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Chapter Seventeen: Lab Day:

July 10th, 1983.

Kato still didn't understand one thing. "Daisuke-kun," he said. The young dad glanced over at him.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Why not tell the truth?" the old man asked. Daisuke pressed his lips together.

"Because her friend, Daisy, was her fiancée!" he shouted. Kato looked down at his hands.

"Ouch," he muttered. "Nightmare." Daisuke nodded.

"I don't know what happened," he explained. "We only shared one bottle of my roommate's Sapporo beer." The young father paused in thought. "It must have been my kitsune," he reasoned, "He used some spell to…" He lowered his head in shame. Another thought crossed his mind. 'That's not the only reason I lied about Anna-chan's mother," he said. Kato gave him a puzzled look.

"It isn't?" he asked. Daisuke sat up straight up.

"Every woman who married into my family has either gone crazy or lost the ability to care," he explained. "The only one lucky enough to escape intact was my former sister-in-law, Tameko." Kato tilted his head at him.

"Do you love Anna-chan's mother?" he asked. Daisuke looked at him funny.

"Good god, no!" he blurted out. "She's scary-looking, crabby, and not too nice. Plus her eyes look weird." Daisuke sighed and lowered his shoulders.

"Still," he said. "Even Allison doesn't deserve the Hell my family drags their mates through."

"So, you need to keep Anna-chan's mother a secret?" Kato summed up. The young father nodded. The old man pressed his fingertips together.

"I could help you out there," he mumbled. "I know some people in a couple of hospitals in Hokkaido." Daisuke looked at him with big eyes.

"How?" he asked. Kato patted him on the head.

"You let me handle that," he told the boy. That smile wasn't exactly comforting.

July 8th, 2010.

Watari hit stop on the tape player when Daisuke finished his one hundred and twenty-ninth tape entry and looked at Tsuzuki.

"And the Mother took over after Anna learned the truth?" he asked.

"Yes," his friend replied.

"I see…" the scientist said in thought. "I don't suppose that I wouldn't be wrong to say she was behind those killings?"

"How did you know?" Tsuzuki asked stunned.

"Just a hunch," his friend told him. "Was it to try out her powers?"

"Yes," the other shinigami said. Watari took this all in.

"So…" Tsuzuki said. "How do I fix this?" The scientist looked him in the eye.

"Is she plotting anything else?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Tsuzuki admitted. Watari booted up his laptop.

"And you're sure she's still there?" he asked. His friend shrugged and shook his head.

"I see," Watari replied.

"What should I do?" the other shinigami asked. "I want my Anna-chan back." Watari brought up Anna's file on his laptop. The invaded sample came up on the screen.

"First, I will need you to observe her for a few days," he said. Tsuzuki gave him a rather confused look.

"What for?" he asked. His friend straightened up his glasses.

"I need you to see if Anna's still there or not," Watari explained. "If she's still there, we might have a chance." That last past fell into a low whisper. Tsuzuki was about to speak when the door flung open.

"I'm sorry I'm late," a young man's voice said. Both shinigami looked up to see Kyosuke standing in the doorway. Watari stood up smiling.

"Oh good," he said. "You're here." The scientist turned to his friend.

"Tsuzuki, this is my new lab assistant, Urahara Kyosuke," he said. "Kyo-kun, this is my friend, Tsuzuki."

"Hi," the older shinigami replied.

"Pleased to meet you," Kyosuke said with a bow. Watari clapped his hands together.

"Good," he said. "Shall we get back to work?" The scientist focused on his new assistant.

"Your first assignment," he said. "We're going to run a couple of lab tests on patient 37's core."

"Yes sir," Kyosuke said with a nod.