Chapter Text
Shinnosuke takes great care as he helps put in hair pins right where Kiriko normally has them. They’re both nervous this morning, and he’s found it helpful for both of them to help each other look their very best for their ‘special guest’. Hence, why he’s helping his wife pin her hair up while she finishes doing her necktie. “...there,” he finally states as he gets the last hairpin in place. “You look parade fit.”
“Thank you. Ah, but here…” As soon as she finishes her tie, she turns around to help straighten his own necktie.
Shinnosuke smiles as he tilts his head up, letting her fuss over him for a moment. “Thanks. I just hope everyone got that memo we sent out last night…”
“I’m sure they did. And if they didn’t? We will make sure that they at least fit the dress code, if not have clean work spaces…” Kiriko’s hands shake a little, even as she finishes straightening out his necktie and shirt.
Shinnosuke gently holds her hands in his own. “It’ll be alright. Just 30 days of a fair assessment, and we can finally get you your Captaincy. No more of them trying to delay it any further.” His face grew serious. “And even if they do try one more time, we’ll finally have an excuse to file formal complaints to the very top.”
Kiriko nods in firm agreement. “Indeed. Though I’m loath to go that far…at least we’re finally close to ending this unnecessary delay.” She gently squeezes his hands. “...thank you, for standing by me all this time.”
Shinnosuke leans down to gently kiss her. “Of course I’m on your side. We’re more than spouses - we’re partners. And I’d be a terrible partner if I don’t support you all the way.”
Kiriko leans up to kiss him right back. “And I’m very grateful for your support, Shinnosuke. Let’s continue supporting each other…”
“Yeah…until we’re both old and gray…”
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The drive down to SIU was a little more pleasant than usual this morning. Traffic was decent for once, and the sun was shining brightly. Once the car was parked, they both followed their usual clock-in routines for a morning shift. Shinnosuke made sure that what few milk ball boxes he had were all closed and grouped up neatly at one corner of his desk, while Kiriko did a cursory check of everyone else’s desks in the main office area real quick.
“...it seems like they got the memo,” She tells him once she’s done. “Any trash, at least, has been removed from all desk surfaces.”
“Good. Let’s go greet our guest, then.” Shinnosuke then follows her out to the main entrance, where they waited for a bit…
And then a certain car pulled in into the parking area, and within moments Ichijou walked out of said parking area and towards the main entrance. He’s dressed very much like any other detective, instead of the higher-ranking official that he is. “Good morning. I am Superintendent Ichijou Kaoru. I presume I’m speaking with both Sergeant and Detective Tomari?”
“You are. Sergeant Tomari Kiriko…”
“...and Detective Tomari Shinnosuke.” Both him and his wife bow in unison. “It’s an honor to finally have you here, Superintendent.”
“The honor is mine,” Ichijou replies with a warm smile and a return bow. “I’ve heard many great things about your unit. I look forward to getting to know it better, as part of my assessment.”
“We welcome your fair and professional assessment,” Kiriko says honestly. “Please follow us…” She leads both men through the main lobby, saluting any officers that salute her first. She also ignores anyone staring in shock and awe at their ‘special guest’, instead focusing on heading to one of the smaller meeting rooms. “My actual desk is in the common office area, and I think we need to discuss a few things first in private.”
Both men nod in agreement, and Shinnosuke makes sure to close the door behind them.
Once everyone is settled at the small meeting table, Ichijou begins. “I want to first thank you both for trusting me with this assessment. If I must be honest, I personally find it completely unnecessary for anyone seeking the rank of Captain - or any rank, for that matter. But…”
“But someone at HQ is insisting upon it,” Kiriko agrees. “We understand, Ichijou-san, and we appreciate you being willing to help carry it out regardless of your personal feelings.”
“You have quite the reputation to be stern yet fair,” Shinnosuke continues. “We both respect you for that, and we both welcome such a viewpoint on your assessment.”
Ichijou seems to be trying not to smile as he bows his head in gratitude. “Again, I thank you both for trusting me so much. I will do my best to not let you down by being unfair and unprofessional in any way.” He pauses briefly, before adding, “There is, however, something I must warn you two about. It’s about who gave me the actual assessment paperwork. I have a suspicion that he’s the one who’s actively blocking your promotion, Sergeant Tomari.”
Kiriko’s stomach starts to sink, but she doesn’t let it show. Much. “Who is it?”
“...It’s Senior Commissioner Sugiyama Ryuuya.”
Both Tomari gasps in shock, but it’s Shinnosuke who recovers first. “That little bastard…!” He swears as his temper flares up. “It’s bad enough that he talked HQ out of preventing any Rider from leading SIU, just to ruin our original leadership plans--”
Kiriko quickly shoots him a Look. “Shinnosuke,” she warns him in that commanding tone.
Shinnosuke looks back at her…and then sighs as he does his best to stifle his feelings.
“I apologize for my partner’s outburst…”
Ichijou shakes his head. “No, I completely understand his reason for feeling that way. Senior Commissioner Sugiyama is unfortunately one of the few members of HQ who do not truly understand or appreciate the work that Riders such as yourself, Detective, do on a regular basis. At least, that is how it seems to me…”
“And he is trying to make you be as harsh to me as possible during this assessment,” Kiriko quietly points out.
“Yes…yes, he is. But I have no intentions to make it unfair - not deliberately, at least. However, there may still be times where I have to be sterner or stricter than you may be used to…”
Kiriko nods firmly. “I completely understand, Superintendent, and I accept that possibility.”
Shinnosuke nods in agreement as well. “Do what you have to do, Superintendent Ichijou. We both trust you to do this right, even if you have to be very strict about it. And if the Senior Commissioner tries to mess with this assessment? We will both support any complaints you wish to file regarding such unnecessary levels of involvement.”
Ichijou nods in firm agreement. “I will keep that in mind. Thank you, both of you, for once again trusting me to do this fairly.”
They exchanged bows once more, and then left the meeting room. Kiriko leads the men over to the main office area, where most of the regular workers are gathered. Shiro Kazami is chatting with Joji at the latter’s desk, while Rinko is busy checking her emails. Rinna is chatting with a couple of the junior officers as they all wait for their printouts near the main office printer. Otta Genpachi is busy working on a file, but stops as soon as he sees the three walk in. “Ah, is that--?!”
Shinnosuke nods to him, and then stands at the ready. “Everyone…Attention!”
Everyone immediately stops what they’re doing to turn towards the front and salute at attention.
Kiriko salutes them back. “At ease,” she calls out firmly. “I want to introduce to everyone a very important guest - Superintendent Ichijou Kaoru. He will be here performing a certain assessment for the next 30 days at my request. Please give him your full respect and cooperation at this time.”
As soon as they hear her say ‘at my request’, most relax visibly.
“I understand that this is unusual for me to be here,” Ichijou explains to everyone. “But Sergeant Tomari has specifically requested me to carry out this assessment. Truthfully, I am honored to be here even without such a reason, and I hope we can all work together to help protect the peace and safety of all who wish to live peacefully here in Tokyo - regardless of who or what they are.” He bows respectfully…and then looks a little surprise at receiving applause at all from everyone.
“Everyone, as you were…” Shinnosuke heads over to his own desk, even as everyone returns to their tasks and conversations.
Kiriko gestures for the new desk setup near hers. “Here is where you'll be sitting for the next month or so, Superintendent.”
“Thank you very much.” Ichijou nods gratefully as he settles himself at that desk. He's walked through getting his credentials working at this new station for him, and then nods again to Kiriko. “For this first week, I'll mostly be observing. Though if there's ever an opportunity for me to help in any way…”
“We will certainly welcome your help, should such a scenario happen,” Kiriko reassures him. Honestly, with how well he's being accepted, she's starting to think that this first week may go smoothly…
Until Otta walks up to Ichijou with a pad and pen in hand. “Um…S-Superintendent Ichijou?”
“Yes?”
“I…I'm Lieutenant Otta Genpachio. And I…” He suddenly bows while holding out his notepad and paper. “May I have your signature? Please?! I'm such a big fan of yours…!”
Everyone went quiet for a moment or two. And then a junior officer whispered to their coworker - something about Otta acting childish again. Shinnosuke sighs as he sinks his face into the palm of his hand.
Kiriko, however, suddenly feels quite irritated about the whole thing. “Lieutenant Otta, he is here for work, not for a signing session,” she scolds him. “Please return back to your duties!”
Otta flinches at how harsh her tone was. “Ahh--yes, of course! F-Forgive me…” He hastily bows in apology before rushing back to his desk.
This is going to be a long month, she silently muses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Godai lays there as his body is run through the MRI one more time, grateful that this new version isn't going nuts as it scans over where his belt normally is. It makes it easier to not have to deal with just X-rays.
Tsubaki Shuuichi eyes the results before looking up over the top of the computer screens. “You can get dressed now, Godai.”
“Alright!” Nothing unusual about this; Tsubaki does sometimes do a full-body scan and check over every part of him professionally. So, Godai quickly gets back into his clothes and sits down in the nearest chair. “So…how am I?”
“That little bit that was fiddling around with the part of your mind that controls your hormones? It seems to not be moving and growing anymore. So we can safely say that, at this time, I would not be expecting any extra cycles beyond the one you're on for this year.”
“Thank goodness…! It's frustrating enough to deal with one as it is, even with a wonderful partner like Kaoru to help…”
“I can imagine. I have a theory that your body instinctively sees him as your mate now, which is why you're not being driven to have multiple cycles per year. The fact that he’s been consistently satisfying you for each cycle from the very beginning is why you're currently stable both physically and mentally, and have been since that first cycle. Just continue what you both have been doing as well as staying relatively close to each other during this cycle, and there won't be any major changes in your stability in the foreseeable future.”
Godai grins happily. “Good to have that confirmed, at least. And is there anything it's showing about the pelvic area? That's where I've been feeling the most recent shifting…”
Tsubaki frowns worriedly. “That…is the odd thing going on with you. It appears that it's trying to shift your pelvis to be…wider, more spread open. It's slowly strengthening the bones as well, as if expecting you to carry something in your lower belly.”
“Carry? Like…a baby?” The idea makes Godai's heart skip a beat.
“I cannot be certain about that at this time. But I think the Amadam might be trying to make a major change. It doesn't seem to be making it quickly, since things are relatively peaceful right now. But definitely not anything subtle, either. Here, look at this.” Tsubaki brings up two images, one on each screen. “The one on the left is from your check-up in fall 2015. The one on the right was taken just now.” Both show his pelvis area, but the one on the right shows…something; some small mass that seems to be floating in the area between Godai's reproductive organs and his colon, right where many of the tiny tendril from the Amadam seems to be converging on.
Godai stares at it for a few moments. “...what is it?”
“I'm not sure. I have a few theories…but I need to wait until your cycle is done before we do another scan. Have you been feeling any aches and pains, though?”
“Just a couple of dull aches here and there, nothing serious.” Godai sits back in his chair. “Still…I wonder why it's making that kind of change now…”
“That's hard to say. I'm not sure if this would be something mentioned in those ancient texts. We may very well be entering unknown territory in this case.”
Godai slowly nods. “...well, if the pain gets worse, I'll let you know.”
“Or have that partner of yours just drag you over here anyway.”
“That, too, yes.” Godai grins and gives him a thumbs-up. “Oh! Could you send that updated scans and stuff to SIU? Just them, just in case they have to treat me instead in an emergency?”
Tsubaki nods in agreement. “Of course. Will you be spending time with them, then?”
“Yeah, I'll be volunteering with them while Ichijou is stuck doing that assessment.”
Tsubaki shakes his head. “I still can’t believe that someone at HQ still doesn't trust women to be captains in the police force… It's very illogical in this day and age.”
“You’re not the only one who feels that way, Tsubaki-san. But I trust Kaoru to do it right, to make it very clear once and for all that she really is ready for her due promotion.”
“...let's hope he actually makes it happen…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ichijou reads a printed copy of Tsubaki's report with a mixture of relief and concern in his eyes. They’re back at the hotel, enjoying some boxed meals for their dinner. “Well…at least there's nothing that would indicate a terrible change going on at this time. So if we continue as we are now…”
“...I'll still be fine throughout this cycle,” Godai finishes for him with a reassuring smile. “And whatever is going on in my pelvic area is moving slowly, which is why it hasn't been hurting much.”
Ichijou nods, and then takes a gulp of his drink. “And yet, there's something growing down there…some kind of new organ most likely, but we don't know what it is yet…” He’s quiet as he eats, a bit lost in his thoughts.
Godai is quiet as well. “.. hey, Kaoru?”
“Yes?”
“What if…what if it’s…connected to these cycles?”
Ichijou nearly chokes on his food. “Don't make suggestions that you don't have proof for! We're still both men!”
“I know! I know we're both men! It's just…” Godai's voice fails him for a moment. “There has to be a reason why I have this kind of cycle, beyond the Amadam deeming it so. And…even if it’s not what I think it might be…maybe–”
“Yuusuke, please…don't give me any false hopes.” Ichijou's voice sounds pained. “I…I've already come to terms with the idea of never being able to give my mother any grandchildren. I just…this isn't the right time - not until we’re certain it is what you hope it to be.”
Godai gazes into his partner’s eyes for a moment. “...are you still that worried about your career?”
“...No,” Ichijou finds himself saying. “Not anymore. I can handle being stuck as a Superintendent for the rest of my career, should it become known that I'm gay. I…I think I'm too important for them to just fire anymore, over that alone. The real issue, though…”
Godai looks surprised. “The real issue…?”
“...they only have you down as a Kamen Rider on SIU's files. Everywhere else, even at HQ…you're still listed as just Unidentified Life Form #4.”
The implications hang heavy between them for a moment.
“Kaoru…you don't have to protect me like this…”
“But what if I do? There are still members of the police force who do not believe in or trust Kamen Riders. Some even see them as another threat - one that had been tolerated for far too long. I just - I can’t put you at that kind of risk, if they ever learn about our relationship…!”
Godai rises out of his chair and moves over to hug his partner. “...I may be at that kind of risk anyway, even if we never became partners. We all are, as Kamen Riders. But it's a risk I'm willing to take, especially if it means being by your side.”
Ichijou’s hands cling to Godai’s arms. “...you loving fool,” he whispers.
Godai kisses the top of Ichijou’s head. “I’m your fool, remember? Always have been, always will.”
Tears finally form on the edge of Ichijou’s eyes as he takes a few deep breaths. “...you really will stay with me, even if they find out?”
“Absolutely. I just--” Godai pauses. “…I’ve just been afraid of being the reason why they would throw you out of the police force.”
“...you wouldn’t be the reason at all,” Ichijou admits. “They may say otherwise…but it’s not. Worst case scenario…we’ll find some other way. Open my own PI agency, maybe.”
“Well, if you ever do that, we can always ask for tips from my kouhai in Fuuto.”
Ichijou scoffs tearfully. “Right…like someone as half-boiled as Hidari could give such useful advice that I wouldn’t already know…!”
Godai gives him a gentle squeeze of a hug before letting go. He digs out a handkerchief for Ichijou to dry his eyes with.
They return to eating, but once the meal is done, Ichijou looks very torn. “...Yuusuke. Do you…really want children? And I’m not talking about whatever’s influencing your brain during this cycle alone.”
Godai ponders over that for a few moments. “...maybe. I mean…we compliment each other. And any child that we do raise, I know we can give them all the love and support they’ll ever need. Plus it helps that you make enough money for a full family as well.”
“Mn…we’ll see whatever that thing inside of you develops into. But…if that possibility ever comes up…I want to talk about it further, after your current cycle is done.”
Godai beams a pleased smile at his partner, and that sets Ichijou’s heart at ease for the moment.
“Now, how are you feeling right now?”
“Nearly normal, actually. I literally ran all over the place today, so the itch is pretty mild.”
“That’s good. Want to get it out of the way so that we can chat more clearly?”
“Absolutely! Ah, but let’s clean up first before we get too distracted by that…”