Ogawa Ichiro's POV:

"What are you two doing? How was Kokone?" I asked, trying to get Heiji's attention. He kept covering the mouthpiece of the phone as he continued to argue with Kazuha. After no answer for 2 minutes, I shouted "HATTORI."

"WHAT." He yelled back.

"Did you even hear me? Quit flirting and pay attention." I scolded.

"This is hardly flirting, idiot. This is me trying to get this stubborn ahou to FREAKING GET A BRAIN." I could just see him turning to her with this loud comment, willing her to respond. And of course, she did, but all I heard was her raised voice.

"Forget it, I'll see you guys when you get home." I hung up with a frustrated snap of my phone before I focused on getting to my own home as well.

Oka-san wouldn't be home until tomorrow evening, and I didn't even know where my dad was. I sighed, thinking of the quiet emptiness of my house that had absolutely nothing left to distract me from the lonely setting. Despite Hattori and Kazuha's efforts, I was still bored as heck without Kokone. Thinking this, I looked up at the cloudy sky. Looks like snow, I thought.

I continued down this street that I knew all too well; it was the road that led to my street and eventually Kokone's. Absently, I wondered what she was doing at that moment.

After that one phone call that Hattori had received about her new job…I thought I was going to disintegrate as a result of my boiling anger. That wasn't Kokone, she wouldn't give up her dignity, even if it were for singing. That's not who my Kokone was. My Kokone was defensive, powerful, full of brute strength. Now however, she didn't seem to be my Kokone anymore from what I had heard.

She was never MY Kokone, I reminded myself.

By this time I had reached my house, so I lightly hopped up the steps, searching for my house key in the potted plant off to the side of the door. I was stumped to find that it wasn't there.

Huh…maybe I took it with me…? Nothing turned up though when I searched my pockets. I looked inside the fogged windows for any sign that my mother had come home early, or maybe even my dad, but the house seemed just as lifeless as I had left it.

Alright well, here goes nothing, I thought, looking around to make sure no one was passing by. It would be really sad if someone called the police when I was trying to break into my own house…

Luckily, I didn't have to break anything. The window opened easily – I made a mental note to fix that – and I ducked inside before closing it tightly. It was pretty chilly inside, so I went to turn on the heat before I took my jacket off and got myself a glass of water. What to do now…I thought.

Something didn't feel quite right, as if I were forgetting something. I need to turn on the heat upstairs, that's all it is, I thought to myself, grabbing my jacket to put it away neatly in my room. I clunked up the stairs and realized I was kind of tired, even though it was only about 2:30. When I reached the top of the stairs, something seemed off.

My door was slightly ajar. I distinctly remembered I had closed it, though I didn't know why, and here it was, open just slightly. I regarded the door carefully before deciding it was nothing. The room was dark, there was no noise. Then again, that could be a bad thing…

I went for it anyway though, cautiously reaching up to push it open a little farther so that I was still in the light of the hallway. What I found left me with hardly any oxygen.

"Kokone…" I whispered, taking in her small, curled up body on my bed. She was turned away from me, towards the wall, but somehow I knew she was asleep. A part of me noted that she was wearing my pants, and I looked to the floor immediately to find hers in a heap next to the bed, feeling my cheeks burn slightly. That would be awkward to find if I were anyone else, I thought.

I walked inside quietly and picked up her pair of pants, folding them carefully before placing them on my desk. Then I turned to the task at hand. It was pretty cold, as I hadn't turned on the heat upstairs yet. No wonder she had to find some of my clothes, I thought. I went to turn on the heat, making sure I didn't let too much light into the room. Once I was back inside the room, I hesitated. Regardless, I gently scooped her up into my arms so that I could pull the blankets back. She didn't stir. Painstakingly, I replaced her on the bed and folded the blankets over her. She immediately responded in her sleep, curling back up as if it were 30 below.

I watched her face for a few moments, taking in its tired, sick look. I hoped to God that what I was seeing wasn't what was happening, hoped that she hadn't regressed so far as those first few weeks after her father's death when she couldn't even speak. Her skin was tight across her face, and I remembered that for the brief moment I had been holding her, she seemed awfully light, despite her naturally small frame. Even though this was the case, she was still the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. Her loosely curled rich brown hair was tied up into a ponytail with a ratty ribbon, like a careless version of Kazuha, while her high, defined cheek bones showed under her pale, perfect skin. Her face was perfectly symmetrical; not a single characteristic seemed out of place or anything but lovely.

I sighed, and decided that I would wait downstairs for her to wake up, maybe prepare something with a lot of calories for her to eat. As I was about to open the door though, I heard her speak.

"Chiro…Chiro, don't leave…me…" She said groggily. I panicked, trying to think of how I could respond as I turned to face her guiltily. When I turned to her though, she was still asleep. I could feel my face flaming. She was just dreaming…about me.

So, I rolled up the sleeves of my dress shirt and sat myself down at my desk, grabbing a book from the small shelf above.

"I won't," I whispered, though I knew she couldn't hear me. "I promise."

…..

I must have dozed off at my desk, because all of a sudden I shot straight up after hearing pounding on my front door. I began to scramble before I remembered Kokone was sleeping in close proximity. After 5 minutes of hurried quietness, I made it downstairs. Distantly, I could hear Hattori's voice yelling as he pounded.

"OIII, OGAWA-SAN, OPEN THE DOOR!"

"Heiji, you're going to get us into trouble! Let's go look for him somewhere else!" Kazuha demanded.

"AHOU! We have to find Kokone too! If both of them are missing, then -"

"Would you calm down? I won't let you in unless you can shut up." I said a little crankily as I opened the door, glancing upstairs to make sure Kokone hadn't woken up.

"Oh. Ichiro-san. Haha…uh. Whatcha doin?" Hattori asked, a little sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand.

"Well I WAS sleeping…" I trailed off.

"Oh. Ahem. Well…I guess we should go, Kazuha." He finished awkwardly, turning to leave.

"Wait! What if -" She started before he cut her off.

"Hush, let's go already. Taku, why are women so slow…" He was shaking his head, already bounding down the steps.

"Hattori, did you know that Kokone was coming back?" I asked, suspicious. He froze.

"Uh…well…" I sighed.

"Hattori, you suck at lying. You don't have to go looking for her, she's sleeping upstairs." I gestured over my shoulder. Now Hattori turned to face me.

"Are you serious? Have I got a thing or two to say to HER, she just LEFT without even-"

"Actually, I DID tell you guys I was leaving, you were just too busy flirting." I heard from behind me. My eyes widened before I turned slowly to face her.

"K-Kone." I said quietly. She reproached me cautiously.

"What?" she snapped. It was quiet for a moment. I had no idea what to say. Then I had an idea.

"Ah..Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan, you guys should come in for dinner. I'll make something worthy of your approval especially, Hattori." I teased him before leaving the door open for them to follow as I walked past Kokone, who was watching me carefully. Once I reached the kitchen, I began looking for ingredients and started to cook. I was joined a few minutes later by everyone else, who took their seats at the small table, talking idly. I noticed Kokone wasn't speaking, but when I glanced in her direction, she would catch me.

"Have you been here this whole time, Kokone-san?" Hattori asked a little disapprovingly. She nodded, looking out the window into my backyard.

"We were worried, Kokone-chan, why did you leave?" Kazuha asked. I watched Kokone closely, observing the all too familiar behavior from her past. She turned to face Kazuha slowly with blank, harsh eyes. I dropped the spoon I was using when I noticed that her eyes were back to that grey, listless color I knew all too well. They all turned to look at me. Awkwardly, I picked up the spoon and went to wash it in the sink, trying to sort out what I was seeing.

"You and Heiji were arguing," was her simple answer. It was quiet for a moment as I went back to stirring ingredients into the stew I had been making.

"Ahh, it smells really good. I'm starving," Heiji sighed, leaning back in his chair. "What about you, Kokone? What have you been doing this whole time, hmm?" He asked suggestively. I shot him a look.

"I was sleeping, idiot." She said cynically.

"BOTH of you were sleeping?" Hattori continued.

"Not like that, stupid. Quit thinking such idiotic things." I said, not even looking up from the pot of ingredients.

"Anyway, I'm not hungry." Kokone said, trying to change the subject. Her cheeks were a rosy pink.

"Be quiet. You're eating this stew whether you like it or not," I objected, already beginning to spoon some of the mixture into separate bowls. She didn't say anything as I placed one of them in front of her. I went to retrieve the other two bowls for Kazuha and I, as Hattori was already chowing down on the food, a look of approval on his face. When I turned to head back to the table, there was Kokone, right behind me. She moved around me deftly to get under the cupboard for a glass. Bending over slightly, her sweater rose up to reveal a part of her back, which was partly because the pants she was wearing, my pants, were practically falling off of her. I blushed, but then I noticed.

"Oi, what the hell happened to you?" I asked, setting the bowls down on the table before turning back to get a better look at the big, black and blue bruise on the higher part of her hip.

"Ahou! Look somewhere else!" She said heatedly. Fearing the threat of a slap, I looked at her face instead, which was a mixture of annoyance and guardedness.

"Why do you have that bruise?" I persisted. She hesitated.

"I fell."

"Yeah, she fell onto a dead body." Hattori added, spooning more food into his mouth.

"A dead body?" I asked in disbelief.

"..Yeah. As I said, I fell." She said curtly, pulling up her pants slightly, tying them with the drawstring before sitting down with her newly filled glass of water.

"Why didn't you tell me there was a murder case, Heiji?" Kazuha asked worriedly. Hattori rolled his eyes.

"It happened last night. Why does it matter?"

"Last night? What happened?" I asked, completely absorbed.

"A man was shot by -"

"His wife." Kokone interrupted Hattori as she looked down at her food, gripping her water glass. Hattori looked a bit mystified.

"Are you sick or something? You're the one that figured it out." He responded. She took a deep breath before answering.

"It doesn't matter what I figured out. It was her mother's fault." She chose to look at the wall above our heads.

"…whose mother?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"This little girl named Kazuko. She really took to Kokone-san, didn't she?" He asked her. She didn't answer.

What is going on? I thought. This wasn't Kokone. Something was very, very wrong.

"I'm going to sleep." She suddenly said, pushing back her chair noisily.

"Wait, you need to at least eat SOMETHING," I persisted, prepared to get up and stop her.

"Quit your worrying, Ichiro. I'll eat some later, I promise." She turned back for a second before she went back upstairs. Once I was sure she couldn't here, I started with the questions.

"Why didn't you tell me is was this bad? Have you even been checking on her? Or has this been the first time?" Hattori held up his hands in defense.

"Calm down, I have been checking on her, I swear! But you know Kokone…it took a lot of arguing just to get her to come back for a visit!" I shook my head.

"You should have told me. She hasn't been like this since…" I sighed, getting up to put the empty bowls in the sink.

"Since…?" Hattori pried.

"Since her dad died." I finished, turning on the water to wash the dishes.

"In that case, I think you need to do something." He said quietly, as if he were afraid she would overhear. Kazuha just sat quietly, observing all of this.

"Do something? What do you mean?"

"She…she's not doing so well. You've helped her before, right? So I think she should stay with you to get help." He suggested. He sounded awfully mature for someone that was…well, usually not.

"I'll try. But Kokone…" I turned off the water and set the dishes onto a drying rack. "She's her own person."