Pairings: BernardoXGian, IvanXGian, LuchinoXGian, GiulioXGian, AobaXClear, AobaXVirusXTrip, AobaXRen, AobaXKoujaku, AobaXNoiz, AobaXBakshi, VirusXTripXGian, AobaXGian
Warning: Contains minor hints of rape, violence, extreme swearing and heavy scenes of smut. Contains some SPOILERS!
Disclaimer: I do not own Dramatical Murder or Lucky Dog 1. All rights go to the respectful owners
Chapter 21 - Heavy Price
It took Aoba some time to adjust being around people he had never been with before but he felt as though he had known them for his whole life and so made it easier to feel at ease being there at the hotel with everyone else. He had found it quite funny noticing the small but definite similarities that each of them had to some of the CR-5 captains. Mink had been grouchy just like Ivan for most of the morning while Koujaku and Luchino had been happily chatting away with each other and at times, Koujaku had a blushing face every now and then.
Giulio and Clear were somewhat alike while the only difference being that one was quiet and Clear was not. He didn't know much about the man other than that he was quiet and had restrained himself from talking to anyone. Although he looked the part of a professional mafia member, his table manners were not something to be laughed at. He had used a handkerchief that he had seen Noiz with just the other day. It wasn't the same one as they both had different writing stitched into it.
Remembering what Noiz had told him in the past about his life back with his family and how he had been raised a rich kid but got into all sorts of trouble because of his condition. That was most likely the only things that they had in common with one another, them being raised to have proper table manners.
He had just finished his food while Ren had somehow gotten food spilled on his new shirt. Despite knowing that he had been fed at the hospital back on the island, Ren seemed as though he had not eaten for days even though he had just eaten last night. Aoba couldn't help but smile while wiping the droplets of food off from Ren's shirt.
It was though the man had turned back into his lovable, fluffy dog allmate. Both Ivan and Luchino found it funny that Ren had food on him and had a bit of a laugh together about it. But as today and probably for the next few other days, the two captains were supposed to be going to their work.
Giulio was told by one of his own men that Gian had asked to see him for something. Although the man had not said a word to him directly or to anyone else for that matter, he had quite the excitement on his face. Aoba had to wonder if this had been the same face that Bernardo had been making as it felt the same but looked completely different at the same time.
"Yes, thank you." Was all Giulio had said before walking quickly to the elevator. Only Luchino and Ivan were left with them now.
Koujaku had finished talking with Luchino and was quietly talking with Beni, his allmate. Mink had been staring at him off and on and was beginning to make him feel self conscious about the situation as he had forgotten about the current problem at hand. Everyone was merely working together only for his sake which at first, he did not mind it but now it felt if he wasn't there, would they still work with each other?
Koujaku and Noiz had gone together even though they couldn't stand each other while both Clear and Mink had left immediately not waiting for the others. They didn't have bad qualities that went too far as to the extreme of being aggressive or mean towards each other but he was worried about the future should something else happen to him, would they even pull together to help find him?
The only one that had been doing something constructive with his time, was Noiz. The man had been typing at his computers for a few minutes and had casually looked over in his direction quite often as he did so. He also seemed to have noticed Mink's eyes wandering to him as he looked like he had something to say to the man when Noiz thought that Aoba was not looking back at him.
Soon everyone had finished their food, Ivan not exactly being one of them since he had not eaten anything while in the presence of others except for last night. Luchino walked over to him and ruffled his hair gently, gaining an odd glare from both Koujaku and Noiz. "I'm happy to announce that you'll be getting to go outside again. I'll of course, be your escort. You can bring someone with you but..." The man looked to the rest of them.
He must have felt the intensity of having been watched from the distance. "I would like to say all of you can come along, however, we are only heading to a church so it's going to be boring for at least one of you. Not to say it'll be crowded but there is the danger of having all of you seen by the G.D." Aoba understood where this was going. He would most likely have to choose two people to go with him.
But now he was faced with a more bigger problem. He was sure that Koujaku and Noiz got along if only for a bit while Mink and Clear remained quiet towards each other. Mink had only bossed out orders to Clear while the other man accepted them without consideration of the consequences.
Simply put, he wanted to know who all would be able to work well alongside each other. Noiz was counted out since he seemed quite busy with his work, not to mention being the only one who had a job to do back home. But it was not the only reason he didn't want him along. The man still was not able to work well with someone despite having the same goals and it was likely to put them in danger at some point.
With Ren, he would no doubt do the same thing he did this morning. Slapping his hands away or do something that only a master and their pet dog would be doing and he did not want to see something like that again.
Koujaku and Mink both had somewhat of an attitude toward the other man so it was obviously out of the question to put them together. He had to face the music and choose the two who he thought worked well together or at least somewhat of a resemblance to it, and he had to do it on the spot. But Luchino could tell he was having trouble with this and yet was staying silent.
He could have suggested somebody but not knowing the outcome of who set off who was the bigger worry for both of them. They wanted to stay out of sight of the G.D while at the same time, confronting those that they needed to see and meet with.
He looked over to Ren. The man was still not well enough to really travel far distances and even though he was only going to be walking to and from a building or two from the car, he was still surely going to smell things differently than when he was a dog since the habits of being one had not gone away.
Aoba's quiet judgment over all of them seemed to have reached them anyways and soon Koujaku stood up. He looked uneasy about something.
"Aoba. I don't mind sharing the air with someone else but I ask you to bring me along at least. You owe me one for disappearing like that."
Koujaku lightened the mood with a smile all too familiar to him. A friendly smile that he had first seen when he was a child and had been bullied by the neighborhood kids. Since that day they had been best friends but now because of their recent times together, the man had developed feelings for him along the way.
"That's one down..." Luchino said and looked down at his watch that was around his wrist. He was probably already late as it was with having to eat breakfast and making sure everyone else had something.
The next one to come up to them, was Mink. It surprised Aoba as he pictured the man as someone who hated working with anyone for any given reason or none at all. But despite their odd behavior with each other as grown adults, they both seemed to want to have the chance of going somewhere with him for a day.
Noiz was not paying much attention at this point and was still typing away at his computer. Did this mean he was alright with him going out with them? Ren seemed to be looking slightly down but was still looking at him in a gentle manner despite not being chosen to come along.
Luchino slapped both his hands on both of their backs and pushed them along while ushering him out of the hotel so that he was walking in front of them. Because this was his second time being out and about, he was slightly anxious to see where it was they were going.
He knew it was a church that the man had to go to but he did not have any idea of what it was they were going there for. The sun was hidden behind the dark gray clouds and yet managed to shine brightly through some of the small gaps among the clouds. Aoba's eyes squinted as they tried to readjust from the sun's glare.
Despite the sun being out and hidden away by the clouds, there was still a bit of humidity in the air along with a small breeze that blew past them every now and again as they walked toward a parked car that was indicating that it had been waiting for them.
A sharply dressed man stood by, holding the passenger-side door open. At first the man was holding the door open for Luchino to get in but he insisted that the man let Aoba and his friends in first and then himself. He quickly rushed to the other doors and open them one after the other, guiding them into the car with ease while Mink gave the man a cold shoulder and got in by himself on the other side.
Luchino sat at the front while Koujaku and Mink sat on either side of Aoba. The man was the last one to get into the car as the driver escorting them to the church.
It only took the driver ten minutes to reach the church and during that time, Koujaku had been quietly chatting with Aoba while trying to avoid eye contact with Mink. He had been going down memory lane with Koujaku and was being brought up to date about the current situation with his grandmother. So far it was only Noiz who had been explaining things happening back on the island.
Koujaku had seemed to be only tip-toeing around the topic since the time he had talked with him yesterday when he first arrived with Noiz. He explained to him how his grandmother had not been seen on the last week that they were on the island last and was told by Noiz that they had more important matters to tend to. The matter, being him.
He had also confirmed that Mizuki had not been seen in a year and was currently unavailable from the hospital as they themselves did not know where he had gone to. The doctors were claiming it to be a sort of side effect from the treatment he had been getting but Aoba knew there could have been something more to it since he was still recuperating from his power of scrap.
The last time Koujaku had met with Mizuki was back when he was first admitted to the hospital as Koujaku had a lot going on in between that and helping him with stopping Toue. Back then, he said that Mizuki looked well enough to talk to him and looked like he was recovering properly.
But since he had been working with Noiz for the past half year, Mizuki had since then, disappeared. The police were unfamiliar with the odd incidents that happened with the tower and were still in the process of finding out who all had been there at the time of its fall.
The case of the culprit who caused Toue's death was unannounced and Koujaku told him that the police were thinking of leaving it as an unsolved case for the time being as the debris that was left over from the tower were too much of a pile for them to sift through. And yet, Virus and Trip were able to find Sei's body so easily.
Aoba was grateful for them finding the man's body but they had their own interests in mind at the time of doing such a 'good deed' and didn't have his interests as their main goal but mostly their own. Thus resulted in his kidnapping and him being a tad bit naive about Sei's condition, this made it easier for the twins to take him.
They had helped to cover the fees for the transportation of Ren's new body over to the island's hospital but they came along with him and had slipped under the eyes of the police somehow and had called him up while he was at work.
It was after they told him where Sei's body was being kept that they had told him of a few things that he needed to know about Sei's body. Because Aoba did not know much about the man to begin with except for their history, he did not know what all he had such as habits or any sort of illnesses he might have had since being with Toue.
After they had asked to see him after seeing Ren, they had treated him to something to eat and once they had gotten back into their car, knocked him out with some sort of blunt object and that was how he found himself in their secret hideaway.
"Your weird friend was the only one to see her last but I doubt he'd know anything about her disappearance. She wasn't doing too good the last time I saw her. She's definitely worried about you, Aoba." Koujaku was finished explaining how Aoba's grandmother looked the last time he saw her.
Clear receiving the pills from his grandma was probably the last time he had talked to her himself so it was obvious that he wouldn't know either. "Granny..." Just to say the word was causing him to choke on his next few words. It had been a long time since he said it.
Seeing Aoba's face looking disheartened by this, Koujaku reached forward to put an arm around him but he stopped upon seeing Mink's own hand resting on the back of the conjoined seat where Aoba's head had just been a few inches away. He already worked his way into things first once more before he could ever get a chance.
He felt it was his job to make Aoba more comfortable or at the very least, allow the man to feel some sort of security after all that has happened. Although Mink was not smiling at him like he usually had done when he wanted to taunt him like Noiz had occasionally done.
Koujaku couldn't do anything except for letting Mink's hand sit there until the car came to a stop outside a medium-sized building. It resembled a house in a way but with a giant cross sitting on top of its roof. Some of the windows were broken and a bit of cobwebs could be seen on the inside of the building.
Mink finally removed his arm from the back of the seat and Koujaku gladly helped Aoba out of the car while Luchino and the driver both got out from either side of the car. The captain looked around as though looking for something. "Guardali." Luchino quickly told the driver and took long strides toward the church building.
The driver stood by on high alert obviously on watch for anything suspicious. Koujaku and Mink also had their eyes trained for anything out of the ordinary despite not knowing much about the town. Aoba closed his eyes as the wind blew through his blue hair. Feeling the refreshing wind skimming against his cheeks was a feeling he had not experienced for a long time.
Virus had told him that it was not necessary for him to really need the sun and that to let him outside would only get him dirty. He had been treated like his twin brother, Sei. A lifeless doll merely kept to fulfill the needs and wants of others. He opened his eyes and looked over to the church and saw a woman dressed up in a blue dress-like outfit and wearing a cloth material over her head that covered her hair.
She looked to be in her fifties or if he had to say with more detail, something resembling his grandmother in terms of the age because of the wrinkles while just having the sense that she knew what wisdom was.
Luchino seemed to be having a good time talking with the woman and was now handing her something. But the woman would not let him walk away afterward and Aoba found himself walking toward them after being hinted by the driver that they were being called over.
It was an odd feeling for Aoba as he had only been to a church as a small child and had since then, been taken in by his adoptive parents. Both Koujaku and Mink stayed a bit behind Aoba but still remained close enough to hear everything they talk about.
"I take it these are the youngsters you've just now told me about?" The woman had a stern face while her voice had been the complete opposite.
Aoba couldn't help but smile at the woman since it was giving him a strange sensation of feeling at home despite the place not being his home. "I-I'm Aoba Seragaki." The old woman simply smiled back and then looked to the two standing behind him.
They both didn't look very talkative and Luchino had to pat them both on the shoulder to force them to say something meaningful. Koujaku was the first to introduce himself. "I'm Koujaku. We are thankful for your hospitality." Without thinking, Koujaku bowed. He was accustomed to this way of greeting.
"Hey hey, we're actually the ones who are letting you stay..." Luchino grunted under his breath but said nothing afterward and looked over to Mink since he was the only one who had not said anything.
It was quiet but Mink expressed his own way of greeting the woman. Luchino let it go and continued with their previous conversation. It apparently had to do with giving the church a wad of money tied with a rubber band. The nun looked slightly displeased at having to accept it but her face soon lit up with another smile.
"How about you come and stay a while. I'm sure there is a lot on your chest by now?" A minute passed before Luchino answered. He seemed hesitant on going inside but he let out a small sigh and followed the woman into the building.
"I would have rather brought Ivan along with us. He has quite more on his plate than I do." He briefly said. Aoba, Mink and Koujaku all followed him as well, all three of them admiring the state it was in despite being caught up between rival gangs.
It was quite plain looking on the inside as well with few scratches to the walls here and there but the long, brown benches that were sat one in front of the other, looked like they had just been bought or made and it went well with the wooden floor and wood-framed windows.
The nun sat down at the very first bench that sat in the front row just a few inches away from the booth where Aoba assumed would be a preacher. Luchino sat down next to her while Aoba took the seat on her other side. Koujaku and Mink were forced to sit on the bench behind them next to each other.
Luchino started the next conversation. "I would have brought Gian with me but since Bernardo left for his meeting, he had to take over for him. He's unfortunately the only one who can really do that kind of job in his place." He chuckled after finishing his sentence.
Aoba looked back at both Koujaku and Mink. They did not seem all too thrilled with sitting next to each other yet neither one said anything about it and mainly kept to themselves. Mink often looked around at the ceiling and was probably interested in how they designed it with lots of paintings all melted into one giant painting as though it were telling a story of its historical past.
He then saw Koujaku had his eyes closed but did not seem like he was sleeping at all. 'I know he's tired but...' Aoba couldn't help but think of the man as being tired since he and Noiz had just come from another country all together.
His eyes may have been closed but they did not show signs of moving rapidly beneath his eyelids. Aoba could only assume he was either meditating or simply listening quietly to the cars that drove past. Being in a city full of people had been their home so it was not all strange for Koujaku to feel some sort of nostalgia from being away from home.
Aoba had missed it too and was beginning to get used to the sounds the cars made. It was not as though they did not have cars back on the island, but they were not as used as they were in this place.
"Believe me, seeing that brat again will only give this old woman a heart attack! I'm glad he's doing well but if he slacks off in any way, God may not forgive him this time." She said. Aoba leaned back against the back of the bench, trying to straighten out his back as it was starting to bother him like before.
"Well...I really can't stay any longer. After this, I promised these young men to some food." Aoba couldn't disagree as he was feeling a little peckish for something to eat right now. He followed Luchino's lead in getting up from the bench.
It was a short time of a visit but he was glad to know the people he ended up with, were not all bad. "Then I shouldn't keep you any longer of feeding these youngsters. Do come by and visit the church whenever you feel down, we're always happy to welcome the ones with no place to go." Aoba couldn't help but feel relaxed by these words.
It must have been the way she had said it and how it reminded him of his grandmother. The woman walked them out to the doors of the church, followed by Koujaku and Mink. Luchino waved goodbye with a quick flick of his hand and stepped into the car, hunched over as to not bump his head on the roof of the car.
This time Koujaku was sitting next to Mink while Aoba sat next to him. The man had placed himself in the middle deliberately so that it ended up as so. The driver who had been waiting for them was now asking Luchino where to go to next since their main objective for the day had been accomplished.
He told the man where to go and from the sound of it, it was not the same place where he had taken him and Noiz to like last time. Once the car was off to a slow start and slowly picking up pace along the road, he could feel Koujaku staring at him.
Having someone staring at you was not what was bugging him and had to do with more of the fact that the man was not saying anything but instead, keeping his eyes focused on him and that was what was driving him insane. The silence.
Aoba had been so used to the silence back when Virus and Trip went out for the day and would not come back until and hour or two later and had constantly went out every three hours. This was to say they usually came back to eat with him and then leave.
This was what drove him into a ladder of madness that he now hated silence above anything else. But he did not say anything to initiate a conversation and stuck to looking out the window of the car. Finally Koujaku broke the silence and asked him a single question.
"Are you really sure about him?" Aoba didn't need to know who the man was talking about as he had guessed it would be about Noiz.
He remembered the argument that he had that morning and looked down in a panic. He had forgotten that he had slammed the ring onto his finger without thinking. He did not reject the man's confession that day but he felt the man was not listening to everything he had to say and so, felt he had to prove something with action alone.
Aoba rubbed the ring with his other hand while trying to shake off the funny feeling of being watched by Koujaku. This decision of wearing the ring was mostly based off the heat of the moment they were having and at the time he was really angry with how Noiz had been acting.
"Koujaku..." He could feel the man tense up when he said his name since they were sitting shoulder to shoulder because of the car having limited space.
"You know what he's like. He's so weirdly stubborn but...I don't dislike it." He knew it hurt Koujaku to hear his sudden honest opinion on someone he didn't like. But he knew that if he wasn't honest, Noiz would be the one to be hurt in the end whether he was accepted or not.
For a while, Koujaku did not say anything else and waited until they were finally at the store that Luchino had wanted to take them to. Both him and Mink got out of the same side while Aoba was given the rest of the other side for himself to get out of.
Luchino saw Aoba struggling to get out all the way and quickly rushed to the other side to help him out. "Thanks." Aoba gripped the tall man's shoulders while he held Aoba at the side of his waist and let him use him as a crutch to get out of the car.
This made Koujaku curious about Luchino and in his mind he thought he was seeing things when he thought he was looking at the man's hand being a bit too close to Aoba's lower region. This was normal for him as he had been having thoughts like this ever since he saw Mink and Noiz.
It was a simple word that if left unchecked, could do more harm than good. Jealousy.
When he saw the man removing his hand from his side, he soon began feeling relieved and quickly went to his side. "I still think you should have stayed in bed..." He went to pat Aoba on the head but then thought better of it and retreated.
He was not a coward but after seeing how many times the others were coming to Aoba's rescue so quickly, he was beginning to wonder whether or not he was needed by him. This made him feel all the more agitated knowing he wasn't able to do as much as Noiz, who seemed to have stayed in contact with his old team of Ruff Rabbit and was using them as his personal network group while working back in Germany.
Then there was Clear, maybe a robot but still a pretty good fighter when the time came for it while Mink, who was only interested in dying at the beginning, was now living a life that was much more suitable for his image than his rougher side.
And then of course there was Ren. He may have been a dog before but it meant something for Aoba now that the man had his own body. Whether that was a factor in of itself or not was something even Koujaku didn't know.
"I feel better than the past few days, Koujaku. Just feeling a bit hungry." Aoba smiled at him and put a hand to his stomach. For whatever the reason, this small gesture he did with his hand made him feel nervous and shy.
'He looked cute just doing something so simple like that...' Koujaku turned away quickly while thinking this.
Aoba and Mink both glanced at each other for only a split second. Neither one of them knew why Koujaku looked so stiff. He was staring at the ground and had not realized that Mink was now pulling Aoba along behind Luchino and into the shop that they were headed to in the first place.
When he had come out of his odd out-of-world experience, he looked ahead of him and saw that the others had already gone inside. Although he rushed to catch up to them and gotten inside without attracting too much attention, he still felt slightly embarrassed from showing such a side to Aoba.
A/N: If it sounds rushed at the end a bit, I apologize as that wasn't my intention. In the way of how Koujaku's mind works, he is very jealous and does think of himself as a burden to others mostly to Aoba, although this is more covered for Ren's route as well.
Would have posted this last night (july 15th) but I got sidetracked with my Minecraft game and watching thunderstorms the past few days.