AN: I'm almost done with the newest chapter of Must be the Nargles! So, don't fear, i'm not abandoning it. I just wanted to finish this for you, since I planned too anyway. This should explain the reasoning of Asami's actions, so you don't think Asami went crazy out of the "wazoo". Also, if you're going to leave a review that says, "Lame", please tell me why. And be man enough to log in, or at least make a sock puppet account so I can respond to you. And, if you HATE my stories, just don't read them.

Anyway, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Finder Series.

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It felt like his skull was splitting in two, the agony of muscles and skull being forcefully separated all came with it. It was then, after years, had Asami succomed to the side effects of a hanger over.

A terrible hangover.

Groaning, he forced himself up in his bed, being mindful of the body laying silently next to him. Despite his heachache, Asami managed to brush a stray strand of blond hair out of Sudo's angel face. The younger man had a smile plastered on his still face, and wrinkled his nose as Asami touched him.

Slowly, Sudo's large eyes opened and foggy life returned to them.

"Happy New Year…"Sudoh muttered as he sat up beside Asami.

"Happy New Year to you too, my head is killing me," Asami groaned as he pushed himself out of bed. The cold breeze brushed upon his naked skin, he shuddered. His migraine made his senses keener than usual, almost the point of annoyance.

"Come back in the bed," Sudoh whined, "it's the new year, start it with me."

His voice was irritating Asami's headache, "I did spend it with you at midnight, remember that? All night, until the ball dropped. And besides, I need a shower and a pill, my head is killing me."

"Must be a hangover," Sudoh chided as he pushed himself out of the bed as well, "Apparently, you haven't gotten that drunk in ages…At leasts that's what Kirishima said. But, you loosened up a bit_I'm glad for that, you took care of some unfinished business."
The thought of Asami being drunk should not have bothered him as much as it did, "You got me drunk?"

He didn't look at Sudoh as he grabbed his robe and wrapped it around him, he began replaying the foggy images from last night.

"I did buy the alcohol, potent alcohol, and I did keep on offering it to you...but you didn't refuse," he inclined as he came from behind Asami and wrapped his arms around him, "I liked it though, we had a lot of fun together."

Asami shook Sudoh off, a little too roughly though, "Sorry...my head."

Sudoh backed off, "Oh, um...I'll go back to bed, I'm still a little tired."

The moment was awkward, and Asami's head was throbbing. He'd formally apologize to Sudoh later, but it felt as if his head was splitting in two. And not to mention, he still wasn't entirely sure what he did last night. Part of him wanted to believe it was sex, but the other part knew that something else had happened. And it scared him.

"Hey, Sudoh," he turned towards the beauty on the bed, nudging him slightly.

"Yes?" Sudoh asked as he opened his eyes again, "Ready to come back to bed?"

"Not, not yet_Did we go out last night?"

The atmosphere changed, and Sudo's eyes widened. Asami caught the fear and hesitation in Sudoh's eyes.

This wasn't good.

"We just went out, walked around and ate," he lied, and Asami could clearly tell. Asami didn't just go out and eat, he didn't walk around, Sudoh was hiding something from him, something big.

"As you say," Asami's tone was laced with venom as he made his way to the shower, and Sudoh could feel the mal intent directed towards him. Sudoh gulped...would Asami figure out?

Of course not, he sighed, he'd paid off the guards to keep silent, even Asami's personal guards. They were all money hogs, wave a few thousand yen in their faces, they'd keep quiet.

However, he didn't count on how loyal Asami's bodyguards were to him.

Asami made his way to the shower, and at the same time, he fought the grogginess in his brain.

There was something he was missing, something the hangover was hiding and something Sudoh was covering up. And Asami would be damned if he didn't find out what it was.

And why on earth would Sudoh get him drunk? What purpose did that have, what side did he want to see of Asami? Did he want to expose him, did he want to ruin him? Because certainly, a drunk Asami was not a happy Asami. Which is exactly why he never got drunk.

Because Sudoh was his lover now, he didn't feel like berating him for what he'd done, the younger man probably didn't know Asami's fear of being drunk.

Of course Sudoh didn't know, it was most likely just an honest accident...but he would have to speak to Sudoh about that later.

The warm shower water hit his body and slowly alleviated his headache, but it wasn't good enough, a steel vein still throbbed in his head. The water encased him as a human being would do...warm and alive.

He sighed, in his moments of weakness and vulnerability, he'd thought of that bright eyed blond haired boy...Akihito. He should've killed him, should have erased such an angel from the face of the earth; it would've been better for both of them.

But he couldn't bring himself to do so. Even with the lies and evidence stacked up against Akihito, even with the information Sudoh had managed to present to Asami, he could not bring himself to kill Akihito. Those eyes looked into his soul, and for the first time in a long time, Asami felt genuinely hurt...so he cast Takaba away.

Up until now, he'd believed it was the right thing to do. And for a while, it seemed like it was. He'd convinced himself that Takaba was dead to him, reluctantly he'd pulled himself from the boy's social life and retired to his own devices. Which, in turn gave Sudoh an opportunity to grow on to Asami's already damaged heart.

Sudoh fixed what he could, but Asami couldn't deny that he'd given his heart to Takaba. And when Takaba had betrayed him, when Sudoh had provided the correct evidence, and when Takaba could say nothing believable to his defence, Asami had lost his heart completely.

His head throbbed again.

He needed medicine and he needed to stop thinking about Takaba.

The water came to a halt, and Asami stepped out of the shower.

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Dressed in his three pieced suit, Asami headed to his car in order to meet with important business executives. He decided to let Sudoh sleep in, though he wouldn't mind the younger man's company at work. He was a young business man, like Asami, thus Asami enjoyed his company. Unlike Asami's previous partner, Sudoh provided informative feedback and suggestions on Asami's business trips, information that helped Asami's business flourish.

Takaba couldn't help Asami's business like Sudoh could, he could only ruin it by exposing it's secrets to the media.

Great, now you're comparing the two...Asami thought wearily. He reached for a cigar from his pocket and lit it, the medicine was kicking in already, hopefully the nicotine would boost it's effects.

He inhaled a wad of smoke and exhaled it from his nose, then closed his eyes and leaned his head on the back of his seat. Blurry images came to the forefront of his mind as he allowed the substance to swirl in his head...Fireworks...alcohol….shouting...His eyes snapped open as he inhaled sharply, the smoke nearly hitcing his breath.

"Kirishima," he snapped at the man in the driver's seat.

"Sir," Kirishima responded stiffly, a little too stiffly.

Asami raised an eyebrow. Since the moment he'd stepped into the limo and situated himself, both of his bodyguards had been eerily silent.

"I woke with a headache," Asami casually spoke as he took another breath of smoke, "It felt like a hangover."

Still, the bodyguards said nothing, only continued to look ahead at the road.

Now this was awkward, and a sick feeling crept into Asami's gut. It wasn't like him to get drunk, nor was it like his bodyguards to keep silent when he addressed such a touchy subject.

What had he done with Sudoh last night?

"I understand it was New Years Eve_" the date put a sour taste in his mouth, he and Takaba treasured that day more than anything, and so did Asami...with Takaba, "So it's understandable that Sudoh and I may have gotten carried away...but something's missing. And I think you know what it is."

Still silence ensued. Asami sighed as the smoke released itself from his system, and inhaled.

The images came back, but this time they were slightly clearer than before. Asami concentrated hard this time, not daring to let the smoke waver from his lungs. The drug made him remember, it fought the restraint of the hangover.

He could smell fear, feel the anxiety, hear the pacing and the begging and the laughing...but of who? He let go of the vapor, he needed to breathe, but as soon as he released the vapor, the memories died away.

Quickly, he sucked back in, and the memories came back, stronger. Now things were vivid and concrete.

He could see the room, though things were distorted, though shapes were hazy, he recognized the room like the back of his hand…and the fear and anxiety_Did they belong to Akihito too? He sucked in more, ignoring the funny noises he was making, he needed to get to the bottom of this. And if his body guards weren't willing to tell him anything, than he'd have to dig for it himself, though he'd make them spill if the situation came to it.

Images slowly made way into light, and he could see Akihito, though not at all how he wanted to see him. He was shaking, backed up on his bed, screaming...shaking...and than yelling, angry and vicious.

Oh, he was so angry, his eyes were furious.

And then, through Takaba's distant cursing came laughing. Sudo's laughing.

A jolt to his shoulder caused him to snap back into reality, and to his surprise, he was gasping for breath. The car was stalling on the shoulder of the freeway, and both guards were turned around in their seats, looking intently at him.

"Asami! You were turning blue, what on earth are you_"Asami waved a hand as he cut the worried bodyguard off, and roughly shoved his hand away.

"Takaba!" he wheezed out, coughing as he did so, "Where's Takaba?"

"Sir," Kirishima dropped his gaze as he slowly turned his body back towards the road, "We've_"

"Bullshit!" Asami didn't even let him finish, he stopped whatever nonsense Kirishima intended on spewing to him, "Where is he?!"

He was hysterical now, and the paleness could be seen over both Suoh and Kirishima's face.

Souh gulped as he edged away from Asami and out of his striking range, "Sir_"
"Speak UP," Asami hissed deadly, his gold eyes burning into the very core of Souh's soul.

"Sir," Suoh spoke louder, slightly more confident but all the more cautious, "When you went out with Sudoh-san last night, you stopped by Takaba's house…"

"And…"Asami growled, growing impatient. With his cigarette already down to it's smallest point, he tossed the bud out of the slightly open window and lit another one, "Continue."

Suoh looked at Kirishima, whom nodded, removed his glasses, closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could not look his friend straight in the eyes and say this, "Sudoh gave you a drink before this all_A special kind of drink, he may have drugged it, we aren't sure yet, but you got drunk pretty quickly. As simply as I can say it," Kirishima sighed, not entirely sure of the outcome, but not willing to delay the truth any longer, "You arrived at Takaba's apartment with Sudoh's men and allowed Sudoh to dispose of him."

He put his glasses back on.

The words were salt on Kirishima's tongue, and never would he have imagined thinking them would be so different from actual executing them.

He wasn't as prepared as he thought he was, and his own carelessness could have very well caused he and Suoh their lives.

"Take me to Takaba's apartment," so calm was his voice, so collective was it, that both Suoh and Kirishima paused to look at their boss, and than at each other.

Neither moved.

"Did I fucking STUTTER! DRIVE, OR I'LL WALK THERE ON MY OWN!"

Like magic, the car was on the road again, though it headed the opposite direction. Asami was growing impatient, he cursed when they dared to slow down at a yellow light, raised hell when they stopped at a red light, and all but exploded when they drove the legal speed limit at a green light. Neither Kirishima nor Suoh mentioned the meeting with the executive.

Kirishima was never one for fast car rides, but he valued his life and Suoh's life.

Meanwhile, Asami whipped out his phone and dialed Sudoh's number. In the calmest and sweetest voice Asami Ryuichi could possibly use, he instructed Sudoh to wait at the penthouse, that he'd be coming for him later so they could formally celebrate the New Year. The oblivious model was all but happy to comply to Asami's invitation.

"Why didn't you stop me?" he asked accusingly, very un-Asami like, "You knew how I felt."
"Oh, we did try, we did. But you ordered Sudoh's bodyguards against us," Kirishima let his voice raise slightly, let the anger taint it slightly, "They would have killed his had we intervened more than we already had. We watched as they did it to. As they stripped him and dru_"

Souh put a hand on Kirishima's lap, this man was letting his anger get the best of him. He, like Souh, genuinely cared for Takaba_But he wasn't willing to risk his life because his partner couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Continue…" this wasn't good, Suoh could practically hear the defeat in Asami's tone, the pure hollow defeat.

Kirishima sighed, "You weren't in control of your actions...you didn't even touch Takaba, Sir. You just watched, as did we. You, however, wrote a note that Sudoh begged you to

write...though we don't know what it said. We weren't allowed to see."

"And Sudoh paid us off to keep quiet," to hell with the secrets, they were some of Asami's closest friends, he would have found out sooner or later from one of them, "Obviously, we couldn't do it."

"Let's just get to the apartment," Asami redirected the conversation, he needed to see this all with his own two eyes. Until then, this was a nightmare, a nightmare he yearned to wake up from.

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He walked into the building alone. If anything were to happen to Asami, if his mask was to truly crumble, he wanted no one but himself to witness the act.

The police had already done their duty, they'd cleaned up what they could ,took what they could for evidence_But with his death tied to Asami's name, Asami doubted they led an investigation.

How ironic. Asami, whom paid the police to keep quiet, wanted justice to be served in this case with Takaba.

He shook his head_Takaba wasn't dead, he couldn't die. He was better than that, smarter than that.

The smell of iron filled Asami's nostrils as he walked closer and closer to the bedroom, and in that instant, memories started to replay themselves like a broken record.

As he walked, he watched as Sudoh's men humiliated Takaba, used him and toyed with him until he was choking on his own tears and saliva, he watched as those blue eyes caught his hazy ones.

He could still see the fight in them. He smiled, in Takaba's final moments, he was still fighting.

He saw clearly as Sudoh took a bottle from his pocket and empty the white contents into his hands.

Pills.

His men held Takaba down one last time before they forced the medicine into his system. Kirishima and Suoh made to move, but in an instant, they were outnumbered in firearms, and reluctantly retired to the wall where they were before.

Takaba began shaking violently, and Sudoh extended an arm to Asami. Like the idiot he was for allowing Sudoh to spike his drink earlier that night, Asami followed and took the younger man's hand.

He was given a small piece of paper and a pen.

The memories ceased, and now he stood above the note which lay untouched on the nightstand beside the bed which held the bloody sheets.

"This is the price you pay when you betray me" He read aloud, taking into account the handwriting, his hand writing.

Asami shook with emotion, all clashing, all at odds, all him. The night stand was instantly throw into the wall as he foot collided with it, shattering into a million pieces as the furniture fell into the ground.

The bed was next, the but he spared the sheets,yanking them off he brought them close to him, smelling the sweet scent of Takaba's blood before he made ruin to the bed.

And like a tornado of emotion, Asami destroyed the house, purifying everything Sudoh and his men had touched, every piece of furniture they graced, every fiber their scent collided with.

He reached for his coat pocket and yanked out his lighter, flipping over the cap in order to expose a fresh flame.

His hand shook...his heart beat fast...his breathing stopped….and his eyes watered.

He dropped the lighter and watched gleefully as the floor slowly ignited. The fire greedily consumed whatever it could get its hands on. For good measure, Asami removed his own suit jacket and tossed it atop of the flame, watching in sheer amazement as the black fabric caught fire.

He clutched Takaba's bloody sheets to his body as he strutted out with an insane smile plastered to his face.

"Sir…" Kirishima asked, slightly taken aback by his bosses new expression as well as the bloodied sheet in his arms.

"Kirishima, take me to the penthouse," he instructed as he stepped back into the car, "And call the fire department, tell them these apartments have caught on fire_As well as the corner, I think i'll be scheduling a funeral soon."

The door to the passenger's side opened up, and Suoh slipped in, and he too wore an unusual expression.

Kirishima was uncomfortable, but nevertheless, he dialed the fire department

"The neighbours sir, they said the ambulance came and picked up Takaba...he may still be alive, his friends came to get his valuables earlier today," Souh said a little too happy for Kirishima's liking, "though they're not entirely sure what hospital he's at."
"Oh, we'll find out soon enough," Asami's smirk widened, and for the first time, he didn't want to go straight to Takaba. Yes, he had the resources to find the boy, but Sudoh was going to pay…he was going to pay dearly.

Whether Takaba had betrayed him or not, whether Sudoh was telling the truth about Takaba's snake like acts, Asami didn't care.

Sudoh had ruined Asami's property, touched his things.

And for that, he would dearly pay.

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I apologize for any vagueness in the story, it'll be explained later.

Sudoh is an idiot. My school took away restroom privileges for advisory, so i'm learning to hold my bladder for 2 hours straight. And I hate physics. I didn't really think I would either, because I'm a beast at biology and chemistry (not to mention, if I don't make it as an artist or a psychologist, i'm being a chemist), so science usually comes naturally to me. But physics *pshh* kudo's to all you physicist out there, seriously, you're some of the bravest people I know. Okay, as for what Asami's doing with smoking and remembering thingy...it's meditation. Meditation (deep meditation) helps with remembering things, getting to a certain place in your head, and many people do it without actually knowing it. I've had to do it before, and it's actually a nice skill (helpful too). I felt it would be a little shameful to just downright make Asami...cry, so, I made him angry. I've seen this first hand, and when a man the size of Asami is angry, destroying a bed for someone the size of Takaba isn't hard to do. Anyway, it's not over, I've planned this for a while.

Sadly, i'll be moderating guest reviews due to some recent immaturity, but please do review!I hope you like it, and again, it's not finished, i'm still working on it. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes, it's late and i'm tired, but I really wanted to get this out! So, have a nice week all of you, and God bless!