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Breed

Chapter 36: Idiot!

"Mayday, mayday, the ship is slowly sinking. They think I'm crazy, but they don't know the feeling. They're all around me, circling like vultures. They want to break me and wash away my colors. Wash away my colors!

"Take me high, and I'll sing. Oh, you make everything okay, okay, okay (okay, okay, okay). We are one in the same. Oh, you take all of the pain away, away, away (away, away, away). Save me if I become my demons."

―"My Demons" by Starset

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

The man comes closer, a disgusting smile spread across his lips. "Come play with me."

"N-no…" I whimper. I try to scoot away, but my back is pressed to the corner so hard that I'm practically part of the plaster.

"Come play."

"H-help."

"Come on, little boy."

"Help!"

Imayoshi bolts straight up in bed, which in turn sends Sakurai tumbling off said bed.

The brunette groans as he thumps against the floor, letting out a whimper. With big, sleepy eyes, he pouts, "Imayoshi-san, did…I do something wrong…? I'm sorry…."

Sakurai then quickly shakes his head and curses. "Ugh, what was that, Shoichi? What got you wound up?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you out of bed," Imayoshi replies now that Sakurai has sorted through his masks. The older male grimaces as he runs a hand through his sweat-dampened hair.

"It's fine." Sakurai stands up and sits on the edge of the bed, glancing over his mate and curling an arm around his own aching abdomen. "Another nightmare?"

Imayoshi nods. When he glances at the alarm clock on the nightstand, he sees that it's about four in the morning, and he sighs. "I'm going to take a shower."

"I'll go with you," Sakurai says immediately.

The shower actually turns out to be a bath, but Imayoshi doesn't mind. Sakurai doesn't pamper him often, usually because he's too busy pampering the brunette instead, but he enjoys it. His mate gives massages that melt him, and that isn't an easy task either; it takes a lot for him to completely let go of his awareness, but when he does, Sakurai certainly knows how to keep him content.

"Thanks, Ryo." Imayoshi leans back against the younger male as soft hands rub a scentless soap over his chest and stomach.

Lips press just below his ear in reply to the gratitude. "Are they always the same?"

The breath on his neck sends a shiver down his spine. "Kind of. I'm always in a dim room made of stone, and there's a man coming after me."

"Your job is getting to you," Sakurai mutters.

"Maybe." Imayoshi quietly exhales as he closes his eyes.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

"Kouki's going to kill me when he wakes up," Akashi says as he chars the dirt in front of him. After some collaboration with Murasakibara early this morning, Akashi constructed a clay bucket infused with Fire, which will hopefully contain the pure Fire element if he does vomit it up.

Midorima and Kise stand beside him. The blonde holds the jar of Water and says, "You're the one who wanted to do it behind his back."

"And he'll know as soon as your body starts reacting," Midorima adds.

Akashi kneels in front of the container. "Okay, I'm ready."

Kise hesitantly hands the jar to Midorima, who will have to be in charge of opening and closing the container. The older brother isn't particularly fond of the idea and warned Akashi not to do it, but the redhead is very stubborn.

"It was nice knowing you, Akashicchi. I hope Furihata doesn't kill you slowly and painfully," Kise says before he runs off to the lake. Takao is still asleep and in bed, so he should be out of the Fire's vicinity, and Kise hopes the lake will protect him.

Midorima stands beside his younger brother with the jar. "Are you sure about this?"

Akashi nods. "If we're right, this could be the answer to defeating Haizaki and Hanamiya."

So Midorima screws the top off the jar. After he lets some of the extra water pour out, he reaches into the container and prods at the blue liquid at the bottom, which is heavier and thicker, like honey. As soon as he pulls it past the surface of the water still in the jar, Akashi starts coughing, his hands gripping the sides of the clay pot.

In his room, Murasakibara watches TV and eats a candy bar while Himuro reads. Suddenly, the lamp's light bulb blows―which makes them both jump―followed by a door slamming nearby with a curse and "SEI, YOU IDIOT!"

"Aka-chin is going to die," Murasakibara mutters around his candy bar.

"What?" Himuro looks at his mate with an almost panicked look.

"I mean, when Furi-chin gets to him, not because of the element thing," Murasakibara clarifies. At least, I hope not because of the element thing.

Outside, Akashi is spitting fire literally. The red, glowing flames fall from his mouth and into the bottom of the pot.

As soon as this starts, Midorima drops the Water back into the jar and teleports to the lake, where he closes the lid and tosses it into the water with Kise.

Akashi coughs a few more times, but when he can no longer feel his stomach contracting, he grasps the lid of the pot and lays it on top. Afterwards, he crumples, panting on the ground with his eyes closed. Well, there's the easy part done.

When he hears the balcony door slam shut, Akashi winces.

However, before there's any yelling, there's the sound of feet hitting the ground, running. Furihata drops to his knees beside his mate and pulls said mate into his lap. "Akashi Seijuurou, I swear―"

"I'm fine…okay?" Akashi whispers into Furihata's thigh as fingers comb through his hair. "There's nothing…to be upset about…Kouki…."

Furihata huffs. "You're lucky that I love you, or I would have killed you by now."

"I'm lucky that you love me anyways. It's a miracle," Akashi murmurs.

"Yeah, it is."

As the brunette helps his mate back into the house, Kise surfaces, taking a deep breath.

Midorima glances at the blonde. "Anything?"

"Nope, it worked," Kise replies.

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

At around ten in the morning, Furihata is lying in bed with a book about a sailor that is murdered and his spirit comes back to haunt the ship. Or something like that. Akashi isn't paying much attention as he racks his brain for ways to get back on Furihata's good side. True, the brunette isn't ignoring him, and he's actually cuddled up to his mate with his head on said mate's shoulder, but he can feel the waves of irritation emanating from Furihata.

After a while, Akashi looks up at Furihata and quietly asks, "Do you want to go out tonight?"

"Out where?" The chocolate gaze doesn't move from the book.

"There's a really nice seafood restaurant near the office, isn't there?"

"You hate seafood."

Akashi averts his gaze and bites his lip for a moment. "That doesn't matter. You can have anything you want, my treat."

"No, thank you."

Silence falls for a few minutes.

"Kouki…" Akashi pushes himself forward a little, enough so that he can nuzzle Furihata's jaw or maybe cheek―

Furihata flinches, leaning away.

At that, Akashi sits up, chewing on his lip. After a moment, he crawls out of bed. "I'm going to take a bath."

"Wait."

Akashi turns, bathrobe in hand and door open.

Furihata runs a hand through his hair before he turns his book over. "Look, I'm just really frustrated. Can you just…give me some space for a little bit, okay?"

"I can do that." But it doesn't make it hurt any less.

Even as Akashi sinks into the bathwater, which instantly begins to boil, he's having trouble processing what happened.

"It's your own fault," he murmurs to himself, wrapping his arms around his knees. "You knew he was going to be mad, and you went behind his back to do something you knew he was against. You have no right to be upset."

He tells himself this, but his heart still aches and his stomach knots. He hasn't hurt this much since they submitted to each other.

You deserve it.

Akashi blinks hard, blaming the sting in his eyes on the steam.

You never deserved someone as amazing as Furihata.

His left eye burns.

He doesn't really love you. You know that, don't you?

Blood drips from his split lip, and crimson stains his teeth.

You're not worthy of him.

Akashi curls his fingers in his hair, yanking the short locks as he whimpers, "I know…I know I'm not…."

Let go.

"N-no…I'm…I'm stronger…."

Let go.

Akashi blinks away the pain in his left eye. The orb returns to crimson.

Oo_oO_Oo_oO

Aomine plops down in one of the chairs across from Imayoshi. Kise settles much more gracefully in the seat beside him.

Seated on the edge of his mate's desk, Sakurai says, "So?"

"We have the pure forms of Water and Fire," Kise says. "I believe that if we can expose Hanamiya and Haizaki to them for long enough, they will reject their element and become human."

Imayoshi pauses. "I've never heard of that happening. While it's true that they will vomit their element, there's no evidence that this will make them human."

"If they don't become human, they'll just die. Either works for me," Aomine says.

Sakurai nods. "Sounds good to me."

"With that out of the way, the matter is finding them," Imayoshi mutters, running a hand through his hair.

Though he doesn't mention it, Aomine notes Imayoshi's mannerisms. It's rare for the older male to show when he's stressed, so Aomine can't help but wonder how bad it is. Or why.

Weird, Aomine thinks as he moves back to his desk.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

Monday night, Furihata lays in bed, facing the wall. The night before, Akashi slept on the couch in the living room, but Furihata insisted he not do it again tonight. So Akashi is on the other side of the bed.

Furihata wants to stay mad, if for no other reason than to keep Akashi from hurting himself again, but the brunette is finding it really hard to ignore his mate. The mate who drove to work separately yesterday to go over twenty miles out of his way to buy Cinnabons, Furihata's absolute favorite sweet. The mate who also made a CD and put it in Furihata's car, so when he started said car, he heard all his favorite songs. The mate who hasn't tried to touch him at all since Sunday morning.

This is torture.

Quietly, Furihata rolls over, but instead of seeing Akashi's back, he's met with crimson eyes staring back at him.

Furihata turns back to the wall and tries to go to sleep. He can hold out longer than this, even if Akashi just has to be the sweetest, most impossible-to-be-angry-with partner of all time.

Akashi frowns at this. But instead of saying anything, he grabs his pillow from under his head and curls up with it. Maybe if he tries hard enough, he can convince himself that it's Furihata.

oO_Oo_oO_Oo

At around four in the morning, Furihata rolls out of bed, wide awake and irritated with life in general. Akashi glances over his shoulder, but Furihata simply says, "Can't sleep."

Without waiting for a reply, he walks out of the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.

The air is crisp and refreshing outside, though there's fog that hangs over the lake, and Furihata crosses his arms over his chest as he walks down the balcony steps. The grass is barely damp with dew.

Rolling up the legs of his sweatpants, Furihata sits down on the dock and dangles his legs in the water. The moon is still high in the sky, accompanied by millions of stars, like someone poured a bottle glitter over the ocean and left the white cap as well.

Suddenly, Furihata's eye catches something black under the water, and he jumps a foot in the air with a squeak of fear.

A blonde head surfaces. Golden eyes widen as Kise waves his hands in front of himself. "Sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you!"

Furihata takes a deep breath, a hand still over his chest from his mini heart attack. "It's fine. I didn't expect anyone else here." He chuckles at himself. "Though, I really shouldn't be surprised that there's a merman in the lake."

"Well, it's still pretty early, so I don't blame you." Kise smiles. "I have a shoot in Kanagawa today, and my plane leaves at eight. I have to leave by seven, I always supervise Momocchi's makeup application so she doesn't go overboard, and Aominecchi's running around like a headless octopus at work to figure out where Hanamiya and Haizaki are, so I want to cuddle with him a little in the morning."

Furihata pauses. "That sounds hectic. Uh, and I think the expression is 'running around like a headless chicken', not octopus."

"I spent the first month of my life living with dolphins, remember? We don't have any chickens where I come from," Kise replies.

"You would fit well in a country song, you know that?"

"What about oceanic songs?"

"Well, the Little Mermaid was a musical."

"If you're referring to the one with the singing hermit crab, I'll pass."

"What? Hermit crabs sing, don't they?"

"I don't know. They usually get eaten before I can ask."

"I thought you didn't like seafood?"

"Seafood is different from hunting." Kise rests his folded arms on the dock. "I don't need to eat, of course, but hunting is a social event in pods, so I help out and eat a little, too, if there's extra." He pauses and glances up at Furihata. "But enough about me. Why are you out here?"

"Well…can I get your opinion on something?"

Kise gives him a knowing look. "You want to know whether you should still be mad at Akashicchi or not."

"Y-yeah, pretty much."

"There are two parts to that." Kise holds up a finger. "Number one, Akashicchi knew that you would be furious if he did what he did, and despite knowing that, he did it anyways. You have every right to be angry with him. However―" He adds another finger. "―number two, he had good intentions in mind, and he's also been trying everything he can to make it up to you. In that sense, it's a little needless that you're continuing to punish him."

Furihata sighs. "So what would you do?"

"If Aominecchi pulled a stunt like that, I'd probably shove my foot so far up his backside that he'd have to give birth to get rid of it."

The brunette cringes at the description.

"Aominecchi and Akashicchi are very alike in the way that they never think about their own safety. They both don't really consider themselves when thinking about a plan they have, but they'll do everything they possibly can to keep everyone else safe. It's just how they work." Kise shrugs. "So to answer your question, I would probably let him suffer a little longer."

Furihata nods.

Kise smiles after a moment. "Just make sure he doesn't start getting sick. As long as he knows you're just mad and not trying to reject him, it shouldn't be a problem, but keep an eye on it."

"I will. Thanks, Kise."

"No problem."

Author Note: Geez, short chapters. It took me a long time to write this one, but I got it now! Will Furihata forgive Akashi? And what's going to happen to Imayoshi? Will the elementals find Hanamiya and Haizaki? If you wonder any of these things, then please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW!

A hint for next chapter:

"Stop being perfect!" Furihata rubs his face with both of his hands. "Stop apologizing and acting all meek when it doesn't fit you at all! Stop buying me gifts! Stop…just stop making it so hard to be mad at you!"