Saki woke up to the sound of people in her house. She looked over to her alarm clock, reading it was two in the morning. Would people be breaking in? If they were this loud they were armatures, she told herself to ebb the fear away. Needing to investigate she tossed off her blanket and hurried out of her bedroom.

She could hear men's voices, "She's passed out from the pain."

"Let's get her to her bed."

Saki stopped in the hall and turned the light on. She stared in surprised, seeing a couple of men carrying- she gasped as the sight of her sister. "What happened?" She knew they were a part of her gang from the red shirt and scarf.

Ryan and Hideji froze, realizing the young girl in pink pajamas was Hana's precious baby sister. They glanced at each other unsure before Hideji sighed. "Might as well tell her. Gang fight. Hana kicked the Blue Squares' leader's ass, though."

Saki quickly waved for them to follow, "This way, her room is over here." She led them to Hana's room and stood to the side as the men tried to gently set Hana in her bed. Hugging herself she asked, "Should we call an ambulance?"

"Eh, city hospital is a little tricky," Hideji smirked awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "We got someone bringing our own doc."

Saki moved to her sister's side and hovered over her. She gently moved Hana's hair out of her face, looking over the bruises. "What did that guy do to her? I've never seen her so beat up." Despite everything that transpired earlier, she only worried for Hana's health now.

"Well, the guy did have a sledge hammer," Hideji replied.

Saki looked at him alarmed and Ryan nudged him with a hush. "That's Hana's little sister, dude," he whispered. "We shouldn't tell her about this stuff."

"Why not?" He questioned. "She's her sister. Bringing her back half broken earns an explanation."

Before the argument could continue, Saki looked past them at the open door, hearing more people enter their home. They could hear Shinra say to himself, "Guess it's a busy night tonight." Then a young man in a white coat with glasses entered the room, followed by a punk looking girl. Maria peered around him as he only looked to Hana and said to himself, "All right, what's the damage?"

Saki blinked at how carefree he was and he walked up to the side of the bed. While he set his medical bag down to examine Hana's wounds, Hideji leaned against the wall and said, "Well, I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure her right shoulder is kinda destroyed."

Shinra gently felt her shoulder and frowned. "Oo, you're right. That is pretty bad."

Saki became alarmed at that. "You can help her though, right?"

"Hm?" He smiled at her and replied, "Oh yeah, trust me, I've dealt with worse." He then proceeded to carefully remove Hana's jacket and used scissors to remove her shirt.

Maria shot the boys a look and Ryan and Hideji quickly averted their gazes. She then approached Shinra's side and asked, "How much will this cost?"

"Once I finish assessing the damage I'll let you know," he replied and proceeded to patch up her face a bit.

While he worked, Saki furrowed her brows at him and said, "You're not a real doctor, are you."

"I consider myself a real doctor," he replied with a smile, still continuing his work. "My names Kishitani Shinra, and yours?"

"Mikajima Saki," she replied. She frowned to herself, wondering just what kind of underground business he ran. So long as he did his job well in fixing her sister she supposed she didn't care.

"Ah, so you're her sister," he said in casual conversation. "I should have guessed, you have the same dyed hair after all. And you live in the same house and all that." Saki smiled a bit; he wasn't half bad. "Okay, looks like we have some serious shoulder trauma. Broken shoulder blade, collar bone, and humerus. The bones are basically shattered. She'll need some metal rods put in and surgery to realign the collar bone, then needs to stay in a cast for about... Six months to a year. Oh, and also some serious pain medication."

Hideji whistled while Maria gasped and Ryan went, "Shit."

Saki focused on Shinra determined and asked, "Can you do all of that?"

"So long as I get her to my personal lab then yes, though material for the cast will be tricky." He then counted on his fingers and said, "Altogether with the pain meds it'll come to ¥282,335."

"What!?" Maria exclaimed.

"Hey, what if we give you more blood?" Hideji offered.

Shinra looked back at him and replied, "Sorry, but I doubt you have enough blood to make it affordable."

Saki said, "Wait here." They all watched as she hurried out of the room and returned shortly after with a brown envelope. "Is this enough?"

Shinra accepted it and opened it up. After counting through most of it he took out a large chunk and handed the rest back to her. "That's enough."

"Wait, seriously?" Ryan questioned as Shinra tucked the money away in his medical bag. "You're gonna take money from a little girl!?"

Saki frowned at him and said, "Hana and I saved up emergency money for a reason. It's an emergency so I'm giving him our money to help her. Now you guys quit standing around and help Dr. Kishitani get Hana to his lab!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Hideji pushed himself off the wall and quickly went around the side of Hana's bed to pick her up. Ryan scowled, but helped pick her up from the other side and went out to load her into the van.

Maria followed after them, but Shinra turned to Saki and said, "I think it'll be best if I keep Hana with me for the first month at least. Do you have a cell phone?"

"Uh, yes, hold on," she hurried back to her bedroom and Shinra calmly followed. They t hen exchahged contact information. "I'll let you know when she's ready to be visited and I'll give you our address, though I ask that you come alone. She'll also be pretty high for the first couple weeks because of the meds."

Saki smiled up at him, "Thank you so much, Dr. Kishitani."

"Call me Shinra," he replied. "Have a good rest of your night!" He then hurried out after the others.

It was a few days before Shinra called her saying she could visit her sister. For the next couple weeks Saki would be picked up by Celty on her bike after school and taken to their apartment, where Hana was held up in a spare bedroom with a full torso cast that extended in a short sleeve down her right arm. For the first couple weeks she was babbling nonsense from the medication, and while Saki found it funny, she was also sad. Sad that she had to live at home without her, but thankfully she wasn't alone. Izaya would meet her there every day to walk her back home.

Meanwhile with the Red Stains, none of them knew where Hana was or what she was doing. The day after Hana's fight against Izumii, the Blue Squares jumped the Red Stains every chance they got and held nothing back. Each day they were getting throttled, and they had no idea how they knew the locations of their hangouts and when to strike.

Kiba, now fully healed, summoned another meeting after twenty of their members were jumped and sent to the city hospital. He was appointed stand-in leader with the support of the older members, along with Ryan, Maria and Hideji. They, along with a middle school friend of Kiba and Hana - appointed representative from the older members, joined him on the platform in the warehouse while everyone was in a rabble. Kiba sighed, combing his fingers back through his hair. Their numbers were dwindling every day, and he didn't know what to do about it.

"I think I've figured out what's giving the Blue Squares the advantage," Maria said in their little huddle. She looked sorry to say it, "I was keeping tabs on Hana's sister in case the Blue Squares tried to jump her. She's been hanging out with Orihara Izaya."

Kiba closed his eyes and sighed, dragging his hand back down over his face. Shit.

"Orihara..." Hideji brought a hand to his chin and wondered, "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"He's the Information Broker," Kiba replied, shoving his hand into his slacks pocket. "He brainwashes abused and traumatized girls into his followers. He must be brainwashing Saki, too, while Hana's on sick leave. He's most likely the one giving the Blue Squares information on our whereabouts."

"Well it can't be Saki giving him the information," Ryan said. "Hana never told the girl anything about us."

"That doesn't mean she can't find out," Kiba's old friend, Masahide replied. Kiba glanced at him- slouched posture and loose fitting clothes.

From behind his shades he blinked. "Dude, are you high right now?"

Masahide stared at him with bloodshot eyes. "A little."

"Why don't we just kill this Izaya then?" Hideji asked.

"Because he works with the Yakuza," Kiba replied. "No one can touch the guy. They're too afraid to."

"I'm not," he replied lightly.

"Well you should be," Maria snapped back. "We can't bring the Yakuza down on us now, we're already hurt bad enough."

"Hey!" A voice that shouted over all the rest brought the room to a hush. Kiba and the others turned to see a man standing out. "It's been two weeks! Where the Hell is the Boss at!? We need her!"

Kiba sighed as the room became louder as everyone sounded in agreement. He needed a cigarette. "All right, settle down! As I've said before, the Boss would be here if she could, but she can't right now. So everyone please just-"

"Shut up you fucking brown nose!" Another man shouted. "The Blue Squares are slaughtering us every day! My friend was just put into the hospital! We need our leader!" The room sounded in agreement.

"I say we go deal with this ourselves!" The room shouted together again, getting amped up.

Those in the hanging grate walkways above, the first few that helped establish the gang, merely stared down at the others that massed blow. Knowing Hana since middle school they all didn't really care. A woman with long crinkled black hair and facial piercings, looking far more punk than Maria, took a drag on the cigarette hanging from her mouth. "What a bunch of children," she mumbled around the cig and blew out the smoke, leaning over the railing.

Kiba adjusted his shades. This wasn't good. Ryan then stepped forward and shouted, "All of you shut the Hell up! Some of you forgot that we are a family! All of those that were jumped were our comrades, too, and you all know very well that the Boss wouldn't want any of you to go out there risking yourselves! Once she comes back she'll deal with Izumii personally, but until then we just need to lay low!"

A woman than spoke up, "Yeah, well while 'boss' is on her little vacation, there's rumors of another gang sprouting. So what the hell are we going to do about that one?"

"They're rumors until proven otherwise," Kiba replied, but that was met with a wildly negative response.

"Are you stupid!?" One voice shouted above the others. "We need to snuff them out before they get bigger! They're going to take over our turf while we're down!"

Maria huffed next to Kiba, staring down at them disgusted. "Hana doesn't even care about turfs," she said quietly.

Kiba knew that, but he also knew that didn't matter to them. More demands about Hana came up before they started chanting. He sighed. Well, this was fucked. He raised a hand and the room eventually came to a silence. He then dropped his arm and said loudly and clearly, "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this warehouse. The truth about the Boss' whereabouts is... Unknown." And the whisperings began. "During her fight with Izumii she was injured, you all saw that. Turns out it was serious and she's in a cast recuperating at an unknown location as we speak. She won't be back on her feet until six months at the earliest."

The room went silent. Yep, Kiba knew that was a bad idea, but his hands were tied. For a while nobody said anything. Then a man in the front of the room took his red hat off and threw it to the ground. As he marched through the crowd towards the doors Ryan shouted, "And where the Hell do you think you're going!?"

The guy whirled around and shouted back, "Where the Hell do you think!? This place is done. We have no leader, no plan of action, no nothing! The Red Stains are nothing but a thing of the past and I'm getting out of here before I die with it."

"Here we go," Masahide sang. Kiba had to agree with him and reached into his inner coat pocket for his pack.

Ryan gestured to the guy and shouted, "Would somebody stop him, please!?"

Bunta was the first on the scene, and grabbed the guy by the shoulder. The guy who was much bigger than Bunta swung his arm and punched him in the face. Bunta went down to the floor and no one else attempted to stop the guy. While Kiba stuck a cigarette in his mouth and pulled out a lighter, more of the Red Stains followed him. They discarded their colors, whether it be hats, shirts or even shoes, and left the warehouse colorless. As he took a drag, the woman up in the catwalks looked to her friends, "Hey." She nudged one on the ground next to her with her foot to get his attention, then gestured them to follow.

Kiba blew up the smoke as those in the hanging walkways above came down. All of the ones Kiba knew back in middle school with Hana gathered below the platform while the rest of them left. The only ones remaining were the Originals, Bunta- who was holding a bloody nose, Maria, Ryan, and Hideji.

Maria was honestly surprised at the rest that stayed. "You're not leaving?"

The Originals were obviously more thug than over half of the members that left. The woman, Nozomi replied to her, "Honey, we've been here years before you heard of Red Stain. We weren't a gang to start and we don't care that we're not a gang now."

"Our alliance is with Hana," a male next to her said in a raspy voice. "We don't give a shit for color gangs."

"Well, what do we do now, then?" Hideji asked.

Kiba took his time enjoying another drag before replying, "I suggest hiding your colors so you can get home safely. If anyone figures out where Hana is, let me know."

That was the last meeting of the Red Stains.

While the weeks rolled into a month, Hana was able to gain full conciseness after being waned off the medication. She handled the situation calmly as Shinra explained to her everything that happened regarding her condition. When she saw Saki again she was quick to fire off questions about how she was, what she was doing, what was going on with school, and everything else until she was caught up to speed.

Yet while she spoke with her sister, Hana realized there was something different about her. She was less outspoken and showed less emotion than before. After Hana asking her a few times if she was all right, Saki only replied, "I'm happy now that you're awake." Hana would stare at her, knowing something was wrong, but Saki insisted she was fine.

Hana eventually decided to let the topic drop since she wasn't getting anywhere. "Can you bring Shinra back in, please?"

"Sure," Saki stood and stuck her head out to call for Shinra. She then slipped out for them to have privacy.

Shinra tucked his hands into his coat pockets and smiled down at her. "What's up?"

"Thank you for everything that you're doing for my sister and I," she said, "but I need to speak with Kiba."

Shinra frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose I'll allow it, but only Kiba. I like him, and I don't trust any of your other friends around my Celty."

Hana closed her eyes as she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Shinra." He handed her cell phone to her and left to give her privacy as she called him.

When he answered he got straight to the point, "Where are you?"

She quickly gave him the address and added, "And you need to come alone. Don't tell anyone else where you're going."

"Yes, ma'am."

Hana dropped her arm and then had to wait for him to arrive. Saki kept her company, but she wasn't nearly as chatty as she was before. It only made Hana more nervous, though her face rarely showed emotions. She would merely stare with her slightly angry look while she listened. Once Kiba arrived, Saki left the room again to give them a private conversation. Hana watched her close the door, thinking to herself that the Saki she knew would insist on staying to hear what they had to say.

She then looked to Kiba as he stood there for a moment. He heaved a heavy sighed of resignation and took off his shades, tucking them into his inner coat pocket. "Too bad they don't allow smoking in here."

"Tell me what's going on."

"Well," he tucked his hands into his slacks pockets and leaned against the wall. "Do you want news about the Red Stains first or about your sister?"

Hana's eyes widened. She rolled her head slightly to see him better. "What about Saki? Do you know why she's acting differently?" When he looked at her, she became anxious at the exhausted look in his eyes. There were more stress lines than normal. "Kiba, tell me," she demanded.

He sighed heavily again. "Do you know Orihara Izaya?"

Hana would have jumped up of she could. At his name she used her good arm to prop herself up as far as she could, her grey eyes wide with alarm. "Saki said he was an online friend. She was telling me she had met him for the first time before you were jumped. Who is he? She hadn't mentioned him in a while. Do you know him?"

As she fired off her questions, he looked down to his shoes. "Yeah, I know him. Orihara Izaya is an Information Broker. He mostly works with the Yakuza and he's basically a leader of his own cult. Not many people know this, but he practically brainwashes vulnerable girls into being his followers." Hana's eyes grew wider, a shaky breath escaping her. "Maria was keeping tabs on Saki and said she'd been seen hanging out with him often. Apparently he's been walking with her everyday back home. I'm afraid he's-"

"Bring her in here..."

Kiba glanced at her and furrowed his brows. "I don't think-"

She suddenly clenched the sheets with an iron grip. "Bring her in here!"

Kiba lowered his head. "Yes, ma'am." He left the room back to the living room and Saki, Shinra, and Celty turned their heads to him.

"Everything okay?" Shinra asked.

"Saki..." Keeping his eyes to the ground looking regrettable he said, "You're sister wants to talk to you."

"Oh, okay." Saki merely smiled and stood up from the couch. Kiba didn't glance at her as she walked by. This wasn't going to end well. Saki walked into the room and after she closed the door behind her she asked, "What's up-?"

"Who is Izaya..." Saki stopped short and her smile slipped away. She stared at her sister slightly confused. Hana continued to prop herself up even though she was shaking by this point. She hung her head so her long hair hid her face as she spoke quietly, "I know he's not your friend... so tell me who he really is... please..."

Saki smiled again. "He's my guardian."

Hana jolted slightly, the wind getting literally knocked out of her. "Guardian...?" She stared in wide eyed horror at the floor. Oh God... How far gone was she...? "Your guardian...?" She slowly lifted her head to look at her sister, seeing her standing by the door with her hands folded behind her back, smiling as if nothing was wrong. Hana's fear twisted into rage and shouted, "He's an Information Broker! He's not your guardian; he works with the Yakuza! Do you have any idea how dangerous he is!?"

"Yeah, I know." Hana's face fell into one of terror at how calmly Saki responded. She didn't even flinch at her yelling. As Saki continued Hana's blood ran cold. "He's dangerous, but not to me. He helped me. He protects me now."

It took a moment for Hana to find her voice. "Protects you...?" She slowly shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. "No, Saki... No! He's using you! He manipulates girls just like you to do his bidding!"

Saki's smile fell a little at that. "Like me? How would you know what I'm like?" Hana fell silent, breathing hard as she stared. She was asking that innocently, speaking without bitterness, but casually. "I have my secrets just like you do. You didn't tell me about your gang, and I didn't tell you about my abusive boyfriend." A tear slipped from Hana's eye. Saki then smiled, "It's all right though. That's all in the past. Izaya said I shouldn't be mad at you. He also said you'd be pretty upset about my relationship with him, but he said it'd be okay and that it would all work out. He's kind of like a psychic like that."

Hana didn't know what to say. "Saki..." Another tear slipped from her eye.

Saki walked over to her, but she was frozen like a statue. "You don't gotta worry about anything, big sis." She then kissed her on top of her head and Hana had to bite down on her lip hard. She hung her head again to hide her face as blood tricked down her chin. Saki's phone sounded in her cardigan pocket and she pulled it out, flipping it open. "That's Izaya, he's already downstairs. I'll come by after school tomorrow, okay? Be sure to rest." She then left the room leaving the door open. Hana could hear her in the living room, "Thank you again, Shinra and Celty. I have to go now."

"Oh, well have a good day..." Shinra didn't sound very sure, all of them having overheard the yelling.

As Saki left Kiba walked back into the room and gently closed the door behind him. He merely stood with his eyes to the floor, waiting patiently until Hana was ready. After wiping the blood off her chin she laid back down and covered her eyes with her hand, tears leaking out underneath.

That's when Hana realized her final mistake. She had failed Saki.

She swallowed the lump in her throat a couple times before speaking in a raspy voice, "Tell me... about the Red Stains..."

"You were right about Izumii remembering what you did to him. The day after the fight the Blue Squares declared war on us, and beat the hell out of us. We believe Izaya's the one giving them information on our whereabouts, though I don't believe your sister is involved in any way. We had a meeting today..." He sighed again and his shoulders sagged a bit. "I had to tell everyone what happened to you. After they found out you were bedridden whatever remained of us disbanded. There's only a few of us now, I'm afraid."

Without removing her hand she said in an alarmingly dead voice, "Have Celty bring me the wheelchair."

He frowned at her, "Hana, I really don't think-"

"The wheelchair, Kiba," she repeated more assertively.

Kiba pressed his lips tight. "I'll call a meeting..."

Despite Shinra's protests, Hana won with an iron will and Celty lent her a sold black wheelchair. Kiba wheeled her out of the apartment. She felt mostly numb, probably from the shock, staring at the sidewalk as her red eyes dried. While he pushed her down the sidewalk, the unusually silent wheelchair suddenly brayed, scaring the shit out of Kiba. While Hana stared down at the wheelchair wide eyed, she'd thought that the horse braying she heard in the apartment was just the drugs. They decided not to address of it and continued on.

By the time they made it to the warehouse, Hana's body was physically worn out from the emotional stress. She had many more stress lines under her eyes by the end of their trip. The doors opened up and she saw Ryan first. He offered a sad smile, "Hey, boss. Good to see ya."

She merely stared at him with a blank expression before staring past him. "Open the doors all the way."

He did as told and opened the doors wide open. The afternoon sunlight went flooding in and lit up the blood stained floor. Kiba rolled her in and Maria was the only other one to offer a smile. Hana looked around at them. There were easily over a hundred members, now they were down to about twenty including herself. To one side she knew everyone back from middle school, when they were all just a bunch of punks without red. To her other side she saw the newer members. "Why did you stay?"

Maria's smile faltered at Hana's dead voice. Bunta was the one to step forward and said, "Well... Like you said, boss. This is a family. I don't really fit in anywhere else, none of us do." He shrugged. "Just cause we're not a gang no more don't mean we're not still a family."

Hana swallowed as another lump quickly formed in her throat, tears welling in her eyes again. She looked away to stare at the blood stained floor in front of her. "The Red Stains are dead. Take off your colors." As she spoke they immediately began stripping them away. "It's too dangerous to wear them and I never cared for it in the first place. Never come back here again. I suggest not meeting up for a long while, and keep your heads down until the Blue Squares find something else to kill." She lowered her head. "And please..." Her hands suddenly balled into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms. As hard as she tried, her voice still quivered as she spoke, "please keep in touch... You are all I have left..."

"Of course," Kiba replied for everyone.

Hana remained as she was, her eyes screwed shut to prevent the tears from escaping. Not now. Not in front of them. She took a deep breath and slowly relaxed her hands. With a steadier voice she said, "Kiba, take me back, please."

"Yes, ma'am."

He turned the chair around, but then Maria quickly called out, "Wait, Boss!" Kiba stopped and Hana cranked her neck a bit to look back at her. She gestured to the floor and asked, "What about the red stains? Should we wash them away?"

"Leave them." Hana faced forward again. "No matter where they go, whether to the Blue Squares, some other gang, or back into society, they'll always be just a stain." Kiba then took her back to Shinra and Celty's apartment.

After Kiba left, Celty rolled her back into the spare bedroom and with Shinra's help set her back down on the bed. Celty then pulled out her cell phone and typed away on it. Hana looked over as she showed the screen to her. [Are you okay?]

Hana stared at that message for a moment before looking up at the Black Riders yellow helmet. "Celty... Is it true you don't have a head?" Celty pulled her arm back slightly and looked to Shinra. "Your wheelchair... brayed like a horse."

Celty typed, [Promise not to scream?] Hana merely stared at her. Celty lowered her hand again, sweat dropping. Right...

Celty removed her helmet. Hana's eyes widened slightly as she witnessed the wisps of black smoke escaping the neck hole of the jacket. Her mild shock quickly went away and she relaxed, the numbness taking over again. "Can I ask what you are?"

Celty typed and showed her phone again. [I'm a Dullahan. I'm kind of like a fairy from Ireland.]

"Do you have any special powers that can heal me?"

Celty lowered her hand. Poor thing... She typed, [I'm sorry... Nothing like that.]

Shinra, who was peeking to see Celty's phone, then smiled and said, "Maybe you do." Huh? Both Celty and Hana looked over at him. "Well, we know you have incredible regenerative abilities. Maybe if you transferred your blood to her like a vampire or something she'd heal faster."

Hana glanced over at Celty as she quickly typed. [Is that even safe?]

He shrugged casually. "I dunno!"

[Shinra!]

"Please..." They both looked down at Hana again, seeing tears running down her temples into her hair. "Please... I'm desperate... I need to get back to Saki... I have to help her."

Celty's shoulders heaved as she sighed. [Are you willing to risk it?]

"I refuse to let anything happen to me while Saki needs me."

Celty looked to Shinra. If she's willing... "Well," Shinra smiled down at Hana, giddy like a child. "I'll get the syringe!"