It was hard for him to imagine why there was such tension in the Jaeger's quarters during that morning's breakfast. Sure, he had arrived late, but nothing important was scheduled today, so it should have been no surprise to his comrades when Run entered the palace room with his blond hair disheveled and eyes bagged, the sunlight drowning the walls in bright orange.

Esdeath seemed irritated, her aura intimidating her company into silence. Kurome was the only person to acknowledge him; giving him a brief nod while Esdeath's sharp voice pierced the room.

"...this wasn't supposed to happen!"

He carefully took a seat next to Kurome, suddenly taking interest in the empty table mat in front of him. His shoulders tensed more when his commander continued her rant.

"He must have left early in the morning! It's seven thirty now, he isn't on some jog...no, I remember it-"

She dug her nails into her eyebrows frustratedly.

"...I remember it... I was barely awake... I wasn't holding him tightly enough and he slipped from my grasp... he kissed my forehead and... dammit."

Run sighed; she wasn't talking about him like he initially thought, so he didn't have to worry.

Wait...kissed?

Holding him tightly?

Esdeath never said those things.

Run's mind raced; what could she even be talking about? When he first met Esdeath, he had thought she was going to be an old maid with her attitude, there's no way she could possibly find a lover-

A lurid thought passed through his mind, his cheeks slowly fading into red.

She doesn't have a real boyfriend; perhaps she purchased a body pillow... of her favorite character?

It made some sense... the strong and hard headed General Esdeath needing someone to show her soft side to, resorting to a 2D lover because of her overly complicated standards...

He nodded his head; in his time as a teacher he had witnessed quite a few students go down that route.

His head shook; he remembered that pillows couldn't go on early morning jogs.

It couldn't be...

His mind ceased to think, deciding it would be better to listen to Esdeath some more before jumping to conclusions.

A few moments passed before Daidara entered the room, a blond boy and River following suit.

Having let out her frustration, Esdeath smiled at them, before facing back to the Jaegers.

"I thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone if the Three Beasts made breakfast for today's meeting."

Run exchanged nervous glances with his comrades; Daidara never cooked, and for good reason.

The hulking, burly man stepped forward and moved to place a plate in front of Esdeath before her finger stopped his hand.

"Sushi?" she asked, smiling at him.

He shook his head.

"Baked salmon" he grunted. "Your fav-"

Her fist shot him into the yellow wall, her mouth cresented in a controlled smile.

"If you are stupid enough to cook raw meat for me, how can you expect to survive when you make your own meal out in the field?"

Daidara protected his pride like a rabid dog, but was smart enough to take in his captain's words soundlessly.

"Yes... madam..."

"Get back in the kitchen; you're washing our dishes today."

River and the boy moved, placing pieces of salmon for the rest of the Jaegers, Daidara's dish quickly replaced.

"Thank you River" Esdeath said, "…you and Nyau made these, correct?"

"Yes, my lady" answered River.

"Thank goodness" Run thought. "This was just another one of her lessons."

It wasn't long before Kurome complained; she hated seafood, and preferred the usual serving of rice gruel.

"The gruel barrel...seems to have been misplaced..." replied Nyau, nervously eyeing Esdeath.

...

Earth rumbled below Tatsumi's boots as he strolled through the path, a large can strapped to his back. Clods of dirt fell from the cliff beside him, followed by an uprooted tree. He cursed as it smashed in front of him, splinters shooting across the ground and through the air. After realizing he wasn't hurt, the same words circled around his head for the hundredth time.

"I couldn't just leave her, not when I realized what happened. I just couldn't."

A broken growl above him gave way to a horrible squeal before the long body of an earth dragon fell behind the log, before sliding into the valley below. Tatsumi listened for the resounding boom, but heard nothing. Another growl and beastly panting sounded above him before disappearing.

...

Her condition seemed to have worsened, but she refused to show it. Despite her will, the darkened circles under her eyes and shaking hands revealed everything Tatsumi needed to know; she needed help.

"Go...away..." she croaked with every spoonful of gruel he gave her. But he couldn't. Leaving people to die slowly was something Tatsumi believed he just couldn't do, no matter how long he stayed in Esdeath's company.

"Esdeath..." he thought.

One night as he lay awake with her, he asked her something. He wanted to know how she felt about him as a warrior.

"...as a warrior..." she had whispered. "...as a warrior you're too merciful; too easy on the weak."

Esdeath then started to allude his first kill, and how he reacted then. Tatsumi acknowledged that she was right, but wished aloud she didn't bring that up. What happened in that alleyway was still far too intense, like a needle in the velvet of his memory.

Thinking about Esdeath made his hand stop momentarily, and the girl in front of him furrowed her eyebrows as much as she could, like a weak child trying to show defiance in the face of a father's punishment. Shaking himself out of his trance, he smiled and spooned another drop of the gruel.

The girl's name was Mine. He had discovered this when he found her impaled by her arms to a rock at two that morning. He pretended to be surprised as he chipped away the ice in her arms, bandaged her wounds as best he could, gave her water from a canteen, then promised he'd be back with food. That's when she croaked her name.

"Mine... my name... you call me..."

Her words confused him at first, but he quickly grew wise to her name despite her fatigue.

From the start he knew Mine did not enjoy taking help from others. Her brows never lightened, the glowering expression underneath a mess of pink hair refusing to weaken. However, three broken limbs prevented any self-sufficiency.

In short, she was weak, and not even spirit could defeat weakness.

Half the gruel barrel was gone before she spoke that afternoon.

"...gun..."

He remembered the orange jets of light that shot across Mount Fake, and realized she must have been talking about her teigu.

"...gun..."

The honest route would be to tell her the rifle was locked in the palace's armory.

"...gun..."

If he was to gain her trust, he would need to play as dumb as possible.

Tatsumi smiled as innocently as he could.

"Run? If you want me to run somewhere, I need to know where I'm going, right?"

She gazed down to her knees, as if to say "forget it."

He wondered what they were going to do about her injuries. She had screamed and growled in pain when he took the spikes out of her arms, bandaged them when they bled, and he had rubbed ointment on her leg to numb the pain, but none of it would help long-term.

His mind skimmed over an internal list of the people he trusted.

Since their first patrol together, Wave and Tatsumi had something of a relationship; it had at least gotten far enough that they could nod at each other and grin when Wave had done something amusing.

"But we're not that close..." Tatsumi realized.

After some thinking, a dark thought loomed across his head: he could not comfortably call any of the Jaegers his "friends." He played with the thought of going to Kurome, but felt the same awkward indecisiveness he had with Wave.

"Go to Ieyasu."

Ieyasu was his only real friend now; and that scared him. Tatsumi sensed that something changed; something that made the thought of asking Ieyasu to help a Night Raid member; an enemy, alien indeed.

"Too much happened while we were separated" he told himself, hoping this was untrue.

But a memory came to his relief:

"Ieyasu doesn't know jack about medicine."

It made a perfect excuse to delay his meeting with Ieyasu, if not for a few more days.

Then his thoughts strayed to someone else, something like an elephant in the room.

Esdeath.

He swallowed and gritted his teeth out of anger, or perhaps something else. If it weren't for that woman-

If it weren't for beautiful, violent, caring, crazy Esdeath...

...Mine could still walk.

Mine would be able to speak, move, eat by herself...

She wouldn't even be here.

His boot smashed a dried tree stump in his frustration.

"What the fuck am I gonna do with you..." he snapped to himself. "you... you-"

This wasn't the first time his feelings for Esdeath faced a dilemma, but this was the first that struggle had ever felt so relevant.

His rough, thorn-pricked fingers curled around a rock.

"You bitch!"

The stone thumped against the cliff wall in front, rolling down amidst a newly-formed storm of dry dirt.

Mine's sharp coughing returned his mind to normalcy. Looking back at her, calm awashing his face, he took in her scowl, her toughened expression, and fiery anger in her eyes.

She reminded him so much of Sayo.

And knowing Sayo, he knew Mine's anger was not aimed at him, it was at herself; angry for not being able to help herself, for having to rely on aid from someone else. Sayo hated having to rely on others, and Mine was definitely the same way.

...

Dr. Stylish had a list of things he detested; it was nailed to the front door of his lab, in bold red lettering. Underneath in small black words a note revealed the list was in no particular order.

Number one was immaturity- whiny kids and bratty adults left a bad taste in the mouth.

Number two was peanut butter- it made him sick.

Number three was theft- theft was the base of all crime; the root. For example, murder can be classified as theft of life; stealing from a comrade can be described as, well, theft.

Number four was squirrels- they are useless animals, eating everything and held little meat in their bones. If nothing else, they at least served a reminder that some creatures are meant to be killed.

Something in him jumped at the sight of the brown haired boy when he opened his lab door to a knock. It wasn't desire; his tastes were different from Esdeath's. Stylish's men tended to be more...robust; confident. Not to say the young man wasn't confident, but the boy's confidence wasn't the kind that only a lifetime of travel could give.

"You must be the famous Tatsumi!" he remarked, reaching out a hand. His mouth gaped at the firmness of the boy's grip.

"We were all wondering where you were" he continued, showing him in. The doctor's expression darkened.

"That note you left her... you were lying about that jog weren't you."

The boy quickly looked around the room, suppressed a yawn, than answered.

"I was, Doctor."

Stylish gave a grave sigh, watching Tatsumi gingerly sit on a bench as he shut the door.

"Don't do that" he scolded. "When you lie to someone, you steal their sense of trust in you."

An awkward silence followed, neither knowing what to say next.

Tatsumi opened his mouth, but Stylish beat him to it.

"Tea?"

"...sure."

The doctor excitedly strode toward the oven, tracing his finger across the large counter table in the middle of the lab. He sensed Tatsumi's cautious eyes bore into his back as he carefully poured water into two porcelain cups.

"Where are you from, Tatsumi?"

His gloved hands softly lifted the cups and he began to walk back.

"That's a good question" Tatsumi blankly stated.

Stylish stopped moving, his head tilted in confusion.

"You mean you don't know? I've heard you're a northerner, was Esdeath just lying to me?"

Tatsumi managed a quick laugh before answering.

"I am from up there. I just thought you wanted a specific village."

"Not from any villages..." muttered Stylish. "A nomad perhaps?"

He gestured to the boy.

"Definitely nomad. You're obviously not from here, are you; like Kurome."

"I am from a village; a minor one near Fisher" replied Tatsumi.

Stylish dramatically waved his arms in feigned annoyance.

"Why the bloody hell didn't you say so, then!"

The boy's face suddenly darkened.

"Lately...my origins have been...confused."

Another silence, which Stylish again broke.

"Well, I won't push it."

He handed Tatsumi his tea.

"Bottoms up" the doctor remarked.

Tatsumi furrowed his brows as he sipped.

"It's cold...you didn't boil the wat-"

"A good chill once in awhile soothes the nerves."

"This isn't tea, and it tastes like...salt?"

"Tatsumi, I have a confession to make..." Stylish sighed, pulling out a chair from the wall and sitting in front of him.

"...this..."

He jabbed a finger above Tatsumi's sternum.

"And toi..."

The same hand waved toward the boy.

"...have formed a rather great interest in me. And to fulfill that interest, well, I need to study you;"

He counted to three with his fingers.

"...hypothesis, experiment, conclusion."

Tatsumi began to sit up, but Stylish barked for him to stay down.

"So let's help each other!" the doctor exclaimed. "You let me study you, and I do whatever the hell you came to ask of me, okay?"

The boy was visibly angry.

"And rightfully so" Stylish thought.

"I'm not playing anyone's fucking games" growled Tatsumi

Stylish sighed and closed his eyes, giving a closed smile in quiet frustration. He stood up, heading toward the door.

"Well, Esdeath's been looking for you, and since I've found that special someone I might as well-"

"Fuck!"

A loud bang sounded as he watched Tatsumi kick Stylish's chair, sending it crashing into the large table.

"Okay!" bellowed the boy. "I'll fucking do it!"

Stylish chuckled, raising an invisible tea cup to his mouth.

"Well then like I said before, bottoms up."

He smirked as Tatsumi grabbed the cup and gulped down the liquid.

"You've just drugged me, haven't you" stated Tatsumi.

"Just a little something to help you. Feel it yet?"

"...no...still, I can't believe you just outright drugged me..."

"This'll intensify the effects for you."

Stylish quickly jammed a needle into the boy's leg, and pushed the plunger. Tatsumi's hands grabbed for the doctor's throat, before he fell to the floor.