40 Hands
- A Clamp Campus Detectives Fanfiction -
To know Nokoru was to love him... but it was also to want to kill him.
Takamura Suoh sat at the table, wondering why he'd ever decided that Nokoru was his One. Dressed in casual – and chain store brand – clothing, they were doing their best to blend into the college bar scene. Suoh nursed his virgin drink, but Nokoru had two bottles of Mickey's taped to his palms, having been roped into a game of 40 Hands.
The concept of the game was simple enough. The players – the bar had eight – were trying to empty the bottles as quickly as they could without throwing up. Nokoru was doing quite well, having drained the first and started on the second. He was still smiling, although his occasional words were starting to slur.
Suoh didn't buy it. Somehow the youngest Imonoyama possessed the liver of a seasoned drinker, and Suoh could tell he was distressingly sober. But Nokoru was having fun with it, hitting on a couple of the women – no one would call them "ladies" - playfully the more "drunk" he became. Nokoru was such a drama queen.
"So, Hajime-kun, do you want to go to my house later?" A buxom redhead asked, leaning up against "Sora Hajime" in a fashion that made Suoh want to start throwing kunai.
Nokoru pressed a finger against his lips. "I would, but my boyfriend wouldn't like it," he said, feigning disappointment. He moved out of the inebriated woman's reach, not coincidentally ending up resting against Suoh's right arm. Suoh gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he still could wreak havoc using his left hand if the situation required it.
The woman blinked watery eyes at them, and her lips curled in a lascivious smile. "Maybe I can go home with both of you," she suggested.
Suoh blushed, and opened his mouth to tell her exactly where she could go, but Nokoru laughed. "Not tonight, but maybe we can pay you a visit later?" He took another pull on the bottle in his right hand.
The woman smiled. "That would be nice. Would you like my address?"
Nokoru nodded to a napkin on the counter. "My hands are full. Can you write it down for me? Ken-kun, if you could give her a pen?"
Suoh shifted, pulling out a Bic pen – offering his usual, gold-leaf pen would be a dead giveaway that he wasn't what he appeared to be – and handed it over to the woman. She picked it up, and spent a minute scrawling across a white paper napkin. With a wink, she tossed the pen and napkin in front of Nokoru. "Call me this week," she encouraged, before swaying off to find other prey.
They were silent for several minutes, Nokoru returning to the bottle in his right hand. Then he moved so his lips were against Suoh's right ear. To most people, it would look like a rather inappropriate public display of affection. "Did you notice the ring she was wearing?" Nokoru murmured.
"Of course," Suoh replied. It was impossible to miss a diamond nearly the size of a golf ball. "You think she's Tachibana's fiancee?"
Nokoru nodded in reply. "We can check the fingerprints on the pen for more information, and maybe the address she gave might help in our investigation."
Suoh felt his muscles relax. "Then we've got what we came for," he replied. "Let's go."
Nokoru pulled back, and Suoh saw an imp of mischief that made Suoh want to pull his hair out – or strangle Nokoru. He knew his One well enough to recognize Nokoru was about to do something that would irritate him.
"Not until I finish the game!" he said, smiling brilliantly as he took another drink. "An Imonoyama never leaves things unfinished!"
Suoh glanced at the still half-full bottle, his overly cheerful charge, and mentally sighed. They were never doing another undercover assignment again.