"Kill both of them. Now."

Not like this.

Please, not like this…

Kogami watches his soon-to-be murderers with dread, but it never showed on his face.

This wasn't right, wasn't fair!

He had already sent Akane away, watched as she was driven back to safety. He'd done everything he could to protect her where she shouldn't have been running around in the first place!

Yet here they are, more importantly here she is, chained to a helicopter that would serve as a cover-up for their actual demise. Not even the MWPSB would know how Akane Tsunemori had truly lost her life, and it made his blood boil.

"The Japanese government won't stay quiet about this either!"

Her voice cut through his fogged thoughts, and he risked a glance.

In the face of death, Akane held her head high and her voice didn't falter, staring daggers into her killer's eyes. He was so, so proud of the young investigator.

She had grown so strong...and she would have only grown more.

It ripped at his heart.

"They're sure to do a detailed investigation!" she snarled.

Desmond was answering, but Kogami didn't have the patience nor time to listen.

He gritted his teeth and tried desperately to think of anything, the slightest opportunity, SOMETHING to save the girl he wanted to protect with all his heart.

"Shinya."

It was so quiet, he could have easily missed it.

But the name alone that he was never called, never by her, caught him instantly. He whipped his head to face her.

She was giving the monsters her full attention, but he saw her eyes falter with his movement.

The world fell silent.

She spoke again, barely moving her lips.

"I-...I love you, Shinya Kougami."

She couldn't bear to go without saying it. She would not die with that weight.

It took everything he could to not let her hear his heart breaking through the answer.

"I love you, Akane Tsunemori."

For the slightest of seconds, she flicked her widening eyes to his, let out a cross between a laugh and a choked back sob.

Not like this, never like this.

Please,

please.

"Shoot them, NOW!"

At once the air was electrified with the rain of bullets. Kougami squeezed his eyes shut and steadied his aching bones, but the pain never came.

"This is the Public Safety Bureau Investigative Division. According to paragraph three of the Sibyl System treaty, and the power vested in us by paragraph five…"

There was screaming and gunfire, as the drones began to turncoat and fire into the crowd. Snapping his eyes open, he just managed to catch sight of the body of Nicholas Wong inflate with the shot of a dominator. A loud pop echoed across the roof as he exploded, the pistol still clenched in his ripped off hand as it sailed and thumped next to Kougami.

He took no time in grabbing the weapon for himself and shooting off the cuffs, sprinting over to free the petite inspector.

"K-Kougami!" Her eyes were wild and she couldn't find a point to focus on. So he gave her one, removing her binds and pulling her into a tight embrace.

"The police are coming to help you. Find the chairman." He held her at shoulders length, focusing his steeled blue eyes to her golden brown.

"And don't forget my promise to you. Stay alive, Akane."

Blinking rapidly and knowing he was going to run away from her again, she held fast to his face and kissed him hastily.

"I'll be waiting," was all she could manage to say as she let him go, smiling sadly as he hesitated with a brief grin, and fled from her life once more.

She looked on long after he was out of sight, until her division team was running to her side with Ginoza shaking her shoulders.

"Akane, are you all right?!"

Closing her eyes and taking a breath, she concealed her emotions with an all too familiar mask.

"I'm okay, but we need to find Chairman Han."

When he finally returned to the makeshift home that night, it was to catch a few hours of sleep before the camp's departure at dawn. Everything had gone wrong in such a short amount of time, and the group would be forced to migrate further south to cover their tracks. Sem was dead. Many guerrillas had lost their lives.

At the least, he could rest knowing that Akane was safe and out of this hellhole– a thought that both comforted and filled him with sorrow.

She said she loved me, he thought, his heart beating rapidly at the memory. She called me Shinya. An uncharacteristic smile, now of all times, etched faintly across his lips.

And then he froze at the assaulting recollection of Ginoza's haunting words.

"Stay away from Tsunemori. She doesn't need any more pain in her life."

He was so selfish. Knowing what kind of situation he was in, he had promised her once again to have hope for a fugitive caked with death threats. Who couldn't be there when she needed him.

But the way she looked at him, searching for a ray of hope.

When he couldn't help but search for the same in hers.

And she loved him back.

Exasperated, he crumpled onto the mattress, only to smack his already aching head on something hard. Grumbling and digging for the culprit, he found a small parcel under his pillow, wrapped in brown paper.

He unfolded the tidy packaging. A few of his favorite books lay in his hands, his worn and written-in copies back from the old enforcer's quarters. Smiling big and leafing through the titles, he found a copy of something he had never read before, an envelope jutting out of the cover. And what's this, Inspector?

Setting the paperbacks aside, he pried it out carefully and began to read.

Kougami,

I thought you might be missing some of the stories you left behind. I'm giving you a new adventure as well, a favorite of mine that helped me decide to take the path as an inspector, and gave me hope when things looked bleak.

It reminds me a lot of you, for the main character ultimately chooses what is right over what the juridical system dictates. I hope that when we meet again, we can have a proper discussion over it.

Stay safe, Kougami. I'll fight with you to make our future as equals possible.

-Akane

He re-read it, once, twice. Tentatively picking up the hardcover, he thumbed through the pages. highlighter marks flecked the sentences, with small and neat handwriting combing the page margins. One sentence grabbed his eyes in particular.

"Above all, Megan LaRue fought for the people."

Akane had circled the sentence twice and written next to it, "Like Mr. Kougami!"

This must have been her personal copy, back when she had first become an inspector.

He shook his head with a soft chuckle, brushing something from his face.

Jumping with the realization that he was wiping away a tear.

He would miss every moment of her absence, but he would give it everything he had to survive.

For a future worth living in.

For Akane.

And just this once, he allowed the silent tears to fall.

Up in the air, Akane Tsunemori sat in a plane and tightly clutched a brand new copy of her favorite book, unable to get through the first page. It had become very hard to hold the tears threatening to well over, and the novel wasn't doing her any favors.