Disclaimer: Do NOT own DRAMAtical Murder characters…but I want Clear *clings to Clear body pillow*

Battle Three

Technical Zone: Medium

"You had one job, Gasmask!" Koujaku yelled, running alongside with his boyfriend and their no-longer-wearing-a-gasmask friend. "One fucking job. How the hell did you let her run off when you were suppose to pick her up and bring her to Aoba's place?"

"I'm so sorry!" Clear tried to find Akaku but she was nowhere to be found. He then ran back to Aoba's home to tell them and Grandma Tae that Aka ran off after their scrabble over his mask. They have searched the West, South and East of the Old Resident District and still no sign of their red-headed friend.

"By the way", Aoba piqued, eyeing the Traditional Japanese woman mask Clear had on, "were you wearing that mask the whole time while wearing the gasmask?"

"Yes", he answered. "I wear it just in case."

"You look ridiculous", Koujaku grumbled. "It's a good thing Aka broke your other mask."

"….Really." Clear kept it a secret about how Aka broke his mask. He saw it for himself. Pink sparks let her fingertips and clashed with his mask, making him pull back at the same time she did. Then it completely shattered into pieces. He didn't register in time that she was leaving because the shock of what she did…and also afraid that his second mask was also harmed.

They came back to Aoyagi Street, the main street of Old Resident District, catching their breaths.

"We haven't checked the North", Aoba said.

"But the North is dangerous", Koujaku exclaimed whiling trying to call her from his Coil. "Why would she be there when that's mostly 'Scratch's territory?" He cursed when the call didn't go through. "Shit. That's the only place we haven't checked."He faced Clear. "You better hope that she's safe and sound, Gasmask."

"Now now, Koujaku…" Aoba held back his boyfriend from furthering his insults. "Aka is probably safe and is just hiding while reading her Owie."

"Yaoi", Clear corrected.

"You even sound like her", he chuckled. "Come on. We'll be able to find her, no worries."

Koujaku sighs. "We better."

"We can~" Clear cheered.

Aoba nodded. "Good. Let's get going", and all three of them headed up to the forbidden North to find their friend.

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This was her fifth Rhyme battle she was about to win and she was starting to get bored. Ai had talked her out of wearing her mask since they were in the Northern Distinct and 'noone in the North comes out in bright daylight'. So she didn't wear it and she felt great when Rhymers will see her name. But it also annoyed her when they laugh about how small and weak-looking she appeared to be. She shut them up with her skills and wins the battles.

Her final battle was with a sleazy-looking guy that made a bet with her that if she lost, she'd belonged to him, regardless if she was the legendary Rosemary. She accepted it, of course and she was winning. The guy's Ape Allmate was all brute force and no defense or skills at all. That made the battle much easier for her.

"Aka", Ai said, standing next to her. "Instructions."

Aka always admired Ai's online body, mostly fangirling that he had the body of Yaoi guy that it was insane. He stood 6 foot, his long glossy black hair in a high ponytail with a rose clip holding it; some of his hair fell in his face. He had pale skin and toned muscles. He wore a tight shirt that came down to his belly button, black skinny jean that has a rose belt buckle similar to her own and combat boots that went up his calf. His face was just gorgeous, it'll make any girl, including Koujaku's fans, weep for him. He also held a kunai knife in one hand and a shuriken in another. Though he's a cat Allmate, his specialty is Ninja.

She had the urge to fangirl over him, but she was still in a battle. "Let's end this quickly. Kunai Storm, Set!"

"Roger!" He then jumped high in the Rhyme field and threw his kunai at the monkey. That single kunai spilt into over a dozen kunais and attacked not only the Allmate, but the owner as well, lowering their durability to zero.

"Good job, Ai!" She went to hug her friend.

"No problem", he said. "They were weak in the first place."

"Tell me about it." She rolled her eyes. "Let's return."

"Roger. Disengaging Rhyme."

After a moment, Aka returned back to the real world, only to find herself in trouble. Ai was kicked a few feet from her, unmoving and her opponent was choking her.

"Yer tough, Rosemary", the man said, his rancid breath hitting her face, "but I won't let you go that easily."

"Let…go", she choked out, gripping the hand around her neck. "I won…go away!"

"Not a chance" he chuckled. "What a chance I have to seduce the famous Rosemary and get to tell the tale." He started to grope her breast. "What fine knockers you have…"

"Stop!" This was gross for her she started to cry, but she was pissed beyond belief. She won fair and square so he should leave her alone, not do this. This stupid fuck! "Let…go….Let go…" She gripped the hand around her neck tightly. "Let go! Let go! LET GO!"

Her hands started to tingle and her body jolts as pink energy wave came from her body onto the sleazy man. His body started to shake violently as he let go of her neck. He collapsed to the ground, foaming from the mouth as his eyes stared into nothing. Aka watched in horror as the man stopped moving all together, foam seeping from his open mouth.

She stayed close to the wall, shocked. Frighten. She couldn't move. "What…what did I do?" she asked, knowing no one would answer her.

But someone did.

"You did us a favor."

From the other side of the room stood two classy-dressed men. One of them was a few inches shorter than the other one with blond hair, blue eyes and wore glasses. He was in a black suit wearing a yellow plaid tie. The taller male also have blonde her and blue eyes. He wore a white dress shirt underneath his yellow plaid vest and a black tie. The man with the glasses was smiling at her while the taller man looked bored.

They slowly approached the collapsed man, checking his vital signs.

"Yep, he's dead", said Glasses man.

"Totally dead", said the bored man in a bored manner.

'Dead?' she thought in horror. "I…I killed him?"

"Indeed you did", said Glasses man. "Though we were supposed to dispose of him an hour ago but couldn't find him. You helped us by a lot."

"Thank you", said the bored man.

"But…but…" Tears ran down her face. She killed someone. She didn't want to kill the guy. It was by accident. She just wanted him to go away.

"Ah, don't cry, Miss", said the Glasses guy, pulling out a handkerchief.

"Don't cry." The bored man repeated the same action. They slowly approached and wiped away her tears, the Glasses man on her right and the bored man on her left.

"Sorry we didn't get here sooner", the glasses man cooed her by patting her head.

"We couldn't find him on time", said the bored man, patting her shoulders.

"But the bad guy is dead now", glasses man smiled.

"You are safe now."

Their friendly attitude was extremely foreign to her. She just killed someone, but they say that it was okay. "So…it wasn't my fault?"

"Right", they answered at the same time.

"It's ours", said the glasses man. "We couldn't have stopped him from harming you in time so his death is our fault, right?"

"Right." The bored man nodded.

"…Right." They were right. It wasn't her fault, they were supposed to stop him and 'dispose' of him themselves. If he hadn't challenged her, she would've been on her merry way to battle someone else. Her guilt was fading away fast and her mind was finally clear.

That reminded her. "Ai!" She ran to her Allmate and picked him up. She touched his forehead to start him up. "Ai…Ai!"

Soon, he came to life. "Aka?"

She was extremely relieved that she hugged him tightly. "Thank goodness…that was dangerous. Are you okay? Any damages?"

It took him a moment to answer. "My speakers are a little off as well as acknowledging some commands."

"Your chips must've been fried when he kicked you, but you're still okay, right?"

"No other problems", he answered.

"Good…good. I'll fix you when I get home. Rest easy."

"Right." He automatically went to sleep mode.

She was happy now. Her best friend has some minor damages that she could fix on her own but they were both safe.

"She's quite attached to her Allmate, isn't she?" Glasses man asked the bored man.

"Yes…it seems so", he answered.

She turned to face the men behind her, a little nervous. "Uhh…who are you guys?"

"Oh?" The glasses man smiled kindly at her. "My name is Virus and this is Trip."

"Yoo-hoo!" Trip waved at her.

Aka started to relax a little. Sure, these two are…odd, but they have been extremely kind to her since they appeared. She bowed politely at them. "Pleased to meet you two. I'm Akaku."

"Ah, Akaku", Virus nodded, "as in 'blood', right?"

"That's a cool name", Trip commented.

She wanted to correct them, but she might as well leave it alone. "Thank you."

"Since we are all friends now, how about we take you out of here, eh?" Virus came over to her right side and places his hand on her shoulder.

"Right…" Trip did the same to her left.

She was a little nervous about these two but she left them to escort her the way out of the building. Analyzing them both, a question popped in her head. "You both look similar…are you two twins?"

"We are not twins", Virus answered at the same time Trip answered, "We're not twins."

Aka laughed. "You're kidding!"

"Not joking", Virus answered.

"Wow, it must be fun being you two", she said, smiling.

That made both men look at each and smile.

"It can be", Virus said.

"Yep", Trip chimed.

Once they were out of the building, the night air hit Aka peacefully. She was out of them, away from the dead man that once tried to take advantage of her. She really did owe Virus and Trip. Digging into her Honekoneko, she pulled out the last of her packaged cookies. "Here", she handed to the men, "as a token of our friendship."

"Cookies?" Virus asked.

"Looks tasty." Trip didn't hesitate taking them. "He doesn't consume sweets much", he said, nodding his head towards Virus.

"Oh, but cookies are alright", Virus said, reaching over to pat her head again. "Thank you for such a kind gesture. Now we are friends."

"Friends, huh…" Trip put a cookie in his mouth and chew it. "….it's good."

"Aka!" called out a few voice from behind.

Appearing from behind were Koujaku, Aoba, and Clear…still wearing a women's mask. Aoba and Koujaku stopped a few feet from her while Clear embraced her.

"Aka!" he wailed. "I'm so so sooooo sorry that I made you run off like that. I won't upset you ever again. Please don't hate me."

"Wah! You're fine….Clear, let go!" She was happy to see her friends, but the anger on Koujaku's face was what startled her. "Uh…Koujaku?"

"It's Aoba", Virus said.

"Ao-ba!" Trip waved at him.

"Virus? Trip?" Aoba was shocked to see them. "what are you two doing here?"

"You know them, Aoba?" Aka asked, finally out the spazz's embrace.

"You know them too?" he asked.

"We just met her", Virus asked. "She ran into some trouble and rescued her, right?"

"Right", Trip answered, eating another cookie."

"Right", Aka agreed.

Koujaku was not happy about this one bit that he yanked on the girl's arm and pulled her behind him. "What were your real reasons? You guys don't 'rescue' anyone without a motive." He pulled out his sword and aimed at the men. "You guys are Yakuzas. Akaku isn't going to be your whore."

Aka peered from behind her friend. "Yakuza? No, they are not."

"Erm…they are", Aoba said, putting his hand on his boyfriend. "But Koujaku, they are off duty and it doesn't seem that Aka is hurt."

"Doesn't matter", he snapped. "Yakuza are Yakuza until they die."

"Oh dear", Virus sighed. "He won't listen to us."

"Seems so", said Trip.

It was a shock that the men that came to her rescue were Yakuza, but they didn't do anything bad to her. They didn't harass her, but just comfort her. They also accepted her cookies so that makes them her friends, too, regardless if they were Yakuza. With that, she stood in front of the enraged hairdresser to block him from hurting her new friends.

"Don't hurt them", she said. "They did nothing wrong but helped me."

"With what?" He directed his anger at her. "What could they possibly help you with without a motive?"

"I was…" She didn't want to say it, that she doing Rhyme with a man that lose and wanted to take advantage of her. She didn't want to. This was making want to cry.

"I understand", said Clear.

"Huh?"

Clear faced the Yakuza and bowed lowly. "Thank you for protecting Akaku when she really needed help. We truly appreciate it."

For Clear to bow that low made the Yakuza smile. "My, you do have some friends with manners, Aka. But, we ought to go do our business, us being Yakuza and all." He sent a smirk at the hairdresser, then back at the girl. "Goodbye, Aka."

"Bye bye Aka, Ao-ba!" Trip waved at them and followed Virus.

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"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING RUNNING OFF ON YOUR OWN AT NIGHT?!" Grandma Tae yelled at Aka, whom was cowarding behind Clear. "We were worried sick. Be glad they found you in time before I called your aunt and uncle. You're as hopeless as Aoba."

Instead of returning Aka home, Aoba thought it would be a good idea to bring her to his home to ease his grandmother's worries. Also, he makes him happy that she was yelling at someone else other than him.

"I'm sorry", Aka said weakly. "It won't happen again, I promise." After knowing Aoba for two months, she quickly gotten use to Grandma Tae's loud voice

"And YOU!" Tae glared at Clear.

He jumped. "Y-yes?"

"You were the one who scared her off and caused dinner to get cold", she scolded. "You were to just bring her here for dinner. You're lucky you guys found her before she really got hurt."

"I'm so sorry", he bowed lowly. "Forgive me. I won't do it again~~~~"

"The food is still warm enough", called out Koujaku from the kitchen.

"It taste great, Granny", chimed in Aoba.

Tae sighs and looked at the troublesome adults. "Go get some food. After you eat, return her home, Clear."

"Yes ma'am." Both Aka and Clear retuned back to the kitchen where their friends were. Grandma Tae some miso soup, sweet and sour pork and a batch of brownies. Ignoring the rest of the food Aka reached for a brownie and nibbled on it. It tasted weird. It lack sugar and the ingredients tasted a little stale. Regardless if it has been sitting out for an hour of two, brownies aren't suppose to taste like this, but she sucked it up and devour it.

Grabbing another one, she realized that Clear was eating with that mask on, but she was able to make out some of his features. He had smooth white skin and from the tiny eye holes on the mask, his eyes were a simmer pink color. 'Interesting', she thought to herself, 'they look pretty.'

"I'm a little worried about Mizuki", said Koujaku with a sigh.

That brought Aka back to reality. "Huh? What about Mizuki?"

Koujaku shook his head. "Ugh…He's been acting weird as of late", he said. "He's not talking to me like he used to and he seems to have his head in the clouds."

"Sounds like he's in love", Clear swoon. "Lucky him."

That made Aka frown. "So…he has a girlfriend, huh?" She asked, hoping it was a 'no.'

Luckily for her, Koujaku shook his head. "No, it isn't a girl and he's not in love either. I tried talking to him earlier today and he snapped at me, but he did apologize sourly." He sighs. "I can't get through to him."

"We all should visit him tomorrow", Aoba said, sipping on his tea. "Maybe he just needs us around more often. You know, someone outside of his Rib family."

"As long there isn't a rush at my end, I'm down." Aka nodded.

"I'll come too!" Clear raised his hand like a child. "I want him to feel better."

Aka giggled. "You know, if you weren't such a spazz, I'd totally ship you with Mizuki." That comment made the couple groan.

" 'Ship'?" Clear tilted his head to the side. "You plan on taking us somewhere?"

"Don't question her, Gasmask", Koujaku said, irritated. "I swear, Aka, I thought you wanted Mizuki, but you'd rather like Gasmask take your place?"

Aka blushes bright red. "It's…I…I don't want him!"

"Your face is betraying you", Aoba snickered. "Speaking of which, why don't you go see him be yourself. We'll give you some 'alone time' with each other."

"He does have a thing for you, Aka" Koujaku nodded. "I say go for it."

"B-b-b-b-b-but I…." Words failed her as she covered her face with her hands, making her friends laugh at her. After being a shut-in for five years, she's still getting use to Human Interactions and 'flirting' and 'love' aren't her strong points. Sure, she's been crushing on Mizuki for weeks, but that doesn't give her the courage to go up to him and confess her love. 'Oh my god, I don't love him', she thought. 'He's just nice and very handsome and strong…' "Ugh…I hate you all…"

That made the couple laugh and Clear stayed silent throughout the entire event. Once they were full from dinner, Aka and Clear said their goodbyes to the couple and Grandma Tae before leaving, Clear escorting Aka back home.

Aka checked the time on her coil. "11:37, huh?" She sighs. "Once I get home, I gotta check up on Ai and make sure he's not malfunctioning everywhere."

"Will he be okay?" Clear asked.

"He will", she said. "He is a new model but I still have to make sure his insides and chips are okay. For all I know, his speakers are dislocated." She reached behind her neck where her cat was on sleep mode. "He's my very best friend. I think I'd die if anything happened to him."

"Even though he's an allmate?"

She frowned. "He might be an Allmate to everyone, but he's a person to me, machine or not. I'll fix him and love him until my last breath."

"Your compassion to Ai is really amazing", Clear said. "But do you feel the same about Mizuki?"

Hearing Mizuki's name made her face hot. "What? We-we're talking about Ai here, not Mizuki."

Clear stopped walking. "Your body temperature always seems to rise whenever Mizuki is mentioned and your face turns red. You're affectionate when it comes to Mizuki."

"Where is this coming from?" Aka was confused. They were just talking about Ai, but the topic jumped from her friend to Mizuki.

"Aoba and Koujaku always seem to make your blush, too." His voice seems to be angry. "Rather they are teasing or not, yet you love them too."

"Well…yeah", she said. "They are my friends and so are you, Clear-"

"But I'm very much different from all of them", he snapped, startling Aka. "I'm nothing like them and it seems that Mizuki loves you too."

All of this was making Aka really confused. Over and over, she questioned 'What the hell is up with this spazz' until the answer popped into her head, making her blush. "My god…Clear, are you jealous?"

"Jealous?"

"Yeah."

"What is that?" he asked. "It sounds like something you made up. Is it a food?"

Aka couldn't take any more of his 'cute spazzez' so she laughed. "Clear, you're totally jealous."

"This is not the time to talk about food, Aka", he said in a stern voice.

"No no, Clear", she tried to calm down. "Jealousy isn't food, it's an uncomfortable feeling."

"Huh?" He tiled his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"And I thought I was a shut-in", she muttered to herself before explaining. "You feel that I'm giving more attention to Aoba, Koujaku and Mizuki than you are, but in reality I don't." She touched his shoulders. "Besides Ai, Koujaku, Aoba and you are my real friends outside my job. I don't know Mizuki well enough to call as my 'friend', but I don't love him. What I feel for Mizuki is a 'crush', a feeling that will fade in time, not love." She then sighs. "Sure, it might look I'm giving my attention to those guys and you feel left out, but the more time you and I spend together, we can get close like I'm close to them. Okay?"

Clear stared at her, his pink eyes twinkled in excitement. "Yes! Yes, I understand now. If I spend more time with Aka, we'll become close." He them pulled her into a tight embrace. "Thank you for clearing that up, Aka. I learn more when I'm with you."

"It's…" She wanted to say that it wasn't a big deal, but she had a feeling that she might have some things in common with the man. 'Maybe he's a shut-in, too?' So instead, she hugged him back. "You're welcome. You can talk to me anytime."

With that, they continued to walk until they reached her home. They hugged again and said their goodbyes. Aka watched as Clear pulled out an umbrella from his coat jacket (how the hell did that thing fit in there), and walked away. Aka then walked inside, checked in on her Aunt and Uncle before closing herself in her room.

"Ai", she said, putting her cat on the bed, waking him from sleep mode. "Can you hear me?"

It took a moment, but Ai woke up. "Aka."

"I'm gonna go ahead and repair you, okay?" She reached underneath her bed for her tool box. Thanks to her being friends with Aoba, she learned how to repair Ai without relying on her Coil like a regular person. Though she could use her coil since Ai was a new model, she felt like a doctor fixing him this way. Pulling him to her Coil, she checked for errors before opening him. His speakers were knocked out from its screws so she had to put in new one to safely secure the speakers. His right paw was stuck in place, so she had to carefully move it and rotate it until it worked perfectly.

After she was done repairing and ran some tests, it was getting close to 4am.

"Whew!" She lay back on her bed, cuddling with Ai. "All done. How do you feel?"

"Much better", he answered. "You should get some rest, Aka. You've been working hard."

"Hmm…maybe a chapter of TACTical Murder before bed." She reached for her Honekoneko to get her 3Ds.

Ai sighs. "If you're unable to wake up, you can only blame yourself."

"Oh come on, Ai!" She scratched behind his ears before starting her game. "My Yaoi count is low. I need something that'll help me sleep."

"If you say so", and the cat Allmate left it to that as he curled up on top of his owner's chest while she held her game console above her head. Ai was grateful of his owner, no matter how weird and childish he thought she was, but she cared for him a lot. Most Allmate owners wouldn't even care for him, but Aka treated him as a person, a loyal friend.

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Virus was having a nice glass of the finest wine while analyzing two different pictures that were on his Coil. Across from him was Trip, enjoying Aka's cookies, refusing to share with Virus, not like he cared. Virus was pleased for the nice and all he wanted was his wine and his small victory.

"It looks like we're gonna have to hide another interesting creature from Toue", he smiled, sipping on his wine.

"Can we afford to hide her", Trip asked, crumb leaving his mouth. "It was by accident that we found her. And she is to be brought back home immediately once found."

"Ah, true", Virus sighs. "The boss wants her back home…but we can wait a little before turning her in. We can still have our fun."

Trip nods. "Yeah…"

Virus smirked, mesmerized by the pictures before him. On the right-hand side of his Coil screen was a picture on Akaku, along with her information including age, Rhyme name, address and her current interests. One the left-hand side was a picture of a five year old with red hair that looks to be a lion's mane and leaf-green eyes. The young girl's experiment number was 52-78-T, but the name she really went by was…

"Akahime Toue", Virus whispered, swishing his wine in his glass. "We finally found you…"