By Your Side (At any price)
Rating: Teen this chapter, Mature eventually
At the beginning of a Wakachi mission... this is the moment when Gau shines. Before the judgement, before the sword falls and the blood splatters. When it's all just speculation, when someone somewhere implied that maybe this guy had done something wrong and someone ought to check it out.
Research. This is Gau's strength, adding 1+2+5 and getting 'innocent' or 'guilty'. Linking one piece of evidence to another and coming up with a full profile of the accused, the names and addresses necessary to find the full extent of the corrosion. It's a little like cleaning his mother's stove as a child, scraping away the grease that would get built up on the surface when she hurriedly cooked a meal and then ran off to her job.
During the actual 'judgement' phase, he is not quite so useful. There are times, when there are multiple targets or some unexpected interference happens, when his kunai draws blood. There are times when he distracts an enemy with something utterly foolish and instinctual like throwing his notebook at their head. Most of the time, however, he stands back and watches as his stronger counterpart moves forward to make the kill.
Watches, green eyes locked on every movement, taking in each flex of muscle, every serene smile, every slice of the sharp blade. Sometimes, his thoughts are busy analyzing, considering if Raikou is at his best on the particular day, if he could have been a touch faster, avoided some attack, more efficiently finished the work. Something, his thoughts are busy planning his next training session, making note to himself to remind Raikou to show him this move or explain that strategy.
Then, there are the days when his mind misbehaves, when his emerald eyes are watching for nothing more than pleasure. When the beauty of each movement, the sway of silken pink hair, the subtle shift of the fabric of the hakama, catch his eyes and hold them, trapped in dreams of his partner that will not - can not - come true.
These days are coming far more often, as he grows older, he's finding.
On all days, however, after the kill is made, when blade or blades are being wiped on clothing or grass, when the criminal's last breath has been drawn and the light is fading from their eyes, it's his turn again. He is swift and precise about collecting the necessary data, does not hesitate or pause to weep over the dead, to mourn his own innocence or lose his breakfast over the particular physical condition of a corpse.
(Those days are past for him, the first sight of uncoiling spilled intestines, the first kill of his own, the first shudder at having known and worked with someone they now must judge. These things are behind him, already. He's fifteen and has put away such foolishness.)
On this particular day, as with many days, the trip home to the suite they share, furnished by Hattori, is quiet and slightly breathless, as the adrenaline of what might have for a moment looked like a close call continues to course through the older and the younger partner equally. On this particular day, Gau has had to defend himself, if not attack, and his cream sweater vest is marred with dark blood.
It isn't going to come out. He's sure of it, and he grumbles over the fact as soon as they are done giving their report to their leader, unlocks the door to their shared suite, only to see Raikou hesitating.
It's going to be another one of those nights, he can tell, from the way Raikou's smile has turned up a notch, has become almost playful. From the way Raikou follows him in, slides off his shoes, and then immediately steps away from Gau, putting distance between them. The older teen - almost not a teen anymore, really - walks into the kitchen area, opens the fridge, closes it again.
Making sure there is food for Gau to make for dinner. Making sure the boy won't have to order out or leave the suite by himself, before Raikou comes back in the morning.
There's a frown on the younger boy's face, and he attributes it to the ruined sweater, as he strips out of it and sends it directly to the trash. HIs dress shirt follows, also ruined, though his tie is set carefully aside, hung up in the laundry area beside the kitchen. He stands there, half-dressed and a little disgusted with the world, and waits for the words to come.
"Be sure you lock the door behind me."
There they are, the same as so many other evenings. On these nights, when Raikou's calm is slipping a little, when the samurai feels as if he isn't completely in control of himself, he goes out. Gau didn't ask, at first, during those first few months when they were learning to live with each other, starting to find their places. And when he finally had asked the question, he'd gotten 'you're a little young' for a while, and then finally, the explanation.
Now, standing between the kitchen and the laundry area, shoulders shifted away from Raikou as if his bare chest is something to be ashamed of, his mind flashes with images of the things that Raikou does on these nights out, with other people. Other adults, who know the score and don't mind a random hook-up with a pretty and dangerous man.
There's a flush that steals over his skin, and that's like every time too. Only this time he's half-dressed, and he knows that Raikou can see it, knows that his bare back - slight freckled and not as broad as he'd like - must hold the heat.
"Gau, did you hear me? Lock the door behind me, all right?" There's a worried tone, now, because the proper response is 'yes, Raikou-san' and he isn't saying it. Maybe Raikou will think that he was hurt after all, or that he's scared, or somehow traumatized?
Maybe he'll let Raikou think that, and Raikou will stay? And settle himself just out of arm's length, reading a book, and watch over Gau while he goes through his own post-mission rituals, until he goes to sleep. Then Raikou will either go out anyway, or he'll get that edgy caged-animal look in his eyes, until the next night, when he'll go.
Either way, eventually he'll go. Off to touch other people, release his emotions and his physical desires with some stranger who won't ever get his real name, most likely. Who certainly won't know or care about the reasons why. And Gau has never had reason to believe that Raikou wants it any other way, except that there's a wary look in Raikou's eyes and...
He tests it. Takes a step toward Raikou.
His partner, in turn, takes a step away. There's a flash of something in his eyes, there and gone, and then Raikou is turning his head, looking toward the door again.
Gau advances, again, this time, for the first time ever. And for the first time, he keeps his gaze steady on Raikou's face, reaches out to take hold of one tattooed arm, just above the metal bracelet.
"Stay with me tonight."