Originally posted on 10th October 2014.

For this story I had my characters smoking, something that I don't really like myself, and I wrote this by watching other people smoke. There are some people I know against having fictional characters smoke, but I thought it fit so I decided to go along with it. I'm not sorry.

Disclaimer: I do not own both Cardfight! Vanguard and Psycho-Pass and both their franchises.

It's a nice cloudless night out, Kai thought to himself as he inhaled another breath through his cigarette.

His job as an Enforcer had gone just as well as it usually did. Well, there had been a bit of trouble that had cropped up halfway, but since the entire matter had been successfully dealt with he had nothing to complain about.

Several hours ago, the sixth unit of the Public Safety Bureau had been summoned to deal with a target, who had been detected by a street scanner to have had a dark hue, and from there things blew up. The man resisted, and wreaked havoc by stealing a knife from a nearby shop and waving it around at other people, threatening to kill them if they got near. Well, this was something that he considered a typical reaction, so he wasn't the least fazed by it. However, when the man had attempted to attack one of the Investigators when his unit had just arrived, he had to intervene physically. The bastard managed to land a cut on his upper arm before he knocked the weapon out of his hand. It didn't hurt, to be honest, but he wasn't exactly pleased about it either. None of that mattered now, anyway; the man was hit with the Dominator's Lethal Eliminator mode, fired by his friend and comrade Miwa Taishi under the others of the unit's other Inspector, Tokura Misaki.

Sighing at that train of thought, he removed the cigarette from his lips, blowing out the smoke into the cold winter air.

That was when he noticed the door to the outdoor emergency stairway, where he was at, opening.

"Fancy seeing you here, Inspector Sendou."

Sendou Aichi, the person whom he had just greeted, looked surprised to find him there.

"Kai-san, what are you doing here?"

"Having a smoke." Kai noted what little was left of his cigarette and grimaced a little. "Or two. Care to join me?"

"I think I'll take up your offer."

That surprised Kai, as he snuffed his cigarette on the portable ashtray he carried around. "You smoke?"

"I never said I didn't." the Inspector commented, as he took out his packet of cigarettes from his pants pocket.

In the dim light, Kai noticed that it was the same brand that he smokes.

"I merely assume that you didn't, because as far as I'm concerned Inspectors Tokura, Mitsusada and Souryuu don't approve of it, as far as I know. I apologize if I had offended you."

"You did no such thing."

"That's great to hear."

Kai fished his pockets for his packet of cigarettes, but was disappointed when he found it empty. Noticing this Aichi held out his own packet to his subordinate, with a new cigarette sticking out.

"Take it as my thanks for protecting me earlier."

"There's no need for you to thank me."

"But it feels right to. Please, don't hold back."

"I shall accept it, then." Kai took the cigarette that was offered to him. "Thank you."

"No problem at all."

After replying, Aichi placed the cigarette between his lips, and lit the other end. He drew a deep breath and exhaled, letting out a small cloud of smoke.

As he took in his second puff, he noticed that Kai had yet to light his.

"Is something the matter?"

"My lighter's out of fluid, I suppose."

"Would you like to use mine?"

"No, it's fine. I've got a better idea." Kai leaned his face towards his, with his second cigarette between his lips. "Pardon me."

He connected the tip of his unlit cigarette with Aichi's, holding there for a few seconds as he allowed for it to catch that little flare. When it did, he pulled away, taking in a long, drawn out breath.

They said nothing to each other for a while, at least, before Aichi decided to start a conversation.

"Kai-san, you smoke this brand too, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"I don't mean it offensively, but I always thought that you would go for a stronger brand. You seem to give off that impression."

"I like the smell of this one. It makes me relaxed."

"I see."

A few more puffs, and it was Kai's turn to pop a question.

"Shouldn't you be heading home soon, Inspector? It's getting pretty late. The last train would have been long gone by the time we're done here."

"I still have some paperwork to finish before I go; I'm just taking a quick break right now. Besides, I live nearby, about two blocks away from here."

"That's convenient. I'd bet a healthy-minded young man like you would have a beautiful wife waiting for your return."

"I don't."

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean, I haven't even dated anyone before."

"Oh? But I heard that a girl came over the other day hand you a boxed lunch."

"That was my sister, Emi. She still lives with our parents. When my mother makes a little too much food on occasion, Emi helps her deliver it to me. She works in one of the nearby buildings."

"I see."

Hearing Aichi's explanation made Kai feel a sense of relief.

Wait.

Relief?

"Is something the matter, Kai-san?" Aichi asked, noting the furrow between Kai's brows deepening. "You didn't hear what I had asked, didn't you?"

"No, it's nothing. What was it that you had said?"

"I asked… if you had dated anyone before." there was an awkward pause, which made Kai raise an eyebrow. "I mean, Kai-san is really handsome; I'm sure you would be popular with the ladies."

"Well, I'm the same as you. I haven't dated before."

"Really? Why?"

"Well… you could say I never got the chance to."

"Chance?"

"You read my biography when you joined our unit, didn't you? That should explain a lot."

"You were declared a latent criminal at age eight, and were chosen to be an Enforcer about ten years ago after you had turned sixteen. The reason why your crime coefficient was raised to such levels at such a young age was because…"

"I had witnessed the brutal torture and murder of my parents, and in my attempt to save my own life I killed the man who murdered them. I became a latent criminal: a threat to society, and was locked up for the sake of public good."

"I… see…"

"Well, it doesn't matter now. That was all in the past."

"At the very least, you must have fallen in love once before?"

"I haven't. I mean, I don't know what it means to be in love. I can't even tell if I had fallen in love with another person, of I did."

"Well…" Aichi frowned in thought, holding his cigarette between his fore and middle fingers, flicking it lightly to let the ash drop onto his own ashtray. "I suppose if you are in love with someone, you would want to kiss them. That is what I've heard from Miwa-kun, at least."

"Hmm." Kai made a sound of acknowledgement, and pondered for a brief moment. "Actually, perhaps I had been in love before. Rather, I am currently in love; since there is a person who I want to kiss."

"Really? That's great. I'm sure that the person Kai-san had fallen in love with must be a wonderful one. I wonder what kind of person they're like."

"Are you jealous?"

"No! Not at all!"

"Shall I tell you, then?"

"You don't have—"

Aichi couldn't finish his sentence, as Kai had prevented him from doing so by placing his lips over the shorter man's.

It all happened much too fast; Aichi could not react. Kai used his right hand to grab Aichi's left wrist (their cigarettes were held in their other hand), which he used to pull the latter towards him. The time when the distance between their bodies was closed was when Kai had firmly pressed his lips against Aichi's, and it was not simply the act of their lips touching. If this had to be described in another way, the terms 'capturing' or 'locking lips' would have provided a more accurate description.

Kai had expected Aichi to react negatively, to shove him away or protest against his actions. Or maybe threaten to shoot his sorry ass with the Dominator on their next mission as punishment for stealing what was most likely his first kiss. But looks like there will be none of that, as Aichi seemed to have accepted his kiss willingly.

Kai broke the kiss several moments later, taking a few steps back from his superior.

"I suppose you found that repulsive." he commented, noting Aichi's lack of reaction.

"… No. Not at all, really." Aichi replied after a while, looking as if he had just managed to snap out of his train of thought. "I just didn't know how I should react to that."

As he admitted that, his cheeks were dusted with a pink-reddish hue. He quickly brought his cigarette up to his lips again, taking in an unnecessarily deep breath, perhaps to calm himself down.

"Is that so?" Kai replied.

He had wanted to say something more, but stopped himself. He had taken into consideration the awkwardness Aichi was feeling and exerting through his aura, and did not want the man to feel uncomfortable around him.

They continued to smoke their cigarettes, with nothing but five meters and awkward silence between them.

Kai finished his first, snuffing out the flame just after he had gone through about seventy percent of the cigarette.

"Well, I suppose I should be going. Make sure don't stay too late and be sure to get plenty of rest, Inspector Sendou."

Kai turned on his heel, making his way back into the building. Just as he was about to turn the knob of the door, he heard a cry of protest that stopped him.

"Wait!"

He removed his hand from the cold metal knob, and turned around to face Aichi. Looking at him straight into the eyes, he waited for the latter to speak.

"I don't really know much about love myself, but… but I feel that I want to kiss you too. Not just once or twice, but a lot more times. Many, many times, so much that it would be uncountable. So I suppose that I'm in love with you… too."

"I see…" Kai turned around, opening the door. "See you tomorrow… Aichi."

"See you tomorrow, Kai-kun."

- END -