It had not taken her long to reacclimatize herself to Japan. Adila had actually missed living here. She believed that was why she liked Los Angeles so much. The constant noise and busyness preoccupied her and kept her from thinking too much. Kira mania had struck during her absence bringing fans of all kinds to the front and center of society. Teru had made it his personal duty to prosecute each and every copycat killer who killed using Kira's name. He was prone to long, sometimes frightening in their emotional intensity, diatribes speaking out against the "low and unworthy fiends who dared to defame the name of Kira." Since he was one of the senior partners and the Kira cases kept their firm in the news, Mr. Okibashi allowed Teru to monopolize her time and services for these cases.

Despite working so closely in the office, Adila had kept their personal interactions away from work to a minimum. She only permitted Teru to take her to lunch on workdays and absolutely no dinners. With dinner came the temptation for a good night kiss at the door, coming in for a drink before going home, and worse yet, an overnight stay. She was not having that for sure.

Teru had been warned that they would not immediately fall back into their relationship, and she meant it. He still lived in his apartment by the river, and she was rather pleased with the small and plain but sophisticated two-story home the company had bought for her across the city from him. The distance between their residences was a very good thing. There was no chance of him stopping by with the excuse that he 'just happened to be in the neighborhood.' Keeping him reined in at the office was easy because it was imperative to him to keep up a professional façade. Dallying with the firm's resident psychological expert would not bode well with the boss, and he could lose his partnership. It did not hurt her feelings one bit that keeping up appearances was more important to him than attempting to seduce her. She preferred it that way.

The first month back, Adila had hoped that she would receive a phone call or an email from L or Shuichi, but none ever came. By the second month she gave up that fantasy of them contacting her and became determined to move on with her life. By August, desperation had set in, and she had gone to the hotel where they had been staying when she was there before to be told they had checked out. She even went to the National Police Agency to see if there was some way she could contact one of the detectives who had been working on the case. There she was informed that all of those detectives no longer worked for the NPA. After that, she had no choice but to give up on trying to contact them and they were apparently not going to attempt to communicate with her so it was time to let it go. Upon reaching that point, she understood Teru's desperate quest to win her back over the last several years. However, she did not have the tenacity, or compulsive personality, he did. She supposed she should concentrate on what to do with her relationship with Teru. It was not fair to keep him guessing, but at the same time, he could have let her go years ago to save himself (and her) the emotional trauma. Maybe they could start dating again after the first of the year, but for now she just wanted to remain platonic friends to mend old wounds from their past and form a completely new relationship with him.

~\..'../~

November 5th , Adila Sharvani's Office, Okibashi Building, Japan

Adila shifted restlessly in her chair. Something was wrong, but she could not figure out what it was. She hated having this sixth sense type of sensitivity when something was off kilter because so far in her life it had never been wrong. She could not concentrate on the evidence laid out on the desk in front of her. They were prosecuting a serial rapist/murderer. The trial would begin next week, and she had a lot of work to do. As heinous as the crimes were, she was glad to be working on something besides a copycat Kira case. She had looked at crime scene photos of the brutally raped and beaten young college girls until tears had filled her eyes. She could not concentrate on the words on the coroner's reports. Her phone rang, and she half-heartedly glanced at the caller ID. Unknown flashed on the screen. Setting it down, she ignored it having had no interest to answer to start with. The same person called back four more times, and she answered it the fifth time out of sheer frustration.

"Hello," she barked impatiently. She grunted the word again when silence was her reply. "I'm hanging up now," she warned the reticent caller.

"Adila, I need to see you," Shuichi murmured into the phone barely above a whisper.

Her spine tingled and she sat forward in her chair. This was it. A dull ache formed in the back of her head as the ominous feeling crept over her that her world as she knew it was about to come to an end. "What is it?"

"Meet me at one of the sake tent stands at eight tonight. I'll find you," he told her and hung up.

It came as no surprise that he knew she was in Japan. L had probably known as soon as she accepted the job position and informed Shuichi of that as well. Adila shivered despite the warmth of her office. She hugged her arms around her body in an attempt to make herself warmer when Teru entered her office. Sometimes it annoyed her that he treated her office as his office, coming and going as he pleased. It reminded her of someone else who used to do that at a hotel.

"What's wrong?" he asked her, rushing to her side. He pressed his hand against her forehead and cheeks as if he were checking for a fever. "Are you sick?"

"I'm really not feeling well," she answered truthfully, avoiding the vigorous scrutiny from his brown eyes.

"Do you need to go home? You can if you like. You've been working really hard and have not taken any breaks," he said, looking down at the nightmarish photos spread across her desk. "You could use some time off from this stuff. An afternoon can't hurt."

"Thank you," she gushed gratefully, grabbing her purse and the dark purple women's trench coat he had bought her. His fascination with trench coats made her speculate sometimes if he was a flasher waiting to happen.

Teru watched her silently as she virtually fled from the office while shrugging on the coat. What was that all about? Why did she look like she had seen a ghost?

...

Adila arrived early at what she had dubbed 'Sake Row' the first time she found it because the back street was lined with the outdoor tent vendors selling sake along with a limited choice of snacks. She was shocked to find the same sake booth owner was still operating the identical stand where she had met Shuichi. Taking a seat, the owner rushed over with some warm sake for the cold night. She returned his bow after he poured her sake and encouraged her to drink. It was absolutely shocking, but in a good way, that he remembered her after all these years. She savored the warmth of the sake more than the taste on the freezing cold November night. Her second tokkuri of sake arrived at the table at the same time Shuichi did. She shuddered from the feeling of déjà vu because this was just like their first meeting. Standing to her feet, she put her arms around him without a word being exchanged between them. Fear spread from her heart, sending its icy tentacles through her whole body as she held the pale, stricken man.

"Adila, please sit down," he whispered in her ear, sliding his hands down her arms to clasp her hands. He sat close to her, keeping as much of their bodies in contact as possible. Unable to meet her gaze, he closed his eyes as he uttered, "L is dead."

Adila was sure a knife had been thrust into her heart. She had never thought she would see him again, but there had always been that tiny spark of hope hidden deep within her. With a stinging sensation in her chest, she felt that hope die. Her mouth opened to speak, but no words came. Her face twisted into a questioning expression; however, she could not voice the inquiries she wanted to ask.

"We don't know how or who or why. But he had a heart attack and died today," he told her.

"Kira?" she squeaked, her teary eyes searching his.

"We don't know," he whispered, brushing his fingers through her hair.

Adila emitted a strangled sob just before the dam broke behind her eyes spilling tears down her cheeks in warm rivulets. She leaned forward, pressing her face against his shoulder. How could L be dead? He was the best, the brightest, undefeatable, and unrelenting…and dead.

"Shouldn't you be…wherever you're supposed to be?" she sniffled, clinging to Shuichi.

"I was given special permission to visit you. Needless to say, the whole team is in an upheaval right now," he said, turning his head to kiss her cheek.

"Do you have any idea what will happen now that L is gone?" Her eyes searched his as he remained silent and seemed reluctant to answer her. "What? What is it?"

Shuichi swallowed so hard she could see his Adam's apple bob up and down. "Light Yagami will most likely take over as L," he told her, seeing the anger flare in her golden green eyes.

"No. No, he can't," she snarled, baring her teeth. "Ichi, it was him. He's Kira."

"How do you know?"

"Because L always believed it."

They talked in hushed tones about the theories and suppositions her and L had gone over for hours on end when she was staying at the hotel with him. Shuichi told her that somewhere along the line, Light was able to put enough doubt in L's head that his conviction wavered. That was probably what got him killed. They drank and talked, talked and drank until it was not easy for them to stand up. Once again history was repeating itself.

Adila hailed a cab, pulling Shuichi inside with her. She told the driver her address, and he stomped the gas pedal. Laying her head against his shoulder, she took comfort in the strong arm that encircled her shoulders.

"Come in with me," she whispered in his ear when the car turned onto her street.

"Are you sure?" he asked, tipping her chin up until his lips brushed across hers.

"Yes," she responded resolutely. Sitting up straight, she dug in her purse for money and shoved a wad of cash at the driver. She pulled her keys out as she exited the taxi.

"A house all of your own?" Shuichi inquired with disbelief.

"Yes. It was part of my job package," Adila explained, opening the door.

The hardwood floors were so shiny the dim moonlight reflected off of them. Dropping her purse and keys on the long table in the room to her right, she proceeded to the staircase. She did not have to look back to know he was following her because she could hear his footsteps on the wood. Going straight to her bedroom, she left him in the outer room while she went to the bathroom. At this point she had no real expectations for what would happen next. Whatever happened in the next several hours would be set apart in time and space, belonging only to him and her. They had been brought together once again and whether it was permanent or not, it did not matter. Right now was all that mattered and the future would take care of itself. The next day would come no matter what.

Adila undressed and returned to the bedroom wearing only a black silk robe. She was pleased to see Shuichi had made himself at home, taking off everything but his t-shirt and underwear to appear to be somewhat unassuming as to what might occur between them. She snuggled under the covers beside him as his eyes opened and closed sluggishly while he stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Do you want to get under here with me?" she inquired, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Without answering, Shuichi mechanically stood to pull back the blanket to slide in next to her. He pulled her into his arms, cradling her head in the crook of his arm as she snuggled close to him. Adila lay still in his arms listening to the steady cadence of his breathing as his chest rose and fell beneath her cheek. Without even a kiss good-night, they feel asleep enfolded in each other's arms.

...

Adila awoke to soft kisses being peppered across her face and neck. At first she was not sure what was happening and thought it was dream because her half pickled brain was slow on the uptake. Her eyes fluttered open to meet the deep rich brown orbs of Shuichi Aizawa. She pulled his lips to hers for a proper good morning kiss. The tears formed in her eyes when she remembered why he was with her.

"Don't cry. Please don't cry," he pled with her, kissing her again. He embraced her tightly burying his face in her soft, smooth hair. "I just want this case to end. I'm so tired of the death and heartbreak."

"Can you quit?"

"I wouldn't even if I could. I want to see this thing through and see Kira brought to justice."

Adila drew in a long, shaky breath as his fingers separated the front of her robe. She bit her lower lip as arousal shot straight to the innermost part of her when his lips brushed over the cleavage bared by the robe. A moan passed her lips when his fingers glided over her breast, pushing the silk material out of the way to reveal the brown nipple to him.

"Ichi," she gasped, arching her back into him as his lips covered the sensitive flesh and sucked lightly.

Shuichi held her hips, pushing his manhood against her to show her how much he wanted her. They both had sorrows they needed to drown. In each other, they could find a mutual and willing partner who truly understood their pain. Adila hooked her leg around his hip to hold his rapidly increasing member against her yearning body. Her tongue slid between his parted lips as he pushed his manhood into her. Their simultaneous moans of pleasure joined to make a pleasant melody of sexual satisfaction. Many more followed as he made love to her at a comfortingly unhurried pace seeking solace in her body and finding it from the ecstasy it brought him. He could tell he was having the same effect on her by the occasional vocalizations of bliss. The rate of his thrusts did not increase until the very end when he reached his climax. The sudden, vigorous movements of his hips pushed her over the line to enjoy a wonderfully devastating orgasm as well.

"I wish I could stay with you forever," Shuichi murmured, teasing her lips with his but not completing the kiss. When she issued a grunt of dissatisfaction, he pressed his lips to hers for a breath taking kiss.

"Me too," she rejoined, holding him securely in her arms. For some reason, their timing was never right and their encounters were fleeting yet poignant. A real relationship for them seemed to be out of the question despite their sporadic reappearances in each other's lives. Whatever happened, she knew she would never forget him. She wondered when they would meet again in the future. Under what heart-rending circumstances would they reunite next?