Chewing on Diamonds

by Don'tKillKenny

Six years after the Mitakihara disaster, Sayaka has become an undercover cop at Kazamino's upscale strip club. What she doesn't know is that the girl training her is not only superhuman, but may be one of the criminals she's there to take down. Continuation of Oriko Magica timeline. KyoSaya, drugs, gore, crime, yuri, dubcon, hinted abuse, PTSD, other warnings inside. Chp 1 edited.

6. Chapter 6

Warning: Dubcon/rape in this chapter near the end. Not as graphic or disturbing as some of the scenes from chapter five. There will not be a warning before it happens.

Chapter Six

Sayaka didn't want to go back to the club tonight, but she had to. It was going to be a busy night, and she figured skipping out on something like tonight could get her fired. She had already been told to take a week off after the 'incident' last week. It was a miracle that Kyoko and Geisha backed her up. It was even more of a miracle that her cover hadn't been completely blown.

Ryo wouldn't be so proud of her then.

She wondered if she would be weird when she saw Kyoko.

She would have to try her hardest not to be.

It was decided at a meeting in the morning that they would retry the operation next Thursday. It had to be on Thursdays because that was when the Miyamotos tended to move.

She secured the wig to her head. She didn't look like her at all.

She was ready.

---

Kyoko didn't want to go back to the club tonight. At the very least, she had hoped the Miyamotos wouldn't come.

They did. And Suki had a broken nose.

It was pretty awkward.

"So what the hell happened to you?" Kurosawa asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

"Had a problem with a pickup yesterday is all. We made it work though. At least now Atahiko won't bitch that he's the only one who's been hurt on the job." She joked. Her voice sounded odd, almost nasal.

"This is why I let subordinates do the work. They're more suited to do dirty work. You should really consider trying my method."

"There are pros and cons to both systems." She replied politely, but in a way that inferred that she had no intention of listening to him at all.

"At the very least, you shouldn't be doing that kind of dirty work. It's no place for a woman. Look what happened to you!" He chided.

"This" she pointed to her nose "had nothing to do with me being a woman. This had everything to do with me being a dumbass. Get it right."

Rin looked profoundly uncomfortable and was shitty at hiding it.

"This conversation sucks." James joked. "I want to talk about Precious. Precious, are you feeling better? I'm really sorry for being an asshole. Forgive me, please." He stuck his bottom lip out like a child.

"Aww, how can you not forgive a face like that?" Lady cooed while pulling him into a not-so-gentle embrace.

"I learned my lesson, really. I had to go a whole week without seeing my special Lady." James buried his hand into Lady's unnaturally large breasts and motorboated them. Lady squealed. Her voice had started sounding much higher recently. She heard rumours she was taking a larger dose of estrogen and was moving along well in her transition. Kyoko wasn't surprised; Lady had been talking about doing that for years.

Kyoko still rolled her eyes at the inappropriate display of affection.

"You're still a prick." Baby Kurosawa glared at the expatriate across from him.

"Fusao, he is our business partner. We should leave personal matters such as disagreements about senses of humour at home." Kurosawa scolded lightly.

"What are you talking about? I'm hilarious." James joked. "Your son's just jealous because I actually have a prick."

Fusao threw his uneaten chicken wing at James. It bounced directly off of James' forehead, landing on the ground. James laughed. Kyoko swallowed the urge to scream at them for wasting food.

"You are not five years old. Start acting like it." Kurosawa scolded much more harshly. "And for god's sakes, that's disgusting! I don't care what my cousin says, this place is filthy. Don't eat food that's been on the floor! Have some class, really."

Kyoko looked over and saw that Suki had picked up the chicken wing and was eating it. Suki flipped him off, but she could have easily been flipping off Kyoko too. "Five second rule."

"She's not fond of seeing food go to waste." Tsubasa said politely. "I can see that you don't know what it's like to be hungry, but she does."

"Can we not just have one mature conversation?"

"You're twins. If she's been hungry, you have too, right? Or were you just the asshole twin who ate all of her food?" James asked, not bothering to wipe the sauce off his forehead as he picked up a chicken wing of his own.

Tsubasa sent him a steely look that chilled the room. Kyoko had only ever seen the man appeared bothered by anything once, and that was last week.

Something about this seemed more personal though.

"Fuck off, asshole." Suki kicked James's shin. James laughed again and kicked her back.

Only Kyoko seemed to notice the way Suki quickly and tightly held Tsubasa's hand for just a moment.

She hated getting involved in clients' personal affairs.

"Koko, Precious, how about a show?" Kurosawa changed the topic.

---

Sayaka felt a distinct sense of dread going to the station to meet Ryo. She still had no idea why they had to meet on Saturday evening, but she wasn't one to tell her Captain how to do his job.

She had gone over to her parents at lunch. They didn't question why she didn't want to take her scarf off inside; she was really going to have to talk to Kyoko about the hickeys.

They did, however question why she missed dinner on Thursday.

"It was an important work project guys; I couldn't miss it. We need to do it again next Thursday too. I'm really hoping we finish up this project soon and maybe my schedule will calm down a bit. I'll also ask my boss if I can tell you what was going on afterwards, alright? I just can't now."

"Are you sure you're safe?" Her father asked, plenty of worry evident in his voice.

No. "Of course guys! It's fine."

She brought a uniform to work in case she needed to get changed, but she seemed to have been unofficially promoted to a position like a detective or something that didn't require her to wear it. She would have to ask Ryo about that at some point.

"Nice of you to show up Miki." Ryo said while looking at his watch. She was ten minutes late.

"My lunch with my parents went longer than expected. Sorry Captain."

"Miki, you're great at what you do, but you really need to figure something out to do about them. They're impacting your performance." He said coldly.

"I'm sorry sir."

"Don't be sorry. Do something about it. Anyways, come on." He walked her down a hallway she didn't go down much and procured a key to open a metal gate.

"Captain, where are we going?"

"Be quiet, Miki."

They saw a cop sitting in a surveillance room to their right.

"Shijiro! How have you been?" Ryo grinned to the tall, conventionally attractive man sitting at the monitors. His dark hair framed his face perfectly. Sayaka didn't think he looked like a tech guy at all.

"Not too bad Ryo, not too bad. Ah, is this the girl you were talking about before?"

"Yeah, that's her; my rising star! But sorry, I'm not here to chat for long. Remember that bet we made last week?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember asshole. Here you go." The man typed in a few keys and a few of the monitors went black. "You're lucky I trust you."

"You're a good man, Shijiro. See you for drinks at the usual time?"

"You know it." He smiled pleasantly and waved them off. Once Ryo left the room, he gestured for Sayaka to follow him, demeanor completely changed.

"Uh, Captain I'm sorry to ask but –"

"Then don't ask and don't repeat what you saw. I'm doing this to save your ass Miki."

"Wha, wait Captain?"

"Your gun, Miki. You lost your gun. I'm not sure how you managed to do that, because it was secured to you tightly before." Sayaka's face paled, thinking about how she had moved it to a more accessible location to pull it out if she had to. "If we file a report on it, they'll pull you out of the Miyamoto and Tomi operations, even though you're the only one with a real way in."

They got to a large, heavy metal door. The sign next to it clearly read "evidence closet".

"Captain, I'm sorry but I don't think-"

"If you did, you wouldn't have lost your gun. You've got potential and I don't want to see you wasting it. This is the closest we've come to the Miyamotos, ever. Do you actually understand that? This is the closest we have ever come to getting some of the worst human traffickers, not only in our region but in all of Japan. Do you understand that?"

"Yes Captain." She nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat.

"Then act like it. Come on."

He unlocked the door and they entered. The room was crowded, but organized with stacks upon stacks of boxes.

"I knew there was a good one around the 5400 files. They're all closed now and no one should have any reason to look in them." He passed her a box that read '5412' absentmindedly as he fished through boxes. He didn't realize that she hadn't actually grabbed it and it was dropped on the floor.

A five pound bag of heroin fell, breaking the strained plastic.

"Son of a bitch! Miki, be careful."

Sayaka stared at white powder that had fallen around them. Ryo's face paled.

"Oh shit. Miki, Miki you need to-"

"I'll grab a dustpan. Are they in the maintenance closet?" She asked, dazed.

She was so confused.

She had absolutely no desire to take any of it.

None. At all.

The powder repulsed her even. It looked so messy. She just wanted it cleaned up. It was nothing but a mess.

"Are you alright?" His posture was tense, like he was ready to run away or jump on her at a second's notice.

"I'm fine." She had to let it sink in for a few minutes. "I'm completely fine. I don't care that there's heroin on the ground. I'm actually completely fine. I don't feel like I need it at all." She started to laugh. "I don't understand, but this is amazing. I've never felt like this before." Not since before I started.

She felt so free.

"I'm completely fine." She repeated to herself in amazement.

She hurried out and got the dustpan from the maintenance closet. She cleaned it up, put it in a garbage bag, and put it back in the banker's box like it wasn't her vice that had nearly killed her a few years ago that she had just cleaned up, touched, and had had five pounds of right in front of her.

She washed her hands after, the flecks of white being washed down the drain like they meant nothing to her.

Because they did. They didn't mean any sort of salvation or relief. They didn't mean a gateway to the amazing sensations she had missed.

They meant nothing.

She walked back to the evidence closet, where Ryo handed her a gun that had formerly been evidence in an illegal weapons dealing case. It was an identical make to the force-issued ones.

Ryo was gaping at her.

"Miki, I don't get it. What changed? When did you seem so much better?"

"I don't know." She laughed. She thought of Kyoko, but figured she shouldn't go so far as to give details about their inappropriate relationship to her boss. "I guess it was something at the operation on Thursday. I guess I just…" She struggled to find the right words to convey this strange phenomenon that she was told by dozens of professionals would be impossible. "I just really, really realized that I didn't want this anymore. I didn't want to be craving anymore. I didn't want to be that way again. I don't get it. This is supposed to be impossible, so I just don't get it."

Ryo stared at her dumfounded before his face broke out into a huge, radiant grin.

"Well if anyone could achieve the impossible, it would be you Miki. I'm not surprised one bit. Maybe just seeing what you really looked like from a sober point of view is all you needed! I knew a push in the right direction would fix you up!"

Part of Sayaka felt like she should correct him, but it seemed like he was right in this case. She had tried for so long to avoid her problems that she never thought that facing it dead on could help.

Was this really it? It felt so anticlimactic. She thought if she ever had any sort of epiphanies like these, that it would be like the light of heaven raining down on her, showing her the way.

It was just that she didn't feel like she had to do it anymore.

She wasn't sure how she would be able to describe this to her parents, friends, or rehab group. She was even starting to feel guilty by how easy it all seemed now, like the flick of a switch.

She was sure damn excited to tell them all though.

---

Kyoko felt a distinct sense of dread as she got ready to meet with Kurosawa and Tomi tonight. Apparently, she was being "loaned out" under some sort of long-term contract to a business connection of Kurosawa's.

He was going to be taking all of the profit, of course.

Fucking bastard.

She tried to finish up a quick stir fry for Yuma and herself before she left. They were going to meet afterwards to go hunting, so they had to be well-fed. One thing Kyoko learned early on is that fighting on an empty stomach was never a good idea.

"Do you want to put anything else in?" Kyoko asked Yuma who was reading an English book for school nearby. Yuma sniffed the air.

"Maybe a bit of soya sauce?"

"Sounds good to me." Kyoko tossed a splash in. Yuma freaking loved soya sauce, way more than Kyoko did. Kyoko preferred sweets to salty. Still, Yuma could throw some extra on after.

The rice was boiling nicely and almost done.

"Can you get the chocolate milk out of the fridge and get the dishes out?" She was working on doing a mental count of all of the things she needed to do. She didn't think she was missing anything.

"Sure!" Yuma chirped.

"Food's ready! Can you pass me the plates?"

"Yes master."

"Yeah, cause I made you do so much." Kyoko lightly cuffed the girl up the back of her head playfully before grabbing the plates for her. "Hey do you-"

Something hit her like a jolt of something like lightning or something and she fell to the floor in a heap.

She tried to get back up, but she couldn't.

She felt so drained.

"Kyoko?! Kyoko what's wrong?" Yuma was standing over her, terrified.

Kyoko couldn't move. She felt paralyzed. She was gasping for breath.

She felt like she had just thrown all of her magic into a single shot, but she didn't do anything.

"I can't find anything wrong with your body." Yuma was shaking. "I can't…Kyoko let me see your soul gem."

Kyoko tried to lift her hand but couldn't. Thankfully, Yuma seemed to understand and pulled the soul gem out for her.

Two pairs of cerulean and crimson eyes widened in shock.

Her soul gem, which she had touched up that morning, was nearly black.

"What the fuck?" She managed to gasp out.

She felt cold. She felt really, really cold.

"We have a few saved up, hang on." Yuma sprinted and came back with the four they had hidden in their dresser drawer.

It took three grief seeds to get her back to the bright apple red it had been before.

Kyoko could breathe again.

Yuma started to cry.

"What was that?!" She was shivering. "You were fine and then you were so close to turning. What was that?!"

"I don't know. I really, really don't know." Kyoko gathered Yuma into her arms and rocked her gently, trying to console her even though she was just as frightened.

What the hell was that?

"Kyubey, are you here?" Kyoko shouted out. Surely enough, Kyubey hopped out from behind a corner.

"Wow Kyoko! You came quite close to transforming there. It was very fortunate for you that Yuma was here. How are you feeling?" It asked in a voice that seemed almost perky. It pissed her off.

"Yeah, what the fuck was that? I didn't even do anything!"

Yuma cried a bit harder. Kyoko pulled her closer, if that were even possible.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I could venture a few guesses, but I don't know how helpful it would be. I could be completely wrong."

"I don't give a damn if you only have guesses, it's still better than anything we've got." She snapped. She hated asking this fucker for help; he was always so damn obtuse.

"Have you cast any permanent spells recently?"

"Permanent spells? What the hell are those?"

"They are exactly what the name implies: permanent. Most spells magical girls cast are temporary. For example, you create a barrier but it will be broken either by a hard hit or once a specific time period has passed. Once the barrier is no longer up, you no longer have to use any magic. But maybe you created a barrier that is meant to stay up forever and it sustained some heavy damage. Have you performed any spells like that recently?"

"No! Why the hell would I do that?"

"Who knows? You still never fully regained control of your magic after your family died, did you not?"

"Shut up!" She yelled at it.

"Why would you tell me to be quiet after you asked for my hypothesis? Did hearing my possible explanation upset you? I would have thought you would feel more at ease because you can now feel less uncertain about what your problem is." It tilted its head.

"Thank you Kyubey, that's enough." Yuma croaked sadly.

"Well, if I am right, you may want to gather a larger stockpile of grief seeds in case something like this happens again. I am not completely sure what has happened, but I would say that there is a significant risk that it could happen again." It wandered off and disappeared into shadows cast by the moonlight outside.

"What's happening to you?" Yuma asked sadly, silent tears falling as she buried her head further into Kyoko's chest.

"I…I don't know."

Kyoko really, really didn't want to go to that meeting now.

---

The next few days passed as a happy haze for Sayaka. She had a newfound skip in her step.

She even went back to the evidence closet a few times under the guise of trying to find information on Megumi and Atahiko just so she could hold heroin and feel the amazing feeling of not being tempted to do it.

She felt like she had nothing holding her back now. She could throw her all into getting the Miyamotos.

She was powerful again.

"This week has been an amazing week for me." She said at the rehab meeting on Tuesday. "I have never felt so free. I was actually handling a five pound bag of heroin, which was a piece of evidence without supervision, and I had absolutely no desire to smoke it or inject it or anything! I don't know what happened, but it's suddenly like I'm done with everything. I don't get it, but it feels amazing!"

She was grinning ear to ear. The recovering addicts, particularly Tatsuya looked at her in awe. A few of the newer family members beamed, seeing hope of total recovery for their loved ones.

Her parents looked at her in confusion. The top therapist looked at her with concern.

"That's fantastic Miki-san, but I was to emphasize: I have never heard of something like this lasting permanently. I don't want to discount what you're saying, it's absolutely remarkable that you were able to handle evidence like that with no one present and you didn't take any, but it's not a typical milestone anyone reaches in their recovery. Please do not handle your former vices as some kind of personal test because Miki-san was able to, is what I'm saying." Daisuke said, seeming very uncomfortable.

"What if that is the way to healing though?" A newer parent said. "Has any research been done into it? Maybe all of the research has been so focused on an avoidance technique that no one has even considered this as a possible alternative."

"I can't say I know much about research into Miki's methods, but I don't think it would work for the majority of cases."

"Your avoidance technique doesn't work for the majority of cases!" Another voice, a concerned grandfather shouted back.

Sayaka felt like she had created a heated debate in which people who had no idea what they were talking about were taking on strong positions.

"I agree with Daisuke-san! I'm not trying to say everyone should have their drugs of choice put in front of them so they can say 'no'! I had that happen to me twice in the past few weeks and it was disastrous both times. Please, have faith in this method. It really is the most proven to work."

"Twice? I thought there was only one." Her mother looked confused.

Oh shit.

"Ah, well, yeah."

"What was your second one? How did you get out of it?" An older female addict asked, peering at her with large owl-like eyes. She felt like the woman was staring into her soul.

Sayaka didn't have a story she could come up with on the spot.

Thankfully, Hitomi called her at just that moment, so she lied and said it was a work matter and took the call.

"Hello?" Sayaka asked.

"Hi Sayaka? I'm very sorry; I know you're usually at your sessions at this time. Am I interrupting you?"

"Yeah, but it's a totally perfect time for a distraction so I'm going to pretend you're my boss. Do you mind?" Just after she said that, her father emerged from the room, looking at her with furrowed brows.

"Oh, sure I don't mind. Can I keep talking like I normally do, or do I need to pretend to be your boss?"

"No, no, keep going as you were going Captain. What do you need?" Sayaka made a motion like 'just give me a minute!' to her father. He nodded but didn't move. She made a shooing motion with her hand. He shook his head and stayed still. She rolled her eyes and walked away. He followed her.

Maybe Ryo was right.

"Kyousuke and I have started fighting more and more recently. Today, he actually told me that I should try to leave the apartment to go out with him. I mean, I understand what he is saying and why he is saying that, but I don't know what brought those feelings on. He was always so good about it before." She could hear Hitomi's voice starting to get choked up. "I feel so weak and pathetic."

"No, no, no…Captain. You're not, uh" it was really hard to make this a believable conversation with Ryo. "You're not in the wrong at all sir. I'll support you if you would like. Would you like me to speak with him?"

"Could you Sayaka? I'm so sorry, I know how much being our mediator was starting to wear on your nerves."

"Not at all sir! I have much more spare time now so I can do this first thing tomorrow." She remembered that tomorrow she was going to be working overtime going over a more solid game plan for Thursday, and then working a shift at the club afterwards. "Actually, maybe…Friday." Thursday was going to be a gong show.

"Yes, yes, of course that's fine! Thank you Sayaka, thank you! I am so, so happy and grateful you're my friend." Hitomi said earnestly. Sayaka wondered how she could have ever been mad at her.

"Not a problem sir. Any time!"

They hung up and she realized she had to go back to the room. Shit I should have drawn out the conversation a bit more.

She turned around, ready to march back. She was busy forming a story in her head; something about an old dealer coming up to her on the street hearing that she was back in.

Her father was sitting on some stairs. He gestured for her to sit with him.

"What was the second incident, Fuzz?"

She didn't want to lie to him.

"They're holding you back."

"Dad, it was nothing, okay? I know you and Mom are worried about me, but I'm fine. I'm the best I've been in years even." She smiled at him encouragingly.

"It sounds like you're doing great, but this goes against anything we've ever heard. And for the record, yes, we're worried about you. And we'll never stop being worried about you. We're your parents, and frankly we're the parents of a recovering addict. You'll never stop being one. Please, Sayaka just tell me what happened. We'll feel so much better if we know."

She had a few seconds to decide what the right thing to do would be.

She had no idea.

"I was on patrol in a bad area of town. One of my former dealers saw me and asked if I was still interested. I stood there like an idiot for ten minutes just staring at him. Ayumi had to take me away, and she had no idea what actually happened."

She lied.

Guess that's still instinctual, huh?

Her father looked concerned. "I don't know why, but I only believe part of what you're saying. Are you lying to me, Fuzz?"

"No, Dad. I don't know how to convince you that I'm not." She averted her gaze.

"You're not looking me in the eyes. Look at me and tell me that you're not lying."

She felt her cheeks flush with guilt. She tried to just get it over with.

"I'm not lying to you." She lied through her teeth.

He looked at her for a few moments, and sighed.

"Alright, Sayaka. Let's go back. You started quite a debate about addiction treatments in there." He smiled mirthlessly. Sayaka got up and followed up dutifully.

He turned the handle to open the door, but didn't pull it open.

"Hey Sayaka?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"I don't believe you." He said sadly, opening the door and gesturing for her to go in first.

---

The next few days passed as a disorienting haze for Kyoko.

She had gone to the meeting, despite Yuma's protests that she either stay home or focus on hunting as many witches as possible before she had another "magic attack" as they decided to call it.

It seemed like such a cute name to assign to such a horrific thing.

She was going to be helping out a local loan shark most evenings now that she wasn't working at the club. She was going to have to try hunting witches on her own during the days.

Yuma hated that suggestion because of the magic attacks.

She hoped it would be a one-time thing, but it wasn't. It happened three more times. She needed to have at least two grief seeds on her at all times.

She wondered how she would be able to get enough grief seeds for Yuma before she went to New York.

She wondered if she would survive if Yuma went to New York. The girl had to save her ass when a magic attack struck in the middle of a fight with a pretty weak witch.

It was a terrible situation all around.

"Maybe it's because you're so stressed with the church?" Yuma pondered aloud.

"I've been stressed with the church for years now; it never did anything like this before." A darker side of Kyoko wondered if this was just her time to die.

Yuma hit her.

"Don't think like that!"

Right. Mind-reading thing.

"Are there any spells you casted recently, or might have cast?" She pressed on.

"I really, really can't think of anything." Her main form of magic was her diamond barriers, and she had never been able to make one that lasted more than an hour. She was also pretty sure she would remember conjuring a giant spear and leaving it somewhere in the middle of the city.

Yuma paced the room. Kyoko flopped on the couch.

Kyoko's phone rang.

More specifically, Kyoko's phone from the Miyamotos rang.

She had four cellphones now: a Kurosawa phone, a Miyamoto, a loan shark, and a personal one. All of them were cheap pieces of shit too.

She'd rather have one nice phone.

"Hello."

"You didn't finish our favour last week." Suki said, the nasal hint in her voice almost gone. "This Thursday, same place. James will be giving you a package after your shift tomorrow night. Tsubasa and I won't be there. Please give me the package on Thursday. After that, you're done."

"How big of a package are we talking?"

"It's small, don't worry. You can handle it. See you Thursday?"

"Yeah. See you Thursday." Kyoko sighed, hanging up the phone.

Yuma looked at her sadly…hopelessly.

Despairingly.

"Please stop doing this to yourself Kyoko. It's so hard to watch." She squeaked.

She walked into the bedroom and gently closed the door. Kyoko knew she probably needed a few minutes alone, but didn't indulge her.

Kyoko held Yuma as she cried herself to sleep. After she was completely out, Kyoko snuck out to hunt a witch and work a shift for the loan shark.

---

The Miyamotos weren't at the club tonight, but Watanabe and the Kurosawas were. It was weird.

"It's quite relaxing not having those two around sometimes." Kurosawa mused from a massage table he had requested. The man was sitting shirtless, which Sayaka would have rather not seen. However, she had to observe carefully because she was going to be giving Fusao a massage; she hoped she would be able to copy Kyoko.

Kyoko calmly put some kind of scented oil on her hands, rubbing quickly before starting to knead the malleable body on her table. She seemed to lean into Kurosawa a bit as she worked.

Sayaka tried to do the same. She fell flat onto Fusao with an 'oomph' from both of them.

"Too much oil and lean." Kyoko said calmly.

The girl seemed a bit dead today.

"Sorry about that." She whispered apologetically to Fusao.

"If you're willing to wait, I can do you after James. I give the best massages here; an advantage of being a biological male." Lady joked. It was the first time Sayaka had ever heard her comment on her past like that, even though it was quite obvious she was in transition.

"I'm alright, thank you." Fusao said, a bit uncomfortably.

"Damn right, because Lady gives the best massages and I want her for the whole night." He said the part suggestively. Lady blushed instead of giggled, which was rare. Sayaka noticed Kyoko quirk her eyebrow in irritation.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, with an occasional crack or grunt from one of the men on the table.

Sayaka was just trying to make her client feel somewhat good.

"Koko, a favour please." Kurosawa interjected in a way that implied he wasn't really asking, but more demanding.

"What would you like Kurosawa-sama." She replied in that same calm tone that didn't suit her at all.

"Give Precious a massage so she actually has some idea of what to do. I feel selfish that my son isn't getting the same relaxation we are."

"I don't mind. It's nice." Fusao said politely.

"No, he's right." Kyoko said. There was an extra table in the room. "Precious, over there." Kyoko ordered. "And take your clothes off."

Something about the professional way she said it made her uncomfortable, which was silly because she'd been naked in front of everyone here a few times, but she did as she was told.

The massage felt nice, but only lasted for a few minutes before they were both 'requested' to go back to work.

Sayaka was requested to not put her clothes back on.

She obliged, ignoring her discomfort.

She wondered why the Miyamotos weren't there.

---

The Miyamotos weren't at the club tonight. Kyoko didn't mind at all. She was glad to have a temporary reprieve from them.

She glanced over at Rin's nude body a few times; she really did have nice curves. She had a great ass in particular.

She focused on the tense muscles beneath her though, as was her job. She felt degraded for appreciating that Kurosawa didn't have the same perverted request that her son had and let her keep her clothes on.

She felt a bit of satisfaction making the older man grunt in pain beneath her fingertips.

It was nice to hurt him once in a while.

The shift passed on like that. Kurosawa paid for everything for everyone. It seemed he was taking James out on a business dinner or something.

The shift ended.

"Are you interested in discussing the shipment on the fifteenth at my home, James?"

"Can we talk about it next week?"

"Yes, whichever is better for you."

"Let's do that then, shall we? I'm ready to go to bed after that massage. Thanks for the treat." He smiled genuinely.

Everyone in the room made a point of ignoring the small man's prominent erection.

"I'll meet you outside?" Kyoko's superhuman hearing caught him whisper to Lady.

"Yes, see you in a bit."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

Kyoko glanced back at him as they left to get changed. They had to get ready. James discretely nodded his head towards Lady, beckoning her to follow her tall friend. Kyoko nodded slightly and left.

She got ready to go. She had to meet Yuma soon for another witch hunt.

Rin was quick getting ready since her clothes were already off. She wished them all good night and left as soon as she could.

Lady slid an unlabeled sealed envelope to her.

"He told me to tell you not to open it until you're supposed to."

"Tell him I won't." She replied, just as discretely.

"What's in there, if you don't mind me asking?" Lady asked.

"I honestly have no idea."

---

This was the second attempt. Her makeup was done as immaculately imperfect as the last time. Her hair was also as dishevelled as before.

She once again looked like she had been on a bender.

They decided to have her gun secured to a more accessible place; they altered her coat so there was a hidden pocket she could reach into from the outside. They had to add more filling to the coat to make it more shapeless so it wouldn't stand out, but it worked.

"Test one two three test." She said methodically. She was given the go ahead.

She decided this time to actually go up to one of the rooms; it would probably be more comfortable there and that was where people usually crashed.

She stumbled up as convincingly as she had done before, going through the side entrance.

She stumbled into room 211, which was thankfully empty.

She didn't remember the beds smelling this bad when she had been there before. It could be because they hadn't been washed in at least two years, or she may have smelled just as bad as them before and just not noticed because she was nose blind.

She wasn't sure which she hoped it was.

She had chosen to collapse face-down in front of the bed so she wouldn't have to have her face right against the acridly odorous covers. Instead, she had her face against the acridly odorous carpets.

She had made a poor decision again, but she waited it out.

She waited it out like a good cop.

---

This was the second attempt. Kyoko was glad this duty would be quicker than her last one had been.

She wasn't looking forward to being alone with Suki, after the whole punching incident last time.

The building smelled just as bad as it did the first time. She didn't want to think of Suki's perspective on the people living there.

She had to admit, it was kind of hard not to when she saw the conditions of this place.

She waited in the generator room for a good twenty minutes. Kyoko wondered if this was some trap or way to get back at her for her lack of cooperation last time.

She wondered if they knew that she had gotten Blue out before.

The thought made her involuntarily shiver. She didn't need those kinds of thoughts right now. She had way more to worry about: her freaking life, which was one of them.

"Are you an angel?" The prematurely old woman croaked behind her.

"No, so fuck off." Kyoko snapped.

The old woman's eyes widened as she smiled a bit toothless smile. She took Kyoko's hand and led her away.

"I will show you a beautiful place filled with flowers and rainbows." The woman promised. Kyoko had no desire to go to this fictitious place, but she was hoping she would take her to Atahiko or Suki or somebody.

They went down to the basement. It looked like they were in a giant storage unit. It was a big, dark cement cavern filled with rows of crates.

It reeked of rotting food, which was a smell that pissed her off.

Sitting on some dusty crates was Suki. Her fox face glanced up at Kyoko and the crone.

"There you are! I was worried. I realized I didn't tell you the right place. That was my mistake, I'm sorry for wasting your time." Suki bowed respectfully.

"Oh, it's not a big deal. I guess I should have checked with you first." Kyoko said while rubbing the back of her head. "Here you go." She passed her the envelope.

"Thanks." Suki tucked the envelope in her pocket without looking at it. Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "I already know what it says. This just makes our lives easier."

"So you really didn't need me much for this, did you?"

"No. we didn't. But I wanted a chance to talk to you. I want you to hear me out, and hear out my offer to you, alright?"

Kyoko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fine, go ahead. I don't have any plans tonight aside from this. I thought this would be a big thing."

"I'm glad." She was quiet for a few minutes. "I'm not quite sure where to start with this."

"Just go for it." Kyoko said impatiently.

"Do you want to guess how old I was when I lost my virginity?"

Kyoko blinked at her in surprise.

"Uh, no, not really. Maybe I shouldn't have told you to go for it because that wasn't the best opening."

"I was five." She shrugged off Kyoko's suggestions.

"Wait, five?"

"Yeah. I was five."

Kyoko looked at the woman dumbfounded. She had assumed she and Tsubasa came from an affluent family.

"Were you-" Unsure of what to ask.

"My mother offered me to someone on the street. 50,000 yen for an hour with me. She used the money to buy meth after. She almost overdosed too." Suki set her steely gaze forwards.

Kyoko blinked at her again.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"My father was in and out of the picture. My mother was too, I guess. They were both addicts. I mostly looked after myself. I got pretty good at making ramen noodles when I was three. My mother had stolen an electric kettle which I used every day for four years. I thought it was for me, but I heard her say she thought it would be good for using drugs before she pawned it off."

"That really sucks." Kyoko nodded uncomfortably. Suki kept going, like she was spilling out her life story.

"I had a little sister for a while. She was born when I was six. I don't remember her name though. I just called her 'the baby'. I remembered her crying all the time, day and night. I never went out because I was trying to get her to stop crying. I only went out to steal formula and diapers for her. My Mom never did anything. I put two and two together a few years ago and found out the reason she wouldn't stop crying is because she was a crack baby." Suki grimaced.

Kyoko stared at her.

"Want to find out how I knew?"

Kyoko shrugged, but guessed she didn't have a choice.

"One of the girls we took was really pregnant. Tsubasa delivered the baby. The baby had the same weird mouth my sister had, and wouldn't stop crying the same way she had too. We tried really hard to save the baby. I was going to raise it myself, even. The baby died after five days anyways."

"Is that how your sister died too?" Kyoko asked out of morbid curiosity.

"No. I came home one day to see my mother shaking the baby. I guess the baby was too loud and she hadn't had a hit in a while, and it was too much for her. My sister was about a month old when that happened, I think. I don't really remember too well. She threw the baby in the dumpster."

Kyoko couldn't look at Suki at the moment. She looked over the see the crone, peering at them intensely with her fox eyes.

"Where was-"

"I hadn't met Tsubasa yet. I think he saved my life though."

"Huh, wait-"

"I'm three months older than him. We aren't twins. His father found me. My father apparently owed money to a loan shark, and had heard that my mother could be a candidate for trafficking. My father tried to sell both of us. They decided my mother was too ugly and I was way too young. My father, well Tsubasa's father and my adopted father, let me stay at his house that night because ours was freezing at the time.

"I found out later that he had planned on dropping me off at an orphanage or something the next day, but Tsubasa asked if they could keep me. Our mother had just given birth to a stillborn baby girl, and he wanted a sister. They decided to keep me instead, and the rest is history." Suki shrugged.

"So is your name-"

"I was given the identity of the baby girl: Miyamoto Suki. No one knows who I really am. It's why I help out on the ground. No one can really identify me, because Miyamoto Suki died as an infant. There is no living Miyamoto Suki on file anywhere. That was another part of why my father chose to adopt me; I could get under the system. He actually did love me though. He's…well, he's my Dad. They're my family."

"Wow." Kyoko said. She had thought Suki was on the ground because she was a sadistic bitch.

"I guess that's why I have a soft spot for you and really want you to join." She smirked at Kyoko.

Kyoko was confused.

"Huh?"

"Kyoko, you said something the other night that really stuck with me. You asked why we don't just kill them, and instead sentence them a life of sexual slavery or something like that. I really, really agree with you. I don't like what I do, you know. Having been a prostitute for two years, I really don't like it." Kyoko noticed the woman rub her arms, as if she were embracing herself and trying to keep warm.

"These people…these addicts have no value, really. They're just shells. I heard someone say once that my birth mother was actually a lovely, smart, kind-hearted lady who was really good at English and wanted to move to London when she was older. I never knew that side of her. I only remember the addiction, and I hate her for it. Same for my birth father, who was apparently a really talented artist. I only remember the addiction and I hate him."

Kyoko looked at her uncertainly.

"They're just shells, and the people we target will never be anything else. They're too far gone. But a lot of them have good hearts."

Kyoko thought of Blue and Rin, and nodded in agreement.

"In the American black market, a good heart can go for 6,000,000 yen, according to James."

Kyoko felt her stomach drop and the urge to vomit rise.

"That wasn't what I thought you meant."

"That doesn't matter. Right now, we can only get a small minority of the hopeless addicts because they have to still be at least moderately attractive. Not anymore. It's amazing how much your body can really be worth, if you sell something more than just your pussy."

Kyoko was speechless. She wanted to argue, but she wasn't sure how.

"Kyoko, I want you to think of the addicts we would be taking those organs from, and the people who would be getting them. There are thousands, hell probably millions of people who die every year waiting for a transplant, right? These are people with families who love them, good jobs, and communities that they benefit. The people we would be taking from will probably overdose in a few months anyways. We can just give them a quick, painless death and save someone else in the process."

Kyoko gaped at her. She tried to make a sound, tried to argue, tried to do anything but couldn't.

Didn't you let a girl become a grief seed to save yourself and Yuma? To feed you for another day?

"I know it sounds like a lot, and you want to think it's evil. It's okay. But nothing's black and white."

Kyoko bit her lip. She knew that.

"That's why I want you to join us. Not as an employee, but an equal partner. There would be four of us: I would get the addicts. Tsubasa would do the harvesting. James would export the parts. And you…" Suki looked over at Kyoko, allowing her to figure out what her role would be.

"I would hide the bodies." Kyoko realized with dread. That's why the Miyamotos wanted her.

She had no idea how to feel about this.

"We talked about it, and we'd be happy to give you a signing bonus. We have money, and we know you'll help us make it back quickly. If you needed money for something, anything at all…"

"600,000,000 yen." Kyoko said, reciting the number the contractor had given her. Suki whistled at the number.

"You know how to play hard ball. That's good. Consider it done." She held out her hand.

Kyoko looked over at her, unsure.

"How about this: for every one addict we kill, seven or eight more people will live. That's a pretty good trade-off, right?"

It hurt Kyoko that that struck a chord with her.

For every magical girl that becomes a witch, you and Yuma get to live another week. You kill them a lot faster and then don't get to save nearly as many people. It's really cannibalistic, if you think about it.

Kyoko swallowed. She looked around at the tall stacks of crates around her. She looked at Suki, who was looking at her expectantly.

"You can think about it if you want, but we won't give you the signing bonus. Consider that our incentive for you to join quickly."

"What about Kurosawa?" She blurted out. She felt like she was making up excuses at this point.

Suki chuckled.

"Don't worry about him. James can handle that."

Kyoko closed her eyes and reluctantly shook Suki's hand.

"Welcome aboard, Kyoko."

---

Sayaka listened to the sound of her heart beat. It was quick, shallow, and nervous. It wasn't a pleasant melody or rhythm at all.

"How are you doing in there Miki?" Ryo's voice whispered.

"Fine." She mumbled.

This time was easier. She didn't think about going out and scoring anything. She just wanted to leave.

She heard the door creak open and someone walked in.

She felt herself get turned over. Her eyelid was forced open. She saw a young man with strange, multi-coloured hair standing over her. He grinned at her and let the eye close. He pulled off her jacket, just like the old woman had done. The wire was in her jacket, and she was glad he didn't catch it either.

He checked her arm.

He made a tsking sound and left.

She stayed where she was.

"Miki, any updates?"

"Busy." She said, hoping they would stop asking. They should have come up with some kind of code word for 'it's happening'.

"It's happening." She muttered.

"Holy fuck. Okay, we're ready."

She stayed down. She lost track of time. She desperately wanted to check the time on her phone, just to know how long she had been waiting there.

She hated waiting for something bad to happen to her.

"Why are you so excited today?"

"You're going to love this, my friend. You're going to love this."

She heard a gasp. She heard rummaging around the room.

"It's empty. She's alone." She recognized that snivelling voice: Megumi.

She felt a large body descend over her. She also felt a growing erection against her thigh.

"I've been looking for you for so long, Blue." Atahiko whispered predatorily into her ear.

She supressed a shiver.

---

Kyoko listened to the sound of her heart beat. It was slow, steady, and foreboding.

Kind of felt like her future.

"So, you know my story. What's yours?"

"Who said I was going to tell you?" Kyoko challenged, but there was no bite to it.

She started to feel kind of sick. There was a pulling sensation inside of her, like her innards were being yanked out.

She could feel it.

It was a minor magic attack.

Son of a bitch, not now.

"I just want to know who my new business partner really is. I'm curious is all." Suki shrugged.

"You know who I am."

"Do I?"

"Yeah. I'm Sakura Kyoko. You've known that for a long time."

Suki looked at her, studying her closely.

"I'm usually good at telling when people are lying, but I honestly can't tell that you're lying when I look at you."

"Because I'm not lying."

"No, seriously. What's your name?"

"Sakura Kyoko! Why do you think I'm lying?" Kyoko was getting pissed.

She felt herself falling out from the inside more quickly. Her magic was being pulled out faster.

"So where did you grow up Kyoko? What did your father do?"

"I grew up here and my father was a preacher. Are you trying to get some more information about how he was an alcoholic because fuck that." She snarled.

"You actually believe that…" She said quietly and disbelievingly. "You actually believe you're her…"

"Yeah, who the fuck else would I be? Why the hell are you asking me like that?"

Kyoko's head started to pound as she drained quicker and quicker. She had to clutch at her chest with one hand and her head at another. She thought she might pass out. It was getting worse.

Suki seemed to snap back into reality and shook her head.

"Sorry, sorry for being a pain. Alright Kyoko. I'm glad to have you on the team." She bowed politely.

"No, seriously, why the hell are you asking me that?"

"She's a pretty one, don't you think? She'll turn good money. She's a good one." The crone said, grabbing a hold of Kyoko's arm and showing her off like a prize. She had clearly grown impatient with the younger women's conversation.

Kyoko didn't mind. She breathed deeply and slowly. She wasn't draining as quickly now.

"Wha-you brought her as an option? Does she look like she's high to you? What the hell is wrong with you?!" Suki screamed at the woman. "Here I thought you were just being useful for once and actually helping with something!"

"She's good! She's a good one! I can get a hit, right? Just one? She's good, she's so pretty. I deserve one, right? You owe me now." The woman's tone changed from seeking approval, to desperate, to demanding. Kyoko pried her arm away, not trusting the woman to not stab her again.

Kyoko guessed the crone didn't recognize her after all.

Suki stared at her for a few moments.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked the woman dangerously.

"You're an angel if I take you to Bethlehem." The woman said back in a rehearsed way. Kyoko looked at Suki, whose expression she couldn't read.

"Kyoko, I think we've discussed everything we need to discuss. Can you meet me upstairs in a few minutes?"

Kyoko stood her ground. She didn't like where any of this was going.

That, and she wasn't convinced she could move yet. She sort of stumbled as she tried to sit down. Suki looked at her with concern.

"Don't worry about it-" Kyoko began.

"Where's my fucking – " The crone launched herself at Suki.

Kyoko almost missed when Miyamoto pulled out a gun and shot the woman in the face. The sound, combined with the echo in the cement and metal room was deafening. In a second, the top half of the woman's head had been completely blown off; she was unrecognizable above her jawbone. Blood, bone, and brain was sprayed everywhere over the stacks of crates behind her, creating a rapidly growing puddle of pure red in front of them.

"Holy shit!" Kyoko yelled.

"Self defense." Suki shrugged, staring at the corpse.

"You killed her!" Kyoko kept yelling. Oh dear god, I'm going to be working with this bitch!

"Can you quiet down? The echo in here is bad enough without you screaming everything. Besides, I had to do this."

Kyoko looked at her incredulously.

She almost felt like she was going to faint, but even she could recognize that was the magic attack talking.

"She just attacked me, and she hurt you Kyoko. While you were working for me. Tsubasa and I agreed on that last week after the dinner. We never let anyone, staff or partner or contractor or whoever, get hurt on our watch. And if they do, there will be hell to pay. I'm paying her back is all."

Kyoko sat there.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. This is a reality of my role in our business. It's dirty. I don't like it any more than you do, but it has to be done."

Suki looked at the woman, and the growing mess she was making.

"We're not working together yet, so how much for you to clean this up?" She gestured to the corpse.

"How much are you willing to pay?" Kyoko asked, trying to sound calm.

"1,000,000 yen?"

"Meh. Fine."

"Great. Can you do it now, or is there some kind of secret method you have that will take time?"

"Secret method that will take time." She could feel a witch in the area, which wasn't uncommon. "Be out of here in an hour." She had to call Yuma anyways for an extra grief seed.

"Can do. Here." She passed Kyoko 1,000,000 yen in notes casually, like she always had that much cash and it was nothing. She could evidently tell that Kyoko was a bit scandalized by it.

"This'll be you in no time." She grinned.

Kyoko tried to smile back, but it came as more of a grimace. She stumbled away, hiding the grief seed that she put to her soul gem before she could finally breathe normally again.

---

This wasn't completely ideal, but it was something. Sayaka had been hoping that she would be able to get evidence on them before they could even touch her.

No such luck.

"Stay down, Miki. You're doing great." Ryo's voice whispered.

"Where's Suki?" Megumi asked, huffing a bit under Sayaka's weight as they went down the stairs. He was the one carrying her over his shoulder, which made no sense to Sayaka because Atahiko was clearly the bigger and stronger of the two.

Still, for god's sakes she wasn't that heavy.

Right?

"Last I checked, she was in the storage units in the basement. We're almost there."

Sayaka heard a lock click as it was being opened and felt a cool draft hit her ass while the smell of rotten food hit her nose.

This fucking place.

"Suki Suki, bo Buki. Banana Fana, fo Fuki. Mi Mai, Mo Muki. Suki!" Atahiko sang jovially. "Suuuuukiiiii!"

Sayaka could hear their footsteps echo through what sounded like a chamber.

"Now's not the best time guys." Suki said, from somewhere nearby, it sounded like.

It could have just been the echoes though.

"There you are! You won't believe who we- HOLY SHIT!" Atahiko screamed in a very effeminate voice.

"Wha- OH FUCK" Megumi yelled after.

Sayaka felt herself being dropped into something wet on the floor unceremoniously. The cement fucking hurt. She didn't open her eyes, but she wanted to so, so badly. What the hell are they talking about?

"Wha-Wait, is that Sapphire? You found Sapphire?" Suki asked disbelievingly. "Fucking shit, of all days to find Sapphire! And you DROPPED her in it! Oh that's disgusting!"

"What the fuck happened here?!" Atahiko yelled.

"Is that-" Megumi asked.

"Yeah, it's her. Go on, get her out of…that." Suki ordered.

Sayaka became distinctly aware of the way the liquid she was dropped in felt against her skin, and the way it was starting to make her clothes feel damp. The warm, moist feeling was spreading. What the hell is this?

"Holy fuck. Holy fuck this is too much. I can't do this. I don't think I'm cut out for this." Megumi's voice became more and more nasal. "Oh god, she's covered."

"Calm down, this isn't normal, trust me." Suki tried to reassure him. "Can one of you pick her up?"

"I can't touch her. I'll touch it. And then I'll puke." Atahiko promised.

"Oh god, don't puke because then I'll puke and it'll be gross." Suki sounded like she might get sick.

"Really? Really? Puke will make you sick but not this shit?"

"I don't think I'm cut out for this." Megumi repeated.

"Yes, yes you are! Atahiko's told me about you, you're great. This is a really, really bad day. Please, please can you move her?"

"I can't do this. I'm just going to stick with Kurosawa. I've never seen shit like that, I always had subordinates do things like this. I'm a drug distributor and sometimes dealer, not this. I can't do this."

Holy fuck that's one!

"We got it! Stay down Sayaka. We're coming in. Just stay down." Ryo whispered.

"Megumi, I know this seems deep. Seriously, I've been doing this whole scouting out and taking the chicks for years, but I've never seen anything like this. What happened with Orange-oh for fuck's sakes Topaz I get it, Topaz!" He snapped.

"I didn't say anything." Suki said in a placating manner.

"Anyways, when we got that girl Topaz last week, that was way more normal. Usually this is a clean, quick, 'grab and go' sort of thing. I've never seen this before. The 'kidnapping' or whatever the fuck you want to call it is painless."

Two! That's two!

"I don't think I can touch her." Megumi said. He sounded nauseous.

"I can't either." Atahiko insisted. "Suki, it's up to you. Your brother's a doctor, you've seen this kind of stuff before."

"Well, not like that!" Suki objected.

Oh god, what is this? What is this? WHAT IS THIS?!

Sayaka was starting to feel sticky. She wanted to move. She wanted to wipe herself off.

The smell of rotting food and something horrifically familiar invaded her olfactory senses. It's so familiar but what is it?

"I know the crone was a useless shit, but holy fuck, what did you do?!"

"She hurt one of my staff. I couldn't let her get away with that. So I shot her." Suki said like it was nothing.

Sayaka kept her eyes closed, and kept her face neutral, but she wanted to grin and jump up and shout with glee.

Three! That's three!

And then something dawned on her.

What the fuck am I lying down in? Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.

"Do they normally explode that much?"

Oh god no!

"It's a new American bullet that James gave me. It apparently explodes on impact. It's meant for hunting, but it works in regular pistols too. I guess at close range it's just really….kablowy." She finished lamely.

Oh dear god, I'm lying down in blood?!

She wanted to throw up. She wanted to scratch all of the wet parts off her skin. It itched. It was starting to itch.

Oh god, she was so itchy and wet.

"You made the mess. You move her."

"Aren't you the one who wants to fuck her? The one who gets to fuck her gets to move her."

"You know what? I've wanted to rape this bitch for years after the shit her boyfriend pulled with that fucking knife of his, but I'm willing to let it go. So that means, the one who makes the mess gets to move her. She's all yours."

What?

"Oh, so a bit of blood freaks you out? Poor girls must be pretty disappointed one week a month."

"I can handle period blood, okay? This is not fucking period blood! This is-"

"Kazamino Police! Put your hands in the air!" She heard Ryo shout. Sayaka jumped up, her hands making a sort of splashing sound in the red puddle and she used them to push herself up as quickly as possible and hopped backwards, yanking her gun out of her jacket and pointing it at them by the time she landed.

She looked down, and her face paled considerably.

Oh god I was right.

She saw what looked like a woman who was missing the top half of her head.

She looked around her. The three criminals were surrounded; two large, heavy rows of crates on two sides with four cops blocking the exits on each side, all holding guns.

Everyone was looking at her though.

She kept her gun pointed at the criminals, but looked at the palm of her left hand.

It was red.

She looked the fur on her hood.

It was stained red.

She used the back of her hand to wipe the side of her face.

It was wet with red and…

A soft, mushy piece of pink was pulled loose from her hair. A thicker part of the end covered in dark red veins spun as it was suspended in midair.

She may have skipped most of her dissection classes in junior year biology, but she could recognize a brain…or a piece of brain when she saw it.

She started to dry-heave.

"Oh fuck, please don't puke." Ayumi pleaded.

"Hold it together Miki." Ryo commanded softly.

He began the official tirade all officers had to do while arresting someone. He made sure to proudly inform them, with a malicious shit-eating smirk, that they had everything recorded as evidence against them.

"I will go peacefully, officer." Suki said, oddly loudly.

Everyone else dismissed it as eccentric behaviour and pulled them away.

Sayaka somehow knew it was meant to be something more, but in the meantime all she wanted to do was the clean up and get the blood and brain off her face.

"Great, great, great work today Miki. I'm proud of you. You were the star of this operation. Now if you can get the Kurosawas, or the location of Kurosawa base, you'll officially be a better cop than I ever was."

"Thanks sir. Can I go have a shower please?" She begged.

"Ah, not yet, I'm afraid." He looked apologetic. "We have some forensics guys coming over in a bit. You'll have to go with them. You're kind of covered in evidence."

Sayaka felt like she was going to cry or puke or do both.

"Just stay strong for a bit longer."

Sayaka was so focused on keeping herself together that she didn't notice a red-haired coworker of hers sprint down the alley from the building.

---

This hadn't been ideal at all, but it had been something.

Kyoko had her way to pay off the renovations.

She had her way to save the church.

Miyamoto Suki had offered her everything she needed.

And then promptly got arrested five minutes later, likely blowing up the entire operation.

"Son of a bitch. Son of a motherfucking bitch!" She cursed to herself, punching a brick wall. She made a dent in it, but she also made a dent in her hand. "Fuck!" She screamed loudly.

She'd tried to get out quickly, but the magic attack had taken a bit out of her. She figured just sitting down for a few minutes to rest and recuperate wouldn't be too much. The witch wasn't moving very quickly, after all. She didn't pay attention to the distorted echoed yells she heard in the distance.

Then she heard the shouting that everyone was under arrest, and gloats that they had confessions on tape. She immediately put up a barrier to hide herself, which worked because the cops passed right by her as they did a quick check of the rest of the dark storage unit.

She ran out as soon as she could.

She only heard Suki's odd shout of "I will go peacefully, officer."

She got out her Miyamoto phone, wondering if she should destroy it and throw it out right away or after.

She checked the numbers she had received calls from. There were three of them.

Two of them, she had received a number of calls from over the last week; Suki and Atahiko. The third was from a few weeks ago: when the Miyamotos first did their favour for her.

They either threw out that phone, or that was someone else's phone.

If it was someone else's phone…she only had one guess as to whose it could be.

Kyoko held her breath and dialled the number, wondering what would happen.

"How can I help you, Kyoko?" Tsubasa asked pleasantly.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"Is your phone secure?"

"Positive. What happened Kyoko?" He asked more seriously and impatiently this time.

"Suki, Megumi, and Atahiko have been arrested."

There was a brief pause.

"How strong is the evidence against Suki and Atahiko?"

"I heard something about confessions caught on tape. Suki was also standing over the body of a woman she had just murdered."

There was silence.

"Did you hear Suki say anything, by any chance? Anything at all after she got arrested?"

"She said something about agreeing to go peacefully."

"Oh goddammit this is bad." He exhaled deeply. "Thank you Kyoko. Destroy your phone immediately. I will not contact you anytime soon. We'll work this out. And out of curiosity, did you agree to anything with Suki?"

"As a partner? Yeah, I did. Is that still on?"

"Yes! Yes, it is. Just, consider it a bit postponed. We'll figure it out. I'm happy to work with you. I apologize you had to come into this. I will look after it, don't worry. Thank you. Have a great day."

The line disconnected and Kyoko snapped the phone in two.

Her Kurosawa phone buzzed. She got a text.

'You're needed at 'Club TK' tomorrow night after Tomi's.'

She looked up at the sky. Dark grey storm clouds were rolling in.

It was going to rain.

At least it fit her current mood.

---

Sayaka was thankful. The forensics guys were incredibly understanding and made the evidence gathering from her their first priority. She was able to get cleaned off within half an hour.

It was still half an hour too long for her liking, but hey, it could have been a lot worse.

She wanted to go home and just sleep. She was exhausted.

But alas, the operation had finished early enough that when she was dropped off by Ryo, her parents were outside her apartment building.

"Hey Fuzz! We knew you were working tonight, but we wanted to see if you were back early enough for session tonight." Her father said kindly, but there was a hint of strain.

"It would be great to have you there sweet pea. You look very tired; how was your day?" Her mother's voice was very strained and concerned.

"Uh, yeah." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "It was a long day. I'd rather just go to bed."

"Are you sure? Makato-chan was on dessert duty today, and I heard she's bringing those delightful butter treats you love." Her mother tried to coax.

Sayaka knew a losing battle with them when she saw it.

"Yeah, alright let's go."

She thought she had just blinked, but when she opened her eyes they were already there. She must have fallen asleep. Her parents didn't comment on it.

The butter treats were as delicious as she remembered them, but her stomach protested to her filling it up with anything at all.

The group announcements went by uneventfully. Her mother provided an update on how addictions awareness month had gone. Sayaka had showed up to a few events, like a fun run and some speaker sessions, one of which she spoke at as a success story. Most of the event attendees were sitting in this current room.

Sayaka decided against going up to speak about her progress.

Or rather, her stomach decided against going up to speak about her progress.

She tried not to groan when they had to move their chairs into a circle.

Her tongue was going numb. Her stomach was in knots and sinking.

Her skin was cold, but she was starting to sweat.

Her skin felt wet.

She felt wet like she just a few hours ago.

She looked up to see Tatsuya's sister looking at her perplexedly.

The younger girl blew a bubble with her gum; a big, soft-looking pink bubble.

That pink reminded her so much of pink she had pulled out of her hair earlier that day.

When it popped, it was like all of the substance of it had disappeared.

The girl pulled the pinkness back into her mouth with her tongue.

Sayaka finally vomited.

---

Kyoko was resentful. She would be the first to admit that so much of the shit that happened to her was her fault.

It was her fault she made a wish without talking to her parents, particularly her father first.

It was her fault she ignored the warning signs of his mental breakdown.

It was her fault she lost control of her magic.

It was her fault she let the church fall into such a sorry state of disrepair.

It was her fault she was getting so tied up with some of the worst criminals in Japan.

But it wasn't her goddamn fault that right after she found a solution to one of her most pressing problems, Miyamoto Suki or whoever the fuck she is had to go and get fucking arrested.

"You actually believe that you're her."

The only thing that pissed her off more than her solution being postponed was that she didn't understand what the fuck that was supposed to mean.

Her mind drifted back to distorted voices speaking in the kitchen of her former home.

She supposed part of her wanted to look into it.

As she looked at her soul gem, she noticed it was getting darker. She was about to have another magic attack.

She stopped thinking and focused on conserving her magic. It worked. The corruption stopped seeping in.

Her personal phone rang. She sighed.

"Hey Yuma." She said tiredly.

"Hey, I sensed a witch nearby. Want to come hunt it with me?"

Nearby for Yuma was still forty minutes away for Kyoko.

"Sounds great. Keep an eye on it, will you? I'm not very close by. I'll be there in about half an hour." She was about to hang up, but thought better of it. "And for the love of God, do not even think about going after it on your own or you'll have a lot more than that witch to be afraid of!"

Then she hung up.

She was resentful and she was fucked.

---

The drive home was painful. Both physically and socially.

She curled around her stomach, which was still digesting itself and threatening to expel the little water she tried to put in there.

"What was that, in there? What the hell was that?" Her mother started from the passenger seat.

"Fumiko…" Her father warned.

"No, I mean it. What was that? Are you sick? If you were sick, you could have just said something. For god's sakes, do you know how embarrassing it is to look like we are forcing our adult daughter to these sessions when she's sick? Jesus Christ, why didn't you just tell us you were sick when we came to get you?!"

Sayaka was too tired to fight back, which was probably a good thing. She would have given them a real verbal thrashing if she were up for it.

"What happened to you at work today, Sayaka." Her father demanded an answer; it wasn't even a question.

"Nothing you need to know about." She groaned.

"Yeah, actually I think we do. Karana-san told us she saw you in the Old Industrial District last week and you looked high out of your mind! She insisted you actually weren't and that it was undercover makeup or something like that, but what the hell were you doing there?!" Her mother snapped.

Fucking Karana-san.

"How long have you known about that?" Sayaka asked pitifully.

"Since last Friday."

One day. She kept it a secret for one day.

Figures.

"I'm surprised you weren't jumping down my throat earlier." Sayaka admitted. Her stomach twisted. She curled up. She didn't want to argue but her parents weren't giving her much of a choice.

"It was obvious you didn't want to talk about it and were just going to lie about it anyways." Her father shrugged, focusing on the drive.

She noticed that her hands were holding the steering wheel so tightly that his fingers were going white.

Her parents were pissed.

"Sayaka, I've been thinking about you a lot recently. You've been so distant." Her father began. "It's hard for us to see you putting yourself through all of this."

"You know you're always going to be our little hero. But you know, there are lots of ways to be a hero besides being a cop…" Her mother said.

Oh shit no.

"Things have been going well at the office. I've been thinking that we need to hire an actual admin person. What do you say, Sayaka? I know you'd be great at it!" Her father's tone was encouraging, but her body language was so tense and angry.

"Making sure companies are doing their books correctly is important too! You're helping make sure that all of the employees are being paid what they deserve, and no one takes too much." Her mother went on.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I love my job." It sounded hollow to her, saying that.

"Would you think about changing career paths? It seems so dangerous now, Sayaka." Her mother pleaded.

"You want to know what I did today? Huh? Well get this: I got one of Japan's worst human traffickers behind bars. That's what I did today. Ryo said I was the star of the mission; they couldn't have done it without me. And they needed me because I formerly lived in that freaking district; I actually know it and know how it works, so it's not painfully obvious that I'm a cop! I also got a kidnapper and a drug distributor behind bars. That was what I did today. So tell me: would I ever be able to do that much in any other field? Huh? No!"

She was breathing hard.

"I'll never be worth even half as much anywhere else."

She was about to throw up again.

"Pull over. Pull over. Please pull over." She mewled.

"Not in the car, not in the car!" Her father panicked.

They pulled over just in time for her to throw up on the side of the road.

She and her parents didn't speak for the rest of the night.

---

The walk home was painful. Kyoko was worried about her magic depleting on her.

It hadn't drained since she started walking, but she was paranoid it would happen again at any time.

It was terrifying to think that death could come to take her away at any minute.

"Kyoko!" Yuma waved to her cheerfully.

It was a false, overcompensating cheer. Kyoko could recognize it from a mile away.

It made her feel so pathetic.

"Where's the witch?" Kyoko couldn't even sense it.

"Well, it got away." Yuma looked away uncertainly. "But it's okay! Why don't we just go get some food instead?"

"What? How did it get away? The only witch I've ever seen move that fast was the race car witch. It shouldn't have moved so far away that it's beyond our range within an hour."

Yuma's brows furrowed.

Kyoko looked at her phone.

Three hours. It had taken her three hours to walk here.

"Oh shit. Were you waiting here this whole time?"

"It's okay, I don't mind." Yuma insisted. "Let's go get some food! It's fine."

"Stop trying to protect my damn pride, it's nothing worth protecting." Kyoko snapped. "You should have just gone back inside. It's chilly out. I don't want you wasting your magic on not getting a cold."

"I wanted to wait for you." Yuma shrugged.

"Yeah, well don't next time. I guess I'm not as fast as I used to be."

Yuma looked at her. Yuma looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Don't be like that." Kyoko threw an arm around her sister's shoulders. "We'll work it out. I'll find out why my magic is going crazy, we'll fix it, and we'll be fine. This is just a weird bump in the road."

Yuma sniffled but nodded. Kyoko knew the girl didn't believe her.

Kyoko didn't even believe herself.

What the hell have I done to us?

---

The sound of a heavy bass echoed around her, along with the cheers of dozens of people she had never met.

Her work friends had brought her to Club TK, one of the best nightclubs in Kazamino to celebrate the success of their operation from the night before.

Going to this club after a shift at Tomi's had been painful; she really just wanted to sleep. And she really didn't want to drink or smoke.

In short, she felt like a total buzzkill.

When she got to the office that day, there had been a very tasteless cake on her desk that said "Thanks for lying in brains to catch the bad guys!" with a crude drawing of a stick figured with blue hair lying down in a red icing puddle.

She smiled, but didn't eat any of the cake with them. She lied and said Tomi was saying she was getting too fat and had to lose some weight to keep her job.

From what she had heard, the evidence against the three was so hard there was no way they would be able to get away without jail time.

They might be able to reduce their sentences if they testified against the Miyamotos, James, or the Kurosawas though.

Sayaka had no part with the questioning though, so she didn't know how that was going to go.

"Come onnnn, just have one drink!" Ayumi insisted, pushing some blue fizzy drink at her.

"I really, really don't feel like it. Thanks though." Sayaka tried to smile.

She just wanted to go home.

"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!" The group of ten colleagues and Ryo cheered while pounded on their table.

"Come on, just one and we'll stop bugging you." Ayumi slid the drink in front of her again. Sayaka sighed and rolled her eyes, throwing back the drink as quickly as she could. Everyone was appeased and cheered.

Another blue drink appeared in front of her. "Again!" They shouted.

"Last one!" She scolded, throwing it back.

She really didn't feel like drinking. They didn't accept her conditions and she had to drink another two.

"Let's go dancing!" Ayumi slurred drunkenly. Sayaka had been on the pole for almost an hour straight and her legs felt like jelly, but she figured she wasn't going to win this one.

This night was supposed to celebrate her, after all.

After forty-five minutes of grinding with what felt like a hundred strangers, and being groped by at least ten of them, she had to go to the bathroom. The buzz had started to hit her hard while they were dancing. She stumbled through the crowd.

She planned on sneaking out after and just sending a text to Ayumi saying she was tired. It was already three a.m. after all.

Well, that was until she saw who was in the surprisingly uncrowded blacklit room.

"Kyoko?"

---

The sound of a heavy bass echoed around her, along with the cheers of dozens of people she had never met.

Kyoko was standing guard outside of a door. Downstairs, Kurosawa was taking part in a high stakes gambling tournament.

She wanted to leave. She was tired.

But she had a fucking 'job', apparently.

At a bit before three a.m., she was told she could take a break. She needed to take a piss, so she gladly accepted the offer.

The bathroom was tacky. It had a black light, so bits of white on her shirt glowed.

She couldn't see what everyone loved so much about this place. It seemed so cliché.

"Kyoko?"

She whipped her head around to see Blue standing there, looking at her surprised.

"Hey Blue." She greeted, frankly unhappy to see her there. Kyoko knew there were tons of drugs floating around here. This is probably why the dumbass has been relapsing.

"Ah, I'm sorry if I interrupted you." Blue apparently had caught on to her displeasure in seeing her. Kyoko sighed in aggravation.

"It's not that. I just don't think this is a good place for you to be." She shrugged, not wanting to seem like she cared too much. The girl probably didn't even remember last Thursday, so even this was probably weird for her.

"Yeah, I don't think so either. Too much drinking and pot. Not really into that." Sayaka said, looking in the mirror and pretending to fix her hair, similar to Kyoko's strategy.

"So what is your thing?" Kyoko already knew.

"Now? Nothing actually. I don't know. I…" The girl looked down, as if thinking about something. "I had a weird dream about you last week. I used to have problems with certain…substances I guess. I messed up last week and had a dream that helped me. You saved my life in that dream. And since then, I just haven't wanted to do any of that."

Kyoko was surprised. She decided not to say anything to confirm that it had actually happened.

"Dreaming about a girl you've only met a few times? I know I'm hot, but damn I didn't know I was that good." Kyoko joked, trying to make the conversation a bit more light-hearted.

Blue punched her playfully. "Get over yourself. I'm the pretty one."

"Oh bullshit." Kyoko grinned. "Look at my long, flowing locks."

When Kyoko looked at Blue more closely, she realized there was something she really liked about her hair.

"Bah! Yours probably gets all tangled and messy. Mine" She tussled her hair. "Is nice, smooth, and tangle-free! Seriously, isn't yours a pain to manage? I can't even imagine having hair half that long!"

"I think it's okay…" Kyoko started to feel a bit self-conscious. Her family had been poor, so they could never focus much on hair hygiene. She had better things to worry about than that after, so she wasn't really sure if she had nice hair or not. Maybe Blue's felt nice and silky while hers felt like straw.

Blue's looked nice and silky.

"Can I?" The girl looked at her uncertainly, hand outreached.

"Uh, sure?" Kyoko wasn't sure what the girl was doing.

And then there were fingers running through her hair.

They didn't seem to get caught in any tangles, but she could feel her hair being gently pulled down. Something felt familiar and nice about it.

But the stirring in her lower core wasn't so familiar with this sensation.

"Oh my god, that is not fair! You got all of the good hair genetics. You should share it with the rest of us! Seriously, what shampoo and conditioner do you use?" The girl kept stroking her hair.

"Uh…" Kyoko stammered. She could feel her face heating up a bit. "I think it's Head and Shoulders or something like that?"

"Ugh! You can use cheap stuff and still have nice hair! I need to borrow my rich friend's stuff from the salon once in a while to fix this mess." She withdrew her hand and pointed to her own head.

"It looks nice to me." Kyoko said honestly, then looked away embarrassed.

"Really? Well, thanks. Most people say it's too short or weird because it's well…blue."

"It suits you though. You kind of have a whole blue theme going on."

"You've got a red one; that colour really suits you." She smiled.

"I guess, but I don't know." Kyoko shrugged, looking away. She wondered why they were even talking like this at all.

"Well, red is passionate and vibrant. It's just so bright and beautiful! I guess it's just…really you. You're red. I mean, well, you're passionate and vibrant, and bright and beautiful…"The girl sounded like she felt awkward. "I don't know where I was going with that, I'm drunk. I didn't want to drink, but my friends made me. I'm sorry you had to hear that." She groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Kyoko looked at the girl.

Then Kyoko laughed.

"Oh fuck off!" She smacked her. Kyoko laughed harder.

She could hear the girl's stomach growl.

"Are you hungry? Here." She passed the girl some pocky.

"Seriously, where are you hiding that?" The girl asked, confused. It sounded like she had wondered that for a long time. Suddenly, a flash of panic or something crossed her face.

The girl seemed odd, but then again she had always seemed odd.

"I'm not hiding it. I'm just carrying it around. I hate being hungry, so if I have a snack, I don't have to worry about being hungry and not being able to eat." She shrugged.

"Makes sense. I don't like being hungry either. Thanks!" The girl took some pocky munched on it happily. She was cute when she was eating.

The girl looked at her.

"Stop looking at me when I'm eating!" She complained.

"Not my fault you're cute when you're eating." Kyoko shrugged and grinned.

"You think I'm cute?" Kyoko felt her face heating up again.

"Well you think I'm beautiful so there we go."

They both laughed awkwardly and smiled at each other.

"I…well I don't know what happened last week." The girl looked like she felt uncomfortable saying that. "But thank you, anyways." She looked genuinely grateful.

Kyoko could feel a bit of pride swelling up inside of her. She had always loved feeling like a protector of justice. She hadn't felt like that in so long.

Maybe it wasn't a bad thing the deal with the Miyamotos was going to fall through, after all.

"Can I do something weird? Just because I'm drunk." Blue clarified.

"Go for it." Kyoko shrugged, smiling at her.

Sayaka kissed her on the cheek.

"What was that?" Kyoko asked, genuinely surprised. She was worried her face was as red as her hair.

"I thought I read somewhere that girls were supposed to kiss their heroes on the cheek or something like that. Shut up. I told you, I'm drunk." She batted at Kyoko with her hand sloppily.

"Yeah, how drunk are you? I feel like I'm taking advantage of you or something."

"Well, we aren't sleeping together so I don't think you can be taking that much advantage of me. And you're giving me food, instead of taking it from me so you're just being an awesome person. And I had four drinks in a five minute timeframe so…I'm happily buzzed. But no more! No more drinks. I don't need them."

"You're right. You don't."

"And I don't need drugs either."

"You really don't need those."

The girl smiled at her.

"Really. Thank you."

Kyoko could tell the girl knew more than she was letting off. She didn't mind.

It felt nice to be appreciated.

"No problem."

She gave the girl an awkward half-hug, but it felt comfortable.

"Does this feel right to you, somehow?" The girl asked, speaking as if she was pondering the meaning of the universe.

"Yeah. It does." Kyoko said, genuinely surprised. It did feel right.

They leaned against the counters, essentially cuddling in the middle of the filthy neon bathroom.

"Why do you call me Blue?"

"Because I don't remember your name."

"Oh. It's Sayaka."

"Sayaka?" The name really rolled off her tongue, easily. Like she'd said it a hundred times before.

"Yeah, like that." The girl looked like she was about to doze off.

Her Kurosawa phone buzzed. There was a text asking her where the hell she was.

She had been in the bathroom for thirty minutes.

"Ah shit, I really need to go. It was nice seeing you though, Sayaka." Kyoko said, genuinely meaning it.

"Yeah, it was great seeing you too. Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, maybe." She doubted they would.

"Hey, what's your number? Maybe we can hang out sometime?" Sayaka suggested.

It did sound nice.

"Trust me. You don't want to do that."

"Oh you're not that much of a bitch." Sayaka joked.

"Fuck off." She said, giving the girl the finger. "But no, things haven't been going too well for me lately. You don't need to get involved with any of that."

"Are you okay? Is there anything I can help you with?" The girl perked up eagerly. She reminded her of Yuma.

Something about the comparison grossed Kyoko out, and she wasn't sure why.

"No, no, it's fine." Not really. "But yeah, this isn't the best time. We seem to run into each other a lot, so maybe we can later."

"Yeah that sounds great! What's your number? If you ever need a distraction, we can go get food or something. You know, if you like…food." The girl was kind of a dweeb. It was adorable.

"Fine, fine." She recited her personal number for the girl. "You owe me good ramen!" She shouted as she headed out the door.

"You've got it!" The girl grinned back.

Kyoko smiled.

She was actually kind of excited. It would be nice to have a non-magical girl friend outside of work her age.

It would be nice to have a friend outside of work besides her sister.

---

Sayaka didn't want to acknowledge the giddy feeling in her chest the next time she saw Kyoko at the club. Besides, Kyoko didn't even recognize her with her hair and contacts. She barely even recognized herself.

She was hoping that Kyoko would seem happier today. She wasn't sure why. She just hoped she would.

She felt happier since their talk. She really did like Kyoko. She was a nice person.

Kyoko looked tired and stressed though. She looked like she barely slept over the last few days. Sayaka wondered if she had.

She figured commenting on it as Rin wouldn't make her feel any better.

They got ready in silence and headed upstairs to room B, which Sayaka now knew as 'their room'.

Something about the thought of doing a show with Kyoko tonight…Kyoko who called the real her 'cute' made her stomach feel full of butterflies. She blushed lightly, and hoped no one could notice.

It didn't take her long to see there would be no show.

It looked like there would be no clients tonight either.

"This is a disaster! This is a fucking disaster! And what the fuck was Megumi doing with Miyamoto and Atahiko?!" Kurosawa was screaming. It wasn't clear who he was screaming at, but he was upset.

"Sir, I don't know. I just know that-"

"Well find out! Fuck. FUCK!"

"While this club is secure, maybe this isn't the best place to do this." James suggested.

"You're right. You're right. Come on. We're going to my home. We can call whoever we need to call there." Kurosawa suggested.

"Kyoko, you're coming." He said to her as he walked by them.

"I have a shift, Yuta-samaaaa." She drawled out lazily or tiredly.

"I don't give a fuck. Do your shift at my place. Come on."

Sayaka wondered why Kyoko would be invited for what was clearly an emergency meeting.

"I need a fucking massage, badly." He said, pulling at his thinning hair.

Oh. That's why.

"Father, if I may…" Fusao, who had been as silent as a mouse started to speak up.

"If I let you bring your slut to bring you busy, can you keep yourself scarce? I don't need your smart ass comments right now." He growled out.

Fusao seemed surprised, but nodded.

"Would you like to come?"

Sayaka looked at Kyoko, who didn't look like she was paying attention to anything. She just looked ready for bed.

She could get to the Kurosawa base.

She could be a better cop than Ryo ever was.

But she was going in without back-up and no one knew she was going.

Her parents' concerns that she wasn't safe flashed across her mind.

But she was always undercover here and she never had back-up. How would this be any different?

It would be completely different; who the fuck was she kidding?

"Rin?"

"Of course, Fusao-kun." She smiled politely. She could back out on the way over if she wanted to, right?

"We need to go, now." Kurosawa seethed.

Kyoko and Sayaka were allowed to quickly get changed into more comfortable clothes. She was surprised and unsurprised that Tomi had let them go. In fact, Tomi was coming with them.

She tried to memorize all of twists and turns they were taking, the landmarks they were passing. She held Fusao's hand the entire time; he had grabbed hers somewhere near the beginning of the ride, and she felt like she would seem more in character if she went along with it. 'Rin' was kind of spineless.

They reached some pretty ugly square buildings in the New Industrial District. She recognized this area; there were a number of manufacturing plants around here.

They pulled up beside an inconspicuous looking brown building right in between a clothing manufacturing facility and a warehouse of some sort. She would have assumed this building was part of the warehouse.

When they entered, it was obviously not.

The interior was beautifully decorated and chique; it looked like the home of a very wealthy person. During the day, it was probably a very bright and open space. At night, it looked dark and a bit foreboding, even though the walls were a pale cream colour and the floors were a teak wood.

"Tomi, James, and Kyoko, with me. Fusao, do whatever you want with her." He dismissed them.

Sayaka and Fusao were left standing awkwardly in the front hall while they all left.

"So…" She started.

"Would you like a tour?" He offered politely.

"Uh, yes! That would be lovely, thank you." She bowed politely. This is too perfect.

He showed her an extravagant, modern kitchen.

He showed her a bathroom that was larger than her entire apartment and had a Jacuzzi and small indoor current pool it in. That just seemed ridiculous to her.

He showed her a games room, complete with a cards table, billiards, darts, and a bar. He offered to mix her a drink, which she courteously declined.

He showed her his bedroom, which had made her nervous at first. It was a dark room, full of rich red velvets and a darkly coloured wall which made it look smaller. They left quickly enough though.

He showed her his brother's room, which was larger and kind of messy. He explained that no one had even touched it since his brother passed away. Sayaka found it kind of sad, but nodded in understanding. She wondered if the Kaname family would have ever changed Madoka's room after she died.

He showed her the outside of his father's office, which was closed and soundproof.

They walked together down another hall.

"You have an amazing house." She looked around in awe, trying to memorize every detail. She noticed they had an impressive security system, including some cameras so sneaking it would be damn near impossible.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you." Oh god what a cheesy line.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it though. His lips were on hers and she was being pushed against the wall.

This was the first time she ever noticed how much taller than her he actually was. He was awkwardly hunched over to reach her lips.

She was about to push him off when she felt his hands reach under her ass to pull her up. She was pinned against the wall by his body. His weight was keeping her off the ground so it was easier for him to kiss her.

She could feel his stiff cock pushing almost directly into her. Her skirt was too short to provide any real barrier, and she was only wearing a thong that she hadn't taken off at the club.

"Fuck I've wanted this for so long." He panted.

She heard a click and realized he was taking off his belt buckle. Her body slid down the wall a bit when he pulled his hips back to pull down his pants a bit. She hoisted back up quickly enough and tasted his tongue in her mouth again.

Her mind was blank. She had no idea what to do. She was frozen.

He smiled against her lips and exhaled a sort of breathy chuckle.

"After the first night a met you, I started bringing this with me every single time, hoping to use it." He held up a condom. "Seeing what James and Lady got to do all the time, it made me so jealous." He kissed her again, nipping at her.

"I tried to get closer to you before, but fuck Kyoko was never willing to let me get close to you. Fuck, one time she even pulled me out and told me to lay off." Sayaka hadn't known that, actually. "Did you want me too? Did you want me as bad as I want you?" He asked huskily.

She couldn't move. She couldn't think of a strategy. She had hit a mental road block.

She didn't want to say anything negative, in case it blew her cover or got her killed. She'd heard stories about this family before.

For god's sakes, five officers were killed just a few weeks ago by them, and they couldn't find any bodies or any fucking proof.

And she didn't have a fucking gun.

What the hell had she been thinking when she agreed to come here?!

"Yeah. Yeah I did." She squeaked out.

Just go along with it. Go along. Stay safe. Stay alive. Stay covered.

She felt two fingers go in dry. She wasn't wet at all.

Fusao noticed.

"What's wrong?" He breathed out, hurriedly pulling the condom on.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. I just need to get a bit more started up." She lied. She didn't want him to know she was absolutely terrified.

He kissed her again. "I'll fix that. Besides, the condom's lubricated."

She didn't have a chance to respond before he had pushed himself inside her to the hilt.

She felt like she was being stretched uncomfortably.

She felt stuffed.

She felt gross.

He started a slow pace. He was breathing very heavily, right into her ear. She could see over his shoulder. It was the first time she noticed there was a mirror across from them.

Her blonde wig shone unnaturally under the moonlight.

Her emerald eyes were too bright and looked like a feline's.

Her face looked so pale and painted on, like a china doll's.

She looked so fake.

She felt ugly.

"I like when women make noise." He prompted.

She swallowed, and made a mewling sound. It fit with how she was feeling. He liked it. He sped up. Her sounds were staccatoed with his thrusts.

He was in going in deep and hard.

"Louder." She complied.

She looked and sounded like one of those American porn stars.

She was so fake.

She was so weak.

She was so, so stupid.

She wasn't sure how long they were like that for: him grunting and pushing into her while she behaved like a bad actress.

She was a pathetic excuse for a cop.

He grunted louder, and thrust harder. He lost his rhythm.

He exhaled in relief, a sated smile spreading across his face.

She felt sick.

"That was so, so good." He smiled, kissing her again, gently this time. It felt even worse than his rough nips did.

"FUSAO! HURRY UP AND FINISH FUCKING YOUR SLUT AND GET IN HERE!" She heard Kurosawa yell from down the hall.

"Ah shit." He sounded pissed. "Sorry, I have to go." He hiked up his pants and refastened his belt. He pulled out his wallet.

"Here you go." He passed her 50,000 yen. He made a move to walk away and handed her another 3,000. "Cab fare too. Do you remember the way out?"

"Yeah." She said quietly.

"Okay. And really, thank you." He kissed her again. "I'm sorry, I feel like such an asshole, but-"

"FUSAO!"

"Yeah, him. I'll see you at the club. Fuck you're so pretty. I think I have a thing for blondes." He grinned at her. She forced a smile back.

He darted down the hall. She readjusted her underwear, picked up her bag, and hobbled outside.

Her vagina felt really sore. She hadn't had penetrative sex in a long time.

She knew she should snoop around, but she was too scared to. She didn't want to get caught, and she wasn't convinced she'd be able to run fast enough.

She politely and discretely left, memorizing the location of the giant house that was hidden in plain sight.

It was pouring outside. She could feel her makeup start to run down her face hideously.

Or maybe that was because she was crying?

She hadn't even noticed that she'd started sobbing.

The money in her hand felt so sleazy.

It dawned on her.

It was official. It was actually official.

She was officially a prostitute. She accepted cash for sex.

She sobbed louder. The rain was loud enough to drown the sounds out.

She found an alley and sat down by the dumpster. She felt like trash. She was pretty sure she looked like trash. She belonged there.

The wig was getting wet and heavy. The long blonde strands were sticking to her face.

"I think I have a thing for blondes."

She ripped off the wig and shook out her short blue hair. Her actual hair.

Her personal phone began to ring from inside her bag.

"No, no, no…" She cried. She didn't want it to be her parents. She was terrified it was her parents.

It was Hitomi instead.

"FUCK!" She screamed as she answered the phone. "What?!"

"Sayaka? Sayaka I'm sorry, but have you had a chance to speak with Kyousuke yet."

She had completely forgotten.

She was selfish. She was a prostitute. She was useless.

She was a half-useful cop and a completely useless friend.

And she just couldn't deal with this right now.

"No, no Hitomi I've been so, so stressed with work stuff. I just…I thought I had a terrible day last week but that was nothing, nothing compared to today. Please I just-" She was about to break down and tell her everything that I happened. "I just had-"

"Sayaka, please! I need you to talk to him! He sounded worse today! He even refused to come see me! He told me he's somewhere by the bridge over the highway, and I have no idea what he's doing there. I'm really worried about him. He sounded like he was thinking about committing suicide. He doesn't sound like himself at all, please can you check on him? Please?" Hitomi was crying.

"You check on him! He's your boyfriend!" She cried and screamed back to her.

"I can't! Please Sayaka, you're the only one who can, please!" She sounded ugly when she was desperate.

Sayaka dropped the phone away from her ear, and let out a pitiful silent scream. She couldn't tell what were rain drops and what were tears on her face. She was soaked though.

"Fine. Fine I'll go see him; only because the only person more pathetic than me is you." She hung up. She buried her face in her hands.

She hated her life.

No, her life was fine. She hated herself.

She brought all of this on herself.

It didn't matter if she needed drugs or not. She was always going to self-destruct.

At least now she knew what was responsible. It was just her.

---

Kyoko didn't want to acknowledge the feeling of impending doom lurking in her chest when she went into the club. She knew shit was going to hit the fan when Kurosawa found out about Miyamoto's, and particularly Megumi's situation. It was only a matter of time.

The man had a tendency to be unpredictable when he was angry. She knew they were alike in that way. She hated the feeling of walking on eggshells though.

Something told her that tonight would be the night he found out.

"This is a disaster! This is a fucking disaster! And what the fuck was Megumi doing with Miyamoto and Atahiko?!"

Yep, there it was.

She vaguely recognized that he was ordering her to go with him. Tomi was too. She was too tired to care. Between this, working at the club, working for the loan sharks, dealing with the contractor and insisting she was getting money, and hunting witches she was beat.

The threat of having another magic attack also hung over her head like a guillotine.

She only realized something was wrong when they were part-way to the Kurosawa mansion and noticed Rin cuddled up next to baby Kurosawa.

Oh shit, why is she coming?!

She was about to say something, but noticed that they were holding hands. She grimaced. She had warned the girl not to get feelings for the clients, but she guessed it couldn't be helped; Rin was too soft for her own good.

She figured that intervening wouldn't do any good. She couldn't tell a grown woman that she couldn't have what she wanted, especially when they weren't at the club.

She looked out the window and let her mind wander.

They arrived at the mansion and Kyoko went straight to the study; she knew the way. They all did.

Kurosawa's pet lawyer was waiting for them. He was buddies with most of the defense lawyers in town, and was able to get good dirt on a lot of the cases.

He also had a connection somewhere in one of the police forces that gave them confidential information.

He was also Kurosawa's highest paid staff member, according to rumours she had heard from Tomi.

"So what the hell is happening?" Kurosawa asked as he poured himself a glass of brandy. He had developed a taste for western alcohol since spending more time with James.

"It's bad. It's really bad. They got solid evidence on all three of them. Confessions on tape, I heard. I don't think there's any way a jury would be able to interpret what they said any differently."

"What did Megumi say?"

"He confessed to be a drug distributor and he mentioned your name in particular."

Kurosawa clasped his hands in a praying position and leaned in on them. He was thinking hard.

"That man is as filthy of a rat as he looks. I'll deal with him. Where is he, right now?"

"In holding at the Kazamino Police Station. They haven't transferred him to a prison yet."

"Okay. I know who to call. I'll have him dealt with."

"Good." The lawyer nodded.

"I don't give a fuck about the disfigured drunkard. What about Miyamoto? How have they got her?"

"Murder charges."

"Murder?" James was surprised.

"She killed a junkie. They found her covered in blood, holding a gun, and confessed to the murder. James, she'd mentioned your name."

"How?" James looked tense and serious. Kyoko had never seen the man like that before.

"She mentioned you gave her a special American bullet. Nothing too serious. You'll be fine. It's Kurosawa who needs to worry." James exhaled in relief. Kurosawa glared at the little American, who just shrugged back at him.

"How the hell did they get caught that red handed anyways? I thought Suki had mastered this. They had never had problems for years. They were so careful and had it down perfectly. What changed?"

The lawyer sighed.

"It was the ultimate unfortunate coincidence for them. As it turns out, one of the Kazamino cops was a former addict and target of the Miyamotos. They somehow found out this cop was one of the targets, used her as an undercover and went in for the kill."

Kyoko's eyes widened. There was only one cop she knew who was a former addict and target. Maybe there was another one?

"How did they find out? I thought the Miyamotos never had problems with rats." James was stunned.

"I don't know. There's a rat somewhere and they found out this cop was a target, so they used her as bait."

"Who was the cop?" Kyoko asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"I don't know. I don't think that's the question we should be asking. She's young, from what I know, so probably just a rookie on parking duty."

It pissed her off that she was being treated like she was that stupid.

It pissed her off that she was probably played like a goddamn fiddle.

It had to be Sayaka. Sayaka was the only target who was a cop.

She could have stopped everything if she had just told them that one of the targets had been a fucking cop when they asked her if she knew her!

That lying, fucking bitch!

Kyoko was feeling angry.

And I thought I saved her.

She felt stupid.

I thought we were actually going to be friends.

She felt pathetic.

"What about Tsubasa? Tomi, have you heard anything about him?"

"Nothing at all. He wasn't arrested but I don't know what he's planning."

"I honestly wouldn't assume anything yet." James started. "Even if the Miyamotos did rat you out, which I doubt they would because they would have to confess guilt themselves, their crimes have much longer prison times than yours. They wouldn't have much to gain."

Kurosawa continued glaring, but nodded. "Keep an eye on the Miyamotos, would you?" He said to Tomi and the lawyer. They both agreed.

Kyoko wondered why she was even there.

Kurosawa and James had another drink each. Tomi fidgeted nervously. The lawyer looked solemn.

Though the room was soundproof, it wasn't perfect. They could all faintly hear Rin moaning. Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"Well at least they're having a good time." James said sullenly.

The moaning stopped. Gross.

Kurosawa got up and marched to the door, slamming it open.

"FUSAO! HURRY UP AND FINISH FUCKING YOUR SLUT AND GET IN HERE!"

"Do you actually need him here?" James asked with no real curiosity.

"Not particularly, but it's more the principle of it."

"Did you really think they were going to do anything different?"

"No. But it's pissing me off that he's getting laid while I'm trying to strategize how to keep our family out of fucking prison. FUSAO!"

The young man looked ruffled but came in and sat dutifully, while they listened to Kurosawa bitch about the Miyamotos and how stupid they were. They also listened to Tomi and Kurosawa hypothesize on what Megumi was even doing with them.

Now Kyoko and baby Kurosawa could sit there together and wonder what they were even doing there.

They finished up quickly enough, thank god.

Everyone except for Kyoko was invited to the games room for drinks and billiards to get their mind off of this.

She went to see herself out, relieved to have an early night and chance to sleep.

"Kyoko, a word please." Kurosawa asked when they were alone.

Kyoko suspected the only reason she was brought along was for this moment. She walked over to him silently.

"Be on standby. I'm not sure, but I think we may have to do something about Tsubasa. I will keep you posted. You're the only one I trust to deal with him."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Some things you can't make me do."

"No, but I'll make it worth your while. I'll make it very worth your while."

"Threatening me again, are you?" She snapped.

"No, promising a great reward, Sakura. I do hope you don't misunderstand me. You're one of my best staff, by quite a ways. It's nice that no one thinks you're respectable, because then no one would try to steal you." He sneered. "Apparently, Megumi seemed too good and the Miyamotos tried to take him. Look how well that turned out."

He sighed in frustration, combing his hand through what was left of his hair.

"Just be on standby. Thank you."

Kyoko nodded and left.

She hated where all of this was going.

Finally, the torrential downpour the heavy clouds had been promising for days was here. She didn't bring Sayaka's umbrella with her. She regretted that.

She hadn't received a text from the girl yet. She wondered when she would. She was tempted to give that bitch a piece of her mind, but quickly realized that would be a terrible idea.

She even made that fucking bullshit story about me saving her. And her seeing me in a dream. I can't believe I fell for that load of bullshit.

She pretended it was just water dripping down her face, and not any tears.

I barely knew her. Why am I letting that cunt affect me so badly?

She heard sobs coming from the alleyway.

It sounded like Rin.

Kyoko sighed in exasperation. Ah fuck.

She had been right. Rin coming along was a bad idea.

She was about to comfort her until she saw her. She froze. She was stunned. She was speechless.

Sitting by the dumpster was Sayaka, with a sopping wet blond wig on the flooding ground that more resembled a drowning shih tzu than hair and iridescent, obviously fake green eyes.

Everything made sense now. Everything made so much fucking sense.

How had she missed it?

They sounded the exact fucking same! I am such an idiot!

Kyoko was ready to go over there and beat the living shit out of her.

Kyoko had basically had sex with her. No wonder Sayaka had kissed her; it didn't freak her out at all, they already had kissed and Kyoko was too stupid to have any idea!

Something about that made Kyoko feel violated and dirty.

This girl was crazy. She dressed as a stripper to talk to the most dangerous criminals in the city.

She had sex and got naked in front of the most dangerous criminals in the city. That was what cops did now? That was how dirty they were willing to play?

No, that girl was a whore.

A whore who used her.

And I wanted to be friends with her.

Kyoko was definitely crying now. She hid herself behind the wall from Sayaka. This was so, so humiliating.

What would Tomi say when they found out she had missed something so obvious?

Wait a minute.

It wasn't obvious. The only one who had even come close to figuring something out was her. She was the only one who asked who the cop was. She was the only one who didn't dismiss Sayaka as being some kind of useless rookie.

She knew exactly what Sayaka was capable of.

Sayaka saw that she was target of one of the most dangerous human traffickers in Japan and she willingly went in as bait. Sayaka got Miyamoto, a professional kidnapper, and an expert drug dealer behind bars.

She had Kurosawa quivering in his boots.

And she knew where their base was.

Sayaka was dangerous.

And no one even suspected how low she was willing to go. No one even suspected she would have gone in via Tomi's.

This girl had no limits. She had no morals. She had no fucking self-respect.

She was just as terrifying as Kyoko.

It was only a matter of time before the Kurosawas would realize they had a rat, and a nasty one at that.

It was only a matter of time before she could find the rat and demand a huge payout. No one would suspect that a rat would go in that way, so she could say it was hard as hell to find her.

She wondered how much of the church she could pay for by handing Sayaka's head over to Kurosawa on a silver platter.

Kyoko didn't feel angry anymore. She felt excited.

She didn't care what her father said: there was something so satisfying in getting revenge.

She was never patient, but she would have to be.

That didn't mean she couldn't have any instant gratification though, right?

"Rin? Hey Rin, are you out here?" She called, pretending to be concerned.

She heard Sayaka gasp from around the corner then some rustling.

"Yeah, I'm over here!"

Kyoko rounded the corner. She wanted to laugh. It was obvious the wig had been thrown on the ground. It was disgusting and dirty. Sayaka's eyes were irritated and red, almost as red as her face.

At least the cunt has the ability to be embarrassed. I wasn't sure if she even could feel shame.

"So. How was it?"

"Huh?" She blinked at her. Kyoko had never liked her eyes. Now she knew why.

"Fucking Kurosawa. How was it? Did you like it? It's what you wanted, right? Why else would you come here?"

Sayaka was struggling to find words. She was choking on them. Kyoko had to force herself not to smile mockingly.

"It was good." Sayaka swallowed nervously, before forcing a smile. "It was really good. I really like him, so I'm glad I came."

"Aww, that's cute." She said condescendingly. "Hey, out of curiosity, did he pay you for it? Or did you give the milk away for free?"

Sayaka stuttered, stunned.

"Well, yeah he paid me. But…"

"What else would he expect, right? I mean, he's had to pay you for everything else so it's fair to see where the misconception could come from." Kyoko shrugged. She heard Sayaka nod and squeak. She was trying not to cry.

How cute. She thought sardonically.

"One thing though, okay?"

Sayaka looked up at her confused.

Kyoko punched her in the face, as hard as she had punched Miyamoto Suki a few days before.

Sayaka was knocked into the dumpster, hitting her head against it. Had she not been wearing contacts, Kyoko was certain she would see Sayaka's eyes lose focus.

She grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and pulled her forward.

"Don't make us look like a brothel again." She sneered.

She threw Sayaka into a puddle and kicked her in the ribs for good measure. She saw Sayaka struggling to breathe after. She had knocked the wind out of her.

Kyoko mused about whether or not she had broken any of her ribs. She doubted it though; she didn't kick her that hard. And that wouldn't do her any good.

Oh, the fun she could have with her at the club.

She sauntered away, finally feeling like she had an ounce of strength.

She didn't really feel any better though.

She felt sad.

She ignored that last sentiment.

She didn't look back to see the girl get up, but she heard her groaning and struggling to move. She also heard slow, deliberate steps going in the other direction.

A part of Kyoko was desperate to go back and ask for forgiveness.

She squashed that part of her like a bug.

Kyoko decided to go home. She didn't want to look at Sayaka right now.

If she had, she might have noticed a familiar white creature follow the injured girl into the stormy night.

---

AN: Congratulations to all of you on reading a whopping 123 pages of story through chapters five and six! Hoo boy! Huge congratulations to all of you who actually read all of this in one weekend; wowza!

I was so convinced I would be able to make this one shorter, but believe it or not, I got carried away again. I decided to split this up just so it would be easier to scroll through. The plot's going to be moving forward a lot faster now though. I'm about 20 pages into the next chapter, but a few major plot points have already happened. It feels so good!

As for the pedophilia last chapter…I know it was hard for some of you to read. I do apologize for that. I can tell you that yes, the pedophilia needed to happen for the plot unfortunately, as I will (hopefully, assuming I get everything in the next chapter that I would like) partially reveal at the end of the next chapter. As for the amount of detail I put in there, it's just how the story flowed for me. I seriously thought about skimming over it, but it just felt so disjointed considering the pace of everything else. I still don't know if I did the right thing on that. There will never be anything like that again, I can promise you that.

I will break my promise in the future about no more important OCs, but the next one won't be here for a very, very long time. I guess there's a semi-important one next chapter, but nothing compared to Suki. There will be a major one much later on though, which I've known about for a while but forgot to mention anything about. Huge bonus points if anyone can guess what they have anything to do with!

There will be more dub-con.

Yes, I was incredibly cruel to the characters these last two chapters. I honestly feel a bit bad. But really: Puella Magi Madoka Magica plus crime plus strippers cannot equal anything cute and happy. Or maybe it can? Who knows!

I wanted to make it my goal to get something out every month and a half, but this was a solid two months. I do apologize for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who are sticking with this story! I know the updates are slow, but I'm hoping I can get out a good story for all of you.

I would like to thank the wonderful MagicalGay for being my beta! MG has also been great with making sure I actually write this story, so if any of you are happy to see an update, thank them.

Hope you all enjoyed this! As always, review, follows, and faves are much appreciated! They are probably the best motivation I get to keep writing. Of course, I will write this story anyways because it's on my bucket list to actually finish a fanfic, but the messages make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.