A/N: My apologies for the length of this chapter. But I felt as if there was no way to separate or shorten it without somehow diminishing its integrity. I hope you all find it enjoyable, and not entirely cumbersome.
As a side note, this story has now reached it's year mark for publication. That is both wonderful to me...and just a bit sad, as it shows how slowly I have been in tending to this piece.
WARNING:
The following content may contain elements that may not be suitable for some audiences.
Viewer discretion is advised.
'And there's a jet black crow droning on and on and on
Up above our heads droning on and on and on'
The energetic buzz of various noises and simultaneous conversations bounced off the brick walls and swirled around him as he moved himself through the communal cafeteria. Though this caused a division of his focus, he found it preferable to yet another meeting at that awful lime green table in the prison's visitation center. He had been strongly cautioned against this course of action. Coming back into the prison's dangerous interior. Again. But he knew that if he had to see that putrid looking table at the visitors center...one more time...he was almost certain to become violently sick. He knew it.
Gaining the eyes of a few of the inmates and lingering guards, he felt himself a little out of place dressed in his business suit in a sea of white tank tops and orange jump suits. But it couldn't be helped. He was here on business. Holding himself to a certain standard when in the suit and representing his clients. And he was anything if not professional.
When in the suit.
His girlfriend had found it almost comical. The way that a simple piece of attire could change the way he held himself. Tame his more brash, snarky, and less-than-professional temperament. Of course, her good-natured hazing at his expense was always taken with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of his bitter cynicism. But only because she was right, as she was with most things. Though he would never tell her as much. Most especially when it came to himself. But he had always found a level of truth in the sentiment that the suit made the man.
A few low whistles.
Some distant cat calls.
He held himself just a bit straighter towards this welcome as his gaze searched for the one he had come for. Making his way through the rows of benches filling the cafeteria, his eye finally met cold amethyst followed by a taut expression of disapproval towards his approach. Slowly claiming a seat along the bench across the table from his client, Kyo offered the cold man a small, almost wry smirk.
"Sohma-san." This came murmured from his lips as his arms came folded along the table that separated them.
"Tell me something..." Yuki's voice softly manifested through the hands that came to veil his lips in folded prayer, that cold gaze coming to scrutinize his lawyer. "Are you trying to get yourself hurt or killed?" This question came laced in monotonous irritation with the furrow of his brow. "Because you're no good to me dead, counselor."
"Well then..." Kyo quipped with the small quirk of his eyebrow in a show of caustic humor. "I suppose that puts us in the same boat, now doesn't it." This statement was absorbed through an ever growing, grimly frigid expression of disapproval.
"Do you really have that much disregard for your own personal safety?" Yuki questioned tersely as Kyo gave a small, amused shrug.
"Some people consider it a healthy sense of adventure." He countered, his demeanor shifting slightly more professional with the growing stares drawn to this meeting. "Besides, I was assured that I'm perfectly safe here." Kyo attempted to deflect his clients chastisement of this reckless visit with a small nod to the few guards in attendance.
"There's a fine line between being brave..." Yuki murmured quietly through slender folded fingers and that piercing amethyst gaze. "...and being stupid...counselor."
Kyo felt every muscle tense in his body. Waves of rage and indignation washed over him, lapping up and over as he absorbed his client's words. The man was calling him stupid. Not in so many words, but the insinuating turn of phrase was meant to be insulting. He knew it. Could feel it. And the guileful show of disrespect was almost enough to push Kyo past his breaking point.
He wasn't doing this for profit.
He wasn't doing this for favor.
Hell, he wasn't even doing this to be liked by the man.
But as a matter of principle in the attorney-client relationship, Kyo expected a level of respect. Though unable to pay for his legal services, surely the Ice Prince could afford something like that. A level of respect. Feeling his tanned skin warm towards his client's disrespect, Kyo became aware that the man was silently staring at him. Gauging his expression and reaction? Taking stalk of the effect of his words, perhaps? Either way, it was a reminder to Kyo. A trigger, of sorts, for him to temper his vexation as he worked to compose himself with a small smirk.
"Hm..." Kyo hummed lightly, meeting the man's amethyst gaze from across the way. "That's interesting." The smirk twitched along his lips towards the slightly befuddled furrow of his client's brows, the man's hands finally moving to mirror his own as they came folded along the table.
"What, exactly?" Yuki murmured coolly with a small scowl.
"Oh nothing..." Kyo waved dismissively with a casual tone and gesture of his hand. "I just didn't realize you were that concerned about my well-being."
"I'm really not." Yuki muttered tautly through lips drawn in a thin line of unamusement. "But as I already told you, counselor..." This came through light words and a fierce gaze. "...you're no good to me dead." A sigh passed through his thin nose as lips turned slightly down, tugging along scarred cheeks as his gaze followed suit to the table. "We're running out of time." His words met Kyo in hollow monotone. "And I'm not sure I have the luxury of looking for another attorney to represent me through this process if something should happen to you in here."
These almost fragile sounding words seeped themselves through Kyo's skin, rendering him momentarily speechless. 'We're running out of time'. He found himself strangely humbled at having been reminded about the life hanging vicariously in the balance. Through this whole process, he hadn't really realized how vulnerable this man truly was. How much he was really depending and counting on him. Though Kyo suspected that...with the man's perpetually evasive, cold and distant demeanor...the Ice Prince had wanted it that way. But with these words, Kyo felt this invisible barrier between them fall and crumble.
Something he felt neither one of them had anticipated when they had first started this process together.
"But I am here." Kyo murmured in a startling moment of earnestness, gaining the frigid gaze of his client as he produced the ever present pack of cigarettes, waving it playfully with a small smirk. "So you might as well make the best of my visit, hm?" And he watched his client consider this fact, amethyst eyes trailing the pack of cigarettes before giving the small bob of the head in concession as he accepted the token gift.
Their little ritual.
Taking one for himself, Kyo quickly lit his before offering the same gesture to the man across the table from him. Stashing both the pack of cigarettes and lighter away, Kyo took a satisfied drag, watching his client do the same before reengaging their conversation.
"So what progress have you made with my appeal, counselor?"
"Attempting to speak with your mother was a complete waist of my time." Kyo admitted through the curl of smoke, and the cool expression along his client's face didn't appear particularly surprised by this. "So I'm focusing all my efforts and resources on chasing down the list of people engaged by the prosecution." This came murmured professionally through his lips as he produced a file and slid it across the table for his client to look over. "I figure that if there's a weakness in the prosecution's case, I'll find it there...speaking with her witnesses." And he watched his client give a small nod of approval behind a screen of smoke to this follow up of his case.
"Anything else, counselor?" The man asked through that lifeless lilt, taking another drag of his cigarette.
And for a moment Kyo wondered if he should mention the unplanned meeting with Sohma Ayame before a small sigh pushed through his nose.
"I spoke with your brother." This statement fell from his lips as Kyo absorbed the small flicker of emotion behind that cold amethyst gaze.
"Did you, now..." This came coldly whispered through a curl of smoke and those taut lips as Kyo gave a small nod of concession. "...and...?" Yuki prompted with the quirk of his eyebrow and the slight purse of his lips that seemed to accentuate the scars along the hollows of his cheeks.
"He asked me how you were doing." Kyo admitted as Yuki averted his gaze to the table between them.
"What did you tell him?" He asked through a breathless whisper that dispersed the cloud of smoke before him.
"The truth." Kyo countered as he gained that cold, frigid gaze once more. "I told him that you were a giant pain in my ass." A sharp snort of bitter amusement pushed itself through the man's nose to dispel the smoke screen as those lips twisted and curled in a smile along his scarred cheeks, the cigarette coming gracefully poised between his slender fingers.
"He says that he misses you." Kyo offered up this fact as he watched the man's countenance shift into that same cool, stoic expression of indifference.
"I bet he did..." This came cold and heartlessly murmured through lifeless lips as Yuki took another drag of his cigarette, his gaze drifting away once more, though his features betrayed how these words truly effected him.
"And Tadashi?" He questioned lightly as Kyo gave the slight jerk of his head.
" Akiyama-san is still refusing to see me or allow me to speak with your mother."
"I see..." This came a breathless murmur that was soon swallowed up by the various sound swirling around them.
Taking in the strange expression shaping itself along the scarred features of his client, Kyo was reminded of what the man's brother had said. About his client having been extremely close with Akiyama Tadashi. And he saw how this news of Akiyama-san's non-intervention and continued silence effected the man. Even now...after so many years. Gazing upon his client, Kyo could truly feel the man's isolation.
...and it left him cold...
Before further discussion could be made about this case, or any other matter pertaining to it, Kyo felt the environment around him drastically change and become increasingly overwhelmed with a swirling cacophony of noise. High pitched whoops and calls reverberated off the walls and tables, and along every surface and space of the cafeteria as they heralded an arrival of sorts. Kyo watched as a group of inmates moved through the tables as one, with one mind. One thought. One intention. Gaining a pack mentality as they fed off the energy and comradery of the group and those around them. Animalistic sounds and shouts came echoed and responded to, given acknowledgment as Kyo continued to take in this startlingly boisterous display.
Watching his client quickly snuff out and discard what was left of his gift in order to avoid drawing attention to himself, Kyo quickly did the same in order to hide away the evidence. Working to stifle his startle response as he watched physical displays of pushing and shoving over food to establish dominance and a pecking order, Kyo knew without a doubt that he needed to veil his growing concern. Not only out of self preservation against these predatory pack animals, but in order to hide the fact that his client might have been right to chastise him for coming here. Though he had heard of the harsh institutionalization of those in the prison population, Kyo had to admit to himself that there was a startling difference in actually witnessing its effects on the human spirit.
And a part of him was disturbed and more than a little terrified.
The pack sensed the presence of an outsider, seeming to almost sniff him out through the endless line of tables. The heady, wooden spicy green fragrance of his Kérastase Homme body wash immediately gave Kyo away in a room filled with stale air, sweat, testosterone, and the smell of generic bar soap. Though his girlfriend found the aroma of his wash irresistibly intoxicating, the only reason he continued to purchase and use it, Kyo found that the scent now drew attention that he would just as soon have avoided. A wish made too late as he was soon discovered by the group of approaching inmates.
"Counselor!" This came hollered over the cacophony of noise in a loud boom from a face in the group Kyo found himself recognizing.
The ox of a man who had challenged him to that fateful pull up competition, won, then offered him a rematch should he ever wish to regain his dignity. Hatsuharu, was it? Though he wasn't certain of the name, Kyo knew he remembered the face. So he gave a small wave of the hand as acknowledgment to the seemingly amiable greeting.
But the man was not alone. And, to Kyo's surprise, not the only face that he recognized as the group circled around and finally descended upon the table where he sat with his client. Dark, ominous, fierce black orbs met him in a staring contest of sorts, and Kyo was reminded of what his client had said about this particular man. Akito. The Okinawan. The professor. The historian.
...the murderer...
And a small smile began to play along the man's lips as he perched himself next to Yuki, the two of them complementing each other like fire and ice.
"Law man..." This pet name came darkly purred in that peculiar, thick Okinawan accent through thin lips twisted in a slight smirk, causing Kyo's expression to become tautly guarded. "Came back for another history lesson?" Akito murmured with that ever growing simper towards Kyo's discomfort.
"Not really." Kyo murmured in a forced show of indifference, curbing his uneasiness under the ever watchful gaze of those predatory onyx orbs.
To show any hint or trace of vulnerable weakness in the midst of these pack animals would most likely jeopardize his safety.
"He doesn't want to hear a pointless philosophical rant from you, Akito." This sardonic backlash drew Kyo's gaze to his competitor as the man stared down at him from the seat he had claimed along the table's top, loafer clad feet propped along the makeshift footstool of the bench below, his back bravely to the Okinawan as he gave Kyo a wry smirk of his own. "The counselor came back to reclaim his manhood." This generated a host of jeering snickers and snorts of amusement towards the well played jest.
Cold, amethyst eyes drifted away and down to the table. Slender fingers furled in a light fist that came to veil thin lips. As Kyo watched this silent, physical display from his client through the continued sounds of delight from the others, he began to suspect that even the legendarily stoic Ice Prince had been amused by this friendly hazing.
And still...in the midst of this levity...the Okinawan next to him continued to stare Kyo down from across the table.
"So what do you say?" The man perched on the table spoke again, lightly nudging Kyo's shoulder as he drew the attention of the group once more. "Care for a rematch?" And Kyo's gaze drifted away from deep obsidian pools, his head tilting to meet steely gray in response to this latest challenge.
"Wish I could." Kyo murmured honestly, almost regretting the fact that he still had a host of meetings with people that demanded a level of propriety. "But I have to be in court after this." More low snickers rustled through the group at his expense as Kyo heard the man let loose with a deep-barreled, sardonic tisk.
"That's a damn shame, counselor." The man grunted in disappointment, causing Kyo to give a small nod of genuine agreement. "But I suppose it wouldn't look too good for you coming in all hot and sweaty, now would it." An unintentional smirk twitched along the man's lips towards this insinuating comment as his gazed drifted in further consideration. "...what would you lawyers call that...?" The man mused lightly to himself as he sat along the table's surface. "You. Strutting into the court room all hot and sweaty..."
"Incriminating." Kyo uttered the legal jargon automatically, without a second thought to the suggestive tone it lent to the whole entire conversation as the small group burst into another fit of laughter and chortled snorts of amusement, Yuki shaking his head in dismay at his attorney's tactless faux pas.
"What?" Kyo quipped towards the group's amusement as he heard his client give an audible groan, causing the man sitting along the table next to him to grin.
"You." The ox of a man boldly tousled Kyo's hair like an adult would a small child, a swift action quickly ceased before Kyo could brush the hand away. "You're alright, counselor." The others of the group gave hums of approval and agreement. "You're welcome around here anytime." The man continued as more nods followed. "I mean...you know..." This came uttered just a little deeper through that impish steely gaze of his. "If you ever want your manhood back."
Fighting to stifle the urge to petulantly roll his eyes towards this lighthearted jab, Kyo averted his gaze from the man perched above him, only to once again land in a dark ominous black pool. There was something in the way that Akito stared at him that left Kyo physically unsettled. An unspoken challenge in that dark, ominous gaze. A challenge that was far less friendly, and infinitely more threatening than the one offered from his competitor.
Even though the man smiled with the others towards his comrade's antics, Kyo felt something sinister lurking underneath that amused expression. And in those features Kyo was reminded of his pseudo father, Kazuma. The man who had taken him in after his real father had forsaken him when his mother had take her own life. For a time during Kyo's youth, Kazuma had raised dogs for breeding. Kyo remembered once witnessing his kind, gentle father figure signaling out and roughly disciplining one of the male pups of a new litter. And as a child, it had startled Kyo and he had ran away. But Kazuma had quickly caught up to him, embracing him and consoling him before explaining.
The pup was strong willed and had displayed signs of aggression, Kazuma murmured. Though it was still young, the little one was well on its way to asserting himself as an alpha male. In the wild...in a pack...that wouldn't have been a problem. It would be what the other dogs needed. A leader. But Kazuma said that the pup would never live in that kind of world. His world would be surrounded by people. Someday, even, small children just like Kyo. And if that pup's behavior wasn't corrected now, when he was small, he could end up seriously hurting someone when eventually given to a family and grown to be a bigger dog. Worse yet, Kazuma murmured warmly, his brothers and sisters would follow him instead of their future masters and mistresses. So Kazuma had needed to implement rough physical contact with the pup to become the new alpha male himself. To lead the pup, and show him that people were his masters, and worthy of his respect and loyalty.
Kyo understood. The open hostility. The constant, unspoken confrontation. The dark, foreboding stare down. The smile filled with malicious intent.
The Okinawan was that puppy.
And Kyo knew, as his father figure's voice murmured caution to him, that this man was the alpha male. This group...his pack. And if Akito were left unchecked in his overtly hostile behavior, Kyo feared that the others of the group would soon follow his lead and they would threaten to devouter him without a second thought. Kyo had to ensure his safety if he wished to continue coming here to serve his client. And to do that, he needed to openly challenge the alpha male and earn his approval by either becoming part of his pack and falling under his protection, or usurping him as the new alpha.
But he knew that to physically challenge the alpha male would do him little good. As the situation stood now, the Okinawan had people in his corner. People that Kyo had no doubt would jump into action should an outsider challenge the man. And Kyo feared there would be little the guards would be able to do if this were to occur. Kyo was outnumbered, and he doubted that the Ice Prince would do anything to intervene should things turn badly.
His options were limited here. But Kyo knew that something had to be done to address this matter.
"You know..." Kyo mused coolly to his competitor sitting on the table, his gaze never leaving that dark onyx stare. "I wish that everyone around here was as welcoming as you."
And suddenly, the entire atmosphere of the group changed. All eyes were on Akito, and Kyo knew that his words had been effective in drawing attention to the elephant in the room, so to speak. Even the legendary Ice Prince had been moved, his cold amethyst gaze sharply narrowing on Kyo before subtlety drifting to the man sitting next to him. Because everyone felt it. Everyone in the group knew.
A challenge had been made.
Now the ball was in Akito's court, and everyone in the group looked to the alpha male for a response.
"What are you getting at...?" This came a low murmur through that thick accent as Akito's gaze narrowed to these words and the underlying challenge they held.
"I think you know exactly what I'm getting at." Kyo quipped, holding that predatory obsidian gaze. "You don't want me here." This challenge came boldly stated from his taut lips. "But..." He murmured, gauging the response of the alpha male as he voicelessly directed the actions of the group. "...the way I see it..." Kyo's words came paced and slow, washing over his captive audience. "...that's not really up to you...now is it?" And he bared witness to how this fact effected the man, almost wounding him with the very truth and weight of it.
Slowly. Ever so painfully slow... That predatory gaze drifted to the side, away from Kyo's face. And the very moment the Okinawan had broken eye contact, Kyo knew that he had just established his dominance. The others would fall in line.
"Anyone that's willing to come here..." Kyo heard these words lowly uttered from thin lips in that strange drawl as Akito's gaze drifted back towards him. "...and speak on the behalf of any one of us..." He silently indicated to the pack that was no longer his. "...well...they're more than welcome here in my book, law man." With this reception and acceptance of his presence, Kyo felt the atmosphere of the group subtly change and relax from the constant tension that had threatened to bubble up at any moment.
As the group fell back into a buzz of lighthearted banter, Kyo spared one more glance towards his client, thinking that it would be best to finish their meeting at a later time. He had made the man privy to his plan of action. Other details of his client's appeal could be discussed another time. In the mean time he would enjoy this rare moment of being accepted and drawn into this tight knit group, feeling himself drifting along the current of various topics of conversation. A pleasantly calming experience he hadn't really expected in this harsh environment...until it was disturbed with the arrival of another outsider of sorts.
A newcomer to the group who had been viewing them from afar with a level of interest through warm brown eyes.
"Well, well..." This came low and sultry from lips producing a light whistle towards the group, drawing their attention to this stranger's approach before he claimed the seat on the other side of Kyo. "What do we have here?" The man murmured through an impish smile, that warm brown gaze drifting over Kyo's refined, suave appearance. "I didn't know they allowed conjugal visits on Death Row." That congenial simper of a smile turned just a bit foul in this insinuation towards Kyo's purpose here as the man finally extended his hand in greeting. "Shigure." The man finally introduced himself as Kyo avoided shaking this stranger's hand, though this rejection seemed to do little to deter him from conducting this somewhat intrusive conversation. "And you are..?"
Kyo remained silent to this query as he continued to take in and absorb this man's sudden and unexpected arrival. And by the way the group became just a little quieter, Kyo sensed he wasn't the only one to be taken a bit by surprise. It was clear that this man wasn't yet an accepted member of this small, tight knit pack. The man appeared to be in his mid to late thirties...maybe early forties if Kyo had to guess without asking. Despite his slightly older age among the current crowd, he was deeply attractive in a startlingly off putting way. His handsome features seemed to just begin to give themselves over to his age in the few rare, tell-tale stray gray hairs in his otherwise thick dark mane and the attractive wrinkles that formed themselves around his eyes when he smiled.
But his kindly, charming features and inviting smile seemed to be horribly marred by malevolence in the way he regarded Kyo through that warm brown gaze. A familiar predatory stare that all of these men seemed to hold...yet Kyo felt that this stranger's gaze seemed to be laced with added sick and twisted intent. It left Kyo feeling slightly nauseous as he worked to avoid the involuntary shudder threatening to pass through his body under this man's ever watchful, scrutinizing gaze.
"So..." The man introducing himself as Shigure lulled through that off-putting smirk of his. "Which one of these lucky dogs has the pleasure of such an attractive gentleman caller?" Shigure chuckled out, completely unconcerned towards Kyo's lack of engagement in this one sided conversation.
"He's here on business." A voice not his own rose up on his behalf in a thick accent to confront this stranger's meddlesome line of questioning as Kyo's gaze drifted towards its source. "And...it seems to me that he's not all that interested in answering your questions, there. Friend." Akito murmured, his dark orbs landing on Kyo only briefly before drifting towards this unwelcome guest.
And Kyo realized that Akito had purposely drawn undue attention away from him in engaging this stranger in conversation. Was it to reestablish his dominance in the pack? Perhaps, Kyo conceded. Regardless of its purpose, though, this action had an almost protective undertone as Akito stared the man down, holding that warm brown gaze with fierce intensity.
"Hm..." This passive hum passed through Shigure's lips in an 'is that so' tone as he smiled congenially towards the Okinawan. "That's an interesting accent you have there." He commented, eyeing the man across the table. "Not from the main land, are you." And Akito gave an amused smile in turn, lightly shaking his head.
"Okinawa Prefecture." Akito murmured lowly in that thick accent of his.
"Naha?" Shigure questioned, seeming to rather enjoy this light banter, and Akito gave another shake of the head in response.
"Nago." He corrected, starring the man down as Shigure's smile spread just a bit further in amusement.
"Damn." Shigure chuckled. "Should've guessed it was a bit further north." He lightly chided himself through that ever present smile of his. "Beautiful area." The man mused lightly. "I hear the bay's quite lovely." This complement seemed to cause the Okinawan's smile to twist down just a bit, pulling his lips into more of a frown of disdain.
"It was a beautiful area." Akito conceded coolly, and the whole group braced themselves for what they all knew was coming. "...until you filthy Japs ruined it." He spat, though the stranger across the table seemed unfazed by the Okinawan's blatant racism.
"Yeah." Shigure hummed happily through that smile, his warm gaze never deviating from Akito's dark penetrating stare. "We tend to do that." He agreed, and the group watched Akito absorb this tip of the hat to his argument as his rant was momentarily derailed.
"So..." Akito murmured lowly, a cynical smile replacing his frown. "...you know where I'm from." This statement came heavy along his thick accent. "Tell me..." He queried as the group gazed upon the stranger under the spotlight. "...what's brought you...here...?"
"Oh, probably the same thing as you, I assume." Shigure lulled cheerfully in response, gaining a mirrored scowl of disgust from both Kyo and his client across the table.
Though the Okinawan seemed unmoved by the man's casual declaration.
"Doubtful." Akito countered with a small smile to the man. "So what's your crime, friend?" He questioned again, holding the man's warm gaze with his predatory stare.
"Murder." Shigure answered nonchalantly with that smile and a small shrug.
"Just one?" Akito quipped, earning a few low moans and snickers of approval from his cohorts at the stranger's expense.
"I wasn't aware that we were in a contest." Shigure mused to the man across the table.
"If you have a count of one, then we're really not." Akito offered up cynically.
"Really?" The man smiled, his lips curling into his cheeks towards some inside joke that only he was aware of as the pack continued to take in this conversation. "What makes you think that?" He asked with the cant of his head. "Is my count of one not impressive enough for you?"
"Should it be?" Akito scoffed in a low murmur.
"I should think so." The man's words came strangely self confident as the new comer to this group. "Considering my count of one brought me to the same place as you, friend."
"Hm...I suppose it did." The Okinawan conceded to this fact as the man continued to smile. "How exactly did you manage that?"
"Well..." Shigure's voice came chipper through a bubble of light laughter. "They happened to find my crime particularly heinous." His expression shaped itself in equal parts satisfaction and pride in this statement. "Their words...not mine."
"What exactly did you do, then?" Akito asked in a level of intrigue to this information the man had so brazenly offered up.
And at this, the man let out a sharp chortle of laughter.
"Please." Shigure chuckled, though his jovial tone seemed somehow changed and diminished with this question. "Do I really look that stupid to you?" The man quipped causing a bemused furrow to shape Kyo's features.
This stranger had spend so much time openly bragging about his singular accomplishment. Why was he remaining silent now?
"I'm not going to come out and just tell you what I did.."
With this one statement, Kyo watched as Akito's striking features shifted violently before growing dangerously taut. And Kyo felt the whole entire mood of the group changed dramatically as the others seemed to harbor similar expressions.
"Well there's only one reason for that..." Akito's voice came in a dangerously low hiss of a whisper towards the man's silence. "Gentlemen." The Okinawan muttered darkly, gaining the attention of the pack. "I believe we have a baby raper on our hands." Kyo felt the sudden urge to become violently sick sitting so close to this man as the look in his warm brown eyes silently confirmed what the Okinawan had announced.
But it was Hatsuharu that was first to be moved by this revelation, quickly standing from his place on the table and behind Kyo's line of sight towards the stranger before Akito's voice manifested once more.
"Hatsuharu." Akito spoke authoritatively, halting the man as the two exchanged glances before dark orbs drifted back towards Shigure.
"Normally...at this point of the conversation...I would be far more polite, saying that it was a pleasure to meet you." He murmured through that thick accent and intense predatory stare. "But the only thing I happen to hate...even more than filthy Japs..." Akito uttered, staring the stranger down as he spoke. "...are pedophiles. So...in your case...I suggest that you leave." This came an almost feral, unrestrained snarl. "Now."
The man gave pause to this demand, holding that penetrating black stare in challenge before he seemed to see something behind those eyes that caused him to move. Silently, he stood himself from the table, offering Kyo another charismatic simper of a smile and kindly nod of farewell before wordlessly departing the group. Though Shigure had left, the ripple effect of his presence upon the group had been so profound that it was still felt after he was gone. His stink lingered, changing the atmosphere and tone of what had been building into a strangely pleasant visit. His foul, putrid aura hung around them...and lingered.
Lingered...like the dark obsidian gaze that followed his departure from the group. Trailing his every movement before he finally disappeared from Akito's line of sight. Black orbs drifted away to meet a steely gaze as Akito exchanged a small, silent nod to the ox of a man who had seemed to make Kyo his new best friend, Hatsuharu, before the two of them stood from the table as well.
"You're leaving too?" Kyo asked, gaining his competitor's attention as the Okinawan stalked towards the two of them from across the table.
"Yeah." Haru grunted out, peering down towards Kyo from where he towered over him. "Seems like the party's over anyway." Kyo gave a small nod of agreement.
He felt the same.
"See you around, law man." This low murmur from the other side of him caused Kyo's head to tilt as he met the dark gaze of Akito.
Though these were the same exact words he had uttered in the open court yard, the Okinawan's farewell came far more cordial than the first time he and Kyo had parted ways. And Kyo felt that his presence was far more accepted now than it had ever been as Akito turned away with his companion, offering up a silent hand in a farewell gesture to Kyo as the two meandered through the communal cafeteria. Making their way through the crowd, engaged in a conversation with each other, Kyo saw the dark stranger manifest several tables down moving in the opposite direction. The almost gravitational pull of the head in the monster's direction, and dark pools zeroed in on him once more as the two slowly crossed paths from a distance.
"Counselor." The call of his title from his client's lips caused Kyo to snap his head from the unfolding scene.
"Hm?" Kyo murmured wordlessly in response as his attention caught up to his gaze, absorbing the grave expression shaping his client's features.
"I think it's time you leave, too." Yuki spoke, his features as taut and cold as the words that had left his lips.
"What?" Kyo quipped, his expression furrowing into a bemused scowl.
"You shouldn't be here." The man clarified frostily through thin lips held in a grim line.
"Like hell I shouldn't." Kyo uttered bitterly, exasperated by his clients unrelenting lack of respect laced in pompous, Machiavellian-like arrogance. "As your attorney I have every legal right to be here, Sohma-san." Cold amethyst eyes narrowed towards this reminder as the the man gave the infinitesimal, almost dismayed shake of his head.
"You don't belong here." This came even more harshly snapped through Yuki's lips, each word accentuated to make his point. "And you should be going now, counselor." Amethyst eyes drifted away into the crowd as that same cold voice manifested in the breath of a whisper. "...while you still can..."
Kyo's expression came perplex towards his client's cryptic statement. '...while you still can...' These words left him so stunned that he was left momentarily speechless to a retort of any kind. Words failed him to even question his client as to what this could mean...until his gaze drifted through the crowd in tandem with the frigid stare of the Ice Prince. His client seemed so strangely preoccupied with the Okinawan. Ever since the man had left the table. And now, Kyo sat in silence with Yuki across the table, watching as the man stood above the communal cafeteria along the high-rise walkway leading out to other parts of the prison's interior. Slowly pacing. Surveying the sea of orange jumpsuits below with those black orbs.
"Too late." This came breathless from thin, bloodless lips. "Death from above." Kyo's gaze drifted away from Akito to narrow along his client.
"What?"
"Listen." Yuki whispered lowly, his eyes never deviating from the Okinawan's predatory movements. "When it happens, your first instinct is going to be to either run or intervene." He continued in hushed tones. "Trust me...you can't do either of those, counselor."
"What are you even talking about?" Kyo hissed just as quietly in growing vexation towards his client's mystifying behavior before he was hit full force with the weight of those cold amethyst eyes.
"You're not listening to me!" Yuki snapped harshly in a low growl. "The guards won't be able to protect you. You're going to need to stay still." His gaze burrowed into Kyo. "To stay silent...until it's over."
"But you wanted me to leave!" Kyo quipped, his features crumpling into baffled anger.
"That can't happen now." Yuki whispered shaking his head as his gaze fell from Kyo's face to the table. "Not until it's over."
"What?" Kyo's eyes searched his client's face. "What's going to happen?"
Yuki avoided his gaze. Avoided his question...as Kyo's eyes finally drifted away and up. Towards what seemed to be the source of his client's concern. The Okinawan. And then...Kyo's gaze fell with the downward spiral of those penetrating black orbs. Down to where the dark stranger, Shigure, walked underneath the walkway below. Time slowed...in an almost surreal, impossibly dramatic fashion as Kyo watched Akito launch himself up and over the rail, violently landing on top of the monster.
And then there was screaming.
Kyo stood himself up from the table, only to be forced back down to sit by his client who had reached across the table to grab for him. The agonizingly slow crawl of time suddenly kicked into a fever pitch as bodies rushed to circle the man Kyo could still hear being beaten. Everything happened so swiftly as prisoners attempted to join in the beating and guards attempted to break up the riot and pull the attacker from the victim. And above all the noise and chaos was that screaming. Kyo tried again to move. To leave. But was once again held in place by the man across the table from him.
His body shook with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. His eyes dilated under the visual of orange and red. Dark red. His stomach churned with the knowledge of what that color was. What it meant. But he couldn't look away. Air rushed painfully in his lungs as Kyo began to feel himself starting to hyperventilate. But still. He couldn't force himself to look away. From the horror. From the violence. From the terrifying source of that awful screaming.
Sudden contact of cool, strong hands along either side of his face finally drew Kyo's attention away from the chaos. Amethyst eyes plunged themselves into his own wide eyed, owl-like gaze. Commanding his focus as those hands came to shield his ears from the horrifying noise. As the screams came muffled and blunted through the hands cupped along his face, Kyo found himself able to breath. Only just. But his body still shamefully trembled under the suddenness of this assault and how the guards had been helpless to stop it.
Yet in the very moment his client had physically reached out to him, Kyo felt a strange almost calming detachment from the chaos that continued to swirl around the two of them. Unintentionally, and quite by instinct, Kyo's own hands gravitated to this contact as his fingers wrapped themselves around Yuki's forearms to hold the man's hands in place over his ears. And the two simply stared at each other, breathing together. As one. Slowly, as air passed through Kyo's lungs.
The muddled screams buffered by hands finally died down and were swallowed up by the chaos that ensued immediately after as the Okinawan finally gave himself up to be forcefully ripped away from his prey. And what Kyo saw was unimaginably grotesque. The man's face and clothing were splattered and painted in red. The color horrifically smeared along his pale features and bright clothing. Yet his expression was completely calm. Unfettered, even, by the fact that he had just beaten a man to death with his bare hands as he was taken away to resounding whoops, howls, and the sound of elated cheers.
As Kyo was finally released from the grasp of his client, he felt the violent churning of his stomach as the world around him went into a wild, dizzying spin. Now permitted to leave the table, Kyo propelled his body away before the nausea took hold and he fell to his knees, becoming violently sick as he emptied the contents of his stomach.
