For These Scars

~Chapter 15~

Written by: RinoaDestiny

King of Fighters, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Saisyu Kusanagi, and Benimaru Nikaido belong to SNK

Two fifty-eight in the morning.

Iori pressed the numbers on his phone's screen, punching into the conference call's direct line. His hands shook, his wrists ached and he was running on an unhealthy dose of caffeine but hell if he was going to miss this opportunity. Since he didn't want to fall asleep in bed, he hauled his ass out to his small eat-in kitchen, kicked a seat aside, and slumped down into it. His T-shirt was already damp and he was perspiring. That was what the bottle of water next to him was for.

Two fifty-nine.

He entered the conference call admittance code and waited. He'd taken the strongest painkiller and his breathing medication beforehand, hoping to allay any possible symptoms. Rare for him, he'd also eaten well tonight – forced down some pork croquettes and even some chicken – and managed to keep it down. His morning and afternoon were uneventful, mostly time spent sleeping. He hoped it counterbalanced what he was doing now – that he wouldn't suffer badly for it tomorrow.

He was exhausted but he was going to make this call. It'd been over a month…

Three in the morning.

There were two sounds ringing in – people entering – and Iori gripped his phone tight, mouth dry. After two seconds, he heard the very familiar voices of the other two men announcing their arrival into the call.

"Benimaru here."

"Hey, Beni. Kyo here."

"Nice! You made it! Is Yagami here?"

"Dunno. Yagami, you here?"

Hearing Kyo's voice live after so long hit Iori like a blow to the gut. It was as if he'd been robbed of speech after listening to the other man talk. Sweat trickled down his face. He ignored it. His mouth was drier, if that was possible. His apartment was eerily quiet.

"You sure he confirmed, Beni?"

"Yeah. He did. Maybe he's late?"

"Yagami? He's punctual."

"Hmmm…"

The more he heard Kyo's voice, the deeper the ache was. He just wanted him here but that was hoping for too much, wasn't it? After what befell him, he learned to keep his expectations low. He didn't want to get hurt again by denial of his wants and desires. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath – the muscle around his healing sternum tugging – and spoke. "I'm here."

He didn't even have to say his name. Kyo knew his voice.

"Yagami?"

"Yeah." He opened his eyes and gazed down at the floor by the table. "It's me."

"Were you waiting long?"

"No."

A brief pause. "That's good." Then, Kyo's tone changed and Iori tensed. "Beni, if I start going 'One, two, three', stay on the line and talk. Yagami, if that happens, that's your cue to leave. You don't need to leave the call but mute your phone or something. There's still some suspicion aimed my way."

"Shit. What's going on now?" Nikaido from his end, tone concerned. "Is this even safe for you?"

"My uncle's been monitoring my calls. Noticed the late nights. Might be serious."

"Might be? Should we even be on?"

"Hell yeah we should. I haven't spoken to him in…"

"It's been over a month." Iori heard the words leave his mouth, flat and suppressing pain. "We can't…we can't let this go by."

"Yagami's right. Beni, just stay on – just in case."

Nikaido sighed over the line. "Okay. But give me the warning once you suspect something. Yagami mightn't have much time to remove himself if –"

"Know that. Will let you know in case. Hope I don't have to."

"Then I'll hang in the background. Let you two talk."

With that, Benimaru Nikaido fell silent. It was just him and Kyo now, sharing a connection that had been severed since that fateful day a couple months ago. Iori reached for the bottle of water and took a drink. His throat was dry. It ached too.

"Yagami." Kyo speaking, his tone gentle. "How are you holding up?"

Not how was he doing or was he doing okay. Kyo knew – he knew it'd been rough for him – and refrained from asking the most useless of questions. Iori fought off the sudden impulse to laugh, for it'd be bitter and he didn't want Kyo to hear that. "I'm surviving."

"Just that? Surviving?"

"It's not exactly living, Kyo. Not like this."

Silence.

Iori held the phone against his ear. Waited.

"Miss you, Yagami."

His throat ached even more. He swallowed and then blinked. He wasn't going to cry.

"I wanted to see if you were okay that day. You never got back, so…"

"I wouldn't…" He closed his eyes to hold back the wet heat building up behind them. "I wouldn't have been there."

"Is it okay if I ask? Or will that –"

"I was in the hospital. You wouldn't have gotten a hold of me."

He thought he heard Kyo muttering something under his breath. Nikaido, thankfully, maintained his silence. "Did my father hurt you, Yagami?"

Now he went silent.

"Yagami?"

If he confirmed it, then Kyo was bound to lose his temper. That…could go wrong in so many ways. Either Kyo would confront his old man and then Saisyu would know – he was as good as dead then – or Kyo would do something rash and have it backfire on all of them. Or, he could raise his voice in the dead of night and alert someone. Or worse, set his face against the clan and become anathema to them. If that happened…

Iori didn't say anything.

"Yagami, you still here?"

"Yeah."

"I just want to know –"

"I was in the hospital. That's all you need to know." Kyo didn't need to know the terrible details of that afternoon. He'd told Saisyu as much before his life began its abrupt and cruel turn. Nikaido was here as well – he didn't need to know, since it didn't concern him. What happened to him – to Iori Yagami – on that day was meant for him alone. No one else needed to bear that burden. Only him. Only he and Saisyu Kusanagi knew.

It wasn't something he wanted to share.

"Then he did hurt you. Bad enough to put you in the hospital. How long, Yagami?"

This also wasn't a detail he wanted to give.

"Long enough."

Over the phone, he heard Kyo breathing heavy through his nose like a mad bull. "Beni told me you lost weight. Can't walk straight. Can't breathe easy."

"You wouldn't recognize me."

"I don't believe that, Yagami. Not after this long."

Six months they'd been together and Kyo was this sure? After his ordeal, after the month-long stay in the hospital, he began to doubt the face in the mirror. To doubt his own frame as it was continuously ravaged by the brutal aftereffects of Saisyu's action. If he was questioning his own appearance and Nikaido did the same, then how could Kyo be so sure that he'd know him by sight? It'd been over a month!

"Kyo, you don't know. Don't assume."

Silence drew down and fell in between them.

Nikaido, if he was listening, also didn't say anything.

After a long minute, Kyo spoke. "I want to see you, Yagami."

Iori breathed lightly through his nose and clenched his teeth. He wasn't going to cry. "That…mightn't be possible."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not even supposed to be talking to you." The threat that hovered over his life was still there, was still very much actionable. "I can't even approach you."

"Did my dad say that?"

Iori didn't respond.

"He did, didn't he?" Behind Kyo's voice, he heard suppressed rage. "Yagami, it works the other way, then. I can approach you."

"Are you mad?" If Saisyu was hellbent on keeping Kyo away from him, there was no fucking chance for Kyo to make that happen. Not without serious consequences. "Kyo, you'll set the entire clan against you! If you do that –"

"I should've been there. Maybe you wouldn't be…"

Iori opened his eyes and blinked a few times. His cheeks were wet. "And then what, Kyo? Fight your old man? Kill him? For me? You know what you would've done –"

"At least you'd have a fighting chance. He didn't give you much of one, it seems."

"I didn't want to fight him. I didn't."

"You should've."

"And if I killed him? Or injured him? Kyo, your clan would've called for blood vengeance. You'd have to lead it. Against me. It'd destroy you."

Kyo was quiet over the other end.

"I didn't want to do that to you."

"So you…"

"He knew, Kyo. I don't think it would've made much of a difference."

"It might've, if I was there."

Iori took a shaky breath. "It's done, Kyo." There was the weight of finality behind his words, behind his tone. "There's nothing you can do about it."

"And you? Are you fighting it, Yagami? Whatever it is my dad did to you."

If he was by himself, completely offline and disconnected from the world, he'd weep. "I'm trying." It felt like an uphill battle, against insurmountable odds – a battle he might lose – and the most he could give was his desperate attempt to stave off the inevitable, whenever it might come. Iori was sure it would – it just depended when.

"Yagami," Kyo said, tone too gentle, "I need to see you."

"I…" He wanted to as well but the strictures bound him like a vise. "It's too dangerous, Kyo."

"I know you want to as well. You're never one to say those thoughts, though."

Intimate and private and Nikaido was listening. Iori cleared his throat, which still ached. "You can't know I'm there."

"What? Why?"

"Because if it's discovered we set it up, then…"

"Did my father threaten to kill you? Is that why you're hesitating?"

He let his silence speak for him.

"Yagami…" Kyo sounded at a loss for words. "I won't let him."

"That's not up to you."

Brutal and blunt, yet true. He'd lived with that knowledge for so long now that it was burnt into his soul, etched into his mind. If Saisyu Kusanagi wanted him dead, it wasn't for Kyo to know. That'd been his understanding of the warning Saisyu imposed on him. A complication, Kyo knowing. Better to get it done and over with by other members of the clan. Make it seem like he just disappeared or possibly moved away. No one needed to know it was murder.

With that, Kyo would just have to move on. Iori knew he could.

But at this point, it seemed neither one of them was ready to do so.

Hence, this call.

"My dad doesn't dictate my life. He doesn't dictate yours."

"Oh?" Sharpness springing out against pain – his natural defense. "Why the secrecy? The tip to Nikaido? Why aren't you here with me if he's not doing that?"

"Yagami –"

"You're barred to me, Kyo. Because of your clan. Your old man."

"You're not –"

"He has me by the balls. What don't you get?"

Kyo went quiet over the other end, the silence extending. Iori wiped the side of his face – sweat pouring down – and took another drink from the water bottle. The caffeinated high was wearing off and he was wrung out, mentally and physically. All the hurt was coming through, barbed and biting, and bitterness with it. All of it suppressed over the last month and Iori couldn't stop himself, couldn't stop it from changing the entire tone of the conversation.

He took the phone away from his ear. Looked at the time.

Fifteen minutes had passed since they started talking.

It felt like much longer.

"Yagami…" Kyo speaking, voice faintly discernable. "Don't give up."

He wanted to laugh at that but knew what would happen the moment he did. Instead, he put the phone back in its regular position and stared ahead at the blank undecorated wall before him. When he replied, his voice was steady and his volume low. "You don't know what it's like."

"I don't. Will you be all right?"

"I might not make it past this month."

"What do you mean?"

"Nikaido told you I'm losing weight. I still am."

"How much are you talking, Yagami?" A frisson of alarm in the other's voice.

"I'm down to sixty-seven kilos, Kyo." He waited, letting that fact sink in.

A momentary silence. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not."

"Yagami," Kyo said and Iori heard desperation coloring his tone, "you have to hold on. You can't –"

He sighed. His hair curtained his face, damp and shielding his view like it always did. "I'm trying, Kyo. Didn't I tell you before?"

"Then keep trying. You can't die like –"

"I don't want to but it's hard. Whatever your old man did, it's eating away at me. I might not be able to sustain myself for long."

"I…" Another pause. "I overheard my dad and uncle speaking. They said your dad lasted close to six months."

Iori let out a derisive bark of laughter. His family history coming back again, as always. "And you believe I have the same odds?"

"You're tougher than your father, Yagami."

"My old man fed on hatred. He only lived so long because he died hating. You see me doing the same?"

"You're better than him. You can live past that."

"Tell my body that. It might have other thoughts."

Into this uneasiness, Nikaido piped up, evidently interested in something they said. "Kyo, how'd you overhear your dad and uncle?"

"I was trying to find out what my dad did to Yagami." A slight hesitation. "Don't worry, Yagami. Nothing happened."

"Yet." Just what the hell was Kyo doing? Was he endangering himself?

"Went to the clan archives, dug around. I think he used a technique on Yagami. One I have no idea about."

"How'd you guess?" Kyo couldn't have gleaned that possibility from just the few clues he had. That was impossible. At least to him it was.

"Your weight loss in so short a time. Your sweating. Your inability to walk straight."

"And from that you –"

"Yeah. Because a beating won't do that to you."

Iori closed his mouth. Leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes.

"So…you went digging around and what?"

"Beni, you hear of old estates having secret passages? Like the really ancient houses?"

"Yeah. You mean the Kusanagi estate has them?"

"I found one. In the archival building. I was looking for an ancient techniques scroll. Think it might be a book now and a small one at that."

"And then what?"

"There was a passageway – more like a tunnel – leading from the building to where my father's study is. Only there was a panel blocking the way."

"Kyo…" Nikaido's tone was serious and weighted with concern. "If they knew you were there…"

His lover laughed over the phone, brief and without mirth. "They didn't."

"And then?"

"I heard them talking. About me. About Yagami. About his father. About the clan."

"And that's how you overheard about my old man?" Iori said, cutting into the conversation. "About how long he survived?"

"Yeah."

"The blood curse took him. That's what we believe."

"Sounded like a combination from what I heard."

"So you believe I have a chance."

"Unless you get as unlucky as him," and here, Iori felt Kyo's pause over the line, as though doing so would allay any further misfortune, "I think you can. I need to see you, Yagami. It'll be easier, then."

With Kyo beside him. That was what he wanted but the possibility seemed so…

"I want that, too."

The question was how?

"Kyo," Nikaido said in the serene silence that followed, "how are you gonna do that? Don't you have guardians?"

"Yeah, I…" A sudden stop. "One, two, three, Beni. Go."

Immediately, Iori yanked the phone from his ear and hit the mute button on his screen display. Put the phone down on the table and stared at it, trembling. Fortunately, Nikaido had started a conversation, as though he'd been the only one talking to Kyo the whole time. He hoped, fervently, that whoever was encroaching hadn't heard the earlier parts of their discussion.

It was the difference between life and death for him.

"So, you want me in the Japan Team again –"

"Wait, Beni." A heavy silence. "What do you want, Uncle Hajime?"

Iori listened. Was this the uncle Kyo mentioned? Was he someone else he needed to watch out for?

He couldn't hear what the uncle said, but he heard Kyo clearly. "Just talking to Benimaru Nikaido. My friend. Any problem with that?"

Shit. Don't get defensive. He'll sense that. Know something's up.

Another moment of agonizing silence. "Yeah, I know it's late. He sometimes works all day. Can only talk around this time. No, you can't have my phone, uncle. I'll put it on speaker, though."

Nikaido, you better sell this and sell it well! Goddammit!

"This is Nikaido-san. Who am I talking to?"

A brief lull. It drove Iori mad missing out on the pertinent other half of the conversation. Then, Nikaido spoke, confident and unshaken. "Nice to meet you. Yeah. Kyo and I were just going over plans for the tournament."

Silence.

"I had a busy schedule. And well, I decided why not? Kyo picked up, so yeah."

Good. Nikaido sounded natural. Was being natural. Iori might've severely underestimated the other man. He wasn't going to do that again.

He heard something this time. Not so much words but something had been said.

"We'll wrap up soon. Right, Kyo?"

"Yeah. We will."

Another faint sound in the background – it seemed to carry the mild tones of admonishment. Iori thought the voice was gruff and strict. Were most of the Kusanagis like that? How had Kyo ever survived among these people?

"Understood, Uncle Hajime. I know it's almost five. I'll be done soon."

Several minutes of silence stretched tight and nervous, bleeding over into his place, as though the atmosphere seeped through his phone. Iori took a hurried drink of water, throat dry and sore. One, two, three. That was how Kyo counted. One, two, three. It was almost a mantra – something to keep him from freaking out in his kitchen.

After a while, Nikaido broke the silence. "Uh, we in the clear?"

"Yeah."

"Shit. Good thing you heard him."

"I heard something. Looks like he just missed the most damning part."

"If he heard you saying Yagami's name –"

"I know." A quiet second. "Yagami, you still there? It's safe now."

Iori picked his phone back up, unmuted it, and placed it next to his ear. "Are you sure, Kyo?"

"Very. I watched him leave."

"He's not hanging outside eavesdropping, is he?"

"No. I made sure of that."

He sighed in relief, the strain of the moment passing. He was tired but the conversation filled a void that he carried within him for so long. "Is there any way for us to meet, Kyo? Or at least see each other?"

"I don't want to get you killed."

"I can see you from a distance."

"If I knew you were there, I'd close that distance, Yagami."

He wasn't going to cry. "Yeah. You would do that."

"Maybe Beni and you can figure something out. Would that be okay, Beni?"

"Yeah. Just don't be an asshole, Yagami."

He did laugh this time, a bark that also had the shadow of tears behind it. "You're asking too much, Nikaido."

"Hey, I can ask, right?"

"Beni, I'll talk to you tomorrow or whenever you're free. Yagami, we'll be in touch."

If he could reach out and touch Kyo through the phone, he would, as sentimental as that was. "I'm still trying, Kyo."

"Good. Do. I don't want to lose you."

"I'm not going down that easily."

"Sleep well, Yagami." A pause. "You too, Beni."

"I'll get my beauty sleep. Good night, Kyo."

"Good night, Beni."

"Glad you two were able to talk. Man, you guys are for real. Didn't think that was possible."

"That's what we thought."

Iori smiled, although he knew neither Kyo nor Nikaido could see it. "It surprised us, too."

"Surprised?" He heard Kyo's teasing tone. "More like shocked."

"Ha!"

"Okay, you two. I'm going to sleep."

"See ya, Beni."

With that, it was just the two of them.

"Wait for me, Yagami."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"That's good. Hang in there. We'll make it through."

"Watch yourself, Kyo."

"And here I thought it was just me looking out for you. I'll be careful."

"Do. I don't want to lose you."

"Heh, that's a bit too close, eh? Good night, Yagami."

"You too, Kyo."

And then, Kyo was out.

Iori left the conference call, turned his phone off, and stared at the wall. He was tired but maybe he'd sleep better tonight. Better than he had the previous nights for the past month or so. Maybe he wouldn't have nightmares tonight. He'd spoken to Kyo. Heard his voice again after so long with its nuances that a mere video recording couldn't capture. He just might see him again.

Might. The possibility was there.

He wasn't going to die. Not like a dog. Not pathetically.

Kyo was here. Would be.

Iori closed his eyes. Let the tears fall but for once, it wasn't out of misery.

I'll be here, Kyo. You'll find me.

Comments: It was so cathartic writing this chapter. It needed to happen.

So according to official SNK stats on Iori, his weight is 76 kilograms (168 lbs). The guy is six foot, so he's already underweight even with all that muscle. At this time, he is 67 kilograms, which is 148 lbs., which means he is in a serious health crisis (aside from everything else) and it will only worsen if he continues losing more weight. This is something he is trying to prevent at all costs.