Kuwabara

It was never a problem for Raikov to find someone to treat him how he wanted. He had his fair share of idealistic men saying they'd take him away from the harshness of life with their money and of course their love. But the fact of the matter remained that he didn't want freedom or a house with a white picket fence or their false promises. Because reality had proven to be much more cruel. And cruelty was the only constant in his life.

"You're sure you don't want me to get anything from the-"

"No. What're you worried for? It's only a scratch."

"…Yeah, I guess you're right. I didn't mean to be so forceful…"

"I'm going," he didn't provide an explanation. He didn't have to seeing as calling what they had a relationship was laughable. And even people in real relationships didn't feel obligated to account for their whereabouts at every instant. Instead of speaking anymore he pulled on his pants and shirt then headed for the door.

"I-I'll see you later!"

"Sure."

What's the point in apologizing for hurting me when I asked you to? What an idiot. His lip curled in disgust as he stepped out onto the street. People he didn't have a problem with-people who pretended to be what they weren't he did. As such he walked with his nose in the air, ignoring the looks people gave him for daring to appear in public even with a 'condition' such as his own. Because there could be no mistaking the nature of his and Colonel Volgin's relationship. Especially after guards had started talking. He'd had to get rid of them of course. Ocelot to his credit had kept his big mouth shut seeing as it had nothing to do with him. They hadn't kept in touch much however since neither of them seemed to stay in one place for very long. Being a traitor doesn't reflect well on someone either. He'd wanted to kill Ocelot at the time-maybe still did kind of want to-but for the most the desire had faded to a faint dislike. After all, the other man deserved his hatred. A lot of people did as far as he was concerned.

His own house didn't look like much on the outside or inside with its peeling paint and sinking porch. At one time he would've demanded it be fixed. But not anymore. What's the point anyway? I never bring anyone back here. And besides, even if I did it's not like I have the money. Getting a job was notoriously difficult for 'someone like him' unless he wanted to be a whore. Which would strip him of the remaining rights he had left of course. So for now he just moved from city to city trying to sell any art he managed to finish and doing the occasional odd job for a pittance.

He hadn't slept the night before being that he had been in a stranger's bed-a doting stranger which was even worse. Always asking if I was alright. Always stopping like I'm some fragile little flower. It's that type I hate the most. Even the moth eaten mattress lying on the floor looked like a nice place to rest at the moment but once he lay down it didn't yield any real comfort to him. It poked and prodded places that had yet to heal from previous romps with other men. The ones who hurt him without a second thought and definitely didn't give a fuck whether their actions would prevent him from working for a week or not. But even that's better than the 'nice' ones. Still, no bed could compare to the ones back at Grozny Grad because that had never been about the comfort or the warmth. He had a bad habit of just leaving in the middle of the night though. Idiot.

~~**~~

He shivered and banged his head against metal with a sound that echoed throughout the tiny space. Where the hell am I?! It took him about twenty seconds to figure out that he had been crammed into a locker. In his underwear. The door flew open with enough force to smack the locker next to it and send them both shrieking but he ignored it. Firstly because he was cold and secondly because he couldn't figure out exactly how he'd gotten in the locker in the first place. I don't remember anyone coming up to me. Or eating anything weird. This better not be some kind of joke! Despite being in just his black thong he stormed out of the locker room and to the next area.

"M-Major!"

"What the HELL is going on here?! Come here!"

The other soldier slunk over, hand raised in a salute and eyes on the floor, "S-Sir, we w-were looking all o-over for you Sir!"

"Then I guess you won't mind telling me what's going on!"

"R-Right! It…It s-seems there was a b-breach of security and an A-American a-agent infiltrated the b-base S-Sir," the officer's entire body shook as he delivered the report from fear that he would get beaten if he said the wrong thing.

"And you idiots didn't even notice?! What kind of guards are you?! Where's the Colonel?!"

"H-H-He's gone after the a-agent S-Sir!" he took a step back without raising his eyes.

"Fine. Tell him I'll be in his room when he gets back."

He knew the way off by heart of course. He could've closed his eyes and found the other man's room. For the moment he pulled a shirt out of the dresser until he could get his own clothing. Even if he worked out for hours a day he still swam in excess fabric and the hem hung down to mid thigh on him where it would've fit perfectly on Volgin. The bed creaked when he sat down on it but he paid it no mind considering fuzziness still remained in his head. I must have been drugged. Dammit! When I find the stupid asshole that did this… Maybe for now he'd just sleep a little more.

~~**~~

Returning to the base never proved to be an adventure in simplicity. The government had done everything up to demolishing it and now most of the occupants came in the form of the homeless and feral dogs. Of course everything had been cleaned up because there could be no leaking of important government information to the public-all that remained now was an empty husk of the area's former self. Like the building had shed its skin and moved on to better things while he went back just to stand in the ruins to remember what is used to be. Not that he loved the place or thought it to be a particularly profound example of architecture but walking the halls made him think. His footfalls still sounded the same on the floor despite the layer of dust coating each plank of wood. Without his uniform it felt wrong just strolling nonchalantly through the corridors but what the hell did he care? He was Major Raikov. This was the only place he was still Major Raikov though he no longer had any underlings to abuse.

He didn't bother with stupid gestures like going to his old room or even Volgin's-he stayed away from them in favour of pulling books off of the library shelves. Why didn't they take them? Not that these stupid things are worth much anyway. It hadn't been long since they'd deserted the place so of course the novels hadn't aged much. Two years wouldn't kill a book. The pages had yellowed more but they didn't crumble like unstable structures under his fingers. They'd been made to last like the building that housed them so he didn't coddle them when he flipped through, eyes scanning the words idly.

Somewhere a door slammed. Probably the wind and he didn't go to see what had caused it. The book was placed back on the shelf before he walked out.

"Major."

"Oh. Didn't expect to see you here."

"Why wouldn't I be back here Ocelot?" he crossed his arms over his chest. His hand would've gone for his gun if he'd thought the other man would've shot at him.

"I didn't think you were in this area anymore."

"I'm not. I decided I wanted to take a fun filled day trip and ended up here."

They didn't get any closer than 5 feet. Raikov didn't hide his glare or try to keep the venom out of his words but Ocelot had never really cared if he was angry at him or not. They had existed peacefully for the sole reason that they understood that the other couldn't give a damn about what the other thought. Adamska had kept his thoughts about Volgin mostly to himself and Ivan had tried not to mention how he was pretty sure Ocelot had the intelligence of a bag of old rusty nails.

"You believe in ghosts?"

"Don't be stupid Ocelot. If you think I'm here because of some weak willed reason like seeing if I can have a tearful reunion with the ghost of the Colonel then you're dumber than I thought," he rolled his eyes.

"So you haven't heard the rumours the place is haunted?"

Raikov clenched his jaw, patience quickly running out, "no and I don't believe it. There's no such thing as ghosts."

"I guess not."

"Try not to piss yourself from the idea Ocelot."

"Like I would. You know most people say I'm brave."

"Then you must have some idiots for friends."

The other man scratched his head, "I knew I shouldn't have come today…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Anyway I'm off. Don't run into any ghosts."

"If I do I'll be sure to let you know first," Ivan muttered.

And then they went their separate ways. He hoped that he wouldn't run into the other man again not only because he hated him but also because he was just incredibly annoying. Ghosts. Like Yevgeny would come back as a ghost. The blonde headed for the locker room. It too remained deserted and he kicked the lockers to demonstrate his contempt for them.

"Stupid!"

~~**~~

"Hey. You know he's not coming back, right?"

"What are you talking about Ocelot?" he yawned before turning over to narrow his eyes at the other soldier.

"He got hit by lightning. Everyone's clearing out so you may as well too."

"Don't lie about things like that!" he'd nearly reached Ocelot when the revolver came out of the other's holster.

"I'm not lying. And I don't want to use you as target practice so back up."

"Fine. Take me to him or I won't believe you."

Adamska shrugged, gloved hands held in front of him, "alright. But I'd still get out of here as fast as possible unless you wanna be the one the government blames for this whole thing."

They stopped by his room so he could change into clothing that would actually fit then moved on. He left all of his belongings inside though he didn't anticipate having time to come back to get them. The ground outside showed signs of rain and he kept one eye on the overcast sky to see if it would start up again. He hadn't been told about the Shagohod or anything like that in detail but he knew an unnatural piece of machinery when he saw it. They stopped-Ocelot earlier than he-and Raikov wasted no time in scaling the machine to get to the top. Of course being hit by lightning didn't leave a particularly pretty corpse and he would've looked away if it'd been someone he hadn't cared about.

"…Leaving me alone are you? You're so selfish Yevgeny. I won't stop hating you. I'll hate you until I die for this. I won't forgive you so don't expect it if you have an afterlife. And I won't come back here again. I won't visit your grave and on my last breath I'll tell you that I still hate you," he clenched his fists and felt tempted to punch the Colonel to make his point, "I hope you don't expect me to mourn you Yevgeny because I won't. I won't. I'd rather die than do that."

Ocelot stared up at him, "Major Raikov I really don't-"

"Shut up! You didn't do anything to help you traitor! Betraying your country for a stupid American!" he snapped. He didn't care about Ocelot at all other than the hatred now. He'd heard rumours about things. A lot of things about the last battle. Without Volgin there the guards understandably became more lax with what they said and all he had to do was stand around a corner and he could hear all he needed to know.

Ocelot didn't say anything else and left with a small wave.

~~**~

So I lied. Because he had come back to stand in front of the tombstone with the Colonel's name etched on it, he hadn't continued hating him and he had mourned him. Coming back here didn't help the process of acceptance and sometimes-mostly on days he was alone-he expected the door to open and for the taller man to walk through. To take him away from this existence and bring him back to the way it used to be. Of course that never happened. Because Volgin was most certainly dead. It's just like him to do that. He never came back when he said he would. He hadn't minded having the run of the base but he still made a show of pouting when Volgin had returned from a trip.

Now his feet lead him unconsciously to the place where the man had died. Always his last stop Raikov never failed to slow his walking on the way. Half of him wanted to just get it over with while the other wanted to delay the process as much as possible so that maybe it would give Volgin some time to raise himself from the dead or something stupid like that. The grave wasn't anything special-just a rounded tombstone sticking out of the earth with the name on it. No inscription such as "died for his country" or any beautifully written prose. Just Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin in a sharp looking font.

Raikov didn't kneel down or touch the stone at all. He just stood staring at it like if he looked hard enough something significant would happen. His jaw clenched and he blinked quickly to try and quell the desire to cry. He was a man after all-things like that would be looked down on. But Volgin had always striven to make him cry and even now he succeeded.

"Bastard. I hope you're lonely where you are. You'll have to make this up to me. I hope you intend to Yevgeny," a tear slid down his cheek, untouched by his hand. Why bother wiping it away when more would come?

~~**~~

"Hey, what're you looking at?"

As if you care. He smiled sweetly-that was the flavour of the week today- "it's storming outside."

"Are you afraid of thunderstorms?"

"Who's afraid of a little bit of lightening?" his eyes remained on the dark sky.

"Could hit you someday."

"Hm. I doubt it."

"You're awfully cocky for someone who sits outside during storms," the nameless man commented.

Raikov shrugged.

"I'm getting something to drink, want anything?"

He shook his head and his companion headed for the kitchen. In the distance he heard a clap of thunder. "Kuwabara kuwabara."

The End

Raikov's 'condition' of course being that he's a gay. It was still considered a psychological condition during the 60s :/ They probably would've put him in a mental hospital but that would've take far too long to explain and such. Besides, MGS universe is different from our own. THAT'S MY EXCUSE AND I'M STICKING TO IT. Can you tell I'm tired yet? Going on and on about sleeping LOL. I think I may have inadvertently made Raikov smarter than he actually is :'D He's not STUPID but obviously he relies heavily on his prettiness since he doesn't even notice Snake's an intruder even with that crappy scientist disguise! XD Calling someone selfish is pretty damn rich coming from Raikov eh? He was probably the most selfish bastard in the universe ha ha