Part of Your World {A Bungo Stray Dogs fanfic}

Accidentally Friends

The gang and I are all just chilling in the front office at the agency when the door suddenly bursts open. Behind its swinging frame emerges the disheveled figure of Nekori. Her whole body is shaking, and so is the quivering little black cat that sits curled in her arms. "Please help me," she begs, shiny tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Atsushi and I immediately rush over to her and usher her into the office.

"Here, sit down," Atsushi says as he leads her to a chair. He then goes to get her a glass of water.

I sit down next to her and place my arm comfortingly across her shoulders. "What happened to you, Nekori?" I ask, my eyes full of concern for my lost acquaintance.

"It's- It's the port mafia... they're after me," Nekori explains, trying her best not to start crying again, "After the last time we fought off Fyodore, Akutagawa told Mori I was still alive, and now they want me back. They're going to kill me for trying to leave them." Her voice cracks with the last statement. Nekori strokes the black cat gently and it begins to purr. The soft vibrations calm Nekori almost instantly.

"Who's this little guy?" I ask, trying to change the subject as fast as possible.

"His name is Lucky," she says. Then the tears start streaming one after another in such a rapid, unexpected current that I don't know what to do. I start panicking. Was it something I said??? "They almost took him away from me! I don't know what I'd do without him!" Nekori cries out, answering my unspoken question.

Before I can even begin to think of a way to calm her down, Kunikida pulls me to the side. "Who the hell is this?" He asks in an angry whisper, his gaze so intense it scares me a little.

"Her name is Nekori, and she's a friend of mine. She helped us stop Fyodor and that fog a while back," I try to explain.

"AND she's from the port mafia???" he adds, "We don't need that kind of attention right now. We just barely made it out of the fight with the guild, understand?"

"Yeah, I understand, but she is obviously in trouble! What do you want me to do? Just throw her back on the streets and say, 'fend for yourself'?" I exclaim, raising my voice and throwing my hands up dramatically. Suddenly, everyone in the office goes quiet. Slowly turning around, I realize that the President has made an appearance. I feel the blood rush into my cheeks, and my face begins to grow hot.

"What's going on here?" Fukuzawa asks, his voice booming.

"Kagami has brought trouble to our doorstep, once again," Kunikida says with a sneering gaze in my direction.

"With all due respect sir, I-" I start to rebuke Kunikida's comment, but the president cuts me off.

"Why don't we have a chat in my office," Fukuzawa says to me. Then he adds, "Atsushi and Kenji, take care of our two guests please." With that, he turns and walks out. I follow close behind, my heart pounding in my chest.

By the time we both take our respective seats at his desk, I can't stand the silence any longer. I try to get a jump on the conversation saying, "Please don't send her away, president. She's on our side, I promise and-" I stop short as Fukuzawa holds up his hand to stop me from rambling on.

"Relax Kagami, I'm not going to kick her to the curb or anything. You should know me better than that," the president begins. I give a shy smile and nod my head. Fukuzawa continues, "But Kunikida is right. We really can't afford any more conflict right now."

"I understand," I say solemnly.

"But that doesn't mean we can't help you take care of her outside of the agency," the president adds.

"Of course!" I say, perking up a bit, "I'll take full responsibility, I promise."

"Good. Why don't you have Dr.Yosano see to any injuries Nekori has, and then take her home for the night? Seems like she could use some rest, don't you think?" The president suggests.

I nod in agreement as I walk out saying, "thank you! You won't regret it!" After that, I ran out and rescued Nekori from all the prying eyes and questions of the agency. I smirked teasingly at Kunikida's narrowed eyes as he watched us walk away. He didn't find it amusing. at all. I have a feeling I'll be hearing about this later.

Anyways, Nekori and I had a great time that night! Once I got her a hot shower and something to eat, Nekori felt much more at ease. Over dinner she told me what happened: Turns out she didn't just LEAVE the port mafia, she ESCAPED. A long time ago, she decided she didn't want to kill anyone. So when Mori assigned her an assassination assignment, she decided to run away instead. She was doing pretty good for a while, until she decided to help me in the Yokohama fog incident. Akutagawa, having learned that Nekori was still alive, must have reported it to the mafia. Now they're out to get her for being a traitor. Apparently there's no such thing as retirement in the mafia- you only get out if you die. That makes me wonder about Dazai. I guess he's just too valuable an asset and too powerful of an ability user for them to kill.

"So why did you help me in the first place?" I ask her while we get ready for bed.

She gives me a slight shrug as she answers, "I don't know. There was just something about you." We both smile softly at each other for a moment.

"Well I'm glad you did," I say, "Ya know, I'm 20 years old, and this is my very first sleep over."

"Really? Me too!" Nekori says with a little laugh. It occurs to me that I might have just accidentally made a friend, and I can't help but smile at the thought. I've never had a girl friend before...

Nekori and I might have had a good time, but I can't say the same for our animal friends. Throughout the night, Creed kept trying to play with Lucky, but the black cat just was not having it. Lucky just continued to hiss and claw away all of Creed's affection. My poor furry baby even tried to bring Lucky some of his toys as a peace offering, but the cat just flicked them off the edge of the coffee table without a second glance. Now creed lays on the ground, staring at the cat longingly. I can practically see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to think of a way to get Lucky to be his friend. It's kind of funny to watch honestly. It's like seeing a guy get turned down by his dream girl over and over, but refusing to give up. It's all fun and games until bed time though. Creed trots into my room ready to jump into his spot on the bed, only to realize his spit has been taken. Nekori sleeps soundly beside me, and Lucky is curled up at the foot of the bed. Creed is absolutely pissed. He paces around the bed a few times, whining indignantly. Finally giving up, Creed begrudgingly sits down on the floor beside Lucky. He sits there, staring her down with narrowed eyes and ears back, for the entire night.