*Well, I can't tell you how many times I wrote and re-wrote this. I don't know what Asami would do. So if you think he's OOC, sorry.
Chapter 12
"What's with that look?" Asami asked Kirishima upon his arrival at his office at the safe house for the days shenanigans, which included paperwork with the promise of more paperwork, a light lunch, followed by more paperwork. "Are you hung over from that champagne nonsense last night?" Kirishima started to wonder what his face looked like, as he was trying to remain composed after reading the article in today's newspaper. He was obviously failing.
"You know I don't drink on duty, Asami-sama." He said, which meant he never drank since he always seemed to be on duty.
"Well, what is it? I've never seen you look so wary." He said, chuckling to himself. In fact, Kirishima looked like he was ready to bolt, as if Asami was going to finally feed him to the fishes after so many years of loyal service. "Something interesting happen last night? Did you finally get a girl's phone number?" Asami teased.
"That's not it, Asami-sama." Kirishima appeared to be sweating bullets, if bullets did indeed sweat.
"Are you going to give me the paper? Or are you going to hoard it all to yourself?"
Taking a deep breath, Kirishima handed him the paper. "I'll leave you to it, then. I have reports to finish. Please call me if you need anything." He said, as he pushed his glasses up with his finger. Some habits never die.
"Kirishima." Asami said, warningly, "What's in the paper?"
"You really are shrewd. It's only a small article, page 4, right hand side at the bottom. I have yet to confirm the report."" He said, and he practically ran out of the office, well, not really, but he walked pretty fast and then stood outside the door, cringing, and waiting for inevitable volcano.
Asami smirked as he opened the paper, just to alleviate his fears, not that he had any. Kirishima had the tendency to overreact, as did most people around him, not realizing that most problems he faced could be easily dealt with if you threw enough money at it. Money, and not love, made the world go around, at least in his world.
He took out a toothpick, this one was spearmint. He had the freshest breath of any crime lord that he knew of. "Ad for penis enlargement….another ad for penis enlargement….another ad for…" Asami said to himself as he turned the pages. He stopped on page four.
Afghani Rebels Attack National Geographic Snow Leopard Team
One Killed, Two Others Critically Wounded
-Kabul, Afghanistan. On Wednesday, September 9th, three staff members from National Geographic were ambushed while researching Snow Leopard populations in the region. One person was killed and two others were wounded when the car they were travelling in hit a mine. UN hospital administration is declining comment at this time, pending next-of-kin notification.
He let the paper fall from his hands letting it flutter to the floor like a black and white butterfly, and rubbed his eyes with his fingers, as if willing away what he had just read. This had to be wrong. It had to be a typo. He was sure of it.
"Kirishima!" He yelled, with a mixture of anger and frustration.
"Yes, Asami-sama?" He said, handing him a glass of scotch, even though it was ten in the morning. "I thought you might need this." He said, trying not to look Asami in the eyes. He had that look. The one he saw on the ship in Hong Kong, the face of despair, that scary, scary face.
Asami shook his head and pushed the drink aside. He wanted a clear head right now. "Find out what the hell happened in Afghanistan and I want to know…"
"Yesterday, Asami-sama?" He said cutting off his boss's overused phrase.
"Tell me Akihito wasn't the one that was killed." He said, rubbing his sudden headache again with his fingers, as if punishing it would make it go away. "And if it was…..I will allow you to lie to me."
"I don't have an answer. The Red Cross won't say, the UN won't say, National Geographic won't say. They have tighter lips than a virgin on her wedding night."
"Thanks for the analogy."
"Sorry. I have a call in to Kou, Akihito's friend. I'm waiting for a call back." As if on cue, as if someone had willed the phone to ring, Kirishima's cell started chirping its merry or not so merry tune. His ringtone? The theme from Godfather. Kirishima was a walking cliché.
"Kirishima speaking."
"Kirishima-sama. It's Kou, what do you want?" Kou asked, sounding irritated.
"Let me talk to him." Asami demanded.
"Asami-sama wants a chat with you." He relayed and handed the phone to Asami.
"Kou. This is Asami. Akihito..is he all right? The article in the paper…..it was so vague."
"Why do you care?"
"I have my reasons."
"Which are?"
"Don't play this with me, you won't win."
"So, do you want to send flowers or something? He's in the UN Hospital in Kabul."
"So he's alive? I want answers. I want to know what happened."
"Yeah, well…he's not dead, thanks for asking, but he's not doing well. So, there's that. Anyway, you and he aren't together anymore, so it's none of your business, is it? ."
"It IS my business. And he will continue to be my business until we depart this world."
"Why? Do you love him? Do you want to be by his side? You broke Aki's heart when you sent him away, you know that don't you?"
"He wanted to be free of me. I gave him what he wanted."
"You don't know Aki at all. He doesn't know what he wants."
Asami's mouth twitched. "What did Akihito tell you about me?"
"I had to get him drunk just to find out he was seeing a man, other than that, he didn't say much. Why, do you have something to hide?"
"Let's just say, I have enemies, and because of that, he was targeted."
"So you sent him away to protect his life, is that it?"
"Simply put."
"Akihito didn't know that, you should have told him."
"He's so stubborn, would he have listened? At any rate, this conversation is going nowhere. I don't want to talk about feelings and relationships or what I should and should not have done. Akihito's alive, yes? I want to know…."
"No, Asami-sama. You are gone from his life. You don't have any right to know."
"Kou, you don't seem to understand. I will get the answers I want."
"Yadda-yadda. Listen to me good. Stay away from Akihito. You and I know it's better this way."
"How could this be better? I wanted him by my side, but I had reasons for what I did!"
"Will you listen to yourself? Just fuckin' grow a pair, Asami-sama! You seem like this tough guy, but when it comes to matters of the heart, you're just a weak child!"
"You shouldn't say things like that to me, I warn you."
"I care more about Aki than about wounding your precious pride. If you hadn't sent him away, he wouldn't be hurt!"
"Don't you realize I know that? I'm beating myself up right now!"
"And I'll gladly join you in the beating, Asami-sama. I don't want Aki hurt any more than he already is. Stay away."
"You can't stop me from helping him."
"What are you going to do, fly to his beside?"
"I can't leave the country for complicated reasons. But I can pay for the best doctors, the best medical care, I can…."
"Do you think that he's lying in a 3rd world shit-hole hospital? He's in a UN Hospital. He has the best money can buy, NatGeo has deep pockets, I'm sure you can understand what that means. Don't try to fix this. You can't. Just leave him be."
"What are his wounds? And I want a list."
Kou sighed. "Fine, but I didn't tell you, got that? The doctors won't talk to anyone outside of the family, because of some privacy rules, or whatever, so I got this from his dad. So, I'm not sure how reliable this is, because he was really emotional when he told me. I've never heard a grown man cry like that."
"I'm listening."
"Akihito was in a car escaping from the rebels and the car hit a mine."
"I got that much from that stupid article." He took out a pen and paper so he could take notes.
"He suffered brain trauma, a crushed right leg, as in from the knee down, they had to amputate it. He had internal injuries. The surgery took eighteen hours and Akihito's heart stopped. They were able to shock his heart and now he's in a medically induced coma. He may have suffered oxygen loss to his brain. The doctors can't be sure. Right now his condition is critical, whatever that means."
Asami's mood darkened, if it wasn't already dark already to begin with, as the list was read to him. A laundry list of injuries, any one of them could have killed Akihito. But he was still alive, he was still holding on. The boy was a fighter. But the thought of Akihito in a hospital so far away, machines helping him breathe, a space under the covers where there once was a limb, his head shaved from surgery, the whoosh whoosh of the ventilator assisting his breathing, the loud beep beep of the heart rate monitor, counting out his heartbeats, the image made the bile rise in his throat. The light, the fire in Akihito's eyes...was it going to be gone for good?
"So the prognosis is not good." He said, swallowing with difficulty as he finished writing down the information. He then handed to Kirishima, who read it quickly, his eyes widening at the devastating news. He had taken a bullet for the boy, he had a vested interest the boy, and he was worried. For Akihito and for his boss, who looked like he had just been run over by a truck, then the truck backed up, and ran over him again, for good measure.
"Akihito is strong-willed, but his body…."
"He was like a puff of air." Asami said.
"Was? You talk like he's dead already."
"Is."
"Do you believe in fate, Asami-sama?" Kou asked.
"Yes, of course."
"Fate is a funny thing, you know?"
"Then how come no one is laughing?"
"Akihito has moved on. Perhaps you should to. Don't call me again." And he hung up.
Asami threw the phone hard against the wall and it shattered into pieces, making a tinkling noise when it hit the floor.
"Feel better?" Kirishima asked, picking up his throughly destroyed phone.
"No." Asami replied flatly.
"What do you want me to do?" Kirishima asked.
"Nothing, he's right. He's gone from my life. I have to let him go. I should have never brought him into my world in the first place, he didn't deserve it."
"We both know you aren't going to let him go, really, this is all just lip service."
Asami looked at him with murderous eyes, but then they softened. "You know me too well."
"I try. Asami-sama, your orders?" Kirishima asked again.
"Find out who attacked Akihito and his party, and have them killed." He ordered.
"I don't think your claws reach that far, Asami-sama." He replied.
"Well, Kirishima, truth be told…then..I don't know what to do." He admitted, and shrugged as he lifted the scotch from his desk and downed it and went to pour another.
"I just don't know what to do." He said again.