Restart...

Chapter 19: kitten & Dragon's.

Akihito finally left prosecutor Kuroda Shinji's office. He thought back to the long, detailed conversation they had, belatedly wondering if it was such a good idea to involve someone so close to Asami, but it was a little too late to worry about it now. His leg was starting to ache from losing his bodyguards earlier, then sitting down for an extended time in the office, causing him to have a slight limp in his step. The nagging ache slowly grew past discomfort and bloomed into pain. It was starting to become too much, causing Akihito to squint an eye shut with the effort of taking each step. Because he was concentrating on moving his leg, he didn't notice someone sitting at the side of the road right in front of him. Stumbling over the mystery man, he floundered about, trying to keep his balance, only to cause himself more pain as his leg cramped up. As Akihito was about to start swearing, he froze as the man whom he tripped over started growling. A shiver ran down his spine from the sheer amount of murderous intent in the sound.

Quickly, he bowed and apologised repeatedly, now too sore and tired to scrap. A hand was placed on his shoulder, causing him to shy away from the contact. His eyes widened when he heard a familiar friendly voice: "Akihito, you can stop apologising now. Everything is a-okay~".

Akihito visibly relaxed as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm truly sorry about that, Carl. I should have been paying attention to where I was going… Uh, why were you sitting at the edge of the sidewalk anyway?" He saw Carl stiffen as a distressed look came over the once care-free face, causing him to become more concerned. Akihito quickly came up with an idea to cheer his new best friend up. A sweet smile made it's way onto his face. "How about we talk about this over something to drink at a place nearby that I'm sure you'll like?" It would also be the perfect opportunity to rest his leg.

They arrived at the café, and Carl's eyes widened in surprise. Carl saw cats laying everywhere. On the tables, on the floor, some were either playing with each other or by themselves with a ball of yarn, while others were just lazing around staring at the newcomers with watchful eyes. He was totally entranced with the volume of fluffy cuteness that was in this one small cafè, and he didn't even realise that Akihito had already steered them to a table. He felt himself yearning to roll around among the cats surrounding them as they took their seats.

"Go ahead –" Akihito began to say, as if reading his mind "It's a cat café. I'm sure nobody would mind if you –" Akihito stopped short when he noticed a large, solid-looking cat get up and amble towards them. The cat had nice silky black fur and contrasting red eyes that looked interested in Carl's lap. Carl let a out an "oomph" of surprise when the cat suddenly jumped into his lap and curled up into a fuzzy ball. Carl hesitantly ran his fingers through the cat's fur… and was positively gleeful when he heard the cat purr in satisfaction. Akihito nursed his warm drink while he asked once again why Carl was sitting next to the side of the road.

Carl sighed but continued to run his fingers gently through the cat's fur. "You see, some corporation bought the building I was living in. We were all given a seven day notice to vacate the premises. I've been looking for somewhere to live but had no luck, and today was my last day. It would be a futile fight, a small hardworking nobody like me against the supreme overlord and CEO of Sion; I'd have no chance of winning." Carl just let out a bitter laugh, but noticing Akihito's face, he pulled up a strained smile that Akihito could easily see through. "But no need to worry, dear friend! I can easily get a second job and find somewhere to sleep." Akihito couldn't help but be unpleasantly surprised over hearing his fiancé's name being mentioned in connection to this unfortunate turn of events.

Akihito took Carl's unoccupied hand in his and gave it a little squeeze of reassurance. Carl shifted his gaze upward to meet his friend's face. "Look, I am staying with my fiancé at the moment, so my assigned house isn't being used, and it's near the University. You're quite welcome to stay there until you are back on your feet." Izaya was honestly surprised at the proposal. People weren't this genuinely nice to him, whether he was in one of his personas or not. Quickly going back into character, he fought to keep a real smile from making it onto his face while he put on a fake unsure expression instead. "Only if you're sure, Akihito. I don't want to be a burden…" Akihito just gave him a reassuring smile.

"I have physio for the next few weeks, then I'll be gone on my honeymoon, so you can stay for as long as you need, okay? Oh! Also, I would like it if you could come to both my bachelor party and wedding as well. "

Carl sent him a teasing grin, causing Akihito to blush. "I would be honored. Thank you very much!" he said, and bowed his head.

Carl and Akihito had met up many times as they both work at the university in the same department area, and they got on pretty well. But, again, Izaya couldn't understand how someone could just be so generous. They sat, Akihito relaxing his tense leg muscles as he sipped his coffee while Carl enjoyed hot chocolate, still contentedly petting a purring puddle of fur, in a companionable silence. Carl made a noise of realization, causing Akihito's eyebrows to rise. "How's your injury? I've been thinking about you for a while now..." Akihito was confused on how he knew about the injury when he suddenly made certain connections.

Turning his head to the side, he spat out the mouthful coffee that he just sipped. "Oh my god, you're the one to who practically saved my life! Thank you so much for helping!"

A blush appeared on Carl's face as he nervously laughed. "It was nothing really; I couldn't just leave you there bleeding. I'm just glad you're okay." Akihito started explaining what happened and who he thought stabbed him, then finished with how he was now going to physio treatment. Akihito was smiling happily when out of nowhere he announced "Wow, I feel like we've known each other forever." A sly look slid onto Carl's face as he thought about that sentence. 'If only he knew'; he almost choked on his hot chocolate with Akihito's next sentence: "We're just like family."

Akihito took his keys out of his pocket and placed his university house key on the table, and pushed it towards Carl. They exchanged phone numbers, and Akihito texted him a note with his house address. Akihito asked if he would like some help moving some of his things before he left, apologizing that he couldn't be able to help out tonight as he had a family gathering at the Teito Hotel. Akihito felt a little guilty that he wasn't able to do more.

Carl just gave him a small smile. "No, you've done more than enough. You really are too kind~."

Akihito shrugged, a bit embarrassed at the praise, and as he left the café he called over his shoulder "If you need anything give me a ring; no matter what time it is, and I'll be there for you."

Akihito then tried to head quickly towards the hotel where he was going to meet Feilong. It was getting pretty late; he hadn't realised how long he had spent mindlessly chatting with Carl. But Akihito was tiring fast when he finally stopped to text Feilong that he was getting tired from a busy day out and needed to rest before dinner later tonight, so he had to cancel their visit and profusely apologised. Feilong was as understanding as usual with his Aki, and recommended Akihito contact his bodyguards to get him some transportation home for a quick rest.

Asami was not looking forward to this evening, not one bit. This was Akihito's idea of bonding, so why the hell had he even agree to this? Asami shook his head as he held it in his hands. When he left Akihito this morning, he felt so reluctant about meeting up with the Hong Kong side of the family, today was the first time he hadn't accompanied his boy to one of the physio sessions. Akihito always pushed himself too hard, as far as Asami was concerned, and needed him to curb his enthusiasm lest he strain his leg or tire himself out. But the determined spark in his eyes… well, frankly, it was a huge turn on. It had been a few weeks since the stabbing and Akihito was actually doing quite well, all things considered.

Asami had started the day at the office as usual, and luckily he only had few business meetings to attend to, then mostly just paper work to finish before he had to head home to meet up at the penthouse with the blond, a shower and a change of clothes, then go to the restaurant tonight around 8 p.m.

The knock on his office door pulled Asami out of his thoughts. He stood up to get drinks ready as Feilong entered the room; Kirishima and Yoh following him in, talking between themselves. Asami chuckled as he poured the drinks. Feilong, as always, had walked in and sat down on one of the couches as if he owned the place. Asami sat on the couch opposite him, smirked and lifted the drink to his lips.

Feilong smiled in amusement, and sipped his bourbon. After the warm liquid burned down his throat, he said "So, shall we start the negotiations on uniting both Baishe and Sion as the Dragons of Asia?"

Feilong was, as usual, quick off the mark, and they had negotiated an equitable deal between his Sion and the Baishe in an amazingly short amount of time. This type of underworld merger was unheard of, at least without shell casings, spilled blood and a lot of corpses, but together they would be a force to be reckoned with. Feilong mentioned needing help dealing with a small but annoyingly reoccurring problem name Mikhail as a possible first joint venture. After a few moments of thought Asami offered a unique solution to Feilong's problem; Akihito would have to agree to play a big part in it, so all of them would need to talk about it further.

Asami was quietly relieved when Feilong finally left, but his relief was short lived when he remembered he was going to see him later at dinner that night, and thought 'If I have to have a family dinner with them, I'm going to need some rather serious "relaxation" just to get to sleep later'. He cringed at the thought of the words "family" and "Feilong" in the same sentence. A more appealing idea flickered in his mind, and in spite of himself, he grinned.

"I, am a genius" he modestly chuckled as he made his way to his desk and pushed a speed dial button on his office phone. "Kirishima, book a suite at the hotel for Akihito and I for tonight." The up side of the evening would be they could go straight to their room after the dinner and enjoy their own tasty "dessert"… This improved Asami's mood immensely. He started to think about excusing themselves a soon as dinner and drinks were over, whisking his sexy blond upstairs and fucking the daylights out of him after he let his kitten ride him as a warm up. It had been a few weeks since they'd last had that pleasure, after all.

One of his later meetings was more aggravating and ran longer than expected, but Asami was still in a good mood without having to dispose of any bodies. He texted Akihito to go ahead with Feilong and company instead of waiting for him at the penthouse, and he would meet him at the restaurant. Asami became mildly pissed as he realised his earlier plan of catching a certain blond boy wet and naked in the shower before going to the restaurant was not going to happen now, but he contented himself with the thought of Akihito's face when he surprised him with their accommodations for tonight, making him feel slightly better.

As Kirishima booked a suite at the hotel for them (as far away from Feilong's entourage as possible), Asami concerned himself with reading over his lover's daily surveillance report, frowning that Akihito had requested a car to take him home from a part of the city nowhere near the physio clinic where he should have been going, and that he had also cancelled on Feilong. Asami was wondering what his kitten was up to, first ditching his security team, then reappearing much later needing their help to go home, but he had one last meeting which needed his personal, undivided attention. Cursing, Asami was once more back in a foul mood.

T.B.C...

***Bonus Bit***

Izaya shenanigans

Izaya: You know what I've been wondering? How do tall people like you actually sleep at night when the blanket can't possibly cover you from your shoulders to your toes?

Asami: Izaya, it's 3 in the morning...

Izaya: So you can't sleep, huh...?

Izaya: Is it because of the blanket...?

Asami: Get out of my bedroom