Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of DC.


"Hey, have you seen this?"

"The new NeuroChip from Tyrell Corp? Hell yeah I've heard. It's all over the news."

"You think it's legit?"

"Hell if I should know. Two hundred percent increase in mental efficiency? Do you believe it?"

"What are you two talking about?"

"The new NeuroChip from Tyrell Corp."

"Oh, that thing. I hear it was some genius scientist working on it, Dr. Neye or something."

"The craziest fucking thing is that the American FDA actually approved it for sale."

"No shit, they're putting it on the open market?"

"Fucked up, right?"

"How much is it supposed to cost?"

"Get this, one hundred thirty seven dollars and seventy cents."

"Shit."

"I know, right?"

"That's cheaper than my Wii."

"You two thinking of getting one?"

"I don't know. There's just something fishy about it."

"Hey, at less than two hundred fucking dollars, what do you have to lose, right?"

"Well, I guess you have a point there-"

"Hey guys-"

"What?"

"The monitor, it's flashing red."

"What the hell? Lemme take a look at that."

"What is it?"

"A facial match, at the Tokyo International Airport."

"Who is it?"

"Shit. We better get the boss."


"I'm telling you, Ha-kun, based on the collision patterns, your theory is wrong," says the woman as she points to the computer screen, emphasizing her point. She then turns and looks at her boyfriend, her hand reflexively brushing back blonde hair behind her ear. "Or are you still not satisfied with my conclusion?" she asks, handing over control of conversation.

"It's not a matter of satisfaction," the man replies, likewise gesturing to the screen, "This just means there's more factors that I haven't accounted for yet. The premise of my theory still holds though." He takes a step back, adjusting his silver-rimmed glasses as he does so, then turns to his girlfriend and says, "It's premature to say my theory is wrong."

The woman sighs with a shrug of her rather thin shoulders, then finds a nearby chair to sit down in. Crossing her shapely legs, clad in typical denim jeans, she tilts her head back, her brown eyes scanning the pale white ceiling above. "Well, at any rate," she begins to say when suddenly, a phone ring echoes through the room. Bringing her head back down, she looks over and says, "You need to get that, Ha-kun?"

The man nods an apology, then reaches into his pocket for his phone. Holding it to his ear, he says, "Hello? This is Saguru Hakuba speaking."

There is a pause as the caller speaks. Whatever is said is enough to bring a look of surprise to the man's face, his hazel eyes opening wide for a split second before returning to normal. Then with a nod, the man replies, "I see. I will be there as soon as I can. Bye." Hanging up, the man turns to his girlfriend, an apologetic look on his face. His girlfriend is not phased though, long since used to such phone calls.

"Go," she says simply, "I'll finish up here."

"Thanks, Ai-chan," the man says, leaning over and giving the woman a kiss on the lips. The woman reciprocates, but there is a distinctive lack of feeling, one which the man notices. He makes no comment of it, however, and instead heads towards the door. Just before leaving, he turns and says, "I'll bring you back a souvenir, Ai-chan." Then with that, he exits the lab, the door slowly swinging shut behind him.

The woman, on the other hand, sits in her chair for a moment, motionless, listening to the footsteps echo in the hall outside, growing fainter until they finally disappear altogether. Then she again tilts her head back, letting her long blonde hair roll across the surface of the chair. Staring at the ceiling, she mutters a singular word, "Baka."


Flipping through some files given to him by the traffic department, Takagi suddenly hears a knock on his office door. "Come in," he says, wondering who it might be. As the door swings open, he finds that it is Satou. "Hey, welcome back," he greets, offering her a chair. Satou nods appreciatively and then plops down, a clear look of exhaustion on her face. Opening his mouth, Takagi tries to ask her about it but he is interrupted before he has a chance to do so, Satou posing him a question instead.

"What's with all the manila folders?" she asks, gesturing to the mountain of paperwork on Takagi's desk. With a laugh, she adds, "I thought I was the only one being punished."

Takagi forces out an uncomfortable chuckle in reply, then says, "It's from the traffic division. They're a bit short on manpower so they requested that the homicide division help."

"Short on manpower, huh?" Satou says with a sigh, her eyes suddenly growing distant.

In an attempt to change the subject, Takagi asks, "Did you drop Mitsuhiko-kun off?"

Satou nods. "He's staying at a hotel nearby and told me he'd call us if he figured out anything," she explains.

"I see," Takagi mumbles, then adds, "I wonder what those numbers on the wall meant."

"Who knows," Satou shrugs, letting out another sigh, her expression growing distant once more.

The small office room quickly falls into silence, with the air becoming rather heavy. Takagi looks on, concern evident across his face. Though he wants to break the stillness of the air, he is not sure what to say, any word coming to mind feeling awkward. Finally, he decides to lean forward, stretching out his hand and placing it on Satou's. At the touch, Satou looks his way, a curiosity in her eyes, asking what he wanted. Takagi, though, does not utter a word. Instead, he just holds her hand steadfastly, feeling the coolness of her skin, seeing the paleness of its complexion, the small wrinkles forming with age. It is only when Satou begins to pull away does Takagi squeeze her hand tightly and finally speak. "I'm worried, Miwako," he says.

For a moment, Satou looks back with surprise, finding it unusual for Takagi to be so serious. Then recovering, she says, "I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like this is the first time a murderer has left a code, you know. So, let's both give it out best, okay, Takagi-kun?"

Satou tilts her head slightly and gives Takagi a reassuring smile, but the serious look on Takagi's face doesn't change. "You know I'm not talking about the case, Miwako," he replies, his voice level but sounding rather grave.

"If you're worried about the manpower, then we just have to work harder, ne?" Satou asks, at this point obviously trying to dodge where Takagi wants to steer the conversation. She stands up, making as if to leave. Takagi is persistent, however, and grabs onto her hand, refusing to let go.

"I'm worried about you, Miwako," he says, finally voicing his concern as bluntly as possible.

"I'm fine, Takagi-kun," Satou replies, not turning around, front still facing the door.

"And I want to believe you, Miwako," Takagi replies, standing up out of his chair as well. With one hand still holding onto Satou, he uses his other to pull a piece of paper out of his desk drawer. Holding it up, he says, "But this is what worries me. You lied to them, Miwako."

Satou turns around, her eyes opening wide when she sees the paper held before her. It is the psych-eval she submitted to Internal Affairs. "Why do you have this?" she demands, snatching the paper away.

"I found it in your desk drawer when I was looking for the approval stamp. Miwako, that's forged, isn't it?" Takagi asks, drawing a glare from Satou.

"No one gave you permission to snoop through my things," she snaps, folding the paper and putting it away into her pocket.

"You can't just lie about it, Miwako, no matter how much you want to stay here," Takagi says.

"So what, are you going to tell them?" Satou demands, looking deep into Takagi's eyes.

For a moment, Takagi hesitates, not quite sure what to say. Finally, he sighs and shakes his head. "No, I won't, can't, tell them, but-"

Just as Takagi is speaking, there is a sudden knock on the door, interrupting him. Looking over to Satou, he mutters a "we'll talk about this later," then walks past her and opens the door. To his surprise, he finds a tan-skinned man with blond hair, dressed in a navy blue suit, briefcase in hand. The man bows slightly, then offers a greeting.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," he says, "But some of your people said that I might find Satou-san here."

"I see. Yes, she's here. Please, come right in," Takagi nods, gesturing for the man to step inside. The man graciously accepts, then walks through the doorway, with Takagi closing the door behind him. Upon spotting Satou sitting by the desk, the man again bows.

"Evening, Satou-san. My name is Tooru Amuro. I believe we have met before?" he asks.

Satou gives Amuro a cold glance before slowly nodding her head. "You're the assistant to the superintendent general, right?" she asks, offering the man a chair on the other side of the desk across from her.

The man accepts, sitting down and putting his briefcase on the table. Then turning his head to Satou, he says, "Yes, that's correct. I'm here today on his orders."

"I see," Satou replies curtly, her attitude rather cold. The effect seems lost on Amuro, however, with the man either not realizing, or simply not caring. In fact, the man has already turn his attention away from Satou, busying himself with shooting glares at Takagi; the glares are menacing enough that it causes Takagi to feel a shiver down his spine. For a moment, Takagi thinks about excusing himself from the room, but his attempt is thwarted when Satou interrupts. "That's police lieutenant Takagi-kun," she says, directing the comment at Amuro, "Seeing as this is his office, I hope you don't mind if he stays for this meeting."

Amuro gives a smile- one that Takagi finds to be rather fake- then says, "I don't mind. Shall we begin then?" He reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a stack of papers, containing charts and spreadsheets. As he is laying them out on the table, without turning his eyes away, he says, "I couldn't help but notice that the desks outside were rather empty."

The comment clearly strikes a nerve, with Satou balling her fists in an attempt to control her anger. From where he stands, Takagi even notices veins popping out of Satou's forehead, though again, all this is seemingly lost on Amuro, the man's eyes directed towards his precious charts. Through gritted teeth, Satou finally responds. "We're making do with what we have," she says.

"Ah, I see," Amuro replies, apparently done sorting through the pages he had brought. He finally looks up at Satou, then says, "I hope it hasn't been too hard on you."

"Thanks for your concern, but we're fine," Satou replies sarcastically.

"That's good to hear," Amuro says, his words matching in wit, a smile on his face. At this point, Takagi is convinced the man is doing it on purpose- pushing Satou's buttons that is. Before he can comment about it though, Amuro does something surprising, causing Takagi's eyes to open wide. Still with the same smile on his face, Amuro hands Satou a sheet of paper and says, "I was worried that if you were struggling now, you might not make it in the future."

It takes Satou a moment before the remark registers. When it does, a frustrated growl escapes her lips as she snatches the paper away from Amuro's hands. "Don't tell me you're going to cut more people," Satou says, a threat hidden behind her words.

Amuro appears unperturbed, however. "Just a few," he says with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And how many is a few?" Satou demands.

In reply, Amuro holds up five fingers.

"You want to cut another five people?" Satou asks, clearly displeased with the news Amuro was bringing.

To her surprise, Amuro shakes his head and says, "Fifty-percent."

At that, Takagi nearly chokes on his own breath, delving into a coughing fit. Amuro tilts his head slightly, giving Takagi a bemused look before returning his attention to Satou, who at the moment is fuming from the ears. "That would only leave us with ten people!" she protests, looking as if she wanted to snap Amuro's neck in half- and given her training, in all likelihood, she could have. But as before, Amuro appears unbothered by Satou's aggression towards him, brushing it off like dust on his shoulders.

Pointing to the papers on the desk, he says, "If you look at the crime rates, you'll see that you should have more than enough manpower to handle the job. According to reports, petty crime has declined by ninety-percent over the past ten years. Organized crime has been cut in half. Even homicides have decreased dramatically."

"Oh, you don't have a number for that?" Satou remarks sarcastically.

"Sixty three percent, but that's beside the point," Amuro replies, not missing a beat, "Fact of the matter is, with crime rates at an all time low, we don't need so many officers bloating up the budget."

"Those officers are the reason that crime is so low," Satou retorts, tossing Amuro's reports aside.

"Perhaps," Amuro says with a shrug, "But with the economy in the shape that it is, sacrifices have to be made. And look at it this way, at least I'm giving you the choice of who to let go. That counts for something, right?" For a moment, Satou and Takagi both remain speechless, too angry to think of a coherent response. Noticing that no one was going to answer his question, Amuro decides to continue. "I hope you'll have a favorable report for me by next week, Satou-san," he says as he begins to put away all his documents.

"And just what are we going to do if the ten people left aren't enough?" Satou finally asks, her hand darting out and grabbing onto Amuro's arm. Amuro looks up from what he is doing, clearly displeased by the physical contact. The emotion only shows on his face for the briefest of moments, however, his expression quickly returning to a neutral smile.

"Well, Satou-san," he says, carefully prying Satou's hand off his arm, "Of course there are contingencies. For example, if you find that you cannot manage, then you'll also soon find that you'll have nothing to manage."

"Is that a threat, Amuro-san?" Satou asks, her eyes instantly narrowing.

Amuro laughs. "Heaven's no," he says with a shake of his head, "Who in his right mind would threaten a police officer? Just think of it as a friendly reminder." Then pushing a small booklet across the desk, he continues, "Ah, before I forget, the superintendent general asked me to pass this along. He wanted to get it out to all the departments, see what people thought."

"What is it?" Satou asks, eyeing the booklet suspiciously.

"Just take a look at it and see for yourself," Amuro replies, locking up his briefcase and standing up. As he makes for the door, he turns around one last time and says, "Satou-san, I hope we can work through this process together. Have a good night." With that, Amuro exits, letting the door swing close behind him.

After he leaves, there's a moment of silence in the room, with Satou and Takagi both staring off into space. Then abruptly, Satou reaches for the booklet on the desk and throws it against the wall, the clack sound startling Takagi and causing him to turn.

"Miwako," Takagi mutters, looking over at Satou with concern.

"Damn it!" comes the reply.


From within the busy airport two teenagers emerge, each with a duffle bag slung over the shoulder. One of the two, the white haired one, pulls out his phone, his eyes scanning the new text message he just received. Then with a faint smile, he turns to his right, to the brunette, and says, "I just heard from Bourbon. Looks like things went well on his end."

"Oh, that's great, Okami-sama," comes the reply from the brunette, sounding rather halfhearted.

The white-haired teen, Wolf, does not let the tone escape him. Instead, he turns to the brunette and asks, "Something the matter, Naku?"

Naku gives Wolf a wary glance, then shakes his head. "It's nothing," he says, or at least, attempts to, but a harsh look from Wolf makes him swallow his words. Scratching his head, Naku tries again. "It's just-" he begins, turning his eyes towards Wolf. And for a moment, Naku finds himself mesmerized by the violet hue of Wolf's eyes, the color both drawing him in and piercing through him- eyes that seem to nibble at the edge of his soul. With a shake of his head, Naku finishes. "-why'd you let them see your face?"

"My face?" Wolf asks, prompting Naku to clarify.

"You're always scolding me to tilt my head whenever we pass through customs, so that the facial recognition can't get a good scan. But back there, you looked right at it. You even smiled!" Naku explains.

At that, Wolf just laughs, giving Naku's wavy brown hair a rub, messing it up a bit. Naku does not appear displeased by the action though, a small smile forming instead, his eyes even closing slightly, opening again only once Wolf removes his hand.

Realizing that Naku is still expecting an answer, Wolf shrugs and says, "The reason's easy. I wanted them to see my face." Then with that, Wolf begins to walk away from the entrance of the airport, down the busy street lined with idle taxis waiting to pick up customers. Naku quickly follows suit, catching up with Wolf and walking beside him.

Turning his head to the side, Naku continues. "But that's the part I don't understand, Okami-sama. Why would you do something like that? Won't the police be after us now?" he asks, his face forming a pout.

"Would that be so bad? A game won't be fun if the clear conditions are too easy, right?" Wolf replies.

"Well, I guess that's true," Naku admits, though the look on his face is an unsatisfied one. Before Naku can say anything else however, he hears a phone ring. Looking over, he notices that it is Wolf's phone, which the latter pulls out of a pocket but does not answer.

"Are you going to get that?" Naku asks, looking at Wolf curiously, wondering why he isn't answering.

"In just a minute," Wolf says, taking another step forward and stopping only once he reaches a nearby ATM. Then finally answering the call, Wolf puts the phone up to his ear and says, "Ah, you sure got this number quickly. If you don't mind me asking, could you please tell me who you got it from? I'd like to have a chat with this individual." There is a pause as the caller responds, the answer apparently funny enough to draw a laugh from Wolf. "Ha! You always have the most creative names for me," he says, to which again the caller responds. This time, only a small smirk escapes Wolf's lips. "Who, me?" he says, evidently in response to a question by the caller, "Oh, you know, I just wanted to check out the winter festivals around Tokyo...What's that? Now why would I lie to you?...I see. Well, if you feel so strongly about it, how about to set up a face to face meeting? I'll even let you choose the location...The Lavender Cafe? Tomorrow evening?...Okay. Ja ne." With that, Wolf hangs up the phone, returning it to a pocket.

Naku, seeing that the call has ended, turns to Wolf excitedly and asks, "Who was that? And why didn't you tell me you were going to a winter festival? I want to go too, Okami-sama!"

Wolf is not quite sure if he wants to laugh at the comment, his indecision causing the noise to come out as a snort instead. Turning to Naku, he says, "It was your brother calling."

"Gin-niichan?" Naku asks, a mixed expression appearing on his face.

Wolf nods. "He was wondering what you were up to, coming back to Japan. He sounded worried."

"Gin-niichan's worried about me?" Naku asks, sounding surprised. For a moment, Naku's eyes grow distant, his hand reflexively moving to grip the middle of his shirt. It is only at the sound of Wolf's voice that he refocuses.

"Do you miss him, Naku?" Wolf asks, causing Naku to turn his head.

Naku stares into Wolf's vibrant violet eyes for a moment, again finding himself getting lost, before finally replying. "A little," he admits.

"Would you rather be with him? I can set it up so that he'll take you back," Wolf says.

At the suggestion, Naku shakes his head vehemently. "I belong to you, Okami-sama," he replies.

"Is that so?" Wolf asks, a bemused look crossing his face.

"Un!" Naku replies happily, even letting out a giggle when Wolf gives him a pat on the head.

"I'm glad to hear you say that, Naku-" Wolf remarks, his hand still resting gently on Naku's head. Then finally pulling it away, Wolf reaches into his pocket and takes out a slip of paper, holding it up into the air. "-Because I have a task for you."

"What do you want me to do?" Naku asks, eyeing the paper with excitement.

"It's a simple one really," Wolf replies. Then with a mischievous grin, he says, "Tell me, Naku, do you like pop music?"