(Shayla's POV)

"How do you know him red?" Tennoji asks, looking at me intently. I feel myself freeze at his question, the question I had been hoping to avoid

"We met in New York, a long time ago." I answer vaguely, hoping he wouldn't connect the dots too quickly. I press my hand over the wound on his thigh, slowing down the bleeding.

I can feel his eyes burning into me, and my hands shaking. I know he will have to know the truth eventually, but at the same time, I wanted to avoid it. A part of me felt like once he knew, I would lose him, and whatever trust he had in me would be gone.

I would not only lose my partner, but I would never find out what could have been, where this odd attraction between us would go.

"Red. There's more to it isn't there?" He asked quietly, as he places his hand over mine, the one that I was trying to stop the bleeding with. His fingers slowly stroked my hand, in a soothing manner, and if he didn't know my hands were shaking before, he did now.

"Hey Red. Look at me." He demanded, removing his hand from mine, and grabbing my chin, he titled it up, making me face him, making me look at him. His grey eyes were searching, trying to find answers that I wasn't sure I could give. "I don't know what you-"

He cuts off, the sound of footsteps interrupting us, as the second unit, along with first unit, find us. "He okay?" Kirisawa asks, as he approaches us, taking a drag of his cig as he looks us over.

"Way to go Tennoji." Hanai smirks, teasing him, earning a glare from Tennoji.

"Shut it Hanai." He growls, as he stands up straighter, trying to walk towards the group.

"You idiots can't even catch somebody? Way to go." One of the first unit guys cuts in glaring at me and Tennoji. I didn't know his name, but he was wearing a suit, and had light blonde hair, that was a little shaggy, but it was swept out of his face, revealing his light amber eyes.

"Tsk. This is what happens when they let little girls into their unit." Another first unit member scoffs, shooting me a pointed look. I didn't know his name either, but he had slicked back black hair, and beady black eyes to match. Wow, I really need to learn more names besides the second unit I guess.

I had seen them my first day, but had never bothered to learn their names. Everyone else told me that they were assholes, so I had never bothered. "Us? You're the assholes that butted your way in, and screwed it up. You gave us away. They wouldn't have known we were here if you guys weren't so damn loud." Tennoji snapped, getting pissed.

"We wouldn't have to but in if you could do your job." Blondie smirks, and Tennoji tries to step forward, but stumbles a little because of his leg. Kyobashi comes over, letting Tennoji lean on him.

"It's one thing if you're injured, but she clearly isn't and she still let him get away. Go home princess, this isn't for little girls." The guy with too much hair gel and creepy eyes adds. Damn I need to learn names.

My finger itches to reach for my gun, as I step forward, pissed. "I'll show you little girl, asshole. It's your loud ass mouth that fucked us over. They had no clue we were here until you opened your loud ass mouth, blowing it for us." I growl, getting right in his face. He takes a step back, but starts laughing.

If I wasn't a cop now, I would have pulled my gun. Part of me still wanted to, but I felt a hand on my shoulder, and on my arm, as someone started pulling me back. They didn't let go, continuing to hold me back. Probably trying to keep me from doing something stupid. A glance back shows me its Eiki, and he shakes his head at me, like he's telling me not to do anything stupid, without actually saying it.

"You need to calm down Shay." He tells me quietly, but first unit hears, and burst into laughter.

"Let her go. I'm not scared. What damage could the little girl do?" The blonde one scoffed, still laughing.

"Yea Eiki let me go.. What damage could I possibly do?" I sneer sarcastically, trying to shrug Eiki off to no avail. He keeps a firm grip, not letting me go. Then again, Eiki isn't stupid, and he knows what I can do.

"You're not that girl anymore Shay." He whispers in my ear, as he leans closer. "Remember that. Remember why you became a cop in the first place." He adds quietly, and I sigh, knowing he's right.

"You need to keep your unit in line Kirisawa." Slicked back hair adds, looking to Kirisawa, who merely shrugs.

An ambulance arrives, to take Tennoji to the hospital, and he glances at me, as he gets on the stretcher. I know I should say something, but I'm at a loss for words, as I watch them wheel him away. "Alright. Let's get back to the station." Kirisawa commands, and we all leave together.

             I drive back alone, already missing Tennoji's chatter. Part of me wanted to go to the hospital to check on him, but I knew it was too soon, they probably wouldn't allow any visitors yet. The drive to the station was too quiet, and I'm painfully aware of how quiet it is once I get back to the garage of the station, and head up, alone.

               The office is even quiet once I enter, everyone turning to look at me when I open the door. I take my usual seat, though the spot across from me is empty, and I hate it. "Okay. We have the papers gathered from the room they were in, so we can start analyzing those. Slaven, we need to know who you saw in there, and of they hinted at who else was involved." Kirisawa says, his usual smile and traces of humor gone, as he looks over at me.

                 I bite my lip, looking around at my unit, my team. Would they look at me differently? Would they want me gone? I knew Eiki wouldn't, and I doubt Kirisawa would. But I couldn't help wondering, about Hanai, Kyobashi, Asano. Tennoji... I take a deep breath, before glancing at Kirisawa.

                 "Daniel, was a blood dragon from New York. He was the one that shot Tennoji, and he's also listed in your packet. He gave no indications of who else he might be working with...." I trail off, swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat as I try to give my report as professionally as I could.

                 "I... I shot him, in the shoulder, after he shot Tennoji. He left, heading for the roof." I add, and Kirisawa nods, before taking a seat.

                  "So should we be looking into the other blood dragons from New York? Though we seem to have an odd mix of groups involved in this.." Hanai asked, trailing off in thought.

                  "The records of the ones in jail should be easy to get. The ones that they spared though, their records were sealed in an attempt to give them a normal life. We can get them opened, but it might take a day, to get them officially ordered to be released, as well as getting all the info sent here." Kirisawa sighs, scratching the back of his neck in thought.

                  "We don't even know if the other ones that were released are even involved." Eiki chimed in, shooting me a sideways glance.

                "No, but we need to run them through the system, see if they are in the country, or still in the U.S. He might have reached out to some of them to draft them. We have to tie up all loose ends to be sure." Hanai adds, and everyone else nods in agreement.

                 "Eiki... Do you remember any names of those they let go? We can start a general search until we get the records." Kyobashi asks, pushing his glasses back into place as he looks over at Eiki.

                   "Try Roarke O'riley." I answer, not even giving Eiki a chance to open his mouth to respond. They all turned to look a me, looks of confusion on their faces, either raising their eyebrows or furrowing them in confusion. All except Eiki and Kirisawa, who smiled slightly.

                      "I didn't think you guys would remember anything, since it started when you were both still in the academy.. Though I had hoped maybe when they talked about the case later they might have told you some things.." Hanai adds, before heading off to his desk.

                    "They didn't go into the list that they let go. Those are sealed for a reason." I reply, knowing I was going to have to face this sooner or later. Though I wanted to wait to tell them all my side of the story, when Tennoji was back. It wasn't a story I wanted to go through twice.

                  Kyobashi heads to his desk, probably to start looking into whether or not Roarke was in the U.S. "Figured it was worth a shot to ask you guys... Anyway.. Then how do you know?" Kyobashi finally asks, his fingers already going across his keyboard at his desk.

               Eiki opens his mouth, presumably to make some excuse for me. "Well you-"

               "I hold my hand up, shaking my head at him as I signal for him to stop. "It's okay Eiki." I tell him, before turning to the others.

              "Eiki was in the academy at the time the case started. I wasn't. I started about two weeks after the case was coming to a close." I pause, and everyone nodded for me to continue. "Honestly, I'd prefer to tell this story when Tennoji gets back, at least the whole thing, start to finish...I only want to tell it once... But parts of it, probably can't wait.." I look around, at them. I could see the wheels turning already, and they would figure it out soon, so I might as well just tell them.

                 "Anyway. So Roarke was good friends with Daniel. Roarke was a kid when he moved to New York, from Ireland with his family. Both were poor, and didn't have good homes. They met when they were taken in to the Blood Dragons. Though of course at the time, they didn't know what they were in for. The leader would take kids off the streets, offering them a home, and they got one, at a price. I suggest you look into Roarke, I think Daniel would reach out to him...." I trail off, my hands shaking, I knew I had skirted around it, telling them about the other two, and not me.

                   "And you know this because..." Asano asked, quietly. That was the most I had ever heard that boy speak actually.

                  "Because I was a Blood Dragon. I was living on the streets, when they took me in. I was about seven at the time." I answered cooly, and everyone's eyes widened at my words.

              "Seven?" Hanai asked, the surprise evident in his tone.

              "I was on the streets due to circumstances beyond my control, at a young age.." I shrugged, not wanting to go into the why I was on the streets so young yet. "There were only a handful of us that they let go, though I don't remember everyone, I can give you what names I do remember." I offered, and the room went silent.

                 "Okay then." Kyobashi smirked, in his usual perverted way, as he motioned me over to his desk. I walked over there, and scribbled out the names I could remember on a piece of paper, and he took them from me, nodding as he got to work.

                "Slaven. I don't know when they are going to release Tennoji, though knowing him he will try to get out as soon as possible.. Anyway, until they release him, you're with Asano." Kirisawa called out to me, and I nodded, before heading towards Asano's desk.

"Slaven? This doesn't change anything. You're one of us." Kirisawa added, making me smile. He turned to look at everyone else, his gaze slightly intimidating, almost like he dared anyone to disagree. "Though I think it might be a good idea to hear your side, but if you want to wait to tell us until Tennoji comes back that's fine." He added, making sure everyone heard him.

"Thanks. Also, please let me be the one to tell him. I want him to hear it from me, no one else." I add, and everyone nodded, signaling they understood.

I worked quietly next to Asano, who only spoke when necessary, a very stark contrast to Tennoji, and what I was used to. I wasn't sure how everyone felt about me now, though Kirisawa seems okay, as well as Kyobashi. At least, it didn't stop Kyobashi from making his usual pervy jokes. Asano, I couldn't tell, since he was always so quiet. Hanai, I got a few weird looks from here and there, but he didn't say anything.

I worked with Asano until it was time to head home, though instead of heading home, I headed to the hospital.

                After taking the subway, I finally make it to the hospital, shamelessly abusing my badge privileges to get in after visiting hours were over. I walk quietly to his room, nervous, not sure if I should just tell him now, and get it over with, that way he would have a few days for it to set in, or wait for him to get back.

              "Hey there..." I greet him nervously, as I enter the room, running a shaking hand back through my hair as I look at my partner. Though if I was honest with myself, he was more than that.

              "Hey Red. Didn't expect to see you here." He grinned, his signature lopsided one, that I liked. I walked farther in, and took a seat on the chair, next to his bed.

               "How bad was it?" I ask, feeling slightly guilty. I was my fault Daniel shot him, maybe if I had just shot Daniel sooner, he wouldn't have had a chance to shoot Tennoji.

               "Was nothin' the only reason I ain't outta here is cause the bullet was one of those ones that are designed to break apart, so they have to make sure they got all the fragments." He waved it off, pretending it was nothing.

                 "I'm sorry." I blurt out awkwardly, my face heating up, as I meet his gaze.

                 "Hey. Look at me. Ain't nothing to be sorry for you hear? It's part of the job. You didn't do nothin' wrong. Ya got me?" He says seriously, and I nod, letting him know I got it. I still felt partially responsible though.

               "If it was those kind of bullets, the kind that are designed to break, maybe we could trace them." I mused, and Tennoji nodded.

               "For sure. We could follow that lead. So who they got ya with since I'm here?" He asked, and I sighed, slightly frustrated about my sudden partner swap.

               "Asano." I muttered, and he started laughing. "Not funny, he barely talks." I tell him, though I can't help the smile tugging my lips, as he keeps laughing.

                 "Asano has good instincts, even if he doesn't talk much. He will once he warms up to you." He tells me, and I nod. "Anyway, any good leads yet?"

                I fidget slightly, shifting in my seat. "Well, the angle we're looking at now, is to see if anyone else apart of the gangs that some of these guys are in, are involved. We're looking at the New York gang currently... We hope to have the sealed files of those they let go soon..." I add, looking at the wall, instead of him.

                  "Red. You never answered my question. Not really." He says quietly, suddenly serious again.

                    "I... I told you... I met him in New York." I say hesitantly, as I start bouncing my foot up and down nervously.

                  "How? Just what is he to you?" He asks, and I flinch at his words.

                "I... I was a Blood dragon. They took me off the streets when I was seven...." I tell him. My chest hurting as I finally meet his gaze.

                His grey eyes widen in shock,before narrowing. His fist clenches, shaking slightly, as he grits his teeth. "Get the fuck outta here." He says, and my heart drops, as I quickly stand up, my eyes watering.

             I blink back tears as I head for the door. I turn around to face him, one more time. "I'm going to tell everyone the full story once you get back. At least hear me out. If you want another partner, I understand." I manage to choke out, before running from the room, and to the elevator.