Again, thank you so much for the support! The likes and comments really keep me going. Enjoy!
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JadeWarrior- Thank you, you've been such a big help! I fixed the typos and sentence in the last chapter. I'm so happy that you like IwaOi too! Feel free to rant away! I'll definitely keep an eye on how I word things to avoid redundant ideas or overstating something. Again, thank you for the wonderful comment, you're so kind!
The last thing the Nehebi boss was expecting when he walked into his compound was to be greeted by a dark room, and surrounded by men that weren't his own. He wasn't surprised about the man standing in the middle of the room, but what was with this entourage? Could this man seriously go nowhere by himself?
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" He stated more calmly than he felt. It was nerve-racking with them here. Where were his men? How'd they all get in here? What were their intentions?
"How did your meeting with Seijoh go? Did they agree to help you?" The deep voice of the man in front of him seemed to bounce off the walls as he spoke.
"Oh yeah, they'll help. I don't understand why you couldn't just ask them yourself."
"Aobajohsia will never help us. Just like Oikawa will never help me. Did he trust you?"
"Trust? He acted like he did, but I can see through that smile. He'll keep me within stabbing distance, but he doesn't trust me."
"That's all we need."
"You know, you never told me why Oikawa wouldn't talk to you."
"That's because you don't need to know." A new voice snapped, this one closer. In the dim lighting, Daishou could see the slightly shorter man's silver hair with darkened tips. That's when he realized it. This man didn't come with just anyone. He came with his whole damn upper ranks! A flash of red hair appearing at the silver's side helped confirm his suspicions. Not only were the usual upper ranks here, but also the newly minted ones too.
"You're the ones who want the information! I may not like Nekoma, but I wasn't planning on moving on them right now. If you want me to stick my neck out for this information, you have to give me something!" It didn't matter that he was outnumbered. It didn't matter that this was one of the most dangerous mafia gangs around. Daishou was a boss, and no one would intimidate him in his own damn compound. Not even the brute of a man before him could.
"Oikawa, myself, and my Family have a long history. That's all you need to know at this time." The first man continued.
"Oikawa and S-"
"Ah ah. I wouldn't say that name." The red head had a knife to his throat faster than he could blink. So, his men were nearby after all. They must have somehow gotten Nohebi to clear out, and stationed themselves here for when Daishou came back. Their actions though, proved that they hadn't revealed themselves; and still didn't plan too. They didn't want their name out there.
"Got something to hide, do we? Or, perhaps, you're the ones hiding?"
"You got a death wish, brat? Just like to push your luck huh?!" The knife was pushed hard enough into the bosses skin to draw blood, but not actually cut him.
"That's enough. He's just provoking you. That's what his kind does." The silver hair put a hand on his comrades arm and guided the knife away. Despite the Snake's attitude, they still needed him, and the other man was fully aware of that. He could tell by the look on his face, and how he didn't flinch proved that he was planning on exploiting that knowledge.
"We're done here. Tell Seijoh of our arrangement, and it won't be Nekoma that you'll have to worry about." Like smoke the intruders started disappearing. The red hair spared him a glare, before spinning on his heal and leaving with the silver haired man. Daishou looked around, but had lost his visual of the boss after his voice boomed once again. A real cannon of a voice if you asked him.
Daishou flicked the lights back on and searched the entire room. He wasn't expecting them to stay long, just in case someone from Seijoh was keeping an eye on the Snakes. However, he had no definitive way of knowing how long at least one of them had been here before he arrived. He checked for cameras and recorders, any kind of trap, or just anything being out of place. Of course he found nothing, it wasn't their style to do anything like that. He sighed, as he heard voices in another room. He could instantly tell they were the voices of his men, relief flooding through him as they bickered amongst each other. He shook his head over the trivial arguments, and made his way up towards his private quarters to come up with a plan of attack. He had to find a way to deal with three different families after all.
Matsukawa panted as he sprinted up the stairs with Hanamaki right on his heals.
"Why do they gotta have so many fucking stairs?!" Mattsun complained as he kept up his pace. The two of them were some of the very select few who even knew of the existence of this place; that didn't mean he liked it though. A normal persons first thought would have been to use the elevator, but unless you wanted to set off a whole butt-load of traps; it wasn't exactly recommended. Wouldn't it be smarter to rig the stairs instead, anyways? Mattsun kept grumbling as he continued sprinting up the twelve flights of stairs between him and his goal. Makki didn't fare much better, but he at least kept his mouth shut as they climbed.
The only thing keeping Mattsun going was the hope that one day their positions would be reversed and he could laugh at them dying for once. You'd think that after all of the times that Mattsun has had to do this climb that he would be used to it by now. But no. He could never get used to these particular stairs. He was completely convinced that they had it out for him.
He finally saw the end of the staircase and burst through the door. If that didn't warn them that they were coming up, then they were beyond all hope. He was pretty sure the stairs had censors so he wasn't too worried about seeing something he didn't need to or getting shot.
"Oikawa-dono! He's-"
The door in front of him suddenly swung open and Mattsun found a gun centimeters away from his face. Completely unfazed, he looked around it to make sure Oikawa was in the room before continuing.
"He's out! We spotted Kuroo out!"
"Oh it's you two." Iwaizumi lowered his gun and stepped aside to allow the other two into the room. Mattsun nodded a greeting to him as he passed, moving to stand in front of Oikawa. Makki was just happy to see that Oikawa was fully dressed and Iwaizumi was at least wearing pants, and both of them were fully awake and out of the bed. It didn't matter if they had been up for hours or if a secret alarm caused them to suddenly spring up.
"Is he finally out? What's he doing?" Oikawa questioned, not expecting the cat to come out of his hiding spot for another couple of days.
"He was just wondering around in Nekoma's territory, but he ran into Bokuto from Fukurodani. Last report had them going towards the Cat's Meow."
"So they're having a meeting." Iwaizumi spoke up.
"Looks like it."
"Who started it? Who went to who?" Oikawa continued his questions.
"They were right on the edge of the borders, but from what we can tell? It looked like Kuroo was just walking randomly and that Bokuto was intentionally heading into Nekoma's territory."
"We had intel that Bokuto met with Nekomata before the transition of power. It didn't look like it ended well for him. He must be trying again with Kuroo." Makki supplied.
"An alliance between Nekoma and Fukurodani at this stage will either be an excellent opportunity, or a devastating curse. It's a bad time for Nohebi to be planning something." Oikawa muttered, turning around as his mind started spinning with the new information.
"No one ever said this job was going to be easy. Remember what we agreed on." Iwaizumi told Oikawa before addressing the other two members present, "Do we currently have anyone in the Cat's Meow?"
"I think we've got a couple floating around." Makki stated pulling out his phone.
"Have them keep their ears and their eyes open, but do not blow their cover under any circumstances. Even if we get none of their conversation, let's get its outcome. We need to know if it works out this time. Nekoma will be on high alert once they spot the two of them so be careful. You two run it. We'll figure out the next stage here." Iwaizumi ordered.
"Leave it to us, Zumi!" Mattsun quickly dodged the arm that flung out towards his head and practically dragged Hanamaki out of the room with him. Hanamaki typed a few more things into his phone before pocketing it and running after his idiot of a partner to avoid Iwa's wrath.
"You just had to say it, didn't you?!" He yelled to his back.
"It's worth it!"
"He is going to actually shoot you one of these days! You know that?!"
"It's still worth it!" Mattsun giggled as he found descending the stairs to be easier and much more enjoyable.
"It looks a little different than I remember." Bokuto commented as he followed Kuroo up the stairs to the private upper level of the club.
"Different night, different theme. I believe it was a classy night the last time you were here. Let's just say it's a bit more, eh, I guess who could say steamy this time around. We are a club after all." Bokuto snorted at his choice of words. 'Steamy' was one way to put it. The outfits were more straps and lace than anything else, with dancers everywhere you looked. The crowd was definitely rowdier this time around too. It made sense though, that was part of the reason the Cat's Meow was so popular. With the theme constantly changing, it attracted a large horde of people regardless of that night's current theme.
"Don't tell me it's too much for the big, bad, boss Bokuto to handle." Kuroo teased as he watched Bokuto scan the crowd while they climbed the last few steps.
"In your dreams, Bed-Head." Bokuto countered.
I take it back. This should be fun. Kuroo thought to himself as he waved his arm towards a chair overlooking the entire club. He plopped down into the one next to it, allowing Bokuto to glance around one more time before seating himself in the chair Kuroo had pointed out for him.
At first nothing happened, each of the respected bosses scanning the crowd and getting a feel for the still had no idea as to why Bokuto was here. He knew from the last time Bokuto was here that he wanted to form an alliance, but because of Nekomata's swift refusal, he didn't know the exact reason behind that alliance.
"So tell me, how does a bodyguard become the boss of one of the most powerful and known families around?" Bokuto questioned, eyeing the other man out of the corner of his eye.
"It does seem strange, doesn't it? Want a drink?" Kuroo avoided the question.
"I believe your words were, 'We are a club after all,' right? It does seem awfully strange, that's why I asked. Just wanted to shine some light on the subject." Bokuto noticed the avoidance, but didn't care and brought the conversation right back.
"What's there to say? I was a bodyguard and now I'm a boss. I think it's a whiskey night, how about yourself?" Kuroo waved one of the servers over, skirting around the question once again.
"I'm good with whiskey." Bokuto's eyebrow twitched, but otherwise his face remained pleasant. "What I don't understand, is why no one had ever really heard of you before now. Why keep this a secret?"
"Doesn't every family have their secrets?" Kuroo flashed him a smile. They were getting on each other's nerves and they both knew that, but neither one of them was willing to back down. Not about this. Bokuto wanted information, and Kuroo had it. The only problem was that Kuroo had no intentions of sharing tonight.
"This is a rather unusual one though. I thought Nekomata had someone else lined up to take his spot."
"Then you thought wrong."
The mood surrounding them suddenly changed. This went from lighthearted questions to a full on interrogation. The two men glared at each other, not giving an inch. Kuroo would do whatever it took to keep Kenma's identity a secret. He didn't know if Bokuto was basing his claim on anything, or if he was just saying that to try to get Kuroo to slip up. He couldn't risk it either way. Kenma had been seen in public a few times, and while they never said who he actually was, he was there. That, in and of itself, was enough to cause suspicion to people who were paying attention.
The glaring continued until the sever reappeared with two glasses, forcing them to break eye contact to accept their drinks.
"So, I believe your congratulations are over. Now, what did you want to talk about?" Kuroo once again tried to change the subject as he took a sip of his drink.
"You know exactly what I want. I want an alliance between Nekoma and Fukurodani." Bokuto finally relented and allowed the conversation to flow a different direction now.
"And Nekoma might be interested. What do you purpose?" Kuroo smirked when Bokuto's eyes lit up. He clearly wasn't sure if he'd get this far or not.
"Similar to what I told the old man. Fukurodani has the strength to protect you during your ops. Using Nekoma's tactics, we could both move more products and with our combined forces, we'd be able to protect them."
"And in return?"
"Access to Nekoma's digital empire, high clientele, and a small percentage of your product in return for our services."
"Well the fee is new."
"It's a different time now. Every man I give to you for protection, is a man I lose. The money will make up for it."
"I'll give you seven percent."
"Don't act coy, I know Nekoma can afford it. Eighteen will be just fine." Bokuto's eyes snapped to him. Round two had just begun.
"Well why not just as for half if you're going to be that bold. I'll do eight." There was no way Kuroo was giving this man as much as he wanted, but he knew Bokuto would never accept a low offer. He was just going to have to lowball him until he gave in.
"I'll settle for twelve and we can both call it good and enjoy the rest of the night." Kuroo seemed to ponder his offer.
"I can maybe do nine." He said instead.
"Ten percent." Bokuto said forcefully. It came out as an order instead of a request and Kuroo knew he had pushed this man to his limits. That was as low as he would go, and honestly, he had given more than Kuroo had. He supposed that ten percent of his profits wasn't that big of a deal, and they couldn't afford a war with Fukurodani.
"Ten it is, Owl." Kuroo held his glass out to Bokuto. They'd have to finalize everything, but for now, they had a deal. Bokuto clinked his glass against Kuroo's, satisfied enough with the deal.
"Ah!" Kuroo exclaimed after he took another sip of his drink. "We finished just in time, it looks like one of our crowd favorites is about to perform." Bokuto dragged his eyes over to the stage in time to see the performers changing out. Bokuto had to physically stop his jaw from hitting the floor when he saw him again. It was the same performer that was on the last time he was here, Akaashi he remembered his name was.
To fit the theme, Akaashi was dressed in a deep red shirt with straps decorating his back, and cutouts at his sides. His pants managed to cover his crotch, but quickly transformed into mesh the further they went down. He wore strappy heels this time that showed off his long legs. Bokuto caught himself staring, but didn't bother to look away.
Akaashi let the crowd roar while he brought his arm up to wave at the VIP section. He turned to face their section, and gave a small bow to Kuroo. His eyes raked over Bokuto, no doubt remembering him from last time. Akaashi gave him a wink when he saw Bokuto staring, before turning back to the crowd in front of him.
His voice was as silky smooth as Bokuto remembered, but this time he danced around the stage too. Three other performers came up to join him, but Bokuto didn't take his eyes off of Akaashi, watching as he twirled around the stage.
Kuroo enjoyed Akaashi's voice, he was one of their best performers by far, and always got the crowd going. It didn't matter what the theme was, he could easily adjust his style to fit right in. That was part of the reason that he was so popular. Kuroo spared a glance at Bokuto to find the man completely entranced by Akaashi. Kuroo smirked. That was certainly an interesting piece of information. He had caught Akaashi's wink earlier, but it didn't surprise him. Akaashi was always a little flirty with their guests, even more so when it came to the important ones. Kuroo's mind sparked and started to turn. This could be a very unique opportunity.
I wonder. Kuroo thought as he continued to observe.
I hope you all liked that! Fun fact- this is the longest chapter of, not only this story, but it's also the longest chapter I have ever written! Chapter 5 is in progress. See you next time!
~Kiera540