GAY 1000.

haha, this update took so long.

Team murder is back in business baybee

It took about a minute for Iori to stop screaming his colourful insults. He usually went on for quite a bit longer, but he started hiccupping violently and he needed to stop. He sat grumpily in his wheelchair and seemed to be doing his best to stay angry as Kyo pushed the him down the hallway toward the medical ward.

It's good he's lively… I thought he was gonna die.

The hallway they were traversing was dark and empty. Everything was utterly silent at this early hour. The soles of Kyo's shoes squeaked against the sterile linoleum, and the tap of his footsteps fell into beat with the methodical clicking that emitted from Iori's wheels. Both men had fallen silent once Iori had cycled through two languages of insults. Honestly, the fact Iori had woken up at all was immensely relieving.

He was getting so little oxygen, the doctors thought he was gonna be comatose… looks like he's fine though… I mean, he's talking intelligibly.

Kyo would never admit it, but he had been lurking outside Iori's hospital room all night. He had tried his best to get information from the doctors, but the team was American, and Chizuru was too busy dealing with Heidern to come translate for him. However, the apologetic looks they gave him, and whatever English words he understood, told volumes about Iori's grave condition.

Naturally, the moment the hospital staff changed shifts, Kyo snuck in to pace around Iori's room and occasionally poke at him. For a couple of hours, he got no response. Not even Iori's eyeballs were moving beneath his eyelids - but at least he was breathing. Kyo had been understandably jittery.

Now that Iori was very much alive, Kyo was relieved. The first hurdle was past, now for the second.

Damn, I hate apologizing.

Kyo wasn't concerned about apologizing to the IKARI staff - he didn't plan to do that anyways. He had merely used it as an excuse for being there. He couldn't bend his pride enough to beg forgiveness from strangers, and had no intention to, despite Chizuru asking him. Frankly, he had no relation with IKARI, and reasoned there was nothing to be lost by them having a sour opinion of him.

Instead, there was another relation he was much more concerned about.

Thanks to him, Iori had spent four hours yesterday slowly suffocating while being forced to help him hold hostages. He had known IKARI wasn't the enemy since the beginning, but Kyo had ignored him. Instead of recovering from the nerve toxin which had blinded him in one eye, and seized up nearly half his body - Kyo had him killing his drinking buddies.

...He only helped me because I would have killed him otherwise… I was prepared to kill him right there, and he probably knew it. Which… which means all of this is my fault…

Kyo sighed and looked down at his rival. Normally, Iori would never tolerate being shipped around like this, but he was too weak to put up any real resistance. He had done a good deal of screeching and flailing, but despite his efforts, Kyo had easily plucked him out of bed and dumped him into the wheelchair.

I'm glad he's alive. If he died I'd never forgive myself… But… if that arm doesn't get better, he won't forgive me either…

As far as Kyo could tell, Iori hadn't sustained any permanent injuries besides for his janky arm. In addition to whatever damage the nerve gas had caused, he had collected an impressive display of minor injuries. The nasty bruise on his left cheekbone where Kyo punched him two nights ago was dripping in ointment and covered in a large paste-on bandage. The sclera in his left eye was dyed red - he had popped a vein. He had bite marks all over, several cuts on his scalp, a puncture wound in his neck, and his stomach looked like it had been trampled by a horse.

Luckly, everything had been mummified under layers of gauze and medicine so nobody had to look at it. Chiz had her Orlando team helicoptered in, and the ten world-class medical personnel made short work of everyone's wounds. Apparently they had even done an emergency surgery on Leona. She was supposedly going to be alright.

Chiz is always so resourceful… always cleaning up our messes. I'm thankful for her…

Kyo sighed as he walked, and pondered what he was going to say to Iori. He was feeling bad… almost as bad as Iceland. He felt bad about holding hostages. He felt bad that he'd hurt some innocent people… but what really made him feel like a piece of shit was he has forced someone else to do it with him.

… I'd be mad… But he … does he remember? Maybe he does have brain damage after all.

After much deliberation on his part, and he had all evening to deliberate, Kyo had decided the best thing to do was act normally in the event Iori woke up. His rival wasn't a shy or soft-spoken person, so if there was an accusation to make, Iori would have made it within a few minutes of gaining consciousness. Kyo was expecting to get chewed out, and was a bit shocked when Iori merely told him to leave and tried to assault him with a glass of water.

He told me to die, but he didn't accuse me… do I need to apologize if he doesn't remember? I still feel bad th-

Iori interrupted his thoughts.

"Kusanagi, what -(hic)- day is it?"

Iori tone was aggressive as always, but he sounded tired when he spoke. The red-haired man didn't turn to address him.

"Wednesday. IKARI picked us up yesterday afternoon."

"...(hic)-ARI? Oh yeah… are they okay? Micky D,-(hic)- Alberto, Thrall-" At the mention of that name, Iori paused. His tone of voice wasn't flippant, but he didn't seem appropriately regretful either. Kyo immediately knew to whom he was referring.

"... oh wait, Thrall."

He does remember…

Kyo sighed and stopped pushing, bringing them to a standstill in the sterile white hallway. To their right, there was a window looking into a wooded area. Kyo could faintly see their reflections in the glass pane. Two blurry figures dressed in white hospital smocks. Cold and silent.

"Yagami."

Iori had begun mumbling. He seemed to be talking to himself.

"... dammit… the guys are gonna kill me… Riot… do you think-... What?"

He turned halfway. He looked annoyed. The shadows beneath his eyes seemed to grow deeper as his expression tensened. He side-eyed Kyo expectantly. Kyo chewed on the inside of his cheek and picked his brain. He blurted something out, his voice ringing uncomfortably loudly off the walls.

"This shitstorm was my fault, not yours. I made you do all that stuff to IKARI, so… I-I made you… and… if you can't use your arm anymo-... "

Kyo broke off and cursed himself as he searched for words. Iori sat motionless in his wheelchair, his half-paralyzed arm laid out across his lap. A flash of anger flew across his face, then he broke eye contact to look out the window. He stopped muttering, and instead began hissing under his breath.

Fuck.

Kyo turned to look out the window as well. The forested area was filled with lush foliage. Large dewdrops had formed on the wide leaves of the undergrowth. It looked cool and fresh. How Kyo wished life was simple again. Where he could simply enjoy those simple pleasures without worrying about the fallout of his recent insane episode.

… he literally could have died. Brazil was bad enough, but at least we were fighting enemies… this time he turned on all his friends because I fucking threatened to kill him … dammit

Finally Iori made a noise. It was something between a dry laugh and a cough. Kyo looked down at the top of his head and prepared his heart for the worst.

"Who do you think I am? A fucking tool? Like a gun or some shit?"

A pause. It was a rhetorical questions. Iori's voice had a raw - savage tone to it. He snarled at the window, baring his teeth. Kyo blinked down at him.

"Nobody can make me do anything. It was my choice and I know what I did, so shut up. Don't patronize me."

What?

"... wait, you can't be ser-"

Iori heaved his way out of the wheelchair and laboriously staggered to his feet. He snatched up his IV and nearly smacked Kyo with it as he tottered over to the windowpane. There, he leaned his back against the glass and glared. He looked like an ICU patient attempting to stage an escape. Kyo would have laughed if the topic of conversation weren't so dire.

Iori clutched his IV stand and snarled like a feral animal.

"I'm dead fucking serious Kusanagi. Don't try and treat me like a kid. In this business, you kill who you kill, you can't go around looking for someone to blame or you'll hate the whole world. You think people who steal food are innocent? Like, it's the government's fault they stole or some garbage? No. They made a choice."

Kyo held the wheelchair handles tightly and the red-haired man wheezed at him. It looked like the effort of walking was putting tremendous strain on his body. He was slowly sliding down the glass, and Kyo was debating whether to go help him or not.

"They chose. They chose to steal - (haah)- to steal, or starve. They chose, and it makes them guilty. It's the same for me. And the same for you. So shut your damn mouth and stop with the pity."

"..."

Iori began coughing painfully and slid down the glass until he was seated on the floor. Kyo just stared flatly at him. He didn't expect this response at all. He knew his rival had some weird philosophies, but this one was strange in the extreme.

"Yagami, you can't just blame yourself for everythin- "

"Shut up! Shut up!... Who're you gonna blame? Kagura? Orochi? Blame your parents! Blame NESTS! Whatever you do if your own fault. I told you! I made a choice! Now, Fuck you! Go away."

Kyo felt himself becoming indignant. He had spent a long while composing apologies in his head, and he really did feel guilty. For some reason, he felt there was great injustice being done should Iori blame himself for what was clearly Kyo's harebrained scheme. Cliche as it was, he wanted the catharsis of confession. Iori was robbing him of that.

"Choice? What choice! It's hardly a choice at all! 'Kill them, or die yourself' that was the choice I gave you. I-... why the hell am I even arguing with you. Fuck it. Believe whatever you want. Come on, I'll bring you back to the hospital room."

Iori fixed him with a glare and continued to shout whilst waving his bad arm incoherently. He was pale, clinging to his IV stand, and very obviously delirious. Kyo went over and attempted to help him up, but was slapped away.

Dammit… I should have just let him sleep…

"Not 'death', you idiot! Let me go! "

Kyo had him under the arms and dodged flapping elbow strikes as he dragged his rival backwards, toward the wheelchair. Iori was a good deal heavier than he looked, and the fact he was screeching and flailing didn't help matters. Kyo entertained his conversation through gritted teeth.

"Not death? Than wha- ouch! Stop it dude!"

He'd been struck in the ear. His head rang. It seemed like his rival's tone had changed, but maybe it was just the impact to his brain. He quickly almost threw Iori into the chair, and clapped a hand over his throbbing ear.

Iori continued jabbering away.

"I could kill IKARI, or repeat Istanbul, and I'm not doing Istanbul again. I'd kill IKARI to avoid that. That was the choice I made."

"What?"

Kyo looked up, utterly confused. Iori's ramblings could become quite bizarre at times. He wasn't quite processing the words coming from his rival's mouth. His ear stung something awful.

İstanbul… does he mean-

"I said I was sorry. I meant it. I've backstabbed you once… It won't happen again. What I did to IKARI was proof."

His voice grew quiet as he glared. Everything seemed to go silent.

"Proof to you... that no matter what, I'm… I'll be on your side. Doesn't matter how much IKARI helped me, or how good Kagura was to me, or my fucking family loyalty. I have priorities. I'll never betray you agai-..."

He suddenly looked embarrassed and turned towards the window. Kyo couldn't mask the shock in his expression. He had always known Iori was obsessed with him to a certain degree, but he merely wrote it off like the violent version of "fangirl-ing".

He had no idea how deep it ran.

I feel like he just confessed his love for me or something, heh.

It was weird. It was awkward. But for some reason, Kyo found himself breaking into a grin.

Because since the beginning of this whole ordeal, he had been afraid. Fear permeated his thoughts. All his actions were terrified. He was scared of the city, he was scared of the people, he was scared to fight, he was scared to run… he was numb and hopeless until Iori came for him two nights ago, to bail him out of that dreadful zombie-infested apartment.

And from that moment forth, he had a companion.

And not just any companion, his strongest Ally.

In the past, they had crushed mountains together. Nothing, not even the god of this world, could stand against them. They were strong, terrifyingly strong. Nigh invincible. It was foolishness for them to fear anything. They could raze a city.

But he had always thought Iori Yagami only teamed with him on some fragile throwaway whim. He felt no security in their collaboration, especially not after what had happened in the Istanbul Tournament.

But … I guess this changes things.

Iori, now, was the same man who had murdered his way across a continent for his sake. If Kyo could trust anyone, it was his rival. There was nothing random in his strikes against NESTS, nor his attacks against IKARI. He was always like this. Nothing had changed. His obsession. That 'benevolence' had remained steadfast over the years.

And now that Kyo could see it before his eyes, he no longer had anything to fear. They could take on the world if they needed to, just like before. And if he needed help, he didn't need to rely on some sly argument, or to get Chiz to pull some strings, or anything else. Iori would fight by his side despite everything.

He laughed his fear away.

The burden fled from his chest. It felt like something had reignited there.

He chuckled wryly and sauntered over to the wheelchair where Iori was perched. There was a spring in his step. The guilt that was tied about his heart had fallen away.

Iori glared at him.

"Hey dude, I know you're fucked in the head, but still, you should try and be nicer when you confess your feelings for someon- *Thunk*

"OUCH DAMMIT! YOU BITCH!"

Iori punched him in the other ear.

I'd punch him too.

Did yu see the theology?

kk bie.