Ch. 10
The morning sun flitted through the metal blinds annoyingly. Tokito flung a hand at the offending light, muttering curses under his breath.
"Fucking sun, every god damned morning…"
"That's normally what 'morning' means you know?" A voice said humorously from the doorway.
Tokito sat up groggily, rubbing his hand across his eyes to banish the sleep and glanced at the door.
"Taki!" his face lit up at the sight of his journalist friend, utterly bemused to see him in their room.
"Yo!" *eh hem* "Ah, Toki-chan, umm…not to say anything about your sleeping preferences, but umm….could you maybe…"
The blonde pointed at his friend's waist and blushed hotly.
Tokito glanced down and burned crimson, "Shit! Kubo-chan!" scrambling under the covers for his missing clothes he about missed his partner's head poking around the corner of the door.
"Aré? You're up? What's the matter?" Kubota looked the same as ever, cigarette hanging loosely from his lips, glasses hiding his eyes, annoying half-smile slipping across his lips.
"God damn it! Where'd you put my clothes last night? I swear every single fucking time!!"
"Hmm…I tossed them somewhere in the middle of everything…the laundry maybe?"
"What the hell'd you do that for? What am I supposed to do now?"
"I don't have a problem with what you're wearing currently…"
"Eh!!! God, you can be such a pervert sometimes you know!"
Taki's face couldn't get any redder. He had tried inching out once the conversation turned, well, turned, but Kubota was blocking the entrance. Standing there listening as their conversation became increasingly intimate he felt really out of place.
"Um..I'm gonna go check the coffee; I'll see you in a bit…"
Escape! Taki fled the room, pushing past Kubota and about flinging himself into the living room.
Gasping for breath, trying to get the way to vivid images of how his friend lost his clothes out of his head he heard chuckling from the couch to his left.
"Old fart" he mumbled, straightening and walking into the kitchen.
*heh*
"Told you, you shouldn't have volunteered to go in there. It's like a no-man's land, only Makoto's free to pass." Smoke wreathed the scruffy face of the older detective. Kasai laughed at the younger man and took another drag off the half-burned cigarette. He had no definite proof about his nephew's relationship with Toki-boy, but of everyone he'd ever met, it was that boy who'd made Makoto 'settle down' so to speak and he was happy for them.
Taki settled heavily onto a kitchen chair that had been pulled out into the living room, the wood groaning as he settled into it backwards, leaning his chest against the back, legs spread out in front of him, coffee cupped loosely in his hands.
"So, you think this is a smart idea? I mean, he did tell us all to stay away until this got settled." Taking a quick swig of the lukewarm liquid he scrunched up his face and glanced at the sleeping form curled up with her head cushioned on Kasai's leg.
Kasai smiled ruefully and lightly brushed the black hair away from Anna's eyes. They'd met at Makoto's last birthday party and hit it off. He smiled at the memory: Toki-boy had come asking about what people normally do for birthdays and he thought it'd be a great chance to give his nephew a party. He knew if anyone other than Tokito had suggested it Makoto would refuse it flatly, but if it was him…
A soft cough caught his attention, the boys where back; Tokito looked flustered, a pink blush tingeing his neck, Makoto's arm thrown over his shoulders as they wandered into the room, Makoto was saying something to him, so low he couldn't catch it, but whatever it was caused the shorter boy to mock swipe at his arm and lean in closer.
Kasai held his breath; he'd never really seen his nephew smile openly before, but for a moment, less than a heartbeat in length, there had been a true smile on the boy's face.
"Yo, Toki-boy, you up now?" He waved over his head while gently nudging Anna awake.
"hmm…g'morning." Sitting up sleepily she glanced around the room and blinked rapidly at the mid-morning light. She leaned in sleepily against Kasai as the two made their way around the couch.
"Eh?! What are you guys doing here?" Tokito asked incredulously at the pair, eyes going wide as Anna nuzzled in against Kasai's shoulder.
"Well, we figured it'd be better to be together on this than have shit go down separately, right old man?"
Taki ducked as Kasai threw a pillow at him, "Old man my ass, little punk."
"Well, whatever, it's good to see everyone, but really, we're cool you know?" Tokito looked around the group, smiling like nothing had happened, completely at ease amongst his friends…his family.
***
The next few hours were spent discussing plans and strategies, though nothing solid came out of it all. At the very least, Kubota was satisfied that the joking and laughing had helped Tokito's mood. Kou stopped by in the evening, after Kasai and Anna had left and they were finishing a last round of coffee with Taki. The tall Chinese nodded politely at him before stepping outside with Kubota, leaving Tokito and him alone in the living room.
"Stupid quack, always so sneaky with Kubo-chan." Tokito kicked absently at the table's legs.
Taki glanced back at the door listening for his friend's voice before leaning in closer to Tokito across the table.
"Hey, Toki-chan, you and Kubota, are you two…nah, never mind." He shook his head, waving his hand to dismiss Tokito's confused expression.
"Oh shit, I almost forgot, I did find one thing that didn't add up after the last time we talked. Where is it now…"
He scrambled through his backpack, pulling out random papers and notebooks, business cards and photos.
"Here it is! I was talking to this old guy at the carnival and he said he remembered overhearing something about the Tojou and someone named "Reiichi," he didn't know anything else, but he kinda figured it was something important…hey, Tokito?! Tokito!!"
Footsteps pounded up the stairs outside the apartment. The door slammed open as Kubota came racing through the room, Kou fast on his heels. Sliding to a stop, he fell to his knees in front of a hysterical Tokito, practically pushing Taki out of the way.
Tokito's eyes had gone wide, the gold specks vibrant in their fury, pulsing in his violet eyes. His hands were twined painfully in his hair as he huddled in upon himself, mouth open in a wordless scream. The terror easy to read on his face.
Kou opened his bag hurriedly, searching for something he could give the boy to calm him down. Kubota didn't wait, he reached in and grabbed Tokito's arms, teeth clenching as he fought Tokito for control of the flailing appendages.
"Toki! Tokito, it's me, it's alright, calm down, I'm here! Tokito!!" he pulled in closer, trying to get Tokito's body lined up with his own.
"Argh!!!! No!! Akira! Father!! Stop it! I don't wanna!! NOOOO!!!!"
Lips met crushingly, teeth crashing together as Kubota forced his way into Tokito's field of vision, biting down hard on his bottom lip, flinching as Tokito's claws ripped through his shirt and back. And still he called his name, over and over, reassuringly, a calming mantra to soothe the beast cradled in his arms.
Taki couldn't watch, he'd never seen his friends like this, this nightmare world and suddenly he understood why Kubota had tried to warn him off. He wasn't prepared for the stark reality of their every day lives. The brutality of it all.
He glanced at his feet, at the couch, the door, anything to try and distract him from the heart wrenching sound if Tokito's muffled sobs and Kubota's too soft voice echoing through the still room; reminding him that he was here, that he was still human, still needed.
Taki jerked at the soft touch on his elbow, found himself staring into smiling eyes and being lead outside into the cold night air.
"Taki-san, can you please tell me what you were talking about with Tokito-kun before he relapsed?" The mysterious man named Kou asked him pleasantly.
"Huh?" he asked intelligently, "Oh, um…I heard from this guy that the Tojou had some kid named 'Reiichi' a few years back, seemed like they were doing some pretty nasty stuff to him and that drugs were involved, but he didn't know anything more than that. I hadn't even gotten to tell him half of it when he freaked, and what do you mean 'relapse'? He's never been like that before. What's really going on here? Who are you anyways?"
Taki could feel the shaking starting. Moving from his mouth to his hands, he kept talking just to give it some form of outlet.
Kou just looked thoughtful as he spoke.
"You could call me the boy's doctor and unfortunately, I have seen him like this before. Luckily Kubota-kun's the best medicine for the boy. Anyways, could you tell me more about the man you spoke to?"
***
Kou silently slipped back into the living room sometime later, after sending the young man home with his best smile and a mouthful of lies: Tokito would be fine…there was no need to worry.
He could hear mumbling from the bedroom and carefully peeked into the darkened room.
Kubota sat on the edge of the bed, gently brushing sweat soaked hair out of Tokito's eyes, mumbling inarticulate sounds he assumed helped the boy sleep easier. Tokito was curled around his legs, arms wrapped around his waist, his eyes screwed shut in the unnatural attempt to shut the world away.
He slipped back out silently, the door making a soft clicking sound as he pulled it shut behind him. Walking back to the table he scratched out a note and propped it up by a forgotten coffee cup before turning out the lights and letting himself out.
Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.