Walking through the prison, Sakiko's hands run along the railing on the second floor.

"I always figured I'd end up in jail at one point in my life," she admits.

Ryan scoffs, nudging her arm, "You calling yourself a criminal?"

"Everyone else does," she shrugs.

"I'll catch up. I've gotta help Glenn real quick," he laughs.

Sakiko waves bye to him, watching him jog down the stairs to find Glenn. Placing her arms on the rails, she takes a deep breath. Shane walks by after coming out of his chosen cell and Sakiko stands up straighter.

"Are you going to clear the other part?" she asks.

"Others are about to," Shane nods, "Few of us are staying back just in case."

"Who all is staying back?"

"Me, Lori, Carl, you, Sophia, Carol, Ryan, and Beth," Shane lists off.

Confused, Sakiko picks herself up off the rail and her hands fall to her hips, "I have to go, then."

"Some of us gotta stay back and keep watch," Shane reminds.

"No. I'll go and take Hershel's place. he shouldn't go out there, he's too big of a risk to lose."

"Any of us are a risk to lose," Shane shuts her down.

"Is that why you're staying here with Lori and Carl?" she fires back, "Making sure you and yours don't get caught out there trying to make this place safer for everyone?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Shane shakes his head.

"I know that you and Rick haven't agreed on a single thing all winter and the closer Lori gets to popping that baby out, the more pissed off you seem."

"What are you tryna say, kid?" Shane asks, stepping closer to her.

"I'm saying that you're sending all those people out not caring about their well being. You only care about yourself, Lori, and Carl."

"If this is about your brother again-"

"The brother you didn't think twice about leaving behind knowing good and well that if that was Carl out there, you'd have us all searching for him!" Sakiko shouts.

Shane chuckles, running his hand over his head and sighing, "How about you go downstairs to help instead of causing trouble for everyone whining about your brother, eh?"

"How about you stop being a jerk and help the group instead of the woman that thinks you're nothing more than a side piece and the kid that's not even yours?" Sakiko snaps.

There's a moment of silence between the two, Shane's face blank as Sakiko's was set in a fiery glare.

Sakiko couldn't do anything as Shane reached out to her, grabbing her jacket and shoving her into a cell.

"Hey!" she protests as Shane closes the cell.

She reaches to his hands as he takes the keys out, locking the door and pocketing the keys once more.

"Better idea, how about you just sit in there for awhile and cool off?" Shane asks, voice cold as he walks away.

"Hey! You asshole!" Sakiko shouts, "Fine! Lock me up! Just know that Lori's not gonna get your dick wet again and Carl's not gonna call you 'dad', you douchebag!"

--

"Think you'll be nice and cozy here," Merle figures, opening the door wide for Nanami.

Nanami pulls his bag through the door, looking around though he couldn't deny that the place was fairly dirty.

"What? Do I have a roommate?" he questions.

"Yep, and you're looking right at him," Merle pats his chest with his real hand- Nanami has to fight the urge to look at the bladed one.

"You're rooming with me? This some kind of test?" Nanami wonders.

"I think we'll be able to work better here. Find the others," Merle reveals.

Nanami pauses by the couch at that thought, "You think we can? Find them, I mean."

"Daryl learned his tracking from someone, you know?" Merle chuckles, "We'll find 'em."

Nanami leans against the couch, nodding his head slowly. He looks around the room again, deciding this was a better place to call home than anything he's had in the past- before and after the walkers began to growl.

"Thanks," Nanami looks back to Merle, "For bringing me here. And for what we're gonna do."

"It's what family does," Merle shrugs, plopping down into the recliner.

"'Family'?" Nanami repeats.

Merle picks at the metal around his bladed hand, "Daryl saw somethin' in you kids. Guess it took me losing him to see that."

"We never meant for anyone to get hurt," Nanami remembers, "It was just.. After our birthday and that guy.. We couldn't be there anymore. Daryl was just trying to help us."

"Yeah, I get that now," Merle purses his lips, "But, you ain't gotta feel sorry, kid. Hell, if I was any bit of sober I might've done the same as him."

"Because you know the feeling," Nanami nods, moving to sit on the couch.

Merle huffs a laugh, "Somethin' like that."

"You enlisted in the military to get away from it. We had to do something, too," Nanami remembers the stories he'd heard before.

Merle's eyes meet Nanami's and he gives the boy a nod.

"Yeah. You did," Merle accepts, "Ain't nobody deserve to grow up in that. No hard feelings, kid."

--

Ryan was nearly lost as he looked around the prison and outside for Sakiko to no avail. Finally, he hears the scraping of metal and heads upstairs where he'd last seen her.

"Kiko?" he asks.

"In here," her voice calls.

He nearly walked right by the closed cell before hearing the metal scraping once again.

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking down to her.

She was laying on the floor, scraping her knife on the bottom of the bun bed.

"Sharpening my knives to cut Shane Walsh."

"Shane.. Shane locked you in here?" Ryan asks.

He moves to jerk at the door only for it to slide right open.

"He locked me in here, but I picked the lock," Sakiko informs.

"Then.. Why are you still in here?" Ryan asks.

"So I can cut him when he comes to get me out. Or, I can stay in here until Daryl gets back and he sees what Shane did and he can cut him. Either way, Shane's getting cut."

"Kiko.." Ryan scoffs, leaning on the doorway.

"He only cares about Lori and Carl. One day, he's gonna throw the rest of us out to make sure they're safe. he wouldn't hesitate to off one of us for their sake."

"Rick won't let that happen," Ryan denies, "That's his wife and son."

"Yeah, and that's Shane's kid kicking at Lori's ribs every day."

The affair was a camp known event. The tension had become too much and if one of the three didn't tell someone- the others could figure it out from the tense conversations and glares traded among them.

Knowing the situation well enough himself, Ryan could only sigh.

Yelling sounds from downstairs and Sakiko nearly made a comment about 'Shane Walsh's impending slicing' until she notices how desperate the shouts were.

"Door! It's Hershel! Open the door!" Rick screams.

Then, Sakiko could hear Maggie's cries.

Flying to her feet, Sakiko hurries out of the cell and she and Ryan bustle down the stairs.

"What happened?" Lori's voice asks.

Once downstairs, the group barges into the cell block with Hershel on a rolling table.

"He got bit," Rick answers.

Sakiko tripped on her own feet, fear flooding her veins as they load Hershel into one of the cells.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

fun fact- shane was originally going to handcuff sakiko to the rv ladder at the wuarry after her stealing the guns

fun fact x2- sakiko's original line to shane was "neither lori or carl are gonna call you daddy" but i changed it

NANAMI AND MERLE ROOMIE AGENDA