In the center of the room was a bed and on that bed was the bruised and bloody body of a young man with cuffs attached to both his ankles and wrists. If not for the fact that Asami knew every curve and line on that body, he would never have recognized Takaba. His blood heated up like lava inside the volcano that was Asami and in one swift motion, his gun was pressed to the forehead of Benjamin Pruett, crouching on the floor with his pants unfastened and thankfully not pulled down enough to expose his goods. If they had been, Asami would probably have shot them off. As it was, his trigger finger was itchy and his patience had fled.

Finding Pruett's son was Asami's way of cleaning the mess up the nice way but obviously Pruett didn't want to play nice. It would have been so easy to just pull the trigger and blow the man's head off but torture was worse. Keeping Pruett alive would be far worse than to let him off easy. No, the bastard would pay for what he did to Takaba.

In the minute Asami took to turn his icy gaze on Pruett, it happened. If he had blinked he would have missed it, Takaba's chest moved, not much but it moved.

After that, things moved rather quickly as Asami ran to the bed, stripped off his suit coat covering the young man and scooped Takaba into his arms. Without stopping he headed straight for the SUV.

Calling over his shoulder as he left the bedroom, "Suoh, I'll take care of him later. Kirishima let's go!"

As Kirishima drove the SUV towards the nearest town with a hospital, Asami sat in the back cradling Takaba in his lap. He didn't care that his suit was getting soaked with blood, what bothered him was that it was Takaba's blood.

The lifeless body was covered in bruises of various stages of healing as well as dried and fresh blood, some of which was on his thighs, between his legs. That could only mean one thing, that fucking bastard had raped Takaba until he bled. Kirishima noted the worry in Asami's eyes through the rear view mirror as the older man spoke to the man in his arms.

"What did he do to you?" Asami said pressing his lips to the forehead of an unconscious Takaba.

Takaba's lips were slightly parted and his breathing shallow but at least he was breathing. His body was covered in bruises, slashes, and various welts. At some point he had been hit with an object, Asami surmised.

There was a rather large gash, one of the many, to Takaba's head that worried Asami. It appeared to have bled an awful lot. The dried blood was matted in his hair. Asami willed the SUV to go faster, to get them to a hospital as soon as possible.

Finally, after forty minutes, they arrived at the entrance to the Chambersville emergency room. Asami rushed through the automatic doors carrying his boy.

Seeing the older man come barging through the doors and the condition of the young man in his arms, security and the triage nurse immediately start the ball rolling and usher them through the restricted doors to a room with a gurney where Asami lays Takaba down. Within seconds the medical team of a doctor, three nurses, and respiratory technician are hovering around the young man.

Asami steps back out of their way as he watches them shout orders amongst the team. They no more than hooked the heart monitor up to Takaba when the beeping begins and Asami's heart plummets. The long continuous sound gave the room an eerie feeling for all of a second before the shouting began with several of the team talking at once.

"We are losing him!"

"Paddles!" (Pause) "Charging."

"We need Epi."

"Prepare to intubate."

Suddenly, a nurse appears in front of Asami, "Sir, I'm sorry but you will have to step outside."

She receives the Asami glare.

"Sir, if you don't I will have security remove you."

Asami locks gazes with her and knows that she means business so he reluctantly backs away before turning and walking down the hall a few steps where Kirishima is waiting.

There is a chair nearby and Asami sat down, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Boss, Haruto is on his way." Kirishima stated and received a deadly cold glare but continued, "Boss, he is strong and will pull through this." He saw the smirk, and said sternly, "Boss, permission to speak freely at the risk of being fired…..or worse."

Asami waved his hand motioning for Kirishima to continue.

"Look at you. This is why you don't do relationships. Your career doesn't allow it. Think about it."

Asami just stared as Kirishima pushed through the doors and walked out of the emergency department. Asami thought about those words. Kirishima was right and Asami always prided himself on his ability to manipulate and control all situations. That is what made him so good at his job. The last thing in the world that he needed was that wildcat who turned his world and emotions upside down. The wall that Asami had built around himself to lock away his feelings had been cracked by Takaba and it must be repaired if he was to continue his life.

"Sir," the nurse from earlier came up to him. "Mr. Takaba is stable now but he is in critical condition. He suffered multiple contusions to his skull causing swelling on the brain. We are still trying to determine if a section of his skull will need to be removed to ease the pressure. He also has some fractured ribs, and a broken arm. His back had cuts from what we determine was from the use of a whip. The next twenty-four hours are the most critical. He is intubated and sedated at this time. We will be moving him to an ICU room shortly."

"Thank you." Asami responded. "His father will be here soon. You'll need to talk to him."

Eight hours after Takaba was brought into the hospital, Asami passed Haruto at the automatic doors.

"Asami, thank you for rescuing my boy. I owe you a great deal."

"I will see to Pruett and his son. You get a second chance, use it wisely." Asami's expression was blank as he spoke.

Haruto nodded guiltily and watched Asami walk out the doors.

"Kirishima," Asami said getting into the SUV, "Take me to Pruett."

XXX

Asami entered the storage unit in that deserted section of town. There was a single light hanging from the middle of the ceiling. To one side of the unit there was a table with various sharp instruments and in the center was a chair with a bound and gagged man. They closed the door, Suoh, Akira, and Kirishima all present.

Asami said nothing, using the art of intimidation to instill even more fear into the man before him. The only sound was the echo of Asami's shoes on the concrete floor. The man had been punched a few times by the bruises to his face and he had been slouching in the chair until he heard movement, then his entire body tensed.

"So Benjamin Pruett," Asami said in a low and menacing tone. "Tell me why I should let you live?"

"I…..I did what I…..had to." He stammered.

"You possibly killed an innocent young man because you had to?" Asami chuckled wickedly.

No response.

Asami went to the table and took a small sharp blade in hand and then returned to Pruett. He pulled off the blindfold in order to frighten the man even more. Then he pressed the blade to one of Pruett's fingers that were splayed out on the arm of the chair.

Asami drew a thin line of blood across the man's pinky finger and said, "For many, retribution is given by first one's pinky and then other fingers respectively." Asami paused and took out his cigarettes, lighting one up and taking a long drag of it. "However, if you do not tell me what I want to know then I will take all ten fingers, right here, right now."

No response, but Pruett did start trembling. Good, Asami thought, I want you to be afraid. He pressed the blade down with more pressure.

"Ah, okay!" Pruett yelled when the blade penetrated his skin even more, the blood oozing out.

Asami raised a brow at the man and stepped back. He continued to smoke while he waited for the man to start talking, though he already knew the answer. Asami just wanted to torture the man for all he did to Takaba.

"I….I wanted revenge." Pruett said and his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Haruto, the bastard, took my son, sold him! He sold my son like some piece of livestock! He was only a boy!"

"So you took Haruto's son."

"Yes, yes, I wanted him to know what it felt like, what I felt like." Pruett insisted.

"Did Haruto kill your son?" Asami asked as he exhaled the smoke.

"I…..don't think so?"

"Then why did you torture his son?"

"Because…..he…..he was feisty…..he tried to …..get away. Many times."

"That does not give you the right to kill him. Do you realize that he might be dead at this very moment?" Irritation slipping into Asami's tone, though Asami severed contact with the Takaba family the moment he walked out the hospital doors so he didn't know Takaba's condition, if the young man was dead or alive. He was sure to hear about it sometime but he hoped it would be later rather than sooner.

"Serves Haruto right!" Pruett spat back.

Asami dropped his cigarette, stood and pressed his shoe over it. Then once he was directly in front of Pruett, he smirked.

"I have your son." Asami said evenly.

Pruett's eyes grew wide and he finally realized his precarious position.

"Please, please," Pruett bagged, "Do you have kids? Do you know what it is like to lose them? Please, anything, I will do anything just don't hurt him. Me, kill me, not him."

Asami watched the man grovel in front of him. Though he should just shoot the man, he was not completely heartless. No, he did not know what it was like to lose a child but had seen it many times before and it can destroy a person. He really could not blame Pruett for his actions against Haruto. Who's to say Asami would not do the same in his position.

"Please, your men took the flash drive with all the evidence against Haruto. I have nothing. I am done."

Asami punched Pruett and then pulled out his gun and pointed it at the man.

"No, please, my son." He begged.

Bang

"Ahhhh!" Pruett cried.

Asami shot him in the leg. Then he holstered his gun and turned to Suoh, "Give him a beating he won't forget. Then get he and his son out of my sight."

Suoh nodded and Asami left the storage unit with Kirishima in tow.

"Where to now boss?"

"To the penthouse. We have some new job offers to discuss." Case closed. Done. Over.

No the story is not over. Thanks to all of you who are taking the time to read my stories and I whole-heartedly appreciate the reviews to let me know what you all think. Being a reader myself I try to review for the sake of the writer.

On another note, if anyone has an idea or would like to role play a story, please let me know by private message. I have never done it but my daughter does it a lot and it seems interesting. If you do not know what that is, it's when a writer is one character and another writer is the other character. You don't always know what to expect as the characters interact-kind of fun.

Thanks again for reading.

XOXO