I've actually had this chapter written forever but I was waiting to upload then my laptop broke and yeah. Here it is now anyway! I have most of the next chapter done so could I pretty please have 3+ reviews for an upload?

P.S. this is entirely a filler and also at the same time incredibly important I'm so confused but please enjoy

Chapter 7- The Inquisition

"I-zu-mooo..."

"Aoi?" Izumo looked up, concerned, as Aoi half shuffled half tripped down the stairs, her duvet over her head and wrapped around her body. "What is it?"

"I'm sick."

The bartender sighed and moved towards Aoi, placing the back of his hand against her forehead. She slumped against him, whining incoherently, and he gave a small, endeared smile before rolling his eyes.

"Alright, fine, you have me convinced. I'll give you some painkillers but then you have to go to bed and stay there, or you're working tonight, no matter how you feel. I'll send some breakfast up in a bit."

"Thank you." Aoi followed him to the bar and leaned against it as he got her some water and the pills. This was all Mikoto's fault, she decided. If he weren't so tall and intimidating, she'd kill him!

"Izumo?"

"Yes?" He handed her the pills and she took them, grimacing and quickly knocking back the water too.

"What's up with your friends?"

Izumo hesitated.

"What do you mean what's up with them?"

"I don't know. They're just...weird. They do weird things." She didn't want to mention anything specific, lest he think her crazy. "You know what I mean, right?"

"Aoi, you're imagining things. My friends aren't that weird." He paused and thought of Tatara. "Well, maybe some of them can be a little eccentric, but they aren't that bad. Now go to bed."

Aoi sighed and turned around, the duvet trailing behind her like the train of a wedding gown as she stumbled up the stairs.

Once she had left, Izumo breathed a sigh of relief. That was close. She was obviously beginning to notice things that were different about his friends, piecing things together. He would have to warn them; he didn't want her getting any closer to the truth than she already had. Homra was dangerous, after all. And he had to keep her safe, no matter the cost.

Aoi changed her mind; she was absolutely going to kill that man. Her head hurt, her body felt heavy, her throat was dry and there was a bright red mark on her forehead where a beermat had stuck to her face.

The last clear memory she had was of Mikoto handing her a glass of something alcoholic and telling her it would help her to sleep. Though she could remember the majority of what happened next, it was as if somebody else had told her about it, rather than her having experienced it herself.

As she settled back down in bed (for the second time in two hours; and no, it wasn't nice to wake up at the bar with a crick in her neck thankyouverymuchforaskingMikotoSuoh) she paused, her eyes open and staring at the plain magnolia wall just inches in front of her.

She never would have believed it had she not experienced it, but Mikoto actually gave her some pretty good advice.

Now all there was was to act on it.

"Sir."

"Yes, Fushimi."

"This is pointless."

Reisi sighed, slightly amused at the attitude of his subordinate and calm as ever, and stood up from where he sat behind his desk. He held out his hand and Saruhiko passed him the tablet, which Reisi tucked under his own arm.

"Fushimi. What do you know about Miss Tanaka?"

Saruhiko sighed and paused before speaking, and seriously contemplated leaving. After deciding it was too much effort to deal with the backlash, he decided to answer in the most obnoxious and bored tone as possible.

"She's seventeen, five foot three inches, brown hair and eyes. She has two parents, her father Japanese and her mother British, both alive and currently living in England where Aoi lived up until recently when she moved back to Japan, where she previously lived between the ages of seven and twelve, to stay with her cousin Izumo Kusanagi, a known member of Homra." Saruhiko allowed his bored eyes to settle on his superior. "Is that enough?"

Reisi gave an amused smile.

"Yes." He replied. Saruhiko scowled. He didn't like being patronized. "But my orders still stand. I shall go with you to observe Miss Tanaka, since you seem so adamant that she is of no use to us, and if I agree we shall close the investigation."

One more day. He could last just one more day.

"Understood, sir." Saruhiko muttered. Then again, it would be one more day of stakeout...plus the captain.

He was so looking forward to retirement.

"Fushimi."

Saruhiko sighed.

"Yes, captain?"

If he wants to play I-Spy again I swear to God-

"Do you see that?"

Saruhiko frowned and squinted, trying to see through the crowd to the three Homra members, supposedly, they had been following. Aoi was one of them, but the other two were Tatara Totsuka and Anna Kushina. Not exactly anything to get excited about. If it had been Misaki on the other hand...that would have been fun.

"See what, sir?"

Reisi picked up the pace, moving gracefully through the crowds as if they weren't even there. Saruhiko, on the other hand, had to shoulder barge his way through to keep up with the Captain's long strides.

"The way that girl looks at Miss Tanaka." Saruhiko stopped abruptly, then moved at double time to catch up with the Captain again.

"You mean Anna?" He looked as he was told, though he didn't expect to see anything. People often though Anna was looking at them oddly or being strange, when really she was just using her marbles to overcome her colourblindness. It wasn't that much of an issue. "She has a-"

"-a vision impairment. I know. Look closer."

Saruhiko looked closer and found that, to his surprise, there was something worth looking at.

Anna was staring up at Aoi, not with the adoring eyes one might expect from one little girl to an older one, but with eyes that seemed to bore into her, as if trying to unlock her secrets and expose them for everyone to see. Anna looked at Aoi like she was a puzzle to be solved, while the girl in question chattered on obliviously to an even more oblivious Tatara Totsuka, who stood in between the two girls.

"What do you think she sees, Fushimi?"

"Tch." Saruhiko looked away. "How should I know."

Reisi gave a small frown, standing still in the middle of the crowd and staring after the trio uneasily. He sensed something from the young strain-turned-Homra-member and the elder girl with her; not quite a conflict, but something...different. Something that set them at odds, from the world and each other.

Could it be that-

"Sir." Saruhiko interrupted Reisi's musings. Reisi sighed, smiled, pushed his glasses up his nose, and instructed Saruhiko to continue with the investigation.

This time he didn't complain.