"The hell is a kid doing in here?" one of the prisoners asks.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Sakiko shouts, waving the bar wildly in their direction making the five men flinch back.

Daryl's bow drops to his side, a stressed hand running over his face.

"God, can I just talk to the one person I have to and then you dumbasses can go back to 'he said', 'she said' bullshit like children?" Sakiko complains.

She points the bar to the five men, almost challenging them to say something. She lets out a tired 'thank you' before turning her attention back to Shane.

"I'm not a 'convict' like these dudes. So-"

"Hey!" one of the men cries in protest to the name.

"Shut!" Sakiko shouts to the blonde man, "Pipe it down, Colonel Sanders."

The man, Axel, instinctively touches his moustache before ducking behind his fellow inmates.

Sakiko once again looks back to Shane, "So, why did you think it was okay to lock me up?"

Daryl's head perks up at the revelation, snapping to look at Shane as well.

"You locked my kid in a cell?" Daryl growls.

Shane runs his hand over his head, "She was being mouthy and causing trouble-"

"I will literally throw this at your giant head you egotistical son of a-"

"Sakiko!" Glenn scolds.

"You locked my kid in a goddamn cell?" Daryl shouts, taking a large step to Shane.

T-Dog hurriedly jumps between the two men, head going back and forth to his own group to the new arrivals that were watching with anger and confusion of their own.

"If she wasn't putting her nose in everyone else's business-" Shane starts to argue.

"The business that you selfish bastards have made the entire group suffer because of!" Sakiko reminds, "You think me, my dad, or any one of us give two shits about you three and your baby daddy issues?"

"Kiko!" Ryan hisses, grabbing her hand.

Daryl's head spun for a second at the sound of 'my dad' leaving her lips before remembering that the group still believed that lie.

"Hey!" Rick calls as he runs into the room, "Everybody calm down!"

"Hell of a situation you all got going on here," one of the prisoners, Thomas, slyly comments.

Ryan finally tugs Sakiko off the table, making her stand by him.

Within seconds, the screaming begins once again.

--

The following days of Nanami being in Woodbury included planning a time to go outside the walls to find the farm once more. Maybe the group went back and were still there- Merle thinks, anyway.

They mapped out the landscape to the best of Nanami's memory before Merle left to get the truck and weapons sorted for their trip.

Laying on the couch, Nanami stared at the ceiling fan numbly. It was spinning- electricity flowing through the houses. Nanami had forgotten what that looked like until now. Now, it looked wrong. It looked off.

Bringing the pillow over his face for a few seconds, he catches the scent of laundry detergent. Something else he'd forgotten the smell of. Now, it made him sick.

He drops the pillow onto the floor, sighing with a feeling he hadn't experienced before. He was bored, alone.. Numb.

Michonne's face passes by in his brain and he sits upright suddenly. Michonne. He hadn't seen her since they got here. He wondered how she was doing.

Standing up, Nanami stretches his muscles as he heads for the door. As he makes it out of the apartment, he almost feels lost again.

People. God, there were people everywhere in the streets. It made him nauseous.

He doesn't search hard for Michonne, figuring she would stand out to him in the crowd. But, then he forgot that Michonne also had the sneaky ability of being invisible sometimes.

"Hey," Michonne greets- tapping Nanami on the shoulder.

"You found me first," he chuckles, "Not fair."

"Does that mean I win, at least?" she teases, nudging his arm.

"You usually do," Nanami admits, "I haven't seen you for awhile. How has this place been for you?"

At once, Michonne's eyes turn from the playful gleam to cold and hard.

"I don't trust this place," she says quietly.

"Trust?" Nanami repeats, "I don't know about trust. I just don't think it'll last."

"Those people would've opened fire on us if that one didn't know you," she reminds.

Nanami couldn't argue there. Truth be told, even though he and Merle had history, he thought they were done for that night. It's not like he and Merle's history is full of laughter and joy, after all.

"Who is he to you, anyway?"

"Remember I told you about my step dad?" Nanami asks, receiving a nod from Michonne, "Merle is his brother."

"Your step uncle," Michonne figures.

Nanami has to hold back his comment of 'something like that'.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

chaotic sakiko and stressed out daryl is my favorite trope