Chapter Fourteen: Dream Talks and a Brat

It was day three of babysitting Lucciano and Placido was considering fratricide.

There were skid marks on the wooden flooring from where Lucciano had roller skated inside. Crumbs littered the kitchen counter and three of the keys on Placido's piano were stuck together. If annoying cackling wasn't coming from the guest bedroom, loud Italian pop music was. And no amount of threatening made Lucciano stop being a brat for more than two seconds.

"I didn't agree to this. Come get him before I murder him," Placido snapped to his uncle over the phone.

"You know how Lucciano is," Jose said. "He's as headstrong as you are. You wanted to move to Japan, so you did. He wanted to visit, so he is. Just put up with him for a few more days and he'll get bored and come back."

"Doesn't he have school!?"

"He won't have any problem catching up."

Placido blew out his breath in frustration and hung up. Every last member of his family drove him crazy, which was why he'd moved far across the globe to a country whose language he barely understood at the time. He never expected to be followed.

He needed to de-stress, so he moved his stereo into the bathroom of the second floor and put on soothing classical music. While hot water was filling the bath, he dimmed the lights and opened the vent. The light splashing of the water and the music mingled together and blocked out the sound of Lucciano stomping around downstairs. Placido was able to undress in peace. He placed a fluffy white towel on the edge of the tub and turned the water down to a trickle. This way, his bath would stay warm for longer. He got in, laid his head back, and closed his eyes. Then his eyes flew open and he brought his fingers to the surface. Long strands of red hair were clumped together on his fingertips. "He used my fucking bath," Placido scowled. He flicked the hair off and tried to relax again.

At times like these, he really needed Antinomy around. He thought it was almost funny that Antinomy was indispensable for Placido to keep his sanity around his family. Other thoughts of his boyfriend flitted through his mind to the languid pace of his music.

Antinomy, giving him a massage and whispering dirty things in his ear.

Antinomy, kissing him all over while all he wore were his white boots.

Antinomy, sleeping next to him night after night so that he was the first thing Placido saw when he awoke.

Placido hated sleeping alone now. The bed was too big. No one yelled at him to turn the air conditioner down. No one teased him for his bedhead.

Come back, you bastard. I didn't say you could leave me. I...

...miss you...

During Placido's first week in Japan, he'd found the public transportation unbearable. Everyone was squeezed together and he was stared at for his foreign looks. Of course, he'd gotten stares in Italy too just for how he dressed. It had just gotten worse since he moved.

So he'd decided to get a bike. That had worked okay for awhile. He rode to the library to teach himself Japanese and to the store to buy food. But when the rainy season came, and he tried to ride his bike while holding an umbrella, he'd ended up sliding into a gutter.

"Mannaggia," he groaned, afraid to look at how filthy his clothes had gotten. His hair was soaked instantly and he pushed it out of his eyes. For the first time, he truly regretted his decision to leave Italy.

"Hey, are you all right?"

A stranger's concerned voice reached him through the pouring rain. He understood a question that simple, but he pretended like he didn't. The last thing he wanted right now was to have to talk to an overly helpful stranger. He got to his feet, shoved his now-useless umbrella into his bike basket, and started walking the bike back towards his house.

But the stranger got in his way and put a hand on the bike. "Let me help you."

Placido looked into the blue-haired man's eyes and said, with a perfect Japanese accent, "Fuck off."

The stranger laughed. "Well, aren't you a rude foreigner. But you're cute, so I'll forgive you."

That got Placido's attention. He looked over the stranger earnestly now. He was tall, looked strong, wore strange as hell red sunglasses even though it was cloudy, and had hair the color of murky ocean water. The smirk playing about his lips pissed Placido off, but it also turned him on.

He didn't know the Japanese for what he wanted to say, so he tried to make it clear with intonation and gestures. "Get me a taxi," he ordered.

"You want... a taxi?" the stranger understood. "I have a bike too, you know." He pointed to the back of it. "You can ride."

But Placido had no intention of riding on the back of this guy's bike like a schoolgirl, so he turned around to leave. Again, he was stopped. The stranger grabbed his hand. Placido whirled around to slap him, but his other hand was caught. "What if I walked you home?" the stranger asked, then repeated the sentence in broken English just in case Placido understood that, and he did. Placido looked enviously at the umbrella he was holding. He really didn't want to stay in the rain any longer.

"Fine," Placido replied in Japanese.

A routine began. Antinomy, as Placido learned the stranger was called, would appear at his doorstep every morning it was raining and walk him where he needed to go before heading off for his college classes. Eventually, he even got Placido to try public transit again. And when Antinomy rode with him, his blue hair and red sunglasses meant some of the eyes normally glued to Placido went to him.

But Placido was getting impatient with how slowly their relationship was developing. He wanted more and he knew Antinomy did too. Every night, he waited for Antinomy to kiss him goodbye, but he always left without doing so.

Placido could have just kissed him, but he wanted to see Antinomy take initiative. He wanted to be forcefully kissed against the front door of the large house he was renting. That's what he dreamed about every night and how all the fantasies started when he touched himself.

In three months, Placido had learned a considerable amount of Japanese. So one night when Antinomy prepared to leave, Placido said, "Kiss me or don't ever bother coming back."

Antinomy stared at him for a few minutes. "You know... I have a friend who isn't sure about you, from what I've told him. His name is Bruno and if you ever met him you'd probably hate him. But whatever. I know what I want, and I'm not holding back any longer."

They did so much more than kiss that night. It was no time before Antinomy moved in with him.

The CD ended and jarred Placido from his memories. He submerged himself further under the water, letting it caress his lips. He wanted Antinomy back so badly, but even if he got him back, he would still be Bruno sometimes. And Antinomy had been right that day. Placido despised Bruno, the antithesis of the personality he'd fallen for.

A crash resounded downstairs. Grudgingly, Placido toweled off and got dressed so he could go yell at Lucciano for whatever he'd broken now. But all the time, he was wondering if he could survive a future alone.

Divine watched the security camera feed with no expression on his face. For over an hour, he'd sat in his chair, ignored all his calls, and watched the impossible image on the screen.

Kiryu Kyosuke was pacing back and forth in his room. Sometimes he stopped to pull on his hair and look around with fearful eyes. Or his head would whip around when he presumably heard a noise by the door. Moving, breathing- he was alive, but how?

After Divine determined he'd died during the experiment, he had a guard take the body away. But ten minutes later, the guard called his phone and said in a shaky voice that Kiryu had woken up.

So Divine had miscalculated, but not in the way he'd imagined at first. There was something special about Kiryu after all. What was his power that had fooled Divine?

He finally looked away from the monitor to reexamine the contents of Kiryu's file. It contained much more information than a normal medical file should. The sheet of paper Divine pulled out was covered with information handwritten by one of the guards privy to the real purpose of the institution. On Divine's orders, he'd looked into the alleged crime committed against Kiryu when he was arrested as a minor. It had never been proven that the three suspected officers raped Kiryu, and Kiryu himself would say nothing about the matter, going silent and refusing to testify when it was brought up. According to the confession the guard had gotten through a mix of blackmail and threats, the rape had happened and the details were so horrible, no wonder Kiryu had never been able to talk about them.

Divine's next test formed in his mind as he reread the contents of that paper, eyes flickering up to the image of Kiryu now and again. If his plan worked, he would be able to ascertain two things: one, the mystery of Kiryu's death, and two, the limits of this power. He would wait a week and then set it in motion.

He smiled. Things were getting interesting around here.

"I'm busy," he'd said. Since when did Divine have no time for her, for his Aki? Aki had cried, but only for a minute or two. Then she dried her tears and plotted revenge. If she had to destroy the person taking Divine's attention away, she would gladly do so.

When a guard brought in her breakfast, she threw him against the wall. The tray fell from his hands, plates shattering on the floor. She used her powers to send the shards flying at him, and while he was covering himself against their blows, she ran out of the door and down the hallway. She stopped at the corner and looked around wildly, unsure of where to go from here. Somewhere she could take her time, somewhere there were no cameras... She hadn't thought her plan through well enough. She realized she'd already gone by several cameras. Glaring at them, she willed their lenses to crack, and they did. She strolled back by them, knowing she'd probably be caught soon, but not caring. Anyone who tried to stop her would be treated worse than the guard she'd left in her room.

Only one person showed up as she went to the fourth floor. He looked into her burning mahogany eyes and flinched. "Patient 26, what do you think you're doing?"

"Looking for someone," Aki replied coldly. "Get out of my way."

"You..." The guard was unnerved and doing a bad job of hiding it. "I am going to escort you back to your room now. Cooperate or I'll have to sedate you."

"As if you could!"

Her rage fueled her power and she managed to levitate the guard himself, the heaviest object she'd ever lifted with her mind. He cried out in shock as he was slammed back against the ground. Aki left him gasping for breath after swiping the keys at his belt.

Kiryu's room number was etched into her memory from a few probing questions days ago. She unlocked the door then slammed it behind her. Kiryu looked up from where he was sitting, knees tucked to his chest, in an otherwise empty corner of the room. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

"I'm Aki. I'm the one Divine truly cares about!"

At the name Divine, Kiryu pressed himself back against the wall. "Divine... Divine killed me," he muttered. "Or am I really just crazy after all...?"

"I'm the one who's going to kill you," Aki said.

Kiryu didn't seem scared of Aki, which bothered her, but he did seem on edge in general as he asked, "How did he do it? I was dead, but now-! ...Did he kill you too?"

"He would never kill me. He loves me."

"But didn't he hurt you? Hook you up to those machines and cause you unspeakable torment?"

"He did it to help me. Because of him, I can do this."

Around Kiryu's huddled form, flames appeared. By all means, they shouldn't have been able to pop up there, with nothing to burn, but under Aki's control they danced closer and closer to Kiryu.

He closed his eyes and put his palms against his forehead. "I am crazy, huh? This isn't real and I'm dead."

This wasn't the reaction Aki wanted. She wanted to make Kiryu scream. Annoyed, she made the flames rise higher-

-and then the door was flung open. She realized too late she'd forgotten to lock it behind her. She turned to defend herself against whatever guard had found her, but it was another patient standing in the doorway, someone with dark blue hair who she'd never seen before. The fires went out due to her surprise and Antinomy, looking from her to Kiryu, let out a shout that brought footsteps headed their way. He went over to Kiryu and knelt down, saying things Aki didn't pay attention to as she attempted to rush out of the room, but she was too late, and Divine was at the end of the hallway, and that moment of distraction was enough for the needle to penetrate her skin and put her to sleep.

This was where they'd met when he was little, and though it had been years since Antinomy last came to this dream world of sunny skies and open roads, he recognized it immediately. If he turned around, Bruno would be there, in this one place where they could meet face to face.

"Hi, Antinomy," said a soft voice. Antinomy looked over his shoulder and saw Bruno sitting on a bench. He walked over and took the spot beside him.

"I knew a couple of pills wouldn't make you go away," he sighed.

Bruno smiled sheepishly.

Antinomy continued, "It looks like you want something. You called me here, right?"

"Yes... It's about Kiryu."

"We saved him from that crazy chick this afternoon." Antinomy tilted his head and amended, "I saved him. You were sleeping here, or whatever you do in your free time."

"No, I was listening. I heard everything." He frowned. "Those things Kiryu said after we... you saved him. I'm worried about him."

"Now that you mention it..."

Antinomy had thought Kiryu was just raving, but maybe there was more to it. He tried to think of exactly what Kiryu had said.

"Let her kill me, before Divine kills me again."

Suddenly he felt sick. The meaning was so clear, wasn't it? Yet he hadn't realized until Bruno made him realize.

"Divine must be doing something to Kiryu," he said.

Bruno nodded. "I think he's hurting him. What if he's torturing him? Kiryu looked so scared... And he kept saying he died."

They were quiet for a few moments, lost in shared thoughts. Then Antinomy said, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'll figure out what Divine's game is and make sure Kiryu's okay."

The scenery around them was fading, so Antinomy knew he was waking up. Bruno noticed the change as well and blurted out a question before it was too late. "Hey Antinomy, why can't we get along? I know you don't want me here, and I didn't mean to exist, but I am here and..." He trailed off.

Antinomy sighed and looked up at the growing gray clouds. "At the very least, you make my boyfriend hate me."

Placido hadn't tried to visit him again since Antinomy punched him. Not that Antinomy regretted what he did; Placido deserved it and more. But still, he missed the bastard who'd stolen his heart.

But Placido would have to wait. Right now, Kiryu was in trouble, and whatever Divine was scheming had to be stopped.

A/N: I had really conflicted feelings writing these last two chapters. On the one hand, I have expressed my disdain for fake deaths before... But on the other hand, I do so like to mirror canon and I can never get this line of Kiryu's out of my head: "It's because I'm a shinigami. Shinigami don't die." If Kiryu were to have some supernatural power about him that would interest Divine, I think it would be something along the lines of this. So trust me, guys. I always have a plan. (By the way, this doesn't mean Kiryu's a shinigami in this fic. He is quite human.)

Also, every time I write about androidshipping, I ship it a little more. I can't remember when or why I first got into this pairing, but it's so important to me now, how did this happen.