I wanted to upload it yesterday but then I changed my mind... because I wanted to complete (chapter name spoiler) "Chapter 9 - Reaching Out" first. I did it yesterday and I'm so happy. It's a LONG chapter. And a lovely one. Only past events. And soooo nice ones. (Or better, I think they're nice... I mean you could think that they're HORRIBLE.)

Okay. Today: Present, past, past, present. Akane/Natsumi here, Kogami there. Oh, and yes. You will get to know how Akane got her new name.

Have fun and enjoy!

Chapter Three:

Walking the Path Back

"More we remember more is chance to know who we are... "

November 2112

"You did everything right, Inspector. Like you can see, things have changed in the course of the last years. I lost myself in the abyss and forgot why I became a detective in the first place: To protect people. For so many years I just followed Sibyl´s orders and someday I forgot to handle on my own. I forgot that being a detective wasn´t to bring someone down, but to protect someone. When I saw you under this tent I remembered the days I was an Inspector and when you stopped us from immediately killing this woman and then paralysing me I remembered the things I once believed in. I forgot them, but you helped me to remember. And I think that it´s possible for me to return to them a bit under such an Inspector as you. It´s a pleasure to have to work alongside you, Inspector Sekimoto"

As she laid in her bed and stared to the ceiling, she couldn´t help but think about Kogami´s words. Natsumi had thought about quitting after she had shot Kogami, because she had thought that she had messed everything up. That in the end, she wasn´t suited to be a detective at all. But his words gave her hope. Not only that she had done well on her first day, but also that somewhere under his new carnivorous shell the old Kogami Shinya she used to know still lived and waited to come out again some day.

Three years ago he had saved her from the flames. With his own hands he had carried her to safety and then had been always by her side after she had woken up in the sickroom.

Natsumi closed her eyes. They had caught the culprit who had tried to burn down this building, but they had never found out why she had been there on this day. Why she had laid on ground, unconscious. The arsonist had assured them over and over again that he hadn´t intended to kill people. He had just wanted to burn down this house. That he hadn´t known that she had been there when he did.

And to her misfortune she didn´t know why she had been there either. Everytime she tried remembering the time before Kogami saved her from being swallowed by those flames, her mind was blurred. She had no idea who her parents were, if they were still alive and worried or already dead. If she had friends or even a boyfriend. Who had taught her table manners or how to ride a bicycle. She didn´t know where she was born, where she went to school, if she had siblings or if she was an only child.

She didn´t even know her own name.

August 2109

The girl looked down on her hands. Even those seemed unfamiliar. She looked up and into the mirror opposite from her. They seemed as unfamiliar like this face which looked back to her. This face with the large brown eyes, the long brown hair and the sickly pale skin.

She stood up and looked down onto her. She was so skinny and small. Then she picked up some of the clothes the blonde woman had given to her. Some underwear. A dark red shirt which was too big for her and black trousers which kept slipping over her waist. Good for her, the woman had also given her a belt.

The girl put on some socks and then slit into a pair of shoes. With a brush she straightened her hair. Even if she was now fully clothed she still felt unfinished, empty, incomplete.

They had told her to come out when she was done dressing. One last time she looked into the face of the stranger before she left the room and walked down the corridor to the dark room full of monitors of the blonde woman. As she entered the woman turned around, her lips as red as her lovely dress under her white coat. Karanomori, she remembered. Analyst Karanomori Shion.

"You´re awake", she said happily, standing up. She was so much taller than herself.

"The Inspectors want to talk to you. I hope you´re ready"

How can I be ready if I don´t even know my own face?, the girl wanted to say but kept quiet. Then the door opened, she turned and saw four men and a woman coming in.

The woman was as tall as the analyst. Probably a bit taller. With long black hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. She was dressed all in black and wore a serious look on her face. On the contrary the man who stood next to her, a bit spiky, brown hair and brown eyes, seemed more nice. A smile was painted over his face and his hands were in the pockets of his dark blue trousers. Next to him was a older man. He also looked friendly in his dark suit and the girl thought she had glimpsed something metallic on his left hand...

While those three stood in the background two other men stood before them. Both had black hair but one of them had green eyes, glasses and a sharp face while the other had calm grey ones and a more relaxed expression. The girl stared at the man with the grey eyes. Suddenly she remembered the bright flames in this house, the ashes, the smoke. Being carried and glimpsing into a face full of ashes and calm grey eyes. The memory let her head spin and she had the feeling as she had to vomit. Pain filled her temples.

"Aren´t you okay?", said the blonde analyst and then rolled her chair towards her and the girl sat down. She wanted to say "thank you", but the words died in her throat. Still Karanomori nodded when she saw the girl´s expression and she was glad that the blonde woman had understood.

"I´m Inspector Ginoza Nobuchika", the man with the green eyes and the sharp eyes said.

"We want to ask you a few questions. Do you understand?"

The girl nodded and the pain kept flowing.

"If you feel pain, you don´t have to answer our questions. We can ask them later", the grey-eyed man said. My saviour, she thought.

She shook her head, the pain aching through her skull, before she cleared her throat.

"It´s okay", she said. Her voice nothing more than a whisper.

The man nodded. His grey eyes glowing in the light of the monitors.

"As I can tell from your staring you´re knowing that I was the one saving you"

The girl nodded.

"I´m Inspector Kogami Shinya. Gino´s my partner. And those people... " Inspector Kogami Shinya pointed at the men and the woman behind him and the green-eyes Ginoza Nobuchika.

"... are the Enforcers. They help investigating. This is Masaoka Tomomi" He pointed at the friendly, older man. "This is Sasayama Mitsuru" Now the double brown, dark blue trousers wearing man. "And lastly Kunizuka Yayoi" The woman with the serious look.

"No one of us wants to do anything to you, Miss", Kogami Shinya continued, keeping his gaze onto her. "So you don´t need to be afraid. We just want to ask some questions, okay?"

The girl nodded slowly.

He nodded back. "Fine. So... what´s your name? Your age?"

She suddenly felt numb. A name? She couldn´t remember a name. Or more accurate: Her own name. She could remember the name of those people who were also in this dark room. Green Ginoza, Red and Blonde Karanomori, Serious Kunizuka, Double Brown Sasayama, Friendly Masaoka, Calm Kogami. But her own name?

The girl felt her blood floating up her head and slowly shook her head and Kogami frowned.

"Do you want to say that you don´t know your name?"

Again the girl nodded but this time tears were glittering in her eyes.

They had left her alone after they had found out that she wasn´t able to remember anything. With her amnesia she was useless for them. All she could do now was to try and try to remember.

She tried for the last three hours and still she had no clue what her name could be. Suddenly the door of her sickroom opened and Karanomori, Sasayama and Kogami entered as pretty, nice and calm as always.

"They wanted to see you", the blonde woman said, smiling. "I think someone´s quite interested in you"

Sasayama chuckled, but Kogami didn´t even blink.

"It´s a shame that we have no idea how we should call you", Karanomori said, her voice and face sad. She had found out with the help of tests that the girl was seventeen years old. And for some reason they couldn´t find a name to her hue and psycho-pass. Powder blue, 21. Such an incredibly healthy crime coefficient. And still they couldn´t find her name with this information. It was like she wasn´t existing after all.

"I have an idea", Sasayama Mitsuru exclaimed.

"Until we know her name, we could name her"

Karanomori clapped her hands together. "Nice idea. How about... 'Aoko'?"

"'Aoko'? 'Blue child'? She doesn´t look like some blue girl. I think something like 'Mikoto' fits her better"

"'Mikoto'? Do you keep forgetting that she´s the victim in some case?"

"Of course, I know that. But that isn´t a reason why she shouldn´t be called 'Mikoto'"

"We all know why you want to give her this name. Also, she should like the name we give her too"

Karanomori turned to the girl.

"What do you like better? 'Aoko' or 'Mikoto'?"

"I... ", she started, but her mouth was so dry, she needed to swallow first.

"See? She doesn´t like it"

"She didn´t even have time to answer!", Sasayama replied angrily.

"Of course she had. Don´t you see her expression? She doesn´t like the choice of name of yours"

"And why are you so sure that she doesn´t like she´s about to vomit on your shoes because of your choice of name?"

"'Natsumi'", Kogami suddenly said and the girl flinched to the suddenness. Karanomori and Sasayama turned to the Inspector.

"What did you say, Shinya?" the blonde woman asked.

"I said 'Natsumi'. How about this name? It´s summer after all"

"'Natsumi'? And then 'Mikoto'´s a bad choice?" Sasayama snorted.

The girl blinked and then blushed, keeping her face down, as she clutched the material of her shirt. "'N... Natsumi'? I... I... I think this is okay"

Sasayama and Karanomori turned to the girl at exact the same time.

"What?!" they shouted also synchronously.

After a while they calmed down and Karanomori left the room because she had work to do.

"Well... ", Sasayama began. "Then it´s up to me then to pick up a surname for... for... " He swallowed and then scowled at Kogami.

"I can´t believe that she liked your choice the most. Probably because you saved her. If I had saved her back then... "

"Please just pick a surname"

Sasayama snorted. "Fine, Inspector"

He thought a while and the girl was seriously worried that he would pick up the strangest name he was able to recall.

"'Sekimoto'", he shouted out after a while. "Yeah! It´s 'Sekimoto'!"

Kogami frowned and the girl stared at the Enforcer, completely confused.

"What the hell is 'Sekimoto' for a name?" the Inspector wanted to know.

Sasayama grinned. "You´re not so clever as you thought after all, ya? However, it´s because of 'Sekimen suru ni'"

His frown deepened. "'To blush'?"

He nodded. "Exactly, Ko. Because this lady here blushed all the time" He looked at her and grinned. And she... she blushed. His grin grew and when she realised what she did she looked down at her lap.

"You see? The name fits her perfectly. I´m a genius" Then he took a deep breath. "From now on, little girl, you will be known by the immensely brilliant name of 'Sekimoto Mikoto' until you get your memory back or we found out your real name"

Kogami scowled at him and Sasayama caught it. He sighed.

"Okay, okay. Ko. Little girl, from now on you will be known by the more boring but probably acceptable name of 'Sekimoto Natsumi', even if it will never be as awesome as 'Sekimoto Mikoto'"

Kogami kept scowling and the girl kept blushing. But now she was also smiling.

"Sekimoto Natsumi", she thought. Now I have a name. And by this thought her smile grew.

Sasayama and Kogami turned to her and both of them rose a eyebrow when they saw her smiling.

"Well... Natsu-chan, you should smile more often. It really suits you", Sasayama said. "And I mean it. It´s beautiful"

Kogami elbowed him.

November 2112

After solving the case, they still had no clue who she was. So she had no choice than to keep using the name "Sekimoto Natsumi". And as Sekimoto Natsumi the Public Safety Bureau had helped her purchasing a flat. It had been a reward for helping to solve the case. They also gave her some money. After this case she hadn´t seen the guys of Division One anymore, except Ginoza and Kagari.

In the last years she had finished the school and made the test of the System. Her results had been fantastic and she had been able to assign into the MWPSB. Natsumi had been more than just happy after she had found out. In all these years she had made friends, but still she had missed Division One so badly. And now she was part of it. It was like a dream.

Natsumi rolled to her side and kept her eyes shut. Still she hadn´t managed to regain her memories. She was still a girl without past.

She laid there for minutes, completely still, before she fell asleep, dreaming of a wide meadow, a sky full of brilliant stars and an angel boy of whom she dreamed of since the day she had said goodbye to Kogami and the others three years ago.

She had really grown.

Of course, she still looked like a little girl, but in comparison to then she was more mature and not so incredibly insecure anymore. Not like she had been at seventeen years.

Kogami tried to remember the little girl with the long brown hair who was so desperate because she had no idea who she was. Natsumi´s eyes were still large, her face still round and pale and she even was still as clumsy as ever but she had changed, he knew.

"I wonder how she looks like right now. I really miss this little girl"

But while she had changed in a few aspects he was glad that the core of her was still like back then.

And that her smile was as beautiful, when not even more beautiful, than the one she gave him and Sasayama the day she got her name.

Kogami closed his eyes and made a fist.

Hopefully, she would never know what had happened to Sasayama. They had been close. And if she would find out, her smile would probably vanish forever.

This beautiful smile of hers.

The quote is by Rati Tsiteladze.

Italic passages always signalise past events. For better understanding I still add the rough time (month - year). I hope this makes everything easier to follow.

I don't have much time, so I won't talk much.

(Now you're all happy, aren't you?)

So... Sasayama DOES live in August 2109, by the way. He died in January 2110. So Akane/Natsumi and he were able to meet.

(Also, Kogami is probably a BIT overprotective of Akane/Natsumi because of certain events in August 2109... and of late 2109 to 2110... )

Momo

- currently working on chapter ten