I. Hiatus
"Babe, wake up." Rise says softly, her hand resting on top of the blanket covering Naoto's back. Naoto turns around grumbling.
"Five more minutes."
She's answered with a soft giggle and rolls back around to face Rise. Her eyes go wide when she sees that her girlfriend is already dressed. She sits up and squints at the alarm clock sitting on the table behind her.
"Did I oversleep?" Her voice is still thick with sleep and the sudden loud exclamation causes it to go up a pitch on the last syllable. Rise giggles louder now and she sits down next to Naoto.
"I turned the alarm off after you fell asleep last night."
"I was going to wake up early. I was going to make you breakfast in bed. I was-"
"You were exhausted, Naoto. You need rest." Rise interrupts Naoto's stream of conscious mumbling.
"I'll sleep after you're gone." Naoto says. She's still mad at herself for wasting precious time sleeping. It helps that Rise leans into her then, giving her a kiss that dispels the rest of her sleepiness.
"How long before we have to leave?" She asks when Rise finally pulls back a bit.
Rise looks back at the clock and Naoto watches how her eyebrows bunch up as she counts out the time.
"One hour and eleven minutes."
Naoto throws back the blankets resolutely.
"Okay. I can still make you some breakfast then." She lifts herself off the mattress and starts for the door but Rise grabs hold of her wrist.
"I'm kinda more interested in the 'in bed' part of 'breakfast in bed'." She says with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows that simultaneously causes Naoto to scoff and turns her ears bright red. Thankfully Rise doesn't wait for her to fumble through a response before pulling her down on the bed.
It had been eight months since they got back together and even though life had gotten a lot safer, it hadn't been less hectic.
Being the sole survivor of a mad director's murder spree had caused Rise's already considerable fame to triple overnight. Naoto had gained some unwanted notoriety in the media as well. It hadn't made her work as a detective any easier. The constant phone calls and offers for interviews had been one thing, but the steady stream of paparazzi that now congregated outside of Naoto's apartment building had been enough for her to announce a hiatus. The first one in her entire career.
It hadn't really been a hiatus, off course. After taking the train to Inaba and unpacking their bags in the Shirogane estate just outside of town, Naoto had started working on cases as soon as she got the wifi to function.
They'd spent the next two months in a comfortable rhythm. Naoto would talk to whichever police detective needed her help that day on Skype in the mornings. Rise would sleep in, explore the mansion, smile at remnants of a younger Naoto, or write songs. In the afternoon they'd walk through the town, visit Rise's grandma and other old acquaintances or just sit by the river.
Naoto watched as Rise slowly grew back into her old, confident self.
Naoto caught herself thinking she might be okay if they stayed like that a little longer, frozen in this idyllic life, but she could never quite grant herself that luxury.
A simple missing person case had led her to the discovery of a human trafficking ring and soon she was getting phone calls from the CIA asking for her help.
The hiatus was over and they moved back to the city, this time unpacking in a new apartment that was large enough for two.
It was the biggest case Naoto had worked on in her life. Her already bad sleeping habits had gone out of the window completely after the first month of the investigation. Rise would find her sleeping with her face on her files at the oddest hours and tried not to wake her up as she carried her to bed. It never worked.
Rise had started acting again. She spent the first two months doing a theatre piece that had her working more regular hours than she was used to.
They ate breakfast and dinner together every day, though dinner would often be later than planned.
After the run of the play ended, Rise finally took the plunge to start working on movies again. She'd gotten an offer to play the best friend in a British romantic comedy partly set in Japan. Rise joked that the chances of the story about two rivalling tennis players who fall in love turning a director into a murdering maniac were rather small. Naoto had done the best to make sure that the sudden punch of worry in her gut didn't also show on her face.
The first part of the movie would be shot in Japan over three months. The final part took place in London. It would be the first time they were apart since they caught Hide. That feeling of worry was becoming familiar to Naoto, but she managed to not let it distract her enough to finish her own investigation.
Everything seemed to come to a climax in the week before Rise left for London.
Naoto had made the final push in her case that made it all come together. She'd not only identified each of the ringleaders, but managed to give the CIA a location for every single one of them.
She had insisted on being part of the team that went after the one located in her city. She had even been the first through the door; the one to put the handcuffs on him. When she got home that day, she only recognised the look on Rise's face because it was the same worry she had been feeling for weeks.
The case had been an unexpected boost for her career. She was finishing up all the loose ends, making sure all the girls could get back to their families as soon as possible.
The phone call had come the day before Rise had to leave. Naoto's contact at the CIA offered her a permanent position at the agency. A prestigious position at that. She'd earn quite a bit more than she did now, and working for an agency would give her a lot more certainties. It would also completely strip her of all the freedom she currently had as a private investigator. With her girlfriend being an international movie star, she wasn't sure if it was smart to give up on that freedom.
She'd made an endless pro and con list in her head while she worked on the last files in the case. Rise's insistence that she'd be fine with whatever choice Naoto landed on did not make it any easier for her to stop analysing every option. It had kept her up far later than she had planned on.
"Did you decide yet?" Rise asks between two bites of the croissant that Naoto had insisted she'd eat in the car after skipping breakfast.
Naoto fights the urge to roll her eyes, gaze fixed firmly on the road before her.
"You'd know if I did."
"I'm sure the CIA would be fine with you moving abroad if you ask them."
Naoto murmurs in agreement as she steers her car onto the exit.
"Besides," Rise continues, "It's not like I even have to move. I'm getting plenty of offers. We could probably stay in the city forever, there's a lot of projects there."
"You should pick projects because you want to do them, not because they are geographically convenient." Naoto rolls to a stop in front of a red light. Rise tears a piece off of her pastry and offers it to Naoto.
"You should too." She smiles triumphantly, as if the conversation had been a contest that she just won.
"If I worked for the CIA, I wouldn't get to choose my own cases."
Rise's smile drops. Naoto can see her mind racing as fast as her own.
"What would you do, if you were me?" Naoto finally asks.
"I-" Rise gets cut off by the sound of a car honking behind them. Naoto startles and quickly gets the car moving again. They sit in silence until she pulls up to the airport, finding a parking spot.
They finally come to a stop then, Naoto pausing before taking her hands of the steering wheel.
"I don't know." Rise answers.
Naoto is surprised that the feeling of worry isn't there when she hugs Rise one last time. When Rise presses a long kiss against her lips. When she wipes away the tear on Rise's face. When they both say "I'll miss you."
It was just a month. She'd be okay.
It would give her time to decide.
She watches Rise go through the gate before heading back to her car when her cellphone rings.
"Shirogane speaking."
"Naoto. Matsuura here." If she hadn't seen his name on the screen she would have hardly believed it was him. She'd only hear the police detective sound this serious once before.
"I've got a case for you, if you want it."
"I'm not sure if I have time for another case right now, Matsuura."
"Yes. I've heard of your work with the CIA. Impressive. I just thought you might be interested in this case it's…" Matsuura trails off. Naoto isn't used to the detective being at a loss for words.
"What kind of case is it?"
"It's a murder. It's just that the specifics are a bit… unusual."
"Unusual in what way?"
"I'll send you the info right now. I just thought you should hear it from me first."
He is quiet for a few beats.
"The specifics of this murder seem to be an exact match to the methods of Adachi Tohru."
