MJS Aftermath - SIX FEET The Final Part
It was in silence Miho drove through dim backstreets two nights later, though Kurosawa prattled unnecessary reassurances in her ears through her tiny earbud radio.
“I’m fine, Toru,” she muttered for the seventh time. “It’s like the Chief said - the mole won’t hurt me until he or she is sure the information that might incriminate them cannot fall into the hands of any authority.”
“Still,” he grumbled, in his place of hiding near Miho’s destination. “I feel ill thinking you may be at the mercy of this unscrupulous creature.”
“Shut up, Kurosawa,” Kaga snapped. “Keep comms clear.”
And for once, Miho was glad to hear the acid of Kaga’s voice.
“Don’t worry your heads about this,” Miho told them. “This idiot won’t know what hit ‘em.”
She was early, as was part of the plan, and so was Namba, who she was there to meet and pass on the package she had only just received - presumably sent on the day of Goto’s death.
It had to be somewhere quiet, somewhere other people would not get involved should violence break out, and despite her bravado, Miho actually shuddered a little at the gloom of the dockside warehouse. No one in sight, no one to catch stray bullets, except for the small group of instructors Namba had enlisted for the operation.
Her steps sounded loudly against the moist asphalt, bouncing off concrete walls and worn, metal shipping containers. Slowly, she made her way around the building toward a single door, trepidation growing, twisting knots in her stomach she obstinately refused to show in her expression.
“That’s quite far enough,” a raspy, gravelly voice asserted, and Miho flinched then froze.
The kind of voice that did far too much yelling.
“Chief?” she queried, though she knew it wasn’t him.
“We have contact,” Namba’s voice hissed in Miho’s ear.
“I should be,” the man’s voice came again, oblivious to the voices in Miho’s head.
Slowly, she hazarded to turn her head.
The outline was average except perhaps for the hair, messy waves of ink from crown to shoulders in a decidedly unkempt manner.
“Instructor Nagita?” Miho blinked, mostly for the benefit of the others in case they did not have a clear enough line of sight. “I am supposed to be meeting Chief Namba here. Is everything okay? Did something happen?”
Playing dumb was not Miho’s strong suit, but she tried just the same.
It was then he pulled out a gun - not how Miho would have played it given she’d just given him the opportunity to play along, but anyone who picked a fight with Goto and his people couldn’t really be considered smart.
“Don’t play ignorant with me! Give me the contents of the package Goto sent you,” he demanded roughly, inching a little closer to her, and Miho shuffled back a little, away from the warehouse wall.
“I will shoot you,” he insisted, waving the firearm a little erratically, before a gunshot rang out.
Miho’s breath stalled, her chest clenched and her gaze fixed on the slumping figure of Nagita, who a few seconds later was face down. Trembling, Miho touched her hand to her cheek - wet, warm, fresh blood transferred to her fingers.
“What…?” she stammered out, as a new form stepped from the shadows and claimed responsibility for Nagita’s murder.
“Is that… Chiba?” Soma said through comms.
“The student?” Subaru sought in clarification. “We should move now!”
“Hold,” Namba instructed. “If there are even students involved in this, we don’t know who else may be involved.”
“That student just killed an instructor,” Subaru pointed out. “You think he’s going to hesitate to kill Miho?”
“It’s fine, okay?” Miho breathed, holding both her hands up in front of her. “Just… relax.”
“Kurai knew Nagita didn’t have the guts to follow through,” Chiba announced, his voice contrastingly soft and boyish considering the situation. “But this is my way out of mediocrity, out of obscurity. No one will ever overlook me again.”
“Keep him talking, Mrs. Goto,” Ishigami encouraged. “We’re converging on your position.”
“Well, I think I can say,” Miho began carefully. “If I had met you, before now, I would not have overlooked you… and if I knew your name…?”
“Chiba Daisuke,” he announced proudly - obviously not a seasoned criminal even with fresh blood on his hands.
“And, Mr. Chiba, you ah… you’re working for Kurai then? An enforcer by the looks of it - it looks good on you.”
“Not for, with,” he corrected.
“Oh, obviously,” Miho rushed. “Man of your bearing, I suppose, takes orders from no one… right?”
“Including you, Mrs. Goto,” he smiled, so innocently it seemed so ridiculous he held her at gun-point. “It’s a shame, because I actually liked Instructor Goto…”
“He’s gearing up to kill her too, I’m moving in!” Subaru barked.
“... but,” Chiba continued. “I can’t allow you to blow my cover, so I’m going to have to…”
“FREEZE!” Ishigami shouted, appearing dramatically, and simultaneously Miho let out a squeak as Subaru snatched her around the waist and put himself between her and Chiba.
“Don’t move!” Kaga added, emerging with Soma, their own guns drawn.
“Reach for the sky, scumbag!” Kurosawa exclaimed, and no doubt they all would have facepalmed were the circumstances not so serious.
“It’s over, Chiba,” Namba told him, and indeed, Chiba was now surrounded. “Put down the gun so no one else gets hurt.”
“Get her out of here,” Ishigami commanded of Subaru, and he did not have to be asked twice.
“Hold it!” Chiba barked, uncharacteristically sharp. “Move and I’ll shoot!”
“And in which universe do you think you’ll walk away from this if you do?” Kaga scoffed. “You fire, we fire, and you’re dead.”
“I… I’ll still take one of you with me,” Chiba declared, no longer sounding so confident, his gun hand wavering a little.
In a dramatic crash that blocked Miho and Subaru from Chiba’s line of sight, the door Miho had earlier been heading for opened, and a body tackled the murderous student.
The gun skidded across the ground and was quickly scooped up by Soma, while the others jumped in to restrain the young man.
“Come on,” Subaru urged, but Miho would not be moved, transfixed on the fray of arms and legs.
And she gasped when Chiba was dragged to his feet and cuffed, because with order restored, Miho could see who it was that had intervened.
“The hell are you going here?” Subaru growled, glaring at the man.
“Did you really think I was going to allow you to put my wife in such danger and not oversee her safety myself?” Goto huffed, straightening his clothes.
But his eyes looked beyond his friend to Miho’s blood speckled face, her tear-brimming, lip-quivering expression that broke his heart all over again.
“Get going, dead-man,” Kaga snorted curtly. “You can’t be here.”
“Seiji,” Miho whispered thickly, fighting Subaru’s grip on her unsuccessfully.
“Go!” Subaru growled, grappling Miho as she struggled. “I’ll take care of her.”
“I’ll take care of you if you don’t let me GO!” Miho shrieked, a wildcat now, flailing.
With a broken look, Goto began to back away, mouthing one word before he turned and ran.
“Soon.”
The aftermath dragged on well through the night and into the morning, and at nine Miho was sitting on the couch in Ishigami’s office - still pouting.
“Looks like you could use this,” Kaga declared, dropping a steaming mug of coffee into Miho’s line of sight.
Her eyes rolled up to look at him skeptically.
“If Ishigami sees you in here, you’re toast,” she declared, reaching for the mug… which he then moved out of her reach. “Do that again and you won’t need to worry about him.”
“Oh yeah?” Kaga smirked, holding his ground. “Right now, I could take you with just my little finger.”
“I suggest you keep you little finger, and all other appendages, away from Mrs. Goto,” Ishigami said coldly from the doorway, and Miho used the opportunity to relieve Kaga of the mug. “And remove yourself from my office.”
“So you can move in on her instead? You’ve got no chance, four-eyes,” Kaga dropped, shoving past him on the way out.
Silence settled in the wake of his exit, until Miho sat back down.
“How are you holding up?” Ishigami asked carefully.
“Still mad,” she replied waspishly. “You could have given me a minute with him.”
“As I said before, every moment he breaks cover is a chance for Kurai to discover his deception,” he pointed out, and not for the first time.
Noisily, Miho slurped her coffee.
“A counsellor from the Department will be in contact in the next few days.”
“I don’t need counselling, Ishigami,” Miho grumped. “I need my hus…”
“... husband back, yes I understand,” he filled in, nodding. “And I am sure he feels as anxious for this operation to be as over as you.”
To this, Miho grunted, sculled the rest of the coffee - ignoring the burn - and rolled her neck.
“I’m going home,” she announced.
“Ichiyanagi will drive you,” he informed her. “Chief Namba and I agree you should have protection until such time as the Kurai are neutralised, just in case they…”
“No,” she disagreed.
“I’m actually not giving you a choice,” Ishigami retorted, finally putting his foot down. “You insisted on involving yourself, and now you will put up with the consequences.”
Her jaw worked, but she wasn’t so unreasonable that she wouldn’t accept responsibility for her own actions.
“Fine, I’m leaving now,” she grumped, grabbed her bag, and stalked out.
“So, you’re not going to talk to me forever now?” Subaru sniffed, following Miho up the path to her front door.
Of course - to prove the point - Miho did not respond.
As she slipped the key into the lock, barking greeted her, and she had to grit her teeth not to allow exhausted tears to spill. Ishigami and Kaga bounced up against her the moment she cleared the door, and she gladly sat on the floor to let the greyhound wiggling soothe her weary heart.
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Subaru said, walking past the tangle unscathed while Miho snuggled her face against soft, sleek doggy heads.
“Daddy will be home soon,” she whispered to her ‘kids’, before struggling back up.
She needed sleep.
A week ticked by.
Then another.
And while the longing to see Goto never waned, Miho had rather gotten used to having a house-maid-chauffeur-butler-heavy-lifter-emergency-tampon-buying dog-walker. Still, she craved a little alone time, and hatched a plan to give Subaru the slip.
Ishigami and Kaga, complicit in her crime, ran happily beside her as she snuck out through her back yard’s fence. When she had taken enough twists and turns to ensure even a seasoned tracker would have trouble picking up her trail, she headed for somewhere her poochies could play and she could relax.
Even though the weather was cooling, Miho was determined to sit on a very significant patch of grass in the park where it all started. The greyhounds ran laps around her as she ruminated. She pictured the picnic rug upon which they had laid that first ‘test drive’, smiled as she remembered how uptight he’d been in the beginning, how awkward - then grinned when she recalled how he’d surprised her in the bushes.
Heavily, she dragged herself up and headed toward the toilet block, just as she had that day; but she was disappointed when there was no Goto to drag her out of sight and defile her in the best possible way.
“Fuck,” she growled, her mood darkening.
“I’d better do something about this frustration of yours,” a familiar voice said at her back, causing Miho to freeze. “Or you might fall into the arms of that apron wearing hooligan.”
Miho trapped the air in her lungs, afraid that if she drew breath he would disappear; but at the same time, she had to know.
“You’re not going to run away again, are you?” she gasped out, and though she longed to throw herself at him, her body was paralysed.
“I”m sorry I had to do that, Miho,” he apologised, face patterned with profound contrition. “But I’m here now, because I couldn’t stand it anymore. Even if the Kurai kill me tomorrow, it’ll have been worth it.”
In the background, Ishigami and Kaga bounded around the park, amusing themselves, but everything that wasn’t Goto faded from Miho’s world. When his arms closed around her, she drew in a deep breath, filling her senses with the scent of him. Every fibre of her being sang out in joy and relief, and her muscles turned mush.
“If they hurt you,” she whimpered against his neck, finally locking him in her own embrace, “I will burn Tokyo to the ground until every last one of them is destroyed.”
“I believe it,” he laughed, tightening his grip.
Nothing felt as good to him, as having her heart beating against his chest.
“Come on,” he urged, pulling away far enough to walk without stumbling, tugging her toward the bushes.
“Uhh, Ishigami and Kaga will wonder where I am,” she exhaled, but in all honesty it was amazing she could form coherent thoughts, let alone sentences.
“I should never have let you name them that,” Goto hissed, pressing her back against a familiar tree trunk and slithering his fingers beneath her jacket.
“It was… Kurosawa,” Miho protested weakly, coiling her arms around his neck and dragging her fingernails through his hair.
“Stop saying other men’s names,” he growled against her throat, nipping it enough to cause Miho to squirm, sharp little stings giving way to tingling warmth and pleasure. “I have missed the taste of you.”
“I’ve missed being tasted,” she sighed, directing his face back to hers. “I’ve missed you.”
“And I you,” he smiled, straightening her dishevelled jacket and taking her face either side. “Nothing is so precious to me.”
A little confused they were both still fully dressed, Miho frowned, despite his declaration.
“But you’re not done yet, are you?” she forced out, the quietest of squeaks.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, resting his forehead against hers, brushing her moist cheeks with his thumbs. “If I don’t finish this, many people will be in danger, including you - so I have to see this out.”
She knew he wouldn’t abandon his job, his responsibility to the people he vowed to protect, the law he vowed to uphold - that was the man she loved and married.
“But,” he continued, even as Miho wept, “when it’s over, I’m going to request full time assignment at the academy, no more undercover.”
“Ohh,” she exhaled, lightly nuzzling her nose against his. “But you would miss it, Lieutenant Goto, it’s as much a part of you as I am… just… promise…”
“Anything,” he pledged. “Absolutely anything.”
“Never die again,” she pouted, pecking his lips with desperate, quick kisses.
“Miho…”
“You said anything!” she pointed out smugly, rubbing herself against him, trying to make it as difficult for him to leave her as possible.
“Mmm,” he groaned. “Then I suppose I’ll have to live forever. But for now, I have to go.”
When he kissed her now, it was a kiss designed to convince her, once and for all, if any doubt lingered, that he was alive and hers. He would return to her safely, and they would be happy.
The joyful, hysterical bark-whining of Ishigami and Kaga, slammed into the moment, as surely as the dog slammed into the back of Goto’s legs. They proceeded to bounce energetically until he crouched, and then they clambered up his body, over his shoulders, his back, his chest, licking all the while.
“Come on kids,” Miho sniffled, untucking their leashes from her belt-loop and clicked each to their collars. “Let Daddy get back to work so he can come home to us.”
It took some serious strength to drag the dogs away from Goto, and it was with reluctance that he stepped back.
“And I will come home to you: soon.” The end... for now.
