Author's Note: ITSSS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL, ITS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL~~
Chapter 2: It's a small world
No matter where I face, I feel your shadow adjacent to mine
I chase after it in a trance, but I won't fulfill my ideal – Hero without a name
There was a case that intrigued Misaki, at least, that's what she wanted to believe. She sat in her office alone, her back to her door as she read the file diligently. The department should be empty by now, since it was getting late. But she had nobody to return to at night, so what was the point of going home when she knew that she would just be as alone as she would be here, working? At least she could be productive when she was in her office.
The longest hand of her clock that hung on her wall ticked away mercilessly. It was taunting her, informing her that with every second gone, the colder Li's trails were getting. The case files that she were holding were a series of seemingly unrelated murders, contractor based of course. Each of them was clumsily executed, definitely not BK-201's doing, but still, she needed something to do. There hadn't been a single case that screamed him for the last month or so, but as a cop, it was her job to crack down on these increasing contractor cases.
Kirihara sighed heavily, her resolve was faltering. She wanted to see him again so badly, it was hovering on unhealthy. Kanami had even tried to set her up on dates with her list of eligible men, just to help her get laid. (As if she'll ever sleep with a man she didn't know!)
Her watch beeped to inform her that it was already one in the morning and Misaki groaned. Time flew too fast and she felt like she was getting left behind as everything else moved forward at a speed she couldn't match. The tired officer hauled herself off the comfort of her seat and stacked the files neatly onto her desk. She turned off the lights and headed down to her car. She took a deep breath and press down onto the accelerator.
It was times like these that she regretted that she didn't get a convertible instead. Everything whizzed past in a fury of colours and Misaki was glad that there were next to nobody else on the streets at this time of the night. The occasional trench coat wearing man strolled down the empty pavements, a cigarette hanging loosely from their lips. These people were common sights in the wee hours of the day, but after the PANDORA events, even they had gone into hiding.
Time and time again, Misaki thought she saw Li walking down the path. His shoulders hunched and his white button shirt looking almost a size too big. But over time, she learnt that these images of him were a thing of the past. Li wouldn't be walking down the street like that ever again. Misaki felt something wet roll down her left cheek. She rubbed at the tear and sniffed. There was a 24/7 convenience store over at the corner. She drove up to the parking lot and parked her car, vaguely aware of a man in a black shirt and trousers walk into the store from the corner of her eye.
It was a pretty rough day for Hei. He had managed to find Mao sleeping under a tree with his white Persian companion this morning. His server may have been disconnected after the PANDORA incident, but Hei thought that he should at least keep the body out of trouble, lest Mao comes back and finds himself in the pound.
Hei spent his afternoon getting a haircut. His dark stubble was still there though. Tokyo was a small city, densely populated, but still small. He wouldn't want to bump into people he'd rather not meet right now. It wasn't much of a makeover but Hei bought a new set of clothes, most of them were still plain button shirts though, just varying in colours. And a few T shirts that were on sale, he bought them just for fun.
A gust of wind blew across the empty street and Hei shivered, not exactly dressed for the occasion. He had been wandering around, memorising the area. He had managed to gather his own intel on the members of the Syndicate and one of the targets was working in the vicinity, another bad cop who chose the wrong side. It didn't matter who they were, if they had a connection to the Syndicate, BK-201 will take care of him. It was simple as that.
About a block or two in front was a convenience store. Hei walked towards it, hoping to buy some instant noodles home. At least then, Yin wouldn't have to buy outside food all the time and it'll save them some money. Uptil now, Hei had been collecting income from the odd jobs that he worked while doing surveillance work. They came up to a tidy sum, but not enough to support two people and an annoyingly needy cat. Yin managed to earn a few tens of thousands of yen a day from cigarette sales, not a bad sum, but still, with rent, food, Hei's equipment and bribing for intel, money ran out quickly.
Shrugging lightly, Hei entered the convenience store.
Misaki knew from the way the man walked into the store that he was up to no good. It was an eerie time of the day and nobody was around on the streets. Police patrols were around but none here as Kirihara could see. Her police intuition kicked in and she grabbed her pistol and taser shoved them into her holster and blazer pocket respectively. Locking her car door behind her, Misaki stalked towards the convenience store with shallow breaths. She waited outside the door, listening for raised voices and any signs of aggression. After a few minutes, the sound of somebody climbing over the counter alerted Kirihara. A voice, male, shouted gruffly at the store attendant, whose own voice cracked and whined as he stuttered back. Kirihara didn't hear a gun cock, so she retrieved the taser from her pocket and burst in.
"Hands where I can see them," she ordered, her voice was hard and stern. She could see the man behind the counter, a flick knife in his hand pointed at a terrified teenaged attendant.
The man's back was to her, but he was clearly hesitating now. Kirihara ordered again, this time she was louder, "I said hands where I can see them!"
The man nodded slowly, but his knife was still pointed at the boy. He suddenly threw the blade in Kirihara's direction and jumped over the counter with ease. She noted that he was big built. His black shirt was stretching across his broad chest and he was running towards her now. The knife had missed her completely, but it distracted her momentarily and made her vulnerable. The man tackled her to the ground and he sat top on top of her. She could see his face now, a young man, no more than 22 years old. He licked his lips gleefully, "Hmm? Never did a police women before..."
Kirihara squirmed under his weight as he pinned her arms onto the floor, he grunted, "Ugh, not bad for a girly... I think we'll get along just fine..."
He proceeded to lean forward and sniffed her neck. Irked, Misaki sent her knee flying up and planted a good head butt on the man's nose. He growled angrily as she gave hime another good kick to the head. The young man fell to the ground with a bloody nose and a sore stomach. He was still squirming.
"You fucking bitch...!" he spat and lunged forward, nearly knocking her down again, but she elbowed his back and kneed the same spot she did just now. She kneed him again, this time knocking out all air in his lungs. The man fell to the ground again, exhausted. Kirihara picked up her taser that had fallen to the ground in the scuffle and proceeded to shoot the pellets at the man for good measure.
The store was silent for a while after the man's screaming died down. The store attendant was still in shock as he watched Kirihara dangerously, as if she herself was the criminal. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the alcohol section and paused. She can't drive if she drank, frustrated, she picked up a can of coke. Misaki dropped off the coins onto the counter and told the attendant to call the police, assuring him that the taser would have sedated the man at least for the next few hours.
She walked out of the store and towards her car. The car park was lit up, but barely. However she could still make out a man trying to slip out of the store's back door and Kirihara sighed heavily. Work just keeps piling up. The man was probably an accomplice, trying to escape. Her taser pretty much died after she shot the man inside, so she had to use the scare tactic and drew her gun.
"Stop right there mister," she ordered, her voice fierce and dangerous, "your hands where I can see them."
"I didn't do anything wrong," he replied calmly.
Misaki cocked her brow up. There was something familiar about his voice. She cleared her throat, "You probably saw what I did in there, so if you don't want the same happening to you, you'll put your hands where I can see them."
"We both know that a taser doesn't work on me, Misaki-san," he replied. There was an edge in his voice.
Kirihara tried to control her own quickened pulse. It was him. He was standing right in front of her now. The shadow that she had been chasing blindly for so long was finally here. She swallowed uncomfortably as she tightened her grip on her gun, she hoped that she didn't have to shoot it tonight, "I'm not holding a taser, Li-kun."
"Oh?" he said. He sounded almost surprised, or as surprised as a contractor could be. There was a silence between them before Hei broke it, "Is it loaded?"
"You tell me," she said, her voice quivering slightly, but still confident and strong. She was still the Misaki he knew. At least that's somebody who's still trustworthy, Hei assumed.
"Don't you have work tomorrow? It's almost three in the morning now," he said, trying to keep his voice as level and calm as possible. He had nothing to worry about though. He knew that she wouldn't shoot. What she wanted was answers.
He could hear Misaki shift behind him, but he didn't turn around. She was just shifting her weight onto her other foot. "Are you getting tired of standing around, Misaki-san?"
"You could just turn yourself in and let me rest, Li-kun," she said. He could almost see the reluctant smile on her face. His back was still to her as he shoved his hands into his pocket. He heard her shuffle uneasily, "Your hands where I can see them, Li-kun."
He slowly took them out of the pockets, "Right, right. I just forgot, that's all. This is a nice chat and all, but Misaki-san..."
The zip of the wire sliced the air and Misaki knew immediately what was going on as he disappeared into the darkness of the night. His voice lingered, "...I am not the Li-kun you know, not anymore."
No. It wasn't what he said just now. The voice was from a month ago. When he saved her once again, and warned her that he wasn't who she thought she knew. But she saw the softening of his eyes that day, and Misaki was sure that the Li-kun she knew was definitely behind the mask somewhere. She just wondered if he would realise it too.
It was close. Far too close. He got careless. If Huang were still around, he'd be yelling his head off now. Misaki was still the same. She was still far too forgiving, putting too much hope into him. For a moment just now, Hei had almost complied and wanted to just let her take him in. He knew that this would happen if he saw her again.
He wanted to just become Li, and talk with her like he used to. He never knew just how genuinely he enjoyed her company. For so long he had always thought that he was with her, only because he was supposed to be watching her. It was surveillance duty. But after their third meeting, he realised that he was looking forward to surveillance duty. Just now, was far too dangerous. Hei knew that if he saw Kirihara again, the chances of him losing all senses of logic would be too high. What disturbed Hei was that somehow, inside, he liked those chances.
Author's Note: I said that I won't abandon this story! Whoo hoo! Been a while since I watched or did anything related to DTB, but what the heck. A little Hei and Misaki lovin' is always good for the soul. Exams soon, so I shouldn't even be on the computer. Heh. Reviews are always nice and thanks to Dear4life for the review! Glad you enjoyed it!