It's the 20th of July! Happy Birthday Misaki Yata!

Hi guys, I'm back! Obviously. Anyway, Many thanks to my viewers especially NamikazeMia for following, you really made my day!

Not much more to say here, hope you enjoy.

I own nothing.

Chapter 2: The good, the bad and the ugly

Fuse dropped a stack of files on the desk in front of her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Enomoto eyed the files in front of her apprehensively, there certainly were a lot of them, only the top one's about you, she reminded herself.

"Not really but I don't want to let whoever, or whatever, this is continue to ruin my life and the lives of those around me," she replied, pushing her glasses up her nose.

After the attack on Hidaka's stuff Enomoto had been ready to pack her bags and leave Scepter 4. She didn't care if who/whatever was harassing her followed her, she just wanted it to leave her work place. Scepter 4 was a place of order and harmony and Enomoto didn't want to be, even indirectly, the cause for that to change, and she really didn't want her co-workers, she would even go so far as to say her friends, to be targeted because of her.

But Mr. Fushimi and Hidaka herself had squashed that plan as soon as she'd given voice to the thought...

"Scepter 4 doesn't negotiate with terrorists," Fushimi had told her in his usual bored tone, but there'd been a glimmer in his blue eyes which suggested that, deep down, even if he wouldn't admit it to even himself, he might be just as furious about this as everyone else was beginning to be. They may not have family-like bonds like HOMRA but this place was their home! Each and every person here, except perhaps Mr. Fushimi, felt overwhelming pride to be part of Scepter 4 and one of the things they felt pride in was that they tolerated assholes like this about as well as HOMRA did.

Not at all.

Approaching her, eyes ever so slightly red, Hidaka nodded vigorously, clutching the necklace and chain to her chest, "if you give in to bullies then they just keep doing whatever they want! You have to stand up to them!"

Fuse and Goto nodded in agreement.

Enomoto's throat felt tight with remorse, "I'm so sor-"

Hidaka cut her off with a vehement head shake, "you don't have to apologize to me!" Her eyes flashed and she gripped her broken necklace harder, "when we find this asshole we'll make him apologize to me!"

"Or her," muttered Fushimi. Everyone glanced at him quizzically but acknowledged the point, or her.

Lieutenant Awashima squared her shoulder, "Enomoto! Fuse!"

"Ma'am!" Immediately they snapped to attention, Fuse's hand fell off her shoulder, Tatsuya hadn't even realized that it was still there but when it was gone the spot on her shoulder he'd bee touching felt cold.

"I want you both to go back through Enomoto's old records. Find out who would want to do this and how they are doing it. Find them, stop them!"

"Yes ma'am!" Said the pair.

Awashima glanced at all the others, "but for now, everyone else get back to your own rooms!" Obediently Akiyama, Benzai, Kamo and Domyoji left, "Enomoto and Hidaka; get this mess cleaned up!"

"Yes ma'am," chorused the two women.

Awashima gave Fuse and Goto, who were still standing with Enomoto and Hidaka respectively a well-used look that said 'you know, I'm pretty sure I gave you an order,' in a much scarier way, but eventually relented, "you two do what you want." She left, Fushimi beside her as they murmured together.

Together Enomoto, Hidaka, Fuse and Goto started cleaning up, eventually first Domyoji, then Kamo, then Akiyama and Benzai together, trickled back in to help. They weren't disobeying orders, they had all gone back to their own rooms, and no one had said they had to stay there.

It was kind of cramped, fitting eight people into a room designed for two but they managed it. And in typical (and proud!) Scepter 4 fashion, managed to work together without tripping each other up. Not too much anyway.

The next day Enomoto and Fuse got started on the records of everyone Enomoto had ever come into contact with and every case she had ever worked. The results were... interesting...

Tatsuya sighed and squared her shoulders, time to stop letting everyone else comfort her, time to take responsibility and do something about it. No more screwing around with cameras that obviously were not going to help.

She picked up her file and set it to the side, it was the biggest and the most personal, as well as the one least likely to yield results, a last resort, you might say.

She took one folder from the top; Fuse took another, they read the reports.

Enomoto's was about a Strain she had helped apprehend, she doubted this was the person responsible, yes the strain had the power of telekinesis but the report stated that he would still be in custody and, even if he had gotten out, Enomoto had been there but Goto had done the actual arresting, she had no idea why the strain would go after her before him.

She placed the folder in the 'no' pile, seconds later Fuse's folder joined it.

The two worked in silence until Fuse got her attention by speaking, "how about this one?" He turned the folder around and slid it across the table at her.

Enomoto's blood turned to ice.

She sucked in a breath, how the heck did he get that file? Was her first thought, then she wanted to kick herself, because they were going through files of people she knew and people who might want to hurt her. Of course that file was going to be in it!

She glanced from Fuse's open, innocent face (well, as open as Fuse ever was) to the file on the desk between them, how much did he read?

She took the file and scanned the page he had been reading, her heart fluttered in relief, all Fuse had read was that Enomoto had once filed charges against this man when he refused to accept that their relationship was over. And he was a Strain. A fact Enomoto hadn't known when they started dating.

What was on the second page that Fuse -thank you any God that may be watching- hadn't read was the stuff she hadn't wanted him to see. All the first page mentioned was that he was a man she used to date who was a Strain who could walk through walls who she had pressed charges against. The part about this man, Ryuunosuke Kita, being a Strain wasn't something she found out until they'd been together for almost six months. And she'd had to start locking the door behind her every time she stayed over for even a second's privacy. It was then that she found out he could walk through walls.

Finding out he was a Strain was like a splash of cold water in the face. It woke her up to the truth. Ever since she told him who and what she was, a clansman with the power of a King, he had never stopped telling her that only he would love her, only he would accept someone as twisted as her, someone who was willing to throw away their life, their individuality for a cause they didn't understand, the only one who would love someone with powers as twisted and freakish as hers. That if she ever wanted acceptance she would have to date someone else from her 'institution.' He always called it an institution. And then would continue to point out that the people at her 'institution' all knew her, why would they date her? She was unsocial, nervous, a nerd and uninteresting. So even if she did –God forbid- develop feelings for Akiyama, Kamo, Goto or Fuse the chances of them returning those feelings were between zero and one. The part that really stung was that he was right. No one would want someone with freakish powers and a freakish life unless they understood, unless they were the same. And out of all the people who were the same, who would want her?

Well, there were a few more options, the foremost being to not tell whoever she was dating. Which was fine in a casual relationship, why not? But Tatsuya believed serious relationships could only last if both sides were open and honest, and the fact that she was a blue clansman was a rather big part of her life and she didn't think keeping it from a boyfriend was 'open' or 'honest.' So that was out. And you couldn't just go around telling every Tom, Dick and Harry. It was kind of a big thing. A big secret thing.

So no.

Of course she could always date someone from another clan. But Tatsuya would only do that in an alternate universe. One with a frozen over hell.

The last option was to do exactly what Enomoto was doing now, screw dating, it was too much trouble.

But back then she hadn't been like that, she had been young, foolish, she had thought she was in love.

But eventually Tatsuya had realized that this relationship was hardly as perfect as she first thought. But when she'd tried to leave...

She swallowed, her throat was suddenly dry. "I-It's not him," she told Fuse, "trust me."

He glanced up, alerted by the high pitch of her voice; he shot her a look of concern and asked, "are you sure?"

Enomoto nodded her head vehemently, "absolutely," she said, and she was absolutely sure. 100% Without a doubt.

Fuse's look said he was still wondering about her sudden change in tone but let it drop, "if you're sure." He said, and went on to the next file. Bless him.

Enomoto breathed a sigh of relief.

A short while later Fuse's spine stiffened, at the same moment, Tatsuya sat up.

"Here's one," they said together.

Enomoto wasn't panting as they crested the last hill, she was just breathing hard, that was all, she wasn't panting, no certainly not! She was far too fit for that!

But they had, been walking for hours, she justified to herself, and this was mentally as well as physically exhausting. So it was completely understandable if she was panting a little bit.

Even though she wasn't! Enomoto hastily assured herself. Her breathing was slightly ragged and harsh, but she wasn't panting! No!

Breathing slightly ragged and harsh may be the literal definition of panting, Tatsuya realized grimly, but she ignored that.

So far they had visited fifteen people who might have reasons and means to cause Enomoto harm. That number was slightly worrying but statistically Enomoto had no more people after her than the other members of the elite squad. It was part of being a peacekeeping force, she supposed.

There were only three that stood out, a telekinetic strain female whom Tatsuya had personally arrested, another strain who could turn invisible who just plain didn't like her and a woman from the Green Clan who had applied for the position in Scepter 4 Enomoto had ended up getting.

It was their third day interviewing people and investigating and finally they were heading back to the barracks, tired and worn, optimistically feeling as though they were making some real headway and getting solid leads one moment and pessimistically feeling as though they had absolutely no idea what they were doing the next.

Cheered now that their destination was in sight, Fuse picked up the pace, Enomoto followed him for a few minutes, then stopped walking.

"Hm?" Fuse turned back when he noticed she wasn't following him, "tired?"

Yes, she was, but not in the way he meant. Enomoto shook her head. "I don't think it was Mutsu Shirakawa," she said, Shirakawa was the strain who could turn invisible, he'd developed a hatred of the entire special force since they were always the ones who stopped his various misdemeanours but seemed to particularly dislike Enomoto. Maybe because they looked so much alike, she wasn't sure.

But when she and Fuse had gone to check Shirakawa's last known residence they had found a rather welcome surprise. Shirakawa seemed to genuinely be turning his life around, he was still at the job Scepter 4 had set him up at and he even had a pregnant girlfriend whom he was planning on proposing to soon.

Well at least things were working out for someone.

But the whole thing did make Tatsuya a little more optimistic about the chances of her, and those like her being able to find someone they could spend their lives with. Shirakawa's fiancée knew about his powers and she wasn't repulsed by him. Maybe her brain was wrong and Ryuunosuke was as full of crap as her instincts had warned her he was.

That was an optimistic thought in itself.

"He wouldn't ruin a genuinely good thing," said Tatsuya, Shirakawa made dumb decisions when it came to his powers but he wasn't a bad guy. He was the kind of person who would feel quite at home in a gang like HOMRA actually.

Not the type who'd potentially ruin everything on petty, vindictive and frankly quite horrible 'revenge.'

"No, I don't think it was him either." Fuse agreed. "Just not his thing, and even if it was, he wouldn't risk everything. He has so much to lose now."

Enomoto couldn't help but smile, that was one of the things she liked about Fuse, he thought the way she did.

He reached up and pushed back his hair and Tatsuya was struck with the sudden realization that Daiki Fuse was actually really good looking.

She frowned slightly, troubled, where did that come from? Enomoto shook herself and continued.

"I don't think it was Ichiko Kouchi either," she said. Kouchi was the female strain Tatsuya had personally handcuffed the one time the woman had been arrested. She didn't like Enomoto, at all. But was that really worth it? Like Shirakawa, she had a lot to lose, sure Enomoto had arrested her once, once, but she'd been jailed for barely six days for using her telekinesis to drop books onto hapless bystanders heads at the library where she worked. If she'd been using her hands to do it they never would have bothered her, it was her telekinesis that was the problem. But to take it this far...

"So Noguchi is the one, you think?" Fuse asked. Kae Noguchi was a woman in her mid-thirties who went for a job interview at Scepter 4 on the same day Enomoto had found herself stammering in front of a panel of strange men and an even stranger woman and somehow found herself being hired. Apparently the Captain had seen something in Enomoto, or maybe she just hadn't seen something in Noguchi because Tatsuya had ended up getting the job.

For the first couple of weeks Noguchi, believing, because they had been the only two interviewed that day, that Tatsuya had 'stolen' her job, harassed her occasionally. But when Enomoto had told her to back off, she'd backed off. The woman was silly, self-absorbed and shallow but she was like most bullies, when someone stronger than them told them to piss off they pissed off.

Wow, that sounded vulgar.

"No, I don't think it's her either," Enomoto sighed, "but that puts us back at the beginning. I'm sorry Fuse."

He shrugged, Fuse wore his usual serious expression but his eyes were kind, "If you think it wasn't any of them then I believe you. I guess we just keep looking then."

Enomoto chewed her lower lip thoughtfully, "maybe we shouldn't," she said, then mentally kicked herself, the lieutenant had told them to get to the bottom of this, so they should be shutting up and following orders.

"Maybe whoever it was just wanted to mess with me for a bit and now they're done. Nothing's happened since we started searching. Nothing, to anyone."

Fuse considered her words, then he glanced at his PDA, it was well past dinnertime and they had left just after an early breakfast. "Tell you what, if we get back and today has been incident-free we'll talk to the lieutenant about going back to work."

"Deal," said Tatsuya immediately.

They finished the rest of the walk back in silence, but it was a companionable one. Fuse walked her to her door and on the way there they stopped Akiyama and asked him if anything had happened to Enomoto's room, dorm, locker, friends or if anything at all had gone wrong.

The answer was cheerily no so Tatsuya stopped outside her door with a light heart.

She should have known better.

Fuse gave her one of his rare, tiny smiles, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Enomoto couldn't help but smile back, "for regular duty, yes." Assuming the lieutenant said yes, of course.

Fuse's smile widened, then he did something Tatsuya wouldn't have seen coming even if she was the previous, previous Colourless King and could actually genuinely see into the future.

He leaned forwards and kissed her softly on the lips.

Utterly flummoxed Tatsuya could only stare as Fuse pulled back, "goodnight," he whispered.

Then he turned and walked away.

Bastard.

Enomoto was still gaping open-mouthed when Hidaka came running up to her. "Eno! There you are!"

Slightly snapped out of her daze Tatsuya turned around. But all the blood drained out of her face when she saw the expression on the older woman's.

"Oh no, what?" She whispered.

Hidaka's expression was grim and harried but there was burning fury in her eyes, "your spare uniform came back from the cleaners. Domyoji took it back with hers and went to put it in your locker but," here Hidaka stopped and ran a hand through her already messy brown locks, "th-there was some sort of explosive in your locker and-and when she opened it-it blew up. She's being taken to hospital now." Hidaka was stammering now, but from fear or fury Enomoto couldn't tell. Maybe both.

"It doesn't look good."

Tatsuya's heart stopped.

Oh no! Andy! Perhaps the only member of Scepter 4 who's name people remember! Oh noes!

Again, hope you liked guys. If you've got anything to say don't hesitate to drop me a review.

Bye!