The news of Burgoniya's murder could not have hit Mana at a worse moment. One would have thought that even for someone attached to everything that the human life stood for losing someone they were not getting along to such an extent with would have felt at least a little bit easier. It did not. In fact, remembering her final conversations with the woman made Mana only feel worse about the whole thing.

"Ma'am…" Shira acknowledged the fact that Mana's collapse was lasting an alarming length of time.

An uneasy feeling of blood pulsing in her forehead as it passed through from anguish and fury was a poor accompaniment to the blazing pain in the magician's heart. It was a good thing that she was young and while her core was being relentlessly pummeled from all sides, it persevered the siege. A heart any older or weaker would have easily burst into bloody mush.

"She did not wish to go…" Mana mumbled out. She spread out her fingers from cups to rakes as she grabbed her wild hair, all just to try and calm down the storm inside her chest.

"She was a Security officer. She knew what she signed up for. Out of all the rookies, she wanted it the most. She knew a safer service, one analyzing evidence behind a desk and yet she wanted more." Shira tried speaking in a less formal manner as he saw it being necessary. His tone softened appropriately.

"I told her to go, I told her she was needed there…" Mana cried out, her head trying to force out blood through forceful contact with the table beneath it muffled the sound somewhat.

"She was needed. The money would not have been recovered without her." Shira nodded.

"If I won she would not be dead." Mana lifted her head up, tears running down and her lips quivering. "I failed her."

Thumb looked at Shira, the woman looked confused and there was no reason for her not to be. The Diamond Hand must have been used to changing up its roster, someone got too ambitious - they were killed, someone told something they were not supposed to say to people who were not supposed to hear it – they died. Death was a daily routine not only for the leader of the thievery Finger but to anyone who called this ninja world their own.

"That's foolish, kid, you know it is." The woman squatted down so her eyes could look at Mana's from a lower level and so her hand could reach the magician's slumped and weak shoulders. "Nobody is to blame for someone dying but the person that does the deed. Index would be pretty pissed for you taking her credit like this."

"Look, this is all pretty sad and all but no one ever came back from the dead over someone crying hard enough over their dead body." Muriya stepped up and in front of Shira, trying to swerve the conversation into what he saw as a more productive direction.

Mana's eyes blanked out. Once again fate played a cruel trick on her, bringing her back from what should have been certain death only to show her she had not suffered enough and there were still ways it could bend her spine against its edge. Ways that were agonizing but precise enough not to break it.

"What my husband wanted to say is…" Muriya's wife stepped out in front of her husband, rudely silencing the man by pressing her hand against his mouth and barely restraining the desire to smack him, "You cannot bring your comrade back to life, all you can do is do your best to move on. Make sure that nobody else follows her."

"Truth be told, I'd feel much safer if Index did follow your friend right down to Hell…" Muriya fixed his tie, looking a little bit offended that he was silenced that way but not enough to make too much of a fuss of it. Even when his kids were not around, as they were lead to the cells where the Shukuba Security housed them in and let to doze off in peace, the man's glare did soften whenever he looked at his wife.

"I have to second that…" Thumb sighed after standing up. She let Mana wallow in her sadness and grief for as long as that would last. The woman clearly had enough experience to notice when someone was too stunned to be productive or function in any capacity at all. "The problem is that our hardest hitter is not enough at taking her out. Not to mention that she could snuff a roomful of us out before any of us even felt the pain of it."

Shira wanted to object, he looked at Mana who was just staring blankly at the floor, her hands trembling and hair falling all over her face. Without uttering a word of objection or questioning that conclusion, he conceded.

"Why are you here still?" Mana uttered, finally returning to her senses. "The workday is over, Toiya, Sora, the others… They're all back home."

"This is not just a job to me. I want the Diamond Hand out of my town, I believe you can do that, ma'am!" Shira straightened his back out and reported.

"Why? I got beaten, I couldn't protect anyone." Mana mumbled out.

"Truth be told, Burgoniya did not like you all that much so belief in your success had nothing to do her death." Shira proudly displayed a half-grin. "To me this is war. War has casualties, always. We cannot pick who lives or dies. We cannot select people we like less to die first. War is the only thing that picks its sacrifices but, after it has had enough, it is always followed by what comes after. War is chaotic, you cannot be everywhere and protect everyone."

A loud clapping noise killed the short silence that reigned in after Shira's words. Mana's eyes returned to life only to pick up traces of her own blood on the floor. Her head snapped back to look at Thumb who gave her a good backhand slap without holding back an ounce of her strength.

"Whether I live or die depends on if you can kill Index or not. My eyes get all sobby about that dead chick, they really do. The thing is that I stuck around because I like living too and you were my best bet at survival. Can you still guarantee me my life or do I need to claw my way out of here and look after my own behind from this point on?" the burglar raised her eyebrow, clashing her willful glare with Mana's confused and pain-ridden eyes.

"I… I've sensed her signature multiple times. I can recognize it when it is close. I've seen her fight enough to have a general idea of her style and stand a decent chance against her. The safest place for you is still the Shukuba Security." Mana uttered, strength and confidence slowly returning back into the magician's voice with every word. As crushing of a blow as Burgoniya's death was, the desire to keep Thumb with her and be able to protect her when the time comes or die trying still burned hotter in Mana's chest.

"In that case, what is the problem? Just meet her again and kick her ass! The Diamond Hand has dropped its tail and shed its skin, the Fingers are all alone now. This is the best time to press on instead of sitting here feeling sorry for yourself." Thumb pouted her lips while she looked away with disdain.

"She was faster and stronger than me, more experienced and better versed in taijutsu even when I was…" Mana stopped as if she said she was at full strength when she fought the Diamond Hand before she would have been lying, "…Less weakened. Even if I have gained knowledge of her abilities to even our difference in skill and experience out, she is still much faster than me, stronger too. As much as I do not like to admit it, her willingness to kill and intent to do so gives her another advantage as well."

"If strength and speed is the problem, just have me around, let's give her some of her own medicine and fight her two on one." Thumb turned back at Mana, the act of dismissal she was pulling before to get the magician's full attention had faded away.

"It will not be nearly enough. I was toying with you when we first fought to get the most information possible out of you. I do not wish to belittle your fighting ability but you will make no difference in the outcome. It will take her microseconds to kill you." Mana wrapped her fingers around her head again, this time not because the grief was choking all vigor out of her but because she merely was hard at work trying to think. One thing was to declare that she would be smarter this time, another one was to think her way out of being completely overshadowed by one's opponent in pretty much every attribute.

"Correct me if I am mistaken but…" Shira butted in. "Is it not chakra that grants the Rings such a tremendous advantage in skill? We have sealing tags on the cells to seal away one's ability to manipulate chakra, could you not use such a tag to take away her ability to use it as well?"

"It is not that easy," Mana shook her head, "Chakra Suppression Seals are all very high ranked jutsu, they require about as much skill in the field of sealing techniques as I am skilled in illusions. Even more, the Rings are also all tremendously skilled in general and their physicality is in peak condition so they would pose quite a challenge to my current state even after their chakra mastery is sealed away."

"Are you trying to tell that these buffoons have mustered up some super-seal all by themselves? No offense, big boy…" Thumb raised a questioning eyebrow before playing it down to Shira who dismissed the offensive comment entirely.

"Not quite, the seals used in corrective or containment facilities or other law enforcing buildings are different. They are based on other seals, powerful techniques weaved inside the very fortifications of those buildings. Those seals only require a simple "Hare" glyph sealing tag to complete the circuit and seal off the wearer's chakra, they have more to do with the environment the seal is applied in as outside those walls the "Hare" seal would be completely useless all by itself." Mana explained.

"Law enforcement facilities? Like here, or the Tribunal palace?" Muriya raised a shaking finger. The very idea of such facilities appeared to make the man's balding forehead sweat and him running short of breath.

"Yes, I suppose that would do it. Although, given that we are trying to keep your children as far away from the Diamond Hand as possible, it may be better to not fight Index here, where we are hiding them." Mana nodded.

"We could lure her there, couldn't we?" Muriya swallowed a fearful gulp. "Index I mean… Then, Sorceress-san could apply the seal and take away her superhuman abilities."

Following Muriya's idea, all the separate and detached ideas suddenly fired off like thunderstorms one at another, forming a circuit that all connected together forming a rail for the train of thought to bolt forward inside Mana's head.

"That's right…" she nodded. "You two are what Index wants, we could escalate the Tribunal session for both of you. Even if Index does not show – we'll be able to safely transfer you to Konoha's imprisonment facilities where you two would be safe. I'm sure we could strike a deal for you to be placed in Eden even… You are actively assisting this investigation and struggle against the Diamond Hand after all."

"You mean…" Muriya snapped his fingers with a smile.

"That's right, you and your children would be safe and could meet daily away from the Diamond Hand's influence." Something vaguely resembling a smile crawled up Mana's cheekbones as well. Just small dots where they protruded with a hint of an upwards arc but that was enough. That was it. That was hope.

"I'm not going…" Thumb objected, wrapping her hands around her chest and looking away with an angry glare.

"What do you mean? That's the safest option, don't you want to finally be rid of the Diamond Hand?" Mana turned at the woman, standing up to place her eyes a little bit more on Thumb's level. It was not a sign of confrontation or aggression, Mana just wanted to see inside the soul of the burglar woman.

"Don't think you can escape responsibility for your crimes, Thumb." Muriya got bold all of a sudden, stepping up to his past colleague in crime. "Eden would be a pretty sweet offer for us. The likes of us, people who take the slice of the Feudal Lord's pie, usually get executed."

"I don't care. It's… It's not safe in Eden, it's not safe anywhere as long as the Diamond Hand is here. I want to see them gone with my own eyes and I won't move an inch from Mana's skirt until I see that happen." Thumb spoke back, almost flustered and losing her cool. It was obvious that she was hiding something, Mana got quite curious all of a sudden, given that she chose such embarrassing words as a substitute for the truth.

"You want to stay in Shukuba and work in the Security…" Mana finally put it together. "There's nothing special about me. The Diamond Hand has already proved they can kill me if they really put their heads to it and I play right into their hand. You don't give rat's ass about staying by my side. You just said you do because by my side usually meant in the heart of the Security action."

"That's… Ridiculous! So what even if I was thinking about that!? It's not like it is completely impossible. You ninja switch teams too sometimes, giving away information to rogues or even other villages in exchange for sanctuary and a new place of employment. Why am I suddenly so much worse?" Thumb got all flustered, usually, the woman enjoyed a certain degree of elevation in social interactions, toying and teasing everyone in the room. This may have been the first time that her heart was the one being examined and admired by everyone like an animal in some sick zoo.

"Could that happen?" Mana looked at Shira.

"Well… I mean… Probably. We'll be completely rebuilding the administrative and law-enforcement branches anyways… There may still be some kind of punishment you will have to go through for your deeds in the past, you will have to come completely clear about what you have done but… We may take your assistance in this investigation into consideration before letting you train as a recruit." The strict and strong officer pondered out loud.

"That's such a load of bullshit…" Thumb inflated her cheeks and blushed as she looked away in scorn. It was not hard to imagine what she was feeling, she had thought that she would be completely let go off the hook just because she did everything she could to help the Security apprehend the other Rings of the Diamond Hand. More so, she felt like she was worth more than just be put as another recruit, going through years of training before being made an officer just like everyone else.

"No. It's the way things go when you're walking the right path. The path is full of hills, ups, and downs, it's a bumpy and cold road and sometimes it does not even lead right to your dream. It is almost always unfair but it is right path and it is the path you dream of walking. I know two girls my age who are just as skilled and even more experienced than me and yet I outrank them. With your skills, you will breeze through all the tests and exams. Just stay strong and determined and let your frustration give you the strength that will guide you through the path you've chosen." Mana tried to return the favor to the woman who was one of the few who slapped her back to reason. Quite literally.

"It's too early to talk about that stuff anyway. All of us may yet get horribly slaughtered in that Tribunal session." Thumb sighed. Behind her, Muriya gulped down in fear.

"Tomorrow." Mana declared.

"What?!" Muriya turned back and yelled.

"It has to be tomorrow, your Tribunal session that is. Time is against me as well. Index may be scary and formidable but we do not have the time to play around with her. There are two more Rings to subdue after her and they may just require plans and means just as complex to capture them." Mana explained her stance.

"Well, at least we won't have to grill too long, thinking about the unknown…" Thumb sighed with a happy in an ironic smile kind of way shrug.

"Very well. It will be difficult but… I will gather the Security Force tomorrow early morning and brief them in. We will get you some "Hare" seals from the containment facilities and do our best to arrange a session with the Tribunal. It will be immensely difficult to put together but we should be done with it by afternoon, the procession may begin early in the evening." Shira reported his future actions, which Mana then affirmed with a nod.

"And where are you going?" Thumb raised an eyebrow, seeing Mana put on her busted up winter jacket and gloves. "Finally decided to find a roof over your head to sleep a bit?"

"No. I have done plenty of sleeping while I was half-dead. I told you that time is not on my side. There is something of great personal value that I have lost in the museum. Something I must recover at any cost." Mana voiced her intentions knowing that it will not go that well with the rest.

"I would advise against it strongly, ma'am." Shira objected.

"What if you bump into someone from the Diamond Hand there? That building used to be their hideout after all!" Muriya shouted out.

"Would it not be wiser to wait at least until this whole thing boils over?" Muriya's wife wondered, with a much more reasonable and warmer tone notably.

"The thing that I have lost is too dear to me. I would risk running into the Diamond Hand just to get it back any day of the week. Besides, it is a very useful combat asset as well. My chances of subduing Index even after her chakra mastery is sealed will increase drastically with the Audra wand in my hands." Mana shook her head to all of the objections.

"Cool, a burglary. I'm in!" Thumb finally returned to her spunky, teasing ways.

"Thumb has a point, it is more than likely that your weapon has been taken by the Diamond Hand and once they lost the control of the museum it was simply ignored by the museum staff. Before you can clear things out with the staff and prove it belongs to you, it will technically be theft." Shira noted.

"Good thing that murder is the only place I draw the line then." Mana firmly declared, the newfound determination in her face to get back the memento that was left after Shimo's death proved etched into her mind too deep for Shira or anyone else to object.

"There may be consequences to your actions after this…" Shira ominously informed Mana, it was not a threat, did not sound like one. It was more of a friendly way of letting her know that telling a Shukuba Security officer she would not abide by Shukuba town rules would not go unnoticed.