Standing off to the side while Kagari and Masaoka trained, Akane fervently took notes on everything they were doing so that she might be more prepared later when it was her turn...she didn't feel she was up to par with the others, physically, and for someone who was used to receiving such high marks in all other areas, it bothered her.

She looked up from notepad as she heard Kougami enter the training arena...he'd changed into a form-fitting black shirt and grey sweats and looked to be in just as bad a mood as ever.

That shirt...is he a little softer around the middle than I remember?

Before, the outline of his abdominals through the material of his clothing was always fairly obvious, but it had been a while since she'd seen him in the outfit, and despite the fact that he was still fairly in shape, she thought he looked...softer there.

He glanced briefly at Akane, shaking his head in mild amusement as he saw her – unsurprisingly – with notepad in hand, then moved away toward Masaoka and Kagari.

"Let's get this over with already."

Kagari looked around at him and grinned, waving. "Hey Ko! You ready to get started?"

Kougami brought his hands up to fight, glaring at the younger man, who paled a little under his withering stare. He didn't usually have much luck when it came to sparring with Kougami, losing to the other Enforcer more often than not, but at least it was two on one this time around.

"Go!"

Kougami darted out of the way as Kagari lunged at him, striking his elbow into the redhead's back and then switching his focus to Masaoks just as the older man swung a fist around at him, blocking the blow and then jumping over Kagari's leg as he tried to sweep it across to trip him up. Masaoka darted around to come at his target from the other side, but Kougami grabbed Kagari by the front of his shirt and yanked him up to use as a human shield, giving him a shove toward Masaoka and sending them both tumbling backwards for a moment.

Kagari huffed, always one to get heated during training, and ran at Kougami again, his skinny arms barely able to hold up against Kougami's far stronger ones as the other Enforcer struck out at him. As they fought, Masaoka ran around to tackle Kougami from the side, but the man managed to break free from Kagari in time to dart out the way and attack instead.

Masaoka smirked, moving toward Kougami again and grabbing his arm, managing to wrench it around to his back long enough for Kagari to get back on his feet...seeing an opportunity, the younger Enforcer grinned triumphantly and swung his fist around into Kougami's stomach.

"OOF!"

Barely managing to shove Masaoka off him, Kougami doubled over with his hands pressed to his stomach, gritting his teeth for a moment. "Ngh..."

Kagari just looked shocked that he'd managed to get a good hit in against Kougami, a giddy grin passing over his features with newfound confidence as he hurried toward his coworker again.

Still leaning forward, Kougami spotted Kagari heading for him from the corner of his eye and brought one hand off his stomach to block the hit, though he took a couple of steps backwards in the process as he tried to keep his balance from the impact of the strike. He blocked a few more of Kagari's attacks one-handed, keeping the other on his gut, but eventually he had to remove it to block Masaoka as the older man went for him at the same time. As soon as he did, Kagari took advantage of it and went for the same target, attacking Kougami's belly before the other man could retaliate.

"NGH!"

"Kagari!" Akane blurted out scoldingly before she could stop herself, but the redhead only grinned at her.

"Don't sweat it, Inspector, we're just training," he laughed, oblivious as Kougami wrapped his arms around his stomach behind him.

"But-,"

"Incoming!" Masaoka warned, and Kougami managed to duck out of the way right before the older man could attack him.

Kagari returned to the fray as well, though a swift kick from Kougami sent him flying not long after. Masaoka and Kougami continued to spar while the younger Enforcer lay on his back and groaned, taking a few moments to recover. But, he reasoned, at least he'd come up with a strategy that meant he didn't get his ass completely handed to him like he usually did, and he intended to stick with it.

Masaoka managed to grapple Kougami into a hold again even though the man refused to go down, and Kagari saw his chance, scrambling to his feet again. On his first approach, Kougami kicked him back again before he could reach him, but he managed to block the second strike long enough to get in close, punching Kougami in the stomach hard while Masaoka held him at bay. Kougami gritted his teeth, tilting his head back and taking it as best he could...he couldn't even double over with the way Masaoka was pinning him, couldn't do much of anything until Kagari got cocky and drew back to deliver a more powerful blow. It took everything in Kougami to block the attack with his leg, then throw Masaoka over his shoulder onto the training mat and stumble backwards.

My gut...I can't take another hit like that...

Hunched over, he held one hand to his aching belly and fixed a hazy glare on the other two Enforcers as they both ran at him...he managed to block a few more blows from both of them, but he couldn't keep it up for long. Kagari lunged, swinging his fist up deep into the middle of Kougami's soft belly, and the man dropped like a ton of bricks.

"Get 'im!"

Charging at the downed Enforcer, Kagari let his confidence get the best of him, and right before he reached Kougami, his opponent's foot came out to kick him square in the chest with enough force to send him flying across the mats.

"Time," Masaoka declared as the two of them lay on the floor.

Sprawled on his back, Kougami glared up at him wearily in response, his face pale as he tried not to pant too much. Still reveling in what was probably his first win ever against the man, Kagari chuckled and got unsteadily to his feet, walking over and patting Kougami's unguarded stomach.

"Can't take it in the belly?" he teased before Kougami knocked his hand away. "Hey..."

"That's enough, Kagari..." Akane's tone was somewhat scolding behind the redhead as she approached.

"Okay, okay..." Still grinning, Kagari looked back down at Kougami. "Ready for Round 2?"

Masaoka, however, seemed to realize Kougami wasn't going to be getting up any time soon. "Hell, what's the rush? Better to take a break first," he surmised, rolling his shoulders.

Kagari looked surprised, but unwilling to pass up on an opportunity to slack off. "Hey, I second that! Kougami, let's-,"

"Beat it," Kougami muttered, not getting up off the floor.

Kagari chuckled again. "Sore loser. See ya in a few, Ko...Inspector Tsunemori..."

Akane knelt beside Kougami as the other two made their way out of the gym, settling her hand on his forehead, but as soon as the others were gone, Kougami immediately curled into a ball on his side, wrapping his arms tightly around his stomach and clenching his teeth.

"You have to call out sick," Akane pleaded, leaning forward onto her hands and knees beside him. "Please, Kougami...you shouldn't be working. You shouldn't even be out of your room."

"I'm not...calling out for...a stomach ache..."

"You can barely move..."

Kougami cracked one eye open to look up at her. "Kagari hits harder than you think."

"He hit you over and over in your sick belly because it was the only way he could win, you should have told him you weren't feeling well," Akane retaliated, petting his hair. "Let me see."

"Akane," Kougami growled, sounding very much like the hunting dog Ginoza often said he was as she tried to move him onto his back again.

Even so, he didn't fight back beyond that, slowly rolling over so she could fold his shirt back up to his ribs and look at his stomach. Suppressing a groan as she did so, he looked up at her wearily as her face tinted red for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

Akane set a hand over his abdomen. "It's just..."

They both looked up as the door to the gym beside the training center flew open...Shion spotted the two of them and gave an idle wave as she slung a towel around her shoulders, heading to the water cooler to get a drink after her own training session with Yayoi in the other room.

"Hey there, kiddos...did I come in at a bad time?" she mused, mostly to get a rise out of Akane.

It worked, and the Inspector's face turned bright red, hastily smoothing down her clothes and adjusting her hair unnecessarily.

"It's...um...it's not...like that at all...I just...Kougami's hurt, and-,"

"Akane!"

"Oh yeah? What's the damage, big guy?" Shion mused, ignoring Kougami's protest as she swaggered over to the pair of them. She arched an eyebrow.

"What?" Kougami growled.

Shion chuckled. "Did you put on a little weight, Ko?" she asked, grinning.

The statement was a bit of an exaggeration, but Akane had noticed as well a few moments ago...Kougami's stomach definitely wasn't as defined as it used to be, the surface mostly flat but softer than she remembered...not quite chubby, but not the rock-hard abdomen he once had.

Kougami's face heated slightly then as well, and he glared up at the smirking blonde from where he lay. "...I've just been a little off my game lately," he growled, sucking in his gut on instinct. "I haven't gained any weight."

"If you say so," Shion returned, getting to one knee on Kougami's other side to look him over. "So what's the matter, huh? You're not lookin' so hot."

"He was training with Masaoka and Kagari," Akane volunteered, to save Shion the effort of trying to extract the information from Kougami when he was in such a foul mood. "His tummy's been hurting him anyway, he just won't admit it, and he took a lot of hits."

Without realizing it, she moved her hand back to Kougami's stomach as she spoke, her thumb stroking the surface gently...Shion smirked knowingly but didn't say anything, knowing she would embarrass the Inspector again by pointing out her obvious concern for him.

"Bring him up to my lab and I'll give him a once-over," Shion said briskly, patting Kougami's middle a couple of times. "Make sure they didn't cause any permanent damage."

"It's just my stomach," Kougami growled. "I'll be fine..."

"Says the guy layin' on the floor," Shion shot back, getting to her feet and offering Akane a wave. "I'll be around."

Akane looked at Kougami sternly as the blonde moved away toward the exit. "Your belly's already turning red from where you got hit, you're probably going to bruise," she said. "Just let her make sure they didn't hurt anything too badly inside you since you already weren't feeling well before you started fighting, okay?"

Kougami fixed her with a long-suffering glare, but sighed nonetheless. "You're not giving me a choice?"

Akane smiled a little. "Not really. Come on, let's go."

**((Listen to Kougami's sick stomach while reading this section: watch?v=-IL3ky-Kcj8))**

Kougami immediately regretted having agreed to let Shion take a look at him as soon as Akane got paged.

"I'm sorry," she said to him as he fixed her with an exasperated look from the table he was lying on. "Ginoza wants to review a few more details from our last case with me."

"Don't worry," Shion mused, circling one finger slowly over Kougami's bare stomach and dipping a well-manicured nail briefly into his bellybutton. "I'll have him back to you all in one piece...more or less."

"Akane," Kougami growled, almost pleadingly, but the Inspector was already turning red as Shion touched his stomach, busying herself with her Holo device.

"I-I'm sorry...I have to go."

Shion chuckled a little as Akane hurriedly excused herself from the room, looking flustered.

"Too much for her to handle, I guess," she mused. "She thinks you have beautiful eyes, you know."

"What?" Kougami muttered, glaring at the smirking blonde.

"It's true. I heard her say it."

Feeling exposed, Kougami wrapped an arm around his midsection, wondering what he'd done to Akane to deserve having her abandon him in a lab with a sadist. "Stop messing with me..."

Shion grinned and pulled his arm away again. "I can't examine you if you keep doing that."

Kougami scowled, then looked over sharply as Shion set his arm against the table he was on and clamped the thick metal restraint there around his wrist.

"Hey," he growled. "What the hell's that for?"

"To keep you still, of course," Shion responded, coaxing his remaining arm down so she could bind his the wrist on his other side as well.

"Is that really necessary?" he demanded, glaring at her and looking even more annoyed when she grinned playfully at him in return.

"You're in my lab. This is how I do things in my lab," she returned.

Kougami tugged on the metal cuffs a little. "Knock it off, You're just doing this to screw with my head..."

Shion smiled. "Maybe a little," she said, moving up to the table and patting his bare stomach, which rumbled audibly in response and caused Kougami to twist slightly in discomfort. Shion raised an eyebrow. "My, my...what a sick tummy we have here..."

Kougami gritted his teeth as she set her hands on his belly to examine him, pressing into the surface to check for any damage. He felt so weak...over the past month, his stomach had been starved through sleepless nights of research into Makishima's whereabouts, stuffed with poorly cooked food at Kagari's birthday celebration, ravaged by a belly bug he'd caught (probably from the poorly cooked food), hurt on violent missions with uncooperative criminals, and now beaten to hell in the training center...the only respite had been the few, brief moments of comfort Akane had provided him with when she'd found out, and now she was gone again...

Shion caught Kougami's eyes flit toward the door and shook her head. "You heard her, she's not coming back for a while...she knows she left you at my mercy and she knew what I was gonna do to you. Why do you think she's always so embarrassed around me? Nobody's coming to get you out of this, hon."

"Nhgh..."

Shion glanced down at him. "Cold hands, I know," she said as her icy fingers felt his belly. "What the hell have you been doing to yourself?"

Kougami sucked in his gut in attempt to avoid her invasive touches, trying unsuccessfully to pull one of his wrists free so he could shield his stomach, but doing so only made Shion press more deeply into his soft belly.

"I still think you've gained a little weight. Too sick to do any crunches lately, huh?"

"Ngh..."

Shion smirked as he twisted again from the pressure she was putting on his stomach, immediately trying to tense the muscles in his stomach to make it less palpable when she teased him...but his abdominals were shot to hell, so made little to no difference.

"Stop squirming, you'll only make me take longer."

Kougami gritted his teeth, but stilled nonetheless, his hands curling into fists to combat the discomfort she was causing him. Satisfied, Shion resumed her duties, pressing delicately into his diaphragm, his sides just below his ribs...smirking as she reached his lower belly because she knew it would embarrass him.

"Is this just the swelling from the bruises, or is there a little bit of chub here?" she mused, long, manicured nails tickling the bottom of his stomach lightly.

"There's not," Kougami growled, trying to suck his stomach in again. "Hey, knock it off!"

Annoyed, he glared up at her as she started to draw slow, seductive patterns across his lower belly just above his waistline with her nails...he knew she was doing it just to get a reaction out of him, but he couldn't help the goosebumps that such a light touch left behind, shivering slightly.

Shion flashed him a wink, trailing her fingernails slowly down from his stomach and around to his side, pinching teasingly at it to try and find enough there to form a love handle.

"I said knock it off!" Kougami snarled, pulling at the metal bar around one of his wrists again.

"Oh, settle down," Shion dismissed, squeezing his side one more time before moving her hands back to finish checking his stomach. "Does this hurt?"

She pushed her fingertips slowly, deeply into the area just to the right of his diaphragm with both hands, moving her fingers in a slow circle.

"Nrgh...yeah. It does."

"What about here?" She moved down and over to press into the middle of his belly.

"-Ah!" Kougami's lip curled a little, his eyes closing. "Yeah."

Shion patted his tummy a couple of times and then sunk her fingers into his stomach again, trailing her fingertips lightly over the surface each time she moved to a new area. She smirked vaguely as Kougami writhed beneath her unrelenting hands pushing into his belly, eliciting another sick-sounding gurgle from it followed by a strained noise from the Enforcer.

"Hmm..." She pressed down into the middle of his belly again, hearing another rumble as her fingers sank in...moving her hand down, she did it again with the same result.

"Where does it hurt the most?"

"Wherever the...hell you press into me like that," Kougami growled, holding back a grunt of discomfort and clenching his teeth. "Sh-shit..."

Grrllpp. Grrgrgrgh. Grlrrlrorp.

"All right, you did that already," he snarled as Shion continued examining into various parts of his stomach and making it gurgle.

"Hey, don't be mad at me," she lectured, patting his stomach again. "The pain goes pretty deep inside, huh?"

Kougami let his head drop back again and closed his eyes for a moment, tensing slightly as Shion trailed a hand down his abdomen...she began to press her fingertips into the middle of his gut again, but she didn't relent when he began to squirm.

"How much does this hurt?" she murmured, her fingers sinking deep, deep into his belly...Kougami began to stir, squirming in discomfort, but he couldn't move his torso at all with Shion's hands pinning him there.

"N...o...stop..."

His belly was soft and palpable, allowing Shion to press into him more and more, her eyes watching him intently.

"O-oh...ahh...ahhh!"

Without letting go, Shion began to move up onto the table as well, straddling his waist to keep him from drawing his knees up, her fingers pressed into his belly past her knuckles when, finally, she met too much resistance, halfway to his spine.

"...G...get...off...me..." Kougami forced out vaguely. "...M...y...stomach...hurt...s...too...mu...ch..."

A gasp escaped him as she finally stopped pushing on his abdomen, which heaved in and out as he panted, but it was only for a moment before she ran her hands down the sides of his stomach, trailing her fingernails lightly along his skin as she did so.

"Heh...objectively, I can almost understand what cute little Inspector Tsunemori sees in you," she mused as her hands trailed down his torso. "What a body, hm?"

Kougami glared up at her hazily, his stomach straining. "...Get...off me..."

"Psh...if you're gonna be like that, I guess I don't have to examine you," Shion teased. "Maybe I should just play with you a little instead..."

"What?" Kougami jerked a little as she lay her hand on his stomach again, running her forefinger briefly down the dip in his navel. "Nrgh..."

"Your face is turning red," Shion observed in sly amusement. "Are you a little sensitive there?"

"Enough...already," Kougami retaliated, trying unsuccessfully to squirm away from her touch as she rubbed slyly at his bellybutton. "When are you gonna let me...out of these things?"

Shion smirked, purposefully rough with him as she sought to elicit a reaction, coaxing a sharp groan at last as a manicured nail pierced deep into his bellybutton.

"That's...enough...unh..."

"My lab," Shion reminded him, her lips inches from his ear as she suddenly grabbed his middle, fingertips digging deep into his sick tummy. "I say when it's enough."

"UNGH!"

Shion held his burning gaze as she groped at the vulnerable area, her grip frigid and unforgiving against his soft belly before focusing on his navel again. Kougami clenched his teeth as his gurgling bellybutton was attacked over and over, taking it without complaint through sheer stubbornness and the hope that if he didn't give her any satisfaction in his responses, it might be over soon. He watched grimly as Shion leaned down to plant insincere kisses over same spot again and again, leaving lip stains of deep red lipstick against his bellybutton, and then over the rest of his broad torso as she massaged his navel with a freezing fingertip.

"No...stop..."

Shion grinned down at the pale, sick Enforcer as she took her boredom out on his upset stomach, his movements growing weaker even as he continued trying to pull one of his wrists free. He still had enough in him to glare daggers at her, however, and she had to appreciate his spirit.

Shaking her head, she hurt his bellybutton a while longer before she finally let up to admire her handiwork. Everything around his navel was red and slightly bruised from the treatment by the time she was done with him...Kougami twisted as though trying to curl onto his side and move his hands over the area, though of course, he could do neither.

"Just...let me out of these things...my gut can't take any more of this..."

Akane might have known Shion would tease him, but Kougami doubted she had any idea that some of the marks he was going to end up with came from anything other than his spar with Kagari. The urge to wrap up into a ball again and relieve some of the discomfort in his belly was so strong that he very nearly managed to pull a hand free from Shion's confines, a thin sheen of sweat more evident on his forehead now than when he'd first come in.

"You're so impatient. I'm almost done." She smirked down at him, finally relenting to put on her stethoscope. "I don't feel anything dangerous, at least, so let me just listen for a while...shut up for a minute, will ya?"

Kougami gritted his teeth and tried not to flinch as she pressed the device to his slightly swollen belly...it was ice-cold and unforgiving, the pressure beckoning another groan from deep in his gut as it spasmed against the metal device. He was too sick by then to try to move away from it, however, and his wrists grew slack in their confines as Shion continued listening and did as she pleased to his bare stomach. His whole gut ached, cold and sore, churning uncontrollably from where Kagari had punched him and throbbing from how he was being forced to lay out flat on the table, but that didn't stop Shion from digging her fingers into him, grabbing at the fleshier parts of his stomach to tease him, forcing the cold, hard stethoscope up against his soft belly to hear what was going on inside him...every so often, Kougami failed to hold back an agonized sound from between his clenched teeth, sweat clinging to his forehead as he twisted within his bindings. In his head, he heard Kagari's voice taunting him again.

Can't take it in the belly?

"Nrgh..."

Eventually, Shion got done examining him, giving his stomach a few firm pats as a reward that he was too exhausted to react to.

"There...that could've been worse, right?" she pointed out, winking at him and making sure he could see her hand move slowly back down toward his navel.

No...not again...

He arched his back, his stomach rolling in vain attempt to avoid her crimson nail as she trailed it gently from the top of his bellybutton to the bottom before she started to hurt him again, rubbing the painful red area more and more roughly until he couldn't take it anymore and let out a yell at long last.

Shion smiled, then reaching to release the metal bindings around his wrists. They were slightly bruised from how he'd been pulling against his confines, about as red as his bellybutton, which he slowly covered with his hands as he curled onto his side, his body shivering slightly from the cold steel he was lying on. "Nngh..."

"You're all done, hon," Shion said, grinning as he moved to shakily rub the residual lipstick off his torso. "Just lay there for a few minutes to recover, hmm?"

Kougami shot her a tired glare from where he was doubled over on the table, both hands still clamped over his bellybutton in vain attempt to stop it from hurting so much. He didn't have it in him to get up right away, his stomach churning too much, but he rolled away from Shion to give her his back while he clutched his middle, wrapped in a ball on the cold table.

Akane found the first opportunity she could to excuse herself, having spent most of her time away concerned about Kougami's condition...she wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or not when she returned to the lab to find him still there, though he didn't so much as stir as she slipped through the door.

Shion glanced up, lighting a cigarette in greeting and setting her feet up on the console next to her.

"Welcome back," she greeted.

"Thanks..." Akane glanced briefly over at Kougami, then back at Shion. "So is everything...okay?"

Shion took a drag of her cigarette.

"I don't know what he's been doing to himself lately, but he's in bad shape," she said. "The tummy troubles come as no surprise, considering. He needs to start taking better care of himself."

Akane looked fretful, but the blonde shook her head. "There's nothing life-threatening...he'll start feeling better if he just rests properly for a few days."

Nodding her gratitude, Akane smiled a little as she approached the table, coming to a stop at Kougami's side as Shion excused herself from the lab.

"Kougami...are you okay?" she asked, stroking his hair back on one side and setting a hand on his pale forehead...he looked so tired, and she could hear his stomach gurgling and groaning nonstop.

"...My belly hurts," the Enforcer responded quietly, his eyes closed.

Akane reached down to force her hand under his own so she could gently rub his stomach. "Shion's right, you need to rest."

Suppressing a groan, Kougami pushed himself slowly into a sitting position, putting his head in his hand.

"I have to wrap a few more things up with Ginoza, but...I just wanted to...check on you." She looked away. "I was kind of worried, I guess. I never really thought of you as getting sick."

Kougami glanced over at her, but she didn't meet his gaze.

"Anyway..." She set her hand hesitantly on top of his larger one. "Head back and try to rest a little, okay? And...I'll visit you later."

Kougami closed his eyes and let out a short sigh. "...Yeah. All right."