Off To the Races

by Green Kneesocks

Kageyama Hana and her husband, Ichimaro, loved their daughter, they really did, but they could not take care of her. Not when they had a son to worry about. Giving her up was the best thing for everyone. Suzuki Touichirou especially. Fem!Mob Mob raised in Claw AU. Chapter 663 has been rewritten!

999. Everything

Mob had forgotten just how much white there was in the Seventh Division.

The floor was white, the walls were white, the doors were white, and even the light was white. The sort of white that made your eyes hurt if you looked at it for too long. The problem was that there was no way to look away from it. The light bounced off of everything, right into her eyes, and there wasn't even a window to look out of. Not even any real sunlight. When she was in charge she was going to put some windows and maybe paint the walls a different color. Like pink, or blue, or…well, anything other than white.

This constant, endless, blinding, white.

She reached out and grabbed Sho's hand. She couldn't see, that was it. That was what she would say if he asked. She knew that he hated being treated like a baby, and so did she, but she just…she just wanted to hold her little brother's hand. She should have spent more time with him, held his hand more, hugged him more, played with him more…when they had been kids. They were older now. They were too old for this, maybe…Sho pulled his hand away.

Of course they were too old for this.

"I'm not a little kid, I know where we're going." Said Sho as he pulled his hand away. He didn't need her to lead him home…their new home. Maybe for a little bit, maybe for a while, he didn't know. It was almost the end, almost the day, almost when they were going to stop Dad but he still didn't know what the plan was!

It was so unfair.

"I know, I just…it's really bright in here, that's all." Said Mob as she put her hands back at her side where they belonged. Minegishi was looking at her, she could feel it. She didn't look up. She didn't know how to explain it, how she felt, and she didn't want to try. She just wanted to go to Tsuchiya's apartment so she could play with Mukai.

She hadn't seen her little sister in so long. Sho may have been too old for all of that but at least Mukai was still little.

"It's not that…actually, yeah, it is. Whatever, when you're in charge then you can paint it a different color or something." said Sho

"Or put some windows in so we can get some kind of real light." Said Mob

"Or we could-" said Sho

"More walking and less interior design." Said Minegishi. Sho glared at them, they glared right back. They held eye contact with him before darting their eyes to the security cameras jutting out of the wall every so often. They had no idea if anyone was manning them right now but that was the point, now, wasn't it?

The threat of being watched was enough.

They wondered if Suzuki had hit Sho and Mob over the head one too many times when they had been kids. This whole plan was insane but to actually just start talking about it…no way. That was way too much. This whole plan was way too much. Going after Suzuki…they agreed to it. Not only to go after him but to actually finish the job…well, they'd had to. They'd had no choice, really, it wasn't like they were going to let Mob put herself through that. Sure, she had a pretty big body count, but this was different. This was murder, not an accident, straight up murder. Not something they needed to put Mob through…and not something that they needed her developing a taste for, either. They had never considered the possibility that Mob could but they also hadn't considered the possibility that Mob would have gone after Suzuki either.

Fucking spiritual possession.

Matsuo had told them before that even if you got the spirit out of you it could still make changes, sometimes permanent ones, though sometimes they were temporary, too. It all had to do with the soul or whatever, not the sort of thing that Minegishi liked thinking about, and really not the sort of thing that they liked believing in. But they had to, they could see auras, and they could see with their own eyes and aura what had happened to Mob. She had been so different since she'd come back.

They should have been there for her.

They reached out and took her hand. They could see her aura, the way it was pulling in around her, holding her. She was worried. They knew it, she knew it, and there was no reason to pretend that she wasn't. They would have been really worried if she hadn't been…though that may not have had anything to do with the spirit and more to do with the fact the Suzuki's seemed to be suicidally over confident. Taking over the world, stopping the man who was trying to take over the world, discussing coup planning right in the hallway by the security cameras…

These Suzuki's would be the death of them.

"Thanks." Whispered Mob, her eyes dancing over the security cameras on the walls. She couldn't remember if there had been this many last time. Maybe she was just noticing them more. Maybe she just had more of a reason to notice them. She was doing something bad, after all, something even worse than freeing Teru all those years ago…she looked down. She didn't want to think about him. She had loved him so much and…and she didn't now but…but the whole thing had been too much and too weird and, anyway, she had someone who loved her.

Even if he wasn't around.

But that was ok, she had her best friend and that was enough for her. She held Minegishi's hand even tighter. One door looked like another but she didn't need them to look different to know that she was there. She could feel auras inside…a lot of them. Shibata, of course, and Tsuchiya along with Mukai. That made sense since this was their apartment. She could feel, more surprisingly, Shimazaki's in there too…so maybe he and Shibata and Tsuchiya had made up. Serizawa was there too but he was with Fukuda…and she had no idea what Fukuda was doing in there. Maybe they had all made up. She couldn't hear any shouting so…so maybe everything was going to be ok with them. All of her friends there together hanging out…it was like a dream.

So why couldn't she open the door?

"What, is it stuck or something?" asked Sho as he opened the door with his powers. It hadn't been stuck. She had just been staring at it. She was so weird sometimes…he shouldn't have been such a dickhole, even in his own head. He didn't know what made him think the way he did, he just knew he was this way. Maybe it was how much of Dad was in him. Things would be better once Dad was gone. Then Sho could finally be a better person and he wouldn't think thoughts like that.

Not all of the bad ones, just the mean ones.

He still had bad thoughts, of course, but not mean ones. Bad thoughts like how he really wished that he was with Ritsu and not with everyone else. All the people who he cared about were in one apartment, and his little sister was even throwing herself into his arms, but all he could think about was how he missed his boyfriend. How he wanted to see him one more time before he went up against Dad. How even though he hadn't seen Mukai in weeks he hadn't seen Ritsu in months and months were longer than weeks…

Bad thoughts like that.

"Sho! Shigeko! You're not allowed to go ever again!" shouted Mukai as she tried to climb up Sho like he was a giant. Playing climb the giant was more fun with Shibata but Sho would do. He should have been there a long time ago, he had missed out on so many days, and there was a lot of playtime to make up for. They were going to play climb the giant and tag and hide and seek and seek and seek and also the game where they were animals and, at some point, he was going to be Shoko.

But right now he was the giant and she was going to climb him.

"Hey! Get off!" said Sho as Baby Sis climbed onto his head.

"No I won't! You'll go!" said Mukai as she pulled Sho's hair. There was no way she was ever getting off. If she got off then he could go away again and she was never going to let that happen.

"You're the one who left." Said Sho

"We're still sorry, though." Said Mob. She shouldn't have left without telling anyone, even if they would have said no if they had known, and even if she hadn't wanted them to come with in the first place. She hadn't thought about how everyone would feel, about how Mukai would feel, and…well, Tsuchiya and Shibata had left too but she had left first so it was on her.

"Say sorry again, but to Mama, and then to me again…and then one more time." Said Mukai as she counted on her fingers. She wasn't the best at it but she was sure that she was right. Mama was coming, she knew her numbers, and maybe she would even give one of those 'I'm sorrys' to her.

"Ok, I'll say sorry. Sorry Tsuchiya and…and everyone, but you're here first so sorry." Said Mob as Tsuchiya came into the genkan. She had tiny shoes and a tiny coat in her hands. She and Minegishi made eye contact and aura contact. It felt like Mob had missed something, there, when they nodded.

"Hey Sho? Mob? Why don't you both keep your shoes on and take Mukai outside? She's been dying to play with you both." Said Tsuchiya as she bent down and got Mukai's shoes on. She felt Minegishi's eyes on her. She didn't need to be told twice, she knew her part and she was going to play it. She didn't want to play it, she didn't want any part in this, but this was the way things were. She had to make one final stop here before she got to her destination.

With Mukai.

"I'm hungry. Did Shibata make any waffles or pancakes or…hey! Is Big Sis's pancake cake done yet?" asked Sho

"It's not my birthday yet. Not until tomorrow." Said Mob softly. She didn't like to think about it. She liked to pretend that she had more time, a lot more time, days or weeks or…or at this point she would even have taken a few more minutes. Dad would be back tonight and then everything would start and then on her birthday that was when it would happen…

When it all would happen.

"Fourteen's still a lot of pancakes, though, it takes time to make them and then frost them and then shape the stack-" said Sho

"It doesn't take that long to make pancakes, now go outside and play." Said Minegishi. Sho glared at them, they glared back. Mob stepped between them, Mukai tugging on her and Sho the whole time.

"Come on, Sho, Mukai wants to play." Said Mob. Minegishi was right, they really should have gone and played with Mukai while they still had time. The sun would go down eventually and then…and then they'd have to go to bed and wake up in the morning.

It was important to have fun now while they still could.

"Go to the woods, deep in the woods, off the path…so you're not underfoot." Said Minegishi. Sho gave them a suspicious look. They didn't care, it was Mob they were worried about, but thankfully she didn't have a suspicious bone in her body. She simply took Mukai's hand and walked away, Sho getting one last glare in before he took the other one.

Minegishi waited until the door shut.

Tsuchiya locked it. Minegishi gave them a look. Did she really think that a locked door would stop them? Or that any of those kids had any respect for a locked door? Tsuchiya gave them a look back. They had no idea what she must have been thinking and they didn't care to know. Right now all they had enough to worry about.

Tomorrow was Mob's birthday, they doubted Suzuki planned to start taking over the world when the clock struck midnight, but they knew they couldn't count on having a few more days.

"Everyone's in the living room." said Tsuchiya. She ignored the look they were giving her. She didn't have the mental energy to deal with them right now. She just needed to get out of this, just to get through the next few days, if she even had that. She just had one last thing to get through before she could leave.

Or so Minegishi had said.

"I know." said Minegishi as they slipped out of their shoes, not bothering to face them the right way. They didn't care, they didn't think that it mattered, not when they were about to plan something out that could change not only the course of their lives but also the course of, the fate of, the rest of the world…

God, it felt like they were living in a manga.

One of those pulpy things that Mob loved. People saving the world with the twin powers of love and friendship and all of that. The sort of thing that could have kept her transfixed for hours. She would have loved this…if she had been invited. But of course she hadn't been. It was amazing, honestly, that everyone had managed to keep their mouths shut.

Somehow everyone, even Ryou, had managed to get it through their thick skulls how serious this was…it amazed them.

Everyone was there and, surprisingly, getting along. Even Ryou had voluntarily found and sat in the middle of that damned hula hoop. They smelled tea…somehow they had all managed to sit down to tea together. Ryou, Shibata, Matsuo, Fukuda, Serizawa…well, Ryou was really the only overt troublemaker there…

So of course it was their responsibility to sit beside him.

"Toshi." Said Shimazaki before he pulled them close and kissed them, not out of jealousy or the desire to mark his territory like he was sure Toshi was thinking, but because he loved them and sitting in a room with everyone who disliked him most in the world hadn't been as interesting as it would have seemed. He hadn't even been allowed to play with Mukai. People were so weird. Hopefully when Mob came into power she'd make things a little more interesting around here.

And not just in the sense that a good coup was always interesting.

"Ryou." said Minegishi before they let him kiss them. He was jealous, and marking his territory, and it was completely unneeded. They didn't say anything, though, because they knew where it would go and this wasn't the time or the place.

"Toshiki." Said Matsuo with a smile. God, they were so glad to see them. This whole thing had been so awkward. He had been about to release a spirit, or ten, just to cut the tension.

"Matsuo." Said Minegishi

"Hi…um…are we saying 'hi' to everyone or just Minegishi?" asked Serizawa as he closed his DS. It seemed like it was the polite thing to do. He didn't really know what else he could have done in that situation besides be polite. It was always the safest bet…he glanced over at Fukuda. He nodded. Good. He hadn't messed up.

"How about we just get to the point. We all know each other and we all know why we're here." Said Fukuda in that practiced way he'd cultivated over the years. The way that could quell even the worst tempers, and he'd seen a lot of them. He needed to keep everyone calm. They needed to get through this without a fight. They couldn't let themselves get distracted, not with everything that was at stake, not when they had the world in their hands.

"We're all going to die." Said Shimazaki. He felt everyone glaring at him, everyone but Serizawa, he just pulled his head down into his robe like the time he and Sho had gone turtle startling…that had been such a great day…too bad they weren't going to have any more, not if Suzuki killed them all.

"Five minutes…you couldn't keep your mouth shut for five minutes." Muttered Shibata. He could feel the seams of his sweater straining. He knew that they needed Shimazaki, he may have been a terrible excuse for a human being but he was a powerful esper, but he didn't know why they didn't just fill him in later. He never had good ideas, he never contributed to anything, and he was a terrible person….

…and worst of all he couldn't keep his mouth shut for five goddamned minutes!

"It's been closer to ten." Said Tsuchiya as she sat down beside Hiroshi. That had been better than she'd thought he would have done. He had never been able to fully keep his mouth shut. She couldn't wait until she was rid of him and Claw and all of this insanity. She didn't need Mukai growing up around him, around all of this, she didn't need…

It hurt her to admit it but she didn't need Mukai to wind up like her brother and sister.

"That's actually pretty good for me…but whatever. The point is that we're going to die soon so we really should be planning on what we're going to do with our last few hours on earth. I'll start, I'd like to arrange my tiny dragons one more time and listen to-" said Shimazaki

"Ryou, that's not funny and you know it." Said Minegishi

"I wasn't trying to be. We all know that Suzuki's going to kill us when he finds out about this and I'd like to go out doing what I love, what I used to love anyway. I mean I've lived my life doing what I love but I haven't, I don't know, gone back to the basics or whatever, since I was a kid." Said Shimazaki

"How about we discuss reliving our childhoods later? Right now we have something bigger to worry about and…yes, I'll admit that Toui-that Suzuki, President Suzuki, could kill us all if he wanted to but we haven't given him a reason to-" said Fukuda, making sure that he kept his voice level. He reminded himself that he was more than used to dealing with worse, that he could keep these idiots under control, and that soon he'd never have to do this again.

Hopefully because Suzuki hadn't found a way to kill him.

"But we're trying to stop him and…and that's reason enough to want to kill us…sorry. I shouldn't have interrupted." Said Serizawa

"See? He's on my side." said Shimazaki

"We're all on the same side." said Fukuda trying his best to sound amicable. He thought that he had done a pretty good job, all things considered. At least they weren't trying to kill one another.

"Amazingly enough." Muttered Shibata. Tsuchiya put her hand on his arm. He sighed and felt his power leaving his muscles. He had been too close to the edge there. It wasn't good for Mob, for any of the kids, if he lost control. This was for them, they were meeting up for them, they were fighting Suzuki for them. This was all for them…the last thing he could do for them, the last gift he could give them.

"Well then what are we supposed to do here? Just let Mob try and fight Suzuki on her own?" asked Shibata, the final seems of his sweater starting to give way.

"Obviously not." Said Minegishi

"I agree with Minegishi…never thought I'd be saying that in this lifetime…anyway! We all know that for whatever reason she's hellbent on doing this-" said Fukuda

"Because she was possessed. I've seen this before, sometimes spirits can change you from the inside out. Normally it's not this dramatic without there being some kind of physical change to, like growing horns or scales or something, but I think that because she's as strong as she is it might just be mental." Said Matsuo

"Yes, well-" said Fukuda

"I honestly think it's just because of what she's been through. From what she's told me it was a total mindfuck." Said Minegishi with a shrug. They didn't see the point in discussing the 'why' of it all. Mob was the way she was and the rest of them were just going to have to deal with that. Story of their lives.

"Possession always is." Said Matsuo with a shudder.

"AS I was saying, we're all here for the kids. We're all here to plan out our next course of action. So, if there will be no more interruptions let's begin." Said Fukuda

"God, I feel like I'm guarding Suzuki during one of his infamous meetings." Said Shimazaki with a sigh.

"And I feel like I'm watching you complain through one of Suzuki's infamous meetings." Said Shibata

"Well I feel like-" said Shimazaki

"I don't feel that way…sorry. I mean this is more important, I think, and…um…it's important to be there for Miss Suzuki in whatever way we can be." Said Serizawa. Fukuda had told him before that it was important that he talked during these things, too, so that people could see that they were both on the same side. That hadn't made much sense to him, of course, since they were all on the same side. Miss Suzuki's side.

"I agree with Serizawa. Both of you need to stop this. You especially, Hiroshi, you know better. There's no point in dragging this out so don't let him get to you." said Tsuchiya

"Thank you. Anyway, getting back to the point. We need a plan, a real one, because the kids have come up with nothing…and it shouldn't have been their responsibility to come up with anything. None of this should be on them." said Fukuda

"We can hang out heads in shame later, right now we need to come up with something. Mob, so far, said that she'll soften him up and I can finish him off. Let's make that plan 'b' or maybe 'c'." said Minegishi

"Which comes first?" whispered Serizawa as he leaned closer to Fukuda.

"B comes first…and yes, let's just put a pin in that plan. I was thinking that maybe we could avoid the whole idea of a fight. I mean even if they don't kill each other…we've all seen Shigeko lose control. None of you have seen President Suzuki lose control. Let me tell you that together…let's just say that Shigeko took out the eighth division on her own and that was in the middle of the desert. President Suzuki is planning on holding power from the Cultural Tower and that's in the middle of downtown Seasoning City so…yes. I don't need to tell everyone how that's going to end." Said Fukuda

"Why the Cultural Tower of all places?" asked Tsuchiya. She had been before, when she had first moved to Seasoning City, and it hadn't been anything special. Just a series of exhibits about the city.

"His own reasons." Said Fukuda. He didn't feel like going into what had happened that day. He didn't feel like telling them how they had gone there on a class trip when it had first opened, how Suzuki had managed to find an access hatch…how they'd both crawled through it until they got to the outside. How Suzuki had shimmied up the actual tower part, the lightning rod or whatever, and instead of doing a King Kong, as Fukuda would have done, he just stared out at the world, shimmied down, and told Fukuda that he had seen the curvature of the earth…and then he'd tried to kiss him…

Yeah. Nobody needed to know about that.

"It's the tallest point in the entire city." Said Matsuo

"Thank you. Now, does anyone have any ideas?" asked Fukuda. Shimazaki's hand shot right up.

"Does anyone have any GOOD ideas?" asked Fukuda as Shimazaki waved his hand around like Suzuki during math class.

"I think that Shimazaki has an idea…but it might not be a good one. Sorry." Said Serizawa as he wrung his hands together. That had been kind of mean but Fukuda, obviously, hadn't seen that Shimazaki was raising his hand. If it turned out that he had a bad idea, as he so often did, Serizawa didn't want everyone to blame him.

"Yes. Thank you, Serizawa." Said Fukuda through gritted teeth. You thought you could trust a person…

"You're welcome." Said Serizawa with a smile. Wow! He had thought that he'd be in trouble but, no, Serizawa had been thanked. This was turning into a pretty good day.

"Well not from me…bad ideas. All of my ideas are great. Like remember how I told you to go down on-" said Shimazaki

"Ryou!" shouted Minegishi as they hit him over the head. He knew what he was doing, he had to know. They loved him, most of him, but not this part…these parts. The part that thought it was alright to not only sleep with Mob but to reference it and the part that had nothing better to do than get a rise out of everyone around him no matter what.

"Finish that sentence, I dare you." said Shibata…and there went the last seams on his sweater. The shirt he had on underneath, thankfully, hadn't torn. It was just stretched to it's limits.

"Hiroshi, don't give in." said Tsuchiya as she brushed the remains of his sweater from herself.

"Moving on-" said Fukuda

"Wait, I didn't get a chance to share my brilliant idea with all of you…and here it is. Alright, so think about this…let's not and say we did." Said Shimazaki

"Can you go five minutes without being a shit stirrer? For me?" asked Minegishi

"I'm not being a shit stirrer! I mean I am, naturally, but not right now. I know that I said I'd side with you, Toshi, and you're siding with Mob but like…Mob's not on your side. if she was then she'd know how suicidal this was so how about we tell Mob we did our best but just…not. We distract her the day of, Serizawa can do that it's not like it's hard, and then she'll eventually get bored and move onto something else. Either that or whatever the spirit did to her will wear off and then she'll be the Mob we know and love." Said Shimazaki. He could feel everyone staring at him. He didn't care. His idea was a good one. Mob was easy to distract. Just get her drunk, get her high, go down on her for a while and she'd forget whatever it was that was on her mind. Everyone was just thinking too hard about this, making all these complicated plans, when the solution was simple.

Don't give Suzuki any reason to kill them.

"That's…something I think that we should put a pin in." said Fukuda. A stopped clock was right twice a day. Shimazaki plan actually made sense. Shigeko was flighty, that was part of being fourteen, and she had abandoned causes before. She was at her core very self serving. Maybe if they could show her that she was better off leaving well enough alone then…not that he was on Suzuki's side, no, he was on Sho's but provoking Suzuki into losing control wasn't a good plan.

"Ha!" laughed Shimazaki

"Mob isn't just going to give this thing up. I know her. She's…she's serious. I tried to talk her out of it, I've tried to make her see reason, but she won't. I think that our best bet is to make this thing quick and clean." Said Minegishi

"Or, and here me out, we avoid a fight by all costs. Now I have my own people, both within Claw and within the government, and we think that we can contain him long enough to deliver him to the…something to add, Minegishi?" asked Fukuda. Constantly interrupting him with random arguments and quips was one thing but now there was laughing…he had to deal with outright laughing…

It was an inescapable fact of life. He would never get any respect.

"Nothing, just your bizarre devotion to Suzuki. I mean come on, that's something Hatori would come up with. I mean I know that you and him have known each other for forty years but could you be a little less obvious?" asked Minegishi. They had wondered how long it would take for Suzuki's best friend to show his true colors. Fukuda had put on a good show but there was only so much acting that man was capable of.

"Thirty years…and this has nothing to do with our shared history. I'm trying to avoid a massive fight, the kind that could cost thousands of lives on both sides, the kind that could see Shigeko dead and Suzuki coming for the rest of us." Said Fukuda

"I don't want any of that!" gasped Serizawa

"Neither do I. I just want everything to end well." Said Fukuda, putting his hand on Serizawa's arm. His aura popped against his somewhat painfully.

"You just want Suzuki to live to-" said Minegishi. This was not the time for whatever existed between the two of them. This was it, this was the end, and it was time for Fukuda to say goodbye to his only friend.

"Maybe we should bring another person, or group of people in. I mean I know, I've been talking to the Awakened. It's not just the one's with the blue ribbons who are on her side. They all like her better than the President but the ones with the blue ribbons are willing to die for her." said Matsuo, raising both of his hands in a gesture of goodwill. He knew Toshiki and he knew they were getting to the end of their rope with Fukuda. If what they were saying was true, and he was inclined to believe them, then Fukuda was being unbelievably selfish.

"The Awakened aren't enough. Is anyone from the upper divisions, the Scars or higher, on your side?" asked Fukuda. He had to push this. Tensions were starting to boil over and when tensions boiled over negotiations broke down.

"I didn't think to push it. I mean if it got back to Ishiguro then it'd all be over. Ishiguro's on the President's side, I mean who wouldn't be if the President had made them Division leader?" asked Matsuo

"But if he were to be persuaded…" muttered Fukuda. He knew Ishiguro…he knew of Ishiguro. He knew that he was a pitiful little man who clawed at and hoarded whatever scraps of power he could get his wrinkled little hands on. There was no love between him and Suzuki, in fact he annoyed Suzuki since he'd challenged him so many times…disgraceful, Suzuki had called it. If they could get the Scars then maybe they could get some kind of chance in this…this thing…

A chance to avoid a fight.

"You're persuasive!" said Serizawa

"I know these guys. Where Ishiguro goes they'll follow. People aren't that devoted to the dream, just the promise of power, and if you could promise it to them…but you'd have to talk to Shigeko first. The Awakened will be on her side either way and I know that there's strength in numbers but…I mean can you really call those numbers?" asked Tsuchiya with a shrug. Everyone shook their heads 'no'. Yes, of course, that wasn't the kind of thing they needed to think deeply about. It did seem, though, that this might actually work. With enough people they could take it out of the kid's hands…there was so much on the line here…

They only got one shot at this.

"Do you even think that esper prison can hold him? I know Mob and I know that breaking out would be like tearing through tissues for her." said Minegishi

"She can get out of a curse room?" gasped Tsuchiya. If she could get out of a curse room then so could her father and then, in that case, they were done. This was done. There was nothing that they could do. This was…this was their life.

"No clue, we never tested it. Can Suzuki?" asked Minegishi. Fukuda shrugged.

"He never tried to. He's…afraid." Said Fukuda. He knew why Suzuki had never even tried to step foot in one. He hadn't wanted a weakness. If he had one then it could be exploited. Even if it never left that room, even if the two of them knew, that was two people too many.

"He probably can't. I can't even get out of a curse room…I can't even see into one. God, I hate this fucking place…" said Shimazaki

"Isn't esper prison nothing but curse rooms?" asked Tsuchiya

"If, and this is a big if, he can be held then…what? Without Suzuki we're looking at a power vacuum and we all know nothing good is going to come from that." Said Tsuchiya

"Everyone already loves Mob." Said Shibata

"She's only fourteen. Can she even lead an organization like this? I mean Suzuki fired her for her mismanagement." Said Tsuchiya

"I know how to-" said Fukuda

"That's why I'm here. I can stand in for her when I need to…which will be always. I think that between the two of us we can hold this thing together." Said Minegishi

"You can't run Claw. I'm the only one who has actual experience running Claw in the President's absence." Said Fukuda. He knew what would happen to the world if Claw fell apart. Hundreds of socially maladjusted espers would be running around wreaking havoc. Thousands of Awakened, grown adults with the minds of children, left to their own devices. It would be chaos. The world would be thrown into chaos and…and he couldn't let that happen. Not with Masami out there somewhere trying to live her life.

"What? You're going to take power from Mob, then?" said Minegishi. They wouldn't have been surprised if that was what this whole thing had been about from the beginning. Mob had said that she hadn't come up with this completely on her own. Sho and Fukuda had been at this in secret for a while.

"No, of course not. Just because you don't know how to run Claw that doesn't mean that I want to be President." Said Fukuda. Him, as President? The idea was…intoxicating. He could have been the man in charge. He would have been able to make things better. To create something that he could have left Sho. Sho was the real heir to all of this anyway. Things were so tough but…but he could make them easier for Sho. He could have taken Suzuki's hands out of everything. He could have set the departments and divisions up so they could have run themselves. He could have done Sho a favor, made the job as cushy as possible, the sort of thing that would have given him the chance to work on his art and play with his pets and spend time with that boyfriend of his…or, presumably, a boy who wasn't Shigeko's biological brother. Or one who was, Sho would have been free to live his own life.

And he would have been free to live his.

With Suzuki gone then Masami would have been able to come out of hiding. She would have been free to be with whoever she wanted to be with. She could have a do over, they both could. They were too old to be having kids, or at least she was he had no idea what was going on with his body and aging, but even without kids they could still have some kind of a life together. There were always Sho's kids, too. He knew one way or another Sho was going to have them, he was just too loving not to, and he was a natural parent even at his age. Maybe if he couldn't be a father then he could be a grandfather…yes, he had already been something of a father to Sho over the years…

He needed to let go of this idea before it took hold of him.

"Shigeko wants the job. She can have it." Said Fukuda. Shigeko was reckless. She never thought things through. No matter how much help she had she was still going to be the one with the biggest target painted on her back. She was the one people were going to go after. Rival esper groups, independent weirdos, the government…not only the Japanese government but probably the entire world…she was in trouble. Even if she won she was in trouble…

She could have that trouble if she wanted it. Just so long as she left Sho out of it.

"She's fourteen…are we going to ignore the fact that she's fourteen? I mean Fukuda being the new President seems like the best idea we've had so far. He knows how to run Claw, people already respect him…or at least listen to him, and he's…I mean I have no idea how old he is but he's not a kid." Said Matsuo

"Fukuda's forty seven." Said Serizawa, trying to be helpful.

"Forty Seven? Wow. You look good." said Matsuo

"Does he? I always assumed the outside reflected the inside." Said Shimazaki

"He's kind of cute…maybe. He looks about twenty five, maybe thirty, his hair is kind of short but-" said Shibata

"He looks like a normal person. Can we move on?" asked Tsuchiya, rubbing her temples. It was like Mukai after too many sodas. They couldn't keep their minds on one thing…and this wasn't even worth talking about!

"For once I agree with Tsuchiya. Fukuda isn't the person we have to worry about here, it's Mob and Suzuki. So let's worry about them…any other ideas besides set a trap for Suzuki and try to end this thing before Mob loses it and decimates the city?" asked Minegishi

"We'd be lucky if she only took out a tenth of it…" muttered Fukuda

"No? Alright then, we're decided. Thank you all for meeting with me, wait until you're at least a floor away to put the SIM cards and batteries back into your phones, and I'll either see you all at the uprising or in hell." Said Minegishi as they stood up. That was that. They had no interest in sitting in Tsuchiya's living room and listening to everyone spin their wheels and argue about nothing. They needed a drink and a lay down.

They needed this to be done.

"Alright, I'll just…go to Ishiguro then. Good talk, everyone, good talk." Said Fukuda. He had so many other things he would have said to Minegishi if he'd been so inclined, but he hadn't been, he just wanted this to get done with the minimal amount of fighting. He just wanted this done with the minimal amount of collateral damage. He just wanted this done with the minimal amount of involvement from Sho.

He had to keep Sho safe.

So off he went to go and ensure Sho's future. He didn't know or care where the others went. They weren't his concern, not anymore. Just thinking about it made him dizzy. Soon, very soon, he was going to be free of them…of Claw. Of the fighting, the disrespect, the insanity, the headache, the heartache, just…free! For once in his life he was going to be free.

He was going to be free of Suzuki.

The thought carries him through the halls. A life without Suzuki weighing him down. A life where he could be anything he wanted to be. So much of his life had been planned around Suzuki. Where they went to high school, where they went to university, their courses of study, their first apartments, how they made their money…even if he had married or not! He had been too busy doing Suzuki's bidding that he hadn't had the time to meet a woman and settle down. It was cruel in a way. Suzuki meeting Masami, having Sho, getting everything that he had ever wanted. Suzuki choosing to spend his life with her after all that they'd gone through. Fukuda had given that man his entire life and then the next thing he knew Suzuki was buying three houses, having them linked together, and telling Fukuda that there wasn't enough space in the house for him!

That there wasn't enough space in his life for him.

He had been told to stay close, but not too close, because Suzuki had wanted to keep his work life and his home life separate. There were, and always would be, people after him and he didn't want that to affect his wife…even though it would have made more sense to have a healer in the actual house. Suzuki hadn't been able to admit it but he was just jealous. Jealous of another man around his wife or, since he knew the man more intimately than he had ever wanted to, jealous of Masami because she got to be with him and not Fukuda. He was just jealous that she got to be in a normal relationship and he was the one dealing with confusing feelings for his best friend, feelings that he knew he wasn't supposed to have. Of course he had been jealous of the person who got to be with him in the way he wanted to be with his best friend.

He had been right to be jealous.

Fukuda hadn't been completely discarded. He had still been a part of Suzuki's life even if just through his family. He wasn't so easily discarded and, anyway, Suzuki had been too selfish to have a family. Suzuki had loved Masami in his own but that hadn't been good enough. He took her for granted and that was why she had taken Fukuda. She had taken him as a lover, a partner, and a father for her son. She had made her choice and he…he had helped her make that choice. And now that all of this was over then he was going to be able to make good on his promise. Then he was going to be able to take Sho with him, away from all of this, and he could find her and then they could be a family again…and then they could be together again.

It had been years, over half a decade, but he could still remember her voice…her touch…the feel of her-

"An open mind is a dangerous thing." Said Muto. The man in front of him immediately corrected the course his mind took. Gone were the memories of laying intimately with both the President and his wife and, in it's place, was a brick wall. Muto didn't bother breaking through it. Why would he have?

He had already seen all that there was to see.

"Muto. I didn't see you there." Said Fukuda calmly. He pulled an image of a brick wall to the forefront of his mind and kept it there. He didn't feel Muto probing that deeply but this was still the best defense…unless he'd already seen any of that…

Oh fuck.

"No, I can't imagine that you could have. You were too busy recalling coupling with both the President and his wife." Said Muto. Oh fuck. The words repeated on a loop in the other man's mind. This was a greater defense than conjuring up an image of a brick wall, not that Muto would have given him any advice on how to counter his powers. It would have gotten out and that would have done him no good. No, he quite liked having the upper hand. There were so many secrets floating around, important ones, dark ones, and shameful ones…and this one was all three.

But how to use it, now that was the question.

"I was imagining it, yes. Just a stray thought. Everyone's mind wanders towards the taboo sometimes, you of all people would know that." Said Fukuda. Muto…Muto…the man was an enigma. He had never spent much time around this Scar because Suzuki had never spent much time around this Scar and that was for one simple reason…telepaths were terrifying! He could deal with telekinesis and super strength and teleportation…hell! He could even deal with that guy who started fires. This, however, he couldn't abide by…someone reaching into his mind and pawing through his private thoughts…

He thought of a stone wall instead of a brick wall.

"No, it was a memory. I can tell fact from fiction, young man." Said Muto

"I'm forty-" said Fukuda

"Forty seven, yes, still much younger than I...and yet with much more to lose should your secret get out." Said Muto

"I have a secret? That's news to me." said Fukuda, playing dumb. That was the best thing to do right now, maybe, to see how much he knew…unless he got annoyed and imprisoned Fukuda in his own mind and forced him to relieve all of his failures. Suzuki hadn't even been alright after that and he'd managed to turn Muto's power around on him somehow…

Fukuda was well and truly fucked.

"No, people don't know that you've been intimate with the President, and I doubt he knows that you've been with his wife. He holds you in such esteem…but I wonder how far you'll fall if he were to ever know the truth. I don't imagine that you'll make it through the uprising, oh no. The president is a notoriously vengeful man." Said Muto as he ran his fingers across his scar.

"What do you want?" asked Fukuda with a sigh.

"What do I want…what do most men want?" asked Muto

"I don't know, I'm not like most men." Said Fukuda

"No, I don't suppose you are, but that's simply because you have what most men want." Said Muto

"If you're after eternal youth I can't reverse the effects of aging. Once mother nature takes it's course then that's it." Said Fukuda

"Not eternal youth, no, nor eternal life…what I want is power. The same sort of power you and all the other cretins above me wield." Said Muto

"What then, you want me to put the good word in for you with President Suzuki? Get you your own Division or, what, a place in Tokyo?" asked Fukuda

"Seasoning City will do since I suspect, due to the attachment President Suzuki has to this place, it will become the new capitol and seat of power. A division would be lovely, a seat of power in the Capitol would be better. I trust that you can make it happen…otherwise I can't imagine that you'll be able to trust me to hold my tongue." Said Muto

"Done, now if you'll excuse me I really must be going." Said Fukuda before he walked away at a normal pace. He kept up the wall until he was sure he was out of sight. Then he switched to Masami. Her smell, her touch, the sheer perfection of her spread thighs on either side of him…her nails digging into his back…her mouth on his as he was within her…

It was private, incredibly private and the sort of thing that could have him killed if Suzuki ever started to really doubt his loyalty, but it was enough to make Muto think he had the upper hand.

"I have the upper hand." Whispered Fukuda as he made it to the meeting room, or chamber, as it should have been called. This whole thing was like something out of one of those hero and villain shows he and Suzuki used to watch as kids. He had always been neither, more like a stagehand and narrator in their games, but here….here he was someone. Here he had power. He had bargaining power and he was going to use it.

This was the end, just about, and he could make as many crazy promises as he wanted to.

He opened the unnecessarily big doors and was greeted by the sight of an unnecessarily small man. Why Ishiguro was small, that was genetics, but why he wore that get up complete with voice changer Fukuda would never know. It made sense, the mask at least, because he had been up against Suzuki so many times that his head was just pretty much one big scar at this point. The platform shoes might have been because he was even shorter then Sho and Shigeko. The dress…he had no idea.

But he wasn't here to lecture Ishiguro on his lack of fashion sense.

"Division Leader Ishiguro, if I may have a word?" asked Fukuda

"You may." Said Ishiguro, not turned from the wall of monitors in front of him. The awakened soldiers were filing in nicely. Good, good, good. They'd need them to hold the city. The normal Awakened…well, every war needed cannon fodder. He'd managed to train up more Awakened soldiers than any other division, no thanks to Tsuchiya…traitor that she was…but she would be dealt with when this was over.

She was on the outs with the President, after all.

"I'm sure that you've noticed the coming events." Said Fukuda

"Difficult not to, since I've orchestrated them." said Ishiguro

"Yes, I have noticed and I have appreciated your work. The President is a very busy man and he can't always take the time to thank his people personally." Said Fukuda

"Nor do I expect him to." Said Ishiguro

"He also doesn't always have the time to sit and think if he's utilizing everyone properly." Said Fukuda

"…President Suzuki's judgement is not mine to question." Said Ishiguro

"But of course it's not, no, it's mine to question…mine and Vice President Suzuki's." said Fukuda. An aura passed over his. He wished that Ishiguro hadn't been wearing that ridiculous mask. He had never been good with auras, especially not subtle emotions. He had no idea what had passed over him, what that had meant, and what the silence meant now…he hoped that it was something good and then, if not, well…

He'd survived being pulled into a massive gravity bubble before. It had been painful but he'd lived, and managed to reattach his arms, too.

"The Suzuki daughter, the elder daughter, has been removed from her post due to gross mismanagement." Said Ishiguro

"The President and his daughter simply did not see eye to eye when it came to managerial strategies." Said Fukuda

"From what I could gather the girl had no strategy to speak of. She simply chose to use her post as a chance to throw a never ending party." Said Ishiguro

"Miss Suzuki has always rewarded those closest to her well…and those who have proven themselves useful." Said Fukuda

"And yet you're here with me." said Ishiguro

"As her envoy." Said Fukuda

"You may speak…on her behalf." Said Ishiguro

"Miss Suzuki wishes to express her gratitude towards you. She has seen your exemplarily leadership and, after her father's uprising, had planned to promote you to a seat of power in Tokyo…in the capitol. Headquarters. Though her father did not agree with that, and many other aspects of her leadership, and thusly demoted her…forcing her hand, so to speak." Said Fukuda

"In what way are we speaking?" Said Ishiguro

"If Miss Suzuki were to come into power, her own power, than those who she deemed worthy would of course be rewarded handsomely. She has always treated her friends more than well, if the stories I know coming out of Tokyo are anything like the real life events that inspired them." said Fukuda

"Yes, I have heard stories of her kindness…and her father's cruelty." Said Ishiguro

"Cruelty that has never been extended to those she's seen fit to protect. After all, Shimazaki Ryou is still alive." Said Fukuda

"So the rumors of their…impropriety…have some merit." Said Ishiguro

"Yes, as well as the rumors of Serizawa Katsuya's and…Hatori Nozomu's." said Fukuda. That was the lie that cinched it, it looked like. After all, if the President could let his right man continue to be by his side after sleeping with his daughter then anyone close to Shigeko could be pardoned. Of course Hatori didn't look like he had it in him so speak to a girl let alone sleep with one but that was neither here nor there.

"The President…can clearly be persuaded to steady his hand, if given the right incentive." Said Ishiguro

"Incentive that only his daughter can give him…his daughter with her own designs…" said Ishiguro

"Yes…a daughter who's kindness is legendary." Said Fukuda

"Yes…yes. I see and…and give the girl my best, when you next see her. My best and those of us here at this division." Said Ishiguro with a dismissive wave of his hand. This was it. This was his chance. He may not have cared for the girl, an annoying brat in his opinion, but he did care for the weakness that she inspired within her father. Finally, something that he could use. Brute force hadn't worked once in over twenty years but this…taking him down from the inside…he could do this. He would do this. He would risk his life for this.

He had spent too long living here, in this nothingness, it was time for him to be seen as the gift and wonder that he was.

"I would be happy to." Said Fukuda with a bow that was just a little too low. He had to get out of there before he overplayed his hand and soured the deal. That had been easy. Muto, as creepy as he was, had a point. Fukuda had power, the one thing all men wanted, and he could dispense it freely now that this was essentially the end…he couldn't believe that he had just done that…he couldn't believe that he actually had a shot.

Now all he needed were Higashio and Ootsuki, then everything would be in place.

But before their arrival he needed to speak to Sho…to find some way of getting him to safety. Suzuki had never liked him and this might have been the thing to set him over the edge. He just needed….not to spirit him away or anything, to suspicious, but to move him somewhere safe….but of course Sho wasn't going to act in his own best interest. His own safety had never been high on his list of priorities…but the safety of others…of the people he loved…

Yes. He could use that.

He would use that…he just had to find Sho first. He had gone off to the woods to play with Mukai, he knew that much, but what he didn't know was where in the woods he was. These woods went on farther than the eye could see, Fukuda knew, he had spent more than enough time in these woods to know. Some how that time had even been spent lost…and that was also how he knew that poisonous berries and mushrooms had no effect on him. Suzuki on the other hand hadn't been so lucky. If Fukuda hadn't been so pissed about Suzuki getting them lost he would have healed him instantly but, since Suzuki had been the one to get them into that mess, he let him puke his brains out for a little bit until he 'gathered his strength' and fixed him.

He wondered what would have happened if he hadn't.

But of course he had, he had been thirteen at the time, too young to be able to kill his best friend in cold blood. He hadn't known what Suzuki would become, what they would become together, and what they would create together…or how it would end. The younger version of himself would never have believed any of this, that the weird kid from their homeroom class and their best friend, would have actually done it…that he could have actually taken over the world…

They weren't going to take over the world.

It was over…or at least it would be. All he had to do was spend the next however many hours trapsing through the woods searching for Sho…a task that looked like Fukuda may have underestimated. As soon as he left the building, as soon as the cold air and chaos hit him, he knew he was in over his head. He couldn't sense Sho's aura in any particularly strong way…so all he could do was pick a direction and start walking. It was either that or ask for help from Minegishi.

He would rather have spent the rest of his life wandering the woods and living off of poisonous mushrooms and berries.

He trusted, though, that he knew Sho well enough to find him. He let his feet make the decisions. If he had been Sho he would have gone someplace familiar, someplace he had been before, someplace he knew how to get back from. He let his feet carry him on a familiar path, one that he had taken so many times before. A left, a right, straight, backwards, side to side, he knew it without even having to look for the rocks. Some of them had been real, some of them had false directions on them, and some of them had meanings that had been lost to time. He didn't need any directions, though, he knew where he was going.

But not, evidently, where Sho would have gone.

Nope. No Sho, and no sign of him. This place looked just as untouched as it had the last time he'd been there. How it still stood, this stupid fort in these stupid woods, he would never know. The walls and roof were made of sticks they'd bundled together, the thatching had been a plastic tarp and some grass, the windows had been distressed soda bottles, the carpeting was just an old rug they had liberated from Fukuda's attic…ok, that one wasn't in good shape at all…unless you were a mushroom that is. The shelving was still there, rusted out, but there. The filing cabinet they'd stolen, those chairs…his was rotted out to the frame by now though Suzuki's, being a plastic lawn chair, had stood the test of time. Everything may have been a little rotted, rusted, and dirty but it was still there.

But Sho wasn't.

"Sho? Hey, you here?" asked Fukuda. Of course he wasn't, he couldn't sense Sho at all. He could just hear Suzuki now, taunting him about how he could have been so stupid. Not as he was now, no, but as he had been when they had first built this place. Fukuda could almost hear his own response, too. He could almost hear himself telling Suzuki to shut up and that he wasn't exactly an expert either…

And he hadn't been, not back then.

Fukuda felt his feet taking him closer to the familiar. He let them lead him to his old chair. A rotted out old armchair that they'd managed to bring here, in the night, from Suzuki's house. His father's old chair, a pea green thing out of the 70's that his mother had been planning on getting rid of when she modernized the house. It had been the only piece of furniture they'd managed to rescue. He reached out and touched what little fabric remained.

It was damp.

It had rained, everything was damp. He looked up…yes. Apparently he and Suzuki hadn't been very good roofers. So many holes, so many spots where the thatching had rotted away and the tarp had fallen apart. That was what had ruined the chair, the rugs, and their bookshelves…he wondered if anything was salvageable. He stepped onto the soaked carpet, cold and moisture coming up through the bottoms of his shoes, and made his squelching way to their bookshelf. It had faired a little better, the shelves being old metal ones they'd borrowed from their school. The books inside the shelf smelled of mildew and-hey!

Suzuki had sworn he'd returned that book!

It was a library book, some stupid manga he'd been into, one which Suzuki had insisted on borrowing. One which he hadn't….which explained the massive late fees Fukuda had incurred on his account and the fact that they could never go back to the library again…he reached out and tried to take it, wondering if by some miracle the library would even take it back in it's current state.

It crumbled in his hands.

Even the plastic on the outside broke off. The paper inside had, apparently, turned to mulch. He pulled his hand back and wiped it on his shirt. That had been truly disgusting. Well, it looked like he was going to have those fines on his account until the day he died. He wondered if Miss Subaru was still there. She had truly been the meanest librarian he had ever known…and it wasn't like they had done anything to deserve it. Despite popular belief they hadn't been the ones tearing the endings out of the books-

-but they had been the ones stealing.

"Hello, what have we here?" asked Fukuda as he saw something untouched in a plastic bag. It was shoved behind all the other books and hadn't been touched by the elements since it had been hidden here…since Touichirou had hidden it here. Fukuda had been more partial to hiding things in his walls at home. This was where Touichirou stored all of his contraband. Knives, fireworks, world domination plans, and dirty books.

So many dirty books.

"God damn it, Touichirou, I knew you were holding out on me." said Fukuda as he broke the ancient tape sealing the bag together. So under the right conditions this stuff really did last forever….that was good to know. If mankind ever died out at least the aliens or cockroaches would find plenty of examples of human mating rituals. Though judging by this they might have gotten the wrong idea.

Yeah, Touichirou had definitely been holding out on him.

"Read this and be prepared to have your eyes removed and replaced with nothing. That means you." said Fukuda as he read the miniscule writing behind the front cover. He rolled his eyes. He assumed that, at this point in his life, he was safe. He highly doubted that Suzuki cared if he flipped this, inexplicable colored in, pornography. Why did he always do this? He did this manga, he did this to textbooks, and he did it to pornography too. If he hadn't known the man as well as he did he would have called it an artistic streak.

But he knew Suzuki.

He was just weirdly particular about things, even now. That was why the later divisions, the ones he built when he had small country money, looked the way that they did. Sho was the artistic one and Fukuda couldn't imagine him ever designing something like that. Sho had taste…which may have explained why he wasn't here. There was nothing here but decay, rot, and probably a bunch of hidden pornography. Not the sort of thing Sho would have gone seeking out and not the sort of thing that he should have gone seeking out, either. Nostalgia?

Misplaced nostalgia.

That was it. He hid the book back where he'd found it. Let future generations of horny teenage boys find it. Fukuda was too old for this, too old for this place, and just…too old. He didn't look it but he was old. They called it middle aged but that was just a nice way of saying old. Forty seven….it felt like just yesterday they'd built this thing but now here he was sitting in it's rot and decay, just waiting for it to come crashing down under it's own weight.

All things came to an end.

He heard a rusting in the trees. He quickly turned around to leave. He shouldn't have been here. If he was found here then…wait, he knew that aura. He knew those three auras. He stopped. They were just the people he had been looking for…well, one of them was.

The other two he could deal with.

"See? It's the end, the end of the road." Said Mukai as she tried to run away. She felt something tugging on her, Shigeko and Sho were holding her back with their colors. It wasn't fair! She wanted to see what was at the end of the road. She could see the road, the rocky road, and she needed to know where it meant. Mama and Shibata never let her go this deep into the woods even though there was a lot of stuff to see…

Like the secret house!

"There's no road here, just Fukuda." Said Sho as he pulled Mukai back. He'd been able to feel Fukuda long before he'd been able to see him. He knew why Fukuda was here, in the woods, in his and Dad's old fort. He didn't know why he cared, though. It Fukuda wanted to hang out here and think about the good times or whatever then Sho didn't care.

He just wanted to have fun with his sisters, that was all. He didn't need to play with Fukuda anymore.

"But…why?" asked Mob as she caught up to them. She wasn't going to get upset. She couldn't get upset. Even though it felt like Fukuda was sticking his head into something that was private. It had been just the three of them and that was all that she had needed right now. Her and her brother and her sister just…playing. Having fun and playing just like the old times back when they had been kids.

Back when they had all been kids. Mukai was still a kid.

"Oh. Shigeko. I was just-" said Fukuda

"He and Dad built this fort when they were our age and he really cares about it for some reason. He showed me it when I was little." Said Sho. Fukuda winced, Sho didn't care. He took Mukai's hand and tried to lead her away. She didn't need to be here. She didn't care about Dad, she was too little to care about him, all she cared about was having fun.

He could make that happen. He would make that happen. He would be a good big brother.

"Oh…why didn't…never mind." Said Mob. She couldn't believe that this place had been Dad's. She looked around. It smelled weird here and everything was all dirty and broken but…but this place was Dad's. He had told her stories about when he had been a kid, about how he and Fukuda had been friends, but it was different to actually see it. Fukuda used to be a kid. She looked at him. She couldn't see it. Dad and Fukuda must have been kids once, nobody was born an adult, but she just couldn't picture it.

Dad and Fukuda at her age…she just couldn't see it.

"Sho, can I speak to you about something?" asked Fukuda as he put his hand on Sho's back and tried to lead him away. Sho shrugged him off and crossed his arms.

"Whatever you have to say you can say in front of Big Sis…but maybe not Baby Sis now that I think about it." Said Sho

"Here." Said Mob as she covered Mukai's ears. She tried to pull her head away but Mob held her in place. She couldn't let her hear whatever this was gong to be. She was too little. She didn't know what was going on and she couldn't know what was going on. Minegishi had said not to tell Mukai anything because Mukai told everyone everything she heard. Mob knew, though, not to say anything because Mukai was little and that she needed to stay little for as long as she could.

"No, no, I want to hear!" said Mukai as she tried to get away.

"She can still hear me." said Fukuda with a sigh. They were such kids sometimes. This was not the time to be childish, this was serious, and he needed…he needed Sho and Shigeko to either act their ages or not act their ages. He was honestly having trouble remembering how immature or mature thirteen year olds were supposed to be.

"No she can't." said Mob

"Yes I can." Said Mukai with a smile. She smiled up at Shigeko. She didn't smile back but that was normal for her, she hadn't ever learned how to smile, so it was Mukai's job to smile at her as much as she could.

"Big Sis just…take Mukai somewhere. I'll catch up." said Sho, waving towards the woods.

"But…ok. I'll be close." Said Mob as she took Mukai's hand and led her away to the woods even though she really didn't feel like walking.

"No, no! I want to see them fighting! It's funny!" shouted Mukai as Shigeko dragged her away even though she didn't want to go! What was it with grown ups taking her places where she didn't want to go? First Mama and now this!

"Mukai, don't freak out." Said Sho as Big Sis dragged Mukai away. He waited until he couldn't see them anymore. Their voices carried through the woods but it was just sound, not words. They could have been talking shit about him for all he knew. Of course, though, he knew that they weren't talking shit about him. Fukuda was the one who liked to talk shit about people.

But he didn't look like he wanted to talk shit now.

He actually looked kind of…freaked out. He was wringing his hands and looking around. He was all dirty, too, like he'd been running through the woods for a while. Maybe he had…maybe something bad was happening and he ran away. Maybe he was the soul survivor! Just him and no one else and…and that was really sad. Shimazaki being dead, and Serizawa…he was alright, and then Mukai could have lost her mom…that would have sucked and…and ok. He could feel auras. That meant that people were still alive. That meant that he was maybe freaking out over nothing…but Fukuda didn't look like he'd been through nothing!

He had to be calm and then panic, later, when he knew what it was that he was panicking about.

"What? Did something go wrong? Did-" asked Sho, trying to stay calm. If he lost it then Big Sis was going to come back and then she'd lose it and then Mukai would lose it and neither of them would be able to calm her down and then everything would be fucked! But maybe they were already fucked….

"Sho-" said Fukuda

"Are we fucked? Don't tell me that we're fucked! I was gone for five minutes and we got fucked and-" said Sho

"Sho! For the love of God stop saying that word!" said Fukuda

"What word? Fucked? You've heard me say fucked before." Said Sho

"Yes, I know, but I don't want to hear you say it. You're only thirteen and…and you've been talking like that too often for too long." Said Fukuda. Sho crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You never said 'fucked' before when you were my age?" asked Fukuda. He pulled at the collar of his shirt, the sun cutting through the trees and beating down on him.

"It was a different time then, thirteen now isn't what thirteen was back then, and…and anyway we're not that word. We're fine, more than fine." Said Fukuda

"Dad died?" asked Sho

"No…but we know what we're going to do with him." said Fukuda

"Yeah Fukuda, we already know what we're going to do with him. We're going to beat him up and probably kill him and then we'll be able to do whatever we want whenever we want." Said Sho. Fukuda somehow didn't get how awesome it was going to be. Sho didn't want his Dad dead for the sake of killing people, even Shimazaki said that once you started killing for the sake of killing then you were super messed up, he just…he knew that Dad was never going to stop any other way. He was never going to leave them alone. He was always going to make their lives a living hell. Sho just didn't want to live like that anymore.

He didn't think, really, that it was such a bad thing to want to have a good life.

"We found a way to, I mean I found a way…never mind. That's not important." Said Fukuda

"What's more important than the plan?" asked Sho in disbelief.

"You. You and your happiness and…and that boy. The one you're with." Said Fukuda. That was all he could manage to get out before, suddenly, he had a hand over his mouth and Sho's panicked eyes staring down into his.

"Fukuda! Not so loud! Do you want someone to hear!?" said Sho, his eyes darting back and forth with his aura. He knew Ritsu was in Seasoning City, he wasn't a goldfish he didn't forget things after ten seconds, and he was smart enough to know that he needed to keep Ritsu far away from all of this! Ritsu was going to try and come back and fight and then, when he did, then he could get really hurt or die and…and that wasn't going to happen!

Not while Sho was around and even when he wasn't.

"I didn't put the battery back in my phone. He couldn't hear us even if he wanted to." Said Fukuda as Sho took his hand off of his mouth.

"Yeah…ok. But still! You've got to watch what you say and shit!" said Sho, his hand reaching for his phone. He didn't take it out, though, Fukuda didn't have to see that he hadn't thought to take the battery out. Hatori could have been spying on him right now…fuck!

He had to calm down.

"I know, I know, I was just thinking that maybe you'd want to, you know, protect him. Since you…you're in love with him and all." Said Fukuda. It never got any easier. Talking or thinking about Sho being in love with anyone was difficult, it had nothing to do with who he was in love with, though he would have wanted Sho to have found someone who wasn't Shigeko's biological brother. Sho was so young, too young to be feeling this way, if he even knew what love was…but that wasn't the fight he wanted to have now. He didn't want to have any kind of fight right now.

He just wanted to keep Sho safe.

"Of course I want to protect him but I can't, ok, and I don't want to think about it. If I go there and, I don't know, guard him or whatever then…then he'll be in danger and…and anyway if I'm not here then I can't help." Said Sho

"But don't you think that you should help him? Sho…you're a lot stronger than he is, probably, and he needs you. He's already been captured once and we both know that it can happen again. Wouldn't tomorrow be the perfect chance to try again?" asked Fukuda. He could see the wheels in Sho's head turning. The way his eyebrows were meeting in the middle of his forehead. The analytical way his eyes were tracking back and forth. It was very Touichirou-like…though Touichirou never would have cared that much about another human being.

No. This was what Touichirou cared about.

"It might…it might take a few more days. I mean that Dad isn't even here yet and there's still a lot of people who need to be here and…and…and there might be more time, ok?" asked Sho. He didn't know what he was asking for. More time, maybe. More time was a stupid thing to ask for. Dad had been telling him about this since he had been born. That was an entire lifetime. There wasn't going to be any more time, obviously, and instead of asking for me he needed to…to do something.

He wasn't a kid anymore. He had to do something. He had a choice to make.

"Well, you see-" said Fukuda

"And anyway, even if there wasn't, it's not like I can just…I don't know. Show up at his house and tell him that the world's going to end. I know him. He's not just going to hide in his room and wait for it to be over. He's been trying to stop this since he found out and he doesn't give up…I really love that about him…I really love him…" said Sho. He didn't love anyone like he loved Ritsu and losing Ritsu, the thought of losing him, made him feel like his organs were going to rot and then spill out of his bellybutton and also there'd be an evil, parasitic, twin or….or maybe an orange peel. Something gross. Something that he didn't ever want inside of him. Something that he needed to get rid of but….but how could he get rid of it? There was nothing that he could do except for what he really, really, really wanted to do.

"Hey-" said Fukuda

"And, anyway, if I did show up but I didn't say anything it's not like there's no way he's going to find out. I mean the whole world's going to be under attack! If I just show up, spend time with him, and then keep him distracted…I mean it could work…but I don't know if I can be that distracting!" said Sho. He didn't know if he could think of that many ways to distract him…well he could think of one way. It had been so long since he'd kissed Ritsu and it was selfish, wasn't it? To want to kiss him this badly…but he couldn't stop wanting to be with him and…and he couldn't stop being selfish…

"Sho-" said Fukuda

"I mean I know that it's selfish but sometimes you have to be selfish if your selfishness is selfishly keeping someone else alive. You know what I mean?" asked Sho

"I…yes?" asked Fukuda

"Good! So just…just tell Big Sis that I…wait, no, don't tell her anything. I'm going to tell her. You just go back to the division and do…do stuff. But not in the same direction I am. Ok?" asked Sho

"Ok..." asked Fukuda. His head was still spinning. He had no idea what had happened but it looked like Sho was going to do what he'd asked of him so…good?

"Yeah, ok, so go!" said Sho as he used his powers to turn Fukuda around and push him into the woods. He didn't need to apologize, Fukuda knew that he cared about him and stuff like that. The person he did need to apologize to was Baby Sis, and also Big Sis, but mostly Baby Sis. Big Sis would understand, she knew how important love was, but he knew Mukai. She was going to whine and throw herself down on the ground and scream and stuff like that.

Little kid stuff.

So maybe he needed to stay but…but there was a non-zero chance that things wouldn't go wrong. There were so many things that could have happened to him, or to Ritsu, or to the plan. He hadn't seen Ritsu in so long and if he were to disappear without even saying goodbye then it would have broken his heart…and that was what he was worried about most of all, Ritsu's heart.

His heart was going to be fine, it had broken before, but Ritsu's hadn't yet.

So he had to go to Ritsu…right after he said goodbye. He didn't know if it would be goodbye forever, he didn't think that it would be, and he didn't want to think about the possibility that it might have been. He just worried, though, cared, about everyone he loved all at once and it was kind of giving him a headache!

Kind of like Mukai would get if she ate all of those leaves.

"I'm going to do it this time! Just watch me!" laughed Mukai as she smushed a big pile of leaves into her face. Shigeko was acting all worried, her colors looked worried anyway, and it was so funny! She wasn't actually going to eat all of these leaves, of course, she was a person and people did not eat leaves. But the thought of a person eating leaves was even more funny than the worried look on Shigeko's face!

"Stop it, Mukai, leaves are bad for you and you know it." said Mob as she tried to pull the leaves away with her powers. The only problem was that they came apart when she did that. Her control wasn't the best, she was too worried about what was going to happen with everything, so she didn't dare risk it again. When her leaves broke Mukai got sad but if Mukai herself broke…

Mob didn't want to see what would happen then.

"No it isn't, right Sho?" asked Mukai

"Yeah, it is, and if you get sick then you'll have to see Fukuda and that always sucks." Said Sho as he picked Mukai up and shook the leaves off of her. She was trying to squirm away from him. There was no way he was going to let her go, not now, not when there was kind of a chance that…that it would be a while before he saw her again.

He hugged her as tightly as she could.

"Sho! No, I'm not toothpaste!" said Mukai as she tried to escape. Sho was using his colors to keep her in one place, which really wasn't fair at all! Her colors couldn't move people, only dolls sometimes, and only when she really focused. She was focusing as hard as she could but all she could do was make herself glow a little bit…which wasn't helping at all!

"No, you're not, but I think you're hungry. What do you think, Sho, should we head back inside?" asked Mob. She could see the sun getting lower and lower. It was past lunchtime. There was no way she was going to be able to find her way out of the woods in the dark…and she knew Mukai would have stayed here all night if she had been allowed to. She would have starved, too, or maybe eaten leaves or worse. She scanned the ground for berries, mushrooms, and anything that looked like it could have hurt her. it wasn't safe for Mukai out here when she was like this…they had to bring her inside.

Even though bringing her inside would end the day.

"You guys can, I'm going to stay out here for a little bit longer." Said Sho. He knew that lying was wrong but he also knew that sometimes he had to lie…and this was one of those times. He loved Big Sis and she loved him, and part of loving someone was trying to save them from doing something stupid. That was why he had gone after her when she had run off to fight the spirit and that was why she was probably going to go after him when he went to see Ritsu for the last…for a time.

She didn't need to be involved in that part of his life just like he didn't need to be involved in that part of hers.

"We can wait for you if you want us to." Said Mob as Mukai started to stuff leaves down her shirt and into her pockets. At least she wasn't eating them, though they had been on the ground and were probably very dirty, but this was nothing that Mob couldn't deal with. Nothing was too much when it came to her brother and sister.

"Wait for me, leaves, don't fall out of my shirt." Said Mukai as she tried to stuff the leaves back in. Sho and Shigeko's colors were being all weird. They obviously didn't have enough leaves in their shirts. She had no idea what was wrong with grownups sometimes. They were outside, they needed to play, not stand around talking about stuff that was clearly making them feel sad. She got more leaves and put them in Sho's pocket.

He didn't even notice.

"No, you don't have to. I'll be a while." Said Sho as he let Mukai stuff his pockets full of leaves. It was kind of like a parting gift, maybe, possibly…not that they were parting. He was coming back…he was totally coming back.

"But we can-" said Mob

"Fukuda wants to hang out." Said Sho. He knew that piling the lies on top of the lies on top of more lies was kind of a dickhole's asshole move but he was out of options. He knew that she didn't like Fukuda and he knew that she'd stay away…and that was more than enough of a reason to lie to her. It was better than telling her the truth, anyway.

He'd make this up to her when they ruled the world…when she ruled the world.

"So yeah, we're just going to go and hang out now and, uh, yeah. Don't hold dinner for me. Bye!" said Sho before he took off into the woods. He took off before she could say anything to him. This was for the best. He knew that if she started giving him reasons to stay then he might start considering them, and if he started considering them then he might pick one, and then if he picked one he would never see Ritsu again, maybe, and if he never saw Ritsu again then…then he'd never be alright again.

So he did what he had to do. He walked.

He put one foot in front of the other and he walked at a normal pace as soon as he was out of eyesight. He could feel Big Sis's aura, he knew that he wasn't being followed, and…and he kind of wished that he had been. He didn't like this, not knowing what to do, having to choose between what he knew was right and what he knew he wanted more than anything else. But he had been making those kinds of choices for a while now.

This whole thing had been his choice.

He was the one who had chosen, all of those years ago, to stop Dad. He was the one who had chosen to take on that kind of responsibility and he was the one who had, until very recently, chosen to carry that alone even though it weighed a ton and made his heart and back hurt. Now he was, for once in his life, choosing what was going to make him happy. The plan could happen without him. He wasn't anywhere near Big Sis's level.

He was the one who'd been Awakened after all.

That was how Dad saw him, as one of the Awakened, and….and for a time he had been. Until he had gotten stronger. He was strong for an esper but weak for a Suzuki. The only Suzuki weaker than him was Mukai but she was just a little kid. He needed to…to be there but he also knew that there was nothing that he needed to do. He wasn't that great with his powers. Not like Big Sis. She was the one who had been born right and he had been born wrong…it came back to him, those same words that he had been trying to outrun since they'd first come to him when he was little…the sorts of words that he was trying to outrun now.

Out walk.

He couldn't run, not here, not in the woods with it's slippery and uneven ground. He walked as fast as he could. He had no choice. He couldn't fly, no, one of those binoculars guys who sat on the roof all day watching for enemy espers would spot him and then everyone would start asking questions…questions that he didn't want to answer. So he walked. He walked as fast as he could until he found the road.

Then he ran.

Then he got tired.

Then he rested.

Then he ran some more.

Then he rested again.

Then he did the smart thing and waited for the bus. It showed up eventually, pulling up alongside him while he was nursing his aching feet, and he got on. It only took him a second to remember that money was a thing, and another to remember where he'd hid his in his jacket. Then he was off down the road and to Seasoning City, his feet aching the whole time. He didn't know how they could have hurt this much, it wasn't like he never exercised, and he was too young for his diet to catch up to him like Fukuda was always saying would happen when he became an adult. He made sure no one was looking and took off his shoe just to get some relief.

Oh.

He could stick his toes out all the way with his shoe off. He turned his shoe around and pressed it against his foot. With everything that had happened he hadn't gotten new shoes in a while…Big Sis was the one who got him new clothes. She was the one who did that sort of thing, the taking care of him sort of stuff, and if she took over the world then she wouldn't…and if she lost she couldn't…and if he never came back then she would have no one to take care of.

He was coming back.

He put his shoe back on, wincing the whole time. Blisters. His socks were ripped, too, but that was normal for him. He was always ripping his socks and wearing through them. Big Sis had been too busy with what was happening to notice that he'd needed new socks and shoes and…he raised his hand up. His stomach was showing. He needed a new shirt, too. She normally noticed these things if he didn't say anything…and he never said anything because clothes shopping was for girls. 'Shopping was a woman's game' like Dad had said. He should have noticed and so had she but…but she'd been too busy for him and it would only get worse if she won and then…and then he'd be all alone.

No.

He pressed his face against the cool glass of the window. He could see the city coming into view as he went down the mountain, the lights of it, all the buildings and houses. Inside of one of those houses was Ritsu. One of those lights was his…or maybe not. The sun went down early around this time. Maybe he was with his friends or even still at school…he couldn't remember when school let out. It had been a really long time since he'd gone, not since kindergarten had ended, and kindergarten had been shorter than grammar school. He couldn't remember how much shorter, though, since it had been so long…so many years…

He hoped he didn't have to go back to school.

A scary thought. School. Him in a school. No time to play with Mukai or take care of his hamsters, just sitting in one place all day and having someone talk at him and then, and then! And then it got even worse! They gave you work to do at home. There was no way he was taking his work home with him, that boring stuff could stay in the building it came from, but he'd seen enough TV to know that he was going to have to do homework if he went to school…

There was no way he was ever going to school.

What was he supposed to do, then? After this, once Dad was gone, then none of his rules would be in effect. He was the one who had decided that they didn't need to go to school anymore. He was the one that decided that they needed to move all the time. He was the one who decided that Big Sis was his mom, now. Without him everything just kind of…changed. He didn't know what it would change to. He didn't want to know what it would change to. Even if it was changes that he used to want like…like living in the Castle again.

No.

That part of his life was over now. He wasn't in kindergarten anymore, he wasn't that kid anymore, and he didn't want to be. He was Sho and, yes, in some ways he sucked like with all the lying but in some ways he didn't. He had time to do whatever he wanted to do. He could draw whenever he wanted and hang out with his friends whenever he wanted and take care of his little sister whenever he wanted. There was no reason to think that anything that big would have changed. No, Big Sis was going to need his help running the world and Sho was happy to be there for her.

He had been afraid of nothing.

He knew his sister. She wasn't going to change overnight just because she had a little bit of power. She'd had power over him, and more power than him, since they'd been little. Babies, even. She wasn't going to turn into another Dad, or Mom. She was going to be Big Sis and he had nothing to worry about…from here, anyway. He had plenty to worry about in the city, though. He could feel them, auras, Awakened but…stronger.

Awakened soldiers.

He sort of remembered the area where Ritsu lived. He lived kind of on the edge of town where it was mostly houses and schools and parks and other family stuff. He remembered what his house looked like and what his aura felt like, too, so really it was only a matter of dodging anyone who might have known his aura, or his red hair, and finding out how to get to Ritsu's house…and finding out how to keep his feet from aching, too. He had forgotten how much walking it was to Ritsu's house and how much it sucked walking in shoes that were too small. He had forgotten a lot of things.

But not how much he loved Ritsu.

He found the house eventually…and Ritsu wasn't home. His aura wasn't there, no, the house just kind of felt like him. He let himself into the backyard and then up into Ritsu's room, taking care to fly the whole time. He didn't know where Ritsu's creaky floorboards were so he just flew all the way to his bed and sat down in the near darkness.

It was boring.

He took his phone out of his pocket before he remembered that he needed to take the battery out. Hatori could have been spying on him the whole time! Sho looked around, paranoid, but there weren't any cameras in Ritsu's room. He didn't even have a laptop in his room or even a TV. Kind of boring, the boring kind of boring, the kind of boring that made him feel like he was going to climb out of his skin and dance with his skeleton like in that movie where the people's skeletons climbed out of their skin and the skins fought the skeletons. It hadn't been very good but there had been a lot of the gross kind of stuff that Fukuda hated…maybe he should have been nicer to Fukuda before.

Fukuda did care a lot about him.

He was grumpy, and a dickhole to everyone including Big Sis, but Fukuda had always been there for him. He'd been there for as long as Sho could remember. Fukuda had been the one to fix his scrapes, cuts, and bruises…concussions, contusions, and abrasions. Heh. He smiled as he remembered how funny that had been when he'd been little. When he'd still been so little that Fukuda playing menagerie had been enough to make his day. That Fukuda helping Mom make dinner and then even eating it with him too had made his evening. That Fukuda sleeping over had made his night.

Fukuda sure had slept over a lot, hadn't he?

Sho couldn't remember what they had done at those sleepovers. He just knew that, sometimes, Fukuda put him to sleep and he was there in the morning, too, to help Mom make breakfast. He wished he could have remembered. Things had been so much easier when he'd been little, so much more fun. He kind of remembered them jumping on the bed once…or maybe that had just been him and Big Sis. They had gotten up in the middle of the night to start jumping on the bed.

He rocked on Ritsu's bed.

It had sounded like that and…and that sound took him back. No, they hadn't been jumping but then…maybe it was just him and Mom that had gone bed jumping. She used to have more energy back then when he had been little. Before she had gotten sick and tired all the time…and before he had gotten sick and tired of her being sick and tired. He threw himself back on the bed, floored by how much of an asshole he had been to his own mother. Fukuda had slept over because Mom had been getting sick, obviously, and he had been trying to heal her. Sho rolled onto his side, the bed rocking loudly, and now he had another reason to be mad at himself. He nearly gave away his position! Now his parents were going to come upstairs, he could hear them downstairs talking about the news, and then they'd see him and he'd be a lot more interesting than the news and-

-hey!

He was laying on something. He sat up, slowly, and pulled the blanket back. There, under the pillow, was a flashlight and a notebook. It said 'Private. Read this and suffer the consequences. -Ritsu' right there in very tiny handwriting. He had to hold it up to the crack of light coming in through the closed door to see it…and now he couldn't unsee it. He was holding Ritsu's private thoughts in his hand and…and a flashlight…and he was born. Sho knew what he kept in notebooks, well sketchbooks, that he kept in his bed. Pictures of naked guys that he drew, sometimes from the internet and sometimes from his own mind…and sometimes from memories that he knew he shouldn't have been revisiting since he had a boyfriend now…but that wasn't what was happening here…right?

Right?

He pulled the blanket over his head and turned the flashlight on. He was going to do this but only to see if Ritsu had been drawing naked pictures of other guys in there…even though Sho did that but it wasn't like he was ever going to do anything with anyone. He had a boyfriend, first of all, and second of all he didn't know any guys who would have wanted to do it with him anyway, and third of all his boyfriend was supposed to be the one who wanted to do it with him!

Wait…

He opened the notebook. He didn't know what he wanted to do. Whatever Ritsu wanted because that was a normal thing to want to do with the person that you loved. Big Sis had done it with Shimazaki when she had been Sho's age. This was the thing you were supposed to do with your boyfriend, the thing that everyone wanted to do with their boyfriend, the thing that Sho…he wanted to do it but also the thought of doing it made him want to puke until he turned inside out. He opened the notebook with shaky hands and saw…at least it wasn't pictures of naked guys.

A lot of writing, though, tiny writing.

"January 1st, got a new notebook. Am going to write observations in it. Observation one, mom and dad got drunk last night after I went to sleep. There are two bottles of champagne in the garbage can when they only opened one last night. Also they might have done it, too. They're kissing a lot and Dad keeps on coming up behind Mom and wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck. Must vomit now…" Read Sho, maybe more out loud than he should have. Reading out loud was easier than reading in his head, though, and Ritsu wrote a lot of words per page…

He heard footsteps underneath him. He tried to read in his head.

'Tsubomi and her family went to the mountains again because her parents had a work party. Her mom said that we were too young to spend the holidays together. I wish people would just get it through their heads that I'm gay.' Read Sho, trying his best to keep the words in his head. This had never been easy, he was better at drawing, he was more of an artist than a reader. Ritsu was kind of an artist too. Not as good as Sho was but these doodles were kind of interesting. Lots of fireworks scribbled in this book,'

He hadn't known that Ritsu had liked fireworks…he wondered what else there was in here that he didn't know about.

'Fireworks could be seen coming over the side of the mountain. Some of those jumpsuit people were drunk on a train and then the train derailed. Nobody died. Claw? Probably. Will stay inside and will tell Tsubomi to stay inside too. Teru should be smart enough that I shouldn't tell him.' Read Sho in his head. He didn't know why it hurt when he read Teru's name, maybe because he was a motherfucking sister fucking heartbreaker. Or maybe because he was always with Ritsu and Ritsu could have been with him and…and…

And he had to keep on reading.

"…Reigen is hungover according to Teru. He snuck out after Teru went to bed. Teru followed at a distance. Reigen went to a bar, met a woman there, and then went back to her apartment. He didn't come back until four fifty eight in the morning and didn't wake up until noon. Conclusion: Little Claw activity over New Years Eve. Also adults I know doing it are gross. Will vomit again." Read Sho. Reading out loud was a lot easier than reading in his head. He made sure to whisper and he kept up reading the notebook. It may not have had any pictures of naked guys or plans for when he and Sho would do it, thankfully, but it was still pretty interesting. Ritsu wrote about stuff his family did, his friends, stuff he did at school, he even took meeting minutes though they were kind of boring. The only thing that kept them from being just as boring as the meetings Sho had sat in on that Dad had held was the fact that his boyfriend had written the notes. He was the one who had put his pen to the page and written so much. Sho poured over every word he read, losing track of the time, where he was, or even that he should have been on his guard.

That had been a mistake.

"The fuck!" shouted Sho as the blanket was pulled off of his head. He held the flashlight above his head, about to hit whoever had found him so far over the head that they wound up in China, but he stopped himself at the last minute. There he was, Ritsu, standing there in front of him…right in front…

He dropped the flashlight onto the bed.

"…nothing Mom! Just talking on the phone…it's on speaker!" shouted Ritsu. It took Sho a moment to hear the other voice, the one coming up the stairs. It was Ritsu's mom telling him to wash up for dinner. That was such a mom thing to say…not that he knew her, just from the notebook, the one that he shoved under the pillow where he had found it. Ritsu closed the door with his powers and put his computer chair in front of it. Then he turned to face Sho, climbed up on the bed, and hugged him.

It was the best hug that he'd ever gotten in his life.

"Sho?" asked Ritsu

"Less talking more hugging." Said Sho as he held Ritsu close. This moment couldn't end, not yet, not now.

"What's going on? Are you in trouble? Am I in trouble? Are we-" asked Ritsu before Sho kissed him. He kissed Sho back, briefly, before breaking away from him. As great as kissing felt if Sho was here then something serious was going on. Good thing he had been paying attention to the world around him. Claw had been recruiting heavily, those guys at the exorcism had been the last free psychics left and most of them had been frauds or close to it, and Seasoning City had a weird amount of traffic according to mom and dad. The lines at the train station were too long, the train cars were too packed, there were way too many vans on the road, and a bunch of weirdly dressed people had been hanging out in town. Something was happening…if Sho was here something bad.

Either that or Sho had come all the way to Seasoning City to kiss him.

"Can you just kiss me, please?" asked Sho. Ritsu got a far off look in his eyes as he thought…what there was to even think about Sho didn't know. They hadn't seen each other in forever, hadn't kissed in two forevers, and may not have been able to see each other again after this for another three forevers….or even a never…but Ritsu had to think about things!?

"Did you come all the way here just to…just to kiss me?" asked Ritsu, scratching his head. That made no sense…and all the sense. Sho loved him and he loved Sho and…and this was the sort of thing that only happened on TV. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. He should have told Sho everything he had seen and asked what was going on and…and Sho was holding his hand…they needed to work and plan and…and he needed to tell Sho what had happened with the spirit…and now Sho was holding his other hand…and they needed to sneak out and meet up with Reigen and Teru…and now Sho was leaning in so close and he smelled so good, like the woods, and he wanted to…to…

He wanted to kiss Sho more than anything else in the world.

"I've been thinking about kissing you since the day we met." Said Sho. That was the truth. He didn't want to lie, not to Ritsu, so he was just going to avoid the truth. Avoid the truth and kiss Ritsu. He leaned in and kissed him, conscious of how chapped his lips were and just how many poptarts he'd eaten that day…and not even the good kinds. He'd been eating the triple chocolate kind and he didn't know if Ritsu liked chocolate…

Ritsu really liked chocolate.

"I missed you so much." Said Ritsu before he got back to kissing Sho. Everything could wait. It wasn't like the world was going to end just because he was kissing Sho…he needed to spend less time with Teru. His attitude was starting to rub off. Ritsu needed to stop kissing him. He needed to let go of Sho's hands, he needed to get up, he needed to stop pressing his lips against Sho's. Especially with all of this gloopy chapstick mom made him wear. He tried to pull away…but Sho moved forward.

"Missed you too." Said Sho before he got back to it. Ritsu let go of his hand…right, you were supposed to do things with your hands when you kissed someone. Sho hadn't been doing a lot of kissing in his lifetime. He didn't know what he was supposed to do….what was ok. Ritsu was there and his boyfriend and he knew what people did together but…but he didn't know what to do and…and…

His shoulders seemed safe.

"We should talk." Said Ritsu, breaking away for air. He had been about to say…he didn't know what. Sho's arms were around his shoulders. He had seen people kiss like this before, he was almost thirteen it wasn't like he didn't know about making out, and Teru had told him more stories than he'd ever wanted to hear…maybe he should have paid more attention, though, especially to the ones about making out.

Claw. They needed to discuss Claw. He knew how to discuss Claw.

"About what?" asked Sho between kisses. If it was about what was going to happen, soon, then he was just going to have to keep this up for the rest of the night. He wouldn't have minded, he could have kept this up for the rest of their lives if he'd had to. Ritsu's shoulders felt so nice under his arms. He leaned in closer. This was all just so…so…so perfect.

He never wanted this to end.

"About-" said Ritsu before he heard his mom coming up the stairs…right. Dinner! He was supposed to have been washing up for dinner and-and-and-

-and he threw the blanket over Sho's head as soon as he heard Mom start to push at his door.

"Mom! Don't come in! I'm…I'm coming down!" said Ritsu as he used his powers to keep the door shut. The chair had only done so much. He heard Dad shout something about Ritsu getting older and Mom needing to leave closed doors alone…he felt himself start to turn red. Great, now dinner was going to be awkward…he looked at Sho.

Better an awkward dinner than one where he was going to have to answer some complicated questions.

"Stay here!" said Ritsu before he moved the door and ran downstairs. He didn't have time to see what Sho had whispered to him. All he had to do was get through this dinner and then they could talk. He ran down to the table and practically threw himself down into his seat. There were four plates…for a second he thinks that Mom and Dad knew what was happening…but that was crazy.

If they had known then they would have been trying to take him and run away.

"Ritsu, honey, I'm sorry about the whole thing with your door earlier." Said Hana as she handed Ritsu his silverware. Poor baby, he must have been so embarrassed. He was beat red and hunched over his plate like he was trying to hide. Her baby was growing up and she had to face it. He needed his mother during these trying times.

Especially when his father would have rather hidden behind the paper than help his son through life's most difficult transition.

"It's fine Mom, really. Let's eat, thanks for the food!" Said Ritsu before he began to practically shovel food into his mouth. He didn't even bother to taste it, it was just curry from the cubes anyway. He could have mom's curry anytime. Right now he needed to get back upstairs before Sho disappeared like he always did…

Ritsu burned the roof of his mouth. He didn't care.

"No Teru tonight?" asked Hana as she glanced at the empty plate.

"No, no Teru tonight." Said Ritsu between bites of food.

"I could have sworn…oh, never mind. I just thought he'd have been here, he's usually over tonight." Said Hana

"Busy." Said Ritsu, his teeth scraping against his spoon. It felt and sounded terrible inside of his skull. It didn't matter, he wasn't going to die from his teeth scraping his spoon.

"Uh-huh…you know, if you two had another fight you can always talk to your father and I about it. Right, honey?" asked Hana pointedly. She glanced over the top of her husband's newspaper. He quickly drew his eyes back to…for the love of God, he was reading the obituaries! She tried to take the paper away from him but he turned, quickly, to the side.

"Can't stop now, Hana, the markets are in…uh…flux." Said Ichimaro as he avoided that most dreaded subject; his son's love life. He would rather have discussed taxes, politics, and last week's episode of 'Talentless Japan'.

"For the love of God, Ichimaro, those are the obituaries. Now talk to your son about-" said Hana

"Teru and I had a fight, a big one, and I'm really sad so…so I'm going to go and eat my dinner in my room now." said Ritsu. Mom and Dad were starting t fight. He knew an opportunity when he saw one. He picked up his plate and got up as Mom and Dad got into a weird tug of war over the paper…the one from three days ago if the date on the front was right.

"Oh honey…alright. See, Ichimaro, he's eating his feelings now. I hope you're happy." Said Hana as she got that damned paper away from him and slammed it down on the table. She couldn't do it all on her own, especially not now. It was nearly Shigeko's birthday. He knew what day it was the same as she did. She didn't get to hide. She didn't get to hide from the fact that these conversations were important, awkward, but also…also gifts. She would have given anything to have been able to have these sorts of conversations with Shigeko…Ichimaro didn't understand. He never understood.

"Maybe he's just hungry. He's a growing boy, he's nearly thirteen." Said Ichimaro. She always got this way in May, too high strung. Ritsu didn't need that right now. They needed to give him space, not fight, and not stress him out by having awkward conversations either. He knew that Ritsu didn't want his parents sticking their noses into his relationship foibles and, really, Ichimaro didn't want to do that either. Hana just didn't understand boys, that was all, and…and it wasn't like she had a daughter anymore…

Neither of them did.

"I'm not eating my feelings, I'm just hungry." Said Ritsu as he carried his plate upstairs. Mom and Dad were always kind of short with each other, or they cried on each other, this time of year. The month was going to be over and they'd be back to normal soon…but he didn't have time to worry about them or his sister. She wasn't even around anymore.

He was done going to the temple.

He was done…no he wasn't, they'd make him go again soon, but not now. Right now the only thing he had to think about was going to see his boyfriend. He couldn't believe he had a boyfriend stashed in his room! It was like something from a movie, or the TV, or a book. It was exciting, the kind of exciting that made his aura practically hum around him, he couldn't really make it stop. Maybe he didn't want it to stop. It felt good.

It felt good not to worry about the usual May stuff. Or the usual Claw stuff.

He opened and closed his door quickly, making sure that Sho couldn't hear his parents fighting. It would have killed the mood…and there was a mood. He was suddenly very nervous. Maybe they had been kissing too much, maybe they needed to talk about what Sho was really doing there. Maybe they needed to talk about Claw and the things Ritsu had noticed…or maybe they did just need to kiss more.

Make out…if he wanted to.

"Wow, you guys eat fast." Said Sho as he pulled the blanket off of his head. He held it under his nose, briefly, and then put it back. It smelled like Ritsu and laundry soap and…curry? No, wait, it was that plate that smelled like curry…he felt his stomach growling. He had told Big Sis not to hold dinner for him…but maybe that had been the wrong call…

He had been eating three times a day, at least, for the past thirteen years. He could skip a meal if it meant that he got a few more precious seconds of kissing Ritsu.

"No, I brought this up for me or you or…whoever wants it. But we can eat later. Right now I want to know why you're here, and I think it's not just to kiss me." said Ritsu as he put the plate down on his desk. As much as he wanted to kiss Ritsu he had to think. He wasn't Teru, he didn't get to get distracted like this.

"The thing is…kissing you is a big reason. I'm here in town for Claw reasons but…but can we talk about that later, please? I just need to…to be with you." said Sho. He could see his aura, it was forming a bubble around him, around them. He didn't want to pierce it. He could see Ritsu's aura. It was mixing with his. It could have popped but it didn't.

It did, however, shake.

"What Claw reasons?" asked Ritsu. That was the important thing. He needed to know.

"Claw reasons about…plans. They're important and…and I'll tell you in a minute, ok? Just…just kiss me, first…please." Said Sho softly.

"Second, not first. If I kiss you first then I'm going to get distracted and I can't afford to let anything distract me." said Ritsu

"Why not? It's not like I'm telling you to run away with me or anything." Said Sho, crossing his arms. He couldn't believe that Ritsu was being this way. Yeah, saving the world was important but so was…so was all of this. So was he…not that Sho thought that he was more important than the world. He just, selfishly, wished that he was more important than the world to Ritsu.

"I…um…" said Ritsu, looking down at his socks. All he heard was 'run away with me'. Well, and the first part, but the second part was the most important part. Run away with Sho…he couldn't leave, it would have killed his parents, and Reigen wouldn't have been able to cope without him, and Teru couldn't hold this thing together on his own either…but running away with Sho, leaving everything behind, just being with him…

It was a thought, a selfish thought, but a nice one.

"Unless we stop Claw I couldn't even if I wanted to." Said Ritsu

"So you don't want to?" asked Sho, his eyes narrowing. He hadn't been asking him to run away with him, that would have been dumb, but if there had been a world where they could have run away together and Ritsu would have still stayed then…then what did that say about them? About Sho himself. What did it say when everyone he loved wanted to leave him?

Maybe this was how Dad felt.

"I don't know what I want, ok? I want…I just want my side to win, ok? I want us to win but we can't win if I start making selfish choices. I'm not Teru." Said Ritsu

"It's not selfish. Not for you. I would be for me but not for you." said Sho

"How is it selfish for me but not for you? That makes no fucking sense." Said Sho

"It does! It's just that…that this…it's something that I have to do. It's something that I have to do because I just…I feel like I'm the only one who can…out of me and Reigen and Teru I'm the only one taking this seriously. I mean I found some other people but…but they're not much and…and it's scary, ok? I guess that I've been scared and…and I guess that I'm scared now. it's not that I don't want to make out with you but I just…I'm scared, I guess." said Ritsu as he sat down on the bed. He pulled his knees up to his chest. He felt weird, kind of exposed, after having had said all of that. He was the leader, even though it was just him and two other guys he was the leader, and he didn't get to say that he was scared. He shouldn't have even felt scared. He knew that Teru would never have let him live this down…

But Sho wasn't Teru. Sho was his boyfriend.

He felt an arm around his shoulders. Sho was pulling him in closer. He could hear his parents downstairs, they were talking about something loudly. He didn't know what it was and he didn't care just so long as they didn't come upstairs. He didn't want them or anything to ruin this. Being here, with Sho, feeling his arms and his aura around him. He just felt sort of…of safe.

"You don't have to be scared and…and we don't have to kiss or do anything else if you don't want to." Said Sho. He didn't want to talk about Claw. He didn't want to worry about what was going to happen. He didn't want to drag Ritsu into it but Ritsu…he wanted to be dragged into it. He wanted this, for some reason, even if he was scared. Sho wanting to just kiss him was selfish, he was the selfish one, and he couldn't be. Not to someone he loved.

He wasn't Dad.

"Anything…else?" asked Ritsu. He had thought that he had been afraid before but now…he had nothing to be afraid of, it wasn't like he hadn't thought about it, but thinking about something and listening to Teru go on about it wasn't the same as being prepared for it. He hadn't planned anything! This was the sort of thing you needed to plan for! You had to plan for big things like tis and…and ok, his plans hadn't always gone well, but he was…he wasn't Teru! He couldn't do this kind of thing, not now, he was only twelve!

"Yeah, like if you don't want to kiss and stuff then we don't have to." Said Sho

"But what's the other stuff? I mean, I know what it is, but I don't know what you…um…think that it is." Said Ritsu. Sho was red, he was red, and he could hear Mom and Dad talking about wallpaper. He kind of wanted to go downstairs and talk about wallpaper. There was nothing embarrassing about wallpaper.

"I don't know if it's a 'think that it is' thing. I think that it might just be the same for…um…everyone. But I don't know, I've never…um…you're the only boyfriend I've ever had, ok?" said Sho, looking away from Ritsu. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He shouldn't have been so freaked out at the prospect of doing the stuff that came after you kissed someone. The thought of it freaked him out more than taking on Dad and saving the world.

He was so weird…why did he have to be so weird?

"Yeah. Same. I mean I tell people that Teru's my boyfriend but he's not. I mean I would never cheat on you." said Ritsu

"Well, yeah, obviously. I'd never cheat on you either. You'd never fall in love with a cheater and neither would I." said Sho

"I don't know if you can tell if someone's a cheater. I mean nobody who knew they were going to get cheated on would willingly fall in love with a cheater." Said Ritsu

"Yeah, I guess…but still! You're smarter than most people so of course you'd be smart enough not to fall in love with a cheater." Said Sho

"Yeah. I wouldn't. I'd fall in love with you." said Ritsu as he took Sho's hand. It felt right, everything about this felt right, and…and he was scared but…but he was brave, too, brave enough to say how he felt. To feel how he felt.

"I…you would?" asked Sho, his voice getting really high. He held Ritsu's hand. He wanted to run away. He wanted to run closer to Ritsu. Maybe he just wanted to run around. Ritsu had just said that he was in love with him and…and it felt so good. He felt like he could have done anything. He felt like he could have been anyone. He felt like…like everything in the whole world was perfect! He wanted to kiss Ritsu….but he didn't. Because Ritsu didn't want to and he didn't want to make Ritsu do anything that he didn't want to do.

"Yeah…wouldn't you?" asked Ritsu. He didn't like this, being scared, because he just…this wasn't him. He always knew what to do. He never ran away even though, as Reigen had said so many times, he was being a moron. Maybe he was being a moron now. He should have been planning his next move, figuring out what Claw's next move was, or just figuring out what was going on. But no, he was sitting there scared out of his mind because his boyfriend was in love with him and he was in love with his boyfriend and…and love was scary.

Saving the world was easy.

"Love you or me?" asked Sho. Ritsu laughed and hit him over the head.

"Me." laughed Ritsu

"Yeah, of course I'd love you. Of course I love you now and if you don't want to kiss then we don't have to kiss and if you don't want to do the other stuff we don't have to do the other stuff." Said Sho

"But what if I did…kiss you, I mean. I mean I don't want to do the other stuff…sorry." Said Ritsu. Sho was older then him, not by more than a few months, but those few months felt like years. Sho was ready and he wasn't. That was just the way that things were and…and he couldn't change it. The way he was.

"That's fine! I mean we can do the other stuff when you want to. I don't want to rush you or…or anything else…and we can talk about what's going on if you want to." Said Sho

"Ok but…but we can kiss first if you want to." Said Ritsu. He had been kind of selfish back there. Selfish in trying to save the world but still selfish. Sho lived in Claw, every moment of his life was Claw, and he didn't want to be reminded of any of that. He wanted to kiss Ritsu and Ritsu wanted to kiss him so why not just…just kiss already?

"When we're done then I'll tell you what's going on…I will." Said Sho, knowing that he was being selfish. He shouldn't have been selfish like this. He should have told Ritsu about everything so he could have saved himself…and he shouldn't have been here. Being here just put Ritsu in danger and…and he needed to go and…and…and he wanted to kiss Ritsu. He wanted to pretend that they were normal. He wanted to love Ritsu and be loved by him. He wanted to just kiss his boyfriend and he didn't know why Ritsu had to bring all of this into it. Maybe because that was just the way he was. He had been trying to stop Claw since he first heard about Claw, first got kidnapped, the first time he saved Ritsu…he would tell Ritsu as soon as he got the chance, he decided. As soon as they were done kissing.

He didn't get the chance.

They kissed. A lot. They kissed and they kissed and they kissed some more until, at least Sho assumed, Ritsu didn't have enough room in his head for anything else, or maybe that was just Sho. Every time he kissed Ritsu he felt lightheaded, dizzy, but in a good way. What did he have to think about the other stuff for? This was enough. This was more than enough for him. This was…this was perfect. This whole thing was perfect from start to finish, in fact the only thing that wasn't perfect was the fact the it had to end.

But it did. All good things had to come to an end.

Sho knew that he had to go. Staying here with Ritsu, with the person he loved most in the world, what was he wanted most in the world…but it wasn't what the world needed the most. The world needed him to stop his dad so he had no choices, really, but to leave in the middle of the night. Leave after they had both gotten too tired to keep going. Leave after Ritsu had fallen asleep in his arms…

He didn't want to but he had to.

Leaving after kissing someone was a dickhole move, he knew it, and he knew that Ritsu was going to be really fucking hurt once he woke up and realized that Sho was gone. But he had to leave, this wasn't what he needed to be doing. He needed to be away from here, he needed to be with Big Sis, and he needed to be away from Ritsu. Once stuff started happening then he knew people would be looking for him. His aura would lead them right to Ritsu and if Ritsu got captured he knew that what would come next would be worse than what they normally did to kidnapped and captured espers. Sho didn't know what Ritsu would do but he did know one thing…Ritsu would be safe.

He would be safe and he would live through this.

He would make it through this and, yeah, be mad at him…but at least he'd be ok. That was everything that he could have asked for. He knew he should have stayed, like Fukuda had said, but…but Sho knew better. Fukuda didn't always have the best ideas. Fukuda didn't always see the big picture. But that was ok, Sho did, and he knew what to do…even if it hurt.

And even if he wasn't that good at writing.

In the night, in the dark, with only Ritsu's flashlight for light he wrote a note. He told Ritsu everything that was happening and how he had to run away, how he had to make sure he was far away from Seasoning City until it was safe, how Sho would make sure to find him when it was all over. Either Sho or whoever went to find Ritsu after they found Sho's body…he crossed out that last part. There was no reason to worry Ritsu like that. There was no reason to scare him. No reason to scare someone he loved….and how loved him back.

It was the best feeling in the world.

And walking was the worst feeling in the world. He walked, mostly, back to the Seventh Division. He flew when he was sure nobody could see him, walked when he couldn't, and spent too long waiting for a bus that of course wasn't going to be running in the middle of the night since this was when normal people slept. By the time he made it back to the Seventh Division, his feet aching and one on his shoes needing to be taped back together, even people were asleep there too. The Awakened's bedtime had been a while ago, so had Mukai's, and pretty much everyone else's. The only people who should have been awake this late should have been Shimazaki, since he couldn't tell day from night, Hatori, since he mostly lived on soda and energy drinks, and maybe Dad since he liked to hang out with Hatori for some reason…or maybe it was Hatori who liked to hang out with him…which made even less sense. There were only a few people he had expected to run into in the middle of the night and they were easy to avoid.

Big Sis, however, wasn't so easy to avoid.

"Big Sis? Are you still up?" asked Sho as he came home and kicked his shoes off. This was her apartment, her name had been on the front, and he assumed that he was living with her. It wasn't like Dad wanted him around and Serizawa was Fukuda's moving buddy and roommate now. He had expected to sneak in and climb into the top bunk, or the bed on the left, it depended on how their new bedroom was set up. What he hadn't expected was to see Big Sis sitting on the couch, still in her day clothes, watching Frozen like they were still little kids or something.

It was way too late for her to be up…maybe something happened? But then people would have been running around and screaming like they did whenever something went wrong, or right, in Claw.

"Oh. Hi, Sho." said Mob as she sat up. She checked the time on her phone…it was very late. He'd missed dinner, like he said that he would, but also bath time and bedtime. Or at least he would have if they had still been little. They weren't kids anymore. He could be in charge of himself just like she could be in charge of herself.

Maybe that was why they didn't live together anymore.

"Hi…why are you still up? And why are you watching Frozen?" asked Sho as he sat down beside her.

"Because it's the greatest movie ever made." Said Mob as she paused it. They were at the part where let it go. She was so lucky like that, she could just run away and live in an ice castle in the mountains where everyone could be safe from her and she could be free to be herself. She loved the idea of it…but she knew that it wouldn't have worked for her, and not just because the cold bothered her a lot. She never would have been able to leave Sho and Mukai and she knew that Sho would have gone after her because he was a lot like Anna like that.

"You still think so?" asked Sho

"It's Frozen." Said Mob

"That doesn't mean that it's the greatest movie ever made, though, that just means that it's the one you like the best." Said Sho

"Which do you think is the best movie ever made, then?" asked Mob

"I think it's a tie between Zootopia and Train to Busan." Said Sho

"You can't use train to Busan, it's Mukai's favorite movie." Said Mob

"We can both agree. She's my sister, of course she's going to agree with me." said Sho

"Well…ok, I mean it's not like we can wake Mukai up and ask her so I guess you and her can share a favorite movie…and I guess that Zootopia is a good movie, too. I just like Frozen best, I guess." said Mob

"Well, yeah, it's been your favorite movie since forever." Said Sho

"I know, I love it a lot…but I love you more and we can watch whatever you want to watch, little brother." Said Mob as she passed him the remote. She knew how he felt about Frozen, he didn't like any movie about a princess even though she had explained time and time again that Elsa was a queen and not a princess. Although she loved Frozen she loved her little brother even more and she would have gladly watched Zootopia for him, or Train to Busan, or even that movie he liked about the guy who killed people and wore their faces.

"I don't really want to watch anything, I think that I'll go to bed…but you can have the top bunk since I love you and stuff." Said Sho, wincing as he tried to stand. He almost wished he had been rooming with Fukuda again. He could have fixed Sho right up…but then he would have lectured Sho about how dangerous coming back was, how he shouldn't have been up this late, how he should have eaten dinner, how he needed to take a shower, how he should have eaten his veggies, and then some other stuff that Sho couldn't think up right now.

"There's no top bunk." Said Mob

"Ok, then I'll just sleep in the bed on the left and you can have the one on the right…unless you wanted to switch or whatever." Said Sho

"There's no bed on the left." Said Mob

"Wait…then do we have separate rooms?" asked Sho. They had slept apart before, they did it all the time, but his bed had always been in their room. They slept in other people's room but their room, that was specifically for the two of them, had always bene just that. For the two of them. They couldn't just have two separate rooms…it didn't work like that.

It had never worked like that.

"No. I think that we have two separate places to live." Said Mob

"Well, yeah, sometimes we live in two separate places but we always have a house that's just ours. Ours and Dad's but Dad's…Dad." Said Sho

"No, he has his own place with Hatori and this is mine and…and I don't know where he stuck you. But you can stay with me if you want to." Said Mob

"Wait…so nobody even thought about me?" asked Sho. She hadn't thought about him but…but he thought about her. That was why he'd come back, for her, to be with her and to help her and…and she hadn't even thought about him. She just had her own place. She just had her own space and…and she was older. She was fourteen now, it was after midnight, and he was still thirteen and…and his brain was still trying to make the best of it when he knew it was the worst and…and…

And maybe he was the one thinking of the worst and his brain was trying to think of something to make him feel better. At least his brain still thought about him.

"What do you mean? I always think about you." said Mob

"Then why don't I have anywhere to sleep? This is just like the time I came home and…and there was only one bed in our room…" said Sho

"Sho, no, this isn't like that. I think that you're stuck with Fukuda since he loves you a lot and stuff and…and I think that Dad just stuck me here alone because he…he really needs to stop getting involved in my love life." said Mob. She had a love life now and she didn't need her Dad involved. She certainly didn't need to find a mixture of her stuff and Serizawa's there, in her room, and no room for Sho and…and she didn't want to think about the fact that the person who she loved and who loved her loved spending time with Fukuda of all people more than he loved her.

"You shouldn't have told Dad that you had one, then, that's why Dad doesn't know about…stuff." Said Sho

"I didn't tell him! I would never tell him your secrets." Said Mob

"I know that you didn't and…and I shouldn't keep secrets from you." said Sho with a sigh

"But you don't." said Mob

"I do, I mean today I wasn't in the woods with Fukuda, I was…with someone else. And I'm sorry for lying to you." said Sho. He wasn't going to lie to her anymore. He loved her and when you loved someone you didn't just go around telling them lie after lie after lie. He knew he had to be careful, Dad and Hatori had finally showed up and Hatori spied on everyone and told Dad everything he heard. If Dad knew about Ritsu then everything would be over…but if he hurt Big Sis by lying to her then everything would be over. She was the one who was always thinking of him, not Dad. Dad was the one who had moved him away from her without even asking.

"Oh…so you were with, um, that boy who you…ok." Said Mob. She couldn't be hurt by this, that just wasn't how it worked. If she was hurt because her brother had been with the person he loved instead of with her then she would have been kind of a jerk, and also a hypocrite. Someone who said one thing and then did another. She had left Sho alone before when she had been in love and…and she had made him feel horrible.

As horrible as she felt now.

He had every right to be happy and…and it was a wonderful thing that he had someone who he loved. Someone who loved him. Someone who wanted to be with him. She didn't have that…she did and she didn't. Serizawa was always hanging out with Fukuda because they were friends now…for some reason. She didn't know why or how it had happened but she was happy that he was making friends. That was what he wanted, wasn't it? To make friends and leave his room and just be…be like everyone else. Wasn't that what she wanted for him, too? And for herself…all she wanted for herself was him.

But he didn't want to be with her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you and all that other shit." Said Sho

"I don't mind, Sho, it's ok, I know why you did it and…and I can't stay mad at you. Especially not when you wanted to be with someone you love…it must be nice, having someone who wants to be with you." said Mob

"You've got Serizawa, he wants to be with you. He's always hanging out with you or at least around you." said Sho

"He used to but…but then he made friends with Fukuda and now it's like he doesn't even want to be with me." said Mob softly

"He does, he's just dumb." Said Sho with a wave of his hand. He didn't know what Big Sis saw in Serizawa. She kind of had bad taste in guys when he thought about it. First Hatori and then Ritsu's friend…sister fucking mother fucker…and then Shimazaki when she knew that Sho used to like him…and he wasn't going to think too much about that. Serizawa wasn't any better than those other guys. He was kind of dumb when it came to people, not mean, just dumb. He was probably playing videogames with Fukuda right now, those old ones from when he and Dad were kids, and he had probably even forgotten that he had a girlfriend to begin with. He just needed someone to remind him that he had a girlfriend.

Or someone to kick his ass. Sho had no problem doing that, too.

"He's not dumb, Sho, don't be mean." Said Mob

"He kind of is, though. I mean think about it. He likes videogames so much that he's so wrapped up in playing them with Fukuda that he even forgot that he has a girlfriend." Said Sho

"That…makes sense." Said Mob. Serizawa had said that he loved her and he wasn't a liar, she never would have trusted him if he had been, he just wasn't very good at this kind of thing, it seemed, but that was ok. She knew how much he liked videogames and how much he wanted to make friends, too. That was all that he had wanted back when he had been in his room. He had just wanted to be able to be friends with someone, to be able to be around someone without having to worry about hurting them, and Fukuda was kind of perfect when it came to that…yes, it made sense. Serizawa was worried about hurting someone so of course he made friends with someone who could heal from anything…even if that person just so happened to be Fukuda.

"See? He's kind of dumb…about stuff like that. When you're with someone you've got to think about them and how they feel and stuff like that." Said Sho. Big Sis nodded. She was actually listening to him…well of course she was, he was the expert when it came to this kind of thing. He'd had a boyfriend for longer than she had and when this was over…he didn't want to think about that. How things could have been really good once this was all over. How he and Ritsu could have been together like he wanted them to be. How they could have hung out together without worrying about what would happen or who would find out. How he could have introduced Ritsu to all his friends and Ritsu could have brought Sho into his life too. Serizawa really was dumb, he didn't know how lucky he was, even Dad said that he was allowed to be with Big Sis. He didn't have to hide.

Why did Big Sis only like dumb guys?

"That's really smart, Sho. I should have thought more about Serizawa and he should have thought more about me, too. We both messed up. I guess that he was just worried about hurting me, especially after what happened, and I guess that I let the fact that I don't like Fukuda keep me away from him." said Mob

"Of course it's smart, I thought it up…but thanks. For thinking I'm smart and for…for taking care of me and…and loving me for stuff like that. I mean I never really thanked you before and I should have so…thanks." Said Sho as he looked down at his feet. The holes in his socks had gotten bigger, he could stick nearly all of his toes out of them. One sock had a bunch of holes in them and the other just had one big hole where his toes went. He needed new socks. Big Sis looked at him and then looked down.

And then she gasped even though these were just socks, not important, not like saving the world or being in love with someone or wanting to keep that person safe even though being with someone who you loved should have been enough and…and stuff.

"Sho! What happened to your socks?" asked Mob. That was horrible! When was the last time she'd gotten him new socks? Or herself? She looked down at her socks. They had holes in them too but a couple of small ones, not big ones like that…but she needed new socks. She needed new socks and so did he…but she had been too busy being worried about her own stuff.

How could she possibly take care of the entire world if she couldn't even take care of her little brother?

"Nothing. They just kind of rubbed against my shoes too much. They're just too small, that's all, I don't care. It's just socks." Said Sho with a shrug. He didn't care. He couldn't care. He had more important things to care about. If he cared about this then she would and they had more important things to care about…she had more important things to care about…

More important things to care about than him.

"Your socks or your shoes?" asked Mob

"Both, but I can still get them on. Don't worry about me." said Sho

"But I-" said Mob

"Worry about stopping Dad, saving the world, getting Serizawa to stop hanging out with Fukuda, and…and whatever else you're worried about." Said Sho

"I should worry about you too, little brother, I should worry about you more than anyone else." Said Mob. Sho was the most important person in the world, him and Mukai but Mukai didn't need her as much as Sho did, and she needed to treat him like that. She had been too wrapped up in her own things and if she took over Claw then she'd have even less time for him…but she had to make time…but Dad had never been able to make time.

Or maybe he hadn't wanted to.

She wanted to make time for him. She wanted to make all the time in the world for him. She wanted to be…to be his sister. Maybe that was all she wanted. All she wanted was love, and to be loved, and there were so many different kinds of love. She wished that she had been more appreciative of what they'd had when they'd been little. How all they'd had to do was play all day. Even if he was mad at her all the time back then, and hit her, there were still good times too.

She had thought that the good times could have lasted forever. She had been wrong.

"Don't." said Sho. He hated it when she got like this. He wasn't more important than the entire world! If he distracted her or…or made her feel like she couldn't save the world until he saved her or…or just…he wasn't more important than the world!

"Don't do what? You need new socks and shoes, Sho, you can't go on like this." Said Mob

"Don't worry about me, Big Sis, you need to worry about stopping Dad. Then…then you need to worry about taking care of the world." Said Sho

"What do you mean? Do you want to…to get your own socks and shoes from now on?" asked Mob

"Yeah. How hard can it be?" asked Sho

"It's not hard, it's just…it's always been my job. Ever since we were little." Said Mob. She wasn't sure if she liked this. Sho was still so little and…actually, no, he wasn't. He was thirteen. That was the same age she had been just yesterday. It was weird thinking about it. Sho was as old as she was. He was her little brother but he wasn't that little anymore.

"Yeah well I'm not-" said Sho

"You're not little anymore." Said Mob

"What?" asked Sho. He didn't know why she had said that. That was supposed to have been his line. He was supposed to tell her that he wasn't little anymore, she was supposed to tell him that he was, and then they were supposed to fight and he was supposed to let her win even though he didn't want her to but him above everything else. She wasn't supposed to agree with him.

This was really weird…really, really weird.

"You're not a little kid anymore. You're thirteen. When I was thirteen I…well, I did a lot of things when I was thirteen. I only turned fourteen a few hours ago. You're really not that much younger than me and if you want to buy your own clothes then you can. You're not little like Mukai, you don't need…you don't need me anymore." Said Mob. She felt kind of like someone had kicked her in the chest. Sho didn't need her anymore but she needed him…and she shouldn't have. She was the big sister, not the little sister, and her family was supposed to need her. Not the other way around…right?

"Y-Yeah, I'm not. I'm thirteen and I can take care of myself and stuff like that. I can take care of myself and…and you don't get to tell me that I can't help you save the world! So I will." Said Sho. There was no way she was going to agree to that. Not that he didn't want her to, he did, but he also…he also wanted things to stay normal. To be the way that they always were. She was supposed to treat him like a little kid, he was supposed to not listen, then she was supposed to get sad and he was supposed to apologize. That was the way it had always been and that was the way that it would always be…right?

"You can, I believe in you." said Mob. She knew Sho. She knew that he could act kind of…like himself sometimes but she also knew that he wanted to help her. He was going to help her with this whether she liked it or not and…and maybe it was time that she trusted him completely. But there was fear there, too, fear that something could have happened to him…could have hurt him…

But he wasn't little anymore. He knew how dangerous this was just as she did…in fact he'd been working on this for much longer than she had.

"Ok…ok…yeah! Yeah, you should believe in me and…and I'm not a little kid anymore so I believe in myself and I'll just…just go to be now, then, because I'm old enough to put myself to bed and…and stuff." Said Sho. He had what he wanted but…but had he lost what he'd had? Had he actually liked her babying him? Or was he just scared of what would happen if she didn't need to baby him anymore. She could have left and…and Moms lift, sisters didn't, but…but also Moms weren't supposed to leave and…and…

And he needed to go to bed.

"Ok…um, there's one bed but we can share if you want….but later. There's something that I have to do." Said Mob. Sho didn't need her anymore. This was what he had always wanted. For as long as she'd been in charge he'd complained about her bossing him around. She had only bossed him around because he had been too little to take care of himself…but that was then and this was now and right now….right now she trusted him. He was going to be fine and she…she wasn't needed her anymore. But that was ok, she knew where she was still needed.

She knew who still needed her.

"Yeah, I can sleep on my own. I'm not a baby. Even Mukai sleeps on her own." Said Sho. She slept in a room with her mom, actually, but in her own bed and he wasn't going to be more of a baby than his actual Baby Sis. She was little, not him, and he…he was fine on his own. He really was.

"Alright. You can have whichever side of the bed you want, I don't care. If you want more blankets then-" said Mob

"I'm not a baby, I'm not Mukai, I know how to keep warm. So just go already." Said Sho

"Ok. Goodnight, Little Brother." Said Mob. She hugged him before she got up. He wasn't too big for hugs now, was he? Was a person ever too big for hugs? She hoped not otherwise that was another thing she wished she could have done over. She wished that she had hugged him more. She wished that she had spent more time with him. She wished…she wished for a lot of things. She had spent most of her life wished, it felt like, and it never came through.

Even if you folded a thousand paper cranes.

Moms didn't come home, Dad's didn't stop being jerks, little brothers grew up and didn't need you anymore, and a lot of other things happened to. That was just how it worked. Instead of wishing for things to get better she could make things better. She had the power to do that so she might as well have done it. That as what this was all about. She was going to make Claw a better place, to make the world a better place, to make everything better…

And to feel better.

There was one person who still needed her. Someone who she should have spent more time with. She just really, really, really didn't like Fukuda. But she shouldn't have let something like that keep her away from the person who loved her. She would have been hurt if Serizawa had avoided her because she hung out with someone he didn't like…not that she could think of anyone he didn't like. He liked everyone, even Shimazaki, which was weird because nobody liked Shimazaki and for some very good reasons. He was such a good person like that. She was so lucky to have someone like him.

It was about time that she acted like it.

She needed to be with someone she loved right now and…and maybe that was it. Maybe she was just being selfish again. Maybe she was just being…no, she wasn't that person anymore. She wasn't the person that the spirit had showed her. She was going to be better than that. She wasn't going to waste her powers anymore. She wasn't going to be a waste of…of anything anymore. She was going to be better, she was going to be Mob, and…and she was going to be with the person she loved.

She didn't need to use her powers to be with the person she loved.

The only people around her, her friends, had only met her because of her powers. Had only come into her life because of her powers…and Serizawa was no exception…but he also liked her for her. For the person she was. He had seen the worst of her after all and he still stayed. She loved him for that. She loved her enough to go to him in the middle of the night…not that it was that different from the middle of the day.

There were no windows here.

Just white lights, white walls, white floors, white doors, and just…so much white. She didn't care. It wasn't that creepy at night. Aside from how quiet it was around here. Aside from the night shift guards everyone else was asleep. She couldn't sense any walking around, not that she would have minded the red, the red would have been a nice break from the white…but it wasn't a long walk. Fukuda was just a little down the hall and around the corner. Past Minegishi and Shimazaki, past Tsuchiya and Shibata, past Dad and Hatori…she could feel Dad. She wanted to stop by and tell him that no matter what happened she would always love him, that she would always be his daughter even though she was going to smash his dreams into a million little pieces, even though she was going to make him feel worse than he'd ever felt in his life…

She kept on walking.

Serizawa and Fukuda were right next to him. It was supposed to be Fukuda and Sho, the sign on the door said Fukuda but inside the apartment were boxes that said 'Sho's stuff'. She didn't know why Dad wanted Sho so close to him and her so far away and…and it didn't matter. She could feel Serizawa's aura. She slipped her shoes off and crept through the dark apartment. She couldn't feel Fukuda's aura but that didn't mean much. He never had much of an aura to begin with, not unless he was using his powers, so it was just her and Serizawa.

So why was she so nervous?

His door was right in front of her. She didn't know if he was awake or not. He sometimes stayed up really late playing videogames or reading or just staring at the ceiling and thinking. He didn't really have days and nights when he had been in his room so his body was still trying to tell the difference even now. Kind of like Shimazaki when she thought about it…but she didn't really want to think about Shimazaki now. This was about her and Serizawa and…and that was it. They were the only two people in the world. She could feel so many other auras, including Dad's, but they weren't here with her. If she had been a normal person, if she hadn't had any aura at all, then it could have felt like they were the only two people in the entire world.

That would have been wonderful.

"Serizawa?" asked Mob as she opened his door. She whispered in case he was asleep. She heard his bed creak and saw his aura get brighter. It reached out to hers. She let it. There was no way she was going to pull away from him…not when he was the only person who still needed her…she was going to run Claw soon but that was different. Serizawa was different.

She loved Serizawa. Of course he was different.

"Are you awake or just having a nightmare?" asked Mob

"Miss-Miss Suzuki?" asked Serizawa as he held his blanket close to his chest. He wanted to hide under it but he knew that if he did she'd just feel bad. As far as she knew he had no reason to hide from her…as far as she knew he wasn't hiding from her at all. He didn't really have a reason to hide from her, not a good one anyway, despite what Fukuda said.

"It's me, did I wake you? I'm sorry if I did." said Mob as she stepped into his room. She nearly tripped over his umbrella. She picked it up and rested it against the closed door. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. When she was in charge she was definitely putting some windows in.

"No, you didn't. I was just thinking." Said Serizawa as he felt her getting closer and closer. He could hear her footsteps hitting the carpet. He could see her, sort of, in the dim standby lights of is consoles. He was glad that it was dark, dark as his room had been when he'd lived in Mom's house, that way Miss Suzuki couldn't see him. How he was red, how he was shaking, how he was clutching the blanket so tight in his hands that it felt like it was going to rip. If she had been able to see him then she would have known, just from looking, that he didn't want her anywhere near him.

Not when they were alone, anyway.

"Good things?" asked Mob

"Just…things." Said Serizawa, looking away from her. She didn't need to know how he was thinking about her, about what she was doing right then, about if she was happy or scared or…or anything. About how it had been so long since he'd seen her. About how as nice as it was that Serizawa had Fukuda the thing was that Fukuda and him didn't have much in common. Not like how Miss Suzuki understood him better than anyone ever had before in his life. He didn't tell her that he thought about, too, how nice it would have been to be next to her.

And then how scared he had been when he remembered what it was that she wanted from him…what she would have asked of him if she'd been there with him…what he was sure she was going to ask of him as soon as she made it to his bed.

"Oh…I'm sorry. Hang on, I think I'm almost there." Said Mob as she reached out and felt for his bed. Her hands found the soft cotton of his bedspread. She put one hand on the bed, then another, and when she was sure that she found it she pulled herself up. He scooted over and made room for her.

He was shaking. He was nervous too.

"You don't have to be sorry." Said Serizawa as he scooted so far from her that his back was against the wall. There was nowhere else for him to go…but she had plenty of bed, she didn't have to get any closer to him to be comfortable.

She did it anyway.

"I know, but I am. I should have been there to make you feel better." said Mob as she scooted closer to him. He made a lot of room for her on the bed, he was so nice like that. He was always thinking about her, about how she felt, and that was just…just the best. Someone else to think of her…but was that selfish?

No. That was love.

"You were busy, Miss Suzuki, a lot is happening right now. I mean I don't exactly know what's happening, Fukuda says that it's nothing I'll be able to understand anyway, but I know that it's stressful for you." said Serizawa as he reached behind his head and put his pillow between them. His hand brushed against her leg as he did it. She was wearing a sleeping dress…he didn't know why that felt weird to him. He didn't know why all of this felt weird to him. She was just in her pajamas, that was all, people went to sleep in their pajamas all the time. Maybe because she wanted to…he couldn't even think it!

He crossed his arms. There. Now there was no chance that he would ever accidentally touch her again.

"I don't want to talk about all of that." Said Mob as he handed her a pillow. He put it down between them because he couldn't see her. She could barely see him, either. She even accidentally bumped him with the pillow as she put it under her head. He gasped and tried to make more room for her. She reached out and felt around until she found his hand.

"What do you want to talk about, then? We can talk about whatever you want." Said Serizawa as he felt her fingers sneaking into the spaces between his. Serizawa didn't know if he could pull his hand away. Just because he wanted to, really wanted to, that didn't make it a good reason. He could feel his palm pressing against his. She was so close to him and…and he didn't want her to be.

But what he wanted didn't matter.

"I don't really think that I want to talk about anything." Said Mob as she pulled Serizawa closer to her, or maybe herself closer to Serizawa. This was warm and nice and just…enough. Being with him was enough. Tomorrow, or maybe it was today already, was going to be big but this…this was small. This dark room and the two of them…it felt like they were in their own little world. She liked it. No past to feel bad about, no future to worry about, just present.

She was happy to share this present with him.

"Oh…do you want to go to sleep?" asked Serizawa as she pulled him closer to her. There was no way he could scoot back any farther. His entire back had been pressed against the wall. There was nowhere to go and…and he shouldn't have wanted to go anywhere in the first place. He let her pull him closer.

Their knees were touching. He tried to pull back. She just moved forward.

"No, but that's alright. You can go to sleep if you want to. I don't think that I can." Said Mob as he made himself comfortable. These beds were so small. She wished that they had been in her bed. It would have been more comfortable…but she didn't want to leave this room, this little world, because if she did then she would have to let other people in….and she didn't think that she could do that.

"I don't think that I can either." Said Serizawa. He really didn't think that he could, not with her so near. One of her legs was pushing it's way between his. He pressed his ankles together. That was too close…she didn't stop. He let her. He didn't know why this felt weird. She was just being near to him, that was all, it wasn't like before when she had actually put his hand on her waist. This was…this was just them sharing a bed and…and that was fine.

And even if it wasn't fine then…then it wasn't like he was going to say anything.

"Are you scared? Of tomorrow…or today?" asked Mob as she rested her ankle over his. He crossed his other leg over hers. She got closer, her hair rustling against her pillow until she left it, her head dipping down in the space between pillows before she found his. It was softer than hers, fluffier, warmer…more comforting. Of course it was. It was his.

"I-I'm not scared." Said Serizawa. It wasn't a lie, not really, because this wasn't fear. This was something else. Fear was what he felt when he had to run through the house and to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Fear was what he used to feel when he caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror and saw how much time had passed. Fear was what he would have felt if he had found himself all alone in the world without Miss Suzuki at his side. What he felt now was something else, something closer to nervousness, maybe. He was afraid of danger, of the unknown, and there was nothing dangerous or unknown about Miss Suzuki…so he wasn't scared.

He wasn't scared at all.

"I'm not either…I mean I don't know what I am." Sighed Mob as she rested her head under his chin. He hadn't shaved in a while, she could feel his stubble brushing against her forehead, but she didn't mind. She could barely see in this darkness. The only thing she could see, his aura, she couldn't really see. Not even really feel. Metaphysical, Dad had called it. More than physical. It was different, feeling Serizawa, knowing that he was there…better and warmer but not enough.

She let go of his hand.

"N-nervous?" asked Serizawa as she let go of his hand. For a moment he thought that she might have changed her mind, he thought that she might have decided to go back to the way things had been before, that she might have been ready to pretend that nothing had ever happened between them…but that moment passed. Her hand left his but then found his arm, pushing it's way under his sleeve.

He was wearing long sleeves. He wished that it had been enough.

"No." said Mob as she ran her hand up his arm. He was fuzzy, she had never noticed it before but he was really fuzzy, the kind of fuzzy that felt nice under her fingers. She ran her hand up and down his arm. Her toe found it's way through the hole in her sock and found his leg. Her big toe found his pants leg and pushed upwards until she found his ankle.

She liked this better, the physical world, than the metaphysical world.

"You never are." Said Serizawa. She was Miss Suzuki, nothing scared her, nothing bothered her. She was always so calm and in charge. It was because she had nothing to be scared of. The scariest thing in the world was the unknown, not knowing things, like what was going to happen and if you were going to lose control. She never had to worry about that. She was the one who controlled what would happen and when and she was the one who could control her powers…so maybe he should have just let her control him, too.

it made sense.

"Sometimes I am…but not now. Not when I know what I want." Said Mob. She wasn't nervous about what would happen tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. She knew what she wanted and it was Claw, to make Claw a better place, and then to use Claw to make the world a better place. What Dad wanted but with all the mean parts pulled away. She could do this, she would do this, because she had to. She was going to use her powers for good…it was nice, knowing what would happen. Chasing away the worry and other such bad feelings.

Serizawa had always been good at making her feel better.

He felt so good, too. Maybe because he loved her and she knew it. She was what he wanted and he was what she wanted. Being enough for someone was…was a good feeling. She had never been enough for someone. There had always been someone else or something else that needed more for her. Serizawa was just happy to be with her…and she was happy to be with him. To feel his aura and his warm, soft, fuzzy body.

There was so much of it.

"What…what do you want?" asked Serizawa as her hand left his arm. It went up his arm past the elbow, and then his shoulder, before moving to his neck. His skin went to goosebumps as her fingertips danced up and down his neck. She leaned in even closer, her hand thankfully moving towards his chest…but of course now her head was pressed right against his neck. He could even feel her breath against him. Warm. In and out. Over and over again.

She couldn't feel anything. He knew that she couldn't. He had forgotten how to breath.

"What do you want, Serizawa?" asked Mob as she felt his heartbeat under her fingers. His heart was beating so fast and hard that she was sure, if there had been real light, she could have seen it. But she couldn't. Aural light was different. All she could see was his aura pulsing and it was going must faster than his heart. Hers was slow, calm, calmer than it had ever been in her life. All her life she had been told 'conceal, don't feel' but now…now she was going to feel. She wanted to feel. She wanted to feel him, her them…

She wanted to feel everything.

"I want…I want whatever you want, Miss Suzuki." Said Serizawa as she kept her hand above his heart. She held it in the palm of his hand. He gave it to her. He trusted her with it. He may not have wanted everything that she wanted but he trusted her. She loved him and she never would have done anything to hurt him….anything that was wrong. The way he felt, that there was something wrong, was just…it was as wrong as every other feeling that he'd ever had in his life.

This was…it was whatever she wanted it to be.

Her hand left his heart and moved downwards. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his powers, his colors, his curse under control. He knew that it wasn't a cure, she had told him so many times that they had been born different but not cursed, but right now…right now his powers felt as wrong as everything else about him. He was wrong. This was wrong. The way he wanted to get up and leave was the wrong way to feel and….and he couldn't let himself feel like that…but he couldn't stop himself. He wanted so many things that he knew he shouldn't have…

He needed to want what she wanted, that was all.

"So…so what do you want?" asked Serizawa as her hand stopped right above is belly button. His shirt had ridden up. Her fingers were dancing around the trail of hair he had there. He had never given the hair he had on his stomach much thought, or the hair on the rest of him, but he found himself wishing that she stayed where she was. That she didn't follow that trail upwards or downwards. That she just stayed at his bellybutton. Bellybuttons weren't anything after all, not like hearts or…or other things. Part of him wanted to reach down and pull her hand away from him…but he knew that wasn't what she wanted.

He wanted whatever she wanted.

"Everything." Said Mob before she leaned up and kissed him. She wanted everything and he gave it to her. He wanted everything and she gave it to him. That was what love was, giving everything that you had to someone else and getting everything that they had in return. Trading. She liked giving everything that she had. She would have given him the world if she could have, but she didn't have the world yet, she didn't have much but herself…but when she had the world she'd give it to him.

And she'd color it, too, since there was way too much white at the Seventh Division.