The day had been fairly eventful already, she was looking forward to returning to the headquarters and finding Tsuru to tell him all about it. As much as she liked his company and could enjoy it through all their adventures, it was nice to have accomplished something on her own for a change, which gave her the opportunity to go share something with him, rather than merely offer a different take on the same situation and experience. She wondered what he'd make of this guy she'd run into, most likely, given the healer's inclination to get stronger and wield his sword better, he'd opt to train with him. Now she wondered what Jay would think of her getting him to train Tsuru, perhaps it'd be a more concrete way to shut down any more advances, should they run into each other.

She actually wondered if she should take the lead on having some sort of a conversation with the healer about defining where they actually stood. In some ways, it was a conversation they were both probably chickening out of. While she avoided emotional confrontations, she was sure he too wasn't quite equipped with the skills to transition towards anything more intimate with ease. She couldn't blame him, given what he'd shared about his memories and such. Perhaps, they ought to make time to make that priority, she'd never really gotten a chance to ask him why he hasn't already started on that journey, maybe he didn't even know where to start...

She sighed and allowed her mind to flit from one thought to another as darkness shrouded the surroundings. Just as the stars found a moment to shine again, the street lamps flickered on and she could no longer admire the pin pricks that hung in the sky above. She squinted and sighed, noticing it condense in front of her yet again. Akira shoved her hands into her pocket, her shoulders rounded as she curled and coiled tighter against the growing cold. The sea breeze definitely had a cruel bite, the girl needed to get her winter clothes. Maybe she could make a stop over at Marigold and collect some of her overcoats and such.

As she made her way down the roads. Reminiscing once again on all the situations she had encountered as a Knight. She wondered if she and Tsuru had been dealt a special hand, or was this the case for other fresh recruits as well... Perhaps they'd driven each other to achieve more than they could have done individually. In all fairness, if it wasn't for the healer's incessant need to help everyone in sight, especially initially, Akira would have skated by and done the bare minimum to simply remain with the ranks. Perhaps, if it wasn't for her cunning and ability to make quick deductions and plan things, they wouldn't have had the luck to escape the sticky situations their quick rise in the faction had landed them in. A few others that the two had encountered were equally competent if not better, she wished they'd all kept in touch.

It was a pity that Akira's friendship with Asura had been so short lived and she barely got to know Xandra at all. Fiametta deciding to leave their ranks had been another blow... She wondered how Requiem was faring and if Akira's journey had made it any easier for the neko to find acceptance as a darkness mage. Eventually, her thoughts returned to the healer, and how they'd stuck through with each other despite so much having happened. She had to admire his loyalty to his own rough principles and instincts... and to her... The fact that her mind thought so often about that scarlet haired boy, caused her to feel a little embarrassed. While there was comfort in those memories, she was also very wary of the growing attachment. So in a way, she was grateful for the interruption.

A boy who looked like he was about her age, was running through the street, rather frantic in his demeanour. She looked over her shoulder to see if he was chasing someone, but the alley was fairly deserted. Finally he stopped next to her, his hands resting on his knees as he panted. He spoke in broken words, his heavy breathing making for odd punctuation. He asked if anyone had crossed her on her path and she said she hadn't quite being paid attention. He looked rather worried and crestfallen. Then all of a sudden, he flashed his badge at her and started demanding that she tell him the truth.

Unfazed, she peered at the badge in the darkness and realised that he was a newly-minted knight, a page at that. It was amusing to see him attempt to intimidate her, however it saddened her that he resorted to that tactic considering he'd approached her assuming she was a mere citizen. she clicked her tongue and said that unless he had reason to suspect her, he really shouldn't be resorting to the use of such a temperament. In a way, she'd had it easier tiding over such immature instincts, because back when they started, she left a lot of interaction up to Tsuru. She didn't reveal that she was in fact a lieutenant, he looked too new to recognise her by name or face. The ease with which she offered the advice, caused him to accept it without much retaliation.

He apologised and admitted that he was asked to patrol the streets and keep an eye out for a certain someone suspected of illicit activity. Without really being aware of her status in the faction, he seemed to draw the conclusion that he had more experience than she did and pleaded with her to help him out. He repeated several times that he wasn't sure how to patrol effectively and also keep an eye out for the suspect without drawing attention to himself. He mentioned that he noticed some strange interaction, but the moment he made his way towards the guilty party, they bolted and vanished. Aki listened patiently, noticing that there was a gap in the training of the Knights and the practical application.

Out of some newfound empathy and pity for new Knights, she decided to help him in the task. First she gathered as much information as she could, giving him a chance to catch his breath so he could speak with more clarity. Apparently they were supposed to be on the lookout for a bald man who was often wearing a fedora and sported a grey moustache. She asked him where he'd seen her last and what exactly was the reason he suspected the man.

The boy mentioned that the lord who had hired him had offered some details about the man's involvement in smuggling goods. Akira peered thoughtfully at him, hoping that he'd at least had the sense to attempt confirming the allegation before entering his wild goose chase. So she asked him if he had. Collin didn't really have any concrete proof or reasoning, but he said that the man was often seen lurking around the docks and particularly intrigued by certain shipments that too, were notorious for the ones bearing drugs and such. This had her intrigued and she decided to ask him a little bit more about the shipments. She was concerned that he seemed so accepting of the fact that these ships had illegal substances and that this was common knowledge and yet the authorities had done nothing to stop them.

Collin seemed to be growing a little impatient of Akira's method, but he bit his tongue because it would seem that he really needed the help. He explained that searching the ships had been difficult to do, because warrants were not too easy to obtain. He said he didn't have any experience with this first hand, but his superiors had told him that even when there were spontaneous searches, they often turned up empty, making the process of getting a warrant for the next time, even more difficult. Akira deduced that this could either be because they weren't searching well enough, or there was someone on the inside tipping the crew of the ship off... Corruption was an unfortunate reality, but she didn't want to weigh the boy down. Ironically, she treated him like he was younger than her, when in fact they were about the same age.

He didn't take to kindly to her patronising attitude, but his prickled attitude slipped by only in passive aggressive gestures. Finally, the two began their patrol through the night and Akira kept him seemingly and pretentiously engrossed in a conversation. She said that they made a good cover for one another and hopefully that would avoid anyone feeling as though they were obviously being tailed. Eventually, she did indeed notice the fedora wearing man standing by a lamp post, looking just a little too nervous for the average citizen. When Collin was about to leap into action a firm grip on his wrist stopped him. She hissed at him, not mincing her words this time. If the approached him now without any proof, he was likely to slip away. She brought to the boy's notice that he was obviously waiting for someone...

Collin decided this was a great time to put his foot down and start arguing with Akira, although at least he had the sense to do it in a hushed voice. She ignored him for the moment, because she'd just noticed a hooded figure approaching the moustached man. He incessantly continued arguing, growing steadily louder till he managed to break out of her grip pretty easily and crossed the road to rapidly approach their suspect. She cursed and chased after the boy, luckily the traffic bought her just a little more time and as she got closer, she definitely heard something about drugs, right before Collin started waving his badge from the middle of the street and started demanding the fedora wearing man to wait as demanded by law.

She shook her head, it reminded her a little of the healer. What was with these new recruits all wanting to jump straight into the action? Tsuru had learned his lesson in due time and appreciated the value of gathering intelligence. She wanted to snap at the boy, obviously a man who had no regard for the law and broke it on a daily basis, wasn't going to care much for a young page waving his badge at him. The two men swiftly parted and began running in opposite directions. Collin didn't bother with her and said he was going after the cap-wearing man. So she decided to let him be and chase the other suspect instead. Not truly wishing to interrupt whatever investigation Collin thought he was running. She merely yelled that they were to meet back by spot they ran into each other by the hour regardless of if the succeeded or not.

Soon the two were a considerable distance away from one another. He had never bothered responding and in the moment she was annoyed and couldn't care less. Catching the hooded cloak wasn't too difficult. She much faster than him, the problem was, if there was a physical confrontation, the man looked much stronger than she was. So after she cornered him in the alleyway, she decided to employ her trustee darkness to stir fear into the man till he began answering her questions. It was actually easier than she anticipated, her darkness truly was a tool if she learned to harness it well, simply because people were so trained to assume the worst. It would seem that he was an ex-Knight and he still had some unaware friends in the quarters. He mentioned that he often got them drunk and caused them to spill information about possible raids and such.

She sighed and took the names of the officers who he commonly targeted, before arresting him. She did obviously go on to reveal that she was a Knight herself and a lieutenant at that, to wipe away any misgivings he had about being able to wriggle his way out of the situation or the charges. She personally escorted him to the quarters all within the hour, before returning to spot as she'd promised, simply out of courtesy and curiosity if he'd succeeded. He had not, but he apologised after realising that he'd unwittingly been insubordinate and ensured that Akira got a cut of her pay. She didn't really want it, but appreciated him taking responsibility and bearing the consequences.