Note: If you can't already tell, I base almost everything off America because I don't know enough about Japan, so I realize the laws there are probably different. As well, I don't want any comments about gun control; I like to keep politics out of my life as much as possible.
Breed
Chapter 37: Marked
"Where'd you go? You said you'd never leave me. All alone, my heart is barely beating. Like a ghost, you haunt me every day that you're gone. I'm not the same. Now something went missing. There's a cage; it feels like a prison. Here I'll stay until you come back home, home. Who put that rock in your chest, won't you tell me? If I said I wish you the best, I was lying.
"Waking up just brings me down, down, 'cause every morning, you are nowhere to be found, nowhere to be found. And my bed is half empty, not half full. I'd rather live with broken bones than lay here all on my own like a lovesick fool."
―"Lovesick Fool" by The Cab
oO_Oo_oO_Oo
The warehouse is dark. Sunlight barely lights the enormous, vacant space through the broken windows. Glass crystals and a few shards litter the concrete floor, along with dirt and trash.
Flashlight braced against his gun, Aomine slowly enters the building, sapphire eyes steady but narrow with attentiveness. Quietly, he asks, "You sure this is the right place, Captain?"
Imayoshi walks to his right in the same position. "This is the address."
"I can't smell blood or anything else that would suggest they kept any of them here." Aomine pauses. "But there's a faint scent of…Fire."
"Haizaki was here," Imayoshi mutters, nose wrinkled slightly.
The deeper they walk into the warehouse, the stronger the smell becomes. Until Imayoshi finds the source.
He crouches down over the paper with scrawl over it.
Aomine glances at the paper. "What does it say?"
"'Gullible idiots'," Imayoshi reads with a huff of irritation.
Oo_oO_Oo_oO
When Furihata comes into work Tuesday morning, Akashi is already there, typing away on his computer. However, as much as he tries to ignore the redhead, it's much harder because there's a vase of red and white roses on his desk.
He ponders this.
As he sets his work bag beside his desk, the sweet scent of the flowers fills his nostrils, his terrifically oversensitive nostrils. And the combination of that and Akashi working in the corner of his eye…he finally just can't take it.
Furihata stands and plants his hands on the desk. "Sei, stop. Please, just stop."
Crimson eyes look up, and Furihata can see the hurt in them just as much as he can feel it in his stomach. For a moment, he thinks he'll vomit.
"Stop what? Tell me, and I'll do it."
"That! Stop that!" Furihata gestures to Akashi with flailing arms.
The Fire quietly stares down at his lap, his fingers laced together and trembling, though he doesn't know if it's from the pressure of squeezing them too tightly or from the guilt and frustration that he's desperately trying to suppress from leaking into his eyes. "I'm…I'm sorry, but…I-I don't…I don't know what you're referring to."
"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!"
A minute passes.
When there's no reply, Furihata worries he's gone too far. Akashi is staring into oblivion, and he hasn't blinked even once, even as his left eye flares into a molten gold.
However, before Furihata can read anymore into it, Akashi stands and looks his mate in the eye. "Alright, I'll stop. But would you allow me one request?"
"I-I guess."
"May I kiss you?"
Furihata nods slowly. "Yeah…."
When Akashi approaches him, he decides it's probably a bad idea.
A strong arm circles his waist, and heat leaks onto his skin where they touch. Akashi's other hand is on his jaw, a gentle thumb brushing over his cheekbone. However, when Akashi's lips press against his, they're barely there, just a feather touch over his mouth. It isn't the same as he's used to, but then again, Akashi has been acting so different lately.
Breath ghosts his lips as Akashi pulls away a centimeter and whispers, "I love you so much."
Furihata replies in the same tone, "I know."
"As long as you know," Akashi murmurs before he releases the brunette and moves back to his own desk.
But it's more than that, and Furihata can see it. He can see Akashi's fingers as they type, even though they tremble as well, and he can see that Akashi's left eye is gold and staying gold. He can see that Akashi's jaw is clenched, and that every so often, he swallows hard.
After a long moment, Furihata goes back to work. Just a little bit longer.
At his desk, Akashi momentarily stops typing to blink and take a deep breath.
See? He doesn't love you back.
He bites his lip.
He didn't even want to kiss you, letting that pass for a kiss.
Another deep breath.
Let go.
oO_Oo_oO_Oo
When Himuro and Murasakibara come home Tuesday evening, Alex, Kira, Kagami, Kuroko, Momoi, Aomine, and Kise are playing Up and Down the River at the table. Well, Kira is watching her mother play, and Momoi is sitting on Aomine's lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. Even Himuro can see the tension in Aomine's posture, so he assumes the Light has had a rough day at work.
"Uncle Tatsuya!" Kira hops out of her chair and runs to the dark-haired male. "Guess what! Guess what!"
"What? What?" Himuro asks in the same excited tone as he crouches down to her level.
"I got a boyfriend!"
Kagami and Alex see his smile suddenly go plastic. Himuro pats the girl on the head. "That's great, Kira." He glances up at the Shadow at the table. "Kuroko-kun, mind explaining why my four-year-old niece has a boyfriend?"
Kagami glares at his brother. "Tatsuya―!"
"It's alright, Kagami-kun." Kuroko directs his blank stare to Himuro. "Do not worry, Himuro-san. Kira-chan made a new friend of the male variety today at the daycare, and he asked her to be his girlfriend. However, they are the same age, and I closely supervised to make sure they didn't do anything more than hold hands."
Himuro nods and smiles down at Kira again, this time genuinely. "Alright, what's his name?"
"Kyle! He speaks English, too!"
Not too long after, Kira goes to bed, and Himuro continues to glare at his hand of cards.
"Chill out, Tatsuya," Alex says. "Aren't I supposed to be the overprotective one?"
Himuro sighs. "I wasn't prepared to deal with this for another decade."
"Not like you ever needed preparation," Kagami mutters.
"Taiga, you know he'll do that whether you like it or not," Alex says.
Kise frowns. "Do what?"
Himuro smiles innocently. "Well, I've always been a very protective brother, so usually by the time Alex or Kagami decided to bring their boyfriend to meet the family, they were pretty serious." He tucks his hair behind his ear, thoroughly startling Kise, Aomine, and Momoi, and even Kuroko's eyes seem to get bigger. Himuro sets his eyes on Aomine. "So when they would come over, I would pin my hair back."
Aomine visibly avoids Himuro's gaze, his eyes on the table.
After a moment, Himuro's smile widens as he leans his elbows onto the table. "What's wrong, Aomine-kun? You look uncomfortable."
"I'm not," Aomine retorts, but he still doesn't meet the other's eyes.
Murasakibara leans over and presses his lips to the corner of Himuro's blind eye. "Muro-chin isn't scary. You're beautiful."
After he fixes his hair, Himuro returns the kiss on his mate's cheek. "Thank you, Atsushi."
Kagami huffs. "There was that one time where Alex was really serious about a guy, and Tatsuya came in with pizza, but after he set it down, he took off his gun just to freak the guy out."
"Didn't work though," Himuro says.
"That's not the point!"
Aomine gives Himuro a curious look, and the Air explains, "I have a concealed carry permit, and I keep a Glock 26 at the bakery."
He nods.
"But before he opened the bakery, he carried it on him," Alex says.
"I didn't threaten him," Himuro replies. "I simply decided to take it off where he could see it."
Kagami huffs.
Aomine actually smirks. "I like your thinking, Himuro."
Kise nods. "Sounds like a good strategy."
"Ki-chan Dai-chan scary daddies," Momoi comments.
"We're just thinking about your safety, Momocchi," Kise says.
"I believe Momoi-san will never be wed," Kuroko adds.
Momoi quickly says, "Don't want wed. Stay Ki-chan Dai-chan forever."
After a moment, Aomine runs his fingers through the girl's hair. "That's fine by us, Satsuki."
Kise hums his agreement.
Oo_oO_Oo_oO
Takao arrives home about an hour later with Shikari, as they went out to eat together. Midorima has a long surgery to perform and won't be home for another two hours at least, but it's only nine o'clock, so Takao knows it won't mess with the Air's sleep.
When they get in, Takao immediately moves to the lake, though he deposits work bag in his bedroom beforehand. However, when he walks through the living room, Akashi is there reading. Takao doesn't think anything of it, but after a second glance to make sure he isn't imagining it, he realizes that the redhead's left eye is gold.
"Akashi? You alright?" Takao asks.
The mismatched orbs rise from the book, narrowed and cold. "I'm fine."
Takao doesn't like the way that sounds either. Distant and unfeeling, unlike the polite tone he's used to. "You sure?"
"I dislike repeating myself."
"If you say so."
As soon as Takao hops in the lake, he looks for a gold tail and matching hair and eyes. "Kise?"
"Yeah?" The mentioned things appear.
"Is Akashi okay? He seems extremely…off."
He sees the blonde go rigid for a moment. "I haven't seen him today, but Furihata is still mad at him as far as I know. He might be sulking."
"No, I think it's more than that," Takao insists. "Seriously, his left eye is golden, and he's acting like an entirely different person."
Kise opens his mouth and then closes it again. After a moment, he rubs his face with his hands. "I need to find Furihata."
Oo_oO_Oo_oO
When Imayoshi opens the door, his mate is there, immediately wrapping his arms around him.
"Ryo―?"
"Let me make you forget." Chocolate eyes gaze into steel ones. "I don't like it when you're tense and frustrated."
Imayoshi can't help the dry laugh that breaks past his lips. "Yeah, because it affects you, too."
"No," Sakurai whispers. He rests his forehead on the slightly taller male's shoulder while his hands move up Imayoshi's back to press between his shoulder blades. After a long minute, he continues, "I know that I'm selfish and conceited, and I don't care about other people. You're the exception; you know that."
It's times like these that make Imayoshi really wish he can read Sakurai. He loves his mate more than anything and will do anything for the younger male, but he isn't so naïve to think that just because he'll do that for someone that the other feels the same. He just really wants some confirmation. With anyone else, he sees an aura around them to tell how they feel, sees brainwaves above their heads and reads them to know how their thoughts are affecting them. When someone lies, their aura turns black and their waves spike.
Sakurai is always that. The brunette's waves are constantly peeked, and Imayoshi has never seen him any other color but black.
And maybe that's why they fit together. Imayoshi can't read Sakurai, and Sakurai only cares about Imayoshi. As messed up as it is, maybe it's the reason that they Bonded only a week after Sakurai appeared in his trunk one night.
After a moment, Imayoshi closes his eyes and murmurs, "I'm going to change my clothes and lay down."
As soon as the words leave his mouth, his stomach twists, and he hisses. He glances at Sakurai, who has stepped away from him. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Ryo."
Sakurai looks down. A second later, his expression changes into a pout, but before he speaks, Imayoshi cuts, "Don't you dare. Take it off."
His lips draw back into a frown again, and Imayoshi feels the irritation radiating from him, along with hurt.
"If I can't…" Sakurai crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the wall of the doorway. "If I can't make you feel better when you're in a crappy mood, what kind of mate am I?" His jaw clenches as he stares out the storm door, night having fallen long ago. "You always know exactly what to do to, even when I don't, and it irritates me to no end that I can't do the same thing."
Imayoshi gazes at his mate for a long time, shocked to a certain degree. Well, who wouldn't be? They've been Bonded for ten years, and this never once came up. How is he supposed to respond to that?
"But I know how to make you forget your name," Sakurai murmurs, stepping closer and uncrossing his arms to lace his fingers behind his mate's neck. "So let me do that."
"Ryo…."
"Or what would you have me do?" the smaller male whispers.
"You don't need to do anything," Imayoshi replies as he tilts his head down slightly to touch it to Sakurai's.
A little shake of his head. "No, Shoichi, tell me what you want."
"I want to change clothes and lay down while my precious mate stays by my side. That's all. You don't need to do anything more than that."
However, by the time Imayoshi changes into sweatpants and lies down on the bed, his mind starts whirling again. Images from his nightmares return, along with the taunts placed at every location Hanamiya and Haizaki lured the police. He groans and squeezes his eyes shut.
Beside him―actually, more like on top of him―Sakurai leans forward to press a kiss to his jaw. "You can talk about it, you know. I don't mind."
"I know," Imayoshi replies as he combs his fingers through his mate's hair. After a long moment of silence, he whispers, "I hate feeling helpless. Every night, I think I'm dreaming of the reality of a kid who's in the trade." He swallows hard. "It makes me sick."
Sakurai drops his head back to its rest of Imayoshi's shoulder. "You'll break it. You and Aomine are both great officers."
"And if we get there too late? All these leads are just dead ends. Hanamiya is a genius; he won't leave any clues behind."
"Yeah, and Haizaki doesn't know his left from his right. Track him instead."
"It's not that easy."
"I never said it was easy."
Imayoshi can't help the slight feeling of protectiveness that comes over him at a sudden thought. What if Sakurai is somehow captured and used as a pawn? He tries to push the fear away, as it isn't normally something that he even considers a possibility, but now it's there.
Sakurai quietly gasps when his back hits the mattress, his mate hovering over him. "Shoichi?"
"I'm going to mark you."
It isn't a request or question, and there's a predatory look in Imayoshi's eyes that Sakurai has never seen, or at least never this intensely. His mate can be terrifying when protecting his master, Sakurai reminds himself.
So he silently tilts his head back, his arms thrown up over his head.
Despite what others believe about him, Imayoshi isn't a sadist, and if he has to choose, he would be more likely to call himself a masochist, though that isn't particularly appealing to him either. He likes to take care of his mate and will do whatever is needed to make Sakurai happy. Right now though….
Imayoshi leans down, his forearms braced against the bed on either side of Sakurai's head, and he kisses the side of the brunette's neck. Next, he laps at the skin before he grazes it with his teeth. When he bites down, Sakurai opens his mouth silently, his face scrunched up in pain as the teeth sink deeper. Imayoshi growls through his own pain and pulls away to lick away the blood that began to bubble through before he latches on again, sucking and biting even harder.
Once Imayoshi is satisfied with the wound, he pulls away and runs his tongue over his lips, the metallic taste of blood still in his mouth.
"Feeling better?" Sakurai asks in a sarcastic tone, but Imayoshi knows he's being sincere.
"A little." After a moment, he flops down and pulls his mate on top of him.
Chocolate eyes darken. "Yes?"
Imayoshi moves his legs to wrap around Sakurai's as he lets his head drop back. "Make me forget my name."
"With pleasure."
Author Note: I'm trying here. I love Imayoshi and Sakurai too much for my own good. Anyways, I'll get there one way or another, so please, Please, PLEASE REVIEW!
ALSO! THIS IS IMPORTANT; PLEASE READ! Since this story will be coming to a close soon, I wanted to go ahead and let you guys know that there will be a Q&A chapter. I already have quite a few questions written out and answered, but please feel free to ask more. About anything! You can direct the questions towards me (Crowsnight) or any/all of the characters (elementals, humans and former humans, Generation Miracle, Generation Uncrowned, etc.). SO PLEASE ASK!
A hint for next chapter:
"Of course, I'm Akashi Seijuurou, Tetsuya." Mismatched eyes stare back at the shocked younger male.