A/N: I was attending a chem class and guess what they talked about...synchrotron radiation! It's apparently a real thing, haha! Wow, didn't know that.

Ch 21. The Assassin, Part 3

Misaki followed Kanami to her car, staunchly ignoring the smugness radiating off of her friend, no doubt due to having witnessed Misaki voluntarily touch a man's hand.

"What was that about?" Kanami asked slyly, as the two women buckled themselves into the car.

"What do you mean?" Misaki asked innocently. Too innocently.

"You know…you and Hei. You were only gone, what was it? A week? And already you two are holding hands."

"It's not like that," Misaki protested, a light blush staining her cheeks. "I mean, we just started to think about it…"

"Oh yeah? Want me to tell you what it looked like to me? And what was that Saitou was telling me the other day about you wearing a ring?" Kanami gave her a sidelong glance, nearly driving through a red light before slamming on her brakes. "Whoops!"

"Maybe you should just keep your eyes on the road. How far away from the restaurant are we anyway?"

"Not far. See? It's the one on the left. You'll love it, trust me…and happy belated birthday, again."

Misaki could make out the sign on the side of the road. "Thanks."

The soba restaurant was medium-sized, decorated with dark wood and golden accents. Soft piano music played in the background and there was enough chatter to create a sense of privacy for their conversation. The two were seated at a booth in the back, high walls separating one booth from the next. After ordering, Misaki leaned across the table, her chin resting on her hand.

"So how are you holding up? I heard you've had a case of dolls mysteriously falling into comas."

Kanami sighed. "Well, yeah. I was going to ask you your opinion on it actually." She poured herself some tea and filled Misaki's teacup as well. "We just got our fifth case right before you guys came. All the dolls so far use electricity and all came from our tanks, not from Alma's sources or from Drayton's place."

"And you've cross-checked the times with star activity, I'm sure…" Misaki frowned. She held the warm cup in her hand, the pleasant smell of jasmine carried with the steam. "So what do you think is causing it? Is it a kind of doll illness or a targeted attack?"

"Personally, it feels more like a predator is picking off our dolls one by one. It's too much of a coincidence that they're searching for those moonstones and then suddenly fall to the ground unconscious."

"I see…and you've already looked at contractors whose abilities would be relevant: sleep, hypnosis, specter capture, that sort of thing?"

"Well—"

The waitress was back with two boiling hot bowls of soba. "Enjoy! Can I get you two ladies anything else this evening?"

"No, that's it," Kanami said with a forced smile.

"Alright!"

They waited for her to leave.

"You were saying?" Misaki asked lowly.

"I was just thinking that I was getting a weird feeling from one of the contractors who work with us now. But her power is listed as super speed, not anything related to sleep."

Misaki's arm twitched involuntarily, the one with the band-aid on it. It was still possible that the dolls were being drugged if someone was fast enough to not get caught. Especially since dolls were pretty slow moving.

"Who is it?"

"Her name's Amethyst. She's the one who took out Hourai earlier."

"What's she doing? Has she made any comments about not liking dolls? Or disliking the New Syndicate?"

"No, forget I said anything. It's probably just me being paranoid. I…I just can't get that image of her stabbing Hourai out of my head. I know she was on a mission and that it wasn't really her fault, per se, but I just get scared she'll go psycho on me and stab me too, one of these days."

Misaki swallowed. "Do you feel the same way about November? Or April? Or Mao?"

Or Hei?

"I don't know them as well, so no…but to be fair, I haven't seen them in action either. Look, I'm really trying not to paint all contractors with the same brush here. I work with Carmine and she's fine, and I heard what she used to do before she lost her powers. Misaki, are you alright? You look sort of ill?"

"It's—It's nothing." Could Misaki really tell her about Hei being BK-201 so soon? If Kanami had a problem with a single stabbing, what would she think about multiple assassinations? It would help her to confide in someone, but even if she did, how much could she really reveal? Had Huang even told Kanami what the moonstones did? She doubted it. Huang sure hadn't told her or the rest of Hei's team, and they were the ones working with him.

"Misaki, seriously, you can tell me." Kanami was getting worried now, having only seen that look on Misaki's face a handful of times before. The police chief was staring down at her food, playing with her noodles on her chopsticks. "Is this what you meant before about needing to talk to me about something big? What is it? You know you can tell me anything."

"It's about Hei," Misaki finally said.

"Yeah? I figured. So what about him?"

"I'm going out to dinner with him, Bai, and Atlas tomorrow."

"Sounds serious. Go on."

"Well, it's going to be weird. I hardly know Hei that well and I feel like I'm meeting his family too soon. I mean, what does one even do with the leaders of the Syndicate?"

"Not get on their bad side," Kanami quipped. She took a sip of her tea, looking thoughtfully at Misaki. "You know, years ago, even before Atlas rose to power by taking out all those other board members—not to mention his own father—they had his older brother killed."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"Yeah, I was reading through all the files Huang gave us to learn about the New Syndicate, in light of it operating out of the shadows and all. Apparently, they value transparency in their top secret organization…and do you know what I found?"

"What?"

"BK-201 was sent to murder the brother," Kanami said in a hushed voice.

Misaki's chopsticks dropped from her hand. "What?"

"Yeah, I thought you might appreciate that. I was surprised too. I thought I'd never see that messier code again, but there it was on the paper. So, just be careful, okay? Bai's been more than pleasant, and the few times I've spoken with Atlas he seemed sensible enough, but they still are who they are. I wouldn't forget that."

"Kanami, tell me…" Misaki looked inconspicuously around the restaurant, but everyone seemed to be deep in conversation and not paying the least bit attention to them. Was she really going to say it? It wasn't like she could shove it back in her mouth after she said it…like breathing life into it. It would become real and it would become more real the more people who knew. But Bai knew and Huang knew, and Atlas had to know, and Mao knew, and April and November knew, and Yin knew. It wasn't totally a complete secret, but then, how was she supposed to start it?

Li is…well, you see…Hei is…"What would you say if I told you that I…kissed the Black Reaper?

Kanami blinked at her, unfazed. "You mean in your dreams? I knew that."

Misaki shook her head.

"Well, he's dead, so I can't imagine—you mean, before his star blipped off the radar?" Kanami asked, confused. Was Misaki worried that Hei and his family would find out she had a thing for BK-201 and reject her?

"No, after."

"That's not possible, Misaki—"

"It is if you have an anti-contractor device…." and it is if you have a moonstone. But Misaki wasn't sure she could say that now until someone gave her permission. She didn't want to end up on the Syndicate's bad side, after all.

"BK-201 without his powers, imagine! And you kissed him! But then, who—?" Kanami's eyes widened as the only logical person came to mind. She leaned across the table, her palms flat on the surface. "You know what you're saying, Misaki? You're saying that Hei, that the guy you told me was Li, is—"

"Yes. I am."

Kanami sat back down. "Wow…Misaki, I don't know what to say. That's—that's incredible." She was happy for her friend, she really was. Even seeing their hands clasped together gave her a slight thrill. Still though…It was one thing to lust after a supposedly dead contractor, quite another to start a relationship with one. Kanami sat back down, a pensive expression on her face. "I don't want to sound like a stick in the mud, but have you really thought this through?"

Misaki gave her a slight smile. "Honestly? No."

Kanami fixed her with a pointed stare. "He hasn't tried to hurt you or anything, right?"

"It is still Hei we're talking about."

"Yes, but...he's BK-201. Misaki, I know you were really torn up about him when his star fell, and I know you thought he had some redeeming qualities about him even then, but that doesn't erase everything he's ever done. In just this city alone, he must have killed a dozen people. I know your team has even hunted him down on several occasions and found his victims after the fact."

"I know what you mean, but he's still Hei at heart. He had my back in Drayton's mansion and killed the guy for me after I'd been drugged." Misaki pushed her sleeve up to reveal the band-aid covering the injection point. Kanami's face softened in concern. "My inhibitions were lowered the rest of the night and I kissed him first, but he was so concerned about my…honor, I guess, that he stopped it and swung off the balcony."

"Hmm. That sounds a little extreme."

"I know, but he came back with fried duck the next morning and we made dumplings together. So as you can clearly see, he isn't going to tie me up and have his way with me," Misaki finished seriously.

Kanami snorted. "Unless, you're into that sort of thing..."

"Kanami."

"Fine. fine! Alright, I got it!" Kanami looked like she was mauling the whole idea over in her head. "Well," Kanami began dreamily, "I did always wonder if he was hideous under his mask and if that's why he wore it. I guess not, huh? I swear, this has got to be divine intervention or something. What are the chances that you're crushing on two men who are the same guy? So does he wear it?"

"Wear what?"

"You know, the mask," Kanami smirked.

"Not so far. He's trying to lie low to protect his identity…and hide the fact he's still alive."

"Right, people must think he's dead because his star fell…But if Hei got hit with the anti-contractor device, why isn't he as ill as April? She's in a wheelchair for god's sake and Hei seems fine as ever."

"I'm not sure," Misaki lied again.

Kanami got that glint in her eye that meant she just had a brilliant idea. "Do you think you could get him to come into the med ward for April in a few days?" she asked excitedly. "Amethyst got Mr. Nishijima to send us a PANDORA researcher. Mina Kanda-something, a doll anomaly expert I've never heard of, apparently. If Hei could be there to help, that could go a long way in the healing process."

Misaki took a sip of her tea. "I'll mention it to him tonight."

A/N:

Kanami KNOWS...dun, dun, dun!

As always, please review!

What will happen next? Will the gang figure out what's wrong before things get worse?