Rei was running late, he had been watching Sakura from the trees outside her apartment when he had been called away on another mission. This time he would be partnered with that bastard Toki so Rei did not mind making him wait. As he walked he contemplated what he had seen earlier. As he watched Sakura come into her living room he had been sure he had seen another person there with her. He had been almost positive that she had reached down to give someone a hug. This worried him immensely and as he walked he chewed his lip, something that he had never done before in his life. Did this mean that she was already living with another person? Was it a man? He asked himself. As he continued his inner monologue that his biggest fear had been realized he did not realize Toki was beside him already.
"You know if you would just go talk to her instead of being such an ass you wouldn't be in this situation." Toki commented after seeing Ogami's new nervous tick.
"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about so just stay out of it." Was Rei's retort, although deep down he knew that Toki was right. He didn't want to ever put Sakura in danger again, but perhaps she had forgotten about him.
"I'm serious Rei." Toki said as he stopped walking.
Rei knew when Toki used his name that he was serious about something. Even though they had kept a long rivalry among the two of them they had managed to stay friends. Rei turned to see the look of worry on Toki's face and decided to humor his friend and that he should take him seriously. Toki didn't worry often, but when he did there was usually something serious behind it.
"What's wrong Toki?" Rei asked worriedly as he walked towards his friend.
"Come over here and have a seat with me for a second, this job is easy and can wait a few minutes." Toki said as he took a seat. "Look Rei, you're not going to want to hear this and it's not going to be easy bringing this up. It's about Sakura." Toki began. He hoped that Rei would hear him out. For the past several weeks Ogami had not been himself. He had watched Sakura much closer than he usually did and spent more time watching her from afar. All of the code breakers could see the longing on his face these days and could clearly see the strain that keeping his distance was starting to have.
Rei let out a sigh and set down with his heads in his hands. In a rare moment of honesty he mumbled "What am I going to do Toki? She's starting to become interested in other people and when I was watching her place earlier today I was sure I saw her bend down to hug someone. What if she is already seeing someone and I just didn't notice?"
Toki couldn't hide his surprise at how honest Rei was being. Although Sakura had chipped at his cold façade when they were still all together Toki had no idea that watching her the past five years would have this effect on him. "You know Rei I am going to say this as your friend, but also as her friend. What you're doing, it's not fair to either of you. It's not good to put yourself through this ringer, but it's especially cruel to put Sakura through it. It is like you expect her to just be content with feeling you close and never getting on with her life. You can't just expect her to be stuck in this limbo forever. I know you meant well and are trying to keep her safe, but now that she's all grown up it's starting to feel like you just never took into consideration what she would want now." Toki hoped that Rei would think on what he had said. Sakura had come to the conclusion that she could no longer live her life in a bubble simply because Rei refused to man up and come out of the shadows. He had a feeling that if Ogami didn't make a few decisions on his own things would only get worse, particularly because he was sure that Sakura's decision also meant she was going to stop trying to hide her interactions with Eden and the other code breakers. "She's not going to wait forever for you man, she's strong and if she decides to move on you and I both know that she will stick to her guns and do it."Toki added standing up. "OK moment over, lets go we still have a job to do."
"Look Toki, I know that we don't always get a long, but still. Thanks, I did need to hear that from someone." Rei replied looking up from the park bench. "How am I supposed to know she even still wants me in her life? What if she's already decided to forget about me?" Rei asked pained at the idea.
"You wont ever know the answers to those questions unless you ask her yourself. You can't expect her to stay the same high school kid forever Rei. You need to take your head out of your ass and go to her." Toki replied lighting up a cigarette. This was a good start and it looked like Ogami had taken at least some of what he said to heart. "Come one, we've got to go."
Rei stood up to follow Toki down the street. Perhaps Toki was right and it was time to talk to Sakura himself. Thinking of actually getting to speak to her again after so long left him feeling excited. He did know Toki was right about one thing, it was cruel to expect Sakura not to live her life while he watched from a distance. Thinking back on the past five years he had noticed that Sakura had never gone to parties or really did much with her friends. She had refused to date and had made sure to be at the top of her class. Deep down Rei knew that she had refused these experiences to make him happy. He was going to need to relax at home and think on what he was going to do.
"What is our mission tonight?" Rei asked Toki as he caught up to him.
"We are only on stand by at the moment. We are to supply support to a team that is close by working at a yakuza warehouse. We are to wait close by and then only go if they need us. That team consists of Yuuki and a new code." Toki replied. He had not been told much about the mission himself. Heike had been unusually vague when he explained their mission objective earlier. Toki did not like where Heike's mind was going. He knew that Sakura and Yuuki were on a mission together and he hoped that Heike hadn't gotten it into his head to have Rei and Sakura meet on a mission by chance. Rei needed to work out what he was going to do about Sakura himself without Eden interfering for him.