Kogami glared at the door that had slammed shut in his face.
She had to have been kidding. Akane wouldn't just leave him alone like this, would she? She would come back any second now. They would apologize to each other and make up like they always did.
He sighed and sat on his couch, staring off in to space. What had caused this argument, anyway?
He looked down at the table in front of him that had case files on it.
Oh. Right.
He was working on a case with the rest of Division One, and they had hit a wall. Akane thought that she would be of some help, even though she was still in no condition to work.
"What in the hell are you doing?" Kogami asked as he walked back in to his living quarters after his shift.
"Oh, you're back." Akane said, looking up from the case file she was reading.
"I don't think you have clearance to be reading these." He glared, taking it from her.
"Come on, Kogami." The inspector said, trying to get it back. "Let me take a look. I may get somewhere on this."
"How many times do I have to say no?" He growled, and shoved the file in a nearby cabinet. "You haven't been released to work yet, so I refuse to let you even try."
"Oh, you're just eating up the fact that I'm not considered on active duty!" Akane shouted. "I'm still your superior on and off duty, so give me that file!"
Kogami narrowed his eyes at the woman in front of him. "You wouldn't dare…"
"Enforcer Kogami, as your superior Inspector, I order you to hand over the case file #42811 to me right now." She said, almost daring him to disobey her.
"No." He said, blocking her access from the cabinet that he placed the file in.
"No?" She looked up at him in shock.
"No." He said again. "It's too dangerous to have you working on a case like this. It is my job to protect you, Inspector."
"Oh, you're really going to play that game with me?" She narrowed her eyes.
"You started it when you called me Enforcer Kogami."
"You're a pain in the ass!" Akane shouted at him, and went to grab her purse.
"Wait, where are you going?" He asked, following her to the door.
"Home." She growled. "And I will make sure to put in a request that no other inspector can take you out of the department on any non-work related task on my way out."
"You can't do that!"
"Just watch me!" She said, and then slammed the door shut.
So there he was. Staring at the wall, waiting for Akane to come back.
Kogami was shaken from his thoughts when he heard faint crying come from his bedroom.
"No damn way." He said, standing to his feet and making his way to the room. "She didn't."
He opened the door and put his palm to his face when he saw his newborn daughter laying in the middle of his bed.
He sighed. There was no point in trying to contact Akane right then. She would ignore him anyway.
He walked to the bed and gently lifted her to his shoulder.
"Shh…" He began to stroke her back gently, looking around for the diaper bag.
"I can't believe she left you here." He calmly spoke to the wriggling baby.
Once he found what he was looking for, he unzipped it and looked around inside for a bottle. His actions became frantic when he couldn't find one.
"Seriously, Akane?" He huffed. She had put the can of formula in there, but there was no sign of a bottle anywhere.
He put the baby in the crook of his arm and started to look around his quarters, hoping that he had one laying around.
"Aha!" He smirked, reaching under his couch for an empty one that he saw. He walked to his sink and quickly washed it out and made a fresh meal for the whining baby.
"Here we go." He said as he got her to latch on to the nipple of the bottle. He smiled down at her, enjoying the little grunts that she made while she ate.
He stroked the top of her head and sighed.
"I did the right thing, didn't I?" He asked. "I mean, she just gave birth not that long ago, and the man that we're after is a really bad one."
He took the bottle out of her mouth when he noticed that she began to slow down, and put her back on his shoulder so she could burp.
"I used to be a scary guy, Ayaka." He sighed. "But now look at me. I'm just a dog that has been domesticated."
He groaned when he felt a wet spot on his shirt.
He stood up and took her back in to his room. He laid her on one of his pillows so he could change his clothes.
He took his shirt off, and changed in to a pair of sweats. He didn't bother putting a new shirt back on.
Kogami laid on his bed and put Ayaka on top of his chest. She curled up against him and went back to sleep.
He felt so relaxed with her. Masaoka had always said that he cherished the days he had when Ginoza was a baby. Now he understood why.
He started to drift off to sleep when he heard a knock on his door. He slowly got up to answer the door, making sure that Ayaka wasn't disturbed.
When he opened the door, he was surprised to see Inspector Ginoza standing there.
"What brings you here?" He asked, stepping aside and letting his former partner inside.
"Is Tsunemori here?" Gino asked when he saw the baby on the enforcer's shoulder.
"Nah." He answered. "She's pissed off at me."
"What did you do now?"
"She keeps trying to get in on the Togayama case."
"I take it that you're interfering with that?"
"Of course I am." Kogami retorted. "I don't give a damn if she's an inspector. She's not on active duty."
"Domestication doesn't look good on you." Gino said, wrinkling his nose at the sight of his former partner letting his baby cuddle against his naked shoulder.
"Aww. Here you go, Gino." Kogami smirked, handing him Ayaka.
Ginoza became flustered when he realized that he was now holding the baby.
"Take it back." He growled.
"With the way I see it, I think domestication looks great on you, Inspector." Kogami smirked, turning to go get drinks for the two of them.
Kogami glanced over his shoulder as he poured, watching Ginoza with Ayaka.
Despite his hateful attitude, he looked at her with fondness when no one was watching.
"Have you had any leads on Togayama's whereabouts?" Kogami asked as he sat their drinks down on the table.
"Not yet. Karanomori and Kagari are staying stuck to scanner feeds, keeping an eye out for him."
"Did you ever check out that information that Masaoka dug up?"
"It turned up nothing. Just a bunch of more questions than answers." Ginoza huffed.
"Damn." Kogami sighed, putting his empty glass down and taking Ayaka back from his superior.
"So, does Akane know about the number you two did on each other a couple of weeks ago?"
"Hell no. I don't have a death wish for her."
"You know that we have little time before he comes after you again, don't you?"
"Why do you think I haven't left the department with Inspector Tsunemori?"
He laid Ayaka on the empty spot next to him on the sofa and watched her lovingly.
He had never been left to take care of her by himself for so long before. She was a quiet baby for the most part, it really surprised him.
"Just be careful, Shinya." Ginoza said as he stood up to leave. "Togayama is ruthless."
"I know that." Kogami said, letting Ayaka squeeze his finger. "I won't make the same mistake twice."
"Shouldn't Tsunemori be back soon?" Gino suddenly brought up.
"It has been quite a while since she left." Kogami said, looking at the time. "I'm gonna try calling her to see if she's cooled off yet. I can't keep Aya all night."
Kogami used his communicator to call her, but she didn't answer.
"Come on, Akane." Kogami groaned. "You can't forget about Ayaka, so what is taking you so long to get back here?"
"Here, I'll try her." Ginoza offered as he worked swiftly with his own communicator, only to get the same result.
Kogami and Ginoza gave each other a look when Akane didn't pick up.
"Kogami, don't." Gino warned.
"We have to go look for her. Now."
