Chapter Text
◎. 1 .◎
A body, clothing in bloody tatters, left in a ditch. Sprawled out over wildflowers and high grass. She’s beautiful with pale blond hair, a deep sun kissed complexion, ashy with the tinges of death and rigor mortis. Mouth slightly agape, smudged coral lipstick trailing down her chin.
Distant, throat damaging screams. Hands holding him in place. His feet kick out wildly, struggling until another set of hands rest on his shoulders, shoving him into the chair.
Eyes, lifeless and red, open while an insect crawls across the iris.
The pinching of bindings around his wrists. “I’m so sorry. It’ll be okay just let them do this. You’ll be better afterwards. You’ll be all better.”
Three deep angry stab wounds in the woman’s chest, there’s a locket around her neck tangled in her hair, coated with dried sticky blood.
“Let me go! Please! Stop! It hurts! It hurts!” He’s crying, full body sobs as the man steps before him. He tries again to break the restraints as he turns to his mother, “Mom! Please!” Tremors over take his thin frail body before the old man in white turns to face him. His cold eyes and scowling face alone are enough to demand silence.
Heizou gasps with shock as he’s slammed back into awareness. He’s been doing this a lot lately, since the attack. Just, letting himself fall into odd trances. His waking world mixes with white noise and Heizou just stares off into the middle distance.
A dull throbbing forms at his temple, wrapping and pulling around to the front of his forehead. Definitely not the worst of the post concussion migraines, but it’s enough that Heizou hisses as winces. “Man alive.” He whispers. He presses his forehead into his palm, nuzzling his face against the heel of his hand. Praying for relief from the steadily growing pain.
“Shikanoin,” Heizou blinks, ripped from his thoughts by Kujou Sara. She strides into the room, her arms firmly crossed over her chest as she regards her subordinate. “This doesn’t look like the administrative work you were cleared to do.” Heizou stills and she tacks on with a reluctant sigh, “How’s your head? You were rubbing it,” She side eyes the new theory wall she can only assume Heizou had spent the better part of the day putting up. When Heizou doesn’t answer her in a timely manner, she looks at him, “I asked you a question about your head, Shikanoin.”
Heizou blinks quickly, his sea-glass green eyes fluttering. He glances down to the knotted cord wrapped stone in his hand, and drops it, letting the soft green pendant hang from his neck. “It’s fine. Just a minor headache,” He mirrors her posture, crossing his arms and offering Sara a clenched smile.
“What are you working on?”
“Well,” Heizou draws in a breath before he clears his throat. He’s about to answer when his attention demands he adjusts the long cord and his favorite leather choker, “What does it look like?” He asks with a smirk.
Sara rolls her eyes with a haughty huff, “Your lack of professionalism is truly off putting,” Which, yeah, Heizou knows that, and Sara knows he knows. She still leans against his desk. Her sharp gold eyes look from photo to photo. “Well, I’m assuming this must be a cold case. Seeing as you’re not to be assigned anything until you’re medically cleared,” Sara hums as she stands back to her full height, “it looks to be nearly a decade old.”
“Wow,” Heizou chuckles, as he grabs the yellow notepad off his desk, gesturing it at Sara, “And I’m the detective?” He mocks, turning to grab his coffee from that morning. Heizou takes a sip then pouts once he realizes it's ice cold and stale. Did he seriously lose track of time long enough for his drink to go cold? He leans over to press the spacebar on his computer’s keyboard, and yeah. It's nearly seven thirty…at night. Well shit.
“You know, this is erring towards being more than you’re allowed, correct? You shouldn’t have been able to even get these files.”
Ah, busted.
Heizou uses his entire body to roll his eyes. “I’ve done nothing, but administrative work for the past month since I’ve gotten back,” He crosses his arms, “I think I can manage some critical thinking…Put myself to good use again.”
Sara holds out a yellow post-it. “I know, that’s why I’m giving you this.”
Heizou eyes the square of paper with suspicion. All he sees on it is an address, “and this is what exactly?”
“An old property, it’s about an hour away by car, there’s been a number of calls coming from the house, but no one picks up when dispatch gets a hold of it. More than likely it’s a few teenagers fooling around.” Sara explains, “Figured you could stretch your legs more.” It’s actually a very kind gesture from the typically strict and cold woman.
Heizou, however, inches away from the note like it’s the plague, and mimes to the wall before him. “No thanks,” He waves her away, “I’m busy, besides I would rather do honest to god patrol than just go scare a few stupid kids.”
Sara makes a low discontent noise, which, that’s the only warning Heizou gets before she slaps the post-it over his notepad. “You have five minutes to be out of this office before I enact disciplinary actions.” She abruptly turns on the ball of her foot storming away, shoulders tense with aggravation.
“Are you sure? I mean, just a second ago…you said,” Heizou lets his voice trail off and stops trying to follow her. Predictably, there are other officers that could have taken the call, all of them awkwardly pretending to act busy the moment Heizou’s eyes fall on them. “Fine, whatever.” Heizou deflates walking back into his office.
He’s quick to clean up, tossing out his coffee and the remnants of…Oh, well that had been breakfast. Heizou wrinkled his nose realizing that he'd missed lunch and dinner due to his aggravatingly aggressive time blindness. Another sharp twinge of pain hits Heizou, and he chose to blame his headache on the lack of food and not his still healing concussion. (It couldn’t be both, no, not at all.)
He’ll grab something on his way home, he figures. Not like this house call is going to take him long anyways.
Heizou’s cell phone begins to ring. His brow wrinkles together with suspicion as he stops everything to reach for it, confused at first, until the moment he sees Kazuha’s annoyed half-awake expression on the screen. Kazuha would definitely have a few choice words for Heizou if he saw that Heizou had kept that picture as his contact photo in his phone. “Hey!” Heizou greets him the moment he accepts the call.
Kauzha’s melodic laugh makes Heizou’s heart flutter just before Kazuha speaks, “Hello, were you waiting for my call or something?” He asks with an amused tint to his laxed tone.
“Pffft, No,” Heizou scoffs. He spies Sara standing at the opposite end of the office, pointedly tapping her imaginary wrist watch. Heizou grabs the post-it note with the address and dramatically waves it in her direction as he turns off the lights in his office, “I was actually just heading out on a…someone’s crank calling the emergency line, so I’m going to go check on it.” Heizou doesn’t even bother trying to hide his distaste. He weaves through the hallways towards the parking garage while silence drifts over the line.
“Oh?” Kazuha doesn’t sound thrilled, “Is anyone going with you this time?”
“No,” Heizou nervously clears his throat, “Just me, but it’s gonna be a quick thing. Nothing like last time.”
“Heizou, I don’t like this. I know you’re convinced that you’re fine since you’ve been back to desk work,” Kazuha sighs, stopping himself from fretting, “but just tell me you’re for sure okay with this and I’ll drop it.”
“I mean, if I don’t Sara is gonna discipline me. So, I’d rather not get written up for insubordination… again. ” He explains while leaning against the hood of his car, he idly picks at a small scratch in the deep navy blue paint. Kazuha doesn’t say anything in response, so he adds, “Yes, I want to do this.”
“Alright,” Kazuha sounds more confident, “I trust you.” Heizou can hear the smile return to Kazuha’s lips. That cute lazy natural upward curve that Heizou knows Kazuha has to concentrate to get rid of. “Anyways, I was calling to let you know, I’m going to be home tonight.”
“Seriously!” Heizou beams as he unlocks his car, sliding into the front seat, “When?” He’s instantly breathless, excited at the thought of having his fiancé back in the same bed as him.
Kazuha laughs again, filling Heizou with enough warmth he actually considers taking off his coat, despite the early October chill, “My flight leaves in about an hour, so by eleven, I’ll be home.”
“That just made my night,” Heizou laughs, resting his head against the window, the cool glass soothing some of the pain in his temple. “I’ll definitely be home by then, waiting for you.”
“I’ve missed you,” Kazuha whispers. “I should hang up though, sounds like you’re on a time limit.”
Heizou chuckles, “Eh, she can stay mad. You’re,” He pauses, biting his lip, “You’re gonna be home for a while this time, right?”
“Until Beidou has another story she needs me to report on.” Kazuha confirms, “But, I think she wants to go home to Liyue for a while.” Sounding coy, then he yelps like a kicked dog.
Before Heizou can ask what happened, he can hear Kazuha bickering with Beidou. “Hi Beidou,” Heizou calls out with a laugh, “Kaz, hey, Kazuha,” He waits for his fiance to relay his greeting to Biedou before he confirms that he’s back on the line, “I gotta go. Have a safe flight and I love you.”
“Love you too, Heizou. I’ll see you tonight.”
It doesn’t matter how many times Heizou has heard it, Kazuha’s declarations of love, his heart still flutters like a trapped bird in Heizou’s chest. Its wings beating against his ribs, desperate for freedom.
The call disconnects, despite being the one that needed to hang up, Heizou still feels disappointed. Then he thinks again about how he’s going to get to go to sleep and wake up in Kazuha’s arms again for the first time in nearly a month, and he can’t help but grin once again.
So, determined to finish the assignment from Sara, Heizou pulls up his navigation app and swiftly types the address in. It’ll take an hour and a half to get there, which is nothing to Heizou.
After all, he's used to roadtrips with Kazuha and Kabukimono. Those two will drive anywhere, any amount of time, for decent camping and beautiful scenery they can write poetry about, or photograph respectively. Least, when Kabukimono is visiting Inazuma that is.
Heizou loves to go just to see them happy. Even if he’s the one that ends up with the most mosquito bites every single outing.
The drive is routine, almost painfully boring. None of the radio stations are playing the right music for Heizou so he drives in silence. The scenery goes from the city, to the suburbs, to the country. Soon enough Heizou is debating playing I Spy by himself. He honestly would, if it weren't for the fact that it was already well past dusk.
He tries the radio again, turning the volume back up, hoping for something he can stand to be playing. There’s nothing, literally, nothing. No music. No annoying DJ’s. No ads. Just white noise. Heizou scowls as he glances from the road down to the radio console of his car. “What the hell?”
It’s static, with only a few words breaking through every so often. He’s trying not to panic, but Heizou swears he might have heard a scream, followed by manic laughter. Heizou does the first thing he can think of, and lightly punches the top of the dash. Anything to make the disturbing noises stop.
“See you soon…”
Heizou freezes like a deer in headlights, his hand hovering over the dial.
“Heizou.”
He slams his hand on the button, turning the radio off once more. He’s shaking. As Heizou drives, he starts to laugh at how ridiculous his panic feels. “Don’t be stupid,” He chastises himself, “it was just…” What was the word for it? Finding patterns in nothing, it was how people ended up with ‘ghost’ photos, only Heizou had heard a voice. Not seen an image. “Pareidolia. Audio pareidolia, that’s all that was Heizou. Get it together.”
He dares to check his phone, he’s close to his destination and decides to finish the drive in silence.
Heizou hears the chime that he’s reached the address not five minutes later and pulls off to the side of the road. He throws his car into park, sitting for a few moments, observing the street.
Cemeteries are more lively than this country street at night.
Before he gets out of his car, Heizou takes a moment to pull out his cellphone, he selects the text chain he has with Kazuha, pointedly ignoring one or two recent images that’d do nothing but distract him. Heizou quickly sends a simple heart emoji.
To Kazuha, who likely has his phone on airplane mode now, its just Heizou fucking around and sending him a silly little emoji. For Heizou, it’s a timeline. The message was sent just after 9:05 p.m. If anything happens, Kazuha will know roughly when Heizou’s last contact with him was.
Without the sun, the night air is bitter and chilly as Heizou steps out of his car, enough so that he tugs the zipper on his jacket up just a bit higher. He checks the map on his phone, then crosses the street, watching the arrow icon steadily close in on the pin. Glancing up, Heizou gets his first look at the house. Saying it was old didn’t feel appropriate, because old hardly scratched the surface of how decrepit the three story home looked. At one time it must have been quite the beauty, but now it was sagging into the earth. It’s pearl white paint dingy and moldy from years of abandonment. The newest addition seemed to be the “condemned” banner taped over the front door. Which, Heizou having been a stupid teen himself at one point, knew a summoning beckon for shenanigans if he ever saw one.
“This…” He checked his phone, just to be sure, and yep, “this is seriously the place?” His brow furrowed with suspicion. He could feel the hairs on his arms beginning to stand on end. Severely enough that he checked his hair to be sure it wasn’t rising with an impending lightning strike. Which, no, he was fine. There was hardly a cloud in the sky.
With a shaky breath, Heizou took the first few steps closer to the house. A part of himself wants to deny that this is the place, but then again, Sara had the address. She mentioned that the caller never stayed on the line or answered any of the dispatcher’s questions. That meant a landline call, since landlines are always tied to an address. In short, that meant…
…Someone had to be inside.
Heizou couldn’t shake an odd feeling and felt himself reach for his stone necklace. As his fingers clamped around the bumpy, knotted, webbing, Heizou realized he was trembling. He groans with frustration, kicking the dirt driveway, laughing with unease a moment later. “I’m so stupid, this is. This is ridiculous. Man alive, just…” Then he felt it.
That unmistakable skin crawling feeling of someone watching him. Heizou clenched his jaw, solely to keep his teeth from chattering as he slowly willed his eyes to look up towards the house. The first floor was still pitch black, no light. His eyes slowly snaked up higher, to the second floor. There she was in one of the second floor windows. The sight of her taking Heizou’s breath away. Jane Doe, his , Jane Doe from the cold case he’d cracked open that morning. She was standing in the window. Watching him.
Her eyes look mournful, as if she knows that the worse had come to pass. That there was nothing Heizou could do to save her. She presses her hand to the glass, and her lips move, saying something, but Heizou can’t read her lips from this far away. He needs to move. He needs to do something, anything . Yet, his feet won’t budge. Heizou is rooted to that spot. Staring in morbid fascination and horror seeing a dead woman looking down at him.
A pale hand wraps around her face from the darkness. Heizou hears her scream, and the spell breaks like a shattering mirror. He charges the door. Anger fuels him, and self depreciation taunts him.
How could he have stayed still!? How could he be so stupid to have thought that woman was his Jane Doe!? They knew nothing about her, hence why she was a Jane-freaking-Doe, this woman could have easily been her sister or cousin or someone related to her. Someone very much alive that was potentially in danger.
Heizou grits his teeth and roars, aiming a kick at the weakest part of the door's frame. He ignores the flare of pain as his foot passes through the rotten decaying wood with ease. He bounds through, “Tenryou commission!” Heizou calls out, announcing himself.
Silence greets him.
“Hello?” He cries out again, going still to listen. Only, his own blasted heartbeat and breathing are so loud, Heizou can’t hear anything over them.
So he changes tactics. Heizou lifts up the back of his jacket slowly, for better access to his belt. He’s not like a lot of the other officers, and purposely doesn’t carry a number of things they do. All he’s got is his flashlight, handcuffs, and standard issued pistol, which honestly, he needs to have Gorou show him how to maintain it again. So sue him, he hates the thing. He’d rather try to reason than reload.
Heizou swiftly grabs his flashlight, then turns it on. Seeing the bright beam relieves a bit of the anxiety that had been clawing at his throat. “Okay,” He thinks, “first priority, clear the downstairs, be sure there’s no one down here before I start up the stairs. That way, I can’t get trapped on my way up or down.”
Quickly, he begins to move, examining the first floor. He starts in the living room, stepping over the kicked in door and following the windowed front wall. No one is behind the tacky seventies coded floral couch, which looked like generations of stray cats had used it as a scratching post. The dining room and kitchen were one large open area near the back. Nothing of note there.
Don’t ask about the bathroom. Just… Don’t.
Heizou moves to the stairs, finally he gets a good look at them. Calling them “stairs” feels wrong, considering there wasn't much left. However, he needed to go up, he couldn’t risk that woman being in trouble. One by one, Heizou tests his weight against each foot hold before moving on to the next.
At the landing, Heizou is still listening for any signs of life. There’s three rooms in total on the second floor, not counting the trap door that leads up to the home’s attic. Heizou aims the beam of his flashlight at the pull cord, watching it sway back and forth. He inches silently towards it, clamping it between his middle and pointer finger to halt its movements. Heizou exhales, “Okay,” He speaks loudly and firmly, “I’m going to give you one last chance. Come out, right now!” Then Heizou notices something. He breaths in, then out.
When did it get cold enough for him to see his breath?
He watches the small tendrils of condensation drift from his lips in mild horror. Swallowing thickly, Heizou begins to reach for the first door to his left. Just as his bare hand is about to wrap around the knob the door at the end of the hall creaks. Heizou trains the beam of his flashlight directly on the door.
If this old house had a fan, shit would have surely hit it at that moment.
The door opens all the way and Heizou sees the woman, Jane Doe’s, back, she’s once again at the window. “H-hey!” Heizou calls out, preparing to run towards her. Just as his weight shifts, someone steps in front of the woman. He’s about Heizou’s height, maybe just a hair taller, dressed in a dingy, ratty, hoodie, and torn up jeans. Most of his face is hidden by the shadows of his hood, but there’s something about his silhouette and posture that reminds Heizou of someone he knows.
Unsure if this newcomer is armed, Heizou stays still. He watches the man slowly lift his head. He’s smiling. Lips curling up in a cocksure grin that makes Heizou feel sick to look at, but also…he’s so familiar. So painfully recognizable that it’s making Heizou shift in discomfort.
“Don’t look at me like that,” He lifts his head and Heizou’s knees threaten to give out from shock, “I don’t like being looked at like a monster.” His voice is what connects the threads in Heizou’s brain. He realizes who this stranger looks like.
“Kabukimono?” Heizou whispers the question, in disbelief. How could Kabukimono be here? He was supposed to be in Sumeru. Hell, he wasn’t planning on coming back to Inazuma until Heizou and Kazuha’s wedding.
The man snarled, inhumanly so, the moment he registered the name Heizou had addressed him by. “Do not call me by that trash’s name!”
Around him Heizou feels the energy rise, his limbs beginning to tingle the longer he looks at the man. Clearly he’s not Heizou’s friend, and the longer he looks at him Heizou can see the slight differences.
This man and Kabukimono are painfully similar. Down to the hair and eye color, but this man, despite having the same beautiful doll-like features. His are sharper and more jagged than Kabukimono’s. The red around his eyes isn’t make up, it’s exhaustion and illness. His skin is an unhealthy ash white, and his cheekbones look ready to cut their way through his flesh.
“I said,” The stranger growls, “quit gawking at me like I’m some kind of freak!”
As he roars with anger it’s like a rubber band snaps. The steadily growing energy and power rushes at Heizou. Around the young detective doors rattle in their frames. The attic’s trap door lifts and slams shut above him, and Heizou drops to his knees covering his head with his arms.
The stranger cackles with amusement, until finally the door to the room he’d been standing in, violently closes with a deafening bang. As it does the house falls entirely silent. Heizou feels his heart hammering at nails in his rib cage. Every beat is painful with fear and panic. What the fuck was happening? Heizou crawls towards one of the rotten, moldy walls, slowly pulling himself back up on shaky fawn-like legs.
Heizou takes a breath, determined to calm himself down enough to investigate. He needs to. Heizou can’t risk an innocent person being trapped by that strange man. Every step feels like pushing a concrete boulder, his body straining to move. He feels exhausted, as if something had sucked all the energy from his body in one fell swoop. At the door, Heizou reaches out, wrapping his shaking fingers around the door knob, slowly turning until he hears the gentle click of the latch bolt moving into place.
“Heizou?”
There is no way that Heizou just heard his voice. The tears are instant as he stumbles back. “No, no, no, no.” Heizou chants, staring at the door. He trips, landing on his ass, beginning to crawl backwards. Fear overwhelms him, had he been ignoring symptoms? Was this all from the concussion? Heizou genuinely thinks he’s dying. He has to be if the hallucinations are this bad.
Oh gods, he’s going to die here. Heizou drops his flashlight, to clutch his hair, gripping his deep red locks at the root as he rocks back and forth. His sobs are so loud, Heizou nearly misses the sound of the door unlatching and slowly opening. Heizou sees his silhouette first, and it breaks Heizou’s heart.
“Why are you crying, Heizou?” The shadowy figure of Jun, Heizou’s long dead best friend, crouches to the floor. “Why are you crying, Heizou?” He asks again. This time his voice sounds off, like it was harder to speak than before. Heizou stares at the shadow-figure. His head contorts to the side with a loud, wet, vertebrae crunching snap.
Heizou gags at the sound and sight, scrambling for the flashlight. Once Heizou gets a hold of the flashlight, he’s quick to aim it back at Jun. Only to find the door empty. Heizou stands quickly. He stays still and silent for a good long moment. Everything has gone peacefully still around him and Heizou takes a few long steady breaths. Counting the seconds in and out, calming himself. “Okay, all of this is from the concussion.” He says it aloud, rationalizing everything to the best of his ability. He needs to, because right now he knows that he’s not thinking straight. Heizou wipes his face and lets out a few huffs before he marches forward. Determined to clear the house and leave. With the door left open, he can easily slip inside the room. So far he can’t see any signs of the room's previous occupants. (Which, of course not, they were all in his head.)
Heizou wrinkles his nose as he glances about. There's an old mattress on the floor and a few condom wrappers left strewn about. Yeah, this was definitely a teenage den of bad decisions, currently minus the teens. Heizou deflates and begins to laugh at himself. Maybe he should really consider taking a bit longer to rest? More time off, Kazuha would be home for a while anyways. Now would be the best time too.
“Screw it,” Heizou clicks his tongue, “There’s nobody here. Probably just a short in the old damn phone line.” he turns on the ball of his foot and goes to take a step, determined to find the blasted phone and yank the line out of the wall himself to cease the calls. "A waste of my ti--"
Everything happens faster than Heizou can register. One moment he was preparing to leave, then he was falling backwards. Through the rotten old floor. Hands reach out, grabbing at him, suspending him for an eternity.
Heizou sees that same sickly man that looks so hauntingly similar to Kabukimono, his fist wraps around the corded stone at his neck and yanks. Snapping the black cord, just as Heizou lands with a sickening thud atop piles of debris. His vision is going black, but he can still see the stranger, dangling his necklace with a taunting grin. “See you soon, Heizou.”
“She’s lucky,” Goro spits at Kazuha’s side, “this could have been so much worse!” He paces the length of the small room, still dressed from his earlier shift, minus the hat he’d tossed onto the foot of Heizou’s bed.
Kokomi clears her throat, pointedly, before she says Goro’s name softly. This is the closest Kazuha has ever heard Kokomi get to telling someone to “shut up”. He doesn’t have to look to know that Goro probably shrank in on himself before plopping back into the extra seat they’d dragged into the room.
“S-sorry, Kazuha, I just… I don’t get it. He wasn’t even cleared to—“ Gorou grabs his hat from the foot of the bed, squeezing it between his anxious hands.
“Gorou,” Kazuha offers a calm, steady smile, “you’re just worried and angry. I am too,” he turns back to face Heizou watching the detective sleep. For the most part Heizou looks like all he’s doing is sleeping. The only visible outward injury was the long shallow cut and mild cord burn at the side of Heizou’s neck. “He said he wanted to go though, so you can’t blame Sara entirely. Heizou knew the risks, so we just have to wait and get his side of the story as well.” Kazuha shifts so he can reach Heizou’s hand, entwining their fingers with a hopeful smile.
As calm as he’s keeping himself though, there is an underlying anger and frustration Kazuha has directed at his fiancé. More so at the situation than Heizou’s actions. Kazuha couldn’t be angry with him for doing his job, both of their careers had risks. They both equally respect that about each other. That doesn't mean Kazuha has to agree or be happy with Heizou going into that decrepit house alone.
Gorou stays silent, slouching into the seat, and dropping his hat over his face. Kokomi reaches out and rubs one of his shoulders. “Call me if you need anything,” She offers, “or when he wakes up. I need to get back to my office.”
A muffled, “gotcha.” Comes from under Gorou’s hat. Kazuha offers her a weak nod as he rests his chin on the hand rail. He’s close to nodding off himself, but he's compelled to stay awake. Something doesn’t feel right about the room. He felt it the moment he’d be permitted to enter Heizou’s room, and still hours later, Kazuha could feel it persisting.
Like a predator was hiding in the soft shadows of the room. It’s hunting haze fixed on Heizou, waiting for the chance to attack. Kazuha tightens his grip on Heizou’s hand with a possessive intent. Daring the feeling to try and harm Heizou while in Kazuha’s presence. The feeling builds, the discomfort making the muscles around Kazuha’s shoulder blades twitch with apprehension.
The air feels electric, like something nearby is radiating extra energy into the room. Kazuha swears he can feel it approach and hover closer, and closer to the bedside.
Heizou gasps, his face contorting with discomfort as he sleeps. “Heizou?” Kazuha stands quick enough to knock his chair back with a clatter that jolts Gorou.
Gorou stammers out a few odd noises before Kazuha looks at him, “what’s going on?”
“Go get the doctor,” Kazuha orders, standing over Heizou, cupping his face, urging him to wake. That electric feeling continues to suffocate Kazuha, and as he watches Heizou’s fit, he’s sure his fiancé can feel it too.
Heizou’s eyes snap open as he gasps, just in time for the doctor and her nurses to rush in, gently forcing Kazuha back.
The feeling instantly releases.
Kazuha lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Gorou grips his shoulder and helps him back into his chair, albeit now further away from Heizou’s bedside while he’s examined.
“Kazuha?” Heizou sounds breathless as he asks after him. Kazuha stands once more and the doctor kindly makes room for him to step into Heizou’s line of sight. Heizou deflates with relief and Kazuha can’t help the smile that spreads across his own lips.
“Okay, now that you know he’s here, I need your attention.” The doctor takes over, and begins her examination.
She’s thankfully quick and direct. Catching Heizou up to speed on his injuries and injecting him with something to manage the worse of his pain. “You’re lucky, nothing is broken, but I can’t say you’re going to be walking without pain anytime soon.”
“Oh yeah,” Heizou snorts, his bed now set more upright, “I feel incredibly lucky.” He chuckles with a glance towards Kazuha.
Kazuha gives Heizou an unamused look and shakes his head. The silent, “no” and “not now”, he mouths to Heizou, enough to make the detective blush and quickly adjust himself.
“Uh, thanks for everything Doctor.” Heizou quickly coughs out with a weak grin.
“No problem at all, rest. We’ll see how you’re doing later, and then make your discharge plan.” She offered before leaving.
The room falls silent, and Kazuha watches Heizou give him a guilty glance. “Gorou, why don’t you go get Kokomi. She wanted to know when he came around.” Kazuha suggests.
Gorou looks between the duo, thankfully getting the hint. “Yeah, I’ll just, uh… I have questions too. So, I’ll see you later.” He awkwardly states, one foot out the door before he leans in, “Kokomi is also gonna—“
“I’m not gonna kill him.” Kazuha says exasperated, “now go please? Heizou and I need to talk.”
Gorou nods and even spies Heizou making a light “shoo” motion with one of his hands. “Kay, be back.” Gorou repeats, closing the door shut as he leaves.
“I promise,” Heizou begins and Kazuha can’t even look at him as his fiancé speaks, “this isn’t going to be a regular thing, you know?” It’s infuriating how lightly Heizou seems to be taking the full situation. “Falling through the floor wasn’t how I wanted to nearly break my ba-”
Kazuha looks back at him, and immediately cuts to the chase, “when you get back to work, you’re accepting a partner.”
Heizou gawks, “Kazuha —“
“No, I don’t want to hear any excuses.”
“Not an excuse, it’s fact. I work better alone.” Heizou defends with a pout. “Besides, good luck finding anyone in that department that wants to work with me. Apparently, I’m insufferable.”
“Gorou volunteered.”
Heizou pinches the bridge of his nose. Kazuha can only assume his head still hurts, but he’s not going to let this go. There may come a time when he has to face another emergency contact call, but for now he’s dealing with this before Heizou can sweep it under the rug. “He and I,” Heizou reaches for his necklace, the one he usually fidgets with, and Kazuha watches him look into the distance, as if he’s remembering something. They didn’t find the necklace near Heizou in the house, and Kazuha was sure it had been ripped off Heizou’s neck, judging by the thin red line and cut from where the cord broke against his pale flesh. Kazuha also knows that once the shock wears off, Heizou is going to be distraught about losing it. Kazuha can’t remember a day when he didn't see Heizou with that green stone around his neck.
“Heizou?” Kazuha waits, watching Heizou trace the edge of the bandage around his neck. “Heizou, hey. What is it?”
A moment later Heizou’s eyes flutter as he finally looks back over to Kazuha, “I hear what you’re saying, maybe, now isn’t the time? I think the Morphine is hitting, and this isn’t going to go anywhere if I can’t think straight.”
“Okay,” Kazuha smiles softly, “But you do understand, I’m not letting this go. We’re talking about it later when you’re home. Probably with Kabukimono too.”
“Is he here?” Heizou asks, he almost looks like an excited pet. “Kabukimono, is he back in Inazuma?”
Kazuha is taken aback by how Heizou practically jumps towards him. “He’s on his way for work. I also asked him to stay with you…While I’m gone again.”
Heizou blinks, “I, I thought you were going to be home? Did Beidou give you another job? She knows we’re trying to plan a wedding right?”
Kazuha gestures for Heizou to calm down before taking his hand, “She’s well aware, but someone’s hospital bills keep going up, instead of down.” Heizou pouts and looks defeated. “I promise, it starts in four days, and then I'll be back in a week. I don’t even have to leave Inazuma this time.”
Heizou leans against the pillow watching Kazuha with tired eyes, “Okay,” He smiles like a clever fox, “besides then I can just get a head start on writing my vows.”
“Yeah, that head start you’re definitely going to need.” Kazuha smirks playfully watching Heizou go from sleepy to scandalized in an instant. He laughs, as Heizou rolls his eyes. “I should also apologize, maybe it wasn’t the best that I sprang all of that on you right–”
Heizou sits up, just to flick Kazuha between the eyes. “Enough,” He smiles inches away from Kazuha’s face, “I know what I’m like, Kazuha.” His hands cup Kazuha’s face and the poet is instantly relieved to feel Heizou’s warmth again.
“Do you mind if I,” Kazuha glanced down to Heizou’s lips.
“ Please .” Heizou leans in, closing the gap while Kazuha wraps his arms around Heizou’s shoulders. Which earns him a soft, pained moan that ultimately cuts the tender kiss short. “I’m okay.” He rests his forehead to Kazuha’s instead, sighing pleasantly at the contact.
There’s a soft knock before Kokomi opens the door leaning in with a grin. “It’s good to see you awake and,” She glances back at Gorou as she steps inside, “fully intact? Gorou made it sound like we needed to hurry.” She laughs while joining Heizou at the side opposite Kazuha, “You’ve definitely looked better though.”
“We just needed to have a serious talk,” Heizou mumbles, “Guess Gorou and I are going to be partners once I get back. So enjoy your last few weeks with him.” Heizou warns.
“Take him, please.” Kokomi teases with another giggle.
“Yeah, yeah,” Gorou saunters forward, his arms crossed, “I still have questions for you.”
“And I can’t promise how effective my answers will be, given that I’m on pain meds.” Heizou reminds Gorou with a casual looking grin as he gets settled on his back once more. “By all means though, ask away.”
“Okay, starting at the beginning,” Gorou directs, “Something made you go into that house. What was it? What was so urgent you couldn’t wait or call for backup.”
Heizou takes a breath and stares ahead, he’s silent for a good long while, his face scrunching up with discomfort. “I- I can’t remember. I think I,” Heizou leans forward into his palms, “I saw someone, I think? I dunno.”
“Do you remember what made you go up to the second floor?” Gorou asks.
“I don’t, I remember getting there. To the house. Texting Kazuha…” Heizou shrugs, “Then it's all blank.” He leans forward rubbing his face. “I’m sorry, I just, I really can’t remember any of it. The harder I try the more it hurts.”
“Alright,” Kokomi whispers, “I’m calling it then. Heizou needs to rest. You can get your answers later, Gorou.” She smiles back to Heizou once more, “rest.” She repeats before again, wishing Heizou well and then politely excusing herself.
Gorou doesn’t stay long after her, saying that he ought to get home himself and actually sleep. They both thank him for staying as long as he did, which Gorou softly waves off, saying it was nothing.
Eventually it’s just Kazuha and Heizou left in the room again. Heizou dozes off, the meds fully taking effect. As Kazuha sits reclined back in the stiff chair, he becomes aware of that odd feeling again.
Dread burrows into his stomach as the feeling of an electrical current dances over his skin once more. Kazuha glares at the corners of the room with scrutiny. He knows that the room is empty, aside from himself and Heizou. Yet every time he looks away Kazuha can nearly swear he sees another figure just out of the corner of his eye.
Kazuha rationalizes the feeling. He was in a hospital, of course it felt off. They always did. As for the odd electrical feeling, that had to just be from the various machines that surrounded them within the room.
It couldn’t be anything else.
Heizou hobbles into his and Kazuha’s home. The few stairs that lead up to the front door had been a challenge. His middle and lower back were in agony, he was due for more mild pain meds. Kazuha walks beside him, an arm out ready to support him should Heizou need it alongside his crutches.
Kabukimono is behind them, a duffle bag of his belongings on his shoulder. “I’m gonna drop my stuff off upstairs.”
“Got it.” Heizou answers through gritted teeth. Kazuha leads him to his home office, and the sight Heizou sees once he’s inside makes his heart swell. Kazuha had already made a bed for him on the couch Heizou keeps in his office.
“I figured stairs were going to be a bit much for you yet, and with the bruising up your back, I'm hesitant to carry you.” Kazuha explains helping Heizou take a seat near the middle of the couch. Kazuha sits beside him. “You’re going to rest while I’m gone, right?”
Heizou puffs his cheeks and pouts. “I mean—“
“Yes, your ass is resting.” Kabukimono gruffly warns. He’s standing in the doorway, arms crossed and a firm glare set in his indigo eyes.
Heizou looks away, Kabukimono’s gaze making him uncomfortable for some ungodly reason. “Yeah, yeah.”
Kabukimono joins them on the couch on the other side of Heizou. “Gee, don’t sound too excited.” Kabukimono huffs.
Heizou rolls his eyes and hears Kazuha chuckle beside him. A silence drifts over the trio. It takes a moment, but suddenly Heizou becomes aware of the fact that despite them not talking, both men are eyeing him with some pretty pointed side eyes. Almost bombastic, side eyes. It was only putting off the inevitable, so Heizou sighed. “Alright let it rip.”
Instantly both Kazuha and Kabukimono ask him, “what were you thinking?” And various other questions and a few pointed remarks leave their lips until Heizou holds up his hands. Their questions are so rapid-fire that Heizou can only stare ahead trying to keep up with the ever growing list of things he needs to answer. (There might have been an attempt at slapping Heizou with a pillow on Kabukimono's part, but one warning glare from Kazuha and the feather filled ammunition was dropped)
“Okay okay,” Heizou says over them and sighs with a dry laugh, “again, Sara told me to go check on the house. I went, then I got there I got out of my car-“
“Sent me a text.” Kazuha adds quickly.
“Sent Kazuha a text, and then…” Heizou stops, this was where his memory went hazy earlier, but now, “I saw someone in the window.” Heizou frowns. Yeah that right, there was… “a woman, I saw a woman in one of the windows. She looked distressed.” Heizou cups a hand over his mouth gnawing at his lip. His legs twitch, yearning to stand and pace the room. “I knew here from somewhere, I don’t know where, but…”
Heizou must look distressed, because Kazuha places a hand at the nape of Heizou’s neck. One of the only areas on Heizou’s back not heavily bruised. “Heizou-“
“She got yanked back,” Heizou announces to the middle distance, his soft green eyes unfocused and staring ahead, “that’s what made me go in. I remember being mad at myself, because I stood there for so long watching her.” He may not be able to stand and pace, but Heizou can tap his foot. Which he continuously does as the memories come back. “I saw who pulled her back,” Slowly he turns his head and makes eye contact with Kabukimono.
“Who?” Kabukimono asks, confused by the look Heizou is giving him.
“He looked,” Heizou stills and then groans in pain, “Dammit!” The pain is sharp and hits him like the crack of a bull whip, right between the eyes.
“Alright, Hei.” Kazuha whispers. “That’s enough for now.” He stands and directs Heizou back, urging Kabukimono to stand as well, “I’ll grab an ice pack, you rest.”
“I can get the ice pack, you stay here.” Kabukimono offers as he leaves the room.
Heizou has tears welling in his eyes. “Hei,” Kazuha cups his face, “Heizou what’s wrong?”
“I hate this.” Heizou admits. He raises his hand, moving to fidget with his necklace only to grow further distressed, “I hate being fawned over, not being able to think, and I keep feeling like I’m being watched.” He laughs as he says the last of his worries. “Not to mention,” Heizou blushes, feeling like a petulant child, “That necklace, it’s the last thing I have..." He gulps and corrects himself, "Had from Jun.”
Kazuha deflates as he finds an area to sit beside Heizou’s hip. “I know you do, and I know you understand this is the result of your own actions so I won’t continue to scold you for rushing in without backup, again. You just need to give yourself time, Heizou.” He pauses and tries to think of how to address the last worry Heizou mentions, “Kokomi said paranoia can be heightened while healing from a concussion, so again. You need to let yourself heal. As for the necklace, we can try to look for it once you’re better. Maybe it’s just under the pile of debris you landed on.”
Heizou opens his mouth, ready to speak when the sound of the footsteps outside the office makes his jaw snap shut. He turns to look, expecting to see Kabukimono, but the other man isn’t there. “Did you hear that?”
“I did.” Kazuha admits as he stands. He focuses, he can still hear a few stray sounds from the kitchen down the hall. He glances back to Heizou, seeing him ready to try and stand, “Don’t you dare.” His voice takes on a sharp, commanding edge. Kazuha is about to step out of the room when a clatter near his feet makes him freeze.
“Holy shit.” Heizou gasps. “Kazuha…Did that just…”
Kabukimono comes running, “Stop!” Kazuha warns, “Stop, get shoes on first.” He slowly squats down, careful to not move his feet or let his knees touch the floor. Heizou can’t see what Kazuha is doing, but he can hear the gentle crystal-like noise of shattered glass being gently moved.
A moment later Kabukimono comes back with his boots on, as well as the broom and dustpan in hand. Instantly, Heizou can see him suddenly go sheet white as he stares down at Kazuha. “Why…Why am I scratched out?” His voice waivers.
“Guys,” Heizou calls out and waves, “What’s going on?”
Kazuha awkwardly moves back, keeping an eye out for any other broken bits of glass from the photo frame that had been launched down the hall. “The picture of the three of us,” Kazuha explains, “It just fell.” He turns the photo around to show Heizou. “Kabukimono is, like he said. Scratched out of it.”
Heizou takes the picture, letting his fingers trace softly over the damaged image. It was from one of Kazuha’s birthdays. Heizou frowns deeply as he glances up, Kabukimono stands back up, the dust pan full of broken glass and wood from the frame. His heart nearly jumps from his chest and it takes everything Heizou has not to panic.
He remembers who he saw in the house now, because for the briefest of moments, there was a second Kabukimono, no. The strange man only looked like a poorly printed photo copy of Kabukimono. He was sickly and pale with red rimmed indigo eyes, and standing in the hallway directly behind Kabukimono. Making the differences in their faces so much more obvious.
“Heizou?” Kazuha’s hand rests under Heizou’s jaw, forcing him to look up at him. “You okay?”
Heizou moves his head off Kazuha’s hand and looks back at Kabukimono. He’s alone now. The specter that Heizou thought he’d seen is gone. “Y-yeah, I think I just need to rest. Kabukimono…The photo must have gotten scratched when it fell.” Heizou suggests weakly. He considers mentioning what he just saw, but with how messed up his head is, Heizou doubts it's real and not worth mentioning.
“Probably.” Kabukimono agrees with a nod. “Ya’d have to be pretty stupid to ruin the best part of that picture.” He teases before walking away.
Kazuha and Heizou snicker for a moment, before Kazuha checks the phone and notices the time. “I gotta go pack. You gonna be okay?”
“Kazuha,” Heizou rolls his eyes, “I can’t go anywhere without crutches, so I doubt I’ll be getting into much trouble right now. Go. Pack.” He playfully shoves at Kazuha’s legs from his place laid out across the couch.
Heizou is left alone in his office. He covers his eyes and focuses, taking a few deep calming breaths. Something strange was starting to happen to him, and it had been steadily getting worse since he was initially attacked over two months ago. Before he can stop himself, Heizou slips back into that memory. It was a sting that had gone wrong. He and Sara had split up, upon his insistence, and unfortunately Heizou wasn’t fast enough.
He remembers the strike and the feeling of the pistol’s handle connecting with his temple. Heizou focuses on his breathing, trying to calm himself down. Kokomi had told him to expect flashbacks. She’d walked him through a few breathing exercises in her office, most of which Heizou really didn’t do all that well. What could he say, he wasn’t good at the whole relaxing or meditation thing. If he was being honest, Heizou was kind of scared of it. There was no good reason for it, but then again, who said fears needed to be rational.
Heizou suddenly becomes aware of his body. He feels floaty and flighty. It doesn’t feel like anything is around him, he’s alone in a dark mist filled void. Whispers are in the air around him, growing louder and louder. Heizou feels something tugging at him, urging him to move forward. When he looks down, he sees a gore covered hand, wrapped around his wrist. Heizou follows it to see who it's attached to. Unsurprisingly, its the stranger from the house, trying to yank him further into the void. Another set of hands grab on to Heizou's shoulder's pulling him back,
“Heizou…Wake up. Now.”
His eyes snap open as Heizou sits up quickly enough to yelp in pain. Jun’s voice had called out to him and forced Heizou to wake. He pulls his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them. Only for something new to catch his eye. Around his wrist, an angry purple and blue bruise had formed. Heizou held his arm out to examine the mark. Horror sends a chill down his spine. It's in the shape of a hand, wrapped around his wrist.
What the fuck was happening to him?