"Asami, can we talk?"

"How important is it?"

"I'm leaving you."

It was at this point that Asami finally stopped typing and looked up at him. Shock written all over his face. He looked Akihito up and down, searching for any sign he could have been threatened to do this to him. He found none, Akihito was as pristine as the moment he left that morning, a rarity in and of itself.

"What?" He asked. Akihito, steady as he was in his conviction, looked sad.

"I need time Asami. We've been through a lot together and I'm truly grateful for all you've done for me. But I need to figure myself out."

"Akihito-"

"I'm not done," he pressed, "I'm compromised at work because I feel like I would be betraying you by investigating local crimes. I never see Kou and Takato anymore and I'm constantly hauled up in here during my down time doing chores and just, not doing anything. I feel like I've stopped moving forward. And I feel like you're a part of what's keeping me stuck. I need to move on from everything that's happened and I don't think I can do that here."

"Why not?"

"Because it started here. I need distance. Time."

Asami hid clenched fists beneath the desk. As much as he ached to go over there and shake Akihito until sense returned to him he knew he couldn't. He knew he wouldn't. Akihito had opened a black hole in his chest and he could do nothing but let it swallow him.

It was his life. It was his choice. If he needed to leave..

If he felt like he had to leave to be happy. Asami would have to let him go.

"Where?" It was the only thing he could shove out without giving up how he really felt.

"What? Oh. I don't know yet. I have a lot of money saved up from mooching off of you for so long. I don't think I'll stay in Japan though. It's too, close I guess."

Leave the country. Akihito was leaving the country. Just to get away from him.

"Will you return?" Oh how he wanted him to say yes. To give him a definite answer, any kind of definite answer. Akihito shrugged.

"To Japan? Yes, I might not stay though. I don't know if I will come back to you. Don't wait on me Asami. I'm putting my things in storage so you can do what you like. Find another person. Get a dog or a cat or a bird or something. And don't bribe the storage company to get my stuff back. I hope this will be good for both of us. I want this to be good for both of us. But I know it will be good for me. Goodbye Asami."

Akihito turned to go and before Asami could even think on it he was out of his chair and calling out. And Akihito stopped. He stopped for him. Looked back at him as though waiting for him to ask him to stay.

He had to go. But..

"You're leaving now?"

That tiny smile; so completely foreign on Akihito's face, sweet and sad. His grin was usually so wide, so bright and warm. When was the last time he saw Akihito smile like that?

"Yeah. My stuff's all packed. There'll be guys here tomorrow to move my stuff into the storage facility. Sorry, I know you don't like strangers coming into your home."

It had to have been recently.

My home?

Why couldn't he think?

Was it not also his?

"It's fine. I have a day off tomorrow."

"Right.. If that's all."

He was leaving again. He was going to leave. He is going to walk out that door and never return. Asami couldn't bring himself to chase him. God he wanted to. Desperately wanted to run after him and beg him not to go. But it was his choice. And he wanted to leave.

There was none of the normal frame-shaking slam of the front door as Akihito slipped out with a small, almost silent click that seemed to resonate throughout the penthouse. Could he actually hear it from his office or did he just imagine it? As though he were standing behind Akihito, sending him off for a day of work.

Asami dropped into his chair. Head spinning, heart pounding. Akihito was gone, potentially for good. Every time he walked out the door Asami always had the thought that perhaps it would be the day Akihito didn't return. But it never occurred to him it would his own choice not to.