As Sakura was walking home after her coffee and her chance meeting with that handsome stranger her phone rang. "Hello." She answered.
"Ah Sakura, so good to hear from you. We are going to need you to be on standby. It looks like we may have bit of a power user problem. Also since this problem may be bigger than originally thought we are going to give you a code number. You will be on record from now on and you will be Code Zero. Usually these numbers mean that you are more powerful than the others, but in this case we have assigned you a number representing your rare kind status. Now I know you have used this alias before unofficially to hide your identity from Rei, but we decided to make it official. Since you are not technically a power user however this does not mean that you have to give up your life or become nonexistent like the other code breakers. Say yes if all instructions are clear and no if you require further explanation."
"Yes, I understand. Thank you." Sakura then hung up her cell phone. So she was now an official code breaker. If Rei ever found out things would not end well, but she understood the necessity. This would allow her to work more freely with the other code breakers without the rest of Eden having to constantly create a story for Rei. This would also allow her to mask her identity better since they would never pair her with Ogami as partners. Closing her eyes she reached out with her ability to sense any nearby power users and found Rei not too far away. A trick she had picked up in her training this had become very useful in situations where they had to go up against more than one power user. She had learned how to use her rare kind ability in ways that astounded her father whom she later found out had been the president the whole time. It was his theory that she was the child of a rare kind and a power user that she could use her rare kind ability more like an actual power of her own. Instead of merely absorbing the power of any nearby power users she could target one or two at a time and focus her ability on them, she could also locate power users by sensing them and control how much power she absorbed. In some cases she could expel what she absorbed, something she found out on accident while training with Prince, but she still did not understand how to use this ability and felt it was too dangerous to train it since she would need to suck the energy from a power user to test it.
He would be getting close now so she started to walk again towards her apartment. She hated that he hid from her and she hated that she felt that she needed to hide things from him. She also knew that as a code breaker this was a job only she could do, if she didn't Eden would be forced to send her friends into battle against unknown abilities to simply kill the power users who had turned to criminals. This was her way of protecting Rei and her friends and the people they went up against. Since power could not touch her she was rarely put in danger and she had trained hard in martial combat and honed her ability to where she could hold her own in most situations since a part of being a rare kind is elevated strength. Even saving Yuuki and Toki from some situations more than a few times and using her ability as a doctor to patch them up on the job. She wished she could show Rei much stronger she had become, but she knew that there would be no way to accomplish this without letting him know that she had spent the last years she was in high school training and honing her ability and working with Eden.
As she walked up the stairs to her apartment she stopped when she reached the door to locate her keys and look around. She knew she would be called away on a mission soon, she just hoped that Heike would be able to call Rei away before she was needed. She knew he was still there, she could tell without even needing to use her ability. As she unlocked the door and sat her things down on the living room table she noticed Yuuki sitting on the floor playing with her pet cat Mr. Whiskers. Letting the other code breakers into her apartment was a part of how they kept her missions a secret from Rei. Since he was always tailing her the others could come and go as they pleased as long as she wasn't home. When she was needed for a mission a member of the team would enter and then simply wait for her to come back since Rei never got close enough for Sakura to see him he never noticed when someone else was hidden in her apartment with her.
Putting her fingers to her lips to shush Yuuki to let him know that Rei was still close she used her ability to sense how close he was. To her surprise he had hidden himself much closer to her apartment than usual. She could feel the heat of his ability when she sensed it, white hot like the flame of hell itself. The fact that he was closer than normal was going to make getting out much more difficult. She wondered if he was out of character because of her boldness in asking someone out on a date. Had she known that she was going to be called away by Eden she would have put off her plan to date. As they waited in silence Rei finally started moving away indicating that Heike had finally called him away on his own mission.
Walking up to give him a warm hug Sakura stated "It's good to see you Yuuki, it has been a little while."
"It sure has Nyanmaru." Yuuki replied returning her hug."Is Rei far enough for us to get ready yet?" He asked. He felt guilty for lying to Rei, after all they were friends. However he was also aware of how much Nyanmaru had grown up. She had trained hard and had earned the right to go on missions with them. He wished that Rei would come out of the shadows to see how much she has grown.
"Yes, he's gone now. Eden must have called him away. "Sakura sighed. " Wait here while I get ready and then we'll go. Eden must have delivered the gear we will need for this mission by now." Sakura added while she walked to her bedroom. She noted that Eden had indeed been to her apartment earlier while Rei had been away on his mission. On her bed was an all black military grade uniform along with bullet proof vest, ear pieces for the team and weapons. Although they avoided killing on missions a part of growing up for Sakura was realizing that you didn't have to kill to defend yourself or the ones you love. She had taught herself how to subdue an enemy without causing severe damage by knocking them out or causing other non threatening damage. Although she still felt guilty for the pain she caused she realized that she could live with that much more than she could live with taking life and that if she wanted to continue being a part of Eden it would be a necessity. She felt that this was a small price to pay to work with her friends and that she could live with these actions. A part of growing up is living with consequences and she had grown to accept this. As she changed her clothes she reached out with her ability one more time to feel for Rei before they left. If he ever noticed her dressed this way he would grow suspicious.
"OK Yuuki, you can come in now."Sakura called from her room. Taking her ear piece off of the bed and putting her hair into a high pony tail.
Taking his ear piece Yuuki asked. "Have they briefed you on what our objective is yet?" He watched Sakura as he got his ear piece ready. He still could not believe that this woman was Nyanmaru. It still surprised him to think that this woman working with him today was the same one that had been glued to Rei's side in her attempts to stop him from killing. She had grown a lot and although she still valued life above all else she also realized that innocent people were getting killed every day and you don't need to take life to protect the innocent. She had worked closely with Eden to ensure that no more people would die on either side. She had been the driving force behind Eden setting up their own prison system for power users and criminals that had been out of reach for the law.
"No not yet." Sakura replied taking the weapons off of the bed and ensuring that everything was loaded and ready to go. Although she initially hated using guns because of their potential to take a life as she got older she realized that if you were a good shot you could subdue an enemy without killing them. Being a superior marksman was key to saving their lives because once they were unable to fight and were no longer a threat then no one else would have a need to end them. Once the jobs were finished she always patched them up before Eden took them away.
Grabbing the bag in the corner of the room Yuuki asked." Are you sure you want to do this?" He always asked her this before they began a mission together. He always wanted to make sure that she would be able to live with the outcome.
"Yuuki." She sighed."I know you're looking out for me, but you already know what my answer is going to be."Although she loved that her friends were always looking out for her sometimes she felt like they still treated her like a little kid.
"OK then lets go." He said as he walked toward the window. They never left through the front door just in case Rei was to be watching or one of the neighbors were to see them. They always left in the evening or at night as well.
"So what is our objective?" She asked him while closing the window behind them.
"We are infiltrating a yakuza owned warehouse where expensive and rare goods are being held until they can be sold on the black market. Our intelligence tells us that there is a small group of power users there guarding it. We have two ranged abilities and one close combat ability. Our object is to get the power users into their lost state so that we can capture, interrogate and then put them away. We will have a group of officers on standby to remove any one who is captured." Yuuki replied as the van their team was using as their home base pulled up. "Also for this mission we are to address you as code 0 and not by name. Looks like they finally decided to put you on record." Although Yuuki was happy for her and she had made the decision to become a part of the group on her own he was still worried about her. He knew she was doing what she thought was best and with her on the team death on either side of their battles was almost nonexistent, but he also knew that if Rei ever found out he would be more than angry. He would be incredibly hurt by all of their actions because of the lies and because Sakura was still putting herself in danger. He knew how strong she had become and he had seen firsthand that she was more than capable on these missions, but she was still Nyanmaru and would not kill anyone no matter the danger. There had yet to be a situation to put her in that predicament, Sakura had trained very hard to learn how to take down an opponent without doing serious damage.
"Lets move out then, we have a job to do before Rei gets back and I have class tomorrow." Sakura stated as she found a spot in the van. As they drove away her thoughts turned to Rei and his mission. She wished him safety and hoped that one day he would come out of the shadows of their past to see her how she was now.