The first thing that Harry noticed was the warmth. For the first time in what seemed an eternity, Harry was warm. Heck, he was even comfortable. The last time he had felt like this was at Hogwarts...

Harry's eyes flicked open. A dark, wooden ceiling met his gaze and he restlessly surveyed the rest of his surroundings. Surprisingly, Harry was not locked away in a jail cell prison. Instead, he appeared to have been laid to rest on a fresh futon in an average Japanese bedroom.

For a moment, Harry stared at the off-white walls and small apartment furnishings with a blank expression. Then he shook himself and sat up.

It had been a while since he had been anywhere so nice. However, just as this place was nice, it could also be dangerous. He didn't know who had brought him here or who owned this place. He didn't even know where 'here' was.

He looked around the small room and found his gaze drawn to a set of nice, casual clothing beside his bed. Looking back to his own ragged and ill-fitting hand-me-downs, it was easy to change clothes. He gladly slipped into the white button up and the black pants that had been provided. Harry fumbled a little with the suspenders before he gave them up as a lost cause. He kept them attached to his pants but allowed them to hang down. Looking in the mirror, Harry wondered if the white of the button up washed out his already pale complexion.

"Staring at your reflection won't change what's there." Harry yelped and jumped a few feet in the air. He tried to spin around but ended up slipping because of his socks.

Thump!

"Oww!" Harry groaned as he reached a hand to rub his aching backside. Looking up, Harry glared at Dazai. The stupid detective was standing in the open doorway to the bedroom with an undeniably amused expression on his face. He looked washed and well-kept. Harry felt momentarily envious.

After weeks on the road, his own appearance left much to be desired as far as personal hygiene went. His hair was oily and ill-cared for while Harry was sure his skin was covered with at least pound of dirt.

"And I thought cats always landed on their feet." Dazai quipped. Harry shivered. Though the man's tone was light and airy, his gaze was cold. Someone does NOT like it when their partner is injured...

"Good thing I'm not a cat then. I'm a person." Harry found himself refuting the detective's claim almost automatically. He slowly rose from his sprawled place on the floor to stand loosely. If Dazai tried anything he'd be able to bolt way quickly. Though Harry was pretty sure Dazai didn't want to hurt him, the man was angry. Angry people did things that they normally would never do.

"Maa... I suppose you're right. Now, I do believe it's time for you and me to have a little chat. Hmmm...?" Dazai may have phrased his request as a query but Harry knew it wasn't. Iron and steel bands pressed down on him with force and extreme prejudice from the dark-haired detective's voice. Harry knew that Dazai would not be taking 'no thank you' for an answer. So, he shrugged and followed the detective into a spartan kitchenette. Dazai pulled out a chair and gestured for Harry to take a seat.

Once Harry was settled, Dazai also took a seat at the orange, gingham patterned table. Harry looked down at the table for a moment before chancing a glance towards the detective. He immediately looked back down to the table. Dazai's eyes had been razor sharp. Harry was sure that if looks could kill, he would be calling for an ambulance with how sharp Dazai's gaze had been. For few long minutes the kitchenette was silent. Harry furtively cast his eyes about the room to distract him from the uncomfortable feeling of Dazai's intense scrutiny. Finally, Dazai spoke.

"I have to wonder, what kind of person you are. Someone who heals the person they tried to kill, even though it absolutely ruined your chance to escape." All joviality had vanished from the detective's voice. Instead of his normal lazy amusement, Dazai's tone reflected a vicious edge.

Harry flinched. He really hadn't meant to hurt Kunikida, especially after the man had paid for Harry's meal...

"I-I really didn't mean to hurt him..." Harry's tone cracked slightly with Harry's guilt and shame. The taser had certainly hurt, but truthfully had done no lasting damage. There had been no reason why Harry couldn't have continued on his way. Instead however, Harry had nearly killed Kunikida. If Harry hadn't healed the man afterward, Harry had no doubt Kunikida would have died. As it stood, muggle healers would have taken far too long to get there, and even if they had arrived on time, Harry doubted they could have dealt with such extensive damage.

"So, what? Nearly murdering my partner was just a knee-jerk reaction?"

"...Yes." Harry whispered shamefully. Because in truth, that had really been what had happened. Raging full moon instincts or not, Harry had reacted with un-proportional violence. Yes, his instincts had been stronger than normal thanks to the full moon. However, that gave no excuse for literally gutting someone. Harry had told Kunikida that no one was going to get hurt. Yet, Harry's immediate actions upon being threatened were the exact opposite of his word. Because of the previous night's events, Harry's word and oath were proven to be worthless. Anything from his lips might as well be dust on the wind for all that it meant and stood for. "Even after I assured you both that no harm would come from the Were-Tiger, I was unable to refrain from gravely injuring Kunikida-san. I'm… I'm so terribly sorry." His voice wavered and slowly fell to a soft whisper as he admitted his grave wrongdoing.

Another long silence stole over the two. While the previous silence had been uncomfortable with dark eyed scrutiny, Harry felt as though this silence was even worse. It was filled heavy shame and regret. Harry pulled his legs up onto his chair and wrapped his arms around them. He lowered his head to his knees and closed his eyes. Whatever happened now, Harry would not object to. Should Dazai deem him the oath breaker he was, Harry would not refute his claim to compensation.

"Well, I suppose it's fine since you did give up your escape to heal him." Harry jerked his head up at Dazai's words. Harry stared at Dazai in shock as the man's angry countenance melted away like spring snow. "Which is rather interesting, by the way. Normally, supernatural abilities come one per person. Yet here you are with two." Though no longer angry, Dazai's sharp gaze still caused Harry to grimace.

Great, I go from being a "Danger" to being a "Curiosity" ... I wonder which is worse...

"I-I don't, not really." Harry mumbled as he looked away again.

"Oh? Enlighten me then." Dazai practically purred. Harry heaved a soft sigh.

"It's the moonlight. When the full moon is out, it gives off energy that I absorb. Turning into a tiger is more of a side effect than the actual power. Rather, my... er, supernatural ability, is to absorb energy from the moon. It's just that on full moons, there's a lot of energy so I turn into a tiger to keep from feeling like I'm burning alive. Aside from shape shifting, it's pretty much my choice on how I use that energy. Last night I used it to heal Kunikida-san." Harry explained. Normally, he would have given something much farther from the truth, but he felt as though he owed the pair of detectives after almost committing murder the night before.

"So, your power is actually surprisingly versatile and useful despite unfortunate side effects. Though, given that your energy comes from the moon, I would suppose it becomes rather weak on new moons?"

Harry grimaced and nodded. He had hoped the detective wouldn't pick up on that.

"Hmmm, well the way I see it, Hari-kun, you have two current options. One, I could turn you over to the national army to be executed as per their request and laws... or you could go for option number two."

"What's option number two?" Harry asked. Option number one was definitely out. For all that Harry knew he was guilty, he wasn't about to go throw his life away over it. He still needed to find Sirius!

"Option number two, would be to come work for the Armed Detective Agency, of course!" Dazai exclaimed with a grin. "After all, if you were to stay within a certain distance of an agent at all times, we could assure the government that you hold no threat to civilians." Dazai continued to grin as rested his chin on a propped hand. His eyes held amusement and a certain amount of unbridled glee as he continued. "Not to mention, you will have to pay back the sum amount of all the food your tiger form consumed. Should you choose to work for the agency, we would pay your debt up front and allow you to work it off a little at a time. We wouldn't even charge interest on it, either!"

"Wh-what?" Harry gasped out in shock. Harry hadn't truly known what to expect when Dazai had mentioned a second option, but it certainly hadn't been this. Paying back his debt, Harry could understand. He had stolen food that wasn't his and those people did deserve to be paid for their goods. But to work for the Armed Detective Agency? Harry was pretty sure he wasn't at all qualified for any sort of law enforcement or detective work. Certainly, he had messed around while he was at Hogwarts. All of that stuff had forced his involvement, however. He hadn't needed to go looking for any of it. The mysteries had all come to him. To actually go out and solve murder cases was far beyond him, surely. Not to mention, being a detective was probable a very dangerous job with a lot of high risk situations. Harry didn't know how to handle those beyond going with his gut feeling. What would he tell his boss when questioned about his choices? 'Gee, Boss, I just had a gut feeling and went with it', would not go over too well with any form of by-the-book business.

And then of course, there as the little detail of having just almost murdered one of their agents! How could they trust him after that? Harry had just proven to be incredibly dangerous. Surely, they had some reservations about allowing him to work in close proximity to any of their agents! In high stress environments, trusting your partner was a must. Any professional work relying on trust with an almost murderer was not likely to go well. However, Dazai obviously thought differently.

"Come join the Armed Detective Agency." Dazai repeated happily. Amusement glittered across his eyes and Harry could tell that dark-haired man was very much enjoying is shock and confusion.

"B-but! How?! How can you trust me like that after I..." Harry trailed off miserably. Even now, he still felt heavy guilt churning in his stomach.

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say 'Trust' or anything approaching that. Rather, my supernatural ability is to nullify other supernatural abilities. Should you try anything, I have the power to immediately stop it. So, if you were working at the agency, you threat level would decrease to just about zero thanks to my ability. Even if I wasn't around, the others have their own abilities that would allow them to dispose of any threat you could possibly pose. And on the odd chance they couldn't stop you themselves, they could certainly hold you until I could arrive and take care of you myself." Dazai explained. Though the man continued to grin, Harry could feel the temperature of the room drop along with his levity. Dazai was dead serious about ensuring Harry wasn't a threat.

"O-oh." Harry stuttered. When put into that perspective, Harry could understand the situation a little better. The government had deemed him a threat and the only way he could become 'threat-less' would be to have his threat neutralized through a trusted source like the Armed Detective Agency. It seemed it would be less of a job, and more of a gilded cage.

Still... gilded or not, a cage was still a cage. And, Harry still needed to find Sirius. He couldn't just stop so as to appease a bunch bureaucratic paper pushers. Somewhere out there, his godfather was alone. And until Harry found him, so was Harry.

Steeling himself, Harry looked back at Dazai.

"Thank you for the offer Dazai-san but I'm afraid I cannot accept it. Not only am I horribly unqualified to work in a detective agency, I am also currently searching for my godfather. I cannot search for him while staying in one place. I'm not against taking up a job and paying back the money for the food I ate, but I'm also not certified to work at the agency. I'm pretty sure I'd make a horrible detective, and a long-term job would hold me in one place too long."

"So, you're refusing on account of being unqualified?" Dazai raised an eyebrow and tilted his head in query.

"Yes. I also don't want to stay in one place too long." Harry affirmed.

Dazai hummed to himself for a moment before straightening.

"Well then, I think I have just the job for you, Hari-kun! One that will allow you to pay off your debt and continue your search for your godfather."

"R-really?" Harry asked surprised. He had expected his words to precede a serious argument. Harry hadn't thought the man would agree with him or help him!

"Why of course! As a detective, I'm highly aware of my surroundings and I know just the job for you! In fact, I can go introduce you right now!" Dazai exclaimed as he stood from the table with a grin. Harry couldn't believe this incredible turn of luck. A job that paid for his thievery, and let him search for Sirius? It seemed too good to be true!

"That would be wonderful! Will it really allow me to find Sirius and pay back everyone I stole from?" Harry asked excitedly as he too jumped to his feet.

"Why of course, Hari-kun! I could never lie to you!"

And with those misleading words, Dazai led Harry out of the small apartment and into the outside world.

Snow day! Yay! I had all day to write and laze around! Yay!

Anyway, finally onto episode two! As you can see, Harry's actions do have repercussions on how he's treated as compared to Atsushi's destructive but ultimately harmless rampage in canon. Dazai will consider him a rather dangerous threat for good while. Though Dazai did see Harry show regret, he also watched Kunikida get gutted and that's going to effect how he sees Harry for a few episodes. Dazai is aware that Harry can heal what he hurts, but he's also going to be drawing some unfortunate comparisons between Harry and Ryunosuke.

I hope the two weren't out of character, but I did rush it a bit at the end.

Please Review for the sake of my self confidence,

-Blitza