Title: Runner
Summary: When Akihito gets a call from an old friend, Asami starts to dig. What is his kitten hiding? And who is this new kid on the block that refers to himself as 'Wildcat'?
Rating: T—Due to change
Genre: Suspense/Romance
Length: 15 Chapters

Author's Note: I wasn't sure how I was going to start this chapter… I have an end goal but nothing to bridge it in-between. Bare with me because this story's not coming as easy as it was before. I won't abandon it though.

Updated 4/15/14

Chapter 9: Analyzing the Enemy's Movements

It was amazing how much free time one had when they weren't being bent over the nearest object and fucked raw by an insatiable and high maintenance lover, Akihito thought as he actually fulfilled something productive—that something being checking 'Kurosawa's' mail at the dummy-apartment—not that he would ever tell Asami that he was high maintenance. Insatiable… well, he'd told him that several times… all that seemed to do was feed his ego.

As if the man didn't have one big enough already… his ego, that is. Not… that.

God, when did he turn into such a sex-crazed maniac?

'Since you met Asami whose sole purpose seems to be corrupting you until you're as dark as he is.' A niggling little voice that sounded a lot like Mitarai said. Akihito sneered mentally. 'But wasn't I already dark?' He thought. 'Because surely, no sane person would transport potentially illegal information across the city by jumping from the rooftops or ducking into shadowed alleyways for the thrill of it.' Then again, no one ever claimed that Akihito was entirely sane.

Because he wasn't.

'Well what do we have here?' Akihito thought as he paused, looking at his slightly ajar door. 'Someone has been in my house… now who could it be?' Not that he was particularly worried. There was nothing that would give him away—only a few things that would lead to dead ends. It was better to give the bad guys a few leads that would use up all their resources instead of giving them the truth.

The disguised journalist flipped open his phone and held down the middle number. "Shina," Akihito said after she had picked up. "Someone's compromised the dummy apartment. Do you have the security footage ready for me?"

"I was wondering when you'd call. They busted in late last night. They stopped by my bar and asked about you as Kurosawa. I gave them a few useless things to follow up on, saying that you were a regular and that you'd be by the day after tomorrow after work." Shina paused and the sound of a glass clanking against the table. "Actually, you know, I got a call earlier this morning. I have it recorded—you might want to listen to it because the man calling didn't ask for Kurosawa. He asked for Akihito."

Akihito stopped as he tweaked a few things in the house. "Did he leave a name?"

"Yeah… he said his name was Mitarai."

Akihito resumed walking. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"Not unless you can make something of this gibberish I'm looking at."

"I'll be in to look at it in a few. First I have a few things to take care of." Akihito replied.

With today's data encryption software, it's sometimes hard to tell what kind of information is being sent out. A network analyzer can tell you how much information someone's accessing and how encoded it is. If someone starts using heavy-duty crypto and changing their security protocol, it's safe to assume that you've touched a nerve.

Of course, it helps when what you're connecting the analyzer to is protected by little more than a hollowed out door and a cheap lock.

Akihito placed the laptop-like device behind the wires and shifted them so they would hide it. He'd come and replace the batteries in forty eight hours. At that time, he'd also retrieve the data and have Tsukiya decrypt it.

He slipped off his clothes and changed into a pair of loose cargo jeans and a baggy sweatshirt. After making sure his bag looked bulked out enough for it to be mistaken as only clothes, Akihito slipped into the back exit.

Shina was waiting for him when he got to the club. She smirked in greeting. "I got that footage for you." She slid a USB drive across the table. It was resting on top of a slip of paper. After pocketing the little slip of plastic, Akihito scanned the note.

T.R. Tokyo Imperial Hotel Friday, 2:30 AM. Dress warmly.

Well that was vague. Akihito smiled dryly as his mind translated the message. Takamatsu Rida will be at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel on Friday at 2:30 in the morning.

But dress warmly? What the hell?

Unless he was telling him that things were going to get cold… if that was the case, Akihito wasn't going in without some form of backup. "If Mitarai comes in, give him this," Akihito said, scrawling out his own, equally vague, message. It was a simple thank-you-for-the-information-but-I'll-be-fine. He had a few tricks up his sleeve anyways—ones that Takamatsu wasn't going to see coming.

Akihito blew out a breath as he walked down the busy streets of Shinjuku. He needed to analyze his enemy's moves up until this point. Takamatsu hadn't made any frontal attacks but that didn't mean he wasn't making changes in their game plan as it stood.

So far, Takamatsu had dosed out no more than two kidnapping attempts against Tsukiya—one the day before she called him and one after, at the hotel. They had retaliated just before the second one which, undoubtedly, threw a wrench in his plans because they stole a copy of his personal and business hard-drive. It was only a matter of time before he struck…

A man rammed into Akihito's side, shoving them both into an ally way. Akihito grunted, twisting to get a good look at his attacker. He lashed out with his foot, snagging the guy in the ribs and causing him to curse. The man behind him tightened his grip but Akihito braced his feet against the grungy side of the building and pushed back. The man behind him collided with the opposite wall and Akihito landed in an unceremonious heap on the floor before he bolted for the opposite end of the ally.

Just before he reached the mouth, he felt a sharp, stinging sensation at the nape of his neck before a bag was forced over his head and he was shoved abruptly once again, this time into a car. "What the hell?!" Akihito snarled, ripping the bag off and fighting to keep his drowsiness at bay. He blinked dazedly as his limbs became sluggish and his vision slowly refocused and he was met, face-to-face, with the last person he wanted to see.

Takamatsu Kida.

And somehow, the only coherent thought that managed to form in his mind was 'oh shit' before all went black.

Tsukiya was worried.

She was worried… and she didn't like it. Being worried was unfamiliar territory to her because she was usually too high off of the adrenalin rush to care about petty things like the lives of others but here she was, genuinely concerned for Akihito's welfare.

He had left almost four hours ago to plant surveillance devices so they could monitor what kind of data went in and out of the hotel. It would be a fuck-ton of data to decrypt but it would keep Tsukiya busy and therefore keep her distracted since she couldn't do any heavy lifting.

It still seemed almost surreal that she was carrying a living, breathing being—that she had been carrying him (since she was definitely having a baby boy, according to the sonograms) for the past eight and a half months. To be honest, she had expected to go into labor prematurely because of how petite she was… not to mention her high stress line of work.

Which had been promptly cut off the minute they found out she was pregnant. Damn overprotective fools.

Nevermind if they had a point.

"What's that grimace for?" Suoh asked.

"I'm plotting my vengeance against my fiancé when he's retrieved from Takamatsu's custody." Tsukiya replied. "Eight months of doing jack has made my muscles erode. I'll need months of rehabilitation."

"Ever thought about, oh, I don't know… raising the kid and retiring?"

"Bite your tongue, you arrogant bastard!" Tsukiya gasped, genuinely offended that he would even suggest such a thing. "I live to be active."

"Yes," He said slowly. "But from what I understand, you live for the danger, not the activity. Your child can't raise himself, you know… that is… assuming you're having a boy?"

"I am." Tsukiya said.

Suoh had a point. If something were to happen to both her and Kaoru, who would raise their child? Kaoru had very few people he trusted with his life and even fewer with hers… who would he trust with their child's life? Who could she trust with her child's life?

The answer slammed into her like a ton of bricks.

She could trust the very same person that she trusted all along—the very person she went to in order to get her out of the situation she was in and rescue her husband.

Takaba Akihito.

With her mind made up, she reached into her go-bag and pulled out the file. On the line that said emergency guardian, she scrawled out Akihito's name. She hoped he didn't mind.

He was going to be named the godfather of her child, after all.

Tsuzukeru.

Next time: Takamatsu and "Kurosawa" have a little chat. Asami starts qetting suspicious and Akihito seeks an outlet.