A/N:
Listen, you should just be proud of me that my first akam fic wasn't a soulmate AU. I goddamn love soulmate AUs so much.
Fractured Onyx
The sky was pitch black the night Scotch died, thick clouds smothering the moon and stars.
Rei felt it was fitting.
When he discovered Rye standing there, splattered with Scotch's blood, his first reaction was sheer panic, then horrified disbelief. Anger didn't well up until Rye had long since strode away. That was a blessing, because if Rye had been in front of him when that overwhelming, choking wave of fury washed over him, he would've doubtless done something idiotic. Something that would've ruined his cover, and Japan couldn't afford to lose two high-ranking Organization spies in such short succession.
By the time Rei made it back to his apartment, he had wrestled his anger into submission, letting it remain as more a steady simmer than an overflowing mess. Then he threw himself into investigating, because that was what he always did best.
Rei had never cared much for Rye's real name before – it wasn't as if he would ever tell Rye his real name, so he had respected Rye's privacy. Laughable. As if he cared about something like that when he could still see Scotch's body whenever he closed his eyes, and when he felt like the name on his wrist was burning.
Shuuichi Akai had been written on his left wrist for as long as Rei could remember, curiously written in the Latin alphabet rather than Japanese. Rei had always assumed that Akai Shuichi would be of Japanese descent rather than native.
But from the moment he had decided to become a police officer, Rei had made sure to hold no fantasies about whoever Akai Shuichi was. Police officers tended to have a significantly higher percentage of purple and even black threads. Best not to get his hopes up, so he wouldn't hesitate at a crucial moment. After all, there were stories of people killing their fated enemy moments after they met, their pinky immediately stained with a ring of black.
Rei couldn't imagine he could loathe anyone more than Rye. If this wasn't fated enmity, what else could it be?
In the end though, Rei found out Rye's real name easily enough – Sherry's encryption on her private e-mails was really quite weak – and "Moroboshi Dai" was no Akai Shuuichi.
He didn't feel disappointed exactly, but he did feel a bit bitter that he had no guarantee that he would be able to kill Rye himself. Fated enemies were fated to have one kill the other, after all. It was their connection condition.
Still, the investigation had made him a little curious about black threads, and Scotch's death had made him feel reckless enough to actually do something about it.
So after an Organization operation, as Rei drove back Vermouth to wherever she was going to disappear to next, he opened his mouth.
"What was it like?" he asked, his eyes never leaving the road, "Having a fated enemy."
Rei could feel the atmosphere in the car immediately chill, Vermouth's eyes boring into the side of his face.
"You're being awfully careless with your questions today, Bourbon," came her sweet reply, "Is this because of Scotch and Rye?"
Her counterattack was fully expected. Rei let it slide past him and simply hummed in response, waiting for her to continue. And after driving in silence for a short while, she did.
"You know, you should really be more careful," she drawled, "Caring so much about a NOC like Scotch… people might think you're one as well."
Rei didn't react in fear to her subtle accusation, because he knew perfectly well that it was coming. Instead, he scoffed in derision and replied, "If I were a NOC, I wouldn't have worked in a team with Scotch so much. Rather useless, wouldn't you think?"
"All I'm saying," Vermouth said, her voice mild, "is that it's not a good look for you to be caring so much about this."
"Oh? Are you worried about me?" Rei asked, letting an insincere smile spread over his face.
It was Vermouth's turn to scoff as she responded, "It would be a bother to me if I couldn't keep track of someone with the information you have."
"Well, there's nothing to worry about," Rei said, letting his voice chill as his fingers clenched around the steering wheel. "The reason why I 'care so much' about this is because I don't trust Rye and whoever else who found the info, and I think he killed Scotch because Scotch found out he was a NOC. I never trusted Rye."
Glancing towards Vermouth, he could see her looking contemplative, but not suspicious, which was promising.
He had no intention of hiding his animosity towards Rye, but he knew that unless he framed it properly, it would be bad news. If his reasoning was accepted though… well, he and Gin had a mutual hatred for each other, but Gin hated Rye far more than him. Mutual hatred towards Rye might help him gain some grudging recognition from Gin - 'an enemy of an enemy is a friend', and all that.
But Rei understood it was all just justification after the fact. He simply didn't want to work with Rye. That was all. And if he could eliminate a useful member of the Organization while he was at it… that would be just perfect.
"If that's how it is," Vermouth said neutrally, then turned her head to look out the window. She clearly didn't intend to speak more.
It had been a long shot either way that she would say anything about her thread, even when she happily displayed her black ring scar on her pinky for anyone to see. He had little to gain by pushing the matter.
So naturally, he was rather surprised when several minutes later and moments away from Vermouth's destination, she spoke up again.
"She was a spy," Vermouth explained, gaze still fixed outside the window. "She was a very good one too, and she figured out many of my secrets. Only she threatened to use them too, so I killed her. And when she took her last breath, I felt a burning on my finger."
Rei chuckled, the amiable smile on his face not faltering.
"Is that a threat?" he asked.
Seeing her destination coming up on the left, Rei slowed down and parked by the side of the road. Rather than reply, Vermouth simply smirked and pushed the car door open, stepping out.
"Bye-bye, Bourbon," she said, closing the car door behind her. She gave him a little wave. "See you around."
Rei didn't bother to respond. He watched Vermouth saunter down the street, and when she was far enough away, let out a small laugh.
He should probably avoiding provoking her too much for the next little while.
Rei was nursing some nasty purple bruises from an investigation gone wrong when he learned that Rye was a FBI spy all along.
He wasn't particularly shocked at that. While his made-up story about Scotch being killed by Rye under false pretenses was just that, made-up, coming from an operative renowned for being a detective, it had more weight than even he had expected.
In the end, Rei had been asked to investigate Rye officially, and he had obliged, though doing what Gin wanted always made him feel dirtier than he usually did. Much to his surprise, his preliminary investigations had made him rather suspicious – and incredulous. Because it was one thing if Rye had killed Scotch as a blood-soaked Organization member, and yet another if he had killed him to solidify his own position in the Organization as a fellow spy.
(Putting aside the hypocrisy of judging him with how blood-soaked his own hands were.)
But regardless, he wasn't shocked that Rye was an FBI agent. No, what made him shocked was his name.
Rye wasn't Moroboshi Dai.
He was FBI agent Akai Shuuichi, and Rei hated himself a bit for assuming so readily that Rye hadn't given a fake name to his girlfriend. As if someone like him would blink at a deception like that.
Gin's cold voice through the phone telling him that the investigation into Rye was now unnecessary barely registered. His mind was racing, thinking of how to deal with this new development. Thinking of how to kill Rye – Akai – before he killed him.
He had the advantage. Rei doubted that Akai suspected the Furuya Rei no doubt scrawled on Akai's right wrist was none other than Bourbon. He just needed to figure out how to best use his advantage.
Unfortunately, getting the Organization higher-ups to trust his work by flawlessly completing their missions was more important than his personal vendetta against Akai. In the end, he wasn't able to put any of his plans in motion until after Akai had 'died', years later.
He knew that the rest of the Organization thought he was hilarious at best and stupid at worst for 'believing' Akai was still alive. The joke was on them, because the skin on his fingers was as clear as always, and that meant Akai couldn't be dead.
But them believing so firmly that Akai was dead suited his purposes well. It just meant that it would be even more impressive when he delivered a giftwrapped Akai Shuuichi to Gin.
And if that meant Kir's position in the Organization would be compromised, well, that wasn't his problem. Considering that she must've helped hide Akai's death, she was probably FBI as well or CIA. Regardless, she definitely wasn't a Japanese agent.
Rei would give her enough notice to allow her to go into hiding, because he wasn't going to kill a fellow spy so easily (at least when they weren't a murderer), but that would be the extent of his sympathy.
So he smiled when he knocked on Okiya Subaru's door, ready to rip the mask off the man's face to reveal Akai underneath and capture him with the help of the PSB.
Only his plan crumbled around him the moment Akai Shuuichi called him "Furuya-kun," from the other side of his cellphone.
"You shouldn't have told the boy that your childhood nickname was Zero," he said in a hatefully calm voice, "There aren't many Japanese names that can be associated with that. And of course, I noticed there was one particular name, one I knew very well, that met that criteria. But I think you know that already, don't you?"
Rei wanted to throw the cellphone to the ground and grind it into dust after that conversation. But he instead composed himself, said his apologies to Okiya (who was still suspicious, but that was an investigation for another day), and left to regroup with the PSB.
As much as he hated him, he had to admit that Akai played his hand well. (Though, to be honest, Rei suspected this was all the machinations of a smaller detective.)
Rei couldn't risk handing Akai to the Organization or killing him, not when his FBI stooges probably knew exactly who he was now. The Organization thought nothing of killing operatives on suspicion alone – he couldn't afford to risk having his cover blown.
What really frustrated him, however, was the way that he was starting to not want to kill Akai.
It wasn't even anything Akai did or said, not really. It was more a consequence of being able to live in the light as Amuro Tooru for so long. It made the blood staining his body all the more visible.
It was true that Rei had never killed anyone with his own hands, except in self-defence. Yes, as an Organization member, he was expected to be ruthless, but his primary role in missions tended to be the initial reconnaissance or tracking down a target. Someone else almost always played the muscle, and by the time he was trusted enough to be sent on solo missions, he had enough freedom to capture his targets instead of killing them.
And despite what some people seemed to think, the Organization tended to approve when its operatives avoided personally killing people. Bombs were acceptable, as they obfuscated the true target. But simple, non-disguised murders were dangerous, because they threatened to reveal the existence of the Organization by targeting someone connected to them. (Rei had always found their caution to be rather amusing, considering the number of NOCs he knew had infiltrated the Organization.)
But that didn't mean his hands were clean. The people in the wrong place at the wrong time that he marked to be shot by Rye's sniper rifle. The targets he captured to be tortured and eventually killed by the Organization.
Rei always had a vague understanding that his hatred for Akai was rather hypocritical, considering everything else the both of them had done as Organization operatives. He just hadn't cared. But living around so many innocents – Mouri Ran, the Detective Boys, Enomoto Azusa, everyone – made the hypocrisy all the more unbearable to Rei. They had both killed people, directly or indirectly, who were far more innocent than Scotch.
And here was the thing. If it was just what they had done, that would be one thing. The problem was how Rei felt.
Because yes, Rei loved his country. It was why he was willing to throw away his entire life and risk everything just to investigate a criminal organization. But he hadn't managed to stay undetected in the Organization for so long while hating absolutely everything he did there.
Yes, he hated killing innocents, directly or indirectly. That wouldn't – he hoped it wouldn't – ever change. But being Bourbon, ruthless detective, was freeing in a way he could never experience on the right side of the law. Bourbon could let a child be kidnapped by a serial killer and not blink an eye if it meant getting closer to the truth. And that kind of heartlessness came a little too naturally to Rei.
So what business did he have judging Akai when Rei had murdered his own high horse years ago? It was why when he began suspecting that Akai was Okiya after all, he chose not to investigate further.
Though, logic was one thing, and emotions were another. He still mostly kinda hated Akai, he just didn't quite want to kill him anymore, even while knowing that probably meant that he would be the one to be killed.
Regardless of his slowly softening feelings towards Akai, however, he hadn't quite expected to enjoy fighting with him so much. When he jumped at him on the top of that Ferris wheel, all that was going through his mind was how he needed Akai to back off. This was Japan, and the NOC list – along with the Organization operative who held it in her mind – was Japan's. And it wasn't even as if Akai was really a NOC anymore – it wasn't him who would be screwed over if things went awry.
Despite this important objective, as he threw a punch towards Akai (who blocked it easily), he felt rather cheerful. He was having fun, and seeing Akai getting more and more frustrated at Rei's combativeness was just icing on the cake.
But he hadn't quite lost all reason, so when Conan called up to them to tell them about the bombs, he reluctantly stopped attacking Akai. The Organization needed to be dealt with.
As Rei disarmed bombs and threw six year-old children across long distances, he couldn't help but wonder though – could the thread connecting him to Akai actually be purple?
A purple thread of rivalry would explain a lot about his feelings lately. It would also explain why Akai never seemed to particularly wish him harm, even as he opposed him. Fated rivalry was characterized by amiable antagonism.
The connection condition for rivalry was for one soulmate to punch the other in the face. Despite his best efforts, Rei hadn't quite managed to do that yet, which meant it was still possible for a purple thread to appear between the two of them.
And thus, after the Organization retreated and the day was saved, Rei went trotting after Akai as he tried to sneak out of the amusement park. Then Rei proceeded to try to punch him in the face.
It was a half-hearted punch, one he half-expected Akai to easily bat away, even taken off guard like he clearly was. But instead, Akai took it full-on.
Nothing happened the moment Rei's fist met Akai's cheek. All that happened was that Akai was pushed back slightly by the force.
Rei felt… disappointed. He took a step back.
"You let me punch you," Rei said matter-of-factly as Akai began rubbing at his cheek with a wince. Akai hadn't even tried to avoid or block the punch. Someone as skilled as him wouldn't have done that unless it was intentional.
"You aren't the only one who's curious, Furuya-kun," Akai said after a pause. "And I didn't expect that you'd ever let me punch you."
"I… suppose that makes sense," Rei admitted. He glanced to the side, his next words falling out with a tinge of bitterness, "But I suppose there was no point. We're enemies after all."
Akai let out a small, amused laugh, and Rei turned his gaze back forwards to glare at him.
"You shouldn't jump to conclusions," Akai chided, a smile that was almost a smirk twisting up his lips. "We haven't even tried shaking hands or kissing yet."
Rei glared at Akai, snapping back, "Who would ever kiss you, FBI!"
"Plenty of people," Akai said, voice a touch surprised.
Rei didn't bother deigning that with a response. Leave it to Akai to say something like that with no shame. Rei simply turned around and began to walk away.
"I'll let you go today because I'll admit you did help us out today," he called back, "But preferably, get out of Japan already."
"Furuya-kun," Akai said, voice serious enough to make Rei stop, though he didn't turn around. "I've said this before, but I don't want you as an enemy. And… I don't consider you an enemy."
Rei ignored him and continued walking away, because it was easier than admitting that maybe, just maybe, he was starting to feel the same.
Rei blinked back spots when the light of a passing car's yellow headlights hit his eyes.
He was currently camped near the Kudo mansion in a nondescript rental car, lying on his stomach on the backseat as he peered up at the mansion through a pair of binoculars.
See, yes, he had originally decided to let 'Okiya Subaru' go. But if Akai wasn't his fated rival, then what else could he be but his fated enemy? Obviously they weren't family, so a green thread was out of the question, and the idea that Akai would be his friend (or anything more) was laughable.
(It… had to be laughable. Otherwise…)
So the only option left was a black thread, and that meant he needed to keep track of Akai's movements. And to do that, he needed to locate Akai, which meant he needed to confirm whether Okiya Subaru was indeed Akai Shuuichi.
He had camped near the mansion a couple nights ago as well, but to no avail. As far as he could tell, Okiya seemed to never leave the place at night. Tomorrow afternoon, he had taken the day off from Poirot to hopefully sneak into the place and plant some bugs when Okiya left the place. He had to leave the house eventually, right?
Rei stifled a yawn and rubbed at his eyes. It was nearing midnight, so Okiya should be sleeping soon. But just as he thought that, the door to the mansion opened and Okiya stepped out.
His eyes widened. He slouched lower in the car, just barely high enough to see through the window.
Just what was Okiya doing?
When he peered through the binoculars to look at Okiya, he was staring straight back at Rei and smiling. Then, after a short moment, he began walking.
…Okiya had figured out Rei was here, hadn't he?
Rei was far enough away that he could drive away by the time Okiya got here (and the fact that even from a distance, Okiya could accurately judge where Rei was looking at him from, was a point in favour of the Okiya-is-Akai theory), but he decided against it. Since Okiya for whatever reason had decided against calling the police (another point in favour of Okiya-is-Akai), Rei wanted to see what Okiya had to say.
So instead, he scrambled up into the driver's seat and put away his binoculars. By the time Okiya arrived, he looked perfectly casual.
(Well. As casual as he could be, considering that he had been sitting in a car in a residential area for hours in the middle of the night.)
When Okiya knocked on the car window, amiable smile on his face, Rei willingly rolled down the window to talk to him.
"Okiya-san," Rei greeted, the smile on his face somehow feeling even more fake than it usually was. "Good evening. To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Good evening, Amuro-san," Okiya responded, "I noticed you've been out here for quite some time, and I thought I might offer you a cup of tea."
Rei was just glad he didn't bring up that stupid deliveryman thing again.
"Well," Rei started, considering the quite frankly bizarre offer. Flashing another smile, he continued, "I'll have to take you up on your generous offer. A hot drink sounds great, it's been rather chilly out here."
"I'd imagine," said Okiya, stepping away from the car door to let Rei out.
Rei stepped out, brushing off invisible crumbs from his pants before straightening up and smiling yet again. Fishing out his car keys from his pocket, he tapped the button on them to quickly lock the car.
"Shall we go?" Rei asked once he was finished.
Okiya nodded in response, still smiling. Someone really needed to stop their fake smiling, because Rei was relatively certain that both of them knew that the other's smile was fake, rendering them fairly pointless. But regardless, Rei followed Okiya to the mansion in silence, feeling a hint of déjà vu as he stepped through the entranceway.
"If you'd wait in the sitting room, I can bring you a cup of tea," Okiya said, closing the door behind them. "What kind of tea would you like?"
"Black tea, if you have it," Rei answered, "Some kind of herb tea, if you don't."
"Oh?" said Okiya, voice lilting, "I would've thought that you preferred green tea."
Rei froze for a moment as he was taking off his shoes. It was true that he preferred green tea, and Japanese-style food in general. But 'Amuro Tooru' and 'Bourbon' both preferred Western-style food, and right now, he was Amuro, not Furuya.
It was a strange assumption for Okiya Subaru to make. It was even a strange assumption for Akai Shuuichi to make – he knew Bourbon, not Rei.
"What made you think that?" Rei asked, genuinely curious, "Most people assume – correctly, I may note – that I prefer Western-style refreshments."
Okiya hummed, turning away from Rei and beginning to walk away.
"You seem like someone who really loves their country," Okiya responded, right before disappearing into a different room.
Rei half-choked at his response. That bastard. That little bastard. He had to be Akai.
But Rei could be patient. He stepped into the sitting room, that feeling of déjà vu worsening. To shove it down, he sat on the sofa that 'Okiya' had sat on last time.
It was a few minutes later that Okiya came back, holding a cup of green tea and a cup of black tea, each on their own cup plate.
The cup of green tea was placed in front of Rei, while Okiya took the cup of black tea for himself and sat across from Rei.
…What.
He stared at Okiya, who took a sip from his cup and smiled at Rei.
"…Green tea?" asked Rei flatly.
"My apologies," Okiya said, sounding terribly unapologetic, "I only had one teabag of black tea left."
Even if that was the case, wouldn't it be polite to give the last bag to the guest? Rei narrowed his eyes at Okiya, who nonchalantly took another sip of his tea. When Okiya placed his cup back onto his cup plate, Rei glanced at it.
He could see some tea leaves floating around. That cup of tea wasn't made with a teabag – it was made with loose leaf tea. Okiya was lying. He must've made a whole teapot of black tea.
Rei briefly considered calling him out about it, but decided against it. Okiya would just deny it anyways, and well…
He picked up his cup of green tea and sipped at it. He couldn't help his lips from quirking up slightly into a small, genuine smile.
…he did love green tea.
"I'm glad you seem to like it," Okiya said, voice just so slightly smug enough to wipe the smile from Rei's face. Rei placed his cup of tea back onto its plate with a clatter.
"It tastes terrible," Rei lied, scowling.
"I'm sure it does," Okiya said agreeably, and that pissed Rei off as much as Okiya's smug tone.
"How long are you going to continue that charade?" Rei finally snapped. He wanted to take another sip of his tea, but he refrained because that would mean that Akai won. He continued, "You said before that you didn't consider me your enemy, so why don't you prove it by taking off that disguise!?"
He was just taking his anger out on Okiya. He didn't actually expect Okiya – Akai – to take his words seriously.
Okiya's hand snaked up to the collar of his turtleneck and he rolled it down. Rei stared, frozen, at the black choker clearly on Okiya's neck. He took off his choker and glasses then placed them lightly on the table. Finally, he looked at Rei, eyes open wide enough to let Rei see his distinctive eyelashes.
"Alright," Oki-Akai said calmly, "You'll have to forgive me for not taking off the mask. It takes a long time to put on."
"Wh-wha- you – what – what are you thinking!?" Rei sputtered, jumping up from his seat and slamming a hand down on the table. "Just because you know who I am doesn't make you safe, you know! There's still other things I can do, even if I can't hand you to the Organization!"
"And I'm sure you won't do anything," Akai said, still speaking in that damn calm voice of his. He smiled at Rei, and somehow Rei actually felt like it was real. "I trust you. Calm down, Furuya-kun."
Rei opened his mouth to tell Akai exactly where he could shove his 'trust', but closed his mouth at the sight of the hand Akai extended out to him.
"Introduction have been rather delayed, haven't they?" said Akai, "I'm Akai Shuuichi, FBI agent. It's nice to really meet you, Furuya Rei."
Rei stared at Akai's outstretched hand for a few moments before slapping it aside and sitting back down on his seat. Akai withdrew his hand, looking a little disappointed but not unsurprised.
"I can't shake that hand, Akai," Rei said, crossing his arms and leaning back, "You know why."
"Why?" asked Akai anyways, because that was the kind of person he was.
Giving Akai a withering look, Rei responded scathingly, "I'm Bourbon. A purple or black thread would be one thing, but if I really did have a thread of friendship with you and say, Gin found out, I wouldn't survive long enough to say my excuses."
It was lucky enough that neither of them had shaken hands when they first met, as Bourbon and Rye. Granted, that was probably mostly because Rei had avoided any connection conditions with anyone he didn't know the name of like the plague.
"I've gotten rather good at avoiding you, Furuya-kun," Akai said mildly.
"It's still not worth the risk," said Rei, voice steely.
He glared combatively at Akai, who stared back. Finally, Akai closed his eyes and looked down, letting out a sigh.
"I understand," Akai said quietly, "Regardless, I'm rather glad you don't consider me enough of an enemy to think a yellow thread is impossible."
"I wanted to," Rei admitted. He clenched his hands into fists, tight enough to feel little pinpricks of pain. "I really wanted to, because…"
Rei stopped, paused, and forced himself to continue. He was first and foremost a detective, and if a detective averted their eyes from the truth, who would reveal it?
"I forgive you for Scotch's death," Rei said flatly, emotionlessly.
Akai's head jolted upwards, eyes wide as he exclaimed in an uncharacteristic show of emotion, "What!?"
Rei let a smirk spread across his face, because deducing as Bourbon would be easier than deducing as Rei or Tooru.
"You weren't that great of a spy, Akai," Rei heard Bourbon say, a hint of mockery in his voice. "You might've thought you were, but both Scotch and I noticed how you liked to avoid shooting people whenever possible. You obviously didn't like killing – that might've been acceptable for an investigator like me, but for an Organization sniper, it's a rather major flaw. So why would someone like you kill Scotch in cold blood?"
"Furuya-kun, wait-"
"- The only answer is," Bourbon continued relentlessly, interrupting Akai, "that you didn't kill Scotch in cold blood. Scotch figured out you were a NOC too and wanted you to kill him, in order to keep his real family safe and my position in the organization secure. Only… that isn't enough. The situation wasn't dire enough for someone who didn't like killing to kill Scotch just like that. It wasn't dire enough until…"
Bourbon faltered as Rei flickered back into the forefront. Rei swallowed down the disgust he felt welling up in him.
"It wasn't dire enough until…" Rei repeated quietly, looking downwards, "Until you heard the sound of someone coming up the stairs."
Rei glanced up to stare at Akai, who wore a grim expression. But he remained quiet, and so Rei continued.
"The one problem with this deduction was that you should've had no motivation to hide this from me anymore since you've long since left the Organization," said Rei levelly, "Yes, I may not have believed you, but you would lose nothing by at least trying. If you truly thought that I was an enemy, then the only explanation I could think of was that my deduction was wrong. But if you didn't consider me an enemy, if you cared about how I felt to some extent, then you would've hid this from me because you didn't want me to know that the person who really – who really killed Scotch wa-"
"- You aren't responsible for Scotch's death," Akai snapped, cutting Rei off. The uncharacteristic sharpness of his voice and the dark look on his face was enough to make Rei trail off.
"Aren't I?" Rei said helplessly, letting out a short, somewhat hysterical laugh.
He had spent so long hating Akai, so long wanting to kill him, when the real person he should've wanted to kill was himself.
The universe loved its jokes at his expense, didn't it?
"Furuya-kun," Akai said in a softer tone. He leaned forwards and continued, "I… I won't deny that your deduction was generally correct. You deserve that much. I suppose I should've expected nothing less from one of the top investigators of Japan."
"Generally?" asked Rei, because even in a situation like this he hated being wrong.
"That night, Scotch wrestled my gun away from me and tried to kill himself with it," explained Akai, "I managed to stop him by holding onto the gun's cylinder, preventing him from pulling the trigger. But I… let my guard down, and he shot himself, the bullet destroying the sensitive information on his phone."
'Let his guard down'. A kind way of saying that they heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. And… Scotch had killed himself. Akai was even less guilty than he had thought.
Rei was even more guilty than he had thought.
"You know what I don't understand?" Rei said, running a hand through his hair and letting out another incredulous laugh, "Don't you feel the least bit spiteful? How much did I yell at you for a crime that you didn't commit? How can you sit there and say that no, it wasn't my fault? Take this opportunity to shove it in my face."
"I don't want to do that," said Akai simply, his gaze calm.
"Why?" snapped Rei, his voice almost as loud as a yell.
"I don't really know you, Furuya Rei," Akai said, "But I knew Bourbon for years. We may have fought over a million things at times, but I still liked him, and I'd like to believe that he liked me too. I considered him and Scotch the closest things I had to friends in that damn Organization, and I don't forget easily."
Rei swallowed, blinking slowly. He didn't really like to think back to that time. Too many bad memories, when the present had so many bad memories as it was. But… Rye's (relative) pacifism compared to other operatives he had worked with had endeared him to Rei, even if Rye got on his nerves sometimes. He had liked Rye, up until the moment Rei had found him standing splattered with Scotch's blood.
He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about Akai anymore.
"So, what," Rei said, hiding his uncertainty behind a scathing tone, "You want to be friends again?"
"No," responded Akai, shaking his head, "I would like to be friends for real. Because I understand that Bourbon isn't Furuya Rei, but I think the parts of Bourbon that I liked were really parts of you all along, Furuya-kun. I…"
Akai trailed off and looked to the side, his gaze seeming wistful.
"I made a promise to do things for real with someone else, but I wasn't able to keep it," Akai said quietly. "I don't want to have the same regrets with you, even if you won't shake my hand."
"Aha, do you think I'd die so easily, Akai?" laughed Rei, voice still haughty. "Don't put me in the same category as you."
Akai ignored the insult and gazed at him seriously.
"No one thinks they'll die until they do," Akai stated.
"Thank you for that riveting commentary," Rei snarked. Putting his nose high in the air, he looked down at Akai. "Next you'll tell me that people die when they're killed."
"Furuya-kun, please," said Akai, finally sounding frustrated. Leaning over the table, he placed his hands on Rei's shoulders and stared right into Rei's eyes.
It surprised Rei enough to jolt his haughty expression off from his face. Rei blinked, and slowly, reluctantly opened his mouth.
"Fine, I'll be friends with you," Rei muttered, rolling his eyes, "I can't believe I said that out loud. What are you, an elementary school student?"
Akai took his hands off from Rei's shoulders and leaned back on his seat.
"I'm glad," Akai said brightly – or well, brightly for him. A small, idiotic smile was spreading across his face. Akai picked up his cup of tea to sip at it, but winced. "Ah, the tea's gone cold. Would you like some more tea as well?"
"I suppose you'll mysteriously find another teabag of black tea for yourself?" Rei said drily, raising an eyebrow.
Akai let out a little chuckle. "Forgive me, I've never liked tea in general, but green tea in particular is rather unpalatable to me."
"Tch. Americans," Rei grumbled.
"Guilty as charged," said Akai good-naturedly. He hummed as he got up from his seat. "Furuya-kun, you may have noticed that I didn't like killing in the Organization, but you aren't the only one who noticed things."
"Oh, is that so?" Rei asked, watching as Akai walked towards the door.
"Yes," Akai said, hand against the doorknob. He sounded terribly amused. "I noticed how you pretended to like black tea despite hating it."
And with those parting words, he left the room.
Rei flushed in embarrassment.
…He changed his mind, he really hated Akai after all.
When a few days after their last conversation, Rei opened the door of his apartment to find Akai-as-Okiya standing there in a stupid green turtleneck, Rei just glared at him suspiciously.
"You're always the one to visit me," Akai said in that bright tone he loved using as Okiya, "I thought I might come visit you this time. I brought a peace offering."
Akai lifted up the container in his hand, and looking closely, Rei could see that it was high-quality green tea leaves.
"…Come in," Rei muttered reluctantly, stepping back from the door. If nothing else, it would be wasteful to let someone who couldn't appreciate that tea drink it alone.
"Thank you," Akai said politely, stepping inside.
Rei was planning to drink a cup of the tea before shoving Akai out the door, since just because Rei had agreed to be friends didn't mean that he wanted to deal with Akai all the time, but he found himself taken in by the conversation they started as they drank. (Or to be more precise, as Rei drank and Rei laughed at Akai's grimaces every time he took a sip.)
By the time Akai put his disguise back on and left (of his own free will), hours had passed.
When Akai came back a week later, this time holding a bottle of middling-quality alcohol, Rei again let him in easily enough.
This time, they had more of an argument than a conversation (Rei didn't even quite remember what they were arguing about, despite how heated it had gotten), but it was just as engrossing as before. Rei eventually pushed Akai out of the door in a huff, but Akai hadn't seemed off-put.
"See you next week," he said instead, smiling. Rei just slammed the door closed instead of responding.
(He still let Akai in next week.)
A month passed, and then another. Akai began to visit more than once a week, and Rei started getting paranoid enough he began to check for bugs every evening, just in case Akai decided to come. He was relatively sure he was fairly trusted by the Organization, but you could never be too paranoid when you were a spy.
(The smartest, most paranoid thing to do would be to tell Akai to fuck off, but Rei couldn't bring himself to do that.)
At first, Rei told himself he was allowing this because Akai brought gifts, only that fell flat when he stopped bringing gifts and Rei let him in regardless.
(Eventually, he quietly admitted to himself that he might, just might, enjoy Akai's company.)
Standing behind the counter at Café Poirot, Rei brushed a few crumbs off of his apron then picked up a tray of food.
Deftly stepping through a yellow thread – thank goodness threads were intangible to everyone but their owners - he reached his destination and began handing out the orders.
"A slice of strawberry shortcake for Ayumi-chan, lemon meringue pie for Mitsuhiko-kun, chocolate cake for Genta-kun, chestnut cake for Conan-kun, a cup of black coffee for Okiya-san, and…" Rei said, trailing off when he reached the last person. He tilted his head to the side, looking at the last member of the Detective Boys. She was currently half-hiding behind Conan, averting her gaze from Rei. Putting on his friendliest smile, Rei leaned in a little closer and continued, "A slice of roll cake for the last lady. I was too busy to ask when everyone ordered, but I don't think we've met before?"
She ignored him, instead continuing to hide her face behind Conan.
"Her name is Haibara Ai," Conan said quickly, "She's really shy, Amuro-no-niisan, so don't take it personally!"
"That's strange, Haibara-san isn't usually shy," Mitsuhiko commented, frowning at the girl – Ai-chan, apparently.
Conan glared at Mitsuhiko and said, "She's shy around adults."
"But Ai-chan is fine with Officers Takagi and Sato…" Ayumi pointed out, looking worried, "Ai-chan, are you sick?"
"You guys," Conan grumbled, rubbing his forehead in an obvious show of frustration.
…Suspicious. Incredibly suspicious.
"Now, now," Akai-as-Okiya said, smiling, "I've noticed that Haibara-san is often shy around me as well. Just because she acts one way when with friends doesn't mean she'll always act the same way."
And Akai was backing Conan up. That made Rei really want to delve in deeper, but then that would probably trouble a shy young child… Rei shoved down Bourbon's instinctual uncaring reaction and forced himself to take a step back. He could always interrogate Akai or Conan later, when the girl wasn't around.
"I see," Rei said, inserting a note of disappointment in his voice, "Well, I hope to meet you face-to-face sometime, Ai-chan!"
"…Okay," came a soft voice from the girl. She pulled her hood up to fully shroud her face. Then she pulled away from Conan and began slowly eating her cake.
It was probably a cute sight to most people, but Rei had become rather numb to cuteness over the years. The ring on her pinky finger he had spotted bothered him, though. She was awfully young to have found her soulmate in the first place, let alone lose them. At her age, it had probably been a green thread connecting her to a family member? Poor girl.
Though Conan, who was the same age, had a yellow thread already, so perhaps it hadn't been green after all. That being said, Rei did feel Conan was a pretty special case.
Leaving the issue of Ai aside for the moment, Rei turned to Akai.
"So what brings you here with the Detective Boys, Okiya-san?" Rei asked, holding the tray against his chest.
"He's taking us to see the new Kamen Yaiba movie!" Genta said excitedly.
"What Kojima-san said," Akai said, smiling, "Professor Agasa was going to take them, but he has a bit of a flu today and needs his bed rest. So I volunteered."
"That was nice of you," commented Rei, the surprise in his voice not completely fabricated. The idea of Akai hanging out with kids that weren't Conan was… weird.
"Oh, I couldn't let the kids be disappointed," said Akai, "They've been looking forwards to this for months now."
"They're going to reveal Kamen Yaiba's soulmate!" exclaimed Ayumi, eyes shining. "And once Natsume-san knows she's her boyfriend's soulmate, I'm sure she'll figure out he has to be Kamen Yaiba right away!"
"Ayumi-chan, like I said before, I don't think we can assume Kamen Yaiba's soulmate is going to be Natsume-san," Mitsuhiko said, frowning. "I think he's going to have a rivalry connection with that other mysterious fighter from the last movie!"
"No, he's going to have a green thread with his mom," Genta insisted, "That way his mom will make him food whenever he wants!"
"Genta-kun, I don't think that's how it works," Mitsuhiko laughed.
Ayumi sighed and pointed out, "Genta-kun, Kamen Yaiba's mom hasn't even appeared in the show…"
"Guys, can't you just wait to see the movie?" Conan groaned, glaring at the three of them, "You've been arguing about this since the first trailer came out."
"Well then, who do you think Kamen Yaiba's soulmate is going to be, Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko demanded, crossing his arms.
"Uh, me?" Conan rubbed the back of his head. "I guess… a friendship connection with his sidekick?"
The remaining members of the Detective Boys sighed in unison at Conan's response.
"We shouldn't have asked Conan," Genta said, shaking his head.
"Yeah," Ayumi agreed, "Conan-kun is smart, but he's not so good with Kamen Yaiba…"
"Conan-kun, just because you have a fated friend doesn't mean you need to assume everyone is going to have one…" Mitsuhiko said chidingly.
Conan twitched, looking rather offended. Rei found it terribly amusing that the child who had orchestrated a convoluted plan to save a FBI agent from the Organization was defeated so easily by a group of children.
"My bad for having a yellow thread," Conan grumbled, taking an angry bite of his cake. Ai let out a soft giggle beside him.
"Oh, why don't we ask Amuro-no-niisan and Subaru-no-niisan?" Ayumi suggested, clapping her hands together. They looked at the two of them expectantly.
"Ah, I don't know anything about Kamen Yaiba, so…" Rei said apologetically, letting out a little laugh.
"What? You don't?" Genta said, eyes wide, "You don't know as much about the world as I thought, Amuro-no-niichan!"
…Rei suddenly felt like he understood how Conan had felt. But unlike Conan, he made sure that his friendly smile didn't falter at the ignorant insults of a child.
"What about you, Subaru-san?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"Hm…" Akai said, pressing a finger against his lips in contemplation. "I think a red thread would be nice."
"Yay!" Ayumi said cheerfully, smiling widely.
"Ah, but I would rather it not be with Natsume-san," Akai said, stopping Ayumi's celebration midway. "I think it would be interesting if his thread was with someone he didn't expect."
"Not with Natsume-san?" Ayumi said, sounding confused, "Then with who?"
"Hm… someone he thought was an enemy?" Akai suggested, turning a bright smile at Rei.
Rei held back a twitch, because Akai was definitely not talking about Kamen Yaiba anymore, was he? Rei's smile grew a little strained.
Wait, red thread?
"You have strange tastes, Subaru-san," Mitsuhiko commented, "Do you want your soulmate to be like that too?"
"Well, I would like my soulmate to not see me as an enemy eventually," Akai clarified, "But I would like a red thread, yes."
Wait, what? Rei really didn't understand Akai at all. He narrowed his eyes at Akai, but Akai's gaze was now fixed towards the Detective Boys.
"Don't you think that would be a bother to your soulmate?" Rei demanded, smile twitching ever-so-slightly. "Suddenly getting a romantic connection with someone they hated?"
"Who says it has to be sudden?" Akai responded cheerfully, turning back towards Rei. "I would be perfectly happy if it took years so long as I could still be by them."
Rei forced down a flush because no, no, he was not letting Akai see him embarrassed because of something he said. Where was this coming from? He had never mentioned anything like this in their talks before.
"Well, I think that's stupid," Rei said instead, his eyes cold and his smile gone.
"What?" Ayumi cried, "But that's so romantic!"
Oops, Rei had completely forgotten about the children for a little while there. He quickly restored his bright smile to his face and looked back at the children.
"Amuro-san, you don't really understand romance, do you?" Mitsuhiko noted, sounding surprised, "That's unexpected."
"Well, I am hoping for a black thread after all," Rei muttered just to be contrary, and fought down the immediate impulse to take it back at the kicked-puppy look on Akai's face. Akai really loved making expressions he would never make normally as Okiya, didn't he?
"Huh? What's a black thread?" Gonta asked blankly.
Oh no, Rei had forgotten how people generally didn't teach young children about black threads. It was considered gauche to tell kids about the fact that some soulmates had to kill each other to know how they were connected.
He was not going to be the one to explain this to these kids.
"Oh, sorry, I just meant that I didn't know what thread I wanted. Since black has all the colours, you know?" Rei laughed it off, hoping it was enough to fool them. "I suppose if I had to pick a colour, I would say yellow."
"Yellow is alright as well," Akai commented, a soft smile returning to his face. "But I do prefer red."
No one asked for your opinion, Akai. No one. Rei forced down another flush.
Conan was looking between him and Akai with an incredibly contemplative expression, his hand on his chin.
"Amuro-san," Conan began, but Rei had no interest in hearing what Conan had deduced.
"Oh, I should-" Rei interrupted quickly, before cutting himself off when he accidentally let go of the tray in his hands. He had meant to rub the back of his head, but he had forgotten that he had been still holding his tray. It clattered to the ground. "Oops."
He quickly crouched down to pick it up, then straightened back up.
…Conan was looking awfully unimpressed with him.
"Aha, I should go put this away," Rei said quickly, letting out a laugh. "Have fun at the movies, everyone!"
"Oh? Amuro-san, you're looking a little flushed," Akai commented, and Rei swore he could hear that bastard laughing on the inside.
Rei swallowed down a snappish insult and instead responded with, "It's just your imagination, Okiya-san. I'm feeling fine. Anyways, I really need to go, so-"
"Oh, before you go, could I order a slice of coffee cake?" Akai asked, smile bright on his face. "Seeing the children's snacks made me want one too."
"One slice of coffee cake, coming up," Rei said professionally, before flipping around and striding away. He made a beeline to the employees-only area. The moment he stepped through the doors, he let out a deep breath and let the red rise to his face.
Akai, that bastard. Did he like teasing him that much? He was going to punch that infuriatingly perfect face of his again the next time he saw Akai in private.
Rei breathed deeply for a few moments more, composing himself, then went to go cut Akai a slice of his stupid coffee cake.
When Akai arrived at his apartment that night, he made good on his word and threw a punch as soon as the door closed behind him. Since Akai was still disguised as Okiya, it wouldn't be as satisfying as it would be normally, but Rei would take what he could get. Sadly, Akai dodged it – damn FBI reflexes – but undeterred, he kicked at Akai's ankles to trip him down. Unfortunately, when Akai started falling, he forced Rei down with him.
Soon, they were tussling on the ground, and Rei knew exactly how childish he was being, but whatever, it was good stress relief being able to punch Akai sometimes. Being punched back was a little less fun, but he wouldn't like fighting an unresponsive opponent anyways.
But at some point, they stopped fighting. Before he realized it, Rei found himself sitting on his sofa in the living room, rubbing at a particularly painful spot on his cheek. This was definitely going to bruise… he hoped he had enough concealer to cover it.
Akai walked in from the kitchen, Okiya disguise gone. He was holding a cup of green tea and a plastic bag of ice.
"Here," Akai said, offering Rei the bag of ice and placing the cup of tea on the table in front of them. Grumbling something meaningless under his breath, Rei reluctantly took the ice.
"Don't you need one?" Rei asked sourly, pressing the ice against his cheek. He watched as Akai settled himself down next to him on the sofa.
"I'm fine," answered Akai. Rei's temper flared at that, because was Akai saying his punches were weak? Out of spite, Rei poked at a spot on Akai's cheek that he knew he had punched, and Akai winced.
Akai gave him a somewhat mournful look, but Rei just smiled brightly back and plopped the bag of ice in Akai's lap.
"You don't need to put on a brave front," Rei said smugly, looking down at Akai with a haughty expression.
Akai sighed and picked up the bag of ice to press it against his cheek.
"Happy?" Akai asked, voice sardonic.
"Very," Rei responded, humming cheerfully and ignoring the pain in his own cheek. He picked up the cup of tea and took a sip. "So, who did Kamen Yaiba's soulmate end up being?"
"The sidekick, with a yellow thread," Akai responded, letting out a small laugh, "The boy was very smug going out of the movie."
"I suppose that was the safest choice," Rei mused, "If they made the love interest the soulmate it would be harder to keep the whole secret identity plotline, and the rival character could use their thread to trouble Yaiba. Assuming the sidekick is the only one to know about Yaiba's identity."
"Oh? I thought you didn't know anything about Kamen Yaiba?"
"Ayumi-chan mentioned that storyline today," Rei countered smoothly. His eyes narrowed at Akai. "Speaking of the Detective Boys… what was with that girl today? Haibara Ai?"
Akai constructed some flimsy explanations, and Rei pushed back. The back-and-forth let Rei easily fall into conversation with Akai, the same as always.
Neither of them mentioned Akai's flirting this afternoon. Rei wasn't sure whether to feel disappointed or relieved.
(He was leaning towards disappointed.)
Rei didn't realize just how screwed he was until a couple more months later, when Akai was complaining to him about the sub-par skill of his new FBI subordinates. Watching him grumble didn't make him annoyed - initially, the only thing that went through his head was cute.
He only realized the problem after he had been watching Akai grouch for minutes, small smile on his face.
He had unironically used Akai Shuuichi and cute in the same sentence.
...Oh no. Oh no.
The next time Akai came to visit, when he sat next to Rei as always, Rei let his head fall to rest against Akai's shoulder.
"Furuya-kun?" Akai asked, voice a touch confused, a touch hopeful.
"Shut up," Rei muttered, "Don't say anything, FBI."
"Alright," said Akai, and dammit, he had just asked him not to say anything. But Rei let it go, because for once, he wasn't in the mood for a fight tonight.
After some moments of silence, Rei admitted quietly, "I want to kiss you."
"I do too," Akai murmured, voice fond. His hand brushed against Rei's head, lightly running through his hair.
"You can't," said Rei brusquely, even as he leaned in closer to Akai's touch.
"I know," Akai said agreeably. His hand left Rei's head to flit down Rei's body, stopping to grip his waist. At the light press, Rei shuffled a little closer to him on the sofa, Akai letting out a pleased hum in response.
Rei closed his eyes and didn't say anything more.
Things couldn't always stay happy-go-lucky, however. Over the next year or so, there were many more clashes with the Organization, many more close calls, but the efforts of countless law organizations over countless years had made their mark. The Organization was cornered and eventually, finally, scattered enough it was essentially eradicated. Sure, there were still some rogue agents out there – Vermouth being a notable one – but they no longer had a parent organization tying them together with all the Organization's leaders dead or imprisoned.
Rei felt terribly lightheaded when he realized that his work was done. The years of his life spent as an undercover operative, finally vindicated.
Oh, he would have to go back to the PSB and work as a normal officer fulltime now, but he doubted it would be as mentally exhausting and morally disgusting as his work in the Organization.
He was… done. Furuya Rei was still alive, but Bourbon was dead and gone.
Rei was happy, but at same time, he couldn't help but feel like a part of him had been burnt into ashes. And dismay easily stabbed through that happiness with just one offhand comment from Kazami.
"I guess the FBI will be returning to America now that their mission is over with," Kazami noted. They were walking through a hallway in the PSB headquarters, headed to their office space. "I didn't much like them stepping in on Japan's jurisdiction, but I will admit they were useful in the end. I suppose it'll get a bit quieter here now."
That was right. The FBI no longer had any reason to stay in Japan – the majority of the Organization was dealt with.
Akai had no reason to stay in Japan.
"-ruya-san. Furuya-san?"
Rei blinked upwards at Kazami's worried face. It seemed like he had stopped in the middle of the hallway and blanked out.
"My apologies, Kazami," Rei said easily, smiling. He started walking down the hallway again, Kazami following. "I think I'm more tired than I thought."
"You should take a vacation, Furuya-san," Kazami suggested, "No one will hold it against you after all the work you've done."
"I'll think about it," said Rei, actually considering it.
Just because he was a workaholic didn't mean he was suicidal, after all. He hadn't really had a vacation in years – the Organization had a terrible benefits package. Rei wouldn't say no to a week or two of a well-deserved break.
"But for now," Rei continued, "Speaking of the FBI, they're supposed to be here today, right? Do you know where they are?"
"I think they're in meeting room 403, as always," Kazami responded.
"I see," Rei murmured, "Today's paperwork isn't that time-sensitive, is it?"
"No, I don't believe it's really needed until Friday," answered Kazami.
Rei stopped in the middle of the hallway again. Kazami stopped soon afterwards, giving him a confused look.
"I think I'll go ask the FBI how much longer they plan to stay in Japan," Rei decided, "The higher-ups will probably want to know how much longer we have to tolerate them, anyways. Go ahead, I should join you in a bit."
"Understood, Furuya-san," said Kazami, giving Rei a short nod of acknowledgement before leaving.
Rei took a small breath to center himself, then began walking to the elevator to head to the appropriate meeting room. Unfortunately, the elevator came quickly, and much too soon, he ended up in front of the room. Schooling his expression, he threw the door open.
"Hello," Rei greeted, surveying the room as he stepped in. It was the typical crowd – Agent Starling, Agent Camel, and… Akai – sitting around a circular table in the middle of the room, papers strewn in front of them. Rei supposed even the FBI couldn't escape from the paperwork involved with the Organization's fall.
"Furuya-kun!" Akai said, eyes brighter than usual. The other two each greeted him as well, notably less enthusiastically.
"What brings you here in person, Officer Furuya?" Starling asked, giving him a questioning look.
Her confusion was admittedly warranted. The PSB generally left the FBI to their own devices when they were visiting, so long as they remained in the meeting room. The only reason they started coming sometimes was just a farce to help smooth over ruffled feathers about Japanese jurisdiction anyways.
(Putting aside that some of those ruffled feathers were Rei's own…)
"Well, the Organization is mostly gone," Rei said, amiable smile on his face, "I was wondering how much longer the FBI was planning to stay in Japan."
"Our superiors have already discussed that with your superiors," Akai answered, leaning against his hand on the desk with a smirk. "You could've just asked them."
…Of course he knew that was probably the case. Akai, that bastard, he knew perfectly well why he had really wanted to come.
It had been nearly a week since that final strike against the Organization and he hadn't seen Akai at all, both of them being run ragged in the post-Organization cleanup. Things had finally started to calm down yesterday, but still no Akai.
And with Kazami reminding him that the FBI weren't going to be in Japan much longer…
"Never mind then," said Rei, scowling, "My apologies for bothering you. I'll take my leave."
When Rei turned to leave, however, Akai's voice stopped him.
"Wait," Akai said, pushing back his chair with a clatter and standing up. "Furuya-kun, could we talk?"
"We're talking," Rei deadpanned, face still hard.
"In private," said Akai, sighing.
"Shuu…" Starling said, her voice disapproving. She looked up at Akai from her seat, an annoyed expression on her face. She gestured at the piles of paperwork still on the table.
"Just for a bit, Jodie," Akai said reassuringly, "I promise I won't leave you and Camel with all the paperwork."
"What if Officer Furuya attacks you in private?" Camel hissed in a voice that wasn't actually that quiet.
"I won't attack Akai," said Rei, rolling his eyes. He paused before muttering, "Probably."
Camel didn't seem to have caught that last mutter, because he just seemed embarrassed that his question had been overheard.
"It'll be fine," Akai insisted, walking up to Rei. "Shall we go?"
"You realize I haven't actually agreed yet?" Rei pointed out.
Akai just looked at Rei expectantly.
"…The meeting room three doors over should be empty," Rei said, giving in. He opened the door, gesturing for Akai to follow. "Come on."
Akai obediently followed him to the other meeting room, this one smaller than the one the FBI had been using. It didn't even have a table, just a few chairs. Rei closed the door behind them.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rei asked, turning to face Akai. Pretending like he didn't know perfectly well what Akai wanted.
(Pretending like he wasn't dying to ask himself.)
Akai gave him a soft smile and extended a hand out towards him, the same way he had all those months ago.
"I'm sorry I didn't get in contact myself," Akai said, "But you seemed so busy after that last operation, and I didn't want to bother you."
Rei let out a sigh and took the hand, shaking it firmly just in case. Nothing happened, but at this point, he would've admittedly been a bit disappointed if something had.
"I forgive you," Rei said simply. He stopped shaking Akai's hand, because clearly nothing was happening, but he didn't let go.
Instead, he pulled Akai in, relishing the surprised look on Akai's face, and briefly pressed his lips against Akai's before pulling back. It was barely a touch – but it was enough.
Rei felt a slight burning around his left pinky. Glancing down, he stared, fascinated, as a red string tied itself around his finger and slowly lengthened, eventually connecting to the string growing out from its place on Akai's right pinky.
Out of curiosity, he picked up the thread with his right hand and felt it.
"You know, I always wondered what these things felt like, but this just feels like a normal thread," Rei grumbled, frowning. "I'm a bit disappointed. Right, Akai?"
Rei glanced back up to look at Akai, then took a double-take. Akai looked happier than Rei had ever seen him, a stupidly genuine-looking smile on his face.
It was enough to make Rei embarrassed by proxy. He let himself flush, and glanced away.
"Rei," Akai tried out, and Rei felt his face get redder despite himself.
"I'm still calling you Akai," Rei muttered.
I'm letting you call me Rei, he didn't say. But he was sure that Akai understood the implication of his words anyways, so he didn't need to actually say it.
"I like you," Akai said, voice stupidly cheerful.
"I'd hope so," snarked Rei, glancing back at Akai but having to avert his gaze again because it was just too much. "That's why I kissed you, after all."
"Not because you like me?" asked Akai, sounding amused.
"…that too," Rei admitted reluctantly, because honestly, what was a little more embarrassment at this point?
"Rei," Akai said again, and Rei wished he could get used to Akai calling him by his first name already. "Can I see your wrist?"
"…If I can see yours afterwards," Rei said, because he was a little curious as well. He took his watch off of his left wrist, slipping it into a pocket. Then he stepped beside Akai and showed him his left hand, palm up to let him see the words there.
Rei felt a little naked letting someone else see his wrist, but he persevered.
"You've barely looked at me since the thread appeared," Akai noted as he took Rei's hand in his. Rei could feel his fingers flit over the words on his wrist, pausing over the pulse. He continued with a tinge of arrogance, "Is that how all Japanese officers react in embarrassing situations?"
"Excuse me?" Rei snapped, turning his head to glare at Akai, realizing too late from Akai's fond smile that he had reacted exactly the way Akai had wanted. Rei's anger mostly melted away, but he was already staring into Akai's eyes at that point.
"That's the way you should be," said Akai cheerfully, before looking back at Rei's wrist. Rei twitched a little as Akai ran his fingers over the words again.
"Are the words that interesting?" Rei muttered, hiding his embarrassment behind a veneer of irritableness.
"They're in English," Akai said, sounding fascinated, "And they really are in my handwriting."
"You thought they would be in Japanese?" asked Rei curiously.
"I thought it was a reasonable assumption, since mine are," Akai explained, finally letting go of Rei's hand. "Speaking of which, I should show you mine."
As Akai slipped his watch off of his right wrist, Rei took the opportunity to quickly put his watch back on. He felt a bit relieved once his words were covered again. It just felt strange having something so private out in the open. Rei usually didn't take off his watch even when sleeping.
…Of course, considering the garish red thread now connecting him to Akai, he might as well leave the watch off 24/7 for all the difference in privacy it would give him.
Rei couldn't help but still feel happy about it, though.
With Akai's watch off, Rei took Akai's hand in his and suddenly understood Akai's fascination with running his fingers over the words. The words on Akai's wrist were black, like his own, and said Furuya Rei in kanji written in Rei's crisp hand.
"When I was little, I thought your name was Futani Rei," Akai admitted as Rei brushed over the words on Akai's wrist.
"That's not even a name!" Rei said with a laugh.
"It's not like I knew that!" said Akai defensively, "I recognized the characters and one reading for each of them, and I ran with it."
"Well, I suppose I'm not one to talk," Rei said, taking pity on Akai. "I didn't realize my name was Japanese after all until grade three. I read the letters wrong and didn't realize that it was just romaji."
Akai laughed again, eyes crinkling, and Rei smiled back at him. Smiles always came easily to Rei, but right now, it felt different. It felt real, and that thought made his smile easily widen.
After a little while, Rei reluctantly let go of Akai's hand to let him put his watch back on.
"We should probably get back to work," Rei said, letting out a small sigh.
"Yeah," agreed Akai, similarly letting out a sigh.
They paused for just a moment longer before heading to the door, because really, the both of them were nothing if not dedicated to their work. After stepping out the door, in just a few paces, they were back in front of the original meeting room.
"Are you free tonight?" asked Rei.
What Rei really wanted to ask was how long Akai would be in Japan. But… he didn't really want to know how little time they had just yet.
"I should be," Akai answered, "I'll come to your ap-"
Akai's next words were cut off by Starling swinging the door open.
"Shuu, great, you're back. I heard your voice," Starling said briskly, "I need your opinion on -"
Starling cut herself off because her eyes had landed on the red thread between them. Her mouth opened and closed, but no noise came out.
"What!?" she finally sputtered out loudly, eyes wide.
"We're soulmates," Akai said cheerfully, grabbing Rei's left hand with his right and lifting them both up. Rei didn't object. Akai continued, "Romantic soulmates."
Camel, likely having heard Starling's cry, poked his head out from the doorway.
"Jodie-san, is something the matt-" Camel cut himself off in a similar way to Starling, eyes blinking rapidly. "…Akai-san, is that a thread?"
Akai pulled their hands back down, but remained holding onto Rei's hand. Rei, again, didn't object.
"Shuu, I didn't realize you were bi," Jodie commented. She laughed, "But I guess it isn't as surprising as I thought originally. I did notice that you always seemed to smile more around Officer Furuya, once we started to actually work together. Congratulations, both of you."
"Oh, so this is why you wanted to be left behind in Japan so badly…" Camel said, understanding lighting his eyes.
"Well, there was my family too," explained Akai, "All of them seem to be planning to live in Japan for the foreseeable future."
"Left behind?" Rei said sharply, hope flickering to life in his heart.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you," Akai said apologetically, looking at Rei. "As part of the concessions made by the FBI to mollify Japanese law enforcement after doing basically what we wanted in Japan for years on end, a few FBI agents are remaining in Japan for use by the PSB for a number of years longer. I convinced James to let me be one of those agents."
Rei couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.
"You should just stay in Japan permanently," Rei suggested, a sly smile on his face. "Become Japanese."
"Excuse me?" Starling said, putting her hands on her hips. "You have some nerve, trying to steal Shuu from the FBI right in front of us. Besides, you're a police officer, you work for the government. Shouldn't you know how hard it is to become Japanese?"
Despite her harsh words, her voice sounded amused.
"It's hard for a complete foreigner to become Japanese," Rei corrected, "Since Akai's father was Japanese, he had dual citizenship with Japan until he was 21 anyways, and if he hasn't declared that he didn't want his citizenship, officially obtaining it would just be a matter of renouncing his American citizenship. Even if he has made a declaration, then considering that he's lived in Japan for years now, his family is Japanese, and I'm Japanese, it should also be basically a matter of renouncing his American citizenship."
"…You seem awfully familiar with what I'd have to do, Rei…" Akai said drily.
Rei coughed in embarrassment at being called out. "A-am I? It's just basic information any police officer should know."
"Right," said Akai in an amused tone. "Are there any options that don't involve renouncing my American citizenship?"
"No, Japan currently doesn't recognize dual citizenship," Rei explained, shaking his head.
"Hm, I'll think about it," Akai decided. Rei would take it, it was better than an outright no.
"Shuu!" Starling exclaimed.
"What?" said Akai, shrugging. "It's not like I don't like America, but my family is all here, and there's no way in hell Rei would ever live in America permanently."
Yeah, 'no way in hell' sounded about right.
…Also, Akai was getting used to calling him 'Rei' way too quickly. Akai must have been calling him by his first name in his head for a while, that bastard.
"We can talk about this later," Starling said finally, "For now, we do have a lot of work left."
"So do I," Rei muttered, glancing at his watch. "I'd better get back up to my office… and explain to my subordinates why I suddenly have a red thread…"
Rei stifled a groan. He really hadn't thought this one through. He pulled his hand out from Akai's grip and waved a goodbye, ready to head out.
"Ah, before you go," Akai said quickly. He slipped out a hand to tug on Rei's tie, pulling him forwards to briefly press their lips together. He let go of Rei's tie, letting him stumble backwards.
Akai smiled at Rei, who just stared back at Akai, eyes wide. He barely registered Starling and Camel's surprised expressions in the background.
"Now we're even," said Akai shamelessly. "See you tonight."
"You – in front of –" Rei sputtered in indignation, feelings whirling. He settled on giving Akai an annoyed glare, then leaving without saying a goodbye.
But his brave front probably didn't do much good, because barely a few paces out he realized his walking pace was a little more bouncy than usual.
When Rei finally decided to glance back down the hallway, Akai had disappeared back into the meeting room.
But he can still see his red thread stretching down the corridor and feel a slight tug on his pinky, and well…
…he's happy with that.
A/N:
This fic changed a lot from its initial stage. Originally, I was planning to have someone with the relevant thread appear in each section, with Rei and Akai trying out each connection condition near the end (except for the initial black, for obvious reasons). But when I actually started writing, I found that didn't really work out. For one, I couldn't really think of a good candidate for a purple thread (I considered Kid and Conan, but the problem is that they're not really rivals competing for the same thing, just friendly enemies), and for two, I couldn't imagine Rei would risk having a friendly thread with Akai when he was still undercover in the Organization.
Also, I wrote about 2000 words of Hattori/Conan/Amuro interaction for the 'yellow' section before I realized I was putting too much of my Hattori love into an Akai/Amuro fic, so that entire section got scrapped and Hattori disappeared (Yes, Hattori is meant to be Shinichi's fated friend.) I might post it in an 'extras' chapter if anyone wants to read it.
I did my best to explain the logic behind soulmates of this world without a bunch of explicit narration, but here's a summary with some details I couldn't really work in naturally in the story:
- There are five types of soulmates - red (romantic), yellow (friendship), green (family), purple (rivalry), and black (enmity).
- People either are born with the name of their soulmate on their wrist, or receive their soulmate's name when their soulmate is born
- The name of your soulmate is written on the wrist that corresponds with your soulmate's dominant hand (hence why Rei had 'Shuuichi Akai' on his left wrist)
- A 'connection condition' is an action two soulmates take together to make a thread materialize between them. The colour of this thread depends on the type of soulmates they are, and the connection condition varies according to the type of soulmate: kissing for red, shaking hands for yellow, hugging for green, one punching the other in the face for purple, and one killing the other for black
- Threads are intangible to everyone but the soulmates themselves, and can lengthen and shorten as necessary to allow soulmates to move around freely
- When someone with a thread dies, the thread disappears, leaving behind only a dyed ring of colour on each soulmate's finger