::/What Shines From Within/::
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A/N: This is the release of a lot of frustration, anger and disgust at the ways of the world nowadays. Please don't expect any of the usual stuff that's normally requested of me- Abhirika's romance, Abhijeet's unimaginable perfection and Duo's emotion. None of these are here, so if that's what you're looking for, please feel free to return to the list of stories and go for something you'll like better.
Also, this story is aimed, quite blatantly, at certain people who seem to think that physical appearance is the only thing that matters in a relationship and that if someone isn't particularly good-looking, then they can't be a good person. Stupid little things like love and happiness and understanding and commitment don't even matter, of course.
To you, my dears... all I can say is this- peacocks lose their feathers, roses fade and wilt, and guys who may appear absolutely gorgeous on screen thanks to the miracle of makeup may not actually be so great when they appear somewhere in real life with their faces properly cleaned (though even then, most people just see what they want to see instead of what's actually in front of them). But I don't want to get involved in another controversy, so I will now shut up and go on with the story.
Oh, and by the way, this is completely AU. That is, it's not in accordance with the actual events of CID.
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is there any lock or shutter that can confine love?
it is measured by the tears that fall on seeing loved ones in pain
those without love want everything only for themselves
those with love will give even their bones for others
claiming to shun his greeting, i went away from him
but embraced him when i saw that my heart unites with his
-Thiruvalluvar, the Thirukural
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/\\/\\/\\
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Pain. Sudden, searing, white-hot pain, blinding him momentarily and sending him crashing to the ground.
He hadn't been given the rank he held for nothing, though. The next minute, he was on his feet again, wrestling with the murderous dog that leaped on him. The unfortunate canine was, unknown to itself, under the influence of a drug that was forcibly bringing its killer instincts to the fore. He couldn't kill it... it didn't actually know what it was doing. It was but a mere pawn in the hands of a much more dangerous human.
Therefore, as the dog relentlessly attacked him, he settled for simply blocking or dodging its onslaught. Needless to say, this only heightened the animal's fury, and it expressed its rage in the only way it presently knew how.
It lunged for his throat.
The last thing he heard was familiar yelling voices and running footsteps before his head hit the ground and everything was engulfed in waves of darkness.
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"That was terrible."
Terrible... terrible... the voice was echoing inside his head, seeming to reverberate in his ears.
"For a minute there I thought... I thought he was gone."
Gone? Gone where? He was right there... but what was happening? One side of his face seemed to be on fire... it was burning him, the sensation sinking right down through his skin... why didn't anyone seem to notice?
"Wait, I think he's waking up."
A hand on his shoulder, heavy yet gentle. "Sir? Sir, can you hear me? It's me, Daya."
Ah, yes. Of course it was Daya. He should have guessed. The inspector's voice was soft, his tone soothing as he spoke, but another voice cut through in a rough, urgent tone. "I came as soon as I heard. Is he all right?" There was no mistaking that voice, now... it could only be one man. There was a slight scraping noise of metal against the floor as the newcomer sat down. "Ajatshatru? Ajatshatru, are you awake? Can you hear me?"
A shuddering gasp finally escaped his lips, followed by a slight cough. He opened his eyes a crack, reflexively shutting them again as light flooded his vision. As he slowly reopened his eyes, the surroundings appeared blurred for a minute before settling into clarity.
There were four faces looming above him- Daya, ACP Pradyuman, Daksh and Freddy. All of them looked concerned and anxious. Ajatshatru blinked, trying to sort out the whirlwind of confused thoughts that were presently tangling themselves in his mind. "How... how did I get here?"
"The dog almost killed you." ACP Pradyuman's voice was low and terse. "It was drugged, of course... the killer found out that we were coming to arrest him and so he figured he'd spring a nice little surprise on us." The senior officer's jaw clenched in anger. "Luckily we arrived just in time to catch hold of the dog and give it a tranquillizer injection... else there's no telling what would have happened, honestly."
"Sir... where-" Ajatshatru broke off with a gasp as the sharp, burning pain shot across the side of his face again. He winced, and his eyes screwed shut as the pain doubled into mind-numbing agony. Freddy's lip trembled, and Daya and Daksh exchanged anguished glances. ACP Pradyuman closed his eyes briefly, steeling himself, and looked at Ajatshatru, speaking in an unnaturally gentle tone. "Ajatshatru, there's something you should know."
The pain seemed to momentarily diminish, the overwhelming dread so familiar to a CID officer taking over in its stead. "What is it, sir?" asked Ajatshatru, making an effort to sit up. Daya took him by the shoulders and steadied him, and Ajatshatru looked questioningly at the inspector, who bit his lip and glanced at ACP Pradyuman with beseeching eyes.
Daya's silent plea for help sealed the deal, and ACP Pradyuman took a deep breath and put a hand on Ajatshatru's shoulder. "Ajatshatru, listen... the thing is... when you were attacked by the dog, it got your face. Its claws..." the older man's voice shook slightly, and his next words came out in a rush. "It slashed one side of your face with its claws. The burning feeling you're getting is the ointment. No, don't do that!" His tone turned sharp as Ajatshatru instinctively raised a hand towards his burning face. "You're supposed to let the ointment sink in completely, don't disturb it."
"Right." Ajatshatru lowered his hand at once. He couldn't, however, understand why the other men still looked as pained as he felt. "There's something else, isn't there? Something you're not telling me."
Daksh spoke up, sounding hesitant. "Sir... well... the doctors, they're saying..." he broke off, glancing towards ACP Pradyuman, who nodded resignedly. Daksh's tone faltered a little as he turned back to Ajatshatru. "The doctors said the cuts are deep. Like really deep. They're... they're not likely to, you know... heal fully for a while."
"So...?" Ajatshatru prompted warily, looking around at each of the other men in turn.
"So they say you'll probably have scars even after they heal," Daya said quietly. "And... well... they're also saying the scars aren't likely to fade either."
"So what, though?" ACP Pradyuman's voice rang out, stronger than before, and he clapped Ajatshatru on the shoulder. "You're still the same brilliant ACP Ajatshatru who can nab criminals faster than blinking. What does it even matter how you look?"
Ajatshatru tried to smile up at the older gentleman, but abandoned the attempt after the injured side of his face stung painfully. When his colleagues left, however, he lay back against his pillows and stared up at the ceiling.
He had never been a vain man- to be honest, having a scarred face wouldn't really make much difference to him in the long run. No, his concern lay somewhere else...
The very thought of how she might possibly react was enough to make him wish the dog had gotten his throat after all.
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/\\/\\/\\
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"He was what?"
"Aditi, calm down, all right?" Abhijeet held up his hands defensively. "He's fine-"
He might as well have been addressing the wall for all the notice she took. No sooner had the words left his mouth than Aditi shook her head decisively. "I'm gonna go see him."
"Are you kidding me?" demanded Abhijeet incredulously, gaping at the sub-inspector. "You can't just go tearing off to the hospital like-"
She cut him off in between with an icy glare that rivalled the one he himself used on the worst of criminals. "I'm. Going. To. Go. See. Him." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Abhijeet found his diminutive colleague alarmingly intimidating all of a sudden. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it almost at once, flustered. Aditi was no fool- she saw her chance and grabbed it with both hands. Taking advantage of Abhijeet's momentary lapse, she dashed towards the door and was out of the room before Abhijeet even realised that she was gone.
When he finally did, however, he turned a particularly violent shade of scarlet and glowered at the door. "Boy, is she going to be in big trouble when she gets back!" he sputtered indignantly, his voice mingling with the squeal of tyres as a car drove off at what sounded like quite a remarkable speed.
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Having gotten dressed, Ajatshatru was lacing up his shoes when he suddenly heard voices outside. Frowning slightly, he looked up, and the next second his heart seemed to stop as he recognised one of the voices. Sure enough, the door opened, and there she stood in the doorway. Her fair skin was flushed, her hair was slightly windblown, and she appeared so beautiful to him that it almost hurt his eyes to look at her, as though he were staring directly at the blazing morning sun.
The door swung softly shut behind Aditi as walked slowly towards him, her steady gaze never wavering from his face. He averted his eyes, mingled uncertainty and wariness dancing wildly inside him. She sat down on the edge of his bed, still looking straight at him. He couldn't bring himself to look back at her- he feared it might just kill him altogether if he saw what he dreaded reflected in her eyes.
When she spoke, however, it came as a surprise. "Does it still hurt?"
Ajatshatru's head whipped around as he stared at her in disbelief. Her wide dark eyes were fixed on his face, her own face unreadable. "What?"
"The cuts." She pointed to the angry red slashes across the left side of his face. "Do they still hurt?"
"No... not much anymore. I got stitches." He gave her a rueful half-smile. "I'll look like a pirate for the rest of my life, though." His voice trailed off as his eyes went downcast. "The scars won't fade."
"Oh." That was all Aditi said in reply, and Ajatshatru could feel his heart sinking, slowly but surely. It was happening exactly as he had expected after all. Immediately after this thought crossed his mind, she voiced another query. "The cuts didn't get infected or anything, did they? The doctors checked, right?"
"Wh-" Ajatshatru found himself at a loss for words once again, but pulled himself together more quickly this time. "Yeah, they checked. It's all clear."
"Good," she said, nodding. They were both silent for several minutes, neither of them looking at the other, before Aditi suddenly thumped her fist on the bed and got to her feet. "Darn it, just talk to me!" she exclaimed, her eyes flashing in agitation. "What's wrong with you? You're acting like you don't even know me! Am I even in the right room?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. She being quite a petite woman, he was almost at her level even while sitting down, but there was no denying that she could intimidate even the best of men easily. In fact, she had just done exactly that in the CID bureau, though Ajatshatru was unaware of it.
He himself, however, was no less- as proved by his newly scarred face, he hadn't been given the prestigious rank of ACP for nothing. "So now you don't even recognise me, huh, Aditi?" he asked, facing her squarely for the first time since she had entered the room. "Because I don't look the same anymore, I'm not the same person anymore? Is that it? Is this over, then? Are we over?"
It was now Aditi's turn to be thrown completely off balance. She stared at Ajatshatru, completely speechless, and a full minute passed by before she regained the use of her vocal chords. "I can't believe you, ACP Ajatshatru," she said in a hoarse whisper. "I- can't- believe- you. You actually thought I'd think something like that? You actually believed, for even one single minute, that I'd break it off with you because... because you don't freaking look the same anymore?"
She screamed the last few words. Her small frame was, by now, literally trembling with rage, her teeth clenched and her hands balled into tight fists. As Ajatshatru watched her, dumbstruck, she took several deep breaths, trying desperately to contain herself.
Finally, when she spoke again, her voice was shaking but her tone was emphatic. "You know what? When my engagement broke up, who do you think helped me get over the whole mess? You did. When I got shot by those terrorists, who paced relentlessly outside the operation theatre until the doctor said I was gonna be okay? You did. Who was the first person I saw when I regained consciousness? You were. And who do you think makes me feel like the most special girl in the world- in the bloody universe? You do, of course! And that's why I'm with you! Not because of your looks... I mean, what the hell?"
Aditi muttered a vehement curse under her breath and sat down again on the edge of the bed, looking tired all of a sudden. Ajatshatru felt his heart clench painfully as he looked at her- it was amazing how a woman could be so strong one minute and so vulnerable the next. "Aditi-" he started, but she held up a hand to silence him.
As she turned to face him, he was shocked to see her eyes shimmering with tears. Her voice, however, was steady, albeit quiet. "The thing is... it was never your looks that made me feel about you the way I do. I mean, the looks didn't exactly hurt, of course," she added with a faint smile, "but it's so much more than that. When I see you, it's not your face I see... it's you. It's what shines through, from within. From there," she said, pointing to his heart. "And when I look at you, that's all I see. That's all I've ever seen. As for this..." She reached out and gently touched the slashes on his face with her fingertips. "All this shows is that your duty's worth more to you than anything else. And I couldn't be prouder of you for it."
Ajatshatru instinctively reached up to take her hand in his, unable to find any sort of words for what he wanted to say as he looked at her. He had known, of course, that the strange warm feeling that swelled in his chest every time he saw her had long since turned into something much stronger and deeper... but it was now that he realised exactly what it was, this little thing called love.
"Plus," Aditi went on, a slight shadow briefly crossing her face, "you had a gun the whole time. All you had to do was shoot the dog right away, and you'd have escaped without so much as a scratch. But you didn't." Her features softened, her eyes misty as they lingered on his face. "You knew he wasn't in his senses. You couldn't, could you? You couldn't just kill an innocent animal, even if it meant putting yourself in danger."
He shook his head, and both of them just sat quietly for a while, holding hands. Even without speaking, they understood each other perfectly, letting themselves be encompassed by what felt like love that was being reborn and revived all over again.
Finally, it was Aditi who broke the silence, as she had done several times before in the past half hour. "Listen, I was wondering..."
"Hmm?" Ajatshatru looked questioningly at her, the slightest of apprehension flickering briefly in his eyes. In Aditi's eyes, however, there appeared a mischievous twinkle as she continued. "How are you going to shave that side of your face from now on?"
His jaw dropped in incredulity as she dissolved into peals of laughter, but he couldn't help but laugh along with her, though he had to desist when his cuts began to smart painfully again. They got down from the hospital bed, and something suddenly occurred to Ajatshatru. "Say, Aditi, who'd you have gone for if you hadn't met me?" he enquired.
Aditi grinned up at him, slipping her arm through his as they proceeded towards the door. "Certainly not Abhijeet sir, that's for sure."
~THE END~
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A/N: Phew. Now that, I must say, felt really good. I only have a few things to say to my readers- please be so kind as to NOT talk about the following while reviewing.
1. Please don't tell me that Aditi and ACP Ajatshatru were not a couple in CID, there was nothing shown between them to indicate anything of the sort, she was already engaged, etc. etc. I KNOW all of this perfectly well. But that doesn't stop me from shipping them as a pairing (and NOT just because they were co-stars in Balika Vadhu either!). My main basis for shipping this pairing is the simple fact that, when Aditi died, it was Ajatshatru who cried the most, and it was ONLY Ajatshatru whom ACP Pradyuman personally went to console. I'm not familiar with episodes of the Aditi-era, so please don't point out factual errors because, as I pointed out, this story is completely AU.
Plus, I think it's about time someone gave importance to the not-so-important characters... they're just as good as anyone else (you all know what I mean), and for goodness sake, we need SOME variety around here, or this place will have to be called the Abhirika/Duo section instead of the CID section.
2. I know I'll be swamped with reviews about how I've shown Abhijeet like a totally negative character, I've ruined his image, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, the usual stuff I have to put up with from Mr. Perfection's die-hard fans. I only did it because, according to what little I know of Aditi's era, she and Abhijeet never got along, not since she accused him of being present at a murder site or whatever. I don't know if they became friendly later or not... for this particular story I just figured it could only be Abhijeet who wouldn't let Aditi go to see Ajatshatru. It certainly wouldn't have been Pradz, seeing as how she was his little girl just as much as Abhijeet is his golden baby boy. So no offense, Abhijeet fans... I'm just showing him the way Aditi probably saw him when they were at loggerheads.
3. I don't mean to be rude, and I most certainly didn't write this story just to spite a certain category of CIDians who tend to favour a rather- shall we say- shallow view of the world. This story is aimed mainly at them, of course, but all I want is for everyone to see that there are much more important things than physical appearance. Much, MUCH more. It's a big world out there, people... bigger than CID, way bigger than the personal lives of the CID cast (they're called personal lives for a reason, you know), and way, way bigger than the thoroughly-painted-with-makeup and therefore very pretty face of a certain gentleman who shall remain unnamed. The sooner you open your eyes and actually LOOK at the world around you, the happier you'll be in life later.
I think that's about enough ranting for one story. You guys know the drill... having read, please review. :)