A/N: Fic inspired by "Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City. Rated T for slight language. Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated! Shinake for e'er and e'er. Cover art comes from: Daisy on zerochan
Akane yawned widely and turned over in her bed. The bags underneath her eyes attested to her many sleepness nights and what must have been twice as many overtime shifts. With only one Inspector and one Enforcer, Division 1 had accumulated quite the mountain of paperwork. Yes, they had been given fewer and smaller cases, given their lack of manpower, but however minor a case might be, it still meant that both Akane and Yayoi had to go, leaving behind no one to write up reports in the meantime.
In a way, Akane was grateful of the work, because it kept her too busy to think about anything else. Unlike now.
She tried with all her might to lull her body to sleep, but it only drove her further into the land of wakefulness. She gave a heavy sigh of resignation and gave in to another night of watching her clock count the minutes. Inevitably, a certain black-haired Enforcer sauntered into her mind and, with a uncharacteristic wink and a very typical smirk, refused to leave.
Akane heaved a sigh, wondering where he was. She hoped that he was warm and that he hadn't been chased around too much, because he needed his rest too, the stubborn idiot. She pictured him scoffing at the idea of sleep when there was work to be done, and a fond smile touched her face.
"I sure wouldn't mind you helping with all that work Kunizuka-san and I have to do." She muttered, as if he was only on vacation and gleefully happy not to be doing paperwork. In truth, of all the members of Division 1 that they had lost, she missed Kougami's presence the most. He had a sharp brain – no, he has a sharp brain, she corrected firmly – a calm and cool demeanor, and was a steadfast support she could lean on. She even missed the pungent cloud of cigarette smoke that he carried with him. Hell, he was – is – her friend! At least! How could she not wonder where he was and if he was safe and… and… and if he missed her as much as she missed him.
"I wish you were here…" She whispered sadly. With that surprisingly candid thought, Akane felt her heart twist and a quite whimper escaped her lips. She felt the corners of her eyes prick with unshed tears and drew a deep, ragged breath as she did her best to prevent them from staining her cheeks (again).
Kougami stared up at the dark expanse of sky, reveling in the stars that sprinkled through the night, no longer hidden by the city's foul air. He was safe, for now. Far away from Sibyl's reach with no sign of being pursued (yet). His limbs were heavy on the ground he now called his bed, exhausted by the effort of keeping him alive. Tonight would be a good time to rest, he told himself, for who knew when his next chance would come?
Unfortunately, sleep would not come so easily to the man who was far too accustomed to functioning without it. While his body had been pushed to its max these past few weeks, his mind hadn't had a chance to run. Or rather, Kougami hadn't allowed himself time to reflect on his new lifestyle. Because the raw truth was that he was afraid.
He was afraid of the memories, of the laughter, of the smiles. Any and all of which would undoubtedly dull his edge, leaving him vulnerable to the world as he succumbed to his emotions. But tonight, tonight he had no other choice.
Tonight, his loneliness threatened to consume him. He thought he'd left that all behind during his time as an Enforcer, but it had returned stronger than ever. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes, trying to focus on the clean, sharp beauty of a world unmarred by Sibyl. Clean, like the air. Sharp, like the cold. Beautiful, like Akane. His eyes shot open at that unwarranted thought and accompanying image, and for a brief second he was sure that he would be swallowed up by the terrible ache in his chest. Then – it was like the torrent of waterfall – everything he had forbidden himself from thinking of came rushing to the forefront of his mind. The intensity of it all was so great that a single tear rolled down his face.
The unfamiliar sting was enough to jar Kougami from the vortex of his mind, and he angrily swiped at his face. Any trace of weakness gone, the black-haired fugitive rolled disgruntledly onto his side, half-heartedly cursing the woman whose mere memory could do this to him. He closed his gray eyes, exhaled, and felt the tension, the tumult, leave him as well. At a more reasonable pace now, the recollections of Division One returned, a particular little Inspector taking more and more memories until Tsunemori Akane was all he could think of.
A soft-eyed and fond-smiled Kougami even thought that he could catch her scent on his clothes. Much to his surprise (but was it really?) Kou found himself being lulled to sleep as Akane's warm smile smothered the cavity in his soul. His last thought was a vehement curse at the world that prevented him from living with the woman whose mere memory could do this to him.
She stood at the balcony and gazed not at the dictator of a system spread below her, but at the thin haze of trees that lay beyond it. The last time she stood here, a certain Kougami Shinya had been telling her (and only her, she remembered with bittersweet warmth) goodbye. Now, she could feel his presence all around her as she closed her eyes and lit a cigarette (neither Gino nor Yayoi had the heart to mention her new habit, and frankly they too welcomed the smell). The smoke drifted around her, but Akane could have sworn that she felt a strong pair of arms encircle her body instead. She knew what she had to do. It was either fight (in her own way, of course) or lose the future that she hadn't known that she'd always wanted.
It was time, and he knew what he had to do. That night in the woods had been one of his weakest moments, but the morning sun had found a new fire giving him life. Now, he turned his back on his home country as the boat sailed away from Japan. Moving to the prow of the small craft, Kougami looked not only towards a world utterly different from the one he had always known, but towards the future that he hadn't known that he'd always wanted.
And in an instance of sheer coincidence (one could call it promised destiny) his mouth mirrored hers, her intensity mirroring his.
"Oh darling, I wish you were here."
And an unexplaniable warmth rippled through their mirrored souls.