"We have another job to do."

You were pulled away from your daze, eyes snapping across to meet Akutagawa's; desolate, empty, trapped in an eternal twilight.

They say the eyes are the doorway to the soul.

You drew in a long breath, tapping your fingers against your kneecap. "What about your subordinate? Why can't she go?"

Akutagawa's cheek rippled. "Because you're doing it. So stop with the questions and get moving."

Does he have a soul? Or does it belong to the devil?

You dragged yourself to your feet, following with grudging steps after the male. "Where are we going?"

I wonder what people see when they look into my eyes?

"I said stop with the questions."

Or are they empty too?

❖

"Why are we here, Ryu?"

The man glowered across at you, his eyes sparking like flint suddenly striking an ember. An ember that soon blazed into nothing but ash. "Don't call me that. We're on a surveillance mission. So shut up and follow me."

Breathing sharply through your nose, the intoxicated air making your throat itch, you refrained from speaking any further and trailed him through the urban jungle.

The slums.

The place where the diseased resided, neighboured with the poor, the unfortunate, the forgotten ones. The ones abandoned, betrayed, by the people they had once stowed their trust into; the people they once held most dear.

The place you and Akutagawa used to call home.

Dappled sunlight broke through the canopy of rooftops above, slinking down broken guttering and landing in golden pools on the ground below, where it highlighted the traces of rotten livelihoods.

Your footsteps were quelled by the thick layer of grime beneath your feet, smudging mud and dirt across the pavement.

Grotesque faces leered at you from the shadows, deep-set, hazy white eyes sneering at you from the dark. The shadows rustled with movement, the growl of traffic retreating to the distance, whilst here, the sounds were infected, toxic. Pollution, disease, lies and corruption. It was all the same; it was life in the slums.

The hairs on your neck bristled under unseen eyes, and you took a step closer toward Akutagawa. His coat swished about his legs, hands folded carelessly into the pockets, eyes set in a straight line. Yet he seemed more tense than usual - his shoulders were drawn forwards slightly, his cheeks more sunken. There was friction; it was uncomfortable to get too close to him, and yet you were undoubtedly drawn. Drawn by instinct; an innate magnetism to the one whom could relate with your affliction.

Remember when it had been just you two?

You two, against the rest of the world.

You two, companions in life, partners in crime.

You two, together, nobody else.

"Down here," the male said quietly, dipping his head as you passed beneath a low-hanging archway.

"You said this was a surveillance mission?"

"Yes. We have eyes on an associate to one of our major political rivals," he replied stiffly, never taking his eyes off the path - a narrow, winding backstreet that led into the very heart of the inner-city slums.

You ran your tongue along your chapped lips, brows furrowing. "Here?"

Akuagawa grunted in response, his eyes flicking to yours for a fleeting second. "Keep your guard up; you ought to be more wary of your surroundings," he warned as his gaze slipped past yours, pursuing something behind you.

"Hah. And they ought to be more wary of the shadows," you snapped in response, baring your teeth as darkness pooled around your feet, drawn by your unspoken command.

Akutagawa looked away, unamused.

It wasn't long before the two of you reached your designated rendezvous point. "We wait here."

Biting your tongue to prevent any more questions slipping from it, you hoisted yourself onto the lip of a broken railing and swung your legs to and fro, allowing your eyes to linger on your companion's.

You wished he would show some emotion, just once. To give you an insight into whatever was going on in that troubled mind of his.

"I chose you," he started suddenly, his lips drawn into a tight line, "because you're familiar with the area. You're of more use than Higuchi."

You swallowed thickly, lungs clogged with noxious fumes. The truth was no better than the secrecy.

"Oh, I'm glad I could be of some use," you said bitterly, hoping to mask the pain plucking chords in your chest. "Makes a change, I suppose."

"Yes," he snapped, his eyes blazing red, "it does make a change. Not so useful when you flee like a coward."

You flinched at his harsh tone, teeth grinding as you lowered your eyes to your swinging feet, your heel hitting the base of the railings in a clotted rhythm.

Maybe he did remember.

But who said he cared?

Just the two of you, against the rest of the world.

Why did it have to change? Why did you have to change?

"[L/N]."

The word fell against your skin like snowfall - cold, yet surprisingly soft - and you found yourself attuned to the tall, black frame towering over you, his lips only inches from your forehead. You felt the dull vibrations of his hands resting on the rail either side of you, heard the hitch in his breath before leaning down to eye-level. His eyes were feral, licking with flames. "Why did you run?"

His close proximity burned your skin, your breaths mixing, passing between your lips, struggling down to your lungs; narcotic, noxious, addictive. And those eyes of his were for you, only you - hazy, black, a midnight spectacle, dusted with stars that were breaking - dying, wilting, stuck in an eternal twilight.

They say the eyes are the doorway to the soul.

Before you had chance to utter a word, a shadow lunged out from nowhere, blurring your vision. Akutagawa barely flinched as his Rashomon tore the perpetrator to shreds.

An eerie silence followed.

Akutagawa never took his eyes off you.

The answer hung unspoken on your lips.

Where it had remained for the past four years.

"You think I would tell you?"

You slipped off the railing, your body gripped with a sudden light-headedness, as if his gaze had sapped the strength from your bones. "Where's this damn associate, huh? Did you just kill him?"

Akutagawa fluttered his eyelids closed, covering his mouth. "We... wait," he repeated between bouts of coughing, his entire frame trembling.

Your brows darkened. "You're still ill."

His knees buckled then and be began stuttering short, unsteady breaths through his lips.

"Ryu-?"

You reached down and took his shoulder into your hands, keeping him upright. "Akutagawa?" He lifted his head with a feeble grunt, the fire in his eyes dwindling to embers. You moved your hand to his chin, fingers rooting out a pulse - thudding faintly beneath his skin - as you supported his head. "Will you be okay?"

Instead of answering, he shook off your touch as if it were a naked flame licking his skin, rising shakily to his feet. He dusted down the front of his coat, still without looking at you.

"Will you be okay?" You repeated more forcefully.

"Yes," he growled, his breaths still barely scraping through his lips.

Neither of you spoke after that. The wind hummed sadly through broken gutters, rousing your thoughts.

"Hey, Ryu?" You began, the words tumbling out in no more than a whisper. "Remember when... when it was just the two of us - against the rest of the world?"

You witnessed a shift in the man's demeanor then. It was as if you had prodded at an unhealed wound, tearing open all the stitches and inflicting him with raw, agonising emotion, all over again.

Companions in life. Partners in crime.

dedicated to
TheFancyHatter
bc her comments
give me life and
she's very sweet.
ty ty & ily ♡