A/N: Akihito finally tracks down Kirishima and learns about Asami's past.
Another chapter I typed up on the ipad! It was a mission I tell you! And I am so, so very excited for this chapter! Why? Did you SEE the summary? I have been hanging out for this chapter for ages. I'm also super excited for the next two chapters; Flux (this makes zero sense until I tell you its the name of one of Asami's clubs) and Heartbeat. I have been hanging out to write Heartbeat for SO LONG. It's kinda the whole point of this fic? Well, it's nowhere near the end but I've been dying to write it. It's the big AkiAsami confrontation :D And the whole reason behind the name of this fic. Which is technically short for 'Can you feel my heart beating for you?' so cheesy~
I was planning to write a valentines day short but I'm so excited for Flux and Heartbeat that I may hold off on it and write those first so there's a good chance it will be late haha.
Akihito unlocked the penthouse door and let himself in. It was a little odd letting himself in as though it was his house. He had done so previously when he stayed with Asami for a week but then he had been invited and Asami himself would always be home in the evening to spend time with him. He hadn't even told Asami that he was coming to stay although he assumed that he had already found out from his guards. He flicked on the lights and slipped off his shoes before making his way further in. Akihito couldn't quite get rid of the weird feeling as he settled himself on the couch with his takeaway dinner. It was kind of nice though, he decided after settling on a movie to watch while he ate. Much like when he stayed previously, it was a surprisingly homey feeling. Familiar. It screamed Asami, all sleek modern furniture and tasteful décor. It really needed more clutter. And photos on the walls. Maybe he should take a few and frame them.
Akihito froze part way through his musing and slapped his cheeks to try and distract himself. Why is it every time he stayed over, house wife tendencies came out? It was so embarrassing. A far better distraction came in the form of a message on his phone. The buzzing of his phone drew his attention to it and upon unlocking he discovered a message from the man that was the cause of all his current embarrassment.
I'll be very late, don't wait up.
He snorted. He hadn't planned on actually waiting up for him. Akihito was already lacking sleep after the stake out last night and his dithering over which photos to hand in. On top of that, after meeting up with his friends he had been called in late notice to cover a fashion photo shoot which had been an exhausting event in itself. How Emi was still a model with her ridiculous attitude, Akihito would never know. He typed out a quick reply.
Wasn't planning on it, too tired. See you in the morning?
Akihito chewed his lip in thought and typed out another message without waiting for a reply.
When I was at the paper this morning, they said they had some intel on a meeting with your name on it. I refused the job but…
It had been eating at him all day. He didn't know exactly what information they had but what if Asami was in danger? He didn't want to have anything happen to his soulmate, especially when he could prevent it. Why was nothing ever simple? It was messing with his conscience as a journalist. Tip off the man that the tip off was about? But no one was allowed to bring him down except Akihito. He had already come to that conclusion and wasn't about to back off or change his mind. He would be the only one to judge Asami and make that decision. His ringtone brought him back to the present and he looked down to see 'Ryuichi calling' on his phone.
"Hey." Argh, he sounded almost shy. He felt a little shy all of a sudden. What the hell was this man doing to him?
"Akihito." The way he said his name should be illegal. All dark promise and smooth.
"I uh… Hope its okay that I'm staying over even though you aren't here?"
"Of course. That's why I gave you a key."
Akihito found himself nodding and had to remind himself that Asami couldn't actually see him. Before he had a chance to speak however Asami continued.
"As for the intel, don't worry about it."
He let out a breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding. It felt like a massive weight off his shoulders.
"It's fake right? All the ones I chased ended up being fake anyway."
"It is." He could hear the amusement in the other mans voice. "But even if it wasn't, you don't have to worry about me."
"Of course I do! You're my soulmate right? You're important to me." Akihito was glad he wasn't saying this in person. His cheeks were bright red and at least over the phone he was able to hide his embarrassment. Although Asami probably knew somehow anyway, he always just seemed to know. "And if anyone is going to bring you down it will be me."
"Oh?" Akihito was sure he could hear surprise in amongst the amusement. Good.
"Yeap." He stated proudly. "I told you, I would know all of you. So it will be my decision if I want to bring you down once I have the info."
"I see. I'm surprised that you will 'make a decision' and not just sell me out. Isn't that against the journalistic code that you're so proud of?"
"You're my soulmate." He spoke firmly, confidently. "This isn't about journalism. No one else gets to make that choice but me." He left out the fact that in all probability he wouldn't be able to sell the man out. Not now anyway.
"I'll hold you to that." Asami replied gravely before continuing in a far warmer tone; "Now I have to go, don't wait up and sleep well kitten."
Akihito only had the chance to splutter before the line was disconnected. He still hadn't been able to convince Asami to drop the awful nickname. He was fighting a losing battle with it but he was not going to give up until the bitter end. He would never live it down if Asami ever called him that in front of his friends.
With a small contented sigh, Akihito turned back to the movie that was still playing on the TV and settled in to eat the rest of his dinner.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
It was still dark as Akihito groggily came awake. He was disorientated and his limbs were heavy with the vestige of sleep still clinging to him. He could still feel the warm comfort offered by Asami's expensive mattress under his back and the fluffy pillow cushioning his head. His eyelids fluttered as he tried unsuccessfully to get them to open and see what woke him up. Movement at his side caught his attention and then large hands were roaming over his shoulders before gently rolling him onto his side. Immediately he felt the warmth radiating off the body next to him and Akihito snuggled forward with a small noise of content.
"Asami…"
Arms slid around his waist, pulling him forward so that he was pressed up against his soulmate's muscled form. The embrace was warm and comforting and Akihito soon felt himself start to drift back off to sleep. That was until teeth started nibbling on his ear and he felt a familiar hardness poking into his hip. He probably should have expected this actually. The mouth moved to his neck and the hands holding him close started to wander, caressing his body knowingly. Little mewls of pleasure bubbled up unhindered from his throat and Akihito arched his back in response to the attentions.
"As- ahh… Asami!" He whimpered, "Tired…"
"It's okay, you don't have to do anything." He moved back a little and Akihito whined at the loss of contact. It didn't last long as Asami leaned in for a messy open mouthed kiss and reached his hand down to stroke his rapidly hardening cock. A few strokes was all it took to bring him to full hardness and Akihito moaned into the kiss as Asami lined himself up and took both their lengths in hand. The older man greedily swallowed the small cries of sleepy pleasure and Akihito let himself get swept away in the gentle waves of pleasure as he slowly brought them both to their peak. Had Akihito been more awake, he would have been embarrassed by how quickly he came but as it was he was still half asleep and he lay limp, soaking in the bliss after his orgasm. His limbs would not respond to his futile efforts to move anyway, they felt too heavy to move. He felt Asami move away and off the bed only to return a few minutes later with a warm wet cloth to wipe him down. Another few minutes and he felt Asami climb back into bed but on the other side. Gentle hands rolled him over and arranged him so that he was partially cuddled into his soul mates side with an arm and leg draped over his body.
Warm and content, Akihito finally slipped back to sleep with his head tucked under Asami's chin and his steady heartbeat quietly thumping in his ear.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
While Akihito had every intention of tracking Kirishima down and interrogating him the very next day, with how busy he was it wasn't until a week later that he was finally able to get the man alone. He should have realised that if Asami was too busy to even have a lunch date with the photographer, his secretary would be just was busy. In the end Akihito had messaged the man and scheduled in an appointment time to talk with him and asked him to not tell Asami just yet. He had seemed suspicious but surprisingly agreed readily enough. Which was how Akihito found himself sitting the the secretaries office waiting for his meeting to finish.
Thankfully he didn't have to wait long before Kirishima walked into the room, gently closing the door behind him. He nodded in greeting before talking a seat at his desk and placing a number of folders off to the side. There was a moment of silence as they observed each other. It was Kirishima who broke it, he pushed up his glasses before speaking.
"Takaba-kun, I was surprised when you asked to speak to me personally."
Suddenly awkward, Akihito rubbed the back of neck and cleared his throat before answering. "I uh… Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about Asami."
Interestingly the secretary didn't seem surprised and merely motioned for him to continue.
"I don't really know if Asami has any friends as such and he said he's known you the longest from Sion which I figure is a long time so I thought of anyone you might know and be able to help me." He took a deep steadying breath before ploughing on. It was harder to talk about than he had anticipated. It was one thing to ask his best friends that he had known for years and completely another to ask someone who he barely knew. "A few weeks ago Asami had what I think was a nightmare," Kirishima seemed to pause at that but Akihito carried on, wanting to get it all out before it became too hard. "But it really seemed to effect him. Like he was all clingy for hours afterwards but every time I tried to talk about it, he just shuts me out. Not even an 'I don't want to talk about it', he just ignores me or distracts me. I think… I thinks it's from a memory or from something that happened in the past. Because he wouldn't act like over just a nightmare, no matter how bad. And I felt it." Akihito brought his hand up and scrunched his fingers into the fabric of his t-shirt over his heart. "I felt his pain." Kirishima's eyes flew wide. "It was like someone was tearing out my heart. I was in bed with him at the time and he was holding me so tightly as though he needed the support. Yet afterwards he just shut me out. And I can't… I can't just leave it. I can't leave him to face that pain alone. I felt it. It was awful and I want to help but I just don't know how."
Kirishima was silent throughout his entire speech and had sat completely still, staring at him. He finally sat back with a small sigh and pushed his glasses up to rub at his eyes. Settling his glasses back in place once more, he looked back at Akihito with a serious expression.
"You felt it through your soulmate bond?" He waited for Akihito to nod before continuing. "I tell you this not as his subordinate but as Ryuichi's oldest friend." Akihito didn't miss the significance of the secretary using his first name over the usual 'Asami-sama'. "I've known him since we went to university together doing a number of the same papers. And I was the one who dealt with him after everything happened. You are right in that it would be a memory. I know it's not really my place to tell you this but if anyone can help him it's you. Perhaps knowing the details will be enough to force him to confront the past with you. God knows I tried and failed."
Kirishima sighed again and readjusted his glasses. "Although of all the people you could have asked, I suppose I am the most qualified to tell you. Of the very few who knows what happened, there's only one other person that you know. Motoori Anita."
"She's the owner of Annisa right?"
Kirishima nodded and continued. "But I guess I should start from the start. Kirishima Haruki is the person that you want to know about."
"Is that-?"
"My little sister. Was my little sister." He smiled sadly. "The ten year anniversary of her death is coming up. They met through me of course, she's three years younger. I think Ryuichi came over for a group project, I was still living at home, and that's how they met. It was a slow fall for both of them, a year of slowly getting to know each other before they started dating. My sister was very sick. She was diagnosed with leukaemia when she was very small and battled with it as she grew up. It was the reason I was still living at home actually, so I could help look after her when she had her chemotherapy treatments. She was frail and sickly but her eyes always sparkled with life and determination. She was not going to give in to some sickness, she would never let it get the best of her. She always said she had far too much to do yet. Didn't want to waste away in a hospital bed. You're similar, I think. Same passion for life, same sense of honesty and morals. You've a little more backbone however." He smiled again, a little less sad this time.
"If anyone could have saved Ryuichi from his dark path, it would have been her. Hers was a quiet strength that eroded over time. She nearly had him I think, except her death ended up causing the exact opposite of what she wanted. You are far better equipped to handle all of his nature though. You're the first person I've seen in years that is willing to go toe to toe with him." Kirishima rubbed his eyes under his glasses again. "The crux of the matter is, he blames himself for her death. They had been together for around two years; we had not long graduated and Sion was starting to become more than just a dream. With Haruki's influence, Ryuichi was moving away from his dabbles in underworld dealings and looking to use his already vast profits to start Sion as a fully clean and legitimate business with a little help from myself and a few others. Unfortunately there was bad blood with a young upstart group that considered themselves yakuza.
We were out celebrating Haruki's test results. It was only a few weeks after her twenty second birthday and she had been given a clean bill of health. Cancer free for the first time in her living memory. For the first time we could plan in months and years not days and weeks. We could foresee a future and what a bright future it was. She was planning that future with Ryuichi and they both just exuded happiness. I don't remember much of the evening, it's hazy but I was filled in with the rest of the details after. The young upstart yakuza group decided to take things into their own hands and take out the person that had caused them to lose some large profit deals. They did a drive by shooting at the bar we were at. Turns out someone we thought was a friend sold us out and accepted a large bribe for the information of our location. They came later in the evening and just open fired from an unmarked cars windows. All I remember was the sound of gunshots, glass breaking and screaming along with intense pain. A bullet ripped through my abdomen. The only person who escaped completely unharmed was Ryuichi. He was completely unhurt but he had to stand and watch while a bullet meant for him tore through his lover's throat and severed her spinal cord. Haruki was dead before she hit the ground." Kirishima sighed again and he looked old and tired.
"He blamed himself of course. Nothing anyone said could convince him otherwise. What followed was a train wreck. He didn't care if he lived or died. The only thing worth living for had died because of him, his words not mine. So he threw himself into the underworld, the one thing Haruki didn't want for him. Every member of the gang responsible were hunted down and extinguished in revenge and the person that betrayed us suffered far worse. Then Ryuichi drowned himself in alcohol, drugs and sex. No matter what I tried I couldn't pull him out of his self destructive spiral. Unfortunately it took another death to bring him back to his senses. Motoori Tetsuya. They had been close friends for a few years by that point and he had married Anita only six months prior. It was a drug exchange gone bad. Motoori took a bullet through the chest and bled out before we could get him to the hospital. Once again Ryuichi blamed himself. He gave Anita a large sum of money to start her restaurant so we wouldn't lose her to grief as well. He was a broken shell of a man at that point. Broken enough that I was finally able to get him to listen to me. I had recently moved out of home and forced him to live with me. I took the reins of Sion and slowly tried to put him back together. The drugs were easy, a few weeks of hell but no other lingering effects. The alcohol was harder. He had to drink with clients so he had to learn how to drink responsibly once again. There were a few mishaps where he tried to drown his pain but slowly we got there.
He lived with me for nearly three years before I trusted him enough to let him back on his own and take back Sion. He seemed functional enough on the outside but no matter what I did or how I tried I could never get him to talk. He never healed, just buried the pain deep inside and masked it over with an unfeeling façade. He never had another relationship either, all one night stands or short flings. No emotions attached. Until you. If anyone can heal him it's you, soulmate."
Akihito sat in stunned silence. He remembered the pain he felt that morning, feeling like his heart was tearing open. That was the pain Asami felt ten years later, buried deep inside. He could not let the man continue to suffer in silence. He needed to know that he was not alone anymore. He would never have to suffer through so much pain by himself ever again. Something must have shown on his face because Kirishima nodded.
"The ten year anniversary of her death is coming up. It would be nice for him to visit her grave for the first time."
Akihito frowned before squaring his shoulders in determination. "He'll go, just message me the date and location."
"Very well." Kirishima smiled at him. "Good luck Takaba Akihito."