Chapter Text
Nights are always cold at this time of the year. Tonight was no better. Especially because of the rain that was almost angrily hitting the ground and trees. The forest was dark and scary, the rain doing its best to drown out almost any other sound. Aside from the heavy panting cutting through the constant pitter-patter of water hitting leaves.
A young man was standing in the middle of a small dirt-path within the forest, supporting himself on the trunk of a tree, fingernails digging helplessly into the rough bark. His black hair was sticking wetly to his face. The rain running over his skin made him shiver, but at least it was effective in concealing the tears that were falling from his eyes. Not that there would have been anyone around to see them. In a vain effort of trying to gather the remains of his torn clothes that were slung haplessly around parts of his trembling body, he almost lost his balance. His hand slipped from the tree and he fell against it, scraping his shoulder on the bark. He welcomed the sting of it silently, enjoying the way it overshadowed the pain he was in already; the one that had him hissing with every movement. But he needed to keep moving. He needed to find back home.
Finally, he decided to risk taking a first step. Pain shot through his body instantly, rendering him incapable of breathing for a split second. Then, he was panting again. His eyes were burning from crying. His limbs were shaking with the effort of keeping upright. He cursed silently. Groaning, he decided to take the next step. Pain. Panting. Another step. Pain. Panting. One more. Again and again.
He needed to come back home as soon as possible, before he would lose consciousness. But not to his own home, no. “Home” to the place where the only people who loved him lived.
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The phone was ringing angrily on the nightstand, demanding the attention of its owner. A tattooed hand shot out and started searching blindly for the annoying device. Finally, the phone was found and a man answered it on the last ring, groaning into the receiver. He didn't care to open his eyes to check who the caller was; and he didn't have to. There was only one person who would dare calling him at this ungodly hour.
- Niikura - That was it. No hello, no good morning or other pleasantries. Calling someone in the middle of the night didn’t exactly warrant any friendly greetings and the person who had woken him up wasn’t expecting one, anyway.
- We got another one - came a tired voice through the phone. Kaoru mentally cursed, although he had already suspected that was the case. His colleague continued, - I’ll pick you up in about 60 minutes.
Oh? That was something new. It never took him that long to arrive at Kaoru's apartment. Not from his apartment in Brooklyn, anyway.
- I hope you enjoyed your date, Die. Been with her until now? - said Kaoru, a smirk on his face that he was sure his friend could hear.
Even in this half asleep state Kaoru was able to remember about his colleague's date. With a gentle smile tugging at the corners of his lips, he recalled just how excited Die had been, cinnamon eyes glowing and a wide smile brightening his features while he’d been moving his elegant, tall body to a beat only he could hear.
If someone asked Kaoru's opinion, he would say that this girl was a pleasant view. Nice body and blonde hair would make for the shortest description. She was a part of the department’s IT section, which had Kaoru wondering what such a beauty was doing there. Was she really so skilled with computers or were the guys in IT simply bored and had wanted a pleasant distraction from their job?
- Oh, uhm, I was, yeah. We had dinner together... Spent some time... Pleasant conversation… - another small smile was forming on Kaoru's face. Die could be so utterly cute sometimes. Such a normally confident, grown up man, yet so shy with the simplest things.
- I’m sorry that they disturbed your… - Kaoru started, suggestive tone underlining his words, but was immediately cut off by Die.
- I didn't say anything like that! Y-you know… - Kaoru was almost able to see the other’s blush through the phone. Right, Die didn’t do that on first dates. Real gentleman. U-huh. - Besides, I actually like her. I don’t wanna fuck it up by… y’know…
- Moving too fast? - Kaoru helpfully provided and got a hum of approval in return. Now the older man was grinning like an idiot. He could tell his friend was probably fidgeting and turning beet-red right about now. He sincerely hoped that this time around it would turn out to be a good girl that would love his partner just the way he was, not trying to bend and change him like diverse exes had done. If there was a person on this planet who deserved being accepted for who he was, it was Die. So Kaoru decided that he was going to squeeze all the delicious info regarding the date from his friend, not only because he was curious, but also because he needed to know. To make sure his friend was in good hands with this woman.
His train of thoughts was disrupted again by a forced cough from the other end of the line. - So, uh, I’ll see you in an hour - and Die hung up on him.
Sighing, Kaoru stretched and put the phone back on his nightstand. He had to get up, there was no other option. He slowly rose to a sitting position, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and stretching again. Then he took a look at the woman sleeping next to him. Jessica. Oh, how he adored this wonderful body... those thighs that he enjoyed to tease... her lovely breasts that he loved to lick, kiss, suck and bite gently... the long black hair that he pulled sometimes, only playfully never painfully... her eyes... and lips, especially when they repeatedly moaned his name during sex... Yeah, that was his woman. Although she claimed that she didn't like it when he called her that, Kaoru could see her blush and smile coily every time he did.
But something wasn’t quite right. Kaoru could feel it in his guts.
Last night had been almost too perfect…
When he came back home he had been welcomed with hungry, hot kisses and hugs. Not that he had anything against such a greeting. No, of course not. Jessica had smiled playfully and murmured ‘Welcome home, baby…’, then she had kissed him again and purred that she needed him, ‘right now.’ Then, she had pulled a very surprised Kaoru into their bedroom, pushed him back onto the bed and almost savagely attacked his trousers. Within a few seconds she had begun sucking him off eagerly, leaving him torn between pleasant arousal and some form of disbelieving awe. But even though Kaoru liked getting head like every man, he had been in the mood for some serious teasing and thus, had urged her up from her knees to pull her into his lap and then flip them over. Much to his surprise, she hadn’t put up even the tiniest fight; if anything, she’d been getting into it even more, moaning and purring at the smallest of touches. He’d wanted to have her underneath him, crying from pleasure and repeating his name like a prayer and that was exactly what he got.
After two rounds of wonderful, raunchy, exhausting sex they had gone to sleep, too tired to even think about supper.
But now the whole situation seemed a bit strange. Firstly today was a weekday, Wednesday to be exact, and they had the weekend only rule in place, something Jessica had all but forced upon Kaoru a while ago, claiming that it would enhance their sex-life if they would keep their needs in check until the weekend. To Kaoru, it made the whole thing kind of clinical, though, like he had to make an appointment to sleep with his girlfriend. So last night had been a pleasant surprise indeed. Still, strange, especially since they went two rounds.
Secondly, Jessica had never been a fan of giving head, claiming that she didn't enjoy it but today (or was it yesterday already? What was the time anyway?) Kaoru had been attacked with such an eagerness that it damn well knocked him off his rocker. Thirdly, she had gone to bed silently after sex, although normally she would talk about her day at work, even if Kaoru was not interested in any of the ‘news’ she had to offer -- it was usually mostly gossip, anyway.
Combing his hair with fingers and sighing heavily, Kaoru started his analysis of the situation and the most probable scenario. Maybe she had intended to make him more tired than he already was so she could... what? Sneak out unnoticed? And then what? Nope that wasn’t it. Strange... It wasn’t Kaoru's birthday, either, was it? He actually checked the date on his mobile phone just to make sure, but then inwardly berated himself -- as if he didn’t know the difference between October, which was now, and February, which was when his birthday had been for the past thirty-eight years of his life. Idiot. It wasn’t Jessica's, either, the reminder in his phone would have told him. Neither was it their anniversary; again, the phone would have reminded him. But something was off. Just what, he couldn’t quite fathom just yet.
Kaoru knew that they were seeing each other for over two years already and were living together for more than one. He was sure that she was expecting something from him... but it wasn’t the right time for a marriage proposal. Not yet. Not before the case was closed. She knew that his work was important to him and that she would always have to share him with his job. But for fuck’s sake, she was also working at the same police station, she should understand how stressful his and Die's current case was! Even in her ‘simple’ position as their commander’s secretary. So this was really not the right moment...
Sighting heavily once more, Kaoru got up from the bed and went butt naked into the kitchen to start the coffee for himself and Die, a routine that had long since gone over into his everyday life. If they were going to start their day in a shitty way, which was most often the case with their line of work, seeing as they constantly got called out of bed to a crime scene -- leaving Kaoru to wonder why in the hell no one seemed to commit murders during the day anymore -- at least they should have a nice cup of coffee. Standing in the kitchen and making coffee relaxed him almost immediately. Maybe, he mused, once he was old and no longer working as a detective, he could try and open his own café. It wasn’t such a bad idea.
His next stop was the bathroom for a quick shower and his daily routine of shaving and getting his hair in order. A hot shower always helped him to completely wake up and clear his mind. With only a towel slung lowly around his hips the policeman went back into the bedroom, as quietly as possible looking for something to wear. A pair of briefs, a black wife-beater and a plaid, jet black and navy blue coloured button-down shirt which he left unbuttoned, followed by a pair of worn-in jeans were put on in the speed of light. Finally, he slung his holster around his hips, double-checking that the safety of his gun was in place before sliding it in, then went to collect his phone and watch. Afterwards, Kaoru silently moved back into the kitchen to look for the throwaway paper cups he kept in the cupboard over the sink specifically for those times when Die and him had to start their day with investigating a crime scene instead of going into the office. Using the thermos tumblers without the means to rinse them out somewhere was simply disgusting, especially when he remembered that one time when he found one of them underneath Die’s passenger seat that had started to grow various strains of mold, it had been lying there for so long. He shuddered at the memory. Quickly pushing it out of his mind, he filled the paper cups with the steaming hot liquid and added milk to both of them, but chose to conveniently forget to put sugar in Die’s coffee. He had been forgoing the sweetener for so long that he was sure the younger wouldn’t even notice the difference anymore.
Holding the two smouldering cups of coffee, Kaoru moved to the hallway to put on his shoes and coat and collect his notepad with his trusty pen and house keys. Balancing the cups on top of each other, he quickly opened the door, stepped outside and closed it behind himself. Then, he made his way to the elevators.
When Kaoru left the building, he was able to spot the red car of his friend almost immediately. He yawned behind the upturned collar of his coat. They were starting the next tiring day.