"That hug lasted quite long," Saten teased as she and Uiharu walked away from Shirai-san and Misaka-san after their reluctant goodbyes. "Were you waiting for a goodbye kiss?"

"Saten-saaan," Uiharu whined as a blush overtook her face, "for the last time, we're not like that."

"Okay, okay," Saten chuckled, "She and Misaka-san were-"

"They're not like that either," Uiharu quickly and preemptively shut down that train of thought.

A little too quickly if the grin that spread across Saten's lips were any indication. Twinkling eyes and a knowing look were signs of more intense teasing to come, but Saten seemed to defy expectations by moving onto something far more innocuous. "Shirai-san was nice and fun; I don't know why you were so hesitant about introducing us."

"Well... umm..." Uiharu floundered at that. The events of their meeting ran through her head as she tried to pinpoint exactly what she had been afraid of. A few points came up, namely Saten's skirt flipping and the almost immediate discover of Shirai-san's delinquent nature, but neither of those points seemed to have been the catalyst to disaster like Uiharu had thought they might be.

Saten, never one to let a silence linger, decided to hazard a guess. "Is it the whole 'being part of Verdict' thing? I can get that. I mean, I'm in Judgement, same as you, and you don't want her to get caught or anything. But come on, Uiharu, you know I'd never do anything like that to you."

Uiharu stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Saten, who was ahead of her, continued walking for a few steps until she realized that her friend was no longer at her side. She turned around just in time to see the flower headed girl shake her head.

"You don't understand. You don't get what it means," the smaller girl said. There was no hint of snark, or bitterness, or annoyance in her tone. Instead, the words seemed heavy, as if each syllable bore a great weight.

Uiharu heard the flat plastic heels of Saten's sandals drawing closer, then felt the other girl's hands on her shoulders. "You haven't let me understand, Uiharu," Saten said, her own words completely serious.

The flower-headed girl looked up at her friend, staring into eyes full of the understanding and compassion that Saten showed when it was needed of her. Uiharu sighed , "Shirai-san... isn't justa part of Verdict."

"Huh?" Saten asked, confused. "But isn't that what that green bandana means? I mean I know it was faded and all but..."

"That isn't what I mean. She isn't part of Verdict, she is Verdict. Its leader," Uiharu explained.

"Wait... she's the cyborg?!" Saten gasped, reeling at this groundbreaking piece of information.

"She's not a cyborg!" Uiharu nearly facepalmed, though secretly she wondered if such a thing might be possible. "Not every urban legend is true."

"Awww," Saten whined in disappointment, "that was such a cool legend too.

"Saten-san, please," Uiharu pleaded.

"Serious conversation, right. Sorry," Saten apologized, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment at the temporary slip of the support that she had offered her friend. "Go on."

Uiharu let out another sigh, "It's a long story, maybe I should just tell you some other time."

"If you put it off now, you'll never end up telling me. Come on, my place is nearby, I'll make some tea, and you can tell me all about it. And if I interrupt again with nonsense I give you permission to gag me for the rest of the story."

Uiharu looked up at the sparkling twilight sky. As always her meeting with Shirai-san had completely eaten up the hours of the day, even more so than usual with the chaos caused by the two additional people. "It's late, by the time I tell you everything it'll be past curfew."

"Well then I'll just stop by my place, get some pajamas, and we can have a sleepover at your place," Saten suggested. She knew how much Uiharu loved sleepovers. They had them together often enough when studying for a test or working on a case, and despite how awkward the first time was (Saten still wasn't sure why Uiharu had been so confused at the concept of sleeping in differentbeds during a sleepover) Uiharu still had fun at them. "Your place is better for this anyway."

"Huh? Why's that?"

'Well if we need gags...' Saten smiled to herself as the teasing thought crossed her mind, but she knew that saying it would just get her in way more trouble than it was worth. "Because you'll be more comfortable in your home than in mine. Besides, you make better tea anyway."

Uiharu nodded. "Okay," she agreed and the two began walking towards Saten's apartment.

The two entered the small studio apartment and Uiharu waited as her friend began rooting through the clothes in her dresser, and then on the floor, in search of her pajamas.

"As messy as ever," she sighed as she compulsively tidied a few things up around her.

"Hey, it's not thatbad, your place is just overly clean," Saten joked. "Except that desk of yours of course."

Uiharu nodded unconsciously. She was not an inherently clean person. As her desk attested to, she was often too busy to think of being neat and tidy. However, after having Kuroko over every single night for a month and hearing her complain about her room's messiness, she had learned to start cleaning up after herself, as well as many other things that made her place more... hospitable, than most.

After finally finding a pair of relatively clean pajamas and grabbing her toothbrush from the bathroom, Saten was ready to go and the two went to Uiharu's apartment.

When they arrived, Uiharu went straight to the small kitchenette and put on the water for the tea and Saten went to the bathroom to change (another behavior that Uiharu found strange the first time they had a sleepover yet had quickly adopted when the alternative, changing in front of Saten, finally sunk in) into her pajamas. They were her usual set of blue pajamas with darker blue vertical stripes running along their length. Saten didn't bother brushing quite yet, knowing that tea at Uiharu's house would usually mean something sugary to go with it.

Once the pair of them had changed, Uiharu served up the tea and scones before sitting down at the table.

After a drink of tea and a bite of scone Saten sighed in contentment and smiled at Uiharu. "Thank you for the tea," she began, before quickly transitioning to their intended purpose, "Now about this 'long story' of yours."

Uiharu took a drink of the tea as well. It was a long slow sip that allowed her to think of what she was going to say. She sighed as well, though it was more in confusion than contentment. "I don't know where to begin."

"Begin at the beginning," Saten said simply, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."

"At the beginning, right..." Uiharu took a deep breath and said, "I first met Kuroko at the Judgment Training Camp."

"The Judgment Camp? But isn't she part of Verdict?" Saten asked, confused.

"She wasn't always. Before Verdict she was actually a member of our branch, quite a good one as well from what Konori-senpai has told me," Uiharu explained before continuing, detailing the events of their first meeting.

She paused for questions, but Saten stayed silent, so she continued, "I met her again a couple months later. It was at this bank where I was drawing out some money I had been sent by my parents. "We talked a little and then..."

Despite the fact that it had been she that had been held hostage, she was not nearly as mentally affected by the situation she was now describing as Shirai-san had been. However that didn't change the fact that whenever she so much as thought back to the events of that fateful day the scar on her neck ached, as if the cold steel was still pressed against it. She felt spit building up in her throat but she didn't dare swallow it. She reached up to rub the scar and relax herself before continuing.

"I don't really know much of what happened. Konori-senpai looked worried so Shirai-san went over to her, then she tackled this guy who had some sort of weapon in his bag. The next thing I know someone was holding a knife to my throat, hoping to force Kuroko to use her ability to retrieve the bank's money for him. Then... I was cut, and fell unconscious."

Saten scooted closer to offer a comforting arm to her clearly distressed friend, staying silent but making sure Uiharu knew she was there for her.

It wasn't long till the flower headed girl recovered from her distress and continued her story. "I woke up in the hospital later on and Shirai-san was there. Her armband was torn off and she was wearing it around her neck and she was speaking to me. I was a little dizzy so I can't remember her exact words, but I remember her promising that she would ensure that justice was done."

"So that's why it looked so familiar, it's a Judgment armband..." Saten murmured to herself, trying not to interrupt the story with her vocal realization.

"It's hard to tell now that it's so faded and stretched, but yeah it is," Uiharu confirmed, interrupting the story herself to give her a little time to think over what to say next. "She told me about this problem she once had where some of the new recruits were trying to imitate her by getting genuine Judgment armbands to use. She couldn't allow that so I suggested just letting them draw on the normal green bandanas with white marker, since it isn't exactly a complicated design."

Saten nodded but didn't say anything, puzzling over this new, surprisingly interesting detail. She knew how close Uiharu and Kuroko were, and if Shirai was the leader of Verdict rather than just a member then did that mean she was involved in the gang?

It wasn't an accusation she was willing to say out loud though, so she kept it to herself, hoping the question would be answered as time, and the story, went on.

"I was in the hospital for a while after that. I healed quickly enough but the kept me around for observation, and when I was finally being let out I got a cold and was kept in until I recovered from that. Which is probably a good thing... you see, every night Shirai-san would visit me, all bruised and hurt from this quest for justice she was on. I saw what she was doing to herself would ask her to stop but she refused. She's always been so stubborn," she sighed in an odd combination of nostalgia, resignation, and irritation.

"She'd ask me about myself and tell me about herself, and we would talk until she fell asleep and my doctor came in to tend to her wounds as well. Even when I was released from the hospital she'd come and sleep over every night," Uiharu explained.

"Let me guess... she slept in your bed and changed in front of you," Saten said, finally realizing the source of Uiharu's strange ideas about sleepovers.

Uiharu blushed and looked away. "Y-yeah. Sh-she's very comfortable around friends..." the flower-headed girl stammered, embarrassed.

Saten raised a hand to her mouth, both to cover the grin that was involuntarily stretching itself across her face and to stifle and noises of amusement at Uiharu's adorable behavior. The urge to tease was almost overwhelming, but Saten was a good enough friend to stifle the desire and continue listening to her friends story.

The level zero took a deep breath to calm herself then said, "So she quit Judgment and formed a gang?"

"Not... immediately," Uiharu began, "I didn't really ask her much about what she did. It worried me enough without knowing the specifics. But at first she did it alone. My... first experience with what she did and who she did it with came about quite suddenly."

"Come on, Shirai-san," Uiharu pleaded from her dresser as she unbuttoned her pajama shirt, the pants of the ensemble already on the floor.

"No," the teleporter responded as she finished up her morning workout. Pain was clear on her face as the girl's already sore and exhausted muscles cried out at each stance or stretch. She never wore pajamas and had not yet gotten dressed so it was easy to see the numerous bruises and cuts that adorned her body, some of which had been bandaged up by Uiharu while others were just now showing up, "Justice doesn't take a day off so I don't see why I should either. It's bad enough that I need to take several hours out of my quest to go to school occasionally; I shouldn't waste my free time."

Uiharu sighed as her shirt fell to the floor. She had recently gotten out of the hospital, which meant Shirai-san had started coming by her house every night. While Uiharu was glad to be out of the hospital, it also meant that her friend wasn't getting the treatment that she had gotten from Uiharu's doctor every night after collapsing.

Shirai-san had been coming back with fewer and fewer injuries as time went on, especially these last several days. Whether this was because she was getting better at fighting, picking less skilled or fewer targets, or was just getting lucky Uiharu wasn't sure. However last night she had come back more exhausted and injured than usual.

Uiharu decided that the teleporter needed to take a break, even if it was just for a day.

However, Shirai-san's stubborn nature was making it as difficult as ever to convince her just by asking her nicely.

But Uiharu had discovered that Shirai-san, though apparently stubborn, was actually quite easy to talk into doing things. Though the teleporter would never back down from some things, as perfectly displayed by Uiharu's numerous failures at getting her to stop with the whole Verdict thing, when it came to most things the teleporter could be influenced in multiple ways.

Using Shirai-san's obvious and powerful sense of guilt against her was usually the easiest way, but Uiharu abhorred the idea of manipulating her friend in such a manner. Even if she tried it would just as likely blow up in her face.

Tempting the teleporter was another way. For someone who fancied themselves so staunch and pure, it was extremely easy to convince Shirai-san to do something she would normally be unwilling to do.

But for now, Uiharu decided to go with another method. "It's not just for you, it's for me," Uiharu explained, appealing to Shirai-san's desire to be a good friend, "It's boring to shop alone. It'd really make me feel better if I had a friend accompanying me." Uiharu, paused as she pulled on a new pair of panties and turned her head to see if her words were having an effect.

Shirai-san glanced towards her, then looked into her eyes. Uiharu could see the conflict on the teleporter's face before she nodded, "Alright then, I'll go shopping with you."

Uiharu smiled at her friend's words and continued to get dressed. Uiharu could probably manage to distract Shirai-san for the day, giving her at least a little bit of recovery time.

With time consumption in mind, Uiharu planned their trip. She had decided that stores far apart from each other would be best, since travel time would help pad out the schedule.

Knowing it was cold she loaned Shirai-san her scarf and mittens. The teleporter attempted to protest, insisting that her bandana and armwraps would be enough and that Uiharu take them. But the level one reminded her friend that neither the wraps or the bandana were built with warmth in mind and that her ability meant she didn't feel cold anyway.

Ever since learning about her ability, Uiharu had kept it a secret from others, feeling embarrassed over having such a minor, useless power. But when Shirai-san had brought up the topic one night in the hospital, Uiharu found it quite easy to share with the other girl, thinking that hiding it from someone that she had gotten so close to would be a betrayal of some sort.

There were no secrets between them, and at times Uiharu thought that she knew everything about the other girl. However, as they exited the Benny's the pair had stopped in for lunch, Uiharu realized that there was still more to learn.

Due to the trip covering such a large area, the Benny's that Uiharu had chosen was near the edge of the poorer slums that were in this district. The area was rife with crime and gang violence and, upon seeing Kuroko's face displaying a mosaic of contempt and anger as she glanced in that direction, Uiharu suspected that was where she did most of her vigilante "work".

Uiharu was about to lead them away when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see a teenage boy crashing into the ground several feet away from them at an impressive speed. However despite the speed he was going at, the landing was surprisingly soft, making no more noise than a normal footstep.

The teen was clearly a delinquent, with dyed blonde hair gelled into spikes, a toned and muscular physique riddled with scars and injuries, cheap clothes that were a step above rags, and a green bandana wrapped around his ankle.

Uiharu saw Shirai-san turning to this person, muscles tensed and ready for combat. A look of shock and annoyance crossed her face. Shirai-san opened her mouth to say something but the delinquent beat her to it.

"There you are, Aneki, I've been looking all over for you."

Shirai-san's eye twitched and the annoyance settled into full blown anger. "For the last time, I'm not your Aneki. And stop following me."

"You never tell me where you are so if I don't follow you I can't be there when you need help," the teen reasoned with a sigh.

"I don't need help," Kuroko argued.

"Says the girl who took on the Beige Brawlers on her own just yesterday. If I hadn't shown up those injuries of yours would be a lot worse," the teen said. His tone was an odd mix of concern, firmness, and respect.

"Excuse me," Uiharu interrupted timidly. "Who are you?"

The teen looked at her in surprise, as if just noticing she was there. "Oh, I'm Fujin of Verdict. Are you Aneki's most recent rescue? Is that why she's so far away from her normal spots?"

"No he's not, no she's not, and no it's not," Kuroko corrected en masse, "He's some random delinquent who follows me around, she's my friend Uiharu, and I'm going shopping with her today."

"A friend?" Fujin repeated, clearly surprised.

Kuroko's gaze turned from fire to venom, "And why is that so hard to believe?"

"Well, you push me away so fervently I thought you just didn't like people in general," Fujin explained.

"I like people just fine. It's delinquents I don't wish to associate with."

"Delinquents can make good company if you let them," Fujin said. "Anyway if you're taking a break today then maybe I should get some rest too. I think I dislocated my shoulder yesterday." He rolled the shoulder in question and winced in pain.

Uiharu gave him another look and saw that his body was as riddled with injuries as Shirai-san's. "You really should go to a hospital and get that looked at," she said concerned.

"I hardly have the money for something like that. I'll just get Kyousuke to pop it back into the socket or something," Fujin said nonchalantly. Suddenly a piece of plastic hit him in the head. He caught it on the way down and looked at the girl who had thrown it.

"20,000 yen, more than enough for a clinic visit at HCH. Ask for Heaven Canceller, he's a good doctor. Now leave us alone," Kuroko seethed.

"Okay, okay," Fujin said backing up, "I'm sorry for interrupting your trip with your friend, Aneki. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess." He bowed slightly before walking away.

"Not your Aneki," Kuroko called after him.

"What was that all about?" Uiharu asked.

"I told you, it was just some random delinquent that's been following me around for a week, meddling with my Verdict. He shows up a couple hours after I start and then follows me around. His ability allows him to keep up with me so it's hard to lose him for more than a few minutes," Kuroko continued to huff. "Now let's keep on shopping."

"But, Shirai-san, wasn't that the money you got out for the shopping trip?" Uiharu said. Despite the fact that they were primarily window shopping, the teleporter had the self control of a normal teenage girl when it came to shopping and they had already purchased a few things.

"It made him go away didn't. Besides, I still have a credit card and he needs that money more."

Shirai-san may have said it was some random delinquent, but Uiharu knew that wasn't true, even if the teleporter herself was convinced that it was. Though Shirai-san was a generous person, giving that much money to a random person was beyond what she was normally willing to do. Even more than that, when Shirai-san had seen who it was, her muscles had relaxed from their combat-ready state. Even if he annoyed and angered her, Shirai-san seemed to trust that he wouldn't try and hurt her or Uiharu. And considering how protective the other girl was of her, she knew that such a thing would take a lot of trust.

But Uiharu nodded and went along with it, changing the subject to make her friend more comfortable. She talked about her plans to join Shirai-san's former branch of Judgment. Though the teleporter had almost as much disdain for Judgment as she had for delinquents, Shirai-san seemed accepting of that plan.

"Konori-senpai will look after you well, I'm sure of it," she said.

"Have you seen her recently?" Uiharu asked.

"Not... recently..."

"Well how about we swing by on our way back. I can pick up the forms and you can talk to her."

Shirai-san agreed to that and the two resumed their trip, Uiharu's mind still wandering back to that earlier incident during the lulls in conversation.

"The time that Fujin started following her around lines up with the time her injuries started to lessen. I guess that's because he was helping her fight," Uiharu explained to Saten as she finished that part of the story. "I was happy to hear that she was getting some help from somebody, even if it was unwanted help from a delinquent. Still, I wasn't sure if I should encourage it. Even if he wanted to help I wasn't sure I wanted someone who could be a bad influence to Kuroko. So for a while I didn't say anything and I assume that she continued to push him away."

"Did it work?" Saten asked.

"Well he's her lieutenant now so not really. He's as stubbornly loyal as Kuroko herself," Uiharu said before continuing, "I didn't actually have to wait that long to meet him again. It was barely a week before..."

Uiharu heard Kuroko's familiar knocking on the door. She was early today.

The flower headed girl stood up from her desk and walked over to the door, opening it. She was surprised to see Shirai-san being flanked by the teenager from last week as well as another girl who wore the uniform of a fancy middle school.

"Hey, Uiharu, I need your help with something," the teleporter said as unabashedly as ever.

"S-sure, do you want to come in first?" Uiharu asked.

Shirai-san nodded and walked in, followed by the girl. The teenager lingered behind, as if unsure whether the invitation was for him. Uiharu wasn't entirely sure whether the invitation extended to him either, unsure how comfortable she would be having a teenage boy in her room, but seeing him shiver as he stood in the cold stirred enough pity for Uiharu to say, "Are you coming?"

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded and bowed slightly again. "Thank you for your kindness," He stepped inside and Uiharu shut the door after him. Then she went over to Shirai-san and the other girl.

"What did you need help with?"

"This is... well we've called her Kaga-Tsuchi for now because of her necklace, but we don't know her real name. She says her memory's been wiped and she has no idea who she is either. I was hoping you could help figure out who she is and where she belongs so I can bring her back there," the teleporter explained.

"I see..." Uiharu nodded as she looked at the girl, pity shining in her eyes. However the girl herself had eyes that seemed completely devoid of any emotion. It was a little unnerving, so Uiharu put on a smile and held her hand out to the girl. "I'm Uiharu Kazari, it's nice to meet you."

The girl took the hand offered but didn't return the smile. "As you have just been informed by Aneki, my name is Kaga-Tsuchi. It is nice to meet you as well." Her voice had no emotion and her speech sounded like that of a high class oujo-sama mimicking a computer.

"Her uniform is from Iwatodai and her ability is mind reading," Kuroko told Uiharu, knowing that those two things were all the computer whiz needed to find out who Kaga-Tsuchi really was and where she lived.

Uiharu nodded as she went over to the computer and began working her magic. In the meantime, however, she had a few questions of her own that she wanted answered. "Where did you find, umm... Kaga-Tsuchi?"

"She was being dumped in an alley by two guys," the teleporter explained, "I, um... didn't exactly get a chance to question them so I don't know much else."

"They were part of The Agents, you could tell from the black leather gloves and red ties." Fujin spoke up. "They're a small gang that has no official territory. They take contracts from gangs or other people to do various crimes. They're very good at remaining undetected and have no scruples. They have quite the impressive array of equipment and a surprising amount of skill for a gang of delinquents."

Uiharu and Shirai-san looked at Fujin with surprise clear on their faces. To which the teen smirked.

"You don't live on the streets for as long as I have without learning how to pick up information. And my street smarts are second to none," Fujin boasted.

"You live on the streets?" Uiharu asked, wondering if it was a metaphor or literal.

"Kind of... the streets themselves are more for autumn or spring weather. Since winters rolled around I've been crashing in this tenement that somebody's hooked up this old heater in. I hear at first he tried to charge people to stay but trying to extort 200 gangsters isn't a good idea." Fujin chuckled.

"But... why?" Uiharu asked. She knew of the bad areas of town, but she had underestimated just how bad they were. 200 people crammed into a tenement with a single heater?

"I'm a child error. I don't have parents to wire me money so I can afford a swanky place like this," Fujin explained, the tragedy of his words not reaching his voice.

"What about city housing allowances?" Uiharu asked. Her parents were not the wealthiest and she wouldn't be able to afford this apartment or the school she went to purely on the money they sent her. But Academy City had so many scholarships and monetary aid available to students that even a poor person should be able to live half decently.

"Child error," Fujin repeated, "The city barely cares enough about us to give us food rations. To them we're either lab rats or sewer rats, and I learned my lesson about being a lab rat a long time ago."

Uiharu searched for something to say, but was interrupted by a beep from the computer. It seemed the search was completed. She turned back to the screen and looked at the results. "Her name is Iwatodai Hiko, the granddaughter of the dean of the school. She lives in the room 27 of the dorms," she rattled off, the comfort of being back in her cyber element helping to battle off the awkwardness that she had been feeling before. She gave them the address and Kuroko offered to see her back.

"But, Shirai-san," Uiharu began, "That's in the Garden of Education. Normal people aren't allowed in there."

"That hardly matters. I'm a teleporter remember? Unless the walls are 80 meters thick I can easily get through it," Kuroko shrugged.

"And get caught by the cameras for trespassing," Uiharu reminded.

"Oh... right..." Kuroko drooped slightly. "Well, sti-"

"Need I remind you again of your injury hindering your teleportation ability. Even if you were well that plan is born out of desperate stubbornness to assist me and you know that it will not work, Aneki," Kaga-Tsuchi spoke up.

"You're injured?" Uiharu asked, concern edging into her voice.

"It's nothing, just a little burn," Shirai-san tried to calm her friend as she sighed. "Fine, but at least let me walk you to the gates to make sure you're alright."

"I'll accompany you," Fujin said, standing up.

"No," Kuroko started, then she sighed again, "could y- could you try and find out a little more about those people who did this to her?"

Fujin looked a little surprised, then he smiled. "Sure thing, Aneki. I'll ask around," he said before leaving

Shortly after, Shirai-san and Kaga-Tsuchi left, leaving Uiharu about an hour to think about what had just happened and what it meant.

When the teleporter returned, Uiharu had one burning question. "Why did you ask Fujin-san to look into it and not me?"

Shirai-san looked conflicted."I-I can't burden you with these things, Uiharu. You're a part of Judgment now. Asking you to help find information on a missing person is your job, but exacting justice on those who did this to her is mine," she declared.

"It's my job too. I know that you think Judgment is useless, but we really do work to bring justice to the city," Uiharu tried to explain.

"Good. Then pursue the lead on your own, but don't give me the information. I'm not part of that anymore and if you tell me about it you might get into trouble," Kuroko told her.

"So I can't talk to you about Judgment at all?" Uiharu asked.

"No... it's a part of your life now. Tell me about it all you want. Tell me about how many people you helped find their way, about how many kites you got out of trees for little kids, about how many cartons of milk Konori chugged that day. But if you ever talk about cases, don't go into specifics. Just like I don't tell you the details of my quest," Kuroko began and put her hands on Uiharu's shoulders, "I know what it is I'm doing and how Judgment would react. Konori told me when I went to see her that if she ever catches me breaking the law she won't hesitate to arrest me. You have to be prepared to do the same if that ever happens. It's your duty, just as exacting justice is mine."

Kuroko embraced her. "When it comes down to it, you're a cop and I'm a vigilante. Our goals might be the same but we're on opposite sides of the coin, and we have to acknowledge that."

"But we're not enemies. We're friends," Uiharu protested, hugging Shirai-san tightly.

"I'm not saying we aren't friends." Kuroko whispered, holding Uiharu closer to her. "I'm just saying we need to try hard to make sure we never become enemies. And the best way we can do that is sometimes to turn a blind eye and just not ask each other about certain things."

Uiharu nodded and soon after the two went to sleep, the conversation still hanging heavy on the flower headed girl's mind.

"That's how it's been for us since then. I don't ask about her stuff, she doesn't tell me about her stuff and vice versa. There are no secrets between us but that doesn't mean there aren't things that we shouldn't know about each other," Uiharu explained. "I guess that was one of the reasons I was so afraid of you meeting her. You don't really know where to stop asking questions. I was worried you'd dig something up that I shouldn't have known, or that you'd find out something about her that made you hate her or something. I don't know."

"Yeah I get that... sometimes I don't really know when to shut up," Saten replied a little guiltily as she rubbed the back of her head."So you've made a point not to learn anything about Verdict?"

"Not... exactly..." Uiharu began, "I mean at first yeah. Even before that conversation I told you that I really didn't like asking her about the stuff she did. But that doesn't mean I don't know anything. Just like the first meeting with Fujin, sometimes that part of her life just crosses into mine briefly. In fact it happened the day after that conversation."

Uiharu heard a knock at the door and was slightly confused. Shirai had left hardly half an hour ago and Uiharu was about to leave to go to Judgment. Had she forgotten something and come back?

The level one hadn't had any other visitors in so long she momentarily forgot the possibility of it being someone else and went over to open the door. "Did you forget something Shira-" she began before seeing that it was the girl from yesterday. "Oh... Iwatodai-san."

"Call me Kaga-Tsuchi," the girl said.

"Eh? but-" Uiharu began.

"Do you know where Aneki is?" She asked, not allowing Uiharu to protest.

"Aneki?" The word bounced around in Uiharu's head a little, looking for a match, "You mean Shirai-san?" She asked, remembering that her and Fujin had referred to the teleporter in that fashion yesterday.

"Indeed," Kaga-Tsuchi confirmed.

"Why?" Uiharu wondered simply.

"I woke up this morning in a room I had never seen before last night, full of things that meant nothing to me. Pictures of me doing things I have no memories of, evidence of hobbies I can not remember enjoying, recreational items that bring me no pleasure. People greeted me who know me better than I know myself, or rather they know a me that doesn't exist anymore. Things and people existed around me, but I had nothing," Kaga-Tsuchi explained, rattling off this declaration of loss as if she was making a grocery list, "But then I remembered something. The only memory I have. The memory of last night. The memory of the girl who had so much but cared only of her friend and of her purpose, and the memory of the boy who had nothing to begin with yet who wishes to fight for something that has no rewards. The purpose they fight for fills their lives. Maybe it can fill my emptiness as well." Her hand reached up to pull her long black hair, showing the green cloth she had tied her hair up with.

Uiharu was a little stunned at this explanation. She didn't know what to say.

Luckily Kaga-Tsuchi took the initiative, bowing slightly. "Thank you for your assistance Uiharu-sama."

"Assistance? Sama?" Uiharu repeated.

"You are Aneki's most important person. Sama seems fitting," Kaga-Tsuchi said, "and thanks to you I know where to look now."

Uiharu was still confused, "But I haven't said anything."

"I am a mind reader, talking is unnecessary." Kaga-Tsuchi explained as she turned. "I shall look for her in The Strange."

"Wait, that place is dangerous," Uiharu began.

"There is no need to worry about me. Apparently I am the ace of the fencing club within my school," She tapped the epee she had dangling at her side that Uiharu had only just noticed. "Muscle memory was not affected by whatever it was that wiped the rest of my memories so I should still be able to use it skillfully."

With that the girl left.

"Soon after that she became Shirai-san's second lieutenant. I still talk to her every now and then when she's going from her school to The Strange or wherever. The conversations are a little weird with her being a mind reader and referring to me so respectfully, but she's a nice person underneath it all and she gives some really good advice," Uiharu said.

"You see... Shirai had said that it was fine to talk about Judgment in general because it was a part of my life. Well in the same way I guess Verdict is a part of hers. I don't ask a lot about it but sometimes I'll ask her about those two or some other member of the gang she's told me about or she'll start talking about this and that," Uiharu told Saten, "for the next month or so she was always complaining to me about how everyone was calling her Aneki and she didn't like it. She said it made her feel like a delinquent, which she didn't feel she was."

Saten chuckled. "That sounds interesting. And those two that you were talking about in your story sound like quite the characters, Uiharu-sama." Saten risked the slight jab, doubting that it would offend Uiharu.

On the contrary, Uiharu looked pleased, if slightly uncomfortable by the high honorific. "Y-yeah. It's a little weird being regarded so highly by an ojou-sama. To be honest I used to have this thing about ojou-samas. I thought they were so cool and classy and everything. But realizing that the two that I've known so far are also delinquents has kind of killed that illusion for me."

Saten laughed again. "It's kind of sad though. I was looking forward to hearing all these grand tales Shirai-san has told you of her epic battles..."

The smile fell from Uiharu's face surprisingly quickly. In it's place the flower headed girl now wore an expression that Saten could not describe. It was similar to the look she had made when talking about the bank robbery that had started it all. Saten instantly put her arm around her friend again and rubbed her back comfortingly.

"A fight isn't something you should attach the word "epic" to. It's not a pleasant or heroic thing," Uiharu began, melancholy and a bit of fear painting her words. Saten was immediately reminded of a look she had seen just a little earlier that day.

"Is that why you were so desperate to make sure Shirai-san didn't interfere during that... encounter?" Saten asked hesitantly.

Uiharu nodded. "I told you she was protective right. Well... I'm not sure you understand just how protective she is. It's like…" Uiharu paused, "it's like those stories where a lion adopts a gazelle. That gazelle must feel very safe under the watch of that lion, but then they stumble across the lion eating another gazelle," Uiharu sighed, "the stronger and more protective your guardian, the safer you feel, but theres a side to you that dreads that protection, because you know the consequences. You know that being protected sometimes means other people get hurt instead, and sometimes they get hurt badly."

"Shirai-san has only had to protect me like that twice. The first was in the bank. I was unconscious so I don't know what happened, but apparently it fell under the "excessive force" rulings of Judgment. The second happened a couple weeks after the Kaga-Tsuchi thing."

Uiharu blearily opened, her eyes, confused. She wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep, and there was a terrible pain in the back of her head. She tried to move but found that she was being held back by something. She could feel metal encircling her wrists.

As the world came into focus she saw an arm wrapped around her neck, keeping her in place. And she could vaguely hear the ringing of a phone. Then a familiar voice, muffled by distance and the aching of her head, answered. "Hello, Uiharu," Shirai-san's voice echoed through the speakers of a phone.

Then another voice spoke up. This one unfamiliar but much closer. So close Uiharu could feel the vibrations of the words and feel the breath of the speaker. "I'm afraid Uiharu's a little occupied at the moment," the voice was deep, smug, and ruthless.

"Who are you and what have you done with Uiharu?!" Shirai-san shouted, the volume of her voice making it much easier to hear now.

"I am Shijyu Nana, leader of The Agents. And as for your friend..." Suddenly a gloved hand was in Uiharu's face, holding her phone. A sudden kick to the back of the flower headed girl's leg caused her to cry out in pain. Then the gloved hand moved away from Uiharu's field of vision.

"What have you done to her?!"

"Nothing yet, but the possibilities are limitless. That is, unless you do exactly as I say. Come to the unloading yard 687 at the border of Districts 10 and 11," Shijyu said before hanging up.

"Wh-what are..." Uiharu began, but found that those were all the words she could manage, as disoriented as she was.

"What are we planning on doing to her," Shijyu guessed, an air of amusement in his voice,"Well you see, for the past couple weeks that twerp has been meddling in our business. Ruining a couple deals, stealing some equipment, and just generally being a nuisance. Now we can't have that can we? So we looked into it and found that she has a friend who she is very close to. So we're going to lure her here and make an example out of her. Show the rest of the gangs just what happens when you mess with us."

"Oh, and if you were wondering what's going to happen to you," Shijyu began, the ruthlessness now coming full force in his voice. "Well, we can't have witnesses can we? Don't worry, we'll give you a good burial, even if it is a bit early." He chuckled and Uiharu's eyes widened in fear.

Her eyes darted around the room, looking for any chance at escape or any glimmer of hope at all.

The building was a large warehouse. Large rectangular metal shipping containers crowded one area while smaller wooden crates littered the rest of the place. Along most of the length of the area ran a conveyer belt which branched off into several other conveyer belts at right hand angels at what looked like switching stations.

Robots darted back and forth from shipping containers, dumping crates onto the conveyer belt, which were then scanned by a large machine and then led onto one of the branching belts where another stationary robot picked it up and put it where it belonged. Other robots unpacked some of the crates, dismantling the wooden boxes and putting their contents to the side for space efficiency.

Robots were hardly an unusual sight at the unloading yards though, since most of it was automated. It was far rarer to see people here, which was why the fact that there were nine of them scattered throughout the building all the more surprising.

But Uiharu was far more surprised and horrified over what they had in their hands. Two of them carried what looked like guns; big, automatic, turn you into swiss cheese in a matter of second, guns. All the rest had police batons or tasers or even swords.

Shijyu also had a gun. Uiharu couldn't see it but she felt the circular metal barrel of a silencer pressing against the side of her head. "Now you be a good little hostage or else," he said.

Uiharu couldn't move even if she wanted to. Her hands were cuffed, she was being held in a headlock, and her knees had turned into jelly. Horrible memories flooded her mind and all she could do was pray that Shirai-san wouldn't come.

The time passed agonizingly slowly, and Uiharu allowed herself to hope that the other girl wouldn't show up and get caught up in this mess after all.

It was a foolish hope. Shirai-san would always come to the aid of a friend in need, no matter the risk.

Which is why Uiharu wasn't really surprised when Shirai-san kicked in the front door of the building and leveled a glare at Shijyu. Uiharu's stomach dropped as she watched Shirai-san stomp forward several steps, stopping several yards away from Uiharu, next to a pile of scrap material from disassembled crates.

Uiharu tried to say something, to tell her friend to run, but the grip on her throat and the fear she felt silenced any words, leaving Kuroko's voice to boom out throughout the building. "I'm here so let her go!" she shouted.

"That wasn't the deal. I told you that you needed to do what I said. And right now I'm saying that you'll stay right there." Shijyu grinned as he twisted the gun against the side of Uiharu's head.

Shirai-san's glare intensified, but she remained silent and still.

"You've been quite the annoyance, I must say. Surprising for a little girl like yourself. But I'm afraid it ends here. You're just not cut out for this world after all. You're nothing but a little kid and yet you're trying to play with the big boys," Shijyu chuckled and pointed the gun at the teleporter to emphasise his point, "You're-"

"I am Verdict," Shirai-san interrupted, plunging her left hand into a pile of nails that rested on the scrap wood next to her, "and my verdict is guilty." Several nails disappeared only to embed themselves in the two automatic guns. Then she herself disappeared, reappearing in front of Uiharu and Shijyu. She grabbed the arm that held the gun, and vanished again.

Uiharu heard her voice off to the side, near the conveyer belt. "You really shouldn't wear long sleeves in the presence of heavy machinery," she began. Uiharu turned just in time to see Shirai-san ramming the man's arm into the cogs of the conveyer belt, "it might get caught inside."

The gears were powerful and, in the mostly automated facility, hardly designed with safety in mind. The gun that Shijyu held was quickly turned into a mangled mess with hardly a shudder from the gears to acknowledge its existence. The man's arm fared far worse and the screams of pain were far louder than the grinding gears as more and more of his arm was slowly swallowed up by the machine.

The teleporter did not stay to admire her work. In a second she was in front of one of the thugs who had a now useless gun in his hand. The nails weren't teleported with precision in mind. Kuroko had teleported as many as she could and hoped that one of them would do something to jam the gun.

The result was a gun with more spikes protruding from it than a hedgehog, some of which had embedded themselves in the wielders hands as well. Kuroko swept his legs and punched his face hard, breaking the nose and sending him crashing onto his back on the floor.

Then she teleported over to the other one. She placed her foot on the end of the nail studded barrel, and drove it into the person's leg before flicking her leg up to deliver a powerful kick right to the chin.

By the time her foot had returned to the floor another thug had managed to charge at her. It was one of the ones with a sword. He swung it at Kuroko with all his might, but the teleporter ducked low, easily dodging the horizontal slash. She moved forward into his guard and delivered a powerful blow to his stomach with one hand while the other grabbed the hilt of the sword.

The force of the blow to his stomach caused him to let go of the sword, allowing Kuroko to hit him hard with the hilt.

Kuroko then shifted her grip on the sword and swung the blade at the baton of another thug that was attacking her. She severed the plastic tool near the base and landed a shallow cut on the thug that held it. The weapon was gone but the swing continued, driving him off balance and into the waiting knee of the teleporter.

Kuroko took a few steps back to regain her balance and stance, just in time to see the other sword wielding thug charging at her. His arms were raised in preparation for a downward blow. So she stepped forward and to the right and thrust her sword into his arms, causing him to drop his own and cry out in pain.

The other thugs were beginning to close in now, two with tasers and two with batons. Drawing out the sword would take too long so she pushed it, and the person it was embedded in, towards one of the people with tasers.

Unfortunately this still left her surrounded on three sides without much time to react. She dodged one of the baton swings only to get hit by the taser.

It seemed relatively ineffective though, as she grabbed the one who was pressing the electric tool into her back and teleported him in front of her, where he was clipped by the swinging baton of one of his gang mates and crumpled to the ground.

As he fell Kuroko grabbed the arm that held the taser and drove it forward into the person who had swung the baton.

For the last person she abandoned any trace of style or strategy and just began raining punches against his body, stopping only when his body hit the floor, and even that appeared reluctant.

Uiharu watched the whole thing from her place near the end of the building. She was in a bit of a daze, watching the destruction Kuroko wrought. It was as if she was in the eye of a horrible storm. She felt weirdly safe and secure, even though things were falling apart all around her.

She had seen fights before, she had even seen Kuroko fight before back in the training camp. But it was nothing like this.

Judgment members were all taught Aikido, a form of martial arts that utilizes throws and locks in order to incapacitate an enemy without hurting them that much. It was a purely self-defense oriented martial art.

What she was watching was about as far from that as possible. It was calculated, brutal, and unrestrained. Shirai-san had utterly and ruthlessly dismantled her opposition.

When she had finished she walked over to the scrap materials she had stopped by at the beginning and touched a small piece of wood. It vanished and the teleporter looked over at Shijyu. Uiharu followed her gaze and saw that the piece of wood was now in his arm, stuck into the flesh just above the elbow, stopping anymore of his arm from going into the machine and stopping the blood so he wouldn't bleed out.

Then Shirai-san's arms were around her. She looked into the teleporters eyes and heard her say, "Are you ok, Uiharu? Are you ok?"

"Are you ok, Uiharu?" Saten asked, concern heavy in her voice as she shook her friend.

Uiharu was suddenly thrust back into the present. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You went all quiet and distant..." Saten continued, sounding unsure.

"Yeah, just... remembering something. I'd prefer not to talk about it," Uiharu sighed as she forced the memory away, "just pray that you never have to see Shirai-san fight."

Saten nodded, still worried.

"Let's head to bed," Uiharu said, standing up.

"Would you like me to sleep with you?" Saten asked, no hint of teasing in her tone.

Whether because she detected the sincerity or whether she was disturbed enough that it didn't bother her, Uiharu nodded.

Several minutes later the two lay under the covers. Uiharu was fast asleep, she always fell asleep so easily. Saten was still awake though, her mind whirring as she thought about all the things she had heard from her friend today. It was all a lot more complicated than she thought.

She turned and faced the other girl, staring at her sleeping face. "Don't worry," she whispered with a smile, "I'm here for you."

As the level zero's eyes fluttered closed she swore she could see a smile on the other girl's lips.

Author's Note: Another history chapter. Not sure whether that's a good thing or not. Depends on what you readers like. At least it has a bit of action, and Uiharu.

Though this chapter is Uiharu-centric, it still focuses mostly on Kuroko and her lieutenants, which, as I believe I've said before, is inevitable when the big change in the AU world is because of Kuroko, and thus most of the backstory will be dealing with that change and thus Kuroko.

As for the timeline... yeah... it's a little screwed up. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly when things happened. But the timeline of canon is just as screwed up so I say, to hell with it.

Anyway, onto another matter. This chapter features some of the backstory of Fujin and Kaga-Tsuchi. I was slightly hesitant to include it, or at least to include that much of it, because they're OC's, and I've previously documented my opinions that OC's should remain in supporting or antagonistic roles. However these two have gone slightly beyond that which begs the question of whether or not I should go further into their backstories and actions. I'd like to hear your opinions in a comment.

Oh and for readers of my other works I can assure you that my trilogy will be completed. The next chapter is almost done. But I think I'd like to reread the first two books before I begin again. It's been a long time and I want to get back into the feel of the writing. So please be tolerant a little longer.