CHAPTER EIGHT: What They Lost

by jolibrix and ThatGingahNinja

WARNING: *This will be a full length story that contains canon typical violence, language, mature adult themes, and sensitive topics. If those bother you please do not read thisfic.

** WARNING: This chapter contains a detailed lemon portion. Don't read if that deters you. **

Kougami

Another stressful week, another heated sparring session between Kou and the newest enforcer. Generally, the pair of them were alone in the matted room. It seemed they had made people nervous after that initial fight, not that that mattered now. Things didn't go overboard like they had during the first match anymore, and the two of them had greatly enjoyed trying to best each other as a means of stress release. He found that he enjoyed himself more in these moments than he had in a long while, and it seemed to him that she relaxed the most when they fought together.

Pinning her to the mat, he laughed at the thought and stood up. Satisfied that he had won this round, Kougami began to head to the side of the mats. His feet quickly left the floor as Mina made a sweeping motion with her leg and dropped him to the ground. She pinned his back against the mat by sitting on his chest and holding his forearms firmly above his head.

The two of them breathed heavily, eyeing each other for signs of true surrender and flicking their tongues to taste the blood that trickled from busted lips.

Hm. Maybe we do still go a little overboard, he thought. Something about tasting his own blood and watching her heaving above him, tongue running over her mouth, ignited profound desire in him.

Suddenly, Kougami grunted and pushed an arm free, grabbing Mina by the back of her chestnut ponytail and forcing their lips together. He kissed her passionately and powerfully with the same intensity he had given during the workout.

Pulling away from his lips and shoving his arm back to the mat, Mina shouted, "Who the hell do you think you are? You can't just kiss me whenever you feel like it!" But it seemed fierce passion was driving through her body as well, and she leaned down and captured his lips in hers, matching intensity as she kept him pinned beneath her.

As their tongues continued fighting passionately, Mina loosened her grip and Kougami grabbed her by the hips and slid her down his body so he could feel her against his hardened length. She lustfully ground against him and he let out a grateful moan before flipping her to her back and returning the favor. The two unloaded pent up frustrations there on the gym floor for several minutes until they were forced to surface for air.

Breaking the spell, Mina shoved him off of her and backed rapidly to the edge of the mats before standing up and grabbing her gym bag.

Kougami rose to his own feet and walked over to stop her. "What are you doing?" he asked, voice irritated at being interrupted. Clearly she had wanted him moments earlier.

"Keep your hands to yourself, you prick!" Mina shouted before jerking her arm away and heading to the locker room to shower.

Shinya stood watching her leave as he gasped for air and looked on confused as hell. As his breath slowed, he toweled away some perspiration and lit a cigarette. Skimming a hand through his sweat soaked hair he sighed, trying to make sense out of what had just happened.

Kougami bypassed the locker rooms altogether and walked straight to his dormitory apartment. It didn't bother him in the slightest that he passed random people while he was drenched in his own sweat, torso bare and glistening through the hall. Finishing his smoke, he entered the warm water of his shower and was grateful for the relief it provided his sore muscles. Leaning against the shower wall, he closed his eyes and just allowed the water to run over his body.

What the hell just happened?
Kougami thought to himself. He wasn't surprised that sparing with Mina had led to where it had. It was no secret to him that he found her exceedingly attractive and having her coming after him, soaked in sweat, fierce determination in her crystal eyes—how could he not have kissed her? She seemed to want him as well, but then shut everything down and backed away as if Kou had been something repulsive.

He stepped out of the shower and sat on the end of his bed drying off. He couldn't stop picturing the perfect fullness of her lips as he tasted them with his tongue, or the feel of her large breasts pressed against him with only a thin athletic bra to separate their skin. He shook his head and tried to concentrate on anything other than his hands pulling her hips down and against him.

Wrapping his towel around his waist, Kougami wondered what exactly he did to piss her off so thoroughly. It seemed he was always managing to anger the young enforcer, especially anytime they were actually getting along. She was brilliant and inventive and quick on her feet and made detective work more enjoyable for Shinya. They worked well together and while Kougami found that desirable, Mina seemed to find it irritating beyond belief. Any time they touched or he had tried to offer her genuine help, Mina would initially accept and then suddenly turn venomous and storm away, leaving Kou feeling like a complete miscreant.

It wholly perplexed the seasoned Enforcer, but it seemed to do nothing to make Mina less attractive. It made her more confusing and more frustrating, certainly—but that only made Kougami want to know more about the mysterious young woman. She had done nothing but peak his interest since becoming part of the team. Her knowledge of literature, martial arts training, randomly speaking some unknown language…it all made him want more and more time with her.

Kougami lit another cigarette and thought to himself how Mina had called him a prick. Just as he was thinking he had killed his chances with her for a while, there was a knock at his door. He pulled it open, to find Mina standing there, still looking angry. He stood aside and motioned for her to enter. Cigarette hanging limply from his lip as he spoke, Kou asked, "Now what did I do?"

Mina observed him for a few moments, standing there in nothing but his towel, and even that seemed to make her livid. Groaning, she stood to her toes and pulled the cigarette from his mouth. "I don't like this thing going on between us," she sneered.

"Um," Kougami was taken aback and had no idea how to respond to such a blunt statement. "I'm sorry?" he responded, as if it were a question.

Snuffing out the cigarette, she stared at him coolly for a minute, sighed and pulled him down by the shoulders to her eye level. Her light blue eyes still looked irritated and Kougami was beginning to feel like she might be about to punch him. Instead, Mina laced her arms around his neck and gave him one of the most erotic kisses he'd ever experienced.

She pulled back slightly and Kougami responded, "I gotta tell you, I'm really confused about what's happening here."

Mina rolled her eyes, arms still wrapped around his neck and said, "Just shut up and fuck me already."

"Yes, ma'am," Kougami answered with no hesitation as her lips met back up with his. Quickly, he removed her shorts, abdomen tightening realizing there were no panties underneath. It was as easy for him to lift her small frame and press her into his door, as it was for her to knock his towel down to the floor.

Kou was attractive and it wasn't the first time in his life he'd been in a situation where a woman had come to him for sex, but it was the first time his own sexual tension for someone had built up this heavily. He braced himself with one hand to the door and the other on her small rounded ass. She had already been wet in her anticipation and he slid into her so easily that they both released appreciative moans. Kougami drove into the woman as if he could fuck her right through the wall and she clawed at his shoulders, begging him for more. Harder. Faster. Each of them had only pure lust on their minds and he was thankful for whatever god had brought her there that night. Being inside of Mina felt instantly addictive for Kougami. He could not recall the last time he felt this type of release.

She felt so tight and wet and it wasn't long before he came undone. Standing again for a moment, she pulled him down to his floor after her, saying, "You're not finished with me yet, Kou."

"Definitely not," he said as his orgasm-induced, hectic breathing slowed. He wanted to taste her body and was happy to be ordered to do so. First, he removed her shirt and bra. The man watched as she started to move her hands to cover herself but stopped, closed her eyes for a moment, and threw her arms around his neck, blush rising in her cheeks. Ever since their first sparring match, he had found his attention falling to her chest, and it was satisfying to see that part of Mina without the constraint of clothing. Kou's hands and mouth moved down her body, exploring, and finally settled on her breasts. .

With his mouth occupied laving her nipple, Shinya moved a hand down her body, noting the dip in her waist, flare of her hip, and soft skin of her inner thigh. His fingers lightly traced the outside of her center before entering her with one digit, noting that she was wet and still sticky with his release. Shinya found the feeling of it to be an erotic reminder of what they had just done against his door. Soon he was curling his fingers inside, all the while watching her face for signs he was doing things correctly.

When Nakamura came, she cried out and tried to buck away from his hand. Her attempts at slapping his hand away were to no avail. He held her to the floor by her hip making her ride through it, enjoying the tight clench around his middle and index finger.

Amazingly, he was ready again. Kou let her recover for a moment, enjoying the little jumps in her muscles, knowing it meant he had done a damned good job. Rubbing himself against the side of her thigh, he licked her nipples again. Nakamura, looking sated, messy, and sweaty, pushed him to his back and straddled his hips. Mina teased for a moment, biting her lip in way that made her seem naughty. He enjoyed the view of her chest. Their second time was just as great as the first, and soon, he reached completion filling her again.

As they lay in a sweaty heap on his floor, Mina was the first to move. She stood and replaced her clothes. Again, Kougami watched, baffled by her hurry.

Grabbing something from the table, Mina looked down at him as she reached his front door. "I don't know what this is, and I don't like it," she told him again. Coldly she added, "Stay away from me tomorrow," while tossing the thing in her hand to the man on the floor.

As Mina exited his apartment for her own Enforcer's dormitory, Shinya tried to figure out what the hell he had just experienced. Looking at what he'd just been thrown, Kougami realized it was his pack of cigarettes with the lighter stuffed in the half empty container. Grateful that she at least recognized he was going to need one of those, Kou lit one and took a long, deep drag. Laying back against his carpet, he watched as the little tendril of smoke curled lazily towards his ceiling.

Kougami might have been as confused as he'd ever been by a woman, but as he thought about everything this evening had brought him, he let out a soft chuckle and grinned up into the darkness.

Maybe enjoying his life wouldn't be as an unattainable goal as he thought.

Mina

Laying back against her pillows, Mina permitted herself a few minutes to enjoy her afterglow, soreness between her legs, and the sated feeling that came with releasing a profound amount of pent up tension.

Kougami had been much better than expected. When she had made the firm decision to approach him for sex, hoping to dispel the constantly nagging desire she felt, the assumption had been that he would probably be a selfish partner. He could get any woman he wanted. So, why should the man worry about putting forth too much effort?

A quick fuck, and then she would leave... that had been her plan.

But, he had surprised her. It was something he kept on doing, and it was kind of irritating. The man's mind questioned everything, which was something she had assumed Sybilites didn't do. Their book and letter exchange not only revealed a person who was actually disillusioned by the system, but also a man who challenged her world view. Nakamura hoped she was providing the same quality input for him.

It had been shocking to find him so ready so quickly. If she had read things correctly, he had been just as enthusiastic about their coupling as she was. Mina couldn't deny it. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself, and hated that she already wanted more. The image of his head thrown back, mouth open, emitting masculine grunts and harsh breath, face a perfect reflection of ecstasy as she rode him, was something that would not leave her mind. There was a reticence in her to admit that part of the appeal had been to be close to another human being, even if it was short lived.

Realizing she could still smell him on her, faint but definitely there, she let a mantra run through her head. You can't go back to him again. You might get attached.

Telling herself that the mean words she launched at the frustrating man as she walked out the door would make him stay away, the woman let herself believe it would be easier on her end to keep him at an arm's length. Those words had been more for her benefit than anything... a reflection of the annoyance she felt for herself.

The driving force that had led her there was distraction. Nakamura had given in to the attraction she felt toward Kou, needing a diversion from the case and the devastating homesickness that grew worse every day.

Convincing Ginoza to keep the remains had been contingent upon her ability to process them and do it quickly, which caused her no small amount of worry. The four skeletons that were now residing in her kitchen were the only representatives left to whatever injustice had occurred to bring them to such unceremonious and crude resting places. Nakamura knew that she was the only choice to examine the bones and speak for the dead. There was no getting over the fact that all other evidence had been destroyed. Supposing that Sybil was the logic driven computer society trusted it to be, then it should have taken all the circumstantial evidence into account. The system could have drawn a blank and then worked from there to figure out the truth. If the boxes of bones turned out to be Unregistereds, that just added fuel to the fire of her rage. If that turned out to be the case, every human they uncovered had family and friends who deserved to know the fate of their loved ones. Mina included herself in that tally.

What if my mother was in the lot that was incinerated? she thought. Would I know more if I could remember the last five years?

The void in her memory caused such anxiety that she avoided thinking about it. In rehab, after she had given her name and then went silent, they had administered a scan to figure out exactly how old she was. So much time had been lost. The little brunette worried that the realistic dreams that had her waking in a cold sweat were actually memories, and if that was the case, then it was understandable that they were blocked out.

Rubbing the small bruise that Kou had left on her hip, trying to hold on to the euphoric feelings that the man had provided, she tried to think about happier things and failed. She kept on coming back to what she was missing with her people.

This was the week of the Summer Festival. If she were back home, Mina would be enjoying the food, dancing, music, bonfires, and camaraderie that came with celebrating the heat. It was a mix of the various cultural practices.

They would jump over bonfires and whoever jumped the highest was considered the luckiest. Some burned a wooden sculpture carved into the shape of the Kanji for fire. People would share their alcohol, and it was usually some of the best, made especially for the occasion. Some cultures would don masks and show off traditional dances. Her father used to call it a sociological wonder. Her brother, on the other hand, saw it as the perfect time to find a new boyfriend or girlfriend. Mina always mingled with every group and enjoyed all of it.

The worst part of being trapped in the CID was being unable to partake in the Festival of Bones. Her parents had supplied her with the history upon request, answering all her questions to the best of their ability. It had all started when they were still fleeing aimlessly from Sybil. A disease swept through the group. The fatality rate was high, and the illness worked quickly. Most died within two days, much too quick for them to build a proper quarantine. So many died that the group had to stop their movement. The victims of the disease piled up quickly, and after a week, it became apparent that if they wanted to have any type of proper funeral for them, they would have to have a mass service.

In a way, it was something that brought them all together. They managed to formulate something that appeased all the various cultures. The geography made it impossible to bury their loved ones, and although many of the group preferred cremation, the fear of drawing too much attention made that particular right impossible. So, they settled with placing the bodies in a huge series of caves, much like one would in a mausoleum. Their names were carved into the wall above them, sometimes along with an epitaph.

The group suffered two more waves of the disease and it seemed as though their numbers never grew despite the influx of people fleeing the system. It was a very hard time for the Unregistereds. When it passed, everyone moved on, looking for a way to live.

Quickly, it became evident that keeping the dead in one place made it easier to pay respects, and thus, the series of caves came to be the center of their seasonal migratory pattern, and the place where all those that passed away were laid to rest. It wasn't too long before as a group, they decided to start making a pilgrimage to the sight during the summer solstice. The living would enter the caves of the dead, grieve, talk, and cry out their lament. Everyone did it differently. There was even a group of Islanders (they refused to say which island) who would wash and oil the bones of their dead relatives. The physical touch seemed to be important to them. This was why Mina handling bones as a preteen was not an odd sight. Others wrote letters and burned them in a fire. Some tied little notes to a tree. There was no right or wrong way to express sorrow during the Festival of Bones.

After they mourned, the various cultures gathered and celebrated life, theirs and those that had passed. It was a happy occasion that offset all the heartache.
Later, after the raids, the missing were included in their rituals. The grief was the same, and it made sense. Even though, it was agreed upon, that those that were taken were not considered expired.

It was the only time of year that Mina allowed herself to shed tears and mourn the loss of her family. The custom made it possible for her to compartmentalize her anguish and move on. But there was no way of getting there while being jailed by Sybil. Maybe, it would be possible to find another way to assuage that need to intensely grieve and celebrate once a year.

Sleep that night brought dreams of Kishio. They were sitting in the CID office that Division One shared, and he looked just as he had when he died. His face was crushed in on one side, craggy bone pink with blood stuck through bits of skin. The right side of his head was flat, and the ear was hanging off to the side. The fingers of his right hand were twisted into odd angles, and clear cuts, obvious defensive wounds against a blade, riddled both forearms. Blood was everywhere. She talked to him, as though it were normal. Dream logic was at work, but of course she wouldn't know that until waking.

Her words came out quickly, describing the predicament in which she found herself. The case came next and her fears regarding it. And as she spoke, he started coming back together, looking more like himself. The flat side of his skull started to take on a normal shape, and without her seeing how, the ear was back in place. The woman described her complete loneliness in the new life she found. Her memory loss was laid out with the fear of what she was hiding from herself. When she had paused, Kishio had urged her to continue. "This will heal both of us, little sister," he said. The teeth that had been smashed in were back and made his smile look almost normal. So, she continued.

She talked of Erra's empathy. Ginoza was mentioned. She portrayed him as a man on a tightrope, clinging onto a precarious belief. Mina talked of Kou and how he was the exact opposite of what they had been taught Sybilites were. Most of all, the woman detailed their letter exchange, sparring, and the way he seemed to read her.

"In some ways, he is like you big brother: furiously intelligent, strong, kind in the strangest way, and dangerous. When I see those qualities come out..." she felt tears stream down her face. "I miss you so much." She managed to pull herself together and then say, "I think I did something stupid with Kougami tonight, and I hate that I was so lonely and weak as to..."

The man stopped her, looking almost completely normal again. "Never regret sharing something that connects you to another human being in a good way. You can't live without that. I know you, Little Terror. He seemed to be a good match for your intimacy. Accept the comfort." He smiled, lips back to being full. The tattoos were back to normal as well, rising up his neck. "Tell me more about your new friends. Who is Tetsuo, and what is he like?"

So, she told him about how she first met the nurse, and Kishio laughed. It came from deep in his belly and made him sound so very alive. Then she detailed the way her blonde friend smiled and how it had that infectious quality. Mina recounted the various ways he helped her keep at ease in such a stringent, boxed-in environment. He had a dark sense of humor, which she liked, and was the only one she had no fear of touching. Their friendship was turning out to have a lot of physical affection. It reminded her of how people back home were much more effusive than Sybilites.

"I wish you could meet them, Kishio. I wish you were here with me."

"Oh, Little Terror, you care for all of them. I can see it. Listen carefully though, one day you will have to..."

When Nakamura woke, try as she might, she couldn't remember the rest of his words. All she knew was that he had given her advice, and it had been important. He had commented on all of those she had talked about, and he had warned her of something. Whether it was one of her many dangerous tendencies or of her closeness to Sybilites, she would never know.

Erra

When she started working for the CID, before even being transferred to Division One, Erra had requested this day off from work. It was a painful day for her and she wanted to be alone. Six years ago, on this date, she had gotten the news from the PSB representatives that had changed her life. Her husband, Ren Kamiya was gone.

Ren met Erra when they were seniors at different high schools. She and his younger sister were both involved in competitive dance through middle and high school. He was volunteering to work a dance competition when the young redhead took the stage. She placed fourth in that event, but Ren Kamiya was hooked on her from that moment forward. He found her in the audience later and left her a note asking her for a date and saying that he was her future husband.

She had no idea who he was and every intention of ignoring it, until she was boarding the bus back to school later and spotted him standing a little ways off, giving her that cheeky, confident smile of his. She couldn't resist scribbling down her number and rushing it over to him before leaving.

After that, they basically became inseparable.

Dating was unusual in the Sybil society. With Sybil matching marriages, it wasn't necessary, but it was still something people did for fun until their true match was made. Ren had been confident, however, that he and Erra would be an excellent match from the start. He was confident to a fault, but he wasn't wrong in that respect. They were good together.

Ren supported her career aspirations from the start, even though it meant that they would have to wait awhile before she was ready to start on expanding their little family. Erra scored top marks on her exams and had the choice of any career path she wanted. What she really wanted was to become a therapist and discover ways to help people bring their crime co-efficients back from being labeled latent criminals. Two of her family members had spent a good portion of life locked away in a rehab facility, and she wanted to change that outcome for as many people as she could. She studied and researched endlessly trying to crack the codes with Ren hardly issuing any complaints. As long as he could return home at the end of his long work day to his fiery redhead and some of her delicious desserts, he was a happy man.

Now, Erra held the last picture the two of them had taken together and smiled wistfully. All of the baking she'd done to appease her husband's sweet tooth had earned him a bit of a round belly, but he was quite handsome in her opinion. He had deep brown eyes that she loved to stare at for hours. Though he had very close-cut brown hair, he had a full, well-groomed beard. Then there was that smile…that crooked, confident smile that had won her attention in the first place. It was the same smile he wore in this last photo of them together and staring it at on that day pained her heart, knowing that shortly after he was just "gone."

Ren had taken a career working for the Ministry of Welfare as the Chief Territorial Expansion Engineer. He may not have had lofty aspirations, but he loved his job. He especially loved checking out new places that hadn't been developed with the Sybil Scanners. Erra worried, but his confidence usually put her mind at ease.

One morning, he left for work and never returned. MWPSB looked for him for a month before they showed up at the doorstep six years ago and just declared him missing. They had given up and would no longer search for him. She had screamed at the bearers of her bad news, asking how that was possible. Wasn't Sybil everywhere? There were no answers. She had even attempted to request records from the company he worked for. She wanted to know where he had been and why he had been there. The results had been disheartening. The records were sealed due to the nature of the work. They asked why she would even want to know that information.

"It will just make your hue cloudy. Let it go," they advised. At one point, they said it was likely he had even left the country, but Erra knew her husband would never have done that to her. He had to be dead in order not to return to her…nothing else would have kept him away. Thus, her faith in the system was marred, only in the face of the strength of belief she held in her husband.

The investigation and everything about how it was followed was all wrong. For one thing, no one could even tell her what his last psycho-pass reading had been. With scanners everywhere, he would have at least run into one on the way to work. They wouldn't even tell her if he showed up to work that day. On a whim, she had tried to look up recent records concerning Ren using her therapist's ID. Outside of very basic data, there was no information. It was as though he had been erased. When the missing info was mentioned to the powers that be, they simply stated that that happens sometimes when someone is declared missing or deceased. The answer was unacceptable, and she knew it was bull shit.

At that point, she had considered bringing it up to those who had been in charge of the investigation, but her instinct was that it would lead to nothing. Something like this was bound to be coming down from the top offices at the PSB.

She decided that she had to know what had truly happened. She would find out for herself. With the scores she had received in high school, it was easy to be allowed to take the test again and earn herself a spot training to become a CID investigator. Kamiya was intelligent, capable, and driven. Her place in the CID was cemented within just a few months of training.

It had been a bit of a shock that the system allowed her that career path. She felt sure that whatever happened to Ren would block her getting a job with the CID. Her paranoia over Sybil was making her see obstacles that were never encountered. Figuring that this was the closest she would ever come to answers and justice, she bided her time and took any opportunity for advancement that appeared before her. If she could just work herself towards the top of the PSB, maybe she could find the hidden files or ask someone in the upper levels of the ministry. It was no guarantee, but she couldn't sit idly by and do nothing. That was much too painful an option.

The memories spent the day assaulting her mercilessly. Erra thought being alone would help her make it through the day, but it turned out to be even more depressing to stay at home by herself with photos of her and Ren during their marriage on the walls. In the afternoon, she decided that she needed to be anywhere but their house. Wanting something that would still offer familiarity, she got in the car and rode the hour it took to get downtown at the CID tower. Being at work had been oddly comforting the last year or so that she'd been an inspector, so just being there helped.

She didn't want to face her co-workers that day, so taking an elevator on a completely separate side of the building, Erra made her way to the leisure floors looking for an abandoned corner and a much needed drink. Sitting in the back booth of one of the more popular bars, she slowly began downing glass after glass of bourbon, reflecting miserably on her loss.

She imagined Inspector Ginoza seeing her like this at the dig site they had been at a few days ago and laughed. It was ridiculous how inept he could be about some things. She started to miss the way he took her mind off the intense pain she suppressed daily, and she wanted her friend. She was falling apart and she needed comfort, even if it was from an awkward man such as her partner. Then she got angry at herself for thinking about the inspector and actually feeling a brief moment of reprieve.

How dare he intrude on her private thoughts today! She shouldn't have been thinking about him at all, she thought. Friend or not, Kami felt only one man deserved to be on her mind today. This was Ren's day.

Desperate to keep her mind focused on her husband, she ordered another glass of whisky and began softly singing their wedding song to herself.