Toxic
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Chapter 2
Misaki's face drained of its colour and became a sickly white. His parents… had been killed? His beautiful, sweet, caring mother had her life taken from her? His protective, strong yet stubborn father's life had to end because of the sick twisted actions of another?
He felt sick. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he didn't want to cry in front of everyone. He'd wait until he was alone.
Taking a deep shuddering breath, he tried to put on a brave face. Akihiko removed his hand from his lover's and instead wrapped his arm around the students shoulders to comfort him more. It was reassuring, knowing Akihiko was beside him, that he wouldn't let him go through this alone. He could stay strong if this man was at his side.
"… Can I ask why you think this?" Misaki's voice was strained with withheld emotion, he swallowed thickly, "I don't want to let you disturb their graves because of some hunch."
"That's understandable, Misaki-kun. As I did say, I had a feeling all those years ago that it wasn't just an open-and-shut case. There were things that I thought didn't make sense." Officer Heideki grabbed the file from his partner and reopened it. "There isn't much information since the officer investigating had not suspected foul play at the time, but your father who was the driver of the vehicle, didn't have a single fine against his name. Usually, the people who tend to speed have at least one or two speeding tickets." He began, "The tire tracks are consistent with an individual who had fallen asleep at the wheel or a drunk driver. Their lack of judgement for speed and distance can be seen clearly in the marking on the road.
"These tracks begin further left of the centre of the road, indicating that the driver had realised that he was too far left but unfortunately the street light was just too close, and the driver collided." He explained, laying out pictures of the tire tracks left by their family car.
"Thing is, your father had no alcohol at all in his system, and the chemical Adenosine – which is partly related to drowsiness – wasn't particularly elevated, or at least wasn't high enough for the accident to be classified as a result of fatigue." Kaiji stated. "So even if he had been speeding, he should have been able to control the car much better than he had, regardless of the weather. Since it wasn't particularly heavy rain at that time."
"You mentioned something about other cases?" Takahiro asked, having cleared his throat first.
"Yes, recently there has been another similar case to this one, where a driver has veered off the road but there hadn't been a clear definitive cause. No alcohol, no fatigue, and being early autumn – it wasn't the weather." Kaiji took out a photo of a family of three, "None of them made it."
Misaki was having trouble taking all of this in as his leaned into Akihiko's embrace, his mind trying to comprehend this information.
"However," Shima's voice took on a deeper more serious tone, "During the blood analysis, carbon monoxide was present. Carbon monoxide, or CO for short is an odourless and colourless poisonous gas. How this got into their blood stream, we aren't sure yet, but this investigation is now an ongoing triple homicide."
"… and you believe that our parents have been poisoned by the same gas?" Misaki asked.
"That is correct. CO poisoning can result in symptoms such as dizziness, confusion and blurred vision to name a few. The fact your parent's death had no known cause or factor and with this case coming to attention, we believe that CO poisoning fits with your parent's case perfectly, there is no possible way to confirm it unless we can test a tissue sample."
"It's been 15 years; a decade and a half. I'm not a forensic scientist but I think you'll be pushing it in terms of finding a tissue sample." Misaki stated, his lips purse together.
"Depend on how well the body's preserved itself. We want to at least try. It's a guaranteed march to firing squad if we can pin all five deaths on our suspect." Shima Heideki explained with a small smile.
"Can you tell us who could have done this?" Takahiro asked.
"I'm sorry, but since this is an open investigation, we aren't at liberty to tell you names." Kaiji Souma replied, "But I'll tell you that this person is a known Ex-Yakuza."
"My parents weren't drug users or dealers, nor were they thieves." Misaki firmly stated, straightening his posture and ready to defend his parent's names if need be. "Yakuza keep to themselves and don't bother you as long as you don't steal from them or own them money. Why is an Ex-Yakuza member a suspect?" He demanded.
"Until we investigate further we can not tell you anything else, if Carbon Monoxide is present then we can give you some more information, until then it is still not confirmed. If we give you anything else, we could potentially blow the case." Officer Shima stated regretfully.
Misaki begrudgingly relaxed again, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of them. He grabbed the paper on the table, and quickly gave it the once over, finding it didn't consist of much but that he had to come as a witness to both make sure that it was the right graves and the bodies are handled respectfully along with other general information. Akihiko was reading along with him.
"They have to be there while his parent's graves are unburied?" Akihiko frowned, not liking the idea at all, or the affect it could have on Misaki.
"It is a requirement when the bodies are exhumed, just so that the wrong grave isn't dug up and that the deceased are seen to be handled with respect." They assured.
"What do you think Nii-chan?" Misaki asked.
"… I think we should. The reasoning sounds a little far-fetched, but I want to make sure. I'd rather be wrong and have disrespected their resting places than not do it and a murderer walk free." He stated.
Misaki nodded, agreeing with his brother. He grabbed the pen the officers had placed on the table and signed the document, allowing his parents to be unearthed.
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Everyone left quickly after signing the documents with the officers needing to get back to work and Takahiro needing to Mahiro up from day-care, leaving the couple alone. The previous romantic atmosphere ruined.
"Breakfast went to waste." Misaki mumbled as he neared the table, beginning to clear up the dishes.
"Misa-" Akihiko was cut off with a shake off the student's head; he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to force his lover to talk if he really wasn't ready, but he despised when he bottled up his feelings, unwilling to allow himself to be supported.
"Just… Just give me some time." He exhaled, feeling as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. His body physically heaving with his breath.
Akihiko came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist as Misaki braced himself against the sink. The author placed his head in the crook of the boy's neck and sighed. "I'm here for you. Whenever you need me."
The student took in a shaky breath, moving his hand to rest over Akihiko's while he fought back tears. He blinked rapidly to desperately deter the oncoming waterfalls.
"I know." He whispered, squeezing the appendage wrapped around his waist.
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The rest of the day had been quiet, in a literal sense. Neither had spoken since that morning, both preoccupied with their thoughts. Akihiko had wandered to his office and began working on his next sure to be masterpiece but kept the door to the room open to listen out to his lover.
Misaki on the other was trying to distract himself with chores, even going as far as to rearrange the furniture a few times. He had completed all his homework, assignments and gone over material for the classes three weeks ahead but was slowly running out of things to do.
Deciding to begin making dinner early, he wandered into the kitchen and pulled out various ingredients.
"Why don't we get take away tonight?" The author asked from the top of the stairs, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
The sudden question had started the young man, making him jump, "Um, sure, if that's what you want." He replied, beginning to put away everything he had pulled out.
"You've been busy today, I thought you'd like a break." He walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen. He reached his young lover and placed a hand on his hip, guiding him out of the kitchen and to the sofa.
"I don't mind." He stated quietly as soft pink lips planted themselves on his forehead. "What would you like for dinner then?"
"How about Chinese?" The author suggested, his lips making their way down the teens face.
"Mhm," He mumbled as his mouth was overtaken by his partner. He fell back onto the plush pink couch with his lover following him, the student buried his hands into the silver locks in effort to bring him closer.
The older of the two lowered his body to the boy's slender one, Misaki widened his legs slightly to accommodate his solid frame of muscle until their chests were flush together. Akihiko lifted his hips to push himself into Misaki.
The younger broke the kiss to throw his head back and moan at the contact, Akihiko took the opportunity to trail his kisses down the boy's tan neck and suckling at the fading hickey in the middle to the side of his throat. His favourite place to leave his mark, right where it was too high to hide it which forced the boy to wear his claim.
The author's hand moved to unbutton the student's jeans while Misaki's hands worked on unbuttoning the navy-blue vest.
Ring ring –
"Fuck me," Akihiko cursed loudly, frustrated at being interrupted for a second time that day he glared darkly at the telephone.
"I'm trying." Misaki retorted bluntly as he pushed the older man off him, also frustrated both physically and emotionally. Akihiko on the other hand, choked on air as he registered what his lover had actually said, still shocked that anything remotely dirty could passed his precious innocent partner's lips.
Wait till he got his hands on that boy, he'd make sure he wasn't going to walk for the next week.
"Hello?" He answered boredly, still unhappy at this unwelcome call. 'Who even calls this time of evening?'
"Takahashi-san? It's Officer Shima. We talked this morning."
"Oh! Officer Shima, how are you?" He replied, quickly changing his tone to a politer manner. He looked towards Akihiko who perked up at the name, he quickly walked over and put the call on speaker.
"-naged to push the request to exhume your parents through quickly considering there are multiple cases. I'm just calling to let you know that the exhumation process will begin at 11:00am tomorrow morning, I suggest you call your employer to let them know. They'll have to allow you time off since this is a police investigation." He informed.
"Ah, ok. Thank you for letting me know. Is there anything specific I should bring?"
"I'd recommend bringing your parents death certificates just in case."
After the usual pleasantries, they hung up. The uncomfortable atmosphere settled back over the room.
Misaki swallowed thickly and attempted to smile, "So, Chinese?"
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That night Misaki slept in Akihiko's bed, 'no' wasn't an option. Though surprisingly, the student didn't fight the suggestion either, perhaps not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts at the moment.
"You're still awake, Misaki." Akihiko murmured into the back of his neck, he was lying behind the boy chest-to-back, he's arms firmly wrapped around the slender waist of his partner.
"Bit hard to sleep when you're being an octopus." He retorted half-heartedly, but Akihiko only huffed and tightened his grip further. They both knew that his complaint was false, he in fact loved being held by this man, he felt safe and protected in these arms.
"What are you feeling right now?"
"… I'm mostly.. upset." He hesitantly revealed. "Because their graves will be dug up, and that someone else may have played a part in their deaths. I don't feel… intensely sad, like crying, but that could be because it's been so long, or it just hasn't really hit me yet…"
"What else are you feeling?"
Misaki paused, his body tensing slightly, "Nothing."
But Akihiko pressed on, "There is no shame in the way you feel right now, but you have to talk to me. Remember what we discussed? About bottling up our feelings?"
He remembered all too well the hours-worth of conversation they had over talking more – more specifically about Misaki and his 'I-must-not-be-troublesome' obsession.
He sat up and wrapped his arms around his thighs, bringing his knees up to his chest. The effort it took to swallow was great. "I-… I feel a repulsive sense of relief." He choked out, visibly on the verge of tears now, clearly feeling shameful.
Akihiko wasted no time sitting up, dragging to boy into his lap and crushing the him to his chest. "It's ok to feel that. I promise you it's fine."
"I'm so disgusted with myself." He sobbed, tears finally making their way down his cheeks. "Because if this Yakuza guy was involved with it, it'll mean that it wasn't my fault. I feel so sick for thinking that."
Akihiko only held him tightly, "Honestly, I'm hoping that their deaths were because of this guy." He whispered into his lover's chestnut hair. Misaki would finally be able to love freely, without holding himself back. "It's completely normal and ok to feel that. Do you understand?" He cupped the younger man's cheek, forcing him to look into his eyes.
"I… understand." He sighed, sniffling a little and he wiped his eyes on the hem of his lime green pyjama sleeves.
The author placed a sweet kiss on the boy's lips, "I don't want you to go tomorrow." He confessed.
"I know." Misaki chuckled slightly, "But it's a legal requirement, I don't have a choice."
A grunt of displeasure was his only response, "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."
"I figured as much." Misaki's mouth twitched in amusement at the older man's antics, "I… I need you. I can't go through this alone again." He clenched his teeth as he remembered the agonising memories swelled to the surface of his mind.
"Again?" He questioned as they both laid back down, confused.
Misaki shifted in Akihiko's arms so he was chest-to-chest with his lover, his head tucked under his chin. "When they first passed on, Nii-chan had to go straight into the workforce since we were left with nearly nothing. I'd rarely see my brother because he was so busy. We were forced to grieve separately." He elaborated.
Akihiko closed his eyes as his heart thumped painfully at the thought of his beautiful partner mourning his parents all alone. His hand came up to cup the back of Misaki's head, his fingers tangled in the soft locks, and drew him closer still. "You know you'll never be alone again. I'll never let you. You'll always have me."
Tears gathered in the corners of his emerald eyes as he pulled back from the embrace to look at the author. He said nothing, though leaned up to capture his lover's soft lips. A silent thank you.
It was so deeply intimate. Both of their hearts pounding within their chests, threatening to burst forth. The taste of cigarettes was distinctly present; he felt terrible the man had stressed over him all day but was endlessly grateful for his patience. This time, it was Misaki who dug his fingers into the silver strands to bring his lover closer. Their legs tangling together beneath the thick grey quilt.
Eventually they parted, both leaving languid kisses on the other's cheeks and the corners of their lips, the author kissing away the remaining tears that clung to the boy's long thick lashes. Misaki moved his hand from the man's hair and instead trailed it down his side to rest over the author's waist, while Akihiko's had shifted to the swell of the boy's rear, his other arm acting as a pillow underneath the young man's head.
The student tightened his grip on his partners white sleeping top, "I love you." He whispered, his voice only loud enough for the author to hear, though it was for no one else's ears.
"I love you too." He replied, his voice a comforting rumble lulling Misaki towards sleep. The author started to play with his hair, the soothing action making his eyes grow heavy.
It wasn't long until Misaki drifted off to the world of dreams, Akihiko following him soon after.
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"If at any time you don't think you can do it, you tell me." Akihiko instructed firmly, his grip on the steering wheel tuning his knuckles white. It was clear he was more than uncomfortable at the fact his lover had to be present for the unearthing of his parents. "It's okay if you can't, there's nothing wrong with not being able to do this."
"I know. I promise I'll tell you." He replied from the passenger seat. He was trying hard not to get annoyed at Akihiko's excessive worrying, he'd probably feel the same if their positions were swapped.
Misaki reached over and grabbed one of his hands in an effort to calm him, "It's ok. You're there with me, right? Then I'll be fine."
Akihiko didn't reply but he squeezed back firmly.
It didn't take long to arrive at the cemetery, his brother already there with his family.
"Mitaki!" Mahiro cried out in glee as the teen emerged from the car, waddling over to him.
"Hello!" Misaki greeted enthusiastically, reaching down to pick up his nephew under his arms and tossing him in the air making the toddler scream with joy. "Have you been a good boy for Mama and Papa?"
"Mhmm!" He nodded with a giant smile. "Unagi!" He yelled as he spotted the older man appear next to his uncle, reaching his arms out to be taken.
"Hey brat." He greeted, ruffling the child's hair. He had grown fond of the small child over the last two years.
"Hug!"
The author grunted in displeasure but plucked him from his lover's arms anyway, holding the child close like the student had taught him a long while ago.
Misaki chuckled at his partner, he could see that Akihiko adored the child as much as he did – regardless of the "manly" façade he extruded. It was quite the sight, a bubbly boisterous child in the arms of a cold suit-clad man.
"Ok, so everyone is here?" Officer Kaiji asked. "Did you bring the original copies of the death certificates?"
Takahiro flicked through the plastic sleeves in the file he had brought with him and pulled out the official documents, passing them to the officers who nodded in thanks.
"Ok, this is the Environmental Health Officer, Teiko Asuma, who will also be over-seeing this procedure today." Officer Shima gestured over to the man whose presence had escaped everyone's notice. He was dressed smartly, a black suit donned his body, fitting for the occasion, while his pepper black hair was slicked back in a formal manner reminding Misaki of Tanaka in a way.
"Well, lets get on with it, we've dragged it on long enough." The Teiko Asuma stated, sending a small smile at the boys.
Takahiro, Misaki and Akihiko – after handing Mahiro back to his mother – began to walk down the slope toward the cemetery when Officer Shima stopped them, "Only family," He stated looking at Akihiko.
"Usami-san, is family." The student firmly stated, making his boyfriends lips kick up at the corners.
"I'm sorry, but it's only immediate family. Unless you're married into the family, you are required to be blood related." He elaborated, a sympathetic smile aimed his way.
Akihiko and Misaki looked at each other, the young man could tell that this information distressed him greatly, "Hey, I promised remember." He grabbed the man's hands, "If it gets too much, I'll come back to you."
He could clearly see the man still hesitant, "Trust me?"
The author squeezed their interlocked fingers before sighing and nodding.
The student smiled at him, conveying his appreciation, before letting go and continuing his walk down the grassy sloped hill with his brother at his side.
It was a path they both had taken many times before, the heaviness in their hearts, while easing over time, would never truly leave.
"I can see you're happy." The oldest commented, a sincere smile gracing his lips. "I'm glad you're with Usagi-san, I can see the lightness about you that you have never had."
Misaki and Akihiko had finally come clean and revealed their relationship to the student's family. At first, it hadn't been well received by his brother, the young man had thought the worst after Takahiro had briefly cut off all contact between them, but it was Minami who had sorted him out, stating how his behaviour was "disgusting" and "that of a two-year-old". She had even gone so far as to threaten divorce, claiming he wasn't the man she thought she married.
Eventually he had come around to be the protective older brother Misaki had always known, setting the author down to giving him a lecture on how to treat his brother – Akihiko taking great pride in the fact he had essentially been given his blessing.
"I've never been happier Nii-chan." He beamed brightly.
Takahiro chuckled and threw his arm around his shoulders, Misaki doing the same as they approached the burial site of their parents.
"Hi Mama, Hi Papa." Misaki greeted, the usual undertones of sadness obvious. "I'm sorry for what we're about to do, but we can't live with ourselves if we don't know the truth."
They both liked to speak out loud as though they we're right in front of them, it was comforting.
"We won't delay this any further for the sake of the family. Please begin the exhumation process." Teiko-san instructed. The workers that would dig up the grave stepped forward and began to measure the ground around the graves. "They are measuring the parameters, so they don't damage the coffin." The Heath officer explained.
The student swallowed thickly as the first shovel was jammed into the grass and began pulling up the first layers of soil. He had to remind himself that this was also for the sake of another family, someone else's son or brother, daughter or sister, and someone's cousin and niece. They didn't deserve to die, and the family remaining don't deserve the grief and suffering that this tragedy has inflicted. He didn't want someone else to feel the way he had feel when he was seven and all the years following.
I didn't take long for the men to hit the top of the coffin's, both buried within centimetres of each other. The worker's managed to shift the coffin's slightly so rope could slip underneath the ends, allowing them to lift the caskets with ease. It was more respectful than handling their final resting place with dirty hands.
The brothers grasped each other's hand's tightly, supporting the other silently. The sight they would see next would be horrifying.
The lids of the caskets were removed to allow the forensic team to take the tissue samples they needed.
There laid the decomposed bodies of their parents.
All that was really remaining was pale skin on bone, the tissue dried out and receded, lips wasted away to reveal all 32 teeth. Eyeballs rotted away to leave nothing but absent black pits in their face. Hand's withered to the point each individual bone could be seen. Injuries from the crash clearly observable, their father's skull missing a chunk of bone on the right side of his forehead where his head collided with the steering wheel. His mother's nose caved into her face along with her left cheek structure missing, bones broken in the violent ordeal. Their clothing, the outfits he and his brother choose for them to be dressed in, covered in a thick layer of dust and now too big on their frames – shrunken from decay.
Misaki felt sick, he didn't want to see his parents like that. His face turned a sickly pale colour, nausea rising from his stomach as it twist and churned at the sight of what was once he's mother and father. His throat constricted painfully as did his grip on his brother.
He was over whelmed with panic. He couldn't breathe!
The world began to spin as a scream ripped through the air.
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*Exhumation process is based on Australia's regulations, however is heavily dramatized and modified for fictional purposed. This is not to be taken seriously.*
