Alright! Finally, a Kikaider fic from me! I've been trying so hard to write one, and now there's this. The idea behind it might seem a little strange at first, and it might seem vaguely AU, but if you read through to the end, it'll start making a little more sense.
This is my first Kikaider fic, and it has been a long time since I saw the series, so please, feel free to correct me if I've made a mistake. I welcome constructive criticism - I want to become more than mediocre.
Kikaider isn't mine. I know you readers know that, but considering today's sue-happy society, everything needs disclaimers these days. This fic is dedicated to those of you at the Kikaider forums for inspiring me to write fanfiction for this lovely series.

One Last Goodbye
by Angel of Faith

She shivered as she lowered herself to the steps, clutching her steaming mug of hot chocolate tightly. It was almost discouragingly cold, but it was nights like these when the skies were clearest. She raised the hot chocolate to her lips as she gazed up at the stars, letting the warmth of the liquid spread throughout her body.

A cold breeze whistled through the trees just then, blowing her short hair into her eyes. As she listened closer, she could almost hear the faint notes of a haunting melody that, even after all these months, she could still hear clearly in her mind. As she stood to go inside, she began to hum the first few bars of the song.

She lived alone, and though her home was filled with beautiful things and had people coming and going frequently, nights like this would remind her just how empty it was. Once the world had fallen silent, the evident emptiness of her home called attention to the emptiness in her heart. Though she had once sought this serenity, she had grown to hate the silence, and raised the volume of the song she hummed.

He had played that song for her on the night he left. In the short time they had known each other, he had taught her so much about love, and she couldn't begin to express her gratitude to him for it. Somehow, though, she knew that she didn't have to say anything. They sat together in silence, save for the sounds of the guitar's strings as he strummed them effortlessly. As the song ended, he had smiled at her, leaving without a word.

It had been at least a month since he left when she had finally begun to search for that man who still kept a place in her heart. Every time she thought she had found a lead, however, she arrived at a dead end. After her brother, who had come for an impromptu visit, had offered her some kind advice, she ended the search. He was right, after all. She knew that he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be found, but she had to put her faith in him. He would return to her, someday, and she would be waiting for him.

After having moved to the bedroom window, she pressed her forehead against the cold glass. The sparse beginning snowflakes of a storm gently floated to the ground, lightly frosting the forest behind her house with a layer of white, and her mind wandered to her love once more. He was out there somewhere, she was certain. And she wondered if he was thinking about her, too.

As he let the pen drop from his metallic fingers, he flexed them, despite the fact that they couldn't cramp up like those made of flesh and bone. He picked the letter he had written up gingerly, holding it closer to his eyes. After giving it a quick scan, he decided that he was satisfied with the way it had come out, and so he folded it and placed it inside an envelope. He slid the envelope's flap into the back of it, not bothering to seal it, and neatly printed a few characters onto the front of the envelope.

He pulled a long coat over himself as he made his way outside. He didn't feel cold, of course, and didn't need the coat, but to be seen in this weather without one would just seem far too suspicious. He held the envelope inside of the coat, not wanting it to be wet by the falling snow as he strayed from the road into a thick cluster of trees.

The route to her home was still there, permanently engrained into his memory, though he hadn't been there in quite some time. He stepped as lightly as he could through the forest, though each snapping twig seemed to echo endlessly through the air. Aside from the drifting snow, his movement was the only thing that disturbed the stillness of that night.

As he finally neared the edge of the forest, he quickly ducked behind a tree, not wanting to be seen. There, silhouetted by the light falling from the window, was the woman that he had been enamored with for as long as he could remember. He watched from the shadows as she sighed, moving from the window. The traces of her warm breath lingered against the cold glass, and as she switched the light off, he knew that that gray swirl of condensation would be the last of her that he would see for quite some time.

When he was certain that the woman had gone to bed for the night, he crept silently from his hiding place around to her front steps. He slid the envelope beneath her door, but remained there, his finger poised above the doorbell. He drew his hand back toward his side. As much as he wanted to see her just one last time, he knew that he could not, not like this.

The man walked back toward the forest, giving the woman's home one last wistful look before disappearing into the trees.

She awakened with the sun, feeling the warmth of its rays as they caressed her cheek. She pulled her bathrobe on as she stifled a yawn, heading out to the kitchen to start some water for her morning coffee. As the water warmed, she moved about her house, from one room to the next, stopping in the front entryway. A small envelope caught her eye, marked only with her given name. She absent-mindedly traced the three parallel lines of the katakana mi with her thumb as she pulled the letter from its envelope.

Emotions rapidly flickered through her eyes as they scanned the paper. Her initial curiosity was replaced with joy, to be replaced with shock, anger, and sadness, in turn. Her mouth fell open then with a mixture of surprise and horror, and though tears welled up in her eyes, she didn't stop reading. Instead, she unconsciously began to read the remainder of the letter aloud.

"...would be best if we didn't see each other again. I thought the worst was over, and I thought my days of terror were done with, but I was dead wrong. I don't want you to have to deal with this again, and I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to you. It will be hard, I know, but it is for the best.

"I always wanted you to know that although I never gave you a proper goodbye, I never stopped loving you. Ever since I left, you were the only thing on my mind. I never had the chance to tell you what you meant to me, and so I'll tell you now:

"You are my everything, Miyuki, and though this is goodbye for now, I know we'll be together some day. I love you. Sincerely, Toru."

Miyuki let out a strangled cry, letting the letter slip from her fingers as she braced herself against the doorway, her body shaking with the force of her sobs.

Toru, or Blue Hakaider, as he was now known, lunged at Kikaider dutifully. He hated all of this. He never wanted to be involved with DARK again, as he hated all the violence and destruction, but he owed a debt to Professor Gill, a debt payable only with his life.

Yellow Jaguar had essentially killed him, and Toru didn't really know what to expect when his senses had returned to him. Was he in the afterlife now? But he hadn't awakened to angels or demons; he was bound to Hell on Earth.

"Hello, Toru." The rough voice held a hint of laughter. After glancing around the room, Toru found the voice's owner, Professor Gill, lips curved up into a snide grin.

"I... I'm alive?" Toru questioned. He felt in pristine condition, healthier than he had ever been, to his recollection. He stretched his fingers out in front of him, and gave a startled yelp, noting that they were no longer made of his flesh but instead of metal. "What have you done to me?!"

A cruel laugh resonated from Gill's throat. "I saved your life, young Toru," he replied. "You will be forever indebted to me for this act, and so I will require your services for the duration of your life."

Toru remained silent. He was an honorable man, and knew that he couldn't just turn his back on the man who had saved him. "May I have one last request, then?" he asked.

"As long as it's within reason," Gill countered after some thought.

"I wish to be able to write and deliver a letter to the woman I love," Toru told him.

That had been months ago, during the coldest winter Toru had experienced in his life. He briefly wondered if Miyuki had received his letter, and what her reaction to it was, but he needed to bring his mind back to the battle. Even now, combined with the other Hakaider replicas as the giant android Gattaider, they were losing. With some quick strategy, one of those Kikaiders had somehow snuck an attack in on them. A large crack was now running across the glass dome enclosing his brain.

As he felt the functions that he controlled slowly shutting down and his thoughts becoming hazy, Toru let his mind drift away to thoughts of Miyuki, his love. The liquid protecting his brain slowly drained, but a peaceful feeling washed over him. He felt ready for death, now that Miyuki finally knew the extent of his feelings. As he felt himself slip away from the land of the living, one thought remained on his mind.

'I will wait for you... Miyuki...'

O.o; I don't have a clue where the idea came from. It was just there, needing to be written. I know what started it - I was reading my review history, and in one of them I mentioned to Inuyatta how hard it would be to add Toru to a fic without pulling a 'surprise - I didn't die!' or using the magic of artistic license to resurrect him - so I thought, how else could you bring Toru back? And this came to me. ::shrugs:: It was fun to write, though. I love random one-shot characters in series. ::huggles Miyuki and Toru::
Did I throw anyone off with the beginning? Parts of the beginning are talking about Jiro, but since it never mentions names until toward the end, you probably couldn't tell that the man with the guitar and accidental love advice and the man she loved were separate people. And then I threw in that Miyuki had a brother, to throw people off even more. Heh.
Feedback of any type is welcome! If you've got questions, ask away, because I never know if I completely explain the things I was thinking in the fic. An email might be better if you want a response, email at angeloffaith28[at]yahoo[dot]com... questions, comments, requests, I'll take anything that isn't spam.
[EDIT:] FFN no longer lets me type tildes, asterisks, carats, or underscores, and it won't let my type my email address normal. Why are you doing this to me! ::shakes fist angrily:: I can't trust the system, so let me know if there are some weird formatting errors that I didn't catch, please! Thanks so much.