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Keith sat on the floor of an alleyway listening to footsteps coming and going. He was sharpening a knife after cleaning blood off it. He had killed an entire group of police looking for the Angel Killers. It wasn't much of a fight even though they were all armed. To Keith, it seemed like they had all been brought in that year or the last. They were all stupid and slow. He looked up to see a barrel of a gun pointing around the corner. He heard the trigger click and whipped out his gun and shot. The bullets shattered upon impact. Keith saw him peak around another corner and his attacker noticed his attention switched direction. The trigger pulled again and Keith knew he wouldn't be able to shoot fast enough to stop it so he raised his knife to his face to shield it. Only the bullet wasn't aimed for his face. It buried itself into Keith's wrist and he dropped the gun with a cry. He pressed against it with gritted teeth and looked up to see a gun be pointed to his face.
"Don't resist"
"I was only shooting the bullet to keep yours from hurting me"
"I'm actually surprised you got this far with a broken rib."
She pressed it against his forehead
"You should've let him heal you."
He swiped her legs and she fell, shooting the bullet as she did so. Keith winced and ducked, expecting an impact. He didn't feel new pain but could still smell burning flesh so he opened his eyes. All he could see was just a wall of shimmering feathers. The wall lowered and Asami was propping herself up with her elbow. Keith frowned and turned his head towards the wall.
"What the hell are you doing Lance!"
"Saving your job and his life"
"Look around. He's not nice and he's definitely not innocent."
"Your job was to arrest him. Not kill him"
She scoffed as she stood up.
"Look how well that turned out"
He huffed and she walked away. Lance turned around to Keith. His gaze lingered on his face before dropping to his hand. Blood had streamed from his wrist and was dripping down his fingers. Every few seconds it splashed into a small puddle that had been formed.
"Hey uh.."
He instinctively moved his hand towards Keith as he spoke. Keith's gaze flicked to him, which stopped him in his tracks. He studied his face before flicking to his wings. His breath halted as he looked at them. Lance turned slightly and then folded them up.
"Please let me heal you"
Keith pulled his arm closer to him in silent protest.
"If you were to go away, I'd make it back to base without being followed. We have a healer there."
"I get it. You don't trust me. But depending on how far your base is, I don't think you'll be able to make it there. And if you could there are plenty of police roaming around now and you can't defend against them."
All he was given in response was a dirty look.
"If you really believe that you can get there on your own, why haven't you?"
"You'll follow me"
"No I mean before."
"I was taking a breather and I was snuck up on. I used my knife to redirect bullets and some landed in bodies. Then someone came up to me and pinned me down. I had to cut them to get them off me because they weren't budging."
"You could hardly defend because of your pain. Quit being stubborn and let me help you."
"No."
"What don't you trust about me"
"Not just you. All angels."
The dropping of blood melted into the sound of gunshots.
__
It was dark. He at least knows that much. So then why wasn't he going to sleep? He was exhausted but his eyes wouldn't stay closed. He tried curling into himself but gave upafter a couple minutes. The windows rattled and he shot up with blurry eyes.
"Mum?"
A light shined out the window so he shuffled over to see. The motion sensored light was on and he saw a group of sillhoutte people trying to break down the door. With each hit the windows rattled more and more until the door shattered into millions of possible splinters. He tripped on his way out of his room and stood up with bruises. He always had soft skin so it had just become routine now that he would show up with bruises. He hurried to his parents room but the bed was empty. There was noise downstairs and he slowly slid on his socks to the stairs. His head peaked around the corner and ran to his mum when he saw her.
"Mum, what's happening"
He clung to her leg until she picked him up. His arms wrapped around her neck as she rubbed circles on his back.
"It's okay Keith"
"Where's dad"
"He's somewhere else, it's okay. Go back up to your room, okay?"
She set him down on the ground and he stepped towards the stairs. He turned back around and his mum was smiling. He smiled back and ran up the stairs. He clung to his hippo plushie and waited. The noise had died down now and he wanted to go back to his mum but didn't. He would wait until she came to him. But she didn't come. He waited and waited but still the door stayed closed. A car pulled up in the driveway but he stayed still. The door opened and a loud bang echoed throughout the house. He jumped and cried. Finally the door opened and he sat up.
"Mumma?"
"No, I'm sorry"
"Who are you"
"My name is Shiro"
"Where's mum"
He sucked in a breath and exhaled.
"She's gone"
"What?! Why? And where did she go!?"
"Keith, I'm sure tonight has been very scary for you. There was a lot of loud sounds right?"
He hugged the hippo tighter
"Mm"
"And dark right?"
"Yeah.."
"Do you want to go somewhere quieter with me?"
He shuffled off his bed and pulled the hippo with him. He walked up to Shiro and put the hippo in his outstretched hand. "You don't want to hold it?"
"This is Pinky. Can he come too?"
"Yeah he can"
He smiled and pulled it back towards him. If he tucked his chin on its head then its feet would drag along the floor when he walked. Shiro chuckled at the size similarity.
"Do you want to walk or be carried"
He shifted the hippo to one arm and made grabby hands towards Shiro. He reached over and picked him up. He bounced him a couple times which made Keith laugh, before settling him on his hip. Keith yawned and buried his head in his hippo fluffy body. Shiro walked downstairs and glanced at Keith before dropping his gaze to the bloody bodies on the floor. Both had multiple bullet wounds and had bleed out, the crimson and scarlet shades soaking into the wooden boards. Even though they were criminals, he felt bad for the kid. He probably wouldn't know why they were killed and would just think that they left him alone.
"Detective Takashi.. You have a child.."
"Oh really, thanks Violet, I hadn't noticed."
She glared and pinched his ear.
"Ow ow ow."
She let go and he rubbed his ear
"Sorry. Orphaned kid of these two"
He gestured over his shoulder. Her face fell with guilt and sadness.
"Hey, it's alright. We were just doing out job. I fell bad too. He was the only one upstairs. There's no one else here"
"Should we send him to an orphanage?"
"Yeah we should try that, but he could always stay with me and Adam"
She hit him on the head and his hand flew up to stop the pain.
"Hey! You're supposed to be nice to me. I've been on this force longer than you"
"You should make it harder to insult and hit you then. It wouldn't work with you and Adam. You're both working and you can be called out at any time. You don't what him to be alone especially after this."
"Yeah.."
Keith eyes fluttered open to a bright light. He groaned and buried his face back into the hippo. Then he shot up. He didn't recognise the room or the bed or any of the people in the room.
"Mum..?"
"She's gone"
"Shiro?"
"Hey there new kid"
He jumped and turned to the voice.
"Hi.."
"My name is Akira, what's yours?"
"Keith"
"You came at a good time. Its our groups turn to get nicknames"
Another person poked their head around the corner.
"Hey guys, it's almost breakfast time. Oh good, hey Keith"
She waved slightly. He just looked at her and hugged the hippo. Her head was pulled back around and he couldn't see her anymore. He looked over at Akira. She was grinning down at him.
"What.."
"Come on get up! Breakfast is pancakes today."
"Pancakes?"
Somehow, she grinned wider and grabbed his arm. She pulled him up.
"Come see, come see. It's really good"
She pulled him out of the room and lead him to the kitchen. Soft music was playing in the background from someone's phone on the counter.
"Dot"
She was cooking on the stove and turned around.
"Keith hasn't had pancakes before, you need to make more today"
Dot's eyes shifted to Keith, who was half hiding behind Akira.
"Do you want to see it be made?"
He nodded and she picked him up. She flipped the pancake out of the pan and poured more batter in. It bubbled and browned on the edges.
"Ready?"
He was closely watching the pan and she chuckled. She slid the flipper under it and flipped it. It sizzled as it landed on the raw side.
"Wow.. Its like magic!"
She set him down and smiled
"Sure is buddy!"
He pouted when his feet touched the ground and made grabby hands up at her.
"I want to see it again"
"Again?"
"Yes! Magic again!"
Akira grinned and copied Keith with the grabby hands
"I want to see the magic too!"
"Akira, come on"
"Magic!"
She scooped them both up and they giggled. Keith wriggled around in her arms and huffed. He was entranced by the bubbling of the batter. Akira was entertained by making it as hard as she could for Dot to finish.
"Again!"
"What do you think Keith?"
He swung his legs and lifted his arms
"Again"
"Can I pour it"
"Can you reach"
She wriggled forward as Dot moved over to the bowl. She leaned and Dot's other arm came forward and prevented her from falling. Akira grabbed a handful of batter and plopped it into the pan. Dot scoffed.
"Theres a spoon for that."
She then turned to Dot with the most shit-eating grin. She raised her hand covered in batter and wiggled her fingers with a glint in her eye. Dot's eyes widened.
"No, no!"
Akira pushed her hand onto Dots face and she sighed. Keith giggled and pushed his dry hand onto her face as well. A guy snorted with laughter and they all turned to him.
"Shinsou, do you mind helping?"
"I came to see why there were no more pancakes coming out, found my answer"
Akira stuck her tongue out and smeared her hand around Dot's face. Keith glanced sideways to see what Akira was doing and stuck his tongue out too.
"It's burning"
Dot spun back towards the pan and turned off the element. She flipped the splatter of batter and sighed when it turned up black. He heard the sigh and looked back towards the pan. He pouted
"More magic?"
"Soon, just wait."
She put them both of the ground and Akira huffed.
"Come on Keith! There's more stuff to see"
She pulled him away laughing.
"What happened to Keith's parents?"
"Killed, last night"
He clicked his tongue
"Yikes"
"Shiro dropped him off, he said that there would have been a lot of noise and he told Keith that he would take him to a quieter place. I don't know that this counts, but there probably weren't many options"
"Gunshots, right? And Shiro dropped him off which means they were most likely criminals"
"Oh I'm sorry, this probably hits close to home"
"No no, it's okay. I've moved on, I just don't know how long it will take Keith to accept what's happened."
"From what I gather he doesn't actually know they're dead. Just that his dad is somewhere else and his mum is gone"
"He doesn't know?"
"He's 7. It won't help him to know"
"Seven..."
"I want to go back to bed."
She turned to him and stopped
"Why?"
"Hippo"
"You can carry him around"
"Too many people"
"What about me?"
"You're fine, you're nice"
"We'll go back then"
"You wanted your nickname"
"It's fine. We can get them tomorrow. Being alone is boring and scary"
He smiled and she led him back. He hugged the Hippo.
"When can I go home?"
"You'll have to ask Dot, I don't know"
He heard the hollars and squeals through the wall. He whined and buried his head into his Hippo. She leaned over and covered his ears. He lifted his head and turned around
"Its fun. You should go see"
He shook his head
"Sounds scary"
"It's not, I promise. You'll like it here"
"Shiro said he was taking me somewhere quiet"
"Come on"
She pulled him up.
"Where are we going"
"Going to go see that it's fun"
She pulled him out the door and stopped. She was practically buzzing with excitement, as she hopped from one foot to the other. A couple kids were all gathered around an adult. A couple had wings, others didn't. The ones with wings were being chucked up and then swooping back down, some of the ones without were being thrown to another adult who caught them and set them down for them to charge back in, the rest were just being placed away from him only to go running back in. Everyone was laughing.
Keith stumbled forward when someone slightly pushed him from behind. He turned to see someone smiling with wings that draped on the floor.
"What are you?"
"I'm a guardian angel who helps people. What are you, Hippo boy?"
"Keigo that is so rude. His name is Keith."
"I'm just a human"
"Hey, don't say it like it's something to be sad about"
Keith looked back towards the group of people
"Is that safe?"
"Wanna find out?"
Keigo grinned and Keith shook his head.
"I want to join in, Keigo can you look after him"
"Sure thing"
He did a little bow, and she grinned. She sprinted off leaving them both there. Keith stomach grumbled.
"Have you had breakfast yet?"
He shook his head. Keigo grabbed his hand and he was led to the kitchen again. He flew up to the counter and brought the plate of cold pancakes down to the ground.
"This is so good!"
"Didn't your parents make pancakes for you before?"
He shook his head and kept eating. The laughter from the other room had quietened and he heard Dots voice call.
"Group 3 for nicknames!"
"That's us, come on"
He grabbed the plate and flew back up to the counter. He landed on the ground and pulled Keith along with him.
Keith sat in a small circle between Akira and Keigo. He also recognised the guy who came into the kitchen earlier and Dot too.
"This groups nicknames are animals, and you can choose to use them but you don't have to. You have time to think about a name"
A bunch of chattering filled the room and Keith just curled into himself. He turned his attention to anything else to try to ignore the noise. Keigo blocked Keith's ears and smiled at him when he gave him a surprised look. He dropped his head on Keigo's shoulder and his wing came around and hugged Keith. The bell ringed for the door and he looked over. Shiro was there, looking around for someone and smiled when he saw Keith. He walked over and tapped Dots shoulder and she stood up.
"If you haven't got one already, just keep thinking of a name. I'll be back soon"
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