Peko slowly opened her eyes, and she found herself inside a prison cell, memories of her fight with Mukuro began to rush in her head as she groaned that she lost.

"Master, forgive me," Peko said.

"Kuzuryu is worried about you," Makoto said, leaning against a wall looking at Peko.

Peko shot up and narrowed her eyes. "You're a creep! Watching a woman while she is unconscious."

"A creep, huh? That's a new one," he replied. "You should consider yourself lucky. I haven't strapped a shock bracelet on you. Maybe I should change my mind on that."

Peko didn't reply as she focused on finding a way out and escape where ever she was.

"You know Pekoyama. Nothing is stopping me for luring Kuzuryu into a trap so I can kill him if I told him you were in danger."

"What do you want?" Peko asked.

"You know what I want!" Makoto said, annoyed. "Do not play dumb with me!"

"Togami? I will tell you where he lives if you let me and Master live."

"You are not in a position to bargain Pekoyama! You and Kuzuryu will get what is coming to both of you. That is a promise."

The door opened with Kyoko and Mukuro walking in.

"Ah good, you're up," Kyoko said, looking at Peko. "How are you feeling?"

"Do not treat her like a friend!" Makoto said, annoyed. "She is the enemy!"

"Makoto, let me handle things my way or I will ask you to leave. Do I make myself clear?" Kyoko said, looking at Makoto narrowing her eyes.

Makoto shook his head. "Whatever."

Kyoko turned her head towards Peko. "How are you?"

Peko refused to talk, and she stared emotionless at the trio.

"Would you like to speak to Kuzuryu?" Kyoko asked.

Peko's eyes lit up for a few seconds, but that was more than enough to give away her feelings.

"I would take that as a yes," Kyoko said. "Ikusaba hand Pekoyama her phone."

Mukuro took Peko's phone out of her pocket and walked up to the cell and put her hand through the bar.

"Take it," Mukuro said.

Peko didn't move. She didn't trust anyone.

Mukuro pulled her hand out from the cell and began to phone Kuzuryu and put the call on loudspeaker.

"Hello? Is Peko alright?" Fuyuhiko said with concern in his voice.

"Master!" Peko said quickly.

"Peko? Thank fuck I can hear your voice. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Master. I'm sorry that I failed you."

"Peko, Peko, Peko, I told you not to leave, but you fucking went regardless of what I said. The stuff on that hard drive was not worth you getting captured."

"Forgive me," Peko sighed as she hung her head in shame.

"It sounds like you are on loudspeaker… Who is in the room?"

"The person you most want dead of course," Kyoko replied.

"Kirigiri…I swear if you hurt Peko I'll-"

"You'll do what exactly?" Kyoko said, cutting Fuyuhiko off. "Be angry at the woman you love is in danger? What earns you that right when you have been trying to kill me for the past five years? If you are comfortable killing me, then I should kill a person you care about. I think that is fair, don't you agree?"

"I'm sorry. Please don't hurt her. Peko has nothing to do with this she is my bodyguard, if I hadn't gotten involved with Enoshima, then Peko would be clean."

"Bullshit!" Makoto said, annoyed. "Pekoyama would have gotten her hands dirty anyway if you had got the Yakuza stuff going."

"That voice? Reaper or should I say Makoto Naegi. I can't believe someone like you could be such a monster."

"Care to explain what you mean with those words?"

"We never saw you as a threat, even back at school. You were so pathetic. You tried to so hard to protect Kirigiri and yet you failed big time when she opened up that new school years ago. She had to take care of herself. But Togami broke you, and you became a monster."

"Indeed I am a monster, but I'm only a monster, so other people don't need to be. I stop people from making those mistakes I made, so they don't end up like me. I will admit I can never atone for what I've done in my past. But my only resolve now is to ensure Kyoko is safe and Togami is…well burned."

"Burned? Oh yeah, Togami told me what he did to you, I got a good chuckle from it. So did Enoshima."

"I'll get a good chuckle when I'm going to torture Pekoyama."

"Makoto enough!" Kyoko said, bored. "Kuzuryu let's make a deal. You turn yourself to the police and tell us where Togami is, and I will ensure Pekoyama is let go unharmed."

"I refuse!" Makoto snapped. "Pekoyama killed good people!"

"Put Peko on the Witness Protect Program, and you have a deal," Fuyuhiko said. "Tell the authorities that I forced Peko into becoming my bodyguard, and she had no choice but to serve me or I would kill her."

"Master, I refuse!" Peko said quickly. "I will not-"

"Peko will you shut the fuck up and listen to me!" Fuyuhiko replied, and he let out a sigh. "Look Peko ever since we were kids and you were adopted into my family. You were given the role as my bodyguard, which I found unfair because I wanted you to live Peko not as my bodyguard, but as yourself someone who is free. I never wanted you to get your hands covered in blood. I never wanted you to get involved in this shit. But you kept insisting, and you wore me down. I was weak, I should have been stronger, and this time, regardless of what you may say. YOU will listen to your final order given by me."

Peko began to shake her head in horror as tears began to form around her eyes. "Master, please don't do this! You can still achieve your dream of ruling Japan. I am your sword I will-"

"It's over Peko!" Fuyuhiko growled. "If you get yourself killed, trust me, I will find you in hell." Fuyuhiko let out another sigh. "Peko, I want you to go into the program and forget about me."

"Fuyuhiko I love you!" Peko said hoping that would change his tune.

"Peko I love you as well. But that won't change my mind. Please live for me Peko, live for yourself and be a free woman and not someone's bodyguard. Please do this for me Peko as it's my final order to you."

"Yes, Master," Peko said as tears ran down her face. She knew she was never going to see Fuyuhiko ever again.

"Kuzuryu," Kyoko said. "We have a deal, I will have Peko Pekoyama killed, and her new identity will be safe. Now start talking."

"Togami lives up northward from town, and grass fields surround his house. It's a small old looking white house, and it gives the false impression that the house belongs to a farmer or an old couple."

Makoto left the room straight away as he began to get things ready.

"I see, interesting Togami must have wanted to avoid us that badly, he would live in a house, that doesn't match the size of his ego."

"I think he hates living there, but you know whatever saves his skin. Hey, Peko."

"Yes, Master?" Peko replied, wiping her tears.

"Thank you for everything. I love you, Peko Pekoyama. Please take care."

"I love you Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu," Peko said as she burst into tears again.

"Goodbye, Peko."

The phone call ended.

"What now?" Mukuro asked Kyoko as she put the phone away.

"I will make a few calls to get Pekoyama into the Witness Protection Program. Then we will go after Togami," Kyoko replied then she left the room.

Mukuro looked at Peko as the latter was trying to cope not seeing Fuyuhiko ever again.

"Pekoyama, this won't mean much right now," Mukuro said. "But I wanted to tell you that you have earned my respect for being my toughest fight yet."

Peko looked at Mukuro, confused.

"The way you moved with your sword, and the manner of speed you managed to cut my bullets in half was outstanding. You did make me have to think very quickly in how to defeat you, and this was a first for me. If things were different, I would have enjoyed having you as a sparring partner."

"Same too," Peko said, shaking her head. "I would have learned how to throw a good punch if I learned from you."

"I'm sure I could learn a thing or two from you," Mukuro replied. "I want to learn how to use a knife for CQC purposes."

"Close quarter combat," Peko said. "That's one of my biggest weaknesses as you exploited."

"We could always train with each other?" Mukuro said.

Peko looked at Mukuro, the offer was exciting, but she didn't trust the latter.

"Look, we both have something in common," Mukuro sighed. "We both served people, to you, it was Kuzyuryu, and for me, it was my sister. We can learn more from each other's fighting styles. What do you say?"

"I will think about it," Peko said, putting her head down.

"That's good enough for me," Mukuro said. "I'll need to go and get ready to take down Togami. That bastard is in for a rude surprise!"


Thank you for reading.

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING.