Setting: After series
Genre: General/Angst/Some romance floating around here somewhere...
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

There was an insistent, steady beeping noise as he slowly regained his awareness, closed eyes twitching before slowly opening to the stark white plains that greeted him. He tried to sit up but found that his body wouldn't listen to him, the best he could do was twitch or groan every time he tried. He couldn't even bend his fingers even the slightest bit.

"Easy there, Handsome – best not to do anything strenuous for a while," a gentle voice soothed. He was able to shift his eyes, seeing a blurred image of a person sitting next to him; he didn't need his glasses to know who it was. There was only one man he knew who called him "Handsome" and wore that ungodly amount of pink on a daily basis. Barnaby tried to speak, but his words came out in a mess of slurs and muddled tones; Nathan shushed him softly.

"Don't talk, dear; the doctors said you were hit with some kind of paralysis – a strong one too. You only just started breathing on your own ten minutes ago," he explained. There was a whole storm of questions Barnaby wanted to ask, but he couldn't get his mouth to form the words properly; Nathan shushed him again, and began explaining what had happened after he took off. The four crooks they had captured were dead – shot in the heart and died within a short period of time; the drugs were real though and handed over to the police to be dealt with. Before all that though, everyone had been trying to get in touch with him; and when he didn't answer, they all fanned out and started searching. Sky High had been the one to find him, firstly clearing away the ominous gas with his winds before checking up on Barnaby.

"He told us you weren't breathing, so he went ahead of us and got you to the hospital," Nathan continued to explain. "You're lucky your heart or any other organs weren't affected by the gas, or you wouldn't have survived." There was a heavy silence between them save for the monitors tracking his heart rate. Nathan seemed to be contemplating something for a moment, before he slowly rose from his seat; Barnaby made an incoherent noise, feeling a gentle finger press lightly against his lips. Normally he would be aghast to this, but for some reason he didn't feel repulsed at all; the hand brushing his hair aside was warm.

"When you're able to talk again, we'll talk – but for now get some proper rest, honey," Nathan soothed, his voice was tender having a hint of that mothering, worrying tone. Barnaby only watched him leave, seeing the fuzzy image of the man waving over his shoulder before he left the room; most likely he was going to inform the others that he had woken up at least. Mint green eyes shifted back to the stark bare ceiling above, the memory replaying in his head again, seeing Akira's friendliness, that kind and gentle-hearted image being replaced with a stone, lifeless being. Tears began to prick the corner of his eyes, quietly rolling down his cheeks at the memory – the pain rising in his chest and the burning need to know why. He fell asleep with tears dried up against his skin, closing his eyes against this new side he discovered to Akira, trying to push it from his mind as he prayed for a dreamless sleep.

-8-

The sky had turned a fiery orange as the sun slowly set in the distance, disappearing behind the intruding sky scrapers dominating the air. The soft honking of traffic moved below him, reminding him of the daily life that revolved on regardless of what they did, or where they've been; he torn his eyes away from the window upon hearing footsteps, a hand reaching for the handgun resting on the floor by his side. He knew who it was most likely to be, but there was one thing William learned in this business and that was to always prepare every possibility. Akira sauntered into the room, his presence almost cold enough it sent a chilling shiver down Will's spine.

"You're late…" he simply pointed out. Akira didn't say anything as he pulled the case off his shoulder, setting it down on the floor without so much as a noise. Dark raised eyes only watched him as he crossed the room, settling into the corner where he had set down a box and a blanket earlier. They would be camping here overnight.

"…you didn't kill him, did you?" William asked. Again, Akira didn't say anything. Gloved hands clenched into fists, William standing up to his feet as he turned to glare at the man sitting in the corner.

"What the hell are you thinking? Maybe this might come as a shock to you, but I am your partner, you know!" he snapped. "I know this is your mission, but we're a team! I at least have the right to know what you're planning!" Akira's hands stopped for a moment, and for second Will thought he'd be getting some answers; nothing but silence filled the air between them. The raven head sighed, before sinking back down to the floor, leaning back against the wall. Other than knowing Akira was the one who tipped off the Heroes about the drug dealers, and rigged the meeting place with explosives, he didn't understand why he did it. There was no mission to kill those crooks, least not that Will was aware of, and he wasn't sure what the purpose of killing them in front of the Heroes would serve. Was Akira trying to get caught? Granted all the guns were silenced, making it harder to track where the shot had come from if you weren't paying attention, but shooting four in a row would definitely blow your cover.

"I knew he'd figure out where the shots came from – even if it was only a vague guess," the empty voice startled him. William glanced over to where Akira was sitting, seeing his hands moving and inspecting a handheld gun. He leaned away from the wall, giving the auburn haired man a puzzling look.

"Why would you lead him like that? And from the looks of the equipment you took with you – you had the perfect opportunity to kill him…" The air between them was heavy. Skilled hands held the gun up to eye level, aiming it at the wall as amber-brown eyes surveyed it. William only stared at him for a second, trying to piece the puzzles together, before his eyes went wide in realisation.

"You… you wanted him to see your face…!" The other went abnormally still, not moving for several minutes before lowering the gun down. William shifted his position to sit on his knees, slamming his hands down on the worn-out wooden floor. "Are you fuckin' crazy? Why did you go and do a shit thing like that? You think he's going to keep quiet now that he knows! Even if you kill him, other people will know who you are! Why didn't you fucking remain anonymous?"

Akira finally looked at him, peering over his shoulder with a cloudy, unreadable stare; William was panting slightly from his raving, glaring at the man sitting on the other side of the room, too furious to really shrink back from the inhuman stare. Akira's eyes narrowed a bit, before he looked away, the sounds of a gun clicking echoing murderously in the air.

"…I have to see it…" he began softly. Sharp black eyes only blinked at him, continuing on in that empty, soulless tone. "When I kill him, I have to see his face – the face of betrayal and hatred."

"Y-you're not using a rifle…" William's voice suddenly shook, a tumbling sick feeling settling in his gut. "You're… you're going to kill him face to face…" The other abruptly stood up, pocketing the gun away as he pulled on a casual winter coat, and headed towards the door. William was on his feet in a flash, staring at the other with a fearful look.

"Don't do it like that! Use the rifle, Akira! Don't kill him like that!"

"I still have a few things I need to set up – don't follow, you'll only get in the way."

"AKIRA!" William near shouted out. The other ignored him as he disappeared through the doorway, his footsteps fading down the empty corridor to wherever it was he needed to be. The shaggy-haired man only stood where he was, feeling his whole body shaking to the bones; he stumbled back to lean against the wall, feeling himself slide down to the floor as his legs turned to jelly. He couldn't stop Akira, even if he wanted to – that man never let anything interfere with a mission, and Will was no exception. A hand reached to tangle in knotted, black hair, unable to tame the wild thoughts of how this would change Akira in the worst ways possible. William knew why he had been assigned as the man's partner – he had been fresh blood, someone who was considered the prime of the prime, and the ace of the whole organization, and Will was to keep an eye on him.

He had to bite back his tongue at the contempt swelling in his chest; Will was aware that Akira had a slightly different training due to his amnesia, and he used to think that this double-personality thing was just a quirk of the man's. However, the fact that Akira was willing to throw away all human emotions, and was even at the point of being afraid of them, made him suspect that something else happened during that "training". William grounded his teeth, banging a fist against the wall behind him as he cursed into the empty room.

"Shit… what the hell did that bastard do to you…"

-8-

There was an odd, almost welcomed silence between them as they simply let past events boil down, each gathering their own thoughts about the situation. Antonio and Nathan sat by the hospital bed, waiting for Barnaby to wrap up his thoughts concerning what happened the other day. He told them about Akira, how he found the man and believed him responsible for killing those criminals, and how the man knocked him out. He was grateful that his two seniors didn't say anything, despite that they had tried to talk to him about it. They really couldn't – knowing how much Akira had meant to the blond, only to be betrayed in the worst possible way. The only positive outlook they could get from this was that at least Barnaby was willing to listen to them now.

"…what do you know about – about Akira?" Barnaby asked after drawing in a deep breath.

"That's the hard part – we don't," Antonio replied, staring off to a corner of the room.

"But that's…"

"I've hacked through every database I could think of, Handsome – Akira Hurst has not shown up in anything I've looked through," Nathan interjected. "He doesn't exist – not according to official records." Forest green eyes finally looked up at them, both flinching at the look of confusion and hurt on the younger's face. Barnaby quickly looked away, hands gripping the bed sheets.

"That would make sense… you can't trace an assassin who has no identity…" he began. "But – how did he get his job as a teacher then if he had no credentials to back him up?"

"I checked into that – I had a little chat with the principle of that school; apparently it was a favor for an old friend who's associated with Akira, but he wasn't employed as a "full-time" teacher. He was only considered a part-timer, but doing full hours," Nathan explained. "However, it seems that "Akira" handed in his resignation slip a couple days ago; where he's gone from there, who knows." Barnaby only hummed in response, and aside from the noises outside the room went back to silence. There were no more words between them before he asked the two men to leave him alone for a while. Antonio seemed to want to keep talking about the matter, but Nathan lightly tapped him on the shoulder, shaking his head. Antonio sighed, but let the subject dropped, standing up to his feet and headed out the door; Nathan lingered a moment before he stood up, rose-coloured eyes gazing at the blond with a troubled look.

"For what it's worth – we were only going to tell you that Akira didn't have any official records; we didn't really have any evidence he was tied in with the assassin cases," he began softly. "We just wanted to let you know, in case…" The words trailed off; Barnaby didn't look at him. Nathan sighed, before suggesting the other rest a little longer, bidding goodbye as he walked out of the room. The click of the door went unheard as Barnaby simply sat up in the bed, eyes staring at a blank spot in front of him.

There was bright sunlight shining through the closed window from the other side of the room; it was the only sigh that promised to bring warmer weather as spring crept closer and closer. They had talked about the spring, how Akira mentioned that he liked taking long walks just shortly after all the snow had melted. It was not quite warm, but not quite freezing either, perfect weather to enjoy nature at its changing stages. A short, forced laugh escaped Barnaby at the thought – it seemed like such a trivial thing for an assassin to enjoy; to act so normal and human, it was no wonder he never even suspected once that the man could be hiding something. The short laugh became longer, sounding unnatural even to his own ears.

He tossed his head back against the wall, feeling a stinging prick of tears at the corner of his eyes as he just continued to laugh. How many times did this make it now? How many times had he been strung along and lied to, and even worse – practically clinging to every word of it? The laughter finally faded into choked breaths, trying to level his breathing as he tried to stall the tears. He heaved out a deep sigh, slowly wiping away the lingering wetness in his eyes; there was only one person in the world he could truly believe in – and that one person, of course, wouldn't be by his side when he needed him the most. Barnaby glanced towards the window, watching the sun flicker in and out from the passing clouds.

"…I really wish you here right now… Kotetsu…"

-Chapter Fourteen/End-