Wow, this chapter is over a page longer than my usual limit, I feel so proud of myself! Except not really.

Anyway! Many thanks to all my viewers, especially my bff viexon for favoriting even though I know you only even bothered because I wouldn't stop talking about the fic and the trouble it was giving me.

And also many, many thanks to AlexandriaSummer for following and your review that made my day, I'm so glad you liked it! And it's not betrayal, it's... yeah... well it's not betrayal!

Hope you all enjoy. This is the last chapter for this fic guys so an extra thank you to everyone for reading this far! Enjoy!

I own nothing.

Chapter 5: Home

"Shouhei, what the Hell are you doing here?" Bandou demanded.

"Me?" Retorted her childhood friend, heedless of the fact that there was a gun a few centimeters from the middle of his chest, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Erica's foster son/brother," said San-chan, heedless of the gangsters whose gazes were swivelling back and forth between the two of them like they were watching a tennis match.

Shouhei blinked, "Erica's what?"

San-chan raised her eyes to Heaven in a give-me-strength gesture that no one noticed because of her huge black sunglasses. There were not enough hours in a day to deal with Shouhei's shit. What was he even doing here?

"Why are you here?" She asked him again.

"I dunno, these guys just came up to me on the street, shoved a gun in my face and said that if I didn't start walking they'd shoot." Said Shouhei with a shrug, not looking particularly concerned.

"And you just went with them?" Asked Bandou incredulously.

"Well I was scared they'd shoot someone who didn't have supernatural powers," Shouhei confessed, rubbing the back of his head in that boyishly charming way of his.

Well that was fair enough, San-chan supposed.

The gangster with the gun seemed to remember that he was supposed to be threatening Shouhei he poked him with the gun, "put the crowbar down bitch or your boyfriend gets it."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Yelled Bandou, blushing furiously.

"Did you have to use that tone?" Asked Shouhei, deflating a little.

"Shoot him," San-chan begged the gangster, "please."

The man didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

Shouhei sighed, with supernatural speed he twisted around and grabbed the gun, he jerked the muzzle upwards so it was pointing at the ceiling harmlessly when the man pulled the trigger, he heated up the metal until the man screamed and dropped it. San-chan threw her crowbar at the man, it hit him directly on the forehead and he went down like a rock. Bandou didn't think she'd killed him but he was going to have one Hell of a headache when he woke up.

Shouhei took out two of the men and San-chan kicked at a few more, a trail of fire followed her leg.

She and Shouhei met in the middle of the room after all the gang members lay unconscious around them, "so, how long has Erica had a kid?" He asked.

"A while, you'd know that if you were ever around," said Bandou in a scolding tone.

Shouhei gave his apologetic little laugh that made San-chan want to rip her own hair out again, "sorry. It's been a hectic few months."

Yeah, didn't she know it? She nodded, "well Erica took in a kid a few months ago when she was living with me."

"Why was Erica living with you?" Asked Shouhei, puzzled.

"Long story," Erica would probably be alright with San-chan telling Shouhei about her pregnancy but San-chan decided to wait and let Erica do so herself. It was more entertaining that way.

"You gonna help me or what?" She demanded.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, indignant that she would even ask.

She and Shouhei headed towards the door together, "so..." why did these guys try and kidnap you? Did they know Erica or I would be coming her or...?" She trailed off, this didn't make any sense.

"I keep telling you; I. Don't. Know! They just grabbed me," Shouhei exclaimed.

"Only you would get yourself in so much trouble so randomly," said Bandou, rolling her eyes.

"That's not fair!" Shouhei protested.

"It's the truth!" San-chan yelled back.

Enomoto and Fuse looked at each other. Fuse touched the writing written on the wall.

Dear HOMRA or whoever was unfortunate enough to be lured here, the words read. If you are reading this please note that you have completely fallen for our trap (or alternatively simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time) this building is rigged to explode, it is a time-delayed version of the lightning-bolt jutsu, you might be familiar with it.

The 'lightning-bolt jutsu' was a common, almost a signature, move of the Green King or other high-ranked jungle clansmen, Enomoto and Fuse in particular were rather familiar with it. Some jungle bastards had almost taken Hidaka's head off with one the day Kusahara had died. It was a technique where several clansmen pooled their power together and the result was a lightning bolt of green fire that destroyed anything it touched. Thus the name. jungle was nothing if not practical with naming things.

We have nothing against you personally, but the world of rising clans is no place for ex-members without a King.

Fuse's hands balled into fists, the Green Clan was lucky they were the ones reading this note and not actual members of HOMRA because those trigger-happy Red bastards had killed for lesser insults.

Well, maybe not killed but at least seriously injured for lesser insults.

Goodbye, former Red Clansmen.

Enomoto tore her eyes away from the (horribly rude) note to look at Fuse, "come on, if this place is going to explode we need to get out of here while we-"

The thick steel doors slammed shut.

"-still can," she finished mildly.

Fuse swung his sword in the direction of the door. A blue arc of fire followed the path of his blade and sped towards the door, when it reached the metal a green shield of sparkling lightning-like fire appeared and blocked the blow.

Enomoto swung her own blade at the wall opposite the door, once again the green fire that was under the control of those with jungle appeared and blocked the blue fire from the Scepter 4 Clansman.

Fuse and Enomoto glanced at each other, they were completely boxed in but it couldn't compare to the strength of two higher-ranked clansmen who were actually at the scene, not just sending in energy through their PDAs or phones or whatever kind of sneaky, underhanded yet frankly very efficient technique jungle was using these days. They'd get out. If they weren't blown up first.

Just then, both their phones rang.

"Let him go," said Erica, her voice very soft, her eyes fixed on the gun pointed at Kouyuu. When a member (or ex-member as Scepter 4 seemed to believe) of HOMRA had a gun pointed at them or a knife pressed to their throats it ranged from being an outright laughing matter to a minor annoyance, not so when an innocent was being targeted. Erica knew that if she had a gun pressed to her temple and someone pulled the trigger she would be able to get out of the way in time.

But if this man pulled the trigger on Kouyuu there was nothing she could do, there was no way she would be able to reach him before...

She swallowed, "let him go," she repeated.

Kouske's eyes flicked from the man holding Kouyuu to one of his accomplices who was also drawing a gun, he aimed it at Erica.

"I'd aim that gun at me," he told the man clutching Kouyuu, Kouske noted idly that the boy didn't look scared, he looked furious.

Oh he is definitely Erica's son, Kouske thought. "Point the gun at me," he said again. "If you shoot us you have nothing to worry about. If you shoot him then you have nothing." He didn't add that he and Erica would murder them brutally, no need to scare them or make them panic completely, scared and panicked men did unpredictable, often stupid things.

"Come on, shoot me," he urged. Like Erica he would have ample opportunity to get out of the way if a bullet was fired, or to simply use his aura to burn the bullet before it touched him but this man probably didn't know just how strong the members of HOMRA really were (or he never would've targeted them for any reason), Kouyuu didn't have that luxury.

The man hesitated; Erica could tell he was thinking it over, "what do you want?" She asked, "you can't have risked making an enemy out of all of HOMRA just to get Kouyuu back, why are you doing this?"

"We were told," one of the men began hesitantly, "that if we held the kid hostage we'd get at least a few of you to walk into our traps, and if we did that then we'd be rewarded."

Erica and Kouske glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, "what traps?" Erica demanded.

The man with the gun's face was shining with fear, but also triumph, "the trap at out second warehouse and their headquarters."

"San-chan's at that warehouse right now," Erica told Kouske.

Kouske glared, "what traps?! And who are they?"

"jungle," answered Erica before the men could, "those two guys from Scepter 4 said they were heading to a warehouse that they believed belonged to jungle."

Kouske's glare intensified, Erica didn't think she'd ever seen him look that angry, "what. Traps?"

"W-we don't know, they just said to lure you there and then there'd be less of HORMA to worry about."

Erica gritted her teeth, she didn't need to ask who'd told them this, it was obvious, there was only one group who would have means and motivation to do something like this. Those two guys from Scepter 4 had been right to be suspicious, jungle was behind this.

"Reward you how?" Kouyuu asked, speaking for the first time, he had been following this conversation with interest.

"By making them Clansmen," Kouske guessed, "I'm right, aren't I?"

Erica swore softly, they needed to get Kouyuu, San-chan and those two Scepter 4 members out of this right now. She turned her attention back to Kouyuu, "don't worry Kouyuu, we're gonna get you out of here."

Kouyuu gave her a small smile, "I know you will, I'm not scared."

Erica gave him a small, encouraging smile back, Kouyuu had put all of his trust in her, she couldn't let him down now.

"Just give us Kouyuu and we'll both walk out of here peacefully," Erica said, these men weren't that stupid, they knew what she was really saying was 'give us Kouyuu and we won't burn you until neither blood, nor bone, nor ash remains.'

However, they had just admitted that they'd helped set up a plot to capture and kill some of their friends, these men were quite certain -not entirely incorrectly- that Kouske and Erica wanted them dead for that.

They could swear they would leave peacefully if they were given Kouyuu but their word meant precious little.

It was a standoff, if they did anything to hurt Kouyuu, Erica and Kouske would kill them all, however if they just handed him over there was no guarantee Erica and Kouske wouldn't kill them anyway, HOMRA, even just its remnants, wasn't to be messed with on a good day, after you had just admitted to being involved in the potential deaths of some of their members... yeah Erica could understand their doubts. Morons. This plan obviously wasn't supposed to end with these gangsters unscathed, but Erica really doubted jungle cared.

Erica rested a restraining hand on Kouske's shoulder, "Kouske and I are going to walk out that door now," she said, keeping her voice low and calm, giving Kouyuu a reassuring look, "when we reach the sidewalk you're going to let Kouyuu go and he's going to join us. Then you're free to do whatever you want. If you harm a single hair on his head we'll kill you all," Kouyuu shivered in spite of himself, he was no stranger to violence but to hear it stated so casually in Erica's calm voice, a voice which had only ever been kind to him, was another matter entirely. "If you do as we say, everyone gets out of here alive, if not..." she didn't finish the threat but she didn't need to.

"You should do what she says," Kouyuu advised the men kindly, they all agreed with him.

"Alright," said the leader with the gun, nodding at them.

It took absolutely everything Erica had to take a step backwards and away from Kouyuu, she didn't want to, her every instinct was screaming at her not to. But she couldn't act with her instincts here, she needed to use her brain.

"Everything will be alright," she told him again, and he nodded.

She and Kouske backed out the door and didn't stop until they were on the street in front of the house. A few seconds later Kouyuu came out of the house, looking shaken, but unhurt.

Erica grabbed one of his arms gently and Kouske put his hand on Kouyuu's other shoulder. Together the three of them walked quickly away from the house, when they reached the end of the street they sped up and didn't stop moving until they were three blocks away.

When they stopped all three of them were shaking. Kouyuu gave a slight whimper and hugged Erica tightly, mindful of the baby bump at her middle, "I knew you'd come get me," he whispered.

Erica blinked back tears as she hugged him back tightly, "it's okay, we're okay."

But they couldn't stay in their own little world forever, she looked up, "call Bandou," Kouske already had his phone out and was dialing as she spoke, "she needs to get out of there, right now."

Shouhei and San-chan reached the door San-chan had come in through, however when she reached for the handle San-chan's hand was scorched by a tongue of green fire. She and Shouhei glanced at each other, "that wasn't there before," said San-chan unnecessarily, Shouhei could've guessed that on his own.

Just then Bandou's phone rang, she pulled it out and glanced at it, "it's Kouske," she answered and pressed the phone to her ear, "did you find him?" She demanded immediately.

"San-chan we found him but you need to get out of there right now, it's a trap!"

They both heard what Kouske said and their gazes flicked to one another, they both cursed mentally.

"Well we're trying but we're sealed in with green energy or some shit," she explained.

Kouske swore, San-chan actually pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it, she had never heard Kouske swear before!

"Break the building apart if you have to, I don't care what you do, just get out of there, and do it quickly." He said. He paused, "wait. Who's 'we'?"

"Shouhei's here with me," the black-haired female replied, "long story."

Kouske almost cursed again but, thinking of Kouyuu and Kouske's own unborn child (when could babies start hearing things around them, he wondered), he held it in. "Get out of there right now."

Bandou hung up on him, she glanced at Shouhei, she didn't need to ask if he'd heard all that, it was obvious he had.

The two of them both tried attacking a wall next, usually either one of them would be able to blow a hole in a wall with little effort but no matter what they did the green fire blocked their own powers; however, it appeared to be weakening. But would it weaken fast enough? What would happen if they couldn't break it?

Would they just be stuck in here until it let up? Would it let up? Or would something more sinister happen to them if they didn't get out of here quickly enough?

Tatsuya and Daiki both answered their phones but they both had similar requests.

"Sorry Akiyama, I can't really talk now, can this wait until later?" Fuse asked.

"I'm sorry Domyoji, but can I call you back in a minute? I'm quite busy," said Enomoto regretfully.

"Fuse don't hang up the phone!" Himori Akiyama yelled.

At the same time Andy Domyoji shouted, "Enomoto don't you dare hang up!"

Enomoto and Fuse both paused, Enomoto hoped Akiyama and Domyoji were together right now, because if not; their strange ability to predict what the other person was about to do was getting seriously out of hand.

Fuse broke out in a nervous sweat, something was very wrong, Akiyama never shouted.

"What is it?" They both asked.

"Are you and Enomoto still at 1651 Amano Street?" Akiyama demanded, Fuse's eyes slid to meet his girlfriend's and then away, what was this all about?

"Ye-es," he cautiously drew out the word, "we're working an abduction case with-"

"Get out of there RIGHT NOW!" Andy yelled so loud Fuse could hear her from Enomoto's phone, "Scepter 4 just intercepted an emergency call to the police from people claiming they were from jungle, they said the building is going to explode, the police thought a bomb but I doubt it will be that simple. Get! Out! Now!"

Enomoto hated to be the bearer of bad news, especially when Domyoji was so worked up but someone had to tell her, "We know that, but we're kind of trapped."

From the driver's seat Akiyama glanced at Domyoji in concern out of the corner of his eye, she looked like she was about to burst a blood vessel, the two of them reached the building and tumbled out of the car.

With a timed attack from all four of them, Enomoto and Fuse from the inside of the building, Domyoji and Akiyama from the outside they managed to break through the wall of green fire and break the door open.

Fuse and Enomoto tumbled out and the four of them scrambled to a safe distance before they collapsed,

Akiyama grabbed Enomoto's shoulders and shook her, "what is it with you and crazy bastards who like to blow people up?" He demanded.

Domyoji, who was unusually pale-faced and was clutching Fuse's sleeve in a death grip huffed a shaky laugh,

Enomoto raised an eyebrow, her face remarkably composed, "this one was not my fault."

She pulled out her phone and called that blonde HOMRA woman, Solt, she needed to know Fuse and Enomoto hadn't found her kid.

After being thanked for their help and told they had found Kouyuu alright, Fuse got to his feet again, dragging Domyoji with him as she had yet to let go of his sleeve, "come on, we need to go back and seal of the building while we wait for the rest of Scepter 4 to get here." He stretched down a hand to help Enomoto up.

She smiled and took it, "no rest for the wicked, huh?"

He smiled back, "don't let those little shits from HOMRA hear you say that. No need to validate what they think of us."

"There!" Erica grabbed Kouske's arm and pointed. They could see a faint flash of red light under a roller door ever so often. "Let's go," she started to move forward but this time Kouske grabbed her arm and Kouyuu grabbed the other, stopping her. "What?"

"You're not going near there, what if it does explode?" Kouske gave Erica's stomach a meaningful glance, whenever she went into danger now she wasn't risking just her life. It hadn't been so bad before; because the chances of her actually getting hit or shot by a regular gang member was... low, to put it mildly. But an exploding building was a very real threat, never mind one that was charged with the power of the Green Clan.

Erica growled, "but I can't leave you three!"

Kouske kissed her forehead, "sorry love, you don't get a choice this time," he nodded at Kouyuu who wrapped his arms around Erica in an attempt to keep her from moving, she could have broken free, but she didn't.

Kouske ran down to the building, Erica watched with bated breath, if the Greens struck now she would lose three of the people she cared about most.

But they didn't, eventually the three of them managed to break down the door and came running back towards Erica and Kouyuu, Erica's body was vibrating with tension, just ten more steps, then her friends would (probably) be safe, nine, eight, seve-

And then a bolt of green lightning-like fire hit the building and it went up in a ball of fire.

Kouske was knocked right off his feet, Shouhei and San-chan grabbed each other and managed to stay upright. Erica felt the shockwave from where she was standing, she put one arm around Kouyuu, the other around her stomach, this was less like an ordinary lightning strike and more like a lightning strike and a bomb together.

Assholes.

But then it was over, Erica quickly crossed over to Kouske and he picked himself up, she hugged him tightly, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was shaking, he could have died tonight, him and Kouyuu and San-chan and Shouhei, the four people Erica cared about more than any other, alongside her unborn baby.

"It's okay," Kouske whispered to her, "we're okay."

"I know." Erica pulled back and looked him dead in the eye, she'd said it before but she had to say it again, "I love you." She broke away and turned to hug Kouyuu again, "come on, let's go home."

As they were leaving Scepter 4 arrived, the bespectacled female and her companion whose names Erica had totally forgotten were with them, Erica nodded, they nodded back and let them leave without incident.

They hadn't gotten very far when Shouhei spoke, "okay, I'm totally in the dark, what the hell was all that about?"

They told him.

"But that was a stupid plan!" He exclaimed, "if jungle really wanted to blow us up they did a piss-poor job! All they managed to do was scare us!"

"Well maybe that was their real plan all along?" Suggested Kouske logically, hands in his pockets.

San-chan scowled, "well they didn't scare me, they just managed to piss me off!"

Kouske looked over Kouyuu's head at Erica and shrugged, she shrugged back, "okay, maybe that was their plan all along?" He suggested.

Something grey and shiny caught Erica's gaze out of the corner of her eye, she walked over to it, it was a PDA, still working... with the jungle app open on its screen.

She froze, what were the chances of this? Her just happening to find a PDA on the street with the jungle app on it and the words New Mission: Lure the HOMRA members into the abandoned building at 2173 Fukasawa Street, on its screen? Pretty damn low would be her guess.

Then again, it could be nothing, the jungle app and their missions weren't exactly hard to come by.

"What's up Erica?" Shouhei called.

She pocketed the PDA, they'd deal with it later, "nothing, I'm coming.

She left.

Some miles away a woman in her mid-twenties watched Erica leave the with the PDA, on a large screen, laughing softly to herself. Yukari Mishakuji entered the room, his smile as lazy and carefree as always, "I'm back," he said softly, the words were simple but everything that came out of his mouth seemed teasing, "and what are you up to Nagare?"

The Green King, Hisui Nagare laughed again and idly trailed a silver-painted nail across her wheelchair, "nothing, nothing. I'm simply playing a game to pass the time..."

Done! Gosh darn it to heck! I meant to have this chapter up days ago but... no... I have absolutely no idea what happened with this chapter. It was... strange. I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

So what's the deal with the Green King? Is he (or in this case; she) paraplegic or quadriplegic?

He's in a straight jacket so even if his arms work he can't use them (except apparently when I say so) but if that's the case then why have a touch pad across your lap? He can't control technology with his mind or something can he? Because if so, I am out. I am so done with this guy and he hasn't even come into the anime yet.

That's all for this fic guys! I hope I see you again. Goodbye!