Back to Back

by EvanescentAmethyst

When Natsuki Kruger--an Elite, secret-service agent--is transferred, her already-life-threatening job gets even more interesting. It's not the case load that makes it hard to stay professional, but her new partner: the dangerously alluring Shizuru Viola.

6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys! :D

So I finally decided to just up and post this. I'm really sorry that it took so long. I honestly will do everything in my power to finish this fanfic, but I unfortunately have no idea how long that might take, lol. I spent a lot of my summer getting ready for university and I'm still trying to get used to the workload (my chemistry prof. = evil incarnate, lol).

I really must warn you that this has not been beta'd. I was a little hesitant to post this unedited, but my beta is extremely busy, and I would much rather have her get some sleep than try to edit like (* checks word count *) a 20 000 word chapter, lol. Especially one of my chapters, lol (as you know, WouldBeSenpai, anyone who is brave enough to take on my comma placement errors deserves a medal, lol). So if you find it simply unbearable to read, I will not blame you at all. Lol, though hopefully it's not quite that bad. :D

Oh and this is really random, but I decided to take up jogging over the summer, and it's very good for fanfic brainstorming. I don't really know why I started jogging, considering that I hate running with a burning passion, lol, but it's much easier to think about Shiznat than how many minutes of torture you have left to endure. :D Oh and just as another note, I really don't recommend making a mixed CD to run to with Florence and the Machine's 'Heavy in Your Arms' on it. I love the song, don't get me wrong, but there's just something about having 'I'm so heavy...heavy...heavy..." playing in the background while you're trying to survive your last two minutes of a half hour jog that doesn't click. :D

I really hope that you guys like the chapter, and reviews are very welcome! :D I'm sorry that I made you guys wait so long for it!

---

Chapter #6: Exposed

"Viola-san's on her way," Nao announced after a small pause. "Tell me what happened, Agent Kruger." The sense of urgency in Nao's voice didn't come close to reflecting the panic that Natsuki was feeling.

Without replying, Natsuki walked out of the washroom and straight into the deserted supply room. A few seconds later, Shizuru stepped inside.

"Kruger-san?" Nao asked.

Shizuru's eyes fell on Natsuki, as the door closed behind her. Natsuki's eyes met hers wordlessly; the older agent had no trouble sensing how serious the situation was. "What is it, Kruger-san?" Shizuru frowned. She took a few steps toward Natsuki and carefully studied her face.

"Apparently Norito doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut," Natsuki snapped. She ran a hand through her hair impatiently as she spoke. "He told one of the employees that he wasn't coming back for a while because I had a reason to be here in his place."

"What!" Nao snapped. "We had an agreement. He's not allowed to mention you." For a brief moment, even Shizuru looked caught off guard. "I'm going to kill that moron," Nao hissed.

"I'll get a hold of him immediately," Takeda announced.

"No," Nao instructed. "I need you to go get him and talk to him face to face. A phone call definitely isn't going to cut it."

"...Alright," Takeda hesitantly agreed.

"Make sure that that he realizes what he's done," Natsuki growled threateningly. "And remind him that when you violate a government contract, serious consequences can be enforced."

"Now isn't the time to be focused on him," Shizuru cut in softly. All traces of her inital shock had vanished; Natsuki was surprised by how at ease the older agent seemed to be. "Is that all that you overheard?" Shizuru asked Natsuki.

"It doesn't matter," Natsuki replied angrily. "That's more than enough. To any non-guilty person, it's just an unusual comment. But to whoever is responsible for Arai's death, Norito might as well be shoving a red flag down their throat."

Shizuru opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated for a moment. "I suggest that we stop the spread of information quickly. If we can prevent the rest of the office from hearing, we might be able to extend our time here."

Natsuki regarded Shizuru's calm demeanor angrily. "We've lost control of the situation," she snapped. "We don't have any more time." How can she still manage to be so restrained? She studied Shizuru's face for any trace of raw emotion, but the older agent had concealing her emotions down to an art.

Shizuru blinked for a moment – startled by the sudden hostility directed towards her. "Kruger-san," she replied softly, "we're not off this case unless ordered otherwise."

"Speaking of that," Nao added, "give me a moment to get Director Wong. He's definitely going to want to hear this." The sound of her chair rolling back screeched loudly through their earpieces. After a moment, there was silence. Shizuru casually leaned back on the wall behind her, as she waited.

"How can you be so calm?" Natsuki demanded. Her eyes met Shizuru's with a fierce glare. "Don't you realize what just happened?"

"I assure you, I am quite aware of the situation," Shizuru answered quickly. She studied Natsuki's face for a moment. The younger woman was clearly upset. Shizuru took a few steps away from the wall – closer to Natsuki – and forced the younger agent to meet her gaze. Natsuki shifted around uncomfortably; Shizuru was much closer to her than Natsuki would have liked. "But the moment that you let your emotions overpower you, you cease to be of any use to this case," Shizuru added softly. Her words were intended to be a gentle reminder.

Natsuki's face flushed angrily – responding in the opposite way that Shizuru had hoped for. "I didn't know that I was such an amateur," she snapped. What was Shizuru trying to say? Does she really think that I'm that useless? Natsuki broke eye-contact quickly; she didn't want Shizuru to see how much the comment had affected her.

"T...that's not what I meant," Shizuru quickly replied – her heart racing. Her chest constricted tightly, as she studied Natsuki's face. She should have known that Natsuki would take offense. "You know how proud Natsuki is," she reminded herself furiously. "Are you trying to push her even further away?" "I...I just..." she started, though she was unusually lost for words. Being around Natsuki seemed to have that effect.

"I guess it's easier to just pretend that you don't have any emotions at all," Natsuki cut her off. She forced herself to look up and evenly meet Shizuru's gaze. "That's what you're so good at, isn't it?" she laughed bitterly. "Being completely unreadable."

Shizuru stared at Natsuki; both women were a little shocked by how blunt Natsuki had just been. "I didn't realize that you had been trying," Shizuru finally spoke – her words no more than a whisper. Her dark red eyes met Natsuki's questioningly. Had Natsuki really been that interested in her?

Natsuki visibly hesitated. She hadn't meant to react so emphatically. She'd made it sound as if she'd been watching Shizuru constantly. "Which isn't exactly far from the truth," she reminded herself. Shizuru watched Natsuki silently, as if waiting for an explanation.

"Baka," Natsuki mentally hissed. She couldn't just leave her statement as it was. She needed an excuse now – something to draw Shizuru away from the idea that Natsuki might be attracted to her. "B...but after seeing you manipulate everyone in this office without a trace of guilt..." Natsuki trailed off. Images of Shizuru flirting with Ikeda ran through her head, and she was quickly brought back to the conversation that she'd overheard between Shizuru and Tomoe; her face flushed even darker when a new wave of anger hit. "...I'm starting to believe that you really don't feel much of anything," she finished.

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence.

Natsuki glanced up from the spot on the floor that she had fixated on. She studied Shizuru's unusually stiff posture. The older woman refused to meet her gaze; Natsuki knew – undeniably – that she had taken things too far.

Natsuki tried to lock eyes with Shizuru, but the brown-haired woman quickly looked away. "Is that so?" Shizuru spoke coldly. She knew that some found how guarded she was to be disconcerting . But hearing the same words come from Natsuki left Shizuru winded – as if all of the air had been forced from her lungs. "So this is what Natsuki really thinks of me," Shizuru realized numbly.

The look of anger on Natsuki's face softened involuntarily. "I... I'm sorry," she stuttered – her stomach clenching tightly.

"On the contrary, Agent Kruger," Shizuru faked a small smile. "I should be the one apologizing to you." She swallowed painfully, and forced herself to meet Natsuki's eyes. "It must be simply dehumanizing to associate with me."

"T...that's not what I meant," Natsuki continued forcefully. She waited for Shizuru to look back up at her, but the brown-haired woman averted her gaze once more. "I just..." she trailed off. "...It's frustrating for me, not knowing what someone is thinking." She hesitated briefly before continuing. "Not knowing what you're thinking," she quietly added.

The words sounded almost as vulnerable as they made Natsuki feel. Shizuru hesitated, then slowly turned to looked back up at her. What was Natsuki trying to say?

Natsuki's face flushed, when Shizuru met her gaze. Her heart began pounding furiously; had she said too much? Natsuki waited for the accusing glare that she could have sworn would follow, but instead she received a smile so faint that it was almost undetectable.

"It's ironic, Kruger-san, don't you think?" Shizuru asked after a moment. Before Natsuki could ask what she meant, Shizuru continued quietly. "You claim that my emotions are completely unreadable, but you seem to be the one who truly brings them out."

Natsuki froze – eyes locked with Shizuru's. "W...what?" Natsuki's mind frantically tried to process what Shizuru had just said. "What does that mean? Did I really upset her that much?"

Shizuru's words had been chosen to subtly test the other woman. She studied Natsuki for any hint of a reaction, but the navy-haired agent managed to keep her expression neutral. After a few seconds, Shizuru began to wonder if Natsuki had even heard her at all. "Perhaps she misinterpreted," Shizuru rationalized. To reinforce her statement, she allowed herself to briefly glance over at the supply room closet.

Reflexively, Natsuki followed her gaze. Her eyes widened when she realized what Shizuru had been looking at. Her eyes quickly snapped back to meet Shizuru's.

A small static noise buzzed through the earpieces. "Agent Viola, Kruger," Director Wong's voice suddenly sounded through.

Natsuki opened her mouth to reply, but she was left temporarily speechless. Shizuru held her gaze for a few more seconds, before she finally turned away.

"Director," Shizuru replied with a small nod.

"I hear that you've run into a bit of a problem," the director continued casually.

"That's putting it mildly," Nao snorted. There was a brief pause. "...s...sir," Nao added quickly. Shizuru exchanged an amused glance with Natsuki.

Natsuki leaned back against the desk behind her. Her fists clenched the wooden edge tightly. She took a deep breath – concentrating on slowing her heart rate back to its normal pace. "Concentrate on the case," she instructed herself.

"And how do you propose that we fix it?" Director Wong asked. There was a short pause. "...Unless, of course, you believe that the situation has become too dangerous."

Shizuru looked back at Natsuki, then hesitated. She needed to know if Natsuki was uncomfortable remaining undercover – or at least as undercover as circumstances would allow. Natsuki hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "No, sir," Natsuki replied. The words sounded far more confident than she felt.

Shizuru gave her a small, reassuring smile. Natsuki nodded in response.

"I know how much you want this solved, Agent Kruger," the director replied skeptically. "But I need to know if you feel that this case has become a threat to your safety."

"With all due respect, sir," Natsuki replied, "no case is completely without danger. But I think that – if we can slow down the spread of information – we still might be able to modify our plans to expose who ever is behind this."

"Agent Viola?" Director Wong asked.

"I agree," Shizuru replied smoothly. "But we need some more time to work through the details. Any ideas Agent Zhang?"

"Maybe," Nao replied thoughtfully. "What's the only way to slow down a rumor?" she asked. "...Other than offing everyone who might spread it," she added as an afterthought.

"Agent Zhang," the director started warningly.

"You have to give people something even juicier to talk about," Nao announced. "So," she continued with a growing smirk, "who has any deep, dark secrets that they're willing to reveal?"

There was silence on both ends. A sly smile crossed Nao's face. "Agent Kruger," she grinned, "maybe there's something that you'd like to share with the class."

Natsuki blushed furiously, though she desperately tried not to. Shizuru raised an eyebrow – a mischievous look unconcealed in her eyes. "Ara," Shizuru mused, "is there something that you've been hiding from me?"

Natsuki's face flushed even darker.

"V...very funny, Agent Zhang," Natsuki stuttered. Shizuru was unable to repress a smile. "But I do have an idea," Natsuki quickly blurted out. Though it was an attempt to divert Shizuru's attention away from the intense new shade of red that Natsuki had discovered, the brown-haired woman continued to study Natsuki's face with delight. "The employees might be interested in hearing who their boss had dinner with last night," Natsuki finished.

Shizuru hesitated; she wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of broadcasting her feigned relationship with Ikeda.

"Good call, Agent Kruger," Nao replied – though Natsuki couldn't help but roll her eyes at the surprise in her voice. "That's actually not a bad suggestion."

"I do occasionally have good ideas," Natsuki muttered.

"And if we do manage to maintain our cover temporarily?" Shizuru asked calmly. "How do we plan to expose the murderer in such little time?"

Natsuki pursed her lips into a pensive frown. "Well...what if we didn't?" Natsuki asked as the thought suddenly occurred to her. "...Didn't try to stop the spread entirely, I mean," she clarified. "If Viola-san says that I've been acting strangely or something, that should even speed the rumors about me up."

"Okay, now that Agent Kruger has blatantly stated what not to do..." Nao began.

"Why not?" Natsuki countered – a dangerous grin forming on her face. "We should stop looking at this as a problem. This gives us the perfect way to alert the murderer to my presence, but avoid the unwanted publicity of having the rest of the office know."

Shizuru looked at Natsuki with raised eyebrows. "Kanin na, Kruger-san, but I fail to see your point as well."

"We need to solve this fast, right?" Natsuki asked.

"Agent Kruger?" Director Wong urged her on. The interest was evident in his voice. Natsuki knew that he wanted to get the other districts off of his back and – hopefully – her plan would give them a way to do just that.

"Put yourself in the murderer's shoes," Natsuki instructed. "You go to all the trouble of destroying the evidence and showing up for work like nothing is wrong, only to realize that there is an undercover agent set on finding you and putting you away for life. How would you react? It might be a little hard to go on pretending that everything is normal."

"Whoa, Kruger-san," Nao cut in quickly. "I see where you're going, but I really don't think that you realize how dangerous your suggestion is."

"I'm not naive," Natsuki replied defensively.

"Look, I've been specially trained to quote 'put myself in the murderer's shoes'," Nao argued. "Contrary to popular belief, shoving a homicidal maniac into a high-pressure situation doesn't usually lead to a fairy tale ending."

"I know that it's dangerous," Natsuki stated firmly. "But if we can get get the murderer to indirectly reveal themselves by reacting, we could plan for a direct confrontation."

"Are you completely insa..." Nao started to object.

"Go on," Director Wong cut Nao off smoothly. Nao's frustrated groan was audible through the earpieces. "Agent Zhang," the director warned, though he sounded vaguely amused.

"Let's say that – theoretically – it is evident who the killer is after word gets around," Natsuki continued. "Or at least that someone acts suspiciously panicked or interested. I can go in wired to confront the suspect. We can pick a private, controlled location and..."

"Being a murderer doesn't make you a moron," Nao snorted. "What do we plan on confronting them with? We thought that you looked a little suspicious and we were hoping that you'd blurt out something that would allow us lock you up for the rest of your life?"

"I'm not expecting the killer to start monologuing," Natsuki snapped – an angry blush forming on her cheeks.

"If you're expecting to get anything of any value then you're expecting too much. You would have to plan a situation where the murderer strongly believes that they're in control. And – after forcing the murderer to realize that an agent has been poking around in their office – that might prove to be a little difficult," Nao snapped. "Really, Kruger-san."

"What if I say that I'm a private detective?" Natsuki asked. "I can say that Arai's wife hired me. That way the murderer will believe that I work alone, and I can let it slip that I haven't told anyone what I know. Even if I don't have solid proof, I would still be a direct threat to the killer. We'll be in a private location so the murderer will believe that there are no witnesses. Killing me would be the logical choice for the murderer, right? They don't need to say anything at all; if they attacked me, it would be just as good as an admission. I'll let the murderer think that he or she has the upper hand, we'll record it, and everyone is happy."

"Except you Agent Kruger; you'll probably be dead," Nao snapped. "Your plan is absolutely wonderful – in theory. But until we know who the murderer is, I'm not going to be able to predict how things will play out. It's extremely circumstantial. We don't have a way to control all the variables required to pull it off." Nao sighed. "Look, I know that our district doesn't have the best reputation, sir. Bringing in the killer would – no doubt – be lovely for our image, but I don't like this plan. It's way too impulsive."

"It's fine, Agent Zhang," the director sighed. "I respect your opinion." There was a short pause. Natsuki shifted around on her feet impatiently. It wasn't as if Nao was the one who would be placed in danger. "What if I were to promise you two teams of level-three agents?" Director Wong asked. "When the time comes, you'll have more than enough back-up to make sure that things run smoothly."

"...Well, that definitely helps," Nao was forced to admit. Natsuki couldn't help but grin.

"Are those agents not needed elsewhere?" Shizuru frowned. She turned to study Natsuki as she spoke. The younger agent looked so eager. But her careless desire to solve the case made Shizuru feel even more uneasy. As much as Shizuru wanted the case solved as well, the idea of putting Natsuki in direct danger made her stomach churn.

"I'll temporarily pull them off of what ever cases they're working," the director replied. "But I can only spare them for a day or two," he added – loosing some of the excitement in his voice. "...Do you really believe that you will be able to isolate the murderer in such little time?" he asked uncertainly. "I have the utmost faith in your abilities, but the last thing that we need is media coverage of law enforcement officers accusing the wrong person of committing murder."

"What other choice do we have?" Natsuki asked. "It's either act now or lose the opportunity entirely," she insisted. "I think that it's definitely worth a try, sir."

"Are you sure that you wish to go through with this?" Shizuru asked Natsuki quietly. Natsuki turned to face her and hesitated. Shizuru locked eyes with her – almost pleadingly – and shook her head ever so slightly.

Natsuki forced a small smile. "I'm sure," she replied confidently. Her heart pounded fiercely, though she was careful not to let her nervousness show. Natsuki's answer was more than satisfying for the director.

"...Okay," the director replied finally, though the word was said with slight hesitation. "You have full authorization."

Shizuru studied Natsuki carefully. Natsuki's body language suggested that she was perfectly as ease. Even the tone in which she spoke suggested confidence. Natsuki was very good at manipulating her appearance. Too good.

Natsuki matched Shizuru's stare defiantly. Shizuru took a step towards her– refusing to lower her gaze. "You have nothing to prove," she spoke finally. Her words were so soft that only Natsuki could hear them.

Just for a moment, Shizuru saw it – a flicker of uncertainty. It was all that she needed to make up her mind. "Perhaps we could modify our plan slightly," Shizuru proposed. "If I were to confront the murderer instead..."

"No," Natsuki cut her off. The fierce expression on her face left Shizuru winded. "I want to do this," Natsuki insisted, then paused. "I want to," she repeated quietly – her eyes locked with Shizuru's.

Shizuru opened her mouth to object, but the sincerity in Natsuki's eyes made her stop. "... Alright," she finally forced herself to speak. The word left her mouth completely dry. "I want to be there," Shizuru quickly added. "If Kruger-san does confront the murderer, I expect to be placed in charge of those two teams."

Her words left no room for negotiation. "I... of course," Director Wong replied with badly concealed surprise. "You will be given full authority."

"Ookini," Shizuru nodded.

Natsuki stared at Shizuru for a moment. When Shizuru turned back towards her, she quickly turned away and cleared her throat. "So, what's our first step?" Natsuki asked.

"I'll go debrief those teams now," Director Wong stated. "Keep me appraised."

After a brief pause, the loud click of the door closing behind him sounded through Natsuki's ear piece. "I still need to load Sasaki's gun with blanks," Natsuki spoke. "Preferably before someone takes his parking spot, if you know what I mean," she laughed – referring to his extremely short temper. "The blanks are just in my rental," she added.

"Perhaps that would be wise," Shizuru nodded. "Is he in his office, Zhang-san?"

There was a short pause, as Nao presumably checked the video feed. "No, Sasaki's not in yet," she said finally. "That works for me. If you hurry, you won't have to worry about drawing him out of his office."

"Got it," Natsuki nodded. She turned to glance over at Shizuru once more, before walking towards the door. Out if the corner of her eye, Natsuki could see the brown-haired agent tense up. It almost looked as though Shizuru had wanted to stop her.

"Y...you should probably wait a little while before leaving," Natsuki instructed Shizuru.

"You're right," Shizuru replied hesitantly. With a small sigh, she leaned back against the wall. Natsuki watched her for a moment, then started towards the door once more.

"Kruger-san," Shizuru quickly got back off of the wall and took a small step towards Natsuki. She reached out her hand to gently grab Natsuki's arm, but when Natsuki turned to face her, she quickly drew her hand back.

"Yeah?" Natsuki answered. She studied the hesitant look on Shizuru's face.

"Please be careful," Shizuru quietly replied.

"Always," Natsuki grinned. With that, she walked out of the room. Shizuru leaned back against the wall once more.

After counting to thirty in her head, Shizuru started walking back to her desk. It was still pretty early. Not all of the employees had arrived yet, and most of the ones who had were talking amongst themselves in the lobby.

Shizuru carefully sorted through the various conversations that she heard as she walked.

It would be rude to interrupt someone else's conversation to talk about Natsuki, but if some of the employees were already talking about her, she could casually join in.

The Foreign Affairs Minister and his assistant were talking in the far corner. It would be less suspicious to start a conversation with someone that she had talked to previously, but she couldn't make out what they were saying as she walked. When Shizuru finally reached her desk, she sat down and scanned the lobby from her chair.

Kanae and Omori were talking to some other employees by the water cooler. The other employees looked to be far more at ease than Kanae and Omori themselves; Omori especially looked to be experiencing quite a bit of discomfort.

---

Natsuki winced as a gust of cold air swept her hair into her eyes. She fumbled with her keys for a moment, before finally finding the one that she was looking for. With an aggravated sigh, she moved to shove the key into her rental car's side door.

Natsuki froze – her hand hovering next to the lock. Something was wrong; the lock was all scratched up. It was as if someone had tried to 'discreetly' force their way into her car.

Natsuki tensed up immediately. She scanned the inside of her car quickly, though nothing appeared to be too out of place. The navy-haired agent bent down to examine to examine the lock more closely. There was no doubt about it – someone had tried to get in without a key. "Naturally, they would choose to give me the oldest rental car that they could find – one with no theft prevention systems whatsoever," Natsuki mentally growled.

Until Natsuki examined the inside more thoroughly, she wouldn't know if whoever was responsible had been successful or not. But, from what she could tell, the ignition was untouched – meaning that if someone had successfully broken in, they weren't looking for a ride. That suggested that the break-in was personal.

Natsuki opened her mouth to inform Nao, but the sound of gravel crunching behind her made her freeze. She tensed up immediately, eyes scanning the reflection in the car window for any sign of movement.

Natsuki winced reflexively as the cold barrel of a gun pressed firmly up against her cheek.

"Well, you are observant, aren't you?" a deep voice growled into her ear.

---

"Fujino-san?"

Shizuru glanced up from her computer screen with a feigned look of surprise on her face. "Good morning," she replied a moment – a pleasant smile forming on her face. Carefully, she folded her hands on the desk in front of her. "What may I do for you?"

"I...Ikeda-san wants to see you in his office," the employee replied. His words were so rushed that Shizuru almost had a hard time understanding what the man had just said.

Shizuru sighed inwardly. Ara, right now? It was more than a little inconvenient. He should at least have the decency to come and get her himself. "Of course," Shizuru replied smoothly – consciously choosing to ignore the way that the man's gaze kept nervously shifting down to the low neckline of her dress.

"I don't suppose you've seen the new janitor today?" Shizuru asked.

After a couple seconds, the man finally seemed to register what she had said. "Oh," he blurted out. "No, I haven't."

"Ara," Shizuru sighed. "I fear my wastebasket will start overflowing any time now."

The man laughed nervously.

"I don't know," Shizuru said thoughtfully as she stood up. She smoothed out the amethyst-colored dress that she had been given to wear that morning. "The new janitor seems to strike me as a little odd."

The man raised his eyebrows, but said nothing in response. Shizuru decided that his silence probably meant that even if she did manage to convince him that Natsuki was acting strangely, he wasn't too likely to go spreading it around. She'd have to find someone who socialized more often.

"Well, ookini for the message," Shizuru smiled. Without waiting for the man's response, Shizuru started to walk towards the hallway. She chose her path carefully – so that she would have to walk past the most people on her way over.

"Look, I need you to calm down, okay?" the foreign affairs manager said firmly to his assistant as Shizuru walked past. "Don't mess this up." The assistant's body language suggested that he was under extreme stress. Shizuru slowed her steps down a little, but the assistant didn't reply.

Shizuru walked past the water cooler. "You can't expect me to..." Omori started to say to Kanae. The women that they had been talking to were gone.

"It wasn't your fault," Kanae cut her off in a hushed tone. "Come on," she said quietly. "how long have we known each other for?"

Unfortunately, Shizuru would never know. There was a limit to how slowly she could walk and not look extremely out of place. Releasing a small sigh, Shizuru picked up speed and made her way to Ikeda's office.

Tentatively, Shizuru knocked on the door. There was no answer. She placed her hand on the cool doorknob and turned. "Sasaki-san?" Shizuru spoke as she stepped inside.

Before she could react, powerful arms grabbed from behind.

---

"Get up," a man's voice ordered. The gun was removed from Natsuki's cheek, as quickly as it had appeared. Natsuki slowly stood up – her heart pounding furiously – and started to turn towards the man. "Don't," he hissed warningly. The word sent a chill racing up Natsuki's spine.

Natsuki froze. She couldn't see the man's face in the reflection on the glass, but his voice sounded familiar somehow. "Think," Natsuki commanded herself, but her mind was racing uncontrollably. How close was he to her? Where was the gun pointed? If he was close enough, there was a chance that she could disarm him. But was the risk really worth it? Did this man intend to shoot her in broad daylight? "No," Natsuki convinced herself. "If he was going to shoot me, I'd already be dead."

"Get in the car," the man ordered quickly. Natsuki could hear the tension straining his voice. She inhaled shakily – trying to appear as calm as she could.

"Who are you?" she asked quietly when she had worked up enough courage to speak.

"Now," the man demanded fiercely. The word made Natsuki involuntarily wince. The last thing that Natsuki wanted to do was get into that car. If there was some way that she could... "Now!" the man yelled, shoving her roughly against the side of her car. His movement brought him temporarily closer – almost close enough for Natsuki to consider attempting to disarm him.

"Agent Kruger?" Nao's voice almost startled Natsuki into reacting. Natsuki fumbled with her keys – cursing the way that despite all of the training that she had received, her hands wouldn't stop trembling. "What's going on?" Nao asked. Natsuki gritted her teeth as she inserted the key into the lock. The external camera's view of Natsuki's car was obstructed by the large SUV parked in front of it. Nao had no clue what was happening.

There was a small click as the door unlocked. Natsuki fumbled for the handle and opened the door.

"Get in," the man repeated.

"Come on, Agent Zhang," Natsuki silently chanted. She swallowed hard – her instincts very emphatically screaming for her not to get into the car – and started to sit down. What was she supposed to do?

"Agent Kruger," Nao repeated firmly – her voice beginning to sound panicked.

The car door slammed, as soon as Natsuki was in; Natsuki winced. The man started walking around to the other side of the car. "Now," Natsuki realized. She fumbled for the handle – frantically trying to reopen the door.

The man realized what she was doing, and quickly ran around to the passenger's side. By the time that Natsuki got the door open, he had his gun pointed at her through the open passenger door.

"Make a run for it, and I'll shoot you," the man snarled. Trembling, Natsuki closed the door and turned to face him. "Sa...Sasaki?" Natsuki was finally able to identify the man. For some reason, the realization seemed to snap Natsuki out of the daze she had been in. "Sasaki?" Natsuki spoke.

"Start the car," Sasaki replied.

"Kruger!" Nao exclaimed. "I need to know what's going on. I can't make anything out."

Natsuki took a slow breath. "Calm down," she instructed herself, though her gaze snapped back to the gun in Sasaki's hands. She needed some way to alert Nao to her situation. "I..I would appreciate it if you didn't point that gun at me," Natsuki forced herself to speak. "There," Natsuki felt a small wave of relief wash through her.

Nao cursed loudly, then quickly tried to collect herself. "Stall him, Kruger," she ordered Natsuki. She tried to keep her voice calm, but it was more than a little difficult. The worst thing that she could do was to start freaking out; Natsuki was – no doubt – already finding it to stay calm. "I'm sending Viola now."

Natsuki could hear the restraint in Nao's voice. It didn't help. "Stall," Natsuki ordered herself, though it took a moment to recall the meaning of the word.

---

Shizuru's gaze snapped down to the arms restricting her movement. She tensed up, though she consciously stopped herself from reacting the way that she was trained to – violently. She waited for a moment, but the arms never tightened.

"Hi," Ikeda's voice greeted her finally. He removed his arms, and Shizuru turned to face him quickly. "Why are you so tense?" he laughed.

"You startled me," Shizuru replied. She forced the corners of her mouth to turn up into a mechanical smile, though her heart was still pounding fiercely. She had come dangerously close to reacting.

"My apologies," Ikeda smiled.

Shizuru didn't reply. She waited for him to continue the conversation, but he just stared at her – an odd expression on his face. It was almost as if he was trying to solve a complex puzzle. "You requested my presence..." Shizuru began.

"Yes," Ikeda cleared his throat. He walked over to his desk and sat down. "I'm sorry to pull you away from your desk, but I was wondering if we could talk..." he trailed off.

"About?" Shizuru replied with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't sure that she liked the serious tone in his voice. His body language suggested that he was a little uncomfortable, but Shizuru didn't know why.

"Normally, I discourage interoffice relationships," Ikeda finally spoke. "But for you..." he trailed off once more. Shizuru's eyes widened slightly. "...I'd just appreciate it if we kept this between us," he finally finished.

"Of course," Shizuru replied calmly. "I understand." Just how serious did Ikeda think she was? She had never explicitly stated that she wanted to be in a relationship with him.

"Good," Ikeda beamed at Shizuru like she was a dog who had just learned a new trick. Shizuru raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in response.

"Viola," Nao's voice came through the ear piece suddenly. Shizuru immediately detected the urgency in her voice. "Get to the parking lot now. Kruger's in trouble."

Shizuru's heart began pounding at the mention of Natsuki's name. For Nao to sound so desperate, something had to have gone seriously wrong. "I really must return to my desk," Shizuru quickly spoke. She turned and walked briskly towards the door – a feeling of queasiness coming over her rapidly. What had happened to Natsuki? She was alright...wasn't she?

"Are you alright?" Ikeda asked – alarm in his voice. No doubt, he believed that he had something to do with her quick exit.

"I'm fine," Shizuru replied quickly. She turned to give Ikeda a brief smile. "I just feel a little unwell," she finished.

"But..." Ikeda began, but Shizuru didn't wait for him to finish. As soon as the door closed behind her, she sprinted down the empty hallway. The sound of a door handle turning behind her told Shizuru that Ikeda was coming after her. Quickly, Shizuru forced open the door to the woman's washroom on the way out of the hallway.

Ikeda jogged out of his office. "Viola-san?" he called out. The washroom door closed just as he reached it. Ikeda stopped in front of it, and tentatively knocked on the door. "V...Viola-san? Are you alright?" he called out.

Shizuru slowed her pace down to a brisk walk as she reached the lobby. She didn't want to raise suspicions.

"Get to Natsuki's car as fast as you can," Nao ordered. "Get your gun out, and approach from passenger's side. Sasaki is armed, he has Natsuki in the car, and he's told her to drive. You have to stop that car before it leaves the lot."

Shizuru almost stopped in her tracks when she registered what Nao had said. Her pace immediately quickened, despite the looks that some of the employees were giving her. Shizuru shoved the door open, and dove to the right – rolling into a crouched position under the front office windows. The last thing that she needed was for someone to see her draw a weapon and call the police. In seconds, Shizuru had her gun out and was sprinting towards the back of the lot.

---

"You start the car now and you drive, or I'll shoot you right here," Sasaki yelled furiously. Natsuki locked eyes with him instantly; he wasn't fooling around. A bead of sweat rolled slowly down his forehead. Natsuki's gaze shifted to the loaded gun in his hands. His finger was tightly wound around the trigger. Very tightly. "Now!" he screamed – his finger pulling the trigger back just a little more with the effort.

Natsuki's heart skipped a beat, then crashed down violently. She couldn't wait anymore. "Okay," she whispered – the word barely making it out at all. Her sweat coated hand turned the key in the ignition. Natsuki backed the car – as slowly as she could manage – out of the parking spot. For a brief moment, she considered smashing her car into another on the passenger's side. She immediately reconsidered; any abrupt movement would make Sasaki – and more importantly his trigger finger – tense up.

---

Shizuru tore through the parking lot. She weaved her way in and out of the cars furiously – her footsteps almost in perfect time with the rapid thumping of her heartbeat.

Nao cursed loudly when she saw the Toyota emerge from behind the SUV. "The car's backing up. Dammit Kruger," she exclaimed.

Shizuru sprinted as fast as her legs would allow. There. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the white car backing out of a parking spot. Without hesitation she made a direct break for the car.

Suddenly, her view was obstructed.

"Wait! Watch o..." Nao started.

Shizuru's right shoulder slammed into something solid. The impact sent her sprawling onto the hard pavement. She didn't have time to position her fall properly – just barely enough to turn so that she didn't land on her spine.

She winced as she hit the ground painfully. The pavement scraped against her arm – tearing through the skin effortlessly. The momentum that she had picked up slammed her body into the tire of the nearest car.

There was a loud thump from beside her. Shizuru ignored the pain burning through her arm and forced herself to her feet. She turned to the direction of the noise, only to see a women – Omori – sprawled against the side of the car across from her. So that's what she had run into.

"Omori!" another woman yelled. It took Shizuru a moment to recognize the short woman as Kanae. Shizuru spun around quickly – ignoring the two women – and watched helplessly as the white car turned out of the parking lot. "Are you alright?" Kanae demanded. She ran over to help her friend up.

"Don't lose that car!" Nao ordered. "I'm activating Kruger's GPS locater, and I'm sending the director's teams in right away. Get in your car and follow at a safe distance. It'll take around twelve minutes for the teams to arrive so..." Nao suddenly trailed off.

Shizuru waited for her to continue, but there was silence. What had made the other agent stop? Shizuru turned back to face the other two women in the parking lot; the cause of Nao's silence suddenly became apparent.

Shizuru followed Omori and Kanae's gaze. At first, Shizuru had thought that they were looking at the papers that she had knocked from Omori's hands. But her focus was soon drawn to the gun that had flown from her hands as she fell. It had skidded across the pavement and was currently lying a few feet away.

Kanae slowly looked up from the gun and locked eyes with Shizuru. Shizuru's heart pounded furiously, as she met the other woman's gaze. Suddenly, Shizuru saw Kanae's entire body tense up. Shizuru froze; she knew what was about to happen. Kanae sprinted forwards – towards the gun – and Shizuru did the same. Shizuru really didn't have time for this.

"I need some help in here dammit!" Nao yelled loudly. Shizuru could vaguely hear the sound of a door opening through her ear piece.

Kanae reached the gun a fraction of a second sooner than Shizuru and flailed out blindly for it – barely managing to grab the small 9mm. Without hesitating, Shizuru slammed her leg into the back of Kanae's knee. The small woman cried out as she fell backwards. Shizuru pivoted – trapping the hand that Kanae was using to hold the gun against her body. With considerable force, Shizuru rammed her elbow into the shorter woman's nose. Kane cried out – dropping the gun – as the elbow hit her squarely.

The gun slid once more along the pavement. Shizuru shoved Kanae back gently; she didn't want to hurt the other woman more than necessary. With that, she turned towards the direction that the gun had fallen in and froze.

Omori was standing over the area where the gun had landed. Shizuru's gaze quickly shifted from the trembling woman to the gun shaking in her hands.

It was pointed directly at Shizuru.

"Tell the director that I need those teams immediately," Nao's voice came through the ear piece one more. "They don't have time to get suited up. Have them track Kruger's locater, form a one quarter mile radius around the coordinates and wait for further instructions. No one moves until I say so. Sasaki has Kruger at gunpoint. They're in her rental car – a white Toyota. And tell Agent Helene to get down here this second. Did you get that?" she demanded. "Then why the hell are you still here?"

Shizuru wondered briefly who Nao was talking to, but the sight of her own gun in Omori's hands soon snapped her out of it.

"Viola," Nao quickly turned her attention back to Shizuru. "Tell Omori that this is a misunderstanding. You're a law enforcement officer, and you're going after a suspect. Speak in a calm, authoritative tone. Make eye contact when you speak. Take very small steps towards her, and reach your hand out for the gun. Don't go too fast, and don't try and force the gun away from her directly."

Nao quickly connected the microphone to Natsuki's ear piece; Shizuru was in far less trouble than Natsuki was.

---

Natsuki signaled to make a left turn at the upcoming stoplight. The road was usually crowded with cars early in the morning; Sasaki would be less likely to do anything in front of so many witnesses.

"Go straight," Sasaki ordered.

Natsuki took a slow breath. "I'm in the left turn lane," she replied after a moment. The car slowed to a stop behind a few others.

"Straight," Sasaki repeated firmly. Natsuki briefly took her eyes off of the stoplight and glanced down at the gun in Sasaki's hands. It was rested against his lap – out of sight for anyone driving by – but still very much in her field of view. The gun was still pointed directly at her, and Sasaki's finger was still wound dangerously tight around the trigger.

"Okay," Natsuki replied quietly. "Straight." If staying on busy streets was out of the question, the least that Natsuki could do was to announce the direction they were headed in. Nao could relay the directions to Shizuru, who – Natsuki presumed – was following them. She switched lanes carefully.

"Okay, Kruger," Nao's voice finally sounded over the ear piece. Natsuki felt relief flood through her. It seemed almost as if Nao had forgotten about her. "We've hit a small snag," Nao announced – wincing to herself as she spoke. The idea was to keep Natsuki as calm as possible, but Shizuru's situation made that next to impossible. "Viola-san is a little preoccupied, so we're sending the teams in to cut Sasaki off."

"What!" Natsuki exclaimed to herself. A rush of adrenalin hit Natsuki the moment the words were relayed. Where the hell was Shizuru? "How selfish of me to assume that having a gun held to my head makes me the mission priority," Natsuki mentally snapped.

"If you can, try to stay on busier streets for now," Nao continued. "We'll set up an interception point when the teams arrive. It should only be about ten minutes."

Natsuki took a few slow breaths. She had two choices – wait for the teams to get there and pray for a complete and utter miracle, or take matters into her own hands. She took her eyes of the road just long enough to look back down at the gun in Sasaki's lap. But just what exactly was she supposed to do?

"Alright," Nao took a deep breath as well. "I want you to try talking to him," she instructed. "Find out what he wants. It's extremely sloppy of him to bring you out here, so if things start going the way that we want them to, we might be able to make him realize that he isn't going to get away with this." She paused for a moment. "Just keep in mind that the reason why he was so sloppy is because he's so impulsive. That means if he starts getting worked up, you have to back off immediately." Nao was about to continue, but she forced herself to stop. Natsuki really didn't need any additional warnings.

"Turn left up ahead," Sasaki instructed Natsuki. Natsuki swallowed painfully; the road that branched off to the left was almost deserted.

"Where are we going?" Natsuki quietly asked. She turned onto the long road.

"Just drive," Sasaki hissed. He glanced over his shoulder at the rapidly fading cars on the main road. He visibly relaxed; they were now so far away that there was no hope of anyone seeing the gun.

"I can hear Sasaki talk now," Nao spoke. "I don't hear any traffic, so I'm assuming that you've turned onto a more isolated road. I'd be willing to bet that Sasaki doesn't have a destination in mind. He pulled a gun on you in broad daylight, so he obviously didn't really think this through. If you can, try and steer back towards the main roads. But even if you can't, I need you to try and keep it together," Nao instructed.

Natsuki bit her lip roughly. That was definitely easier said then done. Her hands were still trembling violently. Nao hesitated; she had no doubt that Natsuki was terrified. Despite her high rank, Natsuki was still incredibly young, and Nao knew from Natsuki's file that she had never been in a similar situation.

Sasaki checked over his shoulder once more. He took a slow breath when he realized that there were no cars behind them. "Slow the car down," he instructed. "But keep driving." Natsuki followed his instructions wordlessly.

"He's probably not letting you stop because he wants you to be preoccupied," Nao informed Natsuki. "If you have to focus on driving, you can't focus on getting the gun away from him. Do as he says. It could also mean that he's realized that he has no clue where he's going, which suggests that he's reconsidering his actions. That's a good sign. Oh," Nao trailed off. Her voice suddenly sounded distant. "Come in, Agent Helene."

"Agent Zhang." Natsuki could barely make out Yohko's voice through the ear piece. "Director Wong gave instant authorization, but it's going to take some time for the teams to reach her."

"That's not what I need you for," Nao replied quickly. "I need your negotiating experience."

Natsuki briefly wondered what Nao was talking about. Was she asking for Yohko's help with Sasaki?

---

Nao studied the confused look on Yohko's face and handed over the piece of paper that she had been writing on furiously for the past two minutes. On it, Shizuru's situation was explained in as much detail as Nao had time to write down. She didn't have time to walk Yohko through it, and she definitely didn't need Natsuki to figure out what had happened to Shizuru.

Yohko's eyes scanned the paper, then met Nao's questioningly. "Take it in the next room," Nao instructed. "Tell Director Wong and help guide her through this. I've already patched the signal through." Yohko glanced down the screen which displayed the camera's view of the parking lot. Her eyes immediately fell on Shizuru and the two women across from her.

"Understood," Yohko replied. Without any more hesitation, she quickly jogged over to the next room. She plugged in the microphone lying on the desk carefully into the computer, and experimentally pushed the button that connected her to Shizuru's ear piece.

"Viola-san?" she asked. She waited for a moment, before realizing that Shizuru wasn't exactly in a position to respond. "Viola-san, this is Yohko Helene speaking. Agent Zhang has asked me to help walk you through this." With the flip of a switch, the video feed came up on the monitor in front of her. Yohko carefully zoomed in on the three women.

---

Shizuru took another slow step towards Omori. Hearing Yohko's voice had given her some confidence. She couldn't help but feel relieved to hear someone on the other end. As long as Natsuki was getting the support that she needed, Shizuru definitely welcomed the help. "It's alright," Shizuru spoke smoothly. "I'm a law enforcement officer. I'm supposed to be armed at all times. I know that this may come as a shock to you, but I'm afraid that I really don't have time for this."

"Omori-san," Kanae started warningly.

"I really am telling the truth," Shizuru replied. She turned to Kanae and locked eyes with the other woman. After a moment, she turned back to Omori. "Please," Shizuru said quietly. She took a small step towards her. "I really need that back now. My partner is in trouble."

"Slowly Viola-san," Yohko warned through the ear piece.

Omori's hands were trembling badly. She glanced down at the gun nervously – as if she was afraid that it would fire on it's own. She'd obviously never handled a gun before. Shizuru glanced down at the woman's weak grip on the weapon. Omori definitely wasn't much of a threat.

Shizuru took another small step towards Omori. The brown-haired agent held her hands in a half-up position to make herself look less threatening. She locked eyes with Omori pleadingly – thoughts of Natsuki running through her head – and took another very small step. "Please," Shizuru whispered.

"Omori," Kanae repeated – this time with more force. Omori winced, then took a step back from Shizuru. Shizuru exhaled slowly and tried to keep calm. Kanae was making things extremely difficult. "Give it to me," Kanae instructed.

Omori turned to look at her questioningly. "Give me the gun," Kanae ordered. She locked eyes with the other woman and gave her a small nod. Omori hesitated visibly. Kanae walked over without pause and reached out her hand. Shizuru watched – unable to stop Omori – as she finally handed the gun over to the shorter woman.

Kanae turned and pointed the gun at Shizuru.

"Back up slowly," Yohko ordered. Shizuru took one look at Kanae's expression and immediately did so.

---

Sasaki waited for Natsuki to slow the car down, then gave her a satisfied nod. "Now, you're going to tell me exactly what you're trying to do at the Foreign Affairs Office," he snarled.

Natsuki's heart began pounding once more. "W...what do you mean?" she asked shakily.

Sasaki laughed bitterly, then pulled his gun up once more. "Don't give me that crap," he hissed. "You are going to tell me everything that you've been doing. And what it is that you want with Hayato Ikeda."

Natsuki turned to face Sasaki quickly – a startled look on her face. What was he talking about?

"What?" Nao echoed her thoughts. "What's he going on about?"

"What are you talking about?" Natsuki asked shakily.

Sasaki tensed up even more. Natsuki immediately regretted her question. Sasaki wanted answers and he wasn't about to wait for them.

"You have five seconds to start talking. Do you understand me?" he asked her through gritted teeth.

"Ask him to explain his reference to Ikeda," Nao ordered.

"I just don't know why you're bringing Ikeda into this," Natsuki replied quickly. "If you could just expl..."

"Five." Sasaki hissed. "Four. Three."

Natsuki's heart pounded so fiercely that it was almost painful.

"Tell him that you're an agent," Nao blurted. He obviously already knew something about it, and if Natsuki didn't say anything...

"Two," Ikeda snarled.

"Okay," Natsuki forced the word out as quickly as she could manage. "I'm an undercover agent working for the government. I was planted at Garderrobe to try and find Arai Hirohito's murderer." She hesitated; should she say more?

A startled look crossed Ikeda's face. It seemed to take a minute for what Natsuki had said to sink in. But instead of the satisfied look that Natsuki had expected, his face contorted in uncontrolled anger.

"Do you think," he hissed, "that I am a complete moron?"

"W...what?" Natsuki stuttered. Her skin turned even paler.

"You may think that you're clever, Kuga – if that's even your real name – but I saw you last night. Did you really think that Ikeda was stupid enough to go completely unprotected after Arai's murder? That you could just break into his office and no one would know about it?" Sasaki sneered. "But there was a problem last night, wasn't there? You got there too late; he was already gone, so you hopped out the window and decided to try another day, didn't you?"

"What?" Natsuki breathed. What the hell was he talking about? He had seen her in Ikeda's office? How could they have not known that he had been watching her?

"Didn't you!" Sasaki screamed furiously.

Natsuki jumped before she could stop herself. The car swerved dangerously – wheels screeching against the pavement. The sound was so loud that Nao could hear it through the speakers on her end.

"Steady, Kruger!" Nao yelled. "Tell him why you were there," she instructed. "Now."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Natsuki exclaimed. Her voice cracked unsteadily. "Yes, I was in Ikeda's office. I was... I was searching for something to tie him to Arai's death."

"Drop the act," Sasaki hissed. His eyes flared dangerously, but Natsuki was left speechless. "Do you even know the man that you were trying to kill?" Sasaki asked her furiously. "Or was it just an order? Impersonal, so that it wouldn't get to you later. That is, if you have a conscience at all."

Nao froze. Her mind worked frantically to try and piece together what he was saying. Sasaki knew that Natsuki was in Ikeda's office. But he didn't believe that Natsuki was an agent. Instead... Nao's thoughts trailed off. He...he thinks that Natsuki was sent to kill Ikeda? But if that was why he had Natsuki at gunpoint that would mean... Sasaki was trying to save Ikeda's life?

"I used to be a compulsive gambler," Sasaki continued. "I gambled myself so deep into dept that I was going to lose my house, and I still couldn't resist playing a few more hands. I was a complete mess at work, and people started to notice." He paused. "Do you know what Ikeda did when he found out?" Sasaki asked. "He could have fired me on the spot, but instead he used his own money to get me back on my feet. He didn't have any way to guarantee that I would pay him back later, but he did it anyway. That is the kind of man that he is."

Nao furiously wrote some notes down on the paper in front of her. Sasaki's gambling addiction didn't surprise her in the least, but things still didn't seem to add up. "Ask him if that's why he's doing this," Nao ordered.

Natsuki hesitated; she had no clue what Sasaki was talking about. "Is that why you're doing this?" she forced herself to whisper.

"You have no idea how much he did for me," Sasaki replied. "He knew how the public would react if he started demanding that a bodyguard followed him wherever he went, and he knew that I had a gun. When he asked me to look out for him, there was no way that I could refuse."

"That's loyalty for you," Nao muttered to herself.

Natsuki couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was Sasaki really trying to tell her that he was one of the good guys?

"I knew it was more than a little suspicious when you and the secretary showed up the moment that the office reopened," Sasaki sneered. "But at least the old secretary was on good terms with Arai. It made some sense that she would be upset when he died and would need a temporary replacement. But the janitor?" Sasaki laughed. "Still, I couldn't be sure that the secretary wasn't involved. Then I checked the Garderrobe Temp agency files online. The secretary has been with the agency for years. You – on the other hand – moved to Garderrobe just in time to plant yourself in the Foreign Affairs Office." Sasaki paused to let things sink in.

Natsuki didn't know what to say. Part of her believed that Sasaki was making it all up. That he had realized how stupid his rash actions had been and was trying desperately to cover up his guilt. But the expression on his face told Natsuki otherwise. He was so completely convinced that she was trying to kill Ikeda.

"Ikeda was more than a little relieved to find out that the secretary wasn't involved," Sasaki continued. "She even asked him out to dinner, you know," he laughed. "Still, Ikeda's far too trusting. It's not like he makes my job easy. He refused to let me follow him and wasn't even going to take the gun that I got for him along on their date until I made him. That's why he wasn't in his office yesterday," he added. "Imagine my surprise when you went diving out of his window just minutes after he left."

"You have got all of this so wrong," Natsuki said firmly. "I'm not trying to kill anyone."

Sasaki dismissed her statement with a glare. "I wasn't going to do any of this, you know," he spoke – waving his gun to gesture at the car. "I was going to wait for you to try and make a move. That way, I'd have proof and I could go to the police." His glare turned even more intense. "I didn't think that you knew about me," he snarled. "At first, that is." Wordlessly, he held up the blanks that Natsuki had been storing in his car.

Natsuki's heart skipped a beat. How was she going to explain the blanks?

"Perfect fit, don't you think?" Sasaki asked. He held up his gun with a small smirk on his face.

---

"Agent Zhang," Chie burst into the room. "The teams are on their way. Director Wong is personally directing them, but we have a problem."

"What?" Nao demanded, then quickly lowered her voice.

"There's been an accident on the highway," Chie replied quickly. "We didn't know until the teams got on, but they're having trouble getting back off. We mapped out the quickest alternate route but..." she trailed off.

Nao cursed quietly to herself. That was the last thing that they needed. "Do you have a new ETA for me?" she asked.

"Nineteen minutes," Chie answered – her face just as grim as Nao's.

Nao bit her bottom lip, but didn't say anything. "That's too long," she decided. "At the moment, Sasaki's unstable. And when he realizes how much trouble he's gotten himself into he's going to be even more so."

"Well, Agent Senoh managed to individually explain to every Garderrobe employee here that rushing into this room was an incredibly stupid idea. You should have seen the riot that she had to deal with when people heard what was happening," Chie replied. "But if you think that anyone on our end can help..." she trailed off.

"Hold on," Nao replied. She could faintly hear Sasaki speak through the ear piece.

---

"No reply then?" Sasaki sneered. He slammed the blanks down onto the car floor. "I didn't think so."

"What do you want me to say?" Natsuki demanded. She looked away from the road long enough to look Sasaki straight in the eyes.

"Steady Kruger," Nao warned. Natsuki really didn't want to push it.

"You're a suspect in a murder case and that is an illegal weapon," Natsuki continued. "I was instructed to load your gun with blanks so that if a confrontation occurred, I wouldn't be at risk."

"Kruger!" Nao exclaimed fiercely. "You need to back down."

Natsuki ignored Nao's warning. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel angrily. What the hell did Sasaki think that he was playing at? She was telling him the truth.

"I told you to drop your story," Sasaki hissed through gritted teeth. "If you make me ask again..."

"It's not a story," Natsuki cut him off furiously.

"I said drop it!" Sasaki screamed. The finger that he had wound around the trigger pulled back in a rough motion.

A near-deafening gunshot rang out.

Natsuki didn't even have time to close her eyes.

---

Yohko studied the screen in front of her carefully. Kanae had rearranged herself so that she was directly beside Omori and directly in front of Shizuru.

"Do you understand what I have been telling you?" Shizuru calmly asked. "If you don't hand over my firearm immediately..." Shizuru trailed off; some things were better left unsaid. Her stomach clenched even tighter when her thoughts shifted to Natsuki. "My partner is in trouble," she exclaimed.

Kanae studied Shizuru's face for a moment, as if she could tell if Shizuru was lying if she really looked hard enough.

"Who's your partner?" Kanae asked.

"I don't see why that should matter," Shizuru replied – a hint of anger coming through in her voice.

"Agent Viola," Yohko warned, "I'd tell her everything that she wants to know."

"If you must know," Shizuru hesitated, "my partner is Natsuki Kuga. I believe that you know her, if I'm not mistaken."

Omori's eyes lit up in recognition at the mention of Natsuki's name. She turned to Kanae – an expression on her face as if she was about to say something – but then hesitated. Kanae shook her head slowly, and Omori turned back to face Shizuru.

Yohko stared at the expressions on the women's faces. That was an interesting exchange.

"Then what are you doing at the Foreign Affairs Office?" Kanae asked. "Does this have to do with Arai Hirohito's death?"

"Yes," Shizuru replied slowly. She didn't want to go into details. She definitely didn't have the time, and she would never give away case related information if she didn't have too.

"And what did you find?" Kanae asked. Omori turned to look at her friend but didn't say anything.

Shizuru's gaze shifted from Omori to Kanae. Why had Kanae's voice cracked so nervously?

---

"Kruger!" Nao yelled through the ear piece. "...Kruger!"

Natsuki was completely frozen. Her eyes were fixed on the cracked window beside her. The bullet had created an intricate pattern of cracks – spiraling out from the point of impact.

It was no more than two inches away from head.

"Now, you are going to tell me who you work for. Immediately," Sasaki screamed. His hands were trembling almost as badly as Natsuki's. "And I really suggest that you start talking. Because if you're not going to give me anything, you're no longer of any use."

"Dammit Kruger!" Nao yelled, though relief was heavy in her voice. "Next time that I tell you to stop, you stop. Got it?" she exclaimed.

Natsuki struggled to inhale a shaky breath. Her ears were ringing so loudly she could barely hear. She could barely think, let alone speak.

"Okay, listen very carefully to me," Nao instructed. "We don't have time to wait for the teams to arrive. You are going to do everything that I say when I say it, Kruger. We're going to try and bring Sasaki down into his comfort zone. And when he gets so comfortable that for one quick second he drops his guard, you are going to seize the opening and get your hands on that gun. You're not going to hesitate, you're just going to react. And when your hands touch that gun, you're not even going to think of letting go," she hissed.

"Who do you work for?" Sasaki growled.

Natsuki's hand slipped on the wheel as she tried to keep the car steady. She could barely process what Nao had just said.

"Tell him that you were hired by Mitsuo Egami – the public favorite for the next Foreign Affairs Minister – to infiltrate the Foreign Affairs Office. Your job was to wait for an opening and cleanly murder Ikeda," Nao instructed.

Natsuki's mouth almost fell open. Was Nao completely insane? Did she really expect Natsuki to tell Sasaki that she had been trying to assassinate his friend? This was supposed to calm him down?

"Turn right," Sasaki instructed. Natsuki signaled a right turn and slowed at the stop sign.

"Do it," Nao demanded. "Trust me, Kruger. We're going to tell him what he wants to hear. Egami wanted Ikeda killed in his own office to mimic Arai's death."

Natsuki couldn't bring herself to speak.

"Now Kruger," Nao yelled furiously. Natsuki was going to get herself killed. She cursed to herself. ""Think," Nao ordered herself. "You need to calm her down to the point where she can think rationally and do what you need her to." But how the hell was she going to get Natsuki to calm down after everything that had happened? Suddenly, an unorthodox idea came to her. "Do it Kruger, or I swear to God after this is done I'll tell Viola that you were too busy pissing yourself to follow orders," Nao hissed.

Natsuki almost gaped. Had she heard that correctly?

"Now answer the question," Sasaki demanded furiously.

"You heard me, Kruger," Nao continued. "I'll tell her that you had to wait for the teams to save you. You were just too lazy or too scared to do anything for yourself."

A car drove passed by them in the opposite lane. Sasaki had looked like he had been about to speak, but his eyes followed the car wearily as it drove away.

Natsuki's grip tightened on the wheel. She had a gun pointed at her head, and all Nao could think of was telling Shizuru that she couldn't cope properly?

"And of course, I'll tell Masashi-san that the moment that you were rescued, you started crying out his name," Nao sneered.

Natsuki took another look at the gun pointed at her. But for one small moment, she almost found herself not caring. She was beyond furious. It definitely wasn't the time for Nao's antagonist comments.

"Do it," Nao hissed.

The other car was soon out of sight. "Now!" Sasaki growled deeply.

"Fine," Natsuki hissed. She bit the bottom of her lip and struggled to stop her voice from cracking. Her eyes drifted closed for a moment, before she forced her eyes back to the road. "Egami hired me," she stated quietly. She waited for a reaction, but she couldn't bring herself to turn to face the man beside her. "He wants Ikeda out of the picture. But he told me that it had to be done in his office, like Arai was killed. That way..." Natsuki took a deep breath. "...That way whoever killed Arai would be blamed for Ikeda's death as well."

There was silence.

Natsuki gathered up enough courage to face Sasaki. But instead of seeing the look of rage that she had expected, the man beside her had visibly relaxed. "I knew it," he laughed bitterly. "With Ikeda out of the way, Egami would have no trouble winning the next election."

"Agree with him," Nao instructed.

"That was the idea," Natsuki whispered.

Sasaki seemed lost in thought for a moment, but he quickly regained his concentration. "I could kill that bastard," he sneered. Natsuki didn't doubt it for a second.

"Ask him what he's going to do now," Nao told Natsuki. "We're going to make him realize that he has gone way too far. Then, we're going to offer him an easy way out."

"What are you going to do?" Natsuki asked quietly. "No one is going to believe you. Egami's not stupid; I can't be traced back to him." She paused for a moment and took in a deep breath. "And the others back at the office are going to realize that we're missing."

"Shut up," Sasaki hissed. He ran a hand back through his short hair anxiously.

"Tell him that if you're killed, Egami is just going to replace you," Nao ordered.

"If..." Natsuki began, but trailed off. She forced herself to speak after a moment. "Even if you kill me, Egami would just send someone else. Then you'd have to start all of this over again," Natsuki reasoned.

"Look down at his gun nervously and tell him that you were not prepared for this. You weren't aware that he had military training," Nao spoke. Natsuki turned to Sasaki and did as she was instructed.

"I...I didn't sign up for this," Natsuki spoke. She glanced down at his gun once more. "Egami never told me that you've had military training."

"I haven't," Sasaki smirked. "You just really are that sloppy."

Natsuki watched as his hand visibly relaxed. Her heart raced; was he actually buying everything that she was saying?

"Look down at the clock and tell him that you've been gone for ten minutes," Nao instructed.

Natsuki glanced down at the digital clock and turned to face Sasaki for a moment. "We've been gone for ten minutes now," she spoke. No other words were needed to relay her point; someone was going to notice that Sasaki was missing.

Sasaki glanced down at the clock as well, and swallowed hard. "No one's going to notice that we're gone," Sasaki said firmly.

Tell him that you were getting a book from your car. You said that would would lend it to Kanae, and then went out to get it," Nao spoke. "Sasaki stopped you from going back inside."

"I was talking to Kanae before this," Natsuki spoke. "I was going to get her a book from my car."

Sasaki cursed. His hand tightened around the gun once more.

"That should freak him out sufficiently," Nao told Natsuki. "Tell Sasaki that you have no obligations to Egami. You were just being paid to do a job, but now things have changed. Offer him proof that Egami hired you."

"Look," Natsuki started, "obviously circumstances have changed." She paused for a moment and chose her words carefully. "What if I could get you proof that Egami hired me to kill Ikeda?"

"Good," Nao reassured Natsuki.

Sasaki hesitated, but Natsuki could see his eagerness clearly. She didn't need Nao to prompt her anymore. Sasaki was playing right into her hands. "I'm not an amateur," Natsuki spoke. "I take... precautions every time that I agree to a job. I've just never had to go through with them," she added quietly.

The victorious look on Sasaki's face made Natsuki inwardly smirk. "Go on," Sasaki urged.

"Egami has obviously never hired someone like me before," Natsuki continued. "He connected with me himself instead of sending someone to do his dirty work for him. I have a recording that will make things vividly clear to the police."

"Not bad, Kruger," Nao nodded – the relief making her feel almost a little intoxicated. For a moment, she had thought that Natsuki wouldn't be able to pull it off. Despite extensive training and planning, no one could really predict how an agent would react when their life was put in jeopardy. Nao had seen agents with far more experience fall apart in similar situations.

"Where?" Sasaki demanded.

"Glance over at the glove box for a second, then look back at him," Nao blurted out quickly. "Then tell him that you want to make a deal."

Natsuki's gaze flickered from Sasaki to the glove box, then back to Sasaki. Sasaki's followed her gaze to the glove box, but then looked back at her. "I'm not giving you that recording until we have a deal," Natsuki told him. "If Egami goes down for this, you're not taking me with him."

"You are not in the position to make requests," Sasaki hissed. "Now tell me where it is."

"Say no, and glance over at the glove box again," Nao instructed. "If he looks over at it, get increasingly nervous."

She locked eyes with Sasaki once more, and allowed her eyes to glance over at the glove box again. Sasaki studied her face for a moment, then turned his head slightly. "Not until we have a deal," Natsuki replied nervously. "You'll never connect Egami to this without my help."

Sasaki glanced over at the glove box directly, but he glanced back far too quickly to give Natsuki a proper opening. Natsuki had no trouble playing up her nervousness. A suspicious look slowly crossed Sasaki's face. He hesitated, then reached for the glove box.

"I'll tell you where it is," Natsuki blurted out before his hand touched it. "But this can't get back to the police."

"What's wrong?" Sasaki asked Natsuki – a dangerous smile forming on his face. "I didn't have long to search your car, you know," he spoke. He glanced back over at the glove box and took in the panicked expression that Natsuki formed on her face. "I think I might have missed something, don't you?" Sasaki asked.

"Wait for it," Nao cautioned. Sasaki turned towards the glove box with a victorious look on his face. Natsuki could only imagine the relief flooding through him. If he could get the 'recording', then he could deny that any of this happened. He wouldn't be charged, but both Egami and Natsuki would be put behind bars for good. Sasaki would – no doubt – be considered a hero.

Impatiently, Sasaki fumbled with the glove box and ripped it open. He starting frantically searching through the contents with his left hand.

Just for a moment, Sasaki lowered his guard.

It was all the time that Natsuki needed. Without allowing herself any time to hesitate, Natsuki released the wheel and lunged. Her right hand solidly connected with the gun. She gripped the base tightly and oriented it quickly so that it was no longer pointed towards her. With her left hand, she grabbed the emergency brake and forced it backwards – engaging it with as much force as she could. The car's tires squealed violently against the pavement, as the sudden friction made the car lurch forwards.

Both Sasaki and Natsuki were shoved forwards. Natsuki winced as she slammed into the dashboard, but refused to let her grip loosen. Sasaki tried desperately to wrench the gun free from Natsuki's grip, but there was no way that Natsuki was about to let go. Letting her training kick in properly, Natsuki grabbed the hand holding the gun at the base and shoved it downwards with as much force as she could muster.

There was a sickening crack as Sasaki's wrist broke. He cried out – his hand spasming with pain. Natsuki ripped the gun free from his grasp and steadied herself as the car finally screeched to a stop; both Natsuki and Sasaki were shoved back into their seats.

Natsuki held up the gun with surprising steadiness. Sasaki started to lunge for it, but quickly stopped himself when he saw that it was pointed right for him.

"Oh please," Natsuki snarled. "Give me an even greater excuse to shoot you."

Sasaki paled instantly. His left hand cradled his right protectively.

"Kruger?" Nao demanded. "What's your status?"

Natsuki couldn't help but grin as she raised a hand up to touch her ear piece. "Really, Agent Zhang, your concern is heart warming."

"Oh thank God," Nao heaved a sigh of relief.

"Sasaki's disarmed and – other than a broken wrist and whatever serious mental deficiencies he may have – still fairly intact," Natsuki smirked. There was a short pause as Natsuki collected her thoughts. "And listen, Agent Zhang, one word to Agent Masashi and I'll..." She was cut off by the sound of Nao's laughter.

"Is that the beginning of a threat that I hear?" Nao asked with a smirk. "Trust me, Kruger, you don't want to start this game with me."

Natsuki rolled her eyes, then almost groaned when she saw the look on Sasaki's face. The man clearly had no idea who she was talking to.

"As I told you before," Natsuki snarled, "I'm a law enforcement officer. I'm talking through a microphone that connects me to another agent," she explained angrily. "And though she may be singularly the most annoying agent that I have ever had to work with, she does know how to deal with psychos," Natsuki smirked.

"You speak so highly of me," Nao commented with a grin.

"So the next time that you decide it's a good idea to snap, make sure that you have your facts straight first," Natsuki hissed at Sasaki. "Oh and by the way," Natsuki added, "you're under arrest for the possession of an illegal firearm. And don't even get me started on the charges that will result from this little escapade. Someone will read you your rights later on."

"B...but," Sasaki stuttered, "why didn't you show me any identification? If you had just..."

"I'm an undercover agent," Natsuki snapped. "Do you really think that I'm stupid enough to carry around ID?"

Trembling, Sasaki turned to glance down at the open glove box. He looked back at Natsuki numbly.

"There is no tape," Natsuki hissed. "And you can rest assured that if I really was an assassin, I'd have already taken great pleasure in shooting you."

"Okay, calm down a bit," Nao laughed. "You don't want him suing you for brutality later on." Natsuki frowned, but didn't reply. "I need you to switch spots now," Nao continued. "Have Ikeda drive you back to the office immediately."

"Is something wrong?" Natsuki asked – alarm in her voice.

There was a small pause as Nao considered how to phrase her next statement. "...It's Agent Viola," she finally replied.

Natsuki's eyes widened in shock. "Get out," she immediately ordered Sasaki. The tall man fumbled with the handle and opened his door. "It's your turn to drive," Natsuki informed him. She sprinted around to the passenger side and got in. "Hurry up!" she snapped when Sasaki slowly sat down. "Turn us around and take us back." He paled even more and quickly began turning the car. "W...what happened?" Natsuki asked – her voice trembling slightly.

"When Agent Viola was trying to stop you from leaving the parking lot, she ran into some trouble. Her weapon was exposed, and Omori grabbed it before she could do anything about it. Kanae is there too. They must have thought that Agent Viola was about to go massacre small children or something, cause even with Viola-san's coaxing they still haven't given her gun back.," Nao added.

"A civilian got her hands on Viola-san's gun? Please, tell me that you're joking," Natsuki pleaded.

"Unfortunately not," Nao replied. "I'm going to redirect the teams to the Foreign Affairs office, but because of the route that they've had to take, I'm pretty sure that you're closer."

"Got it," Natsuki replied. "Hey," Natsuki snapped Sasaki out of the daze that he seemed to be in. It was as if he couldn't believe what was happening. "Drive faster," Natsuki ordered. The road was so deserted that the extra speed wouldn't be a hazard, and they didn't exactly have time to stick around.

"But..." Sasaki started. He glanced nervously at a speed limit sign as they passed by it.

Natsuki followed his gaze, then glared at him directly. "Are you kidding me?" she snapped. "Right now speeding is the least of your troubles." She allowed her eyes to rest briefly on the gun in her hand, to emphasize her point.

Without any further arguments, Sasaki stepped down on the accelerator.

---

"Agent Zhang!" Yohko burst into the room, startling Nao in the process.

Nao tried to look annoyed at the sudden entrance, but she was too relieved to pull the look of properly. "You can tell Director Wong that Agent Kruger has managed to take care of things herself. I suppose she really might be useful, after all," Nao smirked – not caring if she was speaking loudly enough for Natsuki to hear her through the microphone.

Yohko visibly relaxed and nodded, but Nao could clearly see that something else was wrong. "What?" Nao asked quickly.

"I'm not really sure," Yohko replied anxiously. "The two women that have Viola-san's gun... there's something... off about them."

Nao glanced up in alarm. "What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Any other civilian would have called the police right away," Yohko replied. "It makes sense that they would attempt to keep Agent Viola disarmed, but the questions that they've been asking her..." she trailed off.

Nao studied the look on the the other agent's face and immediately stood up. "Kruger, I'll be back in a moment."

"What's wrong?" Natsuki demanded, but Nao ignored her question. Nao quickly unplugged the microphone that she had been using, and nodded to Yohko to lead the way out of the door.

Chie glanced up from across the hallway. "What happened?" she asked quickly.

"Tell Director Wong that those teams need to be rerouted to the Foreign Affairs Office immediately. You know about Viola-san's situation, right?" Nao asked.

"Of course," Chie replied defensively. "And Kruger-san?"

"She managed to disarm Sasaki," Nao replied. "She's headed over to the office too. Tell him quickly, though. I need you back here in case I have to pass along more information to the director. But feel free to quickly point out that this is why we need the money to fix the intercom system that never made it into our budget."

"Right," Chie nodded, then jogged over to the stairs.

Nao and Yohko walked briskly over to the next room, and Nao quickly plugged the microphone into a new computer terminal. A few seconds later, she had set the frequency so that she could communicate with Natsuki once more.

"Look," Yohko gestured towards the monitor that displayed the Foreign Affair's Office parking lot. "Kanae had them move out of the line of sight from the windows. She didn't want the other employees to notice."

"What?" Nao replied – confusion evident in her voice. "Are you kidding me?" she asked. Why would that be a main concern? Surely, the two employees would want all the help that they could get. And removing themselves from the view of other employees meant that if Shizuru did manage to get her gun back, they would be in even more danger.

Yohko shook her head, then started to zoom in on the three women on screen.

"Hold on," Nao stopped her. She gently brushed Yohko's hand off of the controls and took over. Carefully, she zoomed in as close to Kanae as she could without distorting the image too much. Both Nao and Yohko studied the new image carefully.

"Look at the contrast between them," Nao pointed to Kanae, then at Omori. "Do you see the difference in body language?" she asked Yohko.

Yohko nodded after a moment, then turned to face Nao. "What does that mean?" she frowned.

"When I look at Omori, I see someone who is terrified," Nao commented. "Sweating, hunched posture, covering her face..." Nao trailed off. "Look at the way she can barely look Agent Viola in the eyes for two seconds." Nao hesitated. "That begin said, terror would be a natural reaction to finding someone with a gun in your parking lot." Nao used the controls to focus the camera solely on Kanae. "But when I look at Kanae, I see... narrow eyes, prolonged eye contact, wide stance, clenched fists..." she trailed off once more.

Yohko turned to look at Nao questioningly.

"That doesn't say fear," Nao continued. "It's closer to aggression. Has Agent Viola done anything to her to..."

"Not after trying to disarm her," Yohko cut her off. "Viola-san has been incredibly calm the whole time."

"She seems incredibly calm," Nao corrected Yohko. "But even her body language is a little off; she's figured out that something is wrong too."

"I've had her run through all the typical lines," Yohko added, "but Kanae's not being particularity responsive to any of them."

"What like 'You have the gun; you're in control'?" Nao asked with raised eyebrows.

"...In a manner of speaking," Yohko replied with a slow nod. "Well, not quite," she added quickly, "but that is the general idea."

"Yeah, but just look at her," Nao pointed to Kanae once more. "She already knows she's in control." Nao zoomed in a little closer, though it took a while for the picture to adjust. "Take a look at the way that she's holding the gun," Nao commented. "Her finger is carefully placed beside the trigger, not on it. That doesn't only show restraint; it shows experience. And I don't know of many civilians who would be able to stay so collected while pointing a gun at someone for the first time, do you?" Nao asked.

"Are you implying that it's not the first time that Kanae has held a gun?" Yohko asked.

"That's what it looks like to me," Nao replied. "But according to the searches that we ran, she wouldn't have had access to a weapon at all."

"So what do we do?" Yohko asked nervously. Nao hesitated, then turned up the volume so that they could hear the conversation clearly.

"Agent Kruger will be there soon," she finally replied. With that, she quickly pushed the button connecting them to Shizuru's ear piece.

---

"Agent Viola," Nao's voice cutting in startled Shizuru, but Shizuru felt quite relieved to hear it. Agent Yohko had been doing her best to help, but something clearly wasn't right. "Agent Kruger has gotten things under control," Nao stated. "She managed to disarm Sasaki without incident. But it turns out that Sasaki's not actually the murderer. He's just really... misguided," Nao chose the word carefully. "I'm sending her and the teams back to you."

It took all of Shizuru's self control to not breathe a sigh of relief. If anything had happened to Natsuki... Her thoughts trailed off dangerously. But if Sasaki wasn't the murderer, than who was? Had Ikeda been cleared as well?

"So tell me once more," Kanae began, "what did you find then? If you really are an undercover agent, you must have found something."

"Kanae..." Omori began. With a sharp look from her friend, she stopped immediately.

"I don't need to prove myself to you," Shizuru replied calmly. "If you wish, you may contact the police. They will take me off of your hands and I can verify things with them." Now that Shizuru knew that Natsuki was safe, she wasn't concerned with the hours that it would take to prove that Shizuru was working as an undercover agent to the local law enforcement; Garderrobe Temp Agency had no affiliation with the police whatsoever, but they'd find some way to clear things up eventually. The only problem would be all the non-disclosure agreements.

"Maybe we should..." Omori began, but Kanae shook her head.

"No," Kanae replied, " I want to know everything that she does first. If someone in our office is suspected of killing Arai, I want to know about it."

"Perhaps if you returned my weapon, I could continue carrying out my investigation," Shizuru replied – a hint of annoyance in her voice. The whole scenario was far beyond tedious.

"I'm not giving you this back until you prove to me that you're an agent," Kanae snapped. "Now start talking."

"Is there a reason why you're so personally invested in this case?" Shizuru asked. If she couldn't reason with the other woman, perhaps she could scare her into giving Shizuru her gun back. "The longer that you're in possession of my weapon, the more suspicious you look, Kanae-san," Shizuru stated calmly.

The other woman paled visibly, but didn't avert her gaze.

"Omori doesn't seem too pleased with that suggestion," Nao observed. Shizuru glanced over at Omori and couldn't help but agree. The brown-haired woman look even more terrified by the suggestion.

"Look, I think that we should just call the police," Omori started. "W...what if she isn't an agent?"

Kanae turned to look at Omori like she was shocked at what the other woman had just said. It was as if the thought that Shizuru could be a murderer was inconceivable to her.

"Did you see that?" Nao asked. "That look that she just gave her. She practically screamed out 'yeah, sure there'. But what reason would she have to be so certain?" Nao wondered out loud. "Unless of course, she knew first hand that you couldn't be the murderer," she added.

Shizuru hesitated; was Nao implying that Kanae had just regained her status a suspect? "May I ask you something?" Shizuru began. She glanced down at the gun in Kanae's hands, then back up at Kanae. "This doesn't appear to be the first time that you've held a gun. Am I correct?"

Kanae blinked in surprise, then quickly turned to look at Omori. Both women went surprisingly pale. Shizuru watched the exchange with growing suspicion.

"My father used to take me to a shooting range when I was younger," Kanae replied – her voice cracking just a little too much.

Shizuru didn't reply. She was sure to keep her face neutral as she waited for Nao to feed her some information.

"Okay... her father's name is Miyake Tensui. He's deceased and he doesn't have a criminal record. That's all I know from her file," Nao declared.

Shizuru raised her eyebrows as if she didn't believe a word that Kanae had said. "Tensui-san?" she replied – an amused look crossing her face. "And a shooting range, you say," she continued with a small smile.

"Y...you knew my father?" Kanae whispered.

"I've had access to your file," Shizuru replied calmly

"She's definitely lying about the shooting range," Nao commented. "The look that someone gets when they think they've been caught in a lie is hard to miss."

"Well, I'm sure that file didn't tell you much about me," Kanae countered.

"Perhaps," Shizuru replied. "But ninety percent of my job is observing human nature. I rarely have to rely on provided information."

Kanae met Shizuru's gaze with a subtle intensity, but said nothing.

"What do you think of Arai Hirohito's murder?" Shizuru asked.

"What everyone else does," Kanae replied quickly. Shizuru waited for clarification. "It was a tragedy," Kanae added after a moment.

"Yes," Shizuru quietly agreed. "it was." She watched carefully for a reaction, but Kanae's expression remained neutral. Omori, however, wasn't able to stay so calm. Shizuru studied the way the Omori shifted on her feet. She kept her head bent down, as if to prevent Shizuru from seeing that she had reacted.

"Try putting some pressure on Omori," Nao instructed. "At first, I honestly believed that this was all just an unfortunate accident. But, the responses and body language that I'm seeing..." Nao trailed off. Shizuru could sense the anxiousness in Nao's voice, and felt her own heart beat quicken. Did Nao seriously believe that they had stumbled into something?

"His wife was devastated when she found out," Shizuru continued. "I can only imagine what she's going through right now."

Omori's gaze remained fixed on her shoes, but she had tensed up even more.

"Do you know how he was killed, Omori-san?" Shizuru asked, though she didn't wait for an answer. "The murderer didn't sneak into the building, or follow him to work. The killing itself was very intimate. ...The murderer was someone who Arai Hirohito trusted," Shizuru spoke.

Omori was trembling quite visibly at that point. Shizuru wished that the brown-haired woman would look up, but she kept her head bent downwards.

"Stop it," Kanae cut in. She could see how badly Omori was reacting as well as Shizuru could. Kanae glanced over at her friend and tightened her grip on the small weapon she was holding.

"He or she simply walked right into Arai's office," Shizuru continued – ignoring Kanae completely. "Arai's trust was so strong that he never even looked up. And then the murderer shot him – right in the head; Arai never even had a chance for survival."

Shizuru could faintly see tears begin to stream down Omori's face. The small droplets fell onto the woman's shirt, thought Omori quickly tried to wipe them away. Shizuru glanced over at Kanae with a faint smile. Kanae's glare deepened, and she wound her finger around the trigger dangerously.

"Careful, Viola-san," Nao warned over the ear piece. Just because she seems to be fairly stable, doesn't mean that she'll stay that way. Agent Kruger will be there any second now and the teams will arrive a few minutes after her. But until then, stay away from direct accusations."

"I told you to stop," Kanae hissed. Her tone of voice made Shizuru hesitate; for the first time since Kanae had grabbed her gun, Shizuru had begun to consider her a direct threat. "Just ignore her," Kanae instructed Omori. Omori looked up to meet her friend's gaze, but didn't reply. Kanae took one look at her friend's face and reached into her pocket. "I'm calling the police," she said quickly as she took out her cell phone.

"It's too late for that, Kanae-san," Shizuru bluffed. "I'm not going to stop until I can prove that you're involved in this. Now that I know what to look for, the investigation won't last more than a few days."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kanae snapped. "We had nothing to do with his murder, and you know it."

"No?" Shizuru asked, then paused for a moment. She studied Kanae's body language once more. She had switched into a more defensive pose, as if she was being directly attacked. Still, she seemed to be surprisingly in control of her emotions. Whether on not she was responsible for Arai's death, she probably wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything rash. Still, her tense grip on the gun did worry Shizuru. "Arai trusted you, didn't he?" Shizuru continued. "You walked into his office, and he didn't even look up from his desk. But that only made it easier," Shizuru spoke quietly. "You never even had to see his face."

The stunned look on Kanae's face mirrored the one on Omori's perfectly. The two women exchanged glances once more, and Omori seemed to be one step closer to breaking down entirely. Kanae turned back to Shizuru – her face contorting in anger. She lifted the gun up a little higher and opened her mouth to speak.

"When you pulled the trigger, the recoil was almost too much for you, wasn't it?" Shizuru continued. "...Were you surprised by how much blood there was?"

"Shut up!" Kanae yelled. Omori flinched visibly.

"Look, Agent Kruger is almost there," Nao spoke firmly. "Hold on. I don't like where this is heading."

Shizuru's focus shifted back over to Omori. The woman was shaking even more violently.

"But you weren't alone, of course," Shizuru continued – deciding to use Nao's previous idea and directly target Omori. She turned to the brown-haired woman with a neutral expression. "It must have been hard to both cover up for a murder and try to act like everything was normal the following week." Shizuru paused for a moment as Omori met her gaze. "...Especially with a child on the way."

"Wh...how did you..." Omori whispered.

"Don't," Kanae cut her off warningly, then turned back to Shizuru. "You keep her out of this," she demanded furiously.

"But she was involved, wasn't she?" Shizuru replied – the tone in her voice definitely making her statement more of an observation than a question.

"I said keep her out of this," Kanae snarled.

"Shizuru!" Nao yelled loudly – forgetting all formalities. "Stop it."

"She involved herself," Shizuru spoke finally. She locked eyes with Omori – a fierce intensity in her gaze. "He had a family," Shizuru spoke softly. "Did that mean nothing to you?"

"Don't," Omori spoke finally. The word seemed to barely make it out of her mouth.

"Omori..." Kanae began nervously.

"Don't," Omori snapped fiercely, "even try to pretend that that bastard's life was worth something." Tears began streaming freely down her face, and Omori soon gave up on trying to brush them away.

Kanae's eyes widened in surprise. Even Shizuru was visibly caught off guard.

---

Nao stared at the screen, open-mouthed. It took Chie's bursting through the door to snap her out of her daze.

"What did I miss?" Chie panted.

"Only the most crucial development we've seen so far," Nao replied – her eyes never leaving the video feed. Chie frowned slightly, and walked over to watch the screen as well.

"Agent Zhang?" Natsuki's voice sounded through the speakers beside them. "We're pulling into the parking lot now."

"Don't pull in at all," Nao ordered quickly. "Stop the car where you are and go in on foot. Make sure that Sasaki stays in the car. Head towards the east end of the building and make sure that you stay out of sight. And move fast, Agent Kruger. Things are definitely starting to heat up."

"I need to know what's going on. Is Agent Viola alright?" Natsuki demanded. "You," Natsuki's voice suddenly sounded more distant, "don't even think about getting out of this car. Got it?"

Nao watched as Natsuki quickly got out of the white Toyota near the lot entrance. The car was barely in the secondary camera's line of sight. "You'll know what's going on when I do," Nao replied. Her gaze quickly shifted back to the screen displaying Shizuru.

---

Natsuki gritted her teeth together angrily. Nao was supposed to keep her informed. With her heart racing quickly, Natsuki started to jog towards the east end of the building. She was careful to stay behind the largest cars that she could find; she didn't want someone from the office seeing that she had a weapon. A quick glance at the street confirmed that the cars driving past were too far away to see her weapon. It did make sense; someone would have definitely called the police by now if they had seen Kanae with Shizuru's 9mm.

When Natsuki neared the east edge of the building, she sprinted straight for the corner and flattened against the wall. All she had to do was take another step forward, and she would be able to see Shizuru. She glanced down at the windows to her left, and was careful to position herself so that she was out of sight. The sound of Kanae's voice made Natsuki stiffen instantly. They were just around the corner. "Do I have time to go around and approach them from behind?" Natsuki wondered.

"Omori!" Kanae yelled. "Stop it!"

Natsuki's raised her weapon slowly. Her hands were still trembling, but her grip tightened to compensate.

"Hold your position," Nao ordered. "Don't move until I say so. I don't think you'll be able to make it around without being seen, so I want you to approach them head-on when I say so."

Natsuki inhaled a shaky breath, and nodded in the nearest camera's direction.

---

"Agent Kruger is here to back you up," Nao informed Shizuru. "I can send her in any time."

Shizuru felt a mixture of both relief and panic. She was grateful that someone had finally reached her for assistance, but the idea of putting Natsuki in front of another loaded gun made her stomach tighten painfully. Was Nao really sure that sending Natsuki in was a wise idea? Especially considering everything that had happened.

"No, you stop," Omori replied firmly to Kanae. "What are we doing?" she demanded. More tears streamed down her face. "He deserved... he deserved everything that h...he..." her voice trailed off weakly. A startled look of realization crossed her face. "Oh God," she whispered. "What did we do?" Omori turned slowly to face Kanae.

Kanae's eyes met her wordlessly. "...I...If we had just given him time to explain, or..." Omori began.

"Don't," Kanae yelled forcefully. She turned to face Shizuru, and hesitated – as if just realizing that Shizuru was there. She turned back to face Omori and shook her head. The look on her face was desperate.

"Why did you do it?" Shizuru quietly asked. "I don't understand."

"If... if I could take it back, or..." Omori stuttered.

"Don't," Kanae spoke fiercely. "You know as well as I do that he deserved nothing less."

"I tried to believe that,"Omori whispered. "B...but I..." she inhaled shakily as a fit of sobs shook her body.

"Why did you kill him?" Shizuru asked softly again.

"Does it matter?" Kanae laughed bitterly. Tears began to cascade gently down her face.

"It might not matter to a judge," Shizuru replied, "but it does to me." She silently waited for the other woman to speak.

"She was in love with him," Kanae spoke softly. She turned to face her friend, and Shizuru inferred that Kane was talking about Omori. "And he knew it."

"I...I thought that he was going to leave her for me," Omori whispered.

"Arai's wife?" Shizuru asked. Omori confirmed her question with a small nod.

"I thought... especially after he found out that I was having our child that he would..."she trailed off. "When I told him that I was pregnant, I actually expected him to be happy. I...I don't know why," Omori added quickly. She swallowed forcefully and stared blankly towards the ground. "But instead, he was furious. At first, anyway. He told me to get rid of it, like... like our child was just something to be... disposed of," Omori continued numbly. "I thought that he was just shocked. That he just wasn't thinking properly. And sure enough, a couple days later, he apologized," she laughed bitterly. "He started making sure that I wasn't drinking alcohol, that I was eating properly. He said that he just wanted our baby to be healthy. He... he even started giving me pills for my morning sickness," she whispered.

Shizuru's stomach tightened painfully. She didn't like where the story was headed.

"They didn't work," Omori continued after a few short breaths. "They just left me feeling exhausted, but he insisted that I keep taking them everyday. One weekend, I left the bottle at work. So I went out and bought some replacements and took those. The Monday that I got back, he saw me with a different brand of pills and just... freaked out. I told him that the new brand worked better, but he insisted that the kind that he kept giving me was the best," Omori inhaled a shaky breath as she struggled to speak. "I ignored him and took the ones that worked," she continued. "Then Kanae saw him empty the bottle with the pills that I had bought and put in replacements, and we just... knew that something was wrong."

"I sent a sample of the pills that she was taking to this place that I found on-line for chemical analysis," Kanae added. "I made her promise not to take any more of the pills until we got the results back," she said quietly.

"And?" Shizuru asked – feeling surprisingly breathless.

"They contained high concentrations of thalidomide," Kanae replied – anger flaring dangerously in her eyes. Shizuru's eyes widened slightly.

---

"What?" Nao asked quickly. She took her eyes off the screen to look at Yohko. "What's that?"

Yohko started at the screen with a shocked look on her face. Nao waited for her to respond, but there was no answer.

"Agent Helene?" Nao repeated.

"Thalidomide," Yohko spoke quietly, "was a drug first introduced as a sedative. It was used to combat morning sickness, but was removed from the open market when doctors discovered that mothers taking thalidomide had around a forty percent change of miscarriage. And even if the child was born successfully, thalidomide can cause life-threatening defects. Many infants died just a few years after birth."

Nao turned back to the screen with a queasy feeling rising in her stomach.

"I...I think I might throw up," Yohko spoke softly.

---

Natsuki stared blankly at the parking lot in front of her. She could only make out some of Yohko's explanation over her ear piece, but it was enough. A feeling of nausea washed over her quickly. That is so twisted.

"W...why didn't you go to the police?" Shizuru asked finally. Natsuki could hear her voice clearly from her position – clearly enough to realize that Shizuru was as shocked as she was.

"You know how much status and power he had," Kanae replied. "He had so many connections it would have been impossible for the police to have done anything. When I realized how far he was willing to go to hide his affair, I knew that we had to do something and fast."

There was a long moment of silence. "Move in, Agent Kruger," Nao instructed – a detectable sadness in her voice. "I don't think you'll have a problem."

Natsuki nodded at the camera and raised her weapon once more. Taking a deep breath, she turned the corner with the gun outstretched before her.

Kanae's eyes widened from her position around five feet away. Omori's did the same. Shizuru turned to follow their gaze – her breath hitching when she saw Natsuki walk over.

Natsuki forced her eyes to stay fixed on Kanae. With a few small steps, she was directly in front of her. "I think it's time for you to give that to me," she said softly – her words more gentle than commanding. Kanae stared at her for a moment with silent intensity. "Please," Natsuki whispered.

Kanae hesitated for a moment, then slowly lowered the 9mm with a trembling hand. Natsuki reached out with her left and carefully took the gun from Kanae. As soon as the gun touched Natsuki's hand, both Natsuki and Shizuru breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well done, Agent Kruger," Nao said quietly. "The teams should be there in just a few minutes to take them off of your hands."

"What happens now?" Kanae asked shakily.

"The police will process your case," Natsuki replied. "We just have to wait for a little while." She took a step back, but kept her gun pointed at the two women.

"A...agent Kruger," Shizuru spoke shakily. She took a step towards Natsuki – stopping only around a foot away. "I... I apologize for earlier. If I had just run faster or..."

Natsuki studied the faint blush on her cheeks and quickly cut her off. "Don't," Natsuki couldn't help but smile. "If you had made it in time, we would have never solved this case. And besides," Natsuki grinned, "we both know that I can take care of myself."

Shizuru smiled faintly and gave a small nod. She studied Natsuki's green eyes for a moment, then glanced down at the gun in Natsuki's hands. The smile on her face faded instantly.

Natsuki noticed the abrupt change and followed Shizuru's gaze down to her own outstretched hand. Her grip on the gun had loosened with the easing tension; her hand was trembling freely once more. Natsuki quickly tightened her grip to stop the shaking. She could feel her face start to burn almost immediately.

Shizuru watched as Natsuki's hand quickly tensed up, and looked back up at Natsuki. The younger woman blushed fiercely – as if her trembling was something to be embarrassed about. Shizuru wanted desperately to wrap her arms around the younger woman, but she restrained herself. Instead, she locked eyes with Natsuki and gently eased the gun out of her hand.

"Let me do that," she smiled softly. Hesitantly, she raised her free hand up to Natsuki's face and brushed a long strand of hair out of her eyes. She cupped the side of Natsuki's face with her hand and traced her thumb smoothly across her cheek.

"Okay," Natsuki whispered. Shizuru lowered her hand and took the other gun from Natsuki as well.

"Crap," Nao's voice made Natsuki jump. "You've been spotted. Ikeda parked his car just far enough over to be able to see you when he was getting in."

"What's wrong?" Shizuru asked quickly. Natsuki presumed that Nao hadn't had time to send her the same message.

Natsuki whirled around and studied the parking lot, but saw nothing. Shizuru shifted on her feet a little, but was careful to keep her gun fixed on Kanae. "Kruger-san?" Shizuru asked, though she kept her eyes straight ahead.

Natsuki's eyes scanned the parking lot again. "Ikeda's seen us," she stated, though she saw nothing. Was Nao mistaken?

"He's moving," Nao announced. "And after what Sasaki must have told him, who knows what he thinks is going on. Let's just hope he's not stupid enough to try and play hero," she added – tension in her voice. There was a short pause. "Kruger, he's armed and he's going for his gun!" she yelled.

"Where?" Natsuki demanded. Shizuru tensed up.

Suddenly, there was movement from the edge of the building. Ikeda stepped out from the edge where Natsuki had been – his gun pointing towards the grass. "Drop it!" he screamed.

Shizuru spun – her gun raised – and pointed her weapon directly at him like she had been trained to do.

Natsuki watched as the sharp movement made Ikeda's eyes widen in terror. He must have believed that Shizuru was going to shoot him. Without a moment's hesitation, he raised the gun up and Natsuki watched – unable to breathe – as the muscles in his arms tensed abruptly.

Natsuki recognized the tensing a split second before Shizuru.

He was pulling the trigger.

Without pausing to think, Natsuki spun and slammed into Shizuru's side as hard as her weight would allow. Shizuru barely managed to hold onto her weapon as she was shoved into the building wall, and out of the line of fire.

A deafening gunshot shattered the silence.

Natsuki fell backwards with such a velocity that she barely had time to close her eyes as she hit the ground. She winced as the cool grass contacted her skin, but the sensation was soon replaced by a burning warmth.

A second gunshot rang out a split second later. Natsuki turned her head to watch as Ikeda cried out in pain, dropped the gun that he was holding, and staggered back. Shizuru had managed to clip his right arm. Natsuki watched, blinking to clear her vision as Shizuru ran forwards and grabbed the fallen weapon.

"I'm armed because I am an undercover law enforcement officer," she snarled. It took her a moment to regain her composure. "Over there," she spoke finally – gesturing for Ikeda to stand beside Omori and Kanae.

Natsuki slowly opened and closed her eyes. She watched through blurring vision as Ikeda stumbled towards Omori and Kanae – his face contorted with pain. Kanae moved to help him immediately. "Take off your jacket and press it to the wound," Shizuru ordered. "I may have hit your brachial artery, so apply as much pressure as you can. It will minimize your blood loss."

Nao cursed, then took a long, deep breath. "That could have turned out so much worse," she laughed in relief. "Agent Kruger, you officially..." she trailed off gradually.

Natsuki inhaled in quick, shallow bursts as the burning sensation in her side flared up. The feeling slowly turned to a deep, agonizing pain. Natsuki tried to prop herself up with her right arm, but the burning grew even stronger and she fell back to the ground; the little air that was left in her lungs was expelled in a quick burst. Natsuki struggled not to cry out as she grasped her left side. A tingling sensation shot up and down her body as she retracted her hand – shocked by the way that it had slipped on contact. She raised her hand up towards her face, though the movement took considerable concentration.

Her eyes widened when – through her rapidly blurring vision – all that she could make out was the color red.

"Agent Kru..." Nao began, but stopped abruptly. A loud curse followed. "Shizuru!" she yelled through their ear pieces.

Drops of warm blood trailed down Natsuki's hand and fell onto her neck.

"Natsuki," Shizuru whispered breathlessly. The name came out sounding almost like a question. There was a soft thump as Shizuru's gun hit the grass. "Natsuki!" Shizuru repeated – this time yelling. Natsuki forced her eyes open and watched as Shizuru seemed to almost stumble onto the ground beside her. "I need you to take slow breaths," Shizuru pleaded. "Can you do that for me?"

Natsuki cried out, as Shizuru pressed down firmly on the gunshot wound. Natsuki tried to slow her breathing down as she had been trained, but each time that she inhaled the sharp pain in her side cut into her like a knife. "Your jackets. Now." Shizuru demanded from Omori and Kanae. There was no response. "Now!" Shizuru hissed. Natsuki watched as Omori frantically ripped her jacket off and handed it to Shizuru. Shizuru quickly removed her blood-soaked hands from the wound and bunched the jacket up. Carefully, she elevated Natsuki's head and slid the jacket underneath.

"I...is it bad?" Natsuki wheezed.

Shizuru quickly slid her hand underneath Natsuki's back. When she had confirmed that there was no exit wound, she quickly pressed the second jacket to Natsuki's side. "Is it bad?" Shizuru repeated, as if to confirm what Natsuki had asked. She forced a smile and shook her head. "No," she spoke – her voice quivering uncontrollably. "It shouldn't be a problem. Especially for you," she forced a small laugh.

"I've got a trauma team from the nearest hospital on the way," Nao spoke quickly into Shizuru's ear piece. Shizuru could hear the panic in Nao's voice. "Keep the pressure on," Nao ordered. "But Shizuru... if... if the bullet hit one of her internal organs..." Nao tailed off; no more words were needed.

"I'm doing everything that I can," Shizuru snapped. She watched helplessly as the pool of blood around the jacket continued to swell. "I can't slow the bleeding," she said quickly – panic evident in her voice.

"It... it doesn't hurt as much now," Natsuki whispered through shallow breaths. The burning pain in her side had rapidly dulled into a numb ache. Natsuki blinked her eyes a few more times to try and clear her vision, but wasn't successful.

"Good," Shizuru forced herself to speak, though she knew that Natsuki's lack of pain was anything but good.

"That just means that she's going into shock," Nao warned shakily. "She's losing too much blood, Shizuru!"

"I know," Shizuru snapped angrily. She didn't need Nao to keep reminding her that the injury was serious. She shifted all of her weight onto the wound with her left hand, and used her right to force open one of Natsuki's eyes. Her pupils were so dilated that Shizuru could barely see the green in her eyes; Natsuki had been in shock for some time. "Deep breaths, Natsuki," Shizuru said soothingly. There was no response. "...Natsuki?"Shizuru repeated. "Natsuki!"

Natsuki could barely hear her speak. She tried to open her mouth, but her body had ceased responding entirely.

Everything slowly faded into black.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading! :D Reviews are very welcome!

PS: Please don't kill me guys! It really did seem logical to end it there, lol. Besides you can't really say that it's a cliff hanger, cause there simply is no Shiznat without the 'nat'. * goes completely pale and slowly backs away * … Right? :D