"Lookie lookie! You have a rival for the Wretched Egg's attention!" Tamaki laughed.

The irritated nineteen year old ignored him, keeping her eyes on the screen. Tamaki was becoming arrogant, thinking he was in charge now that Rinichirou could no longer move out of bed. She didn't like the man, and he knew she didn't like him. That didn't mean they weren't civil, especially with their deal going on.

The new arrival, Woodpecker, was up against Crow. It was a stupid match, and she said as much.

"Are you insane? This match will be one sided," the girl said.

"Hmm?" Tamaki grinned, glancing sideways at the girl.

"Crow is the fifth strongest Deadman. To have him fight a complete amateur, even one who got his powers directly from the Wretched Egg…"

"Fifth?" Tamaki asks. "You know Crow?"

"No. But he's been here for eight years. The ranking's pretty clear. It's like putting Crow against me. He'll lose."

"Hmmm… You think so," Tamaki said with a sly smile.

She ignored him once again, for Igarashi Ganta had won. She crossed her arms.

"Well," Tamaki said once it was clear she wouldn't reply. "Even though Ganta-kun beat Crow, it's not like anybody could beat you. Now, are you ready?"

Watch Ganta Igarashi her butt. As if Tamaki wouldn't be keeping several eyes on the boy.

Yaboshi Kiyomi walked down the hall, surrounded by all the Undertakers, a few of whom were carrying her things. She didn't know how she felt to move back to G Sector. She didn't fit in with the deadmen. But it would probably be better than living with the Undertakers.

The door opened, and everyone leapt up to their feet at the presence of so many Undertakers, more than one deadman glaring.

"Bye bye," the super monk Azuma smirks at her.

The others dropped her things without a care and turned to leave. She scowled at their backs, but picks up her bags and moves towards her old room.

But the deadmen had seen her with the Undertakers and her lack of a collar, and made a connection.

"What the hell is a rotten Undertaker dog doing here?" A deadman sneered, swaggering up and blocking her.

She paused, glaring up at him, "Move. You're in my way."

His eyes widened, "You little—"

He lunged forward with a fist raised. Before anyone could react, he swung his fist down… And flew across the room to make a dent in the wall. Kiyomi hadn't even needed her branch of sin to take care of him. Murmurs echoed across the room, and many deadmen glared at her.

"Kiyomi? Yomi chan?" An unfamiliar mechanical voice queried.

She raised an eyebrow and glanced around. Nobody called her that except… "Owl?"

"It is you!" Nagi smiled, patting her on the head. "It's been a long time. How've you been?"

"Fine…" She hesitated. "Your voice…"

Her pale hand reached up, touched his throat. Karako tensed.

"Ah," he laughed a little nervously. "They pitched me against my wife. She was pregnant and I lost on purpose. We tried to run away. They took my voice and… They killed her."

His voice turned grim at the last sentence. Her eyes widened. Killed? The kind woman? Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides, and even if her expression didn't show it, Nagi saw and understood.

"But at least our son's living outside. When I leave I'm going to go hold him. Want to see his picture?"

Her eyes widened. Son? Her mind immediately thought back to the fetus in the test tube at the lab, and as she made the connection, felt sick. She looked down at the locket the man held out. There was no picture.

Unbeknownst to the two, Senji and Karako's breaths hitched. They cared for their friend, and they had both seen the inside of the locket. The moment the new girl said there wasn't any picture…

But Kiyomi forced a smile. "Doesn't look much like you. But he's cute. Like oba-san."

"Really?" Nagi laughed.

And the two other deadmen let out a relieved breath.

Nagi grabbed a few of her bags and helped her unpack.

"We thought you were dead, you know," Nagi said as he dumped out the contents of a bag.

"You of all people should know I won't die so easily."

"But they're all dead. Only the two of us are left from the first generation," Nagi told her.

She hesitated. The first generation. The first batch deadmen brought in immediately after the Earthquake. The second generation was the second year, then the third year the third generation. After that, every two years was considered a generation, because that was how long it took for most deadmen to die. Only the strongest survived past their generation. Like her. Like Owl. Like Crow.

"Toto's alive. Mockingbird," she said.

"Number two. I should have guessed," Nagi laughed.

Three, she corrected mentally. Toto was the third strongest. Not the second. But it wasn't like any of them knew about the Wretched Egg.

They finished arranging everything before Nagi stood and stretched. "Will you be alright? You saw some of the looks from earlier…"

"You're worrying about me?" Kiyomi said, the corners of her lips quirked up in amusement.

"Stupid question. Forget I asked," Nagi waved a hand, and left.

But as he had expected, the deadman who challenged her that day arrived at her room near midnight, and called her out.

Annoyed, she opened her door and glared at him. He had brought several lackeys with him. How nice.

"You! Undertaker's bitch! We're settling things. You're coming to the training room with us, and we're going to show you who's boss around here!" The man shouted, as if she wasn't mere inches away from him.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Yes. It would be a good idea to settle who was boss around here. As if Tamaki and Rinichirou didn't call the shots.

She walked out, the men making just enough room for her to pass, glaring down at her all the while. A cheap form of intimidation. She fought the urge to roll her eyes again. This was the type that didn't survive past one generation.

Crow opened his door, yawning. His eye, or where his eye used to be, ached. He would take pain meds, but they cost an arm and a leg. The next best alternative would be to train and take his mind off the pain.

He paused mid-yawn. A bunch of muscled men with evil grins huddled together was not a sight usually seen at this time of night.

It was then that he caught a glimpse of the girl from before in the middle of the bunch, being herded somewhere.

He had a bad feeling about that.

He discreetly followed, staying out of earshot and out of sight. Not that any of those idiots even turned around to see if anyone followed.

They herded her into the training room, and she stood facing the men. They blocked her exit. She raised an eyebrow. If she followed them this far, it wasn't like she would just bolt all of a sudden.

"We'll teach you a lesson, Undertaker's bitch," the leader sneered.

She sighed, looking to the side and running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, I heard you the first time. I'm not in the mood for this, so why don't we leave it at this? That way's better for everyone."

"Haven't you been listening? Or were you too dumb to understand the message? We're going to beat you to a pulp."

The corner of her lips quirked. She was torn between amusement and exasperation. "Oh? It seems like you're too dumb to understand subtlety. I'll say it plainly. Leave me alone, or I'll slaughter you."

They growled and attacked. Senji moved to intervene. With a fluid movement, he knocked one out and got through the group to stand in front of her.

"Oi, move," she said.

"Keh," he grinned, ignoring her. "Ganging up on a girl isn't nice."

"Crow, get out of the way, or you'll be joining her."

"Bring it." He held up his middle finger and curled it in a 'come hither' motion.

They attacked him, branches of sin out and ready. Now seriously irritated, Kiyomi grabbed the back of Crow's shirt and threw him safely behind her, before she lunged. She ducked and jumped, dodging the branches of sin in an effortless dance. Crow watched speechlessly as she took care of the entire bunch without using a single drop of blood. She glanced back at him and reached out to haul him to his feet.

"That was really something. You beat them without your branch of sin. Were you a fighter before you came here? Boxer or something?" He asked.

"No. Not really," she averted her eyes, then met his eyes again, annoyance on her face. "But you third generation deadmen are seriously dumb, cutting yourselves open for every little thing. And you don't even bother to evolve."

He was taken aback, "Wha—And I came to save you!"

She gestured at the unconscious men, "Does it look like I needed saving?"

"Tch. See if I do anything next time."