Mizuki threw anything that came into her hands, desperately waiting for her gun to miraculously appear somewhere. "Where the hell is it?!"

She had opened her bag and literally emptied it in her room. It wasn't there. It wasn't inside her boots. She couldn't have left it at the hospital. Sudden realization hit her when she saw the bandage around her shoulder through her reflection on the window. The minute she remembered the stinging pain in her wound, she flinched. She had let go of her weapon the moment Volk shot her.

Mizuki's eyes grew wide. "No." She hurried to the door, made her way out of her room and searched for Madara. "No. No. No. Oh god no..." When she reached his room, she found him reading a model magazine while resting on his bed. The moment his door opened, Madara gazed up at her, lifting an eyebrow at her unsteadiness.

"I can't find my gun." She muttered desperately. Madara closed the magazine he was holding and sat up. "The pistol?" he sighed. "I'll get you a better one."

Mizuki was shaking her head before he was finished. "No, you don't get it. I need my gun. That wasn't just a normal pistol, it was the Minasaki gun. If Mr. T realizes I don't have the gun with me, he will feed me to his anaconda."

Madara looked up at her. "He has an anaconda? Where does he keep that thing?"

Mizuki clicked her tongue. "He doesn't have an anaconda, it was just an expression."

His lips curled up. "So, the Minasaki gun?" The incredulous tone in his voice was unmistakable. "That gun was in your power?"

Mizuki closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes."

Madara stood up from the bed and went to stand right in front of her. His hand was placed on the top of her head before it ruffled her hair. "That's one awfully overpowered weapon. To think a kid like you had it..."

Mizuki slapped his hand away, glaring at him with a frown. "I need my gun. I don't care what you think about me having it."

He laughed. "Well, I don't think you had it when we made it out of the building before it exploded, but I don't think it was destroyed in the explosion either." His arms were crossed in front of his chest when he took a seat at the edge of his bed. "I think Gwen took it before she and Volk escaped."

Mizuki pressed her lips into a thin line. "So, they have it."

"It's a logical assumption." He shrugged. His eyes were serious when he met her eyes. "You know, everyone knows about the Minasaki gun, they probably saw the opportunity when Volk shot you." He sighed, looking away from her. "I honestly could have cared less about your weapon at that moment, Mizuki, I was only thinking about saving you."

Something warm spread across Mizuki's chest. She smiled and walked to stand in front of him. Her hand moved, as if it made its own decisions, and combed its fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of her hands in his hair. "Thank you, for that. I can't think of a way of showing you my gratitude," she said softly.

Madara's lips stretched up. He wrapped his hands around her hips and pulled her close to him. She was standing right in between his legs, with her hands on his shoulders. His eyes were red when he opened them, and Mizuki sighed in contempt. "Maybe I know a way you can."

She could easily identify the husky tone in his voice. Mizuki rolled her eyes with a smile. "You're such a dog."

"You enjoy that, though. Don't pretend you don't agree with me."

Mizuki bit her lip and sat on his lap. Now, they were eye-level. "I really do need to get back that weapon. If I don't Mr. T will kill me, that's not a lie."

"They still haven't found out, right?" He was hiding his face on the crook of her neck. Mizuki could feel small discharges of electricity running through her every time Madara's hot breath hit her sensitive skin.

"No, not yet..." she breathed.

"Then why are you so worried?" he asked.  Mizuki pushed him away and stared right into his red irises.

"That gun means everything to me," she made sure to emphasize every word that came out of her mouth.

Madara sighed. "And, since it's so valuable for you, didn't they place a GPS locator on it or something?"

Mizuki froze. There was a GPS locator on the gun, that's how they found out Mizuki had gone to Russia. "It does," her face brightened. "It does! You're a genius!" Mizuki placed a kiss on his cheek and Madara chuckled. "Mr. T put a GPS locator on the gun, that's how they found me in Russia the night of Volk's party."

Madara raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that mean you'll have to tell him you lost the gun?"

Mizuki paled. "Oh..." She looked at him and then at the floor. "I guess, I have no other choice. That GPS locator is the only hope I have of getting my gun back."

Madara pushed a lock of dark hair behind her ear. "If they have it, it will also guide us to their hideout," he commented. For some reason, Mizuki didn't find glee in such a fact. She didn't want Madara anywhere near her mother, that almost got them killed once.

"You're not going after them, are you?" she asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

Madara sighed. "I have no other choice, Mizu. If I don't get rid of them, Akatsuki will never find peace."

Mizuki remembered Konan speaking about her desire for peace and how Akatsuki was their only hope. She now knew about Madara's aspirations, but some things didn't fall into place. Madara's relation to her mother was one big example. She couldn't stop him, even if she wanted to. He wouldn't stop her if their positions were reversed.

Mizuki pulled away from him, standing up. "I need to call Mr. T. The sooner we know where my gun is, the sooner we'll get this over with."

"Can I ask you a favor, Mizu?" Madara looked up at her. "Please don't tell them anything I told you."

Mizuki knew that already. She knew she couldn't tell them about Madara's background, or how he became the leader of a criminal organization. She couldn't even mention her mother's name. She would have to find a way to not make it sound like she was keeping information.

She placed a hand on Madara's cheek and leaned in to place a kiss on his lips. Madara received her lips with pleasure, making the kiss longer than she had intended. "Of course," she muttered when she pulled away.

Tamakunya was working on the new blueprint of his newest invention when his phone beeped. He pressed a button and put on his earbud. "Yes, Mizu. How was the mission with Madara? Did you finally meet your mother?" he asked, continued to type notes into his computer.

"Mr. T, I'm glad to hear you're happy I'm still alive." Even through the telephone line, Mr. T could identify her sarcasm. He smiled.

"Why wouldn't you be alive? You're one of our best agents."

"Well, it's been a week since that day. I would think by now my father would have sent a rescue team or something."

"Oh, he almost did." Mr. T chuckled. "I stopped him, though. I knew you would call soon enough."

"How?"

"I know you lost the gun." He could hear Mizuki take a deep breath from the other side of the line, and he raised an eyebrow. "I also know you destroyed my prototype."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Gwen made the building explode, we weren't exactly planning on that."

"Hanzou told me about the TNT, don't worry about it. However, back to the gun, how well do you know Spanish?"

"Spanish?"

Mr. T typed something into his keyboard and a map showed on his screen. There was a red dot shining right over Monterrey, Mexico. "Yeah, I will send the coordinates of it to your phone. See for yourself."

There was a beep sound before Mizuki spoke again. "All right, you're on speaker now, Mr. T." His brows arched in curiosity. Perhaps she was alone again in Madara's hideout. "What? Mexico?! How the hell did they get to the other side of the freaking globe?!"

Mr. T chuckled. "It's been a week, Mizu."

"Just wait until I'm completely recovered from that gunshot," Mizuki muttered under her breath. Mr. T stopped typing and focused on her. "I will kill Volk when I see him."

"Gunshot? You were shot?" he exclaimed.

"Please don't tell dad," Mizuki realized her mistake and tried to convince Mr. T to keep it between them. "If he knew, he would have me come back. I need to finish this mission Mr. T. I need to face my mother."

Tamakunya knew Mizuki was a stubborn one, but he also thought Aki deserved to know that his daughter had been injured. "Where did he shoot you?"

"Shoulder. Nothing serious. Madara took me to a hospital, paid the doctor to don't report it to the police, and has been taking care of me since."

"He's with you?"

"Not right now. He left to run some errands. He'll be back soon, though."

"And Gwen? What did Gwen do when you were shot?" Mr. T already knew the answer to that, but he needed to convince himself that their teammate was gone.

"She... seemed rather disappointed the bullet missed my heart." He didn't feel hurt from the words, but he felt the hate in Mizuki's voice. If Aki didn't finish Gwen, Mizuki definitely will. "I can't believe that was my mother, Mr. T. She was ready to kill me."

"I'm sorry, Mizu." He shouldn't have apologized, it wasn't his apology she wanted. But he couldn't give her what she wanted. "Do whatever you want with the coordinates I gave you. If you need reinforcements, send me an SOS."

The call was cut. Mr. T pulled the bud out and sighed. Gwen Kira had become a liability, and they had no other option but to finish her.