Although their plan for revenge is both arousing and perfectly appropriate in both their minds, it turns out there's a lot more planning and negotiation between them that has to go into its execution than Akihito would have thought. Everything Asami does seems so ruthlessly effortless and smooth that he's never really considered the sheer work involved in making things LOOK so. Asami, as it turns out, is surprisingly solicitous of his feelings on this matter and surprisingly insistent on making sure Takaba is okay with each and every step of the process. After Asami comes home with an absurdly long checklist of things like what both of them should wear and what foods they should prepare and the music he will select on his surround sound system and what scent the candles in the bedroom will be, Takaba informs him with a little bit of frustration that he REALLY doesn't need to be in on EVERY detail of the seduction.

"I won't let him hurt you again," says Asami stubbornly. Takaba grins at him, delighted and touched and irritated all at the same time.

"I'm glad," he says softly, and takes Asami's hand, pressing a kiss to the open palms, which pulls a sound from deep within Asami's chest that Aki likes, so he does it again. "But Asami, I don't think Feilong is going to hurt me with sushi….or gyoza…or…or….candles!"

Asami raises an eyebrow and looks at Akihito appraisingly.

"I don't know, Takaba-kun," he drawls in a low rumble, "I could hurt you rather a lot with a candle…"

Akihito swallows the hot clench of lust in his throat at what his imagination supplies his brain with at this statement.

"You're a very annoying person," he says as primly as he can, "and you know what I mean."

"Mm," agrees Asami, reaching out to grab a handful of Takaba's shirt with his lightning reflexes, hauling the boy against his body too quickly for him to realize what's happening. "Come here."

Negotiations fall apart at this point, and they mutually decide on a temporary suspension of the planning session. There are more pressing concerns. Skin and teeth and tongues, the slide of fingers and lips, soft gasps and throaty growls and yes and harder and more.

In the end they are both happy with the plan they map out, somewhat more carefully than Takaba would have done and somewhat less meticulous than Asami would, but the small compromises satisfy them both, and Feilong has arrived in Tokyo.

Akihito does not see him for the first two days of his visit, although Asami keeps him apprised of their business dealings, which is a little surprising. Feilong, as it turns out, really does have a business venture to discuss with Asami, which involves them becoming more allies than rivals, a startling turn of events to Asami, though he does not give much outward sign of his surprise. Takaba recognizes it in the bemused tone of his voice while he tells Aki of the contracts for shipping and exchange rates and leasings of properties and investments and so on.

"There's something I want to ask, Asami," confesses Takaba on the second night of Feilong's stay in Japan.

"What is it," asks Asami absently. He's going over a contract. His hair falls carelessly over his forehead and he frowns a little in concentration.

"I…" Akihito bites his lip and eyes Asami anxiously, because what he wants to say might make Asami angry, which isn't his intention, but he's been thinking kind of hard and it's just bothering him too much not to bring it up. Asami hears the nerves in his voice and lays the portfolio down on the coffee table, turning his full attention to his lover.

"What is it, Takaba?"

"I'm sorry, Asami, don't be angry with me, but I…"

"Can you not go through with it, Aki? It's all right if you can't. I'd do a lot more to keep you safe than give up a night of revenge, no matter how appealing it is."

"What? Oh, no, that isn't it. Or…not exactly. I just…"

"Really, Aki, there are these things called words and they come out of your mouth in a certain order which conveys thoughts and meanings to other people."

"Asshole," mutters Takaba, and Asami smirks at him. "What I WANT to SAY, even though you're the most annoying person in the entire world sometimes…is….Asami…I want to give him a chance."

"You want to what?" One perfect dark eyebrow arches curiously.

"Ugh, talking to you is ridiculous!" cries Akihito. Asami leans forward and kisses him, hard and deep and thoroughly. When he pulls back they are both breathing a little harder.

"There," murmurs Asami, "does that help you focus?"

"Right, of course," mutters Aki, "which is to say NOT AT ALL. Stop doing that." He takes a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about China, Asami, but I need to try to explain something." He hates that his voice sounds a little whiny. Asami leans back and looks at him.

"All right. I won't ask questions, Takaba. Say what you want to say. You don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to."

"Feilong…he asked….he asked me to stay with him," mutters Aki, staring at his hands.

"And?" says Asami patiently.

"I think….then….that he wanted me to think you weren't coming. I…the thing is, after that he…well, he was nicer. Maybe he was manipulating me, but I…I couldn't give him what he asked for. I was waiting for you, and even if I'd said yes, and you really hadn't come….I think part of me would have kept on waiting for you. He…he didn't like that. But it didn't make him angry, not by point."

"You feel sorry for him," says Asami, raising both eyebrows.

"No. Yes. I don't know!"

Asami's lips twitch and he leans back further in his chair, looking at the ceiling.

"Don't sound so frustrated that your answer is all three, Takaba," he says in a bemused voice. "I've felt exactly the same way about Feilong for years. I can never decide whether I want to cuddle him or shoot him or spank him."

"Can I vote for the third one?" murmurs Akihito, and then blushes deeply when he realizes he's said it out loud and Asami is laughing. It's not his taunting laugh though, it's the delighted one.

"Would you like that?"

"I don't know. Maybe," says Akihito a little sullenly. He peeks at Asami through his bangs and turns even redder. "Yes."

"How marvelous. I'll keep it in mind. Now, please do tell me what your point is because I'm feeling rather inclined to spank you pretty soon, and you're probably going to want to be finished talking by then."

"Asami," whines Akihito.

"You want something?"

"Well duh, I want you to not….do that."

"Do what?" purrs Asami, leaning forwards again. Takaba glares at him.

"S…spank me," he grumbles.

"I know you don't want me to. That's what makes it irresistible," smiles Asami, and Takaba grits his teeth.

"You're really horrible."

"You're really cute when you're mad," muses Asami. "And you're doing a terrible job getting to the point, Aki. Perhaps a little motivation?"

Before Takaba realizes what's happening, he finds himself flipped effortlessly facedown over Asami's lap, staring at the floor, with Asami reaching deftly under his hips to pop open the button on his jeans, and they are tugged down his hips to his thighs, and where he had been trying to have a serious conversation with his lover, he now finds himself with his bare ass in the air while Asami rolls up his sleeve and prepares to spank him like a little boy. He struggles and yells and curses, and the only thing he manages to accomplish is to irritate Asami enough that the first half-dozen open handed spanks on his naked flesh really hurt. He yelps and squirms, but quits cursing. Asami ignores his writhing and the sounds he's making, and spanks him soundly for about five minutes, his strong, hard hand stinging and hurting on reddened skin, slapping Takaba's cheeks hard and steadily until the boy is gasping and whimpering and squirming and trying really hard not to pay attention to Asami's erection pressing into his belly where he rides his lover's thighs. He is red-faced and breathless and crying just a little bit when Asami stops to stroke the tips of his fingers across hot skin, dipping between Aki's cheeks to brush his hole a little.

"Now," says Asami, his voice rough with desire, his hand riding the curve of Akihito's ass while he rubs gently. "You will explain what you mean by giving Feilong a chance, and you will stop beating around the bush like you've got something to be afraid of. You're mine, Aki. I may not make it easy, and sometimes it's outright painful, but your devotion isn't in question. Not now, and not tomorrow night when our guest is scheduled to arrive here." Despite the fact that Asami punctuates this with a few sharp slaps, it helps Takaba not to be afraid. He whines, but he finds the words for what he's trying to say.

"I want to ask him why he asked me to stay with him," he confesses softly.

"Why?" asks Asami curiously.

"Well, I've thought about it a lot. What I think is that he's going to lie, and that then I'll know he deserves it. Deserves…what you….no, what WE are going to do to him."

"And if he says he fell for you while he held you captive?" asks Asami. His hand isn't on Aki's backside, though Aki imagines it's poised in the air above it, ready to strike if he gives his lover even a tiny reason.

"Then he's lying, Asami. I can think of a lot of excuses he might try to pass off as valid. That he cares about me…"

"He does, you know." points out Asami practically. Takaba frowns over his shoulder at his lover's smug face.

"Stop it, you're not funny. Feilong came to like me, and in the end he helped you get me back. But don't you sit there and condescend to me and tell me it's because he loves me, because that's just stupid."

"Why is it stupid?" asks Asami curiously, sounding like he's really interested in the answer. "Do you think you are not worthy of being loved?" The frown line between his eyebrows is deep now and his demon poet's mouth is set in a thin, displeased line.

"It's stupid because I was just a….a….stolen connection to someone else. YOU, Asami. He took me to get back at you. He…he r…raped me to hurt you, to find out if it would hurt you. When he found out what you'd do to get me back, he tried to…to win me…because it would be a huge feather in his cap for him if he did that. Yes, Liu Feilong grew to like me as a person and I stopped hating him along the way somewhere, but he was ALWAYS using me to get to you! When he couldn't bring himself to kill me, he had me kidnapped because I seemed to matter to you. It was always about you, Asami. Every bit of it."

"I know," murmurs Asami thoughtfully. "I just wasn't aware YOU did. That's pretty astute, Takaba-san."

The honorific is a startling addition to his name, and he can't help the warm flush of pleasure in his body at the words.

"Then what IS the right answer?" Asami continues.

"That he hoped to win me away from you, not with force, but with feelings, because it would hurt you more. Because he loves you still. I think he thought it would help him win. That if he won the game against you, it might free him of you. That it would….matter to you. Hurt you."

"It would have. It did," says Asami softly, and there is a tiny sliver of the pain and loss in Asami's eyes that he's seen only one other time. On the night Takaba was shot aboard the cruise ship and Asami had come at last, and Akihito had opened his eyes to that expression on Asami's face as he knelt over Aki on the deck, not knowing for a few moments how badly he was hurt. "So then, you wish to ask him why he asked you to stay with him, and if he admits that he did it to try to steal you away from me because he hoped to hurt me, because he cares for me and is too emotionally crippled to say so instead of acting like a spoiled little boy? If he admits it, Takaba, what then?"

"Then we still take him, Asami, but…don't…"

"Don't make it punishment," murmurs Asami.

"Yes," says Akihito, grateful that Asami understands what he means.

"Very well, Akihito, I will grant you this request." With these words, his fingers slip between Takaba's cheeks again, and this time they are slippery and cool and Takaba wonders where in the hell the man got the lube because he hasn't heard or felt him reach for any. He probably just materialized it. Not that there are complaints. Oh. He whimpers as little when two long fingers nudge into his hole and then sink deeply into his body, the sudden intrusion stinging a bit. Asami makes a pleased sound in his throat and then Akihito yelps in pain when his lover's hard hand smacks sharply against his bare ass.

"Asami," he whines, writhing. The fingers scissor apart and the whine rises in pitch.

"What?" asks Asami pleasantly, spanking him again. Akihito's mouth opens to curse and rail at his rude lover, but he pauses, considering. He may be hard headed and he may not think very often before he acts, but he is capable of learning, and even if Asami is inscrutable and difficult to read, there are certain things Takaba has learned about the man. So instead of hiding the pain he feels in bluster and anger, he takes a chance, acting on a hunch, and lets it show in his voice.

"Ah…Asami…please…oh please…please don't spank me anymore," he whimpers softly, his voice thick with tears. Asami freezes, the fingers inside Akihito's body releasing their painful stretch, the hand on his ass not lifting to strike again.

"Akihito," murmurs the yakuza, whose voice has suddenly gone deep and rough like raw silk and yet also sounds immensely surprised. Akihito is very glad he's staring at the floor right now because if Asami could see the triumphant grin that spreads across his face, this scenario would probably take a very dramatic turn for the worse. The voice in his head tells him it isn't a contest, and that he'd probably have learned how generous Asami can be with his body and his appreciation a long time ago if he'd only been willing to give the man a little bit now and then, rather than fighting him tooth and nail on every damn thing. He reminds the voice that Asami has been telling him from the first brutal fuck that he loves it when Akihito fights him. The voice subsides, but in his gut he thinks it's probably got a point. Nevermind. Asami's response to him right now is thrilling.

"PLEASE, Asami," begs Takaba. He suddenly finds that when they're playing, it costs him nothing at all to beg. How interesting. His pride is nowhere in sight.

"You would beg me?" questions Asami. The fingers move again, but they are gentle now, pumping slowly, twisting carefully and deliciously inside the boy's upthrust ass. He moans and wriggles a little.

"Yes," he sniffles, "because it hurts."

"Fuck," whispers Asami, which he hardly ever says, and the filth coming from his mouth makes Akihito moan again. "Aki….beg me some more. I'm not going to stop yet, but I promise, just a little more. Give me this, my cute Takaba, beg me for mercy just a little more, and I will make you feel so good as a reward that you'll think you'll pass out from the pleasure." Aki mewls through his nose in feeble protest, but in reality, Asami is only hurting him a little, and the tears and cries are…he thinks…because it makes him feel exposed and vulnerable and like a small boy, not because he cannot bear the pain. His cock is hard as he squirms on Asami's lap, and he grabs Asami's ankle to brace himself and arches up into the punishing hand.

"Please," he breathes. Asami growls and spanks him again, a little harder now, and Takaba's cries are not feigned, because oh it stings, and he's quite sore. "Oww," he sobs, "it hurts, Asami! Please stop, I'll be good! Ow, ow, no please, no! Asami PLEASE don't…OH…please don't spank me! Ohhh it hurts, it hurts, Asami! PLEASE!"

Asami's rather startlingly ambidextrous sometimes, and the fingers in Takaba's squirming ass stroke and press and stretch carefully, caressingly, so that between the yelps of pain are cries of unbearable pleasure. Asami fingers him lingeringly, slowly, deeply, the care and tenderness of his motions in direct contrast to the sharp sting of his palm against Takaba's cherry red bottom.

"Such a good boy," whispers Asami at last, and stops spanking. Aki whimpers and sniffles, and then cries out in surprise when he finds himself hauled upright and onto Asami's lap facing him. The deep amber eyes drink in his flushed cheeks and quivering chin. "Thank you, Aki," he murmurs, and leans forward to lick the few tears from Takaba's cheeks. He stands up then, yanking Akihito's pants the rest of the way off and stripping his shirt too. Aki busily goes to work on the little pearl colored buttons of Asami's shirt while Asami carries him, holding Akihito by his thighs, pressed tight against the older man's body, and strides through the penthouse to the bedroom. Rather than toss the boy down and fall upon him, Asami sits on the bed with Takaba on his lap, laying back slowly and arranging the boy so he's straddling Asami's hips. His fingers stroke softly over Takaba's thighs, ticking little at the crease where leg meets pelvis. His tiger eyes are hooded, pleased and terribly, terribly aroused. Takaba is almost breathless at the look on Asami's face.

"Come here," breathes the older man, tugging at Aki's hip bones. "I want to taste you."

Obediently, because when Asami looks like that, gazing at him from under his black eyelashes like he hasn't eaten in weeks and Takaba is a feast, like Asami is addicted to chocolate and Takaba is the finest Swiss import, it is quite simply impossible not to do exactly what the man wants. Not that he's sorry for it when he kneels above his lover's face, the broad shoulders forcing his legs wide, staring raptly at Asami, who slowly and purposefully sucks Akihito's cock into his mouth and to the back of his throat like he does it every day. The photographer cries out helplessly when the pleasure almost swamps him. Asami pauses between licks and sucks and wet heat that rolls Akihito's eyes back into his head to whisper to him.

"Such a good boy," he purrs, and licks a long slow stripe up the underside of the younger man's cock. "Tell me what you want, Aki." The clever tongue darts at the slit of his erection, lapping up precome. "Do you want to come in my mouth?" Akihito groans when Asami swallows him down again. "Do you want my fingers inside you?" Aki nods wordlessly and yelps out Asami's name helplessly when the dark chuckle vibrates against his shaft. He whimpers when Asami's hands cup his stinging cheeks and pull them apart. The cool air of the bedroom on his asshole compared to the throbbing heat makes him shiver. Asami's fingers curl towards his little pucker and he writhes, panting. He can only bear about a minute of it, of having Asami's undivided attention paid to his aching cock and his quivering hole at the same time, the fingers lazily pressing in and opening him.

"Ah….Asami," he gasps.

"Hmm?" says Asami interrogatively, because his mouth is full and FUCK that's….just fuck.

"I want….I want…oh fuck me, I want to come like that, Asami!"

The hum of pleasure around his dick is almost his undoing. Asami removes his mouth from Takaba's cock and eases him back a little so that he's sitting on Asami's chest and the yakuza is gazing up at him with a smile playing at his reddened, swollen lips and he is so achingly beautiful that Aki almost cannot bear it.

"How do you want me to fuck you, Aki?" he whispers.

"I…I don't….any way you want, just DO it!"

Asami chuckles again.

"This is your reward for being a good boy, Takaba," he says softly. "I know I'm aching to push my cock into your tight little ass from behind so I can feel your hot, spanked backside against my body with every thrust, but you get to choose. What will it be, my sweet pet? Will you ride my cock and set your own pace? Will I hold you above me and drive up into you until you come undone? Say what you will have, and it is yours."

Takaba's brain goes momentarily offline while Asami talks this way. He closes his eyes and shudders, fighting his body's embarrassing impuse to come, untouched, at these delicious words. Then he opens them and stares down at Asami, who waits patiently for him to answer, rather than surging up and taking him as is his usual tactic. In the end, Akihito decides exactly how he wants to be rewarded.

"What you said," he pants, squirming off Asami to lie down on his stomach, arching his back. "I want what you want. Asami…now, do it now, I need to come, hurry, do it hard, fuck me. Just…fuck me." The flash in his lover's eyes is nearly terrifying in its ferocity. Takaba howls when Asami swarms over him and sinks his thick cock balls-deep with one snarling thrust. The sudden stretch is intense, but he has been well-prepared and the pain is fleeting. If he's honest, it heightens every sensation, sensitizing his insides with sparks of heat. He likes it, if he's honest, and how can he not be, with Asami fucking into him like he's going to force his way through Akihito and out the other side and Akihito's every nerve standing up and shrieking for more, his cock jerking with every thrust, balls drawing tight and pleasure pooling at the base of his spine, not even needing Asami's hand on him, knowing he's going to come any second.

"Your punished ass feels so fucking good, Aki," growls Asami in his ear. "Do you think it was a bit soon in the game to reveal your hand, begging for mercy to get me to stop? Hmm? Because Takaba…?"

"Hungh?" whines Akihito.

"You're going to be doing it so much more now, you foolish boy. Next time perhaps I'll spank you with my belt. And the next time, the whip. And the crop. And the rice paddle in the kitchen. And a bamboo switch. And…"

Asami punctuates each sentence with a deep thrust. When he runs out of implements to list (and this takes him a really disturbingly long time and Takaba is never going to be able to cook in that kitchen again without squirming because apparently everything in it can be used to punish him) he leans in and sets his teeth gently to the place where Aki's neck and shoulder meet. Through his teeth he snarls,

"Play me again, you adorable little brat, and I'll find out how hard you beg when you mean it."

And he bites down, and Akihito shouts helplessly and comes and comes and comes, wringing Asami's orgasm from him with the helpless clenching of his hole around the heavy cock inside him.

"You're a terrible person," he pouts a little later, after Asami has rolled them over and rearranged Takaba to his liking so that the boy lies draped over the older man's body like a blanket, the long fingers tracing idle circles on his sore bottom.

"I am," agrees Asami with a smirk.

"Why'd you put me through that, let me think I figured something out with you for once? You're mean."

Asami lifts his head off the pillow to narrow his eyes at Akihito.

"Well, you were having so much fun…"

"Jerk!"

Asami laughs, and effortlessly grabs Aki's wrist when he draws back to slap at the smug man underneath him.

"No, Akihito, listen to me. That you did think to do that…to beg me for mercy because you knew I'd like it…just because I knew what you were doing does not lessen what happened. I am not sure I have ever been more aroused by you, and you earned every moment of pleasure I gave you because of it. I do thank you, and I mean that. I can admit to you that being given what I wanted rather than having to take it was…really quite stimulating. Just don't make a habit of it. I'd only have to punish you more if you start to make things too easy for me."

"Asshole," gripes Takaba, and though he is smiling when he says it, he finds out rather sooner than he would have liked that Asami had been going VERY easy on him with the first spanking.