Differences
Chapter 1 – The Crisscrossing of Lives
Written by: Hinamori Henzie (tennis-player)

Yagyuu sighed and covered his eyes with his arm as the sunlight gently streamed through the small crack left where his two curtains met. Groaning, he rolled of his double bed set in the center of a small platform in the middle of his apartment bedroom. Once he heard that satisfactory "thud" of his body hitting the floor, he opened his eyes.

Standing, Yagyuu walked down the three steps that lead to aforementioned platform and entered the adjoining bathroom, staring into the mirror. His hair was askew from the night of sleep, and his clothes were disheveled from tossing and turning.

Heaving another sigh, he pulled the towel down from its hook and set it on the counter, splashing his face with freezing cold water. Then, gently patting it dry, he reached for his glasses and re-entered his bedroom. Walking over to his dresser, he picked out a new button down shirt and a nice pair of slacks.

After he was showered and dressed, Yagyuu made his way to his little kitchen, pulling out a frying pan and some eggs from his refrigerator. He quickly made himself breakfast and sat down at his table, flicking on the TV.

Starting on his eggs, he half-listened to the monotonic voice of the news announcer. Another man congratulating him on another job well done popped onto the TV, explaining his most recent achievement. Just like all the other news anchors did. Just like all the other article writers did. Just like EVERYONE did.

Oh, that's not to say he didn't enjoy being praised. No, no, it wasn't like that at all. One or two pats on the back were wonderful, really. A reminder as to why he did his job. But this? This where everyone in the country were congratulating him day after day of things that happened days ago, weeks ago, and sometimes even months ago? No. Now that was annoying.

After he finished eating, he stood and grabbed his bag from the hallway, slipping on his shoes. At this rate, he'd be nearly 40 minutes early for work, but he was Yagyuu Hiroshi, and Yagyuu Hiroshi must never be late. Not under any circumstances.

Yagyuu arrived at work, as predicted, approximately 40 minutes before he was required to be there. Heading down the hall ways he walked into his small office, opening the curtains and looking down on the city from his 24 floor up professional wing. Only the best of Japan's detectives were given places in this specialized building meant to deal with the most heinous of crimes.

That's right. Yagyuu Hiroshi was Japan's best detective, known world-wide to be smart, organized, cunning, professional, and every other thing anyone could possibly want in someone. And despite the so-called, "common knowledge" that Yagyuu was anyone's dream, Yagyuu was not quite as perfect as people seemed to believe he was.

He hated waking up in the morning. He was a little lazy and often winded up eating awfully unhealthy foods, including take out and instant ramen. He had small bruises in multiple places over his body because he was a little clumsy. He lived with a pet black cat named Yoru who he often winded up sitting on, leaving him with little cuts on his arms and palms. He hated geometry and he had an irrational fear of heights. That's right, Yagyuu Hiroshi was the furthest thing from perfect.

Picking up a stack of papers on his desk, he started flipping through his newest files. 'Hmmm… what's this…? A new case… sounds interesting…'

Reading through the information, he found a series of different old files categorized as 'connected'. He sighed. Another one of these…? They were pathetic, really. The police, that is. Sticking a bunch of cases together and categorizing them as related to make them seem less incompetent than they actually were. Pathetic. He didn't know how many of these so-called, "connected" cases he's had to trash.

Quickly skimming, he noticed a seal at the bottom of the file. That seal represented Tezuka… Tezuka organized this file? There was no way it was fake… Tezuka was the best, second only to Yagyuu himself. Curiosity peaked, Yagyuu turned back to the front to give this file a thorough reading through.

The first thing Yagyuu noticed was that the incidents filed in this folder were all very flashy crimes. It was as if the criminal was doing crimes to attract the polices' attention to themselves… most criminal avoided being caught at all costs, but this one even gave hints to their next crimes in some of the files…

He then came across a piece of evidence taken from the crime scene. It was a letter, sealed off properly in a paper bag and in the case the tweezers that were used to pick it up. Good, the police had at least done something right this time…

Slipping on a pair of plastic gloves pulled from the bottom drawer of his desk, Yagyuu opened the bag and examined the latter. It was…. gibberish. Random characters put together to create the illusion of a language. Interesting… Was there some hidden message, or was it a fluke…?

A knock on the door snapped Yagyuu out of his train of thought.

"Come in," he said, nodding at the door.

Tezuka entered, followed by a tall, slightly lanky man. He also had long, spiky white hair tied into a small rat tail in the back.

Yagyuu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Everyone was bleaching their hair these days. But what kind of idiot would take on the image of a "bad boy", or a gang member in his opinion, and become a cop? It was totally contradictory.

"Good morning, Yagyuu-kun. This man is assigned to be your new assistant," Tezuka explained, taking the route with as few words as possible. Just like Tezuka to get straight to the point.

Yagyuu raised his eye brow, inquiringly, but still politely. "An assistant? Am I required to have such a thing? I would much rather work on my own, Tezuka-kun, if that is possible…"

"Well, I am afraid it is not," Tezuka replied, face as straight as always. "This boy was the school's prodigy, and the government feels that he needs to work directly under the best to reach the best of his abilities. His name is Niou Masaharu. I'm counting on you, Yagyuu-kun," Tezuka finalized, nodding at his comrade before leaving the room.

Niou leaned against the wall, smirking confidently at the man who was considered his new 'superior'.

"How old are you, Niou-kun?" Yagyuu asked, nodding towards the man.

Niou grinned. "18. Yourself?"

Yagyuu nodded. "You are quite young, Niou-kun. Are you sure you are ready to take on this profession?"

"Yourself?" Niou asked again, still grinning that toothy grin of his.

"I am 18-years-old…" Yagyuu replied, slightly be-grudgingly.

"You are quite young, Ya~gyuu~. Are you sure you are ready to take on this profession?" he purred, distorting his new boss' name.

Yagyuu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This boy was quite the smart ass, wasn't he? 'Just what I wanted in an assistant, isn't it?' he thought to himself sarcastically.

Niou chuckled. It was more than clear that Yagyuu didn't like him, even if a normal person couldn't tell from the outside. Yagyuu was quite good at masking his true emotions. 'Omoshiroi…' Niou thought to himself. 'This will be fun, if nothing else.'

Niou moved from his spot against the wall and walked towards Yagyuu's desk, picking though the file set in the center.

"Is this your newest case, Ya~gyuu~?" Niou asked, flipping through the papers.

Yagyuu nodded, slightly interested in seeing the abilities of his new inferior.

"Hmph…" Niou hummed, flipping through the files. "This criminal… it seems their crimes are only for show, ne? Clearly just for the sake of doing crimes… its quite twisted, isn't it…?" he smirked knowingly. "Well, at least they aren't a killer… it seems to revolve around stealing, and infiltrating larger buildings, huh?"

Yagyuu nodded. "You're quite sharp, Niou-kun. Being able to see all that from merely skimming the case is quite the feat."

Niou's smirk deepened. "It's really not that big a deal…"

The day went on with Niou and Yagyuu conversing, under the pretense of getting to know each other, when really, they were merely trying to figure each other out. A game, almost. The one to have the most about them found out looses, and Yagyuu sure as hell wasn't winning.

"So, I heard you only moved to Tokyo recently, Niou-kun," Yagyuu started. "Where did you live before…?"

"Kanagawa," Niou replied smoothly. "I want to Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku Chuu for my school life. I was planning on going to their University branch, as well, but I was so gifted I never had to go to school."

'Are you bragging…?" Yagyuu thought to himself, slightly annoyed.

"Self confidence," Niou replied, reading Yagyuu's thoughts.

Yagyuu snorted lightly, looking up at Niou. Niou's eyes were unnaturally sharp, and they could pick up even the slightest of movements, or so his papers said.

- Flashback-

"Yagyuu-kun?" Tezuka asked, stopping Yagyuu as he headed down to the lunch room.

"Yes, Tezuka-kun?" Yagyuu replied, looking up at his friend.

"This is a report on Niou-kun…" he said, passing a small stack of papers to the brunette. "You'll need it, trust me… he's quite a handful…"

Yagyuu nodded. "I see… thank you for your concern."

-Flashback over-

Niou let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Reading up on me, Ya~gyuu~?"

"Yes," he replied.

Niou laughed a little more, then snatched the papers from Yagyuu, skimming through them quickly.

"A problem child…?" he asked out loud. "My, my, how rude of them… Hmmm, they do have quite a bit of information on me… but I don't think this will help you much," he smirked, tossing the papers back to his superior. "You can try, though, just don't expect any results."

Yagyuu nodded towards the slightly younger man. "You are really quite confident, aren't you?"

Niou nodded. "Indeed…. But I have all the right to that confidence, and I'll prove."

Yagyuu chuckled silently. "I'm looking forward to it…"

Yagyuu walked out of his work building and headed down the street. It was about 10:00, and quite dark, but he was far too used to walking around at night. Heading down the usual alley way, Yagyuu thought about all the things that had happened today. A new case, huh? Sounded like the perfect thing to fix up his less than interesting life as a detective… well, less than interesting by his standards.

And there was his new partner, too… Niou Masaharu. What a troublesome boy he was. That smirk of his made it seem as if he was always up to no good, and Yagyuu wouldn't be surprised if that were actually the case… he was more suspicious than anyone else he had ever met, yet that boy was going to be a detective? It just wasn't acceptable.

A sound from the far end of the alley awoke Yagyuu from his little thought bubble. Someone was coming in from behind him… my, my, this was troublesome… Well, if worst came to worst, he was more than capable of defending himself.

He heard gently footsteps in the distance, softly coming closer. So he was the target. Lovely…

He looked up to see three men waiting at the end of the alley he was headed down… he was cornered? What a pain…

He turned abruptly, startling the man who was previously behind him.

"Do you need something, sir?" he asked calmly.

One of the men behind him (formerly in front) laughed. "'Do you need something?'" the man mocked.

"Well…?" Yagyuu pressed.

The man before him smirked. "Why yes, yes I do…"

"And what might that be…?""

"You…" chuckled the man.

That surprised Yagyuu. Him? Whatever for?

"What do you mean…?" Yagyuu asked.

The man laughed loudly. "I'm not happy with you, kid. The one who got our leader arrested…"

If Yagyuu was any less of a gentleman, he would have twitched in annoyance. Kid? He was most certainly not! But leader…? Oh, he remembered now… he had arrested a couple of gang kinds a couple weeks back for beating a comrade of his. Was the leader one of them?

"I see," he stated calmly. "Well, I am afraid you cannot have me, so please, go back from which you came," he said, and started walking away.

"Whoa, wait up, boy…" the man growled, grabbing him by the shoulder gruffly and pulling him towards himself, glaring menacingly into his eyes, "I am afraid I cannot let you leave…" he smirked.

Yagyuu narrowed his eyes and backhanded the man, sending him to the ground. "Unhand me!" he ordered, before continuing his walk away from the man.

The three men at the end of the alley way waited for him, sneering. He knew they would try and stop him from escaping, but he could handle three men.

There was more chuckling from behind, followed by more footsteps.

….. okay, three men he could handle. Seven men, on the other hand, he could not.

He refused to turn to face the four new men behind him, for that would be acknowledging his fear. He was strong… he wasn't afraid of some stupid gang!

He glared ahead at the three men before him, and they smirked, knowing he knew exactly what would happen.

Yagyuu suddenly felt two arms wraps around his waist as a body pressed against his back. He stiffened, preparing to lash out, when he heard a familiar voice purr into his ear.

"My, my… how careless you are…" the voice said, and in the next instant, all the men were unconscious on the ground.

Yagyuu's eyes widened in shock, and he whipped around to see Niou standing over one of the unconscious men, looking down at him curiously.

Yagyuu stared. "Niou…-kun…?"

"What?" Niou replied, looking up at him.

Yagyuu didn't reply.

Niou shook his head. "Come on," he smirked. "Let's get back before you piss your pants."

Yagyuu lost every bit of will he had to thank his savior in that moment. "Yeah, whatever…" he replied, and headed back in the direction of his apartment. He could feel Niou's presence following him from a little ways behind.

"I can make it home on my own, Niou-kun…" Yagyuu said, not looking back at the barely shorter other man.

"I'm sure you can, Ya~gyuu~" Niou replied nonchalantly, continuing to follow his mentor.

Yagyuu frowned, but continued walking. When he reached his apartment he turned to Niou and nodded.

"You can go home now, Niou-kun," he told him.

Niou smirked. "Alright~ see you in the morning, Ya~gyuu~" Niou called out to him, before unlocking the apartment next to Yagyuu's and entering, before closing the door behind him once more with the click of the lock.

It was that moment Yagyuu decided that god hated him. Well, Yagyuu didn't really believe in god, but if there was one, Yagyuu was sure he hated him.