Over and over and over again. Akane watched as the blood ran through the crevices of his porcelain hands and down Yuki's once smooth neck. The carved smile across her neck flowed blood, even after she had hit the metal grates by his feet. Akane and Yuki both fell to their knees, while Makishima turned and walked away. Right out of my hands. Again and again she watched her own tears fall faster than the scarlet that dropped in front of her and landed on the shotgun. The gun that could've saved Yuki, if she wasn't so damn weak.

In the weeks following the death of her friend, Akane had been involuntarily sent on leave. As much as she wanted to deny the darkness plaguing her day in and day out, those around her could not ignore it. While she obviously appeared tired and growing thin, that wasn't the most concerning thing: it was her eyes. The light in them was gone. Half the time, she wasn't even there. Ginzo would watch her sit at her desk, gazing intently at the floor for hours on end. A few times, Kogami had tapped her shoulder as he walked by to snap her out of the hell her mind had placed her in. Finally, Ginzo filed for her to be officially discharged for two weeks minimum. While the idea was nice in theory, Akane would only go home and enter the same state of mind yet again. The first time she tried sleeping, her mind awoke to horrible nightmares that left her screaming and shaking. After trying a few more times, Akane decided it wasn't fair to her neighbors, and asked Ginzo if there was any way she could stay at the bureau headquarters.

For three weeks she slipped from her room in the enforcer housing unit to the officer, causally trying to see what Ginzo and the team were working on. And every time, she was sent back to her room alone. The only solace she found was in visits from the enforcers, who seemed to be just as bored as she was outside of work. One of the most frequent visitors was Masaoka, who liked to come by and play cards. They would relax in her living room and talk about almost everything, besides the only subject they both knew to avoid. Akane liked to believe that she was helping him just as much as he was her.

The only one who knew how much she was struggling was Kogami, who would visit quite often as well. But his visits were prompted by screams coming from next door in the early hours of the morning. The closest semblance of frantic Akane had ever seen him was his wide eyed and disheveled form standing in her now broken doorway. The next day, he found time to install a new door. Almost every night now, if he didn't already hear screaming by three or four, he would knock on the wall between them and come over. Those nights he knew she had never gone to sleep in the first place.

With the light of the TV and a breeze from the open window, Akane would sit with him on the couch and lean her head on his shoulder. The scent of his Spinel smoke drifting past her and the weight of his arm around her was enough to allow her to enter into sleep for another few hours.

On her first day back into the office, she was glad the first to greet her was none other than Kagari. "Heeey looks who's back! Enjoy your beauty rest?" Despite what she was undergoing, she was glad for his ability to lighten any mood. Still, he used humor to mask the genuine concern on his face as he looked at her.

Akane forced a lighthearted smile, "Yeah, can't you tell it's doing wonders?" While she meant for her laugh to reassure him, it sounded empty and hollow. She watched Kagari's smile faded as he nodded and continued on past her. Her mind flashed an image of Yuki's smile.

The day was relatively low key, with Akane merely being given paperwork. Despite having to step out of the room a few times, from flashbacks brought about merely by the mention of Makishima, she did fairly well. Now, back in her room, she was grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge as a knock came on her door. The rhythmic squeaking of her sneakers was somewhat calming as she hesitantly opened the door. Akane exhaled in relief when her eyes fell upon Kogami, who leaned against the doorframe lazily.

"I figured it more convenient for me to just come over now rather than wait until four thirty in the morning." And just like that, he was inside her room.

Akane placed her water on the counter, "Okay, but I was just about to go work out," she informed him, "so do you want to just wait in here or…?" She trailed off questioningly.

Kogami walked closer, examining her face with a leveled expression. "Mind if I join you?" He asked. While his injuries from before were finally healing, he was in no condition to fight. Still, it wasn't like Akane could hit hard enough to hurt him.

"You sure?" Akane walked up and lightly prodded two fingers at the wound on his side. While she gave him credit for not fully showing just how much discomfort he was in, Kogami still winced slightly.

"I'll be fine." He responded, lightly swatting her hand away before following her into the other room.

Despite the room between them, it was hard for Akane not to feel his breath on her neck and her heart hammering inside her chest. She liked to believe the heat she now felt was simply poor ventilation. When they entered the empty room, Kogami looked slightly lost as to what was going on, until he saw Akane strapping on fighting gloves. With this revelation, he suddenly noticed the padded floors and towels off to the side.

"I put in a request for there to be a room cleared and made into a sparring area as part of my therapy. The sparring robot and extra gloves were brought from home." Tightening the velcro on her gloves, she held a pair out to Kogami.

He shook his head, "No thanks, I prefer to fight without them."

Akane shifted on one hip, still holding them towards Kogami, "It's for my protection more than anything."

The two circled each other, using their observational skills to see what they could pick up on about their opponent: weaknesses, openings, tendencies. But between her mental scars and his physical ones, they were evenly matched. It was Akane who struck first. What she lacked in strength she made up for in size. Her fist connected with his good side, before her foot attempted to sweep his leg. Luckily, Kogami caught this, shifting aside and grabbing her arm to swing her back in an attempt to throw her down. Akane was too fast for this though.

The fighting went on like this for long enough that both of them lost track of time. In fact, they lost track of everything else but their movements and their opponents. It was the first time in a long while they had both had clear minds. Some while into the fight, their faces had erupted into grins, and by the end of it they both were laughing in enjoyment. Finally, Kogami pinned Akane to the floor, her shoulders flat against the padding and his body flush on hers. Even though they were both laughing, a calm started to settle over both of them that soon left nothing in the air as they looked into each other's' eyes.

Kogami was the first to move, shift off Akane and standing up, offering a hand to her, "Not bad, considering how tiny you are."

She laughed slightly, pulling herself up and walking over to grab a towel. "Hey, well it's because I'm tiny it makes me faster."

Walking into the other room to grab waters, Akane watched Kogami leave the room as she sat down on the floor. Now that her adrenaline was draining, she felt her body fall back on the floor. Her eyes stared at the florescent lighting beaming down from overhead, like the floor of heaven was opening up above her to take her away.

Kogami reentered the room, his smirk falling when he saw her empty eyes again. He walked over and sat down next to her, leaning over to get her to look at him; to bring her back from wherever she had gone. Now that he had seen it just moments ago, he missed the light they had. That was one of the things he wanted to make Makishima pay for the most.

"Hey," he began, lifting up his black shirt to wipe the sweat off his face before it dripped on her.

"I let Yuki die without doing anything…" Akane recited blankly as she sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. It had become her mantra after the encounter that night. Now, when her mind was blank and empty, this was carved across the inside of her eyelids, and burned on her retinas when they were open. It followed her in her sleep and haunted her when she was awake.

"You couldn't have. Makishima knew that, or he wouldn't have put his life on the line testing it." Kogami placed his hand on her back lightly, but all Akane felt was Makishima's blade as he lashed it across Yuki's back. She flinched away. If he felt any pain, he didn't show it.

After they sat like that, with Akane quietly muttering to herself, Kogami finally decided she had had enough for one day. He scooped her up in his arms and walked over to the couch, placing her down gently and pulling the blanket over her.

Her eyes finally broke their blank gaze, traveling to look up at Kogami, "Thank you." Akane whispered, feeling herself fade quickly. The last thing she remembers is Kogami's blurred silhouette going through the door.