Early update, since I have a good buffer going and it's almost 1 in the morning and I'm looping and thinking it's a good idea. Enjoy~

Setting: After series
Genre: General/Angst/Definite chance of romance in the very near future
Rating: PG (not changing)
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

The snow flurried in her face as she walked against the wind, tugging her coat tighter around herself to block out the cold. She really hated the winters in Sternbild sometimes – at least in Oriental Town the snow was consistent, predictable almost, and stuck until as late as early April sometimes. She let out a shivering breath, pulling the scarf up tighter around her neck; the temperature had finally dropped enough to make the snow stick after the Christmas holidays had ended – figures. Despite all the wishes for a fluffy, white Christmas it had only been wet and dreary with barely even two inches of snow.

Kaede sighed as she huddled herself for what little body heat she had left; she should've stolen one of the fire students' powers – some of them naturally had an elevated body temperature as part of their abilities. The new quarter had started at the academy and Kaede was given back her privilege to venture off the grounds without supervision. She had to promise at least five different people not to skip anymore classes or use her powers outside the school, but the latter she figured she could excuse for some exceptions.

"Daaaaddddy~ I'm cold!" a little girl whined. The young teen turned her head to where a father was standing with his daughter, the man giving her a sympathetic smile.

"I know honey, but we have to wait for mommy to come back, alright?" The girl only pouted, tucking her hands under her arms as she shivered against the freezing wind. The father looked to his daughter with a caring smile, undoing the buttons of his overcoat; he reached the open coat around the shivering little girl, picking her up in his arms as he held her close to him. The little girl squealed as she felt herself being lifted up, hugging him tightly around the neck.

"There – is this much better now?" he asked sweetly. The girl nodded her head, giving him the biggest, childish smile in the world, resting her head against his shoulder. Kaede only smiled sadly at the affection, wondering how many times she had reprimanded her own father for trying to pick her up without warning. Even though she was sixteen years old now, she would give anything to have her dad attempt to pick her – he probably could do it too. A lonely sigh escaped her, turning her back to the father and daughter scene as she continued walking on; she made one more promise to Barnaby – and that was to not let her desperation to search for her father get in the way of her life. An easier said task then done, as she still kept looking over her shoulder every time a man matched similar traits of him.

A hand brushed the icy snowflakes off the knitted cap she was wearing, feeling them melt against the warmth from her fingers. She tried to convince herself to go find a cozy little café, maybe get some hot chocolate or something, and stay around for a bit while lazily sipping her drink. That would count as not searching for her dad, right? A sigh – right, as if it was that easy as snapping your fingers; the girl really had to wonder how Barnaby was managing to do it when he had been just as distraught, if not more so. Barely another thought passed her mind when a sudden explosion several feet in front of her resonated, startling several passer-byers as a wave of thick, black smoke rose from the building. Regaining her wits, Kaede ran into action, first checking to make sure no one was fatally injured by the explosion, trying to yell out for people to clear the way or take cover.

She saw vague shadows trying to slip out under the cover of the smoke, shouldering large bulky items very likely containing stolen goods. Dark brown eyes looked to the sky and down the street, waiting to see if any of the Heroes had gotten wind of this yet; not seeing a sign that Hero TV was made aware of the robbery yet, Kaede decided to make the first move. First thing – delay the criminals so the Heroes wouldn't have to spend half a day searching for them. She closed her eyes as she tried to activate the power she was currently hosting – who's was it again? Who did she touch last? She opened her eyes as her body glowed that familiar light blue associated with NEXTs.

She held her hand out to the smoke, feeling a wave of air rush past her effectively sweeping the thick clouds away; wind power – she could handle this. The criminals seemed to notice that their camouflaged escape route was dispersing, instantly freezing on the spot afraid that a certain Wizard of the Wind had already shown up. So when they didn't see a hide or hair of the Hero, Sky High, they were thoroughly confused on where the wind had come from. Kaede decided to use the confusion to her advantage, calling up another burst of wind to knock them off their feet. There was a startled cry, before the three masked bodies scrambled up to face her, eyeing the blue aura around her.

"SHIT! A NEXT!" one of them yelled out.

"Shoot her, idiot! She's just a kid!" another snapped. They each pulled out a handheld gun, aiming it at her and opened fire without mercy. Kaede was thankful that most of the civilians had already fled the area, concentrating the wind to create a barrier around her to deflect the bullets flying at her. Seeing that the guns were ineffective, they decided the best choice was to run for it, turning on their heels and bolted. Kaede took off after them, hoping that the Heroes by now knew of this robbery and that she was buying them enough time till they arrived.

She chased them down the block, before trying to gather enough wind under her to project herself in front of their path to cut them off. It proved to be more difficult than expected without the extra boost of a jetpack and her landing ended up on top of one of them. Good enough for her; she quickly recovered summoning wind on both sides to knock the remaining two thieves off their feet, hearing them fall back with a grunt. She let out a startled yelp at suddenly being thrown off, the man underneath her managing to scramble back up to his feet, gun aimed at her head.

"Why you little…" Kaede let out a cry as she swept her hand up, creating a wind spurt. His hand was knocked up by the force, his finger pulling the trigger on reflex, firing the shot unintentionally into the air. Pulling herself together, Kaede got up to her feet and lunged at the man, closing her hand into a fist as she clocked him clear across the jaw. He stumbled to the ground, the teen shaking her hand at the slight pain in her knuckles; she wondered how her dad always managed punching with his bare fist without it hurting. There was a groan as the man slowly sat back up, rubbing at his jaw as he glared furiously at the young teen girl standing in front of him.

"You – big mistake!" he lurched forward on to his feet at her. Kaede held her hands up in defense as she took several steps back in attempts to put distance between them. There was barely a minute between them before an arm reached out of nowhere, taking the man in a sweeper hold around the neck as he was thrown down to the ground. Kaede stood in surprised, looking up at who she was expecting to be one of the Heroes, but it wasn't – it was just an ordinary man, dressed in a thick, grey winter coat, standing over the criminal with his own gun pointing at him.

"Easy there, mister – I doubt I'd get away with the excuse of 'self-defense' if you try anything funny," the newcomer warned. The thief only gritted his teeth, looking to his two companions to see that they were still thoroughly knocked out and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He only cursed at the man smiling triumphantly over him, holding his hands above his head.

"Good boy," without a second warning, a kick to the head knocked him right out. The stranger fiddled with the gun in his hands, dumping the remaining bullets to the ground, before tossing it. He turned around to face the girl still standing in awe behind him, a warm smile flashing on angular features.

"You should really leave these kinds of things to the Heroes, you know miss," his honey-brown eyes laughed behind thin frames. Kaede couldn't say anything, recognizing him as the teacher from the elementary school; she kept searching – roaming everything about him. His height, the shape of his face, the colour of his eyes, his hair – she had dismissed it before, but maybe it had been the mood at the time. Seeing him again, this closely and actually looking at him, the word was threatening to spill from her lips before she could even stop it.

"Da…"

"LOOK OUT!" he suddenly cried out, rushing at her without any warning. Kaede only stiffened as she felt strong, sturdy arms wrap around her frame, pushing her to the ground before a loud crash sound echoed on the spot she had been standing. She was in shock for a few moments – not from the sudden motion of being shoved to the ground, but at the comforting warmth of the embrace. The man carefully picked himself off of her, looking to where a now broken and very large ceramic flower bed laid scattered and in pieces, the flowers ripped to shreds and dirt splattered everywhere against the white snow. He let out a breath of relief, carefully getting off of the teen lying tense underneath him.

"You alright? Sorry about that," he brushed the snow off his coat, looking up to where the flower bed had fallen from. "Looks like the support was knock loose from that bullet earlier and the weight made it gave way." He held his hand out to help her up, Kaede staring at it for the longest while before hesitantly taking it; he gave her a warm smile, patting her shoulder as he brushed off some of the snow.

"You should go home and rest – even though that was some amazing tricks you did there, best left to the professionals, okay?" he lectured lightly. Kaede only nodded her head, the man giving her one last pat before he strode off in the opposite direction, pulling at his coat to block against the sudden chill. Dark chocolate eyes watched his back; she remembered his name, Barnaby had told her once – Akira Hurst. The thought suddenly struck as she realised that he touched her; he had touched her! She quickly activated her powers, praying, hoping and whatever else possible as her body glowed – her heart dropped in an instant.

She didn't feel it – there was no surge of power, no surge of energy, of strength; she didn't feel like she could jump building structures, she didn't feel like she could outrun a sports' car – she didn't feel anything. Nothing like she always felt when she had her dad's powers, or "borrowed" Barnaby's for a spell. Shakily, she waved a hand, seeing the snowflakes dance in a mini whirl-wind before it died out; she still had the same power before Akira touched her.

"Miss Wild! What happened here?" Sky High's enthusiastic voice broke through the tension, landing on the scene to see three wanted criminals knocked out, a pile of dirt and flowers on the ground and tears streaming down the girl's face. He gently touched a hand to her shoulder, giving her a subtle squeeze. "Miss Wild?"

She reached a hand up to wipe away at her tears, shaking her head; Sky High didn't say anything, reluctantly letting her shoulder go, rounding up the unconscious criminals to hand over to the police. He radioed back to the others that the thieves had already been taken care of and that Kaede was at the scene. There were several panicked strings of nags from Rock Bison, demanding to know the situation as to why the young teen was there in the first place; Barnaby had been considerably calmer to the news. Sky High escorted her back to Justice Tower, where the two would be waiting to give her a stern reminder about her earlier promises. However, all thoughts and promises to lecture the girl till next week were instantly throw out the window when both men saw the expression on her face, her eyes a little red from the tears.

"Kaede?" Barnaby spoke softly. The girl didn't look up at him for a moment, before she suddenly rushed at him, arms going around his waist as she cried against his chest. Barnaby stood flustered for a moment, about to try and remove the youth from him but froze at the whispered, broken words.

"…you're…you're r-right… h-he isn't dad…" she choked in between sobs. Mint green eyes only blinked at her in confusion, Barnaby placing his hands lightly on her shoulders, asking her to explain. Kaede didn't pull away, somehow managing to retell the situation from start to finish.

"…I – I touched him, but my powers… they didn't change – they didn't change after I touched him!" a fresh batch of tears broke as the realisation sunk in deeper. Barnaby slowly wrapped his arms around her, letting the girl cry against him.

"I'm sorry…"

"I thought… I was so sure he was dad! I-I know you told me otherwise, but I thought…" her voice trailed off, her hold tightening to an almost bone-crushing squeeze. Barnaby didn't say anything, simply holding the teen until she was able to calm down again; he had already known – he knew for a while now that Akira wasn't Kotetsu, having spent so much time with the man by now. The fact that Kaede didn't gain the hundred-power after touching Akira only cemented it further. He reached a hesitant hand to slowly pat her head, not saying a word – not even sure what he could say.

Antonio could only stand by as he watched the daughter of his absent best friend slowly break down under the emotional build up. Despite Nathan's warnings to not bring up the mystery behind Akira Hurst, he had been tempted to tell the ex-King of Heroes what they had discovered about this "friend". However, he was feeling conflicted – while true he didn't like the idea of one of his comrades having a "ghost" friend, Barnaby hasn't been happy – really happy – since Kotetsu's disappearance. And he really didn't need to have the other at his throat for "doubting" any intentions Akira might have. He heaved a sigh, watching as Kaede finally calmed down enough that she released her hold on Barnaby, trying to make herself presentable before going back to the academy. At least he didn't have to worry about this mystery man being a NEXT of some sorts.

-Chapter Eleven/End-