Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The crack of blood and bone against the front bumper of the car shocked the street into silence. First the screech, the scream, the crack and the thud; people exploded into a frenzy of motion ripe with concern, horror, and panic.

Fukashima Hajime lay on the pavement, twisted in agony with broken bones and bleeding limbs, gasping for breath. Make it stop make it stop please make it stop. The gasping, wheezing breaths that fell through blood-stained lips shook Hajime to the core, radiating pain from the point of impact to the throbbing beneath his skull where it had hit the ground, the blood oozing from break in his leg– was that bone, or was he imagining the white through the red?

Black spots danced along his vision.

Can you hear me? Open your eyes, just hang on, help's coming!

The noises were dulling around him. It was harder to hear, but a blessing against his ears. It was quieter, and quieter, then silent, as the pain lessened in tandem, a breath of relief on the edge of his lips, if only he could find the will to breathe out.

Perhaps it hadn't been as bad as he had thought. Everything was feeling fine. The world was dark and silent, but the stabbing pain had gone. It was only nothingness, and relaxation, and peace, peace, peace…

Watanuki awoke with a start and an almighty gasp, one that left him choking and sputtering and tasting blood in his mouth– wait, no, not his blood. Not his mouth. He pressed his shaking fingers against his lips, and tried to quell the nausea blooming in the pit of his stomach. That hadn't been his blood, that hadn't been his pain.

That had been a dream.

… he hoped.

Watanuki drew his knees to his chest, wrapping one arm around his stomach before ducking his head against his knees. He couldn't shake the thoughts, the memories, the vivid pictures beneath his eyelids. Fukashima Hajime… that had been that man's name. And Watanuki had watched from afar as the man had been in an argument with another person, and how that other person had shoved Fukashima into the street as the oncoming traffic came full speed, and he had been completely helpless to stop it.

But it was a dream.

It was a dream, wasn't it?

He curled his arms around his head, sinking his fingers into his hair. He was vaguely aware that he was shaking, and his body ached in phantom pain that he had no explanation for, but it had been a dream, it had to have been a dream, even if sometimes… they weren't.

For almost as long as Watanuki could remember, he had always been… different. Not in the sense that he didn't like pizza or that he enjoyed the company of animals to people, nothing standard like that as far as deviation went. No, since the tainted age of six, Watanuki had… seen things. And even before he had seen things, he had felt things, things that he shouldn't, and things that maybe he even didn't, but… sometimes, it all seemed so real. Sometimes, it was real.

Watanuki chalked most of it off as coincidence. He knew that he would go crazy if he let himself think of the alternative.

See, back when he had been very young and very innocent to the ways of the world– both natural and supernatural– Watanuki had had a sort of… sixth sense. That was the best way that he could describe it. It was only little things at first, and back then he hadn't even made the connection for a long time. It was just innocuous things. For instance, he had gone to bed one night and had pleaded to his mother that he hadn't wanted to go to bed.  When she had asked, why not, Kimihiro, love?, Watanuki hadn't been able to explain anything except because today was better.

He remembered that was what he had said, too young to make the differentiation between what he was feeling and what he was experiencing. He hadn't known that the feeling back then had been less today was good and more tomorrow will be bad , and when the stray kitten that came to their apartment regularly for food and attention got hit by a car outside of their home, Watanuki hadn't been able to understand that what he had been feeling was that sixth sense, that impending thought that something not good was going to happen.

But that not good thing had happened, and that wasn't the last time that Watanuki had ‘feelings’ about things. It ranged from anything small like missing the bus to something important, like getting in a (thankfully harmless) car accident, and it had taken him a long time to realize that his feelings and those events correlated.

That being said, when one had a quote-unquote sixth sense, it wasn't necessarily a good thing, because once he had learned the association? He had been so terrified, and thus began the prologue of the hardships in his life.

The real first chapter hadn't come until one dark day when he was six, the day where his life changed irrevocably, in more ways than one.

Watanuki pushed himself to his feet, staggering tiredly for the washroom. It was too early to be awake, but he was too wired to go back to sleep, feeling like he was the one who'd been pushed into traffic– no, he could not go there.

Instead, right now, he trekked off to have a shower, and try to wake himself up. He'd hit the coffee hard after this, stare into the murky darkness instead of thinking of anything else, and try to lose himself in anything else but the dream he'd been immersed in.

It was a long day.

Watanuki was only half awake through most of his lectures, even when they got to try out a new recipe as far as cooking went: French cuisine. It was the worst possible time for him to be firing on less than full pistons, but he managed it, a little bit. It was edible, at the very least, although he suspected his grade may suffer for it. That being said, he was still one of the best cooks in the class, according to the professor… although he didn't see how that could be possible.

"Did you learn anything new today?" a familiar voice asked from over his shoulder, and Watanuki smiled tiredly as he turned to meet the usual brown hair and brown eyes, and

"What are you doing here, Syaoran?" he asked pleasantly. Any other time and he would have been genuinely glad to see his friend, but he was tired and more than a little stressed, and the cheerfulness in his voice was more than a little strained.

Syaoran opened his mouth to respond, and then a typically trademark concerned look settled on his face as he looked up at him. "Are you okay?"

Watanuki sighed, let the facade drop. "Just a little tired. I'm okay. I'm glad to see you, though, we usually don't run into each other here." He tightened his grip around the handle of his bag as it threatened to fall from his fingers; the atmosphere felt ridiculously heavy and he just wanted to close his eyes.

"Sakura and Tomoyo went shopping, I'm gonna go pick them up." Syaoran took a step closer, too close, in fact, and Watanuki leaned away out of nervous habit rather than the fact that his personal space was being infringed upon. He didn't mind the latter so much, but the way Syaoran was looking at him… "Did you have another one of those dreams last night?" Syaoran asked, voice low, serious, and looking seriously at Watanuki.

That. Watanuki shrugged a bit.

"Watanuki," Syaoran muttered. "This is still going on, I thought it stopped?"

"It does sometimes." That was true. "It's okay."

"Did you see if it happened?"

"No. I didn't get the news this morning." Not that he got the news ever , unless he caught snatches of it in a shop or at school. Living in terror that he'd see what he'd seen, in his dreams, on the news. He tried not to even give him any more reason to think about it.

"Do you know a name?"

Watanuki hesitated, and then shook his head. Syaoran would just try and figure out if it had been real– it couldn't have been, it couldn't have been– and–

"You're lying," Syaoran rebuked.

Watanuki smiled thinly. "Really, Syao, it's okay."

"I grew up with you, remember, I can tell when you're lying." Syaoran sighed, glancing at his watch. "I've got to get to Sakura. I'm gonna call you later," he said seriously.

"I have to work," Watanuki replied, half a complaint. But it wasn't all bad, not entirely, because…

"That animal shelter tonight?" Syaoran asked. "The place with that Himawari-san?"

Watanuki straightened up, only slightly, at the mention of his crush's name. "Yes!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Right," he said, a grin on his lips.

"Hey! Just because you and Sakura-chan met when you were really young, doesn't mean all of us have the luxury of meeting our destined partner! Some of us have to meet her in an animal shelter!"

"And some of us don't make fools of ourselves–" Watanuki raised an eyebrow, and Syaoran stopped speaking.

Watanuki knew that Syaoran knew where he was going with that. "Did you forget the thing with the pillows, Syaoran? There were feathers everywhere. I had to clean it up!"

"Okay, that was a disaster." Syaoran huffed softly, and then both of them chuckled at the memory. They had been younger, then. "Look, seriously though, let me know if the dreams continue?"

"Sure." He wouldn't.

"I mean it."

"I know." He did.

"You have to cook for us sometime soon," Syaoran said. "Have to make plans. Okay?"

Watanuki nodded. "Uh huh."

To be honest, Watanuki was glad when Syaoran left. He was his best friend, yeah. But he was also only the one person to date who knew about Watanuki's sometimes true dreams. He was the only person who believed him. Watanuki didn't know why he believed him. He wouldn't have believed himself, and sometimes chose not to, just like all the adults he had ever told his dreams to and been brushed aside, told to go play or that he had an overactive imagination.

But Watanuki didn't want to talk about his dreams. Maybe Syaoran believed him, but he still didn't want to talk about them. He just wished that they go away, that he would stop seeing them… but if wishes were horses, so it went.

"Crap, I'm gonna miss the bus!" he exclaimed, and because if there was one person that could make him stop worrying about strange dreams for a few hours, it was Himawari-chan, he took off running down the sidewalk.

Doumeki startled back to reality as the manila folder slapped onto his desk, and he looked up at Sgt. Suoh as he walked away.

As someone who had been on the force for less than a year, Doumeki was the person who got the cases that either no one wanted, or the ones that had the most paperwork. It wasn't ideal, but it was where he was right now. According to Commissioner Ichihara, he had the potential to take over her job one day.

… she had been smiling while she had said that, though, so Doumeki wasn't sure if she was serious or not. He could never tell with that woman.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Open-and-shut. Akira-kun sent it over."

Doumeki inhaled slowly, pulling the file towards him. "Motive?"

Suoh shrugged. "Not sure. It's all there."

Doumeki flipped it open. "Right."

His eyes skimmed the file. Mid-thirties, Kyoto, recently divorced.

Doumeki sighed softly. He dropped the file and rubbed his hands against his eyes.

Another day, another name.

          Fukashima, Hajime.

             COD: Blunt force trauma, traffic accident.

Chapter Text

Watanuki hadn't had a nightmare in a week. He was overly pleased about that, because it meant that his sleep hadn't been interrupted. Which meant he had more energy to get down what he’d been putting off the past few weeks. He went through spring cleaning around his apartment, both inside and out (not that the out made a difference; university housing wasn't the prettiest to begin with). He perfected the recipe that they'd been learning about in one of his classes, and he and Syaoran and Sakura had gotten together for a home-cooked dinner, after all, where he and Sakura ended up swapping recipes while Syaoran watched on with playful sarcasm in his eyes. (He didn't cook, which Watanuki– and Sakura– were trying to remedy. He was absolutely awful, although Watanuki wouldn't dare say that to either of them.)

He hadn't dreamt in a week, either, which meant he wasn't having good dreams of Himawari-chan or eggplants or anything like that, but he would take the win where he could get it.

Beggars couldn't be choosers, right?

He'd gotten off early from class too. Another win, and he had decided to treat himself to a nice lunch that wasn't cooked by his own hand. Plus, he had a little shopping to do: Sakura had invited him to her friend Eriol's birthday party. Watanuki didn't exactly know what to buy– he was going to ask Syaoran but he'd looked a little sour about the whole thing, something else Watanuki needed to ask about– but he had to get a little something.

In the meantime, lunch.

He was thinking–

There was the smell of acrid smoke burning his nostrils.

He gasped, inhaling smoke and soot and ash, and his throat burned and his eyes watered, there were tears on his cheeks and pain in his chest and nausea in his stomach.

He tried to move and couldn't, frozen in spot, frozen in confusion and terror and misunderstanding, why why why–

"Shut up! You're of no use to me anymore! Stop crying!" There was a vague shape of a person's face, a woman's face, looming in front of him.

There was something, rope, maybe, being tied around his hands, behind his back, being manhandled into some place small and dark and dirty– was that a trunk of a car? He couldn't breathe–

"Oi!"

Watanuki sucked in a breath, opening his eyes to find himself still in the plaza that he had been in seconds, minutes? ago. He could barely see through his tears, but it was definitely still the plaza, not a trunk, even if he could barely breathe and he could still taste the ash on his tongue, and he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Hey." A hand curled around his shoulder.

Watanuki flinched, the noises coming out of his mouth making it nowhere close to language because he couldn't speak, he still felt strangled and starved of air, and somewhere, in the back of his mind, he realized that he'd just had a vision in the middle of the day.

"It's okay," the voice nearby said. Male. Not the person in his vision. Probably someone trying to help him. Here. In the present. "Ambulance is on its way."

Ambulance? Talk! he screamed at himself. He sucked in another few deep breaths and managed to focus on the person in front of him. The guy was dressed in a uniform, police, Watanuki thought, with tanned skin and brown eyes and dark hair. His face was pretty much blank, which was enough of a grounding state for Watanuki to latch on to and try to mimic. "I… I-I'm okay," he forced out, even though he wasn't. (He was, it was just the person who he'd just seen being… kidnapped? that wasn’t.)

The man in front of him sank back on his ankles, looking at him only slightly critically. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Wata… Watanuki," he replied shakily, scrubbing his sleeves across his face. "Watanuki Kimihiro. I'm okay." Not that he'd even believe himself on that.

"Ambulance is coming," the stranger repeated. "You should get checked out."

"Wha– no." No, this was supposed to be a good day. "I can…" But the telltale noises of the ambulance arriving could already be heard, and how long had he been collapsed to the ground, choking over smoke that wasn't there?

"I'm Doumeki," the stranger said, like this was a normal meeting, and that Watanuki wasn't shaking himself to pieces, choking and crying, in the middle of town.

He wanted to say nice to meet you, but it wasn't nice to meet him, he didn't want anything to do with him, or the ambulance he'd called, he just wanted to go home and drink some tea and get the taste of fear out of his mouth.

Watanuki awoke with a start– again– and stared towards the ceiling of the blank white hospital room. Another dream. This one had been different than the one he'd had in the middle of the plaza. He'd been an observer this time, a little girl named Hina, who'd been murdered, and Watanuki's stomach ached and his throat stung again and no. No. It was just a dream. Just a–

"Hey."

Watanuki inhaled sharply, looking to his right. The man from before– Doumeki– was sitting in the chair next to his bed, although he was looking infinitesimally less monotone than before. His eyebrows were even drawn together in concentration now.

"… you're here," Watanuki mumbled, and reached for his glasses on the table.

"Yeah." Doumeki narrowed his eyes. "Do you usually talk in your sleep?"

Not usually. Watanuki cringed internally. "No. Why were you listening??"

Doumeki shrugged a bit. "You were speaking. Something about a girl." Watanuki frowned. "Mitsuki-chan," Doumeki continued, and Watanuki felt himself pale.

This was the reason he hadn't stayed in the dorms at university. He couldn't explain the things he said while he was asleep.

He shook his head slightly.

"Something about her corpse."

Oh God, he'd been talking about a dead girl's corpse to a police officer.

"… book I'd been reading," he mumbled. It was a pathetic excuse, and Doumeki didn't look like he believed him at all.

But he didn't press it, leaning back in the chair. "Better now?"

Watanuki breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah. … thanks," he muttered.

"Your blood pressure was high," Doumeki continued, in a flat voice that conveyed no emotion. "Pupils were behaving strangely. They thought you had a concussion." He paused. "You don't."

"Good," Watanuki mumbled.

Doumeki stood. "You're awake, so I'm leaving."

Was he always so blunt? Watanuki blinked and then opened his mouth to respond. "Okay. Um. Thank you. Again."

"Yeah."

And then Doumeki was gone, and Watanuki would have thought that was the weirdest experience in his life if it definitely hadn't been.

But anyway… two visions in one day. Within, what, hours of one another? Made going a week without a nightmare seem bad. At least the second dream hadn't happened while he was awake, or hadn't been as vivid, and he wasn't the one experiencing it again, just watching. How pathetic. He was finding silver linings for these terrible visions.

Well, it had been fourteen years since they'd started. If he didn't find silver linings, he probably would have went crazy a long time ago.

"New body?" Doumeki asked, peering into the folder that Flourite was looking at. The blonde looked unusually somber. It iimmediately set Doumeki on high alert.

Fai D. Flourite was one of the happiest people that Doumeki knew, although he was pretty sure it wasn’t all real. Skin deep and all. In comparison, his partner, Kurogane, was perhaps one of the most unemotional people that Doumeki had ever met besides himself. Somehow, they worked well together. It was true that opposites attracted, he guessed.

"Yes. A three year old." Flourite held out a photo to Doumeki. "She was strangled." The girl was small, with long, dark hair and warm brown eyes. "Her body was found in a patch of wooded area about an hour ago. Mitsuki Hina."

Doumeki froze, fingers seizing around the photograph. Mitsuki Hina… as in, Mitsuki-chan? That boy, earlier, the one he'd accompanied to the hospital… he'd been talking in his sleep about a girl named Mitsuki, who had been murdered. Watanuki, that was his name, the bespectacled boy, had said it was from a book, but… what if it hadn't been? What if it had been something he had been remembering? What if the panic attack in the plaza had been brought on by what had happened? What if it had been brought on by something that Watanuki had done?

It was hard to believe. But it was too eerily similar to ignore.

"Doumeki-kun?" Flourite was leaning over, closer into Doumeki's personal space. His hair fell into his face, but didn't shield his concerned eyes. "Are you okay?"

Doumeki looked away from the smiling girl with brown hair, and up at his fellow officer. "Yeah. Hm." He glanced down at the photo, and then handed it back to Flourite. "I have to check something. Tell Ichihara-san where I've gone." He turned and strode for the door, grabbing his coat from the back of his chair.

"But I don't know where Doumeki-kun is going!" Flourite called. Doumeki ignored him, certain that he would come up with an excuse, and he focused on then heading back to the hospital that he had only just left not long ago.

"Doumeki-san," the receptionist greeted as he walked in. "You're here twice in one day!"

"I need to see that boy I brought here earlier," he interrupted. "Watanuki–" he trailed off, trying to think. It had started with a ‘K’.

"Watanuki Kimihiro? He just checked out. You probably passed him on the way in."

Doumeki spun around. It was a long shot, but Doumeki didn't believe in coincidence. It was something battered into him by his boss: everything happened for a reason. And it was that reason that he spotted the shock of black hair and blue eyes moving through the crowd towards the bus.

"Watanuki-san!" He grabbed his arm, dragging him from the crowd.

"Ow, hey!" Watanuki stopped, making a face. "It's you. I thought you left, what are you–"

"Mitsuki-chan," Doumeki interrupted, and he watched the color drain from Watanuki's face. There was something there. He’d thought so earlier. "Tell me about her."

"I…" Watanuki shifted and straightened up, lifting his chin. "I told you, it's just a book."

Right. "Humor me," Doumeki said flatly. "Her name."

"She's just–"

"Name."

Watanuki huffed. "Mitsuki…" He paused, and seemed to think about something very hard. "Hina. I don't see why it's important to you–"

"What did she look like?" Doumeki interrupted.

Watanuki gaped at him, but Doumeki was sure that he wasn't the strangest one out of the two of them. Especially if… this boy was a murderer. "I don't know. Two, maybe three years old? Brown hair, brown eyes."

His stomach was churning. "How did she die?"

"She was strangled, and then left in a forest, I think, now are you done with these weird questions, because I've got to–"

Watanuki broke off as Doumeki leaned in to handcuff him.

"You're under arrest on suspicion of the murder of Mitsuki Hina," Doumeki said flatly, even if it felt wrong, felt like there were more to it, because there were secrets behind those blue eyes but not these kind of secrets…

"Wha– What???"

Doumeki reached for Watanuki's other wrist and cuffed his hands behind his back. Something made him want to apologize, which he didn't. This was his job.

"I didn't– you've got this all wrong!" Watanuki complained, loudly, voice shaky, and there was a little voice in Doumeki's mind that was screaming at him that something wasn't right, not this person, not Watanuki, who'd been collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping and choking through his tears earlier, not him.

"We'll see," Doumeki murmured, and led him back to the car.

Chapter Text

Watanuki, a student who had never once been in trouble at school, detention, suspension, or otherwise, felt sick at the prospect of sitting in the police station. Arrested. Arrested on suspicion of murder of a three year old girl.

He was really going to be sick.

Why hadn't he lied? Why hadn't he lied? Because he was adamant that his dreams were just dreams, not reality, and that there was no way that that little girl had actually been murdered, or that that had been her name, or where she'd been murdered. But apparently it had because...

"You want some water?" The senior officer, the one with the blonde hair back in a ponytail and a strange sunny disposition beneath the serious look on his face, leaned closer into Watanuki. "You're looking green."

There was a noise that sounded mostly like an irritated huff from behind Watanuki's right shoulder, and he resisted the urge to turn around to the severe looking, dark-haired officer behind him.

"Don't make that face at me, Kuro-san. He's innocent until proven guilty."

"Mm."

"I didn't do it!" Watanuki exploded, startling the blonde one in front of him, and God, was he yelling at the police officers? "I didn't do it, I just, I..." I had a dream where I was watching it.

"You what?" Kurogane intoned.

Successive knocking against the door made all three of them look up. The officer from earlier, Doumeki, was on the other side, and Watanuki only refrained from sending him a frantic/angry look because he wasn't sure which he felt more. Frantic because, well, hello. But angry because... that guy had arrested him!

... To be fair, it was a little suspicious, he probably would have arrested himself in Doumeki's place. He slumped forward to thump his head against the table as the two officers left the room to go talk to Doumeki.

This was a nightmare.

His life was a living nightmare.

He rest his head on his arms and stared towards the wall. Nightmares when you were sleeping were one thing, and visions when you were awake were another, but those two things clashing to change your life was another altogether.

He was dreaming.

Watanuki knew that without a doubt, somehow, although he wasn't sure how. He didn't even know about what. But was dreaming.

A point in the distance changed. Watanuki chased it with eagerness. Dreams were realms he couldn't see in real life. They were fascinating, and he loved dreaming, he loved sleeping to dream.

He stepped through the doorway and he found himself in his own house. This was a familiar place. And there were his parents in the front room!

Watanuki ran from the kitchen into the room. "Mother, father!"

They didn't notice him; Watanuki stopped. Usually he was noticed in his dreams. He huffed slightly and crossed his arms, looking up at his parents. He didn't like being ignored by them, and this was his dream! They should be hugging him and saying things, and promising him that fancy chocolate cake that they made for his birthday two months ago, right?

The doorbell rang. Watanuki ran ahead to the door, figuring that if no one could see him, it didn't matter! His mother followed behind and opened the door, offering a pleasant "can I help you?" to the man at the door. It wasn't anyone that Watanuki reconized, that was for sure. He had spiky brown hair and wore all black and had an eyepatch over his eye. Actually, he looked a little sca-

There was a bang! that made Watanuki jump, and flinch, and his hands fly to his ears as they rang and rang. That kind of sounded like his dad's gun, the one he took to work with him everyday, that Watanuki wasn't allowed to go near.

Watanuki opened his eyes and looked at the stranger - it was a gun! It looked like Daddy's - and then to his mother, who was no longer standing where she had been, but collapsed to the floor in an unnatural heap, red pooling from beneath her head and staining her pretty hair and-

"Mom?"

His dad came thundering into the hallway, yelling, and then another bang! and a shout, all muffled because Watanuki was frozen where he stood, hands still over his ears, eyes wide at the spray of blood and the horror of watching his dad fall limp to the floor.

Both mom and dad.

The man left without another word, and Watanuki scrambled away from the wall, collapsing to the floor next to them. "Mom? Mother? Father? Wake up! Mommy? Daddy? Open your eyes. Wake up? Wake up!"

...

...

...

"Wake up, Kimihiro-kun!"

Watanuki awoke with a start, staring into the familiar expanse of Syaoran's room around him, and there wasn't a scary man and there wasn't blood and his parents weren't not responding to him and

He burst into tears.

"Did Kimihiro-kun have a scary dream? It's okay." Syaoran hugged Watanuki. "It's make-believe, Kimihiro-kun!"

Watanuki buried his face into Syaoran's shoulder and he didn't want to be spending the night at his house anymore, he wanted to be at home, with his parents and he wanted them to hug him, not Syaoran.

He did feel better later, when Syaoran had waited until he had stopped sniffling to run and get his mom, and she made warm milk and some cookies, and yeah, it had been just a dream, a scary one, but he was fine, and so was everyone else.

The Li household phone rang. Syaoran's mom answered the phone and listened for a moment, before gasping and looking over at Watanuki with a look he didn't understand.

For an instant, he felt cold all over again.

The door opened, and Watanuki wrenched his head away from his arms, expecting the blonde and the gruff one to walk back in, but it was Doumeki instead.

"I swear I didn't do it," Watanuki said, instinctively, reflexively. His voice came out thinner than he would have liked. He was sure everyone who ever sat here said those words.

"We got the results back from your polygraph." Doumeki pulled out the chair across the table, and sat down. "You were telling the truth."

Watanuki blew out a shaky breath. "Am I cleared, then?"

Doumeki pursed his lips. Watanuki didn't like that look.

"How did you know?" Doumeki continued after the pause.

"I..." He had no excuse. He couldn't tell the truth. He couldn't lie, either. If his polygraph had been cleared, and they didn't find any evidence directly incriminating him, he was fine (he thought. It had been a long time since he had thought about police... not since his dad had d-d-...) but he was suspicious enough as it was.

"The truth," Doumeki interrupted.

It wasn't that easy. "It's..." Watanuki frowned and looked at his hands. "You aren't going to believe me."

"Let me decide that."

Aw, hell. In for a penny. Watanuki raised his chin and looked at Doumeki, meeting his gaze. "I saw it in a dream." He already seemed crazy enough, and he could sit here mumbling and whimpering and it would get him nowhere. Better to tell the truth and be called crazy, right? Right?

Doumeki's expression didn't change. Not like it was a big relevation or anything? Was this guy... always like that? "You saw it in a dream," he repeated.

"I have dreams, sometimes," Watanuki said. Had to force himself to keep talking. "I guess some of them are real, I don't know."

"You guess?"

Watanuki frowned.

"Shouldn't you be able to tell?"

"No, I try not to, most of the time, I mean, it would drive me crazy if they were all real, so they can't all be..." he trailed off. "Look, I know you probably think I'm crazy and you don't believe me but-"

"I never said I didn't believe you."

Watanuki stopped, mid-word. "You..." Believed him? "... believe me? You shouldn't... believe me..."

"Why not?"

This guy... was strange. And he wasn't looking at him like he was crazy. It was a little different than Syaoran believing him when they were six, now he was twenty and this Doumeki guy looked a little older than him.

"Um..."

"Were you lying, just now?" Doumeki asked.

"No!"

"Well then."

Watanuki didn't even know how to react to that. He hadn't told anybody about his dreams in ages, let alone had anyone take him seriously. So, he was a little... taken aback. Where did he go from there?

"Is that what happened earlier?"

Watanuki blinked. "Huh?"

"During lunch."

Oh. "... mhm. Usually it only happens at night. Sometimes it happens when I'm awake..."

"Did you see Mitsuki-chan today at lunch?"

"Uh, no, I don't... I don't think so." Watanuki drummed his fingers against the table. "It was more... first-hand at lunch."

"Hm?"

"... Like I was being kidnapped," Watanuki muttered. "I wasn't, really, but I was... in place of whoever the person was. I was seeing it first-hand. Being tied up and shoved into a trunk, and I think there was a fire somewhere, I could taste the smoke..." He shook his head, hard. "I dreamt about Mitsuki-chan for the first time in the hospital. But it wasn't first-hand, I didn't experience it, I just... witnessed it."

"Did you see who did it?" Did Doumeki actually sound a little eager? Did he actually believe him about this? Again, Watanuki had to collect himself before continuing.

"No," and Doumeki's face definitely fell a tiny bit, "but I kind of... remember seeing... locations. Just flashes. But if we could figure out where those were and trace them back... we might have a better lead, or at least, a place to start?"

Doumeki regarded him for a moment, and then said "Your father was an officer".

"... Uh huh."

Doumeki looked at him for a moment longer before standing. "I have to talk to someone."

Watanuki looked up at him. "What? Can I leave?"

"No." Doumeki paused, hand on the door. "... I do believe you."

He really did. And, because Watanuki hadn't had someone believe him in so long, he couldn't help but be a little... combative. He couldn't help challenging him. He shouldn't, and he couldn't stop himself, anyway. "Why?" he demanded. "Why would you believe me, you must hear crazy stories all the time-"

"My grandfather had similar dreams."

"Your grandfather?"

"Yeah. Doumeki Haruka. He was a priest." Doumeki pushed the door open and walked out, sliding it closed behind him.

"Doumeki... Haruka-san?" Watanuki frowned into the silence, the name familiar on his tongue. He knew... he thought he knew...

When he realized why the name was familiar, he almost fell over. Or why Doumeki himself felt a little familiar. Haruka-san had... been the man who had taken care of Watanuki's parents' funeral. Haruka-san was the man Watanuki dreamed about, once or twice, in the fourteen years that had followed. He hadn't made the connection because Haruka-san had never mentioned his family name, and it had been a long, long time since he'd visited, but now... they even looked alike. How could he be so stupid?

Watanuki ran from the room, which earned him a shout from both the blonde and his partner, but he ignored them. "Doumeki-san!" Arms caught him from behind, and he struggled against them. If he could tell things to Doumeki about Haruka, things that he shouldn't know, then that would prove he was telling the truth, right?

"Now, now, Watanuki-kun, don't struggle! Kuro-san doesn't know his own strength!"

"I'm not trying to struggle, I just need to tell Doumeki-san- ah, hey! Doumeki!"

Doumeki glanced up, looking down the hallway at them. He gave him a little bit of a look, almost as if to say really?, with a tiny bit of surprise.

"Doumeki!" Watanuki forced himself to stop struggling, the guy holding him back really didn't know his own strength. "Your grandfather- Haruka-san - he was in charge of funerals, right??"

Doumeki blinked. "Yeah."

"And he smoked! Cigarettes, regularly."

"Yeah..."

"You look just like him. Except he smiles and stuff, and I haven't seen you smile at all but that's not the point, he passed away a little over ten years ago, fourteen, right?"

Now Doumeki was looking at him like he was crazy. It was moot, he supposed, but he knew what he was talking about.

"I've met him," Watanuki continued. "I've met him in dreams! I wouldn't know all of this if I hadn't!"

"That's enough," Kurogane said lowly, his grip tightening around Watanuki's arms.

"Ow, hey, watch it!"

"Kuro-san, I told you, you need to be careful with our guests!"

"He's not a guest. He's a suspected murderer."

"I'm not a murderer!"

"Leave him be." The voice was new, distinctly female and unabashedly unhurried. It stopped everyone in their tracks, however, and Watanuki glanced up as the rest of the officers around them fell silent.

The woman standing behind Doumeki was tall, with long, layered dark hair, dark red eyes, and a smile that didn't speak of anything good and yet... she was all encompassing. Watanuki was gaping a little bit.

"Ichihara-san."

The woman smiled. "Leave Watanuki-kun be. I wish to speak with him."

"Tch." Kurogane stepped back after a moment's pause. He didn't seem particularly happy to see the woman, their boss? But he listened, at least, and Watanuki rubbed his arms where they'd been held behind his back.

"Go about your business," Ichihara said pleasantly, and everyone who wasn't Doumeki or Watanuki moved. Yeah, she had to be the boss. She seemed like she'd demand order and respect here. That was also a little intimidating.

"See? Listening to others isn't so hard, Kuro-pon~" the blonde officer said as he walked away.

"Would you stop with the names already?!" Kurogane retorted, before they vanished around the corner.

Watanuki blinked and looked back at Doumeki, and Ichihara. "Umm..."

Ichihara was still smiling. "Come into my office, Watanuki-kun. We have some things to talk about, I believe."

"Um. Sure." Ichihara's smile brooked no argument. And besides, as Watanuki started forward to follow Ichihara and Doumeki, he felt like he was being led by some unseen force, like his legs were moving on their own.

Something big was about to happen. The wheels were already in motion.

Chapter Text

Watanuki was uncomfortable.

Doumeki wasn't sure why. "You hate my driving or something?" The question was out of his mouth before he'd thought about it, but there had to be an ice breaker somewhere. He just usually wasn't the one for them.

But he and Watanuki had problems to work through, which meant conversation, and to get to that point, this stifling uneasiness had to be dispelled.

"What?" Watanuki swiveled around in the seat to look at him. "No. I just... haven't been in an officer's car since my dad's..." he trailed off, and Doumeki pressed his lips into a hard line.

Of course. Watanuki's father had been a police officer. This was probably bringing up memories. It was either the cruiser or a cell, though, so...

"And also I don't drive," Watanuki added, breaking himself out of his own funk. "I don't like driving, I don't like cars, was in a car accident when I was young."

A car accident? How accident prone was this guy? Was he cursed with bad luck or something? He could already apparently see the future, or see... the present in dreams, and on that thought: "You said you recognized this warehouse?"

"I think." Watanuki shifted. "I only get glimpses, sometimes. But this looked like the picture that Ichihara-san pulled up."

Doumeki had gone to Commissioner Ichihara on a whim. He had thought that something wasn't right with Watanuki, having arrested him, something had just... not felt right. Gut feelings weren't great with his job. But then Watanuki had started talking about Haruka... his grandfather. That had been so long ago. Fourteen years ago, just like Watanuki had said.

When he had joined the force, Flourite and Kurogane (mostly Flourite) had given him the gossip of the precinct. He hadn't asked for any. But as it turned out, that gossip helped now, because Flourite had mentioned something about Ichihara's former husband having visions, or dreams, or something. The point was, Ichihara had experience with the supernatural. Like Haruka had, like... Watanuki did.

They were both lucky that Ichihara was as open-minded, and frankly mysterious (and strange, he still thought that) that she had told Doumeki to allow her to hear his story.

"It's a big request," Ichihara said, looking down at him. Her arms were crossed, and her expression intent. It was unnerving.

Doumeki held his ground. "Yeah." Backing down was a sign of defeat. Wasn't that he didn't accept defeat when it was given, but if there was a chance, even a slim chance...

"You're going to owe me, Doumeki-kun."

Now he frowned a little. "What do you need?" It wasn't as though he had much to give. He was twenty-five, living on his own, barely getting by financially, only able to cook the most basic of meals, and still helping out part-time at his parent's temple. "There isn't much I can give," he said, truthfully.

Ichihara tapped her fingers against her chin, almost mock thoughtfully. "Let me see, what could I want that Doumeki-kun could give me..." She was still for a moment, and silent, until suddenly her demeanour changed entirely; she grinned down at him, eyes excited, and asked "Do you have any saké?" in the most cheerful tone of voice that Doumeki had ever heard her use.

He still didn't get it. But he'd promised her one of the finest sakés from his grandfather's warehouse and, well, here they were.

"Why did Yuuko-san believe me?" Watanuki asked, and Doumeki glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "She didn't seem surprised by any of it, the visions, the dreams..." Watanuki trailed off.

Doumeki shrugged. "Dunno."

"You are really lacking in tact, you know," Watanuki retorted briskly.

"Her husband had visions, too."

Watanuki stopped scowling at him long enough to look surprised. "What, Yuuko-san's husband?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"So, there's me, and Haruka-san, and Yuuko-san's husband... does he still have his visions?" Watanuki questioned.

"He's dead."

"... Oh."

Doumeki didn't know the details. It wasn't something he wanted to ask about of anyone, let alone the woman that resided over his job. There were some questions that you didn't ask. Ichihara's husband was one of them. (Her age was another, allegedly, according to Flourite, someone who had said something left in a hurry and never came back, and Ichihara was left there smiling all the while. Scary.)

Women were scary.

Watanuki fidgeted a bit - was he really that not used to being in a car? - and gazed back out the passenger window for a moment. "Is that it?"

Doumeki briefly checked his gaze, and nodded. "Yeah." The warehouse that Watanuki'd apparently seen in his visions was within view. It was last on their stop of three places that they had been able to pick out, and nothing had come of the first tries.

Taking that into consideration, perhaps that was why Watanuki was nervous. Well, he still had reason to be, even if there was no evidence, at all, to tie Watanuki to the crime. No physical evidence. This wasn't open-and-shut. This wasn't as clear cut as that.

He parked at the end of the abandoned driveway and stayed close to his companion as they walked up the path. The gravel crunched under their feet but the rest of it was complete silence. Watanuki seemed less fidgety than when he had been in the car, but he also seemed infinitely more tense.

"You okay?" Doumeki inquired. It was going to become a habit with this man, he could tell.

Watanuki was looking all around him, and he didn't look back at Doumeki. "Yeah. I've just... kind of got a headache."

Doumeki frowned slightly. "A headache?"

"Feel kinda sick." Watanuki shoved his hands in his pockets, although not before Doumeki took note of the way his long, pale fingers trembled. "Like something bad happened here." He glanced up at Doumeki now, eyebrows knitted in maybe concern, maybe fear. "You can't... feel that?"

Feel what? Doumeki wondered. The atmosphere of the old warehouse was not kind, but it felt like an abandoned building. Cold, and damp, and devoid of the niceties of life. Maybe even a little spooky, if he wanted to give into the whim of such things. But he didn't, so the abandoned warehouse felt like an abandoned warehouse.

He shook his head.

"Oh." Watanuki shivered. "I think... I think maybe something did happen here. Maybe... Hina-chan's murder."

"Evidence." If they could find the murder scene, that would be great. But they needed evidence; the case was hinging on it, either way.

Watanuki stepped forward to keep in line with Doumeki, and he seemed to be subconsciously a tiny bit closer. Doumeki looked down at him for a second that probably lasted too long, thinking about nothing and everything together, before Watanuki responded. "Yeah, I know. Looking for signs of life, that someone's been here recently... Dad was a cop, remember?"

Doumeki was quiet as he began to scope out the warehouse, looking for exactly what Watanuki had mentioned. So, his father had been an officer, and Watanuki clearly knew how the system worked, as least at a basic level. "You aren't in training."

Watanuki looked up at him. "Huh?"

"To be an officer."

"Oh." Watanuki shook his head. "No, um. Watching your parents be murdered kind of puts you off following the profession..."

Doumeki raised his head. He'd read the report. If there was anything that he was good at in this job, it was retaining knowledge from the reports. "You weren't there."

Watanuki glanced up from poking at some debris with his shoes.

"The report said..." Doumeki trailed off for a moment, before plodding ahead. "There was no one else at the time. A neighbor found the front door open and stepped in to investigate."

Watanuki pursed his lips. "Saw it in a dream," he said shortly, and dropped his attention back to poking through the warehouse.

"Oh." Doumeki fell silent, and allowed himself to stray a little further away from Watanuki's presence. He wasn't seeing anything that was useful. As much as he wanted to believe Watanuki about these visions, as much as Ichihara seemed willing to... they needed something. They needed to solve this murder, not only for the sudden confusion between them all, but for Mitsuki-chan, too. But there wasn't anything standing out here...

"Tell me about these dreams."

"Huh? What about them?"

"Just about them."

"You're really getting personal all of a sudden, you know!"

For the first time since of this had happened, Watanuki raised his voice. Not in the I didn't do it, don't accuse me of murder! kind of way, but in the way that was Watanuki, being loud, for no reason than apparently pure incredulity.

"You're helping me on my case. Should get to know each other."

"Well, then, talk about yourself and stop asking about me."

Doumeki shrugged. "Okay."

"Okay?" Why did he sound so surprised? He was the one who had said it.

Doumeki flexed his hands in the latex gloves, crouching to sort through various litter without much enthusiasm. "What do you want to know."

Watanuki was quiet, and then "I don't know, I don't wanna know anything about you, why are you so presumptuous?"

"You told me to talk about myself," Doumeki replied calmly.

Watanuki growled and stomped away, although he did speak after a few minutes of silence. "Okay, why are you an officer?"

"No reason."

"That's it?!"

Doumeki shrugged. "I needed a job. Mother said that I have a complex of wanting to help people. I guess I do."

Watanuki sighed. "Well, that's a great reason."

"Yeah."

"I was being sarcastic, you know."

"Yeah."

Watanuki muttered something to himself, and was again quiet for a little bit before picking up the conversation. "What are you, like twenty-three?"

"Twenty-five."

"You're probably close to the youngest on the force, right?"

"Yeah." Doumeki glanced over. "You're twenty. Student, right?"

"I've got some part time jobs, too. Most of them are kind of touch and go, though. They just call me when they need me. Mom and dad had some money saved up, and I'm an only child..."

Doumeki hummed in acknowledgment. "Where do you live?" He did already know the answer, but felt like it was polite to ask before pouncing into the next query. See? He could be polite.

"The university housing."

"Roommates?"

"Er, no. When you have dreams like I do... well, you saw me yesterday. And the stuff I said at the hospital, when I was asleep..." he trailed off.

Those things didn't lend to being around people, obviously, Doumeki thought, which meant that... Watanuki had been alone for mostly his entire life. Fourteen years. Doumeki had only been on his own for five years, and sometimes he got lonely himself. He couldn't imagine having grown up without parents. He remembered reading that Watanuki had bounced between homes for awhile, until he was old enough to get his own place, and then it had even been younger than it should have been, but... still. If he went from home to home like that, he probably hadn't bonded with anyone.

Doumeki didn't say anything out loud, though. Those were personal things, and despite Watanuki's protests, what he was asking wasn't too invasive. He wouldn't ask anything too personal, not like that.

Watanuki didn't broach any other topics, either, so they continued their search in silence. Doumeki didn't mind; he was particularly good with silence and not particularly great with conversation, mental tact nonwithstanding.

Until he realized that the silence around him had grown uncomfortable, and the movement of Watanuki wandering around had stopped. Doumeki glanced over his shoulder, eyeing Watanuki's form. "Find something?"

Watanuki rest his hand against one of the crumbling pillars. "No. I..." His face was tilted away, so Doumeki couldn't see. "I just... kind of feel bad. The longer we're here. It comes and..."

Goes?

Watanuki collapsed.

"Watanuki!" Doumeki abandoned his search, peeling his gloves off as he sprinted the distance between them. This was the second time he'd knelt down next to him; he hoped this wasn't going to be reoccuring. "Hey." He felt for his pulse. It was racing, but Watanuki was still, not awake and dreaming like he had been earlier, and seeming too peaceful to be asleep and dreaming, too.

"Geez," he grumbled, sitting back on his ankles. Maybe the stress was just getting to him. Or maybe... maybe it the actual building. Watanuki had said he didn't feel good when they'd walked in. "Okay." That he could work with. He hauled Watanuki's body over his shoulder and carried him out of the warehouse, managing to get him into the back of his car. (He cringed when he smacked Watanuki's head against the door, but, well. He didn't wake up, he probably hadn't felt it, it wasn't Doumeki's fault that Watanuki was so lanky.) "You gonna wake up now?"

Like Watanuki heard him, his eyelids started fluttering a little.

Doumeki sighed a little.

"... Doum...eki?" Watanuki mumbled, blinking a few times. "Ow..." He rubbed his head. "Wait... what happened..."

"You passed out. And you look like you're about to throw up," Doumeki added, taking a step away from the car.

"Mmm..." Watanuki tried to sit up, and then gave up to only slump against the seat. "Sorry... I think I need a minute."

Doumeki nodded. "We're going back. I'll send officers here to finish looking."

"Sure." Watanuki rubbed his eyes, and both Doumeki and Watanuki stopped when he did. "Wait, where's my-"

"Glasses. Must have fallen off. I'll get them." Doumeki backtracked into the warehouse, back to the spot where Watanuki had passed out. His glasses were there, Doumeki had missed them earlier. He swept them off the ground, prepared to turn around and take Watanuki back home, to his university supplied housing when something caught his eye.

He frowned and ducked around the pillar, scooping the pink thing out from the trash and debris laying there. Instinct told him not to touch it with his bare hands, just in case, and it was good that he'd developed that instinct.

It was a bracelet made of large pink and white beads, only wide enough to fit around a very small wrist. A child's wrist.

Doumeki was frozen for a long moment while he processed the information.

He didn't believe in coincidence, after all. He pulled an evidence bag out of his pocket and dropped the bracelet into it, striding back towards the car. If that bracelet belong to Mitsuki-chan, that was proof that she was here. And if there was evidence that she had been here, there was the probability that they could find evidence that someone else had been there. Maybe even DNA evidence. Maybe.

There was a chance. Now, there was hope.

Chapter Text

"Do I... do I want a job???"

Watanuki stared up at Yuuko. Had she just- Did she just- Did he just get offered a job from the police department?? The same thing that his dad had used to do? The thing that had... that had gotten him, and his mom, killed?

"Well, your father used to work for this district, didn't he?" Yuuko tapped her fingertips together, smiling softly. "He was one of the best, if I remember correctly. Kurogane-san even shadowed him for a short time, I believe."

"Yeah, he worked- wait, what? Kurogane-san?" Watanuki slumped back into the chair. All of this information was rushing at him at top speed.

Yuuko nodded. "Mhmm. Kurogane-san was young at the time, sixteen, I believe the files said. You and Kurogane-san have something in common, Watanuki-san. Like you, Kurogane-san's mother was killed."

Watanuki stiffened.

"That's why he joined up. Of course, your father was already gone by the time that Kurogane-san joined the force. That was his reason for joining, however. To find his mother's murderer, as well as to gain strength."

Watanuki opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped, closing it again. He didn't know what to say. Barely able to face his own parent's death, he knew how hard it was to live with it.

Yuuko seemed to understand that his words were not forthcoming, however, because she continued on. "Thanks to your visions, Doumeki-kun was able to find DNA evidence for Mitsuki-chan's murderer."

Watanuki swallowed. His mouth was dry, and he was having trouble shaking off particular thoughts in his mind. And... a job? He couldn't... "But all I did was go there and pass out," he said weakly.

"We wouldn't have been there in the first place, had it not been for Watanuki-kun's visions," Yuuko reminded gently. "Anyway, it's just an internship." She leaned back in her chair, almost with an air of sudden disinterest. "If you decide that you don't like it, you can leave at any time."

Watanuki sighed shakily. "You can't be serious..."

"Do I look like I'm joking, Watanuki-kun?" Yuuko said with a smile, although it was less 100% genuine than it was almost... shark-like.

Watanuki rubbed his forehead with the heel of his palm, failing to work through his thoughts. "Not really. Can I, I don't know, think about it?"

"What's to think about? Do you have some other pressing pasttime to take up your time?"

"No, I-"

"Good!" Yuuko clapped her hands together. "Then we'll sign you up right away!

"Hey, wait a second!" Watanuki looked between Yuuko - who was ignoring him, digging around in some paperwork - and Doumeki - who was leaning against the wall, emotionless as usual. "This is completely unreasonable!"

And unobtainable and unprofessional and...

unstoppable.

A week later, he was staring out the train window on the way to the job, completely, and officially on internship as a consultant to the police department. He still wasn't sure... how it happened. But it had happened.

"Watanuki-kun! Welcome!" Fai bounded across the precinct, the usual grin plastered onto his face seemingly somehow impossibly brighter. "Oh, do you I mind if I call you Watanuki-kun?"

"You don't ask anyone else about nicknames," Kurogane said. He was leaning against his desk with the same usual, stern expression. Watanuki's gaze lingered on him for a moment longer than what was probably socially acceptable - but Kurogane's mother... - and Kurogane narrowed his eyes slightly at him a second later.

Watanuki inhaled and jerked his attention away, feeling warm. "Umm, Watanuki-kun is fine," he said, addressing Fai. "And I should call you...?"

"Fai-san," Fai said. "And that's Kuro-pii!"

"That's not my name!"

"And," Fai continued, as though Kurogane hadn't said anything, "you already know Commissioner Ichihara and Doumeki-kun. Ichihara-san told us all about you. We have a lot to talk about, don't we? We should go out for drinks!"

"I don't... really drink." He meant to say something agreeable, and prescursory, but all that came out was saying that he didn't drink. Watanuki sighed softly. Interacting with adults made him nervous.

He just wasn't used to adults. Sure, he was technically an adult himself, but... when he grew up without adults in his life?

Fai's eyes widened almost comically. "Wata-kun, you're missing out!" he announced.

Watanuki laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I get drunk easily."

Fai laughed, waving his hand. "Ah well~ I'll teach you how to hold your liquor, Watanuki-kun."

"You can't hold your liquor, either," Kurogane said suddenly, throwing a glance towards Fai.

"Shhhhh!" Fai leaned over, pressing his finger to Kurogane's lips. "Kuro-daddy's concern is touching, but unnecessary."

"Stop calling me that!" Kurogane snapped, and Fai scrambled away with a gasp that wasn't at all worried about the other man's anger.

Watanuki found himself smiling as he watched them interact. He wasn't sure why, or what he was even smiling at, but... something about those two...

A phone started ringing from a nearby desk, and Fai perked up. "Oops, phone call! Be right back!" He gave a little wave and strode away to his desk. "Officer Flourite," he answered, sinking into the spinning chair (and honest to goodness actually spinning a little when he sat).

Watanuki watched him for a moment before looking back at the other officer he was left with: Kurogane.

Kurogane looked down at him with the same, serious expression that he gave everyone else. Watanuki was suddenly struck with how awkward it had to be if it was Kurogane and Doumeki on assignment together. They were both... silent. At least Kurogane didn't seem like he was perpetually emotionless, though, so he had something on Doumeki.

"Kurogane-san, right?"

"Yeah."

Watanuki looked up at him, frowning a little without realizing it. So, the reason that Kurogane had become a police officer... was the same reason that Watanuki had never had any desire to. He wondered how their opinions on it had been so different, when they had suffered the same horrific past, but in different way. Maybe... Maybe Kurogane was just stronger than he was...

"So, Commissioner-san told you."

Watanuki startled, flushing slightly. "Er." He gripped at his arm loosely, forcing himself to look up at Kurogane. Not because he was afraid of him, or afraid of the wrath that would probably come with Yuuko telling Watanuki about Kurogane's past. But it was because Yuuko had shared it, not Kurogane, that made Watanuki hesitate. It wasn't his place to know, and yet he did. "... Yeah," he said, meeting his intense gaze.

Kurogane looked down at him coolly. "I'm not looking for pity," he said, expression unchanging.

Watanuki shook his head. "No."

"Yet you aren't looking at me the same way you did last week."

Watanuki cringed. "No, I'm not- I just... well, to be fair, last week you were trying to lock me up," he muttered. But Kurogane was right. Pity was... probably the worst thing Watanuki'd ever gotten after his parents had been murdered. He appreciated it, now, he supposed, but... he just wanted everything to be normal. He couldn't get that when he was being pitied. He'd only been six, for crying out loud. "It's just sad," he settled on, eventually.

Kurogane huffed. "Don't waste your breath. It was a long time ago."

Watanuki's lips twisted into a frown. "That doesn't matter," he said slowly. He was trailing into dangerous territory, and his next words make his throat tighten. "My parents have been gone a long time, and I'm still... I still get sad over it. If you say you aren't, you're just lying to yourself."

He caught the ever increasingly subtle look of surprise that crept into Kurogane's gaze and Oh, God, had he just called a superior office a liar??? when Fai's voice drifted across the office.

"Kuro-tan~ we have a call!"

Watanuki let out a breath he wasn't aware of holding as Fai joined them again. "Watanuki-kun, Doumeki-kun's talking with Yuuko-san just now, but his desk is over there, you can wait there!" he said, either completely oblivious to the sudden tension or just not acknowledging it. "Come along, Kuro-gon!"

"Now you're just making things up!" Kurogane growled, as they headed down the hallway. Fai's laughter was heard around the corner, and Watanuki shook his head, relaxing just a tiny bit.

Okay, they weren't bad people. In fact, they seemed nice. But Kurogane looked a little scary.

He headed over to the space that Fai had pointed out. The desk, adorned with a plastic name plate that read Doumeki Shizuka, was nearly bare of possessions. There was one photo, however, and Watanuki picked it up absentmindedly. It was a typical family photo - or probably should have been, anyway. It in was a smiling Haruka, expressionless as probably usual Doumeki, and two women, presumably Doumeki's mother and grandmother. Doumeki looked a little younger, maybe three or four years so, and Watanuki couldn't help but wonder - even if it wasn't any of his business - where Doumeki's father was, then and now.

"Snoop."

Watanuki straightened up, setting the photo back down quickly. "Sorry, I'm sorry! Wait..." He frowned, looking at Doumeki. "Were you just standing there staring at me?! That's rude!"

"Yeah, you're one to talk." Doumeki stepped around him, handing him a booklet of paper. "Standard manual. You aren't joining as an officer, but you should brush up on the knowledge if you'll be following me."

Watanuki looked down at the thick stack of paper, and nodded. "Sure." He narrowed his eyes slightly, and then looked back at Doumeki. "You do realize that you have Ichihara-san to blame for this, right?"

"Yeah." Doumeki rummaged around through the paperwork on his desk. It was a horrifically untidy mess, and Watanuki itched to either yell at him to organize it or offer to clean it up himself. "She said to call her Yuuko-san, too."

Watanuki wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I know. But I don't know her, and you all call her Ichihara-san."

Doumeki shrugged. "You aren't a cop."

"But she was the one who offered me a job as a consultant."

"Yeah. You can call me Doumeki, too."

"Ehh?"

"Just Doumeki is fine."

"Okay, not that I asked." Watanuki huffed, and raised his voice. "So, what am I doing here, anyway? I thought I didn't have to report in unless there was... something I could help on." Unless there was a murder I had a vision about.

"I'll show you around here."

"Hm?"

Doumeki turned to him. "Tour. Put your things there with mine."

"Fine."

For the next five hours, Watanuki followed Doumeki to and fro, first learning the layout of the office and all of its commodities, and then learning about paperwork first hand (that part was... so boring). Then, they'd gotten assigned public patrol, leading to now, where Watanuki was sat next to Doumeki on a park bench, sulking over a hamburger.

"... I really don't know why I had to come in today."

"I don't know."

Watanuki grumbled, peeling the paper away from his brown bag lunch. "Is this a trial period? To see how we get along or something? We're getting weird looks!" he complained, angling away from Doumeki.

"Don't care." Doumeki chewed for a moment before swallowing audibly. (Are you serious?) "Commissioner Ichihara said that we would get along fine."

"Yeah, great for Ichihara-san, but- don't steal my food!" he gasped, grabbing the french fries that he'd literally just sat on his own lap. "We're already getting looked at oddly, now two guys sharing a meal is even worse!"

"So?"

"Ugh." Watanuki sighed. "You have no modicum of dignity, do you?"

Doumeki looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm a cop."

"I said dignity, not loyalty. Geesh. People are gonna get the wrong idea about you."

"So what?"

Watanuki frowned.

"I don't care what people say," Doumeki said, and reached over to steal another fry.

"Hey!" Watanuki put the fries back in the bag. "Now, wait, are you saying... Are you..." He stopped, looking at Doumeki closely.

Doumeki looked up from his own hamburger, and met his gaze blankly. "Are you trying to see if I'm visibly gay?"

Watanuki growled, although he was certain he was turning red for all of his efforts. "No! I just-"

"I'm not, for the record." Doumeki took a drink of his soda, noisily. "I'm not anything, actually."

"You-" Watanuki stopped, and then frowned. Hesitation forgotten, he leaned over a little, eyebrows drawn together. "You're not anything? What does that mean?"

Doumeki shrugged. "I've never found anyone attractive."

"Not anyone?"

"No." Doumeki reached for the paper bag.

"But you're twenty-five!"

Doumeki pulled out the fries. "And?"

"You haven't-"

"No." He took a bite of a fry, almost thoughtfully. "Not yet."

"Huh." Watanuki fell back, leaning back against the bench. "Well, that's... uh. Something."

"Right." Doumeki put a few fries on his hamburger. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"You're twenty."

Watanuki fidgeted. "Uhh, haha, no. Most people... I mean." He huffed out a breath, his bangs tickling his forehead. "Same thing as before, really, visions, that would probably turn people off. Everyone just mostly thinks I'm crazy."

"Mm." Doumeki took another bite of his lunch. "Girls?"

Watanuki looked back at him. "What?"

"Girls, or guys."

Watanuki felt his body go simultaneously cold and hot at the same time. Strange... he felt frozen, and yet, his face was burning. "Isn't that a really personal question to just straight out and ask someone??" he demanded, once his voice had caught up with his well-deserved shock.

"You just asked me."

"No, I didn't! You made a comment that gave it away!" Watanuki flailed, and grabbed his hamburger again, ravenously turning his attention back to normal things for one in the afternoon, like lunch.

"Guys."

Watanuki nearly choked. "What??? No!"

"Girls, too, then."

"What????? No! I mean, yes, but-"

"Bi."

Watanuki opened his mouth to complain and found the words wouldn't come out. Mostly, he was just stunned because nobody - nobody - had ever outed him. Even now, only Syaoran knew, and that was only because... Watanuki might have kind of liked one of Syao's friends... He shook his head hard, chasing that thought away.

"Sorry," Doumeki interrupted his thoughts. "Not my business."

Watanuki sighed slightly, shoulders slumping. "Just, uh..."

"Not my secret to share," Doumeki replied, and nibbled on another handful of fries.

"Oh." He breathed out, and looked at Doumeki for a moment. Maybe he wasn't so much of a jerk, after all... wait. Wait a freaking second.

"Are those... are those my fries?"

Doumeki shrugged.

Chapter Text

"Would you lay off of me???" Kurogane growled.

Fai squealed in laughter, scrambling off the bar stool so fast that he nearly fell over. "Kuro-kun's angry~"

"And you're drunk, ponytail! Sit down!"

Watanuki chuckled and pressed his hand over his mouth, watching Kurogane and Fai with happiness in his heart. They were funny to work with, funny to watch.

In the past two weeks, while he hadn't been there most of those two weeks given the state of his consultation, Watanuki had learned that while Kurogane looked scary, he rarely was without a reason. While Fai looked happy... he was always happy. (At least, all the times Watanuki saw him, anyway.) He had learned that Doumeki was as emotionless as he had first come off as, and he had somehow ended up bringing lunch for the jerk on the days he was in. Commissioner Ichihara was keeping a watchful eye on Watanuki, so much that it made him vaguely uncomfortable, but he still hadn't learned anything about her besides that.

And now, Fai had upheld his promise, and he, Doumeki, Fai, and Kurogane were all at a bar.

The world was buzzing pleasantly.

"Kuro-cha~a~an~"

"What do you want now."

Fai leaned over, so that he was face to face with Kurogane. He reached out a long, thin finger and... "Boink!" He pressed the tip of his finger against Kurogane's nose.

Kurogane's glare was spectacular, and Watanuki laughed out loud.

Kurogane's glare was transferred to Watanuki, and Watanuki clapped his hand over his mouth again, and tried not to think about how ridiculous he probably looked.

"Two lightweights," Kurogane muttered, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not a lightweight!" Fai announced.

"I told you I'm a lightweight," Watanuki said at the same time, and propped his head on his hand.

Kurogane rolled his eyes. "Well, at least you're not far gone as this one."

Watanuki shrugged.

He was buzzed, though. He wasn't drunk; he'd been there before, on a stupid night out with Syaoran, but he could tell that his inhibitions were down enough that the alcohol was affecting him. Which was also why he hadn't touched his drink lately, although his fingers were itching to pick up the glass even though he didn't even like the taste.

"Kuuuro-pon!"

"What."

"Bathroom!"

"What?"

Fai grabbed Kurogane's wrist. "Come with me! I have to tinkle!"

"You've got to be ki- hey!" Kurogane almost lost his cool as Fai all but pulled him from the bar stool. "Watch it!"

"Silly Kuro-chan~"

Watanuki let out a breath that shook with laughter, and he swung his gaze around to Doumeki. "Those two've been working together awhile, haven't they?"

Doumeki was sitting next to him at the bar, silent save for the occasional comment, mostly in response to Fai's wild declarations or Kurogane's soft conversation. He'd also drank as much as Fai or Kurogane, and he didn't seem at all affected. (Watanuki was a little jealous.) "Yeah," Doumeki said, setting his glass down. "Longer than I've been there."

"Huh." Watanuki glanced towards the bathroom and tilted his head a bit. His inhibitions being down, he allowed himself to ask the question plaguing him for the past couple weeks. "What's Fai-san's story, anyway?"

Doumeki looked at him, and then followed Watanuki's wandering gaze to the doorway where Kurogane and Fai had vanished. "... I heard he had a brother, before. Suoh-san and Akira-san mentioned it, once."

Watanuki sat up a little. "What happened to him?"

Doumeki shook his head slightly. "Don't know. He went missing one day, but that's all I know."

Frowning now, Watanuki inquired further, spurred on by the haze of alcohol and curiosity. "They never found him? Was Fai-san on the force then?"

"No. The way I took it... that's the reason he joined."

He leaned back, remembering at the last second that there was no back to his chair. "Did we all join up because of our pasts?"

Doumeki was quiet for a moment. "I didn't."

Watanuki snorted. "Well, I coulda told you that you didn't fit in right away!" he announced, and finally reached for his drink.

Half an hour later, his temples were pounding, his head was on his arms, and he was regretting letting Fai talk him into this. (Fai, who was currently passed out with his head on his arms on the table, like Watanuki.)

"And he still looks pleased with himself," Kurogane muttered.

"Doesn't he always?" Doumeki was actually having a conversation with Kurogane. It was kind of weird, and Watanuki's eyes lazily tracked either of them as they spoke.

"I suppose," Kurogane said.

"... But not at home."

Kurogane was still looking at Fai. "Wouldn't know."

"Mm."

Watanuki's eyelids drooped. Could any two people be any more boring? After Fai had passed out, it had gotten so quiet, and his eyelids were heavy...

He couldn't breathe.

He felt... sluggish. His limbs felt heavy. The darkness surrounding him was oppressive, and he could barely keep his eyes open. There... was something... wrong...

"... meant to kill her..."

...?

"... shouldn't have been this way, it was... be easy."

He tried to talk. "... Huh?"

"Shut up!" A face swim into vision through the darkness: shoulder length caramel hair that curled at the ends, pale skin, periwinkle eyes, and anger etched onto her face, utter anger.

"But I..."

"This is all your fault! You destroyed our family, you stupid child! Why won't you just-"

Watanuki gasped, fingers flying to his face to feel the wetness on his cheeks, the bar around him swimming back into view. He wasn't where he had been, he didn't think, unless he had somehow fallen asleep on the ground- but no, the bony parts of his limbs hurt like he'd fallen from his seat, and he was half supported by Doumeki, half slumped against his chest.

Kurogane was on his knees in front of him, hand half outstretched. His eyes narrowed at Watanuki as Watanuki looked at him. "There's something you're not telling us."

Watanuki looked at him listlessly, scrubbing his hand against his eyes. He was shaking, and his stomach was turning. Hadn't Yuuko told the other officers... about his visions...?

"Are you okay?" Doumeki asked lowly, fingers pressing more firmly into Watanuki's arm.

Probably, yeah, if only Watanuki could speak. Being drunk and having these dreams... was not a good combination. God, he was going to throw up. He pushed away from Doumeki and staggered back to his feet. He almost fell right back down, and bile burned the back of his throat as the panic and fear still coursed through him.

He spent the next five minutes being violently sick, knees against the dirty floor and arms braced against the toilet seat. He was never - never - doing this again.

Staggering out of the stall, he walked smack-bang into Doumeki. "Agh!" He stumbled back, and Doumeki's hand grabbed at his shoulder to steady him. "How..." he cleared his throat, and rubbed his arm against his eyes. "How long have you been standing there...?"

Doumeki was frowning. "Long enough. What was it?"

Watanuki stumbled past him to the sink. "Don't know. ... Same thing I saw before, a few weeks ago... when I met you." He splashed water on his face.

"The kidnapping?"

Watanuki looked up, looking at Doumeki in the mirror's reflection. He wasn't wearing his glasses, so the world was a little fuzzy, and he couldn't make out Doumeki's expression. "You remembered?" Watanuki mumbled.

"Yeah." It sounded like Doumeki was frowning. "You're my partner. I listen to what you say."

Watanuki sighed a wobbly sigh. That was a little bizarre. He didn't say so out loud, because talking was making his head throb. Instead, he ended the conversation by saying "I need to go home", and slipped his glasses back on.

"Come stay with me."

Watanuki leaned against the sink tiredly. "What...?"

"You're sick."

"I'm not sick," Watanuki muttered. It was debatable, he supposed. But he was only sick... because of drinking and because of the visions... He wasn't actually sick. But, God, he was tired and felt horrible and sick and shaky.

And somewhere, someone was going to be kidnapped and murdered.

He pressed his shaking fingers against his stomach, willing himself not to throw up again. "I couldn't..."

"I live alone and have an extra room."

Watanuki slumped a little. "... Okay." He'd probably hate himself even more in the morning than he already probably would, but he'd deal with it later. He felt like he was going to drop if he didn't sit down soon.

"Come on."

Doumeki made Watanuki go first, as though he expected him to pass out and he was going to be prepared if he did. The guy was perceptive. Kurogane was on his feet the moment that he saw them, and even quicker to dodge around the occupants in the bar to get to them.

"We're heading out," Doumeki said.

Kurogane looked at Doumeki, and then back at Watanuki. "... Keep your secrets. But if it involves our job, don't hold out on us," he said, after a pause. "Don't lie to us. Like some others."

Watanuki frowned a tiny bit, in confusion. Who...? "'m not lying," he mumbled.

"Now who's being dishonest."

Doumeki gripped Watanuki's elbow. "We'll get the bus."

Kurogane stared at Watanuki for another moment before looking up at Doumeki, and nodding. "Fine. I'll take him home," he said, gesturing to Fai, who was still asleep at the bar.

"Right."

Watanuki stood by idly, seeing the same face beneath his eyelids when he zoned out. That woman he'd seen... she almost looked familiar, and yet, he didn't think he knew her. He let himself be herded to the doorway, and glanced over his shoulder at Kurogane in time to watch the stern-faced officer bodily hoist Fai up over his shoulder. Watanuki watched them tiredly, and met Kurogane's gaze for a moment before Doumeki stepped between them.

His companion was silent, as usual, and Watanuki relished in it for once. He pressed his head against the cool glass of the window in the bus, and stared out towards the pavement.

Who was that woman...

Watanuki woke up in a bed that wasn't his (a bed?) with a headache that made him want to claw his way right back into that dark unconscious. But... the bed... Western-style, with an actual mattress and box springs, and a bunch of blankets and pillows and... it was soft and warm and comfortable, and Watanuki didn't dare think of moving.

Except... he had to.

He must have fallen asleep on the bus on the way back to Doumeki's, so this... was probably Doumeki's home. Complete with a Western style bedroom. Not that that was probably uncommon, but it was just... Watanuki didn't have one. Don't get him wrong, his futon was comfortable, but then, so was this.

"Watanuki-san?"

Watanuki jumped a bit, and cringed at the pain that shot through his body, complete with nausea he remembered from last night. Last night...

"... awake?" Doumeki slid the door open, glancing in. "Oh. You are."

Watanuki gripped at the blankets loosely. "Sorry... I feel asleep last night, didn't I?" He sat up slowly, and fumbled for his glasses on the night table.

Doumeki shrugged. "How's the head?"

"Throbbing," Watanuki murmured, touching his temple. "But I'll be fine... I think."

"Good." Doumeki nodded. "Breakfast."

Watanuki dropped his hand. "Huh?"

"Hungry."

"Didn't you make it yourself?"

"Yours is better."

Was that a compliment? Watanuki pushed his hair out of his face, and frowned up at Doumeki. He would have complained at him, if raising his own voice didn't make his head hurt. "I'm hung over," he said, weakly, instead.

"I'll find you something." He walked out.

Watanuki groaned slightly and untangled himself from the blankets, moving slowly as he got out of the bed. His head really felt like it was going to explode. He hadn't thought he'd drank that much? Or maybe just the vision last night had sobered him up really quick.

"Doumeki, hang on." He was talking to nothing, he had no idea where Doumeki had gone. "Where's- nevermind," he muttered, stepping across the small hallway to the bathroom. "Gracious host," he mumbled. Gracious host to an semi-gracious visitor who currently looked like hell.

Watanuki pressed his fingers against his eyes, shoving his glasses up his forehead. He was definitely never drinking again. Ever. He shouldn't have listened to Fai. Fai was a good cop, but a... bad influence.

"Here." Doumeki shoved a small bottle into Watanuki's hands the moment that he walked into the kitchen area.

"Wha- oh." Hangover cure. Supposed. Not that Watanuki knew if it worked or anything, but he'd take it. "What... what did you want for breakfast? I can probably... do something simple." He rubbed his hand against his mouth. "You're helping."

"Yeah." Doumeki nodded, pulling the rice out of seemingly nowhere. Had he had that hidden somewhere? "Just the usual is fine."

Watanuki shook his head a little bit, trailing off into a whimper. "I need coffee, water," he muttered. "Where're your cups?"

Doumeki opened a cupboard, grabbed a plastic tumblr, and filled it with water. In one fluid movement.

Watanuki muttered his gratitude and sipped at it. "I need dishes and things," he said, leaning against the cabinet. "Where's the steamer?"

"So, what did you see last night?" Doumeki asked, a little bit later, when they were working on breakfast side-by-side. The kitchen was small, but comfortable, and surprisingly similar to Watanuki's own.

Watanuki's fingers stilled over the rice. The cold water rushing over his hands felt colder, compared to the burn of the "Fire," he said quietly, and then raised his voice. "Well, I remember that part. There's a fire somewhere, and there's someone being kidnapped. A child." He hoped that hangover cure worked. He didn't look up as Doumeki looked at him.

"Did you see the person?"

Watanuki shook his head. "The child? No... I was experiencing it first-hand. I was the person... I saw something else, though. Someone. Maybe the kidnapper." He thought for a moment, and shivered. "Definitely the kidnapper."

"What did she look like?"

"Short hair. It curled at the ends. Blue eyes, but not blue blue, kind of muted. Kind of like mine, actually..." He shook his head and turned the tap off. "Pale. Angry. I couldn't make out other features, I was... the child was crying."

"Did this person know the kidnapper?"

"Um." The was a good question. Watanuki wasn't very good at picking his dreams apart like this. Usually, he desperately just wished to forget them, not remember them. But if they were... if they could grant anyone a tiny bit of peace... "I don't know, it kind of felt like there was some... familiarity?" He frowned. "But there was something wrong, though, too, like I couldn't... they couldn't move, or they were tired or... well, it was a weird sensation. Kind of being in your body but not being able to control it."

"Drugged?" Doumeki quipped.

"Maybe?"

"Hm." Doumeki set the tofu aside. "Did you recognize the kidnapper?"

"I just said-"

"Did you recognize the kidnapper."

Watanuki's pulse echoed in the pain in his head as he stared at Doumeki. "... Me? How would I?"

Doumeki shrugged.

Watanuki blew out a breath. "That's all I've got. See, working on the force, I'm not any help at all."

"Yes, you are." Doumeki side-eyed him when Watanuki glanced over. "Mitsuki-chan, remember. This is different. This hasn't happened yet. Right?"

"So you're saying," Watanuki said slowly, "that we can... prevent it?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe..." Watanuki breathed in slowly, and clenched his hands into fists. If they could stop it... if they could save someone...

"We've got to figure out who that woman is," he said determinedly.

Little did he know that all it would take was Doumeki turning on the news forty-five minutes later.

The shattering of the bowl that had slipped through his fingers to crash to the floor didn't register in his head. He was instead staring at the TV, watching the woman who he'd seen in his dream. It was definitely her. Her gaze was sending chills down his spine.

"Watanuki-san?"

"... sole custody to the father. As most know, ten-year-old Tsuyuri Kohane rose to fame four years ago as a spiritual seer and has been managed by her mother since her debut. The court decisions appear to be amicable; however, it is-"

"Watanuki," Doumeki said loudly, his voice breaking into the drone of the television.

Watanuki jumped, and looked away from the TV to Doumeki. "That's her. The woman in my vision. Tsuyuri Kohane's mother."

Doumeki looked between him and the TV for a moment, too, before pushing himself to his feet and padding into the hallway. It was only then that Watanuki realized the mess he'd made with the broken bowl, and leaned down to pick up the pieces just as Doumeki returned with a broom.

"Sorry, I didn't mean- I was startled, I suppose."

"Doesn't matter. Don't touch it."

"No, it's okay-"

"Watanuki-"

"Ow!"

"Moron."

Watanuki sucked on his bleeding finger, glaring balefully up at Doumeki. But his eyes didn't linger long, inevitably drawn back to the television where they were still talking about the apparent custody dispute in the Tsuyuri household. "Do you think... Do you think it was Kohane-chan that I've been seeing?"

Doumeki handed him a towel. "Maybe. We should look into it today."

Watanuki looked up again. "... You really do believe me, don't you...?"

Doumeki was expressionless. "I already said that I did."

"Yeah..." Watanuki huffed a weak laugh. "I guess so..."

"We probably won't be able to do anything."

"What?"

Doumeki frowned at the broken dish on the floor. His fingers seemed to tighten around the broom. He looked... almost upset, if his face could process that emotion withotu shattering. "If she doesn't have a criminal record..."

Watanuki gaped. "But... wait, are you saying that we just let her do it??"

"That's not it." Doumeki narrowed his eyes. "But, proof..."

"We can't just sit by and do nothing!"

"We might have to." Doumeki shook his head slightly, beginning to sweep up the dish. "If you're right, we know what her mother is planning. We'll need to wait on certain things to happen before we can-"

"But she might die in the meantime!" Watanuki protested. Really, was it that hard to understand?? They had to get in there, get Kohane-chan-

"We're cops. We can't do things without reason."

"But it's a little girl's life-"

"With you, she still has a chance. That's better than none at all."

"How can you be so-so-so... heartless?" Watanuki demanded, hauling himself back to his feet. "You can't just-"

"I have to." Doumeki turned away, setting the broom aside. "So do you. We'll do all we can. Alright?"

"And that's the best you can do??"

"Yeah." Doumeki collected the broken pieces in the dustpan. "... We'll save her," he said shortly, and quietly, so much so that Watanuki wasn't certain that he was even supposed to hear. But Doumeki stood up and padded away, and Watanuki was left with anger and sadness and questions that he couldn't bring himself to ask.

What if, what if...

Four days later, his phone vibrated in the middle of class.

Like Doumeki had said, they hadn't been able to do anything about Kohane-chan's mother. They were playing a waiting game, and the first move had been made, Watanuki realized belatedly, as he read the text.

[From Doumeki S]

Fire dept. en route to Tsuyuri household.

Watanuki stared at the small black print. The fire department... fire... Kohane-chan...

He jumped up and ran, ignoring the looks he got on the way out.

Chapter Text

"I knew we should have done something! Why didn't we do something?"

Doumeki's grip around the steering wheel was tight, and his nerves were wound just as tightly. He had gone to pick up Watanuki after texting him, fully expecting him to be in a frantic panic; what he hadn't realized that Watanuki would not, naturally, realize that he was coming to pick him up, and Doumeki had found the college student running to the Tsuyuri household.

He knew it had been a bad idea to let Watanuki look at the records with him, even if Watanuki was technically part of the force now. He'd made him swear not to do anything illegal, and even then Doumeki wasn't so sure.

But he hadn't, and now Watanuki was in the passenger side of his cruiser, oozing anger. Panic. Fear.

And it was rubbing off on Doumeki, who was desperately trying to maintain his calm.

"Because we couldn't."

"Arrest her on suspicion!" Watanuki hissed. "Hell, you arrested me on suspicion, why the hell not her???"

"That's different."

"How is it different?!"

"You knew personal details about the murder then. Ichihara-san allowed us to question the mother, but there was no way we could detain her."

"I told you, we should have been watching! Now this has happened!"

"What's the point in trying to stop an illegal act if we do something illegal ourselves."

"This is a ten year old's life!" Watanuki exploded. "An innocent ten year old, and now she's either dead or dying or being kidnapped, all because we stood by and let it happen!"

Doumeki wanted to argue, but deep-down, he knew Watanuki was right. It was difficult, though. Watanuki hadn't been a part of the 'officer of the law' for a long time now, and... Doumeki thought he let his heart rule his head.

It wasn't a bad thing, normally, but in situations like these...

Not that he was doing much better; his hands were shaking as he slammed the door to the car when they'd arrived at the blazing inferno, although he suspected it had something to do with the way that Watanuki bolted from the car the moment that it had stopped. He wouldn't do something stupid, would he?

Doumeki knew that answer already, and he'd only known him for just under two months.

"Hey." He grabbed his arm, swinging him back. "Wait."

Watanuki tried to shake him off. "Let go, I have to-"

"Have to what," Doumeki interrupted. "You aren't a cop, you're a consultant. And you can't go running into burning buildings."

"I'm not going to not do anything again!"

"Don't put yourself in danger."

"We have to find Kohane-chan, how can you be so ca-" Watanuki's body went slack and Doumeki hastened to grab his torso before he could collapse, the additional deadweight making him stagger.

"Watanuki," he said urgently, holding him up against his chest. "Now's not the time to be sleeping." But it was halfhearted, because it wasn't normal, and Watanuki's eyes weren't closed. They were unseeing, probably seeing something in the very distant (or maybe near) future, and these daytime visions made Doumeki's skin crawl. He wanted to shake him awake but knowing that, if Watanuki was having a vision that could help them, that shaking him awake was the last thing he needed to do.

Watanuki jerked back to life just as Flourite and Kurogane pulled up on scene. Doumeki alternated between tightening his grip on Watanuki to make sure he didn't do something foolish and watching his fellow officers.

"Doumeki-kun, Watanuki-kun, Ichihara-san told us to come-" Fai stopped. "What's wrong with Watanuki-kun?"

Watanuki scrabbled for purchase against Doumeki's arms, struggling to stand up straight. "Bri..."

"Huh?"

"Watanuki-kun?" Fai leaned closer. "You look horrible."

Watanuki flinched and Doumeki had to dig his heels in so that Watanuki didn't knock him off balance. "A bridge!" Watanuki gasped.

"What?"

Watanuki grabbed a fistful of Doumeki's uniform. "Try the nearest bridge," he repeated urgency in his voice.

The nearest bridge? Oh. "You sure?"

Watanuki nodded frantically. "Have to go, have to hurry..." His fingers untangled from Doumeki's shirt and he started for the car.

He didn't have anything to go on, but Doumeki trusted Watanuki implicitly. He probably shouldn't. He did. "You two stay and find out the information," he said to Flourite, turning to follow Watanuki to the car.

"Wait." Kurogane grabbed his arm.

Doumeki glanced back.

"What secrets are you keeping," Kurogane intoned. Not an inquiry this time. A demand.

Doumeki liked Kurogane. There was something about him, well, that probably reminded him of himself, to be honest. But while he looked frightening, and he could be, he was fiercely loyal, and extremely dedicated. He would do anything for Flourite, for Doumeki, and for Watanuki, now, too.

Doumeki may have smiled, if he was prone to expressing emotion, and if his nerves weren't so utterly torn apart. "Ask the Commissioner," he said instead.

"She doesn't give straight answers."

"Doumeki," Watanuki called, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. Doumeki wondered if he'd drive himself if Doumeki didn't get to the car soon.

He looked back at Kurogane. "Ask the Commissioner," he repeated, and pulled away. "Talk later."

"Doumeki..."

"Traffic."

"You're a cop."

"I can't move cars with my mind."

Watanuki groaned, pressing his hand against his head, and gazed out the window. "We need to move, we need to..." he trailed off.

Agreed, Doumeki thought sourly, but whatever was backing up traffic wasn't moving for public safety, and they were stuck.

"Hey, what is that?"

Doumeki glanced at Watanuki and then followed his pointing finger, glancing out the back window. "What?"

He realized his mistake when he heard the car door slam.

Watanuki'd played him.

Damn it! Doumeki jerked on his seatbelt, throwing the car door open. "Watanuki!" He would have sworn to kill him, if there wasn't a possibility that Watanuki might take care of that himself by being foolish. By trying to save this girl. Well, Doumeki wanted her safe, too, but he didn't want it at the expense of losing his new partner. If they could both be fine, that would be ideal, but Watanuki was so hot-headed and rushed into things... "Watanuki, you moron," he grumbled, taking off running after his partner.

The moron who had a head start on him and could actually run. Add that onto the growing list of things that Watanuki was good at. (He wished he wasn't good at running, right now, though.)

"Tsuyuri-san!"

Doumeki's eyes flickered away from Watanuki's form, looking for the woman that Watanuki was presumably seeing - and went cold when he saw her. On the edge, with Kohane.

Doumeki'd never dealt with jumpers before. Thinking back on it, it was probably strange that he hadn't ever been called out for a potential suicide. Or maybe... maybe that was on purpose. Maybe the Commissioner had a say in it, keeping Doumeki, who wasn't good at expressing sentiment through words, behind the desk on certain calls. He thought Flourite and Kurogane went out more often because they had seniority, and maybe that was part of it, but suddenly, it seemed like maybe there was a higher power at play.

On top his heart crashing into his throat for the Tsuyuri mother and daughter, he was suddenly cold despite the warm temperatures outside. Because, Watanuki.

"Wata..." But anything that he could have said wasn't quickly enough, because Watanuki charged ahead to jump the safety railing and step out onto the edge, too.

"Tsuyuri-san, wait!"

"Watanuki!" Doumeki leaned against the railing, curling his fingers around it tightly. "Get back here."

"Tsuyuri-san-"

"Stay away from me, or I'll jump, I swear it!" Tsuyuri-san ordered, curling her arms around Kohane, who only looked half conscious.

"No, no, no," Watanuki interrupted, taking another unsteady step forward. "I just want to talk, I'm not a cop, okay?"

"Watanuki," Doumeki hissed. "Stop it."

"Somebody has to do something!" Watanuki snapped, whirling his attention back at Doumeki for an instant.

Doumeki held his breath. He wanted to jump the railing himself and grab Watanuki by the neck and drag him back, but if Watanuki putting himself in danger for Kohane was stupid, then Doumeki putting himself in danger, too, was unthinkable. He couldn't risk both of their lives. All of their lives.

He was taken by the sudden realization that he was shaking. Physically shaking. Doumeki curled his hands into fists, trying to shake his pulse out of his ears. He hadn't made a rookie mistake by being so emotional since his first week, and even hardly then.

Just. Watanuki had to be safe. Because.

He'd grown to rather like this idiot.

"Hey. Kohane-chan?" Watanuki sounded like he was smiling. Doumeki couldn't tell. "You okay?"

"... yeah..."

"That's good to hear. Tsuyuri-san," Watanuki continued, looking up, "and you? How are you doing?"

Tsuyuri was looking at him like he was crazy. Doumeki was pretty sure he was doing that, too, though Watanuki did have a point. Keep her talking. Keep her distracted.

Doumeki turned slightly, subtly sending off a text to Flourite with their location and a simple Need backup, ASAP.

"She was supposed to die, too!" Tsuyuri spat. "She couldn't even do that right! After all the trouble I've gone to for her! For her career-"

Watanuki had stopped, hands held aloft. "Kohane-chan is talented. She can see people who have passed on, can't she? I've seen her on the television."

"She did!" Tsuyuri replied. "She used to! But she doesn't have them now! Not anymore! Her father tainted her by taking her out into the public! He gave her food, he enrolled her in school! Now she's lost her prophetic powers and she's useless to me!"

Doumeki leaned against the rail heavily. He remembered this debacle, he'd seen it on the news himself. Kohane was a rumored exorcist, one who could both see spirits and help them move on. Doumeki didn't know for sure, because he didn't watch those kinds of television programs, but the last he'd heard about the Tsuyuri family, the mother and father had been going through a divorce, and the custody battle that had followed had been spectacular. The father had ended up with sole custody, however, which made Doumeki wonder how they'd gotten to where they were. Special arrangements?

"No, I don't think that," Watanuki replied softly. "I think Kohane-chan just doesn't have anything to see." He edged a little closer. "She helps people to move on, right? So what if there is no one to help?"

"There has to someone, people die all the time!"

"But if they move on-"

"No, it's all her own fault!" Tsuyuri yelled, dragging Kohane closer to the edge. "If she hadn't done all of this, my husband and I wouldn't be divorced and he wouldn't be dead and we wouldn't be standing here now, if I can't have her, then nobody can!"

God, he was losing her.

"Wait, no," Watanuki spluttered, jerking to a halt. "It's okay, I promise! You and Kohane-chan just need to come off the edge with me and we'll get you two back-back... back on the TV!" Watanuki seemed to realize he was losing her, too; the panic in his voice pitched up suddenly. "You don't have to worry about anybody taking her away!"

The sick feeling in the pit of Doumeki's stomach only worsened. If Tsuyuri jumped, not only would her and her daughter's death be a tragedy... that tragedy would be on Watanuki's hands. And... Watanuki wouldn't be able to handle that, would he.

"That doesn't matter when she's useless!"

"She's not useless!" Watanuki fired back. "She's just a ten year old! She has her whole life ahead of her that she's going to do so much more than she's doing now!"

"If she's useless to me, she's useless to everyone else!"

"No, she's not!"

Watanuki... There was no end to the that sentence, though, in Doumeki's head, just a chant of his partner's name because you're being stupid and you're being reckless and this isn't working this isn't working Watanuki.

Where were Flourite and Kurogane? Doumeki didn't know how to deal with this. Yelling wasn't helping, but he didn't know how to handle it.

"She's not useless to me," Watanuki said softly.

"If you want her so much, then-"

Several things happened at once.

Tsuyuri shoved Kohane away from her, towards Watanuki. Watanuki lunged forward - too quickly. Doumeki's heart plunged to his feet and he was about to clear the railing. And Tsuyuri jumped.

"Tsuyuri-san!"

"Mother-!"

"Koha-"

"Watanuki!"

Watanuki seemed to come back into himself, holding tightly onto Kohane's shoulders. "Are you okay? Can you walk, Kohane-chan? See that expressionless brute over there? He's my partner. Can we walk over there? Carefully?" His voice was forced lightheartedness, but in the instant where Watanuki had caught Doumeki's eye, he just looked shattered.

Of course not.

Doumeki had to force himself to unclench his fingers from the railing when Watanuki and Kohane walked back, and offer a hand to both of them to help them over.

Watanuki sank to his knees the moment that he and Kohane were safe, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest. "Kohane-chan's safe now," he murmured, tucking her head under his chin. "I'm sorry that we weren't here sooner, so sorry..."

Doumeki suddenly felt faint himself, overcome with shock over Tsuyuri's suicide and relief that Kohane and Watanuki were safe. He slumped back against the rail, passing his hand against his eyes.

Focus.

He fished his phone out of his pocket and pressed it against his ear, frowning down at Watanuki and Kohane, who were both shaking just like him. Shared experiences made them stronger.

... Right.

Chapter Text

Tsuyuri Kohane could see the dead. More precisely, she saw young children who had passed on, whether by means of homicide or natural cause. She helped them to move on from this world to the next, and she was wildly popular for it.

According to television reports, her mother had realized her talent when she was very young. She had taken her to a temple and from there, she had realized just what her daughter was, and what she could do. Two years later, at age six, Kohane was secured her first guest appearance on a supernatural featured television program, and her popularity had skyrocketed immediately, and quickly.

The newfound fame didn't seem to affect Kohane, but her mother suddenly found that it was something that while she had never lived with it, she could no longer live without it. Her husband, and Kohane's biological father, had agreed with the treatment Kohane received up until the point where he had simply told his wife that he could no longer stand by and allow Kohane to drink only purified water, eat only specially prepared foods, not go to school, so on, so forth. He'd called for a divorce.

The divorce and following custodial battle that had taken place had been lengthy and expensive. Most of Kohane's television appearance were either put on hold or called off entirely. For many months, the lives of the Tsuyuri family, usually playing out like a soap opera drama, were silent.

In the end, Kohane's mother lost both her husband and her daughter. Kohane's father obtained custody, with the exception that her mother could have her once a month, for one weekend. It was more a show of good grace than anything else.

Kohane spent three happy months with her father and his new girlfriend - post-divorce - even getting signed up for public school just as she had wanted. The TV appearances were cancelled entirely, and again, the Tsuyuri household had fallen into complete silence.

Until tonight, a scheduled weekend for Kohane's mother to have Kohane for the weekend. On a change of pace, she had invited both Kohane and her father to dinner, which he had graciously accepted, hoping that the ill will was over with. They were Kohane's parents, after all, and Kohane was still young, and needed them both to get along with one another.

Kohane's mother had poisoned dinner.

While the poison had coursed through Kohane's father's blood quickly, Kohane hadn't consumed enough of it for it to be fatal. She was left half-unconscious, and her mother, in a frantic display, had set the house on fire to attempt to hide the evidence of the murder, and had kidnapped Kohane to take her somewhere and finish off the job.

Cue Watanuki's visions, and him pulling her from the bridge as the mother committed suicide.

Watanuki sat in Yuuko's office, hands curled around a cup of cooling tea, and he hadn't looked up once through Yuuko's explanation. Apparently, Kohane herself had told them all that. Watched her mother murder her father, been poisoned, nearly killed, and watched her mother commit suicide.

Watanuki didn't have it in him to speak. To comment about all of it. His hands were still cold, and his body was still shivering, and his heart ached in his chest.

So, he sat there, while Yuuko talked, and while she and Doumeki conversed about what had happened, and when Fai had burst in asking if are Watanuki-kun and Kohane-chan okay?? with Kurogane behind him. And he sat there as Yuuko told both the officers about Watanuki's visions, and the story behind how they all ended up working on the Tsuyuri case in the first place.

And he still couldn't speak.

Until there was a delicate hand against his shoulder, squeezing gently in a way he wasn't accustomed to, and he looked up wearily at Yuuko, trying to form the question with his eyes. He probably failed to express the correct emotion, but Yuuko seemed to understand, anyway.

"Go home, Watanuki-kun," she said softly. The smile on her face could only be described as melancholy, and she looked over Watanuki's shoulder at Doumeki. "Doumeki-kun, too."

For the first time since stepping into the office, Watanuki looked at Doumeki. He was leaning against the wall, face a blank slate as usual... except it wasn't. He looked just as subtly dejected as Watanuki felt.

Watanuki swallowed and looked back at Yuuko. "Yeah." He nodded slightly, and set his untouched tea down. "Should I come in tomorrow?"

"Perhaps." Yuuko opened her office door. "I'll text Doumeki-kun if we need you."

"Okay." Watanuki stood, scrubbing his palms against his pants. "Good afternoon."

"Hey."

Watanuki paused, glancing at Kurogane.

Kurogane's hand was curled into a fist and it came at Watanuki, who cringed in anticipation and muted confusion... and Kurogane merely tapped him on the top of the head with aforementioned fist, and Watanuki opened his eyes unassuredly. "I should punch you out for keeping secrets," Kurogane said gruffly, and then ruffled his hair slightly. "But this'll do."

Watanuki sighed shakily. Smiled a bit. "Sorry, Kurogane-san. Fai-san-" He broke off as he was pulled into a hug that was all long arms and an officer's uniform and blonde hair tickling his nose.

"Kuro-daddy's brand of comfort is cold," Fai said. "Mommy's the one who can kiss it better."

"Nobody wants you to kiss it better," Kurogane grumbled.

"I didn't ask you, Kuro-sama!" Fai's grip tightened around Watanuki. "Watanuki-kun'll tell us if he needs anything, right?"

Watanuki was still half frozen from surprise, but melted into Fai's embrace, just a tiny bit at the blonde's words. "Yeah." He pressed his face into his shoulder for a half second before pulling away, and managing a slightly-more-thankful-than-numb smile. "Thanks. All of you."

"No problem~" Fai waved absently. "We're all family here, right?"

"Family..." Watanuki trailed off, and shook his head slightly to chase the thoughts away. He pushed the smile back into place. "Yeah. See you guys tomorrow."

He passed off rubbing his eyes as fixing his glasses as he trudged out of Yuuko's office, closely followed Doumeki. He still hadn't said anything to him, and Watanuki didn't know what to say to him, either, so he didn't.

Their silence was uncomfortable, and jam-packed with unspoken thoughts. Watanuki didn't give them voice, only answering the one question Doumeki posed "Do you want a ride?" with a simple "Sure".

He was half waiting Doumeki to ask if he wanted to stay over again. Doumeki didn't. Watanuki was relieved, despite wondering if he would, because, well, he just wanted to be left alone for a bit.

Maybe Doumeki just thought it was presumptuous to ask him to sleep over twice in a week. (It was.)

Or maybe Doumeki wanted to be left alone, too. Watanuki didn't know, and today was not the day he could spend energy wondering.

Instead, he kept his attention on the window as he watched the city blur by, and thanked Doumeki when they were back at the apartment, and said to let him know if he needed to come in tomorrow. And then he unlocked the door and dropped himself onto the sofa and closed his eyes, preparing not to move for the rest of the evening.

He was glad, of course, that they had gotten to Kohane. So... glad. But the joy was spoiled by watching her mother throw herself off the bridge, into the bay below, where they had found her body, drowned. Suicide. Watanuki was glad that they'd saved Kohane, that was the point, but... there was so much wrong.

Firstly, her suicide, but secondly... everything that the woman had done to Kohane... trying to kill her, even. How could parents... do that to their children...? How could... anyone... not care enough to...

Watanuki groaned, wrapping his arms around his head. He would give up years of his life, a limb, an eye, his job, or anything he owned to have had his parents stay alive. Not even to just have them with him, but just so that they would have stayed alive. If he hadn't been born, maybe they would have been? He didn't know, but... stories about families going wrong... put a knife into his heart and he was helpless to its twisting.

He wasn't perfect.

He did get sad.

He wasn't over his parent's deaths.

Well, he'd be fine tomorrow. But right now, Watanuki was going to lay right here on his couch and forget all about his stupid new job and his stupid life and stupid Doumeki (adding him in just because) (add onto that witnessing a suicide for the first time), and he was going to be. absolutely. fine.

He woke up with a start, pictures vivid in his mind, not of the future, but the past. Kohane's mother shoving Kohane at him and himself making an unsteady grab for her, dangerously off balance, and Kohane's call of mother and Watanuki wanting to reach out and grab the woman's hand but not being able to reach, let alone let go of Kohane.

He had the same dream twice before enough was enough; it was early in the morning, he just wanted to sleep, he wanted to forget all of this and sleep, and maybe dream about Himawari-chan or baking recipes or anything but what had happened today.

Watanuki pulled himself off the sofa, marched to the bathroom, and flung open the medicine cabinet. It squeaked unhappily against its old hinges as Watanuki rummaged for his old sleeping meds. Well, he hadn't stooped so low to them in awhile, but sometimes if his crazy dreams (visions) got to be too much, he'd take a pill and use for it dreamless sleep.

Sure as hell what was happening now.

He cracked the pills from the package, and paused, fingers still on the plastic. What if... only taking one didn't stop him dreaming? He hadn't been on sleeping medication in a long time, maybe... maybe one wouldn't be effective. And he just wanted sleep, so taking an extra wouldn't hurt, right?

And there was still a pause in his movement as he stared at the little tablets available in his hand. What if two didn't...

He grabbed a cup to fill with water and chased the pills down with a gulp. There. If the dreams came back... He dropped the medication onto the nightstand and flopped onto his futon, burying his face into his pillow.

Watanuki was dragged out of unconsciousness almost as quickly as he (didn't) remember falling into it.

"Watanuki!"

"Ehhh?" he groaned, although with a dry mouth and exhaustion heavy body, it came out more muffled, a sort of mmphhhhh noise. He tried to force his uncooperative eyes to open, and... was that Doumeki...?

"Hey." Doumeki grabbed a fistful of his shirt, and Watanuki was subjected to being jerked around a little, head spinning. "Sleeping pills," Doumeki continued. Why did he sound so... frantic? That was weird.

"Mmm...?"

"How many did you take," Doumeki asked, enunciating each word.

Watanuki mumbled something that didn't come out as words again, eyelids drooping. He just wanted to sleep, didn't Doumeki understand?

"Watanuki!" Doumeki shook him again, a little harder, jarring him back to reality harshly.

"Stooop," Watanuki hissed (it came out as a whine). He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, swatting clumsily at Doumeki's hand.

"Talk to me! The sleeping pills."

Oh. Right. He'd taken those sleeping pills last night. This morning. What time had that been? Was time... was it now?

"Let go," Watanuki mumbled, curling his fingers around Doumeki's, trying to pry them away. "I'm awake..."

"How many sleeping pills. Did you take."

"Jeez, calm down," Watanuki mumbled. "Just... give me..."

Doumeki grabbed his free hand, pinning both of his hands with - were Doumeki's hands shaking? Or was that his own hands?

"Let me go!" he protested, trying to pull away. "How the-"

"Answer me!"

"Three!" Watanuki shouted the first number that came to mind. It was only after he said it that he actually remembered taking the pills, planning on one, and then thinking that it might not work, so he ought to take an extra... and then maybe an extra extra... and taking the rest of the box to bed with him, just... in case... how close had he come to taking four, five, six?

"Three?"

"Three," Watanuki breathed, shoulders slumping. He stopped struggling against Doumeki's grip, the trickle of fear turning into a cold rush. "Oh God." When he tried to move this time, it was to slump over to put his face in his hands, and Doumeki let him, his hands falling away. "Oh God."

When Doumeki spoke again, his voice was back to its usual monotone. "Are you positive that you only took three."

Watanuki pulled his face from his fingers. "... I... those were the last three in this tray." He picked up the empty plastic tray, turning it over idly. "Only remember that because I brought the other one... just in case they didn't put me to sleep," he muttered, tossing the empty tray back onto the brand new, completely full tray of sleeping pills. "Oh God," he repeated, because he couldn't...

Doumeki breathed out, pressing his hand over his eyes. And then pressed both of his hands against his face, slumping back against the wall.

Watanuki stared up at him until he couldn't bare to see the pure emotion in everything about him, and turned away to look at anything else, do anything else.

"You're only meant to take one."

"I know, I just... I wanted to make sure I went to sleep," Watanuki said weakly. It was the most pathetic excuse. If he had... if he had...

"Did you intend to wake up?" Doumeki asked sharply.

"Yes!" Watanuki retorted. "Yes! I didn't, I don't... My life sucks sometimes but I've never thought about ending it! It might be hard as hell but my parents would want me to live, I don't want to take that away!"

"Is that what this is about?" Doumeki dropped his hands from his face. "Your parents?"

"No," Watanuki replied. He had to remind himself to breathe. "No, no, I kept... seeing... everything that happened yesterday."

"You could have called me."

"What for?" Watanuki asked. "It was late. Early."

"Don't care," Doumeki said.

"Still-"

"I want you to call me," Doumeki interrupted.

Watanuki frowned up at him, eyebrows knitting together. Hell, his head was aching. He wondered how long he'd been asleep, or what time it was. "But..."

"We're partners." Doumeki paused, and then he was the one who curled into himself slightly. "... Last night wasn't good for me, either."

Watanuki's frown deepened, which only exacerbated the pain in his forehead.

Doumeki put his chin in his hands, rubbing at his temples. He didn't say anything else; apparently, that was as much sharing as he was going to do right now.

Watanuki shifted a bit, feeling horrific. Not just mentally, but physically. Clearly the medication had made him fall asleep, but he felt all the worse for it now. "... What are you doing here?"

Doumeki didn't move. "You didn't text me back. Didn't come to work. I came over."

"How did you even get in...? What time is it, anyway?" He glanced around, but he didn't have a clock in the six tatami.

"Five-thirty."

"In the afternoon??"

Doumeki nodded. "I picked your lock."

"You..." Watanuki sighed shakily. "... I feel horrible," he moaned, instead of continuing the conversation, and rubbed his fingers against his eyes again. "I gotta... gotta call Yuuko-san, or... or..."

"You should go back to sleep."

"Maybe, but I... I need to move, or something, a bit." Watanuki staggered to his feet. Doumeki rose with him, almost like it was instinct, and reached out to steady him when he stumbled. "... Thanks," Watanuki muttered. He stood uselessly for a moment before grabbing the sleeping pills and marching (stumbling) to the bathroom. He didn't even have it in him to be affronted when Doumeki followed him.

He leaned against the wall and painstakingly cracked the plastic and foil on the tray of pills until he was able to drop every last one of the pills into the toilet, reaching back to flush them. It didn't make him feel much better, but he supposed it helped. A bit.

Doumeki watched him the entire time, looking like a silent specter in his apartment.

"... You want some coffee?" Watanuki intoned, leaning heavily against the wall.

"... Yeah."

Watanuki nodded, feeling nearly autonomous - in shock, still in shock - and led the way into his kitchen.

Neither of them spoke until after they were sobered up (was that the word?) over their coffee. Surprisingly, it was Doumeki to break the silence. Probably not surprisingly, his words were

"You're coming to stay with me".

Watanuki laughed humorlessly, in his own head. It wasn't funny, but some darker part of himself was laughing at them both. He chose to ignore it. Mostly. "For my sake, right?" he asked emotionlessly.

"... Both of ours," Doumeki replied shortly.

Watanuki pressed his lips into a thin line. He had no right to ask the next question, but Doumeki was adamant that they could talk... they were partners. Watanuki licked his lips, and looked back into his coffee. "Was that your first suicide?"

"Mm."

Watanuki didn't know if that meant yes, no, or that he wasn't welcome to ask.

But Doumeki clarified with a simple "yeah" a second later, and said nothing else about it.

Watanuki sighed, and gripped tighter at his coffee cup. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too." Doumeki paused. "Don't want any others." And Watanuki felt eyes on his head as Doumeki said that.

Watanuki raised his eyes and forced himself to meet Doumeki's gaze. It was uncomfortable, and he wanted to squirm, but no, no. They didn't want any others. He couldn't speak for anyone else. He couldn't speak for the past, or the futures he couldn't see. But he could speak for himself. And he didn't like what he'd woken up to. He didn't like what he'd gone to sleep to.

"No," Watanuki agreed, and nodded. "No, we don't."

Chapter Text

Watanuki could really get used to Doumeki's stupid Western style bed.

He pressed his face into the pillow and pulled the blankets closer to his face. Doumeki had told him last night that Yuuko had called to say that they could have the day off, which Watanuki was fully prepared to take advantage of... had it not been for his biological clock being off thanks to the sleeping medication, and the fact that he was once again sleeping in Doumeki's bed.

If he was going to be spending more than a couple days here (and they hadn't worked that out at all yet, Watanuki didn't even know, he'd just been so upset the night prior that he had agreed on pure instinct), he was going to find a futon and unroll it, but he hadn't gotten that far last night, and Doumeki had told him to take the guest room again. If anyone was sleeping in the Western bedroom, it should have been Doumeki, right?

Watanuki rubbed his eyes and squinted towards the alarm clock. It was just half past six. He was hoping to have slept until nine, or ten, maybe... He didn't feel like sleeping, though. He didn't think he should get up, though, because wandering around Doumeki's flat while Doumeki was still asleep was... not good, either.

So he was just laying in Doumeki's stupid Western style bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if he was as okay as he said he was, and what was going to happen to Kohane.

His phone was laying tantalizingly on the nightstand. Watanuki turned his head to stare at it blankly. And then, with a huff, reached over to grab both the phone and his glasses, slipping them on. He could send a text, sure, why not? Yuuko probably wouldn't respond for a few hours, but at least Watanuki could rest easily knowing he was actively trying to seek answers.

Sorry to bother you,
Ichihara-san, but is there
any news on what's going
to happen to Kohane-chan?

He sighed and dropped the phone onto the bed. There. Maybe he could coax his screwed up internal clock into realizing it was time to sleep. He placed his glasses back onto the nightstand and rolled over, burying his face into the pillow. With a yawn, he closed his eyes and pulled the top sheet closer to his face.

His phone buzzed.

Watanuki opened his eyes.

Yuuko was awake? Why was she awake? It was... it was six-thirty in the morning! No one should be- well, he was, but those were extenuating circumstances...

                                              I was going to wait to
                                               tell you until after your
                                               day off.

                                               But I suppose it doesn't
                                               matter.

                                               Kohane-chan has no
                                               relatives.

Watanuki frowned at the phone. That was what he had been wondering about. Father murdered, Mother having committed suicide... He sat up a bit, shoving the pillow against the headboard to lean against it.

What's going to happen
to her?

                                              That's undecided.

Undecided? What does
that mean?

                                              She has nowhere to
                                              go.

But, su

Watanuki paused with his fingers on the screen. He thought for a long minute - a horrified one, as the idea fell into his head. He backspaced to erase his text, and start again.

She won't have to go
to a children's home?

He'd been to one, once, for a short stay that he had absolutely hated. Hated. There weren't a whole lot of things that made it onto his ‘hate’ list. But those places had been horrifying. Unhealthy and uncaring, and Watanuki preferred living alone to living in an orphanage.

                                              It's possible.     

Watanuki sucked in a deep breath, and typed back quickly.

We have to do some-
thing!

                                              What would you
                                              suggest?

Watanuki looked up from the phone, curling his fingers into his palms. He... wasn't sure. But they had to figure out something, Watanuki... he didn't want Kohane to be stuck in a place like that. By herself. Not like the things he had gone through... while there.

I'll come in today. Will
you be there?

                                              Yes.

I'll come in.

                                              Very well.

                                              Take care of
                                              yourself,
                                              Watanuki-kun.

Watanuki looked at the text for a few seconds before tossing the phone aside. He wasn't tired, not in the least. He wasn't going to be getting back to sleep now, so what was the point? He shoved the blankets away and swung his legs out of bed, pushing his hair out of his face.

He was going to get a bath and then made breakfast, in that order, hoping that Doumeki wouldn't mind him taking over the apartment. He had been the one who had invited him, after all... and if Watanuki stayed in bed any longer, he might go insane.

He did take a long bath and made as complicated a breakfast as he could with the ingredients that Doumeki had (not much, didn't the guy shop?) and it was still only eight-thirty by the time he'd done all of that. Doumeki wasn't awake yet, and aside from the news, which he still wasn't keen on, there was nothing to do.

Watanuki gave up with a sigh. He may as well go see Yuuko now. He didn't have anything else to do, not asides cleaning, and he wasn't going to do that without asking Doumeki where he wanted his stuff to go.

He'd leave a note for Doumeki, or, actually, he'd probably text him later. He didn't owe him an explanation anyway, right?

"Where are you going?"

Watanuki cringed, freezing in the entranceway. Did that guy just stalk him wherever he went now?? It didn't matter if he was in his house, he'd just been sleeping, hadn't he?! "What are you doing??"

"Asking you where you're going," Doumeki said, and his voice was lacking more intonation than usual.

Watanuki glanced over his shoulder at him, his irritation evaporating slightly as he did. Doumeki was still in his pajamas, or what were his pajamas, a t-shirt and boxer shorts, his hair was sticking up at all angles, and he rubbed at his eyes slightly as he waited on Watanuki's response.

... Maybe Watanuki hadn't been the only one having trouble sleeping.

Great. Now he didn't want to yell at him. He huffed instead, and turned away to finish tying his shoes. "I'm going to work. Yuuko-san texted me."

"She didn't text me."

"Well, no, I texted her first, but I'm going to talk to her."

"Why?"

"Jeez, you're nosy!"

"It's my job, too."

"I'm just going to talk to her about Kohane-chan."

"I'll come," Doumeki said and grabbed his car keys off the table.

"What?" Watanuki stood up. "No. You're not even dressed!"

Doumeki shrugged. "Day off."

"You can't go out without pants!"

"Hm." Doumeki glanced down at his legs. "I'll get some pants, then we'll go."

"Breakfast is in the fridge!"

Doumeki paused. And then he dropped his keys and turned around, heading back into the kitchen.

Watanuki slumped over, putting his head in his hands. "Seriously?" Now he couldn't leave on good conscience. Not that Doumeki deserved that or anything... He shook his head slightly and - after kicking off the shoes he'd just put on - dogged Doumeki's footsteps into the kitchen. "... Do you really like my cooking that much?" he muttered, leaning against the doorway.

"Yeah." Doumeki put the plate into the microwave and jabbed at the buttons.

Watanuki frowned. "It's just average stuff."

"Not really." He poured himself a cup of tea. "You're taking culinary classes, right?"

"Er. Yeah. Culinary arts, baking and pastry... that sort of thing."

"Good." Doumeki took his plate to the table and sat, tucking in without another word. His lack of manners was astounding.

And somehow, beneath feeling irate, it made Watanuki's chest feel a little warm, happy.

Why???

Time to default, then."Stop chewing so loudly, you- you- you-"

Doumeki gulped down a bite.

Watanuki growled, throwing himself onto the floor next to the table. "You're so rude, I can't even believe you."

"What did Ichihara-san say about Kohane-chan?"

Back to that conversation. It made Watanuki sober up a little bit, and fidget with a fray on his sock as he frowned at the floor. "That she doesn't have anyone else to go to... no family..." His fingers curled into a fist. Like me.

"Like you."

Watanuki snapped his attention to Doumeki, flashing him a glare. Did he have to go and say it out loud? It was already obvious that Kohane-chan was like him, right down to seeing things that they shouldn't, but stating it out loud? That just made him feel so much better.

"You turned out all right, though."

And that effectively melted Watanuki's glare away. Was Doumeki... actually complimenting him? "What...?"

"Loud, though."

Wha- "Who are you calling loud?!"

"What does she plan to do with Kohane-chan, then?" Doumeki continued, as though Watanuki hadn't replied.

"I don't know. That's why I'm going to talk to her. She said... she said she might have to go to a children's home."

Doumeki looked up from munching, watching Watanuki for a moment.

Watanuki licked his lips, almost nervously, and turned his head away. The back of Doumeki's sofa was suddenly so interesting. He was sure that Doumeki knew all about his life, anyway, he'd had to have looked into him when he arrested him so Watanuki knew he knew.

"Well, go ahead and ask already, stop staring at me!" he complained, throwing his arm across his eyes.

"Ask what."

"'You stayed at a children's home for six months.' That's what you're supposed to say!"

"Mm."

"Don't grunt at me! I know you were thinking about it, I know you saw my file, I'm sure it's all there."

The turmoil of emotions from the past few days was making him belligerent, maybe more than usual. And his mood was jumping from one extreme to the other, but... if he was angry at Doumeki for whatever, he could stop focussing on Kohane-chan. None of it really... helped, in retrospect, but he either bottled up his emotions or they spun out of control, there was no happy medium with him.

"Yeah," Doumeki replied calmly. "But it's not my business."

Watanuki frowned at him.

"You can talk, if you want. But I won't ask."

"I just... had a hard time," Watanuki muttered, staring at his knees. He could still remember the times he'd woken up from nightmares, the kids making fun of him or just ribbing on him in ways that was probably meant to be playful, but being called a weird kid at that point in his life hadn't been good. He'd only had one friend, and that boy had... gone away. He was there one day. Gone the next. Watanuki still wondered about him sometimes.

Doumeki touched his arm, startling him out of his reverie.

Watanuki blew out a breath, straightening up a bit. "I just don't want Kohane-chan in a place like that. Especially... especially considering her visions..."

"Ichihara-san will figure something out," Doumeki said, finishing off his miso with a few gulps. "Gochisou-sama." He stood up. "Let's go."

Watanuki sighed. "Go get dressed first. And fix your hair, you look terrible!" He swiped the dishes from the table and stormed over to the sink.

The first thing that Watanuki was told by Sgt. Suoh when they walked into the precinct was that Yuuko was speaking with a woman from the children's home. While he was frozen for a long second in surprise, and his heart dropped to his knees, he sprang back before Doumeki could so much as warn him not to interrupt (he probably would have, anyway) and took off running across the precinct.

"Watanuki...!" (There was the complaint.)

"Kohane-chan can't go to a children's home!" Watanuki exclaimed, charging into Yuuko's office without pause. He was met with a very surprised looking woman and an unsurprised looking Yuuko. "I mean... I'm sure your children's home is lovely," he added quickly, even though he was lying, "but Kohane-chan is a special case, she can't go to one of these places. There has to be something we can do. I can..." what, Watanuki? He could take her home, for a few days? Except he wasn't even staying in his own apartment at the moment, and he didn't know if Doumeki would like that. "I mean..." And he couldn't ask Doumeki to let Kohane stay with him, and the officer wasn't offering, half leaning against the open doorway, looking ready to drag Watanuki out while simultaneously almost looking concerned. Neither of them could afford to take care of a child, no matter how much Watanuki wanted to protect her...

"It's been all taken care of, Watanuki-kun," Yuuko said.

"But-" Watanuki stopped. "Wait, what?"

Yuuko smiled gently. "It's all been arranged, as I was just discussing with this young lady here." She gestured to the representative from the children's home.

"What..." Watanuki frowned. "So... you found someone to take care of her?"

"A friend," Yuuko said. "There's a lot of legalities to go through, but Obasan has agreed to it.

"Obasan...?" Watanuki repeated.

Yuuko nodded absently. "Well, that's what she goes by, anyway. She's a good woman. Kohane-chan will be welcomed into her home." Yuuko looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I was going to text you. I didn't figure you would be in so early."

"Uh." Watanuki shifted. "I was a little antsy," he admitted. "Doumeki-kun woke up, too, so I had to wait on him."

"You're staying with Doumeki-kun?" If it were possible, Yuuko's gaze seemed to get so much more intent.

Watanuki felt himself blush. "No, I just... it was just the night, I was about to leave," he said, even if it wasn't entirely true. He couldn't tell Yuuko about the pills and he didn't want to talk about all of this in front of some other person he didn't know. He didn't want to talk about it at all, actually. "Um. I'll come back later. I'm sorry to have interrupted." He bowed to both the woman and Yuuko, before hurrying out of the office.

Doumeki spoke. "Smooth."

"I don't even want to hear it from you!" Watanuki retorted.

"Oh, Doumeki-kun?"

Watanuki and Doumeki both glanced over their shoulders.

Yuuko was standing in the doorway, holding the door open. "If you had a moment to wait, I wanted to speak with you about the Hamada case."

Doumeki nodded, falling a step back.

Watanuki shrugged. That wasn't a case he'd been working on. "I'll wait in the break room, I guess." He could do with coffee, anyway. He'd just made a fool of himself, he needed something.

He pushed open the break room door.

And surprised Fai and Kurogane as much as they surprised him, apparently; Fai, who'd been leaning against Kurogane's side, his head on the other man's shoulder, toying with his fingers, Kurogane looking down at him, side eyeing him without actually looking at him, both looking quietly, utterly content.

Until Watanuki walked in and ruined it.

Oh God, he was doing horribly today.

Kurogane's face had gone blank in an almost scary way. Fai had jerked away from Kurogane and taken a step towards Watanuki, laughing a bit.

"Oh, um, Watanuki-kun. We didn't expect you in today!" Fai said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, uh, we came to talk to Yuuko-san, um... sorry," Watanuki muttered, turning for the door. He'd just. Leave. Now. Before he died of embarrassment.

"Oh, Watanuki-kun." Fai grabbed his wrist, stopping him in place. "Ahahah, sorry~" He let go and folded his hands behind his back. "It's just... Commissioner Ichihara, she doesn't exactly approve of in-office romances."

"I'm not going to tell her," Watanuki said quickly. "I mean, it's none of my business, I shouldn't have walked in, anyway..."

"Nope, not your fault! We're usually good at keeping it under wraps!" Fai chimed.

Kurogane slapped the back of Fai's head.

"Ow!"

"Idiot."

"Kuro-tan," Fai pouted. "I just wanted to be affectionate with my Kuro-puu, we haven't had time to have a date!"

"Can't you at least try to act like nothing's going on?" Kurogane grumbled.

"But Wata-kun already knows, and he won't tell." Fai gestured to the table. "Sit down, Watanuki-kun. Is Doumeki-kun here, too?"

Watanuki sank into the chair. "Uh huh, he's... he's talking with Yuuko-san." He was still embarrassed at having walked in on them, what, having a moment, but the more he thought about it... Fai and Kurogane were... special. Their relationship was special. And this, he thought, glancing up as Kurogane snippily argued with the blonde, didn't really surprise him.

"Kuro-daddy, you're gonna make me spill Watanuki-kun's coffee!"

"Don't call me Kuro-daddy!"

"Uwaahh~!"

Watanuki watched them interact for a moment, as Fai grabbed the cloth nearby and swatted Kurogane with it, and Kurogane grabbed it and pulled Fai close and grabbed his uniform's lapel, and Fai squirmed and flailed and how were these two cops?

Watanuki laughed before he realized how funny they really were. And when Fai and Kurogane both stopped and looked at him, and Watanuki pressed his hand against his smile, he realized how happy he was right just then. It felt like he hadn't laughed in... forever. How did he become a part of this strange little precinct? He wondered. But he wasn't going to really question it. Because they were making him happy, just now.

"Watanuki-kun?" Fai tipped his head, setting the coffee on the table.

Watanuki sighed breathlessly, with a slightly apologetic smile. "It's been a long week, Fai-san."

Fai smiled softly, dropping into the seat next to him. "Yeah. But you're happy now."

"So are you," Watanuki pointed out.

"I'm always happy!"

The look that Kurogane gave to the back of Fai's head went unseen by the blonde, but Watanuki saw it. His smile faltered, just a tiny bit.

"Oi."

All three of them looked up as Doumeki entered the room.

"There you are, Doume-kun! Let me get you some coffee!" And Fai was back on his feet, while Kurogane rolled his eyes with an uttered "you're not a barista", and Doumeki took the mug with expressed gratitude that Watanuki never got, but Watanuki's mood had improved, and he didn't want to ruin it by complaining, so they all sat and drank coffee and Fai didn't hang onto Kurogane, and Doumeki barely spoke, as usual but, for some reason, drinking with them, the coffee didn't taste as bitter as usual.

Chapter Text

Doumeki was getting used to waking up to the sound of Watanuki puttering about in his kitchen. It had been almost two weeks now, and Watanuki hadn't said anything about leaving. He probably figured that Doumeki wouldn't let him leave. Doumeki didn't think he really wanted to.

He wasn't sure if Watanuki had taken the pills before with the intention of ending his life. He wasn't sure why, but he doubted it. If Watanuki was prone to giving up... how had he survived so long, with everything had happened to him. Then again, after watching your parents be murdered, and having prophetic visions, wasn't that enough to drive someone to extreme measure?

On the other hand, the way Watanuki had reacted after Doumeki had woken him up (and how he had thought he wasn't going to wake up, the panic when he'd shaken Watanuki's shoulder and he hadn't moved, immediately, the abject horror that had coursed through his veins that he might have gone from no partner to Watanuki to no partner again, the funeral that would have followed, Doumeki couldn't, he just couldn't, oh God, not Watanuki please) made Doumeki think that maybe Watanuki had just made a foolish decision in the heat of the moment.

Either way, it hadn't been a good decision.

But having Watanuki stay with him had been not only obvious, but a good choice. Breakfast every day was a plus, especially when he didn't have to make it himself. Watanuki also made lunch for them both when they both went to work, and there was dinner. And Doumeki wasn't embellishing when he said Watanuki's food was good. It was. The flavor was unexplicable, and he could taste the concentration and devotion that had gone into it as Watanuki cooked it. And he could cook it so much better than Doumeki could. No contest.

But the company was... nice. It was actually a little scary how much Doumeki actually liked having someone in the apartment. Strange. He usually didn't form attachments. There were people he liked, like Kurogane and Flourite and Ichihara, and now there was Watanuki, who was currently living with him. It really was a strange development, one Doumeki didn't entirely know what to do with.

"Leaving?" Watanuki asked, looking up from the dusting. He'd cleaned Doumeki's entire apartment after five days, leaving Doumeki feeling a bit like an idiot as he stared around for whatever he was looking for, but it was also the cleanest his house had been in a long time. He wasn't messy, but he was busy.

Doumeki finished off his piece of toast. "Yeah."

Watanuki nodded. His hair was escaping from the bandana, falling into his face. "I managed to get a shift at the shelter tonight, so I won't be here with you get back."

"Okay."

"Tell everyone I say ‘hi’."

"Sure."

He spent his day at his desk, and on patrol, and making calls, tapping his pen against the desk as he was on hold and wondering if he could get Watanuki to make him gyoza, maybe some kinpira gobou. Although he was at his part time job, so Doumeki was probably on his own. He frowned. Maybe he'd just make thick omelette. The voice at the other end of the line picked up, and Doumeki got back to work.

"... No reason for the kid to come in?" Kurogane asked, later in the day when the precinct had come to a screeching halt. It happened sometimes, in between the bustle.

Doumeki shook his head.

Kurogane grunted. "Good."

"Yeah." Doumeki looked at Kurogane's desk, and then Fai's empty one. "Officer Flourite?"

"Poring over the archives."

"Oh."

"... How's he doing?"

Doumeki was quietly aware that they weren't talking about Fai any longer. After all, Kurogane would be the one to know more about Fai. So, Kurogane was asking about... "Watanuki's fine".

Kurogane raised an eyebrow.

Doumeki was quiet for a moment. "... Mostly."

Kurogane hummed, crossing his arms across his chest. "He was the one trying to talk her down."

"Yeah."

"Therapy?"

Probably should. "No." Doumeki paused. "He's staying with me, though."

"Good."

Kurogane was quiet, then, and Doumeki turned back to the laptop.

"... He's another with too big of a heart."

Doumeki stopped typing, glancing towards Kurogane again.

"He would sacrifice himself to save someone else. Like someone else we know," Kurogane continued, rolling his eyes a bit.

Doumeki knew that he was probably talking about Fai - there was little room for him to be talking about anybody else, seeing as they rarely worked with anyone else but their usual partners - but he also knew that Kurogane himself was pretty much with Fai and Watanuki on the sacrificial level.

Doumeki'd gotten the call one day, early on when he'd started working here, that Kurogane was injured because he had stepped in between a blade and the blonde officer to stop him from being hurt. If it had been any worse, he might have lost his arm. That had been the only time that Doumeki had seen Fai fell to pieces, and he had decided then, watching Kurogane, covered in blood, and Fai, covered in tears, that working with two people like them was worth it.

"No wonder they get along so well. Walked in on them last week and they were both completely taken in by a cookbook the idiot had found somewhere." Kurogane sighed. "Although, if Watanuki-san wants to make okonomiyaki..." he added, chasing the beginnings of an idea.

Okonomiyaki. Oh, that was good, too. He'd have to ask Watanuki about that, also. Now he was hungry for food that he couldn't make himself.

... Maybe he'd make some rice tonight with the omelette.

Well, that was just pathetic.

"They're good guys," Doumeki said out loud. "So are you."

Kurogane side-eyed him, the corners of his lips pulling down. "Don't even start."

Doumeki hummed.

"I get it enough from the blonde-"

"Kurogane!"

At the shout from the aforementioned blonde's lips, both Doumeki and Kurogane looked up. The tone was wrong, and the name was wrong, too. Fai never called anyone by their given name unless it included an ‘Officer’ or honorific, and definitely never with Kurogane.

Fai came running into the room, grabbing his jacket from the chair. "There's been another."

Kurogane pushed away from his desk, immediately on his feet. "Another what?"

"Sakura blossom murder."

"What??"

Doumeki stood up. "Do you need me?"

"Yeah," Fai said, distractedly grabbing things from his desk. "The press is already there."

"What?" Kurogane demanded. "How did they beat us to it!"

Fai shook his head. "I don't know. It's a madhouse. Come on."

The sakura blossom murders, so they were dubbed within the crime investigation unit, were a series of murders that had been spanning fifteen years. Serial killings, the latest had been five years ago. They happened every five years, never to the day or the month. There was no pattern besides the five years, and no trace of evidence had ever been found to implicate anyone.

The victims were stabbed, in the chest. In the heart. It wasn't a knife or a sword or a dagger, but a circular wound, one that the coroner had described only as something akin to a stake. There was talk of ritualistic killings. Every five years, for fifteen years, the same COD... ritualistic - for whatever reason - serial killings, it had to be.

What had given them their moniker, however, was that the body was always found under a sakura tree in full bloom. On the one occasion that it had not been the season for sakura, there had been petals scattered about the body. Like the hole in the heart, the sakura was consistant; a calling card for the mysterious murders.

Likewise, on any mysterious murder, the press was all over it.

Doumeki hadn't been with the force long enough, and while he could only just remembered hearing about the one ten years ago, he had seen so much coverage on television for the latest that he had known about it even before he joined up. From what he knew, Kurogane had been here for two, and Fai had only just joined when the latest one had happened.

But Fai was right. The press had gotten to it before they had gotten the call, and the press and public trying to catch a glimpse. Like a car crash. No one could look away. Between Doumeki and Kurogane, most people flinched back if they got too close, and the surrounding officers took over when they joined Fai at the body.

"Same MO," Fai said quietly, holding the man's jacket open. There was the singular wound, coated with blood, and the sakura petals resting over the man's closed eyelids, scattered around the body.

Doumeki frowned, reeling back a bit in thought. "... No defensive wounds."

"No," Kurogane said. "There never are. Never any marks asides the finishing blow. Never any DNA."

Which meant... "Do we have anything to go on?"

Kurogane was silent. And then spoke: "Not for the past fifteen years. Are we done here?"

Fai nodded. "Unless you see something I don't, you dealt with one before."

"So did you."

"I was here, but I didn't go out. I was still new." Fai stood up, motioning the coroner over. "Check the perimeter ourselves, and then we'll wait to see if they find anything on the body. Bag these up." He gestured to the petals and peeled his gloves off. "We're going to be attacked as soon as we step outside that crime tape," he said, looking at the crowd.

"Yeah."

"What do we say?" Fai looked at Kurogane.

"Nothing. We're still investigating. The Commissioner will probably make a statement, or the Captain."

"Okay."

Kurogane looked over Fai's shoulder, meeting Doumeki's gaze. "Are you okay?"

Doumeki had been listening to them speak, and watching them in a sort of way, but his thoughts had been with Watanuki, wondering if his partner had known anything about this. Or... if he had had a vision as it had happened. But the blood wasn't completely fresh, so this had happened long enough ago that Watanuki would have texted him, regardless if he was at his other part time job or not. So, Watanuki probably hadn't seen this murder, and wouldn't see this killer...

"I'm fine," he said shortly. "Not my first murder."

"First serial murder," Kurogane said shortly. "It's different."

It was unspoken to say get used to seeing this every five years unless we catch this bastard. No, this wasn't Doumeki's first murder, and definitely not the most brutal, but it was eerie, and the chill down his spine wasn't because of the breeze. He was glad that Watanuki wasn't here for this, and that he hadn't seen this vision.

By the time that Doumeki got home, it was dark out and he was exhausted.

"I'm hom-" The lights were off in his apartment. He frowned tiredly and flicked them on, blinking against the brightness. "Watanuki?" He knew he wasn't there, but it was already nine-thirty, and Watanuki's shift should have been done by eight, at the very latest.

Doumeki dropped his things by the door and sent a text to Watanuki as he kicked off his shoes, asking where he was. An answer wasn't immediately forthcoming. Doumeki glanced in the fridge - no prepared food - and closed the door grumpily. Watanuki hadn't been back then.

He kept his phone in hand as he went back to draw a bath, feeling crummy from the night spent with the press of a dead body and the public around him. He was just about to get in the bath as the phone rang, and he moved a little quickly to grab it from his newly discarded clothes.

"Watanuki."

"No, sorry!" Doumeki froze as the voice that came through the line was female. "This is Kunogi Himawari, I work with Watanuki, though!"

Goose flesh was rising on his skin, and he passed it off as standing naked in the bathroom instead of panic. He had no reason to panic, why did he assume something was wrong? And what right did he have to be that worried about when Watanuki wasn't there, when he didn't even live there. "Is he alright?" he asked.

"Watanuki-kun's fine. It's just, uh, well, he fell asleep!" Kunogi laughed. "I invited him over for coffee after work, he said he'd teach me how to make a chiffon cake. But we were waiting for it to cool and he fell asleep on my couch, and I can't bear to wake him."

Doumeki pressed the phone closer to his ear. Was he hearing this right? Watanuki had gone on a date? With a girl. Doumeki had guessed that he was bisexual, and had no problem with that, so why did he feel... feel the way he did, suddenly? And he wasn't even sure what exactly he was feeling. Exhausted, mainly. Stressed. Hungry. Other things. "Do you want me to pick him up?"

"Are you his roommate?"

"Something like that."

"Watanuki-kun didn't tell me he had a roommate! ... Wait, is this Doumeki-kun?"

"Yeah."

"Oh! You're the one Watanuki-kun is consulting with at the precinct! He's talked to me about you, then!"

He has? Doumeki had a half mind to ask. He didn't. "Do you want me to come over and pick him up?" he repeated.

"No, it's fine," Himawari said. "He can sleep on my sofa, I don't mind. Does he have work tomorrow that I should wake him up for?"

"Not at the precinct."

"He's off at the shelter, too. He'll probably be back when he wakes up, if that's okay?"

"Yeah."

"Okay! I just wanted to let you know. Nice talking to you, Doumeki-kun!"

"Yeah. Good evening."

The bath water was hot and helped the knots in his back, but it did little to actually help him relax. There were strange thoughts going through his head now. It was a strange feeling. He hadn't ever really... had an occasion to feel like that.

Yeah.

Strange.

Doumeki collapsed into bed without dinner, barely managing to slip into his jinbei, dropping his face into his pillow. Another murder in a serial killer case. Watanuki'd gone on a date. Doumeki was exhausted and his head was buzzing with everything that had happened during the day.

He rolled over and stretched out, sighing. He was tired. He needed sleep.

Except he didn't fall asleep until later in the night, and he tossed and turned until dawn. The strange emotions swirling in his mind kept tumbling until his alarm went off, and the apartment had seemed strangely quiet all night.

Chapter Text

"Sorry about last night." Watanuki pushed the bento onto Doumeki's desk, scowling a bit. "Not that I owe you anything, or anything, but you probably had a really crappy dinner and I didn't get to make breakfast."

Doumeki seemed a little surprised.

Watanuki guessed it was a day for that. He had woken up on Himawari's sofa, mortified out of his mind when he realized he'd fallen asleep in the middle of their... whatever it had been. He'd fallen asleep! And Himawari had left a note with a cute little kitty face saying that she had gone to work and to help himself to anything for breakfast and Watanuki was just sure he wouldn't be able to face her again. He probably wouldn't be able to face anyone in that apartment building, given the way he'd stole out early in the morning, looking a mess.

He didn't have a key to Doumeki's place, and he wouldn't have been at home, anyway, so Watanuki had gone home for the first time in days. It was comforting to be amongst his own things again, for something besides picking up clothes or food or laundry detergent, although he couldn't help thinking that it was strangely quiet, as he pored over making bento for himself.

He'd ended up making extra just because, and he'd decided to go to work even if he wasn't needed today. He definitely did not make Doumeki bento for any reason.

Besides, he'd made some for Kurogane and Fai, too.

"Watanuki-kun! You made this?" Fai asked, setting the bento lid aside.

"You're eating it now!?" Kurogane demanded.

"I'm hungry, Kuro-san! But this is amazing, Watanuki-kun. Hyuu~"

"Huh?"

"He can't whistle."
"I can't whistle."

Kurogane and Fai spoke at the same time. Watanuki suspected that this wasn't something that was new, around here.

"Why did we get Watanuki-kun's special bento?" Fai asked, taking great care in picking out a specific egg roll.

"Oh, no reas-"

"He skipped making me dinner last night," Doumeki said, snapping his chopsticks.

"Doumeki."

"Oh? Why was he making you dinner?" Fai asked.

"Staying with me."

"Doumeki!"

"But he stayed with a girl last night."

"Doumeki!" Watanuki growled and curled his hands into fists. He was resisting from jumping the desk and strangling Doumeki with his bare hands, but the urge was so strong. "You're making it sound-"

Fai gasped. "Watanuki-kun spent the night with a girl?!"

Watanuki went burning hot, face flaming up red. He threw his hands up over his face, groaning. "No! No, it wasn't like that!"

"Who was she, Watanuki-kun??" Fai leaned over his desk, propping his head on his hands. "Details!"

"Her name's Himawari-chan, but-"

"Himawari-chan..." Fai repeated thoughtfully. "She sounds cute."

Watanuki's lips tugged into a smile behind his hand. "She is," he said shyly, but at the look that Fai gave him in response reminded him what he was saying. "But we didn't- it wasn't like that!" he repeated. "We had coffee after work and I was trying to teach her how to make a cake and I fell asleep on the sofa." How embarrassing.

"Ahhh. That's boring, Watanuki-kun," Fai replied, almost - no definitely - sounding disappointed.

"Leave the kid alone." Kurogane spoke up. "He's only twenty."

"I know," Fai huffed, although he didn't take his eyes off of Watanuki. "But don't tell me that you hadn't-" The phone rang. "Oops, hang on." Fai glanced at the phone and pressed a button before holding the phone to his ear. "Yeah? ... okay, be right down." He hung up again. "Lab wants us." Fai gestured to Kurogane.

Suddenly, the atmosphere went electric from the simple statement. Watanuki wondered what he had missed; Doumeki would have told him if something big had happened, right? But he hadn't talked to him yesterday...

Kurogane stood. "Did they find something on the sakura murder?"

"Sakura murder?" Watanuki repeated.

"Sakura blossom murders."

Watanuki frowned.

"Tell you later," Doumeki said, standing also. "I have court."

"No," Watanuki said slowly, "I think I know them... uh, go. I'm gonna go, too, I'll talk to you later."

Doumeki nodded.

"Thanks for the bento, Watanuki-kun~"

"Yeah, thanks," Kurogane said.

"No worries," Watanuki said, watching the two of them head off for the lab and Doumeki for the elevator.

Watanuki was waylaid on his way home by running into one of his friends, Motosuwa Hideki, and he hadn't seen him in forever, so he ended up spending the time he was meant to go grocery shopping talking. Apparently, he was engaged now, to a girl named Chi, whom he affectionately called ‘my someone just for me’. Watanuki thought it was adorable.

It did bring up the question, though, that he had started thinking about since Fai had brought up girlfriends with him. Syaoran and Sakura had been together since they were young. Touya and Yukito, well... Watanuki didn't know what they were, really, but they'd been together a long time, too. There were Kurogane and Fai, and now Hideki and Chi.

But Watanuki... had never had a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. And he wasn't really... looking, to be honest. He liked Himawari, a lot, and he would very much like to spend more time with her, but he wasn't... sure... what the... end game was... or if there was one.

Something knocked into his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I'm-"

"No, it's my fault, I'm sorry," an unfamiliar voice replied.

Watanuki looked up to apologize, again, meeting the gaze of the sheepish looking boy who'd run into him. He had dark hair and bright green eyes, and was tugging at the brim of his hat in embarrassment.

"Subaru, I think we went the wrong way-" A distinctly female voice spoke, and the girl that appeared around the corner... looked just like the boy. Dark hair, green eyes, wearing... interesting clothes that matched the interesting clothes the boy was wearing.

Twins. Definitely twins.

"Oh," the girl said, looking at Watanuki. "Hi there!" She leaned in. "Do you know where we are?"

Watanuki blinked.

"Hokuto..."

"What? He's probably from around here, you're from around here, right? We've only been here a couple weeks and haven't had time to look at everything, and we're s'posed to be meeting up with a friend at this café later, but we got kinda turned around."

"Oh." Watanuki dragged his eyes away from the polka dots on her berat. "Yeah, I've lived here all my life. What were you looking for?"

"Something ‘Hummingbird’, Subaru, what's it called?"

"Oh! I know what you're talking about," Watanuki interrupted. "You're not that far off, actually. Do you want me to walk you there?"

"We couldn't-" the boy started, but his sister cut him off.

"Sure! I mean, if you're not too busy?"

Watanuki shook his head. "No."

"Thanks, uh- oh, sorry, I'm Sumeragi Hokuto and this is my brother, Subaru. We're twins, I'm sure you noticed."

Watanuki laughed. "Yeah, it kind of stuck out. I'm Watanuki Kimihiro."

"Nice to meet you!"

"Pleasure to meet you," Subaru said, bowing. "Thank you for your help. My sister and I-"

"Hey, don't include me!" Hokuto interrupted. "I told you to call Seishirou-san and ask him for directions."

"I didn't want to bother him, though."

"But he suggested this place, and we didn't know our way to it!" Hokuto hummed. "Watanuki-san, you said you've lived here your entire life?"

"Uh huh," Watanuki replied.

"This city is amazing. I love it here."

"Yeah, it's got its own certain charm, doesn't it?" Watanuki said. "But every city probably has its own things that are like that, though."

"That's very true."

"Are you visiting for some reason?" Watanuki asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh, we just moved here, actua- oh, this is the place?? We walked right by it before!" Hokuto sighed. "Oh well. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction."

"Let us buy you lunch," Subaru said, speaking up again. "To make up for your trouble."

Watanuki held up his hands. "It was no trouble, really."

"I'd still like to. Unless you have somewhere else you need to be..."

Watanuki was a tiny bit miffed. Here he was, and here were these two perfect strangers that didn't know him but were willing to have lunch with him. Watanuki didn't get offers for... friends much, and it was mostly his own fault, distancing people because of the way his life was...

Then again, he really didn't get around to make friends, except Syaoran's friends, and the people he worked with. So... why not?

"Sure," he said, smiling.

They spent forty-five minutes talking. Watanuki learned that the twins were both nineteen, that Hokuto made about half of the clothes they wore (Subaru blushed when Hokuto called him cute in the hat she'd made him, the one that he was wearing today), and that they had only been there for a couple weeks. They had a mutal friend in town that was helping put them up for the time being. Subaru was actually the CEO of a very important company out of town ("if you can believe that! Him, a CEO! He's too polite!").

"I see you two found it, and made a new friend in the process."

Subaru straightened up. "Seishirou-san."

Watanuki followed his two new friend's gazes to the man that had just walked up. Seishirou... must be their mutual friend he'd been told about.

"Hey!" Hokuto greeted.

"Hello," Seishirou smiled, and then looked at Watanuki. "Did you help my friends find their way here?"

Watanuki nodded, getting to his feet. "Yes. Watanuki Kimihiro. Nice to meet you, Seishirou-san."

"Likewise," he said cheerfully, and looked at the Sumeragi siblings. "Sorry that I wasn't here earlier. We had a late emergency."

"Oh, no," Hokuto said. "Was it a dog? Was it okay?"

"Seishirou-san's a veternarian," Subaru said.

"Oh."

"Well, we'll have to see if he pulls through. I did what I could," Seishirou said. "If you're finished, shall we go?"

"Yeah."

"Is that alright with you, Watanuki-san?"

"No, that's fine!" Watanuki said quickly. "I've got to get shopping anyway."

"This was fun, though, we should do it again. I know." Hokuto pulled out her phone. "You can tell me your number and I'll give you mine. Subaru, why don't you and Seishirou-san go ahead outside and talk, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Go, go!" she insisted.

"Okay..." Subaru shrugged and headed for the door, falling into step next to Seishirou. "How was your day, Seishirou-san?"

"Pretty good, Subaru-kun. And yours?"

Watanuki watched them walk out together, and looked back at Hokuto. "Um... maybe... are they..."

Hokuto caught his gaze, and grinned. "Oh, you know." She laughed and handed over her phone. "Put your number in, and we'll hang out while we're in town!"

Watanuki took the phone distractedly, glancing at the doorway that Seishirou and Subaru had left through. You know? No, he didn't know, that's why he had asked!

Gosh, this girl was more and more like Tomoyo than just in the way that she dressed. He wondered if she followed her brother and Seishirou around with a video camera...

The thought left him chuckling even after he said traded numbers with her and saw her out. He was just about to turn and head for the grocery when he noticed a charm on the ground - the one that had been on Hokuto's phone. "Oh, Hokuto-chan! I think you dropped this!" He scooped it up off the ground.

"Huh? Ohh, yeah, that silly old thing's so broken. Whoops."

As she reached for the charm, Watanuki was ripped from his conscious reality.

Instead, he was placed at the edge of a river with a line of sakura trees, and there was a warm breeze and birds chirping and Hokuto standing a few feet away.

The sunshine turned to shadows, darkness creeping across the ground, towards Hokuto. Watanuki opened his mouth to say something, anything-

And then there was blood; a singular circular wound in Hokuto's chest, right over her heart.

Watanuki tried to yell, but he was frozen both in voice and movement.

Hokuto looked at him.

Watanuki's eyes widened. She was... looking at him. Making eye contact with him. He didn't dare to break it, ice in his veins. This was the first time that anyone had acknowledged his presence in a vision...

The scene dissolved into sakura, and Hokuto took the charm from his hand. "Thanks, Watanuki-kun," she said, as Watanuki settled back into the present.

"Um... y-yeah..." What did he do? Was he supposed to say something? She wouldn't believe him. But if Hokuto was about to be a victim - even if Watanuki hadn't seen the murderer - he had to save her, he needed to tell...

Hokuto grabbed his hand suddenly, making him jump. "Whatever happens, keep Subaru safe," she whispered, and then pulled away. She waved a bit, with a jovial smile, and turned to run after her friends.

Watanuki was left standing in the middle of the sidewalk, frozen in shock.

Chapter Text

"Watanuki-kun, you're back! The bento was amazing, Kuro-rin even ate all of his, even the strawberry mochi."

"Why are you telling him what I ate?"

"Because he needs to know you appreciated it, Kuro-kun-senpai."

"Don't call me senpai!"

"But, you're older than me!"

"By three years, not thirty!"

Watanuki shook his head, interrupting their usually humorous bickering. "Where's Doumeki?"

Fai tore his attention away from Kurogane, looking at Watanuki. "He's still at court. Why?"

"Um..." It wasn't as though the rest of the team didn't know about his visions, but Doumeki was really the only one he... talked to them about. Not that he didn't trust Fai or Kurogane or anything, but he wasn't really sure-

Kurogane's voice interrupted his thoughts. "What did you see?"

Watanuki should really be used to that by now. How Kurogane picked up on all the things that he wasn't supposed to notice. Kurogane was good at that, he'd figured out something was different about Watanuki ages ago.

Fai stood up. "You had a vision?"

They were both completely focused now, and focused on him. Contrary to the playful arguing from moments before. Watanuki felt his ears go warm. "Yeah. Different, though, like with Kohane-chan... Sumeragi Hokuto. I just left her, we had lunch together, me and her and her brother."

"Sumeragi Hokuto... Kuro-san?"

"On it." Kurogane spun around to his computer.

"They just moved here." Watanuki wound around to Kurogane's desk, standing next to him to watch the computer screen. "A few weeks ago, she said. They're staying with a friend, though, I think, not at a hotel."

"What the friend's name?" Kurogane asked.

Seishirou never had given him his full name, had he? He'd just kind of learned his name by sitting there, and he'd introduced himself, but. "I don't know... Seishirou, that's the only part I know. Oh! He's a vet!"

"Right. Ring any bells?" he asked, looking up at Fai.

"Uh uh." Fai caught Watanuki looking. "Oh, I have a kitty. Her name's Soel!"

Kurogane grumbled something under his breath.

"Kuro-kun says he doesn't like her," Fai added.

"I don't like any cats."

"Why do you pet her when you think I'm not looking, then??"

"I don't." Kurogane pulled up Hokuto's information. "Here. Is this who you saw?"

Watanuki nodded, bracing his hands on the desk. "Definitely. And I think... it might be connected to the sakura murders." That got their attention again.

"Why?"

"I saw sakura trees. By a river. And there were lots of blossoms, too, which is... part of the murder case, right?"

He did remember those cases. At least, the most recent, which had been a handful of years ago. He didn't know all the details, but he knew that the reason that they got the sakura murder name was because of the sakura. Everyone knew that.

"There's gonna be another murder?" Fai murmured. "But that would be breaking the pattern... and if our murderer breaks the pattern, then..."

"He's evolving," Kurogane said. "We need to call Sumeragi-san in."

"What about her brother?"

"Did you see him in your vision?"

"No..."

"Probably call them both in." Kurogane picked up the phone, frowned, tapped a different button on the phone to transfer lines. "Hello?"

Watanuki tilted his head. Fai came to stand next to him, eyes on Kurogane, too.

"... no... what? ... are we sure? ... no, Officer Flourite and I will be there. Goodbye."

"What's happened?" Fai asked.

Kurogane looked up at Fai for a moment, and then down at Watanuki. Whatever he was about to say... Watanuki suddenly knew it wasn't good. Their conversation... Hokuto.

"... No," he breathed.

Kurogane shook his head. "We don't have an ID yet. There's similarities between the sakura murders and the new victim. That's all they said."

Hokuto'd only just left lunch... not an hour ago. And she'd been with her brother, and their friend. Surely she couldn't have... not already... if she... Watanuki felt like he couldn't breathe.

"It might not be connected," Kurogane said.

But it might be. "It might be Hokuto," Watanuki whispered. "... Take me with you!"

"What?"

"Take me with you. Please."

"Watanuki-kun..."

"I need to know."

"That's not a good idea."

"But this is what I'm here for, right?? I mean, technically, I work with Doumeki but he's not here and this is my case now, too, I saw her in the vision-"

"Watanuki-kun."

Watanuki glanced over his shoulder as Yuuko spoke from behind him. His initial reaction was to yell at her, too, because dammit, this was what they'd brought him for. But something... about the way that Yuuko was looking at him... not entirely a sad way, but not a happy one, either... the protest died in Watanuki's throat. He wasn't going to be going with them. The sick feeling in his stomach only worsened.

"Go," Yuuko spoke to Fai and Kurogane.

Kurogane nodded, and Fai gave him a "we'll text you as soon as we know anything" before they were both gone, leaving Watanuki staring after them.

"... Why didn't you let me go with them?" he asked, when the silence had stretched into something uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable.

"You don't need to be there."

Watanuki glanced back slightly. "... She's my friend." It didn't matter that he'd just met her. Her and her brother were good people. And it didn't matter what he didn't know about them, they were warm, and kind, and caring... and they didn't deserve this.

"You don't need to see it."

Watanuki turned around fully to look at Yuuko. "I've already seen it," he said, helpless to the exhaustion creeping into his tone. "I see death all the time."

"And the less you see, the better." Yuuko touched his shoulder. "Come with me, Watanuki-kun. You can tell me about your vision."

Just as suddenly as he had decided to talk about his vision to anybody but Doumeki, Watanuki didn't want to talk about it at all now. If it was too late...

"It may not have been your friend."

It was like Yuuko could read his thoughts. Watanuki closed his eyes momentarily, and then followed her back to her office.

"Yuuko-san, can I ask you a question?" he asked, sitting on the edge of the chair. He folded his hands in his lap and looked up at Yuuko as she sat down, blank-faced as usual.

"Any question can be answered for a price."

Watanuki frowned. "I don't understand."

"Do you want the knowledge, Watanuki-kun? That's the question that you must ask yourself."

Watanuki looked across at her listlessly. "... I just wanted to ask why you took an interest in me," he said flatly.

Yuuko looked unperturbed. Maybe it wasn't a strange question. "Because my husband had visions similar to yours."

Watanuki remembered Doumeki saying something about that. "Your husband...?"

She nodded. "His name was Clow Reed. He was the Commissioner here, before I was. I took over for him," she explained. "He was murdered by his cousin-"

"His cousin?"

Yuuko looked at him, expression pensive. "Fei Wong Reed. He is a notorious crime ring leader, and one of our current Most Wanteds. He murdered Clow to prove that no one could get in his way."

That was... horrible. His own cousin. Wasn't family supposed to be valued above all else? What was it with people today?? "I'm sorry," he said quietly, looking down at his hands.

"... Me, too," Yuuko spoke. "But I know that he is waiting for me. He wouldn't have wanted me to stop existing just because he did, so I've lived on. Just like your parents, and you, Watanuki-kun."

Watanuki swallowed. "Sure."

Yuuko smiled gently. "Tell me about your vision, Watanuki-kun."

Watanuki was pouring a cup of coffee, two sugars and no milk, for Yuuko a half hour later. Having told her about his vision regarding Hokuto, she had picked up the research where Kurogane had left off, and sent him off on a run to the lounge for coffee.

He had texted both Fai for case details and Doumeki to let him know what was happening, although he didn't receive a response from either of them. He hadn't honestly expected a response from either, since they were both busy... but at least he had Yuuko, even though he still wasn't quite sure what to make of her. He liked her, though, which was all he really needed.

And the thing about her husband... Watanuki knew of Fei Wong Reed. Everybody did. Just like the sakura blossom murders, he were often referenced on the news or crime programs. And Fei Wong Reed was on the news for the worst kind of things: drugs trafficking, sex trafficking, cold blooded murder.

How had Yuuko gotten caught up in the Reed family? It wasn't anything Watanuki was going to ask. Watanuki didn't think Yuuko regretted it, though, going by the quiet affection in her voice when she had been speaking about Clow.

Watanuki's phone chirped and vibrated.

He dropped the mug in shock, cursing out loud when it crashed against the floor. How many dishes had been sacrificed to his mind being elsewhere? He ignored the spilled coffee and broken glass to fumble his phone out of his pocket, heart in his throat all over again.

It's not your friend, Watanuki-kun.
Probable copycat murder. Back ASAP.

F Flourite 

Watanuki stared at the little black letters. Wasn't... it wasn't...

He slumped forward to prop his elbows against the countertop. He was exhausted from worry, but it felt like a little of the weight had gone from his shoulders. He put his face in hands and laughed shakily, closing his eyes.

He didn't notice the presence in the room until it spoke. "Watanuki?"

Watanuki jumped and straightened up. "Doumeki..." He turned around, looking across the room at him. "You're here."

Doumeki seemed a little out of breath. "I came as soon as I could. Are you okay?" His eyes flicked down to the spilled coffee and broken glass.

"Yeah... Yeah." Watanuki straightened up, reaching for the paper towels. "We thought, maybe... my vision had already come true, but... she's alright. She's alright."

"... Good." Doumeki crossed the room, taking the towels from Watanuki. "She'll be okay," he said, crouching to help Watanuki clean up.

Watanuki nodded. "Uh huh. She will... definitely."

Chapter Text

Watanuki was trying to be inconspicuous. It made him look like a moron.

"What are you doing," Doumeki intoned, stopping next to Watanuki.

The guy was sitting at the outdoor café, face hidden behind a menu. He was watching someone and apparently trying to be sneaky about it. To be fair, no one seemed to be paying attention to him, but Doumeki was fine-tuned to his presence.

Watanuki jumped, smacking his knees against the underside of the table. "Ow! Doumeki," he hissed, grabbing Doumeki's arm. Next thing he knew, he was being pushed into the chair next to Watanuki, and blue eyes were vanishing behind the menu again.

"What are you doing?" Doumeki repeated, following Watanuki's gaze across the patio. Now that he was looking at anyone but the weird person stalking people from behind a menu, he thought he recognised "Is that Hokuto-san"?

"Shhh!"

Doumeki raised his eyes heavenward - yes, Watanuki, I'm sure she can hear me over here - and then pressed on with the conversation. "Are you following her?"

"No."

"Watanuki."

Watanuki shushed him again.

"Stalking."

"It's not stalking unless you get caught."

"Not true," Doumeki said, frowning at Watanuki's dark hair.

Watanuki huffed quietly. "Well, right now, we can't put a detail on her because we don't have any evidence that she's the next target, and I can't tell her because she'll think I'm crazy."

Doumeki reached over to pick up the free menu, flipping it open. "How do you know?"

Watanuki glanced at him. "Huh?"

"That she'd think you're crazy." He licked his thumb and turned the page.

Watanuki pursed his lips, looking away. "Well, the only people that haven't thought I'm crazy are you guys and one of my friends. And the only reason you don't think I'm crazy is because of Haruka-san, and Yuuko-san telling you to believe me."

"How is he?"

Watanuki tilted his head. "What?"

"My grandfather."

When Watanuki had sprung the information about Haruka on Doumeki, he had been surprised, to say the least, but he hadn't doubted anything that Watanuki had said. It might have been crazy, but it couldn't be anything but true. So, Watanuki wasn't crazy, but he and Doumeki hadn't been close enough at first for Doumeki to feel comfortable asking about his dead grandfather, and then things had gotten hectic at work.

Watanuki looked away from the menu/Hotaku again. "Haruka-san... um, he's fine. I guess. I haven't seen him in a long time."

"Oh." Did that mean that he'd moved on...? Doumeki wondered.

"I only ever saw him a couple times," Watanuki continued. "He took care of my parent's funeral... then I remember he passed away not long after that. I went to his funeral, too, by myself, my... parents, at the time, wouldn't take me..."

Wait a minute. "You came to his funeral?"

"Yeah... Haruka-san was very kind to me, while he took care of my parent's funeral..."

"I don't remember you," Doumeki said bluntly.

Watanuki looked surprised for a minute, but his expression cleared over. "Well, of course you were there... I don't know, I was there, too."

So they had crossed paths before they had even known each other. Maybe Ichihara was right. Maybe there was no such thing as coincidence.

"What are you doing here, anyway? I didn't think you were on patrol today," Watanuki said, attention going back to other things.

"I'm on a food run."

Watanuki rolled his eyes. "Of course you are. Well, you better get back to work. And leave me alone so I can concentrate."

"Concentrate on stalking." Doumeki stood up.

"No! It's not stalking. Oh."

Doumeki glanced over at Hokuto and her friends (brother Suburu, and friend Seishirou, Doumeki recalled), seeing that they'd gotten up and were walking away. He then looked back at Watanuki, who was already on his feet, menu still in hand in front of his face.

Doumeki rolled his eyes.

"Gotta go," Watanuki said. "Be home later."

Doumeki watched him go, shaking his head slightly. Well, he didn't think Watanuki was crazy because of the visions. But, in general, he just wasn't sure. He smirked to himself as he turned away.

"You know, I've got to get back home."

Doumeki looked up from his manga at Watanuki, who was standing in the entrance of the hall, towel drying his hair. "What?"

"I've been here like, what, over a month now? I need to go back home."

Well, it was bound to come up eventually, but Doumeki frowned slightly nonetheless. "You could stay."

Watanuki scowled. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

Doumeki shrugged. "Free rent?"

"Ugh, I wouldn't stay here rent free if I was staying, anyway. You should be letting me pay you for staying like this, anyway, for the room or whatever."

"I wanted you to stay."

"That doesn't matter."

"You buy the groceries," Doumeki pointed out.

"Yeah." Watanuki draped the towel around his neck, fixing the robe as it slipped from his shoulders. Doumeki's eyes tracked the movement without him realizing until after. Why was he staring? "But that's just the groceries," Watanuki continued, heedless of the attention.

Doumeki narrowed his eyes, and looked back at his manga. "You cook for me. That's payment enough."

"No, it's not. My cooking's not that good."

"Yes it is."

"You keep saying that," Watanuki griped, flopping onto the sofa.

Doumeki shifted over to make room. "True."

"Yeah, yeah."

"How's your classes going?"

Watanuki made a face. "Are you really asking me about my classes? They're fine. My professor said that I could be a professional after he looked at the cake I baked. But then someone else said I could be a housewife..."

Doumeki almost smiled. "You could be." You kind of are.

"Yeah, who asked you?!" Watanuki grumbled, grabbing the manga from Doumeki's hands. "Jeez!"

Doumeki bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from chuckling and let Watanuki take control over his manga, turning the TV on to occupy himself in the meantime.

Doumeki was dragged out of his sleep by his phone vibrating wildly on the nightstand. He grabbed it before it could vibrate off onto the floor, flipping it open. There was only one reason that he got phone calls in the middle of the night, and it wasn't good.

"... Doumeki," he greeted groggily, pushing himself up to get the lamp.

"Doumeki-san."

"Kurogane-san?" Doumeki sat up, glacing towards the alarm. 2:27. In the morning. Bad feelings...

"Just got the call."

"Call for what?" Doumeki asked slowly. And then the shoe dropped, the bad feeling swelling into quiet horror. "Don't tell me..."

"Yeah. Watanuki-san's friend."

Doumeki slumped forward, putting his face in his hand. That was what he'd been afraid of. He only got calls from the precinct during the night, either that, or bad news within his own family: bad news was the only reason for calls in the middle of the night.

But after the events of the past week... when the crisis had been averted that evening and Watanuki taking such painstaking care by taking surveillance into his own hands and... this was going to destroy him. How did he even tell him? After Tsuyuri's mother...

This was horrible.

By design of meeting Watanuki, Doumeki was getting too emotional about his work. Distancing himself had been a key component of being able to be a police officer; caring too deeply about each and every one of their victims or potential victims... it would drive you to insanity after a point, watching each and every one of them die. But Watanuki was emotional about those people, and Doumeki was emotionally attached to Watanuki, and he was feeling too deeply by association.

And also, watching Watanuki hurt made him hurt.

"Doumeki-san?"

Doumeki closed his eyes. "Yeah."

"We're going to the scene, I'll text you the address."

There was a thud, followed by a muffled ow! outside Doumeki's bedroom door, out in the hallway. He stared towards the wall numbly. "No."

"What?"

"No," Doumeki repeated. "I can't... leave him."

There was silence from the other end of the line, and Doumeki heaved a sigh. He hadn't realized what having Watanuki on the force would mean. Not only was his presence dredging up feelings that Doumeki hadn't ever felt, but the way that they couldn't bend the law just for a vision was making it even more difficult. Sometimes, it was a blessing. But sometimes...

How had they saved Tsuyuri and not managed to save Hokuto? How had they messed up so bad this time, when it was one of Watanuki's - albeit, new - friends?

"We-"

"Leave them be, Kuro-san," Flourite's voice, softly, in the background. If the circumstances were different, Doumeki might have been surprised (as if that relationship wasn't obvious to begin with, and he was bad at picking up on that sort of thing).

Kurogane was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Let us know if you need us."

"Yeah," Doumeki promised. He knew that Kurogane and Fai would come if they needed anything... but he wasn't sure what could help at this point.

"We'll call later."

"Right. Thanks."

Doumeki dropped his phone onto the bed and stared at it for a long moment. Communicating wasn't his thing, and how was he supposed to hurt the one person he'd actually grown to like in the past few months?

But better him, than someone else, he supposed. He left his room just as Watanuki, all long, pale limbs and boxers and a ratty t-shirt, and God, why did he have to look so pathetic and breakable, was just about to knock on his bedroom door.

"Ah, Doumeki! You nearly gave me a heart attack," Watanuki muttered, pressing his hand over his chest.

Doumeki looked at him, tiredly and intently and in concern, frowning at the sheen of sweat on his partner's skin, sticking his hair to his face. "... You dreamt," he said. Not a question.

Watanuki blinked, and then inhaled sharply. "Right! I saw the whole thing this time! It's Seishirou-san, her brother's best friend, he's the one who's going to kill her! He's the one who's been behind the sakura murders the entire-" Watanuki's voice drifted off into white noise.

Seishirou? He was the one behind all of this? Just like that... If this vision had come just a little bit earlier, they might have been able to stop the murder. If Watanuki had been there, on the force, earlier, they might have been able to stop the other murders, too. But all of that had come too late to save innocent lives.

Watanuki was still speaking. "... we just need to pull him in and we can stop the vision before it comes true."

Something around Doumeki's chest constricted as he looked at Watanuki. He wasn't sure what look was on his face, but it must have not been a normal one. The nervous excitement drained from Watanuki's eyes, replaced with just... nerves. Nerves, and tiredness that went deeper than just missing a few hours of sleep every now and then. Doumeki wanted to go back to bed himself, hoping that this was all some twisted figment of his imagination.

But it wasn't.

"Doumeki...?"

Doumeki sighed. He didn't seem to need any words, in the end; he watched the light drain from Watanuki's eyes as he looked at him, and it didn't matter that he didn't have anything to say. No amount of speaking could have fixed anything just then, anyway.

Chapter Text

There was only so much tea that could attempt to soothe a problem, and it wasn't any amount that Doumeki had in his apartment. Nothing was going to fix this problem, anyway, and they were both exhausted, emotionally and physically.

Watanuki hadn't moved from the couch, and when it had become painfully obvious that he wasn't going to, Doumeki had gone back to the guest room and gathered a blanket, even though it was edging into July and the air conditioning was faulty. Watanuki had jumped when Doumeki draped the blanket around his shoulders, but curled his fingers into the fabric and pulled it tighter around himself.

Doumeki had spent half of the night on the phone, bouncing between people for at least two hours, never straying too far from Watanuki just in case, only to talk to Fai about Watanuki while he was out of earshot.

As usual with the sakura murders, there didn't seem to be any evidence. They had to wait for forensics, but... it was the same as always. Except the murderer was Sakurazuka Seishirou. If it were up to him, it would be less we need proof and more haul the bastard in and funny- hadn't he reprimanded Watanuki for that on the Tsuyuri case? Doumeki really was exhausted.

Watanuki was worse off, though.

Doumeki sank onto the sofa next to Watanuki. He seemed to move in tandem to him, shifting and pulling himself further into the blanket, like it was the only thing keeping him together in that moment. Doumeki watched him from the corner of his eye, and pretended that he didn't notice the hollow look in Watanuki's eyes. "You should sleep."

"I don't wanna," Watanuki mumbled.

Doumeki didn't have a response to that. He didn't want to sleep, either, not if that meant Watanuki was going to be staring into the darkness, seeing pictures in his mind and listening to the voices in his head.

So, Doumeki stayed where he was, exhausted but awake - alive - with Watanuki there, also exhausted and awake and - somewhat - alive.

Watanuki slumped over slightly, his shoulder hitting against Doumeki's. Doumeki was struck with the urge to reach over and put his arm around Watanuki, and then the reality of that urge crashed down upon him.

He was falling in love with this guy.

That was scary enough as it was, for Doumeki, who'd never had an inkling of any sort of romantic attachment towards anyone. When everyone else had been boasting of girlfriends or boyfriends and their sex life in high school, Doumeki had been focussed on helping at the family temple. When all the girls (and the guys) had come up to him to ask him out, he had (truthfully) been too busy with studying to be an officer to even think about dating. And on the rare occasion that he did end up on a blind date... he just wanted it to be over. He didn't even want to be friends with those people, much less partners.

But Watanuki. Watanuki was already his partner, in the most technical sense of the word. And Watanuki...

... was not in the state of mind to think about any of that right now.

Besides, Doumeki didn't think he was Watanuki's favorite person, albeit he had been living with him for the past month and a half. And Watanuki had a crush on Kunogi... whatever kind of relationship that was.

Doumeki hunched over a little himself, shoulders slumping forward.

They really did need some sleep.

Doumeki thought he'd never been more awake.

Watanuki woke up to a crushing pain in his head and knocking on the door. He was still on the couch, where he'd been for, how long now? Except there was the press of humanity against one side, and Watanuki shifted his eyes to look up at the tanned skin and dark hair. Doumeki... He was fast asleep, seeming heedless to Watanuki using his shoulder as a pillow.

... Right, Watanuki thought blearily, sitting up gingerly, someone had been knocking. He may as well get it. Doumeki was asleep. One of them might as well sleep. Watanuki wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping himself. It felt like seconds, but there was light coming in the window. But he was pretty sure he'd been up most of the night, so that was no good indicator, either.

He pushed himself to his feet and trudged to the door, taking a couple tries to get the lock undone. His fingers were clumsy. His body felt numb. He was about to speak when he realized the two people at the door were Fai and Kurogane, and he just stared at them as they looked down at him before he could remember he possessed the concept of speech.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Watanuki-kun..." Fai's eyes were sad. He probably didn't intend them to be, but they were, and it clawed at Watanuki's chest.

"... Doumeki's asleep," Watanuki managed.

He didn't know how he was supposed to function. It was an unfamiliar feeling, only one he remembered from being really young and suddenly without parents. It hurt to talk, and it was hard to breathe.

Fai glanced over Watanuki's shoulder, down the hall, and nodded. "I'll leave him a note. We were on our way to work, so we stopped by."

Watanuki stepped aside, letting Fai past. He looked up at Kurogane afterwards, wondering if he was going to speak, or if Watanuki was meant to be saying something. He hoped it wasn't the latter, because he didn't have anything to say.

"If you want to cry, you should cry."

Watanuki cringed, eyes snapping up to meet Kurogane's. But he was still giving him that level-headed intense look, no trace of emotion. He wasn't like Fai, but he somehow still got it across the same, if not better.

"... No one ever wants to cry," Watanuki murmured. His eyes stung, and his throat ached.

"It makes you stronger. You use that strength to protect the others you love. Better than moping around."

Watanuki closed his eyes. He had good reason to ‘mope around’. This was his one job here... and he'd failed. God, he couldn't do this. He couldn't do this, do people, do conversation, do trying to pretend he was alright, he couldn't, grabbing for his shoes.

Kurogane gripped his arm.

"Ow-"

"Don't run from your problems, kid. You won't get anywhere."

Easy for you to say. But running wasn't easy, either, and Kurogane's voice was not unkind. Watanuki put his face in his hands, but the stinging against his eyes was forthcoming and before he was even consciously aware of it, there were tears streaming down his cheeks and he desperately tried to stifle the sobs against his skin, crashing onto his knees in the entranceway.

He should have been able to save her, he should have been able to do something. If everything happened for a reason, then he had these visions for a purpose- the purpose of saving people, and Hokuto was gone. She'd moved here on an adventure with her brother, and now she was dead because Watanuki hadn't been able to do anything. And he could live with not being able to save everyone, and maybe it was a little selfish but he didn't know everyone, and Hokuto had told him to protect Subaru and how could he protect her brother if he couldn't even protect her, when their best friend was the murderer.

What was he doing? Seishirou was the murderer, why was Watanuki here when he should have been somewhere else, with Subaru, preventing a tragedy that he had no proof was even going to happen, making sure Seishirou didn't hurt Subaru in the same way that he had hurt Hokuto, but he couldn't move, he couldn't move from the floor, face buried in his hands and curled into himself, gasping for breath between his tears.

"Watanuki..."

That wasn't Fai or Kurogane's voice and why, why did he have to be awake, Watanuki had left him asleep on the couch, why did he have to be awake and be there every second, even when Watanuki desperately didn't (did) want him, when he was falling apart without chance of catching himself before spiralling into the abyss, it was bad enough that he had to put up with himself losing it, and Doumeki witnessing it...

"... Come on, Kuro-rin, let's make some tea," Fai said quietly, and there was the rustling of movement as Kurogane walked around him and followed Fai into presumably the kitchen.

Watanuki didn't raise his head from his hands until he'd coaxed himself into not crying any longer - by which point he was sure that the senior officers were embellishing, because it didn't take that long to make tea - and tried to catch his breath. He didn't dare look up, mostly because he thought Doumeki was still there; he hadn't heard him move away, but then, he hadn't come any closer, either.

Something fell to the floor beside Watanuki with a loud crack and he jumped, scrambling a few inches away before he realized it was a box of tissues. He looked at it and then up at Doumeki out of reflex, but his partner gave nothing away as usual. Watanuki looked away and grabbed a handful of the tissues, managing a watery laugh. "... Your bedside manner is horrible," he mumbled, and wiped his face and blew his nose.

Doumeki just gave a sort of noncommental grunt in reply, but when Watanuki glanced up again, Doumeki held out his hand.

Watanuki might have just stared at it blankly for awhile.

Doumeki didn't say anything, one way or the other though, which was more than appreciated, in this moment.

Watanuki sighed shakily and reached for Doumeki's hand, allowing him to pull him back to his feet.

Chapter Text

The week that followed was not his best.

He'd allowed Doumeki to ply him with even more tea and some food and blankets that made him wake up sweating because it was so hot in the apartment, but they were warm and comfortable and smelled familiar, like the pillows he was used to sleeping with at night now.

He'd gone to Hokuto's memorial, wrapped his arms around Subaru and held him tightly to apologize for things he couldn't say, and saw Seishirou on his way out which had prompted Doumeki to grab Watanuki's arms and pull him out the door. It hadn't mattered. Watanuki'd been too shook up to react properly, meeting his gaze had made him freeze in terror and fear and hatred.

He'd gone back to work - both precinct and part times - and he'd pushed at just about every rule and regulation he could to try and find something to go off of.

He had, of course, been keeping a weathered eye on Subaru, too, having no visions that anything was going to happen to the guy, but not wanting to take that chance of spoiling Hokuto's final wish.

On the bright side, he was now walking home with Himawari. Funny thing about that, though, was that he...

"Didn't you just love that kitty today, Watanuki-kun?"

Watanuki straightened up. "Yes!"

"And it was a black cat, too, maybe that means we'll have good luck," Himawari continued.

"Uh huh!"

"Did you know that black cats are considered bad luck in different parts of the world?"

"Really?"

"Yep! I guess I can understand a little bit, but I think it's silly. How could anyone think such a pretty kitty is bad luck?"

"Yeah."

Any other day, he would have been excited to walk home with Himawari. And he was still excited, just a little... less excited. He was mainly wondering if he had missed anything big at work, and if Doumeki was going to be okay with him sticking around his apartment a little while longer yet. Really, that had gone on long enough but whenever he thought about saying he was leaving, he couldn't get the words out.

He was gonna be stuck indefinitely at Doumeki's apartment, wasn't he?

"Watanuki-kun?" Himawari leaned close, looking at him.

Watanuki jumped a bit, embarrassment seizing his body. "Ahh, sorry, Himawari-chan!"

Himawari frowned. "Are you okay?"

Watanuki nodded. "Yeah... yeah." He nodded. "I'm okay, I'll be okay."

"If you're sure..."

He wasn't, but Himawari didn't need to know that. Besides, he was working on it. That was all could do, right? He could still try to put some more enthusiasm into it, which he did.

"Hey, isn't that your friend?"

Watanuki followed Himawari's gaze to the dark-haired green-eyed person across the street. Subaru...

"Subaru-san, right? His sister was the one who..."

"... yeah." Watanuki watched him for a moment, waving when Subaru caught his gaze. Subaru waved back slightly. He looked about as good as Watanuki felt about the whole thing, although he had much more reason. If Watanuki had siblings, he couldn't imagine... them being murdered like that...

"That must be tough... for both of you," Himawari said quietly.

Wasn't that an understatement. But Watanuki smiled wearily nonetheless, all the while thinking tell me about it.

"Hi, Watanuki-san," Subaru muttered, joining up with them after they'd waited for the traffic to pass.

"Hi." Subaru wouldn't understand why Watanuki would be so upset over someone he barely knew getting murdered. A level of disgust, depression, maybe survivor's guilt, sure... but not like the way Watanuki felt, so he couldn't let that show, not to Subaru. "Um, Subaru-san, this is Himawari-chan. Himawari-chan, Subaru-san."

"Nice to meet you," Himawari spoke first. "I'm sorry about your loss."

Subaru looked at her blankly for a moment, seeming almost confused. But then he nodded, and muttered a "thank you".

Himawari placed her hand on Watanuki's arm briefly. "Watanuki-kun, I'm gonna go into this shop for a minute, kay? You and your friend can talk."

Himawari was so precious. Watanuki nodded gratefully, even if he didn't know what to talk to Subaru about now.

"... How are you?" Stupid question.

Subaru shrugged. "... Wish I'd never left home." But then he shook his head and met Watanuki's gaze. "But I'm okay. I'll be okay."

"We'll find-"

"It was Seishirou-san."

Watanuki froze.

"I mean..." Subaru frowned. "Just..."

"How do you know??" Watanuki interrupted.

Now it was Subaru's turn to look at Watanuki like he was crazy, but Watanuki didn't care. There was more time for that later. "It's just..."

"Subaru-san, I know this sounds strange, but I need to know how you know it was Seishirou-san."

Subaru looked at him for a moment longer before squaring his shoulders. There was a certain coldness in his eyes just then that didn't bode well and whatever happens, keep Subaru safe.

"Hokuto had this-" Subaru started, before drowned out by the sound of traffic, the squeal of tires against the street. Watanuki glanced up to see what the noise was about and

the last thing he saw was wildly unkept black hair and sunglasses perched on the end of a nose before there was a hey! and the world went black.

Doumeki's cell rang with a vaguely familiar number, but not one that he had programmed into his phone. Why did it seem familiar? Better yet, who was calling him on his cell when all of his friends knew he was at work now?

"Hello?"

"Doumeki-san??"

"Yeah..."

"Doumeki-san, it's Himawari, Watanuki-kun- Watanuki-kun and Subaru-san have been kidnapped!"

Doumeki felt like the words fell into his mind at an impossibly slow speed, caught up in cobwebs and molasses, before Watanuki's been kidnapped.

He stood up abruptly. "Where?" Kurogane and Fai looked up at him, but he didn't pay them any attention.

"We were outside this shop, The Cat's Eye-"

"I know it." Doumeki was already heading for the elevator.

"Doumeki-kun?"

"Watanuki's been kidnapped," he said away from the phone, not looking back. "Kunogi-san, tell me exactly what happened. Subaru-san was there as well?"

There was movement behind him, the tired whine of swivel chairs and footsteps running after him.

"What's going on??" Fai asked.

"Where are we going?" Kurogane asked.

"The Cat's Eye. I'm putting you on speaker," he said to Kunogi, and pressed the button to switch it over. "Tell me everything."

"How did this happen?"

Doumeki's fingers seized around the desk, waiting impatiently for the shop owner to come back with their surveillance tapes to take for evidence.

"Subaru-san," Kurogane replied to Fai. "If Watanuki-san was with Subaru-san, kid was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Trust Watanuki to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Watanuki probably would have jumped in the van if he hadn't been knocked out.

Kunogi had said she'd glanced outside just in time to see Watanuki collapse after taking a blow to the head, and Subaru immediately following before they were wrangled into the vehicle. The video feed had corroborated that, and better still, they'd gotten a good luck at the kidnapper and the vehicle itself.

"But if Seishirou-san wanted to murder the Sumeragi twins, why did he wait until now?" Fai murmured. "They knew each other before the Sumeragis moved here, didn't they?"

"He used to live in their city. He's been travelling."

"So the Sumeragis followed him here?"

"Maybe."

If Seishirou hadn't moved here, the Sumeragis wouldn't have followed, and Watanuki wouldn't be caught up in this mess, Doumeki thought darkly.

Fai touched him arm, startling him out of his thoughts. "We'll find him, Doumeki-kun."

Doumeki grunted noncommentally. Yes, they would, and then he'd call him a moron for being involved in it even if it wasn't his fault, but mostly he was a moron for making him panic. Because he was panicking. Internally. If he panicked externally, he'd never settle himself enough to actually do anything.

But the waiting was painful. He just wanted to get back to the precinct, see if Akira-san had gotten anything back on the partial license plate, see if they could get a hit on their BOLO, find his stupid partner and make sure said stupid partner was alright.

He sighed softly. Why did this have to happen now?

"Why is this taking so long?" Kurogane muttered, pushing past the desk to disappear into the back room. "Could've found him by now..."

"Both of them," Fai clarified, and stood there for a moment before turning, heading to the door to step outside.

Doumeki was left with Kunogi, whom he might have liked any other day, but was not in the mood for conversation now.

"I should have stayed with them," she muttered.

Doumeki shifted his eyes to look at her. "... Then you would have been kidnapped, too."

"But maybe if there was another witness...!"

"Watanuki probably wasn't the target." Unless he was, and then this ran deeper than any of them had thought. He didn't think that was the case. "It was Subaru-san."

"I could have done something else," Kunogi replied. "I just... didn't know what to do."

"You did what you should have. You called me."

"But they were still kidnapped."

They were, Doumeki silently agreed, but he didn't want to keep going back to that point, he didn't want to keep reiterating the fact that Watanuki and Subaru were out there somewhere, being held hostage or tortured or likely killed.

He shifted down to press his face in his hands.

Everything was happening too quickly and too slowly at the same time. He couldn't just stand here.

"Let's go," Kurogane said, stepping back in, tapes in hand.

Doumeki shoved away from the counter, falling into step with Kurogane. About time.

"What should I do?" Kunogi asked.

Kurogane glanced back. "Flourite-san will take care of you."

"But-"

"We might call you in later."

"Got something?" Fai asked, poking his head in the door.

"Clearance to go back," Kurogane said. "Got the tapes. We can run facial rec back at the precinct. You need to finish off with Kunogi."

"Well, okay. How long's it gonna take for that license plate?" Fai muttered. "This is priority, Watanuki-kun is one of the force now..."

They parted ways to break off to their cruisers, leaving Fai behind to finish with the statements. They were going to meet up at the precinct and run the tapes through facial recognition, hopefully get an ID to go off of as a start.

Watanuki and Subaru were going to be fine. They were going to be fine, Doumeki would make sure of it, and they all would go home safely.

Still, when his phone vibrated and startled him enough that it went flying halfway across the front seat and he had to scramble to grab it from beneath his seat, he was pretty sure he wasn't being as unaffected as he wanted to appear.

Don't do anything stupid.
I'm following you back to
the precinct, so go there.

Doumeki stared at the text from Kurogane with no emotion. He had been planning on going to go back to the precinct... eventually. It wasn't as though he had anything to go on, but he would have rather drove around town for awhile then sit at the precinct. That wasn't stupid.

... Just a little rash. And he didn't care.

He sighed and tossed his phone aside. He'd go back to the precinct for now.

Watanuki was in an unfamiliar place. Everything was dark and damp, and his head was throbbing. But there was speaking in the distance, and then closer, and those were voices that he recognized: Subaru, and Seishirou, and

Doumeki.

"Put the gun down. My quarrel isn't with you."

"No," Doumeki said flatly, gun aloft, pointed at Seishirou. He was standing between Subaru and Seishirou.

Watanuki opened his mouth to speak- and couldn't. His head was throbbing, but there was more: his throat was too tight and he couldn't move; his arms tied behind his back, ankles bound together. He tried to move and tried to speak, but all that came out was a rasping breath that wasn't heard over the dripping of water in wherever the hell they were.

"Must you all step in where you are not wanted?" Seishirou sighed. "First that boy with the glasses, and now you-"

"Did we step in where we weren't wanted, too??" Subaru demanded, trying to step around Doumeki.

"Stay back," Doumeki muttered, taking the step to keep in front of him. "I'm here to protect you, don't make it worse. Go."

"No!"

"Step aside, officer."

"If you want him," Doumeki said shortly, "you'll have to-"

The gunshot made Watanuki jerk in shock, but what was worse:

Doumeki staggered a few steps.
Dropped his gun.
Collapsed.

And the blood...

"Doumeki?" And now Watanuki could find the words, of course, of course. "Doumeki!"

Watanuki awoke with a start, choking on the scream. He jerked his attention around wildly, looking for Doumeki, and Subaru and Seishirou, but, no... no, that had... all been a dream...?

Relief was short-lived as the realization sank in.

He was in that place. He was in that dark, damp place with that throbbing headache, and his hands were tied behind his back, and he'd just dreamed about Doumeki's death.

Doumeki was going to die.

The thought itself made his vision swim and he struggled to cling onto the last tattered remains of his ever-so-fragile consciousness.

Chapter Text

Watanuki wasn't aware of falling asleep, but he woke up later, still in the dark and the damp, still tied up in the same spot. His arms were cramping and his stomach was upset and he tried to shift into a more comfortable position to no avail. He wished he would have been conscious when they tied him up; he could have at least gotten a little leeway, maybe, with the rope. Now, he had no slack to go on.

He was stuck.

He wondered if Doumeki knew that they were gone. It was probably past time for him to have been home. Or maybe no time had passed at all. Watanuki wasn't sure. Maybe somebody had witnessed it. Himawari had been there! Hopefully she hadn't... gotten caught up in this as well.

And Subaru...

It was strange, though, because Watanuki hadn't dreamed about his death. He had been keeping an eye on him because of what had happened to his sister, but... he hadn't seem anything explicit that would give any evidence to any other development in Subaru's life, up until that vision with Subaru and Seishirou and... Doumeki.

Watanuki shivered.

Get it together, get it together.

Okay. Think. What should he do. To be honest, he didn't remember a lot as far as getting abducted went. He was certain that he'd been taught what to do and what not to do if he was kidnapped, by his mom and dad, especially since they worked within the police, but that... that was a long time ago.

Well, the number one rule, he supposed, was to stay calm. Stay calm, and... um... hell, he didn't know. He could stay calm only because he'd been knocked out during the whole thing; if he would have been conscious, he would have been freaking out. Not that he wasn't now, but... it was a muted sort of panic. It would probably hit him later. Anytime but now.

Stay calm. Right. Watanuki took a deep breath and squinted around the room, continuing to wiggle against the bonds on his wrists in hopes that they would eventually give. He was going to get out of here, he had things to do, after everything he'd been through, this was not how he was going out. Positivity, right. He was fine, he was going to be fine.

As he was thinking this, a door creaked open in the room. (Honest to goodness creaked, like some horrible horror movie, and Watanuki's nerves shot up with a low whimper and he probably would have scrambled into the darkest shadow of the room to hide had he not been tied up. He huffed at himself a moment later, heart pounding wildly: stay calm. Yeah.) The low beam of light streaming into the room made his eyes hurt and he squinted towards the figures in the door. (While keeping a mental note on where the door was in the darkness, in case he got free, if he got a chance. He did remember some things.)

"You can talk to Seishirou again later."

"... When he kills me, right?"

Watanuki inhaled sharply. "Subaru-san? Are you okay??"

There was silence from either of them, and then the unfamiliar voice spoke again. "Well, I see you've finally woken up. Sit down, Subaru." There was a scuffle and a thump.

"Subaru-san??"

"... I'm fine."

The person walked over from Subaru to Watanuki (who definitely did not flinch back), crouching down in front of him. The light had gone when the door had closed, but Watanuki could make a little out; it was the person who'd knocked him out on the street to begin with.

"Well, you are just one unlucky person. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time..." He tilted his head. "But then, you know, too, don't you? About Seishirou. About the sakura blossom murders."

Watanuki swallowed. He didn't know exactly what to say to that. Lying seemed like the best option, but that was the typical I don't know what you're talking about route. It might have worked if he had been kidnapped by himself, but if his lying would put Subaru in trouble, too... Maybe not answering was the best thing.

"Who are you?" he asked instead. Fair question, right?

"Hm. Fuuma." He sat down in front of Watanuki, cross legged, and reached forward to take Watanuki's glasses from his face.

Watanuki frowned as his vision went fuzzy, forcing himself not to flinch. He might throw up, sometime, soon, but he... wouldn't... flinch.

"You have lovely eyes," Fuuma said, touching his fingers below Watanuki's right eye. His fingers were like ice. Watanuki shivered. Fuuma laughed softly and Watanuki hated himself for the lapse in concentration. "It's not only your eyes," Fuuma continued pleasantly. "You're lovely in general."

It was until the hand on his arm that Watanuki understood the connotation and his flight or fight set in; except there was no running or attacking, so the adrenalin gave way into panic and, for a moment, he couldn't breathe.

"Leave him alone."

Watanuki only just heard Subaru's voice through the rapid beating of his pulse in his ears. He didn't hear Fuuma's response through his focus on trying to catch his sudden lack of breath, but the man moved away, anyway. Watanuki wasn't sure that it helped the nausea or the lingering chill, but at least he'd gone.

"... Watanuki-san?"

Watanuki grunted a response, pulling his knees up to press his forehead against them.

"Watanuki-san?"

He'd talk if he could get his breath back. He breathed in, held it, and let it out slowly, repeating the process over and over. He knew what was happening; he didn't go from childhood trauma to semi-psychic adult without anxiety attacks along the way, but... it'd been so good lately. He hadn't had an attack in years, and his anxiety regarding his visions had lessened even more once he had joined the precinct.

Maybe it was just the prolonged stress.

He tried to shuffle his shirt collar away from his throat and ignore the sweat sticking the fabric to his back, finding the words to respond to Subaru. That gave him something else to focus on. Breathing, and responding.

"... okay," he mumbled.

"What?"

"I'm... okay," Watanuki mumbled, swallowing thickly. "... are you...?"

"Oh. Yes."

It was like Subaru's entire demeanour had changed. Not that Watanuki blamed him, not after what had happened to Hokuto and what was happening now, but the Subaru that Watanuki thought he knew was... kind, polite. This Subaru sounded... cold. It wasn't... really... a surprise. Watanuki knew how shutting down worked. He'd been there a lot in the past, too.

He blew out another shaky breath. "... we'll get... outta here," he mumbled. "Doumeki'll... find us."

"Seishirou-san's killed this many people already. What makes us different?"

"We'll get outta here," Watanuki forced out, and took a deep breath again. "We will. My friends..."

"You never know the people you think you do," Subaru interrupted.

Watanuki frowned. "Maybe... maybe with some people but... I don't believe... everyone's like that. I trust my friends... my family..." he trailed off. They were, truly. Kurogane, and Fai, and Yuuko... Doumeki.

Watanuki didn't even know what to say about Doumeki. Here was this guy who had arrested him and Watanuki hated him for it, still, thinking he'd murdered a little girl, and half the time he was being so dry that he wanted to strangle him but then thing was that he hadn't wanted to strangle him in awhile, and he'd been living with him for a couple months now and he actually liked having a roommate, even if Doumeki was hopeless in the kitchen and unorganized and snored sometimes when he fell asleep on the sofa after a particularly grueling day of work.

And Watanuki'd had a vision that Doumeki was going to die, and that thought was enough to send him spiraling into another state of panic because he couldn't go there, he couldn't lose Doumeki, who had become, oddly enough, the most important person in his life.

"... Hope you're right," Subaru muttered.

"I am," Watanuki said quietly. "I know I am."

They'd be fine. They had to be fine.

Doumeki did not have the patience for this kind of thing.

The thing he was best at was distancing himself from his emotions; that's what made him a good cop. But now that it was Watanuki in danger, his emotional state was wrecked, and it was making him into very much a bad cop.

Fai and Kurogane were somewhere, he didn't know. He'd left his desk in favour of pacing, leaving the room to go get coffee for something to do.

When his phone rang, he almost dropped the mug. Oh yeah, he was completely a mess.

"Did you find something?" he greeted.

"We got a hit on the BOLO," Hanato replied crisply, "on that partial from the security footage. You-"

"Where," Doumeki interrupted. He got the location and hung up, tapping the information into his phone and mapping out where exactly he was headed. He knew that he should go find Fai or Kurogane, even ply Ichihara for back-up, but that was so time-consuming. These were things that needed to be done, now. And there was always the chance that it might not be anything, and if they wasted all their manpower on something that turned out to be a coincidence...

There was that word again.

Doumeki shook his head and forgot the coffee, striding out of the room. He'd call them when he got there. He didn't want to have to wait on them in the meantime.

Rookie move, nagged a voice in the back of his head. It sounded like Watanuki.

Doumeki waved it away; Watanuki could complain at him later, when he was there, and when he was safe.

He'd be fine.

Watanuki'd fallen asleep again, letting consciousness drift away from him after the anixety had subsided, leaving him sweaty and shaking and completely exhausted. He was slow to come back around, a whine scratching at the back of his throat. Okay, now it was just getting really uncomfortable. Meaning painful. He straightened up, the vertebrae in his back popping as he did, and rolled his shoulders, wincing as the pins and needles that shot up his wrists and arms eliciting a quiet "ow" to himself.

"Watanuki-san?"

Watanuki flinched a little, but then squinted into the darkness. "Okay, Subaru-kun?" He didn't know when he'd started tacking -kun onto his name instead of -san.

"... Yeah."

Watanuki sighed, tilting his head back a back. Where was that jerk Doumeki? What if... well... they hadn't been able to track Seishirou for all those other murders, how could they find them... no, no. Watanuki shook his head quickly. He had to stay positive.

"... You talked to Seishirou-san earlier, right?" he asked shortly.

"... Yeah." Subaru shifted. "He only said it was about time that he did what he had been intending to do."

"What?"

"Kill me," Subaru said flatly.

"He is not going to kill you," Watanuki hissed, a little more vehemently than he intended. "I just mean..." He hadn't had a vision, not one of Subaru dying. Not going there, either. "I told you, we're going to get out of here, and they'll have Seishirou in custody and-"

Subaru laughed dryly, and Watanuki stopped.

"You don't know the whole story, Watanuki-san."

Watanuki tilted his head. "What are you talking about?"

Subaru was quiet for a moment, and it sounded as though he'd turned away when he spoke next. "Seishirou is the head of the Sakurazukamori gang."

Watanuki stiffened, and stared into the darkness near Subaru. "... What?"

The Sakurazukamori... well, that was a name that everyone knew. He hadn't even made the connection... not that Sakurazuka wasn't an uncommon name, and he hadn't heard anything from the clan for awhile to begin with... but Seishirou was the head of the clan...?

"You... no."

"He told me. Earlier." Subaru sighed, then. "... so many lies."

"No, no, no." Watanuki didn't know why that was the only word he could say. He didn't even know Seishirou; why was he trying to prove he was innocent?

To protect Subaru, whispered a little voice in his head. The task he was charged with...

Before he could elaborate further on that, there was gunfire from outside. He jumped and swore at the same time, jerking on the ropes tied across his wrists uselessly. The gunfire brought him right back to the previous vision and as much as he was supposed to protect Subaru, there were other people, there were other people that he cared about, that he needed, that he l-

The gunfire went silent, but it rang in his ears and in his heartbeat. Nothing. Why was there nothing? He jerked harder on the ropes. "Subaru-kun... can you..."

"I've only got one free hand," Subaru interrupted, "and nothing to pick the lock. Handcuffs."

Watanuki groaned. No, no, this was horrible. He didn't know where the gunfire was coming from, why there was gunfire to begin with. Was it directed at someone else, was it going to be directed at them? If Seishirou and Fuuma were getting desperate, or if there was something happened that would make them panic, Watanuki and Subaru's chances of getting out of here live were going to go way down-

"Okay. No. No, we're going to be fine. We're going to be fine." The pain in his wrists had given away to something warm and wet; he realized belatedly that he was bleeding. He ground his teeth together and kept at it, maybe the blood would act as lubrication, loosen the ropes somewhat, something. He didn't realize he was still talking out loud, about getting out, about staying safe, until he heard the lock in door and he heard himself stop talking.

It was with a sense of pure, complete numbness that when the lights came on - momentarily blinding Watanuki, but he didn't need to see to really know - that the first person to walk into the room was Doumeki.

Any impending relief was marred by the fact that a gun followed Doumeki, pointed lazily at his back by Seishirou. Wasn't a surprise, wasn't a surprise, it was all coming true.

"What are you doing here?" he groaned, his voice coming out all wrong. It was a strange thing to say, in retrospect; Doumeki was an officer, and he was the one in charge of finding them. But of course he was there. Watanuki knew the future, though, and... couldn't let that happen, couldn't let that happen, no, no, no, no, no.

Get it together, Watanuki!

"Looking for you," Doumeki replied flatly, as though he didn't have a gun pointed at him. He didn't seem fazed by it, actually, his eyes flicking between Subaru and Watanuki, and lingering on the latter.

Watanuki squirmed a little. "Well, you found me, great job."

"You cops are infuriatingly stubborn," Seishirou said thoughtfully, nudging Doumeki into the room. "First Subaru-kun's little friend, and now you, Doumeki-san. I do thank you for coming alone, though."

He'd come alone? There was no back-up? Watanuki stared holes into Doumeki's gaze, trying to convey that you're an idiot without saying it. He had come to find him, true, but... why hadn't he... argh. Nope, he still wanted to strangle him, if only he was sure that he'd be alright. Which he wasn't... at all.

"Seishirou-san... leave them alone," Subaru said.

Seishirou looked over at him. "Why should I? Fuuma might lose an eye, now. Thanks to this one."

Doumeki had gotten that creep? Oh, fantastic. Watanuki hissed as his wrists burned; he was struck with the sudden thought of potentially bleeding out as result of tearing his skin open. Was that possible? Probably. It probably wasn't deep. But...

"This is about me, right?" Subaru continued.

"It's always been about you, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said. "From before I even met you. You're my target. My ‘x’ marks the spot."

"... If it's always been about me, why did you kill Hokuto."

Seishirou sighed. "She thought that she could sacrifice herself to protect you. It was her wish."

"So what about my wish?"

"What's your wish, Subaru-kun?"

"... To end this. End it all, Seishirou-san."

"No!" Watanuki interrupted.

"Enough," Doumeki said at the same time, stepping away from Seishirou.

"Mind yourself."

"Doumeki, you-"

"Doumeki-san... don't bother," Subaru said softly, holding up the hand that wasn't cuffed. "If he's going to kill me anyway, at least it'll be on my own terms, and I can-"

"Don't make it worse than it is," Doumeki interrupted. "... I said I'd protect you, both of you." His eyes flickered to Watanuki again - Watanuki couldn't convey that Doumeki shouldn't be here, that what he'd seen and heard in his vision was happening, now - and then back to Seishirou.

"Step aside, officer."

Doumeki didn't. "If you want him, you'll have to-"

Right when, in the vision Watanuki had had earlier, the gunshot should have come, it didn't; Doumeki lunged forward for Seishirou and the activity that followed seemed to move too fast for Watanuki's woozy mind to keep up with. Doumeki's gun went flying, Seishirou got in what maybe was a punch attack, Doumeki hit the ground hard and Seishirou pulled a dagger- no, not a dagger... the sakura murder weapon...

The gunshot that followed drew forth a yelp from his own lips, halfway between choking Doumeki's name before realizing that Seishirou hadn't been holding the gun-

Subaru was standing with Doumeki's gun still in his hand, still pointed at Seishirou, a look of shock on his face.

"Su..." Watanuki couldn't get the words out.

"... Subaru-kun," Seishirou murmured, dropping to his knees. "Thank you."

"What... I... I didn't mean... I just wanted you to..."

"I couldn't fulfill your wish... Subaru-kun, I... ... you..."

Watanuki flinched when Seishirou's body hit the ground.

"... Seishirou-san?" Subaru murmured. "Seishirou-san?" Subaru dropped the gun.

Doumeki seemed to unfreeze, pushing himself to his knees and grabbing at Subaru's wrist to unlock the handcuff with his own key.

"Seishirou-san. Seishirou-san!" Subaru crashed to his knees next to Seishirou. "Seishirou-san!!"

Somehow. This wasn't. A happy ending, either.

"Watanuki..." Doumeki muttered, kneeling next to him. His fingers flew over the knots on the ropes, and the blood from where he'd chaffed them. "Knife... knife," he mumbled, patting his pockets until he found a pocketknife. Did he always have that? "Hang on," he mumbled, over Subaru's constant speaking... sobbing... behind him.

"... Mhm..."

Soon, the ropes were gone from his wrists and Watanuki couldn't feel his arms and he was covered in blood but it didn't matter; he threw his arms around Doumeki and squeezed his eyes closed, choking back the emotion and words that came with it because he didn't want that right now.

Doumeki didn't react, and Watanuki couldn't pull away, couldn't bring himself to move. Even though Doumeki wasn't hurt, he couldn't let go.

Doumeki's arms circled around Watanuki tightly enough that it hurt, and he crushed him up against his chest.

It wasn't fair, Watanuki supposed, when Subaru's... whatever Seishirou had been, beneath all of that... when Subaru was going through what he was going through, but Watanuki couldn't move. Doumeki didn't let go of him, either.

Chapter Text

"I want you to move in with me."

Watanuki startled over his morning tea, looking at Doumeki like he was crazy.

Last night had been a flurry of action that Watanuki barely even remembered. Maybe it was because he'd been in and out of consciousness, even though all he'd managed to do was dream and panic and get blood all over Doumeki's uniform.

He vaguely remembered Doumeki scooping him into his arms, effortlessly, and Watanuki had tucked his face into Doumeki's chest, without thinking, and maybe he'd heard Fai and Kurogane, both sounding panicked, but he'd been gone, relaxing into sleep for the first time since they'd been taken.

The first thing he had wondered when he woke up was where Subaru was, and how he was doing... but then Watanuki remembered that he knew the answer: his friend was safe, but he would probably never be okay.

... He was going to have to make sure he was there for him.

Watanuki stared across the table at Doumeki. "What...?"

"Move in," Doumeki repeated, shorter, apparently having used up his limit of words per minute. And now it sounded like less a request than a demand, the jerk...!

But why he was looking at him like that?

"... Why would I?" Watanuki frowned. "You know that it was just because I got all caught up in that mess that I ended up getting kidnapped-"

"I want you to," Doumeki interrupted.

Watanuki stopped again. Now there was no good reason for Doumeki to want him to move in... if he was trying to keep him safe, that was one thing, but if he wanted him to stay... "Why?"

Doumeki was quiet for a moment before sitting up a bit, and speaking. "I like you."

Watanuki's stomach dropped, while his face went hot and his words fled from where they were usually ready to bubble out in a screech. What was... he saying? What was he saying, that was completely idiotic, why was he saying that?

And yet... was it? Watanuki, yesterday, he'd... he'd all but thrown himself into Doumeki's arms and he hadn't been able to move and he just wanted to hang onto him and never let go. And the thought that he might die, that either of them might die... he just... couldn't...

What did... what did...

"What...?"

Eloquent.

Watanuki stared incredulously at Doumeki, who had returned to his silence, although now looked spectulative as Watanuki spoke. Watanuki watched Doumeki think, could literally see the way he was thinking by the way that his eyes moved slightly. Thinking hard.

"... I don't know how else to say it," Doumeki said shortly, meeting Watanuki's gaze. "I lo-"

"Don't!"

Watanuki pressed his lips into a thin line, feeling his body burn in embarrassment. It was his initial response; he was panicking and he couldn't... Doumeki couldn't just... say things, like that. It made him uncomfortable, it was just... he couldn't.

Doumeki interrupted his thoughts. "You don't have to like me." Watanuki looked at him. "But move in, anyway," Doumeki continued. "I like your food."

That made him snap back into his old habits. "What, is that all??"

"No."

And that shut him down again. Wow, there really was no in between with the stuff coming from Doumeki's mouth.

"Doumeki, I..."

"You don't have to like me back," Doumeki repeated.

"I didn't say I didn't," Watanuki retorted, a little irritable. He was putting words in his mouth again, although there was mild satisfaction in watching Doumeki's eyes widen slightly when he said that.

"So you do?"

"I didn't say that, either!" Watanuki growled. "Look, I... I don't really think in the same terms as... as normal people, about relationships, you know?"

"... No."

Watanuki slumped. "I just don't process things that way!"

Doumeki stared at him. He had a stupid look on his face. Moreso than usual, he grumbled internally. But it was fair, he guessed; he wasn't even making sense to himself, but relationships didn't make sense. Not that he didn't want one, but he didn't... know. He just didn't know, okay?

"Just... forget it," he muttered. "... Do you really want me to move in?" He also didn't know why he was considering that. But he'd gone home a couple times in the space in between and it was quiet and uncomfortable, but here, it was... it was Doumeki and yelling and being called a moron, but it was nice. Watanuki hadn't grown up with a family, and he hadn't had many friends, so this was different, unique... and he liked it.

"Yeah."

"I am not cooking for you everyday." Okay, he should not feel bad when Doumeki's face fell a tiny bit; this was not his responsibility! "At least not every meal, you managed before I came to stay with you. Or learn to cook!"

"Teach me."

Watanuki was waylaid, again. "What?"

"Teach me to cook," Doumeki said. "It can be part of your rent."

"No-" Watanuki sighed. "Listen, you jerk, if I'm moving in, we are splitting the rent, we are splitting the utilities, and the groceries and-"

"Fine," Doumeki interrupted. "Cooking lessons in return for the money spent on petrol when I drive you everywhere."

"I usually walk!!"

Doumeki smirked and turned away, taking his dishes to the sink.

"You just want to con me into cooking more," Watanuki grumbled. Good thing he really didn't mind. He leaned back in the chair and sighed. "I can teach you some things, I guess. When we have time."

"Okay."

Watanuki gathered his own dishes, nudging Doumeki out of the way so he could wash the lot. "So... if you're serious about this, when do you, I don't know, want me to bring over my things..."

"Whenever." Doumeki leaned against the countertop. "This weekend. I'll help you move."

"... okay. Uh, about the... earlier thing, about..."

"Dating?"

Cringe. "Yeah. Just because I'm moving in, it doesn't mean... I mean, it doesn't mean..." Jeez, why was this so hard? Why was he literally incapable of taking about being in a relationship with someone? Sure, it was Doumeki, but... he was the one he'd gotten most comfortable talking to.

"I know."

Watanuki looked at him.

"Not permission," Doumeki said. "Not an agreement. We're partners. I'm not going to risk that until or if, you tell me." He turned and headed to the fridge.

Watanuki glanced over his shoulder. "You've done this before, haven't you? You lied to me when I asked if you've had relationships before?"

Doumeki shook his head. "No."

"Then how do you know how to respond to all this stuff??"

Doumeki glanced back. "... I don't," he said quietly, and padded off to the other room, iced coffee in hand. "Got to get to work," he called.

Watanuki watched him go, rubbed his eyes before he remembered he had dish soap on his hands. "Ow!" he growled, fumbling for the tap.

Watanuki wasn't sure what happened.

One minute, they were walking into the precinct, and the next, Doumeki was on the ground, hand cupping his bleeding nose, after Kurogane had punched him as soon as their paths had crossed.

"Hey, hey!"

"Kuro-san!"

Watanuki sank down next to Doumeki as Fai grabbed Kurogane's arm.

Watanuki frantically watched the blood drip onto Doumeki's fingers before he jumped back to his feet again and sprinted to the nearest desk, grabbing the box of tissues.

"You deserve that," Kurogane said.

Doumeki looked up at him emotionlessly, unmoving under the punch and Kurogane's apparent anger.

"That doesn't mean you have to punch him, Kuro-san!"

"Here, move," Watanuki muttered, kneeling next to him again, pushing his fingers out of the way to press the tissues against his nose. Doumeki's fingers replaced his gingerly, holding the tissue there.

"Going off by yourself. Doing reckless things," Kurogane continued, before pulling his arm away from Fai and walking away, leaving the blonde standing there alone, and Doumeki and Watanuki still on the floor.

Watanuki frowned, looking at the bloodied tissues. "... Are you okay?"

"Fine," Doumeki said.

Fai sighed heavily and turned around. "Sorry." He offered his hand down to Doumeki, and helped him back to his feet. "It's just... Kuro-daddy was really worried, when you sent that text from the crime scene."

"Huh?" Watanuki looked between Fai and Doumeki.

"I sent a text when I got there."

"Oh, yeah... why didn't you have back-up? I thought..." Watanuki trailed off.

He hadn't told him about the vision. He wasn't going to tell him. There was no point, now, and it wasn't something that Watanuki wanted to keep going back to. The moment has passed, the future had been changed by Subaru's actions, Doumeki was fine, and Watanuki did not want to think about what would have happened, otherwise.

Doumeki looked at him. "... I was in a hurry," he said, and took the box of tissues from Watanuki. "Back in a minute," he said, and swapped out the tissues as he headed towards the bathroom.

Watanuki watched him go, concern etching his forehead. The small group of officers that had gathered had much the same look on their faces, although they smoothed over more quickly as they dispersed.

"I think he hit his nose by accident," Fai said.

Watanuki looked back at Fai.

"Kuro-sama's brand of expressing emotion..." Fai said contemplatively, "... isn't the best. He'd rather fight than love. When he was little... after what happened to his parents, loving hadn't gotten him anywhere. His parents had still gone away. And so he learned to fight instead." Fai looked at Watanuki.

Watanuki blew out a breath, rubbing the back of his hand against his head. "I know... I know, it's hard." He looked up at Fai again. "Doumeki really came in without back-up? I thought..." Well, he didn't know what he'd thought. He hadn't been thinking about it.

"We told him not to go into this without us," Fai muttered, "but he tends to lose his head when it involves you, doesn't he?"

And now Watanuki was set to squirming again, although Fai's smile was gentle. "I dunno," he mumbled. "He tends to stay, you know... himself around me." Except last night, or this morning, with the... confession.

"But surely you can see it too, Watanuki-kun." Fai slung his arm around Watanuki's shoulders, hauling him a half step closer. "Watanuki-kun isn't oblivious~ Not like Kuro-chii, who can't see romance two inches in front of his nose~"

Watanuki frowned, staring at the ground.

"What's all the commotion?"

Fai and Watanuki looked up at Yuuko's voice; Fai straightened up and gave a little wave. "Doumeki-kun's gotten a bloody nose."

Yuuko looked at him. "And where did Kurogane-san go?"

Fai pointed over his shoulder. "He went to go get some more tissues from the supply closet, just in case!"

Yuuko turned her gaze on Watanuki. "Is that right?"

"Uh." Watanuki blinked. "... Sure."

"Hmm... Glad to see you here, Watanuki-kun. That debacle with Sumeragi-san and Sakurazuka-san had us all on edge," she said.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry." Watanuki rubbed the back of his head. "I'll try not to get kidnapped as much in the future."

Yuuko laughed softly, and Watanuki found himself smiling with her despite the lingering lethargy heavy on his mind.

"Yes," Yuuko said quietly, "do try to be more careful." Her fingers came up to rest on top of his hair, only for a moment, a motion that no one had done to him since... his parents? Haruka-san? "Don't make our Doumeki-kun worry so much."

That made him unfreeze from the uncertain comfort, and he looked at Yuuko's retreating back.

"In-office romances aren't allowed, Watanuki-kun," she said, as she left.

Why did everybody think that?!

"We're not-" he started, but Yuuko had already vanished around the corner to the elevator, and Watanuki was left talking at her, rather than to her. "... together."

Fai hummed. "Commissioner Ichihara really likes you, doesn't she?"

"Does she?"

"Well, she's usually never so... friendly with everyone," Fai said contemplatively. "I mean, she cares for us all, but it seems different with you? Compassionate, maybe."

Compassionate? ... Maybe. "... Maybe it's because I didn't have parents," Watanuki said softly.

Fai's mouth fell open a little bit. "Oops! I'm killing the already dead mood, I'm sorry, Watanuki-kun!"

Watanuki shook his head. "No, it's true, isn't it? Yuuko's probably old enough to be my mom...?"

"I beg your pardon." That was Yuuko's voice - when had she come back?! Better still, did she ever leave in the first place or had she just been eavedropping on them!?

"Ahh~haha~ I think I'm gonna go see what's taking Kurogane-san so long~" Fai said, grabbing Watanuki's shoulders. "You should go check on Doumeki-kun, too~"

Yuuko's face was scary. "Yeah, I think I'll do that," Watanuki said.

"Officer Flourite?"

Fai glanced over his shoulder. "Hm? Akira-kun?"

"Were you expecting a package?" Akira asked.

Fai blinked, breaking away from Watanuki. "No? Unless it's police business, nothing is sent here. It wasn't postmarked from one of our offices?"

Akira shook his head. "No. It didn't have return postage at all."

Watanuki looked between them. "Was it hand delivered?"

"Probably. We've had it scanned, just in case."

"Oh." Fai stepped forward, holding out his hands. "I wasn't really worried, I'm sure it's nothing!"

"Standard protocol," Akira replied.

"What's standard protocol?" Kurogane said, coming up behind them.

"A package was sent to Flourite-san," Akira said. "We scanned it."

"Maybe it's a present from my secret admirer~" Fai teased, setting the box on his desk and reaching for scissors for the tape.

Kurogane grunted. His eyes hadn't left the plain cardboard box since Fai had set it down.

Watanuki glanced between Fai and Kurogane, and then to Yuuko. She was standing behind them, watching, always watching, and yet, not saying anything... either. But something about her, the situation, all of this... something was making Watanuki's hair stand on end. What... was... it?

"What's happening?"

Watanuki jumped at Doumeki's voice over his shoulder. He glanced back at him; his nose seemed to have stopped bleeding and the blood was gone from his face. "Fai got a package, but there's no return address."

"... Hm."

"You guys are acting like this is the biggest thing to happen here in awhile, I mean, after the debacle that we just had yester... day..." Fai trailed off.

"Fai-san?" Watanuki stepped forward. "What-" He stopped as Fai pulled the object out of the box; long and draping and like spun gold and- "... is that hair?" Watanuki asked, eyebrows knitting together. "Is... is that real hair? But it looks just like-"

"... Yuui..."

"Fai." Kurogane stepped forward, grabbing loosely at Fai's wrist. "Put it back, and nobody touch anything else. We need to test for DNA and dust for prints."

There was suddenly a flurry of motion around Watanuki and again, he didn't know why. "What's going on? Who's Yuui?" He turned to look at Doumeki. "What's wrong?"

Doumeki was frowning, his eyes tracking Kurogane as he led Fai away. The blonde hadn't really moved, looking so much like he was frozen. In shock. "... Yuui-san is his brother."

"His... brother?" Which explained why the hair looked exactly like Fai's, only much longer. "The brother that went missing?"

"The brother that's been missing for six years."

"But..." Watanuki looked over at Kurogane and Fai. Kurogane had guided Fai into his seat and was knelt in front of him, saying things that Watanuki couldn't hear but the emotion on his features gave enough away. The numbness on Fai's as he responded did, too. "... Does that mean he's still alive?"

"... Don't know," Doumeki said. "Come on."

"Huh?"

"Lab," Doumeki said.

"Oh, right!"

Watanuki followed Doumeki for the elevator, glancing over his shoulder again at his co-workers. Now Yuuko had joined the senior officers, and the strange combination of both loss and hope, happiness and fear on Fai's face was enough to make Watanuki's stomach ache all over again.

... They'd just finished their big case with the Subaru and Seishirou, and now it was hitting even closer to home. Watanuki wondered if they ever got a break, or if it was just this busy since he had joined.

Either way, he didn't have much way of finding out now.