The ever-brilliant Hasegawa does it again, as evidenced in the awesomeness below. Enjoy this heart-pounding chapter! (blind-alchemist)
"I won't let him do anything to you, I swear."
Kiku's words are completely lost on Yao. The Japanese man grimaces. Yao doesn't blink, doesn't give a single indication that he'd heard Kiku. Yao had been reading Kiku's body, his micro-expressions, the Japanese's form of "sign language." And since the Chinese man hadn't perceived anything concerning 'fucking', as per trained, Yao isn't responding.
"Yao, look at me."
The Japanese man has finally started to acknowledge the holes in his plan. He hadn't accounted for complications originating from feelings, whether they be his, Yao's, or Arthur's. Firstly, Arthur had finally cracked. He had definitely been unstable to begin with—to say that Alfred's death had destroyed him was not an exaggeration. However, when Kiku had first struck up the pact with Arthur, the British man had still appeared sane or at least functional. But it seemed as though living in a claustrophobia-inducing yacht for months at a time had opened the door to Arthur's insanity.
Also, nowadays, Yao is looking worse than ever. The Chinese's body has become weak and frail, to the point of ribs and joints sticking out everywhere. Kiku is, honestly, extremely worried. Yao wouldn't eat if not for Kiku spoon feeding him these days. It seems that the Chinese man has lost the will—or maybe the ability—to eat for himself, to keep up his strength to live.
The deterioration of Yao's physique is frightening. His magnificent hair has lost its shine and is falling out; once a beautiful black crown had framed Yao's face, but is now a rumpled mess of shreds. Kiku remembers how he'd panicked when he had once accidentally grabbed the hair too hard during a training session, and the strands had gathered inside his palms. Yao's skin is pale, sickly pale, and the cheekbones of his face have hollowed. But worst of all is his eyes. Yao's golden eyes look dead, like those of a gold fish on a chopping board.
Kiku hisses. He is the only sane person on the yacht. And he knows that, sooner or later, someone is going to die. Either Arthur would kill him, or he'd kill Arthur, or Yao would be killed. Either way, three would become two, and then finally one. And it was all because his plans had gone awry. It was so unlike him, the perfectionist, the Master of plans. No, no. He had never planned anything like this. Business wise, he is unbeatable, but now that he is dealing with humans, his feelings are all over the place.
He was supposed to own Yao for himself, make Yao his little golden bird inside the cage. He was planning to delete Arthur's presence from his plans once Arthur had gotten his hands on the documents he so desperately sought. Kiku would then bring Yao into his little secluded villa in the middle of nowhere and have Yao all to himself. And Yao in his imagination would start to accept him, hesitantly at first, but make progress little by little, and in the end they would get married by the hill overlooking the sea and Yao would be in a white dress, smiling at him. Call him cheesy, call him irrational, but Kiku had believed that he had the perfect, most foolproof plan.
Except that the Russian hadn't surrendered the documents, he had instead dismembered Arthur's subordinate, rescued their hostage, and is currently hot on their tails, so in the end Arthur had not only lost his subordinate, but also, apparently, his mind. Now Arthur is just a useless but dangerous dog, prowling inside the cabin; and since they are all locked inside the small ship together, everything is becoming ten times harder to deal with.
Furthermore, another problem has arisen. He hadn't planned on loving Yao this way; he had never expected to develop real feelings. He wants to give Yao something more than the usual tuna—but because they are on the run, they can't afford anything particularly luxurious. Yao in his arms looks at him expectantly, with an empty gaze, as though waiting for when he would be fucked to death. This wasn't supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was wrong. All wrong.
"…Sorry," Kiku whispers. Yao looks at him, his eyes hollow as ever, yet his lips are forming a small smile.
"…Augh," Yao barks.
Xiang Gang's words won't stop swirling around in Ivan's head.
You need to leave him.
Leave Yao? No way.
When we get Yao off the ship, we're taking him into hiding so that nobody can find him.
Could he possibly live like that?
Yao is definitely his foundation. Ivan isn't sane, he is aware of his mental instability, and furthermore, he'd go as far to admit he wasn't human before he'd met Yao. Yao was the one who'd made him a full man. Ivan needs Yao's smiles as badly as he needs Yao's acceptance. He wants Yao beside him. If he really got to marry Yao, Ivan had already prepared a secure fortress, hidden away from society, where Yao could live and stay and wait for him. Ivan would make sure that Yao would always be safe and sound, and that Yao would be happy, very happy.
He opens his cell phone for the hundredth time. The picture sent by Arthur so long ago is blinking on the screen, staring back at him mercilessly. Ivan is the one who caused this picture to materialize. Now he isn't even sure if Yao is still alive or not. He knows that Yao hasn't been sold to any other slave auctions, but maybe they had something worse in store for him. Maybe they had killed him instead, and were planning on harvesting his organs.
The sudden mental image of Yao with a gaping hole in his stomach, lifeless eyes peering at him accusingly, blaming him, cursing him, makes Ivan lean over and puke. When he is done being sick, his clothes are wet and they reek. But he can't stop it. He is shutting down. How long has it been since the last time he had eaten anything? He is drowning himself in the power of vodka these days. And his subordinates are all stupid, useless! They can't even locate the fucking ship. Everything is going downhill, and fast. His superiors are already starting to give him warnings, telling him to stop looking for the ship.
Yeah, fucking bastards. They are only helping Ivan to look for Yao because their own asses are on the line—Ivan may be valuable, but he refuses to return to work until he finds his stolen fiancée. But now, since several weeks have passed and Arthur is still lost at sea, they'd changed their strategy. Instead of assassinating Arthur, they are using more political weapons. His superiors have declared Arthur to be an international fugitive. Their targets are the British Intelligence, and that is all they are concerned about; that is about all the support Ivan can expect from them anymore.
Everything is breaking down without Yao by his side. Since when had he started depending this much on the Chinese man?
(If Yao is capable of making him this weak, wouldn't it be better if Yao disappears from his life altogether?)
If he can't have Yao… then nobody else will.
Look, they are betraying you. Are you stupid enough to stay here and be a sacrificial lamb?
Shut up.
You are the one who is being tied up. And since I am now your official voice of reason, I need to admit… I really hate being tied up.
Shut up.
Oh, look, the Jap bastard is coming. Bite his dick, you sucker.
SHUT UP!
Arthur opens his eyes and realizes he is indeed tied up, and lying inside a small boat, one of the freaking dinghies. The yacht is floating beside the dinghy. His hands are bound with rope, rendering him unable to move freely. He wiggles furiously, yet, apparently the Japanese knows bondage well enough to secure the tie.
"You are finally awake."
"What the bloody hell are you doing? Untie me!"
"You are not stable. I will take control from here."
"Let me out! We never agreed to this!"
"Look." Kiku slaps Arthur's face with today's newspaper. Arthur spits onto Kiku's face.
"I cannot use my hands, motherfucker. Untie me!"
"You are an international fugitive now," hisses Kiku. Arthur slows down to process the words.
"What the…? Are you out of your fucking mind? I am a senior member of British intelligence!"
"Apparently you have been fired. You're wanted on charges of stealing… classified documents? You are now officially a fugitive; moreover, they've pinpointed you as a spy for Russia."
"That's bloody funny! Hell yes, I am from Russia. How can I be Russian, for God's sake? I have worked in Intel for over ten years!"
"You are useless as well as a liability now." Kiku shrugs. "So I think I have the right to annul our agreement."
"WHAT?"
"Here is some food for you. It will last you two weeks. The drug is going to wear off in a few hours; you can untie yourself then. And we are in the middle of the damn sea. Find yourself a nice way to get to solid land."
"Motherfucker!"
"Sayonara, Arthur Kirkland."
With that, Kiku jumps back onto the yacht. And he pushes the small dinghy away.
Arthur watches helplessly as the yacht leaves him in the middle of nowhere, but not without throwing out a few more choice swears and heavy curses.
Kiku wipes his forehead and checks his compass again. He has just realized that they are still somewhere in the Atlantic, circulating around the Northern sea. He can see land, and there are quite a large number of private ferries surrounding him. He'd made a pretty huge mistake of abandoning Arthur in close proximity to Arthur's own country, Britain, due to his arising panic when he read how Arthur had now become an international fugitive.
Shit. Maybe he should head back and get Arthur. If Arthur could reach the shore before he did… Gods, he knows that everything is screwed up. What on earth is happening to him? What had happened to his status as the "Master of perfect planning"? Everything is so messed up beyond recognition.
He heads back to the deck. Their food supply is now very limited, since he had given most of their rations to Arthur. Kiku still considers himself human; Arthur would certainly be left drifting in the middle of nowhere for a while, so he'd left more food than necessary. Consciously, Kiku would not let a fellow human being starve to death, at least not immediately. But now he was regretting his own act of kindness. In fact, it hadn't actually been an act of kindness. It was more along the lines of an act of stupidity.
He goes to check on Yao. Yao is huddled inside the blanket, hurling his insides like a fish stick inside a sushi wrap. The young Chinese man has been whimpering, non-stop, ever since an hour ago. Kiku had forced Yao to eat something, yet the Chinese man hasn't been able keep it down. He has in fact been vomiting everything he has consumed.
He needs a doctor, and more food. So he has little choice but to come back to the shore.
He is definitely making a mistake, but Yao's life is at stake.
"Wan…"
"What?"
"…I remember him now. The other man, besides the blonde one."
"Are you sure you can recall it correctly? Don't force yourself, baby brother."
Hong shakes his head. "I remember now. I can remember now. I know I am not strong enough yet, but I want to save Ge-ge as soon as possible. There were two men—one whom Ivan is having a problem with. And the other… the other one was Asian."
"…and?" Taiwan holds her brother closer. "Calm down. You are shaking."
"He… he said he knew Ge-ge. He said… "
Wan nods encouragingly and gently, and Hong looks back away, struggling to continue.
"He said he'd worked together with Ge-ge before. He is around my height with a peculiar hair style, and has dark gray eyes and wears sunglasses a lot. He smokes. He… he spoke with an accent… I think he is probably Japanese…"
And Hong Kong stops talking and hunches over. He dry-heaves, and then starts vomiting right on the floor, his body sweating profusely. Taiwan pats her brother's back, stroking him, soothing him. They crouch in the living room.
In essence, Hong Kong is in brutal therapy. He is trying to remember everything he had experienced in his darkest hours. He knows it is going to scar him for life, but in order to save Yao, Hong Kong needs to re-live everything. Taiwan is there to help him in any way.
"You did well, Hong …"
"What did you say?" Suddenly another, deeper voice can be heard outside the door. Taiwan turns back and spots her other older brother at the door. Im Yong-Soo walks in and grabs Hong Kong. "What did you say?"
"Yong-Soo! He's not OK to talk more yet! Give him time!"
"No, this is important!" Yong-Soo shrieks, letting go of Hong Kong. "Japanese… I know only one Japanese man with that kind of characteristic. I have seen him before… working with Yao-hyung."
Taiwan's eyes light up.
"Can you help us search for him?"
Yong Soo nods. "Sure I will."
"Don't tell Ivan," Taiwan whispers. "We can save Yao-ge by ourselves."