Suri has a talk with the cops. She also discovers just how much of her secret has gotten out. Mina copes with the burden she had on her shoulders.

It was mid evening when Suri woke up again.

Her eyes slowly opened to the view of the bland white ceiling tiles, fluorescent lights, and a soft wash of sunset pouring through the portion of the window the curtains weren't covering. And oh boy, that stale antiseptic smell that every hospital in existence had. Yay! Though now that she scented the room again, she found a couple underlying scents that did manage to make her happy. That is until her ears allowed her to hear the voices in the room.

"Midori, you know you shouldn't be going."

"I know, Mina but… I have to. I was right there, I could have saved him, but I just couldn't move enough to make that last reach. I owe it to him to try and save him."

"Then let me go with you, Kirishima, and Todoroki. I can help you get Bakugou back. I can… make sure you don't have to hurt yourself like this again."

Mina went from worried to pitious in that last sentence and it made Suri frown hard and forced her head, stiff as her neck was, to turn to her and Izuku. Her gut wrenched when she saw both of them. Mina had bandages wrapped tight around her wrists and palms and there were several small trace bruises peppering her forearms. She had a large square bandage on her cheek and another on her right bicep. Izuku was still bandaged almost head to toe. His arms were completely wrapped up tight with the white medical gauze, then there was another set wrapped tight around his forehead. His cheek and neck also sported a couple of those giant bandages that covered a wide surface area.

And what was this about them going somewhere? To rescue Bakugou?

"Gemini, the mission is complete. We're leaving."

She remembered those words, her eyes went wide and her entire body went cold.

They'd failed to protect Bakugou.

How many others had been taken or injured? Shit, how long had she been out?

Fuck it, if they were going… somewhere... so was she!

Suri groaned as she tried to lift herself off of the bed and was about to swing her legs out from under the cheap hospital sheets when she met resistance. She felt a tugging at both of her wrists and at her ankles. The movementment resulted in a series of small clanging sounds, which startled both Mina and Izuku, and then Suri saw the bitter sadness in their faces when they looked at her. It made her take the time to focus herself and see what was going on and why she couldn't get out of bed.

Also, why the fuck did her wrists itch so damn bad?

Her eyes blinked. And she blinked again because the coloring seemed off, like someone had turned the saturation setting on a TV up a notch or two. Now that she thought about it, the evening sky that peeked through the shade did seem a lot brighter. And Mina's skin was a lot richer than the last time she'd seen her, definitely more rich than she was in that dream she had. Izuku's hair and eyes seemed more striking now and with the stoic look on his face, it made him sort of ruggedly handsome. Had he always been that way? She looked from them back down to herself and tried to raise her wrists and found the resistance of movement again and that tiny clanging. And then her eyes made sense of what she was seeing.

Suri's hands were bound.

There was a pair of handcuffs tight around her wrists and she was able to see that the ends not connected to her person were cuffed tight around two heavy duty, steel chains that went from her to under the bed. Moving her legs she found the same resistance, albeit those ones were massive with a large leather cuff around each of her legs. Her ankles didn't itch from the giant leather straps but on a second inspection of her hands, she found the skin of her inner wrists, which had alway been a shade or two lighter, was bright red. It was an allergic reaction which only meant one thing.

The handcuffs had silver in them.

Her eyes went from the handcuffs back up towards Izuku and Mina who were looking as sad and ashamed as ever. It made her heart tighten and a lump swelled in her throat.

"Guys," she asked in a quiet, hoarse tone. "What's going on?"

Mina and Izuku looked at each other with that nervous 'you should tell her' 'no, you should tell her' look in their eyes. It wasn't a good sign. And coming from her girlfriend and unofficial boyfriend, it definitely wasn't a good sign. Then Mina sighed deep and closed her eyes.

"Midori got messed up really bad when the villains attacked. He won't tell us how bad it is but I know the doctor said something that spooked him."

"You got hurt too."

"Honey, that's still not the point," Mina grumbled as she retorted Izuku. "Before the doctor came in, everyone from class other than Tooru, Jirou, and Yaomomo came in to check on you guys."

"Mina…"

Izuku's tone and the look in his eyes made Suri's heart sink even more. He'd caught Mina in a lie. Why did she just lie? And where was Tooru, why hadn't she come in?

"Okay, fine, they came to check on you," Mina spat back with her eyes glaring at the greenette.

She sounded bitter.

"Kirishima and Todoroki have a plan of going and getting Bakugou back. Momo made a tracking device back in the forest and it helped lead the pros and police to a location where they think the League of Villains hideout is. Where they might be keeping Bakugou. They want Izuku to go with them and help."

"No," Suri said quietly and then shook her head and stared firmly at Izuku. "Hell no! Izu, look at you, I… you can't fight villains like that."

"Right? That's what I said," Mina grumbled, agreeing with the beast girl.

"We won't be fighting. We're going to sneak in and out and bring him home. No fighting the villains. No breaking the law or anything like that," Izuku retorted, like that explained everything so reasonably.

"That's… Izuku, you're cute and all, but that idea is really fucking stupid."

He at least blushed at that comment Suri made.

"I... want to go with you but…"

"I'm sorry, Suri, you can't do that either," Mina said sadly.

"I… Why?" Suri asked simply, her expression growing sadder because she thought she might already know the answer to what she was about to ask. "Guys, why am I chained up?"

"Everyone knows," Izuku answered in a small whisper, trying to mask all of the pain and shame he felt for what had happened.

"I told them not to. I told them you wouldn't do anything but no one listened to me," Mina shuddered, her fists balling as tears began to make their way down her cheeks.

Suri just nodded, lowered her eyes and she too felt the warm wet streaks beginning to march their way down her cheeks as well. She fought not to make eye contact and instead tried to focus on her feet like they were the most interesting thing in the world. As tears began to pour, a small pitiful smirk crossed her lips and a half hearted chuckle choked from her throat.

"I-I… After everyone saw you shift at the camp, they were scared, we all were," Mina explained quietly. "They saw the blood, how much there was and how it all sort of led straight to you. People started asking questions, they were hounding me and Tooru about you. We refused to say anything without you and everyone started assuming you killed the villain. Then to try and calm everyone down and try and stop all of the rumors… someone... said something…"

Mina clenched her firsts, looking angry now, and turned that look of anger away from everyone.

"Then came the blood tests…"

Suri looked up at Mina then, her eyes a little wide and she stared at the pinkette in shock. Had she infected one of them? She had been told it wasn't impossible to infect someone but the chances were less than one percent so it was extremely rare. Panic began to set in and Suri began to focus on that minute chance that she had done something that could, and very well probably would, ruin one of her friend's lives.

"D-Did I… Is someone else," Suri stammered out, expecting the worst.

"It would have been me or Tooru if you did, but we both came back negative," Mina replied, which offered at least some relief to the onset of a panic attack that Suri had started down.

"I didn't hear anything about a blood test," Izuku stated, looking a little confused by the revelation.

"Honey, you were in and out for two days straight. I'm not surprised you don't know or don't remember," Mina sighed and shook her head at the greenette with pursed lips.

"Two days?" Suri tried shooting up out of bed but the restraints pulled tight and forced back into a sitting position that was more relaxed than anything. "But that means…"

Suri looked at the sky peeking through the window and realized she'd been out longer than that which meant she had missed so much. And she had been victim to almost three days of rumors and stories. Was it any wonder no one trusted her right now?

"I've been out almost three days."

"Yeah," Mina answered, clearly not happy about everything that had been going on.

"Mina, Izuku, where's Tooru?"

Mina's brow dipped lower and she was even more upset.

"She's been in and out of consciousness for the last couple days too. I guess," Mina clenched her fists tighter and took a shaky breath. "The gas villain that attacked the camp, a lot of our classmates got hit with a little bit of it at least. Tooru and Jirou got the worst of it but Tooru had somehow been able to carry Jirou out of the forest back towards camp."

"She did more than that," Suri said, furrowing her brow because she was upset with herself now that the thought came to mind. "If it weren't for the two of you, that Gemini chick would have killed me."

"From what I've heard, she was like our Izuku here," Mina smirked softly, giving the greenette kind eyes.

"S-She was?" Izuku replied, a little shocked, and slightly flustered from the good eye contact Mina had given him.

"The three of you crashed hard. You and Tooru had been running on pure adrenaline and had no idea how injured you were. Tooru pulled a you," she pointed at Izuku, "and ran with Jirou on her back, Then she pulled off a move that she's been training in secret."

"It all must have caught up with her after I passed out," Suri sighed.

"Yeah. And I'm sorry if I sound like a bitch but… I hate that the three of you left me alone to deal with all of this by myself. And I hate that, even after telling you you're too hurt, you're still going to go with them, aren't you," Mina scowled hard at Izuku, making him flinch.

"Y-Yeah," he admitted bashfully.

"Dammit Izuku, no," Suri scowled at the boy and he became even more shrunken in on himself.

"Babe, no, cause you'd be doing the same thing," Mina glared at her girlfriend with a pointed 'oh don't you even get started' kind of glare. It made Suri look away just as bashfully. "And then I'd have to be here, alone, until Tooru wakes up again. I… I don't want to lose either of you."

That made both Izuku and Suri look at each other and then together at Mina, giving her sad apologetic looks. Because she was right. They wanted nothing more than to jump headlong into danger to try and rectify whatever mistakes the two of them had convinced themselves they had made and never once stopped to think about anything else. Never stopped to think about how much Mina had been having to deal with all on her own. Damn they were cruel and selfish.

"I… I'm sorry, Mina, but I have to go and help. I'm not going to fight. I won't do anything to jeopardize myself or anyone else, I just have to go save Kacchan because I couldn't do it before. I have to fix that mistake," he said, not looking at anyone with a hard determined glare and tightly balled fists.

"I'll stay," Suri sighed and stared with her own bitter determination towards the foot of her bed. "I'm going to be here when Tooru wakes up. I'm going to stop leaving you alone to deal with the bullshit I helped create. It was stupid of me to not think about what you've had to go through, babe, and for that I am so very sorry."

"I… I-If Kirishima says you're not gonna be fighting then fine, I trust him. Me and him have been friends for a long time, and he takes his word seriously. But!" Mina made Izuku jolt. He had been starting to smile and ease up as Mina was all but giving her permission to him - not that he needed it - then that snap of a word made him go stiff and wide eyed. "If you come back hurt, I am going to kick your ass and his, so help me."

"Double that," Suri smirked, making the boy shiver.

"R-Right!"

He nodded stiffly and started practically running for the door when he stopped in front of it with his hand on the handle. His expression softened and he looked back into the room and at the two girls. He thought about everything that had just happened and thought about how much he had made people worry about him. Then he remembered their times together as a group, about the beach, his first dates with the three of them, and the time they shared at the camp between training. He thought about and realized just how much he had come to mean to them and how much each of them meant to him. If he was going to go, like he was so set on doing, he couldn't leave yet. Not with that look on Mina and Suri's faces.

"Before I go I umm… H-Hey Mina," he said softly, trying to swallow down the nervousness that had started to swell inside of him. He turned to see her looking at him with an expectant, questioning glance. "W-When I get back I-I'd umm… c-can I… I-I'd like to go on a d-date… w-with you. I-If that's okay with you of course! I know we're not o-official but-"

"Yes."

Izuku let his eyes straighten back to Mina since they had begun to drift away as he stammered and stumbled through what he had been trying to ask. His eyes settled onto hers and he saw the soft happiness in them as she understood, even through the bumbling and mumbling, what he was trying so hard to ask. He watched her smile grow larger and how she began to giggle softly. And then he saw a tear. Why was she starting to cry? His glance became confused and before he even knew what was happening he had walked to her, his body pulling him towards the two girls on its own. Then his hands were on her shoulders, holding her gently as he stared into her eyes.

"M-Mina did I… say something wrong?"

"No," Mina said, still smiling as she shook her head. "You're about to run off into danger and you… you did that for me."

"Y-Yeah. I umm… I-"

Mina never let him finish and Suri couldn't help but smile as her girlfriend - their girlfriend - took that last step forward and threw her arms around the back of Izuku's neck. He was jerked into her with a sudden motion of happiness and he let out a yelp sort of sound before his lips were crushed against Mina's. She kissed him hard and suddenly but pulled away before he could truly return it. A part of him really wanted to return her affections with that much zeal. He then had the sudden feel of her head being buried into his chest and her hands scrunching the back of his shirt in her hands.

"Burgers," she grumbled softly into his shirt.

"What?" he replied, letting the question hang full of question.

"That's where you're taking me, dork," she said, smiling wide as she pulled back from him and looked into his eyes. She then turned to Suri and gave her a hard glare, "and you! You're taking me for ice cream. After the stress you two have put me through, you owe me a ton of grease and sugar. Got it."

"Deal, Babykins," Suri laughed and shook her head before letting out a long, deep sigh. She needed that laugh.

Izuku caught on and started chuckling as well while Mina let go of him and pushed him away. The look in her eyes telling him that if he was going to go then he needed to do it quickly before she changed her mind. He took the hint surprisingly well and moved, swiftly making his way out the door. Once he was gone, Mina turned back to Suri and gave the beast girl a small smile which faded as her eyes looked at the restraints. The pinkette dropped her head and balled her fists again which made Suri realize that she'd been stressing over the restraints and Suri's treatment the entire three days.

"He'll be okay," Suri said softly. She then gave Mina a soft smile and made sure she listened to the next part, teasing her a little bit. "And here I thought Tooru had fallen the hardest for him."

"What?! I-I… N-No! No I-"

Mina blushed hard, blundering her words as she tripped over them and stared wide eyed and shocked at Suri for saying such a thing. No. Suri totally hadn't called Mina out on the truth.

"Babe," Suri said softly, grinning warmly which seemed to calm Mina down a little. "We're in love with him and that's perfectly okay. It's a bit of a shock isn't it? Thinking that you couldn't possibly love more than one person and then you end up being head over heels for three."

"Yeah," Mina chuckled then, her cheeks still burning as she turned and sat herself onto Suri's bed so the two girls could look at each other and talk. The pinkette went a step further and took Suri's left hand into both of hers, idly tracing her fingertips over her girlfriend's dark bronze skin on the back of her hand. "I was open to dating him with you and Tooru at the beach. I've liked him for a long time now and I've always thought he was attractive. Then the way he kisses us and holds us he… The night of the full moon made me realize how far I'd fallen."

"What happened while I was out hunting?"

"He walked us back to the girls cabin. The entire way back we talked about you and how me and him thought what we saw was amazing. He actually completely listened to me go on one of my monster movie rants," Mina laughed, smiling wide as she replayed the thought. "He never thought my horror movie obsession was weird or anything, you know that? Anyway, just… the way he made sure we were okay and showed he cared for more than just my tits. Yeah. I'm in love with him. I'm in love with you. I'm in love with Tooru. I… we're not adding anyone else right? Cause I think my brain is fried trying to figure out how to do three people."

"Yeah!" Suri laughed and squeezed Mina's hands in hers. "I think I'm more than happy to be exclusive to you three."

"Thank god," Mina blurted out and began snickering. After a long laugh and a much needed smile she let herself stare and fall into Suri's eyes. She was lettering herself get lost in them, happy to do so. "Suri I-"

The door opened then and it stopped both girls who had been inching closer to each other, their lips within a breath of each other. They both turned back to see two older men, one in a black suit and the other in a beige colored suit, standing at the door. They seemed rough around the edges, weathered from the stress of the job, and the older of the two gave a particularly unfriendly look at both girls. The job that had made them worn with stress was made apparent when they both held up leather wallets that flipped open vertically to reveal a pair of bronze badges.

It made Mina's eyes go wide with surprise while Suri's furrowed with concern. What were a couple of police detectives doing here?

They just stared at the two of them, growing even more tired and disgruntled by the second. Mina seemed to pick up on the growing tension and quickly wrapped her arms around Suri, hugging her tight and ever so subtly nuzzling herself into the beast girl.

"I'll go check on Tooru," Mina whispered into Suri's ear.

She then pulled away, mouthing an I love you before she stood up. Suri mouthed an I love you too in return and then looked back and forth between her girlfriend and the detectives. They gave each other a brief nod, trying to let Mina know that everything would be okay before she turned and headed for the door. She quietly slipped past the men and then quickly shut the door behind her.

Once Mina was gone, the men gave a look to each other and then to Suri who remained.

"Suri Kuroyashi," the man in the black suit stated dryly, his tone barely smoother than the heavy bags under his eyes. He was like what Aizawa would look like if he wasn't frequently working out, had shorter hair, and chain smoked like crazy. It was apparent that he smoked heavily not because of the crumpled pack in his suit jacket pocket but the fact that he quite literally smelled like an ashtray. It made Suri's nose and one of her eyes twitch from the offensive smell. "I'm Detective Otoyama, this is my partner, Detective Kusabara, we just wanted to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

Suri looked down at her restraints and then back to the detectives and tried giving them her best possible smile the situation could muster. Her smile and tone came out more sarcastic than she meant it to be.

"I don't got anywhere else I need to be," she said, clanging the handcuffs against their chains. "So I guess I'm fine with it."

The two of them rolled their eyes and then looked at each other. Detective Otoyama seemed to grow impatient at the tone of Suri's voice and his glare deepened like caves when he looked back at the beast girl. The younger of the two, Detective Kusabara, gave a weak smile. He seemed to take the sarcasm in good stride. Like it had been a sort of levity in the past however long they'd been on their shift.

"Alright kid, I'll cut to the chase. You tryin' to infect that girl there, Miss Ashido?"

"Infect? What do you mean?" Suri might have had an idea what he was alluding to but to just come out and say what he did threw her through a loop.

"Turn her into one of you, damn animals," he sounded bitter. "Make her into one of you, kid."

Suri froze, eyes wide at the detective. Had he really just been that blunt? Was he really that scared of her and lycanthropes in general or was he just really prejudiced?

"Otoyama… Come on," the other detective sighed and shook his head at the older man, his tight wine red ponytail swaying artfully. "What my partner means is-"

"Yeah, I get what he means," Suri scoffed and shook her head. 'The answer is no. I've been extremely careful around my friends and classmates."

"Huh, we heard you were going around infecting her, another girl, Hagakure, and the Midoriya boy. Anyone that's gotten close to you. We were told that you've put them under some sort of attraction spell whatever voodoo magic you've got going on," this, again, from Detective Otoyama who was piling up all sorts of complaints that could be used against him.

"Kenta! Are you serious?" Detective Kusabara scolded the older man.

"I'm just getting to the bottom of things, kid. You younger detectives let all of the pros do your work for you and more and more criminals and villains fall through the cracks. How do we know she's not with them? She's one of them!"

"Detectives, lemme ask you real quick," Suri glared at the older man. "What's the law about questioning a minor without the presence of a legal guardian? Because if you're going to keep insulting me then I think I might need to wait until a lawyer or guardian is here."

"That won't be necessary, Miss Kuroyashi," Kusabara answered and gave a hard glare at the man next to him. "If I may… We know that you're a lycanthrope, obviously, and we know you're tied to the Black Pool Clan in Musutafu, as well as having ties to Aspen Throne Clan back in Salt Lake City. We know who your family is. And we know who you are. Do your classmates know what and who you are?"

"They do now," Suri grimaced and looked down. "I don't know what you've been told but they've had three days to come up with some very interesting accusations about me. Instead of waiting to hear me out, they chained me up. Honestly, I've only been awake for a half hour so if you're wanting specifics then Izuku Midoriya, Tooru Hagakure, Mina Ashido, Tenya Iida, Shoto Todoroki, and Koji Koda are the ones I've personally told about me being a wereanimal."

"Hmm, yes, Iida told us several things that were very concerning," Kusabara replied before him and Suri turned to Otoyama.

"Concerning? She's a fucking bloodthirst animal, Hide. Did you not hear the kids? She was planning on making them all her cult followers or she was going to gut them all just like her friend has been doing up and down the eastern seaboard. She was gonna kill them just like she did to the villain we picked up in the forest and Ragdoll. It's bad enough without her being a monster, look at the crime statistics in the U.S. she's as bad as the rest of her kind."

"Ragdoll's… she's really?"

Suri looked up at both of them, shocked eyes again as a massive lump began to swell in her throat and tears began rolling down her cheeks again. Had she really been killed? Had it been her fault? It had to have been, the League wouldn't have gone out and gotten wereanimals to join their ranks if it hadn't been for Suri. She had done it, she had gotten Ragdoll killed.

"Dammit, Otoyama," the younger of the two detectives growled. His eyes were full of anger that he directed straight into the eyes of Detective Otoyama while Suri began to sob. "I get that this case has been eating at you but you know better than to act like this! She's not even an official suspect and you're treating her like this?"

"Maybe he's right…"

"See, Kusabara, she admits it!"

"That's… that's not what I'm saying. If I hadn't confronted Tomura Shigaraki last week, he wouldn't have gone out and hired rogue lycanthropes. It's my fault those two were there and it's my fault Ragdoll's dead."

"Kuroyashi, please excuse my partner. We have Ragdoll listed as missing. It's true we found her blood at the scene but without conclusive evidence leading us to her whereabouts, we can't say for sure what happened to her. Isn't that right, teacher?" Kusabara sounded pissed now, emphasizing several points in his speech while his overall tone grew more bitter with each word.

"Fine, then what can you tell us about this Hyrum Black character?" Otoyama spat back, looking down at Suri.

"Otoyama, leave the room. I'll be putting in a call to the chief to have you removed from the case because you can't seem to be objective here. I know you've had your issues with cases like this but treating a minor like this is uncalled for!"

"Hyrum is a ghost from my past that I will never live down and why I'm trying to become a hero. I wouldn't be going to UA if I wasn't trying to redeem myself for what I did. I'm going to save and help as many people as I can in the three years I got left. After that, I'll give you a personal invitation, Detective Otoyama, and you can watch me be executed since that's what you seem to want to see so badly."

"Executed?" Both of them asked, a little shocked as they gave Suri confused glances.

"Technically, I'm a rogue lycanthrope, a Reaver. And by decree of the Aspen Throne Clan, in three years time, a hunting party will be sent after me to perform my judgment and execution for violation of pack law and ritual. Maybe if you ask nicely, they'll send you my head," Suri gave Otoyama a bright happy smile that was all sarcasm and bitterness. If he wanted to be an ass, she could be one too.

"And you're just fine with that?" He asked coldly, looking at her in disbelief.

"Abso-fucking-lutely not, Detective. I'm not fine with knowing I've only got three years left. I'm not fine with being responsible for bringing rogue lycanthropes into contact with the League of Villains. I'm not fine with knowing my friends are terrified of me. I'm not fine with your prejudice and racism. I'm not fine with any of it but there's nothing I can change so I have to make do."

"Then let's see if there is something you can help change Kuroyashi," Kusabara asked before his partner could have a chance to open his mouth. "What do you know about a man named Mikael Scabbia?"

"I… I've never heard of him."

"What about his alias, Domino?" Otoyama asked, a little calmer now.

"The dead werehyena," Suri said thoughtfully in response.

"Yeah, the one you killed according to several eyewitness accounts," Otoyama spat.

"That's not even close to what happened!" Suri shot back angrily.

"Then tell us what did," Kusabara asked, his tone kind towards Suri but his glare angry at his partner next to him.

"I was fighting the other werehyena at the time. Gemini, if I remember right. We had been fighting for a while and during one of the points I had an upper hand on her, he showed up and threw me off of her. When I was able to refocus I saw him carrying Ragdoll over his shoulder. He told Gemini that the mission was over, they were leaving. She had been mad that he interrupted but she was also mad because Domino had injured Ragdoll. Said something about the boss being mad and their paychecks would get cut. She didn't like that answer because she wasn't finished with me and the situation with Ragdoll so she hit him. She punched clean through his chest and killed him before resuming her fight with me. She was about to go for the kill on me when Hagakure and Ashido intervened and then the villain Kurogiri appeared and took her away. When he disappeared, Ragdoll disappeared with them."

"I thought you couldn't remember that clearly after the shift back?" Kusabara asked curiously. Apparently he had known a few wereanimals or was familiar with them at least. Then again, if what she was told was true all police and new pro heroes all knew about her kind.

"It's been three days, Atiena's had time to plug in my memories from that night, plus I was more aware during that shift than others I've had."

"And who's this Atiena?" Kusubara asked, taking notes.

"She's my beast," Suri answered honestly.

That made him pause his note taking before he wrote slowly at the same time he spoke.

"Your… beast… Okay then," he didn't know what to do or how to process that tidbit of information about her. "So you saw Ragdoll when Domino appeared, how did her health seem to you?"

"If I had to guess, Detective, I'd say she was in shock. I think she went one on one with Domino and he bit her arm off. Her left arm, I think, is what looked to be missing. I also think that Domino tried to tourniquet her arm to stop the bleeding because she had a shirt tight around where it was bitten off at the elbow."

"So the blood-"

"Is from the wound to her arm," Suri finished for Kusabara. "The more I think about it; I don't believe Kurogiri would have taken her if she was dead."

"If that's the case then we may have an idea on her location," he nodded with a grin.

"You mentioned someone named Gemini. Some of the kids said you seemed to have an intimate relationship with her. How intimate are you with her?" Otoyama asked, still grumpy but far less heated than moments before.

"I'm not. Before her I only knew of one other werehyena and that was back in Utah. He was kind of a loner but that was mostly due to hyena pack structure," Suri shrugged as she stared hard at the foot of the bed trying to remember the old acquaintance of hers. "Honestly… what happened to Domino doesn't really surprise me."

"And why's that?" Kusabara asked curiously.

"Out of all of us, lions and hyenas are the only wereanimal groups that want to go back to traditional practices. They're the only ones who never gave up challenges of power to the death to determine group hierarchy."

"Damn animals and all of this alpha male shit," Otoyama scoffed.

"Not exactly, Detective," Suri smirked up at the big man. "Ya see, everyone props male lions up as king of the jungle and think they're the badasses but they're wrong. Males are pretty useless most of the time."

"So werelions are a matriarchy?" Kusabara asked, the figurative lightbulb going off in his head.

"Yup. And so are hyenas. Hell, they're more female oriented than any other group to the point that the males are abused or killed just for being male. That's why the guy I knew was on his own, it's the only way for male werehyenas to have a happier life. And if Gemini is half as crazy as I found out she is first hand, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did."

"Anyone ever told you you're way too comfortable knowing that shit? How do you know all of this stuff anyway," Otoyama asked with a deep scowl.

"You said you know who my family is, right? My dad's been wolf king for almost four decades, my oldest brother has been acting and interim wolf king for almost one of those four. My biological mother is the only wereleopard to hold a position equal to queen among the wolves and then her mother, my grandmother, is leopard queen of all central and southern Japan."

"So your family is big time, so what."

"No, detective, wereanimals take those titles very seriously. If my parents and grandmother are kings and queens then," Suri dipped her wide and made a waffling motion with her hands.

It was Kusabara that was the winner of the gold star in today's Wereanimal 101 lesson.

"You're basically a princess," he said with a smirk, pausing his note taking and chuckling softly at the revelation.

"Tooru was the first one to call me that, funny enough," Suri grinned happily, thinking of the invisible girl.

"So that's where the reports of you being delusional and calling yourself queen and shit comes in. That's gotta be some of the most batshit crazy stuff I've ever heard," Otoyama laughed.

"Sir, if I may, your anger towards this case is really hindering our progress. I'm sorry but if another remark like that comes out of your mouth, I will report you to the chief. She's giving us valuable information. If our reports are correct and this Gemini was calling herself… Oba," he paused, quickly flipping back through his notes before continuing, "and Kuroyashi is claiming herself to be a… Lupra then-"

As Kusabara was speaking and he brought up Gemini being Oba and Suri being Lupra, the beast girl's mind instantly clicked. For the first time since the fight, Atiena stirred awake with the knowledge of the situation and the conversation. Both Suri and Atiena, their collective consciousness, made a possible connection. They remembered the case files Tsukauchi had on his desk before Grandma Kuroyashi had gone in to talk to him. If that had been related to Gemini then maybe…

"Detective Tsukauchi is investigating a string of brutal murders all over Japan. We saw some of the photos last week and we believe Gemini may be the most likely suspect. She had mentioned about seeking out worthy opponents and that I had finally been a match," Atiena spoke and it made both detectives jump in shock from the sudden change in voice. "It may be wise to ask him and see if the victims were all lycanthropes, especially lycanthropes that had a substantial amount of power and were wereanimal group leaders or close to the top."

"Tch, go figure your boyfriend is tied to this case somehow," Otoyama scoffed, folding his arms tight and rolling his eyes. "Dunno how you trust that freak. Why couldn't you just be normal like the rest of us and settle down with a woman instead of flaunting that lifestyle of yours."

Kusabara just grinned wide. It was a great smile too, because it said quite a few things, one of which was that Otoyama just fucked up big time and would no longer be on the case. It also said he was really really looking forward to working with the wereleopard detective. Good to know. And most of all, it had given him a lead to try and leap for, if it stuck, maybe measures could be taken against Gemini and she could be stopped. Hooray for justice.

"Thank you, Miss Kuroyashi and… Atiena, I assume... we'll be going now. Thank you kindly for your time and cooperation and, if I may, I'll ask someone about those restraints. You're not in any pain from them are you?"

"They have trace amounts of silver so I'm not able to easily break them. I am having an allergic reaction to them but with how long they've probably been on me, I'll be left with scarring regardless of when they come off," Suri and Atiena spoke in unison with a layered voice. The girl simply shrugged, knowing there was no changing or fixing the damage already done.

"That's… unfortunate," he frowned, seeing the hives around her wrists. "Sorry again for taking up your evening."

"Not a problem, detectives. Glad I could help," Suri replied with a smile as she watched them head for the doors. Unsurprisingly, Otoyama never looked back or said another word to Suri, just rolled his eyes and left.

When the door opened, Suri's smile grew tenfold because as the detectives left, two people replaced them and Suri was more than happy to see them. Mina swept into the room first, happy and bubbly as ever as she got to see both of her girlfriends up, walking, and mostly healthy. Behind her was Tooru who had a set of scrubs on that matched Suri's own bland pale blue ones. Suri was more than happy to light up as she saw the two girls enter but then she had to pause as she noticed something she hadn't before. Tooru was barely translucent. She had been a walking shadow, a figure in the fabric of space around her, a barely visible ghost. Now? Now Suri could make out features, she was still a ghostly apparition and was very clearly see through but, for the first time, she could make out the outlines of hair, her eyes, and her lips.

She could almost see Tooru!

That happiness faded when she saw the now nearly invisible face of Tooru scrunch up, seeing something that made her nervous. Why was that? Tooru was happy to see her, right? Suri was happy to see Tooru, so why the barely-there expression that clearly read something was wrong?

"Baby girl, you okay," Suri asked softly.

Tooru froze then and Suri watched as her eyes went wide.

"H-How?" Tooru asked nervously, swallowing the nervousness down hard. "S-Suri why are you about to go into your," she paused again, looking around before whispering, "beastwoman form?"

"Beastwoman form? I'm not," Suri furrowed her brow, clearly confused. Then they both looked at Mina who quickly looked away with a shameful expression in her eyes as she scratched at her chin nervously. "Mina?"

"I'm sorry," she whined frantically. "I thought it was your usual thing when you were waving your power around a little. Then nothing changed and I thought you already knew and didn't care so I didn't want to bring it up. But I guess I should have and now I've messed up again and-"

"Mina, slow down," Suri shook her head, still confused about what was happening.

The pinkette grumbled and balled her firsts, clearly mad at herself over something. Then she began looking around frantically before spotting something of interest, rushing over to one of the other beds and finding a mirror. She quickly brought it back over and Suri realized what had spooked them both and why Mina was now freaking out. It made Suri go cold and her stomach took a dive.

Staring back at her were her animal eyes, her sclera an onyx black surrounding her chartreuse irises which made them stand out with a striking green gold color. The pupils within them were no longer completely round and were slimmed down to create an almond shape. Then she spotted her ears, seeing where they had tapered at the top, no longer round human ears but closer to elven in shape. Then she saw her neck and collarbone and went nearly still as she saw faint leopard spots covering the bare skin there.

Then her head did the math and realized what had happened.

What happens when you stay in beast form too long or transform into full beast form in too quick of a succession. She had done a combination of both. When you had stayed beast too long there was always one sure sign to tell that you hadn't come back completely human.

The eyes.

"Oh shit," Suri whispered softly.

"Suri, what's going on? And how did you… it's like you read my face," Tooru said, finally getting closer and coming to the side of the bed.

Suri tried for some humor to lighten the mood.

"So, Tooru, baby girl... What would you say if I said I could almost completely see you?"