn't recall seeing her mother for a longer than eight months was that instant when she was four. If she had given birth in that time that child would be three years younger than she and Takeshi, this boy who now claimed to be Umeki's younger brother, was three or so year younger than Umeki.

On that day that the last known address of Matsushima Mia had finally been discovered Kou's grandmother had told him straight away not to go looking for the woman. She obviously had a habit of running and his grandmother said that if they didn't plan things out perfectly the woman known as Kou's mother would have all the bags she needed pack and on the first train to the farthest end of the island before they could even think to go knocking at her front door.

For the first week Kou had heeded his grandmother's words, he had waited eighteen years to come face to face with his mother what a little more time compared to that? But knowing that she was so close had slowly ate away at Kou's patience. He wanted to confront her, he wanted to march up to that address and bang on the door demanding answers like why had she been gone all this time? where had she been? Why was she hiding from her family? And most of all why had she up and abandoned him? These questions had swirled in his mind for that first week and by the second week Kou had decided that he at least had the right to see her face.

Did he look like her? He wondered, maybe he had her nose or her eyes maybe she had that same strange part in her hair like he did… he just wanted to see her face at least. So one night, on his way home from meeting with his uppity Korean client, Kou wandered towards the neighborhood where the address was. The walk there had been fine, he had been encouraging himself the whole walk there telling himself that when she saw him she would be happy, surely she'd recognize her own child and welcome him with wide arms, and then she'd come home to see her mother and everything would be fine. However, when the Akadou boy arrived at the street he stopped dead.

"…What was I thinking?" he had muttered to himself biting down on his bottom lip and hanging his head. Why would she want to see him anyway? If she was as loving as he was making her out to be she wouldn't have left him in the first place and it's been eighteen years since she'd last seen him how in the hell would she know who he was? Realizing this Kou scuffed kicking the nearest rock to him. So much for seeing her face, he was going home he had decided and turned to walk away from the street that lead to the house that his mother lived in.

"Are you still mad at Ryu?" a voice suddenly came from the way Kou was heading in, someone was coming this way and since Kou didn't particularly care to be seen lurking about a neighborhood he didn't live in he ducked behind some trash bins and remained quiet. The person that had spoken was a male and when Kou peeked from behind his hiding place he could make out the silhouettes of two people slowly making their way towards the very road Kou found himself unable to walk up.

"…Not really" a female voice replied and the shorter person of the two shook their head "I'm just being stubborn I guess"

"He's mopping about it you know" the guy chuckled and the girl scuffed at this.

"Let him then, he deserves it"

"Umeki…" the male sighed.

"Umeki?" Kou repeated the name, he knew someone with that name… he chanced being caught and poked his head out a little more to get a better look at the apparent couple walking past. Well what do you know, it's Kango-shi-san…she lived here? The Akadou nurse was walking calmly beside a much taller guy in a leather jacket the couple exchanged looks before the guy snickers and wrapped an arm around Kango-shi's petite waist pulling her closer to him. The two of them of them grinned at one another and walked up the road oblivious to Kou's presence watching them as they made their way up the road. Now Kou could have just left once they past him, he could have snuck out of his hiding place and walked home without incident but something in him, call it his gut instinct, told him to follow them. He didn't at first but after giving it some thought he stood up and hurried after the retreating couple.

Up the road they walked blissfully unaware of Kou as they relished in each other's presence and went on talking about how Kango-shi was still giving someone by the name of Ryu the cold shoulder and that she should forgive him for whatever it was he had done to upset her. Kango-shi went on to tease the guy, who by now Kou had figured out was her infamous boyfriend, by suggesting that she should give Ryu all of her attention instead of him and he snarled out a no in response.

"I dunno" Kango-shi mused walking ahead of her boyfriend a bit with her hand behind her back "I think Ryu would give me a much better time than you do Hayato"

"Oi!" Hayato barked, Kou ducked into the shadows when Kango-shi turned around to look at her boyfriend, Hayato pointed at her "you better take that back!"

"Oh yea?" Kango-shi arched a brow "and what are you gonna do if I don't Yabuki?"

"Umeki" Hayato warned

"…Make me" a daring look flashed across the lovely nurses face as if her words were dangerous things to say to this guy. A silence fell upon the two of them before Hayato let loose fierce snarl and charged his girlfriend. The woman squealed in response and took off up the road. Kou watched the two adults raced up the empty street as fast as they could go. Kango-shi made it to gate of what was most likely their home first and after slipping through them slammed them shut in her boyfriend's face. While he was busy getting the gate's lack open she was racing to the front door and was more than likely looking for her keys in her bag so she could get inside but she wasn't fast enough.

"I've got you!" Kango-shi squealed loudly when he boyfriend gripped her by her waist just as she unlocked the door and literally threw her over his shoulder. Hiding behind the high fence of the house Kou watched with the couple with amusement until the door to the house was closed and he could see the number printed on it.

This address…the house…it was the one listed as his mothers!

At first Kou had thought what anyone would think immediately, that Matsushima Umeki was his mother, but he was smarter than that. Kango-shi was only in her twenties and Kou was eighteen, they were far too close in age for the nurse to have given birth to him, she would have been four at the time. So Kou went home and he did some digging on his nurse's background.

He already knew a good deal about the woman already. She was the infamous Matsushima Umeki, the center of a media hail storm when a pedophile ring was discovered by the police. Back when she had been a student she had a bad attitude and a violent tendency that she didn't appear to have anymore but what about her family. In all the articles Kou read about her and the shows he'd watched about her none of them had talked much about her family, they only mentioned a mother that was so terrible at being a parent that she had gone oblivious to her own daughter's sexual abuse until the public found out. They never mentioned the mothers name though and the father was never mentioned, of course that being because he had long since passed away as Kango-shi had said herself. So when he had exhausted his files for any clues he moved on to look through Hospital records that he had "come across" while messing around on his computer. Kango-shi had said once to Jun, thank the heavens for that love struck puppy of a guy for asking her this question, that her father had worked in the hospital that she now worked in so there was a possibility that she might have also been born in that very same hospital, they might have her birth records filed away.

And that was when he discovered the truth.

The name of Matsushima Umeki's birth mother was Matsushima Mia and Matsushima Mia's maiden was Kouno. Another quick sure pulled up the birth records of the mother and revealed what he was sure his grandmother had found out, which was that Kouno Umemichiko was her birth mother. Oh but that wasn't all! Apparently Mia, Kou's long lost mother, had two children before she had Kou. The third child was a male by the name of Tetsu and though Kou couldn't find much more on him he had a feeling that his dear sister knew about him. So he decided to confront his dearest sister about the situation, form what he gathered the woman wasn't living in that house it was just Kango-shi and her boyfriend so where is she?

Kou couldn't help but fix the nurse with an angry later on that day in the faculty office as he sat across from her with his arms tightly crossed. It seemed she was still trying to put together how they could possibly be sibling. She fidgeted under his stares and looked almost everywhere but at him.

Umeki bit down on her bottom lip hard, this silence was strangling her. She cast an eye across the faculty room where the rest of the schools staff were huddled together watching the two of them and most likely straining their ears to listen in on their conversation. Yankumi was among them looking as unsettled as Umeki felt. The two of them locked eyes for a few minutes until they found the boy again.

"…anno…" she found her voice again but only for that fleeting moment, what should she say to him? It was obvious by the look on his face that he was very angry and for whatever reason he was angry with her. How was she supposed to respond to that? "So…" her confidence crumbled and her gaze dropped to the table standing between them "Does this mean…that Kouno-san is-"

"Your grandmother?" the boy answered for her, Umeki nodded "yup" he replied taking in a deep breath and sighing "and she's been looking for mom all my life"

"I can understand why it took her so long" Umeki muttered under breath "that woman isn't known for dwindling in a single location for too long…" there was another long pause between the two of them and through the whole thing Umeki couldn't bring herself to meet eyes with Kouno-…..Takeshi, this must be how Tetsu had felt back three years ago when she had suddenly appeared before him claiming to be his younger sister. Back then, when that woman had abandoned Umeki like she had him, it had been hard for him to believe that his mother could be so cruel to do this to a second child how would he react if he were to learn that there was a third? Umeki stared down at her lap clenching her hands into tight fist, three children suffering as a result of one woman…were there more of them out there scattered across Japan? How many lives did that woman have to ruin? It made Umeki so angry she had half a mind to just flip the table in front of her out of pure frustration.

"So this is it, huh?" Takeshi's voice brought Umeki back from her thoughts and she raised her gaze to look at him for once. He was no longer glaring at her like he had since the truth came out, instead he slouched in his seat staring back at her with a bored expression and a hint of disappointment.

"…e-eh?" Umeki mused giving him a curious look. Takeshi sighed looking away from her and out the nearest window.

"Eighteen years Obba-chan has spent looking for my mother and all we get…" he looked at her again "is you" his tone was so cold Umeki shivered with a sensation that she had just been impaled by and icicle. She blanched easily finding no words to reply to the boy and instead settled for staring at the table again. "I should have known it wouldn't be this easy" Takeshi sighed again "If she had been staying in that house I would say she was going against her nature"

"Sticking around when there's trouble definitely isn't her style" Umeki confirmed with a slight nod earning a light snort and chuckle from the boy. "Kouno-kun…Anno…" Umeki bit down on her bottom lip willing herself to look into those cold eyes of Takeshi's again "if you need anything….and I mean anything at all from me just-"

"How about my mother" Takeshi didn't bother to let Umeki finish her sentence and his request nearly strangled her. He stared at her emotionlessly "I want what I've wanted for most of my life, I want to know where my mother is and I think you have the answer for me"

"…I…I don't" Umeki shook her head, of course Takeshi would want their mother she was the reason that he had found Umeki in the first place. There came another silence were the two sibling stared at one another but then Takeshi scowled deeply and with a swift kick sent the table they sat at rattling. Umeki jumped slightly and she could hear her coworkers collectively gasping and whispering among one another.

"Don't lie to me!" Takeshi snapped at Umeki.

"What reason would I have to lie to you?" Umeki snapped back once she had recovered from the boy's outburst "I'm telling you the truth, I don't know where she is! I wish I did, really I do, I have questions for her too but I haven't heard from her or seen her face for three years!" her words earned her a fierce glare but Umeki didn't let it get to her this time, she wasn't going to just sit here and let some snot nosed brat get angry with her because she didn't have an answer for him. If you asked Umeki she thought that he was better off not knowing that horrible woman they had the unfortunate luck of having to call their mother. "I don't exist to her anymore" Umeki told Takeshi sullenly "the minute she packed her things and walked out that door I wasn't her daughter anymore, I was dead to her. You think someone like that would give any thought to leaving behind the address to where her new life is going to be? Kouno-kun you're a smart kid, you should know by now that me knowing where that wouldn't is was a fools dream" oh he did, she could tell by the look on his face that he did but it must have been a nice fantasy to chase for a little while. Takeshi lost his angered expression when Umeki fell silent, he stared at her blankly for a moment before pushing his chair back loudly.

"Then you're of no use to me" he told her bluntly before standing up casually.

"Eh?" Umeki sounded startled for a moment as she stared at her no retreating brother with wide eyes "Wait a minute" she stood up so fast she knocked her chair over but she didn't care, balancing herself on the table the best she could she reached across the space and gripped the boy by his wrist before he could get far "Kouno-kun don't…Takeshi please just hear me out-" the minute his name left her lips Takeshi turned back to her swiftly yanking himself loose from her grip and shoved her hard. The staff gasped loudly as the nurse stumbled away from the boy and the table tripping over her chair and almost falling over. When she regained her footing, by gripping the nearest teacher's desk tightly to steady herself, she gazed at the boy in shock only to find a deep glare of hatred staring right back at her.

"You have no right to call me by my name!" he yelled at her making her flinch slightly "Especially not you!" his voice spat venomous hate at her in a way no other person on this earth has expressed hate for Umeki it left her once again speechless when I came to coming up with a way to reply to him.

"Kouno-kun" Yankumi had decided that this point that things were getting too dangerous between the two and approached them, she placed a soothing hand on the boys shoulder but he didn't acknowledge that his homeroom teacher was beside him he just continued to stare at Umeki. Now that she was this close to him Yankumi could see as clear as day that her poor student wasn't as angry at Umeki as he sounded. In fact when Yankumi observed his face she could see a hurt look in his eyes, they glazed over slightly as if any minute now he was going to begin crying.

"You know" he spoke up breaking the silence again "I wouldn't have minded if it was just you" he sounded calmer than he was a moment ago, he hung his head as he spoke this "I mean I wondered you know? If I had any siblings, if I had a little sister I could spoil or a big brother I could look up to, to my luck I get two! And they're both bad asses!" a strange sort of chuckle came to him now and the sound of it just broke Yankumi's heart to hear.

"Takeshi…" Umeki spoke up pushing off the desk she held onto letting a look of guilt wash over her face as she stared at the boy.

"I mean one of them works for…well you should know" an all know look came to the sullen students face before he went on "and the other is nationally famous for how much of a delinquent she is…or was"

"You…you know about Aniki?" Umeki muttered

"Of course I do!" Takeshi roared out kicking his own chair over as hard as he could.

"Kouno-kun" Yankumi gripped his shoulder harder trying to stop him from causing anymore destruction but he, much like he'd done to his own sister, wrenched himself form her grip and shoved her away from him.

"If it were just us…the three of us I wouldn't mind not knowing where she is. I wouldn't care!" Takeshi stated honestly to Umeki "but you…you won't even acknowledge that he's your brother"

"Don't be stupid!" Umeki snapped at the boy "of course I do!"

"Do they know?" Takeshi question motioning to the staff behind him that went on oblivious to the fact that they were the subject of the conversation "As far as everyone knows he's not your brother." He said and it was telling the truth, Umeki did acknowledge Tetsu as her older brother but the staff didn't know it, no one she worked with beside Yankumi knew that fact, it was so that she wouldn't lose her job the same reason why no one knew of Yankumi's yakuza background. "How can you truly care about your brother, our brother, when you won't even acknowledge to the world that he is your brother?"

"That not-" Umeki tried but Takeshi wouldn't let her explain herself

"Someone who does that" he continued "I have no business with, so far as I'm concerned you're no sister of mine" that lest comment was all it took.

Umeki had felt a variety of painful things in her young life. She's been beaten to bloody pulp more times than she had actually stop to count, she had been emotionally amused by cruel classmates, shed felt the heart ache of knowing someone you like doesn't like you back and the pain of knowing your own mother gave up on you and abandoned you, she'd even experienced a brush with death but nothing, absolutely none of those experiences could measure to the sharp stab she suddenly felt in her heart because of Takeshi's words. As the boy turned around sharply and left the faculty room as fast as he could Umeki could do nothing to stop him.

She gripped the front of her shirt tightly as the pain exploded within her and left her whole being rattling. She lost all strength in her legs and dropped down to the room floor like all her strength had been sucked from her very being.

"Umeki" a worried Yankumi was by her side fairly quickly but Umeki didn't even notice her there, she struggled to take in air to breath and tighten her grip on her shirt.

"Yankumi…" she choked out slightly "he…he hates me"

Later on that day, when school was over for both students and staff, Umeki found her older brother where he always was at this time of day and that was at the Takoyaki stand that he worked at during the day. She didn't bother beating around the bush about the news that she had discovered today, instead she told him straight away what had happen and the very chilling fact that they had a younger brother and a grandmother that they never knew about. Tetsu choked on his words much like Umeki had when she was finished recounting the events that took place less than a few hours ago. He stared down at his hand for a couple of minutes before looking at his sister with uncertainty.

"You're sure about this?" he asked her straight forwardly "I mean…this could just be some kid trying to mess with you" but of course Umeki shook her head

"He knew about you Aniki" she told him, they had been careful when it came to people knowing the connection between them. Really if they weren't a part of the Oeda house or Umeki's circle of friends from school than the two of them were just people who happen to know each other very well there was no getting around it, Takeshi wasn't just messing with them besides he wasn't that type of kid that much was obvious about his character. "To think" Umeki seethed "that woman….that woman is so cold that she can do this three times" the young woman clenched her hands into tight fist at the very thought, she may not know where their mother was at the moment but oh how she wished she did. Matsushima Mia was just so selfish, whatever reason she had for abandoning Takeshi like she did it probably had to do with keep her from losing something she wanted to keep her greedy little fingers on like her self-centered pride. "Aniki…" Umeki turned a concerned look to her older brother that he reflected "What if there are more of them? What if she's been doing this for a while?" of course Tetsu had no response to her question and neither did she. What could either of them possible do if their mother was going around Japan leaving children she's brought into this world behind? Nothing was the answer.

"Aniki" the siblings turned their attention to Minoru when he spoke up from where he stood behind the stand. His eyes weren't on them though they were focused on something behind them. Umeki glanced over her shoulder half expecting to see Takeshi standing there glaring at her with that chilling hatred of his but it wasn't Takeshi who was approaching them…it was Taguchi-san, Kyona's father and a well known police officer, with two other officers walking along side him. Umeki tensed up slightly when they made eye contact.

"Matsushima-san" he nodded to her in acknowledgment.

"Taguchi-san" Umeki choked out nodding in a similar gesture

"Keeping yourself out of trouble?"

"Of course not" Umeki responded sarcastically rolling her eyes as she did, the officers stopped right before Tetsu and Umeki and this too made Umeki tense up even more, she gripped the edges of the bench she sat on until her knuckled turned white and ached from the force she was putting them through still she tried her best to look as cool and collected as she could. "How can I help you fine upholders of the law today?" she cocked her head and smiled cutely at the officer.

"Fortunately I'm not here for you for once Matsushima-san" Taguchi responded not looking at all amused be Umeki's act. Ignoring the young nurse's curious look he turned his attention to Tetsu "are you Asakura Tetsu?" eh? Umeki's curious look quickly morphed to a squinted eyed glare at the officer, what did he want with her brother? It couldn't be anything good, whenever this cop was around it usually meant misfortune for Umeki, he was just that good of an officer you see, so for him to be here now meant nothing good would come for them. Tetsu and Umeki exchanged looks before Tetsu looked to the officer again and nodded his head.

"Yes I am" he confirmed, Taguchi nodded his head before giving his officers a silent order of a look. They in turn nodded and proceeded to approach Umeki's brother.

"Asakura Tetsu we're placing you under arrest"

"Eh?"

"Huh?" Tetsu stared at Taguchi wide eyed too stunned to fight off the officers that were not handcuffing his hand behind his back "Wait a minute…" he barked glaring back at the two officers. Umeki shot out of her seat almost immediately.

"Now just wait a minute Taguchi" she barked out at the chief of police "Just what in seven hells do you think you're doing?"

"I thought that much was obvious" Taguchi replied calmly "I'm taking in a suspect"

"Yea I can see that much thanks" Umeki hissed looking from the chief to his officers "get your hands off of him!" she shrieked out with such volume she was sure if their boss wasn't standing there the two men would have released Tetsu at once. When they didn't move Umeki was on the attack shoving one officer away from her brother with as much force as she could before turning around and getting ready to punch the seconds lights out. The officer flinched when he saw what he knew he couldn't dodge coming his way and braced for the attack but luckily for him Taguchi saw it coming and was upon Umeki before she could turn fully around. He gripped the wrist of the arm she was about to drive into his officers face and gripped it tightly when she tried to get free of his grip, she glared at him "let me go" she snarled "You have no right to just show up out of nowhere and start arresting people!"

"You do realize who this man work for don't you?" Taguchi arched a brow at her

"Of course I do!" Umeki shrieked back "does that matter? He hasn't done anything!"

"He's being arrested under suspicion of theft, battery and attempted rape" Taguchi told her in a matter of fact kind of tone and the comment floor Umeki for a moment so much so that she stopped struggling against the man that held her wrist so tightly in place.

"…EH?" who in their right mind had the nerve-the guts-the marbles to accuse Tetsu of all people of something so serious and theft and attempted rape! Battery Umeki could understand, let's face it he may be her brother but Tetsu was still as much as a fighter as Umeki was if not worse, but Theft and attempted rape! The nerve! "That can't be right!" Umeki stammered out staring at Taguchi with wide eyes shaking her head "you have the wrong guy!"

"Perhaps we do" Taguchi shrugged his shoulders "but we won't know that until we take him into custody and the victims can make identification"

"Then I'm coming down there with you" Umeki stated making moves to follow the policemen that were now pushing Tetsu away from the stand.

"You can't"

"Eh?" Umeki sounded stumbling a bit when Taguchi pushed her back and kept her from following Tetsu "what do you mean I can't?" she glared at him incredulously

"It would be pointless to" he informed her "only family can speak to suspects" pushed her back again when she tried to follow for a second time. This time Umeki smacked his hand away from her.

"Knock it off!" she snapped at him "You can't stop me from going down there, either I'm going or you're not arresting him"

"Should I have you arrested as well for assaulting an officer?" Taguchi arched a brow at Umeki.

"Don't be ridiculous" she growled "I haven't-"

"But knowing your track record you will" Umeki silently curse, he was right and both of them knew it and with that Umeki had no choice but to fall into silence. Taguchi took this as his obvious victory "It's for the best" he assured her patting her shoulder a few times until Umeki sharply jerked his hand off of her "let's go" this was directed to his officers as he turned around and began walking after her.

"Aniki" Minoru was walking around the stand now calling to Tetsu but Umeki held out an arm and quickly stopped him from following them.

"Let them go"

"But they're-"

" I said let them go Minoru" Umeki hissed glaring at the chubby man before turning her attention back to the retreating officers and Tetsu "Tetsu!" she called out after them, her brother looked back "j-…just hang on okay? I'm going to get you out of there I swear I will!" that was the last thing she told her brother before he was pushing into the squad car. When they pulled away Umeki sighed heavily.

Today just wasn't her freaking day.

She instructed Minoru to contact Ojou about what happen and she ran, Umeki ran like her life depended on her getting to the police station. It was almost funny how desperately she was attempting to get there and yet she if this were her a few years back you probably couldn't get her to go within two miles of the place. All jokes aside Umeki moved as fast as she could, they police had the wrong man this time there was just no way that her brother would do such things! For one thing she would have killed him if he did and if she didn't than Ojou certainly would so there was no way in hell he would have done what they were saying he did.

When she got to the station Umeki swore she nearly tore the door off its hinges pulling it open. She stormed into the station like she owned it fuming the whole walk.

"Where is he?" her voice boomed and startled the people working at their desk at that moment of time, their heads whipped around to look at her in shock as she stormed past desk after desk until finally her path was blocked "Get out of my way" she snarled at the young man standing before her blocking her path to the back where she knew her brother was being kept. The man did not comply and this only proved to anger Umeki more, if he knew what was good for him he would get the hell out of her way. "Perhaps you did hear me" the nurse spoke through gridded teeth "..way"

"I'm sorry ma'am" the officer replied calmly "but you can't go back there"

"I'm here to speak to Asakura Tetsu!" she bellowed at him

"Are you his wife?" the officer questioned

"No!" Umeki shrieked staring at the man as if he were crazy

"Then next of kin perhaps? His daughter? His sister even?" the officer questioned on, now Umeki could see where he was getting at with his questions and even though she was blinded by her current rage her wide eyes eased up a bit as a result of her realization "That's the only way I can let you back there Ma'am, only married partners and family members are allowed to speak with suspects so…are you a family member of the suspects?" the young man repeated his question but Umeki could not reply to him. She calmed down enough to frown sadly and look away from the officer.

What was she going to do? If she told them Tetsu was her brother they'd find out about his background and she could lose both of her jobs…but she couldn't just let him stay here like this…she had to do something! Anything! But…

"How can you truly care about your brother, our brother, when you won't even acknowledge to the world that he is your brother?" she could hear Takeshi's words ringing in the back of her head.

Umeki bit down on her lip trying her best not to, curse loudly in her frustration, and shook her head.

"Then I can't let you back there" the officer responded gently pushing her back with his hands.

"Please just this once" Umeki found her voice fixing the man with a desperate look "I-I know him very well, he's a close family friend of mine! Please just let me have two minutes!"

"Ma'am" the officer sighed out

"Just two! That's all I'm asking for!" Umeki begged before bowing to the officer "Onegashimasu!"

"…I really wish I could" replied the officer "but my order are my orders, no one is allowed back there unless they're family, an attorney or have written permission to be back there"

"Then let her pass" a new voice suddenly joined the conversation the pair were having. This was a voice Umeki didn't recognize at all and she was sure she knew most if not all of the current officers that worked at this station. The nurse straightened back up when this deep, male voice spoke and glanced over her shoulder in the direction it had come from.

"….Eh?" she sounded when she took him in. There was a young man standing a pace or so away from Umeki and he was definitely much taller than she was, if she set him beside Tscucchi he'd reach his shoulders in height. He wore a neat, clean black suit and he held a briefcase in one of his hands, his black hair was neatly combed completing his business like appearance. The only thing that betrayed his image was the slight slouch in his posture and the generally bored look that Umeki could see in his eyes. He looked her over a couple of times before slowly approaching the two of them. "…who…" Umeki tried to voice but as soon as the unknown male was standing beside her he turned his attention to the officer that kept her from seeing her brother.

"I'm a bit late" he spoke to her without looking at her "Gomen, traffic was a little hectic today"

"E-Eh?" Umeki stammered out, did she know him? He looked at her briefly flashing her a strange lopsided grin before focusing n the officer before them.

"I'm here to speak with Asakura Tetsu" he told the policeman

"I'll tell you the same thing I told her" he replied "If you are not family or have-"

"I'm his lawyer" the man interrupted the officer sternly "This young woman here is my assistant"

"Nn?" Umeki gazed at him bug eyed, she was his what? Umeki gazed at him hard trying to see if she could recognize him from her past but nothing about him looked even remotely familiar. She didn't know him she was sure of that but he looked at her again and fixed her with a look that silently told her to play along. "O-o-oh!" she squeaked out before trying to glare at him "You're late again… you know they won't let me in without you here"

"Gomen Gomen" The male chuckled out "what matters now is that I'm here now…so…are you going to let us pass?"

"A-anno…yes! Right this way" the officer stammered out before turning stiffly and heading down the hall motioning the two adults behind him to follow him. When he was a safe distance the two of them exchanged silent looks.

"…Arigatou…" Umeki thanked him quietly, he shrugged his shoulders before walking forward. Umeki quickly fell into step with him "Anno…" she spoke "are you really here to see Ani-…I mean Tetsu-san?"

"Mm" the man nodded his head "I came as soon as I heard, again I'm sorry I was so late"

"I-It alright" Umeki shook her head "It's just…I didn't know he had a lawyer…"

"Your brother is a henchman of the Oeda" the man beside her spoke taking her by surprise, h-he knew that Tetsu was her brother? But how? "Of course he'd have a lawyer to step in incase things get a little ugly"

"How do you…" Umeki stopped walking and settled for staring at the back of the man's head as he walked on. He took a couple of steps before stopping and turning to look at her "…who are you?" Umeki finally question. This man, this unknown lawyer who knew the truth, grinned slightly at her. He dug into the pocket of his suit and held out a card for her to take, the nurse hesitated for a moment but soon reached out a hand and took the card from him drawing it close so she could read it.

"I'm an ally" he told her turning back around and walking on "and I'm here to help"

"…help?" Umeki muttered watching him walk away from looking at the card he had offered her. She read the name of the card and gaped taking in a slightly sharp breath before looking back up at the male that continued down the hall as if she were following him and muttered his name.

"…Sawada Shin…"

"The offender invaded the room with the intention of rape, but after finding that the room he invaded was her grandfather's room he injured the grandfather, took the wallet and escaped the scene"

Umeki barely listened to the explanation offered to them once they arrived where they needed to be. She stared at the two way mirror to the right of her. Tetsu sat alone in the room looked trouble and generally confused, who could blame him for being that way this situation was screwed up no matter what way you looked at it.

"After the offender ran away, he bumped into a young couple and they're description of him matched the suspects"

"I'm sure there are plenty of men who would match my clients description" Sawada-san's voice brought Umeki back into the conversation. This was Sawada Shin, one of Ojou's very first students and an old flame of hers. That much was enough to explain how he knew about her brother's background but for him to know about Umeki? She hadn't showed her face until long after this guy left Japan according to what she had been told but here he was standing beside her like he's known her all their lives. Sawada Shin… It was amazing how he could look both professional and bored at the same time, as if he'd done this ten times over in the past week…

Umeki kept quiet during this conversation considering she was supposed to be just an assistant and assistants didn't curse out officers for being stupid enough to think that Tetsu could do something so office to innocent people.

"We're assuming that the offender has some sort of acquaintance to this area" the officer that stood with them, one of the men of whom Umeki tried to punch earlier that afternoon, went on "And according to the two sketches made from the two witnesses descriptions we can safely say it was him…look" he offered them two sheets of paper with drawn pictures on them. It was true the pictures did look much like Tetsu but…

"Well?" Sawada looked from the pictures to Umeki beside him she frowned as she fixed the pictures with a hard stare and then shook her head. They looked like Tetsu, sure, but there was something off about them… something just didn't make this description convincing for her. This wasn't Tetsu, he didn't do it. Sawada stared at her hard for a second before looking to the officer before them "could you give us a moment?" he requested, the officer seemed started at first but he nodded his head and shuffled out of the room leaving the two of them alone in silence.

"This isn't him" Umeki spoke up as soon as the door clicked shut behind the officer "it looks like him I know but…I know my Aniki and this isn't him"

"I spoke with him a few minutes ago" Sawada sighed out "he doesn't have an alibi"

"Eh?" Umeki blinked at Sawada in surprise

"According to him he had spent that night drowning his sorrows in alcohol" the older male explained to Umeki. The nurse scrunched up her face a tad at the new information, drowning his sorrows? What sorrow? As if reading her expression Sawada gained a slight smirk "He mumbled why he had been drinking so much so I couldn't really understand what he was saying" he told her "but it had something do with him have to hand something precious to him away" Sawada's smirk grew in size when he said this, Umeki was no fool she knew exactly what he was implying and she couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly.

"A…Aniki" she sighed more to herself than to Sawada.

"My bet is that the police are going to make the witnesses see Tetsu for confirmation" Sawada went on "but I don't think they'll be doing that today, we may have to come back tomorrow"

"Wait! Does that mean he has to stay here for the night?"

"It would seem that way" Sawada nodded his head "he's their only suspect right now so as long as there's a slim chance that it's him and the real culprit is still out there they'll probably keep him here" the male took in a deep breath and sighed shoving his hands into his pockets glazing through the two way mirror at Tetsu sitting in that interrogation room by himself. Umeki did as well frowning deeply as she did. "I'll talk to the chief here" Sawada spoke up turning away and heading for the door to the room "Since he's …our client we'll need to get as much information from him as we can to clear his name, but I need to look at the police reports and that might take a while" he glanced over his shoulder at him "I'll ask for written permission so my assistant can speak with my client privately" he told her, that meant Umeki would get to talk to Tetsu! Oh if Umeki wasn't so uptight about crying in public she would have burst into tears right then and there, instead she nodded her head in confirmation.

"Hai!" she bowed "I-I'll get right on it!"

The pair of them were on the move as soon as Sawada opened the door to the room and the two of them stepped out. It took Sawada a couple of minutes but before Umeki knew it she had a pass to see her brother and while the lawyer was off doing…well…whatever it was lawyers were supposed to do Umeki was being led to a lone room far within the police station where her brother had been taken too.

The sibling sat in silence for the first five minutes neither not sure how to start the conversation, or what kind of conversation they should be having to begin with.

Tetsu sat with his cuffed hands on his lap staring at the table so hard he could probably burn holes into it while Umeki twiddled her thumbs on the table. Finally when the silence was just too much to take Umeki glanced behind her at the door to the room briefly then turned back to her brother.

"Aniki" she spoke quietly getting Tetsu's attention "I know you didn't do this, I promise I'm going to get you out of here I promise"

"No" Tetsu shook his head at her "Don't you do anything Umeki, leave it to Shin he'll get me out of here"

"But…" The look her brother fixed her with was enough to keep her from finishing her sentence. He meant it, he didn't want her getting involved with all of this.

"If they find out about you you could lose your jobs Umeki" Tetsu reminded her making her scuff bitterly. He was right and the both of them knew it, when it came to a situation like this her hands were tied if she wanted to keep her damn job. "Umeki" Tetsu leaned against the table staring at Umeki sadly "Everything will be alright. I'm going to be fine but you have to promise you'll stay away"

"But…"

"Promise me" Tetsu looked Umeki dead in the eyes as he said this sternly.

"…" Umeki sighed hanging her head as she did "I promise" she nodded her head.

Meanwhile on the other side of town Kou had just excused himself from the table he had been sitting at to take a call his phone was telling him that he had. He quickly stepped out of the restaurant digging into his pocket and checking the caller ID so he could prepare to verbally abuse whoever was calling him at this time.

It was bad enough his 'dearest sister' had put him in a bad mood today but things just went downhill after that. He had to meet up with a client of his, this Korean jerk who had been paying Kou to tail some girl for him for the past few months, and the prick had decided on his own that it was time to deal with his problem. In other words he wanted names and Kou, getting the feeling he was going to do something dangerous, was very reluctant to talk but this guy was persistent. Kou was in a tight spot at this moment and to have someone call him out of nowhere didn't help.

He arched a brow when he saw the name of the person who was calling, it said Taguchi. K. That meant that this wasn't his classmate that was calling him but the younger sister of said classmate but what would she need to call him for. Kyona, or Nana as the guys liked to call her, hardly acknowledged Kou when she visited Akadou in fact he was surprise she even knew he existed and here she was calling his cell phone. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before flipping his phone open.

"Taguchi Kyona" he heard a strangled noise from the other end revealing the girls surprise that he knew who was calling him "To what do I owe this unexpected phone call?"

"….A-anno…" the girl stammered out "You sound like you're busy…maybe I should call another time…"

"Of course not" Kou mused rolling his eyes as he did "I'm never too busy to talk to a lovely angel like you Kyona-chan"

"Kouno-kun, don't patronize me" Kyona replied sharply on the other end that would have hurt Kou's feelings if he cared enough that is. He chuckled slightly out of amusement towards the girl before she continued"…I heard about what happen today" she informed his as if he hadn't already known that by now.

"Did you?" he replied humoring her as he picked at his nails out of boredom "who told you? Was it Kazama…or maybe your dear big brother? Or may even your lovely friend Yun Lee is her name right?" he asked her "She's probably heard the news from Ogata, they seem to be getting rather close don't you think"

"Kouno-kun" Kyona sighed out in frustration from her end of the line

"Cut to the chase Kyona-chan" Kou spoke seriously now "there's no need to beat around the bush, like you said I'm a very busy man so…"

"Asakura Tetsu was arrested today" Kyona told him bluntly, now that Kou hadn't expected to hear the girl tell him. He blinked staring into the space before him with disbelief as if she were standing there telling him this in person. Asakura Tetsu, that was the name of the eldest child of the three of them. That was the name of Kou and Umeki's older brother and the unfortunate person to first feel the sting of their mother's abandonment. Kou hadn't met Tetsu yet though he had started making plans to but apparently that wouldn't be needed.

"Eh?" he questioned her over the phone.

"My brother just told me" Kyona explained now that she had his undivided attention "He said 'Dad just arrested that scary guy who works at the Takoyaki stand, Tetsu' and I checked, it's true… I just thought, since you're Senpai's little brother, you at least deserved to know that" Senpai's little brother? Kou couldn't miss the slight venom when she said that. Ahh that's right Kyona was his 'dearest sister's' Kohai, and so was Kazama for that matter, of course she'd probably be a little snappy with him after catching word of how he had treated her today. "That's all" Kyona ended her explanation.

"You're so cruel to me Kyona-chan" Kou teased the girl bitterly holding hand to his heart "I can almost taste how much you hate me right now…try to see how I must be feeling about this right now"

"I really couldn't care less how you feel right now Kouno-kun" Kyona replied coolly "if you knew the things that Senpai has gone through before now-"

"Hasn't anyone told you yet?" Kou snapped back at the girl before she could continue trying to get him to join her pity party for his stupid sister "I-"

"You know everything" Kyona interrupted him this time "I know that Kouno-kun, everyone does. That's the thing though, just because you know everything doesn't mean you understand it. If you did you wouldn't have put Senpai through what you put her through today" Kou glared at nothing when he heard this, him? Not understand it? She was joking right? What more was there to understand? His sister was weak, pathetic even, she cared more about herself and her job than she did her own brother that much was obvious to him. She was just like their mother Kou understood that so what more was there to know? For Kyona to say that he didn't understand it did nothing for his bad mood tonight if anything that, coupled with the news about his brother, had completely pushed him off the edge now Kou was absolutely livid.

"You don't know anything Kyona" he told the girl bitterly, this time Kyona chuckled at him.

"I don't?" she repeated "I know a lot more than you do, Bakabashii" and with that she hung up the phone leaving Kou to even more frustration than he had before he angered the damn phone. He tried not to throw the device in anger but it was more than a difficult task to do in his current anger. Her? Know more than him? HA! It was so ridiculous it was almost laughable!...but if it was so laughable why wasn't he laughing? Why was almost shaking with rage? Staring at his phone Kou snarled snapping it shut loudly and heading back into the restaurant.

"Sorry about that" he apologized as he sat back down in his seat placing his napkin back on his lap "Now…where were we?" the man sitting across from him said nothing he simply stared into the eyes of a very beautiful woman that sat beside him. He trailed a hand along her jaw line in a very seduction manner and acted as if Kou wasn't there. "Won't your fiancé be upset to see you flirting with random Japanese woman you meet on the street?" he asked his client in Korean just so he didn't upset the woman currently being seduced. The man scuffed slightly pulling away from his victim and sitting in his chair properly.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her" he replied and shrugged his shoulders "I doubt she'll even care, it's not like we actually want to be married after all. She despises me"

"Perhaps if you didn't do these kinds of things" by 'these' Kou meant this job he'd hired Kou to do "she would hate you a little less"

"Why don't you skip the moral lesson and give me what I asked, and paid you good money, for" his client said in Japanese and with a tone of impatience to him. The two of them stared each other down for a couple of minute before, finally, Kou smirked. You know what? Screw it! So what if he told this guy the name he was pestering him for? At the moment it wasn't his problem and he didn't care what happen to the guy, probably the same thing that happen to the last guy. He'd probably just harass the poor guy until he left this chick alone like the guy before him and the guy before that guy it was going to be an endless cycle if you asked Kou and frankly he didn't care anymore.

"Make her go" Kou said casting an eye to the woman beside his client before looking back to him

"Leave us" he told the woman without so much as a glance her way but she understood nodding her head and getting up with ease walking away from them leaving them alone at the table. "Well?" he said a satisfied smirk coming to his face "tell me Kouno-san, what is the name of the filthy little weed that's been taking root beside my lovely flower?" Kou grinned back at his client.

Why should he care what happen to the guy?

"It's him!"

Thank god Sawada was standing behind Umeki because if he wasn't she'd be pinned to the ground and in handcuff already. She tried to keep herself from snarling at the woman that had yelled this and though she tried to step forward the lawyer had gotten a firm fistful of the collar of her shirt and kept her from doing so. It was the day following Tetsu's arrest and the couple who had witness the criminal escaping the scene of the crime were here today to confirm if it was in fact Tetsu that had done it.

"It has to be him" the woman spoke on turning to Taguchi

"Are you sure of this?" the chief of police questioned

"…No" the woman's boyfriend answered shaking his head "I don't think so…I don't think it's that guy"

"Eh?" his girlfriend yelled at him looking at him like he was crazy "Look at him!" she pointed at Tetsu through the two way mirror sitting in the interrogation room with another officer "That's the eyes of a killer!" Umeki grunted slightly when Sawada gave her shirt a hard jerk back to him but kept a stone calm face even when she glared back at him.

"No, wait…" the boyfriend muttered "you shouldn't decide on things like that…"

"Take a closer look" Taguchi urged the bickering couple and so they did in silence for a moment more.

"Hmmm" hummed the young man "Well, I guess you don't see a face like that too often… so I guess it could be that guy" By all that was good if Sawada didn't let go of Umeki's shirt this minute she would castrate him and not care a bit. It was while Umeki was fixing the lawyer, whose poker face went head to head with Ryu's at the moment, with a fiery glare that the woman hummed and shook her head slightly.

"No No" she muttered "I don't think so…"

"Eh?" sounded her boyfriend "What are you saying?"

"Now that I see him…his eyes are rather gentle and sad" from his place Sawada scuffed slightly. When they couple was allowed to leave he release Umeki and stepped forward.

"You're not going to tell me that you're going to arrest him from such an ambiguous statement are you?" he asked Taguchi with a smug look on his face. He was right, with the two witnesses uncertain of Tetsu there was no way in hell it would hold up in court and as a matter of fact the police couldn't even hold him. Sawada seemed to know this too "I think we've cooperated enough." He sigh his poker face surrendering to a look of disappointment and boredom as if he expected this to be harder than it actually was "We're taking him back, Matsushima could you wait out front with our client while I settle any other problems?"

"Of course" Umeki beamed bowing before quickly walking out of the room. There was a tense air around the two siblings as they moved to the front of the station that wasn't settled until one of the two people waiting for them turned to see them and spoke up.

"Tetsu! Umeki!"

"O…Ojou!" Tetsu spoke up in surprise, it seemed that both Ojou and Minoru had been waiting on an answer to yesterday's arrest this whole time. Umeki smiled slightly at the math teacher approached meeting them half way.

"So you came?" Umeki spoke up sighing in relief slightly "I thought you might not since your job and all…"

"Of course I'd come" Ojou breathed "just like you Umeki" the nurse grinned slightly at this "You're risking your jobs by being here Umeki"

"I know" Umeki nodded hanging her head now that she found herself being scolded by her former teacher "It's just, I was there when Aniki was arrested and hearing Taguchi-san say that he did those kinds of things…I'd never forgive myself if I let them get away with that"

"Aniki" Minoru grinned patting Tetsu on the shoulder "You should feel lucky you have such a faithful sister like Ume-chan!"

"Baka!" Tetsu barked delivering a swift smack to the back of Minoru's head "Don't say that so loudly while we're here"

"…Excuse me" Minoru bowed his head in apology.

"But I don't understand though" Ojou spoke up silencing the others, she gave Umeki a curious look "They wouldn't let us go back there, how did you get past and get Tetsu out?"

"Ah" Umeki hummed shaking her head "It wasn't me that did it, I didn't have any more luck getting back there than you did earlier"

"Really" Ojou questioned and Umeki nodded "Then how? Who?" just as she asked this the door behind Umeki opened and the sounds of talking reached her ears. Umeki glanced over her shoulder and sure enough there was the young lawyer who'd showed up almost out of thin air and saved the day still talking to Taguchi and his men.

"He did" the nurse told Ojou. The look on the teachers face was priceless, her eyes grew wider than Umeki had ever seen them before and her mouth hung open.

"Sawada!"

Sawada glanced their way at the sound of his name and grinned slightly before turning his focus back to Taguchi. Umeki grinned slightly looking from the young man to Ojou, the teacher looked stumped but when Umeki nodded to confirm it was who she thought it was the teacher slowly gained a grin.

"He showed up out of nowhere" Umeki explained offering her teacher the card he had given her "He didn't say how he found out about all of this. He just said he was Aniki's lawyer and that I was his assistant so that I could go back there." Ojou took the card and read it over as Umeki spoke "I don't know how but he knows about me, Ojou, about Aniki being my brother and everything"

"I'm not surprised" Ojou replied still grinning as she shook her head "Sawada has always been sharp"

"Before or after he was your student?" Umeki arched a brow, the woman grinned at one another before chuckling slightly.

"I think we're done here" Sawada's conversation reached their ears now as he moved to approach them.

"It's not like he's got the all clear" one of the officers commented trailing after the young lawyer with a smug look to his face "My bet is that he'll be back in here pretty soon" Umeki scowled at the comment, conceded bastard "Will you take responsibility for that when it happens?"

"Look here you-"

"I should ask you the same" Sawada cut Ojou off as she opened her mouth at the same time gripping Umeki's shirt again. "If it's proved, without a doubt, that he is innocent will you take responsibility for charging an innocent man for a crime he didn't commit?" the officer stiffened under Sawada's hard stare so much so that it was clear who was in charge of not only the conversation but the situation as a whole.

"…Carry on" he muttered before turning away and going to look for something to do with himself.

"You're off the hook for now" Taguchi stepped in when his officer left "but know you're still under suspicion, we'll be keeping an eye on you" he warned before nodding to the others that stood with Tetsu and Sawada, his eyes lingered on Umeki "Matsushima-san"

"Taguchi-san" Umeki started to snarl out but stopped when Sawada jerked her back slightly, she smiled politely and held her tongue with great restraint. The chief nodded to the group before turning away from the group and heading off to do whatever it was he needed to get done. When the man was out of sight Umeki jerked herself free from Sawada's grip and he didn't make an attempt to stop her nor did he look like he cared to reinforce his grip. "God that man makes me sick sometimes" the nurse hissed out straightening her cloths out a bit.

"Ume-chan" Ojou mused "he's only doing his job"

"His job is to go and seek out Aniki just because of his background?" Umeki countered motioning to her brother "oh yes of course, we don't have a real suspect but this guy's got a shady background so let's just arrest him and pin it on him. I mean even their witnesses could say it was Aniki-" Umeki would have ranted on but suddenly she was cut off when a large and heavy hand suddenly dropped onto the top of her head and within seconds her hair was being ruffled and messed up. The young woman squealed out slightly from this and quickly gripped the hand to stop the action.

"It doesn't matter anymore" Tetsu finally spoke up offering his sister a grateful smile for the energy and effort she was putting into the situation "let's just go home"

"Tetsu's right" Ojou said stepping forward so she stood before the siblings "let's all go home and celebrate!"

"Celebrate?" questioned those around the math teacher.

"Of course!" boomed Ojou with a laugh "a celebration that we have, once again, out smarted the Okami" she said this last part with an odd sort of fire in her eyes and a fist tightly clenched. Her company could do nothing but stare blankly at her in response. From his place Sawada snorted.

"You make it sound like we actually committed a crime" he pointed out shoving his hands into his pockets.

"A-Ah?" Ojou whipped around and stared at Sawada with disbelieving wide eyes "I-I do?"

"Yankumi hasn't changed one bit I see" Sawada went on to comment with a smirk on his face

"Oi" Ojou pointed at her former student "Don't say that! I've changed lots!"

"Has she?" the question was directed toward Tetsu, Minoru and Umeki and the three of them shook their heads.

"Not really" the chorused chuckling with amusement.

"Hey!"

"What is she doing here?"

A new voice suddenly joined the conversation. It was a low grumble of a voice and it sounded like it came from a distance away but the sound of it stopped the easy going talk and made Umeki stiffen up a bit for she knew the voice. Heads turned in its direction and eyes found the front door to the station. Who else would be standing there beside Kouno Takeshi, he leaned against the nearest wall looking like a sulking puppy stuck in the rain but his glare was clear and Umeki didn't have to look at him to know that he was directing it at her. She could feel its heat even when she looked away.

"Kouno-kun" Ojou turned to face the boy "What are you…how did you…"

"Yankumi" mused the boy "My grandmother is an independent detective. You think I wouldn't eventually catch word of this?" despite his glaring he tipped his head to the side and gained a look as if the very thought was amusing to him.

"Kouno" Tetsu repeated the surname and let it settle in his mind a moment before it seemed to dawn on him "Umeki, is this him?" the older brother turned to his sister, she nodded slightly.

"What are you doing here?" Takeshi repeated himself crossing his arms and approaching the group, he made a beeline straight for his sister as he asked this. For once Umeki shied away from such challenges, even though he left enough space between him and the group Umeki took a step back because to her he drew too close. She tried her best to avoid his stares. "You know by being here you're putting your jobs at risk" god he sounded like he was the older brother scolding the younger sister, it was kind of insulting.

"I know" Umeki nodded before glancing at Tetsu slightly "but Aniki was-"

"Aniki?" Takeshi mocked her tipping his head curiously "What do you mean Aniki? Kango-shi-san, you have no siblings" Umeki tried not to, she fought against it but she winced at the statement "remember?"

"…Hai" Umeki submitted "I should go" she added as an afterthought before stepping away from Tetsu "Thank you so much for your help Sawada-san" and with that she hurried away but as she passed Takeshi the boy reached out and gripped her arm tightly pulling her close to him.

"You have no right to be here" Takeshi spoke lowly in her ear making her stiffen up "I don't want to hear you call our brother Aniki and I never want to see you near him again" he didn't wait for a reply from Umeki, the minute he was finished with what he had to say he shoved the young woman away from him like she was dirty trash. Umeki stumbled a bit but otherwise said nothing, she simply steadied herself and beat a quick retreat out of the station.

"Kouno-kun" Yankumi sighed watching the young nurse walking farther and farther away from the station through the glass doors "Did you really have to do that?"

"She can't pretend to be an only child and then openly call him Aniki, Yankumi" Kou remarked without so much as a look of regret for how he treated. Why should he regret it? That was how he felt, truly felt whenever he saw the woman now. When he looked at her face, now knowing that she was his older sister, all he felt was a rage that boiled over inside him. She didn't look like him, her features were different from his so which parent did she take after. There was no doubt about it, Umeki had to look like their mother at least a bit and that thought only made treating her horribly easier. Watching her tremble when he made his presence known and shy away from him when he approached were certain pleasures he found himself taking as of recent.

The sight of her just reminded Kou of the mother who hadn't wanted to bother with him. That despicable woman that had given birth to him and then so easily left him behind. As a result Kou had no problem hating his sister more with every encounter he had with her. However this was all aside the point, there were far more important things that needed Kou's focus at the moment. Like this criminal that was somewhere around town doing who knows what and having people think it was Kou's brother. That was something Kou wouldn't take sitting down.

He distracted himself from his sister by putting himself to work that way. For days he contacted all his sources, he looked through everything in his file and then everything in his grandmother's files for any sign of someone, anyone, that may look like Tetsu that could have done this to his brother. Soon Kou completely forgot that his sister existed, she avoided getting his way when they were at Akadou and he didn't want to be bothered with her anyway so it was safe to say things, despite being a bit tense from time to time, were peaceful at Akadou high.

That is until today.

Kou had been walking down the halls of the school with his phone to his ear. He got a good lead from one of his sources that sounded just a tad bit nervous when he was talking to them. He had just hung up the phone and turned a corner when all of a sudden he ran head on with someone else coming from the other hall. There was a loud yelp and then a cluster of papers spilled across the floor. Kou stumbled back and away from the person dropping his phone in the process and the person he ran into backed up as well. There was a silence as they looked at the mess of papers and then at each other.

Umeki stood before Kou with a stunned look of horror on her face.

"Take-" Kou let out a slight snarl when the beginning of his name left her lips and it was loud enough to silence her for a moment "…Kouno-kun" she corrected herself, she bent down and picked up his phone offering it to him "Gomen nasai, I was in such a rush I didn't notice you there" Kou didn't reply, he snatched his phone out of his sisters hand and watched satisfied as she retracted the limb as fast as she could and held it close to her chest.

"Whatever" he hissed at her shoving his way past her to keep heading down the hall, he made an effort to step on the papers she had been carrying and kick it around making the mess even worse for her to clean up before he continued on his way with a smug smirk on his face. He could treat her as bad as he dared and he knew it. Kou could see it in his sister's eyes that she was defeated, she couldn't say anything back to him because she felt guilty and she'd never hit him no matter what he called her, no matter how terrible he was to her she would do nothing back. That, in Kou's mind, was perfect. If he couldn't release his anger on the person that caused it he'd do it on the next best thing.

Umeki didn't turn to stop him at first. She held her breath and stared down at the files she had been carrying back to the office. Some of them now had the faint imprint of Takeshi's shoe on them and others had been just plain kicked out of their folders and across the hall. Thanks to the boy Umeki would probably spend hours reorganizing this clustered mess but still when he walked past her without any other remarks or action she felt herself breathing a sigh of relief. That was when a question hit Umeki and when it did she wondered why in the hell she'd never asked herself this before: Why in the seven hells was she afraid of him? Why was she the one breathing a sigh of relief whenever he decided he didn't want to be a brat to her? And the very realization that she had been cowering from her little brother sparked anger in Umeki.

She stopped what she was doing, which had been bending over and picking up the many papers she had dropped, and straightened up. She turned around to face the direction Takeshi was heading and glared at the back of his head.

"What the hell is your problem?" her voice rang out down the hall with new found strength. It echoed down the hall and quickly reached Takeshi's ears, when he heard it he stopped walking stopped but never turned to look at Umeki but the nurse didn't care. Still glaring at the back of his head she threw down the papers she had gathered in her hands as if to physical display her rebellion against her brothers actions. "You hate me I get it, but I don't know why! Can you tell me that Takeshi?" Takeshi's shoulders tensed up, even in the distance between them Umeki could see this but she didn't care if he didn't like her calling him by his first name. She didn't give a damn, his name was his name and she was going to call him by it whether he liked it or not. "Is it because I pretend that Aniki isn't my brother? Do you want me to fix that because I will!"

"…" Takeshi didn't answer at first, he stood still for what felt like forever letting silence settle in the hall. When it settled to his satisfaction he turned to face Umeki. The look he gave her, his look of utter hatred for her, startled her at first but after steadying her breath Umeki held herself strong under it and glared right back at him "Why do I hate you?" he repeated the question "…why do I hate you…" he said it again in a low mutter this time before he took a step towards Umeki. The nurse's breath hitched for a millisecond when she saw this but she quickly swallowed it. No! She would not be afraid of this brat, she was Matsushima Umeki! She'd dealt with people that were far worse than Takeshi there was no doubting that. "I hate your existence" Takeshi told her bluntly as he continued walking towards her "I hate that with every breath you took in that house you live in I had to watch my grandmother sigh because she couldn't find any leads." His voice never shook with emotion as he said this, in fact he had his hands shoved into his blazer pockets and he looked as if he were having a casual conversation with when he said this "I hate the fact that you got the chance to know our father…I hate that you got the chance to know our mother" Umeki flinched when the boys voice began to betray his calm façade "Why do I hate you?" he stopped just before her and the two stared each other down "Because she choice you"

There it was, the simple answer to a simple question. That was the real reason he hated Umeki so much, because of the three perfect children she had instead of kept all three of them she stayed with one. She left Tetsu when he started showing signs of trouble and she had abandoned Takeshi close to a month after he drew in his first breaths, but not Umeki. No, Umeki was special. Their mother stayed with Umeki up until she turned eighteen, even with all the trouble she caused and all the destruction she left in her wake Matsushima Mia stayed at Umeki's side and she only left when the police began to question her about her late husband's death years ago and if that hadn't happen Takeshi was sure she'd have stayed even longer than that. That was why Takeshi hated his sister, because their mother choice her.

Umeki didn't reply to his answer, she simply stared at him blankly for a moment as if she couldn't believe what he was saying to her and Takeshi took that opportunity to speak on.

"And then I look at you and I see this" he motioned to Umeki in her nurses lab coat and heels "I don't know what she saw in you and that makes me hate you more. You're not even worth anything and you have yet to prove your worth" with that said Takeshi turned on his heel and walked back down the hall leaving Umeki to herself and the mess of papers around her.

He didn't bother going back to class after that, his classmates were tense around him and Yankumi was always trying to get him to being kinder to his sister and that kind of crap he didn't need. So he decided he'd go and check on that lead he just got. He left the school grounds with ease and headed into town, he was supposed to be meeting the guy he had just called a moment ago so he could finally track down this jerk that was going around free while the cops cast a suspicious eye on Tetsu. The guy in question was pacing back and forth nervously when Takeshi found him, so much so that he didn't seem to hear Takeshi approaching him.

"Yo!" he spoke up making the guy jump, he whipped around and looked at Takeshi.

"You came" he muttered, a look of guilt crossed his face as if he had been hoping that Takeshi wouldn't but the teen ignored it nodding his head and digging his hands into the pockets of his blazer.

"Yes I came" he nodded "I mean I did call you looking for information, it would be rude of me to not show up like that" but enough with the formalities, he was here on business and he made that apparent with the look he fixed his company with "Now, let's get down to business shall we?" The guy before him didn't respond, he stopped his pacing and now stood still before Takeshi with his head hung and his eyes fixed on the ground. "What is it?" Takeshi questioned

"…I'm sorry" the guy said

"Huh?" Takeshi questioned, that was the last thing he said before darkness suddenly blocked his view and he felt a bag being thrown over his head. The person who had snuck up on him and threw the bag over his head yanked him back and almost off his balance. He stumbled about swinging wildly hoping to hit the person that held him but he only received a blow to the head in return that left him spinning and too dizzy to fight back. Satisfied by this Takeshi's captures quickly tied his wrist behind his back and pushed him in some direction.

"Are you still sulking?"

Umeki blinked, being pulled from her thoughts and back into reality. Hayato stood before where was leaned against his parked bike with a drink in his hand for her. He grinned down at her but the look in his eye spoke of his worry for her current state. She offered him a small smile before taking the drink and cracking it open.

"I'll be fine" she told him calmly sipping the drink "I just need a little time to comprehend the situation"

"What is there to comprehend?" Hayato questioned eyebrow arched "Kouno Takeshi is you long lost little brother and he happens to hate your guts" Umeki lower the can from her lips and fixed her boyfriend with a heated glare "…Sorry" he amended himself and her glare eased up.

"I know that he hates me" she grumbled tipping the can to her lips again and taking two big gulp "But what I'm trying to decided is how I'm going to get him to stop hating me"

"Stop hating you?" Hayato repeated sitting down beside Umeki on his bike while his girlfriend continued to think things over. She nodded slightly to him slowly starting to let herself become lost in her thoughts again.

"Ne, Hayato" she mused after a moment of silence "you seem to have talent for getting people to stop hating you."

"I wouldn't say that" Hayato replied "what makes you think I have this said talent"

"I hated your guts" she pointed out and it was the truth. If Umeki went back in time and told the seventeen year old Umeki that she would eventually fall in love with, date, live with and sleep with Yabuki Hayato she would have had a fit of denial and rage because back when she first met him she wanted to rip his head clean off his shoulders. Hayato made a face at the comment but Umeki simply snorted in response "I did" she confirmed

"Well if you're going to put it that way" Hayato grumbled out "I guess I just bugged you until you finally fell in love with me"

"Nnn" Umeki pulled a face "I wouldn't say I fell in love with you" Hayato perked up a bit at this confession and Umeki chuckled when he did.

"Huh?" he stared at her with squinted eyes "Don't lie! You love me!" he proclaimed but Umeki simply laughed on and shook her head.

"I tolerated you" she corrected him, he pouted "Don't make that face at me" the nurse barked sending her boyfriend a mocking glare "You weren't the easiest person to put up with"

"Yea well" Hayato stopped pouting and leaned in to Umeki resting his chin on her shoulder wrapping his arms round her waist "You weren't easy to put up with either… you were kind of a bitch"

"I didn't want to have anything to do with you" Umeki replied "Of course I was bitch" Hayato grumbled something in response but it was too low for Umeki to understand what it was he had said so she left it alone. She held onto the can with both hands and set it down on her lap letting her head rest against her boyfriends "I love you now though" she told him quietly Hayato hummed back and squeezed her waist slightly.

The couple would have stayed like this just sitting on Hayato's black bike all afternoon in one another's presence but then a noise reached Umeki's ears. It was the sound of scuffling shoes against concrete and someone's muffled yells. Pull from her moment of bliss with Hayato Umeki raised her head and glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the noise. A group of what looked like five or so guys were surrounding one other with a bag over their head.

"Ne" Umeki nudged Hayato with her elbow and he grumbled in response glancing at her "Look" she nodded her head behind her and Hayato looked.

"Looks like someone's been jumped" he concluded after a minute of staring Umeki nodded her head in response "Isn't that Akadou's blazer?"

"…It is" Umeki replied sitting up straighter than before. Perfect, if Umeki had to guess she was sure that under that black bag was the face of one of Ojou's students and by some odd twist of fate their had gotten themselves in trouble like usual. Ojou wouldn't be happy about this one. The couple watch the boy struggle against his captures for a moment more, he managed to head-butt one of his captors and ram another away from him. In the scuffle that followed the bag slipped from the boys head and the sight of his face made Umeki tense up.

"What is it?" Hayato mused taking note in the feeling of his girlfriend going rigid

"That's Takeshi" she told him.

Takeshi cursed and yelled at the gang that surrounded him and tried to force him down and alleyway. When he would not go one of them growled out in anger and delivered a hard punch to his gut knocking the wind out of him and sending him crumbling to his knees. With Takeshi no longer struggling they dragged him down the alley between what looked like two abandoned buildings. Umeki pushed herself off Hayato's bike ready to charge in and kick some ass but just as she was about to charge after the gang she stopped. How could she forget, Takeshi hated her…going back there and saving him would only make him hate her even more and if she was caught fighting she would lose her job…

"You know…I wouldn't have minded if it was just you. I mean I wondered you know? If I had any siblings, if I had a little sister I could spoil or a big brother I could look up to, to my luck I get two! And they're both bad asses… One of them works for…well you should know and the other is nationally famous for how much of a delinquent she is…or was"

Takeshi's words from days ago rang in Umeki's head suddenly and a light flicked on over her head. She had an idea.

"Hayato" she spoke up taking a step back before turning sharply and hurrying back to the bike "Take me home"

"Huh?" Hayato looked at her like she was crazy and then looked in the direction that Takeshi had been dragged down "But what about your brother?"

"Don't worry about my brother" Umeki replied quickly scooping up her helmet and setting it on her head "Just go" Hayato cast a look of doubt on Umeki and climbed onto the bike just seconds before she threw her leg over to sit behind him.

"Are you sure-"

"Go!" Umeki barked glaring at him. That was all Hayato needed to start his bike up. The couple threw out their cans and sped off as fast as they could go back to the house. On Hayato's bike it didn't take them that long which Umeki was more than grateful for. She quickly hopped off Hayato's bike and made her way to the front door. "Find Yankumi!" she yelled over her shoulder fishing around for her keys "Tell her what happen and tell her to hurry"

"What about you?" Hayato called to her

"Don't worry about me"

"But Umek-"

"Just do it!" Umeki yelled over her shoulder before getting the front door open and hurrying inside.

She didn't bother to close the door behind her or look back to make sure that Hayato did as she asked, she knew he would go even if he didn't know what she was up to simply because he trusted her. Pushing herself harder than she had in a while Umeki thundered up the steps, tripping on the last one, and practically stumbled her way to her room throwing the door open. She tore her neat room apart, looking in drawers and throwing cloths everywhere until she finally found what she was looking for. She held it up to look at with a satisfied smile and a sigh of relief.

"It's been a while" she spoke to herself "but I haven't grown much, it should still fit…"

Meanwhile Takeshi wasn't fairing so well.

That one punch to the gut had needed a lot more time to recover from than he originally thought, time that he didn't have. The gang that had jumped him had dragged him down the alley to the space behind the buildings. It was spacious back there and gave these jerks enough room to spread out. The ones dragging him threw him to the concrete hard making him grunt. He tried to sit up but that was hard with his hands tied behind his back. The guys around him laughed as they watched him struggle to get to a proper sitting position.

"Come on little punk" one of them taunted "Mr. Informant huh? Ha!" they kicked Takeshi in the gut as hard as they could flipping him over onto his back.

"Is this the guy?" the groups laughed died down just a bit and a part was made in the circle. From where Takeshi laid the boy snarled when he saw who they parted for. This guy, whoever the hell he was, looked almost alike compared to Tetsu. This had to be the guy! He held a smug look on his face as he stared down at Takeshi "So this is the guy I hears been looking for me…" he laughed a bit when he realized this "What do you want kid?"

"You're the one that assaulted that old man aren't you" Takeshi strained rolling over onto his stomach and somehow managing to push himself up so that he was on his knees facing the guy "You were trying to rape that old man's granddaughter right"

"What of it?" the guy looked like he was bored now

"Because of you my brother might go to jail" Takeshi grunted out "Turn yourself in!"

"…turn myself in?..."the guy, the culprit to Tetsu's current suffering, looked at Takeshi with doubt before a smirk appeared on his face and he started laughing loudly. His comrades laughed along with him closing in on a snarling Takeshi. "Why should I turn myself in if someone else is out there taking the blame for something I did?"

"Turn yourself in!" Takeshi yelled out pushing himself to his feet to charge the guy but one of his lackey cut in before he could gripping the Akadou boy by his blazer and kneeing him in the stomach as hard as he possibly could knocking the wind out of him again and letting him drop to the ground. The gang collectively laughed at the sight of the boy writhing in pain "Take care of him would you?" their leader remarked waving a hand dismissively before turning and walking away from the circle and take care of him they did.

Takeshi was like the rest of Akadou's 3D, he was a trouble maker and despite having his grandmother's strict hand keeping him in line most of the time he still tended to get into a fight or two. Even so no amount of fighting skill would help him in this situation, not with his hands literally tied. All he could do was let himself be beaten to a bloody pulp to the point he was sure he was going to be knocked out. He dropped down onto the concrete no longer having the strength or desire to lift himself back up, he just laid there letting this thugs laugh and taunt him. When he didn't get up one of them yanked him back up by his hair, another approached from in front with a weapon of choice, Takeshi inwardly groaned when he saw what the guy held in his hand, of course…a pipe… he gripped it like it was a bat and prepared to swing it. Not wanting to see the pain about to be dealt to him Takeshi closed his eyes and tensed up.

"Don't you even think about it!"

This voice echoed down the alley and around all of them and it easily stopped the blow that was about to hit Takeshi. Everyone stopped, looking around for the source of the voice. Who had the guts to step into this affair and did they have a death wish? Takeshi strained against the hold on his head when his eyes caught the silhouette of someone standing in the alleyway. The others seemed to notice the person as well before one after the other they turned to face them. This voice…Takeshi was sure he'd heard it before…

"Who's there" bellowed the gang's leader from where he now sat.

Judging by the person's silhouette they weren't at all that tall and their body shape told Takeshi that this was a girl and the voice, though somewhat deeper than what he'd expect, backed his theory up. Her hair was long from what he could tell and she looked like she was wearing some kind of jacket on. There was a moment of silence before the girl began walking down the alley, her body language just screaming her rage, and approached the gang that circled Takeshi. Soon it became easier to see who the girl was and when Takeshi could his eyes grew in disbelief.

"…No way…" he muttered aloud.

She slowed to a stop her hand deep in the pockets of a black blazer that looked far too big for her. A checkered skirt fluttered down to just above her knees and she dug the toes of her worn out tennis shoes into the concrete when she stopped walking. It would take a fool not to notice the glare she was holding from behind those fringes of messy bronze hair, her lips formed a dangerous scowl like none Takeshi had ever seen before. It was her, as if three years hadn't gone by….Matsushima Umeki.

"I'm that kid's older sister" she answered the question simply.

All introductions were finished as soon as that sentence left her lips. She charged the nearest guy to her, the one with the pipe, dealt him a punch in the face so hard Takeshi swore he heard the crack of his nose breaking. The guy released the pipe leaving Umeki free reign over it spinning round and smacking one of the guys who charged her across the face and sent him spinning to the ground and before Takeshi could even blink the pipe left her hand and was sent spiraling into the face of the guy holding Takeshi, the boy dropped to the ground and all hell broke loose. If the Akadou boy didn't know that Umeki was a nurse by day he would have thought that he was really thrown back in time just watching his sister fight.

He'd thought it had been an exaggeration long ago when he had been gathering information on the young woman and people who'd either faced her or was defended by her described how she fought. At some points it looked like she was being reckless with her punches but in a grander scheme, if you looked at everyone in the fight and not just her, one could see that every turn and punch and kick was deliberate and had reason behind it. She took just as hard as she was dealt too, there was the knee to her side that would have knocked all wind and sense out of Takeshi if it were him and three good punches to the face but she didn't stop. Even when her lip was busted wide open and her nose began to bleed, when her skin began to shade over with what would soon become harsh bruises she didn't stop fighting.

Still even with her fighting skill there were just too many of them and she knew it, Takeshi could see it in her eyes and the way she would stop for a moment to look back at him and then at the alleyway she had just come from. Soon it was clear that her opponents were getting the upper hand in the fight by the yells of pain she let out each time they hit her. She threw herself forward, stumbling across the sort distance and tackling Takeshi to the ground.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he grunted to the young woman straining his neck to look up at her.

"What does it look like?" Umeki replied but then yelled out in pain when a hard kick was delivered to her back.

"I know what it looks like!" Takeshi snarled at the woman "I'm not stupid!"

"You could have-" another kicked and another yell came from his sister "you could have fooled me" she gridded her teeth as more blows came to her body but not once did she move out of the way and allow the thugs to beat on Takeshi again. When they tried to flip her off of him she snarled like an angry animal and gripped his blazer for dear life. It was endless, or it seemed endless, this beating that she suffered under and for a boy she had just learned was her younger brother…a boy who treated her like she was less than the dirt under his shoes yet here she was using her body as a shield to protect him even as he continued to insult her and yell at her. Soon it seemed like the gang's leader had watched enough and called them off Umeki for there was a pause in which she no longer winced or yelled in pain.

"Get off of me you good for nothing-"

"Look here you annoying little brat" the tone Umeki offered him shocked Takeshi into silence, she had never use this kind of tone with him before "This may be hard for you to comprehend, because I sure as hell know it is for me, but I'm your older sister" she told him with a stern voice and a heated look "and dammit whether you like it or not I have to protect you! Because we're all that we've got in this world! You, me, Aniki…we have to look out for each other…"

"…that was touching" Umeki glanced over her shoulder, it looks like the leader wanted to get a taste of the action now. He pushed himself off of the crate he was sitting on and slowly approached the two clapping his hands in a slow, dramatic motion. "So…I'm assuming then that your hear to make me turn myself in as well huh? For your brother?"

"Even if I have to drag you to the station kicking and screaming" Umeki grunted out still not moving from her place hovering over Takeshi.

"And how are you going to do that?" the leader questioned "look at yourself" he chuckled out motioning to her person, Umeki snarled in response "you can hardly move at this point I'm sure. How are you going to beat all of these guys and get me to do with you the police station? You have no strength left in you"

"Of course she does!" another voice suddenly broke the silence once again taking everyone by surprise "She would do anything to protect her precious brother!" both Umeki and Takeshi joined the gang in looking towards the alley again, they both knew that voice and it was impossible to mistake who that figure was standing in the opening of the back alley space. "With that kind of drive she can do anything!"

"Yankumi" they both breathed out with tones of exhaustion.

Yes, it was Yankumi and she had made it just in time just like she always did. A small smile curved at the sides of Umeki's lips as she strained to keep her head held up. Yankumi let her gaze run over the two siblings taking in all their bruises, cut and their bloodied faces with a look of utter fondness for the both of them.

"You guys…" she sighed out "you really don't know how to keep yourselves out of trouble do you?" neither sibling replied to this but if they had the strength and energy to they probably would have rolled their eyes at the woman. Instead of them replying the gang leader that had caused them both such pain laughed.

"What total bullshit" he laughed out before waving a hand in her direction "take care of her too" there was a long pause before anyone moved but when they did Yankumi wasn't at all bothered by this the first of them charged her yelling out as they did but with a few dodges and a couple of quick and hard jabs they were down.

"It's not bullshit" she answered the guy before ducking from another attack and flipping the attacker over her shoulder and slamming him down against the ground as hard as she could "They may not have known each other as siblings for very long but Umeki loves this boy" another two came at her, one after the other, but Yankumi dodged one stepping behind them so they ended up being the victim of their comrades attack and dropped to the ground in pain while Yankumi slugged the other in the gut hard. "He is her precious little brother and as his sister who loves him so much after such a short time she has more strength than you" there was just one guy left between Yankumi and her intended target and he went down without so much as a hit to his person. All Yankumi did was lunge at him but stopped her fist closer to a centimeter from his face. Frightened by this he dropped to the ground but quickly scrambled to his feet and ran past her, the rest of the gang followed his example as quickly as they could.

That left Yankumi, Umeki, Takeshi and the true culprit behind the crime that Tetsu was being suspected of. The man and Yankumi stared each other down as the teacher walked around her beaten students towards him.

"The fact that Kouno-kun came here on his own to help his brother, and then she came to protect him should be enough to show how strong they are" she told him "You have no way of getting out of this, turn yourself in"

"Why you…" the guy reached behind him for a weapon to swing at Yankumi but the math teacher was much faster, she took three large steps and was upon him before he could do much about it. She steadied herself with a firm grip on his shoulder and dug her fist into his gut with a strength only a few had the heart to describe. He froze, gasping for air for a moment before dropping to the concrete with a loud thud. Now that the danger was over Umeki relinquished her grip on Takeshi, she pushed herself up gazing down at boy.

"Takeshi" she ignored the strangled snarl the boy let out in response to her addressing him by his first name "…are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Takeshi complained glaring at Umeki with a look as if she was stupid, she frowned and so did he, they stared at one another before Takeshi couldn't stand looking his sister in the eyes any longer and looked away "I'll live" he grumbled out.

"…Yokatta…" her words took Takeshi by surprise, he tempted himself to look at her again and saw a smile on her face even though she was in obvious pain she pushed herself to smile "Yokatta" she breath out. She was no longer able to hold herself up, she slowly lowered herself until her head rested on his shoulder and for once, just this one time, Takeshi let her do so. "Yokatta" she breathed out again and again.

Hayato didn't stop at getting Yankumi it would seem, after his math teacher ran off to aid her student Hayato went a step further and contacted the police. It was soon after Yankumi took the guy down that they showed up and put him in cuffs. Umeki and Takeshi were sent in an ambulance to the hospital and both were tented to. Takeshi was able to leave the hospital after only a week's stay but Umeki had to stay for much longer. She was commanded to stay in bed for the first week and could not go to work, the second week she was allowed to get out of bed and walk around, it was hard for her at first but she did manage. Most, if not all, of 3D visited the injured nurse during her stay so did Tetsu and Yankumi even Minoru came to see her. Kyona came with Kazama once practically in tears at the sight of her beaten and battered senpai. Hayato was practically glued to her side, a couple of times Umeki had to scream at him to get him to go home and rest as well as go to work. The only person that didn't visit Umeki was Takeshi, he was a suborn boy though so it didn't bother her much.

By the third week Natsume deemed Umeki well enough to go home but told her she had to take it easy for the next week, she should only go to work if she was absolutely needed, and shouldn't push her body too much. Of course Umeki ignored this command completely because that just was how she was, the day following the nurses release she was dressed and making her way down the familiar hall that led to Akadou's class 3D. Now fading, but still obvious, bruises marred her face and was bandaged up covered from view and she walked with an ever so slight limp still. She slid the door open to the classroom and almost as soon she opened the door a loud roar of cheers greeted her.

"Kango-shi-san!" Taguchi-kun was the first to yell out his disbelief and the rest of his classmates quickly followed. Umeki replied with a sweet smile to the boy and a nod to Yankumi who stood at the board a small smile on her face.

"Minna!" she cheered "I'm so sorry for worrying you all!"

"Should you really be here?" Kazama was next to speak looking the woman's still bandaged body over in concern "The doctor said you should be resting"

"And why would I stay home and rest when I have all these handsome men on my mind?" Umeki chuckled out and the boys chuckled with her. However the laughter and chuckles were short lived because there was still a more pressing matter to be tended to and that was sitting in the desk right in front of Umeki. The nurse's smile faded slightly when they two of them locked eyes and silence came to the classroom. At first Takeshi said nothing but with a few more minutes of staring he sighed and pushed himself out of his chair and to his feet. The only thing between the two of them was his desk and the air was tense and thick with worry.

"So…you did go out of your way to save me and all…" the arrogant air that went with his tone didn't seem to bother Umeki or at least one couldn't tell by the blank look on her face as she stared at her brother "So I guess I at least owe you a thank you so….Thanks" Takeshi muttered this shoving his hands in his pockets and avoiding Umeki's stares, it was so impassionate, so uncaring it would be a miracle if Takeshi believed himself let alone Umeki. The nurse didn't reply at first, she looked Takeshi up and down a few times in silence until a scowl came to her face.

She moved fast, her hand shooting across the distance and gripping the boy by his blazer. Takeshi only had time to stare at his sister with wide eyes before she yanked him over his desk with surprising strength. Yells of surprise came from the mouths of his classmates and Yankumi yelped the nurse's name before questioning what she was doing. Umeki ignored everyone around her, her scowl never left her face and her eyes stared down at Takeshi blankly before she turned on around and dragged, literally dragged, Takeshi out of the classroom.

"Umeki!" Yankumi hurried out of the door after the two of them and judging by the thundering sound of feet and the clatter of desk the rest of 3D were close behind her. Still Umeki ignored the calls directed at her and continued on her way not at all caring that Takeshi was tripping and stumbling behind her in an attempt to keep up with her and she dragged him along. Down the hall they went and soon out the schools front doors and towards the gate. "Umeki wait!" Yankumi panted behind them as they went "What are you doing! You're going to get yourself in trouble!"

"I know" Umeki finally spoke stopping and looking back at the teacher "That's why I'm getting off school grounds"

…what?

Takeshi looked at the woman like she was insane. What did she mean by that? There were very few things that someone, student or staff, could get away with doing off school grounds but none of them Takeshi could think of that would explain his sister's actions but he was sure he'd find out soon enough. Umeki turned back the way she was heading and the dragging went on. Yankumi and the rest of 3D followed behind her as she forced Takeshi to walk with her until they made their way down the familiar pathway taken to get to the school. It was here that she took a sharp right onto the grassy land just beside the path. Takeshi on faintly recalled this being the place that Ren and Yamato had a confrontation that Yankumi stopped before he had other things to worry about. When they were in the center of the field Umeki gripped his blazer tightly and threw him to the ground sending him tumbling and flipping.

"Get up" her tone was close, harsh and unlike the sweet voice she usually held for the boys of 3D. When Takeshi looked up at her she was glaring down at him with a fury he'd never seen on her face before, it was like someone else had taken over his sister's body and stood before him right now. She continued to glare at him circling him like a predator would circle its trapped prey "I said get the hell up!" she yelled at him delivering a sharp kick to Takeshi's side making the boy writhe in pain.

"Umeki!" Yankumi yelped when she saw this but stopped when Umeki directed a glare at her

"Stay back!" she barked "I can handle this"

"Are you crazy!" Takeshi glared up at his sister from his place on the ground. Umeki slowly turned to look back at her brother again, a cruel look came to her face and an even crueler smile followed it.

"No" she answered "I'm Matsushima Umeki more commonly known…as Uki-chan" there must have been some kind of underlining meaning to this because Yankumi's eyes grew in size slightly and she no longer tried to stop the crazy nurse. "Now get up" Umeki ordered again, she slipped her arms out of her nurse's lab coat revealing a grey t-shirt that was too large for her an baggy black pants. Now that Takeshi actually looked at his sister he noticed her messy bronze hair, it hardly looked brushed out and she wore no makeup…if anything she looked like she couldn't care less about her appearance, what the hell happen to his sister? "I said get up!" Umeki yelled, she reached down and yanked him to his feet by his shirt faster than he could ever hope to get up himself.

"What the hell do you want from me!" Takeshi yelled at her stumbling to steady himself his face inches from hers

"To teach you a lesson" Umeki answered, she drew her free hand back and within seconds' stars burst before Takeshi's vision and he was sent spinning to the ground. His classmates winced and groaned from the sight of the blow but Umeki wasn't finished with him, she reached down again this time gripping his blazer with both hands and pulling him back to his feet "You're a stupid little brat you know that?" she questioned giving him a hard shake and went on to push him to the ground again only this time Takeshi had overcome his general shock over the situation and forced himself to stand back up. He puffed up his chest and glared at Umeki but this only seemed to excite the nurse. A wicked grin came too her face when she saw the position he assumed "You're going to take me seriously now, huh?" she taunted him "come on…Hit me!...go ahead! We're off school grounds and I'm not a rat! Go on! HIT ME!"

"Shut up!" Takeshi took the bait and swung his fist at his sister but she veered her head to the side and his fist missed her. She jabbed her fist forward again and again Takeshi was blinded by stars and he fell to the ground again. This second punch took some time for him to recover from. The people he spoke to about Umeki's punch were not lying when they said it could take down men twice her size because if she wasn't looming over him right now he would have opted to stay on the ground until the world stopped spinning. Umeki's laughter brought him back to earth again and though the world still spun a bit he could make out the hazy image of her looming over him.

"Is that all you've got?" she taunted on "HA! You're about a strong as Kurogin academy school girl!" that taunt was enough to make Takeshi see red. He snarled out pushing himself to his feet and charged the woman head-butting her midsection and taking her off her feet. They both tumbled to the ground this time rolling around pulling hairs and kicked one another. Takeshi might have an advantage because he was a boy, and boys are built to fight no matter what anyone says against such ideas, but Umeki had no trouble gaining the upper hand and before the boy knew it she had him on his stomach. Her knee was pressed against his back and along his spin and while one hand kept his hand behind his back so he couldn't fight back the other was pressing his face to the ground making him eat dirt. "Some little brother you are" the nurse kept on taunting him "This is nothing but horse play and you can't keep up, you're pathetic!"

"What the hell is your problem!" Takeshi sputtered out

"What's my problem?" Umeki repeated, she gripped Takeshi's hair and pulled so his face wasn't in the dirt "Don't ask me questions you already know the answer to" she told him "you're smarter than that" and with that she finally got off of him and left him space to move and breath. When the boy finally scrambled to his feet again the young woman was pacing and raving, circling him again like she had before. "I'm not worth anything you said? I haven't proved myself to you?" she stared down at Takeshi like he was crazy "Bitch you came looking for me! You're the one that has to prove yourself to me!"

"What?" Takeshi screech getting to his feet this time.

"And you want to know something else Takeshi?" Umeki went on like he hadn't said anything "You keep going on about how you hate me, you hate me because our mother choice me instead of you, do you know what our mother was like?" of course he didn't! He couldn't answer the question "Matsushima Mia, our mother, was the worst woman on the face of the earth!" Umeki explained "You say she chose me like I was blessed! At least you got to know our grandmother, at least you came home to a nice hot meal and a friendly face! Aniki too! You both grew up with people who loved you and care about you and support you and what did I get?" she snarled out pointing to herself "I got our mother! Our materialistic, self-centered, neglectful mother! I'm surprised that woman could actually remember my name!"

"…what?" Takeshi panted out when Umeki yelled all of this at him.

"And you say I'm lucky. HA! You don't know anything, Takeshi, Nothing! So you know what? Go ahead and hate me I DON'T CARE!" she stormed him again and this time it was Takeshi the backed down stumbling back and away from her with every step she took but she was fast gripping his blazer and pulling him the rest of the distance towards her "So far as I'm concerned you're the one that has to prove yourself to me. If you can't do that then you have no right to be called my brother, you're not worth my time"

She shoved him to the ground hard leaving him stunned and gaping up at her. Umeki said no more to him snatching her lab coat up from the ground and announcing to Yankumi that she was going home and left.

Takeshi no longer bothered Umeki about his anger after that.

And he went to her house and apologized sincerely this time.