AN: Hello my friends! It was been a while. This chapter is build up for the next Arc of this fic and is kind of slow but bare with it, next one will be more exciting. I hope you enjoy it, let me know how you feel about it and your thoughts as to what may happen.
If you want to learn more about Jun or see the specs/pictures of his and Aki's bikes you can go to my LJ to find it.
Unbetaed - sorry…. Do feel free to point out errors.
I do not own VF.
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Three days after the "Asami-is-such-a-jealous-bastard" incident, as Akihito liked to refer about the whole debacle, Jun was still on leave until his shoulder healed properly. Despite the reason behind Akihito finding himself without a personal bodyguard and in the dubious company of the "regular goons" he was in the mood to enjoy his relative freedom and get quite naughty while at it.
Akihito walked the busy streets of Shibuya, he knew he was being followed but was completely unconcerned about it. He passed a couple shops and greeted their owners, never stopping too long in one place as he dove between the crowds giving his keepers a hard time keeping up. A thought crossed his mind of how spoiled he had been before Jun by just having idiots like this following him without hindering his freedom. Then again, having Jun following him around also had its perks and at least the guy was fun to hang with. He slowed down as he passed a young man handing out pamphlets, just long enough to discretely pass him a note, to which the dark haired young man just nodded and kept on as if nothing had happened. Akihito kept walking four more blocks until he reached a ramen shop and entered the establishment.
It was clear the ramen shop had been standing there for a very long time and obviously had seen better days. The bad illumination provided by the few light bulbs never deterred him from coming to this place, the food here was great but that was not the only reason he kept coming over. He sat on the stool and inmedately a cup of tea was placed before him.
"Welcome back Aki-kun, will you be having the usual today?"
" Nah ojisan, today is a day to have the spicy special."
"Really, the spicy special? Doesn't seem like a day you will be able to enjoy such a dish." The old man in front of him arched and eyebrow and threw a quick glance at the two men wearing black three piece suits sitting at a table nearby. 'Asami's men could not be more obvious, they stick out like a sore thumb.' Akihito thought.
"It does seem a bit hot for it but I'm sure it will be fine after I use the bathroom." A devilish smirk spread across his face and the old man chuckled.
"In the mean time how about some Shinasobaya?"
"Sure thing, that sounds delicious."
He ate and talked to the old man about a number of unimportant things. Half an hour after he had arrived he got up from the stool and spoke softly to the old man.
"I think I'll go get that special now."
The old man slid a small key toward him at the same time he placed money on the table. He took the key discretely as he placed the money down and turned to the direction of the bathrooms. Akihito walked down the small hallway, entered the bathroom, opened the wide window and snuck out to the back of the shop where he used the key to enter a back room. The door closed silently behind him locking itself. He descended a flight of stairs and walked down a damp and dark tunnel for a very long time, when the tunnel forked he went left and then right when it divided into three sections. Various times he had to make a left or a right in the underground maze underneath that section of Shibuya. He knew it like the back of his hand and despite it having been there longer than he has been alive Akihito was sure the structure would remain long after he was dead, it was just too perfect for smuggling and hiding things to let it fall apart. If only it wasn't so damn long, but it had to be, the tunnel was one of the entrances to the lower level of the seemingly normal bodyshop at the edge of Shibuya and if he didn't want to raise any suspicions he had to use this entrance instead of entering from the shop itself. He preferred using the door at the ramen shop anyways, it was less fishy seeing Akihito enter a ramen shop than it was seeing him enter the dress store four block down. That would definitely raise some eyebrows since last time he checked he was still not a girl.
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In the shop, Asami's two goons were still sitting on a table without ordering any food. Ten minutes later they began to wonder what was taking Takaba so long in the bathroom. Two minutes after that they decided to go check it out and found an open window. Immediately the two men ran out of the bathroom and to the alley behind the shop, trying to get a clue as to what direction the troublesome young man took after he climbed out the window. They knew they would have to report losing their boss' lover and Asami would not be pleased.
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Finally he got to where he wanted. A metal door stood before him and he knocked on it in a series of knocks. *One sharp short knock, two slow, one sharp, one slow and two sharp ones. The door opened slowly to reveal a girl with long dark hair gathered in a high pony tail and a red bandana. Her cargo pants and white wife beater were greasy. Slender fingers closed around a wrench as she went back to the bike she was fixing.
"Thanks for letting me know you were coming." She said from her spot on the floor. "I want sure if you would show up after I sent you the message yesterday. Natsue gave me the password right away so I would know it was you knocking."
"Yeah I saw your brother passing pamphlets on the street today, shaved me the trouble of going into the store. I'm glad the password got here before I did, I wasn't sure it would make it, he seemed busy."
"Pops is trying to expand and the message just gave me enough time to find some info for a job I wanted to talk to you about and disarm the trap at the door."
"I am not here for any jobs. I was not going to come but decided to see what you needed just because I wanted look at parts for my bike anyways."
"Are you sure? The payment is good, I'm even willing to throw in that part for free if you do this for me."
"You don't even know what part I'm looking for." He said reaching into a cooler for a beer and sitting on top of a metal table across from where she lay on the floor.
"It doesn't really matter, if I can get someone reliable for this job my cut will be good enough to just let you have the part."
"It must be a very good cut then."
"The info is right there, you should check it out. Perhaps the price will be enough to tempt you."
Akihito took the envelope and read the information it provided. He had not seen that many ceros in a long time. His mind began to run through all the things he could do with the money; there was a new camera he really wanted, maybe he will buy Asami something for Valentine's Day and treat his friends to at the obasan's place, Feilong's birthday was coming up too, maybe he will be able to buy him something and afford the price for mailing it to Honk Kong. No, he was not taking gokudo errands, regardless of how good the money was. He was about to say no when she spoke again.
"I'll let you have two parts of your choosing completely for free and will also install them myself, no charge."
"You must really be getting a lot of money from this."
"The client is very desperate to find someone reliable and capable to get the job done. The window of opportunity is also very short and the job is rather dangerous. It's not your regular pick up and could get ugly very quickly."
He was itching to get into it, the job sounded like the adrenaline rush and misbehaving he was craving at the moment. But it was too dangerous, he didn't take gokudo errands before because the risk was too high and was hesitant to take them now that everything in his life literally led back to Asami. He could only imagine what the man would do if he found out.
"Who is the job for?" He asked, hoping that it had nothing to do with the golden eyed man.
She stopped working on the bike and supported her upper body with her elbows to look at him in the eyes.
"I'm surprise Aki, you never ask for names. It's one of the things that make you safe to deal with."
"I know. I just need to know if it is someone we can trust to pay up upon delivery."
"Do not worry, I have made my research. The client is an unsavory character but he will not double-cross me. There is too much riding on this job."
Unsavory, that did not sound like Asami at all, and he really was up to some trouble.
"And all I'll have to do is steal the package during the time window and deliver it to the drop off point?"
"Yes."
"Seems simple enough. One thing bothers me though, if the job is today, why did you call me so late? Could you not find anyone else?"
"The person I was considering suddenly had to go into hiding and I couldn't get anyone half as skill as you in such a short term. You are my last option and I really need you to do me this favor.
"Fine but just this once. I really don't like involving myself with this kind of stuff."
"Be careful, it could get ugly, the man carrying the package is dangerous and he will likely have other men securing the area. They could kill you."
"They'll have to catch me first. I'll be borrowing one of your bikes and your brother's gear for this job."
"What's wrong with yours?"
"It's too well known and there is someone I don't want to be caught by today."
She pointed at the door on the other side of the large room and he quickly made his way there. Minutes later, dressed all in black with Natsue's gear and holding the young man's black helmet on one hand he looked upon the seven different bikes in the room and chose a bright yellow Suzuki TL1000, it was not the newest model but he knew the streets of Tokyo and all its back ways, he could lose any tails with it if he needed to. Two hours later he was riding the streets of Tokyo on his way to the target's location in Shinjuku, at the same time a large blond man was entering a luxurious building to make a very important pick up.
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This is it for now. A bit shorter than I am used to but I am still swamped and wanted to update this fic so I could work on my other ones. I don't know when my next update will be but I will try to make it soon.
* (Dot, Dash, Dash, Dot, Dash, Dot, Dot = AKI in Morse code.)
Thank you all for the support! I wish you all Happy Holidays and Happy New Years.
Setsuna