~Shiori's POV~

When I was finally released from the hospital, Endeavor informed me I'd be staying at his residence until further notice. I'd tried protesting, but my complaints fell on deaf ears. I knew I was in danger and didn't like using him or putting him or his family at risk with my presence. When Endeavor was working he assigned one of his sidekicks to stick with me as a bodyguard, only releasing them from duty when we were together.

I spent most of my days recovering with his children or at the hospital with Hikaru. As I was helping Natsuo with his homework while we waited on Endeavor to return home, I heard Fuyumi yelling at one of her friends on the phone.

The sidekick tasked with guarding me frowned, "maybe you should leave it alone." He warned as I moved to investigate.

I stiffly got to my feet and headed to the kitchen where Fuyumi was on the phone pacing furiously. "She's not his mistress! Don't say mean things about her!" Fuyumi yelled, in tears.

I paused , what on earth was she talking about, "Fuyumi?"

She jumped and hurriedly hung up the phone before wiping at her eyes. "Sorry, Shiori."

"Nothing to be sorry for, are you alright?"

She nodded, "I don't think I'm going to be friends with her anymore."

I frowned, "what were you two fighting about?" I asked only to jump as the sidekick cleared his throat very loudly and appeared to shake his head at Fuyumi. "...um...what was that about?"

"N-nothing, frog in my throat." He lied.

Fuyumi looked chastised and shut her mouth.

"You're not silencing children in my presence." I shot him a scowl, "I'll be having words with Endeavor about this."

He sighed and ran a hand through his short auburn hair, "his orders, miss."

Fuyumi shrank.

"What?" I looked between them thoroughly confused.

"Shiori! Math is being mean again!" Natsuo called from the dining room.

"I'm going to do my homework in my room." Fuyumi said quickly and scampered away.

"Fuyumi, wait." I reached out to stop her but she deftly avoided me. I turned, too quickly and felt one of the stitches in my abdomen tear. A hiss of pain escaped me and I doubled over.

Endeavor's sidekick rushed to my aid. "Are you alright?"

Once he was within reach, I grabbed his wrist, "start talking." I hissed.

He blanched, "nope. Did you really fake me out?"

"No, pretty sure I tore a stitch but thought I'd use it to my advantage." I winced.

He shook his head, "you have to talk to the boss. My lips are sealed."

"Shiori!" Natsuo whined.

"The answer is 53." The sidekick called out to him as he helped me up.

"Are you a math wiz?" I frowned.

"Yeah, kinda." He chuckled.

"Why the hell aren't you helping with the homework then?" I sighed.

"You needed something to do and you were doing fine. Was a little worried you weren't going to get question 18 but you pulled through." He smirked.

"You're an asshole." I scowled, the constant ache in my body was making me quick tempered.

"Yeah, that's why I'm tasked with watching you, the nice sidekicks get to watch over the kid." He shrugged.

I sighed, and stiffly made my way back to the dining room as he texted Endeavor with a progress update. Ten minutes later, all the homework was done and Endeavor stepped through the front door. Shoto and Natsuo conveniently disappeared as their father returned home and the sidekick seemed to vanish into thin air.

"You tore a stitch?" Endeavor asked, concerned as he approached me.

"What exactly did you order everyone not to tell me?" I frowned.

"What?" He paused as he got within reach.

"Fuyumi was fighting with a friend on the phone, when I asked her about what your sidekick informed me they were under orders not to tell me." I folded my arms in front of my chest only to wince as I bumped the healing wound near my heart.

He sighed, "it's nothing, just some gossip columns spreading lies, it's being handled."

Fuyumi's words echoed across my mind. Mistress? Was Endeavor married?

"Shiori?" He asked worriedly as I went quiet. I wasn't sure what kind of expression I was wearing but I imagined it wasn't good.

"Are you married?" I asked curiously.

He blanched.

That was all the answer I needed. "Why am I here?"

"For your safety." He replied tensely.

"And your wife?"

He tensed, "is in an assisted living facility getting the care she needs."

"And you were going to bring her up, when?" I asked.

"Hiro was working on an annulment that would ensure she was still taken care of, her family's lawyers were being difficult..." He grimaced.

My heart hurt at the mention of Hiro. "And the gossip columns are calling me your mistress?" I asked.

He sighed and nodded.

What must she think of me? My stomach twisted uncomfortably. It's not like we were romantically involved or anything but this still felt like crossing a line. I was living with someone else's husband. I had no idea she was still even in the picture.

"Shiori?"

"Can I meet her?" I asked shakily.

"What?!" Endeavor blanched, "why?"

"To apologize and explain the misunderstanding to her."

Endeavor sighed, "it wouldn't matter either way, there's no love in our marriage, it was a quirk marriage arranged by our families."

That was awful. "It matters to me, I don't want her to think I'm some kind of homewrecker and if all she has is the gossip column's information, that's exactly what she's going to think."

Endeavor looked conflicted, "I don't think it's a good idea, for either of you. You're physically recovering and she's-..." He paused, "not in a good place, mentally."

"I think I should go back to my own place." I spoke up softly as I was overcome with guilt and shame.

"Out of the question." Endeavor wasn't backing down.

I clenched my fists in frustration. "I want my objections noted."

"Noted." He smirked.

I sighed.

"Do I need to call the doctor for that stitch?" He pondered as he took note of my somewhat hunched posture.

"No, it's fine." A gasp escaped me as he swept me off my feet, "w-what are you doing?"

"You should be resting." He carried me past an open window and I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. Endeavor paused and set me on my feet before darting outside in a flurry of flames. Paparazzi? I blanched the picture they'd just snapped, no doubt looked very intimate and misleading. I groaned.

Though I had no proof and no real reason to suspect it, deep down I had a feeling Kazuki's family was somehow responsible for this sudden onslaught of gossip columns and paparazzi. They were trying to run a smear campaign against Endeavor. I was riddled with guilt, he'd been nothing but kind to me and helped me more than anyone ever had and I was just burdening him nonstop.

I wrote a hurried note on a notepad in the kitchen before slipping out the back door. I felt like I couldn't breathe, I was suffocating in my own dark thoughts and needed to take a minute to breathe and clear my head. I made an excuse about wanting to get something from my apartment and took off while Endeavor was busy with paparazzi out front.

Once I got a few blocks away my phone chimed as it suddenly blew up with notifications and I realized there had been some kind of proximity jam on my service so I wouldn't be hounded by the onslaught of hate from his fans and strangers all over the internet. Somehow my email had been released to the public and my inbox was filled with hate mail. People I didn't know were calling me a slut, homewrecker, whore and so much worse. I skimmed just the subject lines and the amount of people telling me to kill myself was gutwrenching.

This had Kazuki's family all over it, this was definitely one of their tactics. I closed my email and silenced my phone as tears welled in my eyes. It wasn't true. We weren't doing anything wrong! I paused. Right?

I thought of Endeavor and all the times he'd come to my rescue. My heart fluttered in my chest. Was it completely innocent? How did I really feel about him? I'd never given myself time to stop and think about that, everyday had been a rush to fight for Hikaru but now that I didn't have to fight anymore, now that the court was on my side, I had time for me.

I thought of the night he'd almost kissed me and that feeling of rejection I'd felt and my heart clenched tightly in my chest. Maybe it wasn't innocent.

"Oh, a little songbird out of her cage?" A terrifying voice sounded ahead of me.

I paused in my internal war and looked around only to panic as I realized I was surrounded. "Excuse me, can I get by?" I asked warily.

The man directly ahead of me smirked, "sorry little songbird." He extended a hand toward me and webs shot from the palm of his hand.

I let out a scream hoping someone would hear and call for help. I dropped down to avoid the webbing, my body screamed in protest, each of my healing wounds twinging in pain. Before I could run I felt something sharp and vine-like coil around my wrist. A cry escaped me as thorns tore into my skin from the strange thorn whip from the man next to the man with the webbing.

"Love it when they play hard to get." Web grinned and waved his hand at me again.

Thick strands of webbing coiled around me and sizzled as it came into contact with me, burning my skin and clothes. Another cry of pain escaped me before my vision began to blur.