A/N: This is my first attempt at a really full-length story, so bear with me! Also, these first few chapters, I'll really be trying to set an introduction to the plotline I've been thinking over for a few months now. Please be patient. I want to get to the fun stuff too, but as with anything DtB, it needs a good dosing of angst to really get things moving. I really, really need lots of reviews on what I can do better. This is the first time I've tried to do anything like this! I'll stop babbling now. Thank you so much if you're deciding to try reading this!

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Her worst fears were confirmed as the door was slowly nudged open. Strangely empty of all personal effects, the apartment seemed as though it had never been inhabited. As the old landlady babbled on about the good student he had been, she stepped through as if he would explode out from a corner, crying "Surprise!" and grin with that twisted smile of his. Only the truth remained to greet her, however, as the threadbare apartment gave up its heart and soul to her.

He had always been strange. That much was easy to tell. It wouldn't surprise her at all that his home seemed less than lived in. Still, it was almost as if he were depriving himself by surviving this way. Trying to hide the pain that crashed down on her, the woman struggled to maintain an objective viewpoint. As much as she wanted to believe otherwise, he was a contractor. He had killed before. He had lied to her every time she looked at him, or spoke a friendly word. And, he was gone.

Almost absentmindedly, her gaze drifted to the single window that graced the wall. The view presented to her, a snapshot of the smog-entrenched city streets, seemed to press in on the walls. Even through all that, she noticed, green was everywhere. Even in the polluted air and surrounded by concrete, bushes blossomed from any available land. Trees dotted the landscape. Even through all the hardships, growing in a place and a way that did not suit them, they still managed to thrive and carve out a home. Her amber eyes, now soft and sad, wandered the landscape as if drinking it in. Almost as if unbelieving, her mind took a moment to register what she saw.

A single figure, jacketed in forest green, trudged slowly across a bridge.

Wait for me. The thought seemed to explode from her as she raced across the cityscape. Even as her breath pounded and her lungs began to burn, she called to him, to wait for just a moment. Her mind raced. What would she say to him if he stopped? Should she thank him for saving her life? Should she be afraid of him? Would he kill her? The questions matched her breakneck pace, but didn't seem to leave a mark on her mind.

"Misaki."

He didn't even seem to be running. Somewhere, a part of her that watched the melancholy play that was their life laughed at the sheer unfairness of it all. She, a trained policewoman, couldn't catch up to a man that barely seemed to be speed-walking, even when she was running flat-out.

"Misaki..."

But, even as the air came in gasping breaths, the barest hint of a smile began to creep into the corners of her mouth. She could catch him. She would. And then, she would hear his answer. She had so many questions! Her mind spun from the events of the past few weeks. She was running faster, and he was just a little farther ahead! Hair flying, she turned the corner, but he was –

"Misaki! Wake up and do your work!"

Kirihara Misaki flew back in her chair, eyes going wide. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, the woman realized that she had been staring at the same form for 5 minutes. Grinning a little foolishly, she glanced up to where Mayu Ootsuka sat waiting.

"S—Sorry..I don't know what came over me there..Just let my mind wander a little.." Trying to hide how flustered she was, Misaki patted down the blue jacket she always wore until her hands encountered the imprint of a pen beneath a pocket. A quick flick of the fingers, and the papers were signed and back in Mayu's hands. The Astrological Department aid looked as if she would say something, but thought the better of it and was out the door.

Safely alone in her office once more, Kirihara relaxed back into her thoughts. It had been three months since the day of the solar maximum. Things in her workplace had settled back into a semi-normalcy, but she couldn't get the unfinished feeling out of her thoughts. It was as if your favorite book had climaxed, but the last pages of the novel had been torn out violently. Questions whirled unanswered in her mind.

As had been predicted, the world had not reacted well to the admission that Contractors existed. The public was still in a state of shock, though the initial outrage had worn off after a few weeks. Instead, the stage of bewildered fear was setting in. Unable to tell who was a contractor or who was human, most had simply settled for a general mistrust of strangers. The world was not the place it had been.

The work day faded to a close. As her co-workers trickled out of the office for the night, Misaki hung behind tying up the loose ends. She was the last to leave the office floor once again, flicking off the lights as she tucked her stray belongings into a bag slung over her shoulder.

If you asked her if her decision to reveal the Contractors bothered her, Misaki would of course agree. Many times she had had to explain away the dark circles under her eyes, unwilling to reveal the nightmares that kept her up at night. She wondered at exactly how many deaths she had caused.

Still, Misaki firmly believed that she had prevented just as many deaths. Though it was difficult, the policewoman held to her faith that the truth would prevail. Contractors could not hide forever, that fact had been carved in stone along with the appearance of the Gates.

A key turned roughly in the lock. As she pushed the door to her apartment open, Misaki sank gratefully onto a couch.

The world was moving on. Eventually the shock and paranoia would fade to distrust, and eventually to a thought kept on the back shelf of one's mind, out of notice. The populace would wonder that they had ever felt such emotions about living around the Contractors. They would trust again.

Kirihara couldn't help wondering if she would, though.