Chapter 3 - Cross the Floor by Taketo
Disclaimer: see chapter 1.
Thank you so much for the reviews. It really gives ya the power to continue!
Sumire 1, I'm waiting for your next chapter too.
Outside Aya's house.
It's almost 4:00am and I'm standing here in this spacious garden with Aya! Ken said to himself as he cast a sidelong glance at his boss. Aya had invited him for a walk and so far, all the walking they did was from the training room to this bridge which was the central point in the garden. Ken was no psychologist but he could tell something was bothering Aya. Which man would get up at 3:00am and train? So Ken just decided to be patient and wait until Aya decides to talk.
Aya stared ahead and took a deep breath. Slowly he exhaled, as if to examine each particle in the air that left his lungs. There was no escape. At work, everything reminded him of his father and brother. At home, especially in the garden, reminded him of his mother. Why did they have to die? Why did that bastard Takatori had to kill them? Aya clenched his fist and punched the bridge's railing.
From the corner of his eyes, Ken saw what happened but remained silent. Have patience
and you shall be rewarded. And he was…
"I miss them…" Aya spoke so softly that Ken almost missed it. "This… this garden…" Aya gestured with his long pale hand, looking even more ghostly under the moon light.
"This garden was everything to my mother. She'd spent hours here, potting about…."
Aya stopped there.
Feeling it was appropriate to say something, Ken said. "It's beautiful."
"Yes it is. She tried to create a Tsukiyama garden, Dad was always making noise about what she spent on the garden…." Aya said dryly and lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged.
Ken followed suit and waited for Aya to continue. When he didn't, Ken turned to look at Aya who had a far away look in his eyes. No doubt reliving some old memories with his family. Ken pulled his knees to his chest and waited patiently for Aya to continue. He knew he was in a good position right now. As Aya's bodyguard, he'd have access to practically everywhere. And if he could gain Aya's trust, that would be huge bonus!
"You're not asleep are you?" Aya's deep voice penetrated the stillness of the night a few minutes later.
Startled, Ken's head shot up. "No, no of course not, Aya-san. Just enjoying the silence."
"Hn…" Aya paused for a few seconds more before saying. "Do you have any regrets in your life?"
Hiding his surprise with a frown, Ken said. "Regrets? Sure, we all have, Aya-san."
"So what do you do?" Aya pulled one leg up and rested his chin on his knee.
"We….learn from our mistake, try not repeat them and become a better person."
Ken replied, the word 'why' just at the tip of his tongue.
"Aaaa…, pretty wise for your age." Aya finally turned to look at Ken.
Ken smiled a little, feeling his cheeks grow warm under Aya's gaze. "Life, it teaches you a lot."
"Half my life was spent with my nose buried in books or staring at computer screens."
Aya brushed some imaginary speck of dust from his sleeve.
"We all have our own destinies, things to do. Not everyone is the same."
"True, just like it was my brother's destiny to become Fujimiya's head and not me."
Aya said bitterly.
"Sometimes, change of plans happen…."
"Hn…" Was all Aya said and once again he had that far away look in his eyes.
Ken sighed inwardly. Guess that's it for now. He will just have to wait until Aya spoke again. Ken drew his knees tighter to him, patted his pocket light to make sure the diskette was still there and rested his head on his knees.
Later…
Time passed and Aya still hasn't said a word. He just seemed lost in his own world. Ken wished he knew what was going on in the red head's mind. The cold, emotionless mask was firmly in place. No way Ken could tell what Aya was thinking about.
"Did I put you to sleep?" Aya asked suddenly, breaking out of his self imposed silence.
Ken stretched his stiff legs. "No, but I think my legs are."
A ghost of a smile appeared on Aya's lips. "Thank you."
Ken's heart skipped a beat, was that a smile? "What for?"
"For just sitting there, listening to me ramble along." Aya replied.
Ramble? You hardly said anything! Ken mused. "It's okay, Aya-san."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you have such a calming effect on people?" Aya said, surprising Ken yet again.
This time not bothering to suppress or conceal his surprise, Ken stammered. "Ye…yeah?"
Aya got up and glanced up at the sky. "It's almost daylight."
Ken also rose and wondered how he knew this. Neither were wearing watches at the moment. As far as he was concerned the sky was still pitch black!
"I think I'll sleep for a bit and then get ready for work." Aya began walking towards the house. As he rounded a bush of greenery, he caught Ken stifling a yawn. "You go ahead and sleep."
"But Aya-san…." Ken protested, embarrassed being caught stifling a yawn.
"No buts. I'll see you after lunch." Aya stuffed his hands in his pockets and lengthen his strikes towards the house.
*************************************************
True to his word, Aya let his new bodyguard sleep in. Ken had no idea when Aya left for work. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was in slumberland! The next time Ken opened his eyes, the sun streaming in through the windows, directly on his face.
Ken groaned and flipped to his left to see what time it was. According to his alarm clock,
it was 10:30am. Plenty of time before he had to go to work. He could call Yohji and pass the disk to him. So Ken got up and padded to the bathroom.
Aya's office.
Manx blotted the ink from the document. Fujimiya Inc had just signed a lucrative deal with the Ejiro Co. to handle all its shipment to Malaysia for the next 5 years. Aya and the CEO for Ejiro Co., Saeki-san bowed and shook hands. Aya walked the CEO to the lift
and bowed again. He stood there until the lift doors closed before heading back to his office.
"Congratulations, Aya. You should celebrate." Leo said from behind him.
"What's there to celebrate? I didn't do anything but put down my signature. I didn't actually handle the negotiation process." Aya slowed down for the much shorter Leo to catch up.
"No, but your mere presence was enough to convince them to sign. They could have just moved to another import export company." Leo carefully left the part about his father's death out.
"After my father's death you mean?" Aya shot back.
"Aya…." Leo looked at the tall red head next to him sympathetically.
Ignoring Leo, Aya turned his attention to his secretary Manx. "What's next?"
"Shintaro-san has an 11:30 appointment with you." Manx read from the diary in front of her.
"Is he here yet?" Aya checked the time, it was just after 11:00.
"No, Aya-san."
"Fine, I'll be in my office." Aya strode to his office and slammed the door shut.
Leo watched the whole scene and shook his head regretfully. The boy had so much anger in him. But it's alright, it wasn't getting in the way of his plans and Aya was serving his purpose … for now.
Back to Ken….
Ken yanked his closet door open and stared at his attire. Nothing special, just usual shirts, jeans and pants of basically the same colour. He pulled out a pair of black jeans and a dark blue shirt. He donned them on and grabbed his leather jacket on the way out. He didn't bother with breakfast, jumped onto his bike and roared off. The disk he has was important. The faster he got it to Yohji, the better.
Two of the house bodyguards stared after Ken as he zoomed past the gates. Since the boss wasn't home, there wasn't much to do, so like old women, they began chat and gossip.
"That's sure one hell of a cool bike!" Guard 1 remarked.
"Yeah, that's Hidaka Ken. Wanna know what I heard from the 1st shift guard, Watanabe?" The second guard lowered his voice.
"What did you hear?" The first guard asked back in an equally hushed tone.
Grinning, the second guard loved to gossip. He couldn't believe the bit of news Watanabe relayed to him when he came to relieve him. "That the boss and him went on a late night walk!"
"Wow! So what happened? Did Watanabe see any action?" the first guard inquired eagerly, his eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Nah!!! According to Watanabe, they just sat by the bridge and talked. But he couldn't really make out what they were saying. " The second guard informed his colleague regretfully.
"Oh well…" The first guard was clearly disappointed. "But, …" An idea hit him, making him brighten a little. "you never know. First it's just walks, next thing you know, Hidaka is moving in the boss' room!"
The second guard's face split into a broad smile. "Yeah, you never know!"
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Aya's office….
Aya rose from his chair and greeted his 11:30 appointment, Shintaro-san.
"Shintaro-san, good morning. How are you?"
Shintaro-san smiled and returned the greetings. He didn't really know Fujimiya's second son but from what he has heard so far, it was all positive. After Fujimiya sr. was killed, the company could have went either way, up or down and under Fujimiya Aya, things at Fujimiya Inc were on the up. And that was a good start.
"Would you like some tea or coffee before we start?" Aya asked politely, his finger reaching for the intercom button.
"Yes, some tea would be nice." Shintaro nodded slightly.
"I'll just get my secretary to bring us some… Manx?" Aya pressed the button. "Manx?"
There was no answer. "Excuse me, Shintaro-san." Aya left his office in search of Manx.
Almost immediately he stumbled upon his bodyguard who at the door of his office.
"Where's Manx?" Aya barked to his bodyguard.
The burly bodyguard quickly stood up. "I haven't seen her, Fujimiya-san."
"Hn!" Useless! Where the hell is she?! Aya fumed as he stood in front of her vacant desk. She should be by her table! As Aya stood there fuming and thinking whether he get someone else to get the tea, his senses was bombarded with a sweet smell. Whipping around sharply, he found the source of the smell. A big sized man with sleek, greasy hair combed to the back with dark glasses perched on his nose was walking down the hall, straight to Leo's office. He was accompanied by three men in dark suits. Aya assumed the three were the greasy hair's bodyguards. Must be some important VIP but who the hell is he? Aya wondered. What business does Leo have with him? Business? Oh no! Aya just remembered why he was out here and that Shintaro-san was waiting for him! Pushing aside the questions about the mysterious man, Aya walked briskly back to his office while cursing Manx at the same time.
At a café….
Ken slid into the furthermost booth in the café and ordered himself some food. Better eat something before he went to work. Since Yohji wasn't there yet, soon Ken found himself thinking about this morning's events. Aya had said that he had a calming effect on him. Ken laughed out loud. He has been called many things but this one was the first.
"What's so funny?" A lazy drawl broke Ken's train of thought.
"Yohji! You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" Ken snapped.
"I wasn't, you were the one who wasn't paying attention. Having naughty thoughts are we?"
"Yohji!"
"Perhaps about a certain red hair chap? With skin so pale…."
"Yohji!"
"You know, I don't blame you. He is rather good looking and being 24 7 with him.
It's understandable."
Ken's food arrived and Yohji immediately seized one of his pickled radishes.
"Hey!" Ken swatted his green-eyed boss' hand with his chopsticks. "Order your own food, you make more than I do AND unlike some people, I do not fall for the person I'm babysitting!"
"Tsk! Tsk! Kenken! Why the short fuse?" Yohji loved teasing people, especially when they responded well to his teasing.
Disregarding the question, Ken pulled the disk from his pocket and slid it across the table to Yohji. "Here. Get Omi to take a look at this. I didn't have much time to check everything. I'll have more next time."
"Okay, I'll pass it to Omi and Ken?" Yohji got up to leave. "All work and no play,
makes Kenken a boring guy!"
Ken dug into his food and snarled a 'shut up' at Yohji.
After his combo of late breakfast and early lunch, Ken flipped his mobile open and made a call. He spoke briefly, snapped his mobile shut and paid his bill.
Ken stepped out of the café and got on his bike. He circled the block a few times to make sure he wasn't followed or being watched. Once he was satisfied, Ken sped off to his next destination.
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Aya's office.
Aya leaned back in his chair and continued to listen what Shintaro-san was saying.
It was quite interesting, an anecdote about himself and Aya's late father, but now Aya was bored. Aya nodded absent mindedly, patiently waiting for Shintaro-san to start talking about business. Aya nodded again and his eyes flew to the wall clock. It was just a little after 12:00, Ken will be here soon, that will be a relief. Aya said to himself and nearly jolted out of his seat when he realized who he was just thinking about.
Last night, actually early this morning, while just sitting there in the middle of the garden with Ken, he felt so calm and at peace. Ken hardly uttered a word and yet it was okay.
Aya couldn't remember the last he felt so at ease with someone and with that thought,
Aya's face broke into a small smile.
"Yes, Aya-san. Your father could be funny if he wanted to." Shintaro-san said, thinking that the smile was for what he just said about the late Fujimiya.
Aya blinked and quickly muttered a 'hai'. What the hell was he doing? Daydream during a meeting with a client and about his bodyguard too! Mentally shaking himself, Aya straighten and focused on what Shintaro-san was saying.
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Behind a row of shoplots….
Nagi looked about him nervously. He hated meeting his contact during the day but his contact had called, so Nagi had to come. Nagi owed his contact a lot and what his doing right now is nothing compared to how his contact helped him.
Ken approached Nagi's position with his bike, not bothering to switch off the engine,
he flipped his visor and beckoned Nagi over. "What do you have for me?"
Nagi pushed his hair from his face. "Nothing much, Ken kun except that there has been talk that Mitsui-san is planning something big, having meetings with big guns from other clans.
Ken nodded and thanked his informant. He maybe in the higher ranks of the clan but it was good to have an informant. The clan was big and certain things could just slip by him. So Leo was planning something, huh? Wonder what it is and is Aya involved?
Ken thought as he sliced through Tokyo's afternoon traffic.
Yohji's headquarters.
On his way back, Yohji bought some lunch. He knew once he got back to the office,
chances are that Omi will be too excited to eat. Swinging his lunch back and forth, he passed the desks of some of his staff, greeted them and finally reached his destination, a metal door. He swiped his card at the device by the door, punched in a code and swung the door open. "Omi!"
Rubbing his ears, Omi glared at Yohji from behind a huge computer screen. "Must you shout? I'm not deaf and this room is rather small."
"Budget cuts, not my fault but here I brought you lunch." Yohji offered him the lunch box.
Omi smiled, he could never stay mad for long and Yohji knew this. "How did your meeting with Ken kun go? Did he get anything?"
Yohji's green eyes sparkled. "Yeah, …" He tossed the disk Ken handed to him earlier to Omi.
"Great!" Omi caught the disk and immediately inserted the disk into the drive.
"Can't wait to see what in it!"
"I know but eat something first, okay?" Yohji pushed the lunch box to Omi.
"Remember, you've gastric."
"Oh yeah…"Omi grinned and quickly opened the lunch box. "What about you?"
Omi asked suddenly remembering his boss.
"I already ate. Now eat and let me know the moment you get something." Yohji leaned forward and dropped a kiss on Omi's head.
"I will and Yohji, …" Omi's big blue orbs looked up at Yohji.
Yohji paused by the door. "What?"
"Thank you…."
Yohji said nothing, letting the hum and beeps of the computer and machines surrounding Omi take over for a few seconds before replying. "Eat."
Yohji exited the room, hearing the metal door click into place. Omi was something else.
A computer genius that could practically hack into anything and the very person to conquer the wandering eyes and heart of this Kudou! Kudou Yohji, smiled to himself.
Never in a 1,000 years he thought that it take a person like Omi to win him over. Never!
It all started when Yohji was working undercover to bust a group that were breaking and hacking into the government's top secret files and records. He discovered that the group recruited its team from internet cafes. And one such recruit was Omi. Somewhere along the way, they both fell for each other and after the group was busted, Yohji pulled all the strings he had to get Omi his current job, resident hacker/computer expert for the police.
He convinced his bosses that it takes a hacker to bring down another hacker. White collar crimes were serious. In the end he won, Omi got the job and they have been together now for over 3 years.
**********************************
Fujimiya Inc.
Ken parked his bike and ran for the lift. Afternoon traffic was just beyond words and Ken hoped he wasn't late! Pressing the up button, Ken kept urging the lift to hurry up.
After a few antagonizing minutes, the doors slid open. Ken stepped in and pressed Aya office's floor.
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Leo's office.
"Come now Leo, what's the hold up?" Greasy hair aka Tsuzuki-san demanded.
"The others are getting impatient!"
Mitsui Leo calmly poured himself and his guest another drink. Handing the glass over, he said. "Patience, Tsuzuki. Haste will get us no where. We may end up with nothing at all."
Sipping the fiery liquid, Tsuzuki said. "That's what you said the other time."
Leo's voice suddenly grew cold. "You're free to leave if you think you can a get better deal than this. Your group isn't the only one interested."
Suddenly Tsuzuki was all smiles. He got up and stood next to Leo. "Now, now Leo don't be like that. Of course we are still interested. If you say to wait, therefore we shall."
"Good." Leo replied over the brim of his glass. Tsuzuki's sweet perfume was assaulting his nostrils. "Next time you want to see me, call. Don't just come barging in like this.
And lose that perfume, it's killing me!"
Tsuzuki smiled apologetically. "Of course, Mitsui-san, of course… "
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Aya's office…
Ken walked past Manx and offered the secretary a smile. "Is he in?"
Manx returned the smile and battered her eyelashes for good measure. "Yes, go right in."
"Thanks…." Ken noticed his temporary replacement by the door looking bored and not at all alert. If his informant was correct and Leo was planning something, that means trouble! He didn't really trust Leo, with Aya being the only Fujimiya left,
Ken had a feeling whatever Leo was planning, it wouldn't benefit Aya at all. In fact,
it will spell danger for Aya. He'd have to be more alert than ever now!
Ken knocked on his boss' door and waited to be allowed in.
Aya heard the knock and barked his usual 'enter!'. He looked up a second later and saw a head of brown hair enter his office. Ken!
Ken stood in front of Aya's desk and bowed politely. "Aya-san."
"Hn…that joker…" referring to the bodyguard outside. "…was starting to get on my nerves!"
Ken hid a smile and said nothing.
"Come on let's go." Aya began stuffing papers into his slim black briefcase. "I've a meeting with Crawford-san. Have you had lunch?" Aya secured his briefcase and started to move away from his desk.
"Yes, Aya-san." Ken answered and held the door open for Aya.
End of chapter 3
