A/N: Heavy references to my other fics but possible to read without reading them... maybe. I do recommend reading at least Academy Blues and Crashing Down. Maybe even beginning of Secrets and Seekers...

The name with which I refer to Hiro changes a lot depending on the context but I'll mainly stick to Hiromitsu and Tsukasa. Occasionally Scotch too.

And cherry blossoms fell

In Kyoto it was around mid-April when the cherry blossoms fell. Hiromitsu would know, there was a cherry tree right outside of the window of the room he'd been given at aunt Tsubaki's house. And whenever the window in the piano room was opened, wind would blow the petals in. His cousin Tsubasa found the mess funny while her older sister Tsubame thought it pretty if bothersome to clean. They were both years older than him, even older than Taka'aki who still remained in Nagano.

Hiromitsu missed his brother. He missed his parents too but mostly his brother. Kyoto was so different. The Kagemiya were so different. Aunt Tsubaki and uncle Ki'ichi were all nice but they weren't like Hiromitsu's mother and father. Tsubasa and Tsubame were nice too but they were both adults and thus rarely were in Kyoto anymore. They both were even married already. Tsubame had married Takenaka Satoshi few years ago. And Tsubasa married Lucas Ahola last autumn. The wedding had been in Europe, Finland. Hiromitsu had attended it with the rest of his family.

"Tsukasa-kun? Would you like to hear more about our family?" Tsubaki appeared in the doorway. Hiromitsu looked up from his contemplating the cherry blossoms. The Kagemiya were all weird. They insisted on calling him Tsukasa and were planning on adopting him formally part of them. Hiromitsu didn't understand it. His father's relatives were returning to Tokyo in next year after all then taking him in. Hiromitsu really envied Taka'aki. The older boy had been able to stay in Nagano because he had just started high school. Meanwhile Hiromitsu was only ten and soon continuing elementary school here in Kyoto.

"Tsukasa-kun?" Tsubaki asked again to his lengthened silence.

"Okay…"

If there was one upside to this all, it was Tsubaki and Ki'ichi's stories about the Kagemiya.

For the Kagemiya cherry blossoms meant change rather than renewal.

There were blossoms when the school year changed. There were cherry blossoms when Tsubame got married. There were blossoms when Hiromitsu's parents died and he moved to Kyoto.

There were blossoms stained in crimson when Tsubasa had witnessed a person dying and their perpetrator being shot down by the police after the murderer tried to charge at her with a knife. She was only twelve when she experienced the shock to awaken Kagemiya blood.

Auras versus alternative personality. Chasing shadows versus hiding into them.

It was simply a feeling of grave danger that triggered the fear for one's own life. And the reaction to it determined whether or not one would start seeing auras and ghosts and other things belonging to the spiritual realm. Or alternatively be like those spirits with a personality designed to be different and unnoticeable for others, emitting aura to scare the spirit sensitive people away.

I'm in danger. I need to run.

Tsubasa and later her son Shugo saw the ghosts and began chasing them. She kept running for the rest of her life until she was forcefully stopped. She lost focus of her true goal and got reckless, disregarding the safety of her own and of the people closest to her. Shugo focused on securing his sisters safety, disregarding keeping actual contact with her and thus becoming only a bit more than a stranger to her.

I'm in danger. I need to hide.

Tsukiko would get Kage. And Hiromitsu, despite lacking the blood was similar to her. Kage was strong and could fight back and hide away. He sunk into the shadows and never emerged again. He focused too much to what he was losing and got careless. 'Hiromitsu' killed himself in order to protect the people closest to him.

Next year Hiromitsu moved to Tokyo. He wasn't called Tsukasa anymore except in phone calls and… he missed it. His father's relatives were nice too but mostly Hiromitsu liked his new friend best. His name was Furuya Rei and he was brilliant.

Hiro's Zero. They both wanted to become police officers.

While getting to know Rei, Hiro heard more stories. This time about the half-British lady that ran a clinic but had to move away then. About the lively girl that was her daugther.

"Miyano?" Wasn't some Miyano related to the Kagemiya? Hiro couldn't remember and didn't feel like asking. He hadn't met them after all.

On family side in the other hand… Tsubasa had a healthy baby boy. Tsubame lost her baby girl.

Tragic.

Tsubasa was in America with her baby… working. She called one day and told about her friend who fit into the naming theme of Midorikawa family, Akai Tsutomu. It was amusing.

"He is scary brilliant and good help with investigations. Not much of a conversationalist though with his ominous sayings." Tsubasa told. "He is a private detective and has wife named Mary and two boys in England, waiting for him."

Hiromitsu in turn told her about his neighbors in Tokyo. Especially about Rei.

Then Haneda Kohji was murdered in America. Tsubasa was the one to find the body of him and his friend Amanda Hughes, Interpol having tasked her with their protection. Akai Tsutomu got mixed into the case somehow too and vanished. Hiromitsu didn't know and didn't care if he was dead or alive.

There were blossoms again when Hoshi was born. The last days of blossoms in Kyoto. In Tokyo they all had fallen already.

Hiromitsu couldn't visit this time, he had just started in junior high with Rei and thus was busy with school work. He did get pictures. Hoshi was an adorable child just like Daiki but he couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding when looking at her birthdate. Saturday, the 13th of April. Missing Friday only because of it was a leap year.

Was it an omen? Hiromitsu didn't consider himself superstitious… but he couldn't shake the feeling either. Tsubaki said that Midorikawa could sense something ill about to happen but it wasn't precise enough to predict and prevent things…

Taka'aki was studying law at Touto University and was planning on continuing to the Police Academy in order to get to the Prefectural Headquarters of Nagano. Hiromitsu was very proud of his brother and couldn't wait to grow up and join the Police Academy with Rei as well.

And introducing Rei to Taka'aki was one of Hiromitsu's happiest days ever.

While Hiromitsu lived and studied in Tokyo, Tsubasa and Lucas raised their children in Europe, moving from one country to another depending on the job they had.

The drastic shift came when Hiromitsu was seventeen. Interpol had caught onto what was simply called as the Organization. They weren't the only ones. The Organization was stationed in Japan and certain areas of police force had seen discrepancies that they could connect to a single source. They didn't know how big the source was or how large exactly. But they did know that other countries would come sniffing too.

Hiromitsu frowned at the information he heard from Tsubasa and when he mentioned it to Rei, the blonde's face darkened considerably. He knew something but stubbornly kept quiet… probably in order to protect Hiromitsu.

Tsubasa and the kids came to Japan. Daiki was six and Hoshi four. Kurosawa Yamato of the Organization was almost caught. Not that Hiromitsu knew his name at the time. In exchange of his freedom, Yamato gave cues for Lucas in order to find the people looking for new members for the organization. The kid wanted them gone as much as the police wanted.

Tsubasa, growing restless for her own inaction, made a decision. She was going to disappear too. Not completely but she needed to get working again. She needed to keep running. And for that she had to leave Daiki and Hoshi behind.

She tried for two months. She left Daiki with Yamato while staying in Kyoto with Hoshi. The little boy was put in elementary school next year, a year late from his peers.

Blossoms fell.

Tsubasa met with her little boy again – for one trip to beach – and then was gone. Hoshi was with Tsubaki in Kyoto and Daiki with Yamato in Tokyo.

Hiromitsu didn't like it a bit but said nothing. There wasn't anything he could do about it. And he was applying to Police Academy next year so there wouldn't have been a chance take either of the children in.

The year at the Police Academy was probably the best in Hiromitsu's life. Don't get him wrong, he'd greatly enjoyed living that year in Kyoto but that was shadowed by the loss of his parents and glossed over by childish nostalgia. Now though… Now Hiromitsu had the chance to make first steps to start contributing to the world. Not to mention all the new friends he made, sharing the same mindsets.

Date, Miyoshi, Matsuda, Hagiwara.

They were all brilliant. Date was the big brother figure to them all who'd taken Miyoshi under his wings early on. Miyoshi was the youngest with brilliant memory but little confidence. Matsuda and Hagiwara were basically one person sharing two bodies. Where one went, the other wasn't far behind, usually making mischief together.

But there were regrets from that year too. Primarily concerning Miyoshi Takuya. All five of them had babied him a bit, Takuya being the youngest of them and target of other students' ire due his family connections… but after the incident that caused Takuya to be unable to graduate with the rest of them… They had all been so focused on their own careers that they'd effectively abandoned the younger man.

And it was inexcusable.

On graduation day, Tsubaki and Hoshi had appeared by the school gates. Hiromitsu was upset to hear that Tsubasa was not visiting the girl and that as a result Hoshi's Kagemiya trait had surfaced as a way to read from people's auras how long they had to live. The girl had promptly read Hagiwara, Matsuda and Date before Hiromitsu had managed to stop her. And Tsubaki had let her. Ki'ichi's death from last year probably still affected her.

"But ya are all gonna be police officers, ne? It's dangerous so wouldn't it be good ta know?" She had asked. Oh, Hiromitsu wished he had a reliable way to contact Tsubasa so he could give her a piece of his mind. He dreaded to know how Daiki was handling it all with Kurosawa. Kurosawa who according to Tsubaki had left the organization and fled to Osaka and then to Nagano with the boy.

But there wasn't anything to do. And keeping Rei in the dark about Kagemiya matters would be a chore and half.

They all went on to the divisions they were aiming for: Date went to Division Three. Matsuda and Hagiwara joined Security Bureau to be part of Explosive Ordnance Disposal. Hiromitsu joined Division One, homicide, and Rei had his own goals.

Six months later Miyoshi graduated to join Division Two.

Year and half later they all got a message from Matsuda, telling Hagiwara had died.

Hiromitsu was skilled in undercover work and information gathering. He had good scores in marksmanship both with handguns and longer range rifles. He could be unassuming enough not to raise suspicions but also assertive enough to make himself stand out to the right people. Or in this case to the wrong people. His skills had been noted by the Public Security Bureau and he'd been transferred. Soon after he'd been assigned an infiltration mission. Same than what Rei was working on. Karasuma Group and their associates. The Black Organization as it was called among people not in the known.

Everyone else thought Hiromitsu had quit police but instead he was diving into the shadows.

The blossoms had already bloomed.

Did it count as actively destroying himself? Hiromitsu didn't know.

The years passed. Hiromitsu had next to no contact with his family. When he needed to use an actual name, he used Midorikawa Akio – yet another role to split himself into. His mother's old family name and 'autumn' as his first name. As a counter for spring and cherry blossoms.

Was it an obsession to measure his life and years with a mere tree? Maybe.

There were times when he couldn't see anything but dark. Pitch black darkness without a speck of light. Those were times when he felt like giving up… or giving in. Lucas had already given in. He was in Europe again with codename Marshall and not reporting to Interpol anymore. Hiromitsu didn't know how to tell that to Tsubasa.

In the end he didn't tell. Rei's presence with him kept him going and staining blossoms crimson again and again.

He was granted a codename. Scotch. It was like a name for his Kage if Hiromitsu had had the blood for one.

And Rei was there as well. With his intellect he rose in the ranks quickly, much quicker than Hiromitsu – Scotch – had. But then, he'd been keeping low and moderate profile.

There was another rising star. Moroboshi Dai. He was dating Miyano Akemi, the eldest daughter of famous (or infamous) and deceased scientist couple Miyano Atsushi and Elena. There was also a younger sister but she was so deep in the bowels of the organization that everything that Scotch knew about her was only hearsay.

(Why the people he knew were getting pulled into this staining dark as well?)

Moroboshi, Furuya, Midorikawa… Later Rye, Bourbon, Scotch… Something about the lineup didn't sit right to Hiromitsu but he couldn't say what it was.

In July, Hiromitsu met with Hoshi briefly and promised to call and leave voicemails to her. He worked a password into her phone that ensured that only she could access the voicemails. Once she figured out the password that was.

The job had been a long-distance sniping. He and Rye had handled it, and they were on the way back. And they were being followed. By… two preteens.

"Midorikawa Shugo, nice to meetcha." The boy deadpanned while his companion was being scolded by Rye. Scotch had to stop for a moment. He knew those eyes. They were Tsubasa's eyes. Kagemiya eyes. And if the way the boy kept glancing subtly around indicated anything, he also could see auras even if the gift hadn't fully manifested yet.

In the end he didn't interact with the boy, his nephew, that much. He did see Kurosawa Yamato and found out from Rei why the young man was so known in the organization even after leaving.

Afterwards came the news about a CIA mole being dead and Mizunashi Rena gaining codename Kir.

The world was indeed taking notice of them.

On the next New Year's Hiromitsu went to meet with Tsubasa. First time in years he saw his cousin. 'Michiko' she was called now. This family really liked their alternative identities…

Yamato was filled in about the situation finally. A photo to memorialize the night was taken. Hiromitsu went back to work.

But all good had to come to an end. Hiromitsu knew he was being suspected of being a mole. Four years he'd worked for the Organization. Those years had made him dangerous for them. But more than that, those four years had made him realize the danger he – and those he was close to – were in. It included his family and friends and Rei. During the years Hiromitsu had grown to care for Rei like a brother. Back among his cousins he'd always been the youngest apart from Tenjiro-kun who'd died when only three years old, so it had been nice to look after someone else for a change.

It was March. The blossoms had barely started blooming. Hiromitsu had taken a perch on top of an empty apartment building. He had called Rei and told him of his decision to escape the Organization. To the only direction he could now see. He had a tail. Rye had been after him for weeks. Hiromitsu had been sloppy. Scotch hadn't but had still allowed Hiromitsu/Tsukasa to call Hoshi – Tsukiko – once more.

It was purely nonsensical phone call into the voicemail. Nothing special. Bit this and that. Telling the girl how much she meant for him. And asking her to tell everyone else that he was sure of his decision.

Then Rye was there and the phone was slipped into his breast pocket. The call was still ongoing. Why? He didn't know. Just for some reason he wanted his little cousin to know the truth of everything. While Daiki – Shugo – was like Tsubasa and would run towards danger, he had Yamato and friends as his safety net holding him back. Tsukiko in the other hand was more like Hiromitsu. And she needed to know the truth with all the darkest parts included too, so she could avoid the pitfalls he'd stumbled onto. Hiromitsu hadn't known exactly what he was going into when he chose to go undercover all those years ago. Only what his superiors informed him of, what Tsubasa shared from her investigations and what Yamato had told… And it wasn't much in the greater scheme when he'd already been in. So, Tsukiko needed to know everything in order to avoid his mistakes and stay safe. She was a smart girl. She eventually figure out the password to the voicemails and get the information. But right now she was still too young.

Scotch got the gun from Rye, Hiromitsu pointed it at his own heart and phone. Rye interfered and told he was a mole from the FBI. Hiromitsu remembered Tsukiko telling about the young man she adopted as a big brother when she was young.

For a moment Hiromitsu considered going with Rye. But the steps in the stairs reminded him the reason why he had come up to this rooftop. And Hiromitsu also knew there was only one person who'd be coming up with such hurried steps. He could hear it. The steps were quick and had purpose to reach the top as quickly as possible rather than as stealthily as possible. Rei…

"I'm sorry. I'm leaving it all in your care…" Hiromitsu spoke and pushed the trigger the moment when Rye's – Akai's – attention and grip wavered. It was an easy decision in the end.

To die as himself and pass on the information to Tsukiko. Maybe she'd succeed in what he'd failed with. Especially if she asked for her brother for help. Hiromitsu had made the mistake of letting the rest of his family slip far away. He should've asked Taka'aki and Tsubasa for more help. They had connections that he couldn't reach while undercover after all.

There was hope for future though. Hiromitsu felt a bit bad to have Rei discover his corpse and to have Akai potentially take the fall of his death. But he'd rather have the two hate each other if it kept them safe too. Such was the Organization. And more undercover agents they had alive, better the chances were in taking down the crows. Even if they were stacked against each other.

His last words… they were meant to both Tsukiko and the other two from 'Whiskey Trio' as Yamato had called them on the train platform. It was like Shogi really. Tsukiko became the player in his stead. And with the act of dying he promoted two of her pieces in advance. The Rook and the Bishop to protect her King. She could do it. And most likely she'd have more pieces to help her. She had Kage too, Hiromitsu was sure of it.

Hiromitsu woke up to white walls of hospital. Tsubaki was on his bedside and informed him of Miyoshi arriving to the scene of his suicide and getting him to hospital in time. Tsubaki and Ayanokoji had been alerted and they had with the help of the responding surgeon covered up Hiromitsu's survival.

"Your colleagues think you're dead. Miyoshi-kun and Satou-san did good job at omitting information." The old woman stated.

"What now though…" Hiromitsu asked. His thoughts turned to Rei and Taka'aki. Rei would be devasted. Taka'aki would be in the dark for years to come.

"Now you shall go rehabilitation period here in the hospital with occasional visits home. Then you need to start thinking about your future. Morofushi Hiromitsu is dead. Within six months I shall make an announcement that Kagemiya Tsukasa has died as well. Fumimaro-kun has listed you as Miyagawa Sakuya for the time being and it's up to you to decide if you want to join Kyoto Police or do something else." Came the prompt answer.

"I see…" So there was still something to do… What a relief…

The blossoms were still falling when Hiromitsu stepped up to the front door of Tsubaki's Kyoto house. It was Hoshi's birthday. He stepped through the doors and became Tsukasa once more. Tsubaki instructed him to go look for his cousin from the piano room. Well, looking for was a bit wrong term. After all he could hear the music coming from there all the way to the genkan.

Hoshi had always been a lot like him when he was young. But also not, she was her own person after all. The girl was full of life and energy. She kept smiling the entirety of his visit, just like last summer. Hoshi wasn't burdened by her gift yet, like her brother was. She wasn't even doing Timings anymore and had probably forgotten about them.

"I want to be called Tsukiko." Hoshi told him. It was a good name. Fitting. She was his light after all. Reminding him that his death didn't mean everything else stopped as well. Tsukasa felt he could keep him going on. With this light wasn't a distant star anymore. It was a gently guiding moon.

There were no voicemails. Just visits and e-mails. They had fun. They were like family. They had each other to rely on as they were out of contact with the family members other than Tsubaki.

It was a good six months of life.

Hiromitsu had decided to take the leap of becoming Miyagawa Sakuya and join Kyoto Prefectural Headquarters. He modelled his new persona after Taka'aki but keeping the warmer tones of Tsukasa that he'd found and rediscovered with Tsukiko. He carefully recalled Kyoto dialect and practiced with everyone in the know.

In October he was incredibly busy but placated Tsukiko about his absence by sending her new music to practice.

In November 7th he got a message from Miyoshi via Tsubaki that Matsuda had died in bombing.

With everything going on, Hiromitsu had forgotten the Timings on his friends. The ones that Hoshi had made. He couldn't go and visit Hoshi for weeks afterwards. And in the meantime, Tsubasa had heard of his supposed death from PSB and had come to tell the news to Tsubaki. News that Hoshi heard and was distraught over. News that finally forced Tsubaki to announce Tsukasa's death.

It was decided that Hiromitsu wouldn't visit Tsukiko anymore, in order to keep up with the pretense.

It hurt.

And it wasn't until Date's death and meeting with Miyoshi that Hiromitsu finally had the courage to call Tsukiko's voicemail again and leave final message for her to find.

A/N: Kagemiya-Midorikawa family tree depicting all the connections and approximate ages can be found from my deviantart.

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