Setting: After series
Genre: General/Angst
Rating: PG (may or may not change)
Summary: Four years is a long time to be missing, but it doesn't stop Barnaby from trying to find his partner, Wild Tiger, who went MIA those four years ago. By chance, a man of strikingly similar warmth crosses his path; he is everything that Kotetsu was, but at the same time everything about him is wrong.

Once Lost Yet to Return

He did say "search", right – he promised himself to step up his efforts in scouring the city and, if he had to, beyond that once he ran out of places to look. He had been dead set on continuing his search well into the next day since this morning; he even took a paid day-off just to wander around in hopes of finding his partner again. So why, he was still asking, was he here standing at the bottom of the steps leading up to the townhouse in front of him. Barnaby stared up at the structure before a heavy sigh escaped him; he had been so caught up in his thoughts he didn't even realise where his feet had taken him.

Well, since I'm already here – might as well say hi, he sighed mentally to himself. He wondered if his subconscious still felt guilty for turning down Akira's offer earlier this afternoon, and mindlessly guided him back to the man's shared house. The blond cursed his better-off memory for remembering where the other lived, despite having only been here once. He raised a hand to the door, hesitating a moment before he knocked – he didn't hear anything from inside, so he wondered if he came before the "party" the housemate was throwing started. That proved to be clearly not the case as a young woman answered the door.

"Yeah? And – who the hell are you?" she quipped. Barnaby stood back a little, a bit taken back by her appearance. Most of her head was shaved saved for a the thin pink and blue Mohawk sticking up in the center; she had enough piercings on her face to set off five metal detectors simultaneously, and enough make-up layered on that would make Nathan's face-up look natural. She was wearing a mesh shirt and Barnaby was finding himself having a hard time to not stare at the obvious fact she wasn't wearing a bra or anything under that for that matter.

"I, uh… I know A-Akira… Hurst…" he managed out. He was thankful that the tattoos on the side of her head were "loud" enough he could focus on that instead of her chest. She didn't seem to care where his eyes were, cocking her head to the side as she gave him a jarring glare.

"Hey, Will! Some guy here sayin' he knows your fuckward!"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't call him that, Clara," William glowered at her. The woman only snorted, before moving away from the door to let the shaggy-haired man through; dark eyes widen in surprise, before a cocky smile came to his face. "Well, well – if it isn't the great Hero, Barnaby Brooks Jr.; surprised Akira managed to con your ass here."

"I was – in the area, so I thought I'd say hi," the blond answered hesitantly, glancing to the side. William only snickered, before inviting him in. Barnaby hovered by the door for a minute or two, worried what the rest of the crowd had to look like considering who greeted him first, before crossing the threshold. Aside from the talking and chattering of the "guests", it was shockingly quiet; apparently music wasn't a big thing for them, but there was certainly a lot of alcohol and finger foods laid out. Barnaby was beginning to see why Akira chose to hide away in his room – a lot of the people here had questionable characteristics, and it wouldn't have surprised him to find out some of them were in a local gang.

"Upstairs, second door to the right – knock three times and he'll actually open it for you," Will instructed, pointing up the stairs. Barnaby only nodded before trekking up the steps, ignoring the leer glares watching his back as he disappeared to the upper level. He got to the door William described and knocked three times, as told.

"Will? This better not be some joke!" came the muffled voice from inside.

"Um, it's not Will – it's me… Barnaby," the Hero replied. There was a moment of silence before he heard the fast-pace rustling of footsteps crossing the room, hearing a loud click before the door pulled open. It surprised him to see a beaming smile on the older man's face – like a child discovering they had one more present left to open.

"Hey! I, uh – you came?" the other couldn't seem to put his words straight. A smile appeared before Barnaby could even stop it.

"Yes, I – decided to have a change of heart and keep you company tonight… old man," Barnaby teased. The smile on the dark-haired man's face widened even more, stepping aside to let the younger in.

"I can't say I'm not happy – but I thought you said you had plans?"

"They can wait another time," the blond answered. Once he had stepped into the room, Akira closed the door and locked it again, before gesturing to the arm chair in the corner of his room. Mint green eyes glanced around the room, surprised by the tall bookshelf stack against the wall on the other side, and several smaller wall shelves also housing a number of books. The room was much neater than he was expecting it to be, but then he didn't figure Akira would be the messy kind – though the bed was definitely a different story. The sheets were still undone, books, papers and what looked like a carrier bag sprawled out over the mattress; no wonder the man didn't put him in his bed.

"Ah, go ahead and have a seat – I'll just… clean this up a bit," Akira said embarrassed by his bed. Barnaby took the chair while Akira went about to tidy up his bed, skimming the titles of his books to see where they belonged, what was actually his and what was school material. Barnaby only watched him with a small smile, wondering how the rest of the room could remain so orderly. He took another gander around the area – it was bare, with not much decoration, but for some reason it felt very homely. Maybe it was the grandeur amount of books the man kept, or the light colour wood of his furniture; not like his own room which was stark and empty.

"Ok – done!" Akira plopped himself down on the now made up bed, the mattress springs creaking at the sudden weight. The two men simply stared at each other, at a loss of what to say as an awkward silence hung between them. Akira shifted his position to sit cross-legged, Barnaby leaning back against the plush green seat of the chair. He was beginning to wonder why he came here in the first place; as it had been pointed out – neither man really knew each other beyond a name and occupation. Akira opened his mouth in attempts to start a conversation, but the words lingered on the tip of his tongue and refused to take form. Barnaby glanced to the bookshelf next to him – books… that was a good start, wasn't it?

"You – have a lot of books," he kicked himself mentally for stating the obvious. Akira only blinked at him, forcing a nervous smile.

"Yeah… I guess I'm a bit of a bookworm; Will's always teasing me that I relate with printed paper more than I do people over ten."

"Certainly a lot of classics you have there – Voltaire, Dante, Jane Austen, Shakespeare…"

"Shakespeare in German, actually," Akira noted. Bright green eyes turned to blink at him in surprise, the auburn-haired man rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I can speak German – somewhat; I can hold a decent conversation, but don't expect me to write a whole novel in it."

"So you're bilingual?"

"Trilingual, actually – my native is Japanese, of course. I learned German next, and then English last."

"That had to be pretty difficult."

"Learning any new language is hard; I still have trouble with English grammar, but I'm happy my students are so helpful with that kind of stuff," Akira laughed his shoulders relaxing. Barnaby felt a small smile spread on his face, feeling himself relax as well. The conversation seemed to flow much more easily from there, wandering from books to hobbies, to sharing stories from their work place, or simply just taking a jab at each other for laughs. Occasionally someone from the downstairs would thump at the door, startling them both, but since it was locked no wandering drunk could enter and interrupt them. The hours passed by without either noticing, until a sudden yawn escaped the blond; Barnaby looked down at the wristwatch to see it was drawing close to 1:30 in the morning.

"Oh wow, I didn't realise how late it was."

"Hm? Huh, wow… it is pretty late – where did all the time go?" Akira glanced to the clock on his desk, seeing the time. He got off the bed with a stretch, letting out a low groan as his muscles complained about the stiffness; Barnaby stood up from his own seat, stretching out his arms as another yawn escaped him. He hadn't felt this serene in ages. The older unlocked the door for them, making the notion to walk the blond to the door. "I'd invite you to sleepover, but there's probably a few piss-drunk asses passed out on the floor – including Will himself."

"It's fine, I really should be going anyways." Sure enough, when they reached the bottom of the stairs, there were at least three random bodies lying unconscious on the floor, or slumped over on the table. Akira let out a low growl, gently massaging his forehead at the mess, and the obnoxious snoring of one burly-looking man passed out face down on the floor. Barnaby offered to help with the cleanup, but the man only flashed him a smile, waving a hand; he'd just kick his housemate and whoever was sober enough in the morning to do it. With that, they walked over to the door, stepping around the empty bottles and cans managing to get there without a scratch or causality.

"Hey, um – thanks… for tonight; I really appreciate the company," Akira thanked as he stood in the doorframe. Barnaby only smiled, shaking his head.

"It was the least I could do – you did help me before too."

"Aha – between those punks and the whole hostage bit, I think we're pretty much even." Akira held out his hand to the younger man, the blond giving him an owl look as he stared at it. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again; we always keep bumping into each other somehow." Barnaby smiled, reaching out to take the hand held out to him.

"So it seems; I'll look forward to our next meeting then," he was half-joking. The two shared a laugh before bidding the other good night, Barnaby walking down the steps to head off for his own home. Akira watched him go down the street, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe. He knew it was a bad idea to get close to a Hero, considering his profession, but as long as he kept a safe distance, it should be fine. He couldn't really describe it, but something about the ex-King really drew him in. He gave one last smile to the night before moving away from the door, locking it up for the night, before honey eyes turned to the disaster area that used to be their living room.

He walked over to the couch where, sure enough, he found his plastered housemate passed out with an arm over his face and looking a little paler than usual. Akira sighed as he leaned on the back of the couch, gently, but firmly poking at William's arm.

"Oi! Wake up, ass shit! You'll catch a cold if you sleep down here," he nagged. The dark-haired man only moaned in his sleep, giving some relief that he didn't drink himself into an alcoholic coma. The poking persisted, William moving a sluggish arm to bat away his hand; he tried to turn on his side, inevitably rolling himself off the couch to the floor.

"…ow - fuuuuck…"

"You certainly know how to charm a prince," Akira rolled his eyes. He walked around to help pick the man off the floor, hoisting him up over his shoulder. The other groaned and whined at him, but was too off-balanced to really put up a fight and let his partner dragged him up the stairs to his room. He made an odd noise as Akira simply plopped him on the bed, the springs creaking and groaning at the sudden weight. William made a helpless effort to try and find a more comfortable position, but his limbs felt too heavy to move and he gave up on the idea entirely, not caring if his body was twisted in an odd way or that his legs were still hanging off the side of the bed. Akira sighed loudly, shaking his head.

"You are hopeless…" with some effort, he helped get the man fully laid out on his bed, carefully turning him on his side as he removed anything that could become a hazard in the other's sleep. Finally having gotten him into a safe sleeping form, Akira yanked the covers from underneath the listless body and pulled them up over him. He stayed by the edge of the bed for a moment, watching the sleeping face, sighing again before he turned to walk out of the room turning the lights off.

He didn't bother with the three random strangers downstairs, heading towards his own room and locked the door for safety measures. He turned off the main light of his room and carefully treaded over to his already tided up bed, gratefully it had been done before hand. Akira was dead tired and he only spent ten minutes fussing over William. He crawled under the covers, lying on his back as he reached a hand to take off his glasses, setting them on the dresser. Thank god it was the weekend, so he didn't have to get up early for teaching later.

The man settled in with a subtle hum, fidgeting here and there a bit before he felt truly comfortable enough to drift off to sleep. Akira lifted his hand to his face, still feeling the lingering warmth when he shook the blonde's hand; he closed it into a fist, putting his arm down as he closed his eyes. No – he shouldn't be thinking about it; an assassin and a Hero was definitely a bad combination. This was the first time he's ever been interested in another person before; relations were usually messy for his line of work, no matter what they were. Akira had long since tossed the need for them aside since becoming a killer, but the feelings that flooded his chest – this strange sense of comfort whenever he was near the other man. It was – actually, he wasn't even sure how to describe it.

A dejected sigh escaped him, honey-amber eyes opening to glance out the window by his bed, gazing at the city-lit skyline. Even in this crawling, slumbering hour the lights of the city never slept, making it near impossible to see the stars. Akira rolled over on his side away from the window – he prayed, despite how much he was hoping for it, that he and Barnaby wouldn't meet too soon in the near future.

-Chapter Eight/End-