A/N: This chapter is based on K: Side: Red. Wow I'm just churning out chpts. I wrote this one in about 2 and a half hours. I might not finish this story before my Winter Break is up. :(

Chapter 10: Strays

April 1, 2010 (4:30PM)

Hana sat at the bar, reading an English medical book quietly. She was engrossed in the chapter about infectious diseases. So much so that when Tatara, who has recently been obsessed with recording everything the gang does, holds a camera up and begins recording her, she just ignores him.

It was then that Kosuke Fujishima walks in with a person on his back. It was raining outside, but Kosuke's white shirt with a British flag imprint was not wet. Must be a HOMRA trait because of the fire. They can never get too cold.

Is Kosuke British? He always seems to wear the British flag shirt. Even when he wears a jacket on top, the print stands out.

Kosuke is on the quiet side, yet he's known to pick up a lot of strays and bring them into the bar.

"What's the matter? What's that strange thing behind your back?" Izumo was drying a glass cup when he noticed Kosuke walk in.

"...I picked it up." Kosuke replied without a look of guilt on his face.

Tatara was filming this entire exchange and narrated for the video. "Fujishima often picks up some stray cats or dogs, but it's the first time you've picked up a human."

"That's not allowed, so no. Put him back to where you found him." Izumo chastised like the nagging old man he is.

Kosuke protested, "But it's raining!"

"Then please do bring him back to your own house." Izumo's face became troubled as he thought, why do you have to bring it back here?

"My parents are at home."

By this point, there was too much noise in the bar and Hana couldn't concentrate on reading. She listened in to the conversation and piped up, "Izumo, you're so heartless. He's not gonna destroy your bar so chill out."

"Forget it, isn't it fine? Kusanagi-san." Tatara also gave Izumo a piece of his mind.

Izumo sighed as a cloud of darkness formed above his head by the 3 people ganging up on him. "Fine."

Kosuke called Hana over. "Can you take a look at him?"

"Yeah, sure. Place him down on this couch."

Hana examined the boy. It seemed that he was often abused and malnourished. Hana took note of the handprints around his neck. The bruises on his face and arms were in various stages of healing, which meant that the abuse had been going on for a while. He was also soaking wet, so Hana also needed to grab towels and a change of clothes for him.

She went up to Anna's room to grab her supplies. When Hana was over, she shared the room with Anna. Hana liked to keep some of the heavier medical items like bruise ointments and bandages in a drawer. The emergency equipment in her backpack was for just that, emergencies. As the blonde haired boy was fine until now, he could wait a few more minutes as Hana gathered her supplies.

In her rummaging, Hana paused, unsure of where to get a change of male clothes. The boy's clothes were drenched and using the red aura on a non-clan member would probably mean their death. It's not worth the risk to dry him off that way. The only other person who lived in the bar was Mikoto.

She sighed and decided, Mikoto will be fine, he has plenty of jackets he doesn't wear. As long as this boy keeps his head and upper body warm, it should be fine right? Hana did NOT want to go through Mikoto's pants and underwear so she decided that the boy would be alright with a dry jacket as she dried his clothes.

Hana knocked on Mikoto's door and entered. Mikoto was sitting up in bed, smoking.

An angry tick mark appeared on her forehead. "It's 4:30PM, Mikoto! Also, I need to borrow one of your sweaters alright? Kosuke picked up a stray."

A puff of smoke filled the room as Mikoto exhaled, "Again?"

"Yeah, it must be in his genes or something. I wonder if there is a specific chromosomal loci that would affect a person's outwards expression of emotion. Wouldn't that be super interesting? What type of genetic inheritance would this be? Could be polygenic inheritance considering the fact that this single characteristic is controlled by multiple genes. No, it might not be genetic but could be the endocrine system. The hormones on certain glands that are released, possibly a thyroid stimulating hormone that releases a thyroid releasing hormone, or a different type of stimulating hormone, which tells Kosuke's mind and body to care and save those in a bad situation."

As Hana rambled, Mikoto walked out of the room.

As soon as Mikoto was out, Hana smiled and stopped babbling. Her plan to get Mikoto annoyed enough to leave his room worked.

While Hana was upstairs gathering supplies and pestering Mikoto to get out of his room, the boy Kosuke picked up suddenly awakened.

By then, Misaki was already at the bar and was the first to notice the change, "Oh, you're awake." He announced to the room, "The guy who was half-dead on the road finally wakes up."

"Aah, that's true." Tatara commented as he looked over.

The boy was wearing camouflage pants with an old, beaten up sweater. The expression on his face was guarded and terrified, often like the abused animal strays Kosuke would bring in. It seemed like the boy was uneasy and uncomfortable being surrounded by strangers.

However, Misaki, like the hot-head he is, didn't take the poor guy's situation into account and immediately started grilling him.

"You alright? What's your name? Who are you? Why did you faint in that place?"

Tatara knew he had to be gentle, and interrupted Misaki, "Suddenly being asked so many questions, you must feel awkward, right? Anyways, this is the guy who found you."

Tatara patted Kosuke on the shoulder to indicate the stray's savior.

Kosuke and the stray just stared at each other.

Bothered by the silence, Misaki became angry, "What the hell? You don't even know how to say thank you? Or perhaps you're a foreigner that doesn't understand Japanese?"

The stray hmphed and replied in English. "Shut your mouth shorty."

You could hear the sound of Misaki's brain breaking. "AH?! This fellow was looking down on me right! Don't think that I don't understand English! You bastard!"

In the background, you could see Tatara holding Misaki back and telling him to calm down, calm down.

Izumo stepped in the chastise the stray, "I know Yata wasn't polite enough, but your attitude is also not acceptable."

The stray looked thoroughly scolded.

Kosuke stepped in, "What's your name?"

"...Eric Surt."

Misaki called from the bar, "YOU CAN SPEAK JAPANESE JUST FINE!"

Kosuke noticed from Hana's mutterings earlier that she said multiple times that he was malnourished and underweight and decided to voice the obvious, "...you are underweight. Anyways, go eat something first."

As Kosuke told Eric this, you could hear slow footsteps coming down the stairs.

"No, it's fine…" Eric was startled as he noticed a red-haired man behind him. He was so startled he fell off of the couch. This prompted Hana to come running down the stairs as she had heard the loud outburst and crash.

"Ah, Mikoto-san!" Misaki greeted.

At the same time, Hana called out, "Is everything okay, what's happening? Oh, you're awake."

Hana was still on the stairs when everyone heard Eric say, "Homra's…..king."

"Ah, you've met King before?" Tatara asked.
"Aah… no…" Eric's gaze landed on the floor. It seemed like he was hiding something.

Hana came forward with her arms full of supplies. "Hey, I'm Hana. I'm just going to put some ointment on your bruises alright? It won't hurt. Your name is Eric right?" She continued to talk in their native language to make him feel more comfortable.

She took care of his main injuries as they weren't life threatening. She doesn't normally show her powers to those outside of the Red Clan or out in the open. There needed to be some secrecy or else people might come after her.

Eric stayed with the Clan for the rest of the day and continued to reside a guest throughout the following morning.

(Next Day) April 2nd. 9:30AM

While everyone was eating breakfast, Misaki walked in. "You… why are you still here?"

Eric just continued to ignore Misaki.

Misaki walked over to Kosuke and hugged an arm around his shoulders. "... What the hell, this fellow here." Misaki had an aggravated look on his face.

Kosuke wasn't bothered by Misaki's arm around his shoulders. His face remained passive and guilt-free, "It's just that he has nowhere to go."

Misaki glared daggers at Eric. Then he angrily sits in the empty bar chair between Tatara and Hana.

"Don't you think Eric resembles it…?" Tatara began.

"Resembles what?"

"Fujishima picked up a retriever once, didn't he?"

"So? Even the dogs are cuter than him…"

"Yata, don't you remember? That dog used to hate you will all his heart too, didn't it."

At that point, Hana burst out laughing. "Ahahha! I would've loved to see that."

Misaki's face took on a gloomy expression at that realization.

"Ah, I'm really sorry. Did I reopen your old wounds? Here, for you." Tatara placed a bowl in Misaki's hands while using his other hand to pat Misaki reassuringly on the head.

Hana's face twisted into one of disgust at the sight of the bowl.

"What is this?" Misaki asked curiously.

"Preserved pickles. He's been eating that all morning." Hana answered. "Keep that away from me, it smells weird."

"WHY?!"

Tatara defended himself. "Well…. Once I had started trying to make the dish, it was really… profound. Using rice and sugar to make pickles. This is scientific knowledge and research."

"Not even knowing the purpose of the dish, you really went ahead and made it!?" Misaki was still bewildered.

"Nuh-uh. That's not science, you idiot." Hana added onto Misaki's outburst.

"But, Fujishima is really a nice guy…" Misaki commented while munching on the sliced pickles. "That time when he picked the dog up, he also took good care of it, until we found its owner."

"Uhm, this fellow wouldn't be the same situation as last time, would it?"

It seemed Eric overheard Totsuka and Yata talking about him, which annoyed him to the point that he decided to leave. He stood up to the bar and made a move to leave.

Kōsuke reminded him to give thanks for his food and clean up after himself. "You haven't said 'Thanks for the food.'"

"...anks for the food…" Eric quietly muttered reluctantly.

"Thanks to who?"

Eric looked over at Hana who was still eating.

"Hana-san, thanks for the food." Eric hesitantly muttered again.

"And what about the dirty tableware?" Eric picked up his spoon and plate and went to put it in the sink.

"Oh, the stray dog is being obedient now?" Misaki piped up.

Man, he just can't keep his mouth shut, Hana thought in her head.

"Stop yelling you little Chihuahua." Eric smirked.

Honestly, Misaki deserved it so Hana just laughed out loud instead of scolding Eric. By her facial expressions, Misaki knew something was up.

"HEY. That guy just said chihuahua, right?! Isn't a chihuahua one of the dog types?!"

Saburota Bando laughed too, "That's REALLY small!"

"That is what I never want to hear from you!" Misaki jumped Bando who had been making fun of him.

Izumo, worried for his bar, interrupted the fight. "Stop it, are you two kids!?"

To the side, Izumo asked Eric, "You really have nowhere to go?"

"Uhm."

"Well, forget it." Izumo went around giving cleaning instructions to everyone but Hana, who did enough on her own. She was HOMRA's personal doctor, when in the mood to cook, cooked the best dishes, and cleaned up after herself.

At that point, Eric approached Kosuke and Izumo, "Uhm, excuse me. You guys are HOMRA right?"

"Yes." Kosuke answered.

"Do you all really have unimaginable power?"

Izumo laughed at the rumors. "Unimaginable power? Well, you can say that."
"... Who… is the strongest in here?"

Izumo lit a cigarette. "Well, Mikoto is too strong. He is totally on a different level from us. Then there's Hana." Eric's stricken gaze landed on Hana who was playing a game with Anna. He was surprised, not because she was a girl, but because she was so kind and from outward appearance didn't seem to be all that powerful.

After staring at Hana for a second, Eric probed. "Leaving the King and Hana out, the strongest should be Kusanagi-san right?"

An intake of tobacco, then a sigh. "Aaah. That's difficult to say."

Kosuke answered Eric's question. "After Kusanagi-san, the one who has the most outstanding ability is Yata-chan."

"Oh, then what about him? That person beside chihuahua." Eric indicated at Tatara.

"Ah, Totsuka-san doesn't fight."

"Is that so?"

Izumo joined in again. "He isn't that type of guy. Although he's not a fighter, how should I say… everything would be easier if he were there." At the confused look on Eric's face, Izumo explained further. "Even our enemies would put down their guard around him."

"...really?"

(Few Days Later) April 6th. 9AM

A few days passed when eventually, Tatara asked Eric, "If you really have no place to stay, you could join and stay with us, you know?"

Eric quietly stormed off after this question.

"So he hates me too…" Tatara looked a little sad, but still had a smile on his face.

Misaki's brows furrowed. "He really has an attitude problem."

Hana just continued studying her textbook.

Kosuke stopped Eric after he left the bar. "Hey. You should just ignore what Tatara said. Nothing personal or rude was meant by his proposal. Although your motives aren't clear, anyone who can attend our test is welcomed, not just if you have nowhere to go."

Ignoring Kosuke's words, Eric remarked, "I heard recently you've been gathering some dogs and cats. So you're the type of guy who would responsibly take care of every single last one of them, huh?"

"What are you saying? I've never treated you like a dog…"

"I… AM a dog."

Kosuke was surprised at Eric's words. "... What are you saying…"

Kosuke was cut off as Eric's PDA rung.

Eric stood frozen as his PDA continued to go off.

"Isn't your phone making that noise?"

"Of… of course, you're right." As Eric answered the call, his hands were trembling.

10PM

That night, everyone except for Anna, Hana, and Tatara was downstairs cleaning the bar. It seemed that Hana had pulled an all-nighter and was fast asleep in her and Anna's room.

Eric walked up the stairs that led to Mikoto's room while everyone else was preoccupied.

Mikoto was lounging across the sofa in his room, asleep. His head was tipped back on one arm of the couch, which he used as a makeshift pillow. To shield his eyes from the dim light, he had his right forearm resting over his arms while his left arm dangled off the couch.

His long form didn't fit on the sofa so he crossed one leg over the other as it extended over the opposite side of the furniture. He wore black jeans and a white fitted waffle shirt as he napped. (A/N: If you've never heard of a waffle shirt… well just know it looks very attractive on muscular men, like Chris Evans). The top two buttons of the shirt were undone.

Eric reached out for Mikoto's neck, but a centimeter before he could wrap his hands around it, Mikoto violently awoke.

Mikoto's body was surrounded in flames and balls of red aura lunged towards the intruder.

Eric was slammed against the wall by the force of Mikoto's red aura and there were two large scorch marks on the walls to either side of him, where the flames missed.

While Eric was flat against the wall, shaking with terror, the Red King was in a daze.

Groggily, Mikoto held his head in one hand, "...What?"

Tatara burst into the room, "What was that sound just now?!"

He immediately noticed Eric and then the scorch marks on the walls. "Uh-, wha-, what happened to this?"

"I was in a daze." Mikoto answered simply. Finally concentrating, he could make out the stranger in his room. "I remember… you're the guy who came with Fujishima. If I had not missed you just now, I could have killed you…. What do you want?"

Startled at being addressed, Eric replied, "No… nothing." Then dashed out of the room.

Tatara's eyes followed Eric's jerky movements down the stairs and then sighed. "Wow… how should we explain this to Kusanagi-san… Did you have another nightmare?"

Tatara knew Izumo was going to be PISSED at the damage to the walls, since he had been on a huge Spring cleaning spree.

Mikoto tsked. "... of course not. Be careful with that guy."

"Eh?"

"I felt… his killing intent."

Outside, Kosuke noticed Eric talking to someone on the phone. He was in an alleyway.

Kosuke could only hear Eric's side of the conversation.

"...Yes, but it still won't do. Just a moment ago I was almost burnt to ashes."

"... Got it. Please spare the women and children." Eric bargains with the person on the other line.

"...Yes, then… only Totsuka Tatara …"

Back inside Mikoto's room, Kusanagi stared at the incinerated holes in his wall. Mikoto was on one side of the couch, his forearms on his thighs as he slouched forwards.

Hana was on the other side of the couch, as she had been woken up and informed of the situation.

She had her head leaned back towards the wall the couch was up against, and her eyes closed. Her head was throbbing because she was interrupted from her REM sleep.

Tatara and Anna stood side by side in front of the couch.

Izumo was astonished. "How can this be?"

"... No, I told you, I was in a daze." Mikoto supplied.

Izumo whirled around in anger, "I already heard that, you idiot! You… KNOW that I have been putting a lot of effort in cleaning the place. AND THIS… is no longer a question about cleaning, this needs a total repair!"

"I'm sorry." Mikoto sweatdropped.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU SAY SORRY, IT DOESN'T MEAN THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED!"

"Okay okay, Kusanagi-san, don't get your panties in a twist. I've got this." Hana waved her hand around as she yawned.

Hana walked up to the wall, concentrated for a few moments, and activated her aura. She moved her right hand in a counter-clockwise direction as her left hand was directed at the damaged wall. The time reversed and the wall went back to normal.

"Hana-chan! You're our savior! I can't thank you enough, but what did I say about using your aura unnecessarily."

Hana sleepily leaned against the now-repaired wall and slid down to the ground. "Ah, umm, snooze them for allergies."

"No, no, I said to only use them in emergencies!" Izumo's scolding landed on deaf ears as Hana was already asleep.

Tatara chuckled, then walked over and picked Hana's prone body up, bridal style. "I'll take her back to her room. Come on Anna, let's tuck Hana into bed."

A/N: Next chpt, we will find out what Eric is up to! Actually, if you just read K: Side: Red, you'll know, but you won't know about how Hana comes into play here.

S/O to leofrick, casper2222, nijha44, ILoveRebornNarutoKProject, AliceMary25, and SUCHNOMUCHWOW for the fav/follow!