The meeting on Friday was rather anti-climactic for both parties.

While Agent Fujikawa hoped Keigo would join SHIELD, he could admit to himself that he was no longer able to predict the teenager's actions. Even thinking about it without having the kid explain word-to-word how his brain worked was a headache and a half, so Fujikawa put it in the back-burner after a trying conference call with director of the MSS and focused on the case that the two Chinese agents were assigned with. His day only got significantly worse, seeing as upon cross-referencing the case ID, Fujikawa realised that this information was, in fact, not new to SHIELD and had been kept under wraps. The project that this report was relevant to was not disclosed by Hill - claiming it was need to know only, with a Level 9 restriction access.

Level 9.

Fujikawa himself was a Level 7 agent, and was privy to a decent amount of SHIELD's data - or at least he believed he was. He had no illusions about his position in the organization, fully aware that SHIELD went far and beyond his or even Agent Coulson's tasks. Projects that, if they were lucky enough, would never see the light of the day. To any organization affiliated with them, people like Fujikawa, Coulson and Hand were the only figureheads who could be in direct communication with them. Everyone else, although visible, was to maintain an air of anonymity.

So the agent understood that as one of the unofficial spokespeople, he was below a certain clearance level for the sake of the organization's integrity.

Still... Level 9.

It was one thing to intrinsically know that the higher-ups were cooking up a storm, another to be told explicitly by said higher-up that it existed and he wasn't invited to the party.

Perhaps Yoshiro was getting soft, which was very unlike him.

Pushing his bubbling frustration aside, the agent poured through the MSS files (SHIELD not providing him access of their own data banks) and, with the help of a few scientists from R&D working on the new Phaser and Dampener prototypes, tried to find any relation between the two phenomena.

So far, zilch.

While the researchers continued their exploration, Fujikawa re-ran the MSS agents' profiles once again, digging up anything potentially incriminating he could find on the off-chance that the Massacre of Hunan, as they coined it, was a ruse.

Before he knew it, it was early Friday morning, and Asano Keigo would be visiting them in a few hours to hopefully, stop being a pain in his ass for once and agree to train under them. Aside from having potential, Keigo already knew too much to be let lose, especially if he was going to be chased by more agents from secret services in department stores.

Third-fucking-floor. Christ.

The kid was still recovering, so Yoshiro felt a pang of guilt by asking so much from someone who was essentially a child. But his reservoir of morality was scarce as it was, and he needed all the leverage he could get to rope the boy in, especially before Urahara Kisuke got wind of it and decided to tear through SHIELD's main doors.

Also coffee, he needed lots of coffee.

Keigo got used to halving his pain medication uncannily fast. Wednesday was the shittiest he felt, and after a decent amount of sleep and hot soup, he was pretty okay to attend school on Thursday.

Which turned out to be three steps away from a full-blown disaster, what with his arm now visibly in a sling unlike on Monday, and his movements incredibly sluggish, despite his spirit-sensitive body healing somewhat faster than the average human.

Mizuiro was horrified - unsurprising based on their talk earlier in the week. He had all but dragged Keigo into a corner and demanded what happened to him. Keigo feigned nonchalance tinged with his trademark pathetic pout and said that the self-defense group got a little rough.

"They're bullies man, it's what they do," he had explained as if he was used to being shoved around. Which he was - some of his bruises were the result of Ichigo and Tatsuki's tempers, and not just limited to the Oshima gang. Mizuiro never used to care as much before, so Keigo didn't understand why his friend just couldn't quit doting the one time Keigo wanted to be left alone.

Kojima was apparently appalled at his casual response, immediately taking him to Ichigo on the terrace during lunch which then proceeded into a heated debate on whether or not they should teach those guys a lesson.

'Those guys' being unknown spies who essentially wanted to poach him for information on top-secret intelligence, but Keigo didn't mention that. He doubted it would stop Ichigo either way.

Still, to prevent the shockingly furious gang - now consisting of Kurosaki, Kojima, Sado and Ishida, even what the hell - from gatecrashing his nonexistent self-defense training at a local gym in Tokyo, Keigo needed to placate them somehow. And he had no idea where to start.

Judging by how badly they took his previous explanations, saying stuff like 'I'm used to it' and 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, am I right fellas?' would probably backfire, so Keigo had to really amp up his... Keigo-ness for them to believe that he probably deserved it.

"I hit on the guy's girlfriend and he got pissed, okay?" he blurted out, trying his best to sound embarrassed - not all that difficult, considering his past failures at anything above platonic interactions.

It worked like a charm. The boys immediately stopped plotting and turned to him with expressions of shock and disgust. The familiarity of it was more than welcome.

"I- what?" Mizuiro sputtered, "Dude! I thought you and Ryo... what?!"

Oh, that.

Shit.

How could Keigo forget about that? Ryo just visited him yesterday. Then again, she knew they weren't dating, and it was more of a friendly visit with a dash of conspiring behind SHIELD and Urahara's back.

Welp, in for a penny.

Ichigo's glare was now targeted at Keigo, which - while always slightly frightening, was a better alternative than blowing his entire cover over a shitty shoulder. He stomped towards Keigo and grabbed him by the collar, not hefting him up like he did with Oshima's errand boys, but still just as threatening. His eyes were ablaze with fury, jaw clenched like he was really holding back bashing Keigo's face in.

"That's sick, Asano," he growled, "No girl deserves to be treated like that. I thought you were better now, but you can't even respect your girlfriend? Tch, you don't deserve her," he spat maliciously. It was apparently a touchy subject for Kurosaki.

With a final push that jostled Keigo's shoulder hard enough for him to wince, he stalked away - huffing in anger, probably ratting him out to Arisawa or something. Mizuiro just looked disappointed, along with Sado. Both of them followed Ichigo back into the school hallways.

Ishida remained, looking at Keigo impassively. Keigo kept his sad, defensive pout firmly in place.

"She was hot! What was I supposed to do?" God, he sounded like such a lecherous creep, ew. Even Past-Keigo wouldn't say something like that. But appearances needed to be kept, at the cost of friendships too.

"Is that so?" Ishida asked, pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose. He narrowed his eyes and drifted his gaze back to Keigo's shoulder. "You should see my dad about that," with that, Ishida too walked away.

Keigo sighed and closed his eyes, leaning heavily against the wall.

"SHIELD better be fucking worth this and more," he said out loud. Yoruichi creeped out from one of the corners, tail swishing in intrigue.

"For what it's worth, I hope so too," she said.

On the bright side, Keigo thought hysterically, this was a rather simple solution to get Ichigo and Co. off his back. There would be no snooping if they weren't his friends in the first place right?

Except Ishida; fucker was probably onto him.

And Ryo.

Ugh, what a freaking mess.

On Friday Keigo skipped school, citing to Mizuho that he had booked an appointment with Ishida Ryuken to get his shoulder checked. His sister was also fed the same story as the rest of his (former?) friends. She was the one person he didn't want to anger too much; he had to live with her everyday for shit's sake. But it happened and she was both angry and disappointed and refused to talk to him properly, only giving out one-worded replies to anything he said.

Which, also fair.

Ryo was the Good Girl of this story, and Keigo was a shithead. He was bound to be getting flack for 'breaking her heart'.

He understood, though it should have bothered him more that pretty much everyone he knew was boycotting him - maybe the entire school by next week - but those who knew the truth were the ones he needed to worry about. So - much to his own confusion, Keigo didn't really care what the rest of them thought.

Bigger fish to fry. His own life, for example.

He got to SHIELD office by himself, the address given to him by the agent with the dog on rotation around his apartment, and was taken to a marriage counselling firm's backdoor that, upon going further in, led to more SHIELD offices.

Man, how did they afford all this real estate so soon?

Penta-man was in one of the many offices that Keigo should definitely keep track of if he planned to do what he was going to do. He wore the same old two-piece attire he usually did, except the areas by his elbows were slightly more crinkled, the tie a little askew.

Did the guy pull an all-nighter or something?

Based on his bland expression, he probably did.

Or didn't. Who knew, really.

Goddamn spies.

"Mr Asano," Fujikawa started, professional as always. This time standing up from his chair to greet him with a handshake before settling back down again. "Please, take a seat."

Keigo complied, feeling an oscillating mix between nervousness and surety that he supposed his brain was trying its best to compensate with for the bravado he seemed to be lacking this week.

"So, have you made a decision?"

Keigo went through everything he discussed with Yoruichi the days before, freely talking in his apartment when the cat (human-cat, cat-human?) managed to find and destroy all the bugs placed in there. There were a ridiculous amount; Keigo thanked his stars he kept his mouth shut most of the time. They talked about the points he needed to bring up, his concerns, his rights - a lawyer, which Yoruichi claimed she was happy to impersonate should the need be - all his data, his training regimen, his schedule, the works. No stone could be left upturned, seeing as this could be the most important decision Keigo would ever make in his entire life.

"Have you found out who was after me?" Keigo asked instead. Fujikawa leaned back, as if expecting the question.

"Unfortunately, not yet. We have set the best people available to us on it, and hopefully we can find out something about them soon."

"What can you tell me about it then?" Keigo insisted. Annoy your opponent into submitting, Yoruichi supplied in his mind, It's surprisingly effective.

"That CCTV has no footage of them, so they are experienced in hiding from it. Employees in the mall were questioned; none of them saw anything of that description, or they may have," the agent added, "But didn't pay it too much mind. These people are experts, and we need to follow protocol while investigating something this sensitive."

Keigo nodded. So those guys were still at large then, damn.

"I want to discuss my contract if I do take up your offer, cross the t's, dot the i's, the whole shebang," he finally said. Here goes nothing, "A-and... I want a lawyer?"

Yoshiro may not have smiled, but he got close.

"Of course, Keigo," he drew out two large binders and pens from under his desk, "Let's begin by discussing your previous non-disclosure forms..."

So... Keigo was kind-of-sort-of a part of SHIELD.

Kind of.

The process took hours to finalize, with people entering and leaving the room: an army of attorneys, Scientists A and B who worked with him previously, even Bando, whose eyes never left the lawyer as he explained his role in Keigo's previous association to them. Since he was still a minor, several clauses in the contracts could not be enforceable unless he renewed it when he turned 18, which was a relief. Fujikawa himself had to do a bunch of signing, acting as his pseudo-guardian in the event of extreme situations that put Keigo in a 'tight spot' - as they'd put it.

Intelligence contracts were a lot different than the ones they showed on TV, that was for sure. Keigo doesn't remember ever filling out so many forms back-to-back without parental supervision.

Yoruichi wasn't needed as his own personal attorney, Fujikawa made sure that consultants outside of SHIELD, but still within their circle of confidentiality were present to prevent any bias and reassure Keigo that he wasn't being tricked.

To summarize, Keigo was now an offsite trainee at SHIELD Academy of Operations under the guise of a graphic designing internship that allowed him to skip some days of school while cut short some other days - for the rest of the school-year at least. They made it sound awfully convenient and just believable enough for a guy like him to score an internship when he was still rather low on the school's top 50 lists.

They also subtly warned him to bump his grade point average several notches up if he wanted to keep up with SHIELD training.

Keigo only gulped in response.

All in all, it was a very busy afternoon. And very scary.

Once Keigo was done signing the final form, most attorneys packed up the paperwork and shook hands with him pleasantly, adding a polite "Welcome to SHIELD, Mr Asano" before they left the room. Fujikawa decided it was time to kick Keigo out, so he called in another one of the jackbooted thugs who wasn't Agent McBroody or the second guy but just as frightening and quiet to intimidate Keigo into following him wordlessly.

He was blindly led by the agent, his mind a blur of events. He tried his best to absorb the clusterfuck of data that was just thrown at him from all sides throughout the whole day. Keigo briefly registered that it was already evening, but his stomach wasn't growling in hunger, so he assumed he probably filled himself on the bowl of peanuts placed on the table the entire time. Which was well enough, he guessed.

Keigo figured he was being escorted out of the building but instead, realised belatedly that they were now further into a maze of newer corridors that finally ended him in a medical bay once again.

The agent stepped aside, ushering him in with a simple flick of his gaze that had him scrambling into the area. The same doctor he had visited earlier in the week was on her laptop, typing away. She looked up to find Keigo and gave him a warm smile.

"So... I hear congratulations are in order," she chuckled and motioned him towards one of the beds. News travels fast at SHIELD, Keigo numbly thought. Keigo felt dumbfounded enough to not reply. Too much happened in a short span of time for him to completely register her words. He was overflowing with information and her congratulating him by unwrapping the bandages on his shoulder was one of those things that he supposed might as well happen; another input neuron fired onto his saturated, straining brain.

"Uh... t-thanks?"

She shook her head and gently began pressing different points on his shoulder to assess the damage remaining. It no longer hurt like Wednesday, but Keigo still shied away from her touch.

"Don't sound so unsure, kid. This is one of those things that forever changes your life," she said. Keigo only nodded, slowly taking in her words.

She was right, even after Keigo turned 18, he wouldn't be the same person he is now. A lot of things would change for him, drastically so - the people, the environment, the entire world as he knew it. Everything would be twisted by his new SHIELD-lenses that would tell him exactly how fucked up people truly were.

Keigo wasn't sure he was ready for that change.

God, what was he doing?

The doctor, noticing the obvious rush of slow-building panic on his face backtracked, "Hey... hey! Come back to me, it's not all that bad alright?" she assured him, one of her hands on his shoulder, the other on the elbow. She slowly turned it to see how far it could stretch (not far at all). "Best case scenario, it's just paperwork and a lot of research. Kind of like being in school, except for the fact that you will be in peak physical condition, develop incredibly high cognitive thinking with specialisation in a whole bunch of cool stuff. So basically, you become a total badass on a good day."

Keigo smiled faintly at her attempt to make him feel better. It was a refreshing change from all those other agents being all stoic and generally drained of unicorn juice. She was sweet. But...

"And on the bad days?" he asked, voice small and hoarse. She paused in applying some weird goop medicine on his shoulder. Her smile dimmed, but she still looked at him kindly.

"On bad days... we take it one hour at a time. Or if that's too much, then a minute at a time. Gotta keep going, that's what we are here for-" there was something sad in her face, but she quickly recovered and cleared her throat, "-besides, you don't start training for at least another two weeks. Physical therapy first, then, when your body is strong enough to handle strain again, they will start will the physical stuff. In the mean time, it's mostly coursework - high school 2.0, yeah?" she looked at him imploringly, not waiting for an answer as she re-wrapped his side and slid more medication into a bag. "Keep taking this twice a day, and no pressure on the shoulder, got it?"

Keigo nodded. Then,

"What's your name?"

The question seemed to have taken her aback, apparently. Keigo didn't know why, he was too tired to care.

"Dr Lynn," she replied.

"Huh... that's. Not- not Japanese?"

"No, it's not," she smiled, her dark, long hair swishing to one side, "Now get out of my office. And welcome to SHIELD, Keigo!" she called out as he left with Agent Aloof.

"Thanks, Dr Lynn!" he shouted back.

"You sure he won't be angry about this?" Keigo asked as they approached Urahara Shop. Yoruichi sat on his left shoulder, content with not walking. Keigo would have complained except naked or not, Yoruichi was somehow even more terrifying than an angry Kisuke.

"Oh he will," Yoruichi replied, licking a paw, "Except it was my idea, so if he gets mad at you, I'm gonna kick his ass."

"Why would he send you to me if you weren't gonna follow his instructions anyway?"

"Because I have a mind of my own, for one. And secondly, Kisuke is not nearly as good at multi-tasking as he believes he is. Having you under SHIELD will be one less thing to worry about, and he won't fuck up the rest of the things he has on his plate."

Keigo pouted, "I know I'm a burden, but you could at least not say it to my face,"

"It's not about being a burden, Keigo," she reasoned, "-it's practical, both for you and him. Neither of you trust SHIELD, but I don't see why SHIELD has reason to trust you guys either. Logically, it's a solution that makes sense. Kisuke isn't... good with kids, you may have noticed. With you around and without protection, he will distract himself from things that could potentially put a lot of people in danger - it's a pattern, with him. Even so, you didn't have to go with this idea if you didn't really want to," Keigo could hear her smirking. Damn it, she was kinda right.

As they reached the open door of the shop, Yoruichi leaped from his shoulder and sauntered inside. "Wait here," she warned. Keigo obeyed emphatically.

"Keigo!"

It felt like a knock-off flashback from Sunday, the voice of a girl calling him from a distance. Keigo immediately tensed, panic rising in his gut, stuck somewhere between running into the shop and ready to defend himself as he decided to turn, fist clenched and raised to-

It was Ryo.

The breath left Keigo's chest in relief.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she motioned at his raised hand, bewildered. It looked particularly funny with the giant beanie she wore to cover nearly half of her face.

"Uh," he lowered his hand, "Hi?"

Ryo opened her mouth before her gaze flickered behind him and closed it again. Instead, she took him further away from the shop.

"So..." she started, once they were out of hearing distance, "Why exactly am I supposed to break up with you?"

Keigo sputtered, suddenly remembering the events from school.

"Right. I cheated on you by hitting on someone from self-defense class," he said as a matter-of-fact.

"I- really? They bought that?" she whispered, eyes darting back to the shop.

Keigo pointed at himself, "Pervert, remember?"

They fell silent again.

"So... we aren't supposed- we just don't talk anymore? Or..."

Keigo shrugged.

"I guess that's the plan. It keeps Ichigo and Co. off my back, and you no longer have to get into this mess." Ryo's expression flickered into something Keigo couldn't decipher.

"Oh..." she trailed off, looking down. Keigo assumed she would be a tad more relieved to hear that. It hasn't exactly been a joyride for her either. "But um- what about- what about the things you told me about in the letter? I can't-"

"Don't. Don't worry about that, it's not worth putting you under scrutiny. Just, let's forget about it okay? You're safe, and I think I may have temporarily dealt with the problem so..." he smiled, "'S all good."

Ryo sighed.

"But- I don't like the idea of you... you doing this by yourself. From what we discussed, it's cost you a lot more than you made it out to be," she reasoned, looking at him somewhat sad. What the heck? He was giving her an out here and she wasn't freaking taking it. He owed her a computer for god's sake! "You said you wanted an emergency exit in case things went south, and I- I have the contacts to make sure that you get out of it without, you know..." she motioned to his shoulder, "And... you can't like- you can't just suddenly tell me this isn't important!"

She unknowingly raised her voice at the last part. Keigo cringed, but figured that if Kisuke decided to eavesdrop, that was the safest statement they could get away with without getting caught. Keigo hushed her nonetheless.

"I thought you didn't want to be a part of this!" he hissed.

"I don't!"

"Then why-"

"Okay, I do. But- can't you just... beg me to take you back or something? Then we can be together and our friends won't interfere 'cause they'll still be mad at you!"

Keigo looked at her incredulously, "You know we aren't actually dating, right?"

"Of course I do, idiot. I-" Ryo looked a him then, straight in the eyes, "This whole time... there's been this, this world of basically groundbreaking stuff that has been dangling right in front of me. For months, even- monsters, shinigami, the whole- and. And I was too scared to take it you know? I didn't want any trouble; if it's not happening to me it's none of my business and all that.

"But I don't wanna do that anymore, Keigo. This- okay. Supernatural stuff, I get why humans like us shouldn't be privy to, there's already a system in place that mostly handles it well enough but. This shit is real, actual stuff that could directly impact a whole bunch of us- muggles."

Keigo knew what she meant. It would be difficult to resist secrets that have been within the human civilisation for decades, perhaps longer. Every dark little corner of the best and worst of humanity untouched by common folk like them would be right there, in bold lights, daring them to pretend they don't see it, to pretend to forget. Who knows what messed up shit Keigo would find while working for SHIELD? Espionage, trafficking, assassinations. Freakin' sex scandals and conspiracy theories - they would be a step closer to discovering all of that. Together.

And Ryo, despite her passive nature, has always been sharp eyed and thirsty for that knowledge. She wanted to know, and Keigo got it. It was like turning away from a treasure chest with the key already in. All they had to do was twist it to find out if it contained gold or a mere imitation of it. Either way, both held a certain knowledge, data points to draw conclusions from.

"Also..." Ryo continued, unaware of Keigo's train of thought, "If something happens to you, I feel like that would be on me. Because I physically walked away from something that could have saved-" she choked on the sentence, unable to complete it, but she didn't have to.

Guilt was a terrible enabler.

Keigo too, felt the same guilt lining his insides at all the things that could go wrong with her under the same spotlight as he was in. But this was her choice, and friend or not, Keigo could not begrudge her this - not with her conviction, with her sheer competence. He was pretty sure he wouldn't last very long if shit did hit the fan and Ryo wasn't around to help him.

So, to put her out of her misery, Keigo did something his past-self would wholeheartedly approve of. He went on his knees and bowed down to her, ignoring her shriek of surprise.

"Kuneida Ryo, please take me back! I promise to always be your partner no matter what!"

It was the closest relationship he had to someone in cahoots. But he had to play it up, for Urahara and Yoruichi, who were definitely watching from the shop. They were, after all, dating.

Ryo remained silent for a solid ten seconds, staring at him in disbelief.

Then, she stifled a laugh and smacked his shoulder.

"Oh my God, get up, you dramatic little shit! Ugh, I regret this already."

Keigo straightened himself at her command, eyes twinkling ever so slightly, "No take-backs then?"

Ryo sighed, but her mouth was still turned up in the remnants of a smile, "Fine, no take-backs."

"Good, because things just got way more complicated."

A/N: check out ao3 for this fic! since I upload there faster.

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