LONG ASLEEP

Well, then, hello. I'm Solka and I'm really glad you're reading this piece.

An introductory note: I'm not a native speaker, so pardon occasional mistakes, let me know and I'll make sure they're gone :)

This is a bit AU, so before you start reading, LOOK HERE:

1) Makishima isn't dead, Tsunemori locked him up for the rest of his life – he's completely irrelevant in this story, though.

After capturing Mahiskima, Kougami is back with the MWPSB's Division 1 but gets kidnapped shortly after his return – the circumstances play an important role in this piece so I won't reveal them now.

2) Events from the Season 2 of the anime? I have Mika as an Inspector and Hikanawa but that's all as far as I see it right now.

So, I guess that's all for now, go on and enjoy!

-s.

Chapter 1

Ginoza woke up. He tried to sit up in the bed but failed miserably. He moved his hand to rip off the breathing mask. He winced in pain as his muscles refused to cooperate and he fell his whole body trembling.

Where was he? The man looked around and only after some time he recognised the room. The clinic in their office.

How come he was alive? He was sure that he would die there in that abandoned storage. And where was...

"Gino!"

Ginoza's head snapped to his left which caused another wave of pain. He hissed and shut his eyes. He couldn't move his hands or his legs, but the hellish pain of his whole body told him that he wasn't paralysed. It felt as if he...

"Gino, can you hear me?" Shion's voice reached him again but before he could actually respond, the exhaustion took over his body again.


The second time he woke up, he felt better. He opened his eyes and was actually able to remove the breathing mask that someone put back on his face. The pain in his body was still there but a lot easier to cope with.

His movement brought Shino's attention and the woman jumped to her feet and began checking the beeping monitors.

Ginoza opened his mouth to ask about the rest but Shino ignored his attempts. Only after she stopped clicking on the controlling panel she turned to him and touched his skull.

"Can you hear me, Gino?"

"Ye-yes." His throat was dry.

"Do you know where you are? Nod if you do."

The man nodded his head lightly.

"Do you remember what happened? Nod again if yes."

"I fell. We were fighting... one of the kidnappers... that took Kougami. He pushed us."

Shion made some note. And moved back to examining him. He took a chance to go back to his accident. They were after men who took Kougami. They kept the enforcer for a whole month, thanks to Tsunemori's determination they were able to get a hang of his location and managed to track the group down.

"Where is... Kou..."

Shion's hand snatched from Gino's leg and the woman stared at the man. His eyes widened at the reaction, alarmed.

The steps. Kougami's eyes.

Agh, to hell with this headache.

"Gino. Get some sleep. I'll..."

Suddenly, Shion's communicator beeped and the woman answered instantly. Kunizuka's voice barked some words and Shion moved to the door.

"I'll be right back. Try going back to sleep.

Like hell he would. Gino tried to rise his hand and fortunately he managed to get a hold of the metal supported on the side of the bed. Not without some difficulty, he sat on the brink of the bed. His head stopped spinning which he took as good news. Slowly, he stood on his legs.

"Oh, no, you shouldn't get up, sir!" a voice reached him. A young man dressed in white doctor's gown ran into the room and helped him back to his bed. Ginoza shook his head and barked:

"I need to get to Division One's laboratory."

"I don't think it's wise in your condition, sir. Please let me..."

"You don't want to make me your enemy, boy," Ginoza looked at the young man sternly. "Take me to Karanomori Shion's laboratory. Right. Now."

The young doctor paled and with trembling hands reached for crutches. He helped Ginoza and led him out of the room. He had to find out what happened to Kougami. If he was alive then that old fool must've made it too.

"How long was I out?"

"Ex–excuse me?"

"How long was I unconscious?" A day, maybe two. That would explain the soreness of his muscles.

The young doctor opened the elevator's door and kept it until Ginoza crutched himself inside.

"Five... five months, sir."

Ginoza would have fallen if it wasn't for the young doctor's hands. Five. Months.

He was in a coma for five months.

Shion didn't notice him as he entered her laboratory. The room was dark as always, lighted up only by computer screens and completely quiet aside from the sound of keyboard clicking. Shion was presently looking at the biggest screen and talking with someone through the communicator. Kunizuka was the first to spot him in the doorway and her eyes widened but she didn't stop her work. A red head, enforcer Hikanawa Sho, barely nodded his head at him but also didn't refrain from hitting keys quite furiously. From the look of it, they were in the middle of a field action and Shion seemed quite nervous.

"Damn it, Shimotsuki, I still can't see you. Tell me, what you see."

"The alley is dark, no one in the area according to the scanners. I'm still alone, where the hell is the police car."

Ginoza heard some muffled noise and a curse. The man raised his brow, the newest inspector improved on her language it would seem.

"Hikanawa, how long?"

"Three minutes."

"Kunizuka, how is the second group?"

"Still on their way. There was a road accident, they have to find a detour."

Finally, Shion noticed his presence and her eyes widened. She threw her cigarette to the floor and snapped at him:

"What the hell are you doing here?! I told you to..."

"Shion, I see the target. I need you to give me details. Did you get the cameras on?"

"Hikanawa, give me the visual or..."

"It's on, Shion-san."

Ginoza watched the screen. It was almost completely dark but he could see a small figure in the left corner of the picture. Mika. She was wearing a night-vision and held her dominator ready. She was hiding behind a pile of empty boxes or something similar. Meters from her stood another person, a man in his forties, holding a gun and pinning some woman to the wall.

"Shimotsuki, you are 50 meters from the target. Tall man, muscled, holding a weapon and a hostage. You don't have clear shot. Do not come closer. He can shoot you. Wait for the enforcement."

"Understood."

Less than a minute later, the man was gone inside the building. Mika stood there waiting patiently until she heard a noise and her head snapped in the direction from which came the police van. Ginoza held his breath as he observed a tall figure of an inspector getting out of his car. Ginoza didn't recognise the man but figured that after five months it was normal that some other division would accept new inspectors. However, he frowned when he noticed how Mika addressed the man and the emblem on his jacket stating that he belonged to the same division as Mika. They both waited for the enforcers to appear by them.

If the new guy was from Division One, then what happened to Tsunemori?

The enforcers began to get out of the van. Ginoza came closer ignoring angry looks from Shion. She was still navigating Mika and shouting to Kunizuka to locate the target. Two figures stepped out of the vehicle, and stood by the two inspectors waiting for orders. Mika and the other guy briefed them shortly and all of them reached for their dominators. Only after Ginoza's eyes moved to the small drone with the weapons he noticed the third, smaller figure which emerged from the car after the first two.

Tsunemori. The small woman was already standing with her dominator. She didn't spare a glance in the direction of her partners and started walking away from the group. But it wasn't this lack of communication with other which struck Ginoza at that time. It was her eyes: hollow, devoid of any spark of life or interest. It weren't the eyes that Ginoza remembered. These eyes seemed like they didn't belong to her at all.

They belonged to an enforcer.


So, what do you think? Is it worth continuing? Review!

-s.