sakon76

(11) Kougeki - Assault

[[Three Months Later]]

Yuusuke whistled tunelessly as he headed back to the apartment, canvas grocery bag slung over his shoulder. He still couldn't believe he'd forgotten to pick up daikon earlier and had to run out to get it... this was going to put dinner behind schedule. He hoped Ichijou wouldn't mind.

A commuter train rumbled past as he waited patiently at the crossing, enjoying the end of the day. The heat was slowly leaching away into fall and the days and nights were starting to hold the slightest bit of crispness to them. At least the weather had been good today, he thought, though it was supposed to rain tomorrow. He wondered absently if this had been Ichijou's train and if he should go down the block to the station to check.

As the warning klaxons finally died down and the crossing bars began to rise, he blinked, suddenly feeling eyes on him. Ingrained battle senses had him turning to where Yuusuke could feel the gaze coming from, but... there was nothing there but an empty strand of trees in the darkened children's playground.

Unconvinced that he was imagining things, Yuusuke took another, longer look around before giving it up and crossing the tracks to go home.

As he walked away, a silvery form half fish and half man stepped out from behind the trees and crossed one hand twice in front of the other, then set out after him.

*

Ichijou swept his commuter card through the ticket machine and walked out of the small station, thoughts already on home and--

"Ichijou-san!"

He turned, and found the object of his thoughts coming to meet him at the station.

"Godai," he said, and smiled.

"So that was your train," Godai said, catching up with him as Ichijou waited. "I'd wondered. How was work today?"

"Another day of running around looking for clues," Ichijou replied, not wanting to go into the bureaucratic idiocy that he was too frequently remembering had been the reason he'd gone back to Nagano in the first place. At least the task force to deal with the Unidentified Lifeforms--the Grongi--hadn't been infected by it. The current enemy, though, he privately thought, were being helped more than hindered by the police department's internal political game. But that was work and this was home, he thought, letting the frustration roll away. And Godai deserved better than to have Ichijou's thoughts on such things. "Actually, I was working with Sugita-san and Sakurai-san today," he said.

"Oh, how are they doing? Isn't Sugita-san's daughter having a piano recital soon?" Godai asked.

"Yeah." Ichijou nodded. "I'll ask him about tickets, if you'd like," he offered. Sugita and Sakurai and a few other members of the task force knew that Godai was back in the country. Ichijou had emphasized to them that Godai was no longer able to transform into Kuuga, and they'd understood his unspoken, underlying request to keep Godai out of police affairs. They'd all liked Godai, and none of them wanted to see him strung up as a guinea pig in the research department. True to form, no one had said a word to the current administration.

It was good to have brother officers you could trust.

"Not that I'm complaining," Ichijou said, "but why come meet me at the station?" Godai grinned sheepishly and offered forth the shopping bag he carried. Ichijou looked inside. "Daikon?" he asked.

Godai rubbed the back of his head. "We ran out and I forgot to pick some up earlier," he explained. "I'm sorry, dinner's going to be late."

Ichijou let out a breath of laughter. "Is that all?" he asked. "I get to help with dinner tonight, then."

"But Ichijou-san...!"

The hairs on the back of Ichijou's neck suddenly prickled at the same instant that Godai's words broke off. Ichijou didn't even stop to think and tackled Godai to the ground with his own body just as something whistled through the air where Godai had been standing.

Godai didn't even protest, just rolled with it and they both came up kneeling, looking in the direction of the attacker.

"A Grongi?" Godai asked, then immediately answered himself, "No...."

"An Unknown," Ichijou said, gun already out.

"Unknown?" Godai asked, looking at him.

"Agito," the Unknown said in a guttural voice, moving toward them. No, Ichijou realized, moving toward Godai... Godai was an Agito.

Of course he was.

"I'll explain later," Ichijou said, pulling them both to their feet, one arm around Godai's arm. "For now, run!"

Godai looked at him for an instant, and Ichijou could see the knowledge catalyzing that he was no longer able to become Kuuga, that he was not able to fight this enemy.... "Right," Godai said, and ran, Ichijou on his heels, covering his lover's escape even as he fumbled his cellphone out and dialed.

"This is officer Ichijou Kaoru," he reported as they rounded a corner. "An Unknown has appeared...."

*

Yuusuke had already decided that he was going to be annoyed at Ichijou for whatever he hadn't been mentioning for the last several months later. Because obviously there was another group of non-human enemies, these ones had been kept a secret from the public, and Ichijou knew about them. Knowing Ichijou, it was the state of the Amadam stone in the Kuuga belt that had kept him from telling Yuusuke....

So I wouldn't feel guilty about not being able to fight this time, Yuusuke knew. To protect me.... But now Ichijou had run out of bullets and they'd run out of space, and whoever Ichijou had called at the police department hadn't come yet and they were going to die together.

"Ichijou-san," he said quietly. The detective looked at him. "Thank you for everything," Yuusuke said, letting even the irritation go. It was after him, he knew that, not Ichijou. Whatever an "agito" was that this creature was targeted on, it was within him, not Ichijou. "I'm really glad I met you."

"Godai," Ichijou whispered, knowing perfectly his intentions. Godai smiled at him, regretting only this saying goodbye, and stepped forward.

"Not this time," Ichijou said coldly, and moved in front of Godai to take the blow.

It sent him flying into a concrete wall ten feet up with a sickening wet crack, and then he fell, still, to the pavement below.

Yuusuke stopped breathing. "Ichijou-san," he whispered numbly.

No...

This wasn't what was supposed to happen...

Ichijou-san, don't you understand that?

If it kills me, maybe it'll let you go....

Time stopped, and started again in a single heartbeat.

Yuusuke turned to stare at the Unknown. And for the first time in nearly a year he was angry. "How could you?" he breathed. "This didn't involve him." He took a step forward, furious. He could feel it burning through him, like Kuuga's power that he could no longer access. "Whatever you want, he didn't have it...."

The Unknown didn't smile the way so many Grongi had any time they tried to kill Yuusuke. It just raised its hand to strike.

And was rocked back by a hail of exploding bullets as sirens sounded, a police bike pulling up out of the darkness.

Glance snapping to the newcomer, immediately cataloging the bike as an upgrade to the BeatChaser model, Yuusuke's eyes suddenly widened in disbelief.

"Kuuga...?" he breathed.

Impossible....

*

Hikawa's shoes seemed to make an echo in the hospital hallways as he found his way to room 418. The overhead lights somehow seemed even brighter at night, like a lie against the darkness. He hesitated a moment before raising a hand to knock. A man's voice called for him to come in, and he did.

Officer Ichijou Kaoru lay still and pale in the bed, an oxygen mask fitted over his face, a heart rate monitor detailing his condition in soft beeps and line spikes, an IV drip inserted into one arm. Sitting beside his bed was the same man Hikawa had seen earlier. His waving dark hair was pulled back with a tie, and he was casually dressed in running shoes, blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt with a pocket in the front. He held a small sketchbook and pencil in his hands now, though he hastily set those aside and stood up.

"Pardon the intrusion," Hikawa said, bowing. "I'm Hikawa Makoto... I'm very sorry about what happened to Ichijou-san."

The other man's eyes were still on him, and considering. He produced a plain name card case from a pocket and took out a card, handing it to Hikawa with a bow. "Godai Yuusuke. Thank you for your help... you were the one in that armor earlier, weren't you, Hikawa-san?"

Surprised, Hikawa took the card. "Yes," he admitted. "How did you know...?"

The man, Godai, smiled softly. "I have a knack for these things. Let me get you a chair." As he dragged over the room's other chair, Hikawa examined the name card. It read simply "A man who chases dreams. A man of 2000 talents. Godai Yuusuke" with a phone number in the lower corner. Except the "2000" was crossed out, with "2075" written above it in blue ink.

"Thank you," Hikawa said, tucking the card into a pocket as he took in the offered seat. He looked at Ichijou's still figure in the bed. "If I can be so rude... how do you and Officer Ichijou know one another?"

Godai took his seat easily. "We met, mm, a little over a year ago. A year and nine months, maybe? I helped him some with a case he was on, and we became friends. We share an apartment."

"Ah. I'm sorry," Hikawa apologized again.

Godai shook his head. "Well, it's all right," he said. "Can I ask how you know him, Hikawa-san?"

"He took me under his wing last year when I transferred to Tokyo, even though I was on a different team than he was," Hikawa explained. "I was... surprised when he transferred back this year. I'd thought he wasn't intending to."

"Ichijou-san really is such a wonderful policeman," his friend mused, looking down at his interlaced hands. Then he looked back up at Hikawa. "That thing after us... it wasn't one of the Unidentified Lifeforms. He called it an 'Unknown'?"

Hikawa nodded. "They go after people... we have a theory, but no real proof."

"Tell me," the man invited, his voice gentle but his eyes oddly sharp.

Hikawa let out a breath. "We're theorizing they target people with paranormal abilities," he explained, feeling foolish. The evidence seemed to point that way, but saying it aloud to a civilian who didn't have access to that evidence made it sound ridiculous. But Godai didn't laugh, just nodded. That reaction intrigued Hikawa. "Do you...?" he asked curiously.

Godai's eyes widened a little and he waved his hands. "No, no, nothing like that," he said. "It just... you sound like you believe the theory, so you must have support for it, right, Hikawa-san?"

Hikawa reluctantly nodded, a little disappointed. "They also tend to attack family members," he continued. "Do you have any close relatives?"

"Minori," Godai breathed, his eyes widening. "My little sister," he explained.

Hikawa nodded. "We'll assign a couple of officers to shadow her as well as you," he said.

Godai nodded again, and looked back at Ichijou. "Ichijou-san shouldn't have gotten hurt because of me," he said quietly.

Hikawa's attention was caught by the sketchbook where it lay on the bedside table. "May I?" he asked, indicating it.

"Oh, sure," Godai answered, passing it over. "I'm not very good, though," he apologized. "Just an amateur."

"That's all right," Hikawa replied with a smile, and looked.

He stopped, arrested by the image. It was, as he'd half expected, Detective Ichijou, but it certainly wasn't drawn from the scene before him. In the sketch, just a closeup of his face, really, he lay on his side, sleeping. His hair fell softly over his closed eyes. He was smiling just the slightest bit. He was... relaxed.

*

Yuusuke watched Hikawa as the policeman studied his sketch of Ichijou. The blue uniform, he thought, was definitely for some special division. An armored forces division, probably, given that armor. It had looked a little bit like Kuuga's Dragon armor, but it hadn't moved like it. The"G3-X" mark on the left shoulder, as well as all the projectile and mechanical weaponry, made it clear it was a kind of robotics attempt at duplicating Kuuga.

Yuusuke wondered if he was supposed to feel flattered or insulted at the mimicry.

"This is... amazing," Hikawa said, looking up from Yuusuke's sketch. "May I?" He indicated the rest of the book.

Yuusuke nodded a little. "Please, feel free." The sketch of Ichijou hadn't turned out too badly, he admitted, but it was still lacking a certain sense of... something. He'd wanted to capture the feelings he'd had watching Ichijou catnap on the couch one afternoon a few weeks before, but he hadn't quite managed it. He supposed there probably really was no way to catch that peace and happiness between lines of lead and the flat surface of paper.

Hikawa flipped backwards page by page. Past the sketches of all the important people in Yuusuke's life, past the sketches of the PorePore and the preschool and his and Ichijou's apartment, past the sketches of things he'd seen in Mexico and elsewhere. It was like he'd tried to contain his whole life in a few drawings, Yuusuke thought. He'd just wanted to get the images out of his head, to be able to share them with the people who hadn't seen them with him. He'd even thought Ichijou had liked some of them. He'd filled up almost the entire sketchbook at this point.

"You're quite good," Hikawa said finally, flipping back to the image of Ichijou asleep. He looked at that one again before handing the book back to Yuusuke. "You haven't considered becoming a police sketch artist, have you?"

"No, no," Yuusuke denied, waving his hands. "I'm really not that good. My teacher was much better." Hikawa's eyes watched as he flipped the small book shut and stowed it again in his sweatshirt pocket. He decided to take a chance and ask, "Hikawa-san... that armor. Was it based on Ku-- on Number Four?"

Hikawa didn't seem to catch Yuusuke's slip. "Yeah." He nodded. "The design and testing procedure was started in the middle of last year. The project was originally implemented in case Number Four lost in battle, or decided we humans weren't worth protecting anymore." He leaned forward and rested his chin on interlaced fingers. "Rumor had it at the beginning of the year that Number Four had defeated all the Unidentified Lifeforms and then left the country... I asked Ichijou-san, but he would never confirm that for me." His eyes met Yuusuke's again. "There was another rumor that said Ichijou-san had a way of contacting Number Four," he explained.

Yuusuke nodded. "But the police finally developed a way to fight the Unidentified Lifeforms, didn't they?" he asked. "At least, that's what Ichijou-san told me."

Hikawa nodded again. "We did. But the weaponry developed isn't effective against the Unknown. They seem to be another form of life altogether."

"So even if he was here," Yuusuke said softly, "there's no guarantee that Number Four would be able to fight the Unknown."

"I suppose not," Hikawa agreed. "At least there's...." he trailed off.

"Hikawa-san, is it okay if I ask one more question?"

Hikawa nodded. "Certainly."

"What is an 'agito'?" Yuusuke asked.

Hikawa's expression fell and he looked down. "We'd like to know that too." He looked up again. "I'm sorry, I'm not being very much help, Godai-san."

"No, no," Yuusuke denied, "you really did help us out! You saved us from that Unknown, didn't you? So I should really be saying 'thank you,' Hikawa-san! Thank you very, very much!"

"It was nothing," Hikawa refuted, shaking his head. He looked at Ichijou where he lay in the bed. "I should have asked earlier, but... do you know if Ichijou-san will be all right?"

"It wasn't nothing," Yuusuke rebutted. "And... Tsubaki-sensei didn't say. Actually," he corrected himself, "he said 'The man's too stubborn for his own good. This won't kill him either.'" Yuusuke smiled apologetically. "Tsubaki-sensei has known Ichijou-san for a long time."

"That's... good to hear," Hikawa said, but he looked dubious. "I should take my leave," he continued, standing. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Godai-san. I wish it had been under more pleasant circumstances."

"No, the pleasure's been mine," Yuusuke replied, standing as well and bowing. "Thank you for being concerned about Ichijou-san."

"It's good that he has such a close friend who's worried about him," Hikawa replied. He paused with his hand on the doorknob, though, and turned back toward Yuusuke. "Godai-san... do you really think that Number Four has left Japan?" His eyes held a seed of hope. "Ichijou-san hasn't said anything to you, has he?"

Yuusuke hesitated before answering, "If he was here and able... I'm sure that Number Four would be fighting the Unknown with you, Hikawa-san."

Hikawa nodded once. "Then, excuse me please," he said, and left the room.

Yuusuke sighed and sat back down. "You should have told me about the Unknown and that armor, Ichijou-san," he chided quietly. He reached over and took Ichijou's hand between his. "You should wake up soon, so you can still tell me."

*

In the darkest hour of the night, when the hospital was quiet and still, a woman in a long white dress walked slowly down a hallway toward a room whose door was flanked by two police officers. As she reached them, she extended a hand out. The horn-shaped ring on it glowed softly and the two men slumped back against the wall, their eyes sightless. Quietly, she opened the door and walked inside, closing it again behind herself.

There were two beds. One was empty; the man in the other was hooked up to all sort of equipment and monitors. In a chair between the two beds was another man, his eyes closed and body relaxed in sleep. The woman paused for just a moment, looking at him, then proceeded to the occupied bed. She examined the occupant dispassionately, extending a hand briefly above his body before moving it back again.

Wordlessly, she began to disconnect the machines from him.

Dark eyes fluttered opened and struggled to focus on the white form above him. A broken whisper, barely more than a breath, said "Godai..." but was not able to escape the oxygen mask on the man's face.

Still silent, the woman plucked even the mask away, then extended her hand above the man again.

His world went white, and then was no more.