Can't turn back the tides by Silke_chan
Chapter 1 – ..:: Kiss the rain ::..
Standing in front of the glass wall of his dim office, FeiLong stared at the Hong Kong's night skyline, but he wasn't really watching. He knew where every single light, every single shadow and every single shape of that landscape was; he paid the familiar sight no notice, lost somewhere else.
The door opened behind him and, without turning, he saw the man entering in the reflection of the glass. The newcomer sat on an armchair, long legs overlapped.
"You're welcome Asami…wouldn't you like to sit?" he asked the man sarcastically, still watching outside, just receiving the man's trademark half-smirk in reply.
A low sigh escaped FeiLong's lips as he closed his eyes on the well-known landscape, only to open them again on Asami after turning to him.
"How is he doing?" he asked with a flat look, though a little shadow in his eyes betrayed, just for a moment, the true apprehension behind the mask.
"He'll be fine, that guy is tougher than you'd think," the Yakuza answered, crushing the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray on the low table in front of him. He rose and approached FeiLong.
"I should kill you for taking something that belongs to me, and letting him get captured and hurt…" the words were pronounced in a slow tone, the tone was composed, the face was unconcerned, but the narrowed eyes and the golden irises which were dangerously turning to a dark brown made it obvious that it wasn't only an impressive sentence, but the admission of an idea that Asami had seriously contemplated just a few small minutes ago.
FeiLong parted his lips for a moment, wanting to reply to what he just heard, but changed his mind, closing them again. His gaze never faltered, even for one instant, standing Asami's glare.
A slight smile broke the tension on the older man's face. He shifted his sight to the nocturnal lights of Honk Kong for a moment, thenturned back to the younger man in front of him.
"It's been a while since we could talk without sharp glances, sarcastic words…and bullets."
For an instant, a veiled smile appeared on the Chinese's lips too, but his expression returned immediately to serious and demure; Asami's closeness made him feel uncomfortable, a sensation he had always hated from the bottom of his heart.
"The offer you made me this morning, was it real?" he asked, moving away from Asami's side, to lean against the back of one of the was hoping that the physical distance would cancel that annoying feeling, too.
"Of course, I'm always serious about business, FeiLong," Asami answered, lighting another cigarette. "I need support here, in China, and it will also be convenient for you to have an ally such as me in Japan…that was true 7 years ago, and it still is now. If you really want to break off relations with the past, then…"
"I already know your opinion about our joint past, Asami. You gently explained it to me while jabbing a gun into my back some days ago…" the Chinese replied, waving a hand in an annoyed manner, "and moreover, if I brought the topic up, it means I'm considering it carefully. I just hope you're aware that I'm no longer the one you met 7 years ago…try to keep it in mind…."
"Well, I like the beautiful boy I met seven years ago very much…" Asami replied cattily, with his usual smirk, "but I have to say, you're not bad even now…"
The sharp reply and the nasty look he expected from FeiLong never came, and Asami's eyebrow rose in mild surprise.
"If it's true that we are no more like we were, it's also true that we'll never know how we would have been if…" FeiLong whispered, as though he was talking more to himself than to Asami.
"FeiLong, now that's not…"
"I'll think about it carefully, Asami. I'll be in Tokyo in seven days for other transactions, and you'll have your answer." Reestablishing a high, firm tone of voice, FeiLong stopped Asami's eventual reply.
They stared at each other silently for some moments, then Asami moved towards the low crystal table to crush the cigarette on the ashtray, now that it was nothing but a butt.
FeiLong didn't follow him with his eyes, being more attracted by the little taps on the glass, and returning to watch the blurred landscape through the thickening rain.
"FeiLong?" Asami asked, laying a hand on the forearm of the other.
FeiLong lowered his eyes to Asami's hand, then raised them to his face again.
"Uhm…yes? I'm just a bit tired…it's been two days since we slept, if I am not wrong…" he murmured.
"No, you are not…" the Yakuza replied, letting the other's arm free, putting his hands in his pockets and making his way towards the door. As he reached it, he turned back. "I'm going, so you'll be free to rest; I need to do so as well…tomorrow I'm going to bring Akihiko home…if you want to greet him, we're going to leave at 10 o'clock…"
"Thank you for this kind grant, Asami," responded the other, raising an eyebrow and giving Asami an ironic, little smile.
In return, he got Asami's famous half grin. "I won't always be this generous, let's make it clear, FeiLong."
"No doubt about that," FeiLong replied, returning to the rain, which had become roaring by now. Without turning to the older man, he added, "Asami, before you go, can you please turn off the light? Thank you…"
As soon as the room fell into the dark, and he could hear the noise of the door closing and Asami's steps in the corridor to fade away, FeiLong went towards the glass wall.
The Thousand City's lights were now only indistinct spots behind the water blancket.
The frantic events of the last three days to seek, find, recover Akihito, and put back the Arbatovs into their place, had obliged Asami and him to cooperate, willy-nilly, so they had reached the agreement to come, once and for all, to an armistice.
A logical, calculated and profitable choice… of course! Like all Asami's initiatives …
Unfortunately, FeiLong was not so sure that it was easy for him to wipe the slate clean despite the last seven years of his life. Years in which he had cultivated his need of vengeance and his hatred for Asami.
Revenge is a bond, and hatred is a feeling…. To leave that bond and that feeling, what does it mean? To erase every possible bond and feeling, or turn them into another kind of bond and…feeling? He couldn't answer that question yet.
*******
Rumi Matsunaga got off her car and cast a grim glance at the rain, which was coming down profusely. The woman gave her keys to the Club Sion's security guard who came promptly to give her an umbrella.
She headed straight inside, greeting the other guard who was standing next the door with a nod of her head. He answered with a respectful bow.
Rumi was a 45-year-old, distinguished lady. If Asami's job had included only lawful business, you could say that she was his most trusted collaborator. There was no legal activity of Asami's which did not pass from her hands. She, on the other hand, had no idea about what her boss's other business were, even though she knew that these activities existed.
It was 9.00 a.m., and that morning she should have been in a meeting with the engineers to discuss the building of a new residential area; instead, she was called urgently to Club Sion because of a minor problem. She was infuriated.
Rumi walked in leaps and bounds through the ground floor's corridor, her image refleted in the mirror-covered walls, to reach the first floor, towards lounge bar. Before stepping inside, she looked at herself in one of the big mirrors and sighed.
Asami-sama would have been there from China that afternoon … She would have preferred that he had already returned from Hong Kong!
With another sigh, the woman entered the room, greeting Kaory Wakanae, the staff director, with a little bow of her head. Kaory was giving instructions to the clean-up crew.
Rumi headed to the live music area, where she caught sight of the person who had caused her unexpected trip to Club Sion. He was sitting at the piano playing a merry melody.
The director reached her and greeted her with a bow. Kaori reported that he had arrived about an hour ago asking for Asami-sama. After Kaory said that Asami-sama was not there, he stubbornly refused to leave "Until someone tells me where he is or when I could find him here," he had said, with his disarming smile.
Rumi turned her gaze to the boy. He had changed a little since the last time she saw him; for example, his hair was longer now. But his full lips posed in what seemed a never-ending childlike grouch and the eyes of a singular color, deep brown with small golden slivers, were unmistakable. His dressing style was unmistakable as well: jeans and shirt, both strictly branded and expensive.
"Hikaru-kun…" Rumi called his attention, approaching him.
"Rumi-san…" he said, rising and bowing his head slightly to greet her.
"I don't know how to answer to your question…" She cut the matter short, not even pretending that what she had just said was not a lie.
"Obviously…." he said, sitting again on the piano stool, with calm expression.
Rumi gritted her teeth; Hikaru's compliance worried her...
The brat had always been whimsical, and in spite of the fact that he was 22, he was insistent and stubborn like a spoiled child. Probably he perceived that this time, what held Asami back was not the usual business problems or his amusement at doing what Hikaru most hated—ignoring him. It was something different.
A grin grewon Rumi's lips. Why is Rumi grinning here?
She didn't know Takaba-kun well, even though she was aware about his existence in Asami-sama's life. She strongly hoped that with Takaba in his mind, Asami-sama had finally decided relieve himself of Hikaru.... and relieve Rumi herself of him, as a logical consequence. Who is Takaba-kun? =)
"Considering that you are useless, Matsunaga-san, I'm leaving…." he added after some moments of thinking cap.
He rose and, passing beside the woman and not deigning to give her any other attention, he went straight to the exit.
The woman controlled her irritation with difficulty, but she was not able to avoid the blush on her cheeks.
She hated that dirty brat heartily, and she hated even more him, because of she did not understand. She did not understand why Asami-sama paid for the luxury house where Hikaru lived; for the expensive car he drove; for the branded clothes he wore; for the several journey around the world he made; and for all the other stupid whims he followed.
She was diverted from her thoughts by the roar of a thunder. Looking outside, Rumi strongly hoped that an errant lightning should remove that disrespectful boy forever from Asami-sama's liking, and mostly from her own life!
Hikaru exited Club Sion, hands in the back pockets of his snug jeans, and headed to his black Mercedes SLK, which was parked a block away, careless about the rain that fell thickly around him.
All of a sudden, he stopped and turned, throwing a glance toward the windows of the first floor of Club Sion.
"My dear Rumi, you're sure that soon you can get rid of me… I am so sorry to disappoint you, but I am the one who will get rid of everyone who endangers my status… "And he smiled, with a scary golden glint in his eyes.